With all of the hub-bub about West Nile virus, I am considering purchasing a Mosquito Magnet Defender. Home Depot is selling them for $300, and they cover ½ an acre. The next model up is $500 and covers a full acre. Consumer reports says it is the most effective and convenient mosquito trap.

Virus writer purports to show bin Laden's death

Antivirus company Sophos warned Friday of a scheme that invokes Osama bin Laden to convince people to open a file containing a Trojan horse called Hackarmy.

The message, which has been posted on several Internet newsgroups, claims to contain pictures taken by CNN journalists of bin Laden committing suicide. But once the supposed picture file is opened, it installs a Trojan horse [virus] that effectively recruits the infected machine into the author's army of "zombie" PCs--already-infected machines that can be controlled surreptitiously from afar. The zombified computers can then be used to distribute spam or launch denial-of-service attacks...[more]

[Reader's Digest version: DON'T CLICK ON ANYTHING THAT SAYS IT IS A VIDEO OF OSAMA BIN LADEN COMMITTING SUICIDE!]

Natasha, a 5-year-old black macaque walks at the Safari Park near Tel Aviv Tuesday July 20, 2004. The young monkey began recently walking exclusively on her hind legs after a stomach ailment nearly killed her, zookeepers said.
(AP Photo/Eli Dasa)

Moron

A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.
-- William Shedd

The heat index in Chicago for Tuesday and Wednesday is forcast to be 99°!

We think we are going to buy Doom 3 when it is released on August 3.

I was up and at 'em at 8 am this morning because I was so excited to have another cup of Senseo coffee!

I found this site last night that is dedicated to reviewing anything related to pod coffee makers.

We bought a Senseo coffee maker today. I already LOVE it. It makes what is called "crema" style coffee because it has a light layer of creamy foam on top. It is the kind of coffee they served everywhere when I was in Switzerland. It is halfway between regular drip coffee and espresso, and is brewed under pressure. Because it is brewed quickly, it has much less acid than drip coffee. This coffee maker has been sold in Europe for something like five to ten years. 5,000,000 units have been sold. Europeans drink much smaller cups of coffee than Americans do. As a result of its European roots it is designed to only brew 4 ounces at a time. This was a big selling point for me. If I make a pot of coffee, I will drink the whole thing even if don't really want it. Getting four ounces of perfectly brewed coffee-house coffee will be just enough to get enjoyment without over-doing it. The preparation and cleanup is also super easy because it uses pre-measured pods. They cost about 25¢ each. Much cheaper than Starbucks.

Saturday Afternoon

I am sitting in Panera using their free wireless internet while Sheri does some shopping at Kohl's, Payless Shoes, Marshall's, etc. We split a turkey and cheese panini sandwich.
 
Before coming here we walked the dogs; stopped at CompUSA so I could exchange my defective USB flash drive that I posted about earlier; and then stopped at home so I could shower.
 
I want to go to Menard's to buy some more mulch, but my back is still hurting from Mom and Dad's visit.

Dad, keep an eye out for something from me in the mail. You won't believe your eyes.
Posted by Hello

Yep, I think I like "Hello". Free. No strings. Easy. Download your copy and add me as a friend and we can share pictures back and forth. (or just forth if you don't have a digital camera.)
Posted by Hello

This is just another test picture. The first one looked like it posted OK.
Posted by Hello

I am trying out some new software to host pictures in my blog for free, so I just needed a couple of test pictures. This is a dog picture that Sheri took last week but did not post. I think he looks a lot like Goliath. Our vet always said Goliath was a beagle mix. I think the mix was beagle/lab mix
Posted by Hello

Martha Stewart was sentenced to five months in prison, plus five months of home detention and a $30,000 fine for lying to federal authorities investigating her sale of stock in a friend's company.

Important!

There have been some Windows security patches posted by Microsoft over the last few weeks. Click here and then click on the "Scan for updates" button. It will check your computer to see which patches you need installed on your computer. It should be pretty self explanatory. Just make sure that you have all of the items under "Critical Updates" checked and then click install. Depending on when the last time your system was updated you might have to do it a couple of times because some of the patches must be installed by themselves and then you have to reboot.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Sheri had a scare for about 30 minutes tonight; she lost her wedding ring. It turned up in my sock drawer. It slipped off while she was putting away laundry because her fingers have gotten too skinny. We need to take it in to the jewelers to have it resized.

I just got done cutting the grass and watering the flower beds. Everything still looks good. We still need to take some final pictures and post them to the web.



I ordered a few things from Amazon last night. The practical thing is a 256 megabyte flash drive for my keychain. It is basically a 256 Mg hard drive that fits on my keychain. That is as much storage space as 176 floppy disks!

The other items are things I am starting to collect casually:

WARNING: LOTS of bad language, but VERY funny.

Here are a couple of video clips of Shawn that Lisa asked me to post to make it easier for everyone to view. They are from a wedding they went to this weekend. It is cute that he dances exactly like Tim.

Clip 1

Clip 2

I was up most of the night with a severe stomach ache. No matter which way I turned I couldn’t get comfortable. I spent most of the night downstairs on the couch watching CNN. I was exhausted when it was time to walk the dogs so I stayed at home.

My stomach got better, but then I got a headache. Before we went out I took an Excedrin and we stopped at 7-Eleven for a Diet Coke. That fixed me up.

We went to the Toyota dealership so I could sit in a Corolla. I have been driving 30 miles to work each day (60 miles round trip). I am interested in a position in Algonquin which would be about 50 miles (100 miles round trip). It would be mostly expressway; I-355 north to I-90 West. With that kind of driving fuel efficiency becomes much more important.

The Corolla gets 41 mpg, (our Lumina gets 27 mpg) but I was concerned about the size of the car. They didn’t have a model in the air conditioned show room, so I had to have a salesman walk me to a model in the lot. I didn’t want to drive, just sit in it. With him standing three feet from me it was difficult to get a true feel for the car, plus it was baking hot, so I didn’t want to take too long, but it felt pretty good. He said I might be more comfortable in the larger Camry, so I sat in one that was in the showroom. I don’t think I noticed much difference, but again I felt like I couldn’t take my time because he was standing there three feet from me.

We then stopped at Cost Plus World Market outlet store; didn’t find anything. Then went to CompUSA to get a Memorex USB keyboard ($10 after mail-in rebate!) to use with the tablet PC I have been bringing home from work. Then went to Target to see if they had any Simpson’s figures. They didn’t, but we got toilet paper and a box of cereal. When I went to pay my credit card was missing. I paid with cash and then we went back to CompUSA. The cashier forgot to give it back to me.

On the way home we remembered that the area’s first Lowe’s hardware store had opened up this week, so we stopped in there just to check it out. I bought a $7 50-foot garden hose for the front of the house.

I looked at their selection of appliances. Huge! We need a dishwasher, and I would like a new GAS range. We currently have an electric range, but there is a gas connection behind the stove. They will install any dishwasher for $110. Not too bad. We will probably be doing that soon.

We are watching Paycheck now while I type this on the tablet PC using my new USB keyboard, and I am watering the front lawn with the new hose.

Mom and Dad came to Chicago Sunday morning and stayed until Wednesday morning. They came with 17 plants and their work clothes. We spent every day landscaping our yard. It looks amazing! Here are the first batch of pictures. Some before; some during; some after. I will post the rest in the next day or two.

I am achy all over; back, legs, etc. We had a fun time too.

I want to try this bathroom. It reminds me of a recurring dream I have.

Cool!

Can you name the truck with four-wheel drive,
smells like a steak, and seats thirty-five?
Canyonero! Canyonero!

Well, it goes real slow with the hammer down.
It's the country-fried truck endorsed by a clown.
Canyonero! Canyonero!

Twelve yards long, two lanes wide,
sixty-five tons of American pride!
Canyonero! Canyonero!

Top of the line in utility sports,
unexplained fires are a matter for the courts!
Canyonero! Canyonero!

She blinds everybody with her super high-beams.
She's a squirrel-squashin', deer-smackin' drivin' machine.
Whoa, Canyonero! Whoa!

I want the new Honda scooter called the Ruckus just for messing around. Doesn't it look fun? The MSRP is $1,900.

metrology - 1 : the science of weights and measures or of measurement

I'm a metrologist!

This is who made the $10,000 GPS unit I use at work. It is the same Leica that makes cameras.

After walking through the Shedd Aquarium for three hours looking at fish, I was starving for fish! They had sole, yellow perch, salmon, trigger fish, etc.

On the train ride home I remembered that I have been meaning to try the fish dinner at Loco Burrito. I have seen a lot of other people get it, but have never tried it myself. It always looked very impressive. So I tried it, and it was SOOOO good. Sheri was a little hesitant to try it because of the looks, but she did and loved it. Very mild, flaky, sweet, and tender. It is sea bass. It is my new favorite there and am already looking forward to my next visit. I had already taken one bite out of it before I thought of taking a picture.

I think the Harvard Business School; Working Knowledge is a new favorite website. I have not spent too much time on the site yet, but it looks like a lot of mini HBS case studies. I read and enjoyed a lot of these during grad school. Today I read the case called Music Downloads: Pirates - or Customers. Pretty good.

We have been having a lot of rain in Chicago lately. Here is a picture of a couple of home owners inspecting their second story windows for leaks.

The 70-foot vessel, Waters, home ported in Homer, Alaska, sits grounded on top of a navigational beacon on a rock in Narrow Strait north of Kodiak Island, near the village of Ouzinke, Alaska, Friday, June 18, 2004. The crew boarded a skiff and went to shore to wait for the next high tide to refloat the boat. The Coast Guard is investigating the grounding.
(AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, Sara Raymer)

The GE SmartWater water heater that we just had installed has a little tag on it that says it was manufactured by Rheem!

I submitted my name today to be a volunteer flour miller at this historic windmill that was built in the 1850's, and then moved to its current site in the Fabyan Forest Preserve in 1914.

I did a lawnmower tune-up today. Yesterday after I got done cutting the grass I drained the oil out while it was still hot and thin. Today I put in fresh oil, a new spark plug, and air filter. I also took off the cover to the self-propelled gear assembly and cleared away dead grass from the pulleys. Finally I wiped off a bunch of oil and grass dust from the engine block.

Yesterday I took off the blade that I have had on the lawnmower for MORE THAN A YEAR and put on a freshly sharpened one. I normally change the blade twice per season. I put on a fresh one at the start of the season, and then swap in a sharpened one about half way through the season. It makes a huge difference. The engine doesn't slow down when I go through a thick patch of grass with a sharp blade, but it does with an old blade. I also don't get clumps of grass left behind on the lawn with a sharp blade. The grass looks better to when it is cut rather than ripped.

I will take the dull blade I removed yesterday to the hardware store to have it sharpened so I will have it ready for the next blade change. It only costs $6.00 to have it sharpened and balanced.

I dug up 4 root balls yesterday from some evergreen shrubs I cut down in the back yard last fall. Today I worked the soil from the dig spots. I am just trying to loosen up the soil now. I will eventually turn some peat moss into the soil to get it ready for whatever we decide to plant there next. Mom and Dad are going to help us plan the layout later in the summer.

I am on the patio now taking a breather. I am going to put away all of the yard tools I have out while Sheri goes to the store for a watermelon. After I get cleaned up I will cut up the melon into a bowl and we will take it upstairs to the office to eat while I work on my resume.

We went to Jimmy's for lunch today. We like going there on nice days like today because they have a HUGE patio right on the street in downtown. It is fun to watch all of the people going in and out of the nearby stores while we enjoy our lunch. (Lots of cuties too!)

Gas has been about $1.96 - $1.99 for regular here.

I accidentally turned off our new gas water heater yesterday. I took me about five minutes to figure out how to relight it. I went down last night to turn the temperature up on the heater, and I thought the knob was set to "Light Pilot" rather than "On", so I turned it to what I thought was On. I thought the red button that you have to push while lighting the pilot was the indicator mark. It is not. There is a little molded-in notch on the front that I should have lined up the knob with. Sheri asked me this morning if I turned the temperature down rather than up because it didn't feel very hot. We don't need a match to light the heater. It comes with one of those buttons you push like on a gas grill. It makes a little spark and lights the pilot light.

I think the next three home investments will be a battery back-up sump pump, a new dishwasher, and a new air conditioner / furnace. The sump pump and dishwasher will probably happen this year. I am not entirely sure about the AC and furnace. The furnace is fine, but the AC unit outside looks pretty shabby. If I put money into the AC I would want to match the interior components to it. Maybe in a year or two. The dishwasher is also working fine, but the racks are starting to rust where the vinyl cladding has been damaged.

Sheri set up her hammock while I was working on the lawnmower and yard.

I bought a new push broom at Sears today, but the broom head and the handle have mismatched attaching points. I have to take one of them back and get the correct one. I used to have a really nice push broom, but I think it got left behind when we moved to Chicago.

The plumbers just left from installing our new hot water heater. Yeah!

The plumbers assistant, Joel, is in a heavy metal band called Chainwax. This is him:

Al-Qaida member charged with planning to blow up a Columbus, OH mall!

Our hot water heater has been dripping for the last couple of months, and I have been dreading dealing with it. Today we stopped into Home Depot to see what they have. The 50 gallon model with the 12 year warranty is $390, plus $240 if I have them install it for a total of $630 plus tax.

I also just left a message for the plumbing company that installed the one we have now for an estimate.

The brand of heater we have now is A.O. Smith. Never heard of them, but from their website it looks like they just sell to contractors. I don't know if that is good or bad.

The Home Depot carries the G.E.  SmartWater line of hot water heaters.

I bought another watch last weekend. It is from the Casio Wave Ceptor line which means it sets itself automatically every night from the atomic clock in Fort Collins, Colorado. I love it, and it was only $50 at Wal-Mart.

Sheri didn't have to work today because the markets were closed for Reagan's funeral, so I took off too.

We went to the movies today to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Very good. It definitely had the best effects and cinematography of the series so far.

Before the movie we had lunch at Gemato's Grill. I had the chopped BBQ pork special, and Sheri had the hamburger kids meal. It was the first time we were there and we liked it. They cook using wood.

Plasma vs. LCD TV Update

I don't recommend buying either technology yet, but new products in the LCD market show that LCD is going to be the way to go. The author of this article brought home an LCD model to evaluate, and when he put it next to his 3 year old plasma model he couldn't believe how much the plasma set had degraded in that short amount of time.

So if you have money burning a hole in your pocket for a new TV, hold on just a little bit longer until the LCD products finally catch up.

Sheri had a bad day, so we went out for Indian food for dinner, and then to Trader Joe's just for fun.

I don't know why I have NEVER IN MY LIFE done this before, but I have never calculated the gas mileage for any of my cars. I did it today for the first time for our 1996 4-door Lumina sedan and it got exactly 27 mpg.

My calculations were correct; my digital thermometer didn't register any higher than 210º.

For me next experiment I want to see how much the temperature will increase every time I add a tablespoon of salt to the boiling water.

I just calculated that the boiling point of water at an elevation of 725 feet above sea level (the elevation of our kitchen) and a current atmospheric pressure of 29.99" of mercury is 210.2º.

I am going to go make some hard boiled eggs now for pickling and will see how close I am.

I stopped and got a haircut after work. Sheri just called from the train station and she is going to bring an assortment of goodies home for dinner from a middle eastern restaurant we recently discovered nearby called "The Olive Branch". I requested that one of the items lamb kabob. She will surprise me with the rest. I am going to go cut the grass now before she gets home.

You don't think of this as a "recognizable brand" but it is one of the brands with the widest recognition in the world.

Who is Rance? His blog has Hollywood abuzz because of all the inside scoops he is getting. He says he is an A-list actor writing under a pseudonym. Some speculate that he(she?) could be Owen Wilson, Ben Affleck, Jim Carrey or George Clooney.

For those of you that are still unclear on what exactly my newly choosen GIS career entails, I think this write-up I prepared for the county engineer will give you a pretty good idea of what GIS is and how I use it.

---

Salt Storage Location Methodology

This document outlines the assumptions and conclusions regarding the “best” location of an additional salt storage facility in Kane County.

The initial plan for scoring the 153,548 parcels in the county for a new salt storage location was to maximize the distance away from existing salt storage locations while simultaneously minimizing the cumulative distance to county roads.

The first step of the methodology of assigning a score for a given parcel was to first determine the distance from that parcel to the nearest existing salt storage location.

The second step of the process was to sum the distance from the parcel to each of the 1,278 county road segments. The idea is that the smaller this cumulative distance, the more accessible a parcel will be to county roads.

With these two pieces of information calculated for all 153,548 parcels in the county, a score was assigned to each parcel by dividing the distance to the nearest existing salt storage location by the cumulative distance from that parcel to all county road segments. The larger the numerator (distance to existing salt location) the higher the score will be, and the smaller the denominator (cumulative distance to county roads) the higher the score will also be.

Looking at the attached map of the entire county the scores seem to be arranged almost entirely by a parcel’s proximity to an existing salt storage location. This indicates that the county roads are evenly distributed across the county and that county road proximity is not a useful input as used in the above methodology.

A limiting factor in the above methodology is that the number of lanes of each road is not analyzed. If lanes were factored into the above methodology I would predict a grouping of parcels with higher scores in the southeast corner of the county near the multilane roads Randall Road, Orchard Road, Kirk Road, and Fabyan Parkway.

With this in mind I am recommending a new salt storage location in an area of southeast Kane County that scored in the highest tier from the initial analysis. The location is a triangular area along either side of Kirk Road and from Fabyan Road south about two miles. [See attached detail map]

The furthest west I have been is Las Vegas, and the furthest east I have been is Austria.

I added a link on the right side of my blog to find the sunrise and sunset time for any day past, present, or future. I just used it to see how much time I have left to mow the lawn tonight. I will have light until 8:49 PM CDT.

Look at the "End civil twilight" time, not the "Sunset" time. Sunset is actually a technical term for when the upper edge of the disk of the sun is right on the horizon. Not very useful is it. Civil twilight is how late useable light is available. Much more useful.

We are having a guest staying with us all weekend. I will be picking up Pete around 3:00 PM today.

Cool! I found a map on AccuWeather.com that will show me predicted wind gustiness for a given day. Just what I need to know for safe flying.

FBI BULLETIN: LOOKOUT FOR SUICIDE BOMBERS INSIDE THE U.S.
Thu May 20 2004 19:09:51 ET

Warns Officials To Look for People Wearing Bulky Jackets on Warm Days; Smell of Chemicals; Trailing Wires from Jackets Bombers May Disguise Selves As Pregnant Women

New York - The FBI has disseminated to 18,000 law enforcement agencies an intelligence bulletin advising police officials to be on the lookout for suicide bombers attempting to strike inside the US, TIME's Elaine Shannon reports today on TIME.com. The lightly classsified bulletin, headlined "Possible suicide bomber indicators," and circulated earlier today (May 20) via the FBI's secure Law Enforcement Online (LEO) Intranet, warns local badge-carriers to look for obvious signs of trouble - people wearing heavy, bulky jackets on warm days, smelling of chemicals, trailing wires from their jackets - and, as well, more subtle ones, such as tightly clenched fists. Someone who never shows his palms could be gripping a detonator rigged to go off when a button is released. "If you shoot him, you're still not safe because his hands relax and the bomb explodes," says a counter-terrorism official, TIME reports.

The FBI bulletin also notes that suicide bombers may disguise themselves in stolen military, police or firefighter's garb or as pregnant women, TIME reports.

Developing...

Associated Press
May. 20, 2004 08:55 AM

CINCINNATI - Pringles has a question - would you eat printed chips? Pringles will soon be selling potato chips with trivia questions written right on the chips.

Jamie Egasti, from Pringles' parent company Procter and Gamble, says it's a great way to add fun to lunch.

The questions will be printed with red or blue food coloring. Someday there could be ads printed on the chips, too. But Egasti says no decision has been made yet on the edible advertising.

The printed Pringles will go into limited distribution next month, with a North American roll out by August.

Student suspended for throwing a pie in the principal's face, after winning a school-sponsored contest to throw a pie in the principal's face.

You'll never guess what we bought tonight; a dozen canning jars! First I am going to make pickled eggs. That doesn't really need canning jars, but it makes it easier. I also bought the jars because I want to experiment with pickling this summer. Pickles, chow chow, and peppers like Grandma B. used to make. I don't think I am interested in canning jams, jellies, corn, green beans, tomatoes, sauces, meats, etc. Just pickles. But who knows. It might turn out that I like doing it.

My plane was waiting for me hidden behind a bush when I got home. I tested out all of the controls and the motor and it looks like it is none the worse for spending the night in a tree.

I just got a phone call from the city, and my plane is sitting on our front porch!

A city crew found my plane and will drop it off at our house tomorrow! I thought I would need to be there to show them where it was because it was really high and in thick leaves. I really expected them to tell me tough luck or that they would have to charge me $75 per hour for their time or something, but I figured I had nothing to lose by calling. What a great city!

Crap! Crap! Crap! I "landed" my plane in a tree and it is too high up for me to reach with any pole I have around the house. I already left a message with the city's Public Works department to see if they can meet me out there with a cherry picker truck. Crap!

This is exactly the model hair extension that Sheri and Greta bought over the weekend.

I just got my answer from the Goolge News Alert I set up:

WASHINGTON, May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- The Communications Workers of America announced that a 4-day strike involving 100,000 union employees of SBC in 13 states will begin at 12:01 a.m. local time in each time zone on Friday, May 21. Workers will return to their jobs at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, May 25.

Google News has a really neat new feature. After you search for something, the results page has a little envelope icon on the left side and is labeled "News Alerts". Click on this and enter your e-mail address. Any time Google finds a new story about what you searched on, it will send you an e-mail. You can specify whether it should send you a notice once a day or every time it finds a story.

I am interested in whether or not SBC is going to go on strike in Illinois today because we have some things at the county they are supposed to do this week. If they strike today that will impact what we will do. The alert will search on the terms "sbc Illinois strike". Pretty cool, huh?

Brood X (17-year) Cicada Range

Mom made this great strawberry pie when we were home. No added sugar, but it tastes amazing! The pudding gives it a neat creamy texture. Try it. You'll be hooked.

Strawberry Pie

1 pound fresh sliced strawberries
1 small box (0.8 ounces) Cook & Serve Sugar Free Vanilla Pudding (NOT INSTANT)
2 cups water
1 small box (0.3 ounces) Sugar Free Strawberry Gelatin

Mix water and pudding mix. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring until mixture comes to a boil. Continue to cook and stir until mixture thickens; about two minutes.

Remove from heat and add the box of strawberry gelatin. Stir well and set aside to cool down.

Place sliced strawberries in a 9" pie plate.

After glaze has cooled somewhat, pour over the strawberries and refrigerate until firm; about two hours.

You can serve it with whipped cream, but I don't think it needs it.

We took four days off work and drove to Ohio for a little visiting. This is a day-by-day synopsis:

Wednesday
We left Chicago at about 10:00 AM Chicago time. Sheri started the drive and drove until about halfway between Chicago and Indianapolis. We stopped at a McDonalds. She had half of a cheeseburger without the top bun and I had a double hamburger. I got a Diet Coke for the road.

Traffic was light to medium for the entire trip except for the outer belt of Indianapolis. There was some construction that closed the right lane at one point. About ¼ mile before that closer a truck stalled in the middle lane. This combination of events added about 45 minutes to the drive. I literally could have got out of the van and gotten to the other side of the construction faster than we did driving through it.

We were estimating our ETA at 6:30 PM Columbus time. We coordinated with Sunny and Greta that we would go directly to Sunny’s for dinner. Greta brought barbequed pork and beef brisket, and corn pudding from City Barbeque. She also brought a bunch of good salads from the Kroger deli. Great dinner!

We played with the kids for a while and then went to Greta’s for the night.

Thursday
Thursday morning Sheri and I got up early and went to Tim Horton’s for breakfast. We don’t have any in Chicago, and we really enjoyed going there when we were in Columbus. We sat for a little bit, sipped coffee, talked, and worked the crossword. It sounds silly, but we had a great time.

We had to get to Sunny’s by 9:00 AM because we were going to watch Ben and Ensley while Sunny ran errands.

I did a little maintenance work on their PC, and then we loaded the kids into a double stroller and put a leash on Bear and went for a nice walk around the neighborhood.

I had lunch plans with Jen and Marianne from Bank One. I picked them up and went to Sky Line chili. Again, we don’t have Sky Line in Chicago and I was really craving a cheese coney. I wasn’t disappointed. Delicious! We ended up sitting and catching up for about two hours! A perfect lunch.

Went back to Sunny’s and picked up Sheri and headed back to Greta’s for a nap. We didn’t sleep to well the night before, so we were both a little groggy.

Sunny dropped Dylan off while we were still napping and before Greta got home from work. Sheri spent some time with Dylan while I was still hard asleep. She didn’t want to wake me because I was sleeping so soundly. The four of us were supposed to go swimming that night, but I ended up staying at home.

Greta, Sheri, and Dylan picked up a Donato’s pizza (another item on our food list!) after swimming and brought it back for dinner. We ate that and then went to Sunny’s to help here with the kids. Martin was out late playing broomball.

Friday
Sheri and I took our time getting up Friday morning. We also slept a little better too. We drove to Greta’s office around 10:30 AM and visited with some friends we have through Greta’s work. We then drove to a restaurant called Marshall’s with Greta to meet Fred for lunch. Good food and conversation.

After that Sheri and I were on our own again. We first went to Krema Nuts and stocked up. They have the best nuts around.

We drove past my old apartment in the Short North. The neighborhood looks like it has deteriated a little.

Then we went to Wasserstrom’s; a commercial kitchen supply store. We bought a bag of stuff. The funest thing I can remember is a canvas piping bag and a tip. I want that for filling deviled eggs.

This next part will seem odd to most people; we loved Super Wal-Mart when we were living in Columbus. They don’t have them in Chicago. So we went to the Super Wal-Mart on route 23 to just walk around. We bought a few things, but nothing major.

We went home and waited for Dylan and Greta to get there, and went swimming. I think we spent about two hours at the pool. Fun time. We all played hard and got good and tired out.

We stopped at Kroger’s afterwards so Greta could pick up some dinner fixings. We went to Sunny and Martin’s and Greta put together a lasagna and salad dinner. It really hit the spot. I was starving.

We couldn’t stay too late because Dylan had a soccer game early next morning. I brought the camcorder to get some good action shots.

Saturday
Woke up Saturday morning to rain. The game was cancelled. I woke up a little sniffly and with a sore throat.

Instead we took Greta to Tim Horton’s for breakfast, conversation, and to read the morning paper. I love doing that!

We wanted to see all of the development that has happened since we left, so we drove around the Polaris area for a little bit, and then went inside the Polaris mall. What a great mall! We spent maybe an hour or so just strolling around and stopping in stores that looked interesting. Greta and Sheri both bought cute little hair extensions. We stopped at the food court for a little snack. There was a middle eastern place that looked good. We sampled a stuffed grape leaf, two falafels, and had some iced tea.

We then drove to the Easton area. It was still raining, and Easton is an outdoor mall, so we just drove through a couple of the areas.

Then we went to a little Italian grocery store that we miss called Carfagna’s. We picked up some Italian sausage and hard rolls for dinner.

Sunny, Martin, and the three kids all came over for dinner. I grilled the sausage (to perfection ;-) and had some left over lasagna. Another great dinner.

Harry Potter was on TV, so we all gathered around and watched that. Dylan had not seen it before and he was mesmerized. It was cute to watch him get into it.

Sunday
We got up early Sunday and packed up to leave for Toledo. Got to Toledo a little bit after noon. Dad was working until 5:00 PM, so we took Mom to Rudy’s Hot Dogs. Another craving we had that we can’t fill in Chicago. I had three coney’s and iced tea. As good as I remembered.

We then went to the Toledo Zoo. It was the best visit to a zoo that I have ever had in my entire life! The temperature was cool enough that ALL of the animals were very active. The only thing I didn’t see that I wanted to was the wildebeest and the petting zoo.

Went home and had some meaty ribs, coleslaw, and steamed broccoli for dinner, followed by an unbelievably good sugar free strawberry pie. (The recipe and more details about the pie in a later post.)

After that we piled into the car and went to see the progress on the huge I-280 bridge project. Drove past the original Tony Packo’s restaurant, and drove over the high level suspension bridge. Took the scenic route through some nice neighborhoods along the river, and ended up at the Penguin Palace for an ice cream cone.

I had a lot of maintenance to do on Mom and Dad’s PC and was up most of the night babysitting that. I think I downloaded almost 20 megabytes of patches over a dial-up connection! I got the important updates that I wanted to get installed done though. When I was able to get a few hours of sleep between starting downloads I was coughing and blowing my nose, so not much sleep.

Monday
Even with no sleep I was able to get up by 9:00 AM to go out for breakfast! The place that I wanted to go to doesn’t server breakfast anymore, so we went an old standby; Nicks! Sheri and I split the vegetarian and feta cheese omelet. I gave Dad probably about 1/5 of the cheese and vegetables that were on my plate, and I was still stuffed. I love Nick’s. Tim (my brother-in-law) and I need to coordinate a visit to Toledo so we can split the $10 Nick’s Omelet.

Went back home and walked around the yard looking at Dad’s specimen garden. They are going to help us re-landscape our yard.

Dad and I went to the county engineer’s office to pick up the 2004-2005 county atlas for my map collection. Very nicely done atlas.

We left around 2:00 pm, but Sheri had to drive because I would have been unsafe on the road because I was so sleepy.

The grass was very long when we got home, and it was forecast to rain during the week, so I took two Benadryl’s (which turn me into a sleeping blob) and cut the grass. I showered up, had a light dinner, and crashed by about 8:30 PM.

Tuesday (today)
I am home from work today because I woke up coughing, sneezing, and constantly blowing my nose. I took a Claritin and I think it is doing a good job.

When adjusted for inflation in 2004 dollars, the highest U.S. average retail gasoline price was $2.99 a gallon in March 1981.

The three new entrée salads that Arby's has introduced sound good:

Martha’s Vineyard™ Salad: fresh-cut apples, dried cranberries, toasted almonds and diced grilled chicken

Santa Fe™ Salad: grape tomatoes, tortilla chips, cucumbers, red onions and chopped Arby’s chicken fingers

Asian Sesame™ Salad: mandarin oranges, Asian noodles and diced grilled chicken

They are going to open a Fatburger in Chicago!



One of the best hamburgers I have ever had. Tried them in Las Vegas.

This is SO cool! I have to have one now. A guy strapped a video camera to his plane (same kind as mine).

This is some video I found of the model that is just a little big bigger than my plane, but I wouldn't know that by looking at it. It looks exactly like mine. Right click the link and select "Save target as...". Their server is a little slow, and if you try to view it directly from the server it will be very jerky.

I found a place on-line that sells replacement main-wings for only $7.00 each rather than $15.00, so I ordered two of them. I will probably end up ordering an extra battery too so when one dies I can just swap in the fresh one in the field rather than calling it quits.

Just like in my sailing and boating days, as a "pilot" I am now very interested in wind speed and direction forecasts. Tonight, between 6 pm – 8 pm doesn't look too bad as far is wind is concerned (9 mph from the SW with 15 mph gusts) but it is supposed to rain, so I guess I am grounded. (I love this pilot talk!)

Specs for my plane:

Wing Span: 42 in (3.5 feet)
Overall Length: 31 in (2.6 feet)
Flying Weight: 17 oz (1 lb 1 oz)

I had a GREAT time flying the remote controlled airplane that Sheri gave me for our 8 year wedding anniversary! I was a natural. I think a big part of my initial success was my experience with MS Flight Simulator on the computer.

My first attempt to fly ended in a crash about 20 feet away. The second time, though, I was up for a good two or three minutes.

I got caught about seven feet up in a pine tree. I crashed at full speed nose first into the ground a couple of times. No problem though. I just picked it up and tossed it back in the air.

When I landed I liked to cut power and glide in. Just as I am about to touch down I pull back on the stick so that I flare up. That gives me a beautiful landing. Sheri saw me do one and can vouch for that.

Near the end of the evening I caught a funny gust of wind and I crashed on my starboard wing which snapped it off. The instructions say just use some clear packing tape to fix any damage. I just got done taping it back together and it looks like it is ready to go again.

When the wing gets too beat up to use anymore, replacement wings are only $15.

It was SO much fun. All in all I got about 25 minutes of air time. Pretty good for my first time. It was also windier than it should have been for my first time out, but I was even able to handle that pretty well.

The propeller is behind the pod and above the rod that leads to the tail wings. This protects the propeller and motor pretty well, especially in the case of a nose dive. The main wing is held to the pod by six rubber bands. This gives the plane a little bit of flexibility to better withstand crashes.

First chipmunk of the season caught and then released 1.1 miles away!

They like to dig holes under our front porch. Not good when it rains.

Milk is expected to reach $4.00 per gallon this summer.

What the USGS has to say about the science behind earthquakes in the movies. (Like NBC's recent min-series "10.5")

This new site, MediaMatters.org, will monitor conservative media (i.e. Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, etc.) and then post to the web any falsehoods, misrepresentations, and half-truths in real-time.

I am having a Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine stuffed cabbage roll in tomato sauce and mashed potatoes. It’s not Mom’s, but it is pretty darned good.

If my Dad came up with ten rules to live by that he has learned over the years, he could call them The Ted Commandments!

1. Though shalt not touch dirty doorknobs.
2.....