Today the reinforcing steel arrived to insure that the basement walls never slide in over time. Modern foundations have rebar connecting the footings and walls. Older houses just had the walls built on the footings and the basement floor kept them from pushing in. Since we are lowering the floor these steel plates will make sure everything stays put.
Just had a surprisingly pleasant support call with Adobe getting activation counts reset. Was very simple. Bravo!
Vandals trash closed state parks ← This is pathetic.
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Last night Mazie and I finished reading Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. I really enjoyed reading each and every poem to Mazie, and she thought they were funny, goofy and good.
I distinctly remember reading Where the Sidewalk Ends when I was a kid. They were likely the first poems I read. I even remembered some of them. Mostly I remembered having the book and the cover of it.
We were reading the 30th Anniversary edition so I was at the youngest 9 when I read it. It was a real treat to read it to my daughter and hope that she has the same recollection when she reads it 30 years from now.
First Week of Standing Desk
Today I started my second week of using my makeshift standing desk. My initial observations are:
- I’ve struggled with some lower back pain and I was hoping it would get better not sitting as much. On the contrary, my lower back pain is worse now.
- My feet hurt. Plain and simple. I need to wear a better pair of shoes than I have the first week. Going to switch tomorrow.
- I get the sense that I’m more likely to move about during the day. More walking around and more interactions with the rest of the team at the office.
- It’s harder for people to meet in my office. Since I’m standing, people don’t come in and sit down to chat. This makes conversations shorter, which is good and bad. It makes it notably harder to have a one-on-one conversation though. A small desk to meet at would be helpful.
My makeshift standing desk is far from ideal. I know my keyboard is about 6" too low. My monitor is as high as it goes but at an angle so I look down at it. Looking down is kind of nice in one way, but I think it would be ergonomically better to have it much higher and looking straight on.
People keep asking me how long I’m going to keep this up. I don’t know. It’s possible my setup is deficient and it won’t be better. I’m hopeful that I hit a turning point this week and my feet feel better and my lower back hurts less. I’ve started stretching occasionally through the day which I hope helps as well.
All in I like it, contrary to the probable tone of this note. I feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Black Keys at Roy Wilkins
On Sunday night Tammy and I went to see The Black Keys at Roy Wilkins Auditorium. I only recently discovered the Black Keys. I heard they were coming to town and they seemed like a great band to see live so we made a point to go. The show was really good. The Black Keys play a really good live show. I had fun taking some photos with my iPhone while we were there.
Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney came on the stage. It was a little odd just seeing two guys, but they made an amazing amount of sound for just two people.
I really liked the simplicity of their stage setup. It worked really well with their overall feel and made it feel like a smaller show.
They had the largest disco ball I’ve ever seen. It was incredibly big. At least six feet in diameter.
After an initial set they brought on two more band members and played a number of songs from Brothers.
I thought these lights in three rows were pretty cool.
This made me think we were on a porch on a summer evening. Strings of bare lightbulbs.
At the end a light board rose behind the stage with THE BLACK KEYS lit up on it.
So I got a little excited with the lights. The music was really great too! 😀
Just upgraded 8 WordPress sites to 3.2 in about 5 minutes. Super easy. (Wish MediaWiki was that easy.)
The Edit Post screen is shockingly nicer, but so similar. Feels crazy faster and much calmer. Nicer type too!
Tyler the Monkey
Tyler loves to climb on things, and he doesn’t give up easily. This morning I had the Tour de France streaming on one of the computers and left the room for a moment. I thought Tyler was being pretty quiet and was wondering why he wasn’t running around as usual. I came back to find him pretty excited to have climbed up in the chair and running the computer himself. The kids a climber!
Epic Fourth of July!
Today was the best Independence Day in memory. The day started early.
- Pancake breakfast. Mazie and Tyler both love pancakes.
- Trip to Minnesota Zoo. Tyler digs the zoo.
- Swimming at the Edina Pool. Mazie’s new favorite place.
- Mazie’s favorite dinner, Cheeseburger Pie.
- Tammy and Mazie to Mr. Popper’s Penguins.
- Mazie and I went the Minneapolis fireworks. Awesome!
To top that off we even had an impromptu visit from Grandma Rosalin that involved coloring.
Mazie said everything today was her favorite thing. 😀