401k 2005 Results

Personal Rate of Return for the year: 10.7%

Not too bad all in all relative to key market indices.

Uncle Bob has fun with Yuki

During Christmas, Uncle Bob had fun playing with Yuki. Is it safe to say that Yuki is a smiling happy hound?

Emerald Bowl

was embarassing for Georgia Tech and also succeeded in making Utah look like the 2nd coming of Texas Tech. The bowl was fun but definitely kind of a low budget affair. Check out the cups...



Notice they didn't print new cups for the game but just chose to reuse the Navy - New Mexico cheap ass cups from last year...

They obviously chose to spend their budget on the half-time event of which I captured a nice snap. You may need to click on the photo to really appreciate the quality of the show.


It was put on by a corporation called Bowl Games of America which basically gets kids to pay to come put on a half-time show at bowl games. No - I'm not kidding.

Cockpit

Nope, it's not a view from the captain's chair of the space shuttle. It's the view from the driver's seat of the new Civic with TomTom GPS nav featuring my new super velcro mount. And nope, I wasn't going 107 MPH. Sometimes I like to go metric and roll KPH!

Huskers Roll

The Huskers take the Alamo Bowl just squeaking by Stef's highly favored Michigan Wolverines! It's a great win for the Huskers with a crazy finish. The best news...I bet $10 on the Huskers to win! I'm looking at a nice $10 profit!!!

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE HAMILTONS BABY!

Yo reach in my pocket, pull out some dough.
The girl acted like she'd never seen a ten before.
It's all about the Hamiltons baby.
Throw the snacks in the bag and I'm Ghost like Swayze.

Roll up to the theater. Ticket buying what we're handling.
You can call us Aaron Burr from the way we're dropping Hamiltons.

Jayhawks Roll

The football Jayhawks beat the tar out of Houston in the Fort Worth Bowl. Is that one of the BCS games? I can't remember. Anyway, the shirt is now available. Here's what she looks like:

Walk The Line

Rick, Dermot and I went to see the Johnny Cash movie "Walk the Line" yesterday. Enjoyable movie. Afterwards we went to Best Buy and snapped up some Johnny Cash Albums. Already owning a compilation and his last album (which I picked up when Bill bought the 50 Cent album in North Carolina) I snapped up "Johnny Cash at San Quentin" recorded in 1969. It's good. Lots of pictures coming from the trip...

Christmas Day

We had fun opening presents and Yuki chewed some paper.

Made it to Michigan

It's pretty cold. Mid-30s with lots of snow on the ground. It's supposed to begin snowing tomorrow and snow on Christmas as well. Will see if we can post photos later.

It was fun going through Atlanta - snapped up the Journal-Constitution and reading about GT. More later...

Made it to Arkansas

It took awhile but Yuki and I made to AR tonight from NE. I'll post a few pics from the journey later. You'll have to wait for fancy photo of "The Ravenden Raven" plus others!
More later!

iTunes Top Songs Played in 2005

These are the Top 20 songs played on our computer or iPods in 2005 as tracked by the Playcount feature:

Song Title / Artist / Plays
Aftermath / R.E.M. / 25
Breathe / Erasure / 17
Over My Head (Cable Cars) / The Fray / 16
Precious / Depeche Mode / 15
Starry Eyed Surprise / Paul Oakenfold / 15
Bad Day / R.E.M. / 14
Don't Say You Love Me / Erasure / 13
Chains of Love / Erasure / 13
Leaving New York / R.E.M. / 13
The Outsiders / R.E.M. / 13
My Favourite Game / The Cardigans / 12
World's on Fire / Erasure / 12
Krafty / New Order / 12
The Boy in the Well / R.E.M. / 12
Out is Through / Alanis Morissette / 11
Hey Man *Now Your Really Living) / The Eels / 10

Bowl Game Ranking

28) New Orleans (Dec. 20): Arkansas State (6-5) vs. Southern Miss (6-5). Due to the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina, this year's game had to be moved to Lafayette, La. It's the best thing to happen to the city of New Orleans in months.

There are 28 bowls in total.

ASU Bowl Details

It's official - ASU's opponent at the 2005 New Orleans Bowl on Dec. 20 will be the Golden Eagles of Southern Mississippi.

You won't want to miss this game! Just click for the details on the New Orleans Bowl Schedule of Events, Travel Opportunities and Watch Parties.

If you can't make it to Lafayette, why not organize a watch party in your area - it's easy and a great way to have fun watching the game with other ASU fans. For information on how you can be part of the excitement by organizing a watch party, e-mail Molly Phillips at mphillip@astate.edu

Members of the ASU Alumni Association received the details for the New Orleans Bowl last week and are already making plans! To get up-to-the minute information on this and other exciting ASU events all year long, join the ASU Alumni Association now.

Please forward this message to your friends who are fellow ASU alumni and help spread the word. See you at the game! Go Tribe!

Package Sent To AR

The box was sent to Arkansas today via UPS. It will arrive at Dad's address on Thursday afternoon and should be opened promptly. Don't wait until Christmas. There are three bags of stuffers that should not be opened unless someone not named on the bag is going to load the stuff into a stocking. Bill will need to carry some stuff over to Mom's place. Tracking number can be determined as follows. Subtract 2.25 from the square of 9697.5 - Then go to the UPS website and click on the Track by Reference Number piece and enter the result in.

Arkansas Update

2005 Honda VTX 1300

Walnut instrument panel shows time and temperature

Another view. The bags are from Yahama.

The Parthenon in a stunning night view.

Warning: these pictures are very high resolution
and may damage your monitor if you zoom in too closely.

Arkansas Update

Shelby Tangeman and Gretchen Golden with the jelly-bean moose.

My nephew Richard Tangeman with Janice Dayton.
Guests at party celebrating Gretchen Golden's doctoral commencement.
Richard's daughter Shelby runs the trains.
Gretchen, Will Hansard, and the host at the party.
Will and Gretchen.
The Smiths and Ed hammerand party down.

King Kong

I saw King Kong tonight. It's good. Great special effects. You feel sad when Kong gets it in the end. Runs a little long perhaps...3 hours. Worth checking out. Tomorrow is my office xmas party. Yipper skipper.

ASU Bowl Bound Graphic

Pretty weak all in all eh?

Shhhh

The blog is pretty quiet lately. Dad must have forgotten how to log on again!

I saw a recent ASU basketball score. They beat a team I had never heard of...ever.


Arkansas St. 91, Freed-Hardeman 77

Anyone else heard of Freed-Hardeman?

Back in the USA

The trip home was largely uneventful and somewhat shorter thanks to the nice tailwinds across the Pacific. Here are a few notes from the return flight:

Highest Altitude Recorded: 11277m or 37K feet
Coldest Temperature Recorded: -62 degrees Celsius
Top Speed Recorded: 1031km/hour or ~640 miles/hour

Some of the cities will flew close to include Kuantan, Toaman, Kota Kinabulu, Manila, Kaohsing, Okinawa and Nagoya.

The Singapore airport is a nice airport to have a few extra hours in as there is free internet (though people kind of hog the stations) and very nice shopping.



Good to be back home though where the primary goal shifts to completing Christmas shopping. :)

New Projector

Here's my new projector in action. Yuki shown for scale. This is about 6 feet from the wall and the biggest it gets from that distance. Obviously if you back it up the size increases rapidly to be as big as the wall!

It's a good thing Dave Thomas is dead

I just ate at Wendy's. I've been eating their small chili a lot lately, it's only $1.19 and tasty (I've gotten over the fact that there was a mouse head discoverd in Wendy's chili in 1996).
It was about 4:00PM so the place was dead. In fact, I was the only customer in the store. I was sitting in the dining room eating my chili as two employees were wiping tables. I overheard a conversation between the two. One asked the other if "cleaning the dining room" meant picking up garbage off the floor or whether it just meant wiping off the tables. The other responded that she had always thought it just meant wiping the tables. The floor was covered with straw wrappers, crumbs, and drink lids. They just left them. Nutty!

Chronicles of Narnia movie review

I saw Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I loved the books as a kid and read them several times. The movie was visually awesome, but I found something missing. It moved through all the plot points, but never really explained anything and I never really understood the characters motivations very well.

The Miami Herald gets it right when they say:
"There's little warmth or depth to the characters who, for the most part, trudge through the film with little wonder at the magical journey they're making."

Worth checking out for the amazing scenery and special effects (mostly the animals). Plus, Aslan the Lion is nifty. I give it so-so marks.

Busy Day in Malaysia

Today was quite busy. We started by heading across to the mainland to visit one of our subcontractors. The only way across, aside from a boat, is the famed Penang Bridge. It is 13.5Km long and among the longest bridges in the world.



We then came back to Penang for lunch in one of the Intel cafes. It was cheap but not that great in my opinion. My meal was loaded down with bones of sorts. Judging by the way most folks cleaned their plates my opinion is likely in the minority. We then took a fairly extensive tour of one of Intel's assembly-test operations which was quite interesting.

The day concluded with one of our co-workers dropping us off in Georgetown - the Capital of Penang where we walked, shopped and enjoyed a Starbuck's Frap - at a location Winter has likely not been to:

Prangin Mall
No 33-G-1A,
Prangin Mall - Komtar,
Jalan Dr. Lim Chwee Leong,
10100 Pulau Piang

Anyway - we concluded with a nice boneless meal at McDonalds :) The double cheeseburger was tasty.

Malaysia!

I've finally made it to my hotel in Malaysia. The flight from Singapore was pretty short - just over an hour I think. The hotel I'm at is called the Shangri-La and it is one the North side of the island on the beach. The cab ride from the airport took about an hour.



Penang itself is a very small island off the Northeast portion of the mainland. Back to the hotel - it is pretty much a resort which is cool. The downfall is that it is on the other side of the island from Intel so we'll have about a hour cab ride each way. Here's a snap of the Shangri-La.

18 Hours Later...Singapore!

After an 18 hour flight that took me North to Alaska and then back down through Russia and China I'm now milling around in the Singapore airport waiting for my flight to Penang, Malaysia...Lots of shops in the airport. Next update in a day or two when I'm not stooped over a free internet station that is hard to use.

Crazy car swap

Well, the Mini is no more. I found out that it may have been wrecked before but got everything fixed in Denver. Then a month ago I was experiencing overheating and there was a belt rubbing against the radiator hose causing the leak. Got her fixed. Then last week, it was raining and it was streaming in like buckets on my head!!!! I'd had enough. I've learned my lesson about buying used from someone you don't know. For my Mini and a paltry $4000 I moved to MotorTrend's 2006 car of the year! A Honda Civic Coupe EX. It's fantastic and no leaks!!! Seriously this car is way cool. I'm going to love it until next month when I get another new car!!! HA HA HA AH AH AH A HA HA HAH AHA HA HA.

Asia Bound

I'm off to my first trip to Asia tomorrow. I leave on Friday and arrive on Sunday and will essentially completely miss Saturday. There is a 16 hour difference in time... Will post updates along the way as allowable.

Christmas and Candy

Took the dogs for a walk (the medium one) and we passed 17 houses with Christmas lights on the last day of November. Will do the walk in a few weeks and see what the count is.

We're starting to see a lot more of the "special edition" candy out in CA. I saw for the first time a white chocolate Take 5 bar:



as well as an Orange Kit Kat and a Coffee Kit Kat. Tried the Take 5 and it was tasty.

BLIZZARD PART III

The courthouse is closed until at least noon tomorrow. Maybe all day. Meanwhile the winds continue to whip and the snow continues to drift and swirl!

BLIZZARD PART II : NO WORK!!!

I got the call at about 7:20AM. Courthouse is closed! The storm is nasty mainly because of the high winds. I don't even want to open the door to let Yuki out! Here are a couple of pics out the window.

BLIZZARD!!!

It ain't Summer no more in Nebraska. The wind is howling at up to 50 miles an hour. The snow is dumping. Chance of snow: 100%. We're expecting up to 8 inches and we're under a blizzard warning until 6PM Monday. Yuki and I are hunkered down. Driving is considered treacherous. My great hope is that work will be cancelled tomorrow!

Candy Review

I was at Walmart and there are 2 brand new candy bars featured! Reese's Peanut Butter Cups with Caramel, and Hershey's Kissables, a candy coated mini kiss. I tried the Reese's Caramel first. It was good, but overly sweet. For me, the caramel just got in the way of the peanut butter flavor. Thumbs down. The Hershey's Kissables were decent. Think M&M with a slightly different chocolate flavor and a slightly thicker candy shell. Photo by quarter shows the size. Worth a try but it won't replace the M&M. One thumb up, one thumb down.

Here's the projector I just ordered

REVIEW FROM PC WORLD MAGAZINE

Epson has upped the ante for DVD-equipped projectors with its MovieMate 25. The product features excellent image quality, tons of great extras, and an astonishingly low $1199 price tag. The only negative is its substantial 13.4-by-12.2-by-7.1-inch size--bulky for a unit that's designed to sit on a living-room table.

Other than in size, the MovieMate 25 is superior in every way to rival Optoma's impressive MovieTime DV10. The extras start with an 80-inch, floor-standing, pull-up, 16:9 wide screen. A 40-watt subwoofer works with the projector's integrated speakers to produce deep, natural sound.
Epson has also added lens shifting, an attribute normally found on high-end projectors. This feature enables you to raise an image, lower it, or move it sideways without resorting to the typical keystone controls (used to square up an image when the projector is tilted up or down).

The projector's native resolution is 480p (854 by 480), ideal for playing DVDs. The product is rated at 1200 ANSI lumens--plenty of brightness for presentations in smaller rooms or for movie viewing at home. I customized settings effortlessly using an easy-to-navigate menu system, though I never managed to attain quite enough detail in black areas. Still, the unit's smooth, brilliant color impressed me.

Rated at 26 decibels, the projector performed very quietly during my tests. In fact, except with regard to its lack of compactness--an admittedly important consideration for a tabletop projector--the MovieMate 25 was a joy to use, and ranks at the top of its class.

Georgia Tech Win

Tech may have lost to Georgia, but the quality of last week's win can't be denied. I took these pics of my tv as the game wound down.

Fiction entry wins first place!

The sentence first published here (see September archives)has
been published again in the Memphis Mensa Newsletter as the
first-place winner in the Memphis Mensa Bad Fiction Contest.

(here's the sentence)

It is January 8, just another bleak winter's day for most people, but for me the day that carries the heavy double shoulder-burden of Elvis' birth in 1935 and Dave Thomas' death sixty-seven years later; my battered Buick station wagon roars through the morning mist out of Bear Bryant's childhood homeland, crossing the black father-of-waters into the looming triangular grip of a strange Egyptian icon crawling up into the gray Tennesse sky like the dark fist in the opening scene of some grotesque Nazi propaganda movie.

Arkansas State goes Bowling!!!!!

Arkansas State - Sun Belt Champion is going to the New Orleans Bowl after their victory vs. North Texas and the Louisian Monroe loss. Who would have thought!. Congrats to ASU, Kansas, Nebraska and GT...All to bowls.

Black Friday

It really wasn't that bad out in CA. I went to Wal-Mart early in the morning. I didn't quite have my nose pressed against the glass at 5am but was there around 8 perhaps. A good portion of the advertised super sale items were still around including a mountain of Garth Brooks box set CDs. Those things didn't seem to move at all. I snapped up a few items including a $5.50 copy of the DVD "Friday Night Lights". We watched it tonight and it was decent. Kind of a weak version of Varsity Blues that was just as cliche'. You could pretty much call every play shown. The star will get hurt here...there will be an interception there...

Speaking of football - How about the Huskers! They finally seemed to have had a game where things clicked.

Steam Engine Blues

Note to the reader: Steam locomotives were often referred to by their
wheel configuration. Thus an engine with 2 guide wheels, 8 drive wheels,
and 4 wheels in the rear for weight support, would be called a 2-8-4.
Here's a quiz: What is the wheel configuration of the starring locomotive
in the old Burt Lancaster flick 'The Train'?

Steam Engine Blues

I forget where it was I first saw you,
It was either New Hampshire or Maine.
But I’ll never forget what you looked like
as you stepped off that big southbound train.

We only got to talk for a minute,
I was married back then, so were you.
But you smiled as you rolled by in the club car,
Bein’ pulled by that old 2-6-2.

Now I’m settin’ down here with the poor folks;
They say I’m lazy, and I drink too much booze.
But it’s unfair to rush me to judgment,
‘cause I’m a victim of the steam engine blues.

I had my next gig down in Memphis,
I had a guitar, and I drove them old Fords.
But they fired me; they thought I was a picker,
And they found out I could barely play chords.

So I moseyed on down to the rail yards,
I had thirty-five bucks, and no more.
I got lucky and hopped into a boxcar.
It was hooked up to a big 4-8-4.

Now I’m settin’ down here in the train yard
With the friends and companions I choose.
You can call me a homeless old wino,
But I’m a victim of the steam engine blues.

Well it wasn’t too bad in that freight car;
we had a fire on the floor, and some wine.
There was an old black man there from New Orleans,
And he said, “Lordy, but ain’t this place fine!”

We got thrown off that boxcar in Dallas,
I was cold, and had no place to go.
Imagine my surprise when I saw you,
You were standin’ by a black 2-8-0.

Now I’m settin’ down here in the train yard
With the friends and companions I choose.
You can call me a homeless old wino,
But I’m a victim of the steam engine blues.

Well I left out of Texas for Phoenix,
And I hoboed in the west for a year.
I tried to get better at the guitar,
While subsisting on hot dogs and beer.

The last time we met was Wyoming,
They were clampin’ down your coffin door.
They took a forklift and set it on a flatcar,
And pulled it off with a 4-6-6-4.

Now I’m settin’ down here with the poor folks;
They say I’m lazy, and I drink too much booze.
But it’s unfair to rush me to judgment,
‘cause I’m a victim of the steam engine blues.
Just a victim of the steam engine blues.

Arkansas Lives!

This is in the nature of a test, since I have had computer
problems of late. I'm still not posting pictures but
perhaps soon. I entertained Carol and her mother at Thanksgiving
dinner today, cooking a complete meal with both smash taters and
sweet taters. No marshmallows on the latter. Happy Thanksgiving
to all our thousands of readers. Go Huskers and Go Jackets!

Buffalo Head In Use

in Nebraska to help motivate the huskers...check it out. http://www.ketv.com/bigredzone/5389800/detail.html

As for bowl projections every projection has Georgia Tech in a different bowl so it is too early to say at this point. Georgia Tech vs. Nebraska is intriguing in the Champs Sports Bowl as is Georgia Tech vs. South Carolina in the Peach... we'll see.

Unusual Law Makes Coroners of Attorneys

Unusual law makes coroners of attorneys

BY NATE JENKINS / Lincoln Journal Star
Saturday, November 19, 2005

Deb Gilg wasn’t prepared for this.

She’d gone to law school, earned a degree, and honed her skills as a practicing attorney. The qualifications seemed sufficient for a job she was eyeing in the mid 1980’s – Keith County attorney.

Voters agreed, electing her in 1986.

Soon after, Gilg got wind of a job description that caused her to question whether she was indeed qualified for the position.

County coroner?

“It was very surprising,” said Gilg, who was Keith County attorney until 2002 and now juggles a private practice with her duties as deputy county attorney in Saunders County. “I felt I had a responsibility to the people I served to do it.”

Because of an unusual state law exercised only in Nebraska, Gilg became county coroner when she was elected county attorney – even though she had no training in the sensitive, scientific field of death investigations.

Gilg responded to her deficiency by earning certification as a forensic examiner, even though such training is not required under state law. At the time, she was believed to be the only county coroner in the state with certification as an examiner.

Nebraska’s reliance on elected county coroners instead of state medical examiners’ offices staffed with trained scientists puts it in the national minority. And the fact the state doesn’t require its coroners to have any forensics training after being elected makes it one of a tiny number of states that national experts describe as scientifically negligent.

Only four other states that have elected coroners – South Dakota, Colorado, Idaho and Indiana — do not require forensics training.

The lack of training shouldn’t be a concern, explained the executive director of the Nebraska Association of County Attorneys.

“When questions arise, I think most of them (county attorneys) are pretty good about sending them in for autopsies,” said DeMaris Johnson, the director.

“We’re talking about elected county officials here – they live in the community. They want to make sure things are done right.”

That mentality strikes Peter DeForest and other experts as naive. It is also at odds, said DeForest, with the public’s appreciation for the mental and scientific prowess necessary in death investigations. That perception, he said, has been cultivated by fictional narratives ranging from Sherlock Holmes to the popular television show CSI.

DeForest, a professor of criminalistics at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, lectures on the need for government jurisdictions to have a uniform, scientific approach to death investigations that places scientists at the front end of investigations to both determine whether a crime was committed and then ensure important evidence is not contaminated.

“Having someone with a law background,” DeForest said of the Nebraska coroner system, “certainly isn’t the ideal thing.”

A primary duty of coroners in Nebraska is deciding whether the circumstances of deaths warrant autopsies. Was the death a suicide or homicide?

“It’s usually obvious,” said Lancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey, who has no medical training. “But there are some times when I worry whether a suicide is actually a homicide.”

In those cases, Lacey said, he orders autopsies to be safe. Requiring training for newly elected county attorneys/coroners, he said, “wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

Lancaster County Public Defender Dennis Keefe said everybody in the system, including Gary Lacey, probably would prefer a professional medical examiner’s system. But that would raise costs, he said.

Still, he said, change is overdue.

“I think it’s an antiquated system that does not provide law enforcement or the public with the best information possible.”

Gauging the overall cost of Nebraska’s system is difficult because each county pays its own bills. Autopsies ordered by Lacey are done by Dr. Matthias Okoye. Earlier this year, the Lancaster County Board of Commissioners increased his contract for 2005 from $170,000 to $270,000.

In Oklahoma, a state with roughly twice the population of Nebraska and one with a state medical examiner system, the annual cost is about $5 million, according to that state’s chief medical investigator.

“That’s not much,” for a system that helps ensure death investigations are handled properly, said the investigator, Kevin Rowland. A primary attribute of the Oklahoma system, he said, is its independence from law enforcement and other arms of government that participate in the judicial process.

“That way there’s no conflict of interest,” he said.

Two central offices in the state – one in Tulsa, the other in Oklahoma City — decide whether to do autopsies based on input from licensed physicians that serve as county medical examiners. Fewer doctors have been willing to take on that low-paying, part-time job, so the state is changing course. It’s replacing county examiners with forensics-trained investigators responsible for multi-county regions. To keep costs down, the investigators will use their homes as offices, and Rowland predicts fewer autopsies may be ordered, cutting costs more.

Like untrained county attorneys in Nebraska, he said, physicians who act as medical examiners in Oklahoma are cautious because they lack expertise, leading to autopsies that might not be necessary.

The last time a Nebraska lawmaker proposed a state medical examiner’s system was in 1999, when Sen. Kermit Brashear of Omaha introduced legislation. He said he does not plan on introducing similar legislation again.

Many counties in rural reaches of Nebraska don’t have the luxury of a nearby forensic pathologist. In Keith County, for instance, Gilg recalls having to send bodies 130 miles northwest to Scottsbluff to have autopsies done. The practice is not uncommon. Many western Nebraska counties are forced to send bodies to either Scottsbluff or North Platte.

That can pose a “huge problem” in death investigations, said Gilg, because warm air causes bodies to decompose quicker. In essence, the primary piece of evidence in a homicide case, for example, can be severely compromised.

Because the county lacked vehicles that could keep bodies cold while in transport, officials improvised, Gilg said.

Bodies were sent to Scottsbluff packed in ice in the back of a hearse. Keeping them cold before they were packed was also a problem.

Also at risk for being compromised under Nebraska’s system and others that use elected county coroners, said a former supervisory scientist with the FBI Laboratory in Washington, D.C., is the integrity of investigations because science takes a backseat to elected officeholders.

“With the coroner system, it’s rooted in politics, and it’s hard to extract that,” said Max Houck, now director of the Forensic Science Initiative at West Virginia University.

Elected officials helping oversee lean county budgets, for example, could be prone to considering cost when deciding whether expensive autopsies should be done.

Long transports of bodies such as the trip required from Keith County to Scottsbluff can add $400 to $500 to the cost of each autopsy, pushing the total amount to roughly $2,000. By comparison, Okoye’s contract stipulates that should he do more than 135 autopsies, each one after will cost $1,700.

Gilg said she never was involved in a case where an autopsy was not done even though the evidence warranted one.

Asked if cost was ever a factor in decisions about whether autopsies were conducted, she paused for several seconds before responding.

“It could be a factor,” she said.

Candy Review

I was intrigued by the new Hershey's Kisses Filled with Peanut Butter. I bought a bag. They're good. The peanut butter filling is a little on the salty side when compared to the filling in a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup which is sweeter. They're rather addicting. I ate some and will take the rest to work to avoid eating the whole bag myself.

Big Week-end

First things first. GT bounced back from a stinging loss to Virginia last week to beat #3 Miami in the Orange Bowl stadium in Miami. One of their best victories ever though still not as exciting as their victory at #1 Virginia back in the 1990 season. The win has upgraded their bowl prospects however with several sites now talking Peach Bowl.

I happened to be in Tahoe this week-end and placed a bet on the Jackets (+18 points) to win. I also picked Auburn (-7 points) so scored a double victory. Here are my tickets.



Tahoe was lots of fun. Relaxation was the focus and we watched lots of football, played games (Catchphrase and Spades were the most popular) and ate lots of food. Here's a snap of Steph and I.



Chatted with Dad and he's still struggling to use one of his computers at home so we really haven't seen much activity from him on the blog. The working computer is upstairs...but that one isn't conducive to blogging for some reason...?

Anyway - we are anticipating the short week here in CA and have already bought ingredients for a pecan pie.

Mom visits Australia

She met this Koala bear! No word on any dingo sightings.

Gift of Gap

An intern in our office works at the Gap. She gave me a Gap friends/family card. With it I can get 30% off any purchases between December 1st through 4th. If any of you guys want some Gap discounts (it works on Gap.com) let me know and we can hook it up.

Champs Sports Bowl Prediction

on CBS Sportline is Georgia Tech vs. Nebraska.

That would be a fun one. Standard Sunday out in CA. Watched some football. The poor Raiders were destroyed by Denver. Raked leaves, washed car, shopped for groceries. Nothing too exciting.

Light Saber

Well it happened. I wanted the blue but it was unavailable so I got the Vader red. Yesterday in Best Buy I see they have the Anakin blue in stock! Next up....Luke Skywalker green!!!!

Anna Nalick and Rob Thomas

We went to see Anna Nalick and Rob Thomas. You've probably heard of one song by Anna Nalick - Breathe (2am). She was good. Big voice. Melodies a little weak but some good stuff in there. Rob Thomas was pretty good too. The commonly used description of a poor man's Rick Springfield is somewhat accurate but the show was good. It was in Sacramento's Memorial Auditoriom which was a great place for a show - all seats are close.

Cheap Hog Tees

Need or want a hog shirt. Ok - so it is either a game day shirt for Vandy or Missouri State but still a decent looking hog shirt.

http://www.hogheavenonline.com/main_objgroup.cfm?nCategoryID=26&nObjGroupID=464&sAuxTitle=T%2DShirts

Jayhawks Blast Huskers!

The Jayhawks knocked off Nebraska for the first time since 1968! I was there to celebrate! More pictures can be seen by clicking the link to "Bill's Homepage" in the column to the right.

not interested in Free Land? How about Freelines

A praline recipe developed by a longtime prisoner in LA. Looks good.

King's Freelines
1/4 pound butter
5 pounds sugar
1/2 gallon or 3 cans evaporated milk
1 gallon whole milk
1 1/2 ounce vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 pounds pecans

In a huge pot put all ingredients except pecans. Heat on a high fire, stirring continually so the mixture doesn't boil over. Stir until the mixture is a caramel.

Pour onto large greased sheet pan, then add pecans. Allow to cool a bit, until you can handle it.

Using a spoon, whip the mixture. "Talk to it, show love to it," says Wilkerson.

Either leave completed mixture in sheet pan to cool entirely, or before it's fully whipped, use a spoon to remove the mixture into smaller rounds, placing them on a second sheet covered in wax paper.

Wilkerson warns that "candy has a mind of its own" and varying temperature and humidity can effect the result. Makes 25 3 1/2-ounce pieces.

Free Land in KS

Dad would likely have the most interest in this but numerous rural towns in Kansas are now offering free land if you'll move there and build a house or open a business.

Summary is here: http://www.kansasfreeland.com/

Washington, KS appears to be one of the more prominent locations with reasonable access to Topeka and Lincoln. Only 90 miles to Lincoln! 67 miles to Manhattan, KS.

New retro cellphone nonheadset handset

I've been all cell for awhile. That means all my phone time takes place on a cell phone. I don't want to wake up with a brain tumor when I'm fifty. Handsfree type headsets are a good option, other than the fact that they tend to be uncomfortable with the tiny earbud style listening piece that I hate or big headphone things with a mike running out front making the user look like Garth Brooks in concert. I've found a sweet solution! Comfort AND retro style!

Yukivader

Robert and I had similar Halloween costumes. Yuki spooked the neighborhood as Darthvader (Darthyuki) and I went as a Sith Lord (it's a darkside jedi).