markclea weblog

Feed should be set now

2008-10-10T08:53:00.003-05:00

For those of you subscribed to the new feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/markcleafeeds, I think it should be a go now, and moving forward everything should be smooth. There might be some confusiness (that's not a word) today, but just make like you never saw it. As I post things to separate sites, we'll see how the feed holds up. If it doesn't work like I want it to, I'll try to fix it, but if I can't, I'll probably just trash the idea.

Also, if you want to see the page where the feed originates from, you can go here (not sure why it's set up as https, but hey, whatever, it works in both http and https): https://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/06128103336565407440/label/markclea%20feeds.

Please note that the rss feed address on this page is different than the feedburner page, so if you subscribe from that page, you'll get a different address. Feedburner gives me some interesting analytics, and the raw rss does not. I'm sure it will in the future though. Choose whichever one you want.

feedback?

2008-10-09T21:25:00.001-05:00

this is a test post for feedback loop in rss feed, might need to change some settings, but then again maybe everything is ok.

Combining Feeds

2008-10-09T15:45:00.000-05:00

Alright, as some of you may, or may not know, I've been trying to find an easy and effective way to combine multiple RSS feeds into one feed. I've always wanted to be able to just post something to one site, and have it automatically be posted somewhere else. For instance, if I wanted to post a gallery of pictures to a photo gallery site, I'd really rather not have to do the work to post a link to that specific gallery to my weblog. It seems pretty redundant.

I tried several different things like posting images directly in weblog posts instead of in galleries, using tumblr to try to blend feeds, and ultimately, the answer was always right in my reach. Google Reader.

I use Google Reader everyday keeping up with my 100s of rss feeds. Basically, I try to read a lot. What I didn't know was that I could create a tag (also called a folder), add feeds to it, and then share that feed as a web page, publicly. This web page, in turn, has an rss feed. Instant feed combining and blending.

So, currently, of my many, many readers (pffffpfftppt), you're probably subscribed to my main blogger rss feed, which is http://feeds.feedburner.com/markclea. This feed won't go away, so if you want to still be subscribed to just that feed, that's cool. But, if you'd like to try something new and different, and keep up with all my goings on, you can subscribe to this new feedburner feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/markcleafeeds. This feed contains, or will contain the latest and greatest from image galleries, video sites, and blogging platforms that I use. I'll be curious to know how this will all turn out. Currently, the feed might be a bit confusing, because it looks like it organizes feeds in the order that I added them to Google Reader, which isn't necessarily in chronological order. I'd suggest just ignoring the past items available in the feed for now, and wait for the next thing.

Feeding the feed

2008-08-26T21:50:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything here, and this is going to serve as a test to feed the "feed". If this works as I expect, I'll probably be changing some feedburner RSS feed settings in the near future. I'll post to let you know if feeds change, so you can decide to either unsubscribe, and subscribe again, or just keep things as it is. All I can say is, thank goodness this isn't a high traffic site. I'd have some explaining to do.

Seven bucks the hard way

2008-06-04T19:42:00.003-05:00

Today is the last day of paternity leave for me. I think it should be law that all employers must give 10-12 weeks off every year. I mean, it's not like we don't have people looking for work, right? It could just be a rotation of employees... I think it'd work rather well. I'm sure no one else is with me.

To put a good note on where my focus is lately, I went to half price books to peddle some cassettes, VHS tapes, and some books yesterday. The guy that rung me up responded to my Riddle of Steel shirt by saying, "I have that same shirt in brown. It's the only brown shirt I own." In the past, I'm sure I would have struck up a conversation about Riddle of Steel, saying how completely awesome they are, or when the last time I saw them was, or if they had the latest record. Instead, I responded by saying, "my five month old likes this shirt too. He is constantly grabbing here, and here." To which he responded... "heh, heh, kitty cats."

Funny how things work like that. Our total gain from half price books was seven bucks. I went and got gas right after that, and it was $52.

First Rice Cereal

2008-06-02T21:28:00.001-05:00

Ethan had his first rice cereal today. He did pretty well with it. This parenting thing... everything is new!

Four Generations

2008-06-01T21:26:00.001-05:00

We all got together today for lunch... here's the picture I forgot to take last time.

Race for the Cure

2008-05-31T12:21:00.001-05:00

We did Race for the Cure today. A 3.5 mile walk around Madison's neighborhoods. There was talk of doing a 60 mile walk over 3 days next year, but I'd have to gracefully bow out of that one...

Daycare Visit

2008-05-30T12:18:00.000-05:00

We spent about 40 minutes at the daycare today, and it seemed to go pretty well. He had a bit of stranger anxiety but we got it under control. We walked Ethan around a bit, and showed him to the other kids there. They seem like a pretty good group, and Ethan couldn't stop watching them play around and looking at books. I think the kids were equally enthralled with Ethan. Judy said he looked just like the babies in the pictures hanging on the wall, like something right out of a postcard. He did finally flash a smile at Judy when we were about to leave, but overall, he was pretty somber. I wonder if it's because he was tired as well... he didn't nap before we went over. Right now, he's conked out in the car seat. He fell asleep as soon as we pulled out of her driveway. Judy suggested that we try to get him over there again, maybe a couple of times, because there will be separation anxiety when his daycare time starts up, more than likely, and this would help it. I think that's a pretty good idea. Maybe a couple of times when it's closer to when we are handing him off to daycare. After visiting today, I'm willing to bet that Ethan will have a great time at daycare.

Memorial day parade

2008-05-26T17:06:00.002-05:00

Ethan took in a memorial day parade today, and seemed to have a good time. The parade is staged on our street in front of our house, so we saw everything in the raw, all the setup, all the yelling of "keep your feet in line, and take even steps!" A fire engine honked its horn, and that freaked him out for a bit, but he didn't get to crying about it because Brandy and I both soothed him.

I went paddling for the first time this year, and got strange striped sunburn marks from the space between my gloves and my long-sleeved shirt. I'm still really unhappy with the seat in my kayak, but the kayak handles really well, so it's a weird combination. I played around a bit with how I get out of the kayak, and I think I may have found a good way to do it, but I'm not sure. I'm still looking for a different setup for my seat. Any paddle longer than an hour is just terrible in it.

It's a zoo around here...

2008-05-24T16:48:00.002-05:00

Seems like everyone wanted to go to the zoo this past weekend. Sounds good to me! Ethan rolled around, front facing in the stroller for the first time, and we were there for about 20-30 minutes. He looked around a bit, but then he fell asleep, so we took off. Plus, it was pretty sunny, and we can't put sunscreen on him just yet.

Ethan's first typed words transcript

2008-05-22T16:59:00.001-05:00

11:53 AM
me: bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbn nmmmg dtvyrrgg ccccbbbbbbb4444444bcvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvctfffffff

11:54 AM
Ashley: python seems real cool though.

oh, hi ethan!

me: that was written by ethan, his first words!

Ashley: awesome!

me: he seriously has never touched the keyboard before....

11:55 AM
Ashley: i feel so honored to be a part of this. if you wanted to be a total geek, you could print out the chat transcript and frame it

11:56 AM
me: ggtygvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv78k,l mmmm./ d ttn fggcxxcgmtx cx cvgeeeeeeeeeeeetctgbb bgggggbg

11:58 AM
me: crap, this is hilarious, he just opened a ton of windows, all from the keyboard

11:59 AM
me: Fonts, New Message, a Spotlight search...

Drain clog...

2008-05-19T16:26:00.000-05:00

Not only are we still dealing with stuff related to our basement (we're still pondering a bid for installing proper drainage outside, and waiting to meet with basement system specialist), but now our shower/tub is totally plugged. It takes about an hour to drain. I was able to take the drain pipes apart, and snake and clean them (which looked like dyed black clown hair), but there's a pretty major clog that's still not going down. I know what you're thinking, when would I have time to totally take apart a drain and clean it? I have no idea where I found the time. We had a plumbing company come over, and they were able to get the clog out, but they said we need to get rid of the old, outdated, plumbing (drum trap) underneath the tub to permanently fix the problem. I have a feeling this will be an interesting bid... oh well, at least we wanted to replace the tub anyway, right? But add this to the basement stuff, and it's feeling pretty crazy to be a homeowner right about now.

The weekend of many things

2008-05-18T16:09:00.002-05:00

This weekend was starting to look like a busy one a while ago, and that was kind of an understatement. On Saturday night, we went to Brandy's Mom's 60th birthday party at Benvenutos. Ethan had a pretty difficult time with that place, and was really scared of just about everything. I don't know if it was the lighting, or the smells, or all the people, but he was pretty scared of just about everything there. We were trying to get a picture with Great Grandma Jackson, but it just wasn't going to happen as he was scared, and it was really windy outside. One thing I remember from the meal was that people moved from the room we were in, to a different room, to avoid being around a kid who was being a bit fussy. That was pretty good.

After the birthday dinner, we were to go to Glass Nickel Pizza for a wedding/graduation celebration, and I was wondering how that was going to go. Turns out, as soon as he got in the place, he quieted down, and was really just observant and curious. I think it helped that other kids were around, and seemed pretty curious about him. He seems to like being the center of attention.

Today, we went to Richland Center for a 90th birthday party of Brandy's neighbor from Baraboo. Ethan did very well throughout the whole thing except when things got quiet. When there was a prayer before people eating, he was putting his two cents in towards the end by doing his classic babbling. When there were other quiet parts, I just took him out in the hallway and walked with him, and he calmed down. After the birthday party, we went to visit Great Grandma Sharp, and the visit lasted about 5 minutes. Ethan still hadn't had a nap, and was really fussy, and I think a little scared. We've never seen him so scared over the weekend, but we can usually tell when he's scared, as opposed to communicating, by the way his lower lip curls out in a pout. I don't know what he was scared about, and the look on Great Grandma's face when we said we were going to go wasn't good, but I'm sure she understood. The ride home was a bit taxing on us, as he wouldn't fall asleep, and then when he finally did, it was about time for him to eat, which he fussed about. There were many stops on this drive home, which was alright by me. I wasn't looking forward to mowing the lawn when we got home...

Mom's Day

2008-05-11T16:04:00.002-05:00

The first Mom's day for Brandy was marked with waffle making, and going out to eat for lunch with Great Grandpa Lea, and Grandpa Lea. Four generations of Lea's and I didn't take a picture. I definitely will the next time, that's for sure.

First night with Ethan at Grandma and Grandpa's

2008-05-04T14:12:00.002-05:00

We scheduled Ethan's fifth doctor's appointment to coincide with a friends wedding, so that Brandy wouldn't have to take more time off from work than she needed to. This kind of created a scheduling difficulty that was a bit stressful, but it was all figured out over time. Probably the worst part about all of this was that he got the same shots he got last time, but he seemed a bit more aware of things, so these shots seemed worse. In fact, as soon as the doctor came in, he started pouting and crying like he was scared. The only other time I've seen him that way was when I sneeze, or something startles him. [edit for weight and measurement] He weighed 16lbs, and measured 24 inches. [edit] Unfortunately, we got his appointment done, and then immediately came home to drop him into Grandpa's car so we could go to the wedding rehearsal. He seemed to be doing ok at that time, but when I called later that night to check in on him, Ethan was crying as loud as I've heard him. It sounded like his scared cry again, and I debated coming home to get him, instead of staying where we were. It was pretty emotional, but I just thought that it'd be best if I stayed put, and that he'd be ok, which he was. The next morning I called, and he was fine, and he was fine throughout the day as well. It was a long couple of nights, and Brandy and I definitely rushed over to get him right away in the morning.

Door County

2008-04-26T13:55:00.003-05:00

After surveying the basement, and the trip up (and getting pulled over) yesterday, this day is a new day. It was much, much colder, and Door County was basically closed, but it was kind of nice traveling around. We stopped up to see a bench we had gotten in memory of my Grandma, but the trail to it was underwater.

We got plenty of food stuffs, and got Ethan a stuffed crab with cool teething rings on the side. We tried to go down to the bay where we stayed, but it was too windy and cold. I've never seen the waves that big on the bay.

Basement Flooded... again.

2008-04-25T13:48:00.001-05:00

I'm not sure what it is about going to Door County, but our basement flooded again. We made last minute plans to go to Door County for our 5th wedding anniversary, taking Ethan with us. I walked downstairs in the morning, and whaddya know, squishy, squishy, sloppy, sloppy. This time, the damage to furniture was more minimal, but the seepage was more extensive. There just wasn't much downstairs to be damaged. I ripped out most of the carpet squares, and removed CDs from wooden shelves, and basically just tried to take care of everything that the water touched. This time, the water really seeped into my custom built speaker cabinet, so that's pretty much non-salvageable. I'll have to take that apart and start over. Or just pony up for a real speaker cabinet.

Ethan Rolling

2008-04-24T13:45:00.000-05:00

Ethan Rolling from Mark C. Lea on Vimeo.

At the Union

2008-04-20T13:15:00.001-05:00

It was a pretty nice day out, so we decided to get out and about and check out some things in downtown Madison, including the UW Memorial Union. I had been down there about 3 weeks prior picking up Wisconsin Film Fest tickets with Ethan, and boy was I getting some good looks as the students were changing for class. This was much different (it was the weekend too), so we weren't getting as many crazy looks.