microsoft's comeback...

i made the switch from pc to mac in the winter of 2002. the switch was made primarily because after thousands of dollars, endless driver downloads, third party components and cold shutdowns in which i lost tons of work hours... something needed to happen.

up to that point, all i ever wanted to do on the computer was check email, surf the web and use word. now, i needed a little bit more and microsoft was unable to provide what i needed. i didn't make the switch because it was ubersexy... rather out of necessity. simply put, my new mac worked and let me edit video like i had been previously unable to do. i like to think it became hip only after i made the switch... the milthaler effect.

recently, alex bogusky took over major combat operations for microsoft in their war with mac. although, it's hard to call it a war since microsoft has been "handing it's lunch money over" without much of an argument for six years now.

i've been a bit of a fan of bogusky since he took big tobacco's settlement cash and used it to fund the ad campaign that brought in the bigger of the two guilty verdicts. the truth campaign (i think) was the final shot fired and finally swayed public opinion that cigarettes were evil and unhealthy (duh). he also has worked with vw, virgin and burger king. he's the reason the "king" has made such an unlikely comeback.

this is ironic... safari just quit on me. thank god for autosave.

good segue. over the last year or so i've started to recognize that my mac is not as stable as it used to be. you don't have to be a genius to see that much of apple's (no longer "apple computer") emphasis has shifted away from the mac to more truly mind blowing products... the ipod (which is only six years old! can you believe that?!?), iphone and the itunes store. it's not bad... but it is a change in priority. from a bottom line perspective, it's been very good to them.

microsoft has also had a focus problem. i think this all stems from the fact that bill gates simply got bored with the pc. with billions in the bank and great foundation on the front burner he had a decision to make. let's think about it... build a new computer vs. help solve the problems that plague the world... hmm? the official answer came this week when gates officially stepped down as the lead of microsoft.

so, enter bogusky. could it be that microsoft is prime to rise as the phoenix? we love underdogs.

my answer? i think that the worst apple product is still five years ahead of microsoft... so for the short term, i'll keep my macbook pro. but, who knows... my next computer may be a pc.

milthaler

it's under there...

it's been five days so i think it's safe(ish) to say that reagan has made the transition from diapers to big-boy underwear. i didn't realize that potty training would be so much more less convenient. tonight, we had to stop at a gas station so that he could tinkle. the thought did cross my mind that if he had a diaper on i would make such better time.

passie

fussy baby.
no passie.
where is it?
fright.
searching.
crying baby.
confusion.
blame.
terror.
screaming baby.
curse words.
frantic searching.
negotiating with god.

we were loading up the car for a rare adventure outside the cabin. then, we couldn't find the passie. it's amazing how a 2 cent piece of plastic can cause such emotion. (hey, where did the cent "c" go, didn't that used to be on a keyboard? just another victim of $4 gas.)

"i thought you had it."
"i know i saw you with it five minutes ago."
"you are so irresponsible"
"my parents told me i should never marry you!"

the latter wasn't said, but i knew she was thinking it.

who ever said that adding the second was no big deal needs to be slapped. perhaps, i have forgotten the routine of having a baby... but, it sure does seem like it's way more complicated this time around.

i brought up the idea of adding another yesterday. she looked as me as if she were calculating if my rusted pliers were the correct instrument for an at home vasectomy.

now some people believe that using a passie is child abuse. we thought that when reagan was born. "why have him become addicted to something so unnatural." two days after we got home... we bought six of them. only one was up to his high taste in plastic placebo.

at last count we had roughly 27... but, harrison only takes one and it's the free one that he came home with from the hospital.

all that being said, parenthood is still one of god's precious gifts. it tests a marriage like nothing else. but, if you press through it together, there comes a bond like no other. i like to say that true love is ever expanding and your definition grows over time. when we got married, i truly loved hope and knew that she was the one god has sent to me. when we added reagan, i saw her become a mother and my depth and width of love for her grew. now we are four and i can't imagine life without her. not because i have become so familiar with her being around... but, because i am truly dependent on her affirmation, wisdom, focus, touch and love.

i guess you could say that she's my passie.

milthaler

a new car...

i wouldn't say that i'm green... i'm not pushing my mower like bshwise but i made a step in the right direction this past week when i purchased a more fuel efficient vehicle. not that i will be driving it. it's an unsaid rule in our house that hope gets to drive the nicer car. instead i will drive the passat turbo, a pretty sweet "greener" vehicle. even with the older car, i've more than doubled my fuel efficiency.

now to the task of getting rid of my old ride... a 2001 GMC envoy. any ideas? sell it? bless some one with it? although blessing someone with a fuel hog is a little weird.

back to the new ride... it's a sexy VW jetta wagon. i never thought of a wagon as sexy... but with two boys my perspective has changed a little. it has a wicked cool sun roof that goes from the windshield all the way to the back bumper... it's super sweet.

now, it is a 2009. i always said that i would never buy a new car. to be honest, i feel a little embarassed about driving such a new car. we were looking at used VWs and when this new car was a few thousand dollars more than our used options and had a super good warranty... we decided to take the plunge. plus, our plan is to keep it so that reagan can drive it to his senior prom and then off to college.

milthaler

nail starter...

do you remember that show on saturday morning's where the kids run the racket? they run the cameras, they are the on air talent and they even invade the control room and play with all the fancy little buttons. some little future crack addict anchor energetically tells you that this is the show where kids are in charge.

i've often describe middle school volunteer opportunities like that. while it looks like kids are doing everything... adults for the most part have set the stage and made it possible for the show to actually get done and not end in a "take my ball and go home" incident.

yesterday while doing a service project with my small group... i felt that God was teaching me a similar lesson. i love my small group of seventh grade guys, but they are wimps. they really wanted to drive the nails into the wood of the house we were building. if bending nails was a high school sport... my middle school guys would have been moved up to the varsity team like a basketball prodigy.

then i had the idea... "hey guys, let me start the nails and then you all can go behind me and finish them up," i said. the rest of the time on the work site this is what i did. what a great metaphor for leading middle school kids. i didn't have the rush that comes from perfectly countersinking a nail into a fresh 2x4 but i did have the rush that comes when middle school kids are succeeding at their task.

overall, sos is going very well. there have been a ton of great God things going on and i hope to share more later this week.

milthaler

i hate people who...

i simply hate to be around people who hate their job.

today i had to use the shuttle service of the body shop that was working on our VW. i could tell right away that the guy was in a bad mood when he pulled up to my house. he had just come from a house to pick someone up that wasn't there... and that set him off.

i had to hear about:
-how he hates to drive in the rain.
-how impossibly busy he's been.
-several expletives.
-loud classic rock on the radio (after several minutes of silence)
-how "no one has any idea what the shuttle guy goes through".
-how he's not a people person (really!?!).

every job has it's sucky moments and seasons. perhaps i've simply been lucky to work at places that i truly love and believe in... but give me a break. if you hate your job that much... quit! we spend more time at work than we do at home, in our car, on the golf course or anywhere else for that matter. i think it's worth the time to get the education or off your butt to apply and work for jobs that you can truly love.

for believers... we need to think of our jobs as more than just a way to earn a paycheck. give me any job and i'll show you a way that you can see it from a ministry perspective. even driving the shuttle van can be a ministry. think about it, you get people locked in a car at 55mph... you can either complain about your job OR you can be someone who shares hope and light. i would much rather be suck with the latter.

milthaler

double win...

recently, i've been watching television when only infomercials are on. a few nights ago i caught a documentary on pbs (mostly because it was in HD at 3am) that was about a MIT sponsored high school robot building competition. the robots would go head to head trying to shift weight on a pendulum.

the finals pit two robots with similar designs against each other. with a little collaboration the two students positioned their robots so that the beam leveled out creating a tie... or as they called it a double win.

some people would rather open mouth kiss their sister than tie in a competition. i am one of these people. i love to win. but, the crowd cheered and the MIT professors thought it was the best thing since the 256 processor.

perhaps i am growing older and wiser but... i'm finding that i enjoy collaboration more gratifying than "lone ranger" wins. when i look back at the past year at work, the best times have been when everyone on our team brought their "A" game to a project and did what they each do well. and... the most frustrating portions of my past year have been when i try to get my way (or win) at the expense of someone else losing.

here are some questions that i have been thinking about since...

-do i put people in a position to do their best and use their expertise?
-do i secretly take pleasure in someone else failing?
-in a tense situation, is there a way to find the "win/win" scenario?
-am i wiling to share the success when it's due... or do i choose to stand alone on the gold metal stand?

i'm not willing to lose... but, perhaps there is something deep to thinking "double win".

milthaler

a family of four...

today we headed for home. we now have kidS (plural), which means car seatS, mealS, diaperS, toyS... the LDS in texas are starting to look smart... wiveS. but hope is doing the work of three women and i'm chipping in too.

reagan is doing well with harrison. on the way home it was silent for about thirty seconds and then reagan said in his three year old voice, "harrison, i love you." hope and i both almost cried. he has been so sweet. he's asked several times when harrison will talk and wanted him to watch him in his pool in the backyard. he's going to be a great big brother.

harrison is doing great. he is eating like a wrestler that just weighed in and for the last two nights had a 5 hour stretch of sleep. we'll see what happens now that we are home.

milthaler

two burritos

my hero...

normally she weighs in at a buck five and is afraid of spiders... but last night she went through a metamorphous that turned her into a person with super human strength. not to mention the mental toughness of a ninja. she amazes me!

last night everything went remarkably similar to reagan's birth. hope started having contractions on wednesday night and through thursday we worked around the house as they became more frequent and intense. about 8pm we headed to the hospital where she was at 1cm and 90%. we walked, stretched and got on the ball. an hour later she was at 3cm and making great progress. about an hour later she was given the magic bullet and was painless and got some sleep. after about 25 minutes of pushing harrison came into the world at 4:43am. he was healthy and beautiful.

so far he has been eating well, sleeping well and overall content.

reagan came to visit at 11am and was so happy to see his new baby brother. with a new doctor kit he checked everyone out... gave hugs and kisses and was ready to go back to mamaw's house for more play.

we're a family of four now. it's amazing to see them all together and we all feel so blessed.

here's to your birthday harrison!



feel free to call my cell to talk... if we're sleeping or busy we'll not pick up, but feel free to call!

miltahler

Harrison Wayne Milthaler

he's here!  this morning hope gave birth to harrison wayne milthaler.  here are the details...

4:43am

19 inches

6lb 8oz

perfect

here is a video and i'll work to post some pics between naps!

UPDATE:  here is a link to pictures

contractions...

hope is turning into a superhero as we speak... AKA, she's having contractions.

things are freakishly like when reagan was born. at this pace we'll have a baby by morning.

milthaler

hat in hand...

my apologies to joe... in an apparent oversight i missed the link. in an immediate act of contrition... please, let me buy you some jeans.

on the other hand... wise is starting to really tick me off. this weekend i saw him twice... and nothing. i even "broke bread" over at his house and he acted as if he had no idea what's going on. did he mention my blog? did he explain his actions? did he offer some sort of comprimise? nope, just pizza and cold beverages... i bet "linked friends" get steak. he must have talked to leah about this whole melodrama... she's acting weird towards me. it's all so condescending.

i guess i'm letterman and he's oprah.

milthaler