Speaking Engagement: Defcon 15!
Defcon is, according to their own website, "The largest underground hacking convention in the world." Last year the convention boasted between 5,000 and 7,000 attendees. This year, I'll be speaking at it.
Before you get too excited, I probably won't be speaking in front of thousands or even hundreds of hackers. Defcon has five simultaneous speaking tracks going on throughout the weekend. Additionally, the convention takes place over a three-day weekend, with
Mason, Susan, Susan's mom Liz and Mason's cousin Dylan are on the road, en route to Orlando. Susan's headed there for training or a meeting or something (I lose track) and the other three went along for fun. Dylan's birthday is Thursday and I know the four of them intend on hitting Disneyworld that evening. Mason is pumped about the trip. I can't wait to hear their stories and see pictures after they get home.
For those keeping score, that leaves Morgan at home with me. When both kids are a
Yesterday while having lunch at Panera Bread I noticed a sign hanging in the restroom that read, "to assure the quality of our products, no smoking please."
My first thought was, "we are not on a plane." Practically every seat in the dining room is equidistant from both the restroom and the exit. Should one feel the need to light up during lunch, I'm sure most people would actually prefer to step outside on the sidewalk rather than smoke it up in the bathroom.
My second, slightly more di
Wednesday marked our second successful voyage north to Springfield, Missouri's 1984 Arcade. This time, several of my online Digital Press/Atari Age friends met me there, including Phosphor Dot Fossils (TheLogBook.com), Icebreaker (Particles.org), Crossbow (OVGE.com), and Gapporin. You aren't a real geek until you have your own domain name. (I have several.)
This time Mason made the 300-mile trek with me. I tell ya, that kid's a trooper. His little bladder leaves a little room for improvement
1984 Arcade, Round 2
Tomorrow several friends of mine and I are heading back to the 1984 Arcade that I recently visited and reviewed. I'm expecting around a dozen or so of my online friends from Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri to show up, and this time Mason's coming along for the ride as well. I know the four-hour trip is going to be long but we'll be heading out right around his naptime and coming home right around his bedtime, so I suspect he'll do quite a bit of sleeping both to and from S
Even though we're already one third of the way through July, we are just now beginning to get a handle on our swimming pool. June was pretty much a lost cause due to the record breaking amounts of rainfall we received here in Oklahoma. That pushed everything back at least one month, maybe two. We will be having mandatory swimming sessions around here through at least the end of October, maybe longer.
Saturday morning Becky came down to watch the kids for a bit while Susan and I tackled a few
To paraphrase Johnny Cochran, "If it does not fit, you must get rid of it."
I own more clothes that I don't wear than some people own at all. I have an entire closet full of clothes and yet I have trouble finding things to work on a daily basis. Out of boredom and frustration, I grabbed a couple of Hefty trash bags last night and began cleaning out the closet. Anything that met any of the following criteria was evicted:
- Things I haven't worn in more than a year.
- Things that haven't
For the third year in a row, Susan, Mason, Morgan and myself entered a float in the Yukon Fourth of July kids parade. Technically, the first year we didn't make a float; Mason and his cousins dressed up in patriotic-colored clothes and walked through the parade. It wasn't until after the parade when we saw judges handing out medals that we realized it was actually a contest! After that, Susan and I decided that we would enter a winning float every year from now on.
In 2006, we built the
Al Gore Joke
According to news reports, Al Gore's son "was arrested early Wednesday on suspicion of possessing marijuana and prescription drugs after deputies pulled him over for speeding, authorities said. Al Gore III, 24, was driving a blue Toyota Prius about 100 mph on the San Diego Freeway when he was pulled over at about 2:15 a.m., Sheriff's Department spokesman Jim Amormino said. The deputies said they smelled marijuana and searched the car, Amormino said. They found less than an ounce of
Ten years ago, Susan and I purchased a talking caller ID box. It's one of the greatest inventions ever, and I'm not sure why they didn't completely replace normal called ID boxes. When our phone rings, a pleasant female voice speaks the number aloud, area code first.
Whenever a long distance caller is announced, there's a little game I play. If I'm sitting in my lounge chair near my laptop, I'll click on Google whenever I hear the phone begin to ring. At the end of the first ring, the box b
Earlier this month, our kids' daycare scheduled a field trip to the Oklahoma City Zoo. The trip got postponed due to rain. Two weeks ago (on the rescheduled date) the trip was again postponed due to rain. I don't know if you realize this, but it's June. In Oklahoma. Last year we had week long stretches of triple-digit temperatures. Today, we broke a record for the most days in a row for precipitation -- 16 days. The previous record was 14 days, set back in 1937.
This morning (with rain pouri
There are two events taking place this summer in Vegas that I would like to attend. The first is Classic Gaming Expo, or simply CGE. CGE is "the world's first and largest event paying tribute to the people, systems and games of yesteryear." If you are into old videogames or computers at all, and I am, this is THE show to attend. The second is Defcon, the yearly Las Vegas-based hacker convention.
Choosing between these two events has been extremely difficult. I am involved in both communities
Ok, so it only took me two weeks to do what every twelve-year-old can do in minutes. Here is the long-promised video of Mason performing two magic tricks in the 2007 Shedeck Talent Show. The entire video is 3 minutes long. Just listen to that applause!
Although Morgan's birthday isn't offiically for another four days, somehow her birthday party got bumped up to this weekend. For her second birthday we opted for the "free birthday party in the park" theme. While that may or may not sound very exciting, the kids had a good time and it served its purpose. We didn't start inviting friends (other than family members) to Mason's birthday parties until he was three, so I'm sure next year she'll have a big to-do. This year we got everybody together ar
In downtown Springfield, Missouri directly across from the YMCA lies the 1984 Arcade. On Wednesday, June 20th, my friend The Stranger and I drove from Oklahoma City to Springfield to visit this tribute to the classic arcades of the 1980's. The 1984 Arcade opened its doors in 2005, and boasts anywhere from 50-60 classic arcade games on the floor at any given time.
The journey begins.
We were greeted at the front door by a friendly young lady who explained to us how everything worked. Ad
This picture proves two things: one, that my wife and Emily are funnier than I give them credit for, and two, that Starbucks will write down any name you give them on your cup and announce it loudly to the lobby when your purchase is ready. Attention Transformer, your cappuccino is ready!
There comes a time in every man's life where holidays quit revolving around receiving presents and become more about spending time with loved ones. I'm sure for me this change began when I began dating Susan; suddenly, Christmas became less about "what am I going to get" and more about "what great thing can I get for her?" If meeting Susan started me down that path, having kids finished it. That's not to say I don't enjoy or appreciate getting gifts, but the real gift is seeing my family happy a
Last night Mason and I watched a particularly gross episode of Ripley's Believe It or Not together. During the opening segment a guy attempted (and broke) the world's record for sticking giant South American hissing cockroaches into his mouth. The guy's cheeks bulged as he shoved nine or ten of the disgusting little creatures into his mouth. After beating the record the guy opened his mouth and the cockroaches dribbled out of his mouth on to the ground below. Mason and I both commented on how gr
(Lucky you -- two updates today!)
Long before Mason was born, I knew that someday Susan and I would be very interactive parents. My parents were both very involved in my early education. My mom volunteered as a homeroom mother every single year. My dad brought our personal computer (a TRS-80 Model III) to my classroom and did a computer demonstration, introducing an entire classroom of kids (and a few teachers) to computers for the very first time. My dad came to school and spoke on career d
Sunday evening Susan and I went to Riverwind Casino with Andy and Lea (or as I like to say now, Mr. and Mrs. Willrath -- how cool is that?) Susan and I each took $100 to spend. I lost forty bucks right off the bat on slot machines, and then lost another forty on Jacks or Better poker machines (which I normally do really well at). With my last twenty I ended up winning $40.50 on one machine and $47 on another -- that put me just slightly ahead.
Lea and Susan migrated to the $2 blackjack tabl
Even though my children are only five and (almost) two, I enjoy the fact that they are becoming evil, manipulative little devils. Morgan's still somewhat of an amateur, but she's learning. Whenever I threaten to spank her she bats her eyelashes, clasps her hands together and cries, "no da da. No da da!" Mason's slightly better at the game, but not much.
Last night, Mason stayed up over an hour past his bedtime. By the time we got him to lay down he was literally wailing. From the living roo
Earlier in the week Susan noticed signs posted around the entrance of our neighborhood announcing that this weekend would be garage sale day for not only our neighborhood, but all four neighborhoods that corner the Reno and Czech Hall intersection. We don't get a chance to garage sale as often as we would like, so these neighborhood garagle sales are a good way to get the best bang for your buck, so to speak -- you can hit 20 or more garage sales in one day and get the whole garage sale thing ou
#01. Last week, Mason won an award for being the most outstanding student in his grade. Only one award was presented per class. The awards were based on attendance, attitude, manners, and grades. For his achievements, Mason won two paid buffets to Incredible Pizza along with $10 in tokens. Congrats!
#02. Last Friday, Mason performed in the end-of-year talent show at Shedeck Elementary. Mason performed two magic tricks on stage in front of the entire school, and he was the only pre-K kid who
This is a ridiculously long post, so I've broken it into multiple sections for you.
Andy and Lea's wedding went off without a hitch, thank goodness. I meant to post after Friday night's rehersal, but I got home so late and still had so much to do that I didn't get a chance to until today. Friday night was the wedding rehersal, followed by the rehersal dinner.
Friday Night / The Rehersal
It's amazing to me how well most weddings look compared to how badly most rehersals go. It's kin
One of my dad's favorite jokes comes from a scene in Steve Martin's The Jerk. In the scene, Navin R. Johnson (Martin) has taken a job as a midway carnie. After someone wins the game he is tending, he begins to explain what prizes they can choose from. "Anything below this shelf, but above this shelf. Anything between here, and here," he says, while gesturing to the smallest item on the shelf. "Anything left of here, but right of here, right in this general area," he says, again gesturing to the
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