I got a new monitor today!

Whee! This thing is wi----de! 1680 X 1050 sized. First the boss came around with a tape measure in his hands, measuring everyone's monitors. Later, a truckload of shiny new Dell LCD monitors arrived and were handed out to those of us willing to disconnect our old monitors and plug in the new one.

And I volunteered. This thing is Napoleon Dynamite sweet and I'm certain it has more capabilities built in than I have yet discovered. There is a USB connection on the monitor so accessories can be plugged in without reaching all the way around to the dusty back corner of my desk. All I know is right now I can get more windows open and visible than ever before. And my homework's done for tonight.

I still need a corporation with a organizational behavior circumstance as subject matter for a term paper. I'm open to suggestions so send them via email please.

Astin is 6 months old already!

And ain't he a cutie? Granny Sunday and I got to visit for a little while last Friday. He's pretty neat.

A picture from my trip

These Possumblog decals seem to be popping up all over!
And a test of Blogger's picture uploading feature.

Vento Phantom Scooter link post

This post will become a permanent part of my blog and have a link added to the front page as I get it implemented. On this page, my plan is to put a link to every scooter post as it goes up on the front page. If you are a visitor to Wasted Electrons and leave a comment in a post from the past, please email me so I'm aware of your visit. Updates as they occur.

Speaking of scooters
Sure glad i bought a Phantom last year
Phantom performance quandry
I bought a jacket
More Phantom "Improvements"
July Scooter Updates
101 miles, 1.157 Gallons
Scooter mileage update
I'm really happy with my Phantom- finally!
Another blogging scooter rider!
There's another Phantom!
The Phantom is really getting better!
Scooter Parts!
More Phantom Stuff- Good News This Time
Vento now telling buyers they received "knock offs"!
When fishing boats attack!
Vento Phantom Exhaust Pipe Update
Me? Easy weekend, how about you?
The scooter's working!
School's out, the scooter runs, spring is here!
Phantom scooter updates
My scooter parts have arrived!
My Vento Phantom is getting bigger!
I've become a scooter consumer advocate
Vento Phantom Update
Vento Phantom scooter engine sizes revisited
My first scooter convert!
Regarding the Vento Scooter misrepresentation
My most visited post ever-
Vento Phantom R4i scooters are 125cc!
90 miles today, 1.03 gallons!
Still doing my part to support Scootersdirect2U...
Scooter purchase is Imminent!
My Scooter Choices- Feedback Wanted
Hey, scooter guy, check this out!
More fun with Scootersdirect2u!
SCOOTERDIRECT2U@aol.com
Of Mountain Bikes and Motor Scooters
More weekend fun
More Scooter Shopping-
Something completely different- Scooters!

Story of my trip to Ohio

I expect that this story will go up in several posts simply due to all the stories that need to be told and because of the continual burden of work, school and family man. So, you'll just have to keep stopping by to see how the story goes as I manage to scribble it all down.

First of all, I had a great time in Ohio with all my immediate family. Both of my parents were there, Mom down from Michigan, Dad on his annual sojourn up above the Mason-Dixon line from Florida with his wife Carol. Next younger brother Tim came from Florida as well, I met him at the airport in Cleveland just as planned. Baby sister Melanie, with her hubby Mark and three offspring, Rachel, Joshua and Steven also came from Michigan. Melanie's blog is over the on the right, so we'll see what she has to say about the weekend soon enough. Youngest brother Peter still lives in Alliance, with his girlfriend Debby and we were all there to share in the celebration of the installation of brother Mark as the new pastor of Highland Church of God in Wooster Ohio.

The party actually revolved around Mark and his lovely wife Barb's house in Alliance. This house has been in the family since 1973 which is some kind of record for our family and soon its going to be readied for sale. That's a huge transition in the family right from the start!

So flying into Cleveland was uneventful and pleasant, all except for that 6:05 takeoff time that I've moaned about previously. My flight was right on time, Tim's flight was delayed nearly 30 minutes but we still found each other without any difficulty. We didn't make it to the rental car counter before staring with the "old guy" cracks, asking if I wasn't already getting a AARP discount!

Well, I wasn't getting any discount for my age but I did wrangle a decent discount on an upgrade from the lovely Dollar Rental Car assistant. I had booked a full-size car and was expecting a Chrysler product, because that's what Dollar has for rent. Except that I had a Taurus waiting for me! Yuck! Instead of a clone of the most deserving of being a rental car autos, I upgraded to a Dodge Magnum! Oh yeah! Much better. And, no, it wasn't a Hemi. Too bad about that. 

The internet ate my travel post!

That's right, I emailed into Blogger part of my story about my trip to Ohio. This afternoon. And it hasn't arrived yet. So tomorrow I'll copy and paste it from my email into the posting box for your reading pleasure...

101 miles, 1.157 Gallons

Another scooter gas milage update, just so you know I haven't quit blogging entirely. I had a group presentation to prepare for and deliver last night. Tonight is the Financial Management mid-term test.


That's 87.29 mpg if you're math challenged...

Isn't that too cool? I'm doing my part to save the oil reserves every day when I scotter scooter to work and school and leave my 12 mpg truck in the driveway!

This is only a test-

If this was an actual cat, you would have already been informed to fill his food dish!

Note: regarding the test, you can now post a photo directly from Photobucket into Blogger. Its pretty slick but obviously it doesn't resize pictures to fit your Blogger template. I generally just use the thumbnail and link feature but I had to try out the new trick.

My family

Photo from this past weekend's trip to Ohio. Its just a teaser while I continue to write some substance...


That's my dad, Roger in the back rwo on the left. Pastor Mark is in the center and brother Tim on the right. In the front row, from left to right is youngest brother Peter, your humble scribe, baby sister Melanie and my mother, Joyce.

Some notes of interest- obviously there is NO familial resemblence amongst any of us... Brother Tim is looking ever so handsome with his greying hair and no eyeglasses blocking the view, except that his eyes are closed in this picture! He recently had cataract surgery and is eyeglass free for the first time since he started kindergarten many years ago.

That's my clan. There's not a black sheep in the bunch, really. Heck, I've got more visible vices than anyone else in the family!

Lots more pictures later.

Scooter mileage update

Ninety-seven miles, 1.15 gallons to fill up today. That's 84.3 mpg.

Sweet!  [/Napoleon Dynamite]

And guns!

There were guns involved with this weekend! Big guns! But it still has to wait for a bit.

Weekend Update

There was travel, visiting, church services- twice, and squirt guns. It will be a great story, I promise.

But later.

And in an update- I noticed that the previous post finally did meander in and get online from the emailed effort, almost 4 hours later than the direct post into the Blogger box. I guess the email forgot to turn left at Albuquerque!

SPAM! I hate SPAM!

Ya know, I work on a military installation. There are very highly skilled people who manage the computer networks and servers and send out nasty emails about not streaming music on your computer and blocking our ability to shop for guns on Gunbroker.com or visit Kim Du Toit's blog from our cubicles.

Doesn't it seem reasonable that if they can block me from shopping EBay or sending funny video files to my friends, without the required change to the file extension so that it appears I am sending PowerPoint briefings, that these experts should also be able to keep the cheap mortgage, prescription pill and sexual enhancement offers from coming in to my email?

Good Grief!

SPAM! I hate SPAM!

NOTE- In the previous post, I noted that I had emailed in a post. And now, several hours later, it still has not arrived, so I have reprinted it here and posted it the "normal" way. I suspect, now that I consider it, that using the title above as an email subject line might just have had something to do with my email not getting through to Blogger.

Now, on with the post...

Ya know, I work on a military installation. There are very highly skilled people who manage the computer networks and servers and send out nasty emails about not streaming music on your computer and blocking our ability to shop for guns on Gunbroker.com or visit Kim Du Toit's blog from our cubicles.

Doesn't it seem reasonable that if they can block me from shopping EBay or sending funny video files to my friends, without the required change to the file extension so that it appears I am sending PowerPoint briefings, that these experts should also be able to keep the cheap mortgage, prescription pill and sexual enhancement offers from coming in to my email?

Good Grief!

Interesting-

This email-internet-blogging thingie. As you might be able to surmise, the post just below this one was emailed into Blogger. It arrived and was posted nearly immediately.

There's another post lost out there someplace, also emailed into Blogger, just minutes after the first post. As I write this, it still hasn't arrived and posted.

I wonder how long it will take to get here.

What the hell was I thinking?

Somehow, in my excitement of booking airline travel for this weekend's trip to Ohio, I failed to realize that my flight, tomorrow morning, departs at 6:05 AM! Yikes! What was I thinking? Or, obviously not thinking...

That is a 4 AM wakeup to get to the airport in Salt Lake and get checked in with a little time to spare. And being so early, traffic on the highway and through the airport will no doubt be minimal, so I don't have to pad in too much time.

But still; a 6 AM take off? Its gonna be a long day...

This just arrived from my father!

Subject: Clinton

Bill Clinton started jogging near his new home in Chappaqua. But on each run, he happened to jog past a hooker standing on the same street corner, day after day. With some apprehension he would brace himself as he approached her for what was most certainly to follow.

"Fifty dollars!" she would shout from the curb.

"No. Five dollars!" fired backClinton.
 
This ritual between Bill and the hooker continued for days. He'd run by and she'd yell, "Fifty dollars!" And he'd yell back, "Five dollars!"
 
One day however, Hillary decided that she wanted to accompany her husband on his jog. As the jogging couple neared the problematic street corner, Bill realized the "pro" would bark her $50 offer and Hillary would wonder what he'd really been doing on all his past outings. He realized he should have a darn good explanation for the junior Senator. As they jogged into the turn that would take them past the corner, Bill became even more apprehensive than usual. Sure enough, there was the hooker. Bill tried to avoid the prostitute's eyes as she watched the pair jog past.
 
Then, from the sidewalk, the hooker yelled, "See what you get for five bucks?"
 

Going to Ohio!

I'm getting pretty excited to be heading back to Ohio for my brother Mark's installation service. The service is this Saturday night, I'm leaving on Friday morning and not coming back until Monday night. (Must email instructor to explain planned absence...) The weekend is shaping up to be a great time with the whole family planning to be in attendance and a fine reason to celebrate together.

And- I've discovered CafePress.com! I actually used the artwork that my sister-in-law used for the invitations to make up some commemorative coffee mugs for Mark's service. Here's what the mugs look like. CafePress is really very cool technology. I copied and pasted just the parts of the invitation I wanted into a single jpeg picture file, uploaded it and then chose which of the many items CafePress offers to have it printed on. Coffee mugs. I chose coffee mugs. In less than an hour I had created the artwork, uploaded the file, created the mugs and ordered enough for the immediate family. And the mugs will be delivered to Brother Mark's house by tomorrow! That is very cool. Additionally, I probably didn't buy enough for everyone that wants one, but more can be purchased until everyone is satisfied.

I have to say that this online technology of having limited runs of items produced, on demand, is very neat. One hour to create, one day to produce, two days to ship, all done online and at a very affordable price. I am very impressed. I am also working on some additional products that I am NOT at liberty to divulge at the present time. There's a secret brewing that needs some time to ferment...

I saw a surfer tonight- on the Weber river!

Tonight, my class quit early and so I was home and having dinner with the family by 6pm. Noah grilled up some steaks that were ready as I pulled into the driveway and there was salad and a baked tater too.

So we had a nice dinner, all of us and afterwards the BSU & I gathered up Sandy dog for her overdue trip to the PetSmart for her nail trimming. Sandy needs her nails trimmed every month but sometimes that month stretches into 5 weeks or 6 and then it gets critical. It was time tonight for the trimming.

The three of us headed out, got the trimming accomplished with absolutely no squirming, picked out a new set of nail cutters for the cat to replace the missing set and headed back home. The sun had come out, finally, this afternoon and it was a beautiful evening. And I thought a trip to the kayaker water park in the river might be fun for all of us. We drove over to the road end and followed the path up to where the water play park had been excavated in the river last fall. Imagine my surprise when the first person I saw playing in the waves was not a kayaker but a surfer!

There was about 8 folks all playing in the waves but only one of them was standing on a surfboard! The way the river is dug, there is a standing wave about 3 or 4 feet high and 20 feet long in the river. The wave's tall enough to support that surfer and he was able to move that board back and forth accross that wave just like he was in the ocean. The boaters all took their turns riding that wave, turning in and out of it with varying degrees of success and it was good fun watching them.

The BSU enjoyed the short walk but thought the folks in the water were just too scary. On the way home then, we stopped for root beer floats. Since Sandy wasn't allowed inside the KFC, I bought her a take out box of Popcorn Chicken for a treat.

It was a really pleasant trip all 'round.

PS I trimmed the cat's nails tonight with the new clippers. When I went to put them in the drawer where the last pair lived- I found the old pair! Of course...

A Dave Barry Productivity Enhancer!

Ok, I know I have better things to be doing now that school's back in but this game caught my attention tonight. Its called Poom. It looks simple. Hell, it is simple! But its really fun.

So mind your time, you will burn some if you like this kind of game.

USMC Trained Rat

Just like any Marine, they don't mess around. See the rat in action!

The Great Cat Treat Challenge

From Pammy over at Lollygaggin, a blogger I've never read before. I might have to though if he writes like this post where he shares his kitty's treats, taste tests them himself and is brave enough to blog about it. He calls himself El Capitan and his blog is Baboon Pirates.

Its 43 degrees and raining outside

And thanks to our state-of-the-art environmental control system, its 64 degrees inside!

At least its not raining inside... Good Grief!

This month's calendar-

Includes starting back to school, tonight and every Monday through Thursday night until the end of July. Organizational Behavior and Financial Management. Both classes are with instructors I've had in the past, so there shouldn't be any big surprises. Just lots of hours of class and plenty of homework on the weekends.

One weekend though, I'm going to Ohio for my brother Mark's induction service as pastor of the church where he has been chosen to serve. The whole family's going to be there, Dad, Mom and all the siblings, the first time since June of 1998. So, I'll be leaving on Friday the 16th, meeting brother Tim at the airport to share a rental car and returning to Utah on Monday the 20th.

So I'm excited about going to Ohio for a couple days and seeing family. XSU, if you see this, I'll forward the invite to you if you would like to see it or if you could be in town that weekend. I'm less excited about getting back into the classroom.

Hopefully the work won't be so terrible that I can't figure a way into taking the BSU camping sometime this month too. If the weather ever settles...

More thoughts before heading out to the carport

The Escort I've been working on for Kye & Sara is still not running! I worked on it again all day yesterday, replacing the fuel pump, the fuel strainer, ($90+), and the starter at $110! Yikes!

Both desperately needed changing. The fuel pump was completely crusted with rust and even inside the pump in spite of the strainer. Taking that out of the gas tank wasn't difficult, just a little stressful. And there's nearly a full tank of year-old gas in there, which might be contributing to the non-starting circumstance.

Anyway, its cranking, and firing, but only irregularly, like its not getting al the cylinders sparking or fuel's not getting to all the right places. Which means I'm out to the carport in a minute to remove the intake manifold and the injectors to see if I can do something there.

If its not fixed by mid-afternoon, I'm getting Jim's car tote and hauling it to a garage for somebody elses's attention. School starts tomorrow and I'm out of time.

I'm really happy with my Phantom- finally!

I must admit that the scooter has, in just this past week, turned into the scoot I was expecting from the beginning. Or, I could say that my tinkering with the engine has finally been successful. Either way, the scoot is terrific!

Over Memorial Day weekend, I removed the rear wheel & tire assembly and got it balanced at a local shop. That $10 has smoothed out the ride tremendously! I also finally, decided that the carburetor jetting just wasn't right and so, with the help of another local shop, replaced the 108 sized main jet with a 115 sized jet. I was afraid to make that big a jump in size for fear of going overly rich, but that hasn't been the case.

Instead, my scoot's now about 4 mph faster at top speed, easily getting to 56-58 mph depending on the road flatness. It also climbs the steep hill near my house at 45mph which is a huge improvement. The mid-range power is sweet, easily keeping up with in-town traffic on my commute. And the scoot continues to idle quietly at traffic lights and pull away strongly with no bad habits due to its increased power.

Heck, when the shop receives a new shipment, I might even try a teensy bit bigger carb jet!

Another blogging scooter rider!

There's probably lots more sccoter riders and bloggers if I took the time to look, but I haven't. Instead, I'll introduce you to Victoria and her blog, Scooterlife. She just brought home a new Kymco Super9 and is justifiably proud of it.

Her blog's full of great photos, safety tips and riding comments. Check it out!

Better than a fading magnetic ribbon on your fender!

Do something meaningful to 'really" support our deployed troops! In addition to the Operation Uplink button that resides over there on the right, I'm adding a new link that you can click to do something meaningful for our soldiers and marines. Buy them beef jerky!

The Colorado Beef Council has teamed up with the USO to provide donated packages of beef jerky in USO care packages. So go read the details and follow the link to the USO's donation page.

I'm donating enough for a dozen bags of jerky today. How about you? You'll feel like you are really doing something valuable and maybe either ditch that lame magnetic ribbon or at least feel like your car can wear it with pride.

Working in a meat locker

Is not what I signed up for with this outfit! Its just 60.6 degrees in this building today! Dang!


'Course its just 47 degrees outside, which made for a brisk ride to work today on the scooter.

I did it again!

From: University Advancement
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2005 10:29 AM
Subject: Dean's List for Spring 2005



Dear Nathaniel:

Congratulations for being named to the Dean’s Honor List for Spring 2005. This is a prestigious honor and you should be proud of your accomplishments.

Park University would like to recognize you by providing the following letter to the editor, if you wish to submit this news to your local newspaper(s).

Additionally, Park has posted your name on the University web site. To view your name, simply visit www.park.edu/deanslist/ and scroll down to your Campus Center. Be sure to select the most current semester and year (Spring 2005).

If you have questions or need assistance, please contact your Campus Center director.

Michael Droge
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Park University

Ya gotta see this!

Yes, its late. I'm heading for bed in just a minute. But I found a link tonight over at Ogre's place that you have to see!

Ogre gets the question right, too. Ginger, or Mary Ann? Safe for work- but just barely... UPDATE: If you're trying to see this from an af.mil address, you're going to get busted by the network filters! Ditto for the link below! Wait till you get home!

UPDATE: Here's another must-see video from I Hate My Cubicle! There is a Safe for Work, and a Not Safe for Work side to this guy's blog. If you're at work, you better choose the Safe for Work side...

Explore the other side from home! Great stuff most every day.

There's another Phantom!

In my very own neighborhood! A Vento Phantom scooter, a shiny, bright red one. I've not met the owner yet but I'll be watching out in the future. Yesterday on the way to the house, I stopped for some fresh flowers at the local Albertsons, so that things would be pretty when the BSU got home from her Oregon trip. And in the parking lot, in front of the shopping strip portion of the plaza was another scooter! How about that? Anyway, I of course parked right next to the red one and went to do my buying, hoping that the other scooter owner would see the doubling of scooters in the space and be available to chit-chat. But no luck, the scoot was still there when I came out and no other rider in sight.

So I'll be watching and maybe I'll even print up some cards to say hi when I find another scooter unattended. Maybe we can share some ideas and sneak off for a ride just for fun.

My scoot's doing pretty well right now though I had to table the megaphone muffler plan again. It caused my engine to run so lean that performance really suffered. Last night I bought 2 bigger main jets and hopefully I'll get to experiment with them later this week. After the rain stops. Again.