An Uplifting Proposal

Last weekend I went camping with some friends. This was way out in a secluded area that required 4 wheel drive to get to. The canyon area we went to was rugged and dry. The seclusion was nice in that we could fill the canyon with music without disturbing anyone.

How does one fill a canyon with music? Well, it takes a number of very large speakers and a huge generator that is towed behind a truck. That is quite the determined effort.

My journey began earlier in the week when Barry, who has been a great friend for over 10 years, said that he was going to propose to Maja, that is was a secret, and that he would like me to be there. Of course I said yes!

The week was already busy. Tori was in a school play of "Little Shop Of Horrors." We saw that Wednesday. Thursday was my birthday. We went to see Cirque Du Sole with Barry, Maja, and Mike. Front row seats were awesome. And I quickly packed on Friday and met Barry to carpool to Eastern Washington. Which I was corrected by Paul at work that Wenachee is "Central Washington." He is from Spokane. I said that people on the west side of the Cascade consider everything on the east side Eastern Washington.

Saturday I was not awake for long when I kept looking up at the hillside and the top of the canyon wall. I glanced over at Maja and said I really want to climb that. She said, "I'll go with you." "Right now?" "Yes" So we grabbed some water changed into better shoes and pants and headed on up.

The journey was challenging steep slopes, loose dirt, and loose rocks. But the views were outstanding. As was the company. Though I was chuckling on the inside when she was talking about how much she liked Barry. Little did she know what Sunday morning would bring.

When we reached the top and rested a bit, I wanted to walk down something more gradual. As we followed the ridge line down into a gully, Maja was the first to spot large bones of a leg. Probably a dear or cow. We walked onward she remarked at what a startling find that was. A few steps later she stopped dead in her tracks. When I caught up, I saw it too. It was a dear skull, antlers, and spine laid out straight and bleach white and bone dry.

Yeah, that was amazing to see. We decided that the skull and antlers would make an excellent addition to the camp. Walking the rest of the way down was now a little bit trickier. As we approached camp Maja held the antlers over her head. It was indeed a fabulous find.

Later that day we took another hike down into the canyon further. Barry lead us to a spot where the rushing water had carved a large bowl into the rock. Walking back we found a shorter path to the road. There we met a cowboy names Ron who was on an ATV. We managed to fit 7 of us on the ATV and got a ride all the way back to camp.

Early the next morning as the sun was rising we prepared for another journey up the canyon side. I was definitely more tired this time around and it felt like the canyon rim was much further up there.

I settled in on the edge of the cliff. Barry led Maja over to an adjacent area of the cliff. He walked away from her and returned with a dozen roses. A little while later I glanced over to see her looking down with her jaw dropped. And a little while after than Barry looked over and said we could all cheer now. Which we did.

Maja was a bit shocked and was glowing. As was Barry, who then removed a huge bottle of Champagne from his backpack. We enjoyed the tasty bubbles while Maja told us how she was amazed that we all knew and she hadn't heard a thing.

Barry and I have been through a lot together. Having done probably 500 skydives face-to-face our non-verbal communication is amazing. We have each grown so much and shared so many travels and experiences. It was an honor and pleasure to be there when he began this new part of his life.

Peace and Love to you both Barry and Maja

Campus Bike

I have been busy this first couple weeks back at Microsoft. Since starting have had several meetings a day to connect and reconnect with people and groups. In trying to get more dome in less time, I have been trying to reduce the time it takes to get to meetings between buildings.

I can walk briskly to most campus buildings within 20 minutes. If I ask for a shuttle, will wait about 10 minutes and ride for about 10 minutes. So, it still takes about 20 minutes. If I drive, I can spend 5 minutes to walk to my car, drive out of the garage, and across campus, 5 minutes to find a parking space, and 5 minutes to walk out of the garage into the other building.

Even with the hassles, driving is quite often faster than walking or shuttles, and is therefore still a popular choice for cross campus meetings.

Trying another avenue, I have purchased a cheap bike, helmet, and lock at Fred Meyer and rode it to my office to leave. Now I have a bike ready for immediate use to shuttle between buildings even if I drove to work.

I estimate that I can save 30 minutes for each cross campus meeting, or about 1 to 20 hours per week. This makes it easy to justify the cost of the bike. There are also health benefits and ecological benefits to riding over taking the shuttle. On really hot days and during heavy rain, walking is less viable. (Walking 20 minutes in the rain is very different than riding 5 minutes.)

I will post about this again when I have been using the bike for a while.

Hello Ladies!!!

I have started keeping bees this week. If you are interested in the journey you can follow the blog here http://millerbees.blogspot.com/.

Great Job Apple: AirPort Express

Apple recently delivered a new version of it's wireless adapter AirPort Express. This is a small device that plugs into a power outlet, and connect to a printer and audio speakers. This allows the printer to be used by any computer in the house without requiring an network wire running to it. It also allows any iTunes player to play through those speakers.

The printer is now located near next to the kitchen and a clock/radio audio input is plugged into the audio output of the AirPort Express. Now from a laptop iTunes player I choose to play through the kitchen speakers and it does.

I have another AirPort Express on order for the Theater room and may place one in the bedroom too. One nice feature is that I can select "multiple rooms" and have the audio playing through many rooms at once. This was super easy to use and setup only required plugging into the audio wire.

Bravo Apple, goodonya.

My wish list:

1. Same thing for video: remote display, so I can walk into a room and place video on a screen.
2. Allow me to play to the AirPort from my iPhone

Vacation Roadtrip

Tomorrow Rhonda, Tori and I begin a road to the Bay Area. We are staying in San Jose, and will visit Cupertino, Berkeley, Monterey, and San Francisco. Probably have beers with some peers at Lab126, and lunch with a Larry at the Googleplex.

Larry ran the company that Rhonda and I worked at when we built schedule and control software for ATM/SONET gear and video conference muxes. I gotta say at much fun as it was to control such large pieces of hardware, I kinda like making software for devices like the Kindle.

I do look forward to seeing Larry again, it's been 14 years I think. Tori does not remember too much from back then, being at the office and playing video games. Come to think of it I miss working daily with Rhonda too.

I look forward to meeting the fine folks at Lab126. Now if I could just find a way to join in on a yoga session at Apple's One Infinite Loop campus. (Hint hint, Steve in case you are reading this ;-)

MyLife 3.0 - Scene 4

I must say that when I read The Long Tail by Chris Anderson I was excited by the notion that there could be so much diversity in products and demand. The concept is that when merchandising moves away from the limits of store shelves to the infinite shelf-space of the internet and searching, an infinite number of product variations can exist and be sold.

This exercise of selling media from our bookshelves has been quite the validation of that. Each day, Tori receives orders for between 2 and 4 books. I am also excited to note that our books have condensed to the shelves in just one room. I estimate that we not have about 60 linear feet of books on shelves.

I am most curious to see if the pace continues until all the books are gone, or if it tapers off. And if it does taper, which books will remain?

Cooking by Kindlelight

I spent 5 days in Whistler Canada sharing a house with some friends. After skiing hard all day Saturday, I returned exhausted. After medicating my very sore muscles with some excellent Belgian beer Laura bought, I opened my Kindle to use the cookbook I bought. The recipes I had already bookmarked. The menu was avocado soup and lemon Dijon sole from "The Simpler the Better." I found cooking with the convenient and easy. I also liked being able to search on an ingredient and locating all the recipes that used that ingredient.

In the picture to the right I am holding the beer and the Kindle. In the background is Laura doing perhaps a Vulcan mind-meld to Mark. Laura was my ski buddy for the day, and I must say was very gracious in not laughing at me as I must have looked quite silly learning to ski backwards. (And since I have been asked, this means facing uphill while skiing downhill. Though if someone has a way to try skiing uphill, I am all ears!) (Photo taken by Geoff)

MyLife 3.0 - Scene 3

My daughter Tori (Victoria) is 16 and at a really interesting time of growth. I am using my need to get rid of books and videos as an opportunity to spark an entrepreneurial spirit in her. I showed her how to register as a seller on Amazon.com and list books. I have also been picking books, videos, and games out that I'd like to sell. The deal is that she lists the media for sale, receives the orders, takes them to the post office, and she keeps the money.

The first day she has listed 20 items and sold 5 and made $20 profit. Not a bad arrangement for either of us. Each day I spend a couple minutes picking out books I can part with. We are making good progress.

Power of Spoken Word

Not all audio books are the same. I am not speaking just about the literal content of the words, but also the richness of the delivery. I have listened to dozens of audio books and find a range in quality of presentation that is not yet documented in reviews.

Written text offer a few ways to emphasis content. Question and exclamation marks are most obvious; and bold, italic, and underline text convey certain emphasis. Spoken language offer a much greater range of expression. In linguistics, prosody if the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech.

When books are translated into audio, a narrator is chosen. When one of the authors is a great speaker and enthusiastic, the delivery of the content can be unlike any written text. At other times, another narrator is used and the delivery is still engaged and alive with inflection and energy.

Sometimes either the narrator is less skilled and the delivery is dry and monotone. Occasionally the narrator has a strong accent that can cause fatigue to the listen during the 4 to 12 hour reading.

I hope we will soon have a way to rank this aspect of audio books.

Digital Books: Some great wins and a subtle loss

Amazon Kindle came out last year, almost 4 years after the Sony Reader. Kindle is a better experience because it offer instant gratification. If I am talking to a friend about a book I have read, I can load it and show them the book instantly. If a friend is telling me about a book, I can look it up and buy it instantly and start reading.

When reading late at night and my eyes are tired, I can increase the font size and easily continue reading for some time longer. I have also used the larger font sizes when reading in a car to make the slightly bouncy text easier to read. Font size adjustment can be a big advantage for people who are having difficulty seeing the small text. I recommend buying one for aging parents who may be loosing their passion for reading.

What is the subtle loss I fear as we move to digital books? The other day I was riding the elevator to a lunch meeting. In the elevator with me was a man holding a copy of "Made to Stick," one of my favorite reads of last year. "That is a great book," I said. His eyes lit up and said, "You've read it?" During our conversation, Eddie told me that he was starting a business and was greatly impressed by the insights he gained from the book. I suggested another book, "Meatball Sundae", that discuses the differences between the ways old school businesses produced products then mass marketed, verses new school companies find a market then develop products for it.

The suble loss is that as we move to digital books, we might loose the ability to know what people are reading. Without book covers being visible, we cannot tell at a glance who is reading what. An age old ice breaker could be lost. How can this be preserved?

I chuckled as I pondered this. Registering for a book online one could recieve a temporary tattoo, or a pin to wear. But that seems more like an endorsement of the book rather than a simple statement that one is reading the book. I thought perhaps that book covers could be made availible for printing. The printed cover could be slipped into the ebook protective cover. Then I realized that the e-book readers already have a high-contrast screen that requires no power to maintain an image. So, two simple changes would improve this situation. First, the e-book reader would display the book cover when in sleep mode. Second, the protective cover for the reader would have a transparent front cover.

While I am excited about having a Kindle, actually I have bought 3 so far one for my parents, my wife, and myself. I am far more excited about the competition in this space that Kindle has sparked. The next couple years will show a many options and new features.

Kindle On Amazon

Made to Stick
On Amazon On Kindle On Audible

Meatball Sundae
On Amazon On Kindle On Audible

Is Medium OK?

One day I went to lunch with two coworkers. We got in line at a small sandwich place and Brian ordered his sandwich and a large soda. The server said, "Sorry, all we have is medium." motioning to the single soda cup taped to the top of the dispenser. "Will that be OK?" "Yes," Brian said.

Peter, who had been talking during the previous exchange, ordered his sandwich and a large soda. "We only have medium, is it OK?" "Yes, that is fine," said Peter.

Finally it was my turn to order. I had been wondering why, with no other sized cups taped to the soda dispenser, this particular cup was a medium. The same 12 ounce cup at other food places might easily be a small or a large. I ordered my sandwich, "And a soda." Keep it vague, I though, and leave cup be with its delusions of medium-ness. The server paused, "The only size we have is medium. Is medium OK?" I smiled, careful not to laugh, "Yes, medium will be fine."

There are times it seems like the world has a grand sense of humor if only we are lucky enough to notice and patient enough to listen.