Gia cleaned up
Long Break
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted. Sorry about that. I haven’t been any busier than normal the last couple of weeks, I just haven’t made it a priority. To make it up to you I’m going to make a commitment to post every day in April. I’ve said before I’m going to try and post every day, and then quickly fallen behind, but this time I mean it.
And no, just because it starts on April 1st, it’s not an April Fool’s Day joke.
In the meantime, here’s a quick rundown on what’s been going on since I got back from the UK:
- Valentina turned 1! We had a party for her at Franklin Park Farm, and all the kids loved walking around and seeing all the animals. There were even little tiny piglets! Sorry I don’t have any accompanying photos, but my computer storage is on the fritz and I haven’t been able to get them uploaded yet (and I don’t feel like going to Facebook to get the ones other people posted)
- Easter! Jen’s parents stayed with us the week between Valentina’s party and Easter, so they could celebrate with us. The Gaige family also came over, and I was a jungle gym for their two kids. Always a good time.
- CryoSauna! Yesterday I visited Help for Health in Merrifield, where I was blasted with liquid nitrogen-cooled air for 2.5 minutes. It was really invigorating, and I definitely plan on going back. The picture at the top of the post is the machine itself.
Post TestBash Post
Right now I’m on the plane flying back home from the UK. I didn’t pay for WiFi, so I’ll just upload this after I land.
It was a great week, and I’m really happy that I work for a company that was willing to send me across the ocean to help develop my skills. I also got to hang out with one of my co-workers and get to know her better, which was another bonus.
I attended several workshops during the week, and I think I was able to take something away from all of them. They weren’t all what I expected, but I learned something regardless. Here’s a picture from the workshop titled Lego Automation. The task was to write a script to guide our partner around the room to pick up Legos and assemble a tower. This was our first run, and you can see that I failed to exactly specify what size Lego to pick up.
One thing I learned is that there’s a crazy big worldwide community dedicated to the craft of testing. I might try to start a second blog to talk about testing. It’s still an unusual feeling for me, being able to talk about what I do outside of work, but I think it’s worthwhile. At least it’s worth giving it a shot, without needing to bore anyone who reads this blog just to see pictures of my kids.
Brighton Pier
I took this picture yesterday…I’m really bummed this was closed. Looks like good cheesy fun.
I’m eating the hotel breakfast now, about to head out for Day 1 of the conference. Woo!
Lamb Shish
My schedule’s off from the time difference, and all I’ve had to eat today was a late lunch (at like 11am home time). But now it’s 9pm and I just want something small so I can eat it and try to go to bed at a reasonable time. I tried to go to the boardwalk, but it’s all shut down. I guess it is the off season. So I walked back to the hotel, and I saw it: a kebab place across the street. It’s perfect.
And I’m amused because they have a bunch of signs up saying to be respectful of the neighbors and please leave quietly. I’m sure the line is out the door on Friday nights after the bars close.
I ordered a lamb shish kebab, and it was delicious. I tried to take a picture, but it was just a big goopy mess…which is why I’m glad I took it back to my room. So instead I’ve included a picture of the ferris wheel at the pier.
Live From London
I know I said I’d post yesterday, but I didn’t…I intended to use that to kill time while waiting in the airport, but I ended up just walking the length of the terminal instead, to get my FitBit 10,000 steps.
So now I’m in London, waiting in the line at customs. I’m heading down to Brighton for the week to attend the TestBash conference. Should be exciting.
Bowl A Thon!
Another successful bowl a thon is under our belts. I’ll write more about it tomorrow, but I bowled 378 over the three games, and raised just over $650.
Katie’s Krusaders 2016
Tomorrow morning we’re driving up to New Jersey for the annual Katie’s Krusaders bowl-a-thon. It’s a charity that raises money for the Ronald McDonald House for families affected by children’s cancer. I’ve gone every year since 2007, with the exception of last year. Jen was 9 months pregnant at the time, and for some reason didn’t feel like driving 3 hours away to go bowling.
If any of my dozens of almost a dozen followers want to sponsor me, just let me know. It’s 3 games, with a certain dollar amount per pin. So $0.10 per pin for three perfect games of 300 would be $90. My average over the last 9 years has been 368 across all three games…and I expect that to severely decline this year since we’ll have two mobile kids to keep track of.
Every Given Sunday
I try to make these every Sunday, so we have breakfast ready to go during the week. It started out with a recipe from The Biggest Loser, but I’ve made it so many times now that I’ve diverged from the source and made it my own. Below is what I usually make, but it counts as doubling the original recipe. It makes 36 cups, which is enough for Jen to have 3 and me to have 4 every day of the work week.
Directions Brown the sausage in a large pan. While that’s cooking, or beforehand, preheat the oven to 350°, and chop the onion, pepper, and mushrooms. Once cooked, drain the sausage and set aside. Now sautee the vegetables (and fungi) in the same pan. Put all of your eggs and milk into a large bowl, and whisk to combine, breaking up all the yolks. Once the vegetables are cooked through and tender, combine all of the ingredients in the large bowl and stir together. Spoon the mixture into greased muffin tins, and bake for ~20 minutes. Refrigerate, then microwave and serve with hot sauce.Egg Cups
Ingredients
Wacky Wednesday
This was spirit week or something at daycare, and each day has a different theme. Yesterday was Wacky Wednesday, and the kids were encouraged to wear crazy clothes and hair. Luckily Gia’s hair is naturally crazy. We didn’t manage to get a picture of them together, but here they are on their own:
Skit Skat Skoodle Doot 