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.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Day 1 Mini Vacation
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
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.
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.
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.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
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/
http://www.newegg.com/
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