Friday, July 6, 2007

hi ho, hi ho, off to wi we go

Heading up to Wisconsin this afternoon for the weekend. Well, it's really only for the day since it takes almost 8 hours to get there. We will spend most of today and most of Sunday on the road and hopefully Saturday will be relaxing enough to fight traffic back to IL on Sunday. The only thing going for us is that with July 4th smack in the middle of the week some people took their trips last weekend - cross your fingers the traffic won't be too bad!

I charged the camera so hopefully we can get a few decent photos.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Ink Jet Printer Thieves

After my earlier post about my ink jet printer problems I began to think about all the other issues with inkjet printers that annoy me. The first thing that came to mind was the cheap printer, hugely expensive ink routine. It dawned on me that I always feel slighted when the machine tells me to change ink when i can visibly see ink left in the cartridge. So I did a little research.

I found this interesting study:

The study by TÜV Rheinland looked at inkjet efficiency across multiple brands, including Epson (who commissioned the study), Lexmark, Canon, HP, Kodak, and Brother. They studied the efficiency of both single and multi-ink cartridges. Espon's printers were among the highest rated, at more than 80 percent efficiency using single-ink cartridges. Kodak's EasyShare 5300 was panned as the worst printer tested, wasting 64 percent of its ink in tests. TÜV Rheinland measured cartridge weights before and after use, stopping use when printers reported that they were out of ink.
Can you imagine going to the gas station, paying for a full tank and only getting 40-50% of a tank? This is down right criminal! How do these big companies get away with such flagrant trickery? Only recently has one company improved their reporting, and it's only been by a little, so I commend Epson for their efforts but it leaves the rest of us wondering: how long have ALL the major printer companies been colluding on this activity of cheating their customers?

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070618-study-inkjet-printers-are-filthy-lying-thieves.html

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Happy Independence Day!

Today is the celebration of the birth of our great nation. Four score and a zillion years ago.... just kidding. Most people will spend today with cookouts, down time and trying to prevent their drunken loved ones from blowing themselves up... cops are out in full force so don't drink and drive!

Adri and I have spent most of this morning sticking 18"x24" American flags into the front lawns of 500 of our closest neighbors to Liberty Tax Service. It's been tiring but we've received terrific feedback so far from the residents. Nice little promotional tool, a little exercise and everyone feels warm and fuzzy about it.

After we finish our last leg of flag distribution, we will clean up and head out for lunch, courtesy of Ryan and Paula Lafler and their generous gift card for the Lettuce Entertain You family of restaurants. Then, off to Naperville for their Ribfest '07 firework celebration. I hope you enjoy your day as much as we will.

God Bless America!

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Buffalo Range Riding Park Liability Waiver

Many of you read about my weekly adventures in Dirtbiking - the mild success stories, the high flying, adrenaline packed exercise... and the extremely painful injuries. I thought you might get a kick out of the liability waiver I have to sign every single time I go to the track. I scanned the original right into this sucker. If this doesn't make you think twice about dirtbiking... the photos of my injuries should!



(click the images to view a larger version of the text)

Printer Problems - Machine Error 41

For the record, I rarely print anything. 95% of my communication is done via email, text messaging, web posts, etc - it's a rare occasion to print or need something to be printed. Murphey's Law, I needed to print something just now and fax it somewhere immediately and my printer just took a crap.

"Machine Error 41, unplug machine and then call Brother" - what kind of crap is that? Unplug it, reset it, hit it a few times and nothing, still the same stupid error. I attempt to navigate Brother's website and cannot find a toll free number to call them so I call an authorized dealer; surprise, they have no clue what the problem is but they will call me back.

As I sit and google the possibilities of Machine Error 41, my hopes of repairing this machine today have gone from hopeful to a scene pictured from the movie Office Space, where me, myself and I will be pulling a beatdown on the printer with a bat to the tune of 2Pac.

A few annoying phone calls later I've learned the printer head needs to be replaced. Now, this machine has ripped me off on ink for 3+ years and now the printer head just craps out.... for no good reason! $65 for the labor to replace the part and $50 for the part - I think I can buy a new printer for that much, right?

Monday, July 2, 2007

Severe Ankle Sprain Courtesy of Dirtbike Sunday

Well, I was getting faster and faster around the tracks in Ottawa as the first few rides of the season gave way to my confidence. I've dropped the bike a few times over the last couple weeks as I try to increase speed through the corners; no major crashes, just a few slide out, burn out, bog down... whatever you want to call it.

This Sunday was going perfectly. The track conditions were money, lots of riders but not too many, my stamina is picking up and my confidence is getting pretty solid. And then I hit a teeny little (5-6 footer) and the lip has a potch in the jump, my rear end kicks up and knocks me off the pegs. I recover and get my feet back to the pegs before I hit the ground and manage to keep the bike stabilized and continue riding, BUT, I was only able to get the toe of my left boot onto the pegs and when I landed awkwardly it jammed my toes backwards towards my shin.

Youuch! That smarts.... but I keep riding. It doesn't feel too awful bad. Within 20 minutes it started to really hurt standing up, but it didn't hurt that much to ride, so I kept riding. Big Mistake! By the time I got back to the trailer to pack up and head home, my ankle had swollen so much I could barely get my boots off. And now, two days later, I'm still limping with an ankle brace. Doh!

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Bachelor Party Re-cap: Paintball


This photo is a snapshot of the killer times we had during my bachelor party weekend. On this day, Charlie, my best man, rented out an entire paintball course that included 13 fields. We shot through almost 15,000 rounds of paint and everyone went home with a few welts. In the back row you have Brent and Woj, the front row is Jesse, Phil, Me, Jim, Charlie and Justin.

At the very end of the day, my brother and I had a standoff. We gripped each others hand, facing opposite directions and on the count of three we sprinted to our respective bunker that were equidistant from our starting point. Then, we turned to fire the last hopper full of paint. We both reached our cover about the same time and turned to fire. As we wound through the last rounds of the day we came out from behind our bunkers and faced each other about 50 feet apart and circled each other, firing, firing and firing... neither of us were going to give in. Wham! Wham! Wham! My paintballs were blasting Jim in the soft tissue of his belly and kidney areas and I caught one in the face.