Only hours ago I purchased my second iPod, a decision I did not make lightly. My first one, purchased in May ‘02, led a torturous existence throughout most of early December and then died on Christmas. My life fell apart. I couldn’t run on the treadmill, I had no way to transfer files and Fiz and I were forced to listen to Madison radio. It was terrible. Aware of iPod’s dirty little secret, I bought a new battery from PDA Smart and replaced it myself but the problems continued. I then sent it in for diagnosis and was told the motherboard was shot. Death. With Apple’s Keynote Address only days away I decided to hold out, hoping for a price break, which came in the form of the 15 GB for $269 (educational price). A pretty good deal if you can find one. UW was sold out, and at this point, Apple’s 20-yr anniversary was just around the corner, so again I held out. Nothing. So today I caved and bought the 20 GB because it comes with the dock, the remote and the case, and it’s in stock. Review forthcoming.
Archive for January, 2004
The ‘pod saga
Monday, January 26th, 2004The igloo
Friday, January 16th, 2004Ah yes, the igloo. The short story is that Jack, apparently bored out of his mind over winter break, decided to make an igloo with friends in the parents’ back yard. He was then kind enough to provide us with complete photo documentation of the building process and the following statistics: “In total there are approximately 160 bricks weighing about 45 lbs each. That means the whole igloo weighs almost 4 tons. Took about 1/2 acre of snow from the field to make it. There’s just over 6 feet of clearance on the inside and a little over 260 cubic feet of open area.” So there you have it.
Jack’s birthday
Monday, January 12th, 2004My little brother Jack turned 21 today. To celebrate we went out for dinner with our parents and the neighbors, and Jack had his first Brandy Old Fashion followed by his first Long Island Iced Tea. First in theory anyway. Then, naturally, we took pictures in the igloo.
More on the igloo soon.
Winter Waterland
Sunday, January 11th, 2004So it turns out there are people in Wisconsin more obsessed with wakeboarding than I, and yesterday Tammy and I met most of them. “Winter Waterland” is a day of wakeboarding, waterskiing and barefooting held at the Anchor Inn in Newville on the Rock River. In January. It’s a bit chilly and they occasionally have to take breaks while large chunks of ice float by, but between the hot tub, hot drinks and bands, everyone seemed to be having a pretty good time. 1-minute video of Randy V. (3 MB Quicktime file with sound)
If 32° = freezing, 19° != warm
Wednesday, January 7th, 2004This is what is messed up about Wisconsin people: the high today is supposed to be 19° and I’ve heard three people refer to it as “nice” out this morning. My coworker even said it was “warm”. Granted it was -20° yesterday with the wind chill so today is slightly less freezing, but under no circumstances is it “nice” or “warm out”.
Too bad he’s underage
Sunday, January 4th, 2004Jack’s gourmet jello shots.
The first of many…
Friday, January 2nd, 2004New Year’s Resolution # 1: Update website more often.
January 2004 update
Thursday, January 1st, 2004Ok, London photos are up and the holidays are over. Christmas started with flying clementines, Dexter’s version of a tea party, and an hour-long game of unscrambling letters, but soon scarves were everywhere, the egg strata came out and what we call normalcy at the Olsen household on Christmas morning returned. Which is basically opening gifts one at a time at the rate of roughly 4 per hour in chronological succession for the entire day, stopping only for nourishment which for me comes in the form of chocolate. It’s a good day.
The sibling party the following Saturday worked out quite well, other than a small explosion around midnight, pouring rain and Stiers failing to remember that he didn’t forget what he remembered. Anyway, it was great to see everyone, especially some of my favorite people who came great distances from Iowa, San Francisco and the far east side. If anyone took photos, please send them.
New Years was unbelievable, both in a fun type of way and a literal type of way. Stace and I were a little slow getting started but after the discovery of a new shot at the Great Dane with Miles (who’s crouching in that photo), things definitely picked up. In the end we made it out of Mondays only minutes away from daylight, long after the bar closed, but luckily just before the staff party at Wandos which would have been our demise. Pizza, water and tylenol p.m. to the rescue and we were fine the next day… proving that with age comes at least some wisdom.
