Cleaning; Cats…again!
February 8th, 2010
Meet Junior…
February 6th, 2010
He’s there on the right next to his brothers of various ages – isn’t
he cute?
I had wanted a smaller device to use while traveling and while
watching TV (it’s fab to lookup stuff/stars/stats while watching!)
I had high hopes for the Apple iPad but the first version that came
out a few weeks ago just didn’t meet my needs or expectations (no
flash player Apple? Come on now…that’s just dumb no matter what)
So I finally got a "netbook" – and it’s pretty neat. One inch thick
and about 2.5 pounds. 10 inch screen running Windows 7. Intel Atom
N450 processor (the very newest Atom processor) and 2 gigs memory.
Keyboard is more useable than it looks. It’s a sweet little dealie
and performs great.
Oh, and here’s the fun part… It’s a Gateway. Yep, remember them
cows? I was going for the highest rated and reviewed HP netbook but
found this little gem that just came out while researching for the
others. The specs beat the others and price was right so I got it.
Hopefully this little guy will continue to perform.
YAY – new toys!
Cat commas?
February 1st, 2010
Or synchronized sleeping?
Feline open parenthesis?
Two cat posts in a row, I know, but they’re just so damned cute…
The poor things…
January 18th, 2010
Blackout!
December 22nd, 2009
Power is out on Capitol Hill…kinda fun for a change…
took a shower real quick before the hot water became cold water. shopping at Safeway is fun – very dark and manual checkout.
hope it doesn’t last into the night!
NY Times quotes me!
December 15th, 2009
Read to the end…the reporter chose to quote me! April and Steve (also quoted) are good friends of mine as well (fellow airplane geeks)
KOMO: 747? 787? They’re the same, right?
December 12th, 2009
This just cries out to be ridiculed and made fun of as wide as possible. Seriously, this is a professional news organization in an area where aerospace is one of the top 2 industries.
Seriously, KOMO, you deserve all the raspberry you can get for this. It’s just sloppy and lazy. No excuses — you are NOT the average person who may not see the difference — you are in the business of ACCURACY and by god in the Seattle area you need to know your airplanes. Would a TV station in Detroit make a story with a caption about a Mustang yet have the picture be a F150 truck? Must I even explain this to you?!
Next you’ll show a screen shot of Apple Macintosh OS X in relation to a Microsoft Windows 7 story. Seriously, guys, this is that bad…and if you can’t see that — wow, I’m astonished and kind of embarrassed you are in my town. You guys are being THAT stupid. And you haven’t even corrected it after hours of people leaving comments on your own website!
Shame on you.
Here’s the link to the story, which hopefully they will correct. But I took a screen shot to proove KOMO’s stupidity:
Fudge FAIL
December 12th, 2009
I swear I followed the instructions to a "t" — here’s hoping attempt
#2 will turn out better
“Perfect” brownies!
December 11th, 2009
So we got suckered in to the "perfect brownie pan" after watching the
commercial so many times…thanks Christopher for the perfect
Christmas present! I’ll be damned If it doesn’t actually work, and
pretty well actually! Here are the second batch results (first batch
was little gingerbread cakes!). And yes, we are aware of the gigantic
cupcake mold commercial….only the future will tell 
ENEMA!
December 9th, 2009
I’m sorry, could you package this more conspicuously? I’d appreciate
it. Thanks…
Ahhhh…Christmas mixers…
December 9th, 2009
So bad it’s truly awesome…
November 28th, 2009
What do you get when you cross a young, pre-Miami Vice Don Johnson and the Brady Bunch’s dog Tiger who can now read minds and talk in a post-nuclear-WW4-apocalyptic world and marry it to a misogynistic film script made on a budget of about a buck fifty? Oh, and throw-in Jason Robards in mime makeup leading the extraction of, well, let’s call it viscous liquids, just to throw you for a loop…
Why, you get “A Boy and His Dog,” one of those movies that is so amazingly bad it’s completely awesome. Entrancing, even. You know the kind — so bad that after the first few minutes you simply must finish the entire thing. It’s the the biggest train wreak of a sci-fi movie ever! And I had the privilege of spending 90 minutes this Thanksgiving weekend watching it.
It’s now my favorite awesome worst movie to date. Highly recommended. Must see.
Mona! En guard!
November 24th, 2009
Handerpants
November 20th, 2009
Now *I* have the blanket with sleeves!
October 30th, 2009
Now *I* have the blanket with sleeves!
In a fashionable zebra pattern nonetheless….plus bonus "press and
open" booklight, which provided the handy illumination for the photo.
Thanks Christopher!!!! Xoxo!
The cats are entranced
October 18th, 2009
They now have a deeee-lux apartment in the sky…
Got it for free from a friend who’s moving….score! (thanks Brad!!)
A decade of blogging
October 3rd, 2009
I’ve been blogging for a decade. 10 years already… huh!
While this is certainly an interesting point in a time line, it’s really only an electronic analogue to a diary. I’m sure many people have been keeping diaries for longer. Nonetheless I’m kinda tickled to meet this milestone. I started “blogging” before “blog” was even a noun or a verb; indeed before it was even a popular catchphrase. Indeed I had my first web page back in 1995 (See my “Deep Archive” link above)
That’s a lot of time and bandwidth (timewidth?) dedicated to my own banter. What have I accomplished in that time?
As it turns out quite a bit. I became a true adult (still out for some debate). I had a successful consulting company (official corporation even!) and then transferred clients/closed it after my clients became successful and got gobbled-up by other, bigger corps in what became the dot com bomb. I moved to California and back. I bought a house. Got cats. Sold a house. Bought a condo. Used five different types of blogging software. Stumbled into a great relationship. And generally observed what made me laugh and ranted upon the stuff that irritated.
As I look back at some of my entries it makes me smile and laugh a lot. Also I cringe a lot…was I THAT shrill, really? Or was I THAT stupid, really? But that’s the deliciousness of time and becoming older — the cumulative benefit of your experiences always makes you wiser and wiser.
So what will the next decade have in store? Who knows….That is what is fun, and worth living!
-Garrett
1998:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/1998/
1999:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/1999/2/
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/1999/3/
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/1999/
2000:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2000/1/
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2000/2/
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2000/3/
2002
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2003/1/
2003:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2003/2/
2004:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2004/1/
2005:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2005/1/
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2005/2/
2006:
http://www.gmwnet.com/archive/2006/1/
P.S.: I’m going to attempt to add these old entries to my database. So if you subscribe to the RSS feed you may see a slew of new entries. I’ll be careful to set the date in the posts properly, but I’m unsure if they will appear in the RSS feed because they are “new” entries as far as the database is concerned…
Aviation, Capitol Hill Living, Cats, ColdFusion, Downtown Living, Evert, Food, Fun!, Holiday, Holidays, Politics, Rants, Technology, The Condo, The House, Travel, Virtual Aviation, WOW!, geek
The HEATERS turned on!!!
October 1st, 2009
Fall is here!!! YAY! Hurray! Yippee! Ceeeeeellaabrate good times, come on! {dance, dance, dance}
Thank GOD Summer seems to be done.
That is all…
My ride to MSO
September 14th, 2009
@PAX2009
September 5th, 2009
And here is $39.42!
August 22nd, 2009
$39.42 Dinners With Melissa d
August 18th, 2009
So I’m a partial slave to the Food Network. Can’t get enough of it. The recent win of Melissa D’Arabian as the Next Food Network Star was a major celebration for the household — much joy was had. We were routing for her. Then to find out that she and her family has moved from Texas to our very own Kirkland, WA! Well, some Eastside stalking may be in order. But I digress…. Anywhooo…
So her new show is titled “Ten Dollar Dinners With Melissa d’Arabian” Her whole thing is flavorful dinners for four people and 10 bucks. This is good. Flavor is good. Cheap is good. The Wiedmeier kitchen today was prepped to experiment with her “North African” episode for dinner. It includes some spicy meatballs, couscous and carrots altogether.
So, how did my $10 fare?
Not so much. It paid for the cumin ($5.28) and the olives ($3.24). You see, I didn’t have everything needed for the recipes at home. I’m pretty sure a lot of people are in a similar predicament. I have no clue as to how the ingredients, when counted in total, could ever equal less that $10 — even $20!
Now, don’t make me a hater — I still love Melissa and the show. My on/off plans for d’Arabian spottings on the Eastside are in full swing. I’m just dissapointed with the Food network to so flagrantly mis-title something. What new math are they using?
To wit: below is my recent shopping list with total. Even if you lay-off some of the ingredients which I think they assume you already have (Cumin??? Wine??? — they must think we’re all drunks….OK, well, I guess a good assumption) it’s still waaaaay over $10.
Dinner is in a few hours, so perhaps I’ll post the results and let you know if it was worth nearly four times the advertised deal…
Cumin $5.28
Brown Sugar $1.29
Diced Tomatoes $1.00
Chicken Broth $2.00
Tomato Paste $1.00
Unsalted butter $2.49
Ground Beef $3.19
Onion $0.52
Garlic $0.50
Ginger root $1.20
Cilantro $0.99
Parsely $0.99
Lemon $0.25
Carrots $0.99
Calmata Olives $3.24
White wine $5.98
Oats $2.49
Couscous $2.73
Dried Dates $3.29
TOTAL $39.42
Bleeding my nose at Depeche Mode
August 10th, 2009
Link me!
July 31st, 2009
img src=”http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2621/3775967354_8857dd4920_m.jpg”>
Finally got to ride today…pretty nice…signage still needs
improvement though
Airline Timetables Disappear, Airline Dorks Die a Little Inside
July 18th, 2009
Summer sucks
July 17th, 2009
Seriously…
MASTER RANT FOR THE SUMMER 90 DEGREES:
I hate this season with an angered passion. It’s a waste of four months. They need to invent pods where you can reverse hibernate for the summer. That would be fantastic.
Remember: if you say you like this season… Put on your swim wear and take a good look in the mirror. No, I didn’t think you’d like it…
And no, supposed skinny people, you don’t look good either.
There….I feel better.
Mmmmm
June 29th, 2009
Dead and dead
June 25th, 2009
1. Farah Fawcett.
2. Michael Jackson.
(!!!)
So I’m not gonna say much other than damn, what a crap day this turned out to be…
1. Iconic:
What man did not have this poster or image somewhere, straight or gay!?
Farah Fawcett
2. THE Pop Star:
Really…the 80’s just died. (vid has music only, but I think one of my faves ever)
I know who is gonna comment — fire away! (slight inside joke)
Mom, you were right
June 21st, 2009
Toilet Transplant
June 3rd, 2009
Why I’m writing about this I’m not entirely sure, other than it’s really the little “wins” that are quite satisfying.
My main think tank was on the fritz. It was getting super bad — The water would keep running after the flush. bad bad. Couldn’t stop it, no matter how much handle jiggling. This is a major trauma for the household. Our master eliminator is just not working right.
So I donned gloves and went in for some exploratory surgery. Come to find out it was the rubber thingy at the bottom that opens and closes when you use the handle and normally closes the tank to let it fill after a flush — It about disintegrated when I took it off of the whatzit.
So I went to the other can in the bedroom, which I never use, turned off the water, extracted it’s rubber thingy, which was still in good shape, and transplanted said thingy to the main, yet now lobotomized crapper.
Viola!!!
I can now poop in peace.
The menu of the night
June 2nd, 2009
Is there a joy simpler?
May 28th, 2009
Is there a joy simpler than opening a box of pristine, untouched
crayons? (the big pack with sharpener, of course!).
Progress
May 17th, 2009
You know you are feeling better when your fridge disgusts you and you
finally command yourself to do some Spring cleaning….
Doctor visit of the now
May 8th, 2009
Hangin
April 25th, 2009
Waiting for a more modern day server project of mine to do it’s thing, I decided to play around with Virtual PC and see how old I could go back in PC time. Of course there is always DOS, but that installs fairly easily — although it took me a minute to figure out how to make MSCDEX to work in autoexec.bat & config.sys again!
I’ve previously run a Commodore 64 emulator, and that was nice, but without the software it wasn’t particularly interesting (Anyone remember GEOS?!)
No, the real fun was re-visiting those tried-and-true Windows versions I remember from College. So I whipped out my old CD drawer and what did I find
I know a spy
April 23rd, 2009
I have a secret…I know a spy! Really. Okay, maybe not true “Cloak and Dagger” type stuff, but in an industrial way. I bump into Boeing’s “analyst” for Airbus all the time at my local watering hole. We talk aerospace and aviation shop talk. It’s like my dream come true.
We’re enjoying drinks right now…
Shhhh…mums the word. I have no other evidence to support my claim. But then again, if I told you more I’d have to kill you…
Link: July 18, 2009!
April 20th, 2009
Well, it’s finally here! Seattle has come out of the transportation Stone Age and we shall have a light rail system.
http://www.soundtransit.org/x11071.xml
Huge online dust-up
April 18th, 2009
So my online hobby (virtual air traffic controlling — see www.seaartcc.net) just today had major kerfluffle…basically the entire staff of my center quit and accusations are flying everywhere. It’s quite fun drama to be an observer after being on the staff previously. It’s one of the most beaurocratic orgs I’ve worked with. Well, I guess our goal is to emulate air traffic control as in the FAA. In this regard I think we have it nailed 
Rousing Easter domino throw-down
April 12th, 2009
Ugly vacant lot
April 10th, 2009
Ugly vacant lot
My work view of the moment (and I was testing the upload capability on my phone — it works!)
Southern Hospitality
March 11th, 2009
While in Atlanta I was able to spend time with my fine looking Southern cuzins Beth & Michelle! We had a great time and they took me to areas of Atlanta I would not otherwise have seen or known about:
Having a “FO” (Frosted Orange) and peach pie at Varisty, a drive-in dive and Atlanta tradition.
Had lunch here — was in the little “alternative” district of Atlanta (Little Five Points? — I forget already — They had good beer, though!). Was totally fun.