Posted By RichC on October 5, 2007
We had a great time tonight watching both an excellent high school football game and see my son’s close friend Katie crowned homecoming queen. Congratulations Katie! (and Anthony)
My wife and I enjoyed the game with friends on a warm October evening. Our Lakota East Thunderhawks scored in only two plays after a strong initial runback. By halftime though, Fairfield closed the gap to within one point. Thankfully, after a great halftime show by two excellent marching bands, the Lakota East players buckled down to basics and exploded with a solid ground game and a defense that intercepted several passes. The final score made for a sweet homecoming win of 46 – 20.
Category: Friends, Personal, Photos |
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Tags: friends, homecoming, katie, lakota, taylor
Posted By RichC on October 4, 2007
I took a quick photo out my sunroof as I followed the blimp “Spirit of Goodyear” and its support bus and semi on my drive up to northeastern Ohio this week. We paralleled each other heading north on I-71 and I eventually passed the icon airship on I-76 heading into Akron Ohio. The current Ohio based blimp, which replace the “Spirit of Akron” after a crash 8 years ago, was probably heading home to it hanger east of Akron.
Category: Photos, Travel |
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Tags: akron, blimp, goodyear, ohio
Posted By RichC on October 3, 2007
For those in the U.S. waiting for debatably the best handling diesel to arrive, BMW has recently announced that it will bring its 3.0L twin-turbo diesel engine to the U.S, but did not offer a time frame. (reports have suggested that it could come in late 2008?) This impressive twin-turbo engine is currently available in many of BMW’s European vehicles and was previewed the engine in its 3, 5 and 6-series cars at the 2007 Frankfurt auto show. Although BMW has not announced which models will get the 3.0 liter twin-turbo, it is likely to be the 3 and 5 series. The European 335d is capable of 35 mpg while producing 286 horsepower and 427 lb-ft of torque.
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Posted By RichC on October 3, 2007
An Airbus A380 made a low pass over northern Cincinnati suburbs making a promotional fly over the General Electric Aviation plant in Evendale this morning. The double decker plane which surpassed the Boeing 747 landed at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.
The A380 is the world’s largest passenger plane carrying 520 with a wingspan of a football field. Its GP7200 engines are designed and built by the Engine Alliance, a 50-50 joint venture between Pratt & Whitney and GE Aviation, headquartered in Cincinnati.
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Posted By RichC on October 3, 2007
It has been a rare vehicle that has charmed me the way my 2003 Volkswagen Jetta TDI has … but all good things eventually come to an end; today I sold my car.
I’ve spent the last year trying to solve a sore leg/hip problem that has been aggravated by my regular four hour trips in a small car. It may have had something to do with the firm seats and low seating position, yet after several foam wedge combinations and some NYC taxi cab wooden beads without relief, I have decided to part with my Jetta. It was bitter sweet day since I have never owned a car that pleased me more than this one. I will miss this great little diesel VeeDub. I wish the new owner, Jacob, as may happy miles in his new car as I have enjoyed. I suspect we’ll see him at a GTG someday soon?
Category: Automotive, Biodiesel, Diesel, Volkswagen |
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Tags: 2003, biodiesel, diesel, rich, tdi, vw
Posted By RichC on October 2, 2007
I was discussing cellphones the other day while discussing the new full featured iPhone, Blackberries and Treo lineup and recalled my older Samsung SPH-i500 flip phone. Hmm … it was the one device that I wish would have seen continued development and adoption in the U.S. (the similar SCH-i539 is said to be sold in China?)
Photos taken with Palm Treo 700p
The Samsung i500 was my first Palm OS phone and it offered excellent functionality in a very compact flip phone size. (although I did use a Handspring Visor PDA) The case was aluminum clad (sort of Macbook Pro-ish) and used an optional high-capacity battery which gave it a usable full day of juice.
It had limitations which started with is very small display and offered a dedicated write on Graffiti text entry area. It had limited limited memory, challenging text entry for longer messages and used a ‘wired’ headset or ear bud for hands-free use. There were a few glitches that needed improvement, but all in all there was a lot crammed into a small clam-shell phone.
The SPH-i500 phone didn’t offer bluetooth for handsfree, but did have a infrared data transfer option which worked great with my printer or other Palm devices. The phone didn’t work with the updated Palm OS, offer a camera or SMS messaging — although there was a limited software option. It wasn’t ready for EV-DO higher speed data and didn’t have an SD card slot. The new model, the SPH-i550, which was in the works prior to it not being adopted by my carrier Sprint addressed most of these issues; if it would have been available, I’m sure that I would be using it today.
Category: Cellphone, Technology |
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Tags: handspring, palm, pre, samsung, smartphone, sph-i500
Posted By RichC on October 1, 2007
The stock market had a solid day of gains today with the Dow Jones Industrials up 190+ points and setting a new record, but not all segments were stellar. Hardest hit were the drugstore chains as that segment suffered heavy selling pressure.
Three of the leading companies that I track and trade were down significantly in an overall up day. The move down was lead by Walgreens (WAG) which reported a rare profit decline.
Walgreens fiscal fourth-quarter was released today which reported that net income fell 3.8% – its first earnings drop in nearly 10 years. Immediately the stock dropped and eventually closed down over $7 per share, about 14%. The CEO blamed higher costs and accounting charges, but cited tough year-over-year comparisons on generic-drug sales. According to analysts’ reports, last year, Walgreen reaped big profits as Zocor, Merck & Co.’s (MRK) popular anti-cholesterol drug, hit its stores in generic form in June 2006. “Zocor was by far the biggest generic launch we’ve experienced so far,” Walgreen spokesman Michael Polzin said in an interview.
Concern found its way over to CVS (CVS) and RiteAid (RAD) too, although CVS indicated that their current estimates still looked to be achievable; yet to be seen. RiteAid has been struggling to keep their stock price up and has been down significantly in the past few weeks.
Category: Financial, Misc |
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Tags: drugstore, finance, investing, stock, trading
Posted By RichC on September 30, 2007
The final construction project that will complete the original plans for our home is underway as the masonry crew finished the foundation. We are adding a back porch and outdoor fireplace (left elevation) that replaces an existing deck which houses our hot tub. The new stamped concrete is in place of the 12 year old wood deck and will be large enough to include a stone outdoor fireplace. I’m excited to have foundations in before the fall weather turns sour and look forward to getting the the cement poured and roof started. Stay tuned as I’m sure I’ll post again. (Palm Treo 700p smartphone photos)
Category: Archive, Misc, Personal, Photos |
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Tags: addition, back porch, construction, house, project
Posted By RichC on September 29, 2007
Those ‘sexy’ iPhones are a pretty attractive (and expensive) toys/tools to be hacking, but according to users around the world they have been modified with software to operate with ‘unauthorized carriers’ around the world. (link) In the U.S., AT&T is the only network authorized by Apple … but hacks and other unsupported programs are being used to bypass this restriction. According to several technology blogs, Apple has warned that the iPhone will most likely not function correctly after updates and may even cause “irreparable” damage.” (link) Some say that this is already happening as several users have reported that after a recent update their iPhones they have become “ibricks.” Owners of iPhones be warned since Apple requires purchasers of iPhones to agree to a lengthy contract with AT&T when buying and will not be supporting phones being hack and used with unauthorized carriers. Engadget details the current should or shouldn’t dilemma iPhone users face when deciding to update to the current 1.1.1 firmware.
Category: Apple, Cellphone |
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Tags: hack, virus
Posted By RichC on September 28, 2007
Palm announced their new Sprint based Centro smartphone at the DigitalLife conference in New York City on Thursday. The smaller and more stylish smartphone was announced earlier across the pond, and expected in the states today. The release was semi- expected, although did seem to happen a bit sooner than many Palm Treo users expected. (I sort of expected a 6 month delay?) The Palm blog used the new Centro to MoBlog their post from the floor of the DigitalLife conference with an included photo here.
Features of the Palm Centro include:
– New compact design, Centro is the smallest and lightest Palm phone to date
– $99.99 price point (after discounts and promotions)on Sprint’s Mobile Broadband Network (yes, it’s EvDO)
– Voice, text, IM, email, web, a full-color touch screen and full keyboard
– Available in two colors – ruby red and onyx black.
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