For The Greater Good?

Sometimes, bad things happen and good comes of it. Take for instance our banking situation. For several years, we have been using BMW Bank as our primary bank – great interest, no fees, even good service. However, they are closing up shop. I guess having a customer base of less that 2,000 wasn’t good for business. So – off to find a new bank.

Enter ING. ING is a Dutch bank that has expanded into many other countries and now the US. They used to only provide savings accounts [I looked into them just last year] but have recently branched into checking. Now, they provide great online banking at EXCELLENT interest rates. So, we’ve converted. After the last few scheduled transactions go through, we’ll close up shop and finish the move to ING. And, yes, that means that I’m finally going to use online banking – forget those paper checks!

Now if our local bank Wachovia can be convinced to not charge us any fees for downloading transactions to Quicken like they have threatened, we’d be good.

Home

We are back from Vegas, and let me tell you: it’s good to be home. One can only stand so much of the visual/moral assault – not to mention that not only did I have to be in my conference sessions all day, but also spend time with Laura as she wanted to explore several things in the evenings. Anyhow, the flight home was long and arduous as well. We took a red-eye back from the West: departed Thursday night arrived home early Friday morning. I couldn’t sleep the entire flight, except for maybe half an hour and I think Laura was the same. So, we spent all day recouperating.

I almost can’t wait to get back to work…

Viva Las Vegas

Laura and I will be travelling to Las Vegas Today. I’m going to attend a conference, while she’s going to hang out with me. This is a perfect excuse to see Las Vegas without choosing to vacation there. The cool part is that tere will likely be some great picture-taking opportunities – so we’re both bringing our cameras!

Management Change

Those of you who’ve talked to me recently are aware that my work-life is changing a little. One major part of that change is that my current manager has resigned and will be gone in a week.

The best part is that I just had a meeting with my second-line manager in which he was very encouraging and even said that he would recommend me for a promotion in the next round! Yee-haw!

Not A Power Problem

It seems that the power supply was not the sole problem for the server. Having done all they asked, I have now gotten an RMA and will be recieving a new motherboard soon to replace the one I have. Maybe then the crashes will stop. I am glad I have the new power supply, though. It was good to have exact guidelines on how much power should be necessary to run the system I have.

Back To The Cold

And I thought we were done with Winter!

Anyhow: our flight back from Tampa [where we stayed with a friend after our Naples trip – and went to a hockey game] took a very long time. In fact, we were over six hours delayed due to bad weather. Funny thing, though: we were fine with it. We just hung out and had fun with each other. I love my wife.

And now, from the 70s/80s of sunny Florida, we’re back to the 30s of Northern Virginia.

Live From Naples

Today was a great day. We arrived in Naples, FL last night and discovered that we were fairly tired. All that planning Laura did seemed not too important today when we just sat on the beach. We did a little swimming in the Winter water, though. That was… uh… refreshing? I just about froze my butt off. I got used to it after a while, though, and the guys went out swimming with me, while Laura and the girls hung out on the beach in lounge chairs. We found a few live sand dollars [and set the free again, of course], but mostly we sat in our chairs chatted and read our various and sundry books and magazines. There’s nothing like some good relaxation among friends.

Tonight is the first of the evening events and we will be briefly attending [since they dont’ allow spouses] and then heading to a restaurant. This is much better so far than working!