Dylan did the sound and an interesting pre-play multimedia presentation for the high school's production of The Crucible. Here he is getting ready to do a dry run of the multimedia slide deck. He created it using Microsoft PowerPoint and added in a musical soundtrack and set it to auto-step through all of the slides.Unfortunately, I had a business trip that conflicted with seeing the full, regular play. But I was able to make the dress rehearsal. Now, you may not know this. But I did quite a lot of acting and stage work back in high school. And I have to say that if my plays were half as tight … [Read more...]
Hamsters really ARE rats…
March 18, 2007 by Leave a Comment
We have a really cute, placid, and fat hamster named Pippy Lu or, alternately, Lulu depending on which Katie Jo. Normally, hamsters are just little, fluffy balls of cuddly goodness. But every now and them Emily takes it upon herself to bathe the hamster - usually if it's getting a little bit rank. Once you see them wet, you realize that they are indeed rats. Just with cuter fur...These poor little critters are native to the deserts of Syria (exploring archeaologists first brought them back for their kids in the 1920's). So they naturally don't like getting soaked and actually can get pretty … [Read more...]
Thinking about Inventing Your Own Language
March 16, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Here's an interesting website article that tells you all about creating your own language - http://zompist.com/kitlong.html#alien. So if you're thinking about writing the next great American science fiction novel, then you might take this into account. It's kind'a funny and fun to read. It takes into account things that I hadn't considered such as adding in language components that are foreign to English, but well-known in other languages such as Mandarin.Best regards,-Kev … [Read more...]
A week in CA
March 14, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Once again, I was called back to HQ for a big series of meetings for our Q1 yearly kickoff. In previous years, I'd been very active in actually compiling the content of several of the meetings in the SQL Server business unit for Quest, and also for assisting in deciding on key strategy for the SQL Server business unit overall in conjunction with other top decision-makers of the company. (At that time, my title was senior product architect and, later, director of technology for the SQL Server business unit.)But since I ceded that component of my job so that I could focus more on family time and … [Read more...]
I survived (again)…
March 11, 2007 by 3 Comments
Ok, so my last post was about how I survived a terrible ordeal. So guess what happens one week after the posting on 3/4/07? You guessed it - it happened again.My daughter Katie (the youngest) came down with a nasty stomach flu on Friday night. I spent most of the night sitting up with her. She was so bad off that even Kelly felt compelled to come over and spend a few hours comforting her. She couldn't keep anything down and was throwing up everything we put in her. Despite constant hand washing, I somehow managed to get the virus. I had a headache by Saturday night and on Sunday morning … [Read more...]
A Death’s Door Experience – 2nd Anniversary
February 24, 2007 by 2 Comments
Two years ago this week, I’d come down with a headcold and by Friday, went to my doctor in search of some relief. Like most people, strong antibiotics upset my stomach. So it was no surprise to me that I spent most of Saturday suffering from stomach problems. But things started to get weird by late Saturday evening. Some time well past midnight, I started to suffer from severe chills and nearly uncontrollable nausea. After a short trip to the bathroom, I realized that I was going to pass out. Since I didn’t want to wake up face down on the floor, I hurried back to bed. There, my … [Read more...]
Book Reviews
February 23, 2007 by Leave a Comment
I've been traveling way too much this year already and it's only February. The bad news is that my heavy travel schedule is set to continue for a couple more months before it calms down again. The good news is that I've been reading some great books that have been a lot of fun.First, I have to give props to Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. This books was a blast to read. It tells the story of Elphaba, the infamous green witch of Oz, and how she came to be so imfamous. I won't spoil the story except to say that you'll want to watch the "Wizard of Oz" all over again … [Read more...]
Favorite Political Blog Comment of the Day
February 22, 2007 by 2 Comments
"Expecting the Bush Administration to get it right this time isn't even really like Lucy pulling the football out from under Charlie Brown. It's more like if Lucy managed to mishandle the ball each time so badly that it ended up embedded in Charlie Brown's colon, and Charlie kept letting her hold the ball."Now that's a visual image I could NOT have come up with by myself.-Kev … [Read more...]
The Problem with Jacuzzi’s…
February 15, 2007 by Leave a Comment
My girls love taking baths in my jacuzzi tub. They'll stay in there for hours if I'd let them. Of course, I don't let them if there's soap in the tub (since that can lead to urinary tract infections in little girls). I also don't let them put in soap when they plan on running the jets in the tub since it can lead to this...After they finished up in the tub, it took me about a half-hour to get the whole area cleaned up. There were suds in every corner! How fun! Cheers,-Kev … [Read more...]
A Child Prodigy…
February 7, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Check this out. Here's a girl who's only 12 and has sold millions of dollars worth of her art. Akiane Kramarik :http://www.artakiane.com/home.htmHer website: http://www.artakiane.com/akiane_art.htm, including images of paimtings since she was 4 years old.Wikipedia bio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akiane_KramarikI'm not crazy about her topics of art, a bit too kitch for me. However, her skill is amazing and I think she'll be of great significance later in life.The comedienne Kathleen Madigan says that we all have a hidden genius, it's just that most of us don't ever discover ours. I wonder … [Read more...]
