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I recently upgraded to a
Blackberry 8700g.
Email, cellphone, web
access, and PDA all-in-one.
I love Canon digicams.
I had an S330, then an S230,
now an SD400. They're solidly
made, they take great pictures,
and they're ultra-portable.
I've gone back to the dark
side. I once again have an iPod.
This time it's a 60gb iPod Photo.
The Dell Latitude D620
is my current work laptop.
It's a cleanly designed
Centrino Duo machine with
amazing battery
life and a nice screen.
My home laptop is a
15" Apple MacBook Pro
dual-booting both Mac OS X
and Windows XP. Hooray for
Boot Camp!
I recently upgraded to a 20"
Dell 2001fp LCD. It has great
image quality, and convenient
USB ports on the side.
My current PC is
a P4 system based on an Intel
D915GAG motherboard in an Antec
Sonata II case. 200gb Seagate
SATA hard drive, nVidia GeForce
6600GT video card, SB Live 5.1,
and NEC DVD-RW drive.
Just like with digicams,
I like Canon inkjet printers. My
i860 is quiet, fast, and produces
first-class color prints.
Not much to say here.
If you're an aviation enthusiast
and you have a fast PC,
go buy FS2004 now.
If you get hooked on
flight sims like I did, you'll want
a good flight controller. The
CH Products Flight Sim Yoke USB
is probably the best all-around
flight controller out there.
It ain't cheap, though....
My Current Reading List
Eastward to Tartary:
Travels in the Balkans,
the Middle East, and
the Caucasus
by Robert D. Kaplan
Falling Off the Map
by Pico Iyer
Great Bridge: The Epic
Story of the Building of
the Brooklyn Bridge
by David McCullough
The Polish Way: A Thousand
Year History of the Poles and
Their Culture
by Adam Zamoyski
Best of Europe 2006
by Rick Steves
2008
October (2 entries)August (1 entry)
June (1 entry)
May (2 entries)
February (2 entries)
2007
July (1 entry)June (7 entries)
April (5 entries)
February (4 entries)
January (11 entries)
2006
December (5 entries)November (3 entries)
October (10 entries)
September (6 entries)
August (4 entries)
July (7 entries)
June (5 entries)
May (7 entries)
April (15 entries)
March (9 entries)
February (7 entries)
January (15 entries)
2005
December (4 entries)November (6 entries)
October (15 entries)
September (4 entries)
August (9 entries)
July (18 entries)
June (10 entries)
May (12 entries)
April (19 entries)
March (18 entries)
February (10 entries)
January (20 entries)
2004
December (9 entries)November (21 entries)
October (9 entries)
September (15 entries)
August (7 entries)
July (7 entries)
June (8 entries)
May (10 entries)
April (5 entries)
March (12 entries)
February (18 entries)
January (9 entries)
| 01/31/2005 13:31 |
| We spent most of Saturday looking at rugs at a store in Seattle. Rugs from Persia/Iran, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in central/southern Asia. The store was part of the experience, since the owner just lays out rug on top of rug until they are several layers deep throughout the store. Some were antique, and some were new handmade rugs, but nothing machine-made. We were initially taken aback by the cost, but once you see and feel really nice handmade rugs, and understand the story behind them, it's easier to reconcile the cost. Not that we bought anything yet, we're still just looking....
|
| 01/30/2005 19:07 |
| A co-worker and I arranged a small group pizza lunch on Friday. There were 8 of us ordering three giant pizzas from a local place that we patronize regularly. We called and asked if they still had the "3 Giant Pizzas for $29.99" special, and they said they did. We gave them the topping configuration for all three pizzas, and they gave us the total of $34.xx. We have 8% sales tax, so we were surprised that it was almost $35 for everything. When we asked if there really was over $4 in taxes, they said no, but that the tax on $31.49 makes the total $34.xx. Turns out that they have a $.50 per pizza "pizza fee." That was their exact term for it - "pizza fee." I asked if it was a delivery charge, and they said no, that it's just a "pizza fee" since some ingredients have gone up in price lately. Huh? Shouldn't the pizza price itself just go up? Why lie and sneak in some phony tax/fee/surcharge? I'm gonna write my Congressman.... |
| 01/28/2005 09:20 |
| “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” - Aldous Huxley |
| 01/27/2005 17:32 |
| I'm not the biggest tennis fan. Does this mean she won something?
|
| 01/27/2005 17:26 |
| Okay, here's a very strange story from the Boston Herald, regarding a former Red Sock, Rich Garces. The "portly right-hander" was known by his nickname, El Guapo.... Ex-Sox Garces missing By Jeff Horrigan Thursday, January 27, 2005 The Red Sox are concerned for the safety of former reliever Rich Garces, who is missing in Venezuela, according to an uncorroborated report. The report indicated that Garces, who went 23-8 with a 3.78 ERA for the Sox from 1996-2002, has been missing since Jan. 17 and that his family hasn't heard from him. Garces, 33, hasn't pitched in the major leagues since July 2002 but was closing for the Magallanes Navigators in the Venezuelan winter league when he reportedly disappeared after a game against Caracas. Garces' wife, Lisbeth, is said to have filed a police report. The disappearance is troubling due to the rash of kidnappings that have taken place in South America involving high-profile athletes and their families. The mother of former Sox closer Ugueth Urbina was kidnapped in Venezuela in September. Garces' agent, Jeff Borris, was stunned to hear of the pitcher's disappearance yesterday and vowed to look into the matter. According to one member of Sox management, Garces had expressed fears of a kidnapping in the past. Each time Garces signed a new contract, he asked that the salary not be released until after his family had left Venezuela for the start of the season. At the peak of his earnings in '02, ``El Guapo'' was paid $2.2 million. Notice the part about his agent who "vowed to look into the matter." When you vow to do something, don't you usually do something more decisive or dramatic? Don't you usually take drastic action? I'm picturing the agent pounding on his desk, screaming "By God, I'm going to spare no expense, and not spare a moment's effort until... I've made a phone call... or two..." Note to Rich Garces: You should probably look for a new agent.
|
| 01/26/2005 18:14 |
| Here's a quote from our fine leader's press conference today: "I -- you know, democracy is a, you know, progressed -- you'll see progress toward a goal. There won't be instant democracy. And I remind people that our own country is a work in progress. You know, we -- we -- we declared all people equal, and yet all people weren't treated equally for a century. We said, you know, everybody counts; but everybody didn't count." Huh? |
| 01/25/2005 08:45 |
| Evil. Pure unadulterated evil.
|
| 01/24/2005 11:02 |
| We have a new multi-function machine at our office, a Canon ImageRunner 3570. It copies, it faxes, it emails, it scans, it prints, it punches holes, it staples, etc. Anyway, it has a web GUI where you can monitor jobs, check device status, etc. You can look to see if the machine has enough toner, but it's not necessarily the most descriptive feature in the world. Check this out, the machine has "some" toner available.
|
| 01/17/2005 21:01 |
| Big news around Olympia has been the sighting of the rare Eurasian thrush, a bird that, obviously from its name, isn't normally found in this area. There have been many spottings of the Iliacus turdus on this side of town, which usually leads to small mobs of bird watchers standing around with binoculars and cameras. The sightings have all been within 4 or 5 blocks of our house, so we've seen people hauling tripods and telescopes and crap up and down the sidewalk out front. Well, Saturday, it seems, our number was up. The aptly named turdus was spotted in the big tree in our front yard, so the bird groupies staked out the sidewalk out front. My wife's car ended up being bombed with rare Eurasian bird crap, and I missed the opportunity to scrape it off and sell it to the bird people for a healthy profit. "Get your souvenir Eurasian thrush droppings," or "Get your picture taken with the Eurasian thrush droppings."
|
| 01/17/2005 09:17 |
| Holy crap! I was almost killed by an insane woman driving a maroon Ford Explorer. On my drive to work, I stop at a traffic light, then make a left turn onto an uphill onramp that leads up to Highway 101. As I made that left turn this morning, I encountered a woman driving said Ford Explorer down the onramp the wrong way. I swerved around her as she continued on her way down to the bottom of the ramp. My guess is she was suffering from the effects of too much/not enough drugs and alcohol. Either that, or people who drive SUVs are inherently evil and cannot be trusted.
|
| 01/15/2005 12:28 |
| I just got back from driving down to Centralia and back, to deliver and install a new PC for our clinic down there. It's 35 degrees F and raining, so anywhere that moisture accumulated on my car, it turned to ice pretty quickly. Wind chill at work, I guess. There were probably half a dozen cars that had slid off the road, into the median or the ditch. Most were SUVs, including one that was tipped over onto its side. Tell me again why people feel safe in SUVs?
|
| 01/13/2005 15:45 |
| I just got finished booking a ticket for my dad to fly to London in the spring. He's flying from Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport to Chicago O'Hare to London Heathrow. When I received the email confirmation of his booking, it showed this: UNITED AIRLINES UA6914 X-CONFIRMED EQUIP: DEPART: NARBONNE WED 09MAR05 1740 ARRIVE: CHICAGO OHARE INTL WED 09MAR05 1933 SEATS: 04C ARRIVES AT: TERMINAL 1 UNITED AIRLINES UA 938 I-CONFIRMED EQUIP: 777 DEPART: CHICAGO OHARE INTL WED 09MAR05 2115 ARRIVE: LONDON HEATHROW THU 10MAR05 1100 SEATS: 09B DEPARTS FROM: TERMINAL 1 UNITED AIRLINES UA 929 I-CONFIRMED EQUIP: 777 DEPART: LONDON HEATHROW WED 23MAR05 1025 ARRIVE: CHICAGO OHARE INTL WED 23MAR05 1310 SEATS: 09B ARRIVES AT: TERMINAL 1 UNITED AIRLINES UA6917 X-CONFIRMED EQUIP: DEPART: CHICAGO OHARE INTL WED 23MAR05 1455 ARRIVE: NARBONNE WED 23MAR05 1646 SEATS: 03B DEPARTS FROM: TERMINAL 1 Narbonne? Narbonne is a city in southern France. It's a very fine city, but it's not the place from which my dad wants to start his trip. After calling the airline, they pointed out that in their system, he's clearly booked on flights from NW Ark Regional (XNA). The flight numbers and times bear that out, but it would seem that someone in the Star Alliance has a little database cleanup work to do.
|
| 01/10/2005 09:27 |
| This is a test of the Emergency Blogcast System. We repeat, this is only a test. |
| 01/10/2005 09:23 |
| So here's a test message from my Blackberry. Nifty. Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile. |
| 01/09/2005 11:06 |
| Well, it's a Sunday, krw is in Taiwan, there is a dusting of snow on the ground and it's very windy. Seems like a good day for flying...
|
| 01/05/2005 17:30 |
| A co-worker gave me a packet of Costco vitamins to try this afternoon. There were 7 or 8 pills in the little clear packet--things like fish oil, ginseng, Vitamin B50, etc. Anyway, it was supposed to be a formula that gives you extra energy. Firstly, it's hard to consume 8 pills, one after another after another..... Secondly, after about an hour, I felt like I needed a nap.... Thirdly, I'm peeing fluorescent yellow now. Should I be worried?
|
| 01/05/2005 17:27 |
| Our house is about 40 miles straight-line distance to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. On a clear night, like last night, we can see planes approaching from the south on their way to KSEA. For a while, between about 6 and 7pm, I was able to see between 8 and 10 planes moving across the night sky at any given time. Flights from West Coast cities, I'm guessing, if they're making their descent from the south. Anyway, I could have watched forever... |
| 01/04/2005 18:47 |
| Laptop case made out of a pizza box? But will it have that pizza smell?
|
| 01/02/2005 13:38 |
| Here's a blurb from this weeks' Tuesday Morning Quarterback column over at NFL.com, written by Gregg Easterbrook: "Americans spent $220 billion on the holidays this year. That is five times the GDP of Ecuador, according to the National Retail Federation. If instead of spending $220 billion on gifts for ourselves, had we spent $220 billion on Ecuador, we might have wiped out poverty in an entire nation." $220 billion worth of crappy DVD players from Walmart... $220 billion worth of Leappads, espresso makers, in-car entertainment centers, Nascar memorabilia, Burberry scarves, and other stuff that will be broken or forgotten in a few weeks. There are a lot of things that the US isn't very good at, but buying stuff is definitely not on that list. Come on folks, doesn't being stupid get tiring after a while? As an aside, Gregg Easterbrook is an outstanding author and commentator. I can highly recommend his book The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse. Easterbrook does an tremendous job of avoiding the strong gravitational pull of both liberal and conservative foolishness, instead choosing a more common sense centrist approach. And his football haikus are funny, too.
|
| 01/02/2005 12:53 |
| National Geographic's website has a great audio/video presentation about people's infatuation with all things caffeinated. Whether it's coffee, tea, soda, Red Bull, chocolate, whatever.... Check it out. No, seriously, check it out. |
