it's the end of the year as we know it...

and i don't feel all that fine. have come down with some nasty virus or other and have the worst sore throat in recent memory. have spent the last couple of days pretty well hunkered down at home not doing much of anything. i have found time to post my christmas pictures, which can be seen here, although having to ftp my files via analog connection was a major drag. maybe sometime this year i'll actually get setup with broadband? stay tuned for updates on that.
saw a good movie this past week, "the aviator". learned a lot about this howard hughes guy, mostly that he was a very rich weirdo. got a couple of rentals to watch over the next 7 days.
thought about doing a recap of the year, similar to what i did last year, but don't have the energy to do it now. you can always review my archived blogs if you are really curious.
that's it for now, i'm out, happy 2005!

the aftershock...

hope everyone had a great christmas and you got to spend the day with family and friends. ours was great, did the usual 2 tiered christmas day celebration, morning with allies family, afternoon\evening with my family. i have to sort through the 63 pictures i took during the day and will get a few of the best posted in the next few days. as noted, i have the rest of the week off and we still have several more events on the calendar before relatives start heading back home. more later...

although it's been said many times, many ways...

...merry christmas 2 u!
alrighty then. this is probably my last post for a few days as i am officially on vacation after today until january 3rd, 05. don't be surprised if i manage to post a couple of updates between now and then but i will most likely be pre-occupied with many other things.
it appears as though my domain name: thirdthoughts.com has been successfully transferred to 1and1. final note on this and then we will all move on with our lives. if you have this site bookmarked at http://www.s88752791.onlinehome.us/ PLEASE rebookmark to www.thirdthoughts.com, or click here and then rebookmark, (or add to favorites). you will know when this is done becuase you will see www.thirdthoughts.com in the address field and NOT http://www.s88752791.onlinehome.us/. both should work for now but eventually the onlinhome.us will be going away. do it now..please? thank you. i am also receiveing my skip@thirdthoughts.com at the new location so you don't have to do anything differently there.
all of our respective bostonian relatives have arrived. we look forward to hosting the price family version of christmas day at our house. that's right, 19 people (last count, give or take someone i may have missed) at our home. we may have had to move some chairs out of the living room but we do have a nice gigantic christmas tree for everyones viewing pleasure.
that's all for now. will check back in a few days.

update...

just an update to say there is no update. actually a representative from register.com called me yesterday to ask why i was tranferring my domain. let's see, $35 per year vs.'s $5.99...hmmmmm let me think about that one. apparently there are many other reasons besides cost that i should consider staying with register.com. but i couldn't get her to convince me of any of them. they said the transfer would take place in 12-24 hours. so far, at the time of this posting, it hasn't.
today marks the official beginning of the christmas holiday madness and the meriad of get-togethers and activities that will no doubt ensue. it's always hectic and sometimes nerve-wracking but always fun. more later...

just a reminder...

it looks like the domain transfer will go down on monday december, 20th. i will try to get all my pages reloaded some time that day. you may need to re-bookmark this page at http://www.thirdthoughts.com because currently it is being re-directed to (http://www.s88752791.onlinehome.us/). i will transfer my current emails and get skip@thirdthoughts back up and running as well. here's hoping for a seemless transfer!

allie's birthday pics...

...can be seen on the images page. too lazy to post link...you know where to go...

baby, it's cold outside...

8 degrees above zero to be exact...still no snow yet. i think we will have to be dreaming of a white christmas this year with every christmas card we write.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLIE! hope the drives to and from school are a little shorter and owen's nap is a little longer today. i love you hon!
i realize yetserday's post was a little on the dry side. no one really cares where my domain lives or where it is being transferred to, or who my registrar's are or might be. but, due to my policy of full-disclosure, i feel it's my responsibility to keep everyone informed as to the technical aspects of this blog. plus it feels good getting it off my chest, which is really what this site is all about.
a note re: christmas music. i now understand that last year i had a somewhat unhealthy obsession with christmas music and getting as much of it as possible ripped to digital format. the end result is that i now have 1,112 christmas songs on my ipod and ready to go. not all of it is even that good and it's hogging up over 6 gb! i may have to compress that list in the future and just keep the good stuff.
i have some time left to burn this year so a few light work weeks ahead.
i had a grand total of "0" sick days this year but i have accepted the fact that i will get no recognition for being so healthy.
more later...

keep it together...

i am in the process of moving my domain name "thirdthoughts.com" from it's previous registrar, "register.com", to "1and1.com", who is my actual web host. what, you may ask, does this mean to you? hopefully nothing. except that you should no longer see http://www.s88752791.onlinehome.us in the address line of your browser anymore. the transfer usually takes 7-10 days and is actually a pretty formal process. being that i am the owner of the domain there isn't any transfer of ownership, it should be easier....i hope. there is a chance that this site could be temporarily down for awhile over the next couple of weeks while i sort all of this out. i will probably have to transfer my entire site via ftp to my new domain space. i haven't figured out the full impact yet, but i will no doubt have to do some tweaking to get this completed. for example, my current skip@thirdthoughts email address is with register so i'll have to set up an email address with 1 & 1. why am i going through all of this? the domain name is only $5.99 a year as opposed to $35 per year with register.com. so...this is just a warning that there may be some technical difficulties ahead until all of this transferring stuff is resolved.

enterprise, we'll pick you up...

ok, trying something new. i'll go with this for awhile and see how it works. the idea is to try to come up with a clever 2-3 word summary of my subsequent post. all the kids are doing it....why can't i?
the chicgao trip went down. it was a loooong day, as i knew it would be. the best part was actually seeing the t-systems headquarters and meeting some of the people and putting names with faces of people i talk to alot. the blackberry device is a cool thing. hopefully i'll be getting one soon.
a couple of things...the first hitch i ran into was, funny, no rental cars at midway! not just with "enterprise" with whom i had my reservation, but no rental cars to be found with any agency, period! a couple of things came to mind, one was the seinfeld episode, you know the one. "anybody can just take a reservation...it's holding the reservation that's really the most important part of the reservation." also the scene in "planes, trains, and automobiles" that earned it an "R" rating. if you saw the movie, you know of what i speak. had to take a cab from midway to lisle, illinois for $72. on top of all that,i had a screwdriver (from my latop bag), and a small size swiss army knife from my keychain confiscated at midway. it was my own fault for being so careless. what bothers me a little was, why was it ok to take those things from the mpls-st.paul airport? there were a few other amusing anecdotes from the trip, but i'll either post later or tell you in person.
good news, my original recipts turned up in the mail. this is huge because this will facilitate a more timely reimbursement, which is critical due to the time of the year and the fact that we are spending money like rock stars at the moment.
more later...

the new looks been up for a couple of days. i know there's still a few broken links to deal with. i have been underwhelmed with feedback from at least 2 individuals, both in my immediate family.
it's been busy at work to say the least. a rather challenging week as well due to the fact that apparently my expense report and original receipts from my recent trip to LA got lost in the US mail. this means that getting reimbursed for my expenses may be a bit harder than it's really meant to be. i accept responsibility for the fact that i neglected to make photo copies of all of my original receipts and i will chock that up as a lesson learned. hopefully, this dilemma will have a happy ending? stay tuned...
speaking of trips, i have a whirlwind trip to chicago and back scheduled for tomorrow. rest assured all receipts will be accounted for and photocopied immediately upon my return. the trip is to my t-systems home base in lisle, illinois to attend a 2 hour meeting on blackberry devices that my group will soon be supporting. i also have an unscheduled, and unannounced meeting planned with accounts payable to beg for forgiveness and reimbursement in full.
more later...

well, here it is...what do you think? don't savage me on the broken links. i realize some of the image archives aren't linked yet. i'll figure that out another time. at least it's a fresh new look just in time for '05 (whatever that means?). hopefully, it will last me at least a year. more later...

the time has come once again. the time where i get bored looking at this site and and decide to give it an extreme makeover. i've got an idea in the works. be warned the makeover will be primarily cosmetic. don't expect loads of new and interesting, never-before-seen looks behind the scenes. you'll know it when you see it. until then, enjoy the final "blue dots" phase.

hope you enjoyed your thanksgiving. we headed down south to rochester for the festivities. had a great day with my parents and my sisters family. no football, or parades but did catch a few minutes of shrek 2.
the holiday madness now officially begins. stress will mount, blood pressures rise, and arrangments for assorted events and gatherings will commence in earnest.
within the past hour, i have actually completed 90% of my christmas shopping. thanks to master card and al gore for creating the interent. for the first time my wife and i are actually sticking to a modest budget for each other, instead of the free spending free-for-all process that we have employed in the past. makes much more sense to me on so many levels!
plan to string some lights on the outside of the house, and organize my digital holiday tunes on my ipod. more later...

here are a couple of pics i snapped from SoCal...mostly my hotel and santa monica beach. nothing too spectatular although the weather was awesome. wish i would have had a chance to take more.

my part of the project is complete and i belived we accomplished all we had set out to do. i arrived back in minneapolis last night at about 9:20. it was great to get back home! the flight was truly one of the best i've had. the eye candy leaving los angeles, starting out flying out over the pacific then banking back over the city, over hollywood (spotting the famous hollywood sign on the hill) while the sun was starting to set, was a site i will never forget. shortly thereafter when it was dark you could clearly make out las vegas from 35,000 feet. it was a brilliant strip of red, purple, & white lights with darkness all around. even landing in minneapolis we cruised over downtown which was all lit up...spectacular. no turbulants to speak of. i personally commended the pilot on my way out, told him "nice job". if i had one complaint it was that the meal that was served was a joke, but i had already eaten anyway:-) i have picked out a few pics i will want to post but i don't have the time and energy to do it now. more later...

today has been an extra long day but we made a lot of progress on the second site. as this is my last night in SoCal, i have plans to head out with the lead tech guy, who i have sort of bonded with, when we're done here. last night i did venture out for a while and found a nice restaurant on santa monica blvd. not sure what's up for tonight although i'm pretty gassed and have a lttle bit of a cold going. can't sit in my hotel room on the last night though! may have time to hit manhattan beach before the airport? looking forward to getting back home tomorrow.

well the first site is done...save for some final clean-up that the lead tech will do on friday. tomorrow we head to site two which is only about 2 miles from the hotel. still not a lot of free time to take advantage of, no photo opps to be had. last night i did venture out for a couple of hours. headed north towards downtown LA, past the staples center and cruised sunset blv and found an "in-n-out burger", which was recommended by a frequent LA traveller. probably the best burger i've ever had, and i've had a few. the double-double with raw onions was worth the 15 minute wait. tonight i'm thinking about taking 10 west towards santa monica, through west hollywood, and the heading north on 405 to santa monica blvd to see what, if anything, is going on there. hope to hit site 2 hard tomorrow and hopefully be close to wrapping up there on thursday. i hope to get away thursday in time to check out manhattan beach before i have to catch my flight home. we'll see. more later...

ok, day one is in the books. are at least nearly in the books as technically i am still at the client site. today went a little differently than i expected as apparently we weren't due to show up until noon. this allowed time for ben and myself to head down to newport beach to train the 3 techs assisting us with the project. it was about a 45 minute trip, one way, with a considerable amount of traffic. i realized it is much easier to travel around in pairs, i drove and ben was the navigator. driving around, especially at night, while trying to read a map is not ideal. took a couple of pics of the hotel this morning..that's about as far as i've gotten with the digital documentation. not sure what else is going on tonight so this might be my only update til tomorrow. we'll be able to start much earlier tomorrow so hopefully we'll have site one wrapped up by noon? i've officially concluded that the idea of travelling is much more glamorous than actually travelling itself. more later...

greetings from the city of angels. i made it here this afternoon on time and on schedule. actually, my flight arrived 15 minutes earlier than expected. i found the hotel pretty easily except for a couple of minor navigational mistakes once i got close, but all in all it was noneventful. my hotel, the crowne plaza in commerce, ca, appears to be a huge casino, which also happens to be a hotel. i've never been to las vegas but i imagine that this is as close as you can get without actually being in nevada. gambling does nothing for me so i won't be losing or winning any big money while i'm here. i called the head tech and we have made arrangements to meet in the morning for breakfast. we are not supposed to arrive on the site until noon so we will be heading to newport beach to do some training with a couple of the other techs. i wanted to get a feel for where the site was in sante fe springs (approx 8 miles away) so i did a drive by tonight. it's sort of an industrial area which is kind of what i expected. the second site is less than 2 miles away from my hotel so i'm not too worried about that one. it will be interesting to see how all this goes. i suspect that tomorrow will be a pretty long day. well, it's 9:55 local time, but my body is telling me it's really almost midnight. i'll check in later when i get a chance. haven't even gotten the digital camera out of the bag yet. hope to have some downtime later in the week. that's all for now...

just checking in one more time before i head to cali...have a few things to wrap up before i go. hopefully the high-speed access from my hotel room will work and i can e-mail and post blogs. don't have to much of an agenda yet, other than of course the work-related stuff. hope to have time to do some wandering around. i think i will. i used to be a seasoned traveler (when i got the great northwest airlines discount from my mom) but i have traveled less over the last few years. it's usually kind of a hassle to get to where you are going but i'm hoping that things go smooth this time. God-willing i will report next from LA! more to come...

haven't posted in a little while. there are a few things to report. first off, happy birthday to my sister becky! ok, yesterday was her birthday, i'm a day late and a dollar short as usual.
going to L.A. (commerce and santa fe springs) this coming weekend on a very rare business trip. coincidently, the last time i travelled for work was 1997, it was in california (san francisco) and covered the same time frame! (november 14-18).
i hope to have an opportunity to see some sights and take some pics so we'll see how it goes. i will be bringing my laptop so i sort of have an intention to do some "on location" blogging from L.A.
also have a big wedding to attend this weekend. a softball buddy of mine, who i have probably logged over 1,000 games with in the last 15 years is getting married on saturday. much to do before i leave on sunday!
more later...

as promised, here are a few halloween pics. the kids did the rounds with mom (even owen!) and netted the usual assortment of candy. i stayed back and dished out the goods. though we only have one previous year to compare it with trick-or-treaters seemed to be down this year. i'd say between 25-30. a pretty nice night all things considered and not too cold.

boo! probably safe to say this will be the final post of october. it's been another challenging work-week but the end is near. going to hang with jeff, my partner in crime tonight to do some geek stuff. nothing major planned over the weekend.
i was a bit dissapointed the that cardinals didn't put up more of a fight than they did, but i was still glad that the redsox finally ended the curse. enough said on all of that.
the girls will be fairy princesses for halloween. owen is not too into the idea of collecting candy yet. i'll be sure to get some pics up next week-ish.
that's all for now...

as promised, there are a couple of pictures of the 95th birthday party here. i took several but most of them turned out a little too dark to post.
i enjoyed taking a few days off and accomplished many things including, but not limited to, usual household chores, installed new light fixture, helped my father-in-law get his snow-blower to the shop, scheduled eye exam, raked 12 bags of leaves, logged many late-night hours on the xbox, played guitar, managed music via i-tunes, (deleted dupes), went to the library, watched some baseball, rented 2 movies, spent quality time with wife and kids, etc..
now it's back to the realworld. more later...

this month seems to be flying by...once we get through october it's a holiday blur through the end of the year. we celebrated my grandma's 95th birthday this past saturday. no that's not a type-o, she turned 95. she was 9 years old when the redsox last won a world series (1918). i took some digital pics but have not had a chance to either a.)upload them from my camera or b.) post any yet. i'll try to get a few up in the next couple of days.
i am taking advantage of some vacation hours these next three days. i'll be home, doing some odd jobs, and spending some time with the kids. the girls are off of school with teacher conferences. i will continue to stay up late watching the baseball playoffs, maybe playing some guitar and getting in some xbox time & just generally not worrying about what's going on at work.
more later...

well, things might be over for our minnesota twins this year but fortunately i still have 2 teams advancing to the LCS, boston and st. louis. i was among the 50-some thousand twins fans at the dome who got their hopes dashed by the yankees on saturday afternoon. still lots of good ball to be played and watched and i will be one of many baseball rubes coming to work with bloodshot eyes in the coming 3 weeks.
we did find some time to enjoy the asbsolutely gorgeous weather this weekend. yesterday the family hopped the lightrail down to minnehaha park, (see pics) and took in the fall colors. not too many of these days left i'm afraid.
work continues to be crazy. speaking of work, i'd better get back to it. until next time...

well, we survived the busy weekend. our participation in the marathon to benefit non-public education,(click for pics) went off well despite several small hitches. the first hitch was that there was no room in our vehicle for my bike (which wasn't really mine at all but one i had borrowed). i had thought that this might become an issue so i really wasn't that surprised. i opted to go it on foot, which as it turns out worked out fairly well. secondly, amid the chaos and confusion surrounding getting 3 kids and their repective gear in the car saturday morning, i forgot to bring the girls bike helmets. (so much for my father of the year nomination!) it was a cool morning so their winter hats sort of sort of obstructed the fact that they were helmetless...until it got warmer anyway. my best guess is that we went somewhere between 4-5 miles, which doesn't seem too far unless your walking with a weighted down backpack. the girls did great and had a good time despite tiring toward the end. maybe next year we'll go a little further? more later...

it's been a wild ride this week. (deep cleansing breath!) the job has kept me busy hopping from building to building. still a little unclear as to when the end date of my part of the project is and when i can assume my usual job again. there are many things i am trying to accomplish on the side, such as scanning and updating some pictures for the site. hang on, i'll get to it eventually.
we are apparently hiring a sitter for friday night. the first time in our parental history that we've actually reimbursed someone for the task of taking care of our kids for a couple of hours. if it works out, perhaps we will get to go out a little more often. maybe an occasional movie or something? the possibilities are endless...
have the big bike marathon\fund-raiser this weekend. the girls have been in "training" taking a few more trips around the block in preparation. i, on the other hand, am borrowing my dad's bike. i don't think i've ridden a bike in years.
baseball post-season starts next week. let the games begin! over and out for now.

had a nice extended weekend. got in some golf with a couple of pals and actually made major progress on some household projects. i realized i haven't worked a 5 day work week in like a month, going back before labor day. nothing wrong with that!
anyone who knows me knows my favorite time of the sports year is approaching, the baseball post season! my two favorite teams were the first two to clinch their divisions, minnesota and st. louis. my third favorite team (boston) looks like the likely american league wild-card so i'll have plenty of teams to root for. bring it on! i'll stop just short of using a favorite mlb slogan, "i live for this".
work continues to roll on. my project has shown signs of winding down, but i'm just now entering one of the more critical parts: the pilot. that will keep me hopping most of next week.
that's it for now...more later

decided to take friday off...i have some time, why not use it? supposed to have nice weather tomorow. there can't be too many really nice summery days left.
nothing too exciting to report back. as they say, no news is good news. enjoy your "regular" length weekend and i'll enjoy my long one :-)

just a quick update to bring all of those out there keeping score up to speed with what's going on. i'm signing in on a sunday night which is somewhat unusual. i have been known to post updates during the 8-5, monday through friday time frame which, coincidentally matches up with my normal work schedule.
speaking of work, i have been assigned to a 3-4 week project which finds me working outside of my office, in another location, often in a lab or hotel cube. i'm travelling a little lighter than usual, pretty much just my laptop, and with less time for casual activities, such as posting updates here. the work is steady, and challenging, and finally starting to take a little shape. we'll see how it progresses.
a fairly average weekend with the typical household tasks, cleaning, yardwork, etc. got the kids portrait taken on saturday which is quite the undertaking in itself. getting owen to sit still, let alone smile on command, is akin to giving the cat a bath or a pill.
kids are busy with school and assorted activities. summer weather lives on at the moment.
will report back later...

looking forward to 4 straight calender days off in a row, starting tomorrow. on tuesday i start my new project which is actually off-site at another facility. it's slated to last 3 weeks but could actually go longer. we'll see how that goes. it's a fairly high-profile project that i need to "shine" on. it gets me out of the daily support grind, but opens up a whole new series of issues. wish me luck...
planning on golfing in the morning and then off to the fair in the afternoon. should be a typical weekend and the getting together with family for labor day. that's it in a nut shell. all the best until next time...

ooops, nearly 10 days since a token post. muuuust updaaaate websiiiite. let's see what's going on?...summer continues to slowly wind down. it's been muggy but not too warm lately. school starts for the girls this coming wednesday. swimming lessons have wrapped up for the year. our YMCA summer membership expires in about 10 days. of course summer isn't complete without a trip to the state fair, which we plan to take next friday.
other than that, it's been business as usual. i'll be back when there's more to report.

as it turn out my softball tournament is this weekend (21-22) not last weekend (ooops) as originally reported. a minor oversight on my part, but at least i did not make the 2 hour trek to austin, mn.
it's been a busy week and i expect more of the same before it's over. i did take monday off and went golfing at chminox golf course in lino lakes. started my fall softball league last night (2-0). have the twins and yankees game tomorrow night. not to mention of course all that's happening around work.
i'll have more later...

happy friday the 13th...not sure if friday the 13th is still supposed to be significant anymore. i'll take fridays on any day of the month i can get them. it's mondays you have to watch out for.
speaking of mondays, i'm taking this next one off, to catch up on some things at home. playing in a softball tournament which will take up a good portion of the weekend. besides, i still have some days to take and if i don't use'em, i lose'em.
i have to be honest, i haven't exactly caught olympic fever yet. i haven't been able to really care too much about it one way or the other. i hope the united states does really well. except for the men's basketball team which i hope get's knocked off because of their arrogance. i can't bear the thought of the 24\7 news coverage and the 12 hour opening ceromony tonight. maybe i'll change and warm up to the whole idea.
an unusually cool week but warmer days are ahead. the state fair is right around the corner and that almost always means hot & muggy weather.
more later...

allison pointed out that yesterday was our official 1 year anniversary of moving to our house. i still sometimes say "new" house only to differentiate between our current home and our "old" house, or the previous house on continental in new brighton. it is such a hassle to move, i'm sooo glad that is over with. we have come a long way since then but still have lot's of projects on our to-do list, some small, some much larger, like finishing the basement. we don't have an official agenda but there are many factors involved not the least of which is time and money. since the prospect of getting selected for abc's "extreme makeover home edition" looks rather bleak, we will set small goals and try to keep moving.
i have been looking to schedule the remainder of my vacation days left for this year and we are even talking about future vacation plans in 2005.
enough for now...

i've noticed that my posts have sort of been an end of the week recap lately and i guess this one is no exception. hmmm...where did the week go? lots of things have happened. not sure how much is actually blog worthy. but, since i am here posting...
summer is slowy winding down. the baseball races are heating up, the vikes are in camp, and i'm having to mow the grass a little more infrequently. fall softball starts in a week and a half (the 17th?). work remains constant, a good thing i'm told. we are chipping away at some household projects. this weekend will fly by i'm sure. more later...

another work week slowly winding down. seems like there's plenty going on outside of work at the moment. the city of new brighton currently has our street completely torn up severly limiting the ease with wich we can come and go. it's a hassle but hopefully the resurfacing of our street and cul de sac will be as quick and painless as possible...and look good. also, the tree people showed up this morning to dismantle our deseased elm tree. that's a lot of money for a tree i didn't really get to know very well. also laid some sod last night to patch up where we cut down our shrubs in the back. busy weekend ahead too. have tix to the twins\redsox on sunday afternoon. pedro martinez vs johann santana, a baseball rube's fantasy. more later...

survived the first full work week since our vacation. the weather has been brutally warm & muggy up until today. the humidity is gone and it's sunny and pleasant. a good day to be,  say, somewhere other than work? have spent a good part of the week putting out virus fires (bagle_worm.ah), and putting out a veritble plethora of fires and flare-ups. weekend looks like the family unit will be heading out to the slice of shoreview, and maybe a get together with grandma & grandpa down in eagan. still have some projects at home that need attention. not sure how far i'll get with that. more later...

well, the results are in and as it turns out, our vacation was a complete success. the kids did great in the car for 7 hours, especially owen. very low maintenance, which is what i was hoping for. our weather was a bit hit and miss but we had three awesome days in a row, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, with warm sunshine. covered all of the bases we had planned, including, walks to the local park, lots of swim time on the beach, cook outs, bonfires, a couple of day trips in to "town",  a little fishing, and a lot of golf (one of the headlines on my agenda). i missed the record 100 holes of three years ago, but i golfed a respectable 93 holes this time around. when you consider i have 33% more kids and played only 7% less golf, that's an acceptable figure.
i was swarmed, bitten, and stung by every flying insect in the upper peninsula of michigan, but as our slogan became for the week, "it's all just part of the experience".  i read the paperback "digital fortress" by dan brown (of the da vinci code fame), from cover to cover. a techno-thriller of sorts that you would enjoy if you're into say, a cryptologist who has to save the world by cracking an unbreakable encrypted code. all in all a very enjoyable week. now....back to reality!
here's a link to what i think are the 18 best pics (out of 80).

ok, the time has finally come. we will be leaving for our 1 week vacation to upper michigan in the morning, staying at the same resort where allie spent every summer of her childhood. same cabin, same owner, same everything. we've been up there a couple of times in the last few years and we are all looking forward to it, especially since we skipped out on the summer vacation last year.
i have plenty to do between now and then, with organizing, packing, taking care of all the last minute stuff. not to mention, mowing the lawn and wrapping up last minute stuff at work. this will be owen's first real trip anywhere and i'm hoping he will do well in the car for 7 hours. we'll soon find out. looking forward to matching (or beating) my 100 holes of golf from three years ago, catching some sun on the beach, maybe a little fishing, and generally forgetting about work and most forms of technology for a while. i will have my ipod for adequate tunage, cell phone for baseball scores and maybe checking in with the folks, and some kid cd's. other than that, we'll be sort of roughing it (by our standards).
i'll be snapping plenty of pics (oh yeah, and my digital camera) of which i will be sure to post "the best of" when i return.
i will post a summary when we get back...until then it's wrap...
-skip

had more excitement than we bargained for this weekend when dad wound up in the hospital. he wasn't feeling well friday night and had to excuse himself from our planned family picnic on saturday. anyway, the good news is he's feeling much better and he may be released as early as today or tomorrow. get well soon dad - we love you!

it's hard to believe we are in the 7th month of the year...all i can say is, "wow". looking forward to a long 4th weekend. the weather looks iffy. there will definitely be some rain off and on, hopefully mostly "off"? we have not fared too well on the summertime holidays so far this year.
i have figured out that not counting today, i only work 4 of the next 16 calendar days. a good feeling to have...looking forward to our upcoming vacation. still sort of dreading the drive.
have a happy and safe independance day weekend!

wow, packed a lot into the long weekend. it was longer than usual because i took this past friday off. played some golf with dad, took the whole family to the twins game on friday night. went to our friend sue's place for an outdoor party on saturday, checked out the new light rail systems on sunday. now, it's back to work. it feels like i've been gone for about a week with all the stuff i had waiting for me. anyway, just wanted to post a brief update as we wind down june. it will be busy for the next couple of weeks, & then it's vacation time. looking forward to the independence day festivities this coming weekend. more later...

enjoyed a fine father's day this past sunday...i received a book and "medal of honor" (WWII) xbox game from my beloved children. plus, i was even granted permission to play 9 holes of golf, which i jumped at.
looks like i am back to playing softball this summer, which if you'll remember, i opted out of at the beginning of the season. now, if i can remember how to throw, catch and hit i should be fine. tuesday nights in inver grove, which is a 25 mile one-way trip. it might seem far, but i've actually travelled farther than that in the past.
looking forward to taking the family vacation in about 3 weeks. it'll be nice to get away for awhile. that's all for now...

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM & DAD!
we love you.

enjoyed a typically busy weekend. got caught on the golf course friday afternoon when a monster rain storm blasted through. managed to get about 14 holes in and we only lost a couple of balls and one cell phone (which was later recovered - not mine:-)
the girls had their big dance recital on saturday night, which went really well. alaina's third and noelle's first. alaina will be back in dance for sure next year, noelle wants to think about it. she likes to dance but is "not to sure" about the recital part.
got a bunch of projects done this weekend including the last phase of "project: shrub stump removal", which is not easy work. also got a lilac bush planted. still hearing bids on "project: get the porch roof leak-proofed before next winter". hopefully we'll decide on a contractor and get it done in the next few weeks. also completed "project: get the car-top carrier fully assembled before vacation" which was a two-person job, and strung out over several weekends.
have to attend a 3 hour "introduction to ITIL-IT infrastructure" seminar at the Minnesota Center in bloomington this friday, where oddly enough, i served as a security gaurd in the late 80's. that was a great job...sit at a desk all night and drink coffee.
i'll get another post listed when something else happens.

i forgot to post that i had the noelle birthday pics up, click here to see them.
summer has unofficially arrived! low 90's and humid today. so much for an easy transition.

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY TO NOELLE!!
i remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. it was a wednesday (like today) afternoon at fairview university in minneapolis. we were watching the movie "waterboy" with adam sandler, which wasn't very good. then the real fun began and there she was. i had a laptop in the room and began mass mailing my friends. i still have my original email, here is what i wrote:

Noelle Kay Price was born fashionably late @ 2:45 this afternoon. She was 9 lbs
and 13 ozs and 22.5 inches long! Mom and baby are doing well! I don't have
pictures yet but will soon have some posted at
www.angelfire.com/mn/thirdthoughts

of course that link doesn't work anymore but still. pretty cool, huh?
that's all for now...

time for my obligatory semi-bi-weekly occasional update. as one could conclude by my recent lack of posts, nothing too urgent to share. enjoyed this past weekend. went to rochester for my niece's high school graduation family bash. the weather has been drab, cool, rainy and gray, however i do anticipate a couple of dry hours tonight for some needed yard grooming. noelle is done with school for the summer, alaina goes until next friday. looking forward to an extra day off this coming holiday weekend.
stayed up way too late last night organizing, purging, and arranging songs on my ipod. if you think managing a few files on your computer is tough, try nearly 10,000 music files. it's almost overwhelming but sadly, i sort of enjoy it.
picked up a couple of books at barnes and noble this weekend using a gift vard i received for my birthday a couple of month ago. "D-Day" to feed my current WWII obsession, and "Digital Fortress" by Dan Brown (of Davinci Code fame).
as a side note, a couple of phrases' that i dislike. i want to "pick your brain", or, "i have a bone to pick with you". what's with the bone and brain picking? that's just gross.
skipprice...out!

just a quick shout out...to anyone interested i uploaded a couple of pics of lainie's par-tay here.
it's fairly typical hump-day...dentist appointment this afternoon...rain on the way...that's all for now

enjoyed a typical but much needed weekend. finally had alaina's birthday party and it went off without a hitch. that is, as well as could be expected when you have 8 sugar buzzed kids running wild in your home. the damage was minimal and everyone seemed to have a good time. we might skip a year or two on the kid party's at our house.
got the big over-stuffed living room chair this weekend that we ordered from becks about 6 weeks ago. the living room seems slightly smaller but there are plenty of places to sit, if you're into that sort of thing.
work continues to be challenging. never a dull moment it seems. the to-do list still has several items that need attention. maybe tomorow?....speaking of which,
tomorrow is mom's birthday...if i forget to post tomorrow, happy birthday mom! one person who i know who checks here regularly.
onward and upward!

one other mothers day thought...
i noticed on the msn homepage, where they show "popular searches" that listed as number five is "free mothers day cards". what, you can't spend a couple of bucks to get your mom a card?!?

well, i finally got a few pics of lainie's birthday up. you can see them here. also, if you haven't heard, her party that was scheduled for last friday was re-scheduled to this coming friday, due to the fact that lainie was sick. i'll try to get a couple pics of the party if possible.
enjoyed mothers day yesterday. got to spend it with (who else?) mom.
had my cat scan this morning. it's no big deal, except for the berium, which isn't really that big of a deal either. it's nice to know that if i absolutely have to go without coffee for a few hours in the morning, it CAN be done.
more later...

happy seventh birthday lainie!

my oldest turns 7 today - unbelieveable. i'm afraid she's growing up faster than i would like. today the family is going out to dinner and tomorrow is her party at our place with some friends form school.
i'll probably have a pic or two in the next few days...

a conversation i had with one of my end (l)users:

me: "do you want me to make that your default printer?"
user: "i don't know, what does that mean?"
me: "it means do you want that printer to be, you know.....your default printer"

i guess it's my own fault for throwing around technical terminology to the average person.

time to turn the virtual calendar page to may. this week in particular will be pretty crazy. not to mention the fact that i have several projects\meetings happening at work this week, we have:

monday - girls swimming lessons
tuesday - alaina's school program, my first appt with my new oncology dr.
wednesday - dance lessons
thursday - alaina's birthday\family celebration
friday - alaina's birthday party for friends from shool

also not to mention the fact that i have to find time to go mother's day shopping sometime in there. well, i'll let you know how it 's working out later in the week. bye for now.

well, we're winding down another month. a busy one at that. things don't seem top be slowing down any as we approach summertime. there are many birthdays, get-togethers, trips, etc. just around the corner. not to mention the fact that work has been very busy as well.
ok, i feel like i'm coming down with something. you know that feeling? that burning nasally feeling. your nose runs, your eyes burn, your head aches. your throat feels all "ooky". time to cowboy up and take a couple of aspirins.
i have sort of given up on the idea of playing softball full-time this year. i may just do some subbing and then play on my fall team. there were a couple of options but things just didn't work out. i'd like to think i still have a few years left! but maybe this is a sign? hmmm....
is it too early to start thinking about the weekend? tomorrow's wednesday, so i'd say it's close enough. going to the twins game saturday...got to start planning alaina's birthday, she'll be (gasp!) seven!!
i will report back when there something newsworthy to post. thanks for checking in...

nothing too superfantabulous to report. i don't like to go too much longer than a week before at least making a token entry into the blog. want the general populace to know that thirdthoughts is alive and well. a monster spring storm blew through town sunday night. the good news is that we got a big dose of rain which was badly needed. also, the last few remaining leaves in my yard are long gone. gonna try to get to the driving range this week sometime before my first round planned for saturday. more later...

as promised, here is the visual documentation of my sister and brother in law's now famous encounter with president george w. bush. mighty impressive if you ask me! course i suppose it could be the work of a talented photoshop artist? hmmmm. but seriously, what a remarkable honor! way to represent sister!

also, as promised, (i feel i've been making an inordinate amount of promises lately) here is a link to the less impressive albeit more believeable easter day festivities at the price's.
more later...

enjoying the second of my 2 much needed vacation days. had a great easter yesterday. look for a few new pics in the next day or two. put in a couple of hours of yard work this morning. getting ready to pack it up and take the kids to the science museum this afternoon. more later...

as many of you know, i'm a huge fan of modern day folk singer john wesley harding, or, "wes" as he is known to people "in the know". i've seen him perform more than any other one performer. by a long shot. sadly, he has not played in the minneapolis area since march 31st of 2001 and since he does have a new album out (adam's apple) i'm thinking he is over due to visit this area. well, i recently sent him an email inquiring as to his plans to visit here and this is his response.

Well, I would like to play mnpls some time soon and I keep suggesting
this to my agent - unfortunately I'm not hooked in to the folkscene
there at all, otherwise I'd be making it a more regular sighting on the
itinerary. And also though many radio stations have been playing
Negative love - none are in mnpls or indeed Minnesotsa even, so there's
no excuse there. But I shall try and squeeze it in in July, when I hope
to be doing a little Midwest jaunt - in fact I WILL be doing a little
midwest jaunt - I hope Mnpls is on the bill
very best wishes and glad you're enjoying Adam's Apple
jwh

sounds like there is hope?!

you can learn more about wes at his recently over-hauled website, www.johnwesleyharding.com

i received official word from chamber music minnesota that they have officially relieved me of my webmaster responsibilities. this was sort of a relief in some respects because, a) i'm not sure i had the skills to overhaul the site and make it look really "professional", b) i'm much busier it seems these days then back when i was updating the site regularly, and c) i would have had to work on the site at home, which would mean i'd have to cover the cost of broad-band, which is currently a luxory i'm trying to live without, (as is cable tv). anyway, it was a good run. i did learn a lot in the past year and still have this site to hack around on. it's an area i've always been interested in and when time permits, i'll try to increase the meager web skills i have.

another important news post!
in the whirlwind that has been the past few days, i have failed to mention another important event in our extended family. baby grace elizabeth may was born to my neice, hope, on saturday morning. i'd post the vitals. but to be honest i don't have them. i know the name, approximate time, and wieght (5 lbs, something). that's about all i've got.
congratulations!
i was an average uncle before, now i'm a great uncle!

okay, in the whirlwind that was last week, this bit of news got lost. my brother-in-law and sister, who live in boston, attended a fund raiser on thursday night and got to meet the president of the usa, george w. bush! not only that, but had an actual conversation and got their picture taken with him. how cool is that! anyway, that's the story we were told. when i see the visual documented evidence, i will post it here. more later...

whew!.....in the middle of a fairly sizable project at work. not used to coming in early and staying late but thankfully, the end is in site. if i can just get through tomorrow i can hopefully put'er on cruise control friday (in theory only). time to go home and re-charge.
not a lot of "real" news to report. it's gorgeous outside today, sunny and 60. that helps the psyche quite a bit actually. turning the corner on winter cold and snow is an emotional boost.
looking forward to the weekend as usual. more later...

a link to some pictures of my friends curt & teri's recent wedding. as many of you may recall, this was also the site of my first ever public appearence impersonating a musician. a great time was had by all. thanks teri, for letting me be a part of it! well done with the photo's too!

it occured to me i never posted any pictures of my birthday, which has traditionally been sort of a habit. well, i only have one so be sure and check it out. the rest of my misc. march pictures are here. my favorite is of owen with his foot in his mouth. my son is talented! he comes from a family with a long history of toe biting.
more later...

happy st. paddy's day to all...not much is new. so far, i have NOT collected any money from my alleged rich relative. i suppose i may have to face the fact that that's a dead-end. i did not put any money down on a yacht yet, which is a good thing.
i hear the east is getting pounded with a huge snow storm. i myself am ready for spring to arrive. we had a nuisance flurry last night and possibly another tonight. it's not sticking around long though.
no ncaa pools this year...nobody's into it.
looking forward to the weekend as usual...

an email i received in my inbox this morning...
in short, it appears as though i'm about to become rich. very, very, rich! i'm thinking somewheres between 10-12 million when all is said and done.
i've never heard of mr T PRICE but apparently he is (was, GOD rest his soul) a very wealthy relative of mine. i only wish i would have received notice so i could have made arrangements to be at the funeral.
well, i'll keep you update. i'm going to go yacht shopping tonight after work...more later

Dear PRICE

I am Barrister WAZIRI DAHIRU Solicitor. I am the Personal Attorney to Mr T.
PRICE , a national of your country, who used to work with shell development
company in Nigeria.On the 2nd of may 2002, my client, his wife And their three
children were involved in a car accident along Sagbama Express Road. All
occupants of the vehicle unfortunately lost there lives. Since then I have made
several enquiries to your embassy to locate any of my clients extended relatives,
this has also proved unsuccessful.

After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his relatives over
the Internet, to locate any member of his family but of no avail, hence I
contacted you. I have contacted you to assist in repartrating the money that
belong to my client before they get confisicated or declared unserviceable by the
bank where this huge deposits were lodged

Particularly, the Bank where the deceased had an account valued at about
$30million dollars has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or have the
account confisicated within the next ten official working days. since i have been
unsuccesfull in locating the the relatives for over 2 years now I seek your
consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased since you are from the
same country and bear the same last name ,so that the proceeds of this account
valued at $30 million dollars can be paid to you and then you and me can share
the money. 55% to me and 40% to you,while 5% should be for expenses or tax as
your government may require, I have the ertificate of deposit that can be used to
back up any claim we may make. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable
us see this dealt through.

I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will
protect you from any breach of the law.Please get in touch with me by my email to
enable us discuss further.

I WILL OBTAIN AFFIDAVIT FROM COURT WHEN YOU RESPONSE TO ME.



Best regards,

Esq:WAZIRI DAHIRU

holy cow! look at the size of that forehead! it's friggin' huge! i took this image from my trusty pencam and could'nt help but notice that my fivehead looks like a billboard? must be the angle!? remember, it's ok for me to make fun of myself, but that doesn't mean you can! you have your own faults that are too numerous for me to even breach here.
had to take a sick day yesterday. the first one in a long while. feeling better today but not ready for the iron man competetion just yet.
major setback with the weather today, single digits and below zero wind chills! brrr...springier temps are supposedly just around the corner. more later...

thanks to all those who sent birthday wishes...and to those who may have forgotten: you are forgiven! thanks to my family for the great weekend festivities. yes, i turned 36 today, which i used to think was really old. now, i'm thinking 40 is old so i still got a few more years. age is more of a state of mind, isn't it? sounds good anyway.
a fairly typical week shaping up. nothing too earth-shattering to report. owen seems to be feeling better which is a good thing.
saw a story that was too stupid to make up
here, about a woman who tried to pass off a fake million dollar bill at a wal-mart store. could this be true??
looking forward to the weekend as always, (although it's only tuesday). i wouldn't be surprised if i made another post by the end of the week. see ya!

it's been a somewhat hectic week. with a sick child, minor household repairs and a sizeable project at work, i am looking forward to the weekend as much as ever!
visited a chiropractor for the first time ever today. i've had some neck pain that i wanted to get checked out, (insert own "pain in the neck" joke here). we x-rayed, poked, pulled, prodded, twisted, popped, etc. i had some other alignment issues too. i think it helped but the pain doesn't go away over night. supposed to go back monday. they're trying to suck me in.
other than that, spending some time with the extended family tomorrow. that's about all for now.

ahhh...the joys of home ownership. we discovered one of our waterlines was backed up this morning when water overflowed from our big basins in the basement and onto the floor. fortunately, the drains were right there, and there wasn't a whole lot of water that actually made it to the floor. a call to the water line\sewer guy and $110 later, all is well. it could have been worse. possible cause: garbage disposal. guess the potato skins go in the garbage can from now on.
took the girls to see "the passion of the big red dog, clifford" yesterday. actually, i think it was "cliffford's big adventure" or something like that. not a film i would typically see, but they seemed to enjoy it. the only buzzkill was the pair of lost pink mittens which sadly, did not turn up in lost and found.
more later...

not a ton of new information to report. the end of another work week is fast approaching. things seem to be manageable around here, at least for the time being.
spring seems to be creeping towords us very slowly. we will still, no doubt, get at least some more snow before it's all over but there are signs. it's been above freezing all week, it's just a little lighter out in the morning and in the afternoon. i heard birds outside this morning, (perhaps they were lost?). but it's coming! lent, spring training, girlscout cookies, march madness...it's all lined up.
i've been making some serious progress with regards to loading music on my ipod. i got a good head start, but i have been chipping away at my rather sizeable cd collection and am now getting close to the end. that will be quite a milestone.
that's probably it til next week, unless i run across something extremely blog-worthy.

well, i survived the weekend! the wedding was really nice and all went as well as could be expected. i feel like i, (and the pianist) did a reasonably good job with our part of it. a couple of more practice runs would have been desirable but all things considered, i'm pleased. i have to admit, i felt like a rockstar walking into the hotel with my gear. it's the first time anyone's ever asked me, "are you with the band?". yeah, dude. now, a ceromonial burning of my "white flag" sheet music and dido cd...
there was a bit of unplanned stress before the wedding when the company (total music, i think?) dropped off the keyboard. the understanding was that they would set it up where it was supposed to go, and presumably make sure it was working. well, i walked in and saw to huge storage cases and immediately realized it was pretty much up to me to set it up and get it working. bench, stand, keyboard (very heavy) huge amp, cables and cords everywhere. anyway, in the end, with the help of an extension cord we had to borrow from the hotel, it worked out fine. i was glad i showed up 3 hours early!
i had to fire up the first song at the reception, frank sinatra, "the way you look tonight". after that my responsibilities were done and i could relax a little. had a good time hanging with my old printovation pals.
more later...

a very busy week work-wise. doesn't stop me from making a quick post here however.
first off, happy birthday to my sister yesterday (19th), i know you read this. hope you had a good one. we did send a card and i emailed you yesterday so i think we're square.this proves to be a busy weekend as i have the groom's dinner tonight and the wedding tomorrow. suit pressed, shirt ironed, shoes...still need polishing. i'm excited and a little nervous about the guitar playing part. i'm looking forward to it though! wish me luck.
that's it til next week...

had intended on making a post this weekend. didn't get around to it. seemed like a sort weekend but crammed a lot into it. hit "joe's crab shack" with the folks on friday night. sort of a last get-together before their vacation to arizona this week. also on friday night, changed my guitar strings, or as i like to say, " laid down a fresh set of crunchy bronze honeys". it is amazing what a difference in sound it makes. i have figured this out after going literally years on the same set of strings. never again. also in preperation of my first ever gig (wedding this saturday) i bought a new leather strap. this adds a dramatic improvement to the appearance as well. here i've been with an $800 guitar and an $8 dollar vinyl strap. i think i've got the song down (white flag - dido) as good as it's going to get. if i had to pick a song as my first one played in public, it probably wouldn't be this one (d minors, b flats, etc..) but i think i'll be fine. and then i hope to never hear that song again :-)
picked up a roof rake on saturday as ice dams continue to be a threat. we've taken in a little slushy water in the porch area, so i'm doing all i can to nake sure that the moisture stays outside the house.
watched "my big fat greek wedding" with the wife on valentines day night. we may be the last 2 people on earth to have seen this flick. it was cutesy, but no big whoop.
in sticking with my recent wwII kick, i'm currently reading the book "ghost soldiers".
that about gets us caught up...more later

not a whole lot going on as we ease into tuesday. tuesday usually means meetings and today is no different.
i just finished up the hbo mini-series "band of brothers" last night on dvd. what an unbelieveable story! if you've never heard of it, it's about a group of army paratroopers (easy company) who jumped into normandy on "d-day", on june 6th, 1944. i think it's a good reminder every once in awhile to know what some of these men went through and the sacrifices that were made for the benefit of all americans and the rest of the world. catch it if you can, i think you can rent it at your local video store.
looks like my days as webmaster of chamber music minnesota could be coming to an end. to continue on, i need broadband access at home, seeing as i can't really work on the site at work anymore. broadband access at home is sort of a hurdle right now since qwest can't set me up with dsl and cable is so freakin spendy. who knows, we'll see what happens.
that's it for right now...

the end of another work week - yay! not much on the docket this weekend, a good thing. i have 3 sick kids and a sick wife at home. probably a sick me by monday.
probably try to catch some of the nhl all-star game on sunday, since it's being played right here in st. paul.
plan on wrapping up the mini-series "band of brothers" on dvd tonight, than maybe play a couple of rounds of ea sports tiger woods golf. practice my guitar song for my upcoming wedding gig, clean house, and play with my kids.
that's it in a nutshell...more later

i went off on a tirade on monday (see empty post below) and then thought better of it and took it off-line. suffice it to say, it had to do with the moronic events of sunday afternoon which had nothing to do with football, and the "media" force-feeding us pop-culture (among other things) that we don't necessarily want beemed into our living rooms. we have children...we would like some warning. i'm bored with the whole thing actually, so i won't go into it further.
braved the arctic temps at the st. paul winter carnival and ice palace. it is very cool to see, especially at night, but it was a little too cold to stay long. besides, i found that once you saw it and snapped a couple pics, there really wasn't that much to do. it took a night under my electric blanket, cranked up to 5, to actually fully thaw out.
a qwest customer service rep called and left me a message. no can do on the dsl. this is disappointing on several fronts, a. it took them exactly 23 days to get back to me to tell me something i already knew, but thought they could "fix". b., the csr sounded a little too chipper for my liking, unfortunately, dsl is not available at your residence at this time, however, we will contact you when such a time"...blah blah blah. and c, no dsl!!!. i'm now stuck with shelling out big dough for cable internet access (not likely) or puttering along with dial-up until qwest get's off thier butts and gets me access. life's unkind.
that's all for now...more next time.

.

brrrrrr....-17 out side this morning. that's BELOW zero, but if you live in this area, i don't need to tell you. my forehead felt as though it was being shrink-wrapped around my face. nose hairs crystallize instantly. your eyes hurt.
i'd take snow over this anyday but alas, i don't get to choose so we'll trudge forward bravely. the good news? pitchers and catchers report for spring training in exactly 15 days, 23 hours, 19 minutes, and 41 seconds. that is my light at the end of the tunnell.
can't believe it's thursday already but i guess that's the benefit of being busy at work. looking forward to the "way too hyped up" superbowl, or outrageously expensive advertisement competition this sunday, whichever you prefer.
still waiting to hear back from qwest re: my dsl situation. guess the "spirit of service" gets bogged down in the cold.
more next time...

while i'm on hold with qwest for what seems like an eternity i'll make a post...
made it through yet another week. it certainly had it's challenges but here we are at the start of another weekend.
i think it's official, i finally broke up with ER. after at least 5 years of being totally addicted to this tv show, i think it's over. just like bennifer. we've actually been drifting apart for sometime now. maybe we just need some time apart?
no huge plans for the weekend. heading to the folks tomorrow for the afternoon. getting new tires for the buick tonight. play with my kids, ipod, and xbox, and maybe a little guitar action. get ready to do this all over again next week.
later...

i trust that everyone had a nice, safe weekend and that you enjoyed your various MLK celebrations. i, for one, opted to work this festive holiday, showing my commitment and value to my new employer, and no doubt making the late reverend proud of my devout work ethic.
i fairly typical weekend at the price household. spent friday night and jeff's, ipod-ing, and xboxing. also went to rochester to celebrate my bro-in-law's 50th birthday.
it's been pretty cold these last few days, about -2 this morning. funny, i don't remember seeing anything on the national news about it (see previous post).
trying to get used to a new mouse, kensington optical pro, with a ps\2 to usb adapter. not sure if i like it or not yet. there's a few extra buttons and a wheel that keep getting in the way. i like the idea of the "laser beam" though. seems to make more sense than a ball.
more later...

ok, not much luck trying to sell my portable mp3 player...guess i haven't found the right match for it yet. i actually went to a pawn shop (pawn america - it's right for you, pawn america) for the first time a couple of weeks ago. it wasn't quite as glitzy and glamerous as the ads would have you believe. the inside was more like a combination of one of those check-cashing places, and a bus terminal. i was looking for a small kitchen sized color tv, and found one for like $35. took it home, and it works just fine. don't know the history of it, don't want to. perhaps they would be interested in my mp3 player? i really don't want to go back there if i can help it.
here's a good one. it's 7 degrees on the east coast so let's close all the schools! what a bunch of pansies! now granted, we haven't really had a really harsh minnesota winter for years, but 7 degrees? this is newsworthy for the national media?? when it's 7 degrees here, we MIGHT wear a long sleeved shirt.
that's all i got at the moment...have a nice weekend.

before i forget, i don't normally use this site for the purposes of making a profit, however, i'd like to make this one time offer, available only to the readers of this website (ha).
since the purchase of my ipod, i don't really need my old rio 600 portable mp3 player anymore. so...i'd like to get about $50 for this, if possible. if you or anyone you know might be in the market for a digital music player, i have a rio 600, with 64 mb of memory, i'm looking to ditch. here's the specs...

INTERFACE - Universal Serial Bus

MEMORY - 32MB or 64MB, expandable to 372MB (i've upgraded to 64 mb)

CONNECTORS - Headphone, USB.

DISTORTION - 0.01 to 0.1%

* S/N RATIO - 95dB

FREQ. RANGE - 20 to 20,000Hz

DISPLAY - Backlit LCD shows songs/book title, artist, time.

CONTROLS - Menu button, On/Off and Hold/Lock button, Volume Up/Down.

OPTIONS (sold separately) - 90260122 32MB Backpack Memory Modules

REQUIRES - For PC: Microsoft Windows 98/2000, Pentium 166 or higher, 32MB available RAM, USB Port, CD-ROM drive (for encoding from CD), 35 MB of available hard drive space. For Mac: MacOS 8.51 or later, USB Port, CD-ROM drive (for encoding from CD), 32 MB available RAM.

SIZE - 3.5" x 2.5" x 5/8"

WEIGHT - 2.4 ounces

here's a link to a review and more details...

i have a case, ac\adapter (no batteries required), usb cable.
end of sales pitch...

as expected, the weekend went rather quickly. did manage to scratch off a list of "to-do's' however, including a couple that weren't even on the list, (christmas tree, outdoor lights).
allie and i had a good time friday night at the triple espresso show, (highly recommended for good clean family oriented entertainment). i could have been a little better organized with the dinner plans however. being friday night, everything was pretty busy (duh!) so we ended up walking a few blocks down to britt's pub on nicollet. i chose shepard's pie, (over banger's and mash) she had fish and chips. it doesn't get much more english than that!
spent most of the day saturday, lifting furniture and boxes.
here we are, back at the start of another week! i'll check back when there's more to say...

TGIF has never meant more to me than it does today. The initial shock of having to get up and come to work every day, on the heels of my long vacation, is starting to wear off. the old familiarity of the "routine" is slowly setting in. that said, this week still felt like an eternity.
today is allie and my 11th wedding anniversary. happy anniversary allie! i was quick looking for a cute picture of us to post here, but sadly i couldn't find one in my vast archive of photo's. plenty of kid pics, very few "us" pics...quickly reviewed our wedding tape (which i have since converted to dvd) the other day, knowing that we probably wouldn't have time to do so today. it's fun to get a look back at the way things were then, and recall all the stress and excitement of that day. it's all good! we're planning dinner tonight and then to see the triple espresso show at the music box theatre in minneapolis.
i'm helping a buddy move most of the day tomorrow. have a feeling this weekend will fly by!
more next time...

i'm surviving the first week back. so far, so good. it is taking an extra jolt of caffeine in the morning to function, but we're managing to get by.
i'm fairly certain i have submitted all of my HR paperwork to my new employer. even took the pee test today, one of the final remaining steps. funny, they don't trust you enough to assume you're not a drug addict, but here's a corporate american express card. you've got to love corporate america!
i finally made the leap into the world of ipods. thanks be to jeffrey for being my point man on the actual purchase. it's a pretty awesome toy, but i've come to realize that a lot of people don't "get it". that's fine. i have a ton of music and can totally see the benefits of being able to transport virtually my entire cd collection. haven't had a whole lot of time to play with it yet, but i'll be digging in soon.
allie got me a zire 21 pda for christmas as well, and i've had fun synching up my date book, to-do, and contact lists. i'm in gadget heaven right now!
in the meantime, just trying to make it through the week and looking forward to a busy weekend. hope all is well. more to come soon.

well, the new year is upon us. what suprises are in store for us?
yesterday we celebrated the big O's first birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY OWEN! i have some fresh stills on the image page. he enjoyed the presents and the semi-traditional cake diving. can't believe that a year has past already. seems like yesterday i was posting pics of him from the hospital shortly after his birth. it's been fun watching him grow and learning new tricks. don't want him to reach those terrible two's too soon!
if you missed the christmas pics, i shuffled them to the archive 5 page.
the 2 week vacation is quickly wrapping up. i have to admit, i thoroughly enjoyed my time off! was able to get a lot of stuff in, lots of family gatherings, some skating, (missed out on the sledding), including logging lots of late night hours on my xbox, and guitar playing. i sort of look forward to getting back to work in some ways (is that wierd??). i need alittle bit more structure and order restored. not working for awhile tends to make me lazy.
that's all for now...more later.