Sunday night, watching Mad Men:
Kim: How did Betty get so skinny? She's back to being hot!
Evan: Fat suit off.
Kim: She's so pretty.
Evan: I think Megan is better looking.
Kim: NO! WRONG!
Evan: I think Jessica Pare is more attractive than January Jones.
Kim: You are so wrong. You are the only person in the world who thinks that blatantly incorrect statement. Do you have eyes? I want a divorce.
Last night, at dinner:
Ben: I'm glad Don slept with Betty.
Evan: I think Megan is better looking than Betty.
Kate: Oh I agree.
Ben: Definitely agree.
Kim: WHAT????
Evan: I had this exact conversation with Kim on Sunday and she acted like I was the most insane person in the world.
Kim: You all are crazy and must be the only three people in the world to think that.
Ben: Doesn't the fact that we all agree dissuade you?
Kim: You are WRONG.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Around four years ago I had to buy a new laptop. My law school Dell monstrosity was on its last legs, giving me blue screens of death and other screens of death all the time. I went with something cheap - a Toshiba that cost around $550. For the last four years its been pretty reliable, although at one point the screen started to go so I had to get that fixed. That set me back I think a hundred and fifty bucks.
Performance wise it was fine. I don't do anything too complicated on it - just internet, word, powerpoint, etc. I did have Starcraft 2 on it as well, which ran pretty slow on even the most forgiving graphics settings. That's the price you pay for having a bottom of the line laptop. I still got through the game though, so no big deal.
Lately, though, the Toshiba has been on the fritz. First, it started randomly shutting off when I moved it from its desk onto the sofa. I learned that it was a heating issue. Apparently, when you put your laptop on a soft surface, like a sofa, it can't get rid of its heat with the same efficiency as if it is on a hard surface. Also, I had never cleaned the fan or internal parts in the four years I owned it, so there was a fair amount of dust. When the laptop internal temperature gets too high, it shuts itself off as a precautionary measure.
I initially had plans to take the laptop apart and give it a really good cleaning. This instructional video I found, however, dissuaded me. Far too complicated, and far too high of a likelihood that I would accidentally make my laptop unusable.
So I just jammed a vacuum tube near the fan vent and tried to suck the dust out. It worked pretty well - I did notice a non-significant amount of dust fly out. I then followed that up by jamming a small screwdriver threw the vents and picking at dust I saw. I turned the laptop back on and the heating issue seemed to have dissipated. So the laptop was working again.
But this past weekend my laptop went on the fritz again. Upon powering up, the screen would stay black. It sounded like the computer was doing stuff, but the screen was doing nothing. I checked online for a solution and it ranged from complete overhaul to a driver issue. The only way I was able to get the screen to come on was for me to take out the battery, hold the power button down for 30 seconds, and then put the battery back in and restart.
After getting it to turn on, I bought a large flash drive and moved everything I needed off the computer. Given that I really, really need a computer at home - partners wouldn't be very understanding if they asked for something when I was out of the office and my answer was "sorry, no computer" - I started pricing laptops. I discovered that bottom of the line model prices had really come down! Best Buy had a new Toshiba (with more ram, bigger hard drive, etc. than my current one) for only $270. HP and Lenovos were at $280. This is about half of what I paid four years ago, and for a better laptop. This is also probably not much more than what it would cost to have my laptop repaired. Reviews for these models fell into two camps:
1) Great bare bones laptop for internet and basic work
2) We hate Windows 8
I ordered an HP on Monday afternoon, and it is amazingly set to arrive on Thursday afternoon. I also did a complete restoration of my Toshiba to factory-out-the-box state, and now it seems like it works perfectly fine. But its probably safer for me to have the HP in reserve anyway. I'm sure something else will go wrong with the Toshiba in the next month or two.
Performance wise it was fine. I don't do anything too complicated on it - just internet, word, powerpoint, etc. I did have Starcraft 2 on it as well, which ran pretty slow on even the most forgiving graphics settings. That's the price you pay for having a bottom of the line laptop. I still got through the game though, so no big deal.
Lately, though, the Toshiba has been on the fritz. First, it started randomly shutting off when I moved it from its desk onto the sofa. I learned that it was a heating issue. Apparently, when you put your laptop on a soft surface, like a sofa, it can't get rid of its heat with the same efficiency as if it is on a hard surface. Also, I had never cleaned the fan or internal parts in the four years I owned it, so there was a fair amount of dust. When the laptop internal temperature gets too high, it shuts itself off as a precautionary measure.
I initially had plans to take the laptop apart and give it a really good cleaning. This instructional video I found, however, dissuaded me. Far too complicated, and far too high of a likelihood that I would accidentally make my laptop unusable.
So I just jammed a vacuum tube near the fan vent and tried to suck the dust out. It worked pretty well - I did notice a non-significant amount of dust fly out. I then followed that up by jamming a small screwdriver threw the vents and picking at dust I saw. I turned the laptop back on and the heating issue seemed to have dissipated. So the laptop was working again.
But this past weekend my laptop went on the fritz again. Upon powering up, the screen would stay black. It sounded like the computer was doing stuff, but the screen was doing nothing. I checked online for a solution and it ranged from complete overhaul to a driver issue. The only way I was able to get the screen to come on was for me to take out the battery, hold the power button down for 30 seconds, and then put the battery back in and restart.
After getting it to turn on, I bought a large flash drive and moved everything I needed off the computer. Given that I really, really need a computer at home - partners wouldn't be very understanding if they asked for something when I was out of the office and my answer was "sorry, no computer" - I started pricing laptops. I discovered that bottom of the line model prices had really come down! Best Buy had a new Toshiba (with more ram, bigger hard drive, etc. than my current one) for only $270. HP and Lenovos were at $280. This is about half of what I paid four years ago, and for a better laptop. This is also probably not much more than what it would cost to have my laptop repaired. Reviews for these models fell into two camps:
1) Great bare bones laptop for internet and basic work
2) We hate Windows 8
I ordered an HP on Monday afternoon, and it is amazingly set to arrive on Thursday afternoon. I also did a complete restoration of my Toshiba to factory-out-the-box state, and now it seems like it works perfectly fine. But its probably safer for me to have the HP in reserve anyway. I'm sure something else will go wrong with the Toshiba in the next month or two.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Around a month ago I bought a box of football cards. Well, it was technically a box, but it was really a pack. One pack of 8 cards. It was 2012 Topps Five Star. It is the second most expensive pack of cards you can buy. It cost $420.
Yeah, kind of crazy.
When packs of cards get that expensive, it really sheds light on how sports cards are basically legalized gambling for minors. If you pull one of the top rookies - like say Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III this year - you can easily turn a profit if you choose to sell. If you don't - and get scrubs you've never heard of - well then you're not going to make much back. Its gambling, pure and simple. But whatever, I like gambling.
So I bought that box and my rookie autograph patch card was . . .
Devier Posey. Do you even know what team he's on? Its the Texans. Its a five dollar card.
Luckily, you get more cards than just the rookie autograph in the box. For one, I got a very sweet Jerry Rice autograph patch card, that looks like this:
It goes for a bit over a hundred bucks on ebay, and he is the greatest receiver of all time, so I'm going to hold onto it.
The last real valuable card I got was a booklet containing eight different patches from players on the Bears and Panthers. It is numbered 1/5, so its pretty rare.
Of course, I don't care for any of those players or teams, so I tried to sell it. I put up what I thought was a ridiculous buy it now / best offer of $129.99 on ebay. Not much action on it - a few offers in the 60-70 range, which I was not willing to accept. I also monitored the same card numbered 2/5 that was going in an auction format. It sold for around $60, so I was a bit disheartened.
But lo and behold, some random ebayer decided to outright purchase it for the 129.99. No best offer at all, just an outright purchase! I was excited, and now had a plethora of Paypal funds to use. What would I buy with them? They're not even real money!
I decided to put together a set of autographed cards from the key players from Duke's championship teams. I figured the following list would suffice:
Christian Laettner
Bobby Hurley
Grant Hill
Shane Battier
Jason Williams
Mike Dunleavy
Carlos Boozer
Kyle Singler
Jon Scheyer
Nolan Smith
I was trying to get them in Duke uniforms as well, but that was tougher for some players. I already have autographs of Battier and Jay Williams, so those were easy enough. Luckily for me - most of these players did not do especially well in the NBA - so they're not expensive. For Scheyer it is a problem though, as he never made the NBA, so he doesn't have any autographed cards. Maybe I'll replace him with Miles Plumlee?
The most expensive player on the list? Grant Hill, BY FAR. I haven't been able to find a reasonably priced card of his yet - I thought I had one yesterday for around $50. It was perfect, in a Duke uniform cutting down a net. But I was outbid by someone who valued it far more. Oh well.
Probably the best looking card I've gotten so far on the list:
And I just like this one because of the goofiness.
Yeah, kind of crazy.
When packs of cards get that expensive, it really sheds light on how sports cards are basically legalized gambling for minors. If you pull one of the top rookies - like say Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III this year - you can easily turn a profit if you choose to sell. If you don't - and get scrubs you've never heard of - well then you're not going to make much back. Its gambling, pure and simple. But whatever, I like gambling.
So I bought that box and my rookie autograph patch card was . . .
Devier Posey. Do you even know what team he's on? Its the Texans. Its a five dollar card.
Luckily, you get more cards than just the rookie autograph in the box. For one, I got a very sweet Jerry Rice autograph patch card, that looks like this:
It goes for a bit over a hundred bucks on ebay, and he is the greatest receiver of all time, so I'm going to hold onto it.
The last real valuable card I got was a booklet containing eight different patches from players on the Bears and Panthers. It is numbered 1/5, so its pretty rare.
Of course, I don't care for any of those players or teams, so I tried to sell it. I put up what I thought was a ridiculous buy it now / best offer of $129.99 on ebay. Not much action on it - a few offers in the 60-70 range, which I was not willing to accept. I also monitored the same card numbered 2/5 that was going in an auction format. It sold for around $60, so I was a bit disheartened.
But lo and behold, some random ebayer decided to outright purchase it for the 129.99. No best offer at all, just an outright purchase! I was excited, and now had a plethora of Paypal funds to use. What would I buy with them? They're not even real money!
I decided to put together a set of autographed cards from the key players from Duke's championship teams. I figured the following list would suffice:
Christian Laettner
Bobby Hurley
Grant Hill
Shane Battier
Jason Williams
Mike Dunleavy
Carlos Boozer
Kyle Singler
Jon Scheyer
Nolan Smith
I was trying to get them in Duke uniforms as well, but that was tougher for some players. I already have autographs of Battier and Jay Williams, so those were easy enough. Luckily for me - most of these players did not do especially well in the NBA - so they're not expensive. For Scheyer it is a problem though, as he never made the NBA, so he doesn't have any autographed cards. Maybe I'll replace him with Miles Plumlee?
The most expensive player on the list? Grant Hill, BY FAR. I haven't been able to find a reasonably priced card of his yet - I thought I had one yesterday for around $50. It was perfect, in a Duke uniform cutting down a net. But I was outbid by someone who valued it far more. Oh well.
Probably the best looking card I've gotten so far on the list:
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Jackson's first airplane ride was a successful one.
Getting through the airport was fairly easy. We curb checked (for free) his car seat. One benefit of this was that the car seat bag also had some extra room, allowing me to throw my dress shoes and whatever else we wanted in it. Free checked bag!
We used a stroller to ferry him around the airport, and as he had only woken up a half hour before, he was in a good mood. He almost smiled at a few people! A fair amount of people tried talking to him.
As we got to security, Kim whipped out his birth certificate. We were told that we had to bring it. I guess to ensure that we had a baby and weren't trying to kidnap one? I raised the question of how we travel with a kid who is older - do we just have to bring a birth certificate until Jackson has some government issued identification? Kim didn't know. I still don't know. But the security guy didn't want to see the birth certificate anyway, so it was unnecessary.
Getting through security was annoying. First, we had to do the usual stuff - take off our shoes, belts, phones, etc. Then we had to get Jackson out of the stroller, fold it up, and stick it on the x-ray thing. Jackson was not a fan, and we weren't fans when the x-ray viewer was taking an ass load of time to look at every bag. Come on.
They also tested his formula in some device. No explosives here! Although it does give him explosive poops.
Jackson was pretty calm throughout, and I think he enjoyed looking at all the people milling about. He seems almost over his stranger anxiety.
As our time to board the plane came, we were excited for the ability to get on the plane first. Families and people who need additional time come on up! Its like we have status! It didn't matter though, as we had to take a shuttle to get to our little plane. Next time it will matter. We gate checked the stroller and carried Jackson onto the plane.
The flight itself started off on a rocky note. It took over an hour for us to get in the air after the door to the plane was closed. The delay was because of some transplant organ arriving on a passenger flight, which necessitated closing the runway so an ambulance could drive up. This took an hour?! Probably bad news for the transplantee. During this time, Jackson slept. But he woke up shortly before takeoff. He could have been asleep for the entirety of the flight. But instead he was awake and we hadn't even lifted off.
But he powered through and didn't cry at all on the short trip. We landed a bit late, but no worse for wear, and headed to the rental car counter. Eventually I realized that we forgot to retrieve the car seat from the baggage claim. I can't remember the last time we actually checked a bag. We didn't even do that for our trip to Asia.
Jackson wasn't fazed. He eventually dozed off on I-64 towards Charlottesville.
Getting through the airport was fairly easy. We curb checked (for free) his car seat. One benefit of this was that the car seat bag also had some extra room, allowing me to throw my dress shoes and whatever else we wanted in it. Free checked bag!
We used a stroller to ferry him around the airport, and as he had only woken up a half hour before, he was in a good mood. He almost smiled at a few people! A fair amount of people tried talking to him.
As we got to security, Kim whipped out his birth certificate. We were told that we had to bring it. I guess to ensure that we had a baby and weren't trying to kidnap one? I raised the question of how we travel with a kid who is older - do we just have to bring a birth certificate until Jackson has some government issued identification? Kim didn't know. I still don't know. But the security guy didn't want to see the birth certificate anyway, so it was unnecessary.
Getting through security was annoying. First, we had to do the usual stuff - take off our shoes, belts, phones, etc. Then we had to get Jackson out of the stroller, fold it up, and stick it on the x-ray thing. Jackson was not a fan, and we weren't fans when the x-ray viewer was taking an ass load of time to look at every bag. Come on.
They also tested his formula in some device. No explosives here! Although it does give him explosive poops.
Jackson was pretty calm throughout, and I think he enjoyed looking at all the people milling about. He seems almost over his stranger anxiety.
As our time to board the plane came, we were excited for the ability to get on the plane first. Families and people who need additional time come on up! Its like we have status! It didn't matter though, as we had to take a shuttle to get to our little plane. Next time it will matter. We gate checked the stroller and carried Jackson onto the plane.
The flight itself started off on a rocky note. It took over an hour for us to get in the air after the door to the plane was closed. The delay was because of some transplant organ arriving on a passenger flight, which necessitated closing the runway so an ambulance could drive up. This took an hour?! Probably bad news for the transplantee. During this time, Jackson slept. But he woke up shortly before takeoff. He could have been asleep for the entirety of the flight. But instead he was awake and we hadn't even lifted off.
But he powered through and didn't cry at all on the short trip. We landed a bit late, but no worse for wear, and headed to the rental car counter. Eventually I realized that we forgot to retrieve the car seat from the baggage claim. I can't remember the last time we actually checked a bag. We didn't even do that for our trip to Asia.
Jackson wasn't fazed. He eventually dozed off on I-64 towards Charlottesville.
Tuesday, May 07, 2013
I sometimes wear a baby bjorn when we need to take Jackson outside. He likes to see the world in front of him, and its easier than carrying him in my arm or (sometimes) pushing a stroller. But I have one growing concern.
Jackson's movements are sometimes spastic. If he gets startled he'll move his arms and legs kind of wildly. And even if he's not startled he'll move his arms or legs quickly for no reason I can discern.
As it stands right now, his feet dangle directly in front of my crotch. All it would take is one swift mule kick to incapacitate me. He's certainly strong enough for it to hurt - his legs already can support his 20 lbs chubby infant body.
I've discussed this with Kim and her only advice is that if I have to fall, I better fall on my back.
Friday, May 03, 2013
Kim and I realized this week that since I will be the one dropping off Jackson at daycare starting in June, and Kim will be the one picking him up, Jackson will begin to despise seeing me in the morning! I'll be the evil parent who takes him away from his home and his loved ones, leaving him with a bunch of strangers! And Kim will be the hero who rescues him every day at 5 PM.
DAMMIT!
DAMMIT!
Wednesday, May 01, 2013
About a month and a half ago, I decided that I wanted a piece of "artwork" for my office. I moved to a larger office (with two windows, semi-corner) last September, and there is more wall space for things to go up. But what to put up? I already had the following on my walls:
Framed UVA Law Diploma
Gigantic Phillies flag that I won at Great Adventure
Plaque with piece of Cameron Indoor Stadium floor
Sticking with the theme, I was alerted to the absolute perfect item by a post on kotaku.com. Bethesda Studios - the makers of the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series - was selling limited edition lithographs of iconic scenes of the games!
I'm more of a Fallout guy than Elder Scrolls, so I ordered the Fallout one, which looks like this:
It took awhile to arrive, but when it did (along with a pretty sweet Fallout tee shirt that I purchased), I was extremely happy. Kim asked me what was in the large poster tube and I showed her. She was not impressed.
I, however, stressed that it was a LIMITED EDITION lithograph. LIMITED EDITION!!!! I probably said limited edition four or five times before she told me that she didn't care it was a limited edition.
Did I mention that it is individually numbered out of 300? IT IS LIMITED!
I brought it to work and ordered a frame on amazon. Everything came together last week, and I must say it I really like the way this wall looks in my office.
Aside from how good it looks, I decided to do a little search on ebay. This particular lithograph is no longer available in the Bethesda Studios store. Completed auctions on ebay showed that the lithograph now goes for FOUR TIMES what I paid for it! I think that's because it is LIMITED EDITION.
So not only does it look awesome, but its an investment piece! I was sure to let Kim know of my savvy purchasing skills. She was still not moved.
I also wore the tee shirt this weekend. Jackson liked it I think.
Framed UVA Law Diploma
Gigantic Phillies flag that I won at Great Adventure
Plaque with piece of Cameron Indoor Stadium floor
Sticking with the theme, I was alerted to the absolute perfect item by a post on kotaku.com. Bethesda Studios - the makers of the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series - was selling limited edition lithographs of iconic scenes of the games!
I'm more of a Fallout guy than Elder Scrolls, so I ordered the Fallout one, which looks like this:
It took awhile to arrive, but when it did (along with a pretty sweet Fallout tee shirt that I purchased), I was extremely happy. Kim asked me what was in the large poster tube and I showed her. She was not impressed.
I, however, stressed that it was a LIMITED EDITION lithograph. LIMITED EDITION!!!! I probably said limited edition four or five times before she told me that she didn't care it was a limited edition.
Did I mention that it is individually numbered out of 300? IT IS LIMITED!
I brought it to work and ordered a frame on amazon. Everything came together last week, and I must say it I really like the way this wall looks in my office.
Aside from how good it looks, I decided to do a little search on ebay. This particular lithograph is no longer available in the Bethesda Studios store. Completed auctions on ebay showed that the lithograph now goes for FOUR TIMES what I paid for it! I think that's because it is LIMITED EDITION.
So not only does it look awesome, but its an investment piece! I was sure to let Kim know of my savvy purchasing skills. She was still not moved.
I also wore the tee shirt this weekend. Jackson liked it I think.
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