Month: September 2007

Famous Friday: Discover Spanish With Us

If I am going to make someone famous, I must include myself.

My wife and I are writing the Discover Spanish With Us blog. We are taking a Spanish word (or two) a day and explaining its meaning. Not only are we giving a dictionary definition, but we are also attempting show a particular usage of the word.

The first word that I uncovered was the word Descubrir. That is the English word discover. But, in Spanish it carries with it the idea of investigating or pulling apart—to dis-cover. It also means to find out just like we understand it in English.

Recently my wife posted a story of our son tacking the letter “o” to the end of the word popcorn to try and buy a bag of the fluffy goodness from a street vendor. He learned that day that the word for popcorn is palomitas. Since he was only 5 years old at the time, it was quite interesting to see that he understood there were a good number of English words that become Spanish ones when you add an “o” or an “a” to them. At 9 years old, he does speak Spanish much better.

Check out Discover Spanish With Us and leave a comment if you have a question or insight on one of the words we “dis-cover.”

Review: Eats, Shoots & Leaves

I had seen the book Eats, Shoots & Leaves on the shelf in our local library some time back, but did not think to pick it up until I heard Grammar Girl mention it and it seemed like a fascinating book.

The theme of the book is punctuation. As boring as that may sound, it was actually a very enjoyable book to read. The author, Lynne Truss, is a very enjoyable writer. The book is obviously British and you can see that in her writing style. She did a fairly good job at pointing out the differences between British and American punctuation. I read the North American version of the book.

She had very humorous examples in the book to illustrate her points. One was a precious love letter that completely changed meaning when just the punctuation was re-arranged. The second version was a vitriolic letter to a spurned lover.

If you are not at all interested in grammar and proper punctuation, then this is not the book for you. It would definitely take a certain kind of geek to enjoy it. Which, by the way, I did immensely.

Better running day

Today I just had a short 2.5 mile tempo run. I ended up running my 5 Km loop. I used the first kilometer to warm up in 6:33. The next 4 Km would make 2.48 miles. That is close enough.

  • Km 2: 5:25
  • Km 3: 5:05
  • Km 4: 5:39
  • Km 5: 5:20

My goal pace was 5:40 (or better). Some of the split irregularity probably comes from not really knowing where the split is at Km 3. A quick check with Google Earth tells me that I hit my split timer .09 Km early. That is approximately 90 meters. Based on my stride length and turnover, that would be about 20 seconds early. Putting Km 3 at 5:25 and Km 4 at 5:19. That is a geeky way to say that each Km was within 6 seconds of one another. That is pretty consistent.

Missionary Talks 32: Erin Rigsby

I just posted a new interview at Missionary Talks. I am very excited to finally get this interview. I was contacted by a listener who recommended I talk with Erin. I really enjoyed the time on the phone with her yesterday and feel like she connected with the intended audience well.

The summer was supposed to have gotten me several “in person” interviews and I was not planning to have any kind of break. Unfortunately I missed several weeks of not being able to get a show out. I have a few missionaries lined up right now to get the ball rolling again. I may not have one a week, but the shows should be much more regular for a while.

The quality of the phone interview was much better this time around. I think I am finally getting my system working better. Of course, with the installation of our new electrical boxes, I have had the side benefit of eliminating a lot of electrical feedback in my recordings.

V o IP?

No, those aren’t Roman numerals. Those are the initials that stand for Voice over Internet Protocol or, Internet Telephones.

I have been using different kinds of VoIP service for a few years now. It just gets better and better. Packet8 is a VoIP provider that is offering video phone capabilities. While you can do many of these same things through “soft” phones on your computer, it is nice to have a piece of hardware that you can touch and handle while talking on the phone.

Packet8 has two Video Phone that give you a nice hardware package. This is far easier than getting your web cam set up, finding your headset/microphone combo and getting them plugged in, plus the need to tie up your computer to make a phone call. While I sit at my computer most of the time when I am on the phone, I like to be able to get up and roam around. You can plug a cordless phone into their system and it becomes just like talking on your standard home phone system.Packet8 Video Phone

Of their two video phones that they offer, I have trouble deciding which one of the two I would like to have. I have entered into a contest to win 1 of 9 that they are giving away. They have one that is just a video/audio interface. It is a screen with an icon based user interface. You can plug any standard phone into it and use your current phone. Or, they have one that is a desk phone setup with a pop up video screen.

I think of the two, I would choose the desk phone. I would not be transferring the device around the house to different locations. It would be nice to just have it sit on my desk ready to use whenever I needed to make a call.

Their service plans start at $25 a month and include “unlimited local and long distance calling in the US, Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam, US Virgin Islands, France, Italy, Ireland, Spain and United Kingdom”!