Reality Me

Blog

  • From the mouths of babes

    iPhone: *barrrring bringg*
    Amy, 8 years old: "What’s our family’s email address?"
    Me: "Um. What do you need it for?"
    Amy: "I want to comment on videos on Youtube."
    Me: "Uh. We need to talk…"

  • Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

    A Tiny Day in the Jackson Hole Backcountry from Tristan Greszko on Vimeo.

    This looks like something that belongs on Adult Swim.

  • Knoxville STEM School Excites Students

    The student/parent orientation and final tour of the STEM school before major renovation begins was this week. Noah received his official acceptance letter and will be one of 43 students in the sophomore class. A graduating class of 43! My graduating class from Germantown High School in 1988 was 672 people. I can only imagine how unique and special Noah’s education will be. The orientation was akin to a family reunion. Everyone seemed to know each other and be very like minded with regard to the goals of education. The principal is extremely enthusiastic. I have high hopes and think the Knoxville STEM Academy will do great! Oh, one of the highlights was the announcement that all students will be issued an iPad 2. There will be no textbooks. I’m thrilled and I’m thrilled for Noah.

    Video source: WBIR.

  • Heard in 5 states!

    What was I doing this morning between 9am and 10am? Hanging out with Bob Thomas, Ed Brantley, Mike Howard, and Brian Hornback on WNOX‘s The Ed and Bob Show! I had a blast! I hope they do this segment again. I think we could have talked for 8 hours on various blogging topics. Shoot, privacy and safety could be an entire show.

  • Where’s the Jeep?!

    JeepI wish Clara Peller was still around to narrate this post for me. She could squawk out, "Where’s the Jeep?" See, last night was the parent and student orientation for Knoxville’s newest high school, the STEM Academy and my 14 year old son will be attending in the fall as a sophomore. With a household of seven, mobilizing our crew is no simple matter and when the plans get changed at the last minute, anything goes. Last night the plan changed to me staying at my client’s office and the family picking me up for the orientation. The STEM school orientation was incredible. The principal is so enthusiastic and everything about the school fits into my vision of the future of our education down to the students being assigned iPad 2’s! The gathering was like a reunion. So many familiar faces showed that it felt like family and the school hasn’t even opened. But that’s for another post. Where’s the Jeep? Well, we left so excited (and with a 5 and 8 year old up past bedtimes) that we just drove home. Muscle memory steered the van, not logic. And the sad, forgotten Jeep stayed somewhere overnight in its lonely parking spot, leaving me this morning with but one question…how do I get to my client’s office today?!

    n.b. The Neon has an engine that goes cachug kachug cachug right now and expired tags so it’s not an option. Taking the van strands Cathy at home.

  • Tune in tomorrow 9-10am

    Radio tower detailTomorrow, April 6, 2011 from 9am to 10am, I’ll be discussing blogging with Brian Hornback (Twitter: @brianhornback), Ed Brantley and Bob Thomas on WNOX‘s 100.3 The Ed & Bob Show (listen live online). You can interact with Ed and Bob on Facebook and Twitter. I suspect you can call in with questions or feel free to use twitter to send messages to @djuggler or post in comments here. This will be a blast!

  • Monday

    Oh Monday…

    • can’t find parking pass
    • tags on Jeep expired
    • shoe rubbing heel raw
    • fingers cut to pieces from shingling in the dark
    • iPhone feels dirty since I haven’t been able to restore it from its latest backup
    • one eye itching and watery…no, Spriiiing
    • head filled with smog
    • today needs to be my administrative day where I just deal with the bureaucracy in my life
    • the lights are too bright
    • Rain coming and the roof ridge on the club house needs 2 hours or so.
    • still no toilet in the upstairs bathroom although progress was made on drywall
    • client obligations weighing heavy on my mind

  • My April/May 2011 Juggling Performances

    This is my upcoming performance schedule.

    • April 15 11:15-11:30 and noon-12:15 – UT’s International Festival on the UC Plaza. Fire will be allowed.
    • April 15 3:00-3:30 Dogwood Art’s festival children’s stage near Krutch Park downtown – Fire will be allowed.
    • April 16 5:00-8:30 Zoo-to-do juggling at the Knoxville Zoo. No fire. LED show if darkness comes soon enough.
    • April 17 4:00-4:30 Dogwood Art’s festival children’s stage near Krutch Park downtown – Fire will be allowed.
    • April 30 time tbd (event is 8-5) Dogwood Art’s Chalk Wallk walk-around juggling in Market Square and Krutch Park – details still being worked out. Probably a G to PG-13 rated crowd since this will be atmospheric/walk-around the performances will be shorter more adhoc depending on what crowd gathers to watch. Fire will be based upon each location that is density of the crowd, nearness to flammables, etc. You know.. the standard safety considerations.
    • May 6 5-8:30 Dreamnight at the Zoo with Children’s Hospital – the event is for children with severe ongoing medical concerns and terminal illness. – No fire. LED equipment if darkness comes soon enough.
    • May 7 10-11:30 (probably more like 10:45-11:30 – event is 10am-2pm and the only slot taken is 11:30-noon when Michael Messing performs magic). The event is Children’s Mental Health Week sponsored by TN Voices for Children and will be near Krutch Park.

    If you are interested in joining me on any of these endeavors, just let me know. Obviously most of the events are G-rated but I think we can have a little more fun with the UT students. Note: At this point, none of the performances are likely to be amp’d ie. no microphones or PAs. I currently do not have a passing partner for any of these events. If you want to pass with me or have some solo time at one of these events, please let me know. Don’t sell your skills short. If you learn to pass clubs Monday night, you’re already good enough! Performances are much less about perfect juggling and far more about audience engagement.

    Juggle til you drop!

  • Computer Lesson of the Day

    If you find yourself asking, "I wonder how hot that heat sink is?" use an infrared thermometer not your fingers! If you do use your fingers, it leaves neato yet painful parallel grayish lines on your fingers.

  • Deep Thoughts

    If a dog shits in the woods, and I’m not there to step in it, do I still have to clean my floors?

  • NASA Plays God

    I learn something new every day. Today I learned how to make my neighbors move.

  • Dogboarding

    So wrong, yet so right.

    Dogboarding from DANIELS on Vimeo.

  • What does a teenage girl do to a car?

    Or maybe the question should be "what doesn’t a teenage girl do to a car?" Because the answer would be "maintenance."

    Today the inside of the Jeep was drenched. I look at the Neon parked in the driveway and recognize that I have not inspected it in quite some time. My simple instruction to the teenage driver was "Make sure it has oil and tell me when any problems arise." I once drove it an eon ago to find that the speedometer worked…sometimes. So this teenage driver was guessing how fast she was going. How she avoided tickets was beyond me. With a little research, I learned it was a common problem among the Dodge Neon’s and the fix was to remove the instrument panel and resolder the connections. She claims to have had no problems with the speedometer after that but the fact she never told me about it in the first place should have been a clue about how future problems would be addressed (er, ignored).

    First thing I noticed this morning? No oil! 2nd? Check engine light. The inside of the car is filthy. The trunk/boot is full of what appears to be half Goodwill, a quarter stuff sent home from the grandparents, and 1/4 teen’s stuff. A positive! The tires look great. A negative. The transmission slips (you’d think she’d mention that one). Oh, and the windshield wipers are worthless. But it did perform well on the Interstate.

    I suppose if I were a better father, she and I would have spent many a weekend together performing maintenance on the car. Teen driver 2 approaches so I’ll have a chance to do better.

    Update 29-March: Changed the oil today. Discovered the transmission had no fluid whatsoever. Not even sure how the car was moving.

  • Dear Apple.. an obvious feature request

    Dear Apple, when can I have the ability to prevent my children from moving or deleting items in my iOS device (iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad)? I’d also like to give them the ability to use the device without accessing particular applications. I’m not asking for user profiles but at least give me the ability to demand a system password for moving and deleting apps and give me the ability to use the same system password to lock selected applications (or screens) so that my financial and business applications aren’t accessible while they use their games and educational applications. Thank you! Doug, father to 5 children in a household of 4 iOS devices (and growing) that often change hands.

  • The vicarious busker

    In the middle of 1993, I decided to spend three months in the dance studios of the upper floors of Knoxville’s Candy Factory practicing my dance, pantomime, comedy and choreographing my juggling routines in preparation to hike Europe while living off the rewards of my busking. I had successfully busked the corner of Jackson Avenue and Central on the corner of Manhattan’s for 12 weeks every Friday and Saturday night making at least $50 a night sometimes working as little as two hours which was better than the tips I made on a full shift waiting tables at Shoney’s plus someone usually bought me a beer or two. My "success" in Knoxville along with the encouragement of a friend who had eight years experience juggling for money (2 on the streets, 6 on the cruise line/college circuits) left me confident that I would eat well, pay my bills, and stay in nice hotels and if that didn’t work out my friend had advised me on how to sleep under a bush without getting arrested or having equipment stolen.

    By the end of 1993, I was making $13000 a year working 70 hours a week with 4 other smelly guys in a tiny, cramped motel room which had been converted to a software development office with desks made out of doors on filing cabinets. The shower doubled as storage and a sound room for recording audio. Another room was reserved for artists, one for customer service, and two for packaging and shipping.

    My European ship sailed and I now live vicariously through the videos of buskers such as Street Show Keith.

    Street Show Keith from StopDropAndRoll Inc. on Vimeo.