PC is BS

My employer just announced the new 2006 holiday calendar. I opened it to see which days I'll get off from work, and find they are calling Christmas "Winter Holiday". Yet in the other parts of the world, they continue to use the word "Christmas". It appears only in the US they need to watch their use of "religious" holidays and attempt to appease everyone with this politically correct term. I noticed they started doing this at least as early as last year, how lame is that?
December 25 Winter Holiday Mon
December 26 Day after Winter Holiday Tue

Don Pablos penny pinching

What a rip off! My friend Jared was charged $1.50 for an additional side of guacamole today at Don Pablos. This wasn't a surprise at the end that got slapped on the bill, the waiter told him straight out what the cost was for more. Jared wanted more guac since he only got a small dab on his plate, and it was barely enough for him. It really should be no big deal for a restaurant to provide a little more so he can enjoy all the quesadillas he ordered. How is it any different than ketchup or pop refills? That is the type of thing that irks me to no end and makes me not want to return to a restaurant. Not a good way to make the customer happy now is it, Donny P?

Crappy Lexar JumpDrive

I have a Lexar 256MB USB JumpDrive (JDSP256-04-500A) and it just refuses to work on my WinXP machine. No idea why, there's not much to these little gizmos. It should just plug in and "work". Another piece of crap product from China!

Ryobi battery charger woes

My Ryobi 18 volt battery pack charger recently stopped working. The LED lights don't come and it won't charge a dead battery. So I bought a new one at Home Depot, and I think it is also defective. My dad picked up another one for me, and that one seems to be working. I wonder if it is a known issue with these things? I have only had the Ryobi drill for about 4 years, and I don't use it very often, so it should have lasted much longer than that. Another example of crap made in China!

Summer left us kicking and screaming

As the last day of the summer winded down, we had MAJOR storms rip through the area, starting up about 7pm. Tornado sirens were going off and down to the basement we headed. When it was all over, quite the mess outside. We were very lucky not to loose any trees, but I can't say the same for a few neighbors. I hope to post some pictures tonight after work. The worst was my neighbor Brandon who lost a huge cottonwood. Thankfully it fell away from his house, and missed his neighbors house too, but crushed the wood fence and the neighbors swingset. I've heard over 100,000, including us, are without power still today and I have no idea when it will be back. Goodbye summer, hello fall!

updated Sun 9/25:
Power was restored on Friday night around 8pm. So we were officially without power for 48 hours (2 full days). That is the longest stretch I've ever gone without power in my lifetime. We were lucky, because many still didn't have it on Sunday afternoon. Hopefully that wicked storm doesn't return for a long, long time.

updated 10/27/05:
I finally got a chance to post some pictures. I'm not checking out Flickr, which is pretty cool and now integrated with Yahoo!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/webdh/sets/1223030/

Hand washing 101

It drives me absolutely crazy at work when I witness men leaving the restroom without washing their hands. I am astoshished how often it happens, and I know who a few of the culprits are. At work, I need to touch the refrigerator door handle, open doors, and shake hands with new employees or visitors. Who knows what I'm touching...I try not to think about it too much. I now use a paper towel to open the door as I'm leaving the restroom, then throw it away at my desk. Today the Star Tribune had an article about this exact topic, quite a good read if you have a minute. Long story short, wash up after using the bathroom, please!

Regal theater issues

Last week I noticed that the Brooklyn Center Regal Cinema got a toned down paint job. This much needed improvement must have happened sometime this summer, not sure. It used to look like it belonged in the middle of Phoenix, Arizona, with its use of desert and aqua like colors. Now the aqua look is gone, just a little left on the front of the building for decor. I still think it's tacky and needs a more contemporary look like the AMC in Maple Grove. Regardless of the exterior paint, I dislike the theater because:
1) they have awful popcorn
2) the armrests on the chairs are not padded well, making a 2 hour movie harder to sit through.
3) it attracts a rough crowd, since it is near low income housing and apartments
So, I'll continue to drive the extra miles to the Maple Grove theater for a better movie experience, and more to shops and restaurants to visit before or after the show.

Ben Forta visit

I was able to help coordinate a visit from ColdFusion mastermind and author, Ben Forta. The event was a great success for our local CFUG and here are some pics from the event now posted on Ben's site.

Curt in Iraq

Just looked at Amy's photo gallery today to catch up on some photos of Curt's deployment in Balad, Iraq. This picture really hit home as I bet Curt misses his two kids more than words can describe. I know I would if I were in his shoes. The word still is that he's coming back home by Thanksgiving. If you want to see pics for yourself, browse on over to this site.

Ben is 1 today - time for pictures

Ben turned 1 year old today, wow did that year go fast. Happy birthday son!

We got his birthday picture taken at both WalMart and JCPenny. WalMart has this $5.88 special, which includes a bunch of prints with the first background you select. But then the guy takes more shots with 6 other backgrounds. Then at the end, you view each of them while he tries to upsell you on ridiculously high priced prints. Besides this, their digital photography technology seems to be 10 years in the past. We're looking at this crappy 15" tube monitor with low resolution images trying to select which photos we want that will turn out "perfect" in print format. It is true the pictures do turn out just fine, but it sure is tough to keep that clear in your mind when you are looking at the fuzzy images on the ancient CRT monitor. Time to upgrade WalMart! JCPenny has much better technology, but it takes longer to get in and out (about an hour or more), which can be hard with little kids who are impatient and tired.

Taking responsibility in life

My heart goes out to all those struggling by Katrina's wake. The loss of life is tragic. It strikes me though that so many residents along the coast are so damn stubborn. They had plenty of warning to get out of the cities in Katrina's path. People today just don't think about living responsibly, they only think about the here and now. This is shown throughout our society, not only in this horrific event, consider:
1) do people save what they can for future retirement?
2) do people buy enough insurance for their home/auto/life?
3) do people spend using credit cards responsibly?
4) and now we ask - do people protect their family from natural disasters?

I could go on and on with this list. The point is that every single person living within 50 miles of the coast from this day forward better remember the lesson from Katrina. They MUST take responsibility and get the hell out of the path of any future hurricane, no matter what the category size or guess at its direction. If you are within a possible 200 mile target, get outta there, and take the elderly and disabled with you if you can!

I do plan to help with the recovery, but needed to rant a little, my thoughts and prayers are with you all. On one final note, it's time to coin the Super Dome the Sewer Dome - you heard it here first!