Since we had family traveling the Ohio highways this past weekend, it was good to hear they all made it to and from their destinations safely. It is probably the “dad” coming out, but receiving the update Sunday night that both my kids were back at school after their evening drive … I think its an age thing since I never recall giving travel a second thought when I was the one driving back from my parent’s house?
“The Ohio State Highway Patrol reported Monday, Dec. 1, that 11 traffic deaths occurred on Ohio roads during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, marking the safest Thanksgiving holiday weekend on Ohio roads since 2001 when there were 10 fatalities. Thanksgiving weekend fatalities were down from 17 traffic deaths last year.” –LINK
Considering the economy is weak, Americans when on a shopping spree the day after Thanksgiving this year, in fact retail sales were up about 7.2% over last year, according to the National Retail Federation. They also reported that 172.9 million made purchases from Friday and on through the following Saturday and Sunday. This “first holiday weekend” has often been looked at as the test for retailers as to what sort of holiday season they might have — but history has shown a strong first weekend doesn’t always translate into strong sales though the holiday season.
Analysts also fear that retailers are driving sales with rock-bottom price promotions — which started in early November this year — that could kill profits and hurt rather than help retailers already struggling to stay afloat. “Because they’re promoting so heavily, it’s going to affect their margins,” stock analyst Jennifer Black says. “Some retailers will lose money even though their sales are up. The bottom line is that (retailers’) bottom lines are shrinking.” Combine this with a shorter holiday shopping season, 27 days this year instead of 32 last year, and retailers who are already struggling to remain afloat might not earn enough to survive a recession.
While spending the day around home, I walked around the neighborhood and noticed one of the grass carp (white amur) was belly up around our lake. I headed back to pick up the shovel and rack … and realized I would probably need a wheel barrow to haul this 20 plus pound fish home. It is one big fish.
My daughter was with me and decided the comic event was enough to capture on her cell phone.
Here is sort of a tech Friday post today dealing with Twitter. If you are a ‘geeky’ Twitter user, check out a ‘grading’ website as a way to review ‘tweeting’ contacts before adding them as friends — see Twitter.Grader.com — or just as an ego boost. Although I don’t spend all that much time running a Twitter application or browser sidebar, I do occasionally “tweet” something like ‘gas mileage’ or ‘fuel prices’ using my Treo and have the one line comment post in my blog’s sidebar. I’ve yet to find a ‘value’ use for this micro-blogging, but continue to do it anyway — although see selective news feeds or following specific reporters as a good way to know what they are posting to their sites. (those of you with your 90+% grades don’t need to flaunt it in my face … I’ve already checked you out!)
🙂
We’ve had pretty busy day and have enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner with our family (my side). We all ate plenty of food and enjoyed an excellent dinner at our house. The turkey was excellent (thanks Bren) and the pie’s excellent (thanks Claire).
While I haven’t been paying attention to the Natalee Holloway story, the FoxNews “On The Record” program with Greta Van Susteren aired an hour long segment Monday night which I told a friend without cable that I would encode. Greta interviewed the twice arrested Joran van der Sloot and I found it hard to believe anything he says … nevertheless, he does reinforce the theory that Natalee was sold into “white slavery.”
One of the current replacement needs in our house is the dishwasher. It still works, but is far from efficient or effective. Like many people I’ve talked too, we spend more time washing the dishes before stacking them in the dishwasher then running the crazy thing with relatively clean dishes in it? (and we’ve done that with the 3 dishwashers we have owned in our lifetime: 1st was a 1970s Kenmore, 2nd a 1990s replacement “plastic shell” Maytag and finally our current 1996 mid-line KitchenAid. There must be a “best” option?
Here’s a short CBS Sunday Morning Tivo-ed video that might offer a glimpse as to what dishwashers should do and how to use them (the one in the video is a top of the line Kenmore, if I’m not mistaken?)
Fuel prices everywhere are dropping to surprising lows as we near the Thanksgiving day holiday. While returning from the Moraine Airpark near Dayton, Ohio this afternoon I was able to fill up with unleaded regular for $1.56/gallon. That’s the lowest price I’ve seen for quite some time. Diesel is also working its way lower, although is still over a dollar higher at most stations. Although I have concerns as to what this signals about our economy (as if we don’t know), it may at least brighten the travel plans for those needing to go “over the river and through the woods this holiday season.”
My trip to the airport Sunday afternoon was to see a recent airplane purchase from an EAA friend. His “new to him” 1970 Cessna 172 looks to be in fair shape. The last electronics/radio update was in 1986, so early on the list of improvements is a new 760 channel transceiver, a couple wedges to stop the nose wheel shimmy and a seat repair (loose slides?). A bit lower on the list would be paint, although that would truly improve the first glance appearance. Long term, because it has been sitting (hangered) for a few years, he’ll have to start a piggy bank for an engine overhaul, but all in all its an excited day for pilots to own their own plane.
Speed Channel will be broadcasting the final episode 2008 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup documentary on Saturday November 22nd. (Cincinnati area Time Warner listing to the right) This hour long broadcast will focus on the entire 2008 season, the drivers and the race versions of the new clean diesel VW Jetta TDIs. These 170hp 2.0L TDI engine sedans race with six speed DSG transmissions and appropriate safety gear and change the perception that diesel cars are slow, boring and stinky. BTW, there will be a street version of the Jetta TDI Cup vehicle avaiable for about $26,995 later this year.
Well restrictive … especially the free version of Animoto.com’s website.
The web based “creative” photo slide show with music application has a short free version, or an annual charge version which permits longer videos. (the free is suppose to be 30 seconds, but the 3 I tried ran a few seconds shorter and really didn’t highlight the photos as well as most of us might want. Nevertheless, give it a try over at Animoto.com.
Considering the economy is weak, Americans when on a shopping spree the day after Thanksgiving this year, in fact retail sales were up about 7.2% over last year, according to the National Retail Federation. They also reported that 172.9 million made purchases from Friday and on through the following Saturday and Sunday. This “first holiday weekend” has often been looked at as the test for retailers as to what sort of holiday season they might have — but history has shown a strong first weekend doesn’t always translate into strong sales though the holiday season.
While spending the day around home, I walked around the neighborhood and noticed one of the 
While I haven’t been paying attention to the 
One of the current replacement needs in our house is the dishwasher. It still works, but is far from efficient or effective. Like many people I’ve talked too, we spend more time washing the dishes before stacking them in the dishwasher then running the crazy thing with relatively clean dishes in it? (and we’ve done that with the 3 dishwashers we have owned in our lifetime: 1st was a 1970s Kenmore, 2nd a 1990s replacement “plastic shell” Maytag and finally our current 1996 mid-line KitchenAid. There must be a “best” option?
That’s the lowest price I’ve seen for quite some time. Diesel is also working its way lower, although is still over a dollar higher at most stations. Although I have concerns as to what this signals about our economy (as if we don’t know), it may at least brighten the travel plans for those needing to go “over the river and through the woods this holiday season.”
This hour long broadcast will focus on the entire 2008 season, the drivers and the race versions of the new clean diesel VW Jetta TDIs. These 170hp 2.0L TDI engine sedans race with six speed DSG transmissions and appropriate safety gear and change the perception that diesel cars are slow, boring and stinky. BTW, there will be a street version of the Jetta TDI Cup vehicle avaiable for about $26,995 later this year.