Wow…
President Bush is outpolled by Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, Kim Jong II, and SATAN. Cripes.
Dec 29
Ahhh…I am happy to hear that a viable candidate for President has decided to try running again this election.
(2m28s – December 27, 2006)
(2m40s – December 12, 2006)
(28s – posted July 12, 2006…speaking about net neutrality at a Lockergnome event, my old venture)
Now if Barack Obama would run with him for the Vice Presidency…that would be an incredible team.
Dec 28
| (in snowy white to mock the lack of snow in my area)
My trade options were pretty good as a replacement. I could have gotten a black 30GB iPod Video, but I can’t see myself watching video on my iPod, nor did I ever fill up even the 15GB of my other iPod. So, I opted for the other replacement option, which was a black 8GB iPod Nano. Mmmm….such goodness! My precious! |
I’ve gotten sick of my battery failing on my older 15GB iPod, so I decided it was time to collect on the Best Buy warranty that I purchased then. It worked faithfully for me up until the past couple months. It must have had a couple of the power-cells fail or something. Good bye my lovely white iPod.
Plus I plan on continuing to jog, and would rather not have moving parts (like a hard drive) in my iPod. Dec 26
Well, Christmas day has passed, and I have to say that I had a good weekend…but it was also very, very full. I nearly need today off just to recover (and NOT eat too)!
Yesterday Heather, the girls, and I spent time with our friends, the Benyeis, for most of Christmas day. We had a nice dinner, then went to see a matinee of “The Nativity Story,” and then returned to our home for dessert and coffee. And also to chat and play a game or two. It was a really nice time, and we will miss them very much when we move. Szilvia has already informed us that she and her family will be visiting. Of course she could not be without my coffee for so long, after all. 
You can check out our holiday photos, if you like.
Dec 24
Holiday with the family was really wonderful this weekend. This year we just had the children exchange gifts, and otherwise we just had some wonderful soup and meals together, as well as played games. It was a great time, and really freed us up not having to worry about gifts and allowed us to enjoy our time together more. Of course my mother did put together a small picnic basket of homemade jelly, tea, meat, and cheese. Yum! It was a really wonderful celebration with my side of the family.
Today after we left my sister’s home, we drove over to St. Paul to Woodland Hills Church to catch the last 20 minutes of their Christmas service. The service was Greg Boyd and the worship team explaining what many of the traditional Christmas songs mean, where they came from, and what verses of the Bible they found their origin. Though we missed most of the service…those last 20 minutes were really powerful. After the service I got an opportunity to shake Greg Boyd’s hand and tell him how much I appreciated his writing and sermons.
Now that we’re moving to Springfield, MO it isn’t very likely that we’ll get the pleasure of visiting his church. But I’m glad that they Podcast their messages.
Dec 23
This year my side of the family had their celebration in the Twin Cities where my sister and her husband live. We all went to the Holidazzle Parade downtown. They actually run that Wednesday through Sunday, from November 24th to December 23rd. It is amazing how many people come out to see the parade.
So, afterward Heather and the girls decided to see the Mary Poppins display at Macy’s. I tried to just hang out at a coffee shop for a couple hours, but everything closed up. So, I stood at the escalators going down on the 2nd floor for about an hour or so.
Right there Macy’s has an iPod vending machine, which is the first that I’ve ever seen. And the first that many people had ever seen, apparently. Over 1/2 of the people that walked by it stopped to check it out. I don’t think that Apple could get better promotion than that.
Dec 21
I think that iPod is a fantastic product. Yes…I know that the iPods generally cost a little more, but you get an EASY music system, better quality encodings that are in smaller files (i.e. more songs in the same space compared to MP3), better quality headphone amplifiers in the iPod compared to nearly everyone else, and a very simple means to buy songs or get free content for your listening pleasure.
Leo Laporte captures my feelings about Microsoft’s extremely lame “iPod Killer”:
Dec 15
I’m moving.
I was offered a really fantastic job in Springfield, MO. I think that on a career-level it will offer a lot of new directions and possibilities. And I really appreciate the people on the team that I’ll be working with…as they all seem to work together really well and with great candor.
This will also put our family in the same city as my wife’s sister, which will be great for their friendship, as well as both of our kids’ relationships with each other. This also puts me quite a bit closer to my parents, which will be good.
Unfortunately moving always puts you further away from friendships that I have here in Rochester. I hope that I will still be able to keep my friendships.
So…here is Springfield, MO on a map (click me!)
My last day at Mayo Clinic is Friday, January 12th, and I begin work in Springfield on the following Monday. I’ll be back and forth a little bit as we attempt to sell our home here in Rochester.
Dec 12
| Never have so few companies controlled so much of the music played on the radio and for sale at retail stores. At the same time, there are more bands and more ways to discover their music than ever. Music seems to have split in two – the homogenous corporate product that is spoonfed to consumers and the diverse independent music that finds devoted fans online and at clubs across the country.
BEFORE THE MUSIC DIES tells the story of American music at this precarious moment. Filmmakers Andrew Shapter and Joel Rasmussen traveled the country, hoping to understand why mainstream music seems so packaged and repetitive, and whether corporations really had the power to silence musical innovation. The answers they found on this journey-ultimately, the promise that the future holds-are what makes BEFORE THE MUSIC DIES both riveting and exhilarating. At the heart of BEFORE THE MUSIC DIES are interviews with musicians, industry insiders, music critics, and fans that reveal how music has reached this moment of truth. Featured performances from a truly diverse group of artists, ranging from The Dave Matthews Band and Erykah Badu to Seattle street performers and Mississippi gospel singers show us that great music is always out there… as long as you know where to look. BEFORE THE MUSIC DIES will renew your passion for great music, and inspire you to play an active part in its future. |
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Dec 12
I’m still on the road back from Missouri. We took the ’scenic’ route home to catch a glimpse of the lakes and hills. Well, that added about 2 hours on our travel time to say the least, and we decided that this was the route to take if you have all day to enjoy the trees and sights in the non-winter months. So, I’m trying to head back to Rochester this morning, but it is rainy and very foggy this morning. Last night it was even thundering here in Waterloo.
Our trip to Springfield, MO was a fun one. On Friday night we were able to take in the sights in downtown Springfield for the monthly Art Walk. We saw a number of paintings that we both would love, had we been able to drop a few thousand on art. After that we went over to a music and art venue called The Belmonte to catch a couple bands playing.
Saturday we wandered around Springfield just to see what was in the city, and that night headed down to the Branson, MO area to Silver Dollar City. It was wall-to-wall people (or fense-to-fense), and the busiest my sister-in-law had ever seen when she had been there. We ended up seeing a musical of “A Christmas Carol” while there, which was well worth the wait in all the people.
On Sunday we checked out the Springfield Vineyard, which is a really good church and we ended up going out to lunch with a number of their attenders which was a lot of fun. We ended up exploring a little more and sat for coffee at a great place called The Mudhouse. That evening we went to the Springfield Brewing Company for “$10 pizza and a pitcher of beer” night. Good times.
Well…it is about 8:45am and still excessively foggy. I hope that it will clear a little bit in the next 30 minutes, so that I don’t have any trouble driving in the rain and such.
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