JedFonner.com

Remove and re-add mail accounts to fix your buggy iPhone

Jed — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:13:09 +0000

As I eager awaited the release of iPhone OS 3.0, my iPhone continued to annoy me more and more. My phone was painfully slow at times and I was noticing more and more crashes. The final straw came when my mostly-full battery drained to almost zero during the night while I slept and no apps were running on the phone. Something had to be done. So of course I turned to Google.

What I found were two helpful posts on the Apple Support Discussion boards:

Long story short, people were hypothesizing that Mail.app on the iPhone was acting wonky and was requesting mail constantly, thus taking up valuable processor power and draining the battery. The suggested fix was to remove all email and calendar accounts and re-add them. So on Monday I deleted the Exchange work email account and the IMAP Gmail account on my phone and re-added them. Since then my phone feels brand new again. No more crashes, apps load faster and perform better, and my battery lasts 3x as long.

So if you are having performance problems with your phone, give it a shot. It can’t hurt. Or just give your phone to someone else and buy a new iPhone 3G S, you know, whatever.

Eli sails past the 4 month mark

Jed — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 02:00:49 +0000

Last Monday, June 1st, Eli turned 4 months old! May was a busy month for Eli. We spent a lot of time visiting with family, attending a Bat Mitzvah, going to a graduation party in WV, hosting a BBQ with our Mommies group friends and their parents, having a few friends over for dinner, and even meeting a new cousin. We also survived Eli’s first cold.

Eli continues to move up the growth charts nicely. He now weighs 15 lbs 13ozs and is 26 inches long. He has moved from the 50th percentile for weight and 40th for height to the 75th and 80th, respectively and that doesn’t take into account that he was 5 weeks early! It’s hard to believe he was barely on the charts just 3 months ago. And, surprisingly to some, his head size is actually average coming in at the 55th percentile.

Eli’s personality is beginning to shine through. We are happy to report that he is an easy-going happy baby most of the time. He’s starting to really interact with us and the environment. He smiles, “talks” up a storm, loves to kick, and has started batting at toys. He clearly differentiates between his parents and everyone else. Good luck trying to get Eli’s attention when his Mommy is the room! Instead of sleeping most of the day, Eli is now awake significantly more than he is asleep. This could be due to his great nighttime sleeping skills.

Pictures from May can be found on Nicole’s Smugmug site.

Over the next few weeks Eli will be learning some exciting new skills. We can’t wait to hear him laugh, hold his head completely steady, and begin to roll over.

Stop, Hammer Time!

Jed — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 12:59:01 +0000

I used to think flash mobs were pretty stupid – just something for people with too much time on their hands. But this video changed my mind. This might be the best thing I’ve ever seen on YouTube, and I’ve watched lots of cat videos:

For those of you not familiar with the concept, read more about flash mobs on Wikipedia and visit the most popular flash mob site, Improv Everywhere. Or just watch some of these other great flash mob videos.

This specific video seems to have been a well planned, rehearsed promotion for the upcoming Hammertime TV series on A&E. But regardless, the use of a flashmob as marketing is hilarious and shows the meme has really become mainstream. Awesome.

Eli continues to get bigger and bigger

Jed — Sun, 31 May 2009 17:52:54 +0000

Tomorrow is Eli’s 4 month birthday (elephant pictures coming later). Our baby continues to amuse us with his personality and impress us and others with his chubbiness. We’re very happy to see that he is growing well and he has become a very calm, laid-back baby. He sleeps almost 12 hours a night with just one feeding during that time, usually after around 7 hours. That’s much nicer for his parents than when he needed feedings every 3-4 hours. During the day he naps about every 2 hours and eats even more often. His head control is improving and he’s become quite the chatty baby (watch the video from this earlier post). Every day he makes new funny faces and he is definitely able to differentiate Nicole and me from other people. In fact if Nicole is in the room it’s hard to get him to look at anything or anyone else – he’s kind of a mamma’s boy right now. He isn’t grasping at toys yet but that might just be because his mom does such a good job of entertaining him. Overall we feel very lucky to have such an adorable and well behaved baby.

As usual, you can find even more pictures on Nicole’s Smugmug photo site.

I want taste buds

Jed — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:44:05 +0000

This video always cracks me up. It just goes to show, if you create an entertaining ad, it sells itself.

Eli gets chatty with us

Jed — Sun, 24 May 2009 15:31:53 +0000

Right around Mother’s Day Eli decided that he had a lot to say to us. Ever since then he hasn’t stopped chatting. He’s not always in a talkative frame of mind, but when the mood is just right, he talks up a storm. It’s really quite hilarious. Nicole and I really enjoy our conversations with the little guy. If only we knew what he was saying!

View the video larger and in HD on Vimeo.

In other Eli news, our baby continues to grow and he’s now full of smiles. And to our delight he is slowly sleeping longer and longer at night. Amazingly he slept 10 hours straight on Friday and Saturday nights but we’re not sure that is typical. Usually he gives us one good night (defined as about 6 hrs straight) and one rough night of sleep. When he’s not sleeping, he and Nicole have fun all day playing and doing exercises. I give him a bottle in the morning when he wakes up around 6am and then again when I get home from work, followed most days by some singing. Eli hates going to bed at night and will fight sleep but we are able to eventually lull him to sleep by around 930pm.

PBS says Arlington rocks, Tysons Corner not so much. But there’s hope.

Jed — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:32:34 +0000

PBS created a new video series called Poisoned Waters on the growing hazards to human health and the ecosystem. They specifically called out Tysons Corner, VA (where I live and used to work) as an example of how unchecked growth damages the environment. The video provides a very interesting history of how Tysons Corner grew from rural farmland to the region’s largest retail center. But that growth, of course, came at huge cost. The car-centric design of Tysons Corner has led to incredible gridlock in the area and is damaging the local environment and the entire Chesapeake watershed.

Watch the PBS Poisoned Waters segment on Tysons Corner, VA:

I just want to point out that even though PBS says that almost no one actually lives in Tysons Corner, when my company was located in Tysons Corner many of the employees lived right in the Tysons Corner area. Nicole and I recently moved to Tysons Corner to be closer to work (our plans were foiled when my company decided to move to Reston 6 months after we moved to Tysons Corner, but that’s another story).

PBS points to Arlington, VA (just a few miles from Tysons Corner) as an example of what works. The concept is “smart growth” which they describe as “urban living with a human touch”. The key is that Arlington has built up instead of out and they have focused new development around the Metro and public transportation. This allows Arlington to house many more residents than Tysons Corner while providing more open space and a more walkable lifestyle.

Watch the PBS Poisoned Waters segment on Arlington, VA:

I can attest that two of my friends who lived in Arlington managed to go without a car for years, relying on public transportation and using Zipcar or borrowing a car when needed.

As hinted in the second PBS segment about Arlington, Tysons is planning to use the introduction of Metro to the area as an opportunity to reinvent itself as an urban center. This NY Times article describes how Tysons is planning to transition to a pedestrian-friendly area with urban parks and high-density living space similar to Arlington. Sounds good, but I’m still skeptical. Changing Tysons Corner is going to be a mammoth task. But I hope they can do it… for everyone’s sake.

Eli’s 3 Month Birthday Weekend

Jed — Sun, 03 May 2009 21:06:03 +0000

This was a busy weekend with Eli. On Friday he turned 3 months old. We took some more Eli-with-the-elephant pictures (see months one and two) but he pretty much looks the same as he did at two months except chubbier! On Saturday we went to Nicole’s cousin’s Bat Mitzvah. That meant getting dressed up and eating delicious food Eli while tons of Nicole’s relatives got to hold Eli. And Eli got to enjoy a bottle and take a nap in a new place. We dialed it down a notch on Sunday and had some nice nap time, although Eli and the cats did more napping than I did.

We can’t afford to let Republicans prevent progress on clean energy

Jed — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:08:28 +0000

I just sent a Letter to the Editor to various newspaper on why I support a carbon cap on emissions.

A majority of Americans support a cap on carbon pollution, but you wouldn’t know it from what you read in the papers or see on the news. And right now it’s important that our Members of Congress know we aren’t fooled by the scare tactics.

For more on this issue, read the links in my letter below. If you want to send a message to you local paper too, it’s really simple — just use the tool on Al Gore’s Repower America website: Speakout about the Carbon Cap.

My Letter to the Editor:

I am angered by the GOP attempts to mislead the public about President Obama’s clean energy proposals, especially the cap-and-trade program. The Republicans claim Obama’s clean energy proposal will cost each family over $3000, but that’s based on a distortion of an MIT report on the subject. When asked about the Republicans claims, John Reilly, an energy, environmental and agricultural economist at M.I.T. and one of the authors of the report, said “It’s just wrong. It’s wrong in so many ways it’s hard to begin.” In fact, the report did include an estimate of the net cost to individuals, called the “welfare” cost. It would be $30.89 per person in 2015, or $79 per family if you use the same average household size the Republicans used of 2.56 people – a far cry from the $3000 figure the Republicans are using to scare the public. Politifact.com called them out on it, claiming “GOP full of hot air about Obama’s ‘light switch tax’”.

The Financial Times heralds the President’s proposals as an “historic step” and I agree. For the first time in history, we actually have a chance of creating a system that will help us as a nation control our pollution problem. This is a classic “tragedy of the commons” dilemma – by not having any cost associated with polluting a shared resource (i.e., our environment), the established energy industry companies have no incentive to clean up their act. Capping carbon pollution will ignite the transition to clean energy and end our dependence on dirty fossil fuels. It will also encourage energy companies to become more efficient.

In addition, a cap on carbon pollution will create tens of thousands of good-paying American jobs that can’t be shipped overseas.

Now is the time for action. The economy can’t wait. The climate crisis can’t wait. I want our leaders to know that here in Virginia we support bold action on climate and energy, including a cap on carbon pollution.

Baby Eli Update

Jed — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:36:53 +0000

Over the past month Eli has grown tremendously, both physically and developmentally. At his two-month doctor’s appointment we discovered that Eli had gained 4 lbs in just one month! He now weighs 12 lbs – double his birth weight. Just for reference, most doctors want to see a 2 lb increase per month.

Eli went from the 10^th percentile at one month to the 50^th percentile at two months! We’re happy about his growth but we’re hoping he slows down just a bit soon! Eli is now able to make eye contact and focus on people’s faces. He is also smiling! Much to our relief he no longer cries during diaper changes or baths and, most importantly, he’ll now sleep up to 4.5 hours at night instead of the 2-3 hours we had been getting.

Nicole has posted a whole bunch of pictures here and here.