Spring Break - Duluth, MN

Over spring break, we decided to spend a weekend in Duluth. It couldn't have worked out better. The weather was fantastic, tourism was low, and the 2 hour drive was just right.

Saturday had temps in the upper 50's, which is awesome for Duluth in early April. We decided to spend some time at the historic lift bridge, which the kids really liked. The timing worked out well since one of the larger freighters was coming into the harbor while we were there.

We stayed at a hotel that had a waterpark, and that served as a good family event center as well. On Friday, we celebrated Nikki's birthday, part of which was spent cleaning up one of our child's throw-up 4 times that day. The joys of being a parent.

On Sunday we went to the Great Lakes aquarium - which took a few hours to visit. It's mostly stocked with the same fish you see everywhere, but the kids liked it pretty well.

House on the Rock

When we go to visit Chicago, we've started to make a stop in the Wisconsin Dells for the kids. This year, since Easter was at the end of spring break for most schools in MN and WI, the rates were jacked up big-time when we decided to go to Chicago over Easter weekend.

We opted for a plan B: doing House on the Rock instead. This is in the same general area of Wisconsin, but a little off the beaten path. Still, there are signs all along the interstate that we've always ignored, so this looked like a good opportunity to make.

As an aside, the weather didn't cooperate. The Madison, WI area has had record snowfall, and the day we were passing through the area was pretty crummy due to another snowfall of 6-9 inches of fresh snow. The positive is that the House on the Rock had very view visitors - it was almost like we had the entire tourist trap to ourselves.

This is a an interesting place that I guess you need to go through once. Nik and I commented that we won't be bothered if we don't go back for another 15-20 years. The place was hit or miss for me. A few rooms were interesting and unique, most were boring to me, much less the kids. Karsten and Kiera both used the words "dark" and "scary" to describe it. I couldn't imagine this place during peak tourist season and having to maneuver around lots of people. Still, the House on the Rock took several hours just to tour all the rooms since it's a pretty sprawling place encompassing several large buildings that have been added over the years.

Oh, and did I mention that there's shag carpet everywhere - including most ceilings? I'd hate to have to be the one to vacuum this place.

Here are some pics. My favorite was the Infinity room, which juts off the top of the mountain and goes ~100 ft. straight out over the valley. Visibility was bad due to the weather, but the effect was still stunning.
This is a pic. of the Carousel Room. Supposedly, there are 20,000 lights on that thing. I counted them, and that's a bit of exaggeration. I stopped at 599,527, but I'm not sure if I counted some lights more than once since the Carousel was moving the whole time.

Lastly, we were told to check out the bathrooms. They were pretty cool. This is one of the nicer men's rooms.


This bathroom below helps men keep man law #12: avoid using the urinal right next to another dude at all costs. There was easily 5-6 feet between the urinals, and each urinal had it's own sink to boot. On the downside, the picture looks like some dude still has bad aim, if you know what I mean. That, or they just hosed the place down for a cleaning... I stayed away just to be sure.

THE Office

Unfortunately this isn't a post about the TV show, but it's still pretty important.

When I'm not jet-setting for work across the Midwest, this is my new space where I occasionally get to work when I'm actually home. We finished part of the basement in January, and I'm just now getting around to posting some pictures from it. I still need to hang my art (you can see some of the Ansel Adams prints in front of the bookcase), but it's functional and provides some level of privacy (though it could use more sound-proofing...).

What my inner geek is thinking about these days...

I consider myself a serious gadget guy, but have to confess that I don't own one of the most prolific gadgets available today: a GPS.

This may seem odd since I travel aplenty for my job, but I've managed to work around this by either planning ahead or using Google Maps on my Blackberry with large success. Rarely do I get lost or am unable to find where I need to go.

That doesn't mean things can't be better. Enter a new company called Dash. They just launched a new GPS that offers some significant features no other GPS available can provide. Allow me to elaborate.

By far then best feature is two way communication that gives you real-time TruTraffic updates. What this means is that the GPS unit has a basic cell-phone-like feature that always communicates with Dash and receives information from Dash as well. So if other cars are stuck in traffic due to an accident, the Dash knows about this almost instantly and can send you to your destination via another route. Once more of these units are sold, the data will only get more accurate and effective.

The service also automatically updates maps which is often a time-consuming and even costly proposition.

The Dash also has wi-fi so you can enter addresses and points of interest on your laptop and wirelessly send them to your car in the garage/driveway if you have a simple network set up in your home.

True, it's nowhere close to being the smallest or sexiest-looking GPS on the market, but right now I'd prefer functionality over form.

It's priced fairly resonably at $399. There is a monthly service fee of $12.99 though. I'll let you know if I bite on this one or not...

If you go to Dash's website, there's a short video that shows how this works.

[photos are from Dash's web site as well]

I so want to do this...

http://view.break.com/175421 - Watch more free videos

Many people seem to think that Europe's TV is more entertaining than what we Americans get to watch. I think there's a case in point from the BBC's show Top Gear.

If I had the time and unlimited resources, I would so do this on my own. Enjoy.

[credit: Gizmodo]

I've no idea what game this is, but here goes...

Apparently I've been tagged by JRoosh. I've never heard of this game before now, but I think the rules are that you have to list at least 5 little-known facts about yourself. Here goes...


1. I have never been "dumped" by a girlfriend. (albeit, I haven't had very many...)
2. During high school, I ate a peanut butter and marshmallow creme sandwich EVERY day for lunch.
3. I have never sat on or ridden a real horse.
4. When I was 16, I got out of a speeding ticket because I was wearing a hot pink dress shirt and printed tie with burgers, soda pop, and french fries on it. The officer asked where I was going, and I said I was running late for work at the local grocery store (true) and he let me off with a warning. Even more amazing was that several of my friends all got tickets in the same area...
5. If I could learn an instrument, I'd want to play the drum set.
6. For "Career Day" during spirit week in high school, I went as a McDonald's burger flipper. (I previously had worked there 2 weeks, and put in my 2 weeks notice. I NEVER wanted to work there, but my mom forced me to get a job. The uniform was used and REAKED of fat and grease - and the smell NEVER washed out...) So glad that aspiration never worked out...

I'm so Proud of Him...

[sniff]

I've shared that one of my passions is Arsenal Football Club, but few things I can think of could give me more pride than seeing the same passion develop in my son.

[drip]

My friend from work, Mat, knows about my fever for Arsenal, so he gave me a team flag as a nice gift during my last trip to St. Louis. [sniff] When I got home, I showed the flag to Karsten, and his jaw dropped open. He asked what I was going to do with it - and I could tell he wanted it for himself. I didn't have the heart to say no, so I said I'd put it up on the wall in his bedroom.

[drip] So above is a picture of K showing off the Arsenal colors proudly. When you see him next, be sure to ask him how Arsenal is doing in the League. He knows...

Work Rides: Volvo S60

One of the nice things I already said I like about renting from National Car Rental is that you get to pick the car you want. I'm no longer stuck at the mercy of whatever the rental agent feels like giving me. There's an aisle filled with cars. I pick out a vehicle. Then I get to drive it at our low corporate rate.

I was a little surprised when St. Louis had a Volvo S60 in the Emerald Executive aisle there for the taking. The reasons seemed obvious: #1 Volvos aren't usually seen in rental car lots, and #2 - one would think someone would have already jumped on the chance to drive this.

I have to say that the Volvo S60 is hands down the best rental car I've ever driven. In fact, it might be the best car I've ever driven in my lifetime. (that's probably more pathetic than surprising, so spare me your insults...)

Seriously, this was a great car. The 2.5T trim I had included (heated!!!!) leather seats, and a moon roof (it's cold outside, so who cares...). Otherwise, there weren't many other features of note. That said, the car had a solid feel, and I felt absolutely safe thanks to Volvo's stellar safety ratings. The interior and dashboard were nicely appointed and had a sleek, yet understated European feel. The engine was peppy and ready to accelerate quickly when needed. The interior was quiet, and road and engine noises were minimal.

So as scary as it is to say this, I really can't think of any reason why I wouldn't want to own this car. Oh wait, it starts at $30,885. There's one... (but if I can find one at a lower price, then I'll seriously consider one...)

Volvo S60 website

Where Work Takes Me: Austin, TX

I wish I could have taken this. I grabbed it off Wikipedia


One of the few pictures that turned out. This is Austin City Hall




I cover a lot of ground for work, but Austin isn't a normal stop (nor is it part of my territory). One of my accounts was having their national sales meetings there, so I was asked to help cover.





In many ways, that's a shame. I really liked this city, and I'm definitely interested in going back. Now, I say that even though the temps never got above 40 degrees F (I obviously hoped the weather would be better...), and I could barely see any local sights since the cold temps created a fog that limited visibility to a few hundred yards the entire time I was there.





That said, what I did see impressed. Downtown is modern, easy to navigate, and safe. The airport is one of the best "small" airports I've ever been.





The local cuisine is pretty good, too. The Tex-Mex was outstanding.





We'll see, maybe I'll have an opportunity to go back one day. If so, I'll most likely go gladly.

Sign the Apocalypse is Upon Us...and One Way to Survive It At the Same Time

So I've posted in the past about Pancake mix in a can, and thought that was weird. Now something even weirder has come to my attention.

I introduce to you: Cheeseburgers in a Can.

Makes Spam sound appealing now doesn't it? (unless you're my dad or live in Hawaii - two places that are inexplicably infatuated with Spam).

So for all those fallout shelters that were stocked for the turn of the last millenia, now you have a new product with even more class to put in there. This might even be the classiest food to ever come out of a can - evem more than caviar.

Product page here

Gizmodo's taste test

Por mi Hermano

My brother likes to collect T-shirts. He collects them like I used to collect baseball cards when I was growing up. He doesn't NEED any more T-shirts - yet when he heard that I had to be in Ausin, TX this week for work, he asked me to pick one up from a local running store called RunTex.

Well, since T-shirts are a relatively "safe" addiction, I figured why not and make him happy. (though the jury is out whether this will make his WIFE happy. ;-)) But I love the guy so I might as well show it. :-) So I went out of my way (about a 1 mile walk each way) to get this for him. (It's the only souvenir I got on the whole trip...)

A Dubious Prank

Allow me to share just one item from CES. As regular readers know, I like to read the tech blog Gizmodo on a regular basis. Before covering the event, they were given a demo unit of a product called TV-B-Gone, which is essentially a universal remote that can turn off any TV set if one is annoyed by loud televisions in public spaces.

One of Gizmodo's writers decided to use it for more deviant endeavors. Watch the video on this link to see what hilarity ensued as they walked the show floor shutting of every TV in sight - even disrupting a press conference with Motorola.

In hind sight, it's not the nicest or most innocent prank - but I definitely would have done this if I had the technology and the resources to do it. Oh, and you can read the consequences here.

[Gizmodo]

Hey, you...Remember me?

Yes, I'm finally back...

Thanks to all who have been bugging me to post again. I've really wanted to make some posts over the last 6 weeks, but a lot has happened:

• Tons of work on the basement (I'll have a dedicated post on that soon)
• a Birthday party for Ava
• my brother-in-law's wedding
• only 4 family Christmases
• beloved family members staying with us over Christmas
• catching up on lost time with Nikki and the kids
• New Year's Eve/Day (Nikki and I both got the flu)
• Trips to KC, STL, and Austin, TX so far this year.
• The "Super Bowl" for Gadget/Consumer Technology lovers: CES
• Then MacWorld and a slew of new slick products from Steve Jobs
• I had another birthday
• Nikki's computer going on the fritz, trying to fix it, then having to buy another (inexpensive) one (unfortunately not a MacBook Air, which is FAR too expensive - but oh so beautiful)
• a slew of other miscellaneous items I'm forgetting...

Hopefully you get the picture. It's not an excuse - just and apology. More posts to come soon, I promise.

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...