Famille Du Pentium

My brother Kelly writes:

An ordinary-looking keyboard, into which you load a plastic disc probably
about 12 inches across …. a clear plastic disc, with visible analog
waveforms printed on it, kinda like if a vinyl LP was bigger,
cardstock-thin, see-through, and the grooves were much LARGER.

My Dad had an Optigan when we were kids; we had much fun playing with it.  

http://www.optigan.com/

So to review, it’s “black” because that’s the day that retailers actually make a profit.  

In November.  After selling crap all year.  

And in order to do so, they have to cut prices even further… well, maybe.  They certainly charge less today than other days, whether it’s a real price cut or not is still to be determined.

But in any case, I just purchased the following in AMAZON.COM’s Black Friday sale:

Sony STR-DG520 5.1 Audio Video Receiver $169
The Hulk (Blu-Ray disc) $15
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Blu-Ray disc) $17
Star Wars – Episode I, The Phantom Menace (Widescreen Edition) (DVD) $15
(some gifts for the kids… not posting them here)
Global Distinctions Buy-One-Get-One-Free Ottoman Set, Black ($40)

All told I spent about $300 bucks this Black Friday.  I hope the economy appreciates it, as I’m done spending.  How’d you do this holiday season?

I hope everyone who reads this blog (all four of you) have a happy, healthy and safe Thanksgiving and enjoy the turkey, stuffing, or whatever fixings you’re planning. We’ll be driving between two houses / families in Des Plaines and Naperville to celebrate Thanksgiving, so if the Tryptophan doesn’t get us, the driving will!

[UPDATE 1:26 PM CST: Ethan is sick, poor guy.  Up all night with an upset stomach.  Not a good thing for Thaksgiving gorging.  Mike is taking Justin and Aaron to the families, and Marla is staying home with Ethan.]

OK I know, I said no more political posts.  But I’m making an exception, because 
A) It’s funny
B) It’s tagged “Llama”, not “Politics”

Turn Up The Sound, and Sing Along!

Enough political blogging, feh, I’m sick of it! ;-).

Last Thursday night was Aaron’s Winter band concert; recall that Aaron plays the trombone.   Pictures are HERE, however because of the heavy mercury lighting in the McCracken Middle School gym, my point-and-shoot camera could not focus or auto set the shutter speed correctly, so the pictures came out kind of blurry.  See if you can find him.

Of course, you can’t *hear* the concert from the pictures, and I had no luck trying to record it this year.  Sorry, hopefully I’ll have some sound bytes from the Spring concert.

Quick family-ish update: Aaron made High Honors in school.  We’re absolutely thrilled.  Ethan and Justin’s “Young Atheletes” and swimming programs are over now, so even more free time in the evening.  Next up: Parent-Teacher Conferences, until Thanksgiving, then some blessed relief from the constant running.  Black Friday: Last year, I slept in on Black Friday and purchased my big ticket items online.  Not sure yet if I’m doing Black Friday this year; we’re not planning any big electronics purchases, so it’d only be for gifts (which was the original intention…)  and so far I haven’t seen any great deals on that stuff yet.  Winter vacations: Yeah, uh right… you know I work for a Bank, right? 🙁

Mitch Mitchell, the last surviving member of Jimi Hendrix Experience, was found dead today in his hotel room.  He apparently died of natural causes.  After Jimi Hendrix’s death, and the subsequent death of Bass player Noel Redding in 2003, Mitchell continued to tour regularly as part of the Experience Hendrix Tour.  He was 61 years old.

Alas, OSCON – the collection of open source hippies I hang out with for a week every summer in Portland, Oregon has moved the 2009 conference to San Jose, CA.  So Portland will have to wait until 2011 (the next Humphries family reunion) to see me again.  On the upside, I have cousins in San Jose! 🙂

Fortunately, even though Portland is brimming with India Pale Ale microbreweries, there are now plenty of micro IPAs available in Chicago.

Michael Crichton, the writer of Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain, Westworld, The Great Train Robbery, Coma, Looker, Runaway, and the NBC series “ER”, died Tuesday after battling cancer.  He was 66.

My first favorite movie was Westworld, starring Yul Brenner.  One of my first computer games for the Commodore Pet 64 as a teenager was a video game based on “Andromeda”.  As a young adult, my first favorite novel was Coma.  And early on in the series, until they jumped the shark, I watched ER all the time.  And of course, who hasn’t seen Jurassic Park?

Rest in peace, Michael.