MORE COMPUTER TEETH GRINDING

The tech was here Friday. he sent me out for a new sound card which I bought Saturday. That's when I discovered the overnight backup of C drive didn't take place. I also found that the D rive wouldn't work at all. I put another in and IT wouldn't work either. The D drive is the CD player/burner.

I called and called through the weekend and yesterday. Today is Tuesday and curiously only after voicemailing a threat to dispute the Visa charge, did I get a return call.

Someone is supposed to be back today - but will have to charge me for the issue of the D drive. I have tried to load the driver to the D drive again but it fails.

LATER THAT SAME DAY.

I managed to fix my D drive. Don't ask what I did - it was try this try that until it worked. We are down to ONE issue - the backups... and the service call should be free. Says me.

I feel exhausted.

COMPUTER MESS

I am sitting in the middle of a mess... discs, sound card, sound card software, scribbled notes, vacuum cleaner, my computer peripherals scattered about with thumb drives, instructions, and a computer that only partly works.

The issues began when the very confusing website template* I bought for a new website, photographerbobwood.com (not up yet), suggested that I needed Netscape. I didn't want it, but dutifully downloaded it - along with all sorts of other junk I ALSO didn't want that apparently travels with it. I decided I didn't like or really need it, and deleted all those files using "remove files" and then searching for and deleting others with the same name. And then running registry mechanic. Lots of rebooting too, along the merry chase.

*their support people have been giving me some help, but also WRONG information, it turns out.

I also found my windows updater wanted to add some or change some files which I agreed to, those being security updates and - what the hell - IE8, supposed to be much better and safer than IE7. I quickly grew to hate IE8, and tried to load it from a thumbdrive the Best Buy GEEK SQUAD loaded for me with IE7, (that didn't work), then roll the computer back to a previous setpoint "when everything worked." It didn't. On any point I tried... 3 or 4 times.

I had lost all Internet browser ability.

I couldn't go online for help, I couldn't reload explorer. I was and am very frustrated, over my head!

I hired a company to send a tech. He was here Friday afternoon for two and a half hours, got me IE7 back - a huge victory - and also attended to removing some programs I could never completely remove. He installed an outboard drive I bought for my photos, and simplified the non-working backup scheme I had for my C drive. He reinstalled Skype and declared my sound card broken. I subsequently went out and bought a new simple card and put it into the computer. But when I went to load the drivers, found that somehow I had lost the D drive entirely.

I had a spare, installed IT but still, no D drive. Which means the sound card issue (and Skype) remain unresolved.

The C drive backup onto the F drive failed completely. Twice.

Backup of my 9000 photos onto my new E drive was incorrect and will have to be undone and redone.

Calls and emails to the tech service remain unanswered - I guess they don't work weekends. I expect a comp. return and more attention.

I've come to realize how very addicted I am to a fully functioning computer.

This story leaves out a lot of futzing - it all blurs now in or under a cloud of frustration. I thought I had gone the full route to getting all in order.

This story is for you, when you are also having the nightmare, so you know you are not alone.

FIREWORKS

Last night we were invited to a home with a really good view of the Lakeway fireworks. Lakeway is a suburb just up the road. Although we can see several to a dozen commercial displays from our home, none are really close. This was close.

The red white and blue lights we first saw were in my rear view mirror from the motorcycle police that pulled me over for making a wrong turn - I missed a road, and, since, nobody was on that road, went down the one-way (wrong-way split just until I could switch over to the correct side.)

The police were busy and polite and since I was the same, knew I was wrong, hadn't been drinking, wasn't argumentative, I was let off with a verbal warning. Nice.

The home had a deck from which I tried my first really serious fireworks photography. I used a 5 second shutter speed. The camera was on a tripod and I set all the settings to manual, then discovered a hidden control that won't allow a really bad picture. Since the lighting was zero to bright, it decided that when I pushed the release, it shouldn't accept my command.

I did find the DammmitDoWhatITellYou control and then it worked, Too bad more of life isn't that way.

It was a great show with many quality aerial bombs. Clearly the state of that art has moved forward since I was a kid.

Here are what I got... I am pleased with my efforts. Happy Belated Fourth of July!

KQV

It seems Roadrunner is down again. Can't be sure. Nothing is coming up as I write this offline. I must be an addict. I get way too bothered by outages.

Today I was contacted by a guy who I've known forever who is writing a book about the Golden Age of Pittsburgh Radio - he asked if I had any pictures (I do.) This then triggered a batch of exchanges and memories. It was a special time in what was then, I believe, the tenth largest market in the USA - after only two years of seasoning I had cracked the big time (albeit overnights, but still...)

The station was owned by ABC Radio, when they had two of the largest Top 40 stations in the country (WABC, NYC; WLS, Chicago) and it wasn't uncommon for good old KQV to serve as a farm team.

I just missed working with Rush Limbaugh, then a disc jockey. Missed by a year or two. He came after I left for a wrong choice in Phoenix. Ah, hindsight.

KQV was larger than life. The HiJinx were all larger than life. The personalities full of personality.

I was offered a chance to be program director of their FM, which was just switching from an automated to live format - this was back when FM was just catching on (1972.) I refused. Three times. MY BIG MISTAKE. The station is still number 1 today (not that I would have known what to do.)

9000+ PICTURES

Yup - on my hard drive. Of course I can't throw any out. Actually, I am slowly working through them, tossing some duplicates, but this must be a packrat disorder.

The solution may be to get another outboard drive and move it all there... where it can be joined by many many more since memory is so cheap!

In the attic we have a LARGE box of picture prints (remember those?) which we never look at - and I have videos over 20 years old I have shot and never watched.

It must be something about wanting to preserve life's moments.

COONAN O'BRIEN

After our varmint saga some posts below, resulting in a quick ride down the highway for Mister Dillo, there was a brief lull where our grass'n'weeds grew normally. Then more digging appeared, like tiny toy archaeologists were looking for artifacts. I reset the trap. First some bait was eaten but whatever ate it got away with Salmon breath. However, this AM brought another trapped digger. Even while in the cage it managed to ruin the grass under it.


Now I know many will see this and go "ooooh, how cute..." but you'd be wrong! This snarling, wretched, spiteful, straight-razor toting beast was quite intent on breaking through the slammer to slash and chew on my white ass.

My research said that you'd have to drive it at least 20 miles away because they can come back and will certainly find your house and seek revenge. (Okay I made up the revenge part, but they can really wreck a house when inside it, and they apparently will try to get inside - a neighbor trapped 2 DOZEN in Florida as they infested his home!)

And they can be rabid.

So, drastic measure time.



I can assure you the circle of life is an unbroken one. Read into this what you will.

"...AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE"

I am mid-worst-cold I can remember. I was taking ZiCam. Which, it was just announced, can permanently disable your sense of smell. They are pulling it off the market. I don't trust easily, and especially mistrust the 'experts.' This is another reason why. I will stop and try to get my $11 back just because I am pissy about this.

TRUST NO ONE. Period. This stinks and I CAN smell the stink.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS' SIDE EFFECTS

My helpful Walgrens prints out a long list of cautions and medicinal 'oh by the ways' which include a long list of possible side effects of whatever I've been prescribed. Frankly (okay, "Bobly") I never read the things until lately. You know - the doc says take this, I trust him or her, I take it.

What I want to know is this: WHY AREN'T THERE ANY GOOD SIDE EFFECTS? I got weakness, anxiety, confusion on one, and that's just the first LINE. I stopped reading that one. Was confused. Thought I had already read it. Then dropped the bottle. Searched the floor for any pills that might have rolled out - wouldn't want the dog to eat one. See what I mean?

Others list stuff I don't even want to consider: explosive colon disorder, barking wildly, hair on elbows, etc.

So it occurs to me (between anxieties from the damn prescription I still take) I've never seen or even heard of a GOOD side effect. Why aren't there good ones? "May cause you to laugh more." "May make you a more pleasant person." "Could help you see through clothes (oh, sorry.)" You get the idea.

I think Big Pharma is missing the boat. Put some great side effects in, and you cure arthritis or whatever PLUS you are a happy camper. THAT would be one popular health care plan. Congress could get behind that.

ZEN BLOGGING

I realize I haven't blogged on this blog for a while. I have several others and I'd like to keep them all juggled, but since I have a nagging feeling that only a very exclusive (read: small) audience checks this out, I don't feel a ton of enthusiasm to write more often. Also, FACEBOOK in many cases seems like ego-static, so I guess that makes a blog an ego-thunderstorm. LOOKITME! LOOKITME!

I miss having that great ego extension of a radio station which I would program. Even though you aren't as necessary as you think you are, it feels like you are, and this emanation is controlled by you. An aside: I once argued with a troublesome talent who claimed I was a control freak. 20 years later I can admit he was correct in that regard. I wanted the station to be perfect. Later I realized that it CAN'T BE PERFECT, that people are who they are and the best you can hope for is THEIR best, and to, well, lighten up.

I think I take things too seriously. I also think I swing to nonsensically. This throws most people. Polar opposites? With icecap melting?

Enough introspection!

It seems the Armadillo I trapped, drove away and released, is back, or his relative is. I have reset the trap and THIS ONE, if I catch it, will get the free ride after I mark its shell with magic marker. If it comes back down the road, makes it back those 7 miles... I might have to use Fedex or Remmington/Winchester to dispatch it upon the third visit.

We have been visited by deer lately - they're always around but two Bambis and Mom have been on our property several times. And Rabbits Galore!

CONAN RULES

I like David Letterman, haven't been a fan of Jay Leno, but don't regularly watch either --- once in a long while to catch an interview maybe. I used to watch more Letterman when it was edgier. Can't stand Paul the too obvious Laughing Stooge. I rather like Craig Ferguson, but just haven't been inspired to record him either. Fallon, not.

I was interested enough to TiVo (mainstream alert - using a noun as a verb!) the first Conan O'Brien show as he took over the Tonight Show.

It was hilarious! WAY WAY better than either Leno or Letterman. I laughed OUT LOUD many times. Many! And so did Terri! That's a miracle. So much so, the Catholic Church wants to take up a collection. Check it out!

"WHAT'S THAT BEEPING?"

...asked Terri, while we were tuning in the news at about 10PM last night. Since it wasn't our usual station, I listened closely to hear if one of the news anchors was beeping. Unsure, I hit pause on TiVo (everything "live" on TiVo is really just freshly recorded) The beeping was faint, but from someplace else. I wandered the downstairs, ear cocked. Not here, not there, getting fainter, now I hear it better.

The bedroom: A beep - really a chirp - was chirping about every ten seconds. That's why the search took time; you could walk by it and it'd chirp 5 seconds later and you'd be rooms away.

I thought I narrowed it down to the air conditioning control, perhaps in need of a new battery? Though it flashed the message: Change filter, I just doubted that they'd wire that to a bird's ass (the chirper).

I consulted our collection of ring binders - when we moved we vowed to be organized ORGANIZED! and have ring binders with every applicable manual or instruction hidden in clear plastic, on the page you cannot find.

But I persisted and located the heat control unit instructional booklet. Ah thought so! Just grab in here and here and pull up and...

I was standing in the bedroom holding the control unit proudly when Terri walked in. I had figured that since the battery was invisible, I'd have to take the plate off the wall. I waved the control unit around and said, I think it's this. Terri went to and pointed at the alarm system and said - it's THIS. She was right.

So after I put the control head back on (turning off AC but not knowing until much later) and searching through the library of important documents we saved, I found the code: *2 would tell me what was wrong! CALL SERVICE was wrong - great. Call service, where I'll bet they'll charge me $50-100 to show up and replace the battery and 'test the system.' Test THIS! Online I ordered the lead-acid IM1240 and will install it myself.

CAPTURED! AND RELEASED.

This is where the trap was set. Catfood bait.


I'll bet the beast weighs maybe 15-20 pounds!



I only hope THIS is the one which has been digging up our lawn and planting beds.

Until now, I can't recall ever seeing one up close. I have seen them occasionally on the roadside, with little Xs where the eyes would be.

The Texas armadillo is about the size of a large cat; its overall length is about 2½ feet, and adults weigh from twelve to seventeen pounds. The shell is really bone.

I drove this big fat one about 7 miles away and released it, somewhere where it hopefully will stay far from here. I let it go and it ran behind a fenced in property, once I shook it out of the trap.

A GREAT LINE

A writer, Whitney Pastorek, wrote this, in her report on American Idol. I think it's such a great line... "while their less-successful former contestant counterparts roamed free, like a wilderness safari of failure."

Whew!

PHANTOM OF THE GARDEN

I suspect strongly the Armadillo that tore up our lawn last fall is back. We also found a big hole (watermellon size) when we redid the beds that parallel the house, with plants, etc (and lots of mulch.) I dragged the CATCH-A-KRITTER-CAGE-OF-HUMANE-TREATMENT out of storage, loaded it with a nice new can of stinky catfood, and placed in the bed next to the gas meter, where the hole was excavated.

And LO! Within a few nights, the trap was tripped, but empty!

I reset it just now. Time will tell, and if time does, there will be photos posted here, but I wouldn't hold your breath. The trap has never worked for us.

SNAKE

Sometimes I am too cautious. It's a side effect of a good imagination - I imagine things going wrong... so when I take our dog out for her final pee in the dark, I always use a flashlight, especially at this time of the year, when snakes are said to be active. You never know.

Last night I swept the concrete with my spotlight, like a guard at a maximum security institution of incarceration. I noticed what appeared to be a branch, which had fallen onto the driveway.

But wait, the branch... was moving. A closer look - a snake! (And scarily, pointed away from the house, as if it lives there or close-by!)

Jessie did her business and I retreated to the house for tools - in this case a pickaxe, which I dropped on its side to immobilize the reptile, while I got the shovel for a beheading.

Yeah yeah, I know, they eat flies or something. I don't care.

Apparently I need a sharper shovel.



I thought it might be a baby copperhead but am not sure. Similar, to be sure.

I took a valium to sleep without snakey dreams as I had some adrenaline to overcome. Woke 45 minutes past my normal wakeup, with no bad dreams. I put the carcass out for the vultures.

UNRELATED

Unrelated, but...

Something bit me on the elbow. Or stung me. Wouldn't you think to get there, the whatever-bug bypassed a lot of good MEAT?

The doctor prescribed me a medicine with the words, "if it works, you'll hurt. That's how you'll know it's working." Gee, that's JUST what I wanted. If it doesn't, he prescribed me a backup. Both the nurse and the doc - at separate times, cited HOUSE, M.D. (And BTW - the last HOUSE episode was, I think, the best to date.)

Terri's car now has a new $2200 what-used-to-be-called carburetor in it. Now it's an "engine-management-control-interface-which-nobody-understands-and-we-can-charge-a-fortune-for". I suspect what it really does is light the "check engine" light.

PECAN STREET - FESTIVAL

That's what Austin's famous 6th street used to be called. The photography social group I joined met up at the fest for pictures. I think I got some good ones and they are below.

THIS EXPLAINS A LOT

CAR SHOPPING - STOPPED

I never did buy a new car.

The very one I wanted - color, engine, accessories, etc., is hard to find. Maybe too popular? There's ONE 2009 with some accessories I don't want plus the ones I do - left anywhere (say the salesman, but I did get that from two dealerships.)

The cars offload at the port of Houston... they store them there until shipped out to the dealers throughout the south and midwest.

I know I lose bargaining power but, if my current car is any model, I'll have this one for ten years or more and want it exactly right.

The 2010s come out in June, or July, or August. Nice specifics, huh?

My car - in remarkably good shape I believe, is only worth $3500 on a trade, which means I have sqeezed about $50,000 out of it so far. I'll try to sell online - it's in good shape... drives well, etc. It could probably go another 100k miles on that engine, and it's been serviced at all intervals - actually - early on each of those. Major service (almost $3000) assures all should continue to work well. No rust. I really LIKE this car, but it's time. Or will be.

The price I got from the dealer was inflated. I am disappointed in them.

I may be forced to go to four or five dealerships (though would prefer local) and let them fight for my business.

I'm wary of brokers because you can't find their hidden agendas or associations.

And the whole car buying expereince has taught me how many BAD sellers there are working in car sales. They communicate poorly and don't listen well.

AUSTIN ART FEST

This guy has the right idea!

5 MINUTES OF JOY

• I promise you'll enjoy this - click these words and turn your speakers up!)

SHOPPING ALONE

There's a supermarket or whatever they are called these days, up the street about a mile. Until now (after - what? 20+ years of marriage) Terri (who still works) has done all or almost all the food shopping. The division of chores has me doing other stuff - pool, yard, cars, etc. Now, finding myself semi-retired, I have agreed to do the "make-up" shopping midweek to pick up the stuff we run out of, etc. To be fair, I must admit it took some prodding.

Today was my first day.

Guys should not shop in stores with other people. We see everything as an obstacle or distraction. We will buy crap we don't need. I eyed the ice-cream cakes with interest. One wasn't on my list. But then I remembered that I almost die on my bike daily to try to lose a little fat so, no ice cream cake. This time. Note to self: there are some aisles I should avoid always!

I figured: go early in the day, avoid crowds.

Yes. No. The store seems to have a restriction - you have to be a young mother with a little toddler either running amok or being held. Nice arms, there, girl! Or you must be a doddering old person, shuffling along at turtle pace. In middle of the traffic. Too bad there aren't turn signals they could leave on.

I must remember not to snarl when someone blocks the milk cooler with their cart.

They've remodeled the store and put things where you wouldn't expect them - Q tips? In the cotton ball aisle? Noooo. Papaya tablets? In the vitamin aisle? Noooo - plus, the new 'health' section (they remodeled and messed everything up!) is a mile from the vitamin section.

I'll get used to it.

But not all of it: the older women are just so friendly and chatty with the checkouts who are either the slowbaggers they wouldn't dare put online in busy times, or hung-over younger folks.

I did crash into another cart - the woman was looking the other way she said and I was distracted by something or someone (some of the young women are lookable.)
No damage. VERY happy it wasn't done with cars! A good smack, though!

Now I begin to have an idea what things COST. And they all cost too much! Seems like everything small is $4.

They put toy junk right at the end of the checkout so little toddlers can slow things down by grabbing an item and trying to guilt-trip mommy into buying the widdle furry troll. These stores are surely designed by cunning bastards!

As a man, I must quickly visit, and conquer. This, this, this, DONE! It goes back to caveman genes: kill food, drag to cave, drop.

They should have a checkout for guys only. Or type As. And why is the 10 item guy standing there with no takers when the sign should change automatically... who says 10? Why not 18 when traffic makes it so?

Organic milk? Yeah. I trust them. Those cows... they watch them.

Strangely, this store has a poor section of cookies! This is ONE area with which I am reasonably familiar - but in the redesign, many went away. They also split up the cookies with crackers in the middle. A cracker can never take the place of a cookie. Are the cracker people trying to fool the Oreo eaters? Don't think so!

Happily, the new food stage wasn't operating at this time of day, so I didn't have to endure the overloud PA system for the Magic of the Wok con gusto.

CAR HIJINX

Jaguar - known for its fast and luxurious mobiles, must have realized, as did I, on my test drive yesterday, that they aren't really THAT fast. The 2010 KF will come with not 300, but 380 (CORRECT!) horses under the swept hood. The 2009s will be forgotten, or at least passed by. Wave goodbye to 4.2 liters and shout hello to 5.0! Or maybe you shout CHEERIO, though the British company is now owned by an Indian Company, TaTa motors (no, not the casino guys - the other ones.) This is possibly a presage of the flip of the earth's magnetic poles, as colonial karma has somehow swept into the auto industry.

If you've followed this thread for a couple posts below, you might be interested to learn that the winner (pending the DEAL) is an Audio A6 3.0T. The T is really an S (Supercharger) but Hooked On Teutonics translates that to a T.

By the way, never ever buy a demo car. I know some people who drive them hard.

Since the dealers are all certified numeric-magicians, they play hide the pea under the three cups of LEASE term and rate, Selling PRICE, and TRADE-IN. Within these three foundations of the deal, you can hide any number and 'tailor' debt to fit any qualified circumstance. The principle is easy to explain: When you have hands in three of your pants pockets simultaneously, then you are easily distracted from what is really going on.

"So what number would you expect..." is a common inquiry to get some idea of how to tailor the other variables to match your fantasy (within reason, and subject to TT&L.) My response, "In this economy, a VERY ATTRACTIVE number!"

We've attempted to thwart this sleight of hand: "You get my car, and cash. Tell me the final final final walk-away cost of that car, this color, with these options."

The salesman promised to get back to me with the number on Monday.

CAR COLORS

It's Notice Car Colors Day as I get closer to the purchase decision.

Here in mid-Texas, there are many many vehicular whites: Ivory, white, Betty white, white wedding, white of eyes, egg white, bright white, piano key white, tusk white, tooth white, pearl white. This is because for the 5 months when it's really hot, you don't want a black car trapping heat and melting your ass off when you sit down. Which doesn't explain why there are so many black cars here - black, licorice, black flake, black as night, crow. Then there are 'almost' colors hidden in the black - hint of blue under black, hint of red under black, etc. They have better names, though - Sapphire Black, Ruby Black, Stealthy Garnet, etc. Color namers are creative folks!

I don't want black. I don't want white.

There are a million variations of silver and grey. Elephant grey. Old Age Grey. Mercury Silver, Liquid Silver, Cloudy Day, Quartz Grey, Silver-grey, Grey's Anatomy, Dirty Grey.

Grey looks dirty.

Maybe grey is smart - you never have to clean your car because it never looks clean.

There are also a batch of metallic goldens - gold, wheat, melange, sundust, etc.

You know who has the most car colors? BENTLEY. I guess all of their work is custom and you sure pay for it. The colors are BEAUTIFUL though.

Saturday is the day I hope to test drive the final three. Lexus has been forced out as the dash is beyond the boundary of what I find acceptable.

Finally you pick the car exterior color and when you get to the interior color... it doesn't come with THAT exterior color.

MORE ADVENTURES IN CAR BUYING

Several; heavy glossy car brochures should arrive today. Apparently (wink wink) none of the marques I am considering have been affected by the GLOBAL RECESSION. Saturday we will do the tour de dealer and hopefully narrow the field. I'd do it on a weekday, but Terri wants to go too.

I have been reading up on car sales tactics and might hire a car broker - they shop the country, have backdoors into dealers, apparently, and for a fee can get just about anything. Or so it is said.

It's amazing how perception changes when you are in the market - I have gone from BLIND to most cars (except the Bentley Continental GT which a neighbor drives - more on that in a sec.) to eyeballing every one, rejecting sameness at every chance and chassis.

A neighbor drives the Bentley - I saw him the other day and perhaps made a fool out of myself: Me: "Hey, Mark, you know that "Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Goods" commandment?" Mark: "Yes?" Me: "It ain't working for me. I have to have a ride in your Bentley!" He was very nice and said just stop by when you see I'm home. If the roles were reversed I think I'd draw the blinds and arrange to be "out" when the pushy neighbor came looking for his ride.

I believe the Bentley comes in more colors than any other car model! Of course the base color is the color of money - lots of it. It's beautiful.

As I have mentioned before. I have only been impressed with one over-the-phone salesman (Jaguar) who attempted to form a relationship. The others are without a clue. Perhaps a clue is only an option on the higher-up-the-chain sellers.

The local frenzy is all about getting rid of the hail damaged cars from a few weeks back - there are great deals on cars that look like golf balls. I don't want one.

NEW CAR DANCING

Terri suggested that with her magic mortgage manipulation, we could see our way toward a new car for me. This took me from "All the other cars are invisible" to "what's THAT?, what's THAT?, what's THAT?"

I like my old Audi quite a bit, and have come to like their new noses. We drove an hour and a half last night to test drive a few.

I COULDN'T FALL IN LOVE. What a head-check! The thing that is just CHEWING on me is the now - ten years later - much cheaper-looking interior. The A6-T really GOES. I like that. That would be a winner - if I could throw a bag over the interior.

LEXUS? BMW? JAGUAR? INFINITY? ACURA? WHAT?

These are major companies with quite a varied web-experience of walking you through their pictures and stories of each model. Often confusing, slow, incomplete - here I am guys - $50K or so IN HAND... someone should step out of the crowd and make it that I'd want to do business with them.

My experience with Audi locally also turned me cooler. The Internet rep said he'd get right back to me, but took my reminder and that came after 3 hours. He never sent the brochure. When we visited, another salesperson offered NO SALESMANSHIP!

Sell benefits, or price, or whatever, but sell - DEAL! Amazing!

UPDATE:

I have now heard from all the contenders as a result of sending them the "sheets of desire" - my term - which indicate this is a HOT LEAD with some specific choices in mind. I told them all I will try to get in for a visit and test drive perhaps next week. The more I think about it, the more I think wait until fall when the 2010s come out. The more I think about the ride in the Audi 3.0T - it kicked ass, the more I want a car that'll do that, even though I struggle with their interior.

As for the Jag XF - I would definitely wait until the 2010 model since it's risky to buy the first try at a new model, which the 2009 IS. I know - we have one in our garage - it's the one that needed the new transmission!

There was a terrible hail storm maybe two weeks ago and since most of the dealers are in the same area where the storm hit hard, they got literally hammered. Many cars have multiple hits all over the hood, roof, trunk - they are being sold deeply discounted, but I don't want one. This IS diverting their attention. One dealer had 450 cars affected. If the windshield broke, the rain got in so they total those - the others, they fix and sell at a price drop after sucking the dents out.

At this point I am thinking Audi, Jag, Lexus and Infinity thoughts. Will a car sell me, or a salesman/woman? Will they deal? Will I wait until fall?

Fall signals a better sense of the economy, gas prices, and brings better deals on 09s and opens up hopefully 'new and improved' 2010 models.

EASTER CANDY

I just got back from the local big food store. I wandered through the Easter candy aisles. Yes, aisles! This year we received sad news from my mother-in-law that the Milk Chocolate Covered Coconut Eggs at her local candy shop have been discontinued. Awk! And so I wandered the aisles. Did I find a suitable replacement? No. In fact, there are NO large eggs, no centerpieces of eggdom for baskets, both build-your-own or pre-assembled. What is this world coming to? The crap they now put into the little eggs! The multicolored peeps!

Crap: along with fillings I never heard of, there are what appear to be colored hard boiled eggs. They come in an egg tray. They contain... confetti! "No, no, Roberto, you don't eat... oh my god! He's gagging - quick - somebody help me!"

The perversion of all perversions: plastic wrapped pre-assembled baskets topped by... a BASKETBALL! I get the final four timing, but come on!!! At least little Roberto can't get his widdle mouth around it.

All the major candy brands are available in little eggs - Butterfingers, for example. And the HERSHEYS company is popping out eggs and kisses by the billions. You can get eggs of... bubblegum! Yuk. Poo.

Even the choco-rabbits seem smaller this year. Is this a response to the economy or just a pricing issue (keep small, charge less, fool people.)

THE SHOUTING WAITRESS

She was a new waitress at the restaurant which is trying hard to establish itself. Business is growing almost daily, said the co-owner. We want them to do well. The food is good, the location convenient.

The girl was afflicted with first night jitters.

She dropped a knife.

She forgot to bring me a knife after taking mine away.

She dropped a fork.

She dropped a plate of butter.

She whacked herself on the wrist by sideswiping a door knob.

She spoke in a semi-shout (and the place wasn't nearly that noisy.) I suspect this was a case of Ipod deafness.

She called us "you guys."

Every response to whatever we said was, "Awesome."

No harm, no foul.

NOSE TO NOSE WITH SOME 'NAAAABORS'

Yes, we are both whiskered. Yes, we both have tiny horns.

BIG GARAGE SALE EVENT

As Terri put it - this is where you can buy all the stuff your grandmother threw out.

It's billed as "World's Largest" or some such piece of antique-hype. It was one section of the convention center. Terri bought a bracelet and purse. I bought nothing.

It's amazing to me how many used boots are for sale. I think it'd be weird to wear someone else's shoes - maybe that's a product of being an only child? They look cool, I give them that.

If the boots are the high point, I snapped a picture of the lowest point, the tables full of cloth. Some were aprons, the rest I couldn't tell you.



The event was maybe half garage sale but really half collector/dealers. Hey, here's antique marbles - 4 for $1. (They didn't look antique to me.) Over there are a couple CD and DVD collections. There's an ashtray made from Cadillac Wheel Covers. Old comic books. Plastic sealed baseball cards. Matchbox cars. Thimbles. Boxes and crates of wood (no relation). Posters. Belt Buckles. Dresses. Model trucks. A reel-to-reel German Magnetophone tape recorder with tape. Guitars. A Cheerleader megaphone. Barbie dolls. Knives. Jewelry. Stamp collections. A pair of deer antlers, mounted. Books. Glassware. A red bowling ball. License plates from 1973.

EASTER CANDY

One of the happier memories of growing up was finding a basket full of candy hidden somewhere in the house Easters when I was very young. Then I got older, got acne, and my mom messed with the content, loading it with WHITE chocolate, sugar free crap and bad tasting junk.

They say smell is a powerful associative memory trigger, and I believe it. I can still imagine the smell of the green plastic Easter "grass" which would become infused with the smell of milk chocolate.

Settled, for me: dark chocolate: too bitter. Yuk, poo. Milk chocolate: just right!

That Easter grass would hide embedded treats for long spells.

Old Easter candy retained its inherent goodness. Some improved with age: Peeps, for instance.

Jelly beans should be spicy. Exemption: licorice. Fruit flavors should be avoided at all costs. Jelly Bellies are not Easter candy. They are perversions created by chemists who can make anything taste like anything. Hey, here's a neat red 5-L-butyloxyanaline!!!

Malted milk works. Half a bag is the gonna-be-sick threshold.

Speckled eggs usually good.

Rabbits should emphatically NOT be hollow.

Large egg should be coconut cream, and ideally not too creamy - gimme the texture of coconut. This is one case where dark chocolate may be permitted, to cut the sweetness of the egg, but I prefer milk choc.

Cadberry (sp?) eggs with cream filling are way too gooey and have a bland taste. Cadberry has a whole range of not-really-traditional Easter egg fillings. Shame!

I still like the colors of the hard boiled eggs, but let's not pretend - if it isn't candy, it has no place in the basket!

Today, in the real world, the Easter Grass will trigger the War On Drugs task force, the economy will only permit one egg, small, FDA inspection-ignored. And the easter Bunny is stranded jobless in Dubai.

BIKING DAY TWO

When you see me in a Spandex shirt, you'll know I feel great about this Biking Thing. Until then, t-shirts.

Fell off once yesterday - well, that's not exactly right. The bike went off the road at a pitch up; I couldn't downshift before I lost all momentum. My shoes were locked in the pedals and slowly, over I went.

Today I powered up the driveway and the first up slope combined with a powered pedalling, lifted the front off the ground quite a bit, and there was no way to keep pedalling. This time I wasn't locked in and could put a foot down.

Amazingly, even having only two hours into this, hills are easier than day 1. The development here has hills that will make legs quiver and any sane person DRIVE. If ever I can get over to the west entrance and back, I will then be indestructable and will star in the next comic book superhero movie.

BIKING BOB

I exercise. But that's all muscle stuff. I need cardio, and I know it. A neighbor is into biking our development, which is large enough with enough hills and lite traffic to make it ideal. Some of the hills, though, are sure killers. (Biking is big locally but all are so thin and young and IN SHAPE)

When we lived in San Diego, oh, 20 years ago, I'd go out for about an hour a day on my ancient bike. I liked it.

In Minneapolis we bought new bikes and went out a few times, but we had to load up the bikes and drive to the lakes and then unload and it was a bit of a production. Here, not working very often, I have the time and place and (we'll see) motivation.

So today I got the bike off the wall and struggled to fill the tires with air - none of our three pumps seemed to fit the tiny eurofricking-nozzle. Finally, after much jiggling, I got air into the tires. Next I will try to find appropriate stuff to wear and try to fit into my biking shoes (yes, we even went that far, and I subsequently fell over, unable to get the shoes unclamped from the pedals - but that was years ago.) Today I was sucking air after fighting with the pumps. Just going down and up our 300 foot long driveway should preview the next adventure.

I definitely have some inertia to overcome.

LEAKEY and VANDERPOOL TEXAS

This past weekend, Terri and I drove about 150 miles to the small town? of just outside VANDERPOOL, and later another 15 miles to LEAKEY Texas. This is west of Austin, closer to San Antonio, but definitely way out in the hill country. And these are SERIOUS hills.



This was another great snapshot of Texas - the gas station that sold bait, ammo, and everything else... with the round table of ranchers sitting around shooting the breeze.

There was a REAL general store - with very big mounted feral pigs on the wall along with other 'trophies' and a 6 foot 6 inch rattlesnake skin. What was especially notable was the width of that snake! It could probably eat a small pig!

The general store had stuff I've only seen many many years ago... and rows of product on very long shelves, but many items only one deep. You could get variety from some specialized candy in a small Toxic Waste Barrel - to a helpful flyswatter, and everything in between.

Much of the area has issues when it rains, then flash floods, as we passed many 'stream' crossings marked by flood height markers. At anywhere beyond a foot of water (and the markers went to 5 feet) you'd best avoid the road.





And the hills were steep - topping about 1400-1700 feet, I believe.

Stars at night were amazing. The sky black, with pinpoints a hundred times what we see here, even though we are 15 miles from Austin, and I thought, out of the light pollution..

We saw Lost Maples State Park and the Frio river.



I saw 9 deer seemingly trying to commit suicide by running back and forth in front of cars and trucks. None were successful.

Upon arrival the temperature was in the 80s and that night (3AM) a cold front blew through which really changed the nature of the stay. Picnicking outside became eating INSIDE. I had our wood fired heater going full blast.

At one point, while Terri and I were entranced by the Willie and Asleep At The Wheel music I had brought along, just sitting, staring at the fireplace with heavy lids, the logs shifted and (as the firebox was set up and off the floor) the shifting log spilled hot coals all over the wooden floor, just missing Jessie The Sleeping Dog! We jumped into action, though there's a pause while you try to figure out how to get these red hot coals off the floor without starting another fire, melting something, or doing more damage. (From marks we saw, this wasn't the first time!) You have to move quickly and in short order we concocted a way to collect these red hots and get them back into the fire. Disaster averted.

PAYPAL RIP-OFF

Last night Terri discovered 9 fraudulent withdrawals from our PayPal account, supplemented by our checking account credit line, totalling over $5000!

Immediate stress. Adrenaline for both of us.

Calls to bank and PayPal.

I spoke to an understanding and helpful reassuring guy on the line from PayPal. He said the money would be restored. He was excellent.

Someone in New Zealand added their address to our account. Someone tried to get a debit card on our account too. I believe all the transactions were in Euros or Pounds, not dollars. While speaking with PayPal it seem there were four more 'withdrawals' since our discovery (based on checking account activity, posted the day before.)

I think we'll be okay, but the whole mess was eye opening and scary and I can't guess how they found us and our password (since changed and much more difficult - I hope!) ... I have twin security programs on our computer.

Trust no one.

OBAMA SPEECH

Just as a follow up, I thought he pretty much pulled it off.

As for the writing, I thought it was pretty good, perhaps a little disjointed in parts, but it ended strong - there was the hope and inspiration if those close-minded obstructionist partisans are penetrable.

Now we'll see what happens.

PS: I am surprised that he got the "we invented cars" wrong. Someone should have known this...?

OBAMA SPEECH

In about 4 hours, President Obama will give an address to congress and the nation. This will be VERY interesting not only for what he says but how he says it. Since you can expect "these are the fixes we've begun" you know he'll sell them to all, just as he will the need for these. But what interests me most is HOW he says it - will you believe? Will the pundits back off even a little? A great PERFORMANCE would help quiet anxieties. He's given good calm speeches before. I doubt very much he'll adopt a new style. Still, this is a time to pull out the Ronald Reagan "Great Communicator Speech Guide." Actually, if you think about it, Clinton was 8 years of terrific speech making. Reagan was great at it. Kennedy too if you want to go back that far. Point is that many alive and watching will have those benchmarks to compare him to - will they feel reassured? This is a big, big deal. Hope is alive. Can the President amplify it?

The ACADEMY AWARDS

FWIW, which is very little: I thought they really tried to breathe some life into this year's show, and succeeded in some ways.

The set was beautiful. I would have loved to have seen all those hanging crystals in person. I like that they moved the audience in closer to the stage. Liked that they didn't cut anyone with music. This is the first year in many I can say I see someone trying to make it better.

Hugh Jackman worked for me. I thought he brought a new zing! to the show. Much better than the usually self-conscious jokesters they have tried.

I liked having the 5 previous winners or nominees cite this year's individuals. The words were sometimes wonderful and not gushy; others seemed poorly written and empty (maybe the stars did their own thing?) Never forgot in every movie, there are WRITERS putting words into the actors' mouths. Some just don't do well by themselves.

Queen Latifah drips class. She has a self-possession and calm which is magnetic.

Loved the montages. A few "WOW"s were voiced by me.

There were better exchanges between presenters. I laughed at Ben Stiller. In fact I laughed several times out loud. The filmed Judd Aptow piece was hilarious. Again I laughed out loud.

Strangely, there were several times when the self-professed "party atmosphere" lagged due to simple indulgent (slow) production - when they'd go to animation for the categories... it halted the flow. The pieces were too long.

The audience watching from home will never ever be huge when the show is bogged down by categories you don't know (though the explanations were neat - I really loved the screenplay part) and people you don't care about thanking lists of names you also never heard of.

So basically, the evening is psychotic, as the industry pimps itself to the public and to itself. If it could come down on the audience side, eliminate the broadcast of the doldrums awards, it could re inflate the ratings.

SEGWAY ADVENTURE

I fell off a skateboard when I was 39, broke my ankle, was hospitalized, had surgery, endured a foot to hip non-weight-bearing cast for 6 weeks, and lost my nerve.

When Terri declared a No Presents zone this Valentine's Day, I suggested we DO something - like take an aerial tour over Austin. When I found those by helicopter, I thought I had the right idea, but they wanted $4-500 for what I'd say was a quickie. Too much.

We had seen Segway tours of people through downtown... people leaning forward gliding along in single file behind a guide. I'd read about these things and wondered what it'd be like.

Terri agreed.

We chose the 2 hour tour which seemed a little more speed-oriented and wasn't the downtown stop at every house and listen to the history of the Guy Who Grew Old There.

I booked the deal Friday, when it was 78 degrees and sunny.

Then I started to believe I'd fall and break my arm. I thought Terri would be okay. This might have to do with the fact that she jumped out of an airplane and I would not do that. Plus I had lingering fear from my last and final skateboard ride.

Saturday dawned cool, cloudy and windy. These three things travel together in Texas.
They probably also stay at the big downtown Holiday Inn, which is where we went, dressed in layers, to Segway. It was 53 degrees.

Stepping on one, held by the instructor, was an immediate moment of instability, trying to 'locate the center' as the guide put it. While the glider didn't want to throw me off, its rapid adjustments caused my over compensations to oscillate for a few seconds. But pretty soon, we had the hang of it, however tenuously, and soon we were in line and amazed as our instructor/guide was riding forward but looking backward, videotaping us all.



We rode through Austin East Side neighborhoods, in what we'll call "transition." Alongside some of the smallest - no, the very smallest homes I've ever seen, are condos, duplexes, 6 plexes (at $650,000 per!) We saw modern homes next to the most run down. We passed two biker groups (gangs?) forming for an evening out. SOCIAL NOTE: It's impossible to look tough rising a dorky Segway, leaning while standing, wearing a bicycle helmet, and in my case, a jacket with BOB in big orange letters on the back. I tried for friendly.

The pit bull was stopped by a metal fence. At another shack, the three German Shepherds seemed too lazy to chase us. I am sure they could have jumped that little fence. Think: tiny house, maybe a 6 x 12 foot 'yard' and 3 German Shepherds.

For almost two hours we glided along. If you haven't seen one of these things, I'll link here, though this ends in a crash. Another one you can search for is Chimp on a Segway. You can get hurt, but I think you have to try. Or be drunk. Or stupid.
Or get hit by a car.

Afterward we discovered that perhaps due to nerves, some muscles were rubbery or sore (maybe from an initial CLENCH?)

For me, I can't see any practicality of owning one, and they will crest a 20 degree hill, but I think our hills here are steeper.

We might return on a warmer day, as veterans of gliding, to take the City Tour.

NEIGHBORHOOD NOISE

I have an excuse. It's the Jackhammering. Only in today's World Of Construction they don't use Jack, they use a long vibrating snout on an earth-moving thing where the claw used to be. Jack only weighs, what? - 250 pounds? This thing can press down with almost the whole weight of the earth-moving thing, like a ballet dancer on a pirouette (try that, spell-check!)

Since I work out of the house, when there's work, which isn't so much these days, I note the construction on the lot right next door, where the builder has decided to deal with drainage issues by digging out all around and now through the rock that is just below dirt here.

The builder is doing two homes at once. Both are white like the model's teeth in the tooth-whitening strips' ad. They are supposed to be one of harmony with nature. The design review committee approved this glaring assault on our rods and cones, perhaps as revenge against sentient life.

These two homes sit, in mid-construction - at the bottom of a longish downhill driveway and slope. Apparently it dawned on the builder that the water will run down the hill. Measures are underway to build a sluice.

Thankfully, I have nothing to record or the microphone would pick up the constant unique and immediately identifiable sound of steel on rock, hydrauliced to pulverize and annoy.

SATELLITES CRASH!

The collision between a US and a Russian satellite over Siberia may have been accidental and the first of its kind, but experts say more crashes will inevitably occur and could have geopolitical consequences. (Luke Baker LONDON) (Reuters)

I don't understand. Here's space - all of space - okay, less than that, due to gravity, but they put these satellites into a pretty darn big place 500 miles over earth and two of them hit each other? How impossible is that?

You get out your Red Ryder BB gun and I'll get mine and at 100 feet we'll see if we can hit each other's BB in flight! I'm not Mister Math Whiz but I would guess, reasonably, that two satellites hitting each other is even harder.

I think it's a sign.

JURY DUTY

I have to report today. From what I understand, this isn't an automatic jury selection - I'll be in a pool of folks from whom they select jurors. Then, tomorrow, it's the courtroom. Unless the parties settle at the last minute.

I don't know how dull this will be compared to the typical tense TV series. I'd love to see an Alan Shore (Boston Legal) performance, but I fear it's a lot more "get everything on the record" drudge rather than brilliance. Of course you never know what the case will be... a Judge Judy piece (my mother-in-law watched it) or one of the hum-drummables.

There's no parking for this. I will leave very early and walk as far as I have to... but if they could make it more inconvenient, I don't see how.

Well,, I left with a lot of time to sprae and found my way and found parking some distance away and found the courthouse and sat with a book waiting. The clerk came out and told us to file into the courtroom where the judge would dismiss us. She said something about there not being as many cases as they thought... It wasn't clear and she didn't speak loudly.

But, we were sent back into the cracks of society with just a whiff of civic duty. Eau de justice? No, it was Parfum de Showing up.

OBAMA NEEDS PERSPECTIVE

I voted for Obama. I desperately want change from the past 8 years' worth of ugly.

My view may be blurred by idealism, cataracts, floaters, and astigmatism. I admit that. I think the new administration is blowing it. Here's why.

In my opinion, the masses don't notice but the peaks and valleys of politic. They DO notice when their wallet is empty, their home foreclosed, their homeland attacked, their job gone. They notice hypocrisy, which is so brightly underlined by news and commentation.

Obama said he represented clean government. No lobbyists in his admin. Then, okay, a few exceptions. Several of his nominees for cabinet have tax problems - bad vetting, obviously.

The public is going, "where's the stimulus package?" and the man simply can't deliver. The Republicans are slowing it down (rightly or wrongly I don't know.) The point is the EXPECTATION has been set up to deliver us. The REALITY is, it ain't happening. Not yet.

Instead, the government pushes back digital TV transition to June. How VERY insignificant. And while it may be important to those upon whom the bungled deal fell apart - they got no converter boxes and the funding ran out - to the other 250 million, they're thinking, "Why are they screwing around with THAT?"

And Obama supporters are asked to hold home meetings to discuss things.

What we need is the appearance of, and effect of, a successful economic recovery plan, passed, and on the books. LEADERSHIP. EFFECTIVE leadership. Results.

Obama needs to show some strong emotion against wall street and their orgy of masturbatory bonuses. More than "it's shameful." It might not be his style and who knows what goes on behind the door out of the public view, but I feel, and so do all of us here at me, that he's losing his luster quickly.

I still believe and want to believe, but a thick crust is forming on my idealism. Surely there must be some smart guys in the administration who can get the job done and read the public properly. These first 100 days aren't being managed properly, in my myopic opinion. It worries me.

GENIUS

My friend blurted it out yesterday. I grabbed it before it left the room. I wrote it down. Here is one of those phrases that smacks of genius on so many levels. It'd make a great country song title, too.

We discussed smoking. He stopped about 10 days ago. "How's it going?" "I'm back smoking. But I bought these super hypnosis tapes and they'll work. I'm going to start..."

and now, the GENIUS LINE:

"I'm gonna Quit 'til I stop."

SUPERBOWL XLIII

I TiVoed the 5 hour pregame. Thank God! I watched the good parts and raced through the rest. I'd give it about 50/50. There were some really good interviews. The 'panel' was good. NBC force fed way too much co-promotion and sponsorship filler. Al Roker was awful. The whole celebrity room whatever was a terrible idea. Maybe it appeals to the lowest low common denominator, but it sucked for me. Bad idea, bad staging, bad host.

Faith Hill is amazingly beautiful. When I met her before her career blossomed, you wouldn't have said anything but nice. Now, it's WOW. She sang as beautifully as she looks.

Jennifer Hudson did what may be the best (other than Ray Charles) Star Spangled banner I've ever heard. And she looked nervous, which endeared her to me even further. Especially after her recent losses, it had to be an emotional whirlwind. She SOARED. THIS WAS A MOMENT OF ABSOLUTE GREATNESS!

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - blew the house apart. I wouldn't have thought it could happen. The best half-time ever? It gets my vote. (And I own not one Springsteen CD, though that could change asap!)

The game was just a bit of a letdown until the end. I rooted for Kurt Warner because of his unlikely story. The Cards killed themselves with penalties. Larry Fitzgerald can FLY! Amazing! I wish he would have had another half dozen passes to him.

Maybe it's me - I felt the whole spectacle other than the halftime show seemed smaller, even on our 60 inch screen in HD. Or maybe the reality of HD makes it all a little too real.

As for the commercials: Godaddy.com obviously moved some males to their site but it was sleazy, I thought. Liked: Hulu with Alec Baldwin. Land Of The Lost. Audi. Careerbuilder.com. Grease Monkeys. Pepsuber. Power of the Crunch: Doritos. Yeah there was cute and great production but in the 30 second end little really reached me. Worst: Ed McMahon.

I'll bet a lot of people will disagree with me.

REPORTING MY TRIFECTA

First of all, let me start by saying I survied the Doctor, Dentist and Car Repair shop posted below. I wish I could add cheaply, but that would be untruthful.

Actually, the doctor visit was more nurse, in that she, a Travelling Phlebotomist (help me, oh mighty spell check!) did most of the doing. And no, I couldn't duck the 'bend over,' though I suppose if I did, it would bring about the same result. Now, somewhere in the Halls of Insurance, there is a statistic wizard searching for the not-so-elusive Holy Disqualification.

The car visit was a waste of two hours. The issue is that Terri's car will AIR CONDITION both passenger and driver, but only HEATS the passenger. The diagnosis was a $600 fix. (My fix is... Spring) I'm real suspicious on this one. Some little valve isn't doing its dance. Maybe Terri, on cold days, could drive from the right seat?

The dentist himself is a great guy. The tooth cleaning girl, not. She's new (why can't dentists keep the same oral hygienists?) and seems just out of school, to me.
She wanted to use the ultrasonic blaster which freaks me out, so I insisted she do the cleaning manually, and I now suspect she doesn't do this often, due to the pain.
The last girl did it with gentle care. This one, as if I were an enemy combatant.
And of course, as fate will allow, I must return in six weeks for another round.
Note that now the Xrays are hi-techified onto a wide screen tv.