Carl Bliss

This is it once again!

Christmas and the New Year are here. I am planning on working all but the sanctioned holiday’s this week and next, but I am also looking forward to the family trickling in over the next few days.

We have a full house with my parents, my mother-in-law and one of my brothers all taking their rooms, but I REALLY enjoy having family around. It is funny to think of how the festivities of Christmas have changed for me over the years.

Now that I am a parent, I am more excited to watch my kids open their gifts, than I am to open mine. Additionally, I am more excited to spend Christmas Day, not playing with my gifts, but playing with my family. I love the endless supply of Cookies, Coffee and Board games that make up Christmas Day around our house.

I KNOW! That is not what Christmas is all about. I will certainly mention the purpose behind the celebration as we get closer to Christmas, but for now I am looking forward to time well spent with family

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As for work? I am enjoying a day where there are not many people on site. This week and next are expected to be pretty busy around here as people take time off and burn vacation time before the end of the year.

I love being in the office when it is empty. I am really able to catch up on some things. If I meet my goals, I will enter the new year with a completely reorganized office.

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Sports

Only one thing to say… NFL.. NFC North… NO ONE deserves to see the post season.

Merry Christmas!

I have been having a blast with a web project this past year, and it is almost ready to launch.

A few years ago, I put a rather simple site together for church, and it met their needs. Their needs, however, have grown. Additionally, the amount of time I can commit to keeping their site up to date has decreased.

This week, we launch a brand new site with a more robust navigation structure. In addition, I am running the site out of a MySql database, with a PHP written Content Management System (CMS). That will allow the church staff to keep the site up to date, and create and edit content, without having to call me and wait 3 weeks for me to get to it!

The CMS I am using is a rather well put together one available at http://scripts.dbmasters.net/

Eliminating the “flat-file” system also allows us to propogate content in multiple locations on the site, without having to rewrite it every time.

It launches October 4th, but (as a special offer for my blog visitors), you can see it early at: http://www.hopechurchoakdale.com/index.php

My oldest daugter is an early riser. No fail, between 6:30 and 7:00 every morning, we see her. On many days, she just shoves her mother over a bit and crawls in next to her. If I am still at home, that usually forces me out of the bed and on with my day.

My favorite mornings, however, are the mornings where she follows me around as I get ready. This morning was one of those mornings. As I shaved and prepped for the day, she and I were trying to come up with things she has that begin with the letter “b” (she has to bring a “b” thing for show-and-tell next week). Yesteday was “a” day, and she decided (entirely on her own) to bring “Alabama”! Because “Alabama starts with an “A”!

She found her puzzle of the U.S. and brought the Alabama piece.

OK… That was yesterday… back to today…

I try to make an effort to tell all three of my ladies that I love them, on a daily basis. I did so to “number 1” as I made my breakfast. She looked at me, with a serious glare and said, “Dad, I love you and Mom as high as the numbers can go… (pause) with Jesus on top!”

That meant a lot to me. Not that she loves me that much, because I know that, to a 4 year old, I am still pretty much at the center of the universe. What really meant a lot is that Jesus is also placed in the center of her universe, as something that she percieves as being great.

I became a true geek this morning.

I got my own GMail account!

cebliss@gmail.com

I am on night 2 of my 3 day “midwest tour”. I have been doing some training for “the company” so I met with our Madison staff yesterday. I spent the night with Mom and Dad in Pecatonica. That was nice, since it hasn’t been just the 3 of us in 26 years (smile).

This morning I drove to our Waterloo station and saw an area of the midwest I had never seen before. Highway 20 between Rockford and Dubuque is some beautiful country. The area around Galena has some beautiful hills and scenic overlooks. Once I hit the Mississippi, it really changed.

Contrary to popular belief, Iowa has some beautiful country. Just not on Highway 20 between Illinois and I-35. I saw a lot of corn.

I am staying in Des Moines tonight, and head for home after my meeting tomorrow.

Whoops. I can’t find my login information for this blog. It looks like I will not be able to post anything today. Hopefully I will find it by tomorrow

CB

Be careful what you say about people you don’t think are watching.

I did a random web-search on my company name. As the chief web guy at work, I have taken that on as my unofficial responsibility. I like to see where else our brand is being mentioned on the web. Usually it is just fine.

Most of the time I find it on a church website with links to other local minstries. That’s cool. We like that.

Last night, however, I found it mentioned a few times on someone’s blog. There was nothing too bad really. But as I read on, I realized this was one of my co-workers. I have only met this guy once. He tends to work late nights on the weekend. But there were comments about how boring the overnight is, how the music is putting him to sleep, how the morning guy plays his music too loud, and things like that.

What makes it funny is that he is probably blogging with the same intentions I am. Just as a place for family and friends to catch up on what is going on in his life. I am sure he didn’t plan on having a coworker “stumble” on the site.

I think it will be a while before I say anything. I think I will have a little fun with it.

But that is why, from here on out, you will always here me refer to my place of employment as “the company”.

CB

I decided to try running. Not a lot at first, but enought for me to have something to work off of. I am putting in about 3/4 of a mile running and 1/4 walking it off, each night.

I would love to be able to work up to a 5k by next summer, but who knows what the winter will look like.

My neighbor said running, to him, is like breathing. To me it is the opposite. Running, for me, does everything it can to keep me from breathing.

When I lift weights, I try to add a little each time to make me stronger. Running, if it works as it should, will do the opposite. I should be taking a little weight off each time.

Ask me, in a few months, if I am still doing it.

It has been a busy few weeks with preparation for the Twin Cities festival. Now that I have more time, I am hoping to pick up these musings again!.

July was busy, but I am hoping to relax a bit more in August. I only have 2 out of town trips to make. Other than that, I should actually get to see my family again!

Nice!

It has been a week or so since my last post, but that is because I am in the middle of vacation. I didn’t go anywhere fun, but I have been able to spend some well needed time at home. I have been able to sleep in (as much as my 4 and 2 year olds allow) and have been able to catch up on a little bit of house work.

I took the girls to the zoo today, so mommy could have some time off.

Friday, we go to Illinois for a family wedding.

Hey, if you happen to be my oldest sister and her new husband, feel free to comment, we would love to know if you survived the trip to North Carolina!

CB