Any of you monkeys want a banana?

In a New York minute....
Posted at 6:49 on Saturday, April 24, 2004

I found this image here.

Accompanying text from the article:
'This image shows the differences in daytime land surface temperatures collected between July 2001 and July 2003. A blanket of deep red across southern and eastern France shows where temperatures were 10 degrees Celsius (18 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter during the summer of 2003 (Credit: NASA).'

I find so many interesting tidbits of news by using the RSS page. It provides a non-stop assortment of news, opinions, commentary, technical stuff, pictures, etc, etc. RSS feeds are usually 'consumed' by a desktop news aggregator like Newsgator or Radio Userland News Aggregator but I put it on the site so I can watch the feeds no matter where I'm at. My favorite feeds are Slashdot and the Register. There's some great stuff available through RSS. For example, I found this utility called StationRipper . It converts streaming audio (think internet radio stations) into separate mp3 files. So far it's of little value, because I'm on dialup. If I ever get high-speed, though, it will become useful. Think of it...untraceable music downloads. The possibilities are endless.

The track season is in full swing. Jon is having a good year so far. He usually ends up 2nd or 3rd in the sprints, and his relay teams are winning most of their races. Looks like it might be the boys turn to have a strong team. The high school girls team is doing pretty good, but this season will be a struggle. They don't have the depth in field events that's been there in the past. I'm sure they'll have a good year, though. We had a junior-high track meet yesterday. The Pickford girls won and the boys were second, I think. Ronnie ran the 100 (2nd place), 400 relay(2nd place by about 2 inches), and the 800 relay(1st). It was a pretty nice day, much better than the meet in St. Ignace on Tuesday. It was so cold and windy, and of course all I had was a light jacket. Most of the afternoon I looked for things to hide behind to get out of the wind. While hiding behind a door, someone came over and said 'You must be the smartest guy here' because I was out of the wind. 'If I was a little smarter I would have brought a heavier coat' was my response. A bit later I was standing on the leeward side of a small building, hiding from the wind again, when someone else came over and said 'You must be the smartest guy here'. I liked that line, so I used it again 'If I was a little smarter I would have brought a heavier coat'. Maybe I should copyright it so I could get paid whenever someone says it.

For some time, I've wanted to travel around the country, and it looks like my wish is finally coming true. We went to Texas a couple months ago, and in about two weeks, I'll be taking Rachel to her new job. Both she and Gabi have found Nanny positions in the New England area. I've never been there, so I'm looking forward to seeing a new part of the country. I hope to have time to do a bit of sight-seeing while I'm there. I am also hoping to hook up with Steve Heineman, a friend I've not yet met. A mail was just dispatched letting him know I will be in his area. I'll know soon enough if that's going to happen.