We are the mundane
August has been a maelstrom of sorts, Lex at Yankee Stadium, 2 vacations for the kids (more on that in the next post), and most satisfying for me, Charlotte’s new bedroom. I (er, we…) painted (and varnished & stripped varnish & plastered & spackled & scrubbed & sanded & so on….) the 3rd floor attic guest bedroom, and Charlotte moved in (little by little) a couple weeks ago. She’s thrilled… and so is Lex.
Today, Lex roamed centerfield at Yankee Stadium. He’s in the bright yellow T-shirt, seen clearly in the 2nd shot.
The coaches were:
Mike Torrez – Pitching
Ron Blomberg – Hitting
Micky Rivers – Fielding
Very cool day. I hope Lex enjoyed it.
Lex and I went to the first of a 4-game series Thurs night. Lex’s first night game and first Red Sox game (he learned some new swear words.) We were both really pumped for the evening. Got there very early, in time to watch all of batting practice. Went to the outfield wall to try to catch a ball. Didn’t, altho a ball nearly caught us. Drank soda, ate Cracker Jack, Foot-Long Hot Dogs, Cotton Candy and Lemonade Sherbet. Priceless.
One problem, the Yankees never showed up: 7-0.
A small token of my appreciation. (I’ll keep a hold of them.)
We’ve been back for a week-plus (hit the ground running on our return) from spring-break vacation to St. Augustine, Disney World & Jacksonville. Two pix here are obvious, the 3rd is from the pool at our friends’ house in Jacksonville.
Took a trip to our nation’s capital. We stayed with friends that recently moved there (from Paris). Real good timing for the kids, having just studied MLK and Amelia Earhardt (went to Smithsonian), and given the fact that they are aware of the current elections
On Saturday we took a short hike along the Potomac. Sunday we went to DC
(It seems if you click on an image you get a medium sized shot, click again for full-size. Must be a new feature of the blog. I uploaded a “gallery” and it’s behaving a bit differently.)
Sort of a 2-step process. First thing I decided early on to get was an AppleTV.
I really have very little use for this, but I wanted it anyway. It allows me to rent or buy movies over the internet, including HD movies. (Only 720p, tho, and I was originally gonna wait for it to be upgraded to 1080.) Works really well, particularly since I have the bandwidth thru my FIOS service. Also holds all family photos and shows them in HD, an upgrade over the Tivo SD that I used to use for this. Plus, it holds my music. Also an upgrade, as I used to get occasional stalls when streaming music wirelessly from my computers.
Second step took some time to decide, but after getting the AppleTV, I made the decision pretty quickly. We have a Netflix account, which serves us quite well. The kids watch a lot of movies. But invariably, it seemed, any grown-up movie we’d get would be sent back unwatched. Lis and I just never seem to find the time. (Either I go to bed too early, or the kids go to bed too late.) So I tested a program called Handbrake (available on PC, too) that would rip DVDs directly for use by the AppleTV. One click, and you’re done. Only problem, on my 5 yr old laptop it took 20 hrs.
So I bought a new computer. The Mac Mini.
My main, 8 yr old computer is dying, making horrible noises, freezing, quitting apps, etc. And I really didn’t feel like trying to fix it. Plus I had recently moved it down to the desk in my bedroom, connected to a small LCD. The Mini will fit the desk much better than the old tower does.
So thanks again guys.
AppleTV: $300
MacMini: $680
Giants winning the Super Bowl: ……..well, you know.
