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Call me Curly

February 11th, 2008 · bridget, family

Lately Bridget has been a lot better about letting me curl her hair.

Last summer I purchased a 1/4″ curling iron for her hair. She let me curl it a couple of times then (usually while she sat in front of the TV watching Signing Time), but quickly became frightened one day when I told her that it was hot and it could burn her.

Since then, any time I suggested it she would break out in tears and hold on to me for dear life. I couldn’t even bribe her with suckers or smarties.  About a month ago I finally went out and bought rollers – hoping I could curl her hair without the iron. It worked a couple of times, but I had to leave them in for a long time to get any kind of results. It was a pain.

Then I got this great idea. (Well, maybe not great – but it worked).

After curling my own hair, I let the curling iron sit for about 15 minutes – so it was just warm to the touch. I brought Bridget in and let her feel the curling iron. I asked her if she’d let me curl her hair if I just used a “warm” curling iron, not a “hot” one. She let me! As I began curling her hair I quietly turned the curling iron back on. A few minutes in I told her that it was hot and not to touch, she seemed fine with it.

We talked about how it was safe to touch the handle, but not the barrel. And how its mommy’s job to use the curling iron – she has to wait until she’s bigger. We also talked about never touching a curling iron that is plugged in, even if the indicator light is off.  And why curls that fall down onto her ear or her neck are warm when they fall from the curling iron. Talking through the things we were doing seemed to calm her fears quite a bit. So much in fact, that she tried to curl my hair a few days later (more on that tomorrow).

In any case, I think she looks cute in curls. In fact, when her hair is curled, we tend to call her curly.

What do you think? Cute in curls?

These next two are from her Valentine’s Day portraits. She was goofing off in these ones. More serious ones (and some less serious) to come on V-Day.

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Lee Edward

February 10th, 2008 · family, random

This is my daddy-in-law (and my mommy-in-law). Today is his birthday.

Happy Birthday Daddy!! We love you!

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Don’t forget the extra cheese

February 9th, 2008 · bridget, family

What do you like on your pizza? Socks? Cats? Baseball Bats?
One of the songs on Singing Time, called the Silly Pizza Song, combines food items not commonly found on pizza – in song – to make a very silly pizza. The tune is pretty catchy, and we find ourselves singing it often.

Lately though, we’ve played a little differently. . .

It is fun to sing things like “I like Bridget on my Pizza, I like Bridget Pizza please.” – to which she usually yells, “Nooooo.” So then we started saying things like “I like socks on my pizza,” or “I like cars on my pizza.” Occasionally we’ll throw in a food item, “I like carrots on my pizza.” Bridget has gotten pretty good at distinguishing between food items and non-food items, and she’ll respond with a yes or a no accordingly. Sometimes we confuse her a bit though. . . “I like eggplant on my pizza” – she still yells “No” for that one.

In any case she loves to play along with – and we get a kick out of watching her laugh at the silly things that we suggest adding to her pizza.

For those unfamiliar with the Silly Pizza Song, here are the lyrics:

Silly Pizza Song

When I’m feeling hungry and I don’t feel like stopping
I think of silly pizzas with all my favorite toppings—

APPLES!
I like APPLES on my pizza, I like APPLE pizza please! Put the APPLES on my pizza, don’t forget the extra CHEESE!

CRACKERS!
I like CRACKERS on my pizza, I like CRACKER pizza please! Put the CRACKERS on the APPLES, put the APPLES on my pizza, don’t forget the extra CHEESE!

ICE CREAM!
I like ICE CREAM on my pizza, I like ICE CREAM pizza please! Put the ICE CREAM on the crackers, put the CRACKERS on the APPLES, put the APPLES on my pizza, don’t forget the extra CHEESE!

CEREAL!
I like CEREAL on my pizza, I like CEREAL pizza please! Put the CEREAL on the ICE CREAM, put the ICE CREAM on the CRACKERS, put the CRACKERS on the APPLES, put the APPLES on my pizza, don’t forget the extra CHEESE!

BREAD!
I like BREAD on my pizza, I like BREAD pizza please! Put the BREAD on the CEREAL, put the CEREAL on the ICE CREAM, put the ICE CREAM on the CRACKERS, put the CRACKERS on the APPLES, put the APPLES on my pizza, don’t forget the extra CHEESE!

COOKIES! I like COOKIES on my pizza, I like COOKIE pizza please! Put the COOKIES on the BREAD, put the BREAD on the CEREAL, put the CEREAL on the ICE CREAM, put the ICE CREAM on the CRACKERS, put the CRACKERS on the APPLES, put the APPLES on my pizza, don’t forget the extra CHEESE!

BANANAS! I like BANANAS on my pizza, I like BANANA pizza please! Put the BANANAS on the COOKIES, put the COOKIES on the BREAD, put the BREAD on the CEREAL, put the CEREAL on the ICE CREAM, put the ICE CREAM on the CRACKERS, put the CRACKERS on the APPLES, put the APPLES on my pizza, don’t forget the extra CHEESE!

CANDY! I like CANDY on my pizza, I like CANDY pizza please! Put the CANDY on the BANANAS, put the BANANAS on the COOKIES, put the COOKIES on the BREAD, put the BREAD on the CEREAL, put the CEREAL on the ICE CREAM, put the ICE CREAM on the CRACKERS, put the CRACKERS on the APPLES, put the APPLES on my pizza, don’t forget the extra CHEESE!

(Lyrics found here | Or watch a video of the song)

Cute song, eh? Its a little too catchy. May each of you have this song stuck in your heads for the rest of the day. I know I will.

P.S. Today is my brother‘s birthday! Happy Birthday Don!

This is him (with my future sister-in-law)

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DROBO

February 8th, 2008 · techno geeks

Tina and I have varying needs regarding having a reliable backup solution for our computer-related/techno-geek sort of needs. For me, I like to store all of our media for the Apple TV, as well as have a reliable backup solution for any of the projects/files I drum up. Basically, I like knowing that everything in the ‘My Documents’ folder is backed up.

Tina’s needs relate more to her photography work than anything. Immediately upon taking somebody’s portraits, her first instinct isn’t to backup the data just in case. She immediately wants to get right to work at editing pictures. I don’t know that I can blame her.

In each of our scenarios, we have been looking for a solution that provides us an immediately redundant backup system without any additional effort on our parts. I don’t know of anybody that has serious “backup religion.” And consequently so, all of us run the risk to a certain extent of losing critical data.

The DROBO ends all of these worries. As their site describes, DROBO is the “worlds first data storage robot.” Like raid, there exists all of the backup benefits of RAID without any of the complexity. The system is configurable on the fly without any loss of access to the data. Recovering from a hard drive failure or upgrading a hard drive can happen without ever losing access to data. Also, increasing the size of the array can happen on the fly without any downtime — a benefit not afforded by any raid system (to my knowledge).

Tina and I each bought a DROBO. I also convinced DuPont to purchase two (one for our IT failover system and the other for our graphic arts/video editing department). Several other people have also purchased a DROBO due encouragement from me.

At $500, a DROBO is a bit expensive, however, the benefits outweigh the costs. One significant benefit is that hard drives of any size or speed are supported. Configuration on the fly, immediate redundancy, etc. I can’t say enough.

I’ll let the next two items speak for themselves:
1) PC World came up with a list of the 25 most innovative products of the year. For 2007, they ranked the DROBO as #12. Here’s what they had to say:

  • Innovation: High-end, redundant storage for the masses.
  • Benefit: USB 2.0 storage appliance delivers RAID 5 benefits without mind-numbing complexity.
  • “Redundant array storage” and “sexy” don’t normally go hand-in-hand. But Data Robotics’ unique Drobo ($500) offers high-end storage features in a sleek design with software that doesn’t require a master’s degree in IT to figure out. Drobo uses storage virtualization algorithms to provide many of the benefits of RAID 5, but is relatively easy to set up: Just place the drives into the case, plug in the USB cable, install the software, and you’re off. Source Data Here.

2) Watch this video from DROBO themselves.

In case anybody is interested, I have a $25 coupon code for DROBO. The code is: EVDE.

Buy it… Love it…

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Horsepower vs. Kid Power

February 7th, 2008 · a day in the life, bridget, family

With all the snow we’ve gotten around here lately Dave has kept pretty busy with his snow blower.

The thing is a beast. An 8HP beast. I can’t control the beast, it takes over. Dave has to do it. But he likes it, so its okay. Look at that smile.

Bridget really enjoys standing in the garage watching daddy “snow blower.” Typically she prefers to have me stand out there and hold her (and the blanket she’s wrapped up in) so she can watch. I don’t particularly like standing out in the cold garage holding a 30-pound toddler for half an hour or more. Occasionally I given in though – at least for a few minutes.

The other night I handed her a little snow shovel and asked her to help daddy shovel the snow. I figured we’d be out there for 10 or 15 minutes. Just long enough for her to get her wiggles out, and for me to snap a few pictures.

I couldn’t get her to come inside. She was having too much fun. She even managed to get some of the snow off of the driveway and into a pile.

Last winter (Feb 2007) she just drug the shovel around behind her. And although snow was ‘moved,’ it wasn’t exactly removed.

At this rate, maybe she’ll be able to shovel the whole thing herself next year. Maybe?

In the race of snow removal endurance who has your vote? Horsepower? Or Kid Power? Who will give up and go inside first?

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A gentle breeze

February 6th, 2008 · a day in the life, family, random

When I was in college and people would ask, “Where do you plan to go after graduation?” I would answer, “Where ever the wind blows.” Similar was asked when Dave graduated – the answer was the same.

But how do we know when the wind is really blowing?
Do we jump at the slightest breeze? Or do we need a big gust to knock us off our feet?

The winds of change are tricky.

Circumstances at Dave’s work have caused us to open our minds to the idea of change. We are at that confusing stage where we don’t know if the gentle breeze will pass, or carry us along. Regardless, its left me particularly interested in exploring what options there are out there. The world (or at least the country) is our oyster. Dave usually hates change. I quite enjoy it, generally. And it doesn’t help that several people around us are looking at job opportunities in other states. I guess you could say that it fuels the fire.

In any case, my wandering mind has found itself all over the map.

I was ready to pack my bags for this place in North Carolina:
http://www.obeo.com/Public/Viewer/Default.aspx?ID=438881
5 bdrm, 5 bath, over 5,000 sq ft., pool, etc . . . and it was listed at $165,000. I told Dave we were moving! But, of course the price was too good to be true. The listing price was missing a zero that changed the total to $1.65 million. Suddenly we weren’t moving anymore. Go figure.

And did you know that you can get 6 acres (with a house) in Ohio for $155,500?
http://www.landsofohio.com/ohio/index.cfm?Detail=&INV_ID=94774
That’s less than our home is worth. We’d be making money on that deal. And the average salary in Ohio is comparable to here.

Speaking of land, how about a 164 acre farm (home, barns, etc) for $370,000?
http://www.landsofohio.com/ohio/index.cfm?Detail=&INV_ID=94439
This is roughly the price of a 2500 sq ft. newly built home on .33 acres in Logan. And we love the idea of having lots of land. And we could have horses. And imagine the photography opportunities out there. Barns. Horses. Fields. Fences. Wide open spaces.

Or 55 acres in New York for $80,000? We could build.
http://www.landsofnewyork.com/NewYork/index.cfm?Detail=&INV_ID=108079
The same price as a 3/4 acre lot we saw in Richmond a couple of summers ago.

I know I’m ranting. Sorry. Sometimes my over stimulated mind gets the better of me. It’s like that line in Ratatouille, where Remy is talking to his brother about savoring food: “Imagine every great taste in the world being combined into infinite combinations. A taste that no one has tried yet. Discoveries to be made.” I guess I just get thinking about all of the possibilities that are out there, and the discoveries. I get a little out of control.

I poked around on Monster.com a little bit too. Its a little harder for me to get excited about job openings where they are a little more vague, and where I can’t best decide what Dave would like. Besides, there’s no pictures *grin.* There seem to be opportunities everywhere though. I did happen to notice that Disney has openings for various engineering positions, including their “imagineering” positions (engineers that design rides for theme parks). I wonder how it would be to work for a company like Walt Disney Inc? Certainly we’d have to purchase a season pass to Disneyland – that couldn’t be bad, could it?

I’ll stop now. My head is spinning.

Oh, and please no comments that involve freaking out about the idea of us moving. Calm down. I am just getting ahead of myself. Really. We haven’t packed our bags yet.

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Thomas S. Monson Named 16th Church President

February 5th, 2008 · Uncategorized

One of the blessings of the Church that Christ restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith is the blessing of having a LIVING Prophet to lead and guide us. Even during times of sadness as we reflect on the passing of our previous prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley, we can look with hope for a brighter tomorrow.

Through the great order and wisdom of an all-knowing and loving Father in Heaven, we are blesses to have President Monson as the Lord’s Prophet and mouthpiece.

We sustain and support President Monson as God’s chosen prophet on the earth.

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Reao John

February 4th, 2008 · family, random

This is my dad. Today is his birthday.

Happy Birthday Daddy!! We love you!

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Daddy Daughter Date, +1

February 3rd, 2008 · a day in the life, bridget, family

Every now and then Dave takes Bridget on a “daddy-daughter date.” She loves the opportunity to spend the one-on-one time with her dad, and she knows that it usually means they get to go somewhere fun.

Last Wednesday Dave and Bridget were planning to go on one of these dates while I was at the cannery. As it happened, I was home before they left. When I walked in the door I found the two of them finishing up Ramen Noodles at the table. I’d only been inside a few minutes when Bridget leap out of her chair announcing that she was finished eating. She looked over at Dave and said, “Now go daddy-daughter date!” She was so excited.

Since I was home Dave asked if I would like to come along.

Can I? Go on a daddy-daughter date? Am I allowed? . . . Technically, probably not. But, hey, the invitation was there.

We went bowling.

Those toddler-sized bowling shoes were pretty darn cute on her.

One her first roll, Bridget started chasing the ball right down the lane. We stopped her pretty quickly, but it was still kind of funny. Since she was using the bumpers, her name was up first – and I guess it hadn’t occurred to either of us to explain things to her beforehand. It didn’t take her long to catch on though, by her second turn she was telling us not to cross the line into the lane.

As for the final score. We won’t even talk about that one. Let’s just say that Dave won, and that Bridget and I tied for second. The only sort of bowling we’ve been doing lately involves the Nintendo Wii. Its a little different experience.

We all had a great time. Particularly Bridget. Despite that, I don’t think I’ll tag along in the future. I wouldn’t want Bridget to get confused as to what a daddy-daughter date is.

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Funeral Services for President Gordon B. Hinckley

February 2nd, 2008 · Uncategorized

I testify that President Hinckley was indeed God’s Prophet. Our family was deeply saddened by his passing. The joy of Christ’s gospel as taught in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, however, continues to provide hope and peace. Together, we lift our hearts in thanking our loving Father in Heaven for blessing us with such a special leader and prophet.

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