Rules for Men

Got an email today with these on it... worth passing along

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We often see these from women's perspective... Now here are select favorites from the list of Mens Rules. Note, each is listed as #1 for a reason.

1. Men are NOT mind readers.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work!Just say it!

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 Days.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one .

1. You can either ask us to do something, Or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," We will act like nothing's wrong.We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation, or golf.

1. Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight; But did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

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Not sure I agree with #1, but the rest are spot on!

John

Hidden updates

Look for a few hidden gems. Carrie sent some new links and Robby nominated himself for a family leadership position. Also, most contact information should be accurate now, including some new phone numbers and email addresses. Thanks for helping me keep things up-to-date.

Memorial day is getting close...does anyone have some new ideas or requirements for our reunion? We should probably make sure things are organized on that front pretty soon. The three host families should agree which days they will host activities for and get those planned. Then we can draw names for the sleeping arrangements ;) Speak up if you wish to be heard! See you soon...John

New look, faster load

You have probably already discovered the look look to the website. I have been concerned about the growing length of time to load the site, so I brought together a bunch of icons into a single navigation menu. I hope you enjoy it.

Another primary feature is the ability to split the column with the blog posts. This will let you see more of the content of the posts with too much scrolling. Rob L. promised to get with Becky & Rob to help with their blogspot account. I will be seeing Bonnie & Richard tomorrow. Then, we should all be represented. Hope to hear from you all soon!

John

Business Travel: Glamorous or Not?

You make the call. I am the first to dismiss the perception of glamour in business travel. But, I have to admit to a certain amount of bragging when I say: Greetings from Rio de Janeiro.


Don't get me wrong...the 18 hours door-to-door to get here were tedious. The back-to-back meetings scheduled for all day tomorrow until the moment I have to leave for the airport are enough to pull out your fingernails to avoid. But, I have to admit that the ambiance is very nice. Have a look at some photos I took with my NOKIA (shameless plug) from and near my hotel...




This picture looks up the beach at my hotel. You may notice that every room has a balcony that looks out onto the ocean. We'll get back to that.







The obligatory shot looking out at the waves...








I'm not sure how this one will look, but it shows how drastic and close the mountains are to the beach. They just poke up out of no-where. There are 2 mountains between my hotel and the airport. The city just grows around and under them.






Saving the best for last, this is the view from my balcony. I took this probably seconds after arriving. I was stunned. BEAUTIFUL.




OK. Enough of the touristy side...the work is going well. I think I'll get done what I came here for and might even get their stuff back in order. It's been a pleasure 'chatting' with you all... bye.

Graduation Celebration

We went out tonight to celebrate my MBA...all of us. We went to a Pappas Restaurant in Addison, thanks to a fortuitous gift certificate. Here's a few pictures of the happy crowd...







We really enjoyed the atmosphere and food, and decided we'd go back in spite of the drive to get there.

We should be live with interactive posts

I finally have found a way that we can all post interactively. As I suspected, blogging technology provides a way. So, here you can see the outcome. Dad has already posted his first comment. Each family member can receive an account and be able to post their own thread. Clicking on the title of a post will open it in an offsite page, where you can reply or comment.

I hope that by opening up the content of the website to the whole family, it will be updated much more often (and with a wider interest level) than I could provide. So, let me know when you'd like to learn how to blog! I'll help get it set up.

Starting Out

So, starting out with a new idea...


I just finished making one of Dad's wish-list changes to the website, and discovered along the way that you shouldn't hotlink directly into someone else's pictures. This is seen as bandwidth theft, and some people react very negatively to it. I'd link to some stories I read, but they aren't all appropriate for this audience... However, I reached the conclusion that this site I was trying to link to for days was blocking the hotlinks, so I found a workaround and put it on the site. If any of you have a favorite view from the APOD you'd like to see in the rotation, send me the link and I'll add it to the list.

Now, I'd like to find a way to make the site more interative. Right now, I am the only person who writes content, and I'd like for everybody to be able to write and respond. It seems that blogs are a good way to do that, since each family member could have their own identity. The trick is how to integrate that onto the website itself. I have been researching ways to display web feeds (RSS) of blogs on websites. Thus: this blog... It is the pilot, and we'll see just how easy it is to setup a 1) blog account; 2) RSS feed; 3) feed display section on the website.

Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and it'll be easy. Either way, I'll keep trying. I'll be in touch soon!

John