Atomic Transmissions paid me $200 to build their website, atomictran.com, and didn't seem to mind that I added a bunch of nonsense to the page. (Four years later, it's still there.) Click here to see the result.
Rebekah and I working on her song. She has become good enough that I can sit back and make suggestions like, "Why don't you change that chord from a C to a Am7?" and she inputs the changes to Finale 2006.
Rachael after I've tucked her in and turned her into a mummy. This was a nightly routine during my 3-week visit.
At his new job, Bruce will be building amusement park rides, starting with this one, "The Screaming Squirrel."
Demonstration from my priesthood lesson on forgiveness. My point: Dave's week was unaffected by my throwing knives at his picture. (I had put a few more knife holes in the photo by the time I showed it to the quorum.)
Waiters (ours in green shirt) dance on counter at Ed Debevic's.
The gang at Comedy Sportz (2006). From left: Carin and Dave Young, Kira, me.
My VoiceXML Data Logging team. Back: Emmett Coin, Bill Scholz, unknown, unknown, unknown, Jeff Marcus. Front: Me, Cindy Tiritilli, Guillaume Leroux, Patricia Oliver.
I give my presentation on VoiceXML Data Logging at SpeechTEK.
Michael works on due diligence paperwork while I put together an intellectual property list.
To church with my boss. The congregation is on its feet as the band leads them in a song. The words appear on the screen and the sound is excellent, thanks to some giant speakers (top of image) and a 48-channel sound board (bottom right).
An otherwise gloomy Valentines Day was brightened a bit by the arrival of an anonymous gift. The box and lid alone contain 15 oz of chocolate. There was no name attached, so whoever sent it doesn't seem to want anything from me, only to make me feel better, which it did.
Katherine Nuttall & Brooke Antuna in my recording studio.
On top of being sore from three hours of basketball, I also took an elbow to my right bicep.
Writing a Flash video featuring singing trout. Left-to-right: AKG K-240 headphones, Adobe Audition with recording for one voice layer, Flash MX 2004 with fish movie, birthday song on Finale 2006, Marshall MLX 2001P microphone with pop screen.
Patty (left) and Helen (right) at the NextGen conference.
A composite of 5 shots from the NextGen conference as Michael Metcalf speaks.
Vickie in her new chauffeur's hat (2006).
Inwardly sloping ground, a result of my procrastination, forces me to temporarily install extra long rain gutter diverters.
My new hybrid tea roses, two Mirandy (left and center) and a Crysler Imperial (right).
Hung Duong and his Rally Monkey and I watch the Chicago White Sox trounce the Angels 8-5.
We find a matching shade for my crown to replace my baby tooth. The metal button is a temporary cap over my titanium implant. When it was finished, the implant looked and felt just like a regular tooth
Last night's dinner, made according to Sherri's instructions, was so good I took a picture to send to her.
Noah Hayes (in my cub scout den) sands the corners of his pinewood derby.
Noah shows off his finished car.
My non-compliant pinewood derby breaks almost every rule there is.
My little VoiceXML program prompts for a phone number, then listens, confirms, and dials.
Dave and Carin (taking the picture) and I spend a nice evening jamming in my recording studio.
Figure 1 from the Plaxo-by-phone patent. Associate 150's name and number is automatically loaded into address book 160 so client 110 can dial by voice.
An x-ray of my lower-right dental work. From left-to-right, a gold overlay, a gold inlay, and a titanium implant with the new crown.
A scene from new Nauvoo pageant, now in it's second year. Taking pictures in the low light and from halfway back was a challenge. I held my camera against my forehead to steady it for the long exposures at 3x zoom.
A scene from the play, Just Plain Anna Amanda, a comedy about Nauvoo life from a little girl's perspective.
Lori (another conference attendee) and I drive by the Nauvoo temple on the way to church.
I got the biggest laugh of my presentation for this slide where I poke fun at the W3C and VoiceXML Forum. I had wondered how Jim Larson, the guy loosely represented in the slide, would take it, but he laughed hardest.
At the evening reception in the exhibit hall, I coat a strawberry in a chocolate fountain.
30 red peppers picked from my firecracker pepper plant. There are about 70 still ripening on the bush.
Photo for the My Servant Joseph CD insert. I spent 10 hours adjusting the photo and adding 13 members not in the original shot. I'm playing trumpet on the far left.
I run water onto the ledge above my bay window and find that it is not the source of my leak. Now I suspect the window above.
I show off my new speakers. There are two more in the back connected to digital delays. It took a few hours to mount and wire them, but I'm happy with the result.
My second card trick, assisted by three volunteers.
Hector (#42) about to tackle a Geneva runner in one of his best moments of the game.
Taking tickets at the Marklund amusement park for our ward service project.
I find wireless internet access in a Logan laudromat. Notice my tan from the fishing trip.
My first catch of the weekend, an 18.5" 2.5 Lb. trout.
Dad fishing in the back of the boat. We're on the lake by sunrise, hoping to catch the big ones.
I catch my biggest fish ever - a 22.5 inch, 3.5 pound trout.
From left: Dave, Dad, I, and Bruce holding about half of the weekend's catch.
Checking the circuitry on Dad's remotes. I succeeded on one and failed on the other
Anna followed me around like a puppy. You can tickle her to fits without even touching her.
I'm holding a flashing "blinkie." I have about 500 for trick-or-treaters.
Kevin and I pass notes (pun intended) in stake leadership meeting - a Q&A dialog about how to name unusual chords.
In my blown-up scientist costume while Kayleigh Hayes feels "eyeballs" in a box.
Handing out "blinkies" to trick-or-treaters.
Uniform inspection at cub scouts. If they don't pass, I make them do push-ups.
Several seconds after the game clock runs out, Jonny Harline catches the winning TD to cap a 1:19, 75-yard drive.
Recording "A Gimme Christmas" in my studio. Left-right: Karen Jensen, Nalihda Knickerbocker, Susan Maurer.
I'm surrounded by computers, but for some reason I'm constantly making notes on little scraps of paper.
Elders White (center) and Thomas after the discussion.
After being up all night, I had planned to sleep on the plane. This is what I did instead.
Replacing the keyboard and disk drive.
A total of five people showed up at the Naperville Stake singles Christmas party.
Getting caught up at the Residence Inn - after my second failed attempt to fly home for Christmas.
Dan works at the front desk.
Wednesday I was sleeping in the airport chair. Here is what I did this time.
Rebekah (niece) laughed hysterically when I unwrapped a toilet plunger. It's something I really wanted - I'll use it as a trumpet mute.
Sherri (sister) was so happy with this present from James she cried.
I read to the Wakefield kids from my book, How Santa Really Works
Since my sister Deidre's family was all together, I took pictures.
Neice Katy and husband Trevor model the blinkies I gave them.
Satellite picture of my house
The moon emerges from tonight's full eclipse. I'm happy with the result, especially considering I used a cheap $100 camera and no telescope.
An illustration of the voicemail transcription service I created for the enrollment survey
Jamming in my basement L-R: Tim Jensen, me, Matt White, Carin Young, Dave Young, Kim White.
Scott Thomson (my brother), wired with skin accelerometers, records test sentences.
Noah (in my cub scout den) chisels out the passenger compartment. No fingers were lost by either party.
Noah's car isn't pretty, but it is 100% Noah's.
The pattern for my mime gloves. I was asked to perform at the Young Women's summer camp kickoff
This is what was left of my rice dinner.
I punch holes in a soda box and use it like a salt shaker. This took care of the smoke smell.
Our bishopric photo for the ward website on lds.org
A screenshot of Pinnacle Studio 10 with editing nearly finished. The final video is on YouTube under "Food Storage Blues."
I wore my GPS watch this afternoon and the software traced out my path. Cool, huh?
Hector poses behind me and my birthday cake.
Jane's Birthday crowd. From daughter Ranette Oller (in yellow). Raquel is behind me and James is behind her.
A winged ant inspects one of my drawings
My prototype battery tester runs down a rechargeable cell and times it with a stopwatch
Kevin and Julia visit to record their winning song.
Attaching new supports for my closet shelf.,
My brother Scott's kids play in my studio. Left-right: Andrew, Alexis, Joshua, and Allison on the drums
With my hair powdered white, I give the bishopric message at scout camp. Clockwise from left: Reed Nuttall, Tom Applegarth, me, Jason Mogle, Patrick King, Dayton Loveday, Florin Kolbaba, Karl Applegarth, Connor White (Reed, Tom, and Connor are cropped out)
My Alma the Younger costume. I used this as I recited Alma's conversion story verbatim for the primary and the Young Women
My unibrow for a date with Carrie. She had specifically told the guys to shave between their eyebrows for a date.
My deliberately messed up car. Note that it's messy only on Carrie's side
Raquel's party. L-R: (?), Jane, me, Raquel, James (back), Hector, Hector's friend.
My picture from last year hits page 8 of today's
Chicago Trubune local insert.
Click the photo to read the article.
(from http://www.triblocal.com/Wheaton/Detail_View/view.html?type=events&action=detail&sub_id=10952.
Scanned article from moses/c/junk/GivingDuPage.bmp).
I sent Barbara Tate this card with two big dark chocolate bars,
I tried an experiment - repairing a fine driveway crack by heating
it with a torch to soften the tar and hammering it closed.
It looks good now (see top of photo), but I won't know how
it holds up till Spring.
Our ward deaf/signing BBQ. Left-right: Zak Brand, Emilee Sweeney, Teresa Brand, me, a friend of some of our seminary students.
Some of the debris left after I presented 10 object lessons.
Costume contest winners (L-R): Steve Emmert, (Brazilian girl), me, Carrie Thompson.
The first illustration from the 100-page network administrator's guide I wrote for SpeechPhone.
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(Click for full-size image)
The "before" picture.
Dad's haircut.
I work on my laptop, connected to the phone line while Dad studies his Christmas lists.
Dad reads to the grandkids
10feb09: I came across my own article on a plane to NJ.
Posing at the dance. Left-Right: Terry, Lori Lori Kosiarek, Renee' Daniel
My first cut at a chart showing our automation rate improvements.
I peel back two of the LCD layers and pull the lamp (still inside its metal shield) away from the light-carrying layer for a better view.
I connect the new lamp to the laptop and it lights up. Yeah! (the green card, paper towels, and ward party flyer keep circuitry insulated from other circuitry and from the high voltages of the CCFL tube.)
My yogurt comes out of the oven at 109.2 degrees. Perfect! Note there are two containers and the outside one has water in the bottom as a heat buffer
Alex Walsh reports severe weather moving into the west and out of Chicago.
Morning at SpinVox House in Marlow, England
Dan's welcome home sign.
I made page 36 of the March 2009 Speech Strategy News.
Where most of the Thomsons lived in Scottland in 1881 and my best guess at George Thomson's home town.
One of my tastiest sections of my food storage.
A moth from the swarm that has invaded my kitchen.
A transplanted Tradiro Tomato seedling
My deaf visitors, (left-right) Sylvia, Kiki, and William ready to leave after I fix them lunch.
Dave Furtado (left) and I on the call. (Daniel and Rob not shown.)
One of many corn plants nibbled to a stub by rabbits. I place rosebush thorns to try to protect from another invasion.
Bugs surveys, but doesn't touch, my corn and potato plants.
My lump of sourdough bread fails to properly rise. I'm no Suzie Homemaker.
The alarm (A) seemed to be breaking the starter circuit. I bypassed it by disconnecting the connector (B) and shorting out one side with an alligator clip (C).
I cracked three ribs flying this kite.
I pick an ear of corn from against the south wall of my garage. I waited too long on this one, but it looks cool, don't you think?
The results of several days' drying and a good chunk of the summer's tomato crop fit in a 1-quart bag (photo taken April 28, 2010).
My new US-1641 digitizer. I can make better music recording than ever now.
Dr. Workman drills a 13mm hole in my jaw prior to screwing in the titanium implant.
Flyer in Hebrew for the Tel Aviv AVIOS conference with my picture and title.
I record 10 simultaneous audio ports on my new digitizer.
A panorama composed of three separate pictures showing the stake RS presidency in front of the stack of quilts (constructed 27sep09 - see tomorrow's journal entry).
To see the Mormon Times article, including one of my photos, click here.
This name card reserved my seat at the conference.
A market in Jerusalem
At the Wailing Wall wearing a hat (required) of cardboard
A nice afternoon in downtown Marlow, UK.
The approximate path of my 5K running tour of Frankfurt.
According to the onboard monitor, we took a near-polar route, flying over Iceland and Greenland.
The host quizzes callers and guests. L-R: Carl Kasell, Peter Sagal, Amy Dickinson, Luke Burbank, Julia Sweeney
Daniel and I on our Skype call
I got some funny looks and quite a few questions as I wore my new gift around the office.
Regression analysis of QA agent ratings tends to validate our UPS weights: 20% for major errors (I normalized the above chart to 20%), 15% for high impact (I show 15.3%), 10% for medium impact (11.3%), and 1% for minor (2.7%).
Javier Sweeney (red jacket) and the other lost boys realize they've just shot Wendy (Tova Bergsten)
Bishop Brim emailed this picture to me with the subject heading, "In my final years as Bishop I had a hard time getting high quality counselors." It popped up on my phone during church and I had to keep from laughing.
Daniel Doulton (left) and Rob Wheatley and I review plans for user perception metrics.
As an irredeemable ingrate, I never send thank-you cards, but I finally got around to sending one to Jill for last week's Group #5 party. It's supposed to read "The Group #5 party rocked! MEOW!"
One of my last outings with my Chicago friends. Left-right: Scott Kolbaba, Kandy Workman, John Workman, Greg Brim, me, Amber Holt, Ned Holt.
My donations stacked on the porch for today's AmVets pickup
The next day, Mike (roommate) was packed and on his way home.
I sign for Michael in a workshop. (I'm left, Michael right. Kristen is against the far wall.)
I tried out the stilts during one of our free time periods.
My 6.6 mile running tour (in red) of Nauvoo, as recorded by my GPS watch.
This switch seemed to be the cause of several tape player failures.
I sold this reel-to-reel tape for $66
A few of the old cassette tapes broke when I tried to play and digitize them, so I had to splice them back together. With digital audio, splicing is becoming a lost art. The gold bar is a splicing block.
My birthday box from Sherri and Mom and Dad, decorated by the Wakefield kids
Sherri called for my birthday and Jordan and Rachael sang
Happy Birthday. Click player to listen.
I finally opened my birthday package - birthday presents from Sherri and Mom and Dad
Bishop Brim nails straps into support triangles for the quilt frame.
The wardrobe from the home where C. S. Lewis grew up. I saw this and J. R. Tolkien's desk at a BYU alumni lecture at Wheaton College.
My Speakertext video call. L-R: Matt Mireles, Tyler Kieft, and Matt Swanson.
Two CPU cards I packed up in the 2ergo lab in Manchester, UK.
My Ensoniq EPS has about all the upgrades and accessories money can buy, and now I'm selling it. A photo in my ebay listing shows the keyboard lit by gooseneck lights I installed.
Like true gentlemen, Ramone and his son carry Yesenia's speakers to her car before loading up their own. I've now sold or given away all my studio and living room speakers.
My new digs. The three upstairs windows in the center are to my room.
Everything I could fit in my car, moved into my new room.
This is me in 20 years, a grizzled old hermit rocking on the porch with a shotgun across his knees shouting, "Git off'n my land, ya mangy varmits!"
For a 25 megaton detonation over Manhattan, I'm in inside region [1] (20 miles), but outside [2] (30.4 miles). I would probably survive.