My brother, Trevor, just sent me a link to a pretty fun game. It’s called “DeConstruction.” It is very addicting.
Anyway, use the arrow keys to move, use “shift” to lay explosives, and use “space” to detonate the explosives.
Have fun!
Today, Jessica and I went mountain biking in Murphy Hanrehan park with a couple of friends of mine (Samar Upadhyay and Adam Bavier). It was a great ride, just like most of the MORC trails.
Jessica rode the beginner and intermediate loops with us, and to my surprise Adam and Samar were up for the expert loop. The total length of the trail is about 10 miles with about 60% of this being on the expert loop. You can find a copy of the map here.
Here is Jessica doing the great job she always does on these trails!
On the expert trail, there are several obstacles. Some are natural, but the most challenging ones are man-made. For example, there is an amazingly long 1 foot wide pull bridge. It curves and twists while staying about four feet off the ground for most of it. At the end, it has a teeter-totter to get you off the bridge.
I tried it first and could not ride straight enough to make it to the higher sections.
Adam Bavier had an awesome fall, which is definitely worth watching. That’s what he gets for starting in the middle.
Samar Upadhyay also tried it, and he did pretty good at it:
Finally, we saw some guys come by who must have had no fear of death or dismemberment. One of them was able to do the bridge in parts. He made it look just easy enough to encourage us to come back and try it again on another day:
Just about six miles in to the trail, I took a banked curve a little too far. When the bank ended I tried to quickly turn to follow the trail. Unfortunately, there was a slippery spot. My front tire turned sideways and I flew over my handlebars.
The next thing I knew I was on the ground spitting out blood and feeling very sore. I yelled a couple times for help, but eventually rolled off the trail and laid there until Samar came by. He was a little shocked, and came over to help (and document the moment!).
All in all, it was a fun time. I can’t wait to get back on some of the other trails around the Twin Cities in the near future.
What is Twitter Pollution?
May 12
- Twitter Pollution
- Excessive targeted marketing using a social network’s status updates.
Most people have at least heard of Twitter by now. The mini social network seemed like a great idea when it was born out of Odeo (a podcasting company). It can be highly addictive, and can even save you money on your text messaging bill.
Twitter does have a major problem. The biggest of these is money. As of this writing, Twitter still has not found a way to generate income. If Twitter does find a way to generate advertising revenue, will it’s users continue to embrace the service?
But an even bigger problem looms for the messaging site. Twitter has opened the floodgates of a very open protocal. Marketing companies, universities, and even politicians are utilizing the networking site to flood users with advertising. As twitter grows more popular, more companies and organizations will get on board.
Unless something drastically changes, Twitter will likely see it’s peak within one to two years. Afterwards, it is quite possible that user-ship will decrease as as rapidly as advertising (from inside and outside) increases.
The biggest problem with advertisements on Twitter is that there are no “banners”. Banners were designed to take a portion of the message on a website and turn it into revenue.
With only 140 characters per message, there is no way to insert advertising into these messages. Therefore, advertisers are forced to send separate messages for advertisements. This is the equivilent of a website sending popup messages throughout the day because you accessed the website at some point. Nobody would agree to such a proposition.
This advertising can be seen as “Twitter Pollution.” Unfortunately, Twitter itself may be the final casualty of Twitter pollution.
Stonehenge Seating Wall
May 7
This is a Stonehenge style seating wall. Jessica and I had dreamed about building this for a while now.
Originally, we thought it would be awesome to surround our patio with a stone bench like this one. Due to several reasons, we decided to go smaller. After we get the planters taken care of, it will provide a nice “natural” seating area on our patio that still allows flow into the main part of our backyard.
The seating wall is made out of 15″ Catalina style blocks going horizontal and 15″ Belgian style patio blocks going vertical. The blocks are held together with PL masonry adhesive.
I originally saw this displayed at Menards. After talking to the guys who built the display, I realized that it was easy enough to do it myself.
The total length of the bench was about 11 feet. It’s total weight was approximately 1500 lbs.
Well, it finally happened, our little baby has turned one year old! It seems like just the other day that Jessica and I were creating videos for her a few hours before her birth.
During the past year, Abigail has grown and changed so much. I cannot begin to describe just how proud I am of her each and every day.
At first, we were thrilled when she gave us a smile, or stuck out her tongue, or even scooted up toward our faces.
It seems so recent and yet so long ago that she first held her bottle, or said her first words. Now she talks, gives hugs and kisses, and waves to everyone (and everything) in sight. She even takes a few steps.
Even more amazing is that in the next 17 years she will learn to walk without any help, learn read, learn to ride a bike, learn to drive, and even graduate from High School (In 2026).
Jessica and I look forward to every moment of it. Although, we hope it does not go too fast.
It’s one of the great paradoxes of life. You always want your child to learn something new, to gain strength, knowledge, and wisdom, and to take that next step. But, taking the next step means they leave behind the previous steps.
For the child, this is growth, but for the parent it is the last time something happens. There will be the last time you help your child roll over, or the last time your child needs a hand walking. There will be a last bottle, a last diaper change, and eventually a last day of school. Someday, you will even go to their wedding.
All these are wonderful things, and great steps, but there is something wonderful about helping your child through each one of these changes.
As you and your child work on the process of growing up, it builds a deep love and bond between the two of you. As they mature, this love grows into a fellowship, a friendship, and a strong bond.
I think that being a dad helps me truly understand what it means in 1 John 3:1 where it says “See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are!” Now that I understand the deep love that a parent has for their child, I can better appreciate the awesomeness of this statement!
Happy Birthday Abigail. You are, and always will be, loved!
For those of you who use Twitter, you probably are familiar with the “Reply” syntax (i.e. @TerryPearson message message …). However, did you know that there are other options as well.
For example, there is a command that is similar to “poke” in Facebook. In Twitter, it is called “nudge.” To use it, just type “Nudge TerryPearson” (fill in whatever username is appropriate in place of “TerryPearson”).
Here is a more complete list of Twitter advanced features and commands. Happy Twittering!
- @username + message
- D username + message
- WHOIS username
- GET username
- NUDGE username
- FAV username
directs a twitter at another person, and causes your twitter to save in their “replies” tab.
Example: @meangrape I love that song too!
sends a person a private message that goes to their device, and saves in their web archive.
Example: d krissy want to pick a Jamba Juice for me while you’re there?
retrieves the profile information for any public user on Twitter.
Example: whois jack
retrieves the latest Twitter update posted by the person.
Example: get goldman
reminds a friend to update by asking what they’re doing on your behalf.
Example: nudge biz
marks a person’s last twitter as a favorite. (hint: reply to any update with FAV to mark it as a favorite if you’re receiving it in real time)
Example: fav al3x
- STATS
- INVITE phone number
this command returns your number of followers, how many people you’re following, and which words you’re tracking.
will send an SMS invite to a friend’s mobile phone.
Example: Invite 415 555 1212
This is a great interview covering the new Department of Homeland Security report, the tax tea parties (April 15, 2009), and the shifts in support of the Patriot Act by many politicians.
I have never been too passionate one way or another about the patriot act, but now that I see what it could do if in the wrong hands, I really think it is best for us to get rid of it.
Credit Crisis Explained
Mar 12
Bacon!!!
Feb 13
I just saw the most amazing recipe. This is truly a “killed by good food” recipe if I ever saw one. It’s called Bacon Explosion.
It’s a mixture of layers of Beef and Bacon, formed into a giant “Sub” sandwich style piece of meet.
Mmmmmm…. Calories!
High Low Post
Feb 12
My wife posted her own version of “Hi/Lo Thursday†found on the Riggs Family Blog. She asked me to do the same. Check out their blog to read everyone else’s “Hi/Lo†posts and for a chance to win $100.
My HIGHS for the week:
Jessica gave me a bunch of candy yesterday and today. It was like valentines day twice in a row, and it’s not even valentines day yet.
I got to spend the evening with Abigail while Jessica was out and about tonight. She had a lot of fun crawling around, playing her keyboard, and watching me play guitar.
I have a feeling that the best days of the week will be starting tomorrow. My family will be going up to a cabin North of Duluth. I love going to the cabin with my relatives. We end up playing strategy games, staying up late, and more.
My Low for the week:
Well, this is not a major issue (by some accounts) but my jeep started to make loud sounds when going over bumps. We took it to a great mechanic, and he diagnosed it as a problem with the links to the stabalizer bar. He said it would be about a $200 repair.
The good news is that it does not jeapordize our saftey, so we can wait a couple weeks and bring it in when it is convenient and when we have the cash to fix it.
A little something to put a smile on your face! Here is a clip from a great TV series called “The IT Crowd”. The IT manager is trying to convince the board of the company that if you Type “Google” into Google, you will break the internet:
Nine months and counting
Feb 7
Cross-posted on JessicaDPearson.com and AbigailPearson.com
Abigail turned nine months old yesterday. We are very excited that she is growing so fast.
The last three months have brought many exciting changes in her life, including:
- New Daycare – She began going to a daycare in Eagan, and she loves it. There are two other kids that are close to her age and she adores them. One of them is older and one is younger. Everyday she comes home with a smile on her face (As a side note, she often also comes home with dirty clothes from some pretty amazing diaper blowouts!).
- Solid foods – Not too long ago, Abigail had barely eaten solid foods. Three months ago, solid foods were somewhat of a novelty for her. Now, she has three meals a day that are solids. She loves the pasta baby foods like “Lasagna in meat sauce.” She is also a big fan of Pizza crust (she shares with her daddy), Pancakes, Kix, and Crackers.
- Crawling – Yep, that’s right. She is now moving around the house. She began crawling like a normal crawl on Wednesday, February 4th. Before that, she opted for the “scoot and roll method.”
- Church Nursery – Abigail is now spending Sunday morning in the church nursery. Now that she is becoming mobile, this is a great location for her.
- Weekend away from mommy and daddy – She got to spend a whole weekend with her grandma (Kathy Pearson) while her mom and dad went up to Two Harbors. This was the first time that both of us were gone overnight from her. She did great.
