The Greatest Depression..

Well I would assume we are in a true depression. I can only say this because the muckity-mucks have finally admitted that we are in a recession. Since it has been 70 odd years since the "great depression", there is really nothing in living history for us to compare it to to judge our level of despair.

The problem I see with it this time around, is it is self-perpetuating. There is so much negative media coverage, that the populus is in a constant state of panic. The more we are told how bad things are, the less likely we are to make a major purchase to boost the economy. In the 1930's I am sure there was bad news, but not like today where it is blasted at you from every directio. I don't know which is worse, the endless barrage, or living in the 30's and just "not knowing".

You hear every day that we have not seen the worst of it yet, and we haven't hit bottom. I have heard it called "The Greatest Depression". I just wonder when we look back 20 years from now, what we will see...

New computers suck

I finally broke down and bought a new Dell Vostro desktop computer. My old Dell was 6 years old and though upgraded, getting slow and crashy. Transferring all the stuff I needed to run the website biz was a pain in the ass. I know there are programs to transfer from one computer to another, but 90% of the stuff I DIDN'T want. Mind you 6 years ago with XP was even before service pack 1. So if you ever look at the files from updates, there is a lot of garbage.

So after 2 days of constant tweaking, I am almost sure I am done. I can publish all my websites, edit photos and surf the net to all my favorites. The biggest problem was the new computer would not recognize my flatbed scanner. When I went to reload the driver disk, the disk was empty! Absolutely a blank cd, freakin' screwy!. I found the drivers on the internet, but nope. I am sorting that out. I bought a new scanner on ebay. I must say this new computer boots up and shuts down way quicker and is much faster in general.

So in my spare time I have been working a new toy. I developed a search box that allows you to search all of Craigslist with just one search. Not as difficult as it sounds, but check it out to see if it works.

You can put on your site I hope at http://shop-search.org. Cross your fingers!

Waste some more time with this game.

Ok, here is a game that is not going to cost you the whole afternoon. It is called Super Stacker and you can play it HERE. You are given a series of blocks and shapes and you have to stack them up and the stack has to stay up for 10 seconds. It sounds easy and at the beginning it really is. But as the game progresses, it get increasingly more challenging. You are given balls and triangles and you have to find out to use them without the shapes falling off. You will have to even be creative on a few levels and allow the shape to tumble into a usable position.

I finished all the levels (the firt time) in around 1252 seconds. I tried again and finished in 512 seconds. While it is not World of Warcraft, it is a fun distraction and should keep you entertained for a while. Have fun!

The power is out.

My heart goes out to the folks with no power. An icy winter blast hit the midwest Friday December 19th covering everything (near me) with more than a 1/4 inch of ice. Trees are down everywhere and some neighborhoods look like a tornado went through. Downed limbs have hit power lines and knocked out power to thousands including me. Luckily we were back with service in one day, but there are still thousands with no power. Now with a sub-zero blast on the way, people are in danger of frozen pipes bursting. Also there was not a warming trend after the ice storm to melt the ice off of the limbs. So now with expected winds of 15-20 mph, the people with restored power (like me) are watching the ice covered limbs and praying.

Not having power is very humbling. Everything we do revolves around having electricity. Heat and lighting are at the top, but we are so consumed with our lives that we take electricity for granted. When is the last time you had to poop without the exhaust fan creating the cover noise? How many times have you flipped the light switch out of habit even though you KNOW the power is out? So when your clock radio starts flashing 12:00, thank the utility workers for braving the dangers and elements to allow you to get on the internet again. Also give a shout out to the road crews that put in 14 hour days so you can get to Walmart at 3am.

Morphing made easy

Hello bloggists. Sorry for the lack of posting, but I am breaking in a new computer. Loading all the programs I need on a new dell with Windows XP. Had to get one before Vista took over the world.

In the meantime, I found a cool site you can morph photos of celebrities for free. Go to http://www.morphthing.com/. Pick two celebrities and click morph to see what they would look like. Here is my morph of Reese Witherspoon and William Shatner ... creepy

Or You can register and load your own photos. Have fun!