NISSAN PIVO 2 I want one of these! (click here for video!)

Check out this car! It has no reverse!

GOOFY!!

So, as I mentioned in the "grape picking" post, my youngest son was playing with Jake (the dog). My wife and I have talked for awhile about getting a dog for our sons. We built a room on the back of our house and fenced in the yard so that we would have a place for a pet. Watching him play with that dog really told us we needed to move on this, so, after we got home, I told the boys that we would go looking for a dog.

They screamed and shouted and were so happy! They had a particular dog type in mind. They either wanted a poodle or a chihuahua. The reason for this is, my wife is allergic to dogs and these breeds are supposedly better for allergies. Also, she wanted a dog she could pick up, not one that could knock her down.

So we went to the animal rescue shelter and started looking. All we saw were huge dogs. After the third row of cages, my oldest asked a volunteer if they had any chihuahuas. She said no and that any small dogs would be in the last row of cages. We went looking. After the big dogs, we went past about a dozen empty cages and we didnt see any more dogs and both of the boys were crushed. I told them that there were more cages further on and that we should keep going.

In the second to the last cage, there was this cute little dog! His note said that he was a chihuahua! On top of that, his name was Goofy, which, really made this feel like it was ordained. The reason is, I collect Goofy toys and memorabilia! How many more signals do you need!? Goofy is six years old and housebroken. He is mixed with something else, so I say that he is a Chiawhat. Half chihuahua and half what.

I called my wife, gave her the details and she gave her blessing for us to adopt Goofy. He is a wonderful addition to our family and he immediately fit right in.

Grape Picking!

So, to continue our farming life (yeah right) this past Saturday we went grape picking! The farm is real close to the blueberry farm we went to out in Clearmont. Beautiful area!

We got there at 8am and started picking. You'll see in the photos that the grapes were huge! I picked one that was the size of a golf ball! The guy that owns the farm said it was the biggest he had seen and he offered me $1 for it to show his mom! I gave it to him and picked more.

They had a Lab there named Jake and my youngest son kept playing with him. So.... Check out my next blog...............

my yard - finally

My yard has been a mess for awhile, but saturday I finally started the makeover. I got up at 6am (which is very early for me) and worked on the front yard until 1pm without stopping. Luckily the front yard is to the west so the sun didnt start hitting me until after noon. I moved the sprinkler system, tore out the flower bed, built a wall, planted two hibiscus trees, three crotons, and moved a sago. I still need to get some river pebbles to finish it off, but wow it looks good. And thats not just me saying it. My neighbors are very pleased that they dont have to look at my crappy yard anymore. One of my neighbors came over and gave me some solar powered lights as a gift. I'll take a photo and post it here soon.

Star Wars Weekends @ Disney

We go to Star Wars weekends at Disney every year and its a blast. I know I've written here before that Star Trek is better, but I really love this event. I wish Universal would do a Star Trek weekends at their park.

I know it would be a huge hit just like this is. This event makes Disney a ton of money and its cool seeing everyone dress up. This year I got to build my own light saber which was a lot of fun. Now my boys and I have at least five light sabers and my youngest got a Jedi robe. I also got a Darth Goofy plush. Yes for those of you who dont know me, I love Goofy and collect anything with him on it. Anyway, hope you enjoy the photos.

The Zoo!

Saturday I took the family to the Brevard Zoo. First let me say, if you get a membership to the zoo, it gives you free or reduced admission to lots of other zoos and attractions, so its a great deal. We joined the Central Florida Zoo last year and got reduced tickets to a couple of places and free admission to the Brevard Zoo. Next time we go (and we will go again) I wont mind paying it was so good. The drive from our house was about 45 minutes, so not bad at all.

The whole place was cool. My favorite part was that I got to hug a Giraffe!

I highly recommend going to the Brevard Zoo.

Blueberry Picking

Saturday was fun! We took the boys blueberry picking! There is a farm off Highway 27 and they let you go out and pick berries. They dont use pesticides, so you can eat as you go. They charge $1 per person "grazing" fee and $4 a pound for what you pick. We all had fun, got blue fingers, and ate a bunch of berries. After we got home, I made blueberry muffins, they sucked but it was my fault not the berries. We also had; blueberry pancakes, blueberry smoothies, and blueberry pie.

Class is over, life begins.

Most of what is posted here was for a class I was participating in for work, Learn 2.0. Now that this has finished, I plan on using this blog for more "interesting?" posts.

I've added some widgets, mostly just to play with the idea. They are fun to play with.

week 10 podcasts

First I have to say, the video podcast -- YAWN. Maybe I shouldnt have watched it after lunch, but the ninja was lame.

I think podcasts overall are excellent tools and its a great outlet for a wide variety of people and interests.

Audiobooks also are excellent for some people. I know many of my customers who think they are indespensible. For me though, I cannot drive and listen to a book. My mind likes to picture the story and I would either be in an accident or cause one if I were listening to a book in the car. Also, audiobooks read much too slow for me.

My kids love the MP3 player I got for Christmas, so maybe I'll actually get to use this one for my music! The cool thing is, my kids (both boys 9 and 11) are hearing my favorite music and getting into it.

This has been great and I plan on continuing to use this blog for my random thoughts. Besides, I still have a lot of jokes to publish. As they say, I got a million of them and at least three are good.

week 9

What a week! I explored LastFM, Musicstrands, Upto11, LivePlasma, Music Map, Springwidgets, and Yourminis. I really enjoyed these learnings.

To share or not to share. Hmmmm. I understand the arguments on both sides and I am torn. If I were the artist (which I am far from) I would like as many people as possible to hear my stuff and if they liked it, I would hope they would share about me with their friends and then their friends would buy my stuff too. Capitalism at its best!

I also dont see a huge problem with sharing my CD's with a friend and having them copy the songs they like on their MP3 players. I bought it, I should be able to do with it what I want.

It was very cool seeing the info on Emily! I'll be able to say one day, 'I know her!'.

The music sites I visited were interesting. I purposely looked for relatively unknown artists to see how good the sites were. Phil Driscoll (great trumpet man!) and Steve Taylor (very sarcastic) were my searches. While some of them recognized them, they didnt have much to say.

Springwidgets had a lot of good content, but I liked Yourminis better. I signed up on Yourminis (my blog is on there now!) and I loaded two widgets on my blog, the 5 day weather forecast for Orlando and a video game link. So if you are bored of reading this, scroll down the page and play a game.

Sharing Info - week 8

I have been very involved with Flickr since OCLS started using it. I think it is a great tool for us as an organization. Tom, your photos are very nature-y. I would have expected more cars and electronics. Very pretty! :-)

I checked out the protopage. Neat stuff. I didnt create a new page, but I took elements from it and added them to my blog. I added my puppy Max and a link to my favorite new cartoon, Pearls Before Swine.

I know the instructions said no names, but Tom has been a huge help with this. Not only the setting up stuff (of course) but his email encouragements, his visit and suggestions have been great. I have been coming in early when possible and meeting with staff to help them get into this. Time is the biggest factor, there is always something to do in a branch and quiet time is almost non-existent.

Fun Stuff

I dont need any help keeping my new years resolutions. I made a few and havent broken one yet! They are:
1. Not to climb Mt. Everest
2. Not to start smoking
3. Not to wrestle with a Bigfoot

I'm very pleased with my strength and resolve! Traineo did look like a great site for the dieting set.

Blufr was very cool! It can also be very addictive. I stopped when my score went over 1100, but I could see continuing for awhile.

I know this will tick off someone (if anyone is reading this) but I love dogs and do not like cats. I think kittens are the cutest things in the world and love them, but once they become cats, I have no use for them.

Library Thing

Ok, this is cool. I signed up with Book Mooch, what a great concept! I'll post when I send and / or get my first book!

the learn 2.0 map of the world was interesting. I did find us pretty easily, just a couple of clicks.

Propsmart isnt too smart. I looked specifically for houses on my street that are for sale, and it listed them correctly by address, but on the map, they are not even close. I live west of 417 and it showed the house far east of 417.

Unless someone can convince me otherwise, I think Google Maps is better than Wikimapia. Google will show me the house I lived in as a kid in N.Y., but Wikimapia doesnt have the images at that great a zoom.

I did enjoy seeing these sites, if not because I'll use them frequently, but to learn new things.

Joke of the Day 3 - Computer Genders

Are computer male of female? You decide and vote!

Women claim that computers should be referred to in the masculine gender because:
1. In order to get their attention, you have to turn them on.
2. They have a lot of data, but are still clueless.
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they are the problem.
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that, if you had waited a little longer you could have had a better model.

Men concluded that computers should be referred to in the feminine gender because:
1. No one but the Creator understands their internal logic.
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else.
3. Even your smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for retrieval.
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

So, you decide. Respond to this post!

I'm bbbbaaaacccckkkkk!!!!

Ok, I havent been here in awhile, but I have been out sick. Tons of medical tests, multiple meds, I have been poked and prodded and have no dignity left.

Good news is, I probably wont die.

So, I going catch up now!

BAGPIPES ROCK!!

I love bagpipe music, so heres a link to a song.

Enjoy!!
P.S. sometimes it opens and sometimes it doesnt. You can copy and paste to your browser or go to the web site and choose the song you want from the list.

http://www.caber-records.com/mp3/amazing_grace.mp3

and here is the web site if you want to buy their CD

http://www.caber-records.com/music/

Joke of the Day 2

What did the dyslexic, agnostic, insomniac do?





He laid awake all night wondering if there really was a dog!



Let me know if you need an explanation.

Star Trek

Ok, I gotta say something about Star Trek! It is without a doubt, one of the greatest franchises ever in the history of Earth.
Gene Rodenberry was a genius. His vision of the future (our now and soon to be) was amazing.
I know a lot of people like Star Wars better (and I do enjoy the Sci Fi Fantasy of Vader and his "buddies") but, Wars is fantasy based while Star Trek is much more reality based. Dont Laugh! It's True! Look at all of the things Rodenberry "thought up" in the 60's that are now used by YOU everyday. Automatic doors that slide to the side, flip phones (comunicators) that are voice activated, hydroponics, PDA's, etc....
Watch the show again and pay attention. The next gizmo you see might be in your home tomorrow!

Live Long and Prosper!

Blog Lines

What a cool concept! Here are the blog lines I signed up for!

ArtsJournal - Arts Issues (10) (0)
Bloglines News (10) (0)
Dilbert (11) (0)
Future cars, Hybrid Cars (10) (0)
Library Leader (9) (0)
New Urban Legends (11) (0)
Rotten Tomatoes: Movies (10

My Meez part 2

YEA! I did it!!

My Meez

http://images.meez.com/user07/02/02_10010169994.gif

I'm trying to get my meez to move. Until then, heres the link.

grok-ing

This was interesting, but weird! the map view confused me at first, but once I got into it, it was pretty cool.

I grokked for star trek (sci fi rules!) I really didnt find any info I didnt know about the franchise, but then I have been watching star trek and reading the books for 40 years!

JOKE OF THE DAY!

WHAT IS THE LAST THING TO GO THROUGH A LOVE BUGS BRAIN WHEN IT HITS YOUR WINDSHIELD?




ITS BUTT!


HA! GET IT?

My Favorite New Artist

Hello!

Check out the link to the right. Patricia Byron is a local artist/poet and her work is now showing at the Southeast Library. She also has a studio real close to the main library.

She is a great person and I really enjoy her art. She will be at the Southeast Library on Tuesday July 10th at 6:30pm to discuss her work and answer questions. Please come out and see her and support local art!!

Great song, Great writer

BREAKFAST

Hold the milk, put back the sugar They are powerless to console We've gathered here to sprinkle ashes from our late friend's cereal bowl. Breakfast Clubbers, say the motto that he taught us to repeat: "You will lose it in your gym class if you wait `til noon to eat." Back when the Chess Club said our eggs were soft every Monday he'd say grace and hold our juice aloft Oh, none of us knew his checkout time would come so soon But before his brain stopped waving, he composed this tune:

Chorus WHEN THE TOAST IS BURNED AND ALL THE MILK HAS TURNED AND CAPTAIN CRUNCH IS WAVING FAREWELL WHEN THE BIG ONE FINDS YOU MAY THIS SONG REMIND YOU THAT THEY DON'T SERVE BREAKFAST IN HELL

Breakfast clubbers, drop the hankies. Though to some our friend was odd, that day he bought those pine pajamas his check was good with God. Those here without the Lord, how do you cope? For this morning we don't mourn like those who have no hope Oh, rise up, Fruit Loop lovers - sing out sweet & low With spoons held high we bid our brother, "Cheerio!" - Chorus -

Lyrics: Steve Taylor / Music: Peter Furler © 1996 Dawn Treader Music (SESAC) / Warner Alliance Music / Soylent Tunes (ASCAP),

bad hair

That photo above is not my current hair style. That was a "trying new things" time. Way too much gunk in my hair and too much effort. I dont think I'll go that route again.

Hello!

This is my first time trying this. It looks pretty cool! I am messing around with the colors, but just to warn you, I am very, very color blind. If it doesnt look good, sorry!