So I dropped the ball already on the 4, 5 & 6th of September with no posts but it was a busy weekend so cut me some slack. I guess I’m going to have to make the rest of these September posts quite memorable, I’m going to have to upload tons of pictures & video of the kids that I’ve been sitting on for 2+ years and pacify everyone.
I hope everyone had a great Labor Day
Camryn Choo-Cheww, originally uploaded by Ryan Ellerbusch.
Camryn flexes her accent when describing a Choo Choo Train
No one ever said parenting was easy. I can easily say that you fall untrained feet first into a world of pacifiers and bottles, hoping to make it to their first birthday without causing long term damage. Raising children so far has been a rewarding and challenging experience to say the least, and you cannot truly prepare for it in great detail. Many flinch at the idea of having someone completely dependent on your every action, and I remember the first day I left Leslie & Camryn to go back to work, wondering what I might miss causing me to come home during my lunch hour to find things as I left them with a baby nestled in her mothers arms.
The second child opens a new can of worms where you somewhat know what to expect but try to remember how you did this the first time around. Leslie & I are going through this now as we try to remember when we started the baby on certain foods, when she started to do certain things. It’s like learning to ride a bike all over again, only this time you have another child riding her bike along side you nudging you with a stick and trying to jam it in the spokes to cause a head over heels debacle.
All I can say is parenting is something you don’t necessarily an exam you study for, it’s more of a pop quiz (or a series of them) in life.
With the new version of Chrome being released today, you might be sitting there wondering what browser is right for you? The answer to that question is rather simple… It’s up to you!
If you know everything you need to know about browsers then just stop reading here otherwise continue. There are four major browsers making a play on the Internet today. They are Microsoft Internet Explorer (Version 8), Mozilla’s Firefox ( Version 3.6) and Google’s Chrome (Version 6.0472) & Safari (I will not be covering Safari since I’m not a Mac person (boo hoo cry me a river)). Each browser having it’s own theory on how the Internet should look when viewed through the browsing lens. My personal preference? Mozilla Firefox, only because I’ve been using it since it was just called ‘Mozilla’ back in 2002. Chrome is relatively new but quickly gaining on my personal favorite. Let’s take a look at all of these browsers and maybe I can shed light on a topic you might know everything about, or just scratched your head and said, ‘Google has a browser?’.
Microsoft Internet Explorer
The fabled dinosaur which holds the billionaire moniker has been driving users to their homepages since 1995. A browser that has not seen too much overhaul on it’s interface, Internet Explorer (IE) has seemingly lost it’s grip on the browser majority in recent years. Because it was the largest used browser, paired with Microsoft’s flaws in it’s programming, IE has been the target of malware writers for quite some time. Also, security settings of IE can be overwhelming to the novice user, and can sail them into a sea of settings for Java, Active X & other inconsistencies of pages across the web. If configured incorrectly, or too insecure, IE can open the user up to many security flaws that they wouldn’t want to know of if they were using IE for their banking or other financial needs. My advice to the novice user? Security, all the way till it hurts… and it does hurt.
Mozilla Firefox
Rising from the ashes of the Netscape fire came Mozilla in 2002. The browser was an instant hit amongst technology folks, primarily because it had a built in pop-up blocker and overall configuration was a breeze (and still is to this day). The ability to use add-ons for the browser is a great feature which separates it from it’s counterparts. Whether you want to tweet from your browser bar, synchronize bookmarks between computers, or have your weather delivered, Firefox has an add-on for you. Checking for website security has never been easier, also malicious websites are detected much easier with Firefox. This was also the first browser to come up with a way to clear your cookie’s efficiently! You can also change the theme (called Persona’s) of your Firefox browser to change the overall look of the default browser.
You can watch some videos about the browser here.
Mozilla also has many other products which rival Microsoft like Thunderbird (e-mail client), SeaMonkey (e-mail & web), & Camino (a Mac browser).
Google Chrome
Certainly the new kid on the block (ooh ooh ooh oh oh), Chrome has a maker that’s been around since January 1996 as a research project by two PHD students at Stanford. That being said, they know a thing about the Internet, and have hit a home run thus far with their browser. Lightweight is the theme of this experience as you can pretty much tell from the get go that it’s going to be much faster than it’s challengers. Currently in early stages, as each update is released you can really see functional changes that Google is getting from user feedback & error reporting. One thing I really like about Chrome is the ability to build application shortcuts from your browser page. This means you can create a shortcut on your desktop/start menu directly to the page you’re viewing. So for instance I have a desktop shortcut to my Fantasy Football League for when I feel like checking on something I just quickly click the icon and the page opens in it’s own Chrome window w/o the navigation features. Very good if you view the same sites on a daily basis, or multiple times during the day. Currently I have about ten of these types of shortcuts on my desktop.
Each of these browsers have their issues with the ever changing face of Adobe Flash, Java, Silverlight & other web plug-ins and will more than likely continue as the web continues to grow. So the choice is yours during this browser war, or you could just do like I do and use all three! Just remember to always use safe browsing techniques!
That’s right, I’m going to make an active attempt to make at least one post per day for the entire month of September. Now, I can hear everyone saying ‘Yah Right’ and ‘He’ll never do it’ but, I’m fully committed to putting 30 stories down on this blog at the least this month. So get ready to hear some nonsense everyone!!
Just as suspected, you have a second child and all of the small nuances that were monumental with the first one are somewhat weakened the second time around. It really pains me to talk about, because every moment with Morgan has been blessed and she’s a great baby. My wife and I are so blessed to have such good kids (thus far), and what makes me crazy is that I’m not putting these ‘Morgan Milestones’ in full view. It gets hard trying to raise a 2 year old, working & caring for other duties and also making sure that I notice when she’s crawling or holding her bottle on her own (both of which she has accomplished). Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen the first few crawls & smiles and haven’t missed a thing. It just seems that I’m letting too many other things compete with these special moments. I also look at the fact that I have taken over 1,000 pictures of her and yet there are only a handful printed or on this blog. I’m hoping to use September to get better organized, especially around my office at home. Maybe then I can do something with all of these pictures I’ve taken and show everyone how this little angel has grown up so much in six months.
Enjoyed the weekend, even with all the rain. We enjoyed a great dinner at Crescent Pie & Sausage Company with Jack & Mary. If you haven’t checked it out yet, check their website for location info and also a peek at the menu. The neighborhood isn’t too conducive to late night dining but we had no issues. I highly suggest the Redneck Sandwich and Sausage ‘link’. Managed to get the lawn cut on Saturday between the showers of rain we had, but boy it sure was hot and it was nice to kick back with a couple of Corona’s afterward. I’m also glad I installed the misters in my overhang in the backyard. If you have problems with the summer heat, I highly suggest looking into a mister hose solution from Lowe’s or Home Depot. As long as you keep the water pressure somewhat low, you can make it nice and bearable. Don’t try too much pressure because it can almost make it like a real ‘shower’ and too wet to be around.
I’ve also come to the conclusion the only time to ‘make groceries‘ is never. It never fails whatever time I make it to the grocery there is something going on that just makes the trip miserable. Last time it was the fact only two registers were open (on a Sunday) and this time it was someone trying to pay with a check w/o a driver’s license. But that was just the typical end to people with their baskets in the middle of the aisle as they read the ingredients on a bag of sugar forcing you to have a fender bender with their shopping cart to get them out of the way. I think I might let Leslie do the rest of the grocery shopping from here on out…
Capped off Sunday with some BBQ Chicken Wings on the grill using my Evan Williams BBQ Sauce my parents brought me from their trip to Kentucky. They turned out really good, along with some corn on the cob from the pit as well. Although there was a casualty as one of the burners is now out on my five year old grill, time to hit up their website to find replacements I guess. Was fun to sit out and grill while Leslie and Camryn played hopscotch as Morgan watched intently from her bouncer. I was found quoting the words of my aunt Janie, “This does not suck!”
Hope everyone had a good weekend and don’t worry… only five more days till the next one!
Time that is… It seems that I do not get time to post anything to this blog anymore. It also seems that’s the opening line to all the blog posts I’ve made in the past few months. Time is flying by, it’s already August and before I know it Christmas will be here. Or should I say “Morgan’s First Christmas” will be here. Speaking of Morgan, she’s doing great! She’ll be turning 6mos old on the 19th and she’s already scooting around the floor and should be crawling any day now. Her appetite is unmatched and quite honestly she’s been an even easier baby than Camryn (which is hard to believe). Her eating schedule is unmatched amongst babies with her 8:30/2:00/6:00/10:00 feedings. And after that 10:00 bottle, she’s down and doesn’t get up until 7/7:30 the following day. I’ll give you the same answer that I’ve been giving everyone else when they ask what we’ve been doing… absolutely nothing but sticking to a schedule.
Camryn is doing well, loves being a big sister. Almost to the point where she is doing too much, like trying to pick Morgan up while she is on the floor, or attempting to feed her with a toy spoon as she lies in her glider. She’s a great kid, growing fast (2 going on 20) and has a sense of humor about her that always brings a smile to my face. They are both getting too big too fast, before I know it Camryn will be in school next August and the real fun will start as she brings home stories of her day with the other kids in class.
Leslie had Lasix surgery on both eyes this week, she’s doing well and can see a whole lot better. Her vision is better than when she used to have contacts/glasses on so the surgery was a success!. She just has to make sure that nothing comes in contact with her eyes, so she sleeps with eye protection and Brody has been sent to his cousin’s for the week (thanks Millie & Vance).
We’re running behind on ordering pictures from the last session we had at Creative Images. We’re hoping to have Kevin put the web gallery back online so everyone can order the pictures they want. It’s just too expensive for us to have to order everyone pictures, but we’re going to try to buy what we can. If there is something specific that you wanted, you might want to order it straight from the site. I’ll put a link up here when the gallery is available again.
Other than that it’s business as usual… work doing well, always busy and keeping me occupied. Hope everyone is doing well!!
I’m always willing to give someone the chance to post stories here, so if you’re an interested party just let me know and we can get you all setup!
With the versatility of WordPress as it surpasses version 3.0, I think it’s time to change the overall theme of the website. I’m still working on a few things and you might notice that some buttons/functions might not work (*cough* Twitter Button *cough*). But all in all, I like this theme and will be toying around with it over the weekend.
Hope you enjoy the new layout, let me know what you think in the comments.