You are here: Home / Archives for bank of america

To infinity and beyond: A sparkling survival story – CNN.com

11 September 2008 By Leave a Comment

(CNN) — Walter Marino shouted to his 12-year-old son, Christopher, as he drifted farther away in the Atlantic Ocean.

A Coast Guard crew found Christopher three miles away from where his father was rescued.

A Coast Guard crew found Christopher three miles away from where his father was rescued.

Click to view previous image

1 of 3

Click to view next image

“To infinity,” the father yelled.

“And beyond,” Christopher replied.

After a rip current swept the boy and his father out to sea Saturday, darkness fell, and the sound of rescue helicopters and boats grew faint until they were nonexistent.

Despite the danger, Christopher, who has autism, was enjoying himself, his father said. The boy lacks a fear of death because of his autism and finds comfort in the water, Marino told CNN.

Marino finds comfort in his son. Their unique circumstances helped keep them alive for more than 12 hours in the open ocean, Marino said.

To infinity and beyond: A sparkling survival story – CNN.com.

I have this, and one after it. How amazing. It would have been amazing with any child, but especially so with a mostly non-verbal child. I’ve spent time with non-verbal kids, and it’s hard, nigh on impossible, when you aren’t treading water in the middle of the ocean. This is nothing short of miraculous.

Filed Under: MediaWhore Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

BBC NEWS | Business | Crude oil price drops below $106

6 September 2008 By 2 Comments

Oil prices have dipped below $106 as traders predicted that rising US unemployment would lead to consumers cutting back on petrol use.

BBC NEWS | Business | Crude oil price drops below $106.

Perhaps I shouldn’t be so excited, especially after reading they anticipate it soaring back up, and past the low 100′s to over 250$ per barrel. But I am. We had to get gas yesterday, and it was as low as 3.679$, and I got a full tank of gas for less than 90$.

I will be the firs to admit, I don’t quite understand why gas has soared so high. I understand just fine that we’re having troubles (understatement much?) with suppliers/supply areas, and I understand it’s a limited resource. I also noted that on the pump yesterday there was a note that said “between 1% and 10% ethanol,” so why can’t we mix it a little more and bring the prices down a little more too?

I also know bio-fuel is equally as bad as oil-fuel (well, it’s still bio, isn’t it? How misleading!) but for different reasons.

So much to digest… It doesn’t help that I am operating on too little sleep, trying to think about this stuff it giving me a bit of a headache right now.

I was recently reading that bio-fuel (corn based) causes problems with the land, can cause more pollution in production and shipping, can cause poverty (I must say, that one is still beyond me, but let’s skip it for now), and a handful of other major problems.

I’ve said it before, I literally screwed myself into the need for a large car/van. I have three kids, all in carseats. Show me a smaller, fuel-efficient car that can safely seat them and doesn’t cost a fortune and I’ll jump on board! Until then, I have a minivan I can mostly afford (and owe more on than it’s worth, so no trading it in for a new vehicle) that isn’t as bad as some on gas, but not as good as others.

AAA had an article on hybrid vs. some other smallish car (I think it was a Hyundai) and the numbers over five years had the non-hybrid come out ahead in fuel efficiency and cost, so if you are looking at a hybrid to cost less… don’t. If you are looking at a hybrid to be easier on the environment, go for it!

Tangent there. Told ya I wasn’t awake.

Filed Under: MediaWhore Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Featured Windows Download: Mazzick Puts Mouse Gestures on Your Thumb Drive

6 September 2008 By Leave a Comment

Windows only: Free application Mazzick is a simple mouse gesture utility that you can carry on your USB thumb drive.

Featured Windows Download: Mazzick Puts Mouse Gestures on Your Thumb Drive.

Neat little thing. Too bad it’s Windows only but I use a lot of keyboard shortcuts, so I don’t know that I’d find it especially useful… I just think it’s neat. I’m sure I’d have a plethora of shortcuts, especially since I use a trackpad on my laptop. You know, if I could use it on a Mac. I also expect it would lose that “new” pretty quick, so it might not get used all that much afterall…

I stand by it being neat.

Filed Under: General Tagged With: , , , , , ,

YummySoup!

9 August 2008 By Leave a Comment

How on earth did I forget to mention this gem of a program? YummySoup! is only the best recipe program ever that I have seen, and I have the joy of it being a Mac only program at that! (Joy only because how often is a program PC only? Only almost every time!)

http://hungryseacow.com/From their site (my comments in red):

Organize, Share, Cook & Shop.

Try YummySoup! free for 15 days. If you decide to keep it, use PayPal, e-check, or any major credit card to purchase.

Here are just some of the features that make YummySoup! the best recipe app for your Mac.

Not only does YummySoup! support fully automatic web imports, but also boasts the most intuitive interface for importing recipes from any website! (<- my fav feature, btw) There are fully automatic web imports from a growing list of sites and the new AnySite Web Importer for everything else including any web site, text based PDF, and text files. Both these features are simple and intuitive. Check out the new video tutorial on these features!

Browse your recipes with the adjustable full screen view, that gently fades into view. Use your Apple remote to flip through your recipes, or have your directions read to you! Cook with ease, assured that you won’t have to touch your keyboard or mouse since sleep timers are deactivated when using this view.

Send rich formatted emails with pictures. These emails look exactly like prints. If your recipient also has a copy of YummySoup!, then they can add your creation to their library with the included export file, sent with every email. (this feature is awesome too!)

A seamlessly integrated user contributed Online Library. (with some fantastic recipes, I might add)

Keep track of your favorite Wines, Beer & Liquor with the built in Wine & Spirits manager.

The navigational structure of YummySoup! is fantastic. Groups of recipes can have subgroups which makes finding the right meal easy. Browsing any one group, will show you not only the recipes belonging to that group, but all the recipes belonging to all subgroups.

Smart groups are powerful. Whether you want to find all the recipes you can make with a handful of ingredients, or just want to find a Spanish style Main Dish that is not only easy to make, but has a five star rating. (love this too – I found catagorizing them to be a bit of a pain (as far as is this an appetizer or a snack?), but this way I can just search for ingredient A and find what I am looking for)

.Mac backup and restore.

YummySoup! uses a family-pack style license. You are free to use your license file on any computers in your home that belong to you or your family members residing in your household. YummySoup! is also a constantly evolving application. Many users have suggested great ideas which I have either added, or am in the process of adding to YummySoup! Have a great idea? Let me know!

I normally hate paying for programs, esp. when they are so many reasonable free ones out there, but this one is worth every penny of the 20$ and then some. It is one of the best, easy to use, nice interface, multi-functional recipe programs I’ve seen. I just might start entering frequently used recipes from my books and see about packing them away or donating them… at least the ones I know I only use one or two recipes out of ;)   Seriously? If you have a  Mac, and you cook, and you have a bazillion recipes (I have a bazillion loose recipes I am in the process of entering) you need this, yesterday. I needed it a few years ago.

Filed Under: Food Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I didn’t realize

16 May 2008 By Leave a Comment

How upset I would be over not getting this job.

I don’t want to go work the night shift somewhere for minimum wage. It’s just not worth it for me. I’m not saying it’s not worth it to some other family, but minimum wage isn’t enough for me to justify a job. A couple of bucks over minimum isn’t either.

This was a perfect job. Benefits, 401K after a year, gas allowance, reasonable hours and something I enjoy (most of the time) doing.

No one is spending, which means our income dropped a lot. This position pretty much replaced Michael’s income, so his current income would have been extra, not only.

I feel kind of like a failure. Don’t rush to lift me up. I don’t feel like a failure as a person or as a mother, or even as a provider. I can’t pinpoint what I failed ot, unless it was the interview in general. I know I can do what the job was for… did I not hide my ears well enough? Should I have not bothered? Did my tattoos pop out? Did I go overboard being all conservative (they weren’t) or was my hair too red? Is it something that I can fix or was it just me?

I have been mostly obsolete for a while. I know it. I don’t do flash or any of the new technology. I don’t have any other marketable skills. I don’t craft often enough or well enough or unique enough to sell my stuff. I don’t have Stevie’s resolve to “get out there and do it and do it big and make it work” or maybe I just don’t have the passion for whatever “it” is.

I find myself often posting about “it.” It would be fantastic to know what “it” is. Some days I feel like all I am cut out for is being a mom, a housewife. Frankly, I’m not so good at that. My house is a sty. I can’t keep white tile clean with little children spilling and tracking shit all over it. I can’t keep up on the laundry. The only thing I can do consistently is put a home cooked meal on the table. There are still nights the kids get PB&J because they don’t like what I’ve made. That’s their own problem, not mine. I’m not a short order cook (I’ve been one before, I didn’t like it when I got paid for it, I sure as shit ain’t doing it at home).

Meh. I guess I cared more than I thought about this job.. I knew I was excited about it, but I didn’t realize how much I had vested in it personally. I am not actively looking for a job. I applied for all the local ones a bit ago and didn’t hear back – I’m not really qualified for a lot of them because I don’t know ASP or other various languages. This one fell into my lap and I feel like I barely missed it, but it was enough.

Filed Under: General Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »