Precious Moments

On Father's Day we were working at a house and we took the kids to church with us. They created Father's Day cards in their Sunday School classes. Here is the one that Eric received from a 7 year old boy that we work with regularly. So precious!

We have lived in Arizona for almost a year and last night for the first time we saw a real live moving tarantula in the parking lot of our apartment complex. Yuck!


My wonderful husband bought me some daisys to brighten up our kitchen table. It makes it cheery inside where we spend most of our time because it's too hot to go out!

Vancouver, B.C.

Last year when we were planning our wedding and honeymoon, I thought it would be great to go to Vancouver, B.C. because I had heard that it was so beautiful there with fun outdoor activities. The cost, however, seemed higher than our budget would allow so instead we chose the east coast of Canada and went to Nova Scotia. That's when this blog began! God, in His wisdom and generosity, knew that we would get the chance to go to Vancouver to celebrate our first anniversary instead and so this year we once again found ourselves in Canada at the end of June only this time it was on the opposite coast.

We flew up to Vancouver via the graciousness of Eric's parents. His dad had a business meeting up there and then rented a vacation home for a few days. Check out his companies website here. Eric's mom and older brother, Dan, also joined us for the stay. Our activities included roller blading around a beautiful park overlooking the ocean, kayaking up a fjiord, taking a ferry ride, walking through beautiful woods and hiking to the top of a mountain in the snow while wearing t-shirts and shorts. As you can see from the pictures below, Vancouver is one of the most beautiful places in the world, especially if you like to be outside. Our weather was perfect and every day was full of adventure. It was a great way to mark one year of marriage and it was cool how the activities we did reminded us of the same things we did on our honeymoon, including celebrating Canada Day! (To refresh yourself on our honeymoon, refer to the beginning of this blog).

We are very grateful to Eric's parents for giving us such a great vacation!

Celebrating our anniversary with fine seafood.

At a place called "Skookumchuck" which means "strong water".

Kayaking around the fjords. Double kayaks are called "divorce boats".

Ladies and Gentleman, I present the Dragon Fruit!

Canadians don't have Homeland security. They just have this scary bird that can see into your soul.

The family looking tough in our kayak skirts.

My older brother Dan gave a beautiful toast and prayer to our marriage.

The moment Dan was done my dad changed the subject to urinals which gave all of us a little chuckle.

We were on a budget in Vancouver because things there were quite expensize. The Canadians taught us that when you pay half as much you get half as much.

This was the view rewarded to us after a hike through the snow and swarms of bugs. (That's why I have my hood on.)

Technologic

If you have a device which you want to have on the internet but it is a huge hassle to plug into your router because it is in a different room, then this article is for you!

Technologic is the name of a very cool song. Look it up on YouTube. I call this blog Technologic because more and more do I seem to be the technology geek in GAP. I guess my father's blood runs in my veins because I am fascinated with solving computer problems. God bless my wife for putting up with me while I am hacking away at computer problems.

So I am writing this post because open source software (Unix) has broken into my life once again in a wonderful way. Open source software is programming that utalitarian super nerds somewhere out there in cyberspace decide to create and give away for FREE! Some examples of open source software are: OpenOffice, Firefox, and Thunderbird. Unix is code that everyone is required to share freely. Is there really anywhere else in the world that people just create things and give them away for free? Thanks to this open source unix firmware I have figured out how to do something so cool with a wireless Linksys router that I am compelled to share.

I installed DD-WRT firmware on a WRT54G.

http://www.dd-wrt.com/

This firmware allowed me to use my router (instead of my laptop) to connect to local wireless internet signal being broadcast at my apartment complex. Once I connected my DD-WRT router to the local broadcast it redistributed the internet signal through the hardwire ports in the back and wirelessly! This is useful if you have wireless internet upstairs and a desktop or X-Box downstairs which does not have wireless capabilities. This is also useful if you live in an apartment where free internet is being broadcast and you want to have it in your apartment.

Let me tell you how it works. DD-WRT firmware is unix based software which gives ordinary routers extra special features. First visit this website and see if you have a router which in on the list of approved devices.

Then go to the “Tutorials” section of the website and follow the instructions. There is a lot you can do with this firmware! Read up on it and see if there is any extra functionality you wish your router could do. Happy routing!

Note: If you install open source firmware on your router the manufacturer will not cover it with support or warrenties.