We've had a recent issue where Phoenix won't do something because she claims she's "scared". "Phoenix, can you come over here?" "No," she says. "I scared." "What are you scared of?" As if we didn't already know. "Bears. Bears eat my shoes." That's right, she's scared of bears eating her shoes. Or her coat. Or my car. Pretty much anything out there is something waiting for a bear to eat it. At night, we have this somewhat covered. "The bear can't get you, Phoenix, because you have your unicorn to protect you. Unicorns stop...

Every year, maybe every other year, Jenn and I head down to Las Vegas. There’s always something new to check out and it’s a fun place to visit. This time we stayed at ARIA again since we enjoyed it so much last time. It’s a nice place with lots of great amenities, and we got a pretty good deal so off we went. (We left Phoenix with Grandma and Grandpa Illig.) Normally we kind of do the same stuff – we run ourselves ragged walking up and down the strip trying to see every hotel and visit every...

We had a safari in our living room last night. Jenn and I are coming to find that Phoenix (now two) has a pretty great imagination. I think she fuels it with some of the stories we read and shows she watches, but the combination of all of that in her little brain is pretty crazy. She really likes flashlights. Doesn’t really matter if it’s a head lamp, a small flashlight, or a lantern, if it’s a hand-held light source, she’s all over it. We got her a pack of flashlights for Christmas and my parents picked her...

Jeff Atwood just posted an article about Aaron Swartz, his unfortunate story, and the notion of ragequitting. I agree with Jeff on Swartz and the thoughts about that case. Rather than restate all that, check out the article. My thoughts go out to Swartz and his family. He'll be missed. What I disagree with is this: Ragequitting is childish, a sign of immaturity. We've often used "vote with your feet" as an idiom describing how people can effectively support (or show lack of support) for a thing, particularly an internet (or programming,...

2012 has come and gone, and it's time to look back at what happened. Because if I don't, well… my memory isn't quite what it used to be, you know? It was a good year both personally and professionally, though I noticed I blogged a lot less. That happens, I guess. I find I post more of my little personal updates on Twitter or Facebook, which reduces the noise here but definitely splits up the content. Maybe that's a good thing. You can subscribe to the stuff you like, ignore the stuff you don't. (I use Twitter for more...

Almost a month ago now (wow!) Jenn, Phoenix and I went to Disneyland with my parents for a three-day park-hopping adventure. It'd been four years since Jenn and I had been, and far longer than that for my parents, so we were excited to go. With Phoenix not quite being two, we figure she probably won't remember much of the trip when she's older, but she's super into Mickey Mouse Clubhouse right now, so she'd at least have fun. The first ride Phoenix went on was the Mad Tea Party tea cups. She loved it. ...

Phoenix is not quite two, but in her words, "I big." She is starting to become very independent, or at least she tries to be. In some cases she doesn't even want you to read her a bedtime story. She'll do that herself. If you try to sit next to her or point things out, she'll take the book and move somewhere else. She really likes music and dancing, and there are rules around that you must follow. If she's dancing, you need to get up and dance. If you sit down, she'll come over and...

Phoenix is really into the Fisher Price "Little People" figures, particularly the DC Super Friends line. She doesn't know a lot of words, but she knows "Bapmo!" (Batman) and loves flying them around the room. A while ago we got her the Batcave playset so she'd have some additional vehicles and stuff, not just figures. This, of course, led to also getting Wonder Woman's invisible jet and the Batmobile. (OK, maybe it doesn't hurt that we both like the Super Friends. Come on, when your 18-month-old runs around yelling about Batman, that's pretty sweet.) The proliferation of Super-Friends-related...

I think I'm getting old and starting to fall apart. For the last year I've had this Eustachian tube dysfunction that causes me to hear myself really loud in my left ear. If I'm talking, all I hear is me. When it's really bad, I can hear my heartbeat or my breathing. Walking around would cause a thump-thump-thump sound with every step. I ran through five days of prednisone and cipro, then 10 days, with no luck. After a 25-day-run of prednisone, I ended up going in on Monday and getting a tympanostomy tube in my ear. ...

My 15-month-old daughter, Phoenix, is a kick in the pants. This kid has got more energy in her than I can keep up with. Of course, when she gets home from day care, she runs rampant and really wants to play, so we do. I envision a typical play session with a different little girl going something like, "Oh, look, Cookie Monster is going into Hooper's Store. See how he's in there? He's looking for cookies. Cookie starts with 'C.' Here comes Elmo, he's bringing Cookie Monster some cookies. Yum!" That's not quite how it goes at our...

When I'm at work I like listening to music... but I hate being tethered to my computer (or iPod dock, or whatever) by the headphone cord. If I want to slide my chair over to the whiteboard to write something up or reach over and get something out of my bag, I have one of two choices: make the cord so long that it gets tangled up on my chair and in my desk stuff; or take the headphones off to go do whatever it is and put them back on. Also, I like my headphones. I have some...

I had a four-day-weekend this past weekend but, while it should have been a fairly mild time, it turned out to be a stress-filled pain. The reason I was off was to help Jenn with some shoulder surgery she was having on Thursday. I'd need to be around to help while she was laid up with pain meds and I figured that would mean some food runs while she slept it off. Phoenix would stay with my parents until Saturday afternoon so we could get everything settled by weekend time. Get a little done around the house, take care...

If you happen to have one of these mini cupcake makers, you can put a dollop of cookie dough in each of the cupcake spots and 11 minutes later – cookies. You may have to “pop” the tops on them at around 8 minutes. They usually bubble a bit. There was some highly scientific culinary experimentation involved in arriving at that 11 minute point. Earlier and they just fall apart; later and the cookies are pretty hard. Note we didn’t use liners, we just threw the dough right in. Oh, and they don’t turn out pretty....

We had a team celebration today at Kells and it was a rather fun murder mystery dinner (well, lunch) theater from Eddie May Mysteries. The idea is that, while you eat, there are actors who come in portraying different suspects in a murder mystery. You talk to them, they leave "clues" and "evidence" at your table, and at the end you have to figure out who the killer was. Our mystery took place supposedly in 1929, so all the actors had costumes on and acted like it was the roaring '20s. At one point, one of the...

Friday was Phoenix's first birthday, so on Saturday we had her party. From 2011 Phoenix's First Birthday Party The party was supposed to start at 12:30p, but everyone seemed to be there about an hour early, so it was anarchy from the...