Madison Monroes

Outside of work, I’ve almost completely stopped using Windows. Unfortunately there seems to be nothing worthwhile in the way of personal finance software for Mac, so I’m stuck running Microsoft Money in Parallels. I’ve been trying to get some financial data in order to use for our 2008 taxes, which gave me a good excuse to finally upgrade Money and go to Parallels 4.0. The new version of Parallels prompted me to try something new.

I got it installed on the laptop and setup a new virtual machine using the Windows 7 Beta. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but most of the reaction has been pretty positive. I have to say, I would agree. I haven’t done a lot of tinkering or complex tasks, but I’m impressed so far. A few more days should give me a better idea of the whole package. I don’t know that I would actually buy Windows 7 if it were available now; I’d probably only pay for it it if we were getting a new computer (yes, Amber, I know this isn’t happening anytime soon). Still, the beta is a unique chance to play around with it for free, so I figured I’d take advantage.

Now for some Daily Show inspired thoughts….How do you rebrand stupid? Representative Steve King (R-Iowa) actually said that by closing Guantanomo Bay it would be possible for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to be tried in a U.S. court, get off on a technicality, receive asylum, and get “on a path to citizenship.” I think Jon Stewart had the only appropriate response to such ridiculous speculation:

Then, let’s say Khalid Sheikh Mohammed runs for congress. He wins because he’s an expert on terror. Then a couple of years later, a crazy governor makes him a Senator. Then as Senator, he hypnotizes everyone and takes over the Army. Now he has access to Area 51, and here’s where it gets weird…He uses alien technology to seduce Scarlett Johansson and only Will Smith can stop him! Bruckheimer, are you listening?!

You know, sometimes crazy politicians actually lose their jobs. Farewell, Blago.

Update: This was too good not to share. If you don’t see the image, try turning off AdBlock.

Last you heard, I was complaining about Nintendo. Well, this past weekend Carson and I were on a mission to scour Madison until we found WiiFit.  It didn’t take long. We started at the mall: Game Stop, Sears, Toys R Us, Best Buy. On the way out of the parking lot, we decided to stop at Shopko.  And yep, I bought their last one! Yeah, Me!  I got it home, cleared out the living room, and started my yoga.  WiiFit is definitely worth the wait.

I spent a little over an hour messing around with it on Sunday.  The first thing that you do in the game is to test your balance and your posture, then it tells you how old your body really is… It said I was 35! That punk Carson only registared 27! I retook the tests later in the evening and had already dropped several years off of my body. Hopefully, if anything, WiiFit will help me to track my progress (I also work out several days/week at Curves.)

My only note regarding the use of WiiFit, make sure to stretch when you are finished.  Even if you don’t feel like you did a work out, the following morning your body will tell you otherwise!

I recently made two huge steps towards accepting the influences of my husband: 1. I fully admit that I like the iPhone and 2. I want my first Wii game: WiiFit.  This being admitted, I stopped to fill my car with gas, then swung by Toys R Us to see if they have any WiiFits in stock.  Come to find out, the guy who was helping me informed me that they received a shipment  yesterday, and he just sold their last one “ten minutes ago”!  (If only I had waited for the gas) Now, the part that I don’t understand: when I asked him when they might be expecting more, he told me that they don’t know when more are coming until they show up… So, why don’t they know?  I have asked managers this question regarding other items at other stores and the only answer that I ever get is “We don’t know.” Not: in a couple of days or next week or next month.  They aren’t even able to give me a guess-timate.  Also, I don’t understand why nobody will let me do a rain check for anything Wii related, it is no different than doing a pre-order. I understand that Nintendo thinks that they are better than everybody else and these products are under very high demand, but why won’t they let me pay for one now (or at least a down payment) and pick it up when it arrives (on the truck that they don’t know when it will arrive).

Epic did something pretty cool today, and decided to provide a central location (actually several) were we could watch live streams of Obama’s swearing in and inaugural address. Unfortunately, the Hulu stream wasn’t cooperating when I got down there. Someone found a radio, and they swapped out the computer audio for the radio. It wasn’t cutting in and out, but there was a fair amount of static and the audio and video weren’t even close.

After a few minutes I got an idea. I have the TWIT.am app on my iPhone; sure enough, Leo was streaming the inauguration. The best part – my audio was 5 times better than the radio. Since the video was pretty bad anyway, I went ahead and walked back to my desk. I missed the oath, but I heard most of the speech. I’m impressed.

Well, I think everything should be set for the new domain name. I updated the primary domain on the hosting account, and got the old domain to forward to the new one. If you’re not seeing that yet, it might take a little longer to propagate. Both sites will get you here until March 14 when the old domain expires.

Now it’s time for lunch at a new place in town – HuHot. It’s a Mongolian BBQ with a really dumb name, but everyone who’s been there says it’s awesome. I’ll let you know how it goes.

The Common Exception domain is set to expire in mid-March unless I renew it, and I think it’s time to let it go. Over the next few days, I’ll be working on moving the site to a new domain. Common Exception has been fun, but the 3 roommates who started it have gone their separate ways for the most part and the name doesn’t really mean much anymore. I’ve been the sole author for a while, and I’m going to take a few more steps to make this a site for Amber and me. (Now if I can just get her to post!)

I’ve owned a few other domains for quite some time, and it seems like a natural transition to move the site to one of them in particular. So starting soon, the sight will be renamed and move to MadisonMonroes.com. The old domain will redirect to the new one until CommonException.com expires in March. I’m also hoping to start devoting more time to the site in general and add more features and content. For the 3 or so people actually reading, send ideas my way. Wish me luck!

The car told me it was -14 outside when I drove to work this morning, and it will remain well below zero until sometime tomorrow with a low tonight in the -20s. Amber got the day off because Verona schools finally took notice of the ridiculous wind chills.

Luckily, I’ve got a few things to remind me of warmer weather to come. A week or two ago, we finalized a trip to Charleston, SC in early April. Amber’s brother and his wife welcomed a baby girl late last year, and we haven’t seen her yet. It should be a fun trip; the only downside is that we’ll miss out on our free tickets to the Brewer’s home opener…

Last week we bought tickets to 9 Brewers games for the upcoming season, including games against the Cubs (2), Mets, Cardinals, and Phillies, among others. Our seats are the same for each game – second level, first base side, about even with home plate. It’s something we really wanted to do last year, but didn’t feel like we could afford it with the down payment on the house looming. With the 9-pack purchase we got a 10th game (the home opener) for free, but it’s the same day we’ll be coming back from Charleston. We already have 3 people interested in buying the tickets, so I have to come up with a fair way to decide who gets them. Other than that, we’re excited!