Scroll down to the Sept. 19 post (Sitting On My Hands).
So the Big 12 will survive (only due to the Pac-12 wanting to keep the status quo).
And Apple's next shindig is this coming Tuesday. Curious to see what they do with their iPod line but I'm not placing high expectations for the iPhone 5 (ain't nothing going to make me part with my iPhone 4 anyway).
And what about the "just one more thing" epilogue?
Friday, September 30, 2011
Couple Days Off
That's the theme for yesterday and today.
No real reason, just "mental health days" as I like to call them. Need to get away from the work environment for a day or two just to prevent mind fatigue and avert going-postal behavior. Fortunately I have the type of job where I can be gone for short periods and colleagues will pick up the overflow.
So what fun enjoyable activities am I engaging in? How about getting into the study and doing more clutter reduction? I pulled our old Dell desktop PC out of the dust (it was put out to pasture at the end of 2008 when Geogal got me an iMac to use as our primary system). Before wiping the drive she wanted to make sure we have all of the photographs off of it so a good chunk of yesterday was me firing up the CPU and making copies of all image-related folders. A twofold process. First I copied the pics to USB drives (not very difficult at all), then burned backups of those files onto CDs.
(An old saying I recall from the college computer lab: Blessed are the pessimists, for they hath made backups.)
Before much longer these pictures will all be copied over to iCloud. We also will send quite a few to our Kodak Gallery account and likely have many of them converted into prints (we simply aren't photo-intensive to have our own photo printer and the related ink expense).
The last task was to connect the old Zip drive (via parallel port--gives away its age, doesn't it?) and check the six or seven disks I have and make backups of any photos. However time seems to have taken its toll as the Zip drive clicked clicked clicked obnoxiously away but would never open the contents of the disk. At least I was able to eject the 100MB disk from the drive, hoping there's no damage to the contents. Next I headed over to the iMac, pulled up Ebay and checked prices for used 100MB Zip drives. Not too bad, there's several available. Might be wise to get one that's USB since I could make use of it in my present setup. Theoretically anyway. I'm not sure if I would trust important files to a Zip in this day and age, especially with cloud storage being readily available and inexpensive.
So overall not a bad way to spend a day. I didn't have any yard work beckoning and the other outdoor chores are not exactly urgent.
And what of the old PC? I have a vague concept of wiping the drive, reinstalling the OS, and making it into a dedicated DVR for the bedroom TV. This would require buying a tuner card and popping it into the back of the CPU, both Geogal and I could easily do this.
However.....I need to make sure the chip and the memory would support this task. Looks like I'll be doing more research. Wonder if the Dell will just be placed into our basement storage next to little Geoana's old PC (long since beyond useful). What was all this about decreasing the clutter?
No real reason, just "mental health days" as I like to call them. Need to get away from the work environment for a day or two just to prevent mind fatigue and avert going-postal behavior. Fortunately I have the type of job where I can be gone for short periods and colleagues will pick up the overflow.
So what fun enjoyable activities am I engaging in? How about getting into the study and doing more clutter reduction? I pulled our old Dell desktop PC out of the dust (it was put out to pasture at the end of 2008 when Geogal got me an iMac to use as our primary system). Before wiping the drive she wanted to make sure we have all of the photographs off of it so a good chunk of yesterday was me firing up the CPU and making copies of all image-related folders. A twofold process. First I copied the pics to USB drives (not very difficult at all), then burned backups of those files onto CDs.
(An old saying I recall from the college computer lab: Blessed are the pessimists, for they hath made backups.)
Before much longer these pictures will all be copied over to iCloud. We also will send quite a few to our Kodak Gallery account and likely have many of them converted into prints (we simply aren't photo-intensive to have our own photo printer and the related ink expense).
The last task was to connect the old Zip drive (via parallel port--gives away its age, doesn't it?) and check the six or seven disks I have and make backups of any photos. However time seems to have taken its toll as the Zip drive clicked clicked clicked obnoxiously away but would never open the contents of the disk. At least I was able to eject the 100MB disk from the drive, hoping there's no damage to the contents. Next I headed over to the iMac, pulled up Ebay and checked prices for used 100MB Zip drives. Not too bad, there's several available. Might be wise to get one that's USB since I could make use of it in my present setup. Theoretically anyway. I'm not sure if I would trust important files to a Zip in this day and age, especially with cloud storage being readily available and inexpensive.
So overall not a bad way to spend a day. I didn't have any yard work beckoning and the other outdoor chores are not exactly urgent.
And what of the old PC? I have a vague concept of wiping the drive, reinstalling the OS, and making it into a dedicated DVR for the bedroom TV. This would require buying a tuner card and popping it into the back of the CPU, both Geogal and I could easily do this.
However.....I need to make sure the chip and the memory would support this task. Looks like I'll be doing more research. Wonder if the Dell will just be placed into our basement storage next to little Geoana's old PC (long since beyond useful). What was all this about decreasing the clutter?
Monday, September 19, 2011
Sitting on my hands
Don't know what's worse: Waiting to see how all of the college football conference realignment will play out....
Or,
Waiting for Apple to hold its new lineup announcement and see what they've done with the iPhone and iPods.
Or,
Waiting for Apple to hold its new lineup announcement and see what they've done with the iPhone and iPods.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Getting desperate?
Either Vermont is really hurting for an influx of tourist cash or they just didn't hire an ad agency with much in the creative tank:
(Seen on WeatherUnderground.com)
What was the runner up? "Visit us. Stay overnight. Please bring money. Please spend money!"
What was the runner up? "Visit us. Stay overnight. Please bring money. Please spend money!"
Monday, September 05, 2011
It's as if they know
The calendar says fall officially begins on Sept. 23.
Bunk. Around here it started on Saturday morning.
Actually, Friday evening might have been the agreed-upon starting point. That was the first high school varsity game of the season (a victory for our home team, by the way). The air had that cool crisp quality that only comes with the transition from summer to winter.
Then Saturday arrived. Yard work for me and the little one (she in the front yard, I in the back). Toward the latter part of the afternoon I noticed a few leaves on the ground, shed by our remaining black walnut tree.
Almost as if they know.
Yesterday morning on the way to church I was listening to the college sports channel on Sirius. At that hour the hosts were taking calls from people digesting the first games of the college season. (How about that Baylor-TCU game, anyway?) One of the callers stated: "For most everybody Christmas happens on December 25th. Not me. The first Saturday in September is more enjoyable than any other time of year!"
Well said. Gridiron contests combined with cooler temps (at least here, anyway) mixed in with increased kid's activities topped off with preparing for the fall hunting season makes me one satisfied guy right now.
Speaking of hunting/shooting, a couple of things to note. For Labor Day my only scheduled Labor will be of the fun variety. Turns out a friend bought himself a new gun cabinet recently and was wondering if I wanted his old one. Sure! How much do you want for it? Nothing. Hey, free is good! So today I will venture up the road and haul that piece of furniture back to my burg. Now I just need to find a friend to help me get the thing out of the truck and down the stairs.
Hope I don't break the glass in the process.
Soon little Geoana will have her own youth shotgun. She's been saving for a while now and has accumulated a sizable amount. I priced out the youth model Remington 870 (with a pink camo pattern on the stock) and she will have to save just a bit longer. Also started scoping out the auction websites but most every youth model with pink camo is a new-in-box versus a used model and the prices aren't much less than at a retailer's. Add to that shipping and the necessity of shipping the firearm to someone with an FFL license and I'm just as good off to head to Cabela's and fork over the cash. Except we are making a concerted effort to be thrifty particularly in light of Geogal having resigned from her job recently to pursue a different career.
Therefore I called a local gunsmith, one with whom I've worked before. Asked what he charged for use of his FFL license should I find a good deal through gunbroker.com. 25 dollars. Then the conversation takes its logical turn. What are you looking for? Explained. How about I check with my wholesalers and see if I can get you a brand new one for probably less than you'd find online? Well sure.
End of story, he found a Mossberg 500 youth model, pink camo pattern, for a very decent price. (And little Geoana has fired this model before. Last November we hit the gun range one final time before upland bird season and there was another family there, one of the gals let my kiddo fire her pink camo Mossberg 20 gauge.) Deal should be done sometime this month. Then I will take the little girl out to the gun range and have her break some blue rock. After that, first weekend in November is pheasant hunting for youth only. Will definitely get her out into the CRP and corn fields before the out-of-staters arrive for the start of regular pheasant season the following Saturday.
Bunk. Around here it started on Saturday morning.
Actually, Friday evening might have been the agreed-upon starting point. That was the first high school varsity game of the season (a victory for our home team, by the way). The air had that cool crisp quality that only comes with the transition from summer to winter.
Then Saturday arrived. Yard work for me and the little one (she in the front yard, I in the back). Toward the latter part of the afternoon I noticed a few leaves on the ground, shed by our remaining black walnut tree.
Almost as if they know.
Yesterday morning on the way to church I was listening to the college sports channel on Sirius. At that hour the hosts were taking calls from people digesting the first games of the college season. (How about that Baylor-TCU game, anyway?) One of the callers stated: "For most everybody Christmas happens on December 25th. Not me. The first Saturday in September is more enjoyable than any other time of year!"
Well said. Gridiron contests combined with cooler temps (at least here, anyway) mixed in with increased kid's activities topped off with preparing for the fall hunting season makes me one satisfied guy right now.
Speaking of hunting/shooting, a couple of things to note. For Labor Day my only scheduled Labor will be of the fun variety. Turns out a friend bought himself a new gun cabinet recently and was wondering if I wanted his old one. Sure! How much do you want for it? Nothing. Hey, free is good! So today I will venture up the road and haul that piece of furniture back to my burg. Now I just need to find a friend to help me get the thing out of the truck and down the stairs.
Hope I don't break the glass in the process.
Soon little Geoana will have her own youth shotgun. She's been saving for a while now and has accumulated a sizable amount. I priced out the youth model Remington 870 (with a pink camo pattern on the stock) and she will have to save just a bit longer. Also started scoping out the auction websites but most every youth model with pink camo is a new-in-box versus a used model and the prices aren't much less than at a retailer's. Add to that shipping and the necessity of shipping the firearm to someone with an FFL license and I'm just as good off to head to Cabela's and fork over the cash. Except we are making a concerted effort to be thrifty particularly in light of Geogal having resigned from her job recently to pursue a different career.
Therefore I called a local gunsmith, one with whom I've worked before. Asked what he charged for use of his FFL license should I find a good deal through gunbroker.com. 25 dollars. Then the conversation takes its logical turn. What are you looking for? Explained. How about I check with my wholesalers and see if I can get you a brand new one for probably less than you'd find online? Well sure.
End of story, he found a Mossberg 500 youth model, pink camo pattern, for a very decent price. (And little Geoana has fired this model before. Last November we hit the gun range one final time before upland bird season and there was another family there, one of the gals let my kiddo fire her pink camo Mossberg 20 gauge.) Deal should be done sometime this month. Then I will take the little girl out to the gun range and have her break some blue rock. After that, first weekend in November is pheasant hunting for youth only. Will definitely get her out into the CRP and corn fields before the out-of-staters arrive for the start of regular pheasant season the following Saturday.
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