it just keeps getting better and better

There was our old house. Next to it was the friggin' habitat house. Next to that was the city owned house. There was a string of armed robberies in Iowa City a while back. Guy dressed as a Ninja robbed gas stations and such. They caught the guy. He lived in the city owned house 2 doors down. Well now this story: Seems the new tenant was arrested for an attempted stabbing last night. I am sure that it is all just a coincidence and that I am just a racist and crap like that.

Wed.

Well, we got our snow. At least a foot, but it is hard to tell. I did a bunch of snow blowin' last night and again today. The new blower did a good job.
**
This is truly a cool clock.

Monday

Did not really get that much snow last night. Less then an inch I would say. There is supposed to be another foot of it on the way though.
**
I would buy this hybrid car. Except for the whole $200K thing. Any time you can go 0-60 in under 4 seconds screamin' "I AM GREENER THEN YOU HONDA DRIVIN' TREE HUGGERS!" it is a win/win.

Sunday

Well we are about to get hit hard with a lot of snow. There is something kind of exciting about the first snow fall. My truck will go through anything, and I just got a new snowblower Friday. So I am kind of looking forward ot it. That will wear of pretty quickly, though.
**
Here is how to look really stupid on TV.

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You got a real purdy mouth:

Close Encounters of the Redneck Kind from Marc Bullard on Vimeo.

Dec 1.

Wow. Dec.
HERE is a link to a car that I really like. I am at work looking through a site that has celeb's and their cars. Lots of tacky Hummers and Caddy's. Lots of big-dumb-ass-wheels. I came across this ferrari and was really taken by the looks. Classy choice, Lebron.

Again? Really?

For the second time in a few weeks FOX "news" showed the wrong video. This time they took campaign video and said it was for her book signing. Either they are trying to mislead the public, or they just really suck ass at what they do.

Thursday

DON'T DO THIS:

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John Stewart caught Fox "News" switching video and padding numbers to prove their point. I mean, he caught them making an honest mistake. Yup. That is it.

Sunday

Well good news (finally) in the sports world. Jimmie Johnson crashes on lap 3!! That is exactly what NASCAR needed to get people to care again.
**
Here is a great idea. A steady cam mount for your iPhone. The only bad part is that the whole idea of phone cameras is that they take crappy movies, but you have them in your pocket all the time and can catch some otherwise lost footage. If you are going think ahead to spend $150 for the mount and have planned out a movie, why the hell would you use a damn phone to record it? Other then that it is brilliant!!
**
This is truly impressive and very cute.

Saturday

Well the Hawks lost. it was bound to happen.
We watched Mary's nephew play football for Missouri Valley College. He is a starter on the D. He played well. The game was on the internet so we watched it on our computer. They were up by 2 but the other guys had a drive going. There was less then a second left. They were setting up for a long field goal to try to win it. Right before the snap my battery died on my computer. AAARG.
Turns out it was good and Missouri Valley lost.
**
Did not do too much today. Dan and I went to Menards. I got some drywall and he took back some boards from the deck build. Then we all stood outside and drank beer and watched the game in Scott's garage. They are going to come over tonight and hang out. I really like having cool neighbors.
**
We all have screwed up at work. But none of us as much as this guy:

Tuesday

strange day

So yesterday I was thinking about getting around and going to Menard's to get some sheetrock for the basement. I have the electrical run on the walls of the shop that I want to finish off and was going to put that up. Then about 9:30 the phone rings. It is Scott our next door neighbor. He has two tickets to the Iowa vs Indiana game and wonders if I want to go. I know Tim wants to go and I figured it would be fun for us to do something together so I said yes.
The last time we did that was ten years ago. They lost, but we still had fun. It looked like the same thing all over again. They SUCKED the first three quarters. They threw interceptions and looked horrible. All year long they have started out slow and come from behind to win, but this was really bad. Then in the second half they turned it around and just blew them out.
It would have been fun to go to the game with Tim had they lost, but this really made it great to be there when they pulled this one out.
I am sure people will be talking about it for a long time, but I am mostly glad that we have great neighbors now and that I got to spend a fun day with Tim.
So.. never thought you would hear me say this: GO HAWKS!!

Monday

Still recovering from the hard weekend :-)
HERE is the smallest train set you will see all day!

Wed

Here is pretty good documentation of the downfall of my old neighborhood.

Monday

GOOD

VS EVIL

Sunday

I am glad this safety glass worked.

Friday

Welcome to the new Iowa City! I am very sorry he was murdered. I can only hope that it will FINALLY make our city realize that this is out of control and we have had enough of it.

Thursday

So amphibious cars have come a long way since the 60's. This one is 200K and has a corvette engine and a ram truck hood. It is really fast on the water as well as on land. But if you watch the video you will see that the most important feature is the ability to boat up to a party and steal all of the women.
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/10/08/watercar-python-rocks-our-corvette-loving-ram-driving-souls/

Tuesday

No thanks..

Sunday

This is a pretty good idear:
Microsoft has partnered with Children’s Miracle Network to provide three Children’s Miracle Network pediatric hospitals an Ultimate Gameroom experience – and we need YOUR HELP to decide which three lucky hospitals will receive this great giveaway and better yet, YOU could win an Xbox 360 as well!
Cast your vote for the Children’s Miracle Network hospital of your choice, each time you vote you will be entered to win an Xbox 360 – the more you vote, the better your chances of winning!

http://xbox.childrensmiraclenetwork.org/

You can vote 10 times each day. Thanks for helping!

Thursday

HERE is a pretty impressive speed painting using MS PAINT.

Wed.

You find some cool stuff on eBay. Like Tim Allen's 32 Ford roadster. Nice stuff.

Tuesday

Times are tough. Even a wizard can get his car repo'd.


Heck, even the king of pop had to deal with the repo man..

Sunday

Did not do so much today. Yesterday I stained on the decks for about nine hours straight and got almost all of it done. Today I finished it up and I can honestly say I don't want to do that again for a long time. I got good stain, so I hope it lasts for the five years it is supposed to. Today I finished up that and a few other things, but really took it easy. That was nice.
**
I am not sure who this service is for. If you buy a PS3 or an Xbox, then you are probably a gamer and have the basic understanding of how to hook up a console by now. It takes all of 4 minutes. The Geek Squad will come in and do it for you for only $130. At least they can't steal your porn while they are doing it.
***
In case you missed the iPod event, here are the highlights. It was really great...

Friday

Happy Friday, everyone!
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This guy is way cool. He makes retro cased PC's. Nice stuff!

wed

Sunday

Busy weekend.
Yesterday Denny (former keyboard of the famous Dial Tones) stopped in and visited. He is in town to do a gig with the Dogs on Skis. That was nice to see him. Got the rails all stained yesterday before he got there.
Today was just nonstop stuff. I spent all morning scrubbing the bottom part of the deck and the screen porch and then power washing it. I had to do inside too since I guess I am going to stain that too. The I took the blade off of the mower and used the angle head grinder that I got from my dad for the first time. Got that sharp and mowed up the yard.
The boat is half in the water on the banks. It had filled up with rain and when that happens the water leaks inside the hull through where the crank goes in for the pedals. I had a hell of a time dragging it out of the water so I could tip it up and drain it out. That took a while and sucked ass bad. I had the power washer out so I cleaned all the crap off of it and got it ready to put away for *gasp* winter.
I have been thinking about making some lanterns out of the solar landscaping lights that I have in the flower boxes outside. The dog kept eating them, so they got pushed back to the back and the flowers grew over them. I got those made up and while the stain was drying I went up and replaced the valve assembly in the terlet in our bathroom. Then I got the lanterns hung up. They look kind of cool. Once it got dark I saw that there are three more buried in the flowers that I will dig out tomorrow and use also.
**
I had a big scare a couple of nights ago. Steve pointed out a really good blog entry by leo that talked about how FRIGGIN STUPID Iowa City is with their give every damn body and house policy. Steve found a map that had six houses going in our neighborhood. That is how it all started over at the other place. A few city owned section 8 houses. Then they keep bring the value of the land down and so in comes Habitat for Humanity dumping 12 houses on our block. Then the value goes down even more....
I mailed my neighbor Dan about it and he came over the next day with the poop on it. It is not perfect, but it is much better then I had thought. It is flood related to some extent. They are building houses around the city and flood folks have first priority. The program pays 30K down and they have to GET A LOAN FOR THE REST FROM A BANK. Right there I felt much better. If you can get a loan these days, you must have a job and some credit ratings of sorts. If they keep the house for five years they don't have to pay back the 30K. If they sell it, they don't.
I am not against that kind of help at all. That makes a lot more sense then, "here you go, have a house" policy that IC usually uses. Morons.
Anyhow, I was SO relieved!

Extra day!

Nice day here. Got the power washing done on the upper deck rails. I have to wait for them to dry before i can sand them and they have to be totally dry before I can stain them, so I will have to start in on that after work tomorrow.
The color is much darker then I had wanted them to be, but I am getting used to it and am starting to like it. At least all of that black crud is gone from the wood. I used an oxygen bleach thing that they sell at Menard's and it worked pretty well. Applied with a pump sprayer and then power wash it off.
I saw this link on Giz'. Really well done. If you watch it until the end you will see a couple more videos by the same guy. The tilt shift one is cute, and the CGI one is really good and kind of funny.
**
I have been listening to Pandora radio on my iPhone all morning while working. Heard a lot of bands that I never heard of before. I liked most of them. Came across REEL FISH doing a cover of Take On Me. Strange combination indeed.
Now I don't know what to do with myself.

hump day

I did not read the article but the caption was enough to make me LOL.

Tuesday

Another beauty of a day. So, yea, I mowed. Looks good.
**
This is so wrong for so many reasons:

Monday

I don't like Mondays but today is once again beautiful and I will take it.
**
The Onion has the story on the CA wildfires.

Californians Gather To Celebrate Annual Wildfire Tradition

FRIDAY!

It finally stopped raining and it is a GREAT day! Soon.. I mow :-)
**
The king in cheetoes.

***

Thursday

Raining again. No, really.

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There is an app for that... well done

iPhone Commercial for Ex-Boyfriends - Watch more Funny Videos

wed

Rain. Followed by more rain. Then some rain. Then some mowing.
**
Papa John got his Camaro back. Kind of a cool story
**
I think there is a job opening at this local news station:

Livid Producer Screaming During Report - Watch more Epic Fails

Tuesday

GUIDO of the week. These guys are such tools.

Monday

Wow, I have really not been on here much at all. I have been busy with so many other things that I have really not been on the computer too much. During which time I missed an email saying that we needed to do one more thing to get the kids signed up for school. Mary found it, but it was too late. I went in this morning and got it worked out and they started at Kirkwood. That is hard to believe.
**
My neighbor Dan and I worked hard on his deck all weekend, but did not make the deadline of Sunday at 3:00 when his party started. We really just have to finish the rails and it will be done. We are taking a couple of days off and then hopefully finish it up this week. I really want to have a weekend to do other things. The problem is he works late and the days are getting shorter.
**
I have not checked in on the tech world to know what is going on. But I did stumble across this link on facebook of all places.
**
This guy is amazing!

another day..

Another day another shooting...

Police have charged a Cedar Rapids man with attempted murder after an early morning shooting Sunday in the parking lot of a troubled Iowa City nightspot.

Iowa City Police say Bernard James Butler, 18, shot Cortez Parker of Iowa City in the abdomen during a fight outside of Los Cocos Bar, at 1921 Keokuk St.

Parker, who turns 34 Monday, was transported to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics where he underwent surgery for non-life threatening injuries, police said.

Officers first responded at 1:02 a.m. Sunday after several 911 callers reported shots fired in the bar’s parking lot. When they arrived on the scene, police say witnesses provided a description of the suspect who had fled south from the parking lot.

Once apprehended, police say Butler admitted to being at the bar and in a fight in the parking lot of Los Cocos. Police said one of the defendant’s shoes was located in another parking lot through which witnesses said he ran before police arrived. A shell casing also was located in the bar’s parking lot, police said.
****
This same bar has had numerous shootings, stabbings, and fights. One of the shootings that was a block away from our old house started at this bar.
***
We got a lot done on Dan's patio today. We were getting it about done and a storm blew in and chased us off. It has been SO damn hot here the last few days that it has been really bad working out there.
**

thursday

I have no idea what this video is about, but it sure is cool.

funny stuff

Mary sent me this video. It is funny because the Fox "reporter" is trying to tear this lady down, but she won't go. She has good answers for all of his "some people say" BS. So what does he do? He cuts her off for a breaking news story. That's right.. It is shark week(!) on the discovery channel. I really don't want to debate the good/bad of the cash for clunkers program at all, but all of that aside, you gotta admit this is pretty funny.

**
Mary also sent me a link to THIS STORY. Seems a group of about 30 youths were walking around in the street at night and a bunch of gunfire took place. If you are assuming from that account that it was a group of black youths probably imported from Chicago by our city, then you are indeed a RACIST!!! You are correct, naturally, but never the less YOU ARE A RACIST! This took place on the street that went in front of our house one block over.

Wed.

I am off today. Got the truck in to be worked on and just killing some time waiting. While waiting, I came across this video. I don't know what to think about this one:

I liked this one though: All Rocky movies in 5 seconds.

Tuesaday

Mary sent me this link to PEE POWER

I just got done ordering a new macbook pro 15" for my mom. I am really happy for her. I think she will really enjoy having a good way to record her music and also just having a good computer to use.

Monday

This demo made the news today.



I saw a related video while I was watching it. It seems there is a certain amount of skill involved in a building.

Sunday

Today was so nice here in Iowa. About 80 for a high but really nice. I finally got a new tube for my bike and fixed it then went for a ride. Later Mary and I took the boat out and paddled around for a while. After I ate WAY too much lasagna I decided to go for a slow bike ride to work it off. I was tracking it with my iPhone and it said I was going just under 10mph. If I pick it up a little I can average 10 easy. By the time I got home I was just over 13 mph. Not Lance's speed, but pretty good for an old-full-of-lasagna guy in Iowa. If you click on the "hybrid" tab you can see that there are some nice trails to ride on in our neighborhood. They are all blacktop and pretty nice to ride.

SATURDAY

I spent the morning helping my neighbor on his deck. I went through and sanded the tops of the decking while Dan ran to the store to get some stain. We wanted to get it on before he left for Sturgis. We got that done and then he jumped on his bike and took off a bit late.
Later I took the boat out and did a little fishing. That was REALLY relaxing. I had my feet hanging over the boat in the water and caught a few small bass. Then at the end I hauled in a huge friggin catfish. They are not supposed to hit on the bait I was using, but this guy did not know that. He got all three hooks embedded really deep and there was no way I could get it out. I yelled at Alex, who was outside listening to her ipod, to get her mom. Mary called my neighbor Scott and he came out as another neighbor came by. We had to cut the bars off of the hooks to get him free. I don't take my phone in the boat on the outside chance I might fall in the water. I wished I had it with me so I could take a picture but we were mostly trying to get that bad boy back in the water in time. After I got back to the house I reached in my pocket and realized I had my camera with me for some reason. (duh) It was pretty cool though.

THESE THINGS are kind of cool and remind me of the band room in Keota High where we threw these things around and stuck them into the big wooden doors on the closets. That was not dangerous or stupid.

Happy Friday, all. And with that I give you the following. Who comes up with this stuff, anyway?

I'm back.

Well it has been a long time since I posted much of anything.
Last night Mary said she was going to watch Bill O' for one minute and see if he could piss us off during that short time. He did. He was rambling on about how "Mr. Obama" did not have the support of the people on his health care plan. It is funny how they call him Mr. Obama instead of President Obama, but yet they STILL call bush "President Bush". Anyhow, I digress.. He was quoted some study that he found that proved his point. I remember wondering who conducted the study and who they polled. Then today I saw this story and it made me laugh. Bill will probably use this next:

Study: Most Children Strongly Opposed To Children’s Healthcare

I still find this image hard to believe. It is on the internet, though so it has to be true. The story goes that the folks in Detroit lifted the restrictions for them to fly (very-very) low. People have pointed out in the comments that it is Detroit so:
1. Most of the buildings are empty anyway.
2. The owners of the buildings would love to cash in the insurance on them.

**
86 wheeler?


***
faildogs brought you this image:

Saturday

We had a guest in the pond today. We think it is a crane, but really don't know. He flies in every year and fishes for a couple of days and moves on. His wings are easily six feet across.

Just perfect..

I have way too much going on right now in my life. Then I get a call from the district court saying that i have to report to federal jury duty in Davenport on Monday. They said I should call Friday first so I am hoping that means that I may not have to go. That is the last thing I need right now.

Wed..

blackpeopleloveus.com is just brilliant. The testimonials are too funny. Some of the letters are great also. There are some folks that just don't understand humor.
**
I don't know why an animated girl swinging a leek and singing jibberish is so appealing, but I had a hard time turning this off.
***

Saturday

This is pretty funny: Gordon Lightfoot sings Rod Stewart (as performed by Burton Cummings).
**
THIS had to hurt.
***
Holy bat-cycle, Batman!

Tuesday

Here is a good place to kill some time. You will find stuff like the 12 most bizarre yearbook photos. Or the most bizarre mugshots. Is #7 Bevis or Butthead? I can never remember?

Monday

Really nice day here. Gotta love it. Early dinner, then deck buildin' with Dan.
**
THIS is the best dog costume EVER!!!!

***
Mary sent me an article from the newspaper today. There is a little market by where we used to live. It was called T&M but recently was changed to "creekside market". They were broken into a while back. They caught the kids that did it. They both live about a block away from where we used to live. I remember one of the kids since our kids started school with him. He stood out because he was so damn big.
I was just looking through the police reports to find it and I see that somebody was held up at gunpoint. They said they had no money so the guy hit him with the gun. Police found the clothes the perp was wearing ditched in the Broadway area. Go figure. You can imagine the description of the perp, but I won't say it because I would be profiling and we here in Iowa City believe that EVERYONE is good and everyone deserves to have a home and everyone... blaah blaah blaah.

sunday

Dan and I get started on the deck about 9:30 and quit about 8:00 tonight. We got quite a bit done, but not as much as I would have liked. The problem is that he works normal hours and so he does not have the afternoons to work like I do. He is busy all of the coming weekends with things going on except for the weekend we go to OK. Then we get back and he rides out to Sturgis. It is going well, though

***
HERE is some amazing etch-o-sketch stuff for you.

****

Friday

I got home from work today and helped my neighbor Dan get started on extending his deck out five feet. Does not sound like much, but it will make it big enough that it is actually useful. It is so stupid that they build houses that back up to a pond and put tiny little decks on them. Spend an extra hunnerd-bucks or whatever and make it so you can put a table out there and still walk around it.
**
I have never heard of him until today, but this guy does not suck:

**
I have heard of PETA before, and they still suck.
***
In case anybody ever forgets that RIAA sucks, they like to remind us now and then. Hats off to Richard Marx for calling them out on it.

Thursday

well here I am on the porch again. It is really hot out here but I just got done helping dan dig post holes for his deck addition. It is too cold inside to go on right now. I need to cool down first
I a
typing this ony iPhone and takes a while. I getting better. A couple of the apps are amazing. This takes too long so I wp add more when I am on the MacBook later

monday

I got through the weekend. I had to work, so we kind of skipped over Father's day. No big deal. One of our neighbor families is moving and another neighbor had a party for them. I went over after I got off work and had a really nice time on Saturday. We decided we need to think of more reasons to have neighborhood parties.
**
So is this the real Stig?
**
This is a creepy video of what happens when a kid with obviously big troubles gets his WOW account deleted by his mom. And, no, the remote will not fit up there.

Cancelled WoW Account Meltdown - Watch more Funny Videos
***
Here is a great quote..
Iconoclast to the last, one of Carbondale’s most intriguing personalities, John Palmer, died at his home Monday evening, June 15, after a long and courageous battle with cancer. According to his younger daughter, Aurora, among his last words were: “I can’t believe Keith Richards outlived me.” John was 62.

Friday

Hey, my old neighborhood made the news again! You know the part of town that the dumb bastards that run Iowa City decided to write off and fill with low income housing and habitat for humanity crap. This is just the latest news from that part of town. Mary sent me this and pointed out the classic quote of all time which is in bold.

An Iowa City man was arrested Thursday after he allegedly entered a home and fought with the residents and guests.

Michael D. Johnson, a.k.a. “MJ,” 31, 2167 Keokuk St., Apt. 10, was charged with third-degree burglary after he allegedly entered a house Wednesday evening and fought with the residents. According to police, officers responded to a fight at 2640 Whispering Prairie Ave. in Iowa City and were told by the resident that Johnson entered her house without permission. She said that she told Johnson to leave, but he refused and assaulted a guest at the house, according to the arrest report.

After she told him she was calling the police, Johnson pushed her into a door and told her that he was going to kill her, police said. He then fled the scene before police arrived, but he left his hat and identification card at the house, police said. Before he was arrested, he later told police on the phone that he was going back to Chicago and would return with his lawyer, according to the police report.

Johnson remained in the Johnson County Jail on a $10,000 cash bond. If convicted of the Class D felony, he faces up to five years in prison.

Way to go, Iowa City! FAIL.

hanging out with my kids.

Here is Alex, Tim, and I playing with our macbooks at home. (click on the photo to enlarge it-you know the drill)

Wed.

I have the day off. Gotta work this weekend.
I am listening to chickenfoot and so far I like it.
I was on Gizmodo reading the comments after a video of a cop tazering a 70 year old woman. Some say she deserved it as she was not obeying the cop. Some said it does not matter that she was old. The guy who shot up the museum was 80. Personally I think it does matter that she was old. If you are a cop and you can't restrain a 5 foot great-grandma by grabbing her wrist and turning it, forcing her arm behind her back, then you need to be retrained or look elsewhere for work. It does matter how old she is when you decide to run 30,000 volts (or whatever it is) through a person's body.
I digress. Here is the comment that I thought was so funny:
Neither you nor the cop know if she was armed or not at the time. She kept trying to get back in her vehicle. Kids in Texas have gun racks on their Big Wheels.

Sunday

Well I feel human again. Yesterday I was feeling better, but not really up to full speed. "Big Tim's" son Derek got married yesterday and the whole family went up to the wedding. It was a really nice ceremony and it was really nice to see all of the Harbach's again. Carol, A.K.A. mom, looks great and just as I remember her from the first time I met her long long ago. Terry looks great too and is just as silly as ever. It always makes me feel good to be around those folks.
Tim's other son Declan played with his band at the reception. He played bass and some drums. They sounded really good. Tim was running sound and that was fun to see him enjoying that. They had a few rough spots here and there, but then I would remember they are only about 16. I was trying to think how bad I sounded back then and then I remembered that the only thing I played back then was the radio. So it was fun and I am sure they will do well with it and have a lot of fun.
I stayed up until about 3:00 a.m. 2 nights ago and got back up at about 7:00. Last night I stayed up fairly late and got back up at 6:00 a.m. I have had SOOO much sleep the last few days that I think my tank is full for a while. It is nice, though, since it makes this day nice an long.
Our Neighbor Dan is coming over later and we are going to Menard's to look at some wood for his deck. We hope to start that next week. I am looking forward to that.
I was in the yard yesterday and I heard a weird chirping. I looked around and found a baby sparrow. I called Mary out and we picked him up. But we still heard chirping. There was another across they yard. We have no idea where they dropped in from since there are no trees of any size around. So we have a couple of guests for the next week or so. They are just past the ugly phase, and are in the ugly/cute phase right now.
So far the pond looks amazing. We added the ultrasonic unit as well as put dye in the water. The dye kept the weeds from growing up and the ultrasonic unit is supposed to kill algae cells as they form. So far we have none at all. Amazing the difference is and money well spent.
What a great day. I feel much better, it is nice out, and I am really enjoying it.

Man, I have been sick the last 2 days. I don't know what got me, but it took me out. I have slept more in the last 2 days then I do in a week. I am starting to feel human again but still not up to par.

I thought this was kind of funny..

WWDC

Well the WWDC is over and I am kind of bummed. We are due for new phones, and I was hoping that they would come out with something that is an iPod touch with a phone in it. I don't need the web anywhere I go and I don't want to pay an extra 50 a month for it. I would, however, like to pull my phone out of my pocket and hook up to the wifi when I am on break at work. I would also like to be able to have my contacts and calendar functions sync up with my mac and be able to access them easily. I would really like to be able to download apps for the store. If I could do that, I could stop carrying my Macbook to work every day to entertain me (and hopefully keep me awake) on my breaks.
The new macbooks look really nice. They are all "pro" now. Using the same batteries technology as the Air and the 17" pro. Some other good stuff. Nice.
They did release the much rumored $100 iPhone. But I don't know who would buy it. If you are going to shell out the money for the data plan, why would you spend $99 for the old phone? For another hunnerd-bucks you get twice the storage, a better camera with auto focus, and some additional "cool" points for being on top of things.
I really liked the upgrade to Snow Leopard being only $29. Dig that!
All in all it was a good showing, but I am sure that stock will tank any minute now since, as per usual, there was so much speculation about what they were going to do that they could never live up to it.

HUGE HAIR!

Mary noticed this on the weather channel. I had the camera sitting here, so I took a picture of it. QUARTER SIZED HAIR!!!

thursday

Here are some really good singers from the finals of Britain's got talent. I might actually watch this show if it were on here.

This kid is amazing

This guy has a great voice, and apparently does not ever need to inhale

And of course, Susan Boyle was back and again nailed it

And, BTW, none of them won.

More Tuesday

Wish I could convert these prices to today's dollars.

tuesday.

Behold.. the power of google..
Yea, I have the day off and am just surfing around this morning a bit before I decide what I am going to do with my day. I don't really have any big projects in the works and it makes me feel restless to not either be working on something or thinking about it.
**
I watched the trailer last night for Xbox's interactive-controller-free interface that they are working on. When I first read about it I though it was a dumb idea. 1. you need to have some kind of controller to signal things like shooting and to access different functions of the game. 2. It is is Microsoft. But after watching the trailer I have changed my mind. It is actually a REALLY dumb idea. HERE
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Stove and I play Forza2. It is a wicked cool racing game on the xBox. HERE is a trailer video for Forza3 which has been confirmed for an October release. It has a crazy 450 cars available and 100 tracks to run on. It is going to use a new engine to deliver 60 fps of really nice video. The thngs I like are:
*In cockpit view with all mirrors working
*More realistic crashes with roll-overs and such.
*A video editor.
There are some other nice things about it too. Hope they deliver all of it.
More screen shots and such HERE

I went in to work this morning. Kind of a chilly without a coat so I put the heat on a bit in the truck. As I was pulling into the ramp I realized that there was no heat. I looked at the gauge and it was in the middle. I felt the air coming out of the vent and it was cold. DOH! So I pulled into the ramp and opened the hood. I squeezed the main hose to the radiator and it was not pressurized. Hmm.. I wiggled that cap on the radiator and it was on the safety and not sealed. I think (am hoping) that the water just evaporated slowly over time and that there are no leaks. I never saw steam or puddles, and I did not smell it coming off of the core. I put some water in it and drove it home. No leaks. But I did notice something a bit odd. Yea, if you look close at the picture (click on it to enlarge it) you will see that the guys that worked on the truck a while back left a clip board on top of the 318. After they worked on it I was driving home and noticed the hood was on the safety catch, and not latched. I remember wondering what else they forgot. I guess I know. I am going to call them Monday and see if they checked the coolant when they were working on it. That would explain the cap not being sealed.

wow

I stumbled across this kid on YouTube. I think he was 16 when he did this. Wish you could hear the kick drums better.

walmart update

I talked to the manager at Walmart today and he was very polite and professional and he handled it exactly as I would expect him to. He honored the price that I thought I was getting (and was written on the package) and promised that he would talk to her.
I am still in disbelief over the way she treated me, but I fell much better about the whole thing and will continue to spend way too much money there. Job well done, Kurt.

Thursday

LENOIR, N.C. -- A manhunt is over in Caldwell County, where several people were shot. Two of the injured were deputies.

The shooting happened around 11 p.m. Wednesday at two homes on Grandin Road near Blue Creek Road. That’s north of the town of Lenoir.

Officials say it started as an argument when one man’s dog killed his neighbor’s cat. The neighbor then shot the dog, prompting the dog’s owner to shoot his neighbor and the neighbor’s 8-year-old daughter.

When sheriff’s deputies came out to investigate, the man who shot the father and daughter began shooting. One deputy was hit multiple times and was flown to Carolinas Medical Center for treatment. Another deputy was hit in the arm and treated at a nearby hospital. Meanwhile, the father and daughter were also taken to the hospital after the scene was secured, but there is no word on their condition.

Deputies eventually moved in on the shooter, and more shots were fired, resulting in the suspect’s death.

Stay tuned for updates.

Well Wallmart sucks.

I while back I took some negatives into Walmart and asked if they could scan them. The guy told me the price. I told him that I did not want prints made, just to scan them and put them on a disk. He said that was no problem and he would just charge me the $2.50 for the disk. Well that was a hell of a deal and he was very kind and so I remembered his name. It is Ross. I went in yesterday to print out photos from graduation to send out to folks in the thank you cards. He was there and was again very helpful and walked me through the process. I messed up something and the fixed it and joked about it so I would not feel stupid. So I asked him if he would do some more slides. He said sure. I brought them in when I came back to pick up the prints I made that day. He told me that they had to do them overnight now and I could pick them up the next day.
So today we went in to make a bunch more prints. I asked to get the disks. Different girl gets the envelope and starts to hand it to me. She sees "$2.50" written on the package and says that is the "wrong" price. I told her that is what I was told it would be. She calls a manager. I wait. Then she says it is the wrong price and it would be a lot more. I asked if I could get my negatives back and she gave them to me. Then I asked to talk to the manager.
An "assistant manager" named Diane came out. I started to explain what happened. Right away she kept interrupting me. I could not finish a sentence. She asked who did it and I told her. So she says that she is going to have to take my name and call me back.
What I was trying to tell her was this: I was quoted a price of $2.50. Now they say they want $84. It would seem a mistake was made. At this point, it really does not matter where it was made. Either Ross quoted me the wrong price, or Diane just did not understand that the scans were not made into prints since she never let me talk the whole time. Since I am not going to pay $84 they have 2 choices. Sell it to me at the quoted price and I leave happy and probably buy a bunch of other stuff while I am there, or I walk out of here upset and they throw away the product with nothing. But she just kept interrupting me so I never got to say that.
Finally I said, "If you well let me get one sentence in I will explain" She said, "Fine". I said, "I brought these negatives in yesterday". Then she holds her hand up at me and says, "that was one sentence" and walks away.
I could not believe it. I said, "are you seriously walking away from me". She said yes. I looked at her little name tag and said, "So you are Diane, who is your boss.. I want to talk to them right now". She said, "I AM MY BOSS".
I said I wanted to talk to somebody else and she said that if I did not leave now she would call the cops.
So I took my negatives and left. I went to the customer service desk and asked who Diane's boss is. They said it is Kirt and he would be in tomorrow. So first thing tomorrow Kirt and I will be talking about what happened.
I am an assistant manager at work. I have to deal with upset people once in a while. I can't imagine walking away from a customer. I can't imagine refusing to tell them who my boss is. That has never happened in 25 years, but if it did, I would tell them. If I did not then I would deserve whatever I got. I can't imagine telling a customer that I would call the cops because they were not satisfied with a bullshit answer if I gave them one.
I hate going into a retail place and having employees that are rude or don't know what they are doing. Walmart used to have a guy named Adam that worked in electronics. I know his name because when people would ask me about video games or systems, I would tell them to go talk to Adam at Walmart. He was amazing. he knew everything and was really helpful and pleasant. You got the feeling that he liked what he did. Yesterday I got the same feeling from Ross. He just wanted to do whatever he could to make the customer happy and comfortable. When the computer crashed he said, "it was nothing you did, the computer is not feeling well. We can just use this one" and apologized for it. I think that is what Sam Walton would have wanted and he built an empire on that.
Well Sam is gone now.
I have no idea how Diane got to be an assistant manager. I would think with her attitude she should feel lucky to have gotten that far in the company. I would think that in these economic times she would be very happy to have a job, much less one that she is not qualified to do.
My wife was one of the original employees at that store when it opened. Our twins we a few months old. They graduated high school last weekend so I guess it has been a while. She could not believe that any employee would get away with that, much less someone who is (at least today) an assistant manager.

Wed.

Sometimes I see a website that just makes me laugh. I laugh because I think of how many people and how many machines and how many millions of dollars it takes to make the internet work. I wonder if those founding father's of the internet could have ever thought it would be used for this:
RunPee.com is a website that will tell you what times in a movie you can run to the bathroom and not miss too much. There is a mobile version for the iPhone coming soon.

Beuler.. Beuler.. Beuler..

Camron's house is for sale: HERE

Wow.

HERE are some cool 3D murals done on some buildings.
**

We did it. Our kids have graduated high school. The graduation party went as well as we could have ever hoped for. The weather was great and there were no major hitches. I just wish that it was not such a busy weekend. There were a lot of folks that could not make it who I missed. There were some that dropped in on the way to other parties. I wish they could have stayed longer (and eaten more) and I could have spent more time with them. But there were also some folks that came that I did not expect. It was great to see Steve from the old neighborhood. Nick was not supposed to be in town, but things changed and he was over for a while and then came back with his wife and we got to hang out with them.
We confirmed that we have the greatest neighbors ever last night. Scott and Jodi came through in such a big way with the truck load of meat and the picnic table and other stuff. Dan and Marcia brought over some really great cakes. I did not try the other one, but we called the dark one "chocolate crack" because it was friggin' amazing. We finally packed it in just before 03:00.
Today my head hurts a bit and we have a mess to clean up, but I will have some chocolate crack and some milk and I should be good to go.
Last night when Nick was leaving we were talking about getting together and having a few beers some night. He said we had to do it over here because we have all the screen porch and the decks and stuff and they don't really have a nice place to hang out. Then it hit me that we spent the whole night in the garage. :-) I guess it is kind of like how you get nice comfy couches and stuff and then when people come over, you sit in the kitchen.
I made bogus labels for the computer boxes. I asked Tim about it and he said he thought that something might be up, but he really did not expect that.
All in all, a pretty good day.

I guess we are ready

I hope we are ready. It is just now hitting me what is happening tomorrow. I have been so busy with everything, it does not seem real. I spent some tonight breaking down the meat into smaller packages. I went and got a vacuum bagger to put some of it in since I am SURE some it will get frozen. BTW, here is what 80 lbs. of ham and turkey look like when they are in your fridge. Yea, the whole shelf is full all the way to the back and there are a couple of bags in the freezer. (THANKS SCOTT!!) I don't know if you can see it, but the shelf is bowed pretty badly.

Oh, yea..

Last night Mary and I were talking about how great our neighbors are here in the new house. Today I was clearing out old bookmarks and came across one that was a link to a story about the kid that lived across the street in the old 'hood. The city was using my money to help them buy the house because they are so deserving, but they had to move when the dad was convicted of raping a 15 year old girl, although he never faced charges for raping his own daughter. Here is what happened to his son. STORY HERE Looks like my money will still be used feed and house him for a long time.

Friday..

Death by irony: LINK.
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Oh, this is too funny: Microsoft's laptop hunter's commercials got busted again. First it turns out that "Lauren" just happens to have a SAG card. Then somebody noticed that in the next one there is a shot of the suck going into the apple store. After looking around for a while, she comes back out and the same 2 guys are walking by. Okay, that was staged too. Now this: http://macenstein.com/default/archives/4188

It's me..

Man, I have been busy and have not really been surfing the net or keeping up with the blog thing. I got the wall unit done and that is a big relief. I had planned on putting in tile in the lower entryway, but that did not happen. I just ran out of time.
I fought with getting grass to grow on the side of the added porch, but it just would not start. The dog runs across there when he comes out of his door and it always gets packed down. I broke down and bought some sod today. I should have done that long ago and been done with it. That is a fair amount of work.
I think we are about ready for the party on Sunday. Our neighbor is bringing over 80 lbs of sliced meat so I hope folks are hungry. Our neighbors on the other side are doing the cakes. Can't beat that.
We wanted to move the piano downstairs, but I just don't have the help to do it. My one big friend has a broken arm and everyone is really busy right now. We decided to have West come over and do it. What a waste of $80 to move it down five stairs, but it is better then somebody (probably me) getting hurt or crunching the piano. They are coming tomorrow morning.
I have NO idea how many people are going to be here Sunday so it is kind of hard to plan. We will have plenty of meat for sure (thanks Scott) but I don't know about things like beer and such. I am sure it will all work out.
Well I am beat. Must sleep.

Wed.

Another day, another riot here is fabulous Iowa City, Iowa. Thanks, again because I really hated living in a peaceful town. Morons.
**
I got the wall unit moved in the house. I have to go assemble it now and start putting on the trim pieces.

Tuesday..

My sister Laurie was up today. We had a nice afternoon hanging out.
*
THIS is pointless, but pretty cool. Not sure what the video format is though.

Monday

Iowa City used to be such a nice town. I have been here almost 30 years and I can not remember ever hearing about something like this:
A group of approximately 60 adults and juveniles were involved in fight on Hollywood Boulevard Sunday night, leaving at least three injured.
Iowa City Police responded to the 2300 block of Hollywood Boulevard at 8:49 p.m. Sunday after receiving reports of a large fight involving guns, knives and baseball bats.
When officers arrived on scene, they found 50 to 60 adults and juveniles fighting in the street. Police said the subjects fled the scene before officers could detain them.
Baseball bats were used in the fight, Iowa City Police said, but there was not confirmation regarding the knives or guns.
Three reported minor injuries.
No arrests have been made and the incident remains under investigation.

In an unrelated story: Iowa City bullshit run away liberal attitude has brought a bunch of nice folks in from St. Louis and Chicago.

FRIDAY in a big way.

Well I made it. It is Friday and I am on vacation for about three weeks. Big whoot for that.
**
Bad news for you trekkies.. VIDEO

Monday

Busy day. Got some done on the cabinets and then worked on making some trim rings (don't know what to call them) for the 2 trees out back. They have the same black spindles as the deck rails.
Now I gotta get ready to call it a day and watch 24.
But first:
This just in.. Where's Waldo? Google street view found him. It looks like he is buying an iPhone.
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THIS is just too weird.
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HERE is a bunch of old drum machines. I just found that and have not looked at it yet, but I gotta go. JACK IS ON! I think this is the episode where he whispers a bunch, then yells, then kills some folks.
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Wow...


Okay.... Off to bed.

Sunday

Wow, been busy. Trying to get shelves done as well as other projects. The yard needs mowing every couple of days and the neighbors on both sides of us were/are gone so I tried to mow a lot of yards today.
**
I was in our bedroom and heard a big noise so I grabbed the camera and took this photo off of our back deck. :-)


**
Here is my next mixing board..

I can't imagine what the price will be on that baby, but here is what we know about it so far.
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What's in a name, anyway?

Cool. Just cool.


Saturday

Wow. Busy day. Started in about 9:00 this morning and just quit at 8:30 tonight. I have been working on the bookcases a lot. I got the sides cut and dados cut. Then I remembered that I have to drill all of those damn holes for the pegs to hold the shelves. I REALLY hate that chore. Got that done and then started in on sanding. I got the four sides for the 2 outside shelves done and stained on the inside. Then I cut all of the fixed shelves, sanded and stained them. I was outside and was getting ready to go to Menard's when neighbor Dan came over. He wondered if I wanted to go to Menards. So off we went. We stopped at Autozone and got brake pads, rotors, and shocks for the truck. Then at Menards we got some of the decking that we will use to make his deck later this summer. I got the 3 sheets of 1/4" plywood for the backs of the cases. That took about 2 hours. Came home and started staining the other sides of the shelves.
I made some goulash stuff that the kids really like and we all ate too much.
Then the Iowa Pond Guy showed up. He was here to install the ultrasonic algae killer. So we mounted the box and about then Dan came out to see what was up. We all worked on digging up the yard so we could bury the cable out to the pond. I was so glad I did not have to do that by myself like I did with the air hose. I was full of goulash and really did not feel like digging, but it is done!
Then I mowed off the back yard. Then I got the second back piece cut, sanded and stained. Now tomorrow when I get up I can start out by putting poly on all of them before I go to Ranger Rick's house. I am going to go over there and he is going to help me install the parts on the Dakota. By "help" I mean do all of the work while I watch. He has a shelf project for his house and we are going to figure out what he wants and then I can bring the wood home and cut it here.
By the time I get home I should be able to put some more poly on the shelves.
That should about do it.

FRIDAY!

85 outside, gotta get busy.. but first this:
Here is something that you don't often hear an 82 year old guy say, "When I opened the door, he started toward me and I kicked him in the balls," STORY HERE
So much for, "GET THE HELL OFF OF MY LAWN!". I bet those 2 come up with a better story as to why they are in prison.
**
Gotta get busy making some rails to enclose the flower planter on the deck. I need to make it so it matches the other 2 and also keep the dog out. He likes to chew up flower bulbs. After that I need to get back to work on the book cases. I decided to cut the dados in the sides and everything and then go ahead and stain and poly the insides of the panels. I will do the glue up and then do the outsides when it is together. I think it will be so much easier to get poly on if the panels are laid out flat. Also if a bit of glue oozes out and i don't get it ALL off there won't be the problem of stain not taking there. See how it goes... Here is a Sketchup of the project. It will have crown molding around the top, but I was too lazy to draw it in.

Wed.

Well I am sitting here looking forward to getting picked up for drunk driving. They are supposed to pick me up in about 10 min to take me to the simulator and load me up to drive. That should be interesting.
It is 68 here in Iowa City. Holy cow I see it is 98 in Paul's Valley! I can't imagine that right now because this just feels GREAT.
I will be mowing in the next few days. That will make it official and I can't wait.
Gotta dash. More later.
**
Okay. I am back. Today was the control day I guess because as soon as I took a drink of the juice I knew there was nothing in it. But yet, you have to go through all of the same process as if it were packin' including the part where you sit in the little room and surf the net while you "sober up".
Here is the really funny part: As I was driving the simulator I got a phone call. Naturally I let it go to voice mail. When I was in the sober-up room I checked my voice mail. "Hi, this is Rachael at the National Driving Simulator. It says here that you might be interested in coming in to do a study. If you are interested, please call me at XXX-XXXX. How funny is that. I was like 30 feet away from here driving the car and she was calling me to see if I was interested in driving the car. Um.... YES.. yes I am interested.
Anyhow, once again it was prety fun to do and any time I can get paid to have fun.. well sign me up.

Sunday

We got pictures taken last night and today. I found a guy that needs to do subjects for his portfolio to get into the BFA program here at Iowa. He was very nice and worked really well with the 'utes. We took a bunch around the house and by the pond and then went to the high school and shot some out there. He is going to come to work and shoot people working. It will be nice to have stock photos for when we do promos and websites and stuff. We usually shoot them ourselves, but if you can get somebody that is really good at it, then you might as well.
***
I have been at Menards at least three times and ran into my neighbor Dan when he is standing there looking lost. I like to sneak up on him. He always laughs because the reason he looks lost is that he wants to buy some lumber and can't get it home. So today Mary and I are going to Menard's and I am putting gas in the truck. The phone rings and it is Dan. "what are you doing?" I tell him I am gassin' up the truck and he asks if I am wanting to go to Menards today.
Too funny. So he jumped in the car and met us over there. He and his wife are pretty darn fine neighbors and I don't mind a bit going on lumber runs with him.
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Worst. Craig's List. Ad. EVER.

JUnk for sale - $100 (ic)

Reply to: sale-q5gbh-1129840810@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
Date: 2009-04-19, 12:56PM CDT


selling some junk

Location: ic
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 1129840810
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Jalopnik had a link to a video of a run on the Nurburgring track with a Ruf Porsche. It is fun to watch and it really looks like he has his hands full. Not to mention passing folks who probably think they are going really fast. Then I watched a video of a VIPER running it and taking a full min off of the time. It just does not even seem like he is going as fast because he makes it look easy. It surprised me that the Viper set the record since there are cars out there that are way more advanced and certainly better balanced. It was originally built as a low-tech big displacement hot rod. Anyhow, seems like things are easier now.
Steve and I drive this track on Forza Motor Sports 2. I usually make it around in about 8 min. It is a huge track and fun to drive. Especially when you don't get killed every time you hit a wall.

Saturday

Do you think that part of MLK's dream was to have his family name remembered as money grubbers?
**
Ever notice that when geeks use office equipment to play music it is usually a Mario theme? I guess that is what they grew up on. So here you have a laser cutter doing Mario's Theme

lazzor music! from hypatia on Vimeo.
***
TOO FUNNY. Somebody was really watching closely. You know the "Lauren" commercials that MS is running now.. Where Lauren goes into an Apple store and then comes back out after looking at all of the computers and says she is just not cool enough to own a Mac. Well it seems that she never really even went into the store. I am sure that Apple would not let them film in the store so they faked it, but still kinda funny.