Year: 2007

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Oh Deer!

Cathy and I don’t get much adult social time. Between work and the children, we live fairly sequestered. Last night we took a break to have a social gathering with our friends that helped School Matters come be. The home of our host was not too far from our own and was lovely! Unlike the modern bulldoze and prefab on a flat property, this house was built with the contours of the land. Aside from visiting and conversing with adults, the best part was as we unloaded Amy and Evan from the van, two doe passed not 20 meters away from us!

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How do I help him?

His TCAPS (standardized testing) scores are through the roof. He doesn’t lack for intelligence. His eyes are fine. But my 11 year old son can stare at something and not see it! No it is better than that. He can kick something and still not find it. This morning he is looking for his tent and he goes in the garage where the tents are stacked. He says, "I found Sarah’s dome tent but I can’t find mine." I look into the garage and from 16 feet away I can see that his tent is directly under Sarah’s tent. I ask him to look again. He kicks his tent as he uses his foot to move Sarah’s. Then he stares down at his tent for a few seconds. Then he looks up at me and declares, "I just don’t know where it is."

This is where television dads have the benefit of a writing staff that has prepared their response. Your first drafts flash through your head almost as quickly as your response comes out of your mouth. Most of the drafts involve words you really don’t want your son to hear. Some are funny but still unspeakable. You try hard to remember the 7 Habits of Highly Successful Dads and resolve yourself to be moderately successful. I chose to tell him "you just kicked your tent" but I couldn’t help but inquire "how did you not see it?" He gave me clue, "I thought it was over there." I think he is predetermining an outcome and convincing himself that is the only possible outcome. As a father I want to steer him on a good path; as a philosopher I have to remember he has to walk his own path; as a stunned bystander, I have to pray that this is just a pre-teen, hormonal phase.

Of course, it prompts my daily reminder to Noah: "You should never do drugs!"

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Retraining the sleep pattern

Last night I began an experiment to change my sleep cycle. Most recently I have trained my body to go to sleep at 10:30pm and wake as early as 2am but more often between 4am and 6am.

My new sleep pattern will be to be at 8:30pm and wake at 12:30am, 1:30am or 2:30am. Last night was hard. I think I need coffee to make this work. Once it is stabilized and regular, I will have 4-8 hours of disturbance free productivity everyday!

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The 7 Habits of Highly Successful Fathers

The ririanproject brings us today’s words of wisdom. Go read the the details!

A great father makes all the difference in a kid’s life…

  1. Keeping stress to yourself.
  2. Leading by example.
  3. Being consistent.
  4. Staying involved.
  5. Scheduling family recreation.
  6. Teaching.
  7. Creating family rituals.

[Source, ririanproject]

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Put @RedCross in your Twitter

What is Twitter? I feel that Twitter is still defining itself. Essentially, Twitter is an ongoing chat designed to be easily accessible from your cell phone via SMS which is why messages have a 140 character limit. The limit also forces you to be concise in your thought. Twitter puts us closer to people of importance or influence in our lives. (That’s not a Joe Biden endorsement..just showing that you can get a message to Joe Biden via Twitter easier than a phone call) Several other presidential candidates are using Twitter. The shakers and movers in the tech industry are using Twitter and I have been able to interact with a couple of people that otherwise would have remained "that famous person on the stage at the tradeshow." Today I even cracked a joke at Wil Wheaton in response to his tweet although I doubt he saw it. There is still some debate about whether or not a person receives your @ message if they are not following you. I say yes as long as the @ is the first character. You cannot direct message someone unless they are following you.

So why add RedCross? Because it is another way to make sure emergency information is getting into people’s hands as rapidly as possible. They are even using Twitter to add people to a searchable database showing you are safe and well!

Send ‘D safeandwell FIRSTNAME LASTNAME #### STREET CITY STATE ZIP CELLPHONE’ and a brief note about how you are. We’ll enter you in.

about 12 hours ago from web

Check out Safe&Well: https://disastersafe.redcro… – and *make sure* all your friends and family include it in their disaster plans. about 12 hours ago from web

I think Twitterers will fall into one or more of three types:

  1. Exhibitionists, Voyeurs, Gossips – These are the folks that will send/read a stream of messages about the minutia of daily life
  2. News feeds – These are the folks alerting the world about their experiences with the California fires, or the next big event. These are the newspapers getting the headlines out. These are people like myself alerting others that the Interstate is at a stand still.
  3. Topic Specific – These would be people sharing information about a particular subject. Unlike news feeds these will often include back and forth discussions about the topic.
    I originally had this one listed as "Techies" because that is what I do: Techies – These are the people sharing links to events in the technical world. Unlike a news feed, these will often include back and forth discussions on the ins and outs of technical issues.
  4. [added November 10, 2008] Spammers – People taking advantage of the tendency to follow those who follow you simply to draw attention to a product or website. The Twitter staff and others are trying to minimize the ability for people to spam through Twitter.
  5. [added November 10, 2008] Utility – such as how The RedCross has used Twitter to make accessing the Safe and Well database easier.

I suppose I should include a 4th classification "self-promoters/spammers" which would be people that use Twitter exclusively for trying to drive traffic to their sites. Twitter can drive traffic!

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How green are you? Open your windows!

In case you haven’t noticed, the weather has turned. Fall is here! And right now, at least in Knoxville, the temperature couldn’t be more perfect. Several days ago I turned off our air conditioner and opened the windows. Not only am I enjoying the outdoor sounds, such as rain and birds, I can expect a lower electrical bill. Imagine if an entire city turned off their air conditioners and opened the windows!

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LOST: Jin Kwon is going to die!

Chalk another LOST character’s death up to DUI! People! Get a cab.

Daniel Dae Kim, one of the star’s of ABC’s hit TV series, “Lost,” was arrested by Honolulu Police officers early this morning for allegedly driving drunk. Kim was released after posting bail and waded through media with his head down, and without comment. … The characters of Rodriguez, Watros, and Akinnuoye-Agbaje were all written off of the show in the season following their arrest. [Source, Truemors]

Update: Daniel Dae Kim has apologized in a podcast. I have to track the podcast down. If you have the link please put it in comments.

Daniel Dae Kim…apologized via his publicist… [Source, Truemors

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This sums up my job

If architects had to work like programmers.

Dear Mr. Architect:

Please design and build me a house. I am not quite sure of what I need, so you should use your discretion.

My house should have between two and forty-five bedrooms. Just make sure the plans are such that the bedrooms can be easily added or deleted. When you bring the blueprints to me, I will make the final decision of what I want. Also, bring me the cost breakdowns for each configuration so that I can arbitrarily pick one at a later time.

…

You must be thrilled to be working on as an interesting project as this! To be able to use the latest techniques and materials and to be given such freedom in your designs is something that can’t happen very often. Contact me as soon as possible with your ideas and completed plans.

PS: My wife has just told me that she disagrees with many of the instructions I’ve given you in this letter. As architect, it is your responsibility to resolve these differences. I have tried in the past and have been unable to accomplish this. If you can’t handle this responsibility, I will have to find another architect.

PPS: Perhaps what I need is not a house at all, but a travel trailer. Please advise me as soon as possible if this is the case.
[Source]

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Help Send Cathy and I to BlogWorld – We’ll call it a honeymoon

Southwest Airlines will be sending two people to Las Vegas on November 8th and 9th to attend Blogworld!

Southwest Airlines is proud to be the Official Airline of the BlogWorld Expo, which is being held at the Las Vegas Convention Center on November 8 and 9. This is a huge event promoting blogging and new media…we are offering a package to attend BlogWorld for one creative Nuts
About Southwest reader. This package includes air travel for two on Southwest Airlines to Las Vegas from your closest Southwest city; the good folks at BlogWorld are providing free registration for the Expo; and our friends at the MGM Grand are providing a room for three nights (November 7 through November 9). [Source, Southwest Airlines Blog, Nuts About Southwest]

Cathy has entered the contest and needs your help. Please visit her caption and give her a vote up! You can also vote for my caption. And if you participate in the contest, it helps to mention either "cathymccaughan" or "djuggler" as your referrer. Thanks!