Saturday, June 25, 2011

RIP Peter Falk

Sad to see Peter Falk died. Truthfully, I wasn't really fond of the Colombo series. I didn't love the format where you knew who commited the crime before hand and then watched him nail the perp. Much prefer trying to figure out who the perp is in these crime shows.

But I really liked Falk as an actor in general and if memory serves he was a decent man in real life. RIP.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Goodbye old friend

I knew it was coming, but hadn't expected to happen quite so suddenly. My old Dell died this morning. Wouldn't load no matter what I did to it. Obviously this will be putting a bit of a crimp in my blogging for a few days.

I'm at the library using their wifi with my old laptop, which is almost as old but hasn't been used much so shouldn't crash. Still, hoping these things don't come in twos.

I could use some advice. I can't use the laptop at home because I don't have a wifi connection set up and no open connections within range. I'm wondering if I should get a new desktop. Or maybe just a big screen laptop for at home and use the non-wifi modem that still works. Or maybe I should get a new wifi modem and try to figure out how to set that up and just use this little old laptop in the interim, until I can figure out what to do.

Can anybody tell me if it costs more to get a wifi connection from an ISP and how hard is it to set it up for a technodope like myself? That seems like the simplest and cheapest solution to me. At least for the moment.

Menwhile, I'm silently sobbing about losing the stuff on the old puter that I never backed up. It was way over loaded with junk I didn't need,and haven't looked at in years, but there were still a few photos I hadn't saved anywhere else. And there's probably some stuff in the old documents that I would have liked to have on disk. As the kids say, FML.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Big cat


Funny, I was just talking to someone about how wild predators were being sighted in residential neighborhoods more often as developments encroach on their natural habitats. We were discussing whether or not the alleged sightings of mountain lions in New England were reality or myth. The next day, I saw this report of a confirmed mountain lion sighting in Greenwich, CT. Which would make sense since it's a wealthy community where a lot of the natural habitat has been preserved for its beauty and to afford the rich folks their privacy.

I worry a bit about kids and pets possibly being attacked, but I'm glad to see the big cats are making a comeback. Nice to see the wild things winning once in a while. [Photo via National Geographic.]

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Quote of the Day

From my dear friend Victoria. Don't think I've seen this one before:
Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart.

She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit.
I love it because it's so true.

Sunday, June 05, 2011

My day at the Biltmore

I just realized I never posted the pictures from my day trip to the Biltmore Estate. It was great trip. Lovely day and my "date" was good company.


The house was impressive but frankly, I found it to be too much for the most part. Oppressively opulent is the best way I can describe it, although I did like the conservatory, the family dining room and especially the library. You can't take photos inside in any event and really I loved the grounds better. The mountain views were breathtaking in person.


And the picture of the series of pools as seen from the terrace doesn't really do them justice.


My very favorite part of the whole estate was the walled gardens and the greenhouse. It takes forever to upload photos on this old computer though, so those will be my next post.

Thursday, June 02, 2011

Summer in the little city

Sorry. I've been really busy for the last couple of weeks or so. But all is well. In fact, it's better than it's been in a while. I got to sit on the porch this sultry evening. And this is what I saw:

First lightning bug sighting of the season...

Young black dude in a bright blue shirt, riding a low slung bicycle and singing out loud with his ipod.

Young girl in a white tank top, riding her fancy bicycle no hands and waving her arms like a ballerina. Closely followed by a even younger kid, maybe her little brother, who was frantically peddling and trying to imitate her, but only getting as far as repeatedly lifting his hands off the handlebar for brief moments.