JH and I have been playing D&D with friends for awhile, and H decided she wanted to try it too. So I decided to pick a premade scenario, and Jen sat down with us and we played through a Christmas adventure!

Kenny is the winner of the "who gets me their list first" contest, so her list will appear in the #1 slot!

I wanted to share some of the experiences I've had with a recent AI art piece.  There's a technique called "inpainting", which I still didn't have much experience with.  This project was a good chance to learn more about it, and what sort of challenges you encounter.

When I was but a callow youth, my mother used to make the most delightful Swedish meatballs.  I will now share our family recipe, and an alternate recipe that you might find tasty.

This is the traditional Woltman Turkey Stuffing. It is simple but also very good and probably better than whatever you grew up with.

This is a codification of my family's prime rib recipe. It has been refined over the years and produces great results. This recipe is very expensive, but don't let that intimidate you, because it is also very simple.

This is a recipe for my favorite chocolate cake.  It comes, mostly unaltered, from the treasure trove of culinary art that is Ann Brooks.  If you dislike this cake, you are objectively a bad person.

This is a recipe for good, some might even say great, fruit-and-cream-cheese-topped sugar cookies.

This recipe is based entirely on the Serious Eats version, but I edited it down for reasons I hope are self-evident.

The crab soup that my mom has made for as long as I've known her (i.e., all my life).

Ah, French Boursin cheese, just the way your Irish-Polish mother makes it.

While having a blog in 2023 may be anachronistic or perhaps even crazy, what's even crazier is having content that dates all the way back to 2004. I've managed this in the past by writing scripts to convert from one blog system to another, and the conversion to Publii is no different. 

I've been having a blast using my computer to randomly generate images.  A new use I've found for "AI art" is as a source of inspiration.  About a week ago I went down a rabbit hole that ended up with me learning a bunch of other tools so that I could execute an idea that I wouldn't have had otherwise.

Another visit to California! This time I did not go to Sequoia.  Don't worry, my friends, I still saw some redwood trees.  We had back-to-back jobs, first in San Diego, then in San Jose.  SK and I spent the weekend between jobs at a 76er's game, Point Reyes, and John Muir Woods.

Server: minecraft.woltman.com Required Minecraft Version: 1.20.4 To be whitelisted visit our Discord Minecraft Rules: be nice, no garbage skybridges (have some pride!) Discord Rules: no foul language, no gross pictures  NEW for 1.19! This datapack adds awesome new biomes.  More information here. Watch this video…

Celebrating the second anniversary of my 40th birthday, although it kind of turned into "Jen's Eating Tour of California".

I think it's well-documented that Sequoia National Park is my favorite place on Earth. It's calm, quiet, and somewhat remote. We had originally planned to go to there for my 40th birthday, but COVID scuttled those plans. But now I returned, family in tow, to finally get the birthday trip I so richly deserved.

I started my first web page in 1998, and the web has evolved a lot since then.  My first few sites were all handwritten HTML/CSS, first using Notepad, then HomeSite (which became an IDE for the ColdFusion markup language).  At Penn State I used a…

Hello, once again we have Christmas lists! Amazon List Amazon List Amazon list

2021 Christmas Lists! * <del>[[https://www.amazon.com/Green-Knight-Blu-ray-Dev-Patel/dp/B09BC2YY3J/ref=tmm_blu_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1638411986&sr=8-2|The Green Knight on Blu-ray]] (//not 4K//)</del> * <del>[[https://www.amazon.com/Brazil-Criterion-Collection-Blu-ray-Jonathan/dp/B009D004X6/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=criterion+brazil&qid=1638412019&sr=8-1|Criterion Collection version of Brazil on Blu-ray]].</del> * I also have various photography stuff on [[https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/12SBOBB6BDJ6B?ref_=wl_share|my Amazon Christmas list]]. * Movie ticket vouchers/gift certificates. * Things on my [[https://www.jetpens.com/wishlist?wish_list_id=a14c2c5bae28ba40|stationery wish list]] Hazel Wants…

Once more we embark on the family & friends vacation to the Outer Banks! This year was one pretty different from 2020 - the grown-ups were all vaccinated, more places were open, and we had even more Nintendo Switches (good?). As a bonus, our 8…

Scott and I spent the better part of Saturday hiking near Pinnacle Overlook at the Holtwood Dam.

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Our family Christmas Cards are usually simple, straight forward affairs. But for 2020, we decided to go with something a little (a lot) more involved. Taking inspiration from this family's blog, we decided to break out the Photoshop and come up with a really fun…

The lists have been updated - items that are struck out are gifts that have been... gifted. Dylan's list is available at Amazon Kristen's list is available at Amazon Having listed all the above, please go off list if you'd rather. There is nothing on…

Hey all, thought you might enjoy seeing some of the stuff we did over the last few months. Stuff That We Did Jen & I took a trip to Hartford, CT for the express purpose of eating at Rein's Deli. We went to Polish Pottery…

I got to travel to Anchorage, AK for work again, and took some pictures!

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Christmas lists! I love lists!

Sometimes my children go outside.  The optimal time for outside is play is when the temperature is hovering around 44°F. Crazy, I know, but they seem to enjoy themselves.

I have accumulated photographs of various things this summer.  Perhaps you'd enjoy looking at them?

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JH graduated from Kindergarten, here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

Cross-compiling Qt and Qt-based projects for the Raspberry Pi continues to be an error prone, complicated process.  It's even worse when doing it on CentOS because of the outdated tooling (GCC 4.8?!).  To lower the friction, I updated my cross-compilation Ansible playbooks to work with an Ubuntu 18.04 desktop instead of CentOS.

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I built a new computer! JH helped and is now a master of the philips screw driver.

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JH and I visited the Legoland Discovery Center at the Plymouth Meeting Mall.

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Enjoy some Christmas photos!

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It is time! for! Christmas!

Terms Questions Articles https://medium.freecodecamp.org/ios-coreml-vision-image-recognition-3619cf319d0b () https://www.raywenderlich.com/5653-create-ml-tutorial-getting-started () https://developer.apple.com/documentation/create_ml/improving_your_model_s_accuracy ()

I had many contenders for "worst hike ever" until I hiked the Manitou Incline.  This is it.  This is the worst.

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More pics of the kids!

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Christmas lists for 2017!  BUY THEM ALL!

JH and I visited the aquarium in Camden, and had a pretty good time.  Later that week, WC and I went to NYC for work, and ALSO had a pretty good time.

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The Aleutian Islands! Volcanoes! Polar bears! Ice floes! Penguins!  I didn't see any of that!  But, I did get to see some other cool things.

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On Friday morning, June 16, 2017, my wonderful wife gave birth to our second child, Hazel Elizabeth Woltman.  She weighed 8 pounds, 1.8 ounces, and was 21 inches long.  When I wrote about John Henry's birth I said there were no words to express how happy and joyful I felt, and I still haven't figured out how to say it four years later.  Jen did an amazing job and I'm so proud of her and of our newborn daughter.  Please enjoy the pictures - there will be plenty more in the coming weeks!

Yes, really.  This time I'm accompanied by my brother Scott and by JTB.  We drove around the Sierra Nevada area to visit Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks.  We took many photos, why don't you look at some of them?  I also got pretty wordy, ick.

Have you ever wanted to cross-compile a Qt application on your Raspberry Pi but hate bash scripts because bash scripts are literal garbage?  Well now you can, with some handy Ansible playbooks that I wrote!

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Legos are for ages 4 and up, and guess how old JH is?

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Here are some pictures from our Christmas 2016 family dinner.

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It's that time of year again!

Are you ready for more pictures of the cutest kid on the planet?

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I completely re-jiggered my website again, like I do.

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John Henry & I raked up a pile of leaves, destroyed it, then raked it up, destroyed it, and so on. Although he's almost three now, this is his first real autumn because he was too little to really enjoy it last year.

Just like before, sometimes work sends me to terrible places like the tropical island paradise of Hawaii.  And since misery loves company, this time I brought Jen, John Henry, and my mom too!

Instead of staying a hotel, we stayed at a house 50 yards from the beach.  It was a lot cheaper than the hotels in Honolulu, and was in a quiet residential area.  We explored the island of Oahu, aided by my coworker's recommendations, which I turned into a handy map.

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This week we celebrated jerky and crabs. By which I mean my brother's and my father's birthdays. I converted 20 pounds of meat into about 3, and we caught and cooked 45 blue crabs.

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We went to the beach this year, like we do. I took lots of photos, mostly of JH. Take a look and become undone by his cuteness.

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I was once again in California for two consecutive weeks.  I thought my brother needed to come see the West Coast and take in some of the scenery.

Would you like to see some pictures of JH? Of course you would. These are some miscellaneous photos, some taken at home, and some taken at the corn maze at Green Ridge Farm in Parkesburg.

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We were out in the greater Denver area for work last week, and we took the time to do some sightseeing.

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We've begun planting the 2014 garden, come take a look at what we've finished so far.

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Django includes a useful geographic services system called GeoDjango. Getting it up and running on CentOS can be a chore, particularly if you need packages newer than CentOS 6 provides. In this post, I'm going to list the steps I took install GeoDjango with PostgreSQL's PostGIS system. If you're reading this, then I'm going to assume you have at least a passing familiarity with Linux and Django.

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A recent work project involved remote, unmanned computers set up to record weather data.  Every so often, we want to log in to the computers and download the data for processing.  The question is, if you are using off-the-shelf parts, can you make the remote computer reliably available?

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I am an active participant in the Christian orphanage/school charity, Shalom Christian Missions. SCM runs a children's home and school in Nyasoti, Kenya. Their website was designed around 2007-2008, and its age was very much starting to show.

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I've posted more photos of John Henry. In this set, he's mostly 8 to 9 months old. There's also a video to watch.

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John Henry turned 5 weeks old this past Thursday. JT & CB came up to visit us on the weekend, and most of these photos are the results of JT's camera work.

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There are no words that can express how happy Jen & I are, so for now I'll just say, "Pleased to meet you, son." We'll post stories and more later, but I know you're all anxious to see photos of John Henry Woltman V.

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Purchase these items or your love is forfeit!

Jen and - by societal conventions - I are pregnant. In about seven months time, we will likely be proud parents.

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Apple's Boot Camp does not officially support Windows XP on computers shipped with OS X 10.7 ("Lion"). Keep reading for instructions on installing Windows XP on a late 2011 MacBook Pro.

UPDATED: Read Steve's comment for more info on getting XP running on a 2011 13 inch MacBook Pro.

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I have a full-time job, so this week I decided to spend a little of it on supporting the people who develop the programs I use regularly. Here's a list of the developers I donated to:

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Updated with Chest Protection Info

Rules and Notes:

1. Use common sense.
2. Try your best to use speak goodly.
3. No griefing.
4. Problem players will be perma-banned.
5. No skybridges. Try nether portals, subways, or wait until plugins work for teleportation.

Protecting Your Chests:

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Earlier this week, TB bought me a gift pass for a popular indie game called Minecraft. I kind of wish he hadn't, because I can't. stop. playing. it.

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Now includes Aunt Mary, John #003, and Scott!

Christmas! Lists! Here!

As you may know, Christmas is that special time of year when people remember something nebulous, happy, and vague by purchasing expensive gifts for me! In order to determine how much you love me, I've divided things up for your convenience.

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On November 12th, I aged a year, as I often do. I don't know what it is about November twelfths that age me so, but Jen was there to cheer me up. How did she do this? She combined two of my favorite things - zombies and cupcakes.

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We had a free day in Washington, so CW and I drove east toward Lake Wenatchee State Park. We hiked up a mountain, and mostly hiked back down again. Pictures were taken and posted here for your amusement.

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As you can see, I've got a new theme! "Not another one," I hear you say? Allow me to explain why it's great...

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Last Tuesday we were in Seattle for some work, and we took time to visit Seattle's Pike Place Market - a haven for hippies, bakers, and crab-chucking fishmongers.

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The Problem: I need to backup remote websites that have lots of files. I want to have incremental snapshots, so that I can have multiple backups of the same site without wasting lots of disk space. In other words, I want Apple's Time Machine for websites.

The Solution: I knew that the familiar rsync program could copy files from a server to my home computer. So I Googled and came across Michael Jakl's excellent Time Machine for every Unix out there. I've expanded his script and provided my results here, so that you can use it too. Read on for more info, and to download the script.

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After messing around with lots of fun configuration, I think my email system is working properly. I'm using a combination of Postfix, Dovecot, MySQL, RoundCube, and OpenLDAP to provide email services for johnwoltman.com. This lets me use a better webmail client than 1and1's craptastic "WebMail 2.0," and I can do do away with quotas because there's so few actual mailboxes.

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On October 4th, EB and I flew to Salt Lake City, UT. We took pictures!

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Dan found a spider and gave it some food. Hope you like bugs!

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I'm working near Pittsburgh this week, and I went to the nearbyRaccoon Creek State Park.  My hike was about 3.5 miles, and included a great forest walk and a mineral spring.  I took a few pictures with my phone, take a look.

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On July 13th, 2010, Jen and I embarked on a trip to Kenya with Shalom Christian Missions. I never anticipated how the trip would affect me, or what I would encounter when I got there.

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Yesterday, Jen and I got our day started off right with a hike.

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I made a very basic website that consequently sat on the backburner for close to four years. It was for the dental laboratory my mother works at, Gold Dental Lab. I'm happy to say the site is finished, all one page of it! Gold Dental Lab is in Baltimore, MD, and they work on crowns, veneers, bridges, and whatever PFMs are. Their website is a single-page site, but there really isn't any more they want or need at this point.

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Many of you know that I travel for a living, visiting exotic cities like Baton Rouge, LA, and Tulsa, OK. Yippee. But the years of toil pay off whenever we work somewhere interesting. in 2005 I was sent to Hawaii for work (and play), and on March 15th, 2010, I returned to Oahu with Jen in tow.

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Jen and I wandered 'round Red Lion on Saturday. Enjoy the pictures!

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October 17th, 2009 will be remembered as a day of infamy. Ann Brooks, Poet (or the French: Puaotesseme) delighted children and children's parents with choice selections from her recently published book.

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The day after Christmas we went to Philadelphia to watch mewithoutYou perform a great set. I've posted a few photos and video clips for your enjoyment.

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Jen's Aunt Linda recently had a brain tumor removed. Along with the tumor, the surgeons gave her a tressectomy, resulting in a field of stubble. To show love and support, Jen's had her own hair removed (by my own hand, no less!). She is donating the hair to the Locks of Love children's charity. I've posted a few pictures for those wanting to see the process of deforestation.

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Brooks and Reed played their first gig after who knows how long! The show was hosted at the Reader's Cafe in Hanover, PA.

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A couple people have asked me why I deactivated my Facebook account. I have a few reasons, if you care to read them.

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When I was a young boy (and yes, I can remember that far back) I loved to build things out of legos. I wanted to go to the Legoland Park in Denmark (home of the Lego company) but I couldn't afford the airfare on my $5.00/week allowance. As an adult my employer paid for my plane ticket to San Diego, California, and I was finally able to visit the American version of Legoland. Sort of.

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The week before Thanksgiving we were in Pembroke Pines, FL for work. Pembroke Pines is located near the Fort Lauderdale-Miami area, so on Tuesday we went downtown for some sight-seeing, sushi, and swimming.

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Oh yeah, another showing by my favorite band: They Might Be Giants. This was an all-ages show at the TLA on South Street in Philadelphia. We got there about a half-hour late, but it was still a really good show.

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Today Jen and I tagged with Flip and his four-wheel-capable friends.

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My wonderful wife bought me a new 21.5" iMac for my birthday. It is speedy, slick, and has all sorts of nifty features (hardware virtualization!). But all is not rosy, because while people like to think that setting up an Apple computer is a breeze, it takes awhile to get your environment configured if you're as set in your ways as I am. Here's a quick list of applications I can't live without.

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On Sunday, October 18th, I went to Tom Brooks' and Jim Reed's underground musical lair to take photos of the duo singing and playing their guitars. Their producer, Jodee, ran the soundboard and graciously didn't object too strenouosly to being photographed (actually she objected a lot, but I am selectively deaf). I had a lot of fun during the shoot, and I think I got some nice photos.

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Jen and I partook of the 2009 Lititz Chocolate Walk. The Walk is a fundraiser, with the proceeds going to local Lititz charities like the children's hospital and the library.

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This past Sunday (Sept 6th) my Mom suggested we go to Virginia and hike up Old Rag Mountain in Shenandoah National Park. What could possibly be wrong with getting outside and seeing a little nature?

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On Thursday, August 6th, Jen and I drove to Hershey, PA for the 2009 Joyce Meyer Conference. Joyce is a Christian inspirational speaker, with plenty to say about living a Christian life.

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Sometimes the human body needs food. Sometimes Jen is the one who makes the food. Sometimes I take pictures of it. Sometimes you can view those pictures. This is one of those times.

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Guess what we just got in the mail? Some more photos from our wonderful wedding photographer, Katy Trefry!

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Uh oh, looks like Scott just got his first tattoo. And lucky for him, I was around to take pictures of the "it doesn't feel like much" event.

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I've finally posted the pictures from the 2008 Graybill family reunion. Click the "read more" link below to view them.

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This Fourth of July Jen and I once again headed up to the Rock Ledge cabin near Benton, PA.

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I've had a presence on the Internet since 1998, when I was given web space by the now defunct SWC, Inc. Read on for a little trip down Nostalgia Circle.

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On July 2nd the company had a little pre-4th of July picnic.

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On June 20th, 2009, we gathered in Harrisburg to celebrate Sarah's ongoing journey to the bone orchard.

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My brother Scott has turned 18, and now has all the responsibilities of a fully grown American male. Use your pointing device of choice to click the read more link and see many photographs of his birthday celebration.

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Hello everyone, and welcome to my completely revamped website. There's loads of new changes, so please keep reading this post and find out about everything that's changed!

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Jen's cooking up some bagels, and now you can too!

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Are available here

Last week we were working in St. Louis, MO. Keep clicking for more pictures.

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After the job on Wednesday was finished, we headed back to the hotel to catch a few hours before driving out to Red Rocks Park.

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I've started a project over at Google Code, so anyone can lend a hand or view the code. The project aims to be a simple set of classes for PHP that help you write your own Yubico Yubikey authentication systems. For instance, I intend to integrate my work with my OpenID provider so that I can easily ID myself online.

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This past Saturday, Jen, Tom, my Mom, and I drove to Bethlehem, PA to watch the peculiar folk trio Mad Agnes.

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We had a large job in California, near San Jose, last week. But just because we were working long nights didn’t mean I couldn’t find some time to visit Mount Hamilton, the highest point in the county. The 254 rods tall mountain is home to the University of California’s Lick Observatory, founded by James Lick, a Pennsylvania Dutchman.

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Went hiking yesterday at good ol’ Nixon Park, the park where I proposed to Jen so many months ago. If anyone remembers what day it was, please let me know before she reads this!

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On March 30, Bethany UMC’s various Sunday School groups got together and had "Missions Day", a day to showcase local outreach missions. Too often we think that to have any impact we have to travel to Africa or South America. There’s plenty of people that need help right here. Each group made up displays and had sign-up sheets, brochures, and literature so that everyone could learn more about local needs.

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This past Friday, Jen and I were able to fly to Tulsa and take part in the wedding of Eugene and Amber Metcalf.

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So right now I’m killing time, waiting to board my plane destined for Tulsa. The weather here in Chicago is poor, and my original departure of 7:55 is long since a memory. I brought but a single book (oops), and I’m nearly finished with it. On the bright side, I’m posting this from my iPhone. I don’t think I could go back to a phone that can’t surf the web. Plus the new website backend makes posting from the phone a lot easier and quicker than it was before. American Airlines even has a mobile version of their site so that you can get flight status quickly on an iPhone or Blackberry.

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I've always been a fan of Sean Connery, but it pains me to tell you that he is not part of the Alcatraz United States Penitentiary tour. This came as quite a blow, but I was able to recover. CW & I got tickets in advance of our latest San Francisco trip. I made us miss our designated boat (I thought the walk would be nice & short; turns out it was nice & long). We were still able to catch the next boat, and finally check out what is probably the most famous prison in U.S. history.

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I took some more pictures at Longwood Gardens, this time with RD. Look at them, I command it!

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Finally got around to posting the pictures from the Decemberists a few weeks ago. This band is definitely one of my favorites, I'd say top 5. They have a specific sound & feel that is a bit folky, yet still very modern. Sea chanties abound, and tales of chimney sweeps and Spanish Princesses. The show was terrific, and they played almost everything I wanted to hear; alas, no "Mariner's Revenge." Enjoy the pictures, I will post the videos when I have some more time.

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All in one day - that must mean a trip to Harpers Ferry! The historic town sits on the intersection of the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers. I have written about the place before, so I will not go into its history. Needless to say, we hiked maybe 4 miles, up to the top of cliffs across from the town. Good times were had by all, and I even took some pictures I'm not ashamed of.

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This past Saturday the family got together and celebrated Grandma's 70th birthday at the Phoenixville Country Club. I saw people that I have missed, both those living far away, and those living near (I was on the receiving end of numerous chastisements). The food and drink were good (brie oh yeah!) and the company pleasing. Happy Birthday Grandma!

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We spent some time in Albuquerque, New Mexico this week. I was able to go on a short (yet bitterly cold) hike through the Petroglyph National Monument. The area is home to thousands of petroglyphs carved by the Pueblo Indians.

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Ah, the holidays. The mad bustle of shopping, the screaming and yelling of cooking, and the mad cacophony of a dozen simultaneous conversations 'round the tree. Such is Christmas at the Woltman house.

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This past Saturday I "took in a show" at the Little Theater in Mechanicsburg named "Chuckles and Tears." It was a really good show, but I haven't time to write much about it. Enjoy the pictures, instead.

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This past Sunday, JT took his level #1 black belt test at Winterpast Dojo in North Carolina. His dedication to the martial arts is truly amazing. I have never seen him so intense, so driven as when he was being tested on his forms, on his moves, and when he was sparring. JT is one scary dude.

Quote from Scott: "He looks like pure evil...he's so focused and pissed looking"

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Work seems to have taken us back out west, this time to the capital of Colorado. I still had a Travel Bug that I needed to take to Coors Field and drop off. JL and I drove to the downtown area of Denver, Coors Field and the 16th Street Mall.

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After I was finished working in Bakersfield, I had to drive our big beastie van 1000+ miles to Denver, Colorado. I traveled through some amazing scenery, especially in Utah. But overloaded, aging Dodge vans aren't really made for driving up and down mountains. I eventually arrived in Denver, where I met up with Kristen. She suggested hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park, so we did a 6 mile hike, and drove around the Ridge Road.

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I had a free day out in California, so I drove up to Sequoia National Park. I was in the park before dawn, and came across a lone bear walking the road.

After I climbed up Moro Rock, I met a couple from Thibodeaux, LA of all places. It was a good trip, and I was able to get some good hiking in.

I saw Harvey Danger this weekend, and chances are you that didn't, so I guess that makes me the winner. The show rocked; the openers were decent. The first act was US Funk Team, a local Philly band. They were spastic and fun. The second opener was So Many Dynamos. They were merely okay, but sound better in the studio. They had all their levels up way too high - more distortion than music.

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A week ago, I was feeling that I could definitely use some time away from the constant tedium of work. Even the best job in the world gets to you after awhile. Thankfully I had been invited to hang out for a week at Cape…

A week ago, I was feeling that I could definitely use some time away from the constant tedium of work. Even the best job in the world gets to you after awhile. Thankfully I had been invited to hang out for a week at Cape Hatteras, one of the barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina, and was soon on my 400 mile journey to the most relaxing place on Earth.

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We were down in Fort Lauderdale for work two weeks ago, and had a pretty good time. The hotel (Embassy Suites) was great, as was the sushi place a block down the street (they even had a lounge singer).

On one of our free days, DW, JL, and I chartered a boat for a three hour fishing trip.

We boarded the Lady Pamela II in the morning, and set out for adventure on the not-so-high seas. The captain took us off a few miles off shore, where we fished for bait. After catching enough bait we headed a bit further out and started the serious fishing.

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While fishing in the Rehoboth Bay, we came across a wrecked ship. SW climbed aboard to see what could be seen.

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I took some pictures while we were at an old land-line switching site. The batteries there are 30 years old, and it was powered by old AT&T rectifiers.

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We had a whirlwind tour of the country this past week - Seattle, San Francisco, and Dallas. Before we flew from SF to Dallas, we stopped at Point Reyes National Seashore. There is a 4 mile trail (one way) named Bear Valley that starts at the Visitor's Center and ends at Arch Rock. It was a beautiful hike, through coastal woodlands.

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I will master alliteration someday. For now though, I will be content to master the posting of images to the Internet. I have a selection of pictures taken during the 4th of July weekend at the Rock Ledge cabin. For those of you new to my site, click the "read more" link below to view the pictures. The pictures are not necessarily in chronological order, but don't worry: time is an illusion anyway.

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The siren call of batteries tempted us back to sunny California. We stayed in the Quality Inn on Aviation Boulevard, just five blocks from the beach. We took some time to explore the Santa Monica Mountains, particularly Topanga Canyon. Topanga. Ahaha. Anyways, "read more" for pictures.

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Congratulations Kristen, on getting your BS in Equine Science/Management. I hope you enjoy your break; you've earned it. Everyone back home will miss you. Good luck at work, and at school when you return for your doctorate.

Had a great time with the Millersville crew on Saturday, courtesy of Junior and his new apartment. We went to the Mad River, and drank a bit too much alcohol. The 2 AM cook-out helped a bit, but I was greeted by a wicked headache when Sunday morning dawned.

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Today I drove up to Centralia, PA. To summarize Wikipedia: in 1962, a trash fire caused a seam of exposed coal to begin burning. The coal is still burning away underground. All but 11 or 12 families have left the town. Most of the town was razed after the others left, and is today covered in new forest growths.

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Well this past week, DW and I were sent, with protest, to the bowels of America. Back to the depressing, barren fields. Back! To the chemical plants disgorging their putrid wastes into the sky. Back, once more, to Louisiana.

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DW and I were driving to a job in Thibodaux, LA. Our drive was interrupted by around a dozen police screaming down the street. We followed after them and soon encountered this scene. I managed to snap a few pictures before we drove past. The police were arresting a man who had fled from an officer after the man was pulled over for driving erratically. The police were taking no chances with this guy.

You can read more about it from the Daily Comet (PDF).

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...is coming to take you away. Last Friday, the Douglas Battery Manufacturing Company graciously allowed myself and the Raleigh crew to tour their Winston-Salem manufacturing plant.

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RDO, JL and I were in Phoenix, Arizona this past week for work. We took the time to sample a little of everything nearby. For newcomers to this site, click the "Read More" link below to view the pictures.

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Once again the monkey of fate flings an Ohio-shaped poo my way. An incredible feat of dexterity allowed JL and me to dodge the fun-killing simian's bombs and enjoy ourselves at the Newport Aquarium.

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Once again we head for Ohio, and great potential misery.

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For the end of 2005, KW, AB, JT, and I headed to New York City, home of the rock duo They Might Be Giants. Pictures and video are available.

We got to New York a little before noon, parked the car and took a bus to Times Square. We stopped and got drinks. JT was bullied until he ordered a scotch, so all of us were drinking (lightly). There was a neat international market with some great goodies: Irish Creme Truffles, Happy Hippos (excellent), Pirate Canonballs (YARGH), and soft licorice chews.

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I use three different operating systems for a variety of things. At work I am required to use Windows XP. At home I use Windows 2000 for gaming. For graphics and programming I use Linux. And for surfing, and video I use Apple's OS X.

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I found a backup of my old old old website from 1997/1998. Back then Internet Explorer 4 was new, VRML was hip, CSS was the latest darling of webmasters everywhere, and I actually enjoyed Windows and hated Apple!

TC and I were in Corning, NY, home of Corning. Corning is famous for their glassware products, along with technical innovations such as low-loss fiber optic cable. They have a really excellent museum, which was a neat place to visit.

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I returned home on Saturday to visit the family and carve pumpkins for Halloween.

Scott carved his up first. Well, carved is not the right word. "Dremeled" would be a better fit. His was carved into a skeleton. I think it turned out really good, and definitely the most creative of the three pumpkins.

Kristen created a partially inverted Jack O'Lantern like last year. Even though the eye broke and had to be glued back on, Mr. O'Lantern came out looking pretty sharp.

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CW and I were out west this past week, and we got the oppurtunity to drive through the redwood forest along the Avenue of Giants. It was a really beautiful drive. Pictures don't do it justice, but I will try.

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I arrived around 6:30pm - The smell of blueberry pie and beef (mmmm) was in the air, and Ann was furiously scrubbing at the berry-stained kitchen table. Cody was preparing the five pounds of meat, instructing Lindsay and Theresa to chop up the spices.

The burger's were great. They had onion, chipotle sauce, grated cheese, and I think parsley and oregano. Dessert was also excellent - the girls' blueberry pie and brownie cupcakes rocked, even though I didn't get a prize. Somehow I will carry on.

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Two weeks ago AB and I went to Long's Park in Lancaster for their presentation of Dervish, a Celtic band straight from Ireland.

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Typical awesome TMBG show - the band rocked, SW and KW got autographs.

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CW and I trekked on down to Atlanta, the "Island in a Sea of Rednecks."

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For the 3-day July 4th weekend I drove 7 hours to spend 2 nights in one city - Raleigh, North Carolina.

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While in Orlando, CW and I visited Disney's Animal Kingdom, a cross between a zoo and a theme park.

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We were in Utah for business this week. Check out pictures of Temple Square and the Great Salt Lake.

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Our final day of fun in California took us through San Francisco to see the Golden Gate Bridge, and Point Reyes National Seashore, along the Pacific Coast.

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Our second and final day in Yosemite took us to the vertigo-inducing heights of Vernal and Nevada Falls.

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The 5th day saw our drive to Yosemite National Park, and our visit to Sentinel Dome, Bridal Veil Falls, and a short excursion along the flooded Swinging Bridge trail.

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Our fourth day took us to Hospital Rock to see Indian pictographs, Crescent Meadow on a frog hunt, and the High Sierra Trail for some breathtaking views of the Sierra Nevada range. A moderately early start put us at Hospital Rock, one of the first attractions along the General Highways' entrance. The trail allows you to access to the Kaweah riverbed. The swollen river rushed by us, while lizards sunned themselves on the rocks.

Our third day in Sequoia included several random hikes, a tour of Crystal Cave, and a hunt for wildflowers.

On the road up into the park (Generals Highway) we encountered our first herd of mule deer. Three of them were walking along the road, munching on the grass and wildflowers. We continued on to the museum. When we got out of the car we were greeted by several more deer, and were able to get fairly close to them.

After a long flight across the country, and an even longer drive to Three Rivers, CA, we finally arrive at Sequoia National Park.

DW has created another masterpiece of killing hardware - the War Bird. Thrill as he chops up a catalog with this monster blade. The War Bird is made from a paper mill's cutting blade. It is extremely sharp - it can easily slice through a thick catalog. The handle is made from an aluminum buss bar, with a brass military medallion in the middle.

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Harpers Ferry sits at the junction of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers. The area is a National Historic Park, and features miles of hiking trails and an old-fashioned downtown district. We checked out the town, and went on the cliff view trail. Our total hike was about 4.3 miles. It is a very beautiful region - Thomas Jefferson said "This scene is worth a voyage across the Atlantic."

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Once more we set out to conquer the grim dispensaries of Lancaster. After some cake for Sarah's 25th birthday, we headed to our first target: Q's. From there we went on a whirlwind tour of upper crust establishments such as Hildy's and Bubba's.... We ran into a campaigner for Luis Mendoza, one of the potential candidates for mayor. He talked to us for awhile, but probably didn't accomplish anything. Junior got his photo taken with Mr. Mendoza himself, which was a stunning success for democracy.

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The dumbest thing I have ever done.We're in Wayne, NJ. After finishing at the job site we had to find our hotels. Dan is staying at a different hotel from Phil & I, so Dan leaves. Phil and I then hop in Phil's truck, fire up the laptop and GPS, and start driving towards the hotel. I punch in 334 Route 46/Service Road. So we're almost there, but the roads are confusing! Do we take this service road? Or the one on the left? Hey, there's Dan's hotel. His hotel (Holiday Inn) looks like it's next to the spot where the Fairfield Inn should be.

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Jim threw a party - yes he did. I took a few photos - yes I did.

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I type this post staring at the screen through a diphenhydramine hydrochloride-induced haze, so forgive me if it is not to coherent.

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Today I noticed a pillar of smoke on my way home...

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We stopped in St. Louis on our way from Louisville, KY to Omaha, NE.

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Ohio is one of the most depressing states in the Union. Cold, bereft of joy, it plays the role of West New Jersey well. But all was not lost. I managed to half-way enjoy myself every once in awhile. While in Toledo I took a walk along the waterfront, and saw the Water Street Station, which was an old power plant. There was some boring modern art called the Propylaea, but if that's all the culture you have you might as well run with it. The baseball stadium (home of the Mud Hens) was interesting. There was a bar that look out at the stadium (good wings).

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We're in the American midwest again, hitting Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. Took some pictures while we were in Michigan City and Traverse City. We stopped at Michigan City because we were having radiator trouble. We saw a train track in the middle of the road - I thought it must've been decommissioned. Turns out I was wrong. The train runs right down the middle of the street - a full-sized passenger train!

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Wednesday Sept. 22 I arrived in Chicago for Intelec, the annual "telecommunications energy conference." MM from Verizon Wireless, WC, and myself co-authored a paper concerning ohmic test instruments and their ability to determine battery state-of-health.

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I once again find myself in the wintry wasteland of Michigan. It is a landscape bereft of hope, save for the shining edumacational beaconitude of the Henry Ford museum. This time, DW and I spent some time looking at cars, industry, and the 20th century.

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Got back from Jacksonville, FL on September 22. Went to the beach, St. Augustine, and the Fountain of Youth.

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AB and I and the Drexel crew went to Medieval Times, a re-enactment of a dark ages jousting tournament.

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Finally time to build a new computer!

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AB, JCT, SB and I went to the Pixies show in Camden NJ on Sunday December 5th. There were two openers, one who I don't know the name of, and Datsun. They were ok, more classic rock style I suppose. After enjoying my $7 beer, the Pixies came on.

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For my birthday, my sister gave me 5lbs of orange Silly Putty. What do you do with it? What *don't* you do with it?

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JC, MG & I visited the Henry Ford, which consists of several attractions. The Henry Ford Museum showcases American Industrial history, and the beginnings of the automative age. Greenfield Village was created by Henry Ford. He moved many historical buildings to the Village to preserve them for future generations. We saw sites such as the Wright Brothers' cycle shop, and Thomas Edison's laboratory.

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The Philadelphia show was at the Theatre of the Living Arts on South Street (I was with AB, and KW).

The opener was Corn Mo, who we skipped, and only saw him play two songs. The show was great, and all the songs went off perfectly, as far as I can tell. TMBG played a new children's song, "Alphabet of Nations" which was really good. Songs from "The Spine" are better live, but that's true for msot bands and albums. The live Thunderbird was everything I'd hoped for...this is one of my favorite TMBG song

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The guys at Perfect Wireless, Inc. gave us two tickets to go see the Brickyard 400 practice session on Saturday, August 7, 2004. JC bought a ticket at the front gate, and we headed to a room near the garage area. There was free food, and we were able to see the mechanics prepping the cars before practice began. After we ate we went to the track and watched some laps. One driver wrecked about 2 laps into it, which was pretty cool. Sometimes the cars would bump the outside wall when making their turns.

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Last Friday (July 30, 2004) myself and AB headed up to Pittsburgh for the Rolling Rock Town Fair, an all-day, outdoor concert in Latrobe, PA. AB has a friend with an apartment in Pittsburgh: RB, so we stayed at his place. After we got settled in we went out to a bar, shot some pool, and met the members of Del Cielo, a band out of Washington, D.C.

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This is the first post I've made to jwoltman.net. The software running the site is a combination of apache, MySQL, PHP and e107. I will be doing my own theme eventually. Maybe that's today's project. :)

Here is a CD cover that a friend of mine made for my sister a few Christmases ago. Inside the jewel case was a cheap metal bracelet and a single rusty earring he had found. I wanted to scan it so I'd have it in case anything happened to the original. I'm sure another girl would have found this very romantic, and it'll probably net him a wife one day. Keep up the good work T!

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