RichC | December 31, 2010
Taylor and his friends leaving for Chicago – Photoshopped (see below for original) I posted a photo to Facebook with a tag line questioning that after taking three photos of Taylor and his friends before heading to Chicago for New Year’s Eve that someone would have their eyes closed in every photo. I counted to […]
RichC | December 31, 2010
It has been a positive year for those brave enough to stomach the stock market and remain bullish as the DJIA closed the year at 11,578 (up $7.80 today). The year was far from a gentle, but still up except for the sudden and steep downturn prior to summer. In fact, hindsight says you would […]
RichC | December 31, 2010
Either I was way too early in adopting Palm’s webOS and the Palm Pre smartphone, or the powers that be are dropping the ball in moving ahead quick enough to satisfy me with their OS and product line. It is too bad that Palm, then HP, did not develop the alliances with partners and market […]
RichC | December 30, 2010
The gurus at WordPress.org have tweaked their programming code and issued an Important Security Update. Take note if you are self-hosted WordPress user and update your install as soon as possible. Version 3.0.4 of WordPress, available immediately through the update page in your dashboard or for download here, is a very important update to apply […]
RichC | December 30, 2010
I saw a photo of a couple of crazy sailors (are there any other kind?) that reminded me of my teenage years with high school friend Charlie “Kamakaze” Matthews sailing the “Fiberpile” in late winter and early spring. We were so anxious to get back on the water that one of us would bounce up […]
RichC | December 29, 2010
Words of the Year (video below) … wsj.com “A data analysis of words printed in The Wall Street Journal reveals a trove of intriguing terms that starred in 2010 but could barely wriggle their way into 2009 coverage. Luge, robo-signer, Tamaulipas and jeggings registered spikes in usage.”
RichC | December 28, 2010
Over the years, I’ve encouraged several friends to consider supporting the MercyShips.org medical charity, partially because I like it’s efficient and effective self-contained hospital ships. Besides that, it is also is a well managed and long running humanitarian charity (1978) which has a solid structure and experience board. As 2010 draws to a close, I […]
RichC | December 27, 2010
The 20th-ish annual ‘Howard Bowl’ football game – no injuries this year! Once again we put a few more miles on our cars this holiday, but thankfully we had excellent driving weather (for winter that is) for our trips; one to Brenda‘s’ parents and one to mine. We did a quick Thursday night family Christmas […]
RichC | December 26, 2010
I’ve been looking for some good photos (before and after) of at NE Ohio ice coated lighthouse … Joe Rousé shared some excellent ones. Light House Becomes A Popsicle Before, during the summer. Now, after a freezing temperatures and big waves on Lake Erie crashed over a Cleveland lighthouse. Do you think it’s vanilla flavored? […]
RichC | December 25, 2010
A glance at the news pages these last couple weeks and one can’t help but feel a little more positive as we close out the Christmas retail shopping season and a challenging 2010. One hopes that the confidence consumers are showing will translate into businesses expanding and hiring in 2011. It’s been a long recession […]
RichC | December 24, 2010
I’m a Christian and make an effort to keep “Christ in Christmas” … but I do my best to be sensitive to other religions going out of my way to send Hanukkah cards to my Jewish friends and ease off offending those that I know have strong objections to the Christian faith and our desire […]
RichC | December 22, 2010
I had thought that I had found the near perfect pair of pants from Eddie Bauer for traveling and after buying a first pair in khaki color, opted for a second pair in olive. Besides being comfortable and having strong triple stitched seams, there are a few design features that are worth pointing out. For […]
RichC | December 22, 2010
Census report says U.S. population at 308,745,538; up 9.7 percent since 2000.
RichC | December 21, 2010
Long time readers know that upon occasion Volkswagen TDI diesel related posts show up on my blog and am a big advocate for adding a skidplate. Recently a friend in a forum posted photo from his wife’s 2003 Jetta TDI Wagon after an encounter with a 6” curb. The damage to the unprotected cast aluminum […]
RichC | December 20, 2010
Unless HP gets their act together soon, webOS is going to distance themselves from more and more users. With the elimination of Epocrates support, those in or going into the medical profession will pretty much write off webOS phones and their eventual tablet device. Even I, someone who likes his Palm Pre, am becoming increasingly […]
RichC | December 19, 2010
In a previous post I mentioned that Brenda and I were going to try selling a few pieces of broken gold jewelry, some tarnished silver and a few odd ‘lost and found’ type items that we knew we wouldn’t wear. Sure I could have taken them to a local gold buyer, but since the conservative […]
RichC | December 18, 2010
Christmas has come early for me as we finalized the closing on the “new to us” sailboat – 1986 36’ Westerly Corsair called Encore. Although Brenda and I have been looking at boats for years, we realistically planned on putting off owning our next boat until both kids were out of college and comfortably on […]
RichC | December 17, 2010
Palm Pre photo after clearing the driveway on Thursday I’ve had to put the snowblower on my old John Deere 330 a bit early for SW Ohio this year since we’ve had significantly more snow and colder weather this entire month. In years past I remember crossing our fingers that some snow would whiten the […]
RichC | December 16, 2010
Time is flying by as my daughter’s fourth year of med school is half over and she’ll be moving from paying to learn to getting paid to learn (residency) and also working a few hours for a hospital – a poorly worded joke for those who actually know how many hours per week residents work. […]
RichC | December 16, 2010
One of my all time favorite baseball players and Cleveland Indian star, Bob Feller died on Wednesday night. We had the opportunity to meet and talk with Mr. Feller back when my son played youth baseball and appreciated his signing my son’s ball glove and a photo. He was a remarkably healthy senior well […]
RichC | December 15, 2010
I’m not endorsing this $259 GoPro Hero camera (“Naked” as they call it) since I haven’t used it, but from the promotional photos, and particularly HD video (see below), it looks great. The fixed lens setup may be a limitation but it is one of the nicest action sports cameras I’ve seen to date and […]
RichC | December 14, 2010
Congratulation Roz (previous posts) … you are National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year for 2010. (and she’s working on another book about rowing the Pacific) The Rower Roz Savage solo rowed the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans—the first woman ever to do so. Before she rowed across two oceans, Roz Savage was a management consultant, working […]
RichC | December 14, 2010
I started to clear a little snow away from the pool skimmer lids this evening and fitted my compressor to blow out the water lines … but it’s just too cold to continue on. It might be better to wait a couple days and keep the pool from freezing by running the pump. I was […]
RichC | December 13, 2010
Just in case your wife complains that you are a procrastinator for putting off all the Christmas decorating and shopping this time of year, all you have to do it point to me. After realizing that Rich hasn’t even closed the pool yet this year, she should appreciate you far more and forgive your minor […]
RichC | December 13, 2010
This weekend got away from me partially because there were a few too many reminders that technology, computer use, business and the Internet often overtakes family and face to face time. First, my daughter was home after one of her many interviews for her residency next year. She was upbeat and positive about almost every […]
RichC | December 10, 2010
Archiving a Christmas Star ornament that was forwarded by a friend; my daughter might enjoy making one? (Thanks Wolfgang) Steps 1 Print out this pattern 2 Copy the pattern onto the interior of your cards (so that the cover design is on the other side) by cutting it out and tracing it. Then draw in […]
RichC | December 9, 2010
Encore – and UK built 1986 well equipped 36’ Westerly Corsair CC I’ve been offline and a bit out of kilter the last couple of days … I could say I was busy Christmas shopping, but then what I’m doing sort of stretches any Christmas present budget that I’m aware of? I headed to sunny […]
RichC | December 6, 2010
While my Palm Pre’s battery holds out I’m appreciating playing with the free ‘Google’ offered wifi on AirTran flights until the end of the year. So far all the Internet apps on the Pre are working well including audio streaming, web browsing, app catalog downloads and email. Twitter client Tweed is working well too, although […]
RichC | December 5, 2010
Most people realize it is important it is to keep an eye on what the big three credit reporting agencies say about one’s personal credit history … particularly in this age of identity theft. (Equifax, Transunion and Experian) So, if you haven’t requested your once-a-year free report, do it now and be sure your credit […]
RichC | December 4, 2010
Volkswagen New Beetle lovers received a video glimpse of the new 2012 VW bug now that a spy video is on YouTube. The smooched down redesign looks less bug-like and a little more Porche/Audi TT-ish. Personally I’m not rushing out to to put an order in… even with a TDI engine. It’s hard to imagine […]
RichC | December 4, 2010
My 2006 Honda Pilot has been rock solid for 120,000+ miles, but it looks like all good things come to an end and it might be time for some overdue maintenance. Oh, I’ve done the routine stuff, but I have neglected to replace the plugs at about 100K and haven’t tackled the belts including the […]
RichC | December 3, 2010
Admit it, you’ve been pretty annoyed receiving emails with extensive signatures or while reading in forums where regular users post distracting, offensive or just plain long-waste-of-screen-space signatures. This practice is one of my pet peeves when visiting certain‘permissive’ forums that allow ‘spam-vertising’ by user signature or avatar. This becomes doubly irritating when the same user […]
RichC | December 1, 2010
While closing in on 2 years with my webOS Palm Pre, I’ve opted to replace my original Pre smartphone with one of the last of the original Sprint Palm Pre phones before they are gone. (I’m crossing my fingers that Sprint will eventually get the Pre 2) Thankfully my insurance plan replaced the defective (but […]
RichC | December 1, 2010
Hurricanes Karl, Igor and Julia (from left to right on Sept. 16) were part of the onslaught of Atlantic storms this season. Download here (Credit: NOAA) The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) closes the book on one of the was busiest hurricane seasons on record which is in contrast to the eastern North Pacific […]