Gretchen and Oskar (with some help from Xavier) have put up our Christmas tree (some of you may have noticed the tree to the right.) I’ve been able to carve away at a good bit of the clutter that belongs in my office, but due to the lack of space has been filling up the hallway. We’ve hit teens for temperature here too… that’s cold!
Archive for November, 2007
Cleanup and Decoration
Thursday, November 29th, 2007iWant: iPod Touch >= 32Gb
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 
Yes, I realize this hasn’t been released (or even announced for that matter) but I still want one. I suspect they’re going to be pricey when they are finally released but please, oh please Apple, release a high capacity version, I’ve been waiting for 2 years to upgrade!
Free teleconference provider
Tuesday, November 27th, 2007
Yesterday I had the need to host a conference call. Being a one person shop, it’s cost prohibitive for me to pay money to have an on demand conference bridge (especially when most of my clients have their own.) Back to my problem, I needed to speak with another small company yesterday and there were four of us that needed to be on the call. I can bridge two calls together with my Vonage service, or even just using my cellphone, but four - that’s one too many. So I tried FreeConference.com and was very pleased with the results. The base offering is free (you’ll pay toll charges to the dial-in line, MN for me - go figure) and they have a $0.10/minute plan for toll free numbers and will even record the call. After the call ended, I received a report of who was on the call and for how long, even what numbers they called in from.
Willys Jeep - Another way cool toy!
Saturday, November 24th, 2007
Christmas madness is upon us and I’ve been catalog shopping today at Patty’s house - forget the long lines when you can get everything you could possibly want via mail order! Consider, what do you get the kid who has everything but a drivers license? Try this very cool Willy’s Jeep replica from FAO Schwarz. For only $9,900, you can have your own gas powered Willy’s Jeep replica, suitable for children - really. It comes complete with working headlights, brake lights, canvas top, spare tire, roll bar and extra break pedal for parents who are a little freaked out by their kids driving. It’s done in 2/3 scale and also is available in “Desert Sand”. Perhaps I’ll sell the real Jeep Wrangler, throw in $1,000 and buy one of these. Power Wheels, eat your heart out.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thursday, November 22nd, 2007
We’re in West Dundee, IL with Patty for the holiday this year. The kids started the day with a little time playing Nintendo while Patty and Gretchen make lunch. The Turkey is over at our old house cooking away so we’ve got space for Ham and all the sides here. Chris and JP are supposed to join us later today for the big meal.
Winter’s Here!
Sunday, November 18th, 2007
We’ve had two days in a row now that we’ve been able to see snow falling! Certainly not enough to do much interesting in, but still snow. Gretchen, Oskar and Xavier have been battling colds over the last week, but have started to pull through. We’ve spent the last two days working on the house here - reorganizing (and re-wiring) the laundry room and beginning the huge cleanup efforts after the mess that was created during the kitchen counter install. Everyone survived the Fest this year, Memphis was very cool. (more…)
Stirling Engines, way cool desk toy + more!
Tuesday, November 13th, 2007
I was reading Slashdot this afternoon and I stumbled across this gem. Of course, being a gear head, I was curious how an engine might run without fuel. The principle is the known as the Stirling Engine, an external combustion engine that uses any constant external heat source to power it. Imagine the environmental impact of basically free rotational energy! On the companies website, they have a model that runs on the heat from your hand (the MM7) including a video of it (and other models) in action. How cool is that! You too can get your hands on one for about $380 from the American Stirling Company.
Weekend
Thursday, November 8th, 2007Tomorrow I leave for Memphis leaving Gretchen behind for the fest since we’ve known each other! Oskar and Xavier got haircuts yesterday and Honesty Box for Facebook has been keeping me busy for the last few weeks.
The kitchen here at the house is still under construction, the counters have been installed in the Kitchen (but not the pantry) and the faucet we had selected didn’t fit on the sink, so that will be installed next week. Translation, no running water or dishwasher in the kitchen until next Tuesday! It all started this last Monday morning, when the new counter tops were installed.
14th Annual Deep & Eggy Fest
Wednesday, November 7th, 2007
Friday we head to Memphis for the 14th Annual Fest. It’s looking to be a smaller gathering again this year. Below you’ll find a map of some of the locations we’ll be checking out while were in Memphis and I’ll post some pics from the BlackBerry while we’re there. (more…)
Why OpenSocial doesn’t matter - yet.
Sunday, November 4th, 2007
OpenSocial, is a new open standard for applications to integrate with some of the largest social networks in the world. On the surface, OpenSocial is a great move forward for application developers. The learning curve for FBML and FQL at Facebook is trivial at best, but just as learning many similar languages at once, having one simple API to reference is ultimately much easier. The portability of write once, run anywhere brings back to mind the panacea called Java. However, in reality, OpenSocial promotes frivolous time wasting applications that lack any real utility. This may change (and I sincerely hope it does) in future iterations, but for now, Facebook has the social networking platform to beat.
