August 23, 2010
The iPad Compass Mobile Stand from Twelve South arrived in the mail last week. It is a beautiful piece of hardware. Feels good when you pick it up. Solid. Has weight to it. The design is elegant. But to what end?
When I first bought the iPad, I had pre-ordered the keyboard dock and case from Apple. The keyboard dock is great in that the iPad locks firmly in place in portrait mode and the keyboard itself is solid. However, whenever I travel with my iPad solo, i.e. without my laptop, I want to travel as light and slim as possible, and the dock sticks out and does not fold up in any way. Functional, yes; portable, no.
The case I ended up using even less. I like how the iPad feels so have never wanted to have the case on 24/7 just for protection. So I ended up using it when I wanted the iPad to stand up in landscape mode. The main use ended up being when I wanted to watch a movie on an airplane and rest the iPad on the seat tray. No fault of the case, it works fine, but for me, I just didn’t use it very often.
Enter the Compass Mobile Stand. The stand allows me to put the iPad in portrait, landscape, and, critically, keyboard angle. The makers came up with a great design to accommodate the keyboard angle. And it works great. Someone on Twitter asked me if the prongs get in the way of typing. I actually had to stop and try it out, because I hadn’t noticed it while typing (which of course, was the answer, if I hadn’t noticed it, then the prongs weren’t getting in the way.) The grippers on the legs of the stand give it a solid feel, that is, it doesn’t feel like it is going to tip over. And, with a bluetooth keyboard, when I want a physical keyboard, I put the iPad on the stand, and use the physical keyboard. The Stand folds into a compact carrying bag so now when I travel I can take the iPad, the bluetooth keyboard and the stand in a tiny travel bag.
Anyone want to buy a keyboard dock and case?
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August 22, 2010
I was a big fan of Moonlighting back in the 80’s. I remember an episode, The Next Murder You Hear, where a radio host was talking about being in his mid-30’s and comparing himself to his parents. He said something to the effect “By the time my dad had turned 30, he had married my mom, had 3 kids, fought a war, and fled one country for another.” The hosts point was, what had HE done by the time he was thirty to mark his life as an adult and grown-up.
In the 90’s when Mad About You came on, I watched that show (though it was at it’s best in season one). There was a point in one episode where Paul Reiser talked about how when his dad was the age Paul was now, he knew things.
I haven’t asked my dad, but it’s a conversation I want to have some day soon. I always felt like he knew how to do everything. The question I want to ask is “did you? Or did you fake it? Or just try, fail, fix, and try again?” I look forward to that conversation.
By the time I was 30, I got married, had all three of my kids, had about five real jobs, lived in two houses. But I never fell like I was a real dad. I am the least handy person I know. Cars, homes, appliances, electricity, plumbing, you name it, I had to ask a friend or a relative, or hire someone to fix it.
Over the last couple years I have tried when time permitted, to get better at this. I try to think through the fact that it’s not that I can’t do these things. It’s more that I’m not naturally inclined towards these activities, so never observed others doing it, and don’t take the time to learn. That shift has allowed me to realize that if I set my mind to it there will be some, though certainly not all, of these fix-its that I may be able to accomplish. I remember reading The Road Less Traveled by Scott Peck. He tells a story of trying to fix brakes on his car. He forced himself to go very slow and pay attention. He still hired people to fix most things, but after this episode he realized it had more to do with making a choice between spending his time or his money on something, not that he couldn’t do it.
Today, the garbage disposal backed up and we had standing water in our sink. After an hour of letting Drano sit in the sink, water was still there. With the help of my son James, I gathered my tools, some rags, and a bucket and went under the sink. I sat and stared for a minute. I took out the pipe that I thought was the problem, emptied it of some gunk, put it back together. SUCCESS!
Sometimes it’s the little victories that make you feel like you are moving forward on the road to being a grown-up. Even at 40.
Links:
Moonlighting
Mad About You
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August 3, 2010
Some ideas on tomato blight and some links to find more information:
From a friend who grows several hundred tomato plants, on how to try and avoid tomato blight.
“Disease control, first of all know that we all get some early blight. Also know that you can only prevent or control it, but not cure it, regardless of whether you are organic or not. Nothing kills it.
Your first line of defense is good nutrition and proper watering. Unstressed plants can resist infection better.
Water only from the bottom (drip irrigate) unless you are foliar feeding, wet leaves promote disease.”
Pay attention to proper spacing. Don’t crowd your plants, the old fashioned indeterminate ones should have a good 4 square feet each. This always seems way too much when I first plant, but they over-run it soon enough
Mulch to minimize soil splash. Most blights are first transmitted as soil-borne fungus, and they primarily get onto the plant through splash when it rains or you sprinkle to water. (once the lesions bloom, the spores become air-borne and human-carried as well and can spread through the act of just brushing through the garden). Newspaper is an ideal mulch and breaks down over time, but not too pretty. Straw works well (don’t use hay, it usually has seed heads in it and you’ll wind up fighting with industrial size weeds) and what I do is apply a small layer of straw over the newspaper to pretty it up. You can use plastic mulches too, if you wish
Rotate your tomato crops to new areas of the garden to keep the fungus from building up.
Treat your tomatoes in a prophylactic manner before you get symptoms with organic, copper based fungicide. This really is key, it forms a barrier that keeps the spores from ever getting started. Follow the directions on the label, I think you apply it bi-weekly? and after rain for preventative purposes.(see http://www.johnnyseeds.com/c-312-disease-control.aspx)
If you see small dark spots on your tomato plants’ lower leaves, remove all damaged leaves immediately and dispose in the trash. Then, get a good copper fungicide solution or powder and apply to all of your tomatoes. They should be dripping wet or visibly covered with powder. Pay attention to the undersides as well. Re-apply weekly, and after rain. If you have any other related crops (peppers, eggplants, potatoes) they should be treated as well, as should your bean plants.
Late blight (think Irish Potato Famine) is way more serious. If it’s wet or humid and you see black spots with a delicate, white looking growth at the edges on the leaves, particularly on the undersides of the leaves, or if it’s dry the lesions appear crispy brown with a halo of gray-green, this could be trouble. To confirm, remove suspect leaves and put them in a closed container with a moist paper towel for the day, and check back to see if a delicate white sporulation is visible on the leaf at the edge of the lesion. On the plant, you’ll get brownish greasy looking lesions on stems or the cluster of leaves at the top of the stem. You’ll also get firm, greasy looking spots on the fruit itself. The only remedy is to remove the entire affected plant and all of its neighbouring plants immediately. It will spread, don’t doubt it, and you will not get usable fruit even if it looks OK now. You must be ruthless. Bag it directly (ie don’t carry it through the garden), seal and dispose of it in the trash. Don’t burn, don’t compost. Clean the tomato cages with boiling water and bleach before you re-use them next year
Blight spores (early and late) are unaffected by composting, so if you compost diseased plants, you’ll spread it around your garden with the compost.”
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July 30, 2010
Despite the demise of print, thought this was a great poster in defense of the written word.
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July 19, 2010
One of the items on our family to-do list this summer was to get the kids passports. Jenn put all the information together this weekend, had the kids fill out the applications, got all the information sorted by kids, the works. She’s great that way 
We hopped in the minivan this morning and headed over to the Chanhassen Service Center. Wow. This place can change the stereotype of government office buildings and the people that work there.
When we first walked in, we were barely 2 feet inside the door, when someone announced, “I can help you over here.” So often in past experiences, I’ve had to guess at who’s window was open, or clear my throat to get eye contact, not just at government offices but at my places (looking at you, airline counters.) Instead, this woman made it clear right away that we could come to her for help. And she was great, friendly and knowledgeable. We got all three kids’ passports taken care of in under 10 minutes.
The building itself is well done too. They had a TV in the area with clips from movies and trivia questions which kept the kids attention. They also have a drive-thru for certain transactions.
So, thanks Chanhassen Service Center, you guys are great!
Link: http://www.co.carver.mn.us/departments/prts/chan.asp
From their website:
Greeter station and NEW Customer Management System
Customer Seating & Children’s area
Drive-Thru Window for tabs!
ATM available
Fast Track Service Now Available on Titles and Drivers Licenses!
The Service Center handles Motor Vehicle transactions, Drivers License transactions, Passports, Passport Photos, DNR transactions, and Hunting & Fishing licenses.
Motor Vehicle transactions include tab renewal, title transfers and out-of-state registrations. DNR transactions include boat, snowmobile, ATV and off road vehicle registrations and transfers. Drivers License transactions include, renewals, change of address, change of name, and ID cards. Game & Fish transactions include all types of angling & hunting licenses.
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