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Inside Alex Honnold’s Tricked-Out New Adventure Van

Back in 2014, pro climber Alex Honnold gave us a tour of the 2002 Ford Econoline E150 he used as his mobile base camp. That van served him...

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Thursday, December 31, 2009

Whoa...time warp

I've been sucked into the holiday time-warp. But all in all the fun stuff is just getting started. Going to Milwaukee for New Years and to hang out with the family! Then time to come back to Iowa in 2010 ready to hit the ground running.

Updated my Amazon.com storefront with some more geeky goodies! I'm thinking that SendOutCards is going to be good a year, and I want to make sure things take flight.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Amazon hoo!

So maybe its the upcoming New Year or maybe its because I feel crammed into my bedroom, but I decided to clear out my closet of a bunch of my favorite video game and geek must-have items. Amazon is my new favorite venue for sales. Here check out my Amazon store! Buy some cool stuff or let me know what you'd like to see and I might just have it.

Some of the stuff I'll be sad to see go but I'm at the point where I don't want to get rid of it. Nor do I want to play it either, so time to get it out of here and make a little scratch in the meantime. Speaking of New Year tidings...

I am super happy with my girlfriend Kate. This New Year is the first time in awhile where I'm excited and happy to see what will happen next. I don't fear the unknown with her, I embrace it. I want to explore it with her. Because I know she likes adventures and I always want to experience new things with her.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Boiler based heating sucks.

So I thought that we had our heating problem for the winter last week, but I was mistaken. The downstairs tenant called earlier this evening saying that now the radiators get hot but getting the thermostat to kick on is the new problem. SIGH I think this is why man moved forward with bigger, better, and more effective heating methods.

Though from an economical standpoint boiler based heating systems seem to do the trick as they need yearly repair or maintenance or they don't work. There are a number of things that can go wrong and it ensures that there is a qualified labor force employed at all times as its a specialization of plumbing.

The sun will rise again tomorrow but hopefully without a long to-do list attached to it.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Wintery Weekend Wackiness

Ahh! Our first blizzard hit this week and was not nearly as bad as it was made out to be by the local forecasters. I think they get bored with the lack thereof exciting weather and news in the Midwest sometimes. But man with this new weather shock has brought on some issues with house repair.

Luckily, it wasn't the upstairs that was the problem but I feel bad for the downstairs tenant. First we had to call a plumber to come out and unclog a blocked drain line because every time I washed my clothes...it drained into his tub before exiting the house. That was a Friday morning event.

And then I wake up today to mulitple people trying to call to come unlock the door for another workman. Apparently, the downstairs boiler heating wasn't working either so during our high of -5 degrees earlier this week...he had no heat. He has much better patience than I. But the workman checked it out and said everything mechanically was fine. So that means there is a frozen line blocking water from radiating. Dumb luck was on our side because no sooner as I scratched me head in frustration did the boiler kick on and hot water flow into the frozen pipelines again. Whew!

Happy stories but scary beginning.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

New gaming rig

Almost the end of 2009 and that means all the holiday deals have my tech guy eyes lit up in awe. What's the best for the buck now? Where to get it? So I've been diggin through online deals here and there coming up with a new gaming rig. I don't know when I'm gonna through down the cash to get this ball rolling, but these links are what I've been looking at:


Antec Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16811129058
Antec Power Supply:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16817371015
ASRock Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813157163
Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16819115202
Seagate 1TB HDD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16822148433
Mushkin 6GB RAM Kit:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820226040
Sapphire ATI HD 4890:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102841
Blu-ray Combo Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827249050
DVD Burner + Lightscribe:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106333

Subtotal: $1,272 before shipping + taxes.

I'm pretty happy with these numbers and hope that some new deals will pop up in the near future as the rig won't be purchased or assembled for another couple months. I want to toss two video cards in this rig, but I'll start off with just the one for now. Besides the majority of my gaming will be WoW for a bit and then I'll dabble into the rest of the high-end PC gaming I haven't experienced for the past 4 years. Any suggestions? Please comment and let me know!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Kitty Cat Scratch

Start of the Turkey Day week with a good step. Gonna help take the cat (KJ) into the vet to see if she's sick or in pain to explain part of her mood change. Also the kitten (Charli 2na, aka Chuck) just to get him 'fixed' before he tries to spray the entire house for marking. So earrrrrllllly! *stretches long and wide with a yawn*

Hopefully gonna have a nice day with the girl and perhaps get the ball rolling on a couple new things with Send Out Cards too. Would be a nice way to start a short work week indeed.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Arctic arctic where art thou?

The cold weather is on its way and dreary rain to boot. Bundling up to go out feels to be a familiar and healthy progression to the year, but time is flying these days. The hours and days are turning into weeks so fast as I'm trying to do what I can with my lady.

Its a great problem to have...time flying by with great memories along the way. I hope I can Ferris Bueller soonish so as not to miss life pass me by though I'm not too worried about that at the moment. I'll Carpe Diem as much as possible.

Early mornings on a day off = productive or at least fully relaxing. Off to see the wizard...the wonderful wizard of resume trimming, job hunting, errand running and gym going.

Link of the morning. Oh web comedy how I thrive on thee.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Leaves suck.

Dead leaves everywhere! aahhh!
 That means its time to rake the leaves to the corner for the City of Iowa City to vacuum them up.









WHOA! Its official NASA has confirmed the presents of 'a lot of water' on the Moon. This may not be the same type of memory for those when man first landed on the moon, but I for one will remember where I was when hearing this news years to come. This has such potential to be a great paradigm shift for the future of our view of our solar system, astrophysics, and the cosmos as a whole. Here's the AP article for the great news.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Autumn to Winter and Beyond

The leaves have turned, the sky becomes dark early, and the chilly air has come. Father winter is around the corner in the Midwest, and Eastern Iowa is preparing for it.

Earlier today my girlfriend and I went down to the local bike shop to see what they had on sale for hybrid bikes. We've been visiting the Lake more lately and realized how much we missed just wandering around our midwestern wildlife that's in out backyards all this time. So next season is gonna be a great one with the updated trails around town and a renewed goal of biking more to lose some weight and save on cash and gas. The local prairies should be beautiful next year with the weather this year, and hopefully an appropriate winter to boot.

A State Park will also be on our todo list and maybe even a little winter camping is in store, so there is tons of excitement.