Baby Go Boom!!!

My brother thought it would be a good idea to place a camera in the changing room. It was!

This is my edit of his encounter with a locked and loaded baby. Ready, Aim, Fire!

Added a Picture of me

Nothing to great. I added a picture from my trip to the Tetons. It is a few years old, but it is one of my favorites of me.

My Nephew

It took a while, but I finally got a picture of my nephew. Mom and Dad (my Mom and Dad; the babies Grandparents) took pictures when they visited.















My Brother Todd and his little boy.

NaNoWriMo

I have signed up to write a novel in 30 days. I have until midnight on November 30 to complete a 50,00 word novel. Needless to say, I think I will not be doing chores this month. The idea is to write quick and dirty and not be burdened down by editing or wordsmithing. Let the creative juices flow. Edit later. Bad news for all you wanna-be authors - deadline to register was tonight at midnight.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome -- Here I come.

puking pumpkin

A friend showed me his pumpkin. Thought you might enjoy the art of the thing.

What is a Meme? and Why did I participate in one?

I found this meme (what does meme stand for?) on another Blog and thought I would give it a shot. The idea is to take your iPod shuffle (in my case Zen Player) and take a random shuffle to fill in the sond track of your life. Here is how mine goes --

Opening Credits
Photography - Nickelback

Waking Up
Monterey - George Winston

Average Day
I Don't Want to Miss a Thing - Aerosmith

First Date
Rock and Roll - Led Zepplin

Make Out session
God Bless America - Celine Dion

Sex Song
Freedom/The Execution/Bannockburn - Braveheart Soundtrack

Falling In Love
La Belle Dame Sans Regrets - Sting

Fight Song
Mystery Game - Clannad

Long Drive
Gone Fishin' - Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong

Getting Cheated On
Summer of Love - The Beach Boys

Breaking Up
Marathon - Rush

Getting Back Together
Your Body is a Wonderland - John Mayer

Life's Okay
Mr. Roboto - Styx

Party Scene
The British Arrival - Last of the Mohican Soundtrack

Mental Breakdown
Sirius - Alan Parsons Project

Deep Thought
Hong Kong Phooey - Sublime

Flash Back
Reprise / Fly Away - Superman Returns

Death Scene
Angels Among Us - Alabama

Closing Credits
Menu Music from Neverwinter Nights - a D&D computer game

Some of the picks just do not make much sense. Hong Kong Phooey for Deep Thought? No. Sex song is the death song from Braveheart? Weird . . But some how it might make sense. Falling in love music by Sting? Rock On!!!

I think I'll burn it as a CD!!! Ha Ha HA!

Pod Cast?

I have made an attempt at creating my first selfmade audio broadcast. A podcast or an Audio Blog? That is the rub. I'm not sure what to call it.

I'm also having trouble remembering how to upload a file to the blog. I know I got the "cat's in the cradle" to play on the blog. I wish I could remember how. I'll play around for a little longer and if I don't figure it out, good night Gracie.


MyMusicCode.com

Blogger Beta

I just switched to the Beta. I do not know what this means. My blog looks the same. There are suppose to be some more options. I noticed that I can set up labels for ease of use. I will be interested to play around with this.

For Eli from your Uncle-In-Law

So, again, in the spirit of adding wierd things to a blog - just becuase I can - here is something for Mr. Eli.

| View

If it doesn't work - oh well.

New Tech and related geekness

I bought a "Zen" -- Creatives ZEN VISION: M

It is way cool. I have had tons of fun figuring out how to make the little bugger do neat tricks. It loads music easily, can hold lots of the same (about 15,000 songs) and can hold a butt ton (more pictures than songs) of photos. It will play 14 hours of music on a single charge.

It also does video. About 120 hours worth of storage and a four hour battery life gives the i-pod a run. The screen is better and brighter than the i-pod, as well.

It does not synch with i-tunes. I can't put my videos from I-tunes onto the Zen. That sucketh!! However, I forced myself to learn how to rip DVDs and convert them into video files. Therefore, I do not need i-tunes anymore. I can copy my own Battlestar Galactica Episodes off of a DVD. I don't need i-tunes anymore!!!

Battlestar Galactica -- only 7 more days until the start of season three. More later.

The Zen has some other tricks. It has a built in microphone and can record sound. There is also an FM tuner included. Yes. You can record FM onto the voice recorder. Reminds me of the 70's when I would stay up and copy my favorite hits off of the top twenty countdown onto cassette tapes. It is alleged that I may, at some point in the future, be able to use the Zen for my Vongo movies. It hasn't happened yet.

Overall, I am very happy with this purchase. CNET gave a great review of the product. (Check It Out) Many other reviewers give it the thumbs up as well. You can get the full specs and purchase the player at the Creative Web Site (Check It Out).

Later.

I'm an Uncle

I am an Uncle!!!

My brother Todd and his wife Janine had a 9# 5 oz. baby boy this evening; Sam Eck.

Obviously, I have not been posting. School started, the summer ended, and - as is my purposefor having a blog - I have been learning other net-worthy things. I started a Math Site for my math class. It is on Tripod. Check it Out.

I will be resuming posts, but do not know how soon. I have things I want to do to the math site and I have to decide if I want to try the Beta-EBlogger. So, more sooner or later.

Camp Karoondinha

I am always reminded how much my experience with the Boy Scouts and Camp Karoondinha influenced who I am.

Tonight I went to the West End Fair with my kids and Linda's kids. It was a $5.00 fee to get in and ride all the rides you want. Not bad for a local county fair. I hate to much greasy food and the kids got to ride ponies as well as a few carnival classics (like salt-and-pepper shakers and the tilt-a-whirl).

I stopped by a booth that was selling hand carved walking sticks and animal figurines mounted on finished drift wood. The salesman looked familiar. I thought it might be Ralph 'Butch' Sprenkle. Then he laughed at something a customer said and I knew it was him.

Butch Sprenkle was the go to guy for superior Boy Scout Events. He was the guy who founded(?) the Camp Karoondinha Loggers Day. Logger's day was the real deal. Butch brought in pole climbers, double bit axes, two man saws, log rolling, and all sorts of other stuff. He also treated his event staff well. I remember going to Loggers Day as a staff member when I was 19(?). We would set up Friday and he would have a lumberjack of a feast waiting at the lower cabin for us when we finished. And then we would settle in to watch lumberjack themed movies on, what at the time was a rarity, the video tape player.

Butch's events were always great events. I realized tonight that his attention to detail and willingness to go the extra distance to make his programs the best for both his staff and the participants, are characteristics that I learned by being in his tutelage as a youth. It amazes me to look back on my youth as I get older and realize how much I am a composite of the influential people who I was exposed to in Scouting.



MyMusicCode.com
My first attempt at embedded music is above. I hope it worked. The music of Camp also influenced me. It was no coincidence that on the way home from the fair, 'cat's in the cradle' came on the radio. I remember Mark Scott and others singing this song at camp. The music of the late 70's and early 80's is still the music I find most moving. I will always remember hearing 'stairway to heaven' as a young scout on his first week away from home.

It saddened me tonight to hear 'cat's in the cradle'. It made me think about how quickly the young people I have been working with grow. How many of them do not even have a reasonable father? They will not look back at having not spent any time with their fathers. They do not even get to have a real father. What lesson do these children learn from being in foster care? How will they raise their children? Who will, like my parents and Scout Leaders, serve as role models for them to exemplify as they grow into adulthood? It saddens and scares me.

Milton PD and Me.

I don't know why I keep having to call the Milton Police Department. It happens to frequently, but I am glad that they respond promptly and without complaint.

My oldest boy (living with me) called me into his third floor bedroom tonight. He had to show me something. I figured he was finding excuses to not go to sleep and tried to put him off. Probably a good thing that I didn't blow him off. From his bedroom window you could see someone kicking in a door across the street. It happened to be the door to the apartment complex in which my oldest son lives.

I, of course, called the police. But not until I had walked down to the street and gotten outside the now kicked in door. Whoever had kicked in the door had managed to smash in the bottom half of the door and had apparently climbed through and gone up the steps. I figured that this person was in the apartments hallway because I could hear shouting and banging noises.

While on my phone with Officer Embick, I heard this as yet unknown person or persons start banging their way down the stairs. I ran like a chicken to the parking lot.

I was only quasi-relieved when I realized I knew the person coming out of the broken door. I went over and told him that I had called the police. He was upset. I explained (I'm not sure why?) that I hadn't seen who it was, but didn't apologize for calling the police. Officer Embick and Officer Engelman showed up and dealt with the intruder(?).

Ok. That was my fun and excitement for the night. It also kept the kids up a little later than I would have liked.

Looked up the Milton PD website (Check It Out -- Milton Police Dept.) and found it to be lacking. The Chief listed hasn't been the Chief for about a year. The Chief is currently Craig Lutcher. I'm thinking that their site needs a remake and there must be a student at the highschool who could do it for a graduation project.

Later.

Warhammer 40K

Did it again. Dan and I spent too many hours in front of the computer playing Dawn of War, a Warhammer 40K video game.

We originally started playing 40K a couple of years ago. It is a tabletop miniature game with futuristic armies. Basically you spend lots of money on little plastic figures that are only 25 to 30 mm tall, spend hours upon hours painting them, and then commit them to the trials of table top warfare. More often than not, you get beaten, are dissatisfied with your army, and start the whole process over again. (Check it Out -- Games Workshop Warhammer 40K Site)

Then comes the computer variety. Much more for the fast of finger (vice the steady of finger, for those who paint), Dawn of War is an online variety of 40K that requires no plastic soldiers, no painting, and lots of free time. Once you start playing, you do not want to stop.














Not wanting to let my miniature army get covered in the dust of non-use, I decided to see how the Macro/Micro function worked on my cheapo digital camera. Not Bad -- But needs improvement.

The next thing I want to do is make a slide show with the models. I don't know if I will be smart enough to make them move, but I'll probably give it a try.

If your not to keen on painting miniatures, you can check out the Dawn of War Website. Either way, a great game that provides hours of fun and frustration.

V is for . . .

V is for Vendetta, V is for Vongo, V is for Very Cool.

Bought the DVD of --




















Awesome movie from theWachowski Brothers; the duo that gave us the matrix trilogy.

Based on a comic story from the early eighties, V is a cautionary tale, similiar to Orwells 1984, Bradbury's Farenhiet, or (with a stretch) 24. The tag line, "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.", sums up the overall thread of the movie. Part action flick, part political commentary, the movie made my brain work as well as my heart. V is a complex (anti) hero, who is part visionary and part murderer.

Thumbs up from both Dan B. and I. Check it Out.





V is also for Vongo. Vongo is a video download service that I just recieved a 30 day trial membership with. Download movies from their 1000+ titles and watch them on up to three of your media devices.

Sounds great. But read the fine print. Movies have a "drop dead" date. After that, they automatically erase themselves from your hard drive. You cannot export the movies or burn them to DVD. You can only watch any given movie on ten different days, and then they auto delete.

Upside. It is all legal and above board. It is free for the first 30 days. It is only $10 a month after that and you can cancel your membership anytime.

Just today, Uploaded and watched Flightplan. Also uploaded Blade Trinity. I can even play movies on the TV. Again, very cool.

Check it out -- VONGO.

Knoebels Pool

Took the boys to the swimming pool at Knoebels Grove. Knoebels is one of the best amusement parks in Pennsylvania; possibly the country. Not because it has the best or biggest rides, but because it is free entry with both hand stamps and pay as you go. It is locally owned and run by the Knoebel Family. The park grows every year, with at least one new ride each season. It has no overall plan. The park is laid out as they go. Like - We have a new coaster. Where can we squeeze it in?

We went to the pool today. The boys rode the slides over and over and over.

I spent a lot of time people watching.

An old man with eyebrow hairs 2 inches long, pasty white skin hanging off a skeletal frame - Fat woman trying to hide here girth under to many flimsy skirts - girls that look 18 and are probably twelve showing to much "junk" - tattoos on men, tattoos on women, tattoos on kids (why would a parent let their daughter get 'porn tats'?) - a women in a powered wheelchair who had her husband(?) take her swimming - an elderly couple that held on to each other for balance as they waded into the shallow end - a young couple, with a young man trying to aggressively to fondle an uninterested young lady - middle aged men with more flab than I - middle aged men with less flab than I - fat little chubby kid screaming at his chubby momma and skinny dad in a fit because they want to leave.

I don't think America is as fat as the news wants us to believe. Yes, there were many over weight parents. And there were several chunky kids running around. More prevalent was the number of smokers. People smoking on a pool deck around others, including kids. I don't get it.

Knoebels Grove -- Good Times -- Fun, Food, and Fantasy -- Check it out!!!

Ping Pong

We have a new Regional Manager where I work. I know his name, that he went to Lycoming College, that he wrestles and does the SPM training. I also know he considers himself quite the ping pong player. I wonder if he would be good enough to take on these champions?


Table Tennis Top 10 Shots - video powered by Metacafe

Master Ping-Pong - video powered by Metacafe

My first Audio Post (continued)

In the further pursuit of geekiness, I have tried an Audio Post. It is as easy as leaving a voice message but twice as cool.

Check this -- A "famous personality" used Audioblog --

Wil Wheaton, the Star Trek Wesley, has a huge Blog that he has been maintaining for years. An original Blogger? http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/ Tons of geeky stuff. He is a Poker Player and an Author. He has written Two books and plays in poker tournaments across the globe. Check out his Blog. I know you want to.

And hear is a bit where he "goes off" about his Apple and Poker.

Explains why I stuck with the mainstream computers.

My first Audio Post

Playing with HTML?

I don't presume to know much about current computer languages, programming, or internet protocols. I thought I would delve into what I find complicated.

Blogger is nice. It does not require much in the way of computer smarts. I've managed to post a video to my Blog. That was an additive thing. It didn't require I delve into the HTML editor. It was still point and click, computer illiterate stuff.

Today I performed, what in my mind is, HTML surgery. I added a web link!

OK - not that big a deal for many of you. To me - ripping open the fabric of online safety. I frustrate over each key click. What if I screw this up? I won't know what I broke, let alone how to fix it. It looks like a complex chemical formula or mystic equation. I just look for what the help page for Blogger tells me to look for and substitute my information. And . . . it looks like it worked!

It is all about baby step. Baby steps. baby steps. baby steps. baby steps.

Hazleton Mayor takes on Illegal immigration

Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta has decided to act on behalf of his community. He has proposed an Illegal Immigration Relief Act which (as best as I can figure) is comprised of three key measures.

1. Companies that hire illegal immigrants will be pushed out of Hazleton. Businesses will not get permits to do business in town, the city will not contract with any companies that use illegal immigrants, and penalties for such actions will last a minimum of five years.
2. Landlords will be the first line of defense. Landlords will be fined for knowingly allowing illegal immigrants to reside in their rentals. The city will provide assistance for landowners in determining if a renter is a legal resident or an illegal immigrant. Fines will accrue at $1000 per illegal immigrant knowingly renting property.
3. The official language of Hazleton will be English. No more dual or multiple language forms. All city business will be done in english.

Mayor Barletta, a Republican son of a past Democratic Party Chairman for the city, has pointed out that this is not a racist measure. The Act does not target any particular race or non-US citizenship. He wants this ordinance to make Hazleton the hardest place in the country for illegals to settle.

He believes this is necessary because illegals have created an enormous drain on his city's resources. Everything from a police call for a noise complaint to violent (and deadly) crime that involves illegals, comes out of the taxpayers money. Illegal's kids in school, health problems that require medical attention, or even sending out a code enforcement officer to inspect a rental property used by illegals, costs the city money. Mayor Barletta has had enough and has taken action.

Mayor Barletta has realized that it does not help to wait for Federal or State Government to take action. If this problem, like others, is to be solved, the answers will come from the local community level. Best of Luck Mayor. You are a Great American.

To support Mayor Barletta, check his Open Letter and e-mail your support.

Robin W on Whose Line ...

Robin Williams

This is just - well, truly - LOL!

Superman-Truth, Justice, and wtf

I really enjoyed the newest Superman movie. The effects were great, the story worked, my kids sat through it without fussing -- A thumbs-up from this critic.

However -- Why was it so hard for Perry White to say the traditional tag line of Superman standing for "Truth, Justice, and the American Way"? Instead, the viewer gets "Truth, Justice, and all that other stuff". What is wrong with the American Way? Is Hollywood scared of Liberal backwash.

Would Superman become the bad guy if he happened to behave like most Americans? Superman is selfless and does the right thing. He protects the innocent from evil doers. He can becuase he is the most powerful man on the planet. Our Nation is the most powerful nation on the planet. It is our duty as a nation to stand-up and protect those who cannot protect themselves.

If Spiderman can keep "with great power comes great responsability", I do not understand why Superman can't still represent --

Truth, Justice, and the American Way!