Self Destructive Tendencies?

Last night I was talking with my boys about their days. My oldest told me the best part of his day was the media center, where they learned a little about the Dewey Decimal system and then were allowed to check out books. Funny how he says he hates reading but the Media Center is his favorite part of the school day. My youngest said Art was the best part of his day. It usually is. Sam the fish said "learning centers" were his high point. I wasn't sure what that meant so I probed deeper. I asked him what a learning center was. He told me that was where a group of people went to play and learn, like a certain area, the "blocks" area or the "coloring" area, for example.
I asked Sam if he went to each Learning Center with the same kids, or if he got to work/play with other kids each day. He said "Well, only if its 'self-destructive' learning time, then we can go wherever we want."
Self-instructed. I knew what he meant.

Halloween 2005

WE made it through yet another Holiday. (Or if you speak of it in school, a fall festival). Sam was the only Bee in the parade at his school, and Caleb donned the alligator suit that each of his brothers had once worn. Lucas was going to go as a football player, but since he IS a football player, it hardly seemed like a costume. Last minute we decided to change him to a Navy Seal. I printed out a Navy Special Warfare patch and Seal Trident off the web and taped them to a pair of my old DCU's. The highlight of the night was not all the candy, or the ringing of doorbells in our old neighborhood. It was Caleb shedding some light on what he thought of our parenting skills. Caleb is 4, almost 5, yet he is wise and shrewd well beyond his years. (See Calebisms, 4/05)
We were sitting at the dinner table with the three squirrelly boys, trying to keep them calm through the meal so we could get to the sugar buzz that was to come later. All three are at the same time going though that phase where it takes ever increasing threats of parental action to change their behavior - but therein lies the enlightening moment - a threat is merely a threat until it is followed through. The threat of punishment is not punishment and therefore useless; here's why:
Caleb was not listening, he was being loud and unruly. The threat was already out there.
"If I have to talk to you one more time, you will skip the first house that we go to and you won't get any candy till the second house." Caleb continued the same behaviors that initiated the threat.
"That's it Caleb, you just lost the first house, you are going to wait by me when your brothers got get candy from the first house."
Caleb calmed, looked his mom right in the eyes and said "Mom, you're not going to remember that."
I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. This impetious four year old just called his mom's bluff, despite the fact that it wasn't even a bluff! She's the mom! She's always got pocket aces, she can do whatever she wants - SHE'S THE MOM, THAT'S WHY.


We forgot. Just like Caleb said. He was at the first house with his brothers and the rest of the crew. WE didn't remember until about the 10th house, and by then it was too late.

(This post is dedicated to grandparents everywhere who probably think its real funny when their grandkids pull the same crap their kids did growing up.)

Temporary Blog Switch

While I am here at MAX, I will be blogging here http://cambriadudes.blogspot.com/ - fun filled days mean I am pretty focused on the conference, so I probably won't post here at Dixbert.com again this week. Come check out whats going on in Anaheim, besides the A's being knocked out by the Sox.

Next Audio Book

I finished the Tim Russert audio book, by the way. Started on this one. I would recommend it as well. Chris Reeve reads it himself - so the message is even more powerful.



Nothing Is Impossible: Reflections on a New Life

First Production Web Service

Sometimes a web application developer learns a new skill, but can't find a decent application to use it in. I learned about publishing web services some time ago, but never had an outlet to use the technique.
Today I am launching my first production web service. If you go to my company's site at www.cambriaUSA.com, you can enter your zip code from the consumer web page and get a list of retail outlets that carry Cambria Surfaces. You can only do this from our site though. Now with the web service I created, anybody can do it from any site, provided they know how. (They would find out how from me of course.)

Example: This link takes you to an example, it is on one of our web servers, but a completely different web server than the one that our main web site is on. The few lines of code on this page could be copied to almost any site, and the result would be the same. The table that you see is just a dump of the data, there is no formatting or HTML - displaying the data is up to the consumer of the service.

I think its cool, other developers will think it is cool. You might not. Thought I'd share it anyway. Its one of those things that makes my job fun. :)