shawnlavoie.com

Ever watch this show on Discovery Channel? Simply incredible! Eating live fish right out of a stream, starting fires with his bare hands, building a raft to escape a deserted island; it’s all part of a day’s work for Bear Grylls. Yes, his name is Bear.

Watching reminds me why I need to take advantage of my weekends and time off. I miss the outdoors, which is why I went bike shopping today. I’m also planning to hike 220 continuous miles this August on the John Muir trail, ending at the peak of Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the lower 48 states. Want to join me?

I’ve been reading some Dilbert Blog lately. I think Scott Adams and I would get along. Like me he’s mostly silly and gets caught saying dumb things. He also likes windmills. Most of his critics are way high-strung and have too much time on their hands. Don’t read the comments, if you know what’s good for you.

… little Shawn became a bar mitzvah! Mazel tov to me

Dude! Play around with the axes for hours of entertainment. Nerdy?

Ingredients:
2 boxes TJ’s blintzes
butter (1/2 to 1 stick)
sour cream (whole container)
sugar (1/2 cup)
vanilla (1 teasp)
4 eggs

Instructions:
Put blintzes into casserole pyrex dish. Break eggs first in bowl, then add all other ingredients, stir, pour over blintzes, bake at 350-375 degrees (depending on how hot your oven gets) for about 1 hour or until top is turning golden brown.

Thanks Mom!

Thanksgiving would be incomplete without the ritual assembling-of-Ikea-furniture-for-mother. Forty-eight screws, eighteen (plywood) pieces, and two caliced hands later we have a new queen-sized guest bed.

On a less ritualistic note, I read this today during my online traffic school. Lesson #2:

“We carry our emotional state into the car. If we’re having a bad day at home or at the office we will be inclined to vent our frustration on the road. Add to that several cups of strongly caffeinated coffee or cans of soda, and you have a prescription for aggressive driving.”

So much for drivethru Starbucks.

Confused about how to vote on Tuesday? Try these. Want to learn about close contests around the country? The New York Times has a nifty election guide. Now stop reading and go vote, idiot!

With work and my other blog, shawnlavoie.com has been neglected. I’m unhappy with the Gallery and plan to revitalize it soon. I’m sorry shawnlavoie.com, I don’t like you any less than all the other blogs.

A BIOS password is a useful thing. Not only should you keep track of it in the event you decide to upgrade your machine, but you may also need it in order to avoid getting screwed by fraudulent companies like eztradein.com. I mailed them my laptop in exchange for a Newegg gift card. Sounds too good to be true, huh? Well, it is. I received an email about a week later appraising the machine at $0 because it was “Not Working.” By “Not Working” they meant I didn’t give them my BIOS password and therefore they weren’t going to give me any money. To make a long story short, I did some of their work for them and found a workaround (turns out there are many workarounds), including the official Sony Vaio PhoenixBIOS workaround (Knowledge Article C94679). What more could they ask for? I’ve been waiting for several business days now to hear back from them. I’ll let you know what happens. In the meantime, avoid these guys!

Anyone else having a similar experience?

Update Monday, July 3rd 2006, 5:30 PM: After enough persuasion, the company decided to ship the computer back to me free of charge. I’ll be selling this laptop on my own, thanks. I’m upset with Newegg for dealing with these crooks. I’m sure they’re not all bad or else they wouldn’t be in business. P.S. My new digital camera finally came in the mail.