110 degrees

Been watching for 110 for a while now and just saw 110.1 degrees. Various weather sites have shown our zip code to have been over 110 a number of times already, but it doesn’t count until I see the reading from my always shaded sensor that isn’t over blacktop or near an A/C exhaust vent.

Roku

Well, we’ve had our Roku for a few weeks now and its excellent being able to instantly get movies and TV series from Netflix.  Picture quality is similar to cable TV.  The compression artifacts are quite noticeable on black scenes, but I don’t notice them otherwise.  Netflix also seems to be pretty rapidly expanding their instant view offerings although there are few weird things like a few episodes missing from a season of a TV show.  Currently media available on instant view is almost all older stuff, although the first season of new Doctor Who series is available, so we were able to catch up on that.  Heroes is also on there although I don’t know how many seasons.

100 degrees

Just noticed the outside temperature was 102.3 degrees. I haven’t seen a triple digit temperature since a decade ago when we were still living in Wisconsin.

90 degrees

On the way to the gym I happened to notice the temperature had hit 90 degrees for the first time this year (that I noticed anyway).

80 degrees

We’ve had several days where the temperature was up to 80 or higher here in Vegas. We heard through the grapevine today that the folks back up in Redmond were getting snowed on, so today seemed like a good day to mention the weather here

Ugg!

At the end of November I ordered a refurbished Denon receiver from the Amazon marketplace.  Got it at the beginning of December and it worked great for a little over a month, until it started blowing a circuit every few minutes.  It was still covered by the 90-day warranty, so made some calls until I found the right folks to send it to in order to get it serviced.  They received it on January 18th and sent back a claim slip stating it would take 3-4 weeks.  At exactly 4 weeks I hadn’t heard anything from them so I gave them a call and was told that it was finished but the tech hadn’t released it and that they’d call me when there was something to update.  After not hearing anything else from them for a week and half I just called again.  Turns out it wasn’t done and there is part back ordered and I’m not likely to get it back until April which means about three months in the shop.  Ugg!

Going leftie

Well today my right arm hurts in the wrist, forearm, and the shoulder (both side still on the arm and on the back over the should blade). It’s been steadily getting worse for the last week or so, but now it’s distracting enough that it is time to suck it up and learn how to use a mouse left handed. I had ordered a new right-handed ergo mouse a few months back and figured I’d wait and see how I liked before getting the left-handed version. I’ve liked it well enough, but it isn’t enough on it’s own with the problems I’ve built up over the years, so now it’s time to give my right side a break from mousing. Using a mouse left handed also has the advantage that a full size keyboard doesn’t stick out as far to the left as it does to the right. I’ve occasionally looked for an ergo keyboards that have the cursor and insert, delete, home, end, page up and down keys arranged like I’m used to that also lacks the number pad, but I’ve never found one.

70 degress

Hello & Greetings to anyone that reads our blog. Josh and I have had the worst cold EVER for the last several weeks. Probably a flu that turned into a cold, actually, since we had fevers first. Anyway, we’re on the mend more or less. The dogs are doing well, if a little stir crazy from the lack of walking during sick-time. Duncan’s willy isn’t giving him any problems right now, so the healing process continues.

Josh has been working on something I have no understanding of, being technical and what-not, but he’s pleased with what he’s doing. So, there ya’ go. I’m putting my job hunting on hold since we’re expecting 3 sets of visitors in March and April, and who has time to work? First Josh’s parents David and Sharon are coming, less than a week after they leave, my parents and both brothers are coming, then a couple weeks after that Pete and Candice are coming! Yay! The weather is already being accomodating, since it’s been sunny and 70 degrees for the last 3 days. Suck it, Redmond!

X-mas

We had merry Christmas dinner with our new friends Kelly and Shahla:

They used to live up in Woodinville and Kelly is an ex-Microsoftie as well. Shahla was a realtor but is taking a breather from that since the Vegas R.E. market is still in the process of tanking. They only moved to Vegas a couple of years ago themselves. When we got home I heard what sounded like a cat yeowling and went to the front door to see what who was making all of the noise and a skinny white cat tried to come in the house. While I like cats I figured that wasn’t a good idea, but since it was cold out I thought I’d bring the cat into the garage as it was getting below forty in the early morning. Shortly after opening the garage door I figured that wasn’t a good idea since the cat wouldn’t have anywhere to do its business, so I took one of our plastic crates and a bunch of moving blankets and rocks and made a kitty house then put out some water and tuna for the kitty. Kitty ate up half the tuna but wasn’t interested in the kitty house.

We then preceded to open presents and here’s couple of shots of the dogs with new toys:

Duncan with a new blinkie ball.

Tula with a toy sheep.

We were up late watching the tube and about 2:30 am the cat was at the back patio door yeowling but the dogs eventually scared it off.

X-mas treat for doggies

The doorbell rang, lo and behold a box was there.

I brought it inside and was promptly tackled, by two huge dogs who smelled food and would kill me to get at it. I know it doesn’t rhyme, but Josh is rushing me. Thank you Kate, Jake, Pete and Candice!

Dogs wishing they had opposable thumbs.

Dogs getting treats.

All done.

Or so we thought. Tula wasn’t having it, danced around a bit and knocked over the container.

Look at that glare.

We’re softies. More treats for dogs.

One for Duncan.

And one for Tula.

By the way, Yikes! No more pictures of me when I’m sick! – (leah)