Writing on the iPad

All day long at work I sit at my desk looking at my computer.  When I come home from work the last thing I want to do is go into my office and sit at my desk at my computer.  However, I do want to write, and the best way to do that is by sitting in front of some sort of computing device. Since I've had my iPad it has been great for sitting on the couch and reading or browsing the internet.  Recently it has become my main writing computer as well.

When I first bought the iPad I got an Apple bluetooth keyboard to go along with it.  That is a must if you are going to do any substantial writing.  The onscreen keyboard is okay for tapping out a short email, but anything more than that would drive me insane.  There are a few keyboard cases out there that have been highly rated by users but I haven't tried any of them. These integrated cases would be more convenient than the separate Apple keyboard, but they are also smaller. I don't like to be cramped up. I think the keyboards on the integrated cases would be too small for me. The Apple keyboard is just about right. I think it is the same one you would get if you bought a new iMac. It is Apple so it is a little pricey, but it is nice.  

Google Currents news reader

Yesterday we got an updated Flipboard that will work on the iPhone. In timely fashion today Google releases its fancy news reader known as Google Currents. So far I'm not buying it. I expected more. It isn't as pretty as I thought it would be. The Google search app on the iPad is really good and I use it all the time. I don't see where Currents fits in. From what I can tell Flipboard still blows it away if you are looking to read online content on the iPad.

The gist of Currents is simple: it’s a clean, touch-friendly way to consume your favorite blogs and news sites on your phone and/or tablet. And it looks good — much better, in fact, than most of Google’s other applications."

That quote is from the techcruch article, and I would disagree with it.  Currents promised to be those things, and that is what we expected, however I don't think the finished product delivers. Maybe they rushed it out so Flipboard didn't have a chance to lock in all those iPhone users before Google even had a chance. There is definitely a lot of room for future improvements.

Flipboard for iPhone

I've heard it was coming for a while now and today they finally released the iPhone version of one of my favorite iPad apps. Here is a quote from the blog post from Flipboard.  

The moment so many Flipboard readers have asked for is here: Now you can get Flipboard for iPhone. It’s got everything you know and love about Flipboard, but now designed especially for the way you use your iPhone."

The app looks cool for sure, however it comes nowhere close to offering the utility of the iPad app. I haven't used it a ton, so maybe I haven't seen all the cool stuff it can do. I don't find the idea of reading articles on the iPhone all that appealing. It is good to browse headlines and catch up on quick news, but I have never been a fan of reading longer content on the small screen. The cramped real-estate also takes away that cool magazine feel that the iPad app has.  Still, it is a pretty slick looking app for the iPhone; one of the prettier ones I've ever seen.  Trying to use it just like I use the iPad app probably isn't the most optimal scenario. Maybe if I keep using it I will find more utility. It seems like it might be cool for flipping through pictures. 

Thanksgiving break in 500 words or less

Just a quick update to let you all know what's been going on. We had a good Thanksgiving around here. The days flew by so quickly. The past week went by in a flash. Amanda and her sister did a ton of cooking and it was awesome. We had all the normal Thanksgiving fare. Turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, etc, and of course peanut butter pie. Amanda made a sweet potato casserole that was really good. I can't believe for most of my life I thought sweet potatoes were gross.

Unorganized

Most of the time when people say they are crazy busy they aren't actually crazy busy. They are just unorganized, or unable to prioritize. Right now I feel like I am crazy busy. I feel overwhelmed. I feel like there is no way I can get everything done that I am supposed to get done.  I feel spread thin and unable to focus on a single task to completion.

For a long time I've prided myself on my organization and time management.  I started a new job 6 months ago and my workflow and workload changed significantly. I haven't quite got the hang of it yet, and I'm still struggling to keep things in order.  I will commonly work on something then it will go away for a few weeks, then all the sudden I get a question about it.  I have to dig back through emails and try to remember what was even going on.  This is happening a lot, and I feel like I am wasting time.  I need a better system for sure and I feel like I'm about to make a breakthrough.

Code Overhaul

When I built this blog a couple years ago I started with a very basic vanilla layout and have been tweaking it a ton. At this point the code behind it is a beast. Google has been making a lot of improvements and adding features to the blogger platform, but they require you to have a new standard template for a lot of those things.  I've been putting it off for a long time, but I am finally going to bite the bullet and overhaul the code that sits behind dericbidwell.com.

The final goal is for this site to look *pretty much* exactly as it does right now.  I guess we'll see what I break and go from there.  Bear with me if things looks funky over the next several days.

What did I get myself into with these two?

This isn't the greatest picture I've even taken but I love it. Look at these two crazy girls! I'm not exactly sure what is going on here, but little Amelia's face is amazing.

Late afternoon in the garden

I was going through some pictures I took back in August that I had never really looked at and I really loved this one. I didn't even remember taking it at first. It was so hot that day, and all I could think about was when the weather finally cooled off. Now I'm not sure the cold it is as great as I had built it up to be.

I'm cured... hopefully

All of my little red bumps are gone and I don't have any itchy spots anymore. The places that were the worst on my legs are almost back to normal. It is crazy how taking massive amounts of steroids cleared things up right away. However, I finished up my last pills on Wednesday, so hopefully it doesn't come back. I'm still taking antibiotics for a couple more days.  I'm washing everything I own this weekend.

This past week I also went to the doctor to get blood labs done. I have an appointment for this coming Wednesday for a normal annual checkup.  They already called me and said my blood work looked good but I was slightly dehydrated, so they want to try it again this week. I'm not sure if I have to give blood again or just pee in a cup. Hopefully they are content with the more easily accessible bodily fluid. Once I get all this taken care of  the next thing I need to do is make an appointment to get my eyes checked. I have a feeling I am going to have to get glasses. I guess this is what happens when you get old.

Impetigo Update

It has been a week since I first went to the doctor and found out I had some strange bacterial infection. I've been taking three different meds, but my steroids ran out on Tuesday. The area of my leg that was the worst had gotten much better by then, but I was starting to get random bumps at other places on my legs. I was getting a little worried, but I just kept taking my antibiotics.

This morning I woke up and I had red bumps all over my hands. They don't look nearly as bad as what I have on my legs, but they were definitely spreading as the day went on. The hand bumps were getting really itchy and the leg bumps weren't getting any better. I decided to go back to the doctor. He said that I probably did have impetigo on my leg, and that antibiotics were going to continue to help with that. However, the sores from the impetigo had led to another infection and that was in my bloodstream and it was taking over. Awesomesauce!

Impetigo

Things have been busy with us lately. For the last 3 weeks I have been gone more than I have been home. I took a trip for work to PA, then a couple days after I got back we drove up to Indiana for a week of vacation.  It was our first long car trip with the baby, and she did great.  Anyway, a couple days before we were leaving to drive north I started getting red bumps on my leg.  Amanda had poison ivy not too long ago, so we assumed that I had it too. 

I've had poison ivy a few times in my life.  Luckily every other time I've just had a few itchy bumps and then it goes away.  No big deal.  This was different.  As the week went on it got worse. Way worse.  The last couple days of our trip I had open sores on my leg and it started popping up in other patches.  We called the doctor and scheduled an appointment for last Friday when we got back.

I gave in

I have succumbed. I finally got a smart phone. I now have to pay for a data plan every month.  Not only did I sign up for more money to fly out of my pocket every month, but I got an iPhone 4S.

Today was launch day and I wasn't surprised when I went to the AT&T store and didn't see a line, and they had plenty of stock. (Except for the white ones, which I didn't want anyway).  I got in and got out and had my new phone in the matter of minutes.  This is the second Apple product in a row that I have purchased on launch day.  There is something wrong with that.  It is time to buck the trend.

I'm obviously going to love my iPhone, but right now I am still in the buyers remorse stage that I always have after spending more than $100. This does not bode well for the inevitable car shopping trips that we will be taking over the next couple weeks.  I enjoy having stuff, but I really hate buying stuff.  

Now with my iPhone I can take fancy pictures on my camera and tweet or facebook from anywhere.  Who knows, maybe I will even post to my blog more often now that I have stepped into the 21st century.

The lamest iPhone yet

You probably know I'd been waiting in anticipation to hear what Apple was going to announce about the new iPhone. I've never owned an awesome phone, but I was finally in the market to buy one. When I read through the announcement last Thursday I was ticked that it was the exact same form factor. I wanted a larger screen so bad. I thought for sure we were going to get it.

Since the announcement I have gone back and forth on whether I was going to buy one. I'm considering getting an Android phone, but I don't know if I would be as happy. I've been using iOS for quite a while now, and I think I would miss it. I didn't preorder a 4S, and I'm not sure how difficult it will be to get one. All I know if that my current phone is on its last legs and I need to get something soon.

Apple makes higher quality products that any other consumer tech company. I know once I get a 4S I will love it, but there is a part of me that knows something better is just around the corner. I waited forever to basically get a phone that has already been out for 18 months. Something just seems wrong with that.

Back to the homeland

We made the long drive up to Indiana to visit family and we couldn't have picked a better time to do it. The weather is perfect and the leaves are beautiful in NEI. Growing up I always loved autumn, but I haven't made the trip back to enjoy it since I moved away. Early October is a perfect time to come back home and spend some time on the farm.

The fantasy layer

A couple years ago I would have been the first person to mock a fantasy football enthusist. The whole idea seemed like using sports as an excuse for guys to play make-believe. From the outside fantasy football (or fantasy anything) seemed like a phenomenal waste of time. Then....

Last year one of my friends from college set up a fantasy league and asked me to join. I was reluctant, but decided to go ahead and do it... but I wasn't going to spend much time with it. Then we had our draft, then week 1 rolled around. I was immediately hooked. It was so much fun. It was a game that depended on the outcome of other games. I loved it. Football games that I never would have cared about suddenly became exciting nail-biters. There was a week where both me and my opponent had RB's playing on Monday night. We went back and forth and it came down to the last play. As Houston was running the 2 minute drill going down the field Foster caught a screen pass for 9 yards to set up a field goal. He needed 15, and I lost by two tenths of a point or something like that. It was insane; more exciting that any playoff game I saw last year.

My Facebook timeline

Yesterday I used this tutorial to go ahead and enable the new profile view known as Facebook timeline. Nobody else can view it unless they also have timeline enabled on their account... at least not until next Saturday when timeline goes live for everyone. I have to say I am impressed. It looks really nice, and is pretty cool to go through an entire year of facebook activity. I applaud facebook. While it is awesome for me to look at my own history, I don't think I really want everybody else to be able to look at it. I'm not sure why they would want to, but nonetheless it is a little creepy that they can.

I've never kept a scrapbook. The closest thing to it is my blog. The facebook timeline is a really cool way to look back on what you've been up to. It is essentially a beautiful online scrapbook of your facebook junk. I like it a lot. It makes me want to share more on facebook just so it will be included on my timeline for years to come. I mean, that is exactly what facebook is trying to accomplish, and I think it will work. However, when it goes live I will have my timeline set to private (if that is even possible). It just feels weird to have any random friend be able to go back and look at all this history, even though when it was initially shared it was open to them bit by bit. I can't really explain it, but it feels strange to think about others browsing through my timeline. By messing around with lists and privacy settings you could use facebook to create a pretty awesome scrapbook of personal stuff. However, I would never put anything online that I wasn't okay with anybody getting ahold of. If it is online you have to assume it can be seen by everyone. That is a good policy to live by. If something might be questionable, then you probably shouldn't post it.

I won't have anything in my timeline that I am ashamed of or embarrassed by. Still, I don't feel okay with having it out there for everyone to see.  Facebook is taking a step forward by making our online lives that much more visible... but it might be worth taking a step backward on your own part to evaluate what and how you share things.

On the course

Somehow I had a couple days of vacation left over that I had to use before I lost them. I'd tried to take the last 3 Friday's off, but it wasn't working out. I was frustrated when I wasn't able to take the whole day off yesterday either. I did however get to leave a couple hours early so I could get out and play some golf. Ever since I played a couple weeks ago I've had the bug. Plus I needed to break in my new shoes. The weather was perfect yesterday so I took advantage of it. I freaking love golf. I love that I can go out there and forget everything and just focus on my next shot. I always look back fondly on the days when I played competitive golf in high school. I wish I had the time to play more now, but I always appreciate the chances I do get to be out on the course.

New Golf Shoes

The past couple weeks have been extremely busy around here. Work has taking up a lot of my time for sure, and at home baby is keeping us plenty busy. She is crawling all over the place now and standing up on everything. There is no slowing her down. The rest of the month of September is going to be packed for us, and October isn't looking any more relaxed. It should be a fun couple months.

Even though last week was only 4 days I probably put in more hours than I do on a typical 5 day work week. I had to work from home for a few hours on Monday, then Tuesday I was at my desk for 14 hours straight. We had an offsite meeting on Wednesday that I had to prepare for, and I was a little nervous about it. I was in meetings most of the day on Wednesday, but when we got done we played some golf.

Spotify

I've been using the free version of the Spotify music service for a week now. It took me a little while to warm up to it, but by now I am sufficiently impressed.  If you don't know what Spotify is and you like listening to music, then it is worth checking out.  I've been listening to tons of music that I've really wanted to hear, but didn't want to buy. I had no good way of listening to those albums since Apple shut lala down. So far Spotify has given that power back to me, and I'm happy.

With the free version you are pretty much restricted to listening to the music at your computer. It is great for when I am working. I can put on my studio monitors and Spotify sounds great. I don't always want to listen at the computer though. I wanted a way to stream from my computer to my home theater system. There are several different options, but most were expensive and offered way more that what I really needed. I found a nice application called Airfoil that quickly and conveniently did exactly what I wanted.  It is a program you load on your desktop that will stream pretty much any audio from your computer to any iOS device.  I put my iPod in my home theater dock, turn on the app, and fire up my Spotify playlists on the computer. It is a pretty sweet setup for very little cost, considering I can listen to almost any song in the universe via Spotify. (They don't have The Beatles)

My 10-year cup

A photo from work today.

Almost exactly 10 years ago I was a 19 year old kid heading off to to college. Going out on my own for the first time I felt so old, so mature. I was enrolled in Boiler Gold Rush; a program where incoming freshmen come to campus a week before the rest of the students to get settled in and meet new people. There were lots of social events and sports. We got a chance to become familiar with the campus before that quickly-approaching, fear-inspiring first day of class. On one of the days at Boiler Gold Rush we had toured the campus under the flimsy guise of a scavenger hunt where we were supposed to compete against the other teams. I had an awesome team leader who spared us the act of running around campus following clues tucked next to land-marks. We made our way to the memorial mall early where we would have lunch provided by the local vendors. They were there to pray on the young people who would keep them in business for the next four to six years. Of course they had plenty of coupons and other swag to hand out with hopes of gaining a patron. We were early so we got our pick. I'm sure I got tons of stuff that day; no fewer than 8 mugs/cups/water bottles. However, the only one I still have is this one, and I use it every day.

A small achievement

 I've never been a fan of going to sleep. The only thing worse than going to sleep at night is waking up in the morning. Our baby girl has been a great sleeper for the most part, but she does have her moments.  For the past several days she has been waking up all through the night. She usually goes right back to sleep when she gets fed or gets her pacifier back, but it still means your sleep is always interrupted. I know my wife has been tired because she is the one who takes care of the feeding duties at night. I was doing okay until the end of last week. The waking baby combined with my own sleep difficulties caused me to basically be a zombie at work last Thursday and Friday. I was looking forward to the weekend to catch back up... unfortunately that didn't happen. I want to get to bed early so bad but I just can't do it, especially on the weekend. I was dreading this morning, but I feel decent so far.  Maybe the massive amount of coffee I had this morning is the only thing keeping me going.

AT&T is super lame

Telecom companies are evil. It seems like they just keep getting worse as time goes one.  One of the biggest scams ever perpetrated on the American people is the "text message". 160 characters that fly through the air taking up about the same about of data as a couple pixels of the photo you just uploaded to facebook on your iPhone.  The difference is that the picture was a data transmission and the text is routed to the cell tower with an ancient technology that has long been abandoned for doing anything else.

There is no reason why text messages should not be normal data transmissions. In fact, picture messages or MMS is using the data network.  Apple realizes this. In iOS5 all messaging in between iphone users will be automatically routed through the data network and no text messages will be used.  AT&T knows this is happening, and a ton of people are going to have a lot less need for those unlimited texting plans they have been paying for.  That is why AT&T announced today they are getting rid of the 1000 text plan for $10. (They got rid of the 200 for $5 last year.) Now the only option is to get unlimited for $20.  When the new iPhone comes out a ton of customers would probably end up bumping down the text plan because they wouldn't use nearly as many. AT&T was smart/evil enough to see that coming and eliminated the plan completely.

Bath Time!

Holy cow I love this little girl so much! She is a riot! So amazing!

Thanksgiving in August

Meteorologist baby gives a thumbs up to the cooler temps.

You might have noticed that I've been making an effort to post more often on this blog. I figured if I am going to do it, I might as well try to keep up with it a few times a week instead of my random posting. I don't spend a ton of time on it anyway, so it shouldn't be much of a hassle. I just struggle to find things to write about.

Of course when all else fails you can always write about the weather. It is crazy how a change in the temperature can give you so much more energy and motivation. The heat had been so tiring. We had a pretty amazing weekend around here weather-wise. I am so thankful that it finally cooled off. I hope it stays this way for a little bit longer. I actually felt like I got to enjoy summer instead of being locked inside in the AC. On Friday we had a storm roll through and it cooled off enough that when I took Amelia out to watch the rain I put a sweatshirt on and she had on her footie pajamas. She has been loving going outside lately. She just looks around, reaches out her arm and open and closes her hand like she wants to touch everything in sight.

Come on Apple. You can do it.

Back in February when my wife's phone died and she decided to get the iPhone 4 I had a feeling that I should just go ahead and upgrade too.  However, me being the tech savvy individual I am knew that Apple would release the iPhone 5 in June. I could be okay with waiting a few more months to get the newest and best piece of space-aged technology that the boys from Cupertino were going to come out with.

It is mid August and there is still no iPhone 5.  It seems like every day there is a new rumor about when it is going to come out and what it is going to contain.  Some say there will be no iPhone 5 this year, but a minor upgrade called a 4s. If I've waited this long for a 4s I am going to be ticked.  This past week there were rumors that ranged from a fully redesigned iPhone coming out September 7th to a very minor upgrade coming out mid October.

Playing in the grass

Blogsy App

Back when I decided to buy the iPad 2 one of the main things I wanted to use it for was blogging. I didn't want to always have to sit in my office at my desk to compose blog posts. I had an Apple bluetooth keyboard that worked great with the iPad, and even a fancy little case to put them both in so it functioned almost like a touch-screen laptop. The only things missing was a decent app.
I had planned on using the web browser to create blog posts on the iPad.
However, that experience was less than ideal. There is no real good way to do it. Adding images is nearly impossible. You can only edit the html, instead of the normal "compose" mode that you have a full-featured browser. I didn't like it and I found myself never using it. I found an app called Blogpress that worked okay. I initially had it on my iPod and on my wife's iPhone to post pictures to her own blog. It was better than nothing, but the interface was clumsy and there was always weird stuff happening. The Blogpress iPhone app isn't horrible, but they have a lot of work to do on the iPad version.

Enough with the heat

Since the second week of June it has been hot. The past few weeks have been unbearable. Scorching. Disgustingly hot. Every week I watch the news and hope for some good news of cooler weather. Unfortunately it has been moving in the opposite direction. This past Tuesday we set the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded around here. Our air conditioner runs non-stop. I am sick of it. I need a break. I need just a few days in the 70's.

The worst part about the heat is that you don't feel like doing anything outside. I didn't like mowing the lawn before, and the heat makes it 10 times worse. I feel trapped in the house. I haven't been getting any exercise. I usually ride my bike a couple times a week and take the dogs for walks in the summer. Lately I engage in absolutely no activity. I walk from my car to my desk at work and back. That is it. I feel lazy and unmotivated and I can't wait until the summer is over. I am ready for fall. September can't get here soon enough.

I looked at the forecast today and it finally seems like we might be getting a bit of a break. 80s on Wednesday?!?! Yes please. Even those lower 90s aren't looking so bad going into next weekend. It is a 15 degree improvement from what we have been seeing, and at this point I will take what I can get. Maybe tomorrow will be the last day of the summer that gets over 100... but that might be wishful thinking.

Last year in the 20s

The first week of August has always been an eventful one for me. It is my birthday week, as well as my Mom's birthday week. Today I celebrate the beginning of the last year in my 20's. I'm not sure how I am going to cope with turning 30 next year. I can't say I'm looking forward to it.

This past Wednesday was also the 9 year anniversary of the second helicopter ride of my life. Getting air-lifted to the hospital must have been a pretty intense experience. I should probably be glad I can't remember any of it.  I got to come home from the hospital a few days later on my 20th birthday. That is a birthday I have no recollection of. In fact I don't remember much at all from the entire fall of that year. Which is bad because I was in my sophomore year of college supposedly laying the foundation for the skills I would use for the rest of my career.  I have been keeping a journal since 9/11/2001. I've never skipped more than a couple weeks except for the 4 month gap after the accident. I wish I'd written. It would be interesting to look back on now.

I feel like I climbed the mountain of youth through my teenage years.  In my 20s I walked across the plateau. Now I feel like I am standing on the edge of the other side. One false step is going to send me tumbling into full-on adulthood.  Now that I'm a parent there is all this added pressure to behave like a mature responsible person. I feel as though I should enjoy the final months of my third decade on earth by doing something youthful and exciting. However I have no clue what that might be.  I've probably been living like an ultra boring 30-something since that 20th birthday, so I have plenty of practice.  Next year should prove to be an easy transition for me.

Pure suction

I have no clue what my wife
was watching on tv.

This past week I fulfilled a lifelong dream of mine... to own a Dyson vacuum cleaner.  Well, maybe it wasn't life-long, but I did go through a stage in my early 20's where I was obsessed with stainless steel kitchen gadgets and other random household items. Okay, so maybe it wasn't a stage. Maybe I am still that way.

When the Dyson broke on the vacuum scene years ago I knew I wanted one. I also didn't think I would every spend more than $150 for a vacuum cleaner, let alone $500-$600 that the Dysons went for.  I bided  my my time. When we got the house I was ready to pull the trigger on a Dyson, but I got a good deal on a Bissell healthy home. It was a beast that served us well for the last 5 years.  However, the dirt bin closure broke months ago and I was sick of screwing with it.  (Yes, I am the one that vacuums our house.)

C'est la vie

For the past 22 days I have spent far too much time watching cycling. Though my daughter doesn't realize it she has already watched more cycling on television than what most people will sit through in their entire lives. Today the 2011 Tour de France ends, and cycling gets put on the back burner until next July rolls around. The end of the tour is always a bittersweet time.

For 20 days this month there has been 3-6 hours of cycling coverage each day. I dvr all the action so I can watch it at my own leisure. Even though I skip through a lot of it, I put in a lot of hours. I am always glad when it is over. It is totally enjoyable, but some days I feel like it is my duty to sit through it as a fan. That sounds stupid when I think of it, but it is almost an obligation. As those guys have to pedal their bikes for 2,000 miles over the roads of France... I have to sit on my couch and watch them do it. Another reason why I love watching the end of the tour is seeing the riders come into Paris. These athletes have made it through an extremely tough three weeks and it is always nice to see the joy on their faces as they roll into town. Even the dude who finishes dead last must have an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. That is rare to see, and I like it.

A rough day at le Tour

Most people would argue that cycling is incredibly boring. For the most part I would agree with them, but for some reason the Tour de France ropes me in every year and I get so enthralled with the event. These guys are riding 2,000 miles over 21 days... pretty darn impressive. Beyond the physical feat, there is so much strategy and planning that goes into it. I get caught up in the drama. I get excited to see if a rider can deliver the goods when his teammates put him in position to win.

There is also the whole soap opera aspect of cycling. There are heroes, villains, and rivalries. It is fun to follow it all and see how it plays out. In the past I've gotten all excited for the "big" stages of the tour and they have come up short. There have only been a few times where I have felt the importance of the moment. The year Sastre took off up Alpe d'Huez was one of those moments. This year there isn't a clear favorite after the first week. Contador, last year's winner, has had a rough go of it so far. He has some catching up to do. I'm looking forward to the next couple weeks. It's shaping up to be the most exciting Tour I've seen yet. Of course, I did miss Lance's 7 wins. That would have probably been more exciting.

Oh Disney!

Have you ever watched a Disney animated movie and sensed there was something familiar about it? I'm sure I've felt like a scene was really similar to one from another film, but I didn't realize they were blatantly identical. I have always known that Baloo from the Jungle Book was exactly the same as Little John from Robin Hood, but other than that I didn't think about it.

I saw this video posted on another blog a few days ago and it kinda blew my mind. As a child of the golden era of Disney animated films I feel a little taken advantage of. I'm sure it was a lot of work to draw those sequences, and it saved them some time to use the exact same movements, but seriously. I can't imagine how long it took to comb though all the Disney films and put this video together.  It is crazy to even think about. I am sure there are tons more examples that weren't included.

Suburban fortress

The Bidwell house is now on lock-down thanks to our new security system that was installed yesterday. I thought I would never own a home with a security system. It goes against my philosophy on life. However, those type of things tend to change when you are responsible for the care and well-being of a sweet tiny little baby.

I've always envisioned myself living in a house that was almost completely underground; a bunker of sorts.  Above ground would be a small house. It would be very modest, if not slightly run-down. Thieves would assume there was nothing of value to steal. If they did come inside they would see their assumption was correct.  However, hiding in a back closet there is a passageway to a vast underground lair.  The "basement" would be magnitudes larger than the upstairs part of the house.  It would feature absolutely no natural light... perfect for my movie theater room.

We've had our security system for a day now. So far so good. We haven't had the cops sent out to the house.... yet.  I do feel slightly more safe with it. Just having the sign out front alone makes me feel better. It stinks that we felt like we had to have the system installed, but I guess that is what happens when you become a unrealistically paranoid parent.  I still haven't decided if I will continue to pay for a security monitoring service once I have my underground fortress built.

This week in "literally"

"Literally" is a simple enough word. However, people on Twitter misuse it, or use it for seemingly no reason. Some of them I really get a kick out of. I'm not trying to make fun of anybody. I just want to share the joy I get from this literal phenomenon.  Let's start out with the definition of the word.

Some pics from a wedding

We have been using our camera a ton to take pictures of our baby girl. Other than those shots of our pretty little 5-month old model, I haven't really used it. Maybe this summer I will get out more and play photographer.  This past weekend we attended an outdoor wedding. I decided to take the camera to play around with it. Here are a few shots after the break.

Delusion of security

We kind of live out in the country in a nice little neighborhood. It seems like a safe enough place. We had a bit of a scare the summer after we moved in, but since then everything have been good.... until today.

I came home for lunch as I do most days. Today there was a cop car sitting in front of our house.  He was so in-front of our house that I couldn't even pull in the drive. He was talking to two guys in a red civic parked on the curb in front of the house next door.  I parked my car on the street just down from them and walked in. I didn't know what was going on.

Sleep Mimicry

Our daughter has this uncanny ability to mimic somebody in her sleep. I promise she wasn't moved around in either of these pictures, she just naturally did it.  I thought it was a fluke when Amanda snapped the first picture of her sleeping on my chest. Then this morning I woke up and saw her sleeping the exact same way as Amanda. The baby usually doesn't sleep in the bed at all. She was just really fussy this morning and Amanda put her next to her to fall back asleep. Apparently they both fell asleep.

The time I pissed-off a plane full of people

A few weeks ago I flew to Chicago for work. It was my first business trip, and I wasn't sure of the etiquette. As a dude I didn't want to over-pack, but we were going to be there for 4 days and I needed nice clothes for work as well as casual stuff for the evenings. My luggage set consisted of a tiny carry-on suitcase that I couldn't fit everything into. The next smallest case I had was bigger than I needed, but it was my only option.

I got to the airport and headed to the auto check-in kiosk. I went ahead and checked my bag. Right as I was giving my bag to the lady my travel companions showed up. They groaned when they saw me checking my bag. "Dude, now we are going to have to wait at baggage claim in Chicago. Can't you just check it at the gate?" I asked the lady behind the desk and she looked at my bag. She said it was borderline, but she would probably let it go... however if I wanted to get reimbursed I would have to go to another desk and get it taken care of. We didn't really want to mess with it, so I just let them check it under the plane. We would check it at the gate on the way back.

Bistro de' Bidwell

I haven't had a grill for a year now. One of the necessities of being a man is owning a grill, and its absence from my life has had me feeling a little inadequate. We've been looking to buy one for a while. That last grill we had was huge. Stainless steel, porcelain grates, three burner with an extra burner on the side... queue the Tim Allen grunts about now. It was a monster. We got it on sale with allusions of entertaining multitudes. We were going to be grilling steak for dozens of people on this massive beast that took up half our deck. I was going to use it every other day. Anything that could be grilled, would be grilled.

Of course none of that happened. The first summer we used it several times, but it was usually just the two of us, and we only fired up one burner. The grill quickly got taken down off the deck cause it took up so much room. Now it was in the yard and I had to move it every time I mowed. After a while I started to hate the thing. I wanted to get rid of it. We finally sold it last summer. Now that we didn't have a grill we suddenly wanted a grill, but this time we were going small. We acknowledged the brutal reality that we didn't have many friends coming over for dinner.

Qdoba. I hate you.

I don't get out much, so it should come as no surprise that I've never been to a Qdoba before today. One opened up nearby last month, and we were overdue to check it out.  I was starving, and I was getting super excited about a big burrito.

There were a lot of people there, but the line was going fast. This turned out to be part of the problem. I looked over the menu and decided to order a queso burrito with grilled chicken. It listed a bunch of ingredients and sounded pretty awesome.  It was our turn and I told them my order. I got to choose which kind of beans I wanted... and I thought I was done.  But that is when the chaos started. Our food was moving down the line faster than we were. There was a big group of people who were jamming up the works.  They had my burrito at the toppings station, but I wasn't there yet.

First ride of the year

This is what happens when my wife
isn't here to keep me in check. 

What a beautiful day we had in NWA. I wasn't going to allow myself to be lazy today. I had to get out on the bike at some point. It was supposedly judgement day, so I wanted to try and make the most out of it. I got all geared up to go ride and I saw that I had a hole in the sidewall of my front tire. I took this as a sign that I wasn't supposed to ride. I was already afraid that a driver would get raptured near me and his car would run me over before I had a chance to get raptured myself.

I went back in the house and took my gear off and tried to decide what I wanted to do. I couldn't think of anything, and I knew I would feel guilty if I didn't get out there on my bike. I decided to go to the store and buy a new tire for my front wheel. It would have been cheaper to order one online, but I wouldn't have it for a week.

Bachelor Week

Today officially started my week on my own. It is so weird being here at the house without my girls. I think I'm going to miss them a little bit.  I've been able to keep myself busy by cleaning, and watching NBA basketball.  By the time they get home the house is going to be spotless. Well probably not. Anyway, so far so good, but I still have 6 more days to go.  Wish me luck.

Back from the Windy City

View from my hotel. White building on
the corner is my most favorite bar ever.

I was in Chicago this whole last week for work. It is so nice to be back home and just have a lazy weekend. It is just me and the babe right now. She is taking a nap. It is crazy. I was only gone for a few days but she seemed so much bigger when I first saw her. I can tell she has gotten better with her hand-eye coordination. She is definitely more purposeful with her hands... less flailing around.

The trip to Chicago was a lot of fun. I had never stayed in downtown Chicago before. I don't think I have stayed downtown in any major city before. I am thankful that my new position affords me opportunities to spend some town out at our rail ramps. While sitting in my cubicle it is easy to forget about the day to day operations that I am helping to accomplish. Chicago is one of our major sites, and I hadn't been there for 5 years. It was pretty cool to meet everybody and see what great work they do.

iPhxne What?

I've wanted to get an iPhone for years.  However, I never wanted to pay the extra money for the data plan that has to go along with it. When the iPhone 4 was announced I wanted to get one of those really bad. If I would have been eligible for upgrade when it was released I probably would have gone ahead and done it.  However, I wasn't eligible until this February. That is only a few months away from June (the month in which apple has announced and/or released every iPhone) so I was just going to wait.

A few months ago my current phone (Nokia e71x) started randomly restarting itself or just completely turning off. It was a minor annoyance.  Then it got worse. At the hospital when our baby was born I snapped a picture with my cell phone and tried to email it to my Mom and Sister.  I tried 3 or 4 times and halfway through the message every time it would restart.  It was so frustrating.  Sometimes it will get fits of constant restarting.  On the way to Vegas it kept turning itself off.  In Vegas it somehow killed the battery at 10am and I couldn't get back to my room to charge it until late that night.  I assume it had been restarting itself all morning because the battery was fully charged when I left the room. I could list other examples, but you get the point.  I am going to be traveling more in the next few months, so I need a cell phone that will be a little more dependable.

More Rain

Friday evening it started raining. Then the tornado sirens started going off. We had a bad storm headed right for us. Most of the night we watched the news. They said a funnel cloud was spotted near the airport just a few miles away. We thought for sure it was going to get nasty, so we waited for the wind to come. It really never did, though we did get some hail. We've had several hail storms over the last few days. Anyway, it never stopped raining Friday night. It is now Sunday evening, and it is still raining. There is water everywhere. Anyplace that can be flooded, is. At church this morning we had to drive through 8 inches of water to get into the parking lot. I'm not sure how much rain we've had so far. There is no point in looking at that number because it won't even be close to the total we have by the time this all is over.

Still Here

This is the propeller right
outside my window on
our first flight. Not cool. 

I apologize, I haven't written for a while. Things have been busy the last few weeks. I've been transitioning over to a new role at work, with that has come some travel. We also took a family vacation last week. I feel like I've been in airports more in the last month than I had the 5 years prior. All this stuff going on with planes falling apart and air traffic controllers falling asleep made the whole experience a little more concerning that what it probably needed to be. I don't know if they were being extra cautious, but there were several flights we heard delayed because of mechanical issues. Those sort of things don't inspire confidence.  Another thing that didn't inspire confidence... seeing that our first plane had propellers on the wings.  I didn't think they used these anymore. They must have brought it out of retirement to save some money. It was old, and I was scared. The flight was slow, loud, and vibrate-y. I was so glad when that one was over.

The Masters - 2011 Edition

Anybody who is a fan of the game of golf got a treat today. The final round of this year's Masters was pretty awesome. That might be hard to understand for somebody who doesn't like golf, but it was amazing. To have that many people in the running on the last day is one thing. To have that many in the running over the last few holes is just crazy. To have a 21 year old start the day with a 4 stroke lead then have Tiger come charging up on him, and then McIlroy blows it anyway. It was just a lot of fun to watch.

Worst game ever

I've been filling out NCAA brackets since 1992. I've never once correctly picked the champion on my pre-tourney bracket. That all changed this year. For some reason I picked UConn to win it all. I cannot totally justify my choice. I just felt they were really hot at the end of the year, and had a great chance to take it all.

Almost every year that I've filled out a bracket I've also entered some pool for 5 or 10 bucks.  I've never won. This year I would have won. The one year I pick the winner I didn't put any money on it.  Bummer. It's not like I had such an awesome bracket... I had UConn beating Florida in the final game. I did finish in the 99th percentile of all brackets on yahoo. That is pretty good.  And I get nothing for it. Such a shame.

Vegas Weekend

Today I got back from an awesome weekend in Las Vegas. Just last Monday I joined my new group at work, and by Thursday I was headed to Vegas. I got invited to attend the annual ops meeting, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity. It was great to meet all the people I will be working with from across the country. I'm really looking forward to it. It was the first time I've ever been to something like that. It was a great experience.

Saturday Fun

This past weekend was Amanda's first Saturday back to work so Amelia had almost a whole day of daddy time. I was pretty nervous. I hadn't been all alone with her for that long. Lately she has been a big-time mummy's girl. When she would get upset it seemed that Mom was the only one who could calm her down.

The day went great. There were only a few tears, and that's because she woke up hungry and I wasn't getting her bottle warmed up fast enough. Other than that she was so good for me. When she got fussy I just put her in the baby Bjorne and went about my business. She loves riding in that thing. It usually puts her to sleep. I would have loved to take her out for a walk in the stroller with the dogs, but it was really cold out. When it gets warmer that will be an activity I'll be looking forward to every Saturday.

Pizza Hut Balls

Last night we ordered some takeout from Pizza Hut and brought it home to eat and watch some basketball. As I sat there eating pizza and watching the NCAA tournament I remembered how Pizza Hut would have the crappy rubber basketball promotion around this time of year. It must have been in the early 90's, I'm not sure exactly. I just remember I HAD to have the annual Pizza Hut basketball. I searched online for a while, but nary a trace of these pizza inspired b-balls could I find. The only image of these balls I could find was on someone's blog. I am going to repost that picture here with a link to the site.

Stressed Out

I hate to say it, but the last year has not been a good one for me.  That is obviously generalizing. I had tons of great moments and created some of the most wonderful memories I will ever ever have. I mean, HOLY CRAP, I had a kid! Said child is healthy and beautiful, so I really have nothing to complain about. All those who know me know I am a worrier. I always have been. I worry about everything, I just can't help it.  The months leading up to the birth were filled with all kinds of thoughts that created that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Worry is one thing that I've always had to deal with, and I think I cope with it pretty well.  However add on top of all that worry the most stressful job I have ever had, and it made for some rough times.

I own an iPad 2. I think that means Im better than you.

On Friday, for the first time ever in my life I waited in line to buy something on launch day. Yes, I was one of the losers in line for the iPad 2. The iPad went on sale at 5 pm. I didn't get off work until 5:30, but I decided to stop by Best Buy on my way home. I went in and was surprised to see there weren't that many people there. I went back to the "Apple area"... just a few workers standing around, no iPad 2's in sight. I asked them if they had sold out and he said I had to go to the front of the store and check if they had any tickets left. I had totally missed this magic ticket man when I walked in before.

Sleeping Beauties

It was a great weekend. I got some good bonding time with my baby girl yesterday. Amanda ran to the store and I kept her for a while on my own. I did all the feeding and changing. It went well, but I am still going to be nervous when I am truly on my own when Amanda goes back to work. Today we had another good day. Amelia was in a pretty good mood all day. The weather was great outside so we went to the mall and walked around for a couple hours. It was a nice, relaxing time. I'm sad the weekend is over and it is time to go back to work so soon. Hopefully the week goes by fast. I am looking forward to next weeend already.

Apple Fanboi

I don't think you can truly
appreciate the size of this
thing from the pic.

In college I decided I wanted to buy my first mp3 player. I of course knew lots of people with iPods. I even did a class project for human factors and ergonomics on the usability and learning curve associated with the (then revolutionary) click-wheel iPod.  However, the one thing I knew about my first mp3 player is that it would not be made by Apple. For some reason I loathed the thought of using Apple products. They were over-priced ways that people could buy a little piece of "cool" they could carry around and show everybody. I refused to use iTunes. I used Winamp, and loved it.  I ended up buying a Creative Jukebox Zen Xtra mp3 player that a friend nicknamed the largePod. I struggled to sync my music over to it for years. It was literally a giant pain, but I endured it with my head held high.

Constant Nostalgia

Every year we seem to get a few warm days around this time.  Spring is still several weeks away, but we are teased by mild temps and sunshine, only to have freezing temps the next day.  These first warm days offer a gentle comfort but the air still has that distinct crispness of the lingering winter. That feeling is unmistakable. When I experience it I am transported vividly to a specific time in my life.  Autumn is my favorite season, but my favorite time of year will always be those first mild days when we got out on the course to start the high school golf season. I look back on those spring days with such fondness. In me is created this instant personal nostalgia that I want to be able to grab onto, but can never quite reach.

I could, and sometime will, write an entire entry on why I love golf so much. The sport played a big role in the most important of my formative years.  However, this entry is about something different. This entry is about my inability to enjoy things as they happen. This is about the frustration of being unable to live in the moment no matter how hard I try. I guess the irony of that is "living in the moment", almost by definition, means not making an effort. You live in the moment when you just let things be.

Beard-less

This weekend I got rid of the full beard and went with a goatee. Which disappointing celebrity or sports personality do I look like now?!

Nice Kicks!

I think it is so annoying when a parent thinks his child is just the most perfect/smart/wonderful thing and won't stop talking about it.  I vowed to not be "that guy" when baby Bidwell got here.  But holy crud, Amelia is pretty much the cutest baby ever.  She is so AMAZING! It's hard for me to believe I had anything to do with making such a beautiful little human.  Okay, I will stop now.  I'm sure a ton of parents like to think their child is the best baby in the entire world. It is nice to know that mine actually is.

New Passenger on the iPhone Bandwagon

I've been doing a pretty horrible job at keeping up with my blog. It isn't for lack of motivation or ideas, it is just lack of time.  I spend all day at work in front of a computer screen, the last thing I want to do when I get home is write blog posts. I'm having a ton of trouble keeping up with my movie blog also. I never wanted to have to put a lot of effort into my writing for either of my sites, and I am definitely struggling.  I've been doing this thing lately where I will start a post, but not have time to finish it.  When I come back later to complete my thought it seems totally stupid and I just scrap it.  I have been working on a post about The Social Network for almost 2 weeks now.  Every time I come back to it I end up deleting 80% of what I had.

My Girls!

I love Saturdays! My favorite day of the week by far. Had a great time spending the day with my girls! Just wanted to share a few pics. Have I mentioned that our new camera is awesome?! So happy with it.  The camera, along with the Panasonic 20mm pancake lens are the best purchases of 2010 for me.

From Russia With Malicious Intent

Over the past 24 hours both of my blogs have seen huge spikes in hits. All the hits have happened within a few minutes of one another, and they have all come from Russia. I don't know whether to be concerned about this or not. I happened to notice the anomaly right after it occurred on my film blog. I locked the site down so nobody could access it, but I am not sure what good that did. I have since opened it back up.

I checked this blog when I got up and had the same thing happen at 2am this morning, but to a lesser extent.  I have to assume these are not "real" hits. It is somehow a spammer fishing for something. I am not sure what.  Everything from blogger is hosted on google servers, so I trust their security is adequate and whatever robot was poking around wasn't able to get anything.  That is a big assumption I guess.

Blizzard 2011 - Round 2

The roads were finally becoming decent to drive on after our snow from last Tuesday. Several days ago they said there was another system headed our way. It could potentially be much larger than the one a week before.  In the last few days they down-graded it; said we would probably only get 2-4 inches and the worst part of the storm would be south of here.

We woke up this morning to a full 12 inches of snow, and it is still coming down. We might be up to 14 inches by now.  I didn't even attempt to drive into work today. I signed on from home and see that a few people did make it in.  Others tried and got stuck in the ditch.  

Are $300 headphones worth it?

I usually don't find much value in re-posting somebody else's blog. I mean, why can't I just throw the link up on facebook or twitter and be done with it?  This one specifically intrigued me. I've always been fascinated with the psychology of advertising.  It seemed appropriate to think about this subject the day after millions of people gathered around their television sets to watch the Super Bowl. For many of those people (a majority?) the highlight of the night was not athletics, but advertising.

Are $300 headphones worth it?:
A friend wanted to buy Dr. Dre headphones. They list for about $300.
Any audiophile can tell you that they sound like $39 headphones. Instead, consider these. We can prove they sound better!
But of course, that's not the question. It's not what sounds better, it's what's worth it.
The Dre headphones come with admiring glances at no extra charge. They come with self-esteem built in. You can argue that this is a worthless feature in a device designed to reproduce sound accurately, but you'd be wrong. After all, the whole reason you're listening to music in the first place is to feel good. To be happy. If the Dre's make you happy, and your happiness is worth $300, then they're worth it, no?
For others (put me in that category) I get more happiness knowing that I didn't fall for a clever marketing ploy, and I buy the ones that I believe sound better. Of course, that's a clever marketing ploy too--persuading me that better sound is worth this much. But don't tell anyone. That would make me feel manipulated."

I am much like Seth Godin in the fact that perceived value is almost completely dependent on how well a product is able to function at its intended purpose; or at least how well I perceive it to function.  I allow myself to believe I am able to make my own informed decisions and not be enticed (duped) by the marketing. I never consciously think about how something is advertised or how cool using a product might make me look. I am sure it enters into the equation without me even realizing it.

"No Comment"

I use, and really like, several google services. When I wanted to start a blog a few years ago it only made sense to use the free blogger platform that they offer.  I didn't know anything about it, but I wasn't sure what features I needed or what else was out there.  I have now created and designed several blogs on blogger.  I only post on this blog and my pretendcritic.com site.  I created my wife's blog design, and update that on a somewhat regular basis.  Blogger is great and easy to use. I love that they give me full access to the html code so I can tweak it however I want. They have made a lot of improvements over the past couple years. However, the one thing that is still severely lacking is the comment system.

From the beginning of my film blog I have had tons of issues with the blogger commenting system. I have been contacted via email more that once by a reader who wanted to leave a comment and it just wouldn't do it.  Who knows how often this has happened and they didn't bother to send me a message.  I don't get a ton of comments on my blog, and I was starting to think the blogger comment system had something to do with it. I do need to mention that I have custom domains on both of my blog. Basically I just don't have to use the ".blogspot". Most of the issues I've had with comments also comes from people not signed in with their google account to post.

Blizzard 2011

I wonder how many bloggers this week have dedicated a post to the snow storm. It is billed as the largest snow storm IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. I am not sure whether that is based on total snowfall of the massive area that it blanketed. Either way, it is by far the most snow I have seen since I've lived in Arkansas, and it has stuck around longer than any has before.

I drove my car to work this past Tuesday morning, then all this snow business started. I was afraid it was going to be stuck there all week. Luckily I was able to make it home, and eventually back up into the garage after some shoveling and salting.  The snow stuck around all week. We even got some more on Friday afternoon. Today I finally shoveled off the entire driveway. The worst part was the inch of ice underneath all that snow. I haven't had much exercise in the past several weeks. Shoveling almost killed me.

Best Haircut Ever

I took my mother to the airport this morning.  Right now she should be on her plane headed home. It was so great to have her here for the week. I am glad Amelia got to spend some time with her grandma this week. Now we are on our own for the first time. We are a family of 3 (5 counting the dogs). We will be getting into our more "normal" routine the next few weeks. The reality of being parents is going to really set in.

This past week flew by. Tomorrow Amelia will be 2 weeks old. I feel like she was just 1 week old a minute ago.   I'm sure I will blink and she will be 2 months old.  Then I will turn my head slightly and see a 2 year old running around the house.  By the time I am able to process the fact that our little girl is going to kindergarten she will have turned 20, and I will be old. Since I've graduated high school the time has flown by. It definitely doesn't feel like 10 years have passed. I don't look all that much different. It is somewhat easy to deny how many years have gone by.  That is all over now.  Amelia will serve as a living, growing, constant reminder of how quickly the time is passing. I want to try and savor every minute of it.

Amelia, Our Princess

a·mel·io·rate

   [uh-meel-yuh-reyt, uh-mee-lee-uh-]  Show IPA

–verb (used with object), verb (used without object), -rat·ed, -rat·ing.

to make or become better, more bearable, or more satisfactory;improve; meliorate.

We chose to name our daughter Amelia before I'd ever even heard the word "ameliorate". Not exactly the same, but close enough.  Since we chose the name I've heard this word a couple times. I'd inferred roughly what it meant from context, but I wanted to look up the definition.  After reading this I couldn't think of a more perfect name.  Little Amelia is going to be totally ameliorating the crap out of my life. From now until the day I die there won't be a day that isn't improved by her existence.  She is perfect, and I thank God she is here with us.