Going Camping

We are leaving for our first Texas camping trip today. We are going to Pedernales Falls State Park which is about three hours south of Austin, west of San Antonio. It's suppose to be one of the higher rated parks. Here's a link to some photos of it on Flickr (I hope to add my own soon).

This is also the first time we are bringing our dog, Hunny camping. This should be interesting. Check back next week for some photos and video.

-Bob

Happy Halloween

Well, we had a good Halloween this year in Texas. Matt was "Jason", Sarah was a "glam witch" and Emily was her favorite Disney character, Tinkerbell.

I have learned something. As in football, Texans seem to have a lot of enthusiasm and spirit for Holidays as well (I know, technically Halloween is not a "Holiday"). The neighborhood we did trick or treating in had many houses that were decorated for the evening. Several went way over the top with dry ice, fog machines, scary inflatables, etc... In the neighborhood where Sarah's school is, they even had a "Haunted Trail". The HOA put it on with neighborhood kids dressed up in scary costumes putting on an outside haunted house in one of the nature preserve trails that winds through the neighborhood. It was Matt's first experience of a scary haunted house. He thought it was cool!

Long Awaited Update

I am sure that there are hundreds of you who have been on the edge of your seat waiting for an update from me. Well, your long agonizing wait is over!

Unfortunately the reason I have not posted much lately is because there isn't much to tell. Our home in Florida has been on the market six months so far, and we have yet to have any bites. We hired a friend who is a photographer to go in and take "Better Homes and Garden" type photos of the place to see if that gives us an edge. We will see. You can check them out HERE

The kids are gearing up for the annual candy collecting activities tonight. One of Christie's new friends from church have invited us over to do Trick of Treat with them in their neighborhood. They have a four year old that is friends with Emily. This is a big relief, because our original plan was to crash one of the more affluent neighborhoods and try to score some better candy that way. As the Holidays approach, we really miss living in a house.



The kids are doing well in their schools, and making friends. Except for the housing situation, we are starting to settle in. We even have Texas plates on the cars!

Check back again soon, I promise not to go so long without an update!

-Bob

Gone To The Dogs

We found a very cool place this weekend to take our dog, Hunny. It's called Bull Creek Park in North Austin. Check out some video HERE.

It's a park on a creek that is open leash, meaning Hunny can run around anywhere she wants to go. We soon realized that after years of being an indoor pet, she needs to come here more often and learn how to be a dog. It took her a while to get enough courage to jump into the creek (for a lab, that's shameful!). Austin has about ten other off leash parks around the city, so we have a lot more exploring to do.

Back to School

Well, Matt and Sarah started their new schools this week. This was one of the milestones that made me the most nervous about uprooting my family and moving to Texas. It turns out that they both love their new schools!



Matt is starting middle school, which in itself is a big step. His school is fairly new (opened in 2004) and has all of the latest technology. He started band class and was assigned to play Trumpet. He likes all of his teachers and already made a few friends.



Sarah has started her new school, which really is a NEW school. This is the very first year it opened. She also likes her teacher, and loves not being in a portable any more. It's located right in the neighborhood that we hope to purchase/build a house in (if we ever sell ours in Florida).

It was a big relief that they both are happy and making friends. Next week, Emily starts her school at our new church. Hopefully things will go just as smooth.

Pictures from the move

I uploaded some of the pictures of the move to our Flickr account HERE. I will add to them as we take more.

-Bob

The Long and Winding (and bumpy) Road

We made it to Austin. It was an eventful trip. I flew back to Florida last Tuesday night and spent Wednesday doing last minute tasks such as oil changes, errands to Lowes, and some last minute packing and dismantling. Thursday morning was a rainy day when we picked up the moving truck. This thing was HUGE! It was quite a challenge learning to drive a 26' truck on Hillsborough Ave in the pouring rain. We spent the rest of the day dodging rain drops as we loaded the truck. We finished around 5pm. Friday morning was spent loading the van, and getting the house cleaned up. At around 4:30 p.m. Friday we departed. We stopped in Gainesville for some dinner at Boston Market and a fuel fill-up (the first of many). While I mostly drove the truck, both Christin and her mom took turns driving it. We could not have made it without her mom's help! We then drove through the night until we finally stopped at a Cracker Barrel in Baton Rouge at around 5:30 a.m. Saturday. We slept in the parking lot for about 2 hours and then had breakfast. Along the way, we ran into more rain, and heavy traffic especially going through Houston. We finally made it to the apartment in Austin at 5:30 p.m. (1200 miles and 26 hours after we left). The next day (Sunday) we unloaded the truck into our one car garage at the apartment complex, as well as a 10x10 off-site storage unit.

Stay tuned for more updates and some pictures once I upload them.

-Bob

The final lap

This week, I start the final lap of our adventure of moving to Texas. For over three months, I have only seen my family for a little more than three weeks. Christin has had to endure the troubles of packing the house by herself, keep the house clean for showings that never seem to yield any offers, in addition to keeping three kids busy during summer. This Tuesday, I fly back to Florida (I'm trying not to call it "home" anymore) to finish the packing, load everything on a big truck, and drive my family "home" to a small apartment in Texas. We still have a very long road ahead of us even after we arrive in Austin, but to me this is the final lap of the family being separated. No matter what gets thrown our way, we will be Ok because we will be together.

Our plan is to drive through the night none stop. It will be exhausting, but the kids will be sleeping through most of it and we will be getting the hard part over as soon as possible. There will be time to rest later. Please keep us in your prayers as we make this late night trek across the country.

-Bob

Back in one piece

I finally got my car back from the body shop. By the end of it, there was over $6K in repairs needed! I am grateful that the damage was not fatal for me or my car. As you can see, it's good as new (except maybe a little shinier in places).

Texas Sky

The sky last night was very unusual. I had to take a picture of it!

Austin Visit

I haven't posted in a while because I was busy enjoying time with Christie and the kids. They came out here last week for a visit. We ate at some good restaurants, did some outlet mall shopping, and also went swimming a whole bunch! We went to a huge water park about an hour south of here named Schlitterbahn. It's 65 acres of pools and tubing on the Comal river.

We also did some "work". We decided to hold off going under contract to build our house because of some change in policy regarding deposits. We still hope to build on the lot we picked, but may wait to do that. In the mean time, we (by "we" I mean Christie) found a better apartment in the school zone we wanted, near where we want to buy a house. It will make things much easier. The kids are excited about coming, which was one of the mail goals of the trip.

On August 12, I fly back to Florida for the last time as a Floridian. I will be helping in the final stages of packing, and the family will be driving to Austin to stay.

Whack!!!

I just got the estimate for repairs to my car. Apparently it took a bigger hit that we thought! They are now estimating repairs at over $6500!!! I guess when I smacked the guard rail, I damaged the engine cradle. It looks like the family will have to settle for cruising Central Texas in my little VW rental car...

When in Austin, do as Lance Armstrong does...

While in Super Target yesterday, I finally saw that they had the bikes I have been interested in. Target.com had them, but I wanted to pick them up in a store instead since I have no tools to put it together. Anyway, below are some pictures. After the family moves here (with the kid's bikes and the bike rack), we hope to hit some easy trails.

Christin's Bike:


Bob's Bike:

Just an Accident

Well, Sunday night was exciting! I was driving to the airport to pick up my friend and got into a car accident. First off, no one was hurt so you can all breathe easy. I was driving south on Highway 183 in the left lane when another car decided it wanted to occupy the same space my car was. It started coming into my lane. I swerved to avoid it and started to spin. If you have ever seen the movie "Cars", then you know what I'm talking about (except Lightning McQueen actually regained control). I hit the guard rail with my front end. The other driver was nice enough to stop and see if I was Ok. Amazingly enough, my car was not too badly damaged. The front bumper absorbed most of the impact. In fact my air bag didn't even go off! After bungee cording the hood closed, I made my way home. The car still had perfect alignment and ran just as quite and comfortable as always. Pictures? Of course (Diane, if you are reading this, please don't look what I did to your car).

It could have been a lot worse, so I am grateful for that. The car will soon be repaired and better than before (I never could get those bugs off my bumper and hood). I was no worse for the experience, and I have a rental car to play with for a few days!

Moving Forward with Faith

This past Saturday, we made our first move toward building our new home by putting some money down to hold a lot. We haven't sold our house in Florida yet, thus the title of this post. So far everything else has turned out for the best, as if it is all part of God's plan for us. We are therefore taking the next step as a leap of faith that the house will sell, and everything will work out Ok. You can see pictures of the lot and surrounding streets here. It is exactly the lot we were looking for. It's on a quiet cauldhisac off the main road, and walking distance to the new elementary school that opens this August. It's a rather deep lot (between 150-200 ft) and has a good size oak tree in the back. Christin and I are starting to get excited now planning for our new home.

Holiday Recap

We spent the July 4th weekend with our friends, the Kotlabas (Scott, Sherry, Justin and Shane) in Bradenton, FL. We spent the day swimming in the gulf of Mexico on Anna Maria Island, and everyone had a great time. It was hard to say good bye realizing that it could be a year or more before we see each other again. On Sunday, we had a barbeque with some other friends which turned out to be a surprise "good bye" party (I'm still trying to figure out if they celebrating because we are leaving). It was hard saying good by to many more of our close friends wondering if we would ever see them again. I guess we need to make sure our new house as enough room for everyone to come visit!

Happy 4th of July!

Well, in a few hours I will be heading to the airport back to Florida. We will be spending the Holiday with our friends, the Kotlabas at Bradenton Beach. If I take any good photos, I'll post them when I get back next week.

-Bob

I went driving around today to take some pictures and do a little exploring. You can click the following link to see my Texas Landscapes set on Flickr. Here are some of my favorites.

Disney Video

I uploaded a short video of our recent trip to Disney's Coronado Springs Resort during my last trip back. The kids had a great time swimming, and Christin enjoyed not chasing after them to keep the house clean.

Link to video

-B

Photos

If you look to the right under "favorite links", you will see a link to my Texas photos on Flickr. Some are public, but you need to have a Flickr account and be marked as my "friend" or "family" to see the rest. It's free to create a Flickr account, so go for it!

-B

Back in Texas

Well, I'm back "home" from my visit with the family. I spent the last two weeks in Florida. I can definitely say that summer has started in Texas. It was over 100 degrees today, and apparently has been several times while I was away. People say "it's a dry heat" and to some extent that is true. 100+ degrees is HOT, I don't care who you are. However it isn't as miserably muggy as 95 degrees is in Florida. Right now, it's 85 outside. I just got back from taking Hunny for a walk (my yellow lab for those of you that don't know) and it actually was very pleasant.

Now that I have been able to get the photos off my camera, I am going to post them on Flickr and add some links here. Come back soon and take a look.

Homecoming

This Friday, I will be flying back to Florida to spend some much needed time with the family. We will be spending the first weekend at Disney (shhh! the kids don't know). No time in the theme parks, just enjoying the pool at the Coronado Springs resort, and seeing the Luau dinner show at the Polynesian Resort. I will be returning to Austin June 17th. My next trip to Florida after that is over the July 4th weekend.

Summer's Here

Well, it's getting hot now. It's 6:30 pm and my little thermometer on the patio says 95.2 in the shade. The car thermometer was reading 103 at around 5:30pm. If Texas is like an oven, Florida is like a sauna. The humidity today was only 33%, so even though it was HOT, it was not as sticky as Florida. In the evenings, the temperature drops quite a bit. I'll blog again late tonight or tomorrow and let y'all know what it gets down to.

(did you like my "y'all"? I'm reusing that one from Florida)

UPDATE: At 10:30pm, it's down to a chilly 84 degrees.

UPDATE #2 Wed 7:20am: Record highs yesterday, cloudy this morning with 80% humidity. 74 and breezy right now. It's supposed to be low 90's and rainy this weekend (Happy Memorial Day!!!)

Making Friends

This past Sunday, I was invited over to some new friend's house for barbeque. They moved from Safety Harbor (Florida) a few months ago, and their daughter went to school with Matt all through elementary school. We were put in contact with them through a mutual friend. They also have two dogs, so Hunny had a great time running around and getting to be a dog for a change. They had lunch from Rudy's, which I am coming to understand is the best local joint for bbq. Their new house is beautiful, and I love the area as well. It has a new middle school about two blocks away, and the elementary school is less than a mile away. This is good because the chances of getting re-zoned to another school are less. This is a big problem here since the area is growing so much so fast. So now we have yet another area to consider when our house finally sells.

I am sure I will be seeing them again, especially after the family gets out here.

A new purpose

I have decided to start blogging daily about my adventures in Texas. As many of you may know, I started a new career on May 1st working for Cisco Systems. I drove out to Texas while Christie and the kids stayed behind in Florida to finish out the school year, and hopefully get our house sold. I have been here two weeks now, and done quite a bit. Looking back, it's all kind of a blur, so I decided to log my adventures here. Hopefully it will be entertaining to look back someday and see where we've been.

better Tool Tips

By using only CSS, there is a cool trick that replaces the built-in Tool Tip that pops up when you hover over a link. Usually, the value of the title attribute is displayed as text-only in an ugly box.

Here's the CSS


/** css tooltips */
a.tip {
border-bottom: 1px dashed;
text-decoration: none;
}

a.tip:hover {
position: relative;
cursor: help;
}

a.tip span {
display: none;
}

a.tip:hover span {

display: block;
position: absolute; top: 10px; left: 0;

/* formatting only styles */
padding: 5px; margin: 10px; z-index: 100;
color:#000;
border: 1px dotted #c0c0c0;
text-decoration: none;
padding-right: 20px;
background: #f0f0f0 url(images/status-info.png) 100% 5% no-repeat;
filter:alpha(opacity=90);
-moz-opacity:.90;
opacity:.90;
/* background-color:#f0f0f0; */
width: 325px;
/* end formatting */
}
a.tip:hover span li {
list-style:none;
}
a.tip:hover table th
{
font-weight:bold;
text-align:right;
vertical-align:top;
}



And here is how you implement it in the HTML code. Any text (or HTML markup) between the tag appears in the pop-up box. This isn't actually a pop-up window, so it shouldn't be blocked by pop-up blockers.


My Displayed TextMy hidden tooltip text


Selecting an index in a DropDownList

VB.Net


DropDownList1.SelectedIndex = DropDownList1.Items.IndexOf(DropDownList1.Items.FindByValue())

'DropDownList1.SelectedIndex = DropDownList1.Items.IndexOf(DropDownList1.Items.FindByText())


I post this because I can never remember how to do this simple thing (happens a lot these days...)

Calculating date differences in T-SQL

In the past, I always used custom functions to calculate the differences between dates in MS-SQL (T-SQL) when I wanted the date part to be months or years. I came across a very simple way of doing it without a stored function call.

select dateadd(dd, -15,getdate())

Simple, huh?

The date part can be dd (day), mm (month) or yy (year). The next argument is the number of date parts to add or subtract. The third argument is the original date we are calculating the difference from. In the above example, we are using the getdate() function to use the current date and time.