Winter 08/09 surfing: Volcum House – north shore Oahu

| February 28, 2009

For those who enjoy surfing I’m embedding a couple enjoyable clips from the Volcum House Show on O’ahu, Hawaii. The first clip has some great surfing footage and tour of a three story home overlooking the big winter waves to the west of Hale’iwa (Sunset Beach & Waimia Bay) and to the east of Kaena […]

President Obama details his Iraq troop withdrawal plans

| February 27, 2009

On Friday afternoon President Obama spoke to the troops at Camp Lejeune North Carolina and laid out his plans for the promised troop withdrawal and timetable from Iraq. (WSJ) His plan is to scale back the current 142,000 troop force which is now in Iraq by the latter half of 2010. The date specific for […]

President Obama to announce Iraq troop withdrawal plan

| February 27, 2009

It is looking more and more like President Obama is more in tune with a 19 month troop withdrawal plan favored by the Pentagon which keeps a significant ‘support’ presence in Iraq. I listened to my Representative John Boehner this morning (also enjoyed his speech at CPAC) and it sounds like the President’s position is […]

Is Sheep Belching contributing to the climate warming problem?

| February 26, 2009

Just like the cow methane gas studies, an article in the Wall Street Journal had the same attention grabbing ability for me: Silencing the Lambs: Scientists Target Sheep Belching to Cut Methane. Nevertheless, researchers and policy makers at the United Nations believe that the livestock industries are a major contributor to climate change and that […]

Obviously Photoshopped, but still a funny photo

| February 25, 2009

Northeast Ohio based aviation site: storiesthatfly.com

| February 24, 2009

If you enjoy ‘grass roots’ aviation, you’ll enjoy the StoriesThatFly site based in the Northeastern part Ohio … or read a little bit about it here.

Patent granted for diesel engine 106 years ago today

| February 23, 2009

For those that appreciate engineering and diesel automotive history, today was the day in 1893 that Rudolf Diesel was granted a German patent for his diesel engine design. Rather than burning gasoline in a cylinder with spark ignition, the diesel engine uses ‘fuel oil’ (or vegetable oil — peanut oil in Rudolf Diesel’s case) using […]

The Interpreter and a list of interesting words

| February 22, 2009

We streamed the movie “The Interpreter” to our HD Tivo this weekend and  besides being an excellent movie, I enjoyed a relatively unrelated scene where Silvia Broome, played by Nicole Kidman, reads from notebooks written in by her list making brother. One of the listed items (again unrelated) were interesting words … one of which […]

Enjoyed driving the new 2009 BMW 335d

| February 20, 2009

I called a friend of mine to check on his wife who was scheduled for surgery this week and after hearing that she was in recovery, our conversation shifted to the new 2009 BMW 335d that was sitting in front of the Akron area Dave Walter dealership. Although I know how the soft-sell enticement game […]

DJIA only 25 points above November 2008 intraday low

| February 19, 2009

Traders saw most stocks fall on Thursday, putting the Dow Jones Industrial Average back on a bear-market closing low track. The financial sector continued to decline and there was little desire by investors to  buy equities with the gloomy economic data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 89.68 points, or 1.2%, to close at 7465.95 […]

Just another ‘snowy’ Thursday

| February 19, 2009

Posting a Palm Treo 700p photo from the road … heading south from Cleveland on I-71 Thursday afternoon. Enough is enough with winter and snow; I’m ready for spring. Here’s a morning photos after the “lake effect” snows blanketed NE Ohio.

Building Widgets with Widgetbox.com

| February 19, 2009

Thought I would test a simple “web widgets” building site at Widgetbox.com that helps users create simple scripts for blogs, websites or social networking sites.  So far so good although I’m not sure I need anymore content sardined onto my computer desktop, homepage or blog? Here are a couple, one widget which helps to find […]

Warming up my Trangia backpacking stove

| February 18, 2009

My wife has hinted that she was “ok” with me planning a backpacking trip with my buddy this year, so I started sifting through my gear (we regularly went we were younger) in anticipation of planning a trip to the mountains. One exceptionally great piece of gear that makes a long day of hiking more […]

Inspirational Sport Pilot: Look mom, no hands!

| February 17, 2009

A friend of mine passed this along and I though a few here might enjoy the inspirational story and watching the video. Jessica Cox, born without arms, recently earned her sport pilot license at Ray Blair Airport in San Manuel, Arizona. She flies this Ercoupe plane the way she does most other things in her […]

Last windstorm knocked down another tree

| February 16, 2009

Looks like I’ll need to do a bit more clean up sometime this week as the wind has knocked down one of our dying pine trees. I can’t say that I don’t expect to loose a few more, but its always depressing to loose a little more property line privacy.

How Stuff Works: Motorhead Cuisine article

| February 15, 2009

I’ve been know to heat up some leftovers under the hood before and enjoyed reading the occasional article detailing the process … and talking to the odd-ball few who enjoy motorhead cuisine. In perusing a ‘magazine’ topic at an excellent time-killing site, Alltop.com, I stumbled on a How Stuff Works article on cooking/reheating food under […]

Motorweek picks 2009 VW Jetta TDI as Drivers’ Choice

| February 14, 2009

For those of us already familiar with the new clean diesel breeds, it will come as no surprise that long running PBS automotive program Motorweek selected the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI as the Drivers’ Choice Award winner. They previously reported positively on the VW TDI although on in February announced it along with all their […]

Fuelly.com for tracking your fuel fills and mileage

| February 13, 2009

I’ve been using Fuelly.com to track the fills and gas mileage on my less than economical Honda Pilot.  The web interface is a super easy way to track and add information each fill up or the even more convenient mobile interface can make adding the odometer reading (or number of miles), gallons and price a […]

Cincinnati Auto Expo ’09 February 19th – 22nd

| February 12, 2009

I’ve enjoyed the Cincinnati Auto Expo in the past although am unsure if I’ll find the time to head down this year. The Duke Energy Center (Cinergy) will have the filled floorplan set up as unusual and I’ve even heard that the Volkswagen booth is going to be much larger than in previous years (according […]

Twitter: 110 is the new 120 was the new 140

| February 11, 2009

While reading Kara Swisher‘s AllThingsDigital’s “Boomtown,” I came across a quote she posted in the side bar of her blog pulled from Brian Solis … … 120 is the new 140. Retweeting is one of the most valuable currencies in the Twitter economy. Leave room in your tweets to make it easier for someone to […]

Viral Video: web video clips that just take off …

| February 10, 2009

It is interesting to ponder what make for a viral video? Here’s a YouTube clip where a dad records his “still woozy” son after a trip to the dentist. Hard to believe this clip is closing in on 7 million views since was posted 10 days ago!

President Obama’s first press conference

| February 9, 2009

President Barack Obama pushed for public support to get behind an economic stimulus plan Monday evening in his first press conference. His push for an $800 billion-plus  package used “fear” to push for passage of a bill that has seen little public detail; speculation has been debated as to what is pork and what is […]

Record sailing day for Reid Stowe and 1000days.net

| February 9, 2009

There aren’t all that many following the sailing and blogging of  Reid Stowe on  1000days.net (perhaps as many as 1000 or so according to his blog stats), but I am one who regularly track his progress and am noting just how long he has been at sea. Reid has been sailing on his old schooner […]

Ice fishermen stranded on Lake Erie

| February 7, 2009

I grew up in a commercial fishing and cottage community on Lake Erie just east from the Crane Creek State Park (label on the map below) and fondly remember ice fishing every winter. As a family we enjoyed recreation on the frozen lake from playing hockey to  fishing, ice boating and snowmobiling.  It was a […]

How many miles should a Volkswagen TDI be expected to go?

| February 6, 2009

People often ask me what make a diesel car attractive enough that one would be willing to not only pay the couple thousand premium on the sticker, but find fewer marketing promotions at dealerships? I’ll usually point to the solid resale and better fuel economy, which is usually a topic of conversation at our GTGs. […]

Diesel BMW 335d and X5 xDrive35d tax credits

| February 6, 2009

A couple nice looking BMW diesels recently available in the U.S. look to be edible for tax incentives this year. They have been added to the IRS list of cars using technology helping promote more fuel efficient vehicles. The new 335d sedan and X5 xDrive35d SUV fit the IRS Lean Burn Technology Motor Vehicle Tax […]

Enjoyed my drive home on a clear night

| February 5, 2009

Sunset on I-71 between Cleveland and Columbus (click for larger)

My thoughts on an accelerated Medical School Programs

| February 5, 2009

My daughter emailed me an article (also below) in the February 6th issue of  The Chronicle of Higher Education which debates accelerated medical school programs. It caught her attention because one of the medical schools mention is Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine — NEOUCOM, her school. For the most part,  the article does a […]

GM to import engine for Volt and Cruze from Aspern, Austria

| February 5, 2009

Last year, General Motors announced that it would build a $370 million engine plant in Flint Michigan to supply the 1.4L engines for the 2011 Chevrolet Volt and Cruze;  autoworkers in the depressed southeastern part of Michigan thought this was good news with so many jobs were leaving the area. In October, GM started the […]

Running Windows 7 Beta and am surprisingly happy

| February 4, 2009

After downloading the .iso and creating a Microsoft Windows 7 Beta installation DVD last month, I’ve been ‘on-again off-again’ while contemplating taking a chance on a Microsoft Beta OS replacement for my Gateway notebook computer. Finally after hearing the positive reviews (compared to Vista), and the fact that the cut off day to download and […]

Another slick day of driving in southwestern Ohio

| February 3, 2009

Here’s hoping that everyone who lives in my neck of the woods, from Dayton to Cincinnati Ohio,  made it home safely?  The roadways on Tuesday afternoon were about as slick as they can get without being sheets of ice. That was evident by the very slow going and significant number of vehicle either in the […]

Superbowl XLIII commercials & the Audi Transporter ad

| February 3, 2009

Although all the Superbowl 43 ads are here, I’m only going to embed one … not because it is a favorite, but because I know my Audi-loving son will enjoy it (besides we both enjoyed the Tranporter movies with Jason Statham). Check out the making of the Audi Superbowl ad below …

Volkswagen will have 4 new BlueMotion models

| February 3, 2009

Volkswagen, a leader in clean alternative fuel technology, will be launching four new BlueMotion  vehicles. Two of them will be super clean diesels, the  Passat BlueMotion, Passat Blue TDI, one running on compressed natural gass — the Passat TSI EcoFuel, and the headliner a Touareg V6 TSI Hybrid. The Touareg with be be VW’s first […]

Morphing Presidents — impressive video

| February 2, 2009

A friend of mine forwarded some talented computer morphing work on flixxy.com. The video below starts with George Washington and morphs through to the 44th  President of the United States.

Steelers win Superbowl XLIII 27-23

| February 1, 2009

Superbowl XLIII (43) has turned out to be quite the exciting game as the Arizona Cardinals came back in the forth quarter to take the lead. (23-20) Pittsburgh used the last 2 minutes to mount a last stand and marched up the field just hoping to make it into field goal range in order to […]

Superbowl XLIII has some first half excitement

| February 1, 2009

I enjoyed another ‘babyboomer worthy’ Superbowl halftime show with Bruce Springteen. He entertained the crowd with “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out,”  “Born to Run” and “Glory Days” and although The Boss did a great job, I missed “Born in the U.S.A.” Halftime entertainment aside, Superbowl XLIII has given us an exciting first half as the score is […]

Easy pwnyoutube.com video downloader

| February 1, 2009

Here’s an interesting three letter  “pwn” technique that provides for a very easy way to download a YouTube clip that you might want to save.  The trick is to use the pwnyoutube.com site in a shortcut way by navigating to a YouTube video then putting the letters “pwn” in front of the “youtube” part of […]

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog