mommy bytes mommy bytes Software geek and mom blogs about her life. I blog about the trial of parenting and work. I also review books and classical music, keep up with many podcasts and send along fun things I find on the internet. Articles
Thursday Thirteen - My Favorite Firefox Add-ons
2008-06-05 07:12:00 Another geeky Thursday Thirteen . Here are thirteen Firefox add-ons that I use all the time: 1-ClickWeather - With current conditions and forecasts always shown, and radar at the click of a button, it even beats even the TV for getting weather information. Tip: Use it in the menu bar so it doesn't obstruct automatically sizing windows when it is in the status bar. Adblock Plus - Need I say more? Ads magically disappear off of sites. Wish I had it on the iPhone Safari browser. Commentful - I use this if I want to be informed of updates on an interesting post that I comment on. I also tag my own profusely written comments so that I can find them again (usually grabbing the text for my own blog post... It isn't plagiarizing if you are the author of the comment right?). Del.icio.us Bookmarks - I live and breathe del.icio.us. Plus I am always using more than one computer. Can't live without this one. Download Statusbar - The default Firefox download int... More About: Favorite
WW - Jumping is not limited to the snow
2008-06-04 06:24:00 OK, I have to admit that I actually encourage these wild ones to jump off the slide to I can post these awesome pictures to the blog. This was actually the first time that Dova dared to jump off the top. And if you don't know what I mean by jumping in the snow, here is a small example from a few short months ago: Brrr!--- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Snow , Limited , Jumping
Happy 4th Blogiversary - Dona Nobis Pacem
2008-06-04 02:40:00 What could be more appropriate than to celebrate my blogiversary on the day of the BlogBlast for Peace!! Isn't it finally time for peace in the world? Check out the official site for more peace globes.And it is my fourth blogiversary! Here is a delectable I found on Flickr:Image from kylie lambert (Le Cupcake-Australia)In honor of my blogiversary, I did some sprucing up around the blog, with a happy, hippy flower background, a real about page, real comments, and a more comprehensible post footer (I know this only means something to me, but it did take a while to get everything just right and resurrect the broken quick-edit pencil). Finally slapped a CC license on the blog along with my photos, because I'm a liberal hippy kinda chick (but don't steal because I'm watching you!). I'm very happy to see my feedburner count finally hit the 100 mark (although a lot of it is probably me syndicating myself ad nauseum). But most of all in the last year, I'm grateful for being part... More About: Happy
Silly Monkey Stories - Dova at Miss Liz's Wedding
2008-06-03 01:47:00 Dova's preschool teacher Liz graciously (bravely) invited her students to attend her wedding ceremony. Amazingly enough, the six kids who attended (3 and 4-year-olds), were very quiet and relatively well-behaved. There was no talking or running in the aisles. Of course I had to give a pep talk ahead of time since this was the very first time Dova set foot inside of a church. And it was a perfect opportunity to practice photography under extremely low light conditions. I got to use all three of my lenses! Just because the kids were relatively well-behaved didn't mean there was no monkey behavior from this girl. I made up a new saying for it, "You can dress her up, but you can't take the monkey out of the girl." Here's proof: Using the edge of the pew as a foot rest. Climbing under the pew (see lower left) Climbing up the wrong side of the steps and onto the wall. Dova can't resist a good handrail to climb on. Taking a &quo... More About: Stories , Wedding , Monkey , Miss , Silly
Falling off the edge of happiness
2008-06-02 06:18:00 The headless blogger as photographed by her 4-year-old daughter. I may give the impression that I'm a super mom who is always happy, with-it and positive. But in reality, small perturbations can upset the equilibrium and send me into a funk. Most of the time, I can talk myself out of it ("Snap out of it, you idiot!") and a lot of the time I am just too busy to wallow in self-pity. I know, being depressed is valid condition, but I can't get past the feeling of it being a self-absorbed indulgence. Three day weekends often bring this about, as I'm apparently sensitive to shifts in daily schedule and the pressure to spend quality time with the kids. I heard this Radio Lab episode on Deception, and learned that the power of self-deception makes us more successful and happier people. The ones who are more realistic tend to be more cynical and depressed. Which means that for the most part, I'm just deluding myself into being happy. There's a nice happy thought! People who... More About: Happiness , The Edge , Edge
Help Us Celebrate Father's Day
2008-06-01 04:09:00 Don't you think this great dad deserves $250 for the restaurant of his choice? I entered Celebrate with Style's Father's Day Photo Contest and out of hundreds of entries, not one, but both of my photos made the top ten finalists. Wow! So if you could, please visit the contest page and vote for Doug. You'll need to register with Celebrate with Style to vote (email address is all you need). And which picture should you vote for? Doug says Photo 10, the one on the beach. You can vote once a day until June 6. Here's some notes about the photos. This first one was taken on the pristine shores of the Caribbean Beach Resort in Walt Disney World in December 2006. It was extremely bright and I was glad that my Canon S2 IS point and shoot was able to capture their glow. The second photo was taken after Doug's birthday party three years ago with my first digital camera, an Olympus C3000. Dova was just 17 months old, kicking back and relaxing just like dad. So it goes to show th...
Photo Hunters - Self
2008-05-31 03:13:00 I rarely take pictures of myself and the kids always seem to photograph me in my underwear, so those get deleted right away (since I'm in my underwear right now, I'm beginning to think this is my fault and not theirs). So for these self pictures, I enlisted my kids as hand models. After all, they came from my self and are genetically half of my self. Adam's hands are enormous for a seven-year-old and some of his fingernails are bigger than mine. Dova still had little hands at four and since her arms are not as long, this photograph was shot blind with my other hand. --- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Photo , Hunters
Dova's Sayings Part 2
2008-05-29 05:59:00 I had so much fun with the last installment of Dova's sayings, that I saved them up for another Thursday Thirteen. Since this was pretty tedious, I'll just post them as they happen from now on (shorter blog posts keep your attention right?).Mom, you have ants in your brain. They'll never crawl out.Mom (while picking up some rotisserie chicken): Be careful, it's hot.Dova: Why does the chicken want to be hot and sweaty?I don't want to be cute anymore. I want to be beautiful. (You are sweetie!)Grandma: Did you like the MIT Museum? Was it like magic?Dova: It's not magic, Grandma, it's science!I'm half Chinese. Mom, you're full of Chinese.We can have two mommies in our family me and you. And we can have two daddies in our family, Adam and daddy because there are two tall fingers in my hands, right? (Pointing to her middle fingers) This one is a tall one and that one is tall. (Four-year-old logic at its best)I don't want to be a boy when I grow up. I want to be a girl... More About: Part
How to Incorporate Haloscan Comments and Save Your Old Blogger Comments
2008-05-29 05:41:00 The Blogger commenting system has long been the Achilles' heel of the Blogger platform. I prefer that people leave their name and URL if they have one instead of a ridiculous link to their profile, where you have to click around to find their blog (especially if they are a blogging addict like me). When I comment, I use the Name/URL field, but this practice hasn't caught on, as it is much more convenient to use the default Google/Blogger username since you've already logged in. And the Name/URL and Anonymous fields are enabled as a pair. Can't have one without the other. Not cool at all. Worst thing is the lack of a private email field. Since I have so much history on this blog, I wasn't about to switch to a different comment system and lose all the comment history. And I'm not about to switch platforms either. That would be akin to rewriting code as opposed to re-factoring, which is just against my agile software nature (OMG, agile development has invaded my private life!). ... More About: Comments , Incorporate , Save
Hats Off to Dooce
2008-05-28 12:30:00 Image from Deseret News.This week's Hump Day Hmm is about a blogger inspires you.This week...it's all about the other guy. One of the greatest things we all say we find in blogging is community. What post, blog or blogger has inspired you? It could have been a comment, a post, something someone did. Perhaps you've become friends. Big or small, if it moved you and caused you to take action in your own life, tell us about it. Tell us what inspired you, and then let us know the story from there---your story.Everyone blogger knows Heather Armstrong, aka Dooce. She is the star celebrity of mommy bloggers, even the oh-so-proper mommy twins Susan and Janice of 5 Minutes for Mom, who had the honor of meeting her this week. It's a cliche to say that Heather's blog inspires me, as she inspires thousands, with her blunt yet personal posts, deprecating humor and most of all (for me anyway), fantastic photos. People put her down for just about everything, from making gobs of money from h... More About: Hats
Wordless Tuesday - Dova Loves the Playground
2008-05-28 01:35:00 Here's Dova at the playground during Adam's soccer practice.I have so many great photos in the last couple weeks, I'll be posting a "Wordless Wednesday" everyday until I catch up. --- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Tuesday , Playground
Tuesday Toot - Adam scores his first hockey goal
2008-05-27 13:15:00 Adam (navy blue) faces off against his friend Timmy.I don't remember when Adam scored his first soccer goal, but I do know that by the second season, he was scoring several goals per game. He would get excited and do his little victory dance, as seen here. Nowadays, he scores soccer goals and just casually walks back to the starting line, almost as if he is disappointed that play has been interrupted (something like a slot machine addict being disappointed when they hit a jackpot). He is too proud or jaded to do a victory dance, but he does keep track of exactly how many goals he scores. OK, I guess he is still quietly proud of his goals.Adam started playing ice hockey last September and a hockey goal has been far more elusive. There is a wide range of skills among the players, so in his first 12 week session, he barely even got to touch the puck. He settled into playing defense, and spent most of his time batting the puck out of the defensive zone, or hugging the blue line i... More About: Hockey , Goal , Adam , Tuesday , Scores
PicLens is just like Minority Report
2008-05-23 04:12:00 I innocently installed the PicLens add-on for Firefox from a tip from kirtsy (soon to have a new name) and forgot about it. A few days later I noticed a play arrow on my Flickr pictures. I clicked it and I was thrown right into Minority Report . Pictures were flying around to my will. I clicked on Entertainment and swished around to a trailer for Twilight. It is a totally awesome browsing experience. Adam immediately wanted in on the action and here he is trying it out for the first time.As you can see, it is even easy for a child to use. Get your PicLens add-on for Firefox (Windows or Mac) or Internet Explorer here.--- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Minority Report
Thursday Thirteen - Springtime is jumping time
2008-05-22 02:13:00 We took out our moonwalk for the first time in over a year. Not exactly a simple task as this entailed lugging it outside, finding a hole the size of a mouse on the bottom, lugging it back in, going to Home Depot to buy some PVC cement, patching it, waiting a week for it to dry and finally setting it back up the next weekend (I assume there was no mouse inside, but we did run it with the exhaust open just in case). In honor of the occasion (as for all occasions), I took out my camera to capture the bouncing kids. I think these kids take jumping to an Olympic sport, whether it be in the snow, off the couch or in the moonwalk. Here are thirteen shots of our jumping kids. Yee haw!! Cannonball!! --- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Time , Springtime , Thirteen , Thursday , Jumping
Photo Hunters - Shoes
2008-05-22 02:11:00 Here is Dova's collection of Barbie and mini-princess shoes (notice Cinderella's clear glass slippers in the middle, as well as her brown peasant shoes on the right). How do we manage to keep all these tiny shoes? Well, in a hermetically sealed bag of course. This mom cannot stand to lose things, so Dova is only allowed one pair to play with at a time. And miraculously, the missing white shoe on the right doesn't really bother me. And I'm not even taking Paxil. The missing black Barble shoe on the left however... I wasn't there when Dova tore open her Barbie gift that arrived by mail. Both she and Adam claim that it only came with one black shoe. Hmm, about as likely as Barbie coming with only one foot.My favorite shoes are the purple platform sandals, they remind me of my funky orange boots. A quick look through google produced this one, but doesn't have the funky wide heel:This sandal also reminds me of the stiletto with a tip jar:Oh my, where were we? It's a slipp... More About: Photo , Shoes , Hunters
Playing with the Big Kids at Alltop
2008-05-21 02:07:00 I had this badge up for a few hours, but then I thought, wait, my blog doesn't use profanity, oops! Plus I'm more in the line of "Seriously?! I got in?" and "All the cool kids (and me)". In all honesty, I am honored to be on the same page as the mommy blogger biggies such as Dooce, The Mommy Blog, IzzyMom, and The Bloggess, to name a few. Ever since I saw Heather Armstrong's interview clip on the Today show, I've been wondering how I could become the software engineer who quits and makes more money blogging than as an engineer (BTW, Kathie Lee is a total dink in this interview). Perhaps Woulda Coulda Shoulda wasn't making the big bucks that I do as a software engineer (I kid of course). Or more likely, my blog impresses myself more than anyone. Hopefully this new listing will bring fame and fortune but no hate mail!If you haven't already, check out Alltop.com, especially all the cool moms.--- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Kids
Wordless Wednesday - Adam and his Dragon
2008-05-21 01:45:00 Since Adam was born in the Chinese year of the Dragon , he naturally has a lot of dragon paraphernalia. Here is his IKEA dragon who licks him as he sleeps. You can get a Minnen Drake from your local IKEA store.--- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Wednesday
More video games equals better behavior??
2008-05-19 06:06:00 In Adam's first grade class, there is a complicated behavior rating system based on color cards. It goes something like this... Everyone starts off with a green card. For their first infraction, they get a yellow card. Then they get a red card and some privileges get taken away. After that, they get a blue card and they have to sit in front of another first grade class for five minutes. And after that, they get a black card and a note sent home for their parents to sign. So something like four strikes and you're out. But if they stay green until lunchtime, they get a star sticker on their chart. And if they stay green until the end of the day, they get another star. Adam is certainly not the best behaved child in his class, but also not the worst (thank goodness!). He is somewhere in the bottom half when it comes to stars. He's had only one note sent home (besides the notes he used to get for not doing his writing assignments). But who is the child with the best beha... More About: Video , Video Games , Games , Behavior , Equals
Photo Hunters - Candy
2008-05-17 01:36:00 I'm like a kid in a candy shop with my new lens (har har)! I was pressed for time for photo hunters this week, because I was away for a business trip and had no previous candy shots (photographing candy obviously adds inches to the waist). I got home last night with yet another cold (we call it the Toronto bug) but luckily my new lens also arrived. I emptied the candy jar onto the counter this morning, put on my new lens and voila! Can you tell that apple is my favorite flavor? Dova's favorite is grape as there were none left.--- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Photo , Candy , Hunters
Wordless Wednesday - Spring Soccer has begun
2008-05-14 06:46:00 I've managed to avoid the first few soccer games this spring because I have to wake up early to take Adam to his early morning hockey games and handling his lollygagging sister and taking them grocery shopping afterwards leaves me exhausted by noontime. Plus all the previous games have been rainy so I couldn't even take my camera and new telephoto lens. There was perfect weather for the game last Sunday (Mother's Day) so I dusted off my soccer picture taking skills to get these shots. The first shot is an awesome goal kick. He graciously scored five goals for me on Mother's Day. The second is his usual goofing around with a teammate on the sidelines. The last is a Charlie Brown football kick (notice his foot is in the air and the ball is still on the ground), where he ended up flat on his back afterwards. If he actually kicked the ball, the ball would've been out of sight, and not such an interesting picture! --- Thanks for reading this feed. Please s... More About: Soccer , Spring , Wednesday
Tuesday Toot - Long Live Kirtsy!
2008-05-13 04:20:00 This week I have to give a huge Toot and applause for the great gals at kirtsy, formally known as sk*rt. They have persevered through the toughest of corporate bullying from Skirt! magazine (don't bother gracing them with a visit) to be reborn into an even more fantabulous site. And the new name is totally cool. In true kirtsy fashion, they ran a contest to pick a new name. At first I thought kirtsy was a bit to cutesy and voted for sheesaw (as in she saw this site and wants to share it with you). But as soon as I saw the winner, it finally clicked. Just move the s in sk*rt to the end and curtsy away! Even the logo has transformed itself brilliantly. And to show you how truly great these gals are, here is a snippet from the email that they sent to us editors. Over the weekend, after more harrassing letters from [Skirt! magazine's] lawyers, we created a giant timeline defending ourselves against their claims...with pretty charts and graphs with dated linked details on h... More About: Live , Long , Tuesday
Mommyfest Blog Party!
2008-05-12 06:45:00 Hi everyone, I'm Angela, and welcome to mommy bytes! No, I don't bite (usually), but I do push bytes around for a living as a software engineer. I'm a mom of two crazy, I mean wonderful kids, Adam 7, and Dova 4. They keep my husband Doug and me very busy and provide much blog fodder.Here's a short video of our daughter Dova, which was taken by her brother unbeknownst to us. You can see in the seconds of calm near the end, that she is a sweet, quiet girl. It is her brother who makes her act crazy. And to prove that our son Adam is indeed completely crazy, here he is videoing himself while we were in the other room. Yes, he has his own camera which has managed to withstand lots of abuse. My favorite hobby these days is photography, and you can see lots pictures here on the blog as well as over 10,000 pictures on Flickr.Check out the prize that I am donating for Mommyfest, a $20 Amazon gift certificate for the 5 Things About This Mom Meme. And please sign Mr. Linky so... More About: Party , Blog
Happy Mother's Day!
2008-05-11 04:47:00 A colleague asked me if I had plans for Mother's Day. I said, "Hockey game and a soccer game." This family doesn't stop for Mother's Day! When do I get to relax and go to fancy brunches? But the kids did take some time to make the sweetest cards and gifts. Here's Adam's card: Apparently, the best thing about me is that I have a son who only thinks I play video games with him. Never mind soccer, frisbee, photography or reading nearly 1000 pages of Harry Potter (we are approaching the end of Year 3). Or constantly making him separate meals for his finicky tastes and planning the multitude of sports and activities (thanks Doug for doing most of the chauffeuring, except for early Sunday morning hockey games). But I do love his drawing of me wearing a shirt in my favorite color. And I do love playing video games with him.Here is Dova's gift she made in school and her card, with a little help from Dad. She loves to draw and is getting really good making rainbows (she somehow... More About: Happy
High 5 for Mommyfest
2008-05-11 03:28:00 Don't forget to join the blog party at Mommyfest next week. I'll have my party post up first thing on Monday. In the mean time, here's a photo of five hockey players for the High 5 Photo Contest, with a pound of See's Chocolate up for grabs. Adam is in the foreground wearing navy blue. I kept getting three or four players and finally got this shot of five players.--- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment!
Photo Hunters - My choice
2008-05-10 02:24:00 At the end of a rainy day on Sunday, the sun came out just in time for the golden hour. I tried my hand at panning to capture motion shots, as Adam has no trouble being in motion. This photo was taken with my old kit lens with shutter priority at: Exposure 1/60, Aperture f/14, Focal Length 45 mm, ISO Speed 400. Just ordered a new IS lens, so we'll see if I can improve on this.So Dova doesn't feel left out, here she is enjoying a much slower ride on her bicycle. And here is a video with the both of them. Adam cut way too close to her. The last time she ended up in tears, he claimed that she ran into him. At least we have proof of his antics. --- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Photo , Choice , Hunters
Biking in China
2008-05-09 02:08:00 Here I am in Suzhou, China in 1988. And I wore white sneakers, white pants and a white jacket, can you say total foreigner? My mother's cousin to my right hosted us in his beautiful city and lent me his family's best bicycle. We felt bad about taking rickshaws everywhere so we offered to bike with them. Our relatives were all used to biking everywhere as none of them owned a car, but they were concerned whether we'd be able to handle biking in China. Hey, I've biked in the streets of Boston, MA and Oakland, CA, how bad can it be? But still they only took us on the shortest of bike rides in their picturesque city. Here is a typical street scene. A few weeks later we went up to Beijing, and we offered to bike again. Now biking in Beijing is a totally different story. It is more like this sign (I can't translate, but just look at the biker): Beijing has real city streets with thousands of bicycles, cars, trucks and buses vying for the same roads. We biked to the S... More About: Biking
Save the WGBH Morning Stories Podcast
2008-05-08 02:35:00 Sadly, in the last WBGH Morning Stories podcast, Tony Kahn announced that WGBH will no longer produce this podcast after August 2008. This is definitely one of my all time favorite podcasts and I've mentioned it here no less than 7 times, first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh, whew! Morning Stories have meant so much to me as well as hundreds of thousands of other listeners (I'm guessing) around the globe. I have been a long time supporter of WGBH (sustaining member at that) as long as I've lived in the greater Boston area and they have been great. I just wish I were high enough on the donor pole for my voice to make a difference. But I do have this blog and I ask anyone who wants to save the Morning Stories podcast to write a comment here. I'll print out this post with all the comments and mail it to them. And here is a link to support the podcast. Perhaps if they can raise enough money to produce the show, WGB... More About: Podcast , Save
Wordless Wednesday - Chloe
2008-05-07 02:34:00 We interrupt the stream of kid and cat photos to bring you cousin Chloe , a beautiful Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. --- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Wednesday
Vote for me!
2008-05-06 05:24:00 It's time to vote for the Top School Fundraiser's "My Favorite Teacher" blog contest. Check out the posts and vote here. Of course, I'd appreciate a vote for my entry. Here are a few more juicy details that I failed to mention in that post (shameless pandering for votes).I totally had crushes on these teachers. In my letter to my math teacher, I professed this to him, although I'm sure he knew already. I knew it was totally inappropriate and immature to do this, but heck, you're only young once. I thought I had a copy of this letter somewhere, and I was all ready to let it all hang out on the blog, but I couldn't find it, whew! And in a strange twist of fate, I ended up having a student who had a crush on me when I was a TA (teacher's assistant) at UC Berkeley. He would hang out during office hours and try to ask me out. For the final exam, he brought up a dozen roses for me in front of the class. Oh man, I guess what goes around comes around.As for Harbison, I was ... More About: Vote
Tuesday Toot - Another awesome story by Adam
More articles from this author:2008-05-06 02:08:00 Adam wrote another awesome story for school that shows that he has definitely broken through the creativity barrier. Here it is (spelling and all): When the teacher was doing math somebody gave her a box. Suddnly Freddy the frog jumped out. The teacher screamed. The kids thought that was cool so the kids chased Freddy the frog out the window and through the playground and across the raod. walking through the city and running through the feld and jogging through the forest and tiptoing past the airport and onto the airplane landed in Astrailia and Freddy the frog got away. So the kids went back on the airplan and past the airport through the forest and past the city across the road through the playground back in the window for math. Awesome story and nice coloring too, Adam! --- Thanks for reading this feed. Please stop by to comment! More About: Story , Adam , Tuesday 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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