9 - 2005 | ***Dave Does the Blog

Weekend update

Well, my folks were out, for the main thing — arriving mid-day Thursday, leaving early Tuesday morning. No CoH, but plenty of other fun-filled activities: Friday While Kitten was in…

Well, my folks were out, for the main thing — arriving mid-day Thursday, leaving early Tuesday morning. No CoH, but plenty of other fun-filled activities:

Friday
While Kitten was in school, the folks and Margie and I did 9 holes on the executive Par 3 at South Suburban. Well, that was the plan. Margie got stuck doing Work work, and missed out. I played pretty respectably (a 41 on the Par 27), and netted many more balls from the partially-full water hazards than I lost.

Saturday
Big fun in the morning was going swimming. Kitten was in hog heaven, and everyone had a good time.

In the afternoon/evening, we hosted the Testerclan over — Jackie, Justin, Kaylee, Doyce’s mom, Doyce’s sister, and Doyce’s niece and nephew. Randy and Stan were there, too. Doyce evidently made the mistake of lying down for a nap and never quite making it back up again. Burrito bar in the kitchen and a good time had by all.

Sunday
After church, headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park and Trail Ridge Road. Much alpine scenic beauty, with occasional glimpses of elk and moose. A long trip, but a lot of fun.

On the way home, we pinged Stan for suggestions of somewhere in Boulder to eat. He suggested Sunflower, but we decided it was a bit too … organic for us. We ended up at Trattoria on Pearl, which was duly nummy.

Katherine crashed on the way home, and after I got her upstairs to bed and to sleep, I quickly followed. It was a long drive and a long day.

Monday
Dad and I played golf at Littleton (formerly Centennial, renamed since it’s not in the city of Centennial as subsequently constituted) with Doyce. Nine holes, par 31 — and not so good results. I ended up with a 52, despite a par and a couple of bodies, largely due to a couple of really godawful holes. Driving was actually remarkably good, as was some of the chipping and pitching, but the middle game and the putting was nothing to write home about.

So need to play more …

In the afternoon, I took the ‘rents to Best Buy to discuss digital cameras. I think the plan they ended up with was to get a digital with a decent zoom on it (like my recently-purchased-and-currently-in-Africa-with-the-in-laws Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20S.

After that, Margie (who’d been slaving away on actual Work work) joined us for a game of miniature golf — which she proceeded to win at, huzzah. Kitten had a pretty good time, too.

Head home, have a nice steak dinner, watch some Nero Wolfe, and call it a night.

So, overall, a fun weekend, albeit a bit exhausting — despite being able to sleep in, I feel like I’ve been running at high speed the whole time. Back to a fairly normal schedule this week — except for taking the ‘rents to the airport on Tuesday morning, flying on a one-day business trip to Pasadena on Wedensday, and getting back into the CPG rehearsal schedule Thursday and Saturday.

Oh, yeah, and hopefully some time with Margie, and a bit of CoH, too. 🙂

Pretty in pink

Katherine at local miniature golf.this post enabled by airblogging.com….

Katherine at local miniature golf.

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Tech support

Dave provides recommendations to his folks for digital cameras and printers.this post enabled by airblogging.com….

Dave provides recommendations to his folks for digital cameras and printers.

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Generations Divided

Gloria, Katherine, and Margie at Milner Pass, the Continental Divide in Rocky Mountain National Park.this post enabled by airblogging.com….

Gloria, Katherine, and Margie at Milner Pass, the Continental Divide in Rocky Mountain National Park.

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Berthoud Pass

Day trip with the family, by way of Berthoud Pass.this post enabled by airblogging.com….

Day trip with the family, by way of Berthoud Pass.

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Dave Does the (cough) Kid’s Fundraising Solicitation

So neither Margie nor I are the sorts to go door to door ringing doorbells to raise money for stuff. But now that Kitten has hit elementary school, the fundraisers…

So neither Margie nor I are the sorts to go door to door ringing doorbells to raise money for stuff. But now that Kitten has hit elementary school, the fundraisers are beginning to come hot and heavy. So since I have this nice venue where I don’t have to actually look in anyone in the face soliciting for these things, and since our local friends who we’d be hitting up all (I think) check this place out …

It’s a bit more embarrassing than usual in the face of solicitations for money for Katrina relief. The only thing I can say is that if you are already going to be buying this stuff or spending money at places covered in the coupon book, consider this a way to redirect some of that already-budgeted money to a worthy cause (Katherine and her school). If you aren’t, then for heaven’s sakes hit the actual charity links at the top of the main page; that’s a lot more important.

For some reason, rather than pushing a single product, Katherine’s school is shotgunning their effort across multiple vendors. The following is a subset, the ones easily accessible via the Net.

Entertainment Books: Yes, thousands of cool coupons to local vendors of national chains for only $25. These are customized by ZIP code, so they can be ordered across the US (sorry, no sign that you can make them work in Canada). Go to www.entertainment.com/support and enter in Seller Number 82610.
Innisbrook: Home of gift wrap, candy, garden flags, and lots of other brik-a-brak, of which margin Katherine’s school will get a cut. Go to innisbrook.com and put in school number 103475.

We also have local “e” Books for the Denver area, but those can’t be ordered online; local people can contact us directly, at which point we’ll look very embarrassed over hitting up our friends for money-raising stuff.

Anyway, there you go. Orders due by 12 September. Again, if you were already planning on buying gift wrap, or think the coupon book is for something that you’re likely to make use of, faboo. If not, and you have money burning in our pocket, there’s folks that need the help more than Katherine’s elementary school does.

On Tour

Katherine gives Nono and Nona a tour of Franklin.this post enabled by airblogging.com….

Katherine gives Nono and Nona a tour of Franklin.

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Happy Birthday, Mist

Fourteen years old today (give or take a month or so). Been a busy life, but he’s still an active hunter and demanding tenant….

Fourteen years old today (give or take a month or so).

Been a busy life, but he’s still an active hunter and demanding tenant.

Door jam

I saw an article on this a week or two ago, but until I saw the pictures, it didn’t make much of an impact on me. The Auto Door consists…

I saw an article on this a week or two ago, but until I saw the pictures, it didn’t make much of an impact on me.

The Auto Door consists of individual slats that slide open and closed from the side of the door. Each slat is half the width of the door; each slat has a sensor. If you stand in front of the door, the sensors determine how much of the door needs to open to allow you to enter.

You may be wondering what is so great about a door that opens only just enough to let a person come in or out; it minimizes the amount of heating or air conditioning let out of a building, as well as minimizing the entry of pollen or other pollutants from the outside.

Cool. And very Warner Bros.

(via GeekPress)

Two steps forward, one step in place

The good news: I’ve cracked the 1,000 mile mark in my “Walk to Nowhere.” I will probably not make my 1,500 mile goal, but it’s going well all overall. The…

The good news: I’ve cracked the 1,000 mile mark in my “Walk to Nowhere.” I will probably not make my 1,500 mile goal, but it’s going well all overall.

The bad news: My weight has remained plateaued at 202 lbs. or so, and has been since March. I’ve managed to dip below 200 lbs. a couple of times, but almost always bob back up. Which, from an irrational “round numbers” standpoint is, at least, annoying. And it means I’ll almost certainly not make my original weight loss goal for this year (175 lbs. by 20 October).

The not-quite-so-bad news: I have not been very diligent in my Geek Diet for a month or more. That I’ve kept my weight steady during that time is actually pretty kick-ass.

On the whole, it could all be far more disappointing. 🙂

Katrina aftermath

The news out of New Orleans remains simply staggering, beyond comprehension unless one (so to speak) immerses oneself in the news. I’ve heard some comparisons between the ongoing disaster there…

The news out of New Orleans remains simply staggering, beyond comprehension unless one (so to speak) immerses oneself in the news.

I’ve heard some comparisons between the ongoing disaster there and 9/11. The differences are easy to pick out, but to me the greater similarity is with a “worse case” scenario: the detonation of a dirty bomb or major biowarfare weapon in a major metropolis.

The fact is, despite those sorts of scenarios having been discussed for years, especially since 2001, we (both the citizenry and the government) have not been prepared for the evacuation of a major metropolitan area. How do you get everyone out? What do you do with them once you have? What about the folks left behind? And what about the secondary effects of closing a major transport hub, let alone the other industries in the area? If nothing else, what are the effects on an economy grunting under $2.50/gal. gas suddenly faced with prices in the $3-4 range or higher?

I have no idea what’s going to happen to NOLA. I’ve heard folks suggest it will have to be abandoned, that it’s the Pompeii of the US. That seems unthinkable, but it is going to require tremendous efforts to recover, whatever that recovery looks like, as the days lead to weeks lead to months. Indeed the greatest challenges, to the spirit, are not happening now, but will be happening in the weeks and months and years to come, as we pass out of crisis “all hands on deck” mode and into living with what comes after.

And as I look at the disruption to the populace and the economy from this one “incident” — were I a terrorist, or military planner, I’d be taking a lot of notes.