… we get to make some scientific discoveries in Antartica afterall.
Archive for February, 2007
Dell Helping the Climate Crisis
February 26, 2007I’m sure this isn’t news to some, but I wanted to post it here so I don’t forget it…
From the Dell site article…
Carbon Neutral
We share your interest in minimizing the climate and environmental impact of the products we sell. In the next few weeks, we will make our Plant a Tree for Me program available to a much wider audience – the program enables customers to contribute to a tree planting program to offset the carbon associated with the production of electricity to run their system. Some early work you might be aware of includes our efforts to make our products as energy-efficient as possible, which can help cut emissions associated with power generation – you can read more at www.dell.com/energy.
First Snowman
February 26, 2007Today, we woke up and it was snowing. We got about 5 or so inches today — heavy, wet snow. The kind that’s perfect for making snowballs and snowmen.
So with a little elbow grease, a few Oreo cookies for eyes (hey, who has coal these days), a carrot, and a few branches from the yard — we made Alice’s, Lauren’s and Thomas’s first snowman and snowbaby.
It was a blast!
When we finished, Abbey decided to eat the Oreo eyes and carrot nose from the snow baby… I guess she didn’t understand what we were doing.
…and of course when it was all over, we came inside and drank some hot chocolate. Lauren thinks it’s “Yummy!”
Finding a Passion
February 26, 2007I’ve got many things that I like. Fewer things that I love. Even fewer that I found that I’m truly passionate about.
In my experience, passion for something you believe in provides an internal “fuel” that can help you achieve goals. Whether they’re work related or some other facet of life, I’ve found that fact to be true.
My family sets aside a small amount of money each month that we intend to use to donate at some point in the year. I’ve decided that to make the money “count” we need to find things that we’re passionate and not merely worthwhile — there are far too many worthwhile causes. I mention this because last year we had difficulty finding more than one cause we wanted to donate to. Last year we made a nice donation to Teardrops to Rainbows, which helps support the families of children with cancer… We could find no other that inspired us and made us feel like our modest contribution would really make a difference.
At last, I have found another… Helping to End Global Warming.
I’ll probably create a new personal blog just for that topic, but here’s a link and a brief story. I had heard of An Inconvenient Truth – a documentary starring Al Gore and his efforts to educate others about the problem of global warming. I recently purchased the DVD (another long story) and watched it. — I admit it, I was sold. I had always been a believer that global warming was real, and that it was a problem, but this simple movie helped to give me an understanding of how major an issue this really is. I was skeptical that it was merely a piece of propaganda from a tree-hugger, but all I can say is that it truly spoke to me as an individual.
Global warming is a serious problem with serious consequences.
Global warming is a problem we can all help solve.
All I’m saying is that I’ll be doing my part – and I hope you will at least consider doing your part too.
First Visit to Sydney, Australia
February 24, 2007We just got back from a week long visit to Sydney, Australia. We had a great time, and I look forward to my next visit. I told Alice that when we get to the point of being wealthy enough to have multiple homes around the world, I’d seriously consider having one in Sydney.
I’ll revise this post over the coming days… with more text and photos. Here are some of the highlights in short:
We flew a combination of American Airlines and Qantas Airlines. Our other option was to fly United all the way. We made the right decision I think.
We stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney.
We visited and toured the famous Sydney Opera House.
We did an exhilarating Bridge Climb to the top of Sydney Harbour Bridge.
We used the popular Australian cookie Tim Tam to do the Tim Tam Slam (it’s a cookie thing).
We visited the Blue Mountains and saw lots of Australian wildlife – including kangaroos (even a joey), koalas, cockatoos, kukaberras, crocodiles, dingos, emu, and casowary.
We found out what some Australians think about the late Steve Irwin (crikey this and crikey that…).
We did quite a bit of souvenier shopping and opal shopping. We visited several well known markets – The Rocks Market, Pitt Street mall, and Paddington Market.
We had lots of “interesting” Australian cooking.
We celebrated Chinese New Year by having dinner with friends in Sydney’s Chinatown.
We saw enough kangaroo scrotums to last a lifetime…
Awesome Mac Commercial Spoofs
February 24, 2007Was forwarded these by a friend… hilarious!!
“Performance” was definitely my favorite, followed closely by “Networking” !
Not all Appologies are Equal…
February 13, 2007I was watching the Today Show this morning and they were talking about how Presidential hopeful, Barak Obama, had “mispoken” and said something along the lines of, “3000 lives have been wasted in Iraq.” (Couldn’t find the statement video, but found this related article…). He was appologizing for saying that and said, what he meant to say was “3000 lives had been wasted because they haven’t been honored properly – by putting them in a situation where they can’t win.”
Two things…
(1) That “correction” isn’t any better, IMHO. You can’t win every battle, and you can’t win every war… but to say that they’re wasting their lives is rediculous – I won’t even comment further on this.
(2) I find it funny that a politician can “appologize” on something like this and everything will be forgiven, but a celebrity like Michael Richards makes a racial outburst during a recent club appearance and, although he appologized and is seeking professional help, he’ll never be forgiven. One could draw the lines between the Democrats and Republicans on this, but I’ll leave that discussion for another day…
My point is that we are willing to forgive some but not others. I fail to see why we make the distinction, when one is just as offensive as the other.
BTW, I’m not supportive of either set of these men’s actions — I just use them as an example to illustrate my point.
Remote PC management is coming
February 9, 2007A video of Intel’s vPro remote management features – demonstrated on HP hardware and with Altiris management tools.
Maybe someday I’ll be able to use this kind of technology to remotely control my home PC’s when I’m on the road for work… rather than paying GoToMyPC for a remote control functionality. Better yet, maybe someday I’ll be able to offer “family helpdesk” capabilities for my technology-challenged relatives. 
Another good one…
February 7, 2007“If ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry Christmas.” — even more funny when it come in business conversation from an exec.
Forever changed my view of Florida
February 7, 2007I heard a native Floridian spout this off today, so don’t get mad at me. But I thought it was so funny… “Florida is heaven’s waiting room.”
