Great Weekend, New Challenge

Had a great weekend.  Worked my shift at the fire station and got to watch the super bowl.  Also had a daddy/daughter dance.  Had a lot of fun dancing with my daughter.  

Starting today I’m doing a couple new challenges.  Now that caffeine is beat, I’m moving on to fast food and soda altogether.  More water and home cooking.  Should save money and improve my health.  

Google Music

Google recently released its free music service.  I decided to give it a try.  I've used Pandora and Spotify, but wanted to try something that would use my own music collection.

Google Music GUI

Google gives you 20,000 songs worth of storage for free!

It integrates with iTunes which is what I really like.  I use iTunes/iPod, but did not have a service to take my music on the go online.  The iPod is great but I only have a shuffle and the space is limited.  With Google Music I have my entire collection with me wherever I have an internet connection.

What you need to know:


20,000 songs worth of free storage
Connected with Android and Google+
Upload from iTunes

Drawbacks:


Android only for mobile devices (sorry iPhone users)
No way to download after you upload (unless purchased from Google store)
DRM stops some uploads

So I uploaded my entire music collection (about 3800 songs).  It took about 3 days to upload.  Because of DRM 100ish didn't upload.

Overall I'm liking it.  Search works great (as expected with Google), player is your normal play/pause, next/previous, volume player.  iTunes playlist upload as well so you can sort your music.

I'm disappointed in album art.  Many were not found, and some are wrong.  I'm more worried about the music so not that concerned, but expected better.

For no other reason you can use it simply to back up your collection.  Although you can't download it again, at least you have it somewhere if your system completely goes down.  20,000 songs should be enough for most users.

Try it out and let me know what you think.

Walking Wednesday

Beautiful day today. July, yet not too hot. Hanging right around the 80 degree mark.

At work there is a program called 'Walking Wednesdays' which I love. Every Wednesday we go for a walk around the campus. On a day like today its a great break to get and stretch and enjoy the fresh air. One of the many things I love about the new job.

After work my 'Matt Unplugged' concept continued. Off the computer and family time until the kids go to bed. I'm a geek after all so still blog for example but its after kids are asleep.

So today the fun was a walk then a stop at a park very near my house which just got new equipment.

Walk was fantastic. Especially given the weather. Was nice to go on a long walk holding my daughters hand until she got too tired and joined her brother in the stroller.

At the park it was crowded for this particular park. Its small with not much to offer so its usually unoccupied. Today (maybe because of the new equipment) it was bustling with kids. Kate instantly took to some of them and played nicely. Drew went on a 'big boy swing' by himself for the first time, but nearly fell when he let go to wave at people.

Back to the geek I've decided to release some code as open source. Created a GitHub account and will be posted code soon. I've decided to try some 'social good' with my freelancing. Going to be working on some other small projects as well, keep my skills sharp.

A New Hope

Today was another warm, sunny day in beautiful Pontiac, IL. Whole family participated in the adventures today.

Started with a trip to the library. So happy Kate loves books. Love to hear her made up stories as she ‘reads’ them on the fly by looking at the pictures.

We continued the day to Humiston Riverside Park. We simply walked the paths, enjoyed the weather, and just relaxed outside. During the path that goes right next to the river Kate stopped because she saw two ducks, who when they saw her swam over quickly. She squatted down and took this pose naturally to just observe and enjoy. Not a care in the world. How wonderful! With a near government shut down, bombing in Libya, disaster in Japan, she is blissfully content with the simpleness that was the ducks in the river. Happy to just study the world around her peacefully.

This gives me hope. Maybe her generation will start the repairs. Live in peace, love one another. How do we go from chilling by the river to gihad and launching rockets? Where/how do we lose that innocence? Seeing this photo I am hopeful that the cycle can be broken.

The day continued back home to the back yard and then out to eat. A long held on to gift card needed to be used. When I coached in Odell I was rewarded with a gift card to Rentz’s. That coaching gig was a long time ago and we decided to cash in.

At the resturant Kate was perfect. On her best behaviour. She talked to the waitress (normally very shy and reserved), talked with us, and ate without a huge mess. She even recognized the Cubs were on the big screen. ”Daddy look! Its the Cubs! That’s the team you play on right?!” Couldn’t help but laugh. Playing church league softball doesn’t make me nearly good enough for the Cubs. ”No honey, daddy is not that good, I just watch. ” Once again peaceful and filling me with hope.

Along with that hope is responsibility. With kids its all eyes on you. I have to set the example for her to keep that hope, innocence, and peace.

Game on dad, they’re watching.

Sunday Funday (1st of many)

What a day! Little windy but warm and fairly sunny.

Decided to take Kate out and about to play today. Started with the park by the prison. Or as Kate likes to call it the park with the two yellow slides since that is indeed an accurate description.

The excitement for both of us came though when we went to play park by the river and to Pontiac’s famous swinging bridges. I’ve never walked across them and neither had Kate. A first for the both of us and a fun time.

On this windy day the bridges were in full swing. Brave little Kate was less scared than I was. Had to carry her over the first time. Second time was just holding her hand. By the third time she was running across by herself (I was obviously close behind). Saw a couple of ducks on the way which Kate could not coax to quack at us despite her insistent quaking at them. Their response was to ‘shake their booties’ as Kate would say. The day ended with swinging on actual swings and a billion trips down various slides.