I came across this a couple of weeks ago. It’s pretty interesting how big this scale model is of the existing landscape. I’ve seen similar things like this standing upright on boards(?) at one of the AFBs in Phoenix (Williams I think?), but not on this large of a scale. The ones I’ve seen were indeed used as landscape models for the flight simulators.
Chinese black helicopters circle Google Earth | The Register
Becky could not bear the sight of them. The guys I play basketball with were willing to buy themselves a new pair just so I could have their old pair. So it is after 13 years of solid performance and exceptional comfort, I have finally broken down and bought a new pair of basketball shoes.
The old shoes are in the foreground. See that blue area where the pinky toe would be? That’s actually the sole on the inside of the shoe as seen through a large hole in the shoe. Despite their feeble looks, the tread on the bottom was still in great condition. I should have paid to have new tops put on the old treads.
I had forgotten how “fun” trying on different sizes of shoes was. Especially when one foot is half a size larger than the other one and you don’t have any socks with you so you have to wear those hose (which don’t even come close to the 2 pairs of socks you normally wear with your basketball shoes).
But the deed is done. As soon as the new ones came home, Becky made sure the old ones found their way to the garbage outside. I think she’d been looking forward to that day for a long time. Luckily I snapped this picture just before the “retirement”. Anyway, at this rate I’m good until 2019.
Here’s another post for your pre-weekend fun. Some more pictures of the kids/cousins/grandchildren.
About a month ago we finally got around to setting up the kid’s pool that they got from their cousins a while ago. We decided to put it at the beginning of our driveway, mainly because that’s where the sidewalk that comes from our back door ends and it would be easy for the kids to come in and out with their swim suites.
However, our driveway is gravel, sharp gravel. So the first thing we did was clear off the top layer of the sharp stuff. Ashlee even helped. Then we had to lay down a couple of small tarps on top of the cleared out spot (we didn’t want any remaining gravel to puncture the bottom of the pool). Then we put 4-5 bags of sand down on the tarps and spread it out and evened it up in a nice circular shape to fit the pool.
Then it was time for the water (which Nick helped with). And then the summer fun kicked in. Go check out the rest of the pictures in our Pool 2006 album.
What’s the deal with the last picture in the photo album you say? Well, the kids got to use the pool only two or three times. Then, one of those Michigan summer SEVERE thunderstorms hit. You know, the ones with large hail, winds over 60 mph, and “ideal” conditions for a tornado. Well that last picture is what was left of the pool after being pelted for about thirty minutes with 3/8 inch hail pellets. Now we’ve got to figure out what to do with the 4-5 bags of sand spread out under the pool. Maybe we’ll get some more sand and just dig ourselves a beach in the backyard.
PS – The bottom of that pool felt luxurious! I got in once with the kids and you could have taken a nap on the bottom it was so soft, except for all that water you would have been submerged in.
Since the tagline says ramblings from, allow me to ramble some…
As Becky and I were pondering our existence at McDonald’s, not our Earthly existence mind you, just how we ever got ourselves stuck actually having to eat at McDonald’s while our kids were having fun playing (can we say playland, which is the most evil invention ever and how do kids ever find out about playlands in the first place?). Now, on to the story, Becky was reminding me that Ashlee’s initials are A.R.F. Which, if pronounced altogether, sounds similar to a dog’s bark. Which is kind of ironic since her favorite activity to “untrain” Frankie is to run around on all fours barking like a dog so as to get Frankie to run after her barking annoyingly. Obviously, those staples in her head from last winter weren’t too much of a deterrent since that’s how she got hurt doing the very same thing with Stella.
Oh, and one last note about McDonald’s, it’s Pirates of the Caribbean month and we came home (eventually) with a couple of Pirates. AAARRRGGGHHH!
Ramble number two. Even though the actual NBA is becoming a little dry and bland (and that’s coming from a basketball/NBA fan), NBA Jam T.E. is still as fun as I remember it. Nick and I have picked up playing each other in some “friendly” competitions the past few days. Now I need a little help. See, I can block the occasional shot on those rare occasions when my defender is in the right place at the right time. But I can definitely admit that it’s mostly luck. However, everyone’s favorite little video-gamer has apparently found out the secret to blocking shots because he blocks mine EVERY SINGLE TIME I TRY TO DUNK ON HIM! Then he just laughs at me as he dribbles the ball to the upper corner and calmly sinks a three on me. Looks like I’ll have to resort to the Hack-a-Shaq technique to be able to hang unless one of you knows the “secret” to blocking shots. Oh, Chris, you should get this game for your Super NES. Just make sure it’s the Tournament Edition (hence the T.E.).
Well, I’ve done enough procrastinating of homework for one night. I can’t wait for the day I have no assignments or projects due or tests or quizzes coming up. Hey, wait a minute, didn’t I already reach that point once? Go figure. Anyways, I have plenty more posts with pictures and such coming up so visit often.
Why 32 flavors? Because it’s one more than 31, and that means that there are a couple of extra things that have been added lately.
First up is Steve’s section. For those of you who haven’t heard, Stephen wanted a place where he could tell his friends to visit so they could read up on his happenings and such while he’s down South. So I created a section for him called Song of the South. Even though it still says posted by “Stephen”, I’m the one usually posting in his name. I’m basically putting up all his mission emails there and anything else he’d like me to post. Also, we need a tag line to go under the title. So all you creative types out there send me your submissions so all of us (or Stephen) can pick the best one. A link to Stephen’s blog can be found in the Sun Eagle section to the right. Oh yeah, Matt, you might want to create an account for his section as you’ll most likely be the one posting his pictures.
Second up is Matthew, who (if you read this morning’s post), has succumbed to peer pressure and joined the horde of folks, and his friends, over at MySpace. A link to his his space over at MySpace can also be found to the right under the Sun Eagle section. Make sure to check his blog section over there from time to time to catch up on his recent activities. Oh, and Matt, be sure to post here when you’ve added new content on your space so we can go check it out.
Let’s see, what else… Oh, some of you may have also noticed that second mesa is now the default home page for Sun Eagle Clan. That means typing “suneagleclan.com” into a browser’s address bar will take you straight to our blog (second mesa). If you wanted to see the old home page (which hasn’t been updated since I fired up second mesa) you have to type in “suneagleclan.com/oldindex.html“. If you are not automatically taken to second mesa when you first try it, you may need to hit your browser’s refresh button a few times for it to kick in. Oh, and Matt, could you set up the eMac so it’s home page is second mesa so Mom is sure to see it whenever she gets online (if it’s not already). Either that or set a nice second mesa button in the bookmark bar.
Finally, I’ve tripled the amount of space we have on our server for an extremely good price. Suffice it to say that we’ve got tons of space for all the pictures and videos you will all be posting soon. Remember, I think we settled on 10 bucks a year for those of you not at the homestead in CV. I don’t know who has paid and who hasn’t, but if you know you haven’t for this year feel free to send the $ our way. Also, for all the new spouses (and not as new spouses who don’t have an account yet), you can get a suneagleclan.com email account whenever you’d like. All I’d need is an email with a username and password to set it up for you. And since I can’t seem to finish a paragraph without a side note to Matt, uh Matt, could you please say “Happy Birthday!” to Cass from those in MI?
PS – does Melissa finally have internet access at her new diggs? And Matt, oh forget it…
So I just got around to updating the iMac and iBook with Security Update 2006-003 for OS X (10.3.9). And I have found an excellent “side effect” of the update. The update contains fixes and updates to Apple’s WebKit, which is the technology that Safari uses to render web pages. As those of you know who like to use Safari to create posts on our blog (like I do, you can’t beat OS X’s built in spell checker that works in Safari but not Firefox), Panther’s version of Safari didn’t used to display the helpful authoring buttons found just below the Title area when creating a post. Well, as seen by the picture below, those buttons now show up correctly after applying Security Update 2006-003.
So if you are running 10.3.9 and like to use Safari to post to our blog, what are you waiting for? Download and apply the update to see what all those Firefox users have seen for a while now.
! UPDATE – 8 JUL !
Scratch this whole post, I got up this morning and noticed that the buttons weren’t showing up anymore. Oh well, back to the choice for posting, check as you type spell checker (Safari), or buttons (Firefox or Opera, Opera’s latest release is pretty cool if you’d like to try an alternative browser).
I think I remember hearing/learning about everyone’s natural blindspot before, but I’m not sure. Either way, taking the Blindspot Test was pretty surprising to me just to notice that a blindspot exits. When you take the test, start in close to the screen and move away slowly. Also, if you are looking at the dot on the right, you need to cover your right eye. Conversely, if you are looking at the dot on the left, cover your left eye. You can learn more about the whys and how comes as well as finding out how big your blindspot is and where it’s located in your field of vision from the Mapping Your Blindspot article.
By popular demand, I’m finally getting to the story of Frankie. Some of you may remember Stella from last fall. Well, it turned out that she got too big for us. A lot larger than what the pound told us she would get. She was especially too big for Ashlee. So after a few months, we adopted her out to another family. As Michigan’s cold winter months set in, Becky was once again getting the “got to have a puppy” urge. Determined to get the perfect size pup with the perfect temperament for our family (not too docile, not too hyper, and small), Becky spent the winter months researching her perfect puppy.
Having ultimately decided on getting a mini-dachshund, when spring rolled around, Becky spent time on the phone and on the road tracking down our new family pet. So meet Frankie:
He was only 7 weeks old when he came to live with us and he was tiny. Tiny as in he makes Tazzie look like a large cat (Tazzie is very much on the smaller side of average for a 12 year old kitty). And he only took about a week before he stopped crying through the night (note to self, good set of ear plugs). He won’t get much bigger than about 8 pounds. He’s quite a hit with the general public too, as everywhere we take him, everyone wants to pick him up. It’s so bad that we have leave him home sometimes. And he’s the perfect size for Ashlee to play with (although she’s doing her best to undo all the training we’re trying to give him) and small enough that Nick is actually interested in him.
More pictures can be seen at The Frankinator’s first web album. So there you have it. The brief story of Frankie. Enjoy.
On the subject of science and flash based sites, I’ve come across another interesting link that is all about Black Holes. And since I like physics a billion times more than chemistry, I really like this site.
For all those chemists or future chemists among us, I found a cool
periodic table of elements that’s done using Flash. Too bad I can’t stand chemistry.