Sprinklers?

Anyone out there a sprinkler wizard? I am having all kinds of trouble with my sprinklers these days. They keep leaking out the top. There are probably 4 right now that are leaking. I have replaced a couple and thought they were just old, but now one of the new ones is doing it. If you know a lot about sprinklers feel free to ring me up and help me out.

Thanks.

LINKS

Comcast, my service provider, is capping usage at 250 GB. I do not know if that is good or not. Comcast says the average user is using 2 or 3 GB. But, I have no idea what I actually use. I wish they would let me know before they started this program. I do not think I use that much bandwidth, but without someone letting me know I will never know. I think the cap is a good idea - but give me more info on it.

Nintendo is making BIG bucks on the Wii. The Wii is, and will be for the forseeable future the number one gaming console. Nintendo has just raised their income projections for this year. I will be spending money on The Force Unleashed when it comes out on Sept. 16, and I am sure I will buy some games for Christmas this year, so Nintendo will be getting my money, like most other people. Ohhh, here is the trailer for The Force Unleashed.

Microsoft is getting ready to release the next version of Internet Explorer. I really just care about securtiy after my computer and Diana's got some malware/bugs in the last few weeks. I like IE more than Firefox, especially once IE added tabs. The new tabs seem cool too. I just like to say that IE crashes a lot. At least once or twice a day I crash, and it pisses me off.

I have talked about the new iPhone and how it is not that great. Rivals of AT&T are just like me and they want to bad-mouth the iPhone too!

Apple is getting ready for a busy next couple of months. New iPods, new laptops, new iMacs. I hope they hit the ball out of the park on this one. I am already slated to get the new iPod Touch, whatever it ends up being. I have heard rumors of an iPod Touch that is Bluetooth capable, but it seems now that Apple will save that for a different and new hand-held device. I will still get one. Diana wants my old iPod Touch.

I hate all the crap software you get on a new PC. PC makers think it is good because they get paid for having this crap on their machines, but everyone hates it. When you get a new computer it takes you 3 days just to delete everything and download updates to the software you actually use. It is a huge time-waster. But new computers are cool.

One Surgery, One Breakfast

My dad has eaten at McDonald's for breakfast for the past 142 weeks. He always does it. I am sure the employees know him. He stops almost every morning on his way to work too. I knew that because of his surgery it might be hard for him to get to McDonald's today. Diana and I had the kids make get well cards and we took over McDonald's for him and my mom for breakfast. My dad was happy. He is doing pretty good. He has his crutch, but seemed to get around pretty well. He still has a big bandage on his knee and he said it was hurting, but what do you expect the day after surgery?

Hopefully he will be ready for golf in St. George in a couple weeks.

Fantasy Football

I drafted my fantasy football team a couple days ago. Here is how it worked out:

QB1 Tony Romo, Dal QB
QB2 Donovan McNabb, Phi QB
RB1 Marshawn Lynch, Buf RB
RB2 Maurice Jones-Drew, Jac RB
WR1 Braylon Edwards, Cle WR
WR2 Andre Johnson, Hou WR
WR3 Laveranues Coles, NYJ WR
TE Jason Witten, Dal TE
DT Albert Haynesworth, Ten DT
DE Aaron Kampman, GB DE
LB David Harris, NYJ LB
CB Antoine Winfield, Min CB
S Jermaine Phillips, TB S
K Nate Kaeding, SD K
P Craig Hentrich, Ten P
HC Colts Coach, Ind HC

Yes, we drafted a Punter and a Head Coach this year. It is our first year using ESPN Fantasy Football instead of Yahoo. I guess we will see how it goes.

My team seems pretty good. I also have Darren McFadden on my bench, as well as Lee Evans and Chris Chambers. Also, I drafted Aaron Rodgers as my QB3 bye week guy. This better work.

Feel Better Dad!

My Dad had knee surgery today. He popped a ligament a couple weeks ago. Get well soon, especially if you think we will be playing golf in late September in St. George!

The crazy part of this is my parents went in to the hospital at noon, were home before five. The surgical center made them bring their own crutches! For the thousands of dollars this will cost, you would think you could get some crutches!

All The Stars and Boulevards

LD gave me a copy of the Augutana album "All The Stars And Boulevards." I have been listening to it all day and just copied onto my iPod. I really like it. I am trying to decide which album I like better. Right now I am still a bigger fan of "Can't Love, Can't Hurt." But that could change any time.

I Run A G-Rated Blog...I Mean PG

I thought I had a G-rated blog until LD sent me this link: http://www.oneplusyou.com/bb/blog_rating. Then I found out that I have a PG-rated blog. Hope I don't lose any readers over this. Sorry I misled you.

The worst part is how the rating system tells me that I have a PG rating because of my use of the word "suck." My mom always said she did not like that word. I wonder if she is the one that wrote this rating program. Well, anyways, this really sucks. I wanted a G-rated blog, but if I can't have G, I am going for PG-13! Nobody likes PG.

Sydney White

Sydney White is a modern Snow White. This was a pretty good movie. It has been a week or so since we watched it and I have too much to do tonight to write a lengthy review. Diana and I enjoyed watching Sydney White, it was a cute, fun movie that really had nothing bad in it. We even let the kids watch it the next day. One down part it that Amanda Bynes just can not act.

I give this movie 3.5 out of 5 stars. I say rent this movie and if your kids are over 10, let them watch it - but watch it with them.

Saturday's Work

On Saturday the kids and I worked out in the yard for most of the day. We were clearing the rock pile and then laying down weed stopper fabric and then putting the rocks back, as well as fixing some sprinklers in the mean time. Here is a look at what we got done:
That is a lot of rocks! We are about 60% done moving the rocks. I fixed two of the three sprinklers that I need to. I am planning on working on this more Wednesday and Thursday night. I am trying to finish this within the week so I can try to have a good time this holiday weekend.

Chloe and Soccer

I posted earlier about Chloe and her soccer team. Here is a picture:

Chloe's team won 6-0 and Chloe was pretty good for her first time out. Sorry the picture is not better, but my Curve would not zoom. Sometimes is does that. We are still excited to see how the rest of the season goes. Hopefully, the season will contain a lot more wins!

Look at that Spider!

Outside out back window we had a huge cobweb, and you know what comes with a huge web don't you? A HUGE spider. Here is a picture:

This was a silver-dollar spider. It was big and the kids thought it was super scary. I had bought some spider killer earlier in the day, so I went out and sprayed this big guy. He writhed around in pain until I put him out of his misery. It was a good time. The family stayed in the house shaking in their little booties. Wimps.

Saturday

I got a lot done today. Not enough though. Still have a lot to do this week. Good thing soccer practice was cancelled this week, and I have Thursday open because we have Pack Meeting this week (Pine Wood Derby). I would post more, but it is late. Expect some long posts on Monday.

Just so you know, Chloe's soccer team won 6-0! Chloe even kicked the ball a couple times. She schooled this one girl and stole the ball from her and then passed to her teammate. She did whiff on her only shot on goal.

Facebook

I finally made the jump to Facebook. We will see how it works. LD and Littlkins have been using Facebook for a while, and then I found out that Diana was using it and messaging with some old friends. When I got an invite from my sister Cindi I decided it was time I looked into this Facebook thing. I will see how it all works out. If you are on Facebook and I know you I most likely sent you an invite. If I missed you feel free to send me an invite.

I am still trying to figure out the whole Facebook thing, let me know if I have done something stupid.

XP Service Pack 3

Microsoft really ticks me off sometimes. I just got done sitting here for an hour while my system was upgraded to Service Pack 3. My machine was running just fine. There is no noticeable change. I lost one hour of time in getting things done. Not good. Microsoft needs to do a better job with the autoupdate feature. I had no idea what I was installing, let alone that it would take an hour. Can't I get a box that tells me what is installing and how long. The system was also downloading the update while I was trying to use my computer, and it was dog slow. I thought something was really wrong with my computer until the install update window came up. It really, really sucked.

Street Kings

Diana and I watched Street Kings. This movie had Keanu Reeves and a whole bunch of other mdium-name actors, Forrest Whitaker was in it as well and he was horrible. This movie was pretty good, but the story was very messed up.

**START SPOILERS**

Keanu Reeves is a psycho cop that is given free rein to do what he wants by his captain. He kills a bunch of guys and basically just thinks he can do what he wants. His old partner does not like him. They were both dirty cops when they were together, and his partner is trying to clean up, well, actually he is just snitching on the captain that is bad. Keanu follows his old partner one day as the partner gets brutally killed. The rest of the movie is finding who did the murder. Everyone watching knows that the captain, Forrest Whitaker, is the bad guy. Things get worse and worse for Keanu, he ends up killing his team and some undercover cops, and then the captain by the end of the show. The internal affairs team that is following Keanu lets him go at the end.

**END SPOILERS**

If you read the spoilers you know just how messed up this movie is. It needs a lot of help, but it is too late, this movie is already made and out to theatres and out on video. They are done with this one - and it is not very good. I am sure Keanu had a lot of fun shooting all the people he gets to kill in this movie.

I give this movie 2 out of 5 stars.

Art of War II: Betrayal

The only reason we rented this movie is because it has Wesley Snipes in it. In our house we like Wesley Snipes. He was a bad man in Blade and other action shows. Sadly, Art of War II does not live up to Blade, or almost any other movie. This movie was really bad.Diana told me to stop renting such bad movies after this one and even made me show her our queue on Blockbuster.com. I guess it is what it is. This movie sucked and I even rated it on Blockbuster with a half a star which means, "I hated this movie."

Do not rent this movie.

Monster Links

It has been a while since I had a links list. I have been keeping URLs and emails that have had interesting items in them.

The new iPhone had a lot of launch/activation problems. Now people are complaining about call quality and dropped calls. This is getting out of hand. Apple needs to pull this together. They are the "it just works" company. Right now, the iPhone is just not working. If Apple is not careful they will lose some love points from this consumer survey.

Everyone loves the Wii, and people are loving it even more. I love the Wii too. I am thinking of moving our Wii upstairs so me and Diana can play it more. The Wii also has a bunch of the best games. Hopefully the Wii will start being more available. Looks like the PS3 could be in trouble too.

You like cute, fuzzy animals? Click the link and order your calendar. How about that kitty? One of the cutest ever!

Collin, this one is for you: Missing Muxtapes? Try 8Tracks. Here is a quick preview/review of how it works. Try it today, before it too, is gone.

Ever heard of "wardriving"? Wardriving is going around trying to find/hack into wireless networks. I think it would be super fun, but I am not geeky enough to actually be able to crack a network.

Want more juice from your wireless network at home? Follow some of these tips and get a better wireless signal at home?

Drop out of high school for Guitar Hero? I wouldn't do it, or let my kids do it, but whatever, not one of my kids.

I could do this before it was cool and easy. I used to love taking pictures and altering them or changing them. When I used to work for a printing company I would make the Christmas card and add something to it so I could use them as family cards as well. One year I put the families names on all the stockings on the fireplace. It was pretty cool.

I do not like the way Brett Favre's name is spelled. But I would not change it if I had him in a video game. I guess EA Sports decided that they did want to change the spelling.

Back To School Night

Tonight was Back to School Night for the kids. We went to the school and got information on how the uniform code was going to be strictly enforced this year. I think it is a good idea to enforce the uniform policy, but the policy at the kids school needs to be improved. I do not like how the school is being insane on the shoes the kids can and cannot wear this year. Let me show you.

This shoe is unacceptable at the kids school:

This shoe is acceptable:
Not much difference is there? This is what they told us so we would know a shoe was unacceptable, "if it has an athletic shoe bottom." What the heck does that mean?

Monday Night

Got home, cooked steaks and shrimp/salmon kabobs, then went to the yard for yard work. I did not finish it. I got the front done, but the back still needs to be mowed. I am planning on leaving work a little early tomorrow and taking care of it. When I went around the front I saw that I had two puddles under the tree in the front yard. I hope it is just from the neighborhood ducks trying to make a home and not from broken sprinklers. I also have a sprinkler that is broken in the front yard. I have told Diana that all plans are off for Saturday as I have a bunch of work to do.

We have other things to get done this weekend also, as the kids are going back to school on Monday, and they need a couple last minute things. We will have to see how much we can get done.

Furniture Is Done! (Mostly)

I finally got the furniture done today. The bookcase took me 1 hour 13 minutes. The dresser took a little over 4 hours. The dresser has this contraption built into it (I built) that lets only one drawer open at a time. It is pretty cool. There is one more piece to still make (footboard/cabinet), but Diana does not know if she wants to make it or get something else for him.

Here are some pics of Jordan getting into bed tonight.

I Saw The Batmobile

I like Batman, but this takes it a little far:
I am sure that Batman is more environmentally conscious and would not ride around in a Hummer that gets 8 miles per gallon. I am sure the real Batmobile gets 20 to 25 miles per gallon in the city, and even more onthe highway. Batman is the superhero that cares.

Star Wars: Clone Wars

This movie is really a pilot for the new Cartoon Network TV show that is going to be starting up in September. The movie is computer generated. Three actual star wars people lent their voices to the movie (I do not know if they will have their voices in the TV show): Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, and Christopher Lee as Count Dooku.
The movie was basically an actionfest of war and Jedi's running, jumping, and fighting. There was even some Sith action with Count Dooku fighting Anakin and Asajj Ventress (Dooku's apprentice) fighting Obi-Wan. The main point of the story is the Jedi's needing to find Joba the Hutt's kidnapped son, so Joba will form an alliance with the Republic and not with the Separatist.

Jordan liked to way the battle droids were funny during the movie. He laughed many times at them. I thought this movie was just OK, and at points I even wished that this movie was part of Episode II: Attack of the Clones. I was thinking that because Episode II was so bad.

I rate this movie 3 out of 5 stars, and if I did not like Star Wars I would probably barely give it 1 star. If you like Star Wars, check this movie out!

Friday Night

Last night me and Jordan went to see the new star wars movie with sone friends. We had a good time and even saw some real star wars characters. Right before we left another guy called to see if he could bring his son and I said sure. Here are some pics of our fun night out.

Storm Trooper and Pilot:

Anakin look-alike and Empire General:

Jawa:

Darth Vader:

Darth Vader with some of Jordan's friends, you can also see a SnowTrooper in the background:

Doomsday

I watched a crazy action movie tonight. It was called Doomsday and I don't want to go overboard with the review. This was basically a movie where people got together and said, "how many crazy fight scenes and people getting squished can we put in one movie. We have some really cool ideas for gruesome deaths, too." And then someone gave them a couple million bucks to make a movie. The storyline was one we have seen a hundred times and they did not do anything different with it. This was not a horrible movie if you like action and gore like this. I give this movie 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Jordan has a nightstand!

This building furniture thing is getting out of hand. Tonight I got the nightstand built. It took an hour and a half. It was pretty easy, and it still took a long time. I am going out with Jordan and a buddy and my buddy's friend so no furniture building tomorrow. I will have to get this all taken care of Saturday. I just need to do better than 1 piece every hour and a half.

Smart People

Tonight I started to watch a movie. Smart People had Dennis Quaid as a grouchy old professor. The Juno girl was his daughter. There was other people in the movie too. I did not think it was that good. It had some good points and was funny here and there. I left 40 minutes into it, so I won't do a review. Diana thought it was good. I hope she reviews it on her blog so I can know what I missed.

Jordan Has A Bed!

I finally got Jordan's bed completed tonight. We got his a mates bed (the kind with drawers along the bottom) and a headboard with some shelves. Last night I got most of the bed done, but the instructions were so bad that even as I followed them I knew I was doing it wrong but I did it anyways, just to see if it would turn out. Tonight I had to take apart the rails for the drawers and re-attach them. I got that done and then went after the headboard. For some reason I take my time and make sure I am doing everything right (as the instructions say) when I build this stuff. I don't know why. Most things I do I don't even read the instructions.

Only four more pieces to go.

Chloe at Soccer Practice

These are pictures I snapped at Chloe's soccer practice this week. Chloe is very excited for soccer. She had a good time at practice. This is the first time she has ever played rec league soccer. We got her some cool white shoes to play in so you will always be able to see her. Her shirt reads, "Girls Bring More Game." Soccer goes all the way into October so I hope she really enjoys it.

I Missed A Couple Songs

On m top 10 songs post I messed up. I should have taken more time with the post, but it was just a spur of the moment thing. Right now I am really liking some songs I have from A Fine Frenzy. They are haunting and also very well written. She has a great voice. Whenever I hear one of her songs I sit up and take notice. I think my favorite is "Come On, Come Out." But I love the three that I have from her on my iPod.

The other song I feel stupid for omitting is "So Long, So Long" by Dashboard Confessional. I am not much of a DC fan, but this song is great. Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows sings on this song and I can tell the song is greatly influenced by Adam. It is just an excellent song all around. I feel bad for the DC dude, that he gets trumped by Adam so soundly on the DC record.

There are probably more songs that I missed, these are just a couple that came across the iPod today that I felt embarrassed that I did not list Monday night.

Broken TiVo

We have (I mean had) one real TiVo in our house. Even though we call all of our DVRs TiVo. We love the DVR and have had the TiVo for over 5 years. The kids started complaining about the box freezing a couple weeks ago (this is not the same box referenced in this post from Diana). Over the weekend the kids said they could not get the TV to work downstairs. I thought that maybe they had filled the TiVo with junk. I went downstairs to look at it and there was a lot of junk. I cleaned everything off and it still did not work. I now had to call DirecTV. I went through almost an hour of troubleshooting and the person did not know what the problem was. I had three options (I will list them the way I was told them):

1. Pay $80 to have someone come out. I might get charged a lot more, but the guy would get it working before he left. (Cost: At least $80)
2. Sign up for the $6 a month collection plan and then the service person at my house would be free, I would just have to pay any "extra" costs. (Cost: At least $72)
3. Get a new TiVo (actually a Dish DVR) to replace the old TiVo. (Cost: Free, just pay shipping and handling).

Because I am out of contract DirecTV used this opportunity to sign me up for a one year contract to get a free DVR from them. I plan on staying with DirecTV for a while so this is not a problem.

I got the new DVR today, but I was putting together furniture tonight (and Chloe's soccer practice) so I did not get it hooked up. Prepare for me to write some witty story about my DVR setup experience. Also, I have pictures from Chloe's soccer practice to post and pictures of the furniture as I get it built (posts will go up Wednesday afternoon/late evening).

Monday Night

Monday night the family went shopping. We had to get Chloe her soccer gear. We went to Team Gear to get the 20% discount the West United Soccer has with them. We got Chloe some cool white Nike soccer shoes. Some dark red socks (her team color is red) and some shin guards (they were red as well, but they get covered up by socks so the color is not that important). We also let Jordan pick a ball for Chloe to use.

After Team Gear we went to Shopko to look at/get Jordan bedroom furniture. It has been 3 or 4 months with Jordan on the floor. Diana gave away his bed. I will let her tell the story on her blog if she wants to (this is some great cross promotion). I had looked at the furniture a week or so ago and thought it was fine. Shopko was having a 40% off sale on the furniture so we got him everything. It was a good deal.

Once we had the furniture picked out we needed to get a comforter and sheets and pillows and all that stuff. As soon as we really started shopping Chloe found some things she needed as well (for school, a bookbag and shoes, as well as some t-shirts for soccer practice). Needless to say we spent a pretty penny at the Shopko.

We paid and got all the furniture (I have to put it together) and went out to the car. To get everything in I had to do a lot of pushing and shoving and moving and sliding and squishing. It was pretty interesting. I finally got everything in the car that we bought, but did not leave any room for people. At this point I was thinking of having the family wait for me to go home, unload and then come back and get them. Not to fear, I got Chloe and Jordan in the back, no belt buckles and the new mattress was on top of them. Jordan loved it. Chloe did not like "breaking the law." The front seat was leaning forward and pushed all the way forward. I tried to get in and let Diana drive. I could not get my butt and legs in, I was too tall. I helped Diana get in and we were ready to drive the three miles home. I could not see behind me (stuff stacked to the roof), or to my right (Diana was all the way forward in my sightline). It was a great drive. Good thing it was not rush hour.

We made it home safe and unloaded the car. Jordan's furniture is heavy.

Now I just got to get it all put together.

Top 10 Songs (Right Now)

My top 10 songs are always changing (as I am sure yours are too). Here are the 10 songs I would not skip on my iPod no matter what (for now). I have the right to change these at any moment:

1. Augustana: Hey Now
2. Counting Crows: 40 Years
3. Ben Folds Five: Evaporated
4. Seven Mary Three: Lucky
5. Counting Crows: Los Angeles
6. Augustana: Either Way, I'll Break Your Heart Someday
7. Pearl Jam: Come Back
8. Ben Folds: Landed
9. New Radicals: Crying Like a Church on Monday
10. Pearl Jam: Indifference

Just for fun, here are some more songs that I rarley pass on the iPod, but not on the top of the list today.

On the fringe: Counting Crows: Round Here, Counting Crows: Hazy, Oasis: Wonderwall, Pearl Jam: Crazy Mary, Seven Mary Three: Water's Edge, Toad the Wet Sprocket: Crowing, Toad the Wet Sprocket: I Will Not Take These Things For Granted, The Verve: Bittersweet Symphony

Something's Fishy

I walked into the breakroom at work today to get a new cup for water and what did I see in the water tank?
Someone put a fish in the water tank. It is just floating there. Looks like it is dead. Good times.

The Streak

If you know me, you know "the streak." Diana does not want me to talk to much about it. I just wanted you all to know that there is now a count-up timer under the blog archive on the right hand side. You can monitor the streak along with me.

Almost at a year!

New Photos on Flickr!

I just posted some pictures on Flickr from Chloe and my vacation to Sacramento and San Francisco. We had a good time and Chloe went crazy with the camera. Diana let Chloe take it becuase she knew I would just take pictures with my Curve and post those on my blog. Chloe drained two sets of batteries while we were there. There are probably one hundred more pictures, but I am at my limit for a Flickr account. I have to decide if it is worth $24.95 to have a pro account. I have commented on all the pictures so you will know what is going on.

Going Down...Finally

Gas prices near my house have fallen to $4.05. The Costco price was $3.95. I attribute this fall in prices to my continued monitoring of prices. Feel free to send me thank you notes. We only have another 20 cents to go until regular stations get to the national average of $3.83 (Costco only has about 10 cents to go).

Augustana Review Part 2

It is hard to sustain a 5 star album throughout an entire album. Augustana does as good as they can. I think that is one of the reasons that this album only has 10 songs – Augustana was not going to allow any filler songs on Can’t Love, Can’t Hurt.

Quick recap of the first five songs. All five star and the first song Hey Now is worth the price of the album.

Fire

Fire could definitely get on your nerves, and the boys with Augustana know this, that is why this song is barely over two minutes. Fire is a good song, but after the first five songs it pales in comparison. I give Fire 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Either Way, I’ll Break Your Heart Someday

This song is good. I do not really know how to classify Augustana. Pop? Rock? Alternative? Country? Adult Contemporary? I just can’t get a firm hold. I think I would like to call them a Alternative Country Rock Band, but that may be too limiting for them. I just love the part in this song that says, “So when I go, baby kiss real slow, so I don’t forget to make my way back home.” That is a great lyric, and the way Augustana sings it is great. The lead singer has an yearning to his voice that I really like. This is a five star song.

Dust

If anyone can tell me what song this sounds like I would appreciate it. I swear I have heard a song that sounds just like this, but I cannot place it. This is a good song that basically means that even as much as you believe in things it is all dust and does not really matter. I give this song 3.5 out of 5 stars. Goes on little bit to much in the middle.

Rest, Shame, Love

Ever since the first time I heard this song I have had the first line going through my head, “Breaking up with your break down…” I love it. I just like to sit and listen to this song. I think it is one of the better ones on this album. Rest, Shame, Love is a 4.5 out of 5 star song. This song is obviously about a girl the singer knows that makes the wrong choice of guys all the time. “It is the wrong dream with the wrong man.” Is one of my favorite lines.

Where Love Went Wrong

A couple days ago Diana and I were channel surfing and Augustana in concert came on. It was the very end of the show. He was just starting to sing this song. I could not turn my head away. I liked this song on the album, but watching Augustana live this song really jumped out. This is also a great ending song on the album. This is a 5 out of 5 star song.

I think my general opinion on this album is that everyone needs to get a copy of it. It is great. As great as some of the songs are individually they really all go together on the album. Augustana was a band that I thought I would see once with Boston on their first album and that would be that. Now, Augustana is becoming one of my favorite bands. Buy this album, you will not be disappointed.

Links for Later

When we first got our iHome alarm clock it was hard to sleep. I have gotten used to it now. It is weird how a little tiny light on my Blackberry can wake me up in the middle of the night.

Major security flaw in the internet itself. This is very scary. If hackers are able to do this there will be nothing safe on the internet.

This whole 8/08/08 thing is out of hand when people are keeping track of this stuff.

I do not think this new Microsoft strategy is going to work. Microsoft needs to just have their stuff work; better and easier. I do not think they can do it.

There is a new Sesame Street website. Check it out! There will be a new character and "Letter or Number of the Day" every day.

Delta is going to start offering wireless internet while on the plane. I do not know if I will be able to say no. What can I say, I am an addict.

Movie video games always suck. Hopefully these guys know what to do to really improve them.

Links for Now

Our next trip to Disneyland just got more expensive. $4 more per day is really not that bad.

A new kind of RSS feed, Spectra has made its debut. I am not a big RSS guy, but I do see the benefits of it. Spectra is a visual RSS feed and not just text. My blog role on the right hand is RSS. If you want to know more about RSS click here.

10 tips or all of you that are going to back to school on a budget. Me and Diana still need to get everything for our kids. Back to School night is only a couple weeks away now. It is starting to get serious.

Is this almost-recession in our heads and the media is portraying it all too much and too loud? I do not think so. Gas prices have doubled in a year. All of the food we buy is either much more expensive or the size of the package has shrunk. I do not think so, but some do (one of these is McCain's Economic Secretary).

I want a car that drives itself! I also want it to be able to have a conversation with me plus be able to order a pizza to pickup at home and mow the lawn.

It will be hard to watch CSI without Gil Grissom, but Fishburne is a pretty good replacement.

Lost Boys 2: The Tribe

Boy, I rent and then watch a lot of crappy movies. Lost Boys 2 added another to the list. Do not waste your time. 1 star out of 5 and I will not dignify this movie with a review. Do not rent this. Put it down.

Stop Loss

Diana and I watched another movie, Stop Loss. It was really good. It was very timely, as it was a movie about how soldiers in Iraq are being forced to go back to Iraq once their tour is over.

**START SPOILERS**
The movie starts on the last day this platoon is going to be in Iraq. They get ambushed by some rebels, and a lot of the unit dies. The leader (Ryan Phillippe) is very distraught. He goes home and a couple of his buddies come with him. They are all from a small town in Texas. Once they get back to America they are celebrated as heroes. Ryan Phillippe goes back to his life with ease over the first weekend. His other buddies seem to have a much harder time with it. On Monday they reported back to the base to turn in their stuff and all of them were "stop-lossed" which means that the army is stopping the loss of all the soldiers as their tours end. Most of the guys freak out but can deal. Phillippe completely freaks out, he beats up the military police that are supposed to control him and leaves town. Once he leaves his other buddies start breaking down. One of them kills himself. Another can not handle the pressure and flips out. Phillippe comes back for his buddies funeral where him and his best buddie get in a fight in the cemetery where the buddy finally tells Phillippe that without him the unit is lost and all of them will die. At the end Phillippe comes back to the army so he can help his buddies.

**END SPOILERS**

This movie was really good. I give it 4 stars out of 5. It was well done, but there was some pretty cheesey parts. Rent it and watch it, you should enjoy it.

Arches Collapse

Do not worry, McDonalds is OK.

One of the largest arches at Arches National Park has collapsed. I have never been to Arches. It could be pretty cool. Maybe we will have to try and check it out next time we are in southern Utah (which should be this September). Below is a before and after picture of the arch. Here is a link for more information.

Family BBQ

Tonight we went to the parents house for a BBQ. Cliffy was back in town to get his wife (he flew in this morning). They are leaving tomorrow morning, so one last hang out before they left. We spent some time looking through their Omaha house book. I picked one out for them. A 6 bedroom, 5.5 bath mansion for 1.39 million dollars. I think that one would be great. I am sure for that price they will have automatic sprinklers so you do not have to drag a hose around to keep the grass green.

Have a safe drive home and keep us posted on the house hunting!

Gas Prices...Not Going Anywhere

Even though the national average has fallen to $3.88 a gallon, gas here in Utah is still $4.15 at most stations. Some stations have fallen to $4.09. LD said when she was at Costco over the weekend the price was still $4.03. The price does not look like it is coming down soon. According to this SL Tribune article "profit-taking" is happening. With this quote hasn't the fuel companies basically said they are colluding to keep prices high, to make up for when profits were not as good. I do not think that any stations ever sold for a loss, so now getting more profit just seems wrong, I guess $11.7 billion is not enough for them. You see, the station owners are paying most of their money to the big oil companies, so even though the station might actually be "owned" by big oil, the money all goes upstream, so the guy at the counter is getting pinched just like you and I when he has to fill his tank.

These oil guys really like being crooks.

Readaholics

My kids have become readaholics over the past week. Chloe finished The Host (over 700 pages) so she could start Breaking Dawn. Jordan has read Twilight and New Moon (over 1000 pages combined) and is now on Eclipse so he can read Breaking Dawn once Chloe is done.

Reading is great, and I love it that the kids want to read so much, but these kids need to see the sun a little bit during the day. They need to call some friends and work on their personal skills.

It is starting to look like I will have to read Breaking Dawn now. I was going to wait and take it to Prague (you always need something to read on an 11 hour plane ride), but the pressure at home will be too much. Plus, Jordan can't withhold secrets to a book like Chloe and Diana can.

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog

If you have not checked out Dr. Horrible's blog you need to. It is funny. This movie/website/blog was created and written by Joss Whedon, the same guy that created Buffy the Vampire Slayer (my favorite TV show ever), Angel (an awesome show), and Serenity (the TV show and the movie). Joss is a genius and almost everything he does is great. Dr. Horrible is another item in the great list for Joss. Hopefully this keeps going on for a while.

Neil Patrick Harris is also in this. This guy is hilarious. If you do not watch How I Met Your Mother (Mondays on CBS) you are missing out. Harris's Barney is the funniest character on TV right now. You must watch!

Let me know what you think of Dr. Horrible!

Rebuttal from Production

LD in production as work commented this on my Geek Update post:

You are so full of crap! Production has workflow! You make it sound like the entire Production team has no direction and is running amuck! It's good that Production has you to save us.

I do not think LD read the whole post. This is what I said:

Production process in SharePoint. Currently, our Production team has no workflow within their processes. I am going to add the workflow. Production uses a system called Bedrock and they also enter all their info into SharePoint. Hopefully by the end of the quarter Bedrock will only be needed for upcoming research and publishing, SharePoint will handle the rest.

What I put is the truth. Production pushes a button and then a person sends an email to alert someone to do something else. My objective is to try and take out the extra work (sending emails and all the double work that is done in Bedrock and SharePoint currently). I do not know why LD got so emotional over all this, I never said production was running amok (she did), I said there is not a workflow in their processes (which in itself says they have a process and follow it), which it 100% true. As far as saving production with my work; no, I am just trying to take some extra work off their hands and hopefully help the company out at the same time.

There you go, feel free to comment how you need to.

Step Up 2: The Streets

Saw another movie. Do not waste your time on this one. The first one is much, much better. This one really did not have any really good dance moves. It was really weak. I give this movie 1 out of 5 stars. If you are thinking of renting this movie, stop and do something else.

Geek Update

I am going to geek out for a minute. Feel free to stop reading now if you couldn't care less about what I do at my job.

The new quarter for me at work started on July 1, but I took so much time off I am barely into my objectives for this quarter. I am trying to take them on but it could be a tight quarter. My objectives this quarter include the following

• Helping the Consulting team. So far I have implemented a SharePoint list for engagement starts and stops that will hopefully free up some time for our Consulting Program Manager. I am also looking at upgrading the Consulting SharePoint dashboard. I don't know what I would put on it, most of their info is in a separate repository so SharePoint can't even access it.
• Production process in SharePoint. Currently, our Production team has no workflow within their processes. I am going to add the workflow. Production uses a system called Bedrock and they also enter all their info into SharePoint. Hopefully by the end of the quarter Bedrock will only be needed for upcoming research and publishing, SharePoint will handle the rest.
• Vendor Briefing process and system. This objective started last quarter and we are going to try and finish it this quarter. We have a process locked down and now we just need to start actually building the system. I will leave this part to IT, and just step in when the training and roll-out time comes.
• Catalyst Conference Europe. There is another Catalyst in October in Prague. I have to do all the speaker registration and preparation stuff again. I also will be working on the complimentary consultations system again. We are using the same system as we did in North America, which means a lot of work upfront to have a great system onsite.
• Client Research Assistant tracking. The new client research assistant position that I manage needs to have some kind of tracking associated with it. We need to know when the correct time to start hiring more research assistants is. I have already built a dashboard that lists most of what the research assistant is working on and have presented to my boss about the current status of the project is. Once I can get the dashboard officially rolled out this objective might be complete.
• SharePoint improvements for Content. This is a catch all for a lot of stuff. When I originally created dashboards there was no integration with calendars or emails. I now have to get all of these things working. I have part of this done and I am showing it off to a couple of the guys tomorrow. Hopefully this will be complete and done as well.

Sorry if my geek update bored you to death. You can save this post next time you can't get to sleep.

Augustana Review, Part 1

I bought the new Augustana album, "Can't Love, Can't Hurt" a couple weeks ago. I have given it time to see if the greatness has worn off. It hasn't.

Hey Now

Hey Now could be one of the greatest first songs on an album. It is great. I love this song and it rocks. I do not think there is anyone that could listen to this song and deny its greatness. The song itself is about standing for something, and how there comes the time when you are on your own. This song alone makes the album worth it. I give this song 5 stars and if the scale went up tot 6 I would give it 6.

I Still Ain't Over You

This song is the new single on the radio, and when you hear it you think you have it heard it a million times - and surprisingly, you are not sick of it yet. Quick lesson on how the calendar works for you: one year and fourteen months is actually two years and two months. This song is another 5 star song.

Sweet and Low

This is the song that I bought the album for and the only one I had heard before I got this album. This song is another great one. Another 5 star song. I think this song is about how things go bad, it is just inevitable, all that matters is how you deal with it.

Twenty Years

I think this song is great. Twenty Years is about following that dream all the way. Even twenty years. Longer if you need. Sometimes you even need to go off on your own to make things happen for you, leave the people you love as you chase your dreams. This is a great song and I am sure it was twenty years in the making for these guys. I give this song 5 stars.

Meet You There

This song reminds me of the Gin Blossoms, and I love the Gin Blossoms. Another 5 star song.

I just can't believe how great the first five songs on this album are. I do not get sick of them and by now I have listened to each one 30 or 40 times. Every time one of these songs comes on the iPod I perk up to listen and rock with them.

I Hate Yard Work

I hate yard work. It is such a waste of time. It is like making your bed. The grass just grows back and you have to do all the yard work all over again. It is just annoying. Tonight I weed-eated and mowed the front and back yard. If you have seen my yard the back is huge and it takes a long time to get it done. Times like this I wish I had a small yard, but then where would the kids play? I just hate it that I do all the work tonight and I know that this Saturday or Friday or next Monday I will have to do it all over again. The problem is I hate the winter too, so that is not the answer. Maybe if I lived somewhere that grass grows really slow. Any one know that place?

Today I Did...

At midnight I was at the WalMart getting the new Stephanie Meyer book (Diana has been reading all day). You can feel like you get a lot done when you are doing something at midnight, when officially I think I would have to count that as something I did yesterday and not really today.

Chloe had wanted to sign up for soccer with a friend and that was at 9AM, so me and the kids headed over there. Chloe was too old to be on her one friends team (these girls are maybe 8 months age difference, but the soccer league goes by school year), so she looked at the teams that were in her age group and saw another friends name. She was happy to be doing this. It is a pretty big time investment for Diana and I. Practices will be Tuesdays at 5:30 (almost the same time as Webelos) and then games are Saturday at 4:30PM. If you want to come to a game let me know and I can give you the address of where they play. She will play until October 25th. That is quite a while. Chloe was happy she got to do this. Jordan can't play a lot of sports because he cannot take a shot to the face. We stopped and got him McDonalds to cheer him up.

I needed to finish setting up my office, I had not done anything in months. We had Jordan upstairs, but his dressers were still in the living room. I started moving things out of his room and taking them downstairs. Thanks to Diana for actually cleaning everything off, so I just had to move the big stuff. The kids helped and before we knew it it was noon. We were getting ready to go to the store to get a present for a birthday party Chloe was going to today at 3PM, except that the party actually started at noon. Diana got a reminder on her phone. We ran to the store and got the present and dropped Chloe off. Jordan and I continued to move stuff downstairs or into Diana's scrapbooking room until it was time to pick up Chloe.

We pick Chloe up and have a couple errands to run. We stop at Blockbuster to get some new movies, you will hear more about these when I review them. I also stopped at Radio Shak to get a wireless USB stick to install in Diana's new computer. We go to WalGreens to pick up some prescriptions. We got one for FREE, I do not know why, the girl just said that the insurance was picking up the whole cost this time and next time it would be its regular $10. Lastly we stopped at Chloe's dance to see when she will having dance this fall. She got assigned Thursday nights.

Once we got home I continued to do things that I have been meaning to do for a while. I got Diana's computer all set up. I am typing these blogs on it now, with a USB stick as wireless adapter. It is pretty cool, and better than having to install a wireless card. Works great. I also got the Wii onto the internet. Now I can start playing Mario Kart against people online as well as I can now buy old games like Super Mario Bothers to play on the Wii. Diana and I love the old Mario games and I am sure we will own them all soon. I did set the parental controls on the Wii so there could not be internet surfing downstairs without supervision and the kids will need a code to buy anything.

Under Diana's desk where the computer is she has a foot massager. It is cool, but I am not a big fan of foot massages. When I stand up after using it for a while my feet feel really weird. I think I have almost worn out the batteries today.

That has been the day so far. I still need to move Jordan's dressers to him room, I think I will do that as soon as I am done with this. I am installing software on Diana's desktop, so I have time to get up and do things between install commands.

With all this typing today you would think I get paid by the word.

Diana is getting close to being done with the book.

I Like Bacon

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

We watched The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford last night. It was very slow moving and awkward. It was not a bad movie, but it was not very good either. Brad Pitt made a good Jesse James. Casey Affleck (this dude can act, unlike his brother), was very good as the coward Robert Ford. I think most of you know the story that Jesse James was killed in his own home, by a friend Robert Ford. I knew this and the title of the show kind of gives it away. You know that at some point there will be a show down between the two of them. It is pretty cool. I did not know what happened afterward.

**START SPOILERS**
Robert Ford tries to become famous as the person that killed Jesse James, and for a while all is good. Everyone loves him. As time goes on, people turn on him. As more time passes people start to hate him and make fun of him. Jesse James was like a national hero even though he was one of the bad guys. Robert Ford is eventually murdered in his own bar, and no one really cared. The End.
**END SPOILERS**

I give this movie 3.5 out of 5 stars. It is good, the acting is great. I really like the narration that was done in the movie. This movie could have had a better rating if it did not seem so awkward in places. Matbe that is how they wanted it to be.

Introducing...

I am very pleased to announce that Diana has started her own blog. You can check it out here: http://dianasthoughtfulspot.blogspot.com/. Hopefully she keeps saying good things about me. I will also add this link to my blog role on the right-hand side. I think Diana having her own blog could get very interesting as I am sure we will occasionally post on the same subject/event and you will be able to see both of our point of views.

Keep up the good work sweetie! And don't be ashamed about talking me up! It is all true.

Apocalypse Now (Redux)

I had never seen Apocalypse Now until last night. This is one of those movies that everyone has seen and there are phrases/tributes to it in other movies. The whole "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" and Martin Sheen coming up out of the mud/water are two of the most iconic moments in film ever, and they both come from this movie. Overall, I thought this movie was very well done, but boy was it long. Over 200 minutes! For all of you that don't know time very well that mean Apocalypse Now is over 3 hours and 20 minutes long. Since most people have seen this, I am not going to waste time doing a spoilers warning. This movie centers around a Captain (Martin Sheen) during the Vietnam war. This Captain must be one bad mother, he went through his "tour," he was an assassin; but now the powers that be wanted him back for one last assignment. There is a Colonel that has gone mad, he is in the middle of the jungle just doing his own thing, and the heads of the war do not like that one bit. Martin Sheen is taken on a boat up the river and most of this movie is the journey to find the Colonel. As Martin and his team go up the river they see some Playboy Bunnies, French resistance fighters, complete anarchy, soldiers that want to be surfers, and more Playboy Bunnies (this time they get some "personal time" with the Bunnies. This movie is just too long, and maybe this is because I did see the Redux version that was a little longer, but I do not know how much longer. Diana saw this when she was younger and couldn't remember what had been added (or taken away - but I doubt they removed anything). Eventually the team (whoever is left that is) make it to where the Colonel is staying. He is living with some natives and the native treat him like a God. They love him and do whatever he asks. The Colonel is played by Marlon Brando. Now that Martin Sheen has met him he is trying to decide if he really is mad or if he is right in all of his ramblings. In the end, even though Martin Sheen feels for Brando, he is an Army guy and he kills him (relieves him of his command". Martin is then allowed to leave by the natives (who all bow down to him) and the movie is over. You never get to see if he actually makes it back to the base, as his journey up was so wild I don't see him living through getting back - if he wants to go back at all.

This movie is a classic and I can see why. It is epic before Hollywood really made epics. It is a great war movie and I do not know how the movie makers got the army to go along with making it (there was so many helicopters and other items you would have to assume the Army went along with it). I give this movie 3.75 out of 5 stars. That might seem low because of all the praise I gave this movie, but it was LONG, and I do not think it had to be so long.

why?

I am at the walmart waiting for the new vampire book. Good times. Line moving well. Probably 300 people.