Dear Hubby

Live Blogging Adventures: Big Data Week



In a week that includes my 7th grade virtual school student going to a very real-world testing location every day to take the Georgia CRCTs…AND my crazy mother packing up and moving from Georgia to Washington State…AND my 10th grade daughter conquering the world with power smashes and aced serves, playing high school varsity tennis as a sophomore — and winning! — in the state championship preliminaries…all this week…

It’s also BIG DATA WEEK:ATLANTA!!!
Hosted by Emcien Corp, a company with which I am intimately involved.
[Disclosure: My husband is a co-founder and the Chief Technology Officer of Emcien.]

This is a Very Big Deal, on a level that I, as a non-techie, could not have expected, in terms of international scope, big-corporate participation, the calendar of activities scheduled, and the number of people involved and so very, very enthusiastic about the Next New Thing in Technology: Big Data.

Big Data is everything, from the location & use of your cellphone, to online transactions, to what you put in your shopping cart at the grocery store, to healthcare, to your social media activities. It is mind-boggling, and in many ways downright creepy, how much information is out there, the extent of our individual & collective digital footprint, and how that information can be used.

So, in the midst of CRCTs, State high school tennis competition, and my crazy mom, counting down the days to high school graduation (exactly 30) and my oldest son’s departure to the Navy (OMG, exactly 60 days from today)…I am visiting the World of Big Data and live blogging my experiences as a non-techie writer in the techie world. Adventures indeed:

iPad Mom & Dad

I am blogging on an iPad, which is amazing.

Conveniently enough, Apple released the iPad very close to Dear Hubby’s birthday in March, so I pre-ordered for delivery on Magical Saturday, when the UPS trucks carried the specially-marked boxes to the masses, in many cases under armed escort, Brinks-truck-style. (It sure beat camping out in line at the Apple Store Friday night!)

So we have one — a big one (64 gig memory), which I insist on calling the MaxiPad, much to my husband’s chagrin. (They really should have thought of that during the name branding stage. I love the thing, but the name is unfortunate.). We are trying to come up with a new family moniker for it, since there is a name for everything in our household: The desktop iMac “Big Mac”; our GPS navigation system “Lois” (subtle reference therein, involving Malcolm in the Middle and 2001: A Space Odyssey). The current family truckster is the “Big Blue Deuce” — I don’t always fully understand or remember the references and antecedents myself, but I think that was a mash-up between a NASCAR homage (although we are not fans of Kurt Busch, the driver of the Miller Lite #2 Dodge) and the Robin Williams’ movie RV (the “big [green] turd”).

Anyway. We’re working on it.

Not only has It eased the transition to 44 for my Prince Charming, It has changed our family, technologically. Although we admittedly have plenty of — and perhaps more than enough — screen options in our home, the iPad is in constant demand, and it’s not just the novelty of a new gadget. DH and I constantly have to fight the kids for time on the new toy.

Hubby uses the iPad in the morning, to browse the news and weather from various sources. He has been transitioning, with the iPhone, from our old-school daily and weekend Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) to USA Today, which offers the best presentation and format — on the iPhone — of national news and also has a Motor Sports category (for the NASCAR news, of course).

USA Today has not made the best transition to the iPad (where the heck is the much-loved Motor Sports category?!) and there have been rumblings of moving to a paid subscription model, so we’ll see…

Strong contender for news on the iPad: NPR, which Mommy now prefers. And the AJC finally has an app, which is useful for a touch of local news. Just don’t expect much more than that, as our local rag seems to have fired most of their real journalists and editors to pay minimum wage interns to regurg(itate) AP News headlines, pretty much verbatim.

But I digress–

Mommy also likes the iPad as an interactive, easy-to-read, easy-to-wipe-clean source of recipes with pictures, which makes cooking easier and more fun, especially if I switch over to the ABC app in-between and use the iPad as a faux-TV in the kitchen to catch up on my shows. (Actually, who am I kidding? I don’t really watch much TV and the kids appreciate that ABC app way more than I do. Now if I could cue up GLEE while I’m in the kitchen (not the new GLEE app that I am supposed to sing with, the real show), that would be awesome.

For recipes, I like:
AllRecipes Dinner Spinner
Epicurious
and the Crock-Pot iPhone app

I am also addicted to an iPhone game that is way-better on the iPad: Word Warp (kind of like Boggle). Don’t even get me started. I love that game!

This is the point where I need to put the iPad down and go to “Mom’s Mac” to finish this article. While the iPad is very cool and blogging shorts on it is totally do-able, this piece just became a long and I need easier document navigation and formatting tools to review, edit and publish…

(This is not even what I should be working on at the moment, but there you go.)

Monday’s News on Twitter

Too much happened Monday to save for a weekly Twitter digest. It all started fairly normal and routine…

9:41 AM:
Monday: no camps this week (2@home) & 14yo son coming home from month away Weds! Planning 2 July (4th&18th) bdays & family vacation-beach?!

9:45 AM:
Dog grooming: rec from lady walking her dog at Piedmont Park this am (nice haircut!)(on dog): Canine Showcase@Ansley. Mutt cut, what we need

And then I got a phone call from hubby at work:

11:52 AM:
ATLANTA parking deck collapse at 5th & Spring…looking for news. Hubby is fine – that’s his building at Georgia Tech/Tech Square – ATDC.

12:40 PM:
Collapsed deck at 5th & Spring – middle section fell in. Rumor is car hit a support beam– twitter pic from hubby

1:28 PM:
ATLANTA – Best coverage so far of partial parking deck collapse at 5th & Spring w/pics:
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/19892813/detail.html
[The story has been updated, as of Tuesday PM, with subsequent developments. In the early stages, they had the best first pictures of the parking deck from the outside, which didn’t look like much, but you could see the pile-up of smashed cars sticking out of the bottom level.]

1:43 PM [unrelated, but of interest when I was searching news sources on Twitter!]:
ATLANTA – RT @11AliveNews Looking For Something To Do This Fourth of July Weekend? http://tinyurl.com/lkhy9z – See you at Centennial Park!

1:56 PM:
ATLANTA – 2pm: No injuries. Nice: “Employees from Cheetah are handing out water and fruit to emergency crews, according to witnesses.”
Previous tweet source: http://bit.ly/TbzHv
2:00 PM:
Ya’ll know the Cheetah is infamous strip joint-directly across from partially collapsed parking deck. Glad they’re taking care of the boys…

8:35 PM Jun 29th from Twitterrific in reply to mustangmelatl:
@mustangmelatl parking deck all closed up for days, with everybody’s cars still in it, crushed or not! Our office:1 crushed; 5 stuck; 3 walk

Quite an eventful day in the ATL! Fortunately, happy to see reports today: NO deaths or injuries, property damage only (and plenty of it). This is the parking deck attached by a walkway to (not underneath) my husband’s office building at 5th & Spring in Midtown Atlanta. He had just returned from an offsite meeting and literally moments before (I know: DRAMA, but true!), walked out of the parking deck before the section collapsed.

Our car was not smashed or trapped in the mess – he walks to/from work or I chauffeur him the two miles to the office, as we only have one car, the previously mentioned crappy 2006 Jeep Commander that we would trade for a Chevy Tahoe in a heartbeat – you know, IF we could find a new car dealer to actually sell a new car right now: Chevy? Toyota? Come to think about it, if our crappy Jeep had been smashed in the collapse…damnit!

It will be a mess down there for quite some time, as they remove cars and analyze what happened, hopefully to rebuild the parking deck – safer, stronger, better! Parking and traffic in Midtown Atlanta off the 10th Street Exit is now worse.than.ever.

Father’s Day: June 21, 2009

Father’s Day: Sunday, June 21, 2009 – are you ready?!

Check out 18 unique gifts for Father’s Day in The Rebel Housewife Stop & Shop.

The Rebel Housewife & Amazon.com make it easy to find gifts that dads really want…at great prices. You’ll find gift ideas for the Techie Dad, the Do-It-Yourself Dad, the Active Dad, the Hungry Dad, even the Remote-Holding Dad. There are hammocks to help Dad relax; tools to help him be The Grill King; and ideas for stocking his Man Cave (BeerTender, anyone?).

NASCAR Escape

We ESCAPED yesterday, Dear Hubby and I, for just a day, and it was…AWESOME! I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone, especially in these difficult times. Of course, it makes today kind of a downer in comparison, having to come back to Real Life, and a Monday, no less, but that’s okay — there’s me, trying to worry too far ahead again.

Yesterday, was the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway – yes, a NASCAR Race, can you believe it?! Maybe that makes us just a little redneck, after 15 years in Atlanta, especially since we didn’t think to take sunscreen and, quite literally, have necks that are burnt red and painful. Even so–

A wonderful friend stepped in to take care of the kids for the day (thank you, Nancy!), and another wonderful friend with NASCAR connections fixed us up with Garage Passes (thank you, Jerry!) and we went down to the track in Hampton, Georgia and had a terrific time – it was Magic.

We got to go into the garage area and see the cars, drivers and crew members as they prepared for the race — Joey Logano (Tony Stewart’s young 18-year-old replacement in the orange Home Depot #20 car) walked right next to me, with his entourage, and it was actually no big deal — I’m not one to chase after celebrities for autographs or get all screamy and weak-kneed (plus, they asked us not to), but it was pretty.freaking.COOL!

Now, if you’re not a NASCAR fan (and I’m still not sure how it happened to me, just last year), I understand. None of this will mean anything to you, but still:

We saw NASCAR drivers walking around: AJ Allmendinger, who supposedly was bringing “sexy back to NASCAR” (according to his wife), but not so much IMHO, of course; Juan Pablo Montoya, who in fact does (bring sexy!), in a Latin fiery-temper, larger-than-life kind of way; Robby Gordon, who is one of the very few driver/owners in NASCAR and nobody ever seems to talk to him in the interviews on TV (he was by himself, walking along, but we didn’t want to bother him, either, although I thought maybe I should say something encouraging); Carl Edwards, who is not one of my favorites, but he does a backflip off his car when he wins a race and he won a lot last year; Aric Almirola (hope I got that right) and David Reutimann.

We didn’t see any of our personal favorite drivers in the garage area, but we did see their cars, close enough to reach out and touch, in the garage pits and being pushed around the garage area by their crew members, from one NASCAR inspection area to the next and then out to the track. We visited and followed around Dear Hubby’s favorite: Jeff Gordon’s #24 Dupont Chevrolet.

I don’t have a single favorite, being fickle like that, but we saw all of my really like-a-lots: Elliott Sadler’s #19 Stanley Tools Dodge (Elliott is tall, southern & sweet like a big huggy bear on TV); Bobby Labonte’s #96 Ask.com Ford Fusion (he was my favorite to win yesterday, but he didn’t; he did take a big slide through center field at the beginning of the race in front of us, which was kind of cool, not in a good way); Michael Waltrip’s #55 NAPA Toyota Camry (he is big & goofy on TV, and kind of an underdog, as the owner of his own team that doesn’t win so much, but all his cars have had a great start this year); and Tony Stewart’s #14 Office Depot Chevrolet (he’s a bad boy – I just love him!).

We saw team owners that we recognized from TV and crew chiefs (our favorites: Chad Knauss and Bootie Barker, from their TV commentating); Wendy Venturini and John Roberts from the Speed Channel. We even saw our good friend, Peter on **** ******’s pit crew (name deleted to protect Peter!), who let us sneak over the chain and nonchalantly stay on pit row – inside the pit! – for the start of the race when we were there in October (everybody gets kicked out of the garages and off pit row about an hour before the start of the race, usually) — I never even had a chance to write about that experience, which was incredible! (We did not cozy up to Peter again this time, although we said hi, because we didn’t want to get him in trouble and we wanted to be back in our terrific seats out front in the stands for the start of the race this time.)

Kurt Busch, in the “Blue Deuce” (#2 Miller Lite Dodge) dominated the race and eventually won. I don’t remember too much else, since by the end I was sleepy, sun-soaked, RC Cola’d and sunburned, all too ready to come home and watch it again on TV, to see all the action and replays and hear the commentating. We had TrackScanners, which are headphones you can listen in to all of the driver radios and an overall race commentary, too. Mostly, they protect your ears from the incredible roar of the engines as the cars go by…again and again and again (I’m not even sure how many hundreds of laps yesterday – 400?). It is hard to follow the race itself there in the stands, but there is so much going on, with the cars going by and trying to not miss any crashes and drivers hitting the wall (not much of that yesterday); not to mention the people-watching, which would be the start of a whole ‘nother blog, and I am trying to keep these short!

Back to Real Life today: I need to walk the dog and get up to the nursing home to visit with Mom for an hour or so, get my To Do & Task List from her, now that she is feeling better, and then get kids from school…have to wait until Labor Day for my next full-day NASCAR getaway at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Until then, thank goodness for high-def TV!

Thanks again to our dear friends, Nancy S. and Jerry R., for childcare and connections, and to the NASCAR connection herself, another Sherri-with-an-i. Given our lives right now, you can’t imagine how much this meant to us. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

NASCAR Birthday – Believe It!

I know you all must be about sick of my Birthday and the 27th and all that, but I have to tell you something, because I know you will not believe this, especially you, Melinda: In the “octave” of my Birthday, as we say, I got the Big Gift, or official notice of it, today–

For my 41st Birthday,
I’m going to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, ya’ll!!

WOO HOO!! NO, I can’t even believe it myself, and YES, I actually ASKED to NASCAR for my Birthday, since the race this weekend is in Atlanta, a little more or less than an hour away, and it is on Sunday, October 26th, the day before my Birthday — how cool is that?!

If you need help catching up with the whole West Coast Girl-excited-about-the-NASCAR-thing, read this: CONFESSION: OUT OF THE NASCAR CLOSET.

Now my question is: What do you take to a NASCAR Sprint Cup Race? How do you prepare?

Another confession: We are in the Suite Seats at AMS, because, well, it is my Birthday, and while I do love the NASCAR, I was not quite ready to sit in the midst of the hairy, often-semi-naked and drunken, overly-excited crush of humanity on the metal bleacher seats in the stands. Maybe someday, but probably not. It’s a crowd thing. And, besides, we get to go down to the Pits and the Garages and stuff before the race starts, and they are going to feed us and get us liquored up and everything! A very “Suite” deal for my 41st Birthday — topped only by that box of spooky books (another Birthday suprise!) I received from Hachette (Thanks, Valerie!).

So I am off to the NASCAR race — advice? suggestions? warnings?
Melinda, see you there?!

Happily Ever After – Twenty Years

Today marks TWENTY YEARS as an old married couple, for me and hubby. Yes, we started off very, very young: I was just 20 and he was 22. It doesn’t even seem like that could be possible, then or now — we’re still way too young to be married that long, unruly silver hair (mine) and the accumulation of love and good food (about 20lbs for both of us) notwithstanding.

I have been married now for as long as I was not.

In the beginning, I was the Other Woman (at 20, remember) and he was the Wrong Man — according to my mother, anyway. I liked the motorcycle and his ‘bohemian’ lifestyle (living on ramen and mac & cheese in his buddies’ laundry porch — one guy lived on the pool table). We quickly disentangled ourselves from other relationships in the face of Destiny and enjoyed our very own Summer of Love after my high school graduation in 1985. I was very young, at 17, and it took me a year to settle down and commit to monogamy long-term, with enough first-year-college experience and variety to know he was The One. I never expected it so early, but I just knew.

We met in 1981, the first day in my first class of high school: Horticulture. He was a sophomore. We were friends from the start, but never dated — fortunately, we avoided the cliche of high school sweethearts (not that there is anything wrong with that, of course).

We married on August 6, 1988, in a garden courtyard on a threatening-to-be-rainy day at our beloved Manor Farm Inn in Poulsbo, Washington, and the Adventure(s) began…

Twenty years later, it still seems so new, to my constant amazement. We still love each other, more every day, and we still like each other, too. I keep thinking, twenty years into this, I should have some wisdom, the benefit of happily-ever-after experience, advice to share; besides, you know, marry young and basically Imprint on each other. People ask us the secret to a long and happy relationship?

For one thing, we have a strong role model of a successful, happy, passionate marriage in his parents, the ‘evil in-laws,’ (they call themselves that — yes, it’s a joke) who are still happy in love, sailing (I should say RV’ing) towards 50 years, and they seem so young. We have the counter-balance, anti-model in my parents, who divorced after a tempestuous few years together when I was just four years old. Raised by my hard-working, single mother, I never knew what to expect in a marriage, so it has been a continuing pleasant surprise all these years later, after I finally figured out he really wasn’t going to leave — that took six years, before we had our first child in 1995.

Of course, it’s not all roses and candle-light. We have our bad moments/days and stupid mistakes. There are times, especially after three kids, when it seems as if we are just living, making a living, getting by day-to-day, and it’s sometimes not very exciting; occasional bad days when the best you can do is get to bed early and start over the next day, a new day, fresh. It has only been recently that we learned to appreciate NOW, the present moment, instead of living constantly in the future. If it’s a not-so-great Now, we believe in the grand scheme of things, the fairy tale and This Too Shall Pass. There are many, many more good days than bad, especially when you are playing as a team.

I guess I do have a couple of practical tips to offer, after twenty years of happily-ever-after:

  1. Love each other first.
  2. Value and protect time together, whatever it takes.
  3. Grow together, not apart. (Recall the whole NASCAR adventure recently, which I tried to embrace for his sake — and I’ve come around to it, too. Something new and exciting we can figure out and enjoy together, even if it means dirt camping in a tent outside of Talladega, Alabama…which brings me to my final point:)
  4. ADVENTURE!!!

Hubby and I both had cause to review the timeline of our first twenty years before the Anniversary. As a surprise, he had a book made, of photos and our “story” — it is beautiful, and made me cry, and it is the best gift I have ever received. I didn’t understand, until he gave me the book, why he was being so gushy and nostalgic on me, all of a sudden, but then I quickly got all gushy and nostalgic, too.

Looking through it all, twenty years of our life together, the theme of our marriage became very obvious. As hubby said, in his book: “Willing to set out on adventure at the drop of a hat is one of your best qualities.” I’m only that way because he is, too. As we look back over twenty years, we can identify, and re-live, no less than 20 Great Adventures, some just a week long (trips to Europe, the Caribbean, and cruises), some adventures extend many years (having children, moving across country, starting new companies and business ventures, launching The Rebel Housewife).

For us, it’s all about Adventures and the appreciation of Magical Moments; to create a life where there are many of each. It keeps us together, always wondering (in a good way): What’s next?