Category: Uncategorized

I knew it had been a while since I had been to Six Flags and I wanted to get back there soon. Lately, their finances have been shaky and it wasn’t completely certain they would even be able to stay open this year. Jeb mentioned possibly planning a trip and after the cold rainy weather of last weekend, we decided to try this weekend (next weekend is the last one of the year). I asked Grant, but he couldn’t go.

We started the day by going to church at Holy Cross, which I thought would be good because it would make us start early (mass ending at 10), but after stopping at Mom’s to change out of church clothes and picking up coffee and lunch, then driving down to the park we got there a little after 11:30 (park opens at 10:30). Then I lost the tickets I had purchased and printed out at home the night before. We walked to the gate (parking was self-serve and there was only one tram which doesn’t seem to run that often) and a lady at customer service was able to re-print our tickets by using my credit card. The deal with buying at home was that you get kid’s price of $30 instead of paying $45. But if you paid $50 you would get a season pass for next year plus get in free the rest of this year.

Continue reading “Six Flags”

This weekend my one-year license for Trend Micro Internet Security Pro 2009 expired. Really, it shouldn’t be because I had Trend Micro Internet Security 2008 last year which didn’t expire until late November, but when I got 2009 last October, I thought I could go ahead and install it and keep the same expiration date. But because the Pro version is different than the regular version, there was no such deal and it was like throwing away six weeks of my purchase (free after rebates).

Knowing the expiration was coming up (it won’t let you forget), I have been keeping an eye on Fry’s ads to see when the new version would come out and if I could get it for free after rebate again. So far only the regular version seems to be out and it is $5 after rebates. I think I can do better. But what to do in the meantime? I knew Trend would stop downloading the latest virus definitions and software updates, but I didn’t realize it wouldn’t even scan my hard drive anymore. So I felt like I needed a stopgap and figured I would try some free software.

Continue reading “Antivirus Software”

Jeb sent me this article where the guy says rechargeable batteries are rarely cost-effective. Here’s what I wrote back:

He’s right to some extent, but it surprises me that he doesn’t have a digital camera in his house. Those go through batteries pretty quickly and just about everybody has one. Though maybe he has one that uses a special battery instead of standard AA’s. Flashlights go through batteries pretty quickly too if you use them regularly, though I think I’ve only had to recharge mine twice in the six months or so that I’ve owned it (that may go up as I take the dogs for walks more often at night with the shorter days). The Archos eats through batteries too, as do some CD players that people might use every day. At the store I see packages of 24 disposable batteries and I have a hard time believing that someone buying a package like that couldn’t replace at least a few of those with rechargeables.

Continue reading “Are Rechargeable Batteries Cost Effective?”

After the floods it didn’t seem like very many bridges were washed out, but a few have been identified that they want us to replace. Today my group went out and looked at this bridge. The entire middle support fell over and somehow the bridge stayed up despite having no support. We have to work up plans for a new bridge as soon as possible so that construction can start and we can re-open the road. But meanwhile the road will still be shut for 6-9 months. I don’t want to put on the blog where the road is. These pictures were taken by other people, so I am not in any of them.

Before:

After:

I have been pretty good about not getting anymore flashlights and really don’t need anymore flashlights, but I did end up buying a really small AAA light recently (I’ll write more about it later). I wound up getting it from a website called GoingGear.com because they had reasonable shipping rates and a 10% off discount code. I was surprised to be charged sales tax, but it turns out they are located in Smyrna.

GoingGear has some neat stuff. It is mostly camping gear. They have a neat video about the iTP flashlight I got on their home page. Under “most popular items” they have an array of “firesteel” products. These are rods made of iron, magnesium, and rare earth metals that you can rub quickly with the back of a knife and flaming globs of magnesium come off to help you start a fire. The YouTube video he has on this page shows how it works. Anything that makes showers of sparks like that and helps me start a fire when I don’t have a lighter or matches and only costs $2 is something I need to have. However, I will admit that I don’t think I have ever in my life needed to start a fire when I didn’t have matches or a lighter. Still, *firesteel*! So I got the “bobcat” size (larger than squirrel and mouse sizes, smaller than moose or wolf sizes).

Also in the firebug category were these powdery rocks that catch fire fairly easily when exposed to the sparks and help you then get a real fire going with some more tinder. The powdery rocks even float in water and repel water themselves, so you can make a fire when it is pretty damp out. Another kind of neat video here.

The last kind of neat thing he demonstrates in a video on his home page is a line of pens and notebooks called Rite in the Rain. These let you write (in the rain?) on paper that is water resistant and the ink doesn’t run even when submerged. I could see where if you had some kind of field work to do that sometimes had you out in the rain (like a park ranger or something) that would be neat to have. I did not buy any of that or the wet fire stuff, but it was neat seeing it in action.