Dave's Blog

NEW WEB SITE!

2010-03-15T20:54:00.002-05:00

After a long wait, the new web site is live.

It only took a short time to make, but getting time on the MacBook was a bit harder.

Trying to decide what the purpose of the site will be, and getting use to the feature set.

The site is hosted on MobileMe and I use Iweb to do the updates.

Great for some stuff, but finding some limitations.

You can visit me at www.WilsonGalaxy.com

2009-03-12T08:14:00.001-05:00

The blog has not been updated in a while.
While blogger is easy, it has too many limitations for what I want it
to do.

I am currently investigating a migration to MobileMe. The Apple
product will allow me to more easily sync email, calendars, and
contacts with my iPhone. It also provides online storage and a photo
repository. Finally I can host my web site and use iWeb to design and
post it as I want it. The key is simplicity, and I have reached a
point where I am willing to pay a marginal fee to obtain it.

As a result of the possible MobileMe migration, this blog may die.
I will keep you updated.

2009-01-14T22:40:00.003-05:00

Been a while since my last post. I have been spending most of my time on Facebook lately. If you know about this site, we are most likely connected there.

We are well into the new year, and the big day will soon be upon us. January 20th! Inauguration Day! The first day of what will hopefully be a bright future.

So, what have I been up to. Well...

- It has been over a month since I had a Mt Dew.

- Now I drink lot of Gatorade and beer.

- My weight is down a little, about 5 lbs.

- My goal is to loose about 40 total. That would be really pushing it.

- Running has been going well.

- The dreaded treadmill has not been so bad.

- I have started to do speed work. I have never done speed work!

- I am contemplating a return to marathons in 2009.

- I have yet to make any resolutions for the new year, and I don't think that I will. I know what I need to do, I just have to apply myself a little more and get it done.

- Dominic (and I) got a Wii for Xmas. What an amazing toy!

If we are not connected on Facebook, let's hook up.

Have a good day!

2008-12-12T11:05:00.002-05:00

Going back to the regular Blogger template today. It is basic, clean, and less of a hassle. Plus, I just like it better.

Had lunch with my mom & dad yesterday. Took them out for his 88th birthday. He was born in 1920. It is amazing to think of the changes that have taken place during his lifetime.

Have the day off, and am just relaxing today.

2008-12-09T15:10:00.000-05:00

This is day number 9 without soda. I decided to give it up for a week
to see if I felt better, and would lose some weight. So far I have
not really missed it.

I think that I will hit the two week mark and then reintroduce it, but
sparingly.

I know that I have not updated this in a while. Mostly been updating
my status on facebook. It tends to go in waves.

2008-11-22T09:43:00.001-05:00

I purchased a Toyota Prius in March to replace my aging Nissan Maxima.
Since then, I have tracked my milage and savings compared to the
maxima and the next most fuel efficient vehicle on my short list, the
Honda Civic.

Prius Miles: 9592
Prius MPG: 50.05
Prius Gas Cost: $681.38

Gas Savings
- 98 Nissan Maxima: $844.03
- 08 Honda Civic: $408.02

Thank you,

David Wilson
Dave@WilsonGalaxy.com

Visit me at http://www.davidfwilson.blogspot.com/

2008-11-22T07:50:00.000-05:00

Winter has come to Ohio!

This made me think of Jake. He would have loved to be out playing in
the snow.

Looks like we might do some sled riding this weekend, but it looks
like my running is going to suffer.

Now I have an excuse to spend the afternoon watching football!

2008-11-21T09:10:00.000-05:00

My Prius key went through the wash last night. This is one of those
new keys that use an RFID chip, rather then an actual key. I was
ready to dish out $100 or more for a new one. But to my surprise, I
tested it this morning and it still works! This may change in the
future, buy itworks now.

Thanks Toyota!

2008-11-14T21:43:00.002-05:00

Picture from my niece's wedding.
Congratulations Jennifer.

2008-11-14T08:43:00.003-05:00

It has been 1 week since I took Jake to the vet and put him down.
Since then we have found out that it was cancer, and not an infection
which was causing his problems.

It was hard at first, but our family is adjusting to life without Jake.

As a way of keeping his memory, you will start to see posts on this
blog which start off "Dear Jake".
Sent from my iPhone!

2008-11-08T10:20:00.000-05:00

We buried Jake in the back yard yesterday.
This was Dominic's first real experience with death. I think that he
is handling it pretty well.
I was surprised that he wanted to help with the burial. He helped dig
the hole, picked out flowers, and level the area.

We are doing better today, but the house is just not the same without
the clicking of his claws on the wood floor.

2008-11-07T14:03:00.001-05:00

Jake

Jan 2000 to Nov 2008

We will miss you.

2008-11-05T20:59:00.001-05:00

2008-11-03T20:17:00.000-05:00

VOTE!!!!!

2008-10-30T18:50:00.001-05:00

Funny video.

If you don't understand, don't worry. It just means that you need to work on your tech IQ.

http://gizmodo.com/5070396/even-chuck-is-too-cool-for-the-zune

2008-10-23T15:49:00.001-05:00

Notre Dame!

2008-10-21T18:24:00.001-05:00

Colin Powell on Meet the Press:

2008-10-18T22:00:00.002-05:00

Big revelation today.
I realized just how prevalent racism still is in our society.

I will preface this by saying that I live in a suburb of Cleveland
which is middle class, blue collar. catholic and white.
I was canvassing for Barak Obama this afternoon, and was amazed by
some of the conversations and reactions.

We all have some level of prejudice in us, it is human nature, but
some of the people I met today have a real hatred and anger inside them.
What I make me angry is that these people will walk into church
tomorrow and pat themselves on the back for being such good people.

It make me wonder what it is like to be black/latino/asian/native
american in our society.

On a positive note, I met Al Bundy at the Obama field office!

2008-10-14T20:57:00.001-05:00

Devo is coming back to Akron!

Friday October 17th

http://www.clubdevo.com/mp/news_pgs/devobama.html

And at a time when the country is facing an economic crisis of historic proportions and soldiers are returning from service to bleak job prospects, DEVO is converging on Akron to channel their energies with a concert called "Duty Now for the Future." All proceeds will benefit the Summit County Democratic Party in their efforts to create a future filled with hope and responsibility by electing Barack Obama as President of the United States.

2008-10-14T09:51:00.001-05:00

Another reason to support Obama.
Technology will move this country forward. We need a president who
understands what technology can do for us.

http://www.techforobama.com/

2008-10-11T08:23:00.002-05:00

Politics of hate. That is what we are once again left with in our presidential campaign.

Four years ago, Bush made you hate the gay community. Defense of marriage was all the rage. This year it is McCain tying Obama to actions that happened when he was 8 years old.

When you are afraid to talk about the issues, you get desperate. Trying to grasp at any straws, you don't talk about what you will do to make the world a better place, but rather what the other will not. Question their integrity. Show how they are different. Breed hate. This is not new, we can find many examples in the history books, but it all come back to boosting your status through ignorance and fear.

This has been in the news lately, and I just read a piece on CNN (I know the liberal media!)

LINK

If you are a McCain supporter, get the facts. Read their plans. Look at what they have done, and their vision for the future.

McCain wants to make this election about seniority/expereince, rater then vision and policies. It is amazing that he even tries to do this while standing next to Palin.

2008-10-05T09:35:00.004-05:00

Manny being Manny!

I guess that means that the Cubs curse is still in tact, as they celebrate 100 years without a championship. I know that there are a lot of teams that have never even made it to a world series, but we all know that the Cubs are special.

I am a Pirates fan, and it has been 16 years since we had a winning season. We had Barry (pre-riod) Bonds, Andy VanSlyke, Jose Lind, and Bobby Bonilla led by Jim Leyland.
It was a great team and a great time to be a Pirate fan. Sure we had a crappy stadium in those days, but we were winning!
Then the decision was made to cut the payroll. Sell off the talent, and bring in aging veterans.

This year I started to shop for a new team. Ironically the Cubs and Dodgers were at the top of the list. This is just another data point in that decision making process.
I will always be a Pirates fan, but I may have to move on.

2008-10-04T09:09:00.002-05:00

I don't often watch Letterman, but last night was the exception.
He spent a good amount of time ripping into McCain/Palin. He was going for blood with his comments,and his dissatisfaction with what Mccain did last week really shows.
The sad thing is that people will say that he was being mean, but his talking points were really very valid.
You have to question the judgement of a man who would make such a poor choice in his running mate. A choice which was only about trying to steal the disaffected female vote/Hillary supporters.
I have no problem with a woman in the White House. I would have vote for Hillary in a second because Hillary is qualified, Palin is not in the same league, not even close..

Watch the clip, you decide:
http://beltwayblips.com/video/david_letterman_brian_williams_1of2_oct_3rd_2008/

Thank you,

David Wilson
Dave@WilsonGalaxy.com

2008-09-26T23:24:00.002-05:00

Just watched the debate and the talking heads. First results show that Obama won the debate and did good in two important areas, women and older people.

I agree with much of the analysis that McCain needed to win this debate. This was foreign policy, his strongest area, his chance to show how good he was. What it showed is that people can be comfortable with Obama, that we need a new approach to gain credibility in teh world and bring America back. McCain especially needed a big win considering the performance of his running mate.

Speaking of this VP choice, did you see any of the interview with Katie Couric? OMG!! This is who McCain chose! (LINK) Did you watch the foreign policy clip! She is so bad that conservatives are starting to call for her to step down. (LINK) If this is what they have to offer, it is pretty sad. Poorly delivered sound bites and an obvious lack of understanding. She make Bush look like an intellectual!

This is where the gap starts to widen.

2008-09-23T22:41:00.003-05:00

Had a great Daddy/Dominic evening!

We practiced baseball, and Dominic's swing has really improved. At one point he looked back and realized that none of the pitches had gotten past him. He had made contact with every pitch, which made him really proud.

Once he had that extra bit of confidence, he began to swing a bit harder/freer. Then he started to put a little charge into the ball.

Song of the Day:

"Lithium" by Nirvana

2008-09-21T13:29:00.002-05:00

Having a good time at the Tremont Art Festival!

Posted via my iPhone!

2008-09-18T19:40:00.002-05:00

Sitting in the repair shop waiting for my car. Just got it back and the check engine light came on. I love this car but it will never be the same.

Just listening to political coverage on CNN. I am still amazed that people would vote for McCain. Sure the religious right will jump on that train, but why do people vote against their own self interest.

I have not seen a single positive add from McCain. Tell me what you will do for me! The answer is not much! Old policies, and old ideas is not what we need.

Posted from my iPhone!

2008-09-13T11:47:00.002-05:00

My baby is home! After driving another car for two weeks, I really appreciate my Prius.

As you can see, it is a wet day in NE Ohio. I bet that OSU wishes that the game was in Columbus tonight. They need something to slow down USC.

Picture and post via iPhone!

2008-09-13T10:56:00.001-05:00

Waiting to pick up my Prius! I can't wait to have it back.
Dave
Dave@WilsonGalaxy.com

Sent from my iPhone!

2008-09-03T21:33:00.004-05:00

Just watching the Republican convention. What idiots. The crowd was chanting 'drill baby drill'. Their answer for is to wait 10 years to get oil out of the ground. Forget about changing our economy and energy policy and continue the stupid policies of the past.

They denied climate change, but yet we are on the brink of a liquid north pole. They talk about personal choice, except when it come to women controlling their bodies. They push abstinence in place of education.

Their promise. Rich get richer. Middle class squeezed even more. Billions wasted on a pointless war. Destruction of our environment, and more animals sent toward extinction in the name of a quick buck.

I just don;t understand the hate and shortsighted nature of their thought process, but I am sure they find a way to justify their decisions to fit with their "morality".

2008-08-31T13:51:00.003-05:00

Did you see Obama on Thursday night? What a great speech.

Will he be able to accomplish everything that he is setting out to do, no way. The agenda will get sidetracked by the events of the day and a lot of petty partisan politics, but he obviously has a vision. Something that McCain is lacking.

You can watch his speech here: LINK

Speaking of McCain, what an insult to women with his VP pick. Trying to get Hillary supporters by picking a woman, excuse me, but Hillary was qualified to lead this country. How could a 72 year old man be so reckless in his pick!

On to personal stuff.

The iPhone experiment is working wonderfully. The device is simple and easy to use. The applications are awesome. The only thing that may compete with it is Googles Android, but the carriers will find a way to screw that up.

I will turn 41 tomorrow. Although I sometimes think that I am still 25, my joints bring me back to reality. Overall, life is good. I have a wonderful family, and a good job. I just wish that I could drop a few pounds.

I should get my Prius back on Thursday or Friday. My anger at the person who hit me is gone, but I am sad that my car will never be the same. The latest estimate is $3500 in damage! Ouch!

I have an extensive music collection. I start iTunes and let it randomly run through the collection. Sometime I wonder why I have a song/artist. I just had Wings followed by Air Supply. Why do I have this shit!

Song of the Day (just so you get it in your head)

"Making Love Out Of Nothing At All" by Air Supply

2008-08-25T15:23:00.001-05:00

Picture of my buddy. A gift from the white elephant gift exchange
last Xmas.

2008-08-24T21:13:00.001-05:00

My wife gets an iPhone!

2008-08-24T10:17:00.002-05:00

Sunday Morning.
Trying a new way to make these posts, which should make it easier for me to make updates. Now I can just make a post via email!
That will make it easy when I am out and about. I can take a picture with the iPhone and post it on the site within minutes.

Had an OK run this morning. First runs since the accident this morning. Not that great.
I think that I need to pay a visit to Lisa (massage therapist) and see if she can get the kinks out.
It will be my first visit since she got married.

Dominic & Ricky @ Huntington Beach

2008-08-23T21:18:00.002-05:00

WOW! Two posts in a single day!

I decided to make a change to the layout and colors on the site. Just something to do this evening. Hope you like it.

2008-08-23T15:02:00.005-05:00

Well, it has been pretty busy since the last post.

Dominic's Birthday

The multi-week celebration of Dominic's 5th birthday has come to an end. We had:

1) Kid party at a bounce around place 2) Pool party at Nana's 3) The actual BDay (kid park and lake with a friend) 4) Party at Grandma's 5) Idlewild Trip 6) 5 days with Aunt Kathy 7) Cedar Point trip 8) Sleepover with the cousins. It was a great time, but now we have to re-adjust to our normal schedules and routine.

iPhone!

Our Verizon contract ended on 8/15. On 8/16 we got iPhones! What a sweet day it was.

I was a bit of an ass with the Verizon guys as I gave them 30 minute to talk me out of the move. They just reinforced my decision. Sure, I had a bit of buyers remorse, but it lasted for about a day. Now I cannot imagine life without it.

Prius Accident

On Tuesday, my 5 month old Prius was hit when someone ran a red light. Everything is being taken care of, but there was a scare that the driver did not have insurance. I wish that they would call up and take responsibility. Say that you are sorry. Give me a restaurant gift card for screwing up 3 weeks of my life.

Dominic and Christina are not feeling well today, so it doesn't look like I will get too much done this weekend. This did give me time to create a few ringtones (yes, with a Mac and and iPhone you can create you own ringtones!) and make this post.

Hopefully my next post will be made from the iPhone.

Song of the Day:

"Flagpole Sitta" by Harvey Danger

Really cool lip sync video to the song

2008-07-28T15:24:00.002-05:00

Lets put the fear into the American public. Lets talk about those tax and spend liberals! They will destroy the economy! Just don't point out what a republican president and for 6 of the 8 years, a republican congress have done:

LINK

For clarity, I am not a republican nor a democrat. I am an independent who is socially liberal and fiscally conservative. I am just not stupid enough to think that the republicans care. At a national level they preach fear, hate, and intolerance on social and economic issues. If you voted for Bush or are thinking of voting for McCain (all you pro-life drones) you are partly responsible for what has happened. Thanks.

Have a good day everyone!

2008-06-28T00:50:00.002-05:00

Up late tonight. I had a headache and took a little nap after work. When that happens, I am usually up until 3 or 4. This sucks as I will need to get up at 7:30 and go for a run to make the Saturday schedule work. We have a birthday and an open house tomorrow in addition to the normal running around and projects.

I have used the time tonight to get more scanning out of the way. If I only had started using the scanner religiously a few years ago, but the workflow is just so much better on the Mac. I know that was a backhanded swipe at MS, and on Bill's last day to boot. Bill Gates is a true visionary. He has had some failures along the way, but he has had many more successes. I wish him well, and truly respect his decision to use his wealth to make the world a better place.

As for MS, it will continue to dominate the corporate landscape for some time, but now that it is run by bean counters (Steve Balmer) the future does not look so bright. Mac will continue to grow in the home user market, and make inroads into the corporate environment, but there is the question about the future of Apple after Steve.

Ok that is way too serious, so onto the fun stuff. My son got married this week!! Dominic has three girlfriends at pre-school (he is turning 5 this summer) and married Sasha on Thursday. The report is that they even kissed. I am sure that her father is so proud (ha ha). I am soooo happy to have a boy!

Song of the day:

"A Foggy Day" by Frank Sinatra

I am actually listening to the duet with Willie Nelson (Duets II), what a combo! The best songs are the duets with Bono (I've Got You Under My Skin) and Tony Bennett (New York, New York).

2008-06-26T21:41:00.003-05:00

Filled up the Prius today for $35.40! I averaged 53.4 mpg for the last tank!

Our neighbors moved back from Oregon over the weekend. It is nice to have Jan, Petra, and the girls back in town. Dominic can't wait to get home and play with them.

It has been a wet evening, so I am just trying to take care of bills and clean off the desk. It seems that this stuff is just harder to get to in the summer. You don't want to waste the time sitting inside, so bills and magazines start to pile up.

Picked up the new albums (I sound so old) from Coldplay and Moby. I like a few tracks on the Coldplay. Moby has grown on me a little more, but then again I am a big Moby fan.

Song of the Day

"257.Zero" by Moby

2008-06-11T21:50:00.005-05:00

Lot of stuff over the past few days.

Sunday was very hot, and if you know me, you know how much I just love the heat. So after spending some time at a local art festival, we headed out to the in-laws to do a little swimming. Dominic did great! He swam across the pool, and went off the diving board. He and Adam (Dominic's cousin) had a great time.

Last night we had tickets to see the tribe take on the Twins. It was Dominic's first baseball game! We had great seats and a pretty good game, on top of that, it was $1 dog night!

Other things of interest:

* Obama will be the nominee!

* iPhone 3G announced! We get to leave Verizon on August 16th. At least we will miss the mad rush, I just hope that they will be in stock.

* Arie Flisher continues to give insight on the stupidity of the Bush administration

Hope you had a good day!

Song of the Day

"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day

2008-06-04T20:33:00.003-05:00

Just spending some time tonight trying to clean off the desk and empty my inbox. It is amazing how much junk email comes in each day!

We had a team event at work today which allowed me to get home early and go for a run. It was only 3 miles, but it felt pretty good. Tomorrow is going to be a pretty bad day, they are calling for hot and humid. Looks like I might end up on the treadmill tomorrow. I am feeling more confident in getting back into running as my knee is starting to feel better and stronger. I guess it is something that I will need to monitor and adjust to.

We spent last weekend in Pittsburgh for Adam's (my nephew) graduation. It was nice to see everyone, but the time seems to go so fast at those events.

Song of the Day:

"Out Of Control" by The Chemical Brothers

2008-05-27T21:21:00.004-05:00

People had mentioned that my milage would increase when the weather got warmer. They were right!! We got 57mpg driving out to my in-lawns yesterday. I had a little lead foot on the way home which dropped me down to 54 for this tank, still not too shabby!

I know it is not much, but I just wanted to get something out tonight. I have to get in the habit of updating the blog.

Song of the Day

"Hard Sun" by Eddie Vedder

2008-05-22T20:28:00.007-05:00

It has been over a month since my last post. I can promise to do better, but there is little chance of that happening, so just check back every now and again. The last time I made a post, I had long hair! Speaking of that, there is something at the end of this post.....

The Prius is great. Sure there are some trade-offs, but getting 50 mpg is worth it. The other day I was pissed that it took a little over $30 to fill up from empty. The guy in the SUV across from me was not amused.

The iMac is still one of the best decisions that I have ever made. The machine is great, and to date I have only spent only $40 on software. Switch if you can people, Windows is dead!!

Mark the date people. On June 9th, Steve Jobs will be giving the WWDC keynote. NEW iPhone!! We will be ditching Verizon in August!!

My old tenants filed Chapter 13, and I submitted the paperwork to collect on the outstanding judgement. At some point I will get the money that is owed, and this will pay for my new 46" LCD!

Speaking of new TV, I have to pick one up to match up with the AppleTV. Great product but you need HDMI or component inputs. You only get B&W using composite video.

The artwork that I had mentioned was a 1978 picture of Debbie Harry. It was taken by Janet Macoska, who has a number of classic rock images and items hanging in the Rock Hall. I picked it up at a fundraising event for PPNEO (Planned Parenthood of NE Ohio). My wife was on the board which organized the event, and they did a wonderful job. They were able to raise a lot of money for a great organization.

We had the chance to attend a lecture by Cameron Sinclair last night. Just Google the guy and his organization (Architecture for Humanity). Watch the TED lecture. This guy is very inspirational.

Here is that little something that I mentioned earlier, a little video that I shot prior to getting my hair cut off. In some ways I really miss it.

One last thing....

Happy BDay Jennifer!

Song of the Day

"Down By The Water" by PJ Harvey

2008-04-06T13:10:00.005-05:00

A lot has happened in the past week! I purchased a new car, resolved my ongoing iMac issue, picked up a wonderful item at an art auction, and started the process to collect a debt from an old judgement.

First, the car! I finally traded in my 1998 Nissan Maxima. The car had served me well for a number of years and 110,000 miles (145k total). It was sad to move on, but I am happy to move on to a Toyota Prius and its amazing 48mpg. From what others have told me, I should see better milage in the warmer summer months. That will be welcome as gas prices continue to climb.

I spent a lot of time looking into my options, and came to the conclusion that this is best of breed, least impact to the environment, financially sound, and my best option at this point in time. I know that the technology will be surpassed in the next 2 years as Li batteries deliver more power and better performance, but I need the car now.

The car has a lot of cool tech, and was easy to adjust to. It has changed my driving habits a bit as I drive to maximize milage vs minimize time. More to come on the Prius, and my other news.

2008-03-24T20:53:00.002-05:00

My original timeline had the Mac migration lasting 2 to 3 months. During this time I would have both systems side by side as I migrated data and learned the ins and outs of OSX. I guess that my timeline is a little off. After 10 days, I only have one program (Microsoft Money) that runs on the PC, and that one will soon be replaced.

To date, this is everything that I have added to the iMac:

1) 750GB External HD ($155 Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus from Circuit City)

2) 4GB Memory Upgrade ($100 from Crucial.com)

3) NeoOffice (Free download from NeoOffice.org, but please make a donation)

4) Data migration

What I will be adding:

1) MoneyDance (Personal Finance)

2) iWork (Apple office suite)

3) Aperture (Advanced Photography)

4) PhotoShop Elements or Pixelmator (Image Editor)

That is it! I am sure that there will be more, but this will cover everything that I need to do!

This is one decision that I do not regret. My only regret is not making the move much earlier.

If you are in the market for a new machine, just try a Mac. I have no doubt that you will be impressed the their offerings, and operating system. Like they say, it just works.

Song of the Day (what is paying right now):

"Everyday Everything" by 16 Volt

2008-03-11T20:39:00.003-05:00

iMac #3 will be on it's way soon. After 2 DOA's, my confidence has been shaken and I started to get a bit negative about the experience. That is easy to do. I can stay negative or just get over it and move on.

I sat down, tried to take away the emotion and looked at my requirements for the new machine. It will have to support the usual email, web,and financial tasks. More importantly, it must address my primary interests of photography, music, and video.

After playing with Vista, I had no interest in going back to Windows. I will use iTunes for music on either system, but the Windows products for photography and video are pain to use. I don't use them now. Adobe Premier and Photoshop are too complicated. Windows Movie Maker is crap. In the short time I had the Mac, I have been amazed by iMovie and iDVD. Windows has nothing to compare with them.

The Mac is not perfect. Limited expansion will be a pain and result in me having to make some choices. I tend to watch TV on my PC, so the lack of a tuner card will take some getting use to. The availability of software will be something else to adjust to, but it might be more of a quality vs quantity issue.

This quickly put me back into the iMac as the machine of choice. I need a handful of software titles. Aperture for photography. Photoshop Elements for imaging. Quicken for finance. iWork for productivity.

After thinking about it, there is really only one option moving forward. I had a bad experience. Apple is working to resolve it. I will have a new iMac overnighted. So, get over it and move on.

I am back to being psyched about this again. The third time will be a charm.
I guess Karma just had to test me a little.

2008-03-09T12:42:00.004-05:00

The weekend started great! New iMac came on Friday and I spent the entire night playing with it. I couldn't even sleep that night. I was up at 5 am Saturday morning to play more!

A big storm moved in on Friday afternoon, so a morning run was pretty much out of the question. I would run if it were a couple of inches, but we had drifts well over a foot by Saturday morning, and there was no sign of it stopping any time soon.

Great, I can play more! Maybe even get everything migrated from my PC! It took most of the morning, but I was able to migrate all of our email and contacts over thanks to Yahoo! Microsoft, in their infinite stupidity will only let you make 1 vcard at a time, most likely o limit your ability to migrate! Yahoo! made it pretty simple to migrate the contact list, and I was on my way to the next task, my first video blog!

That is when it happened. iMac DOA #2. The microphone on this one is dead.

We will see what happens this week, but what was to be a great migration to Mac has started to turn to utter frustration. I need a new computer. I do not want Vista (who does?), and my confidence in the Mac is falling fast. I will give it a couple of days before I make a decision.

I know that I will end up with the iMac. It is what I want. I have used iMovie, and it works great. The same with iDVD. iPhoto is very basic, but I know the power of Aperture. I just need to get rid of the doubt.

My wife sees the difference. I am not the geek running into the Apple store. I am a lot more resigned and sad when I talk about the Mac, not to mention the fact that I have lost a lot of time over the past 2 weeks trying to get this to work.

Stay tuned, next weekend we will most likely have iMac #3 to play with.

Song of the Day:

Think of something depressing. That is how I feel.

2008-03-07T22:18:00.004-05:00

My first post with my new iMac!!

I was getting worried as the delivery was scheduled for the same day a big winter storm hit. It was to be delivered to my wife's work, but they decided to close early, resulting in a flurry of voicemail's. Luckily the FedEx guy came as she was leaving the building, but it would be another 4 hour until I was able to get home.

I have been getting use to the new system and I must say that it is pretty cool. My only regret is not making the switch earlier. This is an amazing machine, and I recommend moving to this platform for any home user, particularly if you do music/photo/video work.

As it looks like we will be snowed in most of the is weekend, I will have plenty of time to play with it. I will continue to post updates on my switch over the next few weeks.

2008-03-02T14:32:00.002-05:00

Well, what was going to be the great switch weekend has turned into a bust. The iMac arrived on schedule, but the experience with the refurb was less then optimal. I am waiting on a call tag so that it can go back to Apple. I waited so long for this weekend, and the disappointment was crushing. We will see what happens over the next few days as I work with Apple to rectify the situation.

Since I had the weekend planned to do computer stuff, I just switched over to tax mode and got the federal return taken care of. The amount of our refund was a nice surprise, and we should see another rebate coming in May!

The family took a winter hike today. Head on over to the flickr link to check out some shots. They should be up later today.

Song of the Day
"You Are My Sunshine" by Johnny Cash
(I know it sounds strange, but I like it.)

2008-02-22T23:47:00.007-05:00

It is official!! I have finally gotten off the fence and purchased my iMac!!
24" iMac
I have been talking about this day for at least the past two years. I always found a reason to push off the purchase...first it was the Intel migration...then we had the Aluminum upgrade in August...the the release of Leopard in October...then Mac World in January...most recently I have been holding off for a stupid processor (Penryn) refresh. I could have had the same exact machine months ago!

It will be a love\hate thing for my wife. On the plus side, I will finally stop talking about getting a Mac. On the down side I will not shut up about how cool it is, and she will have to learn the new system.

The cheaper side of Dave came out as part of this experience as I did go for a refurb to save $300. That savings will go into purchasing 1TB of external storage!! I am such a geek.

Well, i guess that all i can do now is wait.

Song of the Day
"Drive" by R.E.M.

2008-02-02T11:29:00.001-05:00

The path was covered with a thin layer of ice this morning, which made the run difficult, but I was still able to put in 4 miles. The sad note was that a big old tree had bee cut down next to the path. It was old and presented some danger (a large section of th trunk had rotted away), but it was still beautiful. The picture below was taken on a run a few weeks ago. I will miss the tree.

I have added a new section (look to the right) of groups that I support. After looking at the list, you can pretty much figure out who I don't support! This section will continue to grow in the next few weeks.

Today is a big day for me. After two years of wishing and whining, I will finally leave the PC world behind (I will still have my piece of crap HP laptop from work!) and move to a Mac! It wont be long until there are visio posts on YouTube!

Hope that you are having a good weekend.

Song of the Day:
"Thank You" by Dido

2008-01-27T16:11:00.003-05:00

Having a great weekend, too bad it will end soon. Check out pictures from the sledding hill on the flickr link (set 2008.01.26). Dominic had a great time yesterday, and we went back for more today.

This will hopefully be one of the last posts from my PC. Pretty soon we should have our new 24" iMac!! Now I just need my Apple stock (AAPL) to shoot back up to the $200.00 range. Lesson learned, don't get too greedy!

Song of the Day:
"The Metro" by Berlin (I love this song!)

2007-07-08T20:01:00.000-05:00

My wife completed her first week at work, and we are slowly adjusting to the new time constrains. Christina loves her new job. This is a great opportunity for her, and should serve her well in the future. Dominic adjusted pretty well to a full week of pre-school. Goddard is a great place, but it is hard to take him there every day.

Running is going well. I did 4.5 on Saturday and 3 today. I would have gone father, but it was very hot today.

I started on the kitchen sink project, and luckily asked myself the right questions before i got too far into it. The goal was to stop the leak, not to replace the faucet, and sink. By asking the right questions, I saved myself $450 and about 5 hours of work, if not more!

Christina loves her new car, and I love the AUX jack! No more CD's in the car, just plug in the iPod and go! I will never get a car without this feature again. Next want is bluetooth integrated audio system for hands-free phone use.

I just made my first iTunes purchase in over a year thanks to iTunes Plus. I hate DRM and 128kbps. This leads to the song of the day.

Song of the Day
Suddenly I See by K.T. Tunstall

2007-07-01T20:59:00.000-05:00

It has been quite some time since my last post, a quite a lot has happened.

First of all, my beautiful wife got a new job! Her first day will be tomorrow. She is finally out of banking and into something that I think she will really like. It will be hard to go back to work, but I think this will provide her with a great deal of satisfaction.

Since she got a new job, we went out and got her a new car. We traded in the old 1998 Outback on a new 2008. Wow! What a difference!

Dominic spent 4 nights with my sister. He had a great time, and so did we. We had fun while he was gone, but it was great to have him back.

Our old neighbors Jan and Petra were in town for the weekend. It was nice to see them. We wish them luck on their new lives in Portland Oregon.

I have started running again. I was able to get in 4 miles on Saturday and 3 on Sunday with little pain. I hope that I can keep it up. My goal is to loose 40 to 50 pounds by the end of this year.

Speaking of running, Christina and I met Jeff Wells for a 5k. We had a great time and re-hydrated with a couple of beers.
Results: http://hermescleveland.com/results/2007/OHIOCITY.HTM

The iPhone launched over the weekend. I so want one! Cell phones changed the way we communicate. The iPhone will redefine what a phone is.

Hope all is well.

Song of the Day:
"Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi (You know you love it!)

I walk these streets, a loaded six string on my back
I play for keeps, cause I might not make it back
I been everywhere, still I'm standing tall
I've seen a million faces an Ive rocked them all

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/bon+jovi/wanted+dead+or+alive_20022260.html

2007-05-28T19:14:00.000-05:00

It is Memorial Day weekend.

Another year has passed, and more families know what it is like to loose a loved one a half a world away. More men, and women, will come home and try to find a way to pick up the pieces of their lives. I wish all of these people and their families the best, and hope that they can find peace.

We had a busy weekend.
Saturday: Christina and Dominic spent the entire day out of the house so that I could take out the kitchen tile. The tile is gone, but it is going to take some time to clean up the resulting mess.

Sunday: No work. We spent the day as a family. First we went to see Thomas the Train. Then a tour of an old roadhouse that a local group is trying to turn into a museum. Finally we went to a cookout.

Monday: The weather was great! I spent the day working in the yard while Christina and Dominic went to the in-laws.

I am really sore today, but I was able to get some things done.

Here are some new pictures. I will be decreasing the size of the images for faster loading in the future.

I hope that you had a good weekend, and thanks for visiting the site. Tomorrow is going to be a very rough day.

Song of the Day:
Undone by Weezer
This is also known as the sweater song.

2007-05-12T19:41:00.000-05:00

Wednesday was the best day ever. My son had his first tee ball game!

The event was pretty disorganized. We showed up. A guy came out and gave out equipment to each team, and we were pretty much on our own from there. That is when my personality took over. I started getting everyone organized, and got the kids doing some basic drills. Then I heard one of the parents say "listen to your coach". Guess that I am now the coach.

Dominic did not like sharing me with the other kids, but mommy was there to smooth things over. After that little melt down, he was great.

We had a scrimmage with the green team. We won 7 to 4! Of course we had 7 kids and they had 4, but that doesn't matter. WE WON! YELLOW TEAM ROCKS!

As we walked away from the field he was the happiest little boy in the world, and I was the proudest papa.

Look at that leg kick! Standing back in the box, looking to drive it down the 3rd base line!

Speed! Check out the Spiderman shoes!

Song of the Day:
Extraordinary by Liz Phair

I have always liked her music starting with her 1993 release of "Exile in Guyville" and 1994's "Whip Smart". It was good to see her back on the scene with her 2003 self titled release. Give her a listen!

http://www.lizphair.com/news.aspx

2007-05-05T08:09:00.000-05:00

Dominic loves his bike. He is taking to it like a duck to water.
Last night we went to "Saftey Town", it is a miniature city at a local park. Dominic was cruzin' for over an hour.
The best part is that he slept past 8am!

Still trying to figure out what to do today. There are not too many Cinco de Mayo events that are kid appropriate. Guess that we will just work arond the house.

I hurt my back over a week ago. Still trying to get back to 100%. The real solution is to loose some weight, and start lifting again.

While we are on the subject of workouts, I have to get back into running. I ran a few time in April, my foot pain is still present, but it is manageable. I hope to increase my milage and frequesncy in May. I promised my wife that I would take it slow.

I think that today will be a work around the house day, and tomorrow will be a family fun day.

The picture today is from Easter. Dominic was fascinated by all of the candy. We have since instituted measure to control the consumption.

My nephew Adam (just got his license in the previous post) is apretty good writer. I just finished reading a paper that he did for school. While I disagree with some of the content (UNC v Duke is not the best rivalry in sports), it was pretty entertaining.

Song of the Day
Push It by Garbage

2007-05-03T20:35:00.000-05:00

Dominic has had an exciting week.
As the weather gets better, and the days last longer, we spend more time outside.

Yesterday we went to our first night of t-ball. He has his first uniform! (OK it is a t-shirt) He will be #3.

We picked up a bike today. He was so excited as we were putting it together.
He did a great job on his first ride. He spent a lot of time validating that he could stop, but once he got that down, he was off to the races. This will be fun for us as we will be able to go for a short run while he rides his bike. Hopefully we can work up to this over the next month.

If all of this didn't make me feel like I was getting old, I found out that my godson got his license today! Congratulations Adam!

Enjoy the pictures of Dominic!

For those of you who have not seen me in a while, I can now get my hair back in a pony tail. Christina is happy now that I can pull it back, and I like it better that way when I am at work. I still have a few months before I will be able to donate it.

Song of the Day:
I Hung My Head by Johnny Cash

I heard this song while I was at work. I love the work that he did before he died. If you get a chance listed to the Peachtree Road album.

2007-04-29T21:57:00.000-05:00

Guess I have a mean streak going right now. My wife will want to kill me for posting this one.
This is something that we have on our fridge. Do you see the similarities?

Photo Removed

I had great plans for Saturday. We took our son to watch a bridge implosion. After getting up way too early, missing breakfast, and standing in the rain, the implosion failed. To make matters worse, the second attempt failed! No wonder Cleveland gets a bad rap! We can't even blow up a bridge.

I want to wish Brady Quinn the best of luck as he recovers from his forthcoming injury. Sorry kid!

Yes, I am pretty negative tonight.

I did see a good interview over the weekend. Bill Moyers did an interview with John Stewart (Bill Moyers Journal on April 27th). The guy is very smart, he should be the one running for president.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/index-flash.html

Guess that is it for the night.
I will try to post pictures of our kitchen remodel (still in progress) later this week.

Song of the Day:
Around The World by Aqua

2007-04-21T19:13:00.000-05:00

We went to a local park the other day.
While we were there, we saw this kid. He was 3-4 years old.
Why would his parents think it was a good idea to go with a mullet?
Sorry kid.

Song of the Day:
Talk by Coldplay

2007-04-14T08:10:00.000-05:00

I will be spending the weekend on the road visiting family! It will be nice as I have not seen them since xmas.
My son is really excited about going on the trip.

We can finally see the grass again, but the temperature has not made it above 50 yet. The temperature, combined with the rain make it pretty unappealing to spent the day in the yard, so no great loss this weekend.

I like winter. I love spring. I just want to have one or the other.
It really makes you think about the changes that are taking place in the environment. When I was young we would say "April showers bring May flowers!". Now I am programmed to not put away the snow blower until we have the big April snow storm.

If you want a laugh, visit the Colbert Report site on Comedy Central.
The Word is Body Armor
http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/player.jhtml?ml_video=85183&ml_collection=&ml_gateway=&ml_gateway_id=&ml_comedian=&ml_runtime=&ml_context=show&ml_origin_url=%2Fshows%2Fthe_colbert_report%2Fvideos%2Fthe_word%2Findex.jhtml&ml_playlist=&lnk=&is_large=true

Song of the Day:
Finding Out True Love Is Blind by Louis XIV

2007-04-07T08:08:00.000-05:00

The Pirates made swept the Houston Astros to start the season! A 3-0 start for the Bucs! They lost to the Reds last night, but are still on top of the NL Central.

My fantasy team recovered a bit last night. I am still in last place but my team made some great strides.

We have been hit by an April snow storm. This is becoming a regular occurrence over the past few years. Two years ago we lost a number of trees and bushes, which took quite some time to clean up. Here are the pics!
Friday Morning:

Saturday morning:
Looks like my plans for the weekend are out the window.
At least my son is having fun with it! He is going to have a hell of a time finding those easter eggs!

Guess it is time to grab a second cup of coffee!

Song of the Day:
Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division

2007-04-02T22:10:00.000-05:00

I can celebrate today!
The Pirates have the best record in baseball!

I had my fantasy draft yesterday, and it looks like my team will try to set new career lows in every category. I hope things turn around fast for these guys as it is hard to recover from a slow start.

April has been beautiful, but it looks like we are going to get one last blast of winter as the week develops.
Here is a shot of what we have to look forward to.

My camera should be back this week. I have been without it for a few weeks, and like the saying goes, you don't know what you have until it is gone.

Song of the Day:
Cannonball by The Breeders

After 4 months of not being able to run, I am starting up again. It is hard to get back into it, but it will get better over the next few weeks. I just have to work through the pain, and build a base. Anyway, Cannonball was the last song that I heard on the run.

2007-03-19T22:05:00.000-05:00

I had a great weekend with my family. It is amazing how cool my son is.

We went to a local festival where I was able to get very close to a red tailed hawk. The bird had been injured and nursed back to health. It is now used for educational purposes.
I was grateful for the opportunity to be so close to this hawk, but at the same time I was very sad. it was hard to see such a beautiful animal held back and forced to live in our world. I can only hope that some of the kids will grow to respect the natural environment.

On the lighter side, I love the "Bong Hits for Jesus" case. The religious right on the side of the kid to protect religious freedom, against the government fight against drugs. It was a joke people!!!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17687386/

Song of the Day:
Flathead by The Fratellis
This is the song that appears in some of the iPod commercials.

2007-03-11T21:54:00.000-05:00

We had a beautiful weekend! It looks like spring is coming to Ohio!

I came across this picture thanks to my Google desktop. It is nice to have a slide show always running, I find shots that I have not looked at in a while. This is a sign on the way to my parents house. I have passed it a hundred times and finally stopped to take a picture. There are a lot of places like this. I need to just slow down and enjoy the moment.

I actually used my film camera for the first time in months. It is such a different experience, both good and bad. I think that I need to start using it more, it is just better at some functions.

A friend just had a baby.....Congratulations Holly and Eric.

Song of the Day:
Dance Commander by Electric Six

Alternate:
Suicide Blonde by INXS
(Personal note: I was a huge INXS fan in the late 80's and early 90's)

2007-03-08T04:05:00.000-05:00

Yes, I have been away from this for a while. I suck!

A friend sent me this link. I think that it is a good commentary, and thought that it would bee good to share with you. Sorry that you have to sit through a commercial.
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2534266n

Photos are from a maple syrup festival from over the weekend. It is amazing how long you have to wait for 1 drop to flow from the tree.

It took a long time to find a leaf frozen in the top of the ice. When I did, it was not the best leaf. You take what you can get sometimes.

Why have I been away from posting?
I have been working on my music collection. I am now to the point where I have to get a new HD in order to continue to add more music.

Song of the Day:
Going into the way back machine for this one!
Life's Been Good by Joe Walsh

2007-02-19T19:41:00.000-05:00

If you look hard enough, you can find some blue sky in winter. Actually, I like February. You start to notice the days getting a little longer. The grey skies start to give way to the warm sun. The skies are beautiful in the morning.

But it is still winter. This is a icicle hanging off of you neighbors house. They are so delicate, yet so strong.

And there is not much chance to play on the swing set. Many are excited about the coming heat wave, I am not. The beauty of the snow will be replaced with the spring mud.

I started off well, and then lost a couple of days. It is amazing how time just slips through your fingers. I will try to do better.

Song of the day:
Redemption Song by Bob Marley & The Wailers

2007-02-14T22:07:00.000-05:00

I took my son to Krispy Kreme for breakfast a couple of weeks ago and decided to pull out the camera.
I usually don't like doughnuts, but I cannot resist Krispy Kreme, just ask the people I work with.

Song of the Day:
Save Tonight by Eagle-Eye Cherry

2007-02-13T19:17:00.000-05:00

I saw this magnet on the fridge, and it brought back some good memories of a trip to Vegas. If you ever get the chance, spend the $$ and see Blue Man.

Song of the Day:
Only by NIN

2007-02-12T06:49:00.000-05:00

3rd post and I have already adding different content! This blog sh*t is cool!
Just making fun of myself.

I have a friend starting a new job today. Good luck Mike!

Song of the day:
My Hero by Foo Fighters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foo_Fighters

2007-02-11T11:04:00.000-05:00

Sawtooth Range, Montana (1999)

I have started to scan all of my slides. Unfortunately, this will be a very long process.

I have not been hiking since my son was born, and I miss it. This year we plan to take him into the woods for the first time. I hope that he has a love for nature and animals.

Song of the Day
Letter to Memphis by The Pixies

How do I pick the song of the day?
Just hit random in iTunes!

2007-02-10T08:44:00.000-05:00

Sawtooth Range, Montana (1999)

I love this shot, and come back to it often. I even used it as the backround for one of my resignation letters.

Song of the day:
Jerusalem by Matisyahu