Check out the Subdudes!

Auburn Season Opener

Believe it or not, nobody in our family is being recruited as a student athlete this year. That means for the first time since the fall of 2006 that I don't get to go on the field (it was great while it lasted...)

War Eagle!

Happy Anniversary

img050.jpg, originally uploaded by eschulz.

Last night, Amy and I went out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary. We had no idea when we started dating ten years ago where we would end up. We've had a wonderful time so far and we're excited to see what happens next.

WikiTaxi

Yesterday, I downloaded WikiTaxi. It's a great little application which allows you to download a current snapshot of Wikipedia (sans images) to your PC for local access. I now have a local Wikipedia installed on my laptop, and that's pretty cool.

Did you ever want to take Wikipedia with you while you are offline? Call on WikiTaxi: It is a portable application that delivers the Wikipedia of your choice to wherever you go.

WikiTaxi enables you to read, search, and browse Wikipedia offline. No Internet connection is needed, all pages are stored in a WikiTaxi database. Because Wikipedia is constantly growing, WikiTaxi uses compression to make sure that the database stays reasonably small. The huge English Wikipedia easily fits on a 8 GB memory stick.

Fernbank

img045.jpg, originally uploaded by eschulz.

Yesterday afternoon, Amy and I went to Fernbank Museum of Natural History (along with every child in the Atlanta Metropolitan area). They have an Imax theater there, so we saw a film called Antactica. We enjoyed it and became members, so now (for the next year) we can go there for free.

Dolores Aguilar Obituary

Following is the obituary for snopes.com: Dolores Aguilar. It appeared in the Vallejo Times Herald. It might be a good time to look at our lives and how we might be remembered.

Dolores Aguilar, born in 1929 in New Mexico, left us on August 7, 2008. She will be met in the afterlife by her husband, Raymond, her son, Paul Jr., and daughter, Ruby.

She is survived by her daughters Marietta, Mitzi, Stella, Beatrice, Virginia and Ramona, and son Billy; grandchildren, Donnelle, Joe, Mitzie, Maria, Mario, Marty, Tynette, Tania, Leta, Alexandria, Tommy, Billy, Mathew, Raymond, Kenny, Javier, Lisa, Ashlie and Michael; great-grandchildren, Brendan, Joseph, Karissa, Jacob, Delaney, Shawn, Cienna, Bailey, Christian, Andre Jr., Andrea, Keith, Saeed, Nujaymah, Salma, Merissa, Emily, Jayci, Isabella, Samantha and Emily. I apologize if I missed anyone.

Dolores had no hobbies, made no contribution to society and rarely shared a kind word or deed in her life. I speak for the majority of her family when I say her presence will not be missed by many, very few tears will be shed and there will be no lamenting over her passing.

Her family will remember Dolores and amongst ourselves we will remember her in our own way, which were mostly sad and troubling times throughout the years. We may have some fond memories of her and perhaps we will think of those times too. But I truly believe at the end of the day ALL of us will really only miss what we never had, a good and kind mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. I hope she is finally at peace with herself. As for the rest of us left behind, I hope this is the beginning of a time of healing and learning to be a family again.

There will be no service, no prayers and no closure for the family she spent a lifetime tearing apart. We cannot come together in the end to see to it that her grandchildren and great-grandchildren can say their goodbyes. So I say here for all of us, GOOD BYE, MOM.

In Defense Of Complaining

In Defense Of ComplainingCory Doctorow wrote another great editorial for Information Week.

Set Up a Home Server

Set Up a Home Server - Webmonkey

The Auburn University Official Athletic Site - Men's Golf

Do you see anybody you know?

The Auburn University Official Athletic Site - Men's Golf

Online Alarm Clock

KuKuKlok - an Online Alarm Clock

Google – 2008 Summer Games

Google – 2008 Summer Games site has several resources to help you stay up to date on the Olympics.

Brevard Music Center

Today we're in Brevard, North Carolina to visit Kristen. We've just been hanging out with her and her friend Megan. It's a beautiful part of the country. It took us a little over three hours to get here.

VERY Specific instructions

They take these things seriously in North Carolina...

36 Month - 0% Interest

That was great financing (and they were able to transfer my Auburn license plate to the Rabbit).

Fireworks from Atlanta Braves vs Brewers 2008-08-01

Braves Meal

$28 for large lemonade, medium Diet Coke, veggie burger (and fries) and chicken tenders (and fries). Of course, the tickets and parking were free (Thanks Charles and Rosalie!) so that offsets some of the expense.

To quote my brother-in-law

Terry was describing a person whose leg had been amputated just above the knee. He put his hand just above his knee, to indicate where the amputation had occurred and said "His leg, from here down, wasn't one"

Jessica Rabbit

Here's my brand new ride. I just bought it today. It's my first:

• Imported car
• German car
• Car with remote keyless entry
• Car with MP3 player
• Car with switchblade key
• Car with alarm
• Car with 6 speed automatic transmission
• Car with Tiptronic transmission
• Car with trip computer
• Car with Auxiliary audio input

There may be some other firsts, but that seemed like a good start.

So long, old friend...

I bought my truck soon after Amy and I got married. It was January 2002 and I had just started seeing the ‘new’ Dodge Ram 1500s (that body style debuted in 2002). I was interested in a Nissan King Cab and I think it was selling for about $17,000. I then saw an ad for Maxwell Dodge in Taylor. They had a Ram 1500 for $15,500. It was a lot of truck for the money. It could easily (and comfortably) carry three people, which the Nissan couldn’t.

The RAM didn’t get very good gas mileage (about 15-16 MPG). At that time, it wasn’t a huge concern, because I lived just over a quarter of a mile from work and gas was 99 cents a gallon. Other than the mileage, it has been a perfect vehicle. It has never been back to the dealer for any service. I have had to have two brake jobs (at about 40,000 and 80,000 miles) due to the amount of stop and go driving. The back tires lasted about 70,000 miles and the front ones about 80,000 miles. I had to have a sensor replaced last year to pass Georgia’s exhaust inspection. The original battery is still in the truck, it’s never had a tune-up and it runs better than the day it came off the lot.

There is some wear and tear. Both the outside rear mirrors were missing their cover, so they look funny. The left outside mirror is busted, because I backed into a pole at work (only the mirror was damaged). The dash is cracked in a couple of places. The windshield is cracked almost all the way across. Someone broke into the truck a couple of years ago and messed up the passenger door handle and trim (before busting the window). There’s a bad spot on the right rear fender, where something rubbed the paint off and there’s some surface rust there.

It is as comfortable a vehicle as you can drive. We have driven it from Texas to Alabama and back with and without a trailer. It’s never left me stranded. It’s just gotten too expensive to drive. Recently, Amy has been driving my truck to the MARTA station about a mile from our house. I’ve been driving her Passat, which has resulted in a huge gas savings, but also additional wear and tear on her car. The Passat is 18 months old and has over 30,000 miles on it. We just can’t continue to wear out the nice car at this rate.

St. Louis Cardinals vs Atlanta Braves

We're at Turner field with Charles and Rosalie. Hopefully, the Braves will dominate them.

Toomer's Drugs

We're in Auburn, getting Will moved. We just went to Toomer's Drugs for lemonade.

The balcony is closed

The balcony is closed - Roger Ebert's Journal
A sad day for movie lovers...

This is our fire station...

Update: Oakhurst Fire Station

You may remember, that about four months ago, I blogged about the Oakhurst Fire Station. Well, it was there when I went to work, but when I got back, all I saw was rubble. I went to the city's website and apparently we're getting a new firestation:

Construction to Start on Decatur Fire Station No. 2 in Oakhurst Village

The City Commission has awarded a contract for the construction of Fire Station No. 2 to the low bidder, Ward General Contractors of Kennesaw, in the amount of $1,434,000. The new fire station is located at 356 West Hill Street in Oakhurst Village.

Construction of the new fire station is being funded by the City’s capital bond program. LP3 Architects of Decatur designed the building, which is expected to be the City of Decatur’s first LEED certified building. Construction is expected to begin during the week of July 21, 2008 and to last about 10 months.

Here's the artist's rendering of the new one.

The Bank Job

A week or two ago, I went out to Netflix and added The Bank Job to my queue. However, I meant to add The Bank Job. The The Bank Job rated a 3.3 on IMDB, so I didn't even watch it. I went back to Netflix and added The Bank Job. It rated a 7.6. Confusing, huh ?

Atlanta Roller Girls

We're watching the Atlanta Roller Girls ar the Yaarab Shrine Center. Our team, The Apocolypstix losing 51-41 at the break. When I say 'our team', I mean that one of our friends, Pocaheartless is one of The Apocolypstix jeerleaders.

35th Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival

Amy posted the pictures from our Telluride adventure. Check 'em out!

More Social than Work: 35th Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival

Well said ?

After being picked fifth out of six people, Jen (Hell's Kitchen contestant) said

"I definitely know that the reason I was picked second to last is because how strong of a leader I am and they don't want to be outshine by me in their kitchen, but that's gonna happen anyway."

Diesel Jetta

The 2009 Jetta TDI's will soon be here. Jim Ellis has one already for test drives. It's rated at 40 MPG. I've spent some time in the new Jetta's and they are roomy. Check out goodcleandieselfun.com for additional information.

"Smoking Alternative"

100_0697.JPG, originally uploaded by A Shipp.

Dietary Supplement
Lemon Flavor
Nic Lite
Nicotine Supplement
8 fl. oz (240mL)

What else do you need ?

Triple A Fastener.

100_0650.JPG, originally uploaded by A Shipp.

Apparently, they have quite a selection of fasteners. This was shot at Applebee Park in Lexington, Ky.

Same to you buddy!

100_0713.JPG, originally uploaded by A Shipp.

This is John and Marybeth's cat, Murphy. He's giving me a one-finger salute!

Clear Any Clogged Drain

Clear Any Clogged Drain | Plumbing | How-to | This Old House - 1

This worked for me this morning!

Don't talk to the police

A couple of awesome (long) videos about why you Don't talk to the police.

Tour de France 2008

Be sure and check out Google's content regarding the Tour de France 2008, They have Google Maps and YouTube stuff.

Drive-In, again ...

We're between movies at the drive-in. We just saw Wanted and in just a few minutes, The Incredible Hulk will start.

Art

I drew and colored this car tonight at Macaroni Grill.

Welcome Kristen to the Blogosphere

Please check out my niece's blog, "One Note at a Time". The URL is http://kristen-onenote.blogspot.com/.

6 bits, not 4

The Atlanta Journal Constitution will be increasing its daily rate on Monday. The price is currently 50 cents and will be increasing to 75 cents. That's an increase of 50%! The Sunday price will remain at $2.

The Grand Post

'Grand' in this case, is slang for 1000. This is the 1000th post to Does the fun ever start?

When I started this blog in May, 2004, it was an experiment and it still is. I don't know what keeps it going. Sometimes, I've felt pressured to post when I didn't have anything to say and often I'm surprised at just how trivial the posts are. At the end of the day, I like having a place on the internet. As I've mentioned before, I also have a wildly inflated sense of Ego because of my blog.

So, the experiment continues...

Brown Dog Pizza

Thursday night, we ate at Brown Dog Pizza in Telluride. We went there because on Wednesday, Will played golf with the owner, so he was the one person we knew in Telluride.

Traffic Jam

Traffic Jam, originally uploaded by eschulz.

When we were on the road on Wednesday from Grand Junction to Telluride, we were stopped due to a striping/paving project. They closed the road in one direction and then let 100-150 cars go through at once. It seemed pretty inefficient, but while I was looking through my pictures, I really loved this one.

Bluegrass Lineup

Here's the lineup from Bluegrass. I've marked in Bold the acts that we saw while we were there. We missed the others.

Thursday, June 19
10:00am — Gates Open
11:00 - 12:00pm — Darrell Scott
12:15 - 1:30pm — Cadillac Sky
2:00 - 3:15pm — Uncle Earl
3:30 - 4:45pm — Arlo Guthrie
5:15 - 6:45pm — Del McCoury Band
7:15 - 8:30pm — Ani DiFranco Band
9:00 - 10:30pm — Ryan Adams & The Cardinals

Friday, June 20
9:00am — Gates Open
10:00 - 11:00am — Spring Creek
11:30 - 12:45pm— Béla Fleck, Duos with Friends
1:15 - 2:30pm — Emmitt-Nershi Band
3:00 - 4:15pm — Peter Rowan & the Free Mexican Airforce
4:30 - 5:45pm — Tim O'Brien
6:00 - 7:30pm — Paolo Nutini
8:00 - 9:30pm — Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby with Kentucky Thunder
10:00 - 11:30pm — Leftover Salmon

Saturday, June 21 (the summer solstice)
9:00am — Gates Open
9:45 - 11:00am — Band Contest Finals
11:15 - 12:15pm — Steep Canyon Rangers
12:30 - 1:45pm — Tift Merritt
2:15 - 3:30pm — Jerry Douglas Band
3:45 - 4:00pm — Telluride Troubadour
4:15 - 5:45pm — Yonder Mountain String Band
6:15 - 7:30pm — Brett Dennen
8:00 - 10:00pm — Sam Bush Band
10:30pm - Midnight — The Frames


Sunday, June 22
9:00am — Gates Open
10:15 - 11:30am — Solomon Burke
12:00 - 1:15pm — The Duhks
1:45 - 3:00pm — Punch Brothers featuring Chris Thile
3:30 - 4:45pm — John Cowan & Darrell Scott Band
5:15 - 6:30pm — Hot Rize with Red Knuckles & the Trailblazers
7:00 - 8:30pm — The Swell Season: Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova
9:00 - 11:00pm — Telluride House Band

When it rains...

We're stil at Bluegrass. It's raining ice. I don't know if this sleet, hail or frozen rain. We're safe and dry in an empty tent adjacent to our tarp. It's only party cloudy, so it probably won't last very long.

Church

This morning, we're in 'church'. Solomon Burke is holding court with an awesome band. It's gospel time!

No helmets

Everyone in Telluride has a bike, but none of them have helmets.

Our chariot awaits...

Amy bought a tuque

For my American readers, it's also called a toboggan.

Throw Down Your Heart

This morning at Midnight, we went to the Nugget Theater in Telluride to see Throw Down Your Heart - Béla Fleck Brings The Banjo Back To Africa. Béla was there to introduce the movie. It was really good, but right now they have no distribution deal, so the only places you can see it are film festivals and music festivals where Béla is playing.

"Throw Down Your Heart follows American banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck on his journey to Africa to explore the little known African roots of the banjo and record an album. Béla's boundary-breaking musical adventure takes him to Uganda, Tanzania, The Gambia, and Mali, and provides a glimpse of the beauty and complexity of Africa. Using his banjo, Béla transcends barriers of language and culture, finding common ground and forging connections with musicians from very different backgrounds."

Greetings from Telluride

(I usually don't take requests, but a loyal reader asked...)

Dusk at Telluride

Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby and Kentucky Thunder just took the stage and they are playing an awesome version of Bruce's 'That's Just the Way it Is'. After burning up all day, it feels nice to put on a fleece jacket.

Point6 - Spread the wool

Point6 is having their product launch at the Telluride Blugrass Festival. They are giving away their great wool athletic socks. Amy and I are wearing ours today and they are very soft and comfortable.

Attention Ladies

The lock is there for a reason!

Got to go 'round...

Spinnin' wheel, got to go 'round...

This woman was sitting beside us yesterday. She's a weaver and brought a portable spinning wheel and made yarn from wool all day long. It was pretty cool.

Colorado Camouflage

This is our rental car in Colorado. It is snow white, so it would be good for camo in this area at certain times of the year.

Whataview...

We're waiting in line at Bluegrass and this is the view we're seeing.

Planet Bluegrass - Telluride Bluegrass

It's June 18th and it's finally here. Our nephew Will graduated from high school this past month. He's an avid golfer and banjo player. It's been Amy's dream for years to take Will on a great vacation for his graduation gift. Over the past year, it's been my dream too. Amy decided on taking him to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and we all agreed. So, for months, Amy has been planning this perfect trip.

Planet Bluegrass - Telluride Bluegrass: "The 35th Annual Telluride Bluegrass coincides with the Summer Solstice and the days surrounding the full moon; the longest day of the year; the beginning of summer. It's a magical time of sun and light, when the the high country of Colorado puts away its skis and grabs hiking boots, kayaks, and a low-back festival chair to take in 'Bluegrass.'"

Today, we left Atlanta at about 6:30am (Eastern Time) and flew to Denver. Once there, we boarded a smaller plane to Grand Junction, Co. We then drove to Mountain Village, which is where we are staying. We took Will to the Telluride Golf Club so that he could play 18 holes. Amy and I took two (free) Gondola rides across the mountains down to Telluride.

More later.

Firefox web browser

Firefox web browser | Faster, more secure, & customizable
It's Tuesday and that means Firefox 3 should be available. I've been using the sneak peak versions for a couple of months and have been pleased with its performance. If you want to download it, you can help them reach their goal.

The kids are alright

This was shot at the Mall of Georgia. You should be happy this is a photo and not a video, otherwise you would have to endure the shreiking.

Neighborhood cat

100_0965 (Cropped), originally uploaded by eschulz.

We don't know who owns him, so we needed something to call him. Meet Frank Manischewitz

Check out my new grill!

100_0973, originally uploaded by eschulz.

A week or two ago, I bought this grill at The Home Depot. I finally got it assembled yesterday morning and grilled pork chops and turkey sausage on it last night. Both were edible!

Music Control System

makezine.com: Music Control System
I am going to modify this slightly to be our Music Control Systen at our new house. I have just the PC in mind.

Friday, the 13th

This has traditionally brought me good luck, so I'm not too worried.

How to Block Cellphone Spam

How to Block Cellphone Spam - Pogue’s Posts - Technology - New York Times Blog
In case you're receiving cell phone spam, this may be helpful.

Iron Maiden High Tops

Amy and I bought some shoes at Abbadabba's and they had these awesome Van's which I would have bought if i wasn't so....middle-aged.

1-800-GOOG-411

1-800-GOOG-411: Find and connect with local businesses for free from your phone.This is a really cool service from Google. Add this number to your cell phone for free 411 information, dialing and other services.

Insane Mountain Bike Trials Riding

This must be seen to be believed. Brought to you from the guys at thinkbikes.com.

Ram Tough.

My favorite beer has a ram's head on the label and my truck has one on the hood. This one is mural under the hood of a burnt orange 1940 Dodge Panel Wagon. We saw it at an antique car show in Gadsden, Al.

The Concorde at Twains

A taste of all seven of their beers. Five of them were good and I didn't care for the other two. That's where we ate last night. The turkey meatloaf was really good.

Bed full of horns

I saw these three air horns mounted in the bed of a 4WD Ford Ranger. This seems like the PERFECT vehicle to travel around Atlanta in.

The elusive camo bikini ...

Available now at Bass Pro Shops...

I wanna be a Rockstar

Can you count the cameos? Wayne Gretsky, Gene Simmons, Billy Gibbons, Ted Nugent, Kid Rock...

If you want the complete listing, here it is.

Dubs (and then some)

You see these all over town. This was shot in almost the same spot as the green Charger.

Survive a Zombie Apocalypse

Survive a Zombie Apocalypse - Wired How-To Wiki

Graduation Day!

Today, we're in Fort Payne, Alabama for the FPHS Graduation. Will is graduating today. When I met him, he was 8 and a wonderful kid. He's not a kid anymore,, but he's still wonderful. Congratulations, Will (and Brandy, Hunter and Liz)!!!

'cuda is short for Barracuda

I saw this at Horseradish Grill. You might think it's purple, but it's actually Plum Crazy. It was parked righ next to a black Acura NSX.

Indiana Jones and the Ultimate Quest

I just watched an awesome show on the History channel called Indiana Jones and the Ultimate Quest. It's going to be on a couple more times in the next week or two. Check it out if you have interest in Indiana Jones or archeology.

Throughout history there have been legendary artifacts that have captured the imagination of adventurers everywhere. While belief in their existence seems to fly in the face of reason and science, there have been those who have devoted their lives to their discovery. One man has looked for some of these remarkable treasures. He is Indiana Jones--professor of archeology and an adventurer who has uncovered some of the world's greatest mysteries. But Dr. Jones is just a fictitious character and it's widely assumed that the artifacts he searched for were also figments of a writer's imagination. But were they?

Coronitas Extra

Right here in Oakhurst! 7 ounce bottles of goodness. Just like in Key West... If you come to Decatur, we'll hook you up.

The Faure Requiem

Tonight, we're at Schwartz Center for Performing Arts at Emory University with friends to see the above work. It's a beautiful space.

Great Strides

Amy and I are walking in Great Strides, a fund raiser for Cystic Fibrosis. It's a beautiful day and we're walking five kilometers (Or apprixmately 32 miles (never mind - it's only 3.2 miles)).

4th Anniversary

Birthday? Anniversary ? I don't know, but Does the fun ever start? is 4 years old.

Yesterday's fortune cookie

Everything has beauty but not everyone sees it.