January 2011 Archives

Patrick

Patrick and 29 other boys qualified to compete in the Gwinnett County Dive Meet. The boy who won first place will probably be in the next Olympics. He is that good. He's a junior and began diving as a freshman. Patrick regrets he only discovered the sport last year. Patrick came in tenth place last year at this same meet. He improved to second place this year with a score of 362.80 for 11 dives. We are very proud of him! His picture made the paper today with a slight mention behind the 1st place winner's name. He will compete at the State Tournament on February 12th. Wish him luck!

Mom's graduation photo scanned
Today would have been my Mom’s 81st birthday. I remember last year for her 80th birthday most of us braved snowy, slushy weather to go to Mom & Dad’s house for a surprise birthday party. It was a complete surprise and as usual my Mom was thrilled to have her kids at her house. Now she’s celebrating in heaven. I’ll miss her forever, but am so thankful for the time we had. Happy Birthday Mom!

Via Mom: Like model trains? You could probably observe this thing for weeks. More at its website. Since no one can really take it all in, every minute detail has to be perfect. Visitors are going to stop wherever there's an opening on the railing. Looks like an expensive production requiring constant maintenance. No idea how something like that pays for itself at the relatively nominal prices they charge.

Finally ordered a Kindle. Got it mainly so I could read in bed before going to sleep but I'm sure I'll use it at other times, too. I pretty much stopped reading before bed because I was having so much trouble creating a comfortable reading environment. My eyesight currently requires that I have a lot of light and the light has to hit the page a certain way. Paperbacks, in particular, were giving me headaches. I'm disappointed that the model I got requires a light source at night. You cannot read mine in a dark room. It does not need as much light as I was needing to read books, though, and being able to resize the print is a major plus. My vision is not so bad that I can only read the E on the chart but it's not as good as it once was. I probably could use bifocals but I still only use reading glasses. When I asked my lovely wife this morning for confirmation that E was at the top of the chart, I got the Quote of the Day.

I don't intend for it to completely replace book reading and it saddens me that, someday, readers like the Kindle and the Nook will entirely replace books. I think turning the pages of a good book is an essential life experience but publishers won't be able to stay in business making books for just the handful of us dinosaurs who want them.

I haven't bought anything for it yet. One of the things that postponed the purchase this long was the limited content originally available and the price of said content. More is becoming available and the prices are coming down. I will probably make my first purchase tonight. My eyes have sufficiently recovered from that 640-page waste of trees I finished the other night so it's time to start another. One of the things I've discovered already that I like a lot is that you can download a substantial sample of a book that you're thinking you might buy. I don't know how the samples are chosen but the two samples I downloaded last night were two whole chapters each. That will give you a feel for the story and the writing. I like that.

By the way, that's not my hand you see in that image. That hand implies that the Kindle offers one-handed reading. I've had it a couple of days now and have not mastered that technique yet. I still have to use my other hand to turn the page.

Quote of the Day

Why? Are you planning to cheat?

Patsy

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From Brett Anderson in today's Times-Picayune:

Phil's Grill

3020 Severn Ave., Metairie, 504.324.9080

610 Palace Drive, Hammond, 985.340.5225

1640 Hickory Ave., Harahan, 504.305.1705

The expanding local hamburger chain put sliders on its menu six months ago after founder Phil de Gruy noticed how well they went over at charity events. The three that come to an order more or less equal in girth what you'd get if you ordered a regular hamburger. The attraction is variety: One is made with Angus, one with alligator, one a hot sausage blend.

It began snowing on Sunday night. Brianne tried to get home around 30 minutes after it began at 10:00 and she said that people were already stuck and not able to get up hills on the main road to our house. Her friend, Kyle, drove her and her boyfriend, Patrick, to our home in his four wheel drive truck. He weaved in and out of parked cars on the road. Brianne said he loved it!

School was canceled Monday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday, then Thursday and NOW Friday. Unbelievable! I dread thinking of making it up, but I have loved having an additional week off. Brianne's boyfriend stayed here from Sunday to this morning when his business opened up. Patrick's girlfriend walked over here Tuesday afternoon from her neighborhood which is about 1-1/2 miles away. She spent two nights here. Her mother is a nurse and picked her up this morning on her way home from work.

Brianne had to go to work for a teacher workday 11AM - 4PM today. She's got the same schedule tomorrow. We have had a great time eating meals together and playing games at night. It's been a fun time, but we are all ready for some warm weather!

Snow in Georgia

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My blog friend was right. I was on the fence about reading it. Sports Illustrated's Peter King had recommended it. I almost never agree with King. As if that warning wasn't enough, my friend, Kem, was even more forceful in swaying me away from it. His is the first comment at the link. Thanksgiving at Katie's was very pleasant and the book came up. We talked about it for a few minutes. As Patsy and I were leaving, she gave me her paperback and I was on the hook.

There are three main plots in the book. One is the disappearance of a girl. The resolution was not at all surprising because what was thought to have happened to her was never convincing. The second was the discovery of an unknown serial killer. That one was revealed and resolved about 200 pages from the end. The third, least interesting plot was about a financial empire one of the main characters wanted to ruin. It was basically a 200 page epilogue and I hate epilogues. The only remotely interesting character in a book full of dull characters is The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Minor Spoiler Alert: That description and that title have no bearing on anything. It would be in the wood pellet stove this morning if it were mine. I'll gladly bring it back, Katie. :)

PS - The movie will almost certainly be better.

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