we had been hearing about a storm coming toward us: hurricane authur. it was to hit on thursday, so we made the most of the beach today.
many waves to catch. we take these soft, water-designed balls we toss in the ocean playing a game of keep away. it's boys against the girls. we are outnumbered, but we always win. go us!
burns are better. trying not to make things worse. previous places still hurt but not as bad. i should be good by tomorrow.
ate some chinese food for dinner. not as good as our own china lee.
we played some more poker this evening. mom wasn't quite the threat she was the night before. these games have been fun. there are some shrewd players in my family.
10 July 2014
09 July 2014
day three at the beach
got up early for sunrise. got some good pics. (will post them on flickr and update post.)
also got more beach time today.
found out that my forehead and stomach suffered from sun burning despite my use of spf 15. might have washed off while i was catching some waves doing a little body surfing.
mom cleaned up at poker this evening. not sure if i should be impressed or worried?
also got more beach time today.
found out that my forehead and stomach suffered from sun burning despite my use of spf 15. might have washed off while i was catching some waves doing a little body surfing.
mom cleaned up at poker this evening. not sure if i should be impressed or worried?
06 July 2014
day one at the beach
ahh…back in north myrtle beach. i love this place. the weather in was stormy, so the nice weather today is welcomed.
kiersten and i made our second annual trip down to main street via the beach. didn’t realize it beforehand, but that’s a seven mile round trip walk. i was in better shape this year than last. (a year ago i was just past a knee procedure.)
wore enough sun protection…except for my feet. tops of them burned. but i had put enough on even overdosing them since i know how they tend to burn. walking in the water must have saltwater washed them.
kiersten and i made our second annual trip down to main street via the beach. didn’t realize it beforehand, but that’s a seven mile round trip walk. i was in better shape this year than last. (a year ago i was just past a knee procedure.)
wore enough sun protection…except for my feet. tops of them burned. but i had put enough on even overdosing them since i know how they tend to burn. walking in the water must have saltwater washed them.
08 May 2014
boston marathon
a few weeks ago, my sister ran the boston marathon. she had qualified last year after completing the knoxville marathon.
i planned a trip to watch her run the twenty-six point two. she, her husband, and i spent a few days visiting the historical city where our country had many if its beginnings.
among the sights, we ate at the union oyster house, walked the freedom trail, saw old north church and bunker hill, and toured the uss constitution.
on easter sunday evening, i joined david and wendi at the pasta dinner designed to give the runners a load of carbs the night before the big race. so many people!
the next day, i met up with david in the boston common. wendi had jumped on a bus earlier than planned because it was a chilly morning. david and i walked around for a while, visiting mike’s pastries for the second day and then camping out at cheer’s to eat some lunch. we had some time before my sis was going to be close enough to catch.
however, our planning of the public transit system has some flaws. the biggest was failing to calculate the number of stops to reach her at boston college. we ended up turning around and catching her within a mile before the finish line. due to a faulty camera, i was only able to get a few shots of her, all of which missed her on approach. (she is wearing the white cap pointing toward us in response to our cheering.)
when she crossed the finish line, her time was 3:52:10. this was only ten minutes longer than her qualifying time, a time which i think is pretty good since boston was a course she’d never run before.
i think she did great! i’m very proud of my sister! this is an amazing accomplishment!
i planned a trip to watch her run the twenty-six point two. she, her husband, and i spent a few days visiting the historical city where our country had many if its beginnings.
among the sights, we ate at the union oyster house, walked the freedom trail, saw old north church and bunker hill, and toured the uss constitution.
on easter sunday evening, i joined david and wendi at the pasta dinner designed to give the runners a load of carbs the night before the big race. so many people!
the next day, i met up with david in the boston common. wendi had jumped on a bus earlier than planned because it was a chilly morning. david and i walked around for a while, visiting mike’s pastries for the second day and then camping out at cheer’s to eat some lunch. we had some time before my sis was going to be close enough to catch.
however, our planning of the public transit system has some flaws. the biggest was failing to calculate the number of stops to reach her at boston college. we ended up turning around and catching her within a mile before the finish line. due to a faulty camera, i was only able to get a few shots of her, all of which missed her on approach. (she is wearing the white cap pointing toward us in response to our cheering.)
when she crossed the finish line, her time was 3:52:10. this was only ten minutes longer than her qualifying time, a time which i think is pretty good since boston was a course she’d never run before.
i think she did great! i’m very proud of my sister! this is an amazing accomplishment!
03 April 2014
pentatonix
just over a week ago, i traveled to athens, georgia to hear “the sing-off” winning group pentatonix perform at the georgia theatre.
these guys are amazing! the things they achieve vocally with only five members in their group prove that talent and teamwork is enough. i followed these guys through their competition on nbc’s “the sing-off” several years ago. they met their musical challenges with incredible creativity only getting better in each new episode. (watch some of their performances on youtube.) at one point, sing-off judge shawn stockman commented after another outstanding performance, “i think you guys were sent back from the future to save acapella music and do it in futuristic way.” if that is their mission, i’d say we’re in good shape!
i splurged for the vip tickets which included some time in for their sound check and a meet and greet. they tested one song with us standing there and then took some of our questions for a few minutes. we also got an autograph time along with a photo spot. the sound check was a real treat! (avi’s bass was so strong that i could feel the reverberations in my chest as i stood there listening.)
these guys were very down to earth, very personable. they made the brief time to meet with them enjoyable.
their music can be found on all the music getting sites (itunes, google, amazon). they even have some christmas music, which is always better as acapella. and i still think their version of imagine dragons “radioactive” (with lindsey stirling) is better than imagine dragons’ is. also check out their daft punk mix. that is pretty dope too!
their official youtube channel along with ptxvlogs gives you a taste of their combined powers. of course their site, ptxofficial.com, includes information on the group as well as their social media links.
these guys are amazing! the things they achieve vocally with only five members in their group prove that talent and teamwork is enough. i followed these guys through their competition on nbc’s “the sing-off” several years ago. they met their musical challenges with incredible creativity only getting better in each new episode. (watch some of their performances on youtube.) at one point, sing-off judge shawn stockman commented after another outstanding performance, “i think you guys were sent back from the future to save acapella music and do it in futuristic way.” if that is their mission, i’d say we’re in good shape!
i splurged for the vip tickets which included some time in for their sound check and a meet and greet. they tested one song with us standing there and then took some of our questions for a few minutes. we also got an autograph time along with a photo spot. the sound check was a real treat! (avi’s bass was so strong that i could feel the reverberations in my chest as i stood there listening.)
these guys were very down to earth, very personable. they made the brief time to meet with them enjoyable.
their music can be found on all the music getting sites (itunes, google, amazon). they even have some christmas music, which is always better as acapella. and i still think their version of imagine dragons “radioactive” (with lindsey stirling) is better than imagine dragons’ is. also check out their daft punk mix. that is pretty dope too!
their official youtube channel along with ptxvlogs gives you a taste of their combined powers. of course their site, ptxofficial.com, includes information on the group as well as their social media links.
17 March 2014
new laptop
when i started working for scripps networks interactive (sni) back in september of 2012, i purchased an inexpensive asus laptop (u47a), which was a solid machine. it was made well and ran my fedora linux beautifully. the only thing i would like to have changed about it was the resolution size. a fourteen inch screen size only yielded a 1366×768 resolution. more memory would have been nice too, but the 8gb i had installed was enough.
in thinking about upgrading, i had several requirements:
after looking at lenovo, sony, hp, asus, samsung, and gigabtye, i found what i was looking for at dell. their xps 15 was the only laptop that had everything on my list. the resolution on this laptop’s 15″ display is 3200×1800! my requirements met along with several others: backlit keyboard (without a numeric keypad), 16gb memory, bluetooth 4.0, usb 3.0, sd card reader all included. plus this particular model came with a 32gb mSATA drive and a 1tb hard drive. i replaced the 32gb mSATA with a 480gb mSATA and the 1tb with a 960gb ssd. 1.3tb of solid state storage, baby! add to it a nice design of aluminum case with a gorilla glass display which is also a touch screen, and i found a definite winner. the cost was reduced a bit by the discount that came through my company, which made it more appealing.
the only con is that the battery life could be better on this model. it runs like a champ, but i find the battery draining much more quickly than my asus. and there isn’t an option for a backup battery like most laptops. i find that a little bit of a step back. however, i can live with those limitations given that it meets more important points for me.
this was not an easy laptop to find. most topped out at 8gb of memory (wutup?) or included the 15″ display but with a numeric keypad so i’m typing on the left of my laptop. at this point, 16gb should be the max point on all laptops being made (my opinion). lenovo and samsung make some nice machines, but they both had one of these limitations or a screen resolution that was no better than my asus.
with this dell, i’m set for the next several years.
in thinking about upgrading, i had several requirements:
- needed to support up to 16gb ram
- neeeded to have a higher resolution than 1366×768
- backlit keyboard
- 15″ screen
- no numeric keypad to make me type off center
after looking at lenovo, sony, hp, asus, samsung, and gigabtye, i found what i was looking for at dell. their xps 15 was the only laptop that had everything on my list. the resolution on this laptop’s 15″ display is 3200×1800! my requirements met along with several others: backlit keyboard (without a numeric keypad), 16gb memory, bluetooth 4.0, usb 3.0, sd card reader all included. plus this particular model came with a 32gb mSATA drive and a 1tb hard drive. i replaced the 32gb mSATA with a 480gb mSATA and the 1tb with a 960gb ssd. 1.3tb of solid state storage, baby! add to it a nice design of aluminum case with a gorilla glass display which is also a touch screen, and i found a definite winner. the cost was reduced a bit by the discount that came through my company, which made it more appealing.
the only con is that the battery life could be better on this model. it runs like a champ, but i find the battery draining much more quickly than my asus. and there isn’t an option for a backup battery like most laptops. i find that a little bit of a step back. however, i can live with those limitations given that it meets more important points for me.
this was not an easy laptop to find. most topped out at 8gb of memory (wutup?) or included the 15″ display but with a numeric keypad so i’m typing on the left of my laptop. at this point, 16gb should be the max point on all laptops being made (my opinion). lenovo and samsung make some nice machines, but they both had one of these limitations or a screen resolution that was no better than my asus.
with this dell, i’m set for the next several years.
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