All posts tagged “time”

Geocaching is the game the whole family can play

Posted 867 days ago ·  Tagged: , , , , , , , , · Comments Off

We had such a good time geocaching yesterday, that we decided to do some more today.   It was the whole crew today, all four of us.  The weather was COLD!  But it was sunny and that helped.  We snagged three caches today!

The first was one that L and I went for late yesterday but could not find because it was getting dark.  We went back today and BAM right away – less than 2 minutes!  Cath’s first trip and she snags it.

We decided to strike while the iron was hot and headed to our second cache.  The location name was a good hint so we zeroed in on the location and BAM! Eagle-eyed L got this one.  A cool cache with cool stuff for the kids.  It was setup by a family and had a very kid friendly stash.  We left some erasers and a dinosaur behind. One other person had been there today already.

The cold was starting to get to us so we headed off to Subway for a quick warm up and lunch fill up.

We literally pulled out the iPhone and found the closest one to the Subway.  We headed to a nearby nature trail and started off.  Really cool new park! Have to go back with the kids when the weather is nicer.  Headed down the trail and I again doubted the location that L picked.  DOH!  From now on, when he thinks there is a cache in a direction, we are going for it. Headed back and then turned around to go back to where L wanted to look the first time.  I spotted this one! Nice!

We had a great time and I know the kids were having a great time.  It was so cold and yet we snagged three.  My wife had a blast.  It was so great to get out of the house.

We are planning to hide our own cache.  We have a couple spots that we were looking that did not have them that we are considering.  Should be great.

Geocaching

Posted 868 days ago ·  Tagged: , , , , , · Comments Off

For a Christmas present to myself I downloaded the geocaching app for iPhone. $10 seemed like a fair price. I have tried going geocaching one time before and did not do so well. Figure I would give it another shot .

Not sure what geocaching is?  Check out the official site.  Tons of info, tons of users, tons of content.

We were total successes!! After picking a few local favorites I picked a geocache within an easy drive and brought along my 11 year old. He was interested but not excited.

Following the coordinates got us close but we were wandering back and forth looking. L thought of looking in one spot but i thought it was not the spot. The app let’s you check hints, logs, anything listed on that geocache’s page. We grabbed the hint . And guess what— L was right all along.

Score!

We scored our first geocache!! Total blast entering a log with the date 1/1/10 .

As far as excitement, well after we were done we grabbed a snack and instantly were off for another. It was getting dark and we were not as lucky this time . There are about 6 within 5 miles of home, so we already have some fun adventures planned. Have to do some group outings with my brother.

Geocaching is dirty work

Now with video:
Geocache in action

Book Review: Veronica by Nicholas Christopher

Posted 920 days ago ·  Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , · Comments Off

Veronica Veronica by Nicholas Christopher


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
4.5 Stars
My first venture into a book by Nicholas Christopher produced a very good, if slightly confusing read.

Leo meets Veronica on a snowy night in Manhattan where Waverly place intersects itself. She leads him through a labyrinth of places and events in an effort to save her illusionist father. Her father has been sucked back in time and has communicated about his return. Leo is the savior of the family.

Leo’s first person narration is very well used in this book. The confusion he feels is absolutely portrayed to the reader. And that confusion, especially in the first hundred pages or so, can be off putting. It is really worth riding it out though. The book blends literary realism and New York’s grittiness and romantic qualities very well. Christopher’s prose is very poetic and lyrical. The chapters are very short and this lends itself to the poetic feel. The story moves into a fantastical realm and mystery feel all at once. This blur of literary writing and fantasy really worked for me. I like the poetic feel, I liked the characters, I even really liked the confusion that was in the early part of the book.

I found this book sexy and romantic. I think the story of Leo and Veronica is unusual and relatable all at once. The circumstances surrounding them and their story are impossible yet I really did feel a connection.

The book does get surreal from time to time. That is never off putting for me, but that may really push some away. It is moments like that I find if an author is really skillful; can they give us weird and yet keep us magnetically attached to the characters and story. Nicholas Christopher has done that for me.

Nicholas Christopher

Nicholas Christopher

I mean this when I say this, Nicolas Christopher has impressed me. A Trip to the Stars is on my very soon to read list as a result. It is considered his best. I am looking forward to reading more of his work.

View all my reviews >>

Shiny new Apples

Posted 955 days ago ·  Tagged: , , , , , , , , , · 1 Comment

I have been pretty lucky over the last month. I have gotten two new toys, a new Macbook Pro and a new iPhone 3GS. I even got someone else to pay for them.

Photo of MacBook Pro - Taken with iPhone

Photo of MacBook Pro - Taken with iPhone

I managed – with my coworkers – to get the budget to get new hardware at work. That allowed me to get a shiny new MacBook Pro. It is one of the new models with the solid aluminum chassis and sealed battery. For a serious road warrior that maybe an issue, but I have had zero battery issues and the battery life has been great. I typically get 5-6 hours of use. That includes continued wireless internet use and video compression from time to time. Along side of the other things that I am doing on the machine at the time. Be it listening to music, coding, running virtual machines, etc.

It is also running Mac OS X 10.6.1 and for the most part was a completely seamless move from my old Mac. Since Macs allow you to move your existing set up from one to another, it could not have been easier. The newest setup let me restore from a prior Time Machine backup. It was odd. It was like a brand new yet oddly the same machine.

Everything is faster. The start up and shut down/sleep times especially. I have had a couple apps that did not work at first but since then have released updates and work with no issues.

We are also using Exchange in Apple mail. The setup could not have been easier (easier than I remember Outlook ever being). With the exception of some calendar things (can’t seem to see private events) it has been a seamless integration with the large MS Exchange beast.

Photo on 2009-10-06 at 14.14

Photo of iPhone - Taken with MacBookPro

I have also gotten a new iPhone. Since many of the students and faculty where I work are now using mobile devices extensively (some exclusively!) we made (and won) the argument that we needed access to these devices so we could support and develop a mobile version of the college website. After an initial test (and an event that confirmed the usefulness) we were green-lighted.

I also got an iPhone for Catherine so I believe with all of the above I can say safely that I helped pay for Steve Jobs’s liver transplant.

Morning Person?

Posted 964 days ago ·  Tagged: , , , , , , , · Comments Off

Coffee Art by Rudat - More information at deviantart.com
Ever since I finished the Power of Less, I have been trying to implement some of the items from the book. Some of the are harder, like the idea of less material items (and I mean everything.. BUT I so love my books). Some of them are harder because they imply you are in charge of 100% of your daily functions at the office or workplace and can dictate or delegate items. Not me. I am not that person. But some of them are not hung up in others. The one item that I really found a place that resonated with me was the habit forming section.
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