BilikFamily.com

Chicago trip - Early Saturday morning I took my mom, Michelle, and the younger four kids to the airport. They were a bit disoriented being up before the summer sunrise. I got them up to security and then had to part ways. When they got to security Michael nearly lost it when they put his stuffed lamb on the scanner conveyor belt. You have to admit it looks like a big machine that eats what you put on it. When I got back home I stayed up to make sure the plane got airborne thanks to those internet flight tracking websites. I then napped for a few hours to catchup on the sleep I missed from getting up so early. Michelle said the kids all did very well on the flight but at Midway airport watching the twins was like herding cats.

The afternoon - Even though the weather was nice I opted to head into the office because we have a couple of releases coming up very soon. I helped with debugging some new issues and some documentation of the changes. Late in the afternoon I did a little browsing at Milford's Toadstool Bookshops. At six I linked up with three coworkers for dinner and a movie. We opted to see Terminator 3.

Terminator 3 review - It's funny how it used to always be that sequels often tanked. Lately though you see more and more reviewers who are surprised at how the sequel is as good as the original. I enjoyed Terminator 3. In this sequel the evil terminator is a powerful woman, a Terminatrix, who also has shape shifting abilities, useful for impersonating others. She can also link up with other digital systems to scan them for information and infect them for control purposes. Arnold, as in Terminator 2, is sent as an anti-terminator terminator to defend John Connor. I was surprised to see Clare Danes in a major role as a woman destined for John Connor's future. One issue was a bit unclear to me. It appeared that the Terminatrix was the source of a computer virus that was infecting our computer systems. This was what caused the government to activate "SkyNet" which is what started the whole rise of the machines. But, but, but... it implies that a machine from the future caused the initial event that caused her to exist. Don't you just love the issues movies have when they mess with time travel? The ending is rather surprising. Much like the Matrix's sequel, it leaves you hanging and paves the way for a follow on movie.

Sunday - After such a long Saturday I slept in on Sunday and went to 10:30AM Mass. Since moving to Milford, we almost never go that late because then the little ones tend to fall asleep on the drive home. I think some parishioners thought that we've left the parish. Others were surprised to see me without my hands being full. On the way home I stopped briefly by a large Ford dealer on 101A. They had no 12 passenger vans on their lot but had plenty of their monster SUVs. Man! They don't have significantly more interior space but they are wicked expensive and guzzle the gas like nobody's business. A loaded Expedition/Excursion SUV can get almost $45K. I just want to haul my family! Not the Bush administration!

J. Beaners goes wireless - I then stopped by J. Beaners for lunch. Since I would be alone I brought my little laptop with me to try out their new internet service while having a bowl of their chili and a frozen coffee drink. I've seen the owner a few times and asked how things are going with getting wireless internet service. He said that his technical guy was going to set that up soon but gave me a short ethernet cable in the mean time. Toward the end of my lunch they hooked up their wireless router and asked me to test it out. Sure enough, it worked.

Go West, Young Man! - I took it easy in the early afternoon but around 4PM hopped in the car to explore some of the towns west of me. While we know well the area between our home and Nashua, we know very little about what lies even a few miles west of us. The kids aren't interested in driving just to explore. "Where are we going?" "Are we there yet?"

Milford is about as far west as you can go from the Merrimack river where the land is still relatively flat. Go just a few miles west and the roads get curvy and full of inclines. It's quite scenic, especially with yesterday's weather. It was partly sunny. There were blue skies but lots of clouds and the sun's angle made them particularly contrasty. Route 101 snakes along the Souhegan river and there are plenty of gentle mountains around you. I went through downtown Wilton, Peterborough, Dublin, Marlborough and stopped when I reach downtown Keene -- my goal. I was really impressed with Peterborough and Keene. Keene is especially developed because it is a college town, housing Keene State College. While near Keene I detoured a bit to see the Otter Brook Lake dam. Driving around Dublin is scenic because of the handful of lakes which abut route 101. Several times I wanted to pull over and take a few pictures but I worried about the safety in doing so. Route 101 is predominantly a two lane road. I saw a bunch of fellow travelers touring yesterday -- motorcycycles, convertibles, vintage antique cars.

Transitions lenses review - I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that my new glasses had Transitions lenses which automatically darken in sunlight. They work pretty well. They darken very fast in response to ambient ultraviolet light. It takes them only a couple of minutes to clear up. They don't work in vehicles (unless you're in a convertible) because your windshield filters ultraviolet light. Living due west of your office (as I do) means you're always driving into the sun during your commute. It's ironic that the time I most need them to darken, they don't. I've ordered a set of clip on lenses for driving.

[Update: 2 Oct 2003 - Now that I've had them a while, it seems that it's taking a bit longer for them to clear up. The darkness is a decaying exponential kind of function but often there is still significant grey even after being inside 15 minutes or so. I'm reconsidering the purchase. Perhaps I'll just have the lenses replaced with standard clear lenses. I think that I should just get a second set of dark prescription sunglasses with a polarizing filter and an anti-glare coating for my east/west work commutes.]

Toshiba Combo TV/VCR/DVD review - Last weekend Michelle and I bought a Toshiba 20" combo TV/DVD/VCR for our bedroom. We often rent movies for the evening but Michelle gets too tired to stay downstairs and watch them. The new model was around $400 but I ordered the extra warrantee because I don't trust integrating that many functions in one box, especially a DVD player! Having the functions all in one box avoids the pressure to have an "entertainment center". It also simplifies usage and cabling. There's one remote. You only need a cable TV input and AC power. I find it perfect for a bedroom. Sure, we sacrifice the 5.1 Dolby sound but at that hour the kids are sleeping anyway.