What do you really see?

Updated computer desk

We had a winter cleaning at home today...while this doesn't seem like much, it was nice to get the boys PC table in order (do you like our Cat 5 Ethernet cables coming through the window from the router upstairs?)

Here is what we had to get rid of to create order out of chaos:

The Future of Media- a post recommendation

Photo Source: by Steph Hillon

Back to school tomorrow after a pleasant winter break. No break from technology as we had to kick our kids off the computers tonight...my oldest is playing World of Warcraft again after a long hiatus...seems his cousins are new to the game and he is showing off his prowess....

So until I can get my other family members to contribute some posts, check out this great blog post from A VC: Musings of a VC in NYC entitled What My Kids Tell me about the Future of Media

A Guitar Hero Christmas

Photo Source (b&w background): by Samuel Stroube

Ok- Christmas is over, but we are still rocking out with our new Guitar Hero III for the Wii

From the MOM on "technology"...

Photo Source: here

Here's what technology means to me... all of us looking at screens since dinner. What? No one did the dinner dishes? Dang. Guess I will.
What have I been doing? Cleaning out my in-box from 300 plus messages... having to answer many, foldering some for later... deleting most. It's a new year! (What? "Foldering" isn't a word?)
What's Ken doing? "Working." A documentary on Google in on PBS right now (making us mulit-screeners) so it's information everywhere-- coming in, going out... I should say something poetic here like "...making my eyes bleed."
My hip hurts. My laptop and it's handy-dandy lap desk gets a good seat on the couch and I lug myself out of the chair (I know I look like my mother right now) and check on the boys... Logan says dad wants him to write a blog. "Yeah, me too."
What? Luke's not on his computer? Oh, on his cell talking to the girlfriend. He'll be off at 9:30.
Good. We're all going to bed. I fold some laundry.
I'm such a liar. I didn't go to bed. I'm writing this-- will this do, honey?
I love you. Look into my screen!

How the laptop has changed our life...

Photo Source:bobdegraaf

This last year, both my wife and I received laptops from our employers. I have a MacBook and my wife has a Dell Inspiron 6400. We can be found most evenings sitting in our living room with our laptops, the t.v. on low in the background while we catch up on our email, finish up writing assignments and generally extend our day jobs into our home life. I am right now typing this on my MacBook with a hulu window open streaming an episode of The Bionic Woman, another window updating me on those I follow on twitter, and bouncing between google talk with my son downstairs and my updated RSS feeds on google reader.

This kind of digital multi-tasking is new to me and my wife. In some ways it seems empowering and productive to be able to interact with all this internet content. It certainly is more comfortable to do it on the couch with a laptop vs. a desktop.

Is this a good thing? Has it made our lives easier? More thoughts about this from my family in future posts...

Our new blog: Windows vs. Apple logo

Welcome to our new blog. This will be a look at how we are using technology in our household from the perspective of each of our family members. We have really ramped up the use of technology in our home this past year from high speed internet access to upgraded computers, to video games, digital video cameras, and other gadgets.

As we head into 2008, we will be interacting more and more with technology. This blog will examine issues around our uses of technology and how it has affected our family life. It will not be a technical blog about technology per se but rather our perceptions of how technology is changing our lives.

Let me state that the title of this blog was my idea...and has nothing to do with LOLCat speech. I guess I could have named this blog: "All Your Technology are Belong to Us", but I think you get teh idea.

So let me begin with our logo created by my son Logan. We are basically a household divided by competing computer platforms: dad is a Mac user and everyone else is a Windows user. Why? Well, I am a big fan of Apple's iLife suite of programs and multi-media applications; my wife uses a Windows lap-top because it was provided by her employer; my oldest son, Luke bought his own Vista-made-to-order computer on-line for all the cool new video games and Logan is waiting for me to fix one of the Windows machines that is apart in the living room.

Are we at odds with each other about or different computers? Not really, but I will let my family chime in on that...

Occasionally we joke with each other when we are screaming at our computers for various reasons, but we respect each others right to choose...or rather tolerate each others right to choose our different operating systems.

Photo Attribution: "PC vs Mac" by etchasketchist