Renaissance Faire - picture

At the Renaissance Faire, Nate wound up getting taunted into paying to hit something with a large hammer. The carnie made some remark questioning his manhood and Nate wouldn't let that stand. He forked over his 2 bucks and gleefully smacked the 'thingie.' He didn't ring the bell, but he did manage to get into the "Knightly" category!

Of course the carnie started badgering me, but I was content to be called names and hold my $2 rather than be shown up by Nate.

RIT barbershop quartet

Some of the guys up at RIT are making local news for singing - and that's always of interest to me. Keep up the good work! I'll let RIT News & Events take it from here.

Renaissance Faire

The Renaissance Faire is an annual event that takes place in Tuxedo. It's a faire or park full of events, vendors, food, and games that come from the Renaissance era. I don't think Anne and I went last year, but she used to work there playing trumpet and I've been several times in previous years. This year we organized with Kevin, Tricia, Nate, Molly, Jen Bradshaw, Shannon, Dave, and Anne's sister Jen to go together. I want to show some pictures since there were several good ones, so I'll switch into Picasa and just caption the pictures.

Edit: Yarg! I can't do easy uploading with Picasa right now because my Blogger account is in the transitional beta stuff which - you guessed it - Picasa does not support right now! I'm not in the mood to monkey with uploading images via the web interface so for now you'll have to suffer knowing that there are pictures to be seen... but that you can't ... yet.

Scoble on a rampage

So Robert Scoble spent the good portion of yesterday going nuts with second-hand information regarding Microsoft's claim to "have the most blogs in service." Who cares?! He goes on to make about advertising dollars and corporate credibility in marketing for those advertising dollars. Ugh. Scoble even spends most of the afternoon cataloguing "real" blogs on Windows Live Spaces and how they don't meet the definition of a blog.

And of course when it was noted that he's clearly angry and not thinking clearly by readers more eloquent and quicker than I, Scoble gave it a good spin and kept on going.

I like Scoble a lot! He's on my reader list. I usually agree with him. And I'm not saying I need to in order to read or enjoy some one's stuff. But seriously? What's the point? This morning I wake up and he's plugging a Windows Live Space full of XP goodness. It just feels like a stunt or a sensational effort for an afternoon much like reporting I'd expect from television reporting and it just rubs me wrong -- until tomorrow when I link to Scoble with some fantastic thing he said.

jen's step-dad's 50th birthday

Jen and her family threw her step father a surprise 50th birthday party last night. Anne and I were invited for moral support with Dave and Shannon and her boyfriend (?) Jason. I had never met Jason before and he seemed like a nice enough character.

The party was on a boat and there was open bar, so of course a good time was had. I enjoyed a few drinks and hot dogs and hamburgers. Anne enjoyed a few of Shannon's drinks - she never finished hers - and the music (a bit too much I may add). The boat cruised up and down the Hudson River. We got to see West Point from the river side and the sunset was very nice as well!

Please note that in the picture I am neither Anne or Shannon and Jen is not Dave S as our name tags indicate. Please also note that the picture was taken after much wind-blowing had occurred and I accept no responsibility for my hair!

boy scout by-laws

Not sure if I ever posted about it in the past, but I'm on a "task force" for the troop to document and publish the troop's by-laws. It's been a really interesting experience thus far. I've gotten to look at the adult history of the troop in ways I never have before. We've been examining the minutes of committee meetings back to 1999!

We're definitely making progress and I hope that our work will reunite and bind the troop as we move forward.

Of course part of the minutes uncovered a failed attempt to get a troop website going. I'm sure I'll be heading that one once we get back on our feet again. It may sound like I'm not looking forward to it, but I am - the website development aspect at least. I'm not looking forward to trying to satisfy a room full of parents all with different opinions about the internet. Some don't use it. Some think it's the devil. Others are a tad more liberal. Finding the common medium will be fun.

backlinks == on

So in the last few days, Google released a new version of Blogger (which ironically is back in beta). I've upgraded to it and they now support backlinks. If you've been linking to my blog (and I know you have), you can now do it so my blog knows about it. Use the backlink stuff!

Along with the backlinks, the new version of blogger adds some new design features so be on the lookout for a new style in the blog. I'll be playing around with that tonight probably.

the Molly party

First off, this post is being written by Microsoft's new WYSISYG blog writer, Windows Live Writer. It's pretty slick. I spent 5 minutes setting it up and will apparently post to my Blogger account! It's in beta right now so let me know if you notice anything odd about this post.

Anyway, on with the story.

Molly finished her summer contract with the YMCA camp she was working at so Anne and i picked her up. She'll be staying with us for a week - which rocks - until her parents swing by and pick her up.

When I told Foster that Molly would be coming in, he decided to change his weekend plans and conveniently end up in Chester for her arrival. Even better yet, Kev picked up Nate along the way. Molly was pretty elated when she saw them at the door. She screamed and cried :-)

Knowing that Molly, Kevin, and Nate would be all together I decided we needed to step it up to a full-fledged party. [Pictures] I called Kevin Twitty and Shaena and Steve. Anne got hold of Jen Bradshaw and attempted to get some others. However the 9 of us had an amazing night. We were all pretty wrecked - except Shaena who kept good track of some of the worse off. That, however, did not keep us from making several calls and messages to friends.

The party pretty much crashed in my living room and we woke up to pancakes this morning... made by moi! The whole lot of us went to the Castle to play mini-golf. The guys beat the girls and I think Foster had the best score of all. (I was second third)

We got some lunch at Chili's and Kevin and Nate were on their way. It was a great weekend. Earlier this evening Anne and I were talking. We both said we hadn't had this much fun in a while.

slapped in the face

I believe that an ambitious person should have a vision of how he or she wants to live their ideal life. Something to strive for on a daily basis. Something to grade your current point in life against "complete success." And I believe that the vision is different for each of us.

For example, I take my vision from the Scouting roots I learned. I try to "be prepared" and "do a good turn daily." I try and live my life according to the Scout Oath and Law. And I feel that works well for me. It inspires me to be a better person.

However, and I imagine this happens to all of us ambitious folk, sometimes I stray. I lose sight of the vision. I forget or it gets shelved during stressful times. And it's often during those times that I need the vision the most.

When that happens, as it has in the past, I find that my journey back to my vision isn't a wandering or stroll. It's not an accidental re-discovery. Going on without the vision isn't a terrible thing. I don't think it makes one evil - just lost or misdirected. People go about every day without a vision on life.

The hard part is getting it back. In fact I think that re-finding your vision usually takes the form of a slap-in-the-face epiphany. In this last instance, I was so far from my vision that I was completely speechless - something that doesn't come over me often. It doesn't really matter what happened, but just knowing that it did serves as a notice to me to rededicate back to the vision I have.

the drive home

I had the oddest feeling happen to me while driving home from work today. I was following a tow truck. One of those large ones used to haul away Mack trucks and box vans. Well it was towing a large box van... from the rear axle. The box van was staring at me while I drove behind it. I wasn't worried about the tow truck dropping it or anything - that would be like being worried about a bridge collapsing while you're on it. But it's just a common reaction to have a certain amount of dread when seeing an oncoming car in your lane. So I had the same awful feeling for 20 minutes straight as we drove back to Chester.

Not a bad take

I have to thank my old residents in Building 30 up at RIT. They taught me everything I know about Texas Hold-Em' poker. Tonight I put my education to good use and pulled down $21 on a $5 buy in game over at Twitty's. I don't get to play very often with them, but I also don't think I've been disappointed when the game ends yet! At first I thought I ended up with $36 and I was super-happy but alas - I miscounted. Still a good night as a whole. Kevin and Shaena held a great barbecue and I got to catch up with some high school buds I haven't seen in a while.

Camp Ranachqua (ran-ah-kwa)

Last week my Boy Scout troop spent a week at summer camp. I took a day off from work and got a chance to partake in the fun on Thursday night and Friday. Thursday night Steve and I went out for a few drinks on his night out. We talked Scout stuff and camp stuff and we got hit on by the waitress (him more than me). There was a singer there who was quite mediocre and I was even more upset when I realized it wasn't kareoke night - she was the hired entertainment. Whew!

Anyway Friday was a lot of fun! I got to spend some time with the Scouts I haven't seen in a while. I helped clean up our campsite, earning us a perfect score for the day's inspection. That afternoon I went on the fly fishing expedition with two of the Scouts; however there was not enough poles so I was forced to sit and watch quietly, just relaxing. It's tough being an adult leader sometimes.

A lot around the camp has changed. Places have moved around and policies added and edited. Camp food hasn't changed much. It's just as bad as I remember it. :-X

Before the evening flag ceremony, Steve, who is the rifle range master of all things, and I got to shoot for a while at the range. I was pretty bad at first, but with a few small adjustments and pointers from him I was able to get a pretty nice cluster. We took a few minutes with the shotgun as well and I got to shoot my first clay pigeons! That was a lot of fun. I was surprised to be able to pick it up so quickly. I don't shoot very often - almost never. But getting a chance to shoot up at camp was nice. It's a chance to just focus on one small thing and forget all the other things going on. You've got ear protection on so all you can really hear is your breath. It's a very "inner" thing - something I haven't experienced in a while.

The closing campfire was really nice. Our troop won Honor Unit; which is basically the "troop of the week" award. That was pretty cool. And at the closing campfire I got to participate in my first American flag retirement ceremony. That's when flags that are too old and worn to be used are burned in a respectful and simple ceremony. It's the only respectful way to retire an American flag.

I don't think there were many pictures taken, but if I come across any I'll have to post them up.

"Now you're thinking in portals"

The upcoming Half-Life 2 episode is probably going to be pretty amazing. I haven't finished HL yet and I haven't even played HL2, but the upcoming episode is supposed to have a really cool new single-player fps which will turn the gaming industry on its ear. It's called Portal and just looks awesome. It's built on the HL2 engine called Source (warning: loads of big words on that link) - all of which has been written by Valve. Check out the demo video which is mocked up to appear like a training video for a new employee. It's impressive to say the least.

fly guy

Nothing beats a random site to brighten your day. So ... let the brightening commence. This one is called Fly Guy and just put a little smile on my face. :-) That's a replica of the little smile on my face.

tom's new blog

I'm heading out to work shortly, but I was delighted this morning when I received an email from good buddy Tom who just moved out to Washington. He's joined the club of the self-absorbed and started his own blog right here at Blogger. So now that I've plugged his blog our total reader count is ... 6 -- unless you count he and I twice. I also added his blog to the Friends' Blogs list just in case you didn't subscribe to the rss feed and couldn't remember tomgu.blogspot.com and failed to bookmark it and somehow couldn't find this post again to link to it. In any event if you can't find it again maybe you should stop using the internet.

While I'm talking about Tom, he sent me a link to a very amusing Jon Stewart clip that I must have missed. I know I'd remember his discussion on Net Neutrality if I saw it.

ie7 beta 2

Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 has been out for a while, but I just decided to give it a spin. I've been using it for 5 minutes, but I noticed that it renders the top of my blog differently so my name is covered by the blogger banner. I'll prolly need to switch UIs to something else now. Fantastic.

wedding pictures

Anne and I received our wedding pictures from the professional photographers. I've already received a ton of pictures so far, but their collection alone is over 550 shots! That's 1 gig of photo space!

I'll be posting many of the good ones on daveandanne.com, but i may also open up a torrent file of the entire collection if there's enough demand.

ok so if you managed to read the previous post (read below) before this one. i'm writing this now with jen and anne. we're all wearing off our buzz and they're goofing around leaving messages on myspace. i think they were checking out joe's (who happens to be gay) page. jen and i started arguing about men and women. she apparently will stop looking at a guy once she realizes he's gay. i however... um... pay more attention when i find out a woman is gay. we think it must be one of the fundamental differences between men and women.

well they've moved on to setting up plans for wednesday. i guess that was the end of that epic debate. jen has moved on.

holy cow i made it

I've just survived an ENTIRE WEEK without television, internet or (land-line) phone.


Ok hold on a sec. Anne and Jen are setting up plans and won't let me listen to my music. I must fight them.


There. Anyway, yea, I just got my new Optimum cable service. The internet is hot. I'm getting 1782 KB/sec down and 204 KB/sec up at speakeasy's speed test.

One sec. Anne again... We're trying to decide about dinner.

And I'm back. Optimum screwed up my television so I have to switch the regular box for an HD box tomorrow.

Geeze. Another interruption. Sorry folks.

Alright. Lemmie wrap this up. The phone is quasi-functioning. We are prolly going to acquire a new phone to support caller ID in the future. If you'd like the number and you missed it in prior emails let me know and I'll hook you up.

yard sale tips

My family held a yard sale this weekend which was quite profitable. With just a little planning and a small amount of prior investment, you can turn a quick buck on a bunch of old junk. Usually I spend my time writing about the daily events, but this time I'd like to spend more time on what I think are some good tips for holding your own yard/garage sale.

Planning

• Make sure you really have enough items to hold the sale in the first place. You should really also have no reservations selling your items to the public. Remember the purpose of holding a yard sale is just as much to get rid of the junk as it is to make money on it.
  
• Invite friends and family to participate. The more items on sale, the more cars are likely to stop as well as convert stops to sales. Plus your other participants can lighten the load and create breaks for eachother.
  
• Take an ad out in the paper. Make some signs for the front of your house. If you don't live on a main road, plant some signs well in advance leading the way.
• Go to the bank and get a large sum (we used $300) in various bills and quarters.
• Grab some bold, but bright markers and thick paper for signs. Pick up some labels/stickers. They make them specifically for yard sales, but you can always get by with masking tape or taping paper to items.
  
• Save up plastic bags and boxes. You'll need them to help people take their new purchases away.
  
• Decide on the space you'll use. The closer to the road the better. A lot of people will browse from their cars so it's important to make it easy on them.
• Plan for bad weather. A large canopy tent or hung tarp can provide shade and rain cover.
• Set your time. Consider 8am - 3pm. Hardcore yard salers could be there at the immediate start if you place an ad and they like what they see. Most visitor traffic (in my experience) is dying out around 3. Many yard sales will go till 4, but IMHO if you start packing by 3 it'll be 4 before you finish and you can still cater to those tricklers who will do some box rumaging.
  

Pricing

• Price your items.
  
• Price them early.
  
• Price them low, but maybe just a little higher than what you expect to get for it. There's two schools of thought on this... Price it high and expect to bargain people (so they think they're getting a deal) or price it as you want it and let the right buyer come for it.
  
• Don't price items in increments smaller than 25 cents. Pennies, nickels, and dimes are not fun to deal with.
• Consider what you think is fair. If the item has value, price it as the value. However if you're pricing something higher than it's fair value because it holds more intrinsic value to you, it may be worth considering if it should be sold at all.
• Consistancy helps. Books, for example, might be subcategorized hard/soft cover but shouldn't have lots of different "cost levels." That just gets confusing. Clothing is another good example.
• Group items and try to sell them in a group. Have a collection of some kind? Sell the whole set rather than allow it to be split and become harder to sell the rest.
• Have something of extreme value ( >$500)? Don't sell it at a yard sale. People come looking for bargins with their dollar bills. They aren't carrying their check books. Place an ad or eBay it!
  

Setup

• Put the most expensive, most impressive, most desired to sell items up front. A lot of people will only browse 5 - 10 feet "into" the sale making the first impression most important. Keep moving things up into those spots as things sell.
• Set your items into "departments." Got a bunch of holiday items? Technology items? Glassware? Group them into sections so people can find things easier.
• Make things easy to browse. Get some tables. Organize books spine out so they can be browsed without being moved. Older folks, who will be a large portion of your patrons, won't bother if they can't see or get to it easily.
• Be conscious of walking lanes. If people can't get someplace, they won't try to go there. And then they won't see the silly lawn angel you've been trying to sell for 8 hours.
• Optimize your items. Got a fake christmas tree? Set it up. Stainless steel platter? Polish it. Electric equipment? Run a cable and be prepared to show it works. You may even want to create an opportunity for folks to try on clothing somehow as well. Just like selling a house, the more people can imagine how the item fits in their house the more likely they'll buy it.
• Get a lock box. Keep the key on you. Put the box out of plain sight.
  
• You may want to setup the night before and cover your things. It'll be a big day.
  

The Big Day

• Get out early. "Yard salers" are hardcore and will be out and about (we figure) as early as 8am. Setup the balloons and signs.
  
• Take shifts as able. Hopefully it will be sunny and warm.
• Be polite and greet people as you can. Creating a friendly atmosphere is important. Carry boxes for the old ladies dammit.
  
• Be prepared to make deals and discuss the value of items. Remember half of the purpose of a yard sale is to get rid of the crap you've acrued. Sticking to your prices may not be worth having to haul the stuff back inside.
• Having someone as a "greeter" in the front is a good idea, but you may want to station any other participants toward the back behind all the merchandise so visitors don't get the wrong impression and assume something is not for sale.
• Selling beverages is a good way to make some side cash as well as keep yourself hydrated. I wouldn't get crazy into selling foods. Most yard sale vets move quickly between sales and prolly have some tradition to eat out or at home.
• Hopefully it will be sunny. If it is remember your sunscreen. You'll be sitting under the heatlamp for several hours.
  

The End Of The Big Day

• Before throwing out all that crap you couldn't convert to sales consider donating. Clothing and books have several possible outs; most notable right now is the New Orleans area. Many other items are also valuable to the right organization. Housing items can be used by emergency housing for example.
• Large items might be worth holding onto rather than discarding. Wait for the right buyer. Take an ad in the paper perhaps.
• Two-Day Rule: Items too large to go out in the trash and you can't stand to look at them anymore? Leave them on the lawn with a FREE sign and they'll be gone within two days.
  
• Remember you can always eBay!

Wow that's a lot of tips. I guess I learned a lot this weekend myself. Now you're all wiser and can sell your crap on your lawn. Or if you've read this and become completely overcome you can always resort to eBay.

pretty good day

Today was pretty alright. Got to sleep in. I set up an installation appointment for my internet/television/phone at my new apartment before really starting the day. At 1ish, Anne and I joined a bunch of friends at the local ball field for some ghetto ball (that's a scheduled pick-up baseball game). We avoided some rain and hit some balls. Malarky, Greg, and Jeff each hit one out (200 ft field). I mostly hit ground balls.

After a few hours of baseball, we moved over to Kristen's house for a lil bbq. She's not really much of a cook so i was the "grill master" for the evening, cooking some burgers, dogs, and sausage. While chowing and chatting we watched the final game of the subway series and I got to see the Mets actually win one. They tried really hard in the 8th and 9th to give it away, but the Yankees just couldn't muster enough to make it happen.

In all it was a pretty good day. I'm just gonna rest up now and get ready for another week of work.

The Sentinel - reviewed well beyond the point you could see it in the theatre

So I saw The Sentinel Wednesday in a small crappy theatre in Chester. The walls were thin and I could hear the movie playing in the next theatre through the wall. I knew that before going in - I had been there before. Last time I saw a movie there however, the prices were below the wowie-zowie theatre in Middletown. Times have changed and the prices were now the same. It really bugs me (by the way, this is as much a review of the theatre as it is the movie itself) when you're paying 'the going rate' for sub-'the going rate' quality of anything; but especially for movies.

Jen, Anne, and I make our way inside (after I hit the ATM because the crappy theatre does not accept credit) to one redeeming feature. The movie operator's booth is on the same floor with the back of it completely glass, allowing a nice view of some kid reeling a movie. That's kind of interesting to me... for a moment. Jen, Anne, and I made our way into the theatre (with the 8 other people) and find seats on the left. Six of the others find seats opposite us on the right, and two women sit in the back row near the door. People on the right... no problem. People in the back... I wanted to take out back and beat with a shovel. Who spends $8.50 to see a movie they know nothing about only to watch the movie and continuously ask each other what just happened in a theatre with 10 people in it? Seriously. I spend $8.50 to sit quietly in a room and watch a crappy movie with Kiefer Sutherland and expect it to be quiet dammit. Since when did buying a ticket to a movie entitle people to talk (or worse, answer their phone) through a movie?

Aside from the theatre and the talkers, the movie was alright. It felt 24-ish... which it would cause Kiefer just ran around doing whatever he wanted in his slightly-panicked, always-husky voice... just like he does in 24. Eva Longoria is along for the ride as well, which should have been my first warning sign of a mediocre movie and Kim Bassinger(sp, cause i don't care) gives a rather lifeless performance. On the "Peter Scale" (refer to a yet-to-be-written post about the Peter Scale), I gave the flick a 650 (out of 1000 - in all fairness since I haven't even written about it yet).

And here we are.. a month+ later (again) and married (for the first time). At least I have a pretty valid excuse. The wedding was great and the honeymoon was fantastic. If you'd like to see pictures of our trip, visit DaveAndAnne.com.

A lot of friends have asked if it feels any different to be married now. I usually respond with the crack, "It's such a small word, but i seem to choke on 'My wife' every time." Of course I'm joking. It feels a little different - a small tingle inside that we've reaffirmed our love publicly. But in all honesty, we're still two silly kids just having a good time together trying to get by. Only now we've got matching jewelery.

first dance

Wedding plans are nearing completion since we're now less than 4 weeks away from the big day! Part of our decision process has been music to be played at the reception. Of course this is no easy task. We want the kick-ass-ing-ist party there can be. Don't worry, "Bust a Move" is on the must-play list. I'm sure it will be great, but Anne and I are still struggling with one big reception music decision: our first dance song.

We've been through a large list of songs several times. Neither of us want to compromise on the situation and we are not seeing eye to eye. I don't really know how to resolve the problem. I'm sure we'll find something eventually so I think patience is the best course for now. I've been listening to a ton of new songs on Rhapsody. Maybe I'll find a diamond in the rough there.

safari test

While firmly entrenched in the opposing camp - being a Java person while I've sold my sould to Microsoft - Mark often finds some pretty cool links and web apps. Once again I owe him some credit. He's found a damn cool site that renders a url in Mac Safari and returns with a png of it's outcome. Now you can see how horrible your site may look rendered by Safari. While to the layperson this doesn't sound all that fantastic, it's a great tool for web developers.

today's word: jealousy

Kevin owns an Easy Button. That's right! *THE* easy button as seen on Staples commercials. And I want one. I think I'll get one this weekend so that when I start my new job on Monday, I'll be the coolest programmer in the office... with my own personal Easy Button.

Here's to you Kevin. My source of jealousy, and my only reader.

It's been some time since my last post. I seem to be slipping on this little endeavor of mine. It's late and I'm not going to even begin speculating why that is. Suffice it to say Foster motivated me to write something - anything for him to read while he's at work. It isn't much, but it's a start.

I can't even begin to cover the last few weeks/months happenings. It's probably best I don't try to hash it all in some epic story anyway. I think I'll just pick up where I left off - how I see fit - and continue on from here.

For now I see fit to head off to bed. I'm not feeling fantastic and I'd like to keep my weekend plans to visit friends in Rochester. I hope to avoid illness with a long slumber and some nyquil.

And since I know at least you will read this, hi Kev.

New Year's Resolutions

It's been a month since my last post. December has come and gone! It was a great holiday season but now it's time to return to the "normal grind."

I always try to start the year off with a resolution or two. I've spoke with a few friends and they don't seem to put much stock in them. They told me they don't think they could accomplish or stick to them anyway, so "what's the point?"

I choose to make resolutions despite their cynicism. If we don't make resolutions in the first place, then how do we expect to change for the better in the first place? I won't pretend to believe that I'll be fully faithful to my resolutions, but if I don't make them in the first place I won't have something to strive toward. I think that's the point of New Years. It's the spirit that an individual can improve or better one's self. Don't we all want to be just a bit better off than we were the year before? And since we're changing all the time - shouldn't we try to change for the best.

It's an ambitious year for me. I have five-ish resolutions... all of which are pretty lofty. With that being said, here (in no particular order) are my New Year's resolutions:

• Continue my efforts to lose weight & inches with visits to the gym and eating well.
• Change a "growing" to-do list into a "shrinking" to-do list by finishing projects I've started.
• Plan the best damn wedding possible - hopefully with as little stress as possible. (yea right!)
• Train myself to speak in full & coherent sentences. Speak with proper enunciation.
• Consider the consequences of things I say & do and how they will affect my friends, family, and people I interact with.

I realize that this may not be the best forum for a dialogue, but feel free to comment with your own resolutions. Good luck on yours!