Author: andy

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New Toy(s)

So, Brooke and I both got new toys today. My cell phone died (again), so thankfully, I was due for a replacement via AT&T and I grabbed an LG Vu from Wal-Mart, as their deal on the phone was significantly better than AT&T.com and the AT&T stores. It’s a touch phone, so it’s quite a bit different than I’m used to…and, I’m going to need to get some kind of case for the thing, as I guarantee I’m going to drop this phone (and, subsequently, it will die).

The other fun new toy is actually Brooke’s. Her Compaq Presario laptop (a Celeron-based system with 256 MB of RAM) has been slowly dying, mostly in the form of a slowed start-up (even after reformatting) and a battery that won’t hold its charge. She decided to give a netbook a try, an Acer Aspire One. These are a relatively new class of ultra-portable laptops that typically use an Intel Atom processor, has a 10″ or smaller screen (hers is an 8.9″ glossy LCD), and no DVD drive. The latter will take some getting used to, but the smaller screen is something she thinks she can handle. You can see the size comparison with my 15″ Dell XPS M1530 above (and below in another view). This thing is also 2.2 lbs, which is less than half of what my laptop weighs!

Obviously, the keyboard is a bit smaller, as well. The other thing that we realized is that it is near impossible to install Office 2003 without a disc drive, so she downloaded and installed OpenOffice 3.0, and that seems to work alright. Overall, the laptop is quite responsive, but we’re mostly curious about how battery life will be on such a small machine.

Anyway, after Brooke has gotten to use the thing a bit more, maybe I’ll write more about it. So far, she seems pretty pleased with it, but to be fair, she only got to use it for a few hours before bed, and that entailed installing software…especially Firefox… It’s great that she complained about having to use IE at all, even when she was using it to go straight to the Firefox download page… 🙂

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My V-Day

Here’s how my day went:

  • Cleaned up the house (it needed it pretty badly…)
  • Watched “CSI:” and “Eleventh Hour” with the wife.
  • Watched “Sarah Connor Chronicles” and “Dollhouse” while the wife took a nap.
  • Played some Resistance 2.
  • Took the dog on a walk.
  • Did some dishes.
  • Played some Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, ’cause that’s the version the wife likes. I won, but she got close.
  • Helped the wife make dinner (she did most of the work, of course…)
  • Watched “Scrubs,” “The Office,” “Psych” and, finally, “Say Anything…” (the latter of which neither of us had ever seen…and dude, a young Jeremy Piven was in it!). Started a fire (in the fireplace) and drank some Moscato d’Asti. It was glorious.
  • Did some more dishes.
  • Played some Red Alert 3 with Ryan.
  • Went to sleep.

    • Best. Valentine’s. Day. Ever.

    🙂

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    What goes around, comes around…

    I credit the headline to the wife, for the record…and for the following reason…

    While I was at work on Sunday afternoon, Brooke called to tell me about a little adventure the dog had… The front door hasn’t been sealing all the way and, apparently, when I left, it didn’t seal very well… Brooke was in the kitchen for about 10 minutes and, after entering the living room again, noticed the door was open…and the cat was laying at the bottom of the stairs! So, after grabbing the cat (relatively easy compared with what he usually does when he escapes), she noticed that the dog was nowhere to be seen. She walked around the block(s) where we usually walk her and, again, no Edie.

    Well, thankfully, when she returned, there was a message on the answering machine from a few nice ladies that had capture the puppy. Apparently, they were driving down to Soulard for a few drinks before the Super Bowl and saw a random dog crossing Russell Ave. right by the Bastille (across from Joanie’s Pizza). They opened the door and she hopped right in! After looking at her tag, they called the phone number and left the message, so Brooke met them and picked up the dog (offering to buy them a beer, of course, but they said that they hoped someone would do the same for them if their dog had gotten loose!).

    Needless to say, we’re being much more careful about checking the front door when we aren’t downstairs to keep an eye on the animals.

    Anyway, I got home today around 4:30 pm to see Brooke out on the street with Edie for her afternoon walk…with another dog (a Red Coonhound, apparently). This one was loose, but very friendly and was being very nice to Edie, despite her typical whining. So, Brooke looked on the tag and saw the address and phone number (over off Lemp Ave, across I-55!). I called the number and a young woman answered, saying “Charlie’s never gone that far, before!” Anyway, she came over promptly (I had gone inside to get Charlie a rawhide to entertain him until his Momma arrived) and said “thank you” multiple times.

    As the great Alanis Morissette once said: “Isn’t it ironic…dontcha think?”?

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    New Star Trek Trailer (?)

    SciFi Wire had this little highlight on a YouTube mashup featuring what the new Star Trek movie won’t be. Personally, I can only barely tolerate most of Will Ferrell‘s recent movies (I think I made it 20 min. into “Anchorman” and couldn’t continue…soooooo unfunny… “Old School,” on the other hand, was glorious), but there are all kinds of people “featured” in this clip (including Colbert and Stewart, making this automatically hilarious).

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    Keira Knightly set to star…

    I saw this blurb on SciFi Wire tonight…

    The publishing company (Quirk) describes it in this way:

    “[It] features the original text of Jane Austen’s beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Complete with 20 illustrations in the style of C.E. Brock (the original illustrator of Pride and Prejudice), this insanely funny expanded edition will introduce Jane Austen’s classic novel to new legions of fans.”

    So yeah, definitely never read the book…nor will I ever…but if I can read this version, I may consider it… 🙂

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    Great Moments in Presidential Speeches

    Update: From David Letterman’s “Great Moments” re-cap on January 16, 2009:

    I ran across this page at Rawstory.com and decided to replicate it here, although I already have a similar page up in my Quotes section of the blog. Needless to say, I’m trying to help celebrate the end of the Bush Presidency… w00t, January 20th! Can’t get here soon enough!

    ———————————————————————–

    “They misunderestimated me,”
    — Bentonville, Arkansas, November 6, 2000

    “There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on … shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again,”
    — Nashville, Tennessee, September 17, 2002

    “I’ll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office,”
    — to Israeli journalists in Washington in an interview published May 12, 2008.

    “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we,”
    — Washington, August 5, 2004

    “For a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times,”
    — Tokyo, February 18, 2002

    “I’m looking forward to a good night’s sleep on the soil of a friend,”
    — on the prospect of visiting Denmark, Washington, June 29, 2005

    “Thank you, Your Holiness. Awesome speech,”
    — Washington April 16, 2008 to Pope Benedict XVI.

    “I remember meeting a mother of a child who was abducted by the North Koreans right here in the Oval Office,”
    — Washington, June 26, 2008

    “I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully,”
    — Saginaw, Michigan, September 29, 2000

    “Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across the country,”
    — Poplar Bluff, Missouri, September 6, 2004

    “It would be a mistake for the United States Senate to allow any kind of human cloning to come out of that chamber,”
    — Washington, April 10, 2002

    “Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?”
    — Florence, South Carolina, January 11, 2000

    “You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test,”
    — Townsend, Tennessee, February 21, 2001

    “My fellow Americans: Major combat operations in Iraq have ended… The tyrant has fallen, and Iraq is free,”
    — USS Abraham Lincoln at sea off the coast of San Diego, California, May 1, 2003

    “I’m the decider, and I decide what is best. And what’s best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the Secretary of Defense,”
    — Washington, April 18, 2006

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    They was sleepin’…

    Sleeping family...
    Sleeping family...

    The family was sleeping during “Criminal Minds” Wednesday night…thought I should share the photo op with everyone else… 😛

    On a side-note, according to my WordPress Dashboard, this is my 400th post on this blog. Crazy times, yo.

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    A weekend of movies…

    It’s nice not having much to do for a change! So, I caught up on all kinds of movies this weekend…

  • Superman Returns – Been a few years since I’d seen this one, but it was on FX, so I recorded it in HD. Personally, I still think this is a great movie, if only as a continuation from the earlier Christopher Reeve flicks. The story isn’t anything to write home about, but it’s a very nice re-introduction to the popular movies from the 80s. I already wrote my general thoughts about this movie down when I saw it in theaters, but here they are again if anyone cares…
  • Iron Man – Josh gave me the Bluray version of this. And it’s still a glorious movie. Robert Downey, Jr. is sooooooooooo perfect for the role of Tony Stark, it’s crazy. Again, I already wrote plenty about this movie when I saw it this summer, but here they are if you want to read them again.
  • The Devil Wears Prada – This was on FX last week, too, and I’d never seen it. Not a bad movie, but probably not one I need to see every again. Mostly a chick-flick, and pretty predictable, but not a bad movie, overall. And Meryl Streep deserved an Oscar for that role, yo…
  • Hellboy 2: The Golden Army – I really wasn’t a fan of the first movie, and probably should watch it again, but when we were at Redbox grabbing Hancock, we grabbed this one, too, so I could watch it. I guess, in short, I’d find it to be a “serviceable” movie in that I was entertained, but it wasn’t particularly good and I’m glad I didn’t see it in theaters. Selma Blair can’t act to save her life, and the effects were _good_, but certainly not mind-blowing. I guess I’m glad I saw it, but I don’t think I’ll need to see it again…ever…
  • Hancock – Didn’t get a chance to see this one over summer when it was out in theaters, and as reviews weren’t very impressive, we waited for the DVD. Honestly, it was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I’m still impressed with Will Smith in general, but Jason Bateman and Charlize Theron do an excellent job, as well. The visual effects were kinda mediocre, to be honest, and the music wasn’t quite…I dunno…”superhero enough”… But, the story was surprisingly engaging and there were a few twists and turns that surprised even me! So yeah, worth the rental, I think. Mom, you probably won’t like it. 😛

    • I guess I need to get some more movies lined up for next weekend… Recommendations?

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    New Toys

    So, got all kinds of good stuff for Christmas this year, but one thing I didn’t get (and sorely needed) was a new iPod. I’ve had an iPod Mini for a few years now and, while it’s served me well, the battery is nearly dead. It’s to the point where I leave the car after having it on the charger, walk the dog around the block (in the cold), and try to turn it on inside only to have it tell me there’s no battery life left. Apple charges something like $100 to replace the battery in an old iPod, so a new one only made sense…

    With money from Christmas (thanks, everyone!), I offset the purchase of a 4 GB iPod Nano (4th Gen), and it’s a glorious machine. One of the neater things I’m doing with it, as it has a full-color screen now, is downloading video podcasts to waste my “valuable” time with.

    Problem was…I had a Griffin iTrip FM Transmitter so I could listen in the car. The thing worked pretty well, for the most part, and transmitted at 87.9 FM, which is almost never used anywhere (i.e. no interference, so relatively clear signal). Well, that iTrip doesn’t work with the new Nanos, so I needed a replacement. Wally World had one for $20, so I grabbed that. Belkin, the company that makes it, even has a website set up to give you an idea as to which stations in your area should be available for use with their transmitter. However, Belkin’s transmitters only go down to 88.1…sooooo, of the four stations they suggested, none of them worked well at all. I even went back and grabbed another Belkin for $30…perhaps it was a better model or something. Yeah, also crap. Didn’t work. Nada. I went to Walmart.com to look around and the user ratings for those two transmitters were both 1 star out of 5…so…not so good…

    Anyway, went to Best Buy today for a THIRD transmitter. I grabbed this one, a DLO TransDock Micro FM transmitter. It was on sale, thankfully, but cost considerably more than the Belkins from Wal-mart…and, I guess you get what you pay for, ’cause it works like a charm. It searches for the best channel wherever you are and produces a signal I can actually pick up with the car.

    Long story short, I’m back to iPod functionality, which is beautiful. All kinds of happy now 🙂

    On another, unrelated note, I’ve essentially taken this week off of work, catching up on games and movies that I got for Christmas. Total, I got 10 movies (8 DVD, 2 BluRay), so it’ll take me awhile to get through them all. Got some clothes, some money, some candy…etc., etc., etc.

    The best present, however, is my Bluetooth mouse (kinda like that one, but not quite)…thanks, Dad (you too, Mom, but I know Dad picked it out, so he gets the most thanks… :-P).