The Man, The Myth, The Legend…
So, I’m on vacation with the family. Starting Monday, that might be debatable… we’ll be in the Orlando area at Walt Disney World resort. At the very least it’ll be fun. Photos can be found by browsing to my Flickr account at this link here.
Also, for those of you interested in Urban Planning, I have started writing for TransitMiami, a blog on Urban Planning issues in the Miami, Florida area.
We bought an Apple TV on Friday.
For about 18 months now, my wife and I have been trying an experiment using a Mac G4 Tower, to see if we could mimic what an Apple TV does inherently. Since we got our tax refund, we figured we would give it a go with the Apple TV.
What a time sink it is… especially the YouTube feature…
I spent most of Friday night watching videos of the Moscow Metro (don’t ask… it’s an illness I have) and Tokyo transportation system. Saturday I started converting the files I had saved for my use on the Mac G4 into M4V files that could be played on the Apple TV.
It’s sweet.
And very easy to use.
Let the hacking begin! 
When you’re driving in a city that has a streetcar system, and, especially when you’re driving on the street that has the streetcar, make sure you’re watching your back, not running lights, and, in general, paying attention.This, by the way, was in Houston, Texas… Not to get political, but I wonder how many of the people who got smacked were voters for the current administration.
My wife and I had been living in a perpetual State of the ’80s… I think we were the last people on the face of the planet to own a waterbed. Yes… it didn’t even have foam inserts - it was totally a free-wave, bladder-type waterbed.
Until this past Friday…
We purchased a canopy bed that reminds me of the insides of Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, which we got on sale for less than $500, and, to put on that bed we purchased a mattress from a company called “Bed In A Box”. They sell only “memory foam,” or visco-elastic foam mattresses. The one we got was their PacBamboo-Plus, queen size, for less than $700 (including shipping), which has a bamboo-fabric cover, but is otherwise very similar to a $3,400 model sold by Tempur-Pedic.
It’s taking some getting used to. We’re talking going from a bed that was very soft, with no support, to a bed that feels like I’m sleeping on a slab, but has sufficient-enough give to be comfortable.
I’ll let Tracy tell you about the installation of the mattress, since she was the one who (against my suggestion) went ahead and did it.
The kids and I went to my folks’ house in Sebastian. The trip served multiple purposes:
The trip was a good one. We were able to go up and see my parents, who are doing fairly well. The boys had fun watching “Cars” on the small screen DVD player we’ve got in the new van. Something even better, though, was the fact that while they were able to watch, I was able to listen to my own radio programs in the front portion of the van.
Traffic on the way up and back was mixed, of course, with traffic on Florida’s Turnpike being manageable, and traffic on I-95 being barely so.
Great fun was had by all, and a good nap was had by dad.
So, we had an accident in the car a couple weeks back. When my lovely (although draxzaster said “hot” while we were in Vegas, and i would tend to agree with him) wife failed to yield the right-of-way, she slightly crunched the back of another vehicle. Anyhow, we got the car repaired for $500 out-of-pocket, and all the while, we were thinking “why not just get another car?” So we did…
We bought a 2005 Chrysler Town and Country Touring-class minivan with 28k miles on it. New, this van would have cost the original owner $33,000. It is simply the most luxurious auto we’ve ever owned. Fully-appointed with leather, power seats, DVD player (for the kids). We got it at a steal at $17,000.
Since we tend to drive our cars into the ground, I’m hoping this one lasts us the five to seven years we’re planning on having it.
I was doing my news readings when I came across this postcard of Washington’s Union Station. I thought it quite pertinent to share with my (limited) readership.
Union Station waiting room, Washington, DC (postcard):
One problem when somewhat disconnected organizations manage key cultural assets is that they don’t pay much attention to culture. Last year was the 100th anniversary of the opening of the station. No notice was taken of this whatsoever. There isn’t much in the way of interpretive signage in the station, and frankly, there needs to be a true visitor information center based there.
I will be going to Las Vegas on a three-day guy trip in February. My
friend, Richard, just called to let me know that we have reservations at
the Hofbraeuhaus Las Vegas (yes, owned by the one in Munich) to watch the
Super Bowl.
While I am not a big sports fan, I will enjoy the beer, uh, event
immensely.
My wife calls me, a bit freaked out, early afternoon on Friday, telling me that she’s been involved in a car accident. She’s okay, the kids are okay, which is the important part. For those of you who know us well, you know that we have but one paltry car, our beloved Saturn SL 2. A green 2000, with just over 120k on the odometer. The downer is that we were planning on driving up to my folks’ house for the long weekend.
Anyhow, yesterday, we walked to the grocery store to get our weekly groceries; and then I took the kids, by bus, to the Dolphin Mall (a trip that involved changing buses at my place of employment). We had a lot of fun, except on the ride home we came through Allapattah to the Allapattah Metrorail station, and had to wait there 30 minutes for a train. The kids were a bit on the… rambunctious… side.
So, we’ll get the car assessed, or not, and see if we want to file a claim on it, or whatever. It does need repair. But it might be cheaper for us in the long run to do it ourselves, rather than involve GEICO. Especially if the other side doesn’t file a claim.
Either way, we’re without a car until we make our decision. Something that can’t really hurt us since we live in a great location for being without a car.
I don’t know if I like the new look. But I’ll stick with it a bit and see.
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