Here’s a tribute to my wife that I made from our video footage. You’re awesome, Kelty! Thanks for teaching me a bit too

P.S. The video is also available directly on youtube here.

This was a song that my mother in law, Ginger, heard when she was younger. She later named her last child and my wife, Kelty, after the reference in it:

oh the days of the kelty dancers
oh the ring of the piper’s tune
all for one of those hours of gladness
gone, alas, like my youth too soon

when the boys begin to gather in the glen of a summer’s night
and the kelty dancers will be filled with joy and utter delight

oh to dream of it
oh to think of it

oh to dream of it
fills my heart with tears

It was a beautiful thing to hear Ginger sing this the other night. I seem to be able to find the things I post here, so I’ve posted it since I never want to lose it

It’s spring time and the weather is starting to beg me to go outside! I went for a bike ride this afternoon and quite enjoyed myself. It was almost like I was 10 again—I biked through the now empty yard where a house once stood (it burned down about 6 months ago) and watched kids playing in various parking lots (I live in an area with quite a few apartment complexes). A couple of neighbor kids seem to have gotten their hands on a couple of gas-powered remote control race cars. All of their friends were gathered around to watch the duel. That looked like fun!

I hope this finds all of you well. Good luck to those of you finishing off the semester at school. Endure to the end, eh?

It’s been almost two months since my last post, and that makes it about time I wrote again. I’ve been silent on this blog primarily for three reasons:

1. My recent work has required that I develop in PHP. As of this week, I’m back on the Ruby on Rails track.
2. My brother passed away in June, leaving this world unexpectedly. It’s been a difficult time for me and my family.
3. My world view has changed significantly as a result of my findings in May, and it has taken some time to process the implications.

I will post about each of these items separately.

An old friend of mine, Kevin Yockey, and I were chatting about life, jobs and responsibility. He mused that I hadn’t become a game programmer like we once thought. Instead, I became a web developer. Sometimes I feel the weight of responsibility as an income-earner, and realize it was probably for the better that I travelled this path. Kevin’s wisdom (increasing with the years) shone through with his next remark:

It’s a lot easier when you’re in school and don’t have to worry about making money. But if you can make it doing something you enjoy then you’ve found the perfect line between responsibility and childhood.

Isn’t that the case?

At the beginning of this year, I announced Family Connection, an open source, free, and easy-to-use family website built using Ruby on Rails.

Now it’s available as a hosted, very easy-to-set-up web app called Family Anywhere! It has the same Family News and Address Book features as the original, plus a new Photo Album that lets you browse all of the photos you’ve shared with your family. The hosted version is $9 per month, or less if you buy a year at a time.

For those who would like to just check out how it feels without going through the 2-minute sign-up process, log in to FamilyAnywhere.com/test and use “test” as the sign-in name and “password” as the password.

I’m proud to bring this program out in to the light of day, as it reflects some of my own desire to promote a better, more family-oriented world. I hope you enjoy it as much as our family does!

In January of this year, James Lovelock, author of the Gaia Theory announced that the earth has caught a fever manifest by irreversible global warming.

More recently, the BBC released an article confirming the alarming rate of increase of CO2 in the atmosphere.

And now there is evidence that not only have our American governing officials been aware of it, but they have actively been censoring communication from those who can help us most. More information on this censorship here.

Awareness is increasing.

It’s been several years since I’ve had the desire to invest time in a computer game. In fact, I haven’t really seen an original game in 15 years. But Spore looks to be out of this world.

So my wife (Kelty) bought a 6 foot long extension cord a couple of days ago. It looks plain enough. But the label on this thing is hilarious. I can’t believe someone actually wrote this with the intent to educate another human being:

DANGER! ELECTRICAL CORDS CAN BE HAZARDOUS. Misuse Can Result in FIRE or DEATH by ELECTRICAL SHOCK. Please Read BOTH SIDES Carefully and Follow All Directions.

• A Cord Not Marked For Outdoor Use Is To Be Used Indoors Only
• Inspect Thoroughly Before Each Use
• Make Sure Appliance is OFF Before Connecting Cord to Outlet
• Do Not Use Excessive Force to Make Connections
• Do Not Remove, Bend or Modify Any Metal Prongs or Pins of Cord
  
• Keep Away From Water
• DO NOT USE WHEN WET
• FULLY INSERT Plug Into Outlet
  
• Do Not Drive, Drag or Place Objects Over Cord
• Do Not Walk on Cord
• AFTER USE, GRASP PLUG to Remove From Outlet
  
• Always Unplug When Not in Use
• Warning: This product contains chemicals, including lead, known to the State of California to cause cancer, and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
• Wash hands after handling.
• DO NOT REMOVE THIS TAG.

And that’s not even all of them.

But putting the long-windedness of this thing aside, the initial warning seems fair enough: electricity can be dangerous. Sure, that’s fine. I’ll be careful.

Of course, most people at this point are thinking, “Well, I don’t think I need to follow the rest of the directions for this so…” and then you can just hear the writer hoping that their uneducated audience will realize, “Oh, wait! The directions say to follow the directions. It’s a good thing I read the first sentence.”

So, being one of the ‘uneducated end-users’, I learn next that if it’s not for outdoor use, then it should only be used indoors. Brilliant.

I love the next one: Inspect Thoroughly Before Each Use. Who actually inspects an extension cord thoroughly before each use? Sure, if I ran it over with a lawnmower I’d probably check to make sure it’s still usable. But do I really need to check it thoroughly before each use?

And we’re supposed to unplug it after each use?? An extension cord exists to make my life easier, doesn’t it?

So, after I’ve read these instructions, thoroughly inspected it, grasped the plug carefully, assured myself that there is no water nearby, considered soberly whether or not I am indoors, checked the appliance for wattage equal to or less than the cord’s capacity, turned the appliance in to the OFF position, gently yet fully inserted the plug in to the outlet, and after I’ve wisely protected myself with a chemical suit against the imminent threat of cancer due to lead poisoning, then I can enjoy the comfort of my nice, warm space heater. I’m so glad these directions were here to guide me along such a rugged path.

Aahhhhhh. Peace at last.

Wait… it looks like there are some warnings on this space heater…