Kicking Off A New Year In 2012

 life  No Responses »
Jan 012012
 

Well, a new year is upon us, and it’s time to look at what we want to accomplish in the coming year…

That’s right, the dreaded NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS!

I’m keeping mine pretty simple this year, though that doesn’t mean that they won’t be challenging:

#1 – Lose 30 Pounds

Yes, I spend a lot of time between work and taking care of my boys, but in the past few years I definitely haven’t taken care of myself the way I need to.  It’s time to change my routines and diet, and take care of myself for the long term.  It’s going to be a lot of hard work, but it’s a change I need to make.

I weighed myself this morning, and I checked in at 267.6 after the holidays, so I’m shooting for 237 by the end of 2012.  I’ll be posting updates throughout the year, both to share what has and hasn’t been working, and to help hold myself accountable to my goals.

#2 – Run Four 5k Races

In 2010, I started running over the summer and managed to complete two 5k races by the end of the year.  Then in 2011, I didn’t stick with that effort, instead dedicating my time to our boys.  In 2012, I want to get back to that level of training and getting that sense of accomplishment from finishing the races.

 

That’s going to be it for this year.  There will still be plenty of my time focusing on my boys and spending quality time with my wife, but this year I need to make sure I take care of myself as well.

Pink For October – 2011

 family, health, issues, life  No Responses »
Oct 022011
 

Once again, I’ve made my blog these pink-based for October to bring attention to Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

As you probably know, this is still a personal thing for me, and I want to show our support for all those struggling with this impediment in their lives.

Please support the efforts of the Komen Foundation to help make a brighter future for all those who have to deal with breast cancer in their lives.

Thank you.

Hit It!

 life  No Responses »
Oct 072010
 

Yea, so I got rear-ended again…in the same exact spot on my bumper as last December!  Not a fun way to start the day, but at least nobody got hurt.  This time it was on an actual road instead of in a parking lot, but it’s still a hassle to got through all the insurance paperwork and make the arrangements to get the car fixed.  Ironically, the damage is actually less severe (at least it appears that way to the eye), which just shows how crazily the idiot in the parking lot was driving last year.

But on we go…

I Can’t Believe It’s Been Five Years Already

 life  No Responses »
Jul 022010
 

Well, today Marci and I are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary, which seems pretty surreal to me.  It honestly feels like the wedding wasn’t that long ago, but then again, it seems like Graem was born yesterday and I’m still not sure I’ve wrapped my head around having another one on the way.

And then again, life has changed so much in the past five years. Back then, I was the only one from my family living in the Pittsburgh area, and now everyone is here.  Back then Marci had just graduated from Pitt, and was weighing an offer to pursue her Ph.D., and now she’s pretty much a dissertation away from achieving that (ok, that may take the next few years to write, but it’s at least on the horizon).  I’ve changed jobs a few times and advanced my career.  We’ve become homeowners, and most importantly, parents in that time.  It’s both a joy and exhausting to try and keep up with Graem each day.  It’s pretty much night and day from where we started, but I’ve got to say that I’ve enjoyed each step along the way (it just seems that there’s a lot more stuff to do now).

Life is good, and it’s mostly because I’m still head over heels in love with my wife.  I know she’ll always be there for me, and together, under God, we can take on any challenge life throws our way.  And that’s a very good position to be in.

Oh yea, and I got my anniversary gift early as well:

Pretty awesome, huh?

Happy Anniversary, Marci!  I love you as much today as I did the day we were married!

An Open Letter to the Idiot Who Backed Into My Car

 humor, life  No Responses »
Feb 052010
 

Dear Idiot,

Nice job committing insurance fraud and completely lying to your insurance company about what happened.  I mean, I had started backing out, and saw you throw your car into reverse and start aiming at me, yes…but I stopped my car and honked THREE times at you to get your attention, which was clearly diverted elsewhere.

However, you tell your insurance company that you saw my car moving in order to cover your own butt (which, from the way you drive, I can only assume you’ve had to do before).  Of course, if you actually saw my car moving (which implies you were paying some modicum of attention), it begs the question, “WHY THE HECK DID YOU KEEP BACKING UP???”

The clear answer is that you were preoccupied with something else (talking up some girl on the phone or drowning out the world with music, I don’t know…).  However, it’s much easier to lie than to admit that you made a mistake, huh?

Except for at the scene, apparently, where you actually claimed responsibility for the accident.  You never said what distracted you, but you managed to vocalize that you were at fault.

At least until your insurance agent called.  Then you’re changing your story again to try and keep your growing premiums down.

So then I have to go through more than a month of dealing with your crappy, unresponsive insurance company and driving my crunched-up car while they twiddle their thumbs and finally offer to split the $3000+ in repairs 50/50.

Fortunately, I have real auto insurance with a reasonable deductible that allowed me to reject their offer and finally get the repairs done at a fair price (not as fair as the $0 I should have paid for you ramming your car into mine, but much better than $1500).

Next time you get in an accident, I sure hope the other party gets the police involved to get a clear report that you won’t be able to flip on.

-Greg Nilsen

Major Blog Changes

 life, projects  No Responses »
Jan 202010
 

You may have noticed that some of my postings have dwindled in the past year.  There have been several reasons for that, with the greatest being the additional time that fatherhood demands.

However, another big reason for the downturn has been my satisfaction with my previous blogging platform.  It was a ColdFusion-based solution (which I have a bias towards being a ColdFusion developer) which was very solid.  However, I had made a number of customizations to it to meet my needs, which make keeping up with new revisions nearly impossible.  So, I have not been able to take advantage of new fixes and functionality, and have not had the time to redo the adjustments I had put together for previous versions.

So, I made the pretty radical decision to completely change platforms for my blog, to a more widely used application that I allows me to make customizations, but still keep up with version changes going forward.

However, the one big drawback to this is that I lost all comments on my posts (my new platform did not support importing them from my old platform), which is kind of a downer.  I do still have them all in backups, but have no easy way to tie them into the new setup.

Yet, I think the transition will be worth it.  I’ll have the time to focus more on writing and less on trying to maintain my old hack-and-slash solution, which is what I’d like to do anyway.

Seven Years Ago…

 life  No Responses »
May 012009
 

So I was just curious, since I haven't done it in a while, and I searched for myself on Yahoo.  Turns out that in the top ten results, my old homepage on Hiram's CS webserver is still up and active.  Sure, the information is a little out of date now, but I'm amazed it's still even there! 

Oh, and if you do a search for me, let me go ahead and answer a question for you.  No, it was not this Greg Nilsen that was in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou.  At least not that I can remember…

I Call It "Floating"

 health, life  No Responses »
Apr 212009
 

So, the last few weeks have been really long.  In addition to long nights with baby Graem (which, yes, are more than worth it for the occasional smiley faces), I've been coming down the home stretch with a major project at work which has had me working extra hours, both at work and at home.

Unfortunately, in this time of little rest and much to do, I have delved deeper into my bad habit I tend to refer to as “floating”; as in floating through my day through a rush of caffeine and sugar known as Mountain Dew.  Though, lately I have gotten into the additional bad habit of supplementing it with the occasional AMP.

And, while I know it's a bad habit, as well as bad for my health in the long run, I continue to fall back on “floating” in my times of stress, continuing to tell myself that I can kick my habit once my stress is over.  However, I almost always go back at some point.  I guess I'm addicted…

Does anyone have any suggestions for beating a pop addiction?  And please, don't suggest the diet stuff.  I can easily taste aspartame, and find it disgusting (and it usually gives me headaches).  I'd love to kick the habit for the benefit of my weight and overall health, and am curious to hear what others have done.

Things I'm Not Good At: Number 257: Blogging One Handed

 family, life  No Responses »
Mar 202009
 

Unfortunately, it's been a rough week when it comes to updating the ol' blog.  Baby Graem appears to have hit a growth spurt and is constantly eating, burping and soiling himself.  It's definitely been a handful.  Occasionally I've been able to sit at the computer with one hand free, but it's not exactly conducive to writing.  It's worth it all, but that doesn't mean it's easy!

In addition, Monday my brother and his fiancée successfully completed their trek from Phoenix to Pittsburgh, and we got together for a nice meal on Tuesday.  Nothing fancy, but it's nice to see them and have them around now, and blogging was far from my mind.

Eventually, though, I'll get a chance to get my thoughts together and into the blog for your enjoyment.  ;-D

Thoughts on Being a New Dad

 family, life  No Responses »
Mar 012009
 

On February 26th, 2009, my wife gave birth to our first son, Graem Scott Nilsen.  He was a 8lb. 12oz., 22 inch long wonder and is already bringing all sorts of joy to our lives.

Me and My Son

Two days later as we await discharge from the hospital, I have to admit this experience was nothing like I expected.  Despite all the videos and classes that we spent time with, there's just a lot that is left out:

  • They tell you labor will be long, but they don't tell you that mom may be pushing for hours.  All in all, I think my wife spent 4 and a half hours pushing (over two sessions) before the little guy made his debut.
  • If you go to a group OB practice, even if you've met everyone in the practice, don't expect them to be the only ones involved in the birthing process.
  • One of the most nerve-wrecking feelings is waiting for they baby to cry for the first time.  It probably wasn't any more than 30 seconds, but it felt like hours.  I had tears of joy when I finally heard it.
  • You don't realize that you're going to spend most of your time with one nurse, but then suddenly have over a dozen people in the room when the time comes.  They leave almost as quickly.
  • No matter how much a birth is planned, you have to make a lot of quick decisions that may not always coincide with your original thoughts.  However, the most important thing is that momma and baby both turn out healthy.

And now that all that is behind us, I'm excited for all the things that will, and already have begun to, come from being a dad:

  • Being able to sooth the cries of a newborn.
  • Being able to see the curiosity in the eyes and funny expressions that only a baby can have.
  • Reading to my son to get his education off on the right foot.
  • At least being able to watch, if not coach, my son playing sports.
  • Making my son play an instrument, even if he doesn't like it (like I didn't like playing the French Horn), so he can at least come to appreciate the effort and dedication that it does take to succeed at the arts.  Even rock stars have spent countless hours perfecting their trade (not sure I can say the same for pop stars though).
  • Taking my son to science museums, so he can begin to see the wonders that surround us in the world.
  • Taking my son to church, so he learns that there is more to the world than science can ever hope to prove.
  • Disciplining my son, as hard as it may be on me, to make sure he learns that he is not the one in charge and learns to respect his parents.  I know he'll appreciate it someday.
  • Seeing my son become his own man, because he is and needs to know that he is free to chose his own way in life.

There are so many more I could list, but this is starting to get a bit long.  I'm just so happy and excited to finally be a father, and I can only hope to be as good a one as my dad was for me!

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