Monday, February 16th, 2009
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11:58 am - JR waits for Manda so you don't have to
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The internet connection from the waiting room is awful, but I'll try to keep updating.
3:20 - alarm goes off
4:20 - we're out the door on time. So far so good.
4:40 - quick stop at my office to pick up some work I forgot.
5:00 - at the hospital right on time. Sign in with the ambulatory care center (acc) and start waiting.
5:55 - manda goes to get her vitals checked, I stay to bay the copay.
6:15 - I join manda in her room. She is in her gown and we wait for the nurse to come ask some questions.
6:30 - the nurse asks questions for the patient history and puts some massaging wraps on manda's legs.
6:45 - another guy in scrubs takes manda off to the "holding area" where she'll meet the anestesiologist. I take her clothes out to the car.
7:00 - manda's surgery is scheduled to start now. I'm blogging from my blackberry in the cafeteria. The bacon and egg mcmuffin was awful but I'm so hungry I'm thinking of getting another.
7:15 - I'm headed back to the waiting room. Hopefully I can get a chair by the electrical outlet and watch movies on my laptop all day. The next time I'm supposed to hear an update about manda is around 2:30.
7:45 - found an unsecured wifi network from a local HS. Will be playing WoW all day.
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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Friday, July 18th, 2008
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9:28 pm - Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
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Make sure you go to http://drhorrible.com/ and watch the 3 acts of Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. It's awesome and part 3 comes out tomorrow. It's free now but it's going away on Sunday and then it'll be for sale in iTunes.
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(comment on this)
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Wednesday, June 11th, 2008
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11:43 am - 2008 Gardens
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Thursday, January 31st, 2008
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4:28 pm - TripIt
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I came across this site today while browsing a new blog. Since I'm planning out my trip to San Francisco it's a perfect fit. You just forward the confirmation e-mail you got from the airline/travel agent and they reply with a link to a custom built itinerary for your trip.
http://www.tripit.com
I love the fact that you don't have to register with their site because they can get all of the information they need from the e-mail that you forwarded to them. It's a great example of the thinking that is going to lead to better apps in the future.
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(comment on this)
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Friday, January 25th, 2008
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9:28 am - Starting 2008
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Ok it's a bit late in January to be posting a "Starting 2008" message but since I only post a few times a year I think it's pretty good for me.
This year is starting off really well. Work has been a bit more relaxed now that the Vista project is basically over. And homelife has been great lately.
I think the thing that is going to have the biggest impact on our homelife this year happened last weekend. About 5 months ago we set up a budget, again. We'd done it several times in the past but never in a way that we could use on an on-going basis. Those exercises always left me feeling frustrated because I knew that with 2 incomes we shouldn't be scrounging for money to make ends meet on what I felt was a fairly frugal lifestyle. Anyways, we created the budget in Mvelopes and stuck with it for a month or so. We kept an open mind, knowing that it would take a few months to really work out all of the bugs. We kinda fell off the bandwagon over the holidays, so this past weekend we sat down and entered all of our receipts and bills. As it turns out we were almost completely within our budget the whole time. We made some adjustments here and there when we found areas that we weren't being realistic in, but overall we were pretty close. Now that we know we have a budget that is an accurate reflection of our lifestyle, we can relax a bit and trust that we really will have X dollars left over at the end of the month that can go into savings. That peace of mind also means that we can be more comfortable splurging and say adding HD to our cable bill since we know that an extra $15 or $20 a month on the bill isn't going to bankrupt us.
The other thing that has improved homelife has been the writers strike. I never realized how watching TV every night was impacting my life. With the strike going on, almost everything on TV is a rerun so there's no need to watch for 3 or 4 hours a night. While we used to sit on the couch and check our printed out schedule to find out what we were scheduled to watch all night, now we play a game together on the Wii, dance with DDR, do puzzles, read, or do other stuff around the house.
If I can work some regular exercise, a promotion, and some new electronic toys (such as an iPod Touch) into the next 11 months, this year is bound to turn out pretty well.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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Thursday, January 17th, 2008
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11:00 am - Another political race
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Once again I'm a centrist leaning just slightly to the liberal side. I think that will start to shift to the conservative side as I age and start to have kids.
63% Bill Richardson
61% Hillary Clinton
60% John Edwards
60% Joe Biden
58% Barack Obama
56% Rudy Giuliani
53% Mike Gravel
52% Chris Dodd
51% Tom Tancredo
49% Mitt Romney
48% Dennis Kucinich
48% John McCain
48% Fred Thompson
42% Mike Huckabee
28% Ron Paul
2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz
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(comment on this)
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Wednesday, September 12th, 2007
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11:24 pm
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1. Go to www.careercruising.com
2. Put in Username: nycareers - Password: landmark
3. Take the 'Career Matchmaker' questions at the upper left corner
4. Post the top 10 results.
My Results:
1. Electrical Engineering Tech
2. Electronics Engineering Tech
3. Optical / Ophthalmic Lab Technician
4. Ship's Crew
5. Cable Installer and Repairer
6. Computer Support Person
7. Welder
8. Boilermaker
9. Sheet Metal Worker
10. Automotive Painter
I'm impressed with those results. I finished high school thinking that I wanted to be either an electrical engineer (#1) or an electronics engineer (#2). I seriously considered joining the coast guard so I could study engineering and work as a Ship's crew member (#4). Maybe I should have gone that route instead of being a computer support person (#6) for a company that makes automotive paint (#10).
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(comment on this)
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Monday, August 13th, 2007
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1:41 pm - My Week from hell
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I don’t post very often but I wanted to put all of this in writing so I would remember it down the line. We got back from vacation on Sunday the 5th. Monday I went to work on Monday and slowly got back into the swing of things. I only had 1 meeting to attend so I spent most of my time getting caught up on e-mail that I had come in while I was away for a week. After work on Monday we had to forfeit the final monday night volleyball game and then I found out that we got some water in the basement while we were away. Monday wasn’t a very good day but compared to the rest of the week it was pretty good. Tuesday Tuesday was a non-event. I don’t really remember anything we did that day. So it was neither good nor bad. Wednesday My laptop has been acting up recently. Sometimes when you push the power button it just won’t turn on. I demonstrated this for my boss but there’s nothing he can do because it’s out of warrantee. Oh well, a few months of annoyance and maybe I can talk him into getting me a tablet for christmas. I took the bus home after work on Wednesday and it started to rain just as I stepped off the bus. By the time I walked the ¼ mile home I was soaked from head to toe. Once I was home and dried off I found out that we got more water in the basement. Thursday Fortunately my clothes and my shoes dried over night. We got up on Thursday and it was already pouring. We almost turned around and went home because we couldn't see out of the windshield at one point. When the bus finally arrived I stepped in a 4 inch deep river of water while getting out of the car. Then I had to run to the bus because it was pulling away. I chased it for about a block (running in the stream of water on the side of the road) before the bus driver finally stopped. I went to my one meeting of the day then decided to come home and work remotely for the afternoon because I was still all wet and cold. I also wanted to try using the shop vac to remove some water from the basement in case more was coming in with the new rain storm. I left the office around 12:15 and amazingly the sun was finally shining and it was warming up. I got to the bus stop at 12:25 so I could catch the 12:30 11C bus but it didn't show up. I didn't know if I'd missed it or if it was late because of the rain so I waited. The 11D showed up but I didn't know where that went so I let it go by. Then the 11D showed up again and I let it go by again. At this point this really annoying kid came and waited at the bus stop with me. He kept complaining about how he’d missed the 11D and now it was going to mess up his whole day. He borrowed my cell phone so he could call Port Authority for the bus schedule then call his girlfriend to tell her he’d be late. A few minutes later another 11D came and I was really tempted to take it because I was so tired of waiting but the really annoying kid got on so I decided not to. I called Manda and she told me that the schedule says that the 11C no longer runs during the day (they changed it last month apparently) so I had to catch the next 11D. I took that to the Giant Eagle near my house and then had to walk more than a mile home. About 1/4 mile from my house it started to rain (yes the same place I was at on Wednesday when I got rained on). This rain storm was the worst yet. I literally had my umbrella pointing straight out in front of me to stop the water that was coming sideways from hitting me in the face. I went inside to get changed and warm up only to discover that the power was out. I logged on from home and worked remotely until about 4:30 when my laptop battery died. It was still raining that night so Volleyball was cancelled. We had grilled cheese for dinner because we could still light the gas burners on the stove using the aim n' flame. Manda came home and we read some harry potter and played some board games before going to bed early (there's really not much to do in our house without power). Friday On Friday I drove Manda to work and stayed home to work from home because we still didn't have power. I wanted to mop up some of the water in the basement and then start shop vaccing as soon as the power came back on. I didn't make much progress on the basement though because I could only work inside for about an hour before my laptop battery was dead and I had to sit in the car for an hour charging the battery off the AC inverter (best christmas present ever). Manda came home at lunch and we went to Taco Bell for some food. We took some time to move the rugs out of the basement and get them drying in the yard. We pulled out the brushes we used to blacktop the driveway because they had squeegies on the back of them and used them to push the puddles of water into the laundry room floor drain. Friday night we had cereal for dinner because we needed to drink the milk before it went bad then we went to Dairy Queen for ice cream (had to drive all over because the closest Dairy Queen was closed and the road to the next closest Dairy Queen was barricaded off). Finally we came home to watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on my computer while we sat in the car eating our Ice Cream. We had called the power company earlier in the day and they said that the power would be back on by 12:30 Saturday morning so we went to bed with high hopes that we'd wake up in the morning with lots of lights on in the house. Saturday Unfortunately we woke up and it was still dark in the house. We called the power company and found out that the power wasn't going to be fixed until 6pm on Sunday. I had promised Manda that I'd help her with her video so we drove downtown and I drove her through the tunnels 13 times while she filmed the inside and the outside of the tunnel from the passenger's seat. We went to Arby's for lunch then headed down to Jamie's house so she and Kelly could do an interview for the video. We got home to find out we still didn't have power so we went to the mall for dinner. We ate at the food court and wandered around the mall doing some window shopping. We didn't really find anything to buy (just made fun of a bunch of people). We checked Sears for prices on Dehumidifiers but they were $150-300 so we probably won't be getting one of those right away. We went home and read some more Harry Potter then went to bed. To our surprise we were lying in bed when the fan turned on. Everyone in the neighborhood was so happy to have power again. Mary (our drunken neighbor) was screaming for joy from her porch. Sunday We slept in then got up and went downtown. First we stopped at Manda's school so I could record the voice over for her video then we went to Primanti's for lunch. After lunch I went into work and she went back to school to edit. We both worked until about 8 when she picked me up and we headed home. We read some more Harry Potter and I played with my computer for a bit then we headed off to bed. Monday Today I’m back at work and busy solving the remaining problems that are going to stop us from deploying our remote access software on Vista.
current mood:  tired
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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Tuesday, July 17th, 2007
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8:18 pm - VB Clinic
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For the last two days Manda and I attended Pat Power's volleyball clinic at the Green Tree SportsPlex. It was a lot of fun and definately worth the cost. He forced me to learn a totally new way to pass the ball and by the end of the clinic I could really see a lot of improvement in my accuracy. I'm definately not going to go back to my old bad habits. He also worked on serving, hitting, blocking, and just about every other skill in volleyball. I really can't wait for indoor season to start again so I can put all I learned to the test. And I really can't wait to get that first perfect set from my setter Amanda and just crush the ball down the line while the double block moves cross court because my shoulders are still pointing that way. :)
The only downside to the class was that I tripped and sprained my ankle during the 1st or 2nd hour of the first day. I pulled my shoe tighter and fought off the pain and kept going for the rest of the day. Last night I wrapped my ankle with an ace bandage and played 3 games of sand volleyball (can't let my team down). The ankle felt ok so I figured I'd be ok for day 2 of the clinic. When I woke up this morning the bruising was much worse so I gave some serious thought to staying home. Manda decided to stay home today because she was sore and her thumb (which she probably sprained even though it's not black and blue) was still hurting. In the end I packed 2 big bags of ice and headed to the clinic. I figured I could always sit on the sidelines and watch if it started hurting more. Fortunately the combination of a tight ace bandage and tight tennis shoes was enough support to keep me playing all day. I'm really glad I went today because I learned a lot about hitting that I didn't know before.
I'll probably be limping for a few weeks and I think it will take a few days for my muscles to stop feeling so sore but it was definately worth it. Coo you have to sign up for the class near you. You won't regret it.
current mood:  sore
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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Friday, May 11th, 2007
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11:18 am - Driving directions
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9:36 am
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Thursday, May 10th, 2007
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8:47 am - YouTube
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Apparently when YouTube said "This video will be posted to your blog shortly" they meant "This video will be posted to your blog in 3 days"
Sorry about that.
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(comment on this)
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3:24 am - Mario: Game Over
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3:24 am - Mario: Game Over
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Monday, May 7th, 2007
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2:32 pm - Mario: Game Over
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This made my day!
In other news, it only took me about 30 minutes to figure out how to properly embed something in LJ. I hate stupid proprietary tags.
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(comment on this)
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Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007
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9:07 am - Starting off on the right foot.
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The walking competition starts today at work. I have a team of 5 (maybe 6 or 7, still waiting on some e-mail responses). Every two weeks each team member will report to me how many miles they've walked. I'll then submit the top 5 distances and that will be our team score for that 2 week time period. The contest starts today and runs until the end of November. I think we've got a pretty good chance at this point. I know I'm committed to putting up some big numbers and I love any competition that I can win just by doing the same thing over and over (Yes FN this is why I like WoW more than NC.. less skill required). My other teammates should also help the team a lot. Mike hit his 500th mile of the year on the way back to his car last night. MaryAnn is going to Philly in two weeks for a weekend vacation and will probably do a bunch of walking tours. Dianne walks a few miles every day at lunch. Casey is also on the team but since I've never talked to him about walking, I don't know what to expect from him. If he's not all that into it to start with maybe he'll get inspired by the rest of us. Anita and Amanda are the 6th and 7th members. I'm waiting to hear back from Anita to make sure she's really interested and I'm waiting to hear back from the competition organizer to find out if Manda is allowed to be on our team.
I got off to a good start this morning. I got up and hopped (ok it was more of a crawl) onto the treadmill while Manda took her shower. I walked for about 30 minutes at 4.3 miles per hour so I've already got 2 miles to add to my total.
I felt bad about not getting up yesterday morning to walk so I decided to walk last night instead. I did 3.1 miles. The first mile I did one of the pre-programmed courses but that felt too tough (running 6 mph on an 8 degree incline is not what I am looking for) so I switched to a 4 mph pace and a 3 degree incline for the 2nd and 3rd miles. Unfortunately I can't count those miles for the competition but on the bright side they're still good for me.
current mood:  accomplished
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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Tuesday, May 1st, 2007
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10:48 am - Exercise
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I've noticed that my mood is affected by the weather a lot. During the winter it's so cold and gray that I'm always tired and never feel like i have the energy to do much. It also makes me more whiny (sorry Manda). Now that spring is here I've got a lot more energy and I'm feeling the urge to get outside and do stuff. It felt pretty good to get out and cut the grass on Saturday morning. It was tiring but not so much that I felt like I couldn't finish it. I've also stopped playing World of Warcraft which is freeing up a lot of my time and taking away my biggest excuse to stay inside in front of the computer.
I think I want to put all of this new found energy to good use and start exercising a lot more. I'm already in pretty good shape. My cholesterol and blood sugar are great and my blood pressure is only slightly above the normal range (not in the problem range) so I attribute that to job related stress (again, more on that in a future post). I'm currently exercising 3 times a week. I play competitive volleyball on Mondays, recreational volleyball on Thursdays and take an exercise class (sit ups and push ups) during lunch on Wednesdays. I have a couple of goals in mind that I'd like to accomplish. They include:
Walking a lot more so I'm prepared for a 50-80 mile hike next summer when I go to Philmont Scout Ranch with my dad and my brother. Walking a lot more so I can help my team win the walking competition they are having at work. Building up the muscles in my chest and arms so I can hit harder and block more effectively in volleyball. Get rid of the layer of fat that is covering my abs so I can see them when I look in the mirror.
I haven't figured out exactly how I'm going to accomplish all of these goals but I've got some ideas. I really want to get up and walk before work each day. I did 1 mile in 20 minutes yesterday and it felt great. I think I can keep doing that and ramp it up so I'm doing 2 miles in 30 minutes. I didn't do it this morning because I felt really tired. I think the secret to accomplishing this goal is setting my sneakers, gym clothes, and iPod out next to the bed the night before. Walking downstairs to get my sneakers and iPod is enough of a deterrent that I'll just lay in bed instead. I also want to get out of the house and walk in the evenings and weekends. I'm hoping that Manda and I can go for a long walk and find a pace that works for both of us. I'm worried that my longer gait will mean that I have to walk slower than I want to so she can keep up. We'll deal with that problem when we get there. It's more important to get out of the house first. I'm also thinking that I should be able to work geocaching into my walking routine somehow. I don't know how many caches are within walking distance but if I can find various park 'n rides in the area I could probably drive there then walk to the cache. As for the last two goals, those are going to require putting in some time lifting weights and doing crunches in our exercise room. I'd love to say that I will lift/do core exercises for an hour each night but I know that it's not going to happen if I also am trying to go outside and walk. Maybe I'll lift 2 or 3 times a week. I can give up the walk in the evening as long as I'm still getting up in the morning for a walk.
So that's my plan. We'll see how it goes over the next few months. I still need to find a way to track my progress. I've got some ideas but I could use others. I saw a website from the american heart association that tracks how far you've walked and there's also the motivation to move forums with their 30/180/365 day challenges. I should also check out Joe's Goals.
Wish me luck!
current mood:  energetic
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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10:42 am - Mower
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Our mower died out at the end of last season. I don't really know anything about cars/mowers/stuff with engines so I was pretty sure we were going to have to buy a new one. I decided that I should at least try some basic maintenance before buying a new one and talked to a friend at work who explained how to change the spark plug and air filter. I changed both of those and put a new set of blades on it with Amanda's help. So, good news is that I have a working mower again and a bit more confidence to go along with it. Bad news is that I won't be getting the really cool zero turn riding mower any time soon. Oh well, at least the push mower will help me with my exercise goals (more about that in a future post).
current mood: VBall is kicking my ass lately
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(comment on this)
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Friday, April 20th, 2007
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1:32 pm - Podcasts
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I've been on a podcast kick lately. I've discovered that I prefer shorter podcasts that I can listen to on the bus compared to longer ones that I have to devote some time to listen to. I've already found that I'm not as productive if I'm listening to a podcast while I try to program as I am if I'm just listening to some music. Some of my favorite podcasts are from: http://www.motivationtomove.com/ - The motivation to move minute is a great daily tip that gives me something to think about or motivates me for the day.
http://www.qdnow.com/ - I listen to Mr. Manners and Grammer Girl podcasts from here. I've also got the Money Girl podcast but I haven't listened to it yet. The other podcasts are new and I didn't know they existed until I started typing this post. I'll definately check them out.
http://www.43folders.com/ - This hasn't been updated for a while but it's a good podcast about personal productivity.
http://www.theonion.com/content/radionews - Another very short podcast but also very funny.
http://www.dve.com/cc-common/podcast.html - The best clips from the WDVE morning show. Most of these are Pittsburgh related and most are funny.
http://www.sciam.com/podcast/ - 60 second science is a great way to pick up a new scientific factoid every day.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/thingaweek - Not active anymore but contains some great music by Jonathon Coulton.
If youv'e got some podcasts you think I'd like I'd love to hear about them.
current mood:  content
current music: Threw, Through, Thru - Grammer Girl's podcast
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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Tuesday, April 25th, 2006
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6:06 pm - Another political survey and I'm still a centrist.
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