The last Azure post hung on the Treo - even though it posted to the blog. So, I'm trying another remote post to see whether or not it was just an anomoly.

At Jon's suggestion I checked out Azure - a PalmOS (Java) based mobile blog editor. Nice little app! I'm writing this on my Treo right now - standing outside, waiting for the driveway guy to come!

Let's get this straight - the reason that the lousy, overpriced XM radio systems aren't selling is because of the way Bluetooth, WiFi and FRS devices are interfering with them?! Damn, we better sue somebody. Wait, we already are!

Come on, what do you expect? You design a poor product using an antenna that looks horizontally, instead of vertically; put it into service in an already crowded bandwidth arena; and then install it solely in environments with terrible interference (ignition noise) - of course it's going to suck! So just because you didn't think things through you're going to try and take everyone else down with you?

Sprint has announced that they are poised to begin offering WiFi connections to customers when they're near one of their hot-spots. One would have thought that with the knowledge of that rollout they might have considered adding WiFi to the forthcoming Treo. But alas... No. I guess someone will have to build a Bluetooth & WiFi expansion card - at least the potential is there, with the slot.

Here we go again! Another schmuck (Callum Alden) has stolen Jon's website design. Not only did this kid steal Jon's UI, but he also stole Computer Associate's logo!

What a beautiful day for a launch. It had been a long time since we've launched anything off so we took the Mosquito and the Wizzard to the park - neither of which had been previously launched...

Sam and I hit Motter's Music House today and had him sized for his bass. We leased a 1/4 sized bass. If what we brought home was 1/4 size I can't fathom what the full sized instrument would be like - this thing is huge! Lessons start on Saturday, I wonder if the dogs will howl along with him?

Trouble driving home from the beach last night - the car had absolutely no guts. If it was a gasoline engine I would have described it as having no compression, but one can't really say that about a compression engine... Anyways, the CarChip is reporting OBD error P2186 - Unknown Powertrain DTC (SAE Controlled: Fuel and Air Metering). Not entirely sure what that's telling me - though early thoughts have me replacing the MAF...

Hit the beach again today to do a little more surf fishing. No trouble with the rangers today Boo Boo. Dave caught a mess; I caught a Bluefish, a Dog fish, and a Skate; and Sam caught a Skate.

How cool is this? Terrawind has built the Wild Thornberrys' Com-V! Now for a mear $850k you and your loved ones can go anywhere Eliza and her loved ones go!

Took the new rod up to the beach today w/ Dave et. al. After getting busted by the Delaware State Parks ranger for illegally having our truck on the beach we had an enjoyable day. Dave caught a bunch of fish, Sam caught a King fish, and I caught... nothing!

July 30, 2003 will be a sad day for VW enthusiasts, and car enthusiasts for that matter. VW has announced that the last Beetle will roll off the assembly line in Puebla Mexico this month. Of course, the New Beetle will continue to be manufactured. It begs to wonder though, just how will the snowplow driver get to work now?

Took the boat out with Dad and the kids. Travelled to the cache site - a part of the bay that I had never explored before. Beached the boat and hopped out to look for the cache. They were right about the clams - loads of them, and lots of horseshoe crabs too. The cache was pretty easy to find - Kel spotted it and let Sam discover it it. Sam covered it pretty well for the next group of cachers!

We placed our first cache this evening. We finally got everything together this morning, jumped in the boat after dinner and went out to hide it. Timing will be everything with this cache - if you're going to walk to it, or even if you're taking a boat you better watch the tides as the bay is very shallow even at high tide. The current tide, and projected tides (for the next several days) can usually be found at www.bethany-beach.us if you're planning on going looking for it.

We left a camera in the cache - so take your picture, and record your name in the log book - also, let us know where you're from and how you got to it. Hope everyone enjoys it!

Oh yeah, the coordinates are - N 38 35.305, W 75 03.848.

Found our second cache this afternoon. Parked way to far away though - down in Fenwick Island. It was a long hike up the beach, especially for the kids, to the tower. Fun though, Dad spotted the cache but encouraged Sam to find it. Hope to set our own cache later this evening!

It seems that every year when I go to the beach I find that the dogs' Radio (invisible) Fence is broken. Last year I ran the wire (where it always breaks) through PVC to try and stop it from breaking again. When I discovered that the fence was down again this year I went right to the PVC - only to find that the wire was fine - there...

So, this year I ponied up the $60 for Petsafe's Wire Break Detector. The Petsafe website doesn't give you much info on this (non returnable) product, so I wasn't really sure what I was in for. It actually looks exactly like the regular transmitter - without the beep / shock switch.

Anyways, it didn't take me very long to find the break - it would have taken even less time, but I followed the wire the long (unbroken way). It appears that the gardners broke the fence while edging this year. If you've got a break in your fence - any brand really - I recommend the Wire Break Detector. It makes finding the problem easy.

Hit Lowes last night to get some 6" PVC pipe - for my new cache. I think that I have everything ready for it now. Assuming the weather, tides, and gods are all smiling on me we should be ready to lay it either tonight or tomorrow morning!

I ordered a travel bug today to put in my forthcoming cache. It's, obviously, not going to be here in time for the weekend (when we place the cache), but hopefully it'll show up by next weekend - so that I can put it in then. Wonder where it will end up? Kind of like my marked bills - always interesting to see where they travel

Hooked up the Car Chip to Dad's Audi yesterday - because I got tired of having no problems to log with my car! The Check Engine light has been on in the A8 for the last few months, actually it's been to the shop twice during that time period and it still comes back with the light on. The Car Chip says that the Audi has a Fuel Delivery Error (code P0148), and that's why the light is on. The question is where does one find the Audi OBD codes to ascertain exactly what kind of Fuel Delivery Error is going on...

The other day I was moaning about the cost of printing. Today I came across this inkjet printer - it uses spray paint cans for ink. Readily available spray paint has got to be cheaper then what I'm spending on HP cartridges!

Powstatd is reporting that the power has failed to Cleveland and the unit is now operating on battery power.

Powstatd is reporting that the power has failed to Cleveland and the unit is now operating on battery power.

Happy 4th of July to everyone! I hope you have a safe, and enjoyable long weekend.

I'm slowly learning all the features / functions of my new GPS. I took it with me on my walk tonight (the walk was a short one, I turned at the Popcorn shop). The GPS told me, when I got home, that I had walked 2.84 miles. It also told me that my trek took 52 minutes and 56 seconds with my maximum speed being 8 mph and my average speed being 3.2 mph.

Woo Hoo! We found our first geocache. All of use set out, before dinner, into the South Chagrin Reservation. We didn't get off to the best start as we started off by going in the wrong direction... I'm still getting on to the GPS' interface. We spent about 1 1/2 hours looking for the cache and then walking back to the car. The trek was a very nice walk through the woods and along the Chagrin river. It took us awhile to find the cache once the GPS announced that we had arrived, finally Sam spotted it. We took a couple of token items, and left some replacement ones. We also snapped our picture with the cache's camera. I'm already looking (online) for our next cache, and the kids are already plotting where they want to hide their own.

A while back (when there was still snow on the ground) I replaced my Compaq A1000 printer with an HP Deskjet 5500 (largely because the former was not CUPS compatible). I got the printer for $149 at OfficeMax, and the first thing that struck me when I set it up was the size of the ink cartridges...

Well, the wall is essentially done. They still need to saw cut the driveway to clean up where it tore (both prior to and during construction), and they need to roll and reseed the lawn. But the big work is done, and I think it looks great. Like it or not, it's a wonderful improvement (both structurally and asthetically) over what was previously there.

Got my GPS today - it's a Garmin Rino 110. I don't profess to knowing much about GPS', as this is my first - but it seems pretty cool to me. I took it on my walk tonight and it said that I averaged 3.8 mph. I came home and read the manual, and I think I can get it to tell me how far I walked - tomorrow night. I already have a cache picked out for the kids and I to try and find tommorrow night too - South Chagrin Bird Watcher's Cache.

Sam and I were watching Junkyard Wars the other night, and they were building devices to hurl pumpkins. It got me thinking about an email I got years ago - it probably even arrived on my old ATTMail account - about building trebuchets. So, for the heck of it I went looking for the article. I found it too! Check it out, it still makes me smile.

The A's (Sam's) team broke their streak - they won their first game tonight! The score was 8-4 with 6 of the runs coming in the 4th inning. I felt bad for the Orioles pitcher in the 4th, he couldn't do a thing. But they were fielding their entire team, so there was nobody to relieve him. Sam got walked twice and then struck out in the 6th. Great game, too bad it's going to be his last for awhile :sad.

Happy Canada Day (ne Dominion Day) to all my fellow Canadians - and to everyone else for that matter!