Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Little Big Town
M, Letty and I headed up to Table Mountain Casino for the Little Big Town gig on Tuesday night. Jim couldn't make at as he's been feeling under the weather and resting up for the big Vegas weekend.
Kate and Casey - the twins from Denver - opened up the show with some good 'ol acoustic country music. Kate was the more girly of the two and, being older by 9 minutes, claimed to be the wiser. She also seemed to have most of the talent, but I don't think she tells her sister that.
Little Big Town themselves were great - even if all they really do is the singing and playing acoustic guitar and tambourines and leave it up to the 3 piece backing band to do all the difficult stuff with their instruments.
Arriving there a little early (Mental Note: Don't believe the start time on the ticket - especially because Table Mountain doesn't serve 'adult' drinks.) M and Letty insisted on an 'advance' on their Vegas gambling fund. It's amazing how quickly $100 can disappear inside a casino.
Kate and Casey - the twins from Denver - opened up the show with some good 'ol acoustic country music. Kate was the more girly of the two and, being older by 9 minutes, claimed to be the wiser. She also seemed to have most of the talent, but I don't think she tells her sister that.
Little Big Town themselves were great - even if all they really do is the singing and playing acoustic guitar and tambourines and leave it up to the 3 piece backing band to do all the difficult stuff with their instruments.
Arriving there a little early (Mental Note: Don't believe the start time on the ticket - especially because Table Mountain doesn't serve 'adult' drinks.) M and Letty insisted on an 'advance' on their Vegas gambling fund. It's amazing how quickly $100 can disappear inside a casino.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Happy Birthday Dad/Trevor
Many Happy Returns on this your umpty-finfteenth-ish birthday.
Hope you have a great day!
Love,
C & M
M & C
Hope you have a great day!
Love,
C & M
M & C
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Next Generation Sounds
I'm in the process of coming up with a new an improved solution for music around the house. There's not really anything wrong with the current solution, but it's getting a bit 'old' from a technology point of view and requires quite a bit of techy fiddling to try and get the Rio Receivers (for our bedroom, garage and outside) to work with the Mac Mini I now use for the main music server in the house.
My new plan is to base everything around Apple equipment - using Airport Express' to wirelessly send music to those areas and using a laptop or an iPod Touch as a fancy remote control. The latter is quite appealing as it is wireless and small and can be used from the bed to select music and control the volume without having to squint across the room at a tiny LCD screen. It also has the advantage of allowing you to browse the Web and/or play games should the mood so take you. Part of the plan would also be to upgrade our home network to the faster 'N' protocol so that we don't have to wait 24 hours to watch a movie we download on the AppleTV.
I broached this subject with Michelle the other day and she said she was fine with it as long as Chuck, Jim and Letty signed off. So, I figured I would go one better and let the whole universe of UlloaSullivan.com readers provide their thoughts and feedback on the plan right here on the internet.
So, here you are Dear Readers - the fate of our home music system is in your hands. Oh, and before you comment, just be aware that the upgrade plan inevitably means that some of our current equipment will become available... I believe they operate at both 110 and 240v too. ;)
My new plan is to base everything around Apple equipment - using Airport Express' to wirelessly send music to those areas and using a laptop or an iPod Touch as a fancy remote control. The latter is quite appealing as it is wireless and small and can be used from the bed to select music and control the volume without having to squint across the room at a tiny LCD screen. It also has the advantage of allowing you to browse the Web and/or play games should the mood so take you. Part of the plan would also be to upgrade our home network to the faster 'N' protocol so that we don't have to wait 24 hours to watch a movie we download on the AppleTV.
I broached this subject with Michelle the other day and she said she was fine with it as long as Chuck, Jim and Letty signed off. So, I figured I would go one better and let the whole universe of UlloaSullivan.com readers provide their thoughts and feedback on the plan right here on the internet.
So, here you are Dear Readers - the fate of our home music system is in your hands. Oh, and before you comment, just be aware that the upgrade plan inevitably means that some of our current equipment will become available... I believe they operate at both 110 and 240v too. ;)
Central Valley Fly Guy
M and I managed to get down to Bakersfield on Sunday afternoon to watch J swim in two finals - Mens 200m Individual Medley and 100m Backstroke. Having already picked up two 1st place results the day before - taking over the banner of 'The Fly Guy' in a closely fought Butterfly final - he managed to pick up another 1st in the backstroke (see picture) and a none-too-shabby 2nd place in the Medley.
I say none-too-shabby as I've been teasing him about coming in second but the fact is that he knocked a whopping 5 seconds off his personal best in that event. And because I'm sure he's probably getting faster times than I was when competing in the Bicester and District Finals a little over 20 years ago - although back then I was pretty much 'The Fly Guy' myself, beating Simon Sturgeon-Clegg and David Watkins into submission in final after final.
Anyway, as I've told Justin a couple of times since Bakersfield, if it were up to me I would have bought him that Baskin Robbins milkshake to celebrate on Sunday evening.
I say none-too-shabby as I've been teasing him about coming in second but the fact is that he knocked a whopping 5 seconds off his personal best in that event. And because I'm sure he's probably getting faster times than I was when competing in the Bicester and District Finals a little over 20 years ago - although back then I was pretty much 'The Fly Guy' myself, beating Simon Sturgeon-Clegg and David Watkins into submission in final after final.
Anyway, as I've told Justin a couple of times since Bakersfield, if it were up to me I would have bought him that Baskin Robbins milkshake to celebrate on Sunday evening.
Car Correspondence
If it wasn't enough to get a phone call from the local BMW service center a couple of weeks ago letting me know that my car had contacted them to tell them it needed to be serviced but now I see that it is receiving its own Birthday emails from the car dealership too.
Surely, 335 (as I now see you like to be called - I had always chosen to use your full name, with the 'i' on the end out of respect) if you need some attention you could just let me know. Or Michelle if you're not comfortable talking to me about these things. We're both here for you.
Until your 3rd birthday, when we fully intend to trade you in for a newer, better model. Yeah, that's right. Just 11 more months and you're out of here. That'll teach you to go talking to your friends about us.
Surely, 335 (as I now see you like to be called - I had always chosen to use your full name, with the 'i' on the end out of respect) if you need some attention you could just let me know. Or Michelle if you're not comfortable talking to me about these things. We're both here for you.
Until your 3rd birthday, when we fully intend to trade you in for a newer, better model. Yeah, that's right. Just 11 more months and you're out of here. That'll teach you to go talking to your friends about us.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Beijing Tourism
We managed to take a quick detour en route to a partner meeting yesterday so that I could do the touristy thing and get my picture taken in front of the Water Cube and Bird's Nest stadium of Beijing Olympics fame.
There were long lines of people waiting to get inside the Water Cube itself so I didn't make it in to bathe in the hallowed waters but it was pretty neat just to hang outside in the minus 2 degree chill and wonder, just as many of the Chinese people are too, just what they are going to use these impressive facilities for in the future.
Apparently, even in China, some things can be just too big for their own good.
There were long lines of people waiting to get inside the Water Cube itself so I didn't make it in to bathe in the hallowed waters but it was pretty neat just to hang outside in the minus 2 degree chill and wonder, just as many of the Chinese people are too, just what they are going to use these impressive facilities for in the future.
Apparently, even in China, some things can be just too big for their own good.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Mental Note
Painting an ugly building blue and decorating it with clouds does nothing more than create an ugly blue building decorated with clouds.
What, though, if you make it an artistic statement by adding in mannequin painters on a platform permanently painting one of the clouds? What do you get then? Is it art?
What, though, if you make it an artistic statement by adding in mannequin painters on a platform permanently painting one of the clouds? What do you get then? Is it art?
Happy Birthday Little Brother!
On this 19th day of February 2009 (well, it is where I am right now) we would like to wish our littlest borther many Happy returns.
And while we're at it, why not share with you a picture of him playing footie when he actually was still quite little.
Happy Birthday!
C&M / M&C
And while we're at it, why not share with you a picture of him playing footie when he actually was still quite little.
Happy Birthday!
C&M / M&C