Year / 2008

by Greg

100 Miles Per Gallon?

Came across an article in my news feed today talking about a new engine that is based on a concept from a 1930 engine that could increase automobile gas mileage up to nearly one hundred miles per gallon! That seems pretty crazy, but the article references the different structure of the piston chamber reducing weight and allowing more space (for more pistons I presume) as well as firing on both sides of the chamber?

Here’s an excerpt…

The unusual configuration results in several advantages. Gas mileage can be boosted by 40 percent to 50 percent, when a two-module engine is compared with a standard diesel. The engine also can be made 30 percent lighter. Because the engine modules are horizontal, cars can be more aerodynamic.

(I do not presume to know what they are talking about, but it was interesting enough for me to post the link here.) 🙂

Perhaps I have a subconscious fascination with the automotive industry as my Dad spent 30 plus years of his life working for them? 🙂

by Greg

Apple Lighter Than "Air"

Apple Introduces the new MacBook Air
The big news from the keynote presentation from Steve Jobs today at the Moscone Center in San Francisco was the announcement of the highly anticipated ultra-portable laptop – the MacBook Air. This computer is as thin as .16″ and the full thickness when closed is .76″. Whoa. Still has all the bells and whistles! (13″ screen, 80GB hd, 2GB ram, built-in iSight camera, backlit keyboard, multi-touch track pad, 802.11n wi-fi, Bluetooth 2.1, and some cool software that allows you to access/use an optical drive on a network computer – Mac or PC!)

They’re pretty pricy, but also a pretty amazing little product. You can even get it with a solid-state drive (flash drive), which might give you more battery life, but definitely is super fast and less parts to breakdown.

Other announcements included a new wireless router (AirPort Extreme base station) that includes a hard drive for easy network access, and Time Machine backups. It’s called Time Capsule, and is available in 500GB or 1TB. And, the iPod Touch received some software updates, allowing iPod touch owners to access Mail via their iPod as well as some other “essentials” (weather, stocks, etc).

The other big announcement involved iTunes and the AppleTV. iTunes sells movies, but not all that well. Not compared to how they do with music. The AppleTV has done OK, but not that well. Well, now the newly lower-priced AppleTV gives you access to much more movie content which can be rented and immediately watched on your AppleTV. Movie rentals are $2.99 and $3.99 for 24 hour rentals. HD movie rentals are $4.99. You can also purchase music directly on your AppleTV now as well.

I’m still waiting for Apple to fully get into the TV business and release a real AppleTV. We should start saving up now, cause I know it’s coming! 🙂

Fun stuff today from Apple. Not sure I’ll be getting any of it soon, but those MacBook Airs will sell faster than anything Apple has ever made. Even at that price (starts at $1799). Just watch and see.

[for more coverage, see the archived live coverage page from Macworld.com.]

by Greg

Crazy New Yorker!

Today was the coldest day of the winter so far here in Western New York. How did we spend it? Well, in the morning, we toyed with the idea of playing outside under the beautiful, clear, sunny skies… but eventually thought better of it. But later in the day, following the pregnant urges of my wife, I put on the parka and fired up the grill on our deck for the first time in a couple months! I was grilling hamburgers at temps in the low double digits!

Only in upstate New York, folks.

Speaking of NY… it is a complete shock to me that the Giants are in the Super Bowl. Complete. I mean, with each game I thought, “You know… they have a chance to win!” but really, in the end, no one thought they would be in the Super Bowl this year! And, even though I really don’t like the Giants, I will be rooting for them to finish what they started in week 17 and put the perfect exclamation point on the year for the Patriots and for them. They will be 12-1 on the road this year (winning 11 straight) and the Pats will go 18-0 … only to LOSE THE SUPER BOWL.

Man that would be awesome. And I don’t even like the Giants! 🙂

So, from the Frozen North.. here’s hopin’ the Giants can pull off one more major upset in the Super Bowl.

(Did I just say that????!!)

by Greg

Caught In A Snow Storm!

Last night I took our four kids up to the library to return some books, and to pick up a few new ones. The library is only half-way around the block, so we bundled up for a nice winter walk. It was even lightly snowing, so it was more fun than usual!

We even sang a song on the way there:

“Going for a walk in the snow to the library,
Going for a walk in the snow
Going for a walk in the snow to the library,
Going for a walk in the snow!”

It was perfect, and the kids did pretty well in the library. We got the books we wanted, and some stamps from the nice librarian. We bundled back up and headed out the door.

What we discovered was astonishing.

Swirling, blowing, blinding SNOW! Where did this come from?!? I just laughed! It was like a joke! What happened to our light flurries??? Well, we had no other way home, so I made sure faces were as covered as they could be and we set out into the storm.

And this was a storm! The wind was a constant 10-15 mph I’d guess, with stronger gusts. And the snow was collecting on the ground – and on us! – at an alarming rate. The worst part was, a third of our trip was heading west, directly into the wind! At one point during that stretch I turned around and pulled Julia in the stroller backwards (which helped a lot I think) and saw poor little Kirstie just closing her eyes and leaning into the wind as she pressed ahead into the blizzard!

It was crazy!!

Once we were able to turn south, and find a bit of shelter behind a giant brick church building, it got a little better. We laughed all the way home through the still rapidly falling snow.

Red cheeks, faces, and other exposed skin greeted Mom when we got home. Mom actually met us in the driveway, as she had seen the fierce winter storm and was coming to get us. But we managed to brave the elements and make it back home safely.

I told the kids as we were fighting the storm that we’d have hot cocoa and hot baths when we got home! And we’d also read a couple of the library books we just worked so hard to get.

And we did. 🙂

by Greg

Woo Moode Oop Oo Noo Loongooge

The other night when we were having dinner, we decided to invent a new language. I can’t remember exactly how it started, but somehow I posed the question, “What if every vowel was a ‘oo’ sound?” And then I proceeded to try it out.

“Hooloo, Ooloox. Hoo oor yoo? Hoo woos yoor doonoor?”

There was much laughter and everyone kept trying it for a while that night. It was quite fun. You should give it a go right now. Go ahead and talk to the person next to you in Oovoon. See? Fun isn’t it?

Well, our one-year-old is learning to talk – and doing quite well – so she may have been laughing with the rest of us, but when I was talking to her, she felt the need to correct me.

“Oos thoot yoor booboo?” I asked.

“No. ba-by,” she said distinctly. “Booboo?” I replied. “No. No. BA-BY,” she insisted. This went back and forth for a while till I dropped it. She was certainly not going to. 🙂

We tried doing everything with a rolled ‘r’ last night, but that didn’t work as well. For now, we’ll stick with Oovoon as our family’s second language. 🙂

by Greg

This Day in (GregHead.net) History

An idea popped into my head today. (Yes, that would be GregsHead…) I thought, I wonder what things I have blogged about on this day in my four-plus years of blogging? So, I set out to discover what was in the archives for January 25th.

To my suprise, excluding entries from this January 25th (today) there was only one other entry. And it was about my Jen. 🙂

I did also discover that there were a few cool things from January 24th here at GregsHead.net. At the top of the list would have to be 1/24/04… that’s the birthday of the new blog with the oft-mentioned URL — GregsHead.net! January 24th is not the beginning of my blogging, but the birthday of GregsHead.net. Neat.

Besides that I found a couple interesting posts worth re-reading from that same year. Well, at least one is. One is just interesting in light of the Super Bowl match up coming up in a week and a couple days. (I wasn’t happy about it then, either…)

The one I’d love for you to re-read though is the one titled, “I Call You Friends.” Very neat reminder of our relationship with God.

So, take a trip with me… back in time…

I Call You Friends
A Winning Attitude?

by Greg

My Favorite

Last night we were leaving our friends’ house pretty late after another fun evening together, and as we were saying good bye I noticed our son Alex running in circles in their front yard. He’s usually one of the first out of the house when we’re leaving (and one of the first ones in as well) so I guess that’s how he was passing the time. Everyone else had made their way to the van and to where they needed to be, but Alex just needed to run around.

And somehow, in that moment, it just reminded me of how much I love him. In fact, my actual thoughts were, “He’s my favorite!”

At first I reacted to that thinking, “Of course, so are the rest…” That’s when I realized… they are. Alex is my favorite, and so are Ian, Kirsten, and Julia. Even the next baby that we haven’t met yet. I guaranteed he or she will be my favorite, too. 🙂

There’s a cool book I have mentioned here a time or two before called, The Shack. In this book, a guy has an in-person encounter with God and many times when God refers to any person this guy brings up, God says, “Oh, he’s my favorite.” (Or, one of my favorites, or something.)

Last night, I really understood that. It’s completely true of my and my kids. They really are my favorites. My favorite people. I love them more than they can know, or than I can probably express. But I’ll keep trying anyway. 🙂

[As a footnote to this whole story, I was re-telling the events to Jen as we were pulling in our driveway. When I said the part about thinking Alex is my favorite, it wasn’t long before Jen noticed him running circles around our yard, too. Guess he likes being “the favorite”…] 🙂

by Greg

The Donkeys

We went to visit some friends tonight whom we don’t get to spend very much time with. They live pretty far away, so we’re lucky to see each other even 3 or 4 times a year. They have a little three year old boy who I am pretty sure knows who we are, and was looking forward to seeing us.

I believe the conversation went something like this.

“Daddy, when are the Donkeys gonna be here?”

“The… Donkeys?” Dad was quite perplexed. He knew that we were coming, and was pretty sure that is who his son was talking about, but couldn’t make the donkey connection.

“You know… the Donkeys… when are they coming?” he persisted.

“Do you mean the Campbells?” asked a still confused Dad.

“Yeah! The Camels! When are they coming?”

Classic.

Can’t remember being called “The Donkeys” ever before. That one won’t soon be forgotten. 🙂

by Greg

Anyone Feeling Generous?

Big Train ChaiI have officially come to the end of my chai supply. I’m pretty sure I have mentioned it here before, but many of you who know me in person have frequently heard me herald the greatness of this warm beverage. My favorite brand so far is Big Train chai. (Pictured to the right.) They have some great deals at Amazon.com, but with a stack of bills waiting to be paid… I’m going to hold off on the purchase for now.

So I just thought I would offer you the opportunity to be super (cali-fragi) generous and send a little chai my way… (all you need to do is click the photo of chai…….) 😉

Anyone feeling generous? 🙂