Here’s a cool site to track a group of crazy store chasers!
Fridays are an interesting thing. In reality, it is just another day of the week. In practice, they are the proverbial carrot for each week. It keeps hanging out there in front of us and entices us to finish each work week. On vacations, Fridays is dreaded as vacation is coming to a close. During the work week, Fridays keep us going. At least it keeps me going!
People are happy on Fridays, much more so than on Mondays. There is likely some highly funded bit of academic research proving what we have all known for years: Fridays are a good thing! Fridays and full coffee cups.
I’ve often wondered if we could extend the Friday feelings to other aspects of our life. The reality is that there are very few things that are so short term (7 days) and so repeatable as a week. We have them 52 times every year of our lives, except the last one (given you don’t die on a Saturday). Good food for thought, I suppose. So, take care of yourself and make sure you die on a Saturday so you’ll have a full Friday to be in a good mood.
Of course, there is also the “dreaded” Monday syndrome. Quite the opposite from Friday, in my mind.
Have a great, non-working weekend.
I have been a huge XM Radio fan for several years now. I’m not quite sure what radio commercials sound like, except for the 30 seconds or so that I listen to commercial radio on my bedside clock radio during workdays.
I work for a company that sells XM, so we have had some great deals to get me the equipment, but it’s been worth it every step of the way. I firmly believe that the money my family spends for XM is thousands of time better than any money we pay for cable TV. Cable TV, after all, requires that you be sitting in one place for an extended period of time. XM is portable, mobile, or fixed, depending on your setup.
Right now, we have four (sad, but true) XM units that we pay a monthly service on. One is in Sue’s truck (the oldest radio), on in her office (a new one, but it sort of sucks as well), a Delphi unit in my truck (sometimes in my house) that totally rocks, and a new portable one. We have a bit of swapping to do – my Delphi from my truck is going to get mounted in her truck (and she can use it in the office as well), and my portable MyFi is going into my truck (also to use in the house). That’ll take us from four to two that we’re paying the monthly service on. Much more reasonable, if you ask me.
I have been using the MyFi in my office, as the reception is good there. I don’t really like the mobile (i.e., for walking) side to it, but it would likely perform better in a city rather than in pseudo-suburbia where we live.
The musical selection is excellent. My favorite station is Deep Tracks, XM40. The two DJs on the station know more about music than all of my friends put together (and that’s saying a lot!). Great commentary from real professionals. Right now, for example, Peter Frampton is singing “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours.” It’s a great version of the Stevie Wonder song that we all know. Today, GTM had a clip of an interview with Rick Wakeman (from Yes) that I listened to in a short drive home. I was laughing so hard because of the commentary Rick was delivering. What a sense of humor. Certainly, there is no commercial station that you could ever hope to hear that on.
The other favorites I listen to are Top Tracks (XM46) for regular ‘ol hit music, and Lucy (XM54) for newer music that my son and I can mostly agree on. Even the MIX songs (XM22) that replaces most “hit” commercial music stations is at least 100 times better because of the continuous music with no commercial, traffic, or weather breaks. Did I mention no wining local DJs talking to hear themselves talk. At work, I also listen to Watercolors (smooth jazz) and XM-Pops (classical). No talk and easy listening music. It’s not my favorite, but good when I have heads-down concentration required while sitting at the computer at work.
So, if you haven’t tried XM, you should. For broadband users, there is even an online version that you can try out for 3 days for free. Go to www.xmradio.com for details.
Oh, yes. The price is going up. So What!!! Comcast has upped the price almost monthly on the worthless cable. If I didn’t need it for high speed internet, it would be dropped. XM will also include the online version with the upgrade, so it’s really a wash. If you have any doubt of the value, ask either of my kids. There is never a fight when I ask them to get my Delphi from the truck so I can turn it on in the house. Jake is a big XM20 (20 on 20) fan, but also listens to Lucy. KT listens to XM22 much of the time, and Nashville (XM11) whenever she and I are in the truck together. I am really glad to help teach that diversity in musical tastes is a good thing to have as an adult.
Today, we resolved one of the biggest household problems we had. Our hot water heater was starting to leak, wasn’t working very well, and was apparently undersized for our 4-person household. It worked find until we determined that we had an up and coming teenager to supply water for, and another one on the way in two more years.
So, we took advantage of zero interest financing and we purchased a new hot water heater. It’s bigger and much more efficient than the 24 year old unit that was installed when the house was built. This new heater is about 40% bigger, but will cost us less each year to operate. I’m looking forward to taking the first long, hot shower tomorrow morning since moving in. As of this morning, when we had 3 showers to take, one person got left with a short shower if hot water was expected. When there were four of us (like on a Sunday morning), forget it. Finally, we won’t have to worry about hot water being used for a load of clothes or dishes when there’s an evening shower to be taken.
What’s funny is that we went from a highly innefficient 52 gallon tank to a very efficient 80 gallon one. While I should feel guilty, I don’t. Less (energy) dollars money for more energy.
Life is good…
MSNBC – When Does Autism Start?
That’s a good question. For our family, it wasn’t early on with our first child. He started off fine, then regressed over the past couple of years. It’s not autism like many of you think. While I am certainly not an expert, autism covers a really big spectrum. Our son is on the upper end (high functioning) of the spectrum, and is mild at that. If he’s mild, I would hate to think how difficult every day is for someone who is not mild on the upper range of the spectrum. Our son has what is commonly known as Aspergers. Aspergers presents itself very differently from most other forms of autism, but similar in other aspects. He is a very intelligent, bright boy. He does have the ability to focus for long periods of time on a single task or thought. His passion keeps him from interacting like others, and it keeps him from remembering to do the simple things in life that others take for granted without being reminded constantly. Taking showers, brusing his teeth, coming down with the time meets his schedule is a constant daily battle. Interruption of a daily routine (once established) can make us reset to ground zero and start the long process again of setting up that routine.
Fortunately, the family has been working with a very good psychologist to help us fix these issues. They problems have been going on for years, but we’ve only engaged with doctors over the past two. He’s ultimately smart — too much for his own good. Now we are trying to work through these issues to get the last years he is here turned into bearible ones. Also, he needs this support if he’s ever to make it on his own in college or afterwards. God help us all…
Recently, we received the obituary from Mrs. Stapelfeldt. She was my wife’s voice coach for more than ten years. She made such a big impression on my wife, that our youngest daughter is named after her. Here is a summary of her life, as written in her obituary:
Katalin Szekeres Stapelfeldt was born in Hungary on March 4th in 1920. Her childhood was spent on horseback and at the piano. Katalin came from a cultured and privileged family. She received her education in Hungary and Austria. She lost most of her family during World War II and struggled to survive under the Communist regime, returning to the conservatory of music for yet another degree. She applied her education and her unique gift to develop a well-recognized music, mostly piano and voice, practice in Wilton, Connecticut.
Throughout her career she lectured at several universities to teachers and professors on the Koday solfège method general and her own theories of pedagogy. She was loved by her fellow musicians in Europe and in the United States for her bold, bubbly personality and humor. Nothing seemed impossible to her.
Through her teaching, she helped many challenged children to reach a happy and healthy adulthood. She brought out the best and the most of every one’s potentials. Many of her students kept in touch with her well into their adult life for 20 to 30 years. Katalin retired in Churchton, Maryland but acquired a few select students and held recitals at the First Baptist Church in Shady Side. Her old students, now adults, carne from as far as Washington DC and Connecticut. Her home was open and welcoming not only to her family, but to all those who came from near and far to visit. Many felt a great loss of a great lady of music. She died peacefully in her home Christmas Eve, 2004. She will be missed.
Katalin left behind her husband of 47 years, Wulf Dietricht Stapelfeldt, her daughter Borbala Cosson, granddaughter Victoria Felicia Sutton Garte and two great granddaughters, Nicold Fleicia Garte and Maxi Michelle Garte.
Take one cold winter night — mix in slightly wet roads, one truck, two cars, and one driver off in her own world. The recipe for success, right? Not hardly.
My wife was in an accident last night. Fortunately, no one was hurt badly. The second driver was simply not paying attention. She pulled in front of my wife as if she didn’t exist. My wife’s big truck didn’t get hurt too bad – but we’ll be without it for a while.
The funny thing about a situation like an accident is that memories come back afterwards.
I can’t say enough about the professionalism of the police department. The main officer in control was just that — in control. He said that a three car accident is the worst kind. I sort of missed that, but it could have been because I was outside for 2 hours in the cold.
So, now we get to fight with the insurance companies (especially the one from the driver not paying attention), and with the local body shops. Perhaps we’ll get lucky, perhaps it’ll be a fight. Time will tell.
The metal and the plastic will be repaired. Everyone is safe – and that is all that really matters.
Well, they’re calling for snow again — the third (and last) in a series of storms. The kids were home from school on Thursday and on Friday due to roads in the neighborhoods. The way that they make up school days is cool – they just tack 15 minutes or so onto the end of every day. It’s nothing for the kids, and easy for the schools to administer. It was used for Hurricane Isabel last September, and for the ice storm that hit in late Januarys. Virginians don’t do snow well – and do ice even worse. Funny because ice is more of a problem here than snow is.
The weather has been really funky lately – but shouldn’t be surprising. Southern Virginia is always at the bottom of where (weatherman alert) the cold air and the warm air hit. We never know if it’ll be snow or rain until it comes.
Okay – so 30 wasn’t that cold. We were outside from 11 until 4 yesterday. I actually took off my gloves a few times when it reached a balmy 35. It’s damn hard to pick up deck screws with leather gloves. We got one set of stairs (4 stairs, 8 feet wide) done, as well as putting up a 16 foot railing. No one will fall off the end anymore! One more set of stairs and a few rails and replacing the original deck boards that are remaining. I think even I can do that with some assistance. I know I can tear them down since I did the first ones!
Then the finishing begins.
There will be a bunch of sanding on the edges. Also, we need to find lights for the corners and the rest. They are so stinking expensive. We’ll have to run the electric in PVC to keep the squirrels out. It seems that the electric wires run outside have some sort of chemical that the squirrels think that they need in their diet. Sure wouldn’t want to eat
So, I got to crash and burn last night. Stayed downstairs until 9:00 – but mostly slept from 7:30 until 9. Sitting down was all that it took. Hauling around lumber is not something I often do, so it just wipes me out!
The kids both had sleep overs last night. One at our house (2 12-year old boys are easy), and our daughter at a friend’s house. She will come back cranky (always does), but it was a chance for her to see a friend for the first time in a month or so. Since pulling the kids out of daycare, they miss some of the other kids. Not writting that $200 weekly check is a good thing, no matter how selfish it makes me.
I personally believe that when it is under 30 degrees (F) that no one should work outside. Of course, that doesn’t include people who drive snowplows, taxicabs, and the brave men and women in the police, fire, and armed services. I guess I just mean the plain ol’ folks like me.
It’s currently a bit less than 30 and I’ll be outside at 9:00 working on my deck. Of course, I wouldn’t be there unless the guy helping me was going to be there. You see, I have been getting a great deal of help with the deck. D is, among other things, a master carpenter. He has an eye for doing what looks good, and making it come to fruition with what appears to be little effort. The deck addition is 500 square feet – huge by our neighborhood standards. While the wood has not been cheap, the labor certainly has. We’re close to finishing it other than a couple of sets of stairs and a few handrails. Then, we need to finish up the other items like the posts, adding lights, and so on.
D is an interesting character. He’s a tough guy, raised in a tough household with a sometimes abusive father. He’s risen above that but is really tough on his youngest son. He absolutely loves his son, but keeps a firm grip on him as well. His son is a character with a smart mouth – something that I think he should lose else he’ll get a belt or hand to help him lose it. Guess it is more like the relationship I had with my father than I care to admit. I’m at least trying to rise above that with my son.
Time to bundle up…
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