Smile

"Smile - It's the second best thing you can do with your lips." - Unknown

ABC's Of Me

A is for favorite Appliance - refrigerator
B is for favorie Band - The Beatles
C is for Career - Financial Advisor
D is for your Dwelling - single family split level home on one block street
E is for favorite Escape - reading, watching movies or napping
F is for Favorite Song (one of many) - "Another Day" by Paul McCartney
G is for favorite Game - football
H is for Hometown - "Action" Park a.k.a Villa "Party"
I is for favorite Ice cream - chocolate chip cookie dough
J is for Jam or Jelly you like - strawberry preserves
K is for Kids - two wonderful, smart, funny, great boys
L is what you eat for Lunch - sandwich, chips and cookies
M is for favorite Movie - Forrest Gump
N is for Name of favorite soft drink - Diet Pepsi Twist
O is for the name of the car you Own - Buick LeSabre
P is for favorite Pizza - mushroom and cheese
Q is for your best Quality - smile
R is for favorite Room - bedroom
S is for favorite Sport - baseball
T is for favorite Television show - Seinfeld
U is for favorite Utensil - spoon (for ice cream and cereal)
V is for favorite Vacation - the beach in Michigan with the family
W is for favorite Weekend activity - Hiking with the family
X is for X-rays you have had - broken right thumb and ring finger
Y is for Years on earth - under 50
Z is for Zodiac sign - Aries

Explore Dream Discover

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

Nation Master Site

NationMaster

This site is central data source and a handy way to graphically compare nations. NationMaster is a vast compilation of data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, United Nations, World Health Organization, World Bank, World Resources Institute, UNESCO, UNICEF and OECD. You can generate maps and graphs on all kinds of statistics.

Enough Time

"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein." - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Heritage Fest

We went to Heritage Fest http://visitor.vil.downers-grove.il.us/fest/ with some of the boy's friends. We parked at Uncle Art's and walked over. He lives pretty close to downtown Downer's Grove. While my oldest son went off with his friend's. My youngest son and I had some pizza at Giordano's. http://www.giordanos.com/ They have the best stuffed crust pizza. It was much cooler inside. I talked to our waiter and asked him how the Fest affected business. He said because both the front and back streets were blocked it really hurt deliveries. I'm sure they did okay selling pizza slices at their booth right outside the restaurant. While we were eating I saw them bring about 50 pizzas to the booth. My oldest son got sick on one of the spinning rides and it put a damper on his fun. My youngest son went on the Ferris Wheel and in the Funhouse. We ran into Uncle Art and walked around with him for a while. When the fireworks started going off you should have seen all the bats or birds flying around. They woke them all up. We stayed until the fireworks were over and then drove everybody home. We ended up getting home about midnight.

Inventing A Nation

Today I finished reading "Inventing A Nation: Washington, Adams, Jefferson" by Gore Vidal. I brought it along to finish on our trip out to Philadelphia. It was an interesting insight into the politics of the early founders of our nation. Nothing has changed in 200 years. I would have finished it earlier but I was too busy finishing "A Long Way Down" by Nick Hornby. "A Long Way Down" is about four different people who meet when they are all trying to commit suicide on New Year's Eve. Anyone who has considered suicide should read this book. It makes some good points. Whatever has led you to that point you should give it 90 days. It looks like the author has either contemplated suicide or really researched it. Things change if you give them time and life should be savored or you should look at it from someone else's perspective. I don't think I could ever consider suicide there's too many books left to read.

Funk Brothers

I watched the DVD "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" about the Funk Brothers http://www.standingintheshadowsofmotown.com/
The Funk Brothers were the background musicians for most of the Motown http://www.motown.com/ hits. It was interesting to watch it right after our visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Funk Brothers will be performing this summer in Chicago.

Kindness

"I expect to pass through life but once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again." - William Penn

Opportunity For Kindness

"Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness." - Seneca

George Washington

"Do you think that when they asked George Washington for ID that he just whipped out a quarter?" - Steven Wright

Valley Forge

We drove from the Park Hyatt Philadelphia to the Marriott Philadelphia West
http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/PHLWE and checked in. We then drove out to Valley Forge. http://www.nps.gov/vafo/ We spent a couple hours driving around Valley Forge. We saw a lot of deer and a fox. The boys rolled down a grass hill by the Washington Monument. Afterwards we went back to the Marriott. The boys swam for a couple hours in the indoor pool while Mom started getting ready for the reception. We left about 5:30 p.m. for the reception at the Merion Cricket Club in Haverford, Pennsylvania. http://www.merioncricket.com/ We were the first ones to arrive. We thought it started at 6:00 p.m. when it started at 6:30 p.m. We sat in the lobby on the second floor. The reception was very nice and the food very good. We went back to the hotel about 10:30 p.m. We have a long drive home tomorrow.

Park Hyatt Philadelphia

We drove from Somerset, Pennsylvania to downtown Philadelphia and checked into our room at the Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue http://parkphiladelphia.hyatt.com/property/index.jhtml
The room was very luxurious. This is probably one othe nicest hotels we have ever stayed in. We all rested and at 5:00 p.m. We left for Lynn and Craig's in Narberth. They had an outdoor barbecue and then boys had a blast with the other kids. It was a perfect night. They had a margarita machine and we sat outside until 10:30 p.m. We drove back to our hotel and got back about 11:30 p.m.

Hall Of Fame, Canton, Ohio

We drove from Cleveland to Canton, Ohio. We stopped at a Walgreen's and bought some Cap'n Crunch with Berries and Life cereal. We had breakfast in our van then went into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. http://www.profootballhof.com/ We spent over three hours exploring the Hall of Fame and then drove to our next stop Somerset, Pennsylvania. We checked into our room at the Holiday Inn Somerset http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/6c/1/en/hd/sozpa
around 3:30 p.m. The boys were able to swim at the outdoor pool for a while and they we got changed for dinner. We ate at the Ruby Tuesday http://www.rubytuesday.com/ near the Holiday Inn. We drove around Somerset and watched the sunset from the top of a hill and then went back to the room. Tomorrow we drive the rest of the way to Philadelphia.

Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame

We left home about 5:30 a.m. and drove to Cleveland, Ohio. We checked in around noon Chicago time the Hyatt Regency Cleveland http://cleveland.hyatt.com/property/index.jhtml in downtown Cleveland. We stayed on the fourth floor in a corner room. We did a quick walk around the Atrium Arcade for a place to eat lunch and then walked over to 9th Street. We had lunch at a Subway on 9th Street and ate lunch outside. We stopped on the way to take pictures of the "Free Stamp." http://www.city.cleveland.oh.us/around_town/city_highlights/landmarks/freestamp.html Then went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum at One Key Plaza http://www.rockhall.com/ We spent over five hours exploring the museum. The boys loved it and now have a greater appreciation of "Rock and Roll." We walked from the museum to the Hard Rock Cafe - Cleveland http://www.hardrock.com/locations/cafes/Cafes.aspx?Lc=CLEV and had dinner. Our seats were near a lot of memorabilia from Iggy Pop and across the room was a lot of stuff from John Lennon. They also had a whole lower level with stuff. It was like a second rock and roll museum. It was raining when we left so we took a taxi back to the hotel.

Graduation

One of my niece's had her graduation party today. I can still remember when she was born. We went to the hospital to see her and I remember taking a bunch of pictures. When I went to get them developed I realized there was no film in the camera. Congratulations Pearl!

It was 30 years ago this month I graduated high school. Yikes! It's kind of a blur. Afterwards I remember staying out all night with my friends. We got stopped three separate times by the cops. They were a lot more lenient back then. Later on my folks had a graduation party for me in the basement. A friend Dave brought along 'Jack' - Jack Daniels. We had some celebratory shots and then we went out for rides on Jeff and Bruce's motorcycles. While racing Bruce went up on the sidewalk clipped his handlebar on a building. He messed up his hand pretty bad. The scrape mark is still on the building. I remember thinking I could walk his motorcycle home. Jack kept me from feeling much pain. I burnt my ankle on the motorcycle exhaust and still have the scar. I messed up one of my favorite shirts. Bruce got his hand fixed up at the hospital and I remember Jeff coming over for breakfast the next morning. I survived graduation. It's funny how those things pop in your head.

"We live in a world where lemonade is made from artificial flavoring and furniture polish is made from real lemons." - Alfred E. Neuman

Busy Friday

I took my youngest son over to his friend's on my way back to work. My oldest son was having some friend's over to hang out. After work I picked up my youngest son. They both got to go swimming after 5:00 p.m. at Cypress Cove in Woodridge. They closed the pool around 7:30 when lightning was spotted. It never did rain. They had Subway sandwiches and then went over to another friend's until 10:00 p.m. My oldest son had a friend sleepover and the played cards pretty late. I ate a frozen pizza and finished watching "1776." It was still 88 degress out after 10:00 p.m. It was hot today.

A Blogger Near You

I just found out about a new service that helps you pinpoint bloggers by their physical location in the United States. It's a blog search engine called Blogdigger. http://www.blogdigger.com/ The queries have two parts: your search terms and a location which you enter as a city, state combination or by using a zip code. You can also re-sort by date rather tham relevance.

Test Your Memory

"If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today." - Rotarian

Harvie Krumpet

Last night I watched an interesting DVD from the library. It was called "Harvie Krumpet" and it was a short animation similar to "Wallace & Gromit." It won an award in 2003. I think it was Harvie who kept a book of facts spelled 'fakts' around his neck. My blog is my book of 'fakts" except I can't keep it around my neck. Anyone who enjoys Wallace & Gromit would probably enjoy this.

Synopsis

Harvie Krumpet is an ordinary man whose lifelong string of bad luck is offset by occasional episodes of joy.

Greene Valley

We took our Saturday hike this morning at Greene Valley Forest Preserve in Naperville. A lot of the trail was out in the open. We walked about 3 miles. We didn't see much wildlife. We did beat the thunderstorms and lightning. The boys are all finished with school for the summer. They both made honor roll all four quarters. They started running their miles for football this past Wednesday. Their coach wants them to run 3 a week to be ready for the season and build up their stamina. We'll see how their times improve. We run at the Hinsdale South track where they practiced for track. We celebrated the end of the school year at Pizza Hut and then spent two hours at the Barnes and Noble next door. I started reading David McCullough's "1776." I finished two chapters and plan to read more or buy the book. We plan on visiting Valley Forge this summer and I thought it would get me in the right frame of mind. Last year we watched the movie "Gettysburg" before we visited Gettysburg. It really helped them to understand the history and imagine what happened. I also watched a DVD on Ohio since we plan on visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and the Football Hall of Fame in Canton.

Try Slowing Down

"For fast-acting relief try slowing down." - Lily Tomlin

Nature

"Nature is God's greatest evangelist." - Jonathan Edwards

Google's Long Memory

By Andy Sullivan Friday June 3, 2005 8:04 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When Google Inc.'s 19 million daily users look up a long-lost classmate, send e-mail or bounce around the Web more quickly with its new Web Accelerator, records of that activity don't go away. In an era of increased government surveillance, privacy watchdogs worry that Google's vast archive of Internet activity could prove a tempting target for abuse. Like many other online businesses, Google (Nasdaq:GOOG) tracks how its search engine and other services are used, and who uses them. Unlike many other businesses, Google holds onto that information for years. Some privacy experts who otherwise give Google high marks say the company's records could become a handy data bank for government investigators who rely on business records to circumvent Watergate-era laws that limit their own ability to track U.S. residents. At a time when libraries delete lending records as soon as a book is returned, Google should purge its records after a certain point to protect users, they say. "What if someone comes up to them and says, 'We want to know whenever this key word comes up'? All the capability is there and it becomes a one-stop shopping center for all these kinds of things," said Lauren Weinstein, an engineer who co-founded People for Internet Responsibility, a forum for online issues. Google officials say their extensive log files help them improve service, fight fraud and develop new products, and unlike many other online companies, it seems willing to pay for the enormous storage capacity needed to save the data. "If it's useful, we'll hold on to it," said Nicole Wong, a Google associate general counsel. Google complies with law-enforcement investigations, Wong said. She declined to comment on the frequency or scope of those requests. From the ground up, Google designs its offerings to minimally impact user privacy, Wong said. Google doesn't share the information it collects from visitors with outside marketers. Employees must get executive approval before they examine traffic data, she said. Google logs the numerical IP address of each computer that visits many of its sites, and deposits small bits of code known as "cookies" on users' machines to automatically remember preferences like which language they use, she said. Users can reject cookies if they wish, but some services like Gmail, Google's e-mail, will not work without them. It's difficult to tie cookies and IP addresses to a particular person, Wong said. The IP address of a computer can change every time it signs on to the Internet, and different services use different cookies so the company doesn't know, for example, that a particular Gmail user has visited the Web site of an abortion providers.

POLICIES COULD CHANGE

But absent regulation, there's nothing to prevent Google from linking together those cookies in the future, said Chris Hoofnagle, who heads the West Coast office of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "Events can change corporate culture, and those who use the Google service may experience a shift in the definition of 'evil,"' Hoofnagle said, referring to the company's "Don't be evil" motto. Rivals like Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO) and Internet service providers such as Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE:TWX) America Online also track user activity. But ISPs generally don't hold onto such information for more than a month because storage costs and privacy concerns can mount quickly, said Stewart Baker, a Washington lawyer who has represented ISPs in law-enforcement matters. "If you don't have a reason to keep a bunch of data around, it's probably prudent to get rid of it," he said. Yahoo declined to say how long it holds on to its log files. Google's generous mail service creates risks as well. While AOL purges customer e-mail from its servers after 28 days unless users specify otherwise, Gmail encourages users to hold onto their messages indefinitely. Most people don't know that a 1986 law gives less protection from government searches to messages more than six months old, said Ari Schwartz, an associate director at the Center for Democracy and Technology. "That doesn't mean that Google needs to change its technology, but they do need to do some consumer education," he said. Even when a user deletes a message it may remain on company servers, according to the Gmail privacy policy. Some don't see Google's long memory as a bad thing. "You wouldn't want them to throw away all the queries that have been done -- that's like throwing away history," said Danny Sullivan, editor of the trade publication Search Engine Watch. Weinstein doesn't think so. "There's really no good reason to hold onto that information for more than a few months," he said. "They seem to think that because their motives are pure that everything is OK and they can operate on a trust basis. History tells us that is not the case."

This article is now in Google's memory.

Historical Photographs Site

photos

Bureau of Land Management’s historical photo database. View more than 2,500 historic photo images taken across the United States from 1890 - 1970. Many of the images highlight traditional activities found on the public lands, such as grazing and mining. There are also photos of covered wagons, homesteading, and surveying of the West.

Yahoo Image Search Site

images

New and improved Image Search resource from Yahoo. Provides latest celebrity and news images, photos, illustrations, and more. Site allows search by format, coloration, and size -- including wallpaper-sized images. The database contains more than 1.7 billion images.

Internet Fact

The amount of information now available through the Internet, if formatted into books, would fill all the world's libraries nine times over.

Computers

"The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers." - Sydney J. Harris

How To Finish A Library Book

Sometimes it is hard to finish a library book when there is a due-date attached to it. Your initial reading time maybe little at start, so when the due-date is near you cannot complete the book in time.

Nicole has posted http://tapioca.retroflux.com/?p=140 her idea on how to finish a book by divide the “reading-load”: … I’ve divided the book by how many days I want to read it in and put 3M tabs (or bookmarks) at each stopping point. For example, if a book is 400 pages long, and I want to read it in 12 days, I find a chapter break or good stopping point every 35 pages or so, and tab it…