Kirk blAug

I had not gone on an early morning run in far too long. However, today I actually got out of bed when my alarm went off at 5 AM. Therefore, today I exchanged my usual habit of going back to sleep for a nice run . One of my favorite parts about the early run is that I get to hear the world wake up around me. The birds start doing their morning songs. The mammals begin to make their mammalian noises. Rabbits and squirrels are running around searching for breakfast. It is a beautiful thing. Once upon a time, I ran with technology affixed to my body. I would attach my iPhone to my arm and listen to music or podcasts on my run. I understand that some people prefer to hear their "pump up" jams for motivation, but this is no longer for me. Now I prefer the sweet music of the world around me.

Jupiter loves using the iPad. He loves it for games and learning. I am pretty sure he learned most of his animals and what sounds they make from it. Sure, we take him to the zoo and he loves it, but how often does an animal at the zoo make the sounds associated with them in the few minutes you spend looking at it? Jupiter also likes to color, as most two year olds do. I had noticed that Griffin had teamed up with Crayola to release the iMarker which pairs with the ColorStudio HD and Paint & Create apps for the iPad. I thought this might be something that he would enjoy so I picked one up from Amazon . Luckily, it arrived from the parcel service during nap time. This gave me an hour to play with it first. I was impressed. But the real test would be whether Jupiter liked it. At first he had a bit of a hard time figuring out how the app works. He was easily distracted by all those other apps on the home screen that he already knew how to use. But after a little while, he started to