grubesteak.com

I’m moving this blog to ericjgruber.com. I thought I’d let you know in case you wanted to keep up.

So, update your bookmarks, your RSS feeds, whatever it is, and please, drop me a note in the comment section. I’ll be happy to hear from you.

The reason I’m moving is farily simple: I just kind of hate this as a web site name and it really makes no sense to have this and ericjgruber.com. So, I’m moving and I hope you come along.

Thanks for reading. Let’s got moving!

Today is a bit of a milestone for me; it’s my two-year anniversary working for the City of Lawrence, KS.

Up to this point, I haven’t worked more than a year and a half at any of the jobs I’ve had since graduating from college. I was always searching for something and never seemed to find what I was looking for. It wasn’t until I found something that I really love to do (work with the internet) and work and live in a place I love - Lawrence - that I really found a bit of contentment.

Not to say that I don’t have headaches, hangups or all the things we have that makes us a little disgruntled with our work, but I have way more up days than down minutes.

So, here’s to two years of me being able to stay in once place. I suppose it was bound to happen someday.

I’ve been busy studying Ruby on Rails, and I’ve really grown to love it. Ruby is a programming language, and Rails, is a set of libraries - or framework - that interacts with Ruby for web development.

It’s incredibly cool, and I find it a lot of fun.

What this means for me is that after struggling with PHP, another programming language geared toward web development, I’ve found something that will take me to the next level in my development.

What it means for you is, I’m building a mini web application that I can’t wait to share with the world. Alas, it’s not ready yet, but it will be soon.

Stay tuned.

Since it’s the last day of 2007, I figured I could get in at least one more post over my lunch hour.

When it comes to posting anything on this blog, it’s been a rather disappointing year. I’ve been awful at it, with no posts in April, May or July. That’s what happens when you become a dad for the first time.

Looking back, it’s all a big blur. There are some experiences that you can never get a feel for unless you go through them, and parenthood is definitely one of those experiences.

But, it’s been a good year. We got to go on a family vacation, spend time with good friends, see a wedding and check out New England. Now that was pretty awesome.

I’m a little annoyed about some things I didn’t accomplish that I had hoped to achieve. But how about a recap of the ones I shared with the world last January?

1. Be a contestant on a game show.
I tried out for “Deal or No Deal,” but didn’t make the cut. My story just wasn’t sad enough.

2. Lose 55 pounds.
Nope, I only lost 10.

3. Pay off the Corolla.
Yep. We were able to achieve this shortly after getting our tax refund, which, oddly enough, happened because Ember was born. Childrearing can be lucrative (in a way).

4. More prayer! More bible reading! More chutzpah!
Eh, sort of. I’ve done more teaching of the kiddos in Sunday school, but the chutzpah is lacking.

5. Have some (responsible, yet fun) parties at the house.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. No. Although, we did have a few guests over from time to time.

6. Be a better servant for Amy.
You’d have to ask her.

7. Get a new iPod.
Yep, two actually. I got a shuffle from Amy as a gift, and bought a nano in September.

8. Build the BFCI web site.
Sadly, no. (Sorry Mike)

9. Detach myself from nostalgic possessions and throw them away.
Sadly, no.

10. Get out of the house more.
Actually, I’m on the internet more and out of the house less. Oops.

I’m not sure I have any resolutions for 2008 like I have in the past. Well, maybe I do. OK, I guess I’ll air them out and we’ll see what happens in a year.

1. Build a web app. Think Facebook or MySpace but ridiculously smaller.
2. Get a certification or two. I have some in mind that are related to my work. I’ve been saying for years of one in particular that I’ve wanted to get, and I think I need to finally do it.
3. Simplify. What, exactly? Everything. I need to learn some organization skills and I need to declutter everything analog and digital. It’s a mess, made worse by parenthood and a fractured lifestyle.
   1. Get an iPhone.
4. Devise an awesome plan to get out of debt faster. With only one large debt to go – the student loans – this is the one area of my life I feel the most dismayed about. I’m not at all happy with the speed this is going, but I’ve learned to be somewhat content for now and focus on being a good dad.
5. To dress more like a man and less like a slob.
6. To get healthy. Whatever that means, if it’s to lose a pound a week or just to have a regular, active lifestyle. Anything other than what I’m doing now (nothing).

I suppose that about sums it up. Now that I’ve made this list, it’s got my wheels a turnin’ about a few things to work on in 2008. It’s all about the journey, isn’t it?

Have a good, safe, New Year’s celebration. May the Schwartz be with you.

Man, I hate to admit this, but I’ve gotten into football.

Traditionally, I’ve hated sports of every kind. I didn’t see the point in watching a sporting event on TV, and found the process of trying to keep track of stats, players and wins to be daunting. 

But, the KU Jayhawkers are 11-0 and I can’t ignore how exciting that is. I’ve actually watched the last two games on TV.

Oh dear, how did this happen?