Chapman Text History V10

OK, the bike odometer thing is driving me CRAZY!!! I just want to calculate an exact mile and be accurate... In the process, I have found that our cars are not necessarily accurate and according to all of my bike odometer calculations my odometer is calculation for a mile is too long instead of too short... but according to 3 of 4 other sources my odometer is calculating a mile too short... Sheesh!!!!!!!

Something is wrong and I just can't seem to let this go... In the process, I have learned a lot about metric to regular distance conversions... I think I will be emailing the odometer place (Vetta) to see if I can get an accurate explaination of how their device converts millimeters to miles and tenths of miles and why the odometers are off... I won't get into all of the gory details here, but I have done some pretty extensive testing and the calculations just don't seem right... Maybe I will end up de-bugging their bike confusers!... OK, after that, I am going to use this obsession to my advantage and post all of this crap on my bike site somewhere... I get a lot of biker traffic to that site and it might just be of interest to some other totally obsessive riders... :-)

Oh yea, before I get of the subject completely... I have already pretty much made up to a 3% potential error in my mileage with the extra miles that I have already done... and I don't think it is even off by that much... I will also be doing more this season... even though it is really hard to get in the miles before it gets dark these days... :-(

OK, in Other News...... I have a new laptop here... It's not mine. It's the neighbors and they wanted me to help get it set up, so I'll be doing a little confuser work tomorrow on that, I guess...

I did some major tree branch trimming today... That is still really hard work and I think that I am way too old for that crap... It always burned me out, even when I was (relatively) younger!

Another Bike update: My bike shop (where I bought the Crestcycle), called and told me that my new stem (to raise the handlebars) is in... I am looking forward to that!... I have found that I really like the wrap down style handlebars (I find them very versitle (multiple hand positions) and I think they give you better overall control), BUT... I don't necessarily like them so low that you hunch way over like a speed racer... it will be nice to sit a little higher and give my neck and back a break...

Well, as you can see by the photo (and the 2036 bike mileage above)... I have accomplished my bike riding mileage goal for the season!!! If you click on the photo, you will see that I went out and had custom made 2000 mile blowers and hats!!! (OK, actually we still had our Y2K blowers and hats (of course)!!! ...Oh yea, and for a little extra sweetness... on the same day (yesterday) and the same ride... with Dale... I broke Dales standing record for the most bike miles in one season (2008 miles last year)!!! I brought my Y2K party blower on the ride for a little celebration on the trail and annoyed Dale (on his "birthday ride") quite a bit! :-) :-) What fun!

OK, now that I've made my goal and done the celebration, the whole thing has been tainted by a SCANDAL! Remember way back in the spring when I got so obsessed with my bike odometer settings and calibrations... Well, I set my odometer based on our car odometers (which did not even match each other, but I split the difference) and it turns out that I think my mileage is a little low... :-( I have checked now with 4 different sources (Bobs GPS unit, Dales odometer and the trail markers on 2 trails) and it looks like I am somewhere between 2.5% to 3.5% off... It won't take much to make up the difference and I am still counting all of my records with my current settings, but I will probably readjust everything (to be completely accurate), once I can determine how to measure an exact mile accurately. I guess you just can't use car odometers as a standard... they are not consistent or right!

OK, now as for the Incompetence First of all... I mailed Andis (my niece) birthday card last Wednesday (way ahead of time so it would be on time)... then Friday I get it back in the mail with an "Insufficient Postage" message. I check it out and it is the same envelope that I send with every birthday card, nothing any different, same postage (37 cents (I didn't think that that changed...) and I did not put any coal or anything in it! So, I don't know why it was returned, so I have to go to the PO and check it out... they check it out and say "it's OK, no problem"!!!! What the ****! They send it back to me for no reason at all and make no attempt to apologize or send it express or anything else... I think there may be a new kind of "Going Postal" meaning soon!

And finally (even though I try to keep the web site mostly on positive stuff), I am still having problems with my main drain (plumbing) and this *** plumber that we used to do the work! OK, I'll hold off on the real nasty stuff, but I've paid this guy over $3K for main drain repairs and still have our drains backing up! When this happens, the drains overflow into the sink in our basement and then eventually on the floor! He has been notorious for not showing up and backing up his work, but he is allegedly supposed to be out again next week to do it again... right...I am trying to keep very good records of everything in case he doesn't show up next week and I need to go to court or something to try and get my money back... OK... sorry for the bummer stuff... but I guess that is news too...

Just a quick update tonight (it's getting late). Mostly I wanted to update Casey and Corinnes school pics ^^^ Above ^^^.

Well Casey liked his pic (I wish he would smile. Especially now that he has those nice expensive, straight teeth!) but Corinne doen't like her pic... I think that she is as pretty as usual, but for some reason she doesn't like it and I guess we paid for some other background, that they didn't use so she might have that one re-taken... (sheesh!)

In other photo news, I printed a bunch of the Lake Geneva pics, via the Walgreens on-line photo processing. They had a problem with my first order, but got it right the second time... So... I guess I will have to reserve judgement for the time being... I love the system though. You can upload via the internet, do the selections and print them at the Walgreens that is close to you (for us, it is just at the corner) and pay when you pick them up... They use Fuji paper. The price was pretty good and I got 10 free for the first order... I think that CVS is supposed to have an online frop off too soon... I LOVE digital photos! (and pohto processing).

As you see by my bike mileage above... I am JUST ABOUT THERE! (to my goal that is...)... I am running out of daylight riding time and am on the borderline of getting tired of riding.... but it is looking like I will make it... :-). I guess I should be healthier too... (not sure about that though :-))

09/17/2005 - Lake Geneva, The Dance,... Pit Stop... <New Photos at the end of this article!>

Well, I have some new photos today, but I'll give ya'all the background stories first... OK, as for the Lake Geneva Pics, it was Dara and my 16'th anniversary Friday (the 16'th (also)) and I took the day off and surprised her (and our dog Kitty) with a trip to Lake Geneva Wis.

There is a path all the way around the lake... It doesn't allways look like a path, because it cuts right across all the yards of all the people who live right on the lake (some really fancy dancy houses, in some cases) BUT there is some deal where there anyone has access and the rights to use this path! Ayway, Dara and I used to walk around the lake with Yuppie (our old dog) when we were young (last century! :-) and I thought that it would be a fun thing to do on our anniversary... Oh yea, I completely surprised Dara! Check out the photo page for the pics! After I took some pics of the dog and us (a few with the timer), I started to get all ArtsyFartsy with the pics again... Don't worry, I only included a few of these... (but I am building up a nice collection to use as needed for cards and web pages, etc..)

OK, now for "The Dance". Corinne and all most of her friends had a big dance at the jr high. I think they all seemed to have a lot of fun... Corinne took about 100 pictures or so... (I only included one of these...). She also got "asked" to the dance and that was kind of fun too... (once again see the photos).

And lastly... for a little bike news... I took a nice trip on the "Great Western Trail" last weekend. That was really fun... I did 40 miles... It was a nice uncrowded path in the country and great for bike meditation. I took it from St Charles to Sycamore... It ends in the same park that we have the Chapman family reunion! (that was a little nostolgic too!) One of the nice things about this bike path is that it starts real close to Richs House (my nephew). So... I stopped by his house on the way back... It was great to see everyone and I got lucky and was there when everyone else was too!

Oh and today... I headed out to do a long ride and... I got my first flat tire with those skinny tires, today! That was frustrating, but I wasn't too far from home, had my phone, had Dara pick me up, went to the bike shop in town, changed the tire, and was ON MY WAY AGAIN!... I was actually surprised that I was able to get in a total of 31 miles! Seven miles before my Pit Stop and 24 after!

Well, I hope todays stories weren't too long fer ya'all... I guess I just had a lot of junk to write today... Later...

No real big news at the moment, but that doesn't usually stop me from writing when I have the time!.. Since my web sites were picking up a little (especially the bike site), I got inspired to try to do some more pages... Like the Green Bay Bike Trail pages, which is from a trip and pics that I took back in May! so check out the new Green Bay Bike Trail pages on my bike site (if you like...)

It took quite a bit of time playing around with the pictures this time... But I think that I got it pertty good... Actually it was a little overcast on that day and the photos themselves wern't that great... but there are a few that are nice... and I just keep getting more trail pages up on the old site... Pretty soon, I will have ALL of the major trails in this area...

While I was foolin around with the pictures I made the new "September" logo above... I kind of like that... (You can even click on the thing to see the full size version...) Last weekend I felt a little ArtsyFartsy and went out and took some photos of some everyday junk... (like the flowers)... That was fun and now I have a little something to show for it anyway...

Well, I have been pleasantly surprised with the rebound on my affiliate sites this month. The biggest payout here was from my bike site! (workin for me while I am out riding... I like to think of it that way... :-)). the main reason for this, I believe is that I am Number 2 on Google for the term "bicycle accessories"!!! this is getting me a LOT of high quality traffic to this site! My web site profits have more than paid for my new bike this month alone... and the bike site was the biggest contributor... That's kind of a nice thing...

... and in a related story... I want to thank Dale and Bob Cummings for some great article contributions to my bike site. Bob wrote a nice article on the Red Cedar Trail (near Menomonie, Wisconsin) and has given me permission to use the photos that he has taken on the website along with the article and photo comments... Check it out at: http://www.about-bicycles.com/red-cedar-trail.htm! Dale has also contributed an nice article on recumbent bikes! It's a nice comparison of short and long wheelbase recumbents... This has gotten my interest too since I also like the idea of recumbents... they have a lot of advantages over "regular" bikes... We came across some 70 something old lady on the des Plains River trail riding one of these things and she kicked our asses (with miles and speed)!!! Check out Dales article at: http://www.about-bicycles.com/recumbents/bents-tour-strada.htm. (thanks you guys)

In other web site news... I have been trying to replace the photos that I use on my sites, with photos that I more legally own myself (have the copyrights to) as much as possible... Well, I remembered that Dara took a great picture of some dog at the dog park one day, so I touched it up a little (removed the background) and have made it my main photo on my Pet Site. Check out http://www.pet-supplies-online-resource.com/ for the new photo that Dara took!

OK, Here's a picture of the new bike

(click on the pic for the blow up). They did get the brake levers right (finally) and I've put all my usual junk on it... So I'm all set, I think... I was trying to think of a short easy to remember name for the bike (like my last two bikes: the Orange Bat and the Old Grey Mare)... I was thinking of something like the Blue Streak or something (since it is so fast)... but Dara was saying that it reminded her of Crest toothpaste! I looked again and... well it does remind me of a tube of Crest a little!!! What do ya think?

Not too much else new right now... Corinne is at the Dells again this weekend with a bunch of her friends (for one of her friends Bat Mitzvahs).

I am hoping to do some website update this weekend (my affiliate sites in addition to my fun site (this one))... Like I said, I am seeing a nice little rebound with the affiliate sites this month. I have sold over $10,000 in bike stuff alone this month! It still blows me away how much stuff people buy online... I see that I once again have the #2 position (not including paid ads, of course) with Google for the term "bicycle accessories"!!! This is a VERY popular and sought after commercial term. :-) :-) :-)

Well, as you see above I have broken my old bike mileage seasons record (of 1,307 in 2003) and am currently at 1341... and going for that 2K!!!

I have also picked up my new bike... My initial feeling is that Speed ROCKS!... It really is fun to go a few miles an hour faster, on average... This bike is really light and fast... Of course, it is easier too on those long trips to have a lighter bike with thinner wheels, etc... There are a few trade offs (as with most things), but I think that I really like getting back into the old road bike (previously called 10 speeds) scene again... (This one is actually 27 speeds!)

I am still making some minor adjustments and, on the bummer side, I need to bring it back next week for them to re-do the extra brake levers that they put on...That should not be too much of a problem though, after I get that worked out...

Sorry, there really isn't too much else to report right now... Oh wait... on the technical side of things... I had a real hard time trying to clean up Caseys PC from an IE hijack program and ended up getting a little too aggressive at deleting things... So I had to reload the OS... (Win XP) I also got a little too aggressive there and ended up deleting almost all of the files on his disk!!! AARRGG! Well, it turned out that it really wasn't all that bad... It fixed the problem and REALLY cleaned up his system... we lost a few minor files, but had copies of all the software (of course) and most of the other personal files except that I have to reverse load all of the songs from his iPod back to the PC and that is taking a little while...

Just a reminder... Keep those confusers backed up out there!!! (especially any important files that you do not want to loose.... (pictures, emails from me, etc... :-) )

Well, the Old Grey Mare (my old Trek 7300fx bike) she aint what she used to be... OK, well it still is what it used to be, but as some of you already know, I have decided to get back to my biking "roots" and get another Road Bike!!! OK, I thought I would be happy with a hybrid bike for the next 26 years (like the amount of time I had my old 10 speed bike (the orange bat)), but I guess I still like those silly wrap down handle bars and skinny tires after all...

Here's a generic picture of MY NEW BIKE! It's a Trek 1500... I will be picking it up on Tuesday, since I had them add the brake levers that go on the upper part of the handle bars (and they had to install them). Just for comparison, here's a picture of my OLD BIKE... on location (at Lake Michigan) (I got a year and over 1200 miles on the old hybrid...)

In a related story... It is looking like my bike mileage goal for this season is within reach... I have over 1200 miles now (on the hybrid) and only 800 or so left... and with a new bike, I'm sure I'll be inspired to do a little extra...

And in almost related news (biking anyway)... All of a sudden my affiliate web sites have made a real nice rebound this month... and most of it is due to my Bike Site Gone Wild! In the first week of August ALONE, I have been credited with over $6,000 in bike stuff sales!!! Wow! I was plesantly surprized when I checked my web site status... So the old web sites have taken a big dive previously, but tey aint dead yet... especially the old bike site... I gotta keep adding stuff to that site...

OK, for those of you who really don't care that much about biking stuff, or affiliate web site stuff... there isn't too much really new lately... Summer vacation (for the kids) is comming to an end... (I'll be glad to see them get back on a more normal sleeping schedule!). Not too much other "page worthy" stuff right now... I'm still working... (alright!). We have finally applied for some health insurance and I am on the last stage of getting this tooth implant done! (Finally! Yahoo! New teeth! :-) :-) )

07/24/2005 - Stayin Cool... Tour De Lance (1/2 way for me), DPR Pages Fixed...

According to my weather page it is 102 degrees here now!!! I am totally Chillin in the Basement... I may not even ride tonight (unless it cools off a little bit later...)

Well, I just heard that Lance Legstrong just won another Tour... I was also reading a little about it and found out that the Tour is almost 2,000 miles... and they do it in less than month! Well, Dale and I just did another 50 miles yesterday (on the DPR Trail...) and I have just past my 1/2 way mark for my seasons goal (of 2,000 (+) miles). I guess all I need to do is drop the time that I do my 2,000 miles down from 6 months to about 3 weeks and I can compete in the TDF! :-) :-) Maybe I'll work on that next year... :-)

OK, for my imaginary trip to LA, I think I am about in Denver now! It is nice to know that I am over 1/2 way... Now all I have to do is the same amount of riding for the end of summer and fall (thru October) and I will have made it... (I dunno...)

Alright, I went back and changed ALL of my frickin Des Plains references to Des Plaines (with an E) in my DPR bike trail pages (see the link below)... Actually I left a few spelled wrong on porpoise (and even wrote about it), since it is a common misspelling... At least it is on purpose this time... Now, I just have to wait for a month or two for all the SEs to get it changed...

Well I am usually one of the last people to find out about new and cool stuff, so you may already know about this... (well it is new to me anyway!)... Check out the Google Earth programs now available from the big G (here's a start (Google Earth) if you need it). It is pretty cool! Unfortunately, you need 1) Broadband 2) Win 2000 or higher... For me, I have broadband, but my main PC is Win98, so I had to use Caseys XP to set it up and run it... (I know a lot of us have the high speed now, and probably most of you have XP too...)

See TODAYs PICS are a couple of sample photos (of places that many of us are familar with...) but the program is way cooler than just these little screen print shots... You have to see how it navigates from one place to another and the level of detail that you get... It is like spying from a satellite telescope... or like flying over the places in a plane (or flying saucer... because you can around so quickly!) Also, it seems to work better for places in the city and suburbs. It doesn't give as much detail fer you country folks...

I also picked up a copy of some great "stitching" software form a fellow programmer at work last week... I'm sure many of you already know about this too, but I just think that the software is so cool that I had to mention it and show a few samples. I'm sure I'll be using this effect pretty often (whenever the opportunity is right). Also, see TODAYs PICS for somew of the stitching samples...

And last (but not least), Dale and I did a little bike trip on the old Des Plains River Trail (DPRT) this weekend... From Route 22 in Half Day to just before the Wisconsin line (where the actual trail ends at the north). 65.5 miles! This is where I got the big lake picture (Independence Grove) in TODAYs PICS.. I also got quite a few really good bike trail shots to fill in the missing sections on my DPRT bike site pages. I know I won't be getting to that tonight, but I hope to get to it fairly soon anyway... Oh yea, then as a little bonus, since it was the hottest day in 6 years, I did another 20 miles today! It really was HOT out there today! (I am taking tomorrow off (from riding... that is)).

Wow one trip after another! I just got the Ohio photos formatted for uploading... For those of you who don't know, We went to Ohio this past weekend, with Daras side of the family, for a memorial service for her dad. The service was still very emotional for us even though it is actually almost a year since he passed away...

As for the rest of the trip, it turned out to be a really nice time. The lodge that we stayed at is on a beautiful lake in Hueston Woods State Park. They had an indoor and outdoor pool, game room and tons of other things to do in the park (boating, horseback riding (see the pics), tennis, basketball, etc...)

For a little background (for my side of the family...) we went to Oxford Ohio (just over the Indiana border). This is the home of Miami University where Dara and just about EVERYONE(!) in her family went to school... Daras mom met her dad there... Kurt and Robin went there (even though they didn't actually meet there)... her grandparents went there... and Dara and Karen (for a short time) also went there! On top of that Daras immediate family lived close to Oxford and all of the kids were born in Ohio! So that gives you a little idea of the connection to Oxford, Miami and Ohio!

OK, now as for the pics... I didn't actually get that many. We were only there 2 nights... and I was actually really disappointed that I did not have my camera with me for one of the best photo opportunities, when we walked around the campus on the slanted/tilted (or something) walk! It was absolutely beautiful and I am still kicking myself for not having my camera with me... (Oh well, I did it again... I will just have to have the thing permanently attached to avoid this happening again!)

We are back from the Dells and had a great time! I just finished doin the pics with my new web page formatting software (the easy way) so I'll pretty much just let ya go through the pictures, and the comments for an update on our Dells Trip... (below)

Just as a little background info... Corinne, Ari (my great niece) and Me went to the Dells for 5 days... We stayed at Aloha Beach hotel on Lake Delton... The rest of the details you can read about with the pictures... We also stopped by my brothers new place, in Sparta Wis. and Andis house the day before we left, so I have included a few shots from there also!

I did do the still pics from the camcorder also (originally I was going to skip that, but I just did it too), so there are 2 sets of pictures. One set from the camera and one from the camcorder... I love the new web page software, but I can't quite do it exactly like I would like (like having the text below the pics)..., but it is so easy that it is worth the trade off... :-)

OK, what does it take to loose a little weight anyway? I was just thinking about how much bike riding I have been doing (640 miles this year already... about 20 miles each time I ride (3 or 4 nights a week, at least)) and I have not lost any weight!!! that's a little discouraging... I am wondering if I I am just replacing fat with muscle and comming out the same... I think my legs are stronger... but my belt size is still the same! I don't know... I may just have to cut back on all the candy, ice cream, cake, etc... that would be a REAL Bummer!

I had some pics of Corinne and her gang on the last day of school (actually the very last day of Grade School!) and Dara just took some nice shots of Corinne and her friend Eden, so I just kicked out some pages from my new software and thought that I would post them here... SO...

Congratulations to Larry (my bro) on his new house and massive acreage up in Sparta Wisconsin!!!

6/9/2005 - Kansas City Here I Come! Memories...can be beautiful, oh yea... (to the tune of that memories song)

I'm on my way to L.A. and I am just about to Kansas City! OK, I am not really going anywhere... this is just another boring bike article... But I hope I got your attention...

OK, I've decided that my bike mileage goal (for this year) is just over 2,000 miles (I am on track so far, but just barely...). For a new perspective, I just checked out my road atlas and is is just over 2,000 from Chicago to L.A.... So I am now on my imaginary trip to L.A... OK, I know what you are all thinking... Here he goes on another imaginary trip!... he's loosing it!!! Well, I have probably already lost it, but that it beside the point... Well anyway, it is just over 500 miles to Kansas City and that is where my mileage is right now... So, I'm coming up to Kansas city right now on my imaginary trip!... Wow, the colors are really far out man....

...and in some other semi-boring news... I just ordered some additional Memories for my confuser! About 128 million of them... (128 Mb) It's not that much really, but it has just brought my old Win98 system back to life again! I was avoiding putting more money into the old machine (kind of like not wanting to throw more money into an old car), but memory really doesn't cost that much and I am REALLY glad I got it... It is WAY better!

Sorry for the delay again... I guess there hasn't been a huge amount of real newsworthy stuff going on... but then again, that never really stopped me from writing before :-) :-)

I have been doing a LOT of bike riding. So far I am going after my old record 1307 miles and Dales record of 2008 miles... I really don't know if I can keep up this pace, but I am on track so far... I just need to keep doing 334 or more miles per month through all of October... Sheesh!!!

In the process, I have found a great bike route through Inverness (the rich area by us...). I just did 21 miles there today and have a real nice route... So, of course, I took pictures and did a set of bike site pages with photos that I called The Inverness Trail (even though it is not really a "trail"). Here's the link: http://www.about-bicycles.com/inverness-trail.htm (new window) I got a little carried away with the photos and it took a huge amount of time to put all this crap together... and it may net even be that exciting for most people, unless you are a fairly serious biker or know or have an interest in the area... Oh well, it is done anyway...

I got this new software called File Factory, with the printer that Jeff gave me. It is REALLY nice. You can do large batches of photos (resizing, pages, etc.) very quickly and easily (if you just use their basic format). Well, I just resized and ran a few recent pictures through the software and it generated these pages in just a few minutes... It's a little different from my usual photo page format, but I think it works very well... I have a lot more pictures of Corinne and her friends recently, mostly because she is around a lot more than Casey...

Now I can do tons of photos all at once... (if I don't run out of server space!!!)

Well, it appears that all the work I did, and installed over the weekend (for work (DHL, that is)) worked just fine... In the mean time I was hangin out by my PC and fooling around. I finally got around to finishing my Wide Angle photo of the Farrm, so I thought I would put it out here with a link... Hey I might as well do our lake while I'm at it...

In order to beat my old mileage records, I have been exploring new ways to increase my typical everyday bike rides (that I do on weekdays, just starting from my house and hopping on the bike). One of my favorite areas for weekdays, around rush hour (which is when I ride a lot), is Inverness. I have a route that I usually do that is 10 or 11 (if you take the extra loop) miles. I just discovered a way to hop over Palatine road (less than a tenth of a mile on the shoulder) and into a few new hoods in the northern part of Inverness... WOW, is it nice!!! I can increase my milage by 7 miles at least! I haven't even explored all of the additional roads...

I am really excited about this... The new areas may even be nicer than the old hoods that I usually ride in... For those of you who don't know, Inverness is the extra rich area around here... the houses and landscaping are absolutely beautiful and there is actually very little traffic! You rarely see any of the rich people (except for a few Mercedes once in a while). Mostly all you see are all of the landscapers... and they do a great job!

I think I have gone on my Inverness rampage before, but I will restate if in case I didn't... I really would NOT like to live there (yea right, like I even could if I wanted to), because it really looks way too pristine and prissy. We already do pretty well at being the White Trash in our more modest hood! But it is great to have this area so close by to ride around in and enjoy other peoples houses and landscaping... I have decided that I am going to take some photos of my riding areas and write up some trail pages as soon as I get a chance... I have done so many trail pages, on my bike site, and haven't done the one that I ride so often and is almost in my own back yard! the next sunny day that I get when I have the time and am in a photo mood, I will get the pics and you will be able to see much better what I am talking about...

OK, enough of that... The other little activity going on the weekend is the Neighborhood gar(b)age sale! Our neighborhood always has this on some weekend in May. It's nice because, a bunch of other people are already doing it and the signs are already up and everything, so all you have to do is throw some junk out in the driveway (and we have plenty). We have sold some junk and have a pile to donate after it is over... so that is great! (although it is just a drop in the bucket... every drop helps a little bit anyway...). This was mostly Corinnes idea... and here she is workin the gar(b)age sale >>>

Corinne workin the garage sale! Click to enlarge!

(click to enlarge) (photos compliments Dara (with MY camera))...

Oh yea, I am also working (from home) a little this weeked too... DHL has a big software upgrade going on and I offered to help out a little. I don't think it will take a lot of time or be a big problem... but it is software...and as we all know... you never quite know exactly what will happen... I hope it goes smoothly...

Well, I was trying to get a video clip uploaded for the next update, but I just don't have it down yet... So I figured I better do a little update anyway...

First of all, happy (belated) mothers day for all of you mothers out there (you know who you are... :-) )... We had a little get together at Daras moms house and that was very nice... On Saturday, Dale and I did 31 miles on the GreenBay Bike Trail. (it's in Illinois (the north shore area, by lake Michigan) not in Wisconsin). I haven't actually done the official bike trail pages for my bike site... I just don't seem to have the time... I'll try to get to it soon...

5/3/2005 - May Day! Just over 100, Jeffs Photo School site (and affiliate program!)

Well, I don't really have time for a BIG update tonight, but I wanted to do a quick one anyway... Yep it's May already... but it hasn't felt much like it here... I just barely got in a little over 100 miles on my bike before we hit May... I must do a lot better if I am going to break any of those old records (from when I was young! (a few years ago...)). I like the average mph on my new speedometer. I seem to watch that more now and it helps to push me to try to go for a little more speed... So I may not have been doing great distance this year (yet), but I have been going a little faster anyway...

I also just updated a few pages on my Babies and Pets sites with Jeffs Online Photography School site (the NYN site). He has just set up an affiliate program for the school and I am the first affiliate!!! So my links on these pages can generate a profit for Jeff and Pam and myself too! The photo school fits in pretty well with the Babies and Pets sites so I think This sould work out well...

Work at Home

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Check out their site! You can go ahead and download the eboook too if you want... It IS free as it says... but you will have to give them your email and you will receive the marketing pitches... It is only a few extra emails but you can see how they sell the courses if you like...

Now that Corinne is taking Badminton lessons, she is wanting to learn all of the "racket sports" I guess... I didn't know that we were going to be playing tennis this weekend but she had the interest and we had the rackets (and balls), so there we were!

It was actually nice that it was a cold and crappy weekend (in a way) because we had ALL of the Tennis courts at Harper to ourselves, which is nice when you are first learning (or re-learning for some of us) and hitting balls all over the place and swearing and stuff... Much more freedom and less stuffy... Corinne and I played last night (Saturday) and Corinne Dara and me played today... There was a time when Dara and I used to play and it started to come back to me... It was a lot of fun and I think Corinne had fun (in addition to learning the game) too... Today we even had the black dog with us! I thought that was distracting and kind of a pain, but Corinne (and Dara) enjoyed that... and she had this huge fenced in area to run around (like I said, it was good that there was no one else around...

Today we tied 2 "SETs".... (Dara and Corinne against me) OK, hang in there with me (or skip to the next section if you like... I actually want to write this down so I can remember it... I always thought the scoring and rules were pretty stupid but here goes (this is from memory, not from copying another internet page). The scoring for a "GAME" goes Love (0) ,15 (1), 30 (2), 40 (3), "game" (4)... (so you win a "game with 4 points (but you must win by 2 points)). It's called "deuce" when you are tied and add-in when you are about to win (1 of the 2 points needed) or add-out when you are about to loose (same idea).

One person serves a game (then you alternate for the next game) and either person gets points regardless of who is serving... You win a "SET" when you win 6 games (you also must win by 2 games)... then you win the "MATCH" when you win 2 out of 3 Games... There, that's most of it... Damn, why can't they just go to 11 or 21!

OK, that is probably more about tennis than anyone reading this wants to know... oh well, sorry...

Now, in other news... we postponed Daras birthday movie cause there weren't any movies out right now that she really wanted to see and she had a badminton meet yesterday... So now I still have that "hangin over my head" :-)... We'll see something soon though... I also setup the printer that Jeff gave me (an Epson Stylus Photo 2200). The photo prints look great on this printer!

I had planned to do some biking and a few other things and never got to them (with all the tennis playing going on...). Well, I guess that's about it... I still have lots of work to do tonight (on the internet)... but I am just about out of time, so I probably won't get around to that either...

There is NEVER enough time! OK, most of you who know me have heard this one before... but here goes again... How the hell do people get bored?!?!?!?!?

4/20/2005 - Angry Crowd Forces Update! North Carolina Tour... A Working Birthday...

Wow, how time flys between updates! Sorry for the delay... OK, it wasn't an really "angry crowd", but I have been reminded that I am really behind on the old web site and have had some requests for updates.

Well part of my delay was because I was in North Carolina for a week! It took me some time to get ready to travel and then some time to catch up on stuff after the trip... I have over 200 pictures, and the task of selecting and uploading a bunch seemed pretty overwhealming too... Well, I have to just select a handful and get with it! So, I'll do the best I can...

The trip was great (it was just me on this trip) and I caught a little early spring (really more like summer) down thar... Of course, the highlight was seeing my good friends and their families (the gang (the cult?))...

Well, I know a slide show with an audio would be better, but I don't think I'll be getting to that, so just come along for the photo page tour! I am including a lot of my trip comments on those pages so take the tour... (if you DARE...)

... and in other news... Today is Daras (and Hitlers) Birthday! Happy Birthday Dara! No, I am not just celebrating her birthday with a note on the web page... I made her a nice card, Corinne got her come flowers and we are going on a movie date this weekend (that's a major event for us...) Dara is actually working on her birthday (whilst I am doing this update...)

Another reason for my delay with the updates is that we have been having some fantastic spring weather too and I have been just plain old being lazy and enjoying the weather and stuff...

Well, I guess I can't catch up on the whole month all at once, so I better sign off now...

OK, I finally got the first batch of pics, from my new camera, uploaded! All of a sudden I have this new interest in photography again... I really like the new camera and I am working on learning how to use it (well) and just getting better pictures. I have always been a little better at grabbing still pics off of the camcorder, but I am going to work on the digital camera ones now...

OK, I am calling the pictures PrEaster because they were from a Pre-Easter get together at Daras moms house. I took more pictures than I usually do because of the new camera of course and now I am having a hard time finding the time to do the page updates and uploads... Our Pre-Easter dinner was very nice and I got some OK pictures of Daras side of the family... (Just OK, because I am still working on it...)

I have already told ya all the technical info about the camera and it is the same as Brads anyway. So I won't get into that again... I did order a 1GB sd memory card online also. and I have a lot to write about photo developing places but I think I will save that for another update (if I am still into it...)

What a perferct time of year for a Pool Party! The weather took a turn for the worse again and everyone is ready for summer... so... we just had Corinne's Birthday Pool Party! (indoors of course) The last time we did this (2003) it was fantastic and this year was the same. I believe everyone had a great time.

Anyway, I was in charge of photos (and camcording) (in addition to contributions to chauffeuring, party goods delivery, and cleanup) and I downloaded the pictures from Corinnes digital camera (mine is on order, but not here yet) and the camcorder. I also haven't posted photos to the site for a while and with all of the competition from Andi and Brad's Site I figured I better get some up here... (also it was nice that I had a major event to post photos from...).

It really was a nice time. I believe that the girls all had a great time and it was pretty nice for us adults too (OK, I use the term "adults" loosely for myself). Dara was in charge of doing all of the arrangements with the hotel, helping Corinne with the invitations, party goods, etc. and everything worked out great. The Sheraton pool is nice and it only costs $5 per person to use the facility, so it didn't add up to all that much (considering the fun that we got out of it).

...and in other News... My new camera is on order... from Abes of Maine. Yea, I never heard of them before either, but hey... they had the the best price (from a fairly easy to use and safe looking site). So, maybe the next time I post pictures, they might be from my new Kodak DX7590. Of course, this is the same camera used for the photos and video on Andi and Brad's Site, so I hope to get some good photos and video myself also...


	North Carolina Photo Page 1 North Carolina Photo Page 2 North Carolina Photo Page 3 North Carolina Photo Page 4 North Carolina Photo Page 5

Text Archive Version 10 3/13/2005 to 10/8/2005

Text Archive Version 10
3/13/2005 to 10/8/2005