Sunday, April 26, 2009
weather.com is ad-noying to the max
Monday, April 20, 2009
Fun day in Shanghai
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
FIA - Ferrari Intervention Association
Well two races down and many more to go. We'll see how long it takes for the other teams to adopt the better diffuser and get the big boost of speed that Brawn GP has. Quite an interesting season so far - team standings shows STR-Ferrari has more points than the factory team, and Toyota pulling in more points than they have collected in the past five seasons combined (well not literally but it sure seems like it). Still amounts to whopping $5M-$7M per point for them, pretty hefty outlay for a company being pounded by the global recession.
Next week China - BTW - The Official Formula One Site is quite a bit less attractive and useful than it was a few years ago. I don't like that I have to scroll down to see how long until the next race and am inundated with video and ads as the "main thing" I see when I connect.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
F1 has gone - SICK!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
F1 going slick
There are a lot of other proposals coming as well, same engines, same transmissions, etc. to go along with the same tyres, they now all run. I fear that we may be headed for an IROC series - how uncool would that be.
Well this season was good - let's hope the future ones will be as well.
Steelers Football - I am a fan
Given my ability to rattle off all of this information, as well as the very real frustration I felt when Ben took the penalty, I can no longer stand upon the "I am not a fan" rock.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Computing has become needlessly complex
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
More on the Indiana taxi situation
Monday, November 03, 2008
Worst Taxi Cab Drivers
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Crusoe
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Seinfeld - "The Foundation"
George: "What was that line you told the Ross', something about a way, and a light" Jerry: "No, its she's not really dead if we find a way to remember her." George: "That's it, that was the line that destroyed my life!"
George: "I was free and clear, I was living the dream, I was stripped to the waist eating a block of cheese the size of a car battery!"
Jerry (commenting on Elaine's trip to Mexico to find ideas for the catalog): "Anything you couldn' get rippin' open a bag of Doritos and watching viva sipada?"
Dolores: "When I heard you got engaged - I thought maybe you had matured, but obviously there's no growth here" Jerry: "Well I can't argue with that"
Kids from karate class: "Now we finish it!" - clearly a reference to "Highlander".
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Belgian Grand Prix Results
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Another Formula One Weekend
F1 weekends on Speed are fun. Weekend is Friday practice, Saturday knock-out qualifying and Sunday race day. With limited in timezone races, I usuaully wake up early and watch the European stuff live, and the Asian stuff on DVR. This gives me my racing fix early, then I can spend the rest of the day doing whatever. This morning I was up very early so clicked on the DVR to catch Friday practice. The fun thing about Friday practice - compared to some other race shows is that we get to see cars on track virtually all the time while getting commentary about the track, the personalities, the rivalries and all other stuff that is mildly interesting, but the presenters are humorous. They have an ex-mechanic, an ex-driver, and are well respected by F1 overall - with one of their commentators being the official post-race interviewer. They seem to genuinely enjoy each others company and poking fun at each other whenever appropriate. Such as when Peter Windsor used the phrase appices to describe the monster 4-apex turn in Turkey. They were all over him about that word. Another fun one was when they found some old footage of David Hobbs doing commercials for pants and quoting it was a "jolly good price" they were classic 70s plaid polyester - they claimed he still had them in his closet. Saturday morning qualifying is fun - I also get excited when I hear Bob Varsha say: "Qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix starts now", then we get the music, and we hear Steve Matchett hollar as the music starts: "Right now boys, Right now" One of the things I've enjoyed is learning the British slang that will occassionally creep into the commentary - moreso on race day, but also on practice and qualifying day.
Some of my favorite quotes - some similar to US quotes, some not.
- He looks like a one armed paper hanger in a gale
- Look how close to the wall they are - not even enough room for a fag-paper - that one caused a follow-up comment to describe that in UK fags are cigarettes
- Look at the damage to the Red Bull - he hit that curb and now his car is completely knackered
- Kerrrr-blammo - That's one of my all time favorites - for when an engine blows and dumps a huge white smoke plume all over the track.
Here's a few pics of Kimi's engine going Kerrrr-blammo in Valencia.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Defining Bureaucracy
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Long awaited catch up post + Stupid Scary Movies
On to the meat of the post for today – Stupid Scary Movies. As I mentioned above my younger daughter is now a junior in high school. Over the course of the summer we have rented a few movies, some good, some mediocre, some bad. Three scary movies we watched were: Vacancy, Untraceable, and Prom Night. Each of these scary movies had various degrees of stupidity involved with their characters and story lines. For those who have not seen these movies and want to, you may want to not continue as I’m confident this will spoil some of the movie for you. The above list was listed in order of stupidity. I’m not too good with character names, so this may be a bit vague, but the stupidity will ring true.
Vacancy – overall this movie was good, there was a lot of suspense. Towards the end the stupidity involved the couple finally making contact with the police and them sending an officer to investigate the situation. He ultimately manages to get himself killed, and therefore obviously doesn’t check back in with HQ. This should have been a sign that perhaps something was amiss. However, no additional resources are sent for further investigations. As the movie closes they once again call the police, to which dispatch responds: “We sent someone there last night”. Interestingly they didn’t find it odd that he never returned, called, or in any other manner checked in to say everything was ok.
Untraceable – again overall I would rate this good, there was an interesting plot, and the concept of using the Internet viewership to kill people was dramatic. Now for the stupidity – and there is quite a lot of it. After the first two people are killed the FBI is unintentionally portrayed as quite unable to conduct an investigation. The first two men worked together. Clearly the lines of investigation should have centered on looking into the things they worked on together – and they should have had a much earlier line into the killer. Then we get to the FBI agent being snatched. I think a base quality of an FBI agent is ‘not an idiot’ – the way in which he is lured to his eventual death is a bit hokey. Also, foreshadowing of the blinking Morse code was lame. The ending became quite stupid on a few levels. First Diane Lane’s character – somehow ends up in a deserted part of town, don’t quite remember how this happened. Her car, cell phone and all other electronics cease to work. After doing some amount of wandering around the bridge, using the emergency phone, and such she decides – ah well look my car’s lights are back on – I bet I can just go get in my car and everything will be fine. Needless to say the killer is there and snatches her in a setup for the ending. In the lead up to her being snatched her friend / boyfriend is the only police / FBI in the area and he must spend untold minutes racing in vain to try to help her. Really seems as though there should have been someone else close that could have responded to help her.
Prom Night – we just watched this one last night. I would give this a mediocre. The suspense was good, and there were a few good shocks as doors and closets were closed and mirrors revealed surprisingly scary things again and again. The movie was right to the action with several killings in the opening scene, which had stupidity to spare – wherein the girl comes home to her house and she never realizes that her father is laying in front of the television with his skull bashed in. Fast forward three or so years and it is as the title claims – Prom Night. Once things move to the prom the stupidity really starts. The killer manages to convince a cleaning lady to let him into his room because his card is damaged. I would hope that the hotel workers are instructed to not randomly let people into rooms with damaged keys. Also – on the “this guy just looks wrong to be here” factor – he rates a ten. Wearing a baseball cap, sport-coat and jeans, unshaven and continuously hiding his face. She gets killed and he has her master key for easy access to kill at will. Back at police HQ they learn of his escape from “maximum security mental institution” which should, I would think, be a bit more difficult to escape from and not have a suspended ceiling in a jail cell, to climb up and out of. The detective in charge heads to the prom to watch over things. A girl who has been waiting to be crowned prom queen all night decides to leave 5 minutes before crowning to be with her boyfriend in the hotel room. She bumps into the killer on the elevator, he returns and kills her after a lengthy chase involving quite a lot of clumsiness, tripping, slipping, clunking and falling. Ultimately they learn the killer is checked in, and decide to evacuate the hotel. He does this by pulling the fire alarm and having everyone exit. Off scale high on the stupid-o-meter – the target of the killer – shows up with alarms blaring and voices announcing “Alert, you must exit” and states rather flatly: “I left my mother’s shawl in the room, I need to go get it”. She states this a few times – lest we miss it – and proceeds to return opposite the flow of the masses up to the room to find her shawl. Several stupid things happen and the killer doesn’t get her. The police then conduct a floor-to-floor search and don’t find the killer because alas he has killed a bell-hop, stolen his clothes and quietly left. The main target has now returned home. One detective and one uniformed officer are “on watch” at the house where they are sure the killer will return. Rather than posting a dozen or more cops, which being a big-city should have been an easy task. Just as in Untraceable, we are treated to the one key detective racing to save the day – rather than using the resources of the department to secure the location. After a stupid dream sequence, which replays almost exactly in real-life involving a remarkable amount of stupidity of getting a drink of water, taking a pill and having the killer appear in the mirror when the medicine cabinet is closed. The killer kills the boyfriend, snatches the girl and pulls her into the closet. Just as the detective is about to reach into the closet, someone screams and he runs to check out what happened 30 feet away. She then elbows the killer and begins to scream and run away – oops some tripping ensues to make it more dramatic, and the detective 30 feet away doesn’t respond for a full two minutes entering just in time to shoot the killer once, twice, maybe three times. He falls dead and the detective states: “Its ok”, well it clearly isn’t – three of her close friends are dead, her boyfriend is laying on the bed five feet away dead, but well – she’s alive so I guess it is OK.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Drag Racing
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Spanish Grand Prix
As happened last year between Michael and Fernando - Q3 started with a chase. Hamilton maintained the lead and then the fuel burn off began. A bit of running around the track until first tire changes, right around 7 minutes left in the session. Then a few more laps around the course to set up for final hot laps on soft tyres. Everybody pitted with Alonso being the last on track. The setup was there for a big finish in front of the home crowd. The finish was very exciting - with everyone advancing their times during the last run to the line. Massa, Hamilton and Räikkönen all pushing - Massa finishing P1. Alonso had about 20 seconds before he reached the finish line. Very close - just came up short.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Hate Crime Legislation - Do we need this?
Seems like the libs think we need more hate crime legislation. I'm not sure precisely what's driving it this time. There seems to be a penchant for this every so often. Now however there does seem to be an organized opposition to it, and it may actually receive a veto, which I think is appropriate.
I think that part of this stems from the leniency that has been shown in the past for criminals. The phrase "the crows coming home to roost" springs to mind.
I certainly agree that the types of incidents we saw before the civil rights movement should not have happened. For too long juries tended to not convict those similar to them when they committed crimes against the different. This injustice does still happen and is what must be prevented. Frequently people point to the Matthew Sheppard incident as reasons why we need hate crime legislation. My point is that it is quite illegal and criminal to tie someone to a fence and beat them to death. The lame gay panic excuse attempted by his assailants was just that - lame. They belong in jail, and thankfully they are there. My point is simple - convict criminals for their acts! Here are my comments from almost precisely 7 years ago, when someone blew a gasket and killed a bunch of people back in Pittsburgh.
- All crime is hateful
I found the dissertation by Steven D. Irwin and Joel Ratner of the Anti-Defamation League on the topic of hate crimes interesting ("Getting Tough on Hate Crimes," May 7). They seem to indicate that they would prefer that a person's thoughts while committing a crime be taken into account; that we should increase the punishment for such heinous crimes based on a person's race, religion or ethnicity; and we should expand state laws to encompass "all other categories of hate crimes."
This is, of course, in response to renewed violence on the part of one Richard Baumhammers. I ask Messrs. Irwin and Ratner this: Is it not sufficient that five human beings were killed? Or three, as in the case of Ronald Taylor in March? Should not such violent killers be locked up for the rest of their natural life, regardless of their victims' race?
I ask those who would rush to enact so-called hate crime legislation: Does it matter that those killed in these events where chosen based on race, religion or other such criteria? Would it somehow be more acceptable had they killed people completely at random? Or might it be better still if those no longer with us were similar in ethnicity to the shooters?
Let us focus on the crimes actually committed: The punishment for these acts should be swift and sure lest others decide to continue this onslaught on decency.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Anti-Racing on the NJ Turnpike
Beginning another F1 Season
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Crazy Drying Dog
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Fun with planes
Friday, November 10, 2006
Rutgers beats Louisville 28-25
The last game I really sat and watched - besides Super Bowls was Penn Trafford losing to Upper St. Clair in 1997 WPIAL AAAA finals. That game ended very similar to the Rutgers game. At the end of the PT game the kicker shanked an extra point that would have tied the game. At the end of the Rutgers the kicker shanked a field goal attemp, but lucky for Rutgers there was a defensive penalty and the kicker got another shot at it. He split the uprights and gave them the lead. The ensuing kickoff was quite exciting as the kicker needed to help out with the tackle, the students swarmed the field and had to be sent back to their seats. Fortunately the last play of the game appropriately ended with another sack of the quarterback. The final play was more impressive since Rutgers sent 6 defensive player deep to protect agains the hail-mary the fiver front guys just blew through the line and once again swarmed the QB! GAME OVER and the fans poured onto the field.
It was quite a game.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Rutgers vs. Louisville
Sunday, October 15, 2006
New Jersey Lighthouse Challenge
We started at the light closest to home, again in retrospect this may have not been a good starting point, Sea Girt.
Sea Girt is another small town on The Jersey Shore. It was a very cute little town, with an interesting small light. Much more like a house with a light stuck on top, as opposed to the imposing structures most think of when hearing the word lighthouse. It did have a nice Forth Order Lens
. That's just sunlight being reflected around the room.
Next we drove on down to Barnegat. Barnegat is a tall lighthouse much like what you would anticipate.
As you can tell from this picture it was hard from up close to get a good shot of it, there's another in the slideshow that's from a little further away . This light is way out there, a good long ride from the Garden State Parkway out across the inlet then out to the light. The line to climb was fairly long, so in the interest of time we decided not to wait and walk all the way up. We did take a few pictures, including
Kellie with a bright blue tongue.
Next we went down to Tucker's Island Lighthouse. This is considered a replica lighthouse as the original fell into the sea in 1927. This had some of the better exhibits.
Including a Third Order Fresnel Lens. 
We then headed down to Atlantic City and the Absecon lighthouse. This is another tall lighthouse. This one we walked up and down, and got some interesting shots from the top.
After seeing the light we decided to drive around AC a bit and get some dinner while we were there. We determined something quick and known was good so we did Ruby Tuesdays. We wrapped up in AC and headed south again.
Next stop - Hereford
- this is one of only a few pictures from this light. We wanted to be sure to get to the next stop before 6PM and we only stayed for a few minutes.
After a fairly long drive into a very remote area we finally reached East Point Lighthouse only 5 minutes before 6. 
This was a very run down lighthouse just beginning the restoration. It will be interesting to go back in a few years to see what they accomplish.
Last for us was Cape May Lighthouse.
A very tall lighthouse. We arrived just after sundown, so could not get very good pictures. From afar it looked as though some silhouettes might be possible but it was not to be.
All in all a rather challenging day, hence the name, but we had a good time, had some free slurpees - hence the blue tongue - and all in all are looking forward to next year.
Monday, October 09, 2006
A great sporting weekend
Although I am not a *huge* sports fan. I did watch quite a lot this weekend.
Baseball -
Watched the Tigers finish off the Yankees which was great. Added bonus is that a lot of my Detroit clients should be in a good mood this week. The Mets wrapped up the sweep of the Dodgers, let's see if Tommy LaSorda will be so excited about the playoffs now that his Dodgers have been eliminated.
Formula 1 -
Final sports item of the weekend was early early Sunday (afternoon Japan time) I caught it on Tivo - when Michael Schumacher went Kerr-Blammo giving Fernando Alonso and Renault the win and a 10 point lead in the points, now all he has to do is score 1 point to take the championship. Next year he moves to West McLaren Mercedes so I can pull for him to beat Kimi who's taking first seat from Michael at Ferrari.
Friday, October 06, 2006
Coca Cola Blak
Monday, September 25, 2006
Driving to school - 1 hour and 2 minutes
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Dover 400
Well I'm now sitting here in the grandstands waiting for the Dover 400 to start. . Green flag is supposed to fly at 1:10PM. Currently 11:10AM and we have drizzling rain - which will not be good if it continues. We'll be here all day and night.
Travel here was a bit of a nightmare - the first 120 miles used up the first 110 minutes. The next five miles used up the next 90 minutes. What a royal disaster - we spent 40 minutes on the shoulder waiting to exit then they closed the exit ramps closest to the track were closed - lots full I guess. Finally went and parked at a commercial park with shuttle to track. We should have just gone directly to the outer lot. Would have saved at least 40-50 minutes maybe even more.
12:30PM - The sun is out. Hard shadows are evident. The sun has been playing peek-a-boo with the clouds all morning. Now with the race only 40 minutes away it makes a shining appearance. If it stays like this we'll go green on time. That's one thing I have to say about F1. Unless it is a monsoon they run.
Speaking of F1 - I'm going to have to change teams. No longer can I route for BMW-Sauber. It will have to be West McLaren Mercedes. Well at least Juan Pablo is gone (I never liked him even when he was at Williams BMW), of course Kimi will be gone soon too - no idea who the team will be next year. Pedro De La Rosa (sp?) looks to be a good driver in Montoya's spot not sure who will be riding #1 and who will be #2, or more accurately #5 and #6, as McLaren looks like a lock for P3 in constructors. It will be interesting to see how this season pans out if Michael can get his last championship or not. I've been anti-Michael since his 'world tour' in 2004 - but as much as I like Alonso I think seeing Michael go out with a world championship. I didn't like the way Ferrari handled the press for Michael's retirement at all.
Back to NASCAR - 1:45PM - 50 laps complete. 3 Yellows so far. The sun has stayed mostly out. Good racing so far. #99 made a good pass and really extended his lead before most recent yellow. Almost caught up with end of field to put them a lap down but not quite. Tony Stewart is out already - out in wreck.
4:45 - Great pass right at the end Jeff Burton passed Matt Kenseth for the win. Exciting finish. Now waiting for the bus in the pouring down rain. What a joy! Into each life a little diversity must fall. All in all a fun day.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
The Dark Side
The old BMW 528i is gone! No longer am I tied to the brand. It has been 12 years and 3 models - '92 750il, '95 318i, '00 528i. The behaviour of the dealers and several other factors drove me away. The BMW had given me more than its fair share of fun and heartache, but now its gone. For those interested - I came very close to a Nissan Maxima - which was a very interesting car. This CVT thing seemed very cool - it pulled hard off the line and just kept going and going - no shifting - unsure of the reliability factor of a belt-driven transmission. However, at the second instantiation of negotiations wherein they were giving me less than 1/2 blue book for my car they came back to me and stated that the Car Fax showed that I was not the original owner of the car. This quite honestly infuriated me, as I am and the problem is I had to change the registration from PA to NJ when I moved here. I demanded my keys and stormed out.
I went to Mercedes, essentially dragged a salesman up from his desk to sell me a car - took a test drive and bought it. The C230 didn't have enough guts, and although the C280 is a Luxury Sedan instead of a Sport Sedan, it handles well enough - as I am not actually taking the thing to the track. After purchasing the car I went back to the Nissan dealer and spoke to the salesman. "I told you I was buying a car today, and I bought a car today!" It isn't totally tricked out - only a few options above base. One cool thing is the 6-CD changer in the glove box. It plays MP3s from CD-RWs. Since I don't have a huge music collection - I can essentially put everything I have in the car with me. Kind of cool. No satellite radio - I need to determine if I will mount my old unit, or get a new unit. Its definitely faster than my 5, handles a little crisper in the slower turns, but is a little more floaty on lane changes over 70 or so. And so a new adventure begins.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
The Fantastic Four - Finally a decent movie on HBO - Almost
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Another dank dark dreary day in Detroit
Man this place can get depressing. Woke up at 6:00 went and ran 1.5 miles. Came back to my room and tried to watch TV - too overcast killed thwe satellite signal. I threw open the curtains to see another dreary day here in Detroit. Went in to work and now getting coffee. Looked outside - I think the sun is above the horizon, but you'd never know it. What a miserable day. Well at least I am in the climate controlled biosphere. Until we moved to NJ I didn't realize how nice it was to see the sun regularly.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Hollywood Stupidity
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
SUV Backovers
So now Paula Zahn, along with our favorite NY Senator Clinton, has a cause - parents and grandparents backing over their children in SUVs. Now this is undeniably a tragedy, however they (CNN and Paula) are attempting to force auto makers into installing back up cameras as standard equipment on 'large SUV' type vehicles.
The story focused on one child that was killed when his grandmother dropped him off and then he ran behind the SUV and she backed over him. The child was in the 4-5 age bracket. What sense did this grandmother have allowing a small child out of the car to 'run' behind the car. Did she ever hear of holding a childs hand and making sure they were being watched by an adult who could supervise this child. Would she allow this child to cross the street alone - probably not.
Most of the kids involved in these kinds of accidents were reportedly of similar age range - i.e. SHOULD BE SUPERVISED'!!! Again - according to the report - most of these accidents involved parents.
When I am driving in a car anywhere near where any kids are located - mine included who are old enough to know better - I am very cautious that I know precisely where they are and can visually see them all or have some adult verify they are all standing clear before I move backward or forward in my car.
Let's not delve further into being a nanny state. Have parents and grandparents take responsibility for guarding these young children. Let's not blame the "evil auto manufacturers" for making killer vehicles simply because the owners were too anxious to do *whatever*, that overseeing their child's safety was a secondary issue.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Airport Security
Notice - The Transportation Security Administration has determined that the airport at Port au Prince, Haiti does not maintain adequate airline security screening measures.
This requires no comment.
Ditto Bandara Ngurah Rai in Bali Indonesia.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Early Morning Airport Adventures
Yet another exciting trip to LaGuardia. Arose at 4:40a and left the house at 5:15a for a 7:21a flight. rain was quite heavy so I knew it would be a challenging drive. Go up to and on the Driscoll Bridge on the Garden State when there was a Jeep Cherokee or whatever facing the wrong direction in the right lane, silly SUV driver. They do seem to forget that physics does still apply to them, and the ability to "go" doesn't always equate with the ability to turn and stop. Well at least they have taken away the title of arrogant overly aggressive driver from us BMW owners. Anyway, I migrated left to avoid the pretty lights, and got so tied up in traffic I missed the offramp for the outerbridge crossing. No worries, jump on NJ Turnpike up to the Goethals. Zipped across as traffic wasn't too bad over to Staten Island or onto Verrazzano into Brooklyn, then I heard the traffic report - overturned garbage truck on BQE by the Brooklyn Bridge - aaaahhhhhh. In fact it was quite bad, and I'm not too sure about othe routes so I stuck it out, fortunately the truck was going the other way so we mostly had rubber necking and residual back-ups from people exiting and finding other routes. At about 6:40 I called home to say I was likely going to miss my plane. Then once we cleared the accident traffic which subsided shortly after passing the scene - the Koskiosko Bridge (aka the vortex of driving retardation) was clear sailing and there was virtually no more traffic the rest of the way to LaGuardia. I pulled into the parking lot according to the time stamp on the parking ticket at 6:55am - 26 minutes before flight time - still an outside chance. I made a mad dash for the security line expecting the worst and hoping I could ask to be moved to the front. Not necessary - due to the no fluids, gels, pastes or other such substance rule, the lines at security are quite reduced as people are now checking more luggage. My wait time (unlike last week in Philadelphia) was zero - only the time it took to show my "papers" and clear security. I walked onto the plane at 7:02 according to my phone, seven minutes from car to plane, that has to be a record at LaGuardia. Again thanks to more luggage in the belly of the plane, I easily found overhead space for both my laptop bag and suitcase. I normally would not place both in the overhead but the plane was nearly full, and I doubted anyone else would be seeking space so I took the opportunity to have a bit more leg room.
This is about the 5th or 6th time I've flown out of LaGuardia and been seriously doubting my ability to catch my plane midway through my drive, only to have things turn around in the end and make it. Add to it the fact that I even squeezed in a bit of excercise - I'd say it was at least a 400 yard run from parking to security carrying 2x25lb bags, that had my heart pumping. All in all an interesting morning.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
New Computer - A Mac Mini
Last weekend I finally went out and made the move. The home computer was a P3-900 HP. It worked but it was very slow. As with many Windows machines, quite a lot of cruft had snuck in over the years, it didn't have USB 2.0, and it just needed to go. It may ultimately turn into a linux machine but then again, maybe not.
Now to the Mac. Much like the ads it just works. We picked it up on Saturday evening, and plugged it in. Plugged in my wireless mouse and keyboard, monitor and external 160GB drive off of the PC and fired it up. Worked great, and the USB2.0 external drive was smoking fast when connected to a USB2.0 capable machine. Her iPod needed to be re-initialized and updated to work with the Mac, but after that was done, the movement of files between the iPod and the Mac was smoking fast, again USB2.0 wins. I moved all of our pictures and music over in rather short order. My younger daughter pulled in the video from her first gym meet, picked out only the pieces she wanted and burned it to DVD. It took a while to actually render and create the DVD but it worked just fine. She also took a batch of pictures of the dog and created a video of his various stages of hair.
Yesterday I burned all my old data to DVD for safe keeping. There was a slight problem copying data direct from the external drive and burning it to DVD, so I had to copy it to the internal drive before going to DVD. I didn't investigate the problem very much since when I copied to internal and burned it worked just fine. The interesting thing that surprised me a little bit was that I was able to snap the DVD into my office laptop and it worked just fine, not sure why I thought it wouldn't work but I was a bit suspicious.
One other problem it has was in setting up quicken the setup just didn't want to import the data from my old PC, and instead insisted on breaking my link to the bank for synchronization. Ultimately I had to call the bank and have them mail me a new pin. I did some reading about the Mac version of Quicken, so downloaded the PC version onto my laptop and migrated to that. Still need to wait until the new pin comes in to synchronize, but I think that will ultimately be a better solution anyway.
I took all of my mp3 files, converted them to m4a files and saved about 50MB of space. The ripping of CDs through iTunes could not be simpler. I was always a MusicMatch user, until I started using iTunes - far superior interface. I followed the directions for creating a shared folder for keeping all of the iTunes data so that I don't end up with multiple copies of the same thing and needlessly waste disk space.
As for iPhoto - (Apple likes the i) - I've done a bit of reading and the sharing of photos between users doesn't seem to be quite seemless, but that will be the next thing that I tackle.
Network file sharing seems to just work. I turned it on so that I could move files between the two machines and was again impressed that I didn't need to do anything fancy to make it work. Somewhere along the line, some security patch or somethign prevented me from mounting drives from my home machine on my laptop. Happily, I can once again save my personal files from my laptop, quickly and easily to my home machine. I need to investigate encryption, but haven't had the chance to do so yet.
A few times I've clicked the terminal application to get a window into the underlying Unix type OS. Seems to look like the real deal, but I haven't really investigated all of the details yet. All in all I am quite pleased - I'd give it 8 out of 10, the shared iPhoto, and problems with Quicken knock it down a few pegs.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
New York Mets - Hope I don't jinx it
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Spyware and other malware
Monday, June 05, 2006
Diagnosis
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Injured
After applying ice we noticed we were standing outside the Chinatown Health Clinic. Great we'll go in, get an ace bandage and I'll be fine. We went into the first floor, and this was the women's section so they sent us up to floor 2. We'd tried to explain the situation to the woman behind the counter and explained that we wanted an Ace bandage, and would be happy to pay for it. She went into the back and returned with a handful of band-aids. I guess all she heard was bandage, my daughter and her friend almost laughed out loud. We tried to explain wrapping my arm, she said they didn't have anything. We walked until we found a pharmacy. I purchased an Ace bandage, and an instant ice pak. Wrapped my wrist, popped a few advils and it felt much better.
We walked around a bit more and my arm started to hurt some more. I unwrapped and checked and there was a good sized knot on my wrist. We determined an x-ray may be in order so we headed for the ferry. On the way to the ferry we (meaning my wife and neighbor) purchased two more purses. We caught the 5:00 ferry and my arm was really starting to hurt. We drove to the emergency room, hung out for a bit, got an x-ray. Diagnosis: broken! I now have a splint, and bandage and will likely need a cast, I'm going to an orthopaedist on Tuesday. I hope no pins or anything.
More Tuesday!!
Friday, May 12, 2006
Our new dog Peanut
Yes that's a dog. Our new dog. He is a long haired Chihuahua - very small, very cute. Click the link to see the slides. The picture with my foot also contains the plastic page divider from my Franklin Planner - he is that small. 2 Lbs, and no more than a foot long - fully extended. He is yippy, bouncy and energetic - everything you'd expect from a miniature puppy.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Charlie Sheen
Nancy Grace
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Take our sons and daughters to work day
I just received an email about this from my employer. I want to go on record as questioning the value of this on a few fronts.
#1 - this originally started as a way for young girls to see what opportunities are out there for women in the workplace. It has transformed into a bring any boy or girl which is admirable but I think loses some of the intent.
#2 - this is the more important point. I have 2 daughters neither of which have had the opportunity to do this due to my travel achedule and school policy that it was not an excused absence. I can not for the life if me understand why this needs to occur during the school year. Mid July or August would allow more to participate and also not be as intrusive on work as there is always less stuff happening in the summer.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Yet another fun flying day
Part I
I arrive a little early for my flight from DTW - EWR hoping to catch a standby. Good news the standby is late so I have a good chance to catch it. Bad news it is sold out. I decide to wait to see what might happen so find a seat and wait. Delay changes from 6:15 to 5:45 - it was originally scheduled for 5:00. At 5:20 they start boarding. At 5:40 they start calling names. A group of Japanese folks start hollaring into cell phones trying to get people. The gate agent starts calling an entire gaggle of names many Japanese many others. At least 5 times the gate agent asks the Japanese group if their entire group is with them. It is clear they speak no english as they do not even acknowledge that she is asking them questions. Ultimately the group of 8 finally all get to the gate from being scattered to the four corners of the airport and board the plane. After another several minutes two heavy set ladies come running and panting to the gate: "We thought it was 6:15. We were getting food, pant, pant, cough, cough". They finally catch their breath and board the plane. The calls for people continue, by name and by group. Two more stragglers wander to the gate at a leisurely pace - "Oh look its boarding", "I thought it was 6:15 its only ten to six." After several more calls the final couple meander to the gate and board. The gate agent states: "attention all standy by passengers the flight has checked in full". Now I was dissappointed but I was just completeley amazed that people would walk so far away from a delayed flight that they could not keep an eye on the time. Flights frequently change times and possibly even gates. How incredibly silly.
Part II
I go down to my gate and plop into a chair. After about 30 minutes they start to board. I have no status so I am forced to wait for my row. They call first class, elites, exits and finally start row calling. 18-22 go on, a few minutes later 15-18 go. Then nothing. One gate agent leaves the area to go do something. The remaining gate agent starts dealing with standby passengers and time continues to tick away. Fifteen minutes later the lone gate agent is joined by the original plus another plus a pilot trying to catch a ride. The three gate agents now start to type furiously into the computer (I am truly amazed at the number of keystrokes it takes to do seemingly simple things on these computers). They call some row, in fact the same rows they've already called but 19-22, then 15 and higher. Of course nobody goes up so they return to typing their epic adventure novel on the small gate computer. After a few more minutes they finally call my row and I board the plane. I work my way to my seat and watch three people load their bags sideways so as to use up the most amount of overhead space (leaving none near my seat) and sit down. I then proceed to turn them all the correct way with roller wheel towards the back of the bin and lo and behold there's room for my bag. I slam my bag in and sit.
Part III
I started typing this in anticipation of not being able to post before we pushed off. How naïve I was. We now have a 'minor' mechanical problem. Who knows when and if this plane will take off.
Part IV
Well its been one hour and five minutes since Part III.
We're still here. They've swapped a few computer components and even went so far as to completely reboot the plane. They actually did a full power down - ten count - restart. No dice we're still here. No communication for the last 15 minutes. I feel like a trapped rat. Not sure what the rules are for false imprisonment. Maybe I can sue them. That might be fun. The interesting part is that people are standing in the aisles walking up and down throughout the plane. Talking and yapping, general muddling around. For goodness sake we are at Northwest's hub. Just wheel another airplane out of the damned hangar, and put us on it. It really doesn't seem like that hard of a process.
On one small note - perhaps I would have been better off not getting on the plane so soon. Had the novelists taken a bit longer I'd be sitting in my cramped little seat slightly less.
Part V
Changing planes. Well we've finally tried everything there is to try on the first plane. Now we're finally off to plane number two. I'm typing this piece from the new gate. Which by the way - even though this is a crappy way to spend an evening - the new Midfield Terminal in Detroit - actually is a very nice facility. Very clean - nice wide open aisles - comfortable chairs and a lot of power outlets to plug in laptops and other various devices. The walkway between A, B and C concourses is underground under the runways and has a very cool soothing art display with cool music playing. It gives you a very underwater kind of feeling.
Part VI
Well they're starting to call rows again - let's see if this process goes any better the second time around.
Monday, April 03, 2006
Newark Airport
Yet another fun travel day at Newark airport. I get to parking, no problem, for once the garage isn't full. I go up to level 5 grab a spot and head for the elevator. Go across to the AirTrain and the escalators are broken. Wait for the elevator and head up. Catch the AirTrain and shuttle off to terminal B. Yet another broken escalator. Now I realize that things break, but they really should try to have this stuff working for Monday rush.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Car finally fixed
More mediocre performance - this time Continental Airlines
Subject: More tiring experiences with your company
Message: On Monday March 13, 2006 I was anticipating an mid-morning flight and needed to avail myself of the use of the Presidents Club early the next morning. Thinking erroneously that online would be a nice fast easy way to get my membership and have a temporary card in my hand for the morning, I went to the web site to sign in. It dutifully took all of my personal information, including credit card data and One Pass number. When the process was completed it said to check my email. Great I thought, I'll go over pick up my temporary card and go into the club in the morning. Instead, I received this email:
>Thank you for purchasing a Presidents Club membership.
>Your application should be processed within 48
>hours and you may begin enjoying the benefits of
>membership at any of our Presidents Club locations.
>If you visit a Presidents Club prior to
>receiving your card, simply provide the clubroom
>representative with a copy of this e-mail and
>photo identification.
There was no warning that this process was not an instant process and that there would be delays that I should anticipate. So I did as the mail said and took the printout and my id to the club. How unfortunate for me that the system didn't know anything about me and I had to hold up the line while waiting for the people at the club to determine that I should be granted access. To this date I have not received either permanent or temporary card so while I may be able to get into a Contintental club, I can not avail myself of the services of any of your partner airlines clubs. Thank you once again for continuing to meet my ever decreasing expectations on my dealings with Continental and your wonderful hub airport of Newark NJ, which 80% of the time has broken AirTrans, and generally miserable service.
It is so nice being nearly held hostage by hub and spoke airlines.
Friday, March 24, 2006
9/11 Government Conspiracies
Sunday, March 05, 2006
World's Largest Microsoft Error Message
You asbolutely gotta love this, Network world had an article about one of the giant screens in Times Square displaying a Windows Error message. Not sure if this is the kind of advertising Bill Gates really wants. Additionally, a few weeks ago I was returning home from Detroit and the lane markers that tell you which security lane is open and which is closed on a 17" TV screen (why are 4:3 TV screens always odd numbers?) had a virtual memory error displayed on it. This screen simply sits there with the equivalent of a screen saver (well not really because I'm sure it will burn in) on it and yet it had a virual memory error.
Thursday, February 23, 2006
Selfish Airline Passengers
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Accident
On Friday, I was almost into the Lincoln Tunnel. The person in front of me stopped hard and so did I. Unfortunately the person behind me did not. The result was >$2,000 of damage to my bumper and rear deck lid. At least that's what Allstate appraised the damage to be. Adding to the mess - my coffee cup decided to vent all of the contents all over the inside of the car and down my back. Fortunately the Big Green Clean Machine was up to the task and got all remnants out of the carpet, the seats and most importantly the headliner. Should be a week or so until it is back in order. Key Sera Sera
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
CNN Data Security - Do you want Miles O'Brien's cell phone number?
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
New New Jersey Slogan - "New Jersey: Come See For Yourself"
Monday, January 23, 2006
Newark Airport Experience - or why I hate Continental
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Driving in New York
Driving in New York is always an adventure. However, I've determined that I enjoy this challenge of the mind and reflexes. The primary goal is of course to prevent it from becoming a contact sport, while getting where you want to be. This is definitely not for the faint of heart. Driving on the side streets provides only one or two lanes, the avenues are wide providing 6 or 7 lanes depending on which one you choose. It is not uncommon to be driving down the center lane of one of the broad avenues and have the center two lanes suddenly become a construction zone. There are constantly people stepping between cars, delivery drivers stopping, starting, loading and unloading their wares. Taxi cabs are noted for being completely insane, but I have found that they behave like packs of roving dogs, and you must not show fear. If you do you will be inundated, you must simply push your way to where you want to go. Simply because you are in a traveling lane does not mean someone can't stop and call it a parking spot. All in all a good challenge and good workings for the mind. If you travel during non rush-hour times it is not insanely loaded with traffic, but even the slightest hiccup can cause insanity quickly. You must be constantly alert. Actually the city does provide a compelling reason for not using a cell phone without hands-free, looking away for a moment will cause you to miss the next obstacle.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
New Photo Blog
Monday, January 02, 2006
Circuit City Fails Again
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Dots Dots Everywhere but not a drop to drink
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Christmas fun with Dry Ice
It generated so much that it flowed out of the bowl and down the sides of the counter.
I then took a dime sized piece of ice, a decent swig of hot water and generated a nice cloud from out of my mouth ;-).
Lastly while shuffling around the ice with a spoon so as not to get burned we noted that it sounded quite a bit like it was being tortured when touching the spoon to the ice - check the video (if you can't get the video to play try saving it to your hard drive).
To quote Manav: "Good Fun!"
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Plane connections in Cincinnati
I had a tight connection in Cincinnati. When I landed I called Delta and told them I had just landed and was trying to get from the C concourse to the B concourse. If you've been in Cincinnati you know this means riding the bus. The bus to get us was delayed by planes so I called Delta again and said I was on the bus and only a few minutes from the gate. Which I fortunately verified as it had changed from when I checked in at Newarkk. I thought I made it as I was at the gate at 4:05 for a 4:10 plane. No gate agent, no one around and door closed tight. However a plane was clearly visible and a pilot clearly watching me at the window. I called Delta. As I continued to sternly tell them how ridiculous this was I watched the jetway pull away from the plane. I knew what this meant so I increased my fervor. Several minutes passed and the jetway reattached. Gate agent came out and let myself and another passenger on. I was quite amazed. - Frank P. Bresz - Sent from my BlackBerry
Sunday, October 16, 2005
The Patio is finally finished
Monday, October 10, 2005
I am a Borg and I'm IN!
I am now totally Verizon. Home phone, office phone, DSL, 4 cell phones, I am so totally IN, and right around National Coming Out Day.
Monday, September 19, 2005
Finally they are installing the patio
Monday, August 22, 2005
Who is Eric Rudolph and why do I care?
Its been a while since posting. I am sitting at O'Hare waiting for a flight home. I've been chatting with my colleague about random business. I've glanced over at the CNN Airport edition a few times. Each time they are talking about Eric Rudolp - the hunt continues, mysterious travel. Who is this guy and why do I care? Is he like Natalie Holloway, that everyone must know about? Do we now need 24x7 coverage of him? Bob Costas was so right to not give these kind of stories more air time.
I know there is more 'newsworthy' stuff happening. Draft Iraq constitution, Israeli pull out in Gaza, oil prices (up or down). I know I've written this rant before - during the “Runaway Bride” incident, but my goodness this is ridiculous.
Don't know for sure but I wonder if Bill Hemmer's (sp?) exodus was precipitated in part by such pop-journalisn. I know in an article I read he would like to just go through the New York Times and report about all the stories therein. No chance of that now at Fox but at least he'll get to report news as he sees it.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Proudly Honor our Military
Sunday, July 10, 2005
New Blackberry 7100g
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
US Grand Prix - 2005 - The Controversy Continues
Monday, June 20, 2005
Giant bust on the US Grand Prix
I've thought a bit about it and here is my opinion.
I blame Michelin. Bridgestone put tyres on their cars that worked. Michelin had more cars and more total track time. Even if they had brought harder compound - fully inside rules, Michelin could have run and probably still beat Mindardi and Jordan. Still a 1-2 for Ferrari but we would have had a race anyway.
What to do
Well for me anyway - I validated I am riding Yokohamas. Still need to check the wife and daughters cars. Wife's got Walmart tires and daughter has what her car came with. I will never buy Michelins again.
Hope
Maybe we'll get some money back - but I'm not counting those chickens.
Here's a few links to stories.
Sunday, June 19, 2005
US Grand Prix - 2005
Here are a batch of pictures from today's qualifying session. I put only the better ones - which I think are fairly good. The good news is that Ferrari did not have a good showing. The bad news is neither did BMW.Williams. Let's see if we can do better in the race. Toyota finally scored a pole with Jarno Trulli - an odd individual in my book. Kimi Raikkonen had a good run but not good enough. Here's the full grid for tomorrow. I'm looking forward to a fun day.
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Which Star Wars Character Are You?
- Artoo
- Chewie
- Fett
- Han
- Jabba
- Lando
- Leia
- Luke
- Obiwan
- Palpatine
- Threepio
- Vader
- Yoda
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Linked In?
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Star Wars Episode III - No Spoilers
Well I'm sitting in the theater ready for my senses to be overwhelmed.
It is about 1 hour to showtime. Lots of noise. People in costume are here. I see an Obi Wan and a few Vaders and several Anakins. Quite a mixed crowd. Mostly younger. Doesn't seem quite as many as when I saw Episode II in Columbus.
We managed to get center seats towards the front (I'd prefer to be back a little more).
I am hopeful that much like Episode II this will be a good crowd intently watching the movie and not being noisy during the show.
I'll post afterward with my opinions of the movie. I unlike some others liked I and II. There were parts I didn't but overall I thought they were good.
We'll see what Lucas has in store for us.
Update - After writing the original I felt the need to add that some of the costumed Obi-Wan's and Anikins had a phony light saber battle in the theater. Yikes!!Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper
Sunday, May 01, 2005
CNN, MSNBC, FOX what are you doing?
Hayden had it right. They will put anything on to get eyeballs.
Consipracy alert - Personally based on the numerous showers and voluminous guest list, I suspect that in fact the parents of the bride are quite rich. Upon having their daghter vanish - they pulled some strings to get phenomenal news coverage and now have a healthy heaping of crow to eat.