Asymptomatic

There must be intelligent life down here

Overtech
April 13, 2009

Yes, it’s true, I am a gadget junkie. Anyone who has visited my house knows this. I have all kinds of gadgets all over the house. I’ve got computers laying around my family room, computers hooked to the TV, and even my TV remote control is a computer. This causes particular consternation for my grandmother, Nana, who watches the kids during the day.

Nana is a kind of Luddite. Sure, she has a TV at home, and she has the latest Verizon fiber TV service, but that’s about the extent of things. She listens to radio in her car, which doesn’t sound too bad, but I can’t remember the last time I listen to the radio and it wasn’t tuning in an FM transmitter that was broadcasting something from an iPod. She has a pretty hard time getting around the house because everything has some buttons or switches.

Bunny Break-In
April 12, 2009

I had a feeling early this morning that something had gone wrong. Soon enough, we learned that someone had broken into the house.

The kids were the first ones awake. They woke us in bed. “Mommy! Someone left stuff all over the dining room!” We rushed downstairs to see what had happened.

Parenting Failure Number Two
April 11, 2009

A month or two ago, Abby and Berta had tickets to some musical, so I decided to get monster truck tickets for Riley and I so that we could have a “guy’s day out”. That didn’t work out so well. They warn you that the trucks are going to be loud, and we had earplugs, but they weren’t working. Riley was rightfully scared of the noise, and so I bought him a set of the wheel-shaped earmuffs that they sell at the concession stands.

I put it on his head and he started yelling about how he didn’t want to wear them. They hurt his head. Granted, they were tight - they’d have to be to stay on. But if you left them on for a little bit, you’d get comfortable with them and they’d block the noise well. He wasn’t having it. There was no convincing him to keep them on, thus there was no convincing him to stay. More than $300 in tickets (I had to buy three for the two of us, and they were really good seats because that’s all they had left by the time I found out the girls weren’t going to be home and decided to do this) down the drain.

Why am I still awake?
April 11, 2009

All week I’ve had trouble getting to bed at a reasonable hour. I’ve been working on various things on the computer, whether for work or for Habari or whichever crazy project I happen to be dreaming up. Whatever it is, it’s keeping me up way too late.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the late nights have a very disturbing benefit. As the hours wear on, I am able to get more focused. It’s very strange. It’s as if all of the distracting parts of my mind are shutting down because they’re tired, and I’m able to focus the parts that are left singularly.

Organizing My Personal Time
April 07, 2009

I was talking with Nate yesterday about a presentation of sorts I was hoping to give to my fellows at Rock River Star next week, and once again the topic of Getting Things Done came up.

Getting Things Done is a book by some guy that talks about a process of organization that helps produce results. I have a copy of the book, which is currently in the trunk of my car, and I haven’t read the whole thing. Mostly this is because I got so far and the book and agreed with most of the premise, but the process that he dictates probably isn’t the best one for me.