TomasiFamily.Org

Website Refit

admin — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 18:10:27 +0000

We’ve redone our website (again). I apologize for the lack of updates for over two years (yes, it’s been that long.) I had lots of news to share and photos but two things got in the way. One was Apple’s iWeb software. While iWeb lets you produce beautiful web pages, it sucks for making quick updates. You have to use the same computer every time. In this case it was our main family computer that had the iWeb software and data on it. That also happens to be the busiest computer in the house. Getting time on it was always an issue. Now that the job has changed, I could have moved the data over to my work laptop or the studio computer, but that leads us to the second issue with iWeb. It’s just plain slow when you want to make updates. There’s no such thing as sitting down at the computer, cranking out a quick 5 minute blog post, and walk away. The blog post gets written, and the whole site needs to be saved, then uploaded. Ouch. That was easily a 20-30 minute task. No thank you. With WordPress, I can create content from almost anywhere – even on the road using my iPhone or iPad!

With WordPress getting more and more mature, we don’t lose a whole lot in the aesthetics department and can make blog posts more recent. Here’s my favorite part, I just found a plugin (add on software to WordPress) that lets me view photos posted to Facebook and create the same gallery in WordPress without re-uploading all the images.

In short, this site just got a lot easier to manage and you can look for more frequent updates.

Meet Holly

admin — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:26:08 +0000

Last Thursday Liisa got a call from her friend asking if she could take over ownership of her 8 month old cat. It was a bit short notice – the cat had to either find a new owner or go to the pound that night. We talked about it for a few minutes and finally agreed that it would be OK as long as nobody had an allergic reaction to the cat.

Liisa has been asking for a cat practically all summer so we weren’t totally unprepared for this discussion. Within minutes of the phone call, the cat, Holly, was at our house exploring everything she could. Liisa and I went out to get the necessary supplies (litter box, food, collar, ID tag, etc.) while Julie kept an eye on our newest family member. As soon as we got home she jumped in the litter box and took care of business. We knew instantly she was going to fit in just fine.

Holly has quite the little personality. She’s generally likes to be around our family members and will follow people from one room to the other, but likes to spend a few quiet moments on her own gazing out the window at the bugs and birds – even as I write this, she has jumped up on the ledge in the office and is gazing out the window with interest.

Time Well Spent

admin — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:57:34 +0000

Sometimes you have to make hard decisions in your life only later to find out they were the right ones. Such is the case in the last 30 days with me.

It was tough making a decision to stop doing the weekly Technorama podcast, but it was the right one. So many people told me, but it was tough to believe until yesterday. By spending less time on the podcast means I’m spending more time with the family. The investment paid off when Liisa was at Karate yesterday. It seems they are going to have a private showing of the new movie “Kung Fu Panda”. Each class they pick one student to win a pair of tickets. Last night, Liisa’s name was picked. I asked who she wanted to take and she said “I want to take you, Dad”. I urged her to ask Julie (her sister and best friend), but she was pretty determined with her decision. It’s a small step, and I’m so moved by the gesture.

It’s a Wonderful Life

admin — Sat, 17 May 2008 17:10:49 +0000

What can I say, things are going really well. The girls are doing well in school – looking forward to summer break. We’re getting geared up for our June trip to Hawaii, work on Podcasting for Dummies 2nd Ed is winding down, projects at work are going well, and the future looks bright. There’s more to tell in that last part, but I have to hold back a bit because the cat is not entirely out of the bag yet.

Also in the top secret department… As I write this I’m working on a birthday present for my Dad. His birthday isn’t until June 12, however we’ll be in Marquette for Memorial Day. My goal is to have it delivered to him in a week. This is going to be tough with everything else going on.

Stay tuned, there’s more cool new coming soon!

Dad Gets His New Belt

admin — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:46:28 +0000

Liisa is still four months ahead of me. She graduated to Brown at the same time I went to Red-Stripe. Only brown and brown stripe left until I’m a black belt. While that seems like a short time, it’s still 16 months of the three year program to go.

Check out the video of the form called “Conquest”. The first is a practice round, the second is part of the test to earn the belt on April 30th. Liisa did an awesome job as photographer (stills and video.)