Rock Steady Ball Balancing

Inspired by the blog posts here.

Contention!

Heard recently - "Noah, can you breathe a little quieter?"

Reminds me of an old Peanuts Cartoon - after being ceaselessly tormented by his sister Lucy, Linus responds with the retort, "I'm sorry, am I buttering too loud for you?"

How's that song go, "There is beauty all around, when there's love at home..."?

A Good Thing

Lately I've been streaming the BYU Radio Instrumental station on Media Player while I work. It's very calming and my hope is that it brings the Spirit into my life a bit more than what is typical.

The URL is http://www.byuradio.org/streaming/instrumental1.asx - give it a listen!

The chosen one!

On Saturday I took a bike ride with Noah. We did 15 miles which was a bit longer for him. To help the miles pass and keep his mind off of the time we'd been out, I kept talking to him. This turned out to be a great "father and son" moment for us - one that creates memories that last a life time.

During the ride, Noah confided in me he has a 6th sense about missing cracks in the road. Then he told me that it's the same 6th sense he uses in dodge ball at school. He is always the last to be hit and the coaches have even commented how good he is.

Being the hip and cool dad that I am it immediately came to my mind that he is the chosen one. But deep down I hope he aspires to more than just a dodge ball player, else he stands a good chance of realizing much less than his true potential.

An author in the making...

My son wrote a book the other day. For being 8 years old he shows great imagination and creativity. I think his inspiration comes from Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Not great literature but you have to start somewhere!

I especially like the "double yes" and "easy".

Origami

My son has discovered Origami. His mother purchased a package of folding paper and he has consumed himself with this activity. Now the house is littered with paper in all forms - folded (most ideal), crumpled, cut, and little shreds.

This reminded me of an article I read about "extreme origami" and scientists who develop software to aid in the creation of designs; all accomplished with one sheet of paper.

Currently on my desk there is a geometric design my wife did - I find myself studying it and appreciating the angles and faces. It's soothing and relaxing.

What I'm Reading

I find that reading 15-30 minutes before bed (if the book is really good, then it can turn into hours) clears my head of the worries of the day and I sleep better. The next day, I can jump into the grind with energy. Here's what has been by my bed recently.

Path of the Assassin by Brad Thor. This was good. Clearly influenced by Robert Ludlum. The depth of character for Scot Harvath is not that of Jason Bourne, but it was enjoyable and an easy/fast read.

Ghost: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent by Fred Burton. After 50 pages of the author being overwhelmed with paperwork this book was fantastic. I really enjoyed the first hand accounts of interrogation (no torture) and putting the pieces together of a very complicated puzzle.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexanderf Solzhenitsyn. An account of one day in a labor camp in Siberia. Saw this in the Economist and it caught my interest. Starting this one tonight.

image: maveric2003 via Flickr

Beauty and the Geek

This morning I demonstrated to my darling wife Google's new browser - Chrome.

Me: Check out Google's new browser - isn't it cool?!
Wife: I don't understand, don't we already have a browser?
Me: Yes, but this is new!
Wife: But it looks the same.
Me: But the underlying technology is different and it's faster! See? (I then proceed to click through to a Washington Post article.)
Wife: I don't see the difference.

Wife then walks away to dry her hair.

I'm left to ponder my state. Why do I have 5 browsers installed? Surely it's not all work related. Has my life come to this? Excitement and purpose from a new browser? Thomas Jefferson would be ashamed. I need to rethink some things...

Bill Gates and Retirement

There's a running joke I have with one of my Seattle colleagues - it involves Bill Gates being retired, dressed in a set of Dickie's coveralls, fixing a screen door, feeling inadequate, wanting to stay busy, looking for work but finding that he's competing for jobs against those "younger and smarter" than him, perhaps working as a greeter at WalMart. We have fun with it. Last week I read about this video and think it's brilliant. What a great sense of humor - Bill Gates and I - we'd be good friends.

Interesting little factoids on the state of commodities.

From The Economist. I find it calming to read the numbers in more detail than what you can find on the soundbites commonly found on cable news networks. You can find links to this article and part 2 in the shared items box on the right of this page.

DURING the six months to the end of June commodities posted their best performance in 35 years, rising by 29%. In July they had their worst month in 28 years, falling by 10%. The slide continues: an index compiled by Reuters, a news agency, shows that prices are almost a fifth below the pinnacle reached in early July. The Economist’s index, which excludes oil, has fallen by over 12%.

Oil consumption, for example, has been falling in rich countries for over two years. Goldman Sachs expects them to use 500,000 fewer barrels a day (b/d) this year than last. But it reckons that decline will be more than offset by an increase of 1.3m b/d in emerging markets. It predicts China’s demand for oil will grow by 5%.