March 2004 Archives

1. Jet - Are You Gonna Be My Girl
2. The White Stripes - Fell In Love With A Girl
3. T Rex - 20th Century Boy
4. Basement Jaxx - Where's Your Head At
5. Black Crows - Hard To Handle
6. Queens Of The Stone Age - No One Knows
7. The Hives - Hate to Say I Told You So
8. The Red Hot Chili Peppers - Around the World
9. James Brown - Get On Up (Sex Machine)
10. Elvis Presley - A Little Less Conversation
11. The Kinks - Everybody's Gonna Be Happy
12. The Ramones - Hey Ho, Let's Go!

Kris and I ventured to Devils Lake State Park, expecting a warm March day. Instead, we found cloudy, rainy skies and a cold breeze from the partially frozen lake. After a semi-frozen lunch, we hiked the West Bluff, and returned along the base, about three miles total. Then, Parfrey's Glen surprised us with an unknown natural jewel. (Too bad we forgot the camera in the car.) At the end of the day, we put about five miles under our feet.

So I thought it would be time to get serious about getting serious once again. I felt so-so. What made me feel worse was all the tan kids coming back from the spring break, still hung over, but yet I looked like Moby Dick floating by. Maybe it was the harpoon in my back.

• 200 warm-up, 175, 100, 50, 100, 150, 200
• 4x100
• 4x50
• 5x25
• 100 down

208.3 on the scale - not too bad for a 3-week absence

We came, we saw, we won. It was my best game of the season, scoring six points and some assists. Although my toenail will fall off later this summer (It did the same thing last year.), it's well worth it to bring home the hardware. The best part about playing was my stamina increasing from game to game. By tonight's game, instead of fans and teammates laughing at my huffing and puffing as I staggered to the bench, they were complimenting me on my play. My physical deficiencies weren't even a factor.

Our last game started off with a dud. It was so bad, that I scored our first point on a free throw. Unless you've watched our games, you might not know how monumental/disastrous this is. We ended up clawing back from more than twenty down to within eight or nine, but couldn't pull through. Applebee's were just hitting too many shots. The saving factor of this loss is that we play them next week for the league championship next week. And they're going to be without their best player. Keep your fingers crossed.

When my boss inquired about why his computer was slowing way down with random windows popping-up, I put together some links that he could use to disinfect and then protect his computer. When it happened again to another co-worker, I thought I'd publish it for everyone else. You can do it too, with the help of some free software and computer savvy.

1. First, both situations stemmed from issues associated with variations on the CoolWebSearch (CWS) spy-ware program. There are many variations, but most seems to hog system resources; reducing the computer speed to that of a snail, changes the your home page in IE, and possibly opens pop-ups at random intervals, even when not using the computer. A search led me to Merijn and his CWShredder tool. Download that to remove the vicious spy-ware. It's constantly updated, and highly recommended by my co-workers.
2. Now that CWS is successfully off your computer, or even if it wasn't ever there, it's time to look for some more spy-ware programs. Ones that CWShredder doesn't look for. There are two products to help this. I use both. The first I heard of is Ad-Aware by Lavasoft. It's a free download. Make sure to download the latest reference file, which contains the latest spy-ware information. The second piece of software is Spybot S&D. Each software found spy-ware that the other doesn't, so if you want to really make sure to get everything, use both. Make sure to scan your system regularly: weekly, monthly, whatever you feel is appropriate. If you tend to download less-than-reputable programs, visit similar websites, or just can't keep up with what the kids are downloading, checking more than not is wise.
3. Now that we've got the spy-ware removed, we've got to do something about those viruses. There are many programs to do this, including a free one. AVG anti-virus is a free anti-virus program by Grisoft. It's a great program for the cost. If you feel like you need to pay to get something in return, then I'd recommend Norton Anti-virus. But, you can get rebates to reduce the price.
4. The most important step, only for Windows users, is to visit WindowsUpdate to update your computer. This is extremely important to prevent further exploits of computers.
5. One additional step that may be of interest is a software firewall. ZoneAlarm by Zonelabs is the one I am most familiar with. They have a free version, but try their hardest to pimp the pro version on you. Stand tall and search for the free version at the bottom of the page. This will "hide" your computer from the outside, and prevent unauthorized access of the Internet from the inside. It can take some getting used to, and needs some understanding of what it's asking.

Following these steps are only a basic step in protecting your computer. Practicing safe e-mail by opening attachments that you're expecting. Avoid opening unexpected ones, especially ones from trusted friends, as most virus spread through contact lists, where your e-mail address lies on other's computers. Think about what that subject line is, and know that PayPal will never contact you to update your information. Ever.

Good Luck. Leave a comment with questions and suggestions.

Within a year of my brother's death, my family had bought, developed, and donated land to create a rest area on the Old 400 Trail between Elroy and Reedsburg. I haven't been up as much as I like, but others have. I found a story in Google Groups that revealed a cyclist from Colorado and his adventures weaving his way through Wisconsin.

On September 19, 1994, just over two years since Mike's death, Mr. Anderson found the rest area, read the plaque on the rock, and responded. His response tickles my heart, crinkles my nose, and wells my eyes up. It's very touching to know that others respond positively to something that means so much to me and my family.

Jason couldn't find his thumb if it was poking him in the eye, so we played without him - all five of us. And unless you failed Jim Harrick Jr.'s basketball test, that's how many are on the court at once. We were heroic. The score was 12-6 in the first have, which could've/should've been closer. With four minutes to go, we found a groove and were within two. But, the wall hit and we scored no more and lost by eight. All of us that played are beat. Definitely my hardest workout in quite some time.

Since expanding things beyond two blogs, I've always wanted a way to present everything on one page. Thanks to Matt, the last twenty entries from my blogs are listed in reverse chronological order. While it's not as hip and fresh as Kottke's with the short links integrated, I like it just fine. FYI, the tiled background was inspired by a mens bathroom in the Lowell Center.

Below each entry provides some navigation. Right now (I am still tweaking things), the name of the weblog links to its respective blog home (archives for RobbyB.com), The date/time stamp links to the entry's permanent link, and comments, if available, will take you to comment entry section. Leave a comment if anything seems broke.

Same old thing, but this time the wife ran along. The morning run was marked by muskrats (or some other water creature), enjoying a breakfast of weeds left behind by the ice fishermen. Saw three total.

For the first time since the alumni meet, I swam prior to work. Before, I had the built in excuse of taking Kris to work. Now, she's at a new rotation, and thus have to use my own motivation to get me going. It took me a bit for my mind to come to and even longer for my body to wake up. I don't think it did until I jumped into the shockingly cold water.

• 4x100 warm-up
• 6x75
• 6x50
• 2x:
  • 75 ez
  • 2x50 moderate
  • 3x25 kick
• 100 down

1550 total. An amazing 207.7 pounds.