Even Worth Shipping?

I've been trolling ebay for a new-used laptop. I couldn't believe this listing:

You are bidding on a used HP Pavilion DV6233SE Laptop. This the special edition white model. We currently do not have a use for this laptop in our facility anymore and would like to get rid of it. As you can see from the picture; this laptop is not in it's best shape. The picture shows exactly what you'll be getting. This laptop is being sold AS-IS and is UNTESTED.

I believe this is going to sell for less than shipping ($25). This would almost be worth buying just to have it on your desk when people walk by! WAIT! Imagine the practical joke I could play on Polly or Brenda (it is roughly the same model as theirs)! Oh, wait again. They don't have the special white model! Drats.

UPDATE: (4/04/09) It went for $34.95, which means that with shipping, someone thought it was worth at least $60. If the memory and harddrive are still working, it will have been a good investment.

Homeless for a night

I would swear I blogged about this earlier, but now I can't find it. I wrote this up for a work/life balance blog at work:

During the holiday shutdown in December, I stayed overnight as a volunteer in the cold-weather shelter the Corvallis Homeless Shelter Coalition established at the Westside Community Church. This was the second year that our church had participated. Each group would provide two volunteers each night for a week. The volunteers would check people in, help with food and medication, and resolve any issues that came up. One volunteer would spend the night as backup to the paid staff person.

It was eye opening experience for me. There is a wide range of people who use the shelter, and in general, they all seemed quite appreciative of what was provided. It seems a shame it only operates during the winter, but I think that is all the Coalition can manage.

Here is a link to one of the GT's articles:
http://gtconnect.com/articles/2009/03/16/news/community/7aaa02_shelter.txt

Pacific Model Logger's Conference

I wanted to show a few more pictures from the conference. There was amazing the amount of logging equipment they have saved. Maybe not so amazing since the place is only located several miles from one of the largest timber operations on the west coast.

The radiator of an old Caterpillar tractor.

Name plate on a Willamette steam donkey.

Here is a a good subject for a model. This is an "Idaho Jammer". There are two V-8 engines on the front of this 1940's one-ton truck which was used to pull logs up onto the road. One of the engines was from a Caddilac.

This is a small portion of Camp Olson in 1948, located just a few miles from where the Conference was. There are apparently a few locomotives left in the area, which would be interesting to find.

D-day for Dawson Station

Dad and I went to the 5th Annual Pacific Model Logger's Conference at Camp 18 in Elsie, Oregon.

It was the public debut of Dawson Station. It took third place as an entry in the "diorama" division. I had a poster with historical photographs, and notebooks showing my reference drawings and details about how the puzzle works. It was certainly the best "documented" model there.

It was an interesting day, with talks and slide shows about logging and railroading from people that actually ran the equipment. Some were quite humorous. There were about 150 people there and about 25 models (maybe only four dioramas). Dad won a door prize of a book.

Pi Day

3/14? Get it? This is a picture of a "Pi Pie".

There is also a "pie approximation" day on July 22 (22/7 = 3.142857143).

• Albert Einstein was born on Pi Day, 1879.
• The Massachusetts Institute of Technology often mails out its acceptance letters to be delivered to prospective students on Pi Day.

Geeky?

Final Preps for D-day

I committed to showing my model at the Pacific Model Loggers Conference on March 14th. I figured if I was going to all this work, I should probably show it to someone. It did, however, leave me short on time.

Putting a frame around it.

Backdrop a-la-inkjet!

Dry run the night before.

I'm getting a new hobby after this. It is costing me sleep!

What the . . .?

You might have to zoom out to figure this out?

View Larger Map

Square Root Day

sqrt(3052009) = 1749

This also happens again on April 1st, 2009
sqrt(4012009) = 2003

We also just had a "perfect square day" on 3/03/09.

Its a . . .

Alien. No wait, human boy. Ariana's brother is on the way.

Computer Case!

I wish I'd written down some of the funny things Bananna-Marie has been saying lately. The other day she came to me and asked me to write something down for her. "Upper case or lower case," I asked. "Computer-case" was her reply. It was something she wanted to type into Google to look for!