It's been several years since I have built a custom PC.  About 4-5 years ago, one day, I just quit building and started buying them.  A few weeks ago, I was needing a mass storage unit attached to my network for backup-to-disk operations.  I looked at NAS and SAN solutions but the reviews were terrible on most all NAS solutions and SAN solutions were entirely out of my budget.

A few days of reviewing and poking around the Internet gave me some ideas.  The inherent problem to solve was temperature and write speed.  So, I went to the gaming world for a solution of inexpensive, high cooling, & mass storage computer shown to the left.

I used the Corsair 600T Graphite case.  This is the coolest cases I think I have ever seen.  Corsair did an amazing job in the design of this case in planning for proper cable management.  In fact, I don't think I've ever seen another case before with cable management in mind.







Notice all of the rubber grommets on the back wall of the case?  Those are for feeding your cables to the rear side of the tower so they can be managed properly and out of the way as to not interfere with air flow.  This is a mid-tower that support ATX and Micro ATX form factors.  The case can support a very large power supply as well as the extra long graphics cards that gamers love so much.  It has 4 - 5 1/4 bays for expansion as well as 6 - 3.5" bays for a mass amount of hard drive storage.  The case includes 2 - 200mm case fans as well as 1 - 120mm fan in the rear of the case.  Here is my full parts list:

Tower: Corsair 600T Graphite Series
Power Supply: Corsair 850W Modular ATX
Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA1366
Processor: Intel Core i7-960 3.2GHz
Cooling: Corsair H50 Hydro Series
Memory: Crucial 2GB DDR3 PC3-10600 (x3)
Graphics: ASUS EN8400GS 512mb
Optical: HP 24x DVDRW
OS Drive: 160GB Seagate 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s
RAID Drives: (4x) Western Digital 2 TB SATA 3.0Gb/s
OS: Windows 7 64bit

That's it ladies and gentlemen.  The cleanest looking machine I've ever built.  Styling and fast.  I reduced my backup time in half compared to the DLT tape system I was using.  This will allow me more opportunities to get creative in my backups and protect the integrity of my company's data.  Feel free to contact me if you have questions or want more details about the build.

So, I graduated from Western Kentucky University with my Bachelor's degree in Management:Business Administration with honors.  Throughout my college career, I have ended it all with a GPA of 3.77.  Not too bad for an old guy huh.  Now that education is behind me, it is time to move on and I'm ready.

Life is progressing forward as my college days draw to a close.  19 days left until graduation and it feels surreal.  I've spent most of the past 12 years getting two degrees and now this part of my life is coming rapidly to a close.  I realize that had I done things differently, that I could have finished my education about 6 years ago or had a Doctorate by now.  No matter the wrong choices made, the time spent getting my education has by no means been wasted.  I'm looking forward to a new chapter in my life, I just need to get my emotions wrapped around the concept.

Easter was this past Sunday and I had a wonderful time celebrating the resurrection of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  There were 34 baptisms at Hillvue Heights yesterday.  God was certainly working in our midst.  Though the weather was terrible and raining, it did not stop the celebrations.  The Easter bunny might have been disappointed, but my Lord was worshiped and praised.

After church, we went to have lunch with several friends from church at John Paul and Connie Logsdon's home.  This was our first visit to their home, though we have met for coffee or lunch in a few different restaurants around town.  It was nice of them to open their home to so many friends and provide us lunch.

This coming Friday, my baby girl, Mindy, will turn 20 years old. I remember the day she was born and the sheer panic that I felt when I found out Heather was in labor.  We were both working at the same factory back then and I was down in the basement.  My boss came running across the room hollering at me.  He said, "You need to take your wife to the hospital or she's going to have that baby upstairs."  Well, as it turned out, we weren't in that big of a rush but the reality didn't aid in reducing my panic.  It was a scary time in our lives because just 4 months earlier, Heather was involved in two car accidents in the same week.  We weren't certain that Mindy would harmed from the accidents or not, though the doctors were fairly certain that she was fine.  18 hours later, Heather gave birth to my beautiful baby girls and she was completely healthy.  We were so blessed of the Lord.

Through the years, tragedy and turmoil has knocked on Mindy's door to steal her away either physically or emotionally but God has saw to it that she survive and not just merely survive but continue to build the hopes and dreams that He Himself placed within her spirit.  I am so honored and proud to be her father.  She brings pure joy to my life every time she smiles or laughs.  She is a joy that I never deserved to have but I'm so glad that God thought differently.  Happy Birthday baby girl. I love you.

    Wow, time sure does fly by so fast these days.  Only 68 more days left until graduation.  My feelings about this are surreal.  I've worked so hard to get here and it just still seems like a distant dream.  I am ready for this event to pass in my life and to move forward into the unknown tomorrow of my life.

    This past weekend I took off to Chattanooga, TN with a few friends for Spring break.  Hard to comprehend a Spring break when Spring is still 2 weeks away but I digress.  Paul and Debbie Johnson, David and Gretchen Stokes, and Heather and I took a 4 day weekend trip to relax and explore the south-western part of Tennessee.  We arrived at our motel room in Catoosa County, GA on Thursday evening.  I know I said Chattanooga, TN but we actually stayed at the Super 8 Motel just across the Georgia line because it is a lot cheaper to stay in Georgia.

    Thursday evening we all gathered in Paul and Debbie's room and hung out playing cards until about 2:00 in the morning.  Friday we took off to Lookout Mountain and rode the Incline Railroad up to the top.  We must have spent at least 4 hours walking around up there exploring and reading about the Battle Above The Clouds from the Civil War.  I don't know why but I just find all this history stuff to be very interesting.  Perhaps I missed my calling and should have became a history professor or something.  When we came down from the mountain, we found a nice little pizza place called Mr T.'s Pizza and it was really good.  We all got medium sized pizza and shared them with our spouses.  Heather and I couldn't quite finish ours but it was really good late Saturday night reheated when I got the munchies.  After lunch we headed over to the Georgia Winery for some wine tasting.  That was really nice and the people there were so friendly.  Great place to stop for sure if you are in the area.  After this, the ladies did some shoe shopping while us guys stayed in the van and played poker.  Later in the evening, we went to El Matador for dinner which was okay I guess even though they didn't bring me the food I ordered.  We finished the evening by playing Mexican Train Dominos until about 10:30 pm when we decided we should all go to bed.

    On Saturday, the weather wasn't so pleasant and it rained all day long.  Good thing we were able to pick up some umbrellas really cheap because no one but Debbie had thought to bring one.  Thank you Big Lots!  Anyways, the first thing we did was head up to ride the train over Missionary Ridge.  I had never taken a real passenger train ride before so I found the whole experience to be very entertaining.  The addition of all the history and story telling that the tour guide did make the journey even better.  After this we stopped at Wendy's for some lunch and then over to the Tennessee Aquarium.  That place has really expanded since I was there about 10 years ago.  We must have spent at least 3 to 4 hours in there.  I loved it but was getting very tired by the end of the visit.  After we had finished at the Aquarium, we went over to the IMAX Theater and watched Ultimate Wave Tahiti 3D.  I hate to admit this but though the movie was interesting, we were so exhausted that some of us slept through most of it.  Well Heather slept through most of it, I only slept through about half of it...  After the show, the ladies wanted to do some more shoe shopping and us guys did some more poker playing in the van.  Then we went to Logan's Roadhouse for dinner and back to the room the play dominoes again until 2:00 am.

    On Sunday we slept in and checked out just before 11:00 AM.  We stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast and did some shopping there as well.  Had to get a few souvenirs for the kiddies ya know.  We stopped at the Monteagle Winery and did another wine tasting.  Also a very good place to stop if you are in the area.  Very friendly folks.  After that we had a nice relaxing drive back home.  I had to finish a report for one of my classes so I took the down time to write that on the way home.

    All in all, it was an absolutely fabulous weekend of which I will cherish for a long time.  There is nothing better than good friends and family relaxing away from home.  Our next adventure will be in July as we all will travel to Gatlinburg, TN for a Cabin Weekend Adventure.

tk

I am back to work today after being off for the Christmas holiday.  I must say that I have had one of the best all-time Christmas holidays ever.  We began our celebrations on December 16 by having a Christmas party with our closest friends, Dan & Melinda King, Dave and Gretchen Stokes, Paul & Debbie Johnson, Mindy, Kassondra, & Dustin.  Next came the celebration at my Mom's house in Tennessee on December 18.  It was a house full to say that least.  My sister has 5 kids and three of them have at two kids of their own plus my crew.  It is so great to see the next generation of kids running around playing and laughing.  Family is so great!

Next was December 23 at my Dad's house and another houseful.  Pretty much the same crowd of folks that was at my mom's house only without mom...  Maybe someday we can all get together once and celebrate the Birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ without all the divorce drama.  Anyway, I digress.  Christmas eve was mad busy.  Heather and I finished off the shopping we had to do (including food) and then off to my Grandma's house in Glasgow at 2:00.  Yet another mad house of family and children (I love it).  I was so exhausted that I fell asleep right after lunch on the couch (and Heather did too). 

Back home by 4:30 and spent the rest of the evening baking cookies and desserts for Christmas day. My mom, sister, and her two boys came home from Grandma's house to spend the night and Christmas morning with us.  We had an absolutely wonderful Christmas morning with them.  The boys were so surprised at their gifts and it was worth it all to see their faces light up with delight.

Later on in the day other came and we hosted 28 people (family and friends) before evening.  There is nothing like family and good friends to make one's heart sing with joy and praise unto the Lord Jesus Christ.  The fun, games, sharing, and laughter I was given on this most sacred day of the year will long be remembered. 

I hope that your day was as special as mine was.  I will you all a Happy New Year.

tk

I just noticed today that it will be less than six months until I graduate from Western Kentucky University.  I felt like it would never get here but now I stand at the door and can see the end.  I can't help but wonder sometimes what life after college will be like.  For me, it won't mean going out and landing my first job because I have been working on my career for over 20 years.  I am hopeful of some modifications to my career and better pay but I don't foresee any major shifts.  Then again, one never knows what tomorrow may hold.

I wonder if I will return to the pre-college activities of vegging out on the couch and catching the latest episodes of the popular sitcoms every evening.  I have not done that in several years and I have found it difficult to keep up with them while I have been in school.  I would hope that I will take the additional time and spend it with my family and friends.  I intend on serving my community in a greater capacity than I have previously.  Maybe I will find time to hit the gym and shed off a few pounds and work on my health.  Maybe I will head over to the animal shelter and walk a few dogs and make some new friends.

I guess I don't really know what I will do.  But I do know that I am hopeful.

This past weekend, Heather and I were co-hosts with Gary and Charleen Osberg at the Hillvue Heights Marriage Enrichment Weekend at Fall Creek Falls State Park in Pikeville, Tennessee. 18 couples joined us for the three day seminar and what an amazing time we had.  God moved in a mighty way and lives were changed, new friend ships were formed, and I even performed a wedding on Saturday afternoon for Derrik Hooten and Tressa Green.  This was by far the best retreat weekend I have ever been too and because I was a co-host had nothing to do with it.  The entire group was engaged with all of the activities that we had planned.  We even had trouble getting them away from the dinner on Saturday night to the bon fire because they were enjoying the music and social aspects we had around our dinner.  I am truly blessed to have been able to be the hands and feet of God this weekend in enriching the lives of these couples.

So we went camping again last weekend and though we had a great time hanging out with our friends (and each other) it was just too dang hot for camping.  I will probably never camp again in July - Aug based on this one experience.

I'm leaving this afternoon for another camping expedition with my friends David & Gretchen Stokes, Dan & Melinda King, and Paul & Debbie Johnson.  I love these weekend adventures.  Planning to do some night time fishing this time as it is extremely hot during the day and humid.  The fish won't bite very well if at all in such heat.  However, we feel like we might have some success fishing late at night.  We will see.

Well, today I turned 39.  I feel like I'm in the prime of my life.  I guess I'm still not old enough to have a mid-life crisis. I have not always made the perfect choices but I'm willing to accept the wrong decisions in my life as learning tools and guides to better living.