A conversation between generations...

Percy: "Not a dud in the bunch"

Connor: "Fo shizzle dizzle, dog!"

Rare monkey clan discovered in Portland...

I'm not sure what to make of these creatures... scary, eh?

Excellent Joke...

What's the difference between the Vietnam War and the Iraq War?

George W. Bush had a plan to get out of Vietnam.

Courtesy of Sang and Eugene

Practical solution to end bi-annual clock changing

I just read a proposal at www.standardtime.com that is so logical that I'm sure it will never happen. Why not just leave the Pacific and Central regions on permanent Daylight Savings Time and the Eastern and Mountain on permantent Standard Time? That would leave the US with only two time zones, with a permanent two hour time difference, split in the middle of the country. And, for those of us who live in the Northwest, would leave us with daylight after 4pm in November... ahh...

I signed the petition... now I'll just eagerly wait for "W" to sign it into law...

UPDATE (on May 4, 2010) -- That still didn't happen... but someone recommended this very handy calendar site, useful for calendars, moon calendars, holidays, the world clock and sunrise/sunset times.

BBS Nostalgia

I just ordered the BBS Documentary DVD because in the late 80's, I spent quite a bit of time running a BBS (Bulletin Board Service) on my Apple II+. It was called the Magical Tavern BBS, and my alias was The Spaniard. I ran it out of my bedroom in my parent's house (give me a break, I was 14-15 years old!), and honestly, I loved it. I had sparked my interest in computers when the first TRS-80 was purchased by my middle school (Schuylkill Valley Middle School), I learned BASIC programming -- my first computer was a Texas Instruments TI-99/4A, and I loved it. But, honestly, it didn't hold a candle to the Apple II+. I spent a ton of time on the BBS, chatting, exchanging cracked software, phreaking, etc -- boy, what you could get away with before you turned 18 :)

Anyway, I just ordered the DVD, and it had a cool feature for folks who order before November 14th. That is, the producer is giving folks a chance to include a paragraph on the final DVD (<2,000 characters) to talk about their own BBS experiences. I took advantage of that... heck, with the amount of time I spent on BBS's, and with the impact it had on my future career (6+ years spent at Amazon.com), it was well worth it!

Also, if you were ever into BBS's, also check out his other site, textfiles.com -- awesome stuff.

The Heights of Sickness

Distant view of Mount Rainier, from top of Mount Si

I was feeling ready for a hike today, so my friend Karen and I head off to conquer Mount Si in North Bend, WA. A lot of folks give this hike grief because of the heavy traffic that it gets during summer; that said, you can't discount how difficult it is -- 4 miles up, with 3,200 feet of elevation gain -- brutal! Needless to say, I underdressed... forgot that winter is on the way, and before we reached the top, we were passing light snow spots. It was brisk enough at the top that we spent maybe 10 minutes max, snapped some photos, and then quickly headed back down. By the time we got to the car, I was already starting to feel woozy. By the time I got home, I knew I was in trouble. I spent the next 3-4 days totally knocked out with chills, joint pain and general misery.

Nevertheless, the view was amazing... reminds me of why I love Seattle and Washington!


I really was slipping in this shot... and the fall would have been painful!