still digable

Hmm... So not only does Mecca have a new album, which I still need to get, but the Planets are touring and apparently sounding fantastic. Also, it seems they aren't just back together for a tour, but are also scheduled to put out a new album next year. It must be true, because this article on the internet says so. Which means Al Gore guarantees there will be a jumpin' Planets' album coming to a store near you.

Google portal

So the new personalization features for the google portal get me one step closer to dumping My Yahoo. The first version was interesting but not really usable for me on a day to day section, this is much improved. Once it allows me to organize the stocks section into finer groups, I think I'll switch over. I like the fact I can add my own links so potentially I don't have to maintain my own links page (although it would need to let me organize those into groups too before i dump my own links page). Of course the rss feature, which is very nice, is the obvious feature people will talk about most, so I'll ignore it here.

Weights and Heights

Here are growth charts for kids from birth to 20 years old: Growth Charts. The doctor will give you this information when you make the period visits, but in case you want to follow along at home since the visits get farther and farther apart as your kids get older.

Of course this got me interested in adult statistics, so I poked around the web to see what I could find. The most scientific source I found was from the CDC. Roughly across most adult age groups (20-74)

• Average Male : 191 lbs, 5 feet 9 inches
  
• Average Female : 164lbs, 5 feet 4 inches
  

mpg update

The 2nd tank of gas was about 17.8 mpg, mostly city, some hwy. The 3rd tank of gas was right at 20mpg, mostly hwy.

Not enough data points for a trend, but at least the mileage improved as expected with more hwy driving.

War of the Worlds

So I went to see War of the Worlds this weekend. I won't ruin it for anyone (all 2 readers of this blog? : ), if you want to read a review that has some spoilers in it, I basically agree with Ebert on this one. But it did get me thinking of the recent work of Steven Spielberg.

I looked up the list of movies he's directed and I realized that the last of his movies I saw were AI (2001), Saving Private Ryan (1998), and Schindler's List (1993). I haven't seen his last three movies before War of the Worlds, The Terminal (2004), Catch Me If You Can (2002), and Minority Report (2002).

So I guess I can't really make any generalizations about his films. Or rather, I still can, they're just not real valid : ).

Nostalgia TV

So I remember as a kid watching shows like "The Six Million Dollar Man", "The Incredible Hulk", and "The Monkees". I actually can't remember any episodes very well, but I remember that I really loved watching them. I probably watched most of them syndicated and although some episodes might have been when they actually aired. It's too bad those shows don't come on TV Land or something like that. I wonder how those old shows would standup today.

I'm guessing like with anything else, good and bad qualities are always magnified by the lens of childhood. So I'm not expecting them to be great shows now, but it'd still be fun to watch. Then be able to get all crotchety and say stuff like, "When I was a kid...", and have people look at you funny because they have no idea who Lee Majors is.

I get some strange satisfaction when I find someone else who remembers those old shows and shares their magic. It's like you just found someone who is in your imaginary secret club and you're so happy about it, yet you look at each other wistfully, thinking back to some mythical golden years of your life that you can no longer recapture.