Saturday, January 29, 2005

It's Still Cold


Its has been a quite afternoon. I went out for a walk in the neighborhood, much to the objection of the wife, "What if you fall?" (I've had these legs for 40 years and have only fallen once or twice) "What if you can't get back up the hill?" (You can toss me a rope and drag my frozen butt back up the hill). The neighborhood was silent, dead silence only the sounds of the birds and the pine tree limbs cracking under the weight from the ice on their branches. I found a set of bicycle tracks in the ice/slush/snow???? running down the road . I followed the tracks for a quarter mile or so until they ended in a big pile of ice/slush/snow???? filled branches. It looks like someone didn't listen to their Mom or wife. I made it back to the house to find "H" in the backyard playing, so as my father did to me 30+ years ago, I plotted an snowball ambush. I formed 2 nicely packed ice/slush/snow???? projectiles and snuck around the back of the house.
I was in my best crouched Rambo style pose when I realized that my projectiles were packed so tightly that I was holding (2) 8 ounce rock hard ice cubes. Since I wasn't looking to knock my kid out cold I threw both of the ice cubes at a nearby squirrel and missed.

Bored Last Night


As everybody in the world knows, and I mean everyone, I do not have an iPod. I may actually break down and upgrade my current MP3 player (to an iPod or iRiver) because while it does voice recording it only has a built in MIC and not a line in for an external MIC. The reason I want a line in MIC is because with as many different places that I travel too I want to start doing SoundSeeing tours in an MP3 format. All right back to the iPod, I use iTunes more "MM" (music management) and iPodder for downloading PodCasts, this works great for me and even better if you have an iPod because iTunes will sync your files with your iPod but only with an iPod. I have to manually copy my file from the PC to my MP3 player. So I built this little app last night where you can choose which of the iPodder directories that you want files from and then if there are any files in the directory it will copy them from the PC to my MP3 player. Nothing more than a populated batch file with GUI interface.


Winter Is Finally Here









The local TV stations have all changed their on air banners to reflect our recent change in weather. It's "Storm Watch 2005" or "Weather Watch 2005" or you can insert your own weather related phrase in front of "_______ Watch 2005". I have never seen a town that (over) reacts to weather quite like Atlanta does. We have had nothing but storm coverage on the TV for the last 4 hours. We have the numerous video clips of cars that have run off the road and the trucks that are stuck trying to go over "Spaghetti Junction".
I did my own storm preparations last night, I arranged both of the older cars in the driveway so that they are underneath the trees that are most likely to fall over and smash them, then I put the newer car out on the street. The wife did her part by going to the store and stocking up on chocolate, we don't have any diet Mtn Dew, but we got chocolate.
They have cancelled "H"'s basketball game, which with the direction his team has taken this season my not be a bad idea after all.
Looks like it will be a good day to spend studying for my next Microsoft test, whoopee

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

%ItemText%,%SetText%, = Who Cares

My cohort in crime and myself have spent the last 4 days building a new training tool kit application at work. We have spent the last 12-13 hours debugging said application. You fix one bug you create 3 new bugs, you fix one of the new bugs and create 5 more. You burn the app. to CD and find a few more bugs. You look up the office is empty and it's 9:00 pm. It is no wonder that true die hard programmers are recluses locked in offices with ratty furniture in it fueled on Mtn Dew.
Gonna settle in and watch the Katie Couric special (''The 411: Teens & Sex,") in a few minutes. This should be real comforting for the father of a 14 year old.

Sunday, January 23, 2005

You Guys Sweating Yet??????

Saturday

We had a busy Saturday.
"H" had an 8:00 AM basketball game. For an 8:00 AM game all the parents are packing coffee mugs from the local QT and were noticeably quiet (none of us were awake enough to yell at our own kids). I did notice a big difference between the 8:00 AM parents and the 9:00 AM parents. The 9:00 AM game Mom's wear make-up and jeans the 8:00 Mom's have on no make-up on because they woke up at 7:45 and they all wear those nylon warmup suits. "H"'s team got spanked 5 to 21. After the game it was time for team pictures, this is total bedlam, you have mothers slapping "Mom Spit" on kids hair in an attempt to create some kind of hair style, you have Dad's trying to stuff shirt tails into shorts and you have kids that just want to run around and be left alone. 45 minutes of waiting for a 5 minute photo shoot, no wonder super models are always so pissed off.
After this photo shoot we had yet another photo shoot, the every decade or so "Family Picture". In our last family picture I still had hair, was sporting my 1980's style glasses, the kids were not yet able to talk back and "H" couldn't even walk. We were all dressed in jeans and a black top. This fashion combination was to create some kind of an artsy theme, but I think we looked like the von Trapp family from the Sound of Music.
We then dropped "Goose" off to baby sit our God Son for the afternoon. I took the remaining members of the tribe over to Fry's as it is time to start looking for a new computer (or as I call it a $500.00 Spyware magnet). Fry's is kind of like Sam's or Costco, you go in looking for one $15.00 item and you end up spending $200.00 on stuff that you didn't realize you couldn't live without.
We ended up packing it into bed early (10:00 PM which is early at Frick's World) only to be greeted by a powerful wind storm. We had limbs and twigs bouncing off the roof for most of the night, both cats in the bed, and "H" in his sleeping bag at the foot of the bed, "Goose" on the other hand slept through the whole thing.

Saturday, January 22, 2005

Something for the Star War nerds to play with.

News
Now the nerd can play with Darth Tater while in line waiting for the next Star Wars installment

Friday, January 21, 2005

The difference between men and women?

Today@UCI: Press Releases:
Extensive and I'm sure somewhat costly research has proven that there are more differences between men and women than just the fact that men pee standing up (MPSU).
The wife has always told me that the reason men can't find their car keys, remeber what time dinner is or remember what to pick up at the store is because of the MPSU factor. I now have solid scientific research to battle back against her with. I guess men really are just bears with furniture.

Thursday, January 20, 2005

On The Road Again

The holidays are officially over and everyone is back at work. I spent last week in Charlotte and Hickory NC and the first part of this week in Smithfield VA at my favorite "Bed and Breakfast". I flew out of New Port News last night on one of those small planes where that person that takes your ticket is also the pilot. You know the type of plane, where they ask you haw much you weigh. Told 'em I weigh 300lbs. fill the gas tank all the way to the top.

My New Favorite Show


I watched "Wife Swap" last night. This is what I like to call "LCD" (lowest common denominator) TV. In other words it was put on the air for people like me. This show rocks, you take two families ("Family A" and "Family B") from different ends of the social chain, economic chain and possibly the food chain, and then swap the wives for a few weeks. Nothing could possibly go wrong with that situation.
Last night was spectacular "Family A" is so hell bent on buying groceries on sale and then in bulk quantities that they turned the bathroom into a storage facility for bulk paper products. She gets swapped with "Family B", whose income appears to be more than some third world countries. "Family B" claims to spend $1000.00 per week on groceries and eating out.
"Family A" uses paper plates for meals because that they feel that the time it takes to wash dishes is better spent spending time together. The husband from "Family B" busts out the calculator and shows the wife from "Family A" that they are spending close to a $1000.00 per year on paper plates (we're hitting close too home here, that's a weeks worth of food for this guy). So in rebuttal the wife from "Family A" proceeds to tear the paper plate into quarters, this woman has just cut her paper plate expense by 75%.
I guess as someone once said "fact is stranger than fiction".

A Must Have


This is what I need for my desk.

Saturday, January 15, 2005

What ECONOMISTS do all day

___ THE ECONOMISTS ___________________

Lektora - News in Firefox and Internet Explorer with RSS.

Lektora - News in Firefox and Internet Explorer with RSS.
A new news reader and it even works with IE. What I really like is the fact that it will search the active web page looking for the news feed.

The Human Clock - A Photo for Every Minute of the Day

The Human Clock - A Photo for Every Minute of the Day
Pass the time waiting for for 5:00pm

Saturday, January 08, 2005

Thursday, January 06, 2005

Drum Cadence of the Day


For all you marching bands freaks (Bandies????) Adam Curry of MTV fame says he is going to include a drum cadence each day in his pod cast. I did not know that many people listened to marching bands. Watch the langauge on these NSFW

10:11PM this just in they are planning to publish a drum cadence of the day feed. I will post the link as soon as its available

Make a Mailmans day

VERBA.chromogenic.net: CameraMail

Customer Service

I am in Greenville SC for the night. I'm staying at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza ( why do they have an e at the end of crown? ).
These people know who to make a hotel room livable. I had a sleep kit on my bed that contains ear plugs, eye mask, sleep CD & lavender spray for the linens. Not that I'm going to use any of it, it's still a nice touch.
Around 8:00 pm I hear a knock at the door and its the bellboy with a tray of fresh fruit,cheese and a bottle of wine. The desk is on wheels so that you can roll it any where in the room, there's even a clip to keep the drapes closed and a CD player to play my sleep CD in. Someone was thinking when they designed these rooms!


Monday, January 03, 2005

Lexmark giving away printers?

Editorial: Starry, starry stripes
Lexmark has offered up a free printer to each of Florida School. No mention of giving them free ink. Lets see $30.00 per cartridge (4 cartridges per unit) 600 prints or so at 5% coverage per page. Nobody prints 5% coverage, sounds like they will use a bunch of ink. Lexmark offers the schools a deal of for every 3 cartridges they buy Lexmark will give them a free one. This way Lexmark will secure the consumable ink business, which is more profitable than selling the hardware. I found this printer on CNET for around $90.00, the first time they have to replace all the ink they could have bought another printer. I think this printer was only manufactured for DELL to sell. So could the plan been that Lexmark had a surplus of this model and decided to donate them to a school system and then to top it off offer the school a deal so that they only buy the ink from Lexmark direct? I don't know, I was just wondering.

Canine Orthopedics???????????


"Cider The Wonder Dog" has been limping around for the last few days, so the "Wife" set up an appointment for a vet visit. I used my extensive animal husbandry skills (I was in the FFA for 2 years during High School) and performed a pre-vet visit exam on Cider's leg and determined that she was not bleeding and nothing looked broken.
Turns out that Cider has lost 5lbs (Doggie New Years Resolution?) and then the Vet says it may be a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).
A blown ACL on a dog? After extensive medical research (Googled canine acl) it does indeed happen. At this point the Vet can't tell if it is a partial tear or a complete tear.
We are going to try treatment with medicine for 3 weeks and see what transpires. If she does not get better then we do the x-rays to confirm exactly what the damage is and if it is a complete tear we visit the Canine Orthopedist for ACL Surgery. Do they have Doggie Physical Therapy?

Spending the afternoon @ Frick's World







We had our Godson for the afternoon, from skydiving to rock climbing we did it all. It is amazing how small kids/children/rug rats can find every small part/object/piece of anything left on the floor. We have not had a small child around the house for the past 9 years or so I forgot that small kids/children/rug rats want to put everything in their mouth. I guess to figure out what the color yellow taste like, who knows. My parents came down for the day. Mom made a pot of chili for lunch. It was the same recipe that she used when we were growing up, I guess it would be the male version of "Comfort Food".


Mom & Dad I'm having fun at Frick's World
Quit talking and feed me.
Too Much Action

Saturday, January 01, 2005

The brownie warmup


The women getting their chocolate fix.

Batboy



As we gathered to welcome the New Year everyones senses attained a fevered pitch. We dined on homemade chipolte wings and coleslaw. The cousins made brownies as the older attendees drank adult beverages.

Sisters

Too much?


Somehow I ended up with a noise maker under my hat

Cousins

One time I caught a fish this big


We wanted to titled this one "Over Stimulated"

If all else fails use scissors to open the champagne

Perfect timing (Look at the TV)

Welcome 2005

Confetti in my glass

The aftermath

Cider slept through it all