August 8, 2005While we were gone
*Speed limit signs have been posted on Hunton Park Blvd. 35 mph. Better watch out, they'll be putting in speed bumps next.
*Power went out. Not sure how long.
*Tivo had some issues. Turned the tv on yesterday to find it on the "Powering Up" screen. Luckily it rebooted after unplugging it, and everything was still there. Could have happened when the power went out, but it hadn't recorded anything since Wednesday, which is a little odd.
*Comcast has completely screwed up the channel lineup and Tivo was not updated immediately. So the last few shows that were recorded were wrong. We noticed last night Tivo finally got the new channel lineup info, but all the channels are duplicated in the guide. It still shows the old listing, as well as the new. I'm not sure how that will affect shows being recorded.
Usually these lineup changes don't affect channels we watch regularly, but this one appears to have rearranged everything. It's going to be like moving to a new city and having to learn all over again.
*Gas prices have gone back up. $2.19 before we left for PA on the 29th. $2.27 today. Ouch.
*And Air France flight landing in Canada skidded off the runway and caught on fire. Unbelievably, all passengers/crew escaped.
*Purchasing completed their move to the second floor giving Accounting/Business Office three empty offices to work with. There was a lot of rearranging while I was out: walls, furniture and workspaces. Luckily I didn't have to move anything, but it looks like I wil be getting some new (used) furniture. We like to play hand-me-down here, so I'm getting some of Purchasing's old stuff.
Posted by Olivia at 1:53 PM | Comments (1)
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August 9, 2005Up, up, up
*Gas prices have gone back up. $2.19 before we left for PA on the 29th. $2.27 today. Ouch.
Scratch that, gas prices are now at $2.31.
Yikes.
Posted by Olivia at 5:56 PM | Comments (0)
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August 10, 2005Paragon
Since our summer travelling had been so slow this year wouldn't it just figure that 3 of our pre-planned activities happening in the span of a week had to be in different states?
What: TTORA National Takeover
Where: Paragon Adventure Park, Hazleton, PA
When: July 29-31, 2005
Why: For a chance to get muddy and do some wheelin' with lots of other Tacos.
Friday night we drove the 5-6 hours to PA so we would be there for Saturday's activities. We didn't get much sleep, thanks to some noisy neighbors, but we were ready to head out to meet up with the group at 8. Despite a little lack of organization, everyone eventually got put with this group that most suited their offroad capabilities and off we went.
Each group had a leader who has a lot of experience as well as some earlier exploration of the parks trails. Jeff decided to stick with the easier trails, which are labeled like ski slopes: greens, blues, blacks, even a few reds. The group we stuck with went on the green and a few lower blue trails for Saturday. Sunday we did more low blues than greens, I think.
We ended up with mostly the same people both days, although I never got anyone's name. I guess everyone was more interested in figuring out how to get over this rock or around that tree.
We got ourselves into one hairy situation back in the woods and there was the incident with crossing the stream (not Jeff's truck), but overall our group did well; not too much damage. We had a great time and I'm sure Jeff's going to want to participate next time they have and East Coast event.
Posted by Olivia at 9:41 AM | Comments (0)
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August 15, 2005Myrtle Beach
What: Vacation
Where: Myrtle Beach, SC
When: August 1-5, 2005
Why: To enjoy a week at the beach and some quality time with the in-laws.
Sunday, after a second day at Paragon, we drove home, packed up our bags for the beach, and fell into bed, exhausted. Monday morning, bright and early we were up and headed out of Richmond. After a brief stop at the gas station and the bank, and witnessing a small fender bender, we finally hit the road about 8am.
Continuing our tradition, we stopped for an early lunch in Dunn, NC for some yummy Sonic goodness. I think we got to MB about 2, and joined the Pollards at the pool. The next 4 days were filled with relaxing mornings at the beach, moving to the pool then on to dinner, followed by an activity of some sort. Even though I wish we could have stayed longer, it was nice to have the time we did.
Monday:
Pool
Cruised around checking out all the sites
Tuesday:
Beach - very crowded
Pool
Dinner at Carolina Roadhouse - Good rolls!
Boardwalk - Of course we had to walk through the Gay Dolphin gift shop and play some skee ball. At the Pavilion I tried the "Guess your age" thing and won. Good except the guy guessed I was 30! Oh well. Oh-do not, I repeat, do not, ride the new wooden coaster at the Pavilion. If you don't have neck problems beforehand, you might afterwards. One of the worst, jerkiest coasters I've ever been on.
Wednesday:
Beach
Pool
Dinner at Nascar Cafe
Minigolf - I won!
Thursday:
Jet skiing (Myrtle Beach Watersports) in the intercoastal waterways; awesome! I got mine up to 53mph.
Pool - My Little Pony anyone?
Dinner at Burro Loco - Great salsa!
Grand Prix - Jeff & I waited in long lines, rode 3 courses, then left frustrated
March of the Penguins - Mr & Mrs P went to the movies
Friday:
Tanger Outlets
Boiled peanuts from Sparky's, on the way out.
We definitely have to thank the Pollards for letting us crash on their sofa bed at the SeaWatch Plantation. Despite having one shower I think we managed quite nicely. Maybe we can join them again next year. Or maybe we'll go to Hawaii instead. ;)
Posted by Olivia at 10:53 AM | Comments (3)
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August 16, 2005Carlisle
What: Carlisle All-Truck Nationals
Where: Carlisle, PA
When: Aug 6, 2005
Why: To hang with the CT crew, see some trucks, and go to our first (and maybe only) show for the season.
To wrap up our vacation we drove from Myrtle Beach to Richmond, then to Bridgewater Friday night (the 5th). We figured a 3-3.5 hour drive Saurday morning was better than a 5 hour one.
We didn't get to Carlisle until 12:30ish, so we said hi to CT crew and proceeded to walk, and walk, and walk looking at the hundreds of vehicles at the fairgrounds. We ran into Mark, who I hear took 1st in his class & Tommy.
After a little miscommunication we ended up that evening at Hotel Carlisle where most of the people from CT were staying. We hung out way too long and didn't get on the road until at least 10, maybe later. We took some smaller roads over to 270, then to 95, which, overall took less time than 81 to 64. Even so, it was probably 2ish when we got home.
Another great Carlisle show; lots of the same vehicles, but as always, some new. I seem to have an affinity for older model trucks, so Jeff took lots of pictures. His favorite was the lifted Colorado, which is totally too extreme for real offroading or even onroading, but was really cool to look at.
Posted by Olivia at 12:54 PM | Comments (0)
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August 16, 2005Computer craze
Sometime in the past couple of weeks Jeff had mentioned that it was probably about time to upgrade my computer to a newer model. We found out Friday that the Apple store at Shortpump had a 'refreshed' machine for a fairly decent price.
(Refreshed because it was returned not due to problems, rather personal preference, so was not sent back to the factory for refurbishing)
We debated about it and finally on Sunday I told Jeff we should just go get it. So we did. I'm sure Jeff can fill in the specs, all I know is it's gonna be faster, has a back-lit keyboard and can run G wireless.
The plan is to sell my old machine to help recoup some of the cost. Jeff also suggested we try to pick up a couple of the iBooks that Henrico was going to be selling today.
Backstory on that: Henrico County has been using Apple iBooks for the past few years in their middle & high schools; each student had one. They decided to switch to Dell for the upcoming school year (high school only) and were going to sell the old iBooks to the public for $50/each, the cost they paid to Apple. The original sale, for the first 1000 available, was supposed to have been last Tuesday, but was postponed. Not only was it postponed until today, but it was moved to the Raceway and limited to Henrico residents only.
The sale was scheduled to start until 9, but Raceway gates were going to open at 7, so Jeff though it would be a good idea to get there between 6 & 6:30. We woke up at 5 and headed out just before 6. About 6:15 we finally made our way around the backside of the track (Azalea to Carolina) and found a mess of traffic in front of us. As we made our way down Laburnum, more and more people were jumping out of cars and running across the road to get in the rapidly growing line. The gate that was going to be opened at 9 was all the way at the corner of Laburnum & Henrico Turnpike.
At that point, we didn't know just how many people were there, but knew by the time we found a place to park and got in line, we'd be waaaay past the 1000 mark. We decided it wasn't worth standing in line for and went back home.
And boy, am I sure glad we did!! According to the news reports, there was complete pandemonium when the gates were opened. Instead of getting your name on a list or picking up a numbered ticket when you walked in, they had the line form in a building on the far end of the parking lot. People immediately started running towards the building. There were people knocked to the ground and trampled, strollers destroyed and several people injured.
Needless to say, Henrico did not plan this out very well. But then again, how could they have know 10,000 people would show up for a chance to buy 1 of 1000 laptops?
This news report from NBC 12 pretty much says it all. Watch the video, it shows the mass chaos.
Edit 2pm: Now it's made CNN & Ebay
To sum it all up: I woke up at 5, didn't get any $50 laptops, but saved myself from injury and shame from participating in such a horrible event, and still ended up with a kick-ass computer!
Posted by Olivia at 1:52 PM | Comments (5)
Find me in: Geek Talk