Family Photo Shoot

by

Today I took the day off because we had an appointment for a photo shoot with the girls. We found a fantastic photographer (Amanda Saldarelli Photography) last year that we used for Teagan’s first year photos. We booked her again this year for a smaller session for photos we are going to use for our holiday photos. We went to the grounds of a museum near Great Neck. I didn’t even know that place existed but it was very nice backdrop for our photos. Thankfully Teagan survived the car drip without getting sick. The past month or so we have completed several trips without having to give her any medication so we have our fingers crossed that she is over her car sickness phase. As recently as our Maine trip in August she had trouble so we very happy she is doing well traveling.

Both girls were awake and in a good mood for the session. With two kids that young you have to be grateful for that. Besides Teagan running around a lot the session went well. We are hoping we got some really good photos.

Besides the photo session the day was generally uneventful day at home playing with the kids. It was nice to have a 3 day weekend.

A Mystery of Childhood I Won’t Solve

by

Around Teagan’s first birthday my parents got her this easy chair with her name on it.  She also has a play kitchen set with utensils and wood food, etc that she loves and plays with all the time.  She has had the kitchen for over a year.  For at least a few months Teagan has been taking her play kitchen utensils and placing them on her lounge chair.  Today MC mentioned it, but we both know she has been doing it for a while.  MC doesn’t think she ever puts the fake forks and knives on the chair, just the ladle, spatula, etc.  I am not sure about that, but i do know she never puts other stuff like the food or pots on the chair.  It is not an every day occurrence but she has done this several times.  The chair is not even near the kitchen.  I would love to know why she is doing it but she can’t communicate well enough yet.  MC and I just have to scratch our heads and smile at this one!

Partial Goodbye Google

by

Today I took the next step in my exodus from Google services.  I deleted my old @powerz.org mail domain from Google Apps.  I had used it for several years before retiring it for a newer one about a year ago.  With my mail backed up elsewhere and after I finally got all of the services dependent on the domain moved I was able to delete my account.  it felt good, however my other Google Apps Domain is more of a challenge.  I still use some of the google doc’s associated with it and figuring out an alternative is my current challange.

What was once old is new again

by

Back when I first started writing my blog over 11 years ago I did so using my scott.ac domain.  I was pleased with myself to have gotten a domain with just my first name.  Over the years I got too many questions about the .ac so i moved my online presence to other domains with the more traditional .com, .net, & .org.  Oh how I thought powerz.org was a cool sounding domain name back in 2000.

With my recent changes I decided to make with regards to my web & email hosting I took the time to change the domain I use once again.  This time back to scott.ac.  Now a days there are literally going to be thousands of new domain names out there.  I have bought a few myself.  I realized then that with so many new TLD’s I still have one of the easiest domains I will ever get.  So after that realization I went back to the domain name I have had the longest (since 1999, man I feel old).

My Feedburner feed will redirect to the new URL.  I will once again (i have done this a few times in the past) take the hit and lose my google rankings while the site gets reindexed.  I don’t really care about that.  I am still surprised I get traffic on this site.  I still enjoy writing even though i only just started writing again in recent weeks.

Of course I am a realist and I give myself 2 years before I decide to change things again.

Break Fast at My Sister’s

by

Today we took the kids to my sisters for the break fast.  Originally the break fast was going to be at Lauren’s house but she had to pass on hosting so it moved to Carries.  That presented a challenge for us since it was an extra hour or so drive.  We are still nervous about Teagan getting car sick.  We wanted to see everyone and we didn’t have time to change our car reservations so we had to make the round trip in one day.  Turned out fine.  We put the girls to bed in the car and carried them upstairs when we got home.  They of course woke up but the transition back to sleep once we got home was ok.

The day was great.  As always my sister had lots of great food.  Seeing everyone was fun also.  We didn’t get to see my sister and the kids as much as i would have liked over the summer.  Teagan & Amelia as always had a blast with her cousin’s.

The only minor drama was we both forgot to pack our diaper bags.  Thankfully we packed enough extra supplies to get by in the kids clothing bags since we knew we would get the ready for bed at my sisters.  It ended up being a close call but we knew we could have just ron out to the drug store if we needed anything.  Thankfully we didn’t.

Flying Solo With The Girls

by

Today our babysitter was sick.  MC had a deadline at work so I took off.  I was already going to work from home because I was taking Teagan to her 2 year checkup but I wasn’t planning on getting no work done.  I have taken care of both kids alone before but it is always a challenge.

Today thankfully Teagan had a class in the morning.  I also had a class with Amelia but she was napping in the stroller so I made the command decision for us not to go.  Instead i got a civilized walk in with her sleeping.  The highlight was my Starbucks Cappuccino.  I miss my walks when Teagan was a baby were I could go for coffee.  With both kids it is a challenge so i was grateful for the chance today.

After Teagan’s doctor appointment and attempted nap time I got in some really good play time with them. That was followed by the challenging yet not as bad as it could have been bathing Amelia, feeding Teagan, then bathing Teagan juggling act.

All day I was craving Sushi, so i ordered delivery for when MC got home.  We hadn’t had in a while and it was delicious.  I was tired but it was a generally great day with my girls!

Securing my email a bit

by

Today I completed my copying of my email off my Google App’s account.  That means all my data is safely on other systems besides Google Apps.  I finished re-pointing most of my domains to my new web host.  Next up is completing migrating my parents to the new system.  I cannot yet delete my Google Apps for Work account but i am one step closer.

A New Search Engine

by

As a continuation of my previous discussion on my recent aversion to all things Google over the past month I have been moving my default search engine elsewhere.  I have been a fan of startpage.com.  I have heard from people I know that their search results are not nearly as good as google but they don’t log your searches so I made them my default search provider on my computers.  I do use Yahoo sometimes as an alternative to Google.  They may be close to Google in the data retention but the advise I got was they are a bit more transparent and better at fighting requests to hand over data.  That is purely opinion but the opinions of people I trust.

My Sudden Allergic Reaction to All Things Google

by

I have recently had a technical dilemma.  I have been a user of many Google services over the years.  I have several Google Apps for Work domains.  I post private videos of my family on Youtube.  I have loved Google Voice long before Google owned it.  For most of the time I have used their services I have know there have been some questions about what they do with all the data collected.  From day one of Gmail you knew they were looking at your mail to give you ad’s.  At the time I brushed it off, especially since i didn’t really start using gmail for a few years after it came out.  After I did the lingering security questions were still there but because they provide services that really work well I didn’t question anything nor did I really care.  The cool aid was great.

The problem I am facing recently is I have read more specifically about what data Google collects and how long they store it.  Or rather how they don’t really say how long they store it.  There are many discussions on the topic, here, here, here, and many other places.  After reading a lot on the topic and talking with a few people I work with more knowledgeable on the subject than I am I decided the great user experience wan’t worth all I was giving them.

If was to move providers I needed first an email provider.  2nd I needed to stop using Google Voice.

Until very recently that was no small feat.  I didn’t want to rely on my mobile alone.  That is why I ported my mobile number to Google Voice in the first place.  Thankfully as good timing would have it the new IOS software offers wifi calling and handoff to computers for calls.  This is not nearly a replacement for google voice for me, but it made it easy to move back to one mobile for everything since as long as I had WIFI I know my number would work.  With my new iPhone 6 I would be able to solve my Google Voice dependency.  Next up of course is the bigger issue, my email hosting.  If just picking anyone I would have gone with Office 365 or some other cloud offering.  The problem was as I kept talking to people and reading more I have to say I wasn’t too happy with the US governments tactic’s on getting access to people’s accounts.  After that statement I know people are going to say if you don’t have anything to hide, why would you worry.  Well I don’t have anything to hide, but that’s not the point.  I would rather not know my government could relatively easily get access to my stuff with a court order that apparently happens more often than you would like.  I don’t think I am being paranoid guy about this.  To me it feels more like ignorance is bliss.  Since I do know how creepy stuff is apparently now a days I don’t just want to leave Google mail I want to ensure my data is safe where ever i put it.

I thought about my own server.  I just don’t want to deal with it.  The super secure Swiss email hosting provider was too expensive.  I opted for a well known general web hosting provider in Switzerland were data privacy laws are much more strict than in the US.

Next up for me is to goto the T-Moble store and port my number.  After that it is lots of mail copying to my new provider.

NATO Strap

by

A few weeks ago I decided to try getting a new strap for my watch. I am thinking of a new watch and what I want to get has a heavy band. Looking on Pinterest I noticed that the NATO strap with a nice watch actually looks good and is considered pretty stylish. I was originally skeptical, but after my research i was sold on the idea. My Omega X-33 watch’s band is wearing pretty badly since it is titanium so I decided to try getting a NATO strap it as a test to see if I would like it. I went for a black and grey stripped combo.

I ordered 2 bands since the first cheaper one I got was crap and I didn’t even want to try putting it on the watch. Once I got the 2nd band I had to find time to goto the Omega store to get them to make the change for me. I wasn’t going to attempt that myself. Today I found time to get over to the store. Thankfully it was a 5 minute change. I think it looks good. I need to use it for a while to see if I like it better than the traditional metal band.