A not-so-funny comic
Monday, December 29, 2003
Thursday, December 25, 2003
Planning the basement
Trish is considering opening a daycare in our basement, so we've been trying to plan out where everything will go (in this picture, south is up):
All the rooms already have sheetrock, outlets, etc. except for the southern bathroom and the kitchen.
If you install the Cortona 3D viewer for Internet Explorer, you can view our plan in 3D!
If you want to be able to move stuff around in the floorplan, download Room Arranger and edit our Room Arranger data file.
All the rooms already have sheetrock, outlets, etc. except for the southern bathroom and the kitchen.
If you install the Cortona 3D viewer for Internet Explorer, you can view our plan in 3D!
If you want to be able to move stuff around in the floorplan, download Room Arranger and edit our Room Arranger data file.
Trish and I go to a concert
On Tuesday night Trish and I went to our first concert. Yerachmiel Begun and the Miami Boys Choir teamed up with Dedi for Miami 26 (!) in Hackensack, NJ:
MBC is like Menudo (there's a word I never thought would show up on my blog) in that the members keep changing as they get older. Either that, or they do something to keep them young - their first album is called "Entebbe", and the song of the same title commemorates Israel's raid on Entebbe in 1976.
I didn't take my camera, but other people took plenty of pictures. The concert started at 8pm, and we left at the half-time intermission at 9:45pm, so we only got to see the colored outfits, not the black-and-white ones.
The two title songs were excellent. Here are some other selections: 1 2 3 4
Dedi was telling jokes throughout the concert.
It was also the first time Trish and I went out on a "date" without Mechel since he was born.
MBC is like Menudo (there's a word I never thought would show up on my blog) in that the members keep changing as they get older. Either that, or they do something to keep them young - their first album is called "Entebbe", and the song of the same title commemorates Israel's raid on Entebbe in 1976.
I didn't take my camera, but other people took plenty of pictures. The concert started at 8pm, and we left at the half-time intermission at 9:45pm, so we only got to see the colored outfits, not the black-and-white ones.
The two title songs were excellent. Here are some other selections: 1 2 3 4
Dedi was telling jokes throughout the concert.
It was also the first time Trish and I went out on a "date" without Mechel since he was born.
Saturday, December 13, 2003
The new living room
Two weeks ago on Thursday (12/4) we started using the house's main entrance instead of the entrance off the living room. This meant we could put more furniture against that wall, so Trish redecorated the living room:
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Confession: I am a Republican Muslim
Using the 2004 Presidential Candidate Selector, I discovered that I should vote for Bush (although not by a large margin - I guess that makes me a moderate. Or indifferent). Even more gratifying was the discovery that I have 0% in common with the views of Al Sharpton:
That was so much fun that I used the Belief System Selector. Turns out I'm a Muslim:
| 1. | Your ideal theoretical candidate. (100%) Click here for info |
| 2. | Bush, President George W. - Republican (68%) Click here for info |
| 3. | Gephardt, Rep. Dick, MO - Democrat (51%) Click here for info |
| 4. | Edwards, Senator John, NC - Democrat (48%) Click here for info |
| 5. | Kerry, Senator John, MA - Democrat (47%) Click here for info |
| 6. | Libertarian Candidate (37%) Click here for info |
| 7. | Kucinich, Rep. Dennis, OH - Democrat (34%) Click here for info |
| 8. | Dean, Gov. Howard, VT - Democrat (30%) Click here for info |
| 9. | Lieberman, Senator Joe, CT - Democrat (26%) Click here for info |
| 10. | Phillips, Howard - Constitution (23%) Click here for info |
| 11. | LaRouche, Lyndon H. Jr. - Democrat (15%) Click here for info |
| 12. | Clark, Retired General Wesley K., AR - Democrat (14%) Click here for info |
| 13. | Moseley-Braun, Former Senator Carol, IL - Democrat (0%) Click here for info |
| 14. | Sharpton, Reverend Al - Democrat (0%) Click here for info |
That was so much fun that I used the Belief System Selector. Turns out I'm a Muslim:
| 1. | Islam (100%) |
| 2. | Orthodox Judaism (100%) |
| 3. | Sikhism (91%) |
| 4. | Bahá'í Faith (83%) |
| 5. | Reform Judaism (82%) |
| 6. | Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (77%) |
| 7. | Mainline - Conservative Christian Protestant (63%) |
| 8. | Jehovah's Witness (62%) |
| 9. | Jainism (62%) |
| 10. | Hinduism (60%) |
| 11. | Eastern Orthodox (60%) |
| 12. | Roman Catholic (60%) |
| 13. | Seventh Day Adventist (53%) |
| 14. | Orthodox Quaker (51%) |
| 15. | Liberal Quakers (51%) |
| 16. | Mainline - Liberal Christian Protestants (49%) |
| 17. | Mahayana Buddhism (46%) |
| 18. | Unitarian Universalism (41%) |
| 19. | Theravada Buddhism (37%) |
| 20. | Scientology (33%) |
| 21. | Neo-Pagan (32%) |
| 22. | Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (31%) |
| 23. | New Thought (30%) |
| 24. | New Age (23%) |
| 25. | Non-theist (23%) |
| 26. | Secular Humanism (14%) |
| 27. | Taoism (13%) |
Sunday, December 07, 2003
Saturday, December 06, 2003
Lots o' snow
We got about 15 inches of snow today:
Here's a picture from early October when we installed these new lights leading to our front door:
Of course, this is nothing compared to last year (2/17/03), when we got about 30 inches:
Three cars in a row (see the side view mirrors?)
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Here's a picture from early October when we installed these new lights leading to our front door:
Of course, this is nothing compared to last year (2/17/03), when we got about 30 inches:
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Three cars in a row (see the side view mirrors?)
Fun with the digicam
A couple of Sundays ago (November 23rd), I played around with long exposure time photography. I took my props down to the basement and closed the door so it was completely dark. The first subject I used was Mechel's motorized fire truck - I focused the camera where I thought the truck would end up, set the camera for a long exposure, set the 10 second self-timer, pressed the shutter, and ran to the other side of the room and started the truck when the self timer light stopped blinking.
Stationary fire truck: 4 second exposure, 200 ISO equivalent
8 second exposures, 200 ISO equivalent
Next I drove Mechel's radio controlled ambulance around in a circle:
8 second exposure, 200 ISO equivalent
Finally, I tried messing around with flashlights and one of those LED keychain lights:
With the lights off, I rotated my arm while holding the LED keychain light - 4 second exposure, 200 ISO equivalent
Began the exposure with the flash - 4 second exposure, 200 ISO equivalent
Began the exposure with the flash - the slashes in the middle are the flashlight shining into the camera as a swung it around - 4 second exposure, 200 ISO equivalent
The "me" on the right was illuminated by the flash. I then walked to the left while swinging the flashlight, and then shined the flashlight at myself to create the right "me". 6 second exposure, 200 ISO equivalent
The "me" on the right was illuminated by the flash. I then walked to the left and shined the flashlight at myself to create the right "me". 4 second exposure, 200 ISO equivalent
Stationary fire truck: 4 second exposure, 200 ISO equivalent
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8 second exposures, 200 ISO equivalent
Next I drove Mechel's radio controlled ambulance around in a circle:
8 second exposure, 200 ISO equivalent
Finally, I tried messing around with flashlights and one of those LED keychain lights:
With the lights off, I rotated my arm while holding the LED keychain light - 4 second exposure, 200 ISO equivalent
Began the exposure with the flash - 4 second exposure, 200 ISO equivalent
Began the exposure with the flash - the slashes in the middle are the flashlight shining into the camera as a swung it around - 4 second exposure, 200 ISO equivalent
The "me" on the right was illuminated by the flash. I then walked to the left while swinging the flashlight, and then shined the flashlight at myself to create the right "me". 6 second exposure, 200 ISO equivalent
The "me" on the right was illuminated by the flash. I then walked to the left and shined the flashlight at myself to create the right "me". 4 second exposure, 200 ISO equivalent