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January 28, 2006

Another weekend

Well, my birthday was yesterday, the 27th of January. I am now officialy 57 years old. It always surprises me a little how inexonorably time marches on. I still don't feel my age and I hope I never do. Anyway, I had a nice German chocolate cake and some nice birthday cards and a lot of best wishes from my co-workers. Tomorrow I will be heading to Reston, VA in a rental car for training until Friday. I will be learning about IIS 6.0 and Windows server 2003. I hope the training will be worthwhile. I have been fighting a cold since my last entry and I think I finally have the best of it. The cold, dry weather has not been much of a help. Teresa suggested we get a humidifier for the bedroom as she has been getting sinus headaches from the dry air. I will be heading to Target today to see if I can find a good one. This morning I have been listening to OTR on Live365. OTR stands for Old Time Radio and Live365 is a streaming audio feed that I get from my computer that is fed to my Tivo box. From there I can listen to the broadcasts over my TV and home entertainment center. I will have to talk about my Tivo in another entry. It is one of the best technology devices I have ever purchased.

Posted by Michael at 9:19 AM | Comments (0)

January 22, 2006

Not a good weekend

I left work 2 hours early Friday because I was not feeling well. Saturday I had a bad cold all day and stayed home all day. The weather was as miserable as I felt also. Today, Sunday, I feel somewhat better but the weather is still miserable. All in all, a pretty lousy weekend. I am watching the playoffs and so far the team I am rooting for is not doing very well. I seem to be a curse for any team I root for. I am a Colts fan but have never watched them play all season. So finally when they play the Steelers for their conference championship I watch the game and guess what, they play terribly. So I stop watching the game and they score eighteen points. They still lost but it is amazing how much bad luck I seem to bring to my teams. Today I am rooting for the Broncos to beat the Steelers and guess who is losing? Can my luck really be that bad? Maybe I will call it a day and go listen to a podcast. Right now I am listening to 'Brave Men Run'

Posted by Michael at 3:37 PM | Comments (0)

January 15, 2006

First Snow of Winter

We had our first snow of the winter last night. A front came through at about 7pm and brought with it high winds (35-50mph), cold temperatures and about a 1/4 inch of snow. Last winter we had our first snow the day after Christmas. Then we had a total of 8 inches of snow, so last night was not much to really speak of. The winds are still strong today so it is really uncomfortable going out. I hate being stuck inside all day, so I will probably dress up in layers and make a foray to the local park to walk Shakespeare. I don't know if Shakespeare has ever seen snow before. When I let him out last night, he started snapping at the snow as it fell and then he started biting and licking the snow on the ground. I took a couple of pictures of the snow this morning, and I will put one up later in the day.

Posted by Michael at 9:18 AM | Comments (0)

January 14, 2006

Pretty morning

It is a beautiful morning. We had some rain pass through last night but there is sunshine and fairly warm temperatures for January. I just returned from the front porch and saw two bluejays and a lot of other birds busily going about their morning. Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day so I have a three day weekend to fill. I hope to go to Medoc Mountain State Park in North Carolina tomorrow. I wanted to go on Monday but I have a doctors appointment. The Park is about a three hour drive from my house. I have never been before and from the web site description it sounds like a nice place to visit for a day. Thursday at work I saw a flight of what I at first thought were Canada geese fly over. I was curious because they were not honking as Canada geese do and they did not appear to be big enough for Canada geese. They landed in the ballfield next to our office so I took out my binoculars (I always have binoculars with me) and took a good look at them. I then did a Google search and found them to be Brent Goose.

They are very beautiful and I saw them again Friday in the ocean near the seawall where I walk sometimes during lunch. Did I mention that I work for the Army at Ft. Monroe, Virginia? It is a very beautiful Army post that has an historic fort on it. Sadly, it is scheduled to be shut down in 2009 as a cost-saving measure. I just hope the land is preserved and put to good use.

Posted by Michael at 8:38 AM | Comments (0)

January 8, 2006

CES and Dee

I have been following two things recently. The CES show in Las Vegas has always been fascinating to watch. I am a geek at heart and technology has always been of interest to me. I enjoy the keynote speeches and all the new technology that is shown for the first time. This year it has been especially interesting due to all the bloggers that are reporting on the event. The bloggers provide a unique perspective on CES that is not provided by the mainstream media. There are more one on one interviews via podcast and videocast than have ever been available in the past. The other thing that I have been following ...

is Dee Caffari and Aviva and her solo attempt to circumnavigate the globe going west against the prevailing winds. I have been captivated by her reports and photographs. She has a website,                                 AvivaChallenge

that provides commentary from her and her support crew as well as information on her progress and current position. I have been plotting her voyage on Google Earth  and visiting the countries that she passes by. Mostly it has been the west coast of Africa and the east coast of South America. She has rounded Cape Horn and is currently crossing the Pacific. Her voyage has not been easy as she is manning a boat that normally has a crew of thirteen. I highly recommend that you follow her progress and send her an email of encouragement.  

 

Posted by Michael at 8:37 AM | Comments (0)

January 1, 2006

Happy New Year

Well, another year has come and gone. All in all, 2005 was not a very good year. I am hoping that 2006 will bring some happiness and joy. The last year was a little light in those qualities. Even though there were some good times, especially the trips to Las Vegas and Key West, there were more unhappy, stressful times than not. So on the first day of 2006, do I have any New Years resolutions to keep? I have one, and that is to make 2006 the best year that I can. So today I will take Shakespeare and go for a walk at Merchants Mill Pond. It is one of my favorite parks, and walking in the great outdoors is one of the things that always makes me feel better. So Happy New Year to you all and may you have a happy and bountiful year.

Posted by Michael at 9:47 AM | Comments (0)