Oliver News

Saw a news story a few minutes ago talking about food prices going too high for many to afford. It seems that the price of gasoline and the use of food growing fields to grow plants for bio fuels is making the supply a little tighter. Add to that food distributors holding on to it a bit longer to get prices higher, and what you have is a lot of hungry people around the world, and one group of people overthrowing their government (Haiti) because of it.

Rice now has armed security in some parts of the world. This is crazy. I though it was bad paying extra money for blueberries different times of the year. Could you imagine having to carry guns just to transport rice?

Jon showed me how to build PCs. He spent time learning and getting A+ certified and knows more about computer electronics then I ever will. He knows voltages and other terms that I have never bothered to learn. One day he showed me how easy it is to build a computer. Basically you stick slot a into tab b, it’s simple. He had a fancy anti-static wrist band to protect the components, but taught me to simply touch the case before handling the components.
If you want a custom computer get your own computer kit and start inserting the cards. The hardest part is picking the components and making sure that they all work together, if you find some predefined Computer Kits the hardest part is taken care of for you. You can build basic PC or a powerful unit, once you do though, you will find yourself looking to upgrade and add more powerful cards, and being able to install the upgrades yourself will save you a ton of time and money.

My favorite nephew (he is the only nephew) has helped his team win the little league playoffs for our tri-city area. Big kudos go out to Benji and his parents who have spent nearly every weekend playing and practicing. Benji had wanted to be a pitcher, but was better suited to short stop and the occasional playing as catcher.
Highlights from the final game include Benji making a double play in the 9th innning keeping the other team from winning, and he also scored two runs.
Hats off to you Benji, we look forward to seeing you continue the legacy next year.

Uncle mike has just gotten a new bathtub, at first it didn’t sound like much, but he was telling how he can walk into it and sit down without having to bend over and crawl. I had a hard time imagining how that would work and much less work, so I took the invite to check it out. I must say it is really pretty cool! I would love to have one of these walkin baths. At first glance it reminded me of the kind of tub that major league pitchers get to enjoy, but then I took a seat inside and though how great it would be to have one of these outside on a deck with a cigar.
Uncle Mike was bragging about the ladies that are lining up to enjoy a bath in his new water haven, and he even had a few offer to clean his bathroom every week just to use it. Mike was sold on the ease of use, as his old back makes it difficult to jump in and out of standard tubs, I’m sold on the coolness factor. I wonder if I could get my bathroom cleaned every week just for having one?

Just read a story about how one blogger decided to take the time and unplug from the internet, email, everything every Wednesday, this somehow has spread into a bit of a movement, online of course. People from all over the world apparently are making an unplugged day like a religious day of necessity. This one blogger says she could hear im messages that weren’t there and dreamt of blogging. Dreaming of blogging isn’t a bad thing, but I guess if I was hearing instant message popups that weren’t there I too would be a little worried!

Seriously though we all need to set some digital boundaries in many ways, and being connected all the time can have it’s drawbacks. We should all be spending more time doing physical activities and have some time for the self. Time to meditate and relax. Of course, I end up doing this Sunday nights - mainly because there is always much less news to read on those days!