Deck the House

Deck the House

Cool Christmas Card

Spare Time

Merry Day After Christmas

Another way to void your iPod warranty

You can't buy this but I did find a way to make it.......

Want to void the warranty on the iPod you got for Christmas

Amazon.com: Books: Hacking iPod and iTunes (ExtremeTech)
You could probably Google iPod Hacks and find a bunch of this info.

New Book

Next book
MCSE Windows XP Professional Exam Cram 2 (Exam Cram 70-270)
This should be an exciting one. I hope that it leads to "Happiness at Work" (see entry below).

The Art Of Happiness At Work

I just finished up "The Art Of Happiness At Work" by The Dalai Lama & Howard Cutler, M.D.

The first page opens with The Dalai Lama being asked "What do you do for a living?" "I do nothing." is his reply. Well if The Dalai Lama is co authoring a book about happiness at work and his claim is that he does nothing for a living he's going to find it a struggle to fill 200 pages on the subject.
Granted this book won't make the "Top 10 Business Books Of All Time" list, there were still a few points worth noting.
1/3 of American worker see financial rewards, rather than the nature of the work itself, as the most important aspect of their jobs. Not surprised by this, just look at Michael Vick's contract signing bonus. When was the last time you heard of a public school teacher receiving any kind of a substantial signing bonus. Are sports a reflection of today's society?????

The Buddhist psychology of having a sense of being grounded in reality. This is because of an intimate connection of how we see ourselves and how we relate to others and the world. Don't worry Mom I'm not converting to Buddhism. Makes sense, that whacked out co worker is probably just as whacked out at the office as they are at the grocery store, home, dentist office etc... etc....

If individuals are confident in recognizing their own positive inner qualities and their skills and knowledge,they don't need to rely so heavily on other praise to supply that feeling of accomplishment. Back to being grounded in reality?????????

The Buddhist concept of right livelyhood is that you strive to engage in an activity that has no potential for being harmful to others, either directly or indirectly. Again Mom don't fret. Sounds kind of like something I learned in Kindergarten, "The Golden Rule"

Christmas is finally here

Christmas arrived this morning at 8:15. I can not believe that my kids, my flesh, my blood can actually sleep till 8:15 on Christmas morning. When I was growing up it was not uncommon (it was more like every Christmas) for me to wake up at 5:00 on Christmas morning. I remember not being able to sleep Christmas Eve night.
We had a full day at my parents. I got a really neat gift from my parents. It was an afghan blanket that my Great Grandmother had made for me. My mom attached a picture of me as a baby laying on that same afghan.
I got some new cuff links, tie and shirt a nice new pen. My sister provided me with some stress relief for the office a 6" Everlast mini punching bag for the office. "H" gave me a set of "Magnetic Poetry" magnets for the office as well.

I got a "How to make ballon animals kit". Here is my first creation. Not bad now I have something to fall back on in case this whole technical gig doesn't work out.

We spent the afternoon eating and watching DVD's Doc Hollywood & Elf

"Goose" got a cordless phone and a chair for her room

Which "BOO Kitty" (the fat one) took over

"H" got a guitar and lessons.

I got an Orange County Chopper shirt

iPodder.org : For everyone that got an iPod for Christmas

iPodder.org :

Here is where to collect your PodCasts. Make sure to download the iPodder software (FREE).

Google Holiday Logos

Google Holiday Logos A collection of all the Google Holiday Logos

Caught Up On Reading

In the last few hours I have managed to get caught up on reading my RSS feeds. I am now under 50 unread posts. "H" is awake and downstairs and I have again lost control of the TV remote.

I went out looking for a new cell phone. I want the new Kyocera KOI. I went to Verizon my current cell provider. They want to charge me full retail on the phone. Hey Verizon I am an existing customer spending $160.00 a month with you, and you can't cut me a deal on a phone. With advertising and processing fees I think it costs more money for for you to get a new customer than to try to keep an existing one.
I guess I will have to keep this in mind when my Verizon contract is up.

Quiet Time Around the House

I enjoy the early mornings, the house is quiet and warm and I have control of the TV remote. We are running up to Clarksville for the day to celebrate Christmas with the family. This will be the first Christmas since I have been married that we will spend at my parents house.
I broke away from work early yesterday to finish shopping, it was the world of lost and clueless husbands out on the road. Us husbands just go store to store look pathetic and stare at the displays and have no idea what to buy.
I have once again pulled off my "I can guess what's my presents are" trick. So far I have correctly guessed a new dress shirt (the French Cuffs gave it away), First season of Seinfeld DVD (easy one to guess) and of course a staple of Christmas JELLY BELLY jelly beans, which is the greatest candy ever made. Every year I can guess what's wrapped and under the tree and every year I nail most of them correctly.

Wired News: How Much for the Clone?

Wired News: How Much for the Clone?
Great now I can have my cat cloned. What we need cloned is the number of cashiers at the grocery store, the number of teachers in our kids schools...................

Are You Going To Have A White Christmas?

Hello Kitty Christmas Tree?

USATODAY.com - Single-serving coffee can heats itself

USATODAY.com - Single-serving coffee can heats itself

Get your coffee fix when ever you need it.

TIME Magazine: People Who Mattered 2004

TIME Magazine: People Who Mattered 2004:

Time Magazine's list is in. Great pictures.

Over at Santa's Depot, you can buy a kit to make a nativity creche out of S'mores.

Get Yours Here

This is what I want for Christmas

Order one today Here

I made a gingerbread motherboard, Martha Stewart eat your heart out.

Every Once In A While

You find a freebie CD in your rent a car
You get up graded to a suite
You get upgraded to first class
Your luggage is the first one on the conveyor belt
And Every Once In A While
You get a rocking hotel room

We stayed in Smithfield VA last night. Not a whole bunch of hotels in the area. We took a shot and made reservation at the Mansion On Main bed and breakfast. I'’ve never stayed at a B&B's while on the road. The main reason is that there aren’'t a whole bunch of frequent stay programs for B&B’s, and being on the road so much the one thing we live for is hotel points and frequent flyer miles. I would rather give you $100.00 than part with any of my membership points. The three of us had the whole house to ourselves.
This house was built in the late 1800’s. Magnificent gardens surround the home. Hardwood floors creak under each step you take. The staircase is at least six feet wide with 4” risers on each step. Our appointment was not until the afternoon, so we had a quick strategy meeting in the parlor. The inn keeper kept us fed with homemade fudge and butterscotch taffy. My bathroom was complete with a claw foot tub surrounded with a brass shower curtain rod. The sink has a hot faucet and a cold faucet; I have yet to figure out how to get warm water. My bed mattress was a good 3 feet off of the floor. I had a beautiful fireplace at the foot of my bed. I slept as if I was at home. I got out of bed around 7:00 to the fresh smells of ham cooking. Breakfast was served at 8:00. We feasted on red grapefruit, eggs & Smithfield ham. We drank fresh orange juice from dainty antique glasses. It was a great way to start the day.
We ate lunch both days at the Smithfield Inn. I had cream of peanut soup at each meal. This had to weigh in at 500 extra calories for each meal. We walked down main street in the evening and dropped into the Ben Franklin variety store. This store was a through back to the late 1960's complete with the fresh cashew tray next to the cash register. I imagine that the lady behind the register had been working there most of her life.
All in all it was one of the best business trips I've ever had.

A quick web cam shot from the airport

In case you have ever wondered what Concourse B at the Atlanta airport looks like here it is. Going to Norfolk VA for the night.

My Latest Idea!!!!!!

Ever since the news has been covering it and my post a few days ago, I have be bombarded with e-mails about laptops and infertility. I am not sure if people are concerned about my health or they are afraid that I will reproduce (again). Taking this information to heart I have designed the worlds first Infertility Shield. This very handy accessory is designed with the road warrior in mind. It keeps all of our essential items close at hand. Now when you see people board the airplane with a laptop, carry on and an Infertility Shield you can thank Frick's World

Christmas Has Come To Frick's World (early)

As you well know we have been having fridge problems the last few days. The repairman showed up this morning only to tell us that the compressor in our 2 year old fridge is dead. Thankfully the only piece in the fridge covered by the warranty is the compressor. Now for the un-thankful part, Mr. Repairman said that it will be sometime next week before he can get a new compressor. The wife is now losing her mind ( I can't blame her, she was doing such a good job at it that I did not feel the need to join in). We have already spent $60.00 on dry ice trying to save $40.00 worth of food. Before we could come up with a plan for our quickly warming food Mr. Repairman calls back to tell us that his dealership is not a certified service depot for our fridge's manufacture. He could still fix it but we would have to pay for it. Yeah Mr. Repairman let me think about this for a moment I could give you a big fat check for an item that is covered under warranty. Thanks but no thanks and by the way have a Merry Christmas. Oh course Mr. Repairman neglected to tell us that they were not authorized when he was here in October and had to charge us for the first repair.
The wife phones the manufacture and gets the number for a local authorized repair center. These guys are closed till Monday. At $20.00 a day for dry ice it was decided to cut our losses and purchase a second fridge for the garage. We have wanted a second fridge for a while I only wish that the decision to buy one did not have to be made in less than 3 minutes.
So Merry Christmas kids, your present is in the garage with a big red bow on it. Now you know why Christmas has come early to Frick's World

"H" Had A Birthday

"H" celebrated his birthday today. We took him and Mr. Mark out to Dave and Busters for a rousing afternoon of video games. "H" scored enough game tickets to buy a basketball. I tried to talk him into the talking TRUMP action figure (it's not a doll it's an action figure). The fact that Dave & Busters is an outlet for this toy is a sure sign that this is not the hot toy for Christmas this year. We then bounded over to McDonald's for a high calorie high fat dinner then back to Frick's World for chocolate football cake.

I dodged a bullet Holidays - Decking The Halls Can Be Dangerous

WSBTV.com - Holidays - Decking The Halls Can Be Dangerous

Saw this on the news this morning. I wonder if removing all of the Christmas decorations after the holidays is dangerous?

6 X 175 = 950

The Christmas tree has landed at Frick's World
950 lights and 18 years worth of ornaments. This is the best tree ever (we say that every year). The tree actually sat in the base straight on the first attempt. The tree/tree stand process usually results in me ending up with a headache.
We only had 3 bad strings of lights. What happens to the lights over a 12 month period while sitting in the basement that causes them to quit working is one of those great mysteries of life.
My general Christmas light theory is as follows: when Christmas is over throw all the lights out with the Fricking tree, then go to the local Walmart and buy new lights during the after Christmas sale for around $1.00 a box. Now every year you have new lights that are guaranteed to work.
Sitting here the aroma of pine is starting to fill the room, its starting to smell a lot like Christmas.
"H" has his first basketball game of the season in the morning followed by his birthday party which includes a trip to Dave & Busters. Sunday entails the relatives coming in for yet another birthday celebration. "H" is going to be so jacked up on sugar he won't know whether to scream or eat a banana.

My $13.00 Solution

XPCGEAR
I have a relatively new laptop and the other day I noticed that I was down 10 Gigs of free hard drive space. I started poking around and found that I had 10 Gig of MP3's and another few Gigs worth of digital photos and of at least 2 Gigs of PowerPoint files. Since my music & pictures are not technically "Work Related" I figured it was futile to asked them to buy me a new bigger hard drive. I was at a dealers the other day and their IT guy was loading up his iPod with a USB hard drive, he said he took one of his old printer hard drives bought an enclosure and BAM he had a 10 Gig USB place to store his tunes. The cobwebs in my brain started breaking loose and I thought I have an old laptop hard drive I might be onto something. Well I found an enclosure for $13.00 and have managed to free up a bunch of hard drive space. Not bad for $13.00 of course I have to forget the $1700.00 that was spent on the laptop from which the hard drive came from.

Its now the wife's turn to be sick. She is bundled up on the sofa under the fleece blanket sedated from the antibiotics the doctor prescribed.

The fridge is on the fritz again. It's only been 6 weeks since it was repaired. I have $20.00 worth of dry ice shoved in it, trying to save the food that's in it. The repairman will be here SOMETIME Saturday. Of course we have to be here for "The Call" when they give us that oh so valuable 2 hour window in which they will be here. When the wife called the repairman, they actually tried to talk her into calling someone else.

Laptops a new form of birth control?

Someone has put time & money into this research.

This round about birth control method may be the reason that our schools are issuing the students laptops.
Between my cell phone being suspect to brain tumors and now this bit of news I am going to start carrying a roll of quarters and an pad and paper.
I can see the male to female conversation transpiring in some smoke filled dimly lit bar "We don't need any protection, I use a laptop everyday".
How long before the first lawsuit shows up with this being the cause?????

Seinfeld: Dictionary

Seinfeld: Dictionary

For the fans of the now defunct Seinfeld show. Here is a dictionary for all of the phrases from the show "Not that there's anything wrong with it"

Dial Up Hell

I believe that I am become an internet snob. I am in a hotel where the WiFi is down so my only connection to the real world is through a 24k phone connection. It took 12 minutes to e-mail a 750k file.
A few quotes form the morning's paper vent section

The best thing about dating a homeless person is at the end of the date you can drop them off anywhere.

If they would make all airport screeners female I would fly more often.

The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.

Nothing ruins good parenting like teenagers.

Enjoy reading this story about how the French train their bomb sniffing dogs. At least the French make good toast and fries.

Salvation Army Has Job Openings

I don't know if you have been following the ban of the Salvation Army bell ringers at certain stores around the country. Coupled with that is the fact that the Salvation Army is lacking volunteers that can be stationed at the store that still permit bell ringers. Books-A-Million is the first to receive an automated bell ringer. I wonder how long before someone steals one of these like they did with the Sponge Bob's that were high atop Burger King?

Better Living Through Chemistry

After being on antibiotics for only 2 days I am feeling much better. I even managed to walk 3 miles on the treadmill. Why can't we sell low level antibiotics over the counter?
We celebrated advent to night. "H" did the best he could reading from the King James version of the bible. The wife has the house just about decorated for Christmas. The arrival and installation of the Christmas tree will take place next week end. This is always a fun time as I manage to shove a 5" wide tree through a 3" wide door. Then the battle of getting the tree straight begins.
If your are using programs like SharpReader for reading RSS/Atom feeds, here is the link for Frick's World. I use SharpReader which is really easy to set up, you will need to load the .Net framework for SharpReader.
"H" had his first basketball practice yesterday. He has the same coach that he had 2 years ago. It looks like another great season is ahead.
"Goose" will be performing with the orchestra tomorrow night at the local high school. I think they are calling it a Winter Performance instead of using the word holiday or Christmas so as not to offend anyone.

Amazon.com : Best Books of 2004: Top 50 Editors' Picks

Amazon.com : Best Books of 2004: Top 50 Editors' Picks

How many have you read?

I just got a letter

I got a letter from Kyocera.
It seems that my Kyocera phone could have one of the counterfeit batteries in it. I checked the serial number and YES my batteries serial number is suspect. I guess I can be assured that my own company is not trying to off me.

This Just In

THIS IS CRAZY, YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS!

Alzheimer's Test-



Count the "F's" in the following text:







FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE-

SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIF-

IC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE

EXPERIENCE OF YEARS..(see below)









Managed it ?

Scroll down only after you have counted them, okay?

Do you think there are three?

How many ? 3?









Wrong, there are 6 !!--no joke.

Read it again.

The reasoning behind it is further down.



The brain cannot process "OF".

Incredible or what ? Go back and look again!!

Anyone who counts all 6 "F's" on the first go is a genius.

Three is normal, four is quite rare.

I was thinking

As I and an additional 1000 people were standing in the security line at the airport the other day Barefoot. I was thinking that the reason we have to remove our shoes is due to the shoe bomber that was apprehended, too bad it wasn't the bra bomber instead.

Virtual Bubblewrap - Pop Now! Pop bubble wrap online - since 1996

Virtual Bubblewrap - Pop Now! Pop bubble wrap online - since 1996
Hey Mom this ones for you. I remember how you used to ask us "NOT TO POP THE BUBBLE WRAP" when we were growing up. I guess this guys Mom said tha same thing. Scrool down the page and look for Pop Some Bubbles Now

2004 Weblog Awards

2004 Weblog Awards
No mention of Fricks World any where on this site.

Web Cam shot from the office. Note the shine on the forehead

MSN gets into Blogging

MSN Spaces has entered the blogging arena
I spent some time checking it out. All the blogs have the same look and feel. It looks like you have to use MSN's template, no chance to express yourself. Not that I am any kind of emerging web artist, but if you give me access to a template I will eventually figure out some way to make it my own. Besides I don't want to give up my URL and leave people wondering why Fricks World packed it in and moved.
I spent the day in Cleveland TN at McKee foods. McKee makes Little Debbie snacks. I have made 300 mile car trips on a steady diet of Swiss Rolls and Honey Buns. On the way out I stopped by the Little Debbie Thrift Store I loaded up on $20.00 worth of life sustaining snacks the register total $5.06.
I think my sinus nose thing is working its way back into my system. The wife made me a doctors appointment for Friday afternoon. Now I can hear the doctor tell me to loose some more weight. Hey Doc I know how I can lose 170 lbs real quick, I'll can get a new doctor.