Computers, Movies, and Geocaching

We recently upgraded out cable to a whole-house system, which also upgraded our internet speed by trillions. Okay, maybe not trillions, but it more than doubled. Well, it doubled if…

my laptop’s wireless card could be upgraded. It cannot (since it is part of my motherboard).

Oh, but does the cable company tell you that? Heck, no!

So, while my husband is able to enjoy the speedy internet connection via wireless, I have to “plug in” if I wish to have the same service; otherwise, I’m stuck with the same ol’ slow internet. Guess it’s the price I pay for keeping my laptop, huh? And I really don’t want to give it up.

J J J

How far would you travel to see a movie?

On June 7, “Much Ado About Nothing” was reported to be released. I checked our local listings. Nothing. I checked Fandango, MovieTicket.com, and Rotten Tomatoes. Nothing. Found out via a comment on one of those sites that it was released in only FOUR theatres. The big release was scheduled for June 21. Okay, guess I have to wait.

On June 21, I checked our local listings. Nothing. My daughter came over and told me that the only Ohio cities showing the movie were Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland. How is THAT a big release? Guess I should be lucky it’s in Ohio at all, huh?

So yesterday, my daughter and I drove aaalll the way to Columbus (that would be 120 miles round trip) to see the movie. Was it worth it? Yes, it was. Now, I’m not a huge Shakespeare fan, and the fact his words are basically used in a modern-day setting kind of threw me (you really have to pay attention to what the characters are saying), but it was funny and I liked the people who starred in it. My daughter is a huge Joss Whedon fan AND she likes Shakespeare, so it was doubly good for her. If I were to rate this movie on something like Goodreads, I’d give it four stars!

J J J

Have you ever heard of geocaching? Saturday, my daughter discovered this newfangled adventure using your smart phone and now she’s hooked. It’s like a scavenger hunt, but it’s not like you win anything. It’s just something to do so you can say you did it. At least, that’s what I take it for. It does require a lot of driving around and searching, searching, searching. Then, when you find the object, you write your name down and then replace it.

Sometimes I see things and think: Gee, I wish they had something like that when I was young. Like I do with iPods or even CD players. I would have LOVED to carry my music everywhere back in the 70s.

But I don’t think I would have gone geocaching if it existed all those years ago. Not because I was lazy (I was and still am, thank you very much), but because I just wasn’t (and am still not) very adventurous.

I’ll leave the adventures to my characters (which gives me an idea… See, they come at the strangest times!).

So… Do you think you’ll check out “Much Ado About Nothing”? And if you saw it, what did you think?

Stacy

 

Pictures of the 2013 Midwest League All Star Game!

First off, let me say...

Happy Summer!

or...

Happy Longest Day!

I've been enjoying this wonderful weather. Hope you're getting some, too (and you can take that HOWEVER you wish).

Now, on to some pictures (and if you click on them, they should enlarge).

We made it late to see the home run derby, but Jessie Winker (of our Dayton Dragons) won and here is he getting a bat from George Foster.

Don't we have a nice scoreboard? And wasn't it a beautiful day?

We get more than just baseball in Dayton. Here, the Mini Dugout Dancers are getting ready to perform (yes, our seats are 5 rows behind the home team's dugout - I love them!).

Yep, even got some skydivers. This one was the last to arrive.

Here's Joe Morgan getting ready to throw the first pitch.

It's a race around the bases and these two little "Wright" flyers are meeting in the middle. The red one (third base side) won. It was hilarious watching these two youngsters trying to peddle when the wheels just couldn't grab onto the dirt very well. The silver one ended up being pushed by the ballplayers on the field.

The Celtic dancers performed between innings. I thought their outfits were gorgeous.

Even Brutus Buckeye made an appearance to sing Hang on Sloopy. That's Heater next to him (he's the Dragons' mascot).

And the night wouldn't be complete without Roofman! See him up there on the roof? He turns those hard baseballs into soft squishy ones and throws them back down to the crowd. Believe it or not, the FIRST year he appeared, he actually threw the hard baseballs. Won't do THAT again!

Yay! The Eastern Division won on a walk-off hit! (That's the division the Dragons play in.)

There's the final score. And look! Smoke is coming from the Dragons.

Afterward, we got a fireworks show. Not the greatest, but hey, it was still fun to watch.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Dayton knows how to give the crowd a good time. It's one of the reasons we love going to the games (it's not because the Dragons are winning, because they usually aren't).

Have a nice weekend!

Stacy



Wednesday Reads and WRiTE CLUB

I’m hanging my head in shame. I do not have a book to list today. Ah, but my editing project is coming along and maybe I’ll be able to squeeze in some more reading time. Oh, and cleaning time would be good, too, I suppose. I’ve got people coming over in less than a month! Yikes!

JJJ

Have you checked out DL Hammons’ WRiTE CLUB yet? Have you submitted anything? I wasn’t sure I would submit to this year’s event, but decided what the heck, why not? We’ll see if my submission even gets picked to compete. But hey, it is a fun event so even if you don’t submit, you should sign up so you can at least vote when the competition starts on July 8.

JJJ

Went to the Midwest League All Star Game last night, held in Dayton this year. Eastern Division won (that’s the division the Dragons are in - so Yay!). It was a fun evening. I’ll post some pictures of the night come Friday.

Well, I should have at least one book listed here next Wednesday. Until then, Happy Reading!

 

Stacy

Father's Day Fun

I asked my husband what he wanted for Father’s Day. I had only gotten him some munchie food (mostly flavored almonds) and a (cheap) OSU shirt, but nothing BIG. Then on Saturday he got his present. Tickets to a Pittsburgh Steeler game IN Pittsburgh!!

Yep, we’re finally going to see a game in Heinz Field. It’s only a preseason game, but heck, we don’t care. We just want to experience a game there and now we will.

August 24 - come rain or shine - we’ll be in Pittsburgh. Whoo hoo!

Oh, and he liked his goodies, too (like I doubted that).

Sunday, the kids came over and we played Catan, an interesting board game (my son brought over) where one person wins and no one comes in last (I like that), and Timeline, a card game for geeks (as my husband put it). My husband received three versions of this game, as a gift from our son, and we combined all versions into one (talk about a lot of shuffling--and those cards are small!). I lucked out more than KNEW the years of most of the events, but it was fun (especially since I won one of the games). I’m always surprised at what kinds of games are out there and we always have fun playing them with the kids.

 

If you haven't played these before and enjoy board games, check them out.

All in all it was a nice Sunday. It would have been nicer to spend it WITH my own father, but he lives allll the way over in California. Makes it hard to just stop on by. I hope to make a trip out there sometime next year, though.

Have you seen the new Superman movie yet? If you’ve seen it, should I go? If you haven’t, do you want to? I’m debating whether or not to go, mainly because of the mixed reviews. They don’t usually stop me, but for some reason they are this time. Decisions, decisions…

Have yourself a great Monday!

Stacy

 

Almost Pulled the Trigger

My husband has fifteen days of vacation to use. He wants to take a cruise, so he’s been checking out the prices. He thought he got lucky.

Back-to-back November cruises out of Miami, same boat, but each cruise is different (as it makes different stops). Fourteen days total, eight ports, and we wouldn’t have to get off the ship between cruises. The clincher? Each cruise started at $329/person.

Well, hell. Basically, a fourteen day cruise for $660? But before we could commit, he had to make sure he could take off two weeks in a row, especially after only being back from a week’s vacation three weeks earlier and an employee being gone on maternity leave. By the time he got the boss’s okay, price went up to $379 and $389.

Figures, huh?

So he called the cruise line. Apparently, those rates are for bunk beds (ugh!) and the salesman couldn’t book with old rates (which I believe is bunk, but hey, what can you do?). So we would have to upgrade to a king bed. By the time all the taxes and stuff were added, it came to over $1000/person for both cruises.

Suddenly it didn’t seem like such a bargain. We declined.

It was probably for the best. I do need to make a trip out to California next year. We’ll just save our money for that instead.

He still has those fifteen days to use. We’ll figure something out, I’m sure. He certainly won’t lose them.

Are you taking any trips this year? I’ll be accompanying my husband to Atlanta in August (business trip for him), attending Dragon*Con in Atlanta in September, and then taking a car trip to San Antonio in October (daughter’s Footy tournaments). I’m looking forward to the breaks.

Happy Friday!

 

Stacy