Saturday, September 8, 2012

Family Photo

Connor's teacher has been reminding me regularly that we need to bring in a family photo for school.  And despite the fact that we have thousands of pictures from 1-3 people there are very, very few (if any!) of the 4 of us.  Not terribly surprising as one of us has to actually take the picture and all, but still...   

When we were at SeaWorld this past weekend and walking back from being DRENCHED on the Rio Loco ride (of which Connor was FINALLY tall enough to ride - he was SOOOO excited!) I was walking by a family - similar to us - with the Mom trying to get dad and the kids together and to smile for a picture.  I stopped and volunteered to take a picture of all 4 of them.  In a completely deja-vu moment she said "Oh, no, that's okay." 

I can't think of the number of times we have been in the same position - me taking pictures of Kevin and the kids and someone has volunteered to take a picture of all 4 of us, and I passed, too.

We chatted for a few seconds and I convinced her to get in the photo and took a couple of pictures of them.  Naturally, when we were done she offered to take a picture for us as well.  And despite the fact the refusal was on the tip of my tongue for a split second (I was SOPPING wet from head to toe, it was HOT and we were surely sweaty and red faced, and I must look quite a fright, the kids never cooperate and smile, and ... and... and) I agreed. 


And surprisingly enough, it didn't come out too bad.  :)  Except that whole I was quite a fright part... :)  You can't even tell we were soaked completely through (my shirt was still dripping streams of water and my shorts were plastered to my legs - there was literally not a dry spot on my entire body!)

And yes, that is Ryan at 4 1/2 refusing to get out of the stroller for fear of losing his seat because it was a LONG, LONG, walk over there!  :)  And yes, Kevin - really the kids WERE going to sit in the stroller (and fight over WHO got to sit in the stroller!)  And yes, dear, despite the fact that kids haven't used a stroller in 2 years they DID need it and WANT to sit in it.  And my back, and my voice thanked me profusely for bringing it.  :)


Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Android Guru Needed

Riddle me this Android Gurus - how do I turn an Android tablet into a dream alarm clock & wake-up info center??

Here's what I want it to do:

Sleep/Screen Saver mode -
  • Display a clock.  Bonus points for configurablity - digital/analog/colors, styles, sizes, etc.
  • Change display brightness based on configurable settings (dim at night, brighter during the day)
  • Display whether or not an alarm is set (small bell at the bottom of the screen for example).  Bonus points to allow you to configure the alarm notification to show/hide the alarm time and icon for type of alarm (bell, music, etc.) 
  • Stay on when docked/plugged into AC power.
Alarm Clock features:
  • Ability to set multiple alarms (3 is sufficient).
  • Ability to configure days (not just weekday/weekend) for each alarm.
  • Ability to configure type of alarm for each setting (bell, music, etc)
  • Must have Snooze.  Bonus for configurable snooze.
  • Quick nap function - (lightning bolt - each press adds 15/30 minutes - up to 3 hrs.)
Home screen: default home page/background -
       Configurable selection of widgets (4-6 ideal)
  • Alarm Widget - shows current alarm setting details and has quick launch button to configure settings.
  • Weather widget - display current temp, expected low/high and icons for sun/rain/clouds, etc.  Quick launch full app/browser to look at things like hour by hour & 3/5/10 day forecasts
  • Calendar widget - display today's calendar appointments (Outlook sync)
  • Media widget - AM/FM Radio, Pandora, MP 3 etc. controls
  • Browser widget - networked webcam would be awesome to check on the kids, or news headline reel would be nice as well.
  • Task Widget - show todays' to-do list.  Not that I would use it, but might be nice... (Outlook Sync)
  • Quick launch bar for favorite programs (like a browser, picture slide show, etc.)
 I am not asking for much - and I would totally be willing to pay for it!