I haven’t tested this app at all but I’ll try to remember to update this post when I get a chance to test it.

What was interesting is that they are adding sand back onto the beaches on the North end of the island again.  Pics are below.  I’m just hoping for quiet weather the rest of the winter.

A couple notes:

1. The first pic is very similar to this one at Dredging Today.com
2. It appears that the dredging project isn’t going as smoothly as hoped. The winter storms have been pretty damaging.

My 41" tall daughter by a sand cliff

Dredging pipe as it enters the sand from the ocean

Rare sighting of a car on St. James Place beach

Rebuilding the dunes. Short of looks like a layer cake.

Standing in front of Shrivers looking North

Standing in front of Shrivers looking south.

The company that installed our geothermal system came out today to give it a once over…it’s been about three months since it was installed.  The inspector was really knowledgeable and personable.  It wasn’t anything like the almost slug-like HVAC guys we’ve had in before.  He took time to answer our questions, even about our boiler which isn’t covered in the service contract…yet.  And he pointed out that the geothermal heat pump shouldn’t be making a sound like grinding metal.  In fact it should be mostly silent.

So a part is on the way and it appears that we’ll have more contractors in the house in the coming days.  But maybe the system will work more efficiently and I certainly won’t be able to hear it through the garage wall anymore.

All in all the lesson here is don’t just ignore it cause it isn’t that big of an annoyance.

And, yes, the Wife gets to say “I told you so” on this one.

Even the article states as much…near the end…where short attention span readers won’t even get to…

Even if “Avatar” sets a new revenue record, it’s doubtful it would sell as many tickets as “Titanic” did because of today’s higher admission prices.

“Titanic” sold about 130 million tickets domestically based on average ticket prices of about $4.60 back in 1997 and 1998. Based on today’s average domestic price of about $7.50, “Avatar” would be at around half that mark.

Average admission prices for “Avatar” likely run even higher, given that much of its business comes from a 3-D version, which costs a few dollars extra to see.

Avatar is playing 3-D almost everywhere.  And people are saying the only reason to see it is due to the 3-D. At $14.00 per ticket (in my area of SE PA) that’s well above the $7.50 (“a few dollars extra” my ass) mentioned in the article.  What I never see is the total number of tickets sold.  To me that seemed like a more likely equivalency of popularity than total $$ brought in.

I mentioned this to the Wife and she reminded me that there was a time in the past where movie theaters weren’t 22 screens…and there were only three stations on TV.  Perhaps more people showed up then because there were less entertainment options.

So I searched the web for a site that has adjusted the gross sales of tickets for inflation.  Of course, EVERYTHING is already online.

Gross Domestic Ticket Sales Adjusted for Inflation

Based on that list Titanic isn’t even in the top 5.

BTW, that’s Star Wars at #2….with over 1 BILLION dollars!

Oh, where is Avatar….

So really, it is only a little more popular than a stupid Stooges knockoff and a little less popular than a special effects, post Cold War, Red Dawn.

All that being said, I want to see this movie but we can’t seem to find a time to go.  This two hour and 40 minute long movie is playing at the most inopportune times for us.  My wife and I tried to figure sometime over the MLK weekend to see it and none of them worked.  We’re hopeful to see it before it leaves the theaters.

I just wish we’d stop comparing movies when ticket prices were $2.00 to the current $7.50 average ticket prices.  It’s intellectually and ethically dishonest.  Of course, what should I expect?

Right now I am going back to my roots.  Politics.  Just venting.

I CANNOT BELIEVE that President Obama is just letting the public option die!  What the hell did I elect this man to do?  It sure wasn’t to give into every business and Republican demand that came down the pike.  How about showing some backbone and fighting for the people who put you where you are?

I think this paragraph from Drew Westen at Huffington Post sums up my opinion of the last 11 months

What’s costing the president are three things: a laissez faire style of leadership that appears weak and removed to everyday Americans, a failure to articulate and defend any coherent ideological position on virtually anything, and a widespread perception that he cares more about special interests like bank, credit card, oil and coal, and health and pharmaceutical companies than he does about the people they are shafting….

The speeches are great.  But I can hear great speeches on The West Wing DVDs from my bookcase.  I want (need) someone who is going to do the correct thing for our country no matter the cost to his/her career.  Laid back is fine as long as you know when to attack.  I’d like to see what attacking looks like from the Obama Administration.

It’s hard to see in the preview but that’s Darth Vadar and R2-D2….at Legoland.  I so want to go.

BTW, that pic is also from the Google Maps Trike View.  Google really does want to map the world!

Job Lock – Suburban Guerilla

Update:  Perhaps he needs to read a few pages of the Washington Monthly.

Risk of dying while driving (in a single year) – 10,000:1

But those stats are just an illustration of the relative risks. Click through to see the entire graphic and how many deaths have occurred in a year post-HPV vaccine.

Here’s some video of the driver getting it off the flat bed.

The driver told me before taking the front end loader off the flat bed that it would do “minimal damage” to the lawn.

If this is minimal I can only imagine what is going to happen to our back lawn tomorrow.  More video and pics on Friday or Saturday!

Our half attic…with the light on it looks kind of monstrous.  I have lots of insulation to add to the floor and then we’ll have space for all the stuff we had to move out of the garage.

Here is where all my garage storage went.  This is the geothermal heat pump.  It is like having your AC condenser unit inside your house.  And it takes up just about as much space as you’d think.

And speaking of space, here are our two new water heaters.  Well, the one of the left is actually a storage tank for pre-warmed water from the heat pump.  That way the one of the right won’t have to work as hard to heat the water.  It’s an important part of the system because it is the part that qualifies us for the low interest loan and tax credits that are making this all possible.  But it sure does take up A LOT of space!

This tube, that looks like it is puking pink cotton candy, is attached to the single return.  We used to have two returns but are now down to one….which just means I have more drywall works to do…and one less air filter to buy.

Here’s a preview of my next post….and tomorrow’s activity.