Visit the kelpforest....

I took the kids out for school supplies recently - actually, the real reason was I'd told Gareth he could get a copy of a flight simulator program he'd been wanting. It was only $10, but the Staples near us was out, and they're discontinuing carrying games, so we went to the Staples near Barnes & Noble so he could dig through the bin there. They also had the PC version of Assassin's Creed for the same price - which I've been wanting to try just because it looks really beautiful (is that weird to say, for a game about a guy who sneaks up and stabs people? But it does...and seems a bit more science fictiony than I thought, too. Alas, it will only go through the introduction on a laptop and then it quits).

But we did actually get school supplies as well. While Angus and Gareth said theirs were still ok* and they didn't need new ones, Avalon did, and while looking at them, I realized I needed one too. My old lavender one was getting holes in the bottom, and I'd noticed my Federal colleagues had packs meant for carrying laptops as well. I'd been carrying both a backpack and a laptop case when traveling and frankly it gets really heavy toting both of those around. This particular Staples had a much bigger selection than the one a block from my house, not to mention them being on sale for about 1/2 price. After much unzipping and inspecting of pockets, I decided on this one, a High Sierra Swerve backpack. It actually has a well-padded, suspended pouch for your computer, to keep it from bumping on the ground when you set it down, plus media pockets, zippered pockets, pen holders, cell phone holsters, pockets galore (I think I've developed an unhealthy fascination with numbers of pockets). And it comes in purple and plaid, yay!

I had a Council meeting in San Mateo this week, so I got to put it to the test. The laptop pocket works pretty well, and there are several shallower pockets to stow cords and connectors and such. I managed to fit everything I usually put in two carry ons in it (and maybe left out a few items I seem to always carry around and don't use), and it was so nice to get on the plane, stow it under the seat and not have to worry about fitting something in the overhead compartment or wait to get it out after landing. Of course, I negated that on the way home by buying a bunch of food at the Trader Joe's (never did even go out to dinner) and bringing half of it home with me in another TJ's canvas bag.

Two things - 1) the zippers on the two biggest pockets have flaps over them to keep the rain out, however; the smaller pockets and the rear laptop zipper (which actually opens into the largest main pocket as well, just directly over the laptop pouch for easier access) doesn't have one. Doesn't it seem like you'd really want a rain flap over your very expensive electronic gear? Not that I live where it rains a lot, but I have been known to get soaked every once in while, especially if riding the bus. I noticed other models from this company actually come with a rain fly. but this one doesn't have one. Maybe a third party one would be a good idea. 2) It was highly touted on the tags when I bought it, on an obvious label on one of the straps, and even on the company website that this pack has a "suspension strap system" - without really explaining what that is (and I went to the website trying to determine that). On a little closer examination of the straps, specifically directly under the aforementioned label, I finally realized the section of the strap under the label is made of some sort of heavy duty elastic, as is the binding sewn down the strap edges. Over the elastic are loops of non-stretchy strap which I'd thought were meant to attach a carabiner or something to, but I guess it's part of that "system." While carrying it around I was unable to determine whether it really made any difference. It was kind of scratchy against my neck, but normally I would have been wearing something with more of a collar.

Anyway, it worked quite nicely and I think we'll be happy together. Oh, and I forgot, what kind did Avalon get? A pink one, of course.

________________________
* Update: after a week of school, Gareth's backpack had the side blow completely out of it after he jammed all of his take-home school books in it, and both the straps broke off Angus's.  They wound up getting this same model, only in different colors.  Hopefully, they'll last longer than the ones my spouse usually gets them at Big Lots.

Pop Quiz Science Clock :: Home & Office :: the mental_floss store

Oh good grief, people...you just sent me the email, and you're sold out already?!

I admit I am very behind in the hair product world - I basically need conditioner to get a comb through it and I have runsamuck whack a few inches off now and then when it starts feeling bristly - but this Daily Deal from mypoints.com made me scratch my head.

We're putting mp3 players in what now?

And I'm not sure why I even looked at it; I usually just delete them because even if something's a deal, I usually still can't afford it.

Wow, a 40% price increase between months for your 300min beyond talk?! Thanks a lot Virgin Mobile, at least Netflix sent me a warning first before they asked me to bend over. It's now only $5 less than the 1200 min one (used to be), which I only used 130 minutes of last month, so I thought I'd try save few bucks this month. No love. You're still cheaper than everyone else so I can't afford to go elsewhere, but that was a very rude shock when I went to top up this morning. Which now is going to have to wait until I get paid - because I think getting bread and milk instead so my kids can have breakfast this week is probably more important for this last week of the month.

It's quite interesting that it still says $25 for the lowest beyond talk plan on this page for submitting reviews. Updating the whole site would polite, don't you think?

Getting a little tired of the "We're still the best deal around even though we now suddenly cost about half again as much!" routine from some businesses lately. Not quitting Netflix either, but they'll be getting $2 less a month from me.

Edit: submitted as a review to their website (less the bending over part). They rejected it and suggested I review the guidelines which said: 1) not to mention retail partners phone prices; 2)or mention competitors. Since I didn't mention Target's/Walmart's phone prices, I didn't realize DVD rentals were a competitor of cell phones.

After buying the new laptop, soon after John had rush out and buy Hoyle's Casino, because he can't be long without a gambling game.

One of the slot machine games is called Ninjas of the Caribbean.

Angus made a character that wears a cowboy hat and a monocle.

Just thought I'd pass that along...I'm easily amused...

Ok, finish my coffee and go get something done...

Hoo boy, I am going to get wet walking out to the car when I leave. Bad day to wear Crocs.

On the way in this morning, it looked there was more snow on the mountains than from the last big, cold storm to blow through. Figures this comes after the Equinox. And runsamuck's plastic garage for his bike out back - the roof ripped right up the middle. I thought maybe it could be replaced, because the frame is pretty heavy duty and he's got it bolted to the cement pad - keep it from blowing away in the Santa Anas - but he says no. Maybe we can just use a tarp. The damn thing just shredded too. It wasn't that old.

Everything is breaking down lately. While dad was in the hospital, the dishwasher stopped bothering to get anything clean, so for the last two months it's been a giant dish rack. The washing machine is not wanting to spin any more, and this last week the dryer gets clothes warm and damp, but not dry. The oven still works but only in convection mode, and the door is wonky - you have to pull the self-cleaning lever halfway on before the fan will run and the oven stay hot.

Never rains but it pours?

Happy Groundhog Day! If we had groundhogs here, they'd fershure be seeing their shadows, as it's sunny but blowing gusty Santa Ana winds (do gophers work instead?). And by the way, Groundhog Day is one of my favorite movies.

( Dad update... )

He's also finally expressed a bit more interest in reading - so far, he hasn't wanted to, but did like it when Doug and I read short stories to him. My brothers and I had talked about going in together on a Kindle for him since he's been complaining that books, especially hardbacks, just start getting too heavy to hold up and start hurting his hands. I decided to go with a Kindle rather than a Nook because of its text-to-speech feature. If he gets tired of holding it, it can read to him. We got our tax refund recently, so I went to Staples at lunch yesterday and grabbed one for him. This is actually a really nifty gadget! Does all kinds of things besides e books! If he decides he doesn't like it, I'll keep it myself. Man, the accessories are where they get ya, though. It doesn't have a backlight, so if you want to read where it's dim, you need a light for it and also a cover to keep it from getting wrecked. It was about the same price for all of them separately or a nice leather cover with an integrated light that actually runs off the Kindle battery ($60). And I suckered for the extended warranty, too. John always tells me they're not worth it, but we're hard on batteries and we're hard on gadgets.

I played around last night, looking for some free James Fenimore Cooper to put on it for him, and also found I could forward Word and PDF documents to it, so I tested that out with the thresher sampling plan proposal I need to make comments on. Pretty cool!

Apropos maybe: Seven Ways Electronic Books Can Make Us Better Readers. by the CEO of Levenger (I like to drool over their pens). I seem to be what he calls a preservationist - but I don't write in my books so much because I can't bear them being marked up, but more because when I'm reading, I'm in an absorbent mode. I might think of questions or notes later, but not usually during.

After his surgery on a Wednesday, Dad spent through the weekend in the surgical ICU because he still had some fluid in his lungs that they wanted to be sure was cleared up, so it didn't turn into pneumonia. Then he spent two days in DOU, and another couple back on the Telemetry floor, waiting for a bed in a convalescent home to open. On Friday evening when I went to hang out with him for awhile, he had just arrived in the room twenty minutes before, and they'd moved him during dinner time. It was going on 9 pm and he hadn't had a meal yet. The nurse managed to find him a turkey sandwich and some milk and applesauce. However, he took two bites and declared it inedible; it was plain, but I tried it - the bread was fresh and the filling was the same kind he usually buys when he goes grocery shopping. He just does not have any appetite and everything tastes awful to him. I remember my grandmother complaining of the same thing after she was moved to a senior apartment with a dining plan, and we wondered at the time if any of her meds were affecting how food tastes. I wonder if the same thing might be happening with Dad - he's also lost nearly 20 pounds since being in the hospital, although part of that is several days of not eating at all, diuretics, and probably losing muscle mass from being bedridden as much as he's been (although he was fairly sedentary before this).

He's now been moved to a nursing home, which seems to be a fairly nice place - recently renovated in any case, and much closer to our home - but on trying to verify the address to give to my brother I found this, which is rather concerning:

http://www.calqualitycare.org/providers/nursing-homes/060000054.aspx?cat=1

It's actually improved to "below average" from "poor" when I first found it yesterday. There are links to the state website, which lists citations it's gotten, but I still have to look up what the code violations are. We'll be watching this place very carefully. On the plus side, there is no age restriction for visitors, so the kids have been able to come and see him. They've missed each other, I think. Animals are welcome, too, but I don't think the cats would find it very fun.

Anyway, he's getting cranky being in bed for so long, and since the move, as of last night, he hadn't been out of bed since he got there because of the current place "needing to do its own evaluation." In the meantime, he's lost a couple days of progress he's made with physical therapy and walking, but supposedly that's supposed to start tomorrow. He still doesn't feel up to reading or anything, but Doug brought in an anthology of "Historical Whodunits", which we've read to him and he's liked that. We were thinking of the three of us going in together on a Kindle or a Nook for him, because he's also been saying books, especially hardbacks, are getting kind of hard on his hands. Plus a lot of free older books that are out of copyright is a plus; I'm leaning toward the Kindle because it also has a text-to-speech function - not quite books on tape, but at least he can listen instead of using his eyes (although he does say he tends to fall asleep). Doug also finished a pair of stripy wool socks while visiting and decided to just give to him. They have one blue toe because he ran out of green and was tired of ripping them out and redoing them; toes are almost always inside your shoes anyway, right? ;) We just have to remember not to put them in the dryer.



We've asked how long his stay here is expected to be, and apparently that mostly depends on him. I've told him recovery is something he's going to have to work at; he can't just lie there and expect to get better. I want to sign us up to go do this with him this summer, so maybe that'll be some motivation for him.

http://www.lanevictory.org/cruiseOverview.php

Dave had to return home the next day after this surgery because of his work schedule (he does network security for one of the big power companies back east), but Doug has been coming down from LA, 2-3x a week. It's been nice to actually gets some one-on-one time with each of them. Meanwhile we're going to have to clean up and rearrange Dad's room so it's easier for him to get in and out (not to mention the rest of the house) - John's already taken out an entire recycling bin of boxes from he's mail ordered out of there, but a lot still remains to be done.

Technology and I are not getting along lately.

Last week I came back from lunch to hear a funny, cricket-sounding noise from somewhere on my desk. After some searching around, I discovered it was coming from my little portable 500 GB Seagate FreeAgent drive. I unplugged it and then plugged it back in, and nothing was now recognized on the drive. After our IT person checked with someone else, she told me I could either try to get a new unit as it's only about 6 months old and should still be under warantee, or taking it apart and trying to recover what's on there, with only a 30% chance of getting anything back. She also mentioned they need to be treated like gems - which I really had been trying to do.

I mentioned earlier that neither of the browsers were connecting on our home PC, and after thinking to check for viruses, I couldn't get the AVG Free menu to come up either (everything else connecting was fine). However, I think the newest version of Gareth's Orbiter game/spaceflight simulator was causing an incompatibility - when I uninstalled that everything started working again. I scanned everything with TrendMicro Housecall - which didn't find anything but an older version of another of his flight simulators, which I knew had an issue - and also installed Microsoft Security Essentials, which also didn't find anything. Everything seemed to working ok for about a week or so, and then yesterday, the system rebooted and I have a "\Config\System is missing or corrupt - use original CD to repair" - which I don't have. Grrr.

This morning I pulled out my new (to me) work cell, and it seems dead. I plugged it in to charge and I'm only getting the Verizon banner for a few seconds. Did it get damp when we went to beach Saturday? God, I hope not, it didn't seem like it it, but it doesn't seem to be charging either. I'll stick it in a bag of rice when I get home; but CRAP!

One thing after another. I like to think I've got a handle on the gadgety stuff, but Deities of tech, what did I do to offend?

I guess I just don't talk on the phone much. Out of the first month of a plan that gives me 300 minutes a month, I used 62. Worth it for the internet access though, and still less than I was paying. Maybe that's not such a good idea though. I'm wearing out the battery and have to charge the damn thing every single day.