An encyclopedia of my life. Covers, work, home, technology, hockey, and any other interests I may want to share. Enjoy my interpretation of the world, or not.
Today we got up and got bagels (and some scones from the farmers market near austin) and walked with Teagan to a park off askan that is very grassy. We sat out on a blanket and ate breakfast. Teagan was tired so she didn’t play very much but it was a gorgeous day out so we were glad to be outside and relaxing. We grabbed coffe at the french bakery off of Austin st and went home to hang out for the rest of the day.
It was good to get outside and then have the day to play with Teagan.
I knew this day was coming but was delusional that i could put it off indefinitely Teagan’s play area has grown and displaced my office area. Today MC and I moved her desk into our bedroom out of our Foyer. We then moved my computer desk into the Foyer so there is more room in the dining room / office / Teagan’s play area. It is great that Teagan has more play area, and with MC’s desk in the bedroom I even have somewhere i can work from home when i need to and not have Teagan distracting me. On the down side I don’t know how cool it will be in the Foyer durring the summer. I hope its not too hot but we may need to get a fan to circulate air better.
The hardest part of the moving stuff was cleaning the dust we saw when moving one carpet. Everything fit pretty well in their new locations. I now just have to remember to walk to they Foyer when I want to goto my computer. I keep walking to the play area and are disappointed when I realize my computer isn’t there.
The next reconfigurations we need to make is move the step cabinet we have out of the play area before Teagan can craw. The last thing we need is a piece of furniture that screams climb me to a kid that just learned to move around.
Today we decided to take a trip to Forest Park. We wanted to goto the carousel and check out the park. After debating the best way to get there (walking or public transit) we ended up taking the bus since the trip was just too far to walk with a 7 month old.
The bus trip was uneventful but we had trouble finding an entrance to the park. We found a horse trail entrance but we couldn’t take the stroller down it. There was a nice playground next to the trail that we went to and sat on the grass and played with Teagan. She also got to go on the swings. We then asked and got directions to were the carousel was but as we were walking there we realized it was way too far away to walk and it was taking us ever further from home and the bus. At that point we called it quits and headed back towards Austin St. We were going to find a lunch spot to hit up but when we got back we realized we were just in time to take Teagan to Gymboree so we went to a class. Teagan had a blast even though I only got fuzzy photos of it.
After all that excitement Teagan had a 2+ hour nap not at her regular time. She was wiped out. It was a great day!
I am very concerned about Amazon’s recent switch to Smartpost for some orders. I have been a huge fan and customer for years and a Prime customer for many of those. Recently I have noticed Amazon’s switch to Smartpost for some orders. I was concerned because i have heard horror stories about Smartpost but didnt have any issues. Now that has changed and my first delivery was missed purely because of Smartpost. I wrote an email to Amazon. In the event that they don’t read or reply to customer mail and before I forgot I wanted to paste the text of my mail into this post in the hopes that someone from Amazon may find it. I get trying to cut costs, but Smartpost is just bad. My example below is only the first example i have had with Amazon, but not the first i know of personally or professionally.
My wife pointed out that this order was formula and other supplies for the baby. The whole reason we buy from Amazon is their price and the fact that we can rely delivery dates. Yes we can goto the store nearby in a pinch if a delivery doesn’t happen but at that point why should I be ordering from Amazon at all for that stuff?
Email message read:
I have used Amazon Prime for years. Very recently my family has started receiving packages via USPS Smartpost instead of directly from UPS for free prime shipping. Today i was supposed to receive the order listed however USPS was unable to deliver it since no one was home. Lets ignore the fact that someone was home and tried to buzz them for now. I got an email telling me in order to reschedule delivery i need to goto a website and fill out a form to ask for re-delivery. UPS or Fedex don’t require this. They just try 3 times. Also a more minor note that my building’s super accepts packages and i have never had a problem with other carriers until your switch to smart post. Your switch to Smartpost is a step in the wrong direction compared to Amazon’s typical stellar service.
Not to make threads since i am one customer but continued experiences like this will lead me to look at alternative vendors. I use Amazon for many things because of its ease of ordering and because I know I will get my stuff without question. Starting to have delivery problems will get myself and probably others to rethink your services no matter how cheap the shipping costs are.
Last week I got a new Jawbone UP. So far I have been very pleased with it. MC saw it and I was suprised that she was interested in one too. She wants to work out more and it seemed like a good tool to motivate her. After trying to see what colors I could get her I ended up back at the Apple store picking up another black band for her. Only difference between hers and mine is hers is a smaller size.
We now are “compeeting” with each other and seeing our results. I hope for both of us this gets us to be more active. If anything it makes me smile every time I see the cute picture MC took for her profile picture.
Last year when Jawbone announced the UP I thought it was a super cool idea and I got one. I wore it every day for a month or so until it broke. My UP was one of the many defective units that ended up being recalled by Jawbone. Jawbone was very cool and I got all my money back so there was no hard feelings.
I still thought the idea was great but the alternatives (Nike Fuelband or the Fitbit) didn’t apeal to me. The fitbit clips onto your clothes so i wasn’t a fan of the idea. The fuelband doesn’t track sleep and it needed charging often compaired to 10 days with the UP. The Fuelband is also big. I was pleasantly suprised when Jawbone reintroduced the UP (even thought they said they would I am always skeptical until it happens). I was in the Grand Central Station Apple Store getting a gift card for my Niece for the holidays and I saw the UP, so I got myself one.
I am excited to see how much it works. I like the ability to track sleep and activity still but they added better food tracking. I hope to write more about it once I use it a bit.
I am not a professional reviewer. I want to get that out there first thing. I have wrote about my opinions and comparisons of technology products in the past I am well aware that any number of people have written about this subject. I am writing about it because I continually try to be open minded and it has been very difficult to do so when comparing IOS to Android.
I can safely say that I’ve used regularly all of the major mobile operating systems in the past 10 years. I have owned many generation Treo’s with the Palm OS. I can’t even count the number of blackberries I’ve had. I have used three or four Symbian devices and loved my Nokia E60 for the 6 or 8 months I had it before I got my iPhone 3G. I have tried numerous Android devices, and even had a few windows mobile phones. I mention all that because I am not someone who just gets Apple stuff by default. I look like that but that is a credit to Apple for making great devices and software. I actually have only been buying Android devices because I didn’t want to be so reliant on Apple. My observations started between Android & iOS only because I wanted to see what was out there.
As a technology person on paper iOS has problems and Android looks promising. What I mean by that is if I read anywhere else that an operating system and an ecosystem was so restrictive as Apple’s was I probably wouldn’t try it. When you dig a little deeper that restrictiveness some of my Android friends like to complain about actually makes some sense. it provides for a more stable phone. It really does. I have seen it between my iPhone and several Android devices. I do not want to go back to the days were I reboot my phone every few hours like i did with my Treo 600. Lack of true multi-tasking on iOS is another item that when it was announced iOS would be that restrictive i was turned off by it. Now Apple has come up with interesting ways to let you think you have multitasking but still limiting it and thus reducing power usage. Restrictive yes, but in the end it probably helps the overall experience.
On the other hand that restrictiveness has a drawback. On my Galaxy Nexus I love the Locale app that changes settings based on my location and time of day. My ringer goes off at night except for some work numbers. My Google Voice # would change to point to my desk phone when I was at work and Skype when I was at home. Come on that is cool. Using that same example though, one of the best plugin’s for that app has a big note saying it is buggy and the developer does not suggest using it. Really? If it crashes the phone then block it. Apple would. I know its heavy handed but the idea here is to be transparent as possible but have the customers interests at heart.
There are plenty more examples. The last big one i would highlight is the fact that iOS is again restrictive on how the UI of apps look. Sounds bad on paper, its apple being restrictive again. Only problem is have you looked at Android apps? How about comparing them to iOS apps. Not just any iOS apps. Compare something to the same app on iOS. Apples restrictiveness gives the customer a consistent user experience. Androids openness give you an inconsistent experience. As a user i have been frustrated by this. Heck I still don’t know what some of the dam icons mean on my Nexus 7. Apple uses icons also but they just come across as more intuitive. Getting back to that app comparison. I have used many apps on both platforms. When I bought my first Android phone that is what i did. I went through making sure i could get the same experience on Android I had with iOS. For the most part i found the same apps for Android that i had on iOS or ones that did the same thing. Problem was they weren’t comparable. Sometimes in features, but mostly in general look and feel and polish. Some have improved over time but Apple still has better looking apps. Foursquare, Facebook, Lastpass, Yelp, to name a few of the ones that I have had issues with. The last aspect of user experience I would question is Exchange mail support. Its built in to both platforms now but have you used the email app on Android. Not the Gmail app because that is actually a great app. I do give them credit for that. I am talking about the regular email app. Or the calendar app. Using them on Android for my exchange mail was horrible. It is just plain ugly and clunky to use. iOS mail app may have its problems but it is intuitive and nice to look at. Even the 3rd party apps such as Touchdown were horrible looking and I stopped using them after their trial ended. That exchange limitation alone is a show stopper for me.
The theme I have seen with Android is that the apps work but they leave me wanting to go back to my iPhone or iPad. Thats the problem. I have gotten these devices wanting to be swept away and to sell my iOS stuff on eBay, but every time I get one I end up back with Apple. Android keeps getting better but its been 4 years and they still aren’t that close in my opinion.
By now its clear I am in the Apple camp, but I really don’t want to be. Given the opportunity I would switch. The 5 or more Android phones I have had since using iPhones are an indication I do want to try. Of course in the end I have a new iPhone 5 and an iPad Mini on order. With those purchases Apple has locked me in for another year or two. I will see how the landscape looks then, and maybe my own personal opinion may change.
On Sunday we went to the Doctor for Teagan. MC was concerned about some dry skin on her face. In the end Teagan is fine after some over the counter lotions, but while we were there the doctor confirmed that we have a red head on our hands! A few people have commented about her hair having a red tint to it. I haven’t seen it, but she doesn’t have much hair yet so we were waiting for it to come in more to be sure. The doctor took one look at her and was like yup, she will have red hair. Its a totally unimportant piece of information but I wanted to know. Turns out MC was a red head as a kid. How much red she had is open for debate. It was either much redder than Teagan or it was just a little bit. Either way as MC got older it got darker and she has brown hair now. We are not sure if Teagan will have the same thing happen. I kind of hope it doesn’t go away. It is distinctive being the rarest hair type, even though apparently people in Australia and the UK look down on people with red hair.
The doctor also thinks that she will have hazel eyes. He saw some brown and some blue when checking her out so his prediction is hazel. We will wait to see on if that turns out to be true. I am just hopeful she has good vision especially since I don’t. So far she is an alert and active baby and that’s whats important.
I do not hide the fact that I am a tech person, or that I love gadgets. If they have a usefull purpose and they are easy to use I am all for them. Tech for me was always easy. I found what I liked and just used it. When we found out we were having a baby I knew there were some tech items we would need, but I didn’t realize how much stuff we would have that would help.
The first thing I thought of when I thought stuff we needed was a video camera. My friend Jayson had one for his little ones and I thought it was the coolest thing to be able to see and even interact with them from your iPhone. When the time came to look I narrowed my search down to the Withings Baby Monitor and the Dropcam. Withings makes another device I have used and they seemed like their camera was pretty well built but it was $300. The Dropcam was half the price but it wasn’t designed specifically as a baby camera. We wanted 2 cameras anyway. One for the play area the baby would eventually play in and for her crip. I bought the cheaper camera first to try and if we didnt like it i would use it for the play area and then buy the other camera. In the end I love the Dropcam and we will be buying another one. As I write this post I have my Nexus 7 in a stand with the Dropcam app running on it. I leave the Nexus 7 by the side of my bed with the camera app running at night. MC switched from a blackberry to an Galaxy Nexus because Android devices could display the video. She also leavs her phone proped up at the side of her bed with the video on. When I am at work she props the phone up by the TV in our living room so she can see it on our couch. I have been leaving the camera site up on my computer at work so I can easliy switch over to see if Teagan is napping. We still use the audio monitor and leave the sound off since there is a few seconds delay. We do realize that we may be quick to react sometimes because we see Teagan moving on the video but not making much noise. We know now to stop and wait a bit before we go check on her but it is still a fantastic tool!
We also have the traditional baby monitor, but even thought it is a common house hold consumer electronic device it is still baby tech. I got a model that was the best customer reviewed on Amazon and the same day we got it my friend Jenn sent us one from our gift registry. Thanks Jenn, we use that thing all the time. The battery lasts all day, and we only plug it in at night when we goto sleep.
The video camera and baby monitor were both items we knew we would be buying. What I didn’t think we would ever need was a humidifier. It is very low tech, but it is still tech. We have steam heat and it gets pretty dry in the winter. Teagan was very nasal sounding almost from right when we brought her home. I have a video of her sounding like Darth Vadar. The doctor recommended a humidifier. Its a pain to clean often but it works.
Another item we didn’t think we would need was a temperature & humitity sensor. When we realized it was dry we wanted to know how bad it was and when we should run the humidifier. I bough a humidity sensor and MC put it in Teagan’s crib. We put another one on my desk were my computer is since that is near were we will setup Teagan’s play area. It tells us the humidity and temperature, and also says when humidity is high or low. We are not sure how accurate the readings are but it has been good so far. Consumer electronics have come a long way when a decent big LCD temperature sensor like what we got goes for less than $9. I can just imagine how much something like that would cost 20 years ago.
The last major item that we use daily that you wouldn’t really consider tech. My mom bought a Giraffe that plays music. It also will play sounds simulating a human heart beat. it is supposed to be soothing to the baby, and we find it great to use when putting her down for a nap. Its a stuffed animal but it is a consumer electronic device with a mini music player inside and buttons up its back for the different options. Not as high tech as the video camera but tech none the less, and we rely on it every time we put Teagan in her crip.
Other items we use are our phones to view the Dropcam, as well as my Nexus 7. I am finding I use the Nexus 7 more at home as a clock and dropcam viewer than I do taking it to work. That is due to other reasons i posted in late October, but because its around the house more I find myself using it for the baby more. When we sit down to eat dinner or watch a movie we prop it up and use it to keep taps on Teagan. When I feed Teagan in her room I will take it in and use it to play a sleep play list I made to calm her down.
It seems like a running theme for me in recent posts to point out that yes we dont need most of this tech, and things like the Dropcam weren’t really a viable option for kids as young as my 3 1/2 year old niece but they are pretty common today. Need or not, they all make caring for our newborn significantly simpler than it would have been. Raising a baby still isnt easy but it could be much much harder. I look forward to talking about more tech I get to use with or for Teagan as she gets older. I am personally waiting for the GPS tracker bracelet or neckless so i know when she is going or coming from school. i know that is a way off but she is only 6 1/2 weeks old. I have time.
Today was the first day back in the office since before Sandy. I got up early since i was concerned about the commute as well as the fact that I had an early meeting. The trip in to work was fine. I even got a seat for part of the way. The guys I work with in NJ didnt fare as well. Some had 3 hour commutes.
Before I headed home I went to get a hair cut. That delayed my leaving Manhattan till after 6pm. I am not sure if that was the reason why the subways were packed, but I had to wait a while for the train and then it was super crowded. The train also moved a lot slower than normal. Due to the storm projected to happen tomorrow I am going to work from home tomorrow. My mom is supposed to come over and watch the baby while MC has a doctor apt. If she can’t get fuel I want to make sure MC can still go. Add the storm to the mix and I think its the smart choice to work remote.
