Our testing lab in town is known for stress testing many products to gauge how long they will operate before failure.  We have been contracted by many firms over the years for many different products, so we have tried everything.

At least that is what I thought.

You see, this past week, we had the opportunity for the first time to test rubber tracks designed for mini excavators.  It was nice to finally do something different for a change and we tackled the task with enthusiasm.

The hardest challenge for us was to come up with a test rig that could accommodate the size of the tracks, but after a half day or so, we were able to construct one ourselves.

After constructing the test rig, it was just a matter of running the tests and recording the results.  Needless to say, it was a good and interesting week.

When I found out that I was pregnant with my first child, I was on cloud nine. It was like I became a whole new person. I was much more conscious about what I ate and how I took care of my body and I could just not get enough literature on being pregnant. I think that I must have read every pregnancy book ever written.

It was great to be so full of knowledge, but there was a lot of stuff in those books that scared me, too. Like when I was reading the chapters on early miscarriage, I was sure that this was going to happen to me. The worst part was that I tried to follow each and every piece of advice in each and every book that I read and I think that this made me so much more exhausted than the actual pregnancy.

I did survive it and when I got pregnant with my second child, I decided not to read one single book and just take the nine months to enjoy having this little person inside of me. It was a much better pregnancy and I was a much more relaxed mother.

As I am self employed and basically am a free spirit, I am always keeping my eyes open for special travel events. I like to go to festivals and concerts and I am willing to travel great distances if it is something that I would enjoy. It is one of the things I like best about being self employed.

When I started my business, I decided that I was going to work very hard so that I would be able to afford to take time off whenever I wanted to. So far, it has been great. I think I worked less than half the year last year, but I did put in long hours during the times when I did have to work.

Because of my love for travel, I do not think I could work for someone else ever again. If I want to pick up and leave, I can, and I do quite often!

My all-time worst project that I ever had to do while I was in college was in my third year philosophy class.  Part of the problem was that are so overloaded and had taken too many classes and had so many assignments due in other classes that I could not devote my full attention that I need to make that assignment a good one.

For lack of better words it was a philosophy essay from hell and I really thought that I would go crazy before the end of term that the essay was due.  I certainly knew I could never handle an assignment like this ever again.

I guess part of it was my own fault as there were a lot easier essay topics than the one I had chosen.  I thought that I could impress the professor by choosing one of the tougher topics, not knowing exactly what I was getting into.  I will never make that mistake again.

I have been recently looking to find some shopping cart software for my e-commerce site.  You see, we have been using a simple script to work as a shopping cart, but now that we are increasing our product line, the script that we are currently using will not be powerful enough to get the job done.

After talking to our web consultants, we were told that we could get the best e commerce software from Aspdotnet.  They suggested the software because it was an all-in-one package that was very robust and easy to use.

So, we decided to try the aspdotnetstorefront demo and give it a try.  I had little problems using it without reading the manual and that alone was a good sign.  It seemed like it worked very well and would be suitable for our needs.

There are just a couple of questions that we came up with that need to be answered before we purchase the software – we sent an email and we are just waiting for the response.

My brother moved out of town a little while ago and we offered to store his stuff in our garage.  It was a great idea at the time, but now we have purchased a second vehicle and we need the space.

We tried to move some of his stuff into our house, but there just isn’t any room.  So, we will have to rent a self storage unit, and move the stuff there.

I have never had to rent self storage units in the past, so I would have to wing it.  I called around to see if I could figure out if I would be smarter to rent a self storage unit, or rent a garage.

After making some phone calls, it was clear that I would be smarter off renting an insured self storage unit.

It took awhile for us to pack up his furniture and move it out of the garage, but when we were done, there was room for my new car.  I just hope he doesn’t mind when he gets back – he can reimburse me for the costs associated with the storage unit.

When I was a kid, I remember my dad doing a lot of the cooking around our house.  He was a really good cook and we’re always very excited when he was preparing a meal.  As we grew older, we told him that he should be a chef in a restaurant because we thought he was the best cook we had ever met.

This prompted him into looking for a new career in the event catering business.  He knew that working in a stationary restaurant was not something that he would enjoy but traveling to different weddings and events would be something right up his alley.

It did not take him long to find a job and he was very good at what he did.  There were a lot of companies that wanted to steal him from the one he worked at, but luckily for them, that was a very loyal employee.  He worked there, until the day he died of a massive heart attack.

Now, I must confess that I don’t watch a lot of television.  In fact, I would have to say that I maybe watch an hour or two per week – that’s it.  But, today, I had a long day at work, so I sat down in front of the television for a little break.

It was apparent that after a couple minutes of channel surfing, that there really wasn’t anything on.  So, I found myself watching the shopping channel, though I have never bought anything off of the television.

What caught my eye was the fact that they were selling bras and sexy lingerie.  Sure, maybe as a married man, I shouldn’t have watched those women on the channel, but I was doing research to see what I could buy my wife, right?

Well, the show was great until my wife walked into the room, said some words, and shut it off.  I guess it will be awhile before I can watch the shopping network again.

Ever since I can remember, I wanted to become a doctor when I grew up. My mom said that even before I started elementary school, this had been my dream. Of course, when I was in elementary school, I had no idea of the coursework that would be involved in being a med student.

I made it through the first four years of college with little or no problems. I was accepted into the medical school of my choice and I was gung ho about the fact that my dream was becoming a reality. I was not prepared, though, for the amount of essay writing that I was going to have to do my first year.

In fact, I am surprised that I made it through all of those essays. I had considered quitting, thinking that I was just not good enough for this. I guess I had gone into it thinking that I was past the essay point and that med school was all hands on.

But, I stuck it out and my family now calls me Doctor.

I found myself working at a translation company London when I was offered a job at a University that I had applied at over four years before. It was an opportunity that I could not pass up, so I gave my notice at my job and went to work as a professor of linguistics.

It did not take long before I realized what a big mistake that I had made. I hated the job, even though it was what I had always thought I had wanted. I went to see if I would be able to get my old job back, but they had already hired someone who was doing really great in my old position.

I stuck it out at my job for a year and then I moved on to both another country and another job. It was a good move for me and I guess that sticking out for a year at a job I did not enjoy was worth it in the end.