Similar to the constable in charge of the Watch of Messina, I try to be sincere and try take writing seriously but fear I will use the wrong words to convey my thoughts and that my desire to speak eloquently will become an occasion for parody.
CNN.com has a funny story about a young German guy who wanted to visit his girlfriend in Sydney, Australia buy typed an ‘i‘ instead of a ‘y‘ and ended up in Montana!
Dressed for the Australian summer in T-shirt and shorts, Tobi Gutt left Germany on Saturday for a four-week holiday.
Instead of arriving “down under”, Gutt found himself on a different continent and bound for the chilly state of Montana.
He landed in Portland, Oregon, where he changed planes and arrived in Billings, Montana. At this point he realized his error, he was
about to board a commuter flight to Sidney — an oil town of about 5,000 people.
Dressed for a warm, down under, the 21 year old spent three days in the Billings airport before receiving some money from his parents and friends in Germany to buy a new ticket to Australia.
As his mother told Reuters:
“I didn’t notice the mistake as my son is usually good with computers.”
I received an email from an old aquaintance that he has set up a light show at his home in Kennewick. We stopped by and the kids loved it! They want to bring their cousins to see the display when they arrive from Boise for Christmas. I must admit that I was impressed and won’t mind taking them again.
According to the email there are 15,000 Christmas lights dancing to the music and I am surprised. It looks like alot more than that to me. The lights are even choreographed to the Christmas songs and the music is broadcast over FM radio frequency 99.7, so you can listen in your car.
Rudolph The Reindeer sings some of the songs, his mouth moving in time with the words. The 16-foot Christmas Tree has more lights than I would want to even consider having to put up. 24 candy canes ‘boogie’ to the music and there is even a train that is coordinated with the music of Polar Express.
Tune your car radio To 99.7 as you get close to the neighborhood. You can hear the signal from the low power transmitter. Christmas music plays 24/7 and switches to the music for the show at start up time.
TOYS FOR TOTS
He also mentions that they have teamed up with USMC Toys For Tots program to help provide Christmas toys for under privileged children – you can help put a toy in the hands of a local boy or girl by bringing a new unwrapped toy and dropping it in the drop box near the front door.
It is definitely worth your time to take the kids (or just yourself) to go see show.
In looking for ways to learn Spanish I ran across a number of podcasts that are targeted to students of Spanish. Some are way beyond my abilities now, but may be helpful once I get to the intermediate or advanced levels.
Spanish Phrase of the Day – Daily dose about a Spanish phrase that helps you build your Spanish comprehension. Has been publishing almost daily since November 2005 from El Cajon, California. These 1 to 2 minute podcasts can be used by all levels of Spanish students.
Rolling R’s – this is actually a video podcast starting at the beginner level by a Junior High School Spanish teacher in Mesa, Arizona. I like it except that the ‘start-up’ time for each video is almost as long as the video itself. He has produced 29 video-casts since January 2006.
Español Segunda Lengua para Todos (ssl4you) – Has stories in Spanish and English that accompany the audio podcast. 30 podcasts have been released since she started publishing in February 2006 at a respectable rate of about 3 a month. Intermediate level. The podcast is based out of Zamora, Spain.
Notes in Spanish – Has intermediate and advanced levels and you can purchase the worksheets that provide a complete transcript of the the Spanish conversation and a list of the vocabulary and phrases for each show. The podcast is recorded in Madrid, Spain by a native speaker and an American who learned Spanish after moving to Spain. The intermediate level just started in September of 2006 and has had 10 podcasts so far. The advanced has just released the 56th episode. Both seem to come out weekly.
Trying to Learn Spanish – These podcasts are not designed to teach you Spanish as much as help you find the tools and resources that will help you learn Spanish. He has published 19 since March 2005, but only 4 were recorded this year. I am not sure if he ran out of time to produce the podcasts or if he ran out of material to talk about. The comments by listeners also have some good links to resources related to the podcast subjects.
Podsonoro – I include this just in case you want to listen to Spanish podcasts, this site collects the links. It will be a while before I can even consider these.
Here is a moving presentation of Hebrews chapters 9 and 10 from memory! It starts off seeming like it is a sermon, then you realize that it sounds familiar. I think the message would have originally been presented to the first century audience in a similar oratory style.
This video captures one of the highlights of the WorshipGod06 Conference hosted by Sovereign Grace Ministries this past August. Ryan Ferguson shared a memorized dramatic presentation of Hebrews 9 and 10 from the ESV Bible. The power of God’s Word came through in a fresh, compelling way. Ryan, a member of North Hills Community Church in Greenville, South Carolina, has actually memorized the entire book of Hebrews. However, we only asked him to share two chapters with us at the conference.
Over the years I have used a number of Spanish text books. The reasons for the different text books were various, sometimes because it looked better than what I had been using. Sometimes because I hoped it would move me farther than the last.
The 4 books I still have on my shelves I have used but I do not remember why, exactly, I adopted or abandoned each of them.
The first book I believe I bought was the Foreign Service Institute Spanish Basic Course. It came with a box of cassettes that go through each lesson thoroughly. This course was first printed in 1957. The course is designed specifically to train U.S. government agency staff who are involved in foreign affairs and who need to learn to speak Spanish. Although the text and cassette tapes are not designed for individual self-study, they are sold and used this way extensively. I don’t remember how much I paid for the book and tapes, but I hope it was not anywhere near the $200 I see it advertised online.
Barron’s has published this course as Mastering Spanish, Level 1 with Audio CDs. The publisher’s blurb says the new edition “has been updated with new references, and up-to-date vocabulary and idioms.”
The second book that I have is Spanish is Fun, Book A that I purchased for a community education class. This book now appears to be out of print. From the writing in the book it looks like I only got to lesson 4. If I remember, I dropped out of the class because it was so basic and most of the people in the class whose only exposure to Spanish was at Taco Bell. I have considered taking another community ed class but am not sure my Spanish is good enough for the intermediate class, yet don’t want to start with a class at ground zero (or negative 3) again.
The next book I bought, Spanish Now!, I hoped to use to teach two of my teenagers Spanish as I learned along with them. Again, it looks like we made it to lesson 4! Neither of them had any interest and we had a hard time finding a set time we could do the lessons.
The last text book I have is Practical Spanish Grammar by Marcial Prado. So far I have made it to Chapter 7 and hope to make it to the end. Afterwards I plan on using the author’s sequel Advanced Spanish Grammar which is written entirely in Spanish and has good reviews as an intermediate Spanish grammar.
Of course you cannot learn Spanish just by reading some books but those will be the topic of another post.
I have had a desire to learn Spanish for quite some time. I first started trying to learn a number of years ago and picked up enough vocabulary to understand simple sentences but not enough to carry on any kind of conversation. My work brought me into contact with a large number of people who spoke either little or no English. As my ‘job description’ has changed over the years I have not felt the urgency of learning Spanish but the desire has remained.
I have had had probably 6 semesters of Spanish. Problem is they are all first semester. Over and over again.
Possibly, the urge will fade again, but I hope that it does not. I have collected a number of Spanish language resources over the years, some good, some not so good. I also am searching for even better ways to learn and improve my Spanish.
Was in a local shop yesterday morning and saw this sign and had to laugh. It strikes a cord because in our office I am amazed at how few parents are able to control their children. They wander around our office while the parents sit blissfully unaware what their child may be getting in to. Sometimes I think the parents let them wander because they enjoy the quiet moment when they are not having to count to 3 and threaten not to take them for ice cream if they don’t behave.
Everyone gets represented in the Veteran’s Day Parade in West Richland today. If you look at the left side in the back the kids even have their own carts!
Actually this was the entry sponsored by the local Yokes Grocery Store, and the kid’s carts had little flags that said “Customer in Training”.
I just took the GMAC National Drivers Test and scored a 95%. Not too bad. I will concede the one question I got wrong, even though I, personally, have not seen the ‘correct answer’.
According to GMAC, 1 in 11 licensed drivers would fail a written drivers test if taken again today, at least I am not one of them! A driving test would be another matter all together.
Take the test yourself and see how you measure up.
The accounts I opened at ING DIRECT for my 4 kids have been a real success so far! Not only have each of them received the $25 account opening bonus, but so far they have each received an extra $50 in referral bonuses from people using the links to receive their own $25 ING Promo Bonus when they opened an account!
I am hoping that eventually each of them will receive the full $250 in bonus money if all 25 of each of their referrals is used.
Thanks to everyone who has signed up. And if you have not yet, and have an extra $250 that you want to put in savings, then please go use one of their $25 ING Promo links.
Paul Farrel at MarketWatch.com argues that Dilbert creator, Scott Adams, deserved to win the Nobel prize in economics for his ‘Unified Theory of Everything Financial’. Adams’ revealed “everything you need to know about personal investing.” in nine simple points in his book, Dilbert and the Way of the Weasel.
His formula:
Make a will
Pay off your credit cards
Get term life insurance if you have a family to support
Fund your 401k to the maximum
Fund your IRA to the maximum
Buy a house if you want to live in a house and can afford it
Put six months worth of expenses in a money-market account
Take whatever money is left over and invest 70% in a stock index fund and 30% in a bond fund through any discount broker and never touch it until retirement
If any of this confuses you, or you have something special going on (retirement, college planning, tax issues), hire a fee-based financial planner, not one who charges a percentage of your portfolio
Too simple? Things missing off the list? Sure, but have you taken care of these items in your own personal finances?
I am always game for free food and Salon Monroe, the Tri-Cities newest beauty salon, was serving wine, appetizers, and chocolates at their grand opening. It is an amazing salon. 32 stations, custom woodwork throughout, and all the trimmings make the salon look great.
The salon is located at 2411 S. Union Street, Suite D in Kennewick, just north of the traffic circle on 27th.
In a recent press release Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler announced a new Web-based tool for consumers, called the annual Complaint Comparison Guide. The guide allows consumers to search online for their auto, health and homeowners company and compare the company’s volume of complaints to other similar companies.
“Consumers deserve to know how their company stacks up,” said Kreidler. “Our Insurance Consumer Hotline receives more than 2,000 calls a week from consumers with questions about their insurance. While not all calls result in formal complaints, knowing how your company rates before your buy or renew coverage can give you peace of mind.”
A Complaint Comparison Guide can be generated for health, private passenger auto and homeowners insurance for the years 2005 on back to 2003. Depending on which line of insurance is selected, a report will be generated which shows the company, the number of complaints, the complaint index, the company’s market share and how much premium it collected.
A complaint index measures the number of consumer complaints for one company in relation to other companies in the same market. A company with a complaint index of 1 has an average number of complaints. A company with a complaint index higher than 1 has more complaints than average.
“Shopping around for insurance pays,” Kreidler added. “The new guide gives consumers one more tool to compare insurance companies. Anyone looking for insurance should do their research. Consider how much coverage you need, how much that coverage will cost, as well as the company’s customer service and financial strength before you buy a policy.”
The most useful piece of information is the ‘Complaint Index’ that measures the complaint ratio for one company in relation to other companies. A complaint index of 1 means the company has an average number of complaints. A complaint index higher than 1, means the company has more complaints than average and viceversa. One draw back is that most of the companies are divided up into multiple companies, for example Progressive has 7 different entries in the list, all with different ratios.
I received a call today from another insurance agent looking to find an insurance company that would insure a Corbin Sparrow. I had never heard of the thing, so I quickly plopped the term into Google and was surprised at what I saw, a one passenger electric vehicle that appears to be a cross between a motorcycle and a car. It can go 60+ miles on a single charge, can reach speeds of up to 70 mph, and I even saw a photo of it burning rubber!
The web site for the Corbin Sparrow was down but I found a competitor, the NmG by Myers Motors. NmG stands for ‘No more gas’.
“The NmG fits the way Americans use their cars,” said Myers. “Research shows that 87 percent of all commutes are less than 20 miles and 93 percent of those commutes are with one person only in the vehicle.” Also, buying an electric vehicle encourages forward-thinking technologies and using electric powered vehicles can reduce our country’s dependence on off-shore oil and alleviate the problems associated with that dependence, according to Myers.
If your electricity costs you 11 cents per kilowatt, then you will pay about 55 cents to fill up. So, if you get 60 miles to the ‘tank’ it is costing you a penny a mile to drive! 20mpg at $2.50 per gallon works to about 12.5 cents per mile. Plus no oil changes!
They cost about $25,000 which is more than I have set aside right now for a commute-only vehicle. But if I was looking at spending money on a new motorcycle this would give me year-round economy plus a 6-cubic-foot trunk and heater.
From the NmG FAQ:
Is it a car? Is it a motorcycle? What exactly is a Myers Motors NmG?
The NmG is America’s only all-electric, highway-legal, personal vehicle with a maximum speed of 70 mph costing under $25,000. The NmG is a fully enclosed, single passenger vehicle with two front wheels and a single drive wheel in the rear. While it drives like a spunky car with a low center of gravity, the NmG is considered by the U.S. Department of Transportation to be a motorcycle. We call it a PEV, or Personal Electric Vehicle, since it transports only the driver and the labels “car” and “motorcycle” do not fit perfectly.
We took the kids to the Country Mercantile’s Harvest Fest on Saturday so they could pick their own pumpkins and do the large corn maze (or is it a maize maze?).
They have quite a racket going. $3 for the corn maze, $4 for the hay ride, petting zoo (animals in pens), hay bale pyramid, and hay bale maze, or $5 for both ‘packages’. Cheap as I am, we paid the $3 for the kids and figured we could walk out to the pumpkin patch.
The kids had fun wandering through the maze. They went through multiple times; attempting to get lost. While they were in the maze I went to get a wagon that we could use in the patch. Well, the only way they will let you go to the pumpkin patch is to ride the hay wagon! Argh!
I tried to convince the kids they could just pick a pumpkin out of the bins next to the store, but they really wanted to pick one from the pumpkin patch, so I ended up having to buy myself a $4 pass to take the kids. We did have a good time. I told the kids they could pick any pumpkin as long as they could carry it, and they did find the largest ones.
Our church, Grace URC, had its annual Reformation Day evening service this past Sunday. We were joined by the congregation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church for a wonderful service marking the birth of the Reformation. There were nearly 100 people in attendance, a great turnout for a Sunday evening.
After the service we went downstairs for a soup dinner, but before we ate our choir director had us sing a song, shown below. We all had a good laugh!
The Reformation Polka by Richard Gebel
sung to the tune of “Supercalifragilistic-expialidocious”
When I was just ein junger Mann I studied canon law;
While Erfurt was a challenge, it was just to please my Pa.
Then came the storm, the lightning struck, I called upon Saint Anne,
I shaved my head, I took my vows, an Augustinian! Oh, -
Chorus
Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation -
Speak your mind against them and face excommunication!
Nail your theses to the door, let’s start a Reformation!
Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation!
When Tetzel came near Wittenberg, St. Peter’s profits soared,
I wrote a little notice for the All Saints’ Bull’tin board:
“You cannot purchase merits, for we’re justified by grace!
Here’s 95 more reasons, Brother Tetzel, in your face!” Oh-
Chorus
They loved my tracts, adored my wit, all were exempleror;
The Pope, however, hauled me up before the Emperor.
“Are these your books? Do you recant?” King Charles did demand,
“I will not change my Diet, Sir, God help me here I stand!” Oh-
Chorus
Duke Frederick took the Wise approach, responding to my words,
By knighting “George” as hostage in the Kingdom of the Birds.
Use Brother Martin’s model if the languages you seek,
Stay locked inside a castle with your Hebrew and your Greek! Oh-
Chorus
Let’s raise our steins and Concord Books while gathered in this place,
And spread the word that ‘catholic’ is spelled with lower case;
The Word remains unfettered when the Spirit gets his chance,
So come on, Katy, drop your lute, and join us in our dance! Oh-
When navigating secure web sites you may come across an Internet Explorer box labeled “Security Information.” With the text: “This page contains both secure and nonsecure items. Do you want to display the nonsecure items?”
Here are the steps to get rid of this annoying popup.
In Internet Explorer:
Select Tool then click Internet Options
Select the Security Tab and make sure the Internet Globe icon is selected then click the Custom Level button
Scroll down to the Miscellaneous section and find the option: Display mixed content.
Select the option Enable
Click OK, Then you will get a “Security Warning” pop-up. Click Yes
Click OK also on the “Internet Options” window to finish.
I just ran across MsDewey.com and am trying to figure out if it is anything more than a cute idea. After running a handful of search terms you realize a couple of things:
Cute
May not be work safe
Google is good because search is supposed to be fast, and this ain’t
Terms you might try (and try a second time for possibly a different response):
Just attended a workshop on wireless mobility sponsored by Verizon. Speakers from Blackberry, Verizon, and Microsoft, gave 30 minute presentations on how mobile devices can enhance productivity.
Todd Eckman from Lockheed Martin gave the keynote speech during the box lunch that was provided. Part of his presentation included a video “commercial” showing what Lockheed Martin is doing with wireless technology. It was especially interesting since many of the examples were from Hanford, the local DOE instalation.
The Tri-Cities does not yet have high-speed ‘EvDO’ access but the Verizon rep said plans are to have it available by the first of the year. Even with just ‘regular’ mobile wireless internet access, anyone whose job requires them to spend alot of time out of the office can remain productive. The Verizon rep was quick to point out that with a verizon data card, “you are the hotspot.”
I sync my Tungsten|T3 manualy using a docking cable. It would be great to be able to keep my PDA sync’d wirelessly no matter where I happen to be during the day.
I picked up some of the swag the vendors were passing out, including a Microsoft baseball cap. Each of the vendors also had prizes that they gave away after lunch by drawing business cards that were collected at their booths. The prizes included a Blackberry, two Motorola Qs, a Verizon Data Access Card, a Treo of your choice, and a copy of Microsoft Office. With only about 35 people at the seminar I knew my chances were good. Sure enough, my card was drawn for the Motorola Q! Now I have to figure out what to do with it. My current cell phone is a Motorola V710 through U.S. Cellular. I doubt I will be able to use it with U.S. Cellular and am not ready to move the 4 phones the office pays for over to Verizon.
I think I will have to attend more of these seminars.
Ever worry about the the hundreds of PayPal phishing e-mails you get saying that your account has been or will be suspended, all you need to do is login using this link and it will be taken care of? If it worries you that you need to give out account to certain online companies like PayPal then maybe you need to build a firewall!
MyMoneyBlog gives complete directions on how to set up a “firewall” checking account that you can use to protect your regular checking account from getting drained if it somehow gets compromised.
The idea is to set up a separate bank account that is only funded when you are buying something and any funds are removed after you have sold something. The worse then that can happen is an NSF fee if someone gets into your account. Better to pay $20 than loose $1000+.
First thing you need is a bank account that does not require a minimum balance. I suggest ING Direct. You can even get $25 for opening the account if you use one of my kid’s ING referral codes (and one of my kids gets $10) if you leave $250 in the account for 30 days.
You have seen Tux-TShirts, now you can strap this on.
I just saw this report on TV and cannot figure out if I really hate the idea or if it is funny in a twisted kind of way.
The shirts sell for $20 at TerrorTshirt.com and it is amazing that they look so real. The dynamite, especially on someone with a little extra weight, appears like real sticks of TNT with a timer ready to go off.
Scrybe is a very interesting organizer that is grounded in giving the user the context for their data. I have been using AirSet happily for quite a while but like what I see in the video, especially the ‘paper sync’ that puts your information in your pocket for those times when you don’t have your computer with you.
According to the website:
Seamless offline access – without any installations
Rich and fast like a desktop
Intuitive zoomable calendar views
Organize your thoughts with bookmarks, web snippets, images and files
To-do lists integrated with your calendar
Share and collaborate with friends and co-workers
Elegant, compact and handy print formats
Easily work across multiple timezones
Import and export from other apps easily. Your data is yours!
What I will look for:
A ToDo list that really works – not just a check list. Right now I use a combination of ShadowPlan on my palm and a Hipster PDA in my pocket.
Sync with Palm. I don’t need another source of data floating around. They need to be sync’d
Calendar Sharing. I have enjoyed AirSets ability to have joint calendars with family members and the office.
Scrybe says they will be launching the beta in October. October is 2/3 gone – so hopefully we will see it soon. Check out the video.
Just got back from a road tour of the Hanford site this afternoon. It was quite interesting — and from the sounds of it quite popular. The local paper reported that when reservations were opened at noon last month, not only were the 350 seats filled in 2 minutes, but the software accidentally booked an extra 100 people. I hope that the popularity of this tour convinces the ‘powers that be’ into offering tours more frequently.
After 9/11 tours of Hanford were stopped for 2 years but in 2004 they were started back up and about 160 people got to visit the site. Last year it was expanded to 600 people and this year it was bumped up to over 900. But, if it only takes 2 minutes to sell out a 4 hour bus ride, it is obvious that there is a pent up demand to visit the site.
We boarded the tour bus at the HAMMER facility where we were shown the various ways Hanford workers learn how to handle radioactive materials safely as well as how emergency response personnel receive training in a controlled environment.
The many production reactors along the Columbia River were pointed out to us as we drove along. I learned that they were called ‘production’ reactors because they ‘produced’ (duh!) nuclear material used for weapons. Most of the reactors are being ‘cocooned’ as part of the on-going Hanford cleanup.
The best part of the tour was the stop at the B Reactor and the tour of the interior by volunteers from the B Reactor Museum Association. The B Reactor was the first large-scale plutonium production reactor in the world. I have read about the Manhattan Project but this was the real thing. We were not allowed to bring cameras so I have no photos – but I did find these photos at the B Reactor Museum Associations site. The photo on the left shows the face of the reactor core and its 2004 process tubes that would hold the uranium ‘slugs’ used to produce plutonium.
We then drove through the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant that is being built stabilize 200 million liters of radioactive and chemical waste so it can be stored safely. Using a process called vitrification, the wastes will immobilized by being mixed with
molten glass and placed in stainless-steel canisters for storage.
The final ‘stop’ on our drive-by tour were the processing plants or “canyons” in the 200 East and West Areas where plutonium was chemically removed from the irradiated fuel rods produced by the reactors.
I wish we had been able to bring cameras. Post 9/11 security has every one’s undies in a knot but luckily others have been able to to photos so I will just collect some of those I have found online for ‘my’ album.
Until you are able to take a tour yourself you can take a virtual tour of the Hanford Site which provides a series of 1 minute videos about the various areas on the site.
If you are ever looking for something to do, you might consider following the footsteps of a 60 year old Japanese mental health counselor who recited pi to 100,000 decimal places from memory. He took more than 16 hours to recite the number to 100,000 decimal places.
Haraguchi, who began reciting pi at 9 a.m. Tuesday, reached his previous record of 83,431 digits Tuesday night, finishing exactly at 100,000 digits at 1:28 a.m. Wednesday.
Richland joins Pasco and Kennewick in enacting a dangerous animal ordinance.
The regulations require that pit bull owners pay a $250 registration and carry $250,000 dog liability insurance policy, keep their dogs locked in a secure area, and post a dangerous-animal sign.
I am not a pit bull fan, but how does a police officer determine if the dog is a pit bull? Can he just eye-ball it and determine that the person is breaking the law? What if the owner claims it is not a pit bull? Is there a DNA test?
