Had a late Christmas gathering at Mom's house yesterday and she cooked up some tasty food (she usually does) and we exchanged gifts and played games and visited. Hank is working on his little Harley project in the garage and making good progress. He had to get glasses, too, which means we've all got spectacles. Hmmm...
Today is New Year's Eve and nothing much planned, might visit a couple of places tonight. Got a shear today at Great Clips (it should be called Adequate Hacks, no?) and it feels much better. No more big round head. Also cashed in a few gift certificates and got "Quadrophenia" and "Legend of Drunken Master" on DVD. Thanks!

Minnesota boy's balloon rides jet stream to Czech Republic. Wow. I remember doing this sort of thing when I was young and always thought of the possibilities of the balloon's travels... I think our class actually got a letter from somebody in another state once and that was very exciting. Or maybe it was that we found somebody's balloon message and were excited about contacting that person... Still, how cool.

and I decided to go down to the city today and check out the sites, mainly the Metropolitan Museum of Art or more commonly, The Met. The place is gigantic and imposing and labyrinthine and there is no possible way that a four hour visit can even give you a glimpse of what is contained inside. Still, we took those four hours and enjoyed them.
The drive down to Manhattan was simple and we avoided all toll-booths (don't ask me why I like this, but I do) and we parked the car at The Met's parking garage ($20). The museum is so big that words fail me, but rest assured that 'large' is not a big enough word. Entrance was $10 each (suggested donation) and as it was afternoon upon arrival we thought we'd check out their dining establishments on-site and feed ourselves. The food was fairly decent: rice bowl with spicy chicken and vegetables, fresh fruit, juice, tea, lemon bar and gummi bears ($34). A bit steep for cafeteria service food. Oh well. We were there for the art....

We started off just wandering around, knowing our goal would be the European masters (Rembrandt, Renoir, Manet, Monet, Pissaro, Courbet, Rousseau, Degas, Van Gogh, Rodin, etc) and I saw a small exhibit on the art of Easter Island (also known as Rapa Nui). As I had just recently read "Kon Tiki" by Thor Heyerdahl, I had to check it out. It was too little of a sampling, in my opinion, but cool nonetheless.
We continued the wandering, straying through the medieval section (briefly and in which I would have probably otherwise spent most of the time) and then checked out their Baroque Christmas Tree display (pretty cool) before encountering the stairs to the 2nd level and the goal of our trip.
The European masters are just wonderful. The range of styles and talents is astounding and humbling and emotional and we checked out most of the works on display in the gallery. Overload! A lot of the Degas we had already seen when the travelling exhibit came through Minneapolis last year. Still worth another look, though!
It came round towards closing time and on our wandering way back through the galleries I came across the Met's exhibit on Paul Signac, neo-impressionist. We were unfamiliar with this artist so we dodged into the gallery to try to soak him up before we were made to leave. Wow. I would have liked to see much more of his work. He was very talented and his progression was interesting -- going from 'regular' style of painting to very pointillized and even almost mosaic in shape and color of his brush strokes. I enjoyed the new-found artist very much. Not enough time to see it all before being ushered outside, however.
The further plan was to maybe check out Rockefeller Center and go up the Empire State Building but as it was around 6:00pm and rush-hour, wasn't too up on dealing with all the traffic and lack of movement so we bailed out on the that and headed back home for some dinner at The EverReady Diner (a great little diner) and then some rest and sleep (in fact, some of us are already doing so).

Apparently in some families (the downstairs neighbors here in NY) it is customary to gather outside the front door on Christmas Day, have some drinks, yell at the kids a few times and have a few smokes of pot to celebrate the holiday. Yes, all in front of the kids, aged 3 to 9 or so. What a super example to set for their formative years. Makes me sad, really.
On the other hand, it is a stellar bright warm day here in NY state and the temps must be around 40! wow. Guess they've got a few inches of snow back home now (just in time for Christmas) but here it is almost balmy.

Last year on Christmas Eve Day, I went out to Lake of the Isles and shot some pictures of ice skaters and even made a QuickTime VR movie of the scene. It was one of those shiny bright winter days belying the fact that the temps were sub-freezing. In fact, my camera stopped taking pictures due to the extreme cold air.
This year the weather in freakishly warm (well above freezing) and instead of ice-covered lakes and snowy cold, we've got grass still green and a gentle rain before the dawn. Now, granted I am in another state today, but still, we should have just a little covering of snow to get us in the holiday spirit! Instead, I took 's dog out running with me this morning and brought back a small fuzzy-mud piglet. Merry Christmas!
And I'll do my very best to avoid situations such as this embarrassment from last year.

What is the proper terminology for a horse farm? Is 'farm' the right word? A horse ranch? or a paddock? Well, whatever it is called, there sure are a lot of them around the Hyde Park area in the gently rolling hills. This area doesn't seem to have a lot of money flowing around, but the land is beautiful and rolling and wooded and it would appear that at one time every single estate had horses and many still do. Interesting.

Out in New York state an odd thing was observed while filling the car with fuel today -- the pumps won't let you set that little lever on the handle to the "on" position so you can wash your windows or check your oil or huddle in your vehicle out of the wind. No, you must stand there and squeeze the lever until your tank is full even though the pump handles have the little lever on them - but they have nothing for the lever to latch onto to keep the pump running. What gives, NY?

My grandfather's sister, Verna, passed away on Sunday. I did not know her very well at all so I am not struck by a great sense of loss but I am saddened just the same. She was still living at home and she was 104 years of age. I think we should all be just a bit envious of a life that allows such a dignified end (the alternatives are much less desirable). Peace.

The BBC says the South African rand is in freefall. Certainly, it is has very rapidly declined in value, but I hope it stops and starts gaining again soon -- my friends in South Africa need money worth something. Not that I would complain about the exchange rate if I took another vacation there, but financially the times are very tough for people over there. Here's to increase.

Last night I dreamt I was in Thailand, having dinner with an important person. Things started going badly as this person was something like my boss and he was having an affair with the wife of his boss and people were talking and starting to find out. I think somebody went for the head boss guy. Tension was building, people were afraid and it was time for me to get the heck out of there before things came to a head. I ran out of the thatched roof restaurant/headquarters place and headed towards the trees. Next thing I know, I'm cruising along at like 50 mph on a Segway down a dirt road through the Thai jungle. It was a blast, even though I was running away and scared. I was leaning hard into the corners and blasting through tree branches. Eventually I came to an open wetland area in the middle of nowhere ... I was obviously going the wrong way. So I turned around and raced back the other direction. Zoooooom.
That's all.

I awoke very early this morning and went to the bank (that's another story), withdrew a chunk of money and then drove to Wisconsin to give it to a stranger in exchange for a 50-year old vehicle. Wow! How exciting!
I was agonizing over it for two days and decided that I would regret not doing it, so I just went ahead and did it. I'll have to do some extra work in the very near future to counter the large purchase, but heck, why not? It's fun, exciting and just so dang cool!!

I was driving through the cheese forest today (through Wisconsin) and was noticing a large number of hawks (red tails, etc) flying or sitting high in tree tops. Why were so many birds of prey around today? I wondered.
Ah... it is obvious... CHEESE.
Cheese? Of course, cheese. Hawks and cheese are connected by a very strong bond and in Wisconsin especially.
See, where there is an abundance of cheddar (or american, pepper jack, what have you...) there is always a large resident population of fat happy mice. Where there are fat happy mice, there are slow moving super-tasty dinners for hawks and other birds of prey. Simple as that.

Unbelievable how one technological breakthrough leads to another! And so quickly, too! You've seen the footage and heard the hype about the Segway, now get ready for the Megway Transporting Human! Impressive!

Noticed this article (What's Eroding South Africa's Currency?) over at the NYTimes tonight. Doesn't give any hard answers, but a few possible explanations.
If you've never been to South Africa, now might be a good time -- your money will go very far and be very welcome to their economy. South Africa is amazingly beautiful. Stunning. Breath-taking. You must go.

Dad and his girlfriend Vicki came up on Saturday to finally see my 'new' house and spend some quality time hanging out. My dad doesn't like the big city or the traffic levels associated with such and thus tends to shy away from the metropolis. He found the place no problem, though, and they got the grand tour of my humble abode (all 2 minutes of it) and then we went out to eat. Now, my dad isn't much on exotic foods, unless he's killed and skun it himself, so naturally I suggested some foreign food establishments. Much to my surprise (and pleasure) they thought Indian food sounded worth a try! We drove into Uptown and ate at Natraj and I think we all enjoyed it very much. Various curried chicken dishes all around, along with naan and samosas, which were a big hit. They couldn't understand the waiter too well with his thick accent so they were glad I was along (guess I am more accustomed to it). It was a fun visit -- next time I'm going to try to get them out for Thai food!

I was having this very vivid and intense dream about my girlfriend (who resides hundreds and hundreds of miles away) late this morning and it was, well... just use your imagination as to the topic of the dream. Saucy! Anyway, I crossed over from my semi-lucid dream consciousness to semi-lucid waking consciousness at exactly the moment before the moment towards which we were working (wink wink nudge nudge) and it was so confusing and delicious and frustrating and... and nothing happened. I was awake. Hmmm, cereal or toast?

Apple today announced the new version of Final Cut Pro and it runs under 9 or X, features real-time effects on a G4 (amazing), awesome color correction tools, new time-code accurate proxy editing (OfflineRT), new effects and titling, better support for voice-overs and audio editing, better media management, etc, etc, etc. Whoa. This looks seriously powerful and cool -- and still only $999. Upgrades are $299. Very good work, Apple.

A high-tech scooter that won't fall over? That's it?!
This was the response from many who followed the "Ginger" story since last January, but make note that the inventor and his company rarely made extreme fanciful claims about it, mostly other people did all that work and it made unrealistic expectations fall flat (a lot like rumors that circle prior to every MacWorld keynote). Yes, it is fun to think of possibilities but set your expectations low and then you'll be pleasantly surprised. Or go out and do it yourself. He did.
Anyway, this little device features DS (dynamic stabilization) and won't fall over, it can turn on a dime (quite literally), costs about five cents for electricity per day, goes 17 mph, and just plain looks pretty neat. There is no throttle, no brake, no engine (small electric motors). You simply get on, lean forward, and there you go. Lean back to stop. Lean back to reverse. Twist to turn.
I bet the true impact of this thing won't be felt for a while -- the technology inside it will trickle into other things and then we'll wonder how we ever got by without it. Like the phone, or radio or the car, even.
Now we just have to wait for his Stirling Engine devices to appear!

Driving into the country late on a hazy moonlit winter night in search of a turbine (windmill) isn't everybody's cup of tea (even if it is that yummy Rooibos tea) but it was a very cool, if queer, experience. First of all, the thing is gigantic and yet was barely visible even right adjacent to it. Secondly, the still winter night and the full moon casting slight shadows over the slightly hazy ground cast an eerie spell. Thirdly, the turbine makes this crazy s w o o s h s w o o s h s w o o s h sound as the monstrous blade twirls ever round. It was really queer. In a good cool way. Most amazingly was how cold and still the air seemed and yet this thing was clipping right along. Does it store up extra energy during the day and spin it off at night? Or does the tiniest slightest breeze make the turbine crank the generator and crackle with electricity?

Last night we had a party for a co-worker at a bar in the 'burbs (note to self: avoid 'burb bars) and as this particular guy (Craig) is the one who always has an insult or jibe or joke for you, it was a bit of payback time. I doubt anybody actually dislikes the guy (he is funny) but he can push your buttons, no matter who you are. His buddy, Steve, helped organize the event along with a few other workers and some family members who shall remain nameless. He had no clue about the party, either, so he was quite surprised when he walked in, looked around and saw about 50 of us with his own face! We all had big color printouts trimmed and taped to popsicle sticks. It was hilarious -- he didn't know what to do and he had a very wigged-out look play across his face, like he was going to make a run for it or throw up or something! Once the FantasyGram singing stripper arrived, well, then it got good. She was filled in on all his usual antics and tricks and she gave him a good embarrassment in front of everyone. Ha! She didn't fully strip, just to her bra and panties (this was a 'burb bar, after all), but Craig looked like he just wanted to crawl under a table until she went away. I'm sure he'll be bragging all about it on Monday...