Thursday Thirteen #31 - Old Geek Jokes

This week I try my hand at old geek jokes, because it takes one to know one.

You know you're an old geek when:

1. You remember when IBM's main product was the Selectric.
2. You remember when ding meant you've typed to the end of the line, not that you have new mail.
   
3. You've messed up your code by dropping your punch card program. (OK, I admit I'm not THAT old.)
   
4. You've used a teletype as a computer terminal.
   
5. You've owned a Trash-80 (i.e. TRS-80) or Commodore 64.
6. You've owned a 9-pin dot matrix printer.
   
7. When people say monochrome, you say Amber or Green?
8. You've written papers using vi (my favorite), emacs and nroff/troff.
9. You've used a modem with a phone handset at 1200 baud.
   
10. You've posted on usenet way before the internets.
11. You know that expanded memory was anything over 640k RAM and extended memory was over 1MB (80286 need only apply).
    
12. You've used Lotus 1-2-3 for DOS.
13. You've used WordPerfect for DOS.
    
14. You can still write DOS batch files off the top of your head.
    

Ugh, only a mid-rank computer geek (too Windows centric!).

Wordless Wednesday - LOL Breastfeeding

We interrupt our steady stream of family pictures to bring you a LOLCat from I Can Has Cheezburger.

Tuesday Toot - Coding Queen

Hello Mommy Community's newest meme! I have no problem tooting my horn or my family's horn because that's what this blog is all about, right?

This week I want to toot my horn about work. Sure, I get recognition for outstanding work that I have done in the past, like that time I went to our customer's site and miraculously cleared up all the open issues, even the ones where we were scratching our heads and used the big shovel for (and we were not shoveling dirt). After that trip, even the general manager came to congratulate me. Unfortunately, I got pneumonia afterwards and didn't get to revel too much, but at least I fixed the problems before I got sick.

Well this time, the customer asked for an feature that was planned for a subsequent release of software, and they wanted it in two weeks for a visit from their customer (big name pharmaceutical company that makes a purple blue pill). It was a significant amount of work, which I didn't think could be done in two weeks. I learned early on in software management that when estimating software work, multiply your estimate by 10 times if you're good and multiply by 3 times if you're really good. My estimate including testing was about two weeks, cutting it way too close to the visit. Plus I had just sent my passport in for renewal, so there was no way I could represent our company for the demo in Canada. We managed to push the visit out two more weeks and I set out to write the code last week. And wouldn't you know it? I finished the code and had it tested in four days. And even with my normal slack time built in. I was so proud of myself I had to run to my boss and project manager and toot my horn. Hopefully this won't have a negative impact on future software estimates where I do have to rely on the 3x or 10x factor.

Photo Friday - Pictures From the Kids

Adam and Dova have their own digital camera, thanks to Quentin, and they absolutely love taking photos, just like their mom. I've posted some of Adam's and Dova's pictures before, but Crazy Hip Blog Mamas has given me an excuse to post more! Check out the other participants here.

By Adam, age 6:

This was taken with my new camera the day I got it.


Adam took his camera to school one day (without letting us know!) and took these shots of glass gems and a rock they were learning about in kindergarten.


There is a sports mosaic mode on their camera where a rapid succession of 16 photos is taken. We often have a fun time trying to come up with good action shots.

By Dova, age 3:

This is a view of the beam along our kitchen wall of our post and beam house. The rectangular patch of light is from the skylight above the kitchen.


This silly photograph of dad taking his blood pressure was actually published in this article from NowPublic about health insurance and blood pressure. I've only had one photo published myself (the clock at REI) so that is quite an accomplishment for this budding photographer.

If you want more, I've tagged all of the kids' pictures in Flickr byAdam and byDova in my obsessively organized way. Warning, some are pretty random!

Knitted Hearts Winners

Thanks everyone for entering the Knitted Hearts Pay It Forward!! Here are the entrants and some linky love:

1. Christine at From Dates to Diapers, and beyond
2. Melissa at LifeWithTwo
3. nor_lou at silly mommy of 2 silly girls
4. dodo
5. Carrie at Life is Like a Mountain Railway
6. SeaBird at SeaBird Chronicles
7. A Cup of Joy
8. eastcoastlife
9. windycindy
10. Stacey at JameeForever
11. Dana Lynne at Too Many Interests & Potential Topics to Successfully Grant a Title To...
12. Janice J
13. deelong at Things in Oregon

And the winners selected from Random.org are:

Here are your random numbers:

2 10 3 11

Timestamp: 2008-01-25 01:44:13 UTC

Congratulations Melissa, nor_lou, Stacey and Dana Lynne!

Now for some knitting details on the hearts:
I bought the purple and red flag yarns from the Target One Spot last year. They looked like so much fun, but I hadn't found a good use for them until now. The purple yarn is King Tut Egyptian cotton and the red yarn is Lion Chenille (except for the middle heart which was acrylic). Adam's heart is the plain red one on top because he didn't want any "frilly stuff". They were knit using the Mochimochi pattern, with the exception of using size 7 needles and knitting up to 12 stitches instead of 14. For the first lobe, I used k2tog, k4, turn, p2tog, p1, p2tog, cast off. I cut a 24" tail for seaming later. The second lobe is the opposite at k4, k2tog, turn, p2tog, p1, p2tog, cast off. They were stuffed with yarn scraps and sewn together using the same strand of yarn, including the hanging loop. The loop is simple enough: knot on top, loop, thread through the knot straight out the bottom and knot again (this loop needs to withstand my kids). They were really fun to make!

Thursday Thirteen #30 - NPR roundup

It's been a while since I've had an NPR roundup, so here are my favorite stories from the last few months.

1. Couple Finds Good Will in Taste Tests - This couple tries a social experiment to see if people will share a taste of their food with them in restaurants. Amazingly just about everyone does. I don't know how I would react especially when it comes to sharing the germs.
2. Concealed Weapon: Eels' Second Set of Teeth - Scientist recently discovered that the moray eel actually shoots a second set of teeth out of its throat, grabs fish and pulls it down its throat. Just like in Alien! But just when you are scared out of your wits, there is a funny surprise at the end of this story.
3. Finding Redemption Through Acceptance - This essay for 'This I Believe' from a former interrogator at Guantanamo Bay was very moving and shows that tolerance and acceptance can be healing.
4. Who is Singing Me Lullabies - One of many recent interviews with Oliver Sacks where he talks of an 85-year woman being haunted by songs which are most likely distant memories of her mother's singing when she was a child. Her mother had died when she was five.
5. Music Alters Wine's Taste, Vintner Insists - Depending on the music, wine will have a different taste. Cheap wines will taste terrible with classical music and expensive wines will taste terrible with the Beach Boys. Skeptical correspondent Alex Cohen tries it out live and surprisingly agrees with vintner Clark Smith on every pairing.
   
6. Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter... and Umami - For years scientists have insisted on the four basic tastes. But chefs and artists insisted there was another one. Finally science has caught up and recognized the fifth, Umami, or "delicious" in Japanese.
7. Have You Heard About B flat - This one is for you Melissa! From alligators to black holes, this story tells how B flat does the oddest things.
   
8. This American Life: Mapping - In Act 2 of this show, Toby Lester goes around mapping all the ambient sounds around him from the hum of a microwave to the fan of his computer. He would run to his keyboard to find the pitch of the sound. This segment really messed with my head because having perfect pitch, I am able to do this all the time. It often takes a conscious effort not to find the pitch of ambient noise. Bringing it to the forefront of my mind is the last thing I need.
   
9. 35 Years Later Michael Caine Returns to Sleuth - I'm a big fan of Sir Michael Caine and think that it is great that he has taken on the other role in Sleuth. He is charming as ever in this interview.
   
10. The Generation Who Can't Wait to Move Up in Work - Today's 20-somethings, known as the Millennial Generation, are eager to climb up the corporate ladder without putting in the time on the lower rungs. They are hard-working and motivated, but expect that they can skip the grunt work.
    
11. Study Sees Rise in Narcissism Among Students - This goes hand in hand with the previous item. Parents coddle their kids to the point that their self-esteem hits egomania.
    
12. Death by Excited Delirium: Diagnosis or Coverup? - This was a fascinating yet disturbing story about deaths of overweight men dying in police custody while resisting arrest. Autopsies show that they don't die of excessive force but by organ failure associated with high body temperatures. Civil liberties group claim that it is a police cover-up and it is not recognized by medical associations.
    
13. Atomic Tuneup: How the Body Rejuvenates Itself - 98 percent of the atoms in the body are replaced yearly. Does that mean we are new people every year? How do we maintain our soul if our atoms are constantly being replaced?
    

Wordless Wednesday - Our Newest Pets

Here are Orient Frog, Sally Star and Flower Balloon, as named by Dova.



Need to practice photographing fish, they are not as easy as the kids or the cats!

Pizza Hut's Book It Program - Now With SMS

This year, we were introduced to Pizza Hut's Book It program from Adam's school. Now, I am all for reading incentives, but encouraging obesity along with it? Obviously, this is also a marketing ploy to bring families into Pizza Hut every month. Elementary school-aged kids need to be brought in by their parents and parents needs to pay for their own meals as well as any preschool siblings, so there's good money to be made. Over the summer, I had the unfortunate experience of having my credit card number stolen at a Pizza Hut, so we had been avoiding it like the plague. Since our kids aren't obese, we decided to use the vouchers for the free personal pan pizzas. We actually missed the first two months of vouchers because I didn't realize that they expired within a month and was saving them up to buy pizzas for the whole family. Now that we've gone twice, Adam voraciously reads his allotment of books each month to get his next voucher.


The problem with Pizza Hut is that it is restaurant. My kids are not restaurant kids. Sure, they are somewhat occupied by the activity sheets and crayons, but they inevitably end up goofing off, making too much noise, going under the table, you name it.


Pizza Hut is now supporting ordering through SMS text messaging as well as through the web. Now, this will definitely streamline our Book It experience. I can place an order on their mobile web site on the way so we save time and aggravation. You just need to register with their site to use this service.

However I was discouraged by their lack of privacy options in their membership process where I HAD to:

I agree to receive information about Pizza Hut®/WingStreet® coupons, promotions, announcements, events and specials and agree to the Pizza Hut Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and the WingStreet® Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Most sites nowadays allow you to register and opt out of the spam. Plus I had to provide a password with both letters and numbers. It's Pizza Hut, not a bank for crying out loud! Oh well, I guess I'll sacrifice spam for some peace while we're there.

One Post to Wax Political

I am not one to discuss politics on the blog, but this quiz was too good to pass up. Although I almost overwhelmingly agree on issues with Hillary Clinton, it takes more to get my vote and lead a country than aligned views. Great leadership is not about having the same views, it is about trust, integrity and inspiration. Risa Green from Mommy Track'd sums it up perfectly in this article, I Want To Love Hillary, although she got heavily flamed for it. Hillary doesn't inspire passion, she is all business, to the point of appearing cold-hearted. But as a woman, I feel the gender obligation to propel her forward. Let's face it, when it comes down to the average American who gets sucked in by negative campaigning and false emails, presidential elections are just a personality contest. I will cast my vote on the candidate who aligns with (most) of my views and who I feel can best lead and inspire the country.

If you want to know how the candidates stack up on issues and issues alone, check out the quiz (thanks Quentin for the link). Here are the gory details of my results:

	Hillary Clinton Score: 46	Agree Iraq Immigration Taxes Health Care Abortion Social Security Energy Marriage Death Penalty Gun Control Environment Education	Disagree Line-Item Veto
	Barack Obama Score: 43 Video	Agree Iraq Immigration Taxes Health Care Abortion Social Security Energy Marriage Death Penalty Gun Control Environment	Disagree Line-Item Veto Education
	Chris Dodd Score: 42 Video	Agree Iraq Immigration Taxes Health Care Abortion Social Security Energy Marriage Gun Control Environment	Disagree Line-Item Veto Death Penalty Education
	Joe Biden Score: 36	Agree Immigration Taxes Health Care Abortion Social Security Energy Marriage Death Penalty Gun Control Environment	Disagree Iraq Line-Item Veto Education
	John Edwards Score: 35 Video	Agree Iraq Taxes Health Care Abortion Social Security Energy Marriage Death Penalty Education	Disagree Immigration Line-Item Veto Gun Control Environment
	Bill Richardson Score: 33 Video	Agree Taxes Health Care Abortion Social Security Line-Item Veto Marriage Death Penalty Environment Education	Disagree Iraq Immigration Energy Gun Control
	Dennis Kucinich Score: 32	Agree Taxes Health Care Abortion Social Security Energy Marriage Gun Control Environment	Disagree Iraq Immigration Line-Item Veto Death Penalty Education
	Mike Gravel Score: 30	Agree Immigration Taxes Health Care Abortion Social Security Marriage Gun Control Environment	Disagree Iraq Line-Item Veto Energy Death Penalty Education
	Duncan Hunter Score: 14	Agree Line-Item Veto Energy Death Penalty Education	Disagree Iraq Immigration Taxes Health Care Abortion Social Security Marriage Gun Control Environment
	Rudy Giuliani Score: 14	Agree Abortion Energy Marriage Death Penalty	Disagree Iraq Immigration Taxes Health Care Social Security Line-Item Veto Gun Control Environment Education
	Mike Huckabee Score: 13 Video	Agree Iraq Line-Item Veto Death Penalty	Disagree Immigration Taxes Health Care Abortion Social Security Energy Marriage Gun Control Environment Education
	John McCain Score: 12	Agree Immigration Line-Item Veto Marriage Death Penalty	Disagree Iraq Taxes Health Care Abortion Social Security Energy Gun Control Environment Education
	Mitt Romney Score: 11	Agree Line-Item Veto Energy Death Penalty	Disagree Iraq Immigration Taxes Health Care Abortion Social Security Marriage Gun Control Environment Education
	Ron Paul Score: 6	Agree Social Security Marriage	Disagree Iraq Immigration Taxes Health Care Abortion Line-Item Veto Energy Death Penalty Gun Control Environment Education
	Fred Thompson Score: 6	Agree Line-Item Veto Death Penalty	Disagree Iraq Immigration Taxes Health Care Abortion Social Security Energy Marriage Gun Control Environment Education

Homework for Parents

When Adam first started Preschool when he was three, he came home with an "assignment" to create a house with pictures of his family with his own picture on top. Obviously at age 3, this is not something that a preschooler can do, but rather a parent assignment. Oh great, I thought, now it begins, homework for parents starting at age 3! At this point, I was rather uncrafty (hadn't even learned to knit yet) and definitely not a scrapbooker. This sheet of paper was huge and even if I printed out fairly large pictures, I would have to decorate the rest somehow. And of course I waited until the very last day to complete it. Here was his very first house:


The next year, when the "assignment" came up again, I was prepared for it and actually let him help me with the stickers. Plus now he had a baby sister in the pictures.


At the end of the year, he brought his houses home and always took them out to look at. I began to soften my stance on this parent homework as it was obviously very special to him. I was actually disappointed when they didn't continue the tradition for his private kindergarten class in the same school. By the time Dova started school as a toddler, I was an old pro at it. Here are her last three years of houses on a smaller footprint:




Her first two houses came back all mangled and faded and I actually reprinted the pictures, recreated the montages and laminated them. I've gone from dreading the assignment to doing it twice! The kids in preschool room really enjoy looking at each other's houses. Here is a shot of the wall at school:


Now, even though I became a proponent of this particular school assignment, I do not believe in doing real homework for the kids. I believe in checking homework and being available if they need help. But doing homework for them will only jeopardize their education and development. Critical thinking and problem solving can only be learned by doing it. Hopefully the good habits we are trying to instill now will carry through their life. And maybe they won't be slackers like their mom .

Photo Hunters - Important

This ubiquitous photo of me (as avatar for Blogger, Flickr, MyBlogLog, Fuelmyblog among others) was published in Fuelmyblog's book, Revealing The Human Behind Avatar, in an effort to make me feel important!! Just kidding .

Seriously though, check out the book. It's a "wicked cool" collection of bloggers. And join Fuelmyblog and send some fuel my way!

Thursday Thirteen #29 - Random Tips

I'm going from geeky tips to random household (and work) tips this week.

1. If you microwave soup in a bowl, place a potholder under the bowl before putting it in the microwave. That way you don't burn your fingers on the bowl trying to get it out.
   
2. Use a plastic knife to fish toast out of the toaster. This is especially handy at work where plastic knives abound.
   
3. I use chopsticks at home for the toaster and toaster oven. Just don't use a metal knife!
4. Use a plastic knife to cut brownies in the pan. Works better than a spatula and doesn't scratch up your pan like a metal knife.
   
5. If you make brownie bites in a mini-muffin pan, grease the pan generously and run a toothpick around the edges to free them up afterwards.
   
6. When making a 13"x9" cake, run a spatula around the edges and underneath as much as possible, put a cutting board over the top and flip. I've been baking these forever and on the last rectangular cake I made, I totally forgot and tried to catch the cake with my hands only to have it fall apart into three pieces.
7. If you eat trail mix or something that comes in a bag, pour out a serving into a small bowl so you don't overeat. I have one of the kid's snack cups at work just for this purpose.
8. If you have a small fridge that doesn't defrost, store english muffins that come in a plastic bag with a paper tray upside down so that the condensation ends up on the paper and not sogging up your muffins.
   
9. Use the back of a business card for your grocery list. They fit really well in your wallet, especially if you're like me, and have about 500 to spare.
10. If you really want to be creative with your business cards, try making a Menger sponge.
11. Keep a bunch of address labels at work so if you need an envelope, you can paste over one with a company logo. Usually 2 labels will cover over most logos and return addresses. Who says you can't use more than one label on an envelope?
    
12. If you're like me and have a stash of bags from trade shows and conferences, use them as yarn bags for knitting projects or storage. No need to buy separate yarn bags or let these bags go to waste!
13. If you're a knitter, learn to weave in ends as you go, I love efficiency.