Christmas at the Ryan's

Each Christmas, Jennie and I spend time at her aunt Janet and uncle Jack.

Pistons Mania

My pal Dayna hard at work in master control. We are Pistons partners, meaning I sit here and she runs the show!!

Cable6.org Gets a Facelift

I've spent the last week working on the new www.cable6.org website. Paul Dingeman and I have been discussing for some time the possibility of adding streaming and video-on-demand content to the site. This seemed like the best time to do it.

Although not totally complete, I'm happy with the first version of the site. I am trying to give visitors easy access to what they are looking for. Most visitors come for three reasons:
First, they are looking to for the phone number of the station. Second, they want to know the schedule. Third, they want to re-watch something they saw on TV. So, these three tasks will be easily accessible from the home page.

I am also adding some other unique features. One is a photo gallery to showcase different events. Next is an online bulletin board submission form. Finally, a volunteer and show idea forum where viewers can be more involved.

I told Paul to wait until Christmas week to mention the new site. I want to make sure it looks nice and is 100% functional before then.

The Pressure is On

It's 8:40 am and I'm sitting in a classroom that is dead quiet except for the sound of my fingers typing on my keyboard and 24 computer mice clicking. I am administering our Adobe Photoshop CS2 Certification Exam to my morning class right now. 86 questions, 90 minutes, multiple choice. We've spent the last couple of months learning the ins and outs of the program and this is their chance to shine.

I had to re-start the exam 15 minutes into it because I found a flaw in my system. It turns out that students were able to submit questions and then go back and change them if they were wrong. They could do so until they got them right. They lost a fraction of a point each time they did that, but it was still not good. So, I quickly re-built the exam and had them all start again.

Be sure to check out my new blog, 10blogs.blogspot.com. I plan on visiting 10 blogger blogs--at random--each day. My hope is to encourage all blog viewers and creaters to take time to view others' work.

New Blog Look...Same Minty Taste!

Okay, I've been struggling with the look of my blog recently. Part of me really wants to dress it up and have it look snazzy. That is the unrealistic part of me that actually thinks I would put in the necessary time to keep it looking that way.

So, I'm settling for another fine Blogger template.

I've re-dedicating myself to the art of blogging. I'm going to be better about attempting to post at least a little something 3 days a week. My wife (tivochangedmylife.blogspot.com) manages to out-do me in this arena at the moment. I tell her it's because I don't have my own MacBook Pro to use while watching television. So far, she's not buying that one. Anyway, if you want, follow the link on the right to her blog and check it out!

Bruce aka Plumber Extrodinaire

Look Dad! I should have been a plumber! We had an unfortunate back up of waste water at the homestead about a week ago. As a result, this little thingy here--we'll call it the water softener drain--got clogged up. I had to cut the old one at the pipe you see running in the back there, and build a new one.

I improved upon the previous design by adding a trap with a thread rather than just a curved piece. That way, if it clogs in the future, I can just unscrew it! Genius...

Hey...new Hair

This one's for Jennie!

Shameless Self-Promotion

This is the sign outside our school. Thought I'd let the county know what I was up to!

Fix-a-Flat

Not this one! The tire was gone!

Wow! A television station!

Camping Out in the Cold? Just say Wii!

We stopped by Target on the way home to return something (and look for something to buy that we really didn' need) when we came aross these dedicated souls waiting to get their hands on the Nintendo Wii set to come out Sunday. I heard on the radio that Nintendo was able to produce enough units to meet most demands. I'm guessing that Genessee county is not going to be one of those hot spots that will run out. But what do I know, anyway.

The Wii seems like a pretty nifty little unit. I haven't purchased a new gaming console in quite some time, but if I were to count up my pennies and go out to purchase one today, I'm thinking the Wii would be the way to go. The system has an interesting new interactive remote control that is designed to make you 'feel' like you're a part of the game. But, they have 'retro' controllers that are available as well. That's nice. Plus, Wii is backward-compatible with older Nintendo system games. You can even but all of the classics, now available on DVD.

So, we'll see how the Wii frenzy pans out today. I hope they leave one for me!!

Walking through the Bronner's Christmas Tree Forest

Spending time in Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland is always a good time. Jennie and I have never been here as a couple (as best we can remember.) The store is a good primer for the upcoming holiday season. I think I am offically in the Christmas mood!

We decided to take our impromptu Frankenmuth trip after spending some time at Birch Run.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like....

Bronner's CHRISTMAS Wonderland display (a little blurry...darn camera phones!)

One Word to Describe (and it's NOT Wolf!)

I have been officially scared by a store. If you'd have asked me before yesterday whether this was possible, I would have answered with a resounding NO! But this business located at an outlet mall has everything...literally! From trains, to wolves....to lighthouses, to wolves....to dragons and wolves. This store is really your one-stop shop for everything, um........
tacky. Take this 3D bust of a wolf on a dark-green velvet-matted frame! Only $299

If you'd like the address, please contact me.