milestone

Lookee. The principal balance on the student loan is finally less than the principal balance on the mortgage. I had to pay more on the student loan than on the mortgage for three years before I got to this point. Yup, like paying for two houses.

This is It

Trailers and stuff here.

There is no denying that Michael Jackson was very gifted. Absolutely genius. As has been said, "Nobody moves like Michael."

Yeah, go see it and be entertained. Some might be inspired.

kudos to NASA

Yay. Nice launch of the test rocket.

iPhone app picks

iPhone rocks! Gumby has one and I've been setting it up. Here are the chosen free apps in alphabetical order:

Alarm Clock Free: I don't know what it does yet, but it looks like a nice clock interface.
AOL Radio: So we can go beyond our music collection and listen to other stuff.
Around Me: Mainly so we can find near by eats.
Balance: We're going on a trip; this will help tally up the cost.
Catholic Calendar: Because it's Catholic. And it's free.
Catholic Lite: A little too lite; candidate for deletion.
The Catholic Directory: So I can find near by parishes, their phone numbers and mass times. Also has the mass readings.
Dictionary: of course
DigiDrummer Lite: just for fun
Drum Meister Lite: more fun
eReader: in case we get a hankerin' to reading a book
ESPN ScoreCenter: for those rare moments when we actually want to know the score
Falling Balls: mindless fun activity; candidate for deletion
Google Mobile: find info fast
iTV: 'cause we don't have a TV Guide
iDict: In case we have to communicate in another language.
iHandy Level: just handy
Note Me: 'cause folks have said it's good
NYTimes: news
Pac-Man Lite
Quick Graph: Never had a graphing calculator. Neat to see stuff graphed in 3D.
Shazam: to ID music we hear and like
Space Shooter: mindless entertainment
Soduko: of course
uDrummer Lite: fun
USA Today: another source of news
Virtuoso Piano: fun. This one lets you do glissandos. It will span the whole keyboard, but difficult to do so smoothly. It's the same graphic, but the pitch changes.
The Weather Channel: weather, of course. This is in addition to the weather app that comes with the iPhone already. This one might get replaced ... still to be determined.
Yelp: mostly so we can find near by eateries
Feb 2011 update: (too many to discuss them)

digital camera review links

The following sites are not hard to find. They'll show up on a search for digital camera reviews. These are just the main ones I'd look up instead of wading through all the links that are available.

Jeff's picks at Digital Camera Resource Page My favorite page for doing a quick look. Nice large photos, picks are arranged by price and there is a brief commentary for each pick.
Dave's Picks at Imaging Resource Here the picks are arranged by function if you need it that way. If you scroll down, there are picks arranged by price. It's a longer list to browse and the pictures of the cameras are much smaller. If Jeff's picks were too few, maybe Dave's list will do the trick for you.
Ken Rockwell My favorite page if I don't need a lot of options. He gives a "This is the best camera, hands down" opinion. He does have some other picks but if you're tired of thinking about it, take the "one best camera" advice and run with it.

Steve's Digicams and Digital Photography Review (links below) have a list of favorites as well. If I see a camera show up as a favorite on all of these sites, then I figure it must be good. These lists are good place to start. I really don't want to read through the entire plethora of digital cameras on the market, so I start with these shorter lists. From there, I can check out in-depth reviews of whatever camera I want to zoom in on.

My favorite sites for an in-depth review:
Steve's Digicams This is my first love as far as camera review sites goes. The format has changed recently. I'll have to get used to it.
Digital Photography Review Steve can't review them all. So between Steve and this site, I should be able to find most any model.

Then if I want to see what the "general word on the street" is on a camera, I'd browse a larger set of websites. For example, I think the micro four-thirds format is promising. I would scan several articles on that instead of heading straight for the in-depth review.

Each of the above sites have other features as well. They're worth checking out. Have fun.

annoying

It is safe to say that Beyonce's singing annoys me. There is no depth to her singing; there is a serious lack of expression.

persimmons

Persimmons. I had picked them from the tree at the other property just last Saturday. I've been seeing them change to a brighter orange as they sit on the counter. Now they seem ripe already. I had one. It wasn't bad. Probably one more day of ripening would be safe.

flashlights ... hee

Like it? You can get it on the Animal Rescue Site.

took the day off

I decided to take the day off today. We took the critters to get blessed, on the occasion of Feast of St. Francis (of Assisi). We had three crates in my car: one for each of two cats and a medium one for the Labrador. We were late getting there and almost missed it. And since we were late and most people were gone, we were able to park right by the curb. Father came over to bless them in the back of the car; all the crates faced outward. Minutes later the other Father was picking up the holy water bucket when he saw us and offered to sprinkle them. Fortunately, all the critters came forward to the crate doors and they all got sprinkled.

Then we went to check on the other property, then stopped on the way back to get pie slices, then another stop to get lunch to go.

Unfortunately, we took too long to get back. The black and white cat is on diuretics for his heart condition, and urinated just as we got in our neighborhood. Oh well. That's why I had a mat in there, just in case of such accidents.

The cats are in a big cage at home. They get to come out when we're home and can watch them. Today they pretty much spent the day in their cage.

You see, I took the day off. I had lunch, then took a long nap. Woke up, took a shower, went out and got dinner, fed everybody, then washed dishes, and I'm going to go to bed in a little while. Cat bathing, crate cleaning, and house cleaning will have to wait until tomorrow at best.

update: Yes I did bathe the cat on Sunday. He's very sweet and gave me no problems. Then I took him out to the front porch and dried him with a hair dryer. He did try to leave a few times but that was all. No hollerin'. No biting or scratching. I did it outside since all that hair was flying. The time before, I had bathed him without blow-drying and he was pretty badly matted afterwards. So now I know I have to blow-dry him. It took a while.

random shot