Author Archives: Nate

About Nate

I currently live south of Champaign, IL in an old farm house with my wife and 6 kids. I spend most of my free time keeping our house and barn in some sort of decent shape and programming for the fun of it. Of course with 6 kids there’s also a lot of diaper changing, teaching, playing, consoling, punishing, and other fun parental stuff.

Andrew and Andrea “On the Ice”

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Nate

For those few of you that I haven’t told about this, my brother Andrew and his (now) fiancee Andrea headed down to Antarctica in October for 6 months “On the Ice”. We’re so proud of them for taking this … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun | Tagged , , | 27 Comments

How I learned to love the cloud (at least for backups)

Posted on May 19, 2010 by Nate

If you haven’t heard of “the cloud”, you probably haven’t been paying attention to all of the online services that are cropping up online.  If you’ve used Flickr, Facebook, Gmail, Hotmail, or any of the thousands of online tools available … Continue reading →

Posted in Technology | Tagged , | 25 Comments

Letter to the Univerity of Illinois UC Senate

Posted on April 27, 2010 by Nate

Dear Sir,
I am a proud alumnus of the University and a proud supporter since graduation. I am writing to you, the clerk of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Senate, to express my displeasure and distress at the wording of your … Continue reading →

Posted in Opinion | Tagged | 25 Comments

I’m humbled by my wife

Posted on April 15, 2010 by Nate

I have to say that after being home on paternity leave for two weeks, I’m once again humbled by the number of things that my wife does for our family. While I did manage to get the … Continue reading →

Posted in Opinion | Tagged , | 25 Comments

Answers to 10 Common Questions when you tell people you’re having your 6th child

Posted on July 26, 2009 by Nate

1) Yes, we know what causes this and we quite enjoy it. ;)
2) The first three are the hardest, after that, it just gets louder.
3) No, we don’t own a bus, but we’re thinking about it.
4) Nope, no twins!
5) Were … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun | Tagged | 25 Comments

An open letter to the leadership of Notre Dame University

Posted on May 17, 2009 by Nate

To Whom It May Concern:

Posted in Opinion | Tagged , , | 25 Comments

Oracle-like ROWNUM in MySQL

Posted on March 17, 2009 by Nate

Sometimes in MSSQL, you need to mimic the Oracle ROWNUM functionality.  Here are some tips on ways to compress it into a single line of SQL.

Posted in Technology | Tagged , , | 25 Comments

Weight Watcher Points

Posted on November 10, 2008 by Nate

So I’m starting Weight Watchers with Sharon, and had a hard time trying to figure out how many points I could eat.  Finally found this calculation at Yahoo Answers:

Posted in General | Tagged | 27 Comments

The Health Care Crisis

Posted on November 5, 2008 by Nate

I hear a lot about the Health Care problem, but most of the solutions that I hear about are Health Insurance, not Health Care.

Posted in Opinion | Tagged , | 25 Comments

Search Triggers, Stored Procs, and Functions

Posted on October 27, 2008 by Nate

Code that will search Triggers, Stored Procs, and Functions in MS SQL Server

Posted in Technology | Tagged , , , | 25 Comments