This morning, I saw an article about how the FCC has created a new site for people to test out their broadband connections.  They want to know what types of speed people are really getting from their broadband providers (never mind that I'm sure ALL providers have optimized connections to the benchmarking sites).  So, I went to broadband.gov, ( Read more... )

So, Kris and I were chatting with onefishclappin  and krikwennavd  last night and they mentioned that they were thinking of dumping their cable service.  Like them, I'm currently using the bundled TW service (cable TV, internet, phone) and I'm really thinking the phone (in particular) is a Bad Deal.

Right now, they're charging $40/month (really $48 after taxes and misc. ( Read more... )

So, my ears are ringing.  I forgot to bring my ear plugs and the bands were a bit louder than we usually have in Austin.  I could actually feel the air move across the hair on my arm when the drums hit.

The first band, Demonica and the Darklings, were OK.  I liked their vocalist, bass player and drummer and I really liked that they had a belly ( Read more... )

Kris and I are planning on a Southern CA trip sometime this spring, so I rang my parents to see if it was OK if we stay with them.  There wasn't an answer at their house or on their cell phones earlier today, but I did get an answer later on.  The male voice said 'hello'. It wasn't my dad, but sounded oddly familiar.  I paused for a moment, before ( Read more... )

• Grab the nearest book.
• Open it to page 56.
• Find the fifth sentence.
• Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
• Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

Fun

The interesting part is that I tried to find the origins of the posting and it came from August 5th! Yup - a month and a half ago - well before the current financial crisis[*]. It's almost like... magic.

So, I've been singing at St. David's Episcopal Church for the past two weekends.  Let's see: that makes 4 services, so it roughly doubles the ( Read more... )

So, I know that as you get older that some things don't tend to work the way they used to.  Right now it seems to be my brain.

A couple of nights ago, Kris and I were Barnes and Noble and I found out that Robert Asprin started writing Myth books again (actually, it was in 2001).  He'd had some run-ins with the IRS and stopped writing until the ( Read more... )

So, Kris and I are back in Williamsburg. Just got back from spending a week down in Corolla, NC with her parents and her brother/sister in law/pair of children. I wasn't much in the mood for spending time at the beach, so spent the time relaxing and catching up on my reading.  Other than that, not too eventful.

So, I'm trying an experiment on Kris ( Read more... )

Sometimes I really like getting in the middle of a large crowd, elbow to elbow with people I don't know, all focused on something larger than ourselves. I've felt that wonderful energy in the Capitol 10k race, with 25k people. The same at the barbershop international convention, with 12,000 people all singing 'My Wild Irish Rose' in 4 part ( Read more... )

So, this article in the Statesman is the type that upsets me.  The headline, "Study: Texas same-sex couples who have kids earn less than married couples with children" takes some questionable numbers from the study and puts them on the top.  My first thought when I saw the headline was, "I wonder if they controlled for age."  Answer:  not found in ( Read more... )