phase7.com

COME BACK

2009-11-21T01:21:00.000-06:00

come back Chris, return to the blog world. We miss you come back

Instant Gratification

2009-05-17T22:37:00.000-05:00

The other day Emma and I were in the car, driving to the store. We had the radio on and after a song finished, she asked me to put on a particular song. I told her that I didn't have my iPod with me, but she insisted. I chuckled a little and told her that I couldn't control what plays on the radio like that. Not 3 minutes later, she asked me to put the song on again. At first I was a little frustrated. She is only 5, but it seems like she's able to understand so many things. I started thinking about it, and realized that there's really no reason why this situation would be a concept she understands after all. We have a TiVo at home where we can instantly put on a TV show that the kids want, iPods at home or in the car where we can instantly put on a song the kids like... they're used to it! They are so used to it that they don't understand in the rare times that we can't make it just happen. My frustration melted away into a feeling of disappointment in myself.

Instant gratification is something that I struggle with. Nearly all of my big purchases have been made in a hurry because I was spurred on by the want to have it now, not later. For most of those purchases, I've had regrets. I get so caught up in the excitement that everything else pales in comparison. Don't get me wrong, I'd say that in most instances I would have still gone ahead at some point at made the purchase, but in some cases I may not have had I just taken the time to cool down a bit.

Taking it a step further, I think about the lack of patience that I have on nearly a daily basis. I want to get something done, for my day to go my way... Sometimes I get upset, but most of the time it just frustrates me internally and sours my mood for a little while. Almost always it ruins whatever opportunity I had to enjoy the good that I could have experienced at the time.

I like our gadgets. I like how modern stuff seems to make life easier. I don't see how I could ever become a luddite and I think I am too much of a geek to really ever change even a little bit. I do enjoy being able to immediately stream the next episode of Lost to my computer as soon as I'm done with the previous one! But, it's thoughts like these that make me wonder if it's really all worth it. It's at least worth it to find ways to teach our kids that some things are worth waiting for.

Lost

2009-05-16T17:33:00.002-05:00

I started watching Lost a couple weeks ago. I wanted to see what it was about... and I got hooked. I'm now almost finished with season 2 and still loving it. I do understand what some people have told me about getting frustrated with it, but to me it's just intriguing. I can see how if I was watching the show week by week waiting for the next episode to come out that I'd be tired of the never ending cliffhangers, but since I can watch the next episode as soon as I have time, I think I'm good.

It'll take me a while, but I think I may make it through the entire series... the finale was a couple days ago.

1 in 5 Americans Admit to Peeing in the Pool?!

2009-05-15T07:34:00.002-05:00

Well, here's a great fact to keep in mind for the summer. According to a "recent survey", 20% of the adults out there admit to peeing in the pool... wow. I'm never swimming with more than 3 other people in the pool ever again. The odds are too rough!

1 in 5 Americans Admits Peeing in Pool [livescience.com]

Impromptu Shampoo for Kaetlyn, Using Hand Soap

2009-05-14T17:26:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, things got quiet. Too quiet. I mentioned to Casey that the girls must be coloring on the walls or something and then headed upstairs and found this:

Yup, that's antibacterial hand soap in Kaetlyn's hair, courtesy of Madison!

Vacation!!!!

2009-03-13T14:47:00.002-05:00

We are on our way to Florida!! Maybe I can talk chris into blogging this week ;-). I love you babe

Miniature City Video

2009-01-27T06:21:00.000-06:00

There's something disturbing me about this video of miniatures mixed in with real life scenes in New York. It may be because of the CSI miniature killer episodes.

Yoga Booty Ballet

2009-01-26T11:23:00.000-06:00

Now you know what to get me for my birthday.

Some people can put a price on divorce

2009-01-23T07:40:00.003-06:00

While browsing through some old headlines, I came across an article discussing how divorce is getting rougher as real estate prices drop. One of the quotes in the article just floored me:

Dee Dee Tomasko, a nursing student and mother in suburban Cleveland, expected to leave her marriage with about $200,000 in starter money, primarily from the marital home, which was appraised at about $1 million in 2006. By the time of her divorce last year, however, the house was appraised at $800,000; her share of the equity came to about $105,000.

Though she is relieved to be out of the marriage, if she had known how little money she would get, Tomasko said, "I might have stuck with it a little more, I don't know. Maybe it would've made me think a little harder."

What?! I can't relate to the feelings about divorce in the first place, but how could someone be motivated (or demotivated) by anything to do with how much money they get once it's over? It just doesn't add up in my head. Is marriage (and the dissolution of it) just a business deal now?

Starbucks at Half Price?

2009-01-18T08:39:00.004-06:00

I read an old post this morning about Starbucks customers ordering cheap espresso drinks and then adding dairy at the condiment bar to make what would normally be a more expensive drink. Sometimes the drink is half the price it would have been if ordered off the menu. This made me stop to think for a moment. I'm against stealing. Is this stealing though? If I walked into Starbucks with a cup and poured some milk from the condiment bar into it, that'd be wrong. If I ordered a coffee and added a little milk and sugar, that'd be ok. So where is the line? Let's take this a little further. If I order an Americano without water, they serve it to me and I drink it straight, everything is ok. If I go add a little milk to it, it's ok. So when does a little milk become a lot of milk and turn the drink into a latte?

I'm not trying to justify something sneaky. I've never done this myself, and I probably won't simply because when I go to Starbucks I'm not looking to make it on my own. I can (mostly) do that at home.

I'm genuinely curious about this situation.

Earth's Fractals

2009-01-15T20:00:00.002-06:00

Ok, so there's something about stuff like this that really gets my imagination going!

iTunes Genius

2009-01-11T19:30:00.000-06:00

If you use iTunes, I highly recommend the new Genius feature. It's even available from newer iPhones and iPods... and I find that it does a really great job of picking out a playlist. If I'm listening and thinking "Hey, that song just sounds really good right now", I hit Genius and I have a playlist that I'm actually in the mood for. It's much better than just listening to all songs on an album or just doing shuffle.

Windows 7 is Better?

2009-01-11T00:05:00.002-06:00

I downloaded the Windows 7 Beta and attempted to install it in Parallels today. However, no matter what I try, it locks up after install on a pretty graphic that says "Starting Windows". So much for rushing to get a public beta out, Microsoft. With impressions like these, Windows 7 won't fare any better than Vista.

Lessons Learned From Having Kids - Unexpected Weapons

2009-01-06T06:59:00.000-06:00

A toy truck an become a weapon just as easily as a real truck can. I didn't say deadly weapon.

Lessons Learned From Having Kids - Coloring

2009-01-05T16:41:00.003-06:00

They don't realize it, but kids are actually attracted to a very therapeutic activity from a young age: coloring. It's very relaxing to be creative every now and then, even if you're taking someone else's outline and making it your own.

Lessons Learned From Having Kids - Tattling

2009-01-04T08:18:00.003-06:00

Tattling is the equivalent of gossip for preschoolers. It's just as poisonous, but unlike gossiping adults I challenge you to find even a few people out there who find it tolerable.

Lesson Learned From Having Kids - Screaming to Release

2009-01-03T11:22:00.004-06:00

Sometimes you just need to scream for a little while and then you'll feel better.

Netflix Instant on Tivo

2008-12-18T23:22:00.003-06:00

We really like Netflix Instant, which is a service we get for "free" with our Netflix account that lets us watch unlimited shows and movies online over the Internet. You're supposed to watch at a computer, but we just hook a laptop up to the TV and go for it. We've watched a few TV series (not episodes, whole series) using it and have really enjoyed it. Well, when I caught news of the upcoming feature to watch Netflix Instant on TiVo, I was pumped. I was so excited that I went to great lengths to get our TiVo wired into our home network, something that hasn't been hooked up for almost 2 years. Unfortunately, it all added up to great disappointment.

See, in order to actually use the feature you have to have a newer TiVo, like a Series 3 or a TiVo HD. We have a Series 2. It's almost 5 years old! At first I was upset, thinking that they were doing this to force us to upgrade. After all, it's a standard tech marketing trick to keep the simple-but-tempting features on only the newest version of the great gadgets so that all the geeks want to upgrade. In reality though, I found out that there was a good reason so I calmed down pretty quick. The older TiVos actually don't have the right kind of hardware to support the kind of video that Netflix uses. Bummer.

I'm seriously thinking about getting a new TiVo, even if they are in trouble.

Early Christmas Present

2008-12-14T18:30:00.000-06:00

Casey and I are really awful about keeping our gifts to each other secret, regardless of the occasion. This Christmas is no exception. We actually bought her gift together at a jewelry store that was going out of business -- at the beginning of November! I teased her for a while about not letting her have it right away, but of course I didn't follow through.

For my gift, Casey bought me a Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet. I'm pounding this out on my phone so I can't link, but go hit up Google and check it out. I've wanted one for a while, and recently while editing some pictures I came to realize that it could have some great benefits for my workflow.

I've only had it for about 24 hours, but it's put me in a seriously motivated mode to get some new pictures up, so be on the lookout.

What Large Flowers You Have

2008-12-12T10:55:00.000-06:00

On the way back from gymnastics this morning we saw several construction workers with some large construction equipment. So that they could dig a huge ditch they had one side of the road blocked off, which resulted in requiring men direct traffic. I asked Emma if she saw the big hole, and she says, "Maybe they're planting flowers!"

Best Ultra Compact Camera

2008-12-08T06:30:00.002-06:00

Recently I posted regarding how people like to ask me for advice on what camera to buy. Well, dpreview.com has just posted their top picks for ultra compact digital cameras. Head on over to read the full review, or you can take it from me that the Canon SD790 wins. Looks like you can get it for $199 online, not bad. Looks like a good camera. i'm just going to pretend that it didn't tie with a Panasonic. :-)

Catching Up on Photo Processing Again

2008-12-07T09:48:00.002-06:00

I'm trying to catch up on photos that I haven't processed yet so that I can actually post newer stuff with Alyson in it. Yesterday I posted pictures from our spring break trip to Disney World. Check them out!

I've been using Adobe Lightroom for processing, but I downloaded a trial of Lightroom 2 and am really liking some of the new features. I'll probably upgrade after Christmas. I'm also seriously thinking about getting a Bamboo or small Wacom tablet.

Flood Update

2008-12-06T11:31:00.002-06:00

Much of the water has dried up, but I did take and post some photos for your enjoyment. We look forward to getting the bedroom back to normal...

God Told the Kolbs to Build an Ark

2008-12-06T01:20:00.005-06:00

We went over to Casey's parents house for dinner, and when we returned Casey reported that there was water all over our bathroom floor. At first I thought the girls had spilled something before we left, but it was too much water. Maybe the sink is leaking. Nope, the cabinets are dry underneath the sinks. Where's the water coming from? Oh, it's coming from an overflowing toilet in the half bath... on the other side of the wall! Wow, the carpet is wet right here. And here... and here... here.

So I had to slice across our carpet (!!) with a utility knife right at the entry to our bedroom and peel about 1/3 of it back so that it can dry. The water got soaked up by the pad, so it's propped up to dry as well. The water seriously soaked the carpet 4 feet into our bedroom, all across the wall leading into our bathroom. I had to pull off the baseboards and the bottom of the cabinet so that I could check for standing water, but fortunately there was none and the water didn't get any of our sheetrock. If the carpet and pad turns out to be ok I'll have to stretch it so that I can get it tacked back down correctly. I tell you, those stinking little metal strips that are used to tack carpet down when bordering linoleum or tile are a pain in the butt to work with.

Time to sleep.

Great Rearrange

2008-12-03T08:23:00.002-06:00

On Sunday we decided it was time for a change, so we rearranged our living room to make room for our Christmas tree. We took the big couch and the entertainment center and swapped them, which was something we had talked about right after we moved in but had never gotten around to. It took a lot of work for what seems like such a simple change, but we're really happy with it. It's hard to explain why, but it kinda feels like we're in a new house!