November 2011
2 posts
1 tag
October 2011
1 post
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be...”
– Steve Jobs
August 2011
1 post
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July 2011
3 posts
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McKenzie and the Moon
As we drove home tonight, McKenzie watched the moon follow her home, and before we pulled into the driveway, she asked if we could look at the moon with the telescope. From my office, into the backyard, I dragged out the telescope, aimed it at and focused upon the moon, with all of its craters and “oceans”.
I pulled her stool under the eyepiece and covered her unused eye, and...
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McKenzie's Schooling vs. Traveling
Last week, I debated whether or not to return to southwestern Wisconsin at the end of September to catch the end of this trout season. I had a week-long stay at the Stein Vatten cottage across the street from Rullands Coulee all planned out. Then it hit me. This August, McKenzie begins kindergarten at St. joseph’s, and so end of our carefree we’re-going-damn-it traveling ways.
Now I...
June 2011
1 post
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Motorcycles
McKenzie,
As we drive to work today, we passed two BMW GS motorcycles, and I, momentarily, taken back to a time, before your mother and I were married, when we drove up to Beaver Dam and test rode a BMW GS1100R motorcycle. For awhile, my sweet daughter, before you were ever a notion and right after I had read Investment Biker, this was our dream, to buy a motorcycle and circumnavigate the world...
May 2011
3 posts
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Maker Faire
This was our third year we have attended the Bay Area Maker Faire, and every year, I return home rejuvenated by the experience and shocked by the incredible spark of creativity we had the opportunity to witness. When people tell me that America has lost its way, I just shake my head no, reminded and comforted by my Maker Faire experiences. Thank you, Maker Faire, for showing us the light.
April 2011
2 posts
1 tag
Resisting the Dark Side
McKenzie: Momma, Darth Vader a bad guy?
Jill: Yeah.
McKenzie: Momma, I’m not going to the dark side.
A Disturbance in the Force
On the way to a store, I announced to McKenzie, “McKenzie, we have to hurry and get Momma to a potty. She needs to go.”
Jill turned to me in awe and asked, “How did you know that?”
I looked back at her and replied, “I could sense a disturbance in the Force.”
That, and the fact she she had mentioned it three times before in the last hour…
January 2011
2 posts
Sparking an Interest in Science and Creativity
As soon as I returned home from Omaha, McKenzie begged me to take her the museum. Usually, we have gone to the Portland Children’s Museum. However, today I decided to shake it up a bit and go to OMSI instead.
Now, usually, we head to the Science Playground, geared towards younger children, but on this visit, we made a detour to Turbine Hall with its fantastic science and technology...
Living Empathy
McKenzie and I walked into school today and were greeted by a little girl with whom, I assumed, McKenzie does not play with often. She asked McKenzie if she wanted to play with her. I cringed when McKenzie’s only response was, “I’m another classmate’s friend.”
After washing her hands, I pulled McKenzie off to the side and asked her how she would feel if someone told her that they didn’t...
December 2010
1 post
November 2010
2 posts
1 tag
Our Flight to Maui
The flight attendant announced over the public address that our flight would be 5 hours long. McKenzie cried out for all to hear, “5 HOURS! That’s long.”
October 2010
1 post
September 2010
1 post
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My Daughter
This morning, a classmate of McKenzie’s greeted her by name as we walked in.
While washing her hands, I asked McKenzie what her friend’s name was; she didn’t know. I told McKenzie it was important that she learn her friend’s name since her friend knew her name.
After washing her hands, McKenzie went over to her classmate who was playing by herself, sat down next her and...
April 2010
1 post
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Our 1500th Geocache Find
It is hard to believe that on April 15th six years ago. We started our geocaching adventure. Yesterday, we found our 1500th geocache, over 65,000 miles and 16 states later.
During that course of time, we have accumulated over 4,000 photos on Flickr, leaving us with hard memories of the places we have been and the things we have done.
Now we are readying to wind down of geocaching streak as we...
March 2010
3 posts
3 tags
Death in the Family
This morning at about four in the morning, I heard Koda struggling downstairs. These last few months, Koda has been struggling with severe pain in his front legs and weakness in his rear legs; however, despite this, he seemed happy and comfortable, so we have been putting off the inevitable. When I made it downstairs, I found him sprawled out on the floor unable to get up and finally realized that...
3 tags
Five Baby Ducks
McKenzie just woke up from her nap and answered a question I had asked earlier this afternoon, leaving me with a smile.
Earlier this afternoon, we were walking through Laurelhurst Park when we came across a sign explaining why not to feed the ducks. At the bottom of the sign was one large duck followed by five smaller ducks. This was a teaching opportunity, so I asked McKenzie how baby ducks...
Fixing McKenzie's Cracked iPhone Screen
Last Saturday, I dropped McKenzie’s iPhone on the garage floor, cracking the screen, and screamed a torrent of obscenities. However, all was not lost. The touchscreen LCD still worked. The damage was just cosmetic.
A Google search lead me back to ifixit.com, which posted a tutorial on how to replace an iPhone screen and sold a replacement kit. I didn’t give it a second thought when I...
February 2010
2 posts
Keep This Place Weird
In my travels throughout my life, I noticed that I have an affinity for places that proudly boast civic slogans of Keep [this city] Weird. When I attended college, Madison was filled with bumper stickers proclaiming that its citizens should Keep Madison Weird. When moved to the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area, I saw the same bumper stickers, but instead inciting its denizens to Keep Portland...
OK, OK…I know how sacchariny sweet this is, but it...
January 2010
5 posts
3 tags
NPR's A 30-Million-Year-Old Virgin's Secret to... →
While listening to this story on NPR this morning, I thought to myself what an interesting science fiction story idea.
My idea is that the human race has evolved where only females have survived. All the males have been wiped out by a disease or pathogen, which still afflicts humans. However, like a bdelloid rotifer, humans have evolved a strategy similar the bdelloid rotifer’s state of...
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New Year's Eve Benediction
While perusing my news feeds in Google Reader, I stumbled upon this New Year’s Eve benediction delivered by author Neil Gaiman at Symphony Hall in Boston:
May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or...
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December 2009
5 posts
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Life's Expectations
While driving down from the Summit of Haleakala the other day, Jill asked me if my life had turned out the way I had expected.
“I don’t know,” I told her. “There one thing I do know, I don’t have any regrets about how it has turned out.”
The rest of the drive down and the next couple of days afterward, I pondered Jill’s question and thought of this one...
November 2009
3 posts
Island Mindset
Yesterday, McKenzie and I were at a park in Maui. I was pushing her on a swing when a woman with four small children arrived shortly after we had. Three of the four wanted to swing at the same time. Two had grabbed swings at the opposite end of the eight-swing set. Her third took up the swing next to McKenzie and me. As if the most natural thing in the world, she asked me, a perfect stranger, if I...
WatchThe Tumblr iPhone app added video posting as a new features, so here is a test post of a short video I shot of McKenzie and me at a black sand beach in Maui.
October 2009
2 posts
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Now I want to sail…
Last night, while sitting on the couch with iPhone in hand, I opened up my Craigslist application and searched for sailboats. Not a grand 50-footer, but a small 14-footer.
I blame this sudden interest in sailing on Einstein. I am currently reading a Einstein biography, which described Einstein’s love of sailing. Now I see McKenzie, Jill and me sailing a small wooden sailboat on a Swiss Alp...
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September 2009
1 post
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Encourgement
Despite my wife’s protest, I like to play music loud and sit and contemplate the mysteries of the universe.
This morning, during one mediative sessions, McKenzie picked up one of the Guitar Hero guitar game controllers and began playing and singing along. It lightened my heart to see her explore her interests; lately, it seems to be rooted in music and dance. I want to encourage that...
August 2009
2 posts
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My Interview with PodCacher, or my 15 seconds of... →
Well, apparently my tweeting had grabbed the attention of the geocaching community, and I was contacted by PodCacher to do an interview about our current caching streak on the eve of reaching our 700th consecutive day of finding at least one geocache.
The show with my interview was just posted last night on the PodCacher website. Jill and I stayed up late last night to listen to my ramblings. If...
2 tags
Star Wars on a Summer Night at Memorial Union...
When I was in college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I had a job working building setup at the student union, Memorial Union. One of my best memories of that job was setting up for outdoor movies on the outdoor terrace one summer. I hung a screen off the railing of one of the balconies and ran the projector.
One of the films screened that summer was Star Wars, and the terrace was...
July 2009
1 post
40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11
In commemoration of Apollo 11, Carina Software released their SkyVoyager and SkyGazer iPhone software for free today only. Before heading to bed, I brought my iPhone out with me onto the front porch, located north and tried to match the night sky with the star maps before me.
As I sit out on my front porch, staring up at the night sky and trying to see how many constellations I can match, I am...
June 2009
9 posts
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Google Earth and Sketchup
For the last couple of weeks, my interest has shifted back to Google SketchUp, and recently, I have been teaching myself how to integrate my SketchUp models into Google Earth. From Google Earth, you can import an area’s snapshot and its terrain profile into SketchUp. Then inside SketchUp, you can build and place your 3D model on top of this snapshot and then export your 3D model with...