I have been amused by the postings today that many 30GB Zune players died today. The cause is apparently, Microsoft forgot that there are leap years which have 366 days per year.

I love the item on the www.zune.net webpage. "Trouble with your Zune 30? The fix is simple." If you click on the link, it essentially tells you to let the batteries run out, and wait until January 1st to restart it.

I wonder if Zune owners can get compensated for the fact that they can't use their players on December 31st.

On the good side, Microsoft has promised a fix before 2012....

Tags: Humor

Saturday, we went for a tour of the White House and thoroughly enjoyed seeing the public parts of the White House in full Christmas decorations. Unfortunately, no pictures as cameras were not allowed inside (you had to pretty much leave everything in your car). Our gracious guide was a patient of Zandra's. She is one of the handful of permanent staff at the White House that serves regardless of the administration in office. So she told us of lots of interesting little stories.

A funny moment came right off the bat - we were having our identities checked at the entrance (you must submit your names and social security numbers in advance for screening). Turned out, the person checking our IDs and names had the same name as Andrew! We were thinking, gosh, wish Andrew could have borrowed his ID....

Lots of interesting history and sometimes humorous information behind what you see. Coming in, we saw a portrait of Hillary Clinton in the hallway. We were told that that location is always reserved for a portrait of the immediately preceeding First Lady. So when Obama is sworn in, the picture of Hillary will come down and up will go the portrait of Laura Bush. This tradition, though, did lead to the awkward occurrence of George W. having to take down the picture of his own mother and put up Hillary's portrait in its place. Wow!

There's also a portrait of George Washington that she told us Dolly Madison saved when the British burned the White House. Dolly Madison was just finishing a chocolate cake when the British arrived (so much for advanced intelligence gathering in those days), so she ordered the staff to break the frame and she rolled up the portrait and took it with her. There's often a portrait of Dolly Madison hanging around nearby so "she can keep an eye on the portrait".

We were told about the Christmas trees inside and the Nativity scenes, and learned of the "private" dining room that is a much more intimate setting with "only" about 25-30 seats. Hmmmph!

We also heard an interesting story involving the Presidential Motorcade. For security reasons, President Bush had to take a motorcade from the White House across the lawn to light the National Christmas Tree. We were told there was too much empty space around to make a walk to the tree safe. The Presidential Motorcade has 27 cars (by the way, we found you can tell how important someone is by the number of vehicles in their motorocade - it's all set by protocol...). It's so long that to the Tree Lighting Ceremony, half the motorcade was still in the White House driveway. A cat chasing its tail moment....

No Oval Office tour. No Lincoln Bedroom tour (those are all off limits). That said, still a great tour with insider insight into the day-to-day operations of the White House!

Tags: Humor

I just got off the phone with Southwest Airlines because I needed to cancel a flight. They were very busy this evening handling flight cancellations due to bad weather, so I got the very unusual opportunity to listen to their "hold music".

I have to tell you, I was laughing so hard when the agent picked up, I almost couldn't talk to ask her to cancel my flight. They've got a lot of great one liners - like "The Captain has turned off the fasten seat belt sign. You are now free to move about the cabin. Of course, unless you're calling from your car." Then there was the "Pirate Song" which I didn't get to hear all of, but started off with an intro of "It's always more fun to say Caaaaarrrrgo if you're a pirate, so here's a pirate song..." or something like that.

More businesses really need to approach things this way.

Good work Southwest. You made my evening.

Tags: Humor

So the Dina week two update is a good one. She's doing great and we're all enjoying having her around. Of course, we've had a few ups and downs:

Ups - She's much more relaxed, she's eating better, she's learning to sit and stay better, and she's not pulling on her leash when we walk her.

Downs - She's had one accident in the house, she still tries to dart out the door, and she sheds hair all over.

Side effect - We finally have a total tally on the cost of adopting the dog. Realize the dog had to have a few accessories and necessities, such as a fence (for the backyard). This last item was *really* costly. Because it was fence, lot survey, and irrigation system repairs (twice). Then we had vet bills, food, gotta get the dog a doggie bed, blankets, combs, brushes, collars, leashes....but we did save money as Zandra is making home made doggies biscuits which Dina just loves.

Worth it? You bet!

Tags: Dina

And another good one from the Simpsons:

Tags: Humor

Announcing the latest arrival in our household -- Dina!

Dina is our new 7 year old black Labrador mix. We think she's part Chow as well, but as with most rescue dogs, we don't really know that much about her.

So far, she's been great around the house. She is house trained (thank goodness!) and is very mellow. We are getting used to having a dog and so are the kids. Dina is being very good and barking at the kids when she's had enough of them.

Here are some pictures:





These are from her Animal Rescue site - http://www.paw-rescue.org I have to say that I am so impressed by these folks. After we got the medical records for Dina, it's clear that they sunk a lot of time, effort, and money into rehabilitating our dog.



This is a picture of her lounging in her new home.

I'll post more pictures of her soon in the pictures section.

Tags: Dina