Brandon E Taylor's Weblog Cogitations, Meditations, and Ruminations

Potty Trained by 2?

Two weeks ago, Caleb had his first successful self-initiated experience - a very satisfying #1 - with his potty chair. Today, he almost pulled off a "bifecta" with a self-initiated #1 AND #2 (I will spare you the details related to being almost successful). At 19 months, he seems to be making a lot of good progress. I suspect, however, that it would be remarkably over-ambitious to expect him to be fully potty trained by 2. A man can always hope, though. :-) ( Sep 08 2006, 01:15:00 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [1]

Employment Update

In short, I am still a Sun employee. While reductions in force are not terribly pleasant, this move was a necessary one. As a company and as individuals we now have a prime opportunity to refocus and move forward with a renewed sense of purpose and passion. I, for one, am tremendously excited by the possibilities. ( Aug 05 2006, 12:11:49 AM PDT ) Permalink

I'm Back

For all of the reasons that I started blogging back in October 2004, I have decided to restart the practice after over a year of inactivity. The past year has been an extraordinarily busy one for me and my family and blogging was one of the many things for which I was unable to set aside sufficient time. Things have not gotten any less busy, but I expect to squeeze in a bit of blogging from time to time in the wee hours (when I should be sleeping). :-) ( Aug 05 2006, 12:08:33 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [1]

The Glass is Always Full

A peer of mine recently claimed that I 'always see the glass as half full'. While this comment was intended as a compliment, I felt it necessary to correct him. I prefer to look at things this way - the nature of the contents and their relative contributions to the overall volume might change, but the glass is always full. :-)
( May 23 2005, 11:52:02 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [2]

32 Today

Tiffany and I had her parents and her brothers' families over to our house this evening to celebrate my 32nd birthday. My wife made her specialty - lasagna - and baked a terrific cake. Although I have never been a big fan of celebrating my birthday, it is always nice to have an opportunity to visit with relatives. The phone calls I received from my relatives in Missouri this morning were also very nice.

Year #32 was a great year for me. I am looking forward to #33 being great as well.
( Apr 30 2005, 09:11:10 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

Smiling and Laughing

Caleb started smiling frequently a couple of weeks ago and is now laughing occasionally. I would have never guessed that such simple things could inspire so much joy in my wife and me.

Caleb is also starting to notice his hands and feet. He loves to bat at the toys that we hang on his car seat and his cradle. He has been strongly moving his arms and legs almost since birth. We expect him to start crawling any day now.
( Apr 13 2005, 12:45:51 AM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

Back Home

My D.C. trip was very productive from a work perspective and enriching from a personal perspective. Despite this, I am very glad to be back home with my wife and son. This was the longest period of time I have spent away from them since Caleb's birth.

I was actually supposed to have been home yesterday, but a significant snowstorm saw to it that my trip was extended by a day. I have lived in Colorado for almost 10 years now and I am still not used to the wildly fluctuating weather conditions. It was 70 degrees when I left Denver for D.C. and I returned, less than a week later, to two feet of snow.
( Apr 11 2005, 02:49:57 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

D.C. - Air and Space Museum

I was supposed to have flown back to Denver this evening, but a snow storm in Colorado has seen to it that I stay in D.C. another night. I am booked on a red eye flight tomorrow morning and have my fingers tightly crossed.

I spent the bulk of the day at the Air and Space Museum, reportedly the world's most visited museum. Like the American History Museum, the exhibits in this museum, and the stories behind them, are excellent.

The Milestones of Flight exhibit is especially fascinating. Included in this exhibit are the Ryan NYP "Spirit of St. Louis", the craft in which Charles Lindbergh made the first nonstop solo transatlantic flight; the Bell X-1 "Glamorous Glennis", the craft in which Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier; the Mercury "Friendship 7", the craft in which John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth; the North American X-15, the the first winged aircraft to reach Mach 6 and to operate above 100K feet; and the Apollo 11 Command Module "Columbia", the command module for the first manned lunar landing mission. I viewed the Wright 1903 Flyer, usually part of this exhibit, in the relatively new The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age gallery.

The galleries dedicated to military artifacts - Legend, Memory and the Great War in the Air; World War II Aviation; and Sea-Air Operations - were also quite nice. Interesting military artifacts displayed outside of these galleries include a German V-2, the world's first ballistic missile, and a Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe, the first successful jet fighter.

I have always had an interest in rocketry, and the Air and Space Museum does not disappoint in this area either. An entire gallery is devoted to Rocketry and Space Flight. I was delighted to find that this gallery contained terrific examples of early Congreve, Hale, and Goddard rockets. Rockets in other parts of the museum include the WAC Corporal, Viking, Jupiter-C, Vanguard, Scout-D, and missiles like the V-2 (mentioned above), Minuteman III, Pershing II, and SS-20.

After leaving the Air and Space Museum, I walked through the Hirshhorn Statue Garden on my way to the Metro. The Garden provides a nice setting to display a number of interesting works. I found The Miner (Saul Baizerman, 1939-45) to be particularly captivating.
( Apr 10 2005, 10:49:08 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

D.C. - American History Museum

I spent today walking around the Mall and visiting the American History Museum and the National Archives. I now know that (Cherry Blossom Festival + nice weather) = huge crowds.

Due to the large crowds, it was a bit more difficult than I would have liked to view the American History Museum exhibits. Despite this, the visit was fulfilling. The museum was a wonderful opportunity to immerse myself in the history of this great country. There is something truly awe inspiring about viewing artifacts like the Star-Spangled Banner, George Washington's sword and scabbard from the War of Independence, the Appomattox Court House chairs used by Grant and Lee, and the flag unfurled at the Pentagon the morning after 9/11.

My favorite exhibit was >a href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/">The Price of Freedom: America at War. It was fascinating to view artifacts from the wars that won and maintained our independence and defended our national interests. The collections of flags, photographs, uniforms, swords, medals, equipment, etc. were simply incredible. As you might imagine, the collection of firearms displayed in this exhibit, along with those in the Gunboat Philadelphia gallery, were also very impressive.

Several of the exhibits that appealed to the engineering geek in me were Science in American Life, Engines of Change: The American Industrial Revolution, 1790-1860, and Information Age: People, Information & Technology. The Engines of Change exhibit displays artifacts associated with the Industrial Revolution in America. The collection of engines and generators in this exhibit is exceptional. The Information Age exhibit chronicles the information age with artifacts from a Morse telegraph and a Bell telephone, through a collection of computers including parts of ENIAC and early PCs like the Altair 8800. The exhibit pays tribute to Sun's role by displaying an early Sun workstation.

The Hall of Agriculture was another exhibit of special interest to me (due to my rural upbringing). The exhibit is nice but, IMHO, is too small in proportion to the importance of agriculture to this country. Interesting artifacts in the Hall of Agriculture include a 1903 Hart Parr tractor, a 1918 Waterloo Boy tractor, and a 1943 International Harvester cotton picker.

I hope to be able to visit the American History museum again in the near future as my visit, while it took up the better part of a day, did not afford an opportunity to see everything to the extent I would have liked. Nevertheless, I am gratified to have had the opportunity to spend what time I did in this exceptional museum.

After visiting the American History Museum, I headed over to the National Archives to view some of our nations formative documents. I had very little time for this visit so I went straight to the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom. Standing in front of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights was an experience that I will never forget. I felt simultaneously thrilled, awed, and humbled as I viewed these magnificent documents.

( Apr 09 2005, 10:36:07 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

Working in Reston

I flew into Dulles today to spend the rest of the week working with a group of folks putting one of the soon-to-be-announced products with which I am associated through its paces at one of our data centers in Reston, VA. Today was very productive and I expect the rest of the week to be even more so.

I have decided to extend my trip through the weekend so that I can spend some time in our nation's capital. I have never visited D.C. so I am consequently very excited. I am particularly looking forward to visiting the National Archives and some of the Smithsonian museums- something I have been wanting to do for quite some time. Obviously, I will not be able to see all 16 of the facilities. I am planning on at least visiting the American History Museum and the Air and Space Museum. I will have to wait until a future visit to see the rest.
( Apr 06 2005, 10:36:17 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [4]

2 Month Checkup

Caleb had his two month checkup today and everything continues to look good. His weight is up to 10 pounds 4 ounces and his length is now 22 inches. To his dismay, he underwent a hefty round of immunizations - three injections in all. While not terribly happy about it, he made me very proud by bearing it with an admirable degree of stoicism.
( Mar 28 2005, 10:30:23 PM PST ) Permalink Comments [0]

Caleb's First Easter

Caleb's first Easter was a fine one. We started the day by reading the story of Easter from Caleb's children's Bible (he was appropriately attentive). We then dressed him up and attended a beautiful Easter Mass at St. John's. After church, we enjoyed Easter dinner with family at Tiffany's brother's house. There was an Easter egg hunt after dinner and Caleb managed, with a bit of help, to find an egg of his own. We ended the day by calling the grandparents in Missouri. Caleb is really starting to vocalize a lot so this was a real treat for the folks to which we spoke.
( Mar 27 2005, 09:09:51 PM PST ) Permalink Comments [0]

Family Visit

My mother and my brother headed back home to Missouri yesterday after a terrific visit. It would have been nice if they could have stayed for Easter, but they both have to work on Monday and consequently needed to get back.

Obviously, the primary intent of the visit was to spend some time with Caleb. This was, after all, my brother's introduction to his future godson. Fortunately, they were also able to take in a few sites during the last couple of days of their trip.

We walked around Pearl Street Mall in Boulder on Thursday. I have personally never found Pearl Street as alluring as many, but it was a real treat for my aunt. On Friday, before Good Friday service, we made a trip down to Estes Park. It was cold and blustery, but we all had a good time.

Tiffany and I are now looking forward to taking Caleb to Missouri, in the very near future, for the first time to visit some of the relatives that he has not yet had an opportunity to meet.
( Mar 26 2005, 09:08:06 PM PST ) Permalink Comments [0]

Big Day for Caleb

Caleb had a big day today.

He spent the first part of the day getting lavished with attention from my recently arrived relatives

In the afternoon, my brother Jeff and I took him to the Denver Zoo for his first visit. While he is still less than two months old, he is already very alert and appeared to be captivated by many of the animals. This was also, btw, Jeff's first visit to our fine zoo.

After our zoo visit, we all (including my mother and Tiffany) attended Palm Sunday Mass.

I am now hoping against hope that all this activity will tire Caleb sufficiently to cause him to sleep through most of the night. :-)
( Mar 20 2005, 09:34:14 PM PST ) Permalink Comments [0]

Family In Town

My mother, my oldest brother, Jeff, and my aunt and cousin are coming to visit for 4 or 5 days, starting today. This visit is very special to us for two primary reasons: 1) it will be the first time that my brother Jeff, Caleb's Godfather-to-be, has met the baby and 2) it will provide an opportunity for us to enjoy part of Holy Week together.
( Mar 19 2005, 04:13:30 PM PST ) Permalink Comments [0]