Daley Ponderings

Make Sure to Update Your Software

jondaley — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:24:35 -0400

I like knowing when my software updates, but I do like the software to automatically check, and I generally update as soon as possible. For this specific example, my answer would be to disable javascript, and avoid the entire exploit altogether.

ZScalar: PDF Exploits

Notes Catchup Part II, the Whirlwind

joyful — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 11:02:28 -0400

Last catchup ended on the weekend of the fire company banquet. That weekend was also the beginning of the new adventure. Two different people called up to ask about looking to buy our house. No, not the one we're fixing up to sell. The one we're living in. Well, ok, I guess you can come see it, but we're not really thinking of moving. That weekend, Jon is also showing the rental house to someone who might buy it before we finish fixing it up. Jon ramps up looking online at houses in Hillsboro.

3/12 - Noah and Faith are supposed to be doing chores. Faith says her hair is getting in the way. So Noah cuts it for her. They are both very happy with the results. I try to remain serious while explaining why this was not a good idea, but have a hard time not laughing. I think I succeeded. For a five year old, Noah really did a good job. We did go to a place to get the back straightened out a bit. And maybe next time I'll try it myself and save the money (not too much doubt on my part that there will be a next time for somebody.) It is very cute, anyway.

3/15 - Joy right bottom next tooth poked through.

Also in my notes, I've been keeping a record of rainbows on the floor. I'm fascinated by the effect the changes in the sun's seasonal position makes to the success of our prisms. Winter is the time for rainbows. I had wondered if they'd be completely gone with the first day of spring, but two days ago and this morning, we did see some small, faint ones.

3/17 - A nice young couple comes to look at our house. The husband reminds me of Jon. His parents live just down the road. He grew up playing with the boy across the street. He was happy to see our house up on zillow because he always wanted to move back and be near his parents. The parents came to look, too.

3/17 - Joy is now signing more and bye. Her more is the typical "baby talk" that looks more like clapping.

3/18 - Faith, speaking of ranch dressing, "But it's no good with salad on it..."

Jon finds a house in Hillsboro that looks good at a good price. We make an appointment for Wednesday (3/21) for Jon's parents and their contrector friend, Rusty, to see it. On Tuesday, we go ahead and buy a plane ticket for me to go to Hillsboro to look at the house. (Southwest is flexible with changing things.) Wednesday, they go and take lots of pictures and give it the go ahead. All of us in Pittsburgh like the pictures. Thursday, Joy and I fly out to New Hampshire. Friday morning, there's lots of time to pray and go over my notes. In the afternoon, I see the house and Rusty comes, too. I like what I see, and give the go ahead to put in the offer. This is happening pretty fast, lots of emotions running around. But I'm not panicky, because we've thought about it for years. So I'm ready to move if this is now the time. I have a good time in Hillsboro, peaceful and thinking more and more of the advantages of being there. Joy and I fly home Saturday morning.

Because the house is a foreclosure, we don't expect to hear back about our offer for five business days. Those days are filled with nostalgia about Pittsburgh and excitement about what God seems like he's doing in our lives. The Carroll St potential buyer makes an offer that is too low. We think we can get significantly more after finishing the renovations. The Denny Rd buyers make an offer that is too low; Jon works on negotiations.

3/26 - Faith has six cavities and gets four filled. She does a great job. Causes? Maybe nursing while sleeping, maybe no flouride for her first 2 1/2 years, maybe the shape of her teeth, probably a combination.

3/27 - I take the kids to the zoo. I realize that I shouldn't buy a membership as I had planned, not yet. I get all nostalgic about the zoo. We see the newborn gorilla. A peahen eats Joy's cookie. The kids make elongated cent souvenirs. Jonathan soaks himself in the sting ray tank.

3/27 - We show Denny Rd to another nice young couple.

3/29 - The news is in. The Hillsboro house has been sold to someone else. That is very hard news to hear. What was the point of going? What is God doing? Is it God we're followin after all? What is going on? These are the questions I struggled with. I sent an email out requesting prayer and got very encouraging replies. Jon and I had a good talk the next morning also. God is still in control and he still loves us. He has something better for us, He has a plan. Keep trusting. Now I no longer think my trip out was a waste. There are still good things that came out of it, even if we don't get that house.

3/30 - The first nice young couple makes an offer that we like, and they're flexible on move-in date. Ok, now we're selling our house and we don't have one to go to. This sure is an adventure!

3/31 - Joy gets her first molar. Upper right. Others are working their way in also.

So now we're eating up our freezer and pantry food. Starting to pack things up and get ready to pack things up. I can almost not really believe that we're leaving. It's really rather surreal at this point. Some of our friends have already cried. I've already cried. But it's not over yet! I look forward to seeing what crazy plan God has (still reserving the right to cry more, though, even in the looking forward.)

Notes Catchup Part I

joyful — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 10:35:58 -0400

2/6 - Joy went down a whole flight of stairs successfully. She slides down forwards on her bottom. Faith was with her this time. By now, she's an old pro at stairs.

I bought some mini hair clips for Faith. They are the normal clear, brown, black, swirly brown that hair clips often are. But as soon as Faith saw the swirly brown ones, she said, "Cool! Camo hair clips!" Then she does that macho guy stance that the boys do when they're being or doing something heroic. (:

2/21 - Faith said her whole name with all the correct sounds.

2/22 - Joy tried going down the basement stairs by herself and fell off the side onto Jonathan's science desk. She scraped her face up but nothing worse. Now we are extra vigilant about keeping the door at the top of the stairs shut. She's a pro at going up and down as long as there are walls/railings on the sides. The basement stairs still need supervision.

2/23 - Faith, counting down to blastoff, "10...9...8...3...2...1!"

2/23 - Joy's first birthday! My presents to her were an extra long bath and extra outside time.

2/25 - 3/2: Vacation in San Diego (or Sandy Aygo) with the Daleys. Lots of fun and adventure and cousin time. I discovered that Joy loves walking. She walked to the "scary bridge" and back all on her own (except for crossing the streets and the bridge). Yay for sidewalks!

3/3 - Jonathan and Noah walked to the corner store to get a gallon of milk. I gave them my cell phone. They left at 10:30 then called at 10:35 to report being halfway there. Jonathan said he'd call when they got to the store, but he forgot in the actual buying of the milk, when he discovered that I had only given him enough money for one gallon and not two. He called at 10:45 "1/3 of the way home". They arrived home at 10:50, safe, sound, and triumphant.

3/4 - Joy started clapping.

3/8 - Faith, of Fox in Socks, "This is my bestest book ever!"

3/8 - Joy's bottom left next tooth broke through.

3/8 - I find myself saying, "Ask nicely. How about: 'Faith, will you please cut off my legs?'".

3/8 - Noah and I went to Target to get him new sneakers. Jon had said he should get tie shoes. We spent an hour in Target selecting and practicing. It was frustrating at first and I almost gave up and got velcro. Then all of a sudden, he had it! He practiced by himself several more times and we were both very happy to come home with a new pair of tie sneakers.

3/8 - Noah spends 20 minutes reading Green Eggs and Ham. He got through page 27. I love Dr.Seuss. The repetition is so helpful for beginning readers, and yet he switches things up a bit here and there so you can't completely go by memory. It's so exciting to hear Noah reading!

3/10 - Jon, Joy and I went to the fire company annual banquet. He got an embroidered jacket for his first year of service. It was a nice evening. Oh yeah, we went in our new red convertible. (:

A Beatless Heart

jondaley — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:56:24 -0500

This is pretty neat.

(Thanks Stephen for finding it)

Pocket Notes

joyful — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:25:16 -0500

Grandma, whose time is quite full with two grandchildren, is still itching for a blog post about the others, so here it is.

I found an old piece of paper witih some notes on it and just searched our blog - I did already post it and it was from 2008!

Ok, here we go:

12/22/2011 - Faith, after listening to the Hallelujah Chorus. "That did be a lot of hallelujah!"

12/23 - We were visiting an older aunt and uncle (more like great-grand-aunt really) and Aunt Doris was playing with Joy's toes. She asked me, "Do the piggies still go to the market?" As in, do young mothers these days still play that game? But Faith answered her, "No, only the big one does."

12/29 - Looking at an old wedding photo. Noah asks, "Who's being weddinged?"

1/8/2012 - Joy walked while carrying an object.

1/16 - Even though I rarely get to do sit-down school with Faith, she does pay attention to what the others are doing. This day, she took the geometry reflector (a smooth-finished plexiglass wall with legs so that you can see through it and a slight reflection at the same time) and put it on something saying, "I want to see if this is symmetrical." Only she pronounces it "immeckadal". (:

1/16 - Jonathan decided it was time for Noah to learn multiplication, and so proceeded to teach him. After he got the hang of the basic idea, Jonathan started giving him more complicated problems, following the pattern axb+c. Noah did great and asked me for several problems which he solved correctly.

1/17 - The next day, we had a long time to wait at the church my Bible study meets in while Jon had a meeting, so we did some more problems on the whiteboard. Noah wasn't sure he could do it (he didn't have his abacus or hundred chart) but when I showed him that he could write dots to pretend he had his abacus, he happily solved away. It is so neat to see this, and I am seriously thinking of implementing sibling teaching time as an official school subject.

1/18 - Faith, "Daddy, I know how to 'pell 'Noah'." Daddy, "Pell?" [She can say the /s/ sound but often forgets to use it in everyday speech.] Faith restated, "I know how to write Noah."

1/21 - Joy stacked three cans.

Joy now has this really funny chuckle. I'm not sure how to capture it on video. She makes it when she accomplishes something, as in, "Ah, ha! I did it!" But it's sort of a growly chuckle that is funny to hear from such a small person.

Faith can write her own name now, and recognizes the letters from her name in other words. She also points out to me the "M" from "Mommy."

1/27 - Faith has been whining about having to do her chores, but this day, Jonathan told her joke stories to cheer her up while they were working. "Once there was a girl named Faith. She had two brothers. One was named Jonathan and one was named Noah. Jonathan said, 'I can only carry a piece of paper.' Noah said, 'I can only carry a twig.' But Faith said, 'I can carry a log as big as our house!'"

1/28 - Faith was telling stories along those lines, saying, "Once there was a boy named Noah. He had two brothers. Their names were Jonathan and Faith." Noah interrupts, "Faith isn't a brother!" I suggest she use the word "siblings". Then Faith starts again, "Once there was a boy named Noah. He had two cinnamons..."

Joy is getting better and faster at walking. Though sometimes she tries to go so fast that she just trips right over herself.

She is starting to want to do things herself and will squeal loudly if she can't get her way. Sometimes this is a squeal of frustration ("I can't get through this narrow space") and sometimes temper ("But I WANT to dump all the bandaids on the bathroom floor!"). On the other hand, she is also starting to obey when we say, "no" which is a relief.

She is really getting into everything and it's hard to keep track of her. She can make a huge mess in a very short time, all in the name of exploring. Jonathan complains about this (since I often enlist him to help me clean up), and I tell him he used to do the same thing! But that doesn't really help him. At least I know they appreciate not making a mess eventually!

She is starting to like books, and wants to turn the pages herself, which makes for a quick read. It is very sweet to see her and Daddy reading together.

Noah is making nice progress in reading. We got the second set of Bob Books from the library and he is doing great.

Time for me now to read him a book. (:

Pocket Notes

joyful — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 14:16:28 -0500

11/18 - Jonathan, when meaning to say cylindrical said, "cylindicular"

11/23 - Joy took her first step, accidentally.

11/26 - Joy climbed up a whole flight of stairs. This was the first time she had done more than one small step. She was so thrilled with her newfound skill that she did it three times that day.

12/1 - The next first is Joy fell down the stairs. But now the older kids are better at making sure someone is behind her when she climbs.

12/5 - Noah was partitioning 6 out loud during breakfast (5 and 1, 4 and 2, etc.) Then Jonathan asked him how many 5s in 20. Noah thought it was too hard (so did I) but Jonathan was patient and gave good, constructive hints. He asked how many 5s in 10, then how many 10s in 20, and Noah got those, then was able to make the jump to solve the original problem correctly. Then he got how many 5s in 40. So cool!

12/9 - It seems Jonathan has been reading too many spy books without current historical context. It just so happened that a Russian company hacked into a merchant's credit card swipers and stole our (and a bunch of other customers') information. Jonathan overheard our calls and frustration in working it out and then said, "I always knew there was something funny about those Soviets." So I updated him on our political status with Russia and also reminded him that people from everywhere can be good and bad.

12/10 - Joy started climbing over thresholds even when there is no change in height.

12/10 - Joy took two steps to Mommy

12/11 - Four steps

12/16 - Joy went from sitting to standing without pulling up on anything.

Interesting? Message From Microsoft

jondaley — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:03:35 -0500

I received a free "embedded" light from Microsoft a number of years ago. I put "embedded" in quotes, because I think it is funny that Microsoft considers a lightbulb connected to a USB power source an example of an embedded device. I guess I haven't looked that carefully, but I expect there to be two wires in the device, and so not all that exciting from an engineering perspective.

But, the other day I happened across the instructions for the unit (plug into a USB port, flick the switch) and noticed that there is a message on the back of the piece of paper, and I have no idea what it means. Anyone know?

A Couple More Links

jondaley — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 08:59:22 -0500

Here are the last ones to share, I'll try to be more careful in the future to link to posts properly when I "share" things, so you can actually see the content regardless of whether facebook or google or the original poster make it difficult...

Statistics in science: I don't quite understand the difference between statistically significant and practical importance, or rather, how does one make a study that accounts for this problem.

Statistics was one of my two worst courses in college. In both cases, I went to the professor during office hours when I didn't have a shot of completing the homework and said, "I'm really not getting it," and the professor, assuming I couldn't really mean that asked what parts I wasn't getting. I pulled out lecture number 1 and said, let's start here...) I did manage to pull off a B in both courses, which convinced me that grading on a curve is horrible, particularly when I could have pulled off an A in the statistics class had a worked a little harder on the final, but I hadn't realized how far the course was going to be curved, so didn't think it mattered, and I wouldn't have remembered anything after the final anyway, so I wasn't studying for learning, but just a grade. If anyone got lower than a B in my statistics course, you must now know less about statistics than when you entered the course.

And lastly, an interesting disparity between what members of churches want (or at least say they want in a poll) and what pastors think is a good idea to preach about.

Pocket Notes

joyful — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 11:12:34 -0500

More than a month's worth of notes...

10/3 - Joy's diaper was dry all night long. She went in the potty three or four times. This was exciting to me and so the next night I prepared to be diaperless. I spread a waterproof pad, with towels on top. But she and I are so wiggly during the night, it was hard to keep the towels straight and then she was cold without anything on her lower half and when she did wet the towels, changing them was a pain. So, we're not ready to go diaperless yet, but we do have success with pottying in the night. However, recently (read: several weeks) Joy has been screaming in the night, whether it's changing her diaper or putting her on the potty. I found that if I'm aware of more subtle movements I can nurse her before she screams (but that is her first vocalization) but I am at a loss for the hygiene part. Do I just put her in a paper diaperand undo all the work and awareness of needing to go? Or do I persist in hopes that she'll stop screaming before we both go insane with the sleep interruptions? I need to go look at forums for suggestions.

10/5 - Joy got her uppder left lateral incisor.

10/5 - Jonathan, "I don't feel like Dad-o is a grandpa, 'cause he still goes up on roofs and stuff."

10/7 - Jonathan's caterpillar made a cocoon. Since it's still in there, I'm guessing we're waiting until spring for this guy.

10/7 - Faith was trying on my glasses. Walking around, she'd look down and exclaim, "That looks like a pit!" Then, looking in the mirror, "I look like Mommy."

10/7 - As we drive away from the border guard into Canada, Jonathan pipes up, "I wonder if she'd be interested in this suitcase we've got jam-packed full of spy stuff?"

10/8 - Joy started waving at the baby in the mirror.

10/8 - Joy turns her head when you say her name.

10/14 - Joy top right lateral incisor.

10/17 - Joy beginning to cruise along coffee table.

10/18 - Noah, "I love garlic. There's nothing better to put on your meat than garlic."

10/19-20 - Jonathan and I had a frustrating day in math with Roman numerals. Then in the afternoon, Noah saved the day. He used our big poster to quiz Jonathan and by passively observing, I discovered what he did and didn't know. The next day in school I was able to put that knowledge into the lesson amd we had a great time!

Jonathan is definitely an auditory learner. I don't know how his teachers would deal with it in school, but one of the nice things here is that I can let him sing "14 + 27 = 41" as much as he needs.

10/20 - Jonathan has been enjoying his Lucky Luke book and likes to act out the scenes. He especially likes to be the judge. So he was talking about confiscating some property and I had to interrupt. He pronounced it, "confisticated". It was like an early birthday present. Why? Because I pronounced it that way until college because somehow no one corrected me until then. I may be crazy, but at least I'm bringing my children along with me. (: But I did correct him and told him the story, which he thought was funny, too.

10/21 - My 32nd birthday. A very fun day.

10/22 - Faith pronounced forehead, "head-fort"

10/23 - Dinner table lessons on debt (National and private), credit (cards and the principle), debit cards and bank accounts, monthly spending, etc.

10/24 - Jonathan worked with Daddy on adding four-digit numbers. It was cool to watch how he thought of it. If there was something like 1977 + 1979, he would add 1000+1000, then 900+900, then 70+70, then 7+9. He kept all the various carrying numbers in his head, but usually got the right answer. He had a hard time understanding the traditional method, because he wanted to think of the 900 as 900 and not as 9, but eventually he got it.

10/27 - Joy had a bath with Faith. It was fun to watch her figure out how to sit and move in the water (this was the first bath she has had where I was not in the tub with her on my lap). At first, she kept falling backwards, but she learned how to lean forwards and then reach for toys and eventually stand up. By the end, I didn't have to hold her at all, but just keep spotting hands near her. So fun!

11/1 - Joy started standing for half a second unintentionally.

11/3 - Joy can open cabinets now, so back on go the locks.

11/3 - Joy makes kissing lip smacks. So sweet!

11/3 - Joy walked across the living room pushing the empty block bin.

Yesterday (11/12) she stood up for about 3 seconds. It's funny how different babies are so different. Jonathan walked at just one week shy of nine months. Noah, at eight and a half months was nowhere near walking (he took his first step at 11 months, I just looked up.) Now, Joy is quickly approaching the walking stage and she is 8.5 months.

Faith counts consistently like this, "1,2,3,4,5,6,9,10,11,12,13,14,19" and then random teen numbers until she's tired of it. Sixteen sounds like "hickteen" (:

Rest

jondaley — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 08:57:56 -0500

I think Heather generally does a good job (though I think she might not be taking as many naps as she should be at the moment) of getting rest, and happy to have people come cook and clean for her, but it is always a good reminder to make sure we get enough rest.