Pepe’s tree is finally planted

Pepe’s tree is finally planted

So it took a couple weeks before Briggs had any worthwhile trees in stock, but yesterday Pepe and Madeline were finally able to plant their Christmas tree in our yard – a nice blue...

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday

We got up at the usual time and had our coffee: Then we went over to Mem and Pepe’s for Easter festivities. Watched some kid videos, blew bubbles in the yard, even watched some...

What Easter egg hunt?

What Easter egg hunt?

Today we went to Diamond Hill State Park with Michelle and Henry for their annual Easter egg hunt. Unfortunately when we looked up the information last week, the first result showed March 31st, but...

What’s up with Madeline?

What’s up with Madeline?

It’s been a while since our last update. We had a great trip to Canada after Christmas, but then January and February were filled with lots of changes – Nicole went back to work,...

North Bay, Part Two

North Bay, Part Two

On our last day in North Bay, we left Madeline with Nana (my mom), had poutine, then went out on the lake. When we went back to Nana’s we looked at some old pictures....

North Bay, Ontario

North Bay, Ontario

Our last stop on this trip was my hometown, North Bay, Ontario. We got to see a ton of people here: My mom, Casey, Dan, Julie, Hayden, Connor, Todd, Julie, Max, Myriame, Scott, Julie,...

Midhurst, Ontario

Midhurst, Ontario

On the 31st we drove from Ottawa to Midhurst, Ontario, via Toronto. We spent New Year’s and the next day with Kirk and Petra (and their three girls) and James and Laurie (and Talbot...

Gatineau, Quebec

Gatineau, Quebec

On the 30th we drove from Quebec City to Ottawa, and had a visit with our friends Matt, Sam and Jakson (oh and their cats, Brian and William).

Quebec City Part Deux

Quebec City Part Deux

We took a quick walk around Old Quebec this morning, here are the pics. Sorry for the fisheye lens but it came in real handy for a few of the shots of our hotel....

Well, that was December

Well, that was December

Madeline is now three months old. It is tough to find time to blog. Or eat or sleep, for that matter. 🙂 She’s actually been a really good sleeper – 7, 8, 9 hours...

A long road trip

A long road trip

Nicole, Madeline and I drove to North Carolina last week to visit SQL Sentry. Here is about the only interesting thing I notice every time I pass through New Jersey:

It’s almost December

It’s almost December

…and that means a whole lot of things. We went to Michelle and Henry’s for Thanksgiving. We had a great meal, laughed at the collective ineptitude of Tony Romo and Ryan Sanchez, and celebrated...

Madeline’s first photoshoot

Madeline’s first photoshoot

Here are a few pictures from Madeline’s first photoshoot, which I described in agonizing detail last month. Click on any picture to enlarge.

Time flies…

Time flies…

Since my last post, a lot has happened. We had a great visit with Kirk, Petra and their three girls – we even made it to the Jack-O-Lantern spectacular at Roger Williams Zoo, on...

Maine-spotting

Maine-spotting

We took Madeline up to Maine for the weekend. Nicole scored us a great deal at the Harborside in Bar Harbor. And when we arrived we told the folks at the front desk that...

Headed to Maine

Headed to Maine

Tomorrow we are heading up to the great state of Maine for Madeline’s first road trip. We have some lighthouses and quaint little towns we both want to see, and I had some vacation...

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Spent yesterday up at SQL Saturday #146 in Nashua, NH. Today was a nice lazy day at home. I left only to drive Scott to the airport, then to go pick up this box...

Madeline’s first bath

Madeline’s first bath

Yesterday her bellybutton fell off (finally!) and we were able to get Madeline wet. (Apparently, though, we were supposed to wait.) She seemed a little, um, apprehensive about this process in any case:

The days are blending…

The days are blending…

Yesterday Katrin, Sven and Lucy came for a visit. In the afternoon we took Madeline to the pediatrician to check on suspected thrush. Last night close to midnight I turned to Nicole and said,...

A great visit

A great visit

Today we had Ron and Sharon over for dinner – all the way from North Bay, on their way to Michigan. Just don’t look at a map to try and figure out how far...

Madeline is 10 days old

Madeline is 10 days old

Madeline’s sleeping habits are stabilizing, becoming a lot more predictable. Three nights in a row she has given us four hour stretches of sleep. We’re also better able to predict her poops: basically every...

Madeline at home

Madeline at home

Madeline hiccups a lot. I’m not concerned about this, I just feel bad – sometimes it seems to scare her. She’s also very sensitive to sudden sounds. Poor Kirby is going to need a...

Madeline : Home at last!

Madeline : Home at last!

Today we were finally able to bring our daughter home. Huzzah! It was another busy day – discharge took a lot longer than I expected. Of course, just as we were paperworked up and...

Madeline : Day 3

Madeline : Day 3

Today was a little quieter for our little girl. Lots of commotion in the morning but a relatively uneventful afternoon and evening. She’s getting the hang of the whole eating thing, and her ability...

Madeline’s 2nd day was a busy one

Madeline’s 2nd day was a busy one

I tried to shower at the hospital this morning. Really, I did. But I failed to distract the one 5th floor nurse’s attention away from the clear anguish of returning a fake Gucci purse...

Baby Madeline is here…

Baby Madeline is here…

I’m glad I can stop calling her SheBert, though I will probably still refer to that way from time to time. 🙂 We named our first daughter Madeline Autumn Pearl Bertrand. She was born...

A weekend in the city

A weekend in the city

Nicole is due on September 28th, so we thought we could take one last weekend while we could to get away. I’ll be in Cambridge for a SQL Saturday this coming weekend, then a...

Please update your password strategy

Please update your password strategy

A few weeks ago, Mat Honan changed my life. Okay, it wasn’t that drastic, but he really made me step back and really take a look at how I manage my digital life. Because,...

Some more European adventures

Some more European adventures

Last week I spent in Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. The purpose of my trip was a work conference: SQL Server 2012 & SharePoint Connections in Berchtesgaden, Germany. The conference was interesting, though there...

Re-Blog : The cost of reinventing the wheel

Re-Blog : The cost of reinventing the wheel

Since my blog content at my old company’s site seems to be selectively disappearing, I’m grabbing the content that I can and re-publishing here, before it all goes away. This was originally published on...

Re-Blog : Using a Mac in a Windows World

Re-Blog : Using a Mac in a Windows World

Since my blog content at my old company’s site seems to be selectively disappearing, I’m grabbing the content that I can and re-publishing here, before it all goes away. This was originally published on...

Why I am switching from Google to Bing

Why I am switching from Google to Bing

I’m switching to Bing today. Both Google and Bing are fast (the differences in performance are unnoticeable to me). And they both produce near-identical results for me, at least for the searches that I...

Desperately seeking a decent battery caddy

Desperately seeking a decent battery caddy

I want a battery caddy. I know initially it seems like a bizarre thing to want, or maybe it is difficult to even determine what the h-e-double-hockey-sticks I’m talking about. I have several items...

Some help for Melody

Some help for Melody

UPDATE February 26, 2012 We are organizing a Pub Trivia night on Sunday, March 11th at 6 PM at Ciro’s in Woonsocket. This event is a fundraiser for 2-year old Melody Corbett, recently diagnosed...

My first blog posts

My first blog posts

Today, Denis Gobo (@DenisGobo) tagged me in Meme Monday. The topic: what is the first blog post you wrote, and when did you write it? I have two answers.   My first personal blog...

A few unrelated updates…

A few unrelated updates…

Kirby at 80% Last month, I talked about Kirby’s car accident and initial recovery – I am happy to report that Kirby is doing very well, and is returning to a lot of his...

A sad case of poor customer support

A sad case of poor customer support

In November we bought a Dell for my mother, against my better judgment. The computer was a Christmas gift, and we ordered it in November to be sure I had it before I drove...

A quick update on Kirby’s progress

A quick update on Kirby’s progress

Just wanted to give a quick update on Kirby. He came home on Saturday night – much to the delight of Quigley, who had been rather lethargic in his absence. A few pics (click...

The (abridged) tale of a beagle

The (abridged) tale of a beagle

Meet Kirby. Kirby is a 6-year old beagle in the Bertrand home. As a puppy, he was rescued from an abusive home in Tennessee. He’s had some socialization and other personality issues with strangers...

An open letter to my fellow bloggers

An open letter to my fellow bloggers

Please turn comment moderation off. A few weeks ago, I left a comment correcting a Microsoft Tech Evangelist’s blog post, where a suggestion was made to unnecessarily expose a surface area of SQL Server....