Literally just last week I told Sheri that if we ever get a boat I would like to name it either "Beagle", or maybe "Beagle II" out of respect for the original. Today I find out that the British launched a space craft in June to Mars named Beagle II.

Well, since their Beagle II is not a water craft I guess I could still use it. I certainly don't like the sound of "Beagle III". Also, I can't be the first person to ever think of this, so there has to be at least hundreds of other boats also named Beagle and Beagle II.


[click for full sized image]

I was up until 6:15 AM this morning. Mostly playing a game that I bought back in May or June, but have been too busy since then to spend much time with it. Once you get in the mode to play a computer game and finally settle down to do it, two hours can pass and you swear it only seems like 20 minutes. I just couldn't afford to do that when I was looking for a job or going to school.

This is the website for the game, IGI-2; Covert Strike. Take a look at some of the screen shots in the three galleries that they have. Some of them almost look like real photographs. This image is what it looks like when you are looking through a sniper rifle scope.

Who knew?

Michael Jackson has joined the Nation of Islam.

I just ordered Getting to Know ArcObjects from Amazon.com. What else do you do at 3:45 AM in the morning?

Text teaches programmers of all skill levels how to work with ArcObjects, using Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Teaches the basics of VBA programming.

This post is mostly for Mom. We talked about rewiring this cool old lamp that I got from my Grandparents in Akron. The socket is not your standard light bulb size, but one size bigger. I don't know if I have ever seen them in the store. When this burns out I think I would be screwed. The last picture shows the bulb in the lamp now next to a regular light bulb for comparison. The plastic globe is also cracked and is just barely balancing in place. There is a lamp shade that sits on top of the globe but is not pictured here. The lamp is all solid metal and ways a ton.

See how the globe just sort of balances on the socket base?

After we left Columbus last weekend we tried something new. Rather than go through Indianpolis on the way back to Chicago we went through Toledo. It is only 8.3 miles longer.

We had a nice lunch, relaxed for a couple of hours, and picked up and dropped off Christmas presents. Mom and Dad wanted us to open up a couple of presents they were excited about so they could see our reaction. One of them was this Sony under-cabinet radio/CD player that was on both of our Amazon wish lists. Very cool! I just mounted it today and took a picture of it. Very good rich sound for such a small slim package.

This is our little Christmas tree with all of the presents we brought back from Columbus and Toledo. Yeah!

The tree has lights but they got washed out from the flash.

Just received a notice that the county has increased the assessment of our house by 10.7%. Yeah! More taxes.

Here is Brad's computer tip of the day:

1. In Microsoft Internet Explorer, go to the "Tools" menu, and then select "Internet Options…" near the bottom.

2. It should open up a dialog box, and the "General" tab should be the one selected. In the middle of the General tab, in a section called "Temporary Internet files" click the button labeled "Settings…"

3. On the window that opens up, near the top it will say "Check for newer versions of stored pages:" and then have four choices below that. The default is "Automatically". To make sure you get the most recent version of a web page, check the option that says "Every visit to the page".

4. Click "OK" on that window, and "OK" on the original window.

Let me know if I confused you or got you lost somewhere.

I just got back from mailing a written and signed request plus a $5 check to have my official NIU transcripts sent to Ashland University so I can finally receive my MBA.

The State Department has just urged non-essential diplomats and families of American officials to leave Saudi Arabia.

When I was at Bank One they brought in a new manager. When I first heard the announcement it was a month or so before she would start. Her name was Susan Pony. Or so I thought. It turns out her name was Sue Zumpone, but when you say it fast it runs together, and I didn't see her name in print, just word of mouth.

Since I won't have classes or a job until almost the middle of January, I reprogrammed the thermostat for Monday through Friday daytime hours from 57º to 63º.

I don’t understand why everyone makes fun of holiday fruit cakes. I love them! The heavier and denser the better. I think that a fruit cake with black walnuts would be amazing. Of course, black walnuts make everything better.

A friend of ours bought a small house in a very rural part of Georgia. The backyard is very large, but when he bought it, it was so overrun with undergrowth and mosquitoes that he couldn't even go exploring. He has spent most of the summer cleaning it up. This is the latest funny story of his adventure:

The backyard of the house is actually starting to look pretty good, especially considering that the only tools I had for yard work were the Kabar knife and the sling blade that Slingblade Mike had loaned me.

Rather than get rid of all of the jungle, I decided that forging paths through the overgrowth would allow me to have different areas of the yard, rather than just a large open space. So, there is an area dedicated to vegetable gardening, an place for the fire pit, a spot for a reading hammock, and a space for the bee farm in the spring. The problem, however, with making trails which go from place to place, is the ivy.

The ivy loves my yard the way Cane Toads find Australia "quite pleasant". It crawls along with wild abandon, clinging and clutching anything that attempts to pass. It was my hope that walking the trails enough would wear the ivy down, revealing a path, but after several weeks of walking, it was still a hazard, and I had been tripped and brought down by it several times. I started to think of a way to define a trail as inexpensively as possible. Gravel and pebbles cost a fortune, and sand would be kicked and washed away in no time.

After pondering the problem for some time, I eventually came to the conclusion that wood chips would do the trick. I had an excess of branches and small trees that I had pruned out of the yard, and my father had loaned me a chipper machine to get rid of them.

First, the piles of branches, sticks and logs had to be trimmed down into an acceptable eating size for the machine. Then, after feeding a couple of piles of wood into it, the storage hopper of chips had to be emptied into plastic yard bags, and the entire process repeated. I spent an entire day like this. It was the kind of work where you don't think you're tired until you sit down for a minute, then you never want to get up again. I turned on the water hose, put my head in my hands and sprayed a cool mist on my face for what felt like hours.

When I poured the chips along the trail, I was pleased to find that they were perfect. They covered the ivy, and showed clearly where the paths were. The disappointing thing was that four giant bags them still did not do the trick, and although I was only about a bag shy of finishing, I was out of wood to chip.

I started to think about what could fit into the chipper. Unwanted furniture? The old door in the basement? I wasn't using it...

Yesterday, Safety Julia and I were driving along, when I saw some workers from "King Tree Experts" taking off the branches of a giant magnolia tree. The owner of the house was standing in the front yard, looking on approvingly. He'd probably hated that tree for years. Maybe he kept it around because his wife liked it. Maybe she's left him, or maybe he's found out she's been unfaithful, and the tree was the first to pay for it. Either way, it meant wood chips for me! I darted over to the big truck and climbed on board like he was the ice cream man. It was the summer of 1986 all over again, and I was looking for a nutty buddy.

I asked what they were going to do with the wood when they were done, and he said he didn't know. I told him to drop some branches, chips, whatever to my house, and I told him where it was. Although he nodded in agreement, I never really expected to see him again.

But about an hour later, there was a knock at the door. They had backed the big truck into my driveway, and were asking where I wanted my wood chips. It was a happy, happy day for me. I gestured to the end of the driveway, thinking about how I could finish the trail and I might even have enough chips left over to go over the existing paths, just for good measure.

The back of the truck opened up, and there were a LOT of wood chips in there. I had expected to see some mighty piles in there, but it was more like Fibber McGhee's wood-chip-closet inside, packed to the very top. I asked one of them if I could help to rake out what I needed, and he looked at me strangely, and told me that they could manage. He took out a small chainsaw on a stick, and used it to cut a dead branch away that was hanging over my driveway.

Now THAT'S gratitude! I thought. They've been working all day long on that tree, but since I'm taking a couple of bags of chips off their hands, they still take a minute to get rid of that branch over my driveway. That wasn't bothering me... without asking...

Realizing it would be easier if I had a couple of bags to fill up, I yelled over the chainsaw. "I'm going to get a lawn bag to put it in, okay?" They waved at me and nodded. I ran into the house to get the bag. While I was pulling it off the roll, I started to consider the idea of bringing out TWO bags. I hated to be greedy, and while it would be a lot of chips, and more effort for the guys to fill up both bags, I decided with a nod that I really needed two bagfuls. For a brief moment, I wondered if they'd get mad if I wanted three bags.

While I was trying to find the opening to one of the lawn bags, I heard a loud noise coming from the truck in the yard. I stood on the porch, and saw the back of the truck start to tilt back. With a sickening lunge, the chips shifted back, towards my driveway.

As the first chips landed, I snapped out of my dazed stupor. "No! OH NOOOOOOO!!!!" I screamed, suddenly awake. The guys with the truck couldn't hear my cries over the din of the hydraulics, and the bay continued to ease back. "I JUST NEED TWO... NO, THREE BAGFULS! NOT THE WHOLE..." The chips slid out of the truck, and two full tons of wood chips poured out in a tidal wave onto my driveway.

At some point, I just gave up and started taking pictures.

Then it was over. The sawdust was settling like fallout and the truck bay began to lower with a loud hiss. Looking up, I was able to see that the real reason the branch had been cut was to clear room for the truck. I walked over to the mountain of chips, which was as tall as myself. I wondered what I was going to do with all the wood chips, when one of the guys waved a gloved hand at me. I waved back weakly. I realized I was still holding my lawn bags when he called out, "I don't think those bags are gonna be enough man. You need, like... a wheelbarrow!"

I want to watch this three-part PBS special about the life of Charles Dickens. It premiers tonight.

This map of London is from the special, and it indicates areas of London that had significance to Dickens' life. [Anything with a map has to be good, right?]

All of this history that happened in London is why I want to visit there again, but this time with greater background knowledge, maturity, and an appreciation of history. London is probably the most important city of western civilization. For example, Dickens is buried at Westminster Abbey, next to Chaucer, Tennyson, and Kipling.

The house is still standing where he lived from 1837 to 1839 and finished writing The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, and Nicholas Nickleby.

I want to see Regents Park too. I learned about it in my Land Use Planning class and why it was such a breakthrough in city planning.

I just had a slight scare with the printer. It had a paper jam, and I thought I might have stripped the gears or something when I removed the paper because it just made grinding sound when I would turn it off and on. The error message lights indicated that the ink cartridge sled was jammed.

I went on-line to look at HP's troubleshooting guide, but everything they suggested checked out fine. I took the back of the printer off and did not see any paper scraps jamming any gears.

Finally, from Brad's trouble shooting guide, I took a pair of pliers and pulled the sled out from behind the docking position. I took out the ink cartridges, closed the lid, and then turned it back on. It cycled through and gave me the error that there was no ink rather than a jammed sled. I also didn't hear any grinding! I put the cartridges back in, turned it back on, and it worked like normal. Weird.

Grades came out today. I got a staight freaking "A" in every class! No "A-" or anything like that. I have a solid 4.0 average.

I don't know either.

My favorite nuts in the world are roasted Virginia peanuts, and roasted salted almonds from the Krema Nut Company in Columbus. When ever we visit Columbus, or Greta visits us, she usually has a bag of each waiting for me. [I forgot to thank you this time. Thank you Greta!]

They roast them right there at the "factory" on West Goodale Boulevard. They are very fresh, sweet, and crunchy. Almost like you just cracked them out of the shell yourself.

Lisa gave us a Honeybaked gift basket that was made up of all Krema products. If Honeybaked thinks it is good enough to put their name on, that also tells you something.

I would like their natural peanut butter, but they do not add salt. You need a little bit of salt in your peanut butter.

The best natural peanut butter I have found, and I think I have already written about it here, is Meijer's brand. It is so fresh that the oil does not have a chance to separate. The production date stamped on the jar is usually only a couple weeks old when I pick up a jar. They must move a lot of it. The best part is that it only costs $1.99, as opposed to Krema's $3.99.

I just took a look at Dell's website to see what kind of prices they have on PC's. You can pick up one of their Dimension 2400's for $399. I think they also might have some free shipping deals going on too.

When our older computer finally gives out, I would replace it with one of these. It is more than enough for internet, e-mail, etc.

Since there is no more flu vaccine left, I can't tell you to get get a vaccine, so instead I found a good Q&A on what to do if you think you might have the flu:

Q: How can I tell if it's influenza or just a cold?
A: With flu, the child becomes sicker, faster. Symptoms include high fever, extreme fatigue, muscle aches, chills, dry cough, sore throat, headache or runny nose.

Child symptoms can differ. Infants may show solely a fever; toddlers often vomit or have diarrhea. Very young children can't explain symptoms — be suspicious if they quit playing and refuse to eat or drink.

Q: What's a flu emergency?
A: Get immediate medical care for signs of bacterial infection or other flu complications:

• Trouble breathing. Breaths may be rapid, heavy or gasping; you may see skin around the rib cage suck in or nostrils flare.

• Dehydration. Common signs include dry diapers, a lack of tears while crying, sunken eyes, dry lips and mouth.

• Appearing very pale or bluish; limp or floppy; or not waking up and interacting.

• Being inconsolable, or too irritable even to be held or consoled.

"Any normally sick kid is going to want to be held or comforted. If they don't, that's something to be worried about," says the University of Maryland's Dr. Rennels, an American Academy of Pediatrics flu specialist.

Q: My 5-year-old's fever hit 103º. Is that too high?
A: Fever itself isn't damaging; it shows the body is fighting infection. What to do depends on the child's age and fever's extent.

Call the doctor about any temperature over 101º in a baby younger than 1 year.

For toddlers and older, call the doctor if fever persists beyond several days, reaches as high as 104º or doesn't drop despite medication.

Q: What treatments help?
A: First, never give a child or teenager aspirin. Use acetaminophen or ibuprofen for fever.

There are four anti-flu drugs, one approved for children as young as 1, that can slightly shorten flu's misery when taken within 48 hours of first symptoms. They're important for high-risk children.

For most kids, drinking enough fluids is the main prescription. Keep them comfortable; no sweating out a fever. Over-the-counter remedies offer little help.

Q: My toddler seemed to be getting better but now her fever's back. Is it a relapse?
A: Call the doctor. Once the original fever's gone, it should stay gone. If not, a bacterial infection might be setting into flu-damaged airways.

Q: Will my daughter spread her flu to the rest of the family?
A: Probably. Remember, kids put their hands in their mouths and noses and then touch, well, everything you touch.

So wash her hands and yours frequently. Wipe off doorknobs and faucets. Use alcohol hand gels when soap is unavailable, like after leaving the pediatrician's office. Keep sick children home to cut flu's spread. Teach them to cover mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing.

Everyone defines themselves by a time in their lives where they really fit in and everything was going well. Good times. No worries. Glory days. My time was probably between 1986 and 1988 when I was working on the boats in Toledo.

The company had three boats. The first and smallest one could carry 50 passengers for sight-seeing cruises up and down the Maumee River and is the boat I started on. This is also the boat that we recently chartered for Mom's surprise birthday party.

The next boat was a replica paddle wheel river boat. It had a huge paddle wheel that turned, but it did not propel the boat. It just spun from the backwash of the propellers. It cold seat about 100 people, maybe more, for dinner on two decks. It had a bar on each deck. Every cruise had live entertainment.

The wheel house was a little box that sat on top of the roof of the upper deck. Two decorative smoke stacks sat to the front left and right of the wheel house.

The time that I feel most proud of was when I was just promoted from deckhand to first mate and was assigned to go out on a dinner cruise with the owner of the company, also a licensed captain. A deckhand works the mooring lines when the boat leaves and returns to the dock. They do a lot of the cleaning, maintenance, and anything else the captain or first mate tells you to do.

The first mate is responsible for getting the engines and engine room ready before cruises, maintaining the official Coast Guards logs, working the mooring lines, and when the boat is under way spends most of the time in the wheel house helping the captain navigate the boat.

Any way, so I had been a first mate for probably only a month or so, and I get assigned a night-time dinner cruise with the owner. Once a cruise leaves the dock, all of the other captains turn off the decorative lights that run up and down the decorative smoke stacks in front of the wheel house so you can see the river. The owner, however, wanted them on the entire cruise so that it looked better from shore. There must have been 100 bulbs in a line running down the front of each stack. Unless something on the river had its own lights, it was almost impossible to see it.

Most captains would also stay up in the wheel house most of the cruise. They might go down for 15 or 20 minutes to mingle with the guests, but most of the time they were in the wheel house. The owner couldn't get out of the wheel house fast enough. He wanted to mingle and schmooze with everyone.

So, I am in the wheel house by myself heading north-east towards Lake Erie on the Maumee River, and I am getting the boat lined up to go under the I-280 bridge. It is a drawbridge, but if we line up just right we can fit under without needing a lift and stopping traffic. I am probably about 400 yards away going at our normal cruising speed, which is probably about 80% power. I will probably be under the bridge in about 30 seconds. Just then the captain calls up and tells me to turn it around and head back towards downtown, and then he goes back to mingling.

Aaaaaaa!!!! Panic! Panic! I can barely see what's around me. I have a full head of steam, and rapidly approaching the bridge. The span that is tall enough for us to go under is also fairly close to the north bank of the river. No time to think, just react. I take both engines out of drive and put them into about 50% reverse to take off some of my forward motion before I try to start changing the direction of the boat. The bridge is still approaching. I don't want to use too much reverse because it makes the boat vibrate and the sound will cover up the band and might panic the passengers. Don't want to do that. After about 10 seconds of straight reverse, I put the right engine in neutral and keep the left engine in reverse. This will make the boat start to spin counter-clockwise. I am worried about the front of the boat swinging into shore, which is about 200 feet away. I also bring the rudder hard right. It started to work. The left engine in reverse is not only turning the boat, but also is helping to pull it away from shore.

At this point I am not worried about hitting the bridge or the shore, but now I am concerned that I am pivoting in place too fast. I don't want to leave the shipping channel, and I don't want to spin past 180º. I take the left engine out of reverse and put it at about 50% forward power. I move the rudder to just a few degrees right of center. I leave the right engine in neutral for now as back-up help. If I do end up overshooting, I can put it into reverse to check my spin.

The left engine is starting to bite the water and slow down my spin. It's looking pretty good. At about ¾ of the way through my pivot I take the left engine out of reverse. I leave both engines in neutral to see what my inertia looks like. I still have a nice gentle spin. I put the left engine in forward at about 25% power to check my spin. When I am slowing down and almost hitting the 180º position, I slip the right engine into forward and match the engine speed of the left engine. We are making straight forward headway! I did it! I slowly increase throttle on both engines to get back up to cruising speed.

The owner was a hot-head and didn't have any problem yelling at you if he thought you messed up or didn't do something right. He never said a word, so it means I did it perfectly! I remember feeling like an adult for the first time that night. I think I was only 19 at the time.

This is the biggest boat the company had. I helped bring in back from Rhode Island via the St. Lawrence Seaway with four other licensed captains. It is being run out of Cleveland now. It could seat about 400 people for dinner on two decks. It also had an open-air observation deck on the same level as the wheel house. Thankfully, no decorative smoke stacks! We also took this one out into Lake Erie. On weekend nights we took it out to the harbor light for a midnight dance cruise. In the middle of the week we took it to Put In Bay for an all day trip. We stayed at the island for four hours.

I don't know where the paddle wheel boat is now.

Wow! I didn't expect a response about my beans this quickly:

Thanks for contacting us regarding our products. We are sorry for the incident you described and any inconvenience it may have caused. The white lining inside our cans is a food grade enamel that is safe for use in cans. We use it to preserve the product shelf life and to keep the product from tasting "tinny". It should not flake easily, although poses no health hazard if it does. We will look into this situation and check our supply of cans for this type of damage. We appreciate you reporting this to us. I will send replacement coupons to you by mail. Thanks again.

Joy Garrett
Bush Brothers, Consumer Relations

Mick Jagger and his father.

A U.S. soldier of the Fourth Infantry Division climbs out of the spider hole, in which Saddam Hussein was hiding when he was captured by U.S. troops on Dec. 13, during a media visit to the farm near Tikrit, December 15, 2003.

'I'm Saddam Hussein, I'm the president of Iraq and I'm willing to negotiate',' he was quoted as saying by Major Brian Reed, of the Fourth Infantry Division which captured him. (Reuters Tv/Reuters)

I just submitted this comment at the Bush's Baked Bean's web site:

I noticed on a recent can of beans that the white protective lining inside the can had scratch marks right through to the metal. If the lining flaked into the beans, is it dangerous? Could the cause of the scratches be anything unsanitary at the factory?

The code on the bottom of the can is...

I will keep you posted on how/if they respond.

The funding for my county GIS position was made official today! I don't have a start date yet.

Here is the latest flu map from the CDC.

Cook County had 1,000 doses of flu vaccine to give out today. On the news they said the wait was 2½ hours.

In contrast, when I got my flu vaccine on campus in late October, there was nobody in front of me, and nobody behind me. It took me under 15 minutes from the time I walked into the health services building, registered, paid my $10, walked upstairs to the shot room, and walked out of the building.

I read that Microsoft will be phasing out several products, including Windows 98, on December 23.

I don't know if this means that will be supplying patches and updates for Windows 98 any more, but just to be on the safe side, I recommend that you go to their automatic update site and see if your system is in need of any updates before then.

Can you believe this is a Timex? Very nice looking watch.

This is just getting crazy! An 18 year old college student has died from the flu in Massachusetts. He was 6' 3", 220 pounds, and described as healthy and very athletic.

What are your thoughts on a suede blazer for Brad?

I just finished up the paper that is due tonight. It is 10% of my grade. I think I am going to go lie down and rest my back a little bit. It has been sore lately, and sitting in front of the computer all day today has not helped.

One of these days I would like to buy a real office chair for our home office. Something like this Herman Miller Aeron chair. I think they are about $800 though.

It looks like I received a 99% in the Intro to GIS class. The class average was 86%.

I don't know what I am getting in my "Maps and Mapping" class.

Tonight is the last meeting of my "Land Use Planning" class.

I just received this e-mail from my professor of "Operations Management and Information Systems; Business Applications of GIS":

Brad,

Just a quick note to mention that it was a pleasure to have you in my class this semester. You
had the highest grade in the class with a 95% overall. My best wishes to you for the future!

Happy Holidays,

Dr. Born

It is pretty cold here today. 23º and blustery.

People can be divided into two groups when it comes to matzo ball soup: those that like their matzo balls light and spongy, and those that like their matzo balls dense and cannonball-like. I fall into the latter category. I like them very firm.

If you get the Manischewitz Matzo Ball mix, they taste good, but they make the light and fluffy kind.



Can you tell I am procrastinating again?

If you add a teaspoon of wine to a barrel full of crap, you have a barrel full of crap.
If you add a teaspoon of crap to a barrel full of wine, you have a barrel full of crap.

Today was my last exam for the semester. It was a little bit more difficult than the other exams I have had in this class. I got a 78%, and the class average was 66%.

My raw score for the entire class right now is 92.3%, and the class average is 66.5%. The syllabus for the class says that anything less than a 68% for the class is failing. It also says that 5% of your grade is discretionary (professionalism, participation, etc.) So if he gives everyone the maximum amount of discretionary credit, the average will be 68.2%; just barely passing. It will only bring my grade up to a 92.7%, so I get an –A for sure, and an A if he doesn't use the plus/minus system.

I have a report to write tonight and finish up a map for tomorrow night's class, and then the semester is officially over for me!

It looks like The Associated Press (first picture) has better cartographers on staff than the CDC (second picture). It looks like the AP used an equal area projection, like Albers, while the CDC used something like a Mercator projection. The horrendous colors aside, can you see the difference when they are side by side, or am I just anal retentive?

There was an earthquake in:

Norman, Oklahoma on Monday
Richmond, Virginia on Tuesday
Taiwan today (Wednesday)

The NIU's geology department is in the same building as the geography department. They have a seismograph set up in the lobby, and they make notes on the paper drum when seismic events occur around the world. I will make a point of stopping by tomorrow and see if it picked up any of these three earthquakes.

On average in the US:

1 person is born every 7 seconds
1 person dies every 12 seconds
1 person migrates into the US every 21 seconds

These statistics represent a net gain of 1 person to the US population every 10 seconds.

[source: U.S. Census Bureau]

In 1918 a flu pandemic killed between 20 million and 40 million people worldwide.

In 1957 and 1968 there were pandemics that killed over 500,000 people each year.

This is what researchers are afraid of now. If it doesn't turn into a pandemic this year, they think that it will happen within the next few years.

This year they made 83 million doses of the flu vaccine, and the US population is currently about 292,800,000, so only 28% of the population was able to get protected this year.

DECEMBER 9--A confidential investigation by Los Angeles police and child welfare officials concluded earlier this year that allegations Michael Jackson sexually abused a cancer-stricken boy were "unfounded", according to an internal government memo obtained by The Smoking Gun.

There is no pizza in the world (that I have tasted so far) like Donatos. It started, and I think is still managed from, Columbus, OH. In 1999 McDonalds purchased Donatos, but I do not think the quality has changed.

They now have stores in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Alabama, Florida, and one in Munich, Germany.

My Google Pop-up blocker toolbar has stopped 1,988 pop up adds from appearing on my computer so far!

When I have been using the computer labs on campus, I have been squirting an extra amount of hand sanitizer on my hands and then not rubbing my hands until dry, but instead using the keyboard and mouse right away in hopes that the extra alcohol on my hands will sanitize the equipment a little bit.

While I am in the labs I try to remember not to touch my face or eyes, and when I leave I use the hand sanitizer again.

I think next semester I will take an empty eye class cleaner spray bottle and fill it with rubbing alcohol. Before I start to work at the computer I can just discretely shoot a few sprays on the mouse, keyboard, and desk area.

Article from Reuters

Want to avoid the flu? Go wash your hands right now.

Influenza is one of the most easily transmitted diseases, caused by a range of related viruses. It relies on human habits -- most notably the tendency to rub a runny nose.

The virus can live on a plastic or metal surface for hours or even days. When a patient touches a drippy nose and then pushes a button, uses a telephone, [or touches a dirty door knob] the virus sits there, ready to be picked up by the next unwary person.

Simply touch the nose, mouth or even the eye, and you, too, can have the flu.

The virus also can be passed when a patient coughs or sneezes a fine spray of saliva and mucus into the air and an unfortunate passer-by breathes it in. [rest of story]

In Chicago they are reporting that kids with the flu are also having complications not normally associated with the flu. Today they reported that two children had encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) that resulted from them originally having the flu.

Another complication that has been appearing alongside with the flu are staph infections. The CDC has not seen this before either. You don't usually die from a staph infection, but there have been reports of staph infection deaths.

You can normally get rid of a staph infection with an antibiotic, but the strains they are seeing are drug-resistant. This drug resistance is from morons that get a prescription for an antibiotic and then stop taking it when they feel better so they can use the rest of the pills the next time they feel bad. Doing this doesn't completely kill all of the germs in your body, and the ones that remain mutate into stronger germs that are not affected by antibiotics.

Sheri asked me tonight what actually kills the kids that get the flu, and I didn't know. With a little research I found that it has been:

pneumonia
kidney failure
heart failure
brain damage from fever

They reported the first death in Chicago from the flu this evening. It was a 2-year-old preschool student in a very affluent suburb called Winnetka that is about 30 miles north-east of us.

People are panicking to get the flu vaccine now, but because of the vaccine shortage they won't give it to anyone unless they are under 5 or over 50. People in between 5 and 50 are given the option of the new nasal flu vaccine, but it costs between $45 and $60 per dose!

My first exam today went well. It was not cumulative, so it was really just another midterm to me. I got on campus about 1.5 hours before the exam in order to finish studying for it.

My next exam is not until 4:00 PM! I just started studying for it last night since I knew I was going to have all of this free time today.

I am just taking a break in the computer lab for now. I will go find a table and probably study for an hour or so and then go have something to eat.

I should probably own this.

Cool shirt!

On just about every box of mass-market tea bags you buy it says made from "orange pekoe and pekoe cut black tea". I have always thought this was the species of tea bush that the leaves come from. WRONG! All true tea (i.e. not herb tea) comes from one species of plant; the camellia sinensis. The terms orange pekoe and pekoe refer to the size of the tea leaves! Can you freaking believe it? You can go here for a quick read on what all of the different terms are. Read the excerpts from books about tea on the page. Apparently Sir Thomas Lipton did not know anything about tea. He was just a good marketer. Him getting the American public to associate good tea with orange pekoe was like P.T. Barnum getting people excited about seeing the "great egress".

There are two scales for grading tea. One scale is for unbroken leaves, and the other is for broken leaves. Orange pekoe is an unbroken grade, but it is only three from the bottom.

I also thought that the difference between green tea and dark tea was that one was roasted like coffee and the other was not. Wrong again. Close, but wrong. The tea becomes dark by being fermented! I still think that black tea has been roasted.

My ring finger has felt very painful right where my wedding band is, so I have not worn it the last several days. I just put it back on, even though it is still a little sensitive, in case I need a little lift during my finals tomorrow or while I am studying for them.

I updated the firmware on our router Friday afternoon. Sheri brought her laptop home that evening and I couldn't connect to the router wirelessly that night. Crap. Saturday I tried connecting from the laptop to the router with a LAN cable. Still couldn't get it to work. Crap. Our two main computers continued to work fine through the router. Didn't have to change anything after the router update. This morning I tried bypassing the router and connect the laptop directly to the cable modem. Still wouldn't connect. Yippee! That means it is not a problem with the router, but with the laptop. Whew. Sheri will open up a ticket at work tomorrow.

Tim, this is how your laptop was acting was I was visiting. Did you ever open a ticket at work to have them take a look at it?

I don't understand people that will get their kids vaccinated for polio, mumps, measles, small pox, rubella, etc., but think that a flu shot is some weird scary unnecessary thing. I have heard people talk about flu shots like they are bad for you and the doctors don't know what they are talking about.

The latest flu map shows that Illinois has moved up to "Local Activity".

This is where I am with my map for the group project that is due on Thursday. At this point it is not designed to be looked at like a regular map. It is for the computer to make calculations from. Ugly, isn't it?

The red outline is of the Blackberry Watershed. The pink shape in the center is the brownfield where we are going to locate our fictitious factory. The yellow highway that cuts right through the brownfield is I-88. The top 75% of the watershed is in Kane County, and the lower quarter is in Kendall County.

I think I will keep updating the map link, so if you book mark the image, after you click on the above link, you can check back for any updates I have made to it just by using the book mark.

The compact fluorescent light bulbs have gotten very good over the last few years. In Columbus I tried one of the first fluorescent bulbs designed for a normal lamp. It was a ring. It was heavy, and it didn’t produce as much light as a normal bulb.

Last week I bought one of the ones that has the glass tube twisted into a spiral. It has the same light output as a 100 watt bulb, but only consumes 26 watts! It is only slightly larger than a regular bulb, so you should be able to use it in most fixtures. It is for indoor use only. I paid $7 for it at Office Depot.

I have been so happy with it that we stopped at Menard's last night to get a couple more. For whatever reason they didn't have the 100 watt version. The highest they had was a 75 watt equivalent. That is OK with me, though, because most of the bulbs we have in the house are 60 watts. The 75 watt equivalents only use 20 watts of electricity, and Menard's was only charging $4 for them.

They are guaranteed for 5 years of life which is about 6,000 hours. A regular incandescent bulb is only rated to last for 750 hours. That means the compact fluorescent will outlast eight regular light bulbs.

I am really excited about having them in our office. With one TV set, two computers, three monitors, and two people, and a couple of hot light bulbs, the office can get fairly warm in the summer time. I think the cooler fluorescent bulbs will make a noticeable difference in that situation.

I have the other bulb in the floor lamp in the family room between the couch and the recliner. That light is always on when we are in the family room, so it should save us some money there.

We watched The Italian Job last night. What a fun movie! Very well paced. It never got slow and boring, but it also didn't overwhelm you with constant plot twists, chase scenes, explosions, etc. It balanced everything out.

Just a few neat things I learned from the "making of" clips on the DVD:

1. The helicopter playing chicken with the Mini Cooper under the bridge is really flying. It is not a prop on a hydraulic lift.

2. The actor playing Handsome Rob was actually driving the boat in the Venice chase scene! What makes it totally amazing is that he only had one day of training for driving the boat, and before that had never been on a boat!

3. When the three Mini's drive down into the subway, they are using electric motors because the subway people didn't want gasoline engines down there. Also, the actors are the ones driving the cars down the steps and into the subway, not stunt people.

I didn't realize it was a remake of a 1969 film of the same name. I just added the original to our Wal-Mart on-line DVD rental list.

Over the last couple of months as I drove past all of the farms that line I-88 on the way to DeKalb, I noticed one farmer that had big huge trailer dump trucks dropping off huge piles of soil in the middle of his field. Over a two week period there was enough dirt to fill two or three large houses. I thought it was very odd, and probably very expensive, but it didn't hit me until today what it is for. It is a sod farm. When they cut up the sod into nice little patches and roll them up, they take a good amount of the underlying soil, so periodically they have to replenish what they take away.

“There is no way to understand the public reaction to the sight of a freak smashing a coconut with a hammer on the hood of a white Cadillac in a Safeway parking lot unless you actually do it… and I tell you, it’s tense.” -- Hunter S. Thompson

The area on my finger where my ring is has felt so bruised the last couple of days that I have not been able to wear it. I wonder if it is something like stigmata.

thinkgeek.com is another site that has lots of cool stuff that I really dig.

Very wet and cold here today. It is raining a mix of rain and slushy snow flakes right now. It hits the ground and instantly turns to water, but later on tonight it is supposed to turn to snow and accumulate up to 5". That will be fun on top of all the rain that will freeze underneath it.

X-Tremegeek.com just sent me their catalog. This catalog was made for me. You could hardly go wrong buying me anything from it.

(It appears to be a division of Cyberguys.com. I bought some cabling from them a while back.)

If I can not convince you to get a flu shot, then how about washing your hands more often?

Of course I wash mine after every trip to the restroom, but I also wash them when I come home after running errands because I have usually touched money, dirty door knobs, etc. After pumping gas. When I was commuting on the train I would wash them as soon as I got to work and when I arrived home at night. I keep a little bottle of hand sanitizer in my backpack. I use it when I am done using a computer in the campus computer labs. There are more dangerous germs on your hands than in your mouth.

In Colorado, just since Monday, there have been an additional 1,619 cases of the flu, which brings the total just in Colorado to 6,306.

At least 5 children have died from the flu in Colorado. More expected. The normal peak for the flu season in Colorado is still a month away.

German cannibal.

I am listening to an 80's internet radio station while I am writing some stuff for school. A Phil Collin's song came on and it reminded me of sister Lisa. She was a huge fan of his back in the day. I don't know if she still is though.

This is a good article about Wal-Mart and how it is effecting the United State's economy and other businesses. I am only half way through reading it. I have to start packing up for my next class.

Over the last few months I have become more and more fascinated by Wal-Mart. I think I am going to look for some case study type books about them. I predict that at some point there will be federal legislation created in response to their huge presence and impact on the US economy.

Next flu pandemic could wreak global havoc, scientists warn...

I just sent this e-mail to Wallace Farms:

I would love to buy some of your beef, but I do not have the freezer space for the 25 pound
sampler you advertise on your web site. Do you sell smaller portions, or can you direct me to a
butcher shop that carries your products?

Thank you,

Brad

I just read a little on the Wallace Farms web site, and it looks like the minimum order is their 25 pound sampler for $199. ($8 per pound.) I wouldn't mind paying $8 a pound to try out a few steaks, but not 25 pounds of steaks. Maybe I will call and see if they supply any local butcher shops nearby.

I have heard stories about grass fed beef is better for you; has a better and stronger flavor; and is better and more sustainable to the environment that traditional grain fed factory beef. I found a place called Wallace Farms that raises grass fed beef that is only seven miles from our house. I think we will give it a try.

Uncle Anthony gets props today. In Florida he said that Luzianne tea is the best tea there is for iced tea. Since then we have had several different brands of tea in the house and I have been paying more attention to the flavor. Today Luzianne was on sale so I picked up a few boxes of that. Right away I did notice that it is better tasting than the other teas. (I don't take anyone's word for anything, especially with something as important as iced tea.)

Thinking of Uncle Anthony also made me remember him telling me that the best steaks you can get are from Allen Brothers. He said they supply all of the biggest and best steak houses in Chicago and around the country. I heard a radio commercial yesterday from Allen Brothers and they gave their web address, so here it is: www.allenbrothers.com. We have not tried ordering steaks from them yet, but we might have to give them a try.

A friend I made in one of my classes owns forest land near this property for sale. It is 100 acres on the UP of Michigan. He said they are asking way too much for it ($359,500), and that if I offered $100K - $125K that he would probably sell it to me. He said their realtor is being unrealistic and is trying to find a hunting club that would buy it rather than an individual. I think my friend wants me to buy it because he doesn't want the traffic that a hunting club would bring.

One day we would like to buy land like this and have dogs, goats, sheep, chickens, go hunting, and install a pool and hot tub (Sheri's requirement). Of course we would also have to get a satellite dish for cable and high-speed internet. One of these days.

This is the latest flu activity map from the CDC.

Illinois, Ohio, Alabama, and Michigan are still only "Sporadic".

That big red swath from Washington south-east to Tennessee looks scary. Kind of like a weather front sweeping across the nation.

We are out of tea bags. I have a lot of work to do and don't feel normal not having a cold class of tea next to be to sip between thoughts. I have to run to the store to get some more tea bags right now. How pathetic. I guess it could be worse: it could be a carton of cigarettes.

I was just catching up with a friend on the phone and she told me a funny story. A few years back her mom got her a smoked turkey for Christmas from a gourmet butcher shop. She is not a big meat eater, and especially does not like smoked meats. (Weirdo!) Afterwards she thanked her for it, but told her nicely about her likes and dislikes.

Next year what does her mom get her? A smoked ham. Same thanks, but explained that she feels bad because she will probably end up letting most of it spoil and will have to be thrown away.

The following year? Ten pounds of smoked bacon!

This year her mom told her to make sure she brings an ice chest when she comes. She is nervous.

In the guest bedroom in the front of the house we have our “beverage center” which is a Hot Shot, Styrofoam cups, and a bunch of instant hot beverages. A hot shot is a little appliance that heats to boiling a single cup of water for instant coffee, tea, hot cocoa, etc.

For those unfamiliar with a Hot Shot, you pour a cup of plain cold water in the reservoir at the top, hit the start button, and in about 30 seconds the water is boiling hot. You put your cup underneath the reservoir and press the dispense button, and the boiling water drains into your cup.

OK, I have the background out of the way. The latest Styrofoam cups I bought were 16 ounces. I normally get the 12 ounce size. The 16 ounce cups just barely fit underneath. When I dispense the hot water into the cup, the foam cells in the cup expand just enough so that the cup presses up against the underside of the reservoir. I kind of have to squeeze the cup and tug it a little bit to get it out.

Just a little example of physics in real life that I thought was neat.

This link is for Dad in case he forgot the address I read to him over the phone.

The Brookings Institution

It is 12:30 in the morning and I am still going strong on my school work.

I think I have the map the way I like it. I just finished up the spreadsheet. I am getting ready to write up my executive summary. I think I will get some basic thoughts down, not worrying about grammar, and then finalize it tomorrow.

Christopher Walken is one of my favorite actors. He plays the best bad guy.

I just ravaged a smoked turkey leg. Unbelievably good. Quite possibly the best turkey I have ever had. If not, it is easily in the top three.

The dark meat on the legs is the best. It comes off the bone and separates from the tendons very easily. It is the smokiest part of the bird too. Nice texture.

The white meat is moist and has a delicate smoky flavor. It also separates from the bone easier than the meat from a normally prepared turkey does. Maybe it has to do with the long slow cooking time used in smoking.

Half of the turkey has been eaten. I have not even touched the other side. I will start carving that side tomorrow. I am thinking about making stock from the carcass when we are done eating the meat.

A month or two ago a Girl Scout and her mom stopped by the house selling snacks to raise funds. I ordered a tin of spicy nuts and sesame sticks. Today the doorbell rings and it is the Girl Scout standing on the porch with my snacks, and her mom in the idling van in the street. She says they are $7, so I give her a $5 bill and two $1 bills. She says thanks and leaves; I go to the kitchen, pop the top and try them. As I am standing there munching on them and reading the label the doorbell rings again. It is the Girl Scout and she apologizes and says the snacks are only $4 and has the three bills in her hands with a confused look on her face. I give her two more $1 bills and take the $5 back. She seemed to like that it was an easy problem to figure out, said thanks again and went skipping back to the van. How cute.

The snack mix is pretty good. It was manufactured for the Girl Scouts by a company called Dayton Nut Specialties located in Dayton, Ohio.

In the Chicago documentary I was watching, they interviewed a guy that said his dad bought a brand new car in the 1940's for something like $800. His dad was very proud of it and loved it. Someone told his wife they could make a tank out of it for the war effort, so she sold it behind his back for $5.

It was cold and windy this morning during our dog walking time, so we didn't spend much time with them outside; just long enough for them to do their thing, and then took them back inside and got the next one. Because of that, and because there was another volunteer also walking dogs, we got all of them done in about an hour. So we went back to our favorites and spent some quality time inside the runs with them. As usual, Sheri has some pictures she will post later.

I came home, took a shower, started watching a local PBS documentary about Chicago in the 1940's and 1950's, and then fell asleep for a couple of hours. I am now awake, iced tea in hand, and ready to try and finish up my Walgreens project that is due Wednesday.

I want this digital zen travel alarm clock. It strikes a metal bar tuned to make a single B note. If you don't switch it off, it stikes it again in 3 minutes and 48 seconds. And then again in 2 minutes and 21 seconds. And again in 1 minute and 28 seconds, and so on until it will ring every 6.5 seconds.

You can also set it to strike a single note every hour on the hour. I like that.

If anyone finds a radio controlled clock (i.e. sets itself to the atomic clock in Fort Collins, CO) that also plays Westminster Chimes every 15 minutes, please let me know where I can buy it. I have looked everywhere and can not find one.

Sheri's drive from our house to her job at DFAS was about 16 miles, one way. We thought that was a long commute

My job at KDOT will be almost exactly double that, one way.

I guess it is all what you are used to. People around here don't think a 32 mile commute is unusual.

Our friend Beth in Columbus is not even 10 miles from the sniper shootings on I-270.

Stay safe!