Teaching my son about blogging

My son asked me over supper, "Daddy, what's a "blog"? Of course I told him to look it up. He went to his dictionary 1998(c) and didn't find it. So I introduced him to Google's "define" function*. After we read the definition he still didn't really get it. Shared online journal? So I brought him here to my rarely-updated-barely-interesting blog and said, "How about we post a new entry?" Nothing better to learn than to do, right? So here we are. Enjoy the old pictures of my 9 1/2 year old "baby" boy. :)

*Since you are wise and use Google Chrome, simply type "define:word" in the URL and it will bring up a very safe list of definitions, and the corresponding links if you wish to dive in further. If you don't use Chrome, then just type "define:word" into your search box... and then download, install, and begin using Chrome!

Learn How to Get a Free Sub | Quiznos Million Sub Giveaway

Learn How to Get a Free Sub | Quiznos Million Sub Giveaway

torrent app for Mac

A new, feature-filled, speed-optimized and stable version of the popular XTORRENT (xtorrent v1.1) bittorrent app for Mac has recently been released. My experience has been good, and I encourage you to give it a look. The granularity of control over individual files, visibility of resources used, and excellent search capability make this a good choice even for a novice with torrents.

Track packages on your RSS news reader

http://www.simpletracking.com/

You enter your tracking number, choose the shipper, and they will generate a custom RSS feed link for you! Too cool!

Road Construction truth telling

Real Life Adventures

Now this is reality. I did a roundtrip through New Orleans,LA recently (1,719 miles), and am due to head off to Dallas,TX this Saturday (~1,700 miles).

Love that road construction!

New Orleans

I must say, the devestation from Katrina and Rita was worse that I had prepared myself to see. We're going back tomorrow (Saturday) to get some work done, as we just had a survey trip today. The stench of downtown New Orleans was remarkable, but not as bad as a house we visited that sat for 3 weeks in several feet of water. The town of Pass Christian, Mississippi will lose 90% of it's structures, because those that aren't already destroyed (from a 30-foot tidal surge that WIPED OUT several blocks) will have to be demolished.

I kept my composure until a pastor was describing for me how he sent the children upstairs because the water was coming into the first floor... and taking an axe upstairs to cut a hole in the roof if need be to get his family to the roof if the water made it to the 2nd floor. I stood there thinking, "What if I had been here?", and of the terror of my children, watching the water rise and hearing the hurricane force winds, would be looking to me to protect them. Those whose homes flooded have lost everything. I can not comprehend it.

I wept for the 1,000 people whom the waters swept into Eternity. Many of them unprepared to meet their Creator. Like those who realized too late that Noah's preaching had been right, and had come too late to the ark. The door was closed and they were taken away.

Baton Rouge

Left Evansville,IN 7am, arrived Baton Rouge,LA 6:45pm. Off tomorrow to see New Orleans and Slidel, LA and assess the damage and what our church might do to help. More to follow.

Hurricane Katrina

Well, I apologize (Bob) for the late update. My parents had the foresight to head north to Daytona,FL to spend the night, and got out of Jupiter before it hit the east coast on Thursday afternoon. Tropical Storm Katrina became Hurricane Katrina... but only a Category-1 storm, and then moved a bit farther south before it crossed Florida. They drove home on Friday to find little damage in the area and only the nuisance of a pool full of debris. They calculated that they had lost power for no more than 12 hours. Dad had it cleaned before the sun went down Friday. Mom mentioned the interesting sight of driving south in a convoy of probably 300 utility crews who were headed south to begin restoring power to south Florida.

Somewhat ironically, my dad flew into Cincinnatti,OH today, where the storm is due to hit on Tuesday night. I trust he brought his waders!

Tropical Storm Katrina

Tropical Storm Katrina(soon to be Hurricane Katrina) is headed straight for my parents' house. They spent quite a bit of time last summer running from hurricanes (like Hurricane Frances), but they are going to have to do it again. When I talked to my dad an hour ago he was sitting in the Atlanta airport (ATL) waiting on a delayed flight home. They are likely going to be up all night pulling the hurricane shutters closed and bringing inside anything that isn't tied down. I'll try to post updates as I get them.

Late night ice cream

(Me enjoying) the kids enjoying Papa. This photo was taken on Papa's new Verizon picture phone, sent via picture mail to my phone, and forwarded to my email account. I saved out the original image and posted it for this blog entry. Oh my, the technology.

I thought this was Papa's last regular visit through the area on business travel... but he tells me he'll be back in 2 or 4 weeks. Well, come on back, 'cause it's clear the kids love having you around. (And buying them ice cream an hour after their bedtime doesn't hurt the impression you leave on them.)

Color Perception

This is an stunning example of how our magnificent brain works! And you think you can make objective observations...

Update: Liz swears that this is a hoax... but I wasn't able to debunk it. If you can confirm or refute it, please let me know in the comments below.

The "cottage" on Irish Lake

This is the "cottage" (actually a very nice mobile home) on Irish Lake near North Webster, IN where I spent many summer days as a child. I'll post more on this later, but the photos are posted for now (Courtesy of Google Maps). If you click here you'll be taken to Google Maps, two zoom levels up, where you can see the chain of lakes of which Irish Lake is a part.

Ahh! The Atmosphere

Great blast from the past. Screen capture outtakes from a great commercial for The Discovery Channel's website.

What if two programs did this?

An excellent article for those who only think of themselves when doing software design. It also gives some good insight to application users about how the developers see you, themselves, and the world.

Markl's Thoughts: Shipping Software

What does it mean to "know how to ship software"?
Here are Markl's thoughts.

World's largest Truck - - International CXT

This is no joke... it's on the market. International's Commercial eXtreme Truck. Makes the Hummer look like a toy.

Geek clock

This is on my wish list...

Hoax of the day

Of all the fake news articles posted today on Slashdot, this one wins for the category "Most likely to be believed and forwarded to me by a family member": New Spam-Scanning Technology Finds Spam.

For those of you not realizing it's April Fool's Day today... it's really really real! :)

Terri Schiavo

I've been praying for two weeks for the Lord to intervene on behalf of Terri Schiavo. He answered my prayers today, but not in the way I had hoped -- she died at 9:05am EST on Thursday 3/31/2005 after 13 days without a feeding tube. I trust that many will see this tragic situation as a wakeup call to not only be certain that their families know their wishes for their own end-of-life care, but also to put it in a legal document, like a living will. It is not enough to tell your spouse or your family, you must put it in writing, and do it now while you are still well enough to do so.

Remember:

1. Terri was only 25 when she collapsed and suffered her brain injury.
2. We are only temporarily 'abled' -- disability can come at any time, and you are not immune.

Birthday pics

Emma at 2, Grant 4 1/2.

I'm the square.

We can overcome

I believe that given enough time and FAQ pages, we can overcome our obstacles. I'm living (but very sleepy) proof. Goodnight.

Struggling with technology

I've been working for an hour or so to get this blog up and running. I setup the account 10/2003 with one 'test' entry and haven't been back since. I've been reading my buddy Jamie's blog and got inspired to follow the trail he's blazing for me into the blogosphere. I hope this proves to be a place to keep track of interesting ideas I've been to and places I've had.