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)
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Saturday, September 29, 2007
MP3 Player Choices: Interesting Developments
It's Coming Back! Knight Rider
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Places Work Takes Me: Kansas City
Places Work Takes Me: St. Louis
Places Work Takes Me: Des Moines
My favorite place to eat is a place called Mojo's in Johnston, a northwestern suburb. They have some amazing Almond crusted chicken fingers that are the best chicken tenders one could ever possibly eat. The entre's change regulary, but it's hard to go wrong with anything you order here.
Places Work Takes Me: Alexandria, MN
Labor Day at MN State Fair
For those who don't know the MN State Fair, it usually averages ~2 million fairgoers over 10 days each year and concludes on Labor Day. Crazy stuff. Usually, the fair is an excuse to spend 10x more on food than you would at any fast food restaurant, but that food has 10x the normal (high) fat content. Perhaps the extra cost is mostly due to the expense and labor of putting the food on a stick. Ironically, there are no pictures of us eating any food at the fair this year. Perhaps - that's a good thing...
What makes the state fair such a draw? Frankly I don't know. It costs our family over $20 just to get in. We spend $30-60 a day on unhealthy food (usually bringing our own drinks to cut down on costs). We walk around aimlessly looking a farm implements, wandering through smelly livestock barns, and trying not to navigate around animal dropping, massive strollers, or people who are paying more attention to the food they are eating food on a stick while wandering the fair than walking itself. Yet, the time goes by quickly and you never feel like you've seen enough and want to go back again to catch what was missed.
So without further adieu', I give you a brief tour of our day at the fair
This is one of the few things NOT on a stick at the fair. The intersting thing about this cow is that the owner lives 2 doors from Nikki's parent's house. This cow is literally parked on the street as I type (I think). With tetes like that, I'm sure it's a great milk producer.
These two pictures above are of a modern Paul Bunyan. This guy cuts up logs into sculptures. I'm really not sure what this one was supposed to be, but my best guess is a fox or raccoon (most likely). This guy was promoting Stihl tools - evidence that just about everything has a sponsor nowadays - even at the fair.
Here's a couple pictures of us on the Kidway. (that's the Kid's version of the Midway at the MN State Fair for those who don't know).
Pictures of the kids in the poultry barn.
We took a break in a shaded area for a little while. This was one of those guys that's acts like a statue until you walk buy. He was walking to the dressing room after his shift was over - freaked the kids out...
This is our new stroller that we took to the fair. It works great. Strollers are a VERY big thing at the MN state fair. Strollers are as essential to take to the fair as taking a ball glove to the ball park when you have seats in the outfield. Many people like to "pimp" their cars and trucks to show off to everyone else. At the MN State Fair, people like to show off their strollers and how big strollers can be. I think I saw a stroller that could sleep a family of 4. Pretty huge.
Our stroller is relatively modest in size. Nikki got a good deal on it via ebay (I think - I just know she got a could deal on it), and apparently this is mega-pimped out as far as stollers go. For starters, there's the pink color - which is apparently very customized - much like an airbrush paintjob on a hot rod. It grabs attention. Then there's the optional/detachable seat in front that allows you to push TWO children in a stroller that would normally seat only one child. Finish the stroller off with dual beverage holders and zippered pouch on the handlebars - you've got one tricked out ride.
With the extra seat on the front, this stroller is still relatively easy to push UNLESS you need to turn or go up a curb. To help Nikki out, I offered to push the stroller most of the day. Yep - the man was pushing a pink stroller around hundreds of thousands of people - in PUBLIC. And you know what??? I was treated like a demi-GOD. I kid you not. I had mothers coming up to me asking where we had got it, what brand it was (I still have no idea), and wondering how we liked it. Our stroller was so popular I had to turn away photo opps and autographs from envious mothers and fathers just so we could see everything else we wanted to see.
Yep - it was a great (and typical) day that could only happen at the MN State Fair.
For Uber-Nerds Only
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Toothless Wonder
Dilemma: Which MP3 player?
Since my old iPod had a crashed hard drive, I definitely want to get a player with flash memory since there are no moving parts, and these are more compact in size as well. (The trade-off to not getting a hard-drive based player is smaller flash memory and higher price.) I also wanted to get a player that did videos (especially for watching episodes of the office, and maybe a couple movies and sports clips.
Apple only got it half right. Ideally, I wanted 16GB of flash memory, so the new iPod Touch is the ideal candidate. There's so much to like: built-in WiFi, a gorgeous 3.5" widescreen, and Apple's flawless integration and operating system. However, the $399 price tag is freaking me out.
The other Apple candidate is the new Nano. Unlike previous versions, this popular player now does videos and manages to do so in a dimunitive size that's about half the size of a credit card (and about as thick as 1-2 credit cards as well). I stopped by the Apple store to check these out, and they are a true wonder. The price is a more modest $199 for the 8GB model.
However, I can't bring myself to get the Nano. I love iTunes and getting podcasts, but I don't want to play Apple's game of limiting features and forcing to upgrade a year or two down the road. Here are some of the featuress that I wish the new iPods had
- a 16GB Nano would be passible
- built-in FM tuner to listen to radio (especially at the health club)
- expandable memory card slot
- larger screen on the iPod Nano
So I think I'm going to get the Creative Zen when it ships. While a 16GB version for $299 will be shipping soon, I'm planning to get the 8GB version for $199 (the same price as the Nano). But the Zen delivers an SD memory slot to increase memory capacity or to view and transfer pictures from my digital camera (a big plus). There's also a larger screen that considerably larger (2.5"). Lastly, the Zen uses a standard min-USB interface, so that means one less cable that I'll need to have for transfers and charging the battery.
While the Zen is larger than the Nano, it's still a tiny player that packs a potent punch and will serve my needs well. If only there were any places that had it in stock so I could pick one up...