Chris

A few months ago it was decided to move from Birmingham into Houston, Texas. How does one adjust afterwards from a Southern city in the mountains to the nation’s 4th largest metropolis? Web applications, of course! Here is a list for you to guide you into your new city or maybe even help you become a tourist in your own town.

Flickr– The photo sharing site has been a tremendous assistant by observing locales as others see them. Added bonuses: maps with geotags and Flickr groups. As soon as we arrived, there was a flickr meetup at the Museum of Natural Science after hours. That was a blast and I got to meet fellow photogs too.

Yelp– Yelp is an easy way to find, review and talk about what’s great (and not so great) in your new home. What are the best restaurants, dentists, hairstylists? Yelp runs on personal recommendations.

GPS- After the family got settled, it was time to go explore. Well, you don’t just explore an area the size of Houston w/o a guide, it just isn’t done. Our guide has been the Garmin Nuvi 360. Much more convenient and used than the $35 wire-bound mass of a map book that was purchased and is collecting dust!

Tilt- My mobile handset from AT &T has crucial communication features including 3G data, GPS, wifi, photos, video and more. Information in my hands. Fast. Oh, and download the Fring application for IM communication away from your computer.

Twitter– A communication tool that simply asks: “What are you doing?” While still living in Alabama, I befriended mucho Twitterers here in Houston and added to the local conversations remotely. After arriving…instant friends. Brilliant!

Upcoming-All right, now that you have arrived, what is there to do in this town? Anything exciting coming up? Glad you asked and here is your reference tool. Upcoming is a community for discovering and sharing events. It can help you find stuff to do, discover what your friends are doing, or let you keep private events online for your own reference. Bonus: you can add your photos of the event to Flickr and vice versa. Neat!

Your Local Newspaper- Yes, you can use their website, sure. The Houston Chronicle is utilizing new media tools and socializing apps almost better than anyone out there. Still, get the tree-killing kind. Why? There is something to be said for print. Besides, you even get ads you can ignore or use (coupons too)

There are many variations of these tools out there but I have submitted them for you based on my user experience and benefit. I haven’t yet mentioned the local library systems, traffic management tools, radio stations, etc but they are essential as well.

What tools have you used to either discover your new city or explore your hometown? What have I missed? Lay it on us and enjoy the experience!

Pumpkin Girl , originally uploaded by Photo Mojo.

Daphne’s fall fashion photo shoot in the backyard was fun. Tomorrow, we’ll go to a local pumpkin patch and get some more. Doesn’t she look like she belongs in a kid’s clothing catalog?

Give me a "D", originally uploaded by eagerlittlemind.

One of the last things I want for my daughter is to become a cheerleader. Why? Because I used to play football as a linebacker. I know the chemistry between the two.

Having said this, I think Daphne has cuteness coming out of her ears here!

She’ll help us cheer for the #1 OU Sooners versus #5 Texas during the Red River Rivalry this weekend.

Go team!

I’m going. Will I see you there? http://houstonsketchy.wordpress.com/

I missed the VP debates last Thursday between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin but decided to watch it on Hulu.com to play catch-up. Yes, I watched the SNL skit as well!

I then took the transcript and loaded it into Wordle which created tag clouds that highlight what was mentioned the most. If you can look past the obvious repeats such as names and titles, you can view what was discussed. I’ll leave the judgment and voting decisions up to you.

Ivan Denbow, originally uploaded by Photo Mojo.

Zanesville, Ohio February 2, 1927 – Tulsa, Oklahoma September 28, 2008

My father called this afternoon to tell me that my grandfather passed away a few days ago and was discovered in his home alone. We’ll be driving up to Tulsa on Thursday morning for a weekend memorial service.

Ivan L. Denbow was born in Ohio in 1923 and died at the age of 85. He and his 9 siblings were orphaned at a young age and lived at a working orphanage in Zanesville, Ohio. After serving in World War II he met and married Betty, who died right before my father’s 4th birthday. Ivan married shortly afterwards to Corneila for 50 years until she passed away in February 2007.

I haven’t had a moment really to reflect other than realizing how alive we are and how much we should appreciate this.

Life is beautiful.

Goodbye, grandpa. We love and miss you.

Wonderwife, DVD and I visited the Children’s Museum today and enjoyed it. It was fun to watch Daphne explore, play and socialize with other kids. She just could not believe all of the toys and space in which to play!

In other news, my father is recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery on Friday and is supposedly doing quite well.

and now Daphne…

For the past few days, the streets and highways in the Houston area has been super congested while recovering from Hurricane Ike. This morning alone it took me 2 hours to drive to work in what is usually a 30 minute drive. On the way home it took 2 hours! What has changed? Like I said, Ike. Before the storm, the transit authority has waived toll charges on all of the tollways to expedite the evacuation process and they are still waived. Many drivers who usually do not pay are enjoying faster routes and adding to the congestion on these roads. The frontage roads are great…when the traffic signals are working. For now, we treat these as four-way stops that add to the mix. Evacuees are making their way back into the city of 5 million+ people during all of this which is good news of course, but snarls the roadways.

When I first moved to Houston 2 months ago, I signed up immediately for an EZ toll tag because I cannot stand stop/go traffic. Hate, hate, hate.

HTA: please re-open the HOV lanes and bring back the tolls, mmmkaythxbye.

UPDATE: KHOU has an article about it on their website- http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou080923_tnt_traffic_trouble_houston.a5ebeccb.html

Daphne- One Year Old, originally uploaded by Photo Mojo.

This little girl should be used to a camera lens pointed at her. The black tubes have been staring at her and stealing her images ever since the nurses cleaned her up and dried her off.

The courier delivered the brand new Nikon D90 last night and I cannot wait to put it through it’s paces! The 90 has been described as a D300 in the body of D40….which means wow. Amazing sensor, fast kit lens (18-100mm), GPS for geotagging (coming soon) and it even shoots HD video! Again, wow.

Wonderwife has some D90 shots of Daphne and I playing around tonight. We’re trying to get life back to normal since Ike hit Houston, but I’ll be shooting this weekend with it!

The D90 compliments our D200 and the D50 (which will be sold soon).

Related articles:

• Nikon D90 Official: First DSLR Ever With HD Video Recording
• Nikon D90 DSLR review roundup

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I love Daddy!!, originally uploaded by eagerlittlemind.

Daphne was really rowdy tonight after playing soccer with me in her room tonight. After I took the ball from her she decided to pounce on me to get it back.
The resulting skirmish was more brutal than the high school football dog piles I participated in but more fun. Every time I got the ball back, she’d pounce on me again. Every time she got it back, she’d raise her hands with ball in the air for victory…until I pulled her back into the fray.
The best part was hearing her giggles. Especially while mocking me when dry coughing/laughing.

She just recently turned one and is growing on her maturity. Wow.