fishing is slow

I’ve been out several times this holiday break, but catching has been really poor.  Christmas eve, I made an early morning surf trip, and the highlight was spotting these feral pigs on the road when leaving the Canaveral Wildlife area.

On the 27th I spent a half day fighting winds down in Sebastian area, and the day was saved by a sailcat I landed on my final cast prior to heading in.  I was never so happy to catch a catfish.

On the 28th, Linda joined me for a half day launching from Long Point park, and the weather was beautiful, but it was maybe the worst fishing I’ve ever had down there – totally skunked.

On the 30th I took the day off to go to New Smyrna.  Another gorgeous day, and I did find some action and had one good fight with a bluefish in the currents of Ponce Inlet.   Here’s a nice sunset shot across from the boat ramp just before I called it a day.

mobile web browsing

Its been a few weeks now that I’ve been playing with my new LG Dare cell phone. Its a touchscreen iphone competitor with a built in GPS navigator and a web browser. It will attempt to render any web page that’s out there, but some web sites are specifically designed for viewing on a small cell phone screen and work a whole lot better. So these are the four best mobile sites that I’ve found and bookmarked on my device:

http://m.google.com/?dc=gbackstop
This is the gateway to google.com mobile apps, including email, news, search, maps, youtube and more. This is my home page.

http://wapedia.mobi/en/
A mobile interface for wikipedia.  nuff said.

http://ww2.gomoviesapp.com:8080/main.php
Local movie times! just enter your zip code and press GO.

http://mobile.srh.noaa.gov/
The best weather lookup for mobile phones. Just enter a zip code and get current conditions, forecasts even radar pictures.

There are lots more such sites including special mobile versions of amazon.com and the NY Times.  Beware, they may look a little odd if you view them in your fullsized computer browser window.

The irony of the LG device is that although it has excellent call quality, it is not as convenient nor ergonomic a phone as any of my previous models.

math education fail

see more pwn and owned pictures

caroling

Here’s the congenial group we had for a 3 hr stroll at Winter Park village last night.   Very pleasant way to spend the evening.

Sorry for the blur.   Its camera shake from the low light shutter speed on the cell phone.  The next tech objective in phone cameras should be image stabilization (IS).

WSJ Christmas Story

Suggested by Linda, its a little long but worthwhile:

from http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2008/12/17/a-christmas-poem-the-year-of-the-grinch/

’Twas the Night Before Christmas
(The Year of the Grinch)
By David H. Resler

’Twas the night before Christmas, my shopping was done
I’d gotten great bargains, gee, aren’t low prices fun!
But less costly gifts are but small consolation
For my four-o-one K’s brutal devastation.

This year of o-eight ranks surely one of the worst!
It all started when the housing bubble did burst.
How could such a mess happen? And, who should we blame?
The fault lies with culprits far too many to name.

lawyers with a sense of humor

Linda forwarded to me this thread from a legal discussion:

+++++++++++++

 From: Lawyer John
Date: Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 9:00 AM
Subject: RE:  Homestead Petition
To: discussion list

Elaine - no special training; it apparently figured it out all on its own.

-----Original Message-----

From: Lawyer Elaine
Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2008 8:17 PM
To: discussion list
Subject: Re: Homestead Petition

We all understand that. My cell keeps making unrequested phone calls to
random people. but I don't recall emails being sent. This is a new twist.
Have you sent your devise for special training?
Elaine

In a message dated 12/13/2008 6:28:56 PM Eastern Standard Time,
Lawyer John writes:

My  pocket apologizes for the last email...
Sent via BlackBerry by  AT&T

-----Original Message-----

From:   Lawyer John
Date: Sat, 13 Dec 2008 20:47:50
To:  discussion list
Subject: Re:Homestead  Petition

GGGGgGGH

------Message d'origine------
From: lawyer Sam
Envoyé: 13 déc 2008 10:21
Objet:   Homestead Petition

Listmates,

Does anyone have a current  FL Bar form Petition to Determine Homestead
Status of Real Property that  they can share?

Thanks.
Sam

1985 river float

Rick unearthed this photo record of a day trip we took in 1985 to some river near my Maryland home.   We both had new girlfriends (Linda and Louise), and Linda and I were preparing for a job relocation to Orlando where we would set up housekeeping prior to marrying in 1987.    Great pics Rick!  boy were we young.  and skinny.

http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=63961

See the individual photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/lafayette_street/sets/72157608621212172/ Get a full screen slideshow here.

twitter

The twitter service is getting increasing buzz in higher ed, so I joined up this morning.   Wikipedia describes twitter as a micro-blogging service, that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates, which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.   A user reports to the service as often as he likes, either by text message or through a website, and that short report is broadcast to all the users followers in the twitter network.   The whole thing can be managed through a mobile phone.

Some say that twitter is a bona fide game changer.

Problem is, its a social networking system that is kinda dependent on having a social network.   Once I created an account, the service combed through my email address book to see who was registered with twitter that I could link up with .  The only persons it found were nephew Austen (natch), sis-in-law Louise, and several work acquaintances with whom I am not social.   For me, this aint gonna happen.

Soccer. We got lots of soccer.

From guest blogger Rick.

SCREAM, Kelsey’s team of 13-year old girls has been playing together since 2nd grade. They’ve just completed their fall season. She is a leader and one of the better players on the team. She anchors the defense and sometimes plays the demanding mid-field position. During a tournament and the last game of the season, she scored a goal on a long (beyond the ‘18’) left-footed shot. They won.

Connor credits his coaches for his level of play. Since kindergarten, he has played on 19 recreational teams (spring and fall). Add in three middle-school teams and a few indoor winter leagues. It totals a lot of times he has put on his shin guards and cleats.

This fall’s recreational season was his best. He played center-forward on a team of great athletes. Soccer is called “The Beautiful Game” and the 2008 Predators were beautiful. Connecting passes, team defense, spacing, trust, headers on corner kicks. It added up to a 5-2-2 record. Versus an Oakland Hispanic team, they were down 4-1 at half. Final score 4-4. Another game had four lead changes – final score 7-6.

During the season, ten different players scored goals. A lot of them were set up by Connor’s unselfish play. He also scored 9 goals to lead the team.

In California, high school soccer is a winter sport. The football teams use the fields in the fall. As a freshman, he was the final cut. Connor made the JV team this winter and the Alameda High Hornets will play 21 games from November to February. It is a big commitment and a lot of soccer. Two hour practices every day. It is a good group of guys. A lot of his friends are on the team.

On a weekday night, he comes home tired, hungry and sweaty. He inhales the re-heated dinner and crawls into the bathtub.

Soccer. We got lots of soccer.

Rick
12/09/08

fail to grasp Nut Fail

Honestly. I looked at this for almost a minute trying to figure out what the FAIL was.