Wife's A Blogger!

Here's a link to my wife's blog. She's very artsy where as I'm more techie. She can paint, carve stamps, make jewelry, and do many other arts and crafts. I think she is an awesome photographer. Check it out at Tyggereye Art.

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This might take a little while

LewisC's Random Thoughts

I was unzipping a set of files from a zip file in Vista Ultimate 64 using the built-in unzip. The individual files were not very big, 17.8MB but there were a lot of them, > 3000. The file system is NTFS. The funny thing is that the amount of time shown below is not the largest number it showed.

I actually waited for about 20 minutes but it was running very slowly. The time remaining was all over the place. I decided not to wait. I unzipped with 7-zip instead. I'm not really sure what the issue was but it was kind of funny.

LewisC

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Dead and Deader: A Review

Just so you know, I don't review every movie I see. A movie has to have something in it to make me want to write about it. It has to be worth me recommending others to see, it has to be exceptionally bad, or it has to be just quirky enough to make an impression. Dead or Deader is one of the quirky ones.

This is a SCI-FI channel movie. You can tell because it starred Dean Cain. ;-) Dean Cain seems to be this generations Vincent Price, the king of low budget sci-fi and horror movies. That's not meant to be an insult. Price is a legend. In 50 years, I bet people will talk about all the B-grade movies Cain did.

Dead and Deader is about a special forces type team sent into the jungles of Cambodia to check on a humanitarian relief team that has not been heard from. The team finds some dead bodies of what looks to be military men and a bunch of creepy scorpions in terrariums. While they're looking around, they're attacked by some undead soldiers. While fighting, a still live scientist looking guy hurls a grenade and blows up the room.

Amazon.com Widgets

The next scene is Dean Cain getting autopsied. As the doctor is about to cut into him, he opens and his and asks what the heck the doctor thinks he's doing. Seems the whole team was killed and the doctor is trying to figure out what killed them. The doc calls in a female doctor, a superior officer. She tells Dean that he's really dead but Dean doesn't buy it.

Dean wants to see his team and about that time finds out that he has some kind of mental connection to his undead team mates. He takes off to find one of them at the same time his undead team mate decides he's hungry. Only protein will do! While fighting the undead team mate, the female doctor is bitten and becomes undead. She quickly becomes really dead (the ceiling fan episode is completely unrealistic but fun to watch).

It's here that Dean meets his side kick and things really heat up. If this sounds like a really bad movie, you would mostly be right. The thing is that they built in a lot of humor into this movie. Sight gags and one liners abound.

It's not as funny as Army of the Dead and it's not a particularly gory movie. Some nasty bits with body parts, fluids, vomit, etc. Can't touch the really gross movies though. Special effects are ok but most of the body parts look like fake body parts.

All in all, I give this movie two thumbs up. As long as you go in expecting a funny, semi gory sci-fi channel movie, it won't disappoint. It's a couple of hours you won't ever get back but pop some corn and get a cold beverage on a boring night.

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Juno: A Review

So, my wife has been using Netflix to catch up on all kinds of TV stuff like Desperate Housewives and Next Top Model. Stuff I really have no interest in.

On Friday, a movie showed up. It was Juno. Now, I have heard of Juno but didn't really know what it was about. I asked the wife and when she told me, I figured "chick flick". I was right too.

The movie is about a 16 year old girl who gets pregnant and wants to give the baby away for adoption. Tears, laughs, etc. Yeah. It is that.

I decided to watch it with the wife. Brownie points if nothing else, you know.

Even though it is a chick flick (your girl will cry at the end, I'm sure), it is actually a very funny movie. I don't recognize the main girl from anything but she plays the offbeat Juno with a straight face and her timing is excellent.

The boyfriend, Bleeker, was in superbad. He plays pretty much the same part in Juno that he did in that. He's funny.

Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman are both in it. Odd casting for an odd movie and it all works somehow.

So, if you are a chick, you want to watch it. If you are a dude, you want to watch it with your chick. The women will enjoy it and the men get some painless cuddle points. Everybody will get a few laughs.

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Day Zero

I caught another movie on Netflix.com tonight. It's another movie I have never heard of. The synopsis said it was scifi but it's not really. It's more speculative fiction. That's nitpicking though. The movie is Day Zero.

It's a very near future biopic of three friends who are New York City residents. In this near future America, the draft has been reinstated so that we can fight the war on terror all around the world. All three friends lose the lottery and are drafted. They have 30 days to present themselves for induction.

The three friends handle the issue very differently. The successful lawyer, who has just been made a partner, doesn't want to go and asks his father to try to get him out of it. The successful writer, who hasn't actually lived at all (but has been to Malaysia), completely freaks out and goes off the deep end. The not successful cabbie, the fighter with a troubled life, handles it the best. He supports the draft and while not eager to go, accepts it as his duty.

They picked some really good people for this movie. You can get the entire cast list at the wikipedia entry above. I just want to say that Elijah Wood puts in another excellent performance. He plays Aaron, the writer. He sees a psychiatrist, is afraid of his shadow and has never really lived. He is so meek it's almost painful. Most of the funny scenes are his. By the end of the movie, he is creepy scary as he descends into his top 10 list.

This is another movie that I expected to suck that surprised me. This movie is definitely worth watching. Regardless of you political views, if you wonder at all where the "war on terror" might go, you should watch this. The gamut of political viewpoints are shared in the story but the director does not preach. No view is made to be "the truth". This isn't a liberal or a conservative movie. It's just the story of three people and how they respond to being drafted.

LewisC

Technorati : draft, movie, movie review, war

Logan Makes 5

My son Logan recently made 5 years old. He's really more like 5 going on 30 but he really enjoyed his birthday this year. It was a two day event. One day was a kid's birthday party with a jumpy castle and a pinata. The second day was spent at Disney World in Orlando, FL. Disney is about 50 minutes from my house.

Logan is crazy about Bionicles right now.

He got a boatload of presents but his favorites were the bionicles. My wife got him a cowboy dressup outfit which he really likes too.

After presents was time for the jumpy castle. If you don't know what a jumpy castle is, they are also called Moonwalks. They're giant, heavy latex baloons that you climb inside and jump around.

The day started off with me climbing a tree to hang a pinata. Logan thought it was quite amusing the see the old man climb a tree. I still got it!

Day two was spent at Disney World. We all had a really good time.

Waiting to get on "It's a small world."

On the way to Tom Sawyers island.

Mom, Logan and Leo

Dad, Logan and Leo

I think this was Logan favorite birthday so far. He is so proud to be an entire handful old. That's a handul of fingers. heh

LewisC

Technorati : birthday, disney, family

Primer: A Movie Review

I had some free time tonight and decided to hit Netflix Instant View to see what was available. I've watched just about everything that has any interest to me. There are quite a few documentaries that I haven't seen yet but I have to be in the mood for one of those.

Anyway, I noticed a 2004 flick called Primer. I didn't really think I would like it as I had never heard of it. I like B movies though so I was hoping it would be one of those classically bad movies that I can enjoy.

It is not a B movie. It's a movie written and produced (for USD7000) by an engineer. He wrote the movie like it would be engineers watching it. At times I was a bit lost but the movie proved to be incredibly intense. Much better than I anticipated.

A couple of engineers decide to make a room temperature super conductor. I don't think that was the goal. I think they were trying to do something with gravity but I'll have to watch it again to be sure.

They finally get a proto-type working and one of the engineers happens to notice a slimy film on the weeble they are using as a weight/test subject. The film turns out to be a fungus that could not possibly have grown in the amount of time it did. After some tests with watches, they decide that they really have built a time machine.

Hilarity does not ensue. They decide to travel themselves and make some cash. Things happen. Watch it.

What I liked about this movie is that it is a zero action movie. I don't mean that in a bad way. There is plenty of tension. There are multiple mini-plots arcing around the main plot. There are a couple of mini-plots I got completely lost on but that was still unimportant to the overall story. I'm sure I will get those on the next watching and I will be watching it again.

If you don't give a rat's ass about science, time travel, super conductors or casuality, don't watch this movie. You have to already understand, at least conceptually, the finer points. If you want everything explained and wrapped up for you, definitely don't bother. It just does not happen.

This is a movie like I might make in my head while day dreaming. The writer just happened to think of a few things I might not have. There is plenty of dialog and the dialog sort of replaces action. That's normally a bad thing but in this context it works.

The quality of the film is amazing for how much was spent. I mean USD7000! The actors had to have done this for free. Speaking of which, while no Oscars will be won, the acting was pretty good. Sound quality was good, too.

All in all, two thumbs up.

Check it out.

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Requiem for a Dream

I just finished watching Requiem for a Dream on hulu.com. I like hulu, free movies and tv shows. Anyway, Requiem for a Dream is about four junkies but not all junkies are the same. The blurb about the movie says:

Drugs. They consume mind, body and soul. Once you're hooked, you're hooked. Four lives. Four addicts. Four failures. Doing their best to succeed in the world, but failing miserably, four people get hooked on various drugs. Despite their aspirations of greatness, they succumb to their addictions. Watching the addicts spiral out of control, we bear witness to the dirtiest, ugliest portions of the underworld addicts reside in. It is shocking and eye-opening but demands to be seen by both addicts and non-addicts alike.

I wasn't sure if I would like it but it had some stars that I like, Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly (still hot), Marlon Wayans (spent most of his time naken), and Christopher McDonald (playing yet another smarmy character). It's from 2000 but I am sure I've never heard of it. I decided to watch and am glad I did though it's not always an easy movie to watch. The ending is particularly bad, as drug addiction usually is. Ellen Burstyn plays a senior citizen who starts taking drugs to lose weight and completely self destructs. That's probably the hardest part to watch. All in all, I would recommend this movie. It should probably be mandatory viewing in high schools and colleges.

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The 10s, 30s and 40s on Flickr

I'm pretty much a history nut but I don't think you need to be to enjoy the new US Library of Congress Photo Collections on Flickr. The collections is called the Commons and, right now, it contains two sets of pictures. 1615 color photos from the 1930s and 1940s around the US and its territories and 1500 black and white photos from newsworthy events in the 1910s.

These are some incredibly amazing photos. I didn't know photos like this existed back then.

There are photos from all over the country but some of the most intriguing are pictures of the people. Most are in unposed positions. Really absorbing. I can sit for hours and browse through these.

The best part of these are that they are being released freely for use by anyone.


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My Book Has Been Printed

Well, it's taken over a year but it has finally arrived. I started writing the book back in Aug 2006. I finished in late Jan 2007 and the technical editor finished his work in March. Now, In Jan 2008, EnterpriseDB: The Definitive Reference is available. I'm glad I didn't wait for the movie. ;-) It's kind of ironic. Just this morning, I posted that I am working on my second book. My wife called me at work and told me two boxes of books had arrived. 2008 is turning out to be a good year. I'll have some additional news in the near future. Anyway, the book looks good. I've already found a few typos and grammar errors just skimming around. I like the font and the pages look really crisp. All in all, I have to say I am very happy that the book is out. Check out some photos: I think I want to give a couple away. Maybe some kind of contest for the blog readers. Any ideas of something fair? I am willing to pay shipping for a couple but that would only be here in the US. Overseas shipping gets expensive. LewisC

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Google Calculator

Ever need to run a quick calculation? How about a conversion? Recently I wanted to know how many pounds was equivalent to .92kg. So, I entered into a google, ".92kg to pounds" expecting to be provided a conversion web site. Instead I got the answer: .92 kilograms = 2.02825281 pounds and a link to More about calculator. I had to check that out so I browsed the link.

To use Google's built-in calculator function, simply enter the calculation you'd like done into the search box and hit the Enter key or click on the Google Search button. The calculator can solve math problems involving basic arithmetic, more complicated math, units of measure and conversions, and physical constants. Try one of the sample expressions below, or refer to our complete instructions for help in building your own.

If you check out the complete instructions, you get another page with plenty of examples. Is there anything that google does not do? It's amazing that I find something new at Google on an almost daily basis. LewisC

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I have a baby!

Hi all.

I'm back after a long break. I have a new son, Leo. I've been enjoying spending time with him (and my first son Logan and my wife). Logan is playing on the floor right now with some of his Christmas presents and Leo is being fed by my wife.

We had to postpone Christmas with the in-laws due to my father-in-law having surgery. We'll get with them next weekend. My mom is in New Orleans. I'll call her in a little while.

I plan to get back into my blogging her very shortly.

For now, here is a picture I played with to make it Christmasy. I am not very artistic but I am irrationaly proud of this picture. ;-)



Merry Christmas!

LewisC


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Heroes Season 2, Episode 6

It starts off with Peter and hottie at the bar. She wants go to Montreal with Peter. She wants to kill veronica Mars.

Claire is trying out for cheerleader. The chief cheer chick slams Claire and basically says she sucks.

Monica is watching gymnastics and replicating them. Suresh is watching. Creepy Bob comes in and tells Monica how special she is. He asks Suresh to step out with him.

The company is experimenting with a virus that takes away abilities. They want Suresh to inject Monica. He calls Noah and tells him about it. Noah tells him that if he doesn't go along with the plan, the Company will get rid of him and he'll lose Molly.

Noah and the Haitian sneak into a house where a man and woman with a boy are speaking russian. I don't recognize them. Noah calls the man Ivan, says he's "an old friend" and then smacks him.

Claire has lunch with West. He says she's better than the cheer chick. He thinks she should take her down a notch. Humiliation! Meow!

Sylar is still traveling with Maya and alejandro. He really likes May's power. He really wants Maya's power. Alejandro wants to drop Sylar but Maya says no.

Ando meets up with the scientist decoding the messages from Hiro again. Hiro is love with Yeko. He's worried about her and her father in the coming battle with White Beard.

Ivan has paintings and works for the company. Noah wants the paintings. Noah says that if Ivan doesn't give up the info, the Haitian will remove all of his most precious memories, one by one. That sucks.

Noah gets a call from Claire. She wants to use the car. West makes a mask (or finds a mask).

Ivan tells Noah that if he comes back to the company, his family will be safe and he will be told everything. He seems to consider it.

Maya, Aljeandro and Sylar make it to the border. Locals with shotguns stopping them from driving across. I think i can guess what happens here.

Monica is back with Suresh. She doesn't wnat a shot. He convinces her though so she agrees. He can't do it though. He walks out of the room. Suresh destroys his research and says he's leaving.

Maya starts to "use" her power. alejandro tries to stop her but Sylar stops him. All the gun toters drop. Sylar starts bleeding from his eyes.

Claire goes to see the cheer chick. She tells her she wants another chance at the tryouts. Cheer chick is drinking (and is drunk). While they're talking, a masked man flies down, picks up Clairs and drops her on the steps (apparently killing her). Cheer chick runs off with the flying dude tailing her. Bwahahahaha.

The cops don't beliee the story about Claire being dead. Claire just happens to show up and denies everything.

Hiro, Kinsei and Yeko sneak into White Beard's camp at night. Kinsei lets a guard stab him. The sword smith won't leave until White Bear's arsenal is destroyed. White Beard wants to over throw the empire.

bob visits Suresh while he's with Molly. Bob apologizes for trying to make Suresh use the virus on Monica. Suresh is gullible.

Hiro stops time and gets Yeko away from the running battle. Kensei and the swordsmith aren't with them. Hiro tells Yeko that he doesn't know how they got there. She realizes he has pwer and that he was the person who said the "wonderful" things to her and saved her from the Brigandes.

She asks if he loves her. He says yes. She tells him she loves him, too. He kisses her and fractures time. Kensei sees them kissing. That's the last scroll from Hiro.

Alejandro and Sylar are fighting. Alejandro doesn't trust Sylar and tell Maya she has to choose, him or Sylar. She won't so Alejandro says that the next time Sylar is dying, he won't help save him.

Claire is upset that someone might have seen them. West is a lot more upbeat about it. Cheer chick got suspended for drinking on school grounds and was kicked off the cheerleading team. Claire is on.

Noah is still with Ivan. Ivan lost a daughter. Noah threatens to take his memory of the daughter. Ivan gives up the paintings. Noah can't take any chances so he kills Ivan. I don't like Noah.

Hiro tracks down Kinsei. Kensei tells him he saw Hiro and Yeko kissing. Hiro says that it was an accident that they fell in love. Kensei knocks Hiro out and turns Hiro, Yeko and the swordsmith over to White Beard.

Bob takes Monica home. He gives her an ipod type device.

Suresh meets up with Niki/Jessica. She's his new partner.

Noah finds the paintings. What do they mean?

Peter is in Montreal. They go to the place in the painting. It looks like an antique shop. The door is unlocked. Someone left a note for Peter. It's from someone named Adam. It says Peter was right about the "Company".

Peter closes his eyes and transports them to a future New York. He finds an evacuation order from June 2008, one year in the future. Suresh's virus maybe?


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The Best 1 Page Flex Tutorial Ever

I stumbled across this Simple Flex Tutorial while playing on the web. Flex is the language I want to learn (my hobby is learning programming languages). I think flex, especially with AIR, will be a big choice in the future.

I like the way the tutorial is laid out and how easy it is to follow. It takes a single screen, starts at the top and steps through each piece one at a time. You end up with a useful tool as well as some knowledge of the language.

It won't make you an expert but it shows the simplicity and the power very concisely (7 steps and a caveat).


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Heroes Season 2, Episode 5

The show starts off with Suresh and Matt taking care of an unconscious Molly. Matt doesn't want to leave her but Suresh convinces it would be for the best. Matt's question: why was his father in that photo?

Monica is giving her story to the NOPD (New Orleans Police Department). The guy she smacked around is a gang banger. She doesn't need the grief.

Peter is chilling in Ireland with the barmaid hottie. I hear he's going to have a visitor tonight. He still hasn't looked in the box. He has been getting Irish though.

Peter's visitor, Veronica Mars, is talking with barmaid one of the scumbags in the Irish gang. Is she a goon for the "company"? The scumbag tells her where Peter is. As she walks off, the scumbag tells her to watch herself. She shoots electricity from here fingers and says she can tale care of herself. Sweet!

Nathan was waiting at the police station when Matt showed up. Matt tells him about Molly. Nathan goes to Philly with Matt.

Irish bro interrupts Peter and sis kissing. An old dude from the docks tells Peter an American girl is looking for him.

Monica is getting a rep from kicking gangbang Jr's ass. I'm sure he'll be back. Monica tells her friend that her body can do things even before she realizes she's doing it. She wants to BE something more.

Matt and Nathan take the express to Philly. They stand outside the apartment that Molly saw in her mind. Nathan knocked. Dad doesn't look much like a killer or a mind reader. He looks like a bum. He also has a picture with the mark on it. There's a bullet with his name on it.

Matt's dad said he was just protecting himself. Nathan tells Matt to read the dad's mind but it doesn't work.

Micha plays the piano. I didn't know that. Micah and Monica do some bonding before Monica starts jamming on the piano. A very cool ability.

Suresh calls Noah Bennet, who's with the Haitian, and tells him he's taking Molly to the company.

Matts' dad spells out how the original group got started. He says that Matt's mind reading skill will become so much more. He can't explain it but had something to show him. There's three bangs and the door locks. Nathan can't get in.

Matt ends up in a cell getting roughed up and when Nathan kicks in the door, he ends up in the future after a nuke has gone off.

Matt's dad grabs a sweater and takes off with an evil grin on his face. This dude is evil.

Ando's back! He's studying the notes from Hiro. He has a scientist trying to help him read some of the scrolls that were damaged somehow over the years.

Flashback to ancient Japan. Hiro is still helping the UK Kensei. Kensei and the girl are falling in love while working on rescuing her father.

Monica is making tomato flowers. Micah thinks Monica has a power. He shows her his and tells her his dad can walk through walls. He shows her a comic book called 9th Wonders. Monica is a "copycat"; someone who can do anything they see. Like I said a couple of weeks ago, a mimic.

Suresh brought Molly in to the company. Bob sends Suresh out to the field with a taser. Niki shows up acting more like Jessica than Niki. She knocks Suresh away and picks Bob up and pins him against the wall. Suresh tasers her. That seems a little coincidental.

Monica and Micah go looking for a way to proce her skills. She passes on hoops anf skateboarding. She does a double dutch jump rope, though. She knocks the girls out!

Peter gets a new place to live. With someone looking for him, he heads over to the barmaids place. She's an artist. He's finally decided to look in the box. He finds:

His passport and full name
A plane ticket to montreal
Money

He paints a picture using his junkie artist powers. The power kind of freaks her out.

Veronica shows up at the bar, looking for Peter. The brother gives her the run around. She doesn't buy it. She locks the doors and burns out the lock. Then she turns on the bro.

Niki comes to in a hospital bed with Bob looking over her. Suresh tries to get her out but she doesn't want to leave. She wants Jessica out. Only the company can help her.

nathan is still looking at a burning New York city. Peter is on the ground. It's not Peter, it's a burned Nathan. Really badly burned.

Janice and a baby show up in Matt's cell. It's like Matt's dad gave them nightmares. It's two different scenes but it's matt fighting nathan. Very weird but very cool.

Matt sees though it but Nathan is trying to kills matt. He finally comes out of it and they're both on the floor in Matt's dad's apartment. Freaky!

Molly calls him the nightmare man becuase he can literally give you nightmares. Is this show deep or what! They find a picture of Bob with the mark through his face. Not a good sign for bob!

Back to Hiiro, they were on the to fight White Beard. Taeko, the girly wouldn't stay behind though. She wanted to fight. Three against an army.

Monica watches bruce lee movies to become a martial artist. Micah likes this power. Suresh shows up at Monica's house. He knows about her powers.

Veronica Mars s making a phone call from her car. She killed the bro! She fried him. She is a little disturbed I think. She's called home. I'm guessing she's talking to bob. Daddy?

Peter finishes his painting. It's a picture of the barmaid and peter in Montreal. They get a call and go to the bar. Bro-B-Q.



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Predictive AI to Reduce Lag in Online Games

MIT's Technology Review has a very cool article, Reducing Lag Time in Online Games. This article discusses how some games use something called "dead reckoning" to track where users are in the game universe.

Dead reckoning calls for each player's computer to run a low-fidelity simulation of what's going on in the game. At the same time, the computer runs a high-fidelity version that keeps precise track of the player's actions and position. The computer constantly compares the two versions. If they don't match, the computer sends an update to all the other participating computers, which can make the necessary corrections. While the computers must still broadcast updates, they don't do it nearly as often as they otherwise would.

I'm not a game programmer so this is all news to me. The concept is very cool. It also explains some of the issues I've run into in games like Everquest and Guildwars. I wonder if they use dead reckoning. There have been times when I change direction while running across a large zone and I get the "snap back" effect. I run a ways before zapping back. I think this might be an effect of the high-fidelity not matching the low-fidelity. This article talks about adding a neural net to the users computer to boost the accuracy of the predictive model. Dead reckoning is very good for objects that move in a constant direction and a constant speed, or even non-constant but consistent, but it doesn't work as well for users because users tend to be more random. The Neural Nets would offset some of that randomness. Since the neural nets would run on the users computer, there would be additional overhead for the game.

Although the system does make some additional demands on the user's computer, McCoy says that they're negligible compared with all the processing that goes into most massively multiplayer games. "In most games--even the large-scale ones--your own computer is only actually responsible for one entity: your own avatar," McCoy says. "Because you're only controlling one avatar, the neural networks only have to run for that one avatar."

So, if you have an MMO and want to beta test, give me a shout. I'm willing to help test. LewisC

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Fort Desoto, St Petersburg Florida

I went camping this past weekend. It was finally a chance to try out our new (used) camper. It's a pop-up that sleeps 8 adults. It has air conditioning, a refrigerator and a microwave (that's one we added). We pull it with the mini-van. Here are a few pictures of the camper. The outside:

The inside:
The campground, Fort Desoto, is an awesome park. There is a beach and fishing as well as camping. We had a waterfront slot and it was perfect weather.

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Heroes Season 2, Episode 4

I'm writing this live but instead of submitting 6 entries, I'll just save them all up and submit them at once (at the end, of course).

Nothing new to start with. Claire's dad is still paranoid (of course with the painting, guess he has reason to be). Matt and Suresh are still babysitting Molly. She's having nightmares.

Nathan is still hairy. He visits his boys and tells them he's going back home. A teacher tells him he's not allowed there. I don't know what's up with that.

Maya, Alejandro, and their new friend find Sylar laying in the middle of the road. Now that's cool.

Commercial! Argh!

Micah meets his new adopted family.

Ms Patrelli tells the cops that she killed Nakamura.

Claire gets hit up to try out for chairleading. She says no, though. Claire tells West that she can't see him anymore. It's because of her dad but she won't say so. He tells her he'll back off in one day but first she has to go out with him.

Nathan shaved. He's on the war path because his mom confessed. Matt tells Nathan he knows he can fly because he can read minds. Nathan recognizes the symbol.

Mom won't tell Nathan why she's confessing but she does tell him that he won't find redemption by helping her; he'll only get himself killed.

Maya tells Sylar that she is traveling to New York to see Suresh (the dad). Sylar says he's friends with Suresh and will help them. He gives his name as Gabrielle (like the angel).

Looks like Monica, Mica's cousin?, is the newest Hero. She works at a burger joint. She wants to be a manager. I think her power might be mimicry. She doesn't get the management position.

Claire lies and says she's going to the library for a research paper but is really going on a date. Dad follows and see her meet up with West. He doesn't see them go airborne though.

Nathan and Matt meet up and discuss the people with powers. Nathan finds a picture with all of the big powers (the Patrelli parents, Nakamura, Linderman, etc) and Matt sees someone he knows, his father.

Claire and West sit on the Hollywood sign for their date. He is smooth. He gets her to jump off the sign and then catches her. "I know you would heal quick, but I never want to see to see you hurt." Somebody might be getting a little tonight!

Micah uses his powers to get pay per view. Season finale of wrestling? Monica comes home and passes out dinner. I like that Monica is in New Orleans and I like the fact that Katrina is mentioned but is not the focus.

Matt goes looking for dad. His dad was a criminal. He asks Molly to help find him. Matt's dad is the nightmare man, the one who can see her when she looks for people. I sure didn't see that coming.

Nathan is looking at pictures of Peter. When Nathan looks at himself in the mirror, he sees himself as very disfigured.

Sylar kills the driver when he points out they (he and Sylar) they are traveling with killers (Maya and Alejandro).

Claire tells dad she was at cheerleading tryout instead of on a date and she promises not to start dating. The Haitian shows up and says they need to head to Texas.

Matt wants Molly to find his dad. He and Suresh argue about it. Molly wakes up and agrees to look for his dad.

Monica is locking up when a burgular shows up to take the money. She puts a wrestling move on him and kicks his ass. He runs away. I think I'm right and mimicry is her power.

Molly finds Matt's dad in Phillie. Molly passes out. He reads her mind and she's yelling, "Matt. Help me!"

Next week Kristen Bell shows up. It looks like the Peter episode!




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heroes

I got a new laptop

I mentioned a couple of days ago that my laptop died. I went camping yesterday but today when I got back I decided I needed a computer. I bought a new HP. Core 2 Duo, 200GB drive, 4GB Ram, NVidia 8400 video, GB Ethernet and 802.11abgn wireless. I may upgrade the drive as it is 4800RPM instead of 5400RPM. I'll see how it does after I install a couple of databases. It has a DVD/CD recorder with lightscribe. I've never used that but I will probably play with it. So far I am happy but it took 2 hours just to delete all of the garbage off of it (AOL, Norton, etc). It also downloaded about 40 updates. Right now I'm just waiting for Heroes to start. K-Ville is not on tonight for some reason. meh. LewisC

oracle

Woe is me! Laptop Died! Any Recommendations?

It finally bit the dust. After two years of faithful service, my Gateway 7330GZ finally died tonight. Yep, this is the laptop that I blogged about when I lost my F key. It started with overheating and unexpected shutdowns. By this morning, I couldn't even finish a virus scan without it shutting down. I tried to reload (I actually take backups on a regular basis and have a sync program to keep me up to date between backups). The drive is fried. I can't even get the OS installed without it hanging and/or shutting down. The motherboard may be iffy. Instead of replacing the drive, I think I'll just buy a new laptop. Any recommendations for a new one? I'm thinking of a Dell. Minimum spec: Core Duo 2, 2gb RAM, 120GB drive. My current laptop has a 15.4inch monitor and I like that. I don't need a 17in. I'm tempted to just go for 4GB of ram. My current laptop is also freaking heavy. I'd like to reduce the weight a bit. I guess I'll start looking. Let me know if you have any strong suggestions (to buy or to stay away from). LewisC

laptop