I love the exterior design of the Audi, especially from the side. The S5 has a 50 HP advantage over the 335i, but don’t underestimate what those engineers from Munich can do with a lighter weight engine.
In the end, the driver’s reaction coming out of the first curve in the BMW says it all.
While trying to wirelessly sync my email on my Windows Mobile 6 phone I received the following alert:
One or more email messages were not sent. Please delete the messages that are still in your Outbox and then create and send them again.
Hey, now isn’t that helpful?! I hope I didn’t have a dozen messages just waiting to be re-created.
Since baby Kai arrived my sleep schedule seems to change on a nightly basis. I get up at 5:45 am each morning to catch my vanpool into Redmond at 6:30 am. If Kai gets up before I need to, I’ll sometimes sneak downstairs and sleep on the couch. Elka will usually follow me down to keep my feet warm as she lounges at the end of the couch. Don’t tell Kim.
If the kids get up early, they will come downstairs to watch cartoons just like I did at their age.
The three oldest kids each have different ways of approaching a sleeping dad since they need my help to turn on the TV and receiver. Here’s where each little personality comes out in spades.
Luca will quietly make her way down the stairs, grab both both remotes, turn on the TV and then kindly ask me to turn on the receiver. She will then snuggle up in two or more blankets on the smaller couch.
Lincoln will sneak down the stairs like a leopard, careful not to make a sound. He’ll wander around in a daze for a bit before stumbling upon the remotes. He’ll sit on the couch quietly until I awake and then ask for my help. He’ll push out the couch cushions so he can hide behind them which he listens to cartoons.
And then there’s Anna Lynn. She’ll wake up and run as fast as she can down the stairs. I don’t know how a 3-year old can replicate the sound of herding elephants but she can. She’ll dash across the room until she’s close enough to perform a cannon-ball type dive onto my stomach ensuring I won’t be getting more sleep. She doesn’t care about the TV or remotes. I’ll wake up, look at her smiling face and she’ll say, “I am awake, dad!!!” like it was a surprise.
As much as I cherish my sleep, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
For Christmas this year my main gift to myself was a new Nikon AF-S VR 55-200 mm. I finally got around to taking a few picture of the kids yesterday and I’m happy with it so far. I’ve still got a lot to learn about my camera but I can’t imagine going back to a point and shoot model.
Here are a few shots I took in the later afternoon as the sun was beginning to set. I sure like being able to stand back from the kids and take candid shots instead of getting in on them with my smaller lens.
My brother told to to check out Rogue Wave this morning. I found one of their songs called “California” and immediately loved it. So I’ve been listening to it all day.
[audio:california.mp3]According to NPD Group here are the top selling gaming system of 2007:
Imagine what the numbers would have been had the Nintendo Wii been widely 
available. They are still very difficult to find even a year after launch. I wonder how many people went looking for a Wii, couldn’t find one, and decided to buy a 360 or PS3 instead?
Nintendo has proven once again that quality game play is king. Xbox 360 had the top selling game in Halo 3, but what must-have game was available on the PS3 that wasn’t available on other platforms?
Nice job, Nintendo. Now when can we expect the next Zelda game?
I finally got around to purchasing a UPS for my home computer. I ended up buying the SmartPro Digital UPS from Tripp-Lite at Costco for $100. It includes 4 outlets for UPS and 4 more on surge protection. I’ve got my computer, DSL model, speakers and NAS on the UPS portion. View the complete specs here.
I’d like to add another for Kim and the kids computers as well as to my home theater and Tivo. So far it’s worked great although the real test will come the next time we experience a power outage.
This model also included a USB cable drives a console called “Power Alert” which gives me information on the a number of other setting include Input, Output and Battery Life. I like the LCD screen that shows my current input voltage.
I found it strange that the PowerAlert software didn’t come in the box. I searched around the Tripp-Life website and eventually found it available for download at this link.
Mark Zuckerberg, the 23 year old founder and CEO of Facebook, was interviewed for 60 minutes tonight by Leslie Stahl. Zuckerberg was quite defensive at times and clearly doesn’t feel very comfortable in front of the camera, although he did provide some interesting bits of information, especially when it came to Stahl’s privacy questions surrounding Beacon which is Facebook’s new, highly controversial advertising platform. Zuckerberg freely admits that Beacon needs more work but made it clear that Facebook won’t survive unless it works when he says,
“There has to be ads either way because we have to make money, I mean, we have 400 employees….and have to support all that and make a profit”.
My favorite quote of the interview came during one of the few light moments of the interview when Stahl asked Zuckerberg why his Facebook profile lists “Harvard alum” when he left school before graduating. Zuckerberg responds, “There’s no setting for drop out”.
As I watched the interview I couldn’t help but wonder how he compared to the young Bill Gates back when Bill was brash, inexperienced and obviously very bright. As Gates leaves Microsoft, could we be watching the next software mogul move into position?
It will be interesting to watch over the next few years. You can watch most of the interview here.
If your torrent search habits have you switching back and forth amongst the myriad of torrent search sites you may want to try YouTorrent which bills itself as “the worlds first real-time torrent comparison search engine”.
It’s very quick and the search results are neatly organized. Here’s what a search for Van Halen looks like. The day of keeping track of multiple torrent search engines may be over. Could this be the Google of torrent search? 🙂
Grab yourself a copy of uTorrent and give it a whirl.
Why is it so difficult to exercise? I have no problem playing basketball a night or two a week, but I find it really tough to jog on my treadmill that’s less than 50 feet from my computer.
When I’ve paid for a gym membership I’ve been more motivated to work out. Maybe it’s knowing that I’m paying for something and I feel like I just get my money’s worth.
I’ve radically changed my diet over the past 18 months to the point where my body feels much better than it did before. I no longer stuff my stomach full of starchy and sugary foods. Kim steams a lot more vegetables and we are eating a lot more varieties of fish than we ever have.
I’ve noticed that our kids learn to like or dislike the same foods we do. When we eat healthy, they tend to do the same.
It’s a new year and I’m going to get in the habit on jogging on my treadmill at least three times a week, or on those days I don’t play basketball. I’m going to keep track of my workouts in Google Docs. I need to get the point where it feels weird when I don’t exercise. The opposite of that is true today and I will change that.
Although my treadmill provides a good workout, it’s not the most stimulating. I’d like to find a trail here in Auburn, WA where I can walk or job occasionally. I will start looking around, but until then, it’s off to the treadmill!
Nordquist Blog 