iPad is in the House!

WARNING: This post may be a little on the geeky side. I've done tech for the last 30 years, and am told I no longer know how to not use geek-speak, so bear with me, and Google the TLAs and FLAs for more in depth understanding.

As you already may know, Misti got an iPhone for Christmas, and I've been very impressed with how much it has become part of her every day life. She uses it as much or more than I use my Blackberry Bold. I have been very impressed with the app selection (particularly all the FREE ones) and Apple support (although getting the WiFi to work consistently has been an ongoing problem). 3G connectivity has been working fine, and she has an unlimited plan, so hasn't missed the WiFi much. I got an iPod Nano as my 5 yr commemoration gift with Akamai, so I have also tasted of at least some of the cool iPod content. I really like the Nike+ pedometer app as well.

KK got her new iPad WiFi/3G today. We installed the iTunes update, synced the iPad, and were off and running. We activated the 3G unlimited data access plan with ATT with amazing simplicity. The smoothest device activation on a cellular data plan I have ever seen! Then of course we HAD to do the obligatory speedtest.net visit. Turns out "they have a App for that" I think we may end up saying that quite a bit. With WiFi on, using our Comcast 12 Mbps broadband and a Netgear N router, we clocked 8531 kpbs D/L and 2456 kbps U/L. With ATT 3G, we clocked 1772 kbps D/L, and 355 kbps U/L. That's at least twice as fast as the speeds I got (from same location) with my Sprint 3G USB (Novatel) on the laptop - go ATT! No wonder Misti isn't worried about fixing the intermittent WiFi problem.

Kristi's excitement grew the more she explored. She loaded the iBooks app, and looked at the movies available for rent or purchase on iTunes. Then we decided to try the Netflix site. We have been able to watch Netflix (powered by Akamai now ;-)) on just about every computing device in the house (Wii, laptops, desktops, iPhone, and the Theatre+ HD from Seagate that my brother Bryan helped us get with his employee discount last Christmas), so we went to the site and tried it. Up pops guess what, yep, another App. So we downloaded the Netflix app, and were able to immediately stream an season 4 episode of Bones, and also tested a movie (Julie and Julia). Playback was smooth and flawless, with NO buffering. Website browsing was also lightning fast as we tried gmail, facebook, etc.

All was going just peachy, until she tried Google Docs. The read-only nature of her book on gdocs was a disquieting and tearful event. Apparently, the mobile browser "Safari" that ships with the iPad does not support a key HTML attribute "contentEditable" which Google Docs uses:

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Docs/thread?tid=621ad46f8aa70336&hl=en

http://developer.apple.com/safari/library/technotes/tn2010/tn2262/index.html#SAFARI_ON_IPAD_READINESS_CHECKLIST-6__USE_TEXTAREAS_INSTEAD_OF_CONTENTEDITABLE_ELEMENTS

This setback took a lot of wind out of her sails, as one of the key reasons she got the iPad was to be able to use Google Docs on her writing for her upcoming novel "Eye". I did some quick research on the subject (I too was very surprised that this did not work already, and found the limitation noted in the Apple Developer notes, and several blogs. Luckily, I found references to an App in iTunes store called "Office2 Pro" that looks like it may do the trick, but only time will tell. Sounds a little buggy at present.

All in all, the device is very sleek, and will work very well for consuming media in many formats, and may eventually be a laptop killer when the office productivity apps are ready for prime time.

Now then, what does all this have to do with the theme of this blog? Well, there's an App for that! Actually, several. My favorite is the "LDS Music" app, which allow you to have the hymns and primary children song book (words and music and graphics) with you on the iPad. Having the free www.lds.org internet version of the scriptures is pretty awesome too. Imaging being able to fully prepare a lesson for sunday school, priesthood, or primary from any location or at any time, including the online reference to all Ensign, New Era, Friend, and other gospel library resourses. Imaging being able to show the latest lds.org videos at church from your iPad hooked to a library TV. Any where access to www.mormonsmadesimple.com is pretty good for missionary work as well, to explain the LDS church in a non-threatening third party perspective with simple illustrations/animations in a video format. radio.lds.org is also highly recommended!

Podcasts on a variety of interesting LDS subjects are available as well. My favorite so far is the History of the Hymns.

I'll be trading up from my Blackberry to an iPhone very soon now. We will save $15 a month on the difference on the data access plans from ATT (as if that were the only incentive). Blackberry's App Store is growing, but will have a long way to go to equal what I have seen on the Apple App store.

To my mother, and the mother of my children - Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day, and I want to take the opportunity to thank my mother and my wife and the mother of my children for all they have done, are now doing, and will do to help me and the children live a better life. Its amazing to me the influence a mother has over her family. This year, my wife Misti has gotten serious about improving her health, and by extension, the whole family has benefited tremendously. I have had some pretty crazy diet ideas in the past (Dr. Atkins, South Beach, etc. that I never really felt were following the Word-of-Wisdom counsel to eat meat sparingly. But, as my last post explains, the Culprit and the Cure, Food, Inc. (the DVD), and most recently, a book specifically about the Word of Wisdom have helped me realize my mistakes and set a new course (much less meat and dairy and fat, much more whole grains, fruit and vegetables). Weight loss is naturally following, and I have lost 27 pounds so far. Misti has lost even more with less to loose. She is rigid about counting her daily calories and is much better at it that I think I ever was when doing the LA Weight Loss program. I am very thankful for her good example and support in fixing low calorie low fat meals for the family. I think we are eating now very similar to what I remember my mom doing when I was a kid. Lots of home made whole wheat bread, granola, skim or soy mild, etc. We haven't quite gotten to making our own sprouts, or downing shots of wheat grass juice, but we are making progress. Happy Mother's Day to both of the mothers in my life.

This also happens to be the first day we or any one else has attended the newly reorganized Hazel Dell ward. Last Sunday at Stake Conference, the Stake Presidency announced that the ward boundary lines in most of the wards in the stake were being redrawn to more evenly distribute the membership and help the stake grow. During that meeting, we found out that our home address was now on the boundary line, with our house falling within the Hazel Dell ward, instead of the 1st Ward. Several other families from the old first ward were also impacted, including a major portion of the choir members, so now Hazel Dell ward will have a strong choir member base (when it gets re-organized). Because of the change, the primary had not yet had a chance to practice together for a Mother's Day number, so for the first time I can remember, the primary did not sing to their mothers. Misti was a little sad about this. Brother Miles had prepared a treat for the mother's and gave them all (including all females 18 and older) a package with candy bars in it (diet sabotage - don't know if Misti is going to eat hers or not). She said she would have rather had flowers or a plant this year.

The Hazel Dell Ward Bishopric was also reorganized, with the old bishopric members release, and the new ones sustains and set apart following Stake Conference. All previous ward callings were released, so there is much reorganization going on currently. Today, a new financial clerk was sustained for the new bishopric, and I was sustained and set apart as the Elders Quorum Secretary in the new Elders Quorum Presidency, with President Mark Brogan, Corey Johnson 1st Counselor, and 2nd Counselor still to be named.

Our corn is all planted at the Stake Center Garden, and we have some of the backyard planting, but still have a fair bit to till. Elms just got their tiller back from the shop, so we need to arrange with Trent before the elementary school plant order comes in.

We found out today that Johnny's cub scout camp in the Hazel Dell ward is right in the middle of our planned family vacation. We are checking into if he can still attend with 1st ward.

Kristi and Traci will now be attending the Clark Ward (YSA). Looks like a good plan for them, there are very few YSA in Hazel Dell ward.

I've tried to call my mother several times today, but each time, the phone is busy. Guess they don't have call waiting. I'll keep trying.

Changing lifestyle for the better

I didn't realize how bad my personal lifestyle (diet and exercise) had gotten until I recently read a book that my sister Heather recommended on nutrition called "The Culprit and the Cure." I was addicted to the "western diet" without a clue as to what the "prudent" diet was or how to pick foods to achieve it. All I really knew before was that whole grains, and fruits and vegetables, were good for you cause mom and the scriptures said so, but now I feel armed with the why and the how, and a sense of relative importance of these foods over previous bad choices (Krispy Kremes and Cinabons were literally killing me early - "the whiter the bread, the sooner your dead").


This book, written by a BYU professor while on sabbatical, is the "tour de force" in current scientific research on nutrition and disease prevention. Amazingly, modern science again confirms the revelation given to the prophet Joseph Smith as recorded in The Doctrine and Covenants, Section 89, commonly referred to as the "Word of Wisdom." This time however, the emphasis is on the positive admonitions, rather than the restrictions that are much better known and followed within the membership of the church. If you have not yet read this book, I highly recommend it. The Holy Ghost and my personal life experience bore testimony of it as I read it, and I have now implemented its recommendations for lifestyle in my own life. By following its simple advice on nutrition and exercise, I am already feeling much more energetic, healthier, and have shed 15 lbs over the past month. I have a dietary and exercise direction now that I feel like I can truly exercise faith in, as it has motivated me to action. Johnny keeps telling me he wants his "sugar daddy" back, but I think having me around for a few more decades is a good tradeof to a few sacrificed donuts, cinamon rolls, and Big Macs in the short run. At least I won't be eating these things in the place of proper nutritional food. Sugar and white bread are the occasional treat now, instead of the staple at the bottom of the pyramid.

This book can do more to improve well-being, now and for years to come, than the best available medicines."

Walter C. Willett, M.D.
Chair of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health

See also www.theculpritandthecure.com

and www.fastfoodbook.com

Thoughts on time . . .

“Time is an illusion. Lunchtime, doubly so”
– Douglas Adams – Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”

Faster and slower time spans exist in my reality. By the clock or timer, such spans should be equal, however, I’ve noticed that great expectations and rapt anticipation create slow spans, sometimes painfully slow; and correspondingly, any time your having so much fun that you forget to look at a clock, the hours slip by at hyper-speed. Slow time events in my memory: waiting for spaghetti or eggs to boil, The last five minutes of school before the release bell for recess, or going home time (and if there is a father & sons outing after school, the slow time span is magnified exponentially). Fast spans include family walks in nature, fishing, camping, golfing, video gaming, programming a computer, singing in a choir, the span of time in my children’s lives between birth and baptism, and baptism and college, and college and marriage, and dates with my wife — all these events go by way too fast! When we get to rewatch the great video recording of our lives (except for the parts edited out by repentance), I will have my finger on the rewind button for these fast spans of time, and expect to have proof that playback time for these is much faster than for the slow time spans.

What makes time fly for you, and what makes it feel as if the clock hands are moving through thick molasses?

To Busy to blog?

Guess I really got out of the habit, since I had a half year lag between posts. Anyway, time to do a little repentance.

Today I trained two members of the duties of the Ward Web Admin and showed them the ropes on lds.org's admin interface. It is amazing sometimes how obvious the generation gap is between the old and the young. The younger admins take the technology for granted and it seems second nature to them per their experience, whereas the grandparent generation have a much harder time, and rely much more on precedural documentation.

We have some new neighbors we helped move in yesterday. They are moving down from Battleground, and their previous place was 6 acres. A city plot should be a little easier for them to handle. One of the boys looks to be about Matt's age, so that might be fun for Matt to have another friend so close.

We got a day of sun after nearly two months of rain and overcast skies. We took advantage of it and dug the holes for two peach trees, northern variety. We are going to see if we can't get some peaches to can, in addition to the apples, plums and two cherries we already have growing. I love fruit trees. They are somewhat easier to maintain than gardens, and keep giving year after year.

Kristi, my second oldest, in living at home now and working full time preparing to either go on a mission or perhaps go back to school. I think she is done with BYU Idaho, and might try BYU now that Grant and BriAnne are living there. Jobs are more plentiful and cost of living is lower than Idaho, according to Bri, so well see . . .

Somethin Fishy going on here

Here is a new flash game Matt turned me on to. So simple in concept, so difficult in execution. I have a new appreciation for wart, when he turned into a fish. It's not easy to survive level 5, and Matt has made level 7.

Play Fishy

Summer Vacation 2009

This summer, we took a trip to Utah. We started out in Cedar City, and while there did some fishing up at Navaho lake with Grandpa Gary. We also took a trip down to St. George to visit the Merrill's and see their now completed new house on the golf course.

After that, we went up to the Mormon Miracle Pagent with the Mathers and Zabriskies. We camped that evening at the Manti public park. There were a pair of baby hawkes in a tree next to our camping site. The mother hawk was swooping down and dive bombing us, and we finally figured out why. Kristi was a bit tramatized as you will see in the pictures on Picasa.

Next, we went to Provo, camping at the Provo KOA, and visiting with Grant and Bri. There was a nesting Malard Duck there that the kids quite enjoyed taking pics of, and got several close ups of the duck and eggs. We spent a day at the Seven Peaks water resort, then went to SLC and saw Temple Square, the new conference center, and ate lunch at the Lion House Pantry. We toured the Beehive House, Church Office Building, and the new Art Museum.

Then, it was on to Bear Lake and the July 4th family reunion there.

We returned home to find yellowing lawns, a flooded basement room, and several stolen DVDs from our collection. Some cash was also missing from Kristi's tithing bank.

Pictures are available at

Summer 2009

and

2009 07 - Family Summer Trip