Wow, three months since my last blog post. Must do better about that. :)
It's Christmas Day 2009 and I sit here on the couch this evening overwhelmed by God's blessings. This year has brought a five-year cancer-free checkup, continued stability in my job considering the current economic situation, and the birth of our son. Temperatures are in the 20's tonight with windchill in the teens yet we have heat to keep us warm, a roof over our heads, lights shining brightly on the tree, and my son is sound asleep in his crib. My beautiful wife, who works tirelessly to see to care for Ethan, care for this house, and tolerate her husband, is getting ready for bed.
There are times throughout the year when work brings on various levels of stress, when you can't make everyone (or anyone) happy, when the bills pile up, and when nothing can go right.
Yet, here I am a week from year's end and I look at her, and I look at him, and I realize that the stress was handled, you can't make everyone happy (and trying guarantees failure), that those bills got paid, and everything is just right.
Merry Christmas!
Friday, December 25, 2009
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Flashback: BBS, 300 baud and 4.77Mhz of awesomeness
As an IT professional I have the fortune to procure, utilize and tinker with some fantastic technology. I'm lucky enough to work at an institution where bandwidth is not an issue, processing speeds and memory -- at least for my purposes -- are always readily available. This week I was buying a new storage device that has a capacity of 4TB (~4,000 GB or 4,000,000 MB) and thought back to my start in IT.
In the mid 1980's Dad brought home a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A computer just like my neighbor Tracey and her dad Ed had. Running at 3.0Mhz the system ran an early version of BASIC and offered me Tombstone City and Parsec. More importantly, it offered a glimpse into programming. I still remember my first code:
Moving on the XT left the house, replaced by an AT computer -- a 286 computer running at 12Mhz and sporting an unheard of 1MB of RAM. It was with this computer that I entered the age of digital communications with the necessary peripheral of the day, a modem. Running at 300 baud (300 bits/sec, or 37.5 Bytes/sec) this modem linked me to the first BBS I ever dialed, where the SysOp was my cousin Daryl. The BBS was called Abacus. You could dial in, share files and send messages to be read later by other users that dialed in. Too cool. This was the first in a long line of BBSes that I frequented; others being Trading Post and Troll's Cave. I also participated in FidoNet -- an early form of store-and-forward email exchange between BBSes. Yes, you could actually "message" or "email" a user on a BBS that you never called directly -- even across the U.S.! The emails were, in effect, routed from hub to hub until reached at the destination. Today, SMTP is the common mode of transport for emails (and in much less time).
The 286 was sold to Chip Boles' parents (can't believe I remember that) and replaced by a 386 running at 16Mhz. We also ditched that 300 baud modem for a blazing 2400 baud version. Then came a 486 DX @ 25Mhz and 2MB of RAM (and a 14.4K modem! woot!), followed by the fantasic Pentium powered machine screaming at 120Mhz with 16MB of RAM and -- yes -- a hard drive that topped 1GB (1.2 to be exact) of fathomless storage possibility. The 28.8K baud modem provided an excellent means to speedily chat online for hours and it was around this time that multi-line BBSes were all the rage and I became a frequenter of Sounds of Silence BBS which had 8-12 lines initially and I believe later scaled to 32+ lines. I met a few good friends on SoS -- a couple which I now see on Facebook from time to time. It was also around this time that I learned the awesomeness of Winsock 1.1 and Netscape to get on this thing called the Internet and it's fancy web pages.
Many years and many systems and modems (56K wha?) later I entered the broadband age near 1999 when I went to WKU for undergrad. At the time WKU students, faculty and staff shared a 10Mb/s connection to the Internet which was already showing signs of overburdened use. Today I have an 8Mb (with 20Mb burst) connection to my house. At work the connection tops 1Gb/s and can be easily put through it's paces by the students, faculty and staff.
Today, an 8GB USB key can be purchased for under $20 and a 1TB external hard drive for under $100. A box of 10 3.5" DS/HD floppies used to run over $12 alone (that's why you bought the cheaper 720K version and drilled a second hole to make them 1.44MB disks.) I write this blog post on a Macbook Pro running a dual core 3.06Ghz processor with 4GB of memory and a 256GB solid state hard drive (SSD). It's completely wireless to my broadband connection where, in less than a second, this post will be on Blogger, Facebook and Twitter -- accessible to hundreds of millions of users. All this to say that I wonder what Ethan will grow up using. He's 17 weeks old today and has his own website and blog to document his early life for out of town family and friends. Whatever it is, I will have taught him everything he knows. :)
In the mid 1980's Dad brought home a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A computer just like my neighbor Tracey and her dad Ed had. Running at 3.0Mhz the system ran an early version of BASIC and offered me Tombstone City and Parsec. More importantly, it offered a glimpse into programming. I still remember my first code:
10 PRINT "JASON IS COOL"Jealous aren't you? :) Somewhere between 1988 and 1990 the TI was sold and replaced with an IBM XT. The XT ran MS-DOS at 4.77Mhz, had a 10MB hard drive, a 360KB 5.25" floppy drive, and the upgrade 640KB of memory and sported a 12" green monochrome monitor. It was this XT machine that propelled my knowledge of computers and what they could be capable of doing (so little did I know). Dad claims to have taught me everything I know about computers -- a point on which we'll have to agree to disagree -- though I do certainly concede that he undoubtedly aided in providing the hardware that sparked my career path. This XT allowed me to run QBASIC which refined some rudimentary programming skills of the day into more advanced programs that drew circles on the screen and filled in boxes that made a face. It also allowed for Print Shop to run and put the 9-pin dot matrix Okidata printer through its paces.
20 GOTO 10
RUN
Moving on the XT left the house, replaced by an AT computer -- a 286 computer running at 12Mhz and sporting an unheard of 1MB of RAM. It was with this computer that I entered the age of digital communications with the necessary peripheral of the day, a modem. Running at 300 baud (300 bits/sec, or 37.5 Bytes/sec) this modem linked me to the first BBS I ever dialed, where the SysOp was my cousin Daryl. The BBS was called Abacus. You could dial in, share files and send messages to be read later by other users that dialed in. Too cool. This was the first in a long line of BBSes that I frequented; others being Trading Post and Troll's Cave. I also participated in FidoNet -- an early form of store-and-forward email exchange between BBSes. Yes, you could actually "message" or "email" a user on a BBS that you never called directly -- even across the U.S.! The emails were, in effect, routed from hub to hub until reached at the destination. Today, SMTP is the common mode of transport for emails (and in much less time).
The 286 was sold to Chip Boles' parents (can't believe I remember that) and replaced by a 386 running at 16Mhz. We also ditched that 300 baud modem for a blazing 2400 baud version. Then came a 486 DX @ 25Mhz and 2MB of RAM (and a 14.4K modem! woot!), followed by the fantasic Pentium powered machine screaming at 120Mhz with 16MB of RAM and -- yes -- a hard drive that topped 1GB (1.2 to be exact) of fathomless storage possibility. The 28.8K baud modem provided an excellent means to speedily chat online for hours and it was around this time that multi-line BBSes were all the rage and I became a frequenter of Sounds of Silence BBS which had 8-12 lines initially and I believe later scaled to 32+ lines. I met a few good friends on SoS -- a couple which I now see on Facebook from time to time. It was also around this time that I learned the awesomeness of Winsock 1.1 and Netscape to get on this thing called the Internet and it's fancy web pages.
Many years and many systems and modems (56K wha?) later I entered the broadband age near 1999 when I went to WKU for undergrad. At the time WKU students, faculty and staff shared a 10Mb/s connection to the Internet which was already showing signs of overburdened use. Today I have an 8Mb (with 20Mb burst) connection to my house. At work the connection tops 1Gb/s and can be easily put through it's paces by the students, faculty and staff.
Today, an 8GB USB key can be purchased for under $20 and a 1TB external hard drive for under $100. A box of 10 3.5" DS/HD floppies used to run over $12 alone (that's why you bought the cheaper 720K version and drilled a second hole to make them 1.44MB disks.) I write this blog post on a Macbook Pro running a dual core 3.06Ghz processor with 4GB of memory and a 256GB solid state hard drive (SSD). It's completely wireless to my broadband connection where, in less than a second, this post will be on Blogger, Facebook and Twitter -- accessible to hundreds of millions of users. All this to say that I wonder what Ethan will grow up using. He's 17 weeks old today and has his own website and blog to document his early life for out of town family and friends. Whatever it is, I will have taught him everything he knows. :)
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
"Babi" four years later
It's been four years since Babi passed away. There are many things I would have liked to have sat with her and discussed since that time. In particular, I'd love her thoughts about Ethan. When he was around 12 weeks old I was carrying him around the house because he was a bit fussy and we went into the home office where a picture of Babi hangs. He instantly calmed down and stared at her photo. I said, "Did you meet Babi?" and his face had one of the largest smiles I'd ever seen before. Something tells me she picked him out just for us. :) Thanks, Babi. We miss you. We love you.
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
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Friday, July 03, 2009
"Kings"
One of my favorite shows on TV is being cut short on NBC -- "Kings" will be ending in a few weeks. The show is set in a future time in the city of Shiloh in the country of Gilboa. A loose retelling of the story of King David, (his daughter is Michelle, or "Michal") the show's visual symbolism is amazing. The crown of butterflies on David's head, when David avoids a sniper thanks to a lone dove, smoke blowing in two different directions -- all examples to watch for. You can catch up on the series thanks to Hulu.com now through September 20, 2009. After that you'll have to buy (or rent/Netflix) the DVDs of the series. My favorite aspect to the show is the formality in speech, in particular with King Silas (Ian McShane). In "Pilgrimage" he says a prayer that I really love; I'll repeat it here for Steph and Ethan:
My Family - always in my heart when not in my eye. May the time apart enrich the time spent together. May there be enough love left over until the next time we join hands. Amen.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Ethan's here!
If you haven't heard on Facebook already, Ethan James Bradley is here! He'd love you to visit his site at www.ethanjamesbradley.com to see his photos and videos. Stephanie and I are truly blessed!
There are a few things I've learned in his first nine days with us:
There are a few things I've learned in his first nine days with us:
- When you are peed on by someone and you don't mind, that's love.
- A baby's sneeze is probably the cutest sound... ever.
- You can do anything you want on two hours of sleep... if you don't care if it's done right.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Change is in the air
I'm back. :)
Spring is in the air again, birds are tweeting (and so are a lot of people, including me), and we're only a tad over five weeks away from Ethan's anticipated arrival! The nursery is pretty much ready, the bag is almost packed, and we're playing the waiting game.
It's weird knowing you're going to be a dad but not understanding what it will feel like. I'm a planner, a project manager, a task-oriented thinker and not having the knowledge drives me crazy. I don't care how many books you read, videos you watch, fatherhood stories (and horrors) from friends it's just not something you can wrap your mind around until the time comes. I've accepted that -- being a dad is the thing I've wanted most since becoming a husband. See ya soon, E.
Love, Dad
Spring is in the air again, birds are tweeting (and so are a lot of people, including me), and we're only a tad over five weeks away from Ethan's anticipated arrival! The nursery is pretty much ready, the bag is almost packed, and we're playing the waiting game.
It's weird knowing you're going to be a dad but not understanding what it will feel like. I'm a planner, a project manager, a task-oriented thinker and not having the knowledge drives me crazy. I don't care how many books you read, videos you watch, fatherhood stories (and horrors) from friends it's just not something you can wrap your mind around until the time comes. I've accepted that -- being a dad is the thing I've wanted most since becoming a husband. See ya soon, E.
Love, Dad
Thursday, January 15, 2009
5 Years Later
Until now, I've never shared the image below with anyone except Stephanie. Understandably, she didn't want to take the picture, but I said I wanted a picture that I could look at throughout my life when times were bad, the going got rough, or I was just having a bad day and that this image would put things in perspective for me.
Things are not bad at all now. I mean, ~May 30th we'll have a wonderful baby boy! I looked at this picture because, as chance would have it, my last day of chemotherapy -- probably the hardest day I can remember -- was January 9, 2004. I almost didn't go, but knew I had to, and the eight hour session seemed to take twelve. Just five years later, January 9, 2009, I saw my son on his ultrasound.
There's always a light at the end of the tunnel, and thank God for that.
Things are not bad at all now. I mean, ~May 30th we'll have a wonderful baby boy! I looked at this picture because, as chance would have it, my last day of chemotherapy -- probably the hardest day I can remember -- was January 9, 2004. I almost didn't go, but knew I had to, and the eight hour session seemed to take twelve. Just five years later, January 9, 2009, I saw my son on his ultrasound.
There's always a light at the end of the tunnel, and thank God for that.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
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