Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Happy Halloween

I am reusing a costume today, but I just wanted to shout out: Happy Halloween!


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Sunday, October 29, 2006

Truck and Miranda

So yesterday, I took my truck in to be looked at. It is a 2001 Dodge Dakota R/T. It was due for it's oil change, but I had just recently had new shocks put onto it and some other things of note started to appear. First off, the shock place told me either the steering column is bent or crooked. Second off, I have noticed a metal on metal bang whenever I hit certain types of bumps (ones that drop off suddenly). So it turns out that the steering column is fine, but my steering wheel is what is bent. The bend isn't serious enough to need a repair on it, but the wear and tear the bend is causing required a new clockspring gear (which is what allows the power to move through movable column). As for the rattling, the garage said that it looked like was caused by the exhaust pipe hitting on the new shocks. Sigh. Luckily I had enough time left in the day to run down to Midas to see what they had to say (since they installed the exhaust system). The put it up for free and did their best to identify where it could be coming from, but it definitely was not coming for the exhaust system and the spare tire seemed to be fine as well, so for now the noise will likely remain a mystery and an annoyance.

As for Miranda, she is doing great. Crawling is becoming easier for her and she is able to easily handle objects. She is not much for babbling, but is definitely spoiled as she likes to use both mom and dad as a jungle gym to climb on. Today I was eating an apple (a darn good honey crisp) and she decided she wanted one as well, so I let he suck on the apple which she thoroughly enjoyed.

Dar, I hate the time change

Even when it works in you favor (more sleep), it never really seems to help. Miranda was up early this morning and I was up late. Sigh. I know it is meant as a way for companies to save money on power bills so that they can arrange themselves around daylight hours, but still making people shift an hour does not seem to to work so well. Well at least for me.

No pic today. Maybe later on.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

6 month checkup

Well Miranda had her 6 month checkup yesterday. Doctor was real pleased with how she is growing and progressing. Surprised to hear she is crawling. The doctor also continues to monitor the birthmark on Miranda's head.

But there were shots, four of them to be exact. I hate shots, and I think Miranda hates them too, because Miranda cried a lot last night. We gave some baby tylenol before and then when we could again, but you could tell she was just so uncomfortable.

So for those that care:
  • 6 months, 1 week, 6 days
  • 16 lbs., 10 oz.
  • 27 inches


And a shot in her halloween costume:
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Sunday, October 22, 2006

Miranda update!

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Well Miranda just started crawling this weekend so we had to start moving all things out of reach. Plus Tigger now has to be a bit more careful as he can't just lay around on the floor or Miranda will get to him. Otherwise, with the added mobility, she is trying more foods and hates sleep more and more.

So things are well.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

FIU vs Miami

It has taken me a little bit of time to post about this. Mostly I wanted to see what type of fall out occurs to the players and coaches before I give me thought on this event. My first take away from this is that Miami is doing nothing to get rid of its rebel reputation. Secondly, the conference does not put a huge penalty of fighting.

So here are the stats I was able to pull up:
Miami suspended 12 individuals for 1 game. Technically suspended the one game by the conference.
Miami suspended 1 player indefinitely.
FIU suspended 16 players for 1 game via the conference.
FIU dismissed 2 players from the team.

I don't know how others feel about the topic but a one game suspension for fighting. At a game. That is ridiculous, those that were in it heavy should be out for 3 games. It is behavior that these "adults" should not be getting into. But at the college level, this isn't a job? No professionalism? Sigh, maybe I am becoming an old fuddy-duddy.

Links:
Extended Suspensions and Dismissals
Video of Brawl

Product Review: KitchenAid Blade Coffee Grinder

Recently bought the KitchenAid BCG100WH Blade Coffee Grinder to replace my Braun coffee grinder and I can say that I am really impressed. I have had the KitchenAid grinder for about 2 weeks now and it is the best low cost grinder that I have played with. First off the noise level when grinding is a lot less than that of Braun. It is still loud, but it is more like a car without its muffler versus a 767 talking off. Second, it is super easy to clean. Before the Braun would take forever to clean as grinds would get stuck is the seam between the metal and the plastic. With the KitchenAid, the entire basin is metal and dishwasher safe. The plastic cover does occasionally get grind it the lip, but they quickly wash out with a rinse of water. As for the grind quality, it does a good job, but you are not going to use this with your expresso machine.

Pros:
  • Easy to clean!!!
  • Quieter than many other models
  • Dishwasher safe
  • Price

Cons:
  • Won't do expresso grind...

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Humans are like poison?

Saw a recent article talking about the impacts that humans have had on the earth and other living species and the environment. I find it interesting to see that the majority of what they mention points toward the fact that it takes a short (geological) amount of time to remove the majority of what we have done to the planet. However there are some very long term items that take a longer period of time for the planet to recover.

Even with a hefty amount of speculative science, it still is an interesting read. But it does feel like they are describing what happens if you quit smoking...

Monday, October 16, 2006

Get you movie download on!

The folks over at Techcrunch have done a side by side comparison of 5 movie download services. It is very interesting to see the catalog size and pricing scheme that each company has put into place.

I would love to use a movie download service but I don't think the studio gets it. Why should I pay as much for a DVD when I don't get the same stuff? I don't get the extras, I don't get the commentary tracks and I don't get different languages (not that I used them). On top of that, the studio doesn't have to pay to stamp the DVD and box art, nor do they have to ship them and get them on shelves. So Studios, tell me again why it is the same price?

Here is something a little more tolerable:
  • $1.29 TV shows
  • $12.99 new release movies
  • $8.99 back catalog movies
  • $2.99 new release rentals
  • $1.99 back catalog rentals
On top of the pricing scheme, as soon as a movie has finished it's theater run, it should be available for purchase.

Amazing

Well the Lions won. I don't know what the chances were, but they completely blew up Andy's winless prediction leaving the only winless team to be the luckless raiders. Plus I got to watch this game where they won.

Comparing yesterday's Lions to those that played the Seahawks, I can definitely see a change. I have to say that the Lions defense has shown a definite weakness in the secondary, but the defensive line is showing a lot of flash and fire that I have not seen. The offense however is clicking. They make mistakes still but there is some crispness to the routes and the blocking schemes seem to be pulling together. Overall, I think the future looks a bit brighter, but not really the near future. I am ok with that.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Aquaman: Pilot Episode

I bought this on a whim, probably due to the low threshold of pain at $2. First off, I will state that I have enjoyed Smallville to some degree and as this was a spinoff, I had assumed that it would be of a similar style and level of acting.

However, this is not the case. The style is roughly the same, but this is actually more Buffy than Smallville. A.C. aka Orin aka Aquaman is a 19-22 year old ecoterrorist that has superhuman abilities when doused with salt water. There is the old guard of Atlantis that is there to guide and teach Orin through his being accustomed to his new lot in life. There is the friendly bar keeper and friend of A.C. who believes what ever wacked out story he tells her. There is A.C. step father who is part of the coast guard and plays only a slight role in the show.

Pros of the show:
- set in Florida for those that like to watch trim ladies and fellas romping around
- comic centric beginnings story
- Monsters to fight

Cons of the show:
- Eva the Barkeep believes every weird thing that A.C. says
- I didn't know that there were millions lost in the bermuda triangle
- Acting was flat (although this is pretty common in pilots until the actors get comfortable in their new skin)
- Aquaman's varied strength, sometimes strong, sometimes a wus.

Overall, I don't think I would watch the series if they ever extended it. I do recommend that others take a spin of the pilot and see if they are as negative as I am about this. I mean, it is only $2.

Aquaman: Pilot Episode

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

I have a recommendation for "Yahoo! Recommends"

Hey Yahoo!

Your Launchcast service provides an interesting way to get lots of music without carrying around my music collection. It was interesting enough for me to pay the money to get higher quality sound samples and no commercials (although I did love the Men of Genius commercials).

However of late, you have been pushing a lot of "Yahoo! Recommends" selections. Now you have over 1000 ratings that I have put in your system. Based on all that very targeted information, you still manage to play Jay-z, Mario, Nickelback, and other artists that I am not that interested in. I might be interested in paying an extra dollar a month for you to quit doing that. Take out the whole phrasing. Call it "Yahoo! Pushing new Crack" because recommends to me implies that it is tailored to me somehow.

However in the end, I am likely to quit paying you any money because of this. I am looking for a radio that I don't have to interact with and now am forced to hit skip every third or fourth song because of your marketing BS that I thought I had paid my way around.

So Yahoo!, bite me,

Aaron

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Did the Lions lose again

Well, another Sunday, another Lions loss. Sigh. Another time to be thankful, I can't watch them out here.

More Miranda stuff:



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Friday, October 06, 2006

Week gone by, where did it go.

Well just wrapping up a week. Not terribly much happened. I tried to take care of Miranda Wednesday night but she refused solid food and the bottle. I guess she wanted mom to be home. I feel bad for having to call her to come back and help, but Miranda was hungry and there was nothing I could do. She did eventually cry herself back to sleep.

Otherwise things have been good. She is crouching and rocking so crawling can't be too far away. She is also getting closer to sitting up on her own. Also she is getting better at pulling herself up to the standing position, but doesn't always identify standing opportunities. And she is also getting much better hand-eye coordination, as when she reaches for things, she actually grabs them. Poor tigger gets alot of the grabbing attention.

Over the weekend, no plans. We should clean up the laundry/furnace room since we are having the furnace replaced next week. I might get my shocks replaced on the truck as they are leaking fluid. I would like to start reviewing all the books that I have read recently. We'll see which items get popped to the top.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Sunday with Miranda

Spent the day with Miranda and watched some football. Couple of good games on out in the west side of the country. Thought I would share some pics of Miranda though.

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