Jude does flips (sort of)

Today I sat down at the computer with Jude in my lap and he seemed really interested in the keyboard, so I figured I'd open Notepad and let him bang away at it for a few seconds to see what he could come up with. If it started to look like the opening lines of Macbeth, I might let him continue.

Well, after less than two seconds, he had somehow hit exactly the right keystroke combinations to do something that I did not even know was possible. He turned everything on my monitor's display upside-down. Everything. The background. The icons. The taskbar. Every image and word. Even the mouse pointer was upside-down, so that it moved in exactly the opposite direction one would expect.

Needless to say, it was fun trying to operate the mouse and read the screen to correct the situation. Fortunately, I stumbled on the solution right away. (My display software, it turns out, has a feature that lets you "rotate" the display 180 degrees.)

So, now I'm wondering if there is a simple utility to put a Windows computer into "child" mode. I'm sure there is. I need to look into that someday.

Why I love Chick-fil-A

How many fast food joints have managers who come to your table and offer to refill your drink and replace your fries with some fresh, hot ones (at no charge)? That's what happened today when I ate lunch at my local Chick-fil-A. I was stunned. I declined the offer. But, as I was leaving, that same manager took my tray and offered again to refill my drink. This time, I accepted.

I had already been impressed with the place before I witnessed the great service. When I came in, I saw lots of happy children playing in the kids area at the front, where I also heard some "top 40" music playing over the sound system. I thought, "that's nice, but I was hoping for a more relaxing environment." I got my order (served so quickly I was amazed) and headed toward the back of the place.

Here's the cool thing. They had different music playing in the back of the restaurant. It was soothing and quiet -- exactly what I wanted. I have to assume they had an architect or interior design expert put a lot of thought into this. They realized that the people who headed to that area were trying to get away from the noisy Kid's Zone, so they adapted the music accordingly. Perfect.

Of course, the food was pretty tasty too. Plus, they have those cool cow mascots.

Jude's language

People think Jude can't talk yet. Of course, that just means they aren't speaking his language. Here are some of his favorite words:

• prego (one of his first; not the sauce brand, or is it?)
• wiggew
• boom (often used as "boom-boom-boom")
• waggew

There are plenty more, but these are the ones that I've been able to transcribe so far.