So I'm just getting some homemade banana bread (thanks Mark!) in me, along with some coffee, this morning before heading out on the mountain. It's still not above zero, but whatever. Over 50 trails are open now!
Yesterday was crazy at work--saw 30 kids, the most I've seen in a day since starting here. Somehow no one had to wait longer than 30 minutes. I'm pretty damn proud of that.
So afterward--Mark had a rough day as well--we headed over to Tap House for some beers and trivia. And wouldn't you know...it was geography day and the questions were all about North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana trivia. AWESOME!! We came in late to the game and still kicked ass. And I bet you didn't know Bottineau, ND has a gi-normous statue of a turtle named Tommy, riding a snowmobile. To be honest, neither did I.
A couple nights ago we watched Office Space again--what a great movie. And another reason to start the "douchebag movie characters named Steve" thread from Dave's blog. I'll leave that to Mark....
Anyway, I'm going to go play in the snow while I can--I'm on call this weekend, so I'm not sure how much I'll get to play later. Yea! Snow!
And congrats to Jed and Brad and their beautiful baby girl!
This past Saturday, D and I went to get more Christmas decorations and do some other shopping - there's a furniture place in town that was having a 50% off sale, so we decided to check out what they had as well.
After getting a wreath at Ace (and some more lights, and other stuff), we went to check out the furniture place and bought a bookshelf, and then went to see The Fountain at the ancient movie theater in town (think: Princess Theater at MU). Unfortunately, I can't recommend the movie since the projectionist is a jackhole. I talked to someone at the theater who said the movie was supposed to be that way, but let me tell you: a director never intends for close-ups of the characters to consist of half their nose, their eyes, and the tops of their heads - not to mention that the tops of sets were visible, boom mikes were everywhere, and the matte was clearly visible during effects shots - essentially, the movie was ruined for us.
I couldn't argue with the concession girl's "supposed to be that way" argument, so I came home and did some research when I had some free time, and realized that there was a problem with the Aperture Plate Alignment and Framing - probably had the wrong lens and aperture plate up, so we saw a lot of stuff we were never meant to see. Anyway, that stunk.
But we got our furniture, then got some more (to pick up the next day) and came home and set stuff up (I also put up more lights).
Sunday morning we went out on the mountain in the morning and chillaxed and watched football in the afternoon.
Also, there are furniture pictures up, feel free to check them out.
We're getting a lot of snow right now (took a long lunch to snowshoe quickly but forgot (again!) to turn on the GPS, but I got some pictures of that as well - those will go up later.
It's going to be a busy week again (more on that later) but as I mentioned before, this blogging helps keep me sane, so I'll try to keep it up.
[Update]: Changed the featured video (may still be being processed by YouTube hamsters) and added a picasa album from today's lunch outing.
I'll start by saying: I MADE THE FRONT PAGE OF TODAY'S NEWSPAPER.
And I'll follow that up by saying we had a fantastic time last night... No, I take that back - we had a fantastic time the entire day yesterday. We woke up about 7:30 and I made some eggs and coffee and we just kind of chillaxed for a while. Ron came and picked up the practice cell from Dana at about 8:30 and we hastily got our stuff together for our first snowboarding trip up the mountain.
The snow wasn't awesome, and there were apparently 17 runs open. But allow me to point out that no-good snow here is better than any Wisconsin snow I've ever encountered, and WORLDS better than the slushfest that D and I encountered last New Year's in Bend, OR. So we had a BLAST, and it only took a run or two for us to find our legs again. Though I wish I'd lost mine afterwards - I'm a little sore today.
Anyway, after playing on the mountain for about 4 hours, we came home, showered, and went to the (above pictured) community dinner sponsored by the local chapter of the United Way. And we had a blast there. There was such an interesting mix of people (ALL walks of life were represented), and we really had an incredible time. But hoo-boy did that good smellin stuffing (in front of me for two hours) make me hungry!
When our shift volunteering was up, we ran to the grocery store to get some last minute stuff before heading to Ron and Lisa's for Thanksgiving dinner. Ron's mom was also there, and we hit it off right away when I found out she was a Regina girl. Go figure. She went there for a year way back when, and has been in Boulder pretty much ever since, and I had no clue whatsoever that Ron's family had ever been in Illinois (let alone Wilmette), so that was a good surprise. Also I charmed her socks off when I walked in with a box full of booze - we brought some Prosecco (Italian sparkling wine - yummy) and after-dinner drinks (Sambuca for Ron and me, and brandy alexander for everyone - very yum).
The intention was to drop by our landlord's place for a drink after leaving Ron and Lisa's (oh, the food was AWESOME, I love Thanksgiving), so we gave him a ring as we were leaving their place, but it had gotten too late and he took a rain check, so we'll probably meet up with him tonight.
Overall, just an awesome holiday. I realized early on that this is my first Thanksgiving (ever!) without family, but it wasn't weird at all. Volunteering was a treat and something I'd love to make a tradition for us, and having dinner with Ron and Lisa (and Rita, Ron's mom) was our 'family' dinner for the night - good times, good company, great food, and lots of booze 'cheer'.
The bad news is, true to my word, I must now accept that the "Christmas Season" has begun, and I will be hearing the same songs over and over again for the next month.
For us anyway---
Mark's working on his second cup of coffee (I'm almost there), and Ron's coming by to pick up the practice phone in about 15 minutes. After that, we're heading out to the mountain! I know the snow isn't great up there, but whatever. Try learning to snowboard in North Dakota. With 17 runs open (even if some of them are really short runs) we'll still have enough to occupy us for a good couple of hours. And besides, I only got out once last year, on Mt. Bachelor over NYE when I was interviewing in Oregon, and the weather just sucked, so riding wasn't the greatest, and the year before that the only time I got out was NYE up in Wisconsin (Apples to Apples anyone?). This will be fun.
I'm looking forward to spending Thanksgiving at Ron and LIsa's as well, as is Mark. We certainly have a lot to be thankful for this year.
I'd start of list of said things, but I need to finish my coffee and get ready! Have a great Thanksgiving everyone! We miss you!
Pretty much every Friday, there's a column at salon.com called "Ask the Pilot" - basically, a professional pilot's view on all things airline. He has good perspective on things and often keen insights. But sometimes he's just funny.
From this week's article:
There's a certain weirdness to the idea of food being a potential terrorist weapon, but since the TSA has insisted on bringing this absurdity to bear, here's a brainteaser: mashed potatoes. A few years ago we learned that holiday fruitcakes are prone to set off airport explosives detectors, but in light of the new liquids and gels prohibitions, what about mashed potatoes? Mashed potatoes are a hybrid threat: not quite solid, not quite liquid, and only semi-gel-like (unless they're overcooked). Am I allowed to bring a Tupperware container full of mashed onto my flight?
You think this is silly, and it is, but a week ago my mother caused a small commotion at a checkpoint at Boston-Logan after screeners discovered a large container of homemade tomato sauce in her bag. What with the preponderance of spaghetti grenades and lasagna bombs, we can all be proud of their vigilance. And, as a liquid, tomato sauce is in clear violation of the Transportation Security Administration's carry-on statutes. But this time, there was a wrinkle: The sauce was frozen.
No longer in its liquid state, the sauce had the guards in a scramble. According to my mother's account, a supervisor was called over to help assess the situation. He spent several moments stroking his chin. "He struck me as the type of person who spent most of his life traveling with the circus," says Mom, who never pulls a punch, "and was only vaguely familiar with the concept of refrigeration." Nonetheless, drawing from his experiences in grade-school chemistry and at the TSA academy, he sized things up. "It's not a liquid right now," he observantly noted. "But it will be soon."
"I wonder if this isn't a test," murmured another guard. The dreaded, mind-bending, what-if-it's-frozen test.
"Please," urged my mother. "Please don't take away my dinner."
Lo and behold, they did not. Whether out of confusion, sympathy or embarrassment, she was allowed to pass with her murderous marinara.
Everyone knows my feelings about this subject from a former rant (that I can't be bothered to look for right now).
Do any of you plan on getting on planes for this Holiday? Will you be taking any potential contraband with you?
[Update]: new Thanksgiving-themed "Featured Video"
Image from explodingdog.com, now selling prints.
That is all.
Had today off, so Lisa and I went snowshoeing, with her 16 month old on her back. We decided to go up the mountain again to see how the snow was coming along since it opens tomorrow. Very busy there--lots of guys out on snowmobiles and the snow machines were going like crazy. We went straight up this big run, and I swear at times the grade must've been 60-70%. Calves got a huge workout on the way up, and quads were burning like crazy on the way down--shaky legs and all by the end. We went to Backcountry for sandwiches afterwards, and I tried to get up too fast to throw our stuff away and my legs almost collapsed underneath me. It was awesome.
It's nice having today off, although I can't complain about how my weekend on call was at all. And the best part was seeing a kid in the office on Saturday and her 3 year old brother came along as well--dressed as a pirate. Bandana on his head, hook for a hand, eye patch, the whole deal. Cutest thing ever. I asked him if he knew what pirates said. He just looked at me confused, so I said "Arrrrgh!" Following that, he asked me what a pirate's favorite word was. I said I didn't know, expecting an awesome kid joke punchline. He just said "Arrrgh!". That was good enough. :)
I'm getting really excited about the mountain opening tomorrow, even though Mark and I won't get out there until Thursday and there will only be a couple runs open anyway. But it doesn't matter. Looks like there's snow in the forecast for next week, and that should help. I dropped our boards off to be tuned yesterday and will be picking them up this afternoon. Yea!!
OK, shower, nap, and crossword--not necessarily in that order. When Mark and I were up at the bookstore on Sunday I also picked up Devil in the White City, which I've heard good things about. I'm just finishing up reading Siddhartha again, one of my favorite books, and very interesting to have read it at different stages in my life--high school, college, and I think med school was the last time I read it. Good stuff, and since I have 4 days off for Thanksgiving, I hope to get a lot of work reading and fun reading done. I'm also thinking of making some Guinness Beef Stew. Yum!!!
...that people aren't commenting because they're not finishing reading my posts because I'm so damn verbose lately.
So let this be the first of my new, shorter entries, in which I explicitly beg for comments so that I know I'm not blogging as a form of ego masturbation, but because people actually read these things. I know you come to visit. Drop a line every now and then.
Coming up this week: opening day, Thanksgiving dinner (1), Thanksgiving dinner (2), Thanksgiving dinner (3), and... probably pictures of D and I on opening day. She's out snowshoeing while I'm working today. Awesome. Also, according to the Steamboat ski resort website forecast, there's going to be some snow on Thursday. Yay! Though the weather channel disagrees.
So we didn't have that eventful of a weekend, but it felt really long. Friday night D got home late from work (a couple kids in the hospital she had to check on after clinic), so we had a late dinner and she went to bed early, exhausted after a long day. I stayed up and FINALLY got a second hard drive installed on our home PC (I've had it for months but never bothered to format it - now it contains all our media - music, photos, TiVo backups, etc).
Woke up Saturday and D left for work (check on kids in the hospital again, see some kids in clinic, etc), and she got home about 1. We went into town and tried a burrito place that was new to us (only so-so, have to be less creative next time), then did a little shopping (XMas decorations, that kind of thing). I got an awesome remote-control for the lights I have up over our garage, so I don't have to run out there in the middle of the night in my boxers to unplug the lights anymore - oh, and I put up some garland and more lights on the deck in back (there's a break in the snow, so better now than later). Also, I went out on Friday and got a Christmas Tree permit so we can cut down our own tree (an abundance of national forests around has its perks) - we'll probably be doing that in a week or two.
Despite my decorations, my ban on all things Christmas is still in place until Friday morning. It's just sick to start any Christmas ANYTHING before Thanksgiving, in my mind, so I've banned Best Buy (already using XMas jingles and Santa in their advertising) and City Market, sadly - one of our two grocery stores in town. That embargo may have to be busted by the holiday, though. They have more stuff than the Safeway.
Anyway, we got home from shopping, watched "THE GAME", and got a call from Lisa who wanted to meet us for margaritas, so I got some quality time playing with Primo (Lisa and Ron's 15-month old) while D and Lisa chatted. Then we went home, caught up on Friday's Battlestar (um, sweet as always), and hit the sack at about 9:30. We are old.
We woke up sometime between 7 and 8 on Sunday, I made a kickass breakfast, and D went (again) into work for a little bit. Then we drove around to look at houses for a while, went into town for lunch, and came back for more football (Go Bears!).
Then we headed back into town - we both had work to do, so we went to the local bookstore/coffee shop and worked for several hours - I stayed behind while Dana went to church, then came home to watch yet more football (ouch, Broncos). Then, bed.
Overall, I feel like I didn't get that much done (still waiting on lug nuts for the new CR-V winter wheels, should arrive today), but we really did.
I have a lot of stuff going on with work, but blogging helps keep me sane and I need a break now and then anyway, so I don't think the blogging should suffer that much. But there's no telling - I guess we'll see.
OH! And I almost forgot. SORIANO! Now all we need is to fill out the rotation. Come on, Hendry, make it happen. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Schmidt - I don't think Zito can happen.
That's it! Later! Also, if you ever get bored, I change the "featured video" about every three days (and the history will always be around in old posts, so check it out).
That's it for real this time. Later!
Borrowed liberally from steamboatpilot.com.
Some people are so anxious to get in the(ir) first run of the year that they'll hike up the mountain after a good snow to get some fresh tracks. I just thought this was a great picture.
So Mark and I have started buying lottery tickets on a somewhat regular basis. I know, I know, the chances blah blah blah. But it's worth 5 bucks a week to dream big. And besides, to buy a house here you pretty much need to win the lottery anyway. So we are waiting on the 35 million dollar jackpot tonight, and spent most of dinner discussing how we would spend the winnings.
To start out, Mark would, of course, quit his job first thing in the morning and then spend the rest of the day house hunting and lining up movers. I'm a pediatrician, it's what I do as much as who I am, and I could never quit. Besides, that would totally f over Ron and Sheila, and that's just not right. So I'd still drive out to Craig for clinic tomorrow, but I'd be able to buy lunch this time around.
Mark and I both agree that half of our winnings would go to charity, whether it would immediately get doled out or whether we'd set up a foundation that would allow us to keep giving for a long time. We both have our charities in mind, although I'm sure both of us would do a little searching to see where else we could help out. And we'd certainly become patrons of Scott and Lauren, so they could do what they do best. And BJ, if your heart is set on that modern dance career, I'm sure we could help you out a bit, too.
Anyway, like I said, it's worth the 5 bucks a week just to dream. Mark and I went snowshoeing today up on Emerald over his lunch break and had a blast. I had gone up onto Mt. Werner (the ski mountain) snowshoeing yesterday with Lisa, and between these two workouts, I'm definitely starting to feel my legs asking for some mercy. It feels good though--especially after getting me arse whipped by Lisa yesterday, because for girls' weekend in a couple months we have a 3-4 hour snowshoe just to get to the cabin for the weekend. And trust me, the girls going on this outing are pretty hard core. I need to get in gear. Good news is, the mountain opens a week from today (although we probably won't be able to get out there for a couple days just because of work and Thanksgiving) and the ski touring center, where I can rent Nordic skis for cheap, will start having women's skate ski clinics December 1st. Growing up classic skiing, I'm not sure how I'll like skate skiing--we'll rent for while and see how it goes. I know I love classic, but it seems like everyone around here skate skis anyway, and besides, it's a lot easier to go up on skate skis. And there's a lot of going up around here. But then again, when we win the lottery, this conversation becomes moot and I buy skate AND classic skis. Boo-yah!
Point being, I need to get back in shape. Granted, this sinus infection crud I had knocked me down for a good 3 weeks, and I'm just starting to come out of it. Probably wouldn't hurt to back off on the drinking a bit, but Mark bought a case of wine this month that the store featured, essentially, as a sampler case. It's pretty fun drinking new wines, especially when you get stuck in a rut with the stuff you know you like. Interesting thing for me, though, is that I'm finding I like almost any wine. I feel almost like that hosebag from Sideways--Paul Giamatti's best friend--because I'll drink almost anything and like it, with probably the only exception being the super-fruity pink chick wine. However, beer is a totally different story--I will try most beers, but there are certain flavors and certain tastes that I'm just not that into. I like a good share of hops in my beer, for instance, and a smooth IPA is awesome, but I don't like a ton of hops. It's been interesting with the sampler wine case, though, just because Mark is much more particular about wine than I am. But then again, Mark is much more particular about a lot of things than I am. It's not a bad thing, just keeps the discussion lively.
OK, back to, well, relaxing. Lottery or not, I'm still going to work tomorrow. :)
But still pretty freaking cool.
I think there are times when it sounds exactly like R2-D2.
Woke up today to a ton more snow, and it still keeps coming down. There are winter storm warnings out for tonight, so I think we'll be laying low for a bit. We took the Suburu over to the tire place today to get snow tires put on--they should be ready by tomorrow. With my once weekly drive out to Craig for work, they will certainly come in handy.
It was a fun weekend, although very hectic and I am enjoying my down time today. Went shopping with the girls on Saturday, and being as that I hate shopping, I was pretty surprised at how much fun I had. Got some new fun stuff, and even had lunch at a brewery. Sweet.
Saturday night was a friend's birthday party, and I had about a full 30 minutes between getting back from shopping (the outlets are about an hour and a half away) and getting picked up for that party. I was a bit reluctant at first, and realized once I got there that I was just super tired, but after an hour or so, found my second wind. It was a good time, but thankfully, Lisa wanted to take off at 11, and I was more than happy to have her drive me home.
I had only had a couple drinks at the birthday party, but I was just exhausted when I woke up on Sunday--Mark left early to go up on Bruce's Trail with the boys (he's really need some time with the guys lately, so this weekend was good for him). I just hung out most of the day, until we had an office meeting/dinner in the early evening. Talked over some good stuff, saw Ron's pictures from his 3 week sailing trip from San Francisco to Mexico, and just had a chance to relax. Those guys are all so much fun to hang out with, and again, it was a fairly early night, so Mark and I were back by about 9 or so.
And today is just a catch up day--I've been doing a lot of laundry and cleaning up the house a bit. Mark found a volunteer opportunity for us on Thanksgiving Day, so it looks like we'll be doing that. Growing up, my family usually volunteered with the big free Easter dinner through our church, and it always was a fun thing to do and made me feel good to give back. I'm glad we'll have that chance here as well.
Probably will go and drop my snowboard off to get it tuned tomorrow--I'm just a bit too lazy today. I don't work again until Thursday, so it's a nice little 5 day break after the extra hours when Ron was on vacation. Sheila is leaving for 2 weeks in a few days, so it'll be back to 2 of us again for a little bit, but shouldn't be too bad. I'm on call this weekend, but have 4 days off over Thanksgiving, so I can't complain at all. My 9-5 clinic days are really turning into 8-8 days with all the winter crud going around, but with nice little breaks like this, it gives me a chance to rejuvenate a bit. Anyway, back to the snowboard--my step-in bindings are starting to get a bit too old and rusty (they are probably about 6-7 years old by now) and from my searching on the Internets, it looks like most manufacturers don't make the step-ins anymore, just the regular two strap bindings. I have some feet problems, which I completely blame on residency, so I'm a little reluctant about going back to this type of binding. Regardless, I need new bindings, and it looks like this is all I'm going to be able to get, and if it's all that's really available now, I think it's safe to assume they provide more control and performance than step-ins anyway. We won't be able to get me new bindings at the very least until next month, maybe not until January, but we'll see.
OK, back to being lazy....oh, and BJ, I'll smack a pie in your face the next time I see you, just because you took the Giants over the Bears.
So, after Saturday's LONG post, I didn't work on that trunk at all. I had some lunch, hopped in the shower, and went to the SSHS football game (Dana was in Silverthorne shopping all day, she'll probably check in with a report later today). After the game, went to grab some wings and beer at the Tap House, then back to Wes and Sheila's to watch a bunch of kids fight for a while. When Sheila got home (from shopping with Dana), I took off and went home.
As I pulled in, Dana was on her way out, to a birthday party for a friend. I watched a movie and went to bed.
We got about two inches overnight, so I woke up early and went with Wes and some other guys who were skate-skiing (think: Olympic cross-country skiing) up to Bruce's Trail (random picture link) near the continental divide. I snowshoed while they skate-skied, and got a few pictures (one of which serves as the new blog header image). There was probably about an inch or two of accumulation in the hour we were up there, but the snow had stopped down in steamboat.
I realized that I haven't broken out the GPS in a long time, and that it might have been interesting for you all to see, so next time I'll bring it along, and maybe I'll create a new section on the right with links to the most recent GPS tracks.
Also, I've changed things around so I'm storing pictures that I use on my server space at markanddana.com - that way I don't have to rely on Flickr. The one downside might be if, say, the host goes down for a couple days again. But I don't see that happening. Well, that, and my server (obviously) doesn't automatically resize images, so that might be a fairly big drawback. I guess we'll have to see how things go...
Anyway, got home from the snowshoeing, hung some lights (while the ground isn't covered in ice) and D and I went to lunch. We came home and I took about a 2-hour nap (I was out COLD), then woke up, showered, and headed to Ron and Lisa's for a little get-together.
We got home, watched a little TV and I went straight to bed, exhausted. I'm feeling a little sick this morning, so I'm going to take it easy and cuddle up with a manual for the BusinessObjects SDK. Fun, fun stuff.
As I've mentioned before (and again in last night's post), I ordered a new universal remote some time ago so I could send commands to the components I intend to hide in the trunk that I'm converting for that very purpose.
While I don't have pictures of the trunk yet (I'll resume work this morning as soon as I'm done posting), Dana and I have both spent a good amount of time using the remote in the last few weeks, so I thought I'd put up a quick review for your consumption.
The configuration software, while clunky, gets the job done. Basically, you take a note of every part of your entertainment system (TV manufacturer and model number, amp, cd, dvd, etc) and tell the software what you have. It automatically builds "Activities" for you (like "Watch TV", "Listen to radio", etc), and you tell it how each of those functions should work. For example, when I entered everything, it automatically put together a "Watch TiVo" activity. So now, instead of turning on the TV and the amp and making sure everything's on the right input as separate steps, I just hit the "Watch TiVo" button and it all comes on and is configured correctly. This is really pretty nice, as I misplaced the remote for my amp some time ago, leaving me to turn in on/adjust the settings manually for years.
But the remote can be too smart for its own good at times as well. We have the computer hooked up to the stereo so we can listen to iTunes, but the software wouldn't let me add a "Digital Music" task since it didn't think I had any hardware that could play music. As a workaround, I just faked it out and told it we had some random digital music device - no harm, no foul. No doubt it's sending commands to the phantom device, but I don't care anymore because I don't have to get up, turn on the amp, switch the input and turn off the surround, then undo all that (manually) when I'm done. And even better, neither does Dana. (if you couldn't guess, that particular configuration is a little more complicated than most). I know, I know: poor me, I have to actually stand up to turn the amp on. Really not a big deal - until everything is hidden in the trunk, that is, when it would be a supreme PITA.
Onwards.
I mentioned yesterday that the first remote we got was defective. That's both true and a bit of a stretch. The remote worked - in IR mode. Which is fine, if you have a line-of-sight to all the components. But I bought this remote because of the RF repeater it has.
[geek mode off]
Basically, most remote controls use IR (Infra-red) light to send commands to your TV, for example. Have you ever had someone stand in front of the TV while you try to change the channel, and it doesn't work? That's because, as most people know, you need to point the remote at the TV for it to work. Light can't travel through your spouse's ass, so you need to get them to move it before you can change the channel.
RF (radio frequency) works more like a cordless phone. You can be anywhere (within reason) and still successfully transmit a signal. This particular remote has two modes - IR and RF - and you can configure the modes interchangeably for each individual device. So when all my components are in the trunk I'll tell the remote to control them with RF, but since the TV will be ON the trunk (and thus, visible) it will be controlled as normal with IR.
"But Mark," one might ask, "how do you control your stereo with RF if it came with an IR remote? Can it use both?" No, you bonehead, it can't. I'll explain.
The remote came with an RF Repeater. Basically, this little thing receives the RF signal the remote sends it, then translates it into IR signals for the various components. So the remote doesn't need a line-of-sight for the RF repeater (to be hidden in the trunk with the other components), but the RF repeater DOES need a line-of-sight to the other components (since it talks to them in IR). Conveniently, the RF repeater came with a bunch of IR blasters attached to long wires that attach directly to each component's IR receiver.
So, hit a button on the remote, it talks to the RF repeater. The RF repeater translates those commands to IR signals and controls each component thusly. Like magic!
[talk down to your reader mode off]
The first remote we got worked fine, but the RF was hosed (either in the remote itself or the repeater), so they sent me a replacement. I haven't yet used it AS a repeater, but I couldn't even connect to the thing last time, so I'm excited it seems to be working this time around.
Unfortunately, I no longer have an excuse to put off my work on the trunk anymore (the sanding is quite tedious, I must say), so it's time for me to get back to it.
I think I covered pretty much everything. There are some niggling issues with the remote (it won't send two quick fast-forward bursts to TiVo for the double-fast-forward action we love, there's a slight delay) but nothing that I see as a deal-breaker. I guess we'll see if that holds up when we're using it in repeater mode. Also, they keypad layout could be better (again, specifically for the TiVo functions) but the remote makes up for little problems like that with its intuition. If I want to switch from watching TiVo to listening to the satellite radio, the remote is smart enough to know that it shouldn't turn off the amp, it should turn off the TV, and it should change the channel (we get XM radio via DirecTV).
Basically, my experience with the remote is leaps and bounds better than the hassle Scott and I went through to get my dad's Pronto Pro working - that thing is a real dud. Not to mention the facts that I hate the touch-screen interface. But that's just me.
Later!
One thing they didn't tell me when moving to Colorado was that in a place that gets over 400 inches of snow a year, it's prudent to invest in snow tires.
I'm not sure I even knew there was such a thing as snow tires. Little did I know.
Also, little did we realize that when purchasing a second car, we would need to buy 8 of the suckers (that would be 4 per car for the mathematically disinclined). Sigh.
But, safety first! Besides, a good investment, and only a one-time expense. Well, until the treads wear down.. whatever.
Of course, this revelation comes (at the urging of pretty much everyone around town) after I've spent my budget this month on a rack for the Subaru. I got a good deal on the bars and mounts on eBay, and a good discount on a ski/snowboard carrier at backcountry.com. Of course, while there I had to get us gaiters for our looming wintry adventures.
Since the last major snowfall (think: covered pumpkins) we haven't gotten anything substantial. Rest assured, as soon as we do Dana and I will be out there documenting it for you.
A couple random things as well: I haven't talked about the trunk/remote thingie in a while because upon arrival I realized that the remote wasn't working, and I just got a replacement today. I hope to have the trunk complete by Thanksgiving. I'll take pictures for you greedy fools.
Also, as if you haven't noticed, the glorious return of adSense on the right (as if I'll ever see any money from it..), and the collapsible info so you don't have to look at our weather since you probably don't care very much.
That's all. I'm going to remove myself from the computer now.
Making shrimp etouffee for dinner tonight. Unfortunately, I can't find crawfish tails anywhere in town (I guess it's not THAT surprising), so from now on I'll have to order them.
I haven't made an etouffee on a gas stove since I lived with Pablo, Dave and Steve (Jesus, those were the days) with help from Bally. I have found a good recipe that I really like, but this will be my first time making it with shrimp (and probably D's first time having shrimp etouffee).
OK, I was just taking a break after deveining the shrimpies. Now I have to get to cookin! The roux takes about half an hour typically, so I've got my work cut out for me.
As a matter of fact, the last time I made this was for our swinger friends Amy and Daniel before D and I moved here. I perfected the recipe on our electric (yuck) stove in Houston, so this should be even better! Unless proximity to Louisiana has something to do with how well it turns out, in which case, we're fucked. :)
So I talked to another mom today who told me how nice it was to meet me and thank me for taking care of her kid. I've had a few of these calls now, and I must say, it can turn an absolutely horrible day into a great one. Everybody loves to hear when they do a good job. I try and remember that as much as possible.
But anyway, point being, Mark and I have been following the election news VERY closely, and even toasted the Democratic victory (at least of the House) last night with a nice bottle of Veuve Clicquot, and today toasted other victories with a nice sushi dinner and a fancy bottle of wine. Suffice it to say, I'm happy with the current state of affairs. And I haven't been in a long time. That being said, I certainly don't think a Democratic victory is by any means a panacea, but it certainly will shake things up, which I do think is a good thing. And it will make the 2008 presidential election that much more interesting after a good two years of a Democratic congress. To be honest, I'm registered as an Independent, just because I won't count out a Republican candidate before knowing their stance on issues vs. a Democratic candidate's opinion. Bottom Line: I'm encouraged and excited about our national leadership, and I haven't been in quite a while. We'll see how it all pans out.
But on to the reason I'm blogging:
I had clinic in Craig, America today. I saw 23 patients, which to be honest, is by far on the heavy side of patients I see in a day. I'm probably averaging around 18. For a new doc in ANY town (or practice), that's awesome. I can't complain. And for the most part, nobody waited beyond 20 mintues past their appointment time, which is a very good thing. I had to schedule in a spinal tap to my schedule yesterday, and when you have almost 20 patients to see, that can be a challenge, but I still pulled it off (somehow). Point being, long day. And on the drive back to SBS, I was talking with my nurse about how much Shiner Mark and I drank while living in Houston. Which brings me to:
Best things about living in Texas:
1. Meeting Amy and Daniel (you guys know you'll always be the best thing about Texas)
2. Receiving good sports medicine training--granted, INCREDIBLY painful at times, but regardless, a great experience, and I won't be where I am today without it.
3. SHINER BEER. OH SO YUMMY. Turns out the liquor store just down the street from us sells it for a relatively inexpensive price, and wouldn't you know, after busting me hump in Craig today, Shiner sure sounded good. Although I did impose the 5 dollar liquor tax (AKA PowerBall lottery ticket) because, after all, Mark wasn't meant to be a computer lackey.
So here is my ode to Shiner. Still can't say for sure that it is my FAVORITE BEER EVER, but it sure comes close. Damn German Texans. Those guys were GENIUSES. Huh. What a funny word. Especially for a Texan. D'OH!!!
Hopefully Congress will suck much less now.
Obviously, I've found out how to embed a Google Calendar on my site. See the link above for how to do it. I knew if I waited long enough, Google would take care of the tough bit for me.
Thanks, Google!
I tested in IE and Firefox (windows, of course). Any Mac/other problems?
I also noticed that pictures that aren't full-width when viewed in IE don't appear correctly. Oh well. Stupid IE.
Also, for some reason when I view the calendar in Firefox it has the appointment details, but in IE it only lists time as "busy", though I imagine this is due to my being logged in to Google Calendar in Firefox. And it's probably for the best if all the internets don't know when particular people are going to be here.
Comments and suggestions welcome!
Well, we've got our first visitors lined up, and the mountain officially opens in less than a month, so I guess it's time for me to take some time to update the blog to include our visitors calendar (or, at the very least, a link to it). I'll get on it.
So far, my family is coming in for XMas week, and we've got Fasana coming the first week in January.
Time slots are filling up! Book up while you can!
Without the internets, making fun of Steve would be so much more difficult.
Here's a candid picture of the man eating breakfast at his desk this morning. I think it's time for a caption contest. Please leave your entries in the comments below.
[Update]: Also note, I have finally found and eliminated the blue-green line that liked to cover the last line of text in single-post view. Yay.
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