I finally did it. Late last week I decided it was time to dump Vista and go back to XP. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want to. I use a Toshiba M400 Tablet PC and Vista Ultimate was really sweet on that box. The tablet functionality was great and Office 2007 really works well with Vista. The problem was that I need a machine that could connect over my VPN to my corporate office. All of the blame here lies with Watchguard. We use their firewall products throughout our organization and have been very happy with them until December of last year. That was when I decided to go to Vista on my tablet. Keep in mind I have been running Vista since February of last year after the the February CTP release came out (thanks Technet) on my main office desktop with no major issues. I thought that with the betas and release candidates having been out for well over a year that most corporate catering type of software companies would have had plenty of time to get their act together. Watchguard has failed miserably at this and is pointing the finger at a third party, SafeNet, who supplies the VPN security solution for their systems. Either way, it is Watchguard's responsibility to get their software working for their customers. They have dropped the ball big time in my opinion and others have voiced the same concerns. Their support forum is full of disgruntled customers who are voicing the same issues in a not so nice way. It really sucks because Watchguard has us by the short hairs on this one, I can purchase all new gear and move to a new vendor (yeah right) or deal with it until, get this, the end of the year! Thats when they expect to have a working VPN client for Vista.

Fortunately, I'm the only one within the company with a desire to run Vista but that will change. As we add people, particularly district managers and such that are completely mobile and order new laptops for them, it will be harder and harder to get XP on them. Luckily, Dell has changed their tune in the last few months to start offering XP again on their systems due to the outcry from their existing customers.

Overall, I've had a great experience with Vista and a poor experience with the one piece of software I couldn't live without. Anyway, it's always nice to have a clean install on a machine, out with the new and in with the old!

I new it was going to happen I just didn't think it would be this quickly. I was almost to work this morning when Stephanie called asking me to come back home because Ethan had split his head open. Apparently he tried to climb up the side of his high chair like a ladder and it tipped over on top of him and popped him hard enough to split the skin to the bone. He took it fairly well all things considering and after a hour or two at the emergency room he was sporting a shiny new stitch right in the middle of his forehead just inside his hairline. I almost feel proud, I had many stitches as a kid (and a few as an adult) and kinda consider them a badge of honor. I'm not saying its cool to cause bodily harm to yourself but if your not getting hurt exploring the limits then you'll never know what it's like to recover and move on.

Check out Ethan, he came out and helped me put brakes on the Yukon. He did a surprisingly good job of helping me out without getting into to much trouble. He liked playing with the air hammer chisels, he thought they were cool drum sticks. He was in charge of the lug nuts and liked to try to make the same noises as the air tools. It was a lot of fun, I look forward to more times like this when he can really "get it" when I show him stuff.

One of my business partners has a house on Lake Blackshear that he let us use this past weekend. My cousin and his family went with us as and we had a great time. It was a welcome getaway with the family as I had been traveling a lot for business over the past few weeks. We had a great time just relaxing and spending time together. Ethan had a great time, it took him a little while to warm up to the Jet Ski's but once he did he really enjoyed it. There was a bridge a little way down the lake from the house we went to that had at least a hundred mud pipers with nests up under it. I drive the Jet Ski under them and it was like Alfred Hitchcocks "The Birds". Ethan thought it was the coolest thing ever. He didn't like going very fast but he liked idling around checking out the scenery. The trip took all of 5 minutes when me and my cousin were by ourselves to get there but the round trip with Ethan took about 45 minutes. It was worth the wait though.
We talked about going fishing before we went down and he was all hyped up about fishing so as soon as we got down there and unpacked he was ready to go. He really enjoyed reeling in the lure and I had to keep him from going to fast. Unfortunately we didn't catch anything but we had a great time trying. Hopefully we'll get a chance to go back later this year after the heat of summer is gone, the weather was great while we were there but the water was still a bit too cold for the girls to get in. I didn't have a problem with it and even took Ethan swimming for a few minutes. Check out the pictures linked below for some good shots of Ethan checking out the worms and helping out with the fishing gear.
What a nice little family picture. Check out the full photo galleries here and our stop by Veterans State Park on the way home here.

I'm off to CTIA in Orlando tomorrow, we went last year and had a great time. We made some good contacts and got to see the latest and greatest in the telecommunications industry. I hope this year is just as productive and fun. One of my best friends from high school lives in Orlando as well so I'm going to hang out with him one night, meetings permitting. If I see something really cool I'll try and get it posted here over the next couple of days, I'm already getting stuff via blog feeds on the show as it started today.

- We went to Las Vegas 2 weeks ago and had a blast. We had some help from family and friends watching Ethan while we were gone and we really appreciated it. It was a great time for Stephanie and I to take a break and spend some quality time together. Just us and Vegas! Check out some of the pictures in Steph's webalbum here.

- I'm selling my car. I don't want to talk about it. Go here for more info. Here is why I don't want to sell it.

- I got a new computer bag made by Booq. I've been through 5 different computer cases/bags in the last year trying to find the perfect bag and this is it. I think I'm going to post a review of it with a lot of pics and detail my "gear pack" for all of the geeks out there. Look for that later this week.

When I was in 3rd grade, the teacher noticed that I was having problems seeing the black board and let my parents know. It was no shock to them, my father is extremely nearsighted and had worn glasses most of his life so off to the eye doctor we went. As time progressed, my nearsightedness got worse and worse. My eyesight was so bad I had to have my glasses on to read a book 2 feet in front of my face. I turned 25 in March of 2000 and as sort of a birthday present to myself, I got Lasik surgery done. I can't describe what a life changing event that was. I went from being almost legally blind to being able to read the license plate on the neighbors car across the street in literally a couple of hours.
Fast forward 7 years. I can still see fine but my right eye, which was always the worse one is a little fuzzy. Not bad, but if I close my left eye I can't read the license plate a few car lengths ahead. My left eye is dang near perfect but I've noticed at dusk it is really hard for me to focus when driving. I am a computer guy and spend 95% of my time glued to my monitors at work and feel like I'm straining to see clearly and have been having frequent headaches in the afternoons. I'm no stranger to eye problems and knew what the problem was. I made an appointment at Pearl and now I'm back in glasses. WOW, what a difference. Luckily the prescription is very light and I don't wear them all the time because I don't have to. The main problem was my astigmatism, I've always had it and it is what will affect your low light focusing and computer eye strain. My eyes feel relaxed now when I'm working on the computer and there is a difference driving as well.
I looked through about 30 different frames to find something I liked, man glasses have gotten expensive! One of my business partners told me to get contacts, he wears them daily. I just don't see me doing that, it seems like a lot of extra work and I don't need them all the time either. Anyway, after 7 years away from glasses I'm back, I've already been called Poindexter and 4 eyes, ahh it brings back memories.

I spent the weekend at the BMW Car Club Drivers School at Road Atlanta. It was great fun and I had a blast pushing my car to the limits. Check out some of the pictures.

We had a great 4th of July weekend. Here are som pics of Ethan's 1st 4th of July. My parents got him a cool flag outfit. He showed his appreciation for it by covering it with drool.


He loves checking out bubbles. Just look a the concentration!













Here we are watching the fireworks at Mall of

Georgia in the rain. He didn't mind at all and

was totally glued to the show.

Here is my maiden voyage into blogging. Let's not crash and burn. Just took some new pics of Ethan, these are probably my favorite pics to date. Gotta teach em young!

So after just over a year of being on staff at Fusion, my time here has come to an end. Fusion is having to make some tough financial decisions given today's economic times and unfortunately, I am a casualty of that. The reality is, with so many people out of work and company cutbacks, there is less money to give and the church as a whole has to make adjustments accordingly. My experience at Fusion has been amazing and I wouldn't trade that time for anything else. I have learned more, been stretched and grown in areas I never would have been without being here. I love Fusion and wholeheartedly believe in the vision and mission of the church. I plan on still being here serving and volunteering as long as my job search does not force me to relocate. The staff at Fusion is amazing and it has been a great joy working with and getting to know them over this past year. I would like to thank all the folks at Fusion, especially the volunteers for their support and hard work over the past year. No matter what happens in the future, I will always consider Tony McCollum to be my Pastor as well as a friend for life.

I would appreciate your prayers in the coming weeks for me as well as my family as I enter a tough job market and seek employment. I am praying that God will not only provide a job but that he will place me where I can be most effective and still have impact for His kingdom. I am praying for provision for my family in the interim until I can find a full time position. I know this is just another step in the plan God has for my life. I trust Him fully to guide me through this and I am praying He reveals that plan and the way through it quickly. He always has and will continue to provide for me and my family.

Thank you Fusion!

UPDATE: Check out Pastor Tony's thoughts on this here