Bubbles

The bride grew up in northern California and her group of buddies from high school was like a rainbow of races and religions, a Hindu, a Muslim, a ginger, with the same in sexual orientations.  From grade school, her best friend was a Hispanic. The idea of KKK or discrimination was a something that was done in the past or someplace else.

Myself, I grew up in rural Arizona and was the only Asian in my graduating class and did have my share of bullying.  An example, we had a substitute teacher one day and he was a Vietnam vet and looking back, I think I game him flashbacks because he would stare at me and tell me stories about his buddies being tortured by gooks (I hadn't seen Full Metal Jacket yet so I had no idea what he was talking about other than this adult hated me for some reason). 

I came from a society that was foreign to what my wife grew up in and when I came to California after joining the military, I realized that I liked how people were treated much better than the crap I grew up with.

Now with this election cycle, I have grew up with both types of people who are alien to each other, many of those from my childhood couldn't have imagined that a black man or a woman would ever be president.  My wife's crowd, it was just expected to happen one day. 

Between the two, they can't understand why the other makes the choice they do. Myself, I lean more her way but I can see the other way.  Right now at this moment, our government isn't a smooth running machine, there is constant bickering, obstructionists for no good reason other than that they are the other party.

As your lowest of lowly new employees, my very humble words of advice are this.  While I didn't vote for you, I hope you can be the fox in the hen house and clean up some of the lack of efficiency that we currently have. Both houses are on your side now, don't screw up and if you want to keep the other side the peace, dont take away freedoms that were dearly needed. Secretly, I think you come to the table with your  own agenda that has nothing to do with the platform you ran and if you had used it, it might have had a broader appeal instead of the party line you sort of followed.  You're a loud bombastic guy, I'm hoping that whatever big dream that you are chasing is for the good and you don't keep it hidden for long.

You have the power now, wield it wisely and step back when it's emotion guiding your actions and wait until the statesman mantle is back in place. 

Also, please don't fire me, I like keeping a roof over my wife and daughter's head.

First 24 Hours with the Galaxy S7 Edge and Gear VR

So my prior phone was nearing its payoff point and so too was the brides, her’s was a LG G3 and Sprint announced a buy one get one half off S7 with the Gear VR on pre-order.  Being a fan of the SD card, this was a no brainer.

My phone arrived yesterday the 8^th and we set it up in the Oak Harbor Sprint store and since I was the first person to pick his up, they wanted to check out the Gear VR too.  After a bit of playing around and taking some pictures, I got to take my loot home.  First impression I had was how smooth, futuristic and sleek this slab of glass was, very sexy and curved and it felt like silk in my hands.  It came with a little tool to push a button on the top that opened up an almost invisible slot that pops out which holds an SD card and a SIM card. 

The camera settings are pretty impressive, in the pro mode, it even has RAW settings, 800 ISO, shutter from 1/24,000 of a second to 10 seconds, I’ll have to explore these more later.

I opted out of buying either of the two heavy duty cases they had at the store, one was an Otterbox and the other was another heavy duty model.  I don’t think either would have fit inside of the Gear VR and removing phones from these armored behemoths on a regular basis would have caused more wear and tear than anything I could have done.  If I decide to opt for a case, I’ll make sure it will fit inside of the Gear VR first.  As for the screen protector, they get marks and scratches on them which get magnified with the headset so no there too.

Okay, there is supposed to be a Gear game pack that comes with it but I have yet to figure out how to get it.  All of the stuff online is rather vague and doesn’t mention what the games are.  I’m not worried yet, I’m still exploring the 360 videos and pictures, haven’t touched a game yet (haven’t had time, cleaning the house and getting ready for a baby soon to be arriving).

I did notice a bug this morning when I awoke, last night I put the S7 on a Foneso charging pad and this morning, my alarm went off alright but the phone was acting funny and the keys weren’t working so I restarted it and when you restart, you have to manually enter your password or PIN if you went that route.  Here’s where I say the fingerprint reader is amazing compared to the S5, no swiping, you just touch it and it works, whatever part of that finger you scanned before.  Anyhow, the keys were locking up, so I shut down all of the way, let it sit for a couple of minutes and started it again and the keys worked.  I’m not sure if it’s a problem with the phone but I think the pad might overcharge it and cause it to heat up.  Something to watch out for, also, I noticed what reading white script at night, the white seems to pulsate, I’m sure it’s a software bug but Samsung if you are reading, perhaps it’s something you should check out.

I took the Gear VR to work today and let my coworkers take it for a spin and all of them were impressed, mostly, they saw the 360 videos which are unlike anything most of the world has ever experienced.  It is like stepping into the future but the resolution could be a bit better.  Improvements I would recommend are individual focusing per eye.  I had surgery in the 90’s to correct my vision and my eyes are a little farsighted and are slightly different so one eye is always a little worse.  But still way cool, offering in the bundle is a great marketing ploy.  Putting it out to the masses make people want to see how well it works.  Well, tomorrow, I’m going to research more on how to get the free games that came with the bundle deal.  Overall, even with the very minor glitches, I’m very happy with my little piece of the future and I think most of you will be too.

Juniper River Dustman

We have decided on a name for the little girl currently residing in the brides belly. Juniper McKenzie was a strong character from SM Sterling’s book Dies the Fire and over the years, as books come out, I have made a consistent pilgrimage to Mr. Sterling’s stories. She became known as The McKenzie, a leader, a woman who could see the things that lied beneath what was going on and carried everyone around her into a vision of what should be. When the bride came out with her picks for baby names, Juniper leaped off the list and neither of us actually know anyone named Juniper.

If you have visited the blog before, you know we are utter nerds. River is a badass in both the Firefly and Doctor Who universe and we want our daughter will grow in a land of endless possibilities without limits. The human race is at the cusp of something greater in the next hundred years, we have to be ready for change to come and move forward and embrace it. Not turn away, I want to install that sense of wonder into her operating system. She’s the future of my little corner of the world.

 I want to give it all to her on a platter, teach her to love life, be kind to others and never stop asking why.

Oh, and we have a baby registry on Amazon.

Juniper's Baby Registry