Well we made it home last night some time around 10 – 10:30pm after a very long and stressful car ride. The trip took us between 13 and 13 1/2 hours, even though we were on track to make it in 10 hours. Everything was going fine until we hit Canada. Some how we ended up getting turned around on the 403 and were going east instead of west. I woke up from a nap while Tiffany was driving to find that we were in a bit of a traffic jam and moving kind of slow, so we started to talk and what not, when one of us noticed that we were going east. I knew this had to be wrong and so I pulled out our little travel map thing from AAA and sure enough we were heading in the wrong direction. After getting off the 403 and then getting back on going in the right direction we got to hit traffic going the other way. It turns out that there was something weird going on with the 403/QEW where it didn’t actually tell you a direction, it just gave you names of places. So instead of the sign saying 403 west and give you a city name it just said 403 towards city name. After we figured this out it was still confusing because where we were it looked like we were still going in the wrong direction (based off city names) when we were actually going in the correct direction. Another thing that was odd was that the sign on the road said QEW and 403, so after going through all this and eventually getting to just the 403 West, I can only assume that this is Canada’s way of saying your on the QEW and it will get you to the 403. In any event we made it back to Michigan just fine. Kylie, as usual, was a perfect angel and did not fuss at all. She merely contented herself to play in her seat and nap, only fussing when we were almost home, but that is fine considering she spent the better part of 13 hours in her car seat and it was way past her bed time. We are so lucky to have such a happy and well behaved child.

A while ago I stumbled upon this site, which gives a rather realistic view into the casualty rate for the coalition forces (U.S.A., United Kingdom,…) in Iraq since the start of the war.

Iraq War Coalition Fatalities is a chart of the US and coalition military fatalities that have occurred in the war in Iraq since the onset, mapped across the dimensions of time and space. It is an ongoing project that is updated regularly, and will continue to go on as long as the war does.

The animation runs at ten frames per second “ one frame for each day“ and a single black dot indicates the geographic location that a coalition military fatality occurred. Each dot starts as a white flash and a larger red dot which fades to black over the span of 30 frames/days, and then slowly fades to grey over the span of the entire war.

Accompanying the visual representation is a soft “tic” sound for each fatality, the volume of which increases relative to the number of fatalities that occurred simultaneously that day. More deaths in a smaller area produces visually deeper reds and audibly more pronounced “tic”.

The project is done in Flash and is currently set to run from the start of the war (March 20, 2003) through March 21, 2006. In addition it gives you the option to show which coalition force you wish to view data for, so if you are only interested in seeing U.S. casualties you can. It’s rather sobering to watch.

Many people will not remember his name, and in fact may never even have known it, but mention The Boy in the Bubble and that will jog a memory. David was that boy, the boy who spent his entire life within a “plastic isolator bubble to protect him from the germs that his body could not fend off”. He suffered from a condition known as Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID).

SCID is actually a group of inherited disorders characterized by a lack of immune response. It occurs when a child lacks lymphocytes, the specialized white blood cells that the body uses to fight infection.

If this condition is not diagnosed early it is often fatal within the first year. Now it is treatable in most cases, but such was not the case in the 1970’s when David was born. As such doctor’s found a way to make sure his birth was kept sterile and that he was exposed to open air for as small amount of time as possible. For all of David’s 12 years of life he lived inside his bubble, and though he lived such a short time, his contributions to science were enormous.

I mention all this simple because I found this site on PBS tonight and found it extremely interesting. The life he led is something that will never be duplicated ever again, and is a singular time period in history that will forever be unique.

Every so many years (I think it is 10) the government does a census to find out things like population, income, households, age and a bunch of other stuff. This information is eventually made public after all of the gathering is completed. But who really goes and checks it out? Well thanks to the new Web2.0 applications that have been emerging lately you can now view census information for a given area using an address. The site uses Google Maps and information from the Census Bureau to provide information. It is really kind of interesting to see some of the information about your surrounding area.

I always wondered why my cat does some of the things that she does, especially when they seem to be sporadic. I have often wondered what went on inside her head and if there was a method to her madness. Now that I have read the guidelines for cats I have a much better understanding.

Now this is something I am going to have to give serious consideration to doing. At this exact moment there are no fewer than four tags that this would allow me to get rid of on my keychain. For those of you who don’t know me all to well, that would be awesome, as I hate having a bulky key chain in my pocket. In fact, I do not understand how people can carry around a set of keys when they have a huge collection of key chains, keys, and other various items attached to what we commonly refer to as our key ring. Not that I am trying to disrespect anyone’s personal choice or anything, perhaps I am just more simple than other people when it comes to certain things. In any event this is going to take some considerable contemplation.

I always thought that early termination fees for cell phones were kind of stupid. I mean isn’t that some kind of violation of your right to a better deal or something? After all, I can change my auto insurance mid-policy with out owing them anything, or change television providers without owing them anything; heck I can event change my home telephone service with out incurring any type of cancellation fee. So what makes cell phones any different? Well evidently there is a way to cancel your cell phone service without paying an early termination fee, and it is buried in your terms of service agreement. The reason no one really knows about it, is that in general no one really reads the fine print. Maybe if enough people realize it is possible and perhaps even apply it, the companies will do away with them all together?

On Feb. 23 I won an auction on eBay for a Bluetooth headset, more precisely for a Jabra BT350. This headset was brand new and in retail packaging, so I figured what the heck and gave the auction a shot. I ended up winning with a bid of $38 USD plus shipping of $13.95 USD, so my total cost was $51.95 USD, not bad considering if I had purchased it at the Verizon store it retails for $79.99 USD, and even with my 25% discount I still would have had to pay just about $60 USD pre tax, so I still saved some money.

Well I got the headset yesterday and after charging it and pairing it with my phone I have had no problems using it. In fact it works real nice. I have been able to leave my phone on its charger and just wear the headset and answer calls anywhere in my apartment. The BT350 vibrates and gives a small beep when a call is coming in and I just press the answer button. I have not had the opportunity to use it while driving yet, but considering that my old wired headset worked nicely while driving; I think it is safe to assume that this new one will be even better.

Now I just need to decide if I want to buy the belt clip for my phone, seeing as this one did not come with one, or if I am fine just leaving it in my pocket. The belt clip retails for $20 USD but I am sure that I can get one cheaper on eBay. I will have to wait and see what finances and time bring.

Well I finally got my new phone. In accordance with my Verizon plan, I am eligible to get a new phone every 2 years at a reduced rate. So I have traded in (well technically I still have it) my trusty LG VX-4600 for a nice shiny new Motorola E815. This is actually a big upgrade as far as features go. The E815 has a camera which also dose video recording, has an expansion memory slot, does V cast, has MP3 ring tone capabilities, and is Bluetooth enabled! It also has a few other things my old LG didn’t have, like a speakerphone and a larger display. While I loved my old LG, this one just has more of the geek qualities that I require. 🙂 I am still playing with it and trying to get everything transferred over, but so far I like it. Now I just need to get my wireless headset and a laptop with built in Bluetooth and I am all set.

I plan on owning a home someday, and as such I tend sometimes look at that one channel on the TV that shows property listings, just to get an idea of how much places in my area sell for. Well tonight I found Zillow, a site that shows you property values. You simply type in some information (none personal) and it will get you the information. This site is ideal for both people looking to sell their home and for people looking to buy a home. With it you can easily see what the value is of other houses in the area and find out if you’re asking (or offering) to much or to little for your (the) neighborhood. In the event that you do not own your home, you can even check and see how much the place you are renting is worth. Very neat indeed.