10 Websites you should know

Here is another list of the "top 10 websites you should know about." This list includes Writely which I have been using more and more for my word processor; I wrote about it last month.

It also includes an interesting site that I had not seen before: Meebo. For a number of years, I have used Trillian as a single client to log on to multiple IM services, including ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber, MSN and AOL. Meebo is a web based client that provides the same basic functionality without having to install a thick client.

Pinewood Derby Day 3

Pinewood Derby Day 3

Mayfly 2005

Mayfly 2005

Mammoth • After 14 years child support ended • Nooter’s • Almanor • Cub Scouts • Half Moon Bay • Dissatisfied with work and personal accomplishments • Andrew Heringer’s Summer Roof.

Pinewood Derby Day 2

Pinewood Derby Day 2

Mayfly 2005 site

There's nothing like summing up the last year of your life to make you re-examine your priorities, or refocus on what has affected you.

The mayfly project is a web site that asked people to sum up the last year of their lives in twenty four words or less. Click on the above graphic!

My 2003 summary can be found here, while my 2004 summary is here!

My summary for 2005 will be up in the next couple of days.

Pinewood Derby Day 1

Pinewood Derby Day 1

My Life 1992

This picture was taken in Puerto Vallarta. I spent a week lying in the sun and playing in a rugby tournament.

1992

click on the picture for a larger copy!


All of the My Life Photos can be found here.

Even More Basketball

After carting three truckloads of Easter, Fall, Halloween and Christmas decorations out of the garage to the storage shed, Jack and I went to the Sacramento Kings versus Indiana Pacers NBA basketball game. Without a doubt, this is probably the most boring Kings game I have seen since the early 1990's.

With the Kings trailing by one point 28 to 27 early in the second quarter, the Pacers went on a 32 to 12 run to lead by 21 points at half time. In the third quarter, Stephen Jackson hit 5 of 6 shots from 3 point range. By the end of the third quarter, the Pacers were leading by 30 points.

Both teams played their second teams in the fourth quarter and the Pacers won by a score of 108 to 83. Jack and I bailed in the middle of the fourth quarter.

The Kings now have 2 wins and 5 losses in games that I have seen in person this year...

Best of CES 2006 awards

Cnet has put together a list of what they think are the best products shown at CES this year.


read more | digg story

2006 Basketball Game 1

Jack played in his first Little Dribblers basketball game of the 2006 season. They played against John Paul II. The other team only had 4 kids (our team has more than 20 boys!) so they mixed the two teams. Jack will tell you that he had 8 points and 6 rebounds. I am helping referee the home games.

Basketball

While Sharon went to the Sacramento Kings versus the Clipper basketball game with Jeana et al, Jack and I went to Little Dribblers Basketball practice. After 19 lead changes and 17 ties, the Kings won the game by a score of 118 to 114.

Chinese Architecture Wonders

China's current building boom is doing more than sucking up the world's supply of steel, it's creating a stage for some of today's boldest architecture and engineering. Businessweek.com has a tour of the 10 of the most intriguing examples. The design of the new Central Chinese Television (CCTV) headquarters is particularly amazing!

read more | digg story

Sutter Health CIO quits

Sutter Health CIO John Hummel quits - 2006-01-05

Business - Sutter exec joins Perot - sacbee.com

My Life 1991

This picture was taken at Disneyland in May of 1991. The period from January of 1991 through March of 1992 was one of the most tremulous periods of my life.

1991

click on the picture for a larger copy!


All of the My Life Photos can be found here.

Personal planetarium

I want one of these: Celestron SkyScout

50 Greatest Gadgets

PCWorld has published a list of The 50 Greatest Gadgets of the Past 50 Years. The top three include two of my favorite toys:

1. Sony Walkman TPS-L2 (1979);
   
2. Apple iPod (2001); and
   
3. (Tie) TiVo HDR110 and ReplayTV RTV2001 (1999).

Doug Udell

I worked with Doug's wife Norma at Farm Credit for more than ten years from 1987 to 1998.

Sacbee.com - Obituary: Douglas Udell, ex-Folsom official

Douglas L. Udell, who worked his way up from riding the back of a garbage truck to become assistant city manager for the city of Folsom, died Friday at home. He was 56.

Mr. Udell died of a sudden heart attack, his wife said Monday.

A pilot, Mr. Udell had always passed required annual physicals with no problems, said his wife, Norma Udell.

News of his death stunned friends and former colleagues of Mr. Udell, who rose through the ranks of City Hall to become Folsom's first assistant city manager.

I had known Doug since he came to work for the city in '73," former City Manager Bill Kime said. "He moved up and continued his education while working and did everything he should to get ahead."

Born in 1949 in Boulder, Colo., Mr. Udell was raised in Taos, N.M., Norma Udell said. When his parents separated, he moved to the Sacramento area with his mother and attended Bella Vista High School in Fair Oaks.

Mr. Udell served in the Marines from 1970 to 1972, his wife said. After leaving the military, he joined the city of Folsom and worked in several departments, including garbage collection, parks, the zoo and building inspection. He met his wife-to-be, a clerk in the city utility department, and they married in 1980.

The couple left Folsom in 1979, when Mr. Udell joined James M. Montgomery Engineers Inc. as a construction inspector on projects near Watsonville and Guerneville.

In 1984, they returned to Folsom, where Mr. Udell worked for Montgomery Engineers on the city's new water treatment plant before rejoining the city of Folsom as a construction inspector, his wife said.

Mr. Udell continued his education, earning a bachelor of science degree from California State University, Sacramento, and a master's degree in public administration from the University of San Francisco. By 1990, he was named assistant city manager and oversaw contracts and construction for the $22 million civic center complex, which opened in 1991.

City officials praised Mr. Udell as a hard-working manager and fiscal watchdog on construction projects.

Former Mayor Jack Kipp recalled a contractor who tried to negotiate changes that would have increased costs for the civic center project.

Mr. Udell "told him, 'The only change I'll give is a change to take the second bidder,' " Kipp said. "He brought that project in under bid and on schedule."

Mr. Udell left City Hall in 2000 to become a self-employed business consultant. In 2003, he joined DeSilva Group, working as a project manager on land acquisition deals until his death, Norma Udell said.

Mr. Udell remained active in Folsom issues after leaving city government. In 2002, he filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the city's affordable housing agreement with Legal Services of Northern California. Citing his experience in city government, he ran unsuccessfully for the City Council in 2002 and 2004.

Mr. Udell was a member of the Marine Corps League in Folsom and was an active volunteer for his son's Boy Scout Troop 94. He also enjoyed flying and completed his instrument rating in October, his wife said.
_____

Douglas L. Udell

Born: Oct. 13, 1949

Died: Dec. 30, 2005 Remembered for: Folsom's first assistant city manager; candidate for City Council in 2002 and 2004.

Survived by: Wife, Norma, of Folsom; son, Wesley, of Folsom; brother, Farrell Udell of Santa Fe, N.M.; sisters, Christy Stripe of Yuba City and Lorna Talbot of Orangevale.

Memorial services: 11 a.m. Thursday, Community Bible Church, 601 Natoma St., Folsom. Memorial contributions may be made to the Educational Trust Fund for Wesley Udell at Golden 1 Credit Union, 1117 E. Bidwell St., Folsom, CA 95630

Porfirio Rubirosa

Although not as tightly written as my favorite biographies, The Last Playboy is an amazing story. Porfirio Rubirosa was in Paris before, during and after World War II. He was in Argentina in its Peronist heyday and in Cuba as Castro was taking power. Rubirosa married the two richest women in the world. He was at home in Hollywood where he had an on and off relationship with Zsa Zsa Gabor. Porfirio vacationed in Hyannis Port with the Kennedy's (Joe, JFK, Bobby and Teddy) and partied with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. He was also probably a bag man for one of the most vicious Central American Dictators of the 20th century.

This book was featured on the NPR Books podcast in the last few months; this is one of the podcasts that I am now listening to regularly.

1629.5 miles

During 2005, I ran 1629.5 miles... I finished the year running 52.5 miles in the last week; this is most that I have run in a single week in at least two years. Weekly totals for the last year are shown in the following graph. My goal for 2006 is to run at least 1,630 miles. I have my sights set on running a 10k, a half marathon and a marathon in 2006 and a 50 miler in early 2007.

Dec 26, 2004	22.46
Jan 2, 2005	31.25
Jan 9, 2005	34.59
Jan 16, 2005	12.70
Jan 23, 2005	5.81
Jan 30, 2005	17.38
Feb 6, 2005	28.88
Feb 13, 2005	16.63
Feb 20, 2005	24.03
Feb 27, 2005	17.77
Mar 6, 2005	37.61
Mar 13, 2005	29.24
Mar 20, 2005	30.24
Mar 27, 2005	39.45
Apr 3, 2005	36.11
Apr 10, 2005	24.64
Apr 17, 2005	35.38
Apr 24, 2005	41.75
May 1, 2005	27.49
May 8, 2005	30.71
May 15, 2005	43.10
May 22, 2005	32.44
May 29, 2005	33.55
Jun 5, 2005	33.22
Jun 12, 2005	35.17
Jun 19, 2005	41.75
Jun 26, 2005	31.34
Jul 3, 2005	35.50
Jul 10, 2005	31.50
Jul 17, 2005	34.35
Jul 24, 2005	27.60
Jul 31, 2005	8.12
Aug 7, 2005	31.50
Aug 14, 2005	24.03
Aug 21, 2005	27.98
Aug 28, 2005	38.10
Sep 4, 2005	43.54
Sep 11, 2005	44.11
Sep 18, 2005	40.86
Sep 25, 2005	37.99
Oct 2, 2005	30.97
Oct 9, 2005	24.02
Oct 16, 2005	24.63
Oct 23, 2005	41.62
Oct 30, 2005	32.75
Nov 6, 2005	37.49
Nov 13, 2005	32.17
Nov 20, 2005	31.51
Nov 27, 2005	24.64
Dec 4, 2005	32.31
Dec 11, 2005	36.99
Dec 18, 2005	30.55
Dec 25, 2005	52.47