Sunday, December 13, 2009

Nostalgia

I was missing the 70's the other day. I don't remember much of them since I was born in the early 70's but I guess what I really miss are simpler times. As a child I really enjoyed the Great Brainbooks by John D. Fitzgerald(he grew up in the late 1800's in Utah).

Anyway, when I was searching to feed my 70's fix I fould this site --> http://wesclark.com/am/. It's a great story about growing up in Burbank, California in the 60's and 70's by Wes Clark. Maybe it will inspire me to write about my childhood?

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Land's End order tracking does not work in Firefox

It is so irritating when companies don't test their websites/don't care if they do not work. I get emails from Land's End when an order has shipped. They have links to a page where you enter your order number and click track, which directs you to a UPS webpage. In Firefox I always get an error "UPS could not locate the shipment details". For kicks I tried it in IE 8 tonight and it works! How annoying.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Amazon.com Black Friday deals

Don't forget to check out the black Friday specials at Amazon.com

Thursday, November 12, 2009

iTunes Javascripts

Oh boy, I am excited about this! I found some JavaScript files to help cleanup iTunes mess since Apple refuses to help. I used two of the scripts to find songs without artwork and also to find my missing songs. Check it out here --> http://ottodestruct.com/blog/2005/itunes-javascripts/

Monday, November 09, 2009

Hot off the press from Amazon.com - Jeans

I just got this notice from Amazon:
We've just launched a new Denim Shop with free shipping and free returns on jeans. You can find an impressive lineup of premium denim brands such as 7 for All Mankind, Lucky Brand, Joe's Jeans, plus all-American classics such as Levi's. It's everything you love about jeans, now right here at Amazon.com.

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Amazon Wish Lists

Hot off the press from Amazon.com: Amazon Wish Lists just turned 10, and we're celebrating with 10 weeks of sweepstakes with prizes we think you'll love. Just create, add to, or share a Wish List, and you'll be invited to enter! Click here for more details.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Good Chinese Food

I recently had really good Chinese food on the west end of Richmond and wanted to write about it here so that others would know and so that I don't forget.

Chung Hing
3053 Lauderdale Dr (near Short Pump Mall)
Richmond, VA
phone 804-360-2708

I had a lunch special. They give a lot of food for $4.99. I had soup, my entree (beef with broccoli) and fried rice. The lunch special have many options. If you are in the area and hungry give Chung Hing a try!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

C# 2008 for Programmers

I recently checked out this book from my local library: C# 2008 for Programmers (3rd Edition)

It is written by by Paul J. Deitel and Harvey M. Deitel. I found it to be very useful as a reference guide. I had some tasks that I wanted to try in C# and this book helped me figure out how to do them. It covers the latest topics (as of .NET 3.5) and all of the standard .NET stuff as well.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

The College Solution

I heard an interview with the author of this book on the radio today --> The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price

I have not read the book but the author (Lynn O'Shaughnessy) had some good points about helping your child pick a college. There was also some interesting information about comparing the costs of different schools. So far it has good reviews at Amazon.com.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Busch Gardens Williamsburg

I was sad to hear that Busch Gardens is closing the Big Bad Wolf. It is a great ride, a classic 80's roller coaster. Growing up in the Williamsburg area I got to ride it a lot in my teen years.

Since I still live reasonably close, I bought annual passes for my family so that two of my kids can enjoy "traveling at the speed of fright." My youngest is still too young. We were there yesterday and had a blast despite the blazing heat. Even without the Big Bad Wolf it is a great park.
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From the Busch Gardens website:
On July 24, Busch Gardens announced that after 25 years traveling at the speed of fright, The Big Bad Wolf will take its last trip through Busch Gardens’ Bavarian village Sept. 7. http://www.buschgardens.com/bgw2/Explore/Rides.aspx?id=489

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Mac OS X Snow Leopard available at Amazon

Starting now, Mac OS X Snow Leopard is available for preorder exclusively at Amazon.com. Current Mac OS 10.5 Leopard users are eligible to upgrade to Snow Leopard at the very low price of $29.

Snow Leopard is a truly exciting addition to the Mac OS X line, with half the footprint of previous versions, great new features in Expose & Stacks, quicker Time Machine backup, and faster wireless network interaction. It’s the world’s most advanced operating system, finely tuned. Mac OS X Snow Leopard is releasing in September 2009.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Windows 7

Be sure to visit the Windows 7 resource center at amazon.com. If you preorder Windows 7 you get 50% off. This is a limited time offer from Microsoft through select resellers. Click here now.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

New Jeep!

I bought a new to me Jeep this week, mainly to use for commuting but Jeeps are always fun to work on too. It is a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo V8 4x4. The color is Taupe. It's in good condition as far as I can tell. Here is a picture:

Saturday, April 04, 2009

Radiator Barn

This week I had to put a new radiator on my Jeep Wrangler. The old one had started leaking. I found a great price at http://www.radiatorbarn.com. They also shipped my order on the next business day, with free shipping! If you need a radiator for you vehicle I recommend that you check them out.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Amazon.com Auto Parts

I have added the Amazon.com Auto Parts widget to my home page. They have all kinds of accessories for your car or truck, such as gauges, intakes, exhaust and more. Check it out --> http://www.tommister.com/

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Found a job!

I have found a new job. As my life returns to normal I will start posting to my blog more regularly again. My new job is a Senior Developer at CRC (www.crc.cc).

Monday, February 09, 2009

Qimonda

It has been a while since I posted anything. I have been distracted because I have to find a new job. The company I work for, Qimonda, is closing the factory here in Richmond, VA. My last day will be Feb. 27, 2009.

My skillset includes Oracle PL/SQL, datawarehouse development, VB6, VB.NET, ASP.NET, Excel, Access and more. You can see my resume here. If you have a job or know of a job for me please send me an email!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Macrium Reflect saved me...

I posted before about my computer backups for my Compaq laptop with Windows Vista. I use SyncBack SE to backup my personal files every few days. However, I still needed something to backup my entire laptop for catastrophe recovery. Well, it happened this past Friday. I was unable to wake up my laptop. I used the Windows Vista disc I bought to access system restore, and restored to a point 2 days prior. Unfortunately, my user account was corrupted. I don't know what happened, but I needed to recover. I went ahead and paid for the full version of Macrium Reflect. I had been using the free version to create disk images monthly, but was unable to restore using the free version (the free boot disc didn't work with my laptop).

The pay version worked perfectly! I was able to create a Windows PE boot disc and restore my last good image from my network drive. I am back in business after only a few hours. Here is a link to the Macrium Reflect website --> http://www.macrium.com

Thursday, January 01, 2009

No cars in 2008 - I made it!

In October 2007 I made a commitment to my family - no cars in 2008! If you review my car buying history, you can see it was out of control - http://www.tommister.com/cars.html.In 2007 I bought 4 cars! I am looking for something to supplement my Jeep Wrangler (see my blog post Tom's World: My next vehicle....). Of course, I have revised my promise now, that I won't buy a car until I payoff the loan that I used to build my garage. Hopefully I can pay this off by spring.

Vista Registry Cleaner - CCleaner

I have been looking for a Windows Vista registry cleaner for a while, but I hadn't seen a good free one that I liked. There are some articles that say there is no benefit to cleaning your registry - I don't believe it. A smaller registry must work better/faster. I recently found CCleaner (http://www.ccleaner.com/). Not only does it clean the registry, it also cleans out temp files and other program settings. I have used it a few times now with no problems. If you are looking for a free registry/PC cleaner I suggest you try CCleaner.