Month: July 2008

What Are Your Reasons for Upgrading to Vista?

I’ve been running Vista on my work laptop and home workstation for a few months now and the experience has been substantially better since SP1 was released, although doesn’t it deserve a better product page than this confusing page.  For a minute I thought Microsoft was selling laptops!

The upgrade to Vista from XP was painful. In fact, Microsoft should be ashamed for suggesting customers should attempt to upgrade XP machines to Vista. From my experience, the only way to install Vista is to do a fresh install which, for most people, means wiping the XP installation. Because I’m moving more of my work online (Blog, Gmail, Flickr, etc) I have fewer programs to reinstall and fewer files to backup.

So if you’re considering upgrading to Vista, here’s my take on why it’s been worthwhile:

SEARCH. SEARCH. SEARCH.

Vista’s best feature is the massively improved SEARCH. I can’t overstate how well it works. I use it dozens of times each day and it never fails me. XP search is so terrible that I installed Google Desktop which was an improvement, but is nowhere near as slick as Vista search. The best thing I can say about Vista search is that it just works. Windows users who have trouble organizing documents will find this a Godsend because every file is now only a few clicks away.

And that’s it. That’s the only substantial reason to upgrade to Vista. But search is such a helpful and oft used feature that it makes the upgrade worthwhile. Oh sure, there are other, less significant reasons to upgrade such as:

  1. Aero Interface – Vista is better looking than XP if that matters to you. It mattered to me for about 2 days.
  2. Photo and Music – If I drag a picture or mp3 to the desktop, Vista displays a thumbnail of the picture or album.
  3. Windows Update – I don’t know why but it works better on Vista and I don’t have to launch IE to run it.
  4. More Backup Options – If you’re running higher end versions of Vista (Enterprise, Ultimate) Vista offers a slick computer or file backup. Microsoft should stop the absurdity and put this feature into every version of Windows.

A word of warning: Vista demands newer hardware and runs best on when paired with a fast CPU like an Intel Core Duo or Quad. And even then, don’t expect much more than a small performance increase if any compared to XP. But Vista is stable doesn’t get in the way of things once you turn UAC off.

A few of my friends are going to be shocked, but I have to admit that Vista is growing on me each day. I wish it I could rip out all the features I never use (Movie Maker, Paint, Sound Recorder, Wordpad, etc) and only install a bare bones Vista. But overall, it’s a welcome upgrade to XP.

Plus, it runs Firefox just fine.

Why did you upgrade to Vista? Or are you going to wait for Windows 7 or move to the Mac?

Grandpa Nordquist

It’s been a lot of fun having my dad in town for a few days. One topic my dad and I always discuss for hours is sports. We’ll talk about how the Utah Jazz are doing or how the season might turn out for the Seattle Seahawks. It’s something we have in common and something we enjoy sharing with each other. javalin

We also talk a lot my grandpa Nordquist who passed away a few years ago. He loved athletics and stared in basketball, football, tennis and track while attending Westminster College and the University of Utah in the 1930’s. He passed on his love of sports to my father who become a coach and a teacher for over 30 years. 

When my father’s mom passed away a few months ago, my dad came upon a number of photo albums, some of which contained pictures few in our family have ever seen. Most pictures taken of my grandfather depict him him running or throwing a ball. I knew he was an excellent athlete but I had no idea his skills were so diverse. I don’t know many athletes footballtoday who play soccer and throw the javelin.

I spent last night going through these pictures and it brought back a lot of fun memories of the times I spent listening to my grandpa tell stories of his athletic career. He’d recount plays from the last Utah vs. BYU football game. Or he’d tell me about the latest drama surrounding the Jazz when the team was coached by Frank Layden. Some weeks he thought Rick Majerus was a saint and other times he’d call for his firing. I didn’t care which sport we talked about because his passion for them was infectious making it all interesting.

I’d give about anything to sit on the back porch of his old red brick home and chat with him and my dad about the Utes are going to torch BYU in the “Holy War”.

Queen of Frisbee

Grandpa brought a Frisbee into town yesterday and the kids have acted like he gave them each a golden ticket to Grandpa Nordquist’s Chocolate Factory. This afternoon we gathered the kids to toss it around the backyard.

This wasn’t your run of the mill Frisbee toss. Grandpa would throw the magic green disc to Luca who would throw it to me. I’d throw it to Lincoln who would roll it or run it to Grandpa who would throw it to Anna. This is where the game ground to a halt.

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Anna would take the Frisbee and place it on her head and proclaim herself, Queen of Frisbee. This didn’t last long. Eventually Luca and Lincoln would run after her until she was tackled and the Frisbee was extracted from her hands.

Thankfully, the game only lasted about 20 minutes before Anna hooked a tossed into our neighbors yard. It’s a yard like that on Sandlot, home to a gigantic dog and lots of spiders in the grass.

At least that’s what I told them.

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Lint Rolling the Couches

As I was putting the kids to bed…well, let me rephrase that…as I tried in vain to herd my two daughters into their room while Kim held an ice pack to Lincoln’s bare butt (don’t ask) I noticed this job list on on Lincoln’s night stand. Kim must have written it yesterday in preparation for my dad’s visit to Seattle.

I read through the job list twice and was surprised I didn’t receive a single task which is curious since I took the day off work. At the very least I could have cleaned under my bed.

I did spend about 45 minutes cleaning my bathroom. I am amazed that Kim can read 4 books for every book I read and I believe that ratio holds true when it comes to chores around the house. While I cleaned one small bathroom she cleaned the entire upstairs of our home.

Next time a list like this gets made I’m calling dibs on lint roller duty.

list

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An Answer for Everything

Maybe it’s a trait all big sisters possess,but I’ve noticed that Luca always has an answer to Lincoln’s questions no matter how off the wall they may be.

Last night I enlisted the kids help to wash both my black car and mom’s white van. I gave Luca and Lincoln two rags to wipe down the car. They dipped their rags into the bucket of sudsy water and were enjoying themselves until they noticed I’d given Anna a huge pink sponge to do the same. I still can’t believe I made such an amateur mistake. I should have given each kid the same size and color rag so they wouldn’t argue over the sponge. I thought chants of "Hey dad, how come we don’t get a BIG PINK SPONGE??!!" would be followed by, "You must only love Anna". I learned my lesson and it won’t happen again.

So I began to hose down the cars while the kids rotated the sponge on a perfectly timed schedule to ensure no one had the sponge 2 seconds longer than the others. Lincoln looked up with soap on his cheeks and asked, "How come dad’s car is always cleaner than moms?" Before I could answer, Luca said, "Because mom has to clean stuff in the house all day and she’s tired of cleaning".

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Sunflower Seeds

I started snacking on sunflower seeds my sophomore year in high school during baseball season. It was either seeds or chewing tobacco and “the chew” grossed me out back then as much as it does today. Plus, my dad was my coach and he would have kicked my butt to Provo if he caught me packing a cheek full of Skoal Bandits. The cool name was overshadowed by the lip cancer.

I still love sunflower seeds though and I keep a few packs at my computer at all times. Kim can’t stand stand the sound I make while cracking them but it’s the whole spitting the shell into the plastic cup that drives her to turn up thimagee music to drown out the sound. But I continue to snack on seeds because:

  1. They are a low carb snack
  2. They have a lot of fiber
  3. They take some skill to crack open
  4. My kids can’t figure out how to eat them
  5. They come in Ranch flavor (YES!)
  6. Their motto is “Eat. Spit. Be Happy”
  7. They remind me of baseball season and many great memories

Lately my kids have been asking to try some so I give them a single seed and watch them try to crack it open. The first time I gave Lincoln one he played with it for a few minutes before popping it in his mouth and eating the shell and seed. He’s not asked for another once since then.

But today Luca figured out how to bite down on the shell to extract the seed and I was more proud than disappointed now that I’ll have a partner in crime. One of these days I’ll have to show her how to crack through a cheek full of seeds.

Kim’s going to need a louder set of speakers.

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Showing Passion

As I was inching closer to graduation at the University of Utah, I began to interview with a number of companies. One company flew me to New Mexico to go through a round of interviews. I spent two days going through a number of group and one on one interviews. I felt good about how it went and figured I had a great shot at receiving a job offer. A few days later I received a call from the recruiter who thanked me for interviewing, but said he was extending an offer to someone else. I asked him what I could improve upon in future interviews and he said,

 “You need to show more passion. All things being equal we’ll select the candidate who wants the job the most”

That stung. But he was right. I was going through the motions. It was fun to be wined and dined but I wasn’t very excited (certainly not passionate) about the position for which I had interviewed.

I learned a valuable lesson that day and I’m thankful for that recruiter who turned me down for a job but offered me advice containing lasting value. Fifteen years after that experience I interviewed for another position and was up against two people who had been with the company twice as long as I had. Both had numerous technical certifications. I had none.

I thought back to what that recruiter told me as I went through the interview loop. I really wanted the job and I made sure that each person on the interview panel understood that. Although I might not have been the most qualified on paper, I made sure I was passionate. I’m sure many factors come into play when making hiring decisions, but I’m convinced that passion plays a part in many of those decisions. I certainly look for it in the candidates I hire, and I weed out those who show up with a “take it over leave it” attitude.

It’s nearly impossible to fake passion. I know it when I see it and I saw it today at church in my Sunday School teacher. I saw it in my father when he taught me how to throw a curve ball in our front yard. I saw it in my 9th grade English professor when she taught us about Shakespeare. I see it in my current manager when he speaks of his horses and volunteer work. I see it in Kim when she teaches Luca a new song on the piano. They aren’t just going through the motions like I did during the interview in New Mexico. You can see the excitement in their eyes. The focus. The tone of their voice. There’s no mistaking it.

And that 2nd interview? I got the job. 

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Strawberries and Cream

The strawberries are so delicious this time of year that we’ve been buying a large container full of them each week. Sometimes two. Tonight I started to wash and cut up a few when Lincoln pulled up a chair to watch me. The kids love them and their favorite way to eat them is to dip them in whipped cream. But this is the parents least favorite way to serve them because the table, floor and their faces end up looking like someone threw cream pies around the kitchen. I swear more whipped cream ends up in their hair and ears than in their mouths.

Lincoln watched me cut up a number of strawberries without saying a word. I washed, cut and placed them in my bowl. Once my bowl was full I’d pour cream over them and enjoy. He watched until he couldn’t possibly keep quiet anymore.

“Dad, those look really really good”

“Yep, I’ll bet they are"

“Your bowl is almost full”

“Yes, but not quite”

(pause)

“Dad, will there be any strawberries left over?”

“Probably”

(big smile)

“When I’m the dad I’m gonna make them just like you”

I took a small blue bowl (his favorite color) and cut up a few for him. We sat at the table together eating our strawberries and cream. He explained to me that cream is “like milk but even better”. He slowly scooped out each strawberry until he was left with a bowl of cream which he lifted to his mouth and drank till it was gone. Only a small cream mustache remained as evidence of our afternoon snack.

Online Advertising

It’s impossible to pickup a business magazine or major newspaper without finding an article detailing how online advertising is going to change the technology landscape. Many of these same article have declared Google the hands-down winner in this mystical realm.

The people who write these article must not use the internet like I do because I never click on online advertising. I visit MSNBC, Digg, Facebook and Google multiple times a day yet I’ve never once clicked on an ad. Never. I’m left wondering who are these internet users who are driving such wild speculation? I mean, Google continues to mint money and Microsoft seems hell-bent on wrestling parts of Yahoo that will boost their own presence in this area. We know that Google is selling a lot of ads but are the people paying for these ads getting a reasonable ROI or are they scared into not participating in the “next big thing”?

google

I believe all this talk about online advertising is a bunch of hyperbole that’s being perpetuated by the participants themselves who clearly have the most to gain by its growth. People see Microsoft trying to crawl out of hole and get in the game by swallowing Yahoo while Google continues to increase marketshare because MicroHoo is distracted and clueless.

Online ads. Who cares.

What I do care about is when someone I trust recommends a product. When Seth Godin blogged about Sigg bottles, I bought 6 of them. When I decided to purchase a DSLR camera, I looked at what Ken Rockwell recommended and bought the Nikon D40. This week my father purchased two Nikon D40 (one for work, one for himself) based on my recommendation. A coworker told me about Ecco shoes a few years ago and I’m hooked. The same goes for dozens of other products that came to my attention through friends, coworkers, family and bloggers I trust.

Go ahead Google. Continue stuffing more ads next to my search results but you can’t fool me. I won’t click on your ads. Same goes for Microsoft and Yahoo and Facebook and Digg and whomever else foolishly believes online ads will take over the world.

One last thought: If Google provides both the search results AND the ads next to these results, what incentive does it have to refine the results and make them as relevant as possible? Wouldn’t it make sense for Google to make the free results less accurate than the paid ads so that users take the bait and click on the paid ads?

Comic provided by Geek and Poke

Why Kai

While I was serving as a Mormon missionary in Germany, I was called to serve in a small town called Unna that lies a few miles east of the much larger city of Dortmund. I’d served about 6 months and was starting to feel comfortable with the German language although topics outside of church doctrine were still a challenge. But I loved tiny Unna and its friendly residents, great Bratwurst and cobblestone streets which wove through the town.

One afternoon, my companion and I walked into a tiny bookstore where we struck up a conversation with the bookkeeper. She invited us over to her home to meet her boyfriend; a guy named Kai. I remember the first visit well. Instead of presenting our prepared lessons about our church, Kai asked me to explain the rules of baseball. The four of us sat around a table while I took out a piece of paper and pen and began by drawing a baseball diamond and attempting, as best I could, to explain each position and its responsibilities. It wasn’t long before I asked to swap out my pen for a pencil because I was making a mess. I did the best I could explaining the basics of of the game and thought I was doing well until Kai asked me to explain the infield fly rule and what a balk is. I had about as much luck explaining the nuances of baseball as I did teaching them about my church.

We became good friends with Kai and Barbara over the few months I was assigned to Unna. We’d regularly stop by the bookstore to visit Barbara, and she would invite us over for dinner often. The only thing they asked of us was that we spend half the visit talking about our church and  and the other half discussing sports and music, Kai’s two favorite topics.

I didn’t exactly hit a home run with my baseball rules on a napkin diagram so we spent much of the visit listening to and discussing music, specifically Simon and Garfunkel which is Kai’s favorite. I’d heard a number of their songs by this time and began to like them a lot.

A mission is a strange thing. Although I was happy to be serving my church and making my family proud, I was often very lonely. Few people wanted to speak with me about the church which means most days were filled with rejection, slammed doors and a good dose of humility. Most Germans were very kind although the college age kids could be brutal and many harassed us every chance they had. As much as I wanted to jump off my bike and defend myself, doing so would earn me with a one-way ticket home. A mission is a two year exercise in restraint.

Meeting people as kind as Kai and Barbara was a treat for sure so I was bummed when I found out I’d be transferred to another city in less than a week. We spent a lot of time together during those few remaining days. During our last visit, I heard the song, “I Am A Rock” off Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits album. When I told Kai how much I enjoyed the song, he made a cassette tape I could take to my next town.

The day came to say goodbye and continue my service in a new area. Kai and Barbara took the day off to see me off at the train station. I had some rough days on my two year mission but this easily ranks near the top of crappy days. I said goodbye to my friends and boarded a train for Fulda. I sat down on the the squishy train seats with my headphones on listening to “I Am a Rock” watching my friends wave goodbye as tears streamed down my face. 

A winters day
In a deep and dark December;
I am alone,
Gazing from my window to the streets below
On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.
I am a rock,
I am an island

Simon & Garfunkel – I Am A Rock

When Kim and I were discussing names for our soon to arrive baby boy  last fall, I told her how much I liked the name Kai, and was surprised when she didn’t veto it because she had done just that with another German named liked: Hans. We named our son Kai which is a tribute to my friend who came into my life at exactly the right time. I loved his positive attitude and joy for life, and I hope we can raise our son to have those same attributes.