BenSpark Family Adventures

Photo-A-Day #685 Today I flew down to Pittsburgh for a demo tomorrow. My flight was very easy and uneventful. I listened to the official Lost podcasts that I had on my iPod and read more of Skin Tight by Carl Hiaasen. The demo tomorrow will be all day and there are about 13 of us here. Some folks are having very bad travel today. One had to take a bus from Indianapolis to Chicago O’Hare and she ended up missing her connection flight and is still at O’Hare. But I don’t think anyone had a worse day than these Costa Rican Thugs. This story from Gadling is about a really bad day for Costa Rican Thugs. Tonight as a group we went to a place called Linguini’s for dinner. It was a pretty decent place. I had a swordfish steak, it was okay, nothing too special. The ambiance of the restaurant was very nice. They had the brick oven for the pizza and in the middle of the floor was a fountain. Drew and Ryan volunteered to by photo of the day. Can you say Abercrombie and Fitch? These guys were good s...

Photo-A-Day #684 I realized today that I didn’t show you my haul from yesterday’s outing at the Hasbro Toy company. I picked up 4 transformers that I had been waiting to get. And the funny thing is that today Hasbro sent me an e-mail (I’m subscribed to their online toy store) with a message that Transformers are on sale for up to 50% off until March 11, 2007. The prices still don’t beat the ones I got at the actual company. I’m very excited about the figures. I love the whole Classics’ line and wish that there were more of them. I hear that at this year’s convention the molds that are being used are the ones for the Classics. So I am venturing into new waters. I have started another blog. This one is called The Wired Kayaker and I will be creating an outdoors and technology blog. One of the reasons I am doing this is because I would like to get into podcasting and video podcasting and this blog really isn’t the forum for that. I also wanted to blog about the things I love in a more spe...

Photo-A-Day #683 Today I went to the Hasbro Company corporate offices in Pawtucket, RI. It is a 15 minute drive from my house. My cousin’s wife works there and she invited me over to go to the Hasbro Employee Toy Store. I was all excited on Friday night because I thought I could take a picture of me with the Giant Hand from the movie that is holding the timer, however come to find out we would have needed special permission from Senior Management to take photos inside the building. So today’s photo is from outside the building in the visitor parking lot. The waiting area was so cool. There were toys all over the reception desk and to read there were G.I. and Transformer’s comic books. I poked through them for a bit as I waited for Annie to come get me. When Annie got me we went down this hall of history that had tons of classic games and toys. There was also a display of upcoming toys and games. I saw a couple of things for Transformers but they were mostly puzzles and board games, no ...

My kayak is a Perception Acadia. It is from 1997 and is still in great shape. It is made of roto-molded plastic so it weighs a bit more than all the new stuff that is out today. It is blue and has webbing on the front and back, no hatches and a wide cockpit. It is a decent recreational boat. I like paddling in it even though it isn’t as high tech as the newer sleeker and lighter boats. But the boat is mine and I love it. I haven’t tested enough new boats yet to think about buying a new one. And since I didn’t paddle at all last summer I cannot justify buying a new boat. So this season I will try and get out to some demo days (on water) that manufacturers have so that people can test out their boats. I’d like to find a longer, and lighter boat without a rudder. I am not a fan of the rudder but maybe that is because I haven’t spent enough time on a boat that had a rudder. Perception is a decent brand and they make quality boats. The Acadia is now called the Acadia Expedition and includes...

I read on Pop Candy that both Vince Neil and Brett Michaels have reality shows coming out. The reason I mention this is that I am a product of the 80’s and I loved Motley Crue and Poison. I still enjoy many of their songs. The Vince Neil show is going to follow around Vince and his family. This will be on A&E. The Brett Michaels one will be called Rock of Love and will be on VH1. It will be a similar vein of the Flava Flav, Flavor of Love. I won’t be watching either one of these because I’m not exactly excited about these guys doing these shows. But who am I to talk, I record my life and put it on the Internet, at least they are getting paid for it.

When I hooked up the Wii the other day I also set it up to connect to the Internet so that I could download some classic games for Allison. This past Christmas I gave her a Wii points card so she could get her favorite game: Super Mario Brothers. Well I finally got to use the Wii points card and we downloaded Super Mario Brothers as well as Sonic the Hedgehog. So we have some old school fun games to play along with the new games like Monster 4X4 World Circuit, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Wario Smooth Moves, and Wii Play. Connecting with the Wii was a very simple procedure and so was loading the points card onto the shopping channel. I also signed up online with Nintendo and was able to link that account to my Wii account and got 3 issues of Nintendo Power magazine coming my way. I still have all my classic Nintendo Power magazines too.

During my mega purchase of Nintendo Wii items I picked up The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I finally got a chance to play with it today as I had the day off. I actually set the Wii up on our TV at home today and it is ready to go. I played Zelda about 4 hours today and I am pretty comfortable with the game controls. I just love the wireless wiimote and nunchuck, this combination is fantastic. In Zelda you control the movement of Link (or whatever you name your character) and his horse. With the wiimote you slash like you are using a sword and your sword on screen slashes as well. Different movements will bring about different actions and they work very well. The opening stages are very good to help you learn the ins and outs of what Link can do. Just learning the techniques for running and jumping and picking things up. My tip to you, smash everything you can find, slash at the grass and find rupees galore. I’m not sure how high up you have to be to hurt link but you should be a...

I played Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam with Allison, Andy and Rondi. The game was okay, it was pretty much a racing game but you were able to jump and do tricks with your skaters. The only real difference between this game and any other racing game was that you stand on your vehicle of choice. Some people may like Tony Hawk and the skateboarding scene or lifestyle. Me, not so much. I did however like barreling my player into oncoming cars over and over. But that is my own issue with skateboarding. The game is pretty solid with awesome graphics and it makes use of the wiimote very well. You turn and do jumps and tricks by moving the wiimote all over the place. Andy and Rondi hadn’t played the game much so many characters were still locked, but the characters we did have to play with were pretty colorful and interesting. If you want a solid racing game with many different types of multiplayer games then this is a decent one to have.

Photo-A-Day #682 Bonnie likes her water running. Allison and I started our day in New Hampshire. We had breakfast and lunch with Marcia and Dan and headed home around 12:30. On the way home we stopped off to hang out with Andy and Rondi and Stephen the Dog. We played a bunch of Wii games together. The first game we played was Monster 4X4 World Circuit. I totally dominated the races, but I think that given more time everyone else would move up and be on par with me in that game. Then Andy and Rondi played Wii Play and then Allison and I played Wii Play. We were going to play another round of that but switched to the Wii Sports and did bowling. Rondi is at the Pro level in that game and Andy hit strike after strike. I did not fare so well in that game. We ended up staying till dinnertime and decided to go to Acapulco’s to pick up dinner. Andy and I drove out there to get our dinner and Allison and Rondi talked Disney plans because Andy and Rondi are headed to Disney later next month. Our...

Photo-A-Day #681 Today Allison and I were still up in New Hampshire. We got to sleep a little late and then we played some Nintendo Wii and had breakfast. We are really enjoying playing the Wii. Allison is fiercely competitive and gets mad at me because I pick up on these games very quickly. That is because I spent years in front of my Nintendo playing game after game. Now we can download many of those old games and play them on the Wii’s virtual console. Pretty sweet, except those games are now worth the equivalent of $5.00 and I remember paying $40 or $50 for them back when they came out. And a quick search of eBay tells me that they are now worth practically nothing. But I am saving them for some reason, a reason I do not know. I will probably use them to punish my kids when they complain and want something expensive or something or if they have been naughty. Me: “Here see how tough Dad had it!” Son: “But it doesn’t work” Me: “You have to blow in it first and then jiggle the cartrid...

Photo-A-Day #680 Spent too much time tonight playing with this. Full update tomorrow. Update 02/18/07: Yesterday Allison and I went up to New Hampshire. We stopped at Comp USA in Nashua to see if they had a Nintendo Wii in stock. They did! However you had to buy 3 accessories with the Wii. So, we bought a second Wii Remote or Wiimote as it is known. We also bought 4X4 World Circuit That game came with a free steering wheel that houses the Wii Remote. I also picked up The Legend of Zelda for the Wii. We then left Comp USA and I dropped Allison off at Chili’s so she could got pick out dresses with her friend Lindsay for Lindsay’s upcoming wedding. I headed to Manchester to meet up with our friend James for lunch at TGI Fridays. However, before I got to lunch I made a stop over to Toys ‘R Us to find a Wii Nunchuck Controller. I ended up with two of those plus a Wii Vertical Stand Cradle with 2 Wii Remote covers (One was a Mario theme (Red – Mine) and the other Yoshi (Lime Green – Allison’...

Wii Play is a great value because it comes with 9 games and a free Wii Remote. The Wii Remote is $39.99 and Wii Play is a $49.99 game that comes with a Wii Remote. So getting a game and Wii Remote together was a good deal. This is a two player game where the contestants play 9 mini games. You have Shooting Range, Table Tennis, Fishing, Pose Mii, Billiards, Charge, Find Mii, Laser Hockey and Tanks. Shooting Range: Fans of the original NES probably had the light gun and Duck Hunt, well shooting range gives a nod to Duck Hunt. Shooting Range brings the player through many stages of targets. I won’t ruin anything but the final stage is hilarious. Table Tennis: Your basic Ping Pong game where you can also smash the ball back to the opponent if it is lobbed to you. You switch sides during play so each player gets to experience each side. Pose Mii: With the Wii Remote you must turn your Mii left or right or upside down and place them in bubbles that match the position and the pose. You chance...

I have been reading Carl Hiaasen’s book Skin Tight lately. Well, I have been reading it on take offs and landings when I can’t use my iPod on the plane. And then I try and read it between fits of sleeping on the plane. I was actually fully asleep today on the plane when the captain came over the super loud speaker system and startled me awake. Anyway the book, like all of Carl’s books is filled with a cast of eccentric characters. These characters are so well described in the books that I can picture them perfectly in my head. I just love how Carl makes such mundane things become so interesting. I also like the intricate plots that he weaves while making me laugh as I read the book. If you have not read a book by Carl Hiaasen then I suggest you check out a few of them. Skin Tight would be a good place to start and maybe Tourist Season or Skinny Dip. Each one is a good entertaining read.

One TV show that I have really enjoyed this year has been Heroes. The reason I enjoy it so much is that the characters are interesting. I even find the Nikki/Jessica thing interesting even though everyone else hates them and their husband and kid. I think it will be interesting to see Peter absorb that power. When that episode airs I think many people will want to see what happens. Last night’s episode was very good except I don’t like how angry Peter is I liked him better before he got so angry. He and Hiro are still my favorite characters, I am glad that Ando did not die and did you notice the cameo by Stan Lee. I love it when he jumps into movies and TV shows. Anyway Heroes s popular enough that people are taking the time to make parodies about it. Here is one called Zeroes.

Call it buyers remorse or just plain guilt, sometimes you buy something and you want to return it. This weekend I bought an Accurian iPod Docking Alarm Clock from Radio Shack. I thought it was the coolest looking thing because the iPod became the face of the clock. A face that wouldn’t turn off. I was so disappointed but because I had only opened it and used it one night I hadn’t gotten rid of all the packing materials so I was able to return it. Returning an item is one of my least favorite activities because I always feel I have to justify and convince the person that I want to return the item. I returned the Accurian iPod Docking Alarm Clock from Radio Shack because it keep the iPod screen turned on all night long. When I returned the item to our local radio shack I explained that the item was in perfect working order but I didn’t like what it actually did. It wasn’t going to work for me. I needed something that would wake me up in the morning and not something that would keep me aw...

TV shows are starting to kill off characters left and right. Within the past weeks we’ve seen Keppler die on CSI, Eric almost die on CSI Miami, some various Others Die on Lost and now there is a a deathwatch timeclock on poor Charlie. I just watched this interview form TV Squad with Sarah Chalke, Zach Braff and Bill Lawrence of Scrubs. Apparently a longtime character on the show will dies soon. I know that sometimes you need to make changes and it makes sense that if someone is leaving the show permanently to let them die, but it really stinks. I can’t think of anyone on Scrubs that I would want to leave the show. That show is great because of the ensemble cast. Oh and I guess it would make sense for me to mention that the title of this post has to do with Heroes, this Monday the creepy catchphrase voice that has brought us, “save the cheerleader, save the world” and, “are you on the list?” has now given us, “someone flies, someone dies”. So look for a character on Heroes to end up dea...

I recently purchased Monster 4X4 World Circuit for the Nintendo Wii and I have to say that this game was a lot of fun to play. I’m going to give it a go at a real review in a review format. Playability: 4 out of 5. This game was very easy to play. I took the Wii remote, held it sideways and used it as the steering wheel. The 1 and 2 buttons were for forward and reverse. I’m not sure what one was the brake because I usually drive full tilt and never use the brakes. That may be why I go careening into the woods often in these games. But once you get the hang of th controls it is a very fun game to play. Graphics: 3 out of 5 They could have been better, I was blown away by the opening scenes and disappointed slightly by the graphics in real play Fun: 5 out of 5 It is just lots of fun to chase an over sized soccer ball with a monster truck. It just is. There is something so satisfying about tearing around in that truck. Re-playability 4 out of 5 – There are multiple tracks with locked cars...

Last night Allison and I went to see Jim Gaffigan on his Beyond the Pale Comedy Central tour. Last night he stopped in Providence and played to a packed crowd at PPAC. That is the Providence Performing Arts Center. He had an opening act but we got there late so only caught 2 minutes of this guys act while we were trying to find our seats. I heard about this show because the Jim Gaffigan myspace profile left me a comment on my myspace profile letting me know he was coming to our area, Providence. I then told Allison about it and we invited our friends Neil and Andrea to come along because they are also Jim Gaffigan fans. The PPAC is a beautiful theater but the seats are so close together and cramped that by the end of the night my knee had locked into place and has only started to feel normal right about now. The show was very popular because we were in the second to last row of the upper balcony. The acoustics were fine because we could hear everything except when Jim did his whisperin...

Photo-A-Day #679 This is one of two historic round buildings in my town. I cannot find out information online about these buildings. One is being turned into condos and I am not exactly sure that the purpose of this one is right now. Our historical society has a pretty lame website. Oh well, I will try and find out more about this building, I think it is called a gas house but my searches are turning up nothing. I just found some information through the local library. It is not on the specific Gasometer (circa 1855) but it is of another one. Apparently there were only 3 in the state. And we have two of them. Today was a busy day even though I was home as a vacation day. I started the morning with two cool things in my email inbox. The first was that I won a contest through Fuel My Blog. I won $100.00 from Kevin Dixon at Fuel My Blog – The Great Wall of Blogs. The contest was for $200.00 but it came down to a tie. Hey that is fine with me I am $93.80 richer. Huh? Yes, $93.80 because the...

On Saturday I went to Radio Shack with my friend James to pick up the Accurian Docking Alarm clock for iPod. I had seen this and I though it looked great. It looks like an old time alarm clock and it is small enough to fit comfortably on the night table. So last night when we got home I took it out of the box and set it up, set it so the iPod would recognize the Docking Alarm Clock, or was it the other way around. Regardless I got it set up. The clock charges the iPod as it is docked and the speakers are located under the buzzer bells and the volume is on the back. You push also push the volume button in to make it shut off the sound. But here is the problem. The iPod screen never shuts off. Never. You can try and shut it off but it won’t. So your choices are to lay it face down or not use it as the intended alarm clock that it is. Those iPods throw a lot of light at night in the dark and it was so annoying that I took the iPod out of the Docking Alarm Clock and woke to the alarm sound...

Photo-A-Day #678 Today I worked from home and I was using my laptop on the old desk for part of the day. It was very cold yesterday and our front room gets plenty of sun so it is very warm. I moved there for the afternoon. Oliver decided that he wanted to be some place near me so he hung out in one of the cubbies and watched me as I worked. I sometimes wonder what these cats think about the things that Allison and I do each day. Anyway, I know I have had a lot of Cat pictures lately but with cats as cute as ours it is hard to resist. Yesterday I also completed capturing the video from our wedding. I used Microsoft Movie maker to take the video off the camera and then save it into 10, 15 minute files. I will then take the files, and work my magic with Adobe Premiere, adding sound, removing sound, adding images, removing some of the images and then burning it all to DVD. We are hoping I finish this sometime before the second anniversary. My grandmother taped the wedding from the altar an...

So, when we finally get the Nintendo Wii I’m going to have to wait till this summer for the game I really want. Sure I want to play the Zelda Game, it is awesome according to my friend Derek, but what I really want to play is the upcoming Transformers game from Activision. The game is going to be based on the upcoming movie JULY 4, 2007, I can’t wait for it either. The game will allow players to be either Autobots or Decepticons and play to protect or destroy the earth. It looks like you can play as any of the characters from the upcoming movie as well. So that will be fun.  Also the game will be available not only for the Nintendo Wii but also the other consoles as well. And I also read that in addition to the movie bots you can play as previous iterations of the characters, it has not leaked as to what iterations those will be.

Comedian Jim Gaffigan has been blowing up all over. Last night we saw him at a Packed House at the Providence Performing Arts Center. The crowd was mostly hear the one set of jokes that Jim Does about Hot Pockets brand food. Jim is pretty talented and we enjoy seeing his act on Comedy Central. It seems that this year Jim’s Following has grown by leaps and bounds. I remember watching him on Comedy Central before he got hugely popular. His latest DVD Beyond the Pale is on Amazon.com.

Hi my name is Drew and welcome to the Wired Kayaker. This blog will be a combination of my love for Sea Kayaking and of Technology. I will attempt to seek out great places to kayak and great technology to use while kayaking. Eventually I will expand to other sports and outdoor activities but Kayaking is my main focus here. Look for more to come in the future. A little about me and my kayaking. I started kayaking in 1997. I had read about the sport and researched things for about a year and one day with some disposable income in my pocket I went and outfitted myself for kayaking on flat water. I took the kayak down to the the water under the Kelly street bridge in Manchester and set about learning how to paddle. I had read the books and was reasonably sure I would do fine. I did and I loved kayaking from the first moment on the water. I took my Kayak (A Blue Perception Acadia) to my house at the Cape and stored it there for the summer. That summer I looked for places to go kayaking. I m...

Photo-A-Day #677 Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. Today we had a Nor’ Easter here in Massachusetts. Where I worked there was snow all day and we got sent home early because of the bad road conditions. At home the weather was warmer and there was rain. However, earlier in the day there was snow and freezing rain. Since we all had work today and the bulk of the snow came after we left there was much to do upon return to the house. When I got home Tara was already shoveling the driveway (we have a rather large driveway that we usually do with two snowblowers now that Tara and Erik live here and have a snowblower). I changed and got our there to shovel as well. Since it was raining I did not want to wear my winter hat, I wanted to keep completely dry on the top of my head. Well, the only thing I have that is completely waterproof is my ski helmet. So that is what I wore. Plus if I slipped and fell on my ass I would have a safe head. We got the driveway completely clear of snow and slush, ju...

My Dad is in Florida for a couple of days, tooling around on a sweet Harley along the west coast. He’s got a couple of Keys that he’s going to visit on his route. He’s hitting Longboat and Siesta Keys. These also happen to be the names of omelets that are made at Cafe Loco in Bellows Falls, VT. That is because Michael, of Cafe Loco is from Florida and Cafe Loco has a Florida and alligator theme. Dad spent the other night with my Aunt and Uncle and Cousins in their RV. My Aunt just sent me these pictures from this morning when Dad headed off on his ride. Dad with Haley and Madison Dad with Aunt Corrine

Photo-A-Day #676 Ah RITZ crackers. I love RITZ crackers. When I was a kid I would eat a sleeve of them each day after school in front of the Nintendo. I was an avid Nintendo player and have all of the games and components that I ever had as a kid. I even have R.O.B.B.I.E. the robot. I have about 50 games too. Now with the Nintendo Wii out I will probably get a few of those games again, well at least Super Mario Bros. But the reason I took today’s picture is in the details. First there is the detail of those delicious buttery crackers, I’m sorry but no other cracker is that good. I’ve had the townhouse ones but they just don’t compare to a fresh buttery RITZ. Notice how the RITZ has a golden color and grains of salt that you can see. Oh I just love those crackers. Now, notice the serving size. 5 lousy crackers. Man, that is maddening. I have been trying very hard to stick to serving sizes as of late to track my intake of food and some of these serving size things are just killing me. Fo...

Lost is back on TV. After that long hiatus it is finally back. The first two episodes of the 16 straight with no repeats were great. I loved the one last night that focused on Desmond and the end blew me away. Nice twist. I have been spending some time getting my LOST fix. I have been listening to The Official Lost Podcast hosted by creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Carlton Cuse. I also like reading the posts from Entertainment Weekly after the episode airs. I recently came across TV Squad and their posts about Lost and various other TV shows. I like those as well. Reading them lets me catch a few things that I may have missed in the show itself. I thought last night’s episode was fantastic and it really brought out a new way to tell the story. The whole flashback but not a flashback but maybe a deja vu was really cool. The transitions were also good. I’m not sure about the escaping fate thing, seemed very much like a Final Destination thing. If you cheat...

I recently purchased a Canon SD600 Digital ELPH for Allison. She has wanted a digital camera and while I was researching a Canon SD800 IS for myself I came across the SD600 for Allison. I gave her the camera last night and we haven’t had much time to play around with it but there are some great features of the camera. It was very simple to set up and I was clicking away after about 5 minutes. It would have been sooner but I put the camera in the camera bag, added the wrist strap and all those things that you do to really get it ready. Then I used the camera to take some pictures as well as record some video. I played with my SD800 too and I really like the features of that camera. Once we use the cameras more we will start posting more information about them.

Photo-A-Day #675 Little Oliver, he’s been so needy lately. The boys now have plenty of room to run around because they have the run of the entire upstairs. Well, not the entire upstairs, they are not allowed in our bedroom (at any time) or the living room (at night because they rattle the door trying to get in). Our boys are smart, they have learned that 100 year old doors do not have the best latches and if they rattle them enough then they will be rewarded with an open door. It just leads to another room so they really don’t win anything. However they are cats and they are curious and they try to get out often. Had a long day at work catching up on many things after being on the road for a while. Still haven’t seen my desk in about three weeks. I’ll be going there tomorrow. I got almost everything I needed to get done completed. I still need to do a couple of things and I will be able to breathe easier. I hit the gym today. Still working on the cardio and the fat burn. 1/2 hour on th...

I feel like gushing like Sally Field right now. I won a contest, yes, me. I won, I really, really won. I won the contest that Fuelmyblog.com sponsored for the best reviews about Fuelmyblog. The contest was for $200 but it came down to a tie between me and Cybergal.  Cybergal came up with the Fuelmyblog.com tagline of Great Wall of Blogs. So Kevin split the winnings between us. And that is great. I think that is the most fair thing to do. And hey that is $100.00, Sweet! Kevin you just bank rolled my Transformers purchases this coming Tuesday when I visit the Hasbro company store with my cousin’s wife Annie.  If you haven’t signed your blog up for this great site then what are you waiting for, there are still paces in the More, Business, Life and All Sorts sections. The site is getting an overhaul in the next few weeks so be on the lookout for big things to come.

Last night Allison and I watched Little Miss Sunshine with Tara and Erik. What a good movie. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I found it touching, tragic and fantastic all at once. We had some chicken soup, that Tara made, for dinner. It was delicious.  Then we settled down to watch the movie. I loved the whole family and the outrageousness of their issues as well as the mundaneness of their lives. They were a real set of people with real problems and the frankness with which they talked about their problems was touching and tragic at the same time. I loved Alan Arkin as the grandfather. He just tends to make each movie better.  I don’t want to give anything away because I think that knowing as little about this movie as possible before seeing it makes it so wonderful. The actors were fantastic and so fitting. I was really happy to have seen this movie. I’m rooting for it in the Oscars now.

I used to have a program on my Apple IIC that was called Toy Shop. I could print out instructions and templates on building a toy out of paper. Then I would stick the paper on a sticky sheet of cardboard to make it rigid. Today you can make your very own transformable Optimus Prime out of paper. This low tech recyclable toy will give you hours of fun in the construction as well as the playability. One reader of Pop Candy went so far as to make a tiny boombox out of paper so that Prime could do his best Lloyd Dobler impression. That is if Lloyd had the Matrix of leadership. Maybe that is why I like the movie so much. Lloyd was trying to light his darkest hour. Check out the DVD covers. Coincidence…I think not. Cusacktimous Prime.

I’m a big Transformers fan and am eagerly awaiting the upcoming movie this summer. I’ve been collecting the toys since I was 10 years old and have amassed a rather large collection. My desk at work is covered with different Transformers toys. I check Transformer’s websites daily for news on new toys or on the movie. I have to laugh when I talk to someone who doesn’t know about my Transformer’s interest. They always tell me right away that there is a movie coming out this summer. I tell them that I’ve been counting down for 2 years now. I am also a fan of web comics and there are about 20 that I read every day. I love how I can open all the tabs at once through firefox, it is much easier than loading my blog, selecting a link, going back and selecting another link. Anyway I came across a new webcomic about Transformers called Lil’ Formers and it is funny, if you are a Transformers fan. So if there are any Transformers fans out there check this comic out and get ready for July 4, 2007.

Yesterday I was listening to the Pop Candy Podcast from back in September. This one was about the movie The Big Lebowski. Now I saw The Big Lebowski in the movie theater and it is one of the stories that my friends tell over and over. Basically it was me, Neil, Derek and Mike. After the movie Derek asked Neil what he thought of the movie.  Neil said, “It was pretty good, except for the ending.” Then Neil said, “Drew?”  And I said, “Yeah, pretty much the same thing.”  Then Derek asked Mike what he thought of the movie.  Mike said, as if it was an original thought, “It was pretty good, except for the ending.”  We all turn to Mike and start laughing because he committed to that response so much and it was as if the thought was his own completely. So in order to crack each other up we will respond when asked about anything, “It was pretty good, except for the ending.” I however do not remember much about The Big Lebowski but apparently it has a huge following. I nee...

Photo-A-Day #674 Okay I can understand the one Lady Liberty on the corner promoting Liberty Tax Service, but 2? Well, that is just silly. The other day I wanted to get a picture of this but I only had my camera phone and the picture wasn’t that good. Today Allison and I were heading to Stop and Shop to go grocery shopping and I saw them on the corner. I took out my camera and got a picture as we crossed the intersection. It wasn’t till I uploaded the pictures to my computer that I saw that I had the settings on the camera for 640 X 480. I could have gotten a better cropped shot had I been taking the pictures at a higher resolution. I am still learning many things about my new camera. And I love this camera so much. It is fantastic. I can’t wait to go somewhere or do something where I can take tons of cool pictures. Speaking of good pictures, my Dad should have some when he gets home from his trip this week. He’s heading to Fort Meyers to rent a Harley and ride up along the coast. He’s ...

This summer Allison borrowed a camera from Andrea when Andrea got her D50 Nikon. Allison and I did a few camera days where we went out and took pictures. I bought her an SD600 for Valentine’s Day and gave it to her last night. I also picked up two LowePro Ridge 10 camera bags. I love these bags, For one thing they were only $8.95. That is a great price.  They fit the SD600 and SD800 perfectly plus they have a belt loop, a carrying strap (we both took ours off) two pockets in addition to the main camera pocket (which is padded and lined with a soft liner that will not scratch the LCD screens). I bought a blue one and a red one and asked Allison to guess which one was hers. Since I buy blue for everything I own she picked the red one the correct one for her. I am very satisfied with this purchase. The case is even slightly smaller than my old case for the Sanyo Xacti C4. I’m going to put the Sanyo up on eBay and sell it soon. So you can pick it up on the cheap when I do.

Photo-A-Day #673 Notice the scarf Allison is wearing. She made that. Bonus Picture of Allison for today. Today Allison and I went to IKEA to return a rug we bought along with some roman shades. We picked up a new rug as well as a chair for the office and some lamps for the bedroom. A couple other things and we were all set. We walked through IKEA in record time on this trip. It took as almost no time to get there. We’ve tried many different routes but the one today was faster than all the others. And on the way we listed to my iPod on my new Monster iCarPlay Plus Wireless FM Transmitter/Charger for iPod . The sound quality wasn’t fantastic but was okay for our ride. We listened to an old Pop Candy Podcast. After IKEA we stopped at the Red Wing Diner. It is an old diner that has fantastic fried seafood. And you pay for it. We split a Fisherman’s Platter that was loaded but it should have been for the price. The place was nice and very lived in and comfortable. A real place for regulars ...

There is a new interview between Michael Bay and Josh Horowitz from MTV. There are 4 separate videos that are online of Bay talking about the movie. And he is very excited about the movie. I liked the interview. And I like what Bay is doing to promote the movie. The trailers will deliberately not show a lot about the robots. They are saving it for the movie and that is perfect. I simply cannot wait to see the Transformers movie and I know it is going to blow me away with the visuals. I also learned more about the Transformers Video game that is coming out this summer. And it will be for the Wii. Sweet. Here are some game facts from a post on The Allspark. KEY FEATURES: * Protect Or Destroy The Earth - As the TRANSFORMERS robot's war comes to Earth, gamers make the choice to join the AUTOBOTS in protecting our planet or to join the DECEPTICONS in destroying it. With dual campaigns, the fate of the world is in players' hands. * MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE - Instantly change from a la...

I have been reading Iris Johansen’s book Final Target. The book is shorter than her regular books and is not part of a series but it does have some characters from some of her other books. Sean Galen is in this book. He also appears in some of the Eve Duncan series of books as well as some of the other series. The thing I find most off putting about the Iris Johansen books is that I can never tell if I am reading them out of order. The books are good reads and are entertaining. I like her characters. I don’t like that her female characters always end up in danger because they didn’t listen to the male characters. We get it, she’s a strong independent woman and she is not gonna take any crap from anyone but many times these are women who are inexperienced in dealing with the nefarious villains of Iris’ books. This book also has a couple of those moments. But I do enjoy reading the books, they are entertaining. I think we have another non-series book at the house. I though have taken it ...

Photo-A-Day #672 I arrived home from St. Louis today. I have to say that the beds at the Marriott by the airport are so comfortable. There are a bunch of fluffy pillows that I basically place all around myself to lock myself into the bed. The bed itself is very comfortable too. This room has some very nice features. The alarm clock could wake you up with ocean sounds or put you to sleep with ocean sounds. I wasn’t too sure about waking up to the ocean. I didn’t think that it would do the trick for me. I got my customary wake up call, set the alarm and now I set the iPod alarm as well. So there was no way I was going to oversleep and miss a flight. You just don’t want to start your day in that fashion. The flights were very uneventful. I shouldn’t do first class that often because I have come to really enjoy the room. It was a sad reality sitting in the back of the plane getting my knees jammed and having the person in front of me reclining their seat practically in my lap. Yep that was...

Photo-A-Day #671 Today I was in Springfield, IL in the morning and then we drove to Clinton, IL in the afternoon. I demonstrated for less than an hour and then we began our 3 hour journey back to St. Louis, MO. On the drive back we stopped at this Route 66 roadside antique store that had some giant statues. One is of a pink elephant and the other is of a giant boy who looks like he should be holding a bottle or something. I like getting a chance to see different interesting things on the road and the giant statues were pretty interesting. We made it back to the hotel by the airport and checked in. I then went and dropped off the car at the rental return and caught up with Mike at the concierge lounge. We went to the hotel Restaurant for dinner and had a delicious Lobster Macaroni and Cheese and some Gooey Butter Shortcake for dessert. Very tasty. It’ll be an early night tonight as I have a 6:10am flight. I have the best room tonight. There is a 37″ flat screen TV and I can connect my...

So the other day when I was without my Buzznet account I posted my photo-a-day stuff to my Flickr account. And while I was there I learned a fantastic feature of Flickr. You can search for pictures based upon the camera that took the pictures. Flickr takes the EXIF data and keeps statistics about the cameras that supply the pictures that are uploaded to the site. The section is called Camera Finder and it came in handy when I wanted to see what sort of pictures the cameras I had been researching would take. I love this feature. If automatically collects the data that is stored on each image and organizes the photos according to many facets of that data. Check out Camera Finder on Flickr.

Photo-A-Day #670 I was searching through some Posties websites and I came across a project called the toss a camera. What you do is set your camera's timer and toss it in the air and let it go off. All I seemed to do was toss the camera across the room after setting the 2 second timer and have it go off as it hit the bed, across the room, then it went off. On this one the camera bounced off the bed and then went off capturing my suitcase and a tie, I have no idea where the lights came from in the picture. The one thing that seemed to help when I tossed the camera was that it now focuses a lot faster than it had been lately. That is weird. The poor thing is on its last legs. Today I crossed the mighty Mississippi River on my way from Missouri to Illinois. It was the first time I had even gotten close to the river. Unfortunately I was on a bridge and could not stop to take any pictures. I was only in Lubbock Texas for less than 24 hours so I could not get to the Buddy Holly Museum. T...

12:38am. Yep, The travel saga continued well into the wee hours of Tuesday morning. I’ve added an update below. I’m going to bed. I have to get up tomorrow for my flight in the AM. Travel Saga 2/5-2/6 9:30am CST – I am now in Lubbock Texas. After getting 3 1/2 hours of sleep I got up and went to the airport. I hung around and waited for my flight. I charged up my cell phone as I had made many calls in the past day and I listened to the 60 Second Science Podcasts. The flight was uneventful. I landed safely.  I had to go to Hertz to get a car. I double checked the credit card that was used to reserve the rental and Found out that it was not the one I usually use so I asked the guy if he would change it. He said I could change it when I returned the car. I said, “And you can do it right now, thanks.” I’m returning my car tomorrow morning around 5:00am. No one will be at the counter to get that returned key let alone be there to change my credit card information. I am getting sick and ...

  Photo-A-Day #669 I arrived in Lubbock, TX today. I’ll be back on a plane in less then 12 hours too. My demonstration went well and after the demo I came back to the hotel and did a few posts on the blog. I also read some more of Final Target. Tonight we went as a group to Orlando’s. Orlando’s is an Italian restaurant with Tex Mex flair. We had Mafia Queso, which was awesome. I also ordered wings but got the wrong ones because they were not that good. The pizza I ordered was doughy and I only ate two pieces because of the Mafia Queso. All around the top of the wall of the building there are empty wine bottles. It is a really interesting display. They also had some great wine quotes like “Wine is the thinker’s health drink” and some other ones I cannot remember. The place was pretty cool. Here is a photo from yesterday. A water pipe burst in the airport and the weather was so cold that it turned to a thick freezing fog. I have video from my camera phone and my Sanyo Xacti C4. I rea...

Photo-A-Day #668 I am stuck in the Chicago O’Hare Airport. The flights to Dallas either have planes with mechanical problems or they are totally full. I have a seat on the 5:40 flight and am expected to get in at 10:00pm. That is a pretty long day. It has probably been the worst travel day so far in my five years of traveling. You can read the whole sorted saga on an earlier post. I will not be able to take any cool photos from Texas today because it will be dark when I arrive. So I took this picture of me in my most pleasant mood I could muster. I’ve got my internet connection and I’ve got some blogging to do so things aren’t all bad. I even made $15 through PPP today too.

Oh I am traveling today and there are many people I’d like to thank. I’d like to thank the gate agent. Your ineptitude at doing your job is legendary. Thanks for screwing up the paperwork. Thanks to the FAA and their ridiculously ineffective rules. Why is there paperwork anyway. We are in a computer age, shouldn’t the flight manifest go to the cockpit electronically? Why are we still using paper from dot matrix printers. Thank you to the airline industry for your utter contempt for your customers. You work really hard on it and it shows. Thank you to the loud talking jackass in seat 6B. Learn to read you self entitled pompous idiot. Thank you to the big guy sitting next to me who is picking his teeth and hogging the whole armrest. Stop reading over my shoulder. So this morning I get to PVD around 5:45am. I head over to the security line and wait for Old Jack to shout, “Form 2 Lines, there are 2 lines people.” Old Jack must say that about 250 times an hour. I don’t know what his real ...