We’re in full preparation mode now, it seems.  Spent a good portion of the morning cleaning out the van, and was surprised to find that it wasn’t that bad.  Just one bag of trash, and it was a small one.  Most of the time, we extract at least a full trash bag worth of goodies from the nooks and crannies hidden away. When you have a five year old, you just can’t seem to live a clean life.

Much still left to be done, I’m afraid.  There’s laundry, packing, shopping, and cleaning.  I have to have a clean house house before we leave.  There’s no worse feeling than coming home to a dirty house, right?.  No wait, there is a worse feeling; knowing you’re coming home to a dirty house, and you still have eight hours left of the drive home.  So, I like to clean before I leave.  Gives me a sense of accomplishment for the whole trip.  And it saves my sanity.  Save it, so I can lose it another day.

The wife and I are dreading the long drive, though.  SaraJane is at the age where she cannot tolerate being in the car-seat for anything more than a quick journey.  After a minute or two, she starts making a low -pitched, rumbly/achy noise in the back of her throat, which is her first warning that she’s about to get really mad.  Another minute, and she starts a bout of yelling, telling you exactly how she feels in 9 month old barky language.  After all of this, and to her immense disappointment, her audible ramblings haven’t earned her emancipation from the bonds that hold her, and she cries.  And cries.  And finally, sleeps.  I like when she sleeps.  But that’s when you must be very, very quiet.  It makes for a fun car ride.

No, I still have not heard word one from the hospital.  I’m getting antsy.  I’ve done all I can, I suppose.  It’ll start when it starts.  I just want to see what it’s like, you know?  I’ve pretty much decided to move ahead with the CNA program.  After that, I’ll start the LPN program at Gateway.  Who knows; with a bit of gentle prodding from the wife, I may even become an RN, and make some decent money again someday.

It’s funny; I never thought I’d change my career.  I thought I’d stay at Cox Communications for years and get some retirement out of it.  I enjoyed it for the most part.  It’s when I started driving three hours a day that it began to get old.  Things that never bothered me before became the greatest annoyances.

I do realize that I have to start working again sometime, if only for my own good.  Some nights, when I have a free moment to think about going into nursing, I get nervous and apprehensive.  I think about what I’ll be doing/seeing, and it scares the bongos out of me.  And still other nights, I feel pretty confident and zealous about the whole project.  Any advice from the congregation out there?

Oh yes, and the phone books arrived on our doorstep yesterday.  What a day!  Such an event!  Does my sarcasm come through ok?

It took me only a few steps from the front door to get them straight into the recycle bin.  I just don’t see the point in having them anymore.  Not for me, that is.  If I need a phone number, address, or recommendation for pizza, I go straight to the iPhone.  Tangent time.

The things we mere mortals can do from pocketable telephones now:

1. Call people
2. Look up anything, anywhere, anytime.  The power of the ‘Net.
3.  Read the news
4.  Play video games
5.  Take a picture
6.  Check e-mail
7.  Find out the local temperature/forecast
8.  Check a bank account balance
9.  Pay bills
10.  Listen to music
11.  Watch a movie
12.  Find a movie

And on, and on.  Like living in Star Trek.  I still can’t get over it.

Anywho, back to telephone books.  I understand their importance in quite a few venues.  I know a lot of people must still use them.  And I know they must still generate a lot of cash for ol’ Dex.

Regardless, I can’t imagine the vast amount of work and resources that go into a project like the bi-yearly printing of the phone directory.  But most people in my neighborhood have either recycled them, or they’re still sitting on the front porch.  I think therefore, that it should be a choice to receive them, no?  I’m not even a landline telephone customer, for cryin’ out glavin.  (Mmn hmm, ah hay!)  /Professor Frink

Much to do, much to do. Must end, for now.  Thanks for stopping by again!  Much appreciated, for certain.

In response to this article, (link opens new page, as well as explains what I’m arguing against) I can say only this; it’s truly a matter of opinion.  Therefore, I am completely aware that what follows is simply my take.  But I’m pretty sure I’m right.

I kid.  I am not putting the article’s author down in any way when I say that I wholeheartedly disagree with his viewpoints on a perfectly functional piece of equipment.

I am speaking about my recently hacked Dell Mini 9 netbook, which was transformed almost magically into a fully functional Macbook Mini.  At only 2.5 lbs and a diminutive form-factor, it is the perfect tool for me whenever I leave the house.  In fact, it routinely stays with me while in the house, as well.  Having been a blogger for the past seven or eight years, I can say this laptop is the best tool for the trade.

iPhoto does run, just barely

The author is correct in stating that you do get what you pay for.  This machine is not a Macbook, neither in terms of performance, nor its capabilities.  I cannot successfully navigate my stash of nearly 10,000 photos in iPhoto without the machine giving up and either freezing, or throwing 4,000 errors into the wild.  (This is not hyperbole; when iPhoto last locked up, I opened the error console and saw 4,000 errors waiting for me, generated within the past two minutes)

I will be perfectly honest, I had not personally owned an Apple computer before (though, my wife had).  I was really excited at the prospect of having this machine run OS X.  I stretched this computer further than it should have gone, but that is not the fault of the machine.  I get the feeling that the blogger over at TUAW was guilty of the same sin, but to a much more extreme degree.  Therefore his disappointment was all the more keenly felt.

The Hackbook next to a Seagate Free Agent Go

To his argument that the trackpad gestures do not work, I say this; it’s not an Apple machine, and for someone who already owns several several Mac products to say this is disappointing.

The size of the included SSD hard drive is diminutive, and like TUAWSteve said, it is not sufficient for installing every program that you could possibly need.  But again, used as a blogging tool, all you really need is a decent word processing program and the ability to browse the net.  If more space is needed, purchase an external hard drive and/or a larger SDHC storage card.  I have already done the former, and plan on purchasing a 16gb SDHC card for a compacted version of my iTunes music library. (Because it’s important to have music while you type!)

Who's a good netbook? Yes, you are!

But I am still extremely pleased with my hacked Dell Mini 9 netbook, and here’s why.  The joy was in the journey!  I love messing around with technology, and love being able to make it do things that it originally was not intended to be used for.  Believe me, the thrill of turning on the machine and seeing the Apple OS X boot screen has come and gone, but the usefulness and intrigue of the machine lives on.

It should also be noted that I do not share TUAWSteve’s view that Apple is indeed working on their own version of a netbook, at least a netbook as far as the world defines it at this point.  Timothy Cook, Apple’s COO, was correct;  current netbooks are cramped, are limited in their use, and come with terrible software.  I don’t envision Apple moving away from their core at this point just to create something that the masses seem to be taking a liking to.

The popularity of Netbooks will eventually wane, and I think it’s a justified end, simply because it is such a niche product for a niche economy.

But as for me, I am glad that I purchased and hacked my Dell Mini 9.  I think it’s rather ironic that I did so at the recommendation of the same blogger who has now turned his back on the entire experience!  I intend to continue using this machine for most of my blogging needs, and look forward to taking it with me on my trip to Utah this week.

So far, no updates from the hospital, so I doubt I’ll be volunteering there this week.  I’d just like to know, you know?  Because knowing helps you feel better about the time when you didn’t know.  So it will be a few more weeks of waiting.  I’m excited to get out of the house a little bit, gather some outside stimuli to dust off the cobwebs in my mind.  Sometimes when I write, I feel like I am peeling away at old information.

Some points of excitement for me, as I’m getting iLife and iWork tomorrow for my little Dell Macbook.  The thing that worries me is whether I’ll have enough room for all the neat programs they come with.  I really only want Pages from the iWork suite, and really want to try out iPhoto from the iLife collection.  iPhoto has some great features that should make my thousands of digital photos easier to find.  And Pages just removes the clutter while you write.  I find it harder and harder to write with all that can distract you on this screen.

The family is gearing up for the trip to Utah next week; we’re leaving the heat.  I just hope it doesn’t snow while we’re there.  I’d like to take at least one trip up into the mountains, you know?  Hike a little bit (lot).  I’m not much for skiing anymore, so the less snow on the mounts, the better.

I don’t put nearly enough pictures on this blog, I know.  It’s extremely difficult to do with my blogging tool.  You’re thinking to yourself, “Didn’t you change the whole thing so it would be easier?”  Yes, yes I did.  And in the process, added 8 more steps.  I could be back to the old format before you know it.

Talked to Sumner’s teacher a little bit after school today, seems the lad can’t stay in his seat.  Most other aspects of his behavior in the classroom are steady for now, but the chair is his mortal enemy, it seems.  Strangely, this makes me smile, only because that trait is so much like his pop.  In so many ways, he has the charisma and predilections of his dear mommy, so whenever I get to mark one in the daddy column, I like it.  

No, I never wanted to stay in my seat.  In my young mind, there were about 50 other things that I would rather be doing, or seeing, or experimenting with, and I was actively categorizing them in my mind for later activity.  I see the same in Sumner.

As far as SaraJane goes, she cut two more teeth in the past week, with a few more looking ripe for  departure.  She’s also cruising around the couches more and more, looking braver for that first big step away from the hand hold. 

It breaks my heart to see her grow so fast, because little girls turn into big girls, and big girls turn into young women that find a way to get married.  18 years is never enough with a daughter.  I hope that, somehow, she sees how much her daddy loves her.

My goodness, I’ve reached the magical 500 work threshold yet again.  That’s more than enough.  Goodnight, and thanks for reading.

I really should try to remember what I did this weekend, only because I’m sitting here feeling too darn satisfied and accomplished.  Back, I say!  Wipe that smug look off your face. 

Thursday.   Only because our weekend starts on Thursday.  We knew we were in for a long weekend, with showers and parties and visiting family and what-not.  (Reading that sentence to myself, I realize I should completely avoid any complaint or heavy-handed tones)  The wife returned from work at her usual hour that evening, feeling overwhelmed and not a bit relieved at the thought of the approaching weekend.  Full of advice I was not, and so suggested we head off to dinner.  

We thought an invitation to my mother-in-law was in order, and did so.  But alas, she had already eaten!  But the thoughtful woman one-upped us at that point; she offered baby-sitting.  Ah, the weekend had just gotten that much better.   

For some strange reason, we decided to head ourselves in the direction of our neighborhood California Pizza Kitchen.  They have good sourdough bread.  It’s the reason I used to go there so much.  

Side note: sign of the times, you have to request the bread now.  Even more poignant sign of the times; the bread stinks.  Only slightly resembles what it used to be, and more closely resembles damp styrofoam.  But it was eaten, of course.

The wife and I did a real number on the poor waitress that evening.  First offense was sending back the Pepsi; it was flat and watery.  Plus I forgot that Pepsi is only ordered when eating Mexican food.  But that’s an aside.  Second offense to the poor attendant was the Wife’s entree.  Being the adventurous and cavalier spirit that she is, she ordered something new.  Now, she’s a trooper and fought a few bites down, but several people averted their eyes after a few moments of the arrival of the dish and begged for wooden stakes to be driven through their hearts.  Oh, you didn’t get my joke?  Garlic.  There was too much garlic in the dish.  Get it?  Vampires don’t like garlic.  Oh, forget it.

So, we sent it back.  At that point, dinner was a bust, so she wanted to see the desert menu.  Ordered the Hot Fudge Sundae.  Sounded like a safe bet to me!

The waitress came back with something called a Turtle Sundae, which seemed odd to me.  Odd because my wife never, ever mentioned the word “turtle”, nor those numerous other words in the English language that rhyme with “turtle”, such as….such as…hmm. I’m no Dr. Suess here, but I’m fairly certain there aren’t any.

So the third offense was set in stone at that point, and away went the turtle sundae.  After a few moments the waitress came back with a sundae, minus the turtle.  That worried me.  And spoiled my appetite.  

The date night continued on quite effortlessly from that point.  A trip the the Fake Apple Store, where I was coaxed by the employees to display my hacked Dell Mini 9 netbook running Mac OS X.  Ok, ok, maybe I steered the conversation toward a point where they simply had to see it.  But when they actually asked, I grew afraid and asked if I was allowed to.  Afterall, did I not break the EULA?  Hogwash.  

And what would a date be like without a trip to Wal*Mart? Lucky for you readers we don’t have to find out, because there was Wal*Mart.  Oh, yes.  I’ll spare you the details.  Synopsis: we bought a lot of crap that we didn’t need, but will always end up using.

Friday was a very lazy day.  Didn’t even leave the house until 2′ish in the afternoon, when it was time to hunt down fruits and vegetables for the baby shower the Wife was throwing that evening.  First stop was Fresh and Easy, which has never proven to be either or, as this particular location always smells like old celery and involves us carting down one aisle before turning back for the door.  

Sprouts ended up being a wiser decision for us, and besides; they have bulk candy.  

Later that evening, it was just me and the boy.  Sumner and I had great time, ordered pizza, ate most of it, watched Madagascar 2, played video games, and made cupcakes.   Sadly for him, he fell asleep right before the first batched popped out of the oven.  I saved him plenty.  Which he’s not allowed to eat.  Muah hah hah. 

Saturday my friend Neal came over to play Super Metroid.  By my count, this now makes just over 12 years that we have been playing that game together, and we show no signs of stopping now.  I’m always grateful for his visits.

When the afternoon arrived, we packed up the family and headed for Maricopa, some 45 miles southwest of our location in Mesa.  A birthday party for my wife’s boss’ son, and Sumner was invited.  You may have already seen the pictures from this raucous occasion.  A wonderful individual with a half dozen or so snakes and lizards came to entertain the kids and adults alike.  Everything from a lizard that would fit in your hand, to a 17 foot Python he brought, and the kids loved every minute of it.  Sumner let the man put one six foot python around his neck, and I’m still reeling from the shock.  The boy runs from the sight of a seven pound dog.  Amazing.

Put the kids to sleep that night and watched The Quantum of Solace, which was great.  It was a good night for a Bond flick.

Sunday was spent at my folks house, eating wonderful steak and potatoes and brownies, watching Sumner play outside like a loon, and relaxing a bit.  Came home after a few hours, tidied up the home, and settled down.  Being void of cable TV, HULU.com came to the rescue and allowed us to catch up on Scrubs and The Office.  

It all brings me here, 927 words later, to the point where I sit here on my bed, typing away on a keyboard that is much too small for comfort, compelled by some unknown force to give you all a traveling journal of my weekend with the family.

If you enjoyed it even a quarter as much as I did, then I know you smiled.  Thanks for the read, come back again tomorrow.

For those of you who may have missed it at the Moblah’g, check this out.

No…he still won’t pet a dog.  But he will allow a six foot python around his neck.  Love that boy.

-Sting

Something about having a notebook with me where ever I go encourages me to write.  Although I still wish I were a pen and paper guy; my brother keeps a journal with him wherever he goes so he can jot down ideas and thoughts immediately.  I guess it shows the 10 year disparity between us.  I do remember the thrill of the open, blank page too, but my tenure with such an environment was shorter lived and thus my transition to typing everything was much more rapid.  

Even in the dawn of the digital revolution, writing on word processors was more engaging than most contemporary computer programs.  All you had was the cursor and maybe a menu.  Nothing to distract you; nothing to lead your writing down the wrong angle.  It’s what I dislike most about Microsoft Word.  They seem to think you want 9,000 options when really, all you want to do is make something bold, or change your font.  

Writing with the pen is an art.  I should put more energy into it.

Spent most of the morning cleaning up the house with the family’s help.  Too much was neglected yesterday; Wednesdays are generally nasty.  The wife is at work all day.  Waffles came to the rescue though.  Waffles make everything better.

We did manage to get Sumner’s hair cut though.  When the time came for Sumner to jump in the chair, the young lady called out “Summer”, as happens more often than not.  The wife and I both knew this was a possibility when we named him, but I didn’t realize how annoying it would be.  This, coming from the person who was called “Ryan” or “David” or some other combination his whole life, but never “RyanDavid”.  SaraJane won’t fare much better, I’m afraid, even with the lack of a space betwixt her pronouns.  What have I done?

There’s much for us to look forward to in the coming weeks, as we get to travel to Utah as a family to see my niece’s baptism in early May.  I haven’t been in Utah in spring time in years, so it will be nice to go back.  I called Snowbird today to make reservations like I do every year, but received word that Summer packages won’t go into affect until a week after we leave.  Sigh.  There’s always next year!

No word yet on when the volunteer work at the hospital begins; I was hoping for a call this week.  With Friday on the horizon, I’m leaning heavily toward next week.

The boy just came upstairs; he seems a bit restless.  I’m going to do the daddy thing for a little while.  Thanks again for reading!

I’ve always known that Sumner likes salty foods.  As soon as he was young enough to reach the salt shakers at restaurants, he has tried his hardest to put sodium on everything he eats*.

Yesterday evening, I set myself to task with the weekly laundry duties, while putting SaraJane down for a nap and turning a movie on for Sumner.  It’s acceptable to me that Sumner can choose a snack for himself from the shelf he can reach, usually a granola bar or some fruit snacks.  Instead of one of these more sensible choices, Sumner decided to take it upon himself to scramble up the rows of shelves to find an entire bag of pretzels, one of his favorites.  I have nothing against them, however; Sumner has no portion controls skills yet, especially when tuning out to a movie.  So, unbeknownst to me, Sumner whiled away the time snacking on the whole bag.

After the movie was done, he ran upstairs to greet me and see if I needed any help  with the laundry duties (good kid, afterall).  I said no, but that we should go back downstairs to clean up.  It was then that I found the empty bag, and more purposeful to the story, it was then that Sumner decided to vomit abundantly.

It should be noted that Sumner is a good sport, and realized the error of his ways even while throwing up the consequence of his snacking indulgence.  He looked up at me and said, quite matter-of-factly, “I had too much salt, I think”.  I agreed with him, and continued on cleaning up the mess he made.

Much later that evening, while discussing the event with the wife, Sumner gave me further revelation into his snacktime adventures.  Seems that Sumner didn’t stop at the end of the bag, oh no.  He decided that waste not, want not, and ate every grain of salt left over in the bag.  The boy.loves.salt.

If possible, next time you have an empty bag of pretzels, check and see how much salt is left in the bottom.  Then picture a five year old boy eating all of it.  Then imagine my gratitude that Sumner did end up puking it all out.   

A pretty grand adventure in the world of parenting, indeed.  

*No, we don’t let him.  Though he still tries to angle himself toward the salt shakers at every restaurant we go to!

Today was a long day for some reason. Not really something I can pinpoint at the moment, as the standout emotion I am feeling right now is a calming one.  I am fiddling around on my laptop while Sumner swims in our neighborhood pool.  Very satisfying.  I still have a lot to learn on Mac OS X, so much in fact that I really don’t care that my computer isn’t currently connected to the Internet.  I don’t think I’ve felt that way since I was using Windows 3.1.

So again, I’m just fiddling around while trying my hardest not to break anything super important.  Oh yes, and I’m also keeping a close eye on the lad, though I’m very impressed with his swimming skills.  He’s trying to follow a much larger teenager around the pool right now while he swims laps.  I think this bothers the teenager.  So much annoys them.

Now he’s attempting to make conversation with him.  I’ve counseled Sumner to keep to himself and mind his manners, and the teenager made no protest.  I’m going to assume that Sumner is, in fact, annoying him.  I think I’ll let him be for now.  Pretty good entertainment.

Earlier today, I had an orientation meeting at the local hospital that I will be volunteering at.  I arrived at what I thought was late, but was surprised when I found myself the first in the lobby.  As each minute rolled by, more and more volunteers sauntered in the door.  There was a total of eight people in my very diverse group.  Living next to Leisure World, I expected a group comprised mostly of older people (or citizens, as the 34 year retired LAPD volunteer called them), but instead saw a complete range of individuals from all backgrounds.  Some, like me, had decided to pursue a different career and were hoping that serving at the hospital would give them further direction and light.  Others were graduated from their undergraduate program and wanted to learn specialties such as Social Work.  One older couple wanted nothing more than to share the joy they had found with their 3 1/2 year old Golden Retriever with others in the hospital.  One young woman was there to simply deliver cookies.  A great group of people that genuinely wanted nothing more than to serve their fellow man.

I learned near the end of the orientation that we would already be receiving our ID badges, pictures and all.  My most previous experience with ID badges was not such a pleasant one, with a scowl on my face and grown out fuzz atop my balding head.  I began to regret not taking the extra time to shave my head that morning, when all of a sudden the power went out in the building and the reserve generator kicked in.  The volunteer coordinator gave us a sigh and admitted that there would be no ID badges today, as all non-essential devices would be powered down for the time being.  Small miracles.

Now, the hour grows late and the sun has set beyond the point of lighting my keyboard for efficient use.  There’s always more to come from me, nevermind you that.  Thanks for listening to my tales this evening.  Till next time!

I really wanted to post something April Fools style today, but the uncanny number of Web sites and blogs pulling pranks was staggering enough to turn me off of it pretty quickly.  You never know what to believe on a day like this.  It’s like one early poster said, “April Fools + The Internet = Crap”.

So, instead of a hastily concocted lie about pregnancy or moving or some other nonsense, I thought I’d post a few pictures of the new yard for your enjoyment!

The entire project flowed smooth as silk; I can’t really think of anything major that stopped the show.  It’s nice to have a place to relax outside now, the kids seem to have a good time and Sumner likes having another place to go other than out in front.  We’ve already watched two movies outside.  We rented “Bolt” the other night.  It wasn’t that bad, really.  The voice acting by Travolta (Bolt) was really well done, too.  It sounds like he had fun during the production.  I can’t imagine many other “jobs” more entertaining than voice-over work.

So other than what you see in the pictures, we’re still waiting on and budgeting for a new grill, a fire pit (or a chimney stove?  not sure now) and further plants and trees.  Speaking of the budget, we blew through money so fast with this endeavor that we haven’t gone grocery shopping, even though we’re way, way past due for a trip.  I mean, we’re getting creative with our meals.  Today, I made rice.  I’ve never actually made rice for myself.

So the wife and I made a list of the things we’ll need when we go this Friday, and the length is staggering.  Seeing as how the local grocers are throwing all sorts of sales, right now seems the perfect time to go.  Maybe it’ll only cost us a billion and a half dollars, instead of a quadrillion.  We’ll see.

In other news, you may have noticed my Facebook status the other day, when I mentioned that I am starting to volunteer at Banner Gateway hospital.  Seeing how I have a bit of free time now and again, and how I’d like to change career paths, the hospital seemed like a good choice.  It’s local, maybe only a five minute drive from my house, and I’ve wanted to look into becoming a nurse.  Yes, I know. You can call me a “murse”, if this all pans out.

So I went to get a TB test (looks good so far), and  I’ll go back again in a week to get a second screening.  You know, just in case the first test is wrong.  The CDC recommends it.  How often is the first test wrong?  I guess enough times to warrant this double-test, neh?  After the background check comes back, I’ll be cleared to go and working in the ICU.  The Volunteer Coordinator gave me the gist of the responsibilities, and it sounds awesome.  I think it’ll give me a good idea whether I want to do nursing or not.

Time to go, for now.  I’ve reached 500 words, which is more than most wish to read during the time set aside for blog-hopping.  Thanks for the visit, and come back as you wish.