Vista Is Here... Why I dont Care

Ok it looks slick and I kind of want it, but here are my reasons, in part, why I will not see it on my screen in the near future:

1) Final Version My Ass!

2) The pre-install, testing program graded my graphics card an F and left red marks all up and down my operating system.

3) How much again?

4) Operating system just don’t send my heart a twitter like they used to- ok who am I kidding they really do.

5) Gates already has enough of my money (seriously I checked, he keeps track per-person)

6) Finally- I spent my upgrade money on cotton candy and universal remotes.

Math

I love Math

At The Park With Tanner

During Tanners daily run at the park, I stopped to take this picture.

As you can see the ice is hanging round, temps have been cold and although we have not seen the volume of snow I would have expected by now but one thing is for sure... winter is here for a while.

This one is worth clicking on for a better look.

Robosapien Vs The Easter Bunny

They have been mortal enemies for a while now.

Here, in an incredible action shot, you see Robo giving the bunny a body slam.

I don’t really see how the bunny ever stood chance as maniacal killer robot wins over cute and cuddly every time.

The Revolution Will Be Televised

OK , I admit I have a rather strong obsession with Tech things, and with a few tech gadges in the living room I needed a good remote to wrangle all the rest into submission (one remote to rule them all).

For years I have been dealing with the One-For-All Kameleon 8 Universal Remote. (pictured below) relatively cool and did what I wanted for the most part. It was not THAT hard to set up, but I never did get it to do EXACTLY what I wanted it to, and although it had a learning function I just learned to work around its short comings. My BIG problem with this thing is it ate AAA batteries like that is what it was really made just for that reason. The motion sensitive touch screen came on when ever I dropped a cotton ball in the upstairs bathroom.

So I decided to look around, and for Christmas I did have the Logitech Harmony 880 on my list. Although ECost really hosed me and I did not get it for Christmas, I finally just bought one using some of my, “sorry your gift did not come in” money and what a brave new world I entered. Set up was easy, although I did have a moment when I thought it would not recognize one of my more obscure AV items (my ubër cheap insignia surround sound/av/dvd) after walking through the web set up and answering a few questions (like: do you use your cable box or AV for volume while watching TV). It worked. I had to go back only once to adjust a setting for the AV component but now:

1) When I watch TV, I press “Watch TV” it knows what components to turn on and the control somehow knows what I want, meaning guide works the cable box, volume works the stereo, and pip controls the TV.

2) When I press watch DVD, it configures everything and turns the TV to the correct input. Genius.

3) It will Never ever eat another AAA battery, as it has its own docking station, and rechargeable battery.

4) If I do really want to get some detailed control of one particular component and do by pressing TV, for example and it will display every function my stock TV remote had on it

The way some say their DVR revolutionized their TV experience, the Harmony 880 cleaned up my coffee table and hopefully, my battery drawer.

Ice Tree

Last night, the freezing rain accumulated on everything.

This tree looked kind of cool, so I snapped a quick picture, but bush below really shows what we were dealing with.

From what I understand, it was a lot better than it was supposed to be as we missed the brunt of the ice. Again winter seems to be mild and unseasonable although they are calling for high temps to be in the 20’s this week, brrrrr.

Bathroom Remodel Rules

This weekend I helped Barb G. with a little bathroom remodel. Quickly declaring the room a disaster, a complete tear down to the studs was in order. Only having one full bath, this means that this would have to be done by the end of the weekend, no pressure mind you. I thought it was a good time for me to take a few moments to share my bathroom remodel rules for one and all to enjoy.

1. If you haven’t found a 7 inch drain pipe crammed into a 6 inch wall, well you just aren’t looking hard enough. (Pictured)

2. Your long weekend will not be long enough, but your short weekend will still be to short.

3. Old + plumbing = headache

4. No matter how much you plan, you will make an unexpected trip to the hardware.

5. It will be harder than it looks, you will get mad, and you will remember why you don’t do this sort of thing for a living.

For those of you that DO this for a living, my hat off to you my friend. For the rest of us weekend warriors, these are the kind for project meant to humble us to a primordial state of quivering goo, praying that Lowe’s doesn’t close before you get the 1 ¼ gasket that you need to compete the sink so you can get something running besides your eye that wont stop since that lead based paint chip has been lodged in there five min. into the project. (Partially true story)

Breiltling Bliss: Presenting The Aeromarine Colt GMT

I could say I like watches, I could also say that I like high end out of reach watches.

Breitling makes some of these watches but this one is almost reasonable.

Cleaner than some of their other versions, rugged, stylish and still functional. Me likey.

Winter Stops By

Winter came by tonight, cold and cranky as ever.

Not really entirely unexpected, in fact long overdue, yet not really entirely welcome either.

Blowing in like the long lost relative that you really did not want to see in the first place sure to stay to long and making your life harder in the process. Oh well, as they blow in they will blow out again, and life will return to normal. Until then all you can do is grin and bear it. *sigh*

iPhone

On he heals of my purchase of my Nokia n80…The best phone I have ever owned, BTW…

The new Apple iPhone was announced today, to be shipping in June. I have to admit, is functional, fast, and freaking awesome. It has a user interface that is really not even in the same league as anything I have seen on the market and will no doubt sell a billion units and spawn a whole industry of accessories in its wake.

It has a long battery life.
Decent memory
Competent camera
WI FI
It runs on apple OSX, are you kidding me?
Quad band GSM
Its multi-media functions are not beond anyones
Jaw dropping user interface (auto sensor landscape/portrait mode GTFO)
and above all Apple sex appeal

but

Its on Cingular (ok for me but not everyone will like that) only
To do everything it does, it has to be a little big.
My phone already has a 3mp camera, hard to backtrack to 2mp
No memory cards…. WTF

Kind of (AHEM) expensive. ($499 w/two year contract ?)

We will see in the summer what happens but I predict, a shortage, a frenzy, several fights to make the PS3/Wii/Xbox wars look like a small forgotten skirmish in the great galactic electronics wars. OH and being apple dont bet on the price dropping after the initial craziness is over, no sir, Apple is known for pricing something where the market will bear and leaving it there until the consumer pockets are run dry….

What do you say kids?.... THANKS APPLE.

Great article *here*

Tonight, Dusk

As seen from the cell phone, going 50 mph down Bemis rd.

View From Inside

I thought the view from inside the tail of the small airplane was interesting enough to share.

office space

A view out of my office window.

Chelsys Kitty

You may or may not know that there is a new Kitty at my house, Chelsey's kitty.

Tanner and her are still working out the detials, but kitty is finding new and fun places to hide.

Here you have her in the fridge. I am thinking the beer shelf is not th best place for a cat.

Moon Over Michigan

Last night we had a spectacular site, a full moon (or close) with ice crystals high up in the atmosphere created a huge ring around the moon that was nothing short of spectacular.

Here is an Untouched photo taken from my Nokia N80 (CellPhone) and while you can not see the ring you can see the spectacular amount of light created this sci-effect you see here. If you sharpen this image to the extreme you can start to make out a ring but the picture becomes so grainy it looks terrible.

New Years Day 2007

The lack of snow (Denver must have all of ours) and the relatively warm temperatures have not really dampened Tanners enthusiasm for fetching. That being said, I think she does miss the snow a little.

Weather says warm and sunny most of the week.

I guess she will have wait a little longer.