Off the wagon

So, I let myself get pressured into returning to world of warcraft two weeks ago. Gulp, there goes all my free time again. We'll see how long it lasts this time.

I saw this article earlier today and I'm in a state of shock and disbelief.

Here are a couple of quotes:

"The money that’s been pledged is equivalent to $24,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. It’s nine times what the U.S. has spent so far on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Congressional Budget Office figures. It could pay off more than half the country’s mortgages."

“It’s unprecedented,” said Bob Eisenbeis, chief monetary economist at Vineland, New Jersey-based Cumberland Advisors Inc. and an economist for the Atlanta Fed for 10 years until January. “The backlash has begun already. Congress is taking a lot of hits from their constituents because they got snookered on the TARP big time. There’s a lot of supposedly smart people who look to be totally incompetent, and it’s all going to fall on the taxpayer.”

“Some have asked us to reveal the names of the banks that are borrowing, how much they are borrowing, what collateral they are posting,” [Ben] Bernanke said Nov. 18 to the House Financial Services Committee. “We think that’s counterproductive.”

and the thing that makes me the most nervous:

"Most of the spending programs are run out of the New York Fed, whose president, Timothy Geithner, is said to be President- elect Barack Obama’s choice for Treasury Secretary."

Get your house in order, bad things are coming. I'm getting nervous.

Still Alive.

Yes.

I am still alive.



(If you've not played portal, regardless of if you play video games or not, you are missing out!)

I just finished reading Atlas Shrugged. Very good book, I would recommend it. I don't agree with all of the conclusions, but the problems seem to be spot on, if a bit black and white. The book was summed up by Ayn Rand in this way later: "The theme of Atlas Shrugged is the role of the mind in man's life and, consequently, presentation of a new morality- the morality of rational self-interest"

I scare myself lately with what I am interested in. Next up is reading a book on the economy. Good thing it was written 10+ years ago.

I'm probably going to disappear again, what with the holidays coming up, a baby here in about 2 months, and a ton of work (both my own as well as at my "real" job) going on. Still, thanks for dropping by. =)

So uhm...

I got this interesting email today regarding my new app from the app store. I think that whoever this is, the least of their worries is $1.99 on apple's store. I'd best just let them speak for themselves.

i purchased your gopher lite and it does nothing. i have been use nav instruments before loran and gps for 15 year and this was nothing but a rip off. you are something. either you send me my money back or i will tell all about your junk. you have till tomorrow early. i gues thats why they call you gopher.


Heh. In some ways I feel bad about it. I mean, who wants to get this kind of email? In other ways... well, I can't help but think of this.

Geopher

So, Geopher Lite has been taking up virtually all of my free time lately. However, if you ever wanted to get to know me a bit better or simply wanted to follow the development process of a piece of software, you're welcome to go have a look.

I've posted almost every day. Which as some of my long time readers know, is quite an accomplishment for me.

I haven't abandoned this blog, but it may get less attention for the next few weeks. (What else is new?)

Geopher Demo

After many hours of work and a wife that's ready to break my laptop, here's the fruit of my labors for the past couple of weeks.

Geopher Demo Page

I know a few of you who read this blog do geocaching, so I thought I;d post about it.

Wish me luck!

iPhone

So, I think I'm going to do it.

For a mere $40 a month (plus taxes) for 2 years and $299 for the phone*, I think I'm going to get one.



Now I just have to figure out how to pay for it.

GPS, Camera, iPod, Phone and more. It's almost a PDA (that I've never been able to use). I have to say, if I wasn't technically interested it likely wouldn't happen.

I'm working on an application for it, I'll mention more here once I actually release it. It's a geocaching app, so you geocachers out there feel free to drop a request if you're so inclined. =)

I keep wanting to be more consistent with this blog, maybe someday. In the meantime, thanks for hanging around. Until later.

* On top of the $39.99 + taxes of the cell phone we already have, and purchasing the 16GB model.

Inconsistent

You'd think I was busy lately or something. I seem to spend most of my evenings lately tied up in the yard, the basement or spending time with the kids. I had a date with my 4 year old last night, we went and bought me a pair of pants and a belt, and got her a coloring book, beach towel and everyone else some starburst jellybeans. We had a lot of fun looking at toys and such either. (What can I say, I'm a cheap date...)



Tonight I'm going out with my wife to choose tile for the bathroom floor in the basement. After over a month of trying to get someone to do the finish carpentry we finally found someone who we know a bit but had no idea that he did such a thing. And he does tile as well, so we're scrapping the linoleum we were going to get and having him tile the bathroom floor for us instead. Anyhow, rather than go to the movies or something we're going to choose some tile, trim and doors for the basement. That and going out to eat should be fun. We don't get out without the kids much anymore.

I'm itching to get the basement done... We're almost hitting that $10k mark on what's spent and there's a lot more to do. I had no idea all of this cost so much. If I wasn't so lazy it'd be cheaper, but I guess that comes with the territory.

On a less gloomy note, after a couple of poisonings, ironite treatment, and some weed & feed, our yard is starting to really look like it has a lawn again. My wife has kept the flowerbeds up to date, so it's looking quite good. The sprinklers still short out occasionally and blow the fuse, I'll have to figure out a way to make the wiring waterproof in the backyard. The weeds are pretty much gone from the front, but you definitely need your shoes in the backyard still. BUT! Progress is good.

I broke down and bought the pinball game for the Wii. Good stuff. I like how it's set up, it has goals to work towards, so I've found myself playing it a bit more than I would normally to unlock all of it's features. I have all but 3 tables unlocked for free play now. I've really enjoyed playing a few games that I've never had the chance to play before but heard good things about. If you like pinball I'd recommend picking it up.



One last thing. I got accepted the other day into Apple's beta developer program for the iPhone. Monday morning is Apple's World Wide Developer Conference, and they should be announcing the 2.0 version of the iPhone. It's supposed to have a built in GPS which I'm excited about. I'm thinking about getting myself one, but we'll see. It's a lot of money, but again, if I'm going to develop for it I need one right? =) I'm actually a bit bummed about this as it's the first year that WWDC has ever sold out and I was going to try and go this year. The $2k travel/hotel costs prevented that from happening though. Maybe I can talk work into sending me next year. Wish me luck with that.

Until later.