LesAtkins.com

Upgrade and Loss

I am typing this entry on my new Apple PowerBook G4. I really had no intention of buying another laptop anytime soon, but I was offered a price that I just could not refuse. I was lucky enough to get the model with the 17″ screen and it has 1Gb of RAM. It is a fairly good jump in performance from my iBook. I also got a snazzy metal laptop case (that looks like I should be handcuffed to it) as well as an Apple keyboard and mouse.

When i got the laptop I was very excited. Not only was I going to be able to use a fancier machine, but also I was going to be able to give my wife an Apple to use. Finally I could take her away from Windows. She used it for a week or two until one fateful day. My youngest child decided to move the laptop out of his way while holding a cup of water. Well, as you can imagine, this did not end well. He spilled the entire cup of water onto the keyboard of the laptop. Nobody saw this happen, and he failed to mention this to anyone. When my oldest son came back in the room he only saw a couple of drops of water on the keyboard. He promptly wiped them up and proceeded to play a game. A few minutes later the iBook powered off. My wife came in to help with restarting the iBook and lifted it up. All of the spilled water was trapped underneath.

… sigh …

I opened the laptop and dried what I could with paper towels. I then let the laptop sit open for about a week and a half. After the dry-out period I saw some light at the end of the tunnel. I tried to boot the iBook and it powered on. Oh yeah!

After further testing I have determined that the zero key does not work (an external keyboard works fine) and the iBook does not recognize it’s DVD drive. On top of that it seems that the wireless signal has become weaker. I can fix many things on a computer, but repairing iBooks is a little out of my league.

I guess I will call Apple and see how much it will cost to fix it (if they can).

In the meantime I will play with my PowerBook and think of happier things.

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Halloween 2005

My wife and I have decided that Halloween is pretty much our favorite holiday of the year except for Christmas. We love to decorate and dress up for it. This year, we planned for our biggest display ever and we pulled it off with flying colors. By the first weekend in October we were in full swing with out decorations. We had a grave yard, large spider webs and spiders, jack-o-lanterns, blacklights, skeletons, a fog machine, glow-in-the dark webbing, strobe lights and more. We were ready. Then I went outside on the second Saturday in October and what do I find? A lot less than I found the night before. Our cemetery, a skeleton, a large jack-o-lantern, and a six-foot spider web and spider had been stolen! What a disappointment. Obviously somebody was in desperate need of some styrofoam tombstones and a few other Halloween decorations and thought I had plenty to spare. The theiving ingrates.

Anyway…
We replaced some of the tombstones and the jack-o-lantern and our decorations were once again looking good. Halloween came and we were ready. While my wife took the kids out into the neighborhood for the customary candy-begging ritual I stayed at the house with a couple of friends and lay in wait for other trick-or-treaters. We kicked the fog machine into high-gear and the stage was set. We definitely had a record number of visitors for our neighborhood and the scary scene had the desired effect on the trick-or-treaters. We were a hit!

A quick testament to the society we live in today. I opened the front door to another batch of trick-or-treaters and the first thing out of one of the mothers standing there was “I hope you have insurance. I just go so scared I fell down and hurt my knee on your stairs.” The first thing that pops in my head (although I did not say it) was “Woman, if you are so afraid that you fall down the stairs at my house while trying to beg candy from me as your kids stand there and wonder what in the world is wrong with you, then you should not be trick-or-treating.” followed by “There you go lady, teach the kids to sue other people every time you look like an idiot.” The five-year-olds that were with her managed to survive my front steps. Some people…

Aside from that the evening went well. I look forward to our outdoing ourselves next year.

Check out pictures of the Halloween decorations here

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My Kids’ Birthday Party

My sons’ birthdays are five days apart. As we have done in the past few years my wife and I have had a joint-birthday party for the boys. Differently than the last years, however, we decided to have the party at home rather than at Chuck E. Cheese. Don’t get me wrong. I like Chuck E. Cheese as much as the next parent…that is to say not at all…but after a couple of years of that we (the grown-ups) had had enough. We partied at home this year and it was wonderful. It was cheaper, more relaxed, and the kids still had a great time. We even had a fireworks display. Of course I cooked way too many hot dogs and burgers so I have about had my fill of those at this point. Hey, somebody has to eat them…even it takes 3 days. Some of the kids stayed for a sleep-over and they all had a great time. I would say that by far this was the most enjoyable birthday party we have thrown; and not just for the adults.

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Red, Furry, and Evil

“He must be speaking of the devil”, one might think. “But wait…”, you say, “…the devil is not furry. And what about the pitchfork?” No, friends, I am not talking about the devil (per se). What I am talking about is evil in a new and devious way. More potent than the devil of old and just as frightening in that it preys on our impresionable children. I speak to you today, my people, about Elmo.

It wasn’t that long ago when the must-have toy was Tickle-Me Elmo. I could not turn around in a store without seeing some kind of elmofied fan wear or toy. Elmo, Elmo, Elmo was everywhere. I was not bothered though. I was insulated because I did not have kids. I was protected from all that is Elmo by my childlessness. Call it salvation.

My protection from Elmo ended, however. My son was born. I was still spared much of onslaught of Elmo marketing, but not all of it. He had a few toys that looked like Elmo. But I was yet uninitiated. Now my son is in kindergarten and I have selected from a list some educational software to help my son advance more easily. Elmo’s Preschool is on that list. As an educational tool the software is good. It covers letters, numbers, colors, shapes, and some other necessary stuff. The downside is that the little red beast that the software is themed from talks almost nonstop as the child interacts with it. I have been exposed to the true nature of Elmo’s evil. It is it’s voice. I have yet to understand while the little furry devil has to say his own name all the time (besides the obvious marketing reasons). Perhaps it is good for education and likability…perhaps not. My son has been using the software tonight for about a half of an hour and I am about crack. I have turned the volume down on it some but I think it is just the tone of the creature’s voice that grates on me. Apparently tone overpowers volume in this case. It’s devilry permeates the walls.

I hope that I will get used to it’s maddening intonation since the software is helpful, but I doubt it will happen. I would hate to have to sacrifice my son’s education because of just one bug-eyed little devil-puppet. We will see.

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The Writings of Piers Anthony

As you may have read before on the “About Me” page; I like to read. Since my wife and I like to read together whenever can but we also like to listen to audio books when we are driving.

My wife has read many books that I have not yet read and has quite the collection of books at home to prove it. One of the book sets that she has is called the Incarnations of Immortality series. This series follows the characters that embody Death, Time, Fate, War, Nature, Satan, and God. The author; Piers Anthony, has written a good many books, but I have found that while these books can be considered light reading they are also thought provoking and engaging.

I more recently started reading/listening to another series of his about the land of Xanth. Again these book are just good light reading. This series seems to be written more for a teenage audience, but it is entertaining nonetheless. The series is also quite large as there are currently 29 books in it. According to the Piers Anthony web site; there are more Xanth novels to come. I also like to read more serious books, but lately I have been in the mood for witty puns and fun adventure.

If you have never read any of the works by Piers Anthony then I recommend doing so.

I welcome any comments on Piers Anthony’s novels as well. I would like to have your opinion.

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