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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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)!
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
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.
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
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).
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
