Recently in personal Category

For many years, I've done a goofy easter egg hunt in and around our house. Even as the kids have gotten older it is something they claim to look forward to - so I happily comply. This year is particularly fun because the latest addition is at a perfect age to re-energize the wonder of the hunt.

Geeky but different this year is that instead of printing out the hunt, I've made it a document in google docs and invited the kids as viewers (including the 2.5 year old - wonder if google will still be around when she gets around to being able to read). It was like water rolling off of their backs, even for the "baby." Next year, I think I'm going to get eggs with RFID tags, a reader in each basket, do a personal Google Map to aid in the discovery, after getting CJH to put on of his doo-hickeys in the family car.

There are lots of cool and easy ways to collaborate. Still wrestling with which ones should be provided in-house (PSU) and which ones can be leveraged from the outside.

That's the title of a book I'm reading right now. It's written by Daniel J. Levitin, who grew up learning to be a (and becoming a successful recording/electrical engineer. So far, there's been basic music theory but it is applied to basic physiology and that's what makes it cool. He's also touched on social, cultural, anthropological connections at this point and I believe he'll do more of that later.

I'm compelled to write, however, because of the impact of music on the flight I'm on right now. I was in kind of a foul mood when I boarded and not looking forward to catching up on e-mail. After some music, life is good and the e-mail doesn't feel like a chore. That's pretty powerful. This doesn't mean I've abandoned the campaign to cut my e-mail in half, but it does mean that I'll be going to City Lights this weekend to plop down some dollars for new music.

I finally got a new mobile phone after about 4 years. Felt like a very long time to me. I'd been on the fence about a new Blackberry, a Q, a Treo - or even waiting to see what the real buzz is about the iPhone in the summer. I pulled the trigger last week and got a new Blackberry 8700c (Thanks Tracy and Linda Witt!) primarily on the strength of the success that I saw Rich Cropp having with it about a month or so ago. After a day of fighting with it, I finally won - with fantastic help from John Kalbach last night.

I got the SyncJe client from www.nexthaus.com and Oracle Calendar is working like a champ. e-mail, SMS, etc. are also where I want them to be. The gmail client works just great on the new phone and updated OS from what I used to have. The web browser is vastly superior to what I used to have as well. I'm back in the driver's seat again in terms of being able to connect lots of tools I use to get work done.

I used e-mail, on-line forums, the ITS ET wiki, Nexthaus' helpdesk, Cingular's helpdesk, and of course google search to help improve my understanding as the day (and night) went along.

The joy of a new toy is wonderful but it overwhelmed by the joy in the victory of making the new toy a new tool - at least for me. And I got it all working just in time to enjoy Zach Braff's latest movie, "The Last Kiss".

I have always felt that there have been a few friends, colleagues, and even some family members who have thought it is a little crazy to have named a child after a baseball player. This article is the best explanation of having done that that I've read and probably will read. These kids weren't named after a baseball player, but rather a stand up citizen who does good things.