Getting ready to move

We've known for a month now that we would be moving. And we have wasted no time getting things packed up. Even though "moving day" isn't until the end of February, we already have a great deal of the apartment packed up in boxes.

I have felt a little like I'm on a reverse treasure hunt. Instead of looking for hidden treasures, I'm discovering things I had forgotten we had or at least hadn't seen for a while, only to put it into a box or throw out. It's fun and painful at the same time.

There is a lot of stress involved in moving. Katie and I have been quite unlike our friends our age since we haven't moved at all since we got married. In fact she hasn't moved since more than two years before we got married because I moved into the apartment she was already in with roommates. And besides the fact we both loved the apartment, it was easier to kick the roommates out than find a new place.

I'm not saying this will be the only house we live in the rest of our lives, but I'm of course not ruling out the possibility. The house has four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Plenty of space for a family to grow into. And we know how (or at least know someone who knows how) to update the parts of the house that need it, like the kitchen. We are allowing a couple weeks between closing day and moving day to repair and paint, and other minor details. We will post more here about those projects later.

We've bought a house!

It has been a month since I last wrote. And a lot of things have happened recently.

We found (or actually our agent found) the perfect house. We had decided previously that we would wait until summer 2011 before we were serious about moving. But along came the perfect opportunity, and we happened to have all our ducks in a row already. It is a 4 bedroom 2 bath house. Full finished basement, about 2000 sq ft altogether. We close in February. More details to come.

DLNA is the future!

I've always been interested in following the latest trends in technology. I've watched Apple as they announced just about everything since 2006. And I actively read technology blogs and watch all the coverage of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas every year. One day I might actually go to it.

Many people believe that the future technology is having an internet connection in everything from cell phones and computers to TVs and refrigerators. While this may actually be true, I tend to believe that in the near future, WiFi will be available in all homes, schools, businesses, and public streets. Its often free WiFi in major places downtown, and of course on college campuses. And internet speeds are getting faster and less expensive. We can expect that trend to continue. And streaming media will be everywhere.

The up-and-coming technology that I hope catches on and becomes mainstream is called DLNA. It stands for Digital Living Network Alliance. Its a standard for moving movies, music, photos, and other media from device to device. It un-complicates network configuration and DRM issues. Basically you have a server device and a client device. The server device, usually a Network Attached Storage (NAS) or a PC on your network, is where the media is stored, and the client device could be a cell phone, TV, another computer, etc.

Sony just announced a new toy coming out this year. Its a series of network-enabled speakers. They are DLNA certified. It makes it easy to take your music from your DLNA compliant Blu Ray player and play it in another room using the same home network your computers use. They call it Home Share Audio. There is one that doubles as an iPod dock so you can play the music from it anywhere in your house you want it. And there is also a function called Party mode that puts the same music on every speaker in the house. Or you can choose to have different music playing in every room. There is also a handy app that runs on Android devices or iPhones and iPod touch or iPad to control the whole system, including volume levels, playlists, and song selection. All pretty cool stuff.

Most households these days have multiple computers where the media is stored. And in the past if you wanted to play something in more than one place you had to copy the media to a second or third place to play it. But with DLNA there is no more need to burn CDs or have three copies of the same song on computers in your network. Just put them all in one place and stream it where you want it. The solution that I think makes the most sense is a network drive or NAS. That way you don't have to have a computer "always on" to stream whenever you want. I don't have a NAS yet, but in the future I will. And I'll get one that is DLNA compliant. It would also be nice if it was an iTunes server since that's what I use to organize my music.

Photos are also DLNA shareable media. I've taken thousands of pictures that are stored on one computer. I've made backup disks of them all, but there is no easy way to show a large group of people vacation photos or whatever all at the same time. It would be awesome to tap into the media server where the photos are stored and show them on a TV through a set-top box or game console like PS3 or XBox. Or even on a DLNA compliant TV set. Some newer TVs have an SD card slot too, which is nice. But it's not the best solution for me since I delete the SD card after I transfer the pictures over to my computer.

A technology that Apple announced last year in conjunction with the new Apple TV is called AirPlay. Steve Jobs claimed it to be a new and magical technology. But it's just a copy of DLNA, except with Apple's proprietary DRM that allows it to use iTunes playlists. Although I love Apple, I think it would have just been easier to adopt DLNA in the Apple TV instead of making third-party systems reprogram streaming capabilities to use AirPlay. Sure, it's a good business move to hop on the Apple money stream and get your devices working with AirPlay. But it would have made more sense for Apple to change its own technology to be already compatible with everything else.

The beauty of DLNA is that you can have devices made by Sony, or by Denon, or Samsung, multiple kinds of cell phones, and they can all speak to each other without any additional configuration or setups or workarounds. To take a page from Apple, DLNA "just works."  And that is why I believe it is the future. People already spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars on their home theater. Why buy more new devices by all the same brand just so they can be compatible. Its makes more sense to update the firmware on existing TVs, Blu Ray player, AV receivers, etc. to be DLNA compliant. Of course some devices have hardware limitations, but you probably knew that you couldn't play Blu Rays on your DVD player, or VCR. Then it makes perfect sense to get a new device that does the latest technology.

Another advantage to a DLNA compliant home network system is one remote to control it all. No having a basket or table full of ten remotes you have to switch to do different things, Just use your iPhone or iPad. Simple.

Ready for Christmas?

It's December. The middle of December. Less than two weeks from Christmas.

I guess we're ready. The tree is up. The decorations are all in place. Most the gifts are wrapped. All the Christmas shopping is done.

Just a couple little things left.

And one big thing...

On Katie's side of the family, we have a Christmas tradition that I really like. At the beginning of the year, not too long after Christmas is over, we draw names for the upcoming Christmas, and then we spend all year making gifts, instead of buying something. Katie and I have her brother and dad.

We thought about it for a few months, and then came up with a combined present for both of them. We are converting their VHS collection into digital. It was back in May or June that we started. But I didn't like how it was coming along so I re-did everything over again in July. Little by little the project is nearing completion. But there is still a lot to get done. It will still be an AWESOME gift if it's not 100% done when we exchange gifts, but I would like to have it as close as possible.

We knew the collection would be too huge to do it all, so we're focusing mainly on the VHS in the library that are not also on DVD. A lot are recorded off television, and some have quality issues, and it is a lot harder to process them than I thought it would be. But I'm sticking to it. And if there is some left to do after Christmas, I'll keep going until completely done.

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School Day

Today I came home from work before 4pm, which is very unusual. I came home and sat down on the couch to take my shoes off. I noticed a magazine on the end table. I picked it up. Leaned back on the couch while starting to thumb through the pages. Before I knew it I was sound a sleep.

An hour later the phone rang and I was shocked that I had fallen asleep. I couldn't wake up enough to answer the phone. I rubbed my eyes and looked around the room. I was in shock! I couldn't believe that I had actually had a nap in the middle of the afternoon on a school day. I never get that chance! It was amazing. I woke up energized and happy. I was thrilled that I had finally had a day that I could stop and slow down and relax for a minute. I just wish I had decided to take a nap on purpose. I wish that I had enough in me to stop and slow down to take a minute to relax more often.

If any of you know me or my family, we don't know how to relax. It's not that we don't want to. We just simply don't know how! Braden has tried to teach me the art of relaxing. I am really good at doing it when he is around to relax with me, but I have yet to learn how to stop and relax on my own.

Hopefully one day I will learn. Probably not, but maybe. I will keep trying. In the meantime I will keep being grateful of those quiet afternoons when I leave school, come home and fall fast asleep. I will continue to be grateful that I have such a full life that keeps me busy and happy, but cherish the moments that I get to relax.

I am greatful for my nap. Its the one thing that might keep me going strong for the rest of the week.

(P.S. Lets just hope I can still fall asleep tonight!)

Twitter

Twitter is so appealing to me. I love the fact that on twitter you can only write 140 characters. That isn't much. This post would be over by now if I only wrote 140 characters. I like that factor. Short and sweet. I like the fact that I can write a quick message telling how I am or something crazy that I saw and leave it at that. Enough said. Concise. I like the beginning so close to the end. But something is wrong. I feel incomplete.

A blog is different. Sometimes overwhelming, but very rewarding. It can be hard to start, then even harder to stop. I sit and I wonder. I wonder: Will the readers like it? Will the readers read it? The answer is yes. YES! If I will write it the readers will read it. The question is then: Can I write it?

Can I write what my ideas are? My goals, my secrets, my hidden talents? Can I express the feelings inside of hope, of sadness, of gladness? The gratitude, the discoveries, even summaries life that are boring and dull? Yes. I can. It only takes but a minute, maybe more. It clears my mind. It helps me reflect and think of what is happening. It helps me to see the things that I lack. I will write it. I can write. In the end, I feel more accomplished, like I am the one writing my life. Each letter I write the lighter I feel.  Blogging can be daunting but even more rewarding.

This blog is no twitter, I am thankful for that. It gives me a blank canvas with no end predetermined.

 Just like life, I am free to write it.