Owner: Living in Small Sizes URL:http://livinginsmallsizes.com Join Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2007 20:47:24 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: A journal of (mis)adventures, transformations and observations from one man who moves his family to a small rural town. Site statistics:Click here
The Making of a Shutterbug 2007-03-05 03:17:00 My daughter has been asking to use my Nikon D50 more often while we’re hanging out around town. She’s mindful to put the strap around her neck the moment I hand the camera to her and then she starts shooting away. I’m excited to have another shutterbug to hang out with; and so far her portraits are better than mine.
My Next Ride? 2007-03-04 04:22:23 I’ve passed by this Army ambulance a couple times since I moved here. As impractical as it sounds I would love to own it. It’s only a matter of time before I stop and ask how much they want for it.
Bunnies For Dummies 2007-03-04 00:28:17 Wow, the For Dummies
series has come a long long way since “DOS for Dummies“.
Read more:Bunnies
XXL Mouse Pad 2007-03-03 21:31:34 I order this large mouse pad from NewEgg, thinking it would be a like 10″ square - a bit bigger than normal. What I got was this enormous desk eating mouse pad:
I was shocked by the size, and annoyed at first, but I’ve gotten used to it quickly. It works very well with Photoshop for example.
Read more:Mouse
Furnishing The New Office 2007-03-03 21:21:17 It’s been interesting to witness my own decision process in furnishing the new office. On one hand I shelled nearly a grand out of my own pocket on an Aeron chair so that my back and ass are as comfortable as possible. On the other hand I’m re-using tomato cans for pen holders and $9 tile boards for white boards (which don’t clean as well as an aluminum board).
The office is huge. There’s three of us and four large rooms; each room big enough for three to five people or more, depending on your experience in cubicle land. I brought in a rug from home and would like to find some old (read cheap and comfortable) couches and chairs to fill some of the space. I’m looking forward to filling the place with three more developers - I think it will be a great space to work.
Read more:Furnishing
Moo MiniCards 2007-03-03 00:01:59 Yet another reason I love Flickr: Moo!. I ordered a set for my wife several weeks ago and she’s been having too much fun with them so I had to get my own set.
GTI vs TDI 2007-03-02 04:18:46 I love my 98 VW GTI. The first weekend after I drove it off the lot, with less than 30 miles on it, Dawn and I went out to the Olympic Peninsula to do the highway 101 loop. I can recall several times we found ourselves alone on a straightaway, stopped the car, and then timed the acceleration from 0-60. It’s no Ferrari, but for 20k it was fun and fast-enough.
At the time my wife drove a beat up Ford Escort. It sucked. Every once in awhile I got stuck driving it and it felt like the transmission was going to drop onto the street at any moment. One time while driving home to our house in South Seattle, I pulled alongside my wife and her crappy Ford Escort at a stop light. She gave me that “wanna race” look, and I responded with a slight rev of the motor. I realize she was stroking my ego at the time: she had no intention of beating me and my awesome yellow GTI. So I did what any man would do in that situation - I beat her off the line and all the way home, drivin
Fairfield Waterworks Shut Me Down 2007-03-02 03:37:35 I recently wrote about the utility companies in Fairfield being a bit harsh with their late payment policy. Before I posted that gripe I had gone into my ETrade bill pay application and confirmed that in fact my payments to both the power and water utilities were scheduled for payment on the next business day (asap).
So today I get a call from my wife that the water is not running. The first thing that comes to mind is that a water main has busted somewhere in the neighborhood. She calls in to report the problem and they of course inform her that there isn’t any problem with the water main - rather they’ve cut off our water for not paying the bill. It never occurred to us that our water was shut off.
So I print out my ETrade statement showing that the last payment was made on Monday, and take that down to City Hall, where the Waterworks office is located. The woman running the show there wouldn’t have my excuse and charged me a reconnect fee plus the equivalent o
#1 Espresso 2007-03-05 04:36:03 This morning I had the best espresso in memory at Cafe Paradiso. It was so delicious - I thought about it all day. Excellent coffee, much less excellent espresso, was the last thing I thought I would find after moving from Seattle to a small town in Iowa.
Read more:Espresso
Iowa Native 2007-03-05 04:03:51 Maybe this is a Northwest thing, but anyone claiming to be a “native” back in Seattle would be referring to their native American ancestry.
Read more:Native
mmmm lunch 2007-03-06 22:27:37 Another satisfied Noodle House patron today.
Coffee_Break’s Photos 2007-03-06 18:40:58 Coffee_Break
is one of the reasons I find Flickr so addictive and inspiring. You’ll see what I mean once you get about 10 photos into the show. Amazing work - both technically and creatively.
Read more:Coffee
Live Animal Vending 2007-03-06 18:11:17 Last weekend I drove up to Iowa City with my wife and daughter. We took the back roads for a change. I stopped and asked directions at one point and saw this vending machine for live bait. The first thing I thought of was Gary Larson. I imagine he would have taken that moment to draw up a cartoon of a people vending machine on some alien planet. Complete with little chubby people, trapped inside, staring through the glass.
Read more:Animal
Apple - Obama Mashup 2007-03-06 17:59:43 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h3G-lMZxjo
I’m not a big fan or foe of Hillary, but am a little surprised at the infighting among Democrats. Assuming an Obama
supporter made this.
Read more:Apple
, Mashup
There’s No Sitting In Rock! 2007-03-06 06:17:50 The Justin King Band came through Fairfield again last night. During the last show I was struck by how many people were sitting down the entire time, and so this time around I watched the show from the back where I assumed people were rocking out. This was not the case. I was the only one on my feet jamming for most of the show. The exception being a few songs when two other people got up on their feet.
I’m still getting to know this funky little town for sure, but my perception is that there’s no shortage of free spirited people here. So it doesn’t add up to see all these teens and college kids sitting in chairs while on stage band members are belting out riffs and beats that are begging for even your basic rock and roll concert moves: the head bob, hip sway or flat foot bounce for example.
The Justin King Band is no Pixies, but there were a couple songs were I wanted to kick the chair across the room and go Footloose. Granted that could be latent instincts fro Read more:Sitting
Seattle Weather: From the Outside 2007-03-07 22:26:59 I lived nearly half my years in the Puget Sound (that’s eighteen for those unfamiliar with the math), and during those years I’ve learned the big Seattle
weather secret: it does not rain all the time, and in fact has some of the best weather in the country. I have lost count of the number of times friends and family have visited me in Seattle, to be greeted with beautiful 70 degree sunny days with just enough clouds to improve the view without blocking the warmth.
So here I am sitting in Fairfield, wishing it was warmer - much warmer. From my Google home page I notice the weather in Seattle:
And now I get it. This is why everyone thinks Seattle weather sucks. Is it that the weather data doesn’t relay the truth: which is that yes, technically it is raining in Seattle every day this week, but the rain is in the form of a drop here and a drop there? Or have I been telling myself a great lie my entire time in Seattle: conveniently forgetting the endless weeks of do Read more:Outside
I Just Got Paid For Being On Hold! 2007-03-08 16:29:24 Today is starting out well! My favorite little toy of late, a Skype enabled Polycom Communicator, broke the other day - no more worky.
I called this morning to go through the typically long and painful RMA process. After navigating the extensive phone tree, I got a live body to talk to and after explaining that the Polycom Communicator no worky, I was put on hold. Ugh. Here we go. Queue Casio generated corporate beat.
After being on hold for a mere five minutes (maybe less) I was informed that no one was available to process the charges for overnighting a new phone to me. The woman I was speaking with felt bad for putting me on hold (queue alternate universe) and decided to overnight a new phone to me free of charge.
Wow, I wish more companies operated like this!
Update: I’m on a roll today. I called Etrade, in order to resolve an ongoing issue with a debit card that has been no worky for over three months now, and after about ten minutes on hold I am finally getting a
I Smell 2007-03-09 21:42:07 Like Thai food. Which isn’t usually bad, but this is like a 2 day odor still wafting from my wool coat.
Read more:Smell
Coming Out of the Closet 2007-03-09 18:25:24 A few weeks ago while I was in Burbank, my business partner tossed me an issue of Wired magazine and said read the article on the “New Atheism”. Until reading this article I was not aware of an Atheist Movement, much less a New Atheist Movement. I mean I assume there are organized groups of atheists but I knew nothing more than that they probably existed.
While I have a recollection of believing in Santa, I have no recollection of ever believing in God. I think the first time I categorized myself as an atheist was at the age of 14 when I used a black permanent marker to scrawl the words ATHEIST on my surplus military jacket which was already crowded with skulls, anarchy symbols and the names of skate punk bands like “Butthole Surfers“. I’m sure people took my stance on God very seriously at the time.
In college, I spent many hours debating many things with many people. Nothing different here. I minored in Philosophy at Illinois State University and of Read more:Closet
The Gift of Clean 2007-03-09 16:57:28 Yesterday, for our wedding anniversary, my wife gave me a clean car. While I was at work she had my yellow VW detailed. It was a nice surprise to get into my car and find it spotless and shiny.
I’m not an easy person to buy gifts for - I’m extremely picky about what I buy and every purchase I make goes through my own mysterious utilitarian evaluation. So she avoided that whole mine field by re-giving me something I already love and utilize regularly - my car.
Read more:Clean
What is This? 2007-03-12 02:18:14 Curious if anyone can guess what this is. Check the geo tag for a clue (zoom in).
Seattle News in the News 2007-03-13 16:50:58 Sunday at Cafe Paradiso my wife was reading through a local weekly paper and in the news roundup section there were two references (out of about ten) to stories published in Seattle
papers. I thought the truncated version of a story about truncated versions was amusing: “Botched New Times Movie Reviews Anger Some”.
Nerd Sport 2007-03-12 18:22:03 [Before I expose a particularly nerdy sport being played around here in Fairfield; let me point out that as a former Dungeons and Dragons player from the 70’s and 80’s (ok part of the 90’s too) I have the absolute authority to label things nerdy or not nerdy. In fact I have dozens of painted miniatures posed on shelves around my home office to prove my authority if anyone questions it.]
Frisbee Golf, is nerdy. Anytime you take a classic sport (in this case golf) and fuse it with a leisure activity that was never intended to be a sport (in this case tossing a frisbee with your friend or dog) - THAT is a Nerd Sport.
Nerd Sports aren’t usually worth commenting on, but what struck me as so interesting about the local Nerd Sport of choice here in Fairfield is the quality of the course built into the local park. There isn’t even a basketball court (or half court), yet there are nearly a dozen of these Frisbee Golf targets and each has it’s own concre
Peeing On Trees 2007-03-14 01:42:13 A friend we left behind on Bainbridge Island recently wrote about a kid peeing near the playground. Being the contrarian I usually am, I disagreed that there was much wrong with peeing near the playground, or peeing outside in general.
Today at the playground my own child needed to pee, and so my wife ran her behind a a tree to pee. I watched anxiously; fearing that someone may see them and make my family the subject of a similar blog post or the town grapevine. Then the blogger in me took over and I realized that the scene unfolding before me was perfect for my own blog. Especially in light of the comments I posted on my friend’s treatment of peeing near the playground.
I began shooting (and giggling). So this is for you Wendy: a photo of my child peeing near the playground:
And here’s the interesting part, while I have claimed, and believe, there’s really nothing wrong with this; I also feel compelled to point out (in defense) that a) the restroom’s w Read more:Trees
Staying Up With Trains 2007-03-14 01:18:46
For the most part Fairfield is a quiet little town. Aside from a few teenagers with badly installed, overpowered, trunk rattling stereo systems; there isn’t much noise to disrupt an afternoon spent reading in the park - let alone at home.
And that would be the end of my post if it were not for the fact that during the night, about every 90 minutes, a two mile long freight train rolls through town. The first night I slept in my new home in Fairfield, I was rattled out of bed by the sound of train that appeared to be right across the street. I panicked - did I mistakenly purchase the house with a lot that backed right up to the railroad tracks? The one where I told my Realtor a firm “No”, right after she pulled up in the driveway?
It turns out I did not. My home is over seven blocks from the railroad tracks, with many tall Victorian homes and a forest in between. Yet, these trains are barely vibrating my windows and walls. And the horn is louder than any car al Read more:Trains
Merry Go Round Cat 2007-03-18 05:35:02 Surprisingly, none of the dozens of children riding the carousel at the Coral Ridge Mall were interested in riding the trippy cat with fish in the mouth. Note the extended and clenched paw.
Read more:Merry
Food: What Everyone Should be Talking About 2007-03-19 02:50:16 A couple days ago I sent the documentary “The Future of Food” back to Netflix. The information in that documentary was so alarming to me that I feel compelled to buy dozens of copies and start passing them out to friends and acquaintances.
Over the past ten years the percentage of organic and natural foods (non GMO) in my diet has grown to close to 100%. My interest in a natural foods diet has mostly been driven by taste and health, with the added bonus that pesticide free foods are good for the environment.
Then I watch “The Future of Food”, which examines the effects of biotechnology on small farmers, the environment and consumers. Basically, it’s a scenario of corporate greed that could end up shadowing the damage done by Enron and the Tobbacco industry.
What I find even more frustrating than the claims that the documentary makes against “Big Agriculture”, is the fact that there isn’t a national dialog about what is happening to our Read more:Talking
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