It's nearly time to start planting this year. I'll probably get around to planting seed indoors this weekend, to get a jump on the growing season. We still have a few weeks of cold nights ahead, so putting frost-sensitive plants outside isn't possible.

We'll try to put in quite a few tomatoes and peppers, along with the usual herb crop. We made it through the winter with fresh basil indoors; we'll try that again this winter.

The Apprentice. The formula has thinned out considerably. Lee has got to go. Lenny appears to be quite a character, but he's approaching his "fresh by" date. There's the usual cast of "lurkers" -- which is probably as much a function of the editing process as it is the "job applicants" / contestants.

The tasks are as silly as ever -- we've seen the "create an ad" routine many times. I can't quite figure out the "safe filled with diamonds" "reward" this week. The diamond people shared the plug with the good folks from Brinks. What's with that? Brinks didn't give up anything more than a tour -- the diamond people at least gave up the "ice".

The tease for next week didn't electrify -- this franchise may be running down, and out of fresh ideas.

National Cherry Blossom Festival

Lorraine's folks were in town over the weekend, so we headed into town yesterday afternoon for the start of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The two-week festival began with a 90-minute ceremony at the National Building Museum (one of my favorite places to bring out-of-towners). We got to see Gordon Peterson (local news anchor and host of Inside Washington, a weekly talking-head television show), Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives), and D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams.

Eleanor Holmes Norton is quite a public speaker -- she did this appearance "off-the-cuff".

RIM pays up, taking 'one for the team' - BlackBerry Battle - MSNBC.com

Disclaimer: I'm a happy BlackBerry user, one of the tools that comes with my job.

I'm firmly in the anti-"software" patent camp. "Software" patents stifle innovation and do little more than enrich an intellectual property rights litigation community. The irony of this situation will be if the USPTO decides against NTP on all five patents: will NTP face extortion charges?

RIM pays up, taking 'one for the team' - BlackBerry Battle - MSNBC.com

The "vast wasteland"

I ran across this item on the web, this evening. It's well written. It's particularly interesting when one considers the year in which it was written: 1961. Commissioner Minow was remarkably prescient. If you spend any time in front of the tube, this is well worth perusing:

American Rhetoric: Newton Minow -- "Television and the Public Interest"

NBC: Russia's Red Army Day blunder - Europe - MSNBC.com

Too funny! In days gone by, some poor copy editor / advertising "exec" would be shuffled off to the gulag, or so we've been led to believe. It makes one wonder what happens now....

NBC: Russia's Red Army Day blunder - Europe - MSNBC.com

Dell Dimension 4550 CPU coolling fan failure saga

When I get a chance [in the near future], I'll describe my experiences in finding and fixing the CPU cooling fan failure in Lorraine's Dell Dimension 4550. I received a replacement fan from SUNTEKPC on Thursday, and made short work of the replacement this afternoon. It looks like everything's working okay.

It's quite a story, and I'll post photographs to go with it....

Made it to the top of Murphy Dome yesterday -- very cold and windy, but the view was spectacular. We were able to see Mt McKinley just fine. That mountain is so remarkable from the distance; it stands nearly alone.

We had a great meal at Geraldo's (the one on Airport Way) last night. It's easy to see why it's a local favorite.

We're flying to Barrow the evening. I'm not sure if we'll have wi-fi connectivity for the rest of this trip, so this might be the last blog entry until we get back.

Murphy Dome Air Force Station

I think the Murphy Dome Air Force Station is "unmanned", but this would be OUTSTANDING duty if it weren't....

We Alaskans tend to collect things

Lorraine and I came across this place in 2002, and we just had to stop by in February 2006 to see how things were going. By our quick inspection, it didn't appear that much had changed.

This home, and its accessories, is located adjacent to the Fairbanks News-Miner office in downtown Fairbanks, Alaska. 

Woke up a little after 0600, and headed down to the hotel's breakfast area / lobby.

It's odd to watch a winter storm in Washington, DC from Fairbanks. News reports now call for 6 - 14 inches of snow at home, significantly more than we have here in Fairbanks.

We arrived in Fairbanks about 0015 (about an hour and a half ago). We flew on Alaska Airlines from National to Seattle, then on to Fairbanks. Service was pretty good. We got a cab to the Aspen Hotel, and settled in for the night.

It looks like it's going to be pretty warm while we're going to be here in Fairbanks. Washington, DC may get hammered this weekend, so in many ways, the weather will be better here.

Cinder's progress

Cinder contines to make progress -- every day she becomes more and more like a house cat, and less and less feral. Opie gets all the credit for showing Cinder "the ropes" and causing her to interact with us. She spends nearly all her time out in the open, and is very relaxed around us. She's comfortable enough, now, that she comes out and plays with our feet while we're walking around the bedroom.  

Cingular Patenting the Emoticon :(

I'm hoping that the good folks over at the Patent & Trademark Office sharpen their pencils before they start in on the patent application (and deny it!).

Cingular Patenting the Emoticon :(

In almost imperceptible steps, our new cat Cinder becomes more and more tame. She's out continuously, and gets very close to us. She isn't overly afraid of new people, is very curious, learns quickly, and is very playful. She and Opie wrestle and chase each other frequently. It's difficult to remember where we were with her in a kennel just two months ago.

FOXSports.com - NFL- Twelve wacky moments in Super Bowl history

"The Super Bowl is our nation's greatest sporting event." -- Jeff Gordon, Special to FOXSports.com

Huh? What about NASCAR? WWE Smackdown? The World(?) Series, for goodness sake? How does the Super Bowl rate?

(I don't read FOXSports.com, and I don't watch Fox News on television, either. I got here through one of those MSN Today teases that pop up, courtesy of MSN Messenger.)

Read more from Jeff at FOXSports.com - NFL- Twelve wacky moments in Super Bowl history

Flickr tools

As part of preparing for the upcoming trip to Fairbanks, Alaska and Barrow, Alaska, I've been researching tools to allow me to geotag / geocode photographs. With the advent of Google(tm) Maps, Google(tm) Earth, and other tools / sites, there's a lot of interest in coding photographs with the latitude, longitude, and altitude (LLA) of the position at which the photograph was taken.

Flickr is one of the better (and more popular) sites that support georeferencing of photographs. Here's a great reference of tools available to support Yahoo!'s flickr service:

Quick Online Tips: The Great Flickr Tools Collection

Cinder [again, but for the last time today!]

It's tough to take a picture of a cat, face on...you get a lot of retroreflection. She's a pretty cat anyway, though, don't you think?

(And it's really nice that I didn't need a telephoto lens to get this shot!) 

Cinder [again]

Here's another shot of Cinder, rubbing her face against the furniture. 

Our new cat, Cinder

We brought Cinder home on Saturday, 3 December 2005, and in about five short weeks, she's gone from being wild to being a very playful and energetic, inquisitive, and lovable cat. She's still not ready to be handled, but she's getting much closer every day. Opie, our other cat, is great "bait", drawing Cinder over to interact. I expect that within a few weeks, Cinder will be coming over to be handled a little bit.