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March 6, 2007

Kangs Corner now on Newbury Street


Photo_030107_001
Originally uploaded by frisard.
Well this is as good a picture as any to start out a new blog. Yes, it has been a while since I did this but I sure can go the practice of writing more often.
OK, right next to star pizza back in Northeastern area was this store called Kang's Corner. It sold little things like sodas and cigarettes. Well now I was in school quite a long time ago and now Kang's has moved up to Newbury street. Wow.

In case anyone would care to see my old blog it is at the following address; http://www.ronfrisard.com/ronwl/.

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Posted on March 6, 2007 8:47 PM | | Comments (0)

Original Kang's Corner


DCP_2288
Originally uploaded by frisard.
This is a picture I took back in 2001 at the original Kang's on Gainsborough street in the back bay.

UPDATE: I found this website talking about Kangs ~ I guess it is like a head shop now..

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Posted on March 6, 2007 8:59 PM | | Comments (0)

March 7, 2007

Top 3 weird airports


DCP_3193
Originally uploaded by frisard.
Heard a story on the news today confirming that Atlanta's airport is still the busiest in the world. It started me thinking about what are the strange things I have seen in airports. I thought I would rank the top three oddest airports that I have been to, so here they are:

#3) SLP : San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
When I left Houston to get there I went though "customs" and had to fill out the form and get my passport stamped. They also looked at my bag. When I arrived at San Luis Potosi they scanned my bags again. I never could figure out why they needed to scan them again and it is in the middle of nowhere but they would not let me leave until they were scanned. I am guessing it must of been a drug thing.

#2) PVG : Pudong - Shanghai, China.
I took the photo of the Iran Airlines 747 at this airport waiting for my flight to Korea. It is a very new looking airport but it was strange to see all the different airlines and all the 747's. That is the plane of China!

#1) YBG: Chicoutimi, Canada.
I went here about a year before 9/11 and the funny thing about the airport is how small it is. it is basically 90% a military base with a few commercial flights. But what sticks with me is they did not have any type of "scanner" for carry on bags. Instead there was a guy who opened all you bags and asked you about it. Very strange.

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Posted on March 7, 2007 7:57 PM | | Comments (0)

March 8, 2007

This American Life Tour


t-a-l
Originally uploaded by frisard.
Last week I went to the "This American Life" radio show live tour. It is quite strange seeing a radio show performed live but this is also no ordinary radio show. The show focuses on real stories of real people. Many movies have been made after hearing a short story on this show. Actually the guy behind the show, Ira Glass, has created a production company and has created movies himself. The last was about kids snowed in at Chicago's airport.

They are promoting a new TV show based on the radio show running on Showtime later this month. Since I am a really big fan, I can not wait to see it. They showed some outtakes and one story and it is filmed very big and with a lot of detail.

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Posted on March 8, 2007 3:58 PM | | Comments (0)

March 9, 2007

Back to the Future


Back to the Future Car...
Originally uploaded by frisard.
A few years ago we went to Universal in Orlando and had a wonderful time. At the time one of Meghan's favorite movies was the back to the future trilogy. This was the original car from the movie and we rode the ride at Universal about 5 times.
A little known secret that we learned is if you stay at one of the hotels in the resort you get a free upgrade to the express lane at all the good rides. This trick saved us many hours of waiting in line. Well worth the extra for the hotel room.

I think it is cool how popular the old movie is here is a link to a retro t-shirt on the subject.

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Posted on March 9, 2007 8:40 PM | | Comments (0)

Bought new network hard drive


enus_largeimage_product_sc101
Originally uploaded by frisard.
Right now my music is on many different drives and I thought about consolidating onto one drive. Then I thought about buying a large external or internal. Both have their + and -. For example, if I bought a external I would have to have it attached to my main PC. To share the music in the house I would need to always have i-tunes running and it would slow my machine down.
If I bought an internal I would have to put it into my old PC that I just use for a "server". This machine needs a lot of taking care of (window updates, virus protection, defrag, etc).
I thought out of the box and bought this Network hard drive (SC101 from Netgear). It is basically a toaster looking thing that has 2 hard drive slots and a smal processor that allows it to be on your network and all your computers can see it. The install was easy and it is very quite. So far I am giving it a big thumbs up.
I am consolidating my I tunes library on it right now and so far so good.

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Posted on March 9, 2007 9:16 PM | | Comments (0)

March 10, 2007

Job Discription: Bagel Technician


jerry1
Originally uploaded by frisard.
This is taken from one of my favorite episodes of Seinfeld. This was the one where Kramer had got his job back as a "bagel technician" at H&H bagel. Also it is the Festus for the rest of us episode.

One of the little details in the show is going as far as making up the business card. that show always went the extra mile on detail - for example all of the cereal in Jerry apartment.

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Posted on March 10, 2007 5:11 PM | | Comments (0)

March 11, 2007

Storyland days of old


9343_007
Originally uploaded by frisard.
This picture was taken years ago when the highlight of Meghan and our summer was going to Storyland in New Hampshire. Now she is "to old" for the place and now only wants to go to more grown up places.
This was the famous bamboo chutes water ride. We must of rode this thing 100 times.

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Posted on March 11, 2007 8:13 PM | | Comments (0)

REM in the R&R hall of fame


REM
Originally uploaded by frisard.
Yes, it is true, this Tuesday night REM will be inducted into the hall on their first year of eligibility (after your first record is 25 years old).
This is a great site done by the Athens Georgia newspaper that has everything REM.
Also, where I heard about this at was the famous murmurs.com. I will be watching knowing how many concerts I have seen over the years ( i am going to guess at least 20+ times). The first time I saw them was in the spring of 1985 at the MIT ice ring.

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Posted on March 11, 2007 8:29 PM | | Comments (0)

March 12, 2007

Slideshare.net : put your powerpoint on the web

Here is a service I found on the web that is trying to be the "youtube" for powerpoint presentations. The example above is a powerpoint I created for Meghan's 3rd grade class about China. I took some stuff off the web and added pictures I had taken over in China over the years. I think this service could be big very soon as a great marketing tool. What a great way to get your message out there without the bandwidth costs.

If If you click on the "on slideshare" button in the bottom left of the box, it will send you to their website and see an even larger view of the ppt.

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Posted on March 12, 2007 11:21 AM | | Comments (1)

Getting your inbox to Zero


frisard
Originally uploaded by frisard.
One of my favorite blogs to read is 43 folders by Merlin Mann. he talks about productivity tips and really pushes concepts of the book called Getting Things Done (GTD) but David Allen. He is very famous in the technology and you will get a million hits with the term GTD. Well in regards to Email, Merlin has a special site created just to go over how to deal with it better. The site has many things to help you from getting over burdened from Email.

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Posted on March 12, 2007 11:58 AM | | Comments (0)

Meghan in Florida Video


This video was taken quite a few years ago in Englewood Florida at my mother in law's house. I think Meghan was 4 or 5 at the time and we were walking to the beach.

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Posted on March 12, 2007 7:11 PM | | Comments (0)

March 13, 2007

REM- remember every moment


REM spin mag
Originally uploaded by frisard.
At last nights induction ceremony to the Rock and Roll hall of fame Micheal Stipe said that his grandmother thinks REM stands for "remember every moment". That kind of sums up the evening where REM was the show. After only the guy who plays the bass and Sammy Hagar were the only two people to show up for Van Halen. Patti Smith who also was inducted has always been a mentor of REM - she played on "e-bow the letter" from new adventures in hi-fi. Also she was the topic of the first meeting between Stipe and Buck at the record store in Athens.

REM played three songs:
* Begin the Begin
* Gardening at night
* Man on the moon
You can read all about it at mummers here.

This SPIN magazine cover I have had since I bought it on the news stand (1985ish). I always like the way the band looks in the photo and I always thought the letter in Stipe's hand was the "letter never sent".

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Posted on March 13, 2007 1:34 PM | | Comments (0)

Vacation Trip to Mexico and San Fran using Slide

Just trying out another cool service I found on the internet. With Myspace and facebook lots of these services are popping up. This service (slide) did not even make me sign up to make one of these. It asked for my flickr name and I was off. Very cool.

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Posted on March 13, 2007 7:51 PM | | Comments (0)

March 15, 2007

BC beats Texas Tech in first round of NCAA's


Best BC games of the year
Originally uploaded by frisard.
I saw most of the home BC games this year and I did not think they were going to go very deep this year in the NCAA. Once I found they got Texas Tech I really thought Bob Knight would prepare enough to wear down the Eagles. But I was wrong. It all started with a great game by the point guard Tyrese Rice (26 points). Also the two seniors (Sean Marshall & Dudley) did not want this to be their last game.
Lets see how they do going forward. I really hope they keep playing above their talent.

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Posted on March 15, 2007 9:17 PM | | Comments (0)

Ben Folds playing the Boston Garden this summer


BF
Originally uploaded by frisard.
I just found out that Ben Folds is teaming up with John Mayer this summer for a rocking tour. I have seen him about 4 times over the last couple of years and each year he gets larger and larger venues. Tonight I just found out he is playing the Boston Garden. It will be a great show that is for sure.
Here are the dates:
**Jul 14, 2007 Hartford, CT New England Dodge Music Center
with John Mayer
**Jul 15, 2007 Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC)
with John Mayer
**Jul 17, 2007 Boston, MA TD Banknorth Garden
with John Mayer

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Posted on March 15, 2007 10:07 PM | | Comments (0)

March 16, 2007

Original MP3 server


Old MP3 Machine
Originally uploaded by frisard.
"There is nothing that cannot be achieved by firm imagination." - Japanese proverb...
A few years ago I had a motherboard, Velcro, super glue, and an old Mac box. I put them together and created a great Mp3 server for my house. I had the AMD motherboard mounted sideways with the super glue and I used the Velcro to hold in the hard drives that rested half in and half out of the old mac box. I also had put a CD drive on the top using black electrical tape.
I loved this machine but we kept running out of hard disk space as our collection grew. After a few years it also started to run really hot and had a bad fan. I knew the time was near and I put it out of its misery.

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Posted on March 16, 2007 7:31 PM | | Comments (0)

March 18, 2007

Famous Cadillac ranch


MVC-007F
Originally uploaded by frisard.
About 8 years ago I went to Amarillo Texas on business. I really do not remember that much about the city except the famous Cadillac ranch. This was some type of art project where they put the front end of cars into the ground. You have to get your picture taken with one of the cars.
It was a real surreal place ~ cars on the highway but we were the only people at the cars. When I say it was in the middle of nowhere, I am not joking. Amarillo is quite small and they moved this to the outskirts. Nothing but cattle and open land.

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Posted on March 18, 2007 10:17 PM | | Comments (0)

March 19, 2007

Walking the dogs video


So I am still playing around with video on the internet. I guess I am the "person of the year" according to Time magazine. this was a video I took on my phone as Meghan and I walked our dogs Reggie and Bella.
I used Google video instead of youtube just to try it out. I was amazed how simple it is and how it takes any format. I think this is the wave of the future.

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Posted on March 19, 2007 3:09 PM | | Comments (0)

"vedio-ipod"


vedio-ipod
Originally uploaded by frisard.
I just bought a great new monitor from ViewSonic and it has a built-in I-pod charger. One thing that also came with the monitor were adapters so you can fit all the different types of I-pod on the charger. As I was going through the box I noticed that they misspelled the word "video" as "Vedio". How many people looked at this before ti shipped??
Ouch..

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Posted on March 19, 2007 9:13 PM | | Comments (0)

March 21, 2007

The old basketball gang


scan0002
Originally uploaded by frisard.
The good old days when I use to play basketball twice a week. This was the group photo of our Stoneham middle school basketball gang. This photo was taken before Meghan was born (that is 11 years ago!). The song "The old playground" by Bruce Hornsby really sums up that time - with lyrics like this: "The old sage frowns, he says just pass it on around

But all-world junior's pulling up from downtown

For some it's a way out, for some it's a way in
Most of us don't even care
We're just looking for another gym to get in"


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Posted on March 21, 2007 9:49 PM | | Comments (0)

March 26, 2007

Meghan's play


Tom Sawyer - Meghan's Play
Originally uploaded by frisard.
For the last 3 months every Sunday afternoon Meghan has been at the Groton senior center practicing for this play. Over the last week the practices were every night from 4-8. I volunteered in the stage crew.

Well, I am here to tell you that the play went off really well. Meghan was excellent and all the kids did a great job.

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Posted on March 26, 2007 3:15 PM | | Comments (0)

March 27, 2007

Paint.net - Great "open Source" paint program


Logo3
Originally uploaded by frisard.
I have been using this program on both of my machines at home for quick little photo edits. It has all the same tools as paint shop, photoshop, etc but all free. Today I downloaded the new 3.01 version and saw even more tools. Also there is a big users group that makes plug-ins. I think this is a must have for any home computer..

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Posted on March 27, 2007 6:19 PM | | Comments (0)

How secure is your passwords??


passwords
Originally uploaded by frisard.
This article from "one man's blog" (through lifehacker) was a dose of reality. I always heard about how easy it was to hack someone's password if you knew them - well this reinforced that. OK, be honest, how many passwords to you have or do you use the same one as often as possible? How about using your kids, dog, etc as your passwords?

Very scary and I always use a non-letter key in all of my passwords now..

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Posted on March 27, 2007 7:12 PM | | Comments (0)

March 28, 2007

What a great photo of a dog's life


Chill Out, Buster
Originally uploaded by Fintan.
I was looking for a photo for work and stumbled onto this pic. I just think it sums up what it is like to be a dog on a great sunny day.

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Posted on March 28, 2007 11:27 AM | | Comments (0)

March 30, 2007

Rotisserie Baseball


roto
Originally uploaded by frisard.
I have been part of the Chesterton roto baseball league for the last 13 years. We have been very lucky and have kept most of the same team owners since the start.
If you have no idea what Rotisserie baseball is this is a good article on Wikipedia.
tomorrow is the draft and since I finished 2nd I have the next to last first round pick. Not the best position but I should get someone that will help my team. The big story in our league (AL players only, 10 teams, 5x5) is the new Red Sox's pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, There was a big trade to get him as the #1 overall pick.
Here are the stats of our league over the last 13 years (PDF).

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Posted on March 30, 2007 8:46 PM | | Comments (0)

March 31, 2007

Line Rider...


linerider
Originally uploaded by frisard.
OK,
I am not what you call a real gamer person. sure, I had a thing for SSX-Tricky for a few years (still the best game ever made in my humble opinion) but never really got the gaming fever you hear other people have. Well this little flash game called "Line Rider" is the most entertaining thing I have seen in a while. I am late to the party, the student who invented it has already sold it to a big gaming company and there are 11,000 videos on youtube.
As an engineer I like the creativity gravity gives the game. There was this old arcade game on landing a ship on the moon where you have to give pilot the ship down only using the amount of fuel you burn and at what angle. This is very similar but more fun. It is great to see the little kids scarf flying behind him as he gains speed.

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Posted on March 31, 2007 10:06 AM | | Comments (0)

Where in the world is this??


Mexico 070
Originally uploaded by frisard.
Did you guess Germany, Spain, France? You all would be wrong. It is San Luis Potisi Mexico. I went to this wonderful city last year for business and did not know anything about it. Well I was really surprised how nice it was. The building downtown were very old and looked like they were out of Europe.
The city is an old mining town dead north center of the country. if you ever get the chance go.
I have actually been to a few cities in Mexico.
- Cancun (Vacation on cruise ship)
- Mexico City (work)
- San Luis Potisi (work)
- Veracruz (work)
- Puerto Vallarta (Vacation)

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Posted on March 31, 2007 10:04 PM | | Comments (0)

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About March 2007

This page contains all entries posted to Ron Frisard's Blog... in March 2007. They are listed from oldest to newest.

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