For Sale: 2 wheels + tires

For sale: two Z24 sport wheels, each with a Yokohama Avid T4 tire.

Markings on the tires as follows: Avid T4 Radial Tubeless M+S, Yokohama P205/55R16 89T.

Naturally, we are selling these on eBay motors. That should be an adventure.

--Ben

Weeds: the before picture

Here's what my weeds look like in my backyard, before I covered them in weed killer.

I have a suspicion that these particular weeds aren't killed by this weed killer. They are a sort of super weed. And, every time I spray them with this weed killer they are, in fact, growing stronger.

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do, as I'm a bit concerned that my back lawn may soon be more weed than grass.

Actually, I do know what I'm going to do: read about the problem and spend money at the hardware store buying supplies and tools. It won't fix the problem, but it'll make me feel like I'm doing something.

--Ben

Brady on the web

This one's for you Brady. As promised, here are some more pictures of yourself on the web.

It only slightly blows my mind that Brady is 6, and is quite excited to see his likeness on the web. And specifically asked me to put more pictures up of him.

Had a fun lunch with Danielle and Brady, though we did miss the rest of the gang.

--Ben

Hardware hacker

Just brought Shira's work PDA back from the dead. We are talking paper weight status.

How did I work this bit of magic? Flipped the switch on the battery from un-locked to locked.

For about 3 nanoseconds Shira was impressed.

--Ben

Committee meeting time

Ahhh, time for a religous committee meeting at shul. The old joke - put 5 jews in a room and you get 6 opinions applies well here.

--Ben

Anyone ever heard of this movie?

I read the back and it seemed interesting. Anyone ever heard of it?

I guess I should really be asking imdb.

--Ben

More eBay success

(picture removed by censor)

This time we are shipping a sold item off to Canada.

Look at us, international business tycoons.

Now Shira smells blood in the water, and wants to know what she can sell. I'm just thankful you can't sell organs on eBay.

--Ben

Wapedia - Dazed and Confused Drinking Game

http://www.en.wapedia.org/Dazed_and_Confused_Drinking_Game

You know you have a complete reference guide to all knowledge when it includes drinking games.

I wonder if the 20+ volume set of encyclopedia's my parents own contain any tidbits like this. Somehow I doubt it.

--Ben

Just because

I got the best surprise at work the other day. I brought them home today, so that we could enjoy them here, too. (And because they needed another round of stem-cutting, and frankly, usually Ben does that, and I already did it on the day they came, so now it was his turn.) Thank you, Ben.

Hot

So, driving home today, the temperature gauge in my car read 110 degrees! Of course, I called Ben to tell him, but by the time I got off the phone, it had cooled off to a pleasant 108.

Cause and effect

One book on bias, and one book people claim is baised.

I wonder, how do I know if the author of "Bias" is being honest and truthful?

--Ben

foldedspace.org: Get Rich Slowly!

foldedspace.org: Get Rich Slowly! This should be good reading for those of you who have money. Me, I'm married, so it's not really of value.

Forbes.com Best of the Web

Forbes.com Best of the Web A good place to start if you want to get into reading blogs. Combine this with an account and bloglines and you are all set.

Programming with Components in MzScheme

Programming with Components in MzScheme More discussion of component based development. I especially appreicate the quote:

Different people have different perceptions. To some, components are classes; to others, they are mixins. Microsoft advertises COM and DCOM (now ActiveX) as a framework for component programming; Corba is their major competition in the commercial world.

I wonder what components should be to me?

OfficeGuns

OfficeGuns A cool hacking site. Seems custom made for my brother David. David, don't you agree?

Components and Types

http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/Tmp/SML/index.html

This is an article on PLT Scheme units, which are related to ML Functors.

It's an interesting read because it reminds you that there are different mechanisms for packaging and combining software components other than Java style OO.

--Ben

Sharp's Escape

Finished Sharp's Escape.

I think it was quite good. Lots of excitement, and really enjoyable characters. I think it also helped that the narrorator did a good job with the voices.

Apparently there are quite a few more books in this series, so I look forward to reading them.

Scores: funness: 8 out of 10, educational value: 7 out of 10, listenability: 8 out of 10.

--Ben

Argh...

Make that two trips to the store in 99 degree heat.

--Ben

Fair trade?

So lets see. I got to venture out in 99 degree weather to go shopping and Shira stayed home and cut veggies. Who got the better deal?

--Ben

Things to listen to

This blog entry is a reminder to me to pick up these books on tape again and listen to them. I rented them for a few weeks, but never got to listen to them.

--Ben

Tree saw? We don't need no stinkin' tree saw

Well, I attempted my tree trimming project using various items found around the house. And a lot of duct tape.

The end result: trees got trimmed and I still have all my digits.

--Ben

Weeds flowering?

What does it mean when your weeds are sprouting flowers? Nothing good I assume. Or, maybe if I wait long enough, all my weeds will flower?

--Ben

Operation Tree Trim

I have been given the job of trimming the trees by the house. I figure I have 3 options...

(A) call a pro; (B) get a friend to help and bribe them with food; (C) buy a ladder and chainsaw and ladder and do it myself.

(C) would be fun, except for the extra time in the emergency room.

What option should I choose? (Use comments button to respond)

--Ben

Love All

Had a fun time playing tennis with Shira tonight. Well, it's almost tennis. We seem to spend more time running to pick up balls than hitting them.

But it sure is fun!

--Ben

Sunday Traffic Jam

Only in DC do you have a traffic jam at 3:30pm on a Sunday.

We are currently approaching the "mixing bowl" - some road construction which has been under way since we got to town 6+ years ago. Yeah, gotta love DC.

--Ben

Lots of Loot

Due to a logistical error, my birthday present from Shira's parents and Grandma was delayed. But, boy was it worth the wait!

Yesterday I was presented with quite a few books and goodies off of my Amazon Wish List.

Here's what I got: Thread Across the Ocean; The Fountainhead; Secret Architecture of DC; Hikes in Northern Virginia; Sneaky Ues for Everyday Things; Home Hacking projects for Geeks; nmates are Running the Asylum; Spooner; Tennis Doctor Lawn Bible; Who Moved My Cheese; Grundig Emergency Radio; 4 in 1 Pen.

Quite frankly, I don't know where to start -- all the books and goodies seem so interesting.

Thanks MIL, FIL and GIL [1] for an incredible birthday gift!

[1] -- MIL -- Mother-In-Law, etc.

--Ben

Field testing...

Shira testing her new mp3 player. Aint she cute?

--Ben

Install what?

OK, you buy this thumb drive. Now what exactly are they going to install? Walk around behind you, and actually plug it in for you? Yeah, that sounds like something I need.

--Ben

Sidekick price matching hack

Shira wanted a small mp3 player to use at the gym. She found the model she wanted, it was $84.99 on amazon.com.

Today we went into Best Buy. They had the same model Shira wanted, though they wanted $105.00 for it.

So, I asked if they would price match against amazon. Of course the rep said no. So I found a manager and showed her the product on the amazon page using my sidekick. I told her, if she matched the price I'd buy the item.

She matched. I bought.

Now maybe Shira will have just a tad bit more appreciation for my sidekick. Maybe.

--Ben

Finally, an office with a view

I finally got to work from a comfy office with natural light pouring in. Which is just my way of saying I'm working from home.

I'm not sure I could function in a non-cube environment for more than a day or two at a time. It would be too quiet, and who would I talk to about politics and religion?

--Ben

Winning the gamble

We made it to the gas station, in our car, without having to push it. Whew. I had doubts, Beamer didn't.

--Ben

Nerds and their adventures

Beamer and I are curious if we can make the 20+ mile trip to the cheap gas station with the fuel gauge starting on E.

Wish us luck....

--Ben

Nifty idea: dotprodomains.com: creative domain name resellers

dotprodomains.com: creative domain name resellers I have to agree with Seth, this is a clever idea. Why can't I come up with some simple, yet clever way to make big bucks on the net?

The new tube

Well, second time's the charm. Picked up second TV from Circuit City and it looks great.

They even gave us 10% off for our troubles.

Looks it may be time to retire Shira's 13" Emerson TV she got when she was 12 years old.

--Ben

Anything worth doing is worth doing twice

Just got finished getting Shira's new bracelet *repaired*. Nothing like buying jewely with the express purpose of having it last, and then having it break less than 24 hours later.

The bright side? Easy, I get to give Shira the gift again, which gives me just a little more credit than giving it to her once.

Beamer suggests this is almost along the lines of the Seinfeld re-gifting scheme.

--Ben

New TV: good news and bad news

The good news: went TV shopping, and with the help of Justin and Jenna found a nice 27" TV. We even bought it.

The bad news: it was totally broken when we got home. As in glass not attached to plastic, and plastic cracked broken.

But, on a good note we had fun, learned a lot and saw Shira and Jenna play with dance-dance-revolution.

--Ben