Fun with Paint.NET

I downloaded a free program which you can use to do pretty cool image manipulation. It was designed in a college course at Washington State University, and now it is refined by the same folks who created it (i.e. they graduated). The program is called Paint.NET, and it was designed to work similar to Photoshop. I should add that the original programmers now work for Microsoft. Anyway, I found a picture of Emmie from a couple of years ago, and couldn't resist playing around a bit to see what Paint.NET would do. You can see the results here. I claim full copyright protection (Copyright (c) 2005, Steve Jackson)--I'm sharing this because I really like it, but please don't use it yourself unless you have my permission. Thanks!

MARTA General Manager

I live near Atlanta, GA, and the public transportation in Atlanta is called MARTA. That stands for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, in case you were wondering. Recently the general manager of MARTA was offered a job in San Francisco for a sizeable amount more than he makes here in Atlanta (I guess he doesn't realize that the cost of living increase he would experience would offset any increase in compensation, but I digress). Well, I read in the Atlanta Constitution's blog that the MARTA board voted to try to keep him here in Atlanta by presenting a counter offer. While they didn't go into detail what the counter offer was, they did include details about the past year:

MARTA has paid Ford a base salary of $205,000. He also earned nearly $57,000 in benefits last year, including incentive-based bonus pay and an auto allowance.

Is it just me, or is it a bit hypocritical of MARTA to offer their General Manager an auto allowance? Maybe it was an electric car, or one fitted to run on natural gas... [Update: The counter offer wasn't enough to keep him. Look out San Francisco!]

Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

I noticed something interesting last night as I was on the front porch trying to figure out why the Christmas lights kept causing the GFCI breaker on the outlet to keep tripping... When compact fluorescent light bulbs are very cold (say about freezing or below--it was about 27 degrees out there last night) they are dim. Now that might not be very exciting to you, and frankly I'm not really ecstatic about it, but I just thought it was interesting. They warm themselves up after a minute or so, and in doing so they brighten up as well, so they're still useful. But if you ever need instant bright light from a fluorescent bulb on a cold night, you'll be out of luck. [I'm still not 100% certain why the GFCI breaker kept tripping, but I narrowed it down to one path of cords and lights.]

The Derek Forbes Blog

I've been a fan of Simple Minds for years--since high school when "Once Upon a Time" came out. Anyway, the main bass player from Simple Minds has his own blog here on Blogspot, and it is aptly named, The Derek Forbes Blog. Seems he's got himself a new band named A Few Good Men and they're touring in the UK. As a side note, Mel Gaynor is their drummer, and Mick MacNeil is their keyboardist: they were both part of Simple Minds, too.

Mississippi Trip

I took a short trip to Ocean Springs, Mississippi, this past weekend. I'm part of the worship team at my church's contemporary service, and since it was Youth Sunday back at the church, we drove down to St. Paul's United Methodist Church to perform for them. I was thinking that it was going to be a bigger event than it turned out to be, but by the comments that were made to us after the performance Saturday night it sounded like we were greatly appreciated! As far as I know, the show was not recorded so you can't hear just how awesome we were (and me, particularly)! :-)

Halloween Costumes

OK, so in this picture there are two home made costumes and one store bought costume. Ella's costume was lovingly made by my mother--several years ago for Madeline. It has been used almost every year since on each of the girls (which ever one would fit it). Madeline's witch costume was purchased. Emmie's costume (Jasmine) was made by me. Well, mostly... Melissa told me what she wanted, and I sat down at the sewing machine--the same one that I watched my mom sew on back in Junior High and High School--and sewed it. I started with a pair of sweat pants (it was a cool evening) and cut some shiny fabric out in the same shape as the legs, only bigger (I was going for the "poofy" effect, but didn't quite attain it). Then I sewed one leg, then the other, then sewed them together. Next I sewed them at the ankles, adding the bling (the shiny medallions hanging down), then I sewed them at the waist. Next I cut a waist band, sewed it into a sock, and then sewed it onto the waist (again, adding the bling--you can never have too much bling if you're a 3-year-old!). It turned out really cute, I though (and not a bad freshman effort, IMHO). When we returned from trick or treating, the crotch had split--I guess I didn't add enough wiggle room! 

So Melissa went out and bought new pumpkin carving tools, and they were the fancy kind--the kind that comes with a book of patterns. And then I asked Madeline to pick out a pattern that she liked. She had to pick out the most difficult one! I don't think I've ever taken so long to carve a pumpkin before, but you can see the result above. I thought it was pretty cool, though if you look closely you can see parts breaking off...I didn't even notice until I took a look at the picture. I made a copy of the book's pattern before carving the pumpkin so that it can be reused in the future. However, I think I'll steer Madeline (or Emmie or Ella) away from the most difficult ones next year! 

These Shoes are...Evil

The other morning, my 3-year-old daughter came into my office asking for help putting on her shoes. They were some black shoes that I knew she liked to wear. However, when I told her how beautiful I thought her shoes were, she told me, "They're not beautiful--they're evil!" I'm not sure where that came from, but hopefully we won't have a case like in the Hans Christian Andersen story, The Red Shoes.

Ad Sense

You may have noticed that I now have ads on my blog. Sorry if this annoys you--I tried to make them as nondescript as possible (i.e. small). I earned 3 cents yesterday, I think because I clicked on a couple of ads. Anyway, I just thought I would try it out to see if anybody wants to help send my kids to college, or pay off my house, or whatever. :-) If you have a website, you too can earn money from it. Just go here.

Inspired...by my Daughter

I was inspired by my daughter, Madeline, last night. Here's the story. I got home after my girls had gone to bed, so I went in to kiss them good night. Madeline rolled over and said, "We're giving a bunch of our toys to the kids who lost everything in the hurricane." I told her that was great, and that I was very proud of her. After I left the room, I immediately went and got a bunch of my clothes that I felt could be used better by someone who really needed them rather than just sitting in my closet or in my clothes drawer. I had been "meaning to" do that for some time, but it wasn't until my daughter told me about giving some of her toys that I actually did it. Thank you, Madeline, for being my inspiration for helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina!

My Company

I've often thought how it would be cool that my answer, when someone asked me where I worked, would be recognizable. People recognize companies such as HP, Sun, Microsoft. The list goes on. Some people might even attach some sort of rank--"Oooh. He works for Cisco--he must be smart!" The company that I work for is not large, but we're very good at what we do. I much prefer to work with a great group of not only competent but exceptional people than to work for a large, globally-recognized company. The company that I work for is called RDA, and here is an example of the exceptional work that some of my colleagues have done: mms://wm.microsoft.com/ms/windowsserversystem/facts/videos/Independence_Air_email.wmv [If that link doesn't work, then click here and then play the video for Independence Air. You'll need Windows Media Player for it to work, I think, but of course this is Microsoft's site so what do you expect?] This short video demonstrates how Independence Air moved from a Java-based architecture to a Microsoft Windows-based architecture. Our CEO is prominently featured, too. Anyway, this is just one way for me to be able to tell my friends and family about my company, even if they still have no idea what I really do for a living! :-)

The End of Credit Card Applications!

I came across this site today. It is free to put your name on the opt-out list (or would that be "remove your name from the opt-in list?), so I put my name there as well as my wife's. Now let's see the number of credit card offers showing up in my mail box drop down to zero! I can't wait!

Cool Technology

This looks cool: http://www.maxivista.com/

I have a couple of computers lying around, so I'll post back here if I give it a try. Not sure if it will work on my Commodore 64, though!

:-)

Fun With IT Marketing

The folks at Microsoft just have too much time on their hands. I can understand wanting a kick-ass marketing strategy for a new product (or at least a new version of an existing product), but I think that this may be overkill. Of course, I did go through the entire site just to see what all was there... Here it is! Just click here to see what I have to look forward to in my work. Favorite quote: "You the man! The man the man the man!"

First Day of School!

First day of school was a success. Madeline came home saying, "First grade is awesome!" We all managed to get up early enough to ride the bus, and then Melissa and I remembered at about the right time to head to the bus stop to pick her up. It must have been over 100 degrees in the sun--I'm glad we were running a bit late so that we didn't have to wait for the bus too long! Emmie will start preschool in a few more weeks. Expect another post a that time!

"That Made My Day!"

Melissa overheard Emmie talking to a friend of Madeline's. The friend mentioned that her dad doesn't come home until 11 at night and that she hardly sees him.

Melissa then heard Emmie say, "I get to have breakfast with my dad every morning!" She was very excited and proud that she got to do that.

That put a big smile on my face, and it still does each time I think about it!

Our Trip to Six Flags

I took Madeline to Six Flags over Georgia yesterday. She rode her first roller coasters! I started her off pretty easy with the "Canyon Blaster"--a small roller coaster in the kids section of the part. The whole ride took less than 90 seconds. On the contrary, it took well over 2 minutes to get people off and then get the next people on...

She LOVED it!

Next we rode the Dahlonega Mine Train--twice! It's a longer and bumpier ride, but she loved it, too.

After riding some other rides I managed to get her on the Scream Machine. She was scared stiff, even before we got onto the ride. Just standing in line she told me that she didn't want to ride it. I just sort of paid no attention to her comments and got her on there anyway. I made sure to put my arm around her head, though, so that it wouldn't get banged up--those wooden roller coasters certainly do knock you around! Well, at the end of the ride I couldn't tell whether she wanted to kill me or ride it again. Eventually she said that she wanted to do it again, though we ended up riding some other rides that she also wanted to do, instead.

The very last ride that we rode was "Thunder River". That should have been one of the first rides that we rode, because we both ended up UNDERNEATH the water fall and got completely SOAKED! Melissa was smart--she packed a change of clothes for Madeline. I, on the other hand, drove home wet...

In short, we both had a blast, and Madeline wants to know when we can do it again.

Emmie With Her Pink Cast 

Broken Arm

Well, it finally happened. My three-year-old broker her arm! I was downstairs with some neighbors that we had over for drinks when I hear a horrible scream coming from upstairs. This was after I had been up there several times telling the girls (who share a room) that they needed to be quiet. So I headed upstairs ready to tan some hides... I was met in the hallway by my older two daughters coming out of their room, the younger one crying. I gave her a hug and asked her what was wrong when she showed me her arm. It looked like it had an extra elbow in it! I immediately picked her up, took her downstairs, and told my wife that I was taking her to the emergency room. I showed her a quick glimpse of the arm and then took her to the car, scrambled to put some shoes on, get my wallet and keys, and then sped to the closest children's hospital. When we got there, they weighed her, gave her a shot of morphine, and told me that they didn't have the capability to set it correctly. So after they put a splint on her arm and took some x-rays, I sped down to Scottish Rite, near I-285 and GA 400 (which is about 25 miles from home). The first place I went to was a satellite office, so they sent the x-rays on ahead. On 400 south, I almost got into a wreck because of some idiots in front of me who didn't know how to merge! [As an aside, if you are right next to someone and your lane is ending, you need to either speed up or slow down to get over into the lane next to you. Actually, that wasn't the problem. It was the idiot in the lane that wasn't ending who was ALSO slowing down, even though there was no one in front! That was the car that I was behind when I noticed that there was no way I could stop in time to avoid becoming a fixture on his (or her) back bumper, so I took a brief glance at my right rearview mirror (it was the left lane that was closing), didn't see anyone, and swerved around them. The V8 in the Ford Expedition failed me not, and I was back on my way to take care of my little girl without a scratch.] I had been to Scottish Rite before, so I pulled into the same entrance I was used to pulling into. However, as I found out later, it was not the emergency entrance. I had to walk down several halls, go down the elevator, and then walk some more, only to find myself in the back entrance of the emergency room. They were a little busy, but they put us in a room right away and proceeded to triage her. They had some ladies on staff whose job it was to make the kids feel better about being there--for instance they showed us the "special straw" that they were going to put into my little girl's hand so that her hand could drink up some medicine. My personal feeling is that they were more annoying than anything else--my daughter is 3 years old, after all--she doesn't like strangers in her face telling her things she doesn't know anything about. All my daughter knew was that something was wrong with her arm, and then some other people stuck her in the leg with a needle (for the morphine). But one cool thing was that they had a Viewmaster with them that my daughter was watching while they inserted the catheter, so that worked out pretty well. They asked her what color cast she wanted--red, blue, pink, or purple (whatever happened to white?), and she chose pink--her favorite color. Not that she knew what a cast was! They decided that in order to set her arm correctly that they would sedate her, which I don't blame them for. I would have wanted to be sedated, too! Also, they used some sort of continuous x-ray to make sure that the bones were aligning correctly, so they didn't allow me in the room for that part, which was fine--my daughter was knocked out anyway--so I called Melissa to let her know what was going on. A few minutes later they came to get me, and there was my daughter, still groggy, with a hot pink cast on her arm, but at least her arm was straight again. They showed me the x-rays of her arm, and I must say that I was impressed--they got it about as straight as was possible! [I still have a bump on my arm from when I broke it back in 1976!] So now, a few days later, she's getting around pretty well. Almost too well--we have to slow her down a bit to keep from knocking her arm up even more! She still asks what that "thing" is on her arm and why it has to be there. I just explain that her bones broke and the cast is there to take the place of her bones until they heal. I don't think it has quite sunk in, though, yet. It may not. So there's my story. After talking to my oldest daughter I got what I think is the rest of the story. Emmie had piled a bunch of stuff on top of her bed and then either jumped of lost her balance and fell off. She broke bother her ulna and radius of her left arm, about midway between her wrist and elbow. It was pretty nasty looking, and I still get the willies when I think about it! Arms just don't bend that way naturally! One final note: We have some friends who have a 3-year-old son who plays with Emmie, and when they told him that Emmie broke her arm because she fell off the bed, he got so scared that he won't get back in his bed. He's been sleeping in his crib!

Field Day Update

Ok, so Madeline came home with a ribbon, but it wasn't for placing in one of her events. Everyone got a silver ribbon with blue lettering on it (the school's colors) that says "Field Day" on it. I guess that's better than nothing at all, but I still think an awards ceremony would have been cool.

Field Day!

OMG, I had so much fun this morning! I just came back from volunteering at my oldest daughter's school for Field Day. That in itself brought back a lot of memories, although I don't think this field day had any of the same elements as the field days that I remember as a kid. Except, of course, the tug-of-war! I remember actually keeping score and having one class be the "winner" of field day. I remember signing up for certain events and only competing in those. I remember blue, red, and yellow (Or was it green? I guess I don't remember everything!) ribbons for placing first, second, or third in your event. No, in this Field Day everyone participated in everything. Each class divided into two teams. One class was at each station at each time, and when the coach blew the airhorn they moved on to the next station. We didn't keep score. There were no ribbons. There was no one class that "won" Field Day. I guess the kids these days can't handle competition like when I was young! I volunteered to help out, not sure of what I would be doing. I was the first volunteer there, so I got to choose my "station". I chose what the coach called, "Crazy Croquet". It was done as a relay, and the balls were those big Swiss balls that you find in gyms and Pilates classes. The kids paired up and dribbled the balls through giant arcs, which I think were made from 2 hula hoops that were opened up and joined together, if that makes sense. There were three of these arcs, two in front and one in the back. Each team would go through the arc on their side, and then both teams would go through the arc in the back, and then go back through the arc on their side and then pass the ball to the next kids in line. It was pretty funny watching those Kindergarteners try to kick those big balls around! Some did really well, some rolled over the top of the ball! We had about 7 classes, and out of all the kids we ended up with one skinned knee and about 5 kids who got a little shook up when they toppled over the top of the ball. I guess those numbers aren't too bad. The song "Wipeout" kept going through my mind while watching... At the very end, after each class made its way through each of the stations, came the tug-of-war. This time we had one class pulling against another class. But we still didn't keep score or anything. May daughter's class lost to the class they were pulling against. I was there cheering them on and trying to give pointers (lean back! dig your heels in!), but it didn't help. I had a blast! It sure was better than sitting in front of a computer, which is what I'll be doing now for the rest of the day! [I was reminded that the 3rd place ribbons were white, not green or yellow. I guess I'm losing it! -sj]

Herman Schwartz Lives!

I spoke to my uncle the other day--he mentioned that he is featured in a cyclist's blog at http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/. The blog in particular is called "Sunshine State to Golden State", and my uncle is the "welcoming committee" in LA (hint: look at day 43).

The journal is quite interesting. I started by just looking at all of the pictures that were posted--those by themselves are interesting enough--and now I'm slowly working my way through the narrative of each day on the cross-country trek. It's interesting to know that these guys rode pretty close to where I used to live in Northwest Florida. Makes me want to take up cycling...

Anyway, Herman I know you're reading--I just wanted to share the link (indirectly, anyway). I already sent the link to mom and Cheryl.

Rocks and Spiders

I moved a bunch of rocks last weekend. These rocks have been sitting underneath what will one day be my kids' swingset. They were there way too long! I built a stone retaining wall, but very slowly--I'll post a picture some day... Anyway, I noticed something when moving the rocks: if there are leaves attached to the rock, check for spiders. I saw lots of them, mostly black widow spiders. The largest black widow spider that I saw had a leg span of about an inch and a half! Yes, I was wearing gloves. Yes, I killed lots of spiders.

Hail Storm, April 12, 2005

This is truly one of the most brilliant rainbows I have ever seen! The sun came out shortly after the hail storm left and there was a lot of mist in the air, still. Shortly after I took this picture, the ground started creating fog--all of the hail cooled off the ground air and it looked like somone left the freezer door open--one HUGE freezer door, that is!

Hail Storm, April 12, 2005

This is a mound of hail that came down the downspout! There was still some left the next morning!

Hail Storm, April 12, 2005

Here you can see the hail that collected in the yard. Yes, I waited until the storm stopped before going out to take any pictures and assess any damage (didn't see any, except for lots of new leaves that fell off of my trees).

Hail Storm, April 12, 2005

Hail collecting on the deck. You can see it coming down, still--look for the white streaks on the left-hand side of the picture about 1/4 the way down from the top.

Ella and Nana at Ella's Christening

Ella's Christening on February 27th.

Ella and Papa at Ella's Christening

Ella's Christening on February 27th.

Ella with Nana and Oma at Ella's Christening

Ella's Christening on February 27th.

Serious Business

Serious Business Ok, so I finally got this Hello thing working. Expect more pictures! This is my 5-month-old daughter, Ella, busy swinging. She takes it very seriously. :-)

Hello?

Ok, so I mentioned that I wanted to see how Picasa and Hello would work to send pictures to this, my blog...I've tried a couple of times to download and install Hello, but it's not working. I used the same username as I do for logging on to this blog, but it keeps going back to the "choose a user name" screen without any error messages. I should probably try a different user name, but then I run the risk of forgetting what it is! As an aside, one day I'll take a closer look at the settings for this blog and embellish it a bit. The right- and left-columns are a bit bare at the moment!

Headed Back to Houston

I'm heading back to Houston, TX, tonight. This project should be over soon, and then perhaps I'll get a project near home so I can be with my family. I never wanted to be a traveling spouse, but that is what my work has handed me for the moment... The project is a BizTalk implementation, and it's nearly complete. It'll be a joyous day when it's done!

New Blog

I suppose all blogs start out this way..."I don't know what to write", "I never thought I would have a blog", etc. Same here. I'll probably forget all about it