Lookie here, Vern. We ain't so backwards after all...

According to a story in InformationWeek, a study done by the Center for Digital Government concluded that Utah Ranked as the Nation's Most Tech-Savvy State.

What's your name again?

Here's a fun little website I ran across awhile back.  You enter your surname in the search box and it tells you where in the world you can expect to find that name and approximately how many people live there with that name.  Probably not totally accurate, but pretty cool nonetheless.  For example, I'm of Japanese descent, and I thought my name was very, very rare.  At least in the U.S., it is.  However, in Japan, there are approximately 3,600 people with my surname -- I guess out of 128,000,000 it is still pretty rare.  In the website's terms, it's 28 fpm (frequency per million).  In comparison, a name like Suzuki, one of the most common, comes out at 12,900 fpm.

Give it a try at publicprofiler.org.

By the way, my surname's frequency in the U.S.?  0.04 (about a dozen of us - most of whom I don't even know)

Brrr...

I was just looking at the extended forecast for my town.  It's going to be cold on Saturday night.

(By the way, the column on the right with "0 Very Poor" all the way down is expected conditions for golfing.  I guess I won't be doing any of that this week!)

Just you, me, and 50 of McCain/Palin's closest associates...

I sure am glad I didn't give out any of my personal information to the McCain campaign.  Oh wait!  I'm not rich/important enough for them to have called!  Well, it's better that way.

IF McCain would've become president, I sure hope he wouldn't have hired these people for Homeland Security.

While you're at the computer, pick up your mouse,...

...look it in the eye/ball (optical/mech) and say -- "Happy Birthday!!"

Yes, the humble computer mouse is 40 years old today.

A stocking stuffer for your son...

...only because I don't know any daughters who would want this.

http://www.deepdiscount.com/viewproduct.htm?productId=13655865&ref=dealnews

and for those not brave enough to click the link -- a picture!

Another new airport

Okay boys and girls, I've added another airport to my list -- Portland International.  Now up to 46 airports in 26 states.  See the complete list here.

Everything I need to know, I learned in kindergarten

We were all taught, nay forced(!), to have a nap in kindergarten.  Well it turns out that having a nap is better for your memory and learning than is caffeine or a placebo (well, duh).

See you in an hour or two... :)

An Expo I actually would've enjoyed attending...

Too bad it was last week...

2008 Utah Chocolate Show

Why I can never be president

Give up my gadgets?  You'll have to pry them out of my cold... well, you know what I mean.

But if you're the President of the United States, you may not have a choice.

Economy still in dumps...

...but Disney's doing marginally better, thanks to my coworker's family.  Last week, I posted that MW & Minky's family was vacating to Disneyland and I thought they would rescue the economy.  Well, I was wrong.  They marginally helped Disney stock (up 4 cents to 21.12), but the DOW fell 450 over the week they were gone.  Thanks for sacrificing by going to D-Land and giving it the ol' college try anyway guys!

Yup, exactly how I feel...

How my friend is rescuing the economy

One of my coworkers is in California this week with his family.  They are enjoying the sun (that he was sure to tell me about, oh, maybe 437 times last week -- not that I was counting) and hanging out at Disneyland.

I'm thinking being the smart guy he is, he's probably using his well earned "economic stimulus package" check from earlier this year to help fund his vacation and kick start the flailing economy in the US (as well as abroad).  To help track this, I wrote down the DOW at the close last week (8497.31) and for Disney stock (DIS - 21.08).  We'll see what it is at the end of the week (I'll post an update).  I'm sure it'll have to be higher based on the Churros alone that he'll be buying.

So here's to you MW and Minky.  Go and rescue our economy!  (You can't do any worse than the President, Congress, Lehman Bros., AIG, WaMu,...)

"Hello, White Rabbit"

Hey, did you miss out on your chance to own K.I.T.T.?

No problem!  You can still hear him give you directions to wherever you want to go with your very own Knight Rider GPS!  You can even have him greet you by name (provided you have one of the 300 prerecorded names).  Somehow I kinda doubt "White Rabbit" is in his database, but I can always dream.

Hey, maybe I can fix him up with Gertrude, my GPS.  (Full name, Gertrude Penelope Smith -- my kids named her.)  I think she can be a little bossy sometimes, but I'll bet they get along just fine...

UPDATE:  And if you're really considering this little guy, here's a review to help you out.  I personally prefer Garmin (which I own) and Magellan over Mio, but that's up to you. 

Rest in Peace, Michael

I just found out that author Michael Crichton passed away on November 5.

I, along with millions of others, really enjoyed his books -- and even the movies from his books.

The Andromeda Strain remains one of my favorite SciFi movies.  Jurassic Park was one of those books I couldn't put down -- literally.  I was visiting my mom in California and I started reading the book on the short flight out.  After finishing my work on the farm for the day, I settled into bed with the book and didn't put it down until I finished it at 3am!  I don't do that with many books.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree,

How lonely is your ornament.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree,

You look imported from the Orient...

Ahh... takes me back to my youth (and when there was only a handful of Christmas shows).  A Charlie Brown Christmas is definitely one of my faves, but I also have fond memories of Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

Which ones are your favorites?

Goodbye, Mother...

Such a sad thing. Something that was such a big part of my college life has bit the dust. While studying late at night (well, when I did study anyway, which wasn't often) Mother's Cookies kept me company and helped keep me awake!  Almost as sad as when I found out I lost another late night companion -- Naugles' Macho Combo Burrito.  Ah well.  Such is... progress????

All I can say is...

Woo-hoo!

World's biggest spam operator shut down

Yeah, right. A rocker w/ a PhD. Tell me another good one...

No, really!  To show that not every rocker is all bang and no head, Queen's Brian May completed his doctoral thesis in astrophysics and is now a Ph.D.  Way to go, Brian!  Now go and write a song explaining e=mc². :)

"It was a dark and stormy night..."

So begins the novel Paul Clifford by Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton.  As most of you probably know, this line is used by Snoopy as he hunches over his typewriter (typewriter? What's that??) writing his great Beagle novel.  The opening sentence has also come to signify... ummm... let's just say, not very good writing.

There's even a contest called the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest where entrants submit an opening sentence to a non-existent novel.  The winner for 2008?  Here it is, in all its... glory.

"Theirs was a New York love, a checkered taxi ride burning rubber, and like the city their passion was open 24/7, steam rising from their bodies like slick streets exhaling warm, moist, white breath through manhole covers stamped 'Forged by DeLaney Bros., Piscataway, N.J.'"

I love it.  I just wish the author would have written the rest of the novel!

Some firsts for me!

I have a couple of "firsts" to post about today. Actually, make that three firsts...

First first is this is the first post of July. :)

Next first is that I ran in my first organized race ever this morning for the Fourth of July! Yes, it was "only" a 5K, and no, it wasn't my best effort, but I got to run with my daughter Jelly Bean and that's what made it really special.

Final first for this post is that earlier this week, I played my first round (well, half-round -- 9 holes) of golf on a "real" golf course ever! I must say, I now know why people get so addicted to it. And much like running or skiing, it's not really about beating those you are with, but getting better and doing your best. Believe me, I've got a ways to improve, but I do have to say I improved a bit over the "course" of the afternoon. I started out shooting a 24 on my first three holes (par 11) (yikes!), but I ended up with par-par-bogey on my last three holes. Pretty good improvement if I do say so myself. Now, how am I going to convince Alisonwonderland to buy me a set of clubs... :)

I guess my daughters are only thinking of the environment...

Some bricks, some bricks, my kingdom for some bricks!

Remember when you used to keep little kids around just so you had an excuse to buy LEGOs and build with them? Okay, okay, maybe you had/have little kids around for other reasons, but a good one was so you could buy LEGO sets and not seem silly. Well, now you don't need kids to be able to play with whatever LEGOs you want! Just go to http://ldd.lego.com and download their LEGO Digital Designer program. With the program, you can build either from LEGO's own sets, or you can build from scratch and let your imagination run wild! In fact, there's even an option to let you upload your creation to LEGO. I can guarantee you'll waste countless spend a few well deserved hours off building some nifty models.

Happy Belated Birthday x86!

I'm a little late with this, but 30 years ago on June 8, 1978, Intel introduced its first 16-bit processor called the 8086. For those of you too young to remember, or too non-technical to care (I'm old and a geek, so I do know about this), the 8086's architecture would be the heart (and brains) of the laptops and desktops you work on and the servers that power the internet.

In 1981, a little company called IBM introduced the PC Model 5150 using a variant of the 8086 called the 8088. From there, other companies like Compaq sprang up using the 8086 and other improved processors like the 80386, 80486, Pentium, and so on. The base architecture of the processor, which became known as the "x86", now drives most of the "personal computers" we work on daily. This even includes the Macintosh computers which switched from IBM's PowerPC chips (yeah, that same small company. A story for another day...) to Intel's x86 chips.

So anyway, wish the chip in your computer a slightly belated happy birthday!

For Sale: Cheap! 1984 Pontiac Firebird with a few mods

For those of you old enough to remember Knight Rider, I present to you KITT! Now on eBay Motors, and on sale!

UPDATE: The bidding is over and winning bid? $53,000. For a friggin' 24 year-old glorified Firebird... :P

So *that's* how you get kids to do chores...

If you're a kid, STOP READING RIGHT NOW! This entry is only for adults and you should stay away. It's a secret that only parents should know, so leave this site right now!

There, that should do it. Only us parents now.

Think you can't get your kids to do chores? Are they only doing a small percentage of what you've asked them to do? Well, here's the answer, nice-n-neat in a FoxTrot cartoon. I love FoxTrot if for no reason than for Jason, the son. A true little brother to his big sister and brother. A total nerd in the best sci-fi tradition. If you can find some of Bill Amend's old collections, I suggest you read them. I think you'll be amused.

Anyway, without further ado...

Did you ever have one of those days?...

Well, it appears that this guy did. A French skydiver named Michel Fournier was planning to break the world record by jumping from 25 miles (!) above the earth's surface. I'll let you read the story here. Of course, a jump like this is full of risks to begin with. Not only is there great physical risk, but his own French government wouldn't let him jump, presumably due to danger to other people. Finally, he was able to get approval from the Canadian government. Then comes a whole unexpected risk. Just as he's getting ready to go up, his balloon -- get this -- floats away without him, or anyone else aboard, for that matter!

I must say, I feel really bad for the guy since he sold all his possessions to finance this attempt, but really, I think I've seen this episode on the Road Runner or some other such cartoon. If he gets another shot at this, I'm sure one new item on the pre-flight checklist will be "Make sure the friggin' balloon is tied down!!!".

Buy one, get one free!

Oh, dang. I missed out. It expired on May 31. But really, it was legit. Check out the link in the website here. At least the link was there as of a few minutes ago... :)




But I definitely can't take credit for finding this deal! Thanks for this go to your friends and mine at Gear Diary.

Just a small helping, if you please...

As much as I ate yesterday, this is what I should be eating out of today.

A Moment of Weakness

Okay, maybe it was two, or five, or... Oh, what the heck, it was the WHOLE DAY!

As I've mentioned before, I am on a diet. Not a drastic one mind you. Just watching my calories a little. Well, today, I watched the calories all right. I just watched them keep adding up and up. Higher and higher. Fatter and... You get the picture.

The day started out just fine. For breakfast I stopped by McDonalds and got an Egg McMuffin. Not the picture of health, but not too bad. Then my troubles started. One of my co-workers brought in his dad's "World famous" carrot cake. I had to have a piece. Then it was lunch. Chinese food. Fast food Chinese. And it was Lo Mein (noodles) -- a lot of noodles. And to make matters worse, I decided I needed some rice with that. White rice. Not brown, white. At least I left some of my lunch in the bowl (a small consolation). Good thing I left that because I came home and promptly had some snacks. Then for dinner, I took the kids out since Alisonwonderland was having a book club over at the house. The kids' restaurant of choice? McDonalds. (Hey, that sounds familiar...) My choice for a meal? I don't want to talk about it. Then I came home and ate a giant sugar cookie left over from book club.

Well, that feels better to get that all off my chest. Now I just have to hope it doesn't end up on my belly.

The coolest music server you've never heard of...

Or at least I never heard of it.  It's called Pandora.  Maybe you've heard of it, but for me -- who obviously is just 'out of it' -- it's brand new and now my favorite way to listen to a variety of my favorite music & musicians and learn about new artists.

So what is Pandora?  In the words of the Wikipedia article, Pandora 'is an automated music recommendation and Internet radio service created by the Music Genome Project.  Users enter a song or artist that they enjoy, and the service responds by playing selections that are musically similar.'

I really can't believe it's been around since mid-2005 and I'd never heard of it.  But then again, as my younger daughter says, "Dad, you're old."  (Sigh...)

Anyway, pay a visit, sign up for an account and try it out!  I think you'll like it.

Thanks to Alisonwonderland for the heads-up on this!

The Exploding Burger

It's not what you might expect...

This being Memorial Day, we decided to take it easy and just get something drive-thru for dinner.  We settled on Sonic Drive In, one of our faves.  Since I was going to get it, I asked one of my daughters to get everyone's order.  She got it for me and off I went.  It wasn't until I got to Sonic that I noticed she had originally written at the top "Sonic BOOM" then crossed off the BOOM and put in "order".  I had a good laugh at that.

Kids... What a hoot.

Don't read this before dinner!

So I'm on a little diet.  Nothing drastic mind you, but I did manage to reach my ultimate  high weight back in early February.  At that point I decided I needed to do something about my weight since all my clothes were beginning to feel not-so-loose if you know what I mean.

Anyway, so far I've managed to lose about 15 pounds just by being somewhat careful with what and how much I eat.  Then I stumbled across this article about the 20 worst foods in America.  Luckily, although I've had several of them over the years, none is a "staple" item on my diet and I haven't had any in a long time (whew!).  But are any of these your favorites? :)

Another new airport!

And keeping with my untimely posting, I actually flew into this airport in late March.  The new airport?  (drum roll please) Indira Gandhi International in New Delhi, India.  I went over for a business trip from March 24 through April 3.  A co-worker and I flew from Salt Lake City to Chicago where we hopped aboard a flight direct to New Delhi.  The amount of time in the air?  Almost 15 hours!  Now that was a flight.

The stay in India?  Interesting to say the least.  That one deserves its own post (or more) for sure!

Oh, yeah.  Here's the link to my original "Oh the places you'll go" post -- Now 45 airports, 4 countries, and counting!

Funny Headline

Or at least I thought it was funny.  

"Trick-or-Treaters are at Higher Risk on Halloween, Says AAA Michigan" - Insurance Broadcasting*

My question being -- and when else besides Halloween would there be trick-or-treaters?  Of course, this is a serious subject.  The story had some sobering stats.  The headline just struck me as being quite humorous -- and still is many months after first seeing this story...

*Oh, sorry for it not being even close to Halloween, but I cut and sent this to myself in an email so I wouldn't forget, and of course, I forgot (two years ago!).  This is what I get for being way too busy, but I think I need to start taking time for myself and start blogging again.  There's just too much good stuff out there on the interwebs...

You know you need more sleep when...

So I'm trying to recreate a weekly meeting for one of my product teams at work. First of all, our Exchange server is apparently having an identity crisis because it can't expand one of its saved lists so I had to come up with the team members from memory. It shouldn't be hard since there are only about a dozen people, but it definitely was taxing to the brain. Secondly, I sent the meeting request off then realized I didn't make it a recurring meeting! So there would only be one meeting and that would be it. I guess it's good in some ways, but no way to run a project. Finally, after I sent off the second meeting request, I realized the reminder for the meeting was set to 18 hours (!) for some reason. Yet another updated meeting request...

It's 9am. Is it too early to go home?

Hey, I'm feeling better already!

According to this article, studies have found that blogging actually makes you feel better!  Not only that, but are you on a social network like Facebook?  Same thing.

So keep on posting people!  It's good for you and fun to boot!

It's like playing the stock market, except with real money!

This morning I put gas in Alisonwonderland's car.  The price for regular was $3.12/gal.  As much as I like complaining about the price of gas, that's not the point of this post.  Besides, I just saw a story that the folks in San Mateo, CA are paying something like $4.40/gal, so I'm not complaining!  Last night, when I put gas in my car from the same station, the price was $3.19/gal!  Sheesh!  If I would've just waited 12 hours, I could've saved $.07/gal.  It's really turned into a guessing game as to when the best day is to get gas -- kinda like playing the stock market.  Guess I'm going to have to follow gas futures a lot closer now...

100th post snowed under!

Yes, it is my 100th post (believe it or not).

No, the title does not make sense, but bear with me.

This has been a pretty crazy snow year in Utah. Where I work (up at around 6500' in the mountains near Park City) has really been hit hard. As you know, this is mostly good for the ski resorts. Sometimes, though, it's not good for the rest of us. And I don't mean driving issues in the snow and such. I'm talking about losing things in the snow. I'm sure most of us have lost things that fell into the snow and couldn't be found. Heck, a co-worker just lost his cell phone earlier this year.

So here's my second "Question" post in a row! Can you look at this picture and tell what was lost? Only look at the first one before looking at the picture below it. (I won't make you wait for the answer this time. ;) )

So did you find the lost item? Do you need some more time? Look closely. It's a little small, so it might be hard to see. Give up?

There it is in the circle. Still don't know? It's a Volvo! Yes, this picture was taken a few weeks ago, and now that it's finally starting to thaw a little, I can see that it really is a Volvo. Hopefully, whoever parked it there will come back in the Spring and look for his/her lost car...

Questions of the day

Since alisonwonderland likes to throw puzzling questions at you occasionally, I thought I'd do the same.  See if you can answer these... without cheating. :)

1. You measure me but I have no length, width, or thickness.

2. You answer me, although I never ask you questions.

3. You ask me all day long and the answer is always different -- but always correct.