Apparently, Jack wanted to watch TV in bed but having no TV in his bedroom, he improvised. He got out his inflatable travel bed and blew it up using the battery-operated pump and snuggled in for some quality tv time. School starts one week from today and camp is over. This is his last lazy time before fall insanity hits. I wish I could get away with that!

It's been a nice, quiet summer. Jack attended Zoo, Cub Scout, Farm, and Aquarium camps. He had a blast at all of them.

And now, before and after pictures of the other new garden Ann put together after she and I tore out the weeds that had taken over the space... (taken with the iPhone)

Tags: gardening, Weeding, yardwork

In our backyard is a Rose of Sharon tree with lovely white flowers. Underneath it is a blue Hydrangea, a ugly statue (inherited from the previous owner and never removed by us as we had other things to deal with), and a viney plant which was slowly choking the tree to death and taking over that section of the yard. After two years of ignoring it, we finally decided to get in there and take care of the mess. We spent about a week digging out the viney plant, removing it from the tree, and digging up clods of grass, shaking the dirt out of them and throwing them away in yard waste bags (though I used a few to fill in some divits in our yard). The work was back breakingly hard. Nearly a week after finishing, my back is still killing me. But it's done now and looks amazing. Ann picked out and planted all of the perennials.

Tags: gardening, yardwork

This is a great chart showing all of the candidates' positions on various issues. Makes me realize how many of them are scary. And how few I find match my own positions. Found via BoingBoing.net (which also includes some other interesting links and commentary on this). I have to admit, I've taken a rather large break in thinking about what's happening in the world beyond casual observation. Part of it has been a strong sense of depression at how bad things have gotten. Some of it is also a sense of futility. In hindsight, that's a terrible attitude to have. We elect our government. We have a responsibility to stand up for what we believe in and elect those people who feel the same way. To sit back and say that nothing I can do matters is the worst thing I can do. So, it's time to start paying attention again and getting involved. We have a year until the election. It's time to get started.

Tags: Election, Candidates, President, Politics, Activism

Well, after nearly five years, I've pulled the old design down. Well, it's still there, just at the old URL until I decide what I want to do with it. It's been a long time coming. I love the old design but I'm also sick of it.

I decided to also take this moment in time to launch my own vanity domain. Raggedcastle will remain and will likely get repurposed in some fashion. But I wanted to make this change. So, there it is.

The new design is actually a template in the tool I use to manage this site (RapidWeaver) and I'll be designing my own template at some later date. But for now, this will do nicely.

With this change I am also enabling comments for the first time in years. If this new system keeps the spam at bay, then I'll keep them enabled. You're welcome James.

Crowded House released their first CD in nearly a decade a few weeks back and it has been in heavy rotation at our house since. I thought it would be fun to take Ann to see them in concert and found out last week that they were playing at Foxwoods in just a week's time. That sealed it. I got on the phone, got tickets and made reservations to stay overnight in the Great Cedars hotel (I figured we wouldn't want to drive back so late after the concert was over).

We had a complete blast. Crowded House is absolutely wonderful live and lead singer Neil Finn is quite funny as well. Somehow he got on the subject of bassist Nick Seymour being hungry and needing fish and chips as well as how all of the band could use mojitos or, at the very least, tequila. Shortly after, tequila shots and limes were delivered to the front of the stage and at least Neil and Nick partook. A few songs later, a nicely dressed room service cart with fish and chips was rolled out on stage and Nick ate the fish and had a few chips. Neil then took the plate, had a few himself and then began walking along the front of the stage passing out chips to whoever wanted them.

I managed this picture with my iPhone during the concert:


All in all, the concert was wonderful and it ended far too soon. And while they played a nice mix of old and new favorites (and a few songs I never remembered having heard before), they didn't play Into Temptation, my all time favorite song. Ah well, as Ann pointed out, they could have played for four hours and have left us not having heard all of our favorites.

It was also our first visit to Foxwoods itself. That was a trip. We ended up not bothering to play any games in any of the casinos. It was just too smoky. Cigarettes were everywhere and smoke was everywere. It got pretty gross. But this morning we went to the Grand Spa and Ann got a massage while I “read” (listened to an audio book) and then took a dip in the whirlpool and swimming pool. I even sat in the steam room for a bit. By the end I didn't want to leave the spa and have become addicted to the whole idea of the place. I haven't been that relaxed in I don't know how long.

Alas, we had to head home again and I am dog-tired now. But it was a wonderful way to start the weekend.

Tags: Crowded House, Foxwoods

I got an iPhone. I got swept up in the hype and did what I swore I would not do: I got a 1.0 device. I knew full well that 2.0 would be far better and that by getting 1.0, I would not be able to get 2.0. But on the other hand, while the very first iPod was not at all compelling to me (I didn't get an iPod until the 3rd generation), the iPhone is a very compelling first generation device. And in the two weeks I've had it, I have come to depend on it. It's my grocery list, it gives me directions to get places, it lets me take pictures when I don't have my camera with me, it's my iPod, I watch movies on it, I watch TV shows on it, I find myself watching YouTube on it, something I never did before, I show off photographs on it, I follow stocks on it (why on why did I not buy Apple when it was $12/share?), I surf on it... oh, and I also use it as a phone!

A lot of people have complained about the AT&T part of things but I was already in an AT&T contract so I had no qualms about that particular move. I firmly believe that all of the cellular providers are fundamentally evil so I really don't see the downside of this one versus that one.

I've even submitted my first hint to MacOSXHints..

A few blogs and podcasts have made my iPhone experience that much better. They are as follows:

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• NetNewsWire: This venerable RSS/Atom Newsreader is an excellent way to keep up on my news feeds. I follow nearly 200 sites in a fraction of the time I would were I visiting each one sequentially. It is made even more useful by the addition of search feeds which allow me to search the net for arbitrary terms (such as "iPhone") and capture news from more than just those sites I regularly follow.
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• The Apple Phone Show: This podcast and blog has been one of the better sources of news and info about the iPhone.
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• CaliTV: Cali Lewis provides wonderful, short video podcasts (perfect for watching on the iPhone) of quick tips, news and notes.
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• MacBreak Weekly: This is a LONG podcast and yet I manage to find the time to listen to the whole thing. Leo Laporte has a virtual roundtable with Scott Bourne (of the Apple Phone Show, above), Merlin Mann (43 Folders and much more), and others. It's 40% bizarre banter (which I find endlessly diverting and fun) and 60% good information. My only wish is that I was part of the conversation. I often find myself wanting to interject a comment or correction or quip. You guys taking volunteers?
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• The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW): While not iPhone specific, it still provides a wealth of good information and news. I am late to this particular party but finding it one of my favorite Apple-related blogs.
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Tags: iPhone