The lazy writing trend continues. It really shouldn’t. It’s so therapeutic to think back and reflect.

Babies

My oldest and her husband welcomed their healthy son early this year. I’m so happy for both daughters. Married to great men and with a good start in family life while still in their twenties.

And recently I got the news that another grandchild is expected early next year. Three grandchildren in 2025. It feels a bit surreal.

Youngest

Meanwhile my youngest finished up his 3rd year of engineering studies. He earned two impressive awards on the college’s annual honors night. I’m overjoyed that his hard work is getting recognition at the school. For now he’s on his second summer interning at Raven Industries. I like that more schools are mixing real-world engineering work with the engineering studies.

RIP Jettas

In the span of roughly one month, both of my 2006 Jettas are gone. My beloved stick shift TDI Jetta was totaled when a driver made a risky left turn against my youngest son. I was so relieved that he was fine from the collision. He and I were both a bit of the “how long will this car last” mindset. It was at ~230k miles and the drivetrain was still going strong. I have little doubt it would’ve lasted beyond his graduation next Spring.

Meanwhile the other automatic Jetta back here in NH failed inspection. There was too much rust, especially along the front driver side near the front wheel. Sadly because of its worth, it wasn’t a good idea to put a lot of money in repairing/replacing panels.

So both have been replaced now. My youngest did some car hunting and after a few test drives found a decent deal on 5 speed Golf which he bought to replace the TDI. Over here, I did some searching and found one of the last 6 speed Corolla Hatchbacks. My son who was driving the automatic is doing well learning how to drive stick so far. Soon it will be his Daily Driver.

Jobs

My twin sons both had some job issues this Spring. It definitely raised the angst level in the house while they searched. One twin is now on a second round of trade training up at the NH Job Corps. The other is back at Market Basket and happy to be there, working harder and more enthusiastically now that he’s had a taste of how it feels to be getting almost no callbacks from the places he applied to. The current economy is definitely not what it was 4-5 years ago.

Me

Me? I wrapped up another year of Family Faith Formation at our local parish. It’s nice to have some months off. Meanwhile the parish is in the midst of a big capital campaign to raise funds for some improvements on the grounds and inside the church.

I also hit the 15 year mark at my tech corporation. I got some recognition from both my site manager and later the graphics division manager. If you also include the 3 1/2 years working on the same GPU prior to the acquisition, that’s a lot of time building GPUs. From my boys’ perspective, it’s practically all they’ve known me for. They don’t know the years prior doing CPUs, serial interfaces, rapid prototyping in FPGAs, etc.

House

This year’s main house upgrades are two-fold with possibly a third. First, my appliance repair guy warned me that the washer probably had about half a year left in it. The main bearing was going out and they rarely last long when replaced. Both the washer and dryer were purchased when we got this house 22 years ago, so they lived a well above average lifespan.

After doing some research to find “the Toyota of washers”, I ordered a washer/dryer pair of Speed Queens from our local appliance shop. They probably cost double of a typical pair, but they have a reputation of ruggedness, lasting a quarter of a century or so. They are what you often see in laundromats. If my kids were all still at home, I’d be tempted to put a quarter-slot on them. ;-]

Last month was the bigger upgrade. The furnace on the house was original and the A/C was slightly newer. I had both replaced with a Bosch Heat Pump and Furnace pair. The furnace is primarily a backup for those few New England winter days where a heat pump isn’t very efficient.

I had considered skipping the furnace since we have two wood pellet stoves as well that contribute to heating. I was advised that it is very hard to sell a house that doesn’t have something automated for the extremely cold days, even if the stoves could do the job. Aside: I also took delivery of 3 tons of wood for this upcoming winter.

If I can squeeze it in and find a contractor to do so, I’d like to get the front porch and back deck re-worked. I have a few options I’m considering. Anything done should focus on longevity because the house currently has no gutters. Gutters and steel roofs don’t tend to work out together.

Visit

Finally, last week we got to spend a few days with my Dad. It was a pretty quick visit. It’s very difficult for him to spend too much time during the summer. Things back at his estate need a lot of attention at this time of year: the gardens, the lawn, the pool, etc. It’s all too easy for things to quickly fall behind if those are neglected in July.

I’m still happy for those days because I got to catch up with him. He got to see his NH great grandsons and 3 of my 5 children. Usually his Spring or Autumn visits can be a bit longer. The gardens get harvested, the pool gets its winter prep, and the lawn goes dormant.

Wrapup

Those are the big things of the past several months. I’m thinking that perhaps I should move the site database to my other laptop. It might encourage me to write a bit often – books I’m working on, tools I’m trying, my latest tinkering projects, etc. We’ll see.