Tech, Food, News, Life - Blog - Michael's Piece of the Web » Winter

Twitter Updates for Week Ending 2011-03-26

Michael — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 07:59:00 +0000

The #supermoon (Perigee moon) was impressive last night. Thought I’d left the outside light on but it was moonlight! http://bit.ly/i4wfoa #
Spent the day making corned beef & cabbage. Now St. Patrick’s Day is officially complete. (takes to long to make on a weekday) #
AT&T to buy T-Mobile http://bit.ly/gmKdX3 – I chose the Verizon iPad & use a Sprint phone. Wanna bet this deal stills screws me somehow. #
Yesterday I was outside checking on the flowers that are coming up. Today I drove to work in hail & sleet. Perhaps winter isn’t over yet. #
The diner I’m in has an original Pac-Man arcade game in it. Just another reason Jersey diners are cool. #
@EsztikeT We did enjoy it & I also just realized you aren’t a random stranger replying to my tweets! in reply to EsztikeT #
This officially the first tweet from my new iPad 2!!! #iPad2 #
@ebrantner No light bleeds on my black one. I waited til the iPad 2 to buy one. Happy with it so far! in reply to ebrantner #
RT “@feliciaday: Consensus from feedback: Most people don’t understand or use Twitter lists.”- Glad I’m not the only one #
Wow, @llbean now has all free shipping! Another reason they’re my favorite store. Other companies should follow suit. http://bit.ly/hJIfa5 #
We’re still number 5! Suck on that Phoenix! (just ignore all the rest of the bad news about Philly’s population growth) http://bit.ly/gxSRke #

Fire and Ice Festival Photos Posted

Michael — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 04:18:59 +0000

I just posted the photos that I took at the Mount Holly Fire and Ice Festival. It’s a ice carving competition and chili cook-off. This year is was nice and cold and there was even snow on the ground which made it even more fun than the last time I went four years ago. Check out the photos here.

Twitter Updates for Week Ending 2010-02-06

Michael — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 01:59:00 +0000

Best wishes to Captain Phil Harris (@CaptPhilHarris) for a speedy recovery! http://bit.ly/cEXGaa #
Happy Groundhog Day! Way to go Phil, 6 more weeks of Winter! Yay! http://www.groundhog.org #
I guess @Comcast will be passing on to its customers the cost of changing its name to something so dumb I won’t mention it here. Thanks alot #
For those wondering, I have a filter that deletes Facebook invites. But feel free to e-mail, text or call me instead. #idontusefacebook #
Snowblower fueled, firewood stocked up, staying in for the weekend… Bring on the blizzard! #
@PhillyInquirer Why would a respected newspaper pass along one of the oldest hoaxes around? (about cell numbers) Seems irresponsible to me. in reply to PhillyInquirer #

Twitter Updates for Week Ending 2010-01-30

Michael — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 01:59:00 +0000

Finally watched Conan’s last show. Very impressed. He was really classy. I wish we could go back to seeing Leno at 11:35 and Conan at 12:35. #
This is totally a First World problem, but planning a vacation is hard work! #
RT @MythBusters: “”If It’s worth doing, it’s worth over-doing” #mbquotes” – that’s my motto too #
14 degrees & snowing. This is what winter is supposed to be like! #

Newport RI Photos

Michael — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 03:06:55 +0000

I was in Newport Rhode Island on business recently. While I was there, the Newport Winter Festival was going on. It was the weather was beautiful for the two weeks that I was there. Of course, on the one day that I had free (the day I travelled home) there was an ice storm and the skies were gray at best. But I made the most of it and went out and did the tourist stuff and took a bunch of photos.

Check them out here.

Now that’s what I call Winter

Michael — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 19:46:19 +0000

I like the cold weather. I enjoy getting all bundled up and going out in sub-freezing weather. Sometimes I don’t even get bundled up.

However, even I have a limit. After reading this interesting article about Yakutsk, a city in Siberia, I’m pretty sure it’s WAY past my limit!

Read the piece in The Independent.

Peddlers Village Christmas Festival

Michael — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 04:12:15 +0000

You’ve seen my photos from Peddler’s Village taken during the summer. (If not, view them here.) Their annual Christmas Festival was this past weekend, so Kelly and I went back to see what it’s like in winter. It’s a whole different experience. The sub-freezing temperature was made bearable by marshmallow roasting over an open fire, hot cider cooked over a fire, carolers and even a little parade to welcome Santa Claus. Add thousands of Christmas lights and you have a great start to the Christmas season!

Click here to view my pictures from the festival.

James Kim Coverage

Michael — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 03:04:15 +0000

It’s amazing how far and wide-reaching the coverage of James Kim’s tragic death has been. Usually a tech journalist such as James has a small following who will pay attention to something like this (I’m among that group.) but his tragic demise has been covered by every news outlet imaginable. I can’t stand People magazine, but even they put him on their cover. CNN had a special about it tonight as well. Even competing tech media outlets are doing memorial pieces about him.

The latest news is that he actually walked 16 miles in his attempt to save his family, not the 10 that was first thought.

James Kim — 1971-2006

Michael — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 04:46:55 +0000

You probably already know that I was a huge fan of the long gone cable channel ZDTV/TechTV. One of the people who contributed to that channel’s success was James Kim. Last weekend he and his family disappeared while on their way home from Thanksgiving at a friend’s house in Oregon. After being lost in the snow for over a week his wife and children were found. James, however, had left them to find help 2 days earlier.

After an extensive search by land and air James’ body was found earlier today. It appears he was leaving a trail of clothing to help searchers track him, but they got there too late.

Besides losing a great technology journalist what strikes me is that this could happen to anyone. They missed a turnoff and looked at map and found another route to take. It was a National Forest Service road that, unkown to them, is not plowed in the winter. They became stuck and wound up staying in their car for a week with little or no food.

I’ve seen a lot of people who were critical of James’ decision to leave the family and car. But I can’t imagine how desparate he must’ve been at that point. They ran the car heater until it ran out of gas. They then burned the tires for warmth. Seriously, how bad does a situation have to be to push you to the point where burning your tires is the best option. After a week of being stranded, he had to think that they’d never be rescued unless he went for help.

Like I said, what is so scary is that this could happen to anyone. I mean I don’t expect that you could get quite that lost in the this part of the country, but there are is still plenty of wilderness in places like Oregon. It’s definately making be reconsider what I carry in my trunk.

You can donate to the family at the site set up by a friend while the family was missing at www.jamesandkati.com.

You can also view a tribute from his coworkers at C|NET.

One last Olympic Link

Michael — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 02:25:28 +0000

OK, OK, so you’re tired of the Olympics. I’ve been talking about the Torino 2006 Winter Olympics for 2 weeks or more now. However, I have to point out one more link that I thought was pretty cool. On the Bejing 2008 Summer Olympics site they have a page that shows all of the medal designs used in every Olympic Games and the torch design as well. You might not agree, but I thought it’s pretty interesting to see how the designs have changed.

View the medals here and the torches here.

Torino 2006 Closes

Michael — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 02:14:50 +0000

It’s hard to believe that it was 16 days ago that I sat here in fron of a roaring fire watching the Opening Ceremony of the XX Olympic Winter Games in Torino. Now here I am sitting in front of a roaring fire watching the Closing ceremony. Lucky for the althletes and attendees of the ceremony it’s actually warmer there than it is here. It’s aout 40 degrees in Torino tonight, here it’s only in the teens!

If you’re looking for info on the next Winter Olympics, check out vancouver2010.com. If you want info on the upcoming Summer Olympics check out beijing2008.com or london2012.org.

In the meantime, I’ll still be watching the Torino Games for a few more days because I still have some left on my DVR that I haven’t watched yet.

Nothing predictable in Torino

Michael — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 05:51:25 +0000

While watching the Olympics over the past 14 days, I couldn’t quite put my finger on why I thought this year’s has been more interesting than some other years. The main reason that I could come up with was that this is the first time I had a DVR while watching the Olympics. It lets me completely skip over the really boring sports like hockey, figure skating and cross country.

However, tonight while watching the primetime broadcast I realized that there was something else. Jimmy Roberts mentioned during his nightly “Chevy Olympic Moment” that nothing has gone as predicted in these Olympics. He pointed out that there were no real sure things in these games. He also pointed out that so far during the Olympics, 26 different countries have won medals. There were some Japanese gold medalists, Croatian gold medalists, and many others you might not expect.

You can read/view tonight’s “Olympic Moment” on NBCOlympics.com.

Torino 2006 Widget

Michael — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 05:51:52 +0000

Looking for a way to keep up with the latest from the Olympics in Torino without having to head to the web? I finally found a good way. You very likely already use Konfabulator (now known as Yahoo! Widgets.) If not, go get it and then continue reading.

The Turin 2006 Winter Olympics widget puts the current medal count on your desktop and continuously updates it. It also gives you all the latest photos from the games and the day’s latest news.

Get the widget right here. It works on both Macintosh and Windows.

The appeal of curling

Michael — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 01:03:02 +0000

NBC airs some of the Olympic curling matches live in the middle of the night on its cable channels. The beauty of having a DVR means that time doesn’t matter so I decided to record a few of them. It might not have the excitement and speed of the luge, but it involves strategy and careful consideration, etc.

After watching a men’s match and a women’s match, I learned something new about curling. It’s insanely boring! Don’t get me wrong, it’s interesting for an end or two but then it just keeps going and going and going at the slowest pace you could imagine. Oh well, I guess there’s a reason they show it live instead of saving it for primetime on the network.

Luge

Michael — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 04:55:47 +0000

Singles luge has always been one of my favorite Winter Olympic sports to watch. I’ve also always thought it would be fun to try. Not that I’d probably ever have that chance, but if I had to try one Olympic sport, I’d pick the luge.

After watching the women’s singles luge yesterday my opinions changed slightly. It’s still loads of fun to watch. But I’m not so sure about wanting to try it now! There were a few pretty fierce crashes, but the worst was Samantha Retrosi an American girl who got knocked out and slid down half the course unconcious. Read the details here.

Oh well, maybe trying the skeleton would be safer. What? Face first? Oh…

Day 1 over

Michael — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 05:53:46 +0000

Day one of the Torino Olympic Games is over. I just remembered what one of my favorite parts of NBC’s Olympic coverage is. It’s the late night coverage that begins at midnight. Maybe it’s the cozy set with the leather chairs and fake video fire; maybe it’s the fact that watching Bob Costas late at night brings back fond memories of watching Later with Bob Costas; maybe it’s the fact that they do more in-depth stories and summarize the day’s events.

Speaking of summarizing the day’s events, the US team came out of day one with their first gold medal. It’s their only medal at the moment. It was won by Chad Hedrick in 5000m speed skating.

High definition heaven

Michael — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 02:00:15 +0000

Some evenings are better than others, but at the moment I can’t think of a better evening than sitting here watching the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in high definition with a fire roaring in the fireplace. This is the first year that the Olympics are being broadcast in HD. Very cool!

Olympic Games and Genealogy Merge

Michael — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 05:14:59 +0000

As the Winter Olymics in Torino get ready to get underway, I have to point out that there’s a connection between the games and my genealogy research.

The Gatti family is originally from Casrozo, Italy. Casorzo is a tiny village very near to Torino where the games are being held. I haven’t resarched it, but I’m sure there are some distant cousins of mine helping out with the games. Visit my family tree site for more info about my family’s history. (It’s a little sparse now due to some family problems, but a great new one is coming soon.)

Olympic info delivered to you

Michael — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 03:49:17 +0000

I’ve told you a few ways that you can get all the Olympic info that you want, but what if you don’t have time to go the those sites. Well, then you should have your info delivered right to you!

NBC provides this service via e-mail or your cell phone. Just go sign up because it’s free!

Olympic Medals

Michael — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 17:23:35 +0000

The medals that will be given out at this year’s Olympics have a different look to them HTey are round like a doughnut with a hole in the center. I think the reasoning behind this is pretty cool. It’s represents the Italian tradition of having a piazza (or town square) in the center of each town.

You can see the design here and read an USA Today article about it as well.

NBC Olympics

Michael — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 17:38:13 +0000

There are always a few websites that I stick on my dock during the duration of the Olympics. One of course is the official site for that year’s Olympics.

The other big one that I visit constantly during the games is www.nbcolympics.com. We all know that the Olympics are carried on NBC and all of its various networks, but the website is more than an advertisement for their coverage. It includes tons of great information including running medal counts, athlete info, sport info, venue info and much more. It’s an invaluable resource.

Torino 2006 is coming

Michael — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 04:40:26 +0000

You never really see me posting anything about sports in my blog, but it’s that time again. Sure, there’s some football game being played this weekend, but more importantly, the 2006 Winter Olympic Games start in a week. You probably already know that I have no particular interest in or use for sports, but the Olympics are different. First of all, they suport world unity, etc., which is always a good thing. Additionally, they are entertaining. You get to see those sports that you usually never get to see and they are fun sports to watch. They aren’t team sports, but instead more individual sports such as the luge, etc.

This will be the first of several posts over the coming weeks about this topic. Watch for more to come!

Check out the official site at www.torino2006.org.

Make your own snowflakes

Michael — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 00:29:44 +0000

You don’t need to get out paper and scissors to make paper snowflakes anymore. Just head on over to Make-a-Flake and you can do it digitally now. When you’re done, you can download it, e-mail it, or anything else you want to do with it. Pretty cool!

If you make a really good one, put it in the comments even.

Winter must be coming

Michael — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 03:11:18 +0000

Everyone knows that my favorite time of the year is Fall and Winter. I just saw this article about a new “Ice Bar” in London. It’s a bar made entirely of ice. It’s an offshoot of a really cool (no pun intended) Ice Hotel in Lapland, Sweden.

I saw the hotel on a Discovery Channel show last year. I’d love to visit it someday! BTW, I just noticed that the show is going to be on again this year on 18 October at 1pm EST.

You’ll be seeing more posts in the coming days that go on about fall and winter things since I’m so happy that the cool weather season is beginning.