It was well into December by the time I realized I never posted anything for November, so I've got two months worth of updates for 2025's year-end post. Friends of the Forest Award Last year, I volunteered to be on a tech committee for the Friends of the Forest here in Sedona, who help the National Forest Service with projects in the Coconino Forest, including the hiking trail system. My wife and I have volunteered our time as trail ambassadors (tracking trail usage data) and on the graffiti…
Last time I mentioned that my step-dad had passed away, and I was helping my mom out for a bit. I ended up staying there for almost the entire month of October. Out of all that, I guess the biggest thing is that they had a reverse mortgage only in my step-father's name. This gave my mom a few, not so great options. * Buy the house back at its current value. This was about double what they originally paid for it. * Sell the house. For this, she has to have it listed for sale within forty-five…
September has been quite the up and down month. In the first week of the month, I injured my Achilles tendon. I've done it before so I knew what I was in store for. About four weeks later now, I think I'm finally back to normal. I did have to fly to Philadelphia for work when dealing with my ankle, but everything worked out. I then had to fly back to sync up with friends who had been planning to visit Sedona for a while, and then the day after they left, I learned that my…
August is coming to a close, and we've gotten a taste of cooler weather here in Arizona. The days still get hot, but the mornings are starting out cool, which is nice. Red Mountain Trail We learned about this trail outside of Flagstaff recently and decide to check it out. Pretty easy to get to and very different once you get towards the end of the hike. Forest Fire! We were alerted to a forest fire start started up just a few miles from where we are currently living, as well as, our new ho…
July's highlight was being able to attend, and present, at RailsConf 2025 in Philadelphia with almost my entire department. Otherwise, it has been a whirlwind of activity, both at work and with the house construction. RailsConf 2025 Power Home Remodeling, where I work, was a sponsor for the event, which came with a speaking slot. And that ended up falling on me to present. I was certainly nervous, but I feel it came out really well, and I'm happy with how it turned out. You can view it in i…