I'm a dad, a husband, a brother, a son,
a work-at-home web ninja
and serial entrepreneur,
a lazy artist, a sci-fi geek (science not fantasy, so space ships not elves), a Pacers / Lions fan, a writer, a former journalist, an art collector, an investor, and all-around former bad ass who's grown soft and content.
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'What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.' -- Oscar Wilde
Should we be nervous when such a visionary intellect as theoretical physicist Stephen Hawkings says we need to abandon Earth or face extinction?
Hawkings says, “It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster on planet Earth in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand, or million. The human race shouldn’t have all its eggs in one basket, or on one planet.”
I was going to say camping, since I just returned from a wonderful three day camping trip with our really great friends. But despite all the fun we had, when it comes right down to it – my love of camping really all comes from the hallowed tradition of the campfire.
There is simply nothing more enjoyable then kicking back at a campfire with friends and family and letting the heat and smoke wash over you. Campfires are great for conversation, games, sing-a-longs, ghost stories, star-gazing, and of course messing with the fire itself. I remember that growing up camping, after my parents went to bed, I would stay up hours just sitting by the fire, poking at the red coals with a stick until it was finally burnt to a nub.
Ella really enjoyed sitting at the campfire last weekend, and singing along with the group. Of course she didn’t know most the songs so she would just repeat what she heard and was about 6 seconds behind the rest of the group – so adorable. She did say the alphabet song was her favorite, which we of course only sang because she knew all the words. She did do her cute stuttering over R-U-V, where she stumbles and repeats it a few times.
I am really happy that I built a campfire area in our backyard, so that we can enjoy a campfire any time we want. I see it being a big part of our girls’ childhood.
Today was like a fantasy for Pacers fans around the world (yes, they do actually have fans all over the world). Today, the Pacers made a dream trade and landed a young, talented point guard in Darren Collison. Collison averaged 12.4 points and 5.7 assists as a rookie last season with the Hornets, including 18.8 points and 9.1 assists in 37 starts while filling in for injured Chris Paul.
The Pacers have not had a point guard with the potential to be a franchise PG since they drafted Jamaal Tinsley in 2001. That didn’t work out so well, so there is no guarantees this is the magic bullet for point play either. But Collison was the best young talent available and I give props to Larry Bird for landing him without having to give up much. The Pacers traded the expiring contract of Troy Murphy who strangely has had the best numbers and most consistent play of any pacer the last few years, yet fans almost universally feel he was a hindrance to winning. Pacers also get versatile James Posey.
“I think it helps out tremendously,” Bird said. “I think this was the piece that we needed. The vision I have for this franchise is to get the core group up and ready to go as quick as we can, and this piece here will accelerate everything.”
With this addition, Indy’s depth chart will look like this:
PG: Darren Collison, Lance Stephenson, T.J. Ford, A.J. Price
SG: Brandon Rush, Paul George, Dahntay Jones,
SF: Danny Granger, James Posey, Mike Dunleavy
PF: Tyler Hansbrough, Josh McRoberts
C: Roy Hibbert, Jeff Foster, Solomon Jones
I think Indy can finally return to the playoffs and perhaps even be contenders in a few years as this young core develops. Guess Larry Bird’s three-year plan is coming together nicely.
My built-in office shelves were completed today and my dream office is finally here. (yes, I have geeky dreams like an office wall full of awesome shelving units!)
Kudos to Jeff from Dependable Home Improvements on his excellent work.
If you need anything built in your home, he is your man. Call him at: 260-403-6309
Stephen Ong, a graphic designer fresh out of Norwich University College of the Arts, describes his animated short as: “An insight into the human machine and it’s consumption addiction.” I just think it is fun to watch.
‘If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger.’ – Frank Lloyd Wright
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Kudos to Bill Gates and Warren Buffet for not only pledging to give away the majority of their combined $90 billion dollars in personal wealth, but also for encouraging 38 other ridiculously wealthy folks to publicly pledge to give away theirs as well.
Click here to see the list, and you can click on each name on their website to see their personal pledge letters.
What’s cool about it is they are not teaming up for one cause or another, they are just making a public commitment to use their wealth either now or when they die to make the world a better place however they see fit. Of course I bet all their kids are pissed off right now!
Others who have signed the pledge include filmmaker George Lucas, media mogul Ted Turner, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and oilman T. Boone Pickens.
If you haven’t heard, the Sun’s surface erupted Sunday morning sending a a geyser of ionized atoms directly at Earth.
So once the tons of plasma from this massive solar flare enter our atmosphere it is expected to create a geomagnetic storm. Sounds scary, but unless you are a satellite you should be ok (at least this time around). The cool side-effect of this geomagnetic storm is that it should produce an aurora that will be visible right here in the Midwest.
My friend Jason sent me a link tonight to let me know about it, and just a few minutes ago as I was crawling into bed I saw strange lights outside. I went out in the backyard and the whole sky was flickering bluish light.
Unfortunately it was really cloudy so I could not see the “ribbons” of green and red light I was expecting. But was amazed by it nonetheless at the light seemed to dance across the entire sky in all directions. Uh, and then I heard thunder and saw some cloud-to-cloud lightning, so I realized it was just a thunderstorm that happened to wrap itself around my house in all directions. While I do enjoy lightning storms and have been known to sit outside in the rain to watch a good storm, I was really hoping to see a true cosmic tsunami.
I had seen a version of a Northern Lights aurora over Lake Michigan before and it was amazing. I have always wanted to go to Canada or Alaska to take in a true aurora (see the photo with this post), but I would settle for seeing this geomagnetic storm right here in my backyard! I will be out tomorrow night in hopes to see it.
In case you are wondering what actually causes the light show:
When a coronal mass ejection reaches Earth, solar particles stream down our planet’s magnetic field lines toward the poles. In the process, the particles collide with atoms of nitrogen and oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere, which then glow, creating an effect similar to miniature neon signs.
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Is it me, or does it seem like everything is bad for you these days?
Just yesterday I discovered that even store receipts are dangerous – as they have been found to contain alarming levels of BPA for some reason. You can read the full article here, but basically it just says that receipts from stores like Wal-Mart, McDonald’s and even Whole Foods contain this dangerous chemical and that you should be careful to wash your hands after touching a receipt.
BPA which is used to make some plastics has been found to harmful in a variety of ways from reproductive and developmental issues, to neurological diseases, higher risks of cancer, and even attributing to obesity.
I became aware of BPA when Erin told me we needed to get BPA-free bottles. (We use all glass bottles, with BPA-free tops.) Sports drinking bottles and canned foods are other areas that have received attention recently for high-levels of BPA. Even canned organic food and some canned goods actually labeled “BPA-free” showed alarming levels of BPA. (See full article on BPA in canned food)
I see this as just more evidence to the importance of knowing what you are eating and of course washing your hands as often as possible. Because who knows what dangers are lurking out there when even receipts are harmful.
Ella is a budding artist, which makes sense since her mother and I are both into art. Also, Erin and my mother are both great at freehand drawing.
Here are two drawings she did recently of me. The top one she described as “A picture of dad being crazy”. The other one she said was, “Dad and me going to the movies.”
Oh, and here is a rainbow of her name that she did months ago, but I forgot to post. She has gotten much better at writing her name and all letters since then, but I just love this one:
a lazy artist, a sci-fi geek (science not fantasy, so space ships not elves), a Pacers / Lions fan, a writer, a former journalist, an art collector, an investor, and all-around former bad ass who's grown soft and content.
So once the tons of plasma from this massive solar flare enter our atmosphere it is expected to create a geomagnetic storm. Sounds scary, but unless you are a satellite you should be ok (
BPA which is used to make some plastics has been found to harmful in a variety of ways from reproductive and developmental issues, to neurological diseases, higher risks of cancer, and even attributing to obesity.
Ella is a budding artist, which makes sense since her mother and I are both into art. Also, Erin and my mother are both great at freehand drawing.