Curtis Bridges

Is it better to live as a monster or die a good man? Shutter Island (movie, not in the book)

You know you’re going a bit stir crazy when you wish you had access to your college physics and engineering text books (they are home, on my bookshelves) because time and non-use has rotted away many of the formulas from my brain. We lost power on Thursday night and it is now Sunday morning, I’m on my second book but that much sustained fiction reading is getting tiring. On the bright side, the kids haven’t really noticed anything is different since Friday when they got a little bored and wanted to watch TV. Once we finally explained (it took a while…) that no power=no tv, they’ve been great. On the down side, I think my wife is losing it!

What does one do without power for almost 48 hours? This… Kindle 2 Mighty Bright light An unspecified amount of red wine. One large fiction done, might as well start another.

Ok, Apple and AT&T. I’ve been patient. I have not complained. I have paid my bills including the extortion level data plan and the slap in the face texting fees; isn’t it about time you enable tethering? I’ve been without power along with 300,000+ people in my state and I’d like to connect my laptop for like an hour or something. I don’t plan on streaming video and then walk away from the screen with an evil laugh, I would just like the luxury of typing on a real keyboard and to send out some (plain text!) emails. Sincerely, Your loyal (locked in) customers

http://focusmanifesto.com/getting-amazing-things-done/ Good advice. I should actually do it. (via mnmal )

The era of the standalone smartphone company is over. To say it plainly: To make the best phone, it’s not enough to simply make the best phone. John Herrman, Gizmodo

Welcome to Mississauga (via MercerReport ) Wow. I love this woman. Someone put her in a music video already.

There is wisdom in age. This rant about computer/software complexity mirrors my sentiments exactly. Probably because I’m getting old and crotchety. Well, at least old because I just get more mellow as I age.

Grape Nuts, nothing else like it. I actually really like Grape Nuts!

inothernews : DROWN; UP The ruins of a church in the Andean town of Potosi in January 2009 (top) and now. The 25-metre-tall church and ruins of a town flooded in the early 1980s have emerged from the Uribante-Caparo reservoir after a drought reduced water levels.  (Photo: Reuters via the Telegraph)

http://zenhabits.net/2010/02/deadly-sin/ I’m mostly horrible about changing habits but I’ve always found the bullet points listed in this article to be very true. Thought I would share.

Kornheiser suspended Yet another shining example of things getting blown out of proportion in our overly politically correct world. Which isn’t saying that his comments weren’t out of line, just the over-reaction by ESPN. Next time Hannah, just rip him back on your show… Relax and enjoy the vacation, Tony. I’ll be looking forward to you getting back. Hopefully we aren’t subjected to two weeks of Le Batard.

onecoolthing : They are so cool you’ve probably already heard of ‘em, but if you haven’t- Pomplamoose. Could be the future of music and its videos, certainly is the present. My other favorites are Single Ladies and Mrs. Robinson … Ya, I’ve seen a few of their videos, they are really fun and innovative. Check it out! My personal favorite is still Beat It!

Mariana Trench to scale Sometimes it is amazing to put things in perspective.

I just finished the book, Shutter Island , by Dennis Lehane . Quite simply, I absolutely loved this book. I don’t want to give anything away about the plot but I will say that I am so very glad there is an author with the guts to write story lines that are so non-American. I mean this in a good way! You see, I plan on going to see the movie next weekend, and I have really high hopes in it being a good adaption of the book - I’m worried because of a similar plot that drove the book I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. The movie butchered an otherwise amazing story probably in large part because major studios don’t think the American viewing public can handle an adult ending. Luckily, I have faith in Martin Scorsese to have enough pull to deliver in this situation. I can’t wait!

Had one of the coolest Dad moments just now with Casey (Pam and Ally went to Boston to see The Lion King). We watched Star Trek while doing puzzles, he was really into it!

Tea party in full swing.

When you want me to go fast, say “Washington”. Casey Bridges, 3 years old

Given the current storms in D.C. area lately, I was curious what some of the biggest snow storms of all time . I’ve seen a few that I thought would qualify… as it turns out, I have! For #9, I was in college in Worcester, MA and I remember it well as it shut down the city for effectively 5 days. I also have always heard about the “Blizzard of ‘78” from my parents.  I was alive but I guess I don’t remember it since I was only 5 years old.

Ya, I would have geeked out if I could have put these up in my room as a kid.  Then again, I would have had to take down either the football (L. Taylor , P. Simms , E. Dickerson ) or military jets ( F-14 , F-16 , SR-71 ) down to put them up. Ya, it is sad, no bikini babes were on my walls…

Broadband is the dial tone of the 21st century. -Derek Slater, Google

I like the stark contrast between Tom Brady and Drew Brees pre-game. Brees: your teamates aren’t dogs that need to be verbally excited to perform their job. If my manager came into my office on Monday morning and did this, I’m not sure how I would react.  It certainly wouldn’t motivate me to program faster, better, (stronger?). Of course, I think he knows this which leads me to believe he only does this for the cameras and your average Sunday couch potato, which is even less appealing to me. Brady time and again puts his faith in his personnel to be the professionals that they are, perform at their best and put wins and losses behind them. I only post this because Brees post-game finally softened my opinion of him with this: Don’t get me wrong, his ability as a quarterback are unquestionable. Top 5 in the NFL currently, his SuperBowl stats were even more impressive and he played one hell of a game. Just drop the show-boating. Ray Lewis already owns it anyway.

Honestly, this is the first phone /device that has made me pause for a moment in my iPhone induced bliss.  It’s compelling. It’s Geek-Chic.  Yes, admittedly, I am a Google fan-boy in most things but the iPhone has made me very happy for quite a while.

I’m not sure I’m going to go this route since it would only be optimum on my AppleTV but at least the rest of the family could watch movies without my intervention.

In the summer of ‘88 or ‘89, I started making a strip-plank cedar canoe with my Grandfather.  I started high school the following year and life got busy and stayed that way.  The half done canoe sat in my parent’s basement for (eek) 20 years. A family friend, Laughnie has picked up the project and is now finishing it.  Look how awesome it is!

I came across this blog entry because I was curious to see an analysis on the costs of books.  Specifically, I wanted to see what percentage of the cover price went to manufacturing the book itself, and therefore should not be included in the price of eBooks.  I was surprised to see it was only 10%…

I just finished Dan Brown 's The Lost Symbol which was entertaining but I can't help but feel like Brown is starting to loose his magic that peaked in Angels and Demons and did passively well in The Da Vinci Code . Like I said, it was entertaining but not one I would recommend anyone go rush out and read. That being said, Brown always explores many incredible topics in his books and weaves between fact and fiction flawlessly.  This was one I had to read about after finishing the book, I give to you........ Kryptos .

http://science.howstuffworks.com/10-biggest-snowstorms1.htm Given the current storms in D.C. area lately, I was curious what some of the biggest snow storms of all time. I’ve seen a few that I thought would qualify… as it turns out, I have! For #9, I was in college in Worcester, MA and I remember it well as it shut down the city for effectively 5 days. I also have always heard about the “Blizzard of ‘78” from my parents.  I was alive but I guess I don’t remember it since I was only 5 years old.

http://gizmodo.com/5466822/beautiful-planet-posters-are-space-geek-catnip/gal... Ya, I would have geeked out if I could have put these up in my room as a kid.  Then again, I would have had to take down either the football (L. Taylor, P. Simms, E. Dickerson) or military jets (F-14, F-16, SR-71) down to put them up. Ya, it is sad, no bikini babes were on my walls…

Broadband is the dial tone of the 21st century. Derek Slater, Google

I like the stark contrast between Tom Brady and Drew Brees pre-game. Brees: your teamates aren’t dogs that need to be verbally excited to perform their job. If my manager came into my office on Monday morning and did this, I’m not sure how I would react.  It certainly wouldn’t motivate me to program faster, better, (stronger?). Of course, I think he knows this which leads me to believe he only does this for the cameras and your average Sunday couch potato, which is even less appealing to me. Brady time and again puts his faith in his personnel to be the professionals that they are, perform at their best and put wins and losses behind them. I only post this because Brees post-game finally softened my opinion of him with this: Don’t get me wrong, his ability as a quarterback are unquestionable.  Top 5 in the NFL currently, his SuperBowl stats were even more impressive and he played one hell of a game. Just drop the show-boating. Ray Lewis already owns it anyway.

http://www.google.com/phone Honestly, this is the first phone/device that has made me pause for a moment in my iPhone induced bliss.  It’s compelling. It’s Geek-Chic.  Yes, admittedly, I am a Google fan-boy in most things but the iPhone has made me very happy for quite a while.

http://techsupport.foreverwarm.com/how-to-add-your-dvds-to-appletv I’m not sure I’m going to go this route since it would only be optimum on my AppleTV but at least the rest of the family could watch movies without my intervention.

In the summer of ‘88 or ‘89, I started making a strip-plank cedar canoe with my Grandfather.  I started high school the following year and life got busy and stayed that way.  The half done canoe sat in my parent’s basement for (eek) 20 years. A family friend, Laughnie has picked up the project and is now finishing it.  Look how awesome it is!

http://ireaderreview.com/2009/05/03/book-cost-analysis-cost-of-physical-book-... I came across this blog entry because I was curious to see an analysis on the costs of books.  Specifically, I wanted to see what percentage of the cover price went to manufacturing the book itself, and therefore should not be included in the price of eBooks.  I was surprised to see it was only 10%…