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2008

12-30-07 12:03am
Posted a few great items for sale tonight on craigslist. Including a cherry jewelry box, Palm Tungsten C and a collection of Maisto motorcycle models. Just clearing out the basement. We could wait for a big garage sale in the Spring, but I think we will do better by Craigslist just the same. Weekend has been filled with family time and two movies so far - I Am Legend and National Treasure 2. Legend was a good movie, mix of end of the world with vampire/zombie action. Will Smith does a great job as usual. Treasure was a matinee tonight, I would call it average. Not as good as the first and not very well acted. The story wasn't as interesting as the first one either. Our final film of the holiday trilogy will be Sweeny Todd. We have seen the Broadway play on DVD and live in Dublin, Ireland this summer. The movie looks like it will be a good adaptation, although I am not a fan of Johnny Depp or even Tim Burton (although they both have their moments).

12-26-07 9:37am
Ahhhhh, the day after. I am no longer full from the magnificent Westfields Marriott champagne brunch or from my sister's holiday dinner. My stomach has expanded to meet the needs of yesterday. Now I must train it back into submission. We had a great Christmas all around - the brunch was great. Lindsey and Leah's gift to us this year was a bottle of 1999 Dom Perignon which we will greatly enjoy this New Year's Eve. Mmmm. Other big gifts included new Wii games (Metroid Prime, Manhunt 2 and The Umbrella Chronicles), Garmin Street Pilot c550, Best Buy and Visa gift cards, 2 beautiful sets of wind chimes for the new screened in porch, monkies, elephants and much, much more. I bought myself several books on Project 2007, project managagement, and some entertaining reading. I have 5 books going right now, including Atlas Shrugged in which the tiny print makes my eyes close when I read, but I am slowly working through. I am looking forward to a week of reading, relaxing, and a little painting and work here and there. Happy Holidays!
12-22-07 9:16am
Looks like the charges have stopped rolling in, fortunately we caught it in time. Apparently they used socks2u.com as an authorization test. Shoddy shopping cart security management, I am sure. They sent me this letter regarding the fraud. Oh well. I am really looking forward to this week off. A few gifts left to buy today, some work in the yard, lots of movies, a champagne brunch, gifts and food and beer and drinks and food and sleeping in. Ahhhh.
12-19-07 10:53am
Some jackass(es) have gotten a hold of my check card Visa number and they are presumably using it to buy travelers checks and mobile phones overseas. Here is a list of what they have been up to so far:

In the end this will cost BB&T and Visa a fortune, but we should come out of it relatively even. The card is inactive, fraud alerts are up and the Feds are on it. I believe the socks2u.com charge was probably a test of the card number, the site seems a bit sketchy with no phone contact information. Bastard(s)!
12-14-07 5:02pm
It has been CRAZY busy at work. Very unusual for the holiday season, just seems like everything is hitting at once. Proposal work, interviews, milestones, reviews, budgets, etc. And it is just as crazy at home. The screened in porch is still under construction, the sidewalk and patio people are there working every day, the gutters and facia boards are being replaced next week since we apparently have wood bores, dry rot and collapsing gutter hangers (the most obvious problem of the three). Next week the new kitchen countertop is going in as well. We are considering just getting a little Christmas tree and doing minimal decorations this year. Mainly because all of the pictures are down in the library so they don't fall down during construction, and the contents of all of the kitchen cabinets will be on every table and couch next week during the countertop and backsplash installation. Busy holiday season indeed. So, I am working a lot of extra hours, but much of the work is rewarding and all of it is interesting. But, I need the weekend. Company holiday party Saturday night. Crossing my fingers for now ice and snow for the drive home.
12-1-07 5:13pm
Staying very busy with work and home projects. Screened in porch is almost complete, buttoning up a few items on Monday, including siding, gutters, etc. Sidewalks and patios start work on Tuesday, should take about 8 days to complete. Replaced the house numbers and mailbox today with a nice copper model. Found significant dry rot around the facia trim at the roof line. Thought it might be termite damage from looking at it, but relatively sure it is just old exposed wood at this point. Have a great local company replacing much of the wood trim and repainting to match for under $400. Surprising, considering the amount of work. Leaves need another pass, but I think I'll give them another week to blow around. Significant rain and wind expected over the next couple of days, so why not wait?

Parents have returned from Panama cruise, and just in time. My grandmother went into the hospital last Monday and has had some trouble breathing recently. She may have had to go in for surgery, at which point we would need to contact mom on her cruise, ruining her trip. Fortunately my grandmother is doing much better now, mostly out of the woods, and mom is ready to drive down to her if necessary. Hopefully she will be fully recovered so she can come up and enjoy Christmas with us in a few weeks.

Very frustrated with Battlefield Ford over the Thunderbird right now. It had the same problem again, where under hard acceleration the wrench light came on "limp home mode" and the car came to a stop. They had it for two days, couldn't find anything wrong with it so they asked us to come and pick it up. At the same time we had them fix the cruise control and give it an oil change. Turns out a wire was rubbing and shorted out the cruise. They didn't even think that this might have been causing the other problem. So, hopefully this fixes it. If not, we'll have to sell it. Rhonda was almost in an accident when she accelerated into traffic and the car stalled a few months ago. I don't want an accident to happen before it is fixed. On the other hand, Ford repaired my F150's floorpan so that the seat doesn't rock and roll every time I take a corner, and the dash no longer squeaks. Apparently it took a tech all day to repair, but it was worth it to me. All better. So thanks for fixing my truck, and FU for your apathy towards the Thunderbird. I can guarantee I won't buy any more Fords, or probably any more American cars in the future. Our 11 year old Honda Accord remains problem free, as were the two Acuras I had before. If American car companies want my business in the future, they need to do more to improve their quality. My Jeep Cherokee (86) had a junk engine, Chevy 1.8L that threw a rod. My Durango (00) was great, until the undersized brake rotors warped at 15k, and the electrical recalls started rolling in. Sold before it could become a real issue. Foreign cars have fewer problems, hold their value better, and give you more bells and whistles and performance and everything else for the buck. GM, Ford, Chrysler, are you listening at all?

11-25-07 8:52pm
Happy Thanksgiving! Mom and Dad are still in Panama, hopefully having a good time on their cruise! With everyone out of town, we went to the in-laws for most of the day Thursday. After our nap, we watched Dexter season I (interesting Showtime series about a serial killer with morals). Saturday we drove down to Culpeper, VA to a moonshine distillery, followed by James Madison's house and museum. Dinner at Outback. Today was all about the leaves. Six straight hours of blowing leaves and mowing the lawn to mulch anything I missed. Woo!
11-18-07 3:29pm
Good weekend so far. No major flooding or earthquakes, which is always a plus. Major work done on the screened in porch, it is just about done now. At least, the construction guy thinks so. We have a significant punch list waiting for him in the morning. We identified the brand of stone we plan to use on the sidewalk/patio work in a couple of weeks - EP Henry. Still fighting over the color and style. Hope to get that worked out by tonight, but today is a work and study day. I have completed my performance evaluations for the year, at least preliminary. Then I continued on and rated Geisha. She is sorely lacking in personal skills - including making new friends and hygine. I'll have to adapt her Roles and Goals for next year to refelect her inadequacy. Specifically- she still won't go through the doggie door. Maiko hits it like a champ, but Geisha is afraid of it. We aren't rushing her, using simple encouragement may take a week or so. Hopefully less.

Spent a large chunk of the weekend mowing and blowing leaves. I am fortunate - I have a creek and pond to blow them into, where they rot and make excellent compost for the ecosystem. Possibly. Some of them I pile into the garden area, where they rot and become corn next summer. I don't know what my neighbors do with them, they don't throw them away. Throwing away leaves in a landfill seems completely bass-ackwards to me. Let them rot in plastic bags all winter, then add to your mulch mix. Or leave them in your beds and throw mulch on them in the Spring. Someday we'll run out of landfill space. Probably not, but you never know. I believe I read that they are working on capturing methane from dumps to generate electricity. That power could be used to destroy garbage with superheated plasma, or to scrub the air on an incinerator. Circle of life - in garbage form.

Soon it will be time to get dressed for dinner. Yesterday we ate super-spicy Thai at 4:00, then snacked in place of dinner. Now our internal stomach clocks are all out of whack. I'd like to hit up Italian tonight - we have one really great place in Manassas Park in a completely shitty strip mall. Zagats rated, right next door to a discount furniture rental place. Weird. The other place is Olive Garden, which really doesn't count as Italian - but I do like their soup and salad. It is pretty good - and the bread is awesome. I don't think we have been there in well over a year, but I am feeling it tonight. Our favorite Italian is in Vienna, Virginia - "That's Amore". I'm not sure I feel like driving in tonight though - we both still have a lot of work to get done before tomorrow morning. Maybe next week, after Thanksgiving.

11-17-07 1:43am
Been very busy at work. Nice to come home and follow the daily porch construction. They are done with the part you can watch on camera at this point. Maybe a bit more in the morning, then I'll have to disconnect. Still needs shingles, some paneling and a few little trim items. But mostly done - very exciting. Now the sidewalk guy is coming out this week to work on the patio, landing and sidewalks (obviously). He claims 9 days start to finish. Sounds good to me.
11-7-07 9:01pm
The screened in porch construction has begun. You can watch the progress in pictures, or see it real time through the porch construction cam. Enjoy. Up to the minute sliding door pictures are all the rage.
11-6-07 10:01am
The US Government needs to stop commiting and sanctioning torture. Real life isn't like an episode of 24 - you typically aren't going to stop a nuke from going off in an elementary school by torturing a bad guy. Torture in any form is wrong. We were outraged by the treatment of our POWs during Vietnam. And yet here we are, torturing - and somehow outside the scope or reach of the UN or Geneva conventions. "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture." Some people would tell you that what the US practices is hardly torture at all - we aren't putting things under fingernails or putting them on the rack, but what would you call being forced into an uncomfortable position for hours with your muscles cramping? Or choking on water until you break your arm trying to resist drowning? There is nothing right about our current policy. It is one of the few hangups I have with the current administration.

So, with that in mind - go vote. I did this morning, lines were short.

11-5-07 1:06pm
Today I went with the local barber shop for my buzz cut. They always look at me strangely when I ask them to cut it all off, even though my hair is short to begin with - mere stubble. Arm is healing nicely, doesn't itch yet, but is fairly sore. Different from last time altogether.
11-4-07 8:20am
Did you fall back today? It was nice to sleep in an extra hour. Somehow turning the clocks back confused Geisha and she slept in. This morning I have been updating my Netflix Queue and Amazon Wish List. Guess I am a couple of weeks late on the wish list, if you were planning on sending a gift for my birthday today. So far, I have a cake in progress (carrot), the first two seasoon DVD of 'Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia' (awesome), most of my Amazon Wish List (good reading!), a USB drink warmer and cooler (awesome) and a huge electric snowblower. Very nice. Now that we have an actual driveway, I hope we get some serious snow this winter to try this thing out on. We were supposed to go to the Doc Watson concert last night, but there was a sickness or something and they postponed the concert. No problem, we watched Spiderman 3. Great effects, but probably 3/3 in the series. Friday night was 'Knocked Up' - very funny. So funny, I added 'Undeclared' to my Netflix Queue as well. Today we need to clear off the deck in preparation for the screened in porch starting tomorrow. They claim they will have the old deck ripped out tomorrow and the new flooring in place by Tuesday. The whole thing will take a couple of weeks. Just in time for Winter :-)
11-2-07 10:28am
9500 Liberty - a study of the immigration debate in Prince William County, VA. Interesting, but clearly slanted towards the illegal immigrants. A couple of loons that exhibit racist remarks do not stand for the rest of PWC, there is more to the debate than race.
10-29-07 9:55am
Wrapped up Resident Evil 4 for the Wii this weekend. 26 hours start to finish. I don't know if that is good or bad, but it is a lot of time to waste in front of the console. So we bought some more! Transformers the game had potential - but the camera movement SUCKED and was uncontrollable. The game itself was very simple, but I did like the destructable city scapes. Zelda is just weird. Interactions are pretty good with the Wii controls, but we aren't very far into it yet. My only real complaint about Nintendo games is that they all seem to be written for 3 year olds. Take Super Paper Mario - there must be a novel worth of dialogue to skip through just to play the game. Same with Zelda. And everything has these huge Hubble figurine weepy eyes and a Japanese-view-of-caucasions-smile. Does that make any sense?

Waiting for my new helmet to arrive - I finally bought one with graphics, a new RF-1000 'artifact' model. 2 day shipping apparently doesn't include weekends. Well spent $20 upgrade, thanks Fed-Ex! I was the only one to ride in today, it was about 35F outside. Starting to get chilly, but by no means a showstopper. Heated gear will have to come out in a few weeks, but for now I am still enjoying the leaves changing and 70F rides home in the evening. Speaking of rides, drivers around here seem to be getting stupider every day. This jackass was in such a hurry to get wherever he was going, he passed on 28 over a blind hill and killed a motorcyclist. I hope Mr. Harley's ghost haunts the driver over a cliff. That is his real name, Harley. Of course he was on a Harley, what else would he be riding? A shame.

10-22-07 12:08pm
Friday night I came home and managed to snap the head off of two helmet visor screws. Spent part of Saturday looking for a local motorcycle shop that could replace them, but no one seems to carry Shoei anymore. Really? Of all the brands, no Shoei? So I had to order two new screws online, and shipping will cost more than the little plastic buggers are worth. So, to make things work out better, I bought a new RF-1000, my first new helmet with graphics. My RF-800 was wine red, my current RF-900 is grey. Now my 900 becomes the spare, my 800 goes to the dump and my 1000 keeps me safe AND cool. Hope it gets here soon, I can't ride with a broken visor.
10-15-07 1:26pm
Looks to be a busy week, taking time now to elaborate on the skydiving. We went to Skydive Orange based on a coworker who jumps there frequently. I would like to say we had a smooth experience, but it could have been better. We arrived at 9:30am for a 10:00 training class. A handful of people were there already, maybe 8 other tandem jumpers. We paid our money and watched them train, then we met our instructor about 11:00. Tandem training is very basic, just how to position yourself, where the safety features of the equipment are, and what to expect. Then we just had to wait for our slot. Skydive Orange was short on tandem instructors Saturday which was causing delays for all of us. When we went to check on our status after 1pm, the scheduler kind of freaked out on me. When another one of our group went to check at 2pm, she freaked out on him. We were nice, just wanted to know where we stood in the grand scheme of things, and she should have had more information on what to expect in terms of a wait. Eventually we identified our flight and met with our jump masters. They fit us into our harness, set up our altimiter and got their equipment ready. Before we knew it, they were ready to roll. We walked out to the plane and slid on a bench to the back. Here we straddled the bench and clicked our seat belt through the harness for the ride up to 13,500. Before we knew it we hit 5,000 feet and the first jumper jumped. Everyone else waited until we hit 12,000 or so. One by one they jumped out the door, then it was our turn. We slid down the bench towards the door, with the jump master holding my weight behind me. We crab walked to the door, he counted to three and we were sailing through the air. Instantly I had a brief episode of tunnel vision / vertigo. The distant land came in close and everything else went brown. Then that was past and we were flying. Free fall lasted about a minute, with wind rushing through my nose at 120MPH. Before I knew it, it was time to pull the chute. The upward jerk wasn't too bad, then things became quiet. The view was beautiful - we could see for miles of farmland, Lake Anna and beyond. The jump master showed me how to steer the chute, which is deceiving. When you yank on the left cord, you REALLY go left, with the force of a couple of Gs on you. Impressive. I steered for a minute then gave the controls back to the JM to land us. This could not have gone smoother, a gentle slide on my ass for 10 feet or so, then we were up, getting certificates, popping our ears and back in the car. Surreal. Everyone should do it at least once, or once a weekend.
6 10-13-07 9:08pm
Today we went skydiving in Orange, VA. Our 10am appointment turned into a 2:15pm tandem jump time, but despite the waiting we had enjoyed the fall. Neither Rhonda or I were nervous, and we didn't back out at the last second, as one of our plane-mates did unfortunately. The free fall was a rush - hard to breathe at 120MPH with wind forced up your nose, and very loud (should have thought of earplugs!) but when the canopy deployed, all was quiet and peaceful. I would do it again, as would Rhonda.

I have a decent picture of the tattoo posted. Still in the outline stage for a few weeks, then it will be colored in. Soreness is gone (mostly) in my right arm.

10-12-07 3:14pm
Last night I received my tattoo outline. Surprisingly I don't have a nice clear picture of it to share with the world yet, but here is one during the process.. It took about 2.5 hours to outline. I didn't know what to expect in the pain department, it wasn't very bad. Now it just feels like a sunburn. I'll post a pic as soon as I get a good one. Thanks to Lindsey for braving rush hour traffic to come hang out with me during and afterwards. Good times. Tomorrow morning Rhonda and I will be jumping out of a plane in Orange. Woo! Hope to have postable video from that experience. Afterwards we need to take Geisha in to the vet - she started licking her rear left paw and limping on her front right paw yesterday. No visible trauma. Hope they can find out what is wrong. They never did find a problem with Maiko's hot spots ... going on 8 years now...
10-9-07 4:24pm
October is National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month. So if you have a home in need of a furry companion, and you can make a lifetime commitment to the dog or cat or _?_, please consider your local shelter rather than breeders, pet store chains or the ever prevalant puppy mills. And have your dog spayed or neutered. Each year between 8 and 12 million animals enter shelters. Between 5 and 9 million animals are euthenized in the United States each year. We don't need another private owner selling their litter, or another puppy mill wholesaling dogs to pet store chains.
10-9-07 1:21pm
Does it make any sense for Hispanics to boycott Prince William County businesses, or to stay home from work today? As one local resident put it, if they are illegal, they should stay home from work EVERY day. Should legal residents put together a boycott of Hispanic owned businesses? No, that wouldn't make any more sense than what 'Mexicans Without Borders' is doing. Bah. Get off my lawn.
10-5-07 1:22pm
Another project down. The driveway is now paved. Chesapeake Paving looks like they did a great job. Thanks!
10-3-07 10:06am
So, perhaps I don't really understand the Hispanic immigrant situation in the US, or Virginia or Prince William County. The latest measures denying services to illegals in PWC has been passed and delayed due to financial concerns. While I was reading into it, I noticed Mexicans Without Borders which is working to boycott local business and pushing for a work outage October 9th. Their site is mostly in Spanish, but what I can make out is that they want to STOP Manassas, Prince William and Culpepper County from passing resolutions they feel are racist. This includes printing County documents in English, and affirming English as the official language in Culpepper. "Stop the fear!" they say. I don't fear the Hispanic community, I welcome them and anyone else to the area that is law abiding. And that is the real hitch that groups like Mexicans Without Borders never address - people here illegally should be deported within reason. We have had several amnestys in the past - and look what it brought us? More illegal migration. Why should people that wait years to immigrate be trumped by illegals? Ask any legal immigrant what they think of the US (and growing local) policies against illegal immigration. They will likely tell you the same.

Now personally, I don't appreciate being unable to communicate with many of the people in service roles I encounter each day. Grocery store checkers, fast food window cashiers, cleaning and maintenance staff, the list goes on - need to speak fluent English in a society that is made up of mostly English speakers. I would call on businesses to only put English speakers in service roles for the good of my sanity. Spanish speakers to their credit appear to really try and learn English, and do a better job than I do with Spanish. But other cultures have adapted to English in the US as a whole - much better than Hispanics have. We never had bilingual Chinese and English signs in the grocery store. Home Depot never had Korean and English lawn mower brochures. The car dealership didn't have French and English warranty information. Should it? There are strip malls around me that are entirely Korean owned, and the signage is 100% Korean. To me, that says 'you are not welcome here English speaker'. Is this the same effect all English signs have on Hispanics in the area, or are we talking apples and oranges? I tend towards the latter argument, as English is the primary language in the US for now. As one protester said during the Hispanic Labor Holiday last year, they are growing exponentially through their families, so it is only a matter of time before procreation makes up the majority difference. So as I said, I welcome a mix of cultures in Prince William County, I just have a few requests. Don't overcrowd houses. Don't park cars on the lawn. Don't bring lunch trucks, plumbing vans, lawn maintenance trailers or any other commercial vehicles home to your neighborhood every night. Learn the dominant local language. Keep your culture intact, but be aware of and work with the dominant culture. Come here legally or go peacefully. These are not racist requests in any way, these are reasonable. They go for any culture or race - whites, blacks, asian, native american, hispanic, european, etc.

10-1-07 10:55am
A couple of quick hits here. First of all, I hope the UN gets involved in the Burma crisis immediately. It sounds like there has already been a wholesale slaughter of thousands of monks. Drop them in a slot behind Iran and the US will be there in a few years. Ugh.

Took a great ride this Sunday, enjoying awesome weather in Northern Virginia. Basically got lost around Fredericksburg, just riding any road that looked like it might be interesting. Not sure if people in cars do that, but motorcyclists love it. Or at least one does. 250 miles, not a long ride, but long enough for not having a plan

Played Resident Evil 4 quite a bit on the Wii Sunday. Great game, and the Wii controls just make it greater. You have to shake the control to throw off zombies, and slash it to stab them. Really helps you get into the game.

Go Fred 2008!. I still feel it is too early to sweat the next election, but I am throwing my support behind Fred Thompson. I fully support him on the issues and think he would make a great president. Obama and Clinton do not have a chance - the Democrats couldn't pull respectable and electable candidates together again.

9-23-07 7:14pm
A full and productive weekend, with much to report. First of all, the driveway will be paved next Friday 10-5. Not a big deal if you already have a driveway, but we have gravel. Hard to shovel winter snow with gravel. Also not fun coming off the street into gravel drifts on the bike, or spinning car tires on the way out. So this is a good thing. In preparation for this momentous occasion, I spent Saturday morning pulling bricks out of the sidewalk extension that connects the back yard to the garage, as this will be paved in as well. Once I was good and sweaty, we hit the PWC dump with the bricks, some used batteries and tree limbs. Conveniently next to the dump is Parson's Farm - a place to have bucket loads of mulch, stone, or in our case - firewood dumped into the back of a waiting pick up truck. This saves me the labor of moving it twice, or God forbid, splitting it myself. So, I loaded up on wood and headed to the in-laws which are convenient to both the dump AND Parsons. Awesome. After hanging out a bit, I checked out a nearby tattoo shop to meet the artists and see what was what. They didn't have any portfolio to offer other than their skin, so I opted to wait and talk to other shops.

Returning to the in-laws for a short while, we left for greener pastures in the form of a Lowes customer service desk. We replaced our old and busted service rep from a few weeks ago with a shiny new agent of change and commercialism. He helped us arrange for our new granite kitchen countertops to be measured in the very near future. Yay. Another project under way. Eventually we made our way past the tools and other tempting objects and found our way home. Not that I didn't find anything to buy, mind you. I came home with 4 new Firestorm cordless drill batteries in 12v and 14.4v varieties. We made another pit stop by the hobby shop where I bought a 540 motor for my Grasshopper R/C car on a whim. $30 to go a lot faster with a toy I don't really play with very much? That sounds like the ticket for me. The last stop was at Virginia Arms in Manassas where I picked up a new Sig Sauer P229 .40S&W. I should have brought my old Ruger P89 to trade in, but I have to have something to do next weekend, right? When we made it home, I was saddened to see that the engine didn't have a gear or the electrical leads needed to make the car go fast. Damn. Further disappointment lay ahead when I tried to charge the new batteries. The OLD chargers don't support the new kick ass Firestorm batteries. Damn again! I finished my day on the couch playing Need for Speed Carbon on the Wii while Rhonda continued her studies in the dining room. Not sure how she keeps awake studying tax code. It might have been the screeching and cussing in the next room as I tried to use the Nunchuck and Wii remote to steer and accelerate my bad ass ride in the game. I prefer the single control method, steering using the remote NOT the Nunchuck. I am not coordinated enough to escape the police otherwise. I did manage to break 6 figures in cost to the state, while maintaining a 13 car chase. I am awesome.

Sunday was an early to rise day thanks to Geisha. Mmmmm, 7:30 on a Sunday morn...so I took advantage of the time to surf pointless websites and You Tube videos. Oh, and to see what other local tattoo shops had to offer. Skipping the play by play for Sunday, lets say we saw my parents, had lunch, picked up a charger for those stupid drill batteries and ran through the grocery store at lightning speed. Then we went home for a while, watched the Redskins Game, and I went back out to Exposed Temptations tattoo in Manassas and spoke with an artist there about some future work. I have an appointment set up for a half sleeve in two weeks if the art looks good. I have high hopes. Now I am readying myself for the excitement of FOX Season Premiere night. Well, not exciting really, but I do love the Simpsons and Family Guy. It is helping me not to think about a big meeting I have tomorrow that could decide the fate of all humanity...at least as far as I am concerned. I know it will go well, but why dwell on it?

I hope your last summer weekend was as productive as mine. Whoo! Have I mentioned we are skydiving in a couple of weeks for the first time? More on that later, I am sure.

9-14-07 11:08am
Ahhh, Los Angeles. How I love your weather and hate your smog, traffic, and well the list goes on. I haven't posted for a while, becasue I was on a nice secluded vacation at Smith Mountain Lake near Bedford, VA. The vacation was great - both Rhonda and the dogs enjoyed sleeping in, reading, floating in the lake and boating around to various sites. Now it is back to work and travel, enjoying an 18 hour day yesterday thanks to the time change, yet up early today (7am PDT). Nothing really to report, except a real interest in Fred Thompson for President - I am very happy he has finally announced. I think it was the right strategy to wait - let the field muddy itself and then have a clean candidate come in and sweep up. I can't stand the thought of a Clinton in the White House again, and I don't think Obama is the right man for the job - way too far left of center. So bring it on Fred.
8-27-07 8:57am
Didn't do much this weekend. Didn't even do laundry. Managed to sleep in Saturday, then mow the lawn in Hellishly hot and humid conditions. Ugh. I think that was about it, I crawled back inside and enjoyed the AC. We tried watching an awful Korean horror/comedy Saturday night called The Host. I don't recommend you try it, unless camp is some sort of fetish. We bailed 45 minutes in and started The Wire Season 1. Very good so far, but we only made it through the first show - so who knows. Sunday we hit the dump to get rid of some dead wood, then cruised a couple of home improvement stores in search of paintball grenade parts, propane and granite countertops (in that order). Lowes was fully half the price for the countertops compared to Home Depot when you considered their price included installation. This is part of the home improvement sweep over the next couple of months - new driveway, sidewalk, patio, screened in porch, countertop and sink. Odd assortment, sure - but it is what needs to get done right now. On our way back we hit up Game Stop for two new Wii games (fishing and a racing game), 3 Gamecube games, including hockey, boxing and a Crash Bandicoot game - unfortunately the counter guy forgot to put controllers in the bag, so we couldn't try them out. And three new PSP games - Family Guy, Matchbox racing and something else I can't remember. I didn't spend a lot of time playing with any one game last night, but the fishing was kind of fun. We'll see if it holds my interest. I'm not 100% sold on the Wii games so far, other than Wii sports.

In other news, Rhonda's brother Chris is now working on historic Beverly Mill also known as Chapmans Mill. About 10 years ago, some a-hole burned the old mill down, and conservation groups have been struggling to restore it ever since. The mill is visible just past Gainesville on the right, headed West on Route 66.

8-22-07 11:25am
"IHOPe he didn't just do what I think he did!" We were down in Orlando doing some work, and opted for a 'nice' breakfast at the IHOP on International drive. We came in, said "3 for breakfast" and the man started leading us back to a table. A man behind me said "Whoa now, what about me?". I turned around and a black man was sitting on the bench with his son. "Were you waiting sir?" "Yeah, I've been sitting here for a while and he hasn't seated me yet!". We chased down the IHOP employee (manager?) and asked him to seat the other customer, and the guy got a little weird. "3 for breakfast, this is YOUR table." he said. Our only guess was that he was being racist, for he offered no other explanation. So, we left and told the offended customer to take the table if he wanted, but that we weren't going to eat in a place so apparently racist. I like to think that there was a major miscommunication somewhere - such as the customer waiting for his wife couldn't be seated until all three were present, or the (manager?) was hard of hearing. I don't know, but it sure looked like racism. We headed to Denny's across the street and had a decent, mixed race breakfast with coffee.
8-16-07 9:41am
Looks like Honda is working on an all new VFR 1000 which may also get an upgraded V4 ... a V5! Maybe it is time for an upgrade myself. My VFR is only 10 years old....
8-14-07 2:15am
I am considering a tattoo based on the art of the Pacific Northwest Inuit. Some captured gallery images are to the right. But what image? A spirit trout? I'll leave that up to the gods.
8-14-07 12:59am
Can't sleep, so I am cleaning up the ftp site, adding some new content and moving things around. Some new uploads will have to wait for the better bandwidth at work to handle - this Earthlink/Verizon DSL is only 128k up and it is killing me at home. Still without the VFR and the Thunderbird, F150 and Accord are holding their own though. Had to reschedule the Gauley weekend to the 15th of September. Had picked the 22 - Gauley fest. Not a good weekend to try and find a raft to yourself on the water!
8-12-07 10:41am
Friday afternoon I bought a Wii on impulse. We played with it until 1:30am Saturday. Wii sports are a lot of fun, but the included Mario Party game is absolutely awful. Unless you like really cheezy Japanese games. We broke out of the fixation to work in the yard. Pictured here is the newly cleared creek area - we had a landscaping company come in and wipe out all of the thorn bushes, weeds, saplings, etc. There is still a good deal of work left to be done - and this weekend might be cool enough to do it. BUT we are headed for the Prince William County Fair in a few minutes. Wooh! Hopefully it is as nice out today as it was yesterday. We picked today for the fair because of the live bluegrass all afternoon. :-)

We are getting a bit irritated with the quality and workmanship of our two Fords. Both the F150 and Thunderbird are shy of 40k miles, but they are both falling apart in their own way. The F150 has been in multiple times for a loose driver's seat, which just adds to all of the other squeaks and pops the truck makes. The Thunderbird just came back from having a weld fixed in the convertible top (normal wear and tear!) and now it occasionally sticks in first gear under acceleration, the last time amost resulting in an accident. Rhonda doesn't trust it anymore, and I don't blame her. This has already been 'repaired' once by Battlefield Ford of Manassas; now I wonder what they actually did under the hood. American car companies wonder why they keep losing market share? Look no further than your quality and durability. Our '97 Accord has never had any real problems, and it is over 90k miles which means it sits as much as it drives. Although lately, it is being driven more and more thanks to the two Fix Or Repair Dailys. Rhonda wants to sell the Thunderbird, but I prefer to see if we can get past this maintenance bump in the road. Figures it started falling apart just after the warranty expired. Thankfully the truck still has another year on it.

8-10-07 1:53pm
NASA: Oops! Looks like 1998 isn't the warmest year on record. After a blogger discovered a Y2K issue, NASA released new figures showing the record holder as 1934. In fact, 5 of the 10 warmest years on record now all occur before World War II. I'm not denying climate change completely, but it is helpful to use accurate data.
8-8-07 1:49pm
What kind of friendly trading partner threatens to destabilize US currency? China. What trading partner dumps lead-tainted goods on US markets? China. Who sells us tires that are faulty? China (and Firestone!). What city is known as the pollution capital of the world? Beijing. What state sponsors hacking of foreign systems, to include friends and trading partners? China. How far is the US going to sell itself down the river with China? How much more damage can we do to ourselves?
8-4-07 1:57am
Just returned from a ride along with Lindsey Wilson with the Loudoun County Sheriffs Office. Thanks to officer Wilson and the department for letting me ride along. Highlights of the evening included a high speed response complete with lights, siren and smoking brake pads; and several traffic stops. Nothing major, but it was interesting and fun for me.
7-31-07 3:12pm
So, I ride down to Quantico Marine Base today to do some work, and the Marines won't let me on base on my bike without a bright orange safety vest. Base rules. I didn't know - not their fault, they tried to be helpful. I think it is silly for the bases to have a rule like that which isn't required for operating a motorcycle on public roads. So, I had to ride all the way back to the office. I stopped for lunch at Tony's along the way, but when I came back outside my bike was completely dead. Push starting it didn't do any good. Fortunately, my in-laws live right next to the strip mall. Ron came over and tried charging the bike with a battery booster, but the bike wouldn't take the charge. We loaded it up in his pick-up and dropped it off at the repair shop for what I assume will be a new regulator/rectifier and stator; possibly a battery as well. The VFR has a long history of throwing bad reg/recs every 25k miles or so, and it has been about 25k since my last replacement. This wouldn't be such a big deal (it needed an inspection anyway) but the Thunderbird is in the shop with a broken weld in the convertible top, and the F150 was supposed to get dropped off tonight for emissions and a loose driver seat. Hopefully we can swap the Thunderbird for the F150 tomorrow, and the VFR doesn't take too long. Oh, and the Accord stays in good working order. I would hate to have to rent a car to get through this when we have 4 vehicles. That would be silly.

Planning has begun for the next Fall Gauley rafting trip on 9-22. This year we are planning the marathon - upper and lower all day trip. Lindsey has declared his disinterest, but I already have 4 people clamoring for slots at work. It won't be the same without him though. We are supposedly doing a ride-along this Friday night, but I don't have details yet. I hope that works out - I am looking forward to it.

7-14-07 11:58pm
Wow - what a great riding day! Four of us met in Manassas to make a trip across the mountains and through West Virginia. If you are interested in the track, you can pick it up on the gps page under peacemountain. My day total was about 400 miles. Highlights included 33 and Old 55, a total lack of traffic, and a high of 85 in the mountains. Beautiful. No tickets or accidents - but one really close call. We came around a left sweeper to find a pickup truck and trailer halfway in our lane. When he corrected, two big logs rolled off his bed into our lane. The lead rider didn't see the wood flying, I saw the first log coming at me at shoulder level but managed to miss it. Rider three avoided it by inches and rider four was able to dodge both. Secure your loads people - and for God's sake, stay in your lane! The life you save could be mine.

Tomorrow will be relaxing at home - no 400 mile rides for a couple of weeks. Some work travel coming up - 2 days this week and all of the next week. Plan to enjoy the weather at home, wash the cars, cut the lawn, and generally do nothing at all.

7-3-07 11:05pm
Happy July 4th everyone! No party this year, we decided to play it low key and hang out with friends at their BBQ this year. So, the yard will not be exploding as usual. I'll make up for it next year, I swear. Forgot to mention an excellent paintball outing last Saturday at Hogback Mountain Paintball in Loudoun County, VA. Had a great time with a big group from work. Welts have turned to bruises. Thirst for blood growing. We will be making it a monthly event, hopefully.
6-28-07 3:10pm
Spay and Neuter All Pets. What do you think? Is California's proposed Bill going too far? All pet owners will be required to spay their dogs and cats within the first few months of life, unless they are licensed breeders. I love the idea. I am a big believer in animal rescue, but I'd rather not have to save a dog from the pound at all. Irresponsible owners and breeders have created this situation. What possible reason can you have for not spaying or neutering your pets. Because you want to breed them yourself? That is great if you plan on finding homes for the litter or planning to take care of them yourself. Face it folks, millions of animals are euthenized in pet shelters across the US every year. Most are perfectly adoptable pets. And they are killed becuase there is nowhere to put them. The AKC is threatening to pull their show from California if the legislation passes. Fine, let them. The AKC is a big part of the problem, pushing the breeder's agenda - not what is good for the animals. Everyone needs to volunteer at an animal shelter for a little while. Or at least visit frequently. It is a needless slaughter.
6-19-07 10:10am
Rushdie gets knighted and the typical reaction of the middle eastern community is the same - "a government minister in Pakistan said yesterday that Rushdie's recent knighthood justified suicide bombing." Really? Suicide bombing. Is there anything in their culture that doesn't justify it? Is there a section of the Koran they believe provides instructions for this holy venture? "Gerald Butt, editor of the authoritative Middle East Economic Survey, told The Times: 'It will be interpreted as an action calculated to goad Muslims at a time when the atmosphere is already very tense and Britain.s standing in the region is very low because of its involvement in Iraq and its lack of action in tackling the Palestine issue.' Really Mr. Butt? Haven't things been tense for the last 80 years or so? Being a part of the global community means desensitizing yourself somewhat to the cultural differences that make up the world. You can't run to burn a flag every time the prophet appears in a cartoon with a bomb in his head wrap. I bet that if you didn't over use suicide bombers at every turn, cartoons like that wouldn't have appeared in the first place.

Last night the gravel road near my home was coated with oil to keep the dust down. I live in a heavily populated area near the Nation's capital, so this should surprise you for two reasons. 1) There are unpaved roads in this area, and 2) they still use oil to control dust. And what happens to this oil? Commuters drive trough it and track it on the asphalt, to include the dangerous intersection to the left and the 90 degree turn to the right. Going slower than normal around the curve, my truck went into a violent fishtail. Since pickups do this all the time, I corrected and went on my way - but had there been someone in the oncoming lane they wouldn't have been as happy with the situation. Later in the day I noted three sets of skid marks in the area, one set leading into the grass. Had I been on my motorcycle yesterday, I think there would have been four sets of skid marks. Well, five actually, but no one would see those.

6-11-07 10:42am
I was a little miffed at the Soprano's finale last night, then I think I got it. Tony watches the door as his family comes in, seeing each come in turn, or other patrons. Just as his daughter comes in, he gets whacked and sees nothing, blackness. The buildup of tension with Journey going in the background was very well done. The black screen was like a punch in the face though - until Tony and Bobby's conversation came back to me. 'I bet when you get whacked, you don't even hear it coming.'
6-7-07 2:31pm
Why does Paris Hilton get out of jail early to serve her well deserved sentence at home? What kind of BS double standard does the justice system deploy for spoiled celebrities? I don't care how bad the food was, you do the crime, you do the time princess. I hope every inmate deluges the legal system with requests to serve their time at home because the don't like the cafeteria food as well.

6-3-07 8:25am
The pictures are up. I only posted a handful of the full collection, and I am sure I missed a few of the good ones. More will likely follow. Highlights of the trip were the British Museum - a must see, Kilmainham jail in Dublin and the Guinness factory if you like Guinness. They did a very good job with the building. We didn't have any major problems except for the missed tour out to Newgrange from Dublin. The tour operator missed pick up three times. Also, the train station from Hollyhead to Crewe had no signage directing which track to pick up our next London bound train. London was VERY expensive all around. We live in the Washington, DC area which is expensive to begin with; but take prices here and almost double them for everything. It doesn't help that the Dollar is doing so poorly against the Pound. Things weren't so bad in Dublin, but the Euro is creeping upward steadily. It was an even match in 2002, now the Euro is worth $1.30. Not cool for travel Eastbound!

6-2-07 10:58pm
Back from almost two weeks in London and Dublin. Pics to follow soon. Good to be home, looking forward to getting back on East Coast schedule. LOTS of walking - no idea how many miles of museums we traveled, but it was all worth it!
5-21-07 10:55am
Apparently the worst president in history, Carter, is trying to make a name for himslef by claiming GW Bush fills the worst president role. I would agree with the current President here, Carter is increasingly irrelevant. And gaining in senility.

Speaking of irrelevant, Leonardo DiCaprio has stepped into the environmental film movement with his own '11th hour'. I think the title has more to do with his career than global warming.

5-14-07 4:49pm
Went on a great little ride this past Sunday. Happy Mother's Day all you moms out there.
5-9-07 10:00am
I am looking for a helmet communications device that:

I found this Bluetooth communicator review site which turned up the BlueVirtu, which looks ideal. This Bluetooth FRS dongle looks pretty cool as well. I'm thinking that a bluetooth headset for the helmet is the way to go, full duplex comms to anything else bluetooth capable on the bike, no wires. Throw a GMRS radio in the tankbag with the dongle and GO. Most of this stuff is emerging in the UK. I sent off an email to Alan and Dimton. Dimton replied:

     Thank you for your email.
     Our products are available from next month.
     As soon as our products can be purchased in the U.S. I will let you know.

     Regards

     Calvin

I'm thinking of just buying some of the Alan gear when I am in the UK on vacation in a few weeks.

5-7-07 9:21pm
My friend Steve Payne (sirpapa) has announced that I was bought and paid for by Waste Management with a month's credit. I hope that is just his sarcastic wit speaking. Not many companies will have a manager call you from home and offer a month of free service with an explanation that they should have taken better care of us. It is the response I wanted. I doubt the blahg had any influence on them - although shady business practices of Waste Management returns this site as the 4th link, which I find funny. Whatever, as long as they pick up the garbage and I don't have to sweat them over any more $2 credits. I don't have that much time on my hands - I'll have to fight the good fight when I retire. For now I am working on our mobile catering business neighbors again, this time with the Prince William County Supervisors. Something has to give.
5-3-07 9:06pm
Well, I change my mind on Waste Management. I just had a manager call me back and offer apologies and a 30 day credit. I greatly appreciate their change of heart (see below for tirade). Thanks WM!
5-3-07 3:51pm
DC wants to start charging tolls to incoming tourists and commuters. Marion Barry, our crack smoking and tax evading former mayor is leading the charge. One has to wonder about the millions Virginia and Maryland spend on infrastructure and upkeep to keep tourist dollars and business interest rolling into DC. No man is an island Mr. Barry. What you think is a good idea now will have long term implications for the future. I don't hate the city for its lack or road upkeep, how about its lack of parking, or lack of welcoming? You want to ATTRACT more people to the city, not further ensure that their dollars will be spent to the North and South. Short sighted.
5-2-07 11:26am
HD-DVD? 09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0
5-1-07 9:31am
Why are we buying food supplies from China, when they obviously have no food safety standards? Why does the US need to import these materials, when we 'feed the world'? China already does all of our assembly for us, do they need to feed us and kill our pets too?
4-29-07 8:18am
Yesterday, I mowed the lawn as usual. One of the geese was sitting on her eggs, and I did my best not to bother her. About four hours later, we notice the duck and 8 ducklings on the pond. When we venture out to investigate, the goose eggs are gone. It would appear that the geese have been protecting the duck's eggs for at least two weeks. I thought the eggs looked a little small for a goose. Is that weird? Any amature bird farmers want to fill me in?

Last night we had dinner at Indigo, next to National Airport on the Potomac. Gourmet South Carolina. It is casual dress, but I recommend the nicer end of casual. Lots of shrimp and grits, rockfish, etc. My favorite was the butterbean soup - delicious!

4-27-07 11:02pm
Have now uploaded most of my favorite pics, personal and work. Some are dupes from the trips page and pets but many are new. Enjoy!
4-27-07 3:43pm
Working on a simple page of favorite snapshots. Have my work related ones uploaded already.
4-26-07 8:45am
So, more on the shady business practices of Waste Management for the homeowner. This morning, my wife gets a call that they are short on drivers and will not be able to pick up our trash. We pay for twice weekly service, pick up on Monday and Thursday. They asked us to put our trash at the curb in four days and they would pick it up then - no offer of credit. Rhonda pressed for a credit and they offered $1.78. We pay $25 per month and have 9 pickups this month - so we can expect $2.77 a credit, right? No, apparently math doesn't work for the geniuses at Waste Management. Neither does common sense. They miss multiple Monday pickups because of holidays, but we are charged the same as everyone else that is picked up on Tuesday/Friday. In effect, we subsidize their holiday fringe. Oh, and the Mexican labor holiday last year? No credit for missed pick up there, so the labor issue didn't cost WM a penny. We have had several trash pickup services - I have never heard of one that is so disrespectful of their customers. It must be their scandal-rich heritage. Waste Management Sucks.
4-23-07 3:10pm
This weekend we headed downtown for a concert at the Smithsonian Castle on Sunday evening, which was also Earth Day. Because of the large crowds, Metro imported some extremely rude workers to support the throngs of tourists. I was having a problem with my Smart Trip card in Vienna, which occasionally says 'see attendant' and they indicate that it has me logged in the system and let me through the gate. Unsure why. Anyway, the guard was extremely rude about helping me with it. Of course, it was screwed up at the Smithsonian end of the Orange line and I had to have an attendant help again, very bitchy. I don't get it Metro - you want the riders, but weekend trains are running at 20 minute+ intervals, and it only takes one bad egg to ruin the whole ride experience. I would drive down and skip the train, but DC traffic enforcement is on my shit list too.

Thursday I hooked up the parental units' big tv and HD cable service. Looks much better than our TV with generic DirecTV. We'll move to HD in the Fall or next year. I'm not in any huge rush to replace the recently repaired TiVo.

Oh, and I am putting money on HD-DVD winning the format wars over Blu-Ray. Wal-Mart is getting into the game with a $299 HD-DVD player, and a big push for HD-DVD to win the war. I'm behind the move - I am sick to death of Sony trying to push their own formats, to include Memory Stick, UMD, and of course Betamax. Combine that with their ridiculous copy protection issues, and you get a company that can't be trusted with a format.

4-17-07 10:54am
I really can't believe the news coming out of Virginia Tech yesterday. The identified gunman, Cho Seung-Hui lived down the road from me in Centreville, VA (incorrectly identified as a city near Williamsburg, VA - it is actually in Farifax, VA). 32 people killed. Absolutely amazing and extremely sad. The high winds we have been experiencing kept medivac from potentially saving some of the lives lost yesterday. At home, it split two of my medium sized Bradford Pears, blocking the driveway with one. Climate change can be unpleasant - if that is what this is. It won't matter for long though - as the bees disappear (cell phone use?) we won't be able to pollinate crops, and we'll all be dead in four years. The ecosystem is a fragile thing. Kill a kelp farm, destroy a type of coral which in turn eliminates a breed of fish; then bigger fish, then a community that relies on that fish to survive. Greed isn't good. Neither are school shootings. For most of America, there is probably less shock about this after all of the violent High School shootings. But this happened at Virginia Tech, which I can't fathom. I know it can happy anywhere, but in Blacksburg, VA? Insane.
4-13-07 12:21am
Well, I guess it really is Friday the 13th. My mower repair guy said all Hell broke loose today, and his 2pm appointment became 7pm. I just walked into the garage and found it filled with smoke. I scrambled to find the source, and discovered the landscape lighting transformer had melted the outdoor cable. Didn't burn anything, or flip the circuit breaker. Lights were working outdoors earlier. Maybe a mouse chewed into it, no idea. Now I have to dig up a LOT of cable and replace it with bigger gauge, and replace the power unit. I am just glad nothing went up in flames. Adding a smoke detector to the garage is now a priority I hadn't bothered with.

Looks like rain all weekend, which may shoot my trip to a BMW Motorcycle open house. I don't mind riding in the rain, but I tend not to choose it, and I don't know about test riding new, expensive bikes in the rain either. The TiVo death has now been fixed, with an all day drive recovery. The 250GB drive I picked up is too new for my Dell's BIOS. Sounds like a good enough reason to buy a new PC :-) So I returned it for a simple 80GB, still twice the capacity of the original 40GB. Roughly 70 hours of recording capacity. The Instant Cake iso worked, but I wouldn't recommend it for anyone that doesn't know Linux or general hardware. The .iso lost its cdrom mount point after booting, and required a manual partitioning with fdisk before it would operate. Even then, it took 4 tries to get the app to run. Basically, they have a dd image of a virgin tivo drive compressed on CD, and the app dumps this to the partition and runs some magic on it. From there, I just swapped in the new drive and spent three hours adding back in season passes and phone updates. Next step is to get a 1080p DVR on DirecTV and a new dish. I am trying to put that off for a while. I really like the TiVo interface, and DTV has its own equipment now.

4-12-07 11:38pm
Arrrggggh. My Sony DirecTivo Sat60 just failed again. Looks like Lost is lost. 'Cannot Boot Kernel' is all I get for an error message. I am looking into Instant Cake and a replacement drive tomorrow, since the box is 3 years out of warranty. I never made an original image of the drive, so its either IC or sending away for a kit. This happened a while back, 2 years ago I think. Fortunately I was under warranty and they swapped the drive for me at the factory. Just last night Rhonda said we had better back up the season pass list. Doh! Who needs TV anyway, right? :-). I could use this as the perfect opportunity to upgrade to a new 1080p capable Version 3 box, but I need a new dish to go that route. That is in the future, not for this weekend methinks.
4-12-07 8:17pm
This is my favorite Parkour video so far. If you haven't seen one before, check it out. These kids do amazing things, have a great deal of talent.
4-4-07 4:53pm
American University alumni should be ashamed of their university's current crop of kids. The peaceful protest of lying down in front of Rove's car is understood. But hurling things at him? Is that what they teach you at AU? Understand that all you do is come off looking like idiots, not protesters. And the greater goal of what you believe in (which I probably disagree with anyway) is lost in the shuffle. My guess is that these are the same kids that at the University of Maryland, would likely riot after a good or bad basketball game. Use your heads people.
4-2-07 8:43pm
Now the UK is claiming that a botched US raid led to the current hostage crisis. The headline has a lot more meat to it than the article. At this stage, it is probably best for the UK to keep our support in this situation, not diminish it through accusations of earlier wrongdoing. Especially when the UK has been in a pseudo state of war with Iran for years. The Iranians and Syrians are supporting terrorist acts. Don't think that when we pull the majority of our forces out of Iraq and Afghanistan, we won't be prepared to deal with them both. I don't see a peaceful resolution to the Iranian impass.
3-29-07 11:51am
Russian troops have reported a buildup of US forces on the border with Iran. The US denies this. Oil prices are rising as the UK troops remain Iranian hostages. I don't know if the troops crossed the line into Iranian waters or not, but what is Iran going to do? Provoke a war over it? Is this the start of WW3? Does Iran and the Axis of Evil join forces with support from China and possibly Russia to duke it out with the US, UK and most of Europe? Hopefully not. I think Iran is just posturing. They have the nuke and want to keep it, and here is the proof of their strength. So they say.
3-18-07 3:47pm
So, whats up with this DC area weather? It was beautiful out last week, mid 70s. Yesterday we has snow flurries. The day before was an inch of sleet. Today there are only a few clouds in the sky, puffed up and hanging there. It looks like a good day for a ride, and it is. I think I will wait for the coming rains to clear the corners of sand a bit. I'll keep commuting on the bike, but I'm not going to push it until the roads no longer look like sandboxes.

Just spent a couple of hours watching a PBS Documentary called Raising Cain. Its all about how boys have different requirements from girls, and how most schools are making adolescent violence more of a problem. Interesting.

3-14-07 10:05am
Analog TVs will no longer receive a signal come Feb. 19, 2009, unless users update their hardware to receive a digital signal.

Federal officials announced details Monday about how that transition will work, saying the government will help consumers buy the necessary equipment to upgrade to digital -- a converter box that attaches to the TV set.

The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) said it is setting aside $990 million to pay for the boxes. Each home can request up to two $40 coupons for a digital-to-analog converter box, which consumer electronics makers such as RCA and LG plan to produce. Prices for the box have not been determined, but industry and consumer groups have estimated they will run $50 to $75 each.

Does anyone else have a problem with the government paying out almost a billion dollars to support our couch potato habits when we have a war on? If people need to buy a $40 digital to analog converter box to keep watching rabbit-ear boob tube in two years, let them save up a dollar each month and buy one. 20 million consumers use analog over the air broadcasts and would require the little boxes. If everyone requested a coupon, would it really cost $190 million to administer the program? This has government waste written all over it.

3-9-07 3:06pm
Whatever will D.C. do now that their gun law has been ruled unconstitutional? I can't wait to see this Supreme Court battle. Prepare for the daily calls from NRA for support. And I'll be there with my billfold exposed. Next stop - Maryland.
3-8-07 12:57pm
As of March 5, 2007, only U.S. and Canadian Federal Government employees, active-duty U.S. and Canadian military personnel, and employees of Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) will be eligible for Federal Government per diem rates at Marriott brands throughout North America. State and Local Government employees will be eligible for State and Local Government per diem rates. Contractors will not be eligible for Marriott's government rates.

I have a real problem with this. As a contractor I am forced to work within per-diem rules set by GSA. I travel frequently in service to the government. Now Marriott is saying that commercial entities serving the country are not able to stay on their properties for these set rates. Does Marriott have any idea how much of their business is made up by contractors traveling on behalf of the government? We have alternatives to Marriott and we will use them. We are being forced to do so. And I will take out my frustration with Marriott personally by not spending a dime in their properties on my own. What could possibly motivate this action? Misguided management? Greed? Who knows. Bye bye Marriott, Ritz Carlton, Renaissance, New World, Courtyard, Ramada, Fairfield Inn and Residence Inn.

3-4-07 9:04am
Last night was the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig at the Center for the Arts. Tonight is bluegrass at the same hall. Variety is the spice of life? Everyone needs a little change of scenery every now and then - and these two musical entities are basically polar opposites. Speaking of the poles, you are not likely to see this article on global warming hit any major publications. It asserts that our gradual climate shift is being mirrored on Mars, and is very likely due to an increase in irradiation from our Sun. The fear and grant based scientific community is none to pleased with this theory. It interferes with many Earth based research funding opportunities - except the necessarily whacky space based sunshade concept which brings up visions of The Simpson's Mr. Burns' evil plan to force the use of more Nuclear power by blocking out the sun. Do I think Roger Angel is a 'Simpson's' fan? Or does he use a baby car shade? Yes, yes I do. Do I think his idea is crazy and stupid? Yes, yes I do. I think I am off topic though.
2-22-07 7:11pm
Are you using Skype yet? If not, you probably will be soon. Use the button on the left to Skype me. I am testing out a Netgear WiFi Skype phone that works great with any open access point, WEP or WPA. It just works. Free to any other Skype user and around .02 per minute anywhere else. We plan to bring it with us on our UK vacation. Combined with SkypeIn I am closer than ever to breaking free of Ma Bell. My next project will be to integrate an asterisk home server with skype for full function PBX and VoIP. My prediction - 5 years from now phone calls will be close to free with the focus on 3G+ data services and the merging of multiple technologies to the handset (GSM/PCS,GPS,3G+,WiFi,Bluetooth,WiMax and more).
2-18-07 12:17pm
Yesterday we went to the GMU Homecoming basketball game against Kent State. Kent unfortunately won, but the game was still a good one. Our friend Steve has season tickets and his wife and kids couldn't make it to the game. It is amazing how much spirit the school has now, compared to when I went there. Happy to see it.
2-13-07 11:36am
North Korea has finally agreed to shut down its main nuclear reactor and eventually dismantle its atomic weapons program. This is a great day for the U.S. Government and their efforts. Will we have the same luck with the next crazy leader on the list? Is Iran stable?
1-23-07 5:29pm
Happy 90th birthday!
1-23-07 9:30am
The Maytag Performa dryer died again yesterday. No more repairs, it is going to the dump. It barely lasted five years. Is that what goes for American quality products these days? I checked online and hundreds of people report Maytag dryers giving up at around five years. I thought the Maytag repairman was bored? I'll never buy another one. The Performa washer has started spinning off balance with every load. Almost like they triggered each other to fail. Bah - Maytag sucks.

Now, the real reason I logged in to rant today was an article discussing how the Congressional Black Caucus is apparently all for segregation when it comes to their group. No whites allowed. Here you have a Congressman from Tennessee with a majority black district who wants to join the Caucus so he can help his poor voter base. The Caucus said no - the color of your skin should keep you out of the group. So what I am hearing is that these legislative representatives of the black community believe that a double standard should be in play with regards to segregation. Would this situation fly with any other group? Is the Hill still a fantasy world where the rules don't apply? Yes, of course it is.

1-14-07 1:02am
I have been under the gun at work lately, involving a whole variety of issues. Demos, reports, and of course travel to CES. We were only able to hit it on the 8th and 9th, with a return flight on the 10th. What can I say? Sony OLED screens are awesome. You have to see them to believe them - they make LCD and Plasma look like CRTs. Lots of Bluetooth - every other booth had a headset or modification involving it. Thousands of LCD photo frames too - the market is about to be flooded. We packed a lot in to our two days. Too bad we had to stay at Circus Circus. It isn't the crown jewel of the strip. Fortunately, cabs were in abundance and so was the sushi. But I have to pose the question. Why is it so hard to find a Guinness in Vegas? Sure - Nine Fine Irishmen and everything else in New York - New York has Guinness, but it is strangely absent in the rest of Las Vegas. It's all I ask for a good time here people. Guinness.

Came home from CES to a washing machine that was running the tub at a 20 degree angle. Repair man said it was normal, took it apart and put it back together again. Today when we tried to get in our door, the washing machine had walked across the laundry room and blocked it. Rhonda scurried to the front door to get the alarm and push the metal beast back into its wall space. We could have raced it with our old dryer for cash prizes. Is appliance betting legal? Sigh. I'll tinker with it through Monday, which is the MLK Holiday. My third this pay period.

1-2-07 17:52pm
Happy New Year! Spent the day shopping at Tysons while the Thunderbird is in the shop. Bad O2 sensor. This car has had a lot of rattles, a bad thermostat and now this sensor. It wouldn't be such a big deal, but $300 to replace a sensor and about the same for the thermostat does add up. Good thing the F150 has been solid so far. Squeaks and rattles aside.


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