'Elloh Grandfahtha

Hi Internet.

We are crazy busy people! Emily is feeling so adequate at teaching first grade that she decided to get a job for half an hour today at McDonald's (This is a true story). Unrelated to McDonald's, Emily has been somewhat sickly because of the snot-filled, nose-pickin', bum-grabbing, swine-flu infested AHEM very cute 1st graders.

Cameron loves good music, good books, and the Internet.

Real Frogs

No fake ones here. Go meet my internet friend at www.real-frogs.com.

And Now, Abandonware

I've noted twice before instances under which I'll "violate" current copyright law. Here's another.

Emily has a teacher friend who helped her out by giving her hundreds of 1st grade lesson plans, homework packets, and other teaching resources. Sadly, the vast majority of these files were created in AppleWorks, the previous incarnation of Apple's iWork line, which was abandoned by Apple about two years ago.

Hmm. Maybe if we just open the files in a text editor. Gobbledigook.

Hmm. Maybe we could just try Word or OpenOffice. Looks like the quadratic formula exploded.

No problem, I thought. Hit up cometdocs.com and convert the files to .doc's. Might take awhile, but it's do able.

No go. Cometdocs can't do it. And there does not exist a free converter for .cwk files.

Why free, you ask?

Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the Constitution gives the purpose of copyright and patents:

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

The purpose is to promote progress; that's the goal. How? Secure monetary incentive for discoveries for a limited time. This provides creators with a reason to create, protects the incentive, and ultimately moves technology forward. The Founders were Inspired Men.

So what money is Apple making from AppleWorks? ...I'm sure if it existed, they'd find it.

Enter Google. A few torrent searches, a 20 minute download, and TA-DA, AppleWorks is up and running.

Need AppleWorks? Grab the torrent here.

An Ode

I've had a lot of math homework lately, which means I've had lots of "I hate mathematics" moments-- which really means that I've had lots of alone time, lost in thought. Besides the 'not-actually-doing-math 'math time'', Emily has been away 11 of the past 19 days.

It's human nature to throw around superlatives. Stay with me.

Homie at the car wash tonight heard The Man Who Invented Soul coming from my open door, and, half-smiling, half-thuggin', said (twice, very fast) "You don't know about that."

No one knows Emily better than I do. This is to be expected; we're married.

This being true, I get to see how misunderstood she is by many people. Honestly, the first things I heard about her from others after we met were not positive. In their own way, these individuals sparked in me a retaliation against how I felt many people viewed me. I've always been partial to Brother Joseph's statement, "You don’t know me; you never knew my heart."

Nothing I can say will really change those who already have their mind made, but I want to give an affirmation of what I see from my perspective.

Emily is the least self-concerned person I know. She actively seeks those who need a friend.

Emily is perceptive and recognizes good opportunities.

Emily is forgiving, and a quick forgiver at that. She isn't interested in making a man an offender for a word, in scoring points for her ego, or gratifying pride, vain ambition, etc.

Emily cares about things that are important, and leaves no room for things that don't.

Emily is not a quick study. She masks this very well. The box to the game Othello I'd see in the closet growing up said something like "A minute to learn. A lifetime to master." Yeah.

Emily is a fast learner. I think she sometimes feels unknowledgeable, but I'll take her wisdom over any dude's info-fluffhead brain.

Emily would never tell you how stupid you are being, even when you deserve it.

Emily inately exemplifies the 13th Article of Faith.

Emily enjoys the simple, but isn't blind to complexity.

I could continue.

Emily is a beautiful woman. I'm lucky enough to know her very well, and invite you to as well.

A Question of Morals

I am a big fan of the internet. This medium affects my everyday life, much more than traditional radio, print media, or television ever has. It permits me to communicate easily. It allows me to manage a whole lot of information, from research to music to pictures. It enables me to learn about anything and everything. Whatever I do for a career, the internet will play a major role in it.

The internet has created some serious ethical concerns as well. Here's one from today.

In two weeks, I'll start a class called "The Economics of Discrimination". Though it's a required class (multicultural credit; sounded better than taking some dumb women's studies class), it looks pretty promising.

I went to UNLV's bookstore website where I can find all the books I'll need for a class. Turns out I'll need Freakonomics. Knowing that this is a pretty popular book, I immediately searched the UNLV library and the nearby Sahara library databases for its presence. Both databases showed that the book was available. They also showed that I could download an "electronic" version of the book.

For Christmas, I received an iPod touch. Love the thing. I maintain notes from gospel study when away from my notebooks, as well as scriptures, tons of PDF's (including many church manuals), a dictionary, my daily planner, and of course, music (really enjoying They Might Be Giant's Flood and parts of John Vanderslice's new record).

All kinds of companies employ some sort of digital rights management, or DRM. For the most part, this kind of protectionism is understandable, but the 'management' quickly becomes 'containment' or 'annoyance' or 'really, really dumb idea'. Like: I found Freakonomics on the Sahara library website, but can only read the book on my PC using Adobe software (can't print to a PDF either, tried that). Another instance is that the library will allow me to download the audio from the book, but it can only be played on the computer using the proprietary (Microsoft) .wma format, and if you try to convert it to mp3, it'll sound like children singing Disney songs underwater, recorded on cassette and glitched up by Autechre. The Man says: "You can only listen at home. No where else. Dude."

So at this point I google "Freakonomics pdf", and of course, find the book immediately.

I really like to carry very few things on my person. My iPod lets me carry a whole lot in a little package.

What would be wrong about downloading the PDF of Freakonomics and putting it on my iPod if the library will let me download the book for my PC? I'll even delete the book and buy a copy if it's good at the end of the class.

What would you do?

(By the way, E. Bednar's recent talk on digital media was excellent. I watched it on my iPod.)

Introducing...

We don't own a TV.

We've been given strange looks and really hilarious comments about that one ("So, what do you guys do?"). It certainly has been a matter of choice: we have been offered one, twice I think.

We aren't anti-TV, and may own one in the future. I'd like to create a set-top box, for which we'd need a screen or a projector.

Speaking for myself, I feel that there's so much more I can be doing with my time and my life than watching 24. I want to read great literature. I want to develop technical and practical skills. I want to strengthen my almost-not-there cooking skills. I want to be creative.

I don't mean to assume that folks who love their television are not and do not want the above.

We like our culture like we like our music- no genre excluded as long as it is constructive, clean, and inventive.

What have you been enjoying lately? Books, music, movies, games, whatever.

Here it is.

Hello all! I should be dutifully planning for next week, but who wants to do that?! So here I am writing on our blog. I think I can count all of the times I have posted on half of one hand...sorry. I don't know what it is, but I don't like to write publicly. Hopefully, you will still be excited when news does come and still check in on us Dixon's every once in a while. (Yes, this is Emily talking.)

I am still teaching in 3rd grade...but not for long. School is almost out and I can't wait!! The kids are wild and I'm just ready for a fresh start. Well, I'm going to get one. My principal came to me on the playground a few weeks ago and after our brief conversation about some children playing silent ball, just came out and said, "I'm moving you to 1st grade." I was in complete shock as it was out of nowhere and only March. I had no idea that next year's changes were already in the works. Ultimately, I am excited. I think that I have more to give the younger kids of this world. I feel that my personality is better suited for that age. I hope that I can figure it out and do a good job. 1st grade is a big year. I will say I am a little nervous to teach them how to read.

What else can I say...I have the greatest husband. I don't know how I got so lucky, but Cameron is wonderful at helping me do the dishes. I make dinner and he cleans up the kitchen. I can't express how much that means to me. Cooking is actually something I enjoy and doing dishes is not my favorite, so I got the best deal!

This morning we had the opportunity to help a couple move. It might seem crazy, but I love to serve. I would much rather worry about someone else than to worry about what I have going on. I love to make people happy and lighten their load. The couple was moved to tears to see the help that turned out to assist them during their time of need. I'm just glad I could help.

I don't want to get too long and bore someone, so that is what I will say. Leave me a comment so I can see that there really are people who visit our blog.

We're glad you're our friends!