Nick Postagulous
Saturday, February 28, 2004
Fate
So, as I was headed out to Auto Zone on Hughes Rd, because my instrument panel hood broke earlier in the day and I was going to get some plastic epoxy, as I was leaving Postwood Ct, I had to actually stop at the yeild becuase an S2000 was going by. We were both stuck behind a mamamobile on Slaughter Rd, but once we got onto Eastview, a very hilly and twisty road, we started tear-assing around.
Basically, it seems that I handle better than Mr. S2000 but he has me in the straight and steep parts. By the time we got stuck behind a minivan, we had gotten up to 80 mph in the 35 mph speed limit area.
On my way back from Auto Zone, there was a minivan pulled over by a cop in that area.
Broken Dash
So, about that broken dashboard. When Alison and I were coming out of our credit union (it's like a bank, but funner) and got into the Miata, I noticed that the dash looked odd. Oh, heck, just go read about it here: No no no no! My Dash Just Broke!
Friday, February 27, 2004
Wow, The Future Is HERE!
I've thought that this device should exist for a long time. Basically, if you're on vacation or whatever, and you fill up your camera's memory card, you just offload it to this portable 20gig drive. No need for a computer. It seems like a montra of the future is No Need For A Computer. Hmm: BUSlink Portable Photo Bank USB Hard Drive With 7-In-1 Card Reader
The Camera Came In
Very cool. Dave, the seller, forgot to include the cable to offload the images. He did include some odd propietary cable. We're havin' an old fashioned cable swap. Yee haw. He also said he was throwing in the compact flash reader that he used. This is very nice of him. I got this thing at a great deal and he included a custom made elitist-brand leather case (though I like the nylon n' rubber Nokia case better) and three of the propritary batteries. Groovy. Also, he included free pictures from around his house on the 128 meg card. Oh, and his cat peed in the box he shipped it in. But not on any of my stuff.
Space Hydra Tough Table Spam from "Adopting R. Highfalutin"
I don't normally read spam. But the name on this one got my attention, especially since we're adopting and some people, I think it was Conan O'Brian, have joked that adopting from China is the new status symbol in NYC. I personally don't think that's very funny, but Conan's gotta make a living.
The spam starts out with what I first thought was some oddly phrased gibberish, but actually is a stupid invite to their hot girly web page, then ends with lists of random words. So, here is the text from Adopting R. Highfalutin's spam (only edited to remove two URLs):
Hey Postwood,
did you forge about me, That personal site kicked me off for being explicit can you believe? So I got someone else to put something up for me, tell me what you think and leave me a message. I really want to get together with you.
leave me a message here I'll reply asap
[Spam URL removed]
ciaotill tonight
light black stone knife knots alone jewel shore human queer stirs abets night
[Fake remove from list URL removed]
space hydra tough table final black field orbit fifth robot glass alone being bases spoke an risks fired kitty brace these cream egypt house kiosk brush as world intel abase route clear image knelt sales spell heavy frogs taken the sharp and alley tacit as karat ended medal abode bombs tense zazen licks sulks fluid sable plain helps thank. also quiet candy march jerry taken craft video chevy final bored wines known piano safes loads the texas snout alias stops also field anvil glory helps and cabin basic salsa bench skill craze leave jazzy a cargo above sight holds geese crate right holes whole youth weepy yards cream abeam sacre quota yards woken safes lives human paste carom third heavy woods radar being the. fugue stuff acted claws usual brain
digit layer final kiosk and lower bumpy reads motor a least and named cadge entry sabot
child asked first.
Is this the spam of the future? Why, back in the day, we had spam that advertized something. Either hot latino action or reducing your home mortgage, but usually enlarging your penis, but it was all for something. None of this "human paste carom third heavy woods radar" nonsense. Though it was good to hear that "heavy frogs taken the sharp and alley tacit."
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Family Guy Season 3 Sucks BIGTIME
Two days ago, something strange happened. In the past month, Alison and I would watch the Family Guy that came on Adult Swim while we ate dinner. Stewie always said "F'in' Cry", now he says "Laugh an' Cry". And that's not the wost part of it:
* There is no more Quagmire, Cleaveland, or Patrick Warburton character.
* They killed off Peter's boss and destoyed his work.
* They had Peter, offhandedly, buy someone elses lunch. This wouldn't happen.
* They had Stewie say supportive things to Peter. This wouldn't happen.
* They had Peter idolize the cool guy at the Renassance Fair.
Now while that last one might sound like a funny thing, it wasn't played as one. And, generally, the show is unfunny now. Alison and I have not been able to watch the last two we started it was so bad.
Worse
I had to leave the room when Tyra Banks had her lil' music video on Americas Next Top Model. Baarf!
Don't You Just Hate Tall Cars
1992 Honda Accord Sedan 54.70" Tall
2000 Focus Wagon 53.90" tall
1994 Mazda Miata 48.20" tall
Source: autos.msn.com
Woob woob woob woob!
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Ya Know, I Talk About My Miata A Bit
But we also own a Ford Focus. I remember reading articles about the Focus back when we didn't have it and it was the European Car O' The Year two years in a row. I drove a Zx3 when they first came out, just to see what they were like. And, when Alison totalled her 626 on that strange day were her doctor first told us we'd never have DNA babies, that led to us getting the Focus. It's no BMW 535i, but it is a great lil car that can do whatever it needs to. And, hey hey, they're redesigning it for 2005. The picture is a link:
Updated Stats
The waiting stats updated last Friday. Based on the current data, the average wait from DTC to referral is 263 days. The wait from referral to travel is 49. So, based on our DTC of 9/9/3, our referral might come on May 29, which is actually a Saturday, and our travel will begin on July 17, which is also a saturday (duh, since 49 is a 7x7).
Doomsday Algorithm
There's a way you can tell what day of the week any date in this year is. This year, Doomsday is Feb 29, a Sunday. Normally it's the 28th. January 31st is usually the same as Doomsday, but leapyear messed that up this year. It's Saturday rather than sunday.
Every even number month has that month's number as Doomsday, or Sunday this year. April 4 is Sunday. June 6 is Sunday (and Alison's birthday). August 8 is Sunday. October 10 is Sunday. December 12 is Sunday.
What about the rest? Rember this: I work 9 to 5 at the 7-11. The fifth month it's on the ninth. The ninth month it's on the fifth. Same with seven and eleven. So, May 9, July 11, Sept 5, and Nov 7 are Sundays.
I learned this years ago. I don't know why it's called doomsday. Enjoy.
Reading Back
I was reading a little of what I've written recently and noticed that I'd said that I was going to get the cheap $15 carbon based plug wires for Alison's car. Well, I didn't. I got $43 pretty dang good wires. Heck, those cost more than the Mazda rebranded NGKs that I keep on my Miata. Sheesh.
Work Your Fingers To The Bone, And What Do You Get?
Boney fingers. When I got home yesterday, I washed Alison's car. It took a long time as it was very filthy. I ran out of Eagle One A2Z so her wheels get to stay dirty. After I finished washing and drying her car. I did the tires, which were still dirty, but I'd rather them be conditioned (EO Wet Tire Shine, buffed off). Then I "RainXed" her car. But I don't think anyone uses RainX anymore. I actually used Castrol Accuvision. Unless Accuvision is that contact brand, then it was something else similar. Then I headed out and put air in Alison's tires (37 up front, 35 in back) and got us some McDonald's. I'm getting sick of fast food too. Friday = Burger King. Saturday = Taco Bell. Sunday = Burger King. Monday = McDonald's. Heck, I think I'll just have a protein drink today.
My Killer Lighting Rig That Ugly As Sin
Also on Sunday, I went by Home Depot and got a gift card for Carol, Alison's sister, for her birthday. Not only that, but I got two cheap reflector lights with ceramic bases so they can take up to 250 watt bulbs. I was only able to find 200 watt bulb there though. Those are now mounted in the front of my Miata's parking spot in the garage. They let out a lot of light. Very cool.
In other news, I shaved my head and trimmed my goatee. I needed to trim that too. It looked like I was biting a chinchilla.
Monday, February 23, 2004
Mistargeted advertising
When I was replying to my NASA Contact's email, where he sent a ganormous pdf where he's been published in some journal, the ad that yahoo decided to target me with was for the Envirolet, the worlds most environmentally friendly toilet. Who do they think I am? The unibomber? Obviously not, as the next ad was for refinancing my house. Grizzly Adams owned a house, didn't he?
Shock and Awe
I flinch at my own use of that cliche. And it also bothers me that I can't easily put a ' over that e. But back to the point, it seems that JC Whitney has Gabriel Gas Ryder shocks. Those are very cheapo shocks. In fact, they seem to be the OEM shock on many cars, but with the brand covered up (that brand would actually be Tokiko) and painted black. I've put in a word to a guy who installed some on his Miata in 2002 and I'm waiting to see what his verdict is. I can get the Gabriels, three quarts of Royal Purple 75w90 synthetic gear oil, and a cheesy chrome palm tree license plate surround for under $200, with $15 shipping.
Why, I use Royal Purple...Royal Purple...Royal Purple...B-caaack!
And sure, I could buy Mobil 1 75w90 synthetic gear oil for about 30 cents less per quart at the local Advance Auto, but there's just something nice about saying Royal Purple. And on Miata.net, the question is routinely asked, "Hey, I've never changed out my transmission and differential, what do you guys use?" and in that case, I'll be able to say, "Why, I use Royal Purple." That sounds much better than "I use Mobil 1" or "I use some cheap non-synthetic". Or, the worst is to come off as some looney by saying, "I only put Amsoil products in my car." Yeah, and I only buy Amway products and worship the Emperor Xenu. Freaks.
Oakleaf Hydrangea...Oakleaf Hydrangea...B-caaack!
A few years ago, when my parents lived in the big, expensive, life savings swallowing, $600k+ house on the lake, they had Oakleaf Hydrangeas (B-caaack...Oakleaf Hydrangea...) all around the house. Anytime we'd talk about the yard's landscaping, which was often since my dad knows a lot about that kind of thing, inevitably, within a few minutes the phrase Oakleaf Hydrangea (B-caaack...Oakleaf Hydrangea...Oakleaf Hydrangea...B-caaack!) would be mentioned. And then, whether talking to mom or dad, every couple of minutes the phrase would be mentioned again. I think I burned out the Oakleaf Hydrangea(...Oakleaf Hydrangea...B-caaack!) center of my brain. B-caaack!*
*This is an onomatopoeia that is supposed to sound like a parrot.
Saturday, February 21, 2004
Learned Some New HTML
To make a link open in a new window, after the a-href-whatever part, put in a target="_blank". That's it. Groovy. Now I'm putting the masking back on at godaddy, so the site will be down between 3-3:30 pm Central, or, in other words, for the next 30 minutes.
What Digital Camera Would You Buy, Nick Postagulous?
A while back, I was totally sold on getting the Minolta Dimage X20. It's a great digital camera and it's very small. It has a 3x zoom and uses AA batteries. But, I have one difference in needs as far as other people go. I'll be in China for about 3 weeks snapping pictures like crazy. I want to be able to take around 1000 pictures at one go. The X20 uses SD cards, which are more expensive than CF, or Compact Flash cards.
I also considered the Nikon Coolpix 2500. It had a 3x zoom and used CF cards, but also used a strange proprietary battery. But, it turned out that this strange rechargable was cheap as dirt. This picture isn't the coolpix 2500, a 2 megapixel camera, but the 3500, what I just bought for under $190, including shipping, off ebay.The fellow selling it only had a rating of 3. I looked at his former transactions. He bought a watch for $700. People who buy watches, used, for $700 consider the Nikon Coolpix 3500 to be an outdated toy. I consider it to be one hella cool camera.
He is including a spare battery and 32mb and 128mb CF cards. I've been looking at the CF cards on ebay and I'm not sure why the Memorex brand 512 cards seem to sell for about 20% less than the other brands. I used google and found they are actually Toshiba cards rebadged as Memorex, but no problems with them at all except one dude trying to boot a linux machine off one (whatever).
3500 Links: Imaging Resource Review, Steve's Review, Review at Megapixel.net (there are six pages, you have to pick from a dropdown menu up top), Google finding a bazillion reviews, Pbase sample pictures.
I'm very happy. I was considering the 2500 out of my price range but the ideal camera. I was about to get the Canon A300, but it's lack of zoom got me down pretty quckly, especially since Zoe said that her X20 (baby blue, bought in HK) had a great zoom.
I know that Zelda and Jones want to know that I end up getting. For Jones's use, I'd suggest the A300 or the X20. For Zelda, I'd say this camera or the 2500 or the X20. (Jones mostly wants to document his carnival glass collection for insurance purposes.) Both the A300 and X20 are recognized as portable drives by Windows. I really would have gotten an X20, but the SD card cost too much. Plus, I got this sweet 3 megapixel camera off some American Psycho/Magnum PI type and a really low price.
Friday, February 20, 2004
"It's All Messed Up In There"
That's a phrase that both Alison and her mom remember that Dr. Randall said after peeking inside Alison with his laproscope and crazy robot arms. Seems the adhesions are back. From the pictures of her insides, it looks like ribbons of muscle wrapped around everything. It's got her uterus and bowels mostly. Dr. R didn't cut any of it out. He did comment that he'd never seen a person's insides that looked like that. I'm not sure what that means. I'm getting everything that Dr. Randall said through the filter of Alison and her mom.
Dr. Obvious
Dr. Randall, who last week told Alison that he didn't know why the other doctors said Alison couldn't make babies, said, "I don't think you'll ever be able to have kids." Dur. But I must gripe about the phrasing choice. She isn't going to be able to make kids, or make babies, or make people out of her woman box, but we'll have a kid in, hopefully, a few months.
In fact, our daughter is alive out there somewhere. And I'm not talking about just gestating around, she's waking up in the mornings and laughing and crying and whatnot. We estimate that we'll get our referral in May, which means we'd get her in July.
But Alison is fine, relatively. She's checked out lots of books and has been recording stupid shows off HGTV and TLC all week to watch while she's stuck in bed.
Surgery
Well, I just dropped off Alison at her mother's house. I need to save my leave up for our adoption trip, so I'm not able to fret around in the waiting room while they're slicing and dicing on Alison. Actually, it's lapro, so they're really just poking holes in her and inserting robot arms.
Quarters
Ever since the new, special quarters came out, I've been not spending them. I wouldn't say that I'm collecting them, since I could really care less. I suppose I thought they were neat at first, but the designs for each state are pretty weak. At least we did Helen Keller and not some random crap like most other states. I mean, why do the outline of the state with your state bird and some flower. Who cares what your state is shaped like? And that bird and flower, hey, your neighboring states have that too. But, yeah, Helen Keller's from around here. ROCK!
Oh, but about those quarters. I've got about 11 lbs of them in a plastic pig. It used to be a bank, but Alison wanted to get examples of each quarter out of it for her sister, so she cut my pig up. (Now that's good google fodder.) And now that it's open, well, I think I need to buy that digital camera sooner rather than later.
Pictures
And speaking of cameras, we picked up some film from Wal-Mart yesterday. And, first off, Wal-Mart's developing sucks. When I see pictures that are in the same setting with the same lighting, etc, etc, and some come out orangey. Hey, that means your developing sucks.
Oh, but besides that, I can't take pictures worth beans. Considering that I own about 10 cameras total, I just am not the best photographer. Alison tends to take good pictures, but her composition is questionable. She tends to put things in the middle of the picture, where if you put them slightly off center it makes a better composition. But I can't hold my hands still or something. I deeply regret that my picture of Sea Onion came out blurry. Arr, blast that scurvy Sea Onion.
Nippley Co-Workers
Alabama is not a terribly cold place. But, this time of year, it will be in the 30s or 40s in the morning and warm up to the 50s in the afternoon. Some coworkers that I have, named Ed, will not wear a jacket because they come from hearty lumberjack stock (or something). But Ed, when he's cold in the morning, is always poking his man nips up at us. Sheesh, if you were some hottie cheerleader, sure, that'd be fine. Well, no, actually that would be more distracting. Not just the nipples, but the beard too.
Thursday, February 19, 2004
Read About Spark Plugs?
You may want to fish out that Paul Simon Hearts & Bones CD and listen to "Maybe I Think Too Much" as you read this:
Google Groups: View Thread "Spark plug comparisons?"
What's Different About Today?
I know that's generally the topic I write about. I'm meaning to do more on the topic of "Stuff I Think About" but generally it's daily anomalies.
Today, I used an exfoliant on my face in the shower. I'd been feeling a little crossant like, if you know what I mean. I also visited Plant 2 to help Leafy with some odd XLS thing. And on the way home I'll buy Alison some plug wires and an air filter. I'll be getting the cheapo $15 plug wires and a Purolator air filter. I decided on the cheapo carbon type plug wires after reading up on what makes a good plug wire at the Magnecor site. Magnecor makes some great wires, if you're freakin' able to lay golden eggs. But they lay out the science pretty well on this page I should buy some clay for my car, but as we're still in the middle of the winter and it won't stop raining, I'll hold off.
It actually has stopped raining. It was sunny yesterday also and yesterday was the First Top Down Day of 2004. I did have to wear a winter style cap to keep my ears from freezing. But it was 50 degrees. I'll have the top down on the way home today too. Woot!
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
My New Work Computer
I don't have it yet though. And I don't get that swank flat monitor. That'll sure beat the P2/400 I have with only 4 gigs o' harddrive.
What I'm looking forward to the most is the XP. Oh, NT4, how I hate your non-USBness. (Especially after I bought a 128 meg portable USB drive).
Angel: The Vampire Slayer Who's A Vampire Himself. Wacky!
Don't forget that tonight is the night that Angel gets turned into what I like to call a "Baptist Puppet". Oh, and they've been cancelled:
Yahoo! News - "Angel" Axed
Who Names Their Kid Nina?
I looked at the celebrity baby names an was please that only one had named their daughter Nina. But it was Weird Al.
Top Celebrity Baby Names of 2003
Work, CRT, Sleep, Work
After I got off work yesterday, I was totally unproductive. I didn't do a chore. I didn't even stop and get gas on the way home. As soon as I got home, I started playing Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando.
This picture I found to illustrate it is just plain stupid. First, Ratchet hasn't bought any armor yet. Second, he's fighting a bug the size of a house with a shotgun. When I was weak, and didn't have armor covering all my raccoon/squirrel/cat body and blocking 90% of all damage, I would use a rocket launcher or, as it turned out, my improved sniper rifle to take those things down. Now, heck, I've got the Ultra Mega Mini-Nuke. But, frankly, last time I was killing them I was trying to level up my Mega Sneaker Bomb. Two shots (six guided bombs) will take out one of those things easy.But I don't really kill those anymore. I'm on my third way through. I'm doing skill points. Yesterday, I did a level using only weapons from the first game, killed a boss only by punching, killed everyone one a level using only my wrench, killed 12 ducks, and some other difficult stuff. Skill points unlock things, like the making of video. But I needed to unlock the tuxedo, as Ratchet is covered head to toe in metal plates with his super armor on, and to quote my nephew Brad, "I missed Ratchet's face."
Then I watched TV. First, Alison and I watched 2 Family Guy episodes (the one where Peter joins a gun club because he feels his penis is too small and the one where Peter dies on the golf course and gets Peter Frampton to sing to his wife). Then we watched last week's America's Next Top Model. They kept the ugly bitchy girl since she makes good controversy. Then we watched American Idol, where everyone sucked. Then I watched some car shows. One was in the vein of the Monster Garage/House/Gerbil series types. Get people together to do something, have them bitch at each other and almost run out of time.
I don't remember the name of the show, but it could have been called Rice Rocket Makeover. A dude let these losers get ahold of his 2004 RX8. There were three people upgrading it. Dude 1 was putting in a better stereo and putting air dams on the front and back, and was totally against messing with the form by putting stickers on it. Dude 2 was doing the engine. He was just going to do a catback, change the intake, and tweak some settings. Dude 3 was the producer dude. He was doing the suspension. Oh, that and he pressured the engine guy into putting NOx on the car. With the NOx bottle, the subwoofer wouldn't fit, so Dude 1's first project is screwed up. Also, Dude 1's air dams didn't come in in time so the Producer Dude put some cheap graphic that would be lame even on a 1992 Eclipse on the side of this brand new RX8. I stopped watching before the end.
I did a little searching too. We're trying to get a lot of stuff that Alison will like on the Replay since she's having surgery on Friday. It's just some exploratory laproscopy. They think that that ovary, the one which has had two cysts the size of a coffee cup (different shape, slightly), has attached itself to some of her other guts. I was suspecting another cyst or something since she's been having pain there for a while. She's also going on a seasonal pill. Meaning that she'll only have a menstrual cycle every three months. This is good since hers are painful and last about two weeks. So half the time she had to deal with that.
I don't have any vacation to take to go with her. In fact, I'll probably have to do some leave without pay just to get our daughter. So, Friday morning, I'm taking Alison to her mom's house. Her mom's right eye isn't' working correctly right now, so she wants to keep the driving to a minimum. She'll drive Alison to her surgery and then back to her house. I'll pick Alison up at her mom's house and take her home. Alison doesn't have much leave either, but I think she's planning on being back to work by Tuesday.
Meanwhile, I think I've settled on the Canon A300 as far as digital camera go. It uses Compact Flash cards (512 megs for $100) rather than SD cards (512 megs for $160). And it uses AA batteries, and getting two sets of NiCad batteries and a charger would be $20. The A300 goes for just a little over $150 and is a 3.2 megapixel camera. No zoom, but small. A300 at Amazon, info at DPReview, review at Imaging Resource, review at Steve's, random sample images from PBase, prices at Dealtime, review at Digital Camera Basics (at the vet, we used to put the sprinkler out to get rid of the discoloration that dog pee would cause the lawn), and a search of rec.photo.digital for the A300.
I figure Camera (170) + CF 512 Card ($110) + rechargables ($20) = $300, and we will be able to take over 1000 pictures in China with that without offloading it. However, I'll also be in HK for two days at the beginning. And if I can get over the jetlag quick enough, I'll hit the consumer electronics markets. Wooo!
Tuesday, February 17, 2004
There Is No Spoon
Well, if you notice in your lil browser address area, you're not at www.postagulous.com anymore. I turned off the masking. Which actually, if you tried to come here at around 8 pm last night, got you to the godaddy.com site explaining that my URL was being screwed around with, which I was. The problem with the masking is that when a person wen to, say, that Nike site that I can't get to work right, or any other link off this page, that the www.postagulous.com would still be up there. And really, there is no www.postagulous.com.
Yeah Yeah...Boo
In a fit of frustration about me constantly talking about how one digital camera weighs up against another, Alison said that I could go ahead and buy one after she "balances the check book". Well, woooo hoooo. Except that we have to pay for the car tags. Boo. But that means only about two weeks of waiting. Yay. But I can't figure out what kind I want. Boo.
Yeah, life is rough.
Monday, February 16, 2004
Not My Car
And I can't decide if I think it's tragic or super cool. BTW, I have my ship in Ratchet & Clank 2 painted like this.
Rise, Property Value, Rise, Upon Your Mystery Ship
I pass the sign for O & S Holding's "World Famous" Bridge Street every day on my way home from work. It's a little odd that it's world famous and hasn't even been built yet. But with this thing being built and the new high school, new middle school, and how everything near the new Target is going crazy (and Target is within 2 miles of my house, I can even pick up their walkie talkies on my Motorola FRS radios), the property value of my urban sprawl cookie-cutter house is going up up up.
Site: The World Famous Bridge Street
Clocks
When I wake up in the morning, my alarm clock is actually my Palm IIIxe. I use the program Diddle Pad (now unavailable) and Alarm Hack (now unavailable). I stumble out of bed and into the bathroom. I take off my watch, and while I'm in the shower, the only time keeping device is the white clock hanging above the shower. When I get out of the shower, I put my watch on and get dressed. I put my Palm and my Nokia 3390 into my right front pocket of my jeans. The Nokia also keeps track of the time.
I go into the kitchen to make protien drinks for Alison and me. The oven/stove has a clock on it. There is also a clock on the wall. After breakfast, I go through the garage, which has a clock on the wall, and get in my car, which has a clock in the radio. I pass a dentists office with the time and temp outside on the way to work.
When I get into work, I clock in (yes, I know, breaks federal labor laws). In my office, I have a clock on the wall, my computer keeps time, and my HP48 calculator has an internal clock. If I work in the lab, the pH meter has a clock, there is a clock on the wall in there, and I think the remote control for the AC keeps the time. My work van has a clock, but for that matter all the cars in the parking lot do in general.
After work, if I watch TV or play on the Playstation, the sattelite box has a clock, the PS2 keep time, as does the ReplayTV. The VCR, since it doesn't have access to a raw cable feed, is unable to set it's clock, so it doesn't display it. No flashing 12:00 here, buddy.
Oddly, the more advanced units in my entertainment system don't have external displays. The DVD player, which doesn't know what time it is, PS2, sat receiver, ReplayTV, and Gamecube all don't have visible clocks. But they all, with the exception of the DVD player, do keep time.
Oh, and the computer upstairs keeps time. As does the clock in that room. Or, it would if I'd put a new battery in it.
Pardon Me While I Screw This Up
I'm making small changes to the template that blogger uses. I just upped the size of the text of the main portion of this and also the byline part...
Oops, my alarm on my Palm went off. Time to go finish my volatile acids in the lab. Seems that one of the digesters might end up going belly up soon. This analysis will show whether that's accurate or not.
Oh, and I want to write about clocks.
Sunday, February 15, 2004
Before & After
Yikes, how the ravages of time smash against my bad hairline. 1987 vs. 2003. And yes, there are better modern pictures of me. That was one that I took in the mirror while Alison was painting the master bathroom. That's my wild, agressive look. Grrr. Or maybe it's more, Hmm!
I Am Nick Postagulous of www.postagulous.com!
The domain I bought started working sometime Saturday it seems. I have put little forwarding messages on both my old diaryland and my temporary blogspot site. I haven't worked out exactly how I want the template on this to look. This template is called Jellyfish, and, as minimalist as it is, it's still a little too flashy for me. I was so happy with the boring ol' diaryland look.
So, why did I leave Diaryland? Because it was difficult to work with, for one. Uploaded images were always sorted alphabetically. This site is actually at bellsouth and I can FTP into it at any time to do work using WS_FTP in it's Norton Commander-like interface. Not only that, but I have ten megs of storage space here. I'm contemplating getting an account at Pbase also, so that I can have images from my yet unbought digital camera stored there.
What Digital Camera?
Well, there are rules that dictate what camera I'll get. Number one rule is that I will not spend over $200 on the thing. Another rule is as small as possible. Based on those two, and looking at people's comments and the sample images at Pbase, I narrowed it down to one 3 megapixel camera, the Canon A300, and three 2 megpix cameras, the Minolta X20, and the Sony U30 or P32. However, Alison interjected a little rule. She wanted zoom. So out went everything but the X20. And, when forced to have a zoom, that's when I discovered the Nikons. The 2500 rocks. It is at the top of my list. However, when we were at a Valentine's party on Friday, I was able to see a U30. Man, they are mucho small. So, really, that's back on the list. The person who had it made me realize how nice it was by saying, "You know the slide show we did on the mission trip down to Mexico you saw this last week? Every picture in that was taken with a U30." The images were projected to be approx 20 feet by 16 feet and they looked great.
This is not to be confused with the digital video camera we will be buying before we go to China (a Sony TRV250 more than likely). We also need to buy shocks for my car (probably KYB GR-2s, or whatever that acro is), and a crib. We don't charge anything anymore, so that makes things fun for the next few months.
Friday, February 13, 2004
