Nokia Photo Tracker

In keeping step with the mighty Stavros - position art genius - I have added another photo based Flash app to the sidebar of webDowling entitled "Photo Tracker". I came across this at Nokia's Nseries site and since I just happen to work for the company, I have got the hardware to take advantage. Just another very cool addition to the growing Nokia Internet Services arsenal.

If you would like to embed the webDowling "Where in the World?" widget (or create your own) go to http://www.nseries.com/widget and in Step 2 enter "wgdowling" as your username (or create your own account if you have an Nseries GPS device) and embed to your FaceBook/Google/PageFlakes/NetVibes/Blog page, as appropriate.

And if you can't get enough Stavros - check out his YouTube page - Stavros The Great.

Vappu 2008

As part of my induction into Nokia, I had the pleasure of visiting our headquarters in Espoo, Finland. Coincidentally, this coincided with one of the biggest celebrations of the year - Vappu.

In Finland, Walpurgis Night (Vapunaatto, Valborgsmässoafton) is, along with New Year's Eve and Juhannus, the biggest carnival-style festivity that takes place in the streets of Finland's towns and cities. The celebration is typically centered on plentiful use of sparkling wine and other alcoholic beverages. The student traditions are also one of the main characteristics of "Vappu". From the end of the 19th century, "Fin de Siècle", and onwards, this traditional upper class feast has been co-opted by students attending university, already having received their student cap. Many people who have graduated from lukio wear the cap. One tradition is drinking sima, whose alcohol content varies. Fixtures include the capping of the Havis Amanda, a nude female statue in Helsinki, and the biannually alternating publications of ribald matter called Äpy and Julkku. Both are sophomoric; but while Julkku is a standard magazine, Äpy is always a gimmick. Classic forms have included an Äpy printed on toilet paper and a bedsheet. Often the magazine has been stuffed inside standard industrial packages such as sardine-cans and milk cartons. The festivities also include a picnic on May 1st, which is sometimes prepared in a lavish manner. - Source: Wikipedia

Disney 'Fight Club'

There seems to be a disturbance in the "Disney" force and all is not right with the world. Characters are taking to the streets attacking young children and brutally fighting amongst themselves. Thankfully we have aggressive mothers positioned at key Disney locations around the globe ready to thwart these villains as they wreak havoc and wield their mayhem on the unsuspecting public at large.

My Summer Vacation

With Cole heading back to school soon, I know that he will be asked, "So, what did you do over summer vacation?". As a form of travelogue and memory jogger for him (and me) I wanted to capture the great weekend trips we took this past summer.

Hershey Park - Without a doubt the most fun I've had in a while. The park is fantastic if you are a roller coaster fanatic and the chocolate doesn't hurt either! We stayed at the Hershey Lodge and had free shuttle bus service to the park and attractions much the same as a stay "on property" at Disney. Except when you check in at the Grand Floridian they don't give you chocolate bars. The Lodge had a special check in just for Cole which was cute and the room was comfortable. The restaurants on the property were however terrible and the breakfast buffet was particularly bad. I think the next time we go to Hershey we will try the Hershey Hotel which is a bit more upscale. On the way to Hershey we stopped at the Crayola Factory which was a perfect way-point on the road to Hershey. Legal fireworks on the way out of Pennsylvania sealed the trip with a bang!

Boston - I have been to Boston several times on business in the past few years and was so enamored with the city I decided to take the family up for the weekend. We stayed at the Hilton Financial Center conveniently located near Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market as well as the New England Aquarium and Children's Museum. We spent the first day at the Children's Museum which was a great way to get Cole acclimated to Boston. The Museum is far better than the nearby Bridgeport or Norwalk museums and I think I enjoyed myself as much as Cole did. We dined at one of our favorite (chain) seafood restaurants Legal Sea Foods after spending the day at the Aquarium. I have to say that I was a bit taken back by the "Market Price" for my lobster, but what can you do - easy come easy go. We finished out the trip with a ride on the famous Boston "Duck" boats. An amphibious ride around the sites of Boston followed by a cruise up the Charles River. A city I definitely wouldn't mind living in...

Cape Cod - Our annual summer pilgrimage to Cape Cod found us at a new hotel this year - the Town Crier Motel. Nothing fancy, but we bought into a "Whale Watch" package that included breakfast buffet each day, a dinner voucher for the Lobster Shanty, and passes to the Dolphin Fleet whale watch tour. I had some great recommendations from a friend of mine as to beaches, restaurants, kettle ponds, and side excursions that Laurie and I hadn't hit in our last six summer trips. The first of which was a swashbuckling pirate adventure aboard a ship out of Orleans. Cole was in heaven shooting cannons at an aptly named pirate "Stinky Pete". We went on the whale watch out of Provincetown on the second day and hit the beaches the third with a trip to the Wellfleet flea-market on the fourth and final day. The recommendation's of Cahoon Hollow beach and Mayo beach were right on the money for the extended family this go around - despite the "heart attack hill" death march back up to the car. Next year I think we will rent a house for the week and try that out. So far we have tried a B&B, hotel, motel, and camping - might as well try renting!

Captiva Island

Instead of our usual jaunt to the Panhandle to visit my parents for Summer break this year, the family and I headed to Captiva, Florida instead. Laura was reminded of a vacation she took in her youth to Captiva and reminisced about the expansive beaches and acres of fascinating shells she collected with her family as a child - and so the decision was made. We went about renting a house at South Seas Island Resort on the north end of Captiva and eventually landed in the Beach Villas. We were excited about the vacation until we started reading reviews on TripAdvisor. I know, a little backward... reviews first, then the reservations - that's the right way. Live and learn.

However, when we arrived we were pleasantly surprised by a very well appointed two-bedroom unit that had updated (albeit not the advertised) furniture and a great view of the ocean and pool. After a few calls to engineering, the family was settled in and we were ready to relax.

South Seas Resort has been updated and fully restored since the hurricane in 2004 (Charlie, I believe) and the north end complex includes a nine-hole executive golf course, a marina, two pools, a restaurant, and an arcade. The north end complex tends to get a little crowded so we rented a private cabana for our use on one of our days, set up Gavin's pack & play in the shade, and enjoyed the pampering. We primarily spent our time on the south end of the resort near our villa. The pool was rarely crowded and the south beach area had complimentary umbrellas and chairs. The beach had a large tidal pool between the main area and the ocean blown out by a previous storm - but it made a nice play space for Cole and his friends.

Restaurants were fine but sometimes crowded. We especially liked the Bubble Room, Cheeburger Cheeburger (if you eat the "pounder" you get your picture taken with a 3 foot diameter stuffed cheeseburger), and the Mucky Duck. We found that if you went at around 5:30 you didn't have to wait too long. Go at 7:00 and you would wait an hour or more. Fireworks in Sanibel rounded out our Fourth of July vacation and we are looking forward to making this a family tradition - hopefully with my parents in tow the next time around.

The Machine is Us/ing Us

Michael Wesch, PhD, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University put together this video back in January which succeeds in encapsulating the rise of interactive and social media and its amazing potential. Every time I watch it I am humbled by how quickly things have progressed and inspired by where it will take us.

Disney in Spring - 2007

Surprise, surprise, the Dowling family going to Disney for Spring Break. Clutch the pearls...

Once again we headed down to Orlando to enjoy the sights and sounds of central Florida. We decided to try out a new timeshare resort this go around and settled on the Horizons by Marriott. The family focused/pirate oriented theme was perfect for Cole and Gavin - they had a ball. The resort was located a short distance from Sea World off of International Drive and had two themed pools, a water slide (Pirate Plunge), a huge water park with water cannons and 500 gallon dousing bucket, a zero entry pool with full size pirate ship. A young boys dream...

We managed to hit the parks just about every day. We went to Sea World, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Universal (just Cole and I). Gavin was a real trooper - he is such a good baby - not one peep the whole time. Cole was very brave going on Misson Space, Space Mountain, and the Mummy. I couldn't get him to go on the Krakken or the Hulk (not that Laurie would have let me take him...). The weather was fantastic, although a bit cool the first few days. Disney in Spring is such a great time and it seemed less crowded than during the summer or Christmas time. With the Epcot flower festival going on at this time each year, I hope we can make this a longstanding tradition for the Dowling family.

Thank you Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny made his annual appearance this morning and brought Cole and Gavin a new twist in Easter baskets - sports bags. Cole received a baseball full of jelly bean while Gavin had his eggs stuffed into a soft sided basketball. What will they think of next? Not sure if you can make it out in the picture (click for a larger version), but the Easter Bunny seems to have an issue with too much foot powder - maybe athlete's foot?

We were also able to impart upon Cole the true meaning of Easter this year. We have recently joined a local church and Cole has been attending Sunday school regularly. With Gavin's birth, it has become more important than ever for us to be sure that we expose both of them to religion and let them make the choice when the time is right.