Monday, July 31, 2006

New Kittens: Sam * Max

We got a call for another litter of bottle-fed kittens.

Apparently, the mom and one kitten were attacked by a Pit Bull. A woman found these two and called the shelter. So, there are two in this litter, and I have dubbed them "Sam & Max." Sam is the white one, Max is the orange one. They are both male, and that will break my mom's heart.

On that first day, I captured these videos of the kittens falling asleep.
Short Video...


Long Video...

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Eating Seafood at SeaWorld

It just seems wrong to eat seafood at SeaWorld...
this is an audio post - click to play

Friday, July 28, 2006

Dude, Exploding Dell Laptops!

via Gizmodo

You may have heard about the exploding Dell laptop batteries (or you may not have). Well, it happened again, this time in an Illinois office. The link to the original post and photos is getting hammered by the traffic, but here is the Google cache of the post.



The one in Japan happened a month ago and was on a desk. This happened on a desk, too, but imagine this on your lap... ouch! I'll stick with my Toshiba for now, thanks!

For a demonstration of an exploding battery, see this Google Video of an over-charged Lithium Ion Polymer (LIPO) battery.

Monday, July 24, 2006

SeaWorld Trip

So we drove down to San Diego on Friday for our mini-vacation in early celebration of Cathy's birthday. We stayed at a WorldMark resort (I'd be glad to tell you more) that used to be the Riviera Hotel. Cathy & I stayed on the fifth floor. We caught the trolley down to the Gaslamp Quarter and enjoyed eating really espensively at Blue Point (overpriced, but great atmosphere and excellent desserts) and then shopped at Z Gallery. I saw a large mirror I liked, but it reminded me of an offering plate! We saw some Hare Krishnas, shopped a bit more and headed back to the hotel on the trolley again.

On Saturday we got up at 7 and got breakfast near Fashion Valley. We went through an owner's update at our resort and received $75 in Amex gift cards for the effort. Cathy and I had lunch at the Old Town Mexican Cafe (hand-made tortillas!)

We then went to SeaWorld. A coworker had loaned me a wheelchair for me to push cathy around, so we got pretty good seats with almost no waiting at every attraction we went to. We saw Balouga Whales, a Polar Bear, Magellan Penguines, and Puffins. We watched the Pets Rule show, and that was really cool! Naturally, we saw the dolphins, which are amazing cute. I got a good picture of a very high jump. I am amazed at how powerful and graceful dolphins are. Cathy & I then saw the Sea Lions and Sea Otters, Manatees, and Sharks before hitting the Cirque de la Mar show. Then we got dinner, rode the skyride and the tower before watching the closing fireworks. We finally left at 10:00 PM!

On Sunday, we packed up and had breakfast at the Hilton, where we met Joe & Dotty; they own a comic shop in Santa Cruz. Joe & Dotty were in San Diego for the Comic Con (I want to go some time) and we had a great conversation!
Then Cathy & I went to Seaport Village where she bought another kite. The wind was relatively weak, but we were able to get the kite up pretty high before the wind died comletely.

After Seaport Village, we met up with family for icecream, dinner and miniature golf. We got home just before midnight, and I am glad to see my kitties again!

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Vacation!

We're in San Diego right now, pretty close to Balboa Park. Cathy's birthday is next week, so we came down for a quick getaway. We'll be back tomorrow, but in the mean time we are seeing the Gaslamp District, SeaWorld, Seaport Village, and trying out things like riding the trolley.

I'll try to post some photos tonight when we're back from the SeaWorld trip. Thank God that Cathy's mom is avaiable to watch our babies!

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

How I Feel About the New Pirates Movie

In case you haven't heard, "Dead Man's Chest" is a two-parter. :-(

Friday, July 14, 2006

Windows Vista!


We got a copy of Windows Vista Beta 2, the Business version. I have one of the newest laptops and the highest tolerances for beta software, so I installed Windows Vista and Office 2007 beta.

The biggest thing is the Aero graphics interface. I saw a demo of it recently, and that is very cool. It is an almost-3d interface that does semi-transparent window effects, live. The coolest of these would be the 3d flip of tasks (screenshot) but I can't get that to work on my laptop.

The transparencies on the program windows make for good eye candy. I must admit I really like the taskbar thumbnails.

All my programs (the ones I care about) still work, so we'll see. Office 2007 is just plain weird to me, at least for now.

So, if I am offline more often, you know why...

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Free "Splash" Arcade Game


You can download GameHouse's "Splash" free after watching a 30-second commercial for the Honda Element.

Friday, July 07, 2006

NY, GA Reject Gay Marriage

The Story: The highest courts of New York and Georgia ruled Thursday that same-sex couples are not entitled to marry.

Georgia said a 2004 ballot referendum banning gay marriage was legal. The vote in 2004 was passed by 76% of the voters, and Georgia's top court reinstated the ban Thursday, ruling unanimously that it didn't violate the state's rule for ballot measures.

The New Your Court of Appeals ruled 4-2 against the same-sex couples challenging the state's statute limiting marriage only between a man and a woman. The court found is allowing that any change should come from the Legislature.

Massachusetts allows gay marriage, while Vermont and Connecticut allow same-sex civil unions. Another 45 states have either constitutional amendments or statues banning gay marriage.

Comments: I understand arguments for protecting marriage. I do not think homosexuals are being unfairly targeted or marginalized; their influence far outweighs with numbers.

However, in the rush to "preserve the sanctity of marriage," there is a good point that homosexuals have made: if marriage is so sacred, why do Christians allow for such a high rate of divorce?

There's something to think about. If we are going to defend marriage, then let's truly hold it as a sacred institution. Marriage is not something to be entered into lightly, nor broken easily.

Pirates!

So we're going to go watch "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" tonight. Both Cathy and her mom have enjoyed Johnny Depp films and his role in the first Pirates movie certainly helped.

Speaking of pirates... we're also signing refinance documents this afternoon.

Monday, July 03, 2006

More Holiday Remodeling

This past weekend was spent remodeling in the afternoon, when it is coolest. I went to Home Depot and bought new baseboards and door casings. Our friend Laura brought over her powered miter saw and the casings were cut very quickly! We put up the door casings Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon.

Aside from remodeling, I'm not able to do much else right now. The 4th of July will be spent putting up baseboards, I think. I will have to repair our closet; oddly, when Zechariah stepped on the closet pole, one of the support brackets snapped!

I hope you guys have better plans!

See How Fast You Can Type

Ever wonder how fast you type? I think my adjusted typing speed is actually closer to 70 wpm, but this site say's I'm at 97 wpm. Give it a try yourself at http://labs.jphantom.com/wpm/.

For an adjusted typing speed test, see also http://www.learn2type.com/TypingTest/.