Rock Band Brown Bag...

I just gave my first of three "Rock Band Brown Bag" (meaning, casual lunchtime meeting)  The audience was business people who'd heard of Rock Band, and were interested in learning more about it and the upcoming company summer party (Rock Band themed).  There were about 10 people in the audience, all women.

I gave a demo of how to play each instrument, waaaay dumbed down for someone who'd never seen a rhythm game in their lives.  After talking about each instrument, someone asked "so what does it look like when we all play together?"  I exclaimed "That's an AWESOME idea... we should all play together!"

It took some arm twisting, but I was able to get some people up to perform, and by god, they actually were able to power through a song.  By the end, they were even doing little rock moves and stuff.  It was so awesome.  I'm still all pumped from the nervous energy of speaking in public, so just had to get this out.

Rock!

4th of July

I tried my hand at taking pictures of fireworks. They didn't come out as good as I hoped, but a couple aren't too bad, I guess. Click on the images to see a bigger version.










And I like this one from a recent beach trip...

A little while ago, I noticed something funny on the AC adapter of Allie's baby monitor. Lots of ants, and a big pile of what appeared to be eggs.

 

It wasn't until I unloaded pictures today, and looked at my close-up picture closely that I noticed how gross it was... Click the image to see it in full size.

 

Needless to say, the vacuum cleaner was put into full effect.

Cuteness

Tonight, during our bath, Allison was lining up all the bottles on the edge of the tub.

"Hi Allison's soap!  Hi Daddy's soap!  Hi Daddy's shampoo!"

Then she picked up a little baby washcloth.

"Hi..."  (Small pause, as she thought for the word)  "Hi...  this toy!"

I thought it was so funny that I erupted in laughter.  Allie thought that me laughing was pretty funny, so SHE started laughing.  A gloriously hilarious feedback loop ensued.

Someone Broke into our House Today

Diana and Allison and I left this morning, like we do almost every Saturday, for an adventure.  We headed to an outdoor art/food festival type thing, but because the weather was rainy, we headed over to the aquarium.

We left around 9:30am, and returned home at 12:30pm.  As we were driving up, Diana noticed that our door was open.  I specifically remember being in the car first, and Diana and Allison coming to the car to meet me.  We figured that possibly the door just wasn't closed in the hustle to get the kiddo into the car.

I walked to the door, and didn't really consider that someone could be inside.  But I yelled "we're home!" and tried not to startle anyone, again not really thinking anyone would be inside.

I walked in, and went into our kitchen, and noticed that a couple of the drawers were open.  That was suspicious, but with a curious little girl running around, not unheard of.

I walked back to the front door, and noticed the drawer of a small decorative table was also open.  This was definitely weird.

I went back outside and told Diana that I thought someone had broken into our house.  We sort of sat there, not knowing what to do.  We saw our neighbor across the street, and told him what we thought happened.  I'm not sure exactly what happened next, but I cautiously (and perhaps stupidly) went back inside, making lots of noise and ready to bolt if necessary.  It became obvious pretty quick that the house was empty.

The police were called, and nice Officer Brett came and looked around, attempted to take some fingerprints (none found), and generally reassured us and made us feel a bit less scared.

Here's what I think happened, based on open drawers, etc.

Bad guy goes to the front door, and discovers that no one answers it.
Tries courtyard sliding glass door (screen was ajar).
Walks around the garage side of the house.  Tries side sliding glass door.
Tries back sliding glass door.
Makes it around to the other side of the house, and finds a bedroom window slightly ajar.
Pries the screen off the window (bent screen was found nearby), and enters.
Looks through bedtable drawers (perhaps for guns?)
Looks through cabinet under the TV (only old VHS tapes in there).
Does NOT go into bathroom (Diana's jewelry box untouched).
Goes down the hall into my office.
Grabs Diana's laptop bag (with computer inside).
TRIES to take my computer, but gets frustrated with how many wires there are (devices were unplugged from power strip, but nothing disconnected).  The front case of the computer was slightly ripped off the frame, like it was pulled roughly.
Takes my 20" flat panel monitor and webcam sitting on top of it.
Ignores the open closet which has other techy stuff in it.
Goes through the living room (not seeing my laptop on the sofa), and into the main room.
Rifles through kitchen drawers, and finds a LOT of crap we stuff in there.
Disconnects and takes my PS3.
Takes my Rock Band 2 Guitar.
Takes the subwoofer from our surround sound system.
Does NOT take DVDs or DVD player.
Leaves throught the front door, leaving it wide open.  Total time in the house, probably less than 5 minutes.

I can't imagine carrying a PS3, a 20" flat screen monitor, subwoofer, laptop case (though it did have a nice shoulder strap) very far.  Must have gone straight into a car and on the way.

Later in the night, Diana was looking around near the entertainment center and found a pair of needlenose pliers which I'm SURE I've never seen before.  So we called the police back and they'll come pick 'em up, for what it's worth, which probably isn't that much.

We went through a lot of emotions.  Scared and violated, but after talking to the very nice police officer, not as much.  He told us that in our area, violence is very rare, and violence between strangers is even more rare.  This was just a property crime, and no one doubts that if there were signs of anyone being home, nothing would have happened.

I talked to many of the neighbors, all of whom were very appropriately concerned and sympathetic.  Everyone was very helpful in offering information about what they did and didn't see.  Our neighbor on the broken-window side said that he was even out playing with his kids in their back yard for much of the time we were gone, but didn't notice anything.    We live in a very quiet, safe (feeling) neighborhood, and everyone is pretty shocked.

Anyways, crazy stuff.

This afternoon, we went to the YMCA pool with Allison.  I've never seen her so fired up.  It was great.

Hi!

Hello blog…  I haven't forgotten about you!

Summer is here.  This time of the year is one of my favorites, holding over from when I was in school.  School is out.  The Fair is opened.  A whole summer off, with no school and all sorts of adventures to be had.  It probably should have been obvious, but no one specifically told me when I started working at a full-time job that you don't get summers off anymore.  It's old hat now, but it did sting for a year or two.

You don't get summers off, that is, unless you're a teacher like my wife!  There was some talk about teaching summer-school, but that was decided against.  So this summer Diana will be a mostly-full-time mommy.  Allison will still spend some time at Dorrie's this summer, as well.  Diana has already started swimming lessons at the YMCA, as well as signed up for other adventures and opportunities.  It was great for me to get a phone call and ask how the first day of swimming lessons was, and hear "Awesome… better than I expected".  Allie apparently really enjoyed the pool and the little games they played.  Many activities were followed by an enthusiastic "MOOORE!  MOOORE!" in the way that she does.

It's hard for me to be at work and know that they are out having fun and bonding.  I'm happy, but it's hard.  Of course, taking care of a toddler is a tough job in its own right, and I'm sure there will be plenty of days that I'll be happy to escape to the office.  We're only a few days into the summer, so we'll see how it goes.

Allison is doing great.  She's growing up nicely, and learning how to be her own person.  I am choosing (for now) to not believe in the "Terrible Two's", but I can at least see where the name comes from.  Kids this age discover that they have some control over their own lives, and what they choose isn't always the same as what we want her to be doing.  It was a little tough at first, but we've learned pretty quickly how to manage her newfound independence, and will continue to do so, I'm sure.

Favorite activities these days:
Looking at pictures of family and friends
Chasing and being chased.
Watching Elmo being sung to sleep by Andrea Bocelli (google "Elmo Bocelli")
Playing the Seeker in hide and seek.

Hide and seek is especially fun.  She will run to her room and sit in the middle of the floor, facing away from the door, and count to 10:  "Waaaaan.  Tooooo.  H'reeeeee.  Fooooor.  Waaaaaas.  Siiick-sss.  Wezzzzen.  It.  Niiiiine.  TIN!"  Then get up and look for the hiding person.  We give her plenty of hints to find us, and she gets all fired up when she does.  Good times.

Not a whole lot going on with me.  I'm helping a friend work on a computer game, which has been pretty fun.  I helped set up a "Rock Band" station at work, in preparation for a big Rock Band competition, which is pretty cool.  I'm 1.5 weeks into my Hundred Pushups training, and progressing nicely, which is a good feeling.  And finally, my friends Mike and Gwen are days away from moving back to San Diego.  It will be great to have them around.   Our Fantasy Football league is already set up, and I'm already starting to analyse…

Email from Diana

Depending on who is with Allie in the morning, Diana and I write each other a "morning report" email.  Here is an excerpt from Diana's report to me:

---------
Morning was really fun.  Cheerful young lady, good breakfast.  She wanted me to sing about Bapa and Yaya [her words for Grandpa and Grandma], so I sang things like "Bapa likes to dance with..." and she would fill in the blanks.  Here are some highlights:

Bapa likes to eat.... "dinner"
Yaya likes to swim in the...."ocean"
Bapa likes to color with..."Allison"
Yaya likes to wear her...."hat"
Bapa likes to push Allison on the..."swing"
Yaya likes to go down the..."slide"
Bapa likes to bark like a..."dog"

CUTE!  She has her own thoughts!
---------

Latest news

Lots to catch up on, so let's get started.

First off, a brief Allie report.  She's growing up big and strong, loves climbing and running and jumping and dancing.  She's definitely aware of what she wants and doesn't want, and won't hesitate to make her unhappiness known.  But aside from brief flurries of unhappiness, she's really doing well.  She's talking a lot, starting to use multi-word "sentences" and communicating very well.  Good times all around.

I just got back from a brief weekend Mammoth fly-fishing trip, celebrating the first of Iwan's two bachelor parties.  I don't know how many bachelor parties that guy is going to have, but as long as I'm involved, the more the merrier.  Norm, Eryn, Mick and I drove up on Thursday night.  I spent that night and the following morning not feeling very well, probably because of the altitude change, but for some reason really turned a corner and felt fine for the rest of the weekend.  Fishing was a huge success.  We played many board games, including multiple instances of Pandemic, a team game where the object is to contain an outbreak of various diseases before they spread out of control.  Very topical.

Upon arriving back, I was introduced to a game called "Subbuteo".  I've never heard of this game, but apparently it's been around since shortly after World War II.  It's essentially soccer, played with tiny little figurines.  You use your finger to flick a figure, and in that way, dribble, pass, and shoot a soccer ball.  It's really a ton of fun.  Baditude is thinking about setting up a friendly little league, and we're all fired up on buying our own teams and stuff.  It's good times.

Mike and Gwen are in town for the week, shopping for houses.  They are over right now, along with Baditude and Trisha watching Lost.  Apparently there was some unfortunate confusion on Eryn's part that resulted in his cable being turned off and Lost being missed.  Luckily for them, we have it recorded.  It's great, as always, to see them both.  I really look forward to them moving into the neighborhood.  They put an offer down on a house nearby, which is awesome.

That's the bulk of the news for now.  Hope you, dear reader, are doing well!

Laminar Flow Fountain (Again!)

Ok, I know I'm a broken record here, so feel free to just skip this post if you're tired of all this fountain talk. I won't be offended.

I think I've gone about as far as I can go with a 4" tube fountain. So before I epoxy the whole thing together, I thought I'd post a little video showing how it was all made.



There are three main things that the fountain needs to do, as far as I can tell:

1) Slow down the water, so that it is easier to remove turbulence.
2) Remove the turbulence.
3) Reassemble the water and squirt it out the end.

The problem I've been having with the 4" tube is that if I want the water to squirt farther, I need to turn up the hose higher. That makes the water faster, and the turbulence isn't removed.

It occurs to me that with a longer tube, and more scouring pads or other features to slow down the water, it might have a better result, at the expense of a smaller package. Maybe I'll give that a shot.

Another option is to find some larger diameter pipe. This will spread out and slow down the water in a much shorter time period. The problem, though, is finding 8" pipe, end caps, etc.

I'm pretty much making all this up as I go along. If you have any suggestions, or if I've got my theory wrong (is there a hydrologist in the house?), let me know.

(If you're read this far and are totally bored, don't say I didn't warn you! This post is really meant for me to read in a few years and think "Oh yeah, I remember that!")

Laminar Fountain

I'm getting closer!

I made some adjustments today (hooray for half-days!). I packed more straws into the pipe. More could fit in there, but I've used all 1000 that came in the box. I also cut away some excess screen that was holding the straws in place.

I shortened the tube by quite a bit, so there is about 2 inches between the end of the straws and the outlet hole.

In the end cap, I duct-taped a metal washer after using some sandpaper to smooth the washer-hole as much as I could. Before putting the end-cap back on, I placed screen over the end of the pipe, so there is a layer of screen again between the straws and the output hole. I'm not sure what purpose this serves, but it's in the original patent for these puppies.

The results are much better! It's not perfect, but it's much, much better.

I'm not sure what the end goal is. I think the dream would be to embed this into the ground, and form an arch over the walkway to our front door, recirculating. That would be awesome, and not really that hard.

Sorry for the shaky video.