But I must say I think she is going to fit in very well. Why do I think this? Attitude. She open to possibilities. She is interested in our culture. But above all, I think she is very flexible. If you are hosting or an exchange student, I think this is the most important quality.

Kathi and I spent all yesterday evening talking. I don’t even remember all of the topics we spoke of. Everything from our parents to the absurdity of reality television to President Obama. I am glad we are hosting this young lady and I feel a lot of excitement to show her our state and learn from her.

One thing I told her- Both of our lives will never be the same after this homestay.

Firstly let me say that I personally don’t support getting stuff you don’t pay for. If I like an album and often listen to it, I buy it. Artists deserve to get paid for their work even though this generally doesn’t happen through the release of one’s first album. What follows are ideas you can use to both show your support of musicians while at the same time telling the RIAA to go screw itself.

Support non-RIAA artists and buy non-RIAA albums

Why is this important? Mainly because this is the primary corporate powerhouse trying to screw people by price fixing (Ever seen one new CD sell for more than another or a DVD? How does that work?), hunting people online, and trying to assemble our nation’s lawmaking political will against LEGAL digital downloads.

Go to these sites for more information:
http://www.riaaradar.com
Tool to tell you which albums are backed buy the RIAA

http://www.boycott-riaa.com/

Buy Used CDs

This is a great legal way to get the music you want for less than half the price.
secondspin.com
half.ebay.com
Your local music store!

Use a private network to share

I am no legal scholar, but if I buy an album and rip it to my computer where my friends could play the file whenever no one else is using it, that would be called sharing. I should be allowed to share that music whenver I want. I believe iTunes has similar functionality built in already. but you could set up a Virtual Private Network to accomplish this on an ad hoc basis.

Share offline

Kick it old school. I’ve never used that phrase before, so I thought I would try it out. Make a mix CD, lend an album out. All of these things are the point of music anyway and it isn’t tied to your IP address.

Do not use Peer to Peer (P2P) services

There are a lot of legitimate uses for P2P networks, but in my mind the risk is just too great, especially where music is concerned. If you must trade files legitimately on the Internet, there are other ways to go about it that do not make use of this technology. The RIAA is spending millions of dollars trying to bulldoze the little guy and monetize every aspect of the album manufacturing process. They should be more concerned about the state of electronic media and distribution and how to put more value into the products they produce and unbundled media beyond 99 cents a song that actually make sense!

Use services like Pandora

Pandora is a great online muisc collection you can access (at this time) for free. Every artist I’ve ever searched for has come up. You can create custom music channels based on artists, genres or songs.

Tell your favorite artists you oppose the RIAA

OK- I’m not so sure how well this would work in actual practice, but for artists who are in touch with their fans, it couldn’t hurt? However, it seems to me that artists who have online communications with their fan base are probably doing independent types of things already.

For more information check out the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s page on file sharing and personal rights

I spent the whole weekend with him while my wife worked.

The CandyShell is aptly named. It has a hard exterior and a soft, gooey (hopefully shock absorbent) interior.

Still, it was a million times better than this horrible rubberized cover I got at BestBuy. I got a pink one cause all the many covers were taken. It was hard tot get in and out of my pocket, and eventually it tore after only a few months use. This CandyShell will take many licks I hope before I get to that soft center.

Check it out at http://www.speckproducts.com/products/candyshell/iphone-3g/162

They also make a tough skin that is the most testosterone-driven cover of all time.

From Ars Technica: Wizards of the Coast fails saving throw against pirates
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/04/wizards-of-the-coast-fails-saving-throw-against-pirates.ars

So I haven’t been using this ‘Baby Blog’ as a baby blog. Hopefully this will change because I have a few insights that might help other new fathers, particularly when it comes the practicalities of fathering. My wife works part time again as a rehab nurse- and so I am responsible for his care when she goes to work. This is an interesting juggling act.

OK- so nothing is new under the sun and dads have been taking care of kids a lot longer than I’ve been around. However, there are some things I want to address:

1. Diapering: Cloth versus Disposable
2. Meal times: Feeding the kid with Momma’s milk
3. Crying and how to help the kid calm down
4. The most fun
5. Peoples’ reactions in public
6. How to multitask with the baby on board
7. Attachment centered parenting
8. How to get over yourself to be a better parent
9. Technology to the rescue

If I can cover half these topics in the next few weeks I shall claim victory.

Also I’m playing around with things on the sidebar- ads and videos. I know this is annoying and it probably wont make me any money, so I will probably do away with them or at least peddle things only that I’ve personally used like babybjorn which I’ve found just awesome.