Buying gifts always seems difficult. I know I am not easy to get something for. I’ve been thinking about it and thought of some uncommon but good gift ideas. A cheap Ukulele You can get an acceptable one for under $50. It’s much easier to play than you might expect. You don’t need to finger…
We recently went to see Josh Johnson, one of the hosts of The Daily Show, perform his standup act. Unfortunately, I was deeply disappointed with the experience. It was a perfect storm of problems, some of which were not his fault. The Environment The show was at the Fox Oakland theater, seating over 2,800 people.…
I started taking photos and videos of my life and family about 25 years ago. I have them as a screensaver on this computer. It brings me happiness to look back on those photos after many years. I have over 180gigs worth of media compiled. Timeline of storage Recently, Onedrive has been experimenting with reading…
We have had a large liquid oak tree in front of our house. It grew and grew for decades. Eventually it started to break the sidewalk and encroach on the foundation of the house. Very sadly, the city decided that our glorious tree would have to go. The tree provided excellent shade to the house…
Exactly 10 years ago, we got a red foot tortoise as a pet. Ningami was a friendly creature who liked to have his shell rubbed and would do a little dance when he was happy. He roamed around my floor and patio eating lettuce and hiding in cardboard boxes. He was a good tortoise. Now…
My dog Leroy recently turns 10 years old. He is a black Labrador retriever. Like many dogs of his breed, he loves to run after tennis balls and frisbees. When he was a puppy, he ran so fast, I thought he must have a racing dog in his ancestry. He never got tired either, he…
My 17 year old son just released his first album on Spotify. He gets paid a fraction of a penny for every stream, so if everyone listens 20 times, it may pay for 12 minutes of college. Just Jared – Self Titled, 2020 My Review The album is really eclectic with a variety of musical…
We recently embarked upon a bathroom upgrade. We had never done something like this before. Certainly, we learned some lessons. In the end, I give us a B+. Here are the lessons and story of the project. Problem and Floor Plans We are actually remodeling two bathrooms. The kids bathroom was too big and the…
Calling people with experience in Washington DC! My eldest son, Ethan, is entering his first year of college at American University. He is new to Washington DC, new to college, new to life outside the nest. Although his major will be political science, he is interested in a little bit of everything. If you are…
My youngest son and I just returned from visiting London for a week. Here are a few thoughts and highlights: Money Apparently, everyone in London takes credit card. We didn’t find one thing that required cash. Next time, I won’t bother with Pounds and instead just use Mastercard on my Google Pay phone. One interesting…
Cute 4 year old My son Matthew at 4 years old Clearly, 4 years old is your maximum cuteness level.
This is The Trees by Rush on Rockband 2 with Jared (8 yrs old) on drums. Expert mode means that he is required to hit the drums exactly the same frequency as the real drummer Neil Peart. He doesn’t get it perfect at all (89% accuracy), but still I am really impressed. He is just getting…
A non-UX post. One of my kids, Ethan, ran for Student Body President of his elementary school. He was up against a dozen other kids. I don’t know the vote tallies, but I will just assume it was a victorious landslide! (Why not?) He said, when he heard the news that he won, it hit…
With Katie on the roadtrip with Ethan, that leaves me alone with the other 2. Man, they are flat out exhausting. It’s one thing after another. Drive here, pick up that thing, drop off that other thing, feed, clean, drive to that other thing, rinse, repeat. How the hell does Katie do this each day?…