My Dell Mini 9 came with Ubuntu 8.04, a 4 GB SSD, and 1 GB RAM. It now has a 32 GB SSD. I had already installed a higher 2 GB RAM chip last year, and Ubuntu was having issues as the 4 GB hard drive was maxed out. Since I didn’t have any data to move to the new hard drive, a clean install was in order.

Step 1. Create Ubunto 11.10 .iso on a USB stick. Easy…I just followed directions as posted here (I think…I looked at so many sites I’m having trouble remembering which one I used to actually create the .iso…I used a new 8 GB stick but I think that was way overkill (I think 23 MB is all you need), but that’s what I had laying around.
Step 2. Replace the SSD. I bought one off Amazon.com, a AMP 32GB SaberTooth AA 50mm PATA Mini PCIe SSD Drive for Mini 9 for $79.99 with free shipping. This was fairly easy…though the motherboard screws holding the SSD in place were phillips head (not flat head like the screwdriver inside the box). Although I don’t own a phillips head screwdriver that small, I managed to get one out, and had to drill the other one out (carefully with a 1/16″ drill bit). But one screw holding it in place is enough. There are several videos widely available if you just Google “Replace Dell Mini 9 SSD”
Step 3. Insert the USB drive, hit 0 (zero) on bootup when you see the Dell Logo, and scroll down to the USB bootup option and hit Enter. If you don’t do this you will get a “NTLDR is missing” error message upon booting up.
Step 4. Create partitions. I followed the directions from here , and created a 20 GB / (root) ext4, a 5 GB /home (also ext4), and a 4 GB swap (swap)…double the RAM I have.
Step 5.  Get the wireless working with the right driver. I just continued through the install, and everything worked swimmingly except for the wireless card. I tried the two suggestions here, and while they didn’t seem to work immediately after rebooting, it did come up and works great now. My Dell has a BCD4312 series Broadcom wireless card.

Note: Also make sure to install the restricted drivers as the site mentions from my Step 4 above.

Total investment – $80 and about one hour. So now we have a kitchen laptop again that is functional for just about everything (email and web), and is light enough to carry around the house or travel with us. It won’t run Boxee for Netflix (I had to try!), but as it buffers and skips during shorter video clips (e.g. sports highlights or CNN news footage), I doubt I’d use it for that anyway.

If you have old PCs that have funked out and have windows installed, I’d highly recommend giving Ubuntu a shot, either as a dual-boot or clean install…you’ll be amazed when you bring it back to life. Our “guest” computer is also running Ubuntu (10.04), and is perfect for those looking to simply browse and do email. It’s using the wireless USB stick from an old Tivo (Dlink DWL-122)…brilliant.

Happy upgrading!

Winners:

1. Roku (originally the Soundbridge Radio, later the Roku XD media player)
2. Logitech (the Squeezebox is a most awesome internet player post-Soundbridge)
3. Consumer Cellular (using unlocked or AT&T GSM phones with affordable service)
4. Net2Phone Voiceline VoIP (I picked them after failing with Packet8 and Sunrocket)
5. Netflix (streaming) – As soon as streaming was available, we were on board.
6. Kodak Z8 video camera – just a great HD video camera with good battery life and fits into a pocket. Oh…and HDMI video out too.
7. Tivo. We had to be one of the first to line up for this when it came out. And even though we long ago cut the cable cord, it remains invaluable $13 per month.

Losers:

1. Sunrocket VoIP (Even before I had Sunrocket I tried Packet8). This is not that big of a loser though, for I am still using their VoIP modem some 5-6 years later.
2. Motorola F8- A tiny cell phone with e-Ink. It’s battery lasted a solid month or more between charging, but a tiny phone book and virtual illegibility of text messages made me think it has remained in the 3rd world market for a reason.
3. Sony PRS-300 e-reader – wonderful while it lasted, but it lasted too short, and it’s reaction time was too slow, resulting in the ever-feared double-click that goes right past where you had hoped to go. The Nook and Kindle came out too quickly with so many more e-ink capabilities.
4. Netflix (DVDs) – although this was a winner for many folks, we were one of the households that took 4 months to watch a movie and could never agree on the queue.
5. Blu-Ray player – I might as well not have it. We own a grand total of one Blu-Ray, and are too cheap to rent the higher priced Blu-Ray discs when we can’t tell the difference.
6. Creative Zen Vision(M) – was deemed by many as the “iPod-killer” upon release. But transcoding and transferring video to the darn thing took overnight for a 30 min. TV episode. However, it’s video out rocked and it was way ahead of its time. I’m just glad I didn’t also double down and buy an Archos media player when it the Zen died.

Sitting on the fence because I’m scared to buy….Ooma. But with Net2Phone’s hands-off awesomeness, it’s got me via loyalty over Ooma’s questionable business model that might as well be magicJack.

Still not decided on as a winner or loser…Hulu Plus. It seems pretty duplicative of our OTA Tivo HD, and at $8 per mo. it’s not cheap. But it’s got oodles of past seasons that are sometimes fun to watch.

Let’s hope the women’s games this weekend get more competitive; a neutral site should help. Through the first 60 games of the NCAA Women’s Division I NCAA Soccer tournament, a whopping 58% of games have been decided by 2 goals or more. Through the first 40 games of the Men’s tournament, the games are much closer, with just 28% being decided by two or more goals.

My Women’s Final Four Picks – Stanford over Florida St., Wake upsets Duke, and Stanford gets crowned.

In Division II, which happens this weekend in Pensacola, FL, there are 3 schools of the 4 that I’ve never heard of. But that shouldn’t keep me from making some useless predictions, should it?

I’ll take underdog Chico St. to continue its defensive-minded game and take down top-ranked and undefeated Grand Valley St., the Golden Knights of St. Rose to dispose of the Armstrong Pirates, and Chico St. to win the championship going away, finding a sudden scoring barrage from some unexpected midfielders.

If you are clever enough to notice that this post time is after one of the Div. II semis was played; good for you, I’m going to go look at the score after I post this to see my prediction. I updated my WP and MySQL dB and couldn’t log in, I was getting a 500 internal server error by WordPress, and it took me a while to find the answer. This is what worked…adding these two lines to my .htaccess file.

AddType x-mapp-php5 .php
AddHandler x-mapp-php5 .php

10/9/1999 – Upstate royalty gets a dose of the proletariats
I went to the Thrashers third game ever, a home game vs. Buffalo. My wife and I had seats in the first row of the upper deck. This is where I learned how obnoxious Buffalo fans generally are.  You would think they hail from Monaco with their egos. The Thrashers skated to a 5-5 tie to earn their first NHL point, even getting Dominik Hasek pulled in the 2nd period. It would an ominous sign for the Dominator, as it was just one of two years during an eight-year span where he would not win the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top netminder.

2/11/2000 – Who parties when getting walloped? Good Thrashers fans, that’s who!
A childhood friend of mine from California visited Atlanta, and we honored our once-hometown Sharks by going to the see the Thrashers host the Sharks. The Thrashers lost 3-0, but I’m not sure we cared, as this was the beginning of a long night that we think terminated at some point in Buckhead.

2003 or 2004 – Red-faced commish talks red line
At some point pre-lockout, I was riding up in the arena elevator to the suites level, and I stepped in and joined Gary Bettman on his way up. I recall it being in the 3rd period of a very low scoring game, and I simply asked “Commissioner, when do you think you’ll get rid of the red line and open up the game a bit?” He proceeded to give me a 15 second tirade on how it would be bad for the game and the fluidity of up-ice rushes would be compromised. He clearly would have preferred that I not say anything to him, and was visibly flustered that he had received such criticism of the sport he was in charge of. Needless to say the illegal two-line pass didn’t come back after the lockout, and although I’d like to say it was because I had influenced the commissioner, I was glad to just get to meet him in person and see just how volatile he can be.

1/26/2007 – The benefits of blogging
Having written perhaps two handfuls of Thrashers-related blog entries on my original blog “PT’s Big Adventure,” I was contacted by the new Thrashers official “blogger.” He had dreamt up the idea of a blogger’s night where all of the people currently blogging about the Thrashers would be VIPs. We came and got badged, and watched the game from the catwalk/media level that is just feet from the roof at Philips. After the Thrashers first goal, the 15 or so of us jumped up and cheered, only to be peered down by some suits for making noise. The Thrashers head blogger hadn’t bothered to tell us that it was a noise-free zone where the game is not the night’s “entertainment.” I can’t even remember if we won or lost that game, but I recall it was against the Islanders. We also got the behind the scenes tour of the arena, and got to sit in on the post-game press conference with coach Bob Hartley.

April 2007 – Unleash the Fury
I was sure I was going to win playoff tickets to see the Thrashers. The Thrashers sponsored a homemade YouTube video contest. I spent an hour or two creating a video with my 3 year old son Miles, sure that his cuteness would bring home the bacon. We didn’t, but the video remains alive on the internet, having garnered some 1,500 views to date, though the pace has dramatically slowed to about 1 per year…maybe you can watch to show your support.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjNo0p6Dr0E. It would be the Thrashers only playoff appearance.

Feb. 2008 – Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
My cousin hooked me up with a pair of tickets in the players’ families’s section to the NHL All Star Weekend in Atlanta. I won’t ever forget my 4-year old son’s absolute terror being surrounded by 32 mascots at the Skills competition. His “fury of silent furries” included a panther, shark, orca, saber-toothed tiger, bear, and various other characters who “see through their teeth.” Nor will I forget Martin St. Louis’s two adorable sons, the proud parents of Manny Legace, who finally got an All-Star nod, or just how much Chris Pronger looks like his dad. At the All Star Game, I had no idea why the woman next to us was so vociferously supporting the recognition of Willie O’Ree, the first African-American NHL player. Until the next day I figured it might have been someone who knew Jarome Iginla…and it turns out it was his wife Kara. Doh!

2/13/2008 – Facing your fear
As if Miles’ memory of all of those mascots wasn’t fresh enough, I was invited to attend the “Skate with the Thrashers” event on the Sunday after their season ended. While only Nic Havelid and Johan “Moose” Hedberg represented the players on the ice, Thrash made sure Miles didn’t spend too much time out there. The players locker room provided the safety that Miles coveted, and during a few Thrash-outs (when he wasn’t anywhere to be found), he would get on the ice and race as if he were Eric Heiden. But he took spills that made him look like Dan Janzen…ouch!

4/10/2010 – Evander shows where he got his name and his game
Having called a local radio station and won 2 tickets to the Thrashers, I opted for the last game of the season against the Pens. It would feature perhaps the single best punch in the history of hockey fights, when Evander Kane decked Matt Cooke with his first blow. My son Miles has yet to be suspended from school for fighting, so I’m supposing my memory of this is probably clearer than his.

Sept. 2010 – Double minor for abuse of a minor
We attended a pre-season rally for the Thrashers with all of the players autographing various collectibles, as well as a silent auction, and other activities. There was an area cordoned off for a youth street hockey game, and of course Miles spent the entire time playing that. Several Thrashers employees (typically males in their 20s) were participating as well. At one point, one of them tried the lacrosse move with the ball on his stick and whacked a 4-5 year old in the face, initiating a fairly voluminous bloody nose. The kid returned later, so he wasn’t too scarred, but he was too scarred to play again.

12/18/2010 – Welcome Back Kovy
My son Miles had three friends to the Thrashers game in our company’s suite for his 7th birthday party. Not only did I get to see my only in-person Thrashers hat trick, it was a 7-1 thrashing of Kovalchuk and the Devils in the year after he had left. And the hat trick was by Eric Boulton, a guy with just 27 goals in 10 seasons to go along with his 1,150 penalty minutes (many of them of the “five for fighting” variety).

2/27/2011 – Oh, I must be in the front row!
A friend who works at a major corporation in town invited Miles and me to a game vs. Toronto with him and his 6-year old son, saying only that they were “good seats.” I guess they were…the CEO’s tickets. On the glass right behind the Thrashers “attack twice” goal. The Thrash eeked out a 3-2 OT win and Blueland showed signs of life again…which I hadn’t been a part of in several years, having been mostly in the corporate suite for a handful of games each year. In addition to the game, we enjoyed perhaps the freshest jalapeno- and cheese-covered nachos in the history of those four seats.

3/25/2011 – Quinn’s Questions
It was my first and only game that I took only my younger son Quinn to just dad and son. We lost to the Canucks 3-1 in a very competitive game, had lower level seats, and enjoyed the father/son thing while playing the little mezzanine hockey games where kids get to shoot and also be goalie. I answered questions about hockey that I hadn’t in years…like why the “court” has so many stripes, and where “all that noise” comes from.

3/27/2011 – Last home points…bookending the Thrashers life in Philips
What an opportunity. The friend who got us into the front row last month did it again. This time I brought a camera, and spent most of the night trying to capture the essence of an NHL game on the front row with my old 5 MP camera. I failed, as there is no substitute for the speed and action from inches off the ice. And after the Thrashers blew a two-goal lead in the last stanza, Andrew Ladd scored to win the shootout to earn their last points on home ice…ever. We had no idea of the pending sale, and am glad we didn’t.

So I got to see the first and last points that the Thrashers earned on home ice. I also read a lot of boxscores, watched a lot of games on TV, and have hats, jerseys, jackets, “collectible” kitsch like a 2008 Thrashers All Star Game Rubik’s Cube, and semi-legitimate autographed memorabilia to show for it. Oh, and one awesome blog entry. And I wouldn’t have changed one thing in hindsight.  They may end up being North America’s most anonymous major sports team ever, but they weren’t anonymous to some.

I hope you didn’t count the entries in the list above, I just couldn’t make the necessary edits to get it to 10. Please forgive me.

I am not so sad for myself as I am my sons. My older son is 7 and plays pickup inline hockey, and the younger one is 4 and just got his first pair of skates.  One of my complaints about having grown up in northern California was that there was no NHL team (at least until my last year of high school), as I have always loved the sports speed of play and running clock (don’t get me started about NFL and NBA timeouts). I am hopeful that they too will not let hockey fade to black just because their hometown team has left for colder climes.

“I could have missed the pain, but I’d've had to miss the dance.”

Don’t believe me? …click here for the text file. For future reference you can click to the NOAA site.

I took a screenshot…and minutes later it was gone because I walked over to show a co-worker and it was poof!. So while it won’t be around in the official fossil record for future generations, it will be here (provided someone pays my domain hosting fees out of my hopefully hefty estate…).

Got my Hulu Plus invite…for my Roku HD-HR. With Hulu Plus at $7.99 / month, we might end replacing the monthly cost of our Tivo HD, which is twice the price, and doesn’t serve much of a purpose anymore without cable. Perhaps I’ll check back in with a review of Hulu Plus, but until then, use the link above to get your one month for the price of two weeks of Hulu Plus! ($4.32 for month one, $7.99 thereafter).

Michigan over Wisconsin in Frozen Four Final

I am curious about this and the following statement, which reads “On some occasions, situations are presented to Bear so he can demonstrate survival techniques.”

Translated by a viewer who had little problem with 7th grade honors English:

Bear is never really alone, or in any sort of danger that might threaten the viability of the show.  In fact, laws all across the world protect actors from the vicious videographers who will do anything to get advertisers true access to a highly segmented target audience. That music, though not part of the jungle experience if you’re there, increases the likelihood that we can consider this a life threatening situation. Sometimes several crew members claim to hear it in our heads when we are there.  Crew members often chew coca leaves on set, and are known to give Bear some wild dares, like jumping off of a speeding boat onto an cargo net hanging over the chilly urban seascape in Iceland, just in case you ever find yourself in a similar situation.

“The key thing is not to try to grab the net, but to punch through it.”

Survivorman doesn’t make for the best entertainmen, but at least it feels real.

BidFire.com. As unethical as it gets.  And from what I gather, not even an original business model.

You buy the ability to bid, not the commitment to pay that much.  It would be like raising your card at an auction…and the card-raising cost you money.  The best part…each time someone clicks “bid”, the cost of the item increase by a set amount, so you can’t remove bidders by paying more and removing the not so serious bidders.  Here’s an auction I’ve spent 15 minutes watching.  $500 Amazon gift card. The auction bids start at a nickel. In the auction I’m watching, it’s a $500 Amazon gift card.  In painful 5 cent increments, people keep paying between $0.87 (if you buy bids in bulk) to $1 (if you buy a low # of bids) to raise the bid just $0.05, and each time someone spends their hard-earned money on a bid, the bid clock resets to 45 seconds.  In this case, the item only needs to sell for $25 for BidFire.com to break even ($25/0.05).  If it sells for $499.95, less than cost to the winning bidder, BidFire will have taken home almost $10,000, and the winner may have had to sit through up to more than 5 days of watching the item (9999 bids at 45 secs. each).

In googling for “Bidfire scam” I found a Swoopo.com review, which offers what could be the same deal, it sounds like it, only bids are far below that all important $1 barrier at $0.75.  It’s been around since 2005, even featured in the NYTimes (criticized), according to Wikipedia.

They even use Sociallybuzz.com to generate tweets, which pays people to tweet about companies.  Clients of sociallybuzz.com are here…not really brands that have any value.

Scams.   Unless you heard about these sites in advance of their launch, with the limited number of products for sale, you are very likely competing for many others looking for a steal.  Game theory comes into play when the bidders are reduced to just a few (“I’d rather the other bidders compete and then I’ll jump in at the last minute and swoop up the item without paying a lot for it”), but that requires time and patience that will likely result in more users just getting fed up.

Both of these services require very little user loyalty, and actually feed off of the anonymity (and potential user base) of the internet.   Please avoid both.  Thank you.

3/25/10 UPDATE: I’ve stopped comments on this entry due to the large number of cross-posted ultra-positives, which obviously speaks to its shady nature.  Enjoy losing your money folks…

As evidenced by the image above, CBS’ purchase/assumption of CSTV’s technology means someone might have been laid off.  Someone who might know that the upside down W represents Minnesota, not Minnesota-Duluth.  And that the only real bulldog in the Twin Cities is some U. of Georgia alumni whose seersucker pants draws many a curious stare at Lord Fletcher’s on Lake Minnetonka shortly after ice-out.

Gopher basketball was within a point of the Longhorns tonight with 8 seconds to go in the first half, but gave up a last second three, and failed to play with much purpose in Act II, losing by 14 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Gopher hockey season also likely ended tonight, 2-1 at the Xcel, which is easier to swallow knowing how much I wanted to be there (but wasn’t), as I was in 2006 and 2007.  When I’m there it always seems to end like this (2007), or like this (2002).  Do you think my presence really could make them play better?  The ol’ 8 ball seems to point to “yes.”

Pleased to have found the remote IR code to control our ancient RCA STAV-3970 receiver’s volume with our Tivo remote.  Turns out it was manufactured by Pioneer for RadioShack, so code 1001 works.  Using a combo of the TV volume and the 3 speaker setup seems to sound decent for someone whose idea of surround sound is to put big headphones on.

Does the Electoral map and the distribution of African Americans in this country make you think that whites in the south can’t vote for a black candidate?  Disconcerting, to say the least.  Obama takes lily white Iowa but can’t carry SC, GA, AL, MS, or LA.

The new Google Phone, aka the T-Mobile G-1, aka “Android”, reports the location of the caller on a map.  Better not lie where you are if your cell phone is reporting its position, and it’s likely your phone is giving you away.  “On my way home, honey, stuck in traffic.”  “Really, my phone shows you haven’t left the office.”  Doh!

What a difference a letter makes.  Chesney wins 4th CMA Entertainer of the Year, Cheney continues trek toward untold private wealth and public historical insignificance.  Eva continues career as star on Desperate Housewives, hardly a rookie where it counts, and Evan (Longoria) leads Rays to World Series as a rookie, takes AL Rookie of the Year honors.

Could classmates.com and reunion.com be more irrelevant?  Still based on a subscription model.  Facebook has eaten your lunch.  Go home and tell any advertisers you’re sorry.   Toshiba stopped HD-DVD fight vs. Blu-Ray a long time ago, yet classmates.com and reunion.com are still here?  It doesn’t cost anything to reconnect with high school friends who care almost as little about me as I did/do about them.

The average game time of the LDS and LCS not involving the Red Sox this year was 3:06 per 9 innings, the games with the Red Sox 3:38.  Even if you remove the two Red Sox games that went beyond 9 innings, assuming you’re making some kind of argument along the lines of “extra innings always take longer than a regular inning due to the pressure and pitching changes”, their games were 3:28.

The World Series games averaged 3:21.  Given that they were 15 minutes longer than the average prior to that, is it fair to assume that a World Series involving the Red Sox would have approached a 4 hour game time average?  What is this, cricket?

On a side note, “hope” will not change this nation any more than it helped my Cubs this year, at they lost their 9th straight postseason game.  I was in attendance for their only postseason series win in my lifetime, a 3-2 NLDS win over the Braves here in Atlanta in 2003.

Any my apologies to the Rays, for having made them the butt of many a joke over the past decade, and they’ve now progressed farther than the Cubs have in the last 63 years.  But please get that “TB” off your hats.

“Hmmm, my calendar is empty Friday.  My Cubs ticket auction ends tonight, and no one is even close to the reserve price.  I wonder if my high school buddy could get us a deal at his hotel?  Fares…not too bad..$233 a piece, and with AirTran’s double credits deal, this would mean Miles and I would have a free flights to take come holiday time…”

That’s how it started.  Actually it started back in March, when my friend Matt and I lucked out, getting side by side singles (“that makes a pair!”) in the 2nd row at Wrigley behind home plate against the Cards in late Sept, the last homestand of the season.

“Just close your eyes and click ‘Buy,’ he reassured me.

Yes, we thought at that time we’d either use them ourselves, or sell them for a pretty profit.  I’m glad neither happened.  I got to spend two glorious days in the Second City (one of them a weekday) in Chicago last weekend.

Some bullets re: the itinerary
Fri. am – An early morning MARTA trip to Atlanta airport and ensuing flight
Arrived at Chicago Midway airport, on CTA orange line by 10:30 am
Arrived Fairmont hotel, where checking in early is obviously not a problem when the executive chef is your high school friend.

Off to Wrigley via CTA Red Line, arrived about noon.  Fought desire to sell tickets and spend the afternoon in Goose Island Brewery.

Game time was 1:20, got to greet Ryne Sandberg, who was the day’s guest of honor, doing first pitch and 7th inning stretch singing duties.

Score was 8-0 Cards by 2nd inning, my hex on Zambrano is no longer a theory…I’m watching his 2nd home loss of the season in 16 starts, having seen his first Aug. 9.
After the game, back to Millennium Park via train, went to Cloud Gate (that big chrome Bean that is the four year old “must see” for every tourist).  Miles found it rather boring after having seen it 6 weeks earlier.

Upon approaching, Miles claims another piece of silvery architecture is a roller coaster from back when the dinosaurs lived, and they used to ride it before humans were here.  Grooved for a few minutes at the World Music Festival in the Park’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion, specifically Richard Hagopian’s Kef Time Ensemble, described only as “traditional Armenian” music (I knew after a few measures that the 3-4 timing was clearly not “modern Armenian,” or “classic Armenian”…yeah right.)

But we had glove, bat, and ball, none of which work among blanket-bound tipsy folk and tippy wine glasses…so we walked to Butler Park to play baseball.

Then we went to the park’s playground, where darkness f-i-n-a-l-l-y fell. We walked back to the Fairmont, where Miles was dumbfounded by the many levels of streets of Randolph Drive.  We relaxed for about 45 minutes trying to catch the Ryder Cup highlights, where I thought Miles would certainly be done for the day.  Nope…he’s FOUR!  “Dad, can we go see that fireworks show?” I don’t recall having mentioned it, but I must have.

So we walked…to really wear him out.  It’s probably over a mile with the winding along the Chicago riverwalk and traversing the many leveled S. Wacker Dr.  And Navy Pier is long…maybe 3/4 of a mile?

We caught the fireworks celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, which looked a lot like the Fourth of July fireworks we’re all used to…only that the boom sounds had rolling r’s…
We got ice cream, Miles announcing after his first taste of Mint Chocolate Chip that it wasn’t minty enough, and that he’d prefer to switch and have my Cookies ‘N Cream.  Whatever you want Mr. Miles.  We ended up at the Beer Garden at the end of the pier, and enjoyed almost half an hour of Los Vicios De Papa (‘The Pope’s Vices’ in English), a Chicago-based Mexican Ska band.  They rocked the house, and we must have looked quite out of place dancing along the fringe of a clearly twentysomething Latino crowd after 10 pm on a Friday night, even if we couldn’t make out the lyrics.

We caught the last free trolley of the night, the last one of the year in fact, from Navy Pier back within a few blocks of the hotel.  Then we crashed like a couple of drunken fratboys.
We awoke fairly early and headed down to Aria, the hotel’s restaurant, where my high school buddy, the executive chef, joined us, and we did our best to catch up on the latest while being interrupted by dropped silverware and rhetorical questions from Sir Miles.

Then off to the Lincoln Park Zoo via the 151 bus, and spend time among animals Miles has never seen, or hasn’t since he was very little (Polar Bears, Jaguar, Hippo, Crocodile, Ostrich, etc.).  We decided to skip a second attraction back in Grant Park, and just play baseball outside the Lincoln Park Conservatory, where I am quite thankful that Miles did not hit into one of the sunbathers, who were probably surprised to see a late Sept. 80 degree day, but probably more surprised to find themselves in the basepath of a 4 year old baseball prodigy.

We departed at Randolph & Wabash from the 151 back in the loop, to our only problem of the whole weekend.  Station closed, walk 7 blocks to Washington & Wells.  Luckily there was a Dunkin’ Donuts, or I’m sure we might have perished…Thompsons lying right there in front of the Thompson Center.

The Sears Tower remained visible for most of our orange line trip back to Midway, and even after takeoff.  When Miles asked me before dozing off whether or not we would be able to see the Sears Tower from our house, I said “I wish we could see the Sears Tower from our house.”

A fitting close to a couple of days he might not remember, but I’ll never forget.  Pics (unretouched) are here, in the “Chicago Sept 08″ album.

I called him Senor Ramirez, and have since learned his name was Silvesonso (I think he told it to me once and I couldn’t understand/remember it).  His wife died several years ago, and the place just wasn’t the same, though the sandwiches were.   I ordered un clasico todo el tiempo, con jalapenos, with CASH ONLY.  When was the last time you found a place where something was so good that people didn’t exercise a desire to choose?

Atlanta lacks a lot of places you won’t find elsewhere, and I’ll miss taking visitors to that place, because so many of us here are seeking the small cultural hotspots that define NYC, Chicago, SF, etc.

Just read the authenticity in the reviews here. God bless Senor Ramirez and his legacy. He had a brand without a brand.  A product that was too good for the glitz of a brand. And a brand of humanity.  Adios, KKG.

 Thanks to Fubuki on Flickr for the image.

I don’t offer it up as an excuse for not writing, for I am much more concerned with the well being of my family than the well being of my blog, which can become healthy once again at any moment. 

Grooved to Citizen Cope at Center Stage March 6.  Now that ”Let the Drummer Kick” is in a Pontiac commercial (and Hem’s “The Part Where You Let Go” is the Liberty Mutual theme), I’m wondering what’s up…Mellencamp’s “This is Our Country” is Chevy’s anthem….what’s wrong with me?  I must only like artists whose music helps sell something else.

Easter in Cincy – It seemed far too early (March 23).  However, Miles and I discovered a great place to skate.  Next time we’ll bring our rollerblades and play roller hockey as well.  Guess we’ll have to buy some sticks there though, as I’m not into checking them through baggage, and although they’re not specifically banned as carry-ons, I think they’d fall under the “clublike items” umbrella.

Drafted my McCup team, the annual fantasy NHL playoff contest among the male cousins on my mom’s side.  I’ve been leading every day since the first week of April, but it looks like I will soon be overtaken, without any representatives from the PIT-PHI series.  Oh well, I still have a few weeks to admire it on my mantle before shipping it back to some smog-laden place in the northeast.

Spent 6th wedding anniversary (April 12-13) at this North GA cabin, which is brand new and cute.  Caught two wild rainbows right outside the back door, one 13″ and the other 15″.  No pictures, I dumbly left the camera’s memory card in the computer at home (But Laura was there to see it).  Oh, and it was a great relaxing weekend, even if it started out trying to find an unmarked cabin in the mud, dark, and rain of a Friday night outside Ellijay, with a wife who hasn’t even seen Deliverance from beginning to end.

Purchased a used SUV on Earth Day.  I’m going to hell.  At least I rode public transit to get there…if you can call C-Tran public transit.  It’s a far cry from the Gwinnett County Transit experience, kind of like MARTA strung out on meth.

Went to Bruce Springsteen at Philips Arena April 25.  That’s one show everyone should see at least once.  I lost my shorts as a ticket seller, next time I’ll just show up outside and buy before hand for about 15% of face value.  Though I’ve been lukewarm most of my life toward the Boss, he was excellent, and rocket for 150 minutes without so much as a water break.  Clarence Clemons did not look so good though, I’d be very surprised if he toured beyond this summer.

Euthanized our beloved MacKenzie (1994-2008), whose limited mobility had begun to affect her favorite pastime…eating.  Her last meal was fittingly a Kleenex tissue in Dr. Fowler’s office at Inman Animal Hospital.  They are angels over there.  As they are at Rex and Roxy’s in Decatur, who had all of the employees write a very sweet note.  Euthanasia means “good death,” and I’m fortunate to not be battling thoughts of doubt or regret.  She nearly reached 14, the magic age mentioned by Kipling.

Baptised 11 month old son Quinn in Richmond, VA.  Fun to see family, not so fun to have to come back to reality so quickly.

Booked summer reunion travel to Chicago.  Used Northwest WorldPerks on Delta airlines.  Don’t know if that’s only now allowed because of the merger of the two airlines, but was glad to be able to use them…it’s never easy to do.  I’ll miss the Northwest brand, I always liked them better than Delta, and the fact that they fly all over Alaska made those WorldPerks seem more valuable.  Now I just have to figure out how not to end up upside down on the Cubs field box seats I bought and don’t plan on using.

Now back to my life…which is bachin’ with the boys this weekend while Laura reunites with old friends down in Tybee.  And trying not to let the “government” in Myanmar and “president” of Zimbabwe keep me from thinking the world is going to hell in a handbasket, and it won’t have anything to do with Al Gore or his cause.