I bought a new cell phone today, so if you want my new mobile number just drop me an e-mail.

This is the phone I got. I didn't want one with the little flip tops that can break off, or antenna nubs that can get hooked on things in my pocket. This was also one of the lightest phones at 2.82 ounces. There was one that was lighter, but it cost $300. This will end up being free once I mail in the rebate.

I got a plan with 300 any-time minutes, and unlimited calls on the weekend, for $30 per month.

Even though I didn't use my work phone that much, it was a huge convience when I did need it. I felt very naked with out. Like today when I was driving the car after it was jumped. What if it stalled? I wouldn't be able to call anyone. Or coordinating picking up Sheri from the train station. Or on Wednesday I am going into the city to have lunch with people, see Sheri, stop by DePaul, meet with the career advisor. If plans change when I am on the go, it will be much easier to keep everyone updated with a cell phone.

When Sheri went to leave for work this morning, the car had absolutely no electricity. The starter would not crank, no lights, no radio, no power locks. Nothing. She took the van instead.

I called AAA for a jump, and then was going to drive it to have the battery, alternator, and electrical system checked out. After the tow truck driver left, and I am putting the dog away, I went to pick something up from the garage floor and I noticed that the map lights that are imbedded underneath the rear view mirror were on. All of the doors where closed, so they were not the courtesy lights. I got inside and both switches were in the on position. So that is what drained the battery, and I didn't take the car to the shop. I just drove around for a while. But how did both of the lights get turned on?

After backtracking, Sheri remembered that when she stopped at Dominick's to pick up a $5 pizza on the way home from work Friday night, that she bumped the mirror with the pizza box. It was still daylight and couldn't see that the lights were turned on. We drove the van the rest of the weekend, so by this morning those two little lights had drained the entire battery.

This is a satellite photo of where we will probably rent a pontoon boat from.

Jet Funn
109 Nippersink Blvd
Fox Lake, IL 60020

Satellite Photo - You can zoom out to get a perspective of where it is on the lake.

From the fishing maps I bought over the weekend, I have determined our first fishing spot to try. Below is a link to the map of the spot, and also an aerial photograph of the spot. You can zoom in or out on both of them.

Map

Ariel Photo

I am up way too late for a school night. I want to keep a normal schedule during the week, even though I don't have a job to go to. I am more productive if I look at my to do list like a job. During the day I try to keep busy, and not sit down in front of the TV for too long. The weekends and evenings I want to treat as time off from working so I don't get burned out or too frustrated.

I am excited to hear about Tim and Lisa's adventures in Michigan. I hope they pick up with their blog again.

Regarding the hostage situation, some officers are sneaking around the back of the house, and a neighbor's motion activated spotlight keeps turning on. They radioed in to to have someone knock on their door and turn it off.

Tomorrow (Monday) I plan on:

• getting a hair cut
  
• sending in paperwork to get my DePaul grades transferred to Ashland
  
• working on my resume some more
  
• cut the grass
  
• return movie
  
• shop for a pork loin
  
• maybe buy a cell phone
  
• cook chicken breasts and eggplant on the grill for dinner
  
• spend at least 20 minutes on the exercise bike
  
• If I make good progress on all of that, my fun job is to spend more time looking at the fishing maps and enter lat and lon coordinates into my GPS for the fishing trip.

I am listening to my police scanner now, and there is a big hostage situation going on right now. The house is about 7 miles south-west of us. They had to ask a neighboring city to send over some back-up officers.

They are setting up generators, lights and speakers now in front of the house. They have a negotiator on the way. They also just called HQ to send some replacement batteries for everyone's radios because they have been using them so much.

They have the entire neighborhood cordoned off. I was listening to them coordinate road-blocks while I was looking at a street map. From that I could get an idea of what their tactical plan was. They were also running every licence plate, or cars in the area, and a few VIN numbers through the database.

I have not heard what it is all about or how many they have, etc.

I found this job listing today on monster.com that I might be interested in following up.

---

Raddon Financial Group, (RFG) is a leader in providing financial and marketing analysis to the financial services industry. At RFG, we arm decision-makers in the financial industry with objective data gained through our innovative research techniques and unique database resources. We offer financial institutions far more than data. We provide strategic guidance and tactical solutions. Over the past several years, we have enjoyed significant success within our industry.

RFG introduced the Group Research Program six years ago exclusively for financial institutions wanting research data that is more tactical in nature. We are now accepting resumes for the entry-level position of Market Research Assistant within this department.


Requirements:
• Business-related degree
• Strong organizational, multi-tasking, communication and analytical skills
• PC skills must include Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint
• Microsoft Access experience is a plus
• Exposure to marketing research, including SPSS programming
• Banking experience is a plus

Responsibilities:

Primary Duties - manage the day-to-day operations for the Group Research Program
• Coordinate with clients any information that is needed to conduct client sampling, survey design and data analysis
• Work cooperatively with other RFG groups to manage client needs

Data Management - manipulating, analyzing and interpreting data
• Excel/Word/ PowerPoint
• Data Analysis
• SPSS/Access (helpful but not required)

Client Management - developing and managing relationships (This sends up minor warning flags for me. I don't want a sales position, or one that is too customer-facing. That is not my personality. I prefer back-office environments.)
• Provide training to new clients who are not familiar with the program
• Work with clients to design customized surveys
• Analyze client base for optimal sampling purposes by using client and RFG resources
• Responsible for following our production schedule, while working with client to meet deadlines set for them
• Resolve issues or concerns brought forth by a client

Project Management - managing the survey production schedule process
• Technical Management - Estimate time frames, manage production schedule for each client, complete specific production tasks, prepare progress reports, run programming codes, etc.
• Non-technical Management - Coordinate survey receiving; manage keypunch vendor relations, client mailings and faxes; maintain databases, billing, and client files

You will have the opportunity to work for a highly successful and ever-growing company that encourages continuous quality and customer satisfaction. RFG offers a competitive salary and great benefits such as, medical, dental, vision, 401(k), and many more!

For the 4th of July weekend, Sheri has requested pork loin, corn on the cob, and potato salad. Sheri wants to make her famous Asian cabbage salad. (I want her to use sesame oil this time. mmmmmm......)

I think I will sear the outside of the loin with high heat on the grill, and then put it in a dry crock pot for the afternoon with dry spices (salt, cumin, cayenne, black pepper, bay leaves, etc.), garlic, maybe a couple of fresh lime wedges, and fresh chilies. Sheri can add BBQ sauce at the table.

We stopped at Meijer tonight to buy the loin and potatoes, but the loins were $5 per pound and didn't look that good, so we just got potatoes. I will try some other stores during the week.

I just added a Presto 6 quart aluminum pressure cooker to my Amazon.com wish list, but I don't know if I will be able to wait until the next gift giving season. There are lots of good fast healthy pressure cooker recipes on the web.

Growing up I only remember Mom using the pressure cooker for corn on the cob and potato cubes for mashed or cold potato salad.

I found a recipe for a pot roast that only takes 45 minutes, as opposed to 2 to 3 hours.

Our older computer started to make a loud beeping warning tone a few weeks ago. It turned out to be the CPU temperature warning. The fan on top of the CPU heat sink stopped working. I removed it today and put in a new one. It is working fine now. The new fan is bigger than the old fan, so I had to use my glue gun to glue it to the fins of the heat sink. Because the fan is bigger, it moves more air over the heat sink and should make for a happier CPU.

When I tried to boot up after I installed the fan, nothing happened. I turned off the power and jiggled the cables and the CPU card where it plugs into the motherboard. I tried again and it booted up and then froze. I turned off the power, jiggled the CPU card, and tried again. It worked. It might have been a piece of dust that got in the slot and interfered with one of the contact points. I should have shot a blast of compressed air in the slot before I reinstalled it.

I did that around 5:00 PM, and it has been running since then, about eight hours, with no temperature warnings.

Sheri had to go into work tonight to swap out a bad hard drive pack, so I went with her. I sat at another person's desk and read today's Chicago Tribune, and then studied my new fishing charts. We were there from about 8:20 PM until about 10:00 PM.

Our gas bill for last month was $14.41. Can anyone beat that?

We went to a fishing store today and I picked up two hot-spot maps for the north and south Chain O' Lakes for my fishing trip with Dad. The map company is actually called Fishing Hot Spots Maps.

The maps list GPS coordinates, so I will be able to program them into my GPS receiver. So even though we will be totally unfamiliar with the lakes when we get there at 7:00 AM, by looking at the GPS we will know exactly where we are and where to go. This will be important to get the most out of our fishing trip because there are 6,420 acres of water in this lake system!

My GPS receiver will also be helpful when it is time to call it a day. We will know exactly how far away from the marina we are and will be able to time when we need to start heading back. When Sheri and I rented a pontoon boat for a day at Indian Lake in Ohio, all of the shore line looks the same when you are in the middle of the lake and are not used to the landmarks. We started heading back before we really had to in order to make sure we didn't get lost.

The dog we had growing up was named after Taffy from this rhyme:

Taffy was a Welshman,
Taffy was a thief;
Taffy came to my house
And stole a piece of beef.

I went to Taffy's house,
Taffy was not home;
Taffy came to my house
And stole a mutton bone.

I went to Taffy's house,
Taffy was not in;
Taffy came to my house
And stole a silver pin.
I went to Taffy's house,
Taffy was in bed;
I took up a poker
And threw it at his head.

Bison are my favorite animal.

I never could successfully complete our registration in the Do Not Call Registry yesterday. They had 735,000 sign-ups yesterday and times were having 1,000 hits per second on their server!

I tried this morning and the site is very fast now and the whole thing took under a minute. I say the whole thing because the registration is not complete until you click on a link that is e-mailed to you. If you don't do that, your number does not get entered on the list.

The Do-Not-Call registry was running very slow this morning. Maybe it even crashed. It is running quickly now. The address they have for it now is www.donotcall.gov.

The National Do Not Call Registry will go live tomorrow, Friday, June 27, at 8:30 AM EDT!

This list is a federal list, so it will only have an effect on interstate calling. For intrastate telemarketing, your state needs to have laws and its own do-not-call list. Illinois and Alabama have officially adopted the federal list as the state do-not-call-list. Cool!

Ohio does not currently have a state do-not-call list or law.

For any other state do-not-call law status, click here.

We got a cantaloupe and a couple of mangos last night. After I packed Sheri's lunch I cut up one of the mangos and half of the cantaloupe and put it into a Tupperware container for quick and easy snacks.

A bit of good news: I got the results from my check-up last week. Everything is trending in the right direction. My sugar (hemoglobin A1c) in particular looked good.

For background, a non-diabetics HbA1c will be under 6%. The American Diabetes Association recommends the goal of diabetic therapy should be for a reading less than 7%. If a diabetic's HbA1c is over 8%, their treatment regimen needs to be reevaluated.

My HbA1c from three months ago was 7.4%. This last check-up it was 6.7%.

The doctor was happy with were everything else was too, so no change in medication, and keep up the good work with the diet. His only order now is to lose 20 pounds which would put me at 240 pounds. He said if I did that everything else would fall into place. I think I can do it, but only if I start exercising regularly again.

The weather is beautiful here today. It is currently 74º, breezy, and sunny with almost no clouds in the sky. A big change from the last few days.

We stopped at the grocery store last night to pick up some things for Sheri to pack for lunch. She is going to start taking her lunch on most days for a few reasons:

1. Save money
2. Better for her health and nutrition-wise
3. By eating at her desk she can leave a little earlier

Last night I packed her:

• About five prunes
• Baggie of pretzels and dry roasted peanuts
• Single serving can of pineapple
• Turkey sandwich with Swiss and fat free mayo
• Baggie with two tomato slices for her sandwich so the bread wouldn't get soggy

Using the same concept for dinner last night (cost and nutrition), I sliced an eggplant, seasoned it with Lawry's Season Salt and olive oil, and grilled it outside on the grill. When it was done I simply served it on a plate and poured a liberal amount of spaghetti sauce over it. Very good.

By the way, eggplants seem to do very well for long periods in the refrigerator. We bought three big ones several weeks ago. I thought I was going to have to through them out, but they were as firm as the day I put them in there.

I received a voice mail this morning from the career transition company that my ex-company is providing for three months. I just called back but only got their voice mail. The handout that I have for them lists these following services that they will provide:

• One-on-one career counseling
• Assessment and objective determination
• Marketing campaign design
• Marketing campaign execution
• Training seminars
• Access to research library
• Shared workspace during regular business hours
• Administrative support – one-day turnaround
• Domestic telephone, message-taking, voice mail
• Access to personal computer
• Internet access
• Personalized letterhead and envelopes
• Photocopying

Most of is sounds like fluff, except for the first two; maybe the first five. I supposed if I were 20 or 30 years older and was not used to typing for myself, the rest of the stuff might be useful, but I have a pretty good setup at home (computer, high-speed internet, unlimited long distance, voice mail, etc.) . I don't have a laser printer, so I will either e-mail letters and resumes to Sheri at work to print out for me, or go to a local Kinko's if it has to get out the same day. (I wouldn't send out a resume from an ink jet printer.)

Well, I guess we have to start watching our spending a little closer and a little sooner than I thought. My boss (ex-boss) flew in this morning from Stamford to downsize me. He didn't tell my dotted line boss, Todd, until he got here this morning, which leaves him hanging a bit. Oh well, not my problem any more.

I am not doing too bad. I already have some places in mind that I want to interview with. Sheri already has 11 open position notices from her company in my e-mail in-box. I am going to ask my Bank One friends to

I just listened to a voicemail from my doctor's office regarding my check-up on Friday. The nurse said that my blood sugar level over the last three months was perfectly normal, and that the doctor said to keep up the good work.

She didn't say what my number was, but I am assuming that they are using a 7% hemoglobin A1c as the normal point. (7% or less is normally considered to be "good control") I called back to see exactly what the results were, but the nurse was busy.

The last several trips it has been slightly above where they want it. Not immediately-life-threatening level, but more like work-on-it-a-little-harder-for-next-check-up level.

Last week during my visit, the doctor also said he wants my weight to be 240 pounds. He said if I can do that, everything else will fall into place. I am about 260, so that is just a 7.7% change, which isn't really that much. I am not looking at 240 right now, though. That just seems like too much. I am looking at 250. If I can make that, which seems more attainable, that will give me some inspiration for the next 10 after that.

We will probably be going to the Ruby Tuesday salad bar more often. I can eat pretty well by doing that. I also really like the Golden Corral salad bar, but there is a lot of temptation there with the desert bar and all of the starchy side dishes.

We are having filet mignon for dinner tonight complements of Mom, Dad, Tim, and Lisa. It is the current installment of the Honeybaked "meat of the month club". (My words in quotes.) Besides the two filets, we also received two strips. I am going to sauté some mushrooms, and have another vegetable to go with it.

There was some corporate-wide downsizing again last week. A person in my group was let go, and a person in the group I am embedded in was let go. Ouch. A little too close for home. We have seen the writing on the walls for a while, but we will start watching our household spending a little closer.

I just ordered some shredder oil for my shredder. The blades in a cross-cut shredder have such tight tolerances that they need to be lubricated monthly. The shredder came with just a little 0.5 ounce bottle to get me started.

Honda is going to start selling the 2004 Valkyrie Rune in July for $25,000. It has a six cylinder engine and weighs 794 pounds dry!

Ian, a 25-year-old tattoo artist, who had his tongue split as a form of body art in New York, shows how it has healed on June 17, 2003. The latest trend among teens and twentysomethings who indulge in so-called extreme body modification, forking one's tongue like a serpent's 'is an art form,' said T.J. McGillis, who offers the service for a $250 charge.

Sharon Stone has seen better days.

I did not go to bed until 5:30 AM this morning. This has sort of become the norm for our weekends, although I have only gone past 5:30 AM once before.

Sheri stayed up until about 3:00 AM watching Rosemary's Baby on TV. I had never seen that movie before, and it was pretty good.

At 4:00 AM is was still wide awake and was thinking about walking Goliath to the neighborhood White Hen for a cup of coffee, but I didn't.

Four hours of sleep later I am awake again and making blog posts!

Happy Summer Solstice!

Today is the day with the most hours of sunlight. Starting tomorrow the days get shorter and the sun sets earlier each night.

I would like to buy this rifle, but I don't have any place to shoot it. It is a .22 caliber, so I could shoot all day for pennies. The metal parts are stainless steel, and the stock is synthetic (not wood) so it is tough as nails. It won't corrode. There is no wood to rot or swell. I would also buy a scope with it.

I would like it if I had a freind nearby that lived in the country with a lot of land, like Tom back in Ohio, to go out and shoot woodchucks. A lot of times you can go up to a farmer's house and ask permission to shoot woodchucks on their fields because they are destructive to their crops.

I saw a small reference in a newspaper article I was reading that Starbucks is going to start offering free wireless internet access. I did a couple of quick searches on the web to confirm it, but I have not been able to yet. Stay tuned...

This Chain O' Lakes map will open in its own window.

Fishing report from the CJ Smith Resort.

Boat Rental Research

Doing some research for our fishing trip.

Here is a price list for daily boat rentals
CJ Smith Resort

Jet Funn is mailing a brochure to me with boats and prices.

Spring Lake Marina has two pontoon boats. Their prices are $60/hour, or $174 for a half day, or $295 for the full day.

This is the web page were I am getting my numbers from.
lake-online.com
The number for Berger's Harbor is wrong. It is someone's residence.

This entry, and ones like it in the future, are more for my reference than anything else. It is an easy place for me to put links, notes to myself, who I've called, etc.

I am sick to death of the song Bring Me To Life by the band Evanescence.

Now that we have a wireless card for our laptops, I have been paying more attention to the wireless internet service they offer at Starbucks through T-Mobile. They have several different plans, but I think we might try their Prepay 300 plan. You buy 300 minutes for $50, which works out to ¢16.67 per minute, and then use them whenever you want. The only catch is that the minimum number of minutes for a session is 10 minutes. So if you just wanted to log in quickly to see if you received an important e-mail, it is going to cost you $1.67.

They also have a plan for ¢10 per minute, but the minimum session is 60 minutes. There are also a couple of unlimited use plans for $30 and $40 per month. These would be great if you were a traveling salesman.

We are thinking about trying the Prepay 300 plan for when Sheri is on call. If she got paged with a problem while we were out having fun on the weekend, we could just find a Starbucks, and she could be logged into her company's network in minutes. She could fix the problem on her PC, call the network control center from her cell phone to make sure everything looks good on their side, and then we could continue what we were doing. We could probably even do that from the car in Starbuck's parking lot without going in the store. The range of their network connections is about 300 feet. She could probably even turn in an expense report for what ever connection costs she incurs.

We also thought this would be a neat idea on vacations. Not only to keep a travel diary on our blogs, but to get any questions answered in regards to what to do next, check the local weather forecast, find local restaurants, attractions, etc.

In New York there are ten McDonald's stores that will give you one hour of free wireless access when you buy a combo meal. You can buy just access for $3 per hour. I think eventually you will see places offering free wireless internet access just to get you into their stores/restaurants.

I am preparing a list of restaurants I really want to take Mom and Dad to when they visit. I will put this list onto its own page when I am home, but for now, these are the ones I can think of.

• Indian Harvest – Indian food buffet
  
• El Loco Burrito – I want them to try a pastor taco. Could just be a snack.
  
• Jimmy's – If it is nice weather they have a great people-watching patio right on the street. Burgers and sandwiches.
  
• Fogo de Chao – Schaumburg - Gaúchos (Brazilian cowboys) serve unlimited roasted meat on swords!
  
• Bob Chinn's Crab House - Wheeling – World's biggest seafood restaurant

I made a pot of iced tea at work today. For some reason I have not done that since I moved to a new floor a few months ago. I bought a Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Pot to keep at work.

We stopped at Wal-Mart over the weekend to get the Chain O' Lakes hot spot map I had seen previously, but they were sold out. Drats! (By the way, Sheri was a good sport and went with me, even though it was just to get the map and she is still having problems!)

Yesterday morning and this morning Sheri did NOT need to stop and rest for a minute from Union Station to the Sear's Tower. Yeah!

I spent most of last night getting our wireless card to work in Sheri's work laptop. It works now.

I have a doctor appointment mid Friday morning, so rather than take a local train downtown after that to work just a few hours and then turn around and go home, I am just going to take the day off. Some of the things I plan on doing are:

• Clean fish tank
  
• Fix the gas grill so we can grill our Christmas strips and filets that came in the mail last week
  
• Fertilize the backyard lawn
  
• Dig up a shrub stump in the back yard
  
• Spray some expanding foam into a couple of openings in the house off of the patio to keep bugs and small animals out
  
• Make iced tea, hummus, and tabouli for the weekend
  
• See if the furnace filter needs replacing

We mentioned maybe driving north to check out the Chain O' Lakes area for when Dad and I go fishing. That might be a nice day trip for us. Visit a few of the boat rental places to see who has the best deals and what kind of boats.

The movie Bloody Sunday showed up in the post yesterday from the WalMart DVD club. We didn't watch it last night because Sheri wanted to watch reality TV. Tonight I have some more office work to do, so I don't know if we will tonight either.

We dropped Goliath off for his fifth and final chemo therapy session. Any more than five does starts to do more harm than good. Keep your fingers crossed that his remission lasts a while. There are some things that we can do when (if?) he comes out of remission, but they won't have as much effect as the first-round drugs.

I use a site called wheresgeorge.com. I enter the serial numbers from my paper money, spend it, and when the next person enters the serial number from that bill, an e-mail is sent to me, and I can go to the site and see where the bill wound up. I was notified today about a $10 bill I entered more than three years ago that has had an interesting route. Take a look. My entry and comment are at the bottom. The latest entry is at the top.

We didn't get either of our movies from the Wal-Mart DVD club this weekend that they said they shipped. They will probably show up Monday or Tuesday then.

I would also like to own this tee shirt.

I would like this tee shirt.

Didn't do much today. I stopped by the doctor's office to pick up a couple weeks of pill samples, and have a blood sample taken. I was going to run out of some pills before my next routine appointment on Friday, so I had I suggested I get my blood drawn while I was there so we could talk about the results during my appointment.

After work yesterday we stopped at Best Buy and picked up a wireless adaptor for our work laptops. (Just one adaptor. We can swap it back and forth between the two laptops.) It works amazingly GREAT! I was surfing late into the night while laying in bed last night. I was reading the morning news on it at 6:00 AM on the patio while Goliath was doing his thing. Used it on the couch to look up what to watch next on TV. (Bathroom trips are much more productive now, too.)

I normally just plug my laptop into our router with a LAN cable and work at our office desk upstairs. I decided to get the wireless card because I have some office work to do over the weekend that will take a lot of time but not necessarily a lot of brain power, and I didn’t want to be a prisoner upstairs in the office. So now I can work and connect to the company's e-mail, network, etc. from the comfort of our couch. When Sheri is on call for work, she will now be able reboot a server at 3:00 AM in the morning from bed.

When I bought our router a few months ago, I bought a wireless one because I knew we would eventually get a PC with a wireless card. We are talking about buying ourselves a laptop for our Christmas present this year. We can then use the wireless card we just bought for that PC.

We were going to go to a film festival in the city that some friends are producing, but it does not start until 9:00 PM, and parking is always a pain, and I am feeling bleh and lazy. We will probably go get a movie and a light dinner somewhere. Might also make some kettle corn, and maybe boil some edamame we have in the freezer for a snack.

The grass is ready to be cut tomorrow.

Our cable company has added the Speed Channel. It is nothing but motor sports. I was watching the 24 hour Le Mans race live from France today. I think they are about in the seventh hour of racing now. A Bentley (pictured) is currently in the lead.

I need to do some research on where to rent a boat for the fishing trip that Dad and I are planning when they come to visit in August. We will be fishing at Chain O' Lakes State Park. It looks like there are at least three main lakes that make up the Chain O' Lakes. Looking at the map, I noticed that the Gander Mountain Forest Preserve is just north of the state park. Cool. (Click through to the map. It gives you a good idea of what the area looks like.)

Prior to our fishing trip I also plan on finding a half dozen or so fishing "hot spots" and then enter the latitude and longitude of those spots into my handheld GPS receiver. That should allow us to make the most efficient use of our fishing time. Once we hit the water we can get right to the good places, even though the lake will be unfamiliar to us. I saw a hot-spot map at Wal-Mart that I will have to pick up. I think I have only caught about three bass in my entire life. I am really looking forward to do some real fishing. This is a link showing pictures of all the species that are in the Chain O' Lakes. (Neat illustrations.)

Last night we watched about half of The Jerk. What a great movie. I got it on DVD for Sheri for Christmas.

I don't know if this is cute or scary.

If you recall a couple weeks ago, we had to have a plumber come to the house to replace the faucet on the jacuzzi. To do that he had to pry off some tiles and cut through some plywood to get to it. This is how it looks now. Some of the tiles broke when he took them off, so we have to find some matching tiles. We checked Home Depot, and a small bathroom tile store, but neither had anything close to something that matched the existing tile. You can not tell from this picture, but the tiles have sort of a mottled texture and are a little on the yellow/cream side. There are a couple of commercial tile places that do nothing but tile. We are going to check there next. They are pretty big places, so hopefully they will have a lot of inventory for us to choose from. I am not too worried about actually spacing, gluing, and grouting the tiles. I am just worried that we won't find a close color/texture match and it will really stand out. Maybe we will have to get a flowing fern to hide it a little bit.

I have embarrassingly bad handwriting. I am glad I was not born at a time without computers for me to communicate professionally. I would have been in big trouble.

David Brinkley has died at the age of 82. He will be missed.

We signed up for Wal-Mart's new DVD-by-mail rental program, which is just like Netflix.com, but cheaper. You pay $15.54 per month, and then go to their website and add movies that you want to see to your list. They take the first two movies from your list, that are available, and send them to you. When you are done watching it, just pop it into a postage-paid envelope that comes with it, and drop it into the mail. When they receive that movie, they send you the next available movie from your list. You can keep them as long as you want. Watch it the same day, or next month. No late fees. You can only have two movies out at a time though.

The first month is free, so we thought we would give a try and see if we come out better than renting. We would have to watch six movies per month to come out better than renting locally, but the convenience, and the that it is easier to get hard to find movies, might make it worth it even if we rent less than six per month.

We signed up yesterday, and I just received this e-mail when I got back from lunch:

---

Dear Brad Xxxxxxxxxxxx,

We're pleased to let you know that Rabbit-Proof Fence (Widescreen) has been sent to the address below. (Please note: Discs generally take 2 to 6 business days to arrive.)

xxxxxx xxxx xxxxxxx xxxx
xxxxxxxxxx, xx xxxxx

We hope you enjoy it!

Have questions? Visit Your DVD Account to:
- Confirm your shipment
- Adjust your DVD delivery priorities
- Change your shipping address
- Report a problem

To visit Your DVD Account, click the link below:
http://www.walmart.com/dvdrentals

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Customer Service at Walmart.com
http://www.walmart.com

I am really starting to hate the song Harder To Breathe by Maroon 5. I didn't like it when I first heard it, and now that it is getting almost non-stop airplay..... Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.......

Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.
-- William Penn (1644 - 1718)

I just got an e-mail from my professor that she posted grades on the DePaul web site. I got an A. Glad to have that over with.

The politics in Chicago as well as the State of Illinois is unbelievably corrupt. In Ohio if there was some sort of controversy, that person would be out of office after the following election. Here, corruption is so ingrained into the system, and everyone has their hand in the till, that is seems like it will always be that way. Sad.

President Bush will be speaking in Chicago this afternoon.

Sheri got the ants in the mail for her ant farm. Walking by it on Sunday, I happened to look and see four ants on the table around the ant farm. She left one of the caps off! I scooped them back into their home with a post card. A few hours later I was on the couch and felt a tickle on my arm. Another ant! That one got pinched. I think that accounts for all of the escapees. It is pretty cool to watch though.

20 Most Useful Sites according to PC Magazine

Get Paid For Speaking Out
1) epinions [epinions.com]
This site collects opinions from buyers of almost anything you can think of. As you read along, you will flag the people and opinions you find most useful. Over time, they develop into a trusted circle of advisors. You'll want to deliver critiques of your own. Get up to three cents per page view.

Learn Anything
2) FindTutorials.com [findtutorials.com]
Learn how to tie a bow tie, host a baby shower, drive a stick shift, or any of the thousands of other skills in dozens of categories by following the links to free lessons. Can't find what you're looking for? Try posting your requests to the Wish List forum and someone may be able to help you.

Access The Web Via Telephone
3) Tellme [tellme.com]
The best voice portal that lets you call toll-free and use voice recognition to ask for your personalized Web info, whether it's headlines, stock updates, restaurant listings, or a direct line to a taxi service when traveling.

High Tech Social Secretary
4) Evite [evite.com]
Want to organize an event for 6, 20 or 100 people? This site calls or e-mails the invitations, collects RSVPs, gives directions and makes sure you don't end up with 20 potato salads and no chicken. What a great deal.

Remarkable Research Tool
5) Britannica.com [britannica.com]
It seems unlikely that you will ever have an encyclopedia salesman knocking on your door again because the contents of the Encyclopedia Britannica are available online -- for free. Search everything from A to Z plus related articles from 76 magazines. To make sure your search is complete, you'll get links for 125,000 sites. It's research unlimited.

Boredom Be Gone!
6) eHobbies [ehobbies.com]
Get into model trains and rockets, radio-controlled vehicles, and more. There are articles and tips on every relevant topic, sensible shopping that covers all the categories, lively communities full of aficionados, and an online magazine to teach you the basics of getting involved in any of the hobbies the site covers.

Get The Dope On Drugs
7) RxList: The Internet Drug Index [rxlist.com]
Here's the site for serious information on pharmaceutical drugs, including warnings, interactions, dosages, and overdose treatments. You can also search by imprint codes, the little numbers engraved on pills.

World Class Shopping Bot
8) mySimon [mysimon.com]
My Simon queries so many sites (more than 1,500) that it does a better job of finding the best deal than any other shopping agent. You can also search auctions and classified ads.

Salvation for Air Warriors
9) Biztravel [biztravel.com]
This site is all business. Among its many features -- an automated upgrade system to help travelers fly first-class more often, flight-status updates that can be sent to pagers, exclusive travel deals, and frequent-flyer mileage tracking. It also features Fare Guard, a system that searches for the lowest fare right up until departure.

Leisure Travel
10) Expedia [expedia.com]
Among the features is a family travel section, a Fare Compare section, seat pinpointers to help you get the perfect seat, a place to save your previous search queries, vacation and cruise wizards, and express service for frequent users.

Find Clearance Deals
11) Overstock.com [overstock.com]
Search through dozens of categories, from digital cameras to wristwatches to fitness equipment. Look around by keyword or brand name, or just wander down the categories.


BUSINESS SITES

Storefront Set-Up Services
12) freemerchant [freemerchant.com]
Get a full storefront, free -- complete with business hosting, merchant gateway, secure shopping cart, auction tools, traffic logs, package tracker, member discount program, technical support, and e-mail.

Webhosting
13) Earthlink [earthlink.com]
Take a shot at setting up an online store by going through the process of site creation, site publishing, traffic building, and performance evaluation with tools that are easy to use.

Software Super Store
14) Chumbo.com [chumbo.com]
This site is arranged into six easy-to-browse main categories, and the posted reviews from users and ZDNet give it a very appealing sense of community.
There's an excellent software section with sophisticated applications you can download.

Outsourced Tech Services
15) CenterBeam [centerbeam.com]
Centerbeam helps you build a business using preconfigured PCs and servers (including software.) They manage remotely and troubleshoot crises for you.

Locate Your Parcels
16) SearchBug [searchbug.com/packages]
Package tracking is one of this site's most useful services, bringing together tracking information from Airborne, DHL, Emery, FedEx, and UPS on one page.

A la Carte Business Builder
17) SmartAge [smartage.com]
Build your site, drive targeted traffic, advertise for free, and pursue strategic e-mail marketing. Read the site's excellent tutorials on site building and promotion.

Equip Your Business
18) BuyerZone.com [buyerzone.com]
One-stop shopping for all your office supplies. Submit your requests to get quotes from vendors on supplies, equipment, insurance, telecom, and more.

Human Help
19) Service911.com [service911.com]
Actual, living human beings help you get the job done. Have a question? Check out a video tutorial. Not good enough? E-mail your question and an expert will answer. Still stumped? Ask an expert to come by your home or office.

Protect Yourself
20) McAfee.com [mcafee.com]
Now you can subscribe to the McAfee clinic, a collection of Web-based apps to keep your PC tuned-up and virus-free.

Just got a call from the place we dropped the van off for some work: $910.53.

New rotors and shoes on the front.
Rear brake cylinder.
Oil change.
Factory recall on pinion.

The Chicago Cubs beat the New York Yankees today 5 to 2.

We went to Meijer this morning. Sheri's muscles still get cramped up and painful from walking as little as half of a block, so I put her into an electric cart. It worked great for us. The very large basket on the front of it was large enough to hold all of our groceries. Sometimes I feel like listing out what we got on a trip to the store. Today is one of those days. I don't know why I get these urges, but you, the loyal reader, is the one that benefits. Enjoy!

two twelve-packs of Angel Soft toilet paper                      16.58

calcium pills with vitamin D                                     12.99

three 1 pound bags of dried chick peas for hummus                 5.97

garlic powder                                                     5.69

three avocados for guacamole                                      4.50

Cottenelle moistened wipes                                        4.29

kitchen waste basket                                              3.99

4.3 pounds of eggplant to grill for sandwiches, and baba ganoush  3.74

prunes                                                            3.49

tax                                                               3.23

two jars of reduced fat Jif peanut butter                         3.00

Grey Poupon honey mustard                                         2.79

generic Listerine mouthwash                                       2.77

2" inch wide long-handled basting brush                           2.49

calcium antacid tablets                                           2.47

1.89 pounds of fresh tomatoes for Jerusalem salad and guacamole   2.44

tin of smoked oysters                                             2.29

two bags of whole grain pasta                                     2.18

three cucumbers for Jerusalem salad                               2.07

two dozen eggs                                                    2.06

Welch's grape jelly                                               1.99

two cans of fat free refried beans                                1.90

gallon of skim milk                                               1.88

French's yellow mustard                                           1.79

saltine crackers                                                  1.79

bag of baby carrots                                               1.69

frozen hash brown potatoes                                        1.50

can of hot Hormel chili                                           1.49

kitchen garbage bags                                              1.49

tin of kippered fish snacks                                       1.49

celery for egg salad                                              1.29

pita bread to eat with hummus and baba ganoush                    1.19

stiff brush for power-washing aluminum siding                     1.19

sardine steaks in oil                                             0.99

soft fresh corn tortillas                                         0.99

parsley bunch for Jerusalem salad                                 0.79

                                                               -------

                           Total                               $112.48

                                                               =======

Google has a very useful toolbar that you can install in your browser. The toolbar lets you enter a Google search without going to the Google web page. Very useful and a good timesaver, and a no-brainer to install; just click.

But I am not posting this because it it useful. I am posting this because the toolbar also has a feature that allows you to "donate" your computer's idle time to help scientific research. I have been running it at home for a month or so no and have noticed no slow-downs or problems. It only runs when you are not using your PC. It all happens behind the scene and is transparent to you. There is a status page were you can see how many "work units" your computer has completed. There are thousands of computers running this program, and it is a cheap way for universities to get mainframe-like computing power.

It is currently set up to help the Folding@Home project at Stanford University. It has to do with simulating how proteins fold. The results will help develop new drugs, understand diseases better, etc.

(You may have heard of Seti@home, which uses the same concept to comb through radio-telescope data looking for signals from life in outer-space, but I think the Folding@Home program has a more immediate benefit to humanity.)

I have a craving for a couple of pieces of Kraft caramel cubes.

I was up until 1:30 AM this morning practicing my Javascript skills. Surprisingly, I don't feel too bad today. We probably won't get a movie or go grocery shopping tonight. Probably just putz around the house, watch TV, play on the computers.

I got the grass cut tonight. Good thing; it is supposed to rain tomorrow.

Sheri cooked some pasta and made iced tea while I cut the grass. After I showered we ate dinner and watched some of the MTV Movie Awards.

We are both glad it is Friday tomorrow.

I've been kicking around the idea of buying an old motorcycle for quick errands. We looked at scooters last year. I am too tall for one of those. My legs stick out the side.

Last night we had dinner at a little Mexican place, and then picked up the car. When we got home, we went straight upstairs to change, and then fell asleep. I got up at 9:00 PM to let the dog out and brush my teeth, got on the computer for a little bit, and then back to bed.

I am going to try again to cut the grass tonight, but that could all change by the time I get home.

I picked up lunch for us and met Sheri on the second level outside plaza at the Sears Tower. Very nice. No one seems to know about it. Only about half of the tables were being used. The sun and fresh air did Sheri a lot of good.

Sheri had the grilled eggplant sandwich, and I had my usual turkey sandwich on a wheat roll with tomato, lettuce, and hummus. We split a large side of Jerusalem salad and a large side of baba gannoush. All very good. We stopped at Starbucks afterwards for an iced tea for me, and a Frappuccino.

It feels pretty good to be done with my first graduate degree! (implying a second) I was looking forward to going home last night and just relaxing and enjoy the feeling, but instead I had to break out the carpet steamer to clean up after Goliath. Grrrrrrr. As a result we were both up too late last night, and we are both feeling very tired. I want to go home and just crash, but we first have to pick up the car from the shop. I also have a couple of desk items to do:

• Complete and mail my application to graduate from Ashland
• Complete and mail a mail-order scrip for Sheri

I have some chicken quarters in the fridge that I hope I have enough energy to grill tonight.

I should cut the grass tonight.

Lisa is getting all the cool stuff. Honey Baked just bought this printer/scanner/copier so she can work from home in Michigan. They are also buying her a wireless router so she can use her laptop anywhere in the house.

Say it ain't Sosa: Corked bat gets Cubs star ejected

As a Chicagoan, I am embarrassed. I don't know how big of a story this is outside of Chicago, but it is huge here.

Mom and Dad are having fun today. They bought a 2002 white Toyota Highlander! It has 6 cylinders, all-wheel drive, sunroof, roof-rack, and reclining rear seats.

You will be able to go to the FCC's Do Not Call web page in about a month and put your name on their "Do Not Call Registry". Telemarketers must then remove anyone that is on their lists that are in the FCC's database.

Money money money money money.....

We dropped the car off for a laundry list of problems on Saturday. I just got off phone with the service writer, and it is going to cost us about $1,200.

The big ticket item is the brakes. The symptom was a pulsing feeling when braking, and that was caused by the front brakes. New rotors and pads will cost $280. The rear brake cylinder is leaking and has soaked the shoes, drums, etc. To replace all of that will be about $600.

Oil change: $26.

Air conditioning: We were a half pound low: $105.

Turn signals stopped working: replace the flasher control unit: $60

I got this book, Beard on Food, at Tuesday Morning today for $6.