Category Archives: Personal

Last.fm

Personal

Spending less time on the phone these days and more time “typing” for work. That means I’ve got a better opportunity to have a little background noise that’s more than dogs barking or cars driving by. Every once and a while I’d run across a blog post about last.fm figured it was a good time to give it a try. So far I’m impressed with the combination of radio, less commercials, and play lists of artists in the same genre.

At the moment I’ve not subscribed just searched for an artist and clicked “play”. Very cool and hope to learn more about it… other than what you can read here. I might be slow in getting with the times but the internet is a vast wealth of information, you don’t always find things quickly !!!!

Cheers …

The Big four O

Personal

was today… I’m not big on birthdays, try to keep it just like any other day. I can see I’ll need to brush up on my card finding skills, a few I got were hilarious. The day started off with a reality check when I went to the DMV to renew my drivers license …. there’s a lot more gray now that in 2001. It finished appropriately with Cooper chasing a neighbors cat for about 20 minutes, and Roscoe begging to join in.

Cheers !!!!

Dove hunting in 08

Personal,

Last year was my first time Dove hunting. I didn’t land many but it was a good time. This year’s trip was Sept. 11th-15th, same place, and met with similar results. The birds were flying on Friday afternoon as I was one for one with my first shot, but that’s where my luck ran out. I hit one more before we headed in and that would be all I’d get. So for the second year in a row I come home with only two birds.

Regardless of the quantity it was still a good time. Saturday came and went with very few birds getting hit by the whole group, they just weren’t flying like Friday. So I may have to brush up before next year, practice couldn’t hurt the numbers by any means !!!!

Clearing data from your old cell phone

Personal, ,

Cell phones are almost becoming disposable these days, I’ve had two or three in the last five years. Getting a new one means getting rid of the old one and something you shouldn’t forget is the data that’s on the old phone. Recycling is a must when it comes to cell phones but before just dropping it off make sure you reset it back to factory defaults, and most importantly erase all your data. That means pictures, phone book entries, text messages, etc.

You might be thinking it will take a bit of time to do all that but thanks to the folks at Wireless Recycling it’s pretty easy. On their site you can find instructions for resetting almost any cell phone, restoring to the way it was when you purchased it.

So do your part by recycling old phones just don’t forget to erase all the data first.

Costa Rica Day 7

Personal

The last day before we catch a plane in San Jose tomorrow afternoon. The sun comes up earlier here it seems as it’s shining bright at 5:30am. The crashing of the waves on the beach and room drenched in sunlight, as their is no air conditioning only screens with drapes, gets us up early as we need to be at the park early. They only let in a limited number of visitors each day and its a 15 minute walk to get there. Oh, and also the ruckus in the trees next to the room as monkeys play and search for food. Yes that’s right only 15 to 20 feet from the deck. That was another reason to get out of bed.

The walk took us pass a number of small hotels, resturants and street vendors setting up their tables by the side of the road that fronts the beach. Entering the park we pass by a family of monkeys in the trees. Once inside we immediately see a sloth hanging out in a tree take a few pictures and keep moving. It takes about 15 minutes to get to the main portion where you have options.

If you recall the picture from the deck of the hotel room that is where we are. The portion that goes out into the bay is where we are heading next, taking a trail that circles it.

We see oversized guinne pigs, iguanas, and hear howler monkeys from the tree tops above. A narrow trail takes you around and we move up and down a number of times. Alan finds red crabs in a number of areas and after paying attention a little more we see a number of them too. After returning to where we started it was only 9:30 or so. We decided to hang out on the beach for a while, being mindful of visitors (monkeys) that might wander off with things, and picked the side that faces our hotel. The beach on the other side we could see already had a number of people over there.

The surf was a little ruffer but we had the entire beach to ourselves. As the girls went in first they got a taste of the waves, a few big ones put the down a time or two. Alan and I were in next once they returned and even though the surf could be ruff, and the undertow was a little heavy, putting yourself out a little was got you out of that. Water was warm and we hung out there for a while. Kay came back out and on the way in she moved a little to slow and caught a big wave in the wrong place. Salt water up the noze takes a while sometimes to clear out. But all is well and we started our trek back to the hotel, and it was only 10:45am.

Our pace was slower going back and we stopped by a few street vendors along the way. Once back we headed to the pool for a dip and some lunch. After about an hour Alan and I had enough of the sun and headed back to the room. The decks provided a bit more shade. The girls stayed down for a while but were back up for happy hour by 5:00. After a few drinks it was across the street to La Cantina BBQ for dinner. A couple unique things about this place is they have a railroad car as an internet cafe and all the food is cooked over and open wood fired grill. It was excellent.

That’s it we are heading back in the morning. Catch a shuttle at 8:30am and our flight leaves at 2:30pm. We’ll change planes, clear customs too in Charlotte and be home by midnight. We could stay longer but it’s time to go.