There are only two things worth investing in: Power and beauty
Sogo Masashi

Click images for desktop size: "Untitled" by Amano Maten It snowed here yesterday.
All day and through the night. I swept 5 inches of it off of the car so I guess its safe to say there was at least five inches of snow.
They say that this is awfully early for this much snow here. I wonder if they're just trying to console me, give me a false sense of security.Funny enough, I don't much mind the snow. I prefer shoveling the snow and spreading salt and stuff to mowing the grass and raking leaves. I'd rather have a full gardening crew do all of it but for some reason I don't mind the snow as much. Maybe because its still pretty new stuff to me.
I do point out, with pride, that I've not fallen down yet . . . Its early days yet and the dogs are eyeing me, knowing they'll get their chance.

Click image: "Untitled" by Michael Whelan
Last night I went out in the storm (which is a harsh word for the amount of snow there was but I still thought of it as a storm) and I was momentarily stunned with the peace and calm of it all. The moon really did give the landscape "the luster of midday." The tree branches all dripped and bowed under the weight of the snow.
It was all very beautiful, peaceful and serene until my puppy and the giant dog decided to plow through the unbroken snow rolling and tumbling while they had their big play fight. They gamboled and tried to get me to join in. They buried their muzzles in the drifts and ate it up like ice cream charging back and forth, looking for good eating snow while occasionally attacking one another for no good reason.
THen they'd come up and push their wet bodies hard against me for some pets and play. My unbroken winter landscape now looked like a battlefield from World War One.
If the dogs weren't panting and wild eyed with giddy joy it would have been hard to take. I decided I

Click images for desktop size: "Buttons And Denim" by Unknown liked the busted up yard as much as I liked the pretty painting of the yard as it was before. It meant more than just prettiness and/or a lack of ugliness and concealed messes.
I think that's the reason that I like the snow more than grass and raking. The dogs love to watch me shovel the snow. They like to dig through each shovel full making sure I'm not discarding something important. They like to watch me grumble and curse and maybe even slip and fall. They like to check ahead and come back to tell me its safe to proceed, and they like to stand obstinately directly in my path to see if they can make me go around them.
.jpg)
In other words arduous chores become fun. So that even if I had someone to shovel the snow and plow the driveway I'd still be out there with my nicked up blade shovel with my doggie buddies.
AppleTV did an update last night. Bringing it up to 2.3.
I haven't installed it yet because it disables and removes Boxee! I'm not sure why Apple goes out of its way to remove 3rd party applications. I read it was doing the same thing to the iPhone.
Seems sort of paranoid controlling to me. It might have something to do with the MPAA or the Networks.
Boxee lets you watch Hula and CBS, Comedy Central et al right on your TV. Since these are already advertiser supported I can't see the networks much caring about this. Watching them this way there's no way to skim through the commercials,

Click images for desktop size: "Big Medicine" by Unknown whereas if I was using a DVR I can zip right through all of that.
I can't imagine why the networks would want me to be forced to watch their stuff only on my computer.
The MPAA might not like that Boxee allows easy watching of Xvid and DIVX files through the AppleTV. They might view this as condoning or encouraging video piracy.
With the way these same media conglomerates are fighting the idea of DRM free music this short sighted approach is possible.
But since I could set up a cheap old computer and call it a "Media Center" or even use a Mac Mini instead of a TV that would circumvent all of these protections and even make things more available.
In fact over on Engadget a lot of guys are mocking the AppleTV by claiming how their XBox 360's
and Playstation 3's can already play all of this stuff without any add ons.I prefer the AppleTV for several reasons, not least is that its small and near silent. It also adds to my enjoyment in the various streaming modes.
But considering that the latest AppleTV also does not allow re-installing Boxee it seems that the update was mainly just to allow Apple to maintain its paranoid consumer unfriendly control of the things you buy.
I hate that. It stinks of Microsoft.
It also means I won't be installing the AppleTV update until Boxee figures out how to reinstall itself. That shouldn't be too long.
I'm not doing great.
I'm not doing badly, just not great.
I'm getting a cold . . . so being in pain and congested with a thick feverish head is a bit much!
Its not that bad though.
I noticed that for about 15 or 30 minutes after I wake up in the morning I'm pain free. SO maybe that's a good reason to take a nap, a lot of naps!
I'm planning on making matzo ball soup today. My puppy's aunt sent me a package of matzo ball soup mix. Any modern scientist will tell you that matzo ball soup is the only approved cure for a cold!
So that's the plan for today. It should be interesting. One place the pups are not a lot of help in is the kitchen. Only because they don't believe that everything that comes out of the kitchen is not for them.




-tm.jpg)


Like when I look at my puppy I always see that erstwhile little dog who stood on her hind legs with her front feet resting on the little console as she stared resolutely out the windshield, occasionally and unexpectedly leaning over to give my face a lick.

and that it was only useful as a leaf blower. Its a huge thing, nearly 5 feet long.






_v2.jpg)


-tm.jpg)



My puppy was appropriately nervous about all the strange new dogs but she still went over to greet our next door neighbor's dog. She was very pleased she got to smell his butt. She wouldn't let him smell hers! This made her think that she won . . . something, I guess.






I hope it goes seven games and that the winner eviscerates the Phillies and gets to the world series. The series really should be the Cubs vs the Angels, but I'll take whatever happens!





A poor peoples free service in this town for folks to give stuff away.



I'm stunned that the bank nor the state ever made any effort to contact me. They just took the money. Out of the blue.


_v1-tm.jpg)






-tm.jpg)





-tm.jpg)


-tm.jpg)









I feel slow and dull and electric.

-tm.jpg)