Todays Front Pages - Map View

Cool website to see the front page news from around the world.

Todays Front Pages - Map View

Coolest Fucking Thing

Got to go to: earth.google.com. Download the software and get blown away. Sweet.

New brands from Vinexpo

Some new brands from France:

"Other Bordeaux vineyards have joined forces to create E-Motif, a range with gaudy labels and names such as Fusion Red and Exciting White, which are aimed at bars and nightclubs. Charles Perrin, 25, a vigneron from Provence, launched Sexual Wine, sold in a 25cl bottle with a straw."

Full story below:

World news from The Times and the Sunday Times - Times Online: "s"

The 9th Doctor

Courtesy of my good friend Chad (thanks, Chad), I've been watching the new Dr. Who series from England. I wasn't that impressed with the pilot, "Rose", but since then I've warmed up to it quite a bit. I've seen one about the end of the Earth, the dead rising up, aliens in London and then the Dalek. I think the Dalek was a little overplayed--but fun, none-the-less. Ruby loves them, and she has a lot of good questions--is the Dalek good? Is the Dr. bad? The Dr. has definitely done some questionable things--seems this personality is radically different than the previous 8--but I don't know how this "timewar" changed him. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series though.

mid-day

Another beautiful day in the Napa Valley. Had a nice meeting outside

packagingWINE.com is coming along nicely--don't have much time to update it's look, but content is getting created, which is always good.

Probably go canoeing this weekend again, just bought August a vest, so he can go out with us. Also got a proper canoe paddle, albeit a cheap one, we'll see if it is any better then the kayak ones we are using. Also got a goofy paddling hat.

Also planning a camping trip for the weekend after July 4th. I'll take a day off so we can do two nights.

Concrete pumping

Enger Concrete Pumping
987.9700
engerpump@hotmail.com

Earth Engergy Systems

Check out
Earth Energy Systems
Mike Ericksen
707.523.4363

Winestore recycles capsules

This article out of Rochester might be a tad confusing--definitly don't want consumers to believe that there is still lead in wine capsules.

Although I think it is great this store is recycling capsules.


Democrat & Chronicle: Local News

Luxist - www.luxist.com _

Luxist - www.luxist.com _

Luxury travel auctions and hotels for less at LuxuryLink.com

Luxury travel auctions and hotels for less at LuxuryLink.com

Indian Valley Reservoir

Family went canoing with Emily and Wayne and her dad at Indian Valley Reservoir. Great place, about an hour away. Beautiful scenery, not too many people, clean water--perfect place to screw around in the boat. August had a blast, he loves the water, he could sit there at the edge forever, just picking up one rock after the next. Ruby loves it too, the water wasn't too cold or too warm--I'm sure it'll get hotter there as the summer progresses (and we move out of this weird cold spell in June), and it'll be nice to dive in. I'll have a couple of pictures to post tomorrow morning.

Did I say anything about Howl's Moving Castle?

I thought I'd be able to write a review of Howl's Moving Castle--I went to see it with the family on Friday night--but I ended up really only catching about 30 min.'s of it--partly due to one horrible baby and one stupid self. The movie didn't start to 9:30--way past August's bedtime--so he should sleep easily through the movie. Hah. He doesn't sleep--he starts to fuss, I take him out for a bit, the Jen comes and takes turns with me, then she comes back, think he has calmed down--hah, again. So I take him out then gently sing him to sleep while walking around the outside of the Rialto theater. I bring him in, he wakes us and starts to fuss. Then Jen takes him. I let her watch him for a while, but then I go looking for them, she is out in the little theater cafe playing with him--he is wide awake--it is now 10:30. Jen gives up, says she'll go lay down in the car with him, can I go get her the keys. One problem, even though I drove to the theater using her keys, I had switched sets because mine had a beer opener and I wanted to take a beer in with me (don't tell anyone). But, of course, I had taken my copy of the car key off last week for some reason and hadn't put it back on--so we were effectively locked out of the car. I took August, called the roadside assistance and waited for the truck to come--it got there at 11:10, I went back into the theater about 11:25 and caught the last 15 minutes. What I saw looked really good though.
j

Fresh off the press

Interesting article, discusses an issue I've faced w/ cans, luckily never really had to deal w/ bottled product this way--turn over too much usually. But, does most wine have a best-buy date? I don't want to think about any 2001 Diamond Chardonnay that might be stuck in the bargain bin at Sam's Liquor and Guns in Fargo, ND--would adding a sell by date to a bottle help it turn over--or at least come back to us before it ruins a sale? I don't know. I think people buy wine w/ the expectation of drinking it that night, or within a week or so--but, wine still has the possibility of lasting longer--makes it more mysterious--unlike everything else we buy that degrades w/ age--wine improves--or so the average consumer thinks--I'd hate to put anything on our labels that suggest otherwise.

The Observer | Magazine | Fresh off the press

Topics of the day for packagingwine.com

Have a special feature every day?

M History of the week
T Education of the week
W Equipment of the week
Th Package of the week
F Wine of the week (just tasting)

WildBlue Communications - Official Website of WildBlue - Satellite Speed Internet

WildBlue Communications - Official Website of WildBlue - Satellite Speed Internet

They say they'll be out in my area in Sept.--I hope so--it'd be a nice xmas present.

Can't quite see it in this picture, but the rain is still raining in Napa, in June. Very unusual. Last time this happened was in 1998, that was my first spring/summer in Northern California and I remember that it seemed like it was never going to stop raining (that was off of a hard El Nino year). This year is more mild than that--and I actually don't mind it--I just have to stop leaving things outside that I don't want to get wet, like the weed whacker, baby stroller, books, blankets, etc. (Shot take on Hwy 175 outside of Middletown.)

'Star Wars' princess inspires royal name in Norway - Yahoo! News

'Star Wars' princess inspires royal name in Norway - Yahoo! News

Ya gotta love that. Maybe Lucas paid her to promote Star Wars in Norway.

Rain in June? Again?

So so day

Jen's not feeling well, having a real hard time breathing--hopefully nothing to serious but have Dr.'s appointment on Friday.

And I couldn't find out if the bird was alive or dead. The vet refered me to Wildlife Rescue and I just got a message when I called them.

Lots of fiddling around on the computer today at work--working on inventories, supllies, etc. Ugh.

Maybe something to look forward to tonight--good movie or somethinge. We'll see.

Pre-orders for new Harry Potter exceed half a million - Yahoo! News

Pre-orders for new Harry Potter exceed half a million - Yahoo! News

Can't wait.

Last note for the night

Time to finish up wasting time online. Time to waste time reading a sci-fi novel about time travel (Timeships).

And time to let out Oskar.

Still no word on the bird

Getting ready to leave work and the Dr.'s still haven't looked at the bird. The nurse said it is just "relaxing" in the box I brought it in in. I don't know too many hawks, but I don't think they normally just relax in a box after work.

Hawk update...

...still waiting to hear about the hawk. It is alive but the Dr.'s haven't looked at it yet (now 3:00 pm), glad I rushed it to them.

Blurry photo of glass

It isn't so taperd at the bottom, just a strange angle.

Privacy in 100 years

Privacy against intrusion is the biggest concern right now, but is privacy a good thing? Is privacy just a form of shame? Does a person's "right" to privacy override my right to know/record my experiences? If digitally recording my life is just an extension of my mind--or a more accessible/shareable/indexable form of memory-can it be made illegal?

Is privacy just a phase that we have to go through? Reminds me of the Ayn Rand novel Anthem, read that one while tucked away at the Lindbergh High School library, probably skipping a class. Brings up a lot of questions, mostly fear, fear of losing our identities through collectivism--valid concern, but where are we progressing as people? Do we have to hold onto our privacy in a completely free world?

Jbird hit a bird

Driving in this morning I hit a hawk, probably a red tail, with my truck. The damn thing just swooped down to the right, passing over me, then came back low over the road, probably to catch something, and my grill winged it good. I stopped right after and ran back to take a look. It was flopping on the side of the road, stunned. I grabbed some gloves out of the truck, picked it up then wrapped it up in a towel. It didn't move at all during the next 1/2 hour drive into work. I found out who took care of injured birds in Napa and brought it in--I'll call in a bit to see if it is OK--I hit it hard, though, I must have been going at least 40-50 MPH.

Mustang Children's PFD Kids' - Mountain Equipment Co-op

Mustang Children's PFD Kids' - Mountain Equipment Co-op

Lunch at Villa Corona

Let's see: beans, rice, tortilla, salsa, chips and a beer. Doesn't get much better than this.

Monday Morning

Quick blog before I finish getting ready for work...running a little late if I want to do dishes (but who really wants to do dishes?). Last night, after canoeing at Lake Berryesea (sp?), Emily, Wayne and the kids came by to have dinner. Jen fixed some great tuna and from what I hear, steak.

On the way back from the dump

Ruby took a picture of me.

What Happened to Ruby's Head?

Oh, no! Ruby's head is getting bigger by the moment!
Stand back, it's about to blow!

At the Clear Lake Dump

Sunday trip to the dump w/ Ruby. Ruby and I have been to the dump dozens of times now, I hope that this will be sort-of-special memory for her. We have a lot of good conversations. About life, death, good, evil and faeries.

And maybe someday we can go to the dump together when she buys her first house and needs help with it.

Nice day...

...of cleaning and laying in the sun at Anderson's Springs. I had to coerce Ruby to play with Mckenna and Mckayla because they were playing in the "baby pool."

Now to shopping at Macy's.

Not much to say...

...or to blog for the matter (is to blog a different action than writing or saying something? Does it, because of its intrinsic form of publishing, deserve to be in the same class and our basic verbs?).

Went to Napa today. Almost ran out of gas--left my wallet at work and was very near empty. I limped back to work after I stopped by a gas station and put $1.22 in my tank (all the change I could find in the truck). The gas station attendant laughed at me, said I'd won the prize for the day. But I made it back.

Had a good lunch at Angele's, though--some nice scallops.

Tonight off to the drive in for the first time this season--should be fun, Madagascar and Robots.
This weekend, we'll see, maybe some shopping, hopeful get out on the water in the canoe.

IRI Unveils Top 25 Table Wine Trendsetters Ranking

Got to brag a bit, we are number 8.

IRI Unveils Top 25 Table Wine Trendsetters Ranking: "-------------------------------------------------------- The IRI Top 25 Table Wine Trendsetters Ranking -------------------------------------------------------- Rank Table Wine Brand -------------------------------------------------------- 1 Yellow Tail -------------------------------------------------------- 2 Mirassou -------------------------------------------------------- 3 Barefoot -------------------------------------------------------- 4 Sterling Vintners Collection -------------------------------------------------------- 5 Smoking Loon -------------------------------------------------------- 6 R H Phillips Vineyard -------------------------------------------------------- 7 Ravenswood Vintners Blend -------------------------------------------------------- 8 Francis Coppola -------------------------------------------------------- 9 Leaping Horse -------------------------------------------------------- 10 Crane Lake -------------------------------------------------------- 11 Columbia Crest -------------------------------------------------------- 12 Bella Sera -------------------------------------------------------- 13 Blackstone -------------------------------------------------------- 14 Alice White -------------------------------------------------------- 15 Schmitt Sohne -------------------------------------------------------- 16 Century Cellars By BV -------------------------------------------------------- 17 Bogle Vineyards -------------------------------------------------------- 18 Covey Run -------------------------------------------------------- 19 Black Swan -------------------------------------------------------- 20 Concha Y Toro Frontera -------------------------------------------------------- 21 J Lohr -------------------------------------------------------- 22 Estancia -------------------------------------------------------- 23 Louis Jadot -------------------------------------------------------- 24 Chateau Ste Michelle -------------------------------------------------------- 25 Foxhorn --------------------------------------------------------"

Wired News: Does SenseCam Make Any Sense?

Wired News: Does SenseCam Make Any Sense?

Article describing Microsoft's Sensecam

Wired News: Does SenseCam Make Any Sense?

Wired News: Does SenseCam Make Any Sense?

Article describing Microsoft's Sensecam

Lunch at the Grill and then Cholestorol check

Just ate at the Grill (veggie burger) and then had my cholesterol checked--higher than last year: 212 vs. 170. I'm not too worried, the tests at the health fare have been off before.

Otherwise everything is going well. Little tired--but that is situation normal.

Our refi looks like it is going well, maybe close in three weeks.

This morning when I was driving in I had a lot of great profundities, now, though everything seems very, very mundane.

Had all kind of thoughts, about starting blogs and novels and philosophys--guess I hinted at it earlier--socialism through Rent-to-Own.

Can't wait to the brain plugs in so that there is permanent storage for everything.

Englightenment...

Enlightenment through leasing or the Death of Ownership.

The Fearsome trend? 

What a daughter. 

Trying again to send my first picture through Hello. 

Last episode of Star Trek Enterprise

I'm not usually a hater, I've watched good and bad episodes of Enterprise w/o complaining, enjoying the character development if not the plot. But the final episode of Enterprise was absolutely the worst one of the series. You have needless death, people acting out of character, the annoying intervention of ST:TNG crew (the show isn't about them--I could have cared less about them) and an ending that was a let down--all this build up to Archer's big speech, and it just fades to black? I mean come on--did they have to kill Trip? What was the fucking point of that? Archer finally learned that exploring space has a price--he didn't learn that earlier? And could Riker and Troi be any more annoying--Riker's big dilemma--should I lie or not? Hmmm, I wonder what he will do? Oh, the suspense.

The whole episode is like a "ha-ha" from Nelson after he pushes us down on the ground.

Fucking Paramount.

From phone to blog

From phone to blog

Sending an old stored photo

From a while back, up on Mt. St. Helena w/ Emily and Wayne

The end of the world?

It is June 8th and it is raining in Middletown? Rain in June? Crazy.

Weirdly congested this morning.

And I've got to remember to send Dad his e-ticket. Don't forget, don't forget.

Start a blog on time related info--use for "ES".

Open Directory - Arts: Photography: Contests

Open Directory - Arts: Photography: Contests

D-Day

Not that I should be anymore surprised than in years past, I suppose I'm just more sensitive to it now since I've learned more about WWII, but no mention of D-Day in the online news.

We had Emily's b-day here yesterday, went well, and the house doesn't even look that bad this morning (and I don't feel that bad, either, something to be said for MODERATION, I suppose).

Back to work.

New Scientist Breaking News - Mission to build a simulated brain begins

New Scientist Breaking News - Mission to build a simulated brain begins: "Mission to build a simulated brain begins"

Saturday, June 4th, 2005

Jen worked this morning, cooking. I watched the kids. In the afternoon we spent the day at Anderson Springs. Nice and relaxing--maybe I drank to much Sauv Blanc.

Home with TJ's pizza and the last two episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise. Good show, or at least a good cast of characters.

All went well

Ruby's performance went well, she said her lines smoothly, not forgetting anything. I'm very proud of her.

Just a quick note to say...

...good morning to myself.

Ruby is a narrator in a class play today: "Three Nanny Goats Gruff."

She starts off with "Once upon a time, there were three nanny goats..."

Should be fun. She's excited and nervous--and I guess I'm a little nervous for her, too. I'm trying not to project that, though. I wish I could make her a perfect performer. And I hope she says her lines as well on stage as she has been at home.

If I could giver her the ability to speak in front of a crowd, I'd be happy. I wonder if they have public speaking classes for kids.

Pictures, pastimes, pastiche and parole

Don't know what those have in common, just the first four p words that came to mind. The whole blog thing still has me befuddled--private, public--scrawled graffiti on the back of a door that is never shut?

Still need to work more on extended mind--flesh it out--what is the purpose--to explore the impending merging of digital memory and life--if hardware is powerful enough to record our surroundings in real time, store it as necessary, and build in indexing (gps, etc.....)--then what is our memory--our memory is simple another index to access the real archive--so how do we restructure our minds to fit this new paradigm? Will unlinking our mind from memory be a boon to creativity, or will it let it loose in a void with no anchors to reality?

Good morning self.

See you at work.