First Solid Food

PB123635
Originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

"I can't wait to have my first bite! How do I open this thing? Does solid food really taste like this?"

Kitchen ready for cabinets!

PB113599
Originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

One more week to go! The renovation is on its final stretch. The painting and installation of fixtures is more satisfying work. Knocking down masonry and replacing rotten wood is a thankless job.

Floors Finally!

The granite tiles on the living room are finally being laid out. It's been 4 weeks since we started doing the house renovation. The past weeks were spent preparing the floors and replacing rotten ceilings and gutters. More electrical outlets are being placed. We should be moving in by Nov 28!

Growth Spurt

side-by-side
Originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

It just struck me as I was browsing my blog that Gavin grew so much. I remembered I recently took a picture of Caitlin and Gavin again side by side so I decided to place them side by side for comparison.

Picasaweb

Took some pictures of Gavin right after his morning bath. He loves baths ever since he was born. He has never cried during a bath. I've posted a couple of pictures via picasaweb, a beta version of Google's photo manager. Attached is the link to an album.

Gavin - Smiling

Aug 27, 2006 - 5 Photos

First Google Video Upload

Caitlin likes to dance to music. She has moves for different songs.

Smiling Gavin

Smiling Gavin
Originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

Took a picture using the N80 of Gavin who smiles upon waking up.

My N80!

P8213273
Originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

Finally got my wife's N80 last Friday (Aug 18) so I traded the 9300 communicator that I have been using for this gadget. My wife used to have a 9210 and likes the communicator form factor for use at work. Transferring my phone data via PC Suite was seamless and had absolutely no problems.

The killer features of the N80 are its 3 megapixel camera and wifi capability. I immediately installed Mobipocket reader (www.mobipocket.com) and Opera Mini. The audio from the MP3 player and FM radio sound really great with the included headphones. So far the S60 platform (the N80's operating system) looks well designed for productivity and ease of use. I'll post an entry later about the applications on the phone that I find most useful. Now, if only Skype or Google Talk voice were available.

Skype on Nokia Phones

I hope Skype for Nokia S60 phones arrives very soon. There was a news article last Feb 2006 showing a screenshot of a Nokia phone actually running Skype. I'll be using an N80 pretty soon and wish I could use Skype when it arrives.

caitlin and gavin at 0 months

caitlin and gavin at 0 months
Originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

At less than a month, both babies look very much similar. Can you identify who's who?

Web Mashup - Netvibes

netvibes-pim
Originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

To quote from wikipedia, "A mashup is a website or web application that uses content from more than one source to create a completely new service. Content used in mashups is typically sourced from a third party via a public interface or API. Other methods of sourcing content for mashups include Web feeds (e.g. RSS or Atom) and JavaScript."

My favorite start page, Netvibes, has added a couple of features that enables useful information from different sites to be displayed in a single page. In this case, I created a tab named "PIM", showing 4 things: a To Do List, a Notepad, my schedule from Google Calendar and my online file storage at box.net. I can actually upload a file to my box.net online storage from the netvibes page. Personalization has really gone a long way thanks to web standards.

My primary use for Netvibes is still to collect news feeds from selected sites. This works very well for my daily skimming.

If you still haven't tried Netvibes (www.netvibes.com), I suggest you go out and try it. I can share my news feeds and panes if you're interested. Don't forget to check out the free 1G online storage box.net.

2 Year Growth

P5282883
Originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

Here is what 2 years of growth looks like. Caitlin is now protective of her little brother.

Sleeping Babies

P5152806
Originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

Do you notice the similarities?

Welcome to the World, Gavin!

P5112736
Originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

May 11, 2006, 10:18 - Weighing 7.3 pounds, Gavin left the comforts of Mom's womb.

Think inside the box

Think inside the box,
originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

People always tell you to think outside the box. I don't think so.

It's a boy!

ultrasound-2006,
originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

Just got the ultrasound results yesterday and confirmed it's a boy! Caitlin will now have a baby brother to play with.

Say aaaa

Say aaaa,
originally uploaded by Jason Ngo.

Caitlin is now following directions when taking her picture. This is the 'aaaa' pose.

Tools of Choice

Here's my roundup of the languages / tools / software of choice:

1. Python - very nice and clean for scripting and also creating tools.
2. PHP - nothing beats it for speed and rapid development. Still on PHP4 but closely looking at Symfony and CakePHP as a framework.
3. Subversion - you think you don't need this but when you start using it you'll wonder why you were not using it.
4. MySQL - the more you use it the more you feel its power.

I'll be updating this with more.

Skype Video Final

Skype video is fantastic! My dad and I was using Skype beta before with some success. He was using it on Windows 2000 while I'm using it on XP. Video worked for a couple of days before it became intermittent. We resorted to using Yahoo Messenger for video and Skype for voice. Now my dad is using Skype on XP and everything worked out of the box.

The video frame rate is so much better than Yahoo. I display video at full screen and hook the sound on the speaker system to have unlimited video call! So much for 3G.

Hmmm. If only my mobile phone had Skype video...