Ma and Pa's Blog

Nice Time at Owen’s Fourth Birthday Party

Monday, June 13th, 2011

Mike and Jen held Owen’s birthday party at Wingfoot Lake (now a state park). The rains ended just in time (1 day before), and, although it was cool, everyone seem to enjoy being outside and watching Owen, Caleb, and cousins Kate and Anna romp in the park and at the playgrounds.

Bear?!!! Where?!!!

Sunday, May 29th, 2011

Installed Ubuntu 11.04 on the Cr-48

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011

I like it!  Unity desktop is a little different, but everything is running quickly and looking great.

Mexican Chicken Salad

Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011

Ma’s out to lunch with her friend, so I made a salad for lunch. The salad was a success — both attractive and tasty. Contents: chicken, celery, scallion, jalapeno, red sweet pepper, tomato, lime juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and cumin. I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.

Evil Easter Feast

Monday, April 25th, 2011

Gained 4 pounds in two days! Thanks, Paska. Thanks, Kielbasa. Thanks, Ham. Thanks, Bunny Cake. Argh! Who started these traditions, and can he/she be sued? Great weekend, though. Enjoyed every minute.

Windows Update

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

Since re-installing Windows Vista on my laptop a few weeks ago, I’ve begun to think that Microsoft might have turned the corner.   I see that among the numerous updates since the installation, “Microsoft Security Essentials” is now included.   It is handling “Realtime Protection” (whatever that is) and virus detection.   It’s about time that Microsoft took this vital function back in house.   I suspect that 3rd party solutions were a big part of the stability and performance problems I’ve encountered when using Windows.  As of this writing, I’m satisfied with Vista’s performance — sometimes surprised to find that I’m using it.   I plan to investigate whether MSE can be installed on my WinXP desktop.   That’s about it for now.

Owen’s Three! (almost)

Saturday, June 5th, 2010

Today we celebrated Owen’s birthday (a few days early).    It was a rainy day (on and off all day; from sprinkles to downpours), but we had a good time.  Kate, Anna, Caleb and Owen had fun playing, setting off bottle poppers, and opening presents.  Owen and Anna licked the cake before we sang “Happy Birthday” . . . this is why Owen’s face looks a little blue in some of the photos.  We finished with Owen defending Caleb from Nate — Owen returned from the bedroom wearing boxing gloves and proceeded to deliver a major whooping to his much older (by 20  years) cousin Nathan.

Mama got a brand new hat!

Monday, May 31st, 2010

Tree Trimming

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

Today would have been a good day for the grandsons to visit. Here is what they would have seen.

Tree Trimming Crane from Pa on Vimeo.

Windows Lasted ALMOST Two Weeks

Friday, April 30th, 2010

Just a note to announce my homecoming . . . to Linux. Almost 2 weeks into my Windows (Vista) (re)trial, I installed Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR) and it’s good to be back. Windows Explorer (the desktop manager, not the browser) had begun crashing a couple times a day, and the only recovery was a reboot. Since Microsoft won’t allow free upgrade to Windows7, I’m just glad to have an alternative that works well . . . make that REALLY well.

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Larry and Marty Steidl