Get Fuzzy

Perfect day for it too… I think they made it just for me.  A present, if you will.

I need a new coffee maker and I need a new coffee roaster.  This I really don’t need, but it sounds really really good right now

..

My previous post about “my” stimulus package looks like it was on the right track

ITIF finds that investments in America’s digital infrastructure will spur significant job creation in the short run. Specifically, ITIF estimates that spurring an additional investment of $30 billion in America’s IT network infrastructure in 2009 will create approximately 949,000 U.S. jobs.

‘I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.
If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.’
Thomas Jefferson 1802

The government wants to dump billions of dollars into pretty much everything it seems.  From what ‘they’ keep saying, some kind of infrastructure improvement is a good idea.  How about if we overhaul the Internet?  I have no idea how well that would translate into jobs created and whatnot, but it sounds good.  For being the country that ‘created’ the Internet, we’re falling behind the world.  We’re something like 24th in broadband penetration and way behind in bandwidth.  The median broadband speed in the US is about 2 megabits per second.  In Japan it’s 61!  South Korea is 45, France is 17, and even Canada is ahead of the US with 7mbps.
I’m not sure how we fell so far behind.  My guess is that it’s mostly due to lack of competition.  I’m sure there’s some regulations to blame or the FCC… someone smarter than I could probably explain.  I look around my area, and really the only broadband provider is Time Warner – and they suck.  Their service sucks, their prices suck, and they have no reason to improve any of it.  I really wish Verizon would hurry up with their FiOS deployment.  I won’t get it anytime soon, I ‘m sure, but at least it might prompt Time Warner to get nervous and improve something.

So that’s my brilliant and well thought-out idea :D  Sounds good to me… I’ll even volunteer to be the Internet Czar.  Not as catchy as “Car Czar” but I’m not picky.

 http://www.speedmatters.org/

Cartoon Network = win.

I had the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade on this morning just for noise and I hear them talk about  the Cartoon Network’s float.  Something about a show about where all the imaginary friends go when they aren’t needed anymore.  The muppets start singing some song and I stop paying attention until the music scratches and all of a sudden Rick Astley starts singing! I couldn’t find a better video, this one just picks up where he starts singing – they don’t show the muppets singing their original song.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMwO9PX4_7c[/youtube]

Yes, Cartoon Network just Rick Roll’d the country.   The rest of you can stop doing it now…. it’s done, you can’t top that, don’t try.

Really?  This is what we’ve come to?  Someone please make it stop.

Amazon Prime is how I got that generator sent overnight and didn’t pay $216 to do :D  Everything on their site is free 2 day shipping, no minimum, and you can upgrade anything to overnight shipping for $3.99 — pretty sweet deal.  Click the link at the start of this post to get a free 30 day trial (you can set it to NOT subscribe you to it at the end of the 30 days)

… and I have power again!  It came on sometime in the last couple hours.  Dad checked in on the house this evening sometime and it still wasn’t on.  I got home from the Reds game an hour or so ago and we’re good!  Dishwasher is running, laundry is going, and I’m about to start roasting coffee.  :D  Boy that was not fun.  I actually ended up ordering a generator today from Amazon.com.  The paper said it could be another week for a lot of places, figured I could be one of those places.  Brilliant move though – there’s none to be had for 100 miles around here, but I got a 4000 watt one shipped in for under $400… 1 day shipping!  Not sure if I should hang onto it or sell it though.  It could come in handy at some time I’m sure.  I doubt I’ll have another stint like this one any time soon… but you never know.

K… off to turn on more stuff 😀

Oh, and I will be disappointed if I ever go to a Reds game and sit in the ‘normal’ seats ever again.  The “Club” seats are frickin awesome.

S out.

And counting.  Actually about 27 now.  Sucks.  Have a fridge full of food if anyone wants it.

You don’t realize how much you depend on electricity until you don’t have it for an extended amount of time.  I swear, when it comes back on I’m turning on every TV in the house, my computers, Playstation…. might even microwave some water for the helluvit.  Coffee mug with a light bulb in it.

I freaked my neighbor out today – my garage door opener has a battery backup in it.  I left for work and he said “You have power?!?”  Heh.   I don’t have it too bad – taking turns charging stuff with the inverter I have.  Thought about firing up the grill earlier but the chicken I had left in the fridge smelled suspect.  Made it to work about an hour late today – weaving past down trees was fun.  Here’s a flash people – if the stop lights are dark, treat it as a four way stop.  Seriously.  And you don’t get to try to sneak through with the car in front of you.  Work was good though – I was one of the few people who made it in (me?!  a model employee?!  whodathunkit) had a few fires to put out, but my building downtown never lost power over the weekend.  I know I’ve bragged a little about the company I work for, but how cool:  the president sent an email about 11 saying they were closing the office at noon and wouldn’t open until noon tomorrow.  Honestly concerned about people trying to clean up after the storm, take care of kids unexpectedly at home, and worried about the commute people were facing during rush hour with trees down and traffic lights.  Awesome.

Didn’t really take any pictures… just go to your favorite news site and see what the mere remnants of Ike did to the midwest.  You poor Texans.

Have to love a Treo 750, AT&T data plan, and a bluetooth capable laptop.  I’ll probably spend this evening about like the last – back porch, tiki torches, glock, laptop, beer, and treo.  You can take the power out of the house, but you can’t take the geek out of it.

Stay safe out there.