Backyard

Here is what our backyard looked like on Saturday morning.

And this is what our yard looks like by Sunday evening.

Rock and Roll

Edward started taking the sticks away while I was playing so we decided to give him a turn. He loved it.

WARNING: IF YOU BUY HIM A DRUM SET, IT WILL END UP ON EBAY.



However, if you were to buy us RockBand for the Wii we could make more videos like this. ;)

More Rock Climbing

And if you've been wondering how I've been doing on my rock climbing you can take a look at these.

Rock Climbing

I've been going rock climbing with a friend of mine for the last couple of months. It's been a lot of fun and nice to have an activity where I see some progress and accomplishment during my time of unemployment.

Recently, Ethan has been wanting to come with me. He likes to play around on the rocks on the ground but sometimes I can get him to climb up a little on the cliff too. Here's his latest adventure in climbing.

July Come and Gone

My blogging efforts have been flagging lately. It is an interesting technical issue because I have to be logged into my Google account for blogging. Since GMail is one of the Google services I use frequently, I'm typically logged into my other account most of the time. And that means that I'm not usually able to write on this blog on a whim.

But, July has been a pretty busy month so I thought that I'd give an update.

We started back in June with a series of weekends down in San Antonio. We went down 3 weeks in a row. First for Cameron's homecoming, I took the boys down and we all went to Fiesta Texas (or as Ethan called it - CVSesta Texas). The next weekend we visited for some friends who were going through the temple for the first time. It's a family that we are friends with and it was exciting to see them get sealed to their kids as well. Then, finally, we went to the 4th of July picnicthat Debbie and Craig were hosting.

It made for a fun couple of weeks.

It's also been insanely hot down here in Texas. It's been over 100 degrees most days this month. Fortunately, we have air conditioning. :) And having the little pool in the backyard has helped make our afternoons more bearable too. (And... while I don't want to admit it, we've also gotten quite familiar with our movie collection.)

My mom came down for her visit this month too. She was actually here at the beginning of the month, over the 4th of July. It was great to see her since we don't get that chance often enough. We were disappointed that my Dad had to stay in Virginia though. We had been looking forward to both of them coming out at the same time.

My mom was a very busy woman. She helped us re-arrange the house, including getting a new entertainment center for the living room. It made the whole room feel much bigger, and gives us omore storage space around the TV, which we were starting to need. We also cleaned up the toy room, giving the boys a much less cluttered place to play. They've been enjoying it.

We also bought Ethan a new bed at Ikea that week. It's actually a bunkbed set but we only put together one bed for Ethan.

He loves being in his new big bed. Of course, he was really looking forward to getting to sleep on the top bunk and we had to talk with him about why we weren't putting both beds up right now. The biggest reason is that Edward is a climber, a good one, and he'd be likely to get hurt trying to follow his brother's example up the bed.

This means that the smaller toddler bed has ended up in Edward's room. He's still sleeping in his crib but loves to pretend to sleep in his new bed. He also tries to bring his little fan into bed with him (then flops down and says "Ahhh"). But, once he gets used to the idea we are going to transition him into the new bed. I remember doing it with Ethan, we'll see how it works with Edward.

The other thing that I've been doing this month is interviewing. I've gotten through a second round of interviews and now it's just waiting for them to get back to me. I'm hopeful but don't want to pin all my hopes on one job after getting close in the past and not having it turn out. I'll have an update on this front next week.

Mia has been a trooper this month. She's still working full-time on the second shift, from 3PM to 11PM. She loves the work but it's a hard schedule to keep up, especially since she's been taking care of the kids in the morning. I've been trying get out in the mornings to keep job searching. We are hopeful that she'll get the chance to bring her back home soon.

And that's our life for right now.

The Haircut

Our little guy need a haircut so badly. But Mia has been hesitating to go get him one. She's always found his little curly locks so adorable.

So, since she couldn't bring herself to take him to get his haircut, I had to do it. And I was ready to! I've been getting a lot of questions lately about whether he is a boy or a girl. It was time.

And for Mom's sake we did save a few locks of hair to put into the scrapbook, or whatever she ends up making for these first years of life. Hopefully we'll be able to look back fondly on this time.

Mia saw pictures before seeing the kiddo in person. She said the pictures brought tears to her eyes but when she saw him in-person this morning, she did pretty well. No running from the room crying.

Video Bonaza

I posted more videos to YouTube. The Flip camera is awesome for taking short videos and has an integrated way to upload them right to YouTube. It should make video more frequent. And I like how the quality is much better than using the video setting of the digital camera.

So, here's a sample of what I've got posted.

Macrostructure in Serialized Fantasy Novels

I finished reading the most recent Fablehaven book (4th in the series). It's still a solid series and I'm looking forward to the next, and final, installment.

But, when I finished this one I felt a bit let down. Not that the book itself wasn't a good story but the entire point of the story was to set-up the next book. Now, granted, it was better than when I read the 6th book in the Harry Potter series -- but I won't get into that here.

However, I did reflect on issues of structure that I commonly see in Fantasy trilogies.

Book 1: Set-up the hero, conflict, and villain. Hero defeats the villain and saves the world.

Book 2: Expand the world setting. Show how saving the world left it in peril. Show how the world is on brink of collapsing to darkness. Train hero in special powers revealed in first book. (Optional: Reveal hero's family relation to villain.)

Book 3: Show allies of the hero unable to overcome their various conflicts. Place hero's love-interest in danger. Hero hovers on verge of defeat -- except villain underestimated something and hero exploits that for final defeat. (Optional: Hero's motivation is more aligned with saving love-interest than world.)

That format works fine in a trilogy because even though the second book doesn't typically resolve its own storyline, the focus on expanding the world typically leaves the reader interested in seeing how the new conflicts will be resolved. The author has still provided us with something we hadn't seen before and we're eager for more.

By contrast, in serialized Fantasy the books become more episodic. Book 1 and 2 follow a similar structure as above, the world gets saved (book 1) but then... On No! it's not really safe (book 2) and we see the broader world framework.

The succeeding books just start filling in the blanks. We already know the world is bigger, so fleshing out additional aspects don't carry the same sense of wonder. (And at worst are just expositionary exercises in which the author shows off how much they've thought about the minutiae of their story.) Which necessitates a strong storyline -- but one that is serving two purposes.

First, the story must be interesting on its own. There must be a conflict that is real, with real consequences for failure (even though we know it won't likely happen we suspend our disbelief). And, for most of the books I've read, the intermediate books do a reasonable job with this.

Second, the story must drive the over-arching plot towards its conclusion. Again, the episodic nature of the books tend to do a reasonable job of this with a well-defined overall goal (defeat the villain) being pursued in steps (collect the artifact, defeat the sub-villain, travel to the mentor). But where the second-to-last novel tends to fail is that its storyline is too closely tied to setting up the final conflict that it cannot be adequately resolved without lessening the tension the author wants readers feeling when they begin the final book.

In essence, the entire story must be rising action leading into the final novel. There is typically still an episode-conflict that needs to be resolved but cannot allow for a true denouement because the author can't let the action fall. The climax confirms the final novel will happen but the author cannot move the characters into their next positions, leaving the ending of the book weak.

And, as with any novel, if the storyline has been good throughout but you are given a weak ending, it is frustrating.


P.S. Does a pretentious sounding title make the post more impressive? ;)

For the Grandparents

Hey all you grandparents anxious for another hit of cute kids video. You can head on over to YouTube and catch a glimpse of cute videos like this.

Roadtrip!

If you've wondered why I've been so quiet this week, it's because I haven't actually been at home for the last week.

We headed down last weekend to San Antonio because my mom was in town for a conference. My dad drove down from Dallas and we all stayed downtown. It was in a hotel right by the Riverwalk. We got to walk down along the river, see the Alamo, and visit with the family.

Then, on Monday morning, I boarded a plane and flew to Detroit. Yep, up to Michigan. It was my first time in the state. I meet up with my friends and we began the Innovator's Roadtrip down to Austin.

We've spend the entire week driving and interviewing companies through the middle of America that are innovating in their fields. I've gotten to see some amazing things this week that I'd never have seen in my life otherwise.

You can see all of the action over at http://www.innovatorsroadtrip.com

Ode to Unemployment

I was on the bus yesterday coming home from Austin. And I started thinking, how would I write a poem about being unemployed. This was the result.

William Tell watched the stars
and in them he found peace.

"My life is in shambles,"
he told me one bright morning.
He had recently lost his wife
to divorce and his job
to India.

We sat on a park bench
sipping coffee from paper cups
with paper sleeves
with plastic lids.

"I feel disposable," he said.
He was unshaven, unkempt.

"I laid here last night," he told me.
"I laid here on this bench
and watched the stars
and went to sleep."

Busy, Busy, Busy

I've never been as busy as when I don't have a job. More specifically, I'm busier this time around because I've been trying to do more networking and make sure that I know the right people to help me get a job in this economy.

I do want to write more to my blog, and I'll try to but you'll probably want to check in with Mia's blog to get more updates on our family for the time being.

Not Again

As Mia and I have already discussed, twice only makes a coincidence. (Three times makes a pattern and we're really hoping not to find that out.)

What am I talking about? Why, moving to a new place and losing my job.

When we moved to Boston, I got a job at a PR agency and was laid off after 9 months.

When we moved to Austin, I got a job at a Marketing agency and was laid off after 6 months.

We've also very clearly decided that I'm never going to work in an agency-style setting again. Too many differences between agency culture and how I work. It's not a good fit and when I try... well, like I said, we're not going to find out if it's a pattern.

Thanks to everyone who's already been so supportive. We really appreciate everything that people have done for us so far. It's been very uplifting for us to know that we have a support network of friends and family even in this stressful and discouraging time.

Mia's been talking about movies we like. 

So, I thought I'd comment on a TV show that we're also enjoying.

Legend of the Seeker

It's based on a series of Fantasy books by Terry Goodkind, The Sword of Truth series. 

For a television series it's got good sets, great landscape shots, and decent actors.

We like the four main chacters.

Richard -- The seeker

Zedd -- The old man wizard

Kahlan -- The confessor (and love interest)

Kahlan's Bee-Ohh-Ohh-Bee-S -- A big part of every scene she's in

(I didn't want to get indexed for weird search terms)

Slumdog Millionaire Review

I have trouble when I review things that I give too much away.  I don't want to do that with Slumdog Millionaire but I do want to give my thoughts on it.

First, if you watch this movie and don't find it to be emotionally moving then you are dead inside.

It's a love story, a coming-of-age story, and a commentary on the poverty in the countries like India. The movie unfolds in a mostly linear fashion (regarding the flashbacks) but weaves in many non-linear elements that very much enhance the technique. 

The main character, Jamal, was a boy is one of the best precocious children I've seen in a movie.

I'm really struggling not to give too much away. So I'll have to keep this short and tell you to go watch this movie. Seriously, go now. Right now. I'll wait.

Slumdog Millionaire - Thoughts

Mia and I finally got the chance to see Slumdog Millionaire. (Thanks to Mom and Monica for letting us get a night out.)

The scenes of the extreme poverty in India was very sobering. Especially in America that kind of poverty is practically unimaginable. While they use real shots of Mumbai and India, it's seems more like a movie set. Like some scenery they built for the backstory they were creating. 

It's practically unimaginable that people could live in those conditions and still find any happiness. 

I served my mission in the Philippines. I witnessed first-hand this kind of extreme poverty. I was invited into homes bamboo walls and corregated aluminum rooves. I watched children, wearing ragged t-shirts and shorts, playing games with their flip-flops (tsinillas). I served people who would sometimes have only rice and salt to eat.

And yet, I can't even really understand what that life must be like. But I can understand how, even under the worst conditions, they manage to find happiness. 

I wish that I could explain it to you.

Customized

Inspired by Mia's changes at the bottom of her posts, I've just updated what my posts say in the footer. Enjoy.

Make-Believe Math

I'm reading a book that I got for Christmas called "An Imaginary Tale: The Story of the (SQRT)-1".

Let's just say that it's not exactly light reading.  But, it is fascinating and it's exercising parts of my brain that have too long lain dormant. My last calculus class was the one that I enrolled in after returning from my mission (10 years ago). My schedule had the wrong classroom on it, so for the first 3 days I showed up to an empty classroom.

Finally someone wrote on the board in that room where the class was actually being held. I walked in late on the 4th day to a full classroom. The professor was mid-lecture talking about "rotating this curve around the axis and determining the volume" and it was at that point that I knew it was a lost cause. (Amazingly, I still remember that moment and what he was talking about.) I asked him after class what he would recommend for a returned missionary who needed to catch-up on Calculus before actually taking his class (which was the second-half of the pair of basic Calc classes).

His recommendation was to basically re-do all the problems from the textbook from the first-half semester of Calculus. As I am now in marketing, you can guess that did not happen.

But that is not to say that I am Math-averse like so many of my colleagues. I simply realized where a wall would be for me and moved in a different direction.

Part of what makes this book a difficult read for someone who doesn't use this kind of math on a daily basis is that he includes lots of equations but jumps past significant chunks of calculations as he progresses through them towards the solution that fits with the point he's making in the text. I'm finding myself struggling through figuring out what happened in-between two steps. Most engineers or mathematicians can probably take those steps for granted, as he does.  I'm hopeful that as I continue reading, I'll at least be able to see how the calculations are being done a little more quickly.

As a final note, to anyone else that picks this up, I would encourage you to skip the Prologue. It's entirely technical but without context. So unless you are intimately familiar with complex and imaginary numbers, it's not going to make much sense. (I nearly gave up on the book, then decided to just give up on the Prologue).

An example of this is on the second page, where he asserts that "every good high-school math student knows how to prove (SQRT)2 is irrational, but that doesn't mean it's now just a ho-hum demonstration." Um... I don't know how to prove that's irrational. I didn't even remember what an irrational number was when I read that bit. So, like I said, start with Chapter 1 if you pick this book up.

Oh, also, you'll want to keep a calculator handy. (How often do you hear that? At least for the books I read, not very often at all.)

Saints and Soldiers

I was just browsing the Hulu.com movie selection and found that they have Saints and Soldiers. If you haven't seen this movie, it's well worth watching. 

A very interesting story about a group of soldiers in WWII that gets caught behind German lines. One of the soldiers is a Mormon who served his mission in Germany before the war started. 

I can't recommend this movie highly enough. If you are still reading this post, go watch it now.

2009

Well, another year closer to death.

Happy New Year everyone!