The best I can get is around 20 Mbps out of Atlanta.  Definitely not the 50 I was hoping and paying for.  Several days go by of me chalking it up to Comcast’s over-hype of their ability.  A friend/coworker (Shameless plug for his website – BuildEgg) suggests the router is probably the bottleneck.  My friend’s solution to his underpowered networking hardware was to build his own router use pfSense.  Trying to explore cheaper options first I do a quick Google search and find a suggestion to disable the IPS.

Disabling the IPS and a quick reboot immediately yield results around 60 Mbps.  Woohoo.

Speed Test Results

Simply disabling the IPS feature nearly tripled my bandwidth.  I honestly have no idea if there are any other ramifications for doing this, but at this point I don’t care.  I’m also only getting around 4 Mbps upload speeds versus the advertised 10, but I’ll save that one for another day.  In any case I felt I can’t be the only other poor sap who’s getting horrible speeds, just because of their poorly performing router.

Reeves Using The Keyboard

That being the case I have decided to combine both sites and my brand if you will back into bobbyearl.com.  I’m also hoping that this also inspires me to write more.  I’m still working on exactly how I want to combine them and which section to place emphasis.  So for now, simplyearl will redirect all traffic to bobbyearl.  I also am not interested in moving my custom WordPress theme so please pardon the free theme.

Sound Asleep

 The photo above almost looks staged.  It has been such a great experience becoming a parent.  It is unlike anything I’ve done before.  Labor was intense.  It’s definitely a bond between Ashley and I that I feel makes us so much closer.  She was amazing.  I can honestly say I don’t think I could’ve done what she did.

I actually started writing this post a week ago, but just now got around to publishing it.  In that short little time Reeves already looks so much bigger.  Not that I have very much experience with newborns, but he acts and looks like a baby that’s more than 2 weeks old.

Hopefully, since I have someone to write about other than myself, I will be inspired to write more frequently.  For more photos of Reeves and the family, be sure to check us out on Flickr and Facebook.

Ashley and I decided to make the plunge and become home-owners.  It was a rather hectic time, and we just couldn’t seem to get the many aspects of our lives to line up.  We were living in a 3rd floor loft when we found out she was pregnant.  As per the landlord’s suggestion, we decided to break the lease without penalty and look for somewhere else to live.  It seemed a good a time as any to buy a home.  After looking and finally finding what we felt was the perfect house, the negotiations on price fell through.  After already having committed to being out of the loft by a certain time, we were forced to move into an apartment.

We decided to build in the same neighborhood as our perfect house.  It worked out much better.  We’re getting more house with exactly what we want it, for less money.  In the interim we moved into a one bedroom apartment on Daniel Island.  There was a little mix-up with the elevator not working for our move-in, but other than that the apartment hasn’t been bad.  I’m just anxious to have a real house to take care of, so I find every little problem with the place now.  Our only real problem is not enough space.  Ashley, Reeves, Tucker and I are quickly running out of room.  Our closing date is in the middle of March, which is another story in itself.  That day cannot get here soon enough.

I’m back at VarnerMiller as their Systems Engineer.  I do miss the folks over at the college of knowledge, but I enjoy my work now many times over.  It’s more challenging and I have the ability to be more creative.  I couldn’t ask for more in a job.

Ashley’s due date is January 29.  Technically the date is February 11, but we like the original date they gave us better.  Also I’m not a fan of the month of February for two reasons.  First, it’s spelled weird.  FebRuary is just weird.  Second, the number of days in the month of FebRuary changes, which is simply annoying.  Last I knew, we’ve decided on Reeves Alan Earl as a name.  Most people either love it or hate it, which I’m okay with.  We’re ecstatic to have our first child.  I know it’s going to be rough, no doubt about that, but I’m still very humbled by the entire experience.  Just yesterday, I commented about how strange it was that I am no longer creeped-out at the OB/GYN.  It’s so obvious to see the guys in there for the first time.

I’ve commented on most of the major things in my life, that I can remember.  To be honest, I was pressured to write from Ashley.  While I won’t discuss specifics, I did not take her threats lightly.  :-)

I’ll write about the most important first.  Ashley and I are having a baby.  She’s due January 29 so we still have a ways to go.   Her little belly is starting to poke out just a tiny bit.  I have to say she is so beautiful with it.  In about 6 weeks we’ll be able to tell the sex.  My old coworker and her husband, who are also having a child, have decided to wait to find out the sex.  Ashley and I aren’t that strong-willed and are dying to know.  So much so, she wanted me to buy some 3D imaging scan that would tell us the sex at 16 weeks.  For now I’ve held off, but we shall see.

Baby Earl

As I’ve previously discussed, we’re now living in the top floor of an old house.  After mentioning the baby to our landlord, he graciously offered for us to leave our lease early with no penalty to the security deposit.  I didn’t even ask, matter-of-fact I made a point to say we would honor the lease.  Because of his generous offer, we have started to look at purchasing a home.  We haven’t sat with a lender yet, but have briefly spoken with our amazing real estate agent/college friend.  We’re both very anxious to own our first home and feel now couldn’t be a better time to buy.

The third and final big change I’d like to talk about is my job.  I am no longer employed with the College of Charleston.  While only there for a little under two years, I really did enjoy my job and coworkers.  I’m going to miss it.  I’ve decided to go back to my previous employer as a systems engineer.  I am really going to enjoy the challenging work.

As I finally finish up this post, I’m anxious to write about new things.

To say we’re excited about it is an understatement.  When we went and looked at it I was almost giddy.  The homeowner lives on the first floor and seems like a cool guy.  We move in May 1st.  Not looking forward to the actual move again.  Just have to keep my eye on the prize and I think it will be ok.

It’s also going to be a different experience finally being able to live with just Ashley.  I’m going to miss my roommates.  I’ve had roommates since the day I started college.  In fact I’ve lived with Chip for about 5 years now and Clay 4.  I think it’s finally time to bite the bullet and live with just my wife though.  :-)

On to new things…

Ashley and I played our first kickball game last night.  In typical fashion I got really excited and then I don’t really feel like doing it at the very last minute.  I pushed through anyway, thank goodness.  We lead the entire game but they caught up during the last inning.  Tough loss but I still had a great time.  Our team seems to get along well so I don’t expect any problems there.

I’m planning on documenting the move and will get some pictures up of our new place once we get settled.  Just as an FYI, if you’re ever feeling just a little too peppy try listening Elliot Smith.  His music will definitely bring you down a peg or two.  Matter-of-fact, his music made him so miserable he took his own life, which is sad because I like his stuff.

In the next couple of weeks my new Apple Macbook Pro should be arriving.  This is a fairly large step for me personally, as well as our division.  Although I’ve used Macs on several occasions, I never had one to call my own.  For IA, I’m the first user to have one.  I imagine others may soon follow.  When we sat down and looked at all the pros and cons, it just made sense to go with the Mac. With Bootcamp, it’s practically two machines for the price of one.

In the past month alone, nearly 10% of our visitors were using a Mac.  While Safari is available for Windows, it still makes me feel better knowing our sites and applications are accessible using other platforms.  Luckily we held off just long enough to get a Mac with the new Trackpad.  Needless to say I’m pretty excited about it.  I’m also excited about finally getting a second monitor.  There are just so many applications that almost require a large amount of screen space, that this one’s been coming for a while.  That on top of the 5 or so windows that I have up almost constantly, will now have plenty of room to spread out.

I briefly used iTunes in the past, but was never really impressed. I’ve consistently used Windows Media Player for quite some time now. There may have even been a brief stint with Winamp. Perhaps the only reason I stuck with WMP was it was already bundled with the PC. While helping Clay finally setup his computer this weekend, I took a peek at his music library. I’d seen CoverFlow on the iPhone, but just assumed you couldn’t use it on Windows. Guess that’s what I get for assuming.

I immediately set it up to share music. Only problem there is you can’t use CoverFlow when looking at a shared library. When I got to work I got excited thinking about all the possible libraries out there. To my shagrin I couldn’t see a single shared library. While I’m not a network expert, I’m pretty sure it’s due to the limitations of zerconf and subnets. Maybe not limitations, but intentional design.

Using RendezvousProxy I was able to at least view my home library, via a tutorial. It works perfectly when selecting individual songs, but when set to shuffle iTunes will hang at the end of the first song. I’m still hoping to be able to access shared libraries on the campus.

I might as well attempt to update you on a few things.  Our photographer posted our wedding photos so I encourage you to check those out.  Definitely some keepers.

Official Wedding Photos

Ashley and I have also decided to move out.  It’s going to be hard because we both enjoy our roommate’s company, but we’re excited to have a place with just the two of us – and a dog or cat.    We’re mainly looking at staying downtown or moving back to Daniel Island.  Keep our eyes open for anything interesting though.  Our lease doesn’t end until the end of June so we have several more months to find something.

It’s hard to believe. It went by so fast, but we’re finally married. The wedding was amazing. Ashley was absolutely stunning. I cannot begin to express the gratitude and love we have for all our family and friends. We can’t imagine the day or experience without all of you being there. I’m sure there are lots more photos of the wedding that I’m not aware of, but this is my attempt to compile a list of photos and videos of the wedding and honeymoon.

Our Photos:

Our Honeymoon Photos
Our Honeymoon Videos – 1, 2, 3

Other Photos:

Photographer Random
Photographer Bridal Shoot
Aunt Janet’s Photos
Aunt Paige’s Photos
Carrie’s Photos 1
Ramsey Photos

Facebook Photos:

Ashley’s Photos
Carrie’s Photos 2
Clay’s Photos
Lauren’s Photos
Lindsay’s Photos
Kelly’s Photos
Mckinzie’s Photos
Meredith’s Photos
Susan’s Photos
Tony’s Photos