Beloved Wagon Maker

The other day Michelle and I were talking about baby names and discussing some of the names that she and John had thought about for their upcoming child. Well after discussing the meanings of some, I got to thinking, I wonder what my name means. Well, I already knew what David meant, but what about Wayne? Well, it turns out that my parents named me Beloved Wagon Maker, I guess I chose the wrong profession. Well, things could be worse. What do your names mean? Later, David

Forgotten

Well, I came in here tonight, and thought, I ought to check out people's blogs. Then it dawned on me that I've been so wrapped up with other things recently that I've forgotten all about blogs for the past few days. Oops. So, what's been keeping me so busy recently, well, I've undertaken a redesign of University Church's website. Well, it's not so much of a redesign, but rebuilding the page and making it content generated, and building a backend content management system for it. So, I've been plugging away at converting the page from it's table structure to a CSS based structure before I start to make it dynamic. Check out what I have done so far. Basically I have the layout almost completed, and then I'll convert it to php and then build the backend. So anyhow, I'm tired, and I'm going to go to bed now. Sorry for the neglect. Later, David

HP Sucks!

I assure you, this is not going to become habit of picking out companies that drive me nuts, but this story is to good not to share. As many of you know I run a side business doing general computer repair, webdesign, really anything that needs to be done. Well recently I was contacted by a lady who was having problems with her printer. Some of you may remember my previous post regarding this same printer. Well, here's what I ended up finding out. After I had torn apart the printer so that I could repair the disconnected ribbon cable from the carriage, I put it back together so that I could then diagnose the problem. Well, I had a few LED's that were blinking so I go to the owners manual to see what it says about that. Nothing. I go online to the HP site, nothing. So after doing some more searching using Google, I've found enough people with this same problem that I'm thoroughly convinced that the printer is a piece of crap and needs to be thrown away. Well, as last resort I contact HP via their online chat support. After chatting with a technician (Rock) we determine that the printer cannot be repaired, and is out of warranty. However, because this is a known issue with the printer HP is doing a product replacement for people with this model of printer, very cool. Rock takes my information and assures me that I'll be receiving a new printer in 7 - 10 business days. Well, 10 days expired on Monday and I still don't have a printer. So I contact HP via online chat support to find out the status of the replacement. After a few minutes of dialog I'm informed my the technician (Jane) that the original replacement request was canceled because there was a problem with some incorrect information having been entered. I ask if it's on my part, or the technician...no answer. Jane asks me to re-enter my information and she's going to process the replacement taking great care to do it correctly and I should receive a new product in 5 to 7 days. I ask Jane why I wasn't contacted when the original replacement was canceled, and was told that they couldn't contact me because my e-mail had been entered in with an unnecessary space. So I asked why they didn't contact my the alternate methods they had (phone and snail mail) only to receive the explanation that they couldn't call me because there wasn't a date and time specified that they could call me. Anyhow, it doesn't sound like things will be any different as I was asked to contact them again if the printer hasn't arrived within 10 days. So, I'll be contacting HP every day to check the status until I receive the replacement printer. I'll keep you all informed. Later, David

Paypal Sucks! | |

Well, yesterday ended up being a day full of surprises. I found out that I won't be going to Vermont this weekend, which is ok with me. I'm going to get to stay home and play with Erin. Also, yesterday was a monumental day, I received my first donation to the "David Needs A New Guitar" fund. I'd like to thank Dunley for his gracious donation of $0.05. Now, on to the reason for the title on my blog. As I saw that I had received a donation, I decided to check and see how much it was for. The notification e-mail didn't say. Upon logging into PayPal it says my balance is $0.00. My first thought was that the payment was pending some action of mine, but then I notice that the payment shows up as completed in my list of entries on the main page. I start wondering if maybe I had been in the negative by $0.05 and that now it was showing that I didn't owe anything... NOPE! PayPal charged me $0.05 for their cut of my donation. Thanks a lot PayPal, taking a 100% fee on my money. I give up. Anyhow, I should go. Later, David

X

Tired

Well, after reading e-mail, checking everyone else's blogs, and helping my wife upload pictures to her blog, I've finally decided to call it a night, but first, I need to blog on my site. Today has been an interesting day. I got to do some interesting stuff at work, as well as find out that I'm not getting the laptop I originally thought I was getting, and finding out that I might get sent to Vermont for a few days to assist in a new install training. It's all cool though. Well, it was a fun night at Phat Tuesday, I had a blast working and brain storming with Sean about the Ministry Center, and our little trip down webdesign memory lane. Well, I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open because my contacts are drying out, so I'm out of here. Later, David

Nothing New

Well, I don't really have much of anything new to add today. I went to work yesterday, and then spent some time with Sarah and Erin. Yesterday was such a beautiful day, so we got to play outside. I think that Erin had really missed doing that. I wasn't around for it, but I'm told she got to play with the neighbor's 7 week old puppies. We'll see if Sarah blogs about it or not. Well, I'm not going to bore you with my droning on about nothing. If you're in the Lawrence area, be sure to come to Phat Tuesday tonight. I may be late, I doing some pro bono work on my way home. It's all good though, this one is good for references. Later, David

Sorry

Well, I had written an entry last night, however Blogger seemed to be acting up, and apparently didn't post it. Oh well, I didn't really have to much to say. I'm getting frustrated with my acoustic guitar recently. At church Sunday night, I broke my A string. This in itself wouldn't concern me, but until recently the last string I broke was back in 1999 (sorry Julie). So, for the past 5 years I haven't broken a string on my guitar. Well, this year is full of changes, not even finished with the first month of 2005 and I've already busted 4 strings on my guitar. A=2 D=1 G=1, I'm really getting tired of this. Well, I need to get a new set of strings, and see if I continue to have problems or not, if I do, I think I'm going to need to put my guitar in the shop and have them take a look at it. Well, as I'm at work once again, I should cut this short. So with that, I'm out of here. Later, David

Break

Well, I sure haven't been doing much good keeping up with posting on my blog. It's only been two days and I'm already hearing about it... I guess this place is more popular than I thought. Well, the weekend wasn't too bad. It seems I was a single dad most of the weekend. As Sarah spent a good portion of Saturday at MK stuff, and then I spent about three hours at work that night. Today was pretty uneventfull, with the exception of church tonight. On the second to last song, I busted a string, so we cut the music time short. It's weird, Up until recently the last string I broke was on a guitar my Freshman year of college (1998 - 99). Sorry Julie. Now, the number of broken in 2005 is aready up to 4! I'm begining to questions if there is something wrong with my guitar. Well, tomorrow is business casual again, yuch! Well, I'm not going to drone on, I'm kind of tired and want to call it a night, I just thought before I get into to much trouble I should probably post a message. Hope everyone is doing well. Later, David P.S. - I couldn't get spell check to work tonight, so if there are typo's, live with it!

Weekend!

Well, it seems that this week hasn't been the best week for me in regards to posting on a regular basis. I've been rather busy at work, and the evening have just been a time for me to crash. Hopefully things will be a little slower and I'll be able to keep up with it all. I saw that Sarah informed everyone on her blog that I was making some Pecan Brittle. It turned our pretty good. I had to lower my standards and very away from the recipe I was using because I didn't have enough corn syrup, so I did half corn syrup and half maple syrup. I actually think the maple and the pecan flavors blend really well. I would still like to try it again with only corn syrup and see what I think. Well, I'm so ready for this weekend, I've not really wanted to be at work recently so the weekend will help me recoup from it all. Anyhow, speaking of work, since I'm here right now, I probably ought to be working instead of blogging. Later, David

Short, Sweet, and To The Point

I don't really have much to say. I had another busy day, and it seems that this week isn't planning on slowing down. Not even for the weekend. I have already done 3 installs this week, and have two more, 1 tomorrow, and 1 Friday. Then, I have in install to certify on Saturday. Well, it's kind of late, I'm kind of tired, and I'm wanting to go to bed. So, with that I'm off. Later, David

XX

Long Awaited

Well, I had mentioned last night that I was zapped and would recap yesterday today. So, where to start. As many of you know for the past three weeks or so, We've been preparing for yesterday's Sunday Morning service at Lawrence First Church. It was a very exciting and nervous time for everyone. We were going to do a service that was very different than anything they had seen before. This included rearranging the auditorium, moving the stage, changing the style of music, everything... It was great. Despite having to show up at 8:15 to practice, I was jazzed. We got in and practiced, we practiced the special music first. The song we used for special music was evanescence - Bring Me To Life. For those of you that don't know the song, it's heavy distortion, awesome vocals, some rapping, and just all around a cool song. Well, by 8:45 we had already received our first complaint, but we continued on. The service was awesome. We talked about the "Kingdom of God" and how it is here, and represented by community. The music focused mainly on missions and community, and everything melded together perfectly. After the service we didn't receive a single complaint, but many, many praises. I honestly believe that God was at work yesterday because of our hearts being in the right place. Needless to say, not only was it good for the church, but everyone at University Church is stoked to get this semester under way. Well, on to today. Today wasn't to bad of a day. Work was about the same as usual, I did receive some new computers and monitors, none of which stay at my desk, but I will get a trickle down machine. Yeah! Well, my evening consisted of playing my guitar, searching for bands online, and eating. Anyhow, I'm getting kind of tired, so I'm going to wrap this up. I hope everyone is doing fine. Later, David

Exhausted

Well, it's 10:50 PM and I think the day has just caught up with me. I was stoked a bit earlier, and really would like to write about my day, but I sat down at the computer and checked for new entries on my friends/families blogs. And now I've come to the point where I would like to write mine, and I'm zapped. So, I'm off to bed after having a wonderful day. Maybe I'll post about it tomorrow. Later, David

Good Nights Sleep

For anyone who monitors my posting habits you may notice this one falls a little earlier in the evening than most. Well, I needing to get some rest tonight. Tomorrow is the big day at church. We had our final practice today, and things are really sounding good. Well, I've been trying to figure out what I wanted to spend my Christmas money on, and had finally figured out what I wanted. I just needed to schedule an appointment to go and have this tattoo done. Well, at least one person (Mom) will be glad to find out that I spent the money (and a little extra) on a new electric guitar. Now, for those of you who had not yet donated to the "David Needs A New Guitar" fund, I still need money to help cover the full cost, so don't let the fact that I have the new one discourage you from donating (PayPal link available on sidebar). For anyone interested in the current status of the fund, total donations of $0.00 have been donated. I'd like to personally thank each and every one of you who have helped to make this dream of mine become a reality. Anyhow, I'm going to head off, I hope everyone is doing well. Later, David

Late Night

Well, it's 1:00 AM here, and I still have stuff that I need to get done tonight, but I thought I had better do some blogging tonight before I get started. I know, I know, one of these days my procrastination is going to get the best of me. Well, I had another busy day at work, but I like those a lot better than the days that I don't have much to do. Now if I were back at the Union I wouldn't be saying that because on slow days you could just hang out and chat with people. Anyhow, those were the good ol' days. The next section of my post needs a bit of a disclaimer, I was reading on Krista's (my sister) Blog tonight about the saga of her blue office chair, you should check it out before continuing. Ok, you're back, This story reminded me of a video that Krista sent me a while back so...Krista, remember, it could be worse... Well folks, that all for tonight, I hope you have enjoyed.

Later,

David

NOTE: Due to the video above being linked to from various websites around the world, I have decided that as of 02/28/2005 this video will be removed from my webserver. If you would like to see it, or get a copy of it, please leave me a comment and I'll see what I can do to hook you up.

Tired

Well, I didn't get a post done last night. I sat down at the computer to do one, then decided I wanted to play PS2 for a little bit. Found Sarah and Erin watching Shreck 2 so I went down stairs. Well, to make a long story short, Sarah woke me up from the couch to come upstairs and go to bed. So, at that point I didn't much feel like blogging. I think I was just worn our from my day. I was at work from 7:30 AM - 6:00 PM and then had Worship Team practice from 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM. I had a lot of fun, after we finished practicing (around 9) we hung out, played some basketball, and started setting up the Sanctuary for church on Sunday. Once again, everyone needs to be there, it will be very different, yet very cool. Anyhow, I need to go, so I can get my day started. Later, David

The Bloggers

Well, I'm thinking of trying to get my parents to change our last name from Rahija to Blogger. I have an additional two family members that have started their own blogs. Everyone, check out Krista and Michelle's blogs. They are both my older sisters. Now the only people left to start are Erin (my daughter), and my parents. Well, today was a rather busy day at work. I did a conversion for a company in Indiana, and I had restore to do for another in Nebraska. Mixed in among those were just other issues that I had to catch up on. Hopefully I can get caught up with things before I get bombarded again. I felt rather productive at work today, after work this evening, well, that's a different story. I came home and watched family feud for a while. It seems that we flipped through channels for a while. Watched the Jayhawks beat Iowa State, and then played Need For Speed Underground for a while. I guess we need days like this sometimes. I did manage yesterday to get the garage straightened up. I have a box of computer parts that I need to go through so if you need any computer parts, please let me know and I'll see what I can come up with. Also, if anyone has an old GeForce 2 card laying around I could really use one to test with. Well, it appears this post is getting rather lengthy so I'm going to cut it off. Later, David

New Community Member

Well, it's official, Sarah (my wife) now has her own blog. Be sure to check it out and leave her feedback about it. Just don't make the feedback things to change on a technical note, because that means more work for me... No, I'm willing to do some stuff for her, for instance, I would assume that she might want to link to friend's blogs, I'd be willing to set that up for her. Well, I didn't go to work today, I woke up this morning with a bad migraine, and couldn't think straight. So I pretty much slept the day away. I did get to feeling better later, so I was able to go to Phat Tuesday's. It was good to get out. I was getting a bit stir crazy from being in the house so much recently. Well, it is getting late, so I need to go to bed. Later, dAvid

Deskjet Repair

I want to start off tonight's post asking you all for help. Please, in the future, if I ever start talking about doing repairs on a HP Deskjet Printer, or any printer for that matter, send me a link back to these two pictures. 1 2 Sorry for the picture quality, I think my wife has the digital camera with her, so the pictures above were taken using my Palm Pilot. Speaking of my wife. I've been wanting to get a picture of her posted on my blog. I actually took some a few nights back, but haven't ever bothered to get them loaded up, anyhow, I found this one tonight so I thought I would post it. Isn't she beautiful! Anyhow, not much else to talk about, I'm ready for Friday already. Oh, by the way, anyone who thinks that Sarah should get a blog, send her an e-mail telling her so. Later, David

Nothing

Well, there isn't really anything new to report tonight. I didn't really do much today. I watched the KU Game, and played some Playstation, and that's about it. I do have a picture for you. After much anticipation, John has sent me the picture of the Steg-O-Taurus. Sorry for the bad picture quality, it was dark outside. Any guesses where we ate? Anyhow, I'm going to leave it short. It's getting late, and Erin's back out of her bed, again... Later, David

The Crystal Method

Well, today was a good day. I started out the day working on music for Jan. 16th. Went and practiced at the church for a few hours and I feel that things are really coming together. I'm excited about most of it. Still some work to do on one of the songs. Well, I bought a new CD tonight. I got the CD "Legion of Boom" by The Crystal Method. It's is a cool CD. Especially if you like the whole Electric/Hardcore mix, similar to Rage Against The Machine. Well, my next bit of news is rather sad. the Steg-O-Taurus did't make it through the day. It lasted while we did some running around in Lawrence this morning/afternoon, but on the way home, it began falling apart. Still no picture yet... Anyhow. It's getting late, so I need to be heading off. Enjoy the links. Later, David

Steg-O-Taurus

Ok, so we're leaving Chili's tonight, and as we drive past the front door, I see a set of parents with several kids pointing and laughing at us as we drive away...What's up with that? Maybe it's because John and I converted the car into a Steg-O-Taurus. With all the ice and snow, there was a nice layer still lingering on top of the car. So we broke off triangle pieces and stuck them in the top of the car to form a ridge or plates down the center. It certainly did get some funny looks, but oh well. That's why I do it. John snapped a picture and was going to e-mail it to me, but that didn't happen, so I'll have to post the picture here when I get it. If the ice doesn't melt off the car in the next few days, keep your eyes pealed and you just may see the Steg-O-Taurus driving around Lawrence. Later, David

Disability

Can I claim disability if I hurt my hand while scraping ice off of my car this morning. My hand is so sore. And to make matters worse, Sarah made me scrape the ice off of here car when I got home. No, she didn't ask me to, I just did it on my own. I think I have a thing for pain. I'm kind of weird, but who reading this doesn't already know that. Well, I had a good day at work today. I got some price quotes from Dell and am going to be ordering some killer equipment. Sweet, now if only it were for me. Although, I am going to get a company issued laptop out of the deal, just not one of the new ones. Well, my goal for tonight, is to be in bed by 12:00 AM. I missed that goal last night by not going to bed until around 3:45 AM. Gosh, I hate getting up for work at 6:00 AM. Well, tonight should be different. I have a service call to make after work tomorrow! Yeah, a little bit of side money, that's always nice. I need to pay my bills. Well, I feel like this post is turning into rambling so I think I'm going to wrap it up. I need to get back on the ball with things and get some more links to post. Just haven't run across anything that I find weird or interesting and don't want to just post anything. That's way to time consuming. So with that, I'm off. Until Next Time, David

Title Intentionally Left Blank

Well, it's another day, without much eventful happening. I did end up working from home which wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. I started my day about the same time I would if I had driven to work, and quit about the same time too. I still don't like working, at what age can I retire? Well, I guess it's not to bad, but I'm not sure this is where I am supposed to be. I have to many ideas that I toss around, and not enough time to sort them all out. Well, I sitting here trying to think of something to write, and not really coming up with much so I'm going to end it. Later, David

Ice

Well, we're getting some ice on the ground here. Actually, we've been getting it most of the evening. I don't think I'm going to be going to work in the morning. We'll have to see how the conditions are, but, never fear for they set me up with VPN access so I can work from home! I'm not sure if that's something to be excited about or not. I don't mind it as long as I'm supposed to be at work, but it's expectations that I'll be working in the evenings and weekends. Here is my official stance on that. I am paid to work from 7:30 AM - 4:30 PM. I recognize that in my line of work there are occasions that I will have to work outside of those hours, but anytime outside of those hours are not mine, but my families. Anyhow, just my rants for today. I need to go take my contacts out, drink some more water because I've been eating peanuts and my mouth/throat is dry, and do a little prep work for Worship on the 16th. So... Later, David

Uhm...

Well, the day is winding down, and I don't really feel much like writing. So I'm just going to post you with a picture of Erin that I took today. Enjoy. Later, David

Holidays Close

Well, the end has arrived. Although I love the holidays, I also can honestly say that I'm glad to seem them done with. I will however miss the work schedule. I was kind of enjoying only working 3-4 days a week. Well, our company has gone, I had an awesome visit with them. Matt and I got to catch up, all while playing Need For Speed Underground. Matt also helped me move my Jeep from Dad's shop to my garage. Yeah! If everything goes as planned I'm going to get working on it soon. I realized that my garage isn't nearly as big as I thought it was, so the garage is fairly full now, lots of stacking. I'll need to rearrange it again soon. I've already done a once over on the stuff that is in the tub of the Jeep and done a preliminary sort. Still much sorting to do. Anyhow, I'm hoping now that the holidays are over I'll be able to get back to my nightly post. I know not many people are reading this, but I think it does me good to semi journal about my day. Thanks to you all for indulging me. Later, David