Last Boring Post of 2006

Instead of any great, lasting, earth-shattering news, 2006 will slip quietly into memory, and 2007 will silently dawn upon us. The following blogworthy items from the past few days are certainly nothing too exciting, but need to be mentioned, nonetheless. Here goes...

It seems that I experienced some tasty, new food and drink items over the holidays, including some Romano's Italian Soda (creamy strawberry flavor), some Perugina Spicchi candy (Al Gusto Di Limone flavor), and some Cott Premium Black Cherry Soda ("It's Cott To Be Good!").

In addition, I seem to have consumed quite a bit of dark chocolate over the past week, too, including a delicious Terry's Dark Chocolate Orange, some Hershey's Dark Kisses, and some delightful Valor 70% cacao premium dark sugar-free (sweetened with maltitol, acesulfame k, and aspartame) chocolate from Spain. I had to chuckle at the hilarious labeling on the latter, however:

"It Is Not A Low Calorie Food - No Es Un Alimento Bajo En Calorias"

"Excess Consumption May Cause A Laxative Effect. - Un Consumo Excesivo Puede Tener Efectos Laxantes."

"Keep In A Cool, Dry And Smellfree Place. - Mantener En Lugar Fresco, Seco Y Alejado De Olores."

We unfortunately didn't get to see Chatell and her family since we came back from Oregon a little sick and didn't want to pass along any illness.

We did manage to watch some quality films recently, including "The Private Eyes" (1981; Don Knotts, Tim Conway), "The Gods Must Be Crazy II" (1989), "Clue^®" (1985; Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Lesley Ann Warren, Eileen Brennan), "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" (2005; Tilda Swinton), "Daylight" (1996; Sylvester Stallone, Viggo Mortensen), and "Love Comes Softly" (2003; Katherine Heigl), all on fullscreen or widescreen DVD. Whew!

I also recently tried out the portableapps version of ClamWin AV. I downloaded it, unpacked it on my iPod, and ran it on itself - first thing it does is crash. Lame.

Boring Christmas Cheesecake

We attended our Christmas party at Church last weekend - it was a great dinner (and cheesecake - mmmmmm), and a fun time chatting with the Boring family (that's their last name, not their status - LOL).

The kids and Mist have been mildly sick over the past few days. Cough cough. Not horribly, though. We upgraded to Firefox 2.0.0.1 recently, which fixed some security holes.

In stat updates, we recently surpassed 92,000 miles on the car, and BodySpace now has over 24,000 active users.

We're excited to see both Miren Mattson and her family and Chatell Wallace and her family over the next few days. Chatell's family will be here in town visiting some of her husband's side of the family, so that's an unexpected yet welcome Christmas treat!   =)

Random Computing Annoyances

Windows Media Player 11 doesn't play well embedded in Firefox 2.0. (It's fine in Internet Explorer, however.) In Firefox, embedded media players often lose their toolbars (they appear initially, but disappear moments later or when clicked), thus rendering them unusable. In addition, the toolbar nearly always "floats up" when it does work. Neither one of these bugs happen in IE 6 or 7. Lame.

I was pleased as punch to notice that Firefox 2.0 fixed the annoying "can't search in a textarea" bug that older versions had, which is nice, but Firefox 2.0 introduced the even-more-annoying "clicking a link jumps you to the top of the page instead of following the link" bug. Lame.

Thunderbird Portable 1.5.0.8 doesn't do well with more than just a few RSS feeds - it gets really slow (to the point of being unusable). It also isn't very reliable with Usenet newsgroup posting. 1.5.0.8 did fix an annoying problem with displaying newsgroup messages that was quite a problem in the older 1.5.0.5 (replying to a message would not allow you quote a previous message or even display it), but it's still not completely right.

And another thing - Thunderbird doesn't truly display plain text, even on the plain text (stripping out all HTML) setting. Some of the text is bold and some isn't. (There is no bold in plain text.) Thunderbird also seems to unexpectedly close sometimes (albeit rarely) when working with newsgroups that have a large number (roughly 5,000 or more) of messages in them (like "microsoft.public.internetexplorer.general" - LOL). Frustrating.

UPDATE: Thunderbird will close unexpectedly every time if you're using newsgroups and use the "click here to remove all expired messages" feature. It then opens up a second window (weird in itself), and then both windows will disappear moments later. Yeah, that's quality programming for ya. (Not.)

ANOTHER UPDATE: Another bug with Firefox (2.0.0.0 & 2.0.0.1) is that if Firefox gets a 404 error, it just doesn't display anything. The user has no way of knowing that the page couldn't be found, it just sits there and doesn't update anything - you're still sitting on the last page you were at. This is very deceiving, as the page displayed is not what's at the URL in the address bar.   =/

Zeus's Christmas Target Peach

I watched Questar's "The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World" on VHS, courtesy of the Caldwell Public Library. To sum up, the 7 wonders were:

    The Great Pyramid of Giza
    The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
    The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
    The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
    The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
    The Colossus of Rhodes
    The Pharos (Lighthouse) at Alexandria

I enjoyed a Peach Treaty at Kèva Juice not too long ago - very tasty.   =)

I currently enjoying some Ken's Steakhouse Lite Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette salad dressing. Very tasty, also.

We attended a multidenomination church choir for their community Christmas program in Emmett at the Church of the Nazarine. It wasn't as well done as we had hoped it would be, but kudos go out to them for their effort and good intentions.

We tried out the new Nampa exit last night (the Target exit). Very nice. =)

I Love Heart Tests

Well, after some initial excitement a couple of weeks ago when I fainted (blacked out) after exercising and then jumped into a hot shower, things are back to normal.

I got to exercise our medical insurance plan a bit and have some tests run on my heart. I'm glad to report that everything's 100% normal.

I had the following tests performed:

• Electrocardiogram (EKG/ECG)
• Echocardiogram (TTE/cardiac ultrasound)
• Cardiac Stress Test (Stress ECG)

Diagnosis? A simple case of Vasovagal Syncope. Phew!   =)

Jerry's Snowtruck Juice

We had a wonderful visit in Reno for Thanksgiving. We stayed and visited with my family, and also got to spend some quality time with some of Misti's family, too. I seem to have mysteriously acquired 3 new seasons of Seinfeld to boot.   =)

The other day, we enjoyed some very tasty Kèva Juice. Having now tasted Jamba Juice and Kèva Juice back-to-back, a taste comparison was easy. And the winner is? Kèva Juice! (It's sweeter than Jamba. Don't know if it's as healthy, though.)

We got our little red truck out of the shop finally, and it drives very nicely now. And we have officially already used it to haul stuff (both for ourselves and for other people)!

Last night, we experienced the first snowfall of the season here in the Boise area. The drive home from work was fun (NOT!) - everyone was driving 20 m.p.h. on the freeway, which I felt was too cautious - 40 was reasonable considering the conditions, and if everyone would've been driving 40, I would've been home twice as fast! But alas... dang Idaho drivers. Actually, I'm spoiled because of our brand-new tires - maybe everyone else's tires were bald.   =)

Tyler Sandler's BSU Tire Pie Juice

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving meal this year once again, prepared by Tyler and Heather, down from the lake. Here's a photo of the happy cooking pair:



And here's a shot of Heather scooping up some of the delicious pie:



We also watched "Click" (2006; Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale, Christopher Walken, David Hasselhoff, Henry Winkler, Jennifer Coolidge) on DVD - a mildly hilarious film.

We recently got new tires on the car courtesy of Bruneel Tire Factory, a set of Hankook Mileage Plus II's (P185/65R14/85S). The car definitely likes the feel of them (as do we).

We watched the BSU/UNR college football game today on ESPN2. Final score: BSU 38, UNR 7. Wow, what a trouncing - ouch.

We also enjoyed some lovely Jamba Juice last night and this morning. I tried the Strawberry Whirl w/ Immunity Boost last night, and a Razzmatazz (no boost) this morning.

Ms. Ponderosa Dark

We enjoyed shopping at Penny Wise Drug Store yesterday, in the heart of old downtown Caldwell. To our surprise, it has a lower level! It's a great store with lots of unique items and gifts. =)

Last night we watched a couple of episodes of the old "Bonanza" (1959; Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Dan Blocker, Pernell Roberts) TV series on DVD.

For my birthday, Misti got me some wonderful Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Squares with White Mint Filling. Mmmmm! Also received were "X-Men III: The Last Stand" (2006) on DVD, and a classic Ms. Pac-Man game console (with other included games, like Xevious, Galaga, etc.) Fun stuff!   =)

Purple Playdough Snowman by Becky

Atomic-Spiked Turkey

I sampled a Powerhouse Nutrition Power Protein Cookie (chocolate chip flavor) a few days ago - very nasty. I did, however, also get to sample an EAS AdvantEdge Essential Energy Fudge Brownie - it was quite tasty. Mmmmm. =)

A bunch of us at work also tried some Biotest Spike Shooter drinks, and they also are very tasty. Just don't drink the whole can all at once!

I've come to the conclusion that our atomic-synchronized clock was cursed - by Brad. Everything was fine with it until Brad starting making fun of it (in it's presence) - and I think the clock heard him. It just now has adjusted itself (apparently) for the end of Daylight Savings Time. How many weeks late? Bizarre. Thanks, Brad. (Not.)

We enjoyed a nice turkey dinner with Scott, Tawna, and Bryden Larsen on Saturday night. It was nice to catch up with them, and eat another wonderful meal handcrafted by Mist! As we came to find out, the marshmallow fruit salad recipe we served was originally from Scott's mom, Janice!   =)

November Catch-Up

We celebrated Jared's birthday recently with family, and he had a great time. He enjoyed running wildly through the Corn Maze in Meridian.

We recently surpassed 88,888 miles on our car's odometer. Halloween was very cold this year, and scary for Becky, so we didn't go to a lot of houses, but still managed to get lots of candy. Jared was Mr. Incredible, and Becky was a fairy princess. =)

BodySpace, at work, now has over 20,000 active members, woohoo! Becky's school had a fundraiser, selling tubs of frozen cookie dough. We sold enough tubs for her to earn a couple of fun prizes. =)

We've watched "Cars" (2006) on DVD a lot lately. It's a great, fun film, though, and a great addition to our collection. Jim Britain lent me the 25th Anniversary edition of "Pumping Iron" (1977; Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno) on DVD. Not what I expected, but a great film, nonetheless.

I had only tried out one USB portable app (Torpark) a few months ago before Brad recently mentioned that I should try the portable edition of Thunderbird, which I have now done - and love. Torpark (a portable Onion Routing version of Firefox), on the other hand, is just too darn slow to be actually useful.

Thunderbird, however, is great. I did encounter some initial difficulties getting everything set up (MSN mail proved difficult after an already existing Hotmail account - they share the same add-on module, but require different settings), but now that it's all working great, I absolutely love it! The beauty is that I'm running it off of my iPod Shuffle, not an actual USB thumbdrive, so I've got music, multiple email accounts*, RSS feeds, and newsgroups all on the same portable device. =)

In other news, I found myself making a cameo appearance in our online comic at work, Brawn's Gym. It's killing me! I enjoyed some Nantucket Nectars Squeezed Lemonade a few days ago. Mmmmm.

Becky recently won a free Personal Pan Pizza at Pizza Hut for meeting her reading goal at school. She ate ¾ of it herself! Later that day, we checked out the new Target store north of the freeway in northwest Nampa, by the stinky sugar beet factory. Very nice (the store, not the Nampa smell)! =)

Becky learned how to do the "YMCA dance" at a ward dance we had a couple of weekends ago. She was cute! I've now finished watching all of season 2 of the new Battlestar Galactica. Now onto the webisodes and podcasts... =)

In more fundraising news, the girls next door came around selling those $1 World's Finest chocolate bars. When I was selling these back in the day, they were a lot larger and thicker than they are now. They have more flavors now, but the bar is much smaller. =(

*Thunderbird can interact with not only regular POP3/SMTP email accounts, but can also handle webmail, such as Gmail, MSN mail, Hotmail, AOL mail, and Yahoo mail.

Cars, Browsers, Podcasts, Antioxidants, and an Interview

We recently viewed the film "Cars" (2006; Cheech Marin, Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, George Carlin, Michael Keaton, Joe Ranft) at the $2 theater. Cute. I especially liked the car 'versions' of other Pixar films during the closing credits. =)

Harsh reality about podcasting - don't rely only on the iTunes Store - you're excluding a large percentage of potential listeners, as iTunes is not accessible without their proprietary software. If you want to offer your podcast via iTunes, fine - offer your feed first via a traditional RSS feed, and then add that feed into iTunes. Not the other way around, since iTunes feed links aren't compatible with any other podcatcher programs.

Two new browsers debuted this past week, Firefox 2.0 & Internet Explorer 7. Both had been in beta status for awhile, and I had tried them both out months ago. I'm happy to note that most of the problems that plagued the beta versions have been fixed in the final releases.

One annoying problem with Firefox 2.0 is that sometimes (UPDATE: nearly always - how annoying!!) when you click on a link, the browser jumps to the top of the page, and you have to scroll back down to the link and click it again. Lame. Another holdover problem with Firefox (that's been present in older versions, as well) that that when editing in form textareas, sometimes when selecting text (highlighting) you have to backspace three times before the cursor starts actually backspacing. Annoying, but not such a huge issue once you know the workaround.

Also released a few days ago was the final version of Windows Defender. I like the improved manual "check for updates" feature. In the beta versions, the "check for updates" button was always hidden on the "about" screen. In this final version, it's back on the "help" menu - where it always should be.

Some cool minor features in the new versions of the browsers include automatic spell checking in form textareas and Google Suggest automatically integrated into the built-in search bar (Firefox 2.0), and automatic smart quotes instead of regular quotes (IE 7). Nice!

I'm featured in this week's episode of Dan Gastelu's Awesome Muscles Podcast Series. Dan interviewed me (and some other top BodySpace members) about BodySpace. Check it out:

• Awesome Muscles Special Topic #4: BodySpace
• Top BodySpace Members - Interviewed!

We tried some Xoçai Mega Dark Chocolate with Açaí and Orange antioxidant bars this morning. Mmmmm. 8,840 ORAC value. =)

Eggs Benedict & the Golden Doppler

I watched the original "Battlestar Galactica" motion picture (1978; Lorne Greene, Dirk Benedict, Richard Hatch) on VHS - it was only $1.99 at the Idaho Youth Ranch thrift store in Caldwell. Nice.

Nutritional products I've tried recently have included:

• Cutting Edge Labs' NOX Surge
• All Whites 100% Pure Egg Whites
• VPX Redline Liquid Caps

I've been trying out a new podcatcher, called Doppler 3.0 Beta 2 (which is actually 2.9.5.2 though). Like a putz, I got the beta version, which is unstable (crashes a lot), so I'm gonna go back and get the older, stable version. It's a pretty straightforward, easy-to-use program, however.

We had dinner with Brad last night at the west Boise Golden Corral, and then found a couple of caches, one of which was new to us: "Don't Obstruct". Fun!   =)

Weight #2

I've only lost 17 lbs. Sigh.   =(

Weight

I've lost 20 pounds now - Woohoo!

Canton NuSquare Rockhouse

Lots of random stuff to document from the past week or so:

1) We've been catching up on season two of House, M.D. on fullscreen DVD over the past few nights. We had seen quite a few of these during the regular season, but there were a few that we missed, so it's nice to fill in the gaps.

2) We had some wonderful Chinese take-out from Canton Cafe here in Caldwell. I had the scrumptious almond chicken with water chestnuts. Mmmmm, delectable.

3) I tried a couple of potent sample products at work recently, including some NuSpeed Hardcore Energy Drink and some BSN Atro-Phex super fat burner. Wow, that's some strong stuff!

4) We viewed "Walking Tall" (2004; The Rock, Neal McDonough) on fullscreen DVD. Very cool, and based on a true story - I love it! =)

5) We've been watching way too much Spongebob Squarepants this past week, on the "Sea Stories: 10 Water-Logged Tales" fullscreen DVD. Funny stuff.

6) I've been trying to catch up on Battlestar Galactica (the new series, not the old 70's series). So far, I've seen the introductory mini-series, and half of the first season. I should finish the first season within the next few days, and then I'll be onto the second season, followed by the webisodes and the podcasts. I hate being this far behind (they're already on season 3)!

7) We consumed an entire box of Brad's son's cereal last week. Sorry, Brad, we'll buy him another box... =)

Vegas Wallpaper & Olympia Cuts

Like Bradley, I also was recently in Las Vegas. Check out my Olympia article on Bodybuilding.com!   =)

Congratulations to Jay Cutler for becoming the new Mr. Olympia! =)

Here are two photos of me with IFBB Masters World Champion, Bob Cicherillo and IFBB Figure Pro, Valerie Waugaman:







Do you have Jay's new wallpaper yet?

A Tale of Three Blogs

Things have been a little more silent than usual on this blog, due in part to the fact that I've been blogging all day at work* and am a little tired of blogging by the time I get home... LOL

Anyway, check out my two work blogs for additional fun and excitement!

• Bodybuilding.com Official 2006 Olympia Blog
  
• BodySpace Official News Blog

*Using WordPress/Lyceum - gasp!

Misti: The Rainmaker

I finished a book yesterday so Richard said I should blog about it - and some other things. I'm sure you are all anxiously waiting to hear all the thrills and excitement in my life that will be set forth below.

To begin, we stopped by a thrift store the other day and picked up a John Grisham book called The Rainmaker. I've only read a few books by John Grisham, and seen a few of his movies - so far I haven't been disappointed. So, I read the book. It was very funny in many parts and very serious in others. I found the end a little unsettling but understandable. Apparently they made a movie based on the book, in 1997, with Matt Damon starring as the the young lawyer. I'd like to see the movie now that I've finished the book.

I also watched a movie yesterday - due to a horrible pounding headache that kept me on the couch for many hours. The movie was Hatari! - starring John Wayne. My father has always been a big fan of John Wayne so I'm sure I've seen the movie before but didn't remember most of it. So, I watched it again and enjoyed it. My kids loved watching all the animals. I liked the little elephants and the rhinos. After the movie and some Ibuprofen my headache finally subsided enough that I could function until bedtime. I was grateful when the little ones were finally in bed and I could sleep off the pain.

I am pleased to say that I have lost a little over 15 pounds now and am finally fitting back into some of my smaller sized clothing. As I am not down to the weight I would like to be yet, I will not divulge my actual weight, but I am happy that it's going down. I have been running - jogging - pretty regularly which is something doctor's told me not to do in excess any more after I had hip surgery 11 years ago. I figure a few months to help me lose weight won't be harmful and I've been careful. The doctors always said, "if it hurts don't do it". So far I've only had to stop a handful of times due to pain. It's exciting for me, though, because for the first time in 11 years I'm not completely grossed out at the site of my own legs. I still have quite a bit of work ahead of me, but they are shaping up quite nicely. =)

Jared is starting to be a parrot now that Becky's in school. He copies just about anything anyone says - be it Mom, Dad, Becky, movie, music, or whatever. He says "bish" for fish, "chi" for chip, "drinka" for drink, and "sha-sha-shaka" when his 'ba-ba' is finished heating in the microwave. He also thinks it's very important to let me know that he has a poopy diaper these days. Instead of just saying "Po-po" for when his diaper is messy, he has to stick his hand down his pants and bring me his nasty, poop-covered fingers while saying "po-po, po-po". Aaahhh - the joys of motherhood! If I'm lucky, I can get him changed before that happens. But on occasion he wins and I've got two messes to clean. Lucky for me, though, he comes to me instead of deciding to try out his artistic talents on the walls.

Becky is loving school and comes home full of excitement from her adventures during the day as a Kindergartener. She already has lots of little friends from her class and talks about them all the time. She's a little social bug!

And I am also pleased to add that so far no mice have returned to our house. They have been completely gone for almost a week straight now. I am finally getting sleep again. This is my first experience with mice - and although I have learned a lot - I really don't want to go through it again. Even though some day in my future I'm sure I will. However, next time I will know exactly which brand of mice poison to get! Apparently they like some more than others. So ends our war with mice - for now.

Olmec Hercules and a Baby Toaster

We saw three mice in our house a week ago. After a full week, lots of bleaching and cleaning, about $50 worth of Tupperware, $15 worth of d-CON & glue traps, and a lost toaster^*, we haven't seen any more. (Knock on wood.)

Lots of archeological news this week, including the Olmec writing stone, and the fossilized 'Little Lucy' baby.

I watched a super old 1960's TV version of Hercules on DVD, but the two episodes included on the disk featured two different actors... Hmmmmm. Anyway, the two titles were:

• Hercules and the Princess of Troy
• Hercules Against the Mongols

Good stuff!

^*One night recently, it was dark and Misti came into the kitchen and flipped on the light and a mouse was on the countertop gnawing on a wooden spoon, and promptly jumped into the toaster. Well, needless to say, the toaster became a coffin and is now residing in a landfill somewhere not too distant...

Buttheads and Bodybuilders

Seen on Google News - Bush and Congress are buttheads:



Here's an incomplete list of bodybuilders that have known nicknames. This list is short now, but I'll keep adding to it and it'll be pretty long after awhile, hopefully. (Note: some have two or three!)

Phil "The Gift" Heath
Phil "The Phenom" Heath
Phil "The Hometown Hero" Heath
Gastavo "The Freakin' Rican" Badell
Ronnie "Big Ron" Coleman
Ronnie "The Unbelievable" Coleman
Ronnie "The Big Nasty" Coleman
Dexter "The Blade" Jackson
"Nitro" Lee Priest
Lee "The Blond Myth" Priest
Danny "The Giant Killer" Padilla
David "Giant Killer" Henry
Mark "The Giant Killer" Tilden
John "The Giant Killer" Berry
"Marvelous" Melvin Anthony
Dave Draper, The "Blond Bomber"
Shari "King" Kamali
King "Terminator" Kamali
King "The Persian Pearl" Kamali
Jay "Cuts" Cutler
Dorian "The Shadow" Yates
Ken "Flex" Wheeler
Albert "Peak" Beckles
Larry "The Legend" Scott
Mike "Big Guns" Matarazzo
Rich "The Dragon Slayer" Gaspari
Paul "Quadzilla" Demayo
"Queen B" Bethany Carter Howlett
Janet "The Cuban Missile" Harris
Jen "Martha Stewart" Hendershott
Stacey Marie "Stasha" Kisting
Liane Marie "Diesel" Seiwald
Ron "H₂0man" Waterman
Jason "Extreme" Zickerman
Jason "Extreme Z" Zickerman
Gunter "The Gentle Giant" Schlierkamp
Gunter "The Walking Eclipse" Schlierkamp
Javier "Pop Lock" Vargas
Ahmad "Abzilla" Haidar
Ahmad Haidar "Lebanese Pride"
Dennis "The Menace" James
"The Real Deal" Chris Cormier
"Quadrasaurus" Branch Warren
Capriese "The Mutant" Murray
"QT" Quincy Taylor
Ed Corney "The Master Poser"
Paul Demayo "Quadzilla"
"Bulletproof" George Farah
Sergio Oliva "The Myth"
Vince Gironda "The Iron Guru"
Lee "Total-Lee Awesome" Haney
Bob "Chick" Cicherillo
Bob "Thick Chick" Cicherillo
Arnold "The Austrian Oak" Schwarzenegger
Jeff "Box" Long
Shawn "Sugar" Ray
Robby Robinson "The Black Prince"
Milos "The Mind" Sarcev
Tommi "Glutezilla" Thorvildsen
Frank "The Texas Tornado" Roberson
Marcus Haley "Haley's Comet"
Eryk Bui "ProBui"
Lonnie "The Swami" Teper
Rashid "Roc" Shabazz
John "The Tank" Sherman
Marcus Ruhl "The German Freak"
Anita "Rammer" Ramsey
Marika "Da Freaka" Johansson
Marika Johansson, "The Viking Queen"
Jerome "Hollywood" Ferguson
The "L-Train", Lionel Brown
Erik "The House" Fankhouser
Valerie Waugaman, "The Regal One"
Charles "RocSolid" Dixon
Serge Nubret, "The Black Panther"
Will "World" Harris
Eddie "The Savage" Abbew
Hidetada "Asian Sensation" Yamagishi

Some credit in finding these goes to Answers.com, NaturalOlympia.com, findarticles.com, and, of course, Bodybuilding.com, but many of these are simply common knowledge.

Pixel Patriot & the Fire School Pickup Blog

Last Saturday, we bought a small, red, 1975 Datsun pickup truck. It runs well, and will allow us to haul dirt and sand for the backyard. Firefox 1.5.0.7 came out today - 4 'highly critical' security holes have been patched. =)

Did you know, September 11th is officially known as "Patriot Day"? Well, now you do. Becky is enjoying school. She enjoys learning new things each day, and thinks her teacher is pretty great. =)

With the yearly Olympia drawing near, it's high-time that you check out the official BB.com 2006 Olympia group blog. What are you waiting for? Oh, and speaking of waiting, do you love Japanese pixel art? Then check out this mother of all pixel art (and be prepared to wait for it all to download - even on a fast connection)!

Uncorked Mountain Bed

Well, we celebrated Labor Day by not working. Isn't that somewhat ironic? Anyway, we actually spent the day visiting Mountain Home, ID. Not much there, actually, but we're slowly starting to venture out and explore the state, little-by-little.

The kids got new beds today. Replacing the bunkbeds they shared, there are now two separate twin beds on opposing sides of the room. Exciting stuff, I know. =)

After a couple of years of searching for it, we finally found a new copy of "Uncorked" (1998; Minnie Driver, Rufus Sewell) that didn't cost $125 on eBay! (It's out of print.) So, finally, and for only $14, I might add... we're the proud owners of this fine film! =)

Old Purple Network + Burgundy Badgers

On Friday night, I completed a 2-week CompTIA Network+ night class at ExecuTrain. In theory, I've learned enough about the OSI model, subnetting and network hardware to pass the Network+ exam - but in reality, I think I'll read, review, and take the practice exams a little more before going in...

Two funny/odd websites we've recently enjoyed: badgerbadgerbadger.com, and purple.com. Yes, they're pointless, but still enjoyable... Oh, and round 7 of Oilfight is now over. I came in approximately 25th.

Tonight, after a long three 5 years of nightly reading, we finally finished the entire Old Testament (King James Version) of the Bible. We started on December 13, 2001, and read a chapter or a fractional chapter (depending on chapter length) each night since. Yeah, it's a long book...

From our starting post:

"The Old Testament, however, has 929 chapters, so it's going to take us about three years to finish! (That's a lot of reading.) It's worth it, though, and we'll be happy to say that we've read the whole book, as many people haven't."

We recently tried some burgundy olives - but we're not fans. Yes, we love green ones and black ones - but the burgundy ones, no. They taste kind of hot (spicy) and with an odd plastic aftertaste. Bleh.

Europa Oil Family Idiot Apples

We visited the Church orchard a few days ago to pick some apples. I didn't know apples could get sunburns, but they do. (You just never see them at the store.) They look like a bruise, but they're not, they're just a discoloration. Still tastes fine. Mmmmmm.   =)

We watched the 2006 Europa Super Show yesterday via the live webcast. We caught about ½ of the pre-judging round and most of the men's finals. If you missed the show, check out the free replay online. Congratulations to Toney Freeman on his victory!

Well, round 7 of Oil Fight is coming to a close, and I'm not doing well. I'm still battling for the #25 slot. I did much better last round. Sigh.

We had a nice family visit this past from Darlene and Bonny. They came up to spend a few days, and hang out before school starts. They also enjoyed the orchard and the State Fair (as mentioned in a previous post) with us, amongst other fun activities.   =)

Oh, and I'm an idiot about the Google ad problem I mentioned in my last post, as it was just my FireFox Adblock extension filtering out the ad. Duh.

Newcombs Pass Basque Pluto Gas

A few weeks ago, we enjoyed visiting the San Inazio Basque Festival in Boise and meeting Terri Lamb, a distant family member on Misti's side. It was very hot that day, however, so we didn't stay too long.

We also enjoyed having the Newcombs (Chris, Sarah, and Aiyana) over for dinner recently. We enjoyed a great dairy-free dinner (for the most part - Sarah, would you like a glass of milk with that?), and played "It Came To Pass". Good times.

Something weird has happened with my Google Ads (AdSense) box on the sidebar. Everything's fine in Internet Explorer, but it doesn't seem to want to display in FireFox. Nothing has changed on my end, so Google broke it. Sorry.

Gas prices are sure high lately (even more so than usual), at an average of $2.99/gallon. Ouch. And if stellar gas prices aren't enough, it now appears that there is some debate over the new, proposed classification of planets. Instead of going from 9 to 12 official planets in our solar system, we may kick out Pluto, and revert back to only 8. Which would you prefer?

Uma Brimley

We watched two new movies (new to us, anyway) over the past couple of nights: "The Avengers" (1998; Sean Connery, Uma Thurman, Ralph Fiennes), and "A Place To Grow" (1994; Wilford Brimley), both on fullscreen DVD. In all actuality, they were both kinda weird. I guess that's why they were in the cheap bin, hmmmm.

Fair Edge Walls

Well, my cheap Wal-Mart "geek" calculator watch unexpectedly took a dump this past week, so it's now comfortably installed in the local landfill. In a freak turn of the wheel, I reached exactly 85,000 miles (136,794.24 km) on the car odometer as I pulled into the garage a couple of nights ago.

We watched "The Cutting Edge 2: Going for the Gold" (2006; Stepfanie Kramer, Oksana Baiul, Christy Carlson Romano, Ross Thomas) on fullscreen DVD recently. It's a good sequel to the original, even though the original actors aren't in it. (The replacement actors are a good match.)

Misti has painted the house interior over the past 2 weeks. Replacing the stock white walls are now the following colors: royal blue (master bedroom), banana yellow (kids' room), pink (extra room), burgandy (living room), and beige (kitchen). Very colorful! It's funny to see how color can increase or decrease the apparent size of a room.

We went to the 2006 Western Idaho State Fair yesterday in Garden City. Wow - lots of smells! (Bleh.) And the sheer amount of unhealthy food walking around on sticks was absolutely puke-forming. I couldn't believe all the people just going crazy over the "bucket of fries" and foot-long corn dogs. Combine that with the hot, steamy cow patties, and the sweaty B.O. wafting around, and it's quite the experience on a hot day.   =)

Opera Planets

Here's a funny screenshot from the Opera browser update checker:


It's actually supposed to be Opera 9.01, not 90.1... Opera 90 will hit when I'm approximately 60 years old!

In cool astronomical news, three new planets/plutons will soon be officially added to our solar system roster (for a total of 12 instead of the historic 9): Ceres, Charon, and Xena. Nice.

OpenIHOP Hendricks MooZoo

On Saturday, after having an enjoyable breakfast at Perkins (including a free birthday slice of peach pie for Mist), we enjoyed the zoorific offerings of the Boise Zoo. The kids loved the animals, of course, especially the penguinos.

We also did some shopping on Saturday in downtown Boise, including grabbing some delicious ice cream treats from Maggie Moos, including one very delicious Strawberry Fields Fruit Smoothie. Mmmmmm.

We had an interesting time trying to eat at IHOP (International House of Pancakes) also - we went in, were promptly seated and given menus, and that was it! We sat for ½ hour just talking and helping the kids color their menus, etc., and still no waitress to take our drink orders or anything! Very bizarre! So we walked out.

And it's not like they were short-handed or anything. Other people around us came in after we did, got their drinks right away, and even started eating. It's like we were just plain invisible. Very weird. We ending up driving around looking for somewhere else we could handle eating at, and oddly enough ended up at another IHOP down the road - but this time we actually got to order! Yeah!   =)

In other news, the Hendricks came over for dinner last night. We enjoyed a wonderful turkey meal with red potatoes, and a yummy chocolate cake ala mode for dessert. Mmmmmm.

Of interest only to techies, it turns out that OpenOffice is more susceptible to virii than MS Office. Super lame - although not surprising, really.

BodySpace!

So, we launched a new feature at work, called BodySpace Beta. Check it out - it's like MySpace on steroids! Here's my profile.   =)

Brad Loves Juggling!

Gorilla Tough?

GuruSpace Alpine FireSalsa

Random thoughts: MySpace has been down and then buggy over the last few days, apparently because of some heat-related power outages and poor data mirroring planning in Los Angeles. Lame.

I tried some sample packets of some new protein powders recently, Wellements Pro Blend 55, both the Alpine Vanilla and the Strawberry Twist flavors. Love the vanilla, but the strawberry is yucky.

Firefox 1.5.0.5 is out. Luckily, I didn't have any issues with extensions or themes not working after the update, but I know people who did. Oh, well.

I'm mentioned in this Internet Retailer article about Bodybuilding.com podcasts - as a "Web 2.0 guru"! Heh heh.

Have you tried Sam's Choice Southwest Black Bean & White Corn Mild Salsa yet? Wow, it's quite tasty - and this is from someone who doesn't normally even like salsa! Mmmmm.   =)

B Vitamins

Here's a list of B vitamins, with their associated names, for my own reference (since I tend to forget these easily). The ones crossed out are no longer considered "true" vitamins. All the B vitamins are water-soluble. The common (accepted) ones are in bold.

"B" Name	Real Name	Purported Purposes
Vitamin B-1	Thiamine	B-1 helps the cells convert carbohydrates into energy. Supposedly also helps keep mosquitoes away, but this is apparently unconfirmed and most likely just urban myth. Is essential for the functioning of the heart and for healthy nerve cells, including those in the brain. Also helps the body cells convert carbohydrates into energy.
Vitamin B-2	Riboflavin	Body growth and red blood cell production. Similar to thiamine, it helps in releasing energy from carbohydrates.
Vitamin B-3	Niacin	Niacin is often prescribed by doctors to help reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. Also helps maintain healthy skin and nerves. It is also important for the conversion of food to energy.
Vitamin B-4	Adenine	???
Vitamin B-5	Pantothenic acid	Metabolism of food, synthesis of hormones and cholesterol. Apparently helps clear up acne, as well.
Vitamin B-6	Pyridoxine	Helps the body use ingested protein, aids in the formation of red blood cells and in the maintenance of normal brain function. It also assists in the synthesizing of antibodies in the immune system.
Vitamin B-7	Biotin	Metabolism of proteins and carbohydrates, synthesis of hormones and cholesterol.
Vitamin B-8	Ergadenylic acid	RNA synthesis, as well as ADP and ATP synthesis. Helps break down food into energy and supports hormone functions.
Vitamin B-9	Folic acid	Synthesis of DNA, production of red blood cells, and prevention of birth defects.
Vitamin B-10	Para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA)	Protects the skin against ultra-violet radiation. Also helps with the breaking down of protein, and maintaining intestinal flora.
Vitamin B-11	Pteryl-hepta-glutamic acid	???
Vitamin B-12	Cyanocobalamin	Important for metabolism, formation of red blood cells, and maintenance of the central nervous system.
Vitamin B-13	Pyrimidinecarboxylic acid	???
Vitamin B-14	Pterin phosphate	???
Vitamin B-15	Pangamic acid	???
Vitamin B-16	Dimethylgycine	???
Vitamin B-17	Amygdalin	???
Vitamin B-18	???	???
Vitamin B-19	???	???
Vitamin B-20	Carnitine?	???
Vitamin B-21	???	???
Vitamin B-22	Aloe Vera extract?	???

Inositol and Choline Bitartrate are also related to the B vitamin family (inositol is sometimes dubbed vitamin B_m). Choline is good for enhancing memory and brain function. Inositol is used for the breakdown of fats and reducing blood cholesterol.

If you can help me fill in the missing information, please do share.

Food Car Beta Bars

In car news, we recently surpasses 82,000 miles on the odometer. In food news, I've recently tried the following tasty items:

• ISS OhYeah!® Protein Bar (Peanut Butter & Strawberry flavor)
• MuscleTech Meso-Tech Complete MRP bar (Peanut Butter Chocolate flavor)
• Xyience Xenergy energy drink (Cran/Razz flavor)
• Promax energy bar (Honey Peanut flavor)

I recently upgraded from IE 7 Beta 2 to IE 7 Beta 3. They still haven't fixed the toolbar issue, however. Sigh.

I was recently introduced to a funny IT-related comic strip, called "User Friendly". Check it out if you're technically inclined.

Cold Old Septic & the Newcomb Fireworks

We spent the better part of two Saturdays ago having our septic tank (well, technically, it's not a septic system because there is no leach field, but it's a lift tank or holding tank) pumped because there is apparently a sewer pipe blockage down the street, and our lift pump has burned out because of it. Not so nice.

At the same time I was worrying about the sewer, our air conditioning (A/C) started acting funny (or smelling, rather). After calling a couple of A/C guys about it and getting the standard (and unwarranted, I might add) lecture about how nobody ever changes their filters, I discovered the problem myself - standing water in the ducts.

There was about 2 or 3 quarts of water in the ducts just in front of the first register. I noticed it when the A/C was on because the force of the air rushing past it was creating ripples. I stuck about 10 dry towels down there and pulled them all back up soaked. Once I got the water out, by golly if the air flow didn't double and the funky smell disappeared! Dang condensation!

I have finally accumulated 1,000,000 neopoints in Neopets! I'm now the proud owner of a Millionaire Platinum bank account at the Neopets Bank! Gotta love Neopets!

We invited Chris and Sarah Newcomb over for some BBQ pork chops the next Sunday. Their little baby (Aiyana) thought Becky was just hilarious jumping around making faces at her. We then were treated to some ribs and smoothies at their house just a few days later - great stuff!

Becky and Jared enjoyed watching the fireworks on our street on the 4th. Becky and I did a small test run a few nights before in our driveway with some leftover fireworks from last year (that we bought in Susanville, CA) that we could never use (being illegal in NV). We then headed over to Rocky Mountain Fireworks & Fur Co. (the big yellow building off of exit 26), and grabbed a few more for this year. Fun stuff - I think we only had one dud out of the whole bag!

Status update: in our multi-year quest to read through the complete Old Testament, we now are getting close to finishing. We have recently completed Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, and Joel, and Amos. =)

Ryan's Danko Film

We watched two movies recently. "Transporter 2" (2005; Jason Statham), but it contains too much language, frankly, and contains some definite immodesty, but it's a sweet car flick, especially if you enjoyed the first one. Can't recommend it, though.

"King Kong" (2005; Jack Black, Andy Serkis) was the other one. Wow, this one is way too long - and it also contains too much language. Overall, a definite snoozer. The dinosaurs and the nasty bug parts were the only redeeming 10 minutes of an otherwise long and boring 3-hour long dud.

It's been pretty hot lately, with high temps in the low 100's over the past couple of weeks. With the high temps, however, comes lots of subshine, which led us outdoors to do some more caching. More on that later.

We'll, it turns out that my friend Ryan DeLuca is officially cool. He was featured by Inc. Magazine as # 5 of the Top "30 Under 30" - a list of the coolest young entrepreneurs in America. Nice.

I heard some interesting Danko Jones tunes lately on several podcasts from their new "Sleep Is The Enemy" album. It's not the worst music I've heard lately. I can't figure out why so many people like them, though - they're not that good.

Glucerna Aim Bowling Up QuickFusion Patches

I tried some Nutrivation Super Speed (Berry Fusion flavor) the other day, not bad for an energy drink. Here's a hilarious site you can go to to check on the Internet's uptime.

I tried some Glucerna weightloss shake that I found in our fridge the other day. Not bad! About our new fence, we love it, but alas - three sprinker heads made it onto the wrong side of the fence...   =(

I recently polished off a tube of Aim Multi-Benefit toothpaste. I liked it so much, I got another tube, in fact. On Saturday, we enjoyed helping out at the Memorial Park cleanup and painting service project. We had a pretty good turnout, and some tasty food at the end, as well. Mmmm. We then enjoyed some bowling at Mason's birthday party.

The sad thing, however, is that I lost to Jared. In fact, everyone lost to Jared. The scores were thus: Misti 89, Becky 97, Richard 99, Jared 100. That little stinker!

The best-kept secret on the Web is that you can still get a standalone version of Quicktime (without iTunes). See, aren't you glad you read this blog?!

Speaking of Apple, I failed to mention that Apple recently (a month ago) released 31 patches for security holes in OS 10 and another 12 for holes in Quicktime. Good, but OUCH - that's a LOT! So much for Apple's so-called security...

Stomach Goji Talking Flexible Fence

Wow, it's been a long time since I last blogged. So many blogworthy things have happened, it's nearly overwhelming to try and type it all out. Where to begin...?

Well, we had a 6' cedar privacy fence installed around the sides of the house (there was already one in the back), so now the kids have a safe, dog poop-free place in which to play. In addition, we installed the swing set (a blue Flexible Flyer Slide-N-Swing that Neal & Marta gave the kids - thanks!) and also a sandbox, so the kids are in heaven! Now, if there was only a way to get rid of the mosquitos...

We had all fallen ill for about a week recently, Misti with some sort of a strep throat-type of deal that was knocked down with antibiotics, while the rest of us poor slobs all got a stomach flu. Not a fun time. But, we're all back to a healthy state now, and enjoying the wonderful, sunny, and hot summer-like conditions outside these last few weeks (except for the one day last week during which we saw torrents of rain and marble-size hail!).

Becca had a birthday recently, and she finally got the Dora's Talking House that she's been wanting for so long! She enjoyed having her grammy and grampa come up to visit, and misses them now that they're gone again.

We tried out some wonderful Trace Minerals Ultra Mangosteen juice (mangosteen and goji berries). Mmmm, tasty and healthy! I'll blog more later on today, so watch for it! (This is just the tip of the iceberg!)

OpenAdobe Boondocks Security Source

We celebrated Becky's birthday at Boondocks in Meridian on Saturday. Mini golf, bumper cars, and bumper boats made for an exciting albeit wet afternoon! Idaho pizza and a great birthday party with wonderful gifts rounded out the evening's celebration. Thanks to everyone involved!

In recent software patches and security flaw news, Adobe Reader 7.0.8 has been released, as well as 12 new security flaws being patched with Firefox 1.5.0.4. (I don't think anyone's still believing all that "Firefox is the most secure browser" hype anymore...)

Adobe is just being stupid, not letting Office have PDF exporting capabilities, although there will be a free plug-in available to enable that key functionality. Adobe is lame! (Meanwhile, the rest of us just use OpenOffice to do the job. Of course, OpenOffice has security holes, so...)

Okay, I know everyone already knows this, and has already complained about it, but why is it that Firefox can't properly view the source code of a page? It's always got to try and change things like adding extra font tags and closing tags, thus showing you something other than the real source. UPDATE: this only happens when viewing selection source, not just page source. Very weird.

Captain Echometer & The Oily Commute

I enjoyed listening to some Echoes on the radio during the commute. Not bad. They also have a podcast, very cool. Our car has now surpassed 80,000 miles on the odometer. Sigh.

We tried out and like the new Cap'n Crunch Chocolately Peanut Butter Crunch cereal. (It's apparently so new it's not even on their website yet!) Mmmm.

Well, it appears that the 6th round of Oil Fight isn't over yet... it was supposed to end last night at 10:00 p.m. MDT, but I woke up this morning, and it's still going and people are still playing, and the scores are changing, so... maybe I've still got a chance to break back into the Top 15 (I'm currently sitting at 16). Jury's still out on this one.

Coda

Well, come to find out, we missed the coda at the tail end of the X-Men 3 credits, but have since read about what we missed.

Invisible Spam Gnats

We visited François Payette Park (in Payette, of course) yesterday for a picnic, which would've been nice were it not for the swarms of gnats! They seemed to be immune to bug repellant spray to make matters worse. Crazy.

Here's an interesting site: SpamOrHam.org. Read through Enron's public record email! To be sure, they are wishing they had an invisibility cloak!

X-Chocolate Flaw

As far as audiovisual entertainment in the past few days, we enjoyed "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (2005; Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Christopher Lee) on VHS, and "X-Men 3: The Final Stand" (2006; Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, Famke Janssen, Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellen, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Anna Paquin) at the Edwards Cinema in Nampa. Great stuff!

A huge security hole has been found in Symantec A/V software, which could enable a zero-day worm exploit to compromise millions of computers. Ouch.

Festschrift Chainsaw

Not a whole lot has been transpiring over the past few days, but there have been two notable exceptions: Brad is composing a festschrift (just to be able to use the word festschrift, of course), and I grabbed a dull chainsaw and helped saw up some tree branches at Doug Gonser's place. That's me, a lumberjack.

Long Lost Persons

The following is a list of people I haven't heard from in a million years (give or take). If your name is on the list, drop me a line!

Tiffany Fox
Melodie Raymond
Staci Riebe
Dennis Presley
Ken Cohen
Joe Goodrich
Gina Myer
Brandy Harman
Breanna Harman
Stephanie Laurie
Natalie Laurie
Traci & Cory Hurrle
Aharon Burton
Scott Myler
Dana Larkin
Kathryn Romney
Jason Richardson
Doug Pulse
Derek Wentz
Sheralsa Cerise
Dieula Bamus
Becky Cluff
Erica Hampton
Amy Barnet
Shelley Kidder
Faith Mackerness
Femia Durosinmi
Carla Pelersells
Jason Richardson
Dennis Spratling

This is not, of course, a complete list by any means - just a few names off the top of my head that I wondered what they're up to these days. If your name is not on the list, please don't be offended - just my wonderful memory at play! Yes, I realize that ½ of these people got married and their names have changed, but it's hard enough for me to remember first names, let alone last names, especially when they change!

On a related note, it was great to hear from Phyllis Clark in South Africa this morning. She's freezing down in the southern hemisphere's near-winter weather these days, especially living in a place with no heat! Keep warm, Phyllis, bundle up!

Heath Camel Trail & Quizno's Tennis Butter

I tried a Chef Jay's Rage Extreme Peanut Butter protein bar on Friday, but I can't say I was too impressed.   =(

We did, however, have a wonderful lunch yesterday at Quizno's. I got the Roadhouse Ranch Salad and, mmmm, it was tasty!

I also got to watch about half of the 2006 New York Pro Webcast yesterday. I can't believe Phil Heath won again (two shows in a row - not bad for a rookie)! I didn't see that one coming, as I thought Darrem Charles was going to win this one.

We found 4 geocaches yesterday during a nice hike at Camel's Back Park in Boise:

ALWAYS DARK
Lower Hulls Gulch Trail # 1
Lower Hulls Gulch Trail cache # 2
Camel's Back Park

We rounded off the evening last night by playing some tennis with the kids at Luby Park. Had the courts to ourselves. Nice.

Shari's Dark Japanese Text Movies

We've viewed a few films lately, including "Oscar" (1991; Sylvester Stallone, Art LaFleur, Kurtwood Smith), the hilarious "50 First Dates" (2004; Drew Barrymore, Adam Sandler), and "Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous" (2005; Sandra Bullock, Regina King, Dolly Parton, Treat Williams). Fun stuff.

We enjoyed a wonderful supper at Shari's Restaurant last night in Boise. I had the Salmon Caesar Salad - I highly recommend it!

In assorted random news, I am enjoying some Hershey's Dark Sticks, Firefox can't search for text within form textareas (but IE can, sigh...), and this has got to be the weirdest Japanese game show ever!

Marilynn Heath's Dwarf Mother's Smartdrive

Misti recently exhumed then replanted our two Dwarf English Boxwood shrubs after getting a truckload (literally) of fill dirt in the front yard. We think she's allergic to dirt, however. Hmmmm.

The kids gratefully received some CD's from Marilynn Miller yesterday, including a great Mozart CD for kids, entitled "Music for Children, Volume 2: Relax, Daydream & Draw" that's very nice (even for adults).   =)

Congrats to Phil Heath for winning the 2006 Shawn Ray Colorado Pro/Am Classic yesterday! I had predicted that he would win, and I was right. Not only that, but I had also voted for him to win the Fan's Choice award, and that came true, too!

We tried, and are thoroughly enjoying, Kellogg's Smart Start Antioxidants cereal - very tasty! Speaking of food, we participated in the Post Office's Stamp Out Hunger food drive yesterday. I wonder who else does this - do most people? Did you?

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!

Colorado, Asian, & Belgian Sewer Protein Meal

Lots of digestive news today. First off, Becky enjoyed a nice Happy Meal, and instead of the stupid paper bag, they're actually back to the much more satisfying cardboard box, which she had fun coloring. Plus, Happy Meals have a new website all of their own. Nice.

Secondly, I enjoyed the new McDonalds Asian Salad with accompanying Core workout DVD, featuring Maya.

Thirdly, Becca loved getting some Goldfish stickers in a recent package of the bite-size snacks. They, too, also have their own dedicated Goldfish games website. Nice.

Fourthly, we recently finished a 5 lb. container of Dymatize Mega Milk (Chocolate Milk flavor). We're now on a 5 lb. jug of IDS Multi-Pro Whey Isolate Protein (Belgian Chocolate flavor). The Mega Milk had a weird taste to it - I got used to it, however, but the IDS is quite nice, and seems to mix better in cold milk.

On the tail end of our digestive news, our SJE-Rhombus Tank Alert XT sewer alarm went off a few days back, and we're in the middle of trying to have the problem fixed (for free since we're in the warranty period). Stinks.

I'm going to try and watch Shawn Ray's 2006 Colorado Pro/Am Classic live webcast tonight - you should, too!

X-Men: The Last Stand

Have you seen the new 7-minute high quality "X-Men: The Last Stand" sneak peek yet?! Check it out. Wow!   =)

Teriyaki Statesman Mothercard #14

The Idaho Statesman ran a great article on geocaching the other day. Check it out.

Misti made the most wonderful dinner the other night, "Honeyed Chicken Teriyaki" (Great American Recipes, Group 5, Card 1). Mmmmm!

Oil Fight status report: I briefly enjoyed moving into the #14 slot, but was quickly bumped back to #15. These guys and gals are good! Here's a screenshot of my brief #14 status:


Click image for larger version (1280x960, 31.9 KB)
Mother's Day is nearly here, go buy a card! Quick!   =)

Raspberry WebEx15 French Blast Cache Toast

I've attained the rank of #15 in Oil Fight over the weekend. It's been a tough spot to retain, however, as the guys with whom I keep struggling are nearly as tenacious as I!

I tried out the WebExOne intranet app last week, but seeing as how it's not compatible with Outlook 2003, it gets a "thumbs down" from me.   =(

We found the following 7 caches on Saturday:

Church Rocks!
The Guard
uncle rog
Manchester Sunrise
1/10 Of A Mile Away
Graduation Honoree
Not Us

We've been trying out some new cereals recently, including French Toast Crunch, Strawberry-Blasted Honeycomb, Cocoa Cool, and Post Selects Maple Pecan Crunch. Mmmmm.

I also love a new salad dressing, Newman's Own Lighten Up! Light Raspberry & Walnut Dressing. Mmmmm.

Cocoa Security Milk Title 1.5.0.3

Randomness: I'm now ranked #17 in Oil Fight, and Dave has progressed to #27 now. Firefox 1.5.0.3 came out yesterday, fixing a security hole. Nice.

I added the blog entry titles to my blog template now, something that the RSS feed users have been enjoying for awhile. Now you can enjoy them, as well!   =)

Well, the jury's in on Becca's cereal preferences. In a split decision between Cocoa Pebbles vs. Count Chocula, she prefers Count in milk, but Pebbles dry. Personally, I mix the two in milk. Mmmmm.

Sony Sucks Pacman Turnip

Here's another reason that Sony sucks so bad - they're screwing the artists out of their rightful money. Boycott Sony, people - for the good of the planet!

I really enjoyed consuming the best turnip (Brassica rapa rapa) yesterday. Every once in awhile, you just need a really good turnip, ya know?! Mmmmm. Oil Fight update: I'm now in the top 20 (#19), and Dave has progressed to #28. And Oil Fight also has a free Pacman game, too. Did ya know?

Blackjack Munk Oil Sketch

I have just three trivialities to share this morning. First off, I'm now ranked #21 in Oil Fight, with only a month left. I'd like to break into the top 10, but that should be really hard - we'll see, though.

Secondly, I've been enjoying listening to some great [munk] tunes on the ol' iPod lately. Great stuff!

Lastly, Google announced another free software offering - this time a 3-D modeling package for home improvements! Check out Google SketchUp.

MyTunes Red Vicious Salad Fiesta Cruise

I learned a new trick last night: just replace any podcast feed's "http://" with "itpc://", and it'll instantly work in iTunes. Crazy. I've read that it wasn't always so easy. I have to now smirk at the variety of methods I've seen people try to figure out a way to get podcasts to be subscribable in iTunes:

itpc://
http://...?format=pcast (with an external ######.pcast file)
pcast://
Super long phobos/webobject/store URL

Such confusion! For more info, see the iTunes Podcast Specs. Obviously, this is only for iTunes users - everyone else can continue to subscribe the normal way using regular, more accepted, standard podcast feeds. Why does Apple have to make it so hard??

Scott, J.P., Will, and I had lunch yesterday at Red Robin. I immensely enjoyed the Fajita Fiesta Pollo Salad. Mmmmmm. I highly recommend it!

It's funny how some people register for online accounts using fake email addresses, because I've had several registration confirmation emails sent to me recently that I didn't sign up for, containing complete login information (name and password). (I do have to admit that I used to use a fake address for registering RealPlayer back in the day, but since they now allow you to skip the registration, there's no need.) I've received other people's passwords for MySpace accounts, and even one this morning for the Australian Fantasy Football League. There have been others in the past, as well. Bizarre.

I just learned that Mrs. Harridan's name in "Daddy Day Care" is quite fitting because "harridan" isn't just a name, it's a word which has its own meaning: "a scolding, vicious woman". It's today's word of the day!

Apparently, there is some debate on what Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' baby girl's name means. "Suri", her name, might mean "red" or "party" or "red rose" or "princess or noblewoman" or "beautiful red rose" or "mirth". It's believed to be Hebrew or Persian in origin, but people in those areas of the world have apparently never heard of the word... Funny.

Krusteaz Loves Judas Fight

I received this email a couple of days ago, in answer to one of my previous posts (from 4 years ago):

"Hi Richard,

I am the son of the owner of Krusteaz (Continental Mills, Inc.) Krusteaz is pronounced Crust (as in pie "crust") and ease (for easy) - Krusteaz. Hope this helps.

pheily@conifer-inc.com"

Well, I don't know if it's fake or not, but the explanation should help those who've been mispronouncing it. (Looks like I was one of them!) Thanks, son of the owner! Here's an interesting article about the "recently discovered" Gospel of Judas.

Tyler at work and I spoke briefly with Brother Love on the phone last week. Does that make me famous?  =)  In game news, Dave finally broke the 30 barrier this morning by hitting the #29 spot, while I finally broke into the #23 spot in Oil Fight! Go us, it's our birthdays! (No, not really.)

SSS (Submerged Subway Snake)

We spent a few hours in Oregon yesterday (just over the line in Ontario). Bizarre little town, with a definite old side and new side. It's cool that the speed limit is 75 m.p.h. all the way there, though. It looked like the Snake River is flooding in parts, as we saw a submerged rest stop from the freeway!

After catching ½ hour or so of "Spice World" (1997; Elvis Costello, Geri Halliwell) on T.V., we left and enjoyed some wonderful sandwiches at Subway. Of course, I didn't know that "everything on it" included cucumbers - yucka!

Mac, Linux, Mac

It's been confirmed: Mac's are not secure. Tom Ferris just revealed 7 highly critical security holes in Mac OS X - for which there are no patches or workarounds yet available. Ouch. Maybe it's time to run Linux on your Mac!

Chinese Easter Oil Icefox Gas War Linux Virus

We've spent a wonderful Easter holiday with family, and we've also been enjoying some wonderful meals, to boot. These include a great Easter ham dinner on Sunday night by Misti, and also some yummy non-MSG-laden chinese food at Confucius in west Boise.

The kids went and saw "Ice Age 2: The Meltdown" in Nampa. Apparently, it was better than the first one, which is good because I wasn't impressed by the first one... Well, well - so much for Firefox being more secure - 21 Firefox security holes have been discovered in Firefox 1.5.0.1 (and earlier) versions. Looks like version 1.5.0.2 came out just in time...

Well, I got an email chain letter today about rising gas prices, and instead of inflicting more spam upon other email recipients, I thought I'd just post an excerpt here for your reading pleasure, since it's closely related to my favorite online game, Oil Fight, and then include some links as to why this chain letter is a hoax:

"GAS WAR - an idea that WILL work:

This was originally sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. It's worth your consideration.

Join the resistance! I hear we are going to hit close to $4.00 a gallon by this summer and it might go higher! Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea.

...

By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $2.79 for regular unleaded in my town. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50 - $1.75, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace..... not sellers.

...

For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit." [Note: ExxonMobil is now one company.]

Here's why this chain letter is a hoax:

• Urban Legends
• Break the Chain
• Rumor Mill

In hilarious news, Linux was patched to enable a virus to run. Good times.

2006 Lawn Sizzle Masters Rally

So, I ended up mowing the lawn (for real this time) with our new Electrolux Rally lawn mower. As it turns out, the weedwhacker is great for what it's designed for; and between the two, the yard is looking quite nice again.   =)

We watched parts of the 2006 IFBB Masters Pro World Championships in New York via webcast tonight. Very cool. Congrats to Bob for the win!

We had a wonderful dinner tonight at Sizzler, and now it's just about time to journey off to the Land of Nod.

Buggy Apple Lion, Fox & Salmon Calendar Wacker

Well, well... Apple has buggy software. I think it's rather ironic that Mac users are switching to Windows - without even knowing it!   =)

We watched "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" (2005; Liam Neeson, Rupert Everett, Tilda Swinton) last night on fullscreen DVD. Not bad. Also, the next film in the series, "Prince Caspian", is in pre-production. Cool.

In other random happenings, Firefox 1.5.0.2 has now been released, Misti cooked us up some wonderful lemon pepper salmon for dinner last night (Mmmmmmm!), and I mowed the lawn last night with our new Black & Decker Grasshog GH600 14" Automatic Feed Trimmer/Edger (yeah, basically it's just a weedwacker). Fun stuff, Maynard. Oh, and Google has also come out with Google Calendar. Sweet.

Bodybuilding Oil Patch #77

Well, the long-awaited MS patch tuesday has come and gone, and Windows and IE are all safely patched up and secure again for awhile.

In other news, we've now surpassed 77,000 miles on the car. In OilFight, I've now edged into the #27 spot, while Dave is back up to #34. Good times.

My 2006 Boise Fitness Expo video is being featured on Bodybuilding.com. I'm famous!

Hamburger Video Clip Pedestrian Oil Fight

Here's my video from the 2006 Boise Fitness Expo that I promised:


In other news, we finally found the "Canyon Cache F - Pedestrian" cache yesterday evening. Third time's a charm... Pretty sneaky, sis.

We had some wonderful grub at Hamburger Connection in Caldwell yesterday as well. Mmmmm, tasty. We then did some browsing and purchasing at Walgreens (they have pretty unique inventory here), and then we came home. Exciting, huh?

I've been battling my way up recently to rank #29 in OilFight. Dave somehow slipped back to #37, so I don't know what's happening with him... I've been trying to break into the top 30 seemingly forever now, and the next 10 will be ever more difficult...

Fit Expo Jay Fire Transcript Date Yosemite

We attended the latter part of the Bodybuilding.com 2006 Boise Fitness Expo last night at The Big Easy Concert House downtown. It was fairly warm and pungent inside, wow! I snagged some video, which I'll post tomorrow night.

At the expo, we got to see IFBB pros Jay Cutler and Bob Cicherillo in a posedown, which was cool, as well as the karate demonstration, The Fire Kittens (Becky's favorite), the belly dancer, and the live music performed by The SuperVapors (an awesome local band, featuring Dan DeLuca). Very cool.

General Conference transcripts are now available online. Get 'em while they're hot.   =)

I know this is dumb, but I just thought I'd mention that a couple of days ago a unique point in time passed: 01:02:03 - 04/05/06. That won't happen again for another century.

We watched a cool VHS video on Yosemite national park yesterday, entitled "Yosemite: A Gift of Creation". Very pretty. Great landmarks, including Yosemite Falls, El Capitan, Half Dome, and Mariposa Grove and its giant sequoias. Sounds like a great vacation...

Iron Bull Fitness Jerky Hail AppleXP

I've been sampling some Iron Bull Peppered Beef Jerky ("America's Fitness Jerky") over the last couple of days. Pretty good stuff. Mmmm.

It was really hailing hard last night outside - it woke us up from a sound slumber in the middle of the night. Hail on a skylight is LOUD!

Apple wants you to switch from OS X back to Windows XP (run WinXP on a Mac)! Ah, think differently.

Brad Cache Miguel Conference Atomic Visit

This past weekend has seen a few great events. We watched the 176th Annual General Conference on TV, attended Miguel's birthday party, and had Brad come over for dinner, a little caching, and to jinx our atomic clock.

Eolas Code Lame ActiveX Fish Video

Becky is all up in arms about the whole Eolas legal patch update for Internet Explorer, because it breaks Adobe Shockwave Player game pages at Nick, Jr.'s website. (This is caused by Microsoft's Update for Windows XP [KB912945].)

Luckily, I've updated my code to offset the change. Thus, here is the same video from a few days ago, this time updated with some Javascript-requiring, Eolas-stinkin'-accommodating code. UPDATE: the workaround DOESN'T WORK when the "Disable Script Debugging (Internet Explorer)" check box is cleared - like mine was. Lame.


You won't have to activate the ActiveX control in IE before seeing this video, but you will on the previous one (I left this on purpose so you can see the difference).

Peanut Mallow 007 Hole Lemun

I tried a Pure Protein Peanut Marshmallow Eclipse bar the other day. Very tasty, mmmm. There are two celebrity lookalikes in our ward that we noticed yesterday: a guy that's a dead ringer for Timothy Dalton, and a kid that looks like Harland Williams (the guy from "Rocketman" and "Down Periscope").

Another IE security hole has been unearthed, bleh. In better news, I enjoyed reading some of J.P. Ulmen's comic strip, "Lemun Drops", found at lemundrops.com. Good stuff!

Fish Park Trout Video PageFlakes

We visited Boise's Municipal Park (a.k.a. "the fish park") last Saturday upon Scott Wilmonen's suggestion, and captured some video that Brad and Mike might enjoy:

Click the play button to begin streaming the video.

If you have fast broadband (no, that's not redundant - there really are fast and slow kinds of broadband), email me for a link to the larger, longer movie.

I tried out a new web-based RSS reader/portal app yesterday called PageFlakes, and it's fairly nice! It's a better implementation of the increasingly familiar Start.com/Live.com/ItsAStart.com/Netvibes.com concept. If you're in the market for a free, online newsreader, give it a try!