Goin to the dogs

Hi there everyone,

Well, we have reached the 23rd of June and we still haven't had any days in the 100's and we are loving it! Normally, we are really cooking by the time we get into June and this year hasn't been too bad. At some point in though, we know the 100's will be there. We have been full timing for over a year and a half and are loving the life style. Though our trailer is not marketed as a 'Full time' rig, we have found that if we take care of it, it will hold up very well.

Lily our boxer has been struggling with a heart problem. We had noticed a couple of months ago that she looked like she just did not feel well. We took her to a veterinary hospital in Sacramento and she was assigned a cardiologist. He found that she had a number of pre-mature heart beats. She was prescribed a medication. The medication helped but did not resolve the problem. So, a second prescription was added to her diet. We are a little troubled that she still does not seem to be her old self. We are hoping that it is just a matter of her getting use to her new medication.

Speaking of dogs, Carol and Eric attended Petacular, a party for dog owners basically. Our we attended virtually every venu at this event and had a great time. Our favorite part was probably 'Splash dogs' where anyones dog could chase a toy and run and leap into a pool of water. This day was a lot of fun!

We got to attend Danielle McCann's 8th grade promotion ceremony at Ione Jr. High. She is such a bright, beautiful young lady that everyone in the family is so very proud of.

A large number of the family collected at Raley field in Sacramento for a Rivercats game on Fathers day where we all had a wonderful time.

We went to an RV show to see what the new models look like and Eric fell in love with a 2002 Winnibego Journey. Though it only had two slides, I think we came to the conclusion that rigs in the 60K to 70K price range might be more what we are going to have to look at. We took a few swings at getting the unit financed but it just did not happen. Two of the strikes against us was the fact that we had the short sale on the house just two years ago. The second strike was the fact that we live full time in our RV. But, we learned what bank we should talk to going forward. We understand that 'Bank of the west' is probably the establishment to deal with. So, in a few months, maybe we'll try it again.

So far, Carol and I have both lost in excess of 35 pounds through the Kaiser weight loss program . We have learned so much through the program about what we should be eating to live a healthier life. Carol has had some interviews coming up the last couple of weeks and as a result has needed to buy some more clothes that fit her better 'cause the old ones are just falling off. Loosing weight and having a job interview, those are both very good things! Here is to hoping they both pay off!!!

Carol and I took the trailer down to Clovis this last week end to see a drum corps show with Karen and Mike. The Blue Devils were victorious and obviously superior to every other group on the field, but all of the groups have come a long way since I was a volunteer for the Blue Devils 15 years ago.

This weekend is the fourth of July. I've finished the implementation of my VVIMS project and all in all, it seems to have gone fairly well. So, I am looking forward to a three day weekend that is just around the corner.

Well, I guess that is about all for now.

Happy Camping! - Eric and Carol -

Memorial Day 2010

This year has been wetter than normal. Actually, we have had so many dry winters that it seems like we have had a wetter than normal year, but actually, this year we are at 98% of normal for our annual rain fall. The snow pack in the Sierra's is at about 110% of normal, so we ought to start recovering in our water reservoirs. This memorial day weekend, was indicative of our rainy season. On the Thursday before memorial day weekend, we had another drenching rain storm.

Memorial day weekend was a very busy one for us. Going into this weekend, I've been preparing for the start up of my VVIMS software that I have mentioned in the past. Infact, that is why I was off on Thursday. I was scheduled to work on Sunday to do the conversion from the old Cable management system to the one that I had written.

On Friday, the RV park started filling up in every site at the park. It's great to see the park filling up. Last year was a very slow RV'ing season, primarily because of the economy. But this year, it's been a pretty busy season at the old RV park.

Saturday, we went and hung out at Carol's brother Bill and his wife Loretta and their son Brandon's house in Pioneer. It is their weekend get-away house, as they normally hang their hat in Tracy. The gathering at their house in Pioneer turned out to be kind of a family gathering with over 23 of us there. The gathering also was an occasion to be a birthday party for Carol's great nephew Devin. It was a great day with a lunch time and dinner bar-b-que event, but of course since Carol and I are on a diet, the most we could do is spell the great smells.

Speaking of the diet, we are entering week 7 of being on the diet. As of last week, Carol has lost 23 pounds and Eric has lost 22 pounds. The program runs for a total of 80 weeks. The first 17 weeks of the program we are on meal replacement Shakes, bars and soups. After that, we will slowly work our selves back into regular food. Though this plan isn't cheap, it does come with regular blood work and meetings with the doctor on by-weekly basis. The best thing yet is that I'm off of both my blood pressure and cholesterol medications and Carol is off her blood pressure and diabetes medications.

At any rate, back to the Memorial day weekend. Carol and I went to the Memorial day event in Martell this morning. It was very well attended and the American Legion post seems to do a better event every year than the year before. They had a wonderful speaker who came all the way from San Francisco. He was a former member of the US Army Airborn who served in Afghanistan. He was a very inspirational speaker, a true pleasure to listen too. There was a number of folks their in dressed uniform including a Major who had served in World War II.

The American Legion post has been working on a new memorial wall. They have been replacing the original bricks with now granite ones. The new wall looks really great!

Well, I guess that is about all for now. Take care all, and always remember those who have served this great country of ours, especially those who have given their 'Full measure'!!!

Happy camping!!! Eric and Carol

Busy, busy, busy!!!

Hi there everyone,

Well, I've started conducting training classes for the consolidated billing project that I've been working on at Volcano. This project will allow us to provide services similar to that of the big boys (Comcast and AT&T) as far as bundled services and billing where a customer can have Cable TV, Internet, Long distance and Telephone service all on one bill. This project has involved the development of probably 30 or 40 programs and countless integration processes so that the new programs I have written will work with some software written by a vendor. I have been working on this project for the last 3 years in one way, shape or form and I will be so glad when I get it put to bed. I'm hoping to have it fully implemented by July 1st. Yipee!!! :-)

We've been staying pretty close to home over the last few weeks, for the most part because the project has kept me so busy that I can't take any extra time off from work so we can have a long get-away. None the less, we always seem to be able to keep busy on the weekends. Last weekend, we hung out at Brandee and Kevins for a good chuck of the weekend while they held a yard sale, which was fairly lucrative. The weekend before that we gave all three of the dogs a bath and shaved Roxy down for her summer cut. Of course, this year, we haven't had any high pressure systems park them selves over the region and as a result, our weather has been much cooler this year than normal. So, Roxy is looking at us as if to say "... And you trimmed me down for why???"

This weekend, I'll be working the dog adoption day at the Petco in the county and maybe go see all the RV's we can't afford at an RV show. And then of course, there is all the regular stuff that needs doing like laundry and such. Next weekend will be a busy one at the RV park because it will be memorial day weekend. I will be working on Sunday because of the pilot conversion that weekend for the project I've been working on. I'm hoping I can join the family for some of the weekend though and not be too much of a work aholic. :-)

I guess the secret is out, Carol and I have been on a 'Medically Managed' weight loss program for the last 6 weeks and it seems to be going pretty well. We've both lost almost 20 pounds and both of our vitals are looking better every week as we go in for our 'Med-checks'. We're very excited about the results we are seeing so far and we are finding it pretty easy to stay 'On Plan'.

Well, I guess that is about all for now. Take care all! Happy Camping! - Eric and Carol -

The Northern California Samboree

Hi there everyone,

I know, once again I have been derelict in my duties of keeping the family blog up to date. Well, don’t feel too bad, I haven’t spent much time lately looking at Facebook either. And though that may be all the rage with most of the population today, Facebook and Myspace has never really appealed to me. At any rate, here is an update for you. I’ve been feverishly trying to get my latest edition of my book Campin and computing put to bed. And, regardless of how hard I try, it still seems to have more content being added to it every day. I just need to cut off the changes and send it to ‘press’ as they say.

This last week, we attended the Northern California Good Sam Samboree. We’ve had a great time here this week. We’ve met so many wonderful folks here and had a chance to re-connect with some wonderful people that we met down at the Southern California Good Sam Samboree. We got to reconnect with Smitty and Louise Smith as well as Duane and Patricia who are from Auburn and many others. We haven’t seen many of these folks for a long time, but we were so glad to see them once again. We have had a wonderful time. We met Clarence Tracy from (some town that starts with a ‘C’), a wonderful gentleman who we chatted with numerous times about Computer, sound systems, RV’ing, his service in World War II numerous other topics. We we’re honored to meet Geoff and Gayle Warr who travelled here from Australia and are touring north America.

We had an extra special bonus, Karen and Mike surprised us with a visit. They made the trek down from Ashland to come hang out with us. Lily one third place in the Best Costume for the Dog show competitions. One of the funnest activities at the event was watching the Blind driving competiton. This is where the driver is blind folded and the co-pilot so to speak tells the driver how and when to turn. You have to navigate a course without hitting anything. The team who does it the fastest wins. This has been a WONDERFUL week and we had a great time. Unfortunately, Sunday means we have to head back to reality. There aren’t any Samborees now until next year for the state of California, so we have a long wait until the next one, but it is worth waiting for. We’re thinking about maybe going to the FMCA Rally in Indio of next year.

Though we are home safe and sound, we can’t wait to get out on the road again.

Happy camping!

Eric and Carol!

A great conference

Well, I just concluded my 4 days in Las Vegas for the Microsoft Developers Conference at the Bellagio Hotel. It was a great conference. I attended 15 different seminars on a whole range of topics. My focus though was on development tools for software for Intel based PC's. It has been a while since I had been to a Microsoft conference and these events always are chock full of brand new stuff to learn. At this years event, Microsoft announced the release of their new version of their development environment, so there was a lot to learn.

There wasn't much spare time at this event, and I kind of like it that way. After all, if I'm here on business, we ought to get to business and then get headed home. About the only thing I got to do was get out one night and walk down the strip, check out a couple of the casino's that have been added since the last time I was here, pick up some supplies at CVS Pharmacy and then head back. This trip has had a lot of walking to it. I've logged over 8 miles each of the 4 days I was here, WOW!!! One of the other things that I thought was of interest while I was here was my first 'Hybrid' bus. It looked like it was straight of the mono-rail at Disneyland. As I update the blog, I am sitting at McCarren field waiting for my flight to board. I am so looking forward to getting home to Carol and the pups.

Now that I have this conference out of the way, I can start preparing for the Northern California Samboree which is being held at the Lodi Grape festival grounds. This was the first samboree that we went to 3 years ago and we are looking forward to returning to it. This time, I will be conducting 3 seminars on computers for RV'ers. I'll be doing 'Campin and Computin', my introduction to computers for RVer's as well as a session on Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. I'm doing these based on the input that I got back from folks at the first seminar that I did in Lancaster late last year.

Well, I guess that is about all for now. Take care all and remember... Happy campin! - Eric -

A very busy April

Hi there everyone,

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated the blog. I've been busy recently working on completing the second edition on my book 'Campin and Computin'. This second edition contains some stuff that I learned about since I came out with the first edition, but the big change to it is the inclusion of information on Windows 7 which is Microsofts latest operating system. Windows Vista never really took off the way Microsoft had hoped, and Microsoft got a lot of feed back from those that purchased Vista and made some enhancements and released it as Windows 7.

We have another Samboree we are going to at the end of April where I will get another chance to sell more copies of my books. I'm really looking forward to this because I now have had additional exposure to my product with the article that appeared in the April edition of Motorhome magazine. I've already seen movement in my sales through Amazon.com. I'm not going to say that I've sold 100's of copies, but the fact that I've probably sold 30 is a great thing. I'm definitely seeing that there is a calling for my books so if I can get some more time at various RV shows, that will bode well for Carol's and my efforts.

Though it has been a busy start to April, it's been a beautiful one as well. The poppy's are out in Amador county and all the trees are in bloom. So, Carol and I took the time one day while we were out an about to check out some local poppy's. At least my honey got a chance to check out some poppy's up close this year.

I am now making my way to Sacramento to Las Vegas. The reason for this trip is to attend a Microsoft conference on a new release of their populate development environment for developing user software. I haven't been to one of these conferences for over 5 years. It was very sad leaving my wife to care for her self as I passed through the security check at Sacramento Airport. Very rarely are we separated for more than 10 hours of the day while I go off to work. But, going to these sorts of seminars is a good thing. It helps me to stay up to date with some of the latest in software development technology. I will be in Las Vegas for 4 full days. Each day will consist of 30 different seminars that I can attend with various vendors there as well. Watching the presenters at this conference will help me with my presenting skills at the various RV shows in the future as well.

Southwest airlines has put up Internet bars through-out the airport terminals so you can powerup and dial in and surf the web while you are waiting for your flight. They're a pretty cool addition to help you pass the time while waiting at the airport. Southwest really knows how to run an airline, the others could take lessons from them, and should.

Life back at the camp site is going great for us. We have some new neighbors at the RV park. A very nice couple named John and Linda. The two of them are very nice, dog loving people so I'm sure we will get along great. They have been married 40 years, so Carol and I may learn a couple things from them along the way. The park is busier this year than it was the same time last year. Maybe folks are willing to spend a few more bucks to get out now that it looks like the recession is leveling out.

I'm nearing implementation on my project called VVIMS which stands for 'Volcano Vision Integrated Management System'. It will allow Volcano to bill for Cable and Telephone services on one bill. This project has been 3 years in the making, I'm sure my managers will be glad to see it get completed.

Well, that is about all for now. We are starting my decent into Las Vegas airport. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to make another installment later in the week.

Happy camping! - Eric

Dandelion Days and then some

Well, spring has sprung and we are starting to see lots of activity in Amador county. This weekend we had a couple of signature events in our county that brings folks from various diciplines to our small county. And both of these events took place this weekend. First off, closest to our home front, is the California High School Rodeo Association Challenge of Champions event at the county Fair grounds which are right next door to the RV resort. This is one of those great events that challenges our youth of today to be better individuals through sport, skill and good sportsmanship. There were a number of Livestock rigs here at the park and even more at the fair grounds. It's great to see all those who take this activity so seriously working so hard to accomplish their goal. Obviously, these are families that take Rodeo and animal husbandry very seriously. They also start very young. We saw a number of miniature practice rigs where these RV'ing cowpokes can practice their lasoing with at any time. This event started Friday and ran through the majority of Sunday.

The other event in Amador county this weekend was our annual Dandelion Days festival. I find this name interesting 'cause Dafodills are much more predominate in our county than Dandelions, but it may be that Dandelions are more indigiounous to this area than Dafodills. At any rate, Dandelion days is primarily a street fair event that is organized by the Jackson Lions club. There were over 200 vendors that showed off their wares. There is also a large assortment of food booths that are run by various non-profit groups. The best known is the steak sandwiches which are prepared by the Jackson Fire department. The line for their offering was frequently 20 deep. Though the food preparers were keeping up with the demand, it was those that were fumbling for their cash and those making change that were slowing up the works. But it was all worth while.

We got together with Carol's brother Billy and Wife Loretta and son Brandon to take in the Dandelion days festivities. After hanging out there for 4 hours, we reposed to Billy and Loretta's place in Pioneer for desert and chit chat. Our dog Lily also got to work with Billy and Loretta's puppy Emma so she could find out what being a puppy is all about.

Well, that is about all for now. Have a great week.

Happy Camping! - Eric and Carol -