Asymptomatic

There must be intelligent life down here

Dear Kids,
July 10, 2012

Hello Abby and Riley. You are away this week on vacation with BB, and Mom and I are at home by ourselves for a whole week! You may think that we will have nothing to do while you’re not home, but you are only partially right.

We dropped you off with BB at the airport on Sunday, and you were happy and ready to go on your trip. Mom and I gave you hugs and waved as you went inside, then we drove away. I will admit that as soon as on the drive back down 95 I was sad about the prospect of not having you around. In spite of the insanity that you bring to life at home day-to-day, I still miss you and think about you when you’re away.

Lab 8
June 27, 2012

"Hey, man, it's good to see you," Jake said as he came through the lobby doors and took Stewart's hand. They exchanged pleasantries as Stuart led him down the hall toward the lab.

"So can you tell me what this is all about?" Jake asked.

Chester County Homebrew Fest 2012
June 26, 2012

Many people I knew were brewing beer, and it seemed like something I wanted to try. For my birthday a couple of years ago, Berta took me to the homebrew store in Downingtown and we brought back a bunch of equipment to make beer. The brewing went pretty well, and in the spring of 2011 I heard of a homebrewing-related event taking place involving some people I knew in Philadelphia, called Beer Camp. We decided to participate, taking a Dunkelweizen of our own to compete against the others. I invited our friend, Ken, to “help” us set up and serve beer out of a vacant lot next to the Jamaican Jerk Hut on South Street with a few other brewers. The event went well, but I think it lost money, possibly due to the high cost of the property rental for the afternoon.

After Beer Camp, Ken and I started talking about bringing such an event back to Chester County, using the Elks lodge as a place to host. We’d keep the same general format as Beer Camp, invite home brewers to share their beer for free, serve a nice dinner to the attendees, play some music, and have a good time sampling the beer. We joined up with our fellow Elk, Troy, and started to plan the Chester County Homebrew Festival.

Microsoft Filtering
June 21, 2012

Undoubtedly you’ve seen Microsoft’s Surface announcement? I’ve been following some of the news on the topic, and specifically have been watching who is saying what.

I saw the preview of Windows 8, and was completely underwhelmed. I recognize that mobile computing is the future, but desktop computing isn’t going anywhere. Windows 8 seems like a clumsy stumble into slapping a mobile finish onto a desktop. Even when functioning in only a tablet mode, why does the system need to be “Windows”? The branding, interaction design, and presentation all look to me like a train wreck, and I’m no Apple fanboy (although, if this keeps up, the only viable place for a commercial operating system looks like it might come from those quarters).

Coursework
June 06, 2012

welcometo5thgrade.jpgAn idea struck me this morning that needs fleshing out and maybe you can help. Abby’s homework last night (with only 4 days of school left in the year) was to create a brochure for next year’s 5th graders on their first day, to tell them all of the things they’ll like about their upcoming year. She did good work, and I commented on how this is probably one of the few things she’s worked on that she wouldn’t get to keep.

While we were setting up the camera to remedy this problem, I made a few comments about how the mistakes she made in the brochure were things she could work on over the summer if she drew every day. “Just think about how many days there are in the summer, and how you’ll be able to fill a whole sketchbook with drawings if you even did only one per day!” I told her. I started thinking about the structure of the school year, and how lessons are planned out and take a finite amount of time.