In anticipation of the gloomy winter weather, I took it upon myself to try and get all of the exterior Christmas decorating done and out of the way. Evidence of my assimilation into this yule-tide tradition can be found on my Flickr site.

I know what you're thinking... "It's not even Thanksgiving yet!" Trust me, I had the same thoughts running through my head as I was perched precariously on the roof. That was one of the few things keeping me distracted from the doom that awaited me just over the edge. I also figured that I'd rather do it now - when the weather jumped to 42 degrees and not a drop of rain nor flake of snow in the air - than after tonight's predicted first dump of snow.

That, and it's always cool to see the lights the night after a snow storm.

Total Time: 1 hour, 31 minutes, 40 seconds!

Not bad for a first timer on his 29th Birthday. ;-)

Split times and pictures to be available soon.

To celebrate my 29th birthday tomorrow I'll be participating in the Pleasant Prairie Triathlon. I've watched Janine have fun at these events over the past 2 years, but I've stayed away from trying them because I don't like running. However, Janine has a very persistent sales pitch that, after a while, becomes a siren song you just can't say no to.

My family genes weren't blessed with necessarily good knees, so I've attempted to avoid the contact abuse and compression that running causes. I tried running back when I lived in Chicago, but one night my knee gave out about 3 miles from home... in 42 degree weather. That made for a very uncomfortable hobble back home.

What makes this triathlon any different? I don't know for sure, but I figure that I'm not getting any younger and my knees aren't going to miraculously regenerate anytime soon, so if I'm ever going to stretch and try something new then now is the time to do it.

No, the other kind.

After a little under a week, we started seeing small patches of tiny green sprouts shooting up from the dirt. After almost two weeks now, we've got a fair amount of grass; Not enough to call it a lawn, but it's a start. I owe you some pictures on my Flickr site, and will put some up hopefully before the weekend.

Looking for a lawn mower? Check this one out!

As some of you know, our yard was basically a lump of clay... literally. No lawn, no trees, just a baren wasteland complete with its own tumbleweeds. Some weeds can grow in it, but our "dirt" was anything but.

As part of our continuing series on home improvement, we needed to put some kind of landscaping down in only to be able to enjoy the land instead of just pointing to it and saying "That pile of weeds and barren land is ours!" That never really impressed the neighbors.

The work we've done in the past weeks has, however, turned quite a few heads in the neighborhood. We hired a landscape contractor to come in and grade the lots and put very nice top soil down, but the grass planting and watering were left in our capable hands (along with a little help from Janine's folks). We're now the happy owners of about 3/4-acre of hay-covered grass-seeded land, complete with a watering system that would shame and confuse even the mightiest of engineering minds.

To see some pictures of the magic, head over here...

Day 1 at the new job went very well! I met a LOT of new people, was told a lot of useful information, and will probably forget half of the names and info when I walk in the door this morning. I do have a good grasp on what my roles and responsibilities will be, and have even been assigned to some programs already. They're wasting no time getting me up and running, and that's exactly what I expected.

Today will include a few more meetings with people I will be working with in my new role, as well as move-in to my office. Not a cubicle, but an actual office with a door and key. It even has windows so the plants can have actual sunlight! I'll ignore the rumors that we may be moving to a different building in the near-future and will just enjoy the space for as long as I can.

Today marks day 1 of my new job and new commute. Lots of paperwork to sign today, but I'll finally be on the inside! Let's see how it goes!

I decided to take two weeks off between jobs in order to take a break and work on the house. The past week was anything but a vacation, but at least it was productive.

- Installed a storm door on the front door.
- Graded my yard and added 66 square yards of dirt with a rented tractor. Waiting for massive storms to subside before putting compost and grass seed down.
- Buried the rain gutters underground.
- Wired the garage for more power!
- Wired the living room for 7.1 surround sound!
- Requested quotes for an asphalt driveway approach for us and 6 of our neighbors.
- Went to Home Depot and Menard's an average of once per day.
- Bought the lot next door to use as greenspace (We'll soon own 0.7 acres... we're land barrons, baby!)

I'm not quite done yet with the list of things I want to get done, but I think I'll need a vacation from my vacation pretty soon!

I need to jump back on to the blog-o-sphere. So, here we go.

Janine and I recently sold our old house in Grayslake and have now moved up to Racine, WI. We did this move because of the benefits that SCJ provides (health care, day care, etc.) and the fact that the two of us commuting 45+ minutes to/from work each day was not conducive to a good family life. One of us needed the shorter commute (even if mine became 1.5-2 hours each way).

Then this happened...

As of May 30th, I resigned from my old job at Continental (formerly Motorola) after 6 years. I accepted a position with SCJ and their electrical devices group. SCJ is a great place to work, and I've definitely seen how well they treat Janine. I've also been impressed with the direction of their innovation and development and how they pursue those ideas. Leaving my old job was not an easy decision - especially how much and how quickly I grew in my position - but the move will be good for me, Janine, and our future family plans.

Those are the major news stories from the past weeks. I know I haven't been around here for a while, but this was too juicy to not post about.