Daddy Daughter Day

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Our babysitter was sick for a 2nd day in a row today. Yesterday MC took off so today was my turn. I thought i had it easy and that our oldest would be going to a school program in the morning but we found out at the last minute that there wasn’t school today.

Instead i took both of them to the park for a bit. It was really nice out. Next up was lunch and now both of them are in for their naps. I would say “down” but Teagan is just sitting there looking at a book not interested in sleeping just yet.

My New Hobby

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A few weeks ago I decided to pick a hobby. I liked that MC has been enjoying cooking and baking and I wanted something i could do. After going to one of MC’s friends houses while on vacation and seeing their awesome bar and his ability to mix up drinks I settled on learning to make more cocktails. My first drink was something i tried before but hadn’t perfected. It was the Chocolate Martini. I wanted to do a Manhattan but I didn’t have all the ingredients. Initial results over the several days I was making them for MC & I were very positive.

This weekend I worked on my second drink. This time i selected the Side Car. It is one of my favorite cocktails. Many places MC and I goto do not get it right or have no idea what we are talking about when we ask for it. I figured I would be complex so I said challenge accepted. After my research on it I realized it is a classic drink that is not as popular as it was in the 1940’s. That explained why most bartenders don’t know it off the top of their head. The good ones look at us funny when we tell them that others don’t know how to make it.

For the Sidecar I needed to buy Cognac and more lemon juice. The first prototype was good but MC thought it was too lemony. I made some adjustments with more Cognac and less lemon and that was ok but not perfect. It wasn’t until Saturday night were I tweaked the recipe with less lemon juice and more triple sec that we were happy. I was surprised at how easy it was to do with very little practice. Now we can have our favorite cocktail anytime.

I now have to figure out what will my next drink challenge be.

I Finally Killed Off Google Doc’s

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I have finally succeeded in killing off any remaining documents i had hosted in my personal google account.  This action was a bit harder than i expected it would be.  I won’t go into further details on a public post due to security concerns however i am glad that I was able to go through and move everything i still needed and delete everything I didn’t need.  Exporting data was easy to an offline file but moving things that others still needed to collaborate on was a challenge and requires giving out new URL’s unless i was moving the document to someone else in the same google work domain.  I wasn’t doing that so it was challanging.

This milestone was one of the last I need before I can delete my remaining google app’s id that i used to use as my main account.  The last milestone may be the most difficult but that will be the topic of another post, Android Apps.

 

The challenges of Google Stickiness

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The biggest challenge I have seen with getting rid of my Google Account is that I don’t really want to get rid of it 100%.  I plan on getting rid of the account I have been using because it is the only way to delete some things.  For example i moved out my Google Voice number but all my call records and voice mail cannot be removed unless i manually delete them or if i delete the entire account.  With thousands of log entries and voice mail i won’t be doing any manual deletions so nuking my entire account is the only option.

Since i want to delete everything i will lose anything i cannot backup or move.  For example any purchased Android app’s and media I won’t be able to keep.  There is no way to transfer purchases.  I was smart and only bought one ebook from Google and never bought any music.  I continue to do that with Amazon MP3 just because the MP3 has no DRM and allows for me to keep using it even if i ever get rid of Amazon.  Google and Amazon for that matter tie your ebooks to the account you bought it with.  The one ebook isn’t an issue since i had already bought it on my amazon account due to issues with the google reader.  

My biggest challenge is all the Android app’s I have purchased. Over the years I may have spent $100 or so on apps. Many of them I do not even use anymore but on principle i am not pleased with having to give them all up because they are tied to other services that I don’t want. In the end I think I am going to bite the bullet and live without the apps, but I am not happy. I already setup a new Google ID just for registering Android devices and any App purchases. Going forward that will be my approach, dedicated accounts for specific services that I need/want to use. Right now all i think i need is something for Android and Youtube.

Mac OS Yosemite

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Its that time of year again. Apple has come out with its new OS. This time around I tried the Beta on my personal laptop. I was pretty happy with it so i installed it my remaining computers today when it became available.

One thing that is always a challenge when Apple OS upgrades come out is that some apps just don’t work. Typically it is my VPN app or Dragon Dictate or something specialized. This year I was pleased to see that everything worked without needing upgrades.

The biggest challenge for me isn’t upgrading my personal machines (I already did that). it will be upgrading MC’s and getting my parents iMac upgraded. I think MC is on Mavericks but her Macbook is getting up there in age. My parents are now 2 OS versions behind and getting time to go over there and upgrade is challenging.

More Wireless in the Subway is Good

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This week I started noticing I was getting wireless signal on my phone in the stations in Queens on the way home from work. I was surprised since I hadn’t had that happen before. For several months if i wanted to check mail or sync something i knew i had to wait till 5th ave on the way in or 5th ave was the last chance i got till i got home on my return trip.

After a few days of curiosity I searched the internet and found that the MTA did announce new stations coming online this month. It was just challenging to find what stations. Once i found the list i confirmed that all the stations on my route home in Queens will get signal. That will be helpful to me when i am checking mail on my way into work each day. I have found that my commute is a good time to sort through all the mail from overnight and get quick responses back to people.

Of course the downside of signal in stations are people making calls. Data is great but having some clown talking loudly on the subway into their phone is not fun. Especially when they leave the station and there is the inevitable “hello, hello, can you hear me” when they drop the call. I guess progress has a price.

Family Photo Shoot

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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

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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

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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

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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.