The difference a couple years make

Two years ago, the focal point of our lives was a fascinating and wonderful little creature named Kayla. We were pretty smitten by her upon arrival but it seems that was just the tip of a monumental iceberg of joy that she is. It doesn’t seem possible that she turns two today. She is such the little treasure and there isn’t a single day I’d give back.

Since that day two years ago, I enrolled at DTS and we moved to Texas. Jen transitioned from office worker to telecommuter as I adjusted to life as a graduate student. After two semesters, I learned all I had set out to. After the conclusion of the school year, we bought a minivan and departed for Seattle to be near Jen’s family. Bill had been diagnosed with Leukemia and it would likely be the last time we’d get to be with him.

We stayed two months and returned to Texas. Lucas arrived in October. I cannot overstate how much life changed with #2. With an infant and a toddler, there is always a need for one, and frequently two parents attention. Combined with family visits, from Lucas’ birth through the New Year, getting anything done, let alone caught up, was wildly optimistic. Things we normally kept on top of did not receive the attention they were due.

But little in life is permanent. When the 2007 tax season rolled around, I caught up on over a years worth of bookkeeping (corporate & personal). In mid-April I accepted a position with Layered Tech, a hosting company. After a number of other less than satisfying interviews, LT seemed like a good fit so I accepted. So far, they are quite pleased with me and vice versa.

As Lucas rapidly progresses from infant to toddler, we seem to be finding a sense of balance. Unlike the last, this year our trees are pruned and the flower beds are weeded, mulched, and planted. The Jetta even got a fresh coat of wax and Rain-X. On Friday we celebrated our 5th anniversary. Not only was it a night out at one of Dallas’ nicest restaurants, but it was the third weekend in a row that we had been out as a couple.

With all the changes in and around our lives, there are a few things that remain constant: I found the love of my life, and she said yes. On that foundation we have build something that exceeds all expectations. Last night I sat on the floor in the dark, looking out the back windows. Cuddled in my lap was Kayla, a most treasured possession, giddy and exuberant, every time a firefly pierced the darkness.

Oh poo!

It all started innocently enough. Kayla was standing at the gate to our room, watching mommy prepare Lucas’ lunch. It being the time of day that Kayla is productive, she stood at the gate and delivered a fine specimen into her diaper. Mommy witnessed the event.

Meanwhile, daddy was in the office tending Lucas and working on a clients web site. Due to past excitement, Kayla is not allowed to remove her diaper without permission. So she trotted out and announced she wanted to sit on her potty seat. Daddy granted permission to remove her diaper and she did.

As the diaper slid off, the delivery from two minutes prior fell out of the diaper onto the floor. Thankfully, daddy had the good sense to put the potty seat on the tile floor. “What’s that!” Kayla asked quizzically. As she attempted to step away she instead stepped into it. What had great potential to be humorous turned ugly fast. Instead of trying to get away from the steaming heap on the floor she was trying to get away from her own foot!

Being dangerously close to carpet, damage control daddy swept in and restored sanity and hygiene.

PS: Diaper wipes are truly wonderful things.

favorite new quote

A man can do as he wills, but not will as he wills. — Arthur Schopenhauer

This is not a quote I could have sufficiently understood as a youth, and perhaps not even into my twenties. Even now into my thirties, like much of Arthur’s philosophy, it is not something I am willing to embrace. But I do realize that many of my objections to his philosphy were pure vanity.

Daddy care report

Kayla is picking up words so quickly that we no longer try to keep track. At 15 months, we could rattle off a list of words she knew. Now, at 20 months we’re only amused by the 2-3 new words she uses each day.

Two days ago I walked into the room with two tangeranes and an orange. I peeled a tangerine and offered Kayla a slice. “No, BIG orange!”, she demanded. She’s been really fond of superlatives lately, with big getting the majority of the attention. I called to Jen, “I think Kayla has a new favorite superlative.” Her response, “Yes, but it should be no surprise. We are in Texas after all.”

Yesterday Jen left for Huntsville on business, so I’ve been keeping the merry little tribe cared for. Kayla and I get along well by ourselves, but with Lucas here the bar was raised. He’s used to breastfeeding and so a few adjustments were required. The little man is not just strong of body (which still surprises us) but also a bit head-strong too.

Our initial feeding after mommy left went surprising well, but the second didn’t. Which led me to a modified version of an old corollary, “you can feed Lucas a bottle but you can’t make him drink.” After a fairly dismal attempt, I decided we’d give up and wait until the next feeding. At the next feeding we ate like a champ. And for our final feeding, once again dismal.

But daddy didn’t bother battling Lucas’ will. Lucas went to sleep hungry, in our room so I could hear him when he woke up hungry. Sure enough, at 4:00am we had a great feeding. Today has been more of the same. The morning feeding was dismal, but he ate really well at the next one. And now it’s that glorious time of the day when both babies are sleeping and daddy gets time to work. 🙂

Family dinner for four

Tonight all four of us ate dinner together for the first time. Lucas joined us for some real food – bananas. He’s interested in food – very interested if you can judge by these signs: excited breathing, reaching for the spoon, and grabbing whatever he gets, wide open mouth and a bit of drooling. Once food is in his mouth, he’s not so sure what to do with it. ‘Food Eating 101’ here we go.

Kayla is getting ahead…ache.

We had read that Kayla will soon be climbing on things (which she’s mastered) and attempting to scale her crib walls. This normally happens at about this time, but she is 4 inches shy of the “36 inches required for a successful crib escape.” We had her mattress in the lowest setting, and assumed we needn’t worry yet. After all, it’s only her head that is significantly larger than normal.706

We are not exactly certain how she managed it but after hearing the cry, mommy returned to find her standing beside the crib, a bit distraught. Did she scale the crib walls? Did she use her head as a counterweight? There were no bumps or bruises. That was Wednesday. Figuring that she almost certainly has climbing in her blood, the only sensible thing to do was move her mattress to the floor. Today we picked up her new toddler bed which she thinks is quite dandy.

About the iPhone

Hey Jay, this post is for you. 🙂

First, let me be perfectly clear. The iPhone is an extraordinarily wonderful technical achievement. iLust. What was unusual about this years Macworld keynote is that my wife started watching the keynote as well. And she was interested.

The truly striking part was watching Jobs actually use the iPhone. There were very different aspects about the phone that wowed her and others that wowed me. The ease of using all the devices is likely the phones most endearing feature, but I’m not in love. Yet. First, my list of pros, cons, and questions:

Pros:
Ease of use.
Multi-touch
Wide screen iPod!
Switch between portrait and landscape via accelerometer
Sync contacts from Mac or PC
Fully functional web browser (yes, I have Opera on my mobile)
Text message context bubbles (ala iChat)
WiFi

Cons:
Painfully slow data access (EDGE).
Cingular only
No tethering (with a PDA / laptop)
Expensive.

Concerns:
SSH client (this is a must have)
Does email support multiple IMAP accounts?
Is there support for IMAP SSL/TLS encryption?
The Google Maps did not have traffic info in the demo, but is a claimed feature.

I will not be buying a v1.0 iPhone for two reasons. The first is past bad experiences with Cingular, and the second is lack of useful data plans. One of the “killer apps” for me and my mobile phone is being able to tether with my laptop and have the ability to manage my internet based business anywhere, anytime. Until Cingular has HSPDA rolled out to the degree that Sprint and Verizon have EVDO available, Cingular is not even a consideration.

When the 2nd generation of iPhones hit the market and include 3G mobile networking, I will consider the iPhone if Apple adds tethering support. I care little about the visual voice mail (its my mobile, I normally answer it) and the push IMAP. I’d much rather have an unlocked 3G phone I can use on the carrier of my choice (Sprint).

For myself, the iPhone is not quite “there” yet. But, that only accounts for me. The iPhone might just be the perfect phone for my wife.

How secure are your doors?

I recently learned a few things about home security. Some of the highlights are

* most doors can be busted open with one solid kick
* deadbolts offer little additional protection against kick ins
* 99% of deadbolts can be drilled through in under 2 minutes
* most deadbolts can be sawed through in a couple minutes
* a blunt instrument (hammer) and a screwdriver can quickly defeat cheap deadbolts
* most deadbolts can be picked in less than 2 minutes
* average time to break into a house is under two minutes
* two categories of burglars: skilled w/tools, and opportunists

If the burglar is skilled and has tools, he will get into the majority of houses within two minutes. Short of spending thousands of dollars on security, there is little you can do to prevent it. However, what you can do is make sure your house is secure enough to keep out the opportunists for at least two minutes. By doing so, they’ll continue down the street looking for an easier target.

According to Consumer Reports, “Nearly two thirds of all burglaries involve forced entry, and they succeed partly because of flimsy door locks and mounting hardware.” In doing tests that involved kicking, drilling, sawing, hammering, and other attempts to defeat locks, they found that simply replacing the screws provided with cheap door locks with 3″ screws “significantly” strengthened them. I suggest also replacing the screws in your door hinges with longer screws that will penetrate at least 1″ into the door framing.

It makes good sense that you should use screws long enough to go through the prehung door frame and into the framing. However, if you really want to raise the bar, then spend $10 for a M.A.G. Security Strike-3 Deadbolt Frame Reinforcer (747-B). Next to using longer screws, this delivers more security for your dollar than anything else. I bought them for all three of my entry doors. It takes a bit of drilling and chiseling to install but I am considerably more confident in my doors now.

I had embarked on my journey of door security because our existing locks were rude, inconvenient, and annoying. Upon insertion of a key, they were loathe to return it. I was also suspicious of their integrity. Last, they were not keyed alike. I’d often be unable to get in the nearest door because I didn’t have the right key. Those combined to inspire me to replace them all. Unable to find a decent set at nearby retailers, I went online and started searching.

I found useful information from a couple homeowners insurance companies, Consumers Reports, and The National Locksmith. Both CR and TNL had nice pictures of busting down doors and how they fail. After replacing my deadbolt latches with strike boxes, the next weakest link was my locks and deadbolts. Thankfully, CR tested enough locks to make that choice easy; pay $160 each per deadbolt for the top of the line stuff, or $25 for second best. Second best is good enough for me. The only challenge was finding them. The better lockset makers only sell through locksmiths.

Replacing the deadbolts is quite an easy job, easily within the grasp of anyone with a screwdriver and the ability to read. However, what can be a bit more challenging is adding a deadbolt to doors that don’t have them. In my case, the entry door between the garage and house did not have a deadbolt. I chose to add one because I had noticed that someone attempted to break into my garage while we were at the hospital for Lucas’ birth. A few days later, I was chatting with my neighbor who was repairing his garage door after an attempt had been made on it as well. Both our garage doors were good enough to dissuade an opportunist.

I learned that a significant portion of burglaries that are not forced entries are the result of entering through unlocked garage doors. If someone does get past my garage door, I want to stop them there. I used my drill and Rotozip to cut a round hole through the steel door and installed a deadbolt on that door as well. Now we actually use the lock on that door since it has a matching key. This is a very important aspect of home security. If using the locks is a pain, they won’t get used. If they aren’t used regularly, they are no better than not having them. Now we have three doors, with five locks and 1 key.

I also looked into keyless locks as well, using a variety of mechanisms. All the keyless locks CR tested were lacking in basic security. The more I read, the it appears that there is not a good residential grade keyless lock available. Even the best offer less security than a good $25 deadbolt. The Mythbusters guys did a nice set of experiments on the best of the biometric locks and were able to defeat every one of them quickly and reliably. While they are convenient and appear high tech, they offer less security than the basic keyed lock at a much higher cost.

The last product I learned about is the door wrap plates. They are C shaped brass plates with pre-drilled holes for your deadbolt and lockset. The plates wrap around your door and you mount the locks through the holes in it. The plates are a reinforcement for the door itself. They add security by making it significantly more difficult to bust the door and thereby defeat the locks. They only cost $15 each, the challenge was finding a place to buy them. I’ve had them on order for three weeks now. Should they ever arrive, I’ll take a few photos of the results.

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