"Murphy was an optimist!"
From the mouths of babes November 17, 2014 6:52 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Evan, Family, From the mouths of babes, Of Being DadEvan, 9: "Why do we have a weeping angel [on our bookshelf]?"
Me, with intensity: "Don’t look away!"
Evan: *Looks at me* *pauses* *smacks hand to face* "Oh, I would have been sooo dead!"
Weekend closeout November 16, 2014 10:11 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeJust finished off some client work. Nice way positive way to end the weekend.
Let see, what was Sunday?
Slept in a little.
Worked on client’s site.
Invoiced.
Lunched.
Destroyed kitchen.
Helped child with home work.
Bought cabinet.
Cooked dinner.
Made children cry.
More client work.
More invoicing.
Hmmm. Feels like there was much more than that to the day.
add a commentKitchen remodel November 16, 2014 9:35 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Family, House, Of Being DadI had planned a kitchen remodel for "the future." Mentally, to me, that meant 2016. I figured by then I would have recovered from all our other projects and expenses enough to tackle a DIY kitchen remodel. Then our fridge died. It joined the dead dishwasher. And the dead exhaust fan. And the stove with one dead eye. The time had come, and after a bit of deliberation, we replaced the kitchen appliances. A stainless steel French door refrigerator, dishwasher, electric range, and over the stove microwave appeared in the house. A blackhole appeared in my bank account.
The dishwasher installation required me to replace an electrical run from the kitchen to the breaker box. That was time consuming and not without a few swear words and some blood. After that ordeal, the dishwasher slid easily and nicely into place. But I forgot to cut the discharge hose free so I pulled the dishwasher out. With the hose now neatly run to the disposal, I slid the dishwasher back into place with similar ease. But it wouldn’t level. There was too much of a drop between the flooring and the space under the cabinet. I pulled the dishwasher out and added some wood to the under the cabinet space. But now the dishwasher wouldn’t slide in. I checked the wood. I tape things down. I checked the water line and the electrical line. In the end, the adjusting foot in the back was still extended and snagged then tore the vinyl floor. I can patch it. That installation took all day.
The only piece remaining is the microwave. But we didn’t replace the cabinets. Lingering over the stove is a 42 inch cabinet that once fit perfectly over a 1960s gargantuan electric range suitable for Mrs. Cleaver. Our modern range is 30 inches. We debated centering the range under the existing cabinet then filling the gap between the counter and the range with some handmade shelving for cookie sheets etc. Debated just leaving the range butted up against the counter and hanging the microwave offset instead of centered under the cabinet but that left the question of how to handle the duct work. Plus that would leave the microwave hanging too low to the range. We debated hand making an entire new kitchen’s worth of cabinets but didn’t want to wait 5 years to use our kitchen again. Besides, if I’m going to make my own counters, I’m going to lay down a new tile floor first. In dismay, I pulled up Home Depot’s website. To my surprise, a 30x12x12 wall bridge cabinet in unfinished oak was a mere $48.45 and in stock! This is a no-brainer. I couldn’t build one of that. At $49, it is basically disposable so we can hang it, and when the time comes to remodel, we can replace it.
That said, now I have to debate whether to risk doing this construction over the stove, or moving it and possibly not having a stove for several days while the installation happens.
add a commentSunday mornings November 16, 2014 10:15 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Dharma, Family, Of Being Dad, Pets, WestleyThe cat wants to play fetch while the dog wants to be on the other side of the door.
add a commentROI November 15, 2014 12:07 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeIf all my efforts result in such mediocre returns, why try at all?
add a commentAnd then the money was gone November 15, 2014 8:03 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeKickerstarter.com is to geeks what Publisher’s Clearing House Sweepstakes is to old people; a rapid way to spend your money and later wonder why stuff you don’t need keeps showing up in the mail.
add a commentFun things to do in the men’s public restrooms November 15, 2014 5:02 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeOnce in the stall, hold do the home button on your iPhone so Siri Beeps then don’t type anything so Siri’s female loudly says “Sorry, I missed that” while I’m sitting in a public restroom.
If the same number of people as stalls enter at the same time, once in the stall announce, "Gentleman, start your engines!"
add a commentDeep Thoughts November 14, 2014 12:10 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Deep Thoughts, PhilosophyDeveloping a relationship takes a lifetime;
Destroying one takes mere moments.
Think before you speak.
Of Grasshopper November 14, 2014 11:22 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Of Grasshoppers, PhilosophyStudent: It is amazing how quickly a good day can go bad!
Master: With very little effort, the opposite is true too.
What do you want to eat? November 12, 2014 1:18 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Cathy, Daily Life, Family, Of Being DadLanguage warning! I so relate to this video.
add a commentRIP Nabaztag aka Karotz November 10, 2014 7:46 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Gadgets, TechnologyNO! One of my favorite Internet devices, and one of the first Internet of Things, and MY personal (technically my daughter Sarah’s) first Internet appliance, the Nabaztag later renamed Karotz, is dead.
Karotz was the predecessor to Jibo, Philips Hue lighting, and the Amazon Echo doing such feats as reading text messages aloud to you, reading RSS feeds, indicating the weather through color changing LEDs, allowing your connected friends to interact with you by manipulating your rabbit via sounds, spinning ears, spoken words, and flashing lights.
Thank you Philip, the Blue Sloth, for introducing me to the Nabaztag, and for the fun interactions we had from house to house. Two strangers in real life, friends in a virtual world, who met through blogging, and sent spontaneous spoken messages to each other through an electronic rabbit. That connection was severed when support ended for Nabaztag v1. Our digital world has an innate ability to conquer physical, emotional, political, religious, socioeconomic, and other divides. This rabbit did just that.
"Originally launched on the market in 2005 under the name of Nabaztag, Karotz has been a pioneer in the field of connected and communicating devices.
The very active community around this rabbit has widely contributed to make it so popular.Today, nearly 10 years after its first appearance, Karotz is facing a very strong technological competition: the connected devices are now 4G, mobile and evolutionary. Karotz and its users have not only helped establish connected devices; they have paved the way. New products make a stronger match to market needs, marking the end of Karotz’s great story.
To keep on offering you innovative and endearing companions, Aldebaran is refocusing on our core business: humanoid robots.
Therefore Karotz’s servers and customer service will be stopped on February 18th, 2015.
Bruno Maisonnier,
Aldebaran CEO"
http://karotz.com/
- Philip’s latest works can be found at The Griffin Series.
- Buy the Philips Hue lighting system at Amazon
.
What day of the week is this?! Oh, Sunday. November 9, 2014 11:08 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeThe US post office just delivered a package from Amazon. I must have awoken in a parallel universe where they deliver mail on the weekends.
add a commentWhy did I buy a Macbook Pro? November 9, 2014 10:34 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Hardware, TechnologyI bought a Macbook Pro because in the time it took my Windows laptop to install 3 updates and reboot I used the Macbook Pro to install a security certificate, troubleshoot a malfunctioning website, create a test database and remove that test database, and a bit more. Is the PC laptop old? In all fairness, it is 4 years old so it is at the end of its life. None-the-less, this Macbook Pro kicks butt!
add a commentDoes your vote count? Only if you vote. November 6, 2014 10:43 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Local Politics, Politics, Touchy SubjectsOn November 4, 2014, Knox County had 104734 people vote on Amendment 1 altering the state’s constitution to give government control over a woman’s body. In 2013, 444622 lived in Knox County. That means 24% of the population decided to vote.
102554 people voted on Amendment 2.
95443 people voted on Amendment 4.
What does this mean? In short, Knox County allowed roughly the same number of people who show up to a football game on Saturday to decide to change the state of Tennessee’s constitution.
2016 is not far away. Get registered to vote. Learn the issues. Ignore the marketing. Make educated decisions. VOTE!
add a commentMissed moments November 4, 2014 7:25 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Family, Of Being Dad, Software, TechnologyChildren grow too fast. And we have too much to do in too little time. I see things on the Internet and I am deeply moved. Often, I am moved to sadness. For instance, this video (h/t Victor Agreda Jr) is a fantastic means to explain an open API to someone. As I watch it, I feel a giddiness over the explanation and the hopes of using it to explain APIs to my children, and I feel a heaviness in my chest, for I have never played War, or many card games, with my children.
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