I hate technology. So much promise negated by a simple button push…

Grrr.

We had probably 100 pictures (many taken by Miles) on our cellphone, and I decided to upload them to our photo gallery today. I’ve always used BitPIM to manage our LG phone, and I’ve never had any issues with it.

For some reason, I decided to try it on my Macbook (I had been using my PC), so I downloaded the latest version for Mac. There appears to be a difference between the it and the version I used on my PC: On the older PC version, it would “Add” stuff to the phone by default, while the new Mac version “Replaces” by default, and without warning.

Of course, that wouldn’t matter had I been more careful and not push “Put” instead of “Get.” It would have simply saved my bacon.

Instead, I lost all of our Christmas photos, and some really cute ones Miles took.

Oh, well. I hate technology.

This is really weird. For the first time in a very long time, I feel like I have nothing to do. It’s not that there isn’t anything I could do, but there is nothing I have to do right now. No grading, no planning, no writing. I’ll do some next week, but today is mine.I’m surprised that this server is still running. My building on campus is closed because they’re putting in a new air conditioning unit during the break. I was wondering if they were going to keep the power turned on, and it appears they have… so far.

Ben and (especially) Miles are getting very spoiled here at grandma’s house. It started the first night, but has grown steadily worse. Whenever Miles doesn’t get what he wants, or has to do something he doesn’t want to do (like go to bed), he’ll run away from Brooke or me, and hide behind his grandma.

In case you haven’t noticed, I put up an image gallery. The family photo album is password protected, but you can send me an email if you want it.

Brooke cut her hair… short. So I’m growing a beard.

Brooke’s family Christmas party was last night. I can handle the dinner, but I absolutely hate the program. Every family is supposed to provide something, so it’s more of a talent show. Ben and Brooke played the Russian Dance from the Nutcracker, and Ben’s part blew most of the people away. I was more impressed with how calm he was, looking at Brooke more than at the music or his hands, and rocking gently to the beat.

Brooke, once again, doesn’t believe that I’ve thought about Christmas, and I must not have gotten her anything. Is she right (for once) this year? We’ll have to wait for Christmas day to find out.

Every once in a while, a video game bucks the trend towards more realistic graphics. Instead of photorealistic characters and scenery, the designers flatten their worlds a bit and stylize everything. The success of this tactic depends on the consistency with which it is applied.

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Ben is playing through Portal, the new computer game I’ve been meaning to review. It’s puzzle-based, with only light robotic combat, so I consider it to be non-violent. It’s been fun to watch him figure things out more by trial and error than by thinking through each problem.

However, today he was trying to get through a level wherein the player must sneak past several sentry robots. The robots will say things like, “I see you,” and, “Where did you go?” in a high-pitched, cute-ish mechanical voice. Ben commented on how he thought it was funny that the robots were girls.

“Robots aren’t boys or girls,” I said.

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http://brownelearning.org/enworb/documents/New_Improved_Recipes.pdf

We’re in the process of hiring a couple of new professors, and sorting through the applications is no small task. One of the hiring-committee members sent out the following rant about anti-nepotism laws:

“Hiring was so much easier when you could just put your sister’s half-wit brother on the payroll.”

She later clarified that she meant “…sister’s half-wit husband…”

This actually started as a review of a new computer game, but I got carried away explaining how a 30+-year-old PhD with two kids came to buy a computer game. So, this is probably of no interest to you, and counts more as a personal journal entry than anything else.

Believe it or not, I swore off video games in 1998. Having just returned to North America, having not thought about gaming beyond my college roommates 1995 Super Nintendo, I was ready to buckle down on my studies and take life seriously.

Then my little brother got Red Alert: Command & Conquer. So I played until I left for school, again swearing off video games. Then my new roommate showed me Quake II. Grrr. Finally, all hope was lost when he returned to the apartment one evening with a fresh copy of Half-Life, published by a new upstart company.

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So there is a winter storm warning for the Northeast, which apparently includes us. Maine should get hammered with up to 2-feet of snow. We should get much less, but weather along the lakes is notoriously unpredictable. So, I took advantage of my job and worked 10-2 at the office before coming home before rush hour and the brunt of the storm.

Here’s how it’s started, we’ll see if it gets any worse.

UPDATE (5:50pm): Well, it really didn’t get much worse than this. Six, maybe eight inches was all. Enough to go play around in with the kids. At which time the following conversation was had:

Miles: Make ‘nother snobal peese.

Me: Ok. [Makes snowball. Hands it to Miles.] Who are you going to throw it at?

Miles: Dad. [Throws snowball in my face.]