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Wow, it's already mid-September! What happened to Summer? It was a good summer and a tough summer in different ways. For the good part, I am having a great time at work in the new position. I think that is a big reason why this summer flew by. I actually look forward to going to work and feel like I am contributing something important to the business.

For the difficult part, my family has been getting frequent flier mileage at the local hospitals. 5 members of my family have spent significant time in the hospital or battling tough illnesses. It has been tough keeping up with everyone, but they are all fighters and are powering through. As I get older and older, it seems that more and more people are needing medical care. I thank my fortune that the most I have been worrying about is random moles and getting to the eye doctor. (I really need to get new glasses!)

Even though it is not technically Fall, the season is upon us. Kids are back in school and Jeff Probst is back on my television. I'm always excited for the new season of Survivor and Amazing Race! My other favorite, Doctor Who is winding down its current season, and it has been an amazing one. Can't wait to see how it all wraps up in a few weeks.

Speaking of a few weeks, it's time to visit the AZ family soon in their native habitat. Hoping the thermometer shows mercy on me since the last time it was well over 110 degrees. From there, I will be making a return trip to the Florida Project for the 40th Anniversary of the Magic Kingdom and the Walt Disney World Resort. It's been 4(!!) years since I have been there, and it will be nice to visit. Being a nerd, I am excited to stay in two new Resort Hotels (despite being denied, yet again, to getting a night at the Contemporary Resort - one day my childhood dream will come true).

I will be taking the iPad for it's first trip (outside of the state - it did go on the trip to Sequoia and Yosemite at the beginning of summer) so I am beginning to get some media transferred to it so I can test the battery. I don't usually do a travel diary for WDW, but depending on what inspires me we shall see.

Now that I have broken my summer log jam, I am going to try and pick up the pace around here for the 5 people that might actually still be reading my site.

Oh - quick site news, I actually made good process on the new Trip Diaries! Just need some long nights to get through it all and then finally it will be done.

July has been a busy month here at Club Josh!

First up, can we talk earthquakes?? We had another mild to moderate quake on July 7 that registered M5.4. It is the third M5+ quake in So Cal this year, and the second 5+ aftershock to the M7.2 Easter Sunday Sierra El Mayor Quake. I have to admit, I was disappointed I missed the majority of the shaking of the 7.2 since I was in my Dad's Chevy Tahoe at the time, but I have not missed the other two. I am fascinated how the Sierra El Mayor quake broke north and has now triggered quakes in the LA region. Of particular interest is the Elsinore/Whitter complex as well as the San Jacinto faults. I think it is just a matter of time before we have a large-ish quake either on the Ft. Tejon section of the San Andreas or on the other two faults. I am glad I am in a 2009 constructed apartment complex! Now is the time to get those quake survival kits up to speed and refreshed!

Next up, let's talk about AT&T UVerse. When I moved into the new complex, I was bummed that I could not get DirecTV due to the fact we face North. It seemed like the best option was AT&T UVerse and after getting a package deal it actually was quite reasonable. For the most part, the service has been good. I am enjoying the HD on Daniel's new TV, but the DVR functionality leaves a bit to be desired, especially after so many years using TiVo. Note to TiVo, please get your service to work with UVerse!!

This month, we have suffered through two major outages. First up, our DVR died while watching the 25th Anniversary special of Dollywood. One moment she is singing "My Country, My Home" and the next it freezes. After rebooting, it comes up with a big Red X on the screen. We had to wait a few days to get it swapped out. Sadly, all the recordings were gone, but since the settings and scheduled recordings are stored on the modem, all was not lost.

A week later, I was in the middle of working on a web site for the Adriatic Vascular Summit, and right after I pushed a first version live, everything went out. No Internet, No Cable, and no Phone service!! It was a frustrating three days full of repeated calls to Customer Service and tech support. The worst part was that no one really knew what was happening and they had no ETA. After several tweets, I was contacted by one of the AT&T service reps who forwarded my contact info and concerns "to the highest levels". After someone from corporate contacted me, the service finally came back online the next day (although I am sure it was just coincidence). I was able to get a service credit for it being offline as well as super-slow for a few days after the outage. To my delight and surprise, someone followed up with me a few days after and offered to increase my service credit and gave me his contact info should things go horribly wrong again. He also told me that it was a software glitch and that is why no one knew where the problem was.
In the end, I was happy with the resolution, but it still set me way back on my projects, not to mention I almost started reading books again!

Things are now back to normal, and I once again started to unpack and get situated. This past few off days, I unpacked most of my books (some who made the move might end up being donated after all). I am still struggling to find an elegant media storage solution. I really want to unpack all my DVDs and CDs to clear up closet space and make my room a bit more, well, roomy! Perhaps I should just digitize all of them and go the virtual route. Of course, this still begs the question what to do with all the physical discs?? Maybe underbed storage??

Don't know, but part of the problem I have is deciding what to do!

So here we are into the second month of 2010, and so far it has been a huge tease for me. Things that I have been anticipating and hoping for in 2010 still seem like they are far off causing me a bit of anxiety and frustration. It seems this is a recurring theme for me to start every year, and I am determined to make this year different and get my act together!

Some notes from the last few weeks:
I enjoyed Mary Poppins! It was not what I expected, but was surprised at how much I really got into it. It is most certainly in the recommend column if you are thinking about going to see it.

I was very excited about the unveiling of the iPad at the end of January. I really want to get one so that I can have something fun and light that I can easily post blog entries and photos from on the road. I am leaning towards the WiFi only version, but I have a few nagging issues. First, if a new iPhone comes out this year, I would 100% want that before an iPad, and I am pretty sure I cannot swing both in the same year. (darn fiscal responsibility!) Second, it is not that big of a leap from the mid to high level iPad to a MacBook, and part of me thinks that might be better for traveling and writing updates and surfing the web, etc. So I think as much as I want to be an early-adopter, I might have to be on the sidelines for a bit.

It looks like this will be a moving year! Finally after talking about it for years, I will be moving to a new place hopefully in May. This of course raises all sorts of financial burden questions as moving is not cheap. However, I think in the long run this will help me cut costs and be able to pay down the travel debt.

Speaking of travel, San Francisco will be on the docket in March, and possibly a trip to see the family in Arizona come Late March/Early April. Hopefully with savings and some extra work here and there, I will scratch enough together to be able to meet up with Mom in Croatia for one of her meetings. I guess I better get working on that awesome iPad app so I can make some travel money!

One more thing, as I await the word of new assignments at work, I am learning another peak in the Disneyland Mountain range. Yup, after years and years, I am finally learning Space Mountain. It's my second coaster (after Matterhorn) and my 18th Disneyland Attraction. I look forward to the challenge, and it is nice to have something new to focus on over the next few weeks/months.