Courtenay's Blog

Our House is For Sale!

2008-08-12T18:26:00.006-05:00

Well, it's official. We are moving to Milwaukee and our house in Pleasant Prairie is on the market. If you or anyone you know is interested in a 2 bedroom 1 bath ranch in a great area, please let us know. We are going to miss our first home together. We really put a lot of sweat equity into this place, taking it from a total mess to a place we will never forget!

We also really want to thank our family and friends who helped us get this home into the beautiful condition it's in today. We really hope that whoever ends up buying the house will love it as much as we have, especially the beautiful willow tree in the front that makes a perfect place for a picnic with friends!

We have our house listed through Shorewest Realtors. Please take a look - there are more photos on the Shorewest website.

I can't believe it, we own a motorcycle!

2008-07-29T19:27:00.005-05:00

Well, this is the last thing in a million years I ever thought I'd be writing, but it is official, Chris and I are now the proud owners of a motorcycle. We traded in our 2002 Dodge Neon for a new automatic (yes automatic) silver 2008 CF Moto V5 250cc motorcycle. It's actually equivalent to a motor scooter, but it is considered a motorcycle by the Department of Transportation, it looks like a motorcycle and is called a motorcycle on the company website. It's also safer than a regular scooter because it's heavier and you put your legs around it instead of in front. We knew we wanted something basic, not too expensive and automatic (due to us both being way too uncoordinated to handle a regular manual motorcycle), so the CF Moto V5 is perfect!

I imagine you may be wondering why we decided to do such a crazy thing. Well, we have had 2 cars for as long as we have been together, but it has been very rare that we have ever needed to use both of them at the same time. The more we thought about it, the more we realized that we were spending a fortune on insurance, maintenance, registration, etc. on 2 cars, when we really only needed one. Also, the more we thought about it, the more we realized how much better a motor scooter/cycle would be for the environment. If we were running small errands we could take the motorcycle at 70-90MPG instead of a car at about 30MPG, which would save us on gas money and help the environment.

We just made the trade in with the car today, got our helmets and Chris, already having his motorcycle temps, started practicing on it today. He loves it and I'm considering getting my temps too.

Now we just have to keep our other car going for several more years until they come out with 100+MPG cars.

Olympia Brown UU Website

2008-06-14T18:40:00.007-05:00

I recently completed the total redesign of the Olympia Brown Unitarian Universalist Church website. I grew up at OBUUC and Chris and I were married there in 2006. The website is still in rough-draft form so that members and friends of the church can submit suggestions and further information for the site. Please let me know what you think and if you have any ideas or suggestions!

Why we didn't make it up to Wisconsin Rapids this weekend

2008-06-14T17:00:00.006-05:00

Well, It's official. Wisconsin is flooding! We were supposed to visit Chris' family this weekend in Wisconsin Rapids, but we ended up having to come home again after almost 5 hours of trying to get to Madison which is usually only a 2 hour trip. First we stopped by my brother's in Milwaukee to drop a few things off. Turns out we should have stuck around for the BBQ he was having! When we got back on I-94 to go to Wisconsin Rapids, we had to backtrack to the 894 bypass because the Milwaukee exit to Madison was closed. Then, when we finally got to Delafield, I-94 was completely closed. We took the detour, thinking it would take us around the flooding in a relatively short amount of time, but it ended up taking us almost all the way to Beloit on I43. We ended up cutting across to go West before the detour ended. For those of you not familiar with the area, that's a HUGE detour - over 30 miles. It took us several hours to work out way back to I-94 near Madison. We had heard there was also flooding North of Madison, and called Chris' family to find out the best way through. After they looked up the details online, we all decided it was best if we just gave up trying to get there and went back home. As you can see from the video below, the area North of Madison was even worse! We were just glad that we made it back with no problems! Our dog Snickers was just relaxed the whole time, enjoying the ride and snoozing. Wish we would have been as calm trying to navigate unfamiliar country roads in the dark! Luckily our GPS and a map helped. Of course the map, road signs and GPS all tended to say different things, but we made it back in the end!

The Courtenay Times

2008-06-06T18:49:00.004-05:00

I've recently started another Blog called "The Courtenay Times" I've decided to do this to better help separate updates on my personal life, like photos of friends and family, what Chris, Snickers and I have been up to, etc. and my blog posts on more general topics like technology, politics, science and lots more. From this point forward I will be using this blog for my more personal postings, and "The Courtenay Times" for my more general blog. I hope you will find them both interesting and worth keeping up with.

All the best,
Courtenay

Congrats to Colleen!

2008-04-30T12:41:00.003-05:00

Last week NoMi LaMad, the new Chicago dance company that my cousin Colleen Teska is a part of, had their debut showcase performance. The show was very exciting and dramatic. I had a wonderful time and was impressed with all of the detailed choreography and how all of the dancers were able to look like they were totally relaxed even though they were expending massive amounts of energy! Having seen several episodes of Bravo's new dance competition show, I have recently realized just how hard it is for individual dancers to be good at so many different styles of dance. Part of what made the show so interesting was how they incorporated so many different styles of dance into the various pieces. The Chicago Tribune also liked their performance in their review on April 21st!

NoMi LaMad has put up some videos of their earlier performances:

New Photos Online!

2008-04-23T02:32:00.002-05:00

Not too long ago, I added more photos of Chris & me, Snickers, friends and family to our online photo albums at shutterfly. This includes finally uploading and organizing lots of our wedding photos. I hope you enjoy them!

Ways to go greener this year!

2008-04-22T18:24:00.004-05:00

Just thought I'd pass along a few items to help you go greener this year for Earth Day! Hope you find them helpful!

1. Recycle all electronics (especially old computers & cellphones). These use up tons of natural resources. Check out: http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/recycle/ecycling/donate.htm

2. Stop receiving all of those catalogs (easily!):
https://www.catalogchoice.org/

3. Donate stuff and find stuff for free from your local freecycle group: http://lifehacker.com/382566/map-your-local-freecycle-group or go to Goodwill or The Salvation Army - you can get a tax write off for donating and they often have great clothes for really cheap prices - even designer stuff with the tags still on! Also consider selling your items on eBay - this is obviously more work, but it's amazing what people will pay for!

4. Help reduce the amount of carbon output from your computer:
http://lifehacker.com/382319/easy-ways-to-go-green-with-your-computer

5. Use corn gluten instead of pesticides on your lawn to prevent new weed growth. Unfortunately it won't kill existing weeds, but spreading it on your lawn 4 times a year will prevent new ones from growing and is pet/kid safe! I've heard that using vinegar or
sugar is a great way to kill weeds, but haven't tried it yet! Also, aerating lawns can help them a lot: http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/turf/430-002/430-002.html. Consider getting a hand-push or electric mower. Ideally we would get rid of our lawn altogether and replace them with native plants, but that's not always practical either! For winter, some places sell pet-safe salt for de-icing. Not sure how great these are environmentally, but I imagine they must be slightly better or they wouldn't be pet safe!

6. Try to buy food locally at farmers markets to reduce the amount of
pollution used in transporting food around the country/planet. USDA approved organic food is pesticide free (or so we hope :), look for meats that are free-range and anti-biotic free and,
if your thumb is greener than mine, you can also grow your own fruits & veggies!

7. When buying new furniture, making updates or repairs on your house or purchasing new appliances look up online the greenest products. It's amazing what you can find. I just saw an ad for Menards today for outdoor carpet made from old plastic bottles. Recycling 1 plastic bottle saves enough energy to run a computer for 25 minutes! Look for furniture and materials made from eco friendly materials and purchase energy star appliances.

8. Consider setting you house temp to keep it a little cooler in the winter & ware a sweater. And a little warmer in the summer. It will save you $ too! WE Energies (and presumably other power companies) also have several programs to help conserve, although I don't know if they have been vetted. Adding more insulation to your house can also help tremendously (especially in your attic and around the top of your basement where the house meets the foundation). If you are going to be living somewhere for quite a while and you need to replace a furnace or water heater look into on-demand gas water heaters, solar-panels and geo-thermal heat pumps. They cost a bit more, but in the end will save lots of money and will help the environment right from the start!

9. When running water and waiting for it to heat up, put a container under your sink that you can pull out and fill up. Use that water for watering your indoor plants. It saves water and time later when you want to water your plants but are just sitting there waiting until the container fills up! (Thanks for that cool idea grandma!)

10. Use old clothing to make rags. Don't go out and buy rags. When you have an old piece of clothing that is not in any condition to donate to charity, cut it up into squares and use them as rags. Instead of using paper towel to clean up spills, you now have plenty of washable rags to use.

11. If you have lots of old t-shirts that are too old to ware, but you can't bring yourself to give them away, cut out the logos and use them to make a blanket. If you are looking for a craft project, you could also look at making paper from your old clothing: http://www.ehow.com/how_2067053_make-cloth-paper.html

Of course there are many other ways to go green, these are just a few that we have found. I would love to hear of other ideas any of you have found helpful!

Happy Earth Day!

My Blog for Hillary!

2008-02-06T19:39:00.001-06:00

Please check out my new blog for Hillary Clinton!

I just started it today with 2 new posts. I have a link to it on the right-hand column of this page where you can see my latest posts to that blog. I hope you will take the time to read my Hillary Blog and check it often for my latest updates.

Last night's Super Tuesday results were fantastic, and I hope the trend continues!

If you haven't seen it, please take a look at my blog post (in this blog) that explains why I support Hillary: My Choice for President

All the best,
Courtenay

Best Free Windows Backup Program

2008-01-15T19:06:00.000-06:00

What can I say, I'm on a blog posting spree compared to usual! I've been saving up all of these ideas of things I'd like to post for you, but just never get to writing about them as often as I'd like.

In any case, this post is about Windows backup software, not about my blog. So without further ado, I'd like to present to you Cobian Backup and DriveImage XML. Cobain Backup is free software (I mean totally free, not one where you download it for free and then are told you have only 14 days to try it before you must pay for the "free" software!). It was developed by a fellow techie with an interesting bio named Luis Cobian. I came across this software after much research into the best way to back up all of the files on multiple computers both at work and at home. I highly recommend it - it's fast, free and reliable! My only qualm is that the help files are rather confusing, and it isn't always clear how to set it up for your needs. To compensate, I've listed my recommended settings to use for the program below. If you end up using the program, please feel free to get my input on any questions you may have.

DriveImage XML, is another type of free backup program. Instead of just copying the files that you want to backup, this program actually backs up a complete image of your hard drive. What this means is that if your computer is completely down, you can restore the complete operating system, programs and files exactly as they were at your last backup. The advantage of using this is that, unlike a plain file backup, you don't need to start fresh with a clean computer and re-install all of your programs and move all of your files back to where you want them. I haven't actually had the chance to test restoring an entire drive image, so I can't completely vouch for it, but I guess I should be glad I haven't had a complete computer melt down since I've started using it! However, I have read lots of recommendations for the program from multiple sources!

I highly recommend using both programs to back up your computer to an external drive. Ideally you would use two external drives (one in a different state our country) to back up your files to every other day. That way if you did discover a virus you would likely have a clean backup available to restore you files and/or drive image.

Unfortunately, for all of the Mac and Linux users out there, I haven't done as much investigation and testing on backup programs for your OS's. When I learn more about them, I'll be sure to share them with you!

Recommended Settings for Cobian Backup:

Program options

Check only the items listed below, uncheck those not listed. I don't change any settings in the tabs not listed, but that is up to you.
* - indicates very important items to turn on

Log Tab:
- * log events
- * show the log in real time

Visuals Tab:
- * warn when running multiple instances
- show hints
- use XP style
- confirm when exiting
- show all icons
- show percent in the progress bar
- auto-show the log tab
- use internal help
- * Navigate using the program

Functionality Tab:
- * Save special and event settings
- * Automatically convert to UNC paths
- Show backup hints
- Show a dialog when backup is done
- confirm running tasks manually
- confirm canceling a backup

Engine Tab:
- Calculate the progress exactly (can be unchecked to speed up backup)
- Run events in visible desktop
- Force first backup to be full
- * Use several methods for copy
- * copy file timestamp
- delete empty folders
- always create directories
(Note - be sure you uncheck "park the first full backup"- this causes big problems!)

Settings for a backup task:

General Tab:
- * include subdirectories
- * create separated backups using timestamps
- * use file attributes logic
- * clear archive attribute
- backup type: Full (incremental will not delete files you deleted on your hard drive)
- Full Copies to keep (1 if you are backing up to 2 different drives - just re-create another task identical to this one to backup to the second location, of keep 2 full copies if you are backing up to just one backup drive)

Files Tab:
- * Source: list all directories you want to backup. For Windows I recommend your Desktop, My Documents & your shared file directly plus any other locations you keep unique files. Sometimes you may need to backup certain files under "program Files". These may include profile settings for Firefox, and the hidden MS Outlook email files. To browse for some of the hidden outlook directories you may need to set hidden files to be visible. In XP or Vista open up any folder, click on the tools menu and select "Folder Options". Then select the "View" tab, scroll down slightly and activate the radio button that says "show hidden files and folders". You can close this out and then use Cobian's directory search to find the Outlook directories mentioned under the link above. You may also need to explicitly backup IE Favorites too.

- * Destination: This is where you files will be backed up to. It can either be an external USB drive or a networked drive which very nice for backing up multiple computers on an automatic schedule!

Schedule Tab:
- * self explanatory - if all else fails set it to manually and put it on your calendar to turn on your backup drive and back things up overnight - most likely it will only take a short time to backup unless you have a lot of audio, video or photos. It's best to turn off your backup drive when you aren't using it. the longer it is on, the more likely it will have problems.

My Choice for President

2008-01-15T16:06:00.000-06:00

As many of you know, 4 years ago at this time I was in the middle of all of the insanity of the US presidential primaries as a member of the Tech Team for Clark for President. Having devoted so much to Clark and his campaign, I was disappointed to learn that he wasn't going to seek the presidency a second time, but since he declared that he wasn't going to run, I've put a lot of time, thought and research into which candidate I felt best matched my views and beliefs.

I initially narrowed it down to Clinton, Obama and Richardson. Richardson has lots of credentials, is practical and knowledgeable both on the executive front being Governor of New Mexico and the foreign policy front as United States Ambassador to the United Nations. He also has a very calm demeanor and I'm convinced he would be extremely successful in the diplomatic arena that our country has so desperately lacked for the last 7 years. Unfortunately, his lack of numbers in the polls makes his candidacy almost impossible and his stance on gun control is a little more lenient than makes me comfortable.

Obama is also an interesting choice, he has great charisma, but his overall policies and his lack of experience have really been a problem for me. Having watched him in debates, listened to his speeches and read his website, I have to say I'm just not convinced he is ready for the presidency. To quote from Albert R. Hunt of Bloomberg News "The words are eloquent, the message inspiring; the particulars - what sort of change he would produce, and how - are too vague".

On the Republican side, I'm actually rooting for Romney. Sounds strange coming from me, I know, but my reasoning lies in that he is not nearly as scary as all of the other choices! For example McCain is so idealist that he will stick with something no matter what the consequences - I've had my fill of that I have to say! And the rest of the candidates are either complete corrupt sleazeballs (Guliani), extremely socially conservative, or a horrifying mix of both! I would definitely never vote for Romney, but given no other choice I would prefer that he be the candidate running against the Democratic candidate, because if the Democrat lost, I believe that we would at least have a president that had some knowledge of the economy and governance. I've also heard that he is no where near as socially conservative as he is seen in his campaign - also a nice touch!

But rather than write all of the reasons that I'm not supporting other candidates, I'd like to tell you why I'm supporting Hillary Clinton for President! I believe that Hilary has the experience, credibility (here and around the world), and the policies that our country truly needs at this time!

Her plan for health care really gets everybody covered - especially children! Unfortunately, there are are a lot of people out there that would choose to not get health care, and those are the people who are least likely to be able to afford medical expenses! (See the article Democrats: More than Health Care from the New York Times for more detail) If an emergency happens, personal bankruptcy is likely and the taxpayers end up paying for the expenses. No one benefits in that situation!

Her plan for the economy is also very strong and feasible. With the country on the verge of a recession (the job cuts reported by Citibank and other major employers in the last few days making the outlook even worse), Clinton's economic stimulus plan would really get things moving again. For further reading on the overall economic plans presented by all of the candidates, check out economist and New York Times OP-ED writer Paul Krugman's article: Responding to Recession.

Most of all I believe Hillary Clinton is not just a candidate that wants to bring change to this country, but she has a history of making positive change!

HILLARY will bring change AND she will MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Colleen's Professional Dance Debut

2007-12-17T19:28:00.000-06:00

At long last, I'm getting this important post onto my blog. In November my cousin Colleen had her professional dance debut at The Paramount Theater in Aurora, Illinois as part of The Stars of Dance Chicago. My family and I went to see her, and were totally amazed. The evening was filled with dance performances of all different genres, but her dance company NoMi LaMad was by far the best. I guess you could say I'm a little biased, but the professionals in the audience also agreed! I'm very proud of Colleen and all of her hard work. She was so graceful, which was truly amazing when we later learned that her knee was completely black and blue! I can't wait to see her again!

Check out the right-hand column

2007-12-09T21:36:00.000-06:00

Just a quick note to everyone let you know to keep an eye on the right-hand column of this blog. I actually have lots of regular updates to the items on the right! I wish I was as good at updating my actual blog with all of the ideas I have, but those are coming soon - I hope :) One of my favorite features on the right-hand side (and the most updated by the way) is the Google News Feeds. All articles posted there are things I've run across that I wanted to share. I also have a Newsvine feed of news articles that I have commented on as well as items I wanted to bring to your attention. I hope you enjoy looking through them and check them every once in a while for updates. Note: If you are reading this in email, you will have to click on a link to view my blog page.

Coolest gadget yet

2007-12-07T08:18:00.001-06:00

Ok, so you all know I'm a bit of a tech geek, but this new gadget should impress anyone. I have no idea how well it actually works, but it seems at least plausible and is pretty cool and convenient. It's a virtual laser keyboard for hand-held or palm computers. Instead of typing on the tiny keyboard that comes on most devices, this little gadget projects a virtual keyboard onto almost any flat surface and uses light to read which keys your pushing.

Republic of Georgia ~ Protests Turn Violent

2007-11-07T21:55:00.000-06:00

The latest on the New York Times reports anti-government protests have turned violent in the Republic of Georgia. It seems like only yesterday my family and I were walking these streets. We were fortunate enough to visit our friends (Piso and her family) in 1998 during a brief break in the difficult times their country has faced since the break up of the Soviet Union. Georgia is a magnificent country with ancient wonders and strong\, dedicated people. It's sad and scary to see such an amazing place fall into chaos once again!

Unfortunately, a working democracy is never as easy as it seems it should be. Perhaps it's a lesson that we should have realized from our own (US) history or by seeing the huge struggles that the people in so many countries (like the Republic of Georgia) have gone through, before we decided to go into Iraq! No matter what happens politically, I wish all of the people in Georgia peace, freedom from corruption and long-term stability!

Time to re-register for the Natinal Do Not Call Registry

2007-11-05T09:42:00.000-06:00

If live in the US and have previously signed up, or would like to stop getting all of those annoying telemarketing calls, fill in information on all you home and cell phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry today!

Here's to fewer time-waisting annoyances!

Geeking out with Lifehacker, Mashable & More

2007-10-25T19:52:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I admit I am a tech geek! Not that having majored in Computer Science and being a software engineer doesn't give that away automatically!

Lately I've been collecting a list of things I'd like to share with everyone who gets that excited feeling in their stomach when they run across a really awesome new tech tool or service. Even if you don't feel you fall into that category, I hope you find my upcoming posts on this topic interesting and helpful!

The coolest things happening in technology can be found on blogs and websites like lifehacker.com, mashable.com, MIT's Technology Review, ProgrammableWeb, The SIMLE Blog, and many more.

I believe the biggest trends in online technology are the move towards Web 2.0, the use of the ajax approach and the Semantic Web, all of which are changing the way we live on a daily basis.

In upcoming posts I'll be going into detail on how I have come to use some of the many new technologies I've come across to help better organize, track and speed up the millions of things that have to be done to keep life rolling these days. I'll also be outlining some of my ideas of how the various tools I've been using could be changed or added to to make them even better. I hope that you find my posts both interesting and useful in your life. I'd love to hear about any tools, services or techniques you have run across that you find helpful, and of course any ideas you have for improving them!

Mom in MSN article

2007-10-25T18:40:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned a few posts back, my mom is participating in an online investment competition. Imagine her surprise when a few weeks ago she was reading up on investments online when all of the sudden she runs across her name in an article about the competition and the Apple and the iPhone on the MSN Money website! If you scroll to the bottom of the article you will see a reference to one of her blog posts for the competition! Go Mom!

Snickers meets Riley James

2007-10-25T17:56:00.001-05:00

It's been a busy day to say the least! Last night I received a call from my friend Julie out in California asking for a favor. She is a part of the Papillion Club of America Rescue and it turned out they needed to rescue a Papillion named Riley James who was scheduled to be put to sleep at the Safe Harbor Humane Society in Kenosha. The same shelter that we got our dog Snickers from only a few months ago. They are a fantastic shelter and really care about all of the animals! The Papillion rescue already had a foster home set up for Riley, but the home was all the way down in Indiana and they couldn't arrange to get him until this weekend, so they needed someone to pick him up from the shelter today. Since Snickers has been having issues with other dogs and some people lately, we figured it would be a good experience for her to get to know another dog for a few days where we could completely control the situation and not worry about the other dog's owners getting upset. Turns out Riley is a total sweetheart and he and Snickers, despite their rough introduction as expected from Snickers, are getting along great. Poor Riley was given up by his owners because they said he was too possessive of their children. He is a little shy, but warms up really quick when it's clear that you are in charge. Snickers likes to chase him a bit, but if we tell her to knock it off, she is good about it. Snickers has a bit of a dominance complex, but definitely takes orders better than Riley. This is likely because Riley is scared after loosing his family and having been in the shelter for 2 weeks. It's very stressful for a dog to be re-homed, as we are reminded of daily by Snickers! Luckily Riley is house trained - unless he gets too scared and lets the flood go (Yeah for laminate floors!). He is also neutered and up to date on all of his shots. Another plus because we are still waiting to get Snickers fixed after our never ending battle with her heat and false pregnancy. Overall this has been a great experience, lets hope it continues this way until Riley is picked up in a few days. We hope he will find a fantastic new home where he can be happy and loved!

Is doing "good enough " enough?

2007-09-18T18:44:00.000-05:00

My Minister Rev. Dr. Tony Larsen (Tony) is one of the most influential people in my life and this past Sunday service brought us lucky Olympia Brown Church goers yet another fantastic sermon. Tony doesn't like this, but some of us at OBUUC, me included, like to call ourselves Tonytarians because we are always so moved by his thought-provoking sermons. He manages to bring humor, spirituality and new perspectives to each and every sermon he gives.

This past Sunday his sermon was titled "Do Your Best" which examined what is wrong with just doing "good enough"? The sermon examined how our society is so focused on "being number one". For example, we have become obsessed with shows like Top Chef, The Biggest Looser, Survivor, American Idol and people tend remember and revere only the gold medal winners. It's like silver and bronze medals don't even exist! Second place is sometimes called "first looser"! I believe competition can help people to strive to do their best, but being someone who would rather work on bringing people together to work for a common cause, rather than try to set them against each other, I think our society has gone too far with the glorification of competition.

Tony told us his mother would often tell him and his siblings not to worry about being "the best" at what they were doing, but to do their "personal best". I agree with Tony that this is a much healthier perspective on life, but as Tony pointed out, this too can have its problems. Sometimes it's not always feasible or productive to do your best at absolutely everything you do in life.

When someone strives to be the best they can be at everything they do, or to be the top person at what they do, they can easily burn out. Others can also become jealous of the person and even try to defeat them (honestly or not), or they can become envious and depressed that they themselves will never be as good. All of these are valid concerns, however I often feel that one of the problems our society faces is that too many people only do "good enough" and often times "not enough", just to get by. Unfortunately, most people tend to be jealous and/or depressed no matter what end they fall on (the extremely competitive or the "good enough/not enough").

I believe it all comes down to making choices that you as an individual feel comfortable with and then letting go of all of the jealousy and depressing. I don't think there is anything wrong with striving to be the best at what you do, just keep a healthy perspective about it; don't let it run your life and don't be jealous or depressed if you find others that are better at something than you are. There is always something to be learned from those who do better, both from the humbling of the experience and from the information and techniques you can learn from them.

I also think that it is important to try to do your best at most things in life. First of all it feels great when you know you really worked hard at something and put your all into it. Secondly, I believe that doing your best (hopefully at a positive task) can do more to help society as a whole, even if you are just working on a self-improvement task. Last, but not least, it sets a good example and can even inspire those around you to do the same (assuming you are not bragging about what you are doing and try to include others as much as possible). I think doing your best at what you do is especially good for members of younger generations to see. No matter what they may say, they do look to adults as role models. That being said, I also think that doing "the best" or "your best" at absolutely everything is not only impossible, but not at all healthy. It's important to recognize when you are taking perfection too far. The key is recognizing when doing your best is not needed, or possibly even counter-productive to getting more important things done and done well.

Its easy to stand back and say all of these things, but its another thing to realize when you yourself are falling into the societal trap of doing "the best" or the personal trap of doing "your best" when "good enough" is the best choice for you. It's also important to see when "good enough" is not enough, either for your own satisfaction or because it would really do you, your communities or society as a whole a lot more if you really put your all into something.

I wish all of you wisdom in the choices you make. Next time you are faced with a task, ask yourself. Is "good enough" enough?

Our First Annaversary

2007-09-12T20:51:00.000-05:00

I couldn't have dreamt of a more fun and romantic day than the first anniversary surprise that Chris organized for us. The day started out with waking up to a wonderful smelling breakfast of Chris' fantastic breakfast burritos and a large bouquet of stargazer lilies on the kitchen table. We quickly jumped in the car and made it to the train just in time. I had no idea what to expect, but I knew it had to be pretty exciting because Chris had managed to convince my parents to dog sit over the weekend! When we arrived in Chicago I learned that our first event of the day was to explore the Field Museum,
which has special significance for us since that was the first place we traveled together back when we first met. Plus, we also happen to be huge fans of museums (forget the sports teams, we'll take dinosaurs and mummies any day!) Our next trip was to a restaurant that Chris had made reservations for. It was a small highly rated Lebanese restaurant called Maza with authentic cuisine. We ordered the feast with a bottle of Lebanese wine and we couldn't stop eating even when we could barely fit in one more bite. The feast was full of Mediterranean & Middle Eastern specialties each on their own small plates that we could mix and match together. Chris kept telling me I had more to look forward to, but I couldn't imagine what it could be. When we arrived at out final destination my jaw dropped. He took me to a live performance of The Blue Man Group, which we had only just seen a PBS documentary on a few days before. I couldn't believe he had gotten tickets, and great seats too! After the performance we debated about getting the early train back because we wanted to get up in time the next day to be at church (where we were married) for our actual anniversary (August 19th). We are so glad we decided to stay in Chicago and take the late train, because, thanks to my handy TomTom GPS software , we were able to navigate our way towards interesting nightspots in walking distance of the theater. We found a really fun Scottish Pub called The Duke of Perth where we tried various Scottish ales and chatted with people until the wee hours. It was an extra bonus when we learned that our bartender, who was fantastic, was actually from Chris' hometown in central Wisconsin. He was so thrilled he gave us our first round free, so we made up for that in our big return tip. A huge hug & kiss to Chris for the most wonderful first anniversary imaginable!

The Latest (Nerdy) Fun With Google

2007-09-12T18:46:00.000-05:00

Google is always up to something new and I've run across some fun, cool and interesting features that the nerd in me just has to share with the world. As most of you probably know, one of my favorite subjects is spatial information systems. Needless to say when Google Earth (the 3D interactive satellite map program) came out I couldn't get enough of it. Recently I've come across a few features/add ons that I thought you might enjoy.

The Ultimate Flight Tracker

Ever arrived at the airport to meet a flight only to find out it's still hundreds of miles away? Now you can check for yourself by watching the flight in real time over the earth. To access the information first install Google Earth on your computer. Then go to fboweb.com and enter the airlines and flight number of a flight currently in the air into the free "Quick Track" on the left menu. The search results should have a Google button that when pushed will download a file that will automatically open in Google Earth. When it opens you can zoom into the flight and tilt the screen to see elevation as well as the flight path. The information will automatically update itself every minute. If just want to try it out and you don't know any current flight numbers, go to the fboweb.com cool stuff page to download the info on all active flights and pick a number of one of the airplanes shown.
No more depending on the airline's estimated "arrival time" to be accurate!

The Ultimate Flight

Now that you know how to track real flights, why not try flying yourself. Google has a hidden flight simulator that you can use to fly around Google Earth. Below is a picture of my somewhat fatal flight attempt over Wellington, NZ. To try it yourself make sure you have downloaded the latest version of Google Earth. When the program is running type Ctrl+Alt+A in Windows or Command+Option+A for Mac. If that doesn't work try using Ctrl+A or Ctrl+Windows+A. This brings up the flight simulator that allows you to fly different aircraft over 3D satellite images of the earth. Start on the runway by pushing 'page up' until the plane is going fast enough then push the 'down arrow' to lift off. The controls are extremely sensitive so I recommend using the mouse to fly the plane. Don't forget "up is down" and, once you have the plane facing where you want, point the mouse right in the middle of the screen to keep it going straight. More information on how to use the flight simulator can be found at Marco's Blog

The Ultimate Flight off of Earth

Just when you thought you couldn't get any higher off the ground, Google has just released Google Sky as part of it's latest upgrade to Google Earth. If you get tired of exploring the millions of fascinating places to explore on Google Earth you can explore our universe by clicking on the 'sky' button at the top of the Google Earth application (right above the image display). This amazing new feature of Google Earth lets you explore stars, planets and even other galaxies. Zoom in and out to see more detail and click on features to learn more about them. The sky feature also has different layers available in the left menus such as the Hubble Showcase, constellations, User's Guide to Galaxies & lots more. Here is the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy above Wellington, NZ: You can learn more about how to use Google Sky by exploring their online help section.

Antarctica - The Global Warning

2007-08-21T13:35:00.000-05:00

Check out this trailer on a beautiful new book on Antarctica. Yes, that is correct, a trailer for a book! My dad and I traveled to Antarctica in January of 2003, and it changed our lives forever. Antarctica is one of the only places on earth that is truly isolated from severe human impact on the ice, land and ocean. It's critical that we keep it that way and help prevent its destruction via air pollution!

Please click: Antarctica - The Global Warning to see the trailer

Eileen's Financial Blog

2007-08-17T16:03:00.000-05:00

My mom just started a blog for an online investing competition. She does incredibly well investing in the real stockmarket, so she thought she would try her hand at the competition. The main purpose of the competition is how well you explain to the public how and why you choose the purchases in your mock portfolio. On top of it being exciting that she is in the competition, her posts are great background on the framework she has developed for how to best invest for long term profit. Check it out and stay tuned to her for lots of great investing tips!

Speech at Harvard by Bill Gates - Technology - theage.com.au

2007-08-10T15:30:00.000-05:00

Speech at Harvard by Bill Gates - Technology - theage.com.au

The best parts about Bill Gates! I'm not so thrilled about some of his software and business decisions, but I've always been behind all the work he does to try to make the world a better place for everyone and to help solve some of the worlds biggest problems. Please read his speech and check out the awesome Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Chris got the job of his dreams!

2007-08-07T19:25:00.000-05:00

Hi all,

Just wanted to report this extra exciting news. Chris just got the job of his dreams at The REAL School. He was interviewed by Willie and got the job on the spot as the High School math teacher. Turns out Joe transfered back to Walden leaving the spot open for Chris. He is already busy working on getting new high tech math equipment for the school, thanks to the district-wide technology he has been on for the last few months. He is also getting started on planning his classes and getting to know Curt, the middle school math teacher, which some of you may also remember from Walden.

Printer particles may pose health risk - tech - 31 July 2007 - New Scientist Tech

2007-07-31T17:52:00.000-05:00

I just read this interesting article on New Scientist - consistently the best Science magazine and news source in my opinion. If printers can be this toxic, what else are we exposing ourselves too that we have no idea its impact on our health!

Glad to say I sit next to an ink jet printer all day instead of a laser!

Printer particles may pose health risk - tech - 31 July 2007 - New Scientist Tech

My first day with our new dog Snickers

2007-07-25T16:51:00.000-05:00

You can check out more pics of Snickers on our shutterfly account