Bopril

iSad

We knew it was coming. But it doesn’t make it any easier to accept, or any less sad or jolting to go --- in just a moment’s time --- from a world with such a legendary artist to one without.

I’ve been watching the outpouring of sadness and remembrance and tributes and expressions of gratitude on a semi-constant loop, and I’m just…sad. Time is particularly cruel in this way, I think. It sneaks up on you and shows you in Technicolor how much a stranger meant to your daily life, how impactful his gifts were on your interactions, your connections, your work.

There isn’t much I can say, really --- and so many are saying it better than I ever could, but apart from the obvious fact that he will remain a legend, that he was creative brilliance personified, that he changed the world indelibly, more than once, I think the thing I’ll take away the most from this is what death always reminds us of: that none of it is certain. We can’t see to the end, no matter how much we might like to. There isn’t enough time to waste a moment, not enough days or hours or minutes to push to tomorrow what we could do today.

I hope that his innovation, determination and spirit will remain and will continue to inspire brilliance and out-of-the-box thinking, both within Apple’s walls and in schools and households and companies around the world. I hope we’ll learn something from his much too early passing, and that we’ll apply it to our own lives and construct our days in such a way as to live every last drop out of them.

I will continue to play in the immense playground that he built and left for us, and use his “toys” to create work that matters to me, and hopefully also to you. I will be grateful for his commitment to taking chances and pushing forward, always. I will remember him from time to time in the coming weeks and months and years when I swipe my finger across a shiny screen, and open up a whole world of engagement and creation and innovation, quite literally at my fingertips.

Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do. -Steve Jobs. 

 

RIP, Steve. And thank you, as much for the lessons on how to live my days as for the brilliant technology that helps me do it better.

Technostress! (The One About the Disappearing Blog)

It appears that a mix-up with the auto-renewal of this site's URL resulted in a period of time when ye old blog disappeared entirely.

Thanks, Mom, for alerting me right away (and to everyone else who emailed or tweeted)!

After a few hours of head scratching and consulting with the folks at Go Daddy, we appear to be back in business. And that makes us happy around here.

So, if you attempted to visit and got a rude error message, humblest apologies. And here are a few cute fur babe pictures, just because you're awesome, and just because they're also thrilled that Bopril didn't disappear into the cyber ether permanently.

Pummelled

Lately, I am pretty obsessed with video. I've been fooling around, looking for platforms, trying to bring photos and video footage to life in a compelling and fun way.

I started out with the goal of showing our 2010 year in review in photos compiled as video, but as you know from last week's post, I didn't quite succeed.

However, it is never too late for such a thing, right? Enter the oh so awesome Pummelvision, and voila---here you go---2010 in photos, stop-motion style so at times, it is almost as though you're watching video.

I sense a new obsession.

 

Game Changer

This post brought to you by a new app I just scored on the iPhone. I'm testing it out and if it works, posts could become a lot more frequent. God, I love technology.


And now, back to packing up our entire household.

New Toys

Last weekend, Hubby and I spent some quality time roaming the aisles of Best Buy -- I know this has long been designated a guy's playground, but the truth is, I love it there as much as he does (maybe more?) -- and we left with a couple of new toys to keep us occupied.

I'll spare you the play by play, but Internet, we have yet another flat screen television in our home -- this one proudly displayed in the bedroom -- and we absolutely love it. Even before we have the HD box hooked up so we can really take advantage of our new gadget in all its glory. In our defense, the television we were using previously was Hubby's from when he first moved to California, weighed about 3 trillion pounds and was always threatening to collapse the dresser upon which it perched. That thing had to GO is what I'm sayin.

Hubs quite enjoyed pulling the new guy out of its box and setting it up in its new home -- all in less than half an hour. There's something to be said for the smaller variety of flat screens. He decided to balance the brand new TV on our tiny outdoor cocktail table, giving me a small heart attack (but also a photo opp...bonus!):

 

Here is he is hard at work so you can get the full picture:

Moving so fast, I actually caught a blur on the camera! And here is our new flat-screen baby already tuned in to a much beloved channel:

Perhaps one of these days, all the Food Network watching will actually lead to a desire to cook - what do you think? Stranger things have happened, but just in case, I've suggested to Hubby that he might not want to hold his breath.   

In other news, Mama got a brand new lens for the fancy camera. So of course, I've been clicking away and am already amazed by the difference and the new limits I can push this photography thing - all because of a few focal points and the ability to zoom. Yep, I'm in love.

The fur-babes enjoyed a little midday sunlight (and the requisite nap to accompany it):

 

And look, things are starting to get really green around these parts:

Speaking of green, we leave bright and early tomorrow for some Derby fun and green is the preferred color for this year's dress. Sneak peek in 3...2...1...

Yep, it's purposely vague and cropped! I am evil. Oh and one more thing, I can really, seriously ZOOOOOOOOOM with my new toy:

Next time I am not leaving without an iPad. And that's final.

Happy hump day, folks. Thanks for reading.    
 

Weekendings

For the first time in quite awhile, Chicago decided to provide irrefutable proof that it actually IS that radiant, amazing city (most especially in the summer) that so many folks passionately describe. Often in the past 2 years since moving here, I've stared at these people, my eyes wide, confusion coloring my entire face, with an unfortunate array of proof points to the contrary. Not that I don't love this city - truthfully, I've had an affair with it from the beginning - it's just that...the weather - my GOD the weather - has at times made it seem impossible to want to stay here forever.

This weekend, though? I could see it. A future - ours - here in this spot. Because it was sparkly and bright, sunny and not humid, breezy but not gale-forced-knock-your-ass-over windy, and we could not get enough outdoor time. That is my favorite state of affairs, Internet. Because, truly there is no such thing as too much time spent outdoors.

We kicked things off with takeout from one of our favorite neighborhood haunts, and were fast asleep on a Friday night at an hour that would have made us cringe in earlier years. I'll let you guess the time all on your own. :)

I fed my inner tech-geek and finally brought home the MACdaddy of all gadgets (pun intended). Spent much of the remainder of the weekend playing with it and customizing to my own liking. It's been 2 days, and I'm already completely baffled at how life was even possible before this little guy. Dramatic, much?

Finally pulled the bikes out from their dusty winter home and did a nice long lakeside ride; miles and jello-legs and hours later, the walk up our stairs was painful, but the relaxation and mind-clearing capacity more than made up for it. The fur babes enjoyed the weather too; we freed the beloved orange ball from its prison in the very back of our car (where, frankly Jack can STILL sniff it out) and let them frolic for more than an hour. They made friends, they snapped at other "friends," Jack ran until we thought his tiny heart would explode, and Cooper ate his usual motherload of grass.

Dinner and Entourage and talk of weekends and plans ahead wound us down - and today is day one of the cleanse folks. Wish me well, will you? I have a feeling it is going to get interesting around here over the next 20 days.

And you?

p.s. - apologies for the lack of photos. iphone obession kept my camera out of use the majority of the weekend