The boys are in love with these videos from a Japanese kids’ show called Pitagora Suicchi (Pythagoras Switch) on YouTube and have made me watch several of them this morning. Not the worst thing I’ve been made to watch…
\
And here’s part 2.
Author: Kevin Lawver
-
Pythagoras Switch
-
Spring is Springing
I took that with my lovely new camera the other day on my way out the door. Spring is here, and that means my allergies are going crazy.\
Things are crazy right now. I might get back to regular blogging (you know, more than once or twice a month) in the near future. Or not. I post much more often over on twitter, and semi-regularly on the ficlets blog (where I try to pretend I know something about writing).\
I’m working on an all-new blogging tool for this blog. I’m doing it for fun as a break from work, so don’t expect to see it anytime soon, but it’s been a lot of fun to play with. Lawver.net has been running Movable Type for almost six years, and actually hosts several blogs scattered over a couple of different domains. I like it and all, especially the static publishing that allows this site to be somewhat performant even when Dreamhost has database issues (which seems to happen more often than not, unfortunately).\
It’s Saturday afternoon, which means it’s time to go get the boys ready to head over to my parents’ house so Jen and I can go on a date. Hooray, date night! -
Go See Frank Gruber In Person
Though I will be speaking at another conference this same day still I wanted to help spread the word about the TECH cocktail CONFERENCE which is more than just a cocktail mixer event . Just last week TECH cocktail was awarded the Illinois I.T. Assocation CityLIGHTS Award, the first TECH cocktail conference will be held on Thursday, May 29, 2008 in Chicago. Frank has assured me that it’ll be solid and not at all boring. I actually work with Frank at AOL, and like him, so I trust that’s he’s telling the truth. I have no reason at all to doubt him.\
Check out the speaker list for the event. The event looks to facilitate a place for people to learn all the various aspects of starting and running a Web business. The usual “no nonsense” approach will be alive at the conference along with their signature relaxed atmosphere so attendees will learn a lot while having fun.\
If you are interested in attending the go register! If you go, and use the: kevinisawesome discount code, you can save a big ol’ twenty-five bucks! Space is very limited so sign up today.\
If I hadn’t already agreed to be on a panel at RailsConf, I’d totally be there. -
A Get Well Video From Across The Pond
My friend Diarmuid, who works in AOL’s Dublin office was telling his four year-old daughter about Brian’s arm the other day, and she wanted to make him a get well video. Diarmuid finally put it up on Bebo, so now I can show it to you. His daughter may be the cutest thing ever:
Watch More Videos Uploaded by www.bebo.com/DiarmuidG4\
Thanks, Juliette! Brian loved the video, and he’s going to make one for you as soon as he’s feeling better (and we can put a shirt on him over his cast)! -
Broken Brian Update
As Jen said the other day, Brian broke his arm on Friday. Monday morning was spent calling orthopedists to see if any of them could see him. One of them said they didn’t want to see him for seven to ten days, and that someone “would call us back before the end of the day to set up an appointment.” That seemed kind of silly to me, especially if the kid just needed a hard cast. So, I called our pediatrician’s office to make sure I wasn’t overreacting. The very pleasant nurse I talked to said that sounded a little weird and gave me a couple other local orthopedists to try. First call, I got an appointment for Brian yesterday morning. We saw her yesterday, and Brian’s going in in a couple hours to have the bone set.\
Well, hopefully have the bone set. He has a non-displaced fracture of his elbow (the humerus, right at the end). It’s at an angle, and the doctor is going to try to just push it back in place. If that doesn’t work, she’s going to have to pin it. We’re hoping for option number one. Because he’s three and setting bones hurts like hell, they’re going to put him to sleep to do it. That way, if they have to pin the bone, he’ll already be under.\
Brian’s been great through this whole thing. He gets grumpy because he hates being stuck on the couch, but he was an absolute champ at the doctor’s, and has been pretty cheerful throughout considering this is his first real experience with being hurt. Last night, he was giddy and playful and even got up for a little while to play soccer with Jen. He’s on codeine and a little wobbly, so I had to hold him up so he didn’t topple over, but we still had fun.\
This is my first experience with a broken kid. I’ve been on the patient side of the equation several times (ask my mom… we got to know pretty much every emergency room in NATO). I’m pretty good at being the patient. I know my job (say “ouch a lot”, let people help you, say thank you and try not to be too big a baby). I don’t know how to be on the parent side of the broken kid equation. It’s new, and frustrating. Thankfully, this is our first real injury for either boy, which is amazing when you consider that half of their genetic makeup comes from one of the least graceful, most accident-prone people ever to stumble into the world. Jen, on the other hand, is awesome. She’s doing a great job with him and I’m in awe (hence my saying she’s awesome). She’s extremely patient and hasn’t even thrown anything through the wall in a fit of Spongebob-induced mania.\
I don’t know how good the cell reception will be at the surgery center, but I’ll most likely update twitter as soon as we know anything.\
Late Update: Sorry, I should have posted this sooner, but we’re all tired. Brian was a super kid at the surgery center. He didn’t cry, did everything the nurses asked him to, and came through with flying colors (OK, he cried coming out of anesthesia, but that’s perfectly normal), and he didn’t need surgery! His awesome orthopedist was able to set the bone by hand without pins and casted him. He was in and out of the operating room in about twenty minutes. He slept most of the afternoon and then ordered me around for the rest of it (“I want to watch Spongebob.” “Play Burnout.” “I want more juice.” “Come sit with me.”). We’re all going to try to sleep in our own beds tonight, even! This is pretty much the best case scenario for what could have happened today.\
And one more thing – I just want to say thank you to everyone who reached out with words of comfort, advice and sympathy. It was overwhelming and much appreciated. Thank you! -
SxSW Interactive 2008
I’m in Austin for SxSW Interactive 2008. I’ve been really busy with preparing for panels, worrying about panels, worrying about the web awards, dying my hair blue, etc. Here are some of the highlights of the week:
- Career Transitions: From DIY to Working for the Man: I moderated a panel about the pros and cons of working for large corporations, startups, the government, freelancing and academia. The panelists were awesome: Jason Garber, Leslie Jensen-Inman, Cindy Li and Thomas Vander Wal. I think the panel went pretty well, and hopefully helped some people out.
- Ficlets won a SxSW Web Award!!!! – I couldn’t be prouder. I posted about it over on the ficlets blog (it has my acceptance speech too). Jason deserves most of the credit, but I’m keeping the trophy. Mr. Scalzi just blogged about it too.
- I dyed my hair blue for The International Day of Awesomeness. I’ve always wanted to, but never had the guts. Since the holiday is all about performing and celebrating feats of awesomness, I knew I had to do it. So, I spent Monday morning dying my hair and ruining hotel towels.
- I got interviewed by New Riders (my publisher). It’s in the Voices That Matter podcast on iTunes, and they said it should be on YouTube some time today. And, here it is!
- I got interviewed by the AOL Developer Network about ficlets and SxSW. No idea when that’ll go up.
- I got to hang out with my friends at great events like Fray Cafe and 20×2.\
I’m headed to California bright and early tomorrow morning and could really use a nap.
-
Something in the Water
This is my fifth year at SxSW. Something wonderful happens to me when I’m here with all my crazy creative friends. Some switch gets flip and the tenuous control I have over what comes out of my mouth completely switches off and I become a round mound of manic energy. The pictures have already started showing up on flickr (thanks to MD for documenting it):\
At Break Bread With Brad last night, I won a lovely custom made purse by Cinnamon Cooper. Now, I’m not normally a purse guy, but I made an exception last night and carried it as we wandered around Austin. Jen, you’re getting a really cute little handbag when I get home…
And then there was Dave. I mentioned that Dave had lost a lot of weight since last year, and asked him, of course, if it was a tapeworm. Unfortunately, it was really a medical condition. Thankfully, Dave’s a funny guy, and now “Hey, that tapeworm is stealing my food!” became the first running gag at SxSW for us this year. I don’t know that the picture really captures it, but that’s what we were going for.
Today, it’s off to some panels, and tomorrow, the Web Awards and Fray. I love SxSW.
-
Happy Birthday, Ficlets
I said it all over on the ficlets blog, but today is ficlets’ first birthday! There were a couple of false starts on the 7th last year, but that’s when the first story was posted.\
I’m off to celebrate with breakfast tacos! -
I Made A Ficlets Shirt
I wasn’t on the ball this year and didn’t get around to ordering more ficlets stickers for SxSW this year. But, since ficlets is up for two SxSW Web Awards this year, I decided I need to do something special. So, I made a shirt!
Here’s how I did it:
- Printed out the “f” from the ficlets logo.
- Cut it out
- Traced it on the shirt with an orange sharpie.
- Using a very fine brush, I painted the logo with bleach.\
That’s it! I think it turned out OK. I plan on wearing it to the awards ceremony Sunday night. Hopefully, it’ll be bring good luck!
-
SxSW Sneaks Up On Me Again
SxSW Interactive is upon us again, and there’s a lot going on (as usual). I’m trying to keep the “gotstas” to a minimum this year, but there are a few things I know I’m doing:
- Career Transitions: From DIY to Working For the Man – I’m moderating a panel that Cindy and Jason came up with over Dim Sum last year. We’re on the panel with Thomas Vander Wal and Leslie Jensen-Inman. We’ll be talking about the pros and cons of working at different-sized companies, the academic field and government contracting. We’ll be throwing out a lot of coping mechanisms and horror stories. I’m, of course, representing “The Man”. It’s Sunday at 5, so come on by.
- SxSW Web Awards – Ficlets is up in two categories. I’m showing up in the off chance we beat Al Gore. I even have my speech ready.
- The International Day of Awesomeness – I was traveling way too much (and then sick) to organize anything big for IDoA, but I am performing my own feat of awesomeness on Monday. I’ll be sure to take pictures.
- 20×2 – Gotsta. Love it. Remember, Max and I made a movie for last year’s event, and I can’t wait to see what people come up with this year.
- Break Bread With Brad – The only way to start off SxSW.
- Fray – Love it. Great storytelling, and a great event to get the creative juices flowing. Plus, we usually go to Magnolia Cafe afterwards for milkshakes.\
I’m sure I’m leaving something out. Well, this year, I’m trying not to stress out or overthink it (no more repeats of this photo from last year). I’m going to go with the flow, try to be as friendly as possible, and adopt as many newbies as I can. If you’re going, and it’s your first time, find yourself a vet and get some tips or just hang out. SxSW can be an intimidating thing, but pretty much everyone’s friendly and more than willing to help, even if they don’t know what they’re talking about.