Australia & New Zealand Pictures are Up!

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

You will find a link for Australia & New Zealand on our site. Feel free to browse through our pictures, or try the Favorites link if you have a slow internet connection or less time. Sorry for the delay in posting, but I had web hosting problems. So, please let me know if you find any problems. Also, I am not sure when the guest book will be working, but I am trying. Feel free to leave picture comments on this post.

I hope to pull out the journal we kept on the trip and write a post about each city we stayed in; not just for you the reader, but for us to reminisce our wonderful trip. Maybe I will have time this weekend for that.

Enjoy!

Format War - It's Nearing the End

Lots of news today, and people are predicting the end! Good for the consumers? Well, most of them.

Engadget Death Watch

Wal-Mart bows out

Toshiba "reconsidering the market"

It is good for the consumers that were waiting to make a decision. It is bad for people like me, but not in the way you would think. See, I have been supporting Blu-ray for a while now and since I picked a camp, I have been purchasing very cheap Blu-ray discs on Amazon ($15-20 each). Once Blu-ray is declared the winner, Sony camp will have no more reason to move Blu-ray discs at severly discounted rates. Oh well...

Just curious, any readers out there declare this enough evidence to hop on board? If not, go read some of the news articles about player makers that are siding with Blu-ray as well.


UPDATE 16-Feb-2008:
This just in!

Rose-Hulman on the Superbowl!

If you were watching part of the 6 hour Superbowl 2008 pre-game, you may have seen the part where different people from the NFL read a part of the Declaration of Independence. If you viewed Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning of the Colts and wondered where they were filmed, it was in fact at the White Chapel at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (my alta mater).





I have some friends that were married there (it was built after I graduated). Alan and Ericka Study, along with Dan and Shawnna Householder were married at the White Chapel.

Ideas, Starting Now

Ok, so it has been a little busy lately. I can't tell you why yet, but trust me.

http://gizmodo.com/349163/google-contest-winner-delivers-clean-water-via-bicycles

I ran across this article the other day and thought I would share it. Being an engineer, I absolutely love thinking up ideas, especially when they can help people. No, I have never had an idea with nearly the impact that this could have, but I do have ideas all the time that I don't even write down. I should have made that a resolution for this year... at least capture those ideas.

Hey, I can use Google Documents for that!

Do You Talk To Your Cats? Now You Can!

Some people say that cats can not be trained because we can not communicate with them. I disagree. For example, our cats play fetch, as well as scratch their scratching post before eating. We trained them through repetition (except for the fetch part, we have no idea where they got that). So, for you all out there who have cats and would like to communicate better with them, take a look at the link and read through their suggestions. I found a few of the facial expression notes interesting and am already working to better talk to my cats.

http://www.wikihow.com/Communicate-With-Your-Cat

Alzheimer's Reversal

Sorry, I am a little late in getting this post up. Very amazing stuff!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080109091102.htm

Web Hosting

I am curious of everyone out there - who hosts your website and are you pleased?

I have been a user of ipowerweb for a couple years now. I have been having problems recently, but didn't think anything of it for a few days. Now, as I started googling ipowerweb, I see the news. They have been having major problems for months and there are talks of lawsuits and massive movements to other web hosting solutions.

So, I am just getting ready to move...

I know some of you out there appear to have a small hosting of a blog, and then use flickr for photos. Photos is my major use of my website, so I am now considering this route too.

Who Does Mike Huckabee Look Like?

Wait, which one is Kevin Spacey and which one is Mike Huckabee?

Warner Bros. Makes A Decision, For Now

(January 4, 2008 – Burbank, CA) – In response to consumer demand, Warner Bros.
Entertainment will release its high-definition DVD titles exclusively in the
Blu-ray disc format beginning later this year, it was announced today by Barry
Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. and Kevin Tsujihara, President, Warner
Bros. Home Entertainment Group.

from deadlinehollywooddaily via engadgethd

One By One - Alter Bridge

I mentioned last year I had this new album, Blackbird, by Alter Bridge. It really is fantastic. Read the lyrics to this song and you may see why this is one of my two favorite songs on the album. Also, listen to part of the song here. Unfortunately, you can not get the full effect of the intense cord progressions of the chorus in this sample, so head over to the Alter Bridge website and you can listen to their songs there (bottom left on their page).

Underneath the desert sun
They bid my brother’s blood to run
Many miles away
Hell has come today
Fire raining from the sky
See the face of fear asking one last time
Let me get home safe
Before it’s too late

One by one
The brave will fall
Life is lost again
They gave it all

Deep within the castle walls
So many grievers’ funeral songs
Echo in their sleep
Ode to memories
The sacrifice of flesh and blood
For a promise land that may not be won
Let us not forget
The hero laid to rest

One by one
The brave will fall
Life is lost again
They gave it all

And they gave it all
A price we can’t ignore
Is there hope in what they're dying for?
For every hero gone
For every family torn
We will honor you forevermore

One by one
The brave will fall
Life is lost again
They gave it all

One by one
The brave will fall
Life is lost again
They gave it all
They gave it all

Comcast - Day 1

Day 1 status after being switched from Insight to Comcast.

HDTV Not Working (Jan 1, football day)

Thanks Comcast. Get ready Dish/DirectTV. I am switching soon.

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

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.