Mom and Dad 01/02/10 — Palm Pre We’ve had a couple of nice family gatherings over Christmas and New Years this holiday season, so why not include two of the most important people in my life … Mom and Dad. It was a great to be together with them and enjoying time reminiscing — I […]
A strange GPS story and follow-up courteous of the Air Forces Space Command Twitter account to usher out 2009 and welcome 2010 … Happy New Year, by the way. GPS strands couple in snow for 3 days GRANTS PASS, Ore. – A Nevada couple letting their SUV’s navigation system guide them through the high desert […]
Another phone to blog test this one with a photo from the Palm Pre ‘Update’ screen (via Posterous but edited): Palm updated their webOS to version 1.3.5 during the last few days of 2009, and from my preliminary testing has improved the speed on my Pre. I’m hoping for battery improvement that has been promised, […]
As mentioned earlier, my primary Gateway NX570XL notebook computer is having LCD screen related problems. I ordered a new inverter board prior to Christmas that would have been the least expensive repair, but the item that was shipped was incorrect — much larger (longer) than the one on my computer (photo below). One of the […]
Thanks to my wife Brenda, who gave me a Keurig one-cup coffee maker for Christmas, I’ve been enjoying fresh coffee every day since Friday. In my opinion, the new Keurig brews coffee as good or better than most coffee shops. The engineering beauty of these design is that the hot water and steam stays in […]
The year 2009 is closing with our federal government’s Christmas present making big changes in America’s healthcare system. Today, the senate passed legislation moving a massive 2000+ page healthcare bill one step closer to law and will in essence give significant control of over one-sixth of our nation’s economy to bureaucrats. Although supposedly promising needed […]
It was great to have an annual Christmas exchange lunch yesterday in this ‘slower than usual’ week before Christmas. Thanks to my friend Jeff, who knows me well, I now have a new book — Pirate Latitudes — a perfect gift selection for me. Pirate Latitudes was written by best selling author, and one of […]
It’s not all bad news as we wrap up 2009. Americans have been criticized for their unhealthy eating habits and rightly so, but there are a few abused items that are getting a green light. The silver lining for those who drink, is that studies are suggesting that certain favorite drinks are medically helpful, some […]
My goal is to have the home theater upgraded by the time my kids are home from college for their Christmas break. The new Optoma HD20 arrived and I anxiously replaced my older Sony 900U ceiling concealed projector. Besides ‘still’ having a ridiculous combination of remotes, the HD picture enhanced from a standard DVD from […]
While doing a little research on the Advent Wreath for family devotions this past weekend, I came across an interesting article that I wanted to share and archive. Although I’m not Catholic, one would have thought I would have known a bit more about the pre-Christian and pre-Protestant history. I’ll include a couple paragraphs from […]
Netbooks are growing up and the slightly larger models now sport a bit more memory, larger displays and the excellent Windows 7 OS. As a family, we’ll be gifting a new HP 311 netbook to my mother-in-law this year for Christmas. We’re hoping to re-introduce her to using a computer — primarily for email and […]
YourFonts.com makes it easy to create a personalized font based on your own handwriting. I created one in about 15 minutes, including the scanning and uploading — very cool. After printing out the PDF template , I used a fine tip ‘Sharpie‘ to scribble in the letters and numbers as the very easy instructions describe. […]
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 […]
One of the interesting Christmas gifts this year was a new SD memory card to use in my Canon EOS Rebel XSi — a 4GB Anniversary edition Eye-Fi card. What makes this SD card unique is that it has built in WiFi. The card operates just like a 4GB memory card but utilized the camera’s […]
I’ve been looking for something that is a bit more meaningful than the ‘woe is me’ mood I’ve been in as 2008 ended. This morning while reading the Opinion page of the Wall Street Journal, a letter by Karl Rove hit me. If a Navy Seal who has been shot 8 times and has half […]
Although I really haven’t watched much television (besides some news and sports) for years, I’m now hooked on a couple DVD television series sets. A couple of months ago, instead of watching a movie on a Friday or Saturday night, my wife and I started the series 24. We were quickly hooked by Jack Bauer […]
My daughter’s good friend Nora headed home for Christmas in Seattle about the time heavy snow socked in all, but the most capable of winter vehicles … you know … snowmobiles, large 4×4 trucks, Jeeps and Smartcars! (thanks Nora for the great iPhone photos of your dad’s car that I’ll post below)
A couple days ago I posted on a Twitter related site called Twitter.Grader. They have a quick ‘bookmark’ feature for sending ‘tweets’ and including links or text. Add it to your browser if you are a Twitter user … I’m betting you’ll find it useful? On a related topic, here’s a great Christmas gift for […]
I’ve noticed the Christmas ads are starting to make their way into the Sunday afternoon football games, and one of them by Kay Jewelers caught my attention. The ad features a deaf girl (or actress playing a deaf girl) and her boyfriend using American Sign Language while sitting under the Christmas tree. It caught my […]
The comments and opinions posted on My Desultory Blog belong to Rich Corbett and are to be taken subjectively. I have spent most of my career working in the printing and publishing industry, both in the traditional “ink on paper” world and electronic Internet based environment — Linkedin profile. After college (Undergrad: Ohio Northern University, […]
My daughter mentioned the movie “Unaccompanied Minors” last week and said, “Dad you’ll love it.” She refused to tell me anymore about it, but was anxious to here my reaction. So I added it to the top of our “one at a time” Blockbuster Online subscription and it arrived in time for movie night. Although […]
I’ve been a fan of Clive Cussler and his novels for years and received his new book “The Chase” as a Christmas gift from a friend. Although this current novel differs from the norm (ie. Dirk Pitt or Kurt Austin NUMA storylines), the story of a steam locomotive recovery from the days of the old […]
Amazing Grace … the movie: This is an excellent movie families over the Christmas break. In fact it might be good enough to actually purchase (Amazon link) … and if you knew my ‘anti-buy DVD when you can rent’ opinion in regard to purchasing DVDs, that actually means something. We enjoyed the history lesson as […]
As a filler for a missed Saturday post, I’ll include a tech oriented “just for fun” OfficeMax sponsored ScroogeYourself.com site. If you have a face photo of someone (my son was my trial subject) you can create a short dancing Scrooge video to share with friends and family by email around the Christmas holiday. Check […]
I feel fortunate to be communicating daily with Donna Lange and I enjoy including posts about her … and from her … on my blog as she sails her way NNW heading for home. Although home is a long way off, about 6200 nautical miles, from her log and emails I can tell that it […]
It has been a busy holiday week which included Christmas, New Year’s Eve, football and my niece’s wedding. I also wanted to ‘archive‘ at least one photo from from the wedding. (and what a wedding it was!) Here’s wishing both Madison and Nathan congratulations as they begin married life together. Oh … and thank you […]
Christmas has been hectic as usual around our house. We’ve been entertaining and enjoying the festivities including time with our extended families. (which isn’t going to end until after the New Year!) This year was special for my son as you might have noticed above; Santa brought him a ‘car’ … I’m not sure how […]
A “new beginning” … the translation sounds better than the Mel Gibson movie titled “Apocalypto.” My wife and I intended on going to see this movie last night, but unfortunately didn’t make it. (I had planned on a review here) 🙁 So in lieu of my review I’ll post part of a long interview that […]
Maybe I’m showing my age in referencing “feet” with the slang term “dogs.” (The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004.) Where did that term come from anyway? Recently I’ve noticed that my favorite shoes (Rockports) are showing signs of wear. As I contemplate replacing them, I wanted to […]
Like many baby boomers, I am proud to have a World War II veteran in my family. Today we remember the reason the United States went to war back in 1941, not that there weren’t reasons to defend Europe earlier. On December 7th we were “brutally attacked” by the Empire of Japan in Pearl Harbor […]
My wife is busy pretending she is Mrs. Christmas and thinks I’m one of the elves — slave labor in decorating for Christmas and getting a tree if you ask me? I spotted this creative way to haul home a tree in a BMW! (and no its not me, but I found it worth a […]
Now that the Thanksgiving turkey has found its way to the waist line and Christmas cookies no doubt right are around the corner, its time for many Americans contemplate their propensity to over-eat … and probably make that worthless New Years weight-loss resolution too? Most know that regular exercise and better eating habits are the […]
Happy Thanksgiving. Here’s a refresher story. The Pilgrims who sailed to this country aboard the Mayflower were originally members of the English Separatist Church (a Puritan sect). They had earlier fled their home in England and sailed to Holland (The Netherlands) to escape religious persecution. There, they enjoyed more religious tolerance, but they eventually became […]
My wonderful daughter gave me a detailed biography for Christmas that I’ve just started. It is quite long so may take me some time to read and review, although I will eventually post my thoughts in the book catagory of my blog. The preface was a very interesting section from a son, and there is […]
First my apologies for my lack of Christmas blogging for those who might occasionally read my desultory posts … although I can’t imagine why one would miss them. Here is a VW oriented post to bring in the new year with $50 in VW parts: “Get a Volkswagen Platinum Visa® Card with low introductory rate […]
Christmas is coming and being the ‘go to guy’ when discussing photography in my family I was asked to give an opinion on the tiny Canon Powershot Digital ELPHs. A buddy of mine just purchased the SD450 model for a ski trip to the Canadian Rockies and didn’t want to be bothered with his larger […]
For many baby boomers, “The Eagle has landed” and “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” (click for audio) were monumental audio moments that recall American success and rekindle proud memories of the Apollo space program. Practically every American alive and countless millions around the world held their breath and watched as […]