March 05, 2001

Impending storm

Posted by Scott at 05:00 PM
We were released a early from work at noon because of the impending storm. Unfortunately I got caught up in some USB technical support over the phone that I wanted to work through (since we would be working from home tomorrow) and so I didn't get out the door until 3PM. Michelle had asked me to stop by the grocery store across the street on my way home to pick up some firewood. When I got inside a stock boy said that they had sold out and hadn't planned on restocking. So much for spending a lot of time around the fireplace during this storm. So far the snowfall hasn't been noteworthy, but that could be a completely different story by tomorrow at this time (9PM). In any case I'm looking forward to breaking out the snowblower tomorrow. If we get any significant snow, I'll take a picture and post it online tomorrow if I get the chance.
My friend, Stu, sent a classic email story about his experiences in trying to add a DVD player to his home entertainment system. It all started out so innocently... Let's just say that DVD players have a tendency of rendering all your existing audio video equipment obsolete or incompatible. In the end I think he single handedly jump started the technology sector of the economy. On the down side, the US-Japan trade imbalance must have hit a new high with his purchases of so many Sony products (not that you can find any domestic consumer audio devices...). Enjoy that DVD quality, Stu! Sometimes your stories are so funny I think you should be the one with a web log. They can be as funny as those of humorist columnists like Dave Barry.
For those who are interested in keeping a web journal without cost or the pain of writing raw HTML code like I do, I would recommend a few sites that'll let you post a diary/journal/log for free and give away the tools to help you post or maintain it. There's LiveJournal, Diary-x.com, Blogger, Pitas, and Diaryland to name a few. It's got to be easier than doing what I do. I'm just kind of old fashioned about how I build web pages... so, so manually! Oooh! How late 1980's! I've always focused more on content than web page layout and effects. Anyway, if you're interested in doing something like this, but with more user friendly tools/environment, I'd recommend you take a browse to a few of these sites. Many of them allow you to set up "friends lists" that can limit who sees your comments and/or allow your friends to post followup replies to your posts. Much cooler than static web pages! Less annoying than broadcasting emails!
Lastly, I got word from my mom that my dad's gift arrived at their house today. I sent him a watch to thank him for letting mom stay with us the first month after the birth of Michael and Daniel. This watch supposedly synchronizes itself automatically to the US NIST atomic clocks via the radio signal that they broadcast. So in theory he should always be accurate down to the second. My dad was always re-synchronizing his watch in the military. I thought he would get a kick out of this. I just hope it works as advertised.
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