And it keeps on dropping…but for how long?

I took this picture this afternoon.

We’ve never lost a fireside…

I found this rather funny.

Trying out Live Writer and cheap(er) gas

So I downloaded Windows Live Writer and I’m trying it out to see how it works with blogger. I guess I could post about gas prices. It seems to be a hot topic. I filled up for $1.49/gallon yesterday. The proof is in the picture. It’s since dropped to $1.45/gallon. It always happens that way. I kept putting off filling up the tank knowing that as soon as I did the price would drop. Oh well. I wonder how long these 2005 prices will last. What do you think?

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

For those of you who haven't seen it. It's worth sitting through.

Say UNCLE!

I'm an uncle again. Tony (my brother) and Elena had their second baby yesterday. I think the baby looks like Tony.


Here are some pictures.

Personal Space

Everyone's personal space is a little different don't you think? A lot of it has to do with culture, but at some point it comes down to what each individual is comfortable with. Some people need a few feet around them, others don't break a sweat when people encroach their space to less than a foot. Yet some, like these guys, take it to the extreme.

Does $50 = $55.71? Only in the world of FAIL!

Uh, what? Someone hasn't figured out the math yet. Maybe Target dollars are worth more.

Desde la patria

Mi amigo Mac visito a mi patria nativa hace un mes. Hoy nos llego la tarjeta postal que nos mando el 7 de Mayo desde Merida, Yucatan. Ha de ser un nuevo record. Solo se tardo un mes (31 dias en este caso) en llegar. Que bueno que no me mando algo con fecha de caducidad. :)

Mac, gracias por la tarjeta.

10K = 6.2 miles

Tara ran the 10K this morning. Check out her musings about the race here.

Mowing the lawn

Uh...I have a lawn I have to mow. Do you? It's rained often this spring and the lawn has been growing like crazy. I also have neighbors that seem to enjoy mowing their lawns. They do it way too often in my opinion. That makes it so I have to mow mine more often than I would like lest they start thinking about reporting me to the HOA.

Anyway, today's mow wasn't too bad as far as grass clipped goes. I only collected 1 1/2 bags of grass. A couple of weeks ago I had 5. However, this mow did drain what little energy I have to being with due to the humidity. I was sweating so bad that I looked like I had jumped in a pool, and that was just trying to start the mower.

So I took a nap. Did you have a nap today?

New office furniture

I didn't want to go back to the dungeon, so I decided I'd need to get some desks for the current office, formerly known as the dining room. I found a great deal on some decent looking office furniture. Here are some pictures.

The Credenza


The Desk


The lateral file




Odds are this is the only time the tops of each will be this clean. In a few weeks I'm sure my paper sprawl will have overtaken the tops.

An old favorite.

Fox Spotting

Mr. Fox was just spotted in the back yard. When he realized he was being watched, he decided to show off a bit. He got a bit of a run and jumped right over the fence. Show off!

I wonder if I can do that...

All you social bugs...here's what not to do.

Are you on facebook? Yelp? Were you lazy enough in your quest for friends that you let the site find them for you by scanning your email address book? I hope not. Here's an excellent explanation of why you shouldn't allow this. Please read http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001128.html. If you haven't allowed it, good for you! If you have...please change your password and security questions.

That is all.

Turtle Time

Big J and I went on a bike ride early this morning. There is a nice paved bike trail at the edge of the neighborhood that goes on for miles. Today's ride was probably 8 miles round trip. On the way back we saw a couple of turtles along the trail. Big J decided to pose with them. The first one was HUGE! I spotted it walking along the trail and we were still about 40 yards away riding towards it. I wasn't sure what it was at first until we got closer, but as you can see from the picture, it's a big one. The thing is so big you'd think it was a lawn ornament.

The second turtle we saw was close to where we were going to get off the trail. This one was a more normal size turtle. It was standing in the middle of the trail taking in some sun. The turtle decided to hide in its shell when it saw me stop next to it. Big J rode right by it and didn't see it. I had to call him back. This time he decided to pick it up and pose with it since it was a smaller turtle. That's the front of the turtle. He's a shy guy is all.

The bike ride was fun. The trail was a bit wet in areas and Big J managed to wipe out three times. Luckily he wasn't going too fast either of those times and didn't get hurt. The third wipeout did look bad but he turned out to be ok. He misjudged a turn and went off the paved trail edge causing his bike to slip from under him and slam him onto the trail. He made up for the wipeout by riding through the puddles as fast as he could. He came home with a muddy stripe along the back of his shirt.

Window 2, Burglars 0

Weezer, full of awesome

Pork and Beans

The Barry Gibb Talk Show

A great SNL clip from not too long ago.

Señor Electricidad

Little Man got himself on the trampoline and promptly built up quite the static charge.

Welcome to JC's Wild Kingdom

A few weeks ago I migrated from the basement and have been working by a bay window that looks into the backyard. From my vantage point I've seen a lot of different animals in the back yard. Squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, cardinals, blue jays, and a bunch of other birds I can't name. At night, the more interesting characters come out to play. A large prehensile-tailed marsupial, aka opossum, sets off the flood lights in the back yard. A few others that do this are a racoon and an assortment of neighborhood cats. There is also a skunk that makes the rounds, but I haven't seen it in a while.

One of our favorite visitors I hadn't seen this spring is the neighborhood fox. This morning, just a little bit ago, it made an appearance in our back yard. The fox trotted back and forth a few times along the back fence line, looked at me, taunted me, then squeezed under the fence and ran off across the neighbor's yard. I've also seen the fox jump OVER the privacy fence. I managed to snap a picture of it before it took off, but since it is so early, there isn't much good light outside and the shutter speed was less than optimal. With the fox roaming around, maybe the rabbits will keep their distance. One can only hope.

For Jake

This one's for you buddy!

I'll tell you where you're NOT!

Click the image for full size

Taking on the Issues

Here they are again, for your viewing enjoyment. This one is where they tackle the issues.

This Dude Abides

Heck yeah we watch American Idol. What else is there to do with a DVR? This was a very good performance last night.

You're my wonderwall

Behold the raw power of Wonderwall.

Jake the Cougar Fan

My friend Jake has arrived in France for a 6 month tour of duty for his employer. He is also the biggest University of Utah fan I know. He sent a few pictures with some Parisian landmarks in the background. I took the liberty to color correct one of them. What do you think?

Original Version:


Improved Version:


Best Version:

Round 2 Highlights: Worst (living on a prayer) and Best (I am your brother)

This guy wouldn't leave.




This guy has a man-crush on Simon.

Let My People Go!!!

If you missed the American Idol premiere last night (which I did) here is all you need to know:



There will be more tonight (which I won't miss).

Rockin' Football

I had a few peeps over last night to watch the LSU-OSU game. At half time we put on Rock Band and ended up forgetting about the game until only a few minutes were left. We had predicted LSU would win and were correct. We were hoping for a 45-10 score, but we'll take 38-24, 14 of the 24 coming in garbage time.

Anyway, here's a bit of the Rock Band action. This is a fun game!