Dremel Tool Pumpkin Carving Anyone?

Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters: "With Halloween just around the corner, Dremel has "developed" the ultimate pumpkin carver set. It actually looks like it's just your normal dremel (although it's translucent orange) with a 191 high speed cutter and some fancy patterns. Of course, if you already have a Dremel and cutter (or reasonable knock-off of either/both), then you can just download some patterns."

TerraServer... find your house!

TerraServer 6.0 Homepage: "TerraServer contains 3.3 tera-bytes of high resolution USGS aerial imagery and USGS topographic maps. You can locate imagery by clicking on the map above, entering a city or town name in the 'Search TerraServer' form at the top of the page, or entering a U.S. street address. Click on Advanced Find to see other methods for searching our imagery database."

Still working the bugs out of the Allergy Cat! 

Yup, It's Still Doing That Volcano Thing

kgw.com | News for Oregon and SW Washington | Environment: "Scientists said Monday the lava dome continues to quietly grow in the crater of Mount St. Helens. The U.S. Geological Survey said magma is pushing to the surface of the volcano at the rate of ten cubic yards -- a dump truck load -- per second. And in less than two weeks, the uplift has grown to the height of a 35-story building and the area of 29 football fields, said USGS scientist Ralph Haugerud."

Here Kitty Kitty!

Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters: "'Allerca Inc is now taking reservations for genetically engineered hypo-allergenic cats, which it calls 'lifestyle pets'... and apparently they are just the beginning... you can take delivery of a cuddly non-sinus bothering bundle of joy for just $3500. 'The hypoallergenic cats produced by ALLERCA will allow consumers to enjoy the love and companionship of a pet without the cost, inconvenience, risk, and limited effectiveness of current allergy treatments. Clients will take delivery of the first ALLERCA kittens in 2007. The hypoallergenic cat is the first of a planned series of lifestyle pets that ALLERCA will develop over the next few years.' Meow!' "

My Mailbox

I got home today and checked the mail. Now I'm talking about the box that usually contains the once in a lifetime offers for .0004% interest on a third mortgage so I have some cash for the dream vacation I have always wanted but could not afford. Now, I just checked this box yesterday at about the same time and I am pretty sure it was empty when I left.

Today, however it was stuffed with political shit!

I count 11 individual pieces of political attack mail, (all of it shiney and eye catching) indicating that the other guy is a monster turd, and should not be elected! I was lucky to get some of the same stuff twice, once to me and once to Deb. One was a full blown pamphlet by a guy who starts out his pitch by saying that he is a Billionare! I seem to remember running into him at the gas station or maybe the Burger King where I must have given him my address! Anyway, since I already took a crap today and have used up all of my reading time, I chucked probably close to 20 dollars worth of direct mailing into my recycle bin. That reminds me, I better figure out who I'm going vote for soon!

This is a great new tool from Microsoft XP PowerToys! It is called Virtual Desktop Manager. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/
powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

HD TiVo Rocks!

Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters: "'G4techTV does a review of three of the new HDTV recorders. Noticeably absent is Microsoft's Media Center 2005. The Hughes HD 10-250 gets the highest marks and is the 'G4tech TV Lab Pick.' Although I haven't used the other two HDTV recorders I have to say I would concur on their opinion of TiVo's DirecTV box.' " Here's the link http://www.g4techtv.com/gearandgadgets/features
/50081/HDTV_Epiphany_.html

And what a fantastic job they did!

Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters: "'The BBC is running a story about Lowry Digital Images and how they used 600 dual G5s and 400 TB of storage space to clean the dirt off of the old Star Wars reels, and upgrade the resolution to get them ready for their DVD release.' " Hers's the link http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_
online/3945149.stm

Computer room is back in shape!

Alright, I saw an opportunity to clean the inside of my computer. Since the entire room was trashed, and I needed a break from real work so I cleaned the bad boy within an inch of its life. My Antec case has always had 2 USB and 1 FireWire port under a flap at the front, however I have never hooked them up. The problem was that the wires were all set up for separate pins and I couldn’t get my fat hands to the places on the motherboard to plug them in! I felt a pleasant calm wash over my body as I completed the vacuuming portion of my cleaning and I decided to try the wires and get the connections done once and for all. It worked. I must say that deciding what expensive item to plug into those ports for the first time to see if they worked or emitted a small puff of stinky blue smoke was not easy. I decided that a USB dongle was the cheapest item to risk on that port, and when forced to choose between the video camera and the iPod for the IEEE1394 the camera got the nod. No smoke, all worked, just thought you should know.

Furniture HELL!

Headed over to Oak Unlimited to pick up a new book case and a 7 foot long addition to the computer desk with a file drawer module and a shelf module. It goes without saying that this was a major undertaking with much grunting and moving of furniture. We decide to do the bookshelf first, move it in, load it up, all is well. Clear out the area for the computer desk, drag it in, set it up... something is wrong?!

The desktop is eight feet long instead of seven!

I make the call to Oak Unlimited and they wont have a 7 foot version until Monday! Oh, and they close the warehouse for pick-up at 4:30pm! So, to recap, the house is trashed, I have to return the 8 foot long sheet, pick up the 7 foot one and do it all before 4:30pm. Hey, since I just friggen work for a living and have all of the time in the world I'll do that...

Because I Don't Have A Choice Now, Do I.

I am off to put the house back together.

Eat in peace: cellphone-free zones popping up at restaurants?

Engadget - www.engadget.com: "Due to customer complaints, The Vineyard restaurant of Bentonville, Arkansas has designated a "No-cellphone" area after customer complaints about annoying cellphone chatter while they were trying to enjoy a meal. We're not even going to touch this but sheesh, what's next? No smoking? Oh, right, sorry."

"Hey Baby!" 

Stranger Things Have Happened...

Well thursday at 3:00pm it happened! I was cut loose! I made the call to change my departure date and Nancy came back with "You wanna leave tonight?" So began my trip home.

5:00pm - Security man is assigned to shuttle V.I.P. to airport pronto as the financial well being of the entire corporation hinges on him getting back to his division for a very important meeting! (With his bed!) Guy has worked for the company one week and had no real idea of my true importance, which must be why I listened to Rap music for an hour on the way to the airport. Before departing, I was wisked to the Hampton for a short goodbye that consisted of a power packing job that will probably render some of my clothes wrinkled for life.

6:30pm - Arrive at the airport and find that the flight will be delayed due to thunderstorms around Las Vegas. I make my way through security and end up having my back pack almost taken apart! I get a smoothy, a computer magazine and take a seat in the loading area.

8:40pm - Flight should begin loading (they say) in 10 minutes, though I see no plane yet. I have the magical 'A' ticket and procure a spot in line. A woman falls in behind me and parks her dumb self about 4 inches off of my butt even though there is a TON of room for all of us to stand. I can not even reach back to grab my phone without hitting her! So, I hit her. Repeatedly I bump, graze, look over my shoulder, sway into, step back into this lady to no avail! She does not even begin to understand!

9:20 - Board the friggen plane.

10:45 - Arrive in San Jose where they have held the connecting flight to Portland. Out of one plane and into another. As I take my seat in the new plane the guy behind me begins to bitch out loud, thanking ME for delaying his flight! His wife is begging him to stop while he proclaims that he has flown over 100 times THIS MONTH on Southwest and that they are NEVER on time! A large male flight attendent calmly walks up to him and tells him that one more word will result in him being escorted off of the plane! He shuts up, and his wife mentally caluculates how many years will pass before he will get to see her naked again.

12:10 am - Arrive at PDX! Get bags, make way to long term parking lot via the shuttle bus. I do the usual panic attack as I really hope the shelter number I wrote down is the right one.

12:40 am - Climb into bed and pass out.

I have arrived!

I arrived at the Hampton this evening. As the door to my room swung open my eyes feasted on the room of my dreams. It smelled good, the bed was large, I saw a leather recliner, at that point I knew that everything was going to be okay. I must move on to another topic as I am beginning to mist up.

The rain hit Southern California with a vengence today! The streets ran like rivers and standing water was everywhere! The new store did not fair well as buckets and trash cans dotted the floor. At one point water was coming down the walls in several places and even took out the intercom system. People just flat don't like rain here! The trend for the day was to take our plastic bags and fasion them into rain hats and race across the parking lot as if the store was about to blow up! I strode out into the rain with the confidence of a person who might have seen a rain drop or two in his life. This caused many to openly weep at my powers, and I began to lay hands on some as I made my way to the car.

I brought sight to the blind, bowel movements

to the constipated, and provided directions to

the nearest Radio Shack for old people who wanted

a new computer so they could type to their grand children.

One man was heard to shout: "You're Shitten Me!" I entered the car with a great feeling of pride that I could bring an end to the needless suffering in this part of the world.

I now must move aside the 4 friggen pillows and enter my bed for the evening. It should be nice.

Hello Hampton! 

Goodbye Extended Stay America! 

Please send in your donations to help this man! 

Just got done having a 3 way!

Just tryed out Skype with Ray and Juli. I had no mic so I had to type like a mad man while they simply spoke. I kind of felt like the guy in the movie "Abyss" as he descended deeper into the underwater canyon slowly loosing his ability to type!

I am off to bed to prepare my mind for another day with JimUNDA!

Internet Phone That Rocks!

Skype - Free Internet telephony that just works:
Skype is for calling other people on their computers or phones. Download Skype and start calling for free all over the world."

Was he watching 'Survivor?'

Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters: "'CNN is a running a story on an Oregon college student's flat-screen Toshiba TV which was releasing the 121.5 MHz international distress signal. He was unaware of the issue until local police, search and rescue, and civil air patrol members showed up at his apartment's door. Apparently the signal was strong enough to be picked up by satellite and then routed to the Air Force Rescue Center in Virginia. Quite impressive - luckily Toshiba is offering him a free replacement.' "

What? I can't here you! I'm spooling up the engine in my 12.3Ghz Pentium 9 Laptop!

Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters: "'Today, our handheld devices are powered by batteries, which are heavy and inconvenient. Fuel cells are just arriving on the market as a replacement. But there is a new contender: micro gas turbine engines under development at the MIT. Engineers there shrunk jet engines to the size of a coat button. And their blades which span an area smaller than a dime can spin a million times per minute and produce enough electricity to power your PDA or your cell phone. While there are still a few hurdles to overcome, these micro turbine engines should be operational in two or three years, with commercial products available four years from now. These micro jet engines also have the potential to free soldiers or travelers from carrying heavy batteries. The engineers even think their engines on a chip could be used in poor countries to bring electricity there. This summary gives you the essential details about a technology which promises to free us to carry extra fuel instead of batteries.' "

Whooo Hoooo!

Time to order Pizza! I ditched everyone tonight for a private dinner celebrating my last day in my hell hole of a room! Sure, you're invited; room 232. I plan on ordering something with bacon on it... must have bacon. Not Canadian bacon either, real honest to God strip bacon! I have no idea if this can be done, but you would think that if they can put a Starbucks on every corner in America that they can make me a pizza with bacon on it!

I picked up my laundry today and everything was ready but the Socks and underwear!

"I feel funny, like when I climb the rope in gym class."

They said that someone would drop them by the hotel tonight. I am starting to get a teency bit nervous as it is quickly coming on 7:00pm and I am still looking at the last 2 pair of clean un's I own, shivering in the corner of my suitcase. I do a quick mental calculation, and with the front, back, inside, outside time tested emergency underwear usage guidelines as taught in grade school, (while the girls were watching their video on periods) I have only 8 days left until I'm in REAL trouble. Pray for a knock at my door! Do it for the children!

Time to get the food thing rolling.

I'm back!

Well here I am again in my fantastic Extended Stay America room. The smell of smoke that pours into the room when the guy above me lights up has soaked into everything I own. Every morning at 6 am he gets up and lights up. Every morning at 6:01am I get up and turn off the A/C that sucks in the smoke and turn on the fan in the bathroom trying to fall back to sleep. (nope, It hasn't happened yet.) I have managed to get a new room reservation in the Hampton Inn down the road but I can not move for 2 more nights. sigh.

The opening was a soft one and that was good for my feet but hard on the clock.

I am off to do some reading.

I believe this!

Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters: "'Financial Express quotes a Dell executive saying that spyware is installed on roughly 90% computers out there. Right now 20% of all Dell phone support calls are spyware-related. University of Washington research this March published a moderate estimate of 5.1% PCs running spyware.' "

I'm smiling because I am looking at Deb. 

The Begining

Well, here I sit in a dinky hotel room on a Sunday night in Temecula, CA! As I shift around in my cheap chair trying to keep my butt from falling asleep I begin my first Blog. I was listening to some music on the iPod, but find that I can not think of what to type and listen to Barry Manilow at the same time. I am not sure what one should convey with a blog? Should I tell you that I had tacos for dinner, that I have white socks and brown shoes on? Or maybe I should be more functional and advise you of the current weather conditions. I will settle on telling you of my desire to be home, as I have a bad case of the 'been there done that' right now and I could really use a teleportation machine. There, I did it, I clicked my (brown shoed) heels together three times and did the Judy Garland thing but nothing happened! Alas, I guess I best accept my fate and lay out the work clothes for tomorrows assult.