Monday, January 30, 2006

the apple doesn't fall far from the tree

Savanna is a fantastic kid. She is bright, energetic, charming and like most kids her age, impressionable. Unfortunately, a few things I found to be pretty funny didn't go over too well with the faculty at school.

Savanna, thankfully, couldn't get anyone to sing along to, "when the pimps get an attitude, drop it like it's hot." Nor did Mrs. Kelly find it funny when Savanna took counting a whole different direction, "1, 2, 3... and to the 4 Snoop Doggy Dog and Dr. Dre at the door."

Just when her music interest had been cleaned up another problem arose. When fellow classmates would get up to go use the restroom Savanna would holler "LET IT RIP!" Really funny, but disruptive to any classroom environment.

So, I took the heat. Cut out the funny business and cleaned up my act. It was smooth sailing at school for several months. Then Apa came to town.

We were just about finished putting together the trampoline. I was hanging up the safety net when my pants were pulled down to my ankles. I calmly finished tying the net then turned to find the guilty party. There they were. Two peas in a pod, Apa and Savanna giggling uncontrollably.

Savanna thinks the new "game" is hilarious. It won't be long before she tries it at school and when she does Apa will have some explaining to do.

Saturday, January 28, 2006

bounce with me

Growing up, I was the kid in town with the trampoline. It was a source of entertainment just about anytime the weather would allow for me to get on it. I mastered flips, twists and turns. When I could get away with it, I would move it under the basketball hoop for a game of "slamball." I even remember sleeping on it a time or two.

Well, about three weeks ago my Aunt Carol called to let me know she and Grandma Irene were buying Savanna and Beck a trampoline for our backyard. I have to admit, I was more excited than Savanna to here the news. Today, after the rain cleared up, Dad and I pieced together what is sure to be a ton of fun for the family.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

the kid can sell

I've yet to gain Vanita's approval (not that I need to), but I'm going to go ahead to offer Savanna up for employment. I'm telling you, this girl can close a deal.

This evening, Vanita was out of the house leaving me to tend to the kids. When it came time for Savanna to have her evening glass of warm milk I though it was time to change the routine.

Me: Savanna I don't make warm milk anymore.

Savanna: WHAT? DAD! I want warm milk.

Me: Sorry, Savanna. It's cold milk or no milk at all.

Savanna: Ok, Dad you put the cold milk in my cup. (she pauses, I can only assume she is looking for buying signals) Then put it in the microwave and I'll push the buttons. OK?

Really, I tried to come up with an answer other than "fine" or "ok" but couldn't. Zig Zigler look out, even on your best day, you don't have a chance.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

The Spellcheck Generation

My spelling is horendous. I often argue that spellcheck removed all willingness needed to learn the correct spelling of each word. It appears new internet enhancements are doing everything possible to ensure I will not be alone.

Seth Godin
, I was wrong.

Trekking to Patterson, NJ tonight. Went to Yahoo maps, typed in the address and boom, "That address doesn't exist. Here are directions from the nearest town."

So I went back to my source. Checked it twice. Copied and pasted. Did a second Google search to be sure the address was right.

Turns out that Paterson only has one "t".

I share this with you because it's a great example of how dependent we are on the search engines to fix our mistakes for us. Should Yahoo Maps have "known" that Paterson is often spelled with two "t"s? Of course.

The danger zone is when only some of the obvious mistakes are caught. We're being trained to be sloppy, and expecting that will always work. Watch a kid search on Google--they don't even try to get the spelling right. Why bother?

Monday, January 09, 2006

Big Time

This past weekend we took a little trip to Southlake Town Square. The place is one of a kind. The town and the square are relatively new but was built to appear much older. Here's a picture of the square on the 4th.


We had a great time. Returned a few gifts, purchased some new ones, had a relaxing lunch and enjoyed temperatures near 80 degrees. However, the highlight of our day was quite unexpected.

We noticed a small crowd of children gathered near a fountain at the center of the square. Savanna hurried over and found what had to be the largest dog I have ever seen.


The dog's secret? Milkshakes.

Friday, January 06, 2006

Calling all Smiths

Today is your day.

Yes, it was news to me as well. Upon arriving at the office this morning, I was greeted (via IM) by a co-worker in Atlanta "Happy National Smith Day!"

My first instict was that he needed something or was just poking fun. But, a quick Google search confirmed the news.

It is officially listed in Chase's Calendar of Events, a book published annually that tracks about 12,000 such holidays, large and small.

Smith Day commemorates the Jan. 6, 1580, birthday of Captain John Smith, the English colonial leader who helped to settle Jamestown, Va., in 1607.

By sheer numbers, folks named Smith deserve their own day. According to the 1990 U.S. Census, more than 1 percent of the population shared the last name.

Please don't send any gifts.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Embracing Big New Ideas

Did any one catch the new ads running during the at&t Cotton Bowl?

Here's a great post by Brad Feld discussing how at&t "wasted" nearly 1 billion dollars on their new brand, The Deathstar Rises. It is apparent the marketing world needs to be saved and Seth Godin is the guy to do it. Who is Seth Godin?

His site is exceptional. He creates daily posts that are smart, fresh and entertaining. I've added him to my "Good Blogs" list. He even drove me to try out three new web tools. After all I want to be "...the self-elected early adopter, the radical new, (one of) the folks who embrace big new ideas."

So with my extra day of vacation I added Mozilla Firefox, Flickr and del.icio.us to my laptop. If you have some time give them a try.

Mozilla Firefox is a new web browser. You can browse the Web with confidence - Firefox protects you from viruses, spyware and pop-ups. Enjoy improvements to performance, ease of use and privacy. It's easy to import your favorites and settings and get started. Thus far I've found it to better noticeably better than Microsoft Explorer.

Flickr is the best way to store, search, sort and share your digital photos. I've just gotten started with it and I already love it. Scroll down towards the bottom right side of my blog to view my photos.

del.icio.us is like bookmarking websites, but helps with the detail. If bookmarking is similar to saving a magazine issue, del.icio.us would keep track of just your favorite articles.

Best of all, each tool is free and easy to download.