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There’s plenty of things to do with little ones in Manhattan – like, I don’t know, parks, museums, boat rides, subways, etc etc etc – but I do have soft spot for the Children’s Museum of Manhattan. Not only is it a full five floors of activities that keep small minds occupied but, much more importantly, it’s very well air-conditioned.
And so it was that at the height of summer I found myself there on a hot weekend with the Better Half and Jack. As the Better Half went to check the stroller, I headed downstairs to the restroom to change Jack’s diaper. When I returned to the entrance level, Better Half was nowhere to be seen. Rather than put Jack – who was a bit put out and doing that thrashing-around-from-the-waist thing that only toddlers can really do when you’re holding them – down, I stood outside the big room on the first floor, which was full of screaming kids and harried parents, dialed her and propped the phone under my ear.
So picture this if you will: a thrashing, screaming child; a sweaty, harassed me holding said child, a fetching feminine changing bag and my wife’s handbag. And standing next to me, looking at me pityingly, was Laurence Fishburne.
There was a moment, just a moment, where I thought of saying hello. Then Better Half’s phone started ringing inside her handbag that I was holding, Jack started thrashing some more, and a big bead of sweat dribbled down the back of my neck. He looked away. The moment passed, which is probably for the best since all that was running through my mind was how badly The Matrix had aged, how much I hadn’t liked him in CSI, and how incredibly bad he’s been in Predators – although he’ll always be Furious Styles to me.
Anyway, I caught up with Better Half upstairs (at the other restrooms, where she thought I’d taken Jack) and told her about my close-ish encounter. Her first reaction? “Does that mean Gina Torres is in here somewhere?”
Once a Browncoat, always a Browncoat.
This certainly isn’t the post I was expecting to write for my second day of my new blog, but the world is what it is.
Steve Jobs – who died yesterday after fighting pancreatic cancer for over seven years – was an incredible visionary and innovator, not to mention salesman.
President Obama said:
“…there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.”
That’s true. And its those Apple devices – not to mention Jobs’ involvement in Pixar story – that will be the legacy that he leaves behind for those who did not know him personally.
As I write this on my Mac laptop with my iPhone next to me, Jack is trying (not successfully) to put a video on the iPad, and I know that these devices form the basis of his future.
One of the easiest ways to occupy him while we’re out is putting a Pixar movie or short on the iPhone or iPad (currently, the Toy Story movies, Monsters Inc and Presto are all guaranteed to get his attention) – but I can already see him being interested in them more, and my mind boggles at the base level of technology that he’ll grow up with – thanks in large part to the innovation of Steve Jobs.
I know this video will be circulating widely on the internet in the next few days and weeks, but it’s worth a watch; Jobs’ commencement speech at Stanford in 2005.
The words which strike home most are these:
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
Food for thought. Not a bad way to live your life. Not a bad thing to raise your children to believe.
RIP Steve Jobs, 1955-2011.
“Eternal Flame” source:XKCD
A new site for a new focus (this being my former home).
I’ve been a father for almost two years now, with my son taking up more and more of my time – and I couldn’t be happier. Yes, it’s necessitated a change in lifestyles and, yes, a change in finances, but every time he laughs, or smiles, or hugs me or his mother I couldn’t be happier.
As a dyed-in-the-wool geek (or possibly nerd, I never really worked out the difference, although I suspect the variance is something to do with pocket protectors, or train-track braces, or chess clubs, or something) some of the things I look forward to most are sharing my interests with Jack (for that is his name) as he grows up.
Those interests? Comics. Movies. TV. Games. Science Fiction. Toys. Star Trek. Star Wars. Lost. Battlestar Galactica. Buffy. Angel. You get the idea…
The ironic thing is that I’m actually cutting back on my biggest geek expense, comics. After more years than I care to count, I’m largely abandoning my weekly trip to the comic store. Oh, I’ll pick up some monthlies still, and some trades (probably via Amazon), and some digital comics via Comixology and other nifty apps, but we’re talking a 95% pull back on the hobby.
So while I’ll encourage Jack to embrace comics when he gets to reading age – or at least an age where he can turn pages without an overwhelming urge to crumple them up – I probably won’t be getting many myself when he does.
Until then, though, there’s always t-shirts:
- Ringing in the New Year with a theraflu watching Central Park fireworks from my kitchen #livingthehighlife http://t.co/p5XrdavM
- Wait. Did someone change twitter again while I was away? Serves me right.
- Happy New Year, Brits!
LEGO Advent Calendars!
