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Jonas and Me

Jonas and Me,

Are You a Geek?

Are You a Geek?,

When I was maybe 11 or 12, I had a poster on my wall that said "Are
You a Geek?" The poster had a picture of a very nerdy looking male
with a pocket full of pens, glasses, etc.

Ed came with me to see customers in Houston. We just left the hotel
room on our way to Chuy's when I notice what he's wearing.

There are no less than 4 pens in his pocket, a key ring thingy on his
belt, and a USB FLASH DRIVE hanging from his neck.

A USB FLASH DRIVE!

Ed at Olive Garden

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Spiderman Panties

Anna came in the bathroom this morning as I was getting out of the shower.  Upon observing a thread-worn pair of boxers I had discarded in the bin (second pair this week), she said "Daddy, you need a new pair of panties.  I'm going to get you a new pair of Spiderman Panties for my birthday, when I'm four."  She is a generous, thoughtful little girl.

My Sweet Daughter

Today I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch, made especially for me by my eldest daughter. She is five. She was going to make one for herself and asked if I would like one too. Did I mention she is five?

*all child labor comments will be deleted :-)

Men are from MARS!

Our friend and babysitter, Megan, comes over to watch Tivo'd episodes of Lost and the occasional movie as her busy schedule permits. While the cast of Lost is hard at work in beautiful Hawaii to bring us the next season, we decided to give Journeyman a look since it was too late to start a movie.

The three of us had just finished watching the pilot of Journeyman. It had an interesting sci-fi time travel kind of plot, so I enjoyed it.  The show ended with the guy proving to his wife, who was convinced he was on drugs, that he really was traveling through time.  My thoughts after this scene were that I'd like to watch the next episode to see how they open up the plot and elaborate on the whole time travel angle.

The first post-show comment I heard was Megan reassuring Margaret, "well, at least now she knows," which prompted a rehash of all the inter-character relationships and emotional issues they would each face given the storyline that had developed.

As a Martian, I cannot imagine watching this show and then at the end turning to a buddy and saying, "well, Ed, at least he convinced his wife he wasn't really on drugs. It's too bad he wrecked the Mustang and had to tear up the patio.. He was probably feeling a lot of stress from all the time traveling and the strained relationship with his brother and his boss at work.  Poor guy.  Oh, and did you notice the shoes?"

And its not just this one show, but pretty much after every episode of Lost I'll have to hear about how Kate must feel being torn between Jack and Sawyer blah blah blah...

...women are from Venus.

Anna's Goatee

Anna's Goatee,

Anna was running around outside this morning and planted her chin into the sidewalk. That's a Dora bandaid on her chin, forming a pointy goatee!

Z at Beaners

Here's a shot of Z relaxing in a comfy chair at Beaner's.  Its a nice place to hang out for a little while to unwind at the end of the day. My favorite drink right now is a short vanilla breve latte with two shots of espresso poured over the top.  Yum.

Some of you will be happy to know that I finally took the time to figure out how to take a picture with the iPhone and then post it with comments to the website.  Lots of websites now are putting out special pages designed for the iPhone.  Slick.

Halo 3

I thought I'd catch a late show tonight.. The show starts at 10, ends at 11:40, and tonight just happens to be the night they are releasing Halo 3. What perfect timing.. I'll get out of the show just in time to pick up what is certain to be my next favorite game on the xbox 360.

Given the game's popularity, I guess I should not be surprised to find there are 75 people (and counting) with the exact same idea, and they got here first. Should I wait?

UPDATE: I came out of the theater to find about 200 people standing in the parking lot outside of GameStop. Seriously.

1+1=6

We have a new baby!  Jonas Russell Winn was born May 6, 2007, weighing 9 lbs and 21" tall.  Mom and baby are doing well.  Me?  Well, I'm just really glad the whole birth thing is over.  It's no fun at all, and my job is the easy part.  I can't imagine how women have more than one baby.. it seems that after the first they'd know for sure they didn't want to do that again!

Very Proud of Herself

AppleTV

It will come as no surprise to anyone reading this blog that I went out and bought an AppleTV the day it became available in the Apple store.  I was # 8 to get one for the day.  I assure you it was purely coincidence that I happened to be in Grand Rapids that day and looking for something to do before catching a movie.. it was in no way planned.. REALLY!

I've rather enjoyed being able to access all my geeky computer-downloaded content on my television.  This would include a large music collection, pictures, some ripped DVDs, a few shows downloaded from iTunes.. oh, and PODCASTS.  The video podcasts I can now watch on the AppleTV are the bees knees.  You probably have no idea how many video podcasts are available on iTunes absolutely free, and the quality of these (amateur?) productions is steadily increasing as more people figure out how to monetize the whole free video podcast concept.

Right now, the available video podcasts appeal mostly to technology enthusiasts, but you can also find videos on other subjects, such as travel.  Taking a trip and exploring the world is pure bliss for me.  Travelistic has video podcasts about all sorts of interesting places, and today I found they have a pretty spiffy website too.

You can download video podcasts from iTunes (free) without an AppleTV.. but you'll want one eventually as more content becomes available and you get really hooked like I am.


Technorati Tags: travelistic, video podcast

Another Birthday

For those of you wondering how my birthday was celebrated this year, after last year's excitement, you'll be disappointed to know it was rather uneventful.  I avoided smoothies with green powder and oil and other healthy stuff and took the kids to see Meet the Robinsons, topped off with a large slice of chocolate cake with milk chocolate icing (my favorite).  And, no, I am not 40...

Charlottesville, Virginia

Monday I explored Charlottesville, Virginia, and the surrounding area.  It's very hilly here and quite green.  Everything is in bloom this time of year and it was a pleasant 78 degrees with a slight hint of humidity in the air.

I spent the morning working from Java Java, a java joint in the downtown pedestrian mall area of Charlottesville (nice place).  Everyone I met today was asked how they like living here, how humid is it in the summer, and how bad are the mosquitoes.  They all agreed that Charlottesville is a great place to live, but that it's sticky in a hot and humid kind of way in the summer (yuck).  The Java Java coffee dude told me he feels like a "mosquito buffet."  One lady warned me that "those mosquitoes will carry you away, honey."  There was another guy who didn't think it was too humid and said the mosquitoes weren't that bad, but he was from Florida and of course he'd say that.

Review: Super Mercado De Guanajuato

Oh how I love Chicken Enchiladas with green sauce from an AUTHENTIC Mexican restaurant, and who would ever believe that I found such an establishment in Ionia, Michigan of all places?  Enter Super Mercado De Guanajuato on Main Street and step into a little Mexican grocery store.  Mexican DVDs on display, a Spanish soap opera on the television, those little packages of gum the kids try to sell you when you cross the border, corn tortillas wrapped in paper, it's like you are THERE.

I had driven by this place several times and never stopped.  One day, being particularly hungry for some good Mexican food, I noticed the sign had "tacos" on it and thought how tacos aren't the kind of thing you normally find in a grocery store.  I stopped in and inquired, in my most convincing Spanish accent, "Hola Senor, que est de word 'tacos' ona tu sign?  Dos tu serva de lunch ora justa groceries?"  Pointing to the rear of the store he said, "de restaurante in back".

Mental Break

What a break that turned out to be!  I'm referring of course to the lack of posts on here since October or so.  For those who are curious, here's the condensed version. 

I was really busy back in October.  We took a trip to Atlanta to visit some friends and around that time I got a big portfolio to work on which kept me occupied through the end of November.  I was spending a lot of time getting the work stuff done and just didn't have the mental energy for the fun computer stuff at the end of the day.

Baby, would you like espresso with that catfish?

We've been in Georgia this week visiting some friends.  Today Tim took me by a "local" coffee shop for a change of pace since Starbucks here seem to outnumber everyone else by 10 to 1.  It looked like a typical coffee place from the outside, but walking up to the front door I noticed a piece of paper taped to the window advertising the Wednesday night All-You-Can-Eat Catfish special.

Amused, I prepare myself for what will surely be a blast of deep-fried stuffy air and open the door.  Things look more coffee shop-ish on the inside than the catfish teaser in front would lead you to believe, so I make my way to the back to place my order.  "Hey Darlin'" is the greeting I receive from the dark-haired flannel shirt wearing southern woman behind the counter.  My amusement has turned into a full blown grin.  "Hi there", I said.  "I'd like a double vanilla breve latte with the espresso poured over the top."  She replied with a puzzled, "You want what, baby?"

We became well acquainted in the five minutes it took her to prepare my fix, and she was most appreciative that I had explained what a breve is and how it just isn't kosher to have catfish and espresso served in the same establishment.  "Be carefull, doll, it's really hot" she drawled, and carefully handed me the lidless 175 degree beverage.

What a friendly, hospitable place.  Where else but Georgia can you be called darlin', baby, and doll, and then be served espresso and catish?

Too Slick

Last week I met a "wealth manager" after a conference over in Birmingham, Michigan (cool place).  Out in the lobby after the conference, he sat down next to me and another guy and started chatting about the conference, what we all do for a living, if we had any kids, etc.  I mentioned I have three precious kiddos at home, at which point he said "hey, let me show you a picture of my kids."

Ok, I'm thinking.. he's a proud dad.  That's great.  I should probably carry around pictures of my kids in my wallet, or in something less nerdy than on my cell phone (does that make me a bad dad?).

He begins to flip through a three ringer binder, pointing to pictures of celebrities and "important looking" people (presumably some of his clients) and finally gets to a picture of his teenage children.  Then he tells us that he put $32,000 into a fund that he manages and that it's appreciated to some astronomical figure over the last three months, 500% growth or something like that.  I'm being pitched.

Anyone who can start with "let me show you a picture of my kids" and ends with "results like this, of course, are not guaranteed, but I mange [name drop] and [name drop] and blah blah blah options, and blah blah blah futures, and here's my card if you're interested in blah blah" is too slick for me.

Today's Funny

Today's laugh was produced by the following snippet.  I'm sure it was forwarded a billion times, and I haven't a clue where it originated.  (And, no, it's NOT ok to add me to a joke-of-the-day list):

A man and his ever-nagging wife went on vacation to Jerusalem .  While
they were there, the wife passed away. The undertaker told the husband,
"You can have her shipped home for $5,000, or you can bury her here, in
the Holy Land , for $150."  The man thought about it and told him he
would just have her shipped home.

The undertaker asked, "Why would you spend $5,000 to ship your wife
home, when it would be wonderful to be buried here and you  would spend
only $150?"

The man replied, "Long ago a man died here, was buried here, and three
days later he rose from the dead.  I just can't take that chance."

Movie Review: The Illusionist

Tonight I went to see The Illusionist staring Edward Norton (Fight Club) and Jessica Biel.  GREAT movie.  It's a little dark, mysterious, almost creepy.  I really enjoyed it.  The setting, characters, and plot were all excellent.  I was really into the story and it seemed like it was going to have a ho-hum ending, and then it all came together at once to complete the story with the happy ending spin to boot.  Go see it.