2010
Lost!
Just because I'm hurting
Doesn't mean I'm hurt
Doesn't mean I didn't get what I deserve
No better and no worse
--- Lost! by Coldplay
I was laid off yesterday. I was let go. I was kicked-to-the-curb. My services were no longer required. And yet I feel fine today.
Honestly, there is no bitterness behind my words. This is not my first layoff, and I’m sure it won’t be my last. Yesterday’s events were completely expected. I’ve been laid off three times before, once having the opportunity to relocate but choosing not to do so. All of the times this has happened its been expected. And yes, waiting for the axe to fall is more difficult than the actual axing. But the most difficult part of yesterday, as with the other times I’ve been through this process, was saying goodbye to the people I worked with over the years. It’s tough.
I don’t like writing about work for fear of getting dooced, so I won’t go much further on this subject.
I’ll spend a few days gathering my wits, then plunge ahead with the job search. I’m a glass-half-full-type-of-guy. There’s a silver lining in this situation. I just need to find it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon I’ll realize what it is - to badly paraphrase a line from Casablanca.
Silver linings do exists. It’s all a matter of perspective.
Room in the Middle
If you haven’t heard, Apple announced the iPad yesterday. It seems everyone who hasn’t seen or used it in person describes it as giant iPod Touch. It seems more than that, but having not seen it in person, I could be wrong in this assumption. The question is, “Will you get one?” I’m leaning towards yes. The price is high, but not as high as predicted.
I’m interested in what the iPad can do for me?
I often use my laptop when watching television - browsing the web, checking email, playing Words with Friends, etc. I use my iPhone before I go to bed, and when I first wake up. I can see using the iPad to replace both of these scenarios. It’s made for consuming content, whether it’s music, games, the web, or even books. It seems like a good size for a nightstand / coffee table device.
I’ve read plenty of the tech-blogs describing the cons of the iPad. Many focus on what the iPad doesn’t have, or that a netbook can do the same things. But the iPad shouldn’t be compared directly to a netbook or an iPhone. It’s supposed to be the product in the middle, a hybrid. I don’t think I’d be editing photos or doing long word processing documents on an iPad. If I wanted to do either of those things, I’d use either the laptop or a desktop. I also don’t think I’d use the iPad as a mobile device. But I can see bringing it to Starbucks, logging onto their WiFi to browse the net. It’ll be easier to carry in my backpack. But if I need to do actual work at Starbucks, I’d bring my laptop.
Who knows, my mind may change when I actually see the iPad in person. At the very least I’m excited to see what it can do.
BumpTop for Mac
I wish the “piles” feature in BumpTop Mac would work for my real world desk. I’m not sure I’d use this application a lot since I try to keep my computer desktop clean. It would probably work best for someone like my wife, who seems to place every item on her desktop.
There’s also a Windows version available.
She's Having My Baby
Ultrasound of the Little Dude or Little Dudette
Farrah is pregnant!
[Note: Apologies to our shared friends on Facebook. I know you’ve heard this announcement before, from Farrah’s wall posting last week. I just haven’t had time to make a blog post and post it on my Facebook wall as well.]
Not much to add. Well, I guess we could throw in a few details.
How far along are you?
At this point Farrah is at 14 weeks.
When did you find out?
The morning of November 1. Farrah woke me up early that morning, showing me a photo on her iPhone of a home pregnancy test. I had to ask who’s it was. She then smiled and said, “It’s mine!” Later that day we took two other tests just to be sure.
When is your due date?
July 11th.
Do you know the sex of the baby?
Not yet. It’s too early. But we do want to find out when we can.
How are you feeling?
Not too bad. Luckily Farrah hasn’t experienced a lot of morning sickness, though there were times where she did not feel like eating. Her appetite returned last weekend with the beginning of the second trimester.
We hear that the second trimester is the best. I can say, for both of us, that we’re extremely happy, excited, and of course, nervous. I take it all of those are natural responses.
Last Monday, we heard the baby’s heartbeat for the first time. At first it was difficult to distinguish it from the static coming from the Doppler Baby Heart Monitor’s - I think that’s what it’s called - speaker. After some maneuvering of the microphone by the doctor, a clearly identifiable strong heartbeat was coming through. I have to say hearing the heartbeat was as cool as seeing the first ultrasound of the baby back in November. I honestly could have cried. Yes, I did cry during a couple of the ultrasounds.
We can’t wait until July.
My Year in Review Plus More or Less List
A belated Happy New Year to all! Welcome to Twenty-Ten! This is the proper way to say it, right?
Again, I blame the Winter Break for not doing this post earlier. But here I am, a little late to the party, trying to summarize blog postings and happenings from the last year:
- Kayla started playing volleyball. This prompted my sister to get into DSLR photography. She is doing great taking photos, and using the plenty of tips on photography from family and friends.
- This past Christmas Eve we did our first Skype call with my sister and her family in Nebraska. I think it surprised my mom, who was happy to see them on screen even though she had just seen them in person less than a month earlier. Ah, technology.
- Two new additions to the extended family this past year: Kaleb and Kaelin.
- We did a few concerts this year: Paolo Nutini, Dane Cook, Rex Navarette, and Tori Amos. Farrah also saw No Doubt at Shoreline.
- We saw the King Tut exhibit and went to the California Academy of Sciences. I didn’t blog about King Tut, but will probably do so in March.
- We bought our first LCD TV and took the dive into blu-ray.
- We, and everyone else bought the iPhone 3GS. It’s been a very good phone for us.
- Once again, the state of this blog has fluctuated this year. The blog has bounced from Wordpress to Wordpress.com to Tumblr to Wordpress again. I also pointed the domain (Janella.com) directly to my Smugmug account to start a new site alex-is.com. And once again, with my manic web life, I’ve decided to shut down alex-is.com and blog back at Janella.com. Confusing, huh? Even though everyone seems to be on Facebook, I believe I will continue to blog here. I want to avoid getting stuck in a walled garden.
- My uncle passed away last year. It was tough to take, even though I hadn’t seen him in so long.
Ok, now onto my New Year’s resolution list. I know, you really don’t need to wait until a new year begins to make a list of goals. You should be able to do this any day of the week. But I suppose New Year’s Day is an apt occasion to think about what you’d like to change. Wait? Wasn’t New Year’s Day about a week ago? Yes, it was, and I’ve listed “less procrastinating” as one of my goals.
I present here, in this blog post, my “More or Less List.” Should be a straightforward read.
In the coming year, I would like to do more:
- Reading: I do plenty of online reading. I’d like to read more books. I started two books last year, American Gods and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I got halfway through both books. I need to finish those first, then find other books of interest.
- Writing: I’ve been trying to write an hour a day, write like a stream of consciousness. I’d like to continue this. I’m hoping this leads to better blog entries or at least more interesting entries.
- Taking photos: As I’ve said in a previous post, I’d like to take more pictures and to be more creative. My understand lighting and depth-of-field seem to be growing more, but I don’t think about it often on-the-fly. Also, following some of these resolutions would be good.
- Watching movies: There was a time when I would devour movies. But my ability to sit through a film waned a few years ago. I’ve been able to watch a few movies the last several months. I hope to continue the trend.
- Exercising: I took a month or so off for the holidays. I need to desperately jump back on this horse.
- Cooking: I need to bust out the pots and pans more this year.>
I probably should do less of the following:
- Dining out: Too many restaurants too often. But it does help with my Yelp reviews. I should be cooking more though.
- Playing video games: I’ve already conquered the world (Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution), won 15 Super Bowls (Madden 10), beat Arsenal to a pulp (FIFA 10), and saved the world - for the time being (Call fo Duty: Modern Warfare 2). Time to cut down the hours on the PS3.
- Giving in to treats: I need to eat less chocolate, drink less soda, and cut down on my Starbucks Mocha consumption. Of course, if we receive a care package with chocolate in it, well, I’ll probably breakdown. I’ve been successful in cutting down on the mochas, so far.
- Spend less time on Facebook, Tumblr, etc.: I’m thinking of just logging in once a week instead of the multiple times a day, onto these networks. Just a thought.
- Procrastinating: Yes, I just need to get things done!
How did I do compared to last year’s list? Considering that I have many repeats on this list, it seems I didn’t do well. I probably should assess how I’m doing by the middle of the year.
New Year, New Photos
I haven’t done well with my goal of completing past dailyshoot photo assignments, as I had hoped to in a recent post. But I did have a chance to take photos yesterday. We met up with Yen and Timothy at Valley Fair Mall. It’s amazing how much Timothy has grown. I was able to take a few photos of him, but boy does he move a lot. Of the 40-plus photos I took, only half were usable. But that’s a good thing.
I’m trying to get into the habit of pressing and holding down the shutter release button. If I have the camera in a certain mode, it will take a series of three-to-five shots at a time. With an empty 4GB memory card I should be able to take approximately 170 or so photos in RAW format, at least that’s what my camera says. Unlike film, I shouldn’t worry about taking too many wasted shots, when seeking that one that captures a moment. After all, it’s difficult to take non-flash photos in low light, a situation I often find myself in. Using this method, if I’m lucky, one of those three-to-five photos should turn out. I guess I could get a faster lens or start using flash, but a better lens costs money and I don’t often like the results with flash.
I wish I got into this habit earlier. I think it would have come in handy on some of our travel photos.
Christie's in Burlingame
I didn’t have definite plans this morning, other than driving my wife to work. Unfortunately, she’s working New Year’s Eve day whereas I have it off. After dropping her off I decided to try a new place for breakfast. I launched the Yelp app on my iPhone and found Christie’s in Burlingame. Based on the reviews already on Yelp it seemed like the perfect way to start the day. Well, it would have been perfect if my wife could have joined me.
I love diners. This diner is located on California Drive, a slightly busy street. Metered parking was easy to find. Further out there is free two-hour parking, but you’ll need to walk a block or two. The place isn’t too large, probably holding anywhere from 40-50 people. The host/cashier greeted me promptly when I entered the door. I quickly found a single seat at the eight-seat counter.
The menu offers many choices for breakfast. I went with the “Our Own Joe’s Special” - a dish I’ve enjoyed at other diners. (As a side note, I either want corned beef hash or “Joe’s Special” when going to a diner.) Their “Joe’s Special” includes not only the requisite eggs and ground beef but mushrooms and tomatoes. It came with a healthy heap of crispy hashbrowns and nicely buttered toast.
The food was delivered promptly. My coffee cup was never empty, and I was often asked if everything was ok by several different waiters. The waiters were friendly, greeting new people and regulars with the same warm smile and hello. Luckily I managed to beat the morning rush, finishing my meal just as they were arriving.
I’m pretty sure I’ll be coming back when I’m down in Burlingame.