I’ve been dealing with the problem of Tech Envy for a while now. Last night, I discussed the issue with Becky, and came up with some interesting observations and some new ways of handling the situation.
Tech Envy
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Monthly Archives: January 2006
Prayers
Hey folks. Without going into major details… Please keep my Auntie Susie in your prayers.
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Susie and Rebecca
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Susie, we’re praying for a quick recovery from your surprise surgery! We love you!
Darkness+Making Lunch= ??
This morning I had to catch an earlier train than I usually do. So I got up before Peter and attempted to get ready without waking him up. This involved leaving the lights off (for the most part).
I reached into the freezer for some frozen Chili, looked at the package in my hand, and, convinced that it was chili, packed it in my lunch bag.
Imagine my surprise this afternoon when I went to reheat the ‘chili’…only to find that it was frozen spaghetti sauce and 2 meatballs!!! Not exactly what I had planned on. Luckily, it had barely thawed out and I went down the street and got a sandwich instead.
Computer Science!
Last night, Becky and I got together with some other [Gordon](http://www.gordon.edu/) computer science folks for dinner at [Acapulcos](http://www.acapulcos.net/). I had planned this little shindig with my friend and fellow computer science grad Lesley Anderson. Since she is in the area for a week, we thought it would be fun to get together with some folks in the area who we hadn’t seen for a while.
I had reserved Acapulcos’ private room, so we were able to eat and chat for three solid hours. In attendance were Lesley, Becky and I, Chuck and Hannah Bartholomew, Lucas and Christi Berger, Derek and Becky Day, and Professor Levy and his wife Kathy. We had a great time catching up with each other on life since Gordon, as well as chatting about topics from computers to stalking Sheryl Crow.
After the get-together, a few of us headed over to Sarah Joy (Ameden) Salagala’s home to throw a surprise birthday party for Lesley. Lesley received a call just as she was leaving the restaurant, asking her to run “an errand”, which allowed the rest of us to get over to the party before she arrived. It was pretty funny to see her reaction, after having just come from having dinner with us, to seeing us again at her surprise party.
Altogether, those two events made for one of the latest nights Becky and I had experienced in quite some time. But the friends we got to see and the fun we had was well worth the late hour.
We also have some photos from the [CompSci Get-Together](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/compsci_get_together/) and the [Surprise Party](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/lesleys_surprise_party/). Enjoy!
The Even Biggser Picture
On Saturday morning, I drove up to [Claremont, NH](http://www.claremontnh.com/) to visit [Jeremy and Angela](http://thebiggspicture.org/). Part of the reason for the trip was to watch the first few episodes of this season of [The Shield](http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/the_shield/) with Jeremy. We have carried on our tradition of watching the show since the first season… and it’s hard to believe that it is now in its fifth season! It’s certainly not a show for everybody… its “TV MA LSV” rating is certainly well-deserved. But the continuing intrigue of the plot and the development of the characters keeps us watching.
The other reason for my visit was to help them out with some of their website woes. They’d been having a lot of trouble with [Blogger](http://www.blogger.com/), so I moved their blog over to [WordPress](http://wordpress.org/). I’ve been working on prepping for the transition for the past week or so, and it’s been quite an enjoyable experience. I created a WordPress theme for the Biggses that replicates the overall look and feel of their old website, with a few XHTML and CSS improvements here and there, and some extra additions that come with the WordPress package.
WordPress is a really wonderful blogging system, and this is the first time I’ve really spent a considerable amount of time digging in to it and learning about how it works. I even rewrote one of my Movable Type plugins as a WordPress plugin, just as an exercise. It was actually pretty easy. Will you see World Wide Wood switch over to WordPress soon? I can’t say for sure, but I wouldn’t rule it out.
Anyway, I got them switched over to WordPress, and I also installed a Windows plugin that should make it very easy for them to upload photos to their gallery. I didn’t quite get through all of the items I wanted to cover, but I think I took care of the most important stuff. Overall, they seem to be very happy with the results. You can read Jeremy’s take on it in [his latest post](http://thebiggspicture.org/2006/01/21/new-holiday-peters-the-man-day/).
Here’s to the return of frequent posting on The Biggs Picture!
**Update**
Corrected the link to Jeremy’s post.
meme x2
Peter and I have been tagged by [Michelle](http://mikao.blogspot.com) for the ever popular “4 things” meme. We decided to fill it out together, with both our responses.
Here’s the first category to whet your whistle, click below to read the rest!
4 jobs I’ve had in my life:
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1. Bank Teller/Mailroom Worker
2. Museum Teacher/Helpdesk Assistant
3. College Teaching Assistant/Paperboy
4. Museum Head Guide/Web Developer
Continue reading
The Life of Pi
Have you ever felt like fate has sent something your way? Last week I was making a last minute swoop through the Beverly Public Library in search of something new to read. I only had a couple minutes, so I grabbed something that had an interesting looking spine, and was small enough to commute with easily. It was [The Life of Pi](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0156027321/qid=1137611844/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-6513026-8555204?n=507846&s=books&v=glance) by Yann Martel.
Having never heard of this book I was unaware of how gripping it would be. I settled in on the train and found myself completely captivated by the story. Before I knew it I was in Boston, and hardly a minute had passed! In just a few pages I was transported to India and was rooting on young Pi Patel and his three-pronged religiosity (Christianity, Hinduism and Islam).
The next couple of train rides were no different. On Thursday, I mentioned to my co-worker, Laura, that my commutes had become highly anticipated due to a new book I was reading. She asked the title and before I had finished telling her she proclaimed that it was “one of her favorite books”, that she owned “two copies; one for reading and one for lending”, that she had “forced all her friends to read it” and had “even preached sermons from it.” Needless to say, I was shocked. I guess this wasn’t just a random pull from the shelf, It was someone’s FAVORITE!
On Tuesday, Nikkiana posted a book meme with a bunch of books you should read from the site [whatshouldireadnext.com](http://whatshouldireadnext.com). On that list was, you guessed it, The Life of Pi. It seems to be following me!
In any case, upon finishing the book I was stunned by the complexities brought out in the last couple of chapters. I turned the last page and proclaimed to Peter, “What? It’s over!?!” He asked if I was unsatisfied by the ending. I was not dissatisfied at all, but just surprised that it came on so quick.
I want you all to read this book! Please do. And come back and tell me what you thought! Peter is reading it now and I think that everyone I know, regardless of age, religion, gender,etc, will find something to love about it. PLEASE READ IT!
This pregnancy is…
VERY BORING!
So I am counting my blessings :). The constant morning sickness is over. The massive food aversions are over. The horrible cold is mostly over…and I’m feeling pretty good.
I went in for my monthly visit to the doctor today. She took my blood pressure, urine test, and weight. She measured my stomach and listened to the baby’s heartbeat. She pronounced everything, “perfect”.
That was very, very nice to hear.
The whole appointment, from walking in to walking out took a grand total of 15 minutes! For the most part this makes me happy. It is good to know that everything is going along smoothly. But there is still a teeny part of me that wants to shout, “this is the most amazing thing to happen to me!! Don’t you understand? Why do you seem so ‘business as usual’ with me??”
But again, it’s good to know that everything’s good 🙂
Bowling With Becky
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Yesterday, I threw a little birthday get-together for Becky. I invited some of our friends over to go bowling at the Bowl-O-Mat in Beverly, and then back to our apartment to hang out and have some food.
This was the first time we had visited Beverly’s Bowl-O-Mat, and I have to say that it’s definitely a lot more fun than it looks from the outside (I failed to take any outside pics, but suffice to say, the place looks pretty run down). The Bowl-O-Mat does [candlepin bowling](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candlepin_bowling), the traditional New England bowling style. It’s quite a different game from [ten-pin bowling](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten-pin_bowling), for those of you who have never experienced it. Being from Ohio originally, I was pretty weirded out when I first played a game of candlepin several years ago. Bowling balls that you can hold in the palm of your hand, skinny little pins, three balls rolled per frame, dead pins not being cleared away between rolls… weird. It’s actually a more difficult game than ten-pin, because the ball is not able to knock over as many pins at once. It requires a bit more precision. Anyway, the overall feel of the game and the atmosphere it creates is more or less the same as ten-pin bowling, so it’s still lots of fun.
In attendance at the party were [Chris, Naomi, and Carl](http://members.verizon.net/mocasonline/), [Jenny](http://www.livejournal.com/users/raingirl3179/), [Corey](http://corey.prwdot.org/), [Jeremy and Angela](http://www.thebiggspicture.org/), and, of course, Becky and I. We have [the evening’s photos](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/bowling_with_becky/) online, as well. Becky had a great time getting to hang out with everyone, and of course she loves bowling, so all in all it was a great day!
Update
Jenny [blogs it](http://www.livejournal.com/users/raingirl3179/108042.html).
Geeky Onesies A Hit!
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So those Geeky Onesies that Becky made me for Christmas have become quite the sensation!
First, I [raved over them](http://prwdot.org/archives/2005/12/awesome_gifts.html) on Christmas. Then our relatives in Pennsylvania thought they were great when we showed them off later that day. Just recently, Becky posted them on the [Craftster forum](http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=71880.0) where they were received with a great response. And yesterday we discovered that Leah, the admin of [Craftster](http://www.craftster.org/) (and fellow Boston-area resident) had submitted the Geeky Onesies to [MAKE](http://www.makezine.com/), a do-it-yourself magazine/book run by [O’Reilly Media](http://oreilly.com/). MAKE [posted about the onesies earlier this week](http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/01/geeky_onesies.html)! That’s pretty awesome in both geeky and crafty circles!
I have created a new album just for the onesies [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/craftiness/geeky_onesies/). At this point, Rebecca has *not* revealed her plans, if any, for doing any further work with Geeky Onesies. But if you have any thoughts for her, be sure to let us know, either by leaving a comment on this entry, or by contacting her via our [contact page](http://prwdot.org/contact.html).
Update 01/13/2006
We’ve got another mention, this time at one of my new regular reads, [Daddy Types](http://daddytypes.com/archive/2006/01/13/opensource_geek_designs_on_trademark_onesies.php), the “Weblog for New Dads”. Cool!
Update 2 01/13/2006
Whoops, and there are even more links that I’ve found by way of searching for the Craftster thread. I was searching for links to our blog, but since most people are just linking to the Craftster thread, that didn’t turn up anything. Becky’s work was mentioned over at [Darryl Smith @ Radioactive Networks](http://www.radio-active.net.au/blog/2006/01/despite-being-good-puzzle-i-have-never.html), and also at [Yes, I’m Canadian](http://www.kevinyank.com/blog/archives/geeky-baby-wear/).