... pronounced Albert Einstein

This is kind of a nerdy entry, but well worth the exposure.

I had the pleasure of sitting in on a technical presentation given by Steve Teig at my place of work.


As a brief background, he broke Thomas Edison’s record for filing the most patents in a year. As a result he was given a private tour of the National Archives and was allowed to hold Thomas Edison’s first light bulb.  He was introduced as “Steve Teig... that is T-E-I-G, pronounced Albert Einstein.”


This man is single-handedly changing the way our computers will work in the future.  His theories of escaping the Von Neumann architecture, labeled “non-Von architecture,” are incredible and have already been realized.  His work has integrated hardware and software to create “every ware.”


Meeting people like this is rare and I had to make the best of the opportunity with a picture.

Hello Dave

It has been a long time since I’ve posted anything here.  Either I have struggled to find anything worthy of a post, or I have been creatively lazy.

Jenny and I spent some time in the city with Lindsay and Mike.  Hello Dave had the honor of singing the National Anthem at the Cubs game on Thursday evening, and Jenny and I had the honor of hanging out with the band.


Hello Dave performed the same evening at Goose Island in Wrigleyville.  Here is an unedited video (shot with my iPhone 4) of Hello Dave performing “Soulshine” by the Allman Brothers Band.  Mike (Magoo) sang this at our wedding, and he dedicated it to “Jarrod and Peanut” at this show.

Crisis Averted

Last Sunday Jenny and I rode the Virgil Gilman Bike Trail from the Prairie Street parking lot to Waubonsee College.  On the way is Splash Country, located on the West side of Aurora.

It was a beautiful day... a perfect day for a picnic.  In fact, at Splash Country there was a family, of about 30 people, having a picnic on a few tables underneath a big strong oak tree.  It appeared they were celebrating a youngster’s birthday... a Cars themed birthday.


Upon arriving to Splash Country we heard some shouting and screaming coming from this “picnic area.”  At first Jenny and I assumed some children were playing a game.  But then we, and everyone else, heard a terrible snapping sound.  And the result was the limb, pictured above, falling directly on one of the two picnic tables.  Fortunately, everyone heard the limb snapping and was able to scatter in time... crisis averted.

Oh Hell!

It would seem that our Friday night card games have become a regular topic on here.  This is another silly video of us playing Oh Hell!  In retrospect, it’s actually pretty boring, but now that I’ve learned some more iMovie, it may have laid the ground work for some future videos.

And, if I were to stumble upon an iPhone 3Gs, I wouldn’t need to do stop-motion (although I’m kind of enjoying the stop-motion and plan to do more with it).


In the mean time, enjoy the video, and enjoy the Chemical Brothers.

Who's the birthday boy?

Today I celebrate my 32nd birthday.  And, last night I celebrated with friends!

We tried our best to take one good picture, but between feet sticking out and just plain silliness, we just couldn’t do it.  I’m kind of glad though, because then I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to create this silly video.


Thanks to our friends Trevor and Laura for hosting another fun-filled Friday night.  And thanks to Lynn and Elizabeth for the wonderful meal at our favorite Friday night hang out, Tap House Grill.

Welcome Home Ava Grace

Congratulations to Ben and Stephanie!  Little Ava was born on Thursday, May 14th.  She has all 10 fingers and 10 toes, and beautiful blue eyes!  And, as you can see she has quite a grip on Jenny’s finger.

We visited Ben and Stephanie at the hospital on Friday.  They were waiting for little Ava to pee... a requirement before being allowed to go home.  Apparently all she needed was Uncle Jarrod to hold her for a bit.  It wasn’t 15 minutes of rocking and she made a little mess in her little diaper!  And shortly after the nurse’s approval... it was “welcome home Ava Grace.”

New Ride

Check it!  We decided to enter the world of crossovers/SUVs with a 2009 Murano.  Now we don’t have to take two cars when we want to go biking, and we may have a chance at navigating back home when we get 50 inches of snow in an afternoon!  Well, at least Jenny will be able to.

We’re enjoying the new ride and look forward to planning our next road trip.  Hilton Head Island... here we come!