Meghan had a really cool homework assignment today: write Odysseus's Resume. (Yes, the guy who Homer wrote about. No not that Homer!)
Either she doesn't think I'm funny, or she didn't get my sarcasm gene. I made a few recommendations for what she should include and I'm sure she ignored me.
My favorite though was under accomplishments:
"Reintroduced Archery to the Royal Court. Led the Reduction in Force of the Queen's suitors."
I know, random.
Monday, February 08, 2010
Colorguard and Percussion Band Event
This past weekend Courtney had her first Colorguard competition. Meghan does Colorguard for the high school and this winter they started one for the 'feeder' Middle Schools for Meghan's school. Courtney watched Meghan at most of the football games this fall, so she wanted to try.
They'd only been doing it for 3 weeks, so their performance was short, but they all looked good. It was obvious a few of the girls were nervous (so were a lot of parents!) but they all did what they needed to. I didn't see any obvious mistakes and I think everyone was excited and relived when they finished.
Before Courtney's turn, there was a high school Percussion competition. Wow, that was something to see (and hear). It's one thing when they are on a football field, but inside a basketball gym you could feel some of the cymbals crashing and see the control and speed they have when drumming. One group, which I think won, were dressed in all black and the drum line wore black hoods. Very cool to watch.
Courtney has another competition in a couple of weeks, so I'll get some pictures then.
They'd only been doing it for 3 weeks, so their performance was short, but they all looked good. It was obvious a few of the girls were nervous (so were a lot of parents!) but they all did what they needed to. I didn't see any obvious mistakes and I think everyone was excited and relived when they finished.
Before Courtney's turn, there was a high school Percussion competition. Wow, that was something to see (and hear). It's one thing when they are on a football field, but inside a basketball gym you could feel some of the cymbals crashing and see the control and speed they have when drumming. One group, which I think won, were dressed in all black and the drum line wore black hoods. Very cool to watch.
Courtney has another competition in a couple of weeks, so I'll get some pictures then.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
50,000 miles already
Wow, I've been racking up a lot of mileage lately. Yesterday I hit 50,000 miles on the Mustang. It's on 06 I bought in March of 06 so I'm well beyond 1000 a month.
For reference I hit 30,000 after 30 months.
So far so good with the car. Only major cost has been tires, but I expect to need new struts and shocks soon. No new modifications, all spare change is going to the Capri.
For reference I hit 30,000 after 30 months.
So far so good with the car. Only major cost has been tires, but I expect to need new struts and shocks soon. No new modifications, all spare change is going to the Capri.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Screaming steering repair
Anyone with a Caravan or Town and Country and 'screaming' power steering? Our 2003 had it until this morning. It was pretty annoying and 'sounded' a lot more expensive then it turned out.
The sound is what you'd expect when you're low on power steering fluid, except that the level in the reservoir was fine. After putting it off for a couple of months I was going to take it to a shop this weekend to be fixed. So I did an online search to see what they were probably going to have to do (and pay).
Boy was I shocked by how many other people had the same problem and what the solution turned out to be. Basically, the cheap ass Chrysler engineers put a filter in the reservoir that can't be replaced without replacing the whole thing. And it clogs pretty easily, starving the steering pump and making the noises.
Following the steps here, I bought the reservoir here and did the install. This video helped a lot to see what was needed.
The only thing I did differently was to use an extension on the 10mm socket to reach the nut beneath the suction hose. The extension allowed the ratchet to clear all the hoses and the nut was easy to remove. Took me about an hour total.
So for about $30 I solved what was others were charged hundreds for by the dealers and shop.
No, I didn't work on the Capri today.
The sound is what you'd expect when you're low on power steering fluid, except that the level in the reservoir was fine. After putting it off for a couple of months I was going to take it to a shop this weekend to be fixed. So I did an online search to see what they were probably going to have to do (and pay).
Boy was I shocked by how many other people had the same problem and what the solution turned out to be. Basically, the cheap ass Chrysler engineers put a filter in the reservoir that can't be replaced without replacing the whole thing. And it clogs pretty easily, starving the steering pump and making the noises.
Following the steps here, I bought the reservoir here and did the install. This video helped a lot to see what was needed.
The only thing I did differently was to use an extension on the 10mm socket to reach the nut beneath the suction hose. The extension allowed the ratchet to clear all the hoses and the nut was easy to remove. Took me about an hour total.
So for about $30 I solved what was others were charged hundreds for by the dealers and shop.
No, I didn't work on the Capri today.
Monday, January 25, 2010
She still needs to get good grades though!
Today my youngest daughter told me that the little guy is 'going to buy us all houses when he signs his NFL contract with the NY Giants.' and that 'she's going to have a dozen dogs and turtles'. She then went on about what kind of dogs etc.
I asked her about the house and she said that's what football players do for their sisters. I guess she better be nice to him!
I asked her about the house and she said that's what football players do for their sisters. I guess she better be nice to him!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Christmas lights
Things are getting a lot different around here now.
Tonight we took the kids for the annual dinner and Life College Christmas lights event. Dinner was fine and nothing unusual there.
The lights however were a lot different. Christopher was a lot more interested in them this year, looking and sometimes pointing.
The girls however had their heads in their iPod's the whole time. Yes I know it is the same lights we've seen for the last decade or so, but can't they at least look at them?
I expect this trend to continue with the girls as Christopher gets older and we start to do more 'toddler' things with him.
Tonight we took the kids for the annual dinner and Life College Christmas lights event. Dinner was fine and nothing unusual there.
The lights however were a lot different. Christopher was a lot more interested in them this year, looking and sometimes pointing.
The girls however had their heads in their iPod's the whole time. Yes I know it is the same lights we've seen for the last decade or so, but can't they at least look at them?
I expect this trend to continue with the girls as Christopher gets older and we start to do more 'toddler' things with him.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
What would you teach a 15 year old about programming?
I posted my thoughts on this over on my Technology blog.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Universal Wish List
Most people have an Amazon wish list. Pretty cool way of letting others know what you would like for a birthday, Christmas etc. It is also pretty handy to remind yourself of things you'd like to buy, but without the financial disaster of buying it when you find it.
The biggest problem has always been that there is a lot of stuff you'd like that you can't get from Amazon. Well, they've addressed that problem with their 'universal wish list' feature.
It is pretty cool. Basically you have a 'favorite' in your browser that runs some JavaScript when you are on a page you'd like to add to your wish list.
Adding the favorite is easy. Create a wish list in Amazon, then on the left side look for the 'universal wish list' link and follow the directions.
For example, Fox Mustang Restoration doesn't have a wish list feature. So I navigate to the page of the item I would like for the Capri, select the 'Add to Wish List' favorite in Firefox. Amazon then displays a popup for you to pick the picture of the item, change the description and add the price. Hit 'save' and then 'save' again on the Amazon page and your item is added to the wish list.
Buying from the wish list is a little more difficult, but not much. When your friend buys something, the select the 'Shop This Store' button on the wish list, then submit their email address so the item can be marked as 'bought'. So no duplicates.
I actually think Amazon missed the UI on this. What they should have done was opened the link in an iFrame, and put a 'yes I bought this' link in a toolbar above the linked-to page.
The biggest problem has always been that there is a lot of stuff you'd like that you can't get from Amazon. Well, they've addressed that problem with their 'universal wish list' feature.
It is pretty cool. Basically you have a 'favorite' in your browser that runs some JavaScript when you are on a page you'd like to add to your wish list.
Adding the favorite is easy. Create a wish list in Amazon, then on the left side look for the 'universal wish list' link and follow the directions.
For example, Fox Mustang Restoration doesn't have a wish list feature. So I navigate to the page of the item I would like for the Capri, select the 'Add to Wish List' favorite in Firefox. Amazon then displays a popup for you to pick the picture of the item, change the description and add the price. Hit 'save' and then 'save' again on the Amazon page and your item is added to the wish list.
Buying from the wish list is a little more difficult, but not much. When your friend buys something, the select the 'Shop This Store' button on the wish list, then submit their email address so the item can be marked as 'bought'. So no duplicates.
I actually think Amazon missed the UI on this. What they should have done was opened the link in an iFrame, and put a 'yes I bought this' link in a toolbar above the linked-to page.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Bathroom remodeling sucks
We started our bathroom remodel over 6 weeks ago. The contractor (who is a family friend) did a great job, leaving me to do some of the basic stuff. Like painting, installing new faucets etc.
6 weeks later, we still can't use our bathroom.
Wow did this thing get out of control fast. Painting took 2 weeks because kid commitments didn't allow me to work on it for more than a few hours each weekend. Now that the walls have color I started changing out the faucets. What a total cluster- this is.
Turns out that our builder decided to use some unknown-name sinks in the house. Which don't have overflows and have the drains almost 1/2" wider than a normal sink. So after installing the new drain, it leaks. After taking it apart 3 times, cleaning the sealing areas, tightening as tight as I can etc. I went to Home Depot. And Lowe's. Neither has no-overflow drains. At all.
So I go online. I can find them, but for $110 each. Screw that.
For now I've packed the holes with plumber's putty, but we'll see if that helps once it dries. Probably not with my luck.
So nothing else got done today. All day with the stupid drains. Plus kid activities of course.
6 weeks later, we still can't use our bathroom.
Wow did this thing get out of control fast. Painting took 2 weeks because kid commitments didn't allow me to work on it for more than a few hours each weekend. Now that the walls have color I started changing out the faucets. What a total cluster- this is.
Turns out that our builder decided to use some unknown-name sinks in the house. Which don't have overflows and have the drains almost 1/2" wider than a normal sink. So after installing the new drain, it leaks. After taking it apart 3 times, cleaning the sealing areas, tightening as tight as I can etc. I went to Home Depot. And Lowe's. Neither has no-overflow drains. At all.
So I go online. I can find them, but for $110 each. Screw that.
For now I've packed the holes with plumber's putty, but we'll see if that helps once it dries. Probably not with my luck.
So nothing else got done today. All day with the stupid drains. Plus kid activities of course.
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