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3/6/2005 - Beautiful Ugly Duckling Weather... More Valuable Car Odometer Information! Digital Camera... Taxing Weekend..
Well, first of all it was an absolutely beautiful day today in old Chicagoland! In the 60s! Out on my walk/run today I was just thinking about the fact that it is great to have the warm weather, but the landscape is kind of like the ugly duckling before it turns into a beautiful swan... It is still wet and muddy and the trees are still bare... but at least it was warm!
OK I am satisfied with my bike odometer settings (and I actually did a regular bike ride Saturday), but I did discover that Car Odometers are not 100% accurate. How did I come to this conclusion? Well, I did some extensive testing with Daras car and my van (both Hondas) and the 2 cars are off by about 50 feet at the mile marker! Why is this valuable? Well, whos car is actually right? When you think you are going a mile, you could be going a mile and 10 or 20 or 50 feet or less than a mile, etc... The odometer settings, when you buy a car are probably not exactly right and I believe that if the odometers are off then it is very likely that your speedometer is off too!!! When you are going 55 (like most of us do in the posted 55 mph zones) you could be going 56 or 54 or who knows what speed!!! So what you need to do is to print this page and the next time you get pulled over for speeding, just whip this out and explain the discrepancies... I'm sure that this will will work very well... :-) (I am not an attorney, please see your legal professionals before attempting this in the real world)
Well, I intended to do my taxes quickly and then do a final check on prices for my new Digital Camera this weekend! I have decided to get the camera that my nephew-in-law (Brad) got... the Kodak DX7590 (10x zoom, 5mpx, continuos shot feature, lithium battery, pretty low shutter lag and quick shot-to-shot time... (to name a few of the features that were important to me)). Yes, I did take some time to research the cameras... BUT... it took a little more time than I thought to do my taxes and I was in serious "tax shock" after doing them... I have paid UncleS a ton of money each quarter and was thinking that maybe I would get a little back... but NO... I owe a ton more!!! Anyone know any good tax shelters? Send your suggestions to The Church of the Holy IRS c/o Reverend Chapman, at my current address... Bless you...
Corinne had a nice birthday dinner last week and she likes the extra camera memory that we gave her... She can get over 1,000 pictures (on the low setting) on that chip (hmmm, another Kodak... maybe I can use that card in my new camera... hmmm... :-) :-) )
Wow, it's late already... I gotta go... Catch ya all later...
2/26/2005 - First Ride! Car odometers
Yep you got that right... Did you see the single digit bike mileage for 2005 above? Actually I did not intentionally plan to take a leisurely February bike ride, but I ended up doing 7 miles today anyway. I just installed my new bike speedometer and I was checking the calibration and also how far I ran today (I'm still not sure exactly but I think it was about 3/4 mile or so). My first check was off because I used the wrong setting.
Now I have it pretty close (to the van) but it is still off by a few yards or so... I was clocking the 1/2 mile and 1 mile marks with my van and comparing it to the bike... Like I said it is off by a few yards... So now the question is which one is right? Are Car odometers actually that accurate (to the foot or yard) or could the bike one be more accurate? Does anyone out there know?
later Ya'all
2/19/2005 - Money for Nothin... New Speedo
Remember that song Money for Nothin... (get your chicks for free)? Well, I got it stuck in my head... Some of the lyrics are "we've got to install microwave ovens... custom kitchens..." etc. etc. and I just installed a "microwave oven"! Our old one bit the dust and I had to do a replacement... I think that I got lucky because our replacement was the same brand as the old one and/or maybe everything is fairly standard and I did not have to customize the vent or drill a lot of new holes in the cabinet... Anyway... It's done... "the little faggots got his own jet airplane... maybe get a blister on your little finger... yea, thats the way to do it... " etc. Not installing microwave ovens!
I just got my New Speedo in the mail today! OK, don't freak out! It's not a swimming suit! I am talking about my new bike speedometer... Well, obviously it's more than just a speedometer... I just read up about all the crap that it has on it and how to install it, sot that's on my list for tomorrow... then I'll be totally ready for riding season!
I guess that's about it for now... Y'all come back now... ba-bye...
2/13/2005 - Better Weather means New Cycle Confuser!
As I was out strolling yesterday (my exercise walk/run that is), I noticed that a few bike riders were out! It was a beautiful day and almost even dry enough for me to get out the old bike and do some riding... There is one problem though... As you know, I like to keep a running total of my bike miles for each season and the batteries in my old faithful cycle computer (also called bike speedometer, bike odometer, bike computer, cyclocomputer, etc) were dead...
The problem here is that my old faithful cycle confuser (a Vetta that Jeff gave me for my birthday about 15 years or so ago) doesn't fit the fork of my new bike (The sizes must have changed over the years...) and I had it strapped and taped on (as a temporary solution). Well, this means it's time for an upgrade...
There are so many cool bike computer options out there now that it took me quite a while and quite a bit of research to decide... The options include wired vs. wireless, models with altimeters, heart rate monitors, cadence options, temperature options, downloadable options... (so many options... so little time...)
Well I finally ordered something online from one of my own sites!!! This really was a good item for online shopping... You could really read up on and compare all of the different options and models... I ended up with another Vetta brand, wireless with a cadence option (the pedal RPM that is). After much consideration, I thought that was was the best option for my own needs...
Well I didn't want all of that cycle computer research and work to go to waste, so I wrote a pretty informative page for my bike site on the subject... Check out: Cycle Computer Features and Comparisons.
OK, enough rambling about that... I am just getting ready for riding season!
I also called Jeff and did some initial planning for a trip to NC in the spring! This will be a solo trip (just me) and we have some other family trips planned for summer and fall (if all goes well)... I am looking forward to some nice change of scenes!
Not too much else to report right now... Better git... Later...
1/30/2005 -Aviator 
, Walk/Running, The Sites...
Yep, we (Dara and me) actually went out to a movie this weekend! Those of you who know me know that this is a major event! The last movie I saw at a theater was "Laurence of Arabia"!!! (OK, I'm kidding.... just a little though!) OK, so anyway, we saw Aviator, based on some good reviews from our reviewers... For those of you who haven't seen it, I would highly recommend it... I think it was around 3 hours, but it kept us captivated the whole time and you don't even realize that it is that long... OK, I'm not going to do my who "regular guy" review here... I don't want to write that much right now... (why do I hear sighs of relief out there?!?!)
Not really a whole lot of other news at the moment... It was a pretty layed back weekend... I just did the movie, did my walk/run exercise routines and did a small amount of website work... I did want to mention that, now that we are in the dead of winter, I've traded in bike riding for my walking and running routine (as I usually do)... and I think the walking and running combination is a fantastic workout! That is the main exercise that I did when I initially lost the 40 pounds quite a few years back... I kept the weight off for quite a few years now, but it is creeping back a little bit... So, I'll let ya know how the routine is working out... I lost 2 pounds last week, but that doesn't mean much by itself really...
I usually walk a little over 3 miles (in a little less than an hour)... I have been running about 1/4 mile out of the 3 miles and today just increased that to 1/2 mile of running... I am shooting for a very modest goal of running 1 mile and walking the other 2... Hey, when you are my age, and in the shape that I am in, ya just can't be doin marathons without injuring or killin yourself!
Well, the websites commissions have been pretty rotten (as those of you who stop by here (or have talked to me) already know...)... but I just remembered that I may have done some of the damage myself too... Back when my contact site got banned from Yahoo, I panicked a little bit and dropped a ton of my internal links (links to and from my own sites) and my friend Fred and I dropped most of our links to each others sites... just to be sure that we weren't getting penalized for cross linking too much... Well, now that the sites are doing even worse, I just realized that maybe that wasn't as much of a problem as I thought and maybe I shot myself in the foot! Anyway, I have put many of the links back, so we'll see if that starts to help again in a month or two... Still trying... and still hoping... (and they are still making a little bit anyway...)
Later..................
1/23/2005 - And Now... Snow!
OK, last week was the extreme cold... This week is the big snow... I guess that's January in Chicago for ya!
I couldn't do my usual walk/run exercise this weekend very well because of all of the snow... so I just shoveled snow for exercise... I'm sure it's a pretty bad choice for exercise (especially for my back), but I shoveled for almost an hour and a half today along with a bunch of shoveling yesterday (the driveway (Dara probably did most of that though)).
Today I did the sidewalk, which was really "extra credit" and didn't have to be done, but I made it a mission to dig through this 4 foot or so bank of snow (mostly from the plows). Here's a picture of my snow canal! And here's a picture of our house in the snow... We seem to get quite a bit of extra snow by being at the end of the cull-da-sack... ah well...Yea, I grabbed Corinnes digital camera to get a few snow shots today...
Not much else new... I did my 4'th quarter taxes... late! And the websites totally sucked this week. Well, it's getting late and I gotta get ready for work tomorrow... so see ya all later!
1/16/2005 - Global Warming????????????!
Where? When? I'm not feelin it!
1/13/2005 - Chillin, Huge Glasses, Digital Photo Print Info, Longer Days...
I'm just chillin out, checkin my commissions (terrible this month), watchin TV a little and surfin a little and I thought I would put in an update... We just went from an almost record high (upper 60's) yesterday... to Freezin-Ass cold again today! I wanted to blame it on the SueNomi, but it is probably just regular January Chicago weather...
I just made an Eye Doc appointment for my new Rx and glasses... Especially for all of you out there who have givin me such a hard time about my "Huge Glasses"! They really aren't that big (it seems to me like the majority of the ones in the glasses places are that big or bigger still...), but I'll be getting a little more current... hang on...
I also had a renewed interest in digital photo printing and checked into printing at WalMart... It is about .24 to .26 per 4x6 at our WalMart... but I can still get them cheaper online from ShutterFly (about .29 per 4x6) but you need to sign up for a batch and it costs a few bucks for shipping. I was just trying to do the math, but there are too many variables to make a direct comparison. In general, I think ShutterFly is cheaper... Once I get into digital photos some more once again, I'll have to do some real live comparisons... I am considering putting our Nikon film camera on sale on eBay and using the profits for a nice digital one... Not sure yet though...
OK, my last little note has to do with the days getting longer... One of those little things that most people probably never really think about much (or maybe don't care about), but I thought it was a little interesting and looked it up on the internet... Although the days start getting longer around the 21'st of December, the sunrise is still getting later until the beginning of January... In other words, it is still darker in the mornings (for longer)... OK, well at this point the days are getting longer AND the sun is rising sooner and setting later! YIPPEE!!! Now if we can just get out of this deep freeze again... You can get the daylight details here (for Chicago anyway) if you are interested...
OK, how's that for a bunch of rambling?!? Later...
1/2/2005 - 2005! Off Work and Chillin, New Family Site, More Christmas Updates,
Well, well, well... I guess it is 2005 already! I have been reminded that I haven't had an update for a while (sorry about that), so here we go...
I have just been off of work for over a week and am just Chillin out tonight. We just got back from Wisconsin (Andis house) yesterday and we had today to chill out before starting work/school again tomorrow. We had a great trip. It was another Christmas Encore for everyone (Christmas #2a for us, even though we were there for New Years...). It was just me, Casey and Corinne since Dara had to "dog sit" (I guess we didn't plan this far enough in advance to find a "suitable" sitter... :-) ). It was a tough ride home, and took about 6 hours (it is normally about 4.5 (for us anyway (we keep it under 90!)). The roads were icy and I saw about 7 accidents on the way back...
Well, as some of you know, Andi and Brad just got a new confuser and digital camera and while I was up there, we brought up the new Oium Web Site! Add it to your favorites (I just did)! I see that Brad has already added 2 pages of photos from his digital camera! (look on photo page 2 for yours truly... (if it doesn't get changed real soon...)) Which reminds me, I have got to get one of those! (it is on my list... "our" other digital camera is really Corinnes).
Sorry that I don't have any updated photos myself... I have got to get with it again...
Getting back to Christmas #1.0 (the local version Christmas eve and day), Karen, Daryooosh, Nadia and Rick were also in town for Christmas and we had a lot of nice Christmas activities at Daras brothers and moms house last week. I can't even keep track of all of the gifts that the kids got... the ones that stick out in my mind are the technical gifts (hey, what can I say, I've been a conputer geek for a long time now...). Anyway, Nadia got a cool MP3 player and Casey got an iPod... I am not even going to start writing much about this stuff, or I will be here all night! (I also did a lot of computer maintenance work on my Christmas break.)
OK, I can't catch up on everything in one update, even if I have a little spare time...
I also made at trip out to my Plano brothers house (in Plano) and to Rich and Dianes house (in Geneva) to drop off and exchange some more gifts (Christmas #1a-001! ) It was just me and I didn't have that much time, but it was nice to be able to visit a little with everyone...
Well, I have work tomorrow, so I better start getting mentally prepared... The time off has been great! (actually, I am hoping that I don't get a lot more time off (i.e. contract ending) anytime soon... I was going to do some more web site work tonight, but it is already getting late and I might want to be lazy for just a little bit longer... :-)
Happy New Year everybody!
12/18/2004 - The holidays, kids are off, junk about bikes, the sites
OK, I dropped my little joke cartoon (it didn't seem real Christmasey)... and I thought I better write something to keep the old page up to date (a little bit anyway...).
I am taking some time off of work myself (between the holidays). With my consulting business, no work = no pay so I don't like to take a lot of time off (I still have no idea when this will end) and it seems a little bit slower that it has been... I hope it picks up again after the holidays... My "company" (RC Consulting) took my department out for lunch on Friday (I enjoyed that and I think everyone else did too)...
The kids are off now for xmas break now too... We don't really have any real big plans for the holidays (yet anyway)... I am kind of trying to enjoy keeping the stress levels down a little... but then again, hey it is the holidays! I was thinking about writing about the gifts that we are considering and/or have bought, but then I don't think I will put that out in public (where the kids could find it) at this time :-)
I have been pretty lazy, so far today, but I am trying to get some more pages out on my web sites... I realized, a while back, that I write a lot of junk about bikes and stuff on this site, so my latest project, has been to go through my family page and all of the archives and cut and paste all of the bike related articles on to my bike site... The reason for this is that the family page does not get spidered by the search engines, and I get no "credit" for the junk that I have written (from them)... but on my bike site, all of that misc. bike stuff gives me "extra-credit" as content on those pages! The articles are mixed in on these pages: http://www.about-bicycles.com/bike-trails-articles.htm, http://www.about-bicycles.com/bike-articles-1.htm and http://www.about-bicycles.com/bike-articles-2.htm with more to come soon (as soon as I get something done today)... So now all of those famous "stories" that you "loved so much" are now open for the public to enjoy! (yea, OK, so I get more credit on my sleazy commercial bike site! :-) ) Well, maybe someone else will find some legitimate interest in them anyway...
Oh yea, and of course, I have to mention the sites (for those enquireing minds that "need to know")... As you regular readers know, the sites have dropped off of the high sales that I had back in July and August, BUT they are still making money and I still intend to keep doing what I can to improve them and make more sites when I get a chance... November turned out OK (mostly thanks to Sat TV sales), and December is doing OK too but not quite as good a November (on average), so far... The Bike site is number one (once again) so far this month... selling a lot of kids bikes and bike accessories... and the Babies site is also doing pretty good this month...
OK, I better try to get some more pages done and/or get some other productive work done...
see ya'all later...
11/30/2004 - T-Day and Photos, WebCam, IMGOOFYGOBBERGAB, Another Employeed Progammer,
I guess that's about it for November... We had a great Thanksgiving over at Larrys... I got the photos from Brad, but haven't had a chance to format and upload to the site yet... I didn't want the photos to hold up another update though, (since I have a break in the action here) so I thought I would drop a line anyway...
Larry, Brad and I have also done some Video Conferencing... I guess that might be what you call it... You know... chatting with a camera and audio... :-) Larry gave me a webcam when I dropped off Ari (Ari stayed over and hung out with Corinne for a few nights at our house...). Thanks Bro! Corinne is the most active IMer here, so I used one of her names for our Yahoo IM Screen name... If you have YahooIM and want to chat (text and/or webcam) our screen name is IMGOOFYGOBBERGAB...
Dale has over 2,000 bike miles this season (above), which I will have to try to beat now... At least he is employeed now, so if he stays employeed and my contract ends, I'll have a shot at beating his mileage record next season :-) Yes, it's good news that there are still programming jobs out there (pretty scarce though)... I hope I am able to hang on for quite a while at DHL... As I have mentioned to most of you, I just never quite know when I'll be semi-unemployeed again myself... On a related subject, the old web sites are still hangin in there... They are not up to July and August levels, but they are still making money and a potential (but pretty risky) way of making a living... Only time will tell... Oh yea, congratulations Dale!
OK, I gotta git now... Yall come back soon...
11/07/2004 - New Competition, L&P Link, Author dropout
Well, the Chapman family (SE branch) has not done much for bike miles this year, but Dale has been kickin ass so, I've posted his bike mileage for a goal to beat (maybe next year)... Of course, he had a huge advantage this year by being out of work for most of the riding season (like I was last year)... Well, the season is just about over now, but this weekend was so nice that I did end up adding over 20 miles more...
I went to check out the larryandpatty.com site for updates yesterday and found that it is convenient to have a link that is easy to find on this page so I moved it up by the top... (and it will open in a new window, so you won't loose this page...)
Well, the publisher for the Biking Illinois book still wanted me to do a couple of bike trail articles (below) and was asking for dates (when I could get them done) and I finally decided that I just don't have the time to do a book on top of everything else right now, so I sent him a "you can't quit me I'm fired" letter :-) :-) (I declined the offer)... I tried to leave a little opening in case I find myself out of work again and have some time available, but I think that I just closed the door on that one... Well, I may not be officially published, but hey, I got all of these web pages that get read once in a while! :-)
Speakin of web sites, I better go do my daily affiliate site check... This month has sucked so far... I hope my web site heyday is not over yet... Who knows... only time will tell...
yall come back now... yahear.
10/31/2004 - Not Much, Halloween, Demoted, I&M Canal, Daylight Wasting...
OK, I don't really have a lot to report right at the moment... I mostly wanted to update the web page heading to "November" while I was thinking about it (so it would not say October through 1/2 of the month :-) )
The weekend is fading and Halloween is just about over now... We had a rush of trickortreaters... for a little while, then it faded... Our pumpkins look pretty cool out front... (Dara and Corinnes carving art work this year...)... Dara and Corinne got a silly costume for Kitty (the dog) for a silly dog costume party at the dog park... OK, the costume was... "cute" (there I said it... I can't believe it, but I said it...)...
I was just studying up on the I&M canal for my book co-author, backup "audition"... Yea, I talked to the publisher guy and I have been demoted to the backup or a co-author position... Now, he has asked for 2 bike trail articles to review my writing (I think of it as an audition) just to "keep the door open" on the book project... I wasn't real sure about how committed I wanted to be anyway, so I'm still not sure if I am even going to send in these articles...
Regardless, I decided that if I did do the articles, the I&M trail would be a good choice and it has a lot of history... Then I actually got interested in it myself anyway (picked up a book at the library)... If you study up on Illinois and Chicago history, you find out that the I&M canal pretty much made Chicago into the city that it is today... Then I checked Google for some more info and typed in "I&M canal" (no reference to bike trails even) and found that my site comes up on page 2... and if you do the "images" search I have the number 1 and 2 pictures for the I&M canal in Google!
So my silly bike trail pictures take their place in history! yea, it's cool... (I think anyway...)
Wow, I really went off the deep end on that one... now all of a sudden I have a long update...
Well, I guess that's really it for now... We are back to DAYLIGHT WASTING time again... I am going to hate not having the sun on my way back from work tomorrow... (yea, OK, the mornings will be a little brighter, but I still don't like these shorter days (and shifting the time so you loose the light after work...))
OK, that's really it now... It's 9:36 and I gotta go... No, it's really 10:36... :-) :-) :-)
10/22/2004 - Check out Casey and Corinnes 2004/5 Pics,
OK, They are finally in! Check em out...
Actually, they look surprisingly similar to last years... A little different... Well you be the judge... Check out the School Picture Morph 2000-2004! OK, I had some extra time and wanted to do this for a while... I tried to keep the pictures small enough for the morph to load and display fairly fast... (even with dial up...)
My web sites are making about 50% of what they were on average for the last 3 months, so I guess I am not real inspired to work on them and needed to "play" a little...
10/17/2004 - Deer Grove Trail Pages... My New Book! Family updates...
Hey, I gotta get an update in here before the work week starts again... OK, well first of all, I've done a lot of work on my Deer Grove Mountain Bike trail pages this week and last... and they are finally up on the internet... The original Deer Grove pages were the very first "trail pages" that I wrote... I went back and added the "off the road" "unpaved" "mountain trail" sections and I guess I am doing better than before and am putting in more text on the newer pages (the SEs love that!). I have update the Deer Grove Main Page, but the real photo tour starts here with the Deer Grove Mountain Bike Trail Page Photos
In a related story, I have been asked if I want to write a book on Illinois bike trails from a book publisher who visited my bike site and liked my bike trail pages! Hey, I've been wanting to be a "published writer" for quite a while now... I just thought it would be songs, not books... :-) Anyway, I am considering taking on the project... It would require quite a bit of time and effort and, from what I understand, the actual proceeds from the book may not be that much (I don't actually have the details on that yet), but the PR from being a published writer could have some benefits... I don't know, I'm still undecided... The "fun" part of it would be that I would need to travel around Illinois and do about 60 or 70 bike trails in the state and write about them and take photos... (like I do for my bike site articles...)... Nice work... just don't know about the ROI...
... and in the family news... Not a real lot new right now except that Corinne was wanting to get those wild theatrical contact lenses for Halloween (and just for fun too... you know, the kind where they make your eyes look like cat eyes, or spirals, etc...). Well, we found them on-line (via my contact site, of course... ) at Vision-Direct, but they are about $70 for the prescription ones and that is more than we really wanted to spend on that kind of thing... I guess we'll think about it and see if she really pushes for them... FYI: You can get the non-prescription ones (called plano) at Coastal Contacts... (go to my contact lens site and to these places if you are interested in seeing them... (it may take a little searching, but I don't want to do all that myself right now, just to paste in the links...)
We also still haven't gotten Corinnes school pic... I was hoping to have that now and scan and post them here... Oh well, soon enough, I guess...
Dat's it fo now...
10/3/2004 - Out of the Woods (bike blog), Stuff Archived, Parties!, Dinner, Web Site Analysis (seperate page)
Wow, I forgot how nice it was on the back trails in Deer Grove! I just did a 22 mile ride today with 5 miles in the woods! I've decided that I need to do an update to my Deer Grove bike trail pages and add the off the main trail info and pictures... I am hoping for another good weekend to take the camcorder out there and get some photos! I might just update some of the text tonight... (if I have the time and inspiration...) I also decided that I really need to do more of this bike stuff in a blog on my regular bike site... I'll let ya all know if I do that... and link to it...
Maintenance Note: I've also Archived more stuff now to keep the page size down a little... I also moved Caseys belt listing to the bottom of the page, since hs is no longer doing Tae Kwon Do... He has talked about starting up again, but until he gets going again, Im moving his belt updates...
No the "Parties" part doesn't have to do with my (boring) life... That's Casey's thing lately. The change is amazing. I don't know if it has to do with high school or Kyle working all the time, but Casey has gone from hangin with one friend (Kyle) just about every night to mr. social butterfly party dude. I can't remember all of the names, let's see, there's Josh, (Neil) and Mike, some girl named after a car... 2 other girls and 2 other guys that he's been hangin with and partying with... Well, being a parent, of course, I worry about all the changes, etc. I try to keep on top of the scene but I just have to hope that it's a good crowd and that they are "good parties"... Hey, I know what I did in High school... I can only hope for the best...
Corinne is making Dinner tonight... So I got that to look forward to... Well, we'll see how it goes... She has been into Kitty (our almost new dog) a lot... I am getting used to her (a little) she hasn't had any accidents since after vacation, and is a half way decent dog, most of the time... Also, I am still waiting for Corinnes school pics to post... We have Casey's, but I was going to do then at the same time...
OK, I know not everyone shared my enthusiasm for the web sites, so I put this weeks update on the Web Site Story page. Now that I'm pretty much done with the Doctor/Chiropractor Site, (By the way, it seems to be very difficult to get people to contribute content to their own sites... I have written all of the content on this site from material that I have researched (paraphrased and/or plagerized) from phamplets (from their office), other internet pages, the doctors business cards and their yellow pages ad). I did a little analysis of where my sites are are the moment... I have also included some sales and traffic graphs... Check it out if you like...
Well, I still need to check my web site stats tonight and maybe even get some work done on the other sites (if I have the time and inspiration)
9/26/2004 - Almost Spiritual, 50s Dinner
It was just one of those days... Perfect, sunny, dry fall weather, nice day for a ride and I was out there riding through the woods... There were lots of people out yesterday, but no one in my space (a lot of the time) while riding through the woods... I was well rested and my mind was clear... It was ...almost spiritual.... I guess you could call it a "nice ride" :-)... Problems?... yea, still got em (who doesn't?), but left them behind for that moment...
Another thing that I did a little later, and that I remembered that I liked a lot, was a little "off the road" (off the paved path really) riding in the woods in Deer Grove...Riding on rough hiking (and/or mountain bike) paths with roots, ravines, branches, occasional downed trees in the path... It was really cool... AND one of the things that my new (hybrid) bike handles very well... Actually, I have been thinking that I may really be a "road bike" kind of rider, and may go back to a regular road bike again (skinny tires and wrap down handlebars and all)... but I also like a little off the road stuff once in a while... The jury is still out on that one for now...
Well, Dale has just turned 50! (OK, actually it is Monday, but since we celebrated yesterday, I consider him 50). Actually that is kind of scary that I have so many friends in their 50s now... I don't feel like I think that sounds :-) Well anyway, it's old stuff for some of us, I guess... We had a nice 50s Dinner. We probably should have gotten a "seniors discount" but I forgot to ask! Hey, I'm in my 50s and have a pretty bad case of CRS (Can't Remember Shit) so, that's the way it goes...
Well, I better go take my Centrum Silver and Geritol and stuff now... I gotta git!
9/21/2004 - Lazy weekend, String of beautiful days... Website crash?
Well, I was a little lazy this weekend... didn't even update the old page here... I guess I did a little (and rode a little) but didn't really do that much... Dara and I had a nice fancy Italian dinner for our 15'th anniversary. It was kind of low keyed, but nice (for a Thursday... :-)
We have had a string of beautiful fall days this last week... Right now, it is nice that it is nice out while they dig up our clean out sewer pipe!... Clogged with roots! Finally have to replace it... I guess if I am not spendin money on car repairs (and replacements) I gotta start spendin on the house... Maintenance... ya gotta love it! :-) Yea, having the driveway seal coated this week too... (pretty exciting, huh?)
And in other "not so sunshiney" news... My affiliate sites, with the exception of the Satellite TV site, have taken a big dive this month! Great, just when they get going and I am starting to get some return for all of the work that I did, they start going bad... I don't really know wxactly what is going on or if it will be recoverable... It has to do with the search engines and rankings, etc. which I always knew was a big risk...
On the good news side, My Satellite site is kicking ass! It has almost made up for all of the other sites combined! But... it is even more risky depending on one site alone... :-( Well, I have made quite a bit on the sites so far, so even if this is not totally recoverable, it has been profitable and a great experience!
Oh yea, I did a convervative estimate on my Satellite and Credit Card sales (it has to be an estimate since they are on-going payments (Sat TV) and undefined payments (credit cards) rather than the fixed priced products that I sell) and I have referred about 1/4 million$ in total sales!!!! No shit! That might even look good on a resume... ya think?
Well, only time will tell how this is going to go... I am so glad that I still have my day job now... :-)
Well, I really need to get back to my other site work (the chiropractor site) so I better stop foolin around (writing blogs) and get to work!
9/12/2004 -Des Plains Trail Pics, and a little more...
Wow, September already! I guess I missed the Labor Day update. We didn't do a real lot over the long weekend. I did the northern end of the DPR (Des Plains River) Trail, from Libertyville to Wisconsin (40 miles both ways). That was a real nice ride and I just now got the photos uploaded to my bike page HERE I also put up some of the personal pictures (not on the actual trail page... Mostly my friend Dale (and one bad photo of me)) HERE. I was a little hungry by the time we got just about to the Wisconsin border, so I grabbed some corn growing along side the path on the way... It was really good! (of course I like that kind of thing and don't really have to have it cooked (I think it was actually sweet corn)).
I don't actually have a whole lot more to report right now... The kids are into the school routine... and I am still working at DHL/Danzas (no end of contract notification yet...). The DHL thing is really nice but there is a little more stress not knowing from week to week if I am going to be working the next week/month/etc... Oh well, Ya gotta take the good with the bad, I guess...
Well, my websites have been a little irratic lately. My Contacts and Pets sites seemed to really have taken a dive! Especially Contacts... I lost the Yahoo page #1 keyword phrase "color contacts" and my sales have been terrible (and that was one of my best sites for the last few months...) :-( :-( On the other hand, my Satellite TV site has been going crazy and picking up the slack for the other sites drop offs... I love the website work, but it can be very worrysome and can drive you a little crazy too! :-)
One other little website note... I got the first draft of my chiropractors site up... Most of the pages still need to be completed, but you can check out the basic format if interested... It's http://www.touchofhealthcare.com/
OK, see ya all later... (sooner or later...)
8/29/2004 - Bike Ride Adventures and more...
What a beautiful day today here in Chicagoland!... I just did 19 miles on my bike. I just thought I would write a little about my adventures... I headed out towards Deer Grove 1'st... Some kids were selling lemonade along the bike path and called out if I wanted some.. I told them I might get some on my way back... So I did the loop around Deer Grove and on the way back they were still there... It was $.10 per glass... I ended up dropping $.75 at the stand! Sheesh, those tips really add up! :-) I remembered how excited my gets got when they did a stand and "made a sale"... (or maybe I could just relate to them when I make sales now... I guess it's and entrepreneurial thing! :-)
OK, so after my lemonade (actually they ran out and it was Koolaid (it was good))... I dropped by the library to lookup some stuff for my chiropractor site... (comming soon)... I got what I needed there and rode toward home a little bit again and dropped by the Taste of Palatine (in downtown Palatine)... Corinne and 2 of here friends were there... I had some lunch at the Heng Wing stand (very good) and somehow managed to find Corinne&co! Well, she was hangin out with her friends (doin Kareoke)... so we made out pick up plans and I rode back...
I am getting used to the new bike quite a bit now and it is very nice... I am focusing on what I think they call "cadence" now... Anyway, I try to keep the time the pedals go around to about 1 second each reveloution... In other words... change the gears so the pedals are always going about the same speed regardless of the speed that I am doing... OK, that's it for the bike stuff...
We also had quite a busy weekend with lots of Dara's famiy in town for her Dad's funeral service. Even though it was not the best situation for a family get together, it turned out very nice...
OK, I guess I better do some work now... (before I get lazy and settle into Sunday evening...) later...
8/21/2004 - Vacation! New Bike, Recovering from Crash, Another Record
Sorry for the delay again, but I do have a little bit of an excuse this time... We were on vacation for a week! (although that was last week and I didn't get to the update yet...
We had a great vacation! Our North/Northwest (Wis/Minn) vacations have not failed us yet! We had a great time both places... Unfortunately, my camcorder is currently not working... (sheesh) so I only have one photo from the trip at this point... (I actually did not camcord as much as have have done in the past, so I may not have a whole lot of shots anyway...). I did camcord a little when we went to the Best Western pool in Sparta (by Andis place), but I forgot the camcorder when we went go carting in Minn. :-(. Here is the one photo that I have (at this point) from vacation)... The Ripsaw Coaster at Mall of America!
Oh yea, for those who don't know... We brought Nick to Minn and back to Illinois with us too! This worked out very well and it was great to have Nick with us! He was always interested in doing fun things, was a lot of fun for the other cousins and scored lots of points with the "adults" (I use that term loosly (form myself anyway)) too! (Actually he scored too many points for my liking, when he was playing basket ball against me! :-) :-) )
My New Bike finally came in and I have it now! As you see by my mileage above, I've done a few miles on it now (not a lot, but some). I am having a little difficult time adjusting to the new style of bike, where you sit higher and the handle bars are straight across. Hey, after 30 or so years riding standard 10 speed road bikes, it takes some adjusting... It is actually a fantastic bike and there are plenty of things that I really like about it... but I need to adjust to it a little. It was a beautiful day today and I took the bike off the road on the walking paths at Deer Grove! Those lower gears and slightly wider tires are fantastic when you are off the road... More on that later (for sure...)
OK, it's been almost a month since my oral surgery and my bike crash... My mouth has healed pretty fast and that was not much of a problem, but the bike crash was really pretty bad and has it has been taking me quite a while to recover... It was good that I was already on pain killers when I crashed, because I think that it would have hurt even more... (I have been taking the corners on my bike very s-l-o-w-l-y and not leaning into them much since then... :-) ) Anyway, I also re-injured my side/hip again in the exact same place (falling on pavement, horsing around playing basketball in Wisc) OOOuch! So it has been taking even longer... well I am Recovering now...
... and finally, my old 1 day website record (below) didn't last very long... Monday, after we got back from vacation, I made $291 in one day! (this was after making a little over $500 while on vacation!) I don't want to sound like I'm bragging about this stuff, but I just think that the whole concept is really cool and I am enjoying seeing all of the work that I did while I "was not working"... finally paying off...
OK, enough blogging (as the new popular term for our family page goes) for now... I gotta go... later...
7/28/2004 - Lots of Blood... Surgery, Pain Killers, Crash! New Record
Well, that heading should get your attention... OK, First of all Tuesday I had surgery for a bone graft for an implant for a missing tooth (very bloody)! Wow, was that a lot of fun... That novacane stuff is great! Didn't feel a thing... until it started to wear off!... OOOWWW! So I got the heavy duty pain killer (Vicadin with some kind of codine like stuff)... Anyway that helped... Well, I missed my bike ride yesterday because of the surgery, so I decided to go today... Of course, I'm still "high" on pain killers... Well, I am whipping aroung the downhill corner real fast as usual (on Dara's bike) and wam/bam!@#!##@! the bike slides out from under me and I take a major dive into the blacktop... Wow was I bloody after that!
The car behind me stopped and had some first aid stuff (I was in Inverness, so they were probably doctors or something... :-) ) so they patched me up... Head, arm, knee... asked me if I was OK... I was a little disoriented, oh yea, somehow my glasses got smashed too... The front bike tire was flat so I had to walk home (about 2 1/2 miles, with all of the bandages on... that must have looked interesting...)... OK, so I got home and Nurse Corinne took very good care of me... :-) She is really good at patching people up too...
I guess it was good that I was already taking pain killers before the crash... I wonder how much this really hurst!?! :-)
Well, now I need to fix Dara's bike and I am still waiting for my new bike (which is on order)... Maybe this is a good time for a break anyway...
...and for some good news.... I have already broke my old 1 day website record just this week... now it is $239 in one day... I just think that is so cool...
That's it for now...
7/25/2004 - Plenty
of Frontpage News This Week... 
Well, first of all I have been managing to get in some bike miles even without a bike (of my own) these days... Dara has let me use her bike and after raising the seat about 8 inches, it is rideable for me (although I feel pretty goofy because of the way you sit on the bike...)... In the meantime... I do have my new bike (the Trek7300fx) on order!
I also went shopping for a new minivan this weekend... and well, I got one. I think I made a pretty good deal and it was a good time of the year to deal on 2004s... It was pitiful what I got for a trade in on old Blacky. It didn't even cover my last repair!!! Oh well, life (and transportation) must go on...
OK, so as you see from the photo above, I got the Honda Odyssey... "Midnight Blue" they call it (dark blue in regular people talk)... Well, sun roofs are just not popular with minivans so I had to pass on that in the end, but I needed something a little "fun" with the vehicle, so I ended up going for the DVD entertainment system... Mostly, I thought that the kids would like it on long trips (Wis, Minn, etc.) and on medium trips (1/2 to 1 hour trips) etc. and would think that it was pretty cool...
Well, I guess I was right... I couldn't get everyone (especially Corinne) out of the thing to drive it around myself and listen to what I wanted to hear in the stereo (even with the front and back systems) yesterday!!! I got Corinne a few DVDs to watch and I got Casey a power converted for x-box... It has outlets for the game in back too... yep, they liked it...
Even though we have a DVD in the house, Corinne was out in the van watching a movie this morning!!! She is also out in the driveway watching another DVD now! It's a good thing she will be asleep when I leave for work tomorrow...
...and in other news... yes, the dog in the pictures is ours... her name is Kitty... I am starting to get used to her, even though it was not a mutual agreement to get the dog (and I really didn't want another one at this time)... Well, like I say, I'm getting used to her (a little bit anyway)...
... and once again I broke a new record with my websites! Thursday, I made over $200! Then, in addition to that, I made $160 on Wednesday and $103 on Friday! Yep, the old websites are doin pretty good right now... (I hope it stays that way (or gets even better :-) :-) ) That is just my commissions... this means that I have helped these internet places to sell over $172,000.00 worth of stuff (not counting Satellite and Credit Card sales)!!!! The internet truly is the worlds largest shopping mall...
OK, I gott go... In case you didn't click on the minivan photo above, here are the photos that go with this weeks news stories... later..
7/14/2004 - Transportation Blues... Breakdown, Shop (return stuff), Breakdown, Shop (return stuff)...
OK, well Blacky is road worthy again and I am still van shopping (it's lookin like the Honda)... So, with such a beautiful weekend, I decided to do a little bike ride... After about a mile and a half (while crossing a busy road) my bike chain breaks! (breakdown... (again, after the I90 episode last week))... Then I discovered that the reason that it broke is because the crank shaft is totally bent... I would have to fix both to have it road worthy again... Well, that isn't going to happen this time... (like my van... it is just too old and I am ready to move on...).
So I'm doing some unplanned bike shopping this weekend... I found the perfect bike right away... (amazing actually)... worked out a satisfactory deal (I drive a hard bargain) bought it (a Trek 7300FX), and brought the bike over to my friend Dales house for it's maiden voyage (first ride :-) ). In the process of checking it out a little further, I discovered a little problem. Because the frame was too small for me, my knee rubbed against the frame at the end of the pedal stroke (which I didn't notice when I test-rode it)... Well, that is just not acceptable if I intend to do many thousands of miles on this one too (which I do)... So I had to return it... :-( :-(
Unfortunately, they did not have the right frame size and, in the bike industry these days they are between model years (2004 and 2005). You can't order 2004s anymore and the 2005s aren't ready to order yet either! :-( I really wanted to just get a bike again so I shopped a little more (same store) and decided that I could accept another model (Trek 7200). Well, I just wasn't as excited about this replacement as I was about the "FX" so I ended up returning it in the end too!!!
(Sorry this is getting a little long (and probably should be on my bike site (there is always cut and paste I guess))). Anyway, What I have learned is that the type of bike that I REALLY want is a high performance, or fitness hybrid bike... This is a little different than the standard hybrid/comfort bike in that it is not really a "comfort bike" (with the higher adjustable handlebars, front and rear shock absorbers, etc.) but it is also not a road bike (with the real skinny tires and wrap down handle bars...) It is somewhere between a mountain and road bike (a different style of hybrid).
So I am currently bikeless... Hey, since some of my income comes from my bike site, maybe I can write off my bike purchase as research for my web site!!! :-) :-)
OK, I'll have to put this stuff on my bike site, I guess... but at least you see where my weekend went...I am still trying to find the 7300FX (or an equivalent) and still workin on the van replacement deal... (don't even get me started on the tooth implant stuff that I have scheduled for next week too)...
later..
7/14/2004 - Car/Van Updates...
Well, here's the latest... I just broke down on I90 yesterday (this is the 2'nd time in about 3 months that I've spent time on the shoulder of the interstate with cars wizzin by at (who knows?) 70/80mph... + some! Well, I let the car cool down (since the overheating was the most obvious problem) for about 5 or 10 minutes then drove a minute or 2 (until it was overheated again), then let it cool... etc... about 5 or 6 times and managed to limp off of the expressway after maybe about an hour... Then I let it cool completely...After that the serp... belt (which was starting to get shredded) broke off... In the end I had it towed to the repair place anyway...
The good news... it wasn't the engine after all (which was my main motivation for van shopping recently...)... It was just a water pump (which seized and broke the belt and some other junk)... The bad news... another $444 (including the towing) dumped into Blacky...
The other news... I still think I am replacing Blacky... I think it's time... Even though it's still hangin in there, I think it's time and it is inevitable anyway... I am also favoring the Honda right now... I'll never get my moneys worth out of that last repair (in trade in), but I'm still gonna be car shopping...
In other news... A beautiful night tonight and a nice 12 mile ride (after wasting time picking up the van again)....
7/10/2004 -Poor Old Blacky... Honda or Caravan?
Poor old Blacky has seen some much better days and I think it is getting about time for that big minivan parking lot in the sky... Well, it has almost 143,000 miles now and the biggest problem is that the engine is sounding real bad. I hope it doesn't die on the road... There are a bunch of other little things too, so, Ive been lookin... I still like the convenience and versatility of minivans (how boring, I guess (no midlife crisis car just yet...))
I've narrowed it down to a Honda Odessy or Grand Caravan (again). For my purposes I like having the big Caravan seat (usually the last row) in the middle and just forgetting about the other row of seats. That gives me a 5 seater and a huge amount of cargo space in the back... The 2004 Caravans still have this style but the 2005s have the fold in back seat, but they don't do it as well as the Honda. The floor isn't even totally flat when you fold it down so it would be a 2004 Caravan if I choose that option...
Now, when it comes to the Honda, I think it is a better vehicle (engineering and quality wise) but I don't know if I like the seating arrangement quite as well, although it is really versatile... It is also about $5k more than the Dodge... Well, I still haven't decided, but I may have to soon if Blacky kicks the bucket soon...
Not much else new this weekend... I had a real nice 13 mile ride today... that felt great... and I did my quarterly estimated taxes (that was a big pain). There are some disadvantages to being self employed... But still, my current consulting and web site business situations are great!
7/6/2004 - Final Freedom ride... The 4'th... New record!
My friend Dale and I did a Final Freedom ride yesterday (Monday). 36 miles on the Long Prairie Bike Trail. It wasn't as much of a freedom ride for me as it was for Dale... He just got a new job after much time off (bike riding over 1100 miles this year (puts my 227 to shame... but them again, I've been working all year... so far anyway...)). Anyway it was a really nice ride, a beautiful day and a nice pace with some breaks to keep it interesting...
We've had a pretty nice 4'th too... Karen and Nadia are in from Minn. and all the cousins have been getting together quite a bit... I talked Casey into going to see the new Harry Potter movie... I wanted to go to an iMax to see it but didn't realize that the theater I went to has it playing on regular AND iMax screens and you have to pick the right showing... Oh well... It was good to see anyway and I am glad that Casey came too (he said that he liked it... (not with great enthusiasm... but still...))
...and on a final note... I just checked the old websites today and broke yet another 1 day record! I've made $192 today (so far)... This breaks my previous records of a little over $170... The best part about this is... I made this while I was working my regular day job! So this is just a little bonus... kind of like winning the 3'rd place lottery every day.... (or something like that)... Anyway, it really proves that this business model works! ...and that's why I love it and want to do more asap!
That's it for now... later...
6/27/2004 - Editorial Correction... Nice Weekend...
Ooops, sorry Brad, I missed your name on the family picture... Here the correction: Click here to see the Family Picture blowup with ALL the names... (Thanks Andi :-) )
It's been a really nice weekend, unfortunately, I have just been doing yard work that I needed to catch up on (trimming mostly) and have been too exhausted to really enjoy the weather... Well it was nice and cool for working outside anyway...
6/18/2004 - Kids are Out, Jeff was here... Record Sales... (and other website stuff).
Well, the kids are out of school for the summer! Casey has graduated (8'th grade) and even got a ribbon for perfect attendance (wow). Corinne is doing a lot of time at the pool this year (already) hangin out with here friends.
My good friend Jeff (North Carolina (previously Wheeling) and "Not Your Normal..." businesses) was in town this week... We had a nice dinner this Sunday, but unfortunately we did not link up again later (as I had hoped). Things were a little crazy here and I didn't do very well on the planning... Damn!
I had a great day on the web sites today and broke another one day sales record! Most of my sales today were Credit Cards ($128) and it was a pretty good day for contact lenses too. The Bikes, Babies and Pets sites were also good this week... (Satellite sales have been a little slow... (oh well)). I didn't quite break the $200 in one day mark... yet... but soon I hope!
I did a bunch of sales stats and graphs, now that I have some good data to look at and can easily see that my best 3 sites, at this point in time (the last 6 months) are Satellite TV, Contact Lenses and Bikes...
I am also doing better on Yahoo these days than I am on Google (bummer)... But check out these phrases that I got on Yahoo!
"low interest master card"* = Number 1 on the
first page!!! (after the paid listings)
"cashback master card" = Position 2 / Page 1
"student master card" = Position 2 / Page 1
"low apr visa card" = Position 5 / Page1
"Color Contacts" = Position 2 / Page 1
"Bicycle Accessories" = Position 3 / Page 1 [position 2 / page 2 on Google]
(* OK, so Mastercard is supposed to be one word... it still works very well!)
Etc, etc,... OK you get the idea... I just think that it's really cool to be in the first 5 positions when competing with millions of pages for each of these phrases!!! :-)
Yea, I've been watching the History channel a lot lately (D-Day) BYW: What is the "D" for anyway? I just did a quick bike mileage update. It has been a beautiful spring weekend here and I managed to get in 24 miles on the old bike...
Casey is graduating (8'th grade) next week... and the kids will be out for the summer... Corinne asked me when I will be off... :-) Well, I don't really know... It would be nice in some ways, but then again, I'm holdin on to my current position for as long as I can... I don't know if I should try to actually take some time off or not... I guess I'll just take it a week at a time...
Corinne has already broken in her pool pass for this year! It looks like that could be a big hang out for her this year...
Not too much else to write right now... later...
6/2/2004 - The family..., The trip...
Click here to see the blowup with names...
Well, this is a little more timely, I guess... I really just wanted to get the family picture from Jakes graduation posted here, since it was such a good picture...
We had a great time in Wisconsin over the Memorial day weekend... Brand and Andis new place is great and the Pace lounge is still a nice pace to stay (although the walk back to the main lodging (in all the wet weather) was a little harder... :-))
I'll try to write more later...
5/24/2004 - Sorry for the Delay!
Wow, it's been a long time!!! I hope I haven't lost off of our loyal readers by now... Yes, as many of you already know, things have been difficult lately (to say the least) but... I am sure not going to dwell on that crap here :-)
So, I'll try to do a little catch up on some of the good and/or interesting things that have been going on...
Corinne finished off her ice skating season and had a great show. I camcorded some of it but have not downloaded any photos... She has also had some nice chorus concerts at school... Casey is still working on his Tae Kwon Do and spending a lot of time at Kyles house... Corinne has also just updated her swim suit collection in preparation for the summer pool season...
The weather is getting nicer so I've broken out the orange bat (yes, so far I still have the same OLD bike) and I have done a little over 100 miles so far this year.. I couldn't find my mileage records from last year, but I'm sure I was way ahead of this year... Oh well, I don't know about breaking any mileage records this year...
Anyway, it feel great to get out and ride again! I am still considering a new bike, since my bike is really in bad shape... It is pretty much a 4 speed now (I can't even change the front gear...). It's funny but I was just looking at my bike site sales (on my web sites) and I have already made enough this month alone on my bike site alone for a new bike... but yet, I still haven't broken down and bought one...
Doing bike miles always makes me want to do page updates (for my little counter) so maybe I can do a little better than every 3 months! :-)
I do like doing my websites (personal (this one) and my sales sites) when I get a moment and it is a nice distraction from the other stuff going on, but I have also just had to deal with a ton of viruses and spware attacks on my confuser... I just bought a new version of Norton, downloaded some spyware killer software and updated my firewall, in addition to spending a ton of time scanning and cleaning up the crap that got into my confuser... It is still not 100%, but it is doing much better...
OK, I have to mention my websites too. I just finished a new site for my painter friend (and neighbor). This site is set up just like a regular affilate site except is is exclusively for his business. The goal is to generate leads and new customers for his business (and comissions for mine). This is a little more experimental than the regular affilate sites, so I will have to see how it goes... I believe that it has very good potential... Only time will tell... Check out : 101-Painting-Contractors
As far as the affilate sites go, they are doing pretty good and providing a good supplimental (maybe soon to be primary) income... Last month was my best so far. My satellite site has been my best site for a few months now. Contact Lenses and Credit Cards are doing very well too and bikes, babies and pets are all still making money too (the bike site is picking up quite a bit now too as you would expect)).
BTW: I have now helped to sell over $130,000.00 worth of products on the internet (and this does not count satellite tv installations and credit card approvals (since I can't really give them a fixed value))! I don't know about the rest of you, but I think that is pretty amazing... just that people buy that much junk on the internet! :-) Well, I'm happy to be there helping them out... :-)
And in the day-job news (for those of you that may not know) I am still working my contract at DHL/Danzas (by Ohare). This has been a fantastic contract! It was originally supposed to be 3 months and I thought that that would be great to help us catch up a little... now it has been 6 months (and still going)! They still have work (for now) and I try to give them great software in return (hey, I try anyway)... Unfortunately, I do expect it to end at some point (that's just the nature of this kind of work), but for now, it is a great position and I haven't been given notice that it is ending (or how long it will last).
OK, I guess that is enough catchup for now... Like I said, I'll try to do a little better on the updates (and maybe get back some of our readers... :-) :-) )
see yas...
3/7/2004 - Not Much Change...
Sorry, I don't really have a decent update fer ya... I am just updating some of the basic stuff on the page for a little relaxation... I did actually do a little website work today (on the affiliate sites). But haven't had a good moment to make much progress... Not much else new to report at the moment... later...
2/28/2004 - First Ride! Riding season starts... Bball season ends...
[Public sService Notice: Corinne will be 11 on Monday! :-) ]
Spring is in the air! Yep, it's getting much nicer out (here in Chicagoland) and today was one of those first beautiful spring days... (a little cool and wet, but still really nice).
Well, I
had a break in the action today, and dug out the orange bat (my bike). I remembered that my bike was just about shot and figured I would need to replace it this year, but I forgot what was wrong with it until I dug it out and started riding... Well, the biggest problem is that the front derailer broke off (due to a bent pedal assembly)... I really don't think that it is worth fixing this time (I know... I've only gotten about 25 or 30 years out of the bike, but... :-) ) So basically, I now have a 5 speed (it may actually just be four, I'll have to check)...
Anyway, I did my maiden ride for the season today (11.2 miles) and it really felt great! (even on a 4 or 5 speed)... This also means that my bike site will be picking up again soon... Yahoo!!! Speaking of Yahoo, I learned that Yahoo is no longer using Google as it's database... So, the results on Yahoo and Google will now vary quite a bit more... Well, I lost a lot of great keywords with the last Google update, but when I checked Yahoo, I have picked up some great positions from them... Yahoo!!! More later (of course).
And in basketball news... the last few games were losses and the final scores were not pretty... So I had to censor them... :-), but Casey's team did made a great come back today and Casey played great... Sadly, it just wasn't enough to end the season on a win! Regardless, it was a great season and I really enjoyed the games and cheering on our team... (although, I am too quiet to really cheer and yell (like some people! :-) :-) ) but I always clapped alot for the team!
Well, I actually need to catch up a little on my other sites now... People have been sending me articles for my sites (I have an option to do that, so I can add more content to my sites and people can post articles (for various reasons)). I am also getting a backlog of new sites to do once my current day job contract is over... Which, by the way, looks like at least one more month... (it's not definate, but that's how it looks at this point)...
Catch ya'all later... ya'all come back soon... (sorry for the delays...)
2/20/2004 - PURPLE.
As you can see by the chart above... Casey has a brand new belt! Check Out the Tae Kwon Do Belt pictures...
Purple Belt I
Purple Belt II - Don't miss the board breaking and board holder at the end :-)
2/7/2004 - Another heartbreaking game...
Sorry for the delay in updates and with the game updates... Today's game was not that good... Casey's team got behind at the start and were never able to pull out of it... Casey played well though (as usual)... well, there is always next week.
The latest good news is that my day job is extended for at least 1 more month... This is a very good deal and is really helping us to catch up a little (the instability is still a problem, but for now, it is good...)... The bad news is that Google went and screwed up their algorithm again and I have lost a lot of my best previously high ranked phrases for my websites! :-( Traffic and sales are way down (maybe about 1/2 of what they were in December and January). Googles results don't seem to be a relevant as they used to be, so I hope this is just temporary...
Not much else good to report now... I'm getting tired of winter... but it's a good time to have a temporary job! :-)
1/17/2004 - A Bloody Heartbreaking game!
Well, as you see Casey's team lost by one point. Casey actually played a really good game, but not without a price. He was pretty P*ed off about the refs... Casey originally put the team on the scoreboard and was one of the top shooters... They stayed ahead most of the game until the bad guys started catching up towards the end... Then the other team gets ahead by that 1 point towards the end... Casey's team gets the ball and passes it to Casey... he goes for a shot and the other team thinks they are playing football! and tackles him!!! He goes flying onto the floor and ends up with a hurt arm and bloody knuckles! Sooo what happens... NOTHING! NO FOUL! and Casey does not get the shot... with a few seconds left time runs out and they loose by 1 point! Later Casey was telling me how he was getting fouled all through the game and they weren't calling them... Ah well, maybe those refs will pay in the next life!!! :-) :-)
I don't think there is much else to report. I am trying to get some of my other pages done, but have not been very productive at that recently... I think my day job takes a lot out of me and there isn't a lot of extra energy left at the end of the day... Oh well, it is still a really good thing...
OK, I gotta git... more later... baaa
1/11/2004 - The Surprise picture... <click here>... <or here> <or here> <or here> <or here>
1/10/2004 - Another Win!, Pace Arrow does it again, A surprise picture coming... Tax Time
Well as you see above our team had a nice victory today. I was asking Casey what position he played, on the way home, and it is Center (not point guard (for those of you who were wondering... :-) ))
We had a great Christmas encore up in beautiful Wisconsin on NY weekend. It's always nice to go up there and the room and board was great. I wasn't sure how the camper was going to work out in the cold weather (I was the test pilot), but it worked out great )for me anyway). The Pace has heat and I had some down blankets and was not in the lease bit cold... I was actually too hot the first night... The only potential inconvenience (for the less rugged) is that there is no powder room, so if you need to go in the middle of the night or early morning, you must travel out in the cold for relief... :-)... Had some great grubb too. I think Andi is getting even better at cookin! :-) :-) (plus I had some hot sauce!)
I wanted to have the surprise picture for my update. but I don't have it yet... Ya'all will just have to stop back real soon to see what I am talkin about...
It's Tax Time! One of the biggest pains-in-the-a-- about being self employed is that tax time is 4 times a year, rather than just once. I just finished updating my spreadsheets for my consulting and web site businesses payments for 2003. Now I need to download the Illinois 1040ES for my payments (I had an extra 2003 form for the Feds). I was just re-reading this and realized that this is boring and I'm sure no one gives a rats about this... :-) :-) Oh well, it is already written... I gotta git now...
12/28/2003 - Angry Crowd Forces Updates!
OK, I've had 2 complaints (requests) for page updates already today! I guess everyone needs some after-Christmas reading material... :-) OK, first of all, I just downloaded the pictures from Corinnes camera (her Kodak digital camera from last xmas... still a popular item...) which had a few Thansgiving pictures and a few pre-Christmas pictures and here they are...
ThanksGiving Pictures <click here>
I didn't get around to freezing and downloading still pics from the camcorder... (sorry).
I've had 5 days off for Christmas and that was pretty nice... We had a very nice Christmas eve at Kirt and Robins (Dara's Brother and sister-in-laws), a nice Christmas day at Daras moms house and a great Christmas lunch at Valley Lo (in Glenview). Daras sister and family were in from Minn. and Daras uncle was in from Mass...
In other news... there is no basketball for a few weeks now for the holidays (which is part of the reason that I don't have page updates)... and I'll be back at work next week Mon-Wed (I'm not taking the week off in between the holidays (I usually don't and besides, I've had a REAL long break anyway...).
I had hoped to get quite a bit of web site work done while I was off for Christmas, but the holiday stuff has pretty much used up most of my time (much more than I was expecting...). I'm going to try to get some done today, but since I have a cold too :-( I may take it a little easy today...
That's it for now... later...
12/20/2003 - Exciting Game, Disappointing Outcome... The Crying Angels....
It was an intense game today, but as you see above, we lost... :-( Casey's team played the coachs brothers team and one of our neighbors was on the other team too, so it was a pretty intense game... They played well, but were just not sinkin enough of their shots... I like when the games are close, because it's more exciting, but I was really hoping to win this one, so I was totally nerve racking...
In other news, Corinne and her friend were down in the basement a while ago, practicing with their "band"... I think they've been working more on the stage show (like the introductions and so on) more than the music, but I thought it was very entertaining when they introduced themselves as the "Crying Angels". I guess that is the latest name for "the band" :-)
OK, I gotta try to get some website work done now... I've been slackin off a little on the RC Websites business while putting quite a bit of effort into the RC Consulting business... (Maybe 90% of what I write here is on the entertaining side (attempted that is) or humorus side, but I'm serious about the businesses and names... They will really be listed on my tax forms this way... :-) )
| 12/13/2003 - Fantastic Game!!! |  |
Triple digit days... |
Wow, what a basketball game today!!! It was a really exciting game and possibly Casey's best game! He really saved the game for his team and the coach and team were congratulating him after the game!
Well, it started off really slow... the other team seemed pretty good and were making all the shots. It looked like it was going to be a blow out (loss for our side). Somewhere in the first or second quarter our team was down by 14 points! (it didn't look good)... Then Casey starts to come to life... on defense he starts to trash the other team, blocking many of their shots (legally too (not like when he is playing me :-) )... makes a couple of smooth shots from the corner, goes in for a lot more but starts to get fouled quite a bit... I think he had about 10 free thows and made about 7 of them... He brings the team within range... (it's looking like it might at least be a "respectable" loss). This brings the rest of Casey's team to life and they all pick up the pace, with Casey still taking a lead role... They fight it out until the end where it was within a few points with seconds to go... Casey's team narrows the margin just a little more and with seconds left it was clear we had the win!!! It was a Great Game!
I was reminising today about the weekend that I put together Casey's first basketball net (at our old house). It took most of the day (assembly and buying and filling the base with sand, etc...) and I finally finished pretty late (it was dark out by then)... We set it up and Casey took his first shot (he was really small then)... and to my surprise, it went in!!! He was so proud of himself and I made sure to make a big deal about it too... I wonder how much that had to do with future events after that day... interesting... :-)
Well, the game was the real excitement for the day, but as for some other good news, I've had my first triple digit days with my web sites this last week (over $100/day)! This is mostly due to the fantastic Satellite TV sales that I have had recently, but also with a little help, I suspect, from some Christmas sales (from the Pets, Bikes and Baby sites).
12/6/2003 - A loss but... No Decs today... Sat TV Sales
Casey's team lost today (as you can see above)... but Casey had a great game! (they just didn't keep him in long enough to save the game! :-) ). I must admit, the other team was really good and had some fantastic shooters... I meant to do xmas decorations today, but didn't get to it... I'm doin a little web site work now... I hope to get the decorations up tomorrow... If I don't, it's almost too late!
I got 2 more Satellite TV sales today! So even though I lost one (a cancellation) the Sat TV site is doing great. I sent an email to Expert Satellite to ask why none of the sales have been finalized yet and they gave me the details on each sale and the fact that the one was cancelled (due to no direct line of sight). They did say that it is not unusual for the sales not to be completed until the following month (due to installations and all)... I guess I just have to wait for all those dishes to be installed and the contract signed... :-)
11/30/2003 - A Great T-Day, The Flag Riddle Answer..., No decs yet and No game...
Well, I think it's safe to say that we all had a pretty nice T-Day feast here at the physical home of RobandDara.com! It was tough getting the old house in shape, but we managed and the feast was great. Many thanks to everyone who brought stuff and contributed to the success... :-)
We've moved on to December (almost) so I had to take the flag down... For those who would like to know the answer (and don't already know) see the BOTTOM of this page for the answer...
We were so busy with all the Thanksgivin day stuff and so burned out after that I haven't gotten around to the xmas decorations (outside) yet even though it was a fantastic day to get out and do it (in the 50s). Hey, it's just not right unless I am freezing my fingers off at 20 below anyway... :-) (I'll put a few up here anyway)... Also, Casey didn't have a game to post this week...
I also haven't had a chance to download the digital pics or camcorder shots of T-Day... I'll try to get to that fairly soon...
OK, I guess that's it for tonight... catch yas later...
11/2/2003 -T-Shirt Weather, T-Day, The flag, Hoop Scores, and more...
Wow, I just took my evening exercise walk and I thought I would need more than just a t-shirt and a flannel shirt. I was wrong. I would have been more comfortable in just the T-Shirt! My bro said it felt like a winter night in Florida. It's a little damp but really warm. I think that comparison is just about exactly right.
We're getting ready for T-Day. We still got work to do on the house, and I'm still a little stressed about that, but we got the tables and some other stuff and I am also looking forward to it...
Hey, no one has asked me about the flag at the top of the page... I was wondering if anyone would notice. I guess it was more obvious than I thought and everyone gets it... If you send me the correct meaning, you will win an extra piece of pumpkin pie! :-) :-)
As you may have noticed, I've put Casey's basketball scores at the top of the page... Casey just had his first game today, so hoop season has begun! They won, and Casey played really well, so it's off to a good start. I am sure that the scores above will have to be approximate. I don't write them down and don't always remember the exact scores when I get back, but I'll at least keep them close and give it a shot to make them exact whenever possible... Also, if the season takes a turn for the worse and they have mostly losses, maybe I'll drop the scoreboard on top :-) :-)
Corinne just spent the night at the Shed Aquarium with the girl scouts. They had a great time... I'm not really up on all of the details. I don't even know exactly where they stayed... I gotta check into that... Corinne says she has a bunch of pictures in her digital camera too, but I haven't had a chance to download them... Maybe I'll post some later, if we have some good ones...
As for me... other than trying to get ready for T-day (and not doing as well as I would like at that) I've been payin my dues at my day job. That is going pretty well, the work is interesting and I am really trying to write some good software for em. The only thing is is that it takes so much of my time... I have been trying to continue writing web site pages, but it is hard to get much done with just the evenings and weekends and with everything else going on...
As for the web sites, some are up and some are down. My Satellite TV site is really taking off and will be my most profitable site once the sales are finalized and credited (that doesn't happen until the systems are actually installed and I don't want to officially count them until that happens, just in case any get reversed). My pet site is now my next best site for this month... I've been selling lots of stuff, pretty consistently (Pet doors, gates, sweaters, prescriptions, etc.) My bike site has finally dropped off quite a bit now... (well, it is November after all) but I am still selling some bike stuff (just not nearly as much).
OK, I guess that will do it for the old Saturday evening update... Hey SNL is on! Maybe I'll go watch that...
later...
11/16/2003 - COPYRIGHT NOTICE © RE: Offending Website, November 15 post
Well, I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later... The "P" word... Yes, Plagiarism has reared it's nasty head! So I must post a reminder here... Please see the following Legal Notice. Violators will be embarrassed and persecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
"Be who you are and say what you feel, but don't copy thy brothers website, lest you shall endure the shame and embarrassment of thy brothers wrath."----
Thank you.
11/15/2003 - OOops, it's November Already! Jobs, honors,basketball, swimming, viola, and more!...
Wow, did I get behind on the old family page... Sorry... What a Turkey I am... :-). Yep, T-day is just around the corner and we're havin it! (I need to get my update done and get some more other work done...)
I see by my last update that I haven't done a family and friends page update since I started working my second job (the consulting business (officially called "RC consulting" since I am completely independent this time)). I am still updating the "RC websites" pages at nights and on the weekends and it is still generating additional income (whether I do the updates or not :-) ). The Satellite TV site is really taking off! The bike site has dropped off a little more but the pet site is doing great now... Well, I guess we will see how the holiday season goes... I hope everyone gets out there and does a whole lotta shoppin online!
I guess I've just about hung up the old bike pedals for the season. I am just not real inspired to get out in the colder weather and ride... besides, I've got a new record to beat for next year already. I'm back to the walkin/runnin routine again (just walkin so far).
Casey made the honor roll again with the last report card and basketball season has just started... Corinne hasn't gotten her report card yet, but she is doing swimming, viola in the orchestra, ice skating and hangin with a large group of girlfriends in the hood...
I guess that's about it for now... I gotta git... Sorry for the long delay, I'll try to drop a line more often... (I want ya'all to stay interested and keep commin back ya know... I don't want to start loosin my loyal page family and friends page readers! :-) :-) )
10/26/2003 - End of the season FREE Ride!
Well, the time change (back to daylight wasting time) usually marks about the end of my bike riding season and since I am starting work again tomorrow (for 3 months anyway), I had to get in at least one last ride as a FREE man! I also just wanted to click past the 1300 mile mark, since I was so close... My front Derailer just broke on my last ride so that may be about it for the old Orange Bat... I believe that I may be raplacing the Bat for next season...
I may still do a few more late season miles if the we get another great indian summer day (on a weekend) or if I get inspired or something, but that is probably just about it for this year... It's been a great season!
Well, I hope I can adjust to the old working scene again... I'll try to drop my usual updates whenever possible...
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