I had the pleasure of joining Scott McNulty on his very clever podcast, Random Trek. The premise behind Random Trek is to have a different guest each week come on and discuss a random episode of Star Trek — from any of the series.

For me, I was only really familiar with Star Trek: The Next Generation. When Scott told me that I was randomly assigned an episode from TNG, I was thrilled with my good luck.

Upon watching my episode, Shades of Gray, I realized my luck was short-lived.

Star Trek fan or not, you may enjoy listening to me on the episode trying not to be too negative about what is widely considered to be the worst episode from The Next Generation. Needless to say, it was… challenging.

Freshly graduated from Virginia Tech, I was now a month into my first real job, in Charlottesville, Virginia. The job made for an easy transition from childhood into the adult world. I wore shorts in the summer and was one of the few that believed in collared shirts. My “job” was to write software that ran slot machines. When I was “debugging”, I was playing the slots. Unfortunately for me, even when I won, there was no cashier to bring my vouchers to.

Friendships were hard to come by at first. I liked my coworkers a lot, but most were quite a bit older than I. A dear friend from college an hour away in Richmond provided solace, but we didn’t hang out all the time. I had no money, but when it came to time, I was the richest man alive.

One Saturday in late October, we were slated to have a beautiful day. I didn’t have anything going on, so I decided to visit my alma mater. However, instead of going the direct route, I decided to go via the Blue Ridge Parkway. This turned what should have been a 2 ½ hour drive into a roughly 5 ½ hour drive. With nothing but time, why not?

At the time, I still had my favorite car of all time: my 1991 Nissan 300ZX. It wasn’t the twin-turbo, it weighed way too much, and as such was slower than dirt. Nevertheless, it was (and remains) beautiful, it had T-Tops, five speeds, a clutch, and a workable stereo. Helpfully the Blue Ridge Parkway has a maximum speed limit of 45 MPH, so speed wasn’t really a factor anyway.

The point of this trip was to relax, enjoy the weather, enjoy the sights, and take everything in.

Having never really driven the Parkway before, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Since I left early on the Saturday before Halloween, I quickly found there was no one on the road. It was just me, my car, and my music.

I went to high school in a small town in Connecticut. My parents are New Yorkers. I consider myself to be a child of the northeast — a “yankee”. Going to school in southwest Virginia was amazing, but I was… ready to leave. I knew I didn’t want to live there. Within Virginia, I knew I didn’t want to go to the DC suburbs because I like to measure 5 mile commutes in minutes not hours.

When I landed the job in Charlottesville, I had told myself I’d put in a couple years, and then move back to where I belonged: back to the northeast.

What I began to learn that day was that there’s a strip of Virginia — the strip in the center — that is just right.

Driving down the Blue Ridge Parkway, I still remember what I listened to. Being just removed from college, I still had a huge love for collegiate a cappella. Around that time, my favorite group from back at school, Juxtaposition, had just released Me Put On Show. Additionally, one of my friends from back in Connecticut had insisted I take a listen to Big & Rich’s Horse of a Different Color, which was surprisingly excellent.

I remember vividly how it was a foggy day; when you climb to the elevations that the Parkway ran through, interesting things happen. Namely, you can actually pass through a cloud, and come up above it. This is looking back upon the top of the cloud I had just driven through.

The Parkway has overlooks every couple of miles, and as I drove, I would stop whenever I felt the urge. The views were phenomenal, as at that altitude, many of the leaves had already changed colors. It was really breathtaking.

This trip changed everything for me. It allowed me to leave behind any preconceptions of Virginia. The trip showed me what Virginia really is: not only a truly magnificent part of the country, but also my home.

Humans are social creatures. We value being connected. That’s why we stare at our phones all the time; always seeking yet another connection. It’s only when we disconnect from everyone else that we can really connect with ourselves.

Meaghan O’Connell writes about how impossible it is to pick the perfect baby name. So much of this article reminded me of the experience Erin and I had.

We’d settle on an idea and then see it everywhere. We’d overhear other women at Baby Gap shopping for their nephews with one of our names. It sounded so not special when they said it.

I eavesdropped on more conversations during the nine months Erin carried then- now-Declan than I had in my entire life prior.

Giving your baby a name, it turns out, also includes anticipating how other children will cruelly twist it to hurt them. After a few rounds of brainstorming possible mean things, you begin to think you may have missed your calling.

This is bad in general. Imagine your surname is Liss. On the list of baby names we can never ever use:

• Cash Liss
• Chastity Liss
• Hope Liss
• Love Liss
• Richard Liss

Meaghan also has some excellent advice:

When I brought up a name I liked and a friend told me that, just so I knew, it was on her list of potential baby names […] I decided that even if I did have the perfect name, I would never, ever share it with anyone.

In a not-particularly-unusual stroke of genius, Erin thought it’d be wise for us to make that very promise to each other. I can’t recommend it enough for soon-to-be parents.

What with us having a new baby in the house, Erin and I have been asked quite a few times what baby stuff we’re using.

Often, we’ll just refer them to Marco and Tiff’s really excellent baby stuff review. In fact, Erin and I used that very review when buying for Declan. If I were you, I’d take our recommendations, pair it with the Arments’, and decide for yourself.

This is not a Wirecutter-style “this is the best available” sort of post. Unless otherwise noted, while we did extensive cross-shopping, we didn’t buy alternatives. If you’re looking for that kind of a post, try  Marco/Tiff’s or The Night Light.

Since we originally wrote this post, we’ve now written a new one for toddler stuff.

Baby Monitor — Infant Optics DXR-8 — $160
Originally, we had recommended the $220 Motorola MBP-43. That unit was nice, and had the advantage of having two cameras. However, the power supply for the monitor died. Then we had to buy third party replacements because Motorola didn’t sell first party ones. Those third party ones also died. Finally, after almost two years, the receptacle for the power supply dislodged and fell off within the monitor itself. Not good.

We replaced the Motorola with the Infant Optics, and can’t be happier. Perhaps the biggest (and unexpected) benefit of the unit is that the monitor is powered by a standard micro USB cable. This means, unlike the Motorola, I can power the monitor from my laptop. Additionally, the software that powers the Infant Optics seems to be an updated version of the same software that runs the Motorola, which is a good thing. Finally, the Infant Optics includes a wide-angle lens, and a zoom lens is available, which allows a much crisper video than would be available digitally.

In summary, the Infant Optics has all the perks of the Motorola and, a few months in, none of the drawbacks.

Stroller — Graco Aire3 Click Connect Travel System — $250
This is a Babies R Us exclusive. A “travel system” means this package includes an infant carrier, stroller that the carrier plugs into, and a base for the car that the carrier plugs into. There are plenty of arguments for and against travel systems, but we really like this one. We chose it because we both have average-size sedans, and the stroller portion folds up easier and smaller than most of the competitors. Additionally, there is only one brake toggle, on the right side, instead of one per side. We also got to a second base, so each car has one. The only complaint I have is that there is no snack tray for Declan once he outgrows the carrier part; only a cupholder.

Mom’s Diaper Bag — Eddie Bauer Meadowbrook — $40
We initially got this diaper bag. Erin loves it and I like it. It doesn’t have hooks on the top at either end to hook onto a stroller, but on the plus side the main compartment is a cavern. Plus, it’s unisex and the changing pad is spacious.

Dad’s Diaper Bag — Tom Bihn Parental Unit — $140
As a surprise Christmas/Hanukkah gift, Erin got me the newly-released (and often reviewed) Tom Bihn Parental Unit. I have other Tom Bihn bags and get way more enjoyment out of them than I should from… bags. Regardless, I really dig the Parental Unit because it’s durable, unisex, spacious, and has tons of compartments. Like Erin’s bag, the Parental Unit could really use stroller hooks. Also, the compartments don’t open quite as wide as I like. However, the fancier shoulder strap Erin sprung for is really comfortable, and the bag is easy to carry at the side or at your back.

UPDATE 25 June 2017: Recently Tom Bihn has updated the Parental Unit with a “version 2”. The folks at Tom Bihn were nice enough to send us a unit to test out. While the Tom Bihn folks kept most of the great stuff about the Parental Unit the same, they did make a few improvements. Most notably, the new Parental Unit’s main compartment opens far wider than the original Parental Unit. A small change, but an important one. I already loved our Parental Unit; now, I can’t recommend the Parental Unit enough.

Portable Crib — Graco Pack 'n Play with Cuddle Cove Rocking Seat — $140
We got a pretty… involved… pack and play. Not only is it a portable crib, but it also has a bassinet and a changing pad. As it turns out, we only used the bassinet a couple times, but we use the changing pad constantly. Were we to do it again, we wouldn’t bother with the bassinet, but I definitely recommend having the changing pad. Regardless, the whole thing collapses to be surprisingly small, with ease. (Ours is actually the “Brompton” color/pattern.)

Diaper Pail — Ubbi Diaper Pail — $90
While absurdly expensive for what is really just a glorified trash can, I really like the Ubbi. The big advantages are its steel (not permeable plastic) construction that should never pick up any smells, and it doesn’t require special bags. Competing diaper pails such as the polarizing Diaper Genie can be much cheaper, but require expensive custom bags that I understand don’t last very long. Additionally, some have reported that the stink from the diapers can permeate the plastic. We decided on the Ubbi and have been very happy with it. It takes any 10 gallon trash bag, doesn’t let smells out, and is sturdy. The only complaint I have is that it’s smaller than you would expect; that said, we only change the bag once or twice a week.

Snot Sucker — NoseFrida — $15
You use a tube and a crayon-like applicator to snuck snot out of your baby’s nose. Totally gross. Totally works. There’s filters between you and the snot, so it’s not nearly as gross as you’d think. Well, that’s what I tell myself, anyway.

Swing — Mamaroo Bouncer — $175-250
We got this mostly because I thought it was frikkin’ cool. The seat bounces in five different ways, in five different intensities. Additionally, you can use some of the built-in ambient noises, or plug in a device like your iPhone and use the Mamaroo’s onboard speakers. I love it. Declan… doesn’t seem to care one way or the other. The Mamaroo is really nifty, but I’m not sure if it’s really worth the money over a more traditional swing.

Infant Carrier — Evenflo Infant Soft Carrier — $15
There are other far more popular options, such as the Baby Bjorn, which we haven’t tried yet. We also had a Baby K’Tan, but it was far more fiddly and we didn’t care for it. The Evenflo is semi-easy to put on by yourself, and pretty comfortable for me once it is on. Declan seems content enough.

Swaddle — Halo SleepSack — $20
Babies love to be swaddled, since they just spent 9 months all wrapped up. We also tried the SwaddleMe, but prefer the SleepSacks. They do use really loud velcro, which is frustrating, but they are super easy to put Declan into. And he loves them.

White Noise — Sleep Pillow — $2
We didn’t want a white noise machine, but we wanted a white noise emitter. We got this for my old iPhone 3GS, and it works well. There’s probably better/nicer apps out there, but this was the first one we found. Bonus: it’s on all our devices, so we always have our noisemaker with us.

Pump — Medela Pump In Style Advanced Backpack — $225
First things first: check with your insurance provider. They may provide you a pump for little or no cost to you. For us, we could have gotten the non-backpack version of this pump for free, but we paid a little extra for the backpack version. It’s very nondescript, which is nice. The pump works well, and the backpack has plenty of extra space for the various paraphernalia you need, such as the shields, vessel to receive the pumped milk, etc. When in the car, we pair the pump with the power inverter we got years ago, to avoid wasting a zillion dollars on batteries. Conveniently, the inverter & AC adapter both fit next to the pump housing.

Pillow — My Brest Friend — $35
This is the only pillow we’ve owned, but Erin has tried the Boppy. Erin likes the humorously-named-and-seemingly-misspelled My Brest Friend. It buckles onto her so she can stand up and adjust it with one hand, while the other hand holds Declan. The My Brest Friend also has plenty of space for Declan; he’s only now, at three months, starting to outgrow it. Furthermore, it’s reasonably firm, which means Erin doesn’t have to support Declan as he’s nursing. I have doubts about the longevity of it — beneath the cover it’s just pieces of foam glued together — but so far so good.

Activity Logger — Baby Connect (iTunes) — $5
Particularly early on after a baby is born, a parent’s life is ruled by logging. How many poops did they have? What color were they? How many pees? When did they eat last? It isn’t hard to feel like your life has come down to record keeping. Baby Connect is really unattractive. However, it works really well. Erin and I have each been set up as parents in the app (you can set up other kinds of caregivers as well). Every time Declan… performs… we log it in the app. This is nice just to aid in record keeping, but it’s also a surprisingly nice way to feel a connection to them while I’m at work. I never thought I’d be excited to get a push notification when someone else took a dump, but, now I am. Life is weird.

Other Stuff — These items don’t really justify extensive commentary, but we recommend them:

• Avent Soothie Pacifiers — $4
  Declan seems to like these more than the more traditional looking ones, and they’re completely soft.
• Munchkin Latch Bottles/Nipples — $20
  Unbeknownst to me until we had Declan, when a baby nurses the way they hold their mouths open (the “latch”) is not like an adult drinking from a straw. It looks more like an adult eating from an apple. The Munchkin system helps encourage a much bigger/wider/better latch.
• Medela Steam Bags — $5
  Quickly & easily sanitizes baby bottles, pumping equipment, pacifiers, and more.

UPDATED 2017-06-25 11:00 AM: Added blurb about the refreshed Parental Unit. UPDATED 2016-11-27 4:00 PM: Added Infant Optics monitor and removed Motorola.
UPDATED 2015-02-10 2:00 PM: Added Baby Connect.

A few days back, Jason Snell posted an awesome guide about how to rip DVDs and BluRays. I bought myself a reasonably priced BluRay reader and have started digitizing some of my movie collection.

I wanted to call attention to a part of Jason’s piece that I nearly missed:

If your movie or TV show has occasional subtitles for foreign languages (think Greedo in “Star Wars”), choose the Foreign Audio Search option and HandBrake will try to find any subtitles that are meant to be visible during the movie when it’s being played in its default language.

One of my biggest annoyances is missing subtitles for foreign content in an English-language film. Left to its own devices, Handbrake won’t encode any subtitles — even those used to show what foreigners are saying. The tweak Jason suggested fixes the problem:

The only downside of choosing Foreign Audio Search is that it will require a second full scan of the movie: one to scan for the subtitles, and one to actually encode the movie. It’s worth it, so I don’t have to rely on memory to know what Captain Ramius is saying:

This week I returned to the no-fillers-included Clockwise to join Jason Snell, Dan Moren, and Jacqui Cheng. On this episode, we discuss Apple’s quarterly results, Kickstarter, Microsoft’s HoloLens, and technology to cure life’s little annoyances.

The beauty of Clockwise is that it’s kept to 30 minutes or less. Needless to say, that’s a time limit I’m not exactly used to; that’s what makes it so fun.

The Washington Post has an article discussing the trend of automakers lately to pipe fake engine noises into the cabin:

Which raises a more existential question: Does it matter if the sound is fake? A driver who didn’t know the difference might enjoy the thrum and thunder of it nonetheless. Is taking the best part of an eight-cylinder rev and cloaking a better engine with it really, for carmakers, so wrong?

As someone who is a self-described car nut, I have complex thoughts about these synthetic noises. As I’ve lamented in the past both on this blog and on Twitter, it’s hard for me to come to terms with advancements in automotive technology.

I don’t like the thought of fake engine noises. It’s disingenuous, silly, and betrays the real soul of the car.

However, I have to admit to myself that I’d probably enjoy it.

I know that my car today may very well be the last car I ever own with a human-operated clutch. I know that it may be the last one I own with a completely authentic exhaust note. I know that my next car, likely with its dual-clutch gearbox and synthetic exhaust, is going to be superior to my car today. Doesn’t mean I have to like those “features” though.

At this very moment, I know I’m getting old.

Link via Scott Hanselman

I’d like to tell you a story about a musician you’ve never heard of.

Like most people, I would describe my taste in music as “eclectic”. Myke and I spoke about this on the latest episode of Analog(ue). I like everything from Mutemath to Ludovico Einaudi.

I think my peculiar tastes come from my parents. When we were growing up, music was always on around the house. All kinds of music. For most of my life, I’ve had very similar musical tastes to my parents. I grew up on Jimi Hendrix, Elton John, Billy Joel, Phil Collins, Chicago, and so many others. I still love them to this day. Nevertheless, there were a couple years when I was in my early teens where my tastes were dramatically different than those of my parents.

I’ll claim this as the pinnacle of my teenage revolt. I suspect my parents would disagree.

At the time, this was my jam. Seriously. I had the music video on LaserDisc.

One day, Dad put on something new and interesting: Toy Matinee. Specifically, Last Plane Out:

All of a sudden, things changed. My Dad and I loved this song, and in fact, this entire album.

Immediately we wanted to see what else was available by Toy Matinee. Unfortunately, this was their only album. Luckily not all hope was lost: there was a duo that were the driving force behind the album — Patrick Leonard and Kevin Gilbert.

Patrick Leonard is, among other things, a producer; his most notable collaboration is with Madonna.

Kevin Gilbert was a prolific songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He had written songs for many artists, and produced for some of the best, including Michael Jackson. By the time Dad and I discovered him, he had already passed away, in a peculiar way. We immediately embarked on a joint mission to collect any of Kevin’s work. A grade schooler with nothing but time on my hands, I was the chief researcher. An adult with a job, Dad was the bankroll.

As we dug deeper, and we found more of Kevin’s material, we loved his work more and more. We also found our musical tastes merging again.

But more than anything else, we found a fascinating story.

Kevin Gilbert initially caught a modicum of fame by winning a music competition with a progressive rock group he fronted. By winning that competition he caught the attention of the aforementioned Patrick Leonard, and Toy Matinee was born.

Toy Matinee was effectively ignored by the record label, and as such, never really got a lot of airplay. Kevin toured with a handful of musicians — without Leonard — in order to try to support it.

Among those musicians was his girlfriend, Sheryl, on keyboards.

Around that time, Kevin was meeting with a collective of other musicians in Los Angeles on Tuesday nights to talk shop and mess around. This collective, self-titled the Tuesday Night Music Club, met every week to goof off and write songs. Kevin brought Sheryl to these meetings as well.

Over time, the club started working on songs with Sheryl. This resulted in an entire album, which Sheryl released. When choosing the title, she looked back to the club for inspiration. Sheryl named her album Tuesday Night Music Club.

Once Sheryl Crow’s album was released, it was extremely well-received and got tremendous airplay in the mid 1990s. Her single, All I Wanna Do, won Grammies in 1995 for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Record of the Year. Sheryl herself won Best New Artist.

Since Kevin was listed along with several other members of the Tuesday Night Music Club as songwriters for All I Wanna Do, Kevin won a Grammy thanks to Sheryl Crow.

However, over time, Sheryl downplayed the influence of the Tuesday Night Music Club. She presented herself as effectively the creative tour de France force behind the album. This naturally deeply bothered the members of the Tuesday Night Music Club; all of whom were left to wonder where things went so wrong for them.

Soon after, Kevin and Sheryl broke up.

The way Sheryl Crow treated Kevin and the rest of the Tuesday Night Music Club unsurprisingly led to some hurt feelings. The easiest way to describe how Kevin felt is to use his words:

And I know that you believe each new invention of the truth
And I know the next five minutes are what you’re trying to get through
The man who really loved you and believed you all along
Has seen the truth and shuddered and is singing you this song…
…
I saw you on my TV taking credit for my work
And I knew if I said anything that I would be the jerk
There’s always some ex-boyfriend, some jealous has-been clown
Trying to muscle in the spotlight, trying to keep the lady down

As someone who doesn’t usually pay attention to lyrics of songs, I’m surprised to see myself quoting them. And this isn’t the only song of Kevin’s with lyrics I really love.

One of my favorite songs of his is Tea for One. As a lonely high schooler who fancied girls, but didn’t receive much attention from them, Tea For One’s lyrics spoke to me. Kevin’s lyrics hit home in a way that most lyrics didn’t, and don’t.

Standing amidst the subway
He spies the lady of his dreams
And catches her stare, long enough to make him care
"Oh my Lord, if beauty has a name,
then hers must be the same . . . "

Kevin was taken from the world at just 29 years old. I am nearly four years older than he was when he passed away. It makes me sad to think of all the amazing music that he would have made if he were still here.

I still listen to Toy Matinee, Thud, The Shaming of the True, and his live albums regularly. Kevin’s cover of Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir is haunting and powerful. I have had it in heavy rotation for nearly 20 years.

Though I’m sad that I’ll never get any new music from Kevin, I’ll always be thankful for his music bringing the tastes of my father and me back together again.

My parents have been going through their old home movies and having them digitized. They’ve come across some real gems.

Among the hours of footage of me sleeping (I’m the eldest), Mom and Dad have found my Neutral audition tape, recorded in August of 1986. I was four.