Its been quite a while now since Google announced a new product called Street View. It basically is a new way of seeing a street not from a satellite picture but as if one was standing on the street looking around. When I first heard about it I thought it sounded interesting and a little creepy but that they would just do it in San Francisco and San Jose.

Now low and behold Google has gone and expanded their coverage to many many places including our neighborhood! It is a little surreal to look at your own home, and especially if you happen to be lucky enough to be outside when the camera took the snapshot.

Google is no slouch and has been expanding the coverage very rapidly. On Sunday night I was looking at my in-laws neighborhood and was disappointed that they had not yet been added. However, within a few days Google added many streets around them. Check out this picture from their neighborhood, and keep in mind it won’t be long before yours may be added. Time to get to that yard work!
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Our neighborhood was turned upside-down yesterday when a man on our street barricaded himself in his home and was surrounded by police. While the police evacuated some of the bordering houses, we were far enough down the street that Jennifer and Evan simply stayed inside during the standoff. Now that the situation is over and has been resolved without anyone being harmed, I am grateful to our law enforcement for their quick action and for defusing the situation.

Jennifer and I feel very sad for this family and this tragedy. The Grahams have gone through many trials over the past months including having their son nearly die several times, losing a car to repossession, and having their truck stolen. Clearly all of this along with other factors led to irrational actions which escalated a bad situation into something much much worse. more…