A moderate earthquake occurred at 8:04:54 PM (PDT) on Tuesday, October 30, 2007.
The magnitude 5.6 event occurred 8 km (5 miles) NNE of Alum Rock, CA.
The hypocentral depth is 9 km ( 6 miles).
Tue 30 Oct 2007
Whoah! I felt that one!
Posted by Jeff under Life
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Mon 22 Oct 2007
It’s not much yet, but I wanted a place to dump some vacation (and other) pics for friends and family to see. Lori wants to make use of a Snapfish or Wal-mart type site so that people can order their own copies, but for now at least you can come see ‘em online.
Like I said, it’s not much yet, but you can view our photos here. Each album is different. If you have problems viewing, don’t hesitate to contact us!
Thu 4 Oct 2007
Segway – way cool
Posted by Jeff under Raves
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Had a company outing yesterday to Angel Island. We had lunch, alcohol, games, and some free time to explore the island. A couple of us REALLY wanted to try riding a Segway, which they rent for tours. It was something like $60 for 2 hours but WELL worth it. Those things are SO cool. Of course I want one now, but they go for somewhere in the neighborhood of $6,000!!! ouch!
Angel Island was interesting as well, so I’ll make sure to post the pics soon.
Wed 19 Sep 2007
We’ve got a lot of catching up to do!
Posted by Jeff under Family, Life
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Josh started kindergarten this year, and Aeryn’s in a pre-school program. We’ve already done the back-to-school night thing, signed up for volunteer activities, and Lori’s attended her first PTA meeting… good GOD what’s happened to us?!!!!
Tonight Josh and I are running back to his school around 7:30pm as a local group of amateur astronomers are setting up on the school’s basketball courts and have invited kids and their parents. I’ve been drooling over telescopes for a few years now… considering buying one with the money I’ll make off my most recent side job, but I know Lori would kill me if I dropped $1K on a telescope and gear.
Work’s been good… a little hectic but shouldn’t really complain. I’m still doing some stuff on the side as well so it keeps me busy.
My mom and sister are coming for a visit in October… my sister will only stay a week but mom’s staying her usual month. They’ll both be here for Halloween and mom will be here for Thanksgiving as well. Can’t remember if she’ll be here for part of Hanukkah as well, as it begins early this year.
I’m already gearing up for, and excited about, Halloween. This year I finally got off my butt and after saying I wanted to for 3 years now, finally built a fog chiller. If all goes as planned (i.e. Halloween night isn’t too chilly already) my fog should hug the ground rather than fill the air. I’ll have my graveyard set up and it should make for a great effect. The past couple of years it’s been a general air-filling kind of fog floating through the graveyard. I’m also considering making a fake wrought-iron fence to keep kids on the path to the front door – both for effect and to keep anyone from wandering into the yard to “investigate” the decorations. It’s as simple as cutting some PVC and putting it through some 2×1 (I think) and painting it all black. Next year maybe a toe-pincher coffin or two. Lori’s gonna kill me. We already have about 6 or 7 boxes worth of Halloween stuff – we’ve run out of room to store it all, and here I am adding to it!
Anywho… yeah, I still geek about Halloween, but other than that Life’s been the same. Aeryn’s getting adjusted and has made HUGE progress since bringing her home. She’s walking – ok, running! – hasn’t really started talking yet (mama, dada, that sort of thing) and we joke that by the time the state appointed therapists get around to us (we qualified for help based on the fact that she’s developmentally delayed from the orphanage) she will be up to speed and they’ll question why we need help!
Tue 28 Aug 2007
Nothing to see here… keep moving…
Posted by Jeff under Life
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A minor earthquake occurred at 4:05:35 PM (PDT) on Tuesday, August 28, 2007.
The magnitude 3.0 event occurred 3 km (2 miles) ESE of Berkeley, CA.
The hypocentral depth is 8 km ( 5 miles).
Mon 20 Aug 2007
It takes a village… minus the village idiots
Posted by Jeff under Family, Observations, Rants
1 Comment
About 2 weeks ago I was reading an article in the paper about how a study showed that marketing was shaping toddlers’ taste buds.
The article states that Stanford University did a study of preschoolers and discovered that food wrapped in a McDonald’s wrapper “tasted better”. And then it goes south. Ready?
It quotes a childhood development specialist who campaigns against advertising to children – a role which I applaud heartily. However, such an individual should have a better grasp of the English language than to say “You see a McDonald’s label and kids start salivating”. Is that to say whenever I see a McDonald’s wrapper, somewhere in the world I’ve made a kid salivate? Try this on for size Ms. Specialist: “When kids see a McDonald’s wrapper, they start salivating”. This same specialist goes on to say that it’s “the first study [she knows] of that has shown so simply and clearly what’s going on…”. Seriously? 63 kids and you’re ready to decide it’s simple and clear? It’s simple, I’ll give you that much. Has the paper left out pertinent information, or did the study? Because between you and me…
The parameters of the study are sketchy. We’re told they studied 63 low-income children. So right off the bat not exactly big numbers to establish a trend, now is it? Nor are 63 low-income kids exactly representative of toddlers in general, sorry. Sadly the author feels his tiny sampling would reflect the same results for children from wealthier families. Somehow I doubt that, as I also doubt that income matters as much as parenting style. And speaking of parenting style, what the newspaper fails to mention, and what cannot possibly be accounted for in such a small sampling of toddlers is…
…whether eating habits were taken into account. Two of the 63 stated they’d never eaten at McDonald’s but we’re not informed as to how often the remaining 61 ate there. If they ate at McDonald’s on a frequent basis, can you honestly say marketing is to blame for the childrens’ response? Bullshit. This is something I noted when I subscribed to U.S. News and World Report. I used to take their stories and studies at face value before I realized that by carefully omitting details the gee whiz factor can be intensified. If you actually think about what pertinent information is missing and how it affects the presentation of said facts you’d realize you weren’t getting all the information necessary to shape an informed opinion.
It’s not until the second to last paragraph that they quote a marketing professor as saying that parents play a strong role in controlling food choices for children so young. Bully for him. It’s wake up and smell the coffee time for pete’s sake. If these kids are salivating over a McDonald’s wrapper… c’mon parents! Be more selective in what you allow your child to eat. Be more selective in what you allow your child to see/be exposed to. My child hardly watches the television, and when he does, it’s movies, not television interrupted every 5 minutes by advertising aimed at him. My child eats home-cooked meals 99% of the time. He’s eaten a hot dog on rare occasion, enjoys pizza a few times a month, PB&J when mommy and daddy are at their absolute worst at parenting, and at 5 years old has eaten at McDonald’s maybe TWICE that I know of. I’m not going to say he doesn’t know what McDonald’s is, but he sure as heck wouldn’t salivate over a wrapper and sure as heck wouldn’t think something tasted better because it was wrapped in a fast food wrapping.
It’s been suggested that it takes a village to raise a child – most notably of course by Ms. Hillary Clinton, however please take note Ms. Clinton – as long as the village is targeting and bombarding my child with inappropriate material, the village can kiss my ass – I’LL raise my own child, thank you very much.
Wed 27 Jun 2007
Nuts to you!
Posted by Jeff under A Stab at Humor, Josh
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So apparently my son announced today that Manny, his wooly mammoth toy from Ice Age, loves doughnuts.
When the wife asked slightly amused, “your mammoth loves doughnuts?” he replied, “yes, he loves all nuts.”
Gotta love the unintentional humor of children!
Fri 8 Jun 2007
Who says chivalry is dead?
Posted by Jeff under Josh, Raves
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My son’s school occasionally sends home little notes on a special card if a child has done something especially nice and/or helpful. The other day we received one for Josh telling us that one if his little girlfriends was cold at school, so he took his sweatshirt off (he wears a tshirt and sweatshirt) and gave it to her to put on. He’s not even 5 years old yet…
Say it with me now: awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Thu 3 May 2007
Readin’, ‘Ritin’ and ‘Rithmatic
Posted by Jeff under Josh, Raves
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We went to Mikaela’s (Josh’s cousin) birthday party this weekend at one of those kids-oriented “gyms”. They basically have trampolines, swings, balance beams, tunnels, ball or foam pits, etc. Basically everything you think you’d need to wear a kid out, but no.
The party ends, we all pack up and leave but Josh has to go potty and it’s a long drive home. Luckily they hadn’t closed up yet and Mikaela was in the potty ahead of us anyway, so we waited “in line”. While we’re waiting Josh looks up a the sign on the door (“RESTROOM”) and… READS IT! Daddy’s jaw dropped.
Me: What did you just say?
Josh: Rest…room
Me (closing jaw): How did you know what that said? (anticipating that someone told him earlier)
Josh: I read it.
Me (now catching flies again): You READ that? Whoah!! Good job Josh! High five!! Way to go!!!
Wed 2 May 2007
The one where California falls off the United States
Posted by Jeff under Observations
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Ok… yet ANOTHER earthquake I’ve felt (at work). What’s really got me worried is that I’ve felt more earthquakes within the last 6 months than I’ve felt in the last 6 YEARS!! The big one’s coming. Mark my words, it’s coming soon.
Mon 16 Apr 2007
Coke Rewards… or DO they?
Posted by Jeff under Rants
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I was about to post this to a site where fellow Coke rewards people exchange codes and tips, but then decided that no one there would probably care very much. As I’m still astounded by the point values of the prizes I decided to post my rant here. The exorbitant cost or prizes is the only point on which Ms. Havey (see post below) and I agree.
Without further ado:
Just my 2 cents… I’m still floored by the point values. Just a random “for instance”: 2500 points for a $100 gift certificate. Let’s do the math shall we?
Assuming you enter only 3 point caps:
2500 points / 3 points per cap = 833.3 caps
834 caps * $1.50/soda = $1,251.00. (By the way, at 10 codes a day this is 84 days – almost 3 months!)
Assuming you enter ALL 10 point codes:
2500 points / 10 points per 12-pack = 250 12-packs
250 12-packs * $3/12-pack = $750. (At 10 codes a day this is 25 days)
WHAT? Yeah, sure, you’re drinking the soda for the $1.50 AND getting 3 points, but c’mon… a $100 gift cert. for the equivalent of drinking 834 sodas and spending $1,250?? Why not drink 67 less sodas (66.6 sodas * $1.50 = $100) and BUY a *&@#^$ gift cert. yourself?!
And before you say it, yes I know lots of you collect your points via sporting events, friends, etc. But still… how does a $100 gift cert. go for the equivalent of $750 – $1,250 worth of soda??
Instead of encouraging people to drink Coke products, if anything, they’re showing people the folly of their ways. Instead of buying sodas you really should set that money aside and in about a month you can treat yourself to a $100 purchase!
And again, before you say it, I know you’re getting points basically “for free” by doing what you’d be doing anyway (drinking Coke) but as many people have bemoaned, the point system isn’t based in anything resembling reality. Seriously? Why not save up $100 and buy myself something instead of spending 10x (!!!) that much in soda purchases??? The ONLY winners in this are those who get their points for free.
Mon 16 Apr 2007
Russia – Trip #1, Day 1
Posted by Jeff under Aeryn, Family, Life
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What’re the odds? Wait, let me back up. So our flight from the U.S. to New York (to Moscow) was at o’ dark early and thus the shuttle we’d scheduled was for half past “what the @&#^$% am I doing up at this hour?” Oddly enough I just happened to be outside in the side yard when I saw headlights. Now no one else sane would be up driving at this hour so I instinctively knew it had to be out shuttle. Except he slowly drove past our house. I ran after him but to no avail.. he obviously wasn’t looking in his rearview mirror. I run back inside to tell Lori to call the service and get him back ASAP and head back outside to find not one, but TWO shuttles have found their way to our house. One departs and I never did ask how we ended up with two. So…
What’re the odds? As we’re all telling the driver what airlines we need or something we detect a Russian… Slavic… accent on the woman in front of us. 3am, heading to the airport to go to Russia and we bump into a Ukrainian lady (our age) heading back to Kiev on business! We spent the 45 min drive chatting about all things Russian/Ukrainian. Very nice lady… husband and child and they live in the area. Obviously life’s a little hectic right now but we exchanged phone numbers and email addresses in hopes of getting together after Life settles down.
The next ohhhh… 16 hours or so are spent on planes. From Oakland to New York (where we spend a few hours) and then on to Moscow. It was a bit disheartening to fly PAST Kaliningrad, knowing the day after we arrive in Moscow we fly BACK 2 or 3 hours to Kaliningrad. We again question the wisdom of flying past our destination but this is what the adoption agency has counseled. The first of several misguided suggestions we’re due to discover.
Don’t remember much more… lots of (attempted) sleeping, book reading, and movie/tv watching. We landed in Moscow and were fully prepared to spend a few hours getting through security. We surprised our coordinator when we breezed through in 10 minutes. Luckily she was there waiting for us but our poor driver who’d assumed he had lots of time had to throw away his fresh cup of coffee to come get us. Foreshadowance… this wouldn’t be his last time doing so. 
We headed into town and found out our hotel was just a mile or two from Red Square. We had to drive PAST the hotel and almost all the way to Red Square to turn around since they have specially designated places you can do U-turns. Convincing our coordinator Natasha that the 16 hours of flying hadn’t wiped us out, she took us sightseeing down to Red Square. We got to see the walls of the Kremlin, Lenin’s Tomb (from the outside) and St. Basil’s cathedral – again, from the outside. Don’t worry, later on in our trip we’d venture inside the Krelim’s walls. We also stopped in a few shops and a grocery store that was AMAZING in its beauty.
I’ll probably add more to this post as I remember it. I’ll try to insert postings between this one and the next in order to have a post a day, covering each day of our trip. So keep coming back for updates!!
Thu 1 Mar 2007
Earthquake #2
Posted by Jeff under General, Observations
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Now THAT was the biggest one I’ve felt to date. Scary that we’ve had a few good shakes within the last week or so. I was just standing around when the house started shaking, glass shelves starting rattling, and some knick-knacks fell off their shelves. All in all, that one probably lasted at least 5 seconds.
It was a 4.2 with an epicenter 2 km (1 mile) NE of Lafayette.
Wed 28 Feb 2007
Pointing the finger of blame
Posted by Jeff under Life, Rants
[2] Comments
I was recently Googling for some free Coke rewards codes, when I stumbled across this blog, referencing this blog, referencing Ms. Havey’s site. Although all the postings noted are several months old, I felt a strong need to respond to the “woe is me, I’m just a victim” attitude growing more prevelant in our litigious society.
Below is the email I dashed off to Ms. Havey and those who responded to her posting. I sincerely hope to hear back from her and will update here if it happens.
Dear Ms. Havey –
I recently stumbled across a reprint of a blog posting that referenced your efforts against Coca Cola’s current rewards campaign.
While at first blush I couldn’t agree more with the frustration you and others express at the sheer number of sodas one must redeem in order to “win“, I think you and your supporters are being very narrow minded. Don’t get me wrong, I think redeeming several hundred, or even a thousand plus points, for some small trinket, while the “really good” prizes cost ridiculous amounts is reprehensible. However, you and others have failed to consider the following:
1) No one said you HAD to win that walk-on role in a television series. If every grand prize were attainable by every person interested we’d have a lot of grand prize winners and not many runners-up, now wouldn’t we? Personally, I’m drinking the same number of sodas as I normally would and entering the codes. When the end of the contest looms, I’ll happily redeem my points for whatever’s in my range. Note the lack of greed. Note the lack of victimization. Note the accountability and responsibility for my own actions.
2) You assumed a time limit on the quantities to be consumed. While all contests eventually end, no one said you had to imbibe the quantities you describe within a year. Maybe this contest will run for 2, 3… even 5 years. You just have to take your chances and drink responsibly. Which takes me to my next point.
3) I’m sick and tired of people blaming the food industry for the state(s) we find ourselves in. No one is forcing you to drink that much soda, so don’t whine if you can’t get the 26,000 point Trip to Vegas and don’t want to find a way to collect that many points. No one makes you stop at McDonalds every day, but we’re blaming them for making the public obese. Now it’s Coke for offering us the hood from Kyle Petty’s car and somehow it’s their fault we’re guzzling soda at irresponsible rates. Remind me again… who held that gun to your head and told you you had to win that prize? How about instead of playing victim, we take responsibility for our own damned actions for once!
4) As I suggested in point 3, there are many ways to collect that many points. The complaint that you can’t pool points is a ridiculous one. Yes, it’s true, you cannot pool points ONCE YOU’VE REDEEMED THEM. But who’s stopping you from collecting codes from your friends, neighbors, dog-walker, or off the Internet. How do you think I found your site? After finding, and entering, codes that netted me 200 points I stumbled across a blog referencing another blog referencing your site… while searching the Internet for free codes. Huh.
What about those in the services industry that find themselves buying in bulk? I’ll bet their main problem is not consuming the soda (after all, they turn around and sell it to, or pour it for, us. Their main problem is the 10-codes-redeemed-a-day rule. That means only 100 points max a day. Roughly 3,000 a month. 18,000 in 6 months. I can’t believe there are no caterers or others in similar industries out there that don’t have an enormous amount of points.
Coca Cola themselves frequently publishes codes worth anywhere from 3 to 100 points via other advertising outlets (i.e. magazines). I’ve personally redeemed several hundred points worth of free codes. And I ran across someone saying they’d soon be offering codes for 750 – 1000 points.
While I agree with your basic premise I wholeheartedly disagree with your stance that the prizes are unattainable unless you’re willing to hurt or kill yourself AND that it’s Coca Cola’s fault if we do and responsibility to see that we don’t. It’s time that we as a nation grew up and acted like adults. Adults with control over our own actions. Stop blaming everyone else and take responsibility.
I’ll end with the following quote from your site:
“the POINTS for the TOP PRIZES are so excessive that if someone actually DRANK the Coke that they’re buying to win those prizes, then they would die (FACT)”.
Who said you had to drink the Coke Ms Havey? Who?
Sincerely,
Jeff Roseman
http://blogs.ca-rosemans.com/jeff
