morrowlife

Here’s some happy, peppy zoo attendees, featuring LRN4, some non-Loyal-Reader grand-nieces, and an extremely rare appearance by LRN16.  That’s LRN4 there in the foreground, pushing the stroller.  Great Art courtesy of my old exclusive iPhone-cam and part of my famous Vacation and Machinery series.

A [amazon asin=B002WB2G9I&text=stroller] is machinery, isn’t it?

Extreme Short Shrift.  It’s way past my bedtime and I have a lot of boring meetings to attend tomorrow.  Need my sleep.

Worked on the Brewing Co. app again.  I finally figured out how to the Contact page.  LRN1 and I had figured out this extremely complex way to do it, which was sort of working, but it finally occurred to me to look at how I had done it in my old Morse code apps, and I got the behavior I wanted with a simple UIWebView.  Duh.  It’s easy to implement, very controllable with CSS, easy to change, and it looks very nice.

In the meantime, LRN1 made amazing progress on the Calendar tab for the Android app.  It’ll be done before you know it.  Also, [amazon asin=0553386603&text=we’ll be rich] before you know it.

Otherwise, worked, ate, and slept.  Oh, I also went to Young Men this evening and we had the missionaries over for dinner.  Otherwise an uneventful day.

And I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: renegade math freak!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s LRN4 in a slightly very dark picture of our Oahu-based scooters, posing beautifully in a beautiful location overlooking the beautiful Pacific Ocean.  It really is pretty in Hawaii.  Great Art courtesy of the exclusive (and new that day) iPhone-cam and part of my Machinery and Vacation series.

Not much new to report.  We all got disgusted with our hosting service, so LRN1 finally called them (impersonating me – I wonder if there’s a reward for turning someone in for that) and asked what’s going on.  They told him we’re sharing a server with a busy website, so it’s slow for us.  The didn’t offer to move either us or the offending individual to a different server, but they did offer their new cloud-based service.  I have no idea whether they even know what the “cloud” is, but we signed up for it anyway.  The price is the same and they promise to scale up as we (and all their other clients, presumably) need more bandwidth, so it’s supposed to go from very slow to very fast.  It appears to be faster already, although GoDaddy’s account manager tells me the change is still pending.  Maybe that just means they’ve move some stuff over already but not other things.  In any case, it’s supposed to be totally transparent to me, so I have high hopes.  Not necessarily borne out by experience, but there you go.

Let’s see, what else is going on?  We’re making good progress with the app for our non-Loyal-Reader (ahem) friend Cliff.  LRN1 has had way more time than I have to work on it, so he has written a bunch more code than I have.  I haven’t been exactly sitting on my hands, though.  I have the Music Samples and Slide Show pages up and running, although they both need quite a bit more polish.  But they’re functional!  I expect we’ll have the app done within a week or so.  Then LRN1 is going to try his hand a porting it to Android.  Good luck with that, LRN1!

Speaking of LRN1, he was just informed today that he has a full-tuition scholarship for the Spring and Summer terms at BYU.  That’s in addition to his existing full-tuition scholarship that kicks back in for the Fall semester.  Congrats, LRN1!

Time for some shameless commerce.  LRN4 is thinking of buying an [amazon asin=B003NRWJR4&text=Android tablet] pretty soon.  She thinks she’d enjoying having one, and it would be very useful for us to test our Android apps, since we have no other Android devices in the house.  LRN3 has one, as does LRN5.  That’ll be very helpful too, but not as easy as having one right here.  So she might buy the one at the link.  What do you think?  If any of my Loyal Readers buy it (or anything else at Amazon after clicking on it), I’ll get a little kickback!  Buy, buy, buy, Loyal Readers!

And I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this combination shocking food violence news and exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity:  gorilla-attacking banana!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s the pilothouse on a sunken ship.  Or something like that.  With some great big turtles.  Great Art taken at the bottom of the ocean with my trusty old Minolta camera during our Oahu submarine ride and part of my famous Machinery and Vacation series.

Hey!  Another two-days-in-a-row post!  Not that there’s anything to tell.

So let’s see if we can think of anything.  Hmm.  Had a nice day today.  Worked some more on our app.  Worked, ate, and commuted (briefly) (the commute part, not the work part) (or the eating part).  Watched a couple of Netflix movies, including [amazon asin=B000059ZWQ&text=The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown], starring Jane Russell.  A bit strange, but funny.  Recommended.

Also saw the end of [amazon asin=B00009VTZX&text=How to Frame a Figg], an early-70s Don Knotts flick.  Also [amazon asin=6301302931&text=The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend], starring Betty Grable.  Both amusing.  Both recommended.  Maybe not highly recommended, but recommended anyway.

In the Jane Russell movie, she’s a self-centered movie actress (is there any other kind?) who’s kidnapped on the very night of the premiere of a movie where she gets kidnapped.  Nobody will believe it’s anything but a publicity stunt.  Comedy ensues.

Anyway.  Sadly, it’s already time for bed.  So I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: thieving photographer monkey!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s the Tiger 7 – a tugboat in one of the ports we visited in Hawaii.  It did pretty much everything except tug us.  They pretty much just floated around next to us as we pulled out of the port under our own power and then, right as we were leaving the channel and heading out to sea, they started spinning.  Really.  It was cool to watch, but I imagine the cruise line had to pay for that.  At least it provided some entertainment for us passengers.  Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone 4S-cam and part of my famous Machinery and Vacation series.

Lots of new stuff to report, as usual.  Let’s see if I can remember any of it.

LRN1 and I are working on our new company’s first product – a promotional app for our non-Loyal-Reader friend Cliff’s famous band!  We’re hoping to use this app as a springboard to marketing a semi-custom app to other bands, as well as event organizers.  We’ll include a gig/event calendar, band biographies, slide show, sample music, and video links.  So far, we have the calendar and music tech part working.  Still need to do the other parts and then prettify the app.  That latter part may be the hardest.  We’re doing our best and hope for a great result.  Oh, the plan is to release both iOS and Android versions.  We’re doing the iOS part first, since that’s what we know.

Our business plan is to be able to do matching iOS and Android apps for our clients, since that seems to be what people are looking for these days.  We really need to develop our Android expertise.  Also need to shake the rust off of our iOS chops.  That part is in full swing already.

Oh, yeah, the company name is Business Casual Software.  I hope nobody else is already using that name.  Haven’t been able to find anybody out there so far.  LRN5, our accountant and budding Android programmer, is working a fictitious name statement for us right now.  Other business arrangements to be made as necessary – particularly when we start actually charging somebody for something.

We’re continuing to have a very nice time with LRN1.  It’s great to have him back.  The three of us are going to Michigan this weekend for a quick trip that’s turned into something of a family reunion.  All my brothers and sisters will be in town, along with all of LRN16’s kids and their families.  We’re staying with LRN8 and my mom, which will be nice.  LRN23 will be there with us too, which ought to be fun.

I’m really loving my new [amazon asin=B0020CL9VK&text=Brother laser printer].  It’s a really cool printer with a color scanner, photocopier, and fax machine (yes, they still make those, although I have no idea why anybody uses a fax anymore).  The cool thing I’ve discovered about it, though, is that you can print from and scan to a memory stick.  You can also scan to email, but I haven’t quite figured out how to do that yet.  I’ve done a lot of scanning, though, and the memory stick setup works out really well.  You don’t have to have a bunch of awkward software on your computer.  Highly recommended.

Let’s see, what else?  Can’t think of anything.  It’s just life these days – kind of nice to have settled down to that.  So I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this combination toilet news and exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: poop fairy!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s the original Gilligan’s lagoon.  This is the one you see during the opening credits, not the one at Universal Studios in California.  I’ve seen that one too and it’s not nearly as nice as this one.  Trust me on that.  Great Art taken on shore leave in Kauai during our recent Hawaii Cruise and part of my famous Vacation series.

LRN1 is back!  Hallelujah!  We picked him up at the airport on Thursday evening as scheduled.  His flights were on time and comfortable and he was returned to us in excellent condition.  We’ve had a wonderful time together!  It’s fun to finally hear all about everything that happened during the past two years.  He was a great missionary and gave outstanding service.  I’m really proud of him.

The visit with LRN3 and LRN15 was great too.  What a fantastic weekend we had!  I’ve missed them since the moment they left.

Let’s see – what have we been doing?  Oh yeah, our stuff arrived on Monday.  We’ve been unpacking, putting away, and setting up.  Most of that has been done by LRN1 and LRN4, of course, since I spend a lot of time away from home.  I’ve done a bit of the setting up, though, not to mention a little hauling around as well.  Hauling around?  I asked you not to mention that!

The place really feels like home now.  I’m liking it.

My cordless drill died as soon as LRN1 tried using it yesterday.  I had just bought two brand new batteries for it and had even tested them (I think), but they wouldn’t charge at all.  The charger wouldn’t even try.  What’s up with that?  In a fit of pique, I sent LRN1 and LRN4 to Home Depot and had them buy a new cordless drill.  This one’s a tiny little [amazon asin=B0043XX87W&text=DeWalt drill] with a lithium-ion battery.  It seems plenty powerful and really cool.  I love it!  Highly recommended.  Now I need to start drilling a bunch of holes.

LRN1 helped me figure out last night why none of the Ethernet outlets in the apartment were working.  He made a simple, crude line tester with two short ethernet cables, a 9-volt battery, and a voltage meter.  We started testing lines wire-by-wire and discovered that several wires weren’t making a connection.  It was then that he discovered that the panel in the closet where all the wiring comes together had never been properly assembled.  He used my handy punchdown tool and everything works now!  It’s obvious that the Ethernet in this apartment has never worked.  Sheesh.  We should charge these people.

And now we have several of the devices in the apartment wired together!  For everything but the [amazon asin=B004KKTCWS&text=Ooma], we could have stuck with wireless, but the wires were there and the wired connection is probably a bit faster for stuff like video, so we’re wired up.  Pretty cool.

And it’s time for bed.  Lots happening.  We’re busy and happy and working hard.  I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: body-sniffing vulture!  What could possibly go wrong?

See you tomorrow.