I’m such a Shiny whore. I was working on a love machine (in python and django which I still quite like). I got pretty far along, but got stuck on how to deal with the creation and management of groups and let it drop. Carolyn just posted an entry about books we’re reading, and I’d seen other bloggers (like dadblog) whom I’ve not read in ages (sorry Joe) who have a little books sidebar. Suddenly I have an idea, I could write something like that. You put in a book title, image, review, etc. Maybe it could even link to your amazon associates page for that book (or, even better, my amazon associates page). That should be easy to write.
Thanks to flock, I’ve added pictures to my flicker stream for the first time since Sam was a little-bitty-baby. Maybe it’ll have me use del.icio.us more again too. Still, some annoyances. I can’t seem to find how to have it default to spell-checking my form fields. Though that may be I haven’t stumbled across it yet. I also wish it had a twitter interface. Maybe instead of investigating flock, I should be digging through firefox plugins. *shrugs*. Well, now to make my 50+day old twitter true again and become “going to bed” 🙂
I wrote a long and detailed trip report on my recent SIGGRAPH trip for work. I was figuring to simply copy-paste it here, but in review, it seems a little too Linden-centric, so over the next couple of days I’ll try to figure out how best to excerpt it/restructure it to bring it out here. I was embarrassed that Carolyn had (until just now) written my two most recent blog entries and even so they were a month apart. What can I say? Crazy times at work, and well, “Sorry” :-/ At least Carolyn has been keeping Monster Fool more up-to-date with Sam stories, so be sure to wander over there for more tidbits of Sam greatness.
At SIGGRAPH, one of the area chiefs for the Guerilla Studio raved about Flock, so I thought I’d try it out. This is a post initiated from within Flock on the “Post to my blog” button.
Also, a little Sam update. Today, she did two new slides by herself at the playground at Canyon Oak Trail. One tall and twisty, the other shorter but steep and enclosed, aka “the tunnel.” Previously, she’d refused to do this without holding someone’s hand and since neither is at all conducive to hand-holding, she’d simply not done either before. Today she did both. She also talked with an almost-7-year-old who came over to the play structure. It wasn’t much give and take, but she talked about the things she saw or knew (“Daddy has gray shoes. That’s green.”) We thought it neat that she would engage this other girl.
Dear Sammy,
Daddy was going to write your letter this month, but since a) he’s sick, and b) he’s working for SIGGRAPH at San Diego this week, and c) you’re giving me a nice long nap this afternoon, I decided that I would start it.
So, hi Sammy! Happy 22 months old! You’re two months away from two years old. Technically. In practical terms, you’re right smack dab in the middle of the Terrible Two’s. All my life I’ve heard of this phase, but it is only in the past month that I have come to understand just what it can mean. Here’s what it means for you:
Dear Sammy,
I have a lot to tell you about this past month, but first let me tell you a little anecdote that has completely charmed your father and me. We still end your day with a reading of Time for Bed (by Mem Fox)“a little story book we received when you were born. We’ve been reading it to you since you were about 4 months old. Each page has a little rhyme about a parent animal telling the baby animal that it’s time for sleep. It ends with a human mother putting her little girl to bed. There have been times when you’ve been quite interested in the pictures. Other times you would make the noises of each animal. You went through a phase of asking about peripheral details in the images such as berries or algae. Then there were nights when you’d look everywhere but on the pages of the book. Boredom. But still we insisted on Time for Bed, because, well, it signals to you beyond a doubt that it is time for bed. Often you start to rub your eyes or yawn as soon as we bring it out. But this past month, you declared that our days of reading you this book are over. Now, when we bring it out, you yank it from our hands and say “Sam read!” And then you read it to us.
OK, I just learned that there’s now a facebook application called “the love machine” which is quite similar to the one we use at work — except that it’s out there for everyone to use!
Curiously, it was created by Ooga Labs who have our CEO as an advisor (on their board?). As our CTO has said, (paraphrasing) “Now that facebook has announced their API/platform, never build another in-house social networking app”.
Sometimes, I can get into a groove with taking care of myself when my family’s not around. I haven’t found that groove yet. While I like the flexibility I get in timing, getting to go to “Movie Nite” with other Lindens, etc. I miss my family and look forward to getting them back. (They’re at Mom-mom’s house helping out while she gets a mitral valve repaired (!!!))
At least I get to talk to Sam on the phone pretty much every day. That’s fun. She says “Hi daey”, and we carry on a bit of a conversation in that I say words to her, and I hear things back from her. Sometimes interspersed with things I can understand. Recently she was multitasking and sorting the laundry and I made out “green shirt, mama shirt.” I’m never sure when the conversation’s going to end, but I know when we’re there because she also says “Bye bye, daey.”
I’m not exactly sure why my wife wanted me to take this quiz, much less post it. But she wanted both, so here it is. I’d say that about the only thing interesting about it is that I grew up in the south, and both of my parents have stronger southern accents than I do. My mom is from the midwest though, and Durham is a rather cultured city at least compared to stereotypes of the south 🙂
Dear Sam,
Wow. What a month. It is a real pleasure when your mom takes one of the monthly newsletters because it helps me recharge and get more energy and enthusiasm for writing. This month is a pleasure to write not just because of that break though. So much has happened in the past month, I barely know where to begin.
I guess I want to start with your verbal development, as despite everything else, that has what has impressed me so consistantly this month. It’s been great to watch (or, I guess ‘listen to’). Your words are evolving. Not so long ago, you would talk about an airplane by saying (‘ba’) and waving your left arm up. We only knew it was airplane because you’d say it in response to the presence of a plane or in response to our saying and signing it. This evolved recently into (‘ah’ ‘pah’) — though you didn’t sign it as much, it was easier to tell what it was. Now, it’s (‘eh’ ‘paine’) though you hardly sign it at all. You also now meow at cats, and other things you like. Things like airplanes. Could there be any question you’re my daughter?! You also like trains. Often when we hear the distant whistle of a train, you ask for more “More More Choo Choo (‘mo’ ‘mo’ ‘tue’ ‘tue’).
