On the bench

in front of Cracker Barrel. It was windy and cold!

We need to buy one of these to take to other places when he gets bored

Here's a pic from 2005

Think I will ever learn how to rotate these correctly?

He always wants to drive

A video

a WAY cool review of the Ruckus modem

Here is a WAY cool review of the Ruckus modem by a couple guys in Singapore.

It is really quite good.

http://theory.isthereason.com/?p=1650


Thanks, Mark!

Old video I ran across

Not sure when this is from...maybe last summer?

Apparently the camera date wasn't set. Which leads me to believe it was from when the camera was new last summer.

Ray-o-Vac PS3

I have a Ray-o-Vac PS3 charger. Seems like a good charger...popped it open tonight and each pair of batteries has a set of transistors associated with it. I measured voltage across each pair of cells and it was different...which is probably good since each pair had been in there a different length of time. The thing has quite a circuit board in it. Not a simple circuit.

ANYway...the ISSUE is when I leave batteries in there for a long period of time (days/weeks) they continue to trickle charge up to about 1.450 to 1.480 volts. My camera does not seem to like that. It shuts off shortly after turning it on. If the cells are closer to 1.3 V then it's happier.

I pulled some cells out tonight that were good and cooked for a number of days.

I'll have to see how they work after sitting out a day or two and see how the voltage looks.

The batteries are cool, but I hope this higher voltage trickle is not harmful.

I also hope the way this thing is charging is not negatively affecting the useful capacity after charging.

Doesn't make too much sense since the camera works with 1.5V alkaline cells. Apparently they sag low enough under the load and maybe the NiMH are staying closer to 1.5V.

My charger looks like exacly like the one above, but different.... in that it's black with a clear cover.

:P

Reading books.

Is he "reading?" I don't know. But he sure likes looking at the books.

Viewing audience

Hey you people...
If you are viewing the blog....drop in a comment!

I'm curious who reads this thing....

well...there's not much to read, but there are pictures!
Sounds like certain magazines.....people read the articles...yeah...that's it.

GIMME DAT DING

I didn't fully appreciate Pipkins till a few years ago. This song ROCKS.

Wagon ride

These are OLD pictures.

Puppy dog "Lady" is in one of these pix...as well as myself and all my brothers and sisters in at least one of the pictures.

And I just noticed something...the blond hair is obviously well-rooted (pardon the pun) in the Palmquist family.

Here's another...

Some time in the mid-70s. Guessing 73-74? Pretty hard to drive the old IH pickup out I'd say.

Look at that little blondie...Austin's momma had it going too. :)

And here she is with Gramma and Grampa.

These pictures are all scans of slides. Good old Kodachrome in most cases I think. The one of Jerrie on the carousel is amazing. Looks like it was taken last week.

In the backyard today ...

A crocus Jerrie found today.

Apparently he found a worm

Jerrie sent me these pics from her phone.

:).

Got the bike out today.

Doug, Austin and I went to St. Peter today to pick up my bike.

Austin thought the bike was coolest thing he'd seen in a long time.

He wanted to climb up on it immediately and monkey with the controls.

Had a nice ride back and NO problems with the bike.

Was not too bad getting it started.

Austin and Doug had to ride back in the van...

It was a NICE day for taking the bike home. Just a little windy, but it was a "no jacket required" day. Yeah, yeah..should wear a leather jacket for safety. ...and chaps too...but no helmet....wait..that's a different kind of cycle...

I did wear a helmet! Do I get some credit? Partial credit, sir? No, I don't wear (or have or plan to get) chaps. I don't have a decent jacket for biking either. THAT is something I should have. I fear I'm nearly as bad as a lot of 'Wing riders that wear a baseball cap, T-shirt and shorts.

I do generally wear a helmet. I don't like it when it's hot, but neither do I like stones, birds, bees and other debris hitting me in the head....or the the thought of my head cracking open like an eggshell on the pavement. I should get a decent full-face helmet again. The "puddin' bowl" is comfy in the warm weather..and it's better than no helmet, but I'd really rather not break my jaw and related "components." I know of one biker whose helmet saved him from a nasty bump when some idiot backed into him on the bike at the gas station knocking him and the bike over.

Plus! If I had a full facer the microphone/headphones would work better!

I kinda like the flip up full-facers....hmmm...

But you can't hear as much going on around you or see as well....so no easy answers on that one.

If want to be completely safe, sit on a chair in the garage and admire the bike I guess. Don't even get on it...you may fall off...or it might tip over.

:)

Ride safe, people! Remember that everything on and near the road is out to get you! Including the road itself.

Don't kick back and get complacent.

New phones from Sprint. - Review of the LG Rumor

Argh!

Crystal's new LG Rumor arrived with a messed up screen. It only shows colors and bars...and sometimes a hint of what the display should be. THIRTY-FIVE minutes later with Sprint on the phone, a new one is supposedly on the way. DOH!

Doug's phone wouldn't activate automatically as it was supposed to upon being powered. "Network Timeout" So I called one rep who couldn't find their a$$ with both hands. I'm still hoping she didn't mess up my other phone. In her fumbling around we somehow got disconnected after 15 minutes. Talked to another rep and he got it going fairly quickly..though I still don't know if the activation is complete since it won't make calls yet or take calls.

ARGH!

Now I have to port numbers to these too....can hardly wait.


UPDATE: Doug's phone can now make calls and receive calls and send/receive text...now I get to port the number....

Takin' a bath

New phones

New phones for C and D.

The LG Rumor on Sprint.

Time to retire the old Blackberry 6230's.

Looks like a nice phone for $25.

In the wagon

Cooled off and he had to put a sweatshirt on

Waiting on the street

This is never good...............

RP...who are you?

Who is RP the biker guy? Post your first name as a comment here if you would.

I'm not really sure who it is.

But thanks for looking at the blog!

70 degrees today

Exceedingly nice day!

First cookout of the year

Doug, Austin and I had a little grill-out tonight...brats and burgers.

Austin is crazy for bratwurst.

This morning

eating

Here's a pretty cool link

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/expert/bowman_02april08.mspx

Whiskey creek

Conference weekend

We're at the Arrowwood Resort in Alexandria (MN) this weekend for a Civil Air Patrol conference. We had a blast in the waterpark.

Glad that Austin likes water!

We're gonna get hammered.

Yeah..and we're supposed to be heading into the 8-16 inch zone on Friday night. Heading to Alexandria for CAP Wing conference. Wondering how that's going to work out for those wanting to fly there...

Today

A couple of pix from today.

He was very tired tonight. Earlier he was on "boobahzone.com"

One for Loren

Trying out the JD

I think this pretty much sums up the housing market

Blast from the past

Ran across this pic today.

:)

Coin Slides

These things are addicting. The mechanics and physics are just amazing to watch.

When WILL the coins tip? What will prevent them? How many will fall.

I would want one at home to play. Heck, it's just fun to watch someone else play it (maybe more fun, certainly cheaper!)

Today was in the 60s...very nice

Picture from Good Friday - NOT like today