I have been working with ColdFusion now for just over 10 years. In that time, I have worked with some really great people and on some really great projects. However, I have always worked for someone else. I was never completely happy working as a contractor through an agency, and working a steady gig as a full-time employee had its ups and downs.

My wife has been pushing me for years to go 100% independent and after some lengthy discussions with her, I have finally decided to make the leap. Well, its not so much of a leap as I already have some incredible clients that I have been working with. But nonetheless, its a pretty exciting step for me.

So, I have formed Mad Piranha, Inc as my consultancy and am making a run at it. Actually it was formed quite some time ago, Im just getting around to posting it.

Many thanks to my incredible wife for believing in me so much and supporting this endeavor!

It has been a sad few days around our house. Our yellow lab, Misty, has been dealing with problems with what we thought was her rear legs but after another vet visit yesterday turned out to be her hips. Misty would be turning 9 in June and we have had her since she was 12 weeks old. It was a tough decision but the last thing we wanted was for her to be in any sort of pain which reduced her quality of life.

At 2:25 pm today, she was put to rest. Losing her is weighing heavily on all of us but we know she is no longer in pain. She was so great with the kids and we were very lucky to have her as part of our family for so long.

We love you Misty!

My wife and I were discussing something yesterday after I asked for her input. After a few minutes of discussion she made a comment that really made me stop and think. She told me that I make more decisions just based off of my gut feeling than anyone she has ever known. Now my wife and I have been together for about 10 years and we have known each other for over 20, so I think she has a pretty good "read" on me by now.

I really stopped to think about this, seriously, pondered over it for well over an hour last night trying to think of all the decisions lately that I have made purely on my instinct and not based on some sort of fact or research. My conclusion, she was right. I do make a ton of decisions based purely on how I feel about them. Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing, most of the decisions that I came up with worked out well, a few didn't. It almost makes me want to start taking notes on these decisions so in the future I can compile some stats to see if I'm doing the right thing. Although, that might be a little obsessive.

Some of these decisions are small, trivial matters. Others have more impact on me and my family. Or even my job and the work that I produce.

I wonder how many of you have consciously thought about the decisions you make in this manner. Right or wrong I guess it's just part of our nature.

What really bothered me was the decisions that I made where I chose against my initial instinct and they ended up being wrong choices. How many times have you said, "I should have just went with my gut!"? It's funny how your first instinct is usually the correct one. I guess maybe I should just embrace that and run with it. After-all, thats what my gut is telling me to do.

I just read a great post by Allan Branch of Less Everything titled "Life over Work" in which Allan discusses balancing your work and family time. Reading through some of Allan's thoughts on the subject, I kept thinking to myself how simple some of it sounded. But then immediately it hit me that Im guilty of almost every infraction mentioned!

Working from home is a blessing on many fronts. However, there are many drawbacks as well. For instance, its so easy to just walk into my office and sit down at the computer for a second and then the next thing I know, 2 hours have passed while Im working on "just one more thing". Then its time for the kids to go to bed and I havent spent nearly as much time with them as I would have liked.

So, I created several sticky notes in Dashboard on my Mac and paraphrased each of Allan's suggestions onto a new sticky note. So every time I hit my dashboard key, there they are, staring me in the face. Hopefully, inflicting some form of guilt to remind me to get off the computer for a while and go enjoy the longer days outside with my kids!

An extremely modest man was in the hospital for a series of tests, the last of which had left his bodily systems extremely upset.

Upon making several false alarm trips to the bathroom, he decided the latest episode was another and stayed put. He suddenly filled his bed with diarrhea and was embarrassed beyond his ability to remain rational.

In a complete loss of composure he jumped out of bed, gathered up the bed sheets, and threw them out the hospital window.

A drunk was walking by the hospital when the sheets landed on him. He started yelling, cursing, and swinging his arms violently trying to get the unknown things off, and ended up with the soiled sheets in a tangled pile at his feet.

As the drunk stood there, unsteady on his feet, staring down at the sheets, a hospital security guard, (barely containing his (laughter), and who had watched the whole incident, walked up and asked, "What the heck is going on here?"

The drunk, still staring down replied: "I think I just beat the shit out of a ghost."

Happy Halloween!!!

Sorry I wasn't able to make it to the NYCFUG meeting Tuesday night. I didn't even make my trip to New York at all. Sunday about noon I was out working in the yard trying to get some things done before leaving town and apparently wasn't drinking enough water for the 114 degree heat index here in Jacksonville Florida. I ended up in the emergency room Sunday suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration. Not Fun!

Two days on the couch in the air conditioning and several gallons of Gatorade later, I'm feeling much better. Its amazing how bad I felt for two days. Absolutely no energy and I slept probably 12 hours each day between night-time and naps.

I will try and hook up with you guys on my next trip!

Well, Monday morning anyways. Though I work for a development firm in New York, I've never actually been there. I'm headed out first thing Monday morning for a week long stay and Im looking forward to it!

I'll be staying at the Hudson and luckily for me, I only have to be on-site at the clients office 2 days while Im there! So I get to check out the city a little bit. Any suggestions on things to see while Im there? Obviously I wanna see Lady Liberty, my boss says you can see it from his office window so I should be real close.

If any fellow CF'ers in the city wanna hook up for a few drinks, let me know in the comments or email me and I will get you my cell number and we can decide where to meet.

Truth be told, Im sure I will feel like the country mouse in the big city. I grew up in Jacksonville Florida. On a farm mind you. I have been to D.C. once for an Allaire conference but I never left the conference hotel! So this is going to be quite the trip. I only wish I could bring my wife along.

My apologies to those of you who have sent me emails regarding Skweegee and several other topics over the last week and have not received a response. My family and I have been in the process of moving back to our hometown of Jacksonville, FL from Orlando, FL.

Moving in-town is bad enough but moving a family of 5 to a new house over 3 hours away is just plain horrible! Next time, I will use a moving company!

On a brighter note, I hope to renew my affiliations with the Jacksonville User Group starting with the next meeting. Its been a LONG time since I have been to one.