Well, the Ravens lost to the Patriots on Saturday afternoon, which is kind of a bummer. I think I’m more surprised they made it this far and played as well as they did based on their regular season performance, but it was a great game and they didn’t fold up and blow away. Events kept me from the rest of the divisional playoff games, but I read the highlights from the Packers/Cowboys game and wish I’d seen it.
We took in the game in our neighbors’ basement media room with the kids being watched by a babysitter upstairs. That was a very comfortable arrangement. The girl who watched them is the daughter of a woman who will be giving Finn piano lessons shortly. We know her from the church across the street; she was one of Finn’s counselors during summer camp a couple of years ago. Our hope is that Finn finds the piano interesting and takes to the lessons. This is a child who is always humming bits of music to herself, something I think she gets from her old man (the earworm bug). She can listen to the score of a movie playing over the end credits and identify its sections by scene (“this is the part where Toothless meets Hiccup”) so her musical retention and comprehension is as strong as her reading comprehension.
So, remember when my sister contacted me about missingmoney.com? I sent my information in a few weeks before Thanksgiving and everything went silent for a while. Last week I got a check from Maryland with no explanation, no note, or idea of what happened. But hey, free money!
I’ve had about two weeks with a Joby Slingstrap Pro and I have to say I like it very much. I’ve used it with both my Nikons and the Canons at work, and I carried it to the car show on Sunday where I shot 220 pictures inside and out. It’s extremely handy for on the go shots–I used it at Finn’s soccer game on Saturday and found that I could be talking to someone, see something interesting, and have it up and ready to shoot in seconds. It’s got a locking clip right under the lower buckle to keep the camera tight under the shoulder which is great for commuting. The only issue I’ve had is when I take it off, like I was doing at the car show to shoot low from the ground, and then try to figure out how to put it back on. I have to hold it out in front of me and tell myself, “the loop goes in the front.”
Meanwhile, I used a Canon 5D mkII over the weekend exclusively and while its focus issues haven’t gotten any better, I think I’ve learned how to work with it in shooting situations to get what I want more consistently. The menu system still confounds me, as it does on the 7D, but I can get around a lot easier now that I’m used to the layout. It’s hard to say what I enjoy so much about the results I’m getting, but I suspect it’s the lenses.
Renie sent me a link to missingmoney.com, a link that’s been making the rounds of social media lately, and it turns out they have a record of me from back in my immediate post-college days. After hesitating for a few minutes, and looking over the disclaimers, I printed out the requisite forms and made ready to send my information in. There’s no telling how much or what the money might be from; all I can do is send the information in and hope for the power of compound interest.
Here’s an interesting opinion: Don’t go to art school.
the cost of a four year education at RISD is $245,816. As way of comparison, the cost of a diploma from Harvard Law School is a mere $236,100.
Damn. Thanks, Mom and Dad.
A few days ago, I was wondering why everybody talks about how healthcare costs are rising, but nobody will actually explain why. Here’s someone giving that explanation a shot: The True Cost of Healthcare.
Bank of America has decided they aren’t extorting enough money from me, even though I do the majority of my banking though them. They’re now going to penalize their customers for buying things with debt cards—$5/mo. to be exact. I’ll probably keep some money in a savings account with them, but I’m looking into moving my money to a friendlier institution. USAA is looking better and better, but there’s more research to be done.
Five years ago, I could use my shitty Motorola 551 to call my parents from pretty much anyplace around Baltimore. When I got my iPhone, coverage was the same. As the years have gone by, my calls have been dropped more and more. It’s to the point now where I can’t call my parents on my ride home from work; staying connected in downtown Baltimore, along I-95, or driving north up I-695 is impossible.
When Apple releases the new phone next week, I’m going to be standing on line. And I’m leaving AT&T.
I’ve been doing some preliminary research into kegging my beer now that I have a keg and a workable refrigerator in the basement. Pricing for the equipment I need is pretty standard across the two vendors I’ve researched with, and goes something like this:
- A refrigerator thermostat: $80
This converts any chest freezer into a fridge at a constant temperature. - A Co2 system for a soda keg: $200
I’d like to have a real sidemount tap so that I can pour from the front of the fridge instead of opening it each time. - A keg cleaning kit: $50
I suppose I’ll need something like this if I’m going to get serious.
I got some good ideas from Mr. Scout’s setup, as well. In order to fit standard soda kegs, most chest freezers need a height extension, which is usually just a 2×4″ frame around the top of the freezer. This is how mine came to me. Mr. Scout used vinyl decking 2×4″ on his, and insulated it with pink foam around the inside, which is what I’m going to do with mine (as well as moving the tap to the front).
One thing is for sure: I’m excited to sample the Hefeweizen this weekend; it’s had two weeks to finish in the bottles and hopefully it’s ready for consumption.
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Meanwhile, the list of non-brewing things I’d like to purchase gets longer while the amount of ready cash remains small. In loose order, they are:
- New sunglasses—I will be stapling them to my forehead.
- Roof rack for the CR-V—we need this before leaving on summer vacation.
- A new watch—hopefully I won’t crack the crystal in two weeks’ time.
- A set of Scout manuals—they finally rescanned the originals, so they’re worth the money. And long overdue.
I don’t know much about Ayn Rand, other than the standard Cliff’s Notes summaries of her books, and her name has been coming up repeatedly in the news, tied to (mostly) Republican politicians on budget-cutting stampedes. It’s interesting, then, to learn about her views of common people, the super-wealthy, and her own dark history. Slate’s review of two recent biographies goes into a little more detail and puts the recent upswing in Rand’s popularity into context.
I got lousy sleep last night, which means I’m not only tired but grouchy too.
The MDF experiment went well last night; one coat of primer raised the fiber on the routed edges of the boards, but after it dried I hit it with a block sander and it smoothed out immediately. While I was in there, I put some 2″ nails in the molding, caulked the edges, and painted both french doors with high-gloss white so that we can finally pull the plastic off the panes and let some light into the living room.
Attempts to sell my old MacBook Pro on Craigslist have been met with nothing but bullshit PayPal scam attempts and one text spam; I’m going to take it off the table and reconsider what role it might play at our house. I don’t know how else to sell it other than eBay, and I don’t have any selling history there.
Hey, I finally got off my ass and donated to Habitat For Humanity’s Japanese earthquake response fund. NPR.org has a great list of charities, if you prefer one organization over another. It really looks like they can use every bit of help we can give, so I urge you to consider giving whatever you can afford.
File this under the 2011 to-do list: How to Create (and Stick to) a Realistic Budget with Mint.