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.