Critters on parade

In the paper: Critters on parade

Earth Day | Procession of the Species

Today was the Procession of the Species, which meant a parade! I've never done one before, and Simone was super stoked to do it. So we threw on the Halloween costume, hopped in the Burley, and walked downtown to check it out.

We got to the farmer's market and really didn't see anyone dressed up - much to our disappointment. But we held out and figured the others would show. Sure enough, over the next half hour we saw more and more costumes. We also saw a bunch of friends from preschool - which excited Simone.

In the Burley with Clifford* (note the purple ears, odd for a Clifford)

Checking out the costume before the parade

A friend, Nava, at the parade. They giggled nonstop.

During the parade, Simone held Gracie's hand the whole time, and a new friend Jackson was on the other side.

I'm pretty sure the three of them are going to make the paper, a photographer was very interested in them (not the guy in the photo, no clue who he is).

After the parade, a bunch of the kids hung out and chatted. Gracie and Simone were always close.

After the parade, Simone wanted her face painted like Gracie's, so we did that.
Checking out the handiwork.

Trading Places

We had a great time, and on the walk back it started to rain - three cheers for the Burley! And a train rolled through town, so we stopped to watch that for a while.

A very successful parade, we'll have to do it again next year.

F#@&! U.S. Cellular Companies

A friend gave me his old iPhone, which was great. I'd been thinking about a smart phone for a while, the big thing holding me back was the forced data plan for the 2 year contract. You see, 99% of the time I live in a wi-fi enabled area (either work or home, or most places in Corvallis have free wi-fi) - so why pay $30/month for something I'm not going to use?!

Here was my chance, a free phone (many thanks) that works on my carrier (AT&T), I'm good to go.

I start asking friends for their must-have apps and a couple of them mention that I might want to check with AT&T because they think I might get a data plan added because I'm using a smart phone. So I call up and get a service person who says all the wrong things to me (like, "you need one to use a smart phone" "you can't use a smart phone w/out a data plan" etc. (which are all technically wrong)). I get very frustrated quickly, but have a work meeting in 5 minutes, so I don't have time to go postal on the guy.

I wait a few days and finally call up AT&T again today and I get this calm-voiced woman who says more or less the same thing, but she's a lot smoother about it. The kicker for me (in terms of whether I wanted to try to argue up the management chain or not) was when she said, "I can transfer you to the technical department, but they'll say the same thing. And, you can quote me on this, you will be charged for a data plan on any cellular provider if you're using a smart phone."

Hm.... that kinda took the wind out of my sails. I stay on the phone for a minute or two longer, but the fight is gone. I sit down and google things, and yup, everyone is charging data plans for smart phone users. Some forums have people saying that if your phone is unlocked, somehow, magically you won't be charged, but they don't seem to be able to back it up.

AT&T's own site says they'll charge you: Answer Center | AT&T - Is there still a minimum data plan requirement for smartphones? ...

Sigh... looks like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place here. Is it worth it to me to get the minimum plan ($15/month) to only carry around one device? Or do I carry around two?

And I kinda really want/need two pieces of functionality the phone can provide. The first is a calorie tracker that enables me to keep track of food w/out having to dash off to the computer every time I look at a snack. The second is access to my work calendar. For a few years I've been able to get by without running MS Outlook, but work just switched to the latest Outlook, which means the meeting notices are no longer in a reasonable format for my scripts to add to my calendar, and I've gotten several meet times mixed up. The iPhone seamlessly integrates my work calendar and my personal one.

So, I'm kinda hooked (after a whole 5 days).

I'm still pissed off at the situation in the U.S. where the customers have very little power (as opposed to Japan/Europe), but I've come to accept there are some battles that really aren't worth the effort, and I think this is one of them.

The other thing that ticks me off are the rates.

We pay about $80 for 1400 minutes. Ignoring the free weekend and evening calls, that works out to about 12.5 cents per MB of data (assuming skype-like data usage, 60kpbs).

The two data plans offered are $15 for 200MB, which is 7 cents/MB, almost half the cost of the regular phone service. And the $25 for 2GB, which is just over 1 cent/MB. And you know they're making money on the $25 plan...

It just further convinces me that they're charging way more than it costs for the regular phone service, and the data plans charge way too much, but progressively less.

Just think, if they're making money on the $25/2GB plan, then they'd be making money charging me $9/month for the phone plan (that's the same rate).

For years we've had certain aspects of life get cheaper and cheaper. Moore's law has made it possible for us to have hand-held computers storing 100's of gigabytes of data, touch screen displays, etc. etc. Yet the phone service we get still costs the same as always, cable TV still costs the same.

Wise Words From Seth Godin

I just read the post Insist on the coin flip, and I think it's completely true. The hardest part will be convincing people (and remembering it myself) to let go of their (my) attachment to knowing there's a "best" decision, even when the differences between the top runners are smaller than they (I) can detect.

Fantasy writing

I've been reading a little more in the last year than I have in the 3-4 years before then. Some SciFi and some Fantasy - I did enjoy the fantasy books The Dwarves and Orcs, and have enjoyed the SF books by alastair reynolds.

One question came to mind as I read the fantasy books...

Why don't fantasy books take place in warm climates? Like in jungles or deserts?

Anyway, Brin wrote a little post on The Difference Between Science Fiction and Fantasy?, which prompted me to ask the question.

Anti Joke

Hilarious web site: Anti Joke

Top "joke" on there is:

What's worse than finding a worm in your apple?

The Holocaust.

hee hee

Artsy Shots

Some artsy shots from Oswald West.

Beach Party

The Bauerschmidt clan came to visit Oregon for a week, after all, what better place to go for spring break than Oregon! It kind of reminds me when Sam and I went to Cape Cod for spring break. It was cold and mostly shut down.

Luckily, the Oregon coast doesn't really shut down, and it certainly was warmer than Cape Cod.

We started off the 4 day extravaganza by both leaving Portland around the same time. I recommended they stop by Camp 18 for some decent food and a really neat Oregon experience. Mary then had the idea to surprise them there, so we did.

Then off to the beach house we went.

Everyone got along great. Paul and I had all the kids in the minivan, and Mary and Lauren took Hazel in the Subaru. Simone instantly decided she was going to be Elise's shadow - they were like long-lost sisters.

Two years ago we brought Hazel home, so we decided this weekend would be a good one to celebrate her birthday. Everyone made hats out of paper and decorated them. We decorated the house a little bit and wrapped up a present for her.

The kids wrapping a present with Hazel completely oblivious to the fact she was the star of the day.

Now she knows she's the star of the show.

Elise and Simone help make the chocolate cake, which was of course not for Hazel.

Mary and the girls whipped up a chocolate chocolate cake which was enjoyed by all, especially with a large bowl of whipped cream and some strawberries. We sang happy birthday, and everyone helped unwrap Hazel's gift.

It took Hazel 5 minutes to find and destroy the two squeakers, and another 3 minutes to rip it apart into what looked like a bunch of purple spaghetti. It was probably the flimsiest toy we've gotten for her.

When we weren't partying, we were reading books.

Lots and lots of books.

Even more books.

And more books.

We did leave the house, it wasn't all parties and reading.

Simone and Elise shading themselves from the sun.

We hung out in the yard, coloring bricks with chalk, running around the house, collecting flower petals and pine cones to decorate the house.

We checked out the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

I hadn't been to the cheese factory in ... 12+ years. You used to only be able to see the big vats where the milk turns into curds. That's now done somewhere else, but what you get to see is the 40+ pound blocks of curds wrapped for aging, and 40+ pound blocks of aged cheddar sliced, chopped, bagged and sealed. Very fun.

Hug Point at high tide.

We also tried Hug Point, but unfortunately at high tide, which meant we couldn't get to the waterfall. Instead we let the kids climb high on slippery rocks. They had a blast.

We later checked out Oswald West, which was as cool as I remember. Huge trees, a suspension bridge (Hazel wasn't so crazy about that), and a pretty little beach.

We had a great time connecting with Lauren, Paul and the kids. We seem to see each other around every 5 years, though this was so much fun we might just have to do this again a little sooner.

When we left, Simone was sad and wanted to head back to the beach house. And, it turns out, Elise was missing Simone a lot, and Evan missed Hazel.

Rico Suave

Happy Family

Everone loves hanging out on the sheepskin...

Beaver Freezer 2011

I finished it, with a time around 1:25.

The swim felt pretty good, about 8m30sec, not too bad since I've only swum twice since my last triathlon (July of 2010). The men had the joy of swimming in Langton pool which has the benefits of a longer run to the transition area, and no lane marker at one end of the lane. Oh, and the side of the pool is a good 20" above the water (meaning you have to haul your tired body out). The two other guys in my lane were a bit faster than me, so I didn't get to draft at all - which means I really did swim the 8:30 on my own, and I felt pretty rested - not dizzy or exhausted.

I was one of the last out of the pool (I'd said I would swim an 8:00 500, oops), and definitely the last one out of the transition area. The temperature outside was a chilly 43 degrees, and a little breezy, but almost sunny - not too bad of conditions.

The ride went pretty well, I passed about a dozen people, most of whom were in my heat, and nobody passed me. There was a bit of a headwind from the west, so it felt like I was barely moving while headed out to Oak Creek, but the trip back into town went smoothly and the sun felt warm on my face.

The run started off fairly well, slow as usual, but not too painful. I was passed by a lot of people, and at one point the fast guys from the heat after me ran by in a blur. The third (and final) lap started off well, but then my left knee began bothering me. I walked for short sections and tried to shake it out. Another guy from my heat caught up to me and was encouraging me as we headed up the slight hill with 1/3 a mile to go. I said I'd see him at the finish line and I took off. The last 1/4 mile actually felt pretty good (though exhausting), and I heard someone catching up to me on the straightaway to the finish, so I picked up my pace and didn't let him pass - so the ending felt great.

On the walk back to the bike a grey cloud came overhead, the rain started coming down - sideways, and it even hailed for about 30 seconds. Luckily I didn't have to race in that.

Now just to wait for the official results...

Fool You Once...

What did I do on my birthday? I worked until 11:09pm (that's the current time).

Ha ha, April Fools!

Wait, it's still the 31st...

Damn, I did work that late.

Click Clack Moo

The other day, Simone wanted the typewriter so she could write some stories. She wrote a long story for Memere using 6 or 7 pages of typing, with an illustrated cover.

The next day she decided to type some more, but wanted to do it on the floor, as you can see:

She began typing away, then pulled the sheet out and told me I was the farmer, and she was the cow. She put the letter on the floor and said, it's on the barn and the cows were cold and wanted electric blankets.

She typed another page, put it on the floor/barn door and said the chickens were cold, there was no milk and no eggs. She told me that I, the farmer, was supposed to say, "No milk?! No eggs?!"

I think there was another page of demands, but don't recall what they were.

We haven't read "Click Clack Moo Cows That Type" in at least a year or year and a half, and here she was, reciting most of the story from memory.

Very cute, very impressive, and a good reminder to watch what I say.

On a related note, the Bauerschmidts visited (great time, another post) and brought a copy of "Click Clack Moo" for Simone (having no idea she'd just re-enacted the story). That's synchronicity for you.

Getting Old

The other day I was driving home, thinking about someone at work and how to describe him. He's older than me ... but not so much that I'd consider him "old."

That's when it hit me, the gap between my age and what I consider "old" is getting smaller rapidly. Uh-oh.

Fittingly, Pearls Before Swine ran this comic the next day:

And while I remember them, my first thought was, "The TARDIS isn't red." Which shows I'm both nerdy and old.

Yay, The U.S. Bombs Yet Another Islamic Country! (Libya)

Not only are we not out of Iraq or Afghanistan yet, we're now bombing Libya. Sure, it's "sanctioned" by the U.N. Security Council, but since when have we let the U.N. say when we can (or cannot) use our military? I thought acts of war (i.e. bombing another country) needed to be approved by Congress.

Oh, no, that's not the case says the Obama administration. From NPR's story, Libya Overshadows Obama's Latin America Trip:

Now, over the weekend, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the administration would certainly welcome a congressional seal of approval for this action but that the president is acting within his existing authority.

In his letter, Mr. Obama pointed to the Security Council resolution and his authority to conduct foreign relations and as commander in chief.

Glad to hear it.

Two more eloquent analyses of the attacks on Libya, one by Scott Adams, and one by Glenn Greenwald.

And it should be remembered, the two wars (now 3, including Libya) is completely ignoring the unmanned drones bombing Pakistan (and the incursions across the border from Afghanistan), but who's counting.

Oh, NPR today did have a story that makes a little more sense: If This Is Not 'War' Against Libya, What Is It? That's more like it NPR.

Mustard, take 1

There's a gal who makes mustard for sale at the local market. We've chatted a few times, and I even volunteered to help make a batch, but so far she's not taken me up on it.

Mary pointed out that a (somewhat) recent edition of Sunset Magazine had some recipes for mustard. They looked pretty easy and fun. Mary even bought some mustard seeds and powder from the bulk bins at the co-op, so I had no excuse not to try them.

Simone and I mixed up 3 different batches. Two have to soak for at least another day to let the seeds hydrate, but the other was made from powder/ground seeds and just sat for a few hours - at which point I finished it up. It is the Hot and Tangy Mustard Recipe, and I think it's pretty good. It's got the heat of Chinese mustard, but is definitely more complex - like a cross between Chinese and dijon.

The other two are Rosemary Thyme Mustard and Cognac Mustard.

The next thing is to figure out how to use 3.5 cups of mustard...

Murphy

Mary spent the day with some friends, so Simone had me to herself. We watched a little March Madness (I don't think she was so crazy about the basketball, but she liked the mascots), cleaned the bathrooms, made some rolls, drank hot chocolate, and had a good time all around.

Yesterday, we all went to the hardware store and picked up some shelving pieces. I had planned on installing it while Mary was gone. Murphy stuck hand into things twice, and the project is not yet complete.

The first was my fault of not double checking the orientation of the support bar, and so I cut it on the wrong side. It's not a big deal, it just limits the 2nd set of shelves to have a little less clearance than I'd planned, and I have to now make a 2nd cut with the hacksaw.

The second was the kicker. My 2nd battery for the cordless drill died. No juice means no screwing in the support bar, means no shelves.

bummer...

Potty Humor

The other day I went to our half-bath to use the toilet (Mary was taking a shower in the other bathroom), and I found Simone sitting there. She looked up at me and said, "The other one is available." - available, that struck me as hilarious.

Today, Simone was helping me clean the bathroom, she likes scrubbing the toilet. Honest. She asked why the toilet brush was waterproof, and also commented that it was really good for scrubbing poop. hee hee

LFMF

I went on my weekly night ride tonight (becoming less and less night-like now that daylight savings has kicked in (or off, I always forget which is which)).

It was the standard spring ride, a little drizzly, a cool 57 degrees, and on-and-off fog as the clouds settled over portions of the trail.

I did my usual ride starting at home, out through Oak Creek, up to the top of Dimple Hill, out the road to Lewisburg Saddle (descending Upper Horse along the way), and coming back to the top of Dimple Hill.

I decided to go down the face of Dimple Hill as a bit of a challenge because it was pretty wet. I knew the trail would be slippery, but since it's rarely used, it wouldn't be very muddy. I did stop a couple of times (front tire side-slip is still very scary), but rode it all. The plan was to then ride out the roads to MLK Jr. park, and back home along Walnut. You can check out the forest map here.

As I was descending Dimple Hill, my bike sounded a bit funny, but I was pretty focused on just getting down in one piece. Once I hit the gravel road I did a quick check... and the rear tire was going soft. drat.

I rode it a little further to see how much distance I could make before I had to pump it up.

Not much further I pulled over and got out my trusty pump. You see, the last time I had a flat, I didn't have the right spare tube. And I wasn't crazy about the pump I'd brought. So when I got home from that, I ditched the "new" pump for my trusty old pump.

Tonight I pulled it out and tried pumping it ... it was stuck. I finally got it to go, but the pump just felt weird. So I opened it up to check it out, and the gasket was stretched out and had a ton of crud built up... Long story short, I swore loudly and packed the pump back in the bag (so I can throw it away when I got home), and began the walk out.

My lovely wife came out to get me (a friend came over to make sure someone would be home if Simone woke), and I made it home only about an hour later than I would have w/out the flat.

So... the next time I switch to a "trusty old" whatever, I'm gonna triple check that the trusty thing still works.

Life is good ... so let's complain

Not big complaints, just little complaints. Things that have been rubbing me the wrong way.

I'm hoping to release them into the ... um... universe (web?) and move on with my life, with the goal of not fretting over them (as much) from now on.

1. Messages notifying you of messages that take as much space as the message itself. For example, my cell phone informs me that I missed a call with a little popup window that says "1 missed call" and a bunch of whitespace. They could have just as easily displayed the phone number.
2. Daylight savings time: This has totally thrown Simone's sleep schedule for a loop, and it's not cool.
3. People who don't push their chair in after getting up from a table. This seems to be common to most engineers at both places I've worked.
4. People who don't close their locker after using it in the locker room.
5. People who don't wash their hands after going potty. If you ever go to Intel, be sure to wash your hands after shaking hands with any men, because I never saw more than half the men wash their hands before leaving the restroom. At Mentor, half the people use the paper towel to open the door, and the other half just used the paper towel to dry their hands (almost everyone washes their hands).
6. TV/Radio folks who say "backslash" at the end of their URL. It's not a backslash, it's a forward slash, commonly referred to as just slash.
7. Programmers who can't touch type. Seriously, if you were a professional newspaper boy and needed training wheels, you'd be laughed at. What about a professional baseball player who has to use a tee? A competitive bowler who uses lane bumpers? A dancer who can't walk to a beat? An architect who can't use a straight edge? A singer who uses Auto-Tune? (oh, they're doing that).
8. That anyone gives James O'Keefe a second of their time.
9. Externalized costs (the environment is constantly picking up the tab).
10. Oregon's law preventing you from pumping your own gas.

Those all seem pretty petty, eh? That's because life is good, I really can't complain. A list of things I'm grateful for is much longer, perhaps another time...

Kauai, 2011

Well, we went to Kauai. The short summary is:

North side for a week, in a house in a jungle valley - where Mary and Simone were sick for a couple days, getting healthy in time for the rain. Lovely beaches, slow-paced, and very peaceful.

Second week was on the south side, in Poipu, with Nana and Grandpa. We went to our first Luau , drove up to Waimea canyon to see clouds, walked around the art night in Hanapepe (where Simone played with one of the many bands on the street), and we went swimming and sunning. Oh, and we watched whales swim/splash/breach and turtles too (no breaching turtles).

You can check out the photos I took on this page.