2006 Honda Ridgeline

Yesterday, I saw a 2006 Honda Ridgeline . It is quite literally the ugliest truck on the planet. They don't offer a V8 (although the V6 does have 255 horsepower) or 2WD. The base prices start at almost $28k. I don't get it...

Lone Star

According to Beer Advocate, Lone Star is a brew to avoid. I don't agree. It's the National Beer of Texas.

Burnin' for you....

Yesterday, I decided to start carrying my old digital camera (HP Photosmart 215). The reason for this is that Sunday I saw the aftermath of a single vehicle collision (telephone pole) and within than 30 minutes, I saw a vehicle start spinng and eventually hit s small tree near the railroad tracks. So, this morning, I tossed the camera into the armrest compartment in my truck. Within a minute of leaving the house today, I took this (lousy) picture of a burning Ford F-150. This fire occurred at the corner of Greenlawn Blvd and Gattis School Road. I drove by at about 6:20 this morning. I did see the fire truck arrive.
Posted by Hello

If you ever want to come by the house and drink a beer...

...please do (just don't forget the beer).

Does the fun ever start ? Contest !

Movie Night Prize Pack

• School of Rock DVD (Fullscreen)
• Small bag of Smart Pop popcorn
• Movie trivia game

Ways to enter

1. Call the voice mail line at (763)322-1842 and leave a positive comment about the blog
2. Call the voice mail line at (763)322-1842 and share a funny story (Keep it clean!)
3. Email me at erschulz @ gmail.com (leave out the spaces) with a positive comment about the blog.
4. Email me at erschulz @ gmail.com (leave out the spaces) and share a funny story (Keep it clean!)
5. 

Posted by Hello
Disclaimer: Understand that the email or voice mail you send to me is my property and it will find its way into this blog at some point.
Rules: Be sure and leave your email address or mailing address, so that I can get the prize pack to you (I will remove personal information before posting publicly). Also, multiple entries (up to three) are allowed. This contest will end when I have received thirty entries or May 17, 2005, whichever comes first.

Canada, Eh ?

Posted by Hello

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is the oldest producer of free electronic books (eBooks or etexts) on the Internet. Our collection of more than 15.000 eBooks was produced by hundreds of volunteers. Most of the Project Gutenberg eBooks are older literary works that are in the public domain in the United States. All may be freely downloaded and read, and redistributed for non-commercial use.

Cheaper by the Dozen...

Today, we went to see a friend appear in a play. She goes to our church and we went with six other people to see her star in Cheaper by the Dozen. First we had lunch at WildFire and then we walked next door to the Georgetown Palace Theater. Georgetown, TX is just a few miles away from Round Rock and has a great little downtown area. If you're in Central Texas, be sure and check it out.

My Latest Camera Accessory

I replaced my Canon A-10's ragged wrist strap with a new one from Quantaray. It's the best $6 I ever spent on that camera. Check it out at Quantaray - Silver Metal Digital Camera Wrist-Strap. Just understand that that picture doesn't do it justice.

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Astronomy Picture of the Day: Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

Rick Steves - Best of Travels in Europe

This is a great deal from Amazon. It's a six DVD set. While it's quite a bargain and its regular price of $29.99, Amazon is now selling it for $9.99. There are 5 reviews available and each one gives the set a 5 star rating. Amy and I want to go to Europe and have been recording the shows from PBS and this will allow us to free up significant space in our DVR. If you aren't familiar with Rick Steves, please check out his website.

To understand recursion...

...you must first understand recursion.

Improv Everywhere

Improv Everywhere causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Created in August of 2001 by Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere has excecuted over 40 missions involving over 100 undercover agents. The group is based in New York City."

Sports Capital of Texas

The City of Round Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) has received first-place honors in the 2004 North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA) Award Competition in the business category. Judges awarded Round Rock first prize for its Web site, www.SportsCapitalOfTexas.com. The city placed first in a category that also included the official tourism Web sites for Los Angeles, Boston and Mexico."

Google Satellite Images

A new feature of Google Maps. Here's a link to a satellite photo of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California. This is such a cool piece of technology...

MC Delish-Schulz

rapschulz
Originally uploaded by eschulz.

We all know where MC Delish-schulz is goin' next.
His real love, breaking it down and keeping it real.

(Explanation: Today was my last day on my job. Some of the other employees like to doctor pictures. Here's the funniest one I've seen where I was the target. The above verbage accompanied the photo.)

Interesting searches that led people here...

• lotus flower in houston, texas
• franziskaner new jersey buy
• western auto go cart parts
• has anyone ever successfully gotten gum off of their shoe, then stepped in gum within a minute, then slipped on the ice and fallen down 3 steps and then fallen in love and found themselves naked and shivering on a bridge while a film crew from MTV filmed the whole thing?
  

Stacie Collins

Copy of stacieLive_L
Originally uploaded by eschulz.

I found out about Stacie Collins while browsing for information about Dan Baird. He just produced Stacie's new album which is not yet out. I downloaded the two preview tracks and these two songs kick ass. I'm not sure how to describe her. It's kind of raucous country with a rock edge. Don't listen to me, download them and rock out to them until you can buy the album.

And while Dan Baird is fresh in your mind, go out and buy his album, Love Songs for the Hearing Impaired. It's an awesome album.

Bluebonnet - The Texas State Flower

IMG_3161
Originally uploaded by eschulz.

The state flower of Texas is the bluebonnet, also called buffalo clover, wolf flower and el conejo (the rabbit). The bluebonnet was adopted as the state flower, on request of the Society of Colonial Dames in Texas, by the 27th Legislature, 1901. (See acts of regular session, p. 232.) The original resolution designated Lupinus subcarnosus as the state flower, but a resolution (HCR 44) signed March 8, 1971, by Gov. Preston Smith provided legal status as the state flower of Texas for "Lupinus Texensis and any other variety of bluebonnet."

Source: http://www.texasalmanac.com/flags/

SEAT Leon

Seat Leon
Originally uploaded by eschulz.

Here's a car we saw on the freeway yesterday. It's a SEAT Leon. It's quite a good looking car. SEAT is a subsidiary of Volkswagen. If you're an American, don't try to find a dealer. SEAT's aren't available in the US. The one we saw was from Mexico, but they are available all over Europe. It's built on the same platfom that has spawned the Golf IV, Jetta, Beetle, Audi A3 & TT

Sorry it's blurry, but both cars were traveling at 70 MPH and I had to hold the camera outside the window.

PDFCreator

PDFCreator is a free tool to create PDFs easily from nearly any application. With the PDFCreator Printer driver you turn any program into a PDF-machine.

Black Crowes Reunited !

Yahoo! News - Reunited Black Crowes Expand Tour, Reveal Lineup: "The Black Crowes reunion has grown into a full-blown tour, and the band has finally unveiled details of the musicians who will back founding sibling duo Chris and Rich Robinson at the band's first gigs since October 2001."

This Weekend's Yardwork - After

IMG_3124
Originally uploaded by eschulz.

This weekend we spent several hours creating a new flowerbed. We enlisted the help of Rachael & Jonathan to help us with the work and the design. Kerri also helped with the work. We're proud to have mostly native plants, such as Artemisia, Lady Banksia Roses, and Coreopsis. We also planted some herbs including Thyme, Oregano, Rosemary, Mint & Basil.

This Weekend's Yardwork - Before

IMG_3111
Originally uploaded by eschulz.

That title is slightly misleading. This was the Before picture of the landscaping, but I had already mowed, edged and trimmed the yard.

Used-PCs.com

Used-PCs.com Corporation is dedicated to providing all customers with proven technology at affordable prices. It is the mission of Used-PCs.com Corporation to solve the hardware needs of all consumers, across the world, and to maintain a high standard of quality, customer service, and professionalism, when working with each individual business or consumer.

I recently bought a notebook from them. They're especially great for anyone in Central Texas.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Sears Archives Home Page

Once again, Sears has made history. For the first time, Sears has opened the doors to its vast archival collection and invited the public to peek inside. More than 100 years of stories, product and brand histories, photographs, catalog images are now available online.

(I worked for Sears for a couple of years in college and found this link via J-Blog)

Peacocks in the park...

2773307-R2-050-23A
Originally uploaded by eschulz.

My wife has been taking a photography class through Informal Class at the University of Texas. You may remember that I got her a camera for her birthday last month. Her class took a field trip to Mayfield Park, where she shot this pic.


Don't miss the peacocks !

Kip Holm

Kip Holm is a photographer based in Austin, Texas. He's a favorite of ours. We have bought several of his pictures for gifts. His work can be found at Avenue Gallery on South Congress (SOCO).

Beard - Before & After

Beard - Before & After
Originally uploaded by eschulz.

I've been thinking about shaving my beard for a week or two. I started growing it a few days before Thanksgiving 04. I'm glad it's gone...

A day in Houston...

IMG_3032
Originally uploaded by eschulz.

We have a couple of friends who may be heading to law school in Houston this year. We spent the day with them in Houstom and had a great day. I snapped this picture when we were downtown.

Two newspapers per week

I bought an Austin American-Statesman yesterday (as I do every Friday). I buy it for one reason, and one reason only. Fry's includes their multipage color advertising insert on Friday. It does seem kind of nostalgic to pay 50 cents to be allowed to read (in less detail) the news I read online yesterday. I also buy the paper on Sundays to get the sales circulars for Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Max & Office Depot.

SXSW Showcasing Artists (2.6G of MP3's)

Download the entire SXSW 2005 Showcasing Artist mp3 library to your iPod® by using one of the BitTorrent files. This is a huge download... it's over 750 full-length, high-quality mp3 files... but it's worth the wait!

Net Profiles

Net Profiles allows you to create profiles of your network settings, including mapped network drives and default printers, and lets you easily apply those settings. It eliminates the need to manually reconfigure your network settings when you move your desktop/laptop computer to another location and want to connect to another network."

Earl at the Bow Wow Festival

IMG_3023
Originally uploaded by eschulz.

Earl was there to cheer for his sister Chai, who ran in the Weiner Dog Races. Chai, unfortunately, didn't win. She did get very useful training in racing and plans to make a stronger showing in Buda at the preeminent Wiener Dog Races on April 23rd and 24th.

Gospel Brunch

Today, we're going to meet some friends at Stubb's BBQ for their Gospel Brunch. The Visions of Light Choir will be the featured group.

OpenOffice.Org 2.0 Beta is available

OpenOffice.org 2.0 is an open, feature-rich multi-platform office productivity suite. The user interface and the functionality is very similar to other products in the market like Microsoft Office or Lotus SmartSuite, but compared to these commercial products OpenOffice.org is absolutely free.

A full description of the application can be found on the product pages.

Texas Round-Up

The Texas Round-Up is a statewide effort to encourage Texans of all fitness levels to incorporate daily physical activity and healthy choices into their lives.

It’s much more than just a race: The Texas Round-Up is a motivational and interactive program to encourage Texans to live a more active and healthy lifestyle. Then, the actual event takes place on April 30, 2005 to celebrate fitness and show how physical activity can be fun. Activities include a 10K run/walk/relay along with a Health and Fitness Festival, Health Expo, and a Post Race Celebration Concert all on the Texas State Capitol grounds.

The Texas Round-Up is a chance for all Texans to rally together and motivate each other to adopt and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Bow Wow Festival Website

Bow Wow Festival Website: "The spirit of the Bow Wow Festival is to celebrate the special relationships between humans and dogs. It is important for our community to recognize this positive and unique relationship with a fun celebration of music and dance in the park. We invite you to come dance with the DOGS!! March 6th, 2005 at the 1st Annual Bow Wow Festival!"

Tomorrow, we're going to watch the wiener Dog Races. We'll be cheering on Rachael and Jonathan's dog, Chi (or Chai).

I didn't really feel like myself today...

I didn't really feel like anyone else either...

StationRipper

StationRipper will record Shoutcast radio broadcasts. It will divide the songs up individual MP3's and save them to your hard drive.

Goodnight, NYPD Blue

Tonight, the final episode ( Moving Day ) of NYPD Blue will air. It will be followed by "NYPD Blue: A Final Tribute". I didn't watch the first season. I started watching after the hype about David Caruso caught my attention. There's only one reason why I continued to watch it for so many years. Andy Sipowicz is one of the most complex characters I've ever seen on television. I will miss it...

Firmware Upgrade for Creative Muvo N200 MP3 player

This upgrade enables you to play Audible® audio content on your Creative MuVo® Micro N200 player. For complete functionality, confirm that you meet the requirements listed below before installing this upgrade.

Added Features or Enhancements:

• Supports the playback of Audible tracks with DRM (Digital Rights Management) content protection. Important: To transfer Audible audio content with DRM content protection, you must have AudibleManager® version 4.xx or later installed.
• Enables you to skip sections within an Audible track.
• Adds a Cue/Review feature which enables you to listen to a track while scanning forward or backward within it. This feature is disabled by default.
  

Fixes:

• Reduces rare instances where the player stops responding.
• Resolves the issue of inconsistent folder playback sequence.
• Improves the Cue and Review function during MP3 playback.
• Resolves the issue of random popping sounds during playback.
• Resolves the issue of the Skip Folder working incorrectly in Repeat mode.

VideoLAN - Free Software and Open Source video streaming solution for every OS!

VideoLAN - Free Software and Open Source video streaming solution for every OS!: "The VideoLAN project targets multimedia streaming of MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and DivX files, DVDs, digital satellite channels, digital terrestial television channels and live videos on a high-bandwidth IPv4 or IPv6 network in unicast or multicast under many OSes. VideoLAN also features a cross-platform multimedia player, VLC, which can be used to read the stream from the network or display video read locally on the computer under all GNU/Linux flavours, all BSD flavours, Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS, Solaris, QNX, Familiar Linux..."

BeatrIX Linux: Small. Simple. Elegant.

BeatrIX Linux: Small. Simple. Elegant.: "BeatrIX 2005.1 Linux is a free, compact (Less than 200 megabytes), operating system aimed at both office and home users who want something simpler, safer and superior to Microsoft Windows, and that will run on just about any IBM-compatible PC made in the past 10 years. It runs as a live CD or it can be installed to hard drive. As a live CD, it does not touch your hard drive or touch any other operating system you have. SImply insert the CD, re-boot, and about two minutes later, you're surfing the Internet, writing letters, sending e-mail and instant-chatting. All this from a CD the size of a beer coaster."

Jabarvy

Tonight we're going to see Jabarvy at Friends Bar on Sixth Street in Austin.

KODAK: Taken On The Road-American Mile Markers

Join Matt Frondorf as he drives from the Statue of Liberty to the Golden Gate Bridge, his camera clicking at every mile. Retrace his trip through the Picture Viewer, and don’t forget to write home along the way—Every picture can be sent as a postcard. Or view the movies to experience the whole journey.

Source: Lifehacker

Ansel Adams Studio

From its origin in 1902 in a tent in the California wilderness, Best's Studio, dba The Ansel Adams Gallery, has evolved into a center that celebrates the arts and the natural grandeur of our environment. The Ansel Adams Gallery strives to cultivate an aesthetic appreciation and concern for our world by offering visitors a unique variety of books, handcrafts, fine arts, and an extraordinary collection of Ansel Adams orginal photographs.

Essentially You

Essentially You Massage Therapy is a company owned by a former coworker. About 18 months ago, he told me he was going to be starting this business and it looks like he succeeed.

Austin Natural Soap

Austin Natural Soap is a company owned by some friends that I've lost touch with. They are the two people who took me to see Albert Collins in 1993 which I mentioned a few months ago. If you have any gift needs coming up, please check them out.

A genius explains

Daniel Tammet is an autistic savant. He can perform mind-boggling mathematical calculations at breakneck speeds. But unlike other savants, who can perform similar feats, Tammet can describe how he does it. He speaks seven languages and is even devising his own language. Now scientists are asking whether his exceptional abilities are the key to unlock the secrets of autism. Interview by Richard Johnson

Gruene Water Tower

Gruene Water Tower
Originally uploaded by eschulz.

This isn't a great photo. It is, however, a great souvenir of a wonderful Saturday afternoon.

Today's awesome plans

1. Drive to Gruene, TX (pronounced GREEN)
2. Take a bunch of pictures
3. Drink a glass of wine at The Grapevine
4. Drink a Lone Star at Gruene Hall (Texas' Oldest Dance Hall)
5. Have a nice lunch at The Gristmill River Restaurant and Bar
6. See Million Dollar Baby at a matinee.

Sperling's Best Places

Sperling's Best Places looks like a great resource for comparing cities. If you're thinking about relocating, you'll want to check it out.

Source: LifeHacker

Teleo - internet calling for everyone, anywhere

Teleo - internet calling for everyone, anywhere offers subscribers (for as little as $2.95 per month) a phone number. At this number you can receive free phone calls from other PC's or regular telephones. Calls to regular telephones are paid as you go using flexible PSTN minutes with 2¢ per minute calling anywhere in the world. Their accessories page looks like it would be a great resource for general VoIP items.

The Photographer's Right - A Downloadable Flyer

The Photographer's Right is a downloadable guide that is loosely based on the ACLU's Bust Card and the Know Your Rights flyer. It may be downloaded and printed out using Adobe Acrobat Reader. You may make copies and carry them your wallet, pocket or camera bag to give you quick access to your rights and obligations concerning confrontations over photography. You may distribute the guide to others provided that such distribution is not done for commercial gain and credit is given to the author.

Fontifier - Unique Handwriting Font

Fontifier lets you use your own handwriting for the text you write on your computer. It turns a scanned sample of your handwriting into a handwriting font that you can use in your word processor or graphics program, just like regular fonts such as Helvetica.

Preview your font for free. If you're happy with it, buy it and download it immediately for just $9 (US) by Credit Card or PayPal.

Happy Birthday, Amy !

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my wife a very wonderful 30th birthday. She has had 11 family members in town for the past couple of days. She's had friends join us from as far away as Alabama. Last night, we had a wonderful dinner at NXNW. Thanks to everyone who helped Amy celebrate.

TaxACT Online

All taxpayers qualify to prepare and e-file their federal tax return for FREE using TaxACT Online.TaxACT Online taxes: FREE online tax filing, IRS efile & income tax preparation

Rockstar !

IMG_0612
Originally uploaded by eschulz.

Last night, we had one of the celebrations for my lovely wife's 30th birthday. 10 of us went to Austin Karaoke, which I've mentioned here before.

I'm fairly sure that I was rocking the house to Knockin' on Heaven's Door (by Guns & Roses). It was a hoot and a half.

Obviously, I was waaaaay into it...

HOW-TO: Get music OFF your iPod

Engadget recently posted an article called
HOW-TO: Get music OFF your iPod. I don't have an IPOD, but if you do, this seems like a valuable resource.

University of Texas

IMG_2891
Originally uploaded by eschulz.

Sunday, my wife and I and a close friend went and shot a bunch of pictures. I just bought Amy a Canon Rebel T2 SLR. Her camera has a new technology where it doesn't require memory cards. It uses something called 'film'. Her pictures are still being developed, but here's one I shot with my Canon A10.

Welcome Baby McCulley

Our friends Kyla and Brian became parents last night. At about 7:13, Baby McCulley was born. He weighed 7lbs, 13oz and was 19" long. Mom and baby are both doing great. We're going to see them later today, and hopefully the little buckaroo will have a name by then!

Answers.com

Answers.com - Online Dictionary, Encyclopedia and much more. This is the online reference that I've been waiting for. Check out a couple of examples of how well it works:

• Batman
  
• Dell
• November 21 (My birthday)

To Do with Ta-da List

To Do with Ta-da List: Simple sharable to-do lists. "Ta-da makes it easy to...

• Keep track of all the little things you need to get done
• Make lists for other people (co-workers, friends, family)
• Share lists with the world ('My favorite movies of 2004')
• Subscribe to your lists in RSS so you're always on track
• ...and more! See screenshots, details, and a movie below."

Lifehacker

Lifehacker - Computers make us more productive. Yeah, right. Lifehacker recommends the downloads, web sites and shortcuts that actually save time. Don't live to geek; geek to live.

Camera Van

Camera Van by Harrod Blankis the world's ONLY van carpeted wall-to-wall in cameras and rigged to catch the candid expressions of people everywhere.

Source: J-Walk Blog

The Off By One Web Browser

The Off By One Web Browser was just updated with tabbed browsing.

Source: Tinyapps.com Blog (where else?)

Iceberg Lettuce and Coffee Diet

Check out the above link. It's a riot!

Homes for sale by the govenment

The HomeSales.gov web site provides current information about single family homes for sale by the U.S. Federal Government. These previously owned homes are for sale by public auction or other method depending on the property. Anyone can buy a home for sale by the U.S. Government, but you must work with a real estate agent, broker or servicing representative to submit an offer or bid.

Source: J-Walk Blog

Anytime, Anywhere Access to your PC

Tomorrow, WebEx will unveil a new remote access service. We'll see how this compares to LogMeIn.Com, which I mentioned earlier.

Source: Tinyapps
(I get a lot of links from that site. Please check that site often.)

Flickr rocks...

IMG_2769
Originally uploaded by eschulz.

This is a photo of a bridge in Knoxville, TN. I took this during our Christmas trip.

I just joined the free flickr service and uploaded this picture to it. Then I used the Blog picture function in flickr to post directly to my blog. This is the third solution for posting photos to my blog and it certainly seems to be the easiest.

The other advantage is that it links to my photo blog. You can also snag a larger copy there.

Rapidly approaching 1000 unique users...

Tim Cross - Great New Job !

Our friend Tim Cross just got a job as the Defensive Line Coach for Syracuse University. Congratulations, Tim !

Picasa 2 is available

Picasa: Photo management software, free from Google. Find, edit, share photos. Version 2 is available and the feature list has grown dramatically. Check out the feature list.

Travel Links

• Magellan's - America's Leading Source of Travel Supplies
  
• Rick Steves' Europe
  
• One Bag.Com - The Art and Science of Travelling Light
  
• Campmor-Your Quickest Link to the Outdoors
  
• REI - Recreational Equipment, Inc.
  
• Travelsmith
  
• Campmor-Your Quickest Link to the Outdoors
  

Streamload

Company offers 10GB of Net storage, for free. This service is slated tomorrow (2005-01-17) and has some limitations (of course), but may be worthwhile.

Actually, I just signed up for it, so the service is currently available. The 10GB is misleading, because you can only download 100MB per month. If you had used the 10GB, it would take you 100 months (over 8 years) to download the entire contents. There are other subscriptions available which cost from $4.95 to $39.95 per month.

Source: CNET

The Human Clock

Check out The Human Clock - A Photo for Every Minute of the Day.

Source: Boing Boing

Data Lifeguard Tools 11 for Windows

When we used to run MS-DOS, life was easy. To install a larger hard drive, you just hooked the new drive up and partitioned it, then installed it as a second drive. Then all you had to do was copy all of the files over. Then came Windows 95 and that never seemed to work exactly right again. Well, if you buy Western Digital drives, it's even easier. Yesterday, I replaced a 40GB system with a new 160GB. Here's how I did it:

1. Installed Data Lifeguard Tools 11 for Windows
2. Install the 160GB drive as a secondary drive
3. Run the Data Lifeguard drive copy.
4. It prompted me to partition the drive
5. It copied the contents of the drive
6. I removed the 40GB drive
   
7. I installed the 160GB as the only drive

It took a couple of hours, but almost all of that was the actual copy and I didn't even need to be here for that.

Austin Karaoke Studio

Amy and I went out to dinner with a friend last night. The friend and I love to Karaoke. We've been talking about going for a long time. I don't really like The Common Interest anymore, because you can be there for 4 hours and get to sing only 2-3 songs. After dinner, we were driving around and decided to check out Austin Karaoke Studio. This seems like the way to enjoy singing. They have private rooms (of various sizes). We didn't have time to stay last night, but we went in and checked it out. The manager let me sing one song just to get the whole experience. Now, we're planning a party there next week. (They don't serve alcohol, but welcome you to bring your own).

Why not an iPod Shuffle ?

It didn't exist until the day after I ordered the Creative Labs Muvo N200 (512MB). If it had, these advantages of the N200 certainly would have been factors over the Apple Ipod Shuffle (512MB)

• FM Radio
  
• Voice Recorder
  
• Line-In (with MP3 encoder)
  
• 96 x 32 pixel blue EL backlit display
  
• Ability to play WMA files

The Shuffle does have an MSRP of $99 compared to the Muvo N200 at $129 (I ordered mine from eCost for less than $120)

Holiday Money (actual), (so far)

$ 40...Norelco T870 AccuVac Vacuum Trimmer
$ 20...The Very Best Of Chicago: Only The Beginning
$ 40...MH-C204W One Hour NiMH Charger
$ 20...8 POWEREX 2200mAH NiMH Rechargeable Batteries (AA)
$ 4...2 POWEREX 800mAH NiMH Rechargeable Batteries (AAA)
$120...Creative MuVo Micro N200
$ 30...TuneCast II Mobile FM Transmitter
$ 91...Western Digital 160GB Hard Drive
$365...Total ($135 to go...)

The Hipster PDA

The Hipster PDA (Parietal Disgorgement Aid) is a fully extensible system for coordinating incoming and outgoing data for any aspect of your life and work. It scales brilliantly, degrades gracefully, supports optional categories and “beaming,” and is configurable to an unlimited number of options. Best of all, the Hipster PDA fits into your hip pocket and costs practically nothing to purchase and maintain.

43Folders also has an article called Organizing Your Hipster PDA.

note: I first saw this some time ago and thought it was a joke. I am going to try it. Often, I have ideas for the blog and they don't seem to make it here.

First blog entry in a week...

I'm glad that I didn't add 'Blog more regularly' to my list of resolutions.

You make me wanna scream !

Indeed.

Money Wallet

A great looking site that shows you how to make a wallet out of 20 one dollar bills. Check it out.

Source: Boing Boing

Sugar Bowl

Tonight is the last opportunity to see the country's best college football team, Auburn Tigers. They compete against Virginia Tech in the Nokia Sugar Bowl.

USC and Oklahoma will be competing for a meaningless national championship tomorrow in the FedEx Orange Bowl.

Please go to the Bowl Championship Series to try to figure out how this travesty occurred.

Switching to a Mac?

Apple - Switch is a site for the Windows users who are considering a switch to the Apple Mac. I have been a PC user since MS-DOS 1.1 and thought I would never consider a Macintosh, but the 12 inch iBook G4 looks like the perfect notebook PC for me. I don't really see any other manufacturers creating small affordable notebooks for $1000 or less. Dell's most comparable (Inspiron 700M) is over $1600 (although it's often available much cheaper) .

Hello 2005...

Last night we had some friends over and celebrated the end of 2004 and the beginning of 2005. We watched some TV and ate pizza and played Taboo. Overall it was a wonderful evening.

This is a fantastic time to make changes in one's life. I am planning a couple of significant changes which start today. One of the things my wife and I got for Christmas was a one-year membership to the Clay Madsen Recreation Center. Another was a one-year membership to Weight Watchers.

In an unrelated note, I also want to get our garage cleaned out by the end of the year. It's a significant task, because it's not just messy, it's full of crap.

Resolutions:

1. Stick to the Weight Watchers system of eating (it's a little more than just a diet)
2. Exercise daily
3. Work on the garage an average of 15 minutes per day. That's 91.25 hours which should be enough. If I finish this before the end of the year, I will begin work on to the office.

Make Firefox Faster...

If you're a Firefox user with a broadband connection, then head over to Forever Geek and find out how to make firefox faster. It will just take you a couple of minutes and Firefox will download pages faster. It works by allowing multiple connections so it can download more than one file at a time

Holiday Money....

$ 40...Norelco T870 AccuVac Vacuum Trimmer
$ 20...The Very Best Of Chicago: Only The Beginning
$ 18...Rogue Baritone Ukulele
$ 3...Hal Leonard Ukulele Chords
$130...Creative MuVo Micro N200
$ 90...Seagate Barracuda 160GB IDE Hard Drive
$200...Emerson DVD Recorder, EWR10D4
$500...Total

Golden Gate Bridge Jumpers...

The New Yorker: Fact has a great article called "Jumpers: The Fatal Grandeur of the Golden Gate Bridge". It's a fascinating article.

Source: Tinyapps Blog

Portable CE...

Steve Makofsky figured out a way to run Windows CE from a flash drive. Believe it or not,the emulator uses less than 20MB.

New way of browsing news....

Newsmap: The bigger the square, the bigger the story.

Source: Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger

Merry Christmas!

Amy and I are visiting her family and I haven't had any time to blog, but I did want to wish all off you a very wonderful holiday season.

On our way...

This is the MP3 player for me...

I've decided on the SanDisk Digital Audio Player. For me, the features I had to have were:

• At least 256MB flash memory
• Mountable as a USB drive
• USB 2.0
• FM tuner
• LCD display
• Cheap
• Good Brand

There's much more information in the manual. These are available in 256MB, 512MB and 1GB versions. Right now, I'm leaning toward the 256MB version, because it's the cheapest...

ClamperPod...

This is the coolest camera accessory I've seen in a while. It's called the ClamperPod. I first noticed in a review at The Gadgeteer. It might be too late for Christmas, but it will make a great gift for the photographer in your life.

If you'd prefer a more normal mini-tripod, check out the reviews at The Gadgeteer or at MiniTripods.com

Build Your Own Windows Media Center PC...

I have a couple of friends who have built their own. My bet is, that given enough disposable income, you can build one too.