Ulmus Jefferii

Happy New Year!

I had a great time back in NC and 2 days in Atlanta. Now it’s time to get back to work. And start planning 2009. It looks like I have already allocated all of my vacation time. But that’s fine with me because it requires a ski trip to Lake Tahoe, my parents coming to visit the southwest, a trip to Istanbul and Cyprus, and two trips to NC one in summer(wedding reception at Big Butte) and one for the Holidays.

This week I’m going to be getting my beer brewing kit. I want to make sure I have room for it my already overcrowded apartment.

Speaking to one of my brothers, I realized that I am not using my iPhone to it’s full potential. There are really only a few apps that I use regularly. So I am looking at the apps in more detail for ones I will actually use. So far I have found vlingo which works quite well. I may feel like using the iPhone while driving is not so horrible (well still only at red lights).

An interesting, but maybe not so useful app comes from instamapper. Which also segues into my hike in Ventana Canyon yesterday. Because of the steady rise in the terrain and the great line-of-sight to Tucson, I had reception for most of the hike. And so you can see a rough route of the hike.

Thanks to a coworker, I found out Hulu.com has all of Arrested Development available. I hope if you are reading this, you know that arrested development is one of the best series ever. Unfortunately, this now means I am rewatching it again. There go many hours of my conscious life.

In other news, my iPod mini up and died after about four years. Here is the culprit.

Luckily for around $70, I’m getting a 32GB Compact Flash drive(solid state) and a new battery.

Finally, I hate the traffic that goes with Christmas shopping.

First, let me say that I don’t think this really says anything about GW Bush. However, the irony of the situation is humorous and many would say fitting.

I first heard about this painting on “Wait, wait … don’t tell me!”. The painting in question is titled “A Charge to Keep” by W.H.D. Koerner, and it currently hangs in the Oval Office.

According to Bush himself the main subject resembles Bush himself. He interprets it in the context of a hymn, “”. However early uses of this painting were in the context of a criminal fleeing [link, link].

Really none of this matters. But you still have to laugh a little, and think that maybe people misinterpret other things very differently than they were originally intended. Sources such as some Books (I meant to capitalize the ‘B’ because some people use “Book” as if it was a proper name).