Gary
1/30/09
Looking for the perfect dessert to serve to your right-wing guests? Try this new Ben & Jerry's flavor! :-) (Sounds really good...)

The Oscar Ballot-O-Meter has just ticked over the 5 mark: Emily, Gary, Grandma, Karen, and Olivia are now in the trophy race. The rest of you have 17 days to join in.

I just realized that Lindsey is not represented on the contact page. If you read this, Lindsey, or if anyone else bumps into her, please ask her to send me her contact info and I'll add it to the page.

Hey, if you're wondering who to root for in this Sunday's Superbowl, you could root for the underdog -- the Arizona Cardinals, which Vegas oddsmakers have losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers by at least 7 points. Or you could make it political, and root for the team that matches your politics: The Steelers owner (Dan Rooney) campaigned hard for Obama last year, while the Bidwell family (owners of the Cardinals) donated heavily to McCain. Or, pick 'em by colors: The Steelers are black and gold (same as Penn State in the NCAA), and the Cardinals are red and white (pretty close to Nebraska's scarlet and cream). Or choose between mascots: The Steelers mascot is Steely McBeam -- and the Cardinals mascot is a cardinal named Big Red. Enjoy the game, everybody!

I was not aware of the Ancestory site. Looks interesting, and I can't wait to see everything you find out. Maybe we can make it into a webpage and put it up here...? Let's talk!

And by the way everybody, I got my computer up and running again. I finally had to do a complete re-format of my drive (i.e., erasing everything) and start over with a clean install of Windows. So it will take me a while to get the million-and-one settings and preferences back the way I like 'em, but at least I've got the basics back.

It's a whopping 1,474-megapixel panoramic shot, so it's incredibly zoomable. Use the controls to focus on details in the crowd. (Is Chief Justice Clarence Thomas asleep...?) See it here.

We have about three weeks to get our Oscar picks in. The broadcast is Sunday night, February 22 -- I know that some of the readers of this page will be boarding a plane for D.C. the next morning, but even so they (and everyone else) are welcome to the viewing party that night at Grandma's.

I'll be making frequent and annoying reminders here to get your ballots in. Also, I'm going to email everyone today, for those who don't read this page often.

Lots of good movies this year, so it should be fun. And don't miss our convenient Oscar Trailers page, where you can see previews of all the nominated films. Good luck everybody!

The whitehouse.gov pics rotate, so I'm not sure which one you're talking about. Let me know and I'll try to find a frame-worthy version of it. --Gary

I also heard that when the girls appeared on the reviewing stand yesterday and the news-talkers announced that their outfits had come from J.Crew, so many people went to the J.Crew site that it crashed and was down for the rest of the day! :-) Back up now.

Rachel Maddow (or maybe Keith -- I'm watching MSNBC) noticed that earlier. It switched at exactly noon (Eastern) as Obama was taking the oath. --Gary

I'm glad it arrived. Keep me posted on if it works for you and if you like it. And let me know if you have any problems with it -- I have used it for a while and can probably figure out what's wrong. (Plus, just last night I discovered yet another movie-converter that looks even easier to use than the one I sent, so I could send you that one too!) --Gary

I might be on Channel 6 news tonight. They're doing a story on employees watching the ceremony at work. I saw a camera guy walk in but I thought it was one of our photographers. I hope he got my good side...

Kind of a small personal thrill to see Dianne Feinstein at the heart of things. I once shared an elevator with her, back in San Francisco when she was a mere city councilperson, and we had a very brief conversation.

Okay, as of this minute (11:07 am) Bush is OUT; and Obama is IN!

And Gary, I heard on NPR this morning that Cafe Press (your Xmas card printer) is handing out free Obama pins. When asked why they would do this for free, they said because they wanted them to be accessible to everyone. Nice company.

Will do! --Gary

The concert was amazing. Jack Black in a suit and never cracked a joke. Garth Brooks was really good, U2 was probably my favorite. The only non-American performers, I believe. Gallup is going to show the inaugration on the big screen so that makes it a bit more tolerable to be at work. I don't think I'd get much done if I worked from home. Obama will be sworn in with Lincoln's bible. The only president to do that since Lincoln. And Obama will be escorting Bush out. Ah, I hope we get to see that...

Thanks for that panoramic view -- very cool! (Click on "full screen" for the full effect.) I heard about the Lincoln bible, which is amazing. Gonna be a big day tomorrow! --Gary

Not only were the performances great (in 30-degree weather), but the whole show came off without a hitch. A live outdoor show like that with so many performers, and it came off smoothly and on time. Academy Awards, take a lesson! And yeah, Jamie Foxx hit just the right note of irreverence. An excellent show. --Gary

And since I love to fly so much (not) I am going on a work trip to Dallas a few days before, Sunday the 15th-Wednesday the 18th. Get home just in time to do my laundry & leave again...

John also sent this in to me recently as a cool site, but I hadn't worked it into the system yet. Thanks to both of you. Cool indeed. --Gary

I wish we could all get the day off Tuesday. I just want to stay home and watch TV the entire day. I work with someone whose brother-in-law will be attending one of the inaugural balls.

It should be a national holiday. That, and election day. I mean, once every four years...c'mon! :-) --Gary

Hey, who's planning to watch the inauguration? Answer: Just about everybody. The inauguration on Tuesday will probably be the most-watched event in history. Starting on Saturday and lasting through the late hours of Tuesday, you can tune your TV to almost any channel during that time and see something inauguration-related. Even QVC will be hawking Obama merchandise on Tuesday. :-)

On Saturday the 17th, C-SPAN is first out of the gate. They will cover Obama's train ride from Philadelphia to Washington, which leaves late-morning (though no cameras will be on the train itself). The train will make a couple of stops: First in Wilmington, DE, to pick up Joe Biden and family, and second in Baltimore where Obama will give a speech.

C-SPAN will be live for all four days, broadcasting all the major events (the swearing in, the inaugural address, the parade, and the inaugural balls) with no narration.

On Sunday the 18th, the "We Are One" concert will be happening on the Mall in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Obama and Biden will both be there, and performers include Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Bono, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Renee Fleming, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, Heather Headley, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles, John Mellencamp, Usher, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, will.i.am and Stevie Wonder. It starts at 1:30 our time, but will be televised on HBO at 6 pm. For free: Even if you don't subscribe to HBO, just tune in (cable channel 412 in the Lincoln area).

On Tuesday the 20th, all the networks will be live all day from Washington, and all will be in full-on inauguration mode by 9 am. (Most will begin earlier than that -- like CNN, which starts its coverage that day at 4 am.) The swearing-in happens at 11 am our time, followed by the inauguration address (which is sure to be an historic speech), and then the parade -- from the Capitol Building down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House -- beginning at 1:30 our time. (Check this map.)

That evening, there will be 10 separate inaugural balls, and the Obamas will be putting in an appearance at most (maybe all) of them. These too will be covered by the networks.

If you're stuck in front of your computer, no problem. You can watch live feeds all day on CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNN, and C-SPAN.

Strange weather here today. Freezing rain in the early morning hours, so the local morning shows were having a field day with accident reports and scary warnings. (Donna, did you go to Omaha today?) Then by noon it felt kinda like spring -- the temperature had climbed above freezing with a warm and almost rainy wind. And then by 5 the temp had crashed down into the teens with blowing snow. Something for everyone today!

Looks good to me. Check it out, everybody! Thanks, Emily and Erika. --Gary

Emily, as you were the first one to step up, I would say go ahead with the list. I'll put it up here and announce it as soon as you get it finished.

Hey, I just heard that Paul, Lori, Lindsey and Livy are in St. Maartens for the next week. Who knew?? Too bad for them -- not only are they missing all this snow and ice, but they're having to endure temperatures reaching the upper 70s on the beach. Be strong, you guys! You'll make it! :-)

I was wondering about the list too, but forgot to mention it here. Whoever does it, I'll post it as soon as it's ready! --Gary

I converted a couple of my DVDs last night using that system. It works fine, though as I mentioned it takes a lot of computer-time. In the second stage of the process (when you use the Videora Converter program) you can queue up several videos to be done in succession -- so I usually let the computer do that overnight when I go to bed. Good luck with it! --Gary

I love my job, but of all the days in the year, this is the hardest day to go back to work. Just off a long vacation, and about as far from Christmas as it is possible to be. Campus is still pretty empty -- no students yet. On the plus side, there's no snow and ice, so the drive was easy....

I've got a very easy-to-use program that does the trick. Takes about two clicks to convert any DVD or video file into a format that works on the iPod. (It does take some time, though -- converting a typical DVD takes the computer about an hour.) I'll burn the program to a CD and send it to you. Along with complete instructions. Thanks again for introducing me to the iPod Touch! :-) --Gary

Your Briarcliff email address is now on the page, thanks. And thanks for one more thing: I followed your example and got myself an iPod Touch. Which I totally love. I've been having fun converting DVDs into movie files and loading them on the iPod. It's really cool to have the complete Lord of the Rings movies, for example (plus many more), on this little credit-card-sized device in my pocket. Hey, let me know if you want any particular movies for yourself. I'd be glad to do it for you, or show you how to do it yourself. --Gary