It’s confirmed, my QNAP NAS died a horrible death last night after an attempted firmware upgrade. Searching on Reddit it seems I wasn’t the only one who had an issue:

Luckily I recently backed up the data from the QNAP so I think I’m in good shape. I don’t think I want to shell out $$$ for another NAS, though. I may go back to simple hard drive enclosures.

Trying a few panoramic photos with the iPhone XS Max while in Hawaii. Click each photo to get a better view. 📷

This nighttime photo was taken with iPhone XS Max. It turned out OK, didn’t it?

The girls and I went to breakfast at the local diner the other day. They find eating at a diner so comforting. 📷

The girls are in the City once again. Farrah sent me the above photo from the Palace of Fine Arts. I wish I could be up there with them enjoying the day.

The Santa Claus at Stanford Shopping Center has been our staple Santa over the years. The only other time we saw Santa Claus elsewhere was in Hawaii. This year we waited until the weekend before Christmas to visit Santa. It seemed like a lot of other people had the same idea, given the long line we encountered early that Saturday morning.

But the girls were very patient waiting. And when it was their turn to sit on the jolly old fellow’s lap, the girls were well-behaved - for the most part. I think Graecyn is going through a little stranger danger/separation issue right now. But Mia was all in awe of Santa. Mia even spent several moments after the photo session talking to Santa about her gift ideas.

Mia tells Santa her wishes for this year.

Graecyn waits for Mia.

It’s always tough getting the girls ready in the morning. Sometimes they place nice, like this morning. This gives mom and dad the opportunity to actually get ready for work instead of rushing to work.

Confident before the run.

This past weekend, Farrah, Fina, Kristel, Kay, Chantel, and Marisa took part in the 5K Color Me Rad run. It was held at the Santa Clara Fairgrounds in San Jose. This particular run benefited the

Pacific Autism Center for Education (PACE). I was able to take a few photos at the event. It was a bit difficult to avoid the color powder that is used at the event. I saw several DSLR users have plastic bags over their cameras, similar to a rain bag I used on my Nikon D70 when we went to England. If they do this run again, I will need to make sure to bring a plastic bag with me.

Celebrating after the run!

Photos for this event are located under the Color Me Rad folder.

Mia follows Kaleb up a hill during Kaiden’s first birthday party.

Mia and Kaleb were blowing bubbles outside during Kaiden’s first birthday party. Kaleb decided to walk from the playground and down the sidewalk trail. Mia followed. There was a little hill past an intersection path that Kaleb decided to walk up. Mia followed. Up the hill, they both went toward a house. Kaleb made it all the way to the top. Mia - about 90% before she slipped, causing her shoe to fall off. I was there right behind her to fix her shoe and encourage her the rest of the way up to the top.

Getting down is a different story.

This photo was taken on March 2, 2013.

Are you looking at me?

We were hanging out in the living room on a Sunday afternoon before baby Graecyn’s arrival when I took this photo. Mia was enjoying a few vanilla wafers and wearing her sunglasses while watching an episode of Dora the Explorer.

This photo was taken on November 4, 2012.

Graecyn Belle was born at 1:50am on November 8. 2012. She weighs 6 lbs 10 oz, and is 19 1/2 inches long, with a thick head of hair like her sister. Mommy, baby, and family are doing great!

Mia enjoying snacks from the Harvest Festival at daycare.

Instead of celebrating Halloween at daycare, they have a Harvest Festival. Parents are invited to enjoy time with the kids. There are a few activities, such as building necklaces, playing with pumpkins, and painting. Mia has a little bee temporary tattoo on her right hand. And the necklace she is wearing is one she put together herself!!! Mom and dad only tied it on her.

This photo was taken on October 26, 2012.

Mia Enjoying a Sunny Day

This photo was taken back on April 21, 2012. Mia was watching us break down the cardboard boxes that had piled up in the garage. It was a beautiful sunny day, so she decided she wanted to read. As you can see, her choice of reading material involves dinosaurs. My, how she has grown since then.

Trying to recreate a photo from Farrah’s childhood. We’ll need to go back to Hawaii and try again.

Trying to recreate a photo from Farrah’s childhood. We’ll need to go back to Hawaii and try again.

On our last trip to Hawaii, Mia and Farrah tried to recreate a photo from Farrah’s childhood, circa the late 70’s early 80s. Mia wasn’t as cooperative for the photo, unwilling to stand on her own. This just means we need to go back to Hawaii to retake this one day soon.

A lot of photo apps, right?

Seems like I’ve bought a ton of iPhone camera apps. But there is so much more. The latest one I have been using is called Pris. I must admit, though, I more often than not just use the normal camera app.

Mia watching an iPad

It has been a while. Again. Life has just been busy. But I have a few moments right now to put down a few thoughts.

As I write this, it is Friday afternoon. I’m on the train heading home. I am typing on my new iPad. This new little machine is a joy to work on. It is much faster than the original iPad, which is now Mia’s full-time companion. She uses it as her “mini-tv,” but also has a few story apps she enjoys. Her iPad is protected with the iGuy cover which makes it easier to carry around.

I bought the new iPad with 4G - the Verizon version. I find the wicked machine fast on the Verizon network when I’m able to get a signal, which has been done most of the time. There has only been one problematic area when leaving SF on the train. But other than that the machine has been smokin'.

I recently had a birthday. My birthday. Another one. Well, it’s a good thing, right, consider the alternative? I’m not particularly reflective, at least not yet. I’m sure I will have a moment to contemplate the year that has passed. But that moment isn’t right now. Right now I’m wondering what’s for dinner.

I, again, hope to write more soon. I hope to post more photos, soon. I hope to do plenty of things - soon. We’ll see what I can accomplish.

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Hummingbird for Life

Today was Mia’s last day with the Hummingbirds at 2nd Gen, the daycare at Genentech. She was there for fifteen months under the care of all her loving teachers: Barbara, Cathy, Stefani, Joanna, and Fely. Oh, and so many friends both older and younger. She’ll miss  2nd Gen. But it’s time to move on. We won’t forget the Hummingbirds!

Mia enjoying a malasada

I am so behind in posting photos that I have taken this year. I hope to rectify this by posting a photo album every three days until I am caught up. I was going to post an album a day, but that seems a little too ambitious.

The above is a photo of Mia Izobel taken by Farrah on her iPhone 4S at the Waikele Shopping Center. Let’s just say she enjoyed the malasada. 

We came back from our trip to Hawaii this past Thursday. I wanted to post a few photos I took during vacation. What’s interesting about these photos is that they were all taken with the iPhone 4S. Yup, I left my Canon 7D at home. We did, however, bring the Canon S90 with us, and I had a Sony NEX-5N at my disposal. Those photos should be up on the photos page sometime this week.

What I found interesting was that we (Farrah with her iPhone and I with mine) were able to capture moments effectively with our iPhones. There were a few missed opportunities, but none I regret in not having my Canon 7D with me. I’m sure if there were more nighttime or low-lit moments to capture, I would have failed with my iPhone. But most of our activities were in the daytime, making the iPhone a perfect vacation camera.

I also tried out the new version of the Path app. The app has been recently updated for the iPhone and Android. The updated version of Path makes it more intuitive than its previous incarnation, but there is still one thing lacking: people I know using Path.

I have a few co-workers using the app, but I would really like other family and friends to use it as well. Honestly, I don’t think many will do so, only having time for Facebook and, perhaps, Instagram. It’s understandable. I found myself posting more to Path (as a test) and Instagram than Facebook directly.

I’m thinking my time on Facebook will become more limited to pushing data from other sites/apps than direct interaction with Facebook (e.g. logging in and actively posting, commenting, etc.) There are only so many hours in the day. I’m finding that Facebook is taking a significant chunk of that free time I rarely have.

Today we visited Pearl Harbor to specifically see the USS Arizona. Unfortunately, Mia fell asleep during the short film that is watched before taking the short boat ride out to the memorial. She was also asleep all the time we were at the memorial. It wasn’t until we started to leave that she stirred from her slumber.

Next, we went to the zoo, where these photos are from. Mia loved to see the fish, monkeys, birds, and all the other animals at the zoo. To our surprise, there was so much to see. We’ll need to visit our local zoos to see what they offer.

All in all, it was another beautiful day.

A few photos from our first day in Hawaii. The first day was mainly getting Mia acclimated to the new time zone, and for me to recover from my Dramamine hit. Oh, but plenty of good food was eaten yesterday. What’s on the menu for today? We shall see.