Family

Natalie is a science teacher (for at least part of most days). One of the topics that Natalie teaches is the basics of atoms. Yesterday, CERN started the LHC, which some folks believe is going to result in the destruction of the Earth, the Universe, or at least a very significant subset of All of Reality.

Considering the fact that we are all still here, and I am able to write this (and you read it), it would seem that it is safe to assume that just turning the beam on was no where near as large an existential threat as those people predicted. But it is nice to know that someone is monitoring the situation -->link. (Thanks to Paradox for the link).

My position is how often does one get to cover the topics of study for the largest, and most expensive, research experiment ever, that just happens to also be in the 6^th grade curriculum you are going to start teaching any day now? And that there are people that think that this experiment, if successful, will destroy the whole planet, the universe and a large part of all of reality.

Cool, or what?

"Butch, you have no idea of what I actually teach, or how I have to do it."

Natalie's a special education teacher. So it seems that the LHC is not exactly something her group is ever going to actually deal with (why not, it's still fun?).

And it really doesn't help that I'm trying to have this conversation while she is rushing to get her tea made and her body out the door. It's not really my fault. Paradox and XKCD reminded me via posts to their respective sites.

And, let's face it, existential threats, even just movie plot ones, are really kind of interesting when you don't have that much going on.

Why is it that everything has to fall apart and break all at the same time?

The end of August, the last DVD player I bought (a little over a year ago) started having issues with one of the DVD's we received from Netflix. This really isn't unusual, Disks coming from any rental operation are going to have issues from time to time. They are dirty, scratched or just plain weird. And some of the disks are sometimes slightly non-standard. I've even had that issue with at least one DVD we bought a few years ago. If the issue with the DVD is dirt, then the problem might also show up on the next DVD you pop into the player; transference of dirt from the disk to the lens.

Yes, it happens.

After cleaning the lens and trying the disk on another DVD player we have in the house (boy's Xbox), we found that the disk played fine. I then dropped another disk I had just watched on my computer in to the troubled DVD player and it had problems.

Looks like I killed another one. In the span of the last 10 years I have destroyed 3 DVD players, 3 DVD burners and a significant number of optical drives in FileNET jukeboxen.

On Labor Day, I went and bought a new DVD player for the living room. This one includes a DVD burner and a VHS drive. I'll talk more about that some other time.

Today, sitting in the living room, I noticed that the Ceiva picture frame was dark. This isn't normally a problem. More than likely, someone has knocked the power brick out of the outlet. So, I just ask Natalie to reach back over and plug it in, only it's not unplugged.

Looking at the frame, the power light is on. Looking at the network logs, it's been doing it's thing and talking to Ceiva every hour, looking for new pictures. Wonderful.

I remember hearing from Natalie that her mother's Ceiva did the same thing, went dark, while she was visiting. The unit ended up being replaced for something like $20. But that was a while ago.

When I went up to the Ceiva website, I understand how that happened. My mother-in-law was pushed into buying Ceiva's one year extended warranty. From looking at it now, it looks like they do not support doing that with my model anymore.

Natalie really likes having the Ceiva. And the one we did have was a couple of years old. I don't really feel bad about replacing it, as it is something we do actually use. But more on that later.

Let me end by saying that I WILL more than likely be taking the Cevia I have apart to looking at what I can do with it.

And now I have to wonder what is going to break next. Last time we went through one of these cycles, I think I burned a mouse, keyboard and monitor over the course of a month.

Everyone else is in bed. I'll probably head that myself soon. Right now I'm sitting in the loft just doing some quick checks trying to figure out when Hanna is going to get here. Right now, it's quiet. A little wet from the way forward edge (if you can call it that).

I am fully expecting that after one day of working from home and two days of staying inside because of the storm, I'll actually be looking forward to being in the office Monday. There is this small issue of having to be in the office 05:00 Sunday, but that should be over reasonably quickly. If the weather is too bad, then I will be doing that from home. Why do firewalls have to be such an issue in large networks?

Preparations for the weekend have been light. One pound of espresso from Bean There. I think everything with a battery is either charged or charging. Of course, I do miss having he UPS battery. Maybe this year I'll replace it with a new one. Really don't know how I'll handle a power outage, not that I am expecting one. The boys have been married to the computer and Xbox.

We did get some movies from Netflix, but I'm really not into anything. Problem is, I really don't know what's out there.

More later. Good night.

Today is the birthday of my wonderful wife, Natalie.

This is the last weekend of freedom for Natalie before she goes back to teaching sixth grade Science, Social Studies and English. I'm just hoping that she has a restful and relaxing weekend, before the insanity of the next nine months kicks in full time.

Happy Birthday, Natalie!

Happy birthday, to you Happy birthday, to you Happy birthday, dear Jacob Happy birthday, to you