Category: Uncategorized

Beatrix: 1 Year Old

d81_8626Hiya Bix,

You’re napping right now as I write this. When you wake up, it’ll be lunch time. You are a champion eater, ravenous and loud about it. You’ve gone from a really little kid to a giant in the 6 months since my last letter.

We have a video monitor to spy on you while you sleep. The camera’s cheap, the picture is grainy black and white, and I love it. Right now you are in downward baby pose, one of your favourites.

The world is in a strange place right now, B. I don’t really know what to say about it, or how different it will be by the time you’re old enough to read these things. When I used to read about awful things happening in history I always had trouble relating. I couldn’t understand why the people in those times didn’t do more to resist. Right now there are some awful things happening and it feels like we’re on the precipice of some more, really awful things that are about to.

Your mom and I talk a lot about what we want to do about it. How we can make the kind of change we want in the world, and resist the kind of change we don’t. As an adult, I think you’ll realize that your mom and I are pragmatists. We get things done. It’s how we succeed at work and it’s how we run our life. We try not to spend too much time on moralizing or polarizing. Life, and the people that fill it, are full of nuance, Bix. It’s never the right call to weaponize those disagreements, and turn others into villains. But 2016 has been the kind of year that can radicalize a person. And so I have trouble really predicting what kind of parents you’ll think you have. But I want you to know that we’re paying attention. That we care. And that we’re trying to figure out how to make the world better.

Heavy stuff, I know. But none of it matters to you, today. Today, you have figured out standing, and climbing stairs, and you’re one step away from walking. Your big sister is the most important person in your world, followed by your mom, then Adele the pig, then Anne at daycare, and then, I think, me.

It’s okay. I don’t mind. I get to put you to bed every night. You’ve settled on Down to the River to Pray as your lullaby, just like your sister did. We rock in the chair. I shush, and you grab at my face in the dark. Then you snuggle in for a minute and sigh before moving to your crib. Where you immediately find Adele.

You’re waking up from your nap. Gotta run, B. I love you. Happy Birthday.

Daddy

 

It’s Ready.

Victory PosterFirefox 3 will be released Tuesday, June 17th.  This is indescribably exciting for us here at Mozilla, we are all quite giddy in our excitement places.  If you would like to share in this joy, I recommend the following 5 step regimen:

  1. Go read the Deb Richardson’s unbelievable Field Guide to Firefox 3, so you can see what all the hubbub is about.
  2. Go watch Mike Beltzner’s magnificent-yet-brief Intro to Firefox 3 features screencast, to set your pots a boilin’.
  3. Go view John Slater’s profoundly triumphant post of the new Firefox 3 Victory Poster, to adorn your walls and windshields.
  4. Go sign up yourself to participate in the life-alteringly spectacular Download Day, you one best chance to be part of a Guinness World Record that doesn’t involve putting bees up your nose.
  5. Go find yourself a party full of people every bit as frothy as we are.

Can I get an “Amen!” people?

Canadian Pride

Neon American FlagAn article of faith among Canadians is that not only do we know more about our country than Americans know about theirs, but we know more about the US than Americans do, as well. This may or may not be true on balance, but I will let sleeping sacred cows lie. For those who wish to get their self-congratulatory freak on though, behold:

MSNBC’s Short-form US Citizenship Exam

I will admit that I did not get perfect – stupid question 19. In my defense, if I were actually applying for US citizenship, I feel that I would probably have known what the form was called.

Photo Credit: Ctd_2005

RRSP WTF

So I had an article here that attempted to treat, in slower pacing and more elaborate detail, the first of the eleventy-two topics I tried to cover here. More specifically, given the time of year, and the tone of most TV advertising at the moment (i.e. RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP RRSP) I thought it might help folks to get a ground-level “what the hell is an RRSP and what do I do with it” introduction.

But then a cleverly orchestrated sequence of events, including me restarting my web server WHILE hitting “save” in my blog post editor caused my post to vanish in much the way that posts, ideally, shouldn’t. So I am interpreting this as a sign that maybe my audience does not WANT this article. I thus leave it open to comment or email – is there any interest in an article of this kind, to help people wade through the waters of patronizing scotia partners portfolios and ING guaranteed RRSPs? Or does everyone here already day trade on african derivatives markets?