Downtime 26 minutes

During Frankie's nighttime routine (bath, vid, books, bed) my nVidia Ti4400 video card disintegrated. The heatsink just fell off and more importantly, Chicken Run came to an abrupt end. Acck! Mom quieted the storm while I bolted to MicroCenter. A $125 for a GeForce 6200 replacement provided a quick remedy. Tomorrow night, the kid will see the chickens run and I will be her hero.

unscripted

...is a play put on by Foolish Bison Players at Kafe Kerouac (2250 N. High Street). The byline for it: a play about the strength of family vs. law, guilt vs. remorse, and courage vs. cowardice. Sounds fantastic. Mike told us about this play yesterday on a family outing to the Kafe and Trish and I believe it is "sitter worthy". It's playing March 3,4,5 and 10, 11 at 8 pm and no two performances will be alike. Reservations recommended: tickets at foolishbison dot com. Hope to see you there.

columbus kafe kerouac theater

Since when did the Columbus Dispatch online become free (or did I forget and already sign in)?

Slippery slope

I've purchased about 3 lottery tickets in my life. The first was back in 1991 when, after trying to make a stupid perfluorphenyl ester (a chemistry thing) for the better part of a year, I was successful. I figured I was on a streak and I bought a ticket. Didn't win.

The second was a valentine's day present when the Ohio Lottery's Megamillions Game got to be about 120 million. Not too romantic but hey, I gave my wife a shot at the big time. No one won that one. A few days later, it was up to 145 million; lather, rinse, repeat - I lost again. Tonight's pot is 170+ million and I can't stop. Dollar number 4 coming up. Someone's gotta win to get me off this wicked ride. Wish me luck.

By the way, if I win, Family members taken care of -> a comfy chunk for us -> the rest divided among Columbus Public Teachers as a bonus.

Update
Nope. Didn't win. Glad too. The night of the drawing, my wife and I were talking about the implications of winning that much cash. It scared us. We're happy the way we are. Tonight's drawing (2/24/06) is also up around 170+ Mil. I think I'll skip it and buy a bargain bottle of port and pretend we won.

lottery columbus

3-1-1

In need of a non-emergent city service? "City Government at Your Fingertips" is what's being rolled out by Columbus. Just dial 3-1-1 or put in the request via their 3-1-1 website (e.g., bulk trash removal). Should be interesting to see how it works.

columbus 311

To my loves

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... from alt.ascii-art.

valentine ascii

Wow, this feels weird

Today my lovely wife took Frankie to the museum before her nap to give me a little break. So, this morning, unemcumbered, I did grocery shopping, cooked meatballs for dinner, folded laundry, put away the dishwasher, did a mini workout and had two cups of coffee. A few more minutes and I would've had a pork shoulder smoking on the infamous Weber ... maybe next weekend. Thanks hon, it was splendid.

parenting toddler time

Just links ...

1. Meebo. An IM client that allows you to IM when you can't download the software, ie, when away from the home base. Looks pretty cool and is still in its infancy.

2. Zillow. A site to give you an appraisal of your house and several in your neighborhood. About 60,000,000 homes in the database. I think it's swamped right now. I haven't been able to get in for days. Anyone have any luck with this lately?

3. Will it sweep to our South or nail us head on?

4. Curious George has been made into a movie starting today! Will Ferrell is (the voice of) the man in the yellow hat. I think I know where we'll spend at least a portion of our weekend.

zillow meebo weather curious george

The best of sports

I don't like the more common sports: basketball, baseball, football, etc. I like to exercise, ride my bike, walk, swim, etc. The spectator sports on television just don't do much for me. I do have one weakness however, the commercials of the Superbowl. But, an active toddler just doesn't allow one to kick back and watch. Video.google.com to the rescue! You can actually watch ALL the commercials right here. They even have a few that didn't make the cut.

superbowl television commercials advertising