Sports Fan?

Well, maybe I will have to take back my earlier comment about not being a sports fan for at least one weekend. As I write this, I am watching the Red River Shootout on TV. This is the football game between the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners, played at the Cotton Bowl on the grounds of the State Fair of Texas in Dallas (any real Texan knows it is NOT the Texas State Fair). I am always torn in my loyalties in this game, as these are my two favorite college teams. I still am amazed that the CU Buffaloes beat OU last weekend in Boulder. In any case, the Cotton Bowl is the perfect place for the Texas/OU game, as it is almost exactly halfway between Austin and Norman.

Then tonight at Coors Field, the Colorado Rockies have the chance to sweep the Phillies to get to their first National League Championship Series, after winning the first two games in Philadelphia. They have to be the hottest team in baseball right now, and the late season run to the playoffs has to be some kind of record. Although it is a clear, beautiful day today, by game time it is expected that a cold front with rain will move through the Denver area, possibly impacting the game. I imagine it will have to get pretty bad to postpone this one.

Back Online!

Anymore, having broadband Internet service is about the most important utility next to electricity and gas. In fact, it is more important than a home phone, although you can even get that over your broadband. So I am back online, and happy that I am.

Earlier I mentioned about teaching my sons, "If it isn't yours, don't touch it without permission". Well, the Comcast guy shows up, and there is not only no signal at my modem, there is none at the entry point, nor at the main junction box. He has to call the lineman out, as the problem is in the network.

So about an hour later, the lineman shows up. He repeats the tests here, and goes down the street to the next junction box. What does he find? Some idiot has opened it up and stolen a main line splitter. Now why would anyone do this? These are not consumer-grade splitters, but are only used on the network itself. In any case, Comcast did get it fixed, so now I have to "give props" to the guys who came out.

More Thoughts on an MP3 Device

Well, the decision making about a portable music player continues. Ryan left a comment on the last post that recommended another player I will definitely have to check out. I also dropped by Circuit City at lunch to check out what they have.

They did have the 8GB version of the Zen, and some nice Sony Walkman MP3 players. One had a built in FM radio with a 1.8" color screen. The other had no FM, but a 2" screen. The one with FM was $129 and the larger screen with no FM was $149. Both had only 4GB of memory with no SD card. Nice, easy to use buttons and slim, but a big compromise on space. They also had some nice Sansa units, but again, small memory space. There is no perfect device that I have yet to find. What would be nice is a version of the iPod Touch with a ton of memory, selling for about $200. Not this year!

So, what do I do? Maybe I just sit tight for now. I went ahead and bought headphones with a plug to fit the micro-mini stereo jack on my Motorola Q Smartphone and a 2GB MiniSD card. While the portable Windows Media Player in the Q has some major interface and functionality limitations, it is a cheap choice for now. Perhaps I will wait and see what the new Zunes do, or maybe the player Ryan mentioned will fit the bill. But in the meantime, the Q does have nice sound quality, and I can listen to my favorite podcasts and a few tunes on it. I will have to see what it does to the battery life, although I don't think it will be a huge power drain.

On another note, my Comcrap high speed internet died last night, so hopefully the guy can fix it when he shows up tomorrow morning. I am not feeling the Comcastic love! To quote the turtle in their commercial, Mr. Slowski . . . "And / or DUH!"

iPod? Nah, Probably Not!

A couple of years ago, my wife bought me a fantastic MP3 player, the Creative Zen Touch. This nifty little device had a 40 GB hard drive which is room enough for a heck of a lot of music. I really loved this player, and had it loaded with about 3000 songs, numerous podcasts, and audio books. Earlier this year, it was stolen. It really pisses me off. Why do people have to steal instead of buying their own stuff? It's one of the major life lessons I tried to teach my boys as they were growing up...if it isn't yours, don't touch it without permission. Simple rule.

Well anyway, I am finally getting ready to replace it with a new portable music player. These devices have come a long way in a couple of years, as most come with color screens and can play video as well as audio files. Microsoft just announced the next generation of their Zune, and a few weeks back, Apple introduced the new iPods. Now I must say, I am tempted by the iPods, especially the new iPod Classic and its choice of 80 or 160 GB hard drives. That could hold tens of thousands of songs. Still, as tempting as it is, I probably will opt for another player. Here's why.

First, although I have no experience firsthand, I have read reports of the iPod being a bit slow, as well as not having the best audio playback, something pretty important in a music player don't you think? Secondly, Apple has lately been treating its best customers with less than stellar service. The company's recently introduced iPhone was introduced with much fanfare, then after about 3 weeks, the price dropped $200! Now although this is wrong, I almost think the buyers happily spent the money to be an early adopter of the latest toy. Products do have lifecycles, and generally drop in price, but that soon?

But the really bad thing is that Apple is pushing updates of firmware out to purposely ruin, or "brick", iPhones of customers who have used software to unlock the phones from AT&T, allowing then to use the devices on other carriers. These phones are not Apple's property, but were purchased for premium bucks by these customers. They should be able to do what they wish with them. I am leaning toward the idea that any company that would do that doesn't deserve my money for their iPod, regardless of how nice it is.

So, after some research, I found that Creative, the maker of my stolen Zen Touch, has a new, flash memory based, 16 GB Zen coming out in a couple of weeks. No, it doesn't have the storage of a hard drive model, but should be very durable without the moving parts of a HDD. Plus, it has some things the iPods lack, including a built in FM Radio and a slot for SD memory cards to increase the capacity. Reports of the similar 8 GB and 4 GB models already on the market, indicate the new Zens carry on Creative Labs' reputation of excellent music reproduction. Plus, the Zen can use more file types than the iPod, such as WMV files, and is not tied to Apple's iTunes. I won't buy from iTunes anyway since the files are locked with restrictive DRM (Digital Rights Management), disallowing many legitimate uses of the music you buy. I will go with Amazon.com's un-DRM encumbered MP3s if I want to buy music online. In addition, the Zen reportedly has a very good color screen for viewing album art, photos and video.

So it is looking more and more that I will sacrifice storage capacity for the yummy goodness that is the new Zen. Besides, 16 GB plus an SD card slot should take care of most of what I want to carry around anyway, and it's twice the capacity of the new iPod Nano's highest capacity device. Still, the only thing holding me back is that I liked having all that capacity on my Zen Touch. Once I decide and get a little experience with whatever I end up with, I'll do a review here. Stay tuned!

To get a look at the Zen, check out Creative Labs' website at www.creative.com.

Baseball Playoffs

I may be unusual in that I am not a full-bore sports fanatic. I don't live and die by the fortunes of any sports team. I rarely have a lot of interest in any sport until it gets down to playoff time, and usually only when one of the few teams I actually halfway care about, is in the thick of it. Still there are a few teams that I do follow occasionally.

A couple of years ago, my favorite baseball team, the Houston Astros, finally made it to the World Series. Oh man, I was happy about that. I have followed them since the Colt .45 days, and for them to get to their first world series was exciting. And heartbreaking. Swept by the White Sox, the 'Stros couldn't buy a win.

The Astros have given me some great memories though. Players like Nolan Ryan, the recently retired Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Kevin Bass, J.R. Richard, Jose Cruz, Roger Clemens, and many others gave me lots of great games to watch, either in person or on television. When I moved away from Houston, Minute Maid Park (formerly Enron Field) had not been built, and I have never seen a game there. For me, the Astros memories took place at the Eight Wonder of the World, the Harris County Domed Stadium, known as The Astrodome. Who can forget the flashy scoreboard that went berserk everytime the Astros won or hit a home run?

And what about the best playoff game of all time, Game 6 of the 1986 National League Championship against the New York Mets. Both teams joined the league 25 years prior, so it was a fitting match up. The game went 16 innings before the Astros finally lost. This game held the record for the longest postseason game in Major League Baseball history until 2005, when the Astros beat the Atlanta Braves in 18 innings.

So now, we come to a phenomenal season ending winning streak by my next favorite team, the Colorado Rockies. The Rox won 13 out of their last 14 games to come out of nowhere and force the San Diego Padres into a one game play-in to see who got to be the wild card team in the National League. The game, played last night at Denver's Coors Field went back and forth, with the Padres scoring in the top of the 13th. This extra-innings game was decided when the Rockies scored three runs in the bottom of the inning to advance. The final run was Matt Holliday's chin in the dirt slide into home, sending the Rockies to Philadelphia to play the Phillies tomorrow. What a great game it was!

Go Rockies! Now hopefully the Astros can use the off season to get it together and return to the World Series in 2008!

Goodbye September!

Overnight rain showers have moved out, the sky is quickly clearing up, and a beautiful autumn day lies ahead along the Colorado Front Range. There is a cool snap in the air, reminding us of the approach of cooler days to come. This morning's temperature just before sunrise was about 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4 Celsius), but today is expected to reach a high of 71 (22 Celsius). Today will be a perfect morning to make a run to the Farmer's Market and pick up some farm fresh vegetables and fruit from some of the local, family-owned farms. Palisade peaches are nearing the end of their season, so it is time to enjoy a few more of those before it is too late.

Autumn has always been my favorite time of the year. The breaking of the hot days of summer with the cool, crisp autumn air has always been something I welcome. I love many other things about the season; apple cider, colors of the changing leaves, and the spicy taste of a delicious pumpkin pie topped with fresh whipped cream.

Yet in many of the recent years, this wonderful season has brought financial disaster. The small telecom start-up I worked for in Colorado Springs shut down for good in November of 2002. Last year on the day before Thanksgiving, the company I was employed by unceremoniously dumped me a month after my boss begged me to turn down another job offer. Now, this year there is a lot of buzz about my current employer being the target of a possible takeover by a huge company. And even though I have a lot of catching up to do from financial setbacks over the last decade, it is harder for someone my age to get a job than it used to be when I was just a few years younger. Never mind that I am nowhere near ready, either financially or career-wise, to retire. I have great experience and skills, as I prove on my job every day. But I refuse to allow speculation, or even probabilities, rob me of enjoying autumn this year. Today, I have a job, I work hard, and strive to give my employer excellence in all I do. What more can anyone ask? After all, I am only a couple of years older than Bill Gates and Steve Jobs! I only wish I had a portion of their bank accounts.

Since I don't know how many more autumns I will have, be it one or forty, I refuse to allow the trials of life to rob me of the joys of this most enjoyable of seasons. Today is the last day of September, and tomorrow we have a new October. Snow has already fallen in the mountains, and we will no doubt have the first snowfall of the season for the Front Range sometime during October, interspersed between beautiful days like today.

So to all, I wish a most happy Autumn of 2007!

The Lesser Sandpiper

A lesser sandpiper finding food along West Beach in Galveston

When I was 6-to-9 years of age, my family lived in the then-new subdivision of the future, developer Frank Sharp's "Sharpstown". I still remember the street names well of our neighborhood...streets like Hendon Lane, Langdon Lane, Sharpcrest Drive, Albacore, Concho, McAvoy, Bintliff, and Neff. And there was Sandpiper. At the time, I didn't know there was such a thing as a real sandpiper, but of course, there is.

In May of this year during my visit to Galveston, there were many lesser sandpipers scurrying along the sandy beach, looking and probing for food. These are actually very pretty animals, with their pure white underbelly feathers and the brown and white patterned feathers on their heads, wings, and backs. This is a picture I snapped along West Beach, the part of the island where there is no seawall. There were quite a few sandpipers poking their beaks into the wet sand as they fed on insects.

The eastern part of the island is where the most densely-populated areas of the city lie are protected from hurricanes by a seawall. But if you head west on Seawall Boulevard, you go past the seawall itself, onto the parts of the island where the houses are built on stilts to raise them above the highest tides. It is in this area where I found these small birds.

Of course, Galveston is home to a number of other birds, such as seagulls and pelicans, so it is a great place to enjoy many types of marine birds. No doubt, there are prettier beaches in the world than those on Galveston Island, but it is still an terrific place to spend some time.

Mule, Donkey, Hinney, or Ass??

A donkey foal looking through the fence

Near where I live, a variety of livestock is raised. Within a mile, I can see horses, goats, sheep, American bison, and llamas, to name a few. There is one field where a small group of donkeys typically are feeding as well. Today, there was a lone foal, grazing down by the road. There was not another in sight.

Now I am calling it a donkey, and I suppose it probably is. But to tell the truth, even though I know the technical difference between a mule, hinney, donkey, etc., I am making a half-ass guess that this is a donkey (as well as a little "ass humor" to go with it...a two-fer deal for you).

This little guy was standing there by the fence, so I stopped the car to let my granddaughter take a closer look. She wanted to get out and pet it, which probably would have been fine, but she thought better of it, and so did I, not knowing if this is a friendly beast or not. We do know they are known for their big teeth, so hey, why take the chance?

An Interesting Arachnid

Cat-Face Spider wrapping its lunch in webbing

Underneath the back deck of my son's deck is a bizarre-looking creature, known as the Cat Face Spider, so-called because it has markings resembling to some, the face of a feline. This particular spider is so accustomed to being around my son, that he can toss food into the web and the spider will come down to get it.

Today, he saw a moth had landed on his wife's shoulder, so he grabbed it and tossed it into the web of the spider. Immediately, the spider came down and injected its toxin into the moth, holding it until it gave up the fight. It then began turning the moth as it wrapped the prey in webbing strands (top photo). Once the moth was encapsulated within this silk cocoon, it hoisted the moth onto its back, and ascended back up under the deck to enjoy its meal (photo below).

While this live episode of the food chain in action was interesting, I am also glad this spider wasn't in my house. My wife would be screaming for me to kill it! Such a creature is best left outside, as far as I'm concerned.


Carrying the wrapped meal back home

Scramblin'

The makings of a quick and tasty breakfast

As my few readers know, I occasionally write about one of life's great pleasures here...that being food. I also am not one who typically likes food that is made to pretend that it is other food. Things like artificial meat made from soybeans, for example, are not items that I would find tasty.

I must say, however, that I have found one product containing "vegetable sausage" that is actually delicious. I don't know if it is the mix of flavors, or if this particular "sausage" is just good. However, I saw something at the grocery store that I decided would be a quick way to make a good breakfast, and indeed, my thought about it was correct.

MorningStar Farms (distributed by Kellogg's) has brought out a line of Breakfast Starters, and I purchased the one called Classic Scramble. It is a frozen bag of 11 ounces of goodies that include onion, green and red bell pepper slices, red potato chunks, and the aforementioned veggie sausage. Yes, you could prepare this from scratch fairly easily, but you'd have to precook the potatoes, clean and slice the onion and pepper. This takes time, and when you need something quick, this is definitely the way to go.

All you do is take a 12" skillet, spray it with cooking spray and pre-heat it on medium. You then dump the bag's contents into the pan, cook for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally (that's the directions, but mine cooked in about 6-7 minutes), push the veggies to the side and scramble 4 beaten eggs in the same pan, mix it all together, season to taste with salt & pepper, and voila! A delicious, nutritious breakfast. A side of fruit works well with this, as does a dollop of your favorite salsa on top of the scramble. For less time than you wait for service at a restaurant, you have a good, hot breakfast ready to eat.

I would have taken a picture of the finished results, but I ate it right down. Oh well! Maybe next time.

Realistically, one bag serves two, which is just right for the lovely spouse and I. For the record, I have no financial interest in MorningStar Farms or Kellogg's. This post is just an unbiased consumer review. If you need a fast, hot, and yummy breakfast, give this a try. I think you'll like it.

It Came From Outer Space!

Here's a weird story in the news for you. In a scene reminiscent of 1950s campy sci-fi movies, a meteorite hit the earth Saturday in Peru. Now the residents of a nearby village are coming down with a mysterious malady. Villagers started complaining of headaches and vomiting from odd odors in the air. Seven policemen who went to investigate had to be given oxygen and put in the hospital. The crater, which is 100 feet wide and 20 feet deep, was filled with boiling water and surrounded by chunks and particles of rock and cinder.

Could this be the beginnings of a pandemic caused by a microbe from outer space? Time will tell.

Actually, some scientists think that life on earth began with microbes brought in by meteorites and comets. So who knows?

This also reminds me of the wacky 1985 movie called "The Stuff", about a yogurt like substance that fell to earth, but that was packaged and marketed as food. The movies slogan was "The Stuff; are you eating it, or is it eating you?"



In any case, this is too unusual to let go by without a comment! Be afraid...be very afraid!!

CLICK HERE to read the news article about this incident in Peru.

Constitution Day

Happy Constitution Day!

Today marks the 220th anniversary of the signing of one of the greatest documents ever conceived by human beings for the governance of their nation; The Constitution of the United States of America. The first three words, "We the People" clearly say that this was to be a different type of country than those of old Europe. No longer content to be ruled over by monarchs who claimed to rule by divine right, or appointment by God; the fledgling USA was to place the government in the hands of the governed. The idea that people should rule themselves, and that the government held power by consent of the people was a complete overturning of the old order. The phrase on our one dollar bills, Novus Ordo Seclorum, declare this to be a new order of the ages.

Constitution Day was declared by Congress in 2004, and sponsored by West Virginia U.S. Senator, Robert Byrd. I for one, am glad. We have Independence Day, Flag Day, but the actual document that established our current government, the one that has proven itself over time, certainly deserves a day of recognition; a day when school children across America learn about this document so vital to our country.

So today, let's remember to not just revere the Constitution as an historical document, but rather as a living testament to the radical concept expressed by our founders that people have the right to govern themselves.