Christmas

Well, the initial Christmas rush is over and everyone got some fun
stuff. Katya got a touch screen tablet PC to use for drawing and loves
it. I got some games, Rain got jewelry. :) Now to find homes for all
this stuff...LOL

kidzui

I found a program tonight that gives kids access to kid-safe websites,
video, games, etc. It's called Kidzui and so far I think it is a great
thing. Katyua loves it and it has lots of stuff for her to do.

Adam Walsh's killer finally caught!

If you aren't familiar with Adam Walsh, read the article:

http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=6471791&page=1

The missing remote...

Well, last Thursday the main remote control outright vanished into thin
air. I spent all weekend tearing the house apart looking for it. I
looked everywhere conceivable and even some places where there was no
way it could be. Yesterday I went to the office and took the bike. When
I was changing my boots at the office, I stuck my foot in the boot and
found the remote. All I can figure is that my boots must have been
sitting next to the chair and the remote fell into it. Go figure...

Just a quick update

Today was a pretty relaxed day at home. While the girls went to a "Fancy
Nancy" party I stayed home and cleaned up the spare bedroom and started
to clean up part of the basement. We had alot of rain a few days ago and
the float on the sump pump got stuck so we got a little water in the
basement, but it wasn't bad. I had to pull up the foam mats to let the
floor dry out.

Star Wars technology becomes a reality..... The machine creating water out of thin air

Anyone who's even seen Star Wars knows what this does....LOL

That having been said, this is basically an air conditioner (or
dehumidifier) with water collection tank attached... Duh! Still a neat
idea. I wonder how much H2O I can collect from my dehumidifier? Hmm...
interesting experiment to be sure.

The machine creating water out of thin air

By Grace Wong
For CNN

LONDON, England (CNN) -- As Zimbabwe battles a cholera epidemic that has
already killed hundreds, one company thinks it may have found a
potential solution to the world water crisis.
Solution for the world water crisis? The WaterMill creates clean
drinking water from air.

A shortage of clean drinking water has unleashed a cholera epidemic in
Zimbabwe.

Element Four, a small Canadian firm, has applied its water technology to
create the WaterMill, a novel electricity-powered machine that draws
moisture from the air and purifies it into clean drinkable water.

The compact WaterMill, which goes on sale in the spring, is designed for
household use.

More crucially for countries such as Zimbabwe and the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Element Four is also working on another device, the
WaterWall, which could potentially supply an entire village in the
developing world.

The team at Element Four shares an ambitious goal: to quench the world's
growing thirst for water. Now the 10-person company is taking on a
challenge that global multinationals have struggled to meet.

Rick Howard, the CEO of the company, says it was at a U.N. conference on
water in New York last summer that he realized just how revolutionary
Element Four's technology might be.

"There we were on the same stage as GE, Dow Chemical and Siemens, and it
was a complete shock to us when we heard the solutions they were
offering. We realized we had something that could effect change," Howard
tells CNN.

The WaterMill draws in air through a filter and then cools it into water
droplets. This water then passes through a special filter and is exposed
to ultraviolet light, which rids it of bacteria.

The product Element Four is designing for the developing world is called
the WaterWall and is constructed by taking several of the water-making
cells of the consumer appliance and hooking them up in series on a wall.

The U.N., which has declared 2005-2015 the International Decade for
Water, expects 1.8 billion people to live in regions with absolute water
scarcity by 2025.

It's no wonder then that Element Four is being closely watched by the
tech world. The WaterMill is being displayed at the Wired Store in New
York, a temporary store the magazine opens every holiday season that
showcases the future of technology.

About one in five people in the world lack access to safe drinking
water, and shortages pose serious health problems for much of the
developing world.

Lack of clean water, coupled with poor sanitation practices, can lead to
outbreaks of water-borne diseases, such as cholera and dysentery, which
in turn, can cause life-threatening forms of diarrhea. More than 500
people have died in Zimbabwe.

Diarrheal disease is the third leading cause of death from infectious
diseases, and the majority of those deaths are among children under the
age of 5, according to the WHO and UNICEF. Most of those deaths could be
prevented if improvements to sanitation and drinking water were made.

But can an invention like the WaterWall really help ease the world's
water shortage and help prevent health disasters like the outbreak in
Zimbabwe from occurring in the future?

"There are some brilliant inventions out there, but they are expensive
and difficult to get hold of," says Paul Jawor, an emergency water and
sanitation consultant with international aid organization Doctors
Without Borders.

The WaterMill retails for about $1,300, but Howard estimates that a
pared down version -- without the bells and whistle -- for use in places
like Africa would cost about $300.

The biggest challenge of a product like the WaterWall, Howard says, is
the power consumed by the water-making cells. To counter that, the
product is designed to turn on in stages so it doesn't overload fragile
power grids.

In comparison to solutions like desalination, which can cost billions of
dollars to develop, that's cheap. "For about $300 we can start saving
lives. Ours is a very scalable product," Howard says.

But there are skeptics. Frank Lawson, an engineering adviser at
international charity WaterAid, said the solution Element Four is
devising wouldn't be appropriate for the charity's projects.

For one, the technology doesn't work in very dry climates. The machine
only functions at or above about 35 percent relative humidity levels.

Furthermore, it requires an energy source. "Our technologies have to be
within the capacity of the benefiting community -- both technically and
financially," Lawson says.

WaterAid uses a number of low-cost and sustainable solutions, such as
rainwater harvesting and hand-dug wells, to help communities in more
than 17 countries access water.

But those solutions depend upon the availability of water in the area,
and fresh water supplies worldwide are feeling the squeeze from
population growth, pollution and climate change.

Howard admits the company needs to focus on growing its business first,
so it may be some time before the Element Four's products make their way
to the developing world.

"We quickly came to realize that if we didn't first build a business to
perfect the product and application, then we weren't going to be able to
get to a point where we could have a significant humanitarian impact,"
he says.
advertisement

But Howard and partner Jonathan Ritchey are in various stages of
discussions with several humanitarian groups in the field. Howard
declined to name the organizations.

It's early, but the company's core principle is "to do good as we do
well," he says. "That's part of truly what drives us -- knowing that at
some point we will be able to do some significant good."

I thought this was funny

I got this from a CNN article...

Ask Avery Griffin, who switched to an Apple Inc. computer a few years
ago for its audio recording software. The 24-year-old musician said his
new machine wouldn't stop freezing up and crashing. But he said all he
heard from Apple was, "At least it's not a PC."

The PC he uses now works just fine, he said.

IT'S NOT CHRISTMAS YET!!!

I was in Walmart today and they were actually playing Christmas music!
Hello... Thanksgiving is still 2 weeks away. Christmas decorations,
music, etc. should be illegal until black Friday.

I got glasses...

Well, it's been a good 10 years since i got a new pair of glasses so I
figured it was about time to get a new pair. I wear my contacts all the
time so glasses have never been a big concern of mine, but it is nice to
change things once in a while. I never wore my old ones out of the house
really, and lately I have not like the style of them anyway. Wow, what a
difference! :) I may even wear my glasses once in a while instead of my
contacts now. My new glasses even have a magnetic sunglass clip too.

The wisdom of a 6 year old...

Last night at dinner I had an "adult beverage". Our daughter was playing
with one of her dolls like the doll was going to take a drink. I told
her the doll was not old enough to drink. She asked how old you needed
to be to drink alcohol and I told her 21. She replied that the doll was
old enough. I said that I needed to see some ID to prove the doll was
old enough. She then went and got a piece of paper, cut out a small
piece in the shape of an ID card and wrote "21" on it and handed it to me...

Catching up...

I'm working on finishing up the Russia trip 2 journal again. Only about
40 pages left to type in.

A busy day

I had a rather productive day today. I managed to get the oil changed in
the car and the bike. On top of that I cooked up 5 pounds of sloppy
joe's for lunches and 2 pumpkins for pumpkin pies. I love this time of
year because I make my pumpkin pies from scratch (well, except for the
pie shell). It all started because my wife is allergic to cinnamon and
most pumpkin pies have cinnamon in them. I start out with pumpkins and
cook them to make the pie filling. My pies come out so much better than
the ones with canned stuff. :)

New pics

I just uploaded a bunch more Pennsic photos and a few older ones.

Rough start to a trip

Well, yesterday we headed out for WV right on schedule at 1:30. We got
about 20 miles down the road when I noticed the voltmeter was way low
(below 12 volts) which meant the alternator had quit. I turned around
and headed back for home to get a new alternator for the Jeep. That
thing was a pain in the ass to change, but 2 1/2 hours later we were
back on the road again. So much for getting in at 8:30, we got in at
11:30. Ugh!

Pay attention people!

This morning I was taking Katya to school. I was stopped to turn (with
my signal on) when all of a sudden I hear the screeching of tires behind
me. I look in the mirror and see a full size van towing a big landscape
trailer bearing down on my rear end with his front tires locked up tight
and I can see the trailer pushing him sideways. I took my foot off the
brake and put the gas pedal to the floor. Once he had stopped, I hit the
brakes again. The way I figure it, if I hadn't hit the gas the Jeep
would be about 2 feet shorter right now. Talk about a scary moment in
time... It was obvious the guy wasn't paying attention to where he was
going. Considering it was a 35MPH zone, him leaving 30+ foot skid marks
says something.

30 and counting

Well, the bike finally turned 30k the other day. Not too shabby for a 3
year old bike. I put a new back tire on it last month and the front will
probably be replaced next year.

New pics added

I just uploaded a bunch of pics and a few videos to the galleries.

Lab makes diesel fuel from E. coli poop

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/08/12/bug.diesel/index.html?eref=rss_tech

Ugh!

We'll, war has been fun so far. This morning my phone was DOA. I ended up having to buy a new phone... Not fun since I didn't expect to spend the money.

Can you hear me now?

Last night I got my birthday present installed on the bike. It is a Bad
Boy air horn at 118 dB, which they say is 2x louder than the factory
horn (actually it is 4x louder since every 3 dB doubles the volume). I
got to use it on the way to work this morning. It is loud, and the
Mercedes heard me. :)

Olga's diner seized by the state

EVESHAM TOWNSHIP: State taxation officials have seized the landmark Olga's Diner over a $37,000 in tax bill.

Olga's has stood since 1973 at the traffic circle where Routes 70 and 73 meet.

But business has suffered in recent years as chain restaurants have gone up nearby.

Cheryl Fulmer, assistant director for the state Division of Taxation, said that the state had been working with the restaurant to pay its taxes.

But, she says, "They blew us off."

And by Friday, the diner's doors were locked.

The Associated Press

Motorcycle tail lights...

Last night I came to the conclusion that I hate the tail lights that
you're seeing on many crotch rockets these days. They are putting in
lights that are combination brake/tail/turn signals. The turn signals
definitely need to be separated form the brake/tail lights by at least 6
inches to be effective. These ones use LEDs to change one side or the
other of the brake/tail light amber when the signal is on. Last night on
the way home I was following a crotch rocket. Apparently he put on his
left signal and brakes at the same time. The amber flashing signal and
brake melded into one light barely brighter than the tail light was as a
result. I was almost on top of him before I even realized that he was
slowing down and had to slam on the brakes to keep from rear ending the
guy. If the lights had been separated as they usually are, I would have
seen both the flashing signal and the brake light in plenty of time.

What a day...

This morning I went to Home Depot to pick a few things up. When I came
out I saw a puddle of anti-freeze under the Jeep. That's never a good
thing. I drove it home with the low coolant light on so I knew I had a
problem. When I got home and shut it down, the radiator let loose. So,
off I went to the parts store to buy a new radiator and hoses - no sense
putting the old ones back on. I figured while I have the radiator out I
might as well install a transmission cooler too. This way things won't
get as hot when I'm towing the trailer camping. On a long run things get
pretty hot at times. After 4 hours and some help the Jeep is running
again. I'm glad it let loose this morning and not tomorrow when we're
towing the trailer to go camping. With Pennsic coming up too this is a
very good thing.

Great bumper sticker

Exit 63 closed for the summer. Now that's one i want.

It's another year...

Well, Katya turns 6 today. It's hard to believe that our little girl is
6 already. She's becoming such a big girl, trying to assert her
independence. She's spending the night with her grandparents so we're
kid free and going on a date for the first time in years.

The Biker

THE BIKER (Author unknown)

I saw you hug your purse closer to you in the grocery store line.
But you didn't see me put an extra $10.00 in the collection outside the
store as I walked in.

I saw you pull your child closer when we passed each other on the sidewalk.
But you didn't see me playing Santa at the local mall.

I saw you, change your mind about going into the restaurant.
But you didn't see me attending a meeting to raise more money for the
hurricane relief.

I saw you roll up your window and shake your head when I rode by.
But you didn't see me riding behind you when you flicked your cigarette
butt out the car window.

I saw you frown at me when I smiled at your children.
But you didn't see me when I took time off from work to run toys to the
homeless.

I saw you stare at my long hair.
But you didn't see me and my friends cut ten inches off for Locks of Love.

I saw you roll your eyes at our leather jackets and gloves.
But you didn't see me and my brothers donate our old ones to those that
had none.

I saw you look in fright at my tattoos.
But you didn't see me cry as my children were born and have their name
written over and in my heart.

I saw you change lanes while rushing off to go somewhere.
But you didn't see me going home to be with my family.

I saw you complain about how loud and noisy our bikes can be.
But you didn't see me when you were changing the CD and drifted into my
lane.

I saw you yelling at your kids in the car.
But you didn't see me pat my child's hands knowing he was safe behind me.

I saw you reading the newspaper or map as you drove down the road.
but you didn't see me squeeze my wife's leg when she told me to take the
next turn.

I saw you race down the road in the rain.
But you didn't see me get soaked to the skin so my son could have the
car to go on his date.

I saw you run the yellow light just to save a few minutes of time.
But you didn't see me trying to turn right.

I saw you cut me off because you needed to be in the lane I was in..
But you didn't see me leave the road.

I saw you waiting impatiently for my friends to pass.
But you didn't see me. I wasn't there.

I saw you go home to your family.
But you didn't see me.

Because I died that day you cut me off..

I was just a biker.. A person with friends and a family.
But you didn't see me.

Muppets for president

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmzKADYpGq0

Fluff... ahh how I miss this stuff.

I just made my first peanut butter and fluff sandwich in I don't know
how many years. I forgot how good this stuff was!

My brother in law's tattoo studio made the paper.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=194329&ac=PHnws

New addition to the family

Well, Saturday was founders day here in town, so we went downtown for
the festivities. While we were there Katya saw someone selling green
anoles - basically a small green lizard. We decided it wouldn't hurt for
Katya to get one so we bought it. I set up the 10 gallon tank in her
room for "Squishy" to live in. She gets to feed him 3 live crickets
every other day, spray water in his tank (he drinks off the glass, etc.)
and turn his lights on & off. It's a good way for her to learn
responsibility.

Pucker factor of 10+

In a nutshell, a personal situation almost got me killed this morning.
I was literally 1/2 second from a hospital stay (if I was lucky) this
morning on the way to work.

I was on the bike in the right lane of a 4 lane road doing 55mph when a
car coming the other way made a left right in front of me. The #1 cause
of motorcycle fatalities is a driver turning left in front of a
motorcycle. I should have seen him slow down. I should have seen him
signal. He shouldn't have made the left when he did, but he did. I found
myself locking the rear tire and debating whether to lay it down or jump
right before impact. I never want to be in that situation again, but I
was distracted. There was less than 10 feet between me and him when his
back bumper cleared my path.

I hate linux!!!

I've been fighting to get a virtual Linux install to see the network
(and the network to see it) for 2 day s now. It should be a simple
process, but due to the fact that linux does not haver a GUI by default
it is nearly impossible to work with. On top of that, every how to
article doesn't quite have everything that I need to make it work. This
is so aggravating it is not funny.

New photos/videos

I uploaded some new photos to the galleries and a few videos from Quest.

Our little girl is getting bigger

Well, our daughter is growing like a weed. We can't keep her in clothes
these days. She is gonna be a tall one I think. She lost her first tooth
yesterday so the tooth fairy paid us a visit last night.

and now for something completely ....... Leave it to the Japanese....

This is worth looking at...LOL

http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/superpiipii.html

Kooza!

Yesterday we went to see the Cirque Du Soleil show "Kooza". As always it
was an incredible show. The music was great and some of the performances
were absolutely breathtaking. One of the things that I love about their
shows is if someone messes up, they do it over again until they succeed.
Last night a guy was jumping over another on the tightrope about 30 feet
up and he slipped and almost fell (and what an incredible recovery he
made.. He didn't lose his grip). He did it again and was successful the
second time. I can't wait for the next Cirque show to come to the area.

Battery for Cpap

Yesterday I went and bought a deep cycle marine battery with a 210
minute reserve to run my wife's Cpap machine when we go camping. We
tested it last night with the power inverter and it worked all night so
that is good. If I did the math right, it should be able to run the Cpap
for 4 nights with no problem. We only need 3 nights in a row without
power at the longest stretch.

I hate Rider Insurance!!

I went to renew the registration on the bike today and noticed that the
insurance card I have expired in June. I called Rider up and asked them
to send me a new card and they informed me that my policy lapsed in
June. They apparently only ever send one notice for the bill and no
cancellation notice or follow up bills! I've been riding for nearly a
year with no insurance! Needless to say I called Geico and got the bike
insured as of tomorrow. Rider Insurance sucks!

Busy weekend

Well, yesterday I got to have some fun with the Jeep. We wanted to yank
out the 3 bushes in front of the house because they were big & ugly. I
wrapped a strap around the base of each one and a few pulls with the
Jeep later and they were out. Now my trailer is piled high with bushes.
Today we went and bought a new gazebo for the backyard since the old one
got taken down by a wind storm over the winter.

The tooth fairy...

Well, Katya is getting ready to lost her first tooth. It looks like the
tooth fairy may be visiting soon,.

Ahh, the smell of burning pine trees.....

Well, if you remember, we had a major forest fire near us last year.
Well, on the way home from some shopping today, we saw quite a bit of
smoke by Fort Dix. As we got closer to home, we saw the road to Barnegat
off of Rt 72 was shut down by fire department people and could see smoke
and biplanes circling the area. The Scrubby Pines campground on Rt 72
was being evacuated as we drove past it (less than 5 miles from our
house). As I sit here writing this, I can hear the biplanes making loops
over the area every few minutes. This fire is maybe 10 miles from our
neighborhood.

The good news is the wind is blowing (slowly) north-northwest, so the
fire is being blown away from us. There is no smoke in our area and it
looks like we should get some light rain later tonight. According to the
news reports the fire is more or less under control and they expect it
to be out by tomorrow sometime.

I'm not all that worried about this one, but will definitely be keeping
an eye on the news.....

'2001' author Arthur C. Clarke dies

Today marks a sad day indeed. A true visionary has passed. He will be
missed by many I am sure....

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/03/18/obit.clarke/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

--

Trains.....

Well, I am getting closer to having things set up so I can actually run
my trains again. yay! So far I have 2 straight sections wired and ready
to connect. I have the 4 curves about halfway done so I'm getting closer.
--

Going DCC

Well, I got my DCC decoder and installed it today. I'm getting back to
working on the trains again and have 2 modules set to hook up now. A
little more work and I'll be able to actually set it up downstairs and
run the train once in a while. The best part of it is I an take a
section out and work on it upstairs or swap it out for another one if I
want to.
--

Ikea yet again

Well, we went to Ikea again today and bought 2 more spring rockers. We
now have 4 of them in the living room and 3 small end tables. The living
room is starting to get that back yard deck feeling to it. It's actually
kind of cool. Katya even has a Katya-sized rocker.
--

Making some changes...

Well, we got rid of the couches yesterday. We decided to bring the rockers upstairs instead. it gave us a chance to clean out some stuff and the living room seems so much bigger now.

We're working on repainting some stuff for katya's room and she is helping me. Katya really loves to paint. We're doing her cubbys pink and blue.

Katya's a big girl now....

Well, Katya graduated to a twin bed last weekend. She got the loft bed
she wanted and now she has much more room in her bedroom. We've been
working on re-doing her room to take advantage of all the space.
--

Bellringers

Well, we went to Bellringers on Saturday. The event was pretty dead but
the feast was good at least :) I think our next event is Mudthaw.
--

How to use drive in ATM machine

 MALE VS. FEMALE AT THE ATM MACHINE

A new sign in the Bank Lobby reads:

"Please note that this Bank is installing new Drive-through ATM machines enabling customers to withdraw cash without leaving their vehicles.

Customers using this new facility are requested to use the procedures outlined below when accessing their accounts.

After months of careful research, MALE & FEMALE Procedures have been developed. Please follow the Appropriate steps for your gender."

*******************************

MALE PROCEDURE:

1. Drive up to the cash machine.

2. Put down your car window.

3. Insert card into machine and enter PIN.

4. Enter amount of cash required and withdraw.

5. Retrieve card, cash and receipt.

6. Put window up.

7. Drive off.

*******************************

FEMALE PROCEDURE:

What is really funny is that most of this part is the Truth.!!!!

1. Drive up to cash machine.

2. Reverse and back up the required amount to align car window with the machine.

3. Set parking brake, put the window down.

4. Find handbag, remove all contents on to passenger seat to locate card.

5. Tell person on cell phone you will call them back and hang up.

6. Attempt to insert card into machine.

7. Open car door to allow easier access to machine due to its excessive distance from the car.

8. Insert card.

9. Re-insert card the right way.

10. Dig through handbag to find diary with your PIN written on the inside back page.

11. Enter PIN.

12. Press cancel and re-enter correct PIN.

13. Enter amount of cash required.

14. Check makeup in rear view mirror.

15. Retrieve cash and receipt.

16. Empty handbag again to locate wallet and place cash inside.

17. Write debit amount in check register and place receipt in back of checkbook.

18. Re-check makeup.

19. Drive forward 2 feet.

20. Reverse back to cash machine.

21. Retrieve card.

22. Re-empty hand bag, locate card holder, and place card into the slot provided!

23. Give dirty look to irate male driver waiting behind you.

24. Restart stalled engine and pull off.

25. Redial person on cell phone.

26. Drive for 2 to 3 miles.

27. Release Parking Brake.