Overheard at...

...the fireworks following an orchestra performance at Blossom:

"That would kill Jesus!"
- little girl in reaction to a huge firework blast

I don't really know what it means, but it sure was funny

New MotoQ? Might want to skip it

Ever since I got the Moto Q, I've had tons of people asking me if I'd recommend it. My basic answer has been "No, the phone is extremely buggy, wait for the new batch of Windows Mobile 6 phones with WiFi that are coming down the pipeline." (ie. VX6800,

Well, Verizon has finally released one of the new Windows Mobile 6 phones (sans built-in WiFi)...the new Motorola Q9m.

For those of you who were patiently taking my advice and waiting for a WM6 phone, you way want to wait a little longer.

While the Q9m is getting some decent reviews, I've seen others that insult the consumers who purchase this phone:

"Seriously, if you buy this phone, you are dumb."
-Gizmodo

Verizon should be able to do better than this...

Snopes conspiracy?

If like techie humor, check out the other strips on this site...they're hilarious

Simpsonized

Twinsburg ranked again

Twinsburg has been ranked again, this time in a national magazine.

In Money Magazine's Best Places to Live ranking, Twinsburg came in at #93/100.

The only other Ohio cities on the list are Gahanna, Mason, Beavercreek, Highland Heights, and Westerville.

Weekend in NYC/Atlantic City/Philly/Hershey

Stephanie and I toured the East coast this weekend as we traveled to attend a baby naming. We took a plane to LaGuardia, a van to Syosset, a train to Manhattan, a subway to China town, a taxi to Central Park, a car to Atlantic City, a bus to the harbor, a boat on the Pacific, and finally a car ride home.

I think we covered pretty much all modes of transportation...too bad we didn't take a helicopter tour...

Click below for pictures

July 2007 - NY/NJ

Buffalo / Chautauqua, NY

Pictures from Buffalo this past weekend. Stephanie and I decided to stop in Chautauqua Lake, NY for dinner on the way back to Cleveland. What a beautiful area!

Buffalo June 2007

Step away from the Wiimote!

The first diagnosis of "Wiiitis".

Where do the good cellphones go?

Ross and I both used to have a Kyocera 3035 cellphone from Verizon. I think we both agree that it was a great phone...especially compared to Ross' crappy Motorolas.

Stephanie and I were in Marc's this weekend and I happened upon the following display:



A bunch of Kyocera 3035's for $1.99 / piece. The entire box is in Spanish and the sign says that they're "Emergency Cell Phones" but it's good to see that the 3035 is still going strong :-)


BTW...I hate Marc's. Worst store ever.

Twinsburg's ranked #5

Cleveland Magazine recently released their annual ranking of the top Cleveland suburbs. Twinsburg, where I'm going to be moving in a few weeks, made it to the top 5. Only behind some VERY nice (and VERY expensive) suburbs.

Burgas Wedding

A selection of pictures from the weekend down in Cincinnati for Dave and Jen's wedding



(Click on the photo to view the web album)

New condo

Assuming no unforeseen circumstances, I will be closing on my new condo on June 18th.

It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bath in the Ethan's Green community in Twinsburg, OH.

The condo is three levels:

1st level: 2-car garage, foyer/entrance hallway, storage room
2nd level: kitchen, living room, dining room, bedroom 3, full bathroom
3rd level: bedroom 2, bedroom 1, full bathroom


See the aerial view here.

Orchard Hill Pictures

Most livable cities

In a ranking of the world's most livable cities, as ranked by Business Week, Cleveland shows up at #59! Impressive.

April Fools...Google-style

In case you missed it, here are links to Google's Hilarious April Fools Day 2007 sites:

Google Main Page April Fools:
http://www.google.com/tisp/index.html

GMail April Fools:
https://mail.google.com/mail/help/paper/more.html

Also, here is a list of lots of April Fool's Day websites.

Family Reunion in FL

My great-aunt Anita had a big 89th birthday bash in Florida last weekend and almost everyone from that side of the family attended.

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Let's Go Redhawks!!

Good luck in the tourney!

Great use of an RSS feed

I've been trying to locate a Nintendo Wii over the past week and have been frustrated that even 3 months after its release, Wii's are still incredibly hard to find. Since I don't have the time or patience to go stand in line outside of a store on a day that they are supposed to have a shipment of Wii's like some people...I have been relying on some Nintendo Wii Tracking websites to find one for me.

I subscribed to 3 different website's RSS feeds that were supposed to track the online inventory of numerous websites to alert users when a Nintendo Wii becomes available for purchase. After only 3 days of viewing these RSS feeds...and finding nothing except the silly Wii bundles that include numerous games and/or worthless protection programs or SD cards...the trackers notified me this afternoon that Amazon.com had the Wii in stock!



Luckily I happened to be sitting at my computer at the time of these alerts, because as you can see from the tracker messages in the image above, the Amazon.com inventory was depleted in only 4 minutes.

I was, however, able to get an order in during those 4 minutes and get free shipping as well. So now I have to wait for my Wii to be delivered...but at least I can stop the phone calls to stores and constant on-line checking in an attempt to locate a Wii.

Tiger Direct doesn't know Vista

I just got the following email advertisement from TigerDirect.com and wanted to extend a word of warning to anyone else who might have seen this...or similar offers.

This advertisement is for a "Vista Laptop" for $600. Sounds like a pretty good deal, huh?



From TigerDirect's description, it definately sounds like a good laptop. Who wouldn't want all of the new Vista features, right?

Notice that in the screenshot above, TigerDirect.com is advertising the "breathtaking Aero visual interface" as well as "Flip 3D".

However, if you read the details closely...or at least look at the top image, you'll see that this laptop only comes with Windows Vista Home Basic. The Home Basic version of the operating system DOES NOT include either the Aero visual interface OR the Flip 3D feature.

See the following from Microsoft's website:

You only get those advanced features if you get Home Premium or Ultimate. NOT the Basic version.

I can imagine that there will be quite a few disappointed shoppers who will order this budget laptop expecting all the new bells & whistles...only to find that they are running a stripped down version of the Vista operating system.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Stephanie threw me a surprise b-day get together for my 27th birthday.



She convinced me that we were going to a "Solon Teacher's night out" at The Boneyard. I had no idea what she had been planning until walking in and seeing my friends waiting for us.

Dan, Me, Ivan, Seth, and Jeff getting our race on. Seth won...but only because I crashed into a wall at the last turn.

Seth, Me, Ivan, and Jeff.

I even gave Dance Dance Revolution a shot. Wow, did I make a fool out of myself.

How lovely it is

The view out my window this afternoon. Ick...