Bubba

Had a great dinner tonight with the Games.  Marc and Megan are up from Texas and we met them in Bardstown for dinner.    It is always great to see them and all of our friends from college.

These are the Bubba House guys from Murray State University.  They are my brothers and I do not go a day without thinking about each one of them.  Twenty plus years of friendship.  I cant wait to see everyone in February.

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope everyone gave more than you got and got everything you needed. The boys got way to much and now I am not sure they can move in the play room let alone play in it. Beth never did make up her mind between Guiter Hero and Rock Band so she will have to pick it out herself. I got a couple of very nice shirts and a cool book on Montgomery. We have had Christmas at June and Tims. Did Christmas morning with the boys at honme. Now heading to Aunt Janets. Bonnie and Mikes is on Sunday Night.

Hopeing best wishes for you and yours.

Good time at Granddads for Christmas. The boys do love seeing him and Granny. Got to see Nana Dorthy too. Wesley looked like he had lost some weight at school this fall. I can't believe Cammie Jo is learning to drive. Tim's Grandfather passed away yesterday. So not all happy news but still a great weekend.

The boys really wracked up. Bakugon, Nerf blasters and PS2 games out the wazzu. Good clothes as well. They still have Bonnie and Mikes, Aunt Janets and then ours to go. I think there needs to be a net zero on the toy front. For every toy they get 1 needs to leave the house. I would say let them pick to be fair but I know that's not going to happen.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Spend time with family and friends.

Snow the week before Christmas

Snow last night and the boys are very excited.  The woke at a little before 7 am and want to go play.  Beth is sleeping in and they are in the play room.   We are heading to Calvert today so you knew it had to snow.  It always snows when we head to Granddads for Christmas.  Dish is down because of it I think.  Internet is up and  so I get to blog.   The picture is out our back door looking north toward the school.

Beth says all the Christmas shopping is done and we are going to be in Calvert until Monday.  I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Bluegrass Stallions

Went to another Stallions game tonight. They played much better against Nashville than last week but still lost.  Graydon got to be a ballboy tonight thanks to Bradley from Church.  He helps run the Child Care Council of Kentucky and they have a great relationship with the Stallions and Kyle Macy.  Dickie Lyons was the 12 man tonight and Beth got a good picture of him with Graydon.  I will get it posted at some point.  Dickie was great with all the kids and very nice all around.  A very nice young man. 

It was a very good night for all

It was a very good night at basketball last night.  Had about 20 guys and no injuries.  Talked to Bradley and he has got Gman to be one of the ball boys for the Stallions tonight.   Beth and I have not told him but I hope he will have a fun time.  E and I went to the game Saturday and it was a much better game than the first one.  Tonight they play the team from Nashville again.  Hopefully they will play better then opening night. 

The family went to the mall after Church Sunday and I took this picture.  Not sure what it is but the lady actually had a role of thread and lady laid back in a chair.  I found this more disturbing than the massage guys. 

Hope everyone has a great week.

Thoughts about a road trip

I was on Google maps today for work.  I started looking at some of the old Federal roads that predate the interstate highway system.  It is amazing the distances some of these roads cover.  We all have heard of Route 66 running from Chicago to LA.  The road itself does not got the full distance but now but is still a iconic road.  My thoughts then turned to roads that I have grown up near. 

I looked at U.S. 60.  I turned on the Wiki on Google maps and started scrolling along going East to West.  The road starts at Virginia Beach VA on the Atlantic ocean and runs all the way to I 10 in Arizona.  Over 3000 miles in all and I think it would be a fun drive.  Pick a spring day, and soft top and just drive with no real time table.  If I count it correctly it would be 8 states, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. 

This post is not going where I was thinking it would.  I may need to actually take time and right it out.  I hope everyone has a great weekend

Well the light dusting of snow on Saturday was followed by an 50 degree Sunday. Beautiful day and very crisp weather. Monday morning snow and freezing rain. Let's all slopw down and be carefull. I put the sand bags in the truck and the boys have on their winter coats now. Beth found the gloves but she has not broke out the scarves yet. Winter is here and let's enjoy.

Uncle Hub passed away on Friday morning and one of Beth's great aunts died on Sunday. Granddad is the last of the Seaton boys left. There were 7 of them. So Mother Seaton had a house of 8 men. Beth goes nuts with just 4 of us.

Met with the guy from Computer Plus Saturday afternoon. Very good meeting. He is a very good salesman. I got to watch him interact with his empolyees and a couple of customers. I would love to own my own franchise. I need Beth to meet with him now and start working on finanacing.

Everyone I hope you have a good week and remember your friends and family.

Winter is here

High was 38 today with bright sunshine.  It was an all around beautiful day.  I do love the brisk cold weather as long as there is no snow or ice.  Again it is great to have 4 season in Kentucky. 

Got a Google Wave invite this week.  I know it is mainly for more computer literate people than I am but I really want to mess around with it.  I have found out that with just 2 people it is not much of a tool.  I think that Google needs to add other messenger services to it.  I use AIM because of the poker leagues I play in.  The addition of Wave to the administration of the league would be very useful.  I can see the daily league email and tournament lists on a wave with the links for signing up for the different tournaments. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend

Decembers Here

First Day of December and a nice hard frost this morning. Beautiful crisp day and high only 50. I love the change of seasons. The Boys looked so cold walking to school this morning with their heavy coats. They of course were playing and racing each other like brothers. I am glad they get to walk to school like I did.

Got my Google Wave invite from Nick, thanks buddy. We miss you on Monday Nights. It looks very interesting. Trying it out tonight. Was wondering if anyone else is on it. Email if you are.

Post Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Beth nearly set the house on fire.  She was making a squash caserole and was cooking the squash.  She turned on the wrong burner.  Next thing we knew smoke was coming from the pot holder that was on the stove top.  The boys even said it was to smokey.  Now Saturday and the smell is about gone but the house is a little colder from having windows and doors open in November.

Mom and Lynn are up to see the boys since we did not get done to Calvert.  It is good to have them up.  Lynn bought a new Dodge truck and Mom is giving him grief about it being a stick.  Not sure what we are going to do this afternoon but I know we will avoid campus.  Go Cats beat those Vols.

Short and sweet. Have a good Saturday

Black Friday

Ok I get the idea of shopping as fun and recreation.  I love to go look at cars on car lots knowing I am not going to buy anything, just to mess with the sales people.  I can walk around book stores, Best Buys, and flea markets with the best of them.  I also like getting a bargain on stuff I plan to purchase anyway.  I just do not understand Black Friday.

Why go out on the day after Thanksgiving to get "bargains" on items that the stores will have lots of in the next few weeks? And yes Wally world will have some great prices but only say 2 of those Flat Screen Cabbage patch Beenie widgets.  Are the odds of you getting one really worth the headaches and body aches of trying to get it?   I just do not understand.

But for those of you who do it (including my wife, mother, and mother in law as well as a couple of uncles) more power to you.  Best Buy opens at 5am and I am hoping for a lot of new electronics.

Just about done with Saturday work. It has been a productive morning. Got all my files finished and document in the computer. Busy week and so this Saturday was actually needed.

UK plays rider at 1 today. I hope they will figure out how to guard the 3 point shot but I doubt it. The Coach Cal said they were only working on Foul shooting and defense at practice yesterday. I hope it helps because they need it. Syracuse beat UNC last night. Mixed feelings about it but glad Caroline loses at any point.

Chris from Church called as leaving work.  He had an extra ticket for the UK Rider game.  It was great.  I got to see 2 games this week  in Rupp.  Thanks Chris.

Hope everyone has a great weekend

No real title this week just setting and thinking.  Beth and I went to the UK game monday.  It was close and John Wall hit the winning shot.  I am reminded watching this team why I do not like Coach Cal's teams.  They do not defend the perimiter well and they can not shot free throws.  I think they will win between 25 and 30 games and make the Elite 8 at least.  I just do not think they can get another championship if they can't find a way to get free points.  Demarcus Cousins is better than I thought he would be.  He has to play hard all the time but he does have the goods. 

I am still getting used to being 40.   Found out a high school classmate died this week.  He had a heart attack and was a diabetic, like I am.  I am praying for the family and just thinking hard about my age. 

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.

40 this week

First blog of the week. I turned 40 yesterday. Thank you all for your wonderful wishes. I thought about doing a historical list about things that have happened over the last 40 years but just could not make myself do it. I did think a lot about things I have done and lived through and thought to write them down. So in no order or without reason some thoughts.

Man walked on the moon the first time before I was born and I was to young to remember the last time we did it. I hope we do it again. We have lost 2 space shuttles as well. I will never forget the first one. One of my teachers had been a finalist for the teacher in space program. She had us watching it on TV and she just froze. It was very devastating.

The Watergate break in and cover up happened during my life time. I wonder how much it has changed not only politics but the media as well. Woodward and Bernstain have brought us to the celebrity journalism of today. Can you say Al Capone's vault or Inside Edition? News should be just news. Do not try to entertain me.

UK has had 7 basketball coaches during the last 4 decades. One legend, two nice gentleman, two who should have never been hired, one who I can not stand, and one who the jury is out.  Decide for yourselfs which ones are which.

Can I claim Mantel as the greatest Yankee during that time since the 69 season ended before I was born? If not then its Don Mattingly even if he never won a Ring. For my Cardinals its even harder to decide. Gibson and Brock, Sutton, Ozzie? Albert now? Well my favorite would have to be Willie McGee. How can you win a batting title and still chase that crap in the dirt?

Now the tough one. UK starting 5 for my life time. Not the best players but the ones I would like to see again.   Roger Hardin at point. The man ran a great offense and could shoot foul shots. Speaking of foul shots, Kyle Macy as the 2. Could you imagine what he could have done with the 3 point line? Mashburn at the small foward. Kenny Walker at the 4. Rick Robey at center. Maybe not the most talent but they would be fun to watch.

Greatest game I have ever watched? High School basketball. Marshall Co vs Paducah Tilghman on Valentines Day 1985? Tilghman came into Marshall undefeated and left on the losing end of the St Valentines Massacre.

Well that is a lot of rambling. Everyone have a great weekend.

Frost this morning

Frost on the wind sheilds this morning. It was nice and brisk with a little wind. I love fall and the cooler temperatures. I know people love summer and "nice" weather but I hate the hot and humind days. Give me cool and dry or even a little cold anytime. Its like Mama Jo always said "You can always put on more clothes but there is only so much the law will let you take off". Beautiful blue skies and a crisp air makes my day.

Going to take a couple of days of vacation next week. Trying to burn it before I lose it at the end of the year. No real plans but just taking the time. Tried to talk Beth into going out of town but with Gman sick this week plans are on hold. He is back in school and doing fine. Just a bug of some sort. He was so pitiful but is now back to his hyper self. E wants to know when he gets to stay home and sleep in the living room. I hope he does not get sick and get to.

Still thinking and praying for all of the friends and family that have been touched with cancer this year. It just seems like there was a great deal of them. Or maybe with Facebook I just now hear about it more. The C word, as one of the surviors called it, is a real part of our lives that I just never wanted to think about. I know when I list people I will leave someone out but I am thinking about you all.

Maybe next time I will think about turning 40. Come up with a historic list of great things that have happened or something.

Beautiful fall day in eastern Ky. Blue sky nice breeze and high around 60. I love having real seasons. The trees are changing colors and the frost has helped my head. Seasons are good seasonal alergeries are not.

Gman is home from school running a fever. Beth took him to the doctors. Negative on the flu and strep so just a cold. Hopefully the fever will stay gone and he does not miss much school.

E gets to ride the bus to Boys and Girls club by hiself. I can't remember if this is the first time or not. Beth has not said anything and does not seem worried. Maybe because Gman is sick and she has not thought about it. Or it's not the first time and so she is ok with it. Man they are growing up so fast.

Been thinking of Mama Jo lately, or at least once a day still. She would be getting ready for her toy drive at church right now. She would have been getting toys all year long. Buying them at yard sells and storing them up. Start of November was when the toys would get brought out, sorted, and cleaned. She would go down her list from last year and checking on everyone. Her helpers would be called and confermined for this year. She really loved Christmas, even if Granddad could not have cared less if we had 1 present in the house.

Boys Computer

Got to love when a plan comes together.  Installed the new DVD player and the ram I had saved.  The boys new computer posted the first time I booted it.   Installed the old XP I had and it is up and running.  It was very easy and I am glad I have finished for them.  Now to figure out the best way to get in on the home network.  I am either going with a an Linksys adapter.   I am not sure if I want to use a  pci card one or a USB key one.  I will have to look at them a little more before deciding. 

This means the boys, Beth helping a lot, will have to get their desk cleaned off so they will have room for their new computer.  Is it over kill to give an 8 and 5 year old a hand built computer?  I spent a little more than I had planned but it was still under $130 for the new parts and reused a lot of the parts I had laying around.   I am now very sure I will build my next one from the ground up. 

I loaded Windows 7 this week on my computer this week.  I followed a suggestion from Maxiimum PC and put in a new internal hard drive.  So I now have a Tri-boot PC with XP  and Ubuntu on one hard drive and W7 on the new one.  Now to get all my bookmarks and emails moved over to W7.  I am having trouble getting a couple of games to play on W7 but I think its the 64-32 bit issue and just waiting on patches for them for the 64 bit Os.   

Just a quick post.  Finally started rebuilding the old computer for the boys room.  I have been able to reuse only the motherboard, hard drive, ram and power supply that I had been saving.  The CD rom has the wrong connector to be used with the motherboard.  The case had a medal bar in the middle that could not be removed.  I have decided not to put in the floppy disc so I will need to get a media reader.  I should be able to use the fans and the monitor.  The hard drive and motherboard are the ones I took out of my Alienware case so I should be able to reuse the Windows XP that came with that box without crossing any lines with Microsoft.  I also need the boys to clean up their desk area so I can use the monitor I have in the garage.  After I get this done I think I will start to look at a completely new build for myself.  Oh and does anyone need left over parts from an HP running Windows ME and a PII Gateway ?

Thursday at work. It is a slow day and I am kind of day dreaming. I had my second call for jury duty. Sat around for 4 hours just to have us all dismissed because a settlement was reached. We did not even find out anything about the case. I passed my Federal SAFE test and now will start on the State of Kentucky information. I am not sure if it is worth all the studing. My company has announced it will be closing another 250 branches before the end of the year. Why are they pushing us if we still not writing any mortgages.

Found out another friend's spouse has cancer. Kidney cancer and they are going to have to have surgery. So please keep all the people you know in your thoughts and prayers.

Mom and Lynn are in Nashville for her birthday this week. I hope they have a great time.

The boy's baseball is finished. They both had fun. I think Graydon learned more and will be ready for spring. I plann to keep working with them both as well. I need to throw with E more. Graydon needs to work on his hitting. Basketball starts next month.

Kern Classic

Had a great time yesterday at the Shaun Kern Classic basketball tournament.  I could barely play with this head cold but it was still a great time.

Shaun Kern is a friend from church who has a non operable form of brain cancer.  He and his family have been through 1 round of Kemo and radiation and got some great news this week.  The tumor has shrunk about 40% from when he was diagnosed in the spring.

I met Shaun playing pick up basketball on Monday nights at the Roc.  While playing we both found out we went to Murray State at the same time but were not sure if we had met there.  He played football there and at Morehead.  He has a wife and 2 small boys at home and girl on the way this fall.  Please keep them all in your prayers.

Bradley Stevenson  set up the tournament and did a great job.  We had 4 teams playing in a double elimination and it was a great day.  I played on Bradley's team and we finished 2nd.  Not bad for a bunch of old guys who usually only play half court.  Kyle Macy and Shaun were the coaches in the final game.  Kyle was  so great with everyone even when he got a call from Dick Vitale during the game.  I heard him tell Dick he was at a charity ballgame and asked him why he was not there.  Some one needs to give this guy another coaching job.

The highlight for me was after the game.  Bradley had got a couple of high school certified refs to do the last game.  I went over at the end to say thanks to them and feel bad that I did not get their names.  While talking to them I got to tell them about Shaun.  One of the them is a cancer survivor and said it was great what we were doing.  He said actions like yesterday did more for people with cancer than any words or just donations ever could. 

So I ask everyone to get out and do something for someone else this week.  It does not have to be anything big or for someone with cancer.  Just do something for someone else because you can do it and they need it done.

PS

Sharlena Ralph

Max Conyers and David Pugh were the referees. Max coaches Upward Basketball.  

 

Thanks Shar 

I have been studying for a week now for the new mortgage loan test for the SAFE act.  I now think I know more about mortgages than I ever wanted to know.  We will find out tomorrow.   The industry really does need to have a level of professionalism returned to it.  I am not sure what the real justification was to exclude loan officers who work a FDIC insured banks but I think it was a bad idea.  Most large banks do not sell their mortgages as securities but the majority of small regional banks do.  Those who use Federal insurance programs need to have the same training and certification as any mortgage broker.   I do believe that the regulations need to be brought together under 1 agency and regulations.  The idea that the HUD could not take over the running of the VA housing, USDA lending, Fannie and Freddy is very strange.  All the programs do similar but not identical functions but the overlap is huge.  Some are overseen by the FTC some by the FDC.  Others by the VA and HMDA.  All do a good function but they can all be stream lined to remove waste.  Fannie and Freddie where the 2 odd balls but now the Federal Reserve has controlling interest in both.  Take all of the protections from the oversight agencies and all the insurance provisions from the the regulators and move them to the cabinet that was made to oversee Housing and Urban Development.  Limit the Urban expansion but adding in the farm protection from the USDA and move the VA lending in to allow the VA to concentrate on the health and well being of Vets.  This is something I really need to spend some time thinking about.  Put together a list of each program and what they do and how they overlap.  Wow I am really spending too much time on this.  Hopefully it will pass with me passing the test. 

Good morning all.  I hope everyone had a good weekend.  The family is back after a good MSU homecoming trip.  I wish I would have went but the sinus cold really was a bad one.  The two days of class last week were very long but I am now much more prepared to take the SAFE test this week.  So far no jury duty since the first trial.   

Nothing big this week so far.  Hope everyone has a good week.

Missing the Family

Beth and the boys are in Murray today for homecoming. I stayed home fighting a sinus cold and headache. Talking to Beth this morning and they are fine. The other day E got in trouble the other day at school. He and a friend were talking in class. He also taught the friend a little saying learned from his cousin Lexi. Talk to the hand Talk to the Butt Talk to the man from Pizza Hut. He told Beth and I while driving and we almost lost it. Being the good dad, I had to call and share this wonderful news with Granny and June. It just reminded me of all times June got me in trouble. I have decided that this is just a great line that needs to be shared with everyone. Have a great weekend all.

Thursday Night

More rain so no ball games tonight.  Fall baseball has been a very wet ordeal.  We have lost over 3 games form both E and Gman's seasons.  I am glad they got to play though.  E is really coming out of his moma's boyism and Gman has really stepped forward with his fielding.  Gman needs to work on his batting.  I am really considering batting cage trips this winter.  The swing is ok but he needs to work on his feet and hips.  The inside out nature of lefties really comes out in him.  E needs the hitting stick.  I did not buy one last month because it was not on sell like the baseballs and knee savors were.  I will get one at some point though.  

Still very tired from the week in class and the driving.  Beth and the boys are going to homecoming in Murray tomorrow.  If I am still this tired and fighting the headache still I think I will stay home.  If I do I may finally get the new computer case and try to build the home server out of the parts I have been hoarding.  And get the mattress from the old bed over to the Good Will. 

We have had to put almost $2000 in the van this year.  New brakes, flushed the coolant system, 100k mile tune up and then an intake valve ans sensor went out causing it to stall.  I hope this will be it for a while on it.  The truck is closing in on 150k also.  I really would like to go a couple of years without an auto payment.  It is very funny but Beth and I both think vehicles should be driven forever just like the ones our parents had. 

Monday Thoughts

I am at the SAFE class for 2 days.  I am enjoying the class today.  It is a lot of information but I feel that it will help me in the future.  Any certification will be mobile and will be a good thing.  I do wonder why all of these classes last for so long each day.  Ten hours today and ten tomorrow.  The CE class was 11 hours.  After so long you just tune out and lose anything you may have gained by being there.  At some point the training companies need to have some sort of educational background to figure out when to stop for the day.

I am missing Beth and the boys.  Beth said Gman's game went good tonight.  E's is Saturday.  Thanks to Charlie and Jeff last night was great to get out of the hotel.  Good luck with the surgery Charlie. 

Short night tonight. 

PS
What yah doing?

A week with Ubuntu

Ok geek blog time.

I got an urge, thanks Jeff, to try out a different Operating system on my computer at the end of last month.  I chose to us a Linux Os called ubuntu.   It seemed like it should be easy to install, work with, and would not take up much space.  Everything I read about it also said it will install in a partition on my hard drive shared by XP.  I wanted this option so  I would not have to do a full reload of XP after I was done messing around with ubuntu.  I made plans for an easy experiment with something new. My first mistake was thinking anything I would try would be easy.

I download and burned the install live cd in about 30 mins.  From there it went down hill fast.  I assumed that any cd burning program would work to get the live cd correct. This is wrong.  Imgburn  and Infrarecorder
both burn cd images for live cds and bootable images.  Imgburn does not play well with ubuntu.  I usually use Imgburn.  So the live cd did not work the way it should.  For about 3 hours I loaded, removed, reloaded and fought with the cd  trying to get it to work.  I was going to give up but decided to try burn  a new cd and used the burner on ubuntu's web page, infrarecorder.  Low and behold the cd worked like it was supposed to.  But I still had issues.
The cd gave you the option to run ubuntu like a program or load it onto your computer.  I got the program option to work on the new cd.  I went into unbuntu and looked around.  I found a very easy interface that is very close to windows but did remind me of the old Mac Os I had to use with Holiday Inn's old training programs.  I spent about 30 mins working on the desk top and going to the web.  It seem to be very stable and easy to use.  It was late and so I headed to bed thinking I would add it to the hard drive and try to be able to boot into both Os on the same computer the next day.  Again thinking gets me into trouble everytime.

The next day starts out ok.  I run the install form the live cd and answer all the questions.  Ubuntu said it was done installing, had made a partition on my hard drive and need to reboot without the cd in the cd drive.  I followed the easy instructions and restarted my computer.  Did I say that nothing in this process was easy?   On reboot I get a black log in page asking to boot into Xp or ubuntu. I choose ubuntu and then I get ......
Nothing.
A blank screen flashing cursor and no response from my key board or mouse.  No Xp no ubuntu, no way to do anything.   I reboot and try again.  I know trying the same thing over and over again expecting different results is the definition of insanity.  I now had a computer that would not boot at all.  I restarted it and selected Xp on the boot menu screen.  I also went and got Beth's laptop to get back on the internet looking for help.

I found a great web sight about all things Linux,  Linuxquestion.org.  It has a place for new users and ubuntu.  I joined started a thread and got answers and suggestions very quickly.  I also sent messages to Jeff and Roger on Facebook looking for answers.  Thanks to everyone for the help.  I figured out with these suggestions that ubuntu had decided to install itself on my external hard drive not the internal drive I wanted it to use.  It was decided by those who know more than I that ubuntu did this because the external had a lot more space.  Since the external is a USB drive ubuntu never gets a chance to boot because the computer never sees the drive until after its running.  I disconnect the external and reload ubuntu onto the internal.
All of this takes a couple of hours of messaging, texting and emailing.  I have now made a few new online friends and are feeling a little since of accomplishment. 

Again any little step of progress leads to more problems.  I get into ubuntu and start looking around like I had done the night before in the application version.  My web browser of choice is Firefox.  Ubuntu has a built in version and it work really well in the application version.  It needed my add-on loaded but no big deal.  In the booted version of ubuntu, Firefox would not run.  The system gave me an error of not having enough space to complete the action.  So back to the web on the laptop and looking for more answers.  I now have a dual booting computer that will only surf the web in Xp.

Come to find out that ubuntu needs very little hard drive space to load, 2.3 gigs, but it needs more to actually run any program. Back to Xp and delete the partitions on the hard drive.  Ubuntu is removed and the external hard drive disconnected.  Re load ubuntu giving it 50 gigs to play in and back we go.  Everything goes much easier this time and I am back to a dual booting computer and I can now surf the internet in both Os.   I blame most if not all of these issues on myself.  I did not do enough research and really was not paying attention to everything I was doing.  I now come to the reasons I do not thing I will keep using ubuntu.

The main reasons I wanted to use ubuntu, or any linux Os, were its cost and use of hard drive space.  I have been using it for a week now and I can say the cost is still a plus.  The Os itself does not use a lot of space but the mounting of hard drives and the swapping feature use a lot of memory.  It runs out a virtual memory very fast and I am still not sure why.  The programs I run everyday, Firefox, Thunderbird, Blackberry and Aim etc. all run a little bit differently and seemingly slower because of this.  Add ons for Firefox have crashed Firefox.  Aim just plain does not run.  Converting Thunderbird to ubuntu's client was harder than bringing in Outlook to Thunderbird.   Blackberry does not support any Linux.  I did not even try to play any of my games in ubuntu.

I have decided that with all of the flaws and issues with Windows I know why it is still the most used Os.  It works.  Pure and simple it works.  It is expensive. It takes up a ton of space. Lots of people try to hack it and make viruses to crash it.  But it works. 

Now when does Windows 7 come out?

Good Night all.

Its getting late and its time for bed.  The boys are asleep and I came in 2nd in tonight's poker tourny at Top Notch.  Beth is feeling better and that is a great thing.

I am going to write up  my attempts at running  ubuntu and Xp on my computer but have not got a handle on how I want organize the post.  Thanks to Jeff and Roger and the people at  Linuxquestions.org for helping me to get it loaded.

So have a great night everyone

PS  The Band - The Weight just came up on my LastFm.  What a great song to end the day with

Monday thoughts on Tuesday morning

First day of jury day went ok. Long day with a great deal of sitting and waiting. We started with 45 in the jury pool for a 2 day criminal trail. The Commonwealth attorney and the defense attorney asked us a few questions to determind who they would not want in the pool. This cut us down to 31. It took about 2 hours. I

We then had our 31 numbers, no names just numbers. 13 names were drawn for the jury and the alternate.


The case went fairly fast. Very little questions asked to the witnesses. A lot of lawyers going to the bench to talk to the judge. They have a white noise machine the judge would turn on each time. It was used so we the jury could not hear what they were saying.

At the end of testimony came my let down. Our numbers were put back in the box. My number was pulled out for the 2nd time of the day. I was the alternete. So I had sat through the whole trail listening not forming an opinion waiting for the end. I would not get to make a decision. I was dismissed and left thew court room. I felt so let down.

Today is another day and I head back in at 845.

Everyone have a good day

Weekend thoughts

Mom is up for her long break.  Visiting with the boys and us for the weekend.  Gives us a reason to clean up the house.  The boys of course are driving us crazy because Granny is here.  They have to be the center of her attention the whole time she is here.  As much as moma's boys that they are double it for Granny. 

I have not had a good couple of days trying to load Ubuntu.  For all you out there that like Linux Why do you have to know special key strokes to get into anything?  I was thinking about putting Win 7 on when it comes out next month but decide to try something a little different first with my trusty Xp.  I may just do my biannual install of Xp and keep going until I have to change.  Beth's (She is Darlin by the way) laptop is on Vista and she has gotten used to it.  I can not figure out where anything is on her laptop.  I even had to buy a wireless mouse so that I had something to use when I have to do things on it.

More later.  Go Cats lets make some gator luggage today.

First Day of Jury Duty

I had my first day of jury duty and it was just the orientation and swearing in.  I could not help but think I was in the minority as a person who was both happy and proud to be there.  About 250 of my friends and neighbors were also called for the month of October and not a lot of smiles were to be seen.  The judge did a very good job in giving an impassioned speech about this is not just a duty but a right and we should be proud of the service to our community.  At the end of the orientation he only had a couple of dozen people lined up trying to get of serving.  They gave us the speech about not talking about cases or trying to solve them just to here the facts and decide the case on the merits.  I think this will be my biggest problem will serving.  I will want to ask questions directly of the people to try to figure out what really happened.   There are no capital cases set for next month so that is good. 

Just keeping it short this afternoon.  No baseball tonight because of more rain in central Kentucky.  Mom is coming this weekend and we are working on getting her room, also know as the boys play room, presentable.  Hoping everyone has a good weekend.

CE class today.

I had the in classroom CE insurance class today.  I have my Life, Health, and limited lines licenses in the State of Kentucky.  These are required by the state and my company to sell credit insurance and mortgage insurance.  Every 2 years you have to complete 24 hours of continuing education classes to keep yourself in the good graces of the state.  My 2 classes today were on Errors and Omissions and Ethics.  Neither class has a lot to do with the insurances I sell or even offer.  The instructor was very good and tried very hard to keep everyone interested but 12 hours (6 each course) is just way to long to do this. 

The Errors and Omission class reinforced my general belief that insurance is just legalized gambling.  The Insurance Companies saw that when they denied coverage under a policy because the agent made a mistake, error, or left out something, omission, the customer or their family could sue both the agent and the insurance company.  The insurance companies then came up with a new product to sell to their own agents, E and O coverage, like they were selling to doctors.  They are betting on 2 things not to happen while mitigating the risk to the company having to pay out claims.  The first bet is that a good agent will not make a mistake in handling a policy that is sold.  The second bet is that they can litigate any claim into a settlement for less money than just paying out a large claim.  And that in a nut shell is what insurance is.  They take all their information and bet bad things are not going to happen while taking your bet that they will.   If they think bad things are going to happen then they charge you more to take your bet.  Legalized gambling in all its forms can not stand up to the money insurance companies take in betting that nothing will happen.

The ethics class was much more fun but last about 2 hours to long.  The instructor led us into a discussion on the difference between legal and ethical instead of the normal follow your company's SOP and legal department's rules speech that comes with most business ethics courses.   I enjoyed his discussion about the least respected or trusted occupations in the United States.  The least trusted job is the used car sells man.  The next is an insurance agent.  The idea that both are seen in a bad light because they are seen as liars and crooks.  Both trying to sell you something that you know you need but not sure if you are getting a good deal or not.  The survey he had read from also had a weird follow up question about insurance agents.  People do not trust insurance agents in general but they do trust their insurance agent.  I thought about Congress at this point, with the idea that no one likes what Congress as a whole is doing at any time but they like their Congressman.    People do not like being sold something but if they have a relationship with you then they will listen to your suggestions about what to do with their lives.  He wanted to use this as a reason to get to know your customers so that you can better serve them as well as sell them more insurance. 

A follow up to this discussion was about why do people not trust insurance sells people as well as sells people in general.  The discussion turned to the idea of commission sales and the mistrust people have when they are faced with a hard sell based on commissions.  Most people assume that commission sales will push the sales person to sell the product that gets them the most commission not the best product for the client.  I think the idea of making all agents in the insurance business operate under the same regulations across the country and place them on a fixed salary and bonus program like most employees and get rid of commissions.  This would help with the public image and also allow them to sell insurance to the needs of the people as they should anyway but do not.  Why does insurance have a commission sales payment structure anyway?   Its so that insurance companies can limited their employment costs by have sales people who are not W2 employees but contractors who only get paid when they generate more revenues for the companies. 

I know this was a different blog tonight but I needed to unwind after 12 hours of this dribble today.

Monday Thoughts

Good morning everyone. I hope you all had a good weekend. Ours was just Ok. E had his baseball game but Gman's was canceled because of the UK-UofL football game. E again was very clingy with Beth and I in the dug out. He does better when we are just watching. Man he has my attitude when he gets mad.

Gman enjoyed Boy Scouts Friday night. He got his uniform and likes the neckercheff. I am glad he is enjoying these activities but I think they are getting way out of hand. Baseball, RA, Boys Scouts and the band at Boys and Girls club is starting. An event for every night of the week. No wonder he just wants to veg on the weekends.

Speaking of the band. We got my old trombone out of Granddads attic when we were last home. I can't remember what I did with the mouth piece but it is missing. It has a couple of small dents and needs a little polishing. I hope it will be alright for Gman to use. I do not think we started band at school until 6th grade. Jackie Wayland came in and we did recorders first. Instruments came at the end before we started Junior High. I hope he has more talent than I did. I know he has more rhythm.

I have been summoned for Jury Duty starting Thursday. I am hoping for something interesting. The last time I was called it was for traffic court in Ohio. No trails just sitting around all morning until they got finished pleading out all the cases. The 2 major things we as plain citizens get to do is vote and serve on juries. I hope everyone gets the chance to do both.

Short and sweet have a great week.

Baseball Wednesday

Gman's game went well.  He was 3 for 3 with 2 rbi.  I think he is finally getting to hitting idea with a good little inside out swing.  He got himself set all three times.  Nice level swings with a good follow through.  He now needs to swing harder and remember to run and not watch the ball.  He is catching well also but still wants to step with his back foot on his throws.  I think this is because he is naturally left handed.  H does everything left handed but throwing a baseball.  He says it feels better this way.  He fields well with his left hand but short arms his right handed throws.  He steps with his right foot as well if he does not think about it first.  The nature is fighting with his learning. 

Elie's practice did not happen.  No message about a change or cancellation but only 2 players showed up.  He was not upset because they got to play on the playground.  It is very cool to watch him interact with other kids.  He is very rough but not a bully.  He helps the kids up after he runs them down.  When he gets knocked down he just gets back up as long as he does not think any adult is watching. 

Really short tonight. Everyone have a good week

Monday Thoughts

Went to basketball tonight for the first time in a few weeks.  My ankle held up fairly well just a little tight.  I am icing it now so hopefully it will be ok in the morning.  It was great to get back out and play.  Bradley stepped on one of my big toes.  You would thing that after 15 years they would not still hurt that bad.  I would never recommend to anyone breaking any toes but the big ones never heal.

Elie's game was very good.  Beth and I both stayed out of the dugout and he did fine.  Beth said she even saw him smile.  For a kid who says he loves baseball he sure gets upset when playing.  He hit the ball good both times and got on base.  Gman's practice is tomorrow and game is wednesday.  They both play on Saturday.  I am so glad they enjoy baseball.

Mom called yesterday and said she has Mike Miller Park in Draffenville for the Seaton family reunion on October 3.  I need to figure out how to set up an event on Facebook for it so the Family can see it.  Mom is really taking to being the setup person for the family reunions.  I am glad she is happy to do it but I wish we were close enough to help. 

Well short and sweet tonight 

Beth's new Iphone.

Beth got her Iphone Wednesday and seems to be very taken with it.  She got her Otterbox from Newegg today and talk about over kill.  It has a hard plastic case that the iphone fits into.  A clear plastic cover for the screen that the touch screen works through.  Beth's quote "the touch screen better work through it or I won't be happy" with her head shake and the  attitude.  To go outside of the case is a rubber frame so it has a soft landing when she drops it.  The package I found at Newegg also included a hard plastic slip and belt clip that the phone slides in and out of.  As I said its a tad bit of overkill but as Beth says she drops her phone a lot.

It makes me happy to get her to smile.  She does so much for the whole family and I could not ask for a better partner, friend, and love of my life.  The boys and I drive her nuts but she just keeps us all in line and moving in the right direction.  Oh and she is one hot momma.

The boys are done with baths and just gave goodnight hugs and are heading to bed.  Elie has a game tomorrow at 9 am at Cardinal Run and Gmans is at 11.  Not sure what the afternoon plans are but it will be good to be home for the weekend.

The space shuttle just landed in California welcome home you all.  The idea of now flying it back to Florida when there are so few missions left for them seems strange.  I know they are getting old but we will not have the replacement until 2014.  Do we really not want to have a space craft ready to fly until then?  Jeff any thoughts?

Have a good night all

Good morning everyone.

Graydon's first fall baseball game went well.  He was 1 for 2 with 1 RBI.  Played catcher for 2 innings and pitcher for 2 innings.  He made 2 put outs at pitcher.  One poor kid slid into him and he fell on him.  He needs to remember to calm down on the mound.  He is ok behind the plate because he is use to it.  He stopped the ball well but needs to work on his throw.

Elie's first game got rained out but he was ok with it.  They both play again Saturday morning at Cardinal Run park in Lexington.  E goes at 9am and Gman is at 11am.  So if you like baseball come on out and watch.

Beth loves her new iphone and my new blackberry is ok.  It has WiFI and is a little faster than my old one.  If you are thinking about new phones for At&t go to a store because they have a price match option that they do not tell people about unless you ask.

Everyone have a great Thursday.

Monday Thoughts

A very good weekend was had by all.

We got to see all my aunts, mom and Granddad.  Got to spend time with Scott, Missy and the girls as well.  The boys really love the child proof bow and arrows Granny got them at Grand Rivers.  

The Calvert Drive in was as fun as ever.   If you ever get in the area you have to go.  Great burgers, ketchup mustard pickles and onions are the only condiments so if you want more bring your own.  $5.00 per adult to get in kids 12 and under are free.  I even got to break up a fight in the mens room.  It was just like old times. 

Short and sweet tonight just glad to be home.

Heading to Calvert tomorrow to see family.  I hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend and remember the working men and women who we are celebrating this weekend.  Everyone who puts in a hard days work and just does their jobs deserves to be celebrated on monday.

Lost a post from my phone so I am going to try again.

Tonight is Elie's first fall t-ball practice. Graydon will have his tomorrow. They decided fall ball instead of upwards soccer this year. I am glad they chose baseball but I am sorry we are not at upwards. There just is not going to be enough time for both.

I hope Elie has fun and keeps wanting to learn. We need to get him away from mom a little so this I think will help. The spring got him excited but having Mom in the dugout may have not been thr best thing.

Graydon needs to keep working on his hitting. An extra 6 weeks should do that. He should be able to make the Phillies better next summer.

I am so proud of both of them. Not sure if I will help coach. Elie's team has 3 helping so that is great. Christian, Geovania,s., from the Phillies little brother is on the team. He can already hit and is a lefty.

I love baseball.

Monday Thoughts

Tonight's blog will not be a long as the rant Saturday even if I enjoyed it greatly.

First  Thanks Charlie for the email, it always helps to bounce ideas off of people I know and respect. 

Second   Country rap? Hank Williams jr and Charlie Daniels have both doing songs for years that really could be considered spoken word or rap to a country sound track.  Why does anyone wonder why Kid Rock got along with Hank so well? or was it just me?

Third   Looking at UK football schedule can anyone really think we can win more than 5 to 6 games?  Miami of Ohio, Monroe, and Eastern ok gives us 3.  We should beat UofL but 3 straight just has not happened often in the series.  Call it 4 but iffy.  We need 2 SEC wins.  Florida, Alabama, MSU and Tennessee here.  USC, Auburn, Vandy and Georgia on the road.  I can see a win in Nashville but where will the other one come from?

Never thought I would say this but Clyde I hoping to best for you.  Get help, support, or something.

Short  and sweet everyone have a great week

Revisonist History ?

I was listening to WLAP News Talk 630 while driving to work this morning.  The drive was during the The Tom Dupree Show.  Mr. Dupree is the founder of the Dupree Financial Group and a Raymond James financial represenative.  I have listen to the show in the past and will not discuss his financial abilities because I have very little knowledge in the subject beyond college economic classes.

I do have a degree in history and political science and what he has done the last two weeks on his show would be listed in the realm of revisionist history.  Specifically the revisionist idea of denial, where the person changes the facts or simply ignores them if the do not support their opinion.  A scholarly look at any paradigm where there is new information or thought processes is a good thing.  What I feel Mr Dupree is doing is taking historic figures and ideas out of context and meaning to fit his own political view points.  He presents his opinion of the events and people as facts and gives no back ground or supporting proof for those opinions. 

Two of the people he used in today's show were John F Kennedy and William Jennings Bryan.  Mr. Dupree plays a tape Kennedy's speech in West Berlin to open his second hour.   Kennedy is speaking to the world  about uniting people, families and nations by telling the people of West and East Berlin that he is citizen of their city and their world.  Mr. Dupree used this speech to say that Ted Kennedy had not followed in the footsteps Jack but had tarnished the legacy of the name.  Mr Dupree said  that Jack would have been against Ted's agenda in the present political times and would never have supported the governments huge spending and push for reforms.  Mr Dupree does not back this up with any examples from the past or the present just states it as a fact with no proof.  He then goes on about how the only role for government should have in business is to protect the private sector so that it can provide for the people.  Private sector business provides for us because it is the best way.  Again Mr Dupree does not give any examples or proof of this. He just wants his listeners to take his word for it.  I would love to ask Mr Dupree how Kennedy's New Frontier fits into this revision of history but I then remember this is not real revisionism but Denial.

The next portion of the show goes to talk about William Jennings Bryan.  Mr. Dupree talks with respect  towards Bryant concerning his Christianity and his battles against evolution including the Scopes trail.  This is where Mr Dupree lays the ground work for his version of revisionism.  He says the portrait of Bryan as a bigot by history is an example of how history gets things wrong and we need to be aware of those mistakes.  Bryan was a great anti-business pro-government liberals of his day.  Just read his greatest speech, The Cross of Gold, and you will see how progressive he was in his time.  The speech includes calls for the government control of the currency, in favor of the hotly contested income tax, and support for the poor and the working classes. He was a strong supporter of  Federal Prohibition.  In my opinion, Mr.  Dupree again is not practicing true revisionism but just denial.

I do not know how long the radio station keeps the podcasts up but they have two hours of the show online at Hour 2 podcast link.  This is hour 2 and I did not listen to the first hour or the all of the 2nd because I did not want to hear his defense of Reagan and Bush.  I will go back and listen to them later tonight or tomorrow after I calm done a little. 

Thanks for letting me rant, oh wait this is my place to do that.  Please read and go to the links.  This has been 1 of my favorites so far.  I may have to copy and work up the arguements here for that book I will never write.

Beth made it to her conference fine.  I just called and talked to her.  She says its is going well and everyone seems very nice.  She is in Williamsburg VA for this one.  It is only 2 days long unlike the 5 day one she had to put on this spring. 

The boys did fine tonight but they really miss their mommy.  I love them both but they are bigger momma's boys than I ever was.  I know that is saying a lot but its very true. 

I am not sure why I started trying to write down my thoughts again but I know I want to try it.  I find myself as a great listener, a good story teller and a terrible writer.  I hope to make this a place to write down some of the things I hear and read  that interest me.  I may also write down some of the stories from my youth so that others can read them.  I hope this will help me become a better writer in the long run even if no one reads them.

Its getting late and I will have my 2 sons by myself in the morning so I will finish this post by saying another prayer for a high school friend who has had some really bad news this week.  Kristie we are all praying for you, your dad and your daughter.  I pray the lord gives you all strength peace and healing.

So Beth is heading for her confrence tomorrow. She will be in Williamsburg for 3 days. She is getting a little worried about leaving the boys again but they will be fine. Not sure if I will be but the boys will be.

She always gets very yantze when she is heading out of town. I know I will never be able to send her off and her not worry. I am glad she has a job she enjoys. I am a very lucky man to have her and the boys .

Monday Thoughts

Monday morning and not sure what's going on. Read somewhere over the weekend that the average American cahnges jobs every 3.2 years on average now. So then a person working from age 21 to 62 would have about 13 jobs in their life time. That makes me feel like an under achiever.

Ale 8 is just plum terrible to drink, nothing personal to my friends in Winchester. It just is. By the way, Diet Cherry Dr Pepper aint half bad.

Taking lunch at 2pm is not bad if it is your choice but not when people do not do what they promised.

Ok not sure what happened but I lost a posting earlier this week. Long week at work but it is now the weekend so all is well. We have tickets to the Legends tomorrow night. If you have a minor league baseball team near you go watch. Great fun to be had at the ball parks. Fairly cheap entertainment, usually less the $10.00 per ticket and 3 hours of fun. You do not have to like baseball to enjoy it. Go and people watch or just to talk to people around you. Outside in the fresh air and enjoying the sights

Ok just a short updated today. I really had fun with the family's mini vacation. Beth has lots of pics up on facebook. The boys were great. Gary, Ellen, and Evan thank you so much for meeting us and joining in. The new visitor center at Mammoth Cave looks like it will be really nice. The park needs the extra space and the hotel needs an upgrade as well. The park rangers where all very nice and helpful. The Bat White nose outbreak seems to be a major problem. So if you have not heard of it and enjoy caves please read up about it.
Well maybe more tomorrow, I have not read a newspaper since Thursday and it has been nice.

Day 1 Mini Vacation

Ok we are on the last of the mini vacations of the Summer.  I am not sure how
many more years we will do the long weekends to visit friends and family before
we actually break down and do the Week in Disney.

This weekend is in Bowling Green Ky with Dude, Ellen, and Evan.  No big plans
but visiting and seeing the local tourist stuff.  I was voted down about seeing
the Corvette stuff and instead we are off to Ky Down Under.  Australian animals
in cages in a Kentucky zoo ($70 + for a family of 4 to get in).

Our first stop was through a small bird sanctuary.  About a dozen different
kinds of birds.  Nice shade and the boys enjoyed it.

The second stop is a discussion of animals brought to Australia by European
emigrants.  Camels, rabbits, goats, and sheep on display.  Nice little talk by
the guide. The boys favorite was the sheep dog, also not a native creature. 

Third stop is a walking tour with guide of the native creatures.  Kangaroos,
wallabies, black swans etc.  Ankle is hurting so I sit this one out in a nice
shaded area.

Next up was a discussion of the sheep farming in Australia and New Zealand. 
Very well done by the guides.  They do seem to enjoy giving the information and
taking questions.  Beth got to help milk a cow.  I know it was a bout sheep but
they bottle feed the lambs cows milk.

The cave tour was next.  About 45 mins.  Nice guide again.  She seemed to have a
good talk but not as natural as the ladies at the animal exhibits.  If she was
asked a question she did not know it threw off her talk. 

Good Day one.  I will try to upload some photos to my Flickr feed tonight or tomorrow.

Not sure if anyone will ever read this but decided to use the ad thing with google to see if there is any money in it.

I was looking today at my medical insurance cost over the last 3 years. The total cost has went up almost 16%. The company paid part and my paid each rose equally and the total cost went up each year a little over 5%. Anyone who says we do not have an issue with the cost of medical insurance in the US is totally in denial. Inflation has not increased that much, and the cost of living has increased less then 3% total over the same 3 years.

Insurance is a racket and we need to have a way to over haul the system. Insurance companies are like a casino. They make bets about sickness and health, life and death. They use statics to tell them who and when to bet on. They only want to take money form healthy young people because the numbers are in there favor just like the casinos and the games you play there. I know people do not want or like some changes. If we do nothing then there will be bigger issues.

Issues like the insurance company not letting us see a doctor who they do not have an agreed on rate structure. Can anyone say price fixing? More forced healthy living actions required by our employers as being part of the group coverage.

Any of the pro insurance arguments against reform can be used against them. Smokers and drinkers having to stop just to keep the insurance. Over wait employees having to be on a diet so they can keep theirs. Government in between you and your doctor? Your insurance company already is. Deny care to the elderly because it cost to much? They already do. The only way they will do it is with Medicare helping to pay the cost. Pre-exsiting conditions will never be covered unless we pass some sort of reform. The uninsured either do not want health care or are illegal and so should get health care. Well they both already get it by going to emergency rooms for regular care because they can not go to a regular doctor.

I do not like all of the idea I have heard from this round of health care reform. The system is slowly falling apart. It would have cost a lot less to fix 15 years ago under the Clinton administration. It will cost a lot less now than it will in 15 years. If we decided not to fix it it will fix us.

Good Morning

Just a short note. Wednesday morning and the days are starting to get shorter again. The boys start back to school in 1 week. Big time rain yesterday in Louisville, I am glad everyone there was ok.

Today at Best Buy

I wanted to set it up so the wife's laptop can use the USB printer and external hard drive connected to my computer over our wireless network when my comouter is turned off. I was thinking about taking some old parts I have and getting a new case to build a small server. I would use the server as the connection point for the whole network. I would hook up the printer and external hard drive to the server and put a wireless card in my computer.

So I go to one of my favorite stores Best Buy, today to see if they had any cases in stock so I would not have to order one from Newegg, another great store, and wait for it to ship. I know what you are thinking, there had to be an easier way to do this than build another computer. I started looking around at some cabling hoping to find a USB to Ethernet adabter (did not find one). I then had the bright idea, first mistake, to ask a blue shirt if he knew of anything that would do what I wanted done. Being a good employee, he told me he was not sure but would ask a member of the Geek Squad to see what they thought. My second mistake was not to go with him to talk to the other guy myself. The blue shirt came back and told me that there was no way to connect a USB cable to an Ethernet cable. We started looking at other options with the routers they had in stock. We looked at a wireless print server which had a USB connection for the printer but would not solve the External hard drive problem. The blue shirt was very polite and tried to be helpful just did not have expetise that I needed. So I was back to building a small server.

I got on my Crakberry to check price on the case I was looking at and shipping. While on Newegg, I thought why not Google the issue and see what I could come up with. Belkin USB hub was the answer. It comes with 5 USB ports and 1 ethernet connection. The router is connected to the hub with the ethernet. The printer and the external hard drives connect to the USB ports. I grabbged the HP service rep who was in the store to ask him if it would work. He said its should but wanted to sell me a new HP printer with built in wireless. Give him credit for trying.

The hub is not perfect but it got the job done. The wife's laptop can use both devices while my computer is turned off. The only draw back is that the USB devices can only be used by one of the computers at a time. This I can live with for $100.00 spent.

New note
Just working out idea on how to send information to my blog from my crackberry. Google docs will not work beacuse you can not start or edit a doc from google mobile. So I am writing a note on Blackberry notepad. I think I should be able to MMS it to the blog. If it does I will be spending more time on my phone.

Ok going to try to blog from my Crakberry. Taking Graydon to see Harry Potter. I hope this posts.

I am finding this is about as much fun as facebook without the games. I hope that I can teach myself the html well enough to start to build my on page templates. I find myself more social online than in person but I have always loved computers. Not sure what or how much I will write but I am going to try. Next step is to start figuring out adding links to post so people can see what I am reading or looking at.
http://www.newegg.com/

Trying to link Facebook and Blogger

I am trying to link this blog with my facebook page. I have linked my twitter account with both of them but I can't figure out how to get my facebook pictures to run in a slide show here. I would assume there is a gadget for it but I have not found it yet. So if anyone reads this and knows how please let me know.

First Blog

I am a terrible write and have tried this before. I have started enjoying Facebook and so have decided to try writing again. I want to learn how to make my own web sight but this looks a little easier.