The Family

Being brief here – Ramona and I had a quick talk about keeping files on a laptop secure even if you lost the laptop.  One good solution that I know of is a software package called True Crypt.

True Crypt allows you to create an encrypted file on the computer that TrueCrypt will mount as a regular drive.  You store your important files inside the True Crypt drive and they are encrypted/decrypted on the fly.

Using this solution will keep your files secure so long as you log off of your account when you put the laptop away.  And that’s what you should be doing when you travel anyway.

So, if someone did snatch the computer and try to pull files off the hard drive…  well, the chances of them being able to break TrueCrypt depend on how good of a password you used.

Anyway, I use TrueCrypt to store some important work files that get backed up to a third party (Mozy).  Not that I don’t have some trust in Mozy, I just want to be very sure about the security of the files when they get transferred somewhere else.

Well, I guess it’s time to go ahead and bring this up.

Kevin is still unemployed. And I figure we all have financial pressures, and besides that, we’re all grown up and don’t need anything. Well, nothing small, anyway.

So – what would the group like to do?

Continue reading →

OK. I am ready…… No, I’m not. I am in the process of deciding that yet another idea is not any good after I decided that it was what I was going to go with. My sympathies to all those, past and future, who have to name the Christmas Eve theme. (Except to those who think of something, name it, and go on with their lives without wasting time second guessing themselves.) Sigh………

Before i completely talk myself out if this…

The gift shall be an unusual Christmas ornament. It can be pretty, silly, or whatever, but it must be unusual (or seem unusual to you) and it must be an ornament which adorns the tree. It would be nice if it was also unique, but that is not a requirement.

I did the random gift exchange selector, but it has a problem. Do you, Chris and Christina, want to include Aleah and/or Donavan? It is up to you. Either way, you need to change it. Right now it includes Donavan and not Aleah.

I am not sure, but did we have a rule that spouse does not give to spouse? If so, when Aleah and Donavan join the game we should change that, making the rule only that we cannot give to ourselves.

I am trying to remember….how do we do this? Do I generate and post here or do I tell each individual who he or she has so it is as much of a secret as possible? I don’t remember. Seems like I post.

The move is almost completed – we’ll be out of here on Saturday.

So for anyone keeping track, here is the new contact information:

14717 Vine Street
Thornton, CO 80602

303 452-3077

That’s the new phone number. However, if anyone is updating phone numbers, may I suggest updating to my forwarding number instead – 970 480-7529. That number will be mine forever. Well, as long as both I and Google Voice are around, anyway.

Doreen, Sean’s mom, has died. She had a heart attack about a week ago and has been in a steady decline since then. Yesterday the doctors made the call to put her in hospice care and to take her off all medications.

Around 9:00pm today she passed on.

Well, today was the day. Luke had his colonoscopy and it wasn’t good. They found a tumor large enough to constrict but not block in the lower bowel. He is going to have to have it removed. We expect to find out if it is malignant on Tuesday. They were not able to examine the upper colon but will when they remove the tumor. That will probably be within the next 2 weeks.

Luke feels fine…. and this is not as shocking as it would be if we did not expect it. Will keep you posted.

… that when you are not logged in you don’t see the ‘wishlist’ tab at the top of the site?

That’s a holdover from something I didn’t put in place here when I put the theme into place. I was doing a test blog to see how things would work and I put a ‘website lockout’ thing in place while I worked. If anyone viewed the site it would display a single welcome page and only allowed logged in people to see more than that single page.

Being that the family site is mostly just for us, would there be interest in me putting up the same thing here?

After my car (’89 S10 Blazer) ran into a problem that would require a good bit of repairs; if not hard, at least time consuming – and it is work I can’t do myself – so there would be a hefty bill at the end. Now, my car didn’t qualify under the ‘cash for clunkers’ program (1 mpg too good to qualify), but it does qualify for the Texas Drive Clean Across Texas program. Well, it took two and a half weeks but I now have a piece of paper that makes my car worth 3,000 as a trade in. (I’m sure that’s way better than it would get by regular trade in values)

We didn’t spend that two and a half week period just sitting around though; we’ve been doing reading, getting opinions, doing a few test drives here and there. For about a week or so we’ve been set on a Honda Fit Sport. Set enough, in fact, to have put our name down on a car. (with 500 bucks that goes towards our down payment as a mark of serious intent)

The car my name is on, of course, wasn’t at the dealership. The color I’m after (the darker blue they offer) was not in stock… but they had one scheduled for delivery near the end of the month. See where this is going?

I’ have the Drive Clean ‘check’ in hand. I have our paperwork in order. I have a quote on the price (with VIN number), so that part is done. I have an auto loan through the credit union ready (not set in stone until I find out if the dealership can match/beat it). I’ve even added the car to our auto insurance (well, enough info sent on that I just call and say “we have the car, add it” and that’s it).

and the car is not here. but it should be by the end of the month. Delivery date is somewhere between the 24 and the 29th.

We are ready to have two cars again. Christina is ready to be able to leave the house during the day again.

The anticipation is killing me.

You never can completely let your guard down around people. They treat you just fine for months, keeping the food bowl full most of the time, giving you a little of the good stuff from time to time (usually when Penelope yells about it). They pet you when you want it and you get to thinking they’re OK.

And then one day, for absolutely no reason, they chase you down, grab you, and shove you into a box no matter how hard you fight to stay out of it. And then they put you in the car and take you to a bad place where they just stand there and let strangers do inexplicable horrible things to you. And then they take you home and let you out of the box and act like everything is fine.

It happened to me today…… Now i am watching them, especially Luke who did it. I am watching Nelia too, just in case. She was right there holding the box. She isn’t as bad as Luke, but she isn’t trustworthy either. It is going to be a long time before I let either of them anywhere near me.