I'll let Helen explain her blog stuff.

Jen's now only doing the moblog thing, which will probably become more popular as we get the necessary cables to transfer pictures off the camera phone. But that should only be a few days.

I don't think I'm losing interest, stuff just gets in the way. I got home last night from band at 9, watched tv for an hour and fell asleep. Then didn't feel like waking up this morning. Not that every day is like that, but in general life does seem busy at least with the amount of hours in the day, especially during the week. I will try to keep updating more regularly, since its helpful.

We definetly should get together. I keep trying to push business trips, but haven't had any in 2 years, so I think the shorterm likelyhood of going to DC via that route is low, but we haven't planned our vacations out yet, so there's a definite possibility DC could become a long weekend activity, I'll have to keep it in mind.

Ok, need to get to work - stupid busy life.

Aparently I've been out of the loop. I should read my own Links more often, I didn't even notice TOWM had a new car - always good things going on when I bother to click on things.

Speaking of links, I've adjusted a few of them, if you want to be listed or not listed, let me know and I'll change.

Do people still read the comics? I totally forget about them most of the time, but they seem to still work, so I figured I'd do my once yearly or however often check to see if they're still useful. It seems whenever the domain is up for review I ponder things because its anniversary time I guess.

I like the new Cingular phone. Of course its still up in the air if it works every place. Went to a wedding in the Boonies out east of here and it didn't work indoors which got a bit worrysome, but its not like that's a common place to go, so I'm brushing it off as a reason to stay in civilization, not a service problem that will actually be a major issue.

Uhrm, what else.. I realized with the extending list of archive months, I need to say more to keep the main page from looking stupid on here. I do realize I could change the display time so things don't dissapear so quickly, but I liken it to shopping at wegmans in college: I'd always use a basket instead of a cart, with the logic that I would be less tempted to buy more then would fit. Of course this barely worked (since things like a $1.59 baguette don't really fit in a basket anyway) so I'd have things falling out and people offering to get me a cart, but I stuck with the plan to limit shopping. Therefore, having stuff expire off the main page is more like incentive to keep updating and less of a real problem.

Went to the cleveland auto show last night. It was kinda cool, but sorta a letdown compared to going to Detroit's. Even if its a 2 hour (or so) drive the Detroit show is about new stuff and putting on a good show, Cleveland's is more you have all the different companies with an excessive amount of crossovers so you can comparison shop without going from dealer to dealer. A much different world really - though parking is free, I do see some logic of having free parking at an auto show, even if you have to pay a bit to get in, at least the car part of getting there isn't an extra cost. Maybe next year will be another Detroit year, but it always seems to be blizzarding or something else problematic for the one weekend I could make it up to michigan, vs. driving 10 minutes on any given evening for 1 1/2 weeks in Cleveland.

So after cat sitting 2 weeks ago (did i forget to mention that? oh well) it seems Gracie still gets along with others of the feline pursuasion. That is pushing more of potential to get a 2nd cat, so she has someone to play with. Of course this could also mean she can get a group together for 3am paw poking into sleeping faces because she's bored, but we'll hope that doesn't occur. The idea has been planted, but nothing has occured as of yet.

I've been reading this old house magazine (hanukkah present, did I forget to mention that? I really like it, so thanks Jen) and its full of all these useful and useless tips. Amusing really. One tip this month is sharpening shears. Honestly, I buy $2 shears at harbor freight, accidently leave them outside and they rust. I really don't think if I bought ones that were expensive and nice I'd be less inclined to leave them outside or sharpen them, but thanks for the tip in case I need to.

After completing 2 years at our friends cingular, it was time for the debate on staying or going. They have great phones (and don't feature lock them, so you can use bluetooth to get pictures off your camera phone for instance) but their service can be umm, not so good at times. In any case, combining it with a discount courtesy of work and them offering a lower priced family plan (since 550 minutes with rollover is plenty enough chatting in my view, especially with vonage to make long distance calls from home) the plan is to stay with them. At least unless the phones that will arrive shortly suck horribly, then the 30 day return policy will be tested. Also we can switch back to having phones that use the same chargers and such, so trips don't involve a plethora of incompatible wall monkeys and such.

Ok, back to your regularly scheduled other stuff.

So several things to discuss.

Aparently Mentor (city in OH) gives out some sort of architecture award each year. For 2005, they gave this award to a taco bell/long john silver. I'm not sure if this means that there was nothing good going on that year, that they really like generic chain restaurant design, or i'm hoping its more related to good planning and design and getting along nicely through the building process. In any event, its proudly displayed on a plaque on the wall of said taco bell. I also wonder if the exact same building built 5 miles down the road in the next town over got the same award, but I haven't been to that location yet.

I'm a slacker and never update.

It was 12 degrees out most of saturday. I really can't complain about the weather, but it did present some interesting activities. Old Rusty (old van which is used as spare car and for trips to 'Ohio's home improvement warehouse' (Which looks oddly similar to California's, New York's, Michigan's and Georgia's, mostly because those are the only states I have seen a Home Depot in) oh right, about the van. So its registration is expiring, and as its a 1990, and its an even year, it needs an emissions check before it can get registered. So after attempting to start it saturday to get it to the e-check place before it closed at 1pm, it didn't start. Of course I realized as this was literally the coldest day of the entire winter so far, it was a stupid day to try and start something with a probably dead battery. Many attempts at jumping it later it got up and running fine. Except the check engine light was on. Which means automatic failure at the test. So we just drove it for a while. Of course much like computers 16 year old vans can fix themselves by being turned off and turned back on. Though that requires it to start again. Not wanting to risk getting stuck in a parking lot somewhere in northeast ohio, it was decided to return home to attemp rebooting. It worked. It was also 1:30 by the time this occured, which turned into a plan to get tested tomorrow (because of course they're closed for president's day). On the upside it did justify a trip to target for a largish (that would have easily fit in either of the cars, but that's irrelevant) box which contained a cool open shelved bookcase

The best part of the entire trip was deciding that gas was cheap, so filling up a bit in the van would be a good idea. After deciding which side the tank was on (I really should sharpie a giant arrow on the dashboard so I stop forgetting, but anyway) the stupid fuel door was frozen shut. As the snow on the roof melted it dripped down the side, and then froze the door shut. Some feeble attempts with the windshield squeege didn't work. So giving up on that proposition 1/4 of a tank will be just fine until it gets above freezing.

I think thats it from the land of infrequent updates. I'll probably remember another 20 things I wanted to talk about in five minutes, like how BP now has a $.49 24 ounce coffee if you get gas, so I can drive to work wired. Although they don't bother to have lids that seal, so either you get 16 oz in a 24 oz cup or you spill 8 oz of it on the floor the moment you go around the entrance ramp that is right next to BP. Stupid BP coffee.