Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
Obama wants to know: Why open source?
President Barack Obama is a smart guy. Where others zig, he zags. It’s perhaps not surprising, then, that he’s been asking around about the benefits of open source, according to Sun Chairman Scott McNealy, who has been asked by President Obama to author a white paper on the benefits the U.S. government can derive from open source.
10 Web Sites That Will Matter in 2009
You’ve probably never heard of many of them, but chances are you’ll be using some of these Web sites by the end of this year.
Obama inauguration marks new chapter for digital media
On March 4, 1901, a lone cameraman in the employ of Thomas A. Edison was dispatched to capture the swearing in of William McKinley. To posterity he delivered a total of 44 seconds of grainy footage showing a white-haired man on the Capitol steps solemnly, if indistinctly, raising his right hand.
Living free with Linux: 2 weeks without Windows
Can a dedicated Windows user make it for two weeks using only Linux? Preston Gralla tried it and lived to tell this tale.
10 Online Learning Tools for Students
Second semester has started and many students went back to college. If you are one of them check out this list of tools, it might help you with your studies. All applications are web based, simple to use and free.
Related posts
Saturday, January 10th, 2009
I have often said that my life has turned into one big blog post. That’s either really good or really pitiful. Depends on what kind of mood I’m in. I would say that it is good more than not.
You know, it’s not easy waking up every morning thinking of things to write about. It’s a snap during the spring, summer and fall. I mean, during those seasons, I have dozens of things to discuss. I think my record is 7 posts in one day last summer. To me, that’s exciting. To other people, that may be a bit absurd, but still, I think it’s fun.
During the warm months, I am outside all the time, either working or driving around. Flowers are blooming and everything is growing. We start walking in the woods again and we go to all sorts of exciting places.
Just this afternoon, we were discussing all the adventures we would like to have this summer. Laura wants to go whale watching. I keep saying, “What? Whaling?” I give a little chuckle and she belts me one. I really should watch what I say more often. Okay, seriously, we’ll probably go whale watching this summer. I also want to find a cheap canoe on the internet for sale. Either that, or we’ll rent one. Whatever happens, I want to go canoeing too. I just need to find the best spot to go. I sure wish someone would come out and tell me, instead of us driving all around looking. “Hey Jay, go over here. That’s where everyone goes.” That would be nice.
Spring has flowers, summer has lawns, autumn has leaves to write about. What does winter have? I really try to do my best, but sometimes I get “blogger’s block.” I just made that up. Okay, wait a second. I just typed “Blogger’s block” into Yahoo! and a whole bunch of sites came up. What’s with that? I guess I didn’t make it up. If you are battling blogger’s block and want some tips to get over it, you can read here.
One of the things I try to do to get over my block is to go for a walk. That usually loosens my mind up. If I just sat at the computer all day, I would have zero ideas. By getting outside and walking, I look around and do a lot of talking. The things I look at and the conversation I have usually bubbles something to the surface that I can bring inside and share with you. That’s good, but there are still those days…
I have had strange ideas of traveling, simply to write about it. I think of how weird that would be, but then I think a little harder and realize that people do that all day long. It’s called being in the newspaper and magazine business. I am sure I could do it for myself, but if anyone ever held me accountable, I think I would fall apart. I’m no good with creative pressure.
I’ll make you a deal; as long as you keep reading, I’ll keep waking up, thinking of things to write about. If it ever gets really bad and I can’t think of something to write, I’ll start taking suggestions. Until then, hagoone’.
By the way, did I mention it’s snowing again?
Snowing on porch
Related posts
Monday, December 15th, 2008
I just got off the phone with the Mayflower Inn in Washington, CT. You really should see this place. It has to be one of the nicest we’ve been to.
I did notice that their prices have risen and their menu has shrunken. I actually had the fellow I spoke with over the phone email me the Christmas menu. I want to make sure there are enough “meatless” items to choose from. I just received it and from what I am seeing, we need to talk.
One year, a long time ago, I took Laura to the Old Drovers Inn in Dover Plains, NY (please see comments below) for New Years dinner. It’s a very nice restaurant and while I was making the reservation, I was assured that the chef was very accommodating to vegetarians. Well, I must confess, we sat there for much of the evening staring at very large plates with a few small items on them. Their definition of “accommodating” was, “Sure, we’ll slide the steak off the plate and leave the pea.” Of course I am exaggerating…well, actually I’m not. To me, “accommodating” means making butternut squash soup with vegetable broth instead of chicken broth. That’s accommodating. If they are offering bacon vinegarette, offer me another dressing without the bacon.
I am quite excited about this dinner. I do love the Mayflower Inn and really like the various rooms one can hide in after eating. This year, I am going to carry a nice glass of scotch into the library, turn off the lights, sit down and look out the window. With any luck, we’ll have some snow.
Related posts
Thursday, October 9th, 2008
I must say, this John Deere ride-on mower has been a real treat to work with. What once took half a day to do, now takes a mere 45 minutes. I cut at 3.5 inches and everything is working out smoothly. Also, I now longer sweat like a pig while mowing the lawn. Well, the hillside in the front still needs to be mowed with the push-mower, so there is a whole heck of a lot of sweating and swearing at that one.
These days, the issue isn’t so much mowing the lawn, but picking up the leaves. Back in the day, I would just mow over the leaves and hope for the best. I actually liked doing it. I love the sound of the leaves getting all crunched up and shooting out of the side of the mower. Well, with joy, sometimes comes pain. All Winter and once Spring rolls around, all those piles of shredded up leaves are still on the lawn. The create a bunch of dead spots.
The grass clippings from the previous (and current) season create what is called “lawn thatch.” If you care about the health of your lawn and care about what it looks like, thatch is something you are going to want to deal with.
With all this in mind, I ran down to the local John Deere dealer this afternoon to pick up a shiny new 7-bushel rear bagger for the ride-on mower. I have wanted this for a while, but with the onslaught of leaves falling from the trees, a little mini-fire was lit under my butt.
John Deere logo
John Deere dealer
The rear bagger came unassembled and took about a half hour to put together on the back of the mower. I decided to take photos for all my loyal readers to enjoy. Heck you never know…someone might actually “Google” how to put together a 7-bushel rear bagger for a John Deere X300 and my site may pop up. I’m such a genius.
John Deere 7-bushel rear bagger for x300 mower
Here are the pics with some short captions…
Rear of x300. This is why I got the x300 - heavier frame for attachments.
Installing hopper assembly.
Installing hopper assembly.
Installing hopper assembly.
Installing hopper assembly.
Installing hopper assembly.
Installing hopper.
Installing hopper.
Installing hopper.
John Deere X300 with rear bagger.
John Deere X300 rear bagger chute.
John Deere X300 rear bagger chute.
See, wasn’t that exciting? Ok, I will admit that after posting these photos, I understand that not all of you may be as excited as I am. Well, maybe this will do the trick. After setting everything up and mowing the whole lawn, the place is now leaf free. The lawn looks great. I can’t even believe how easy it was. I dumped about 12 bags worth of grass clippings and leaves and that made me feel good.
Oh yeah, one more reason to catch your grass clippings is because the weeds on your lawn keep coming back because of their seeds. If you catch your clippings, you reduce (theoretically) the amount of weeds on your lawn. I made that one up myself, but I think it makes sense.
Related posts
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008
Now that Autumn is here, I think the camera will be coming out a lot more. We have many mini adventures planned.
There certainly is something different in the air. I can feel it in my bones. Just going out for a little cruise this morning felt strange. Maybe I drank too much coffee this morning, but if not, something is going on.
I, like most people, love Autumn. I am guessing there are few better places on earth to be during this season than New England. It’s not only the trees, it’s the landscape, the weather, the types of homes and the people. Everything adds up to a really great time of year. What’s especially nice is the smell in the air.
Every year during Autumn, I try to take just a few minutes out to just sit somewhere. Listening to the leaves fall and feeling the breeze is quite therapeutic. No matter what’s going on in life, relaxing on a nice Autumn day has its uses.
This is one thing I am trying to do on my blog…I am trying to take pictures during different times of the year. I always wonder what this time of year was like or that time of year was like. I have a horrible memory when it comes to this kind of stuff. I do remember that last year in New York, the leaves were still falling at the end of October.
Here are some photos from today. Remember, most of the leaves around here are still green. There are a few though that are turning. The following pictures are on the road right down the hill.
Early Autumn Tree Tops
Related posts
Friday, September 5th, 2008
I’m back, baby. I’m back.
As I was walking out on the court this morning with the tennis instructor, he asked me where I lived. I told him where I live and then informed him that I just moved here a few months ago. He asked where I had come from and why I had moved. I told him because there were no tennis clubs where I used to live. You think I’m kidding.
I suppose that was just the icing on the cake or perhaps an indication of the type of area we lived in. I think the only indoor tennis court within 30 miles was inside some old barn. This guy I used to work with told me that someone had redone a barn and put a tennis court in it. That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.
You would be surprised at how many dinner conversations Laura and I have about life. We are real thinkers. I probably over-analyze more than she does, but we do have some pretty worthwhile conversations. One of the topics we talk about is what we could do in the recreational arena. I mean, we probably do more walking, hiking and biking than anyone I know, but it never seems to be enough. We work out on the Bowflex, but that doesn’t seem to be enough. I work around the house cutting down trees and spreading mulch, but still not enough. We even wrestle, well, you get the picture.
This type of thing becomes very important to me when the bad weather sets in. I get the Winter blues easily and need to be constantly entertained or else people are going to hear me complain. No one wants to hear someone else complain.
I used to work at the Carmel Fitness and Racquet Club over in Carmel, NY. I worked there for about four years as the head life guard from 1993 to 1997. I loved that job because it would allow me to do all my homework for college when no one was in the pool. I credit that job for helping me graduate Westchester Community College. I also loved that job because I got free use of the gym and the indoor tennis courts. I love to play tennis and having indoor courts at my disposal year round was the best thing to happen to me. Also, to have a life guarding job year round was great too.
At the Carmel Fitness and Racquet Club, I played a LOT of tennis. You couldn’t keep me out of that place. I get bored very fast, but back then, I had something to do about it. I would hop in my car and go play tennis. If there was no one to play with, I would practice my serve or just hit against the ball machine. Those four years taught me a lot about the game and I actually got pretty good at it.
When I went to college at Binghamton University, I stopped playing. Twelve years have now gone by and I have only casually played tennis a few times, but nothing to write home about. I really miss the game.
Living where we used to live didn’t help. Since people were more into farming than tennis, I had a better chance of somehow driving a bulldozer across a field than to actually play some indoor tennis. Year after year, I got more and more sick and tired of putting up with the lack of recreational activities in the area. There is only so much of walking up and down the road someone can do. I mean, people can say, “Oh, we have this and we have that,” but really it’s the feeling you get when you are somewhere. It’s the culture.
So when I gave the tennis instructor that answer this morning, I wasn’t kidding.
Yesterday, as we were out and about, I decided to take a different way back to the house. I drove through a back road (Oak Street) in Glastonbury to hop on Hebron Avenue. As I was driving down Oak Street, I noticed a sign on my right. It said, “Glastonbury Tennis Club.” I almost fainted. I had planned on joining the tennis club up in East Hartford when the weather got a little cooler, but this was a heck of a lot closer to where we live. I drove a little further and turned around.
We walked in the club and talked to the front desk person a little while. I eventually signed up for a membership and scheduled a lesson for this afternoon at 12:30. I thought this was just great.
This club has six nice indoor courts and four pros for lessons. I thought a few lessons would be a good idea, since I hadn’t played in such a long time. I didn’t want to jump right back into playing matches with strangers when I wasn’t sure of my abilities.
I had my first lesson with John, the Tennis Director. He was pretty cool and probably got a kick of how fast my face turned red from all that running around. I must say, I played rather well. I hit some great shots and was consistently “OK.” Let’s just say that I could hold my own against an intermediate player.
This tennis club has a bunch of clinics where there is a pro and about five people per court. They hold the intermediate clinics on Wednesdays and Saturday mornings. I will most likely go to all of them. I want to get back in shape before the Winter comes because I want to start playing matches. The instructor told me that in a few weeks, I should be ready for the advanced clinics.
That would be the cat’s meow.
Related posts
Thursday, August 14th, 2008
All Winter, I say that I can’t wait for Summer. This is for obvious reasons. I always say that I can make it up to January 15 with Winter and then I’m done. If I can’t grow anything, I am not a happy camper.
This next paragraph really has nothing to do with this post. I just thought I would throw it in here.
Laura and I were eating dinner this evening when I noticed Finnegan Gordon Belle (Flipper Human the cat) laying on the chair next to us. Now, just to give a bit of background on this cat…he is grouchy when he sleeps. He really has no time or patience for people who get in the way of his “resting sessions.”
Well, after I finished slowly (repeatedly) placing my food in my mouth, I decided to walk over and pet the cat. I got a few good pets in. I thought this was nice. What did the cat do in return? He looked up at me, shifted his weight, sat up and bit my hand. Nuff said. I walked away and left him alone. Sure, when he wants to get picked up every other minute of the day, I accommodate him, but when I want to play, noooooo.
Here he is, the bum…
Finnegan Gordon Belle
Man, you can almost see the attitude.
Ok, back to the post. If you haven’t noticed around the blogging world yet, things are a bit slow this Summer. I guess people are outside, enjoying the weather. I am sure all sorts of families are vacationing at the beach and places like that. Gee, even I got in the car a few times this season. Well, let’s just say all this enjoyment hasn’t really helped my reading habits. Blog reading I mean. Yes, it’s sad but true.
In my opinion, if you want to be one of these crazy bloggers, you have to write all the time. You have to wake up and want to bring the camera with you when you get your morning coffee. It truly is a disgusting way to live, but if you’ve ever written in a format like this, you’ll know what I am talking about.
The thing of it is…we computer people LOVE to read what you write. It doesn’t matter what it is. We just want to keep up with your lives. I should actually be writing this to myself because I have been slipping through the cracks lately. I mean, I have been cutting down some small trees on the side of the property, but I don’t think I can bring the camera every time, nor do I think people want to continuously read about it. I’m not even sure what I can take a picture of. I keep asking Laura if it looks any different than it did earlier and she just gives me a sad look and turns her face back and forth, saying…”no, my sweet prince, it doesn’t.”
I sometimes make the joke to Laura that people don’t need to call me to see how I am doing. All they need to do is read this silly thing. It’s kind of not fair because I do a lot of calling. Trust me, let’s not change this arrangement. I like you reading and I like doing the calling. Oftentimes, I feel more comfortable if things are on my terms.
I guess I get a little depressed when I see the internet get light for a while. I think overall traffic takes a hit during the Summer. I never thought I would see the day when I get excited at the prospect of a rainy day in September…when all the kids are back at school and college is in session. Ooohhh, look at all those users checking out my sites. The Christmas season is a whole other story.
It’s amazing. For all the cool things we do in the Summer, we really don’t feel like writing about many of them. Maybe it’s the sunshine. Maybe it’s the guilt of bringing the laptop out on the deck with us and writing, when we really should be looking at the squirrels. Perhaps that’s why some of the best authors like to go up to their chilly cabins to write and don’t do it on the beaches of Barbados. Really now, Barbados is no place to write. Maybe Vail…
My friends, the good news is there are new blogs being formed every day. Just yesterday, an old friend of mine showed interest in making a blog of his own. I hope he does because the world needs more smart writing. I am actually curious about what he has to say. I am sure there are other great blogs that have been started recently that I never knew about. Oh, it’s going to be fun because the blogging season is right around the corner.
So, for those people who have shown interest recently about blogging and why they should get into it, I will explain what I like about the whole thing. Basically, I think this is a place for people to get to know me. I really like the format and I feel comfortable sharing things here. I really don’t care if some trucker from India reads this thing every morning before he has his breakfast. If he finds me entertaining and gets a kick out of the projects that I do, then that’s cool. You know, I bet there are a few truckers who like to read my blog.
Also, I really like to take pictures. Here, I can post them and tell people all about what I was doing. Of course, if you haven’t noticed, I think the stuff I do is reeeeally important.
The best thing is when I help people. I know I have said this before, but when someone gets some use out of what I write, that makes it all worth while. You can imagine the blisters on my fingers from all this writing. Can you imagine that?
Well, it’s getting a bit late now and I fear that I am not making sense anymore. I just want to warn you that the camera comes back out tomorrow and I am going to be outside with it. I am going to take a picture of something and post it here. You just wait…
Related posts
Wednesday, March 26th, 2008
As promised, I am posting some (well all) of the videos we took the other day when we were in Kent, CT.
I would say there are eight videos in all. I am posting them as I upload them, but as you might guess, YouTube takes a while to upload, especially when the videos range from 30MB – 130MB. In the videos, the cool part is how much water is going down the river. We have had a bunch of rain, so that really took its toll. Also, the weather was great, so there was some company during our hike.
Enjoy the videos.
Related posts
Sunday, March 9th, 2008
I have some good news and bad news about my current batch of beer. I will tell you about it in my next post. For this post, I would like to tell you about a beer I picked up today. Well, actually there are two types of beer, but this post is only about one.
This morning, we were sitting on the couch, when I said, “If we were to do something today, what would you want to do?” I really didn’t have anything in mind, I was just curious. I was happy sitting around all day. Well, to make a long story short, we ended up at Emmanuel’s Market Place in Stone Ridge again. I know I said before that I was getting a little tired of the Sushi up there, but the combination of the getting out of the house, Sushi, beer and bagels gets me every time. So there we were.
We did get a bunch of Sushi today. I thought it would be a good idea to mix things up, so we got a bunch of veggie Sushi, like a lot of rolls with avocado in them. I am excited for later. As usual, I grabbed some bagels. On the way to the bagel area, I passed fresh pasta. I have never (that I know of) eaten fresh pasta before. I asked Laura if she wanted to get some, when I remembered that I bought her that new KitchenAid mixer for her birthday. There is an attachment that goes with it that makes pasta. Now, you know that went on my to-do list. We voted against the fresh pasta for today.
What this post is really about is the new beer I got. I picked up a 6-pack of Wolaver’s Oatmeal Stout and wanted to tell you all about it.
Why am I buying beer? I’ll tell you about that later. Anyway, this one is pretty good. I cracked the bottle open and poured it in my trusted beer glass. It poured like a nice dark beer and tastes kind of like one too. I would say this beer is a very good one that might be appreciated by people who like dark beer, but a bit lighter than the rest. It has a “thinner” taste and doesn’t overpower you like that Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout I have had. This is a very drinkable beer and I would buy it again.
There you have it. Now, for my home brew story, please see above.
Related posts
Thursday, January 31st, 2008
I don’t have much time to write this because Lost is on in twenty minutes. This is going to be a crazy episode. If you are interested in theories about the show, click here to read some. This is my favorite one, by far.
Ok, so Laura and I drove up to the store today, but this time, we took a different way than we normally do. We usually drive up Rt.209, but this time we took Rt.44/55 through the ridge towards Kerhonkson. I wanted to drive this way because of my itch to get out of the normal routine. It worked pretty well because I feel good right now. That may be because I just had a beer though.
I did take some video of the trip. There are so many nice things to see…I just wish I was a better videographer. Oh well, I’ll learn. Here are the videos…
Related posts
