It's Warming Up in DaHo...

After months of cold and snow, its finally warming up here in DaHo. Most of the snow is gone and the roads are clear - the first time since before Christmas.

I have been getting my fishing equipment all setup and ready to go searching for the Big Ones in a couple of weeks, or so. I got this new spinning reel, a Fin-Nor OFS95. It is the biggest spinning reel made and is very impressive. I have it all loaded with 130# hollow spectra line and am very ready to start fishing again.

The new Media Center Extender box is just getting better and better. I have been searching around the Internet and found this little software add-in that skips all the commercials when you play back a recorded TV show. It really works well and we both love it. Around Christmas, I got a pair of Sony wireless headphones for the bedroom, so I can listen to TV and not bother Pam at night. They have really worked out great, so I just ordered another identical pair for the living room. Once it is installed, we can listen to both sets of headphones in either location.

My pool has been getting better. I have been practicing more and it has really helped. We played our last game in the Thursday night league last week, so that is finally over. I have been wanting to resume playing in the Tuesday 9-ball tournaments and will start this week. My Wednesday night leagues is wrapping up this week also. I am happy the winter leagues are over now that it is starting to warm up. Neither of us wanted me to play three times a week - that is just too much 'fun'...

Pam has started to take a Tuesday night belly dancing class. She had her first one last week, and it took a few days for her legs to recover from all the exercise. She really likes it and the folks and teacher in the class.

Speaking of Pam, she has been doing really great at work. She is again the Number One tech in the whole world of Dell. And, this time, its at the end of quarter time frame, so we get to go to the big Top Performer Awards dinner in a couple of weeks. They are always big fun...

Also, she entered the annual Valentines Day Box contest and won. This year, her box was the top portion of the Tin Man, of movie fame. She won a $50 Jakers Gift Card, which is one of our most favorite restaurants in DaHo...

Snow Rollers and Ice Sculptures...

There have been some pretty strange happenings here in DaHo - Snow Rollers and Ice Sculptures...

First, the Snow Rollers... This requires a specific, but high, speed of wind and a specific type of snow to happen. The last time DaHo has had Snow Rollers was over 20 years ago, from what they said on the news. Basically, the wind makes its own snow balls, by rolling the snow along the ground, building up size until they get too heavy to continue rolling. In the picture below, you can see a pretty large one and a few smaller ones in our front yard. I first saw them when looking out the office window and seeing these balls. I first thought some local kids had been playing in the snow. I noticed the little trails leading up to them in the snow, but there were no footprints. Then, later on in the evening, they explained all about it on the news.

While we were out there taking these pictures, I noticed something very unusual on the side on the house. It was an Ice Sculpture. If you will notice in the picture just above the ice, there is a outdoor faucet. It is one of the special freeze-proof ones, where the actual valve mechanism is about a foot inside the wall. Anyway, it must have started leaking and created this large chunk of ice. There is a nice bush in the middle of it, which is probably going to be the worse for the wear as this thing starts melting. It must weigh 50 lbs. I am at a total loss as to how to deal with this. I guess its time to call the contractor for 'professional' guidance...



Over the past couple of days, it has been much warmer than it has been for weeks. A lot of the accumulated ground snow is melting and we now have large 'lakes' of water and ice all over the place. There was so much snow that it will probably take a while for it to all dry up.

We got this new little device - a true 'black box'. Its a Linksys DMA-2100 Media Center Extender. It basically, brings the Windows Vista Media Center desktop to a remote TV, over a wired, or wireless, network. I have wired network access to every room in DaHouse, so it was easy to hook up. I have seen these type of devices in the past couple of years and they really didn't work very well, but this new generation of hardware is very impressive. The main "standard" rating factor on such things is the "Wife Rating Factor" and Pam loves it, as now she can watch all the recorded TV shows from the living room PC in the bedroom, in addition to all the usual TV. Now, we can also listen to all our music, show all the pictures, and all the other Media Center functions that we have been using for years. Also, we can now finally get rid of that cable company DVR, which is a total pain to use. I setup the old Harmony Remote to work with all the bedroom hardware and it is pretty slick - I am impressed. The only 'issue' with it is the brightness of the blue LED power light on the box at night, when all the other light sources are off. Since it is truly a little black box, I just put a piece of black electrical tape over it and all is solved.

My pool has been good and bad - really good and bad... Last week, I played horrible, for me, but this week, I am doing great. Wednesday night I got two table runs and won all of my games, and had to play both Thursday and Friday night in the end of league tournament. I did well in both of those matches.

There is a new player in town. He moved here from Washington state and is very good. He has been winning all the Tuesday night 9-ball tournaments that I use to play in before the leagues. I cannot wait for the leagues to end to start playing those tournaments again and see how it goes. He is a challenge and its always good to play better players, as that is the only way you learn to get better...

Snow Still On the Ground...

(Did you notice the catchy switch in the title from last time?)

First, sorry for not posting for a while. I think I have a serious case of Cabin Fever... I have been keeping very busy, but you can only have so much fun with snow.

I have been repairing friends computers and learning about all sorts of new and old stuff. The old stuff being repairing and upgrading a Windows 98SE computer - which I haven't worked with for about 8 years or so.

The new Dell stats just came out and Pam is now the Number One tech in Dell in the USA or maybe world. Horay to her for working so hard!!

There have been a number of snow related events that I will write about in a day or so. I have to find the pictures and post them - pretty amazing stuff...

My pool has been sucking lately. I haven't been practicing much lately and it is showing in the results. My Thursday league is finishing up this week and my Wednesday league finished in a few weeks. Individually, I placed 14th in the Thursday league. I would have been around 5th, but I missed a week, when I picked up Tom and Jade at the airport, which cost me a lot of points - O, well... Last week in the playoffs, I only scored 29 points out of 40. If I would have gotten my usual 35-40 points, I could have saved the match for our team. For the short term future, I am planning on just doing the 9-ball tournament on Tuesdays and Pam is planning on going to a belly dancing class.

Well, more in a day or so, but I wanted to get something written before you all gave up on me...