Geeks Love Foxtrot!

From Foxtrot.com today

Beautiful!

Google Street View has come to Indianapolis

Google Maps has added Indianapolis to Street View. But, they have not stopped at just downtown, no, they have added the greater area, including many cities and towns within 50 miles!

Greenwood, IN

So, this includes Martinsville, Terre Haute, Greenwood, Brownsburg, Shelbyville, Bloomington, Lafayette, Kokomo, Muncie, Anderson, Columbus, Crawfordsville, the list goes on (sorry Ft. Wayne, you were just barely missed).

Now, if NAVTEQ would only add my subdivision! (My battle continues with them, as they supply map data for nearly ALL online map services for Indianapolis and Greenwood)

Recycling and Cleaning

We are doing some cleaning around the house and we are attempting to recycle nearly everything we throw away during this cleaning. (BTW, we currently recycle glass, plastic, and newspaper/phone books, and we compost).

I know there are several good options out there for recycling old cell phones, but I thought this was especially easy. You print out this postage-paid label for a box, and throw your cell phones in the box. Its that easy! We are sending about 5 cell phones out on Monday.

http://www.recellular.com/kab/shippingLabel.asp?RequestID=199&barcode=KAB054

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all! And my God bless you and yours during this season of remembrance.

So I am up on Christmas morning reading news, actually. This article about the Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD war sparked a thought as I disagree with their opinion.

Some powerful voices are telling buyers to remain on the sidelines.
Consumer Reports instructed readers not to purchase either HD DVD or Blu-ray players. Film critic Roger Ebert recently wrote that he's not buying until the format war is settled.

If people take a passive approach and wait for one side to win, no one will win. We, the consumers, will continue to be the losers until some sort of agreement is made, or dual media players become more prevalent. I say pick a side, and go with it! Pick the side that you prefer (depending on if you are an XBox 360, PS3 fan, Disney fan, etc).

For consumers, picking one high-def player means some favorites flicks won't be available in their chosen format.

While this is true, the flicks will continue to be available in regular, good old DVD. So, you will be able to purchase and watch in home any movie you desire. For example, I wanted to purchase the Bourne Trilogy, but as it is not available in Blu-ray (my choice), I will purchase the DVDs. And, as I have picked Blu-ray, I have access to great titles such as The Simpsons Movie, Pirates of the Caribbean, and all Disney filmes. I say we the consumers work to end the war and pick the side we think is better (Blu-ray!) and help ensure they win the "war".

Lucky for my side, Blu-ray has Disney, which is what I hope will help end this so called war.

New (To Me) Web Site!

Ever try to park at the airport parking during a very busy holiday or other time of the year?

Now, we need not worry anymore. I just made my first reservations, for about the same price as the long term lots, and they may even wash my car!

http://airportparkingreservations.com/

The website was very easy to use. I will let you know how the experience ended up.

PS3 to get DivX Support Tomorrow

According to a thread on neogaf.com and Engadget, Playstation UK leaked the updates to v2.10 scheduled to come out tomorrow.

Among them, DivX support! This is one of the last things that XBox360 had that PS3 did not have (that I want). So now when I am streaming my mp3s to the PS3, I can watch those TV shows I have as well!

It's full throttle at 15

This is Kacey's cousin!
------------------------------------------------------
It's full throttle at 15
Sophomore at Carroll has her sights set high
By Ben SmithThe Journal GazetteAdvertisement

She has been to Charlotte. She has been to the Brickyard. She has met Kyle Busch and David Stremme, followed with a more clinical eye than most Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Mark Martin.

You could say Andrea Hans is into NASCAR.

Where it gets interesting, though, is when she tells you she also wants to get into NASCAR.

As a driver. As a competitor. As an equal, maybe, someday, to the Busches and Stremmes and Hamlins and Stewarts.

This is not as preposterous as it sounds, even after you’ve learned that Hans is a 15-year-old sophomore at Carroll who loved NASCAR but never thought about it beyond the spectator context until three years ago, when her dad, Karl, bought her a go-kart.

“I loved it,” she says.

And that led to novice racing in the go-kart. And that led to quarter midgets. And that led to a deal with Team Full Throttle, a program specifically designed to develop young, prospective NASCAR drivers on and off track.

Hans’ dad bought her the Legends car, sort of a mini late-model stocker, from fellow Team Full Throttle racer Thomas Hartensveld. It’s one more step in a journey that has been nothing if not meteoric.

“The difference between quarter midgets and Legends cars is (the Legends car) has a lot of throttle control,” says Hans, who raced from Kansas to Ohio in quarter midgets and won her share. “In the midgets, we’re just used to flooring it the whole time around the track. The Legends cars, we have to roll off the throttle and roll on. And we use the brake. The quarter midgets, we don’t use the brake that much.”

It’s an adjustment, Hans admits, but she’s had a few practice runs at Baer Field and in Charlotte, N.C. She needs all the practice runs she can get, because come January she goes to Lowe’s Motor Speedway to run a road course, her first official Legends event.

Life’s a blur, in other words. In more ways than one.

Her career, for instance, accelerated to warp speed the day Tom Baker called. Team Full Throttle’s founder, Baker brought not only expertise and guidance to the table but connections. He got started 15 years ago in New York state, just sort of informally mentoring young drivers, showing them how to deal with the media and woo sponsors and move up in short-track racing.

A perceptive man, he took one look at the rise of Jeff Gordon – polished, media-savvy, a sponsor magnet – and realized the game had changed. And there were all these kids coming after Gordon who needed to understand just how the game had changed.

Team Full Throttle was the result.

“We’re an independent company, and what we do is cultivate drivers for NASCAR opportunities,” Baker says. “We’re very fortunate in the fact that our company gets probably 20 inquiries a week from drivers who want to be involved. And whenever we’re at a racetrack, we’re obviously keeping an eye out. You never know who the next star is gonna be.”

The program, he explains, does two things at once: train and develop drivers and also manage and represent them. They counsel young drivers on when to move up a class, where to move and how long to stay there.

Hans struck them as someone who was ready to move on from the quarter midgets. She’s the first female driver Team Full Throttle has ever signed.

“She’s an outstanding young lady,” Baker says. “Her parents are top-notch people who add class to anything they do. She’s got a lot of energy, and she’s a very good racer, and she just needs to be developed at her pace.”

bensmith@jg.net


http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071216/SPORTS09/712160437

Come to Australia!

While I work on getting some pictures up, here is a little song about Australia Tourism.

Come To Australia

Home, Cold Home

So the reason I have not posted in a while is we were in Australia and New Zealand for three (3) weeks! It was a blast, and exhausting, and memorable. I believe we took around 4700 pictures, so I have a lot of sorting to do. I will post links here when they are all up. Our itinerary...

4 nights in Melbourne
2 nights in Ayers Rock
3 nights in Cairns
3 nights in Sydney
1 week driving from south to north island New Zealand

I wrote a journal through the trip, and I intend on writing a little about each city or area on here as time allows.

New Music

I am back home and done with Puerto Rico for the year. I figured I would get back on the blogosphere by talking about a new CD that is out. Alter Bridge just released their second album, Blackbird. Let me say in brief, it is great. The guys have really moved beyond their initial release One Day Remains and pushed themselves musically. This album has a wonderful mix of different musical sounds and has very quickly become one of my favorite at this time. If you liked their first album, you will love Blackbird.

Thanks Again, Google

How many times have you used an online Map service and wanted to slightly tweak the route (e.g. use a different highway or interstate, or take the south route versus the north route)? Its not easy! You had to give the service an intermediate waypoint to fake it out, then map from the new waypoint to the final destination. Kind of a pain in the butt.

I was playing on Google Maps this morning (yeah, I do it sometimes) and accidentally found a new feature. When your cursor is moved over a driving directions route, the cursor changes to a box. You can then drag the route to a new route! It essentially creates a destination on that new route that the map service thinks you want to drive through. If you right click and remove the destination, the route is moved back to the "google preferred" route.

Here is a quick example for driving to Toledo from Indy. We normally drive through Ft. Wayne, but by dragging the route to somewhere near Richmond (or anywhere along I-70), a destination is dropped in and the route changes.


I thought it was cool. Give it a try!

It's the End of the World. . . No, Just Another Lawsuit

When I first saw the headline "God sued for terror acts", I figured that was it... the end of the world. But as I read the article, it is just a man using the absurdity of the case to make a point regarding frivolous lawsuits. I am not entirely sure if I like the idea of using God to prove a point about our law system, but I am sure it will get some attention. I doubt, though, that it will do any good.

What are your thoughts?

Goodness

I am finally back home. Just in case anyone still visits this blog, I am not dead. I have been gone for work most of the past 3 months. I am now home, for about two weeks. Most of my time is spent in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I have been working on my Spanish speaking skills, but as I have not been taught, I am picking up conversations and listening to Pimsleur Spanish learning series.

I'm Back, and its Time to Rock (afire)!

I have been gone for work for about three weeks. While I am enjoying a little time off and trying to catch up on news, I found this on Engadget. Before even watching, I knew I would love this.

So this guy, Chris Thrash, got his hands on this set of the Rock-afire Explosion from an old Showbiz Pizza. He has posted a few videos on YouTube, but I have created a link to a couple of my favorites.





See his YouTube link for all the videos.

Another sick trip to Puerto Rico

I spent the past two weeks in Puerto Rico for work. As happened last year, I got an upper respiratory infection, again. I have a few ideas for why it always happens. The air is extremely dry due to air conditioners constantly running (work and hotels). Normally humidifying the room helps, which I forgot to do. This time, I started the trip slightly sick. And, feeling ok half way through, I stopped taking meds. Had I done those two things correctly, I may be feeling much better. Hard to say, as I was working 14 hour days.

Lesson learned, I suppose.

Calamari anyone??

Unless you have been living under a rock, you are familiar with the iPhone commercials. This commercial has created such a stir in the area for calamari, that this restaurant added calamari to the menu!

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/seasick/iphone-popularity-forces-calamari-on-menu-275940.php

PS3, Finally In the Game

Today I ordered my PS3 from Costco. Costco still has the fantastic repair/return plan built into their gaming systems, so this is the best way to go (only recently was the 90 day part added due to abuse). We have already changed our BlockBuster selections over to Blu-ray in anticipation. Also, I have my copy of Planet Earth in Blu-ray on its way.

Guitar Hero 3, here I come!

Update - Safari

I hope to read about other people's experiences regarding Safari on their PCs. Here were my 3 strikes that led to setting Firefox back to my default browser

1. Safari did not import my Bookmarks from IE or Firefox - Firefox imported my Bookmarks from IE when installing and Safari didn't. You would think that is a brand new deployment of a browser to the PC world, that is something that the average Joe would want to take place automatically.
2. Gmail.com crashed Safari and continues to do so - Not much more information than that, I still can't get on gmail.com using Safari.
3. Hotmail.com crashed Safari - although I am not a huge fan of Hotmail, I still use it for certain things.

So, for now, its Firefox for me (although I am still looking forward to a couple of Safari's other features)!

Apple Announcement That I Care About

Safari was announced today for Windows. I am going to give it a try on my desktop, because I am thirsty (read the story). To my mac fanboys out there, tell me your thoughts on Safari vs. Firefox

Two New Things

Browsing some news today, I found two cool technologies worth sharing.

A sound way to turn heat into electricity

University of Utah physicists developed small devices that turn heat into sound and then into electricity. The technology holds promise for changing waste heat into electricity, harnessing solar energy and cooling computers and radars.

MIT's wireless electricity demoed, dubbed WiTricity

A team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers reported in Science Express, the online publication of the journal Science, that they had demonstrated wireless transmission of electric power by magnetically coupled resonators. They dubbed their technology "WiTricity" for wireless electricity. -via Engadget

Belize Pictures are Up!

Well, it has taken forever, but I finally have our Belize pictures online.

http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Vacation/Belize/

Enjoy!

Cingular or AT&T? Who cares, neither works!

I have been a Cingular customer for a few years now, and have been generally happy. You know, inexpensive phones, nice coverage, and good plans. As of Friday afternoon sometime, if you too are a Cingular customer, you can not call me.

Sound weird?

Well it is to me, and to Tier 3 Tech Support at Cingular. After 45 minutes and multiple tech support levels, they don't know what is wrong. A trouble ticket is getting logged, and that is it for now. Great, glad that my wife, all my family and some friends are all Cingular.

We learned because my neighbor tried to call me Friday afternoon, and was told that his call could not be completed as dialed. So, he called my wife, who is also a Cingular customer, and got through just fine. So after talking to him, I tried to call my phone from my wife's cell phone, and no go. But, I can call all of them just fine!

I am guessing they magically fix it tonight and the problem just goes away. If not, I am guessing they give me a new phone (which I wanted anyway).

Is this even possible?

When we received our sewer bill last week, we were a little surprised.

sewer bill Hosted on Zooomr

I quickly checked the water bill to make sure it was not also outrageously high; it was not.

When I called them, they explained that the meter reader fat-fingered the reading and immediately fixed it. But, they had not the capability to keep that first entry from reaching our bill. As you can see from the bill, we only paid $13.39.

Sorry for the excessive blurring, I don't trust many things these days.

Our Belize Trip: Day 1

Our trip to Placencia, Belize was an interesting and much needed one. It was nice to get away to a place that is pretty slow and low key, as well as not too touristy (yet). It took us most of a day to get there due to the connections we chose (but wasn't too expensive). So, I consider Day 1 of 4 our first full day there.

Day 1 was filled with a lot of nothing. We stayed at a place called Westwind Hotel. (See it located on the map. The black line is the sidewalk, and the gray path is the road). We sat around the room. We sat in hammocks. We sat by the beach (which, although hot, was very breezy). We walked to a couple stores. I listened to music most of the day on the beach while Kacey knitted. One time as we had walked out to explore, we walked by a place called Omar's Diner. Omar's is a two story *house* where the first floor is his restaurant and the second floor is where his family lives.

(Notice, this sidewalk is considered the second biggest thoroughfare of the town, and is about 100 yards off of the beach). As we walked by his place, he was advertising his fresh Red Snapper they had caught that day. It smelled good as we passed by, so we figured we would head back there for dinner.

We sat down for dinner later that night at Omar's Diner. There was one other couple there at the time who were ready to receive their food. Kacey ordered the Snapper, but I always love to try new seafood, so I got the Barracuda steak. We sat and sipped our juice as we waited a few minutes for our food. The couple next to us had ordered the same thing as us and were enjoying their food; we were looking forward to eating our meal!

It was getting a little dark out when I noticed the smell of smoke. This wasn't the smell of his kitchen, this was something burning. But, in a small village like this, I wasn't surprise if someone was burning something in their yard. But I got to thinking a little bit - a small fire, in a hot environment, with a very nice breeze always flowing, no fire department, and no access even if there were a fire department. I guess the wind shifted for a minute as the smell dissipated, but a couple minutes later, I heard the voice of an older woman yelling for Omar in Spanish. I asked Kacey if she understood, and she thought it was "Omar, Omar, come quick". Seemed strange to ask a known chef to leave his kitchen while preparing food, but he quickly ran out. Then, we heard yelling.

The smell of smoke had returned, so I stepped outside to see what was going on. Then, I heard someone yelling "Fire". The house next to Omar's Diner was on fire.

Let me describe the homes here just a little bit. All of the homes are small, but close together. Most newer homes are made out of concrete and a pine wood, shingled roof is placed on top. Palm trees and other bushes also surround the homes.

I could not really see much of a fire at the house next door due to the large amount of smoke pouring out as the trees and bushes were burning. I ran back to the other side of Omar's where Kacey and a few other tourists stood and let them know that yes, there was a good fire going. And, that with the winds, Omar's was next to catch fire. The next ten minutes were filled with lots of yelling, people running with buckets towards the fire (no fire department, trucks, or hydrants), people running in and out of Omar's house to remove their belongings (as most fires here tend to spread quickly, they know the drill), people removing palm branches and other brush from near Omar's house and the gift shop across the sidewalk, people trying to wet down the gift shop to prevent it from going up in flames, and us, standing there watching helplessly.

We don't know anyone, no one knows us, we have no buckets, we felt bad as we struggled with what to do. Then, we noticed a small girl crying a few feet away from us, so we look to her. She catches our eyes and says to use "I live there, that is my house and it is going to burn down". As we give her a little hug, we try to talk to her briefly, asking her about her family. She tells us that she has a couple brothers and sisters, but no one is in the house. Then, a local villager runs to her, crying, and starts hugging her. An old man starts telling us that he tried to convince the town last year that he wanted money to put in a fire department, but politics got in the way. Then, as he is telling us that Omar has two large butane tanks for his kitchen (a sign that Kacey and I need to get out of there), some men run by, toward the ocean, with a generator and pump, and a large roll of 3" hose. We decide it is time for us to get out of the way, away from the commotion and butane tanks, and walk back toward our hotel (up-wind, about 150 yards north of Omar's).

As we get to the beach, we see the men fiddling around with the generator. They do not have it started, and a 4-wheeler arrives to shed some light on the scene, as it is pretty dark out by now. In my efforts to enjoy the trip, I was not constantly carrying my camera with me, but at this time, I decide to run back, get it, and snap a few pictures of the scene at the ocean. When I return, I snap these.

Sorry for the blur, it was very dark, I was walking, and not wanting to use the flash due to the sensitivity of the situation. I then looked inland toward the house, and snapped these.

Here is the short video I shot of the fire. You will be able to see people throwing buckets of water on the house. I also heard rumors that a few men got onto the roof and were having buckets handed to them to dump in hot spots.


After shooting this, I turn back to the team at the generator, which is still not running. As I approach, I see their problem; the starting cord for the engine was pulled off. They had disassembled the starting mechanism to put it back on for another pull. They had to do this each time trying to start it. God was looking down on them as the next pull they tried, it started right up. Everyone started yelling and cheering! Then, as they started to pump, they yelled for help. The 12 foot hose that went into the ocean appeared to be duct taped to the pump, which meant with every wave, it could have been ripped off. Kacey jumped into the ocean with a couple other people to hold it down. I notice that a couple men are holding the end because they are using a milk crate to prevent seaweed from entering the pump. I jump in to help as well (with my camera and all my money). After a few seconds, I realize we are all going to be there a while. I quickly jump out, take off my shirt, throw it in the sand, and put my wallet and camera on the shirt. I jump back in to assist.

For nearly an hour, myself, and about 4 other men, struggle to hold the crate down, with the hose inside it, whilst about 3 foot waves pound us. We are constantly skimming seaweed off of the crate to prevent it from clogging up. Every once in a while, one of us will spot a large wave and yell "BIG" (that is what they shout in Deadliest Catch, so its what I started yelling). When a big one comes, it may knock one man down into another, while the others hang on. Kacey and a couple others are still holding the hose down to keep it still in the waves. As the hour progresses, a few other men tire jump out, but only because someone else has come to jump in and help out. We are all talking about getting a beer after this, and as most men were locals, I told them "I came to your country to enjoy some water activities, but I never imagined this!" Also towards the end of the hour, children begin to run and jump into the ocean. They seemed happy; I am guessing because what could have been a catastrophe, has been put out. One of the children asked Kacey, "You came here wanting an adventure, right?!" It wasn't until the last 3 or 4 minutes that I jumped out as many others had jumped in. The fire was mostly out, and just smoldering as the last fire report we received was "They are putting out hot spots, almost done". One of the two men running the pump grab me and shakes my hand for a few seconds, saying thank you my friend. And, after a couple minutes, they notice that the waves are washing out the sand below the generator, and it is falling into the ocean. They start to maneuver the generator and as I pile sand under neath it, it turns off. But, with the start cord broke, we decide, we are done.

Everyone quickly ran toward the house to see the damage. Kacey and I are left behind to just sit and asses the situation. I ask her to take all of our stuff back to the room and start drying the money and cleaning up (we were covered in seaweed, but she deleted those pics). I walk toward the house and in the dark a few people notice me, and thank me for helping while shaking my hand. The house is destroyed, but the gift shop and Omar's are saved (minus minor burning of the exterior wood).

It was an exciting night; many more memories are in my mind that I can write down, but here are a few pics snapped the next day. This is looking south toward the burned house with Omar's in the back ground.

A closer shot of the house.

Omar's

Omar's closer


We have a few more pictures, but they will be posted with all the others, once I get them online. Thanks for reading our story.

Back from Belize!

Stories and pics to come soon. In the meantime, ponder this...

Did C&K a) catch a 50 lb tuna on a fishing trip or b) help put out a house fire or c) help catch a run away horse

We did one, just wait and see! Comment with your guess (if we already told you, don't ruin it)!

Godparents

This past weekend, Kacey and I were asked to be godparents for little Toby Zembrodt. Nowadays, this doesn't mean anything legal, but it does mean something very special. It means Toby can look to us for guidance, and it means that we are to set a good Christian example for him as he grows up. We will also be there for his baptism, which is coming up very soon. I am extremely honored and excited to be asked to have such a special relationship with Toby.

Arms of Life

I am just trying to get the word spread here. This accident happened down the road from us. Some of our friends from church have children that were classmates of Jake and Travis. It was very sad and everyone can help prevent this from happening here again.

http://www.armsoflife.org/

Will It Return? That is the Question

Will It Blend? That is the question. This is great.

BOOOOOOOOO!!!

Its not fair, I have been free from Comcast for 3 years now since we moved in to our house, as we are served by Insight here. With this story, Comcast is taking over most of Insight's business.

<sarcasm>Com-freakin-castic!</sarcasm>

Insight has bumped us up to 10 meg for quite a while now. Insight has been good to its customers. Comcast has not. I still recall getting yelled at by Comcast representatives because I was frustrated that their technician missed the 4 hour window. I really can't stand Comcast.

Please, AT&T, hurry up! I am watching...

http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=6325419

Belize

We are headed to Belize. I won't say when on here, though. We will only be there for a long weekend. If you have been there, or know someone who has, we are open to suggestions for things to do. We will be staying in Placencia.

I Am Just Trying To Do My Part

I love this site, and what they are trying to do. THEY GET IT! They understand reality.

http://www.votefortheworst.com/

Saturday Night Live, Funny?

We DVR'ed Peyton Manning on SNL last night. He was pretty entertaining. But, Weekend Update did a joke that I really liked, so I share it here.

A cat in Long Island recently received the first total hip replacement for a feline. This, of course, was about $3000 more than the typical total cat replacement.

Tomb after Tomb Boom, Boom after Boom

It may be more powerful than my Velodyne, but it won't fit in my living room!

http://stuff.tv/blogs/future/archive/2007/03/22/this-one-goes-up-to-38-800.aspx

Hot Or Not

Remember Hot or Not? I am sure you do. My favorite thing to do there was vote 1 for everyone. Its mean, I know, but who cares!

Well, this is a little different. Fetcho, get your systems up!

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/pcs/macbattle-hot-or-not-for-computer-nerds-245969.php

http://www.macbattle.com/index.php

Your Choice in Tech News

I am just curious what people prefer, so please respond with your favorite site for tech news.

Me personally, it is close between Gizmodo and Engadget. I have read Engadget longer, but like the spins and occasional off-the-wall stories of Gizmodo.

Please, share your insight, even if I don't know you!

I Usually Don't Talk About This, But...

People are acting crazy. I just want to say a couple things, and move on.

http://www.scsuscholars.com/2007/03/update-from-washington-dc.html

An interesting read.

Look. Ask yourself this. How did you feel at the beginning of the war? I believe it was necessary. I have great friends who have served, and I thank them for their service. Unfortunately, things have not gone well, but that doesn't change the fact that we needed to be there. What that does mean is our government has failed us.

So, how do we remedy this? Well, the government/big business way is to sit around and point fingers. We all know, this gets you nowhere quickly. When you point your finger at someone else, you are pointing three fingers back at yourself. It is very easy for people to sit and complain, but since they have a right to do so, let them. Can we not find anyone, anywhere that is smart enough to figure out what to do next? Congress doesn't have a clue (even though we were led to believe they did). What do YOU think can be done to help our fellow man?

Don't Try This At Home

This video is shocking!

It Is Done!!!

Yes, as of today, my last school loan reads the following status:

"Paid in Full"

I am free! It's been almost seven years, but I am done.

Best Buy or OK Buy

This story is interesting. As we all know by now, Best Buy sometimes has different (lower) prices on their website than the intranet site you can view in the store. And what response do you get when you ask for the lower price???

We don't match our online store prices.

I assumed this was correct, but I always asked anyway; you know, just in case I could get the lower price. But, now that I see that "company policy is to always offer customers the lowest quoted price". I think this could be a big deal. Best Buy claims that they have dropped the ball when it comes to training employees to give us, the consumers, the lowest Best Buy price. But, considering that all of their employees always say the same thing, this has got to be what they are told to say! We will see as this unfolds.

Considering stories like this, could Best Buy be hurting as well in the near future?

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/AFX-0013-15009112.htm?cnn=yes

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/home-entertainment/cheap-lcds-to-blame-for-compusa-store-closing-242244.php

Hot Off Of The Press!

A confirmed source has given exclusive news about a black, flash based MacBook in the second quarter 2007! It may be time to buy...

Thanks Apple Gazette!

FBSOD

This was interesting; the most advanced fighter ever made brought down by the time of day. Can you imagine, the Flying Blue Screen Of Death?? I was hoping there would be an artist's rendition of what the cockpit would look like, but oh well. I recall that when auto companies were considering Microsoft in their cars, everyone was worried about the BSOD while driving.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=6225

Can You Do It???

Can you, huh??? can you unplug for 24 hours???

I will not. That is my vote. What is the point?

http://www.shutdownday.org/

How many miles you got on that thing?

Just as we broke 25k miles on the '04 TSX this month, we found out this. Maybe we didn't really break it yet???

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2007-02-19-odometer-usat_x.htm

My Car's Big Day!

It was a big day for my car and I. We turned over 100,000 miles! Here are a couple pics, and a (slightly blurry) video of the event.

IMG_0544 Hosted on Zooomr

IMG_0550 Hosted on Zooomr

In the Coke vs. Pepsi Challenge, Chuck Norris chose Moutain Dew...and he was right!

 

Hello, I'm A PC

I would prefer to be using an Apple at home, but atlas, work pays for my laptop, thus making me a PC. These are funny, enjoy.

Beware of the Tennis Ball

I was reading some posts about this video of people confirming that this worked when they tried it. This wouldn't work for cars like ours, where there is still an alarm system that will sound. Has anything else thought it would be easier to carry a spare key in your purse versus a tennis ball??

A Call Back

http://phillipsrhit.blogspot.com/2007/01/go-colts-and-help-out-little-kid.html

Voting ends tomorrow!

Bill Gates on the Daily Show

I am sure you have all heard about this or seen this by now, but I still must link to it, as it was quite amusing.

Go Colts! . . . And Help Out A Little Kid

Hey folks, please take a couple minutes and vote for my cousin in this photo contest. They win money if they come in first! Also, I vote "1" for all the others, and a "10" for them (is that mean??) You can vote every day.

Thanks for your help!

http://www02.reporter-times.com/superbowl/vote/

9 Hosted on Zooomr

Room Pics from Puerto Rico

P1010696 Hosted on Zooomr

P1010698 Hosted on Zooomr

Friday, huh

Its alittle sad... I am in Puerto Rico, at a beautiful hotel/resort on the beach, but I am so tired from crazy work while here, I can't leave my room. I did manage to leave the plant today before the sun went down, so I sat by the pool for about 45 minutes, but I have since retired to my room for web surfing.

Once I figure out what to do for dinner, I will eat early, watch a movie, and fall asleep early to catch that early morning flight back to Indy. So its Friday, huh?

Since it is inevitable that I will be back soon, hopefully next time will not be 12 hours days in front of 3 computers. Atleast my spanish is getting better!

First Snow of 2007

This was Mason's first snow ever, and our first snow of the year.

Unfortunately, I forgot sound on the first one as he was cutely meowing.

Unfortunately, he is a good learner.
Again, testing Zooomr.

P1210695 Hosted on Zooomr

P1210694 Hosted on Zooomr

Zooomr

DSC_3645 Hosted on Zooomr

Thanks, Chip, for the idea.

Let the Hacking Begin!

HD DVD was cracked, somewhat, a few weeks back.

This just came in yesterday. My favorite quote:

Oups, I did it again!

In less that 24 hours, without any Blu-Ray equipment, but with the help of Janvitos, I managed to decrypt and play a Blu-Ray media file using my known-plaintext attack...

Not perfect yet, but moving along nicely.

Trade News

I haven't posted on the Pacers in a while, but big news today.

http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/trade_070117.html

Is LG Gonna Get Served?

Maybe I am just too anxious for an answer on where this will all land, but this Blu-Ray/HD DVD thing is interesting. I guess I don't really remember the battle that went into Betamax/VHS, so this is my first time following a format war. I typically don't early adopt anyway, so I should just wait and stop reading the news. But, now we are hearing this.

Fine, here is an iPhone blog

Colbert is awesome, take that Apple! HA

Tech-News 'till ya puck!

This week, I am hooked on Engadget for all news CES related. Not that I buy the latest and greatest toys, but there is some cool stuff, more cool stuff, some why stuff, and some I-guess-you-can-do-that stuff. (Can you declare yourself the winner???) They update about every 15 minutes, so it has been tough keeping up while trying to work and not sit at my computer every living minute.

Let me know what you like from the show!

Hi-Tech Fence Jumping

Unreal.

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7006041248

YO, the big three

I always wondered when it would happen, and it has. Daimler Chrysler has been bumped by Toyota as the number 3 auto seller in the US. We have a new Big Three. So, for now, when you say "Big Three", remember who that is. . . or say Big Four.

http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5890027

Lyriki

I love music, and I often times find myself using Google to find lyrics. I also use SongMeanings.net quite a lot because users can chime in on what they think each song is about, which I also enjoy.

Now there is Lyriki! Its Wiki for lyrics. If you too are into music or lyrics, check it out, contribute, edit, read, enjoy, whatever.

Happy New Year

Hope everyone had a good time last night, and did so safely.

I saw this sad news this morning. Considering this, you probably should put an article titled this on your website. In case the link changes, here is a screen shot.