Oh, what a tangled web we weave

CompUSA is closing all of its Michigan locations so I decided to take a look and see what I might be able to talk myself into buying that I couldn't live without. I'd wanted a UPS for my system for a couple of years and kept telling myself that I would use my tax refund to buy one. It's an insurance item, though, so that little voice in my head kept saying that Visa needed the money (or rather that I needed Visa to have my money) more than I needed something that I really didn't need yet...

I walked out of the store with a UPS (and a copy of Make magazine that I'd always wanted to peruse).

I decided that tonight was the night to hook things up and get them protected as there's a nasty storm coming through in a couple of hours. Nothing like waiting for the last minute, eh?

I started just trying to find a place to put the darn thing. It's not nearly as big as they used to be, but it isn't gonna sit on the table top either. Once I decided where I wanted it, I tried to start hooking up all the cords that snake around the armoire that we house our computer in. Of course there's the computer and the monitor power that need to be protected by UPS, but there are a lot of other devices that I can live without during a short power outage. The UPS has coverage for that (4 surge only protected and 4 battery and surge protected outlets). You only want to use the battery slots for the essentials so that it lasts longer so I tried to keep it to a minimum - the CPU, Monitor and router power. Everything else I ran from the surge protected only side. As I was trying to do this, though, I kept getting confused and tangled in all of the wires.

In all, for my entire setup, I have 11 AC cords, 6 USB cables, the keyboard, the speaker, the headset, the monitor cable, 3telephone cords (1 DSL, 1 telco to the UPS and 1 from UPS to modem), a network cable, and probably a few that I can't remember (or see) right now.

I finally got so frustrated that I had to wake my wife up (who had taken Nyquil mind you), to come help. That's how bad things had gotten.

About 45 minutes (and a trip to Walmart for a 4 port hub) later, I'm back on line... Hopefully everything else still works too!

Addiction is a bad thing...right?

Every once in a while I try to share some of my web findings with my wife. You'd think I'd learn... After showing her this (and more specifically this one), I wasn't able to get on the computer all day! At least not until she complained about eye-strain and a headache and had to go to bed... Sometimes when you try to be nice...

There are worse vices. Neither one of us is in the frame of mind to dedicate time to any of the one line games like WoW of the others where real people can get lost in the machine (remember Tron?) thank goodness, but we do enjoy the occasional diversion. I lost her on this one a couple of months ago...

Mighty Morphin' Picture Makers

My wife is a scrapbooker (is that a noun?). She's the creative one in the family. She can take a stack of paper, pictures, stickers and a little bit of time and turn out something that's a treasure to behold. Me, on the other hand... I need a little more help. I use Hallmark to say the things that I can't put into words and have sites like Flickr Toys to do the artistic stuff I only dream of. Although it has Flicker in the name, you aren't restricted to using pictures already posted there. This site takes pictures from anywhere (your hard drive, another photo-hosting site, etc)and turns them into morphed pictures that you can use to spruce up your scrapbooks, walls, parties, kid's toys, etc.

Put your kid's picture on the cover of a magazine, or a movie poster, or a billboard. Pick a cool frame. You can even upload your pictures to get a template to make game dice with. Another site that deals more with just putting your text on pre-made signage is at Atom Smasher.

Losing my baby...

For about a year, my youngest son and I have been taking swimming lessons together. Well, actually I had my lessons 30 years ago, but anyway... He's 3-1/2 and had been watching his elder siblings in the pool for a couple of years as they learned and he decided that he wanted to swim too.

My wife and I had made a decision when our kids were very young, that they would be required to take swimming lessons until they learned how to save themselves, but that after that, it would be their choice to continue as a sport. My oldest two took lessons together and after conquering the initial fear, went on to be very strong swimmers, outpacing the rest of their class. They weren't the most graceful, or technical swimmers, but they were fast! When they got to a point where it became too much of a chore for them, they decided that they were done. Keeping our word, we allowed them to move on to other sports - she to Tae Kwon Do and he to soccer.

My youngest had the opportunity to start with an AquaTots program where the kids were still too young to manage on their own and so the parents had, er um, got to be in the pool with them. It was more of an exposure type of class. Lost of singing silly songs, and playing games to get the kids used to being in the water. Not a lot of focus on the swimming itself.

Having watched his siblings and the kids in the other classes that go on at the other end of the pool at the same time, my youngest decided that he wanted to swim -- not just play games. Last session I began really working on his swimming with him. While my wife and older two watched from the bleachers, the two of us braved the "swim-team cold" water for an hour. Going through his "independence stage" at the same time as learning to swim really helped him I think. By the end of last month he was swimming, by himself, across the entire width of a high school pool! And he's not four years old yet! His ambition, motivation, and independence really improved and he was showing signs that he didn't really need me in there with him anymore. The instructor was very impressed with his ability and helped me challenge him.

At the end of last month, we decided that he was good enough to be in the "Level 1/2" class for the next session and began to talk up the "big boy" class he was going to be in all by himself -- and that Daddy got to watch from the side of the pool now...

Then it was all talk, but he ate it up! "I'm gonna be in a Big Boy swimming class, and Daddy doesn't even get to come in with me," he'd say proudly. I was glad he was showing such a positive attitude about it, but he'd slipped back before when we'd prepped him with things like this before. I wasn't sure this would stick. He just seemed too pumped up about it.

Well, my little baby boy doesn't need me anymore. We got there and he jumped in all by himself. He swam with his face in the water (I'd struggled to get him to blow bubbles until not too long ago it seems). He jumped off the diving board -- several times (another real struggle last session). He did want me to go over to the board with him, but when the instructor asked him if he wanted me to hold his finger while he walked to the end of the platform, but I say "no", softly as he kept on walking straight to the end of the board and just jumped in. Hardly a hesitation. At the end of the class he wanted to jump in and touch the bottom with his "toesies."

It was clear that 1) he no longer needed my support in this part of his life, 2) he was happy in this element, and 3)was no longer my little baby. He was a "big boy" now...

He did tell me tonight as I kissed him goodnight, "I love you Daddy. You're my best Daddy ever..."

A Royal Affair

I've officially joined the ranks of royalty. Though I originally thought these ranks were only for the older, "more established in life", people, I was proven wrong tonight. I didn't travel to England to become Knighted, nor marry into existing royalty (I'm very happily married already, thank you), I did get fit for a crown tonight. Not quite large enough to wear on my head, this one will ease a pain in my mouth I've had for years as the result of a stress fracture. Though I haven't had the nerve to ask and confirm this, I don't think that this was the result of poor dental hygiene. Nonetheless, it is what it is - a trip to the dentist, a chunk of change from my wallet, and the sound of the drill.

Why does all this matter? Well, it gives me an opportunity to remind everyone to take good care of their teeth. Brush and floss regularly. See a dentist twice a year. Change your toothbrush often and don't over-indulge in sweets or soda. You'll be much better off as a simple peasant, than among the ranks of royalty.

Skip the Middleman

Always one for time saving techniques, I ran across these several years ago. Bookmarklets, or Favelets, are javascript bookmarks that perform some action instead of just taking you to a web site. Say for instance you are reading an article and you want more information about a topic. You can highlight the word/phrase and click on a bookmarklet sitting in your links bar in IE for instance and get the information you need right away instead of having to open another browser window, go to Google (or Wikipedia, or Onelook, etc) and then typing in the phrase and waiting for the results. With these you're directed right to the answer page! Skip the middleman (or web page as the case may be). There are a number of pre-coded bookmarklets on Bookmarklets.com, or SquareFree , but I think the most powerful one is a bookmarklet that actually creates other bookmarklets like this one.

I have 10 on my links bar that I use daily for searches on my employer's intranet sites and several that I use at home for Internet-based searches and other functions.

There is also a good collection for web designers to do things like validate web pages, change the "view resolution", add a grid image for layout, and MANY more…

A few seconds saved here and there add up to a few minutes that can be enjoyed doing other things…

Giving Back

I tell myself that if I won the Lotto, I'd give a lot of it away. I think that would be 1) a very generous thing to do, and 2) something that I'd actually LIKE to do. I like to see people happy. But, alas, I'm not at that point right now in my finances to dole out thousands of dollars. You don't have to give out large sums to make a difference though.

Last year my daughter was reading a book about whales and saw a whale adoption form at the back of the book and asked if she could adopt a whale. She's a pretty generous person for her age and I try to encourage that in all my kids. She has a particular place in her heart for animals - like most young girls. Anyway, I decided that we would donate the funds from our bottle returns to this whale adoption that she wanted to do. A couple of months later, we had enough to sponsor a whale from the Whale Museum. She was so excited! She decided to adopt Pooka, the youngest whale so that "it could have a better life" and she could watch it grow to an adult.

After my daughter's turn at charity, my son wanted in on the action. The three of us and my dad, dressed as Santa, had spent time collecting for the Salvation Army over the past Christmas holidays. he decided that's where his charity was going. We're almost there with his money - a few more pops to go...

Every little bit helps, especially when you instill a sense of giving in youngsters - it just continues to grow.

Ain't I a little chatty?

I consider myself pretty technical, but only in select areas. When my mother-in-law moved to North Carolina and built a log cabin that she wanted to rent out, I decided that she should have a "presence on the web." My programming skills were pretty limited (pascal in high school!), but I'd hacked enough HTML I thought I'd give it a whirl. I've not made any effort to jazz it up at all. She really just wanted someplace to send people to see a few pictures (no custom domain name, or any of the other "givens" if someone was to do it now, but it works for her.) Conklin's Cabin is the result. As I said, nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.

Give her a shout if you want to relax along the Appalachian Trail some time.

Lunchmeat for everyone!

I'm constantly amazed by the amount of spam I get... only about 10 a day to my GMail account... while my wife receives almost 250 a day... I know its a matter of who gets your email address and what they do with it (as well as the complexity of the email address, and a large number of other factors). But you know what? I really don't have to worry about it because GMail catches all but 1 a month for me (and about the same for my wife) Yeah GMail SPAM filters!

My old ISP email account on the other hand receives about 200 a day that I filter occasionally with Mailwasher Pro.

Keeping track of Google

I use Google's personalized home page for my RSS feeds. I tried using Reader, but found that I wanted to read EVERYTHING! Getting back to the information overload syndrome, I decided that by setting the limits on the gadgets to 5 for each feed, I can stay on top of the posts for the most past without hurting my brain too much.

There are some sites/feeds that I have found to be so useful, though, that I do want to read everything posted there. Google Blogoscoped is one of those sites. Google Blogoscoped helps keep me entertained and informed about all things Google (and related). But I often get caught up and forget to get over to the site itself to read the information so I also use Track Engine to monitor the site and send me emails. I check my email a lot more frequently than I get a chance to surf my favorite sites, so this offers a better alternative for me.

A Google Fan

I'm a big fan of (most things) Google. I was a late entry to the crowd, I admit, but I try to take advantage of all that they have to offer -- where it makes sense. My wife teases me about it a lot, but in the end it's all about efficiency. Finding what you're looking for, as quickly as possible, whether it's a recipe, a fact for the kids homework, or just something to amuse you for a moment in time -- Google can help.

While Google may not have EVERYthing I need to make my life better, every little bit helps, hence...AdSense... I just added it. I'm sure it won't pay off my Visa bills (or my MasterCard, or Discover for that matter), maybe I'll get a lunch out once in a while, paid for by Google!

And so it begins...

When I first started thinking about creating a place to capture my thoughts, I kept overanalyzing what it was I wanted to do. I often suffer from information overload and my inability to control and organize all that is around me. Favorites, information, email, quotes, tips, random facts and trivia -- I love to collect and read about everything, but I can only retain so much in my brain. After my brain "runneth over" I start to lose track of things.

Like so many of you, when I can't remember where I saw a piece of information, I simply Google it. I may not always find the same thing again, but that that's part of the fun of it. Sometimes I find something even better that what I was looking for originally.

I'm not an elegant writer. I tend to stick to the facts and not worry about every little grammatical rule, but I can generally get my point across. I thought I'd give this a try though, and see where it goes.

I envision this space as a collection of things that capture my interest for some reason at the time I post it. I may post about a web site, a quote, some piece of technology, or even family events. Like the name of the blog, it's all about what I discover...in my world...