Secret Life of the McEachern Family

Soccer and Lacrosse Pictures

2010-03-08T21:19:00.001-06:00

Updated the website with some more recent pictures.

Spring outdoor soccer has started and Andrew has a had about three or four games. I took some pictures at one the other weekend. Alex is playing soccer as well but so far I don't think he's made any games since he has had conflicts with Lacrosse and this weekend they were rained out.

Totally Random Picture

2010-03-08T21:06:00.001-06:00

As we've started packing our stuff in preparation for the move we've taken the opportunity to throw some things away. Things that we have collected over the years that we just couldn't part with for some reason or another but now, after re-examination, we are able to muster up the courage and throw it away. There's something cathartic about being able to let go and get rid of stuff you just haven't used or even looked at for years.

During this process I've come across things that I vaguely remember knowing about things but not knowing exactly where they were or even if we still had them. Tonight I was up in the attic bringing stuff down and I found a picture album with this picture that Jen took in 1997 while we were on our honeymoon to San Francisco.

It was taken during our tour of Alcatraz and is me with Leon "Whitey" Thompson, who was an inmate there for four years. I did a google search for him and it turns out that he passed away in 2005.

According to the obituary in the SF Gate:

"Mr. Thompson had only a sixth-grade education, and writing did not come easily. He wrote and rewrote the book by hand nine times. No one would publish it, and the Thompsons could not find an agent. So they borrowed $3,200 and published the book themselves, took 500 copies back to Alcatraz, by then part of a national park, and set up shop in the bookstore.They sold all 500 copies in a week. The book "Last Train to Alcatraz," later retitled "Rock Hard", sold 85,000 copies"

We purchased a copy of "Last Train to Alcatraz" and Leon signed it right before this picture was taken. I have no idea if we have one of the first 500 copies but we have a copy.

Here's a picture of us taken at the Muir Woods. Good Lord, how did they ever let two kids like us get married :-)

Finally, some pictures from 2010

2010-02-27T20:25:00.003-06:00

Between the weeks we spent getting the house ready to put on the market, some work travel, and a bunch of kids activities, the first two months of the year have just flown by.

I've been working on getting some pictures put together but stuff just keeps getting the way so it's taken quite a while. Today I finished up three pages of stuff.

At the beginning of February I got to travel to Germany for work to visit with one of our software vendors. We stayed in Heidelberg but really didn't have time to go sight-seeing since we arrived Monday afternoon and left on Friday morning. For the afternoon we didn't have meetings we took a bit of a walking tour of Heidelberg and visited the old castle.

After arriving back from Germany Jen picked me up at the airport and we drove to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. We haven't been for a couple of years and the timing worked out for us since we had just put the house on the market and wanted to get out for a couple of days while people were going through it.

Any finally, Caroline just had her first birthday this week. I can't believe it. It seems like just the other day we were in the hospital with her. She wasn't all that impressed with the cake and just ended up mashing it into her high chair tray.

Here are all the pictures

Christmas Pictures

2010-01-28T21:09:00.003-06:00

It's only taken me a month but I've finally found the time to get the Christmas pictures together. It's been crazy busy around here the last month and I just haven't had time to sit down and look at the pictures we took.

I was even getting the pictures together from January and it turns out I've only taken about 30 or 40 this month and don't really have anything to put together for this month.

2009 Year in Numbers - Part 2 - Everything Else

2010-01-09T20:14:00.002-06:00

Continuing along with my ocd 2009 year in numbers moving on to the year in swimming.

In 2008 I went 290,000 yards, 162 miles, and this year I set myself a goal of going at least 200 miles. I didn't want to set the goal too much higher then 2008 since I knew that at the end of February we would be having Caroline and I wouldn't be in the pool to much after that.

Things went much better then anticipated and I managed to go 387,000 yards, 240 miles.

January and February were really strong months and as expected after Caroline was born I didn't get in the pool for over a month. Then things picked up again and in July I managed to post an all time high of 32.9 miles. October through December were pretty slow months starting with a week off for Amanda and Ben's wedding, then I got sick in November, and finally the holidays in December.

In addition to keeping track of yards swam I also kept track of hours in the pool. I swam for a total of 112.5 hours or 4.69 days. Holy cow that's a lot of hours in the pool. If your doing that math that works out my average swimming speed of 2.14 miles per hour.

The other thing I kept track of was the break out of swim vs kick, vs pull.

Obviously the swim is going make up the majority of the yards but I was surprised by the 46,000 yards kick. You can see that I'm not a real big fan of drill since it barely registers on the graph.

Other numbers for the year.

Netflix movies - We rented 52 movies this year. Certainly no record based on how many I hear other folks go through but that works out to one a week which isn't too shabby.
Jen drives about 1,400 miles a month, and since I'm now working much closer to the house I only drive about 650 miles a month.

2009 Year in Numbers - Part 1 - mfdc statistics

2010-01-07T21:57:00.002-06:00

I've always loved keeping track of totally useless numbers and statistics so here is installment one of the 2009 year in numbers, mfdc statistics.

Last year was a record year for web site traffic with 117,263 hits. Compare that to 2008 were it was only 79,870 hits.

By month it broke out like:

It was on a steadily increase right from January through July when then things just fell off a cliff. I'm not exactly sure what happened there but it picked up again in October and then went right back into the toilet to end the year. I can understand the December numbers since there were really no web page updates or blog entries to speak of so the site got a little stale.

If remember last years summary I was giving my Canadian friends a hard time since I had more people from France, Poland, and Mexico visiting the site then from Canada and I'm glad to say that this year you didn't let any other countries beat you. Unfortunately it wasn't a matter of you beating anyone else but rather a rather large drop in the amount of traffic from every other international country.

Last year Canada accounted for 744 hits but this year it was only 364. I'm not sure what caused the huge drop in international visitors other then it's possible that they are not being correctly accounted for. Last year there were 5,466 hits that couldn't be attributed to a specific country or domain and this year that number was 11,098 so I have to believe that somewhere in this number here were countries not being accounted for correctly.

This year I added Google Analytics to the site which helped me track how people actually find there way to mfdc. Like I would expect the vast majority of visitors are coming directly to the site either by bookmark or just typing in the web address and most of those people or repeat viewers. This really isn't surprising since the audience is really family and friends and since I don't allow search engines to index any of the main site it limits what your going to find using a search engine.

None the less there are still what I would consider a large number of people who get to the site by coming from other locations like:

blogger.com
facebook.com
google.com
images.google.com
twitter.com
images.google.ca
notebooks-brazil.blogspot.com. (Beats me. When I saw this a couple of months back I tried to hunt it down but couldn't find anything.)
images.google.co-uk

The other interesting thing is look at the search terms that people typed into a search engine that lead them to the site. As you would expect "mceachern family" and variations of peoples names with "mceachern" show up frequently but here's a couple others exactly as they were typed into search engines that sent people to the blog

alex matisse
don't forget your lunch box
antique bobsleds
sesame place secrets
sesame princeton
abe's log cabin
canada trip family pictures
rhyming words with hiatus
pictures: "hello. anyone home?"
pictures of you, pictures of me.
picasso baseball pictures
zee zed canada

Some of these I can tell exactly where they ended up but others make absolutely no sense. I mean really, picasso baseball pictures, rhyming words with hiatus?

And now for the mfdc Top 5 most popular pages of the year, drum roll please...

Caroline's first pictures (http://www.mceachernfamily.com/2009/caragrace/index.html) Was anyone surprise by this?
Alex's 7th Birthday Party (http://www.mceachernfamily.com/2009/alexparty/index.html)
Caroline's 2nd set of pictures (http://www.mceachernfamily.com/2009/caroline/index.html)
Amanda and Ben's Wedding (http://www.mceachernfamily.com/2009/amandawedding/index.html)
Andrew's 4th Birthday (http://www.mceachernfamily.com/2009/andrewparty/index.html)

Touching the Dissected Cow Eye

2009-12-31T08:21:00.002-06:00

Here's the photographic evidence of eyeball touching from yesterdays trip to the Sci-Tech Discovery Center.

Beauty Is...

2009-12-12T08:54:00.005-06:00

Every October or so the PTA at Alex's school runs an art contest where students create a piece of artwork related to some theme. This year the theme was "Beauty Is...", last year it was something like "Wow!". They can choose from composing a song, choreographing a dance, painting, multimedia presentation, drawing, photograph, and the list goes on. Each year Alex has decided to do the photography and frankly I much prefer that since its much easier option then the other choices.

We went down to the Dallas Arboretum because they have a big Halloween setup each year and we figured that it should be easy to find something related to the "beauty is" theme there.

We got there, gave him the camera, and told him to go ahead and take as many pictures as he wanted that he thought related to the theme. About 60 seconds later I find he's wandered off the path and has found his first picture....

Very nice. Not exactly what I think the contest promoters had in mind.

He eventually decided on the picture of the koi pond since the white fish had a red mark that look exactly like a question mark.

We heard this week that he received an honorable mention.

Andrew is really into taking pictures and for being only four years old he seems to have quite the eye. This is one that he took of the pumpkins and gourds that were on display.

Fall Campout

2009-11-20T20:27:00.003-06:00

Last weekend Alex and I went on our fall YMCA Adventure Guides campout. This time we were out in semi-west Texas at Possum Kingdom Lake. I saw semi-west because it was west of Fort Worth and the only other time I've ever been more west of Fort Worth was for the same campout three two years ago.

Anyway, here are the pictures:

http://www.mceachernfamily.com/comanchecubs/2009fallcampout/index.html

I Would Really Appreciate That

2009-11-05T21:46:00.001-06:00

On our recent trip to New Orleans we stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant for lunch since it's the kind of place that we can sit down and spend some time off the road and it gives Caroline a chance to stretch her legs and a place for us to easily feed her.

If your familiar with Cracker Barrel restaurants you know that to get to the eating area you have to walk through the "Old Country Store". Before going in we always have the discussion with the boys that we are here for food, not toys, so just forget about it. You can look but that's it. Andrew has a little problem with this and he's always trying to angle for something.

After eating lunch we were walking around the store and the boys were looking at stuff and Alex started in with the whining. "I want a toy," "I really wish I could just have this" holding up something or other. Of course we weren't moved by this and were slightly annoyed but then we came across a bunch of the Invisible Ink activity books. They would be perfect for working on during the rest of the drive.

Jen showed Alex a couple of the them and even offered to get him one if he wanted. He got a really long face and complained some more how he wanted to get a toy instead so Jen told him that if he wasn't going to appreciate the book then we didn't have to get anything.

The whole time this was going on Andrew was watching and looking at some toys of his own. He picked up an old fashioned battery powered metal horse racing set and walked over to Jen and said,

"Mom, I would really appreciate this if you got it for me."

I give him a perfect 10 for style points but he still didn't get the horse racing set.

Happy (Post) Halloween

2009-11-01T19:20:00.002-06:00

As we have for the last couple of years we went over to a friends house for Halloween and we all went trick-or-treating through the neighbourhood.

Jen worked her magic again this year and got the boys and Caroline dressed up. Andrew started the ball rolling about a month back and said that he wanted to be Teddy Roosevelt from "Night at the Museum." Alex kind of waffled back and forth for a while but in the end decided he wanted to be a Astronaut. Jen decided to keep the Night at the Museum theme going and dressed Caroline up as a little Sacajawea and I got to be Larry Daley, night watchman.

Amanda & Ben Wedding - New Orleans Trip

2009-10-26T20:32:00.002-05:00

I feel like I'm way behind everyone else in getting pictures posted from Amanda and Ben's wedding. Sunday morning after the wedding I woke up, was tooling around online and facebook informed me that "Ben" was tagged in a photo from his wedding the night before. I think we've received at least two other notifications from other people about their online albums of pictures. I can't keep up anymore, I'm getting old.

It was a great trip to New Orleans. The boys got to go to the Zoo with Grandpa Bob, I took them to the Aquarium with my Mom, Peter, and good family friends Roy, Rhonda, and Marissa. And then of course there was the wedding to go to as well. On Sunday Bob, Ryan, Alex, and I went to the Saints-Giants game to top off the weekend. I could have probably used a day or so off after coming home just to recuperate.

I've finished with the pictures and finally got around to posting them. There are 6 pages broken out by event so some of the pages are a little larger then normal.

Take me to the wedding pictures

2009-10-07T19:09:00.003-05:00

OK - I've gone and done it...something I said I would never do... put a BIG BOW in my baby's hair... I just couldn't help it...not sure what exactly came over me...I was even against putting a little bow in her hair...and there I was in Dillard's and just plopped it on her head...pulled out the credit card and said "No bag for us! She'll wear it out of the store!"...she seems oblivious to it...her brothers like it...and her daddy is worried it will lead straight to dating...and frankly, I love it...my cutie patootie in her first bow...hmmmm, what color will her 2nd bow be? - Jen

Andrew's First Soccer Game

2009-09-27T18:36:00.001-05:00

After the first two weeks of the season were rained out we finally managed to get in Andrew's first soccer game. He plays on a team called the Lizards which has bright orange jerseys and black shorts. We hadn't planned on getting him any soccer cleats since you know he's only 4, but when we had to go and get Alex a new pair Andrew insisted that he also needed a pair. So he looks all professional in his gear.

I took some pictures of the first game and then interviewed him afterwords.

Me: So how was your first soccer game?

Andrew: Good.

Me: Did you have fun?

Andrew: Yes.

Me: Can you tell a little big about the game?

Andrew: Hum, like, a guy was coming towards the goal and he fell down and I turned the ball then um, and I was the one who got it. There were people coming towards me and I kicked the ball to one of my teammates.

Me: That sounds exciting.

Andrew: Why?

Me: Because you got the ball.

Andrew: Yes, because that didn't count for their team.

Me: Did you guys win the game?

Andrew: Yes. My coach told me that they scored two or three and we scored more then that.

Me: I see in one of the pictures that you were leading a breakaway.

Andrew: I know, I did really good and I had a very good time.

Here are the pictures.

Happy Caroline

2009-09-26T20:47:00.002-05:00

Just so you don't think that Caroline always makes a sour face when we take pictures here's one with a great big smile.

Buzz Aldrin - Not so Impressive

2009-09-20T08:23:00.004-05:00

Jen found a ad in the paper the other day advertising that Buzz Aldrin was going to be at the American Airlines flight museum promoting his new children's book and his memoirs. We bought two tickets for Alex and I as a surprise for him.

When it came time to tell him Jen asked, "Guess where you and Dad are going today?"

"I don't know."

"You guys are going to see Buzz Aldrin. You know who he is?"

"Ya, He's the second guy to walk on the moon."

"That's pretty impressive, your going to go see someone who has walked on the moon."

"He was the second person, Neil Armstrong was the first person and that would be even more impressive."

There's just no pleasing kids these days. We went out to the museum where Buzz read from his book and then signed copies for everyone that was there.

Buzz reading from his book.

Getting our book signed.

Take your Banana Bread and..

2009-09-15T21:27:00.004-05:00

We've had two bananas on the counter since the weekend that are too old to eat and need to transformed into banana bread. So tonight I decided to make it and since the boys like to help with the cooking I thought they could help me, that plus they also like to eat the majority of it.

So I called them over to help and Alex said

"No, we don't want to help."

"What!? I thought you like helping cook."

"No, we don't want to help cook it, we just want to eat it."

And with that he and Andrew ran off to play.

Fort Worth Day Trip

2009-09-12T10:31:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we took a day trip over to Fort Worth to visit the Stockyards. We drove over in the morning and got there in time to watch the morning cattle drive, then hung out at Stockyard Station for a bit, ate some Bar-B-Q for lunch, Alex rode a mechanical bull, and we took our picture like an old fashion outlaw family.

We had lots of fun and took a bunch of pictures. Fort Worth Day Trip Pictures

Hanging out in the Crib

2009-08-30T12:16:00.001-05:00

and she doesn't look so happy about it.

Let Me Out Of Here!

2009-08-27T19:58:00.002-05:00

Just hanging out in the crib, and by hanging out I mean, wants to get out.

Statue of Liberty

2009-08-16T12:42:00.005-05:00

Alex: We made the statue of Liberty because it was almost the 4th of July and the end of school. You an see that we made windows on the Statue of Liberty's hat. We also made the book in her hand and we also put the fire in the torch.

We also made the lines on the dress to make it look like it was real.

Alex's First Triathlon

2009-08-02T15:47:00.002-05:00

This morning Alex did his very first triathlon. We have been practicing for about the last month practicing the swim, the transition to the bike, and then being able to go from biking to running. It all went really well except that his bike is now a little on the small side and to get up any speed his legs have go around about a zillion miles an hour. (When he was at the bike inspection on Friday he tried to convince Jen that he really needed to get a proper triathlon bike.)

He said he had lots of fun and wants to do another one next season, and if you listen to him talk about the race this afternoon you would think he just competed in IronMan Hawaii. You can check out the pictures here.

Security Update Time Again

2009-07-31T20:28:00.003-05:00

Adobe has been busy the last couple weeks fixing security holes in both Flash Player and Acrobat Reader and patches for both products were just released. Take a minute to update your system to keep yourself safe. Additionally, if you use Adobe AIR they also recommend that you update that as well.

For Flash Player you need to be running version 10.0.32.18 no matter what operating system your using. To find out what version of flash player your running check this page. If your not running the latest download it from Adobe here. Remember, no downloading from any old web site, get it right from the source.

One thing to consider is that if you run Windows and you use Firefox, Opera, Chrome, or Safari as your primary browser you will need to download the update for those and then go back and do the upgrade for Internet Explorer. You get the same version it's just that IE and the other browsers use different update mechanisms.

To update Adobe Acrobat start it up and select the "Help" menu item then "Check for Updates." It should automagically update itself and when done you should be running version 9.1.3. If your running version 8, or heaven forbid 7 or even older, you might have to download the full 9.1.3 version instead of using the using the update feature.

If you have Adobe AIR installed you can find the update on Adobe on this page. Your chances of running this are a lot smaller and you would probably know if you have it. It's used as a platform to create applications that run on Windows, Mac, and Linux boxes without the programmer having to worry too much about your specific system. If you download an app from the web that requires AIR it will automatically install it for you. If your curious and want to find out if you have this, on Windows box you can go to the "Control Panel" and select "Add or Remove Programs". It will show up in the program list as "Adobe AIR".

July 4th Pictures

2009-07-29T20:19:00.003-05:00

Not a whole lot to say, we went over to visit some friends for the holiday, hung out at the pool, ate some hot dogs, drank some beer, and then had our own little fireworks extravaganza. The pictures are mostly of us hanging out at the pool with one or two others thrown in for good measure.

July 4th pictures

Four New Web Pages

2009-07-21T21:02:00.004-05:00

I've been trying to get caught up on web site updates and I've made some progress in the last week or so.

First up was pictures from Alex's baseball playoff game. I didn't take any pictures during the regular season so when we had our first playoff game I figured I had better take a couple.

Next up are pictures from the Chick-Fil-A Cow Appreciation Day. Once a year Chick-fil-A hands out free meals if you come in dressed as a cow. Alex and Andrew really got into it and they decided to go with a Star Wars theme. (Imagine that.) After dressing up in their cow costumes they made up name tags with their 'Star-Cow' names and headed out for free chicken.

And lastly I finally got around to pulling together the boys yearly pictures. We took them ages ago but it was really difficult going through them to pick out the better ones since a bunch of them just don't come out. I tried to take them early in the morning so the sun wouldn't be beating down on us but then the trees in the backyard cast harsh shadows so that part of the body is in bright sun but then the face is all dark or vice versa. Anyway, here are Alex's pictures and Andrew's pictures.