Jason walking about

Here is the latest news with Jason and its good news.
Jason has started walking about and what started as a few steps and usually a lurch forward. Now he is pretty adept at bringing himself to his feet and starting off after whatever is in his mind to go after. Since the Christmas season is upon us, Jason has been very attracted to what the Chrismas tree holds. Now his newest form of speedy movement means he can get to the tree oh much faster.

Today we had a chance to get out of town and headed off out towards Oakhurst. Oakhurst is just within an hour's drive from Yosemite National Park and is one of the California Central Valley cities in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It was pretty easy to get from home and we had a nice time. Jason also got some personal enjoyment out of it, where he got to play around in a pile of leaves. Next week I will have a work assignment that will take me out of town right after Christmas so getting out and taking the family out on a little adventure was a welcome

Long time since last posting and Halloween

Hi Everyone. Its been a *long* while since I last posted but I have been pretty busy with thing at work, and Jason has been doing real well. Recently he came back from a pediatric cardiologist appointment and the report on him was that he was doing well and heart function was going along fine.

So I am going to catch up on a couple pictures that I have been long overdue in posting here. Jason was given a stuffed penguin animal toy and he has fallen in love with it. He took to it really well and its now his favorite, even dragging it everywhere he goes. A couple days ago he fell asleep in the living room on the floor, with one arm draped over his penguin!
Here is a picture with him sitting with his penguin.


Recently we had Halloween night and Jason got to take part in the event. He seemed to have a great time, going as Poo (Disney) and he looked really adorable in his costume. He even got in to the spirit of the holiday and made a grab for the candy dish meant for the Trick-or-Treat'ers. He did not get any candy out of it but he had a good time throughout the night. It was a great night for everyone.

Find that kitty!!!

Jason was seen yesterday looking for his cat, Max. Where he was looking made us laugh. Max is burrowed deep into the laundry basket. Jason caught wind of this and started reaching in to pet one of his favorite cats as seen here.

Jason is 1 year old!

Jason is now a year old and he is doing great. He is now spending most of his time babbling and working on crawling. Lately the crawling has been done in pursuit of the house cats! Its a real hoot to watch him become so determined in catching up to them unnoticed till the last moment.
He also gets plenty of time practicing his standing and walking skills in his walker here in this recent picture.

This weekend a birthday party is planned to go off and we will open our home to see Jason on Saturday afternoon. Tomorrow I will go off to get Jason's birthday cake and it will start what will be a fun-filled day for him.

That's all for now.

Jason's social visit to UCSF and A/C

This weekend was a happy and eventful weekend for Jason. He had a great time going
to see the great nurses and staff over at UCSF Children's Hospital Pediatric Cardiology floor.
We traveled up to San Francisco on Friday and stayed overnight to be able to visit the
nurses that took great care of Jason while he was being cared for. Some of them were in complete amazement that the little boy that was discharged to go home some nine months ago had made some much growth and development progress.

After the visit to the hospital we went out over to the Golden Gate Park took in some of the sites. Jason even got to ride on the carousel at the park. After a short while there, we went over to the beach by Pier 39 and Jason go to take in the ocean. He had a great time looking at the ocean and everyone at the beach.

Today's trip back home went pretty well and Jason had a pretty good time traveling back home.
It takes us about 3 hours to travel home from SF, but usually we have to stop sometime along the way to feed him (for one of his 'every three hours' feedings.)

This evening my wife and I noticed a slightly warmer house in the evening and we were not totally certain the A/C unit was running. All the Central Valley weather forecasts were claiming how hot it was going to be, and I though that could have something to do with it, but went out to the back yard to investigate. The indoors thermostat appeared to be working just fine and there was air blowing out of the register vents in the house so outside to the outdoors fan sounded like the obvious next step to investigate. When I went out there, I found the blower motor was not running and the whole unit was pretty warm; warmer than I ever felt it.

I cut the power off from the house circuit breaker and started looking through the 'house appliances install/service guides' for ideas. I did not get too many from that but I then checked out a schematic on the inside of an exterior panel. This showed me how a relay, outside compressor, and outside fan (the blowermotor) were interconnected and I immediatly started to check the supply voltages to the blower motor. I have had this Fluke 79 Series II multimeter for over 18 years now and it continues to be of great value. Some may consider it an extravegant tool to have, but I have fixed more house problems with it than I can keep track of. So anyway I got to checking the supply voltages and it appeared to be getting the right voltages, but I was not certain the motor was fully functional. I gave it a little push with a stick and it started up spinning and gathering speed to its normal flow rate.

I may have to give it a little while to make sure its fully cooling the house, but a service call tomorrow appears to be in order....

wow...big things this past week and Jason's latest little trick he did!

I have been putting an incredible amount of work lately, all at home, work, and even for the USAR. This past weekend was an Army Reserve Drill weekend that went of for three days instead of the usual 2 on Saturday and Sunday. We accomplished quite a few major achievements that have not been done before in the organization and in the end, I was glad I could attend. But drill came this weekend at a pretty rough time.

I had some meetings the week prior to drill and I even got to meet my boss face-to-face. Too bad the meeting was a short one and work matters had to get underway soon after. The next day I spent about 26 hours total up-time with about 19 of those on-site peforming a data acquisition. Sometimes I dont know what comes over me to see these things through despite being dog-tired.

I had quite a few things I needed to keep going at work so I would be able to take Friday off to perform my obligatory service for the USAR so it all got jammed in a short period of time last week. But the way things are going this week, I certainly feel like things are moving along productivly and there might be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Jason, my wonderful son is doing well and he did the neatest thing last night that made we want to blog about it today, at least sometime today. (Thank goodness I remembered.)
Jason was with mom on her lap and when she went to wipe his face with a small towel, he decided to join in on the fun. He happened to get a hold of another cloth towel and mimic by wiping Mom's face! It was the cutest thing the two of them laughing it up and playing along. It also shows me that Jason is developing well and having fun while doing it. It was something I was happy to be around to see last night. It really had an impact on me. It really did represent a high-point to an otherwise hectic pair of weeks.

A week of vacation

Finally I was able to take off for a bit of time exclusively for vacation. So Me, the wife, and Jason went to southern California to see the sights. Jason was happy about getting out of town. It was a pretty busy week and he was great fun to take all around to Disneyland and the San Diego Zoo. He was a great baby and I got to really enjoy the full-time attention I could give him throughout the week.

I have a lot of work attend to now that I am back to work. So I will have to make this short and I am sorry that I won't be able to write in greater detail.

A lot happens over a week and weekend

Hi everyone. This past week I was out on business throughout California and after doing my
US Army Reserve drill duty this past weekend, I came home to find some neat developments.

Jason has now learned to clap his hands and hug people. It looks like many of these new movements are exaggerated and choppy but I guess that is the normal with young children as
they learn how to control and sense their motor skills.

It felt like I was away for quite some time this go around but I am comfortable with knowing Jason is doing well while I am away. I talk with my wife each day over the phone at the end of the day and get a report on his activities or how his day went. So certainly for the most part, Jason is just like any young child. I am starting to learn how exciting this is and witnessing these sometimes subtile changes.

Easter Weekend

This past week Jason had a really good time and it got topped off with the Easter holiday. First Jason got a good report from his cardiologist and his pediatrician. Then with the holiday approaching, Jason got an opportunity to see the Easter Bunny. My wife and I think he was not totally aware of the 'Bunny, but it went pretty well. I hope to post a picture or two from the holiday weekend.

Then this past Monday, Jason tuned 8 months old. Its a great thing to see.

Visit with the parents this past w/e and work work work.

Hi everyone. I have been busy this week since there was some little computer worm making its way around the world (Conficker). I got to run out and apply my talents to prevention and incident response. But before that all broke off the chain, I had a few normal moments in my life.

On this past Sunday, we took Jason over to my parents house in the Bay Area and got to spend a few hours there before going back home. This was the first time Jason got to see his grandparents from my side of the family. Other visits will be forthcoming.

Everyone had a great time with Jason and Jason had a great time. Here is a picture of Jason having a happy baby moment with his grandfather.

Sorry to make this short but today I have alot of work to do and little time to do it...

Busy away from office this week

For everyone out there that enjoys St. Patrick's Day, I hope everyone had a good time and much fun. This week I did not get too much in terms of taking in the holiday, but it made the time go by quick.

This weekend I was sent out by my work to do some forensic and incident response consulting for some clients down in Southern California. The fuse was very short on this and I ended up leaving on a plane flight down to LA with just a few hours of the original notification. I got to work with some really good people that work hard at their job and really but all their efforts to bear. I even saw a novel method of pushing out a script they used while I was on-site so it was pretty rewarding. In all it was good work to do and then on Tuesday I was returning back to the Central Valley.

Wednesday I had to go back into the Bay Area and visit clients in San Jose. All day visit there was productive and I got to use much of my stored up energy. I noticed that I really seem to come alive when I am doing my job and especially so when there is a mission to accomplish. As a side note, I tried visiting this client a week ago but car problems left me on the side of the road waiting for a tow and getting the alternator replaced. Sometimes, older cars do that.

I have my wife and son Jason to thank for being very supportive and understanding of all this time away as it take away time we would normally spend if things were quiet. Jason is too young to truly understand but I do think that he notices something is not the normal.

Fun with Apache 2 and help from helpful sources

After I got the major work things out of the way and while I was waiting for a matter to come back to me I had some time to look at the major differences of running a Snort IDS sensor on Debian 5. First and foremost, I found I had a bit of a learning curve going from the webserver Apache 1.x to Apache 2. One of those was the modular setup that Apache 2 and how a seperate SSL package wasn't nessesary. But it was not without its problem to work out.

A half hour into a reload this evening I could only get regular HTTP web traffic to work, but no TLS/SSL-encrypted web sessions. Later today I had to watch Jason while dinner was being made and I can say he helped me figure out the problem.

While I was studying how to enable 'sites' in Apache 2, Jason was sitting on my lap and looking around the desk. I was lucky in getting a few nice pictures like this one at the time. Soon thereafter I made a breakthrough and I got the Apache2 SSL issue fixed.

I can also report that it may not be possible to pack in the standard Debian install, Apache 2, Snort, and MySQL and assorted networking tools into a 450-Mb parition. (Yes, I was trying to sqeeze in the install into a small compact-flash (CF) card, but it just means I need to use my 4 Gb CF card!)

Snort-SGuil IDS and new Debian version

A little background: Late last night after everyone else in the house went to sleep I was watching TV and doing a bit of research on an intrusion detection system (IDS) project I am working on in my spare time. I am a fan of the Snort IDS system and have been working with it for at least 5 or so years. About 4 years ago I was introduced to a network monitoring front-end that does outstanding data correlation and event reporting without having to perform regular browser-screen refreshing like you would have to do using the legacy ACID or BASE packages. Its called SGuil and you can read more about it by going to this link.

Anyway last night while I was looking around for SGuil configuration tips and advice I appened over to the Debian Linux homepage and what do I discover???! I found out that Debian 5 is now out as it just was released on February 14th, 2009. Well I immediately started a download of a net-install CD so I can revamp my IDS that I was just getting started on loading. I got as far as loading SSH, Apache, and Snort where it was capturing data on 3 NICs using passive taps when I made this discovery. Its easy at this point to blow it away and reload it with the latest version of Debian packages (and better as bug fixes and vulnerabilities are addressed in the new versions of the packages.) Something to do this weekend. Joy! :-) I mean...what else am I going to do...watch NetFlix all weekend?

A week home

Well, its been a week back at home and things are returning back to normal. I can see that I was missed by my work team and the group I work with at my Army Reserve Unit, the Western Information Operations Center in Dublin, CA. This past weekend I had to stay at home to keep a close eye on Jason while he was recovering (and my wife and I learned a lesson that in the beginning, it really takes two people to watch over one baby recovering from heart surgery.) So the Army had to do without me for a weekend.

The week back back at work has been pretty productive with catching up on old business that I had to curtail when I left suddenly two weeks ago and writing up reports. I am looking at a malware identification tool called TARA that features the use of detection rules. After a bit more study, I might end up using it more as the realm of malware will need every trick in the book to stay abreast of the threat.

Jason has been doing well this week and this is despite the head cold he seemed to pick up. At first the coughing was hurting his chest (we could see it in his facial expressions and especially his cries!) But either his chest stopped hurting as much or the cold symptoms abated very quickly as he seems like he is on the road to getting over it. I got a call from my parents today who said they got Jason's latest picture we sent to them and they enjoyed it. Here is a copy of that picture which is really something. Yes, Jason is now turning back into his cute self before the cold and his recent trip to the hospital. Its a marvel to see how much he is changing and growning in what seems like a matter of days.

Ah...back home!

So Jason got discharged from UCSF on account of good health and recovery progress on his recent cardiothorasic surgery. His labs looked good and the staff was satisfied in what they saw in the X-ray shots and heart ultrasound examinations over the past few days.

So all that got us home and we found that things were in pretty good order. The cats appeared to be a bit antsy at first but later got around to re accepting us. I think they were disappointed they could not watch Battlestar Galactica on SciFi channel on Friday nights till we got home. Well, we all know who really runs the house....

More news later when we get fully settled and adjusted.

Jason is making a good recovery

It's Sunday and it appears that everyone is getting in rest and recovery. Jason is becoming more and more himself after the surgery and we can get him to smile and 'talk' a little bit. I have never had any type of in-patient surgical care like this but I can image I would feel like a train wreck if I was in the same shoes as Jason if a proprotional proceedure were done on me. I am just thrilled that he is getting back to his old self. This is definately more like his character that we are accustomed to seeing. We too are also getting some more rest and the wear on us is starting to subside. I do miss home, the people I work with, the family cats, and the coffee machine once again like last year. But we are told the stay here will be a lot less than our stay during the summer.

Jason's color and appearance are going back to normal for him. Here is a latest picture as I promised I would post

Successful surgery and on the path of recovery

I have some good news for those that have been interested to know. Jason's sugery yesterday was successful. At about 8 Am he was wheeled into the surigcal ward where the cardiac surgeons performed a Glen proceedure and it went well where Jason was brought back to the pediactric ICU floor to recover. He was extubated in the evening and he did well enough resting through the night for his recovery from the surgery.

Today he is getting pain management and fluids to help nurse him along, even getting some of his formula by bottle. Jason is very much like me where much of my happiness is judged on food and eating!

I will have more news later and I might be able to put up some pictures later. That's all for now.

Suddenly back at UCSF

Folks-

What was supposed to be a routine visit to the doctors office turned into a trip to UCSF where we are all presently at. On Monday (yes, just after my last posting) Jason was seen by his cardiologist who recognized signs that Jason's health was very concerning and she had Jason readmitted to UCSF. (For everyone out there who's heart just stopped: Jason is presentlty OK.) Just as Jason got to his Dr's appointment he started presenting signs that his circulation was not all that well and our doctor caught onto it and took immediate action. I got called by my wife who told me the news. From there I had to hurridly & sloppily pack (I later found I did a rotten job at that) and leave work to meet with my wife so we can then travel to San Francisco where Jason was going.

That evening Jason had what was reportedly a great airplane ride to the hospital and the very next morning they performed a cardiac catherization. They determined that Jason's BT shunt was filling up and occluded. But Jason's circulatory system has built up extra blood vessles in the area which are referred to as 'collaterals' (sp?) and these have taken up the task where the shunt could not pass blood volume. I guess sometimes you can't top the wonder of nature and its ability to compensate.

Right now Jason is in surgery for his Glen operation and so far reported soon to come out as things have been successful in operating room. Jason was scheduled to have these exams and surgeries at a later date but everything got moved up because of his situation and the sudden onset. Anyway I will keep you posted. But everyone should know that Jason has been doing fine all along and handleing the change of routine very very well. He is in great hands here. These people are rock stars.

Into February and the rain has come

This past weekend has been a lot of fun. Football is out of the way until August and while most of the country is in the midst of a massive snowy weather pattern, California is finally getting rain. In recent years, January is a wet month for California and the local agricultural economy looks forward to it in making forecasts on how the crop seasons will go for the year.

Well it feels like Spring here. Not your usual weather. But its not all frowns. We get take Jason out in the afternoon for walks in his stroller and its warm enough that the walks are enjoyable. For the time being, we are not getting rained on, but a rain system is making its way in from the Pacific Ocean and the next few weeks may have some wet days in the forecast.

This past weekend we had to travel to the USCG Coast Guard Island to get renewed ID and dependent ID cards. It was an all day experience because on certain days, only certain DoD or Department of Homeland Security offices are open for business and on a first-come, first-served basis. So we had to wait throughout the morning and afternoon once we arrived to be seen. While its tough to get an appointment during the week, it is well advised if your situation allows you to get away long enough to do it. Otherwise I recommend you show up real early, right around opening time. Too bad it took all day because we were thinking about taking Jason to the Oakland Zoo after getting the ID cards taken care of. Better luck next time.

We've gotten many pictures taken of Jason and they look great. I will post them on another posting and scan in the pictures that aren't already in digital format later, perhaps tonight or tomorrow night. Jason is doing really well and he is growing like a weed, very fast. He seems to be vocalizing more and is certainly more aware of what he does on things or people. He recognizes bottles and his baby toys and we've noticed he makes different grunts/squeals in response of them coming into view. When any one of the cats come nearby, he gets excited and sometimes he will reach out and pet them. Its really great to watch these moments.

That's all for now...

Busy Busy,...Happy New Year

Since the middle of December I have been up to my eyeballs in an work matter that has been challenging but offered many instances to learn from. One thing asside from work is I am trying to find a place where I can get my son enrolled into DEERS but there are only limited options that force me to take time off work to do so. Its safe to say that while the federal government has cut back on certain programs that are meant to support reservist servicemembers, the effectivess o the initatives started by these 'good idea fairies' is questionable at best.

Jason is doing well. He weighs 12 pounds now (about 5.5 Kg) and yesterday was a big day. No more NG tube for him. His Doctor OK'ed it and he is getting most of his formula fed to him by bottle now, even through the night. My wife wakes up to feed him trhoughout the night, but we are much happier and relaxed that we don't have to worry Jason might pull the NG tube out at night. He seems happier with it too.

I have alot I have to do today, but I will work on making more frequent posts as things go on. I have bunches of things to catch up on, but everyone should know we are all doing OK and our holidays were not too bad.