PROBLEM #1 - If you're installing VS 2008 Professional on Windows Vista, and it tells you to install Windows XP Service Pack 2 before you can proceed: Copy the contents of your VS 2008 DVD into a folder on your C: drive called "Disk 1" and install from there. Who knows why this works, but it does. (Incidentally, I didn't have this problem installing Standard, only Professional.)

PROBLEM #2 - Microsoft says you need to "repair" your Windows Mobile 6 SDK installation after installing VS 2008. You'll have much better luck if you uninstall the SDK before you install VS 2008, then re-install it using the "Windows Mobile 6 SDK Refresh" packages.

PROBLEM #3 - visual Studio setup fails installing various components. Until you're done installing everything you need to install, disable the UAC, disable your antivirus, and stop the Windows Update service. And, as in Problem #1 above, things seem to be more stable if you install from a C: drive folder than from a DVD or ISO.

I hope this saves someone some time. I wish it was all consolidated into one place last week while I was going nuts ...

The weather didn't cooperate, so on the way out to the B&B, Beckie let me in on the surprise. If it hadn't been raining, we would have had a very early (6am!) wedding on a hot air balloon that would then take us up over the Blue Ridge Mountains before landing us for a picnic brunch. Very romantic! And, something done in jeans and a sweater ... my kind of wedding!

Since it was raining, we had to do plan B, which was get married in front of the fireplace in the "great room" of our B&B. Also romantic. And, we don't feel like we missed out one bit.

After the brief ceremony, we did a brief trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was cut short, again due to rain, but Beckie didn't mind, because it gave us the opportunity to visit some local wineries. We did some tastings and bought a bunch of wine to be sent to the house. She was in heaven.

The B&B, by the way, was excellent. We stayed at the Oakmoor Country Inn, in Afton VA, nestled in the BR Mountains. Paul and Sharon Buterbaugh, our hosts, opened the B&B as a way to retire from corporate life. They've been full pretty much every weekend since opening – no surprise to us now that we've stayed there – so it's really not so much retirement, as a different kind of job. Their house is beautiful, Paul and Sharon are excellent hosts, and the breakfast is fantastic. We couldn't have picked a better place to stay, and we will definitely return.

If you haven't seen the pictures yet, go check them out at www.kyleandbeckie.com.

Yes, it's true, Beckie and I did a sneaky private wedding this weekend. On Saturday, March 8, we were married in a great Bed & Breakfast in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. The pictures are at KyleAndBeckie.com, as usual.

The story of the weekend is coming ... stay tuned.

Just left the pre-construction meeting with the builder. We were starting to feel like nothing was happening, since it's been 5 weeks since we signed the contract and 3 1/2 weeks since we finished up the design center work.

The meeting was to understand where all the phone/cable/network jacks go, extra switches, lighting, all that jazz. The builder was very cool, making suggestions on what works and what doesn't, and even saved me $480 on something I had bought that doesn't need to be there.

They're scheduled to drop materials on the 4th, so we should start seeing some real progress then. As they build, I'll take pictures and get them up on the picture site.

Now back to the other news I alluded to earlier...

For those that haven't heard yet, Beckie and I are engaged! We haven't made a big deal out of it, because we don't have any plans for when we're getting married... so stop asking :-)  All we know at this point is that we'll do it some day, and when we do, we'll do it in a sneaky way, alone, and when we come back, we'll tell people we did it. We won't be having a big production.

We have also signed a contract on a house... now we just need to wait for them to build it! They tell us they're taking about 6 months "from contract to keys", so hopefully, we're looking at a July move-in.  They haven't broken ground on the lot yet, but once they do, I'll start posting pictures of the construction process.  As usual, the pictures will be at kyleandbeckie.com

I just want to say thank you to everyone that has sent cards or email, or left me a voicemail, expressing sympathy over my father.  My family and I appreciate it very much.

While I was in North Carolina, we had a memorial service for Dad, held in Thalian Hall, Wilmington. Thalian Hall has a performing arts center on the bottom floor, and the 2nd floor is where the city council meets.  Over 600 people crowded into the first floor to watch a slide show of pictures from Dad's life, followed by 10 speakers that got up to share funny stories, and lessons they're taking away from watching how Dad lived his life.  You can watch the memorial, including the slideshow, here.

After the service, there was a reception upstairs in the city council meeting room, and after that, several people met in the bar area of a local restaurant to celebrate Dad.  I met a lot of great people that day, heard some great stories, and came away a little overwhelmed with all the support. I think Dad would be surprised to know just how many people feel he touched their lives in some way.  He didn't do the great things he did to ensure a large and emotional memorial; He did it because that's the kind of guy he was.

So long dad. Your friends and family, and nearly the entire town of Wilmington, it seems, will miss you.  If you're one of those people, and are interested in donating to one of dad's charities, you can do that through this page.

On Saturday, January 12, 2008, my father Karl was out with a large group of people for a scenic ride on his motorcycle, when he lost control and was thrown from the bike. He died as a result of the injuries. He was 59.

My sister Heather and I are in his North Carolina home right now, spending time with his wife Kathleen Baylies. It’s amazing to see the tremendous amount of love and support coming from the Wilmington community, where he made his home for the last 8 years. He loved, and was loved by, this town. He had an attachment to this place unlike any other where he lived, including his hometown of Albany, NY.

I’ll have more to write, eventually. In the meantime, you can read what others have to say.

Karl Davis is Remembered (video) (WECT.com)

WECT General Manager, Karl Davis Passed Away (WECT.com)

WECT's Davis, 59, killed in motorcycle accident (starnewsonline.com)

In Memory of WECT General Manager Karl Davis (WECT.com)

Consider This Archive (WECT.com)

FYI, there are a lot of new pictures up on the KyleAndBeckie.com website if you haven't visited in a while.  Bahamas and Newport News pictures are there.  Astute readers will notice I'm not wearing glasses in anything recent. That's because I got LASIK in July. So, this picture is the last one you'll see with me wearing glasses... at least until I get old enough that I need them to read.

Microsoft just released a program called "Windows Live Writer" that allows posting to various hosted blogs, including MovableType, which is what I use for blogging here on KyleBits.  I'm just testing it out.

The house is coming along nicely. I still haven't set up the office fully ... but that's always the hardest part for me. I'm hoping to tackle it some more tomorrow. The kitchen is done, the living room is 95% done, and the bedroom is done except for hanging artwork. The guest room and the dining room are still just storage for stuff I haven't figured out what to do with yet. By next weekend, I'll have most of that stuff dealt with, and I will have cleaned out the guest room so I can prepare it for furniture ... which I will buy just as soon as someone tells me they're visiting. So, c'mon down!

He brought 40. I should mention that the packing service is $12/box. So, my cost has now gone up substantially over what was quoted. Once he, and 2 adults -- and one child -- showed up, they proceeded to take everything I had and shove it into these boxes. This includes clothes (um... if I got charged for 12 linear feet of clothes, I expected wardrobe boxes ... and I got double-charged, didn't I??), stereo equipment (no extra padding required, apparently!), pictures (no mirror boxes??), and various items that certainly don't need a box, like a stack of folding director's chairs. At one point, they ran out of boxes (no shit, you used a box for everything!), so I had to run out to buy more.

The child I mentioned was a 9- or 10-ish boy, apparently the son of the driver, and the best English speaker of the group. The driver spoke English too, but the other two did not. Unfortunately, the kid, while he had a firm grasp on English, did not have a firm grasp of Physics. Whenever he was driving a dolly, it would hit the wall. If he was carrying something long, he'd cut a corner too short. Twice, I took something out of his hand that I didn't want him to be carrying. Say, does the "bonded and insured" claim on the web page cover this kid? Because, I don't speak Spanish, but I believe one of the conversations between the kid and the driver was about something making a crashing noise on the truck while they were loading. I'm still unpacking, so I haven't found that surprise box yet.

Before leaving Dallas, the driver started the inevitable conversation about how it was going to cost more because they used so many boxes. "You have a lot of stuff, Kyle!" "Yes, that's true ... but we wouldn't have used so many if you had brought wardrobe boxes and mirror boxes." "Ok, so we won't charge for the full 40, but still, we have to charge more." We negotiate a little based on box count and time (it took them 2 hours longer than I expected it to), and arrive at a price. Then we head to Houston.

On arrival in Houston, I got my first glimpse of the truck. Actually, it was Beckie who first looked in, after we noticed that one of the boxes coming off was crushed. While I looked in the box (nothing broken), she looked in the truck and was appalled. She led me out there and showed me how completely unprofessionally the truck was packed.

My desk was resting on my leather couch ... not a furniture pad in sight. Hanging framed pictures were stacked together in a giant box, with not even a piece of newsprint, much less cardboard, separating them. Boxes were stacked unevenly and were leaning because the bottom box in the stack was crushed by the weight of those above. It was disgusting.

Then, items started to come in. Every time I saw a crushed box, I tried to open it, but there are still some I haven't gotten to yet. I have a giant hanging mirror with a large wooden border ... one corner is dented and wet, because the floor of the truck was wet from rain. Oh, and the floor of the truck was dirty too, because my matress came in wet and dirty on the side that rested on the floor ... no pad, no plastic, nothing to protect it from that. Next came my dresser, which had a piece of moulding broken off. The driver found the piece, but it's an ugly break.

Now the worst part ... my leather couch. There are 3 places where it's damaged, all on the back. If it sat up against a wall (like in the apartment), you'd never know it. But, in this house, it sits in the middle of the room with the back facing the front door. Walking in the front door and looking into my living room, your first reaction would be "what the fuck happened to your couch?" "Progressive moving, that's what. Would you like a referral?"

I still have quite a bit to unpack, and I'm sure there will be other surprises. Fun! An adventure! Ugh. Updates will be posted here... especially when I hear from Jimmy Wright, who doesn't come in until noon.

Update: I just started unloading the boxes in the bedroom. All my hangling clothes -- which did not hang for the trip, they were shoved into regular boxes -- are incredibly wrinked. I will need to send them all to the dry-cleaner, which will cost a small fortune. When I said to the driver at the end of the night "I expected you to have wardrobe boxes, mirror boxes, and furniture pads, like every other moving company I have used", he said "that stuff costs money." Really? Money? As in "US Currency"? If I remember correctly, that's exactly what I'm paying you with. This is unacceptable.

I called American Express, because I used my Amex to pay them. I explained about the damage and how I need to go after Progressive to fix the problems, and the representative explained that is a perfectly good reason for them to hold the charge on dispute. As soon as the charge for the move posts to my account, they will dispute it for me and contact Progressive on my behalf. Of course, I will talk to Jimmy before that. I am not a happy man this morning.

Update: I spoke to Jimmy earlier today, and he wants an email explaining the problem. I told him I'd give him one, but also gave him this URL.

Unrelated to the movers, DirecTV's installers screwed me. I had an install window of 8-12 today, and at 12:30 when I was hoping to get some lunch, I contacted them. After interminable hold with the sub-contractors that do the installs, it was determined that they didn't put me on anyone's route, and the next available date was the 12th. After I raised a little hell, they said they squeezed me in on Friday the 6th. I guess I'll stare at the wall until then.

I got the cats settled, the gas hooked up, and set up DSL. Now I just need to wait for the rest of my stuff to arrive (part 2 of the move is Monday) before I figure out what to do with all the extra space I have now. I’ve got an office and a guest room. I’ve got a huge area next to the kitchen that I’d think was a dining room, if it weren’t for the actual dining room. I’ve got a “game room” on the way out to the back yard. I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to put in all of these places. We’ll see.

The second poker tournament also took place during a hangover. We went to Voodoo, which is the lounge on top of the Rio, and drank wayyyyy too late. But, I played good solid poker for 12 hours before running into the KK vs AA vs AA scenario.

Outside the poker room, I had a great time hanging with Steve & Laura, Haley, Robert, Rainbolt, Durb (when he was around!) and, briefly, Kirk and Brian. Gotta love Vegas!

By the way, to follow along in pictures, see kyleandbeckie.com.

The first day (Wednesday) was monument day, and was particularly hard on Katie who, at 12, doesn't really give a rat's ass about all the history we saw. First we went to the Lincoln Memorial, which is at one end of the mall. After taking in the views there and at the reflecting pool, we hit the Vietnam Memorial. This time it was just as sobering as the last time I saw it, but not as depressing, because there weren't crying vets sitting on the ground every 30 feet. Next up was my favorite of the trip, the WWII memorial. I had never seen this one before, and it has an appropriate nickname: the jewel of the mall. Very cool memorial. Next, we hung a right at the Washington Memorial and went down toward the Jefferson. We rented a 4 person paddle boat and took in the sights of "The Jeff" from the tidal pool where the cherry trees are (they weren't blossoming). After that, we did our first museum... the Holocaust museum. I did that one years ago when Joyce visited me while I was living in Alexandria, and it was just as shocking and depressing as I remembered it. By this time we were damn tired so we headed back to the hotel for a rest before dinner. Unfortunately, by dinner time we got a hell of a thunderstorm so we were stuck eating dinner at the hotel's shitty restaurant. The food was expensive and awful. Don't bother eating at the Georgetown Holiday Inn. Trust me.

Thursday was museum day. We picked up where we left off on the mall by taking the metro to the Smithsonian stop. From there we walked to the Air & Space museum, which is still my favorite stop in DC. Leaving there, we walked the rest of the mall down to the Capitol building, then circled back to hit the Museum of Natural History. Unfortunately, the line there was very long with lots of kids on school trips, so we decided to hit the National Archives. Yeah, so much for that plan... the line was just as long. So, we skipped it and hit my new 2nd favorite: the International Spy Museum. Very cool. I highly recommend it, and it was even interesting to Kate. Leaving there, we went back to the hotel for the kids to swim, then ate at a so-so mexican restaurant.

With museums and monuments out of the way, what does that leave for a Friday in Georgetown? You guessed it... shopping. In this case, it was window shopping, because no one found anything to buy. After walking all over G-town, we took a much needed nap before taking the car out to the Arlington National Cemetery. Every half hour at the Tomb of the Unknowns, they do the changing of the guard ceremony, which takes nearly 10 minutes itself! After that, we did a driving tour of some of the DC sights we had missed before heading out for dinner. We had a great meal at Cafe Romeo's on Wisconsin Ave in G-town (check it out!) before collapsing into bed exhausted.

Saturday -- departure day -- we went to the National Zoo. I was actually pretty disappointed with the low number of animals present, and the number of exhibits that were closed. We intended to stay there until 3 o'clock, which is about right to catch a 6 o'clock flight from BWI, but we ran out of things to look at and decided to go to the airport early. Bad idea. Our flights back (me to Dallas, them to Houston) were delayed for 2 hours due to severe storms in Texas. Actually, their flight was pushed to 8, so we went to the bar for a drink... and at 7, the screen suddenly updated to show their flight leaving at 7! And we weren't even through security! They barely made it. My flight finally left around 8:30.

It was a great trip, and an important milestone. Not only was it the first vacation together for Beckie and me, but it was with the kids and I survived!