AtomicMrX

Lately, Apple has been doing some really cool things! They’ve come out with a MacBook which is awesome and I hope to get one next year to replace my current setup (which is very old in computer standards=2001 purchase). Although the MacBook Pro would probably be the better choice for me with it’s 17″ display and auto sensing keyboard back light. As the light in the room dims the light under the keys grows stronger - very cool!

Then there is the fantastic looking 24 hour Apple Store in New York that recently opened up. My friend Alston lives in New York and went to the opening. He sent me some pictures he took going through the store and it is just packed with people! It looks really cool at night all lit up.

An upcoming cool product is a joint adventure with Nike. It is really cool (I would never use it because I am definitely not a runner)! Basically with Nike’s running shoes, Apples iPod Nano, and this little sensor in your shoe soles and it’s accompanying transmitter plugged into your Nano you get a workout trainer and feed back while working out!!! Check out the Nike+ site and watch the advertisement video - it explains it all! Technology is just getting really cool!

I have an extra long weekend ahead. I have Monday off for Memorial Day and a vacation day on Tuesday. I’m calling this a mini vacation to no where. I have absolutely no money so it kind of sucks but I will try to make it a good break from work.

I had the pleasure of going to dinner with my friend Jim. We went to a place in mid town called Mi Mi’s Saigon 39. It is a Vietnamese restaurant and the food is excellent. It had been a while since we had eaten there. Afterwards Jim and I went to the Plaza and had a blended cold drink at Latté Land. I had a Polar Wave and Jim had some pink thing made with bananas and raspberries. Mine had coffee and chocolate in it. So yes they were more like deserts than a cup of joe. We sat there for a couple of hours and talked and people watched. It was a beautiful evening.

Then the cops showed up across the street at a VERY fancy restaurant (appetizers are around $20 or more - type fancy, like I’ve never eaten there fancy). I watched the news later that night and they just mentioned something about a person getting held up either in front of or in the restaurant - I don’t remember.

Here is a picture of Jim and I at Latté Land. I emailed a copy of it to a friend of ours in New York that would go out to dinner with us all the time - Alston. It was kind of a birthday email/card for Alston since his birthday is Monday and he turns 55. Happy Birthday Alston!!!

Click on the picture to see a larger view in another window.

It has turned into a lovely day today. Looks like Shannon should get out there and mow the lawn. I need to get cleaned up and get some groceries and do my laundry today. I cleaned a bunch of strawberries that Shannon’s folks brought up from Bolivar Missouri with them on Friday. I froze two containers of them and then put Splenda on the cut up ones and set that in the fridge to get all nice and sweet.

Unfortunately my Mom had some technical difficulties in viewing the movie. I hope they have been worked out and she got to see it today. I will call and confirm later today.

Happy Mother’s Day!

I made a little movie for Mom on Mother’s Day. I used 16 pictures dating from 1951 through 1979. So it covers the births of my two older brothers and of course Me!. It’s a short little movie so don’t worry about it taking a long time to watch. It’s only a couple of minutes long. The song I used is a bit depressing but I also felt it was appropriate for the movie. Besides Elvis is one of Mom’s favorite singers.

I had a lot of trouble getting the text to show well after the compression but it still gets the feeling across. I made a DVD version on another program but realized there would be no time left to get it to her seeing I finished it late last night. So I started all over in another application so I could make it a Movie rather than a DVD. Let’s just call the first one a practice run. Plus I can mail it to her and she then could have a “hard copy” of the movie. The DVD is much clearer and the pictures obviously larger.

If you would like to see it then you will need the free QuickTime player and to click here.

Enjoy Mother’s Day everyone!

My car has a “check engine” light glaring at me. I thought it could be from not putting the gas cap on correctly but that didn’t seem to solve the problem. So now I will have to make the long trek to the dealership. They are about 15 minutes further south than were I work (which is 25 minutes from where I live). I am not looking forward to this.

I am also taking this as an omen. I don’t get great gas milage with the SUV so maybe I should look for a car. I’ve been checking cars out online. Next I will go and sit in them and see if my bad back can handle the ride. The main reason for the SUV is the “slide right in” from a standing position. With a car I have to bend down to get in and then there is the angle they make car seat which is not as 90 degree as SUV’s seats. My back likes the 90 degree thigh to floor ratio.

All this on top of “low funds” in my old bank account. A very stressful weekend this is turning out to be.

Shannon and I were suppose to go get the fence sections from Home Depot in Independence Friday night but I called them before we went just to make sure they carried the fence in stock and not “special order” like the other locations. Well, guess what, they also carry the fence as “special order” too. So the Lee’s Summit store lied to us (probably just to get us out of their hair). So we are still without the “walls” to our compost box. Now we have to figure out what to do next. Order the fence or build it? It takes 14 days to special order the fence.

Just great! >:|