Hobbies

Posted by Dad

About two weeks ago, two gray shorthair cats showed up at our apartment door mewing for food. They came together. Two females, one larger than the other. The smaller had a white nose and white boots. At first I fed them milk from the frig. Then I bought them food and started making inquiries online about what to do about strays.

The local SPCA takes dogs, not cats, unless I capture them and bring them in. No guarantee on them being cared for. The San Mateo SPCA has a no kill policy for adoptable cats - not scratchers, biters.

So I ventured friendliness and soon found the cats wanted more than food - they wanted to be petted and held and even let indoors. I can offer a behind-the-ear scratch and canned cat food, but no holding, and certainly no indoor access. (I am very allergic to cats, but these two that stuck together and looked up at me with golden eyes... I wanted to do something for them.) Back to finding out how to transport them to a cat rescue agency.

I found a couple places that would take them and try to keep them together. I found two travel boxes to carry them in. I fed them some more and noticed the weather turning colder by the day. I hoped I'd be in time.

The boxes sit in my living room ready to take the cats to safety. It's been three days of freezing temperatures and no sign of the cats. Perhaps their original owners came home from a trip and took them back in (though they had no collars). Maybe someone else took them in.

All I know is that I miss them. I miss the mewing and the feeding and the attention giving/getting. I miss being temporarily responsible for their care. I miss clicking my tongue to call them and hearing their feet pat the ground at their approach. I miss them looking up to me with expectancy. Funny how ones so small can have so large an impact in so short a time.

Posted by Kevin

I played in our church's golf tournament today at the Sunnyvale Muni Golf Course. We had 5 teams of 4 players.

Guess what? I was on the winning team! And, I got the longest drive award, too! We played in a Scramble Format - best ball location gets played and score is based on the team's total effort for each hole. This means if someone hits a great tee shot, the rest of us get to play from his/her ball location. It takes good teamwork to keep the score low. Our team ended up with 2 over par. We were graded on a handicap and that's how we beat the other teams (since their handicaps were lower than ours).

Each person on my team won a Callaway hat and an Odyssey golf towel. For the longest drive on hole 14, I won a double pack (24 balls) of Maxfli Revolution Solid golf balls. Very nice.

Now I'm home and wow so very tired! But it was a fun day.

The prizes:

Posted by Kevin

The short answer, from a recent article I read, is "hard work". I guess it's true what Mom used to say "practice makes perfect". This article is actually fairly uplifting because it implies that we can all be really good (or great) at something - if we work hard and stick at it long enough. Our physical and mental limitations (size, height, IQ) only reduce the areas in which we can achieve greatness, but not as much as we might think.

Here's the link if you're interested:

http://biz.yahoo.com/weekend/great_1.html

Posted by Dave

I can still hear the noise from the long gone Riverside Park Speedway, in Agawam Mass. I remember as kid standing on the second floor of Hall Street, on the back porch. Listening the the thunder of the racecars screaming around the 1/4 mile oval. The track used to be now where Six Flags New England's Superman Rollercoaster is located.

I have been waiting many years for the online gaming/racing simulator community to develop a game or a modification of a current racing simulator game to allow for Nascar Modifieds. I also remember going to Stafford Motor Speedway and Thompson Motor Speedway, both in Conn. Today, I found out it is coming and soon. Looks like it may be time to dust off my steering wheel and pedals.

Simmodifieds

Tucknut.org

Posted by Norm

    Anyone take digital photos (regular photos that get scanned or printed to a CD or available online, or with a digital camera) and end up with red eye or some thing in the photo you wish wasn't there?

    You can use software, like Fireworks or PhotoShop to change the colors of the pixels in your digital photos. Just open the file, enlarge it to as big as the program will allow, and change the pen or brush color to what you want. Then dab (click) away until you like the color - not red, but brown or hazel.

    If you want me to do the changes, upload the photo here and I'll reload the retouched version.

    Or maybe ask Nate, who has clearly accomplished much with GIMP.

Posted by Kevin