First Time...

...walking into our room in the morning because he's big enough to open his own door now. He also doesn't say much when he wakes up. Just whispers to himself and tries to open the door so he can come out and play. This morning, he just walked into our room and stood next to the bed until I got up with him.

...mountain biking on his tricycle. We were at the park (it was a balmy 40 degrees) and Ethan took his bike over to a very gentle, very short slope between the basketball court and the fence around the spray park. He said he wanted to take his bike down, then his eyes went big once the tricycle started moving on its own down the hill. He didn't do it anymore that trip.

Decisions, Decisions

Ok, more enlightenment has come to me over the last two days.

First, I learned that I need to get at some settings that I might not have control over with my Web host. So... I might have to move hosts, which I don't want to do.

Without getting at that setting, the switch that I made to my template, didn't work. But, when I reverted back to the old-style template that I had been using, something must have been updated because the comments are now showing. And I think that my archives are updating automatically... though I'm not sure why.

But, with comments now turned on, I have to make the decision about whether that is enough for me. I would enjoy the extras like books that I'm reading, an easier blogroll, and other widgets.

I suppose that most of it will depend on what my Web host gives back to me as an answer.

(And I need to restore my homepage that got over-written while I was messing around with things)

Something unexpected

Something has changed on my blog because the comments work now. I'll have to keep investigating to see if this is all I need, or if I should still try to go forward with a more radical change.

Understanding

I was just talking to Mia about my continued frusteration about nothing getting comments to show up on my blog.

She came and looked at my Template, which is still old-school Blogger style, even though I upgraded when Google took over.

She pointed me to a post on the dashboard page (which I generally ignore) and now I think I understand it. Since I started blogging before you could set a custom domain through blogger, and I didn't want tenfootrabbits.blogspot.com instead of integrated into my site, I've been FTPing my blog posts over to my web host for publishing.

This means that most of the work is seamless, I can still use the Blogger interface, but that's why I have to create my own Archive pages and why I can't get comments.

Now that Google will let you point to a custom domain, but still host your blog with them, I might move to that system. The archives will remain here if I do that, while and the blog will move to a sub-domain address. Overall though, I think that it will be worth it.

P.S. I was going to post some video tonight, but as you can see I got busy talking about other things. I'll do some this weekend.

To Blog or Not to Blog

I read many blogs for work. My reading is focused mostly on SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SEM (Search Engine Marketing), Web 2.0 technology, PR, and Marketing.

The blogosphere is huge. Just in those narrow topic areas, I have lots of content to skim through. (RSS Readers are your friend for this.) Lately, I've been getting more involved with some comments. Which has made me start to wonder if I should start a personal/professional blog.

Ah ha! Typing this up has reminded me of what I wanted to say earlier. I was searching out a few new blogs the other day, and found a few blogs by people that are in more of my position. They are not thought-leaders in the space, but are professionals with a few years experience.

What struck me is that these blogs linked to those thought-leaders. This is, of course, how bloggers get integrated into the blogging community. But, it's also a tactic to try and raise their sites visibility in the search engines and sites like Technorati. Which brings me to the point that I had wanted to make earlier but couldn't remember.

The value of the blogoshere is the creation of content and distribution of information through the network.

When bloggers get too caught up in talking about the blogosphere, they are no longer valuable to me. The bloggers that I respect the most are those that have knowledge of some space and are willing to share that information through their blog. This is also why I'm hesitant to add my voice professionally to the blogosphere. I'm not sure what I would add from my experience that is different from the voices already speaking.
Creating a blog for the purpose of increasing my own visibility might be useful in a future job search, but what value would I add to the conversation?

Maybe one day, maybe one day.

Catching up

I had something that I really wanted to blog about, but I can't remember what it is right now.

However, I've been doing more thinking lately, in fact, I was talking with Mia about it the other day.
I didn't do much reading last year. This would be easy to blame on a lack of time because of Ethan, work, or playing games. Except, that in a moment of self-awareness, I realized and accepted that I was really avoiding reading because I was avoiding writing. That may seem strange, it seemed strange to me when I was talking about it.

But, this did help me achieve another realization. That I am a professional writer. I get paid to write. It's what I do to make a living (though I do have some other duties as well).

The disconnect is that I'm neither a journalist, freelancer, or fiction writer. I don't get much personal recognition for what I'm writing currently. That's fine for me, for now.
From my career perspective, I don't mind continuing to write without attribution because that's just the way it works. However, the skills that I have as a business writer are important to companies. While Marketing is a department that suffers when cuts need to be made, writing is a skill that is always desirable to companies.

So, this year, I'm doing more reading. I'm still writing professionally, for Snowbound and WFM, and personally on my blog. But this year, I'm also going to try writing some more fiction, a genre that I want to polish my skills in as well.

Re-mix

Ethan loves to sing. He loves it when we sing. He loves to sing with us. He loves to sing on his own when he's following asleep.

And, he's learning the words to the songs that we sing with him. I'm amazed at how many songs he knows. But, he's not quite perfect yet.

One of this favorite songs is Frosty the Snowman. He loves the ending "Thumpity Thump-Thump, Thumpity Thump-Thump, Over the hill... hurry down the hill... hurry down the hill"

He re-mixes Frosty and Give Said the Little Stream. Maybe he'll grow up to be a great musician.

Likes: Snowflakes on my windshield
Dislikes: Snow on my windshield

New vs. Old

What happens if you are neither here nor there?

Anytime

My dad sent out his weekly email with what I interpret as a request for a night snorkeling partner.

I just want to say that anytime you want to fly me to a beautiful snorkelling locale, I'll go out with you every night.

:)

This one goes to 11

Ethan's not only the cutest kid in the world (am I saying that too often) but he's also the smartest.

He loves to count. Count, count, count. All day long. But, he doesn't stop at 10. Nope, he can count all the way to 13. Our boy is so smart.

And skinny. He must really be my and Mia's son. ;)

P.S. I have some video, I'll work on getting it up tomorrow.

Comics

So, I don't normally read For Better or For Worse, but it's in the daily paper at work so I catch bits of it when I read the comics during lunch.

There is apparently a storyline happening (when isn't there) but I decided to catch up a bit on it. So, I cruised online to the offical site and started reading some of the previous days.

Then, as I'm reading, I think that out of the corner of my eye I saw something move. I looked again and I was right. Check out the third panel. Kudos to Lynn Johnston for taking advantage of the medium.

Pan's Labyrinth

I'm going to lace my post here with spoilers, so if you plan to see this movie (or don't plan to see it) you might not want to read this post just yet.


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Spoilers coming. I'm serious.


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Ok, you've had enough warning. :)

First, I liked the Spanish title, Labyrinth of the Faun. The Faun was never named in the movie, which I felt was the right choice. He did function well as the old man/guide in the archetypal arc of the story.

But, before I get into that, let me start elsewhere. The first thing that I want to say about this movie is that it's not for everyone. Director Guillermo Del Toro has create a story that is very consequential. I would say that one of the major themes was seeing the consequences of the choices that people made.

However, he also set his film during the Spanish civil war when Franco was taking over. The facist forces were not noted for tolerance or kindness. This is reflected in the movie as well. The natural consequences of people's choices were not softened in the story or on the camera. Violence was an integral part of the movie. As Mia and I had discussed together, it wasn't the normal kind of movie violence though. This was intimate violence. Intimate and honest. And, in the instance of the wine bottle, very brutal.

That scene, refered to as the wine bottle scene, set the tone for the character of the Captain. And yet, as we discovered by the end, that even after setting him up to be the villian, he was still a complex character. The depth that they added to him made his actions throughout the story more potent.

So, let's finally work our way around to the fantastic elements of the story. Ofelia, the heroine, makes two forays into the fairyworld through the film. Her interactions with the faun are always in the real world, which makes them an interesting blend.
Her two tasks to accomplish require courage. She has to face her tasks alone. What I found interesting in the two tasks that she has to complete is that the monster-obstacles are unaware of her status as princess. To them, she is nothing more than a child.

But, what's more enaging to me, is that her trials mirror what is happening in the real world. While she is moving through these in a fantastical setting, her mother, Mercedes, and the doctor are all dealing with similiar trials and monsters (the Captain). That they are all able to accomplish so much while under the threat of their monsters is incredible.

We also liked the way that the ending was handled. The Captain had to follow her to the center of the labyrinth. She had to choose, completely and irrevokably, to not let her brother be harmed. Once she had made that choice, the Captain had to be present to spill her blood, to complete the ritual. I choose to believe in the mythology of the story, that what happened to her was real. And that her decision was meaningful in that it restored her to her rightful place. The film is ambigious on this point, so I'm taking the liberty to choose the ending I want to believe.

A final note on the ending. We liked that the Captain had spent the movie setting up a legacy for his son. After we had been shown that he felt he hadn't lived up to his own father's legacy, he wanted to leave one for his own son to follow. And when he was denied, the look on his face was more punishment than anything else they could have done to him.

So, all in all, we were impressed with the movie. Very thought provoking. Very well crafted. And probably not something that we would go back and see for a while because we need time to come to grips with it.

This should save me a post here later.

;)

Bookish

So, I've started reading again. It feels good, I like reading. I don't spend nearly enough time doing it.

I've been reading Fablehaven. Mia bought the book a few weeks ago, for us to read on the trip out to Utah. We didn't end up reading it then but once we got home I decided to pick it up.

As I was doing a little reading online today about it, I discovered that the writer graduated from BYU around when I did. He was also part of a comedy troupe on campus so I totally recognized his picture. At first I thought I might know him; I don't think I did though.

I was reading through some of the reviews around the Internet. I have to say that I was disappointed with the quality of the reviews that are being produced. Most of the are simple plot summaries with a paragraph or two at the end with their feelings about it.
Fortunately, I did read a review by Orson Scott Card (that's a big score) that wasn't for a publication, besides his own site, and so gave a more honest, though not much more in-depth review. I recommend reading it here.

So, I thought I'd write down a few of my own thoughts on the book so far. I haven't quite finished it, so I can't give a full review. However, I do want to talk about a couple of things that I think are interesting about his book.

One part of the book that tripped me up for the first few chapters was the narrator. It felt like a mix of 3rd person and 1st person. Obviously, the narrator was trying to pull you in, trying to connect you with Kendra the main character. The omniscient 3rd person viewpoint always seemed focused on giving the reader the 1st person perspective for Kendra.
The narrator felt like an actor or character but was also obviously supposed to be absent from the story. It made my first days of reading somewhat confusing. Then I realized that the narrator was acting as a storyteller. Literally, like someone sitting with you around a campfire telling you a story. After that, I quite enjoyed his approach.

Now, I should say that fantasy descriptions can make the world more alive, especially when it's a foreign world. In Fablehaven the description is very detailed. Sometimes more detailed than necessary but always well-written. There were scenes that he described down to the individual actions as people moved through the scene. It slowed the book down in places but for the most part wasn't a large distraction.

Because this is a fantasy novel, I don't feel that I'm giving much away by telling you that there is a battle near the end of the book. However, I really liked Brandon's approach to the fight scene. It was handled creatively and appropriately for his audience. I was very impressed by it.

However, the climactic scene, or at least the one teased on the book jacket about Kendra facing her greatest fear was somewhat disappointing. While I suppose that the situation could be related to more by a younger audience, I didn't feel there was an intensified sense of danger because of Kendra's backstory revealed in this scene to indicate why it was her greatest fear. (Wow, that is a convoluted sentence. Read the book and it will make more sense.)

In conculsion, this was a fast read and a fun one. I would recommend it to someone who wanted to read something light, interesting, and very creative.

Likes: 7:00AM; Hybrid narrators
Dislikes: Sugar coma; unpacking

And he's OK

Clear Skies

We think that we've weathered the storm. Ethan slept from about 11:30am until 2:00pm and then fussed for about an hour and didn't want to do anything I suggested (except me holding him).

We did head down to church for the last hour but he wouldn't go to Mia, so I didn't end up teaching my class anyway. We also left a bit early.

But, after church Ethan had much more energy, was willing to eat, and generally acted better. He's been talkative again, has wanted to play instead of just sitting around, and actually ate his dinner of chicken soup with stars.

Unfortunately, his poop is still pretty watery and rather frequent. But, he's started asking for diaper changes just before he actually makes the poop, which means that he's got some control. We are putting him to bed now (7:00pm) and hoping he'll go the night without waking up with a messy diaper.

It's been quite the up-and-down couple of days with him but we think this should be the end of it. (Or very close.)

Recovery

Ethan woke up this morning at 5:00 a.m. asking for his cup, and then some bread. He ate two slices, watched a little Blue's Clue's with me and went back to bed a 7:00. He woke up again at about 8:00, but by 8:30 he was in our bedroom snuggling with me and we laid in bed (with some sleeping) until about 10:00. We gave him some Cheerios and a popsicle. At this point we were thinking that he was just playing us to get his way with the popsicles. He ate pretty well at breakfast, and hadn't had any messy diapers yet. I started getting him dressed for church, which he didn't like, and then he made a very small (but still watery) poop. I changed him, and he started getting sleepy again.

Realizing that we would never make it through church with him crashing like this (and Mia and I needed to at least catch some of Primary since we both have callings there) I put him back down about 11:30 and we are hoping he'll only sleep for an hour again so we can get to church on time.

His fever is down, he was 99.8 when Mia checked him earlier. His appetite is coming back and he seems to be getting more energy. He played a little this morning while he was awake, including some coloring. We think that the worst is over and now it's just a matter of getting him back up to full strength.

Fever

After getting home yesterday, he still had a fever of about 103. However, he was able to drink some juice (mixed with water) and even ate half of a jelly sandwich that I made for him. We wanted him to eat and drink more, but compared to the plane trips he was doing pretty well. He fell asleep at about 7:00pm. Mia and I went to bed around 8:30pm. We'd had a long day and were exhausted.

Today, Ethan woke up at 5AM and needed his diaper changed (still a very watery diaherra) then went back to sleep. At 8:00AM he woke up again, but just wanted to hold my hand and nearly fell back asleep again! I decided to get him up and try giving him a bottle. He tooke some milk, but wouldn't drink his Pedialite. Later he had a popsicle (actually, I had a popsicle because he wouldn't actually come eat the first one) and we watched Robots.

He still hasn't really eaten anything. After making him a sandwich for lunch, he fell asleep on the couch while I was getting his little table set up. So, I put him down for a nap (about an hour early). We'll see if we can get him to eat more later.

And worse

Ethan did something amazing tonight. He made a poop on the potty.

Actually, he made a poop on the changing pad in his room, then when he was standing in the bathtub getting cleaned off he asked to sit on the potty. He then proceeded to make a number of painful (as evidenced by his need for hugs while sitting there) poops which were still mostly diarehha. Poor little guy.

Fortunately, he'd been eating some pasta before this happened, drank his medicine, and had a few bites of oranges.

So, today was not much better than he's been over the last few days. He lost his appetite again today. Which worried us.

He fell right asleep when I took him into his room (he nearly fell asleep while we were making dinner) and has been down since I left. We are hoping that he won't have any diarehha tonight so that he can get some rest and feel better tomorrow.

I'll post more on his condition tomorrow.