A robin family has moved in...

...right next to my front door. I have a tall evergreen (some run--of-the mill spruce or something like that) right next to the front door. I recently noticed that every time I walked in or out of my front door, a bird flew out of the bush. So I peeked in the other day and saw a wonderfully constructed nest with 3 bright blue eggs carefully arranged inside. Robin's Eggs!

Poor birds, though. They have a fit everytime someone comes in or out of the door, even at night when they should be asleep. I hope they settle down long enough to hatch the eggs. Maybe I should think about using the back door for awhile until the little ones fledge.

I also hope the don't end up flying inside my house by accident!

Where did my love for bleeding edge technology go?

My home computer is *old.* I was going to upgrade the memory and discovered that I could only squeeze 1 gig of memory into its old carcass. Gee whiz! I used to be buying new computers on a regular basis. In fact, when I came to my current job (close to *4* years ago!), I whined and complained that my office machine was underpowered and couldn't match my equipment at home.

And now, horrors! I discover I've got an old clunker at home. I need to upgrade, get back into the technology swing of things! I'm thinking of buying a laptop this time. I could get a docking station, nice monitor (my monitor is ancient! but just won't die), wireless and Bluetooth everything.

A friend of mine comforted me when I expressed my concern that I was less of a technology geek than I once was by reminding me that I have an iPhone, a robotic dinosaur, and a built-in GPS in my car. I'm not as behind the times as I might be. But still....am I slowly but surely becoming a bit of a Luddite {shiver}?

FIOS is coming to town

I live in a condo. The condo association recently sent out a letter stating that all of the units were going to be wired for Verison FIOS (fiber optic) during the next month. We don't have to sign up for the service, but for some reason, the association wants the development wired.

I wonder if this means that eventually, highspeed Internet and maybe cable TV will be part of our condo fee. Which would be very convenient!

I'm kind of psyched about the FIOS Internet thing. It's supposed to be very fast! And, having FIOS might mean that we will be able to choose cable TV from Charter or Verizon. I really DO wish I had a choice!

The one thing about FIOS that gives me pause is that I heard adding FIOS means the copper connections are cut and if you don't like FIOS, it would be prohibitively expensive to go back to copper as opposed to Fiber Optic. In our case, it looks like we won't have a choice...

American Orient Express

Once upon a time, trains were the main connections from one place to another. Even today, when we drive so much and don't think much about our rail system, having a train station in town is still an asset.

I often think about taking a luxury train journey. The idea of a trip where I can just be and observe the world as it goes by intrigues me. Maybe someday, I'll take a trip on the American Orient Express http://www.americanorientexpress.com/.

Click and Clack coming to TV!

Do you listen to Car Talk in NPR?

I love that show. I love listening to the Magliozzi brothers. And since I don't get NPR on the radio in my house (I live in a valley, without antennas, it's hard to get a lot of stuff!), I have to be driving around somewhere on the Weekend to catch the show. So I don't listen as often as I would like.

But now, they're coming to TV! Yup, they're going to have a PrimeTime animated show on PBS, starting in July. Here's the link: http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/11/magazines/fortune/taylor_cartalk.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008041510

Hotel of Glass?

One of my hobbies is to play with glass. Lately, it's fused glass, but I have a soft spot in my heart for all types of art glass. There's a hotel in Tacoma, Washington that was made for art glass lovers...The Hotel Murano (http://http://www.hotelmuranotacoma.com/).

I love the state of Washington...I love glass. I think I need to go to the Hotel Murano.

Great balls of ...light?

Light...I like the light from a roaring fire in the fireplace, I like candles, I like the neat Candela lights from vessel (http://www.vessel.com).

And now, you can get "glowing orbs of light" from a German company (http://http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/27/smbusiness/great_balls_light.fsb/index.htm). These lights are polyethylene globes of lights that run on rechargeable batteries or can be hardwired. Apparently, they can even float in pools. You can buy them from a company called Moonlight, Inc. (http://http://www.moonlight-inc.com/).

My friend G lives by a lake...it would be really cool to get some of these lights, tether them to the dock there and enjoy pina coladas on a late summer evening...