Friday, February 29, 2008

My Nephew Evan




I've been meanin to post pictures of my nephew Evan, now almost 8 months old hanging out.


Enjoy!



Wednesday, February 27, 2008

More Elaina, Nathan Pictures

Some of these were taken without the flash which accounts for the golden shade on some photos.


Monday, February 25, 2008

ELAINA 4 MONTH UPDATE

Elaina just had her 4 month checkup. She's as healthy as ever. The cereal experiment is, well still an experiment. She's taking to it about like how take to lima beans, gagging and screaming while choking them down with a drink of water.



Even more noteworthy, Elaina's weight and height are OFF OF THE CHARTS. In fact, her weight is higher than average nine month olds as indicated by my handy graph below.





As my mom tells me, it must come from my side of the family.

She also rolled over in her crib yesterday afternoon.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Uncle Fidel Resigns




Not much of a shocker here.



We all knew he was in ill health. But what surprised me was that this news took a backseat to other news of the day this morning. Granted, the communist threat is a passing thought nowadays compared to what it was say in the 1950s through the 1980s but it probably deserved a little more coverage locally. In Ohio, the presidental candidates are heavily campaigning for the Democratic nomination which truthfully is a bigger story here in 2008. If this were the 1984 election year, Fidel's demise would be at the forefront.

His brother Raul, temporary president of Cuba since July 31, 2006 could well become the permanent President.



The other possibility would be Carlos Laga, Cuba's Vice President.

Its amazing that most of the younger generation has no knowledge of a world with an iron curtain. A world before the fall of the Berlin Wall. A college freshman this fall was not born when the wall fell. Maybe this is just a function of me getting older and feeling like my parents' felt back in the 70s and 80s as they grew into adulthood and ensuing out-of-touch life that surfaces when you become a parent.

You heard it hear first. Within 10 years, Cuba's communist government will be dissolved similar to what happened in the Soviet Union in 1990. Let us just let it happen naturally without military intervention.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

80s nostalgia continued...


What movie is this from?

It was in this movie, WarGames, that I was introduced to computer modems.




Before my buddy at "The2DollarBill" criticizes me for not writing about Super Tuesday, let me say that I am very surprised that McCain is still going strong. My prediction on the Dems: Hillary gets the nomination. You heard it here first!

Monday, February 04, 2008

The 80s Revival Continues...


The 80s revival continues and its hotter than ever. Thankfully without Gary Coleman.

Indiana Jones is scheduled for release this summer, Rambo is in theaters and now Knight Rider is coming back to television on NBC!

Its fast, high octane, non-stop 80s action.

Here's my synopsis of what's coming:

A 65 year old Harrison Ford digging up ancient ruins, a 61 year old Sly Stallone fighting in southeast asia...again. And now, David Hasselhoff is back with more Knight Rider action. What one of these classic film series will work with the viewing public more than the others? Do I really need to answer this?

NBC sent out an official press release on the upcoming new Knight Rider series. Evidentally "The Hoff" will make a special appearance.


If your not convinced, here is a comment from one Knight Rider fan on the upcoming series:

"Wow, they've finally done it... they've found an idea that sucks worse than TKR. Not only do Ford vehicles look ordinary as hell, all this "hack any system", shapeshifting bullshit is derivative box-office zombie crap, obviously cooked up by someone who thinks that as long as it's a black car that talks and David Hasselhoff makes an appearance, it's Knight Rider. Personally I'd rather see YouTube footage of Hasselhoff yelling at his kid and trying to eat a hamburger."

If that's not a ringing endorsement, I don't know what is.

Friday, February 01, 2008

Who is this guy?



Can you see this guy as a video game inventer?


Maybe an accountant but not video games.



25 years ago, Warren Davis created Q-BERT. He created this early 80s game from an inspiration by a programmer who etched cubes on a screen. Davis describes his brainchild:



"When I looked at it, it occurred to me you could sculpt a pyramid out of it such that if a ball fell onto the top, it would have two choices of which way to bounce, so with one random byte I could create a path for a falling ball"


...and so Q-Bert was born.