Preemtive Cleansing

Now that we're in the hunt for a new vehicle, my weekend task is to clean out the right half of our garage. The van was too tall to fit under the door, our new car will not be a van.

Words To Go

Day two with the Kindle.

Cool things: We were stuck in traffic. Mari pulls out her kindle and in moments is happily reading today's Washington Post. Later she was really into this new book she's reading. So instead of putting it down to cook dinner, she turns on the very well done reader (a computer voice that speaks out lout and surprisingly smoothly.) Thus while she cooks, she can listen to her book.

Not cool thing: Once you really start digging into the library, you'll find it disappointingly limited. Research returns that most publishers are trying to catch up, and in a year or so much of their back libraries will be e-book available. But for now, you aren't going to be replacing your books anytime soon. On the plus side, every book on Amazon now has a link just below it where you can request it to be made into an e-book. I don't know how effective that link is, but at least it's something.

You Win This Time Oprah, This Time

After playing with it for a half hour now, our early impression is that it lives up to the hype. I was a skeptic. Now I want my own. The thing is flat out cool. Amazingly crisp screen and great features. With very little setup it linked to Mari's Amazon account wirelessly, found a book she was looking for, and had it downloaded and on the screen before we could finish saying "It's downloading now." It screen saves to various pictures of famous authors.

Kindling Interest

Out of the stylish packaging came the second generation Kindle. Mari's Christmas gift only two months late. But it turned out for the best, we were supposed to get a first gen and got "upgraded" for no extra cost.

Amazon Arrival

A mysterious package with the Amazon logo was on our porch. The only clue to it's contents, the words "once upon a time" written on the pull tab used to open it.

The Scene

Our first People issue, complete with glossy cover. Very popular in other markets so we decided to do it here and it turned out nicely.

Whimsically Webbing

Coming soon to an internet near you (blur-O vision not required.)

Streetscapes III

The Customs House.

Plus Lock Minus Squeak

 

This weekend's home improvement, a better lock for our screen door and some WD-40 so it'll stop squeaking. Of course the wood block will be painted white and those long bolts shaved off.

Mechanical Munching

We were in the area checking out a used car, so we decided to do a little weekend La Ha lunching.

Artistic Eating

We met up with friends Alan and Melanie at the Calypso Cafe to discuss Mari's flourishing art.

More Effecting

The second Mass Effect book to come out, by the same author. The first one took place before the events played out in the game, this one takes place after. To be honest he isn't the best writer, but the game world was excellent so it's worth it just to dive back into that environment. Also a nice fluff piece after the dystopian duo.

The Scene

Bad men doing bad things.

Van Vinegary

Oh faithful old van. Your zero car payment is sweet, but breaking down on me is not. To fix or to trade, that is the question.

Viral Vinegary

Oh Symantec EndPoint Version 11. Much like Ike and Tina, your features are sweet, but you keep hurting me.

Scatter

The toy explosion, has now imploded.

Valentine

Card and art by Mari.

V-Day Visit

The family from Atlanta came up so the parents could have a Valentine's dinner grown up style.

Orwell Over

1984 was good I thought, much better written than A Brave New World, but by the end I felt it got a little repetitious. Now I've read two of the three classics of dystopia, the last being Yevgeny Zamyatin's We. I think I'll put that one off for a while. I need some "good guys win" pulp fiction to cleanse the palate.

The Scene

Value Valentine.

I Think He's Turning Japanese, I Really Think So

Brent is off to Japan for several weeks, the lucky gaijin.

Power Play

Mari gave me the power of the sun.

Grampa Woody

Grampa's funeral was today. Above is a better picture than the blurry one I first posted. His official obit from the paper out in California:

Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Snodgrass, a former West County school district superintendent, board member and lifelong educational devotee, has died at age 95.

Snodgrass, who died Jan. 25, began working for the Richmond Unified (now West Contra Costa) School District in 1937 after graduating from Richmond High. He served as a teacher, counselor, dean of boys, director of adult education, principal, deputy superintendent, superintendent and board member.

"I'm deeply saddened by the loss of Woody," longtime school board member Charles Ramsey said. "He really motivated me and taught me how to think big. He was really special to me and my family."

Including his years as a student, Snodgrass had an 80-year association with the district that began when Calvin Coolidge was in the White House.

West Contra Costa school district officials — who named their administration building on Bissell Avenue after Snodgrass in 2005 — honored him with a moment of silence at Wednesday's board meeting.

Snodgrass' lifelong devotion to education almost didn't happen. He was in his second year at law school when he ran into Frank Shallenberger, his principal at Roosevelt Junior High School in Richmond.

"Why don't you think about becoming a teacher?" Shallenberger asked him.

"Becoming an educator "was my second choice," Snodgrass said in 2005. "But that's how it happened."

Snodgrass earned his teaching credential from UC Berkeley in 1936, got his master's degree in education in 1950 and his doctorate in 1956.

He retired after eight years as superintendent (1969-76), but his involvement with the district continued. For 12 years, he was chief contract negotiator (1977-89), then served two terms on the school board (1989-97). He was named chairman of the Citizen's Advisory Commission for District School Facilities in 1998.

Snodgrass was born June 24, 1913, in Blackfoot, Idaho. When his family moved to Richmond in 1925, Snodgrass — the youngest of three siblings — enrolled in sixth grade at Lincoln Elementary School. He later attended the now-closed Roosevelt Junior High, and lettered in track and played football at Richmond High.

Snodgrass taught at Roosevelt and in 1941 joined the faculty at the new high school that opened in El Cerrito just months before the United States entered World War II. During the war he served for two years as a civilian instructor for the Army in Washington, D.C., then returned to become a counselor and dean of boys at El Cerrito High. He became the school's vice principal in 1947.

Snodgrass had been married twice (Julia, his wife of 24 years, and Eleanor, 18 years, are both deceased) and had two adopted children.

"I liked working with the kids," he said in 2005. "I liked working with the teachers. I liked working with the principals. I liked working with the administrators. I liked working with the financial end. To me, it was all rewarding."

Out With Old Wood 2

The old wooden night stand where our printer lived, gets a matching replacement as well.

Out With Old Wood

The old wooden TV stand we've been using to store junk in the computer room gets replaced by a new, metal and glass upgrade.

Old Canon

You were a good camera, but your terrible zoom was your downfall.

New Canon

Our new camera arrived from Amazon, replacing our ancient 4 MP and 3x zoom digicam. 10MP and 20x zoom!

It's In The Game

I don't play many sports type games, but I've always had a soft spot for hockey. Even so I've skipped many iterations of this game, but all the reviews said '09 was perhaps the best ever. They were right.

The Scene

Feudal Nashville.

1984 Comes Alive

Big Brother's official gum.

1984

Old book, new read.

Superbowl 43

Meh. Good game, but I wanted Arizona to win.