As a former competitve skater every year at Christmas I get asked by friends and family what type of skates should they buy for their kids or girlfriends. While my taste and needs in skates are far more demanding than the occasional skater, I thought I'd jot down a couple rules in buying proper skates still apply and I thought I'd share them with everyone and give you a link to some great prices.
Buy skates from skate shops with fitters. Do not waste your money by buying inferior quality skates at discount stores or sporting good stores. The price savings isn't worth all the pain and suffering of putting a kid into misfit skates. Skate shops will work with you to insure proper fit and sizing-- They are worth the couple extra bucks.
Do not ever buy boots with "room to grow into." Boots that are too large or poorly made, do not support the foot and ankle properly and can cause serious foot problems down the road. Buy what fits with just a "scooch" of room to wiggle the toes.
You can buy via mail order from good skate shops, if you send them tracing. Here's a tip from me the skating pro: Have the skater stand on a piece of 8.5 x 11" piece of typing paper for each foot with their weight centered over both feet. have the skater wear a light weight sock. Do not let them look down. (It changes the weight distribution.) Hold a pencil vertical and trace the outline of the foot. Mark each tracing for the right or left foot, and put their name, address, phone number, age, date, level of skating and shoe size on each page. You can take these tracing to a skate shop or fax them for mail order fittings. 90% of the time this method works well for most skaters including pros like me. You can also con a kid into thinking you're looking at how much their feet have grown so they are clueless about what you're up to.
Skate Sale: Right now my former skating partner Burt Powley has a sale on complete skate packages, clearance boots, as well as boots and blades for the holidays. Check out his prices if you need skates for Christmas. He's email friendly-- and tell him I sent you!
And now a word from your author: While Doc, Dave, David W, David Sifry and several dozen other people I wanted to see were up on Palo Alto wooping it up at Kevin's Supernova conference, I have been stuck at home. It wasn't my choice. I was ordered to stay home. It appears I have picked up a painful major eye infection a week ago which has made it impossible for me to focus, maintain my balance or use my computer. At the moment I've the only way I can read my computer screen is to sneek wearing an eye patch for very short periods. I resemble a racoon with a pair of black eyes. (Not the fashion statement I wanted to make, that's for sure!)
As to how I got this little bug, we are uncertain. But the doctors are very concerned we get it under control or I could lose some of my vision. At this point the drugs seem to be working, but I'm not out of the woods yet. So, if I'm not writing online for the next few days you know what's going on.
I write a regular column on tech toys and consumer electronics for an online company. Since it's the holiday's here's some of my picks for this year. If you like them, I'll include them here as a regular feature. Let me know! MLW
How would you like a little insurance the Christmas Turkey or Roast is cooked to the proper temperature? Is the meat thermometer in your house a relic that should be replaced? Well-- Here's a hint for a stocking stuffer that won't break the bank.
For less than $15.00 you can have the Polder Instant Digital Instant Read Thermometer. (left) This little gem is a godsend. It can be used for meat and candy temperatures, runs on one AAA battery and reads in less than 1 minute.
However if you're in the bi-focal brigade, here's a gem I highly recommend: Polder Cooking Thermometer and Clock Timer, with probe. (right- Less than $20.) While I own both of these, the Thermometer/Timer is the best thing I've ever had in the kitchen. The screen is large and easy to read. I've even used the timer function to keep me on schedule. With it's magnetic back, I stick it on the top of the microwave so it's always there to use. The probe clips easily into the slot and can stuck into meat, or a pot to measure the temperature with little fear of getting burned. You can even program a temperature into the device, stick the probe into a roast inside the oven, and run the probe cable out the oven door to monitor your cooking temperature and time. On the grill it measure meat temperatures to insure the steaks were done to perfection. The 7 inch probe is replaceable directly from Polder should you need a spare for less than $8.
Doc thinks of his weblog as a fireside chat. I tend to think of my weblogs as a kitchen table chat with a good cup of coffee. Somedays I pound away on the computer for hours working and rewriting what I have to say about a specific topic. Other days you're lucky if you get me to touch a computer-- especially now around the holidays or when real world deadlines are pounding on me. Other people use their weblogs for updating everyone on what they're working on, along with personal updates, comments and links to "good stuff." The reality check is that weblogs are a wonderful way for groups of people to stay in touch on topics of interest. Does this create an online community? Depends.
For those of you who give a RA, for the past couple days I worked on trying to understand the Embroidery Software that came with my Viking 1+ sewing machine. But instead I've been tearing my hair out. I consider myself to be pretty software savvy, and normally with a reasonable learning curve there aren't too many applications that confuse me-- BUT I have never seen a software suite so FUBARED in my life! The Viking software does not completely convert file formats without major skips in stitching, the software updates and the updates to the file formats can't be found on Viking's website-- thus making it useless. Even the tech manual (which I have read TWICE,) is very poorly written. If I had paid the full retail price for this POS ($2000+) I would be marching it back for a full refund. I'm going to give myself one more day on it, then find this software a new home, and buy Embird. There is nothing like a proprietary software, complete with lockout dongle and support that resembles a dead telephone line. Anyone understand the Viking software and want to chat? Hit the COMMENTS button below.
This is going to be one of those coffee klatch postings, because I have so much to do today. Most of this was caused because Dr. D's Dad had a medical problem that ended up stealing my entire day dealing with the Kaiser Healthcare System. The good news is he didn't have a heart attack, but he may be having surgery next month.
While I haven't been writing, I do take breaks by reading. Like Jenny and Doc, I've been looking at Dave Sitfry'sTechnorati. It's honestly a work of art and worth supporting.
Jenny's also blogging about John Hiler's NY CityBlog. Looks like Hiler's trying to stretch the online community model into a targeted mainstream blog. Nothing new to me in concept. However CityBlog is taking it mainstream. The major problems in getting any blog accepted as a "place to stop online," is that Hiler will need to build creditability and consistancy with his audience and learn to share. The weblog world isn't kind to selfish webloggers who do not share and cross post.
And finally-- for the moment-- I've been reading a series of emails regarding Halley's Comment about feminism and girlism. Like Doc and Mrs. Doc, Dr. Doug and I have never found feminism or being political correct something attractive. One of the things about Doug that was appealing was he never had any hangups about my job when we met. Have I met other people in the school/workplace that had a problem with a women (like me) who did the type of work I did? Yes. Did it bug me? Yes. But the best way to deal with those situations is do the best job regardless of gender. My Mother set the example on this years before me. I just followed. From where I sit, I personally like being female, dressing like a women and enjoy the company of most men. There's no gender confusion in this house!
AfterthoughtSheila Lennon hits the nail on the head here. I love the lines: "Some doors only open for alpha males." and "My career goal is a laptop on the beach." Amen. I've observed the alpha males for years. My observations on that later. Like Sheila, I'm still looking for a decent beach of my own.
It's 3 AM. The Bananna Bread and the sourdough bread is in the oven. Dr. D' came home from work tonight asking what I was fixing for Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow. What?Didn't he tell me NOT to fix a turkey the other day? Now he's asking about a turkey? Thank God I didn't listen to him. (sneeky grin.) It's okay honey, I tell him. Then the damn phone rings--
Here's how my day went. About 4 PM I decided I should go out and hit a couple of the major grocery sales. Pick up some stuff we would eat over the next week and get out of the house. So I headed out to the local Italian deli Giuseppe's for a sandwich and to add to my stash of meats, wine, cheese and Italian coffee for my latte's. I have my essential stash for holiday survival.
Life is good, so I decide to hit the local Big Lots to check out the holiday decorations which we need to buy for Dr. D's office. 30 minutes later and $20 lighter, I've picked up some gift bags, some decorations and other crap we will use over the holiday's. However I did not find the Salton Expresso machine Dr. D. wanted to give someone. The store manager says, it won't be on sale until Thursday. (They're open 8-10 PM. Jeeze.)
Next I head across the street to the local Ralph's and pick up on the groceries. While stolling the aisles I run into one of the neighbors who is a new bride trying to fix her first holiday dinner for the family. She has my sympathy until I see she's loaded to the hilt with several pages of new gourmet recipes, fresh off the internet. (Oh G*d!) Only thing is: She rarely if ever cooks. And.. she's in a panic. The recipe for Candied Yam's calls for 3 vanilla beans-- she can't find them. When I help her spot them, the price $11.35 nearly knocks her over. (It nearly knocked me over too!) I tell her while trying to pick out my aluminum foil, "Substitute a couple teaspoons of real good vanilla and bank the $9. No one will ever know the difference." She's about as greatful as she can be-- I tell her while tossing in the 2-12 packs of Coke into the cart, "No problem. Call me if you get stuck." (My mom would have been proud.)
But it turns out she isn't the only person I know the store today-- and nearly everyone's having some type of cooking question. What the hell am I? Julia Childs or what? Oh! That's right, my folks cooked in our own place for 40 years, I'm supposed to know how to cook! (Just don't ask Doug-- okay?) So I field questions like a tech support call on Windows while I try to remember everything I'm supposed to be getting-- everything from Pepsi, to TP is finally in the cart. I finally get out of the store and head to my next store:
Vons via the Hallmark store to pick up my ornament order. Patty the manager is in a happy mood today. Business is good today. We chat for a while and just as I'm about to head out the door, she calls me back into the store to give me a shopping bag full of Hallmark ornaments and goodies. Why? Because the owner whom I'd helped write a business plan several years ago, had just opened her 5th store. She had left it for me as a surprise. And-- I was.
But the funny thing is after over 14 years being in Diamond Bar and always feeling alone or disconnected from the community, for the first time I'm feeling more connected and appreciated. It feels pretty damn good.
Finally inside Vons around the corner I waltz through the store picking up the rest of the list, and still get stopped by several people I know. This is getting to be funny. I should have set up a 900 hotline or a Lucy Office in the meat department. At $5 a hit I could have paid for the cart of groceries in about 30 minutes. Finally has I throw the last two cans of coffee in the cart, I barrel for the check out.
Victor the store manager is playing checkout guy tonight. He sees me and it puts a smile on his face. (I'm beginning to think I've got a happy glow or something.) We chit-chat about business, customers and the holidays as he rings me up. When we get to the total, he looks over my purchases and says... "Mary Lu, where's your turkey? We owe you a free turkey." Huh? "Yep, you purchased enough stuff, we owe you one." In the next minute I explain, I don't want a turkey now, but he tells me I can't have a raincheck. Drat! So I end up going back to the meat department looking for the smallest turkey in the store, when the Cliff the Meat Manager spots me and hands me a nice small 12 lb Butterball. "Sorry Mary Lu, Victor called back. This is the smallest one we've got! Happy Thanksgiving girl!" I thank him and finally make it to the door.
As I finally start driving home, I wonder what is Doug going to say or think when he see the bird in the 'fridge. Oh hell, tell him the truth. We won the turkey lottery. No big deal.
Then he comes home and asks what I'm fixing for dinner tomorrow. (grin) Now he's off the phone, I point him to the fridge and hand him the Vons reciept for the free bird. "Honey, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is, I'm glad you got the turkey. The bad news is we need to drive out to the pharmacy because they forgot a delivery. The better news is-- I'm taking you out to dinner tonight vs. tomorrow."
Good! I'm too tired to cook tonight after all the shopping today! (grin)
At dinner tonight I tell him about my day-- and for the first time in years I'm pretty thankful things have started to look normal for living in California. Southern California, that is.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone. Gotta go the timer's going off!
It's 2 PM and I'm still running around the house in my flannels. I have absolutely no desire to get out and join the rest of the world in the 24 hour mad dash to Thanksgiving or the holiday maddness. Last night I spend most of the evening preparing two full sized (13x9) trays of Tiramisu for Doug's Thanksgiving pot luck lunch at work. From the phone call I just got, they seem to like it. Which is good-- thank G*d.
Last year we were on the road coming back from Illinois, somewhere between Kansas City and Oklahoma City. Dinner was a Thanksgiving Buffet held at a Flying J's truckstop in Joplin, MO. I remember we didn't stop that night until we got into Amarillo, Texas and checked into a La Quinta. We spent the rest of the trip back to Diamond Bar, following I-40, the old Route 66. We spent an entire day in Albuquerque, NM doing some shopping at Old Town. It was an enjoyable trip-- and a lot less stress than flying. When we thought about the fact we were making the trip, in the context of everything that had happened that Fall, we were very thankful we were able to make the trip-- especially after 9-11.
This year Turkey Day will be spent going and doing whatever Doug wants. We have absolutely nothing planned. He asked me not to make a Turkey this year, and joked we might even drive out to the truckstop for an Anniversary Dinner at the Flying J's in Barstow. Who knows what we're going to do? All I know is I'm not going to kill myself in the kitchen preparing a meal. Doug is on call all day and when we don't have family and friends to share it-- so other than the leftover factor, why should I?
As for the rest of the weekend-- Doug works all weekend. "Sick people don't go home for the holidays." The old saying goes. This phrase is one of those things we agreed to when he and I signed up to work in healthcare years ago. For Doug it's a way of life with over 4000 patients to oversee and one I retired from it nearly 15 years ago. I can suck the life out of you if you aren't careful. At times I see him getting far too tired because of the lack of staff, but I'm greatful he's got a wonderful job.
I figure I'll spend the rest of the weekend at home. I'm going to attempt to clean out the garage and get some of the yard work finished up. I have always shunned the mall shopping sprint and never had the desire to do the 6AM shopping game since Mom died.
If I get bored I have the following options:
1. Go play with my computerized sewing machine and finish a couple quilts I'm supposed to be making for Christmas and a friend who just moved into a new house.
2. Go to the Pharmacy and decorate the office for the holidays.
3. Clean out my office from all the crap I have from Comdex's past and present.
I see Halley's been writing up a stellar set of cribnotes for answering that burning question which is bound to be asked around the holiday dinner table. "What is a Weblog?"
Allow me to add a couple more comments/answers to the list--
Weblogs allow me to say what's on my mind and in my own way without large volumes of editorial BS or political correctness. Cliff, I don't want to be edited or commented to about my writing style here. Get over it. This is not printed work, it's a running thought. Get it? (Wonder how long it will take him to read that? Bets?)
A blog gives me instant feedback and help-- generallyfrompeople I respectandadmire. It does not mean we always agree, but we have learned to debate-- not flame one another.
My blog has given me the opportunity to put all nearly all of my interests online under one roof. One never knows where the feedback and assistance is going to come from-- and you stand a chance of meeting some really neat people.
Blogging can be a place where your family could come to read what's going on in your life-- vs. call. If only they could figure out the URL... Eh! may be not huh?
It appears from this story that certain Time Warner periodicals are thinking of joining their adoptive parent, AOL, in a suicide pact.
AhemDoc! Don't know if you remember, but CompuServe was the first online service to ever carry Time Magazine. At that time we carried about 85% of the entire magazine including the pictures. But then again, there wasn't a browser-- yet.
Should AOL fold in Time as exclusive content after being free for all this time, it will go over like a lead balloon.
DING! The email bell goes off while I'm making a batch of my killer Tiramosu for Dr. Doug's office party tomorrow. I finally wipe the custard off my hands, grab a cup of coffee and wander over to the computer to see who's pestering me at this hour-- "Hmmm! It's Rageboy. It figures." I tell myself. "RB is the only person I know who's more of an insomniac than I am!" With that, I open the email from the virtual chickmagnet to find out he's talking to Halley and pestering poor Donna Wentworth of Corante about why he's not on her Bloggroll. I want to scream-- "Jeeze Chris! *I* am still not on your bloggroll! And I've loved you sooo much longer than most. Some men! Humph!"
To add insult to injury I go over to Ye Old Blogboy er Rageboy's blog site to see he's harassing Donna publically-- and he's showing off his new collection of porn from eBay. Showoff!
A solar coronal mass ejection (CME) swept past Earth at approximately 21:50 UT (4:50 p.m. EST) on Tuesday, Nov. 26th, and triggered an ongoing geomagnetic storm. When the CME arrived, the interplanetary magnetic field near Earth tilted south--a condition that favors Northern Lights. Sky watchers in northern Europe, Canada and northern US states (where night is falling as the geomagnetic storm intensifies) should therefore be alert for auroras. Visit SpaceWeather.com for more information, photos and updates.
Also check out Duane Clausen's site www.northernexposure.net for great Northern Light photographs.
Barbie's Got a Brand New Blog or Blogging's No Longer Cutting Edge:
Doc and Phillip are reporting that Barbie's got a brand new blog! Jeeze! Now I get to compete with a blonde plastic-headed bimbo who appears to be trying to pick up every man in cyberspace. Lovely.
For years the week between COMDEX and Thanksgiving has always been a slow week for me, and normally we take this week off to get a few things done before the holidays and end of year. However this week the gods of Murphy have had their hands in my time.
Murphy announced his visit when the Santa Ana winds kicked up late Monday night. For those of you not from around here let me give you an idea what they're like. Imagine a 50-60 mph wind of warm air picking up without warning. With the dryness from the fires this summer in the mountains above us, the wind picks up all the dust and garbage, and then proceeds to blow it down into the valley.
In the process over the past couple days the Santa Ana's have blown down power lines everywhere, including the high power lines which normally float over the CA-60 Freeway in Chino, less than 2 miles from us. This did two things: 1. It took out all the power in our area for nearly 20 hours. (I fired up the generator.) and 2. Knocked out all traffic on the 60 Freeway yesterday, pictured above. Just getting to the local Von's was a disaster.
Thankfully I have gas powered lawn tools, a cell phone, a generator to power the fridge and other important things-- all which allowed me to get something done without relying SCE. Thanks Gray Davis, you've made it possible for me to not need your damn high priced power all the time.
True Confession: We finally got home from COMDEX on late Wednesday night. The drive home was uneventful, which means at the I-15 between LA and Vegas was lacking the normal bozo drivers and traffic jams. It was nice to be in Vegas on our first "paid vacation" in years, even if it was COMDEX. Dr. Doug had to be back to work as a drugpusher on Thursday morning. However the trip to Las Vegas left me very worn out I couldn't figure out exactly why until today.
COMDEX Fall 2002 will go down as one of the smallest shows in history. Rumors from some LV finest with a badge told us the official number of registered attendees was about 70,000 people. A far cry from the 100,000 they had hoped to attend or the 225,000 attendees of the past years. While the volumes who attended previously were a blessing for the Las Vegas hotels and service industries, I for one, didn't miss the "clueless masses" who attended previous show turning it more into a circus vs. a bazaar. The shear numbers made it impossible to conduct business which was real reason I was at the show. Doug and I had nearly given up going because COMDEX had become a major waste of time, money and effort. I'd have rather saved my money and went to Tahoe for a week of skiiing in January.
Las Vegas Media, and relayed via several Vegas natives that Key3 Media, the owner of COMDEX was likely to file bankruptcy in December or January. Speculators are thinking original owner of the show might buy it back at fire sale/bankruptcy prices and be able to revive it. Knowing Las Vegas-- it wouldn't surprise me.
The show floor lacked the number of businesses and vendors services of the past. The showbook which normally has 1 inch of vendor information was only 1/4" thick. Every company (excluding those in private suites and media only shows) were contained inside the LVCC's and didn't not spill over to the new South Hall. It was a small show.
However small shows can be better. The past year has shown us smaller gatherings from Gnomedex to Digital Video are far more productive and targeted. My only concern is the cost of these smaller shows (over $1000+ to attend,) actually prohibit people from attending-- and the show from growing.
How will COMDEX reinvent itself to become an asset to the Tech Industry? From where I sit-- COMDEX needs to lose the circus and get back to business. While the stock value and related 9-11 problems may have taken care of some of downsizing in short order, the majority of the real show was never shown on the convention floor anyway. (Even Carly mentioned it in her keynote.) The products, services and minds where tomorrow's hot trends and real solutions were being shown or discussed were always off in conference rooms and suites all over town. The real creators and thinkers has always shunned the spotlight.
Why? Because you can't create a solution for a customer on the showfloor where the noise level is akin to sitting next to 747 warming up. Customers need to talk to companies. Companies need to listen and recommend. Trust and accountability has to be established on a human level between the company and the company. This is the only way true solutions can be created for a customer. The hype of the show floor never stood a chance. However until this year, you couldn't have proved that by previous Comdex shows.
If COMDEX is smart and they will attempt to fold the real people COMDEX back into the show in some way. Key3 Media has announced this week they are starting "COMDEX Innovation Forums" which will focus on emerging technologies impacting the IT business in the next five years and will begin in April 2003. Hopefully this will allow the real converation to solution to find a true venue.
Out of Commission
For less than $15.00 you can have the 
Happy Turkey Day - Part II
