Tag Archives: New York

Whew July was busy

  By Big Dan | August 14, 2011 - 11:55 am |
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In the beginning of July a good friend of mine moved back to New York and opened up his house just up the street from me. There was tons of work to be done. Everything from cleaning the house top to bottom (it’s been sitting for 4 years) to drying out the basement which had water problems due to old gutters which have now been replaced. It’s great to have my buddy back even if it’s just temporarily until the house sells which could be a while in this market.

Now that all the major work is done we’re waiting on the weather for one last project, patching and sealing the driveway which is a bitch of a job but it definitely needs to be done from the looks of it. :eek: The forecast this week isn’t looking good but it has to be within the next few weeks as we need 3 hot & dry days in a row to properly dry the sealer. After the driveway is done it’s just little BS projects like painting which I don’t need to follow a schedule for.

It felt great to pick up a little extra cash and be physically productive. As a webmaster, most of my productive work is spent sitting in front of a computer punching keys so it was good exercise. Unfortunately, my friend is just as bad as me if not worse with the snacking so I’ve been eating a little to well this past month which means my diet went to pot and I’ve actually gained a few pounds. Over the next week or so I hope to get back to walking (weather permitting) and will curb the eating and snacking.

The worst part about it all was waking up at 7am every morning. That’s something I haven’t done in years. Lots of times I’m just going to bed at 7am, LOL. I got used to it and and fell into schedule pretty fast now it feels odd if I sleep past 9 on the weekends.

Aside from that I was slacking off here at home, keeping up with the cleaning and such because I was putting in 9-10 hours days up there then going back to hang out a little bit. This week I finally got to clean my house a little bit and with any luck I’ll be able to fall back into a routine with that from here on in.

Now that things are slowing down a bit I can focus a bit on my websites which I’ve slacked off on quite a bit. Hopefully I’ll be launching a few new sites this coming fall. ;)

Click It or Ticket aka State Fundraising campaign wraps up

  By Big Dan | June 14, 2011 - 3:35 pm |
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In New York, the State Troopers run these Click Or Ticket seat belt enforcement blitzes a few times per year. The campaigns coincide with major holiday weekends for maximum fundraising effect. Last week, I read this Click It or Ticket campaign wraps up – YNN, Your News Now on my local news site.1,600 seat belt tickets, 1,200 speeding tickets, and 60 DWI arrests. Do you realize know how much money the state and towns made off all those tickets? You have the cost of the ticket plus you get dinged with court costs on top of it. What a bunch of hooey.

Speeding, okay if you’re going over the speed limit you could be putting other lives in danger. DWI, definitely get them selfish idiots off the road.  Seat belts, come on! You’re not hurting anyone but yourself by not wearing a seat belt. That’s always been my bone of contention with seat belt laws. If I want to be an idiot and not use proper safety gear, what is it of anyone business but my own? Here is what always irked me; Who is the state to force me to wear a seat belt on one hand, yet on the other let me buy cigarettes so long as they get their cut in taxes? If the state was really out for it’s citizen’s good cigarettes and alcohol would be banned.

It infuriates me because there is lots of money to be made by putting BS laws on the books and ticketing people for not following them. That’s what seat belt laws are all about. It’s not about keeping citizens safe it’s simply about making money for the state. Nothing more, nothing less.

A Week and Two Days Home from FL

  By Big Dan | April 22, 2011 - 5:08 pm |
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I’ve been home from Florida for 9 days and am just now getting into the swing of things. I’ve been sick as a dog for the better part of that time. Today is the first day I feel like I’m firing on at least 7 cylinders. Last Saturday it was so bad with my breathing that I thought I might have to call an ambulance. An upper respiratory infection is my best guess but I wouldn’t doubt if I had  pneumonia. I’ve had plenty of upper respiratory infections and never felt this bad. My mistake was getting out in 43° Manhattan with nothing but a thermal lined sweatshirt after being in 90° Florida for two weeks. It didn’t help any that I took my walk the first two days I was home without a hat. I should’ve listened to my mother and waited a couple days to adjust back to New York weather. Mom’s always know. Don’t tell her I said that though. ;)

I had some Erythromycin left over from my tonsillitis in the fall and started on that. Since we don’t have a car I couldn’t get to the doctor. Mom had an appointment though and the Doc was nice enough to hook her up with some samples of Avelox for me. Avelox seems to be some pretty strong stuff because with just one dose yesterday I felt 70% better in just 6-7 hours! Today is much better and I’m able to breath without wheezing but my nose just won’t quit running. Oh and I cannot stray to far from the bathroom, gotta love antibiotics. :eek: LOL.

On a really good note: Mom got fantastic results from her quarterly blood work. All the numbers that needed to improve (cholesterol & such) are improving and everything else is good. Even the doctor was surprised. I’m pumped about that.

This weekend I plan on driving into the CMS portion of the vBulletin suite. A few weeks back I upgraded the DJ Board to the vBulletin 4 suite. With running down to Florida and all I never really got a chance to learn the ins and outs. I had printed off about 100 pages of documentation with the intention of reading it on the train. Halfway through reading I realized it would be much better if I had a test site in front of me to apply as I’m learning it. D’Oh! Last night, I was feeling a little better and had a chance to play around with it. I’m making some headway but not much.

The vBulletin Suite cannot hold a candle to WordPress. WordPress is so easy to use and understand. I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the taxonomy of the CMS. Sections, categories, grids, and widgets are all a part of it and I’m having  a hard time figuring out how one relates to the other. Grids and widgets are more of layout properties than anything.  Sections and categories have me a bit confused. I’ll get rolling on it this weekend and set up all the categories and such. I probably should’ve just stuck WordPress in front of a ‘classic’ vB install. The CMS is a headache and in almost a month only myself and one other member is using the blogging portion of the suite.

For this weekend I’ve got the King’s Speech and The Tourist on DVD from Netflix.  I’m really looking forward to the King’s Speech. Anywho that’s what’s up with me lately. How  is everyone else doing?