Author: Melih O.

I’m really excited because with the help of eMinutes I’ve been able to formally incorporate Big Fish, Big Pond.

With the paperwork finished, the game plan is to really spend some time exploring my favorite non-video chat problem space – organizing people – which ranges from helping the individual build a better calendar all the way to helping the masses get where they’re going with less friction.

The problem is a new one – born from an ever-more demanding pace without the tools that help us cope with these demands. Being more digital has forced all of us to update our ability to process. However, that transition, in the context of how we organize, has tended to be extremely literal. Our calendars look just like the ones from our mother’s kitchen wall. To figure out where to be, we’re constantly shuffling through emails, text messages, or desperately calling the one person who has the information. Finding time to meet with friends is hard, and even our own neighborhoods seem foreign when we don’t know where to get a hair cut or an ice cream sandwich.

I’m going to really enjoy figuring out these problems. Stay tuned at the Big Fish, Big Pond blogto see the output.

This real world thing is tough!

It’s really amazing how quickly we got used to not having a schedule, demands on our time (outside the babies), and responsibility. But we’re back, and it’s full steam ahead.

We’ve run the numbers (and boy are they big numbers), and realized that we’re going to have to rent for one more year. That’s quite tough for me as I’m really looking forward to a permanent place. I’m very much over renting from folks. But, without a good idea of how much school is going to cost, and how much we can really afford, it would be really foolhardy to just jump at the first thing on our radar. Patience and common sense prevails.

Amelia is doing really well. She’s started art lessons, a weekly indoor gym class, continues music and swimming, and is also massively in love with running around and being chased. I wonder when I’ll ever be able to keep up with her energy most times.

Luka is growing bigger and bigger. At their last check up we learned that he’s only a few inches shorter, and a few pounds lighter than his sister. Poor Amelia. When Luka gets bigger, I’m sure he’ll get his revenge. I’m just really excited that they’re both tall. Luka is trying to stand up now with no interest in crawling. Hates being on his stomach, but loves being up on his feet. He’s quite strong too in the legs. It all happens way too quickly.

Played soccer again for the first time in a long time. My knee feels good. My play didn’t suck. It’s the little things these days 🙂

I’ve also become a fitness nut. I got a FitBit from my mom as a Christmas present, and I’ve hooked it up with MyFitnessPal, and when we get the scale back I’ll hook it up with my Withings, and I’ll have this epic digital health tracking system going. Calorie conscious decisions are going to help me get down to 175 by May. Gotta look good in those bathing suits now!

That’s all for tonight then. Until the next one, keep smiling.

So I’ve decided to be much more vigorous in writing on my blog mainly because it’s a channel for many things, a practice pad for many more, and a chance to dump my thoughts out of my head and onto the proverbial pad. As a result, Sunday’s will become life update days, Monday’s will be Amelia’s Piano update days, and then I’ll figure out the rest as it comes.

We’re back in San Francisco!

We’re living in Noe Valley, which is an amazing little spot in San Francisco. We walk to Whole Foods, one of a million coffee shops, restaurants, or bars, two different parks, a library, and the highway is just minutes away. It’s ideal. This is where we’ve decided to start to look for housing, and I think Micky and I are both really excited about it.

It has taken from Tuesday to Saturday for the kids to adjust to the jet lag. I have to give both of them massive credit as I think they did a wonderful job. It helped that we’re such awesome parents, but no need to rag on myself :-p

(Oh, I just thought that Wednesday should be Weight Update Wednesday… good one)

Work is going well, and opportunities are definitely there to be grabbed. Simultaneously, my personal project, Amplifize.com, has a strong community, and is a really great place to hang out if you like talking about cool web content with a group of self-labeled smart people 🙂

My uncle Aydin Yardim from my dad’s side came to visit this weekend, and we had a great time. He came Friday night, and Micky had cooked lasagna, and we ate fancy dessert from Whole Foods. I made a Winter Squash Penne with Mint Salad from Jamie Oliver’s “15 minute Recipes” cookbook. It took us an hour :-/ with 2 of us doing it :-/ :-/

Another interesting first this week… Miss Amelia fell flat on her face and got a nasty bloody nose. Mr. Luka has 2 bottom teeth.

Oh, and NC State beat #1 Duke to go tops of the ACC!

So I’ll leave you with a bit of a slide show, a big smile, and a lot of optimism for the year ahead. I have new year resolutions to write up, a cool project for Amelia’s birthday to work on, and a secret, new project that I hope to launch in February to look forward to. It’s going to be a great 2013!

Holy smokes has a lot happened since the last update. And to think, I thought I was going to pull off a weekly update 🙂

First thing first, Amelia has got to be one of the unluckiest little girls when it comes to health. Both times she has been in the UK, she’s had a really nasty bug, and this one just wiped her out. She even became lactose intolerant for 10 days. Everyone ended up being sick except for Micky who was a complete rockstar of a nurse! That’s when you know you’re the lucky one…

We have in the time since I last updated:

• Celebrated many birthdays – My birthday. Micky’s Aunt Monica’s birthday. It’s been a really good month of getting wiser if not older to go with it :-p

• Visitors and new countries – James Kellermann visited from Creedmoor, NC. We got him up to London for a day, and then over to Lisbon. Photos coming soon, but that darned camera, and its darn cable 🙁 However, this was James’ first trip out of the country, but it won’t be his last… especially since they have pizza everywhere

• Paris, I love you – Micky and I did a child-less trip to Paris. It was fantastic. We stayed on Ile St. Louis with the Notre Dame in our front yard just 500 yards away. We ate a lot of food, and it was delicious. We walked for miles, and it was breathtaking.

  For my birthday, Micky got me a cooking lesson at a school in Paris. It was so much fun, and I learned to make scallops. Pictures forthcoming once I get that damn wire. We also made pumpkin soup, an almond tart, and had cheese to top it all off. Quite fancy I’d have to say 🙂

  We also went on the ferris wheel in Tuillery Gardens, which I’ve never done, and climbed to the first floor of the Eiffel Tower.

  At the end of the three days, we arrived back at the car to realize that we had lost the car keys, and waited at the train station for 6 hours while the car got towed, and we got a new car to head home in 🙁

  Oh well, it was a wonderful trip anyway

We’re now home for a bit before we head off to Turkey. Oh, and here are the photos from Bonfire night in Rye. Thanks James for helping me download them 🙂

It might in fact be week 3, but I’m not really sure 🙂

Things are absolutely phenomenal this side of the ocean. We’re all setup in Churt, things in Air Street are going fantastically, and the family is bonding.

Highlights include:

• Bonfire night in Rye – A super old British town with a castle celebrates bonfire night with tons of folks in costumes marching through the streets with torches on fire, and then lights a massive bonfire with a fireworks show. I got some AWESOME photos, but I can’t find my card reader, and so the uploads will have to wait 🙁

• Cousins bonding in Camber – Amelia and her cousin Martha took a morning walk along the beach at Camber. Check out the Cousins in Camber video.

• Amelia + Freddie – Amelia made a new friend, and they had a ball dancing in the streets of Lewes with their mummies (who are also friends).

  

We also got to bond with Grandma a bit, and now Grandpa is here for a few days. The house in Churt is just ideal, and we’re really excited about Uncle James coming into town this week.

It’s only just started to get fun 🙂

We have started a bit of an adventure this past week. Micky, the babies, and I are in England for the next two months, and out to see a bit of Europe while also having some excellent family bonding time.

I’m also working out of the Telefonica Digital offices over the next couple of weeks. This is going to be a ton of fun, and I really feel like the BlueVia team and I are going to get a chance to sink our teeth into some juicy problems to solve. Simultaneously, I get to work with the TUCore team, and that’s going to really help drive the OpenTok platform much deeper, and bring much more core technology forward into the API. The details to all of this will be fodder for another blog post though.

Back to the adventure!

We landed Tuesday afternoon, and the trains into town were massively delayed. I decided not to go into work Tuesday, and instead headed down to Hassocks. We went to rent a car, and I drove. It’s a stick shift AND on the left side of the road. Bad combo 🙂

We got the chance to see Mike before he left for Mallorca (where the TokBox product team is buying a villa), Dan before he left for Singapore (which is too hot), and we’ve seen Lisa, the girls, Wendy and Geoff, and even…

My first professional soccer match! I went to the Brighton/Leeds match with my brother-in-law-in-law Paul. I don’t really drink, but if I’m with Paul, then I’m drinking. We got to the match, got into the club suite, had some great drinks and conversation, and then watched Brighton tie Leeds 2-2 (a game they definitely should have won). The speed of the game was amazing. The skill level quite impressive (and this is just a Championship match).

Loved it.

Now we’re all setup in Churt in our little cottage, and watching “Love Actually” on a perfect fall evening. Super happy. Super excited. Let the adventure begin 🙂