New racquet bag

I ebayed my other bags and have found the near perfect bag. It is the Becker mega 10 pack from the new Boris Becker line of racquets and gear. It even has a thermal lined compartment to keep drinks cold.

Thirsty?

Linda got me a dual zone beverage center (aka fridge) for the basement. I will be storing my growing red wine and gatorade collection in it.

Comments Moderation Turned on

Hey Regular Blog reader (all 23 of you)... I had to turn on comments moderation (where I have to approve a comment before it posts) since a bunch of clowns are now spamming for some crappy antivirus software via the comments. They try to trick people to click on links that takes you to some spyware crap. Anyway, with comments moderation, i can delete them before they post so someone does not accidentally click on the link.

Winter Wonderland

The freezing rain has created a winter wonderland with the trees. It is pretty as long as I don't have to drive to work.

Pond Heater ! It works.

Going into this winter, we were not sure what we were going to do to keep the Koi and Shubunken from turning into frozen fish sticks. Our pond is only 14 - 16 inches deep to it will freeze through if the temperature drops low and long enough. Andrew's son offered to keep the fish in an indoor aquarium for the winter (which was a very generous offer but likely a lot of work for them). Before taking him up on that offer, we decided to try a pond heater (it is the green circle in the picture). This heater kicks in when the water temp approaches freezing. I am happy to report that through several periods of sub freezing temps along with snow, ice and sleet, the heater is working really well. The pond is still cold (so the fish still stay in their lower metabolism winter mode) but has not freezed over.

More snow ! Ack!

Snow # ?? Crap I lost count...

Zodiac HD DVD

Excellent movie. Great story and the acting was top notch. The HD DVD video quality was near perfect.

EDIT: Predicted Vinh Fall Asleep Time: 54 minutes. Though he will wake up and finish the movie.

car wash time

Almost 50 degrees today. Good day to wash off the winter salt and grime.

Professional Tree Cutting Service vs. Thinh the lumberjack

So, we had a few really large trees that have died or are dying. I was told that if the bark is coming off the tree, it is a good sign of a dead/dying tree. In total, 6 trees had to be cut down with the biggest one carrying a hefty 3 feet diameter and about 60+ feet height. The guys had to climb this one to cut it down in section. Like any other home repair service, the range is cost varies like crazy. I had one guy quote me $2000 to cut down the trees, while the guy I went with charged $1000 to cut down the trees and chop them up into fire log size sections. I will still have to split the thicker pieces. Anyway, his name is Ray Schuckman and his company is Custom Cut Tree Service. Nice guy, shows up on time and does a good job. Highly recommended.

Their stack of wood is a wee bit bigger than the stack I chopped up a few weeks ago.

The new sub !

Meet the AV123.com MFW-15 subwoofer. This sub packs a 125 pounds shipping weight and weighs a bit over 100 pounds unpacked. It was designed by renowed sub guru Mark Seaton using a custom 15 inch driver with a high effiency 350 watt amp.

I literally had to drag it into the house after I unpacked it. I did a quick calibration and popped in Find Nemo. Jumped to the scene where the girl (Darla?) taps the glass aquarium is a great bass demo scene. With the sub, you hear and feel the thumps from the taps. NICE !!! I have to do some more calibration but this was a nice start.

BTW, the Halo 3 case is there to help give some perspective on the size of the sub.