Author Archives: Peter

Wild Weekend

fff|ggg|canoeing_nashua/P1030042|The GeekMobile With Canoe|ggg
ggg|pillsbury_state_park/P1030165|The Gang at Balance Rock|ggg|fff

We had quite an exciting weekend:

On Saturday, we were in Townsend to attend a graduation party for a friend of Becky’s family. In the morning, Becky and I, along with Ken, Dianne, and Corey, headed out onto the Nashua River to do some ***canoeing and kayaking|http://gallery.prwdot.org/canoeing_nashua***. We had quite a good time, and got to see lots of natural beauty, all while getting a decent upper body workout.

On Sunday, Becky and I drove up to Claremont, NH to visit our friends ***Jeremy and Angela|http://www.thebiggspicture.org/*** at their new house! On the way, we stopped for a quick, mosquito-infested hike up ***Mount Watatic|http://gallery.prwdot.org/mount_watatic*** in Ashburnham, MA. After arriving in Claremont, we got to see all of the work The Biggses have been doing and are planning on doing on ***the house|http://gallery.prwdot.org/grab_bag/P1030197***. After the house tour, the four of us went hiking at ***Pillsbury State Park|http://gallery.prwdot.org/pillsbury_state_park*** in Washington, NH. It was a very nice afternoon for a hike (much better than the day on which the Biggses ***previously hiked|http://thebiggspicture.org/2005/06/we-couldnt-decide-on-title-for-this.html***), and Pillsbury has some really nice scenery… mountains, lakes, and some very nice looking campsites (we’d love to get Site 28 some time, if possible). After the hike, we had all worked up quite an appetite, which we satisfied at the Biggs House with breakfast for dinner… fresh bacon, eggs, French toast, Belgian waffles… yum.

We finally arrived home in Beverly with just enough time to unload our belongings and get some sleep… and now, yet another week of work. Life goes on!

the answers

Well, we gave you the opportunity to ask us anything. We got some good questions, a few that really made us think, and now we’re ready to answer them!

1. “If Jimmy cracks corn and nobody cares, then why does he keep doing it?” -JSB
Becky & Peter: “I would like to think that Jimmy is so self confident in his choice of activity that it doesn’t bother him that no one else cares. He enjoys it and that’s enough for him.”

2. “What is so great about the song My Wild Irish Rose?” -MAL
Becky: “It’s the descant. That’s what makes it cool.”

3. “Have you ever eaten plum puffs?” – MAL
Becky: “Yes!” Peter: “What’s a plum puff?”

4. “How many similarities are there between the Sound of Music and Anne of Avonlea?” – MAL
Becky: “A lot – but you’ll have to come and watch them with me to find out!” Peter: “They’re both movies I most likely would not have watched had I not met Becky.”

5. “Why does Mr. Cleasby wear red pants? Why did Mr. Buddington wear a red jacket?” – MAL
Becky: “One day, in 1974, the suit was on sale at Brickman’s and each could only afford to buy half.”

6. “Do you think the world would be a better place if everyone ate your mother’s (or mother-in-law depending on who’s reading this) carrot cake?” – MAL
Becky: “Definitely!” Peter: “Sadly, I don’t think I’ve ever had it… but I would probably say yes!”

7. “What is the question to the ultimate answer of Life, the Universe, and Everything? (Hint: the answer is 42.)” – AB
Becky & Peter: “We will simply quote from the book itself:” “Forty-two!” yelled Loonquawl. “Is that all you’ve got to show for seven and a half million years’ work?” “I checked it very thoroughly,” said the computer, “and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you’ve never actually known what the question is.”

8. “Why is carpet so expensive?” – AB
Becky: “Perhaps because the carpet makers know that you’re not going to be buying it very often, so they need to make their money on that one-time sale.”

9. “Of all the places you’ve been, and all the places you’d like to visit, what is your favorite place in the world?” – AB
Peter & Becky: “It’s hard to say what our favorite place in the world would be. There are so many wonderful places that we’ve been, or would like to go to. Here is a selection of some of our favorites: Martha’s Vineyard… San Francisco… Oregon… Andalucia… places that we enjoy traveling to and feel comfortable in.

10. “If you could go back to one moment or one day in time and do it all over again, when would it be? If you could go forward?” – AB
Peter & Becky: “This is probably a cheap answer, but we can’t think of anything that we’d want to do over again. We don’t know anything about the future, so we can’t think of any moments we’d want to go forward to.” Peter: “Except maybe for the moment when warp drive is invented. That would be cool. I’d like to meet Zefrem Cochrane, or whoever actually invents it.”

11. “How many electronic gadgets do you own? How many pencils? Do you still have any crayons lying around? Have you ever used a typewriter? How long ago?” – AB
Electronic Gadgets: 7: Apple PowerBook, Apple iPod, Palm V, Handspring Visor Edge, 2x Sanyo cell phones, Panasonic digital camera. Pencils: 12. Crayons: Becky: “Yes, I have a box of 92 colors!” Typewriter: Becky: “Yes – around 2001-2002 at bank jobs” Peter: “Yes – in the late 80’s before we had a computer, I used a typewriter for writing school reports.”

12. “What is your one favorite pastime?” – AB
Becky: “Crafting in general.” Peter: “Computers in general.”

13. “What if the “Hokey Pokey” is really what it’s all about?” – JSB
Becky & Peter: “Hooray! If the Hokey Pokey really is what it’s all about, then we’ve got it easy! Heck, an integral part of the song is the INSTRUCTIONS for doing the Hokey Pokey. So you wouldn’t have to worry about anything ever again.”

14. “If you were able to move to any country in the world, which one would you choose? Once there, would you live in a city? The country? Suburbia? Would you want a house? Apartment? Would you try to find equivalents of your current jobs in your new location or would you try something new?” – JSB
Peter and Becky: “As with many questions, there are many places we might choose… but one example might be Switzerland. (P: I’ve never been there, so I’m taking Becky’s word that it’s as nice as she says.) We would probably like to live in a small town, but not too far from a city. Definitely in a house. Becky would like to find a position as an English-language tour guide, sort of doing what she’s doing now… only in Switzerland. Peter might take the tourist opportunities and start some kind of photography business.”

15: “What is the most powerful evidence of God in your life?” – AB
Peter and Becky: “The fact that we’re able to be content with life, in a world that is filled with discontent.”

Thanks for all of the questions… we hope that you find our answers interesting, or at least amusing. Feel free to add more questions to ***the original post|http://prwdot.org/archives/002592.html***, and we might answer them periodically!

They just keep coming

June is indeed the month of occasions… today we have two more!

ggg|niagara_trip_day_1/IMG_8338|Happy Anniversary, Mark and Kirsten!|ggg

ggg|zach_andrea/P1020503|Happy Anniversary, Ken and Dianne!|ggg

Hope your anniversaries are happy all around. I think there are a few more occasions on the calendar for June, so we’re not done yet!

Ask Us Anything.

No, really. Ask us anything. Simply leave a comment on this post, with as many questions as you would like to ask us. If you think of another question later, feel free to add another comment. You can address your questions to just one of us, or both of us together. You can ask questions specifically about us, or any topic you’d like us to talk about. You can even ask us to take photos of things, kind of like ***Nikkiana did in her recent photo meme|http://www.everytomorrow.org/archives/2005/06/07/photo-meme-pt-2/***. We will most likely leave this post up for a while, and then write up another post with the answers.* That is, assuming there are any questions.

Remember, there are no stupid questions… but our answers? That’s another story.

* We’ll attempt to answer your questions as well as we’re able, but we can’t guarantee that every question will be answered.

Triple-Header

We have three well-wishes to send out for today!

ggg|grab_bag/IMG_8455|Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad! (Ah, yes, like father like son.)|ggg

ggg|zach_andrea/P1020426|Happy Birthday, Dianne!|ggg

ppp|Uncle Tom
Happy Birthday, Uncle Tom!|ppp

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to come up with a different photo for Tom than I used ***last year|http://prwdot.org/archives/001824.html***. Obviously, I need to get out and see my side of the family more often.

Mac on Intel: Roundup and Reactions

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past 24 hours, ***Apple|http://www.apple.com/*** has ***announced|http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/jun/06intel.html*** that they will be transitioning the processors in their Macintosh computers from ***IBM|http://www.ibm.com/***’s PowerPC to ***Intel|http://www.intel.com/*** chips. This transition will start with low-end models by June of 2006, and high-end models by June of 2007. The technology world, Macintosh devotees in particular, has been quite shaken up by this announcement. I’d like to round up some of the coverage, and add a few of my own thoughts.
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Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants

Thanks to an ***entry|http://drbacchus.com/wordpress/?p=972*** at Richard Bowen’s ***journal|http://drbacchus.com/journal/***, I’ve been introduced to the writing of ***Marc Prensky|http://www.marcprensky.com/***. In particular, I’m fascinated by his “classic” two-part essay on “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants”. To boil it down, “Digital Natives” are those people who have grown up surrounded by technology, and are “fluent” in the language. “Digital Immigrants” are the older generation who have not been surrounded by technology for their whole lives. These two articles help to put a face and a name to an issue that I have thought about quite a bit.
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Gimme 5!

My frustrations with ***TekTonic|http://www.tektonic.net/*** had reached the boiling point, so I decided to switch prwdot.or back to its previous host, ***Site5|http://www.site5.com/affiliates/idevaffiliate.php?id=9***. The move is now complete! I’m much happier to be back on a nice, snappy, responsive host. One that I don’t have to spend my time administering. The folks at Site5 have much more time and knowledge to do that sort of thing, and I’m happy to let them do it!

Hooray for Site5! Now I’m off to enjoy some of the lovely weather we’re having.

A Bloglines Diet

I’m certainly not the biggest ***Bloglines|http://www.bloglines.com/*** subscriber – from what I’ve read, some users have over 1000 feeds on their blogrolls. My blogroll numbered at a slightly more modest 244. Until today, when I decided to put it on a diet. Now there are only 198 feeds on my blogroll. I’ve removed redundant news sources, eliminated blogs that are rarely updated, axed blogs whose posts I simply didn’t like reading, and consolidated blogs where an aggregated source was available (e.g. ***Planet Mozilla|http://planet.mozilla.org/*** or ***Planet Movable Type|http://planet.movalog.com/***).

I’m still working on cutting some of the fat and not only on the blog but on myself, I just started a new diet I found on this blog Jenny craig vs nutrisystem which one should you buy. There are blogs that I’ve kept around ‘just in case’ something interesting pops up… but I’ll probably let them go. One thing I’m trying to convince myself of is that I simply don’t need to be the first person to hear about news… I’m going to try to be happy just reading news from a second or third tier reporting site, rather than subscribing to all of the ‘important’ first tier bloggers. So here’s to a slimmer blogroll, less compulsive blogroll checking, and more free time.