Archive for the 'Family' Category

Shane was recently profiled by the MVP program as part of their MVP Insider series.  I actually didn’t see his answers till I received an email about it via our MVP lead pointing to his responses.  You can check his responses out here.

Quote from article:

“What is the best thing that has happened since you have become an MVP?

I got engaged since becoming an Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP), so that outranks all professional accomplishments.  In terms of big accomplishments professionally though, the release of my book with Amanda Murphy, “Beginning SharePoint 2007” is something I am pretty proud of.”

I was impressed to see that he considered our engagement the greatest accomplishment he has had in the past year and then it was the release of our book.  Good to see he has his priorities right.  =-)

So on the odd chance there still exists someone in this world who doesn’t know yet, I figured I would announce it here…Shane and I are getting married. He popped the question last night and I have been grinning like a silly fool ever since.  Actually technically he handed me a little white box and I babbled and balled for several minutes but minus that momentary lapse in control, I am pretty excited and definitely thrilled.  He is an awesome guy and I can’t think of anyone else better to spend the rest of my life with.  It’s very cool when you are with someone that continuously encourages you to be stronger and better at what you aspire to do but always still remain 100% yourself at all times.

I missed posting yesterday due to some unfortunate news we received from a trip to the vet with our sick dog.  Didn’t really feel like doing much after that other than coming home, feeling sick and sulking.  As it turns out she has both heart and liver failure (which is even worse than the news from the last visit) and Shane and I are devastated.  Those out there that do not own and love dogs will never understand so you can just stop reading now.  But for us (especially Shane) this is the worst possible news we could have gotten.  Zhiva (our dog) has been Shane’s absolute closest companion for past 10 years and I can honestly say I have never seen anyone love their dog as much as he does.  For me, in the 9 years Shane and I have been togethe,r she has given me such unconditional love.  In the past few years, our family has faced some serious losses that have often left me sitting on a couch crying my eyes out.  Zhiva was always there to come over, let out a big sigh and put her head on my lap just to let me know she was there and she was sad because I was sad.  For the past couple of weeks, I have been trying to return the favour by snuggling with her whenever possible.  As I write this she is lying next to me on our bed.  Wrapped in a blanket with her head on a pillow…her body positioned extremely close to me so she can feel my every moment. 

So in summary, this weekend (and the past few weeks for that matter) have been extremely difficult.  But one ray of light did shine through yesterday as I checked my email and saw an email from a friend from many years ago that found my weblog accidentially.  She is living in Korea now with her husband and small baby (very cute) and blogging about it all along the way.  Very cool.

Shane and I had a great time last night camping.  We went to Fitzgerald’s Pond Park near Dunville, which was my first time there in about 20 years.  That park is actually about 20 minutes from where I grew up.  Good clear night and we had a perfect evening kicked back by the fire.

Today we went fishing with my family in Long Harbour (which actually IS where I grew up) and it was an awesome day.  The water could not have been more beautiful.  The fish were plentiful…well at least plentiful enough for our 2 boats to get our daily quota for the recreational fishery.  However the day wasn’t even so much about the fish as it was the good time with family and amazing experience of being on the water and taking in the beautiful sights around me. 

One of the day’s highlights was that we were joined by my nephew Arnold for his first time in a boat (other than a Ferry) on the water.  As you can see from the picture below he was pretty excited.

Of course fishing is hard work so he had to recharge a bit part ways through the morning by taking a quick nap at the front of the boat. 

But at the end of the day, he acheived every man’s goal which is to catch a cod fish that is almost as tall as him.  A note here is that he actually did catch the fish on the line.  I was holding the pole for the longest while with no action whatsoever…I called to Arnold to give me a hand and as soon as his little hands grabbed the pole…a fish was on.  Pretty impressive!

Anyhow all and all it was a great 24 hours and I feel much better equipped to handle the pile of work that stands in front of me now.

Besides being one of the greatest buddies a gal could ever ask for, my niece Samantha is quite the little Photoshop wiz. I look forward to her works of art ranging from cartoon characters or animated stickmen because they are always so funny and incredibly creative. But today was special….today I got my very own Wizard Card.

I can’t really remember what I was doing when I was 13 but I am pretty sure it was nothing like that.

Today after 37.5 years, my dad has reached the wonderful milestone of retirement. I am so proud of him and happy yet I feel sad that I am so far away from him that I can’t even give him the same hug of support and respect that he has given me so many times throughout my life.

Whether playing catch with me as a child, helping me prepare my first public speech competition (which I won RAHHH) , coming to my high school basketball games, teaching me that I could accomplish anything I wanted – no matter what anything else dictated, holding my hand during times of uncertainty or calling me on my 29th birthday when I figured it was physically impossible for him to establish a connection from somewhere out in the Atlantic�my dad has been and always will be my hero.

Congrats dad! Happy Retirement.

For what seems like years I pushed and I pushed. And then finally one day it happened. Shane started blogging. These days, I seem to spend more time reading his posts than I do writing my own and I couldn’t be happier. For years, people we know laughed at the fact we could sit in the same house or office and speak to each other via IM. These days, I can just leave a comment or trackback on his blog if I approve of something he writes.

Today he had a couple of good posts that I wanted to point to:

Earlier this week he wrote a post on how you can create a custom theme for a WSS site. He has done similar posts in the past, including one where he gave a link where you can download a theme for your own site. Today he wrote about a great tip for displaying your company’s logo on a WSS site without using Frontpage. The beauty of this approach is that A) you don’t have to play around with ghosting / unghosting B) your edits will carry on throughout your site because you are using the theme versus a hard coded edit.

Another post was in reference to some quality time he spent this weekend with our nephew Arnold. It cracked me up because it shows no matter what he is doing…he is obsessed with usability. He does raise an interesting point however. Watching a three year old that cannot read navigate very swiftly through 6-7 unique websites to successfully locate a new Sharkboy and Lavagirl wallpaper for his sister’s desktop is very impressive. Even more so when he finishes the process by right clicking and selecting Set as Background.

It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it…

Despite the incredibly grossed out look on his face – I think he had fun.

My dad has consolidated a great page full of links that feature a little something for everyone. I have discovered a couple of great Newfoundland related sites from it including a page featuring some pics of the castle / fortress that is being built in Logy Bay. This building is quite remarkable and impressive to see when flying into St. John’s for landing. The view of the ocean available from this building will in itself make it a priceless location. Often a topic of conversation, it’s great to finally have a link to send people when they are looking for pictures of it.

Just got home from a weekend camping trip. It was a good weekend overall however things didn’t quite start off that way. The place where we usually camp is approximately a 1.5 hour drive from our house in Green’s Harbour. We arrived approximately 9pm on Friday evening only to discover that I had left the tent polls at home. I was quite literally not a happy camper. Luckily my bro offered us a corner in his mansion of a tent so all worked out well. Shane and I returned home at 6am on Saturday to get our polls and managed to get back to campsite fast enough to make it seem as if nothing really happened. In any event it was a nice break to be out of the city for a few days.

Moral of the story – mark something off your list as packed only after you place it in the tent bag versus just after you have laid it beside the tent bag.

My niece Samantha is turning 13 today. I am amazed at how she has grown up over the past few years. Not only is she an awesome big sis to her brother Arnold (no other can make him laugh the way she does) but she is a pretty awesome gal overall.

I am quite proud that everyone calls her my own personal “mini-me”. Happy Birthday buddy!!

Wow! After months and months of nagging – it happened. Shane has finally started blogging. Mind you he has had many websites over the years that in my opinion served to be exactly what blogs are today but that is another story.

Shane is a graphics / css guru and has been doing web design & development for over 10 years. He’s won a tonne of design awards over the years and has recently taken a liking to SharePoint. Who can blame him right? So expect to learn a thing or two about SharePoint customization from his blog.

He is the guy who designed our corporate site which happens to be a SharePoint site. As well he did the site for our .NET User Group which is also SharePoint. He also put a great deal of effort into SharePoint Nation which is the user group site we will be launching VERY VERY soon. But I am guessing once he starts in with his blog you will get to see lots of his stuff. In fact I give him a few days and he will have that MovableType stylesheet demolished.

So please welcome yet another SharePoint blogger to the family. Shane will also be at Tech Ed this year too so for those of you meeting up with us for the SharePoint gathering, we will see you there!

I have many fond memories as a child of the totally cool inventions and creations of my (much) older bro. Between go-karts, snow forts, treehouses, costumes (this list could go on and on) – we always had a riot. I totally lucked out in the big bro category! It was really worth the scatter “glo-ball” in the face.

Sam and Arnold are totally lucky to have a dad that is so creative. I mean what other dad would rig up a Sponge Bob costume on a Tuesday evening (after probably a 12 hour work day) for something to do with his daughter?

He’s still my hero!

Even Spiderman needs his rest…

Here is an article written by my little bro about his expedition last summer to Mount Washington and some other surrounding areas. It was his cool down after a summer of serious training for para.

He gets “sworn in” tomorrow for the army. *Gulp* Big sis is gonna need a lot of tylenol to get through the next few years I think.

Shane (my boyfriend) recently won a design contest held at one of the Colleges here in NL. Very cool! His redesign is pretty sweet looking and I was going to post it with this entry…but then I realized they probably wouldn’t want it exposed yet until they are ready to launch. Since they are handing him over $2K for the deal…I feel I must respect their wishes.

./me ponders what kind of cool present he will buy her with his winnings. Just kidding!!

As you can see from looking at their existing site, a redesign is definitely in order. He also recently did some slick designs for a couple of personal projects that I am working on. I will release more detail on that stuff once I get off my butt and launch ‘em. Hmm I guess I should be buying HIM a cool present…

Apparently Arnold got a hair cut today…

BEFORE

AFTER (and apparently not too impressed about the whole deal)

Pretty cool pic of Aaron getting his wings this past summer.

He says this was the happiest day of his life…pfft I always figured that was the day he realized he had me for a big sis. Chump!

Happy Birthday to my big bro (32nd) and his awesome little boy (2nd)!!! You guys are the greatest and I had a terrific time spending the day with you. Thanks for all the fun and laughs this weekend. It was a very “Wiggly Paaaarrty!!!!

My little bro’s write up on his experience at para training this past summer. This is one case where I can’t say he is much like his big sis.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

My family had a great Christmas despite a few bumps in the road. Shane and I were going to spend the holiday with my bro and his family. Mainly because it was Arnold’s first REAL Christmas (his first Christmas was last year but he didn’t really understand what was going on) and we were all very excited to see how he was going to react to everything.

But of course that didn’t happen. Arnold got pneumonia and was admitted to the Children’s Hospital here Tuesday evening. Very crappy. He was very uncomfortable and sick and it killed us all to see him in such pain and discomfort. But he did get excellent care and the nurses even gave him a night pass for a few hours so he could spend Christmas Eve / Morning with his family. That was very nice. He should be getting out for good this evening. He is quite the little trooper and we are very proud of him – I guess his big sis taught him a thing or two.

It would have been very easy for us all to take on the “Christmas is ruined” attitude but overall it was still a very nice Christmas. We wish Arnold could have been feeling better and not suffering like he was. But we all realized pretty fast that there were a lot of kids in that hospital that had it very bad and would not be getting “night passes” or even the chance to go home anytime soon (or sadly worse).

As with most things in life, you usually don’t have to look too far to find someone who has it worse that you – so you always need to be thankful for what you have. In our case, we have a wonderful family that had a great time together and got through a less than pleasant experience all the stronger / closer.

I hope you all have a holiday that brings you closer to the people you love the most!!!

A discussion on Santa….

Me: Did you write your letter to Santa yet?

Sam: No

Me: Hmm…Getting late isn’t it?

Sam: I didn’t have time with my busy schedule yet

Me: Oh I see…well don’t you think he might not have time to stop by if you didn’t have time to write a letter?

Sam: No

Me: Well how is he going to know what you want?

Sam: If he knows if I have been bad or good then I guess he knows what I want.

Me: *speechless*

Guess she has it all figured out. She is definitely the coolest. Last week her dad locked her out of her computer because she had broken a rule and changed her password without telling him. So what did she do but guess his password, log into his account and change it back.

When I was a kid…

Ok I am not going to start a story like that but things have changed a lot from when we were kids. When I was growing up, I played on a lot of sports teams. This meant going door to door selling thousands of chocolate bars, raising money for walk-a-thon, wake-a-thons, etc.. I really hated it and growing up in a small town where 1/3 of the population was kids that all went to the same school, demand was often extremely low. In the end, my parents were usually left with the bundle of the investment.

My niece and bestest little buddy, Samantha is selling chocolates for school. When talking to my brother tonight about it, he tells me that she came home from school on Friday and hit everyone on MSN Messenger list. By the time she was done, all her chocolates were sold and she hadn’t left the house.

Not bad really.

Ok after months of watching him say everyone else’s name but mine, he has finally said it. He DID say it once when we were camping about a month ago (Thanks Sam) but hasn’t since so I had written the moment off as a fluke.

This past Saturday, he spent the day with me and Shane as we drove to Clarenville behind his dad in his work truck. It was fun. Might I add Shane seemed to be having lots of fun playing dad. *snicker* He is great with kids though which I find very cool.

On the way back, Arnold said my name at least 15 times. It was awesome. I did choke up a bit I admit the first time he said it. But the best part was how apparently he was walking around his house yesterday calling out my name and looking for me. Sweet!!

Aaron (my younger bro) is gone on another adventure. Yesterday he left for Quebec City and will then travel to New Hampshire where he will train and climb Mt. Washington. I missed seeing him off at airport but wish him all the best and look forward to his return in 2 weeks.

Has anyone seen my blue crayon?

Keep you chin on our chest and hope for the best!!

Aaron has posted a log of his Para course.

Aaron (my brother) is finally coming home today. I went to look up his flight to see if it was running on schedule and I get this message:

Our web site has moved. If you have bookmarked this page, please note the new location: www.stjohnsairport.com

Good enough. But rather than redirecting me there it waits for me to click the link. (annoyance) And then I get:

The page cannot be displayed
The page you are looking for is currently unavailable. The Web site might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your browser settings.

Blah. I guess I will resort to calling the airport *shudder*

And no I am not referring to a Ben Affleck movie but instead most likely the next Murphy boy to be jumping out of a plane.

This week my big bro was in town with his family. We went to the park on Monday evening. Arnold had a HUGE amount of fun running around the park and going on each of the 10 different slides (about 25 times each). He wasn’t too fussy on the swing or sandbox.

After about an hour of zooming down the slide, my 18 month old nephew decides that its more fun if you slide headfirst on your stomach. Sometimes he is a little TOO much like his uncle Aaron.

Well after 6 weeks of long and brutal training, my brother aaron earned his wings. He has done 5 jumps in past couple of days. One was yesterday morning at 2am with complete combats, gear and a rifle. A little nerve wrecking for us at home but we had a good support system going.

We are all extremely proud of him. He has been training for the past 12 months and has really worked his butt off. Now he is Mr. Airborne. I can’t wait to see him on Sunday when he gets home.

Next weekend, will be the first annual Murphy (and 1 Perran) campout. A good chance for us all to catch up and have a bit of fun.

Ok so it?s been a while I know. My holidays were a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the quality time with my guy not to mention enjoying the great outdoors.

We spent the first few days of our holidays in Gros Morne. I will post some photos this weekend. We took about 300 so I need to filter them a bit. Digital cameras are great when on holidays just for that reason. We took so many pictures and shot a lot of video. Then each evening we would just transfer it all over to our laptop and start off fresh again. There was a nice coffee shop in the town near our campground where we would go every morning called the “Granite Cafe”. The owner was very friendly and would let us charge up our gear.

We then spent a few days near Newfoundland’s other National Park, Terra Nova. However we didn’t stay in the actual park but a cabin that was directly on the beach. There was actually an iceberg directly in front of our cabin in the bay. A nice site for a tourist, but honestly a little cold if you are a local. We had a great time. Very cozy and fun.

Upon my return I was greeted with an over abundance of work that had to be done two weeks ago. Blarg. But all seems to be under control again now so no harm done. I can even find time to return to the blogosphere.

Congrads on the new car buddy. Looking forward to this weekend!!!

Happy Fathers Day to all the dads in the world.

Anyone who doesn’t understand the power of a great dad has never met mine.

Here are some pics of the spout hike we did last year. It was along the shoreline between Bay Bulls and the Goulds. It was amazing. We took a little too long however taking pics and video and got caught after dark. This slowed us down severely. I can’t wait to do it again. Perhaps we will go again this year when my little bro gets back from parachuting.

Think YOU had a rough day?

That’s my nephew passed out in his high chair earlier today. There is actually a series of pics. Put me in stitches. Thanks bro!

Just watched the video we recorded from this weekend. We were playing Mad Gab. It was hilarious. I will post some clips once I get them edited a bit better.

The best part is watching my two brothers play on the same team and seeing just how similar they are.

Of course Rainman and I kicked their asses. But whaddayagunnado?

I’m trying to cram and get some tasks done this morning before I head into work. I let the dog out in the backyard for 5 minutes while making my coffee. When she came back in she reeked of something terrible (its cold and damp outside – never good for dogs).

Now she is outside the office jumping up trying to catch her tail (or what used to be a tail – she’s a doberman). She jumps up and does an almost 360 degree spin and lands. Makes quite a racket. I would like to get it on videotape but I know she’d stop if she saw me watching her

Last night I had the extreme pleasure of attending my younger brother‘s Annual Ceremonial Review. Yes that’s right I said pleasure. In the past I avoided this event like the plague. However I enjoyed last night’s ceremony very much.

The highlight of the evening was during the awards presentation when Aaron was awarded The Lord Strathcona Medal. It was great to see him get something that I know he has worked very hard for. It was also nice to hear the loud “YES!!!” resound from my parents when his name was announced.

Aaron is a Warrant Officer for the 2415 Gonzaga Army Cadets and hopes to continue his advanced training this summer by completing the Parachutist Course. Most recently, he attended a special training camp called exercise “Sub-Zero” in Wentworth, Nova Scotia. He was one of the 16 Cadets chosen to attend from Atlantic Canada.