Ladd Photos

Gazing deeply into the future and into his own soul he searches for his destiny. Does he realize he is not the prettiest of our nephews? Or, is beauty something deeper than flesh to this small pup?

We left bright and early on a 6:30am flight from Bakersfield to Phoenix. After changing planes in Phoenix we flew on to the San Jose del Cabo Airport. My Mom and Grandma picked us up in a tiny rental car and we drove the 40 minutes to the tip of Baja California, Cabo San Lucas.

We stayed at the Sol Mar Resort where my Grandma Hauslein has a timeshare. Accompanying us on our trip were my Mom and Dad, my Grandma Hauslein, and my parent’s foster child, AJ.

After resting for a bit we started our Mexico experience off with a bang with a “Fiesta” buffet and live entertainment. There was tons of great food, mariachis, singers, and ballet de folklorico dancers.

My Mom wanted to go to church in an old mission so we headed to the nearest one, in San Jose del Cabo. Aliciana and I explored the shops around the mission plaza at the center of the town while my Dad and AJ relaxed in the shade. It wasn’t too hot during our trip in Mexico, but the humidity felt pretty high.

The amount of construction going on in the Cabo area was pretty impressive. The only place I have seen a similar level of building going on is in Las Vegas. My Mom tells me that there are plans for resorts to be built pretty much all the way up both sides of Baja California. Some of the resorts are built right on top of the surrounding hills… which is pretty scary when you think about the lack of building codes in Mexico.

Aliciana and I took a walk along the beach to see how far along the tip of Baja California we could get. The resort is along the Pacific Ocean, not the Sea of Cortez, which meant the water wasn’t safe for swimming. This was obvious when we saw how hard the waves were crashing against the shore. The consistency of the beach was closer to rocks than sand, so it wasn’t the greatest thing to walk on. Still, it was pretty much deserted, so it was nice to escape from all the other tourists.

We spent much of this day exploring the marina area of Cabo and the beaches along the Sea of Cortez. There wasn’t much wildlife to see in Cabo… it is very much a desert, where the undeveloped land was nothing but dirt, shrubs, and cacti. We did see some pelicans which cooperated with me long enough to get their pictures taken.

This was our tourist day, we took a guided tour of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo. The tour started off with a glass bottom boat tour to see the famous Cabo Arch and where the tip of Baja California ends and the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific ocean meet. Then we went to a glass factory to see how they take recycled glass and melt it into various cups, bowls, and even figurines. The workers showed off their skills by making a dolphin right in front of us. We finished off the tour with some lunch and shopping in San Jose del Cabo.

Aliciana and I just got back from a relaxing trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We spent a good portion of the trip reading by the pool and eating lots of good food. My favorite food of the trip was definitely the guacamole… it was fresh and served with almost every meal.

We caught a plane back to Phoenix and then to Bakersfield on Saturday, after some minor trouble. The line to get our tickets at the Mexico airport was unbelievably long, because they hand searched all checked luggage right there on the spot. Because of the delay we ended up missing our flight, but we got on one that left an hour later, so we still made our connecting flight. So, lesson learned… if you are going to fly out of Mexico make sure to get to the airport 3 hours early!

Well, as most of you probably know by now, I no longer work for The Bakersfield Californian. I turned in my resignation and my last day was on September 8th. The split was amicable and the major reason I left had nothing to do with the paper. I greatly enjoyed working with everyone at the paper and I truly think that technology-wise they are pushing the newspaper industry to catch up with the rest of the world. Hopefully I will get to consult on some of their future projects.

I decided to strike out on my own and form my own small company, Aona Systems LLC, to follow a dream before it was too late. I have always wanted to have my own small business. Ever since college I never imagined myself working for someone else. I want the freedom to be my own boss and to work on whatever interesting project that might pop into my head.

Aliciana and I have been married for over a year now, and we are starting to feel that ‘itch’ to start a family soon. So, we came to the realization that if I was ever going to try to get a small company off the ground I should do it now, while I still have no one depending on me. We seized the opportunity so that we would never have those “what if” questions in the back of our minds in 20 years. If I fail, so be it, at least I will know what it was like to be my own boss. Life is about the journey, not the destination.

So what is Aona Systems LLC currently up too? The company has 2 major focuses: consulting and in-house product development.

Consulting

• Linux Software Development
• Web Applications
• Security Audits
• Linux Administration

In-house Products

• Palm Applications
• Aona Security Journal
• Python Hacks
• Various Open Source Projects

I have a lot more products currently in the planning stages. The coming months will definitely be interesting… keep an eye on this blog and the Aona Systems website.

My Grandpa forwarded me a neat math trick which you should try:

1. Grab a calculator.
2. Key in the first three digits of your phone number (NOT the area code)
3. Multiply by 80
4. Add 1
5. Multiply by 250
6. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number
7. Add the last 4 digits of your phone number again
8. Subtract 250
9. Divide number by 2

The amazing result: Your entire phone number. This is a neat trick. But, being the ubergeek that I am, I had to figure out how it works.

First Step: Write out the instructions as a math equation. Let the first three digits of the phone number be ‘X’ and the last 4 digits be ‘Y’. The expected result will be 10000X + Y (your entire phone number).

[250(80X + 1) + 2Y - 250] / 2 = 10000X + Y

Next Step: Reduce the equation.

[20000X + 250 + 2Y - 250] / 2 = 10000X + Y

[20000X + 2Y] / 2 = 10000X + Y

10000X + Y = 10000X + Y

Final Step: It checks out, both sides are equivalent. Isn’t math fun!

As you can see from the photos below, my soon to be little brother AJ had quite a busy first birthday party. My brother Nick, his fiancé Jessie, and the world famous Zeus the Pug made a long drive from Seattle to Las Vegas. My sister also flew in from Oregon for the holidays. My Aunt Bonnie was on hand to help out my mom and grandma. Aliciana and I made the trip from Bakersfield earlier in the day. Lots of people, lots of fun, and lots of blue frosting all over the baby.

The Wynn casino is quite extravagant.