10 Amazing and Magnificent Trees In the World

10 Amazing and Magnificent Trees In the World

Some of these trees are too cool to not share. I like The Tule Tree (#4 on the page) - it has lots of character in my opinion.

Star Trek: The Experience is closing

 

 Star Trek: The Experience is closing

As a fan of Star Trek, I am glad I got to this and sad to see it closing. Maybe with the new movie some new interest will be drawn in. It seems the last few series & movies that Star Trek lost its way. A shame given the times - which do not seem much different than when Star Trek first hit the scene.

Maybe Star Trek has run its course. Although we can all use a TV show that has an underlying positive message, maybe today we have grown beyond the relative simplicity of the message/possibility that Star Trek showed. Maybe instead of sitting back, people are creating their own ways of connecting with people.

Wow! Been awhile

It has been awhile since I last wrote. Things have been busy, but that is still no excuse. Sitting here at the laundromat waiting on my clothes to dry. No open WiFi, so this is getting posted later.

I went to PodCamp Ohio a few weeks ago. I was hoping to pick up some computer recording tips. Good info in the sessions, but not what I was looking for. I did talk with some people there though that helped out. Still feel a little lost, but at least I have some other places to look.

Geocaching wise, I finally passed the magical 1000 finds. The 1K seems to be a point of earning some street cred in caching. I am still heading out to a lot of local events, which I do enjoy. Cachers are in interesting lot.

That is about all I have time for right now. I have some things that have been swimming around in my brain that I need to write down. For now, I need to fold my laundry and get home.

Weird Twitter Follower

Yes, I know I need to do a lengthier update, but I thought I would share this.

I was scanning my email for anything important and killing some spam when I saw I have a new follower on Twitter, Lock3Live. I thought this odd, but it turns out to be the Lock 3 park/outdoor stage in downtown Akron. A very cool use of Twitter!

I'm sure they sent invites out to people living in/around Akron, but I found a few other interesting people they follow, such as the Cleveland Plain Dealer. If the Plain Dealer also follows Lock3Live then late changes to events could be quickly put up on their site, even if it never hits the newspaper. I like it.

Fancy new keyboard

When the first ergonomic keyboards came out, I did not get it. I learned to type on an actual typewriter, albeit electric. In high school I would spend several hours typing a day. We never really worried about carpel tunnel.

When I started using a computer keyboard I had no problem, and again I could spend many hours a day without any problems. I have actually had more problems with my mouse than with the keyboard.

Then, one day, I saw an ad for a cheapy ergonomic keyboard. Reading all the literature at the time I figured I would give one a whirl. Worst case scenario, I'm out $50. Best case - I save my self a lot of pain and maybe surgery.

The switch was weird, one of those split keyboards angled to allow for a 'more natural' alignment of the hands. Mine even had the little feet at the top AND bottom so I could put the high end of the keyboard closer to my body. After getting used to it though, it was not that I noticed a huge benefit in my wrists but in my shoulders. The reverse tilt though is what I noticed first that seemed to help the most.

Unfortunately I dumped tea into that keyboard. I went out and got another, even picked one up for work out of my own pocket. Never did find one of the reverse angle keyboard again, but even just the split keyboard left me feeling, relaxed I guess, at the end of the day.

I have been without an ergonomic keyboard at work for a couple of months. I broke yet another hard drive, so the IT powers that be decided it was time to get me a new computer. Unfortunately the new computer only has USB ports. My old keyboard was PS2. Since the keyboard was a big harry looking it was decided that I should get a new one. It finally came in today - Murphy LOVES the holiday season.

The keyboard is huge, which I LOVE! I do not have huge hands, but big enough that some keyboards are a problem. The keys are responsive but not too clicky. Lots of bonus keys to pull up the web, mail, adjust volume, pause Windows Media Player, etc. It even has a piece to do the reverse angle that I loved in my first ergo-keyboard.

Downsides? If you looked at the picture the keys have a that wave configuration of modern keyboards. I am not used to that. The mouse that comes with it is VERY sensitive and may need an adjustment. There is an extra button on the side that I may need to disable. I use my mouse left handed and the button is not in a good location. The only thing that I can't change about the mouse that I would like to is the wheel. The wheel is nice and smooth, but I am used to something that has clicks, for lack of a better word. Since I have used it for all of 15 minutes though, I will wait to pass judgement on it :).

CBS to borrow "Dexter" from Showtime - Yahoo! News

CBS to borrow "Dexter" from Showtime - Yahoo! News

Not sure about Dexter, although it sounds interesting, but I do like that we will be getting some Monk & Psyched on NBC. I love both shows, but found it tough to justify the $40+/month extra to get the cable teir that includes USA Network since I was not getting near that much entertainment value. I can almost BUY both series when the come out on DVD for one month's worth of unused cable.

Now if they would just get Tremors: The Series...

Ok, now the writer's strike kick's in

Since the writer's strike is really starting to kick my viewing habits around, I am getting caught up on some of my podcasts. I caught an episode of Stranger Things and they mentioned the post what I shall be doing while reruns and crap reality tv abound. Interesting reading if you are looking for some fill in. Make sure to read all the comments because there are some good recommendations.

I have already finished 7th Son, and would recommend it also for you 24 viewers. I never got into 24, but from the clips I have seen it looks right up your alley.

Although I am a fan of Scott Sigler, to the uninitiated his stories are not family friendly, but still great stories. With football season winding down, The Rookie might fit the bill. Not typical Sigler, but still good. His Infected/Infested/whatever-it-is-being-called-today is my personal favorite, although it seems to have disappeared from his site. I would recommend listening to Ancestor then Earthcore. Although I enjoyed Earthcore, I like Ancestor better.

Playing For Keeps was recommended for those who like Smallville, but would also work for those who follow Heroes. Playing For Keeps reminds me a lot of Mystery Men as far as the characters & their powers, but still a well told story. (Now to get my picture in my Keepsie's Bar t-shirt.) Although it comes out every other week (or so), the Secret World Chronicles is interesting. Lots of existing material though.

Although they have not come out with an episode since October, Mondays is a non-family friendly comedy/geek show that might fill in your need for a sitcom. Some computer geeky talk, but mostly just funny stuff. Mark Miller's 'Dumber than Me' segments should not be listened to while eating or drinking.

Ooops - nice weather

We got a couple of nice days here in NE Ohio, which threw me completely off. I have been working on some time-sensitive things that have kept me inside though. I was out and about doing my normal things this weekend, such as shopping, but that is not really enjoying the weather.

A time to clean

I had noticed a pile of crap on my dresser. Lots of caching stuff, loose change, random pieces of paper, etc. that is just piling up.

Well the paper was pretty much useless. Found out I had 3 different stacks of geocoins and 3 different stacks of path tags going right there for no reason other than it is where I empty my pockets. A bunch of zip lock bags later and there is some order to the chaos that is my life. Now if I could just find something a little sturdier but that closed up just as tight. Everything is just heavy enough to cause some problems with the baggies.

I also took the time to put my path tag collection together in a fancy album. I really like the way the album looks and it seems sturdy. Most importantly though it does not seem to come loose and send the tags flying around like a lot of other things I have tried. Unfortunately it looks like some of my collection has come up missing. Given I was storing them in an envelope it is not surprising. They are probably lurking somewhere, just need to turn them up.

Happy New year

Happy New Year! yea, I'm a day late but I was out most of New Year's Day running around in the snow at a geocaching event. Lots of fun - even if I slipped in the snow and fell.

Tivo, one month later

It has been about a month since I bought a TiVo. Although I missed 1.5 weeks of using it, that is one reason I got it.

So far I have to say it has not affected how I watch TV, but how I live my life. With the season pass option, I no longer need to concern myself with getting home to watch a show, remember to record it ahead of time, or even worry about when a show gets moved around. If I miss a schedule change, TiVo will get it for me. I can even set it to only get new shows. Bonus! This is even better than my VCR since I can have it record 2 shows at the same time.

One other thing I like is how it will fill up the space with recommended programs. This has also changed how handle my entertainment. Many times when I come I would just watch a DVD out of my Netflix or Blockbuster queue. It is better than watching some syndicated show for the 100th time. Instead TiVo gathers up programs that I may like, so I can get some variety. It also records things from off hours. I love that it gets Frasier for me at 11:00 PM when I would never watch it on regular tv.

I still have not gotten used to pausing live TV though.

Stranger Things » Blog Archive » Episode 3: One of those Faces

Stranger Things » Blog Archive » Episode 3: One of those Faces

I love Stranger Things. Reminds me a lot of the old Twilight Zone. This particular episode hit home to me since, well, I seem to have 'One of those Faces'. I do not get a lot of strangers walking up to me, I have been told I can be intimidating. However I have had people who barely know me spill their guts and, at some point, usually say "I don't know why I am telling you this." Interesting to see a story that mirrors part of my life.

The days of blogging, already out of ideas

Sad, but true.

I am just about all caught up from being on vacation. Still need to send out some emails, but otherwise ok.

One of the weirdest things is my TV has stopped receiving remote signals. Now this is not a huge deal, except that I cannot switch the TV to watch DVDs. I do not mind walking across the room to turn the TV on and off, and the TiVo handles the channel changes, but not being able to get to the DVD player is tough. No button for that on the TV. I am getting fresh batteries and some window cleaner to see if I can get it all working again. Fingers crossed I do not need a new TV.

Eyeing my bathroom for some work. There is a wall that my brother fixed for mom that needs sanded. He wanted to, but mom, for some reason, would not let him sand it. A few tile have fallen off as well. If I can get the money together I also need to replace the faucets on the sink. I love the sink, although it also could use replacing, but the faucets are 50+ years old and I could not find stems to replace what is there. I fear that I will have to replace the whole sink as well. Not a big deal, but more than I want to spend. Plus paint of course. I would love to completely replace the gray & maroon tile, but that is more than I can swing at this time. For now smooth walls with fresh paint and running water in the sink are my goals.

Interesting observation

Since my car was in the shop most of the day (brakes), I got a late start on doing things. I was running around tonight and took a swing by 'stripper row' as I like to call it. Because of the zoning laws, many strip clubs have come up along two roads not far from home. With so many I find it hard to believe they can be doing much business. Tonight I got to put my theory to the test.

About 10 PM I was out and decide to take a bit of a detour. Of the first 4 I drove by, 2 seemed to be doing pretty good, one not so good and the other was tough to tell since it was in a strip mall with another bar. Turning the corner the other 4 did not seem to be doing as well. One actually looked closed, based on the number of cars in the lot and one only had 2 cars in it. This assessment is very biased and based purely on how full the parking lots looked.

Given how things have been going here in Ohio, I am surprised these places can stay open at all. I have done bachelor parties at strip clubs before and I do not get the appeal. Apparently though enough people do find it interesting.

NaBloPoMo

For those of us not up to writing a novel, NaBloPoMo is right up our alley. For the month of November you need to post a blog entry every day. For a slacker such as myself this is encouragement to get out and do some writing, but not quite the hunk of writing that is needed for the NaNoWriMo that is also going on. Wonder how many people are doing both?

Just in time for Halloween

Although I am not a huge horror movie fan, I have seen most of them thanks to my mother's & brother's obsession with them growing up. Plus, I was an avid role player in my teen years, so I have seen my share of shambling zombie death.

However this was a little too real for my liking. Yea, overall the probability of zombie hordes wanting to dine on my brains is low. But it was laid out a little to logically for me to over look.

Thanks to Mac for pointing it out to me.

pesky'apostrophe: always better than an unexpected period.

pesky'apostrophe: always better than an unexpected period.

Being 6' tall and a guy most people don't mess with me. I also keep aware when walking alone, so I can avoid a bad situation.

The karate teachers at the local community center used to offer a self defense class for women. They came in with all the pads (much like you see on TV) and hung paper over the windows so the women did not feel on display. With the pads the women could really hit, kick, scratch, throw, etc. the guys around. Lots of confidence building.

Even if you can't take a class, carrying yourself with confidence and being aware of your surroundings can go a long way to not having problems. It sends out a "don't mess with me" vibe that will push those that want to harm you away. If you are fearful, people will sense it and prey on it.

I'll have the double-fudge fritter, too, please - OregonLive.com

I'll have the double-fudge fritter, too, please - OregonLive.com

A guy who gets service. I wish Best Buy would get it. I don't want a trial magazine subscription. I find it a huge disconnect that a store that makes most of its money from TVs, DVDs & music even offers books for sale, let alone some weird advertising scheme with magazines.

Life in the cloud?

Over the years I have fought putting large parts of my life 'on the cloud', aka on the Internet. In part it is a control issue - I like knowing where my data is, who has their fingers in it, etc. Even after hearing the easy of machine changes that Adam Curry went through: Between GMail, Flickr, etc. he really did not loose much.

The breaker for me was loosing a semi-important spreadsheet. I had it on a thumbdrive that I carried around. Somewhere along the line things got out of sync, the thumb drive lost (and then found again) and in general it all became a mess. I decided to throw the sorted out worksheet into Google spreadsheet in an effort to avoid this mess in the future.

Working with Google spreadsheet has been good. Granted I'm not exactly pushing the envelope of power, using more as a poor man's database than for what spreadsheets were really meant for. I did upload a spreadsheet that does a lot of adding rows & columns and so far it has had pretty good performance. This may not be for everyone, but for typical home use it has more than enough horse power.

Right now I am so tired of having an address, or an email, or whatever, on my home computer, or on my work computer, or on a thumb drive that I can't put my hands on (probably because I left it at work) that I figured it is about time for me to consider moving parts of my life off the laptop and into the cloud.

The first obvious thing to move is email. Right now I have 5 or 6 email addresses. Most forward to one account, although I am too cheap to pay to get Yahoo to forward. I am playing around with GMail now. So far I like the interface. Yahoo and even my ISP's internet email tries to emulate what happens on the desktop. The web needs a different interface and GMail seems to have the best one. I still need to work out some labeling on some emails. I get a lot of emails from geocaching that I do not need to deal with immediately. I am still also getting used to the whole conversation way of dealing with things, but it does look slick.

I have also signed up for Twitter. I have to admit I did not get text messaging until I started to monkey around with Twitter. I still am not setup to Twitter from my phone, not sure I could ever get used to using just 9 keys for typing. However I do think that constant internet hookup is part of the key to living in the cloud. It would be nice to be able to check my Netflix Queue while at a video store. The way people are getting Twitter to work with other services I can see where SMS (aka text messages) could be a simple and quick interface to the cloud. I guess the next step would be to get a phone that has a full QWERTY keyboard (hey, don't ask me to give up ALL my ways at once), SMS & internet.

I am looking to move other parts of my life to the cloud. I am not sure how much I want to move up there yet. Right now I am typing this entry from Blogger's web interface instead of using a local web editor. I guess that is some progress :).

Real Life Mouse Trap

Ok, not a real mouse trap, but this so much reminded me of the game Mouse Trap. Someone had WAY too much time on their hands.