For those computer kings out there, this is perfect! Too bad they are out of stock!

Cold heat soldering tool

Robosapien at ThinkGeek

JT sent me this link, and I swear, I saw this word, Robosapien, in the past 36-48 hours, I just didn’t follow through.

Thing looks cool, but not as cool as this:

Sony’s latest Aibo

Mod your 9800 Pro

This is something I ran across today, while looking up some info on Doom 3 and video cards. I wonder if my card is moddable? I wonder if I can even think of this, since I have the All in Wonder variant? Hmmm….

For some reason, even though I got at least 7 hours of sleep, I had a hard time “waking up” today. Funny thing is, I’m not the only one. Michelle, and our friend, Mitch, had the same problem. Strange, huh? How do you explain things like that?

For those of you with GMail accounts, there’s an excellent extension for Mozilla 1.4+ and Mozilla Firefox 0.8+ called the GMail Notifier.

It adds a GMail notification area at the bottom right of the browser window.

GMail Notifier 0.3.3

I can’t believe this. Mike Wallace, 86 years old, was roughed up by New York City’s Taxi and Limo coppers last night. Come on people, the dude is 86 years old!!

New York Post Story

Women wearing white masks, representing exploited faceless workers, sit at sewing machines during a protest against the exploitation of workers producing the sportswear that is marketed through the Olympic Games (news - web sites), in Athens August 10, 2004. The Clean Clothes Campaign, Global Unions and Oxfam are challenging the IOC (news - web sites) and sportswear companies to accept their responsibility to stop the exploitation. In the background is the Acropolis. REUTERS/Andrea Comas

This is one of those spams I received that had something funny in it. This was seen on the side of a highway in Racine, WI, where they make some very tasty pastries at a company called Racine Danish Kringles.

For the first time ever, I have pain in one of my joints. For some silly reason, my left hip hurts. It usually only hurts when I get up from having been sitting for a while. Once I’m up and walking or running, no problem. So, last night, I started taking flax seed oil. This is supposed to help keep your joints lubricated. If that doesn’t work, I guess I’ll have to take jointritis!!

Judo champ’s boyfriend jumps from same balcony

Apparently, this female Judo champ and her boyfriend, had a small fight. She jumped off the balcony. A few days later, her boyfriend did the same thing.

“It started about who would play solitaire on the computer.” – that is absolutely silly!!

What a nice week/end I had up at Michigan Tech for the Sigma Tau Gamma Gamma Chi Chapter’s 30th Reunion!

What went down:

Wednesday:
Met up with Steve E. at exit 131 at about 12:30PM and grabbed lunch at Freeway Fritz. Dirty… but we had to try it.
We made some pretty damn good time up there, arriving up at Tech at about 8ish PM. We stopped plenty along the way, enjoying the drive up. Once there, we checked in, and went up to the Sig Tau house to hang out. After that, we went to the Ambassador to have nachos, tostada pizza, and a fishbowl each. The fishbowl I got had gin in it… it wasn’t working out for me, so I only had about .42 of it. Oh well. Can’t win ’em all. We also saw Gene, Dee, and Schnez there. Man, Gene is one skinny cat!

Thursday:
At about 8:15, I summoned Jon and Steve to accompany me on my 5 mile run along the lakefront path. Very nice… weather was spectacular, and the company made it go by very quickly. Afterwards, we grabbed breakfast at the Suomi Restaurant and then went “Copper Country Cruisin’” near the Hancock area. We went to the top of Mt. Ripley via the back way, to try and scope out a place to do a downhill bike ride later in the weekend. <– This never worked out, as we did a downhill ride at Brockway Mountain in Copper Harbor, MI, instead. We hung out near the Quincy Mine Hoist, taking lots of pictures. We tried to pick up Jesse at the airport, but we were too late. We drove back to Houghton to hang out at the house and then snatch up Jesse. We went to Quincy’s for dinner. I had a nice steak there. After dinner, we went back to the house, where more and more people were showing up. Lewis, Mariner, Dittmer, and many others were strolling in, and the excitement of having old and new friends around was getting larger. We went to the Dog to have drinks and play darts. I had water… something was “burning me up”. I think it was the tostada pizza the night before, as Jon didn’t even make it to the Dog, and I had to hang out in the bahtroom for about 20 minutes. When I got out, the place was empty. They ditched me. Oh well. I went back to the hotel, watched TV a bit, and then fell asleep.

Friday:
For breakfast, we went to Victoria’s Cafe, once known as Marie’s Deli. Victoria seems to have purchased the place from Marie. Anyway, we had a great breakfast there, minus Dino and Steve. After this, we went up towards Copper Harbor for sightseeing, picture taking, and a downhill bike ride down Brockway mountain (4.05 miles). Steve and I did it twice. Jon reached 47 MPH. I reached 36.3 MPH. That’s pretty fast… I’d hate to take a spill at that speed, especially w/o armor on the corners of my body. After our Copper Harbor playtime, we went to Eagle Harbor and ate at Fitzgerald’s, which, thanks to Tom Phillips, is one in the same as the Eagle River Inn. Food was awesome. Service sucked. Maybe it’s because they shoved us on the back deck, and didn’t have the staff to serve the number of people they had at the time. After dinner, I decied that it’d be best to squeeze in my 7 miles, before heading to the house to party with old and new friends. The only thing bad about this idea was that I had just eaten a large dinner, about 1 hour prior to running. It worked out, but my GPS died, and I had to estimate the last 1.2 miles. I’m thinking I put in about 6.8 miles… can’t say I was upset about it. I showered up and then I headed back to the house, where there was an evening reception, with none other than Gary Tunstall at the mic, in the backyard. Now, the place was full. Entire families were there. It was like a Sig Tau party of old, but with little kids, older kids, and all sorts of brothers running all over the place. We hung there, and then went back to the Dog for more drinks. They server Bell’s Oberon there, which is damn tasty. Had a few glasses of the stuff, and then retired.

Saturday:
Woke up with a headache form a lack of water and a mixture of beer types the night before. Am I glad I ran on Friday evening vs. Saturday or Sunday morning. Went to the house for our alumni meeting. Was shocked to see so few bodies at this meeting, when there were about 5X the brothers up there. Oh well…can’t win ’em all. Good stuff, though. Dino and I are exempt from ever having to pay Alumni Dues because we host and run the Sig Tau site. After the meeting, we headed to the Houghton beach with our bikes, for our “picnic”. It was nice. Hung out for about 2 hours, tops. People seemed to have agendas, and that’s great, as the Keweenaw is a gorgeous place! We were going to try and go bowling at Miller Lanes with Lewis, Mariner, Dittmer, and others, but it never worked out. They went there to find that it was closed. We just hung out near town, went fishing a bit, and hung out at the house pretty much the rest of the day/evening. We were leaving at 6AM on Sunday, so we didn’t want to get all thrashed. We ended up hanging out in the Super 8 lobby for about 2 hours, prior to going to bed, and BSing with Matt and Debbie, Hawk and Zimmer, Rich and Keisha, and our group, minus Dino and Steve. We had lots of laughs, and we even watched a bit of last week’s Six Feet Under and a bit of Chris Rock’s latest comedy show.

Sunday:
We got out of town a bit later than normal. 6:40. Made awesome time. About 7:30 hours. Rested the whole way home. It was nice, since I didn’t have to drive up or down.

All in all, great trip.

Just got back from a very long weekend up in Houghton, MI, to celebrate my fraternity’s 30th Reunion! What a great time. I had fun meeting some new faces, hanging out with old some old ones, and getting to know some familiar ones even more.

30th Reunion Photos

Thanks, Demo, for this one:

ABBOTT and COSTELLO Buy A Computer

Remember ABBOTT and COSTELLO Jokes? Hope you enjoy this one. In today’s world, Bud ABBOTT and Lou COSTELLO’s famous sketch “Who’s on first?” might have turned out something like this….

COSTELLO CALLS TO BUY A COMPUTER FROM ABBOTT . . . .
ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?
COSTELLO: Thanks.I’m setting up an office in my den and I’m thinking about buying a computer.
ABBOTT: Mac?
COSTELLO: No, the name’s Lou.
ABBOTT: Your computer?
COSTELLO: I don’t own a computer.I want to buy one.
ABBOTT: Mac?
COSTELLO: I told you, my name’s Lou.
ABBOTT: What about Windows?
COSTELLO: Why? Will it get stuffy in here?
ABBOTT: Do you want a computer with Windows?
COSTELLO: I don’t know. What will I see when I look in the windows?
ABBOTT: Wallpaper.
COSTELLO: Never mind the windows.I need a computer and software.
ABBOTT: Software for Windows?
COSTELLO: No. On the computer!I need something I can use to write proposals,track expenses and run my business. What have you got?
ABBOTT: Office.
COSTELLO: Yeah, for my office. Can you recommend anything?
ABBOTT: I just did.
COSTELLO: You just did what?
ABBOTT: Recommend something.
COSTELLO: You recommended something?
ABBOTT: Yes.
COSTELLO: For my office?
ABBOTT: Yes.
COSTELLO: OK, what did you recommend for my office?
ABBOTT: Office.
COSTELLO: Yes, for my office!
ABBOTT: I recommend Office with Windows.
COSTELLO: I already have an office with windows! OK, lets just say I’m sitting at my computer and I want to type a proposal. What do I need?
ABBOTT: Word.
COSTELLO: What word?
ABBOTT: Word in Office.
COSTELLO: The only word in office is office.
ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.
COSTELLO: Which word in office for windows?
ABBOTT: The Word you get when you click the blue “W”.
COSTELLO: I’m going to click your blue “w” if you don’t start with some straight answers. OK, forget that. Can I watch movies on the Internet?
ABBOTT: Yes, you want Real One.
COSTELLO: Maybe a real one, maybe a cartoon. What I watch is none of your business. Just tell me what I need!
ABBOTT: Real One.
COSTELLO: If it’s a long movie I also want to see reel 2, 3 & 4. Can I watch them?
ABBOTT: Of course.
COSTELLO: Great! With what?
ABBOTT: Real One.
COSTELLO: OK, I’m at my computer and I want to watch a movie. What do I do?
ABBOTT: You click the blue “1”.
COSTELLO: I click the blue one what?
ABBOTT: The blue “1”.
COSTELLO: Is that different from the blue w?
ABBOTT: The blue “1” is Real One and the blue “W” is Word.
COSTELLO: What word?
ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.
COSTELLO: But there’s three words in “office for windows”!
ABBOTT: No, just one. But it’s the most popular Word in the world.
COSTELLO: It is?
ABBOTT: Yes, but to be fair, there aren’t many other Words left. It pretty much wiped out all the other Words out there.
COSTELLO: And that word is real one?
ABBOTT: Real One has nothing to do with Word. Real One isn’t even part of Office.
COSTELLO: STOP! Don’t start that again. What about financial bookkeeping? You have anything I can track my money with?
ABBOTT: Money.
COSTELLO: That’s right. What do you have?
ABBOTT: Money.
COSTELLO: I need money to track my money?
ABBOTT: It comes bundled with your computer
COSTELLO: What’s bundled with my computer?
ABBOTT: Money.
COSTELLO: Money comes with my computer?
ABBOTT: Yes. No extra charge.
COSTELLO: I get a bundle of money with my computer? How much?
ABBOTT: One copy.
COSTELLO: Isn’t it illegal to copy money?
ABBOTT: Microsoft gave us a license to copy money.
COSTELLO: They can give you a license to copy money?
ABBOTT: Why not? THEY OWN IT!

A FEW DAYS LATER . .
ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?
COSTELLO: How do I turn my computer off?
ABBOTT: Click on “START

It’s been quite some time since I’ve been up here. Good times. Good friends. Great times. I’ll write more later.

Love, Peter

I can’t wait. Me, Dino, Jon, Josh, and Steve E. are going up to Tech tomorrow morning for the rest of the week/end. It’s Sigma Tau Gamma Gamma Chi’s 30th Anniersary! I’m pretty excited to see a lot of old friends, as well as meet a lot of our old alumni that have been signing on to the site that Dino built for our chapter, Sigma Tau Gamma – Gamma Chi.

We’re probably trying to pack too much in, but we’re brining up our mountain bikes, possibly going a little 4-wheelin’, and basically hanging out and partying in Houghton. I also have to squeeze in a 7 mile run. Should be nice, weather permitting, along the lake and around Houghton!