As I was forwarding Doug Wilson’s post about Ron Paul to someone I made the comment that “Doug Wilson is the Ron Paul of the Reformed World” and immediately thought that that statement is more than just a laugh line.

What do you think?

(If you are not up on the Federal Vision controversy in the reformed branch of the church (non liberal Presbyterian types) then count yourself blessed.)

Animator vs. Animation by *alanbecker on deviantART

What happens when an animator must face his own animated stick figure in deadly combat?

A stick figure is created by an animator with the intent to torture. The stick figure drawn by the animator will be using everything he can find – the brush tool, the eraser tool – to get back at his tormentor. It’s resourcefulness versus power. Who will win? You can find out yourself.

The sequel, “The Chosen One” is even better.

HatTip: http://www.dougwils.com/index.asp?Action=Anchor&CategoryID=1&BlogID=4940

I saw some jigsaw puzzles at Costco today and was tempted to buy them as a Christmas present for my kids. The package contains 2 puzzles which retail for $14.95 each or $24.95 for the pair, but Costco has the package for $15.95. I held off buying them, but now that I have researched them a bit I plan to go back and pick them up.

Seems like it would be a great way to learn geography. I might even learn where some of the eastern states are actually located! It is said the average American knows the location of only 18 of the 193 countries in the world. These puzzles by A Broader View should help improve this statistic (at least in my household).

The Global Puzzle reminds me of the commercial that said “it tastes good and is good for you.” The puzzle contains all 193 countries of the world and their capitals, all 50 states and their capitals and all 13 territories and provinces of Canada. But instead of interlocking pieces, where you are just matching colors, the pieces are actually shaped like the countries, states, and provinces. This means you have to figure out (learn) where every country is located in order to complete the puzzle! The ocean and edge peices are typical jigsaw-shaped puzzle pieces, giving you a frame in which to place the non-interlocking country pieces. Dozens of geography facts about the countries printed within the oceans’ borders. Doing the puzzle is an outstanding and fun geography lesson! The puzzle is designed for ages 9 and up, has 600 pieces, and measures 18″ x 36″ when completed. And if you get stuck, there is a picture of the world on the box you can use to ‘cheat’.

The United States Puzzle is similar but, as the name implies, has a much narrower scope. The puzzle has 55 pieces which, for durability, are twice as thick as normal pieces and measures 18″ x 30″ when completed.

Last night at home I got an ominous message while trying to post to my own blog:

Error 403 “We’re sorry, but we could not fulfill your request for /wp-comments-post.php on this server.
Your Internet Protocol address is listed on a blacklist of addresses involved in malicious or illegal activity.
See the listing below for more details on specific blacklists and removal procedures.
Your technical support key is: 4013-ae25-1366-73cd”

What? What have the kids been up to now? Arghhh!

But this morning I came into the office and I got the same message. Now I am beginning to wonder. Pop up the ole answer machine, Google and sure enough it was not my computer, it was the Bad Behavior plugin I have installed. Bad Behavior acts as a gatekeeper, preventing spammers from ever delivering their junk, and in many cases, from ever accessing the blog in the first place, but in this case it blocked everyone!

According to the plugin author, he moved all of his sites to a new dedicated server. In the process, he decommissioned an old blacklist that he thought wasn’t being used, not realizing that Bad Behavior was still set to use it. Shortly afterward, everyone, including the plugin author, found themselves locked out of their own blogs. A new version was released immediately and after installing it all is well.

I truly wonder sometimes why we want to shoot our own. As I read stuff about the Federal Vision “theology” I see that those who are against it really seem to be against it more because of who is behind it than because of any real theological problems. Sure they say it has to do with imputation and assurance, but I really think it has to do with personalities.

Having gone to high school in Boise, I had heard about the Kuna Caves but for some reason never made the 25 mile trek from Boise to check it out. The Kuna Caves are about 5 miles south of Kuna (out in the middle of nowhere) on public property managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Various local legends have the cave being discovered in the late 1800s and ever since the area has been a destination place for locals, whether for family picnics or high school parties. If I remember right, the local high school team is even called the Kuna Kavemen.

While we are in Boise visiting family for Thanksgiving we always are looking for interesting things to do (and new places to geocache). My brother-in-law had been out there in the past but none of the rest of us had any idea what to expect, so my brother, brother-in-law, and I took 8 of our kids out to “see” the cave. There are no posted directions to the area since the BLM appears to want to keep this area from becoming too much of an attraction for outsiders. My GPS routed us to the obvious, Kuna Cave Road, but then pointed us to go down an unmaintained dirt road (map point A) for a quarter mile. This brought us to a chained gate (map point B), but the chain was not locked, so we went through and rechained the gate. We arrived just as another group was just packing up, taking off their headlamps, overalls, and other spelunking gear. (Our little dollar store flashlights looked pretty wimpy.)

Although called the Kuna Caves, there is only a single cave system, actually a lava tube approximately 1,000 feet long. Local rumors say there used to be more caves but were filled by the Corps of Engineers. At first glance the opening appears to be just an inconspicuous hole in the ground (which can be seen in Google maps satellite view (map point C). But peering into the 35-foot drop to the cave floor is pretty intimidating. A caged steel ladder built years ago by the Corps of Engineers provides access into the dark chamber and a more recent safety rail has been installed around the perimeter of the opening.

The boys went down the ladder first. Being that it was the middle of November, the first thing you notice when entering the cave is that it is much warmer since the interior temperature of the cave hovers around 56 degrees Fahrenheit year round and there is no wind. Once on the cave floor your eyes quickly acclimate to the darkness but if you are going to explore at all you will need a flashlight. I wish we had brought better flashlights. Nobody knocked their heads on the roof but not for lack of trying. The northern section of the tube is the longest, narrowing then opening into new ‘rooms’ and then narrowing again until it is so narrow you cannot go any further. To the south the cave narrows much quicker. Travel is limited either by how dirty you are willing to get, your body size, or your claustrophobia. There was a lot of graffiti on the walls but I was surprised that there was not more trash and signs of vandalism.

We did spend quite a bit of time down in the cave. Most of the boys and my brother went deeper into the cave than I wanted to go and we spent quite a bit of time looking for the Kuna Cave Geocache (you knew there was another reason I took the kids here). Since a GPS does not work underground the coordinates only took us to the cave entrance, then said to go 150 paces north. Luckily there was a hint that the cache was near certain graffiti, but with our wimpy flashlights it took quite a bit of time to locate the right markings.

Kirsten, my 11 year old was the only one who did not go down into the cave. Her claustrophobia would not allow her, but she promised next year she would :) More photos can be found on flickr.com.

The Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce luncheon today featured Allen Shoup, a leader in the Washington wine industry since the early 80′s. His talk was quite informative and one of the items he mentioned was this YouTube video that explains the geological reasons that set apart the wines from Washington’s Columbia Valley.

Well, I have been putting it off long enough and today I took Kevin and Kyle along with our little schnauzer, Fritz, to go find my 1000th cache! I have been caching for more than 5 years, so have been rather slow at attaining this milestone. Many cachers who have been caching for 2 years have over 1000 and some 2000.

But today was the day to go ahead and push myself over the top.
I decided that the cache that WRX7 hid to celebrate hiding his 100th cache would be the perfect one. Celebrating 100 Hides: Johnson Butte is up on top of Johnson Butte but luckily there is a dirt road that leads all the way to the top.

I was at 997 when we headed out the door. So we found 2 caches along the way out of town and passed by numerous others (that we would do on our way back home. The view from the top was great. I dropped off a Jeep Travel Bug while we were there.

It will be a long time before I hit 2000. I probably should work on hiding 100 caches. I have only put out 31 so far and only 20 of them are still active. Wonder which one I will hit first. Here are my current stats

I am using Practical Spanish Grammar to study Spanish. As with all textbooks there are mistakes and stuff that just does not make sense without a teacher there to ‘fill in the blanks’ that slip in despite the author’s and publisher’s best efforts. Many thanks must go to those who have answered many of my questions when I run across these things. Most helpful have been the members of the How To Learn Any Language Forum.

I will continue to update this page to collect in one place an ‘errata’ page.

Lesson 1

Practique A, Page 3

• 16. Spanish cognate for tourist: ______

Unlike the other 17 words in the list, this one is not in the vocabulary list nor is it even in the dictionary at the back of the book

Practique B, Page 3

• 3. Spanish equivalent for taste: ______

The book has the answer as ‘gusto’ but it should be sabor.

Lesson 6

Vocabulary, Page 90

**el estacionamento (the parking) is missing an ‘i’, should be estacionamiento

Grammar III, Table A, Page 103

Third person ‘su/su/suyo/suyos’ row does not mention formal 2nd person singular or plural ‘your/yours’ .

Lesson 7

Practique C, Page 110

• U. Cuando hablamos de ocho días queremos decir una (semana)
  see explanation below

Exercise B, Page 114

• 9. Ocho días es (una semana).

It might appear that Lesson 7 is trying hard to teach that there are 8 days in a week. After thinking this was an error, I found out this is a Spanish idiom.
I still consider this is an errata – No mention is made of this idiom in the ‘Notas’ (as he does do for other idioms). If the author had, it would be acceptable, but to include this as a ‘test’ question in a book designed for ‘self-study’ without explanation is a mistake that an editor should have caught.

Lesson 8

Practice B, Page 129

• 10. Para (merendar) prefiero fruto o café.

Para merendar = for snacking
Although correct Spanish, the author does not mention being able to use the infinitive in this way. And as an English speaker this sentence seems real awkward. “For a snack I prefer fruit or coffee” sounds much more correct than “For snacking I prefer fruit or coffee”

Exercise B, Page 134

• 11. Si estás a dieta de vegetales no debes comer ____.
  A. verduras
  B. grasas
  C. más
  D. guisantes

The answer is grasas but why is más is in the list? My thoughts are that for a multiple choice question such as this, 3 of the 4 items should be ‘correct’, ie, foods that vegetarians eat. Possibly maíz (which was in the vocabulary list for this lesson) was meant?

Lesson 9

Vocabulary, Page 145

• descubrir “to discover” is misspelled “descrubrir”

Exercise D, Page 148

• 6. Los bancos (aumentar) los intereses con las buenas noticias económicas.

The instructions say to use Preterite tense, but the answer in the book, aumentan, is Present tense. The answer should be ‘aumentaron’.

Exercise B, Page 158

• 7. ti / caer / dos / billete / de / cinco / dólar

The instructions are to form a present indicative sentence using the words in the order given, adding any necessary words. The answer in the book is: 7. A ti se te cayeron dos billetes de cinco dólares
But, cayeron is the preterite tense not present indicative. The answer should instead be caen.

Exercise A, Page 161

• 12. A ella le (gustar) hacer ejercicios aeróbicos.

Directions: Use correct imperfect tense form of the verb given.
Book Answer: gustaba
My thoughts are that ‘gustar’ should agree with the plural ‘ejercicios’. Therefore the answer should be ‘gustaban’ but am informed that gustar needs to agree with ‘hacer’ and not ‘ejercicios’.

‘Le gustaban los ejercicios’.
‘Le gustaba hacer (algo)’.

Appears this is another missing grammar lesson that is not ‘taught’ in this self-help book and yet is part of the ‘self check’ exercises.

Have you seen the TV ad with the young lady talking about how the insurance companies “killed” her dad, the firefighter, by denying his claim? Did it pull at your heartstrings? What if you found out the whole thing was false? That the referendum would have no impact on this situation?

In what way is it deceptive? According to the Reject67.org web site:

• The case involves a suit against the City of Puyallup, which is responsible for both the health care and workers’ compensation claims for city employees. Self-insured entities, like the City of Puyallup, are not covered by Referendum 67.
• Despite the ad’s claim, all health care costs were paid without delay. Puyallup Mayor Michael Deal wrote to the legislature earlier this year that Battalion Chief David Potter “never went without coverage or treatment—ever.” To be covered under Referendum 67 a claim must be denied, but there was never a denial of coverage.
• All decisions about treatment were made by the Chief’s doctors, not the City of Puyallup or any other insurer. Unfortunately, the Chief never received a bone marrow transplant because “His condition never improved to the level his doctors said he needed,” Mayor Deal wrote.

It is sad that the man died. But it is false advertising to say that he died because of anything an insurance company did or did not do. If the proponents of R-67 can’t win using facts, maybe they should not win. Have you seen the TV ad with the young lady talking about how the insurance companies “killed” her dad, the firefighter, by denying his claim? Did it pull at your heartstrings? What if you found out the whole thing was false? That the referendum would have no impact on any similar situation?

In what way is it deceptive? According to the Reject67.org web site:

• The case involves a suit against the City of Puyallup, which is responsible for both the health care and workers’ compensation claims for city employees. Self-insured entities, like the City of Puyallup, are not covered by Referendum 67.
• Despite the ad’s claim, all health care costs were paid without delay. Puyallup Mayor Michael Deal wrote to the legislature earlier this year that Battalion Chief David Potter “never went without coverage or treatment—ever.” To be covered under Referendum 67 a claim must be denied, but there was never a denial of coverage.
• All decisions about treatment were made by the Chief’s doctors, not the City of Puyallup or any other insurer. Unfortunately, the Chief never received a bone marrow transplant because “His condition never improved to the level his doctors said he needed,” Mayor Deal wrote.

It is sad that the man died. But it is false advertising to say that he died because of anything an insurance company did or did not do. If the proponents of R-67 can’t win on using facts, maybe they should not win.

Forgot to post photos of the kids pinewood derby back in May. My kids never start early, so it is always a hectic week before the race to get the cars prepared. But they always have a great time. This year we have a new plastic track instead of the old wooden one that had seen better days.

Some of the kids are pretty creative. I have closeups of the cars on flickr ( 1, 2, 3, 4)

Maybe next year we will get started on the car early. lol.

I saw these over at Tomísimo and had to post them.

5 jars of Mayonnaise….
and

What is the name of that animal?

Well, the last Harry Potter book went on sale tonight. There were lines at Barnes and Noble, lines at Hastings but we decided to go to the Bookworm, our local used book store, and wait for the first 2nd-hand copy…

This amazing Apollo Rock and visitor center was seen outside Roosevelt, WA along the Columbia River. The sign in front of the rock explains it all.

Well, the clock has struck midnight and I can now officially say that I have been caching for 5 years!

I logged my first cache on June 2, 2002 – Lenore Caves. I have not been as active this past year and a half but hope to make up for that — will have to see what life allows :)

Mostly want to say thanks to all the good folks I have met while doing this. Top honors go to the long-lost Sluggo who started what is now the gcsewa get-togethers and has moved to Birmingham, Alabama (someone has to live there, glad it is not me).

And of course kudos to those who challenge me each time I go out with GPS in hand because they were kind enough to take the time, effort, and expense to hide some of the easiest, cleverest, hardest, and yes, most despicable caches for me to find!

Here is to you all — lets go out and have fun hunting the elusive tupperware.

YeOleImposter has found 719 unique Geocaches

Statistics generated on 6/2/2007

Finds by Month

2002
						11	1	3	1		11	10	Total finds 37 Days caching 23 Average finds per caching day 1.6 Overall finds per day 0.2 Average finds per week 1.2 Average finds per month 5.3
Month:	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Days caching:						8	1	2	1		4	7

2003
	6	12	86	25	32	1		19	76	5	40		Total finds 302 Days caching 57 Average finds per caching day 5.3 Overall finds per day 0.8 Average finds per week 5.8 Average finds per month 25.2
Month:	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Days caching:	5	5	11	9	5	1		4	6	4	7

2004
	2		4	15	14	136	3	9	7	1			Total finds 191 Days caching 38 Average finds per caching day 5.0 Overall finds per day 0.5 Average finds per week 3.7 Average finds per month 15.9
Month:	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Days caching:	1		4	9	8	9	2	3	1	1

2005
								2	16	35	11	1	Total finds 65 Days caching 26 Average finds per caching day 2.5 Overall finds per day 0.2 Average finds per week 1.2 Average finds per month 5.4
Month:	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Days caching:								2	4	10	9	1

2006
	2	55	3	8			11	9	2				Total finds 90 Days caching 32 Average finds per caching day 2.8 Overall finds per day 0.2 Average finds per week 1.7 Average finds per month 7.5
Month:	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Days caching:	2	11	2	3			6	6	2

2007

33

1

Total finds 34 Days caching 7 Average finds per caching day 4.9 Overall finds per day 0.2 Average finds per week 1.6 Average finds per month 6.8

Month:

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Days caching:

6

1

Milestones

Milestone	Date	Interval	Code	Cache Name
1	6/2/2002		GC1C69	Lenore Caves
100	3/29/2003	300 days	GCD858	School Days
200	8/1/2003	125 days	GC9672	Journey’s End
300	11/1/2003	92 days	GC97D0	Sugar’s Geology Lesson #2 – Smyrna Bench
400	6/25/2004	237 days	GCJQQ7	The River Trail: La Puente
500	6/27/2004	2 days	GCJ66W	I was Bored
600	2/4/2006	587 days	GCRNNG	Sign of the times
700	5/27/2007	477 days	GC11523	Free Storage
719	6/1/2007	5 days	GC12W7T	Swallows’ Condos

Finds by Miles from Home   Number Percent   < 10 118 16.4 %   10 – 20 14 1.94 %   20 – 30 31 4.31 %   30 – 40 12 1.66 %   40 – 50 39 5.42 %   50 – 100 104 14.4 %   100 – 200 253 35.1 %   200 – 500 136 18.9 %   500 – 1000 0 0 %   > 1000 12 1.66 %

Finds by Weekday   Number Percent   Monday 31 4.31 %   Tuesday 19 2.64 %   Wednesday 35 4.86 %   Thursday 48 6.67 %   Friday 75 10.4 %   Saturday 349 48.5 %   Sunday 162 22.5 %

Finds by Owner

Number Percent   1 – Debiko 17 2.36 %   2 – 5Tucks 17 2.36 %   3 – Big Bird 16 2.22 %   4 – PJ&RG 12 1.66 %   5 – Morigue 10 1.39 %   6 – rendez-vous 10 1.39 %   7 – Greenthumb and Twe… 10 1.39 %   8 – Beentherefoundit 10 1.39 %   9 – Hopalong & HobbleA… 9 1.25 %   10 – GCSEWA 9 1.25 %

Number Percent   11 – n7viv and DB 9 1.25 %   12 – Twowackywhits 9 1.25 %   13 – elkmilk 9 1.25 %   14 – Steve&Kyle 8 1.11 %   15 – RCH-WWW 7 0.97 %   16 – ikayak 7 0.97 %   17 – Tacomahunter 7 0.97 %   18 – The_Brownies 7 0.97 %   19 – ECMAC 6 0.83 %   20 – Franz26 6 0.83 %

These didn’t make it to the top:

MOGis1234 (6)

young granny (6)

Moun10Bike (6)

YeOleImposter has also found caches placed by 331 other people

USA – 702 finds in 4 States

5

149

160

388

Image from World66

Canada – 10 finds in 1 Province

10

Image from World66

World – 719 finds in 4 Countries

Image from World66

Some Numbers

Overall Total Finds:	719 finds in 183 caching days over 1826 total days (10.0 %)
Overall Averages:	3.93 finds per caching day, 0.39/day, 2.76/week, 11.99/month
Most consecutive days with finds:	5, from 11/26/2003 to 11/30/2003
Most consecutive days without a find:	304, from 10/3/2004 to 8/2/2005
Most finds in a day:	58, on 3/29/2003
Best weekend caching:	104 finds, on Saturday 6/26/2004 & Sunday 6/27/2004
Best week caching:	112 finds, from Monday 6/21/2004 to Sunday 6/27/2004
Most finds in a calendar month:	136, in 06/2004
Fastest 100 finds:	2 days from 6/26/2004 to 6/27/2004
Total cache-to-cache distance:	40724 Miles, Note: includes locationless caches.
Nearest cache found:	0.17 Miles, Frisbee Golf ! ? GCTFW1
Furthest cache found:	4953.94 Miles, At the Feet of Tokyo Tower GCTX66
Youngest cache found:	5/28/2007, SB Cache ‘N Dash – S.T.A. GC137YG
Oldest cache found:	10/22/2000, Un-Original Stash GC92
Caches found which are now archived:	311 (43.3 %)

Notes

Stats generated by FindStatGen2 V2.15 by rutson, tweaked by lignumaqua, running on GSAK v7.1.0.58
Theme from pisg by Morten Brix Pedersen
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License .

I wrote last year about local prosecutors putting DUI Dismissals up for Sale. The Tri-City Herald reported today that Governor Christine Gregoire signed Washington State Senate Bill 6100 legislation prohibiting these out-of-court deals.

A city attorney, county prosecutor, or other prosecuting authority may not dismiss, amend, or agree not to file a criminal charge in exchange for a contribution, donation, or payment to any person, corporation, or organization.

It is really hard for me to imagine that this was not illegal before, I guess the prosecutors could not keep the money for themselves but it was ok for them to have you ‘give’ it to their favorite charity in return for dropping charges. Of course the best part of the original story was the surprise that the system would be abused and some of the money, tens of thousands of the money, would disappear.

The oddities? Out of the 140+ Senators and Representatives voting on this only one person voted against it, Representative Jim Dunn (R-Vancouver) from the 17th District. I could find no reason published as to why he would stand alone in thinking that this practice should be legal.

My wife continues to shatter my altered reality and remind me that I am getting older. It is sad but true, yet getting older does beat the alternative. We have decided it was time to work on our will. To do that I will probably have to sit down with someone, and they will look over all my stuff. So, before I do that I want to have some of that ‘stuff’ in order.

One of the main items on the list is still life insurance. Even though my oldest kids would be saddened by my departing this world, they would get by. But that still leaves a handful of kids and a dear wife who have depended on my monthly paycheck to keep themselves fed and clothed as well as enjoying a few of life’s pleasures. We had not updated my life insurance for years and finances have changed considerably.

I decided to go online and see what I could find. I filled out a couple of the online lead generators like Netquote.com and promptly received some quotes from a couple of agents.

I got a ballpark quote from each of them for $500,000 of life insurance based on my age, height, weight, and general good health. From those quotes I picked two to go with. An “internet agent” who does all his business long distance and a local agent who also buys the same leads.

A couple of the internet agents gave me quotes from the same companies. I chose the one because he was a good salesman. Not only did he call me within 15 minutes of my clicking submit to the generic lead site, but when I gave him the standard, “Let me think about it” line he countered with, “Why don’t we get the paperwork started, you keep shopping, and if this turns out to be the best rate you can sign the paperwork”. The local agent came across as a nice guy and I wanted to say I tried to shop locally but his price was a bit higher so I figured I was just going through the motions with his.

The nurses were scheduled for the two policies to come by, both did their quick little routine of drawing blood, collecting pee samples, etc., and then it was time to wait and see.

Disappointment set in when the internet agent called and told me that my cholesterol ratio was not where it should be, so the company had uprated the policy an extra $35 per month. I waited a day or two then called the local agent to see what he heard. He checked with his underwriter and found out that they had a similar concern but did not know what the new rate was yet and that he would contact me in a couple days when it was through underwriting.

He called me two days late and said that they had uprated it some, but he had talked to his underwriters and they had not uprated it as much as they would have normally. He told me the price and it was only $10 more a month than I was expecting from them and so told him it was a go. We met a couple days later for me to give him the money and start the policy.

Now that that is done, I else I want to have done before I sit across from the lawyer so he does not laugh when he looks at my ‘situation’.

Click here to get some free life insurance quotes through Insureme.com.

We enjoyed (this post did not get published in real time) our time at the Westin Grand Bahama Island Our Lucaya Resort. The view from our 7th floor room is fantastic. We have enjoyed sleeping with the sliding glass door open and listening to the ocean waves roll onto the beach.

We went out on an excursion first thing in the morning. A group of about 40 of us headed out on 3 speed boats to a secluded beach while some snorkeled and others just walked and relaxed. When the snorkelers came back Captain A.J. cooked up a grouper he said he had speared that morning along with some very spice potatoes and a salad. When lunch was done some went back to the resort and 10 of us went snorkeling. I was not as impressed with the snorkeling as I had been in Cancun, but I think they were more worried about getting us back in to the resort on time and before the rain than they were about taking us to the best spot.

Later that evening they had a reception party out on the lawn for all the GMAC agents that made the trip. We had a great buffet dinner with a little, very little, business thrown in. Gary Kusumi, GMAC President and CEO, introduced the other GMAC reps who were all wearing matching shirts. I had a chance to talk with other agency owners, all of whom obviously write enough business to qualify for this great trip. That is what makes these get-togethers so valuable — getting to know and share ideas with other successful agencies.

The party ended with a local performing group dancing in local garb and playing local instruments. What made it a hoot is that Rick Pierce, the Agency Marketing VP, who has been with GMAC Insurance for 24 years, led the procession — all dressed up!

More Bahama Vacation Photos

You see articles in the newspaper about homes burning down rather freqequently, but how often does someone get to burn down their own home (and not get arrested)? The Columbian reported on a man whose house was in danger of falling into a canyon as the ground eroded next to the home. They had actually moved the home but the avalanche was not to be stopped.

Normally a home would be bulldozed but because of the avalanche potential they were able to make a case for not wanting heavy equipment near the home and instead got all the permissions needed to use the home as a training exercise for the local firefighters of which he is a volunteer member.

Sad, but cool.

Washington State Insurance Commissioner, Mike Kreidler, testified before the U.S. House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming earlier this month. According to the press release, last winter’s windstorms in Washington are a result of global warming. I understand that global warming will cause changes in the weather, but to blame global warming for this past year’s storms is like Jerry Falwell blaming gays and feminists for 911.

“If you’re looking for evidence of climate change, you need look no further than the recent increase in insurance losses,” said Kreidler. “Insurance shows the economic reality of climate change. Last winter’s windstorm was the most severe in our state’s history and cost hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to homes and property. Nationally, the insurance industry lost more than $61 billion in 2005, the year of Hurricane Katrina.”

There have been more severe storms in the past — what do we blame those on? Global cooling? The weather fluctuates. Some years, some decades, are worse than others. Ever heard of the dust bowl? Ever read Grapes of Wrath?

Sunspot activity is causing the climate to warm (yea, I think it is the sun and not us doing the majority of the warming), but whatever is causing it, I don’t think you can blame it for the current weather.

We were up a little before the sun this morning. GMAC Insurance has sent us to the Bahamas for a few days paid vacation. And when I mean paid, I mean all expenses! We are at the Westin Grand Bahama Island Our Lucaya Resort and it is gorgeous.

We ate last night at Churchill’s Chop House. The food was wonderful, though I have not eaten at a restaurant that charges quite so much for food. You could tell it was expensive because of the way the food was presented on the plate. My filet mignon was on a large plate all by its lonely self with a pretty pattern drizzled over the plate. The side dishes came on their own smaller plates. For desert they brought out what looked like 2 or more servings of everything that we passed around the table and enjoyed thoroughly.

Getting ready to go out on an island tour this morning at 8:30am. It is supposed to take about 4 hours, though I am thinking we should not be singing the theme song to Gilligan’s Island as we leave.

Bulk Rename Utility looks like a great utility to rename photo files and other collections. What is truly amazing is that it is absolutely free!

Bulk Rename Utility includes:

• Very easy to use
• Rename files, folders or both
• Remove or change a filename
• Perform string substitution
• Change the case of filenames
• Remove characters or words
• Remove digits or symbols
• Append or prepend text
• Append dates in many formats
• Append the parent folder’s name
• Auto-number files with flexible rules
• Automatically preview the new names
• Sort the file details by any column
• Group configurations into “favourites”
• “Bulk Rename” Explorer extension
• Directory recursion – process subdirectories too!
• Rename files from an input text-file list
• Create an “Undo” batch file
• Log activity to a text log file
• Change file and folder date/time-stamps (created, modified, accessed)
• Change file/folder attributes (hidden, readonly, archived)
• Small memory footprint
• Settings retained between sessions
• Application is totally free!

Bulk Rename Command is also available:

This lightweight, fully-compiled executable file contains many of the features of Bulk Rename Utility, but is designed to be run from a command line. It is perfect for inclusion in batch files, login scripts, or scheduled jobs. The application is controlled entirely via program arguments, with no use made of .INI files or the Windows Registry.

HatTip: Mike Tech Show for this great renaming utility!

Our office lease was up at the location we had been at for the last 7 years. Our new office will not be ready for another 4 months. The landlord wants to charge us for 12 months rent to stay 4 more months. What to do?

Moving, Moving, Moving.

We decided to move down the street to a temporary location. It is a pain, but we joke that the new location is half-way between our old location and the new building, so this will get our clients half-way to the new location as well.

We decided we needed a TV ad to tell folks we had moved. I think the TV station did a pretty good job.

Update: Here is the Spanish version – Nos Movemos

According to Investor’s Business Daily, many ‘real world’ companies are acquiring property and generating a presence in the Second Life virtual world. Second Life claims to have 3.3 million registered users and is adding 230,000 users per week. The companies include some biggies like IBM, General Motors, Toyota Motor, Dell, Cisco Systems, Sun Microsystems, and Reuters Group. Most are buying 16 acre “islands” which cost $1,675 plus a monthly maintenance fee of $295. The companies not only build virtual structures, but also have their real world employees staff the virtual world. These companies are attempting to build brand awareness as well as direct and indirect sales opportunities. Circuit City, for example, allows customers to arrange furniture in a virtual living room in order to help decide the best placements for televisions and surround sound speakers.

“Generally, real-world businesses are not looking at Second Life as a direct revenue generator, but rather as a means of brand extension,” said Philip Rosedale, CEO of Linden Labs. “Firms that commit to a long-term, creative presence in Second Life have an opportunity to interact with their community in new and innovative ways.”

Unitrin Direct, the direct marketing arm of Unitrin, Inc., has become the first auto insurance company to ‘build’ in Second Life. Their virtual skyscraper is modelled on the Unitrin Direct’s Chicago-based headquarter building. Rather than locate their building on an island, Unitrin chose to build in an ‘busy’ part of Second Life (probably because who would choose to visit an insurance company). Once inside the lobby, you can get a real-world auto insurance quote. Eventually real Unitrin employees will staff the lobby to talk to you about your insurance and answer your questions.

“We’re excited to offer a new way to introduce customers to our direct business model, which allows us to reduce overhead and pass on the savings to customers while still providing first-class service,” Tom Mercer, vice president of marketing at Unitrin, said in a press release.

HatTip: PR NewsWire

This video puts you in the passengers seat going down the road, until they make a sudden stop.

Caution: Some graphic language at the end.

My previous post about Bolivia's Highway of Death continues to be one of the most popular pages on the blog. In doing some more searching I just ran across this story of the discovery of the body of a tourist who had been missing for a couple of weeks last month. It was found at the bottom of a 490-foot cliff along this treacherous road linking La Paz with the Yungas Valley.

Despite the risks, every year thousands of thrill-seeking tourists cycle down the dirt road, world-famous for the breathtaking views of snow-topped mountains and verdant valleys.

Car and bus accidents used to kill dozens of people on the highway every year until an alternative route was opened in late 2006.