So yesterday was the last day I was required by health services to stay away from the office. I decided to keep Joshua home from daycare and have a father/son man day. It was fantastic!
We started the day the way all men should, with coffee and donuts. Then we hung out at the Ann Arbor mall for several hours. Briarwood mall is a great place for Joshua with its nice playground, fountains, and wide halls for him to run around in. We read books at Borders, played kids games at the Apple store and even listened to the piano player at Van Maur. We then went to lunch at Macs, his favorite restaurant where he ate his weight in tomato pasta and French fries.
Even though with all the excitement we missed his nap time he was in a good mood all day. I think I'm going to make "Man Day" a more regular event.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
Don't touch the monkey
One year, I don't remember which one, the outbreak movies were all the rage. Several shows came about describing some virus that starting in a monkey or rat and threatened to spread to the human population. Usually in these movies there was an unfortunate human who had caught the virus. This character usually appeared in a glass bubble being poked and prodded by doctors.
Well, today I'm that human. Late last week I started feeling ill, and just thought I was catching Joshua's first cold of winter. I later find out that I have the mumps virus! I'm one of the lucky 10% who can both be immune an also catch the virus (which sort of changes the definition of immune but I write code, not cure viruses).
Luckily Joshua is fine, the doctors are very sure that he is not at risk and with his teeth finally breaking through he is in the best mood in weeks. I, on the other hand have been ordered to say in my house until next week for fear of outbreak. I mean this seamed like a big deal. My boss at work got a call from the Human Health Services and had to pass out informative information and everything. So I'm the guy in the bubble for the next few days that everyone wonders if they got too close to.
I'm not complaining though. I've got a pretty good setup at home and I loving working here (quite and comfortable). While I'd love to just take the next few days off from work and have some father-son time I know cold season is around the corner and Joshua will need those sick days then. So he has been cleared for daycare, which he loves to go to anyways (he is very much the social butterfly).
Well, today I'm that human. Late last week I started feeling ill, and just thought I was catching Joshua's first cold of winter. I later find out that I have the mumps virus! I'm one of the lucky 10% who can both be immune an also catch the virus (which sort of changes the definition of immune but I write code, not cure viruses).
Luckily Joshua is fine, the doctors are very sure that he is not at risk and with his teeth finally breaking through he is in the best mood in weeks. I, on the other hand have been ordered to say in my house until next week for fear of outbreak. I mean this seamed like a big deal. My boss at work got a call from the Human Health Services and had to pass out informative information and everything. So I'm the guy in the bubble for the next few days that everyone wonders if they got too close to.
I'm not complaining though. I've got a pretty good setup at home and I loving working here (quite and comfortable). While I'd love to just take the next few days off from work and have some father-son time I know cold season is around the corner and Joshua will need those sick days then. So he has been cleared for daycare, which he loves to go to anyways (he is very much the social butterfly).
Thursday, September 13, 2007
15 Months and still going
Kerry just posted the 15 month pictures of Joshua. Its been a few months since we did this and you can really see the differences. In my eyes one big difference is you can really start to see his personality come out. In previous pictures he obviously smiled more but that was simply because there were lots of people in the room. Now he is more engaging. He was studying the people in the room and more interested in communicating with them rather than just smiling and laughing at what they were doing. Don't get me wrong, he was still the very social butterfly but now he wants to do stuff with you and learn about you rather than just laugh at you because of a funny face.
Oh, and of course the other major change is the mountain of white hair on his head. We try to comb it, and that lasts for about 5 minutes until he starts pulling at it or rubs some sort of food into it. Who knew tomato sauce could add such body to your hair?
Oh, and of course the other major change is the mountain of white hair on his head. We try to comb it, and that lasts for about 5 minutes until he starts pulling at it or rubs some sort of food into it. Who knew tomato sauce could add such body to your hair?
Monday, September 10, 2007
The Boy likes meat
For anyone who questions whether any of my Texas blood made it into Joshua I submit this photo as evidence of his heritage. Only a Texan can feel comfortable attacking a rib like that in public.
This photo was taken at our block Labor Day party. My neighbor David, and accomplished grill master, treated us with his special ribs and homemade BBQ sauce. As you can tell these ribs are Joshua approved. What is more impressive is what his shirt looked like after the party.
This photo was taken at our block Labor Day party. My neighbor David, and accomplished grill master, treated us with his special ribs and homemade BBQ sauce. As you can tell these ribs are Joshua approved. What is more impressive is what his shirt looked like after the party.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
iPhone Buzz
Last week I finally got the chance to play with an iPhone. As I blogged about earlier, my razor V3 was destroyed in the wilderness so I stopped by my local Cingular store to see if there was anything they could do. Incidentally there wasn't but while I was there I played with one of the iPhones they had on display.
The iPhone has gotten mixed reviews. Most professional reviewers loved it but the tech forums have gone both ways. I usually don't give too much notice to tech forums in these things because it seems to be human nature that if non-journalists are going to go through the trouble of posting a comment on a technology forum, its usually because they want to say something negative.
Anyways, I played with the iPhone for several minutes and my professional opinion as a technology professional is that it is unlike any hand-held device I have ever used! The ease-of-use both in the hardware and the software is truly a innovation in human interaction. Any software engineer who has had to create a user interface for customers know how difficult it is to make things "user friendly" for the average software users. Traditionally hand-held devices have not done a good job of this but gotten away with the fact that they are "hand-held" .
The way I usually measure the usability of a new hand-held device is by trying to do something and seeing how long it takes me to figure out. That includes trying to decide which buttons to press, menus to go through and how to enter data. The more "trials and errors" I have to go through to figure out a task, the less usable a devices is to me.
The designers of the iPhone really took this into consideration. When looking at the main menu you see a list of familiar icons (iPhoto, phone, ipod, maps, etc). Pressing on any of them takes you within one or 2 clicks of what you want to do. The integration of gestures on the touch screen, while may take some getting use to, can increase functionality much like the famous "click wheel" did on the blackberry.
One of the big points of controversy is the qwerty keyboard that is displayed when you want to enter textual information. While at first it looks very unusable (buttons are very small), the smarts behind it seem to work well with how human figures would use it and I was able to type very proficiently in no time at all.
So from a technology perspective its awesome. Now lets get down to price, $499-$599, and yes that is a huge sum of money for a device which will most likely keep me from getting one. Not because I don't think its worth it but because I have a 14-month kid and we need to spend that money on other things. Do I think it is worth the money, absolutely! This is a revolutionary device and people should not expect it to be dispensed from candy machines.
The iPhone has gotten mixed reviews. Most professional reviewers loved it but the tech forums have gone both ways. I usually don't give too much notice to tech forums in these things because it seems to be human nature that if non-journalists are going to go through the trouble of posting a comment on a technology forum, its usually because they want to say something negative.
Anyways, I played with the iPhone for several minutes and my professional opinion as a technology professional is that it is unlike any hand-held device I have ever used! The ease-of-use both in the hardware and the software is truly a innovation in human interaction. Any software engineer who has had to create a user interface for customers know how difficult it is to make things "user friendly" for the average software users. Traditionally hand-held devices have not done a good job of this but gotten away with the fact that they are "hand-held" .
The way I usually measure the usability of a new hand-held device is by trying to do something and seeing how long it takes me to figure out. That includes trying to decide which buttons to press, menus to go through and how to enter data. The more "trials and errors" I have to go through to figure out a task, the less usable a devices is to me.
The designers of the iPhone really took this into consideration. When looking at the main menu you see a list of familiar icons (iPhoto, phone, ipod, maps, etc). Pressing on any of them takes you within one or 2 clicks of what you want to do. The integration of gestures on the touch screen, while may take some getting use to, can increase functionality much like the famous "click wheel" did on the blackberry.
One of the big points of controversy is the qwerty keyboard that is displayed when you want to enter textual information. While at first it looks very unusable (buttons are very small), the smarts behind it seem to work well with how human figures would use it and I was able to type very proficiently in no time at all.
So from a technology perspective its awesome. Now lets get down to price, $499-$599, and yes that is a huge sum of money for a device which will most likely keep me from getting one. Not because I don't think its worth it but because I have a 14-month kid and we need to spend that money on other things. Do I think it is worth the money, absolutely! This is a revolutionary device and people should not expect it to be dispensed from candy machines.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Santa Fe
This last week we have been vacationing at my parent's house in Santa Fe, NM. If you have never been Santa Fe is an amazing place with beautiful scenery, climate and culture. Joshua enjoyed being royally spoiled by his grandparents and Kerry and I enjoyed everything from hiking in the rain (that was me and my dad, not Kerry), eating some amazing food and enjoying the beautiful view of the mountains.
The one downside is my phone (Razor V3) got wet while hiking and no longer works. I've reverted back to my previous phone, which feels like a brick compared to my Razor. If you called me on my cell and I haven't called you back you may want to retry.
The one downside is my phone (Razor V3) got wet while hiking and no longer works. I've reverted back to my previous phone, which feels like a brick compared to my Razor. If you called me on my cell and I haven't called you back you may want to retry.
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