Soaring, Morphing, Zooming Prezs

Inauguration picture full screen zoom and pan. This is so cool, you just have to try it. The level of detail is amazing as you zoom into any part of the picture.

If you have a scroll-wheel mouse, you can zoom in and out with that, or just double click or use the slider on the left. There are other amazing pictures to play with at gigapan.org. The thumbnail image toolbar adds more interest by zooming in on areas of interest in the main photo. Just try it, it'll make sense when you see it. .

Morphing Presidents - this is cool to0, but doesn't require any user interaction.

Stumbled upon this right after I'd posted the others. Actually, StumbleUpon is where I found most of these links that I've been posting. It's extremely addicting. You've been warned!

Toward, to forward, to reward

English is a simple language. See for yourself.

Don't Need No Stinking Health Club

With the necessity of getting my blood sugar down, I threatened recently to take up jogging. I haven't been able to brave the cold, as of yet. I'm reminded of a civilian I worked with when I was in the Air Force. He said the only reason to run is if you're on fire or something is chasing you. He looked like he lived up to his philosophy quite successfully, too. Ironically, over the years, I saw him run from two fires - I was nearly trampled in one of those instances!

Also, when you work in your basement every day, it's hard to bother to do little things like shower and go outside. (Outside - you know, the big blue room? Sorry. Old computer geek joke.)

We do have a recumbent bike, and I've gotten back up to doing an hour a day on it, but sometimes I need something different.

We have two flights of stairs were where currently living and sometimes I put on the iPod and do some stair climbing with actual stairs instead of a fancy apparatus. There's room at the top and basement level to add a little walk before turning around.

Actually, there's enough room in the basement that I've taken up getting in some short sprints - it's like doing laps in a small pool - I have to get my turns timed right or I might crash into a wall, but it works - and adds a little excitement to the process. Throw in some old fashioned jumping-jacks, lunges and other calisthenics and I'm all set.

The best thing that I've found is that I do much better exercising two or three times a day in short bursts than trying to fit in a long workout after working all day. The net gain is the same, and for controlling blood sugar, I think it's actually much better to spread it out through the day.

Today it was nice enough out that I took a nice long walk along the Poudre river. Or rather one of the creeks that we call a river here in the high-plains of Colorado.

Squirt Go Boom

A couple of days ago we were watching TV in the living room and heard a loud boom from the kitchen along with a strange rattling sound. It kind of sounded like the sound the icemaker sometimes makes when it dumps into the empty bin.

The cat bravely went to investigate, so I figured I'd back him up. The freezer turned up nothing, but the fridge held a surprise. The top was covered in what looked to be frost, like what you'd see in an old non-self-defrosting model freezer (yes, I'm that old). There were also chunks of ice laying around and on the stuff inside. As I was pondering how the icemaker had somehow exploded through the bottom of the freezer compartment into the refrigerator, I noticed something clear in the back of the upper shelf.


I should have gotten a picture of the ice sculpture in the fridge, but I didn't think about it until it was too late.




I've seen the explosive power of soda before. Once in Anchorage, L set a six-pack down on the counter and one blew it's top and spewed all over the kitchen. Then there was that time when I was riding the grocery cart through the parking lot like a dog sled musher, and the 12 pack I had on the bottom slipped off the front and I ran over it, jamming it up under the cart and scraping it along the asphalt. Soda started spewing everywhere as L tried to hide her face in the shame of being seen with me. I think 3 or 4 cans survived intact.

The Petrol - Cola Equivelency Equation

Yesterday, I made two purchases within about 30 minutes of each other, one for of gas and one for 3 12-packs of diet Coke. When I was plugging away at Quicken, I thought I'd made a mistake, but the two purchases were indeed for the same amount.

01/05/09 POS PURCHASE - 7-ELEVEN $13.47
01/05/09 POS PURCHASE - WALGREENS $13.47

Now I know that 9.768 gallons of gas cost me the same as 36 cans or 432 oz. or 3.375 gallons of Coke (so saith Google Calculator), and I feel positively enriched by this knowledge.

Around our house the gas will last much longer than the Coke.

Get Motivated

I don't have an official list of New Year's Resolutions. I would like to try to start work on time every day this year since I'm two time zones behind my account. Never mind that my commute is usually down two flights of stairs. I said never mind that!!!! :->

Oh, and then there's getting my glucose in control before I have to face the dreaded I-word (INSULIN. ooooh, just saying it makes me cringe.) So, wish me luck - I think I'm going to take up jogging. Seriously. Stop laughing before you hurt yourself. I wish I could do more to change my food choices, but.... I blame modern advertising and the food industry for my addiction to processed bad-for-me foodstuffs. Surely that's a more important factor than any lack of willpower on my part, no?

If you need some motivation for the new year, forget listening to "We Are the Champions" over and over and check out 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes.