Feeling a Little Trashy...

Most of my readers know that I use Hotmail for my personal email account. Overall, it's a great (and free) web-based email service. I've used Hotmail for over 11 years, and apparently use it often enough that they asked me to be a beta tester for their current version (called Windows Live Mail) a couple years ago. So relatively speaking, I'm in their pretty good graces.

I'm starting to wonder though...

Today I sent a quick email to a friend from church, and had the following message to confirm my email was sent. Normally, I don't look at ads, but I'm a geek and saw the phone in the ad at the bottom. Then I read the message and wasn't sure whether to be insulted or laugh. See for yourselves... [I added a red box around the main element.]



Yes, apparently, I'm a "Ho" since I use the "Homail" service. Perhaps this is a growing trend to create services around specific lifestyles, but I'm not sure why "the oldest profession" needs any special email services different from anyone else's.

The additional irony is that the ad talks about "get[ting] cozy."

My current theory is that Hotmail might have retained radio shock jock Don Imus' services during his off-the-air stint resulting from him his calling women from the Rutgers women's basketball team "Nappy headed ho's".

Certainly, we can't attribute this to a simple spell check problem... :-)

Karsten's Ant Farm

Karsten received an Ant Farm from Mema and Papa as a souvenir from all their travels this fall. It's one of those AntWorks like the ones went up in the space shuttle, and has this gel that ants can use for food and still make their tunnels.





This is a great idea for a gift, and the kids really liked seeing the ants get to work on their tunnels pretty much overnight. However, the last couple weeks the ants have just been hanging out at the bottom in a big huddle. They rarely venture out for food or exercise...so we're not sure if we have relatively lazy ants, or if they are eating some bad ant gel.





Anyway, I'll be certain to post critical updates as soon as the ants start to move again...

Ava's New Interest

As a man who has enjoyed his fair share of television in the past, I admit a little bit of pride looking at these pics. I also worry about tv turning my kids into some sort of mindless zombies if used in excess, but this isn't a problem or concern in our home. Overall, the tv isn't on that much around the house, so I can look and laugh with a clear conscience.

Kiera - newest pic

Here's a recent pic of Kiera. Her hair isn't always that curly - it looks that way since we had just let her hair down after being in bands all day.

Christmas Letter Season

At this point, it doesn't look like we'll be able to get a Christmas letter written. Lord willing, we'll at least manage to get a family photo mailed out by within the next 3 months. The picture above was taken this fall when Nikki was trying to take pics of the kids for our Christmas card, but it didn't make the cut - since there's no Ava. Hopefully this blog will suffice...

My mom informed/asked me that she put my blog on my parent's annual Christmas letter. If anyone comes here from my parent's blog, be sure to post a comment on this post so I know you visited!

Ava's 1st Birthday

Today my Littlest Princess turned 1! She wears her crown well, don't you think?

We didn't do anything too fancy...just Key's Cafe (Ava's choice, of course). Ava enjoyed eating birthday PANcakes there tonight.

MP3 Player Odyssey - Steps Backward, Forward, Dizziness Ensues

Ok, so I've posted my thoughts on MP3 players I'm looking at purchasing here. I ended up buying the Cowon D2 8GB flash memory player. After reading numerous reviews, message boards, and even watching a couple videos on youtube, it was pretty clear this was the right choice.

This particular brand isn't available via local retailers, so I had to buy it online. After shopping around, I found the best deal for the D2 at a site called zipzoomfly.com (referred by Cowon's own site) This is a good site with prompt, efficient service.

My player arrived when promised, and setup was a snap. The D2 doesn't come with much of a manual or documentation, but figuring out the touch screen navigation and the menus wasn't a problem. I didn't have any problems setting up Windows Media 11 to synchronize with the player either.

However, a few problems with this player popped up when I tried to use the player for the first time.

1. Not all of my video files (all in .wmv format) were able to play. Some files would play without problem. Others would play on the player at all. On other videos, the image was very jerky - a frame every other second or so.
2. The menus require to much digging to get to basic information. When using the D2, I found that it would take up to 10-12 taps (sometimes more) on the screen just to get to an album/artist/track I wanted to listen to.
3. The player would show the wrong album art for the track I was listening to. This happened regularly. Some tracks would show the wrong cover art with different wrong covers numerous times. I checked the firmware, and didn't find any fixes for this.
4. The D2 would read any of my SD cards. This was a big deal since I hoped to view pics from my digital camera on my player. While the prices of these keep going down, I'm not interested in spending another $50 or more to get something I already have and use.

So I'm returning my D2. It's a shame, since I had high hopes for it - and I'm losing 15% of my $219.99 due to a restock fee.

After trying out other players, my Odyssey had me staring at the iPod Touch 16GB - but spending $400 on that player just seems crazy for a player that will be obsolete in less than 12 months.

Last week, Microsoft released their new Zune2 series of players, but I was disappointed in these players overall. The Zune flash drive players didn't offer any compelling features or advantages I was listed in, and I want to avoid getting a hard-drive-based player due to moving parts that are susceptible to breaking.

But I came across a deal that's too good to pass up. Amazon.com has the original (read: 1 year old) Zune player for only $89. This has a 30GB HARD DRIVE (ugghh), BUT!!!!! the player was selling for $249 about 2 months ago. When I factor the $89 for the cost per GB, this is a no-brainer. Also, when I considered that Microsoft is giving free software updates to their new software for their older models - there really wasn't a reason't a reason not to do it. Actually - on reason is that the player is out of stock and won't be available for a month - but I can live that. Getting a player for this caliber for only $89 is good any way you look at it. It's almost disposable at that price.

Updates to come later...

Work Rides: GMC Acadia

My employer switches travel agencies this summer. To most people, that's not a big deal - but for someone like me who is out of town most weeks, that can lead to big changes. One casualty of the change is that we switches from Avis to National for car rentals.

I had gotten used to the free upgrades as one of Avis' top tier of renters, so it was a welcome change when my regular use of National's fleet allowed me to start getting upgrades in their frequent user program as well. The nice thing about National is that you can pick your vehicle and go - no worries about getting stuck with a make/model you don't like, and they give you a whole aisle to select from (all at the same price). Frequent users like myself get access to the "Executive Collection" aisle, and there are always a couple good choices.

With this setting in mind, I decided to take advantage of National's fleet to take somewhat of a test drive of a vehicle I have some interest in purchasing somewhere down the road when my current lease is up. Enter the GMC Acadia (and is nameplate cousins the Saturn Outlook and Buick Enclave).

I did a joint sales call with a client that had one of these, and liked it. It's slightly larger than my Nissan Pathfinder, but offers a couple nice differences

• Seating configuration: The Acadia has 3 rows and can seat up to 8. The thing I like is that the second row can be configured with 2 captain's chairs instead of a bench seat. With 4 kids, this makes it a lot easier to get the kids into the back row since we have larger car seats for the younger kids in the 2nd row.
• Handling: while the Acadia is a fairly large vehicle, it handles well. Overall feel is more like a car than a truck. My model had a rear sonar - which was a nice touch for such a large vehicle.
• Sound. Engine noise was less pronounced than on my Pathfinder. Again, this seems to be attributed to the Acadia being designed more as a car than a truck.
• Amenities. These were great. On top of Sonar and XM Satellite Radio, my Acadia also had a rear DVD system. While this served no purpose or benefit whatsover, it's a nice touch nonetheless.

While my impressions overall were good. (So much that I rented the same vehicle two weeks in a row...) There are a few drawbacks:

• Cargo area: There isn't much storage area behind the 3rd row. While several bags/suitcases could easily fit there, there's no way this vehicle could accommodate our family of 6 + luggage/gear for any vacation or even a weekend of camping. Bummer. Only the Suburban or a 16-passenger van seem to be our options...
• Price: Starts a ~$30k. Steep.
• Intangibles: I've had great success with Japanese cars (namely Nissans and Hondas) and minimal success with American ones (Chrysler, Ford) I've never owned a GM car, but I do have concerns about their reliability. This could ultimately be a deciding factor...
  

Places Work Takes Me: Wichita, KS

This was the first time work necessitated that I make the trek to Wichita, KS. While I'm witholding final judgment on this alledgely fine city, I have a few observations:

• It's not easy to get to. It's about a 10 hour drive, so flying is the best way to get there and back. The problem is there aren't a lot of options to get there in a timely manner. I ended up having to take a 9:30pm flight unless I wanted to arrive at 1:30pm at the earliest if I left during the daytime.
• It's not easy getting back. Northwest only has 2 flight options coming home: a 7:30am and a 5:15pm. Not much of a choice at all if I want to get home at a decent time to see my family, but still conduct meetings that day.
• Wichita is bigger than I thought: I was told that the city itself has a population of around 350,000, and the greater metro area of approximately 500,000. I thought is would be closer to 100,000.
• I DID know that the economy is largely based in the avionics industry. Cessna/Citation, Hawker Beechcraft, Boeing, and I'm sure there are a few I'm forgetting. Surprisingly, the houses and economy seems to be very blue-collar. Again, this isn't authoritative - just a first impression.
• It's VERY flat: you can see for miles and miles just be driving on an overpass along the highway. Granted, it is Kansas, but it is definite proof that the world IS flat.

And this is the picture out of my hotel window in Wichita. There are a few things worth pointing out from it.

• Many of those houses had more wood showing than paint on them.
• It was somewhat scary driving through these neighborhoods trying to get to my hotel at 11:30 at night. These streets had no lighting whatsoever.
• However, the hotel and parking lot DID have lots lighting.
• Why is there a 6' high WALL around the hotel? I doubt it's for aesthetics
• This reportedly wasn't a bad part of town.
• The hotel itself was very nice. Probably the nicest Hampton Inn I've ever stayed in (and I've stayed in dozens of them.)

So, I'm still wondering where to rank Wichita. If you have any thoughts or comments, be sure to post them.

Halloween 07

The first two are the best of all 4 kids together. Admittedly, none of them are perfect (the pictures - the kids most definitely ARE), but they'll do nicely




Karsten was a firefighter (again).


Kiera was a ballerina. This picture was taken out our church's halloween party. It's always a big event. They have indoor trick or treating (they decorate all the classrooms in the basement like different houses), a petting zoo, carnival-type games, cookie decorating, crafts, and hayrides (outdoors) with a team of horses. There's usually 500 or so kids, there, so there's never a dull (or quiet) moment.


This is Teagan with Nikki's cousin Jessica.

Ava for Halloween

Here's a couple Halloween pics just of Ava. She didn't make for a very good Eyore - not mopey enough. :-)

Karsten's Birthday

My best buddy turned 7 a week ago. He's growing up so fast!



His favorite gift was a wheelbarrel from Mema. He's been begging for one for years, and uses it often in the yard. The John Deere tractor is definitely a favorite though.

Here's a couple more pics from his party. He and 11 other friends went to the local gymnastics training center (Ziplines, trampolines, etc.) - and it was a huge hit! They do parties just for kids his age, and I'm glad they had experience with this...no way I could manage 12 kids for 90 mins. with all that stuff around. (as you can see in the picture below that was taken about 100 mins. into the party)

Albino Squirrels

For the last couple weeks we've been seeing an albino squirrel in our yard. This, of course, is a bit unusual, but isn't THAT rare...until we saw a second one, then a third.


So we thought it'd be a great idea, but those squirrels knew we were trying photograph them, and would have nothing of it. Several attempts to snap a pic of them resulted in the albinos scrambling in different directions before we get close enough to take said photo.


Squirrels are very sneaky, you know. :-)


But my wife is MORE sneaky - and got several snaps of them. Enjoy. (oh, and we have several more that I didn't even bother posting.)


(Jodi - knowing your history with squirrels, I expect a reply to this post, if not several of them...;-))

Expensive Trees...

I'm all about doing what I can to "save the earth," so any random passers-by to this blog should know that we didn't want to have these cut down. We had two dead oak trees in our back yard that were each 50 feet or more, and we didn't want them falling on our house - or the neighbors' - so those had to go asap. There's also a tree that the previously owner felt should be allowed to live less than 10 feet from the foundation of our house - so much that he decided to build the deck around it. Since that tree overhangs the house, we had acorns, leaves, and even a little bit of moss growing on our roof. It only made sense to drop that tree as well.


So a tree cutting service came through the neighborhood, and gave us a good quote. (At least, I thought it was a good quote - there turned out to be a big misunderstanding - so these trees cost us far more than I thought. I'd rather not discuss it, but let's just say I could buy a decent used car for what these trees.)



The guys came out and did great work - and I certianly recommend them to anyone else. Here's a few pictures of their work. Since they ended up coming out on Karsten's b-day, he got to make a special trip home for the lunch hour to come watch.

Wisconsin Dells

We spent a weekend with some friends from church at Wisconsin Dells. The kids love spending time there, and so do we. Being with our friends who feel the same way made it even better!

The resort was great. Even though it was late October, and all the outdoor pools were closed, this resort had THREE indoor water parks - easily enough stuff to keep the kids occupied and entertained for the weekend.

Here are some pics from our room. It slept 4 adults and 7 kids (yep, 'tis true) with extra room for the adults to chat after all the kids were in bed. Well, "in bed" doesn't mean our kids stayed there, but we did have some chances to chat.

We're definitely planning to go back.

A Couple of IDIOTS

yep, one of these dweebs is me. Believe it or not, this was actually at work...in front of my customers...hundreds of them.

Sweet Ride

Yeah, I know this isn't a Ferrari or Porsche, but for a rental car it's pretty good. I drive a lot of rental cars when I'm on the road, but this is one of the best I've had. It beats the plain old Malibu's, Impalas, and Tauruses that I get stuck with far too often

This is the '07 Dodge Charger I had in Omaha last week. It's all "business," with a sporty edge to it. I've driven the similar Chrysler 300, and didn't care for it nearly as much. Another big plus with this particular model - it came with Sirius Satellite Radio...always a plus.

Although it wouldn't be at the top of my list if I were shopping for a new car, it certainly would get consideration.

Interesting Idea: Would you buy this?

I came across this new product while scanning my favorite tech blog Gizmodo today. Normally, I'm not for cutting corners, but after being in Wisconsin Dells and making my fair share of pancakes last weekend, the idea seems pretty appealing.

Basically, it takes the same idea as Readi-whip in a can, but sprays out USDA certified organic batter that becomes tasty pancakes or waffles. The convenience and presumed tidiness compared to having the inevitable batter drips around the griddle seem to overcome the awkwardness of using a pressurized can.

I can also see this being an ideal solution for camping trips - presuming one has access to to cooler to keep it refridgerated.

One can reportedly makes 8 pancakes, so I'm guessing the convenience will cost you. And be sure to post in your comments whether you'd buy this or not.

Check out their website to search for avaialability near you.

How NOT to Handle One's Comcast Problems

I've blogged about my dislike for Comcast's VOIP phone service in the past. (read HERE, then HERE for all the details and horrid reminders).

But apparently, Comcast knows how to treat their other customers just a crappily (I just made that word up) as they did to me. A 75 year-old woman, Mona Shaw decided to switch from Verizon for Comcast's Triple Play service package. When they couldn't get the service operating, Mona took her trusty hammer and drove to the local Comcast office - and then proceeded to use said hammer to bash all sorts of Comcast property while shouting "Do I have your attention now?"

(Aside: I don't think that it was intended by Mona, but that's an AWESOME parody to Verizon's marketing slogan. "Can you hear me now?")

Mona, I can sympathize with your dilemma, but violence rarely works in these types of situations. Keep good notes, demand fair compensation, and blog about it so you can vent instead of releasing your rage in more physical iterations.

[Washington Post via Gizmodo, photo from Washington Post]

An MP3 player I WON'T be purchasing...

I'm all about sharing my faith with others, and I'm definitely a geek to the core. So just as two great things like chocolate and peanut butter are best together, one would think this would be the ideal end to my new MP3 player odyssey. But mixing two good things sometimes creates very bad results: brownies with Ex-lax, electricity with water, and drinking with driving come immediately to mind.

This thing makes me ill just looking at it - for geeky and spiritual reasons...

(and yes, it's real. You can buy it in 1, 2, and 4GB sizes here. )

[Source: CNet via Engadget]

Airwolf: Donations for Memorabilia Needed

Normally I have a healthy dose of sarcasm in my posts, but I'm totally serious with every word I'm typing. My all-time favorite show growing up was Airwolf (far beyond Knight Rider).

• It started with the smokin' theme song
• that awesome helicopter pictured above (with retractable guns and rocket launchers, "sun burst" defense system, bullet-proof exterior, and in later episodes the lazers).
• The way "the lady" looked in the "lair": Airwolf's hidden hangar in a butte in some desert.
• The characters: Strinfellow Hawk (Jan Michael Vincent), Dom Santini, Archangel.
• The cool air battles at the climax of each episode showed off what this fine specimen this vehicle and it's writing truly was.

Right now, I have to find creative ways to purchase one of the 26 helmets on eBay that are available from the show. Bids start at $700 and Buy Now is $900. This is geek memorabilia in it's purest form.

Please help!

It's Back!!! Basement Update

Although I haven't received any requests for updates on our basement, I'm sure you're all eager to read what's up...

I've steadily (my wife is more inclined to think that "slowly" is the appropriate word) been working on the basement when time allows. We've passed all the necessary inspections to be able to sheet rock the office and bedroom down there. The office is pretty much rocked now, with only a few small, quick touches needed before we tape/mud.

I'm not sure of any dates when these rooms will be completed (more like all my estimates from before have been wrong), but I'm hoping it's by the end of the year.

My MP3 Player Odyssey hits a bump

Ok, so I had posted before that I'm ruling out the new iPod Touch and Nano as replacements for my now officially "crappified"4G iPod 20GB. In that same post, I said I intended to purchase the Creative Zen since it offers more features at the same or lower prices to the iPods (FM tuner, expandabale SD memory card slot).

Well, that plan hit a bump when I stumbled across this review of the Zen on a site called anythingbutipod.com. This guy has reviewed most MP3 players made by any company other than Apple, and seems to know his stuff really well. On his review of the Creative Zen, he noted a major flaw - that the Zen's SD memory expansion slot has been crippled so that it provides minmal functionality/real world usage.

So instead, the writer suggest that one look at the Cowon D2 player (pictured above), which I'd never heard of. After reading the review, then checking CNET's thumb's up review, and finally checking out the features and price points, I'm impressed. It's quite compact, has a touch screen interface, SD expansion slot (that actually works), and good product support. Too bad it's not available in the at any mass retailers so I can try it out myself before buying - so I may have to buy it from an online etailer with a liberal return policy in case it doesn't meet my expectations.

I'm also now reconsidering it the iRiver Clix2 player (above). I had heard about this great player back in January when it was announced, and the 8GB just started shipping a couple weeks ago. However, I had ruled it out since it didn't have any memory expansion. But since the reviews on CNET and anythingbutipod rated it so highly, it's back in the running again.

Another, though less likely, option is the new Zune 2 from Microsoft. These players are bigger than I prefer, but I like the usability and feature improvements that Microsoft has made from the first generation that launched nearly a year ago. While I generally don't pull for Microsoft - they're doing quite well in case you haven't heard - they are one of the first MP3 player manufacturers to upgrade prior models with new features that will be on upcoming models. I'm not referring to firmware updates, but a major system upgrade that adds significant new features. In particular, the Zunes offer wireless synchronization, so you can recharge the Zune without wires. Sweet stuff, and I really wish Apple would take note of this instead of forcing existing customers to upgrade when new features come out on new models. Microsoft is also improving their Zune online portal to give iTunes a run for it's money. The new flash memory Zune 2 will ship in mid-November. It's a long-shot, but I'm keeping my eye on it.

So maybe I'll just wait a little longer...

uuugggghhhhh.

A Speed Record I Have No Interest in Breaking

I like riding my mountain bike well enough, but going 130.7mph down hill on a mountian bike is absolutely crazy. (on snow/ice no less)

MP3 Player Choices: Interesting Developments

In my post on MP3 players a few weeks ago, I noted that I'm leaning toward the new Creative Zen instead of the new iPod Nano or Touch models. The good news is that Creative has started shipping the 8GB model that I was strongly considering, but they've lowered the pre-release price of the 16GB model to $249. This is highly intriguing - and if it were shipping, I would already own one.

My employer has provided a Blackberry 8703 for me to use for some time now. While the Blacberry serves as stellar and indispensible email device, it offers no multimedia features (no MP3 or video capabilities) to speak of. (and thus my desire to get the Creative Zen player) But there's a new wrinkle of reports from

But this week, the Blackberry got a VERY positive boost. Sling Media is developing their mobile player to run on the Blackberry OS. Those that aren't familiar with Sling Media or their Sling Box, here's the quick rundown: Sling Box is a small server that connects to your home network. This box is set up next to your TV, and accepts the output from your cable TV, satellite, or Tivo-type devices. The Sling Box is connected to the internet via your home network, so you can access your own TV content anywhere you have an internet connection. That means I can access any of the previously recorded content already on my Tivo, or even change the channel and watch live TV at my leisure whenever I please. The great thing about Sling Box is that there are no service fees to use the device, other than the $100-150 for most of their Boxes. As I see it, the only real issue is that the service wouldn't work well on an airplane since there's no signal up there...

I'll still probably get the Creative Zen player, but I'll definitely watch for the Sling Box once they release the Blackberry compatible version.