A Modest Stance against Net Neutrality:

            I realize that for the most part I have used this blog to talk about my Family and other more personal things.  If you stick around I am sure you will get to read about colonoscopies and other insanely intrusive subjects. (See what I did there with “intrusive”)  Having said that all of this talk about net neutrality has had me thinking; what does this mean for me?

            I do not write code, or design web sites.  I have however worked in the Tech industry for nearly 20 years as either a sales position, or as a Product Manager.  For you real nerds I have spent some time as a scrum master as well.  I understand technology and the amazingly positive influence that it has had on the world as we know it.  Think about it; how did things get done before email, video conference calls, screen sharing and Google Docs.  How did you pretend to be busy without Facebook, solitaire or Trivia Crack. 

            So first off, what is Net Neutrality?  There are really three parts to this argument. (I pulled the following from gawker.com):

·         Net neutrality describes the idea that whoever provides you Internet access—for example, Comcast, Time Warner, Verizon, and so on—should treat all of your Internet traffic, or packets of data, the same way.

·         Generally speaking, supporters of net neutrality want the FCC to reclassify broadband ISPs as “common carriers,” a designation reserved for companies who are mandated by the government to provide the same service, without discrimination, to everyone. (Think about gas, or electricity, or landline telephone services.)

·         Opponents argue that if broadband ISPs cannot collect fees from companies who take up an outsized portion of their bandwidth, they lose the incentive to invest in maintaining and upgrading their current infrastructure, which could hurt consumers.

At first glance this all looks pretty benign right?  How will this affect us as and end user when everything seems to be focused purely on our Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) and other telecomm conglomerates?  Then, take some time to think about it.

How much did you pay for your last session on Facebook?  When you Googled “twerking” or “when did pegged pants stop being cool?”   Did you pay for your search results?  If ISP’s can no longer charge web based companies for prioritized service, and then those same companies can no longer sell add spaced based on that service, they will need to find another way to replace those revenues, and guess where they will turn! Hello Transactional Internet charges!!

            Next, do we really want the federal government to regulate the Internet like any other utility?  I believe Government has its place. But this is not it.  In fact the federal government once had a monopoly on communications.  I am referring to the United States Postal Service. (USPS)

            Let’s look at their History shall we.

·         Officially created as the American Postal Service on February 17^th 1691 (Our Postal System Francis C. Huebne)

·         In 1792 the American Postal service was “re-branded” as the United States Post Office Department. (Richard John, "How the Post Office Made America,"New York Times Feb 8, 2013)

·         The Post Office thrived until the 1970’s when private competitors started to have a more significant impact on the Governments monopoly on Mail delivery (""Postal Savings System" by HISTORIAN, UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE, JULY 2008" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-07-18.)

·         Lower Volumes mean much lower revenues.  Not only did the introduction of private companies decrease the revenue generated by the USPS, they have obliterated it.  In the fiscal year 2012, the USPS cost American Tax payers $15.9 Billion.  That’s Billion, with a B. (USPS Annual Report 2012. "USPS 2012 Annual Report". Retrieved 9 January 2013.)

Using my amazing powers of deduction, and the data provided by the government themselves; the post office is a huge drain on our resources, and is being destroyed by private companies.

Now let’s compare that with the Internet and its growth.  Frankly,  it is impossible to measure.  So I will just list the revenue generated by Internet advertising only.  In 2012 alone over $42.8 Billion was generated from Internet adds.( IAB internet advertising revenue report: 2012 full year results". PricewaterhouseCoopers, Internet Advertising Bureau. April 2013. Retrieved 12 June2013)

So the USPS, which I think is and has been a noble enterprise, has not been able to keep up with the private sector, and is now providing a “service” that is costing us all wayyyyyyy to much.

            The Internet, and that fact that it is private, is generating gazillions of Dollars and created bazillions of jobs (these are numbers that even three year old understands) Do we really want to start regulating it?

            Perhaps I have taken a few to many liberties in the interpretation of the data in this analysis, but I am a firm believer in the old adage “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

The Great Mutiny

January 12, 2015:

  We have been back into the routine for one week now and none of the kids have been beaten, or even yelled at.  It is always hard to get used to waking up early again.  We had a great Christmas break but we sure get a lot more done when we are on a schedule.

  AS we did not have any eventful things happen last week I thought that I would write about the Smith family Mutiny that happened in June of 2013.  In terms of command structure, a mutiny occurs when subordinates overthrow their commanding officer.  This is exactly what happened in the summer of 2013.

  I have been a kind a gracious father.  I have provided: food, shelter, love, and even entertainment for my family.  I have wasted a small fortune on Barbie dolls, accessories, and cloths, not to mention many many poorly made animated DVD’s.  Despite this fact the family felt that they had the right, no, the need for a puppy. 

  I for one have nothing against dogs per say.  I have always thought they were great for other people, and, in a pinch, would be great for making stew or some kind of tamale.  I did not however want a dog of my own.  I have cleaned up poop and provided for non-speaking, drooling, creatures that spend their days on all fours for years.  For basically 7 years straight we changed diapers and cleaned the carpet.  My kids had just started getting to the point where they bathed and fed themselves.  That all changed when Anna posted the following picture and caption on Facebook:

Master Manipulator. Milo wants a big pet for his birthday. No more potato bugs and worms for pets. He wants a dog!
I wonder how long his dad will be able to resist this face!

Well, that started a Facebook campaign that was geared at making me change my long lasting rule that we would never get a dog.  I was determined to hold to my standards and not give in.  I had taken care of a dog when I was a kid, and while I loved him, I did not want the responsibility of taking care of a Dog as a parent.

  Of course the other kids really wanted a dog as well and soon I was being told all of the things that they would do to get a dog.  They also made a lot of promises about all of the work they would put into caring for the puppy and making sure that we was happy and that I did not have to do any of the work.

  A few weeks past, I even started getting pretty excited about it and as you can see from the phot below, we did in fact end up with a new puppy:

  This is Cosmo on the day we brought him home.  His Mom is half Shi-Tzu half Yorkie, and his dad is a schnauzer.   I was opposed at the beginning, but in the end I think that I love him more than anyone.  He is 18 months old now and except for the fact that she still digs through the trash on occasion, he is a pretty well trained Dog. 

  I am not opposed to eating him if things get rough, but I do love him and all in all I think that he has been good for the kids.  But if anyone ever refers to him as “My baby” or calls me his “Daddy” I am quick to correct them. 

Starting 2015

January 5, 2015

  My goal is to spend a few hours a week documenting the things that we have been able to do in our family throughout the entire year of 2015.  I am sure that there will be time that I just do not get to it, and I hope that I will stick to it.  There are many things that we do together, or that the kids accomplish, that I just do not seem to record.  Plus I enjoy writing but often do not know what to write about, so this will help.

  Rather than start out right away with the things that we have done in the past week.  I want to do a quick summery of 2014 since Facebook is really the only record we have of any of that stuff.  If I separated the year into three main highlights they would be:  Anna and Nikki getting to visit some great friends in Costa Rica, Our family trip to Hawaii, and the Anguiano/McCue Christmas extravaganza.

    Nikki has been best friends with the Wilkinson twins living next door for about 10 years.  Joseph and Eliza were regular visitors at our house, to the point where it was almost strange for them not to be around.  A few years ago the family was called to serve in the Costa Rica Mission.  Chad, the Dad, is currently the mission president, and as those of us that served a mission know, the whole family really gets the calling as they all go and they all serve. 

  Needless to say this was not easy on Nikki.  Really it was not easy on Mason either as Joseph treated Mason more like a little brother of his own, and less like the little kid next door.  We miss them very much and we are very excited to see them when they return in 6 months.

  One of the perks of Anna working for an airline is that we get to go cool places.  We will be taking more advantage of this over the next few years, and have enjoyed it this year as well.  Anna and Nikki were able to fly down and spend a week with the Wilkinson family. They only spent a day in the city, and then they headed off to a beach house to relax.  With the Internet and Face time I was able to talk with Anna every night, which was great.

    It was clear that they had a great time, and Nikki was very sad to say goodbye to them.  While Mason, Milo and I did not go, it really was still on of the highlights of the year for the family as a whole

  The next big deal for the year was a fantastic vacation to Kauai Hawaii with my brother Gus and his family.  It really is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in the world.  Our family flew down a few days before and stayed in just a little hotel close to the airport.  Then we met up with Gus’s family at the condo he had rented for a week.

Below is a picture of what we saw when we looked out our back door that week:

We did a lot of things that week.  We spent a lot of time at the beach, when for drives in the mountains, walked through caves, saw waterfalls, Snorkeled with huge turtles, went to a fantastic Laue, and ate fresh fish.  The best part of the trip was just not being on any kind schedule and having time to just relax and enjoy the time together.  The kids had a great time with their cousins and Anna and I cannot wait to go back again on our own.

The last big even of the year was a visit from Anna’s parents, her sister Teresa with her two kids at home, Eliana and Jeffery.  While they were here we also had Teresa’s older kids Brett and Tyler over a lot, as well as her brother Tony with his Family.  We spend a lot of time with Tony and Rina, it is very easy to have them over.

  They were mostly here for the Christmas Holiday, but we did a lot of other things with them as well.  Below are some pictures from some of the site seeing that we did.

Let it Snow, let it snow, let it snow!!

I'm guessing it is going to be a white Christmas this year since I've already shoveled my walks three times today. The storms are suppose to keep coming until Christmas Day. I had to help our neighbors push their cars into driveways because the snow was so deep on the main road and we have yet to see a snow plow. It's times like these that I am so glad I finished all of my Christmas shopping weeks ago and don't HAVE to go anywhere if I don't want to.

Snow Day

Mason gets so excited every time it snows. He didn't even care that there wasn't very much he still went out and made snow angels and jumped on the trampoline. I sometimes wish I could have the excitement of a child again. He doesn't care if it's cold, or if he gets wet, or what his hair looks like, he just loves playing.

Milo is getting too big, too fast. This post is mostly for the benefit of my parents, but everyone can enjoy his laugh. He is either smiling or crying for mom. I think he might be bipolar, but the verdict is still out on that one. Mostly he is a really good baby.

Halloween Festivities

This Halloween Mason decided to be a "good guy" venom, Nikki was Hannah Montana, Milo was a little bear, and Gouch was a "Manbug". Halloween also reminds me what an awesome neighborhood we live in. It's so nice to go trick-or-treating and know 90% of my neighbors in a 10 block radius. I love to see everyone out on their porches greeting the kids and although the weather could have been better (it rained all night), at least it wasn't freezing.

This are all pictures of are annual trip to Thanksgiving Point. They have a great Fall Festival each year with tons of fun stuff. Are personal favorite is the cow tractor pull. And in case you are wondering want the kids are laying in on the bottom picture it is corn kernels. They had a whole barn filled with corn kernels, who would have ever guessed that corn could be so much fun.

My Hero Rosa Parks

Every time Nikki is assigned a history project about a person she always picks Rosa Parks. She learned about Mrs. Parks when she was in preschool. Mrs. Donna (her preschool teacher) must have made quite an impact because since then Nikki has been enamored with her. She has bought books on her and really, really wants to visit her museum in Alabama someday (Gouch keeps telling her that the museum is probably not all it's cracked up to be). This year her second grade class dressed up like their favorite person from history. Nikki was so excited and she even had a dress just like one of Rosa Parks pictures. She did a great job and wrote three pages of information all by herself on this wonderful lady.

Karate Kid

Nikki has been doing Karate for about two months now and absolutely loves it. Nikki is a very timid, shy, but sweet kid so Karate seemed a little bit of a weird choice to me, but she insisted. After two months I am sold!! During her belt test everyone has to perform their maneuvers by them self and I was amazed at how well she did. For any parents out there debating on extra curricular activites I highly recommend this one. Hyper kids, shy kids, mean kids, submissive and aggressive kids can all benefit.

Beautiful Kids!!

I've got great kids and an amazing husband. Today my husband told me (after my nap, of course) that I was "uncharacteristically grumpy". So after he made dinner he had the kids drag me to bed for a movie or nap by myself, and they cleaned up the front room while Gouch cleaned up dinner. What a family!!

Family pictures

Well, I know I'm a slacker and horrible at keeping a blog, but I promise that I will in the future continue to be consistently inconsistent with my updates.

We have had a lot going on this past month and I really need to post the pictures of Nikki getting her Gold belt in karate. That will be the next update, promise mom.

This weekend my neighbor called and said "it's a beautiful weekend and you wanted to get pictures of your kids so lets do it in a few hours". My first thought was that I was really enjoying my lazy no plans Saturday, but then I decided to say yes and capture my beautiful children on film (or computer I guess). Here are some of the pictures my neighbor took. She did a really good job and considering that Milo is only three months old and totally uncooperative, Mason thought it was more fun to be goofy and clown around than smile, and Nikki decided to play bashful and coy, I think she got a lot of great shots. Thank you Marianne, your amazing!!

These two pictures of Mason in the blue shirt are his preschool pictures that Marianne took a few weeks ago.