Recent Pictures

It has come to my attention (thanks to Julie) that I have a bunch of pictures from the summer that either didn't make it to Flickr or were not referenced here on the blog.  This post should remedy that and I hope you enjoy the pictures.

For the 4th of July we invited my parents up to dinner and for some early fireworks (so Nate could see them).  We had a good meal at Cafe Rio followed by some fun at Layton City Park (great park by the way).  During the day, my parents mentioned that I hated fireworks when I was little and they predicted that Nate would act the same way.  Sure enough, when it came time to start the fireworks, we started slowly with some smoke bombs.  Nate was a little nervous for the first one or two but he liked them.  The next two got a little crazy and did some spinning and Nate did not approve of that; he started crying like crazy and saying, "no, no."  Being undeterred I decided just to try a small fountain but the crying just got worse.  Anyway, it was a fun day!

A few days before the 4th we went up Logan Canyon for Nate's first camping trip.  We were well prepared and felt somewhat confident that we would last the night.  After setting up camp we walked down to the Logan River (about 100 feet away from the campsite) where Nate played for hours!  He had a great time playing in the warm sun and cold river!   We set Nate up in his port-a-crib and checked his temperature throughout the night to make sure he was ok.  Sure enough, we all made it though the night and Nate's first camping trip!  Go Nate!

On July 17th my office company party was held at Wheeler Farm.  We had a good time and the food was also very good.  My office has a band called Deadline Effect and we played at the party.  It was really funny and here are a couple of pictures from the show.  LOL!  I try to figure out how to post video here when I get a chance.

NBC, Apple, and Amazon

Earlier this week, negotiations between NBC and Apple deteriorated resulting in NBC choosing not to renew their contract with Apple to distribute their shows in the I-tunes store after the end of the year.  Although the contract does not end until the end of the year, Apple added fuel to the fire by canceling distribution of the first half of the season via the I-tunes store. 

One or two days later NBC and Amazon announced that NBC's programing would be available via Amazon's Unboxed player.  The unboxed software currently does not support the mac platform.  All in all, a huge slap in the face to Apple and a big loss for us. 

I manage all of my music and video in the I-tunes and I will be really annoyed later this month if I have to buy the Office from Amazon and watch my shows using their clunky player! 

It is not perfectly clear why negotiations between Apple and NBC broke down; Apple indicated that NBC wanted to increase the price while NBC responded that it was a bundling and cross-promotion issue.  Since the shows on Amazon are still 1.99, it sounds like it may be a classic case of Apple pushing too much.

I don't feel that I can only blame Apple since a contract with Amazon was so quickly implemented.  It is clear that NBC had been working in advance with Amazon further indicating their desire to diversify the market.

We'll just have to see how the story develops in the coming weeks but I really hope that Apple will take action to get the Office back into the I-tunes store!

 

UPDATE

It seems that Apple my be trying to lower the price of the TV shows sold on I-tunes to 99 cents per episode......Interesting......

Story

All Gone Alarm

Nate has recently been learning more and more words.  He understands a ton of different words but has a hard time saying them.  This weekend he started doing something pretty funny.  Whenever he finishes eating some food or finishes a glass of water or juice he exclaims, "All gone, All gone, alllllllllllll gone."  He yells this over and over again about eight times!  It is oh so cute!

Living with a Pregnant Wife

Julie is a very fun person to be around.  She is smart, funny, and can even be silly from time to time.  When she is pregnant things tend to get a little more interesting.  She is still smart (although pregnancy brain does occur from time to time), even more funny, and still very silly from time to time.  The most interesting part of watching Julie cope with pregnancy is frustration with food.  This excerpt from her journal is very typical of her daily struggle with finding something that sounds palatable and desire to eat something that really satisfies. 

I've been craving the Desert Edge Brewery's Szechwan Chicken Pasta Salad and Parisienne Eclairs like freaking mad!!  I start to daydream about them until I salivate and my stomach rumbles.  I sure hope to be able to satisfy those cravings one day.  It just drives me crazy!

Thankfully, Julie is going to be eating with a friend of hers at the brewery mentioned above next week!  The parisienne eclairs will have to wait another year when we hope to take advantage of Delta's planned direct flight to Paris out of SLC international!  Hold on Julie!