Max and Darwyn colouring
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Ada Sophia, probably
Little girl born at 20:12 this evening. Her name is probably Ada Sophia, though we're not completely committed just yet. Weight 3740g height 55cm. (That's 8lbs 4oz and 21.5in for you imperialists.) She was born in our home in a birthing tub, assisted as usual by two very capable midwives. Labour was fast an furious. Mom and baby are both doing spectacularly well. The first five hours of this baby's life have been the easiest baby hours I can ever remember. She fed well. Cried just long enough to be recognizable over the phone, then stopped. As I write this she's bundled up in a bassinet in another room while mom gets some sleep and I clean the house and surf the internet. I think she's squawked once in the past half hour. [Added later: okay, I just had to pick her up and calm her for five minutes.] She looks like Max.
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Darwyn's first piece of Lego art
It appears that genes for an affinity for Lego art run strong here at Gutoski-James. (See the earlier posts on Max's blossoming talent for Lego art.) Unprompted, Darwyn created a "ship" all by herself. Behold.
Friday, May 22, 2015
Dandelion Darwyn
Darwyn loves to pick Dandelions. Wednesday morning we managed to put some to good use ....
Happy Birthday Max - a little late as usual
Max turned 5 at the end of April. He opted for a superhero party. The night before we went to bulk barn to buy a superhero pinata and then to the dollar store to look for some things to fill it with. Darwyn wandered through the store pulling everything off the shelves and telling us that she wanted each item for her party. Finally, Gus asked her if she would just start telling us what she didn't want as that would be more efficient. She looked confused. Anyway, she has settled on a "frozen" theme for her next party and asks us continually how long it will be until her next birthday.
Max, whose birthday we were actually shopping for, was much quieter through the whole affair. He finally settled on getting some power rings (actually candy rings) and glow sticks to fill the pinata. We also added superhero masks for the kids to decorate, but I couldn't get them to calm down enough to actually do it. We made a spider man cake that I failed to take a good picture of, but you can sort of make it out in the "Happy birthday" video. Unfortunately, the video also had technical issues.
The highlight of the birthday party was definitely when Gus pretended to be a super villain. I came down stairs and told him that my plan was that he would act out the villain role so the kids could chase him. He gave me a "you have got to be joking" look. I got defensive.
Greta: Look, I would do it, but I'm too pregnant to run.
The pregnancy card works for everything. Gus finally agreed.
Greta: (holding up a black mask, bright blue wig and black cape) Oh and while you are at it, I thought you could wear this villain costume.
The look I got was withering at best.
I have to admit though, Gus really rose to the occasion. He was an amazing super villain. The kids went out to search for the escaped villain in the yard. When he was discovered he launched from his hiding place scaring them all and then took off. He hopped fences and put up an amazing chase. I've included some videos, but they don't do the scene justice. The kids absolutely loved it. They begged him to do it again and again and again and most parents reported that their kids were talking about it for a week afterward. I told Gus he might as well keep the costume in his closet and quit his day job :)
Anyway, I've included a few select videos and pictures for you to enjoy. You can see more pictures here.
Gus's career as a super villain:
Max, whose birthday we were actually shopping for, was much quieter through the whole affair. He finally settled on getting some power rings (actually candy rings) and glow sticks to fill the pinata. We also added superhero masks for the kids to decorate, but I couldn't get them to calm down enough to actually do it. We made a spider man cake that I failed to take a good picture of, but you can sort of make it out in the "Happy birthday" video. Unfortunately, the video also had technical issues.
The highlight of the birthday party was definitely when Gus pretended to be a super villain. I came down stairs and told him that my plan was that he would act out the villain role so the kids could chase him. He gave me a "you have got to be joking" look. I got defensive.
Greta: Look, I would do it, but I'm too pregnant to run.
The pregnancy card works for everything. Gus finally agreed.
Greta: (holding up a black mask, bright blue wig and black cape) Oh and while you are at it, I thought you could wear this villain costume.
The look I got was withering at best.
I have to admit though, Gus really rose to the occasion. He was an amazing super villain. The kids went out to search for the escaped villain in the yard. When he was discovered he launched from his hiding place scaring them all and then took off. He hopped fences and put up an amazing chase. I've included some videos, but they don't do the scene justice. The kids absolutely loved it. They begged him to do it again and again and again and most parents reported that their kids were talking about it for a week afterward. I told Gus he might as well keep the costume in his closet and quit his day job :)
Anyway, I've included a few select videos and pictures for you to enjoy. You can see more pictures here.
 |
| Max attacks the pinata |
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| Max's superhero costume |
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| Max discovers Gus hidden in the empty compost bin |
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| A close up of Gus's new look |
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| Blast from the past - Max is not the only little boy that liked to dress up as a superhero |
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| And here he is again with a tea towel costume |
[Edit: That "tea towel costume" is supposed to be Man At Arms. -Gus]
Video evidence of the demise of the pinata:
Gus's career as a super villain:
A really crappy happy birthday video...but it does at least show the cake.
Monday, May 18, 2015
A comfortable rest in the new loft
We built a loft in one of the sheds up at the river to house our ever-growing family. It's a bit tight for an adult but the kids love it. Greta found the perfect window for cheap on kijiji. Here's a picture I took of the kids late last night, after they'd fallen asleep. Observe Darwyn's head resting on the plywood floor in front of the potty, her body still on the foam mattress.
Another great long weekend up at the river. Black flies came out in force on Sunday afternoon. River's pretty cold but we still went in today. Full attendance including grandma, grandpa, Sue, Jeff, Annie, Charlie, plus a visit from Casey, Josh, and Eddie.
Another great long weekend up at the river. Black flies came out in force on Sunday afternoon. River's pretty cold but we still went in today. Full attendance including grandma, grandpa, Sue, Jeff, Annie, Charlie, plus a visit from Casey, Josh, and Eddie.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
unbricked
Many months ago, our external hard disk died, taking along with it over 400GB of our family's photos and videos and many other miscellaneous data. Bummer.
Many months later, I Googled the serial number of the offending hard disk and discovered that I was one of thousands of lucky people who purchased a Seagate 7200.11 Barracuda with shoddy firmware that causes the drive to cease up without warning. In the business they call it a "bricked" drive because the hard disk has turned into a brick.
Indeed, there is a monstrous 4800-message thread dating back five years ago and flooded with poor saps like me whose life work was entombed in a bricked Seagate.
Amazingly, some hard core tech nerds discovered how to reset the firmware and "unbrick" the disks. Much of the discussion in that thread is tech nerds walking dumb users through the procedure. It is not for the faint of heart.
The first solutions I read involved soldering. Fortunately, I soon discovered a very user-friendly description of a variant of the procedure that does not require soldering. The author tells us exactly which parts we need and where to order them. I spent about $50 in parts. Here's what it looks like.
You see that white piece of paper on the hard disk? The one with a corner wedged underneath the green circuit board? That piece of paper is breaking the contact between the circuit board and the disk's motor. In order to unbrick the hard disk I had to power-up the disk and talk to its firmware using the parts I bought. Then I had to remove the paper to restore the contact while power was still flowing to the disk before issuing more commands to complete the procedure.
Apparently, over 4000 hard disks have been unbricked using this procedure. Incredible.
I hit a bit of a snag at the very final step. The key command that fixes the drive is m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 . The instructions are very clear that under no circumstances should power to the drive be cut until this command has finished executing. The command normally takes 1-10 minutes to execute. I waited for 90 minutes. I finally gave up and unplugged the drive before the command finished executing, expecting to lose all our photos.
Fortunately, the procedure worked the second time round. For anyone else performing this procedure, the instructions say, "At this point, many say you need to disconnect the SATA power cable from the drive ... There is a bit of debate about this step in the forums but that is what I did and it worked fine in my case." I was wary of disconnecting power in the middle of open-heart surgery, so I opted for the keep-power-on route in my first attempt. Do not keep the power on. Cut the power like the instructions tell you to. It'll save you waiting 90 minutes for a command that will never finish and yet cannot be interrupted lest you fry your disk.
So yeah, I'm pretty proud of my ability to follow instructions that others worked so hard to create. If anyone else has a bricked Seagate hard disk, I'm your man. Sue, Jeff, I'm looking in your direction.
Many months later, I Googled the serial number of the offending hard disk and discovered that I was one of thousands of lucky people who purchased a Seagate 7200.11 Barracuda with shoddy firmware that causes the drive to cease up without warning. In the business they call it a "bricked" drive because the hard disk has turned into a brick.
Indeed, there is a monstrous 4800-message thread dating back five years ago and flooded with poor saps like me whose life work was entombed in a bricked Seagate.
Amazingly, some hard core tech nerds discovered how to reset the firmware and "unbrick" the disks. Much of the discussion in that thread is tech nerds walking dumb users through the procedure. It is not for the faint of heart.
The first solutions I read involved soldering. Fortunately, I soon discovered a very user-friendly description of a variant of the procedure that does not require soldering. The author tells us exactly which parts we need and where to order them. I spent about $50 in parts. Here's what it looks like.
You see that white piece of paper on the hard disk? The one with a corner wedged underneath the green circuit board? That piece of paper is breaking the contact between the circuit board and the disk's motor. In order to unbrick the hard disk I had to power-up the disk and talk to its firmware using the parts I bought. Then I had to remove the paper to restore the contact while power was still flowing to the disk before issuing more commands to complete the procedure.
Apparently, over 4000 hard disks have been unbricked using this procedure. Incredible.
I hit a bit of a snag at the very final step. The key command that fixes the drive is m0,2,2,0,0,0,0,22 . The instructions are very clear that under no circumstances should power to the drive be cut until this command has finished executing. The command normally takes 1-10 minutes to execute. I waited for 90 minutes. I finally gave up and unplugged the drive before the command finished executing, expecting to lose all our photos.
Fortunately, the procedure worked the second time round. For anyone else performing this procedure, the instructions say, "At this point, many say you need to disconnect the SATA power cable from the drive ... There is a bit of debate about this step in the forums but that is what I did and it worked fine in my case." I was wary of disconnecting power in the middle of open-heart surgery, so I opted for the keep-power-on route in my first attempt. Do not keep the power on. Cut the power like the instructions tell you to. It'll save you waiting 90 minutes for a command that will never finish and yet cannot be interrupted lest you fry your disk.
So yeah, I'm pretty proud of my ability to follow instructions that others worked so hard to create. If anyone else has a bricked Seagate hard disk, I'm your man. Sue, Jeff, I'm looking in your direction.
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
The entire Gutoski-James family gets buzz cuts
Following up on yesterday's post about whether we should allow our sweet little girl to shave her sweet little honey-yellow curls, we here at the Gutoski-James clan decided that everyone ought to be bald.
Just kidding. What really happened is that we struck a deal with Darwyn. We'd cut her hair short, but not a buzz cut just yet. She could try it out for a while and then if she still wants the buzz cut she can have it.
She loves her new short hair. She ran around the house all smiles and talking about her new haircut. ("Just like daddy's and Max's!") No mention from her yet about the buzz cut. She seems happy with what she's got.
Darwyn's hair was cut by mommy, who made only a couple small mistakes. Mommy's hair was cut by daddy, who made only a couple big mistakes. Now no one needs to worry about hair until baby number three is several months old.
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| Darwyn has short hair, mommy has short hair, Max and daddy have no hair. Natural, casual smiles. The magic of camera timers. |
She loves her new short hair. She ran around the house all smiles and talking about her new haircut. ("Just like daddy's and Max's!") No mention from her yet about the buzz cut. She seems happy with what she's got.
Darwyn's hair was cut by mommy, who made only a couple small mistakes. Mommy's hair was cut by daddy, who made only a couple big mistakes. Now no one needs to worry about hair until baby number three is several months old.
Monday, May 4, 2015
Should Darwyn get a buzz cut?
First trip to the river this year. It was a beautiful weekend. The bugs weren't even out yet.
In keeping with my tradition of shaving my head whenever I get a new baby, I shaved my head a couple weeks ago. Grandpa finally pinned down Max and forced a haircut upon him. Behold the results: three generations of Gutoski males, each with military-grade hair styles.
Link to album.
Dilemma: Darwyn has asked us on multiple occasions to cut her hair like Max's and daddy's. Her hair is often tangly and she hates having it combed. Greta and I are truly torn. On the one hand, she is absolutely adorable with her long blond hair, Greta and I both feel the pressure of our culture to raise girls with long hair, and there's a good chance she'll regret a buzz cut the next day. On the other hand, it's her hair not ours---if she wants it bad enough then she should get it. But does she really understand the implications of what she's asking? I feel like a court judge or MD who has to make a call on a person's ability to make informed decisions for himself or herself. Are three-year-olds legally insane?
In keeping with my tradition of shaving my head whenever I get a new baby, I shaved my head a couple weeks ago. Grandpa finally pinned down Max and forced a haircut upon him. Behold the results: three generations of Gutoski males, each with military-grade hair styles.
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| Three bald men |
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| Three bald men and a little girl in cool shades |
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| Three bald men, a little girl in cool shades, and a waterfall |
Dilemma: Darwyn has asked us on multiple occasions to cut her hair like Max's and daddy's. Her hair is often tangly and she hates having it combed. Greta and I are truly torn. On the one hand, she is absolutely adorable with her long blond hair, Greta and I both feel the pressure of our culture to raise girls with long hair, and there's a good chance she'll regret a buzz cut the next day. On the other hand, it's her hair not ours---if she wants it bad enough then she should get it. But does she really understand the implications of what she's asking? I feel like a court judge or MD who has to make a call on a person's ability to make informed decisions for himself or herself. Are three-year-olds legally insane?
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