westward expansion

Massive Road Trip, Part 2

2010-01-04T11:06:00.002-07:00

I realized that I had not completed my road trip post from last year, and in the spirit of finishing what I start, here is the rest of the story...

After we met up with my folks, we spent a few days with them, going to a reunion, seeing my grandmother on my mom's side, which was nice.

We headed to Altoona and spent a few really wonderful days with my Uncle Clayton, Aunt Barb, and cousin Caleb (who I hadn't seen since he was about 8, and who was just graduating from High School)

We helped prep for the coolest graduation party I've ever even heard of, got to see some elementary school teachers I hadn't seen in almost 30 years, and spent several days camping in their field and swimming in their pool.

Our kids really enjoyed the pool and the whole place was great.

From PA, we bee-lined it across West Virginia and ended up staying the night in southern Illinois at Lincoln Trail State Park.

That was only a one-night stop-over, and then we headed to Abilene, Kansas and spent the last few days of our trip with Nancy's extended family. The kids played with their cousins, we were able to visit with Nancy's sister and grandmother quite a bit which was nice.

Then we headed home to Colorado!

We hit a little weather on the way home (see the slide show from my previous trip post) but otherwise made it back with a TON of great memories and much closer as a family.

I can say now, 6+ months later, that this trip has had a really positive effect on our family. I think it was a bit of a turning point for me, shifting my primary focus from work to my family in real, tangible ways.

We're planning an even bigger trip for this summer, with our new camper. The big change will be that I will take time every couple of days to really check in and work, so things at the office continue to run smoothly. I'd love to be able to NOT work at all for the duration of the trip, but I think this will resolve some problems from last year's trip, primarily in the amount of catch-up that was needed once I returned.

I'll try and post more often here, now that the new year is upon us.

Thanks for reading!

Just for fun, a bit of irony

2009-08-06T10:10:00.002-07:00

Just received an email from our (office) landlord renewing our lease. I found the email a little ironic and thought I'd share:

Massive Road Trip

2009-06-18T13:01:00.002-07:00

This past Sunday night we returned from a 3-week cross country road trip.

About 2 months ago we bought a used Ford Conversion van in preparation for our trip. We put in around $1000 of repairs to get it trip ready, I wired a brake control module in so it could legally tow our camper and I did some maintenance on our camper because we were going to camp rather than stay in hotels.

Here is a link to a photo gallery of our trip. I am still going through it, and will be adding more photos and captioning, but there is a lot in here already.

We had planned on stopping in Nebraska and my cousins' ranch first for a Daharsh get-together, but the day we left they were exposed to Chicken Pox, so we opted to pass up the ranch and went straight to Ogallala, NE and camped our first night there.

Day 2 we drove to Des Moines, IA and camped at the Iowa state fair grounds overnight. Since our kids were out of school early, relatively few people were traveling, so for this and all the other places we camped we just showed up and didn't bother to make reservations. We had no trouble finding spots.

We spent a few days driving across Illinois and Wisconsin. We weren't able to see most of our friends, but we were able to catch a few folks along the way, including stopping by Studio North in Chicago, where I used to work. I saw all of the folks that were still there from when I worked there and was able to meet some of the new people I have worked with in recent months. Studio North is one of our clients so we stay in close contact with them.

From Chicago we buzzed rapidly across Indiana and camped in Sandusky, OH. This was the only rotten night of camping on the trip, as the bugs were horrible during set up, and there were trains running right by the KOA we stayed in. We were up early the next day and headed straight across PA, through New Jersey, around New York, across Conneticut and arrived in Westerly, RI around 10 PM local time.

My brother David and his family are in RI for the summer to try to start up some new vending operations for his employer, Jay Vending.

We popped up the camper in the driveway and spent the next week or so with them. During this time David and I did a lot of fishing at night and caught some incredible Striped Bass (also called Stripers or Rock Fish). This was one of the most fun fishing experiences of my life to this point. The fish were averaging 6-10 pounds and were a blast to try and land. David caught one 35.5 inches long. We didn't have a scale but I'd say it was in the 20 pound range.

While in RI, we spent most days on the beach at a state part, which the kids really enjoyed. We went to Newport twice, which was really cool. We could have spent a lot more time exploring, but we really wanted to spend time with family.
My other brother Andrew and his family joined us in RI near the end of our stay, and it was fun to have all the brothers and family together.

We headed out from RI and Nancy wanted to see the Statue of Liberty. We used Sprint's navigation feature to get us through New York, which went OK right up until we reached the Holland Tunnel and saw the sign saying no campers or propane. The cops immediately flagged us and pulled out a barricade to head us somewhere else. We were told to get to the Lincoln Tunnel and we could cross into New Jersey there. Our goal was to get to Liberty State Park which was the closest to the statue.

We spent another hour or so looking for the Lincoln tunnel, and once there ran into the same "No camper, no propane" sign. But the police had told me to go through previously, and there was no one there to stop us so we went through.

We spent another 2-3 hours lost in New Jersey because Sprint Navigation said that the State Park was right in the middle of some residential neighborhood.

Finally, after around 5 hours in the New York City Area we arrived at the state park and were able to see the statue at night, illuminated by spotlights. It was cold and rainy so we snapped a few pics and got out of there.

We drove late into the night until we finally stopped at a state park outside Chambersburg, PA. We met my parents the next day at my Uncle Mel and Aunt Shirley's house.

I'll continue the saga in a coming post...

Seriously?

2009-01-30T10:20:00.003-07:00

In my attempt to not alienate or exclude anyone, it is difficult to know when to remain silent and when to share my opinion. Yeah I just can't keep my mouth shut on this one. I tried.

Boing Boing's guest blogger nailed it: "No agency left behind" (I'm thinking about making tshirts)

To quote a WSJ opinion column "This is a political wonder that manages to spend money on just about every pent-up Democratic proposal of the last 40 years."

This bill is being proposed with exactly Zero GOP support. To the 46-47% of the country who didn't vote blue: Nancy Pelosi says "We won the election. We wrote the bill." (in other words, "Get Bent")

So much for bringing us together. How are any of us with any sanity supposed to support total B.S. like this? I feel like with one hand, we were boing sold "Hope, Change, Unity" and in the past week or so that hand keeps waving with a barrage of quick successes, keeping everyone looking at that hand.

Here comes the other hand.

Let's all put our brains back in our heads, stop looking for deliverance from a savior, and keep trying to do what we all can - work hard, make good financial decisions, help each other out. Meanwhile can we *try* to stop or at least slow the federal spending and encourage tax breaks? We can't spend our way out of financial crisis.

Let the comments fly and the Facebook un-friending commence.

Here are my political inclinations if you must know:

I do not affiliate myself with a political party.
I tend to be a financial conservative.
If I would have voted the way I wanted to in the last election I would have voted for Ron Paul.
I think the greatest value our nation has ever held is individual freedom and I hate (hate) big government and the idea that there is some group or an individual out there who is better and smarter than all of the rest of us; that can take care of us, protect us, meet all our needs and save us from ourselves.
I think legislation that promises equality always translates into a government with more power, a nation with fewer freedoms, and the only thing equal is that everyone has less.
I think that all people are created equal and in a free society all people have a chance to make whatever of their life they want.
I think we need not worry so much about those that have more, we should let greed and corruption bear their own fruit, similarly we should let generosity and responsibility bear their own fruit.

Fun view of our office

2008-11-26T00:25:00.003-07:00

The second floor, 2 windows that are visible is the west side of our office (moved in this summer)

View Larger Map

We have a great view and a good amount of space.

A view of the sunset from my desk:

Old Lady Ring Tones

2008-08-20T11:04:00.004-07:00

(Cross posted from my Facebook account)

WARNING: Some may be offended by this post, but if you are offended, it is probably important for you to read.

So this Sunday in church, an older woman sitting in front of me suddenly started rummaging through her purse looking for the cell phone that was the source of the sound that caused dozens of glances. She made the noise stop, then 3 or 4 minutes later the whole episode was repeated.

Several things struck me:

I was irritated that her phone wasn't silenced during a church service.
I was even more irritated that she didn't bother to turn off the phone after the first incident and that it happened again
The volume on the ring was extremely high
The ring tone had to be one of the most annoying musical ring tones a person could select
This has happened with a host of older women over the past few years. Not only in church, but in a number of different gatherings. It is not limited to older women, but it seems that the vast majority of these sorts of interruptions (loud annoying music playing as the ring tone on an un-silenced cell phone at a very inappropriate time) happen to older women.

Whether or not you are an older woman, if you are ever going to be in a situation where your cell phone ring would cause distraction, please follow this advice (least important to most important):

turn your cell phone ring volume down to a comfortable level
while musical ring tones may sound cute in theory, do you really want "when the saints go marching in" blasting from your purse or pocket during a church service? a wedding? a funeral? - select a simple, subtle ring tone that isn't a song. If you have to have a song, at least go for something soothing. Think of it in the terms your mother gave you as advice when you went off to college: "always wear clean underwear, in case you are in a car accident". I'll give you my version: if you are in a car accident and are knocked unconscoius, do you want the hospital staff to see you in your "super freak" battery-powered light-up musical thong?
set your phone to silent or at least vibrate if you have to have it on during interruptable activities.
if you don't have to have your phone on, turn it off, or better yet don't bring it.

Thanks for listening!

Mexico Mission

2008-08-03T22:25:00.002-07:00

Last week I went to Cabo San Lucas for the second time to help friends Kathy and Keith with a mission trip. I was on the operations team and lead worship.

Before the day started I would head to the beach to try and take some photos of the sunrise.

The days started with all the groups (7 groups in all, about 130 people) having breakfast over the pool in the restaurant. I led a short worship set each morning in the outdoor dining area.

Next I ran up the many flights of stairs to the lobby area where we prepped lunches and water for all the groups going out into the barrios surrounding Cabo to help with Kidsgames and compassion projects.

Once the groups were off, we went to Costco and Wal Mart and got all the supplies for the remainder of the day and the next morning. This generally took several hours.

Most of the days we would return and have enough time to make some cold gatorade for the returning groups and get some of the dinner items ready then I would set up on the beach for evening worship. Once the sound system was ready if I had time before dinner I would comb the beach looking for some of the spectacularly colored shells or take a dip in the pool.

After dinner everyone headed out onto the beach for an evening worship set which was great for everyone. I really enjoyed being able to lead worship on the beach with just a guitar - looking at the group with the Sea of Cortez in the background and the sunset glowing overhead.

I was invited and able to lead worship the first Sunday at the Cabo English Church, which was very enjoyable. I was warmly welcomed and everyone seemed to engage in the worship time.

One of the evenings was a free night and I was able to hang out with Kathy and Paul and their oldest 2 kids in downtown Cabo. We were invited to eat at Cascatas resort on the beach and had a great time enjoying a delicious meal.

We were able to go out and go see several of the sites where the teams were working with the local churches to connect kids from the community to some caring adult relationships that can be life changing as they are given an alternative to hanging out all day while their parents both work. The teams were all also working on compassion projects, helping the local churches complete work projects to add on, update or remodel their facilities.

The week was a whirlwind. I wish I could have spent more time visiting with Kathy and Keith, but I had a great time.

I am already planning on returning next summer, we'll see how it all plays out but I can't wait to get back.

Great week.

Pics on facebook, I'll try to post some here. you can see some in my flickr widget on this page or on my Flickr page.

Farewells

2008-06-26T10:04:00.002-07:00

This week several friends of ours are moving. It is strange that these friends - who are unconnected to one another except that we know each of them - would be leaving at the same time.

First is my friend John, shown here on the left (also shown are Bob, Roger and I, left to right)

John is an artist and we have become friends over the past several years as part of the life drawing group at our art coop in Fort Collins. I will miss our weekly conversations over a beer at Avo's, our occasional breakfast meetings and his general presence. He is moving back to England after 30-odd years here in the U.S. I now have a close friend in England that I plan on visiting as often as I am able.

Next, the Cunningham family, who we know from our church - and whose sons (Mike and Ryan) were both in the youth group while I was the youth pastor - are moving to Florida for Mark's new job. We love this family and have really enjoyed having them as part of our lives. Again, though - we plan on visiting as often as we can.

At this stage of my life I generally don't feel the deep sadness I have in the past over departing friends. I will miss John and the Cunningham's, but with technology where it is, staying in touch is so easy and it feels like I can carry on a constant conversation with friends I have met all over the world. The trick will be actually seeing these friends - email is no substitute for a handshake and a hug.

The ongoing tyranny of self-employment

2008-04-27T14:27:00.002-07:00

So this year marks 4 years in self-employment. To be accurate, in July I will have been employed for either myself or my company for 4 years.

I actually incorporated last summer, so I think technically I am no longer self-employed but am an employee of my corporation. I'm the CEO though, so I'll say I work for myself.

We had several large projects lined up for March. For different reasons both of these projects were put on hold by the client and we were left with little to do. I had to lay off one employee and everyone else went into really low hours mode. I shifted into full-time proposal writing and after a really slow March and April have emerged with a ton of work.

So now I'm very busy again. I am at work now (on a Sunday - just taking a break to update my blog). I've been working a lot with a very cool technology called Flex from Adobe. We had a bit of a rough go with a Flex project over the winter, but the work we are doing now is really solid and I am enjoying it a lot.

So here's the tyranny: it seems as if there is no consistent way to traffic the amount of work that comes in. We are either really slow and I am living with no paycheck so we can keep the business going, or we are buried and I am working all-nighters and Sundays to try to keep up.

Poor Nancy is very supportive but all this is really tough for her too. When I am slow she likes it because I am home and helping with the kids and working on the house, but money gets really tight.

When I am busy, we can eat out, but I am rarely around during the day and not often home to help with bed time.

I keep hoping that by investing in my employees I can create a team and a process that will somewhat insulate me from the wild swings - maybe we are still too small - but this doesn't seem to help much, or as much as I'd like.

We'll claw our way through the next several weeks and come out with some nice projects completed and some money in the bank, then we'll see what happens.

For those who know our family, we are all well. Emma is a bright, beautiful second-grader. Corben is a handsome, playful preschooler. Abby is as "two year old" as they come, but very sweet. Matthew is a very pleasant infant who makes us all smile. Nancy is working resource now (one day a week) and you can see what I'm up to.

I am still running the drawing class, and trying new media which is always fun. I've been playing a lot more guitar. I play in the church band and will be going with Sports Outreach (Kathy, Keith and hopefully Jill) back to Cabo where I will lead worship again this summer. Also this summer our whole family will be going to camp. I'll be a counsellor and photographer for the camp. Nancy will be the nurse and hopefully the kids can have a great time hanging out.

Leave a comment to say hi.

Another day of Matthew

2007-12-14T10:16:00.000-07:00

You can look at the link in my previous post to see more photos of Matthew if you want, but here is one in case there are any problem with Facebook.

Matthew Ryan Daharsh

2007-12-13T15:33:00.000-07:00

Nancy was scheduled to work yesterday but she was having some hard contractions the night before so she called in yesterday.

Her sister Sarah was planning on watching the kids yesterday while Nancy worked, so she came and ended up staying to help Nancy around the house a bit while I went to work.

I got a call from Sarah around 2 pm and she said that they were heading to the hospital and that I should meet them there.

I finished the call I was on when she called me, and headed to the hospital. I arrived at about 2:45.

Nancy and Sarah had arrived at the hospital at 2:36.

I walked in the room and things were in full swing. Almost right away Nancy's water broke and things went haywire.

Matthew Ryan Daharsh was born at 2:53 pm yesterday (December 12). He weighed 9 pounds exactly and was 21.25 inches long.

Here is a link to some photos.

Nancy and he are both well. The siblings have all met Matthew and I have had some good bonding time with him and Nancy.

End of November

2007-11-26T00:40:00.000-07:00

Real fast:

Having baby #4 in ~1 month
Had a great Thanksgiving holiday with family
Sold a domain for nice $$ - was fun and gave me more Christmas money than I had anticipated so I went a little nuts on family gifts on Black Friday
Have a new camera - am very exited
nearing completion on a large project
am facing some staffing challenges with the business
am anticipating stepping down from the interim youth pastor position at the end of the year, it's been nearly 2 years now since I started.
just put up the Christmas tree today with the family
miss friends as always

Thanks for popping in!

What the...?

2007-10-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

Well friends, as some of you may have noticed I have been absent from blog-land for quite some time. I have been putting my thoughts into Facebook.com - I've found it very easy (particularly since I can use my cell phone and just send quick little instant messages that update my status as often as I like)

Twitter has also bee heavily utilized since it is also very quick and easy to post to.

For those who don't have me set as a friend in Facebook, I thought I should update this page so I can give people a general update.

My life has gone completely crazy, and is now on a sort of a rebound.

I incorporated my business this summer, then over the next several months moved into an office and hired several new people. I had a big project which I thought would afford me the opportunity to really develop my team and set me up as more of a manager versus the one doing all the work.

I did not time my decisions well. I ended up trying to build a team, train them to do the work I needed, while I still needed to do a majority of the heavy lifting of getting the work done. It was a very dark time for me, I had a really hard time keeping my head up and feeling as though I could get through the challenging time and move back into normalcy.

My time with my family completely disappeared, I stopped drawing, I didn't have time for anything but work and it was miserable.

In the past few weeks, though, the folks I hired this summer have really started coming together and getting stuff done. I also am now contracting a more senior-level developer, who I hope will help me with the more difficult tasks that I end up facing as a programmer.

We are in the midst of a very big project with a fast turn-around, so this will be a good test of our team. Our baby will likely be born the week before Christmas, so we only have a few weeks until things go bananas for us - and I am really shooting to have the big project done before then.

If we haven't posted this information already: we are having a boy. We are still deciding on a name - that seems to be much harder for us this time (not sure why)

I also wanted to say "thanks" to Steffen - who sent a very cool, thoughtful postcard to our family from Australia.

Post comments if you aren't on facebook and would like to see me update my blog more often.

.peace.

A very cool story

2007-07-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

This guy is cool.

Hee hee

2007-07-19T11:34:00.001-07:00

Handing off the past

2007-07-03T16:31:00.000-07:00

Today I sent an air conditioner back to Nebraska with my cousin. It was a window unit that Nancy's grandfather Paul, who I've written about here, here and here, gave us a few years ago and we ended up not using.

It's funny to think that an old air conditioner would have some sentimental value, but it does. Nancy and I visited the cousins' ranch over Memorial day, and on the way home realized that they may need a heavy-duty air conditioner like the one Paul had given us. We both thought that Paul would have been happy knowing his old air-conditioner went to live on a rural working cattle ranch. I remember sharing stories of my time on the ranch with Paul and sensing his affirmation of those events and memories.

I miss Paul. I haven't been back to Kansas since he died, and honestly he was my primary reason for going back when we went. I don't know when I'll be back, but with every trip I miss going on I feel less and less inclined to go back the next time - and to have to deal with his absence.

I hope the old air conditioner gives my cousin many years of cool air.

Finally in the Office, post 2

2007-06-19T15:07:00.000-07:00

The best shot I could get of the skylight working its magic over my workstation. I have big plans for the overall aesthetics, but for now we're just working in a bigger, cooler space.

Finally in the Office

2007-06-19T15:05:00.000-07:00

Brian (our new intern) on the left. Tyler (HTML guy - was born 20 years to late to be the 80's rocker he wishes he could be) on the right.

New Office Pics, final post

2007-06-17T19:17:00.000-07:00

Here is part of the view out the window. That's the patio between the halves of Coopersmith's Pub.

New Office Pics, post 3

2007-06-17T19:15:00.000-07:00

Here you can see the entrance to my office and Tyler across the room. There is a single window and a massive skylight. The wall across from the door is old red brick and is very cool.

New Office Pics, post 2

2007-06-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

This is the entrance to the building that my office resides within. The fenced area in the foregruond is Coopersmith's Bar-side Patio.

New Office Pics, post 1

2007-06-17T19:11:00.000-07:00

The third window on the second story is my new office window. You'll notice that I overlook half of Coopersmith's. I can see the patio of the bar side. I can fall out my window, tumble down the metal roof, then make a small 9 foot drop and roll right in the door. Perfect.

NEW Quick List

2007-06-17T17:35:00.000-07:00

Hired an intern last Monday
Hired 4 people (2 were already contractors) in the past 2 weeks
Signed a lease on an office space in Old Town on Friday (it is small but really cool. I'll post some photos soon.)
Received an email from a friend who I don't talk to often. It was great to hear from her.
Have missed Nancy and the kids since they have been gone most of the week
Had a great time with my friend Jake last night. We went to a movie and had some drinks afterward.
Witnessed and photographed a brilliant sunset Friday night.
Used my new chipper today and shredded a large mound of fallen willow limbs.
Grilled for the youth camp fund-raiser after church.
Helped someone fix a broken computer this afternoon.
I'm hoping to make it to the store for some tomato plants and squash seeds for the garden before Nancy gets home this evening.

Goofing Around

2007-06-11T08:20:00.000-07:00

Quick List

2007-06-09T21:57:00.001-07:00

Incorporated my company last week - I'm now CEO of Western Ascent Inc
I've been working on the house and yard a lot more - trying to do that on Saturday's instead of working
I'm shooting on the summer archery league and enjoying that
Nancy has gone back to working part time (she was only working 1-3 days a month)
Kids are out of school for the summer
I've started some cool projects (work)
I talked to my friend Jill for the first time in ~2 years the other day
I've changed my diet and have lost 8 pounds so far in 2 weeks (I'm not on a diet, just cutting out junk food, excessive sugar and limiting the carbs and fat overall)
I'm trying to find an office space that I can afford to move into since I'm hiring several people and Fort Collins only allows you to work from home with one other person.
All of us were sick for the past week - Abby is a total crab as a result
We're expecting a new baby sometime this fall or winter
With all the rain our grass is nice and green and the whole yard looks great
I've been enjoying the heck out of Flickr lately
I can't think of anything else.