We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Buddy, Tom and Jan joined us at our house on Christmas Eve night and we all opened presents. Thomas cleaned up again but we all did pretty well. I got a CD burner, new CDs, some cool books, a bitchin' pair of scissors and a knife sharpener. The next day everyone came back for a delicious Christmas dinner with two main courses: ham and tofurky. Tofurky is artificial turkey made out of tofu. It was actually quite good as was everything else. We retired our bloated bodies to the living room for football and basketball for the rest of the day. Perfect.
Unfortunately, our bliss did not continue long. Graham had an allergic reaction to anti-biotics that were prescribed for a flu bug he got last week and was up most of the night. Tina has picked up the bug and has a temperature and is not feeling well at all. Thomas is sniffling. I am surprisingly fine. I think I'll take some vitamin C right now!
I read an extremely fascinating article at Sports Illustrated's site about John Rocker, a pitcher for the Atlanta Braves. Just when you think everybody understands what it means to respect their fellow man, or at least pretend, this guy opens his mouth. It is quite unbelievable and will leave you shaking your head in wonder.
I was recently successful in setting up Uncle Buddy with a vintage Mac for email and web browsing. I bought a Macintosh IIci from Splash a few months ago for $10 and it's quite a snappy little computer. I think it will serve his purposes well.
Only a week left at Splash. I'm going to miss the people but I'm looking forward to starting at Critical Path. I'm taking a week off after Christmas before I start the new job.
I added a contact info section to the web page. If you ever forget my or Tina's email address, this is where to look.
An update to my online shopping experience: Amazon changed the availability of one of my items from 2-3 days to 2-3 weeks. Since I didn't really need those things after Christmas, I cancelled the order. Fortunately, I was able to reorder most of the stuff (CDs) from CDNow: an online music store. Since ground shipping is out of the question for Christmas now, they offer Fed Ex Two Day for no extra charge. I'll let you know if it works out.
Tina and I recently tried out a service new to our area: HomeGrocer.com. It's a grocery store on the web that delivers to your home for free if you buy at least $75 worth of groceries per delivery. We spent a few days last week picking out the groceries we wanted and then on Saturday we finalized our transaction and scheduled delivery for Monday. It all arrived Monday afternoon and Tina was delighted to have the man bring them right inside onto the kitchen counters. When you've got two kids to wrangle, just carrying them in from the car is a pain. Anyway, their prices are comparable to any other grocery store and often they have a better selection. The whole experience left me wondering what the catch was. Trouble is, there is no catch. It's way too awesome for words. Check them out at homegrocer.com.
I've also been trying out the web for some Christmas shopping this year. I've ordered things from Amazon, Small Dog Electronics, HiFi.com and this great place that sells used computer stuff called Refurb Madness. I got a monitor from Refurb Madness for $5 that is just what I was looking for. Amazon didn't have one of my items in stock, so they haven't shipped my stuff yet. Otherwise, it's all arrived in a very timely fashion.
After receiving more than the usual number of hoax emails, I happened upon a nifty site that verifies or debunks all of those time-wasting missives. It's at About.com and is pretty easy to remember: urbanlegends.about.com. Of course, if you can't remember it, you can always find it on my links page. I also added some nifty icons for the old links there.
I gave back the digital camera to Splash but bought a scanner. Consequently, I think I will be having fewer pictures on this site in the coming months. I priced digital cameras, but they are still too expensive for the average consumer. Generally, it's more of a pain to scan in photos that download web-ready digital pictures.
I failed to mention a few months back that my alma mater, Riceville High School, now has a place on the web. The students have done a great job in putting together a great page for the school. I hope they take it further and add alumni links and other cool stuff.
I'll be leaving Splash at the end of the month and starting a new job with Critical Path Software at the first of the year. Here's a summary of the advantages of working for Critical Path:
- Better pay
- Flexible vacation (take it when you want)
- Projects are more diverse and shorter in length
- Cool working environment
- No veal-fattening farms (cubicles)
- Downtown office
- Free mass transit pass
- Pay to park
- Longer commute
- No dental or vision insurance
- No matching 401k
- No worthless stock options
I enjoyed my time at Splash but it's time to move on. Congratulations, questions and comments may be sent here.
Tina's sister, Michelle, and her husband, Rick, were in town for Thanksgiving weekend. We had a wonderful time with them on Thanksgiving and then went downtown to watch the lighting of the Christmas tree in Pioneer Square. Saturday Tina and I celebrated the seventh anniversary of our marriage.
I had some email problems for a short time due to my name server being down for too long. I think all those problems are fixed now though so you can return to your normal deluge of email.
The four of us had a wonderful time in Iowa from October 26 to November 6. We helped my mom celebrate her 70th birthday and then spent a week soaking in the Iowa life. Thomas had a wonderful time on the farm and playing with his Grandma.
When we returned Tina was treated to a surprise party for her 30th birthday. I think she was suspicious but she graciously acted surprised when everybody yelled, "Surprise!"
We're having a family Thanksgiving this year at Tina's parents, Tom and Jan. Tina's sister and her husband are flying in today. Uncle Buddy will also be there for turkey and stuffing.
No news on the PND front which is bad since we'll be flying to Iowa in less than a week. Ever experience a plane landing with full sinuses? I'd rather OD on Sudafed!
I got a few pictures together of Thomas and Graham from earlier this month when we visited the Salmon Festival and then the Pumpkin Patch. I've also been working on a top secret project involving some family pictures. If you're looking for me in those pictures, I'm always the cute one.
Post nasal drip (PND) continues to plague me but I have grown more tolerant. The anti-biotics are almost gone so it is soon time for a new strategy. Perhaps a never-ending barage of decongestants will do the job...
I've updated several areas of my site including the computer links and cool links sections.
| Yesterday was my 33rd birthday. The good news is that I stayed at home the whole day. The bad news is that I was and am sick. Post nasal drip is a nasty malady that causes you to cough about every 7.5 seconds but more when you're trying to sleep. After three weeks of non-stop coughing I finally forced the doctor to give me anti-biotics at gunpoint today. Hopefully it will be gone in five to ten days. | 
Mystery Picture |
Today is my favorite basketball player's birthday. B.J. Armstrong is 32 years old today. Last week his career came full circle as he signed a one year contract with the Chicago Bulls. I think it's a pretty good sign that he may be retiring within the next couple of years. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that the Bulls will win very much during that time.
Two important press releases came out this week. The first announced Apple's new G4 computers: the world's first personal supercomputer. The second let the world know that the product that our team has been working on for the last year is ready for prime time.
Check out the official Spam web site. No, it's not the objectionable email that we often receive but instead the delicious canned delicacy that Hormal produces. Yummy!
If you haven't seen the Blair Witch Project yet, you should soon. I can't recommend this movie highly enough. However, before you head off to the movie theatre, do some background reading on the official web site. Besides being a great movie and concept, it's the perfect example of how word-of-mouth can be far more effective than media hype.
Mole story moved here.
This weekend Thomas, Buddy, Tom and I visited the Evergreen Flyin. Evergreen is a small airstrip up in Vancouver and this weekend they were sponsoring a flyin - think road rally for airplanes. All day Friday we watched the tail-draggers fly over our office building as they arrived from all over. Most of them just parked their plane on the airfield and setup a tent underneath, but many were flying around and a few were offering rides. We mostly just walked around and looked at all the planes. Thomas' favorite part was when he got to sit in the cockpit of an Air Force helicopter. I missed getting a picture of that but snapped some others later. I also have a few more pictures of Taran's visit.
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In case you didn't know already, my brother-in-law Wade Eastman is in the hunt for the IMCA National Championship for stock cars. You can check out the latest IMCA wranglings here. Much of the debate on the forum there centers around Wade, his chassis, his motor and my sister, Mindy, among other things. |
My mother and her traveling companion are in town for a visit. We had a blast at the beach and the boys are having a great old time. I updated Thomas' page with some new pictures and there should be more in the coming days.
| We had a nice trip to the zoo at the beginning of their visit, but it turned out to be a disaster when I found out that an innocent backwards tip of an almost empty stroller led to the ruin of the display of my Newton MessagePad 2100. I've come out of panic mode since, but that first night without my life organizer was nightmarish. I'm not kidding, either. I sent it into Apple and hope to have it back soon. Until then, it's back to the old trusty MessagePad 120. |  |
I'm still battling a summertime cold. The sore throat has long since departed but the head cold lingers. I may not notice it when it's gone. Of course, Thomas has been better for a long time.
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I also got around to "developing" a few pictures that I took of Graham awhile back. He's turning into quite a happy and active little baby. One of these days I'll put together a home page for him like Thomas'. Until then, you'll have to settle for these pictures. |
Thomas was sick all weekend and had temperatures over 102 degrees. Unfortunately, I caught whatever he had and am staying home for the day.
After reading about the Internet Instant Message wars, I signed up for AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), a free service from AOL. It's a pretty cool idea that allows real-time chatting with people you know on the Internet. If you're already using AIM, email me your screen name. Mine is "RynoSoft".
| Last week Apple introduced the iBook, a laptop computer intended to complement the iMac. It's heavier than I would have expected but it has a really cool wireless option called AirDock that lets several computers share an Internet connection from up to 150 feet away from the base unit. It also comes in two "flavors", tangerine and blueberry, and has a handle. How come nobody ever thought to put a handle on a computer you carry around all the time? Initial retail price will be $1599. |  |
Life is very busy lately. We're putting in extra hours at work to meet our deadlines and I've got numerous other projects outside of work keeping me occupied. One of those was Enigma for Macintosh, a Mac version of a cool Windows program I found for keeping telemarketers at bay. A couple of well-placed press releases about Enigma caused the Ryno Software web site to receive over 2500 hits in two days.
Graham is getting along well. He weighed in at almost 9 lbs. when Tina put him on the scale the other day. He's very active and has grown to be quite strong. He pushes off with his legs when you hold him and he has excellent control of his neck muscles. More so than Thomas did at this point, I think. Graham also requires alot more holding time than Thomas did and does not accept the swing as readily.
I finally finished the account of Graham's birth and Wednesday he had his first circumcision. He has grown to 7 lbs., 9 oz.
Great news from the doctor today. Graham's hemoglobin level is stable and he has been issued a clean bill of health. The doctor said we had to watch for paleness in his skin color, but otherwise all is well. We are all very happy!
Graham was in for blood tests again today and we had a little bit of bad news: his hemoglobin level is down to 8.8. If it falls down to 7 or below, he'll need a transfusion. For that reason we need to take him in again next Monday to test for hemoglobin again. We're hoping for the best. Parenting is never easy!
Graham returned to the doctor for blood tests and the results were good: the doctor said we could get rid of the lighting equipment permanently.
Yesterday the remains of Graham's umbilical cord fell off. Today we took him in for blood tests again. His bilirubin level was 13.4 so the doctor decided we could take him off the lights for a couple of days and see how he does. We will relish the sleep tonight.
Lately Tina and I have both noticed that Thomas has become quite gargantuan. His head and hand, particularly, seem to be enormous now that our sense of scale has become distorted by a nearly-six pound little boy.
I made Enigma for the Macintosh available for beta testing today. Check out the Ryno Software home page for more information.
Graham had his blood tested for bilirubin levels today and they found that they had dropped to 14 from 18 a few days ago. Even so, his doctor wanted to see a little more progress so he's going to continue with phototherapy at least until Monday. We're hoping for not much longer than that because we're both getting very tired and Graham is getting very sick of the "sunglasses".
During my late nights with Graham I have been working on some new software called Enigma. It's almost ready for beta testing and I just need to finish a few things (like documentation) before it's released.
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Graham came home today after spending a couple of days under the lights at thhe hospital. We're all glad that he's here, but he's brought some baggage with him from the hospital (click here for more details). He still has to be under the lights all the time (except when breast-feeding) and he needs someone to make sure his "sunglasses" don't come off. |
| Graham looked a little yellow a few hours after birth and he continued to jaundice more and more. Sunday night they did a bilirubin test and found his levels to be higher than what they would expect. The treatment is to strip the kid down to nothing and put him under high intensity lights that help break down the bilirubin. As a result, he has been in the nursery for over 24 hours. We can visit him anytime, but he has to remain under the lights except when Tina feeds him every three hours. His doctor examined him this morning and seems to think the bilirubin levels have peaked and should be going down soon. Watch these pages for more information. |  |
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This morning (5/30/99) at 12:10, Tina gave birth to a baby boy, Graham. Graham weighed in at 5 lbs. 14 oz and is 18 inches long. Today was the beginning of week 37 so he was early but not premature. Mom and baby are both doing great. Watch here for a detailed account of the entire proceeding in the next few days. |
Added some new Cool Links including The Onion, a hilarious "news" weekly, and SETI@Home, the project that lets average computer users help in the search for extra-terrestrial life. Download the client and participate!
Thomas has been a rascal of late. I saw a program on child development the other day that claimed that when children lie at this age, it's a sign of intelligence. In that case, Thomas must be a genius because he lies to us quite a bit lately. And about things that he does right in front of us! He's also taken to talking back when we reprimand him and his curiousity now requires that he ask "Why?" about everything.
I caught him singing some rain songs the other day, so I recorded them and put them up on his web site.
Tina's mom, Jan Schultz, was in town last week to find a house to rent prior to their upcoming move. Mission accomplished, I believe.Their old house has been sold so they should be on their way soon.
I put some new pictures up on Thomas' web site. As always, if you're computer is capable of higher color depths, use 'em!
Taxes are done, no new mole hills in weeks, and spring-like weather permeates the Oregon air. Life is good!
If you haven't already checked out the JenniCam, now is as good a time as any. Jenni lives in an apartment surrounded by web cameras and broadcasts her life to the Internet 24 hours a day. Sort of like EdTV but she had the idea before Ron Howard.
Thomas was sick this week. It started with a chest cold with a nasty cough and culminated in a high fever (102) and vomiting on Friday night. He was a little scared by the vomiting but the fever made him forget that pretty quickly. We gave him Tylenol and he was better by the next day. He's still hacking but no fever and not sluggish anymore.
This weekend I got around to digitizing a few movies from our last ultrasound and we finally sold our Honda. We got half of what we were originally asking, but we're glad to have it out of our driveway. And off the insurance.
Thomas and I sat down a few days ago to record some sound bites for his web site. He imparted some of his knowledge of Green Eggs and Ham as well as having a short conversation about my computer monitor.
Today was the big day that I bagged my first mole. After several laborious weeks of digging big holes and setting traps, I finally got a big old mole in one. He was four to six inches long and damned ugly. His fur appeared to be soft and velvety, but I did not touch him sans gloves. He is resting at the bottom of our garbage can now. Here's hoping to continued success in getting the rest of his ugly mates.
Tina and I returned from Albuquerque this weekend after attending her sister, Michelle's wedding. While we were there, I snapped a few pictures. Thomas enjoyed seeing his Grandma and Papa very much but we were all glad to get home Sunday night.
B.J. Armstrong, my favorite basketball player, was signed by the Orlando Magic on Sunday. He hasn't played in a game for them yet.
An exciting and busy week this week as I went to two concerts and am leaving for Albuquerque tomorrow. The concerts were both Neil Young at the Arlene Schnitzer Hall. It was just Neil, his guitars and pianos and 2800 of his closest friends. After the show Monday I got to go "backstage" to "meet" him if that is possible in those situations. I only got an autograph and a few pictures but it was certainly interesting. The concerts were both outstanding.
Today my favorite basketball player got traded to the mighty Los Angeles Lakers from the lowly Charlotte Hornets. Unfortunately, the Lakers waived him a few hours later so he is a point guard without a team. It is hard to say what is next.
This week all the local news reported that we had 93 days of rain out of the last 120. If that is not enough to boggle your mind, they were kind enough to chart it out on a calendar. What's really sad is that I can remember some of the little dry spells. Fondly, no less.
Yesterday began my week of bachelorhood as Tina and Thomas boarded a plane for New Mexico. I'll be joining them next Thursday for a long weekend featuring the wedding of Tina's sister, Michelle. She insists she's not pregnant.
Thomas has evidently mastered the art of the potty and does it all by himself. He insists on doing everything "like Daddy" so the training seat is a goner as well as sitting while urinating. On a seperate note, he's taken to issuing this incredibly fake laugh while scrunching up his face and bugging out his eyes. We have no idea where he got that but it's hard not to laugh when he does it. I'll try to get some audio clips on his web site when they get home.
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We had a new copier delivered to the Splash office the other day and I managed to abscond with the box. Thomas and I made a house for him that night. Check out the pictures here. |
I finally finished the Michelle Shocked review from last weekend and you can now read it in my writing section.
I read a very interesting story about anti-telemarketing software call Enigma. I downloaded it, tried it and was so impressed that I am in the midst of developing a version for the Macintosh. If you get as pissed as I do when getting interrupted by a telemarker, you will love this product. If you've got a PC, download it here. If you don't have a PC, let me know and I'll let you know when the Mac version is available. Shouldn't be long.
Much of my time lately has been devoted to helping out with the Human Highway web site. Human Highway, if you didn't check the link out, is a mailing list devoted to Neil Young and issues tangentially related to him and his music. I did all the pages for the soundtrack section of the discography.
Last night Tina and I went to see Michelle Shocked at the Aladdin Theatre. The setting was intimate and we got there early enough to get seats about 10 rows back. Michelle was very informal and put on a great show. We both left feeling very glad we had gone.
Tina got a new iMac for Valentine's Day. It's actually a refurbished original model and not one of the new multi-colored models. I bought it from The Apple Store and got a great deal on it. Who says Apple isn't in the sub-1000 market?
As I mentioned last month, the last ultrasound revealed the sex of our next child. I'm hoping to get a video of the ultrasound on site for your viewing and guessing pleasure soon.
Tina had an ultrasound last week and we now know the sex of our forthcoming child.
Third time lucky? We have again begun a potty training campaign with Thomas. Yesterday he went into the bathroom by himself and of his own accord to urinate so things might be looking up. He also had an accident-free day on Saturday which included several stops at non-home bathrooms.
Right before holidays' end, I layed down a bunch of Diazenon on the front and back yards to kill the grubs that the moles eat. Shortly after mole hills began popping up everywhere as the little buggers searched desperately for something to eat. They didn't think to check the neighbors yard, I guess. After that I bought some mole traps which involve actual work (digging) and have been wholly ineffective so far.
Thomas turns three in two weeks and you're all invited to his birthday party. Email me for details and directions.