Jott Blog Post

So Jott has released a whole new set of features. They have new Jott links. Now Heather and I can drive around say "How much do you think that house is?", and send it to Zillow. I'll get a text message right on my phone with the Zestimate! There are also several blog links; I am writing this blog, by way of Jott! How cool is that?
Click here to listen

Powered by Jott.com - Try it at 1 (866) JOTT123 -

Edit: This post required some editing to make it presentable. Some of it was fixing the lack of pre-thought that came out of my mouth and some was in the transcription. Listen to the audio and compare.

House guests

The in laws are visiting.


I have to remember to close the bathroom door when I pee.

When can we get rid of those wires or Wi-Fi to supersede wired Ethernet

The Wired and Wireless blog on ZDNet has an article entitled, Wi-Fi to supersede wired Ethernet. The article focuses on how some people feel that 802.11n is going to replace wired ethernet.

It's doubly ironic for two reasons (and that is redundant - both fun words to say). Firstly, I am in the process of upgrading my home wi-fi network to 802.11g. Sorry to dash your visions of me, I'm a gadget lover, but not always an early adapter. Secondly, I spent hours yesterday rewiring our home AV equipment for our new HDTV (notice how I slipped that one in there). With a Tivo, a DVD and now a cable box, there are so many cables to connect everything. While I was doing that, Heather asked me when it was all going to be wireless?

That day might be coming. Right now, you can't get a clean enough, fast enough wireless connection to move the amount and quality of data for a good audio-video experience. When it comes to speakers, we can't move enough power over the air to drive the speaker.

The article mentions "pervasive mobility" and that is a significant benefit to faster wireless technologies. Right now, we have that mobility with voice communications, because we accept lower quality audio for voice communications. However, a home theater setup isn't mobile, so until the costs come down significantly and the quality goes up, those wires are here to stay.

Plus setting up those wires is your Red Badge of Home Electronics.

Camping at Mount Rainier

We left our house Friday afternoon and drove to the South West corner of Mount Rainier National Park. Along the way, it came out that Parker only brought a pair of Crocs and that he didn't go get a pair of shoes when I inpsected his gear. We got to visit a Super Wal-Mart to buy him some shoes. As we got back in the car, Alec pointed out that he had shoes on the floor. Ugh. So, we were back on the road and finally got to the park after dark (there are hardly any times recorded during this adventure; I really did unplug). We stayed at the Cougar Rock campground, a few miles up the hill from Longmire.

Cougar Rock was an alright campground. It was a little close to the road (lots of big trucks with the construction at Paradise and Park reconstruction going on) and the sites were located close to each other, but it was still a nice place. The ampitheater has programs Friday night, which we just missed and firewood is available for purchase there. The rules of Supply and Demand push the cost up; outside the park firewood costs 2 - 4 dollars, inside, where no gathering is allowed, $6.25!

It was great for several reasons. First, I enjoy camping, hiking and being in the outdoors. Second, I really love the high country, when you get up close to the tree line. Third, there was no cell phone coverage, and as much as I live the digital lifestyle, it was great to unplug. Finally, and most importantly, I got to spend time with my family and enjoy some of our summer vacation.

Saturday morning, I got up, made hot water for shaving and coffee and didn't have to wait long for everyone to wake up. Heather stuck her head out of the tent and asked what time it was. I looked up, saw some daylight and said, "Daytime." I think deep down inside, she didn't mind my sarcasm because I was so unplugged. I have been working a lot lately (in fact I had to make some coverage plans so that I could go camping on the weekend). We had bacon (1 1b) and eggs (7) and a double batch of buttermilk pancakes for breakfast and then got ready to hike.

Heather made lunch and with the kids, she mixed trail mix. I bought lots of different dried fruits (craisins, apricots, mixed fruits, golden raisins) and nuts (smoked almonds, mixed nuts) and large M&Ms (not the large bag, but large M&Ms - which haunted me later). While the trail mix was really good, I didn't buy enough chocolate.

Heather wanted to see waterfalls to take advantage of her new camera, so we decided to hike the Wonderland trail from our campground, along the Nisqually and Paradise rivers to see Carter, Madcat and Naruda Falls, and then push to Paradise and take the shuttle back down to Cougar Rock. The views along the way were beautiful, although we couldn't see the mountain for the forest (and clouds). We had to cross several streams where they had repaired bridges and at lunch on a bridge abutement that was under construction. We were able to see lots of the flood damage, especially as we crossed the Nisqually River.

Carter and Naruda Falls were beautiful, but we missed Madcat Falls, as did a group of hikers that came up on us while we were eating lunch. It was a really nice trail and a really nice hike. The total hike was about 5 miles, with about a 2000 foot elevation gain. I would characterize it as a medium intensity hike, primarily because of the elevation gain. We only saw 4 or 5 other parties, except at Naruda Falls, which can also be accessed off Paradise Road. We then finished off with the mile or so up to the Paradise visitors center. The hike from Naruda to Paradise moved into mountain meadows with lots of wild flowers. We were lucky to still see them blooming. In early spring, I bet it would be beautiful.

We spent some time at the visitor center and just before we caught the shuttle, the clouds broke and we were able to see Mount Rainier. It was beautiful. The glacial ice was so blue, it was just a great sight. I'm glad we were able to see the mountain. Then the clouds closed back up, the bus departed for our campground and it started to rain lightly.



We returned to our campsite and prepared dinner. Dinner was supposed to be spicy chicken skewers, but our fire didn't get hot enough. I did have a contingency plan and we just stir fried the pieces on the griddle. The people at the next campsite asked if I was a chef, because they had never seen anyone stirfry while camping. As cases of mistaken identity go, this one falls in the most cool in my book. We made s'mores for dessert and then went to check out a night ranger program (not the band, but a ranger program, at night). They had park rangers acting as key people from the park's history (John Muir, the Longmires, the first Park Superintendent, Fay Fuller, the first woman to climb the mountain, etc). It was interesting, but if you paid attention in the visitor center, you learned all the same things.

The rain continued through the night, but I don't think anybody noticed, because everyone was tuckered out. We stayed dry (the puddle went underneath my sleeping mat) but Heather's clean clothes got dripped on and wet.

Sunday was our last day, so we made breakfast and went up to Paradise to hike the Skyline trail to the Glacier Vista. The kids didn't want to hike anymore and I don't think Heather's heart was in it, so we headed down the mountain to go home.

I think it is really cool that we have such a nice National Park so close to home. The farside of the park is only 2 hours from our house! I really would like to spend more time there. As I said before, I really like the high country and I think that Mount Rainier was nicer than the Yosemite valley. It is so close, we can go for day hikes and I hope to do some light backpacking in the near future. Heather even suggested a guy trip - so guys lets start planning something!

I was a little concerned about the campground, as the National Parks are often over-crowded but it was a nice campground. It wasn't the middle of nowhere, but it wasn't elbow to elbow either. I would stay at this campground again, but I want to stay at a back country campsite next time.

All in all, it was a great weekend. Nice enough weather, nice company, beautiful scenery. You can see more photos in my Flickr photo stream.

My first Craigslist listing

I just made my first Craigslist listing. Nope, I'm not posting to missed connections or looking for more women, I'm selling my old router/wireless access point and wireless cards. I'm upgrading to the faster, but not latest in technology, 802.11g.

For the week that Seattle Craigslist keeps ads up, you can see my ad here.

I used a disposable phone numbr, which seems pretty cool but Heather suggested that I don't use PayPal for the financial transaction.

So, we'll see how it goes and if I can make 50 bucks and turn it into one 802.11g wireless adapter. I've got to get our Wii or Tivos online faster too!

New wifi access point, new KMFDM album

I didn't think I'd be writing a post like this tonight, but it fits.

I was out picking up pizza and I heard that KMFDM would be on the C89.5 Worldwide and so I called up Heather to see if they were having a show tonight in Seattle. No dice, just a radio thing. So when I got home, I kept the radio in my MINI on and ran to the entertainment center.

Heather asked me why the music was on in the car and I responded, "so I can have a seamless audio experience."

She didn't want to listen to the radio show, because she "doesn't like my music." So Parker and I sat in the garage in the car listening, while the pizza cooked.

Once the pizza was ready, I decided I would sit in my home office and stream the music. And that is were I am right now. Eating pizza, listening to KMFDM streaming online, downloading some very large work files and using my new wifi access point.

I finally upgraded to 802.11g and I am doing all this via wifi, without any latency! It is incredible. Just like the new KMFDM. The album is really good, lots of self-sampling (a KMFDM trademark), but the radio show is hilarious. They are having all kinds of technological issues with the phones (dropping callers) and quite funny conversations with the callers.

Tonic water is no club soda

I made some italian sodas today for lunch, but we were out of club soda. I substituted tonic water. It doesn't work. The quinine was too bitter.

Save your tonic water for Gin and Tonics.

Club soda is for mojitos and italian sodas.

Learn from my mistakes.

Chain Saw Safety PSA

There are a lot of things that I don't want to touch. I don't want my finger to poke through the bag, when I am picking up dog poo. I am sure Courtney Love has some disease (or two). Moving chain saw blades.

I have the unfortunate pleasure (if that is the right word), to have done two of these already in my life. No, there was no bachelor party hookup with Courtney Love. Yes, I have stuck my hand in dog poo, kid poo and vomit. And yes, I touched the chain saw this weekend.

Luckily, I am still typing this with all ten fingers (it would be much more alarming if I weren't a touch typist - "I'm only typing this with two fingers"). I was trimming some trees and as I cut the branches, I would pull some of them away to get better access for the next cut. Stupidly, I held the chainsaw in my left hand, reached across with my right and pulled on the branch.

I actually felt the moving chain saw blade with the pad on my index finger and realized that I had nicked my middle finger knuckle! I'm not sure how I didn't seriously cut either of the fingers - a small band aid was all that was required.

Lessons learned
Wear proper protective equipment when you are using a chainsaw.
Put the chainsaw down if you need to pull on stuff.
Don't touch the chainsaw blade when it is moving.

I was lucky to keep my fingers.

And I was worried about spilling coffee on my pants

As I write this, I should be driving into my neighborhood, returning from a two day trip to Oakland. But because we are working on our financial plan for 2008, I got asked to stay an extra day, which makes this all the more ironic/humorous/sardonic/insert your own adjective.

I've been reading a lot about minimalist packing and travel, some with ideas on how to pack, others on what to pack, yet others with the suggestion to buy most of your stuff on the road. I have a coworker who says he can pack for a week long trip in a backpack (and his back pack isn't that big). I decided that an overnight trip would be a safe way to try it out.

So, I gathered my toiletries, which is two quart sized ziploc bags, separated for the TSA screeners and the rest of the stuff and my clothes. I decided that I would re-wear my pants, so I packed a fresh t-shirt, pair of socks and shirt. It all fit nicely into a quart ziploc bag and then the three bags were able to fit into my messenger bag, even with all this stuff in it. So far, so good.

I fly on the first flight of the day, so that I can be in Oakland before 9 am (yes, I get there before some marketers) and not have to spend the night away from my family. Since I've been really tired of late (the subject of another blog I have yet to write), I decided to let myself sleep in to 3:30am. It turns out the shuttle was a little delayed and security lines were really long and I ended up running through Sea-Tac International, all the way to gate B14, at the very end of the B concourse. I got to the gate as they were calling my name to board and I was 3rd to the last to board.

But, what made running through the airport easier was that I didn't have a second bag. My messenger bag was slung over my shoulder, my toiletries were in one hand and my laptop in the other. No rolling bag clipping my heels, flipping over, or slowing me down. On the plane, I didn't have to struggle finding space in the overhead bin. My messenger bag fit underneath the seat like always. Traveling light has its benefits!

Heather and I had been joking that with my plan to re-wear the pants, I must be careful not to spill coffee on myself. Little did I know that I should really try to avoid vomit splatter. Yes, I just went there. I got sick to my stomach Tuesday afternoon. In the middle of a conversation with someone, I burped up a little vomit and made a beeline for the bathroom. It was a really, really long way away. I ended up vomiting a little more and trying to avoid splashing on my self, wondering how sick was I really going to get.

Nobody wants to get sick 800 miles from home, with no spare clothes. Our Director of Procurement happened to visit the bathroom for his own needs and asked how I was, I think more so as a polite gesture. I responded, "I'm still trying to figure that out." On his way out he asked if I needed anything and I asked for a cup. He dashed out and promptly returned with a cup. I was grateful, that helped me with the final stages of cleanup - gargling out the leftover vomit from the back of my throat.

I wiped myself off with wet paper towels, just to cool off and get back to normal and went back to my conversation. I maintained a much larger standoff distance, just in case I had a repeat.

Day two was a better day for my stomach. No issues at all. Sure I avoided the Tabasco at breakfast, re-thinking my move as I reached for it, but it went okay.

Until I was asked to stay a day later. This, of course, has an impact on my family, makes scheduling plane flights and new hotel reservations a mess and I was traveling light! I had no spares. Luckily, my wife was flexible, our Admin skilled and Old Navy was close to my hotel. It was me, not our Admin, who bought me new boxers and a shirt so that I can look fresh in the morning.

All in all, this traveling light experiment was successful. I was able to pack just the minimum, I could compensate for the unexpected through purchasing additional clothes and I saw a lot of stuff at Old Navy that is really cool! I still have to figure out how I'm getting it all home again; I think that the USPS stuff-as-much-as-you-can-in priority envelope will be a key player, but we'll see. And I'll have to decide whether or not I do this again.

Life before Simple Syrup?

I'm not sure how I lived before I knew how to make simple syrup. Now, this isn't to say that I just learned how, it was about 2 years ago that I did. But now, I wonder how did I live without it?

I use it all the time; I'm glad it only takes a few minutes to make it, too. It really is simple to make.

I make Mojitos for Heather and other cocktails. I've used it to make candy and I love it in iced coffees (if it ever warms up again in the North West). I've used it in fruit toppings for crepes. It is just so versatile.

What I really want to do is use different sugars to make it. I would have done this today, but I was almost out of sugar in the raw (or better yet, I didn't have a cup and a half - that's not really almost out, is it?).

On a related note, they sell it at Starbucks, but the bottle is labeled "Classic Syrup." I guess they wouldn't want you to know how simple it is to make, would they.

And for those that don't already, here is the recipe.

1 cup water
1 - 2 cups sugar, depending upon how sweet and thick of a syrup you want (I use 1.5 cups)

Heat to boiling, stir til all sugar is dissolved, let cool.

Nothing to it. Hence the name, simple syrup.

PC repair

My daughter's PC broke sometime in the last few days. And she broke down, too.

Something was amiss with her computer and it would take 5 minutes for IE to load a web page. So, I tried with Mozilla, same thing. Figuring that there was something with the networking hardware, I swapped out the wired NIC for a wireless one. No dice. If it wasn't a hardware problem, it was a software problem.

I checked for spyware (had to download the installs on another PC and do the sneaker network thing) and surprisingly, her computer was clean. No viruses, either. I even shut off the firewall (both Windows and McAfee), with no luck. I then took the other route and turned the firewall to the almost tightest setting, where it would ask before it let any connection in or out. Still no luck.

For grins, I tried to FTP to another one of the PCs on our home network and it worked, and blazingly fast, too. Hmm, the mystery deepens.

Finally, I just shutdown all of the Windows services. Some of them, I needed to turn back on so that networking and other things would work, but I got http transfers to work! So, then I started turning things back on.

And wouldn't you know it, it was the something from the McAfee secuirty suite. I uninstalled it entirely and her computer still worked!

Since it's a free download from Comcast for customers, I installed the freshest version and what do you know? It still works!

My mad computer skillz aren't gone and now my daughter is happy again (and there is less fighting about who is using whose computer).

KFC ran out of chicken

Last night I went to the local Taco Bell Express/KFC to buy a bucket of chicken for dinner. My daughter and I stood in line and waited our turn. While waiting, I overheard the counter-people offering Empanadas because they were out of biscuits.

Undeterred, I still ordered the bucket of chicken we wanted. Evidently my wife has been craving fried chicken after Brittney Spears did something (non-leg spreading) with some fried chicken greasy fingers. We were warned, "We are out of extra crispy and it will be 15 minutes before it is ready."

"So, you are out of chicken right now," I inquire?

The kid at the counter said, "No. It will be 15 minutes." Not wanting to debate the finer points of out of stocks and having the product when the customer wants it, I called home to see if burritos would suffice as an alternative. While I was calling I was overheard and questioned by two people about KFC being out of chicken.

This was also the same Taco Bell that ran out of tortillas for Crunch Wraps (seriously) and asked me to buy 50 Chicken snackers (in jest).

You've got to wonder if there is an opportunity for a suuply chain professional there? Good food, good humor...

What gets me through the day 8/3/07

Music: The Prodigy
Espresso: 8 10 shots

Underwear models in my inbox!

I got this email from Amazon today. Look closely... At the words, silly. Look past the scantily clad ladies and you'll see that I was the lucky recipient of this email because of my "past purchases in intimate apparel."

Come on, I'm a guy! I can't remember my Dad's birthday, but I can remember every "intimate apparel" purchase I've made. And I haven't made any on Amazon. I even spent the time and reviewed my lifetime purchase history on Amazon (geek point, my first purchase was in 2001). No panties, stockings, garter belts, bras, bustiers, corsets or anything else vaguely intimate. It's all music, books, electronics and software.

Did Amazon's ad miss the mark? I don't think so. Who am I to complain about scantily clad women showing up in my in box? Amazon, keep them coming!

It's illegal to WHAT officer? from Guardian Unlimited: Travelog

The Guardian has an entertaining article on traveling, different cultures and how you can break the law through misunderstanding local traditions.

It's illegal to WHAT officer? from Guardian Unlimited: Travelog


The same as when we make these lists of weird laws in the US, there are some that just don't make sense (flushing the toilet after 10pm in Switzerland) or some penalties that are pretty severe (death for bringing pork into Yemen) or just weird (illegal to kiss on the railways in France - I'd weigh in that a train in France would be pretty romantic).

But I just love how the Brits use snog: " And don't snog that hottie till you finally reach the Gare du Nord."

I'm a big fan of snog.

Fun stuff from the weekend

This weekend was a really fun one! It's been a long time since we had a free weekend and with Alec's broken arm, we ended up not swimming at the champs swim meet.

So, we decided that we would try to take in the Rat City Roller Girls semi-finals, but tickets were sold out. Who would have thunk that grrls in short skirts and skates would sell out. Yeah, umm, never mind, grrls in short skirts can sell anything out in my book. So we missed out on that, but since we were in Seattle, we spent the rest of the day there.

We went to Blue C Sushi - not because we love sushi and our kids eat it, but because I had heard that they are using RFID to track the freshness and ensure billing accuracy in their restaurant. I am working with our RFID pilot at work, so I thought I would check it out. My thoughts were that the restaurant was stylish and cool, but the selection was lacking. But it was cool.

We wandered around University Village and killed the day. We ended up at the Apple Store over there and got our fill of iPhones and what not.

On Sunday, we went to South 47 Farm and picked lavender, raspberries and flowers. It was a ton of fun, especially since Heather had never been to a u-pick farm. I had been wanting to go here for a while, because I wanted to make lavender ice cream and didn't want to make a big dent in our decorative lavender in the backyard. The day was a little cool, but it was still a lot of fun and I took bunches of photos.

We stopped at Red Hook Brewery for lunch, which was yummy and the source of some more photos. Our timing was all wrong to go on a tour, so maybe next time.

Finally, when we got home, Chase and I started making ice cream. I steeped the lavender in the cream and let it cool over night. We made lavender brittle (a couple batches, because it wasn't coming out right) and the next morning I froze out the ice cream.

It is really cool that I used fresh herbs to make an ice cream dessert, but it didn't achieve the delicate taste profile I was looking for. Heather describes it as:

"It's like my mom washing my mouth out with soap, except for that there's not that burn on my gums."

Yes, I had her repeat that so I could record it and make sure I got the quote right. Now, it isn't that bad, but it isn't the dessert I was trying to make either.

This pattern of fun weekends will continue - we've got some camping trips to the Olympics and Mount Rainer coming up. That will be nice since I am burning the candle on both ends at work right now. I'm waiting for another candle burning at both ends to finish some work this evening so that I can do somethings with it before she gets to the office tomorrow morning. But it keeps food on the table and a roof over my head (as well as some other cool things).

That's all for now!

Gallon Ziploc bags

After reading this post, you will probably think I'm a geek. I don't think I would argue with you too much.

We needed some more gallon ziploc bags and Heather picked up a 3 pack at Costco the other day.

Why are these bags blog worthy?

Because they fit an unfolded 8.5 x 11 piece of paper, thats why!

It's a quick and easy way to provide water-proof protection for papers. Living in the Northwest, it's important to have that ability in order to protect papers the kids are taking to school (yep, I make them walk in the rain - more character building - see my comments) or to protect maps when hiking.

Yes, I am a geek. But a dry one!

Netflix drops prices? Huh?

When does this ever happen? Netflix is reducing the price on my rental plan.

	Dear Beau, Great news! We're lowering the price of your 1 DVD out at-a-time plan to $8.99 a month plus applicable taxes. Now you can enjoy Netflix for less! You don't need to do a thing - except pay less. Your membership will automatically move to the lower price and be reflected in your Membership Terms and Details. The lower price will take effect beginning with your statement on or after July 23, 2007. Your $8.99 plan not only gives you 1 DVD out at-a-time but you can also watch 9 hours of movies and TV episodes instantly on your PC each month - for no additional charge. Enjoy! Your friends at Netflix

Can you believe it?

Why use a phone book when you can use an online directory?

Recently, we received two new phone books.

As I put them away, I pulled three phone books out of the drawer and threw them in the recycling bin. I don't think phone books see much use in our house.

I know I haven't used a phone book since we moved here almost two years ago. Why do I need to, when I have great online sources like Switchboard.com and Google maps?

Do you use a phone book any more?

One number to rule them all

A few weeks ago, Google bought Grand Central, and being one of the Google believers, I signed up to be an invitation-only beta tester right away.

For those that don't know, Grand Central is a web based service that gives you a phone number that will ring what ever phones you set it to. The idea is that the phone number is associated with the person, not the location (home, work, mobile, etc.). So you can give everybody one number and their call goes through to whatever phone you are sitting by.

This isn't about making yourself infinitely more reachable, it is about giving people control, both the caller and the callee. The caller knows that the call will reach me, whether I am at work, at home or on the road. As the callee, I get great functionality like call screening (caller's get announced, plus I can listen in on the voice mail - like with an old answering machine). All my voice mail comes to one place, which is accessible by phone or by the web and my contact details are easily managed (although there are some contact manager applications that do it better) and integrated with the phone.

As a remote worker, being able to be reached is important to me. It is just as important to me that I can find out who was trying to reach me, when I choose to be unreachable. Having the address book and voice mail web accessible just makes it all of the better.

But something I think is even neater is the talk of the Google Phone. With a service like Grand Central, the phone doesn't need to have lots of memory or features - it can be just a simple phone with a good web browser. It doesn't need an address book, it can use Grand Central and keep the on-phone memory requirements low. With an integral web browser, you could get at your email (Gmail) and your calendar (Google Calendar mobile). You could take the dumbest phone out there and have the same functionality as a smart phone.

I think that it is really neat, because it could take so much of the costs out of the gadget and give so many more people, in the US and the world, digitial, mobile communication and computing.

I think an idea like this goes hand in hand with Google's planned bid on the upcoming FCC bandwidth auction. They have the applications, which are in most cases, pretty well optimized for mobile browsing. They'll have the spectrum, if they spend their 4.5 billion USD. Then all they would need is a device. And users. I'd be the first to raise my hand...

But back to Grand Central. I never need to tell anyone another phone number, even if I change them, because I change cellular providers, jobs, or VOIP phone provider. That kind of convenience is the greatest. So far, after using the service for about a week, I love it. I've given them some feedback about features I would want or things to tweak, but it is a great concept and a great execution.

Dessert for dinner!

I feel a little bad. I think I lied to my neighbor, Diane. She brought me a catalog of Penzey's spices around 7pm yesterday. I had just decided to stop working and think about dinner.

I was really hungry, but didn't have anything planned - nor did we really have anything to make for dinner. And I told her that we didn't have anything.

But I did have dessert planned.

Chocolate Fettuccine in Raspberry Sauce.

Alas the raspberries were bad. Luckily, the Trader Joes Raspberry Jam has lots and lots of raspberries in it and the sauce was still quite good.

Mmmm. It was good too.

Sorry, Diane.

ps. You would have liked it too.

He's got something up his sleeve

You know we are in trouble when your 5-year-old comes inside and says, "Would you be freaked out if there were snails in the house?"

My wife quickly says "Yes," but I say, "No, snails just don't belong in the house."

Thankfully the snails stayed outside.

Even the baby ones.

They are going to think we beat our kids!

Today, Alec came home from his swim meet, not with a gold medal, but a cast.

Evidently, he fell on his heely's (those skates with wheels in the heels) and potentially broke some small bones in the wrist. They aggressively treat this type of a potential break, because the wrist bones don't have good circulation. The break might not show up on the initial x-rays, but it could in 10 days and if you haven't been treating it, bad things could result. So, he now has a cast of his own.

Two kids, two broken arms... Parker better be on the lookout.

Issaquah Farmer's Market

Yesterday, Parker and I got to spend a big chunk of the day together while Heather and the other kids went to a swim clinic.

We took a walk and watched the expansion of our neighborhood, but afterwards, we went to the Issaquah Farmer's Market. Every Saturday, from 9 - 2, there is a farmer's market down by the Costco Headquarters.

It was a lot of fun. First we walked through, just to see what there was: food (prepared) vendors, crafts and then fresh vegetable stands and then we got lunch. Eating and walking doesn't do so well with a 5 year old, so we sat down at a picnic table and ate. We ended up getting cherries (he didn't like the Rainier cherries so much, so we got sweet red ones) and fresh Rival Apricots (we snacked on those while we walked around). I bought some cilantro and then Parker picked out a bunch of sweet peas for Heather.

I ended up not having enough cash for raspberries, blueberries and strawberries, but the pasta booth took credit cards. I bought Chipotle Linguine and a recipe for a sea scallop and tomato sauce. The noodles were really good and inventive, but the sauce was only so-so, but we ate on our patio al fresco, so it was still an enjoyable meal.

Parker and I also made ice cream with the cherries. We followed the Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia recipe from the cook book Heather got me for Christmas. It was really good and quite simple. Heather even said so and she doesn't really like cherries.

Overall, Parker and I had a really nice day together - we got a lot done and we got to spend some really nice time with each other.

More houses in our neighborhood

I'll start this post off with a disclaimer. I am not one of those NIMBY people and I'm not totally against cutting down trees (I have cut down my fair share already). I don't want this post taken out of context and if I see that it is, I will be rather upset with the out-of-context-taker.

The sub-division in which I live, has one last set of houses to be built. In the last few weeks, they have started to clear the woods to build the final release of houses. They have been subtle, not sneaky or underhanded, but they have left a border of trees and you can hear them working in there. Chain saws and trees falling, construction equipment rumbling. You can't see them unless you explicitly look, but they are there.

On one hand, I can understand why this is happening - living in the suburbs where there is still "developable" land, it is inevitable. My neighbor John says that he doesn't have enough money to buy up the land and just sit on it, and probably neither does the owner. It was part of the long term plan for this neighborhood, so we knew it was coming.

But at the same time, there is a feeling of sadness that accompanies it. There were bears supposedly that lived in that section of land. In places where you could once see nothing but trees, you can now see the sky. I have this feeling that the view of the sky will be replaced with views of houses.

On a related topic, there is also a new cellular tower. It was built right off the sidewalk on the other side of the street. It seems out of place and I can see the top of it from my home office. On the good side, hopefully it was put there by my carrier and I'll get an improvement in coverage and signal strength.

I think what I hear in the background is progress, the inevitable, unstoppable change which accompanies progress. I'm not totally sure how I feel about that at this point, but I know it is coming.


There are some more photos in my Flickr account.

An American Hero?

Joey Chestnut just won the 2007 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Championship with a 3 hot dog win over the reigning champ. Good job, Joey.

But WTF ESPN announcers? He isn't a national hero. Just because it is the 4th of July, people who do great things (if eating hot dogs counts) automatically become heros.

The real heros are people who are making sacrifices, doing something for their country. It is that Private First Class in a foxhole in Iraq, making sure his buddies are safe inside the wire. Its the firemen, who aren't going to be able to BBQ with their families, because they are out stopping a fire started by some dumbass who blew off his fingers.

Patriotism and National Pride are great things and today is the day to celebrate them.

But hot dogs. WTF?

When you are having a rough day...

... it is nice to get:

• hugs from your wife
• IM's from college buddies
• voicemails from friends
  
• to play with your kids
• cookies for donating blood
• out in the sunshine

Thank goodness for all of those things that happened to me today. They help me get through the rough days.

Clean is happy!

Um, so there were these ads that caught my attention. Usually I am pretty immune to them, but hey, I was drawn in by happy faces on tushies.

You've got to check out this site!

Toto | Washlet - Flash Player Installation

Basically, the Washlet is a mod for your toilet - that comes with a remote control.

They have several sections, Washlet 101, Why it is Better and Happiness.

I won't spoil it, so you have to go check it out, but a few sound bites from the site:

"Don't we all deserve a little pampering?"
"The Washlet will even neutralize the air around the bowl."
"Hands liberated from their usual chores. Nice."
"...Washlets patented wonder wave."
"You can select from several modes... that will put you into happiness mode."

Don't think about it any more - just go look.

Note to readers: I don't own one of these and I'm not getting any kickbacks from Toto, the ads sucked me in.
Note to Toto: If I make a difference in your traffic, a freebie would be nice!

Summertime in Seattle?

My calendar tells me that it is summer time - it is after the 21st of June.

Yesterday, I wore shorts and a t-shirt to a swim meet and I got sunburned on my legs. Today, I wore pants, a sweatshirt and a Gore-tex parka because it was cold and rainy.

Only in Seattle could summer be like this.

I learned an old Northwestern adage today.

If you can't see Mount Rainer, it is raining.
If you can see Mount Rainier, it will be raining soon.

Ain't that the truth.

It's been three weeks

Three weeks since I've been to the gym and I broke that stretch this morning. I'd been meaning to go all week and just didn't feel like getting up.

It wasn't really my motivation that got me going this morning - it was the fact that my neighbor across the street said that he had been working out in the morning and it really started his day right. I knew what he was talking about and wasn't going to let broken arms, early morning work calls or travel stop me anymore.

I'm back on the bandwagon. You can find me now, Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at the Pine Lake Club!

On another gym related note, some lady tried to steal my MINI this morning. Well, try and steal are probably slight exaggerations, but she took my keys! The gym is repainting and all the things on the walls have been removed. This includes the key hanger, so everybody put their keys on the counter below the wall. And evidently in a pumped up state, MINI keys look similar to Lexus keys.

The funny thing is I was starting a set on a machine over by the keys and I noticed that mine weren't there. As I walked downstairs, she came back in and said, "It would help if I got my own keys." I found my culprit.

We laughed about it and I didn't really want to trade her for her Lexus.

today's music

This week has been a little rough so I made an effort to listen to mellow music this morning.
I started off with Ladytron, then Lilly Allen and some old No Doubt. No Doubt got me onto ska and I listened to the Mighty, Mighty Bosstones.
From trying to relax standpoint, tha probably wasn't a good idea. I turned to NIN and listened to Broken and Fixed for the rest of the day.
Now that is stress relieving music.

I made it!

I got this email today from the University of Washington! I'm excited and it came much earlier than they had originally told us.

Congratulations! You have been admitted to the University of Washington’s Evening MBA Program for Autumn 2007. We invite you to join our community of faculty, staff, students and alumni, and become a part of one of the most prestigious academic programs in the Northwest. At the University of Washington, a highly selective admissions process and a smaller program size permit us to select students who excel in many dimensions. This insures that you are among a small, talented group of peers. Our Admissions Committee believes you will make a significant contribution to the entering class.

Just as my kids are thinking of getting out of school for the summer, I am thinking of getting back in. How ironic.

My most embarrassing moment in a long time

I really like Taco Bell.

When I was in high school, I would eat there because it was cheap. I'm still "frugal" so I like Taco Bell for that reason. Heather isn't a real big fan of Taco Bell, so I take the kids to Taco Bell occasionally.

Tonight, Heather was at a PTA meeting and I picked up Alec at swim practice, so we stopped at Taco Bell on the way home.

We went in and started our order. As each of the three kids finished their order, they took their cup and started filling it up. I made my order and reached into my pocket. My empty pocket.

No drivers license, no cash, no credit cards. No pocket lint either.

My kids had drinks and I had no money and an order placed. I was getting red in the face. I had no money in my car, either. I had to tell the lady at the counter that I couldn't pay - even for the sodas we already had.

I told the lady I would be back in 20 minutes to pay and I told the kids we had to leave. They didn't quite understand why we weren't eating dinner. It only took a few explanations that I had no money.

So, I returned home and turned around and went back to Taco Bell to pay and still buy dinner. They had already changed shifts, so I had to explain to the next girl at the counter why I wanted to pay for drinks, but she didn't need to give me any.

In the end, they were pretty cool about it. They ended up not charging me for any drinks, maybe to help me with my shame. It was quite embarrassing, but in the end we got dinner.

My Skype Experiment

A while back, I wrote about that I was playing with Skype . For me, this isn't going to be one of those check it out and drop it things - Skype is pretty cool.

Skype is cheap
With the Skype Unlimited Plan for less than $30 a year, you can make calls to Canada and the US. I pay that much for my local (long distance not included) phone each month!

Skype to Skype calls are free
My Dad was in Finland and I wanted to talk to him about some Excel functionality. He doesn't have Skype (yet), but the people he was staying with were Skype users. So, we arranged a time that we would both be around (the 11 hour time difference can be a stumbling block) and we got connected and had a 30 minute phone call for free!

Skype calls that you have to pay for are pretty cheap
Skype's rates are very good. You can check out their own rate pages, but the rates are measured in pennies, not dimes, almost no matter where you call to.

Skype calls have pretty good quality
On the call to my Dad in Finland, we had a great connection. On many calls, when both parties are silent, the line is so free of static that I actually wonder if I was disconnected. I've even made calls with a friend over the satellite connection at remote scientific monitoring stations. After I called my Dad in Finland, I called my Mom on her cell phone (mobile to mobile calling is free with Cingular). The international, Voice Over IP call had a better connection that the domestic cell phone call.

Skype can do conference calls
As one of the included features, you can use Skype to make conference calls. And there is no complicated flashing of the phone (who hasn't held it down too long and hung up on the other people). And as an added benefit, the specific person talking is highlighted in the conference call list on the Skype application.

Skype is portable
Where ever I have a wi-fi connection, I have Skype. It will also run off a USB drive, either one that is U3 or PortableApps enabled. I had a conference call scheduled right after my flight arrived in Las Vegas a few weeks ago. I know that wi-fi is free there, so I made the call from the Las Vegas airport. Sure, I could have used my cell phone, but that would have used 60 minutes. This call used no minutes that I had to pay anthing for.

Learnings from my first few weeks with Skype
1. Not many of my friends use Skype.
2. The headset makes a world of difference
3. Skype is a good IM client

Check out Skype. Try it out (they even give you about 5 minutes of free calls). I'm still trying to figure out how it fits in from a business standpoint. If you are a web-worker, it is most definitely applicable!

I'm beau.raines on Skype so, if you are one of my faithful readers, drop me a line!

It's been a helluva week

This week has been a rough one. I'm no longer feeling exhausted, but we'll see how the weekend fares with 3 swimmeet sessions.

On Monday, I had a training event that I needed to attend at the local office, an infrequent occurance for a remote worker. As I left the meeting, I saw there were 8 missed calls on my phone. Something was up. It turns out that my daughter broke her arm on the playground at school. My wife had scheduled last minute doctor's appointments for her and was quickly directed to the Emergency Room at Seattle Children's Hospital. I was in Kent, she was on her way to Seattle and our oldest was at swim practice on Mercer Island. I waited for swim practice to end and rounded up our oldest and met Heather in the ER.

Chase's elbow (well, the upper arm right at the elbow) was broken and she was going to need surgery and some hardware to hold it all together. There were more pressing (emergent, in medical-ese) surgery cases, so they put her in a splint, scheduled an appointment for Tuesday afternoon and sent us home for the night.

We left the hospital late and once we got home and Chase mostly comfortable in bed, I worked late into the night to catch up from being out of the office all afternoon.

I was too tired to go to the gym Tuesday morning, so I didn't. I spent the morning re-arranging my day, moving my afternoon appointments to Wednesday. Tuesday was one of those days that I had planned to spend most of on the phone making follow up calls. Heather was at a PTA luncheon and the hospital called to see if we could come in a few hours early. We jumped at that opportunity, with the hopes that we would get her surgery done earlier. We arranged for a friend to take our youngest and pick up our oldest after school and we were off to the hospital.

We were admitted and promptly taken back to a waiting area. And we waited. There was no cell phone coverage either. Finally at about 4:30 pm (pretty much our original schedule), Chase went under the knife. Her procedure only lasted an hour, during which Heather and I ate at the hospital cafeteria. We were paged to come back to the waiting area and we did and waited. Evidently, Chase was sleeping off her anesthesia and after a few hours, they took her to her recovery room, where she and Heather would stay overnight.

I ended up leaving the hospital at about 8:45pm to go take our kids off our friend's hands. Once I got the boys in bed, I worked late into the night to try to keep my head above water at work.

Chase had asked me to come back to the hospital in the morning, so I had it all planned out. I would go drop our youngest at pre-school and then go to the hospital, stay for a few hours until I had to leave to pick up at pre-school. Seconds before I was going to shut off my computer and start executing that plan, Heather IM's me and says that they will be leaving soon.

Chase and Heather returned home and we quickly turned around to go to literacy day, so she could show off a book she had made in class and a neat PowerPoint presentation about the desert.

As I was returning from the pre-school pickup, my MINI lurched and had a loss of power. The check engine light came on and we limped home. I was able to schedule an appointment, unfortunately for next Tuesday. What was truly problematic was that I had a 6 am flight Thursday morning to go to Oakland. I arranged for a shuttle to take me to the airport and was set for the next day.

My shuttle arrived promptly at 2:50am Thursday morning. It was really quite early and we made 5 other stops on the way to the airport. I got to the airport on time, in fact early, but I was already exhausted and this didn't help any. Usually, when I travel, I stop at Starbucks (the first one on the B concourse) and buy coffee and a scone. I got there before they opened. So, I took a nap and waited for them to open.

I had a full day in Oakland and got a lot accomplished. I didn't get too much email, so on Friday there wasn't much catching up that I had to do either.

My shuttle back home only had me, so it was much faster and I only got home a few minutes later than had I been driving.

Friday I was still too beat to go to the gym. Even though it was only two days ago, I can't remember what I did. There was a swim meet and I do remember that there were lots of calls to our consultants that resulted in, "Can I call you about this on Saturday."

Saturday was another early morning, because we had a swim meet. I only got two loads of laundry done, some work and some reading. I think the best part of the afternoon was giving Heather a nice full body massage. She thought I had been practicing!

So, here I am on a Sunday, again at a swim meet (yep, 3rd time in a weekend). I've been catching up on blogs (pre-writing a few and staging them as drafts, so they are ready to publish during the week). I am about half way through Freakonomics and looking forward to dinner with one of my college room mates who is in town for a conference.

I'm definitely not caught up on rest, but I'm getting there.

Ubiquitous capture

This post had originally started as a writing on paper versus electronic calendars, to-do lists and what not. I was inspired by some postings on Web Worker Daily, 5 Reasons to use a Paper to do list and 6 More Reasons to use a paper to Do List and how important it was to have a paper based solution.

Since then, I have acquired a Samsung BlackJack and my perspective has flip-flopped once again. But utimately, the point is this - you need to be able to get at your calendar, your notes, your to-do list anywhere the thought or fancy hits you. A Ubiquitous capture device is what you need.

Ubiqutous capture is a tenet of GTD - get the thought out of your head and put it on paper. This way you can focus on the task at hand with your full brain power, rather than having to keep track of everything else you need to do at any point in the future.

I think that the foundation should be electronic, but depending upon your preferences and pocketbook, paper or electronic will still fit the need.

I am a Google fanboy. I won't deny it. Google Calendar, Notebook, Documents and Spreadsheets, Personal Homepage... The list goes on and on. Online task management apps, such as Remember the Milk, work very well too. Web-based is excellent and they are some very good productivity tools. There is a certain productivity gain from having the data portable and nicely formatted. But an application that lives on your local PC is just as good. Outlook, the Mozilla suite of applications and Lotus (although I have no experience with it) can all work as well to track your commitments and to-dos.

Using an electronic tool gives you multiple ways to get things on your list. They allow adding by email, IM and SMS all depending upon the software.

I guess you could use a paper based planner, but this is the 21st century! It is the web enabled world.

But, we've got to face it. We aren't always sitting in front of our computers. When you are stuck on a plane or at your kids' event and you remember that you need to send a file to someone, you need to be able to add it to your to-do list. Of if you get invited to a social event, isn't it better to be able to say, "Yes, I can make it," rather than, "Uh, thank you for the kind invitation; I'll have to check my calendar and get back to you."

This is where personal preference, depth of pocketbook, technical aptitude all come in. An electronic tool doesn't necessaryily mean a CrackBerry - you can do a whole lot with text messages and a cell phone. A paper based tool doesn't mean writing everything by hand in a notebook.

I had a conversation with some friends a few months ago about the use of online calendars and what not. Someone asked, "Would you ever go back to a paper based calendar, now that you have everything online?" Collectively, we all said "No." There was too much of a challenge to make sure everything stayed in sync. I agreed.

That weekend, the power went out in our house for almost 72 hours. Cell phone towers had no power, so my Google and Razr enabled calendar didn't do me much good. I realized that I needed to have a way to adequately capture things when I was really offline.

A hipster PDA became the solution for me. I downloaded templates from DIY Planner and a few times a week, I would print out my Google Calendar on 3x5 cards. I was able to print out my RememberTheMilk tasks for today and every evening I would update my online tool with whatever I had come up with during the day. It was great, I always had my schedule at my fingertips and if an idea struck, I could capture it. Now, I was subject to many comments of disbelief that I, the geek I am, would turn to such a low-tech solution as 3x5 cards clipped together with a binder clip. But it worked. As a note, it worked in the past too. Before it was called a hipster PDA, this was the solution that was widely used by officers and NCOs in the Army.

Recently, I became eligible for a phone upgrade. I'm a big fan of Motorola phones and the Q, but I wasn't willing to go away from my mobile provider, Cingular. They had the BlackJack and I started doing comparisons between the Q and the BlackJack. As soon as I was eligible I got the BlackJack. Now, I've got web access in my pocket and my online tools are always available to me. Yeah, it checks my work email, but I've got that set to do it every two hours - I don't need to be at the beck and call of my email, especially my work mail.

I can get at my calendar and to-do lists using mobile versions of the web apps and notes (through the phone itself) anytime I want. Plus, it integrates with my Outlook contacts, so everything is always up to date.

I guess all of my observers will be happy that I've gone hi-tech, but lo-tech works too. The power might go out for longer than the 5 days I can get between the two batteries that come with the BlackJack. And if that day comes (or the Revolution), I'll be ready.

A new PC

Well, not really. I should have greatly improved my computer's performance. Overtime I have amassed a grand collection of photographs, music, documents and what not. Slowly, my 40GB disk became full and as a result, my computer began to run slowly.

I couldn't maintain my computer - there wasn't enough free space to run defrag! Thank goodness for Web 2.0; computing in the cloud helped me maintain my effectiveness with my laggard computer. Thank goodness for cheap memory (I got a 2GB SanDisk U3 flash drive at Radio Shack for $25 on sale); I've been been running Portable Apps off of it (on mine and my daughter's PCs) to keep me going.

The final straw broke a few days ago. I was taking my son to swim practice and was planning on working bedouin-style at the library and the aquatic center. Just like any other day, I hibernated mmy computer and threw it in my messenger bag. When I got to the library, it wouldn't start. I started to wonder - my photos, my music, my financial records, my work - would it all be there? I placed an after-hours call to our helpdesk - my message did include the phrase, "I'm beginning to panic."

My son and I went on to swim practice and I sat in the bleachers. Sad, now not planning on working, I was only hoping that my hard disk hadn't failed and that my stuff would be recoverable. I got a call back from our helpdesk and it was my friend Ken. He recommended I take out the battery and plug it in and restart it - I had already tried that. But as it is with many techincal problems, when repeating a problem with technical support, the problem is solved (probably just by tech support's presence). My computer started. I resolved that I would move my pictures to another disk and ensure that there was free disk space for my laptop to function well.

When I got home that night, there was only 1.5 MB of free disk space. I knew I had to move those pictures.

I used (note the past tense) Adobe Photo Album to organize my photos. I really liked the fact that I could tag my photos for ease of searching. After tagging some 6,000 photos taken over the course of many years, I learned that the tags weren't saved with the files - they lived in the application it self. My photos weren't all that backup-able without tags.

Some Google searches revealed that Photoshop Elements 4.0 had thee functionality to write existing tags to the file and in the future would save the tags to the file themselves. Google searches revealed that other products, namely Picasa, would also save the tags to the file. Picasa is a free Google product which appeals to me. I decided I would switch.

I used Elements to convert my tags and then exported them to my iPod. I actually had to install some of Elements on a flash drive I had so little space! I then deleted my catalog, Elements and Photo Album from my computer. This freed up 10 GB of disk space. I now have enough room to defrag my hard disk. My computer should be back to its good old self.

All my photos are backed up now and easy to put where ever I want them!

If its Thursday

I'm no my way to Oakland again. The basista at the B concourse Starbucks asked me, "Do you work here or just travel a lot?"

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Catch up work on Flickr

I posted several photo sets to Flickr this weekend. I've taken lots of photos, but just hadn't had the time to tag, edit and post them. I've finally gotten around to it, as well as posting some photos from a Disneyland trip many years ago (Heather found the photos).


Disney World and Florida Vacation

La Connor Tulip Ralley

Disney Land 2004

Enjoy!

This posting spans months

I've been doing a lot of traveling so my free time hasn't been in blogging, but catching up on the parts of my life that I can't take care of while I am in a plane.

As I'll confess further down, I am not totally caught up yet either, but I need to get these thoughts out of my head on on to the blog.

I've been to Oakland, DisneyWorld, Las Vegas (only one of those was vacation - and it was mostly business and a little vacation) and on a Ralley with the British Car Club here in Seattle.

The kids and I went on a Ralley sponsored by the British Car Club, but heavily attended by Puget Sound MINI, the local MINI owners club. We drove all over the Tulip fields and Anacortes and La Connor trying to figure out clues and not miss turns (both difficult to do with a 10 year old navigator). We didn't come in first (it was going around the traffic circles 10 times that cost us - not really) but we had a lot of fun. I've got pictures, but haven't posted them yet.

I went to a conference on Radio Frequency Identification in Orlando and took my whole family and we spent a few days at Disney World and on the beach. My sun burn is finally peeling off , the blisters on Heather's feet are mostly healed and I haven't gotten the photos posted yet either. It was nice to have vacation and the kids got to skip school for it too!

I've been to Oakland for a day trip on 4 days notice and finally earned a free flight on South West to anywhere they fly!

I spent a few days in Las Vegas with one of our sales teams and had a productive meeting - we are going to meet the teams aggressive sales goals and a good time, too: steakhouse dinners and the Blue Man Group. On my flight there and back, I sat in the first row of the cheap seats, the one with no under seat storage. That part was a little strange, but the added leg room was nice. I had to stand up mid-flight to get something out of the overhead storage and I looked back.

Normally, I sit towards the rear of the plane and can see forward through out the flight - and I see lots of activity. This flight was different. Everybody was quiet, some asleep, even though it was only 4pm. There was even a lucky guy with the feet of the lady sitting next to him on his lap - she must have been his wife or so the flight attendants supposed. Every one must have been sleeping off Las Vegas.

My oldest son has started to email his girlfriend and that has turned into instant messaging - he even IM'd me while I was in my meeting! My youngest son has started to read Dick and Jane on his own.

I'm home for a few days and then back to Oakland again. They recognize me at the off airport parking I use - I didn't even need to give them my coupon to get he the discounted rate! So there it is a few months rolled up into a few short paragraphs.

I'm halfway there

I haven't written about this yet, not to get any body's hopes up; although I have spoken to a few people about it.

I am applying to University of Washington's Evening MBA Program and they have a two-step admissions process. First, there is the standard application, GMAT exam and some (4) essays and then there is Evaluation Day.

Evaluation Day is a basically combination of group exercises and interviews, but they don't let on what the process is. I wonder if you have to sign an NDA?

So, I've made the first cut! I got an email just a few minutes ago inviting me to Evaluation Day. I'm pretty excited about it.

Candidates will be evaluated on their oral communication, team skills, managerial potential, and their ability to “think on their feet”. Based on your written application and your performance in the Evaluation Day exercises, the Admissions Committee will make a final decision on your application. To remain under consideration for admission, you must attend the Evaluation Day.

The admissions work shops I attended suggested that this wasn't something you could prepare for, you just had to be ready. Well, we'll see. Standby for an update in the beginning of June!

I'm at a baseball game and I just ordered food by text message. How cool is that?

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The Five-Second Rule Explored, or How Dirty Is That Bologna? - New York Times

I practice the 5 second rule. Do you?

This is the kind of science that I like. It is real-world, practical and applicable. I mean, who doesn't drop food? And then pick it up again? And eat it?

The Five-Second Rule Explored, or How Dirty Is That Bologna? - New York Times

I think that this is a great study.

What do these numbers tell us about the five-second rule? Quick retrieval does mean fewer bacteria, but it’s no guarantee of safety. True, Jillian Clarke found that the number of bacteria on the floor at the University of Illinois was so low it couldn’t be measured, and the Clemson researchers resorted to extremely high contamination levels for their tests. But even if a floor — or a countertop, or wrapper — carried only a thousandth the number of bacteria applied by the researchers, the piece of food would be likely to pick up several bacteria.

One of my sister-in-laws is almost obsessive compulsive on cleanliness, so when I am at her house, there is no hesitating. It drops and I'll pick it up. Heck at her house, it is the 10 second rule.

I don't like hair on my food, so if the grape rolls into corner, I might give it a second thought.

But if it is something that I really, really like - down the hatch it goes.

How have you implemented the 5 second rule in your life?

Lohan Plays a Stripper in Her Next Film

Lohan Plays a Stripper in Her Next Film

Sweet!

Maybe he'll start checking his email more often

So, both my wife and I have been catching up on emails after our trip, and as this is my third blog posting of the day, you can see I've been catching up on blogging.

Evidently, my oldest son did the same and was catching up on his email. He just came down stairs and said that he got an email from his young girl friend. Mostly, it was about the school he missed and what was coming up on Monday, but it had the requisite mushy stuff.

Maybe she will get him to check is email more often! He even wrote her back!

I am stunting my career development?

A while back, CNN had a Q&A on golf for professional development. I think I'm in trouble. I find golf incredibly boring. I'd rather pick up a golf ball, throw it as far as I can and run after it and pick it up. Sort of like an endurance running golf game.

Although golf could be alright. At one point in my life, I lived on the edge of a golf course, just off the second tee. The kid across the street from me, Teddy, has some naked lady golf tees. Naked ladies would most definitely make golf more enjoyable.

Mmmm.

They would probably have to make the flag poles a little more robust for some on the green entertainment.

I would worry about the naked lady caddy getting sunburned though.

And what shoes would she wear? High heels would probably be hard to walk in in the grass...

I guess there are some kinks to work out still. Maybe this is my great idea - Naked Lady Golf. I wonder how it applies to minature golf - Miniature Naked Lady Golf?

More health food please

CNN has a report on health food, titled Fruity cocktails count as health food, study finds. Now, I can get into this!

Evidently, adding alcohol enhances the antioxidant effects of berries! Bring on the cocktails, baby!

Adding ethanol -- the type of alcohol found in rum, vodka, tequila and other spirits -- boosted the antioxidant nutrients in strawberries and blackberries, the researchers found.

Any colored fruit might be made even more healthful with the addition of a splash of alcohol, they report in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.

This study is a boon for lushes (and bartenders) around the world.

How to Survive in Florida on Two Showers a day

So, I need to start with an apology. I've been traveling, some work, some vacation and just haven't made blogging a priority. So, after an almost two week break from blogging, I'm back. I'm sorry for the unannounced hiatus.

As the guide book title would suggest, I've been to Florida. With my whole family, I attended the RFID Journal Live 2007 conference and then spent some time in Disney World and Tampa. I've got pictures that I will eventually post (and from a Rallye near the Tulip fields of Washington), but again, that hasn't been a priority of mine.

I don't like humidity. I love beaches and the sun, but not the humidity. I hate the sticky feeling between my fingers when you get off the plane.

When I am in that humid of an environment, I'm a shower in the morning and evening and maybe once in the middle of the day or maybe go for a swim, kind of guy. I totally understand the concept of a siesta - be awake during the cool parts of the day (morning and evening) and sleep during the hot parts. If corporate business could be run that way, I would live there.

We did have an enjoyable time there (humidity aside). As a west coaster and having been to Disneyland all my life, I see Walt Disney World as Disneyland broken down into several different parks, although some of them have beer! My wife got into texting and sent me this message, "Epcot is cool. And they have beer! When are you coming?"

Disney and beer, what could be better? Well, throw in some air conditioning, maybe. I've gotten out of the habit of rehydrating with beer - it does make it harder to chase after kids.

We also checked out the Salvador Dali museum in Saint Petersburg. It was cool to see so much of his work in one spot, but more so, was the guided tour. I look at his work and wonder how much acid he was taking, but the docent kept pointing out recurring elements and what some the symbolism represented. I don't get how you can paint something at an arm's distance that when viewed from 20 meters away, looks entirely different. He used negative space and imagery so much, it is just incredible.

And there was pretty good swag at this conference! I won an iPod Nano, as did a co-worker of mine who was there and I've got my fingers crossed for an iPhone, 42" wide screen TV and an iPod video...

Playing with Skype

I recently downloaded Skype because the idea of being able to click on a contact in Outlook or Gmail and have the phone automatically dial the number seemed pretty cool.

I also had to buy a bluetooth dongle for my laptop since I got it just before my work started buying laptops with bluetooth. But it works pretty well (last week, I would have said great) with the headset I have for my phone.

So, today, I've been using Skype to call in for conference calls and other calls. Some have been okay (as good as a cell phone) but others have been sketchy - I think though, my headset has been disconnecting from my laptop and cutting out my voice on the calls.

The idea is still cool - phone numbers are links and the software just calls them. They get routed to my BT headset and boom, I could be directing air traffic or telemarketing stuff that you don't really need.

So, I'm playing with it. If any of my faithful readers want to Skype me, look me up - I shouldn't be too hard to find on Skype.

Don't eat beignets while wearing black

Or any other color for that matter.

Editors note: I wrote this on the airplane back, Wednesday evening. I am finally getting around to posting it now on Sunday.

I have spent three days in New Orleans and am on my way home. When I travel, I usually wear the same clothes, a uniform of sorts. I typically wear a black button down shirt (but okay untucked) and olive cargo pants (I can load up my pockets, but still sit comfortably). It is all about ease and comfort during travel.

To get that last feel of New Orleans, I bought beignets in the airport. The ones from Cafe du Monde were far better, though. Before I could ask the girl at the counter to go easy on the powdered sugar (probably sacriledge), she dumped a ginormous scoop into the bag.

Knowing how readily powdered sugar gets everywhere, I made a special effort to lean forward and keep the white sugar off my black shirt. In that endeavor, I was successful; however, my pants look like supermodels were doing lines off my crotch. The white powder is everywhere (but my shirt): hands, pants, the floor, probably my nose, too. I can only hope that drug sniffing dogs accompany any cops I might run into - the dogs will be able show I'm not some dope fiend.

But back on my time in New Orleans. I was able to get out to the French Quarter yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon. It was a neat area, quite picturesque and lots of little neat shops. Burbon street had too many bars and strip clubs for my liking, but I could see the appeal for some. Now, if Heather had come with me...

New Orleans was hit hard by Katrina and now it is coming back, but progress is slow. There were people rebuilding houses in the French Quarter and buildings crumbling in the Central Business District. It was interesting around Tulane, how on one side of the street, you would have dorms and on the other, broken old warehouses for sale. New Orleans is struggling, but rebuilding itself.

I'm glad to be going home. My hotel was less than perfect and I miss my wife and kids. Heather has misplaced her cell phone, so she's a lot harder to get in touch with. My travels this week have finally come to an end...

Consummate traveler, I am

I'm beginning another series of trips, this time shorter and some actually involving personal travel. But being the end of spring break for my kids and the fact that I am on a plane on Sunday (and this is a work trip), I didn't start packing until 10:30pm the night before my 8 am flight.

I've read some articles in airline magazines (surprise) about experienced travellers and some the tell-tales of newbies. One of the things they mentioned was that experienced travellers never pack early.

Sure, I've got a complete set of toiletries, all under 3 ounces and packed in Ziploc bags, so that part is easy to complete, but my Boy Scout experiences and my military background tell me to pack with a checklist. "Don't forget nothin'" is one of the Army Ranger's founder's mottoes. With a checklist, I don't need to think about what to bring, I've already put my efforts into the checklist!

So, last night, we watched Children of Men (a good movie and even a more interesting family movie - "This is set in 2027, I thought there were supposed to be flying cars?") and didn't finish until late. After the movie, I decided I should pack as I had to leave the house by 6am to get to the airport.

Remember The Milk, my online task list service, which really serves as my brain, unfortunately had some server issues and was down. This is the first time it has ever happened (I understand there were some widespread Internet outages in Australia Texas (see Emily's comment) yesterday) and I was unable to print out my checklist. "No worries," I thought to myself, "I've travelled enough that I should be able to do it all from memory."

So, I think I packed all the right and enough clothes, some stuff to run in the hotel gym and my iPod speakers. Unfortunately, when I got to the off-airport parking, I realized I left my blue tooth headset sitting on my desk. I did bring the charger and the blue tooth dongle I just purchased, but no headset.

I was really looking forward to making the few conference calls I had this week on Skype. I just signed up for Skype and that was the main reason I bought the dongle. Hopefully, the mic on my laptop will work well enough - I was hoping to save the cell phone minutes and make use of a conference hotspot and not have to back to my room. We'll see how it work out.

Welcome to New Orleans

The airport announcements are in English and French. The signs are tri-lingual with Spanish too!

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The marvels (and shocks) of the internet

Or alternatively titled: I can find anything on the internet that you ask me to find, even if you don't really want me to.

Yesterday evening, my wife was marveling at the information we had at our fingertips through the internet and how much of an improvement since our college days. I wasn't sure if day 6 specified Saturday when using crontab (pretty geeky, ehh), but I was able to quickly find the answer on Wikipeida. (BTW, yes 6 specifies Saturday, and either 0 or 7 specify Sunday).

She then lamented that she could not find a video to use in her blog of our new touchless, self-opening trash can. We estimate that it took less than two minutes for me to find one. After the fact, she confessed that she only searched for about 30 seconds on You Tube.

I then boasted that I could find anything on the internet.

My wife has taken a little risque turn (she's peppering her blog with rather enjoyable red head pinups) and so she wanted me to find a donkey show for her. In retrospect, she didn't really want me to find donkey shows for her, it was just her challenge to me. Which, shockingly, I was able to meet.

I'm not so certain that I want to be able to find anything on the internet. Trash can videos, I'm okay with that. Donkey shows just aren't my thing.

Seriously ironic

This email came as an e-news alert from my kids school just now.

Alert From Sheriff's Office

The King County Sheriff's Office has issued an alert for community members in the greater Redmond area to be on the alert for a suspicious male, described as heavy set, Hispanic or "medium" skinned, between 50 to 60 years old, with a goatee. He drives a late model dark green or teal Dodge Caravan, which he may have tried to lure children into using a puppy, according to police reports. A 6-year-old also told adults that a man matching this description tried to grab him. Although no person has reported seeing this man in our District, this is a good opportunity to remember to be aware and look out for children's safety. If you encounter a suspicious person or activity, call 9-1-1 immediately.

Safety advice for students:

* Never talk to a stranger.

* Never let a stranger get too close, whether the stranger is in a car or walking.

* Never tell a stranger any personal information, such as your name, age, or address.

* Always try to walk in pairs with a friend or an adult.

* Stick to safe, well-lit paths when walking.

* Do not obstruct your hearing with iPods or portable music players when walking or waiting outside.

* If a stranger tries to grab you, yell as loudly as you can and run away.

* Always alert an adult immediately if you are approached by a suspicious person.

April 9-13 Spring Break - Enjoy!

As parents and members of the the community, this is good to be aware of - and I don't mean to make light of it.

But can you appreciate the second bullet point? Spring break, enjoy!

What?

"Hey, everybody, there is a potential child-snatcher or worse in our area. Oh and BTW, enjoy spring break."


Okay, so the note has some more bullet points after these two, but the combination of these two is rather ironic.

Remind your kids, keep your eyes open for child snatchers and for irony!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all of you! I wasn't really planning on writing anything today, but I read an article in the Seattle Times about Peeps! Check out the picture archive - there are some cool creations.
I love Peeps. I think it is the limited availability but they are cool. You know, I don't like marshmallows. When you cover them in colored sugar and cast/extrude/cut them into an interesting shape, they taste different. Yeah, thats it.
This year, Heather bought several packages of peeps before Easter and when they are fresh, they really taste good. I think that this is the first year that I have had fresh peeps. Mmmm.
I love to start by biting their ears (or heads if they are chicks) off. Maybe that is just the sadist in me - at least I can get it out on marshmallows!

Make your own Google Maps

As I was looking for the location to a meeting my wife sent me, I noticed a new tab on my search results on Google Maps. You now have the ability to create and annotate your own maps directly on Google Maps.

Google Earth has had this functionality for a while. You could mark a map with a polygon, placemark, or path, save it as a .kmz file and post that to the web. Then Google Maps could open it and display it. You can create pictures or video placemarks (links to files elsewhere on the web) and a similar to Google Earth, you can save your search locations on the map too. The user guide explains all the functionality with step-by-step instructions.

All this same functionality has now been ported to Google Maps. It is pretty neat and easy. I made one map of two fun twisty routes near my house that I love to drive in my MINI. You can make your maps public and included in searches or unlisted so that you can give out the URL to others.

This is pretty cool. Now I can make my own routes and not have to always go the fastest way!