Raukodraug's Blog

...And There's No Reason to Wait

2009-03-05T08:51:00.005-06:00

Those who know me know that I'm a bit of a procrastinator. Of all the things I'm trying to change in my life right now, that's one of the hardest to tackle. Riding the Metro, driving less, and walking more have been easy. Keeping up with people through Facebook has been easier than posting here, but, either way, I'm doing better at keeping in touch with people. Even losing weight has been easier than I would have thought (helped by the whole walking more/driving less thing).

Now, I rationalize most of my procrastination as being too busy being a dad to get around to the other stuff I want/need to do. Reworking that kitchen cabinet? Well, I can't do it in the evenings because there will be too much dust and noise... and the weekends are taken up with running other errands. Cleaning up the garage and getting my workbench organized? Well, I don't have the chance in the evenings, and by the time we get the girls to sleep it's too late to really get started. And fixing the fridge... well, I finally got that one done... after a year of procrastinating.

But the thing that I have procrastinated on the longest is getting to the doctor. I haven't had a regular checkup since September 11th, 2001. I walked away from the doctor that day a little peeved, and by the time I received my cholesterol test results, and my doctor's "recommendations", I was really peeved. After sitting in the waiting room (with most of the nurses) and watching the devastation at world trade center complex, I was told I had high blood pressure. (Really? After watching that news coverage? No kidding...) Now, prior to this I had no history of high blood pressure, nor has it been an issue since. But that day my doctor, who I had been growing less happy with anyway, insisted that I start a prescription regimen for the high blood pressure. A week later I received my cholesterol test results. Included with them was a prescription for a cholesterol med. Since I was 24 at the time I was interested in changing my diet and exercise habits. But when I called the doctor's office he told me that, because of my father's history, he felt that diet and exercise wouldn't work and I should "just start the prescription". I never went back. (Though I have called an unnamed ER doc when I've been sick... and the co-pay was VERY reasonable... BBQ.)

Since then I have tried and failed a few times to change my diet and exercise habits on my own. A little more than two years ago I began taking little steps toward better health, with the big step starting just a few weeks ago.

And then this morning I was listening to NPR and they were talking about snoring and sleep apnea. Now, Nisra has told me MANY times that I snore and that I stop breathing when I sleep. And I've put off getting it checked out because I haven't been to a doctor in over 7 years, and I've needed to find a new primary care physician. Now, as I try to stop procrastinating, this has moved to the top of my list.

Because every day that passes is another day lost... and there's no reason to wait.

Resolution updates

2009-01-21T15:07:00.003-06:00

Things seem to be going well on my first resolution to loose weight. During the first two weeks of my diet (South Beach for those who care), I have lost 9 pounds. That leaves only 32 more to go to reach my goal.

Taking the Metrolink has also been great. Although the gas savings weren't as sizable as I had hoped due to increased errand running (10 days between fill-ups instead of the previous 9), I have found another benefit. One of my major stress points was getting to work on time and getting home at a decent hour through the Clayton traffic. Since starting to take the Metro I have only been late twice (both times due to child induced lateness leading to missing my train) and I've been getting home at a much better time. I've definitely been able to tell that I'm less stressed than I was.

As for keeping in tough with people... well, that's one for everyone else to decide.

Starting Resolution #2

2009-01-06T10:24:00.002-06:00

So I started taking Metrolink to work today. All went well except for the walk from the station to work. You would think that a place like the Ritz Carlton would salt the sidewalk along their garage better.

On the way to work I decided to do a little experiment as I start this. The question I want to answer is how long will it take for me to now use a tank of gas? Until now it has been right about 9 work days. Now, I'll still be driving to work on Mondays and to and from the Shrewsbury Park & Ride, but this will significantly cut my weekly driving distance... especially since I seldom use my car on the weekends.

So I filled up my car this morning and will see how long it takes before I need to fill up again. Hopefully it will be a nice long time.

The (First) Artist of the Week: Ben Sollee

2009-01-06T01:10:00.004-06:00

I love eclectic music... and my first artist of the week definitely fits the bill. I mean, when you play cello and your Facebook page lists your musical genre as Folk/Soul, something interesting has to be going on.

Ben Solle is great. I found out about him through Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet album, and his solo album quickly became one of my favorites to listen to at work. He brings something different and fun to the cello that takes it far beyond it's reputation as the concert hall big brother of the violin.

How to See The Sun Rise

It's Not Impossible - Live at Bonnaroo Festival

Ben Sollee Official Site

Late Night and the Fun of Netflix

2009-01-05T23:47:00.002-06:00

So I'm going to be up most of the night remoted into my work PC working on a couple of large (and problematic) database loads. I ran a few of these loads last Tuesday night/Wednesday morning and was at work until 3:15. At least this time I was able to get it to work from home.

One nice thing about being at home is that I can open a little side window and watch some of the stuff in my Netflix Instant queue. We only started the Netflix thin in September and I really only had one reason for wanting to do it... Doctor Who. Since then I've started watching the DVDs and streaming episodes of the old shows (starting from the beginning, of course) and I've been streaming the episodes of the new series 1st season. I also streamed all 8 seasons of Red Dwarf, but that's because Red Dwarf was my version of crack when I was younger, and how could I resist.

Well, tonight I finished the 1st season of the new series. There were parts of the season that were a little hokey (which when discussing Doctor Who is neither surprising or necessarily a bad thing), parts that were funny, and numerous parts that made me remember why I loved the show so much when I was young.

Eccleston came across wonderfully as the Doctor, equal parts grumpy, cocky, and fatherly. He was quick to judge a person as unworthy of his time, he let everyone know he was the smartest person in the room, but he was fiercely loyal to Rose (Billie Piper) in both a fatherly, and possibly romantic, way.

I'm looking forward to Season 2, but sadly I will have to wait for the DVDs since Netflix doesn't have it available for streaming.

On the other hand I'm NOT looking forward to the 3 to 4 hours more of work I have to do tonight.

New Year's Resolutions 2009

2009-01-04T20:58:00.001-06:00

Before Christmas I had settled on a single new year's resolution, the same resolution that I started 2007 and 2008 with, to lose weight. Now, 4 days in, I'm doing pretty well.... at least better than 2007 or 2008.

As the holiday season has gone on I've decided to belatedly add some new resolutions. The second resolution is to take more mass transit and drive less. Starting Tuesday I'll be taking the Metrolink train 4 days a week for a little more than half of my daily commute. It will get me to work just as fast as driving was, and faster than driving has been since the Kingshighway to I-170 portion of I-64 closed.

I only added my third resolution earlier today, though it has been coming together since Friday. I had picked up my friend Jen and her daughter from the airport and as I drove her back to her place we were remarking about how we had both lost touch with our college friends. During the discussion she mentioned that she had been using Facebook to get back in touch with people. That evening our friends Mike and Sally came to dinner and, as we sat around and talked Mike mentioned that they were both on Facebook and he rattled off a number of our other friends who had accounts. So I decided to play around with it to see what I thought. So, now, I've added this new resolution to actually try and update my blog and Facebook page and keep in contact with people.

As with all my resolutions, When they start getting hard and/or start feeling like work, I will fall of the wagon. If I'm lucky, I'll come to my senses and climb back on before NEXT New Year's day.

So here's to a great 2009, and to actually following through with my resolutions.

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Betting is now open to see how long it is before I go for a month without posting...

Well if I wasn't an Obama supporter before...

2008-04-11T09:39:00.004-05:00

John Cleese offers to write for Barack Obama

If this had been announced last Tuesday I would have thought it was a great April Fools gag, but apparently this is a legitimate story.

Can't you just see Obama in a variation of the Dead Parrot sketch...

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The President enters the Senate Majority Leader's office.

Barak Obama: Hello, I wish to register a complaint.

(The Senate Majority Leader does not respond.)

Barak Obama: Hello, Miss?

Harry Reid: What do you mean "miss"?

Barak Obama: I'm sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint!

Harry Reid: I'm leavin' for lunch.

Barak Obama: Never mind that. I wish to complain about this bill that I sent to the senate not half an hour ago.

Harry Reid: Oh yes, the, uh, the Healthcare Reform Bill...What's,uh...What's wrong with it?

Barak Obama: I'll tell you what's wrong with it. It's dead, that's what's wrong with it!

Harry Reid: No, no, it's uh,...it's resting.

Barak Obama: Look, buddy, I know a dead bill when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.

Harry Reid: No no it's not dead, it's, it's restin'! Remarkable bill, isn't? Beautiful binding.

Barak Obama: The binding doesn't enter into it. It's stone dead.

Harry Reid: Nononono, no, no! It just need need to be moved from committee!
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31 is the new... overused cliche.

2008-04-07T17:02:00.004-05:00

So I turned 31 on Friday. No longer can I deny that I'm in my 30s (No, no, really I'm only 30... not in my 30s!).

Actually though, it was a pretty great day. Took off from work, got some rewiring done on a light fixture in the basement, ran some errands, and then had friends over for dinner and playing the Wii. All in all a successful, and overall relaxing, birthday.

Saturday I took Nisra and Mouse for haircuts and Pickle and I took a walk around the neighborhood while we waited. My big resolution for turning 31 was more exercise, so I figure I started off pretty well.

Nisra and the girls went back to the old church on Sunday to visit friends. I couldn't bring myself to go. As much as there are people there who I miss, it's just too emotionally hard for me to go back there. Instead, I started cleaning out the garage. I got a surprising amount done as well. Got the yard tools and machinery organized and finally swept out all of the bits of tar paper and shingle crud from when we got a new roof put on in November.

After the girls got home we ran to the Kenrick's Meat Market to order some food and then took a nice hike at Bee Tree Park in far South County. Then we went home and did some grilling and eating.

I actually feel pretty accomplished after this weekend. Got a number of things dome that have been sitting on my to do list, I was able to spend some good time with the girls, AND I was able to get in some good walking and exercise. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up this momentum for the rest of the week.

April Fools Day and other happenings...

2008-04-01T14:42:00.005-05:00

Ah, April Fools Day. Always one of my favorite days of the year. Whether it's Peeping* Sir Galan's apartment, loosening a roommate's gas cap to cause their check engine light to come on, or simply messing with co-worker's computers, it's always a fun day. And today has certainly not let me down.

Better yet, I went and picked up our tax paperwork during my lunch today. We're getting enough back from the Fed to afford putting new insulation in the attic... which will be a huge help with the cooling and heating bills. And instead of owing the state $1 (as our tax preparer initially estimated) we're getting back a whopping $18! Taco Bell for everybody!

I also made another quick stop on the way back from picking up the papers. Since last May I've been walking into random GameStop and EB Games stores asking the question, "Any chance you have a spare Nintendo Wii sitting around looking for a good home?" Today at the Gamestop in Chesterfield Commons (the largest strip mall in the nation!) the answer came back with a "Yes." After verifying that it wasn't some sort of April Fools Day joke (cause you really shouldn't joke about things like this), I called Nisra to verify that a Wii would be a prudent use of part of our tax refund. After she realized that I wasn't pulling some sort of April Fools Day joke on her (because, I repeat, you REALLY shouldn't joke about things like this), she also responded with that beautiful little three letter word... "Yes."

So I now have a Wii. I picked up Wii Play and an extra nunchuk, so that we can at least play two player. Sometime in May/June I'll look at picking up a couple of more controllers and get the game that I'm now really waiting for... Mario Cart Wii.

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* For those that don't know, "Peeping" is the act of hiding/arranging stale marshmallow Peeps in a friends room/apartment. On top of ceiling fans, inside medicine cabinets (especially IN the ibuprofen bottle), and cutting the head off a peep and leaving it on a pillow are some of my favorites.

Home Alone

2008-03-29T08:52:00.003-05:00

Just me and Pickle at home today. Mouse has her first trip to Girl Scout camp and Nisra went with to help drive. Hopefully she'll have a lot of fun.

The plan for Pickle and I is to relax around the house and maybe take a walk once it gets a little warmer. If I can get her laid down during nap I have a bunch of work I could do around the house... yeah, we'll see how far I get on any of that.

The Great Digital TV Switch - Raukodraug Edition

2008-03-27T19:13:00.001-05:00

I heard about it all fall... and on January 1st, just as soon as you could request them, I put in for our 2 free coupons from the federal government.

Well, last night I went and did it. Almost three weeks after receiving the DTV converter box coupons, I went and picked up a box. Now, for those that have missed the barrage of info about it, us cheapskates that still watch broadcast TV will need one of these boxes for each of our TVs by next February, otherwise we will no longer be able to get a signal.

Choice and Purchasing:
I've been trying to find reviews of different boxes for the last few weeks, and it had kind of come down to a choice between the RCA DTA800B and the Zenith DTT900. But the final decision came down to availability. I can't seem to find anyplace that carries the RCA box, so I hit the Radio Shack near the house to pick up the Zenith. After sales tax and the $40 coupon, the box cost me just a little less than $24.

Installation:
If you've ever hooked up a DVD player, videogame system, or even a VCR you shouldn't have a problem. For our TV (a 25+ year old Zenith with pull-button power and volume control, no remote, and a nice woodgrain finish), it was a little more complicated, but only because of its age. Still, it took less than 10 minutes to get it installed and set-up. For a quick rundown...

Turn off the TV (not really a necessity, but when you unplug the antenna you're going to get static, so you might as well).
Set the box on top of the TV.
Plug the box's power cord into the wall/powerstrip.
Unplug the antenna from the TV and plug it into the box.
Take the provided cable and plug one end into the box and the other into the TV where the antenna used to go.
Take the wrapper off the provided battery and put it in the remote that came with the box.
Turn on the TV.
Turn the TV to channel 3.
Turn on the box.
Follow the on-screen setup menus.
Allow the box to auto-search for channels.

After the auto search is done, the lowest available channel should appear on screen.

Using The New Box:
For the first time since we got this TV, I had a remote control. Not only did it control the channels, but it also controlled the amount of audio signal it was passing through to the TV... so I don't even have to get up and mess with the power knob to change the volume anymore!

The first issue we had was with the "letterboxing" feature of the box. Initially, almost every station had a black border on all four sides around the picture. By going into the menu settings this was quickly changed... but it had to be changed for each and every channel separately. So this was a bit of a pain.

The second issue was with antenna placement. Now we're using a simple set top pair of rabbit ears. When the antenna was hooked directly up to the TV we had a few stations that had some ghosting, but nothing too horrible. After installing the box, all ghosting was gone and the pictures on each station were amazing... except when they weren't. With the digital signal coming through the box you either get a crystal clear picture and sound or the picture gets blocky and choppy and all sound drops out. The great thing was that after a minute or two of fiddling with the antenna I hit the proverbial "sweet spot" and didn't have any other issues all night... except when I stood up on the right side of the couch, then the CBS affiliate went all wonky, but that disappeared as soon as I sat down or moved.

The remote is easy to use and, to me, one of the most wonderful pieces of technology I've seen in the family room in quite a while.

The Channel Selection:
OK, so Saint Louis has quite a few stations. Here's a chart of what we had before and what we have now...

Author's note: OK, so I'm not quite sure why all this space is here... but I've run out of energy to try and figure it out. Keep scrolling down for the chart and the rest of the post.

What We Got Before	What We Get Now
Channel 2 Fox Clear picture with no real problems	Channel 2.1 Fox Clear picture with no real problems
Channel 4 CBS Often times had ghosting on the picture from Channel 5	Channel 4.1 CBS Clear picture, but it gets a little iffy when I stand up next to the couch
Channel 5 NBC Often times had ghosting on the picture from Channel 4	Channel 5.1 NBC Clear picture with no real problems Channel 5.2 NBC Weather Plus I have a weather channel! And it doesn't have the smooth jazz that one finds on THE Weather Channel.
Channel 7 Shopping? Very fuzzy	As I hoped, this station isn't broadcasting in digital, therefore it is nowhere to be found on my dial.
Channel 9 PBS Clear picture with no real problems	Channel 9.1 PBS... but different While the .1 channel for all of the other stations is their normal program feed, that is not the case for PBS. Here the .1 feed seems to be the same shows, just on at different nights and times. Channel 9.2 PBS Kids That's right, a whole station devoted to children's programming... and "Sesame Street" airs at 7PM... Mouse is already a happy camper on this one. Channel 9.3 PBS Here we find Channel 9's normal programming feed. Channel 9.4 PBS Create Imagine a whole channel devoted to cooking, craft, travel, and building shows... yeah. I'm the happy one in this case. Finally a station where I can find "Ask This Old House", "Rick Steve's Europe" (currently Mouse's favorite show), and Bob Ross and his happy little trees.
Channel 11 CW Clear picture with no real problems	Channel 11.1 CW Clear picture with no real problems Channel 11.2 Test Pattern Apparently they were airing "The Tube" music video channel on here until last September, but now it's just a test pattern. The box actually skipped over this on it's auto-search, but when I read that there should be something there I went a hunting... and then found out they had canned it.
Channel 24 Local: New Life Broadcasting While it sounds like a fundamental religious network... it's not. It's is a "Family Broadcasting" network (read: old shows like "Lone Ranger" and "Beverly Hillbillies"), run by The New Life Evangelistic Center (Non-Profit Homeless Shelter and Assistance Center). Either way, we could never pick it up.	Channel 24.1 Local: New Life Broadcasting From what little I watched of "Daniel Boone" while flipping last night, the picture is surprisingly good... Now if they would only start playing the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons like they did when I was a kid.
Channel 30 ABC Clear picture with no real problems	Channel 30.1 ABC Clear picture with no real problems
Channel 46 MyNetwork Didn't come in at all	Channel 46.1 MyNetwork I was really hoping we would be able to get this station with the new box, if only because they carry the syndicated episodes of "Scrubs"... but alas, no luck.

Overall Initial Impressions:
I have to say that over all I'm REALLY happy with what I've seen so far. Picture quality has improved; I have a remote control for my ancient TV; I have all of the extra PBS programming as well as a weather channel... I mean really, what's not to like. And all for a one time cost of $24. So much cheaper than a monthly cable bill. Now here's hoping that the other local stations will follow Channel 5 and Channel 9's lead and add extra programming options.

Two Months

2008-03-24T20:18:00.001-05:00

So I never did take that ethics course...

The last two months have been really rough.

The day after my last post, our church had it's annual Congregational budget and governance meeting. At the meeting, a number of issues were discussed, but the budget issues really took center stage. Over the past 20 years the church had slowly drawn on an investment account to supplement the shrinking giving. This year a decision had to be made... do we choose to make significant and hard cuts to the budget (but keep the church open for the long run) or do we choose to spend the last of the investment account (and look towards closing the church doors sometime in early to mid 2009).

To paraphrase the knight that protects the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade... The congregation has chosen... poorly.

With that decision acting as the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back, we began the difficult process of looking for a new home church... while continuing to attend our old church to help transition Mouse. Looking for a new church is hard, but the vastly harder part was returning to our old church... In my mind I was focusing on the new, but I seemed unable to let go of the old.

We've now been visiting at a new church for the last couple of weeks... and I have to say that I've received more spiritual nourishment in these last few weeks than I had at our old church in the last few years. After yesterday's Easter service Nisra and I talked in the car and came to the conclusion that this is a church community that we would like to become a part of.

Since that discussion... I've been feeling so much better. It didn't even occur to me until this morning how much emotional weight has been lifted since yesterday. I had figured that I was feeling especially good yesterday because of the copious amounts of ham that I was eating... but looking back, I'm fairly certain that the ham was only a small part of my happiness. (But one should never discount the power of bacon, sausage, ham, and other pork cuts to lighten my spirits and mood).

On top of the church issues a number of other events occurred in our lives recently...

My recently remarried grandfather (in has early 80s) lost his new wife. Sadly we had only had the chance to meet her twice before her death (the first was last summer at a lunch with them when they told us they were engaged, and the second was last autumn at their wedding).

My firm also announced late last year that we would be merging with another law firm from the other side of the state. This of course resulted in much craziness... and when the merger was pushed back from February 1 to March 1... it gave people that much more time to stress out and act crazy. As it stands the merger has gone as smoothly as a baby's bottom... but without the discharges that a baby's bottom often emits. All in all though it meant that the days over the last couple of months have been busier and crazier than they ever had been before.

All of this resulted in me pulling back from all of those activities and projects that weren't absolutely necessary to the continuing well being of my family. I do feel bad for dropping the ball on a number of things... and in some cases not being horribly communicative... both in general and about the reasons for my absence. Today marks a return to my activities from prior to that fateful January church meeting... and to my posting here.

My first class in 6 years.

2008-01-19T19:15:00.000-06:00

When I finished my bachelor's degree nearly 8 years ago, I had planned to take a year or two off and start seminary.

As the saying goes, "We plan and God laughs."

I little over a year after college Mouse was born. I still tried my hand a a graduate class in Urban Affairs, but realized my heart wasn't in it, and that it was impossible to study with a 9 month old.

Instead, Nisra started grad school in 2004, and finished up with her double masters last spring. I decided that I wold try and start grad school in the Fall of 2008. Then Pickle came in November, and I realized that if I started this Fall she would be... 9 months old. Somehow I didn't think that was going to work.

So I started looking into the Lay Institute for Faith Exploration (LIFE) classes over at the seminary. 4 hours on a Friday night and 7 hours the following Saturday. No credits, no tests, just a seminar class with a member of the seminary faculty.

I just finished my first class. It was fast paced and intense, and I loved every minute of it. Our instructor (a retired minister and faculty member) told us that she would try and give s a full semesters worth of instruction during or short class, and at times it certainly felt like it.

The topic of the class was the history and polity of the United Church of Christ. I was already familiar with a significant portion of the history information that the class covered, but it still was amazing how integral the church was in the early life of the nation. And I loved the information on the polity (fancy word for how the church is governed and the beliefs surrounding the form of governance) of the UCC.

I have to say that after being in the class, I really think that every church council officer in the UCC should experience the class and learn the information.

More than ever, I want to start work on my MDiv, but for now, I'll plan on taking the March LIFE course on Ethics.

Long Monday, Sick Tuesday

2008-01-16T12:09:00.000-06:00

Monday sucked. There's really no other way to put it. Three of my co-workers were out sick and I was crazy with rush database loads. I ended up leaving 20 minutes late and barely picking up Mouse from latchkey on time.

When we got home I logged back into work and worked on finishing all of the rush loads until 1:30 in the morning. I was barely able to see straight, but I got it done.

Yesterday started off well. A few clean-up items for the loads and some OCR runs. Then about 3:30 it hit. I started to get a headache. By the time I got home at 6:15, I really didn't feel like eating. By 8:00, my head was swimming and I felt like I was going to pass out. It was about this point that Nisra looked over and said something along the lines of, "You look horrible." I was asleep by 8:30.

When I woke up this morning I still had the headache, but I no longer felt like everything was swimming around me. I got to work on time, and have become attached to my desk chair. I still don't feel 100%, but at least I can think in coherent lines of thought.

I have a lot to get done tonight, so hopefully this will hold out.

The rest of our trip

2008-01-15T08:51:00.000-06:00

Friday turned out to be a wonderful day. By the time Nisra's parents arrived my back was feeling better and Mouse and I went with them to the Shedd Aquarium. Mouse fell in love with the dolphins and the baby beluga whale.

We had dinner over at Bar Louie on Taylor. Apparently it's a chain, but you wouldn't know it from the atmosphere and style of the place. None of us had ever heard of the chain before, but apparently they have two locations in the St. Louis metro area. As I said the atmosphere didn't feel like a chain restaurant and the food was good. We'll have to look up the St. Louis locations at some point.

After dinner Nisra's parents headed home, and we crashed. I got a little reading done for my class this weekend, but other than that it was nice and quiet.

Saturday morning we received free breakfast in the hotel restaurant to repay us for the loss of power on Friday. Then Nisra and Pickle went to her seminar, and Mouse and I packed up and loaded the car. We had lunch at Pompei and then she and I took the Blue line train into downtown. We wandered around, grabbed dessert, and made it back to the hotel just in time to grab the car and pick-up Nisra and Pickle.

Now, from 4:30 PM to about 7:30 PM is Pickle's fussy time. Of course, this is while we're driving I-94 North out of Chicago to see Nisra's family. Well, about 30 minutes into the trip Nisra asks that we pull off the tollway and let her feed Pickle. As we do, something jams up into the tire and it's sounds like it going to blow. I immediately slow down, finish pulling up the off-ramp, make my turn and pull into the driveway of a chemical plant.

When I step out of the car I hear the unhappy hiss of air escaping the tire. Luckily, the tire was still mostly inflated, so I hadn't done any damage to the rim pulling off the ramp and into the driveway. So, while Nisra pulls Pickle out of the car seat to feed her, I'm pulling everything out of the back hatch to get to the jack and spare. So, pulling everything out of the hatch, using the puny little tire iron and jack to change the tire, and loading everything back in... just over 15 minutes. And the time to actually change the tire... just over 10. By far my fastest tire change ever.

We ended up stopping one more time for Pickle just on the north side of the Wisconsin boarder, before reaching the in-laws place. Nisra's Brother and Sister-in-law, her Uncle, and her grandparents were there, as well as her parents. It was a wonderful evening, even though Nisra fell asleep early.

Sunday was another travel day. Nisra's father and I took the tire to Farm and Fleet to see if we could get it patched. As it turns out, we had hit the end of a sheared off carriage bolt that was approximately the width and length of my little finger. Since the hole was so big the tire guy didn't recommend patching it, so instead we had to drop $100 on a new tire. Oh, well. There's another $100 we don't have.

The trip home went well, save for Pickle's fussy time. Between 4:30 and 8 PM, we traveled a stretch of road that normally takes 2 hours. After that, it was clear sailing from Bloomington all the way home.

Chicago

2008-01-11T08:41:00.000-06:00

So we left Wednesday night to head to Chicago for Nisra's seminar. We got up to Lincoln, IL, and decided to call it a night. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express there a couple of years ago when Mouse was a baby, and, as before, this was a great experience. Good clean room with two queen beds, a nice pool, a great free breakfast, and a noon checkout time (which is great when you have kids and want to swim in the morning).

We pulled out of the hotel a little before noon on Thursday, and our first stop of the day was at Wendy's. Being from St. Louis, I REALLY miss Wendy's. They were all closed for nearly two years, and only in the last two or three months have they started to reopen. As it is, the nearest Wendy's to our house is 23 miles away. It was a great lunch... and I got my chicken nuggets (the best fast food nuggets by far) and my Frosty before we pulled out.

We got to the Marriott hotel just after 3 PM. Check in was easy, if a little disappointing. When Nisra made the reservations she was told that the U of I - Chicago pool was next door to the building and was free to use for hotel guests. In reality we would have to take the shuttle a couple of blocks to the pool, and it costs $15 per person, per day. Had we known that we probably would have stayed down the street for $30 - $40 less per night. On top of the pool, internet access is $9.95 per day, and the cable TV selection is definitely wanting (no Food Network or Discovery Channel). Thank God the hospital is covering the room, or I would be seriously upset.

Last night's dinner was wonderful. About two blocks south of the hotel is a couple of blocks of restaurants and shops. Looking on google maps we found an Italian place called Pompei. The food was amazing. Mouse had sausage pizza, I had Rigatoni with spicy Italian sausage, Nisra has spaghetti with two huge meatballs, and we all split an order of calamari. Before we even finished we had decided that our next trip to Chicago would require another visit to Pompei.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at White Hen for snacks. I'm not sure what happened between there and the hotel, but in those two blocks my Sciatica fired up. I spent most of the evening last night laying on the floor trying to get the nerve to release.

This morning Nisra got up to get ready for her seminar. While she showered Pickle woke up, so I got to spend some time playing with her. Mouse woke up just after Nisra got done, and then the fun began...

Right about 7 AM, the power in the bathroom and cable went out. Luckily, Nisra had thought to pack her own hair dryer. Finally at 9 AM the power came back, and Mouse was able to watch her PBS kids shows. Really, what would a day off school be without Dragon Tales and Fetch?

Nisra's parents are coming in this afternoon to hang out and have dinner. I'm hoping that my back will feel good enough to go on a bit of sightseeing with Mouse and them when they get here.

We'll be staying in Chicago for another night, and then heading to Wisconsin after Nisra's seminar tomorrow. Other than Nisra's parents and aunt and uncle, no one on her side of the family has met Pickle yet. It should be a fun evening.

Watching Bad TV & Heading up North

2008-01-08T08:50:00.000-06:00

So over the last two nights I've watched more TV than I gave in the last 3 weeks. As always, we watched Extreme Home Makeover. The show has lost some of it's luster for me since the first season. Back then it was more about the construction and building with 5 minutes tacked on the front about the family and a 10 minute reveal. Now it's 15 minutes about the family and a 15 minute reveal. It kind of leaves out what most interested me.

After that Mouse wanted to watch American Gladiators. Now, I'll admit that, as a kid, I loved the show. It was on right after Star Trek: The Next Generation on Saturday nights, and since I was able to stay up late on Saturdays it was regular viewing. Of course, seeing it on prime time... on a major network... being taken remotely seriously as an athletic competition... it's just a little much.

Last night I picked up mouse from school and she rushed around the house so she could have all of her homework done and her shower taken so she could watch "the new dancing show"... Dance Wars. I was doing some work on the computer from home, so it was on in the background for me, but watching a guy in a gorilla suit dance with a guy in a chicken suit... it was painfully distracting.

Tonight we're packing for an trip up north. Nisra has a conference at the Nursing School at U of I-Chicago on Friday and Saturday. She just found out about it on Friday, so we're still trying to figure out all of the details, but we'll either be staying in at a hotel near campus (if the hospital pays) or we'll stay with Nisra's parents in Racine, WI, and Nisra will take the train down. Either way it will be nice to have a couple days off work.

After Iowa

2008-01-04T14:29:00.000-06:00

Well, I couldn't have been more wrong...

And honestly, I couldn't be happier.

Obama did an impressive job of motivating younger people to get to the caucuses. In all almost 250,000 people attended last night... over 100,000 more than in 2004. That's just amazing.

I've personally supported Obama from the beginning (it could be something having to do with the UCC connection). I like his philosophy on governance, and I'm not as concerned as some with his perceived lack of experience.

As it stands, It looks like we're going to have a historic democratic race. A black man and a white woman. And I would love to see Richardson as the VP candidate. White conservative males would have massive coronaries all over the country.

-----

As for the Republicans, Huckabee did a little better than I expected and Romney a little worse. The big surprise for me was that Fred Thompson did as well as he did. I honestly didn't expect him to break 10%.

And, of course, I love the fact that Ron Paul nearly tripled up on Giuliani's numbers. I know Giuliani didn't really compete in Iowa (despite his "50 State" strategy), but he should be ashamed of himself for doing that poorly.

Widget Game #2

2008-01-02T19:33:00.000-06:00

So Mouse got a copy of the game Othello for Christmas. Now, in my 30 years I have NEVER won a game of Othello. SO hunting around, I fond this game. It's similar, and I hope it can give me enough practice to not be trounced by a 6 year old.

Two days out from Iowa Caucus

2008-01-01T22:43:00.000-06:00

Just a quick post to chart my predictions for the Iowa Caucus.

What's so fun about the caucus is how unpredictable it can be... that's why I feel like throwing my predictions into the ring.

Because of the way the Dems have a second round of voting after eliminating the "inviable" candidates (those that receive less than 15% of the first vote), I think there will be a bit of a shake up in how the chips finally fall.

Clinton will receive 32%
Obama will receive 31%
Edwards will receive 37%

What?!!! Edwards will come out on top? Because of the second round, yes. When people are polled, those that are polling for the "inviable" candidates favor Edwards as a second choice by almost 2 to 1.

As for the Republicans, I'm thinking that we'll see Huckabee at 31%, Romney at 27%, and McCain at 16%. And Ron Paul will get bigger numbers than Giuliani.

Happy New Year's Eve!

2007-12-31T09:29:00.000-06:00

With the in-laws in town, and a new baby, Nisra and I decided to skip the New Year's Eve party with the college friends. Instead we're inviting some of the church friends (and the children) over to play boardgames and relax.

Tomorrow Miss Bean is coming into town. She's planning on sleeping on the hide-a-bed... which is still in Nisra's basement craft room. I was planning on moving it to the TV/Bar/"Man Lounge" side of the basement, but Hide-a-beds are freaking heavy, and I haven't had the time or inclination to call some of the guys over to help.

Hopefully I'll have a bit of time to get some cleaning done down there today, and maybe I can rope some church friends into helping me move the hide-a-bed tonight.

Still Tired

2007-12-30T11:19:00.000-06:00

So I did bail on church this morning, but Nisra and the kids went. The thing is, I feel worse about the fact that Nisra had to get the kids ready on her own. She's such an amazing wife. She new that I didn't get home from work until almost 5AM this morning, and she let me sleep right through.

Well, like the title says, I'm still tired, but at least I'm now mentally coherent.

I think I'm going to go get cleaned up, get dressed for the day, and start doing some of the cleanup work in the basement that needs to get done.

And it's a beautiful day outside. Once Nisra, the kids, and her parents get back this afternoon, maybe I can talk them into going for a walk to the park.

A long week at work

2007-12-30T02:24:00.000-06:00

For a three day week, it has been insanely long.

Wednesday morning I took a friend to the airport. She and her daughter were flying out on an 8AM flight, so needed to be there by 6AM... so I was up at 5AM.

Thursday morning Pickle decided it would be a great time for her first real throw up. That turned into a half an hour ordeal that made it hard to fall back asleep.

Friday morning I had to come into work early to finish some data processing before everyone else got in, so I was up at 4AM and to work by 5. Of course all that work was scrapped when a meeting was called at 10:30AM to change the processing plans... for processing that had already been done.

So I got back to work at 11PM tonight to finish the processing and get it loaded. Now it's 2:30 on Sunday morning, and I'm still staring down another 2 to 3 hours of work.

The killer is that I planned to drop by a friend's LAN party before coming to work, but family stuff with the in-laws ran long, and I had to scrap the plan.

Thank God I still have three days of weekend left. I know it's SUnday, but since I don't think I'll be getting home until 5AM, I do think I'll be skipping church.

Best... Dinner... Ever...

2007-12-25T09:23:00.000-06:00

So for Christmas Eve, my wife made the most amazing dinner ever. It took a simple theme and built a wonderful meal around it. That theme? Bacon.

Our salad was wilted lettuce and spinach with a hot bacon dressing.
Our potato was twice baked potatoes with bacon and cheese.
And the meat was Bacon wrapped Filet Mignon (special thanks to UDM for the groomsman gift-certificate to Omaha Steaks).

Yes, a whole dinner built around bacon. Hopefully Bacon Christmas Eve, as it is now know, will become a family tradition.

Triumph!

2007-12-22T16:35:00.000-06:00

Pickle is finally drinking from a bottle!!!

We've been trying for two weeks now. Earlier this week Nisra went out and bought 3 different types of bottles. Today we used the second bottle and it worked like a charm. Of course they are one of the most expensive bottles, but if Pickle likes them then they are worth the money.

A couple of busy days

2007-12-20T22:52:00.000-06:00

Work has been a little crazy the last two days. Meetings, network issues, and lawyers who realize that Friday is the last day before most of them go on vacation for the holidays... and thus they need everything done NOW!

On top of that, we found out that it's been decided that our firm is merging with another firm. That of course means that everyone will need to be on their best behavior for the next few months. I guess that means no more web surfing for me.

Widget Test

2007-12-18T23:12:00.000-06:00

So I'm playing around at Widget Box tonight, and I thought I'd add a widget game for fun. So I've picked out one of my favorites. Maybe I'll even make this some sort of semi-regular event...

Note: To restart the game, reload the current page.

Sitting in a web meeting...

2007-12-18T14:14:00.000-06:00

...bored, bored, bored.

I just got up and went into my boss's office to get one of the telephone headsets. We got them in a couple of months ago, but I never needed one. Now, in the last week I've had two web/telephone meetings. And while I can't stand web meetings, I would rather have a headset than have to hold the phone for an hour

Sort of a Sad Day

2007-12-18T11:36:00.001-06:00

Back at the start of the year I was elected to my church's council. This was my second stint, but the first following my two years of working for the church.

During my time working there I had seen a number of problems that needed attention that seemed to be overlooked or glossed over by the church council. My hope was to get the council moving on dealing with some of the problems.

Instead, I have tendered my resignation to the council, with a little over a year still left to serve in my term.

The reasons for this are two-fold:

Between the new house, new baby, and increased responsibilities at work, I've already missed 4 meetings this year, including the last two, and I'm on track to miss tonight's meeting as well.

Serving on the council made me realize that there are people who serve, whose only interest is to have a short meeting and maintain the status quo. If there's a problem that needs to be discussed, but it will make the meeting run longer than 90 minutes, they will complain and moan until either the issue is dropped or a sub-par solution is accepted so that they can get home.

Like I said, I had a lot of hope for this term, and I feel like I have failed myself and the church. But at the same time, it is a relief to not have to sit through another infuriating meeting that makes little to no progress on any of the issues the church faces.

Somedays, I feel like being a $h!t disturber

2007-12-17T15:15:00.000-06:00

It's a painfully slow day at work today. I was doing basic network cleanup and nearly bored out of my mind...

Then I found this thread about a kid getting detention for using Firefox...

I love getting into arguments when I don't really have a dog in the fight. Yes, arguing for argument's sake.

That's not like me at all, is it?

A new (volunteer) job...

2007-12-17T14:02:00.000-06:00

Effective last Wednesday I took on the role of forum administrator over at Gateway Gamer, a role play gaming, collectible card gaming, miniature gaming site. While it's primary focus is on the Saint Louis metro area, it has a number of members who don't live in the area.

The site has been around for 4+ years now, and I've been involved for the last two. And while it's been fairly quiet over the past year, I'm looking to rebuild the membership and activity.

So, if you're a gamer looking for a good forum site, I would highly recommend dropping by.

Have things slowed down...

2007-12-17T12:18:00.000-06:00

Not really, no.

But I am finding a little more time now that I've sprung for DSL at home.

To recap from my last post...

- We did move to a new house in South St. Louis County.
- The office did move and we've settled in well.
- Mouse finished Kindergarten, started 1st Grade, and has joined Brownies.
- Nisra's illness was in fact morning sickness (though I wasn't able to share at the time) and I am now the proud papa of a new baby girl, nicknamed Pickle (Mouse came up with it after playing the card game "In a Pickle").

And finally, I figured out how to log back in to this blog after they changed up the procedure and pushed users into a Google Login... that only took a couple of weeks... yes, I am painfully slow sometimes.

So things have been going well. With any luck I'll be able to post more regularly now.

Someday soon things will slow down.

2007-03-07T14:27:00.000-06:00

- We put in a contract on a house.
- Our office is moving across the street this week.
- Mouse's science fair project was due this week.
- Nisra has been sick...
- I've been exhausted.

Soon things will slow down and I'll start updating again.

Pickle

2007-02-28T09:42:00.000-06:00

Life has been crazy the last few weeks. Between illness, house buying stress, important family stuff, and lots to do at work, I've had very little time on the net. I do hope to have a decent update again soon, though.

Had a good weekend...

2007-02-20T10:29:00.000-06:00

...but now I'm sick as a dog. I'm seriously considering taking the rest of the day off work.

Alistair Maclean's Hostage Tower

2007-02-02T11:33:00.000-06:00

When I was in 7th grade, I picked up the book Where Eagles Dare at the used book store near my house. It was then that I fell in love with Alistair Maclean's writing in particular, and spy/adventure novels in general. After reading as much of his writing as I could I came across a couple of books based on screenplays that he had written, but had never had produced. They surrounded a fictional UN body called UNACO, the United Nations Anti-Crime Organization.

Recently, I decided to hunt down these books and read (and in some cases re-read) them. The first book is Alistair Maclean's Hostage Tower by John Denis. Now this one was made into a film back in 1980 with Peter Fonda and Billy Dee Wiliams.

The plot surrounds a master criminal who takes the U.S. President's mother hostage while she is on a state trip to visit France and the Eiffel Tower. The book had both positives and negatives. The needling negative that I found was that the writing style of the book that drove me nuts. For example, Denis repeatedly points out that one of the characters, Clarence Whitlock (CW), is black. While it was necessary in the setup, by the end of the book the reader doesn't need to be reminded of the fact. And while the characterization of the 3 UNACO operatives starts out strong, it seems like some of the nuances disappear by the end of the book.

Though the writing style bothered me a bit, the story underneath, written by Alistair Maclean, was sharp and exciting. And though some of the technology employed is still more advanced than today's standards, it was a good read and fun action yarn. This is also the book that introduces the characters of CW, Sabrina Carver, and Mike Graham, that will continue to be the focus of the later books.

I would like to see the movie soon, too. I have always liked Peter Fonda, not to mention the fact that Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian from Star Wars) is in it.

Hopefully, I will be able to start the second book, Air Force One Is Down tonight, or later this weekend.

City of Light, City of Dark

2007-01-31T09:04:00.000-06:00

While not the book I mentioned in yesterday's post, I picked this one up last night from a bag of used books we bought at Martha Merrell's Bookstore during our last visit to Racine.

City of Light, City of Dark is a young adult graphic novel written by the children's author, Avi and with art from Brian Floca. It was fun read, and clearly geared toward that 9 to 11 year old reader. The art was simple black and white line drawing with a style that was very expressive, but still reminded me a little bit of the Tintin comics.

The plot concerns an alternate New York, where the Kurbs, an ancient race of shadow creatures, are in control of the seasons. When the Kurbs agreed to let humans live on their island, a woman and her descendents were charged with the duty of finding the Kurb's icon each year and returning it to it's rightful place, else the city will freeze over and force the humans out. The story surrounds this woman, Asterel, and her estranged daughter and the race to return the icon to its rightful place.

It was a good adventure story, but it left me with a couple of questions about Asterel's adversary, Underton's, special abilities. While the Asterel's, and her ancestors', powers are explained at the beginning of the story, the story doesn't explain where he gained his abilities. But, otherwise, it's a great read... and maybe Avi left that bit unexplored for a reason... an opening for a sequel?

Not Much of Interest

2007-01-30T09:30:00.000-06:00

I got my first bonus on Friday. Not a huge amount, but hopefully enough to get a Nintendo Wii... when I can find one, that is.

We got our new stereo on Saturday, and it sounds great. Sunday was spent working around the house and running errands. And we didn't really watch any TV... though I did have some time to play The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. It has good art and good dungeons/puzzles, but the traveling between islands is slow and tedious. I'm not against traveling segments of a game, but when all I do is stare at the screen for 5 minutes while the little boat crosses the map... well, if I'm going to stare at a screen without using my brain, I'll watch reality TV. Actually, Sunday night, I went and flipped laundry while the little boat sailed. So I guess it was fairly productive.

Last night I started reading a new book, and watched Studio 60. As always, a fun show, and the Cal subplot about the missing snake was quite funny.

Hopefully tonight I'll make some headway on my book, and I can post about it tomorrow.

Star Wars: Jedi vs. Sith

2007-01-25T11:35:00.000-06:00

So I headed into my basement last night to look for something interesting to read and I grabbed the graphic novel Star Wars: Jedi vs Sith. It was an interesting story, with good art, but it didn't seem like a Star Wars story to me. It possible that it's just because I'm not familiar with the background of the characters, but the comic dealt with a series of battles between two ground based force-using armies.

Now, I'm a fan of the Tales of the Jedi series which was set a few thousand years before this Jedi vs Sith. In the Tales books, the characters and battles are very reminiscent of the style of Jedi we see in the films. Something about the Jedi in this story seemed off. And the whole time I was reading I got the feeling that there was a LOT of backstory to all of these characters and to why these battles were occurring on this world and not across
multiple worlds on in space.

In the end, I enjoyed the story, but I'm not really sure I understood everything that was going on.

The State of the Union -or- Give War a Chance

2007-01-25T09:57:00.000-06:00

All I can say is wow. What a crappy address. The best part was that since I was listening on the radio, which had about a 5 second delay, I was hearing Nisra's commentary before I heard Bush's statements. Quite funny.

The thing that struck me was that George asked Congress to give his new war strategy a chance to work. Even though a majority of Americans want our troops out of Iraq, and the majority of Congressmen and women agree with the American public, Bush implored them to eschew their better judgment and give war a chance. Bah. I do hope the House and Senate think better than to allow Bush to send more of our troops to Iraq.

Not to mention Bush's health insurance tax deduction plan. It sounded great on the surface, tax deductions to help people pay for insurance, but when you look at it, people who have employer provided health insurance would start having their payments taken out of post tax dollars on their paycheck. And if the amount they paid in was higher than the deduction available, they would end up loosing money on the deal. I need to look into this to see how it would effect my family and where the cutoff line would average out with respect to income.

I did like the Democrats' rebuttal. Jim Webb did a great job. He was forceful and set forth the values of the party well. I'm also happy that they picked someone with a military background to rebut the the military/Iraq portion of the State of the Union.

All in all, it was an interesting night of political banter. Painful, yes, but still interesting.

A Night of Pain

2007-01-23T12:50:00.000-06:00

Every year, about this time, we have the most painful night of American TV... The State of the Union Address. Yes, the chance to listen to two-plus hours of speechifying and rebutting and evaluating and commentating. And no matter who is serving as our President, the speech is always annoying, and, as we've learned in the last few years, George W.'s lack of verbal refinement makes the speech reach levels of near physical pain.

As every year I will flip my radio on and listen to the Address while I work around the house. It always kills me that people actually sit and watch the thing... I mean really, unless Kool-Aid Man comes busting into the Senate chambers nothing of visual interest is going to happen. And if Kool-Aid Man DOES come busting in... well, expect the secret service to drop him in the middle of the aisle and make one heck of a sticky and sugary mess with all that liquid. But don't worry, the whole carnage would be on YouTube by morning, so you really wouldn't miss anything.

So why do I listen? Because, I'm a politics and news junkie. And even if the incessant applause breaks and verbal flubs cause me to double over in pain, I would rather know what's going on in the country than be uninformed and not know what the hell the people on NPR are talking about tomorrow morning.

Well, I least I have a couple of big projects to work on tonight. Maybe they'll distract me enough to keep me from whipping the radio across the room.

Pulling out the old LPs

2007-01-22T11:43:00.000-06:00

Over the last few weeks both my 5-disc changer and the CD player on my shelf system rolled over and died. So Sunday, I tossed out the disc changer and hooked up the old turntable. Then I pulled out some old Disney records and let Mouse pick out some to listen to. She picked out Marni Nixon's Mary Poppins and the soundtrack of Lady and The Tramp.

It was so nice to hear my daughter sing along to the songs of Mary Poppins with all the pops and hisses that the LP has. I just love the sound of old records, and Mouse really enjoyed watching me flip the record and set the needle.

Of course, since it was Marni Nixon and Bill Lee, and not Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, singing the Mary Poppins songs, it did throw me off a little, but Mouse didn't notice a difference.

Now I just need to retrieve all of my LPs from my mother's house, and I think we'll be listening to records a whole lot more.

Scrubs: The Musical

2007-01-19T08:44:00.000-06:00

For the last couple of months, Mouse and I have been watching the syndicated episodes of Scrubs that are on the local MyTV affiliate. She really likes the show (primarily John C. McGinley's Dr. Cox), and Thursday evenings have become a favorite because we get moth the syndicated episode and a new one.

And last night's Scrubs was great. It was a musical episode with homages to a number of classic Broadway musicals. The most blatant was the parody of Les Miserables' "Do You Hear the People Sing" that ran just before the second commercial break. And my favorite scene was Dr. Cox's berating of JD... in song... just beautiful. And the plot held up great with all the singing.

After the episode I had to agree with my daughter... "Wait, it's been a half hour already?"

The PBS Science Show Experiment

2007-01-18T09:43:00.000-06:00

Last night I watched the last two pilots that are up for pickup by PBS. For those that aren't aware,over the last couple of Wednesdays, PBS has been showing a pilots for three new science shows, Wired Science, Science Investigators, and 22nd Century. Here in St. Louis, Wired Science aided on January 7th, and Science Investigators and 22nd Century aired last night.

PBS is asking viewers to go to each pilot's website and leave comments about what they liked and disliked about each pilot. The show that people seem to like best will be the one that will be picked up for next season.

For those that didn't see the shows when they aired, each show is also posted online at their webpage. So if you're interested in helping select the next new science show on PBS, take a look and leave your comments.

Now if you're planning to watch and comment, skip reading the rest of this post. I would hate to sway your opinion before you watch...

Wired Science - A fun science show from the editors and staff of Wired magazine. Like the magazine, it's flash and glossy and fast paced. It discussed both science and technology (if nothing else go watch the piece on Plasma TVs), and the article time seemed to vary from less than 5 minutes to about 15 minutes. The show would definitely draw me in, and would be something that I would like to watch.

Science Investigators - If you've seen the PBS show History Detectives, then you'll have a really good idea of the format of the show. A view sends in a question, and the team researches and attempts to give the viewer a satisfactory answer. Now, History Detectives is one of my family's favorite shows, and Science Investigators could end up right there with it. SI didn't seem as polished as Wired Science, but it treated each question/idea more in depth. There was a minor problem though. In the pilot, most of the questions asked were about hotly debated topics, and it seems like it will be much harder for the team to give a straightforward answer to the viewer. That said, the answers and explanations they did give, seemed appropriate and accurate. I also liked the fact that the very first article of the pilot discussed, albeit briefly, the idea of human cloning. It showed that the producers weren't willing to shy away from potentially controversial subjects.

22nd Century - Flip back through an issue of Popular Science of Popular Mechanics from back in the 1950s. People thought that by now we would have flying cars, robot maids, and all plastic houses by now. This show reminded me of seeing those old issues. The premise of the show can be summed up with the question, "What will the world be like in the 22nd Century?" While the show discussed current technology, and technology just over the horizon, the fact that the show kept trying to extrapolate the current tech into a prediction of technology 100 years from now... well, it just didn't work for me. Not to mention the production values were a bit hokey. Sadly, if this gets picked up I probably wouldn't watch.

All in all, I like the PBS experiment. It's nice to see the pilots, and be able to weigh in on what we get to see. If we could only get other network's to listen to their viewers this much.

Lone Wolf Books Returning to Print

2007-01-17T09:33:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure how many people remember the Lone Wolf gamebooks (Single player roleplaying crossed with a "Choose Your Own Adventure") by Joe Dever that were released back in the 80's, but I found some interesting news over at the Mongoose Publishing website (the company that designed the Lone Wolf d20 roleplaying game).

It looks like Joe Dever is releasing newly reworked editions of the original 28 books and releasing the last 4 that were planned but never completed.

What interests me is how this will effect Project Aon, the site that Dever gave the web publishing rights to, back in 1999. Hopefully, they will be able to continue hosting the original editions of the books.

The Boggart and The Monster by Susan Cooper

2007-01-17T09:03:00.000-06:00

Well, Tuesday evening went substantially better than Monday evening.

Why?

Because American Idol returned to America's televisions. And do you know what that means? I have a weekly "get out of being a parent for an hour" card that I can play during the show. Mouse and Nisra will sit and watch the bad singing while I get to go do something else. And last night I got on the exercise bike (something I'm trying to do 2-3 times per week) and I read.

And since I finished The Boggart on Monday night, last night I read its sequel, The Boggart and The Monster. We see the story more from the Boggart's point of view. And when the children from the first book go to visit the Boggart in Scotland, and then visit Loch Ness, the Boggart remembers that his cousin, Nessie, lives around the loch. We then have a story of the children and their companions helping the Boggart rescue Nessie from researchers trying to find the Loch Ness Monster.

The Boggart and the Monster was just as much fun as its predecessor, and, all things considered, I liked the sequel more than the original. It was more of a fantasy adventure story, and it didn't have the goofy "computer saves the day" ending of the original.

Both of these books have been fun and quick reads, and both were worth the time. I'm not sure if there's another book living within the concept of the Boggart, but I look forward to reading more of Susan Cooper's work.

The Boggart by Susan Cooper

2007-01-16T14:40:00.000-06:00

Well, last night I was in a really crappy mood, so I decided to cloister myself away from my family and do some reading. I looked around my shelf of borrowed books (which I like to read first to get them back to their rightful owners) and decided to read one called The Boggart.

The Boggart is a young adult book written by Susan Cooper, who was one of my favorite authors when I was younger. When I was in 6th grade, I picked up a copy of Over Sea, Under Stone, and fell in love with her writing, and The Dark is Rising sequence.

While this was no The Dark is Rising, it was still a fun little book. It's set in contemporary times and concerns a family who visits their families' ancestral castle in Scotland and brings home a guest in the form of a boggart. Unlike the boggarts of Harry Potter (which shapeshift into the victim's darkest fear), the boggart of this story is a mischievous trickster, who, for the most part, remains invisible (though it can take shape when it desires). Of course, the boggart, which has never seen a modern city, causes much trouble, and the children of the family must find a way to send the boggart back to Scotland.

Like I said, The Dark is Rising is one of my favorite series of young adult books. The Boggart doesn't hold a candle to those stories, but it was a quick (~190 pages) read, was enjoyable, definitely worth the time.

Hopefully, I'll have the time to pick up the sequel, The Boggart and the Monster, tonight.

Potential Spoiler Warning: Computers are very much involved in the plot of this book. If you're the type of person who sees a computer in the movies and thinks, "Computers [can't do that/don't look like that/don't work like that]!", then you may want to skip reading this book altogether.

At Work on MLK Day

2007-01-15T11:17:00.000-06:00

Yesterday evening Nisra, Mouse, and I took some of our friends who had lost power tout to dinner at Noodles & Company at South County Mall. I have to say, being able to feed 4 adults and 3 kids for $40 isn't bad.

After dinner we Dads took the kids to the playground, and then, of course had the obligatory, "The dads and kids can't find the moms" wandering of the mall. Before we left Nisra, Mouse, and I cut into Borders to use my Christmas gift cards. I finally picked up a copy of Alan Moore's Watchmen (sadly, not the Hardcover Absolute edition) and another Jake Shimabukuro album, Dragon.

And now, I'm at work on MLK day listening to my new album, and lamenting the fact that I'm not home with the girls enjoying the day.

Favorite CD's of 2006

2007-01-12T09:37:00.000-06:00

Now that we're a few weeks into 2007, I've been reflecting on my favorites of 2006. The thing that jumps to mind first for me were the 3 really good CD's I got last year.

The first was Jake Shimabukuro's Gently Weeps. It's an amazing CD. Jake is a master of the ukulele and he plays one of my favorite Beetle's tunes. Simabukuro's musicianship is amazing, and if you're afraid of the Uke because Tiny Tim used it to butcher music, don't be. The music is absolutely beautiful.

The second CD was Bruce Springsteen's We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. And if you can, get the American Land Extended Edition. It has a couple of extra tracks. The whole CD is amazing, and the group of musicians Springsteen has with him are great. But my favorite part of the CD is that, since the tracks were recorded live with little practice, you can here Springsteen yell out key changes and other instructions to the band. It definitely gives the CD a live jam session kind of feel.

The last CD I got in 2006 was Hazmat Modine's Bahamut. It's hard to describe the music Hazmat Modine plays. I like to think of it as Harmonica and Tuba blues music. Yes, tuba, and yet, it rocks. And when you add Tuvan Throat Singers from the band Huun-Huur-Tu, it just gives the whole CD an otherworldly feel. And though this was the last CD I recieved in 2006, it was one of the most compelling to listen to.

On honorable mention was my favorite Christmas CD of 2006 Bootsy Collin's Christmas is 4Ever. I mean, who can say no to Rudolph the Funky Soul Reindeer?

Some Basic Editing Done

2007-01-11T11:52:00.000-06:00

So I've changed the background color to black. Since I've never worked with CSS before, it's a little new to me, but I'm getting the hang of it. I've also edited some of the background images to eliminate white space. I'm leaving the original background images in the Template as notes, in case I ever want to change back.

Personally, I don't think it looks too bad.

Quick Update

2007-01-11T11:27:00.000-06:00

Ok, I just spent a few minutes playing around with the default images in the blog. It looks like I can call to images off the network to serve as icons here. Hopefully I can spend some time designing icons to use.

Initial thoughts at the end of day one.

2007-01-10T17:29:00.000-06:00

Well, I've been playing around with the template and stuff for a while now. So far I like the amount of control that I have with it.

Hopefully over the next few days I'll have time to personalize it a little more, and have some fun.

A quick explanation of the links

2007-01-10T16:29:00.000-06:00

Since I can post links on the right sidebar, I thought I would spend a minute explaining what each is.

Gateway Gamer - The St. Louis Regional Roleplaying Game Community Forums.

Conquer Club - An online, multiplayer risk game.

Virtual Firefly - A "virtual continuation" of Joss Whedon's "Firefly".

Whedonesque - A weblog about Joss Whedon, his work, and those related to it.

CyberNations - An Online Nation Simulation Game.

CyberCitizen - A citizen simulation game built around Google maps.

Electoral-Vote.Com - A poll tracking and political news website.

GiGoIt - Stands for Garbage In/Garbage Out - A great freecycling website.

Let me explain...

2007-01-10T15:52:00.000-06:00

To delve a little further, the reason I'm setting up this blog is to see how I like the options that this website provides me. I enjoy my LJ account, and quite a few of my friends are there, but I would like a little more control over design and the ability to post links and the like.

We'll see how it goes.

The first post on a new blog...

2007-01-10T15:27:00.000-06:00

Why a new blog? Well, mostly because I can. I'm not abandoning my LJ account, but I plan to update this one regularly.

Have a great day!