Tiny Fun House

Belbs and Cola

Pete — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 06:26:43 +0000

Spending time with Cola (and Buttercup), Belby's Knoxville neighbors.

Six years ago: Negotiations

Pete — Fri, 20 May 2011 23:00:19 +0000

Working out the logistics of our engagement with the restaurant host was quite a bit more difficult than getting the consent of my future parents-in-law. Thanks to Mark J.’s early camera work on this one, my excessive gesturing is preserved for all time. Here’s a link to the one-year retrospective, which provides a touch more detail. (The video link on the Nuplog page is broken; it’s the same as the one below in any case.)

Bostons can swim

Pete — Sun, 08 May 2011 20:00:24 +0000

Who said flat-nosed, chicken-leg tiny Boston Terriers can't swim?

Stalking

Pete — Sat, 07 May 2011 18:26:55 +0000

You can’t really see it, but the squirrel is perched just above the hose hanging on the fence. The dog’s slow-mo is all natural.

Super Moon

Pete — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 21:49:13 +0000

I wasn’t super pleased with my super moon photos from last night. I’ll try again next time.

Below is the area behind our building with a 20- or 30-second exposure.

Chenango Lake

Pete — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:00:35 +0000

I offer this photo in honor of one of the Tiny Fun House’s remaining visitors.

Melissa and I joined a number of friends for the weekend in Central New York the weekend before last. The agenda included Syracuse basketball and the time-honored tradition of fruitless icefishing. (But yes, we have caught a fish or two. And yes, they were small.)

We had a great time, especially thanks to our hosts in Norwich, New York.

Architecture of a family photo

Pete — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 19:59:45 +0000

My cousin recently asked about the family photo sent with my parents’ 2010 Christmas card. The photo includes my parents, Melissa, me, and both Belby and Tux. Tux is notoriously bad tempered with other dogs, so how did we get a picture with both dogs seated so calmly together, looking at the camera? Magic? No. We did it by taking a ton of shots.

Here’s a slideshow of the production.

A quick & dirty standing desk experiment

Pete — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 04:07:52 +0000

I have terrible posture, especially at my desk. There’s been much discussion of standing desks and treadmill desks (even here at the Tiny Fun House), and I thought I’d see if a little standing station would help me get my chin up. Of course, I didn’t want to invest too much in a fad. And I wanted to keep it pretty spare, so I would also be forced to stay focused. I swapped the Royal Quiet DeLuxe for my iPad, a desktop easel and a wireless keyboard. The keyboard was a loaner (thanks, Meeghan!), but after a morning of standing at my little station, wouldn’t you know it but my lunchtime trip to the dry cleaners happened to pass BestBuy.

(The portable desktop easel is not really the best long-term solution for supporting the iPad. I’m going to figure something else out.)

The station is best suited for focused writing and inbox-clearing (yeah, right) rather than, say, research or gathering. Or editing*, even. But the limited “desk” surface keeps me from laying paper-pile attention traps for myself. Of course, there were awkward questions from co-workers (“Um, I hate to ask, but what exactly are you doing?”), and though I only spent a few hours of my day standing, my feet definitely detected the change. I found them doing a little dance to shift the weight.

Today I was mostly popping out e-mail missives and overwrought memoranda. Tomorrow, though, I have some actual writing writing to do.

*Results may vary. My editing process involves the scritch-scratch of pencils and/or the comment functions in Word, neither of which are readily supported on the iPad.

Happy New Year to all

Pete — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 06:52:07 +0000

These are a pair of the turkey sliders we scarfed on New Years Eve. (We’re saving a couple for you, Lindsay. Here’s to your health! Hope you feel better soon.)

Cola stops by

Pete — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 19:51:45 +0000

Cola, my folks’ neighbors’ chocolate lab, came by to run around with Belbs. And then there was a post-playdate bath and de-slobberification.

Here’s video on Dropbox.