Kindergarten to college

Lourdes was reading to me this evening and I told her she was a great reader. I said "Lourdes, I think you're ready for first grade."

She kind of laughed and said "No, I'm ready for college!"

I think she will be.

Mario woes

So you know we've been playing New Super Mario Brothers on our Wii since Christmas. Lourdes' interest in playing has waned significantly and I'm not really sure why. Teddy on the other hand demands to play when Raquel and I play. I wouldn't mind letting him play except he's not even two and doesn't really know how to play yet. Oh sure he knows that you have to press buttons and shake the Wii-mote and he knows there's bubbles but he's not got mad skillz or good insight into the game or even good strategies. I wouldn't mind if he just arbitrarily moved around, jumped and bubbled but I do mind when he presses the pause button or the menu button. It just kind of throws off my game.

I guess if he keeps playing, we'll be one heck of a playing duo by the time he's three.

I CAN make cables...

At work I have to make LAN patch cables occasionally. We've got a CAT6 easy crimp tool that is pretty slick but I've been having bad luck making cables. My cables were consistently failing my simple testing device. I was getting only a few cables to work. I was very frustrated. Then I discovered that my tester was actually failing. Every cable I made today passed with a new tester!

It's been nice knowing you Greg!

I was going to post about the Rivermen losing their home game today. Or maybe that I really enjoyed the episode of Life that I watched on Discovery in HD. So a quick check of friends blogs revealed that Greg is a deadman. I don't know how much time he has left but I hope someone keeps me posted!

Short post

We had an enjoyable evening with some paraguayan friends. We ate lasagna, drank wine, and laughed. What more do you need?

I'm beat! Part 2

The "fitness" trail at work reopened today. It was closed due to concerns about a washed out area. To celebrate the reopening, I went running on it. Well maybe not running, but at least jogging. This was the second time in as many days that I've been jogging and it beat me yesterday. I thought that if I took it easy I could manage the entire trail. I gave it a good try but it wasn't meant to be. At one point I was "jogging" up a steep hill. I swear that I could have walked three times faster that I was jogging. So then I continued by alternating running and walking. Hopefully the weather will be nice again next week and I can make some progress.

I'm beat!

I went jogging today. I haven't been jogging in a long, long time. It didn't go too well. I'm so tired right now, I just want to go to bed.

Crazy Hair Day Pics!!

So this is her hair with one half braided and the other half straight:

From Sluggo is YoYo

This is her hair with the braids removed:

From Sluggo is YoYo

Crazy Hair Day!!

No not me, I don't have enough hair for it to be crazy! The school is having theme days to raise money. The students can pay a dollar every day this week to participate (payment is optional) in a daily theme. Monday was hat day so Lourdes wore a Rivermen hat. Today was sportswear day so Lourdes wore her Cardinals shirt. Tomorrow is crazy hair day.

So after her bath tonight, Lourdes had her hair prepped for a crazy hair day tomorrow. One half was left straight like normal and the other half was braided while wet. Tomorrow morning the braids will be removed and the hair will be kinky. Pictures to follow!

No urge to post...

Well maybe the urge to post, but nothing really jumps out that needs posting.

The time changed Sunday morning so we spring, sprang, sprung ahead an hour. No ill effects so far.

Hockey fight: St. Louis Blues' (NHL Parent to my Peoria Rivermen) D.J. King vs. Minnesota Wild's Derek Boorgaard on Sunday. D.J. King played for the Rivermen and now for the blues. He's a pretty big guy but Derek Boorgaard is really big. They squared off and the results seem to depend on who you are affiliated with. I think Boorgaard got more hits in and seemed to control the fight, but he left the game with a very bloody face and did not return and is questionable for his next game. So personally I think King won the fight.

Sidenote: one of the videos shows DJ King in the penalty box. A spectator to the right shows off some sort of a plushie penis, WTF?

Not so Easy Bake Oven

Lourdes had gotten an Easy Bake Oven for her birthday. Somehow it sat idle for about a week before she really wanted to use it. I'm sure you know that the Easy Bake uses a light bulb to do the baking, right. Well did you know that the light bulb is NOT included in the purchase of the Easy Bake Oven? Well it isn't.

We've switched to using compact florescent light bulbs so we didn't have any 100 watt incandescent bulbs. So Lourdes couldn't bake anything on that particular night. We bought bulbs yesterday and Lourdes got to use her Easy Bake Oven today. She had a friend over and they wanted to bake something.

Here's the process: Preheat oven for 15 minutes. While oven is preheating, open cake mix and pour into a bowl. Mix up the cake mix to break up any chunks. Stir in a 1.5 teaspoons of water. Mix until smooth. Pour or spoon mix into baking pan. When the oven is ready, put the pan in the baking chamber for 14 minutes. Then remove and place in the cooling chamber for 12. Then mix the frosting and spread on to the cake.

They ate the cake and said it was good, but they seemed bored with the baking process. I don't think I blame them.

Oops! I did it again!

Yep, I forgot to post something last night. Not that I really had anything to post, but I completely forgot. I got caught up on the internet last night reading about solar beer/pop can heaters that people make to augment daytime heating of their homes. I just recently stumbled upon this and I am really intrigued by it. I now know that people have been experimenting with this for years so I was surprised that I had never heard of it before. I'm seriously thinking of putting three or four together to use next winter.

Basically, a solar beer/pop can heater is a box containing columns of aluminum cans. The cans have holes in the top and bottom to allow air to flow through. One side of the box is glass or plexiglass to expose the can columns to the sun. The sun heats up the cans, in turn heating up the air in the cans. The air rises and comes out the top of the box. There is typically a hole at the bottom of the box that allows cooler air to enter and one at the top that allows the heated air to leave. There are many configurations and people often incorporate fans and thermostats.

It seems that no matter what, people are getting good results from their heaters. The "exhaust" temperatures are normally 120-150 degrees!. I saw one man's design that produced 220 degree temperatures from just harnessing the sun. Obviously these solar heaters only work in sunlight and won't work in the dark (duh), so they are mostly meant to help heat the home during the day.

I think I'll get started on some beer!

Hat Day

From Sluggo is YoYo

From Sluggo is YoYo

65 degrees

It was very nice today outside, 65 degrees or more. I took advantage of the work exercise option and went for another walk. One part of the route had been iced over even yesterday. But today the ice was completely gone.

After the walk, I went to the gym for a quick workout. It's feeling good to get back in the gym after skipping out for most of the last year and a half. I had mentioned the Biggest Loser competition we have at work. When it first kicked off, I did a pretty good job of eating better, drinking fewer sodas and snacking better. I felt like I was dropping some weight and thought that it was going well. I've missed the last two weigh-ins, so I'm not sure of my progress. Then I kind of fell off the wagon, so to speak, and pigged out for a week or so. I think all the progress just went down the drain.

So I really need to get back to eating right and continue working out.

I've got nothing

It was back to work today. Our work has a very liberal exercise policy that allows us to use an hour a day for physical fitness. I have been not taking advantage of this as of late but I started today. It was pretty nice out so I went for a walk (about 3.5 miles according to Google Earth) and then went to the gym for a chest workout. I'm beat. I've got nothing.

Shrimp tacos

My day off should have consisted of me sleeping in, sitting on my butt for a few hours in front of the computer catching up on my Google Reader, sipping coffee, finally getting a shower, and then off to see a movie.

I did get to sleep in compared to normal but I still ended up getting up about an earlier than I hoped. I did get to sit on my butt in front of the computer for a while and sipped a bit of coffee but it was much less sitting and sipping than I wanted. And I didn't take in a movie.

I did take the digital cable DVR box to the cable company to swap it out for one that works. I just got digital cable 10 days ago and the box crapped out already. Of course it was a used box and so is the one I got today. The old one started making lots of noise and then when I recorded something, it gave up the ghost. Or maybe a ghost possessed it because it would randomly shut off for no reason. So now I have a new used one that has a smaller footprint and I got it up and running. I also took the time to tidy up the RG-6, telephone lines, power cords and ethernet cables (how exciting, I know!)

I also went to a home improvement store to get some plywood for the new bunk beds. I dutifully measured the bed prior to going there so the guys at the store could cut the wood to the appropriate size per my memory. Just a note to anyone that may find themselves in a similar situation: WRITE DOWN THE MEASUREMENTS.

I then went to pick up the mattresses for the bunk beds and headed home. I got the mattresses inside the house and we went for lunch on the way to take Teddy to a combination follow up appointment for an ear infection and 18 month check up. He's actually 20 months but we (meaning me) failed to schedule the 18 month check up.

When we pulled in to the doctor's parking lot, he knew where we were and started getting fussy. He doesn't like the doctor, well technically the things the doctor and nurses have done to him. He had croup last November and it was a very traumatic experience for him. So everyone endured his crying and he got three shots. Despite all the crying, he didn't put up too much resistance to all the poking, prodding, and measuring. As the nurse and doctor left the exam room, he tearfully waved goodbye to them. Next checkup is scheduled and no more shots (except annual flu shots) until school. Teddy was happy to get out of there and hit the road. He sat right down in his car seat and didn't offer the least bit of resistance.

Back at home, I found that the wood was four inches too long (I've never had that problem!). I visited a friend and had him cut down the plywood to the necessary length. Back at home again, we got the plywood and mattresses in place and decided it was time to go eat and grocery shopping.

We went to Taco Bell (because it's cheap and sort of tasty, mostly cheap). We all had our usual orders and sat down to eat. Then I noticed the sign outside was advertising shrimp tacos. I had to try one. In fact, Lourdes had to try one as well. So two shrimp tacos it was! Lourdes dug in and decided she didn't like it. I dug in to mine and thought it was really good. If you like Taco Bell and you like shrimp, then I think Taco Bell has something new that you should enjoy. If you try it on my advice and don't like it, then I'm sorry. If you do like it, then just start getting used to the fact that I have good taste, and I'm smart, and I know what I'm talking about!

Super Mario update...

I've explained before that secret World 9 in New Super Mario Brothers has 8 levels, but each level is locked and can only be unlocked by getting all the Star Coins in the corresponding World. We had levels 1 and 3 opened and had been working on all the Star Coins in World 4. Tonight we got all the Star Coins in World 4 and opened level 4 of World 9. Lourdes helped me get through one the levels that was giving me problems. It seemed like I could get to the final boss of that level but couldn't defeat that boss. But Lourdes and I worked well together and defeated her.

I then finished the final level of World 4 and started level 4 of World 9. I tried a few times by myself and then Raquel helped a little. We didn't get far, but we started to get a good feel for the level. I'm sure a few more evenings and we'll be through it and move on to opening another level.

Busy day, big win!

I had to go in earlier than normal for a Saturday and I was busy all day. After work the family went downtown to catch a couple of hockey games. There was a Rivermen Legends vs. Peoria Firefighters game to raise money for a charity. After that was the current Rivermen vs. Lake Erie Ice Monsters. There were several promotions leading up to this game in order to bring in a big crowd. The official attendance was 10,129 which is a Rivermen record. It was really weired to see that many people there because most games there's only about 3500, but we were treated to a great game. The Rivermen went up 2-0 but their dream of their first shutout this season was not to be. Lake Erie cut the lead in half and threatened to tie when they pulled their goalie for an extra attacker. The Rivermen prevailed and got an empty netter to clinch the 3-1 win. It was a good night!

Bonus: Lourdes behaved well last night and tonight! I let her know that I really appreciate that she was a good girl and that I want her to continue behaving. Let's hope the positive reinforcement works.

Reaves vs. Owens

Here's the video I recorded of Reaves vs. Owens at Carver Arena on 4 March.


The quality was actually pretty good when I connected my HD camera to my HD TV. When I uploaded it on to the computer it still wasn't bad. To see a better quality version of this, click on the video and it will show it directly on YouTube instead of embedded in this blog.

Happy Birthday to Lourdes!

We had a nice low key birthday for Lourdes. She turned six today and took mini cupcakes and apple juice to school for her friends. Then we asked her where she wanted to eat. She said Chuck E. Cheese's. We said that we should save that for taking a couple of friends next weekend when I don't have to work. She agreed and decided she wanted to eat at a Chinese buffet. So we went to Ming's and they treated her very nicely. At the end of the meal they brought her a piece of cake with some orange garnish decorations and we sang Happy Birthday. Then we went to find a store and let her pick out her birthday present. She chose a diary that is protected by voice recognition. Then we went home and had an ice cream cake that I picked up from Dairy Queen. It was a very nice evening with very little disobedience and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Lourdes said it was her best birthday ever which I'm glad she thinks so.

Happy Birthday Lourdes!!

Good win, good fight!

Just got back from the Rivermen game so it will be a quick post tonight. This week has been weird for Rivermen fans. The parent Blues have made some deals that shuffled off 4 Rivermen players this week, but only got a couple immediate players and one that needs to get immigration paperwork taken care of. So tonight the Rivermen took on another last place team and managed to pull out a 4-3 regulation win. There was one fight with just under 5 to play. I recorded it on my little HD camera and just took a look at it on my TV. It looked pretty good actually. The camera doesn't have zoom (or at least I don't think it does) so I'm pleased. I'll try to put it on YouTube tomorrow and embed it in my blog.

Caught after the act!

The weather has been nice this week and the snow is melting rapidly. At work there is a sidewalk that hadn't been completely cleared off and there was a large pile of snow at one end. Four of us tackled it and cleaned it up quite nicely using shovels and a plow. The other three had just left and I was lagging behind when a manager saw me with a snow shovel in my hand and thanked me for clearing the sidewalk. I said it was no problem and continued on. Then I realized that she probably didn't see the others and thought I did it myself. I made a point to find her and let her know that there were others involved. She was nice enough to send our bosses an email thanking us for a job well done.

Pink Screen of Death

A friend's laptop screen conked out on him. At first it went kind of a pink hue, then dark. He asked if I could help. At first we searched for a compatible used LCD screen that we could buy and swap out. I've replaced a few of those before, but there wasn't any available at a good price. Then I found that the backlight is actually quite inexpensive to buy so we went that route. I had never attempted to replace the light before but I was willing to try. Besides, I couldn't make it worse. The backlight is actually a Cold Cathode Fluorescent light (CCFL).

The internet is a wonderful thing. I bought the CCFL on eBay. I actually bought three because they were so cheap and I know they are delicate. I found the specific instructions for taking apart this particular model laptop. I also found general instructions on replacing the CCFL. The hardest part was the final step in removing the old light and the first step in putting in the new one. Otherwise it was pretty easy.

A couple of notes if you ever decide to tackle this yourself. The light needs to be soldered to the power wires and there is an electrical positive and negative so polarity matters. Solder the wires and connect to the power source to make sure it lights up before reassembling everything. It would really suck to put it mostly together to find you put the light in backwards and it doesn't light up. Also, the LCD screen consists of several layers. Try to keep the layers together, don't bend them, and keep out the dirt and dust.

I got everything reassembled and it works great! There are some imperfections most likely due to my work, but nothing really bad. Besides it works now, whereas it didn't when I started. I would have to estimate that I could do this again in about two hours or less, if I had to. Your mileage may vary.

Broken Streak!

Yesterday evening, I sat down to post something, anything to continue the streak I had going. I had posted every day this year (plus a couple extra). I must have gotten distracted by news headlines or something shiny, but the next thing you know I turned off the computer without posting. As I was getting ready for work this morning I realized that I failed to post a blog entry yesterday. I felt really bad about it.

I know most of my posts have been boring, but at least I'm posting. I'm not going to let the broken streak deter me. I will do my best to post something everyday, no matter how boring.

So the ups and downs of Rivermen fanaticism are in full swing again. They won on Friday against the first place team. That gave me hope that they can salvage the remainder of the season. Saturday they played the second place team and were winning until the other team tied it with 11 seconds left. The Rivermen went on to lose in a shootout. Disappointing, but they obviously played well enough to go the distance.

Sunday was a completely different story. The Rivermen played the third place team and did an adequate job for one period. Then they slowly let it get away from them to the tune of a 4-0 loss. They couldn't even manage one measly goal to stave off a shutout! The season is quickly coming to a close and the playoffs are slowly slipping out of reach. COME ON GUYS! YOU CAN DO IT!!

Bunk Beds

Raquel has been telling me for a while that Lourdes has outgrown her bed. I was reluctant to believe it because I really didn't want to spend the money on a new one. I finally broke down and bought her bunk beds. We spent the evening getting them assembled. The instructions were reasonably straightforward, yet I still had to take a couple things apart a couple different times to get holes lined up in the right spots.

In addition to my mistakes, other things compounded to draw out the process. The space we had to assemble the beds was hardly adequate for one bed let alone two. But somehow we managed.

The kids were attempting to be helpful. Teddy would grab any tool, screw, or dowel that he could get his hands on and refuse to give them up. Lourdes insisted on turning a few bolts or moving pieces of wood around or simply tearing up the protecting wrapping. Both incessantly climbed over and under the works.

We finally got it all together and it seems quite sturdy. It's sturdy, yet it's made of pine which is a very soft wood. I think it will last a long time, but will get lots of nicks and scratches along the way.

Despite it being twin size, this is huge for Lourdes. I really, really didn't realize how small her old bed was.

Not another Rivermen update!!

Why yes it is!! In case you have been in suspense since Tuesday when I was posting from the Rivermen vs. Texas Stars game, the Rivermen went on to win 4-3.

Tonight the Rivermen took on the Chicago Wolves. The Chicago Wolves are great team, especially against the Rivermen. They are in first place and have been on great run to get them there. In fact, it seemed like they were going to continue their winning ways when they took a 2-0 lead. But our fearless Rivermen fought back and slowly scratched and clawed their way to a 3-2 victory tonight.

I sense something building! Well, I know I've been pessimistic in some of my Rivermen posts, but such are the highs and lows of being a fan!

Good night!

DSi Fun

Lourdes has the Nintendo DSi, which I think is a really cool device. She had a DS for a quite a while but it finally succumbed to injuries from her early days. The DSi has two built-in cameras, music software, and an SD card slot. It can hold tons of pictures on the SD card and I've put her favorite Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus music on it.

There is facial recognition software built in to the cameras and you can automatically distort faces like this:

From Sluggo is YoYo

Upside down is upside right

Our seats at Carver Arena are upper bowl, center ice, behind the bench. The Rivermen logo in the ice is upside down relative to our seats. So I turned the camera upside down so the logo comes out right. But it makes everything else seem weird.

From Sluggo is YoYo

By the way the Rivermen won last night! Let's hope it the beginning of a playoff run.

Live Blog from Carver Arena!

That's right, I'm blogging from the Crackberry watching the Rivermen take on the Texas Stars. It's the end of the second period and it's tied 2-2. The Rivermen are currently in last and need to start winning now. The Stars have fallen from first to fourth. The Rivermen aren't looking too bad at the moment but need to work on passing and might consider shooting where the goalie isn't. Well gotta go, it's game on!

Hockey!

In January I went to a St. Louis Blues game and I bought Teddy a Blues jersey. I have a Rivermen jersey. So when Teddy sees the Blues logo or the Rivermen logo he says "Hockey!".

From Sluggo is YoYo

Losers and winners Part 2

My friend Adam was going to work on his truck this morning so I though I might go over and give him a hand. I stopped at the Circle K (there were no strange things afoot) to get me a foo-foo cappuccino and a coffee for Adam. I decided to get a $2 lottery scratcher as well.

So I made it to Adam's house and he was just finishing up (actually giving up). Damn my good bad timing! Oh well. I went in and played Super Mario Brothers on the Wii with his youngest daughter. Before we started I scratched my lottery ticket and won $25, woo hoo! We played Wii and finished the last three levels of one world and finished all but the very last of the next world.

On my way back home, I cashed in the lottery ticket. I pocketed $15 and spent $10 on a couple other scratchers (bingo style). At home, Raquel played the bingo and we won $20! This evening we went to a hockey game and on the way there I cashed in the winning lottery ticket. I pocketed $10 and bought a $10 scratcher. This time the ticket was a loser but I was still ahead $23 (remember the initial $2 investment for all you math wizards).

It was a family day event at the game meaning there were kid bouncy houses, face painting, balloon animals and $1 hot dogs, cokes, and chips. Lourdes got her face painted and was finished just in time to get to our seats before the puck dropped. Picture taken with my Blackberry - not the best camera ever.

From Sluggo is YoYo

The Rivermen went on to lose yet again. They actually won on the road last night, but managed to lose at home. I'm very frustrated with the whole hockey thing right now - the losing of games and raising of prices. I'm ready to give up on this season. Unless they immediately turn things around, they won't make the playoffs and that will make three out of five AHL seasons they've done that. The two times they made it into the playoffs they didn't make it out of the first round.

Okay enough whining. I'm still a devoted fan (mostly) and I'll get at least one season ticket for me and weekend game packages for the family.

As I was prepping the picture of Lourdes, I found one of her from a few years ago when she had her face painted at a game.

From Sluggo is YoYo

Of course I'm partial but I still think she's cute!

Not so strict child labor laws

We had bought materials and paid a guy to build a house on my in-laws' property in Paraguay in 2008. The guy had an assistant but they were both busy working on the house so they contracted out the digging of the septic tank:

From Sluggo is YoYo

Actually my brother-in-law and his son did most of the work on the septic tank but a couple other youngsters chipped in.

Tired and grumpy

I'm tired and grumpy. Most of this is because I have a slight cold which makes everything a shade of miserable. Then Lourdes misbehaves and makes me grumpier. That makes me grumpier because she is old enough to know not to misbehave, and then when I tell her to stop misbehaving, she continues misbehaving. So that's making me grumpier. Then I know I shouldn't be so grumpy about her misbehaving because it's not super bad behavior but bad enough that she shouldn't be doing it. So my grumpiness feeds on itself.

I took a couple of aspirin and we went to the hockey game. I was still tired and grumpy but the Rivermen were playing decent and the medicine started working so I started feeling better. Then they blew their lead with two minutes to play. Then they blew their tie with eight seconds left. They have dropped from second place to dead last and still falling.

And to top things off, the season ticket prices just jumped significantly enough that I'm considering not getting them for next season.

I hope tomorrow is a better day.

Too tired to write

He's not as fearless as his sister was when she was smaller:

From Sluggo is YoYo

Rare moment when everyone is being sweet:

From Sluggo is YoYo

The oxcart

The humble oxcart is very important in rural Paraguay. It is used to haul anything and everything. My father-in-law explained to me that his oxcart was very expensive and very old when he bought it years ago from an aunt. He had to walk with his son and two cows for hours to bring it back to his house. He told me that the wood to make the axle and the wheels lasts forever.

When we visited in the fall of 2008, one of the wheels wasn't in very good shape. That meant he couldn't haul nearly the weight it was once capable of hauling. He had to use it sparingly and every trip taken was dangerous as the wheel could just collapse. When we bought a bunch of bricks, we had to find someone to haul them because the oxcart just wasn't capable anymore. When we needed sand for construction, only a little could be brought at a time.

The oxcart is the single most important item my father-in-law has. Everyday it gets hitched to the cows and out to the fields they go. They come back with wood for their fires, food for the table, and various produce from the crops. Without the oxcart, life would be extremely more difficult for my family. So it had to be fixed.

We made arrangements to have the wheel repaired/replaced. Looking back, I really would like to have seen the whole process. I can't imagine how difficult it was to remove the old wheel and build up the new one. There most certainly was a significant amount of skill involved. I don't know how the metal ring (iron?) was removed from the outer part of the wheel and how it was put on around the new wheel. Or was the new wheel made within the ring? All I know is that it got fixed and we were all very happy about it.

Here's a picture of the oxcart in the backyard (I think this was pre-repair):

From Sluggo is YoYo

My father-in-law and nephews heading out to the fields:

From Sluggo is YoYo

You can never have too many skulls around

Potrero Guazu, Caazapa, Paraguay, South America.

I took the following pictures in October 2008 during our last visit to Paraguay. I thought they added to the rustic setting.

From Sluggo is YoYo

I'm not sure if these skulls come from the same type of cow or ox.

From Sluggo is YoYo

I could take similar pictures at my mom's house in Central Illinois!

The kids

In touch with my inner redneck

Today was a lazy day. We kicked off the day exchanging Valentines. I read Horizon's Unlimited's latest e-zine and then we played a little Wii New Super Mario Brothers. We have gotten through all the worlds (eight of them) and are now in Bonus World Nine. In World Nine, there are eight more levels that correspond to the first eight worlds. The only way to enter a level is to have earned all the Star Coins in that world.

I also watched 90% of NASCAR's Daytona 500. I enjoy stock car races but I'm not a fanatic. I rarely watch a race these days, but I like to catch the highlights. I occasionally keep an eye on the standings but I don't get worked up over who's winning.

I watched the race on the new small high def TV we have in the bedroom. I really love HD!! When the kids get a little better, I want to get a large HDTV for the living room. I don't think we watch an alarming amount of TV, but watching things in HD is amazing! I'm afraid to get one right now because I fear the kids will break it. Teddy especially loves throwing things. He threw something the other day and broke a picture frame.

After the race we played a little more Wii. We were able to make it through World 9-1 and then headed back to World 2 to try to get all the Star Coins. I think this will take a while to get through.

Losers and winners

Rivermen were losers tonight and have lost four in a row. They are now in last place.

On the plus side, Adam won the 50/50 drawing and used the winnings towards the purchase of a special edition Rivermen jersey. The money earned on the sale of the jerseys goes to Children's Hospital.

Neumagen, Germany -- Last of the Germany pictures

We've reached the end of the Germany pictures. After the weinfest in Minheim, we drove over to Neumagen to see the replica Roman wineship Stella Noviomagi. We then walked around a couple of blocks as it was getting dark. Not only was it getting dark, but my camera was on the verge of complete battery drain.

The Stella Noviomagi:

From Sluggo is YoYo

A stone carving of a Roman wineship:

From Sluggo is YoYo

Outside a church:

From Sluggo is YoYo

A marker in the road:

From Sluggo is YoYo

We were in Germany for a couple more days. We went back to Nanstein Castle in Landstuhl to eat supper one night. Another night we ate at a hotel about 45 minutes from the base. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the town or the hotel, but it was absolutely wonderful. We had eaten there the week before on our first outing and decided it was worth a second visit. It surely was!!

Piesport, Germany

After walking around Detzem, we drove to a scenic overlook of Piesport on the Moselle River:

From Sluggo is YoYo

You can see the winding road we took through the vineyards:

From Sluggo is YoYo

Just some proof I was there:

From Sluggo is YoYo

Another view of the vineyards:

From Sluggo is YoYo

I think we could have stayed there all day and watch the water flow by. We ended up going for schwenkbraten at a weinfest in nearby Minheim.

Detzem, Germany

One of the guys on our trip to Germany was actually born in Germany to an American GI and his German wife. He still has relatives in Germany and they agreed to be our tour guides for a day. We went for lunch near Trier at an uncle's house and on to Detzem to meet up with a cousin. Detzem is on the Moselle River and in wine country.


This was the sign on a winery storefront:

From Sluggo is YoYo

Another replica of a Roman mile marker:

From Sluggo is YoYo

A sculpture of a still:

From Sluggo is YoYo

A church in Detzem:

From Sluggo is YoYo

I liked how the vines grew on this old building:

From Sluggo is YoYo

Still more Germany pics...

This is a view of a vineyard from the tower of Klopp Castle, Bingem-am-Rhein:

From Sluggo is YoYo

The Coat of Arms of Klopp Castle. Stadtverwaltung has something to do with city government:

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Replicas of Roman mile markers found in the area:

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This is the vehicle entrance to Klopp castle:

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Trying out the new camera...

I've been wanting to buy one of those little HD video cameras like the Flip. The cameras on our phones don't do very good video and neither does our digital camera. So while we were doing our grocery shopping, I went over to the camera section and looked at the limited selection. There were only about four different styles of these video cameras and not a lot of information about each one. I tried to Google the different models on my Crackberry but for some reason it wouldn't connect to the internet.

I ended up going with a Samsung HMX-U10 because there was a lack of information on a JVC model, the Flip was more expensive, and a Sony Webbie just look like it was asking for trouble. I charged up the Samsung and played around with the controls a little. It's all touch control which frankly I'm not too sure I like yet. Instead of being buttons that get pressed, they are buttons that respond to touch. Well, if you aren't careful you will inadvertently touch a button and cause a function to start or stop when you don't want to.

Here's a sample picture taken with the new camera:

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Next I need to learn about the video part of it.

Bingem Am Rhein, Germany

More Germany pictures.

We were in Germany for almost two weeks in September last year working at Ramstein Air Base. We had one full weekend there and on the Saturday we wanted to go somewhere and look at some castles. We were given some vague directions and we ended up in Bingem-am-Rhein. We parked and just walked along the Rhine (Rhein) River for a while then walked up to Klopp Castle.

This is part of Klopp Castle:

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On the grounds of Klopp Castle:

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Tower of Klopp Castle:

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Looking at St. Martin Basilica from an archway at Klopp Castle:

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Flag with the coat-of-arms on the tower of Klopp Castle:

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German Taint Cheese

We ate two different times at the restaurant at Nanstein Castle. There were tables outside overlooking Landstuhl.

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You can see Ramstein Air Base in the distance in this picture.

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A suit of armor on display in the restaurant.

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The food at the restaurant was really good with a couple of minor exceptions. One time Glen ordered the Knight's Platter which was various cured meats/sausages. Most of it was quite good but one tasted like an old leather boot (or how I suspect an old leather boot might taste). The other time, Greg (not Deb's Greg) order a cheese platter. It was quite good save one particular cheese we took to calling Taint Cheese due to its taint flavor.

More Germany Pics

More pictures from my trip to Germany in September 2009. These pictures are of Nanstein Castle in Landstuhl. We didn't get to go in to the castle because both times we went, the castle itself was already closed. However both times we did enjoy eating at a nice little restaurant on the castle grounds.

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A No Crap Post

Germany, September 2009. We were all tired from work and wanted to eat something. I told the guys lets just go off base and find something to eat. We piled in to the van and went to Landstuhl. I decided to follow the signs there for the castle. The gang didn't know that's what I was doing, but it was a spur of the moment decision. We walked the grounds of Nanstein Castle and decided to eat at the restaurant there. My favorite picture was this:

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More pictures to follow.

Germany 2009

Last fall I had the pleasure of going to Germany for just under two weeks to do postal duty at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Over the next few days, I'd like to post a few of the pictures I took of some of the places we visited.

This is Ehrenfels Castle Ruins in Ruedesheim, Germany. Picture taken from Bingen-am-Rhein, Germany

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Six more weeks of winter?

Punxsutawney Phil supposedly saw his shadow today and that means six more weeks of winter. I'm ready for spring.

A few days ago I posted some pics of plants and flowers from Paraguay. It was my little way of bringing a bit of warm weather to dreary winter.

So with today's groundhog day prediction of a longer winter, I bring you more pics to remind us of the nice weather that we will eventually get. I took these pictures in Germany last fall.

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