by Brian Crawford | Nov 20, 2016 | personal
by Brian Crawford | Nov 19, 2016 | tech
Callum and I often have long discussions about future technology. Callum is surprisingly prescient for someone just starting out, especially where computers, computer hardware, and mobile devices (iPhones, iPods, iPads, and the like) are concerned. Two of the things...
by Brian Crawford | Nov 1, 2016 | thoughts
Lately I’ve noticed a lot of “news” on Facebook that displays a great deal of bias. In one memorable bit of news, a website claimed that Michelle Obama is actually a man. The interesting thing is, people seem take these news articles very seriously...
by Brian Crawford | Oct 18, 2016 | food, tech
I’m going to wax poetic about our kitchen faucet. Our old faucet failed a week ago (FYI, when faucets fail, they tend to fail in epic fashion). So we needed a new one. While investigating different faucets, we found several that you can touch to turn on and off....
by Brian Crawford | Sep 28, 2016 | disney, family
Over the weekend we visited the Magic Kingdom as a family. After riding Splash Mountain, Callum and I were walking toward Liberty Square when we noticed that the Main Street Electrical Parade was about to start. Apparently, this particular parade is going to be...
by Brian Crawford | Sep 3, 2016 | personal, thoughts
I had to do it.
by Brian Crawford | Sep 2, 2016 | thoughts
If the Mines of Moria had had better security.
by Brian Crawford | Aug 1, 2016 | disney
This evening we checked out the Star Wars Launch Bay at Disney World’s Hollywood Studios. We got pictures taken with Kilo Ren and Chewbacca, and checked out the various models of ships and equipment from the various Star Wars movies that they had on display. I...
by Brian Crawford | Jul 27, 2016 | personal
People don’t blog as much as they did back in the day. Nowadays people rely more on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and the like to share their thoughts and experiences online. This is okay, but posting on social media sites is kind of like throwing...
by Brian Crawford | Jun 12, 2016 | writing
At 11:30 AM I got the call to head to Redgrave’s Children’s Home. Three children had been accidentally poisoned. The neighborhood was in shock. The saddest part was, two children had been poisoned there last October, and another one a few months before that. Chief...
by Brian Crawford | May 26, 2016 | writing
It should come as no surprise to anyone that I spend a lot of time on the computer. And a lot of that time on the computer is spent writing. I do a lot of different sorts of writing: writing fiction, creating posts, leaving comments, composing emails, chatting with...
by Brian Crawford | Apr 12, 2016 | personal
On the off chance I don’t make it through tomorrow (because hey – you never know), I wanted to mention that I’ve been pretty lucky, and for that, I am thankful. I’m thankful for the life I’ve lived so far. I was fortunate to have been...
by Brian Crawford | Apr 4, 2016 | nature
It’s April, and Earth Day is coming up – not really a holiday – and certainly not a vacation day – but a day to take some time to think about our planet, how we as a species treat it, and what things we can do to make life better for all living...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 27, 2016 | family
Callum spent a good chunk of Saturday searching for various tips, tricks, and exploits to do speed-runs of different Portal levels. Well, nobody ever accused him of not being my kid.
by Brian Crawford | Mar 20, 2016 | thoughts
It is amazing all the simple beauty that surrounds us every day that we don’t notice when we aren’t paying attention.
by Brian Crawford | Mar 18, 2016 | family
This evening we visited Madame Tussauds on International Drive here in Orlando. We have one of those annual passes where you can visit a bunch of different attractions in the area, including Madame Tussaud’s and LEGOLAND, so why not? It was a pretty fun visit....
by Brian Crawford | Mar 6, 2016 | nature, photography
The other day I was on a morning walk with Lilou, our Shetland Sheepdog, when I came across a neighbor poking around in his front yard. Apparently he had found three raccoon cubs (or raccoon kits? Either way, they were baby raccoons). He hadn’t been able to find...
by Brian Crawford | Jan 14, 2016 | thoughts
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion is a fascinating book. In it, psychology professor Dr. Robert Cialdini explains the way people use various psychological tools to influence people to do things. For example, if someone does you a favor, you will instinctively...
by Brian Crawford | Jan 10, 2016 | disney, fitness
But Yvonne is. She’s been sending me pictures of herself at the race since five o’clock this morning. It has been fun for me and the kids to see her posing with her friends and with the various Disney characters found along the route. Wish I could have...
by Brian Crawford | Dec 24, 2015 | family
It’s Christmas Eve! I have to admit, I love the holiday season. People are generally filled with excitement and anticipation, the weather gets a bit cooler here in the south, and of course there are lots of great holiday decorations and Christmas lights to see....
by Brian Crawford | Dec 18, 2015 | tech
I don’t often talk about lightbulbs. But when I do, I do it on this blog. Nearly eight years ago I posted about Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFLs). At the time, CFLs were relatively new, or at least had only recently become available and were beginning to...
by Brian Crawford | Nov 27, 2015 | personal
A few months ago I read through several books for kids about the Space Race. Now I’m reading about the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, preparing for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day next January. It is fascinating to me that all of this happened but fifty...
by Brian Crawford | Nov 23, 2015 | personal
A world in turmoil There’s a lot going on in the world today. Syrian refugees, ISIS, illegal immigrants, Donald Trump, Paris shootings, gay and transgender rights, red Starbucks coffee cups… everybody has his or her own opinion about what’s right,...
by Brian Crawford | Nov 23, 2015 | travel
… would UPS drivers deliver packages in golf carts!
by Brian Crawford | Nov 15, 2015 | fitness
Running half marathons, 10ks, 5ks, and the like for exercise is fantastic. But recently I’ve also been doing a lot of walking, just for walking’s sake. There are plenty of great benefits to regular walking. It’s good for your body, heart, and...
by Brian Crawford | Nov 13, 2015 | family
How awesome are they? This was from Spain two years ago.
by Brian Crawford | Oct 29, 2015 | disney, fitness
Halloween is this weekend, and it’s got everybody talking about costumes and what they’re going to wear. It also reminded me that I haven’t posted pictures from the 2015 Glass Slipper Challenge, part of the Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend, that...
by Brian Crawford | Jul 17, 2015 | food
So the other day we were at Jan’s house for a get-together, and she started to make us some chocolate chip cookies. I was surprised when she got out the tub of cookie dough, and then started forming cookie dough balls using an ice cream scoop. How awesome an...
by Brian Crawford | Jun 29, 2015 | tech
I’ve been going through all sorts of kids books about the United States space program for a project I’ve been working on. Did you know that the history of the space race is quite fascinating? I hope mankind will continue learning new things about our place...
by Brian Crawford | Jun 28, 2015 | writing
Went to LibCon at the central library in Orlando yesterday. It was a good event – well planned, and well attended. I got to meet a variety of readers and writers of various genres – young adult, middle grade, fantasy, mystery – though it seemed to me...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 23, 2015 | personal
The Gringotts dragon at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter never fails to turn heads! Here are some crowds getting their cellphones ready to take a picture of the impending fwoosh. Aaaaaand… fwoosh! And just for fun, here’s the giant Universal globe at...
by Brian Crawford | Jan 5, 2015 | family, tech
Callum got a Raspberry Pi late last year (just before Christmas – I’m not sure if Santa would have been tech savvy enough to get him one of those). So far it’s been a lot of fun to play with. Computer programming for kids The Raspberry Pi was...
by Brian Crawford | Dec 19, 2014 | thoughts
by Brian Crawford | Dec 17, 2014 | poetry, writing
by Brian Crawford | Aug 19, 2014 | family
When I was in high school, my family lived for a while in Saudi Arabia. My father was working for Bell Canada, a Canadian telecommunications company charged with setting up Riyadh’s telecommunications infrastructure. I was too old to go to SAIS-R, (the American...
by Brian Crawford | Jul 2, 2014 | disney, photography
Today I took my camera to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. I should mention that I put on the most touristy clothes I could muster – my Hawaiianest shirt (which is admittedly not very Hawaiian looking – I’ll need to find a better one), a straw fedora,...
by Brian Crawford | Jun 25, 2014 | photography
My father got himself a new DSLR camera just before his cruise along the scenic rivers of Germany and the Netherlands with my mother (they’re over there now). As a result, he gave me his old Nikon DSLR, including a telephoto lens, for which I am very grateful....
by Brian Crawford | Jun 6, 2014 | family
Avocados are a terrific addition to shakes and smoothies. They’re very good for you, and they turn a shake frothy like a milkshake even if there isn’t any dairy in there (I make my shakes without). They’re also great in sandwiches, wraps, and of...
by Brian Crawford | May 31, 2014 | writing
It’s time to edit my book. Editing is tough. When you’re initially writing your manuscript, people will tell you, “Just write. Don’t worry if you write garbage. Just get words down on paper. That’s what’s important right now. You...
by Brian Crawford | Apr 29, 2014 | disney, family, fitness
In a previous post, I mentioned that we’ve been getting into running as a family. It’s a great way to get outside and do some exercise. One of the ways we’ve been getting into running is by participating in Disney runs. The runDisney program is a...
by Brian Crawford | Apr 20, 2014 | family
Today is Easter Sunday, and Yvonne and the kids have been busy decorating Ukrainian Easter eggs (pysanky). Creating them is an involved process involving candles, wax, and plenty of colored dye. I think they turned out really well.
by Brian Crawford | Mar 31, 2014 | family, nature
Lately we’ve been venturing outside for frequent family walks. We’re big fans of nature (especially Callum – he loves checking out interesting plants and trees, and growing his own garden at our place) so we will often hike into the wilderness to...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 27, 2014 | family
How often can one family go to Disneyworld? We may be in the process of finding out. We live quite close to Disney’s massive expanse of property here in central Florida, and Yvonne got the family annual passes to the parks even before I arrived back from France!...
by Brian Crawford | Feb 3, 2014 | fitness
Lately, Yvonne has really been getting into running. A few years ago she ran a half-marathon in Alaska with Team In Training, a group that raises money for cancer research through sponsoring race participants. She has also completed numerous 5ks and 10ks, and she ran...
by Brian Crawford | Feb 2, 2014 | family
There are a few pictures of the family that I meant to post to this site late last year, but never got around to doing it… so here they are. Back when we were in Spain, we took a series of pictures by the pool at our place in Isla Plana, Murcia. We took a bunch...
by Brian Crawford | Jan 18, 2014 | thoughts
The other day someone shared a post showing a list of the various states (and overseas territories) of the United States of America, ranked in order of population, highest to lowest. I find this sort of thing fascinating. I found out that I currently live in the...
by Brian Crawford | Jan 13, 2014 | writing
by Brian Crawford | Nov 5, 2013 | nature
Back in 2005 and 2006 I completed a Masters program at ESC Clermont in Auvergne, France. This week, I’m back in town. It’s quite something to be back here after almost eight years. While I’ve been in the region, I’ve been doing a lot of walking...
by Brian Crawford | Oct 26, 2013 | personal
What’s your favorite number? Some people have a strange obsession with the number 23 (thee number ov Psychic TV). Some people favor lucky number 7. My friend Mike has a thing about the number 529. My favorite number is 76. You might wonder why I like the number...
by Brian Crawford | Sep 29, 2013 | family, vacation
Back in college I took a sailing course. Yup, I got college credit for cruising around Charleston harbor on sunny fall afternoons in a J/22. It was a lot of fun, and I learned a bunch about boat safety, coastal navigation, and of course how to tack and gybe. Since...
by Brian Crawford | Aug 28, 2013 | fitness
For the past few years I’ve been running for exercise. I try to get out there every day, or at least every second day… and failing that, I make it a go to run at least more days during the week than I don’t. I find it helps to keep me alert during...
by Brian Crawford | Aug 1, 2013 | family
It has been a busy couple of months! During May, June, and July I managed a six-week project in Paris. The project itself took place in Nanterre, to the northwest of central Paris, but while in Paris I stayed in a hotel at La Défense. It was a challenging project, but...
by Brian Crawford | Jun 3, 2013 | family, nature
I’ve been sharing plenty of nature photos lately… pictures from leisurely walks in the woods, from lazy afternoons spent wandering the gardens of Normandy or Brittany, or even those taken from the side of the road whenever I stumble upon something...
by Brian Crawford | May 27, 2013 | family
Today is Memorial Day, a day to remember those men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. While it is of course most commonly recognized in the United States, what many people may not realize is that there are also Memorial Day...
by Brian Crawford | May 5, 2013 | clips, family
Amelia and I took a walk around our local town of Saint Hilaire du Harcouët, in Basse-Normandie, France. We shot a quick video of our tour. In this video, Amelia points out some of the landmarks in Saint Hilaire, and we walk through the Wednesday morning market. It...
by Brian Crawford | Apr 10, 2013 | family
by Brian Crawford | Apr 5, 2013 | family
So here we are in France, and it’s been great! But we never planned for it to be forever… our original goal was to live in France for two or three years, and then to figure out what to do next. In a way, we’re faced with too many choices –...
by Brian Crawford | Apr 4, 2013 | tech
So after several months of not blogging, I’ve returned to updating my blog every now and then during the early months of 2013. Why is that? Experiences come and go, but stuff written on a blog can last a long, long time (I won’t say forever, ’cause...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 31, 2013 | family
This evening, Amelia lost her third top front tooth. She’s been missing one of her two front teeth for several years now; she had to have it pulled while we were living in Charleston. A few days ago, her second tooth fell out (though the tooth fairy apparently...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 29, 2013 | nature
This past Saturday was one of the nicest days we’ve seen here in northwestern France in 2013. Today is certainly not one of those days… I went for a jog this morning after dropping the kids off at school, and it was only half a degree from freezing. Brr!...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 24, 2013 | food
lately, I’ve been getting into the habit of making good habits. And of all the habits that I’ve been making, one of my favorites has been the habit of creating daily (or almost-daily) fruit and vegetable shakes in the blender. we go through a lot of fruits...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 14, 2013 | nature
the weather this past week has been bizarre. Saturday afternoon it was warm and mild (as evidenced by my previous post). Then, two days ago, it got bitter cold, and it snowed all day and during the night, only to warm up by the following afternoon. This morning I got...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 10, 2013 | family
yesterday we went on a walk through the public park in the center of Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët. While we were there, Mia asked me to take a few pictures of her using some of the exercise stations situated at a grassy spot beside the lake. The pictures turned out well...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 8, 2013 | writing
For the past two weeks I’ve been subscribed to BookBub, a free service that delivers daily deals on digital books for the Kindle and Nook on Amazon. I’ve been enjoying the service so far. One thing I’ve noticed – and I’m not sure if this...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 6, 2013 | family
it’s that time of year again… the time when the persistent nip leaves the air, the sun starts lingering in the sky in the afternoons, and Callum catches the gardening bug. this year we bought several different bulbs and some fresh soil from the gardening...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 4, 2013 | food
while Callum and I spent some time outside doing a little gardening, Yvonne and Amelia made some gluten-free rice cake pizzas. At first I was a bit dubious about how good they might be, because to be honest, I’m not normally a big fan of rice cakes. I find them...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 3, 2013 | nature
today was a pretty nice (albeit somewhat chilly) day, so we spent the afternoon at the forest of Fougères in the eastern part of Brittany. The forest is quite large, and within it there is a good-sized lake with a beach for the kids to play at and a short pier where...
by Brian Crawford | Feb 17, 2013 | family
It’s the middle of February, and the rainy, gloomy days typical of winter here in northwest France are winding down. Yesterday was a beautiful day – clear skies, not too cold, and not raining – so we went for a walk in the woods in a park called the...
by Brian Crawford | Jan 31, 2013 | family
I just got back from a run in the countryside. It was a bit chilly out there – the snow’s gone, but the bite remains. However, I feel much better having returned from my run than I did before I went. I can remember many times I’ve gone out to...
by Brian Crawford | Dec 12, 2012 | family
the reason I say almost winter in Normandy is because technically winter doesn’t start until December 21st. I always get zinged by this, because it gets so wintry here in France much earlier than December 21st, and even more so where I’m from in Canada....
by Brian Crawford | Dec 9, 2012 | thoughts
I live in farmland, where I get to learn a lot about cows, if only because they’re my closest neighbors. I’ve discovered that there are only certain things that cows do. It doesn’t matter the weather, cows don’t seem to change their behavior...
by Brian Crawford | Nov 27, 2012 | family
another year has passed, and we’re still living in Normandy. The kids are well on their way to being bilingual in French and English, which I’m very happy about, and we’ve had some tremendous adventures living in France and learning about the French...
by Brian Crawford | Nov 30, 2011 | family, vacation
today I’ve started using the WordPress Image Uploader to upload and manipulate images. Up until now I’ve resisted doing so due to some innate need to control everything by hand (re: resizing the images into thumbnails by hand, using SFTP to get them...
by Brian Crawford | Sep 24, 2011 | family
the big news from our family is that, as of earlier this month, we have moved from Paris to a small stone house near the town of Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët in La Manche, Basse-Normandie (department 50). The differences between our old lifestyle and our new lifestyle...
by Brian Crawford | May 17, 2011 | fitness
positives and negatives I tend to try to keep my blog positive – people generally don’t want to read about other people’s complaints or personal problems, my own included. But sometimes something happens in your life that is not positive, yet impacts...
by Brian Crawford | Apr 7, 2011 | travel
for the past week I’ve been staying in Penang in Malaysia, working for a client located here on the island. I’ve never been to Penang before and have had an excellent time working here and exploring the city, which is a fascinating and very diverse place....
by Brian Crawford | Mar 26, 2011 | family
spring has arrived in Paris, and the flowers are in bloom. I don’t recall having been to Paris in the spring before, and it’s pretty spectacular… it’s almost as if the beauty of the flowering trees here is kept a hushed secret throughout the...
by Brian Crawford | Feb 27, 2011 | family
today marks the day that we’ve officially been living in Paris for a month, so it’s about time for a brief update with some pictures. It’s been great so far – we’ve been having fun experiencing the language and culture, not to mention the...
by Brian Crawford | Feb 7, 2011 | personal
This evening I took a quick trip to the Carrefour, the local grocery store here in our (temporary) neighborhood in Versailles. While there I bought three things: a chocolate bar (with caramel), a box of Jaffa Cakes, and a small bottle of Chimay Blue. Okay, I’ll...
by Brian Crawford | Jan 28, 2011 | work
I spent my last two weeks in Toronto, completing some training for my new position at Varicent. I had a swell time – the training was great, and I have plenty of friends in Toronto that I grew up with, and I managed to see a good many of them during my two weeks...
by Brian Crawford | Jan 5, 2011 | family
exciting news – we’re moving back to France! I’m going to be working for Varicent, a software company based in my native Canada, but I’ll be working from France and managing projects in Europe as well as in the Asia/Pacific region. My last day...
by Brian Crawford | Dec 28, 2010 | family
as I mentioned in my last post, we spent Christmas in Johnson City, Tennessee, with Yvonne’s older brother Robert and his roommate Gerry. One of the best parts about spending Christmas there was that we got to experience the great snowpocalypse of 2010, or...
by Brian Crawford | Dec 24, 2010 | family
we’re in Johnson City, Tennessee, visiting with Yvonne’s brother Robert and his roommate Gerry. It’s a five and a half hour drive from Charleston, all of which is along Highway 26 and most of which is through the good ol’ flatlands of South...
by Brian Crawford | Dec 9, 2010 | clips, tech
prepare to be amazed, my friends. okay, so only slightly underwhelming. this is a traffic light electronics kit I bought in Tennessee and soldered together as soldering practice for the x0xb0x I bought the other week. The x0xb0x is a Roland TB-303 synthesizer replica...
by Brian Crawford | Nov 12, 2010 | writing
Last night I went to the local Barnes & Noble to meet up with a group of local writers here in Charleston, South Carolina. It’s November, and this month as is every November is NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to...
by Brian Crawford | Nov 9, 2010 | family, vacation
last week we returned to Disneyworld for a week – the first time around we bought annual passes (which are much cheaper in the long run if you plan to go to the theme parks for more than a few days), so this time around it was almost somewhat economical! one of...
by Brian Crawford | Oct 2, 2010 | writing
There are two polarized schools of thought when it comes to writing novels. School of thought number one’s followers believe that you should plan out every single facet of your novel, create a detailed timeline, draft incredibly vivid character outlines, and...
by Brian Crawford | Oct 1, 2010 | writing
Writing is a lot like tennis. Actually, writing is not much like tennis at all, except for the part where you can’t get good at tennis unless you play tennis, and you can’t get good at writing unless you practice writing! I don’t know many people who...
by Brian Crawford | Sep 28, 2010 | writing
lately I’ve been getting back into writing fiction, something that for many years was part of my daily routine, but for the last several years (or maybe more than several) has been decidedly cut out. it feels great to be back to it, though I’m sorely out...
by Brian Crawford | Sep 15, 2010 | fitness
lately I’ve lost over 7% of my body weight in an almost embarrassingly short period of time, and I am pretty sure I did it in a healthy manner. In fact, I feel much better than I did before losing the weight! And I’m guessing that many people could follow...
by Brian Crawford | Jul 20, 2010 | clips, miscellaneous
by Brian Crawford | Jul 17, 2010 | family
for the past several months we’ve been letting Mia’s bangs grow out. As such, her hair’s been looking like that of a shaggy dog lately, hanging down over her eyes for most of the day… we’ve been using barrettes and bows in her hair to...
by Brian Crawford | Jun 16, 2010 | family, vacation
here’s a picture of Mia at the Princess Dinner at Norway in the Epcot World Showcase. You’ll notice that Mia has all of her front teeth; this was before we had to have one of them pulled. I’ll post pictures of her new look later. She bonked her top...
by Brian Crawford | May 16, 2010 | family
the week before we took the family to Disneyworld. It was of course pretty fun, and everyone had a great time. Some of the highlights included riding the monorail around and around, meeting up with my sister (who lives in Tampa) and her daughter, doing the Princess...
by Brian Crawford | Apr 23, 2010 | work
yesterday morning was Bring Your Child to Work Day here at Blackbaud, and I brought my eldest son for half of the morning, and my daughter for the other half. It was pretty fun! This morning while I was at work my son (who just turned 7) filled out the form that came...
by Brian Crawford | Apr 21, 2010 | photography
here in South Carolina one of the nicest times of year is that short window during the springtime when the azaleas are blooming. And one of the nicest places to be when the azaleas are in full color is at one of Charleston’s beautiful plantations. this past...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 28, 2010 | family
how to get the kids to do their chores in the Crawford household: Issue the order something like this: “Autobots, <perform action>!!” (some viable examples: ‘roll out’, ‘clean room’, ‘eat dinner’) The kids will ask...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 21, 2010 | family
Callum, who is 6 (now almost 7), has been taking weekly violin lessons since last fall with some music teachers who give lessons out of their home in Mt. Pleasant. He’s been practicing (nearly) every day, and seems to really enjoy playing the instrument –...
by Brian Crawford | Mar 2, 2010 | thoughts
a few days ago while the 2010 Olympics were in progress I posted this tally of how many Olympic medals countries were earning per million people, to help to gauge how countries were performing compared to the number of potential athletes available to choose from. Now...
by Brian Crawford | Feb 27, 2010 | thoughts
Edit: I’ve updated this list – see the final results for the 2010 Olympics medals per capita. currently, the United States is leading the Olympic medals count, with 35 medals. My native Canada is in third place, with 23 medals (we also have the highest...