The online home of Will and Sara!
Will
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Homepage: http://www.collier-byrd.net/
Yahoo Messenger: amethyst1x
AIM: amethyst1x
Posts by Will
Our apologies, now back to the regularly scheduled irregularity
Mar 17th
Sara and I have been terrible about keeping the site updated in the last few weeks. Work has been crazy to say the least but I think we’re going to get a breather that should give us some time to get back to posting new articles and updates.
I am working on a new template for the site and some additional features that will allow people to connect to the website with their Facebook, Google, OpenID, etc. website logins that I hope will increase the interaction with our (few) readers.
Expect a lot of new articles that Sara and I have had in draft form for the last two to three months very soon.
Updates to the Website
Mar 4th
I am trying out some new themes and plug-ins for the website to try to optimize the page for Search Engines (SEO) and streamline the user experience by allowing people to connect with their Facebook, Google, MySpace, or OpenID logins.
If things look out of whack or funky for the next few days just try back later. I’ll make a more detailed post after I have finished all of the updates.
Windstream Closes NuVox Acquisition
Feb 8th
Bye bye happy NuVox/NewSouth circle thing!
Today it is official: Windstream has acquired NuVox. Right now we’ve been told this means business as usual. As I said in my last post, Sara and I are both looking forward to the coming changes and being part of a larger company. One thing is for sure, the NuVox brand will be going away and the new company will officially be Windstream. NuVox came into life with a million other CLECS as a result of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and continued to grow through a flurry of mergers and acquisitions. I think the management team and the people we worked with to build this company are second to none and some of the best in the industry.
We’ve accomplished a lot here in the last eight and a half years, and I expect there will be a period of rapid growth and expansion in the not too distant future. The new company has a much larger footprint and is a financial powerhouse, both of which will position Windstream as a leader in the new markets. With the pending acquisition of Iowa Telecom in the pipe, the company seems poised to compete with the likes of AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and Qwest.
Looking back on our time at NuVox and toward the future at Windstream, it doesn’t feel like the last chapter in the NuVox story but the first chapter of a new book. Here are some things about the acquisition I find really exciting:
- Windstream’s annual revenue is now estimated to be approximately $3.7 billion dollars. That number is just mindblowing to me. When I started at NuVox we weren’t even EBIDA positive. 8 years later we are free cash flow positive and netting $565 million in revenue a year with $115 million in operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA). Now our total revenue is just 15% of what they expect the combined company to produce.
- Windstream is investing $20 million into building out their fiber network. This is great, I hope the trend continues as it could make the new company incredibly competitive in the wholesale access market with the huge increase in demand for bandwidth for all applications, mobile in particular.
- Windstream is very excited to be able to sell our products and services. I cannot wait to build out our network to provide them to the entire footprint.
- Working for a company that has traditionally been an ILEC as opposed to NuVox (we were a CLEC) should provide a unique perspective into the other side of the business
I probably won’t post too much specific information (NDAs, etc.) but I will try to keep posting the big news as it comes out over the next few months. Thanks to everyone who has sent us their well wishes over the last few months, Sara and I are very excited to find out what opportunities the next year will bring.
The Secrets to a Successful Marriage
Jan 19th
Will & Sara at McPherson Park in Greenville, SC
As of today Sara and I have been married for 9 years! It’s been a long road and I can’t believe all of the things we’ve seen, said, and done. Some days I feel like we’ve always been together and others it feels like no time at all. One thing is for sure, I am the luckiest guy in the world.
On January, 19th 2001 we piled into Sara’s white 1991 Mitsubishi Montero with Ben Chabot and his then fiance Caitlin and drove to the Little Wedding Chapel in Easley, SC. I remember our family and friends packing into the woefully small chapel and laughing with us through the next 30 minutes of comedy gold.
Highlights:
- Meeting the minister minutes before the ceremony in his bright yellow plaid suit and matching bowtie; (un)fortunately(?) he wore a robe for the ceremony
- Sara’s mother thinking that her father had already, “given away the bride,” but not heard it as he is somewhat deaf and whispering very loudly while crouching and tugging on him to sit down
- Sara and I being forced to stand and bend uncomfortably over the kneeling bench we asked be removed several times. That’ll show them! We’ll stand and bend over you uncomfortably!
- The operatic rendition of the lords prayer with trademarked country twang played on a cassette deck that had the entire chapel in peals of laughter by the end
- My botching of my vows, “with this ring I be wed…,” WTF was I thinking?
- Being trapped with my Grandmother Byrd during the reception who I believe was still convinced that I was either gay or had impregnated Sara and was forced to marry her; I still cannot understand how these conflicting ideas can occupy the same place in anyone’s head…
- Sara being trapped during the reception with a mutual friend who had been gone all summer and was desperately in love with her
- Sara’s Dad is the spitting image of Norm Abrams. I’m not kidding. My Grandfather Wayne is quite the furniture builder and artist and was convinced we had no small celebrity on our hands and felt compelled to introduce himself and discuss his love of the New Yankee Workshop. Both men are slightly hard of hearing so the conversation went something like this:
Grandfather Wayne: “I’m Hugh, Will’s grandfather.”
Sara’s Dad: “No, I’m Sara’s dad, Jerry.”
Grandfather Wayne: “No, I’m Hugh, Will’s grandfather.”
Sara’s Dad: “No, I’m Sara’s dad, Jerry.”x20 or so until Sara walked up and straightened them out…
- Being pelted by birdseed so hard it left marks and Sara shaking birdseed out of her over styled hair for about a week after
- Leaving the wedding with Ben and his fiance to head home for champagne
- Champagne had been left in the freezer by someone and exploded into champagne slushy
- Going to Nick’s Tavern to drink with some friends when your freezer is full of champagne slushy
- Getting almost too drunk to consummate your marriage and finally managing it way too late above the heads of your best friend and his fiance who for some reason were spending the night
It’s that time of year again… Goodwill donations and eBay auctions galore!
Jan 11th
I think there are some missing cats in here somewhere...
Well it’s that time of year again, namely the new year. Each year Sara and I go through our stuff and find things that fit into either the Goodwill or eBay pile depending on what it is. If we think we can make some money on it then it goes in the eBay pile otherwise it ends up in a box bound for Goodwill. So far this year we’ve already made about $500 dollars in donations to Goodwill according to their pricing sheet and I’ve got about 30 auctions going on eBay with many more to come.
My favorite part of all of this is not a tax write off or the pay off from getting rid of stuff we didn’t even know we have (we made over $1,000 dollars on eBay auctions last year) but eliminating the clutter from our lives. It’s very cathartic to eliminate 15 – 20 boxes of clutter from our house and all of the sudden be no longer owned by our belongings. Last year Sara and I did some late spring / early summer cleaning and found 25 plastic bins like you see in the pictures there in our attic and closets and decided it was time to make some changes. Last April / May our office was full to the ceiling with these plastic bins and our spare bedroom was full of huge cardboard boxes of stuff of all manner that we had accumulated over the years. It was maddening because we couldn’t for the life of us figure out where all of this clutter had come from and it was driving us insane.
I’m on my way! One CCIP test down and three to go!
Dec 22nd
Cisco Certification Pyramid
Last Friday I passed my first test for the CCIP (Cisco Certified Internetwork Professional) certification. I passed with a 900 after about two months of studying and a year of almost daily work experience.
The 642-661 (Configuring BGP on Cisco Routers) can be taken on it’s own or in a composite version, 642-691 (BGP+MPLS). I decided to split them up since work had some Cisco Learning Credits and I could take the BGP class online. I ended up getting the online class through NIL who were excellent. In fact another coworker went through the same online class and also passed with a 900 about three weeks before I did.
Hitlered
Dec 11th
Anyone ever wonder what he'd look like without that moustache?
So Russia finally announced what happened with Hitler’s remains. Apparently he died from a combination of cyanide poisoning and a self inflicted gun shot wound. The Russians buried the remains in a forest near the town of Rathenau, Germany in June of 1945. When the Soviets decided to give up the garrison there in 1970 they disinterred the remains, burned them, and threw them in a river under direct orders from Yuri Andropov, the then Chief of the KGB.
I have to admit I am kind of surprised how right we got his demise having never been explicitly told what happened. I guess there goes any chance of a zombie Hitler or someone finding the Führer enjoying the remaining years of his retirement in a nice assisted living community in South America. If he had managed to stay alive he would be 120 by now and in the running for the oldest living person.
It’s amazing to hear that they just burned the remains of Hitler, Braun, Goebbels and his family and tossed them out but I can see how they might believe it would prevent their graves from becoming a kind of facist mecca.
I’d debate how successful they were as Nazi Germany continues to be, for most people, one of the most fascinating pieces of modern history. As somewhat of a WWII history buff myself I think it’s interesting to find out what finally happened to the remains of the most rotten core of Nazi Germany. “als Partisanen auszurotten,” indeed!
The naming of the Kitten
Dec 11th
Kim Novak and Pyewacket in Bell Book And Candle
We decided to go with Pyewacket for the name of our new seal point Siamese kitten. Pyewacket was Kim Novak’s familiar in the movie Bell Book And Candle. (Yes she was a witch in the movie!)
We finally agreed to the name a few weeks ago but things have been so hectic I haven’t had time to post about it much less think about posting here. More posts are coming, we promise!
So we got a new kitten last weekend…
Nov 15th
The new Kitten and Galileo, not fighting for a change...
Well I am a week and a half late with this but better late than never. The wonderful Dianne Alexy of Alexy Cattery listened to my long tale of Vlad’s battle with cancer and was a great person to talk to after he passed. Since Galileo came from her she was very glad to hear what a strong pillar he had been for Sara and I. When Vlad passed Sara and I had a rough time but poor Gali had to sit home alone everyday. Dianne agreed that a new friend might be good for Gali so we brought a new kitten home last Friday.
As anyone introducing a new cat into a household with an old cat could guess, they weren’t immediately the best of friends. Gali was very interested in our new guest but didn’t want him closer than about a meter. Any breaches of Gali’s self proclaimed neutral zone resulted in growling, hissing, and a smacky paw if the kitten didn’t get the message. It took about four days until they would sit this close without Gali growling the entire time. Earlier this evening Sara and I actually caught them sleeping together in the bed in the office and they have been playing non-stop for the last hour. I think Gali may be ready to accept him into the fold.
Windstream to acquire NuVox
Nov 7th
Bye bye happy NuVox/NewSouth circle thing!
Sara and I have been extremely busy this week so I’ll have to ask you to cut us some slack for being a few days late with this news.
Wednesday November 3rd NuVox, Inc. entered into an agreement to be acquired by the Windstream Corporation (NYSE: WIN).
The purchase has been valued at over $643 million dollars. Windstream expects to issue 18.7 million fixed shares of stock valued at $183 million dollars, pay $280 million dollars, and assume a net debt of $180 million dollars as part of the proposed transaction.
You can read the official statements on press releases at BusinessWire or on the Windstream or NuVox websites. For my unofficial, not in anyway representative of my employer statement, keep reading.
