Flooding in Trenton

On Tuesday night my wife and I were woken up by the noise of a firetruck outside our house.  As we peeked through the shades, one of the fireman caught us and waved us down.  Upon opening the door, he notified us that the Delaware River was going to crest in the afternoon and an emergency evacuation was placed in the western part of Trenton.  We had until 10 am to leave.

Since then I have been sleeping on a sofa-bed in my in-laws basement.  Not that it was the only place to sleep, nor that I wanted to keep out of their way… but it was the only thing I could fit in (Curse of being 6′ 3″).

It is now three days later and we have the “good news” that we may be able to return to our residence as early as Tuesday.

 If karma is for real, somebody owes me back big time. 

Random Thought

When I see pictures of Medusa, she is wearing make up. 

How does she put it on so well?  It’s not like she can use a mirror.

Facing Reality

It's a hard day in a person's life when the president of the Information Technologies section looks them dead in the eye and says, "You're such a tech-geek."

Worse if they are right.

Warning, Trekkies Approaching…

It takes a special sort of person to be a Star Trek fan.  There is the dedication to the uniform, patience to learn Klingon, and the countless hours of stretching and training necessary for giving the proper Vulcan greeting.

 My god, the stretching!

Anyhoo, the NY Times tipped me off to many sites where Trekkies have taken fate into their own hands and made their own amateur films of Star Trek.  In the article, they list several of the better quality and more popular series fans have come up with. 

Who Wants to Be a Superhero- TV Show

Ever wonder If you are really a superhero, or have the potential to become one? 

Do you wander around your house or neighborhood in tights and a cape sporting a different persona?

Have you ever broken your wrist trying to see if you had the ability to fly?

 Thank goodness, the SciFi channel has created a reality TV seriesthat will be able to determine, once and for all, if you have the ability to be a superhero.  Comic book deity, Stan Lee, will audition the hundreds, dare I say thousands, of applicants and pick the best costumes and personas.  From there, they will endure many different role play challenges in order to face their fears and see if they truly have the mettle to be super.  The winner gets their own comic series, I believe.

 Although, I have no care to watch this series the whole way through, I have a feeling the tryout episodes could be absolutely hysterical.

Are Flash Drives the Future for Hard Drives?

The New York Times has a great article about two companies attempting to make flash drives large enough to hold all of your computer’s information on it. Considering the inevitable destruction of a computer’s hard drive versus the convenience and portability of a flash drive, the idea has tremendous applications.

Think about how, if a flash contains all your programs and information, the computer is now simply the vessel to reach the information (rather than the bank of information that it is now).  Potentially, computers become ‘readers’ instead. 

It could change the face of computer/Internet cafes, companies workspace, and public computers in places like the library.

There is still a long way to go and a lot of red tape to cover.Windows can’t be installed on the flash drives, Flash drives are easy to steal, computers themselves can be unpredictable and phantom spy-ware could easily be installed on computers/readers making theft easy. 

It could be a good 10 years down the road before we really the fruits and potential of Flash-hard drives, but is this the way we start to change the PC?  Could this be the beginning of another tech revolution?

Request for the John Iliff memorial podcast

I received a very nice email from Karen Iliff today, widow of John Iliff.  She thanked me for the efforts in trying to create a memorial podcast in her husband's name.  She also asked if there was a way to put these on CD as a keepsake. 

I would like to give everyone one last chance to visit the Iliff Podcast Memorial and leave a message before I burn the CD.  I think it would be an incredible gift to provide Karen.  The number is 206-339-7322. 

I can admit that leaving a message felt a little weird because I felt like I had to say the right thing.  Please, don't worry about it, it really doesn't matter.  The point is to just take a moment and relive a fond memory with John.  Remember, no matter how it sounds, John would be the first one to smile simply for the fact that you made a podcast! 

Why I Love My Civic

I’ve always been a fan of Hondas.  My first car was an Accord, which lasted 13 years.  Then a drunk driver hit it while it was parked.

Well, he actually hit my wife’s car, then her car jettisoned into my car, destroying both of them.  Don’t worry, the driver was fine… he was even able to attempt driving away from the scene.

So, when it came time to buy a car again, I chose to go with the Honda Civic.  Now, with the rising gas prices, I am happier than ever with my purchase.

With my previous job, which was all local driving, my car managed over 300 miles to its 11 gallon tank… respectable enough.  However, since starting my new job, which is almost completely all highway driving, the car has managed to put out 390 miles before I refill it!  The fuel light has not gone off at this mileage either.

Sad to say, it still costs me $30 bucks to fill the tank.

Future Cost of College

About.com has a College Cost Calculator that estimates the price of education in the year your child starts college. 

For people simply interested in seeing what the rate of inflation brings, this is kind of neat.

For new parents and those looking to start or expand their family, it is like getting hit in the face with a hundred dollar bill…. projectiled from a very large cannon.

I'm starting to understand why my parents resented name-brand fasion statements. 

Past Two Weeks

My friend once told me that I would win a car on the day that I lost my license.  I know just what he means, my luck can be absolutely crazy.

 I just started a new job and that means that I have a probationary status that does not include sick days.  Since starting this position three weeks ago, my health has gone like this:

It started with a broken toe, but not at work (that would provide comp).  It hurt but work was doable. 

Two days later, I got a really bad case of food poisoning, I couldn't hold anything down for nearly two days.  Fortunately, this was over the weekend and I didn't need to miss work for it. 

I recuperated from that and cuaght a cold/flu lasting the rest of the week.  I held things down in very small portions (but not for very long).  I had to go to work because, as I said before, I have no sick days.  I made it through the week and into the weekend. 

On Sunday, as I am finally recuperated from everything else, I broke out the weedwhacker to trim around the fence.  The extension chord caught underneath my car tire so I gave it a light tug.  The ever-so-minor resistance between these two things was enough to completely throw my back out somehow.  I spent the day on the floor fighting off spasms while my six month old daughter playfully kicked me in the head for entertainment purposes.

I can walk today but hardly at anything I would call upright, something more along the lines of what I would imagine to be a neanderthal-like saunter. 

So, with the past two weeks in consideration please allow me a brief statement:

"Hey God, whatever I did to piss you off these last two weeks… my bad."