Redemption for the Mulch Man

The Mulch Man came through! He delivered 5 more yards for the playground while we were away tonight. Now we'll just need to spread it before Saturday's party. Posted by Chris on 3/31/2004 09:58:00 PM :: Permalink   

Wednesday Afternoon Flats

It seems our luck hasn't changed. Just before lunch Melissa called and she was stranded with a flat tire and two hundry girls. She was on the Jeep, but it wasn't long ago that I had a Monday Morning Flat on the car.

So I left work and went to change it and then later Melissa took it in to have it repaired. Turns out it had three holes in it. A nail and a screw in the treads (which were probably ok) and also a hole in the sidewall which made it go completely flat. As you may well know, a hole in the sidewall can't be patched. That means a new tire. A new Goodyear SUV tire. $133 installed. Ouch again. The woes of living in an area of new construction, I guess. Posted by Chris on 3/31/2004 09:43:00 PM :: Permalink   

Poor Planning

For some reason unknownst to everyone I have ever met in my ten year career, the bathrooms here at work follow an inexplicable cleaning schedule. The main bathrooms are adjacent to the cafeteria. Makes sense, right? Good, convenient placement.

The main bathrooms are cleaned between 12:45pm and 1:30pm just about every day! This photo was snapped today at 12:55pm. Is it just me or wouldn't you expect most people to visit the facilities after partaking of lunch? Is this really the best time to have them closed for cleaning?

This is a common occurrence, and a long-time running joke here, but now I've got a picture and web page to document and share it. Aren't you all lucky? Posted by Chris on 3/30/2004 01:43:00 PM :: Permalink   

The World At Your Fingertips

I added a link to RefDesk in the External Links sidebar at the right. There are lots of reference sites out there, but I recently ran across this one. There are links to a huge amount of information here, so if you're ever looking for something -- start there.

Of course, you can also try Googling it. If you're good at constructing search queries, you can find just about anything quickly at Google. They just added local search capabilities as well so you can find things near you. Consider this another plug for the Google Toolbar as well. Posted by Chris on 3/30/2004 11:12:00 AM :: Permalink   

The Degree Confluence Project

This is pretty cool. A few years ago, this guy was looking for something to do with his GPS device, so he went to a point where a longitude and latitude line met, took a picture, and posted it on the web. Now it's grown into The Degree Confluence Project.

They've already mapped just about all of the US (several are in restricted areas) and made quite a dent in other places around the globe. Posted by Chris on 3/29/2004 02:25:00 PM :: Permalink   

Hindsight is $300

I got another promo email from Dell this weekend and I've been itching to upgrade one of our ancient desktops. Their rotating specials are now a harddrive upgrade, burner upgrade, free shipping and $100 rebate. Plus I got a $25 off coupon code. So, on a whim, I go back and price out a system very similar to the one I almost got.

This one's about $300 more, even after the rebate! If I don't get any monitor at all, muchless an LCD, it prices out the same as the system I cancelled.

I'm bummed now. That deal was better than I thought. It's all about timing. I guess I'll wait for another one... Posted by Chris on 3/29/2004 01:47:00 PM :: Permalink   

Redemption for Some, But What of the Mulch Man?

Four of the guys that were going to help with the mulch on Saturday came over on Sunday instead. They were a great help in getting the yard ready for Victoria's party and redeemed themselves.

But what about the Mulch Man? Will he redeem himself? We're still waiting for 5 more yards of mulch that is supposed to be delivered later this week. Will he come through? Stay tuned...

Here's the pic of Delaney helping with the mulch as I promised earlier.
Posted by Chris on 3/29/2004 10:47:00 AM :: Permalink   

Math, Mulch, and Mr. Murphy

So the plan was this -- 10 cubic yards of mulch delivered on Thursday night and 5 guys coming on Saturday to help spread it. Sounds like work, but not too bad.

Well, factor in Mr. Murphy's Law and add it all up again.

Now you get 5 cubic yards at 6:30am Saturday morning and 0 guys to help spread it. Who let Murphy pass the bar anyway? Why does he get to write laws?

The Mulch Man called Thursday night and was running behind schedule. "I'm not going to make it tonight" That was disappointing, for sure, but not totally unexpected. He had first told me he couldn't deliver until Saturday and then was able to "work me in" Thursday night. Well, thanks to Murphy that didn't pan out. "But don't worry," he said, "I've got your mulch. See you first thing Saturday morning. Most people won't take deliveries that early." Well, who can blame them. I don't like getting up at 6am during the week and I don't like doing it on Saturday either.

Saturday morning at 6:15am the Mulch Man calls. "I'm on my way, but I've only got 5 yards." What?!? "I knew I was low but I thought I had 10 left. But the stuff at the bottom was contaminated." Contaminated??? "You know it was a little dirty, with some other stuff mixed in." What to do? Murphy strikes again. I guess I'll take the 5 now and get 5 more later. After all, we've got help coming today to spread it.

Then two people couldn't come. Darn Murphy! Then three more couldn't show either. Murphy, I've had enough! You will not defeat us!

So, Melissa, Delaney, and I spread it ourselves. It covers the whole play area, but we'll get the other 5 yards this week and spread it on top. The prep took considerably more time than the spreading, anyway. Hopefully we'll get the other 5 yards this week. Murphy, stay back. Get thee behind me, Murphy!

No hard feelings to those that couldn't show up to help. It was completely understandable and even laughable in the end. In fact, they're coming tomorrow to help with some other stuff. I think. Even the Mulch Man was a nice guy, but I think he overextended himself.

And I've got a picture of Delaney on top of the mulch mountain, but I'll have to pull it from my Palm and upload it later. Monday, maybe...unless Murphy has other plans for me. Posted by Chris on 3/27/2004 08:40:00 PM :: Permalink   

The 9/11 Commission Audio

Funny I should speak of Audible yesterday and today I get an email from them telling me that you can download and listen to the 9/11 Commission Hearings for FREE.

You can hear Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld and others answer questions about what happened to lead up to that event. Hear their information and then make your own conclusions about who (if anyone) was at fault.

I haven't heard these yet, but a while back I did hear Powell's presentation to the UN before invading Iraq (another free file from Audible). I thought it was a convincing argument that there was evidence of Weapons of Mass Destruction, even if that seems now to be false. He's a presuasive and authoritative man that oozes respect. Can one "ooze" respect? Or are the two terms mutually exclusive? Posted by Chris on 3/26/2004 03:47:00 PM :: Permalink   

I just don't get Dean Koontz

OK, so I've been using Audible for over a year now. It's a great service that allows me to listen to digital copies of audio books on my commute to and from work. Since it's digital, it can all easily be handled over the web, downloaded to my computer, and sent to my Palm (which is always with me - isn't yours?). It's a great service and I've heard many great books. Oh, and you can also burn to CD if you don't have a suitable digital player. And don't be turned off by the listed prices either. You can subscribe by the month and then pick whatever you want (within your allowed number of selections) regardless of the listed price.

But for the last several days I've been listening to The Face by Dean Koontz. I'm bored. There are so many words and so little action. Granted, I opt for the unabridged versions of these books and I'm 4 hours into a 25 hour book. But I finally gave up. It was boring. Just boring. Too slow. I've haven't been this disappointed in a book since I "read" one of John Grisham's works. I don't get him either. All his books are about lawyers, aren't they?

By contrast, some of the better books I've listened to are:

• The Lion's Game by Nelson DeMille; also Mayday by the same author
  
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
  
• Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale, Jr.
  
• 1st to Die by James Patterson
  

Anyway, now I'm on to The Company by Robert Littell about the CIA. If I ever find myself with lots and lots of extra time and absolutely nothing else to do, maybe I'll return to the 'The Face'. But I doubt it. Posted by Chris on 3/25/2004 03:58:00 PM :: Permalink   

I'm Getting a New Computer.....No I'm Not!

Last night, I again priced out a Dell system. They've just had another price drop and were offering some decent specials, so I actually convinced myself to place an order. It's been almost four years since I've bought a desktop system. My home PC is a 350MHz Pentium II. That's a long time between upgrades for anyone, but especially for a geek like me.

Trying to get the most bang for my buck, here's basically what I went with:

• Dell Dimension 4600
  
• 3 GHz Pentium 4 hyperthreaded processor with 800MHz front side bus
  
• 512MB dual channel 400MHz SDRAM
  
• 17 inch LCD - this one's not great, but they only give you $50 credit if you don't get any display at all. I'd like to upgrade to one of the fast Samsung's or a ViewSonic later
  
• 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro - an impressive gamer's video card. This thing alone has more processor power than most of my previous computers.
  
• 120GB serial ATA hard drive
  
• WinXP Professional
  
• Logitech MX500 optical mouse
  
• SoundBlaster Audigy 2 with Dolby 5.1 and Firewire
  
• 5.1 Speaker system
  
• DVD-ROM and CD-RW drives - it's cheaper to buy a LiteOn DVD+-RW drive from NewEgg later for $100 and swap out the CD-RW to get DVD write capability
  

The total with tax and shipping was $1300 and something. This machine should do circles around my old one and it's got enough space for the growing MP3 collection (over 30GB!) and enough video and processor power to get back into gaming (if time ever allows). It'll handle video editing from our Digital 8 camera with FireWire and be able to burn creations to DVD. The LCD display will take up less space, although I'll probably want to use the dual-monitor capability of the video card and keep both displays. The sound should be top-notch and even the mouse is a significant upgrade over our old-school ball mouse.

Then I had some time to think about it.

With two kids, we don't use the computer at home as much as we used to. When we do, it's now mostly for web surfing and email. But we still do a fair amount of photo editing and design/publishing. We do still have 2 desktops and a laptop, though they're all ancient by today's or even yesterday's standards. And it is almost $1400. And we could do without it even longer.

So I cancelled the order. Perhaps another day. Perhaps.
Posted by Chris on 3/25/2004 10:17:00 AM :: Permalink   

Bathroom Humor

How much do you know about bathroom (specifically men's bathroom) etiquette? Think you've got what it takes to pass the bathroom quiz? You can download it or just run it from here.

Once you get it right, go back and take it again and fail on purpose. Just for grins. Posted by Chris on 3/24/2004 04:35:00 PM :: Permalink   

Pez Office Cam

I've added the Pez Office Cam in the sidebar to the right. This will probably need some tweaking over the next several days, but perhaps it will be pseudo-interesting.

Click on the image to get a thumbnail of the last several visitors to my office. Each thumbnail also links to a larger image. Updates are motion-triggered and the number of new images is limited (I've only got a tiny little bit of web space here).

Labels: pez

Posted by Chris on 3/23/2004 04:04:00 PM :: Permalink   

Victoria's birthday party

Just wanted to let you all see the invite to Tori's first birthday party. I'm pretty bummed that I didn't get to take a good picture of her by herself to use on the invitation. But happy to be getting them out regardless. We are hoping for nice weather so that we can have all sorts of outdoor fun - easter egg hunt, little kid crafts, swinging and climbing on the new playset.... you get the idea. Hope to see you all there.

Labels: family

Posted by Melissa on 3/22/2004 11:14:00 PM :: Permalink   

The #2 Burger in the Triangle

Several weeks ago, I heard a peculiar Hardee's ad on the radio. They were claiming they were the #2 burger in the triangle. And they were quite proud of it. Later I saw a similar television commercial. Sure enough, there were lots of cities crawling by on the screen with quotes of "Best Burger in Houston", "#1 in Atlanta", etc. Then "#2 in the Triangle".

I thought it a bit odd to have an entire ad campaign centered around being #2. At the end of the commercials, though, they tried to put it all in perspective. They said "and that's not bad when #1 is Char-grill". Now I think most everyone will agree that you can't beat a burger from Chargrill. So I had to give Hardee's credit that they knew their place and they were comfortable with it. And with my fondness of Chargrill, it was a statement that stuck in my head.

Thursday at the NCAA round 1 game, I decided to try the Hardee's kiosk at the RBC Center. I hadn't eaten at Hardee's in a few years. At the game the food was ridiculously expensive, but I had to give the burger credit. It was Angus beef and chargrilled. Quite tasty. Today I gave my local Hardee's 1/3 bacon cheesburger a try at a much more reasonable price. Without hesitation, I'd agree that they've got the second best burger in the Triangle.

Unfortunately, I'm not always near a Chargrill when I want a good burger. Now I'll look to Hardee's as well. Posted by Chris on 3/20/2004 08:40:00 PM :: Permalink   

I'm Goin' To The Big Dance

After failing to actually buy tickets before the sold out, today I won a ticket to the NCAA first session, first round games at RBC Center! Posted by Chris on 3/17/2004 08:50:00 PM :: Permalink   

Quintessential Erector Set Complete! (almost)

On Sunday, we completed the playset. Well, basically...almost...pretty much...for the most part....practically. Yes, practically. It's practically complete.

What does this mean? The whole thing is put together and usable. And it's already being enjoyed by the girls, but what's left?

• Apply sealer to the roof and monkey bar dowels


• Sand a few rough spots


• Create a safe play surface. This is the big one. We're going to line the area with 4x4 posts anchored to the ground with rebar. Then we'll kill the grass (what little there is), lay down landscape fabric, and then cover it with 3-4 inches of playground mulch.


• Lay stepping stones to the play area. Since the backyard wasn't sodded, it would be nice to have temporary stepping stones from the deck and gate to the playarea.

That's the plan. The kicker is that we want to have this done by Victoria's birthday party on April 3!

Any volunteers? Posted by Chris on 3/17/2004 08:42:00 AM :: Permalink   

Permalinks Fixed

In site news....I fixed the permalinks. So if you've ever added a link to one of our posts (Dave, you're probably the only one), then revisit the post and grab the permalink again. It should work fine now.

Previously, URLKeeper was ignoring the bookmark and always taking you to the front page instead of the specific post. Posted by Chris on 3/17/2004 08:15:00 AM :: Permalink   

I thought I loved Thin Mints - but who knew you could ebay them?

HoustonChronicle.com - On eBay, Thin Mints become fortune cookies
Posted by Melissa on 3/16/2004 11:43:00 PM :: Permalink   

Need Help Spring Cleaning?

Victoria's hourly rates are sky-high, but she's worth it. She's closer to the floor to really find those hidden dirty spots and clean them up before they grow large enough to become visible to an adult eye.
Posted by Chris on 3/16/2004 10:32:00 AM :: Permalink   

Market Turnaround?

I don't know if the market has turned around or is turning around or will turnaround. But I know that my CEO's income has turned around. EMC more than doubles CEO's 2003 bonus. I also know that my bonus didn't double. Posted by Chris on 3/15/2004 04:58:00 PM :: Permalink   

The Borg are Coming

I've heard about professor Steve Mann and his attempts at integrating technology with the human body. He is the cutting edge of wearable computers.

If you've got TechTV, here's your chance to see more. Could this be what the future holds? Catch 'Nerd Nation' today at 9pm or Wed at 2pm or Saturday at 7pm. Posted by Chris on 3/15/2004 04:46:00 PM :: Permalink   

Monday Morning Flats

As I was about to leave for work today, I noticed the rear tire on the driver's side was flat. "Oh well, I'm going to be late(r) for work." I inflated it and drove to visit the fine folks at Colony Tire.

The car was overdue for an oil change and tire rotation so while I was there and since they had an opening, I had them go ahead and do that while fixing the flat. OK, a little later for work now, but I was going to have to go in late for getting the oil changed anyway, why not do it all at once?

During the tire rotation, they found that I needed front brake pads. Not a surprise to me, but not a welcome discovery either. "OK, go ahead and replace those, too", I say thinking I'll just miss a half day of work.

Then they call me back to the shop to "show me something". This is never good news. Not once have I been called back there to take a look at the fantastic job someone did repairing my car and being so happy with it that it was free. Not once.

The front brake caliper was missing its boot that is supposed to keep dirt and grime out. So there was dirt and grime in.
"Is that bad?"
"Well, it's not good."
"Does it have to be fixed?"
"Won't know until we reassemble and test drive. May work fine. May not. It appears to have never had a boot."

OK, what next? Oh, the air filter is way overdue for a change. And yes, it was. Unbeknownest to me, I was suffocating my own car - slowly. "Yeah, absolutely change that....while I'm here."

By now, I was hungry and obviously wasn't going to make it to work by lunch, so I walked over to Wendy's for a bite to eat. I was a little scare to come back. What would I be faced with?

The test drive went ok, but one of my turn signal lights was out. Yeah, I knew about that too. Can you tell that car maintenance isn't at the top of my list? "Please, I would love to pay you to replace that as well. Do you have the time?"

Now, I've dealt with John and the folks at Colony Tire for several years and they're good, honest people. Even cutting me deals at times. But if I had any doubts about them, today would have just added fuel to the fire. Truthfully, all of this stuff needed to be done but I just did it all at once, unexpectedly, on a Monday morning, after a flat tire.

The Damage Report: Since I originally bought the tires there, both the rotation and flat repair were free. The oil change, air filter, brake pads, and light were not. $246.

Ouch. And Monday's only half over.
Posted by Chris on 3/15/2004 01:38:00 PM :: Permalink   

And you were worried about public toilets...

Have you disinfected your peripherals lately? Reasearchers found Keyboards, phones 'dirtier than toilets'. I'll have to go ask my employer about some of those "disinfectant swabs to clean office desks" that were suggested in the article. I just hope they're bigger than a Q-tip or I'll be busy for a while. Posted by Chris on 3/13/2004 08:38:00 PM :: Permalink   

Read a review of how Tivo becomes Evil-o from a poster at Epinions.com

Compare Prices and Read Reviews on Tivo Series 2 DVR - 40 Hours Digital TV Recorder at Epinions.com

I thought you would love this review Chris - I was laughing out loud!

Labels: tivo

Posted by Melissa on 3/13/2004 09:22:00 AM :: Permalink   

Crazy Dress Up Day

Delaney's preschool had "Crazy Dress Up Day" today and this is what she got to wear. I like that even on this day, if you were to remove her green sock, everything would still match. I assure you that I had nothing to do with that. I can't make everything match even when I try really, really hard.

Labels: family

Posted by Chris on 3/11/2004 02:31:00 PM :: Permalink   

Long Live TiVo!

TiVo announced positive financial results. Article at TiVo skips past naysayers | CNET News.com.
The article mentions that DirecTV has been slow to adopt HMO and that this disappoints TiVo, but no timetable is given for actually rolling out HMO (muchless TiVo-To-Go) for DirecTiVo subscribers. The wait continues...

Labels: tivo

Posted by Chris on 3/10/2004 10:50:00 AM :: Permalink   

One meeeeeeelllliiiooooonn dollars?

HoustonChronicle.com - Wal-Mart shopper comes up zero with bogus bills

HoustonChronicle.com - Wal-Mart shopper comes up zero with bogus bills Posted by Melissa on 3/10/2004 08:38:00 AM :: Permalink   

My first blog

Well, I was thinking that this random assortment of thoughts about our family needed some input from me.......

Ok, really Chris thought it did and here I am with nothing I feel noteworthy to add. So.....hmmm.....this isn't really even "pseudo-interesting" is it? So maybe he was wrong for once and it doesn't really need any input from me.

Or maybe I should tell you about how Victoria likes to put Delaney's underwear on her head and say it's a "hat" or how she likes to chase her around with a remote that she is pretending to be a phone trying to get her to say "hi Dad" over and over?

Or I suppose you may be curious about the fact that Delaney was elated today when we arrived at her preschool and found her hat in her cubby. Not really interesting unless you know that the school director had to get a ladder and her teacher's son climbed up said ladder to retrieve her hat from the roof of her preschool. This was after, her "best friend at school", Cameron grabbed it and tossed it hoverdisc style into the air. It sailed right up and landed flat on the roof. After many tears, she now finds this quite amusing.

Well, that's all I can even muster that may be pseudo-interesting, but I'm not convinced.

Labels: family

Posted by Melissa on 3/09/2004 09:03:00 PM :: Permalink   

Comments Welcomed!

I just added a comment system. I'm currently trying out the one offered by HaloScan. We'll see how it works out. Just click on the "Comment" link on any entry to post a comment. Posted by Chris on 3/09/2004 03:45:00 PM :: Permalink   

Recording Artist Wanted...No Talent Required

William Hung studied civil engineering but has decided to pursue a recording career. Fuse has offered him a record deal. People will pay money for this? He's funny but not talented. I enjoyed watching him, but wouldn't pay for it and couldn't stand an entire album of it.

William Hung was the most noted reject from this season's American Idol show on Fox. If you haven't seen it yet, you absolutely must watch his audition (click on the January Video to see the original audition). He has quite a fan following. Posted by Chris on 3/09/2004 12:30:00 PM :: Permalink   

Buzzzzzzz

I realize that most of you only visit this page to see pictures of the girls, so here's the latest buzz on Delaney. She was flapping her wings so fast you can hardly see them.

Labels: family

Posted by Chris on 3/09/2004 11:48:00 AM :: Permalink   

Go Pack!

The seeds are set and here's the 2004 ACC Tournament Bracket. Posted by Chris on 3/08/2004 01:28:00 PM :: Permalink   

Your Jeep Is Not As Amphibious As You May Think

David's sister got a new Jeep Wrangler.
David's sister got a new Jeep Wranger wet.
David's sister got a new wet Jeep Wrangler stuck.
David's sister should have got a boat.

Full story at THPPFT - Home of the Absurd. Posted by Chris on 3/08/2004 11:49:00 AM :: Permalink   

I'll Roshambo You For It

If you've got time to waste, checkout The Official Rock Paper Scissors Strategy Guide. I think these guys are serious. Posted by Chris on 3/08/2004 11:46:00 AM :: Permalink   

Breaking Wind

It was windy last night. And the wind broke a few things. At our house, it blew over a patio table and a swing, and broke a planter. But across the street things were even more serious. This storm was too potent for the portapotty.



Someone call OSHA and get a HazMat team over here stat! Posted by Chris on 3/08/2004 11:29:00 AM :: Permalink   

Painting Near an Open Window

So, here's a picture of the window -- post cleanup. Unfortunately, I didn't think to snap a picture during the incident. I guess I'm still new to this blogging stuff.



David, Roosevelt and I were painting at Wayne's house. All day we were kidding about who was the slowest painter and who was goofing off the most. This is a common occurrence and may happen to you when painting with friends. That's ok. But proceed with caution...

Wayne goes out to get more paint. Then a friendly punch to the arm was thrown and someone's balance was affected. Said person happened to be holding a tray of blue paint at the time and standing right in front of the window. As I turned around, hearing gasps, I at first thought things were OK. The paint tray was right-side up on the windowsill. But further inspection proved otherwise. The paint had spilled onto the window screen, down into the window track, and onto the glossy white window casing. Blue!

We quickly went into cleanup mode and consumed all 2 of the rags allocated to us for painting. We got more paper towels and removed the screen for cleaning. At this point, Wayne comes back into the house to get the paint label he had forgotten. The three of us all stand in front of the window like three kids trying to hide their mistake from parents. One of us was holding a window screen with a blue tint, and all three of us wore mischievous smirks. Wayne left again, presumably thinking we were laughing at the notion of him not buying enough paint initially.

One of us went down - in the rain - to hose off the screen, while the others continued cleaning the window. Just as we thought we were done, we remembered to actually stick our head out the window and look down to see if any paint fell. Sure enough, there was blue paint on the side of the house!

Thanks to our lightning quick reaction times, all blue paint was easily wiped up and a tragedy was averted. But just beware painting near an open window.

Posted by Chris on 3/07/2004 10:38:00 PM :: Permalink   

Not for Those with Weak Stomachs

Apparently the Red Robin Gourmet Burger restaurant in Canton, OH has a whole different idea about what makes a good chopped salad. Posted by Chris on 3/05/2004 04:21:00 PM :: Permalink   

Bringing Back Beatbox

This video is like 6 minutes long but if you watch to the end, he really does some cool stuff when doing both the beatbox *and* the vocals.

Brings back memories of The Fat Boys and Human Beatbox (audio only). Posted by Chris on 3/04/2004 09:01:00 PM :: Permalink   

So, What's the deal with the new look?

OK, our web site was a year or more out of date. For a while we didn't have a single picture of Victoria up (though there were pictures of her in the Photo Albums (see sidebar at right)). Then I remembered this orange button on the Google Toolbar.

What? You don't have the Google Toolbar? Go get it now. You can thank me later.

The issue with not having regular updates was mostly a time factor. It just took too long to compose something, format it, and upload it, then tweak it again. All when there might not be much to say anyway.

Enter Blogging. So that little orange button I mentioned goes to Blogger.com which basically now powers our home page. While traversing the web, we can just click that button and a pop-up window gives us an editor with the current URL and any text we've selected preloaded. Then we just type in our verbage and Post & Publish. Blogger.com formats it and uploads it to our site using a template we've changed to our liking.

I don't need any software installed and I can do it from any machine with a browser. This means I can post from home or work or your house whenever I get the chance and inclination.

So far it's worked well. And while I admit that I'll probably run out of time or forget or not care or change my mind in the future - for now, this is the new Sharpes R Us look. Posted by Chris on 3/04/2004 01:18:00 PM :: Permalink   

Deb's Unofficial Walt Disney World Information Guide

We're planning another Disney trip this summer with the extended family. Here's one of the better guides I've found - Deb's Unofficial Walt Disney World Information Guide - AllEarsNet Posted by Chris on 3/04/2004 10:40:00 AM :: Permalink   

Ten Years of My Life and This Is All I Get?

My 10 year anniversary at EMC is coming up in May, so I've been asked to select my gift from several choices. At first I was a little excited because when I last looked (during the tech boom a few years ago), they had excellent items - mountain bikes, entertainment systems, electronics, and the like.

Unfortunately for me, there have apparently been budget cuts. I passed on the portable cassette player (since my PDA already plays MP3s, who would want that?) and I passed on the gaudy jewelry and the fixed-focus 35mm camera (doesn't everyone use digital now?).

I decided on a Bulova Nautical Wall Clock. The only reason I picked this is because it has a thermometer and I can put it in my office so I can quantitatively complain about how hot is in there! I've already got a PEZ Wall Clock. I guess I'm just getting a free thermometer.

Wow! I wonder what will happen after 20 years? A sphygmomanometer? Posted by Chris on 3/03/2004 03:05:00 PM :: Permalink   

Gas Prices

What happened to gas prices? This may be the highest I've seen them. Of course, the competitor across the street has it for $1.63.
Posted by Chris on 3/03/2004 01:55:00 PM :: Permalink   

Free Magazines

Sign up at Magazine City and you may receive offers for free full subscriptions to magazines. I occasionally get these offers at work for "professional engineers" and they give you the magazines just to increase their viewership numbers for the ads.

I've already signed up for a free PC Magazine subscription. Posted by Chris on 3/03/2004 09:49:00 AM :: Permalink   

Gay Agenda 2/18/04

Gay Agenda 2/18/04 Posted by Melissa on 3/02/2004 08:47:00 PM :: Permalink   

Open Sesame!

On Saturday (before undertaking the Quintessential Erector Set) I finally finished putting up the garage door opener. Now, all it takes is a push of the button. This didn't turn out to be a two-person job after all. With the help of a couple of ladders and some struggling, I was able to install it myself.

The only problem is that the garage has a twelve foot ceiling and the door opener needed to be about 4 1/2 feet down from the ceiling. That would be fine, except that the door opener only comes with a 4 foot cord! There are also large bold warnings not to use an extension cord, but that's what I'm using for now. I guess I'll either have to get a longer cord and rewire the motor or at least buy a shorter heavy gauge extension cord to use permanently. Posted by Chris on 3/02/2004 02:29:00 PM :: Permalink   

The Quintessential Erector Set

For the past two days, I've worked on putting together an outdoor playset for Delaney and Victoria. This thing came in 4 boxes (each weighing near 300 pounds) and a 10-ft. slide. I think there are about a thousand pieces and when it's all done, it should look something like this one that was in the store. I'm currently on step 59 of 86...

Posted by Chris on 3/02/2004 02:16:00 PM :: Permalink    Microsoft Products Settlement - North Carolina - Home Page includes a claim form for getting vouchers back from Microsoft. These vouchers can then be redeemed on purchases of any - not just Microsoft - hardware and software. Fill it out, send it in, get your money back. Posted by Chris on 3/02/2004 01:50:00 PM :: Permalink   
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