My impending move

So yeah, I'm leaving the tall mountains of Colorado and fairly soon. The reason why is simple: my immediate family is in Norman, OK and much as they sounded like they wanted to move over the years it won't be happening. I'll definitely miss Colorado BUT I'll get all my vacation time (which was mostly spent visiting them) back to go see Colorado and all the other places I want to.

Progress so far is such:

* I've found a decent house. It is an old fixer upper (yes yes, I know, I keep saying I'm done with those). Built in 1941 and had the same owner through 2006 when she passed. A family with 5 kids bought it then and their dog did a great job tearing up the yard (which was good for me, I think that people drove by and drove on). It is situated right next to a TALL brick building (a catholic church's rec center) and across from a large open field playground for a middleschool. What does that mean? Low cooling bills and few neighbors ... both good for working from home. And if I keep my butt moving fast I should get the remodelling done this year. I'm quite sure the house will sell for 20% over what I'm paying once fixed up a little so I have a good budget to play with.

* The house is cheap enough that I can afford to pay on both places while my house in Colorado is on the market, so I'm buying -first- and then getting this place on the market.

* I got the loan approved today, pending all the typical appraisal hooplah, so at this point it's just red tape holding up buying ASAP. The family there wants to move as soon as they are able.

I'll be back in the area in a couple weeks for my class reunion (in Wichita, about 3 hours north) but I may cut my time in OKC short that week to have more time during moving week. Not a lot of point of spending a ton of time there when I can't do anything with the house yet.

More to come ...

Social Networking Confusion!

So I think I've found a pattern that will work.

1) I use Ping.fm to post updates. I used Loopt from my iPhone for awhile but it pretty much only updated Facebook and Twitter. Ping.fm is updating EVERYTHING. I do miss the location option from Loopt though (it would allow me to quickly paste my area based on my iPhone location). A Ping.fm app with location services ... hmmm ... should be doable.

2) I linked Facebook to my blog (this) with the Simplaris Blogcaster facebook app. So all my blog posts there should show on Facebook. Meaning anything that isn't a Facebook-specific note (like viral notes) will get posted on my blog not as a Facebook native note (I wish Blogcaster had an option to paste them as FB notes instead of links).

3) I use my blog (aleatorical.blogspot.com) to archive ALL of my posts. This is good because I have a record. It is bad because my status updates are double-posted on Facebook and people never really know when a blog post has extra content. I might change this, not sure. It would be nice if Blogger had a way to post multiple types of notes so that Blogcaster could only show 1 type.

4) I use Facebook pretty regularly. ALL of the other sites (MySpace, Plaxo, blah blah blah) are just shallow mirrors of my status using Ping.fm.

Mortgage qualified ... gave the Sellers the purchase agreement ... think it will close on July 3rd

At the airport again ... This time it's personal! (in a good way)

:yawn:

Moving to Oklahoma? Yep.

Okie doke here's a major update: I'm moving. My residence is currently in Colorado (and has been for 7 years or so). If you're in Oklahoma and wondering why I say I live in Colorado but have Oklahoma listed it is because I'm moving that way ASAP. Looking for rentals now (but hoping I can sell my house quickly so I can just buy one in OK).

Choosing Oklahoma over Colorado? Yeah. Odd choice even for me. But my parents/sister/brother/nephew/niece are in Norman and much as I've tried to talk them out of it over the years they just ain't gonna move. I didn't put down a bunch of roots in Colorado, my parents are starting to have some health problems, I love hanging with my sister and brother (in-law), and I want to watch my nephew and niece grow up. So ... this time the mountains lose the fight :)

I still work for Cisco (who bought the Pure Networks in August 2008) and plan to stay at it. My boss is great and has been very understanding about the move (I have always worked remotely so it really won't impact my job much except for fewer choices of flights when I need to travel).

I do have my backup plan started for when I finally do leave the computer field. If all goes well I've got a pretty good fund going for starting a business in Norman with my brother some day. But for the forseeable future I'm enjoying this job and well ... they pay darned good.

Nederland is a great town, but I WON'T miss 6-7 months of snow and sub-freezing temperatures. I -will- miss not needing an air conditioner.

Choice between living in the best landscape ever seen and living near family ... which to choose? OKC I'm omw. Colorado, I'll visit often!

Caution! Moving walk is nearing it's end. Please watch your step. Thank you!

4+ hours at the airport gives TONS of time to ponder

Just bruised the hell out of my biceps trying to get into my car ... Locked keys in middle of nowhere NM.

Northern NM otw to OKC

Heading from Seattle to Vancouver for a 1hr action-packed demo an then back to Seattle

Testing Ping.fm

Love the Krystal

I found myself in Atlanta this week on a fairly unexpected business trip. Many people would take a business trip as an excuse to grab expensive food. Not me ... or at least not this trip.

I arrived just before midnight on Wednesday night. Got my car. Got the GPS going. Used the iPhone and looked up a Krystal on the way to the hotel. So many Krystals on the interstate are 24 hours that I didn't even ponder this one being closed. But ... yes ... it was. CURSES! Foiled again.

The next day after my business meeting was over you know what I did. Into the GPS I go. So what if it was only 3pm, I had skipped lunch for this!

15 minutes later I'm blissfully "snacking" away on 2 cheese Krystals (no pickles), a Krystal Chik, and (just to REALLY over do it) 2 Double Krystals with cheese (I swear I only ordered 1 ... the woman taking the order "just knew").

Sidebar: I miss the South :( I know alot of people who haven't lived there don't "get" the area ... but you can actually leave a drive-through with a smile just because the person taking your order had a good attitude and sense of humor plus a big smile. You just don't get that other places. I have plenty of -pleasant- experiences with service everywhere, but only in the south is my spirit raised by the attitude most people have.

Heck ... tell me the last time THIS happened to you. I was staring at the traffic on Peachtree and cringing. It was backed up a mile ahead and half a mile behind. So what did I do? I started sorting my bag of amazing little cheeseburgers. I wasn't even looking at the road. Some stranger saw me waiting there, stopped their car (blocking traffic behind them so that I could get out) and waited for me to look up (which was a good 20 seconds, a lifetime in the traffic pattern) so that I could get out. Here in Colorado you might get that if you eyeball all the people in traffic but if you take more than 3 seconds to start moving then you lose your chance. And most other places? You're just gonna be waiting until a traffic light shows you mercy.

Anyway, back to the food! Krystals are one of those foods best enjoyed in 1 manners:

1. While driving
2. While drunk

Needless to say the 2 SHOULD be mutually exclusive. Since I hadn't had a drink in a couple of weeks I did the only thing left: I ate on the road. Where was I going? Nowhere. I had hours to get to to the airport (there is irony in that fact ... since this WAS Atlanta traffic). I didn't even turn on the GPS. I just started munching away and enjoying the traffic. Oh yes, this was like a little homecoming. Too bad I didn't have enough time to digest the meal before getting to the airport later that night (sadly for the person next to me during the 3 hour flight, too, but luckily she was a sleeper).

NOTE TO KRYSTAL MANAGEMENT: PUT A KRYSTAL IN THE ATLANTA AIRPORT PLEASE! I've had fresh Krispy Kreme in the airport in Sydney, Australia ... surely I should be able to get Krystals in the Atlanta airport!

It is funny, since when I first moved to Alabama in 1991 I wouldn't THINK of eating at Krystal. I spent 4 years deftly avoiding Krystal even when when it was so late at night that there were only 2 options (needless to say I ate a lot of Taco Bell in those days). Then ... one day ... I caved. My life was never the same since.

Yes, I know just how low the quality of the meat is. In fact I know first-hand since one time in 2003 my (now ex) wife went to Tennessee to visit her parents and I convinced her to stop at a Krystal and buy a full, uncooked, 20-burger pack of meat and buns and keep it in an iced cooler all the way home. I'm not kidding, that 20-pack of patties had enough fat that, when rendered, filled almost 2 mason jars. I was tempted to make tallow candles but decided people would be a bit too disgusted by the candles smelling like onions and hamburger.

I can't explain it. All I know is this: I'm probably better off with no Krystal available to me (I'd have to drive 600 miles ... and I have been known to go an hour out of my way on roadtrips to get some). But I'm not happier because of it :)

Why I watch even fewer commercials

Ok this is just a little rant posting, nothing serious.

I've been a DVR user for 7 or 8 years now. TiVo for a long time, DirecTV HD DVR for a year now. In that time I pretty much only watched 10% or so of the commercials. Yes, I admit it, I'm one of those people that broadcast TV hates.

Recently I moved my office (I work from home) to my living room. That lets me heat less of my house in the winter and only have 1 room with "loud things" (obviously I'm a bachelor at the moment). As such I have a tendency to leave the news or something similar on in the background throughout the day. Meaning I consume many many more commercials even if I don't actively watch them.

Which leads me to my rant. Why do only SOME commercials seem to be encoding audio in stereo-only? Since I'm using a Dolby PL2 capable receiver (which would convert stereo to a 5 channel output, meaning most sound goes through the center speaker) it is obvious that this is very purposefully done since if it was a "normal" stereo encoding it would go through my center.

This is flat annoying. Stereo sound on these commercials is also significantly louder. And in my case the right stereo speaker is directly over my head. I can bypass it by -forcing- a 5 channel output, but that means the receiver isn't being allowed to adapt to the sound in the best way.

Anyway, I can only assume that they are doing this on purpose as an attention grabber. Especially since they jack the volume up so high as well on these.

The net result?

When these blaster commercials come on I tend to completely turn the system off for an hour or two so I can keep focusing on what I'm doing. Probably better for me anyway.

But surely this isn't what is intended?

Mom's Birthday Party

Mom's birthday party at Bob and Bonnie's in Sierra Vista, Az.

Posting here so family can grab the pictures and so that the guest quartet can access their videos. Click on the pictures below for larger versions and use the Download function to grab the "full" size (1600 wide) pictures for your own albums. Links to the barbershop quartet videos are at the end.

Photos and movies taken with an Olympus Stylus 1010 digital camera. Blog, pictures and videos uploaded with Picasa 3 (need to have accounts on Picasa Web Folders, Blogger and YouTube to do the uploads).


Party table during dinner ... I forgot to get pictures of the cake ... oops


Kids and parents in the living room ... the dining room just wasn't big enough for all


Julia playing with her brother Willow


The barbershop quartet "Watering Hole #3" ... they actually sang first at the party, the pics aren't in chronological order.

There are videos of the quartet singing that I posted on YouTube:

The Java Jive

My Wild Irish Rose

New blog, old posts

Well I've decided to move my occasional and random bloggings again. I've had blogs in a few locations, none with more than 4 or 5 posts. Recently I've started using Facebook alot to connect with old friends but Wall posts aren't the same as blogging at all.

So I'll be trying to find some of my other posts and re-posting them here. That means the continuity of the site will be a bit odd, since this is technically the first posting but there will be posts that show up with earlier dates.

I also post some things on Google Documents, since its easier to write and edit there in some cases, and I can post to this blog by sharing those documents. Pretty handy. Right now I'm just setting things up.

There is no agenda to my blog. I'll post random weirdness that has happened to me, or a good recipe if I've done something worthwhile, etc.

Geoff's simple baked mac&cheese

History

• Rev2: 2008-04-28 - added Variations
• Rev1: 2008-04-17

Ingredients

• 1 box of "premium" macaroni and cheese (like Kraft Deluxe or Velveeta Shells and Cheese ... ie has a pack of soft cheese not powder)
• 2 small or 1 extra large egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2tsp Salt
• 1/2tsp Black Pepper
• 1 cup of shredded cheese (sharp cheddar, colbyjack, whatever sounds good)
• Baking dish just large enough to hold cooked pasta
• Optional: Handful of breadcrumbs (japanese panko works great as does anything else)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Prepare the pasta as per box instructions
3. While pasta is boiling whisk together milk, eggs, cheese packet from box, salt and pepper until cheese packet is well mixed
4. Put 1/2 of the cooked pasta in dish, pour 1/2 of cheese mixture from above over pasta
5. Spread 1/3 of the shredded cheese over dish
6. Remaining pasta and cheese mixture in dish
7. Evenly spread remaining shredded cheese over dish
8. Optional: Evenly sprinkle dish with handful of breadcrumbs
9. Optional: Dash of pepper to taste over dish
10. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes, until cheese is beginning to brown and small air bubbles are rising around the edge
11. Let cool and set for 5-10 minutes

Variations

• Use 1/2 Mozzarella or italian cheese blend along with oregano / italian spices on top
• Rotini works well, especially flavored rotini
• Double the amount of pasta and just add enough cheese to spread across the top

"Describe your day"

[note: this was formerly on my MySpace blog on this same date ... I'm ditching MySpace for reasons mentioned on 3/16/2010 and copied this here]

Someone asked me to tell them what I did today. I was bored and wrote way too much. What do you do when you write too much? Yep, blog it.

And explaining what I did today really -won't- give you any idea of my normal day-to-day life, but its interesting anecdotally.

I woke up 2 hours early to drive to Denver (I live in Nederland) to go to civil court to make sure my deferred judgement for a concealed weapons charge was disposed of as expected. No, I'm not a gun toter, I had a knife in my luggage that I forgot about when I tried to clear DIA security back in March. I spent 30 min in the court that my other 2 appearances were in only to find they'd moved and I was in some other court. They didn't know which address the court was in, only the intersection, so I wandered around until I found the intersection. Then I spent a few more minutes entering random city buildings asking if they had any court rooms. Once there I spent a few minutes sitting to hear "you don't need to be here, case is over" (which is what I was expecting, but didn't want to be a no-show if I DID need to be there).

On the way home (I took the day off work) I somehow timewarped 3 hours between Lowes and Flatirons Mall. Bought a reciprocating saw ("sawzall" clone) so I can tear up another part of my house in a quixotic quest to make it less of a fixer-upper. Went to LensCrafters to exercise my new vision insurance only to find that the difference between their sales price and the insurance discounted price (they don't apply sales to insurance claims) was negligible. And oh my! Glasses have gotten quite expensive. I had Lasik a few years ago and was good with an old pair for a long time. I'm talking $560 after the insurance claim for 1 new frame and 2 pairs of lenses (1 pair of lenses for my old glasses to become sunglasses). I knew I didn't go the cheap route, and I'm not regretting it since I'd rather have good glasses (I don't need them for computer work or restaurant dining with someone, but do if I want to see much past that without blur), but ouch. I went for no-line bifocals (not to add more correction but so that I don't have to take them off to get rid of the correction, like when reading something in the car without over-correcting) so that was a good chunk of the cost.

Had lunch, drove home, and am answering some work emails and working on some data entry. Its my first day out of the office since starting a new job a month ago. I'd been a remote worked for the last 10 years but after just a couple hours working from home this afternoon I'm realizing I -don't- miss it and am wishing I was in the office. I never figured myself to be social enough to notice it before.

And that's my day.

The Perfect Horoscope?

[note: this was formerly on my MySpace blog on this same date ... I'm ditching MySpace for reasons mentioned on 3/16/2010 and copied this here]

So I randomly clicked on my horoscope for today here at MySpace and I got:

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Gemini (May 21 - Jun 20)

You are pulled between your fantasies and the need to handle pressing details involving others. On one hand, your unbounded dreams are important to your well-being by revealing previously unknown possibilities. Stay focused now or little problems may get out of hand. It's better to face the real world today than drift off into the clouds.

That thing should appear every day. Its possibly the most generally-applicable horoscope I've ever seen while remaining accurate.