My Shared Items

For those of you who haven't added me as a friend in Google reader, you can access my shared items (funny videos, interesting articles, fun flash games) at the following URL:
http://www.google.com/reader/shared/05663508976928265738

Add me as a friend in google talk so I can read your shared items as well!!

Camping in Ithaca

Jacky graduated from Ithaca College (possibly soon to be University) this last weekend. We decided to skip the hotel costs in favor of an outdoor romp in Buttermilk Falls State Park and Campground. ($40 for a weekend instead of $80 per night...) This strategy worked for us quite well before when we attended Juliana's wedding last summer.

We packed when I got home from work on Friday (5:30 ish), hung out, watched some TV and ate dinner. Annabelle had done her best to fend of the sandman, but succumbed to a rocking chair and some warm milk, dozing off around 9pm. We quickly loaded the car (well, loaded the rest of the stuff... Cheryl had done a brilliant job of preparing the day before), made our last minute ID10T checks and plopped the baby into her car seat. The trip up was filled with enrapturing conversation, joyful rock, and a beautiful dusky set of scenery.

We arrived at the site around 11pm... at which point I pitched camp in the dark (Insert thunderous applause here). The craziest part was errecting our 3 man dome tent... friggin crazy. After 20 minutes of tent poles, flashlights, and stakes, it was time to unroll the sleeping bags and go to bed... which we did without hesitation. As we finished up and started to change for bed, I mentioned that we'de need hats to sleep. Cheryl thought that was a little weird, but we popped them on and hit the hay.

Annabelle woke up around 2am for her early morning feeding. She did her usual soft-cry-half-asleep thing then noticed something was up. Bonk her eyes popped open and she started looking around the tent...

Wow! Tents are so cool... Annabelle certainly seemed to apprecite it. :D

The weather was much cooler than the last time we went camping... instead of 80 degree days with 50 degree nights, we saw a high of 60-something and a frigid low of ~30 degrees at night. We cuddled in a set of sleeping bags we'd zippered together for a nice cozzy sleep time.

The next day, there were campfires to be built, sticks to play with, caterpillars to meet... ROCKS TO EAT... Annabelle had such a great time! ...and so did we!!

Chat As You Read

I've added a chat widget to my blog and web page. As you're reading, feel free to strike up a conversation. :)

http://manunderdamoon.blogspot.com/
http://www.isajohnson.com/david

Another Band I've Gotta See

The list of live shows I've got to get to has just doubled in size!

It's now Blue Man Group and the newcomer "The Pinker Tones"

Baby Heartbreaker?

Annabelle didn't want me to go this morning. She never wants me to leave for work, but today...

I was off in the bathroom, brushing my teeth after my nice hot shower which came after my breakfast of cocoa crispies and yogurt (typical routine), when I heard "Ohhh, daddy's getting ready for work. He's got to get going."

Annabelle said something unintelligible back, so I decided to check in. I was greeted with a squeal of delight and an arm wave, followed directly by open "Daddy, pick me up!!" arms. When I picked her up, she laid her head on my chest and hugged me. A nice, long "goooood morning daddy, I love you" hug.

I smiled at her and told her I had to get to work, then put her down where she quickly turned to Cheryl with a big smile like "Aha! See! Daddy's here!!", then I left the room to fill my water bottle and leave... but this was far from what Annabelle had in mind. She wimpered a bit from the other room, then convinced Cheryl to bring her to the living room. When Annabelle made it into the living room, she let out a quit, gasping "Dad" and watched intently as I readied my bag. My sunglasses are always the last step before I leave the house and when Annabelle saw them come out, she franticly scrambled across the floor to grab my leg in a desperate attempt to keep me from leaving.

I played for a minute or two longer, but then I really had to leave... Work needs a better schedule.

Why an ASUS Eee PC?

This is a summary of my purchasing and usage decisions with the $360 Eee PC laptop I just purchased.

Here's what I use it for:

1. Remote data recovery (I fix a lot of dead hard drives, the eee is much lighter than my 12 lb gaming laptop)Vacation photos/video (I have a 20GB portable drive I ues to copy my camcorder's and camera's flash cards to)
2. Google Docs/Calendar anywhere with WifiTimeshare Travel (There's always wifi, but I've been afraid to take my $1k laptop with me... not to mention 12lbs is a lot for a day bag. The Eee PC is shockproof and weighs in at 2lbs.)
3. Open office docs & spreedsheets (I can view and edit my budget and personal notes(songs in progress, bible studies, tips & tricks for ...) anywhere.)
4. Daily mail & news (I open up and sync Thunderbird before I leave the house in about 30 seconds from boot to shutdown. On the bus and at lunch I can read and respond to all of my rss feeds and mail offline.)
5. Around the house Cloud Computing (I want to use the media center, so I pass the Eee to Cheryl so she can read her mail, surf facebook, and do all that non-resource intensive stuff she likes to do)
6. Random Entertainment (For trips or Dr's offices, I can watch the DVDs I've ripped to Xvid, or play flash games online)

Why the 4G instead of the 8G or 900? Price point and battery life. The 8G is $500 where the 4G is only $360 (Windows or Linux). The 900 has a 9" screen instead of a 7" screen, but that takes the battery life from 4 hrs to 2.2 hrs.

Why Asus Desktop (Xandros derivative) instead of Ubuntu or Windows? Speed. Plain and simple... With Asus Desktop, the Eeepc boot time is 17 seconds from off to surfing the web. Asus desktop recognized my A-HD camcorder, Canon 700is Camera, 3 different USB flash drives, portable hard drive, and every wireless network I've put it on so far without a hitch (including WPA).

Why the 4G 701 instead of the 4G Surf (401)? I wanted the webcam to talk with my brother via skype. In the 701, you can upgrade the RAM to 2GB, where the 401 (Surf) has soldered RAM.

Why scale the processor back to 667 MHz from 900? Apps launch slowly (2-3 seconds), but I get 4.5 hrs of battery life with wifi instead of 3.

Eee PC & Skype

I've got a crazy new laptop on which I'm writing this blog. This 2lb wonder gives a whole new meaning to ultra-portable. My nifty new toy has a webcam. If you have Skype, send me an email with your user, or call me. My SN is 'ultimadj'.