Posts filed under 'General'
Just got done playing with Google Earth and all I can say is “wow!”
Since most won’t know what it is, Google Earth is a program you can download (just released today) that allows you to enter any location on the planet (of course the US will have MUCH greater detail) and zoom into it from way out in space like you see in movies. It uses satelite photography to populate what you see (so naturally some will have better quality then others, as NY, NY is going to have more details pics then Ephraim Utah), and then you can click and drag around to other places… so… much… fun…!!
Every time I ran into a new cool feature my jaw would drop a little farther. The fluid zoom, rotate, and angle can be played with for hours. Adding in the other features such as 3D buildings, earthquakes, etc. are even more fun. It’s got a whole section of local businesses that you can turn on to see where they are in whatever city, that hooks into the Google Local database (food, banks, schools, pharmacies, movie rentals, etc). It even has other funky things like Crime Stats, Census data, Postal Code boundries and more… although I didn’t run into any of those that worked in my local area (Utah) so that may be only available in certain places.
It is so much fun I am seriously considering upgrading to the Google Earth Plus to be able to get the cool extra features.
I know that hundreds of people will be writing about this today, but I was so impressed I just had to add my .02. Go download it and have some fun… it’s awesome!
June 28th, 2005
Man… a lot has happened since last I wrote.
Somewhere in the last few months Randy decided to screw up our lives. He had recently moved out to Utah to start a new job, and now wanted me to come out there too. Normally I would have just said “thanks, but no thanks”… were it not for the other various things going on in our lives.
To start off with I was starting to hate life at Sprint. Recent organizational changes, while great for some teams, were really bad for the team I was on (at least IMHO). I thought I’d speak up on a few of those changes on behalf of myself and the team and such, but “open door policy” doesn’t really mean that. So I ticked off a few higher ups, which I will admit, may have been 1/4 my fault (but no more then that) and so life became even less fun.
So work, was kinda sucking and I was casually looking in the first place… so maybe Randy’s offer isn’t so bad.
The other thing that we had going on was we found out that after 5 years of trying, we were pregnant.**applause** So the opportunity to go back to Utah among our family kinda took me over the edge, and made at least an interview worth while.
Semi-long story short… I accepted a job there and quit Sprint as of March 1st. My new company (Prosper Learning) has been super great to work with so far. They have allowed me to telecommute for a few weeks so that we could try to sell our house (which isn’t going so well), and also set my start date a few days early to make it so that we wouldn’t miss any insurance coverage during the job transition. Which was naturally important to us due to the above baby thing. Telecommuting sucks beyond words, and I can’t wait to be there in person for good… but their accommodating us is very much appreciated, and I hope to be able to deliver the goods and make it worth their while.
So… we’re moving back to Utah. The three or so people who may check this page every few months or so already know this, but at least it’s here for posterities sake.
We have found a home in Springville which (to continue the streak of people being kind to us) the owners are letting us rent from them until we sell our house out here in Missouri. So we will be moving right into it when we arrive there on March 26th.
Movers are coming to pack us up March 21-22, then load up the truck on the 23rd, then we’ll clean for a day or so. Then it’s two glorious days travel across the vast plains of the midwest with two yelping dogs. Ahhh… can’t wait.
It’s late and I need to get to bed, but this at least gets a vague history as to what is going on in our lives. With all this being stated, I can now post a few other things related to this without being totally out of place.
For example, we found out yesterday that we will be having a boy… and I will call him “mini-me” (first time that jokes been used for a guy having a boy I bet *hyuk*). I will post ultrasound pics and any other details we have at a later time. Also what bad pics I have of the new house will follow soon.
That’s it… going to bed… must… stop… typing.
March 15th, 2005
Well.. hopefully it will be the only ice storm (otherwise known as freezing rain) of 2005, so that the title will stay relevant.
The Kansas City area got covered with a 1/2 inch of ice on January 5th. Everything was beatifully shiney, but also very slippery. I worked from home that day (as did most people I think) but was able to go in the next day. I think I have heard that some people are still without power. Trees limbs are down all over due to the weight of the ice.
This storm isn’t as bad as the one they had right before I came out for an interview. They got an inch of ice everywhere and thousands were without power for up to 3 weeks. Seems like we get one a year (last years was 1/4 inch or so).
Anyway… took a bunch of pictures of some ice covered trees and stuff and posted them up on flickr for all to enjoy. So.. enjoy!!
January 9th, 2005
Merry Christmas!!
Well here we are in Missouri spending our first Christmas away from family (other then our missions). After the nasty roads we had to drive during our Thanksgiving trip, we didn’t want to risk doing that again and so decided to stay home. We really miss family, but I guess that’s just how things go sometimes. Maybe we’ll plan a trip for during the summer.
We decided just to stay home and try to start some of our own traditions. But then laziness got the best of us and we just sat around watching TV and stuff. Guess we’ll start those traditions next time.
We didn’t go big on presents for eachother this year, instead trying to save money to build up our savings (and all those other well intentioned goals). We did get to sit by our fireplace to open presents, which was pretty cool. Kaylene got me some gloves, a coat and some long-john bottoms (old pair got ripped up in too many football games). I got her a Flip-it (which she has already used and smiled while doing so) and a “Coupon for some fries“.
We gave the dogs some goodies that they don’t normally get. Naturally they inhaled them and just wanted more. This is only the second time we have opened presents at home, and so they were both quite intrigued by all the crinkling and ripping of paper and new things with new smells that we were opening.
We did get some nice gifts from family which made it a bit nicer.
Brett and Shambry sent us some Shocking Tanks, which I had seen online recently and will go well with my other shocking games. Kaylene won’t play em so I’ll have to find some other glutton for punishment to play with.
Mom and Bruce sent a nice package-o-goodies:
Magnetic Dart Board, (similar to the linked) always thought these were cool. I draped the board over the couch and threw the darts at it. The dogs thought it was a game and kept looking around on the other side of the couch for them to come out the other side. Was quite funny.
LED Flashlights. Woo hoo… how geeky!
Home Depot Gift certificate **insert Tim Allen grunt here**
Victoria Secret Gift Certificate (yeah… this was Kaylene’s)
Massage Book/kit (near bottom of page)
Pampering Pedicure (same site as above, but don’t have this one listed)
Utah Belly Button Warmers (wearing one now… how could they not be online to link to??)
Thinklers: A Collection of Brain Ticklers, which will keep me entertained for hours.
Disney Recipies, which will keep me fat for years.
Some friends from the ward invited us over for games later on tonight, and Kaylene is up stairs working on an official “Christmas Dinner.” For which she just proudly proclaimed that she is making a pie out of a self-created recipie. *gulp* One of these nights we hope to make it up to the Independence Visitors Center to check out the lights and take some pictures before they take everything down.
We miss all the family and close friends who we are away from (or went away from us) this holiday season, but hope all are having (or had) a great Christmas. We are thankful for all the many blessing which we have and for all those who are a part of our lives.
December 25th, 2004
I am actually posting this a week later, but am setting the time back to her actual day so it’s easier to find. Kaylene hit the big 3-1 today, and in honor of the occasion I decided to stick 31 candles onto a little cake. I naturally tried to keep this from her, and so I had it in the garage and put it all together on my workbench. I’d bang the hammer every now and then, and run my drill… just to throw her off the trail.
After I got it all together I lit it up… man did that thing put off some heat. The flames started pulsing together and it looked really cool. The junk you see in the background is stuff on my workbench, so no our kitchen counter isn’t THAT bad. I took it into her and sang happy birthday (really quickly as the flames were increasing and the candles were decreasing) and she got em all out in one blow.
And here is the final result… so much for “non-dripping” candles. Get em to melt fast enough and they’ll melt no problem.
Here is a link to the whole thing on video including the cool pulsing effect. It’s like 61 meg, so be warned if you are on a slower connection.
I keep trying to get her to post on here, but she refuses… or forgets or something. So maybe some day you can hear from someone besides me.
October 24th, 2004
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