avablog

Microsoft said it had offered to acquire Yahoo in a proposed cash and stock deal valued at $44.6 billion. Ugh. PLEASE don’t let this go through. (Yahoo! owns Flickr, in case ya didn’t know.)

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Ava and I were hanging out yesterday while I put some new media on our server. At one point, I expressed some frustration at the Apple TV needing to reboot, and Ava — who was on the sofa next to me — put her hand gently on my arm, looked up at me with her […]

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I wanted to take a moment to formally welcome my brother-in-law Kevin to the wonderful world of Macdom. See, his new manager at work is a Mac guy, which means, among other things, that Kevin gets a new work laptop to replace his Dell. Turns out that new work laptop is a black MacBook loaded […]

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In response to all you who have silently wondered, “What if avablog were written by a handsome, tech-savvy, funny version of Mark and a brunette version of Leah?” I give you ava’s blog. Now you know. UPDATE: Oops! Looks like my four readers crashed the server. Let’s hear it for Drupal!

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For your consideration: Yahoo!’s Top 10 Searches of 2007: Britney Spears WWE Paris Hilton Naruto, The Japanese Manga Series Beyonce Lindsay Lohan RuneScape Fantasy Football Fergie Jessica Alba Google’s Fastest Rising Search Terms of 2007: iphone webkinz tmz transformers youtube club penguin myspace heroes facebook anna nicole smith

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Now I understand what that means, and we were only cooped up inside for six hours or so on Saturday. What a nasty day! I did, however, manage to get outside and take some pictures of all the ice. Leah likes this one and this one: One thing the bad weather was good for was […]

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Actually, it’s just my curse, I’m sure. I only ever get good (subjective, I know) ideas for posts when I’m nowhere near a computer. And it’s rare for me to be nowhere near a computer. So I end up writing posts about how I always fail to write down my good blog post ideas. Riveting. […]

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I don’t know if I almost never have dreams, or if I simply never remember the dreams I have. Seems like the latter is more likely. When I do manage to remember one, it feels like a special event, even when the dream is stupid, like the one I had last night. While every other […]

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My MacBook was busy this weekend ripping and encoding a number of DVDs. Handbrake‘s latest version really does a nice job encoding DVD rips with 5.1 channel surround via default settings. I was able to get through Monsters Inc., Cars, The Incredibles, and two Caillou DVDs before the weekend ran out. I wish I hadn’t […]

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Leah was giving Ava a bath two nights ago, and I was in the bathroom with them for a time. I stood and looked down at Ava as she splashed around in the tub, sitting sideways with her little head sticking up out of the water, and I was struck again by the fact that […]

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This has got to be one of the coolest, drool-worthy pieces of technology I’ve seen in a long time. iPhone? What iPhone? Sure, it won’t work in my XTi, but it will work in my A620. Sheesh. This is just sweet.

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My pal and BIL Kevin used to work the help desk at “a large Midwestern teaching hospital” until he tested out and joined the networking team. He still has friends on the help desk, of course, and every once in a while they’ll send along a plum like this cry for help: “MY NAME IS […]

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There are thousands of Apple blogs out there, and God knows I’d be only another tiny drop in the fanboy bucket were I to go on too long and too strenuously here about my appreciation for (almost) all things Apple. But Apple Computer announced the results for its most recent quarter today, and I’m struck […]

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There’s really no reason why the typical portrayal of technology by television shows should be any more accurate than portrayals of, say, relationships, house renovation, or wilderness survival. Still, I always get a kick out of the funny things I see. Like last night. Thanks to our HDTV set and its internal ClearQAM tuner, we […]

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It seems like I should make some note of the amazing changes lately in the online music world, since I enjoy music, and particularly music that I can research and buy without prying my big arse off the sofa. Amazon.com recently announced the beta of their online music download store, which offers a million or […]

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From today’s WSJ: If it seems like you are listening to music more but enjoying it less, some people in the recording industry say they know why. They blame that iPod that you can’t live without, along with all the compressed MP3 music files you’ve loaded on it. I’m having a difficult time wrapping my […]

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I bet that line has never been used before when a blogger switches themes. I’m a font of creative verse. If you’re reading this, you’re looking at a new theme here at avablog. Leah alerted me to the fact that the “old” theme I was using wasn’t rendering on IE<7. It’s the company default, and […]

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Steve, Steve, Steve. You vile tempter. It was three years ago tomorrow that my wife gave me one of the best gifts I’ve ever received, namely, my 4th generation iPod (20GB). How many hours use have I gotten out of this thing since then? Ten thousand? It might not be much of a stretch. The […]

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It’s not something I created, but I figured it was time for an overhaul. Stick with me. There’s some changes need to be made, and I’ll make them as quickly as I can. — The Management PS — The header image is a small shout out to my dear SIL, who’s in the middle of […]

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I love to walk around like a total tourist when I’m visiting a place. And particularly cities with lots of cool architecture. I think it would be sad if you lived or worked every day somewhere like downtown Chicago and became inured to the beautiful buildings all around you. I suppose it’s inevitable to some […]

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