My house is officially for sale – it hit MLS this morning, I think, and I just had my first showing!

So if you know anybody in the market, please pass this along!

MLS # 011292648

ABSOLUTELY CHARMING and move in ready. Warm and inviting big living area with wood burning fireplace. Breakfast nook could be used as a study or a play area. Entertain in the formal living and dining area or relax with a good book in the natural light of the sunroom. Split bedrooms. Galley kitchen with white cabinets and updated appliances. A MUST SEE HOME. Priced to sell quickly.

Pics here

Full listing here (this was just the first site I found it on today when I Googled)

Please buy my house.  :)

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I just wanted to point out to friends and family that Tressa, Keith’s youngest sister, is on her way to Rwanda as a member of the Peace Corps, and that she will be blogging about her experience at http://tressawessa.blogspot.com/ (”No Better Time” is the name of her blog).

I’m so excited for her – this is something she’s always wanted to do!  Keep an eye on her blog – I’m expecting some pretty cool pictures and stories in the coming weeks and months.

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I’ve always adored P!nk, though my adoration has been overshadowed by Keith’s.  The last time we saw her we were lucky enough to end up on the second row, and Keith actually got to kiss her hand at one point.  I think he told that story last night as many times as he could.  ;-)

Anyway, last night she told us (yeah I like to think of it as a P!nk -> Brian & Keith conversation) that she’d recently dislocated her shoulder, so she wouldn’t be able to perform all the acrobatics she normally does.  I found out today at work that what she did at the VMA awards this year (which I completely missed) was one part of the concert. She still sang this song — in fact this one was right before she broke out Bohemian Rhapsody!

So being the geek I am :) I looked the video up. And let me just tell you – I LOVED this performance!  I’ve watched this video at least 100 times today.

I love that she sings the whole way through, even while she’s flipping every which way up in the air!  Britney doesn’t even compare.

So without further ado….  P!nk at the MTV Video Music Awards:

Click here if you don’t see the video

I tried taking pictures and video at the concert, but we were so far away the pics didn’t turn out that well, and video sucked — even the audio was horrible with all the distortion.  (it was LOUD!)  But here are a couple halfway decent shots of the stage at least.  ;-)

P!nk, Funhouse Tour, Dallas TX 9/23/09

P!nk, Funhouse Tour, Dallas TX 9/23/09

EDIT: I swear I’m obsessed with her! I just found this video of the same act from her tour. There are some differences but it’s basically the same. Awesome!!!

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Samoa, Brian, & Bingo

Bingo, Brian, & Samoa

What cracks me up is that Samoa had been trying to take over my pillow all night and it was a battle of wills…  I was determined she wasn’t going to take MY pillow!  lol

Looks like she won after all.  ;-)

Khaki’s under the blanket somewhere too.  It was a full couch!

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What is it, you say?  Wikipedia says, “a flash mob is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse.”  The term can apply to groups of people doing all sorts of strange things, but my favorite are the ones where they do choreographed dances (a Google video search shows not only the dance ones, but also people falling to the ground, or freezing in place, etc.)

So without further ado….

Sound of Music | Central Station Antwerp (Belgium)

Wolfgangsvault Flash Mob Woodstock 40th

I Gotta Feeling Live at Oprah’s 24th Season Kickoff Party

Liverpool T-Mobile

Michael Jackson Tribute – Stockholm

As usual, if you don’t see the videos above (email, Facebook, etc.), click here.

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Sometimes it’s pretty cool working on the bleeding edge… ;-)

click here if you don’t see the video above

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Trey, Bryan, Keith, Heather, Tanya, Brian, Missi, & Tressa

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This may just be the best commercial out there on the subject of marriage equality. And it comes from Ireland, and the group “MarriagEquality“. Watching this ad, “Sinead’s Hand,” makes it crystal clear that putting the question of marriage on the ballot is not only ludicrous, but it’s offensive as hell. This Fall, the state of Maine will vote on whether gay and lesbian couples should have equal rights to marriage. It’s important to win that vote.

But the premise behind putting civil rights on statewide ballots smacks in the face of the types of protections and rights that governments – whether in the U.S. or in Ireland – should automatically provide for its citizens. Watch the commercial, and then ask yourself, “What if you had to ask four million people to marry someone?”

If you don’t see the video above, click here.

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For those of you that use GMail – ever had to search for a message that you know is there somewhere, but you’re not sure where exactly?  This happens all the time for me, with my horrible memory…  Anyway, most of the time when just typing my search term in the search box, I get lots of results — mostly crap from my Junk E-Mail folder.

So here’s how to filter that out:

<your search term here> -label:junk-e-mail

Say for example you’re looking for your student ID, like I just was, because you never remember it and the stupid website you need to log into prevents your browser from remembering it as well.  (yeah I know there’s a “fix” for this but I’ll get to that later lol).  Here’s what I searched on:

dcccd -label:junk-e-mail

Bingo!  There’s my student ID on the first page of results, whereas I would have had to wade through page after page of junk mail looking for it otherwise.

If you care how it works…  the - just means to exclude something, so combining that with label:junk-e-mail tells it to exclude items with the “Junk E-Mail” label applied (notice you substitue a hyphen for spaces).

Now to star that sucker…

There’s loads of additional google search info here.

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Anchored from lindsey olivares on Vimeo.

click here if you don’t see the video above

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It’s not often that I get as excited about a TV show as I have about this one: Being Human. Here’s a quick description from the show’s website:

Being Human, a BBC AMERICA co-production, is a witty and extraordinary look into the lives of three twenty-somethings and their secret double-lives – as a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost. They struggle to live normal lives, despite their strange and dark secrets.

George (Russell Tovey) and Mitchell (Aidan Turner) work in anonymous drudgery as hospital porters in Bristol, England. They lead lives of quiet desperation under the burden of a terrible secret – Mitchell’s a vampire and George a werewolf. Deciding to start life afresh and leave behind the dark side, they move into a house, only to find that Annie (Lenora Crichlow), the ghost of a woman killed in mysterious circumstances, haunts it. As the monster threesome deal with the challenges of their new life together, they’re united in their desire to blend in with their human neighbors.

But with unwelcome intruders into their world, a threatened revolution from the vampire underworld, constant threats of exposure, and the day-to-day issues faced by young people – the only thing they may be able to rely on is each other.

If you have BBC and enjoy supernatural stuff, this is a must see!  Heck, even if you don’t normally enjoy supernatural themed stuff the characters in this one will grab you — I’m pretty sure you’ll love it.  :)

They can’t get season two on the air fast enough!!

Here’s the Wikipedia article on Being Human.

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This is the version info it’s reporting:  Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.1) Gecko/20090615 Firefox/3.5 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729)

And here are the release notes.

Before installing I did some research to see which extensions (addons) would be compatible after upgrading.  Many of them supposedly supported the latest versions of Firefox, but in reality some did not.  I thought I’d share my findings in case it might help somebody else…  so here’s a list of the extensions I have installed on my PC, version info, and 3.5 compatibility:

I’ve only had it installed long enough to discover these incompatibilities…  I’m sure I’ll be able to find some dev versions of the extensions, like the one for TMP.

The final version should be released sometime this month.

UPDATE:  I’ve found compatible versions of Paste and Go (v3 instead of the previously listed v2) and Fasterfox Lite, and have updated the table above accordingly.

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7/11: I’ve removed the slide show to speed up page loading -it was really slowing things down.

Click here to see the pics

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After mowing & edging Saturday I planted one of the back flower beds:

Yup, pretty much the same as last year.

Today I knocked out the following:

Installed 2 new bracket for hanging backets — the old ones weren’t big enough.  The screws holding them in were rusted and it took quite a bit of muscle and WD40 to get them out!

Last year I planted some basil, but decided this year to put it in a pot so I can take it in when it gets cold next winter.  A coworker had given me some oregano, and I bought some more basil and some flat leaf parsley.  So I put them all in one pot just outside the back door, next to one of our rosemary bushes:

I also replanted our other back flower bed — purple shamrocks (which are perennials) and white caladiums (which I learned this year are NOT):

I also planted a tomato plant in a Home Depot bucket that I drilled some holes in – I didn’t have a pot big enough, and wasn’t ready to dig up a spot for a mini garden just yet.  I think where I had it last year (where the herbs are now) didn’t get enough sun, so I’ve got it on the back (west) side of the house where it’ll get plenty of sun.

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GARDEN CITY, N.Y. (AP) — A rifle-toting convenience store owner said he decided to show mercy on a would-be robber after seeing the man collapse into tears and claim he was only committing the crime to support his starving family.

The Long Island store owner provided the bat-wielding man with $40 and a loaf of bread and made him promise never to rob again.

SOURCE (and additional details)

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Here are a couple pics:

More pictures available here.

I already had a flight booked on 6/13 — I can’t wait to get over for a visit!!  :)

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5/20 update – apparently Cinemark is now calling it “XD” instead of “XD3″.

… when you spend half an hour trying to research the difference between Cinemark’s new XD3 (link, link) and IMAX formats so you can get the absolute best moviegoing experience for the new Star Trek movie coming out this week.  :) (and then blog about it!)

Though I haven’t been able to find technical specs to do a side-by-side comparison, I did learn that the XD3 screen is 70 feet wide, while IMAX is about 72 – so in that respect they are pretty comparable.  (I emailed the box office at the IMAX and Cinemark Plano West where the XD3 is — we’ll see if I get a response)

I did a quick search on Twitter and with the exception of one negative item, everybody had good things to say.  (I had a good laugh over several tweets (link, link) RE: Hugh Jackman’s “mutant ass” on a floor to ceiling screen [Wolverine]!)

Price-wise they are the same ($12/ticket).

So I guess at this point I’m leaning towards giving the XD3 experience a shot, mainly because we really like this Cinemark theater in West Plano…

UPDATE 1:

A few minutes ago I received the following email from the manager of the Cinemark IMAX in Dallas:

Basically the difference between the two formats is XD3 is digital, IMAX is not. XD3 is a form of presenting feature films in a digital arena on a larger screen. The XD3 screen is a little bigger than the standard 75 ft.

Our IMAX theatre is the largest theatre in the city. Our sound system is unsurpassed, boasting forty speakers and over 10,000 watts of sound, however both presentations have perfect picture quality.

Thank you for your inquiry into our theatre, and I am sure both systems will meet your expectations. Whichever one you decide, Cinemark Theatres will appreciate your business.

Thank You!
IMAX House Manager

UPDATE 2 (2pm 5/4):

I just received the following from somebody Cinemark’s corporate office:

Visually, you can’t lose in either format. Personally, I LOVE the JBL
Sound system they installed in the XD3 auditorium. Plus, they have all
new oversized seats and wider rows…so that adds to the comfort level.
I believe the IMAX screen is taller…but I think XD3 is wider. The
IMAX auditorium holds maybe 200 people…XD3 holds around 500. So,
that’s kind of exciting to be a part of a large group.

Having seen the movie a couple of weeks ago, I have been counting the
minutes waiting for the chance to see it again in a large screen format.
You will be amazed!

My vote is for XD3. Visually it’s a tie. Comfort and sound win.

HAVE FUN!!!

UPDATE 3 (5/9):

And finally, a couple days ago I got this response from the Plano West Cinemark:

I am not sure if anyone responded to you on this…if not…sorry for the delay.  Both formats are a superb way to enjoy the movie and neither will leave you disappointed. That being said, the major technical difference is that IMAX is on film and XD is digital. Both deliver a superb image. The auditorium in an IMAX has a steeper rise so you will feel closer to the screen even if you are sitting a ways back.  The screens are close to the same size but the IMAX auditorium is much smaller, so the screen may seem even bigger since it is in a relatively smaller room.

I’m impressed I got responses at all!!

We have tickets for the 12:30 show Saturday 5/9 at te Plano West XD3 theater.

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Can people catch swine flu from eating pork?
No. Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food. You can not get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork and pork products is safe. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160°F kills the swine flu virus as it does other bacteria and viruses.

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Me wading in the ocean with a mimosa

Sitting on the deck was nice, but I wanted to be close to the ocean. So I dragged my chair down and sat where my feet were getting wet. :)

I was off to the right when this was taken…. but check out those waves! Some were 10 feet tall!

Kyle, Lori, Chris, Adam, me, Keith

Here’s a slideshow of all the pics we took:

And here’s a direct link to the album. I haven’t touched any of these yet, and there are quite a few that you’ll probably go “huh?” — just remember Keith had the camera. ;-)

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