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Family

Metropolitan Museum

For our 15th wedding anniversary Cathy & I wanted to do something unique, something we normally wouldn’t think of doing. I don’t remember how we came up with the idea, we found the Guarneri String Quartet playing at the Metropolitan Museum. It was a fabulous time.

We spent a few hours roaming through the Met taking in the different exhibits. The Monet exhibit is still one of my favorites. I always enjoy seeing how Monet’s work progressed over time and evolved into what we consider the impressionist movement. To make the night really different we decided to have dinner in the Trustees Dinning Room. The Met has several options for dining. The Trustee Dining is typically reserved for the Trustees and members of the museum. With the tickets to the Quartet, we were also able to get reservations into this 5-Star restaurant.

The concert was really cool. We were able to get stage seats. The museum has about 60 seats up on the stage around the musicians. The concert hall held about 500 people and was sold out. We were within 20 feet of the musicians. It was great to be so close. It felt like we were a part of the concert and not just listening.

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Family

Pumpkin Carving

As the kids get older Pumpkin carving takes on a different dimension in the Petersen household.  Every year the carvings get more elaborate and I actually have less to do.  We have several of the carving kits that allow you to saw the pumpkins while following a picture.  This year Jill went with a very traditional carving, but she insisted that she could do the whole thing by herself.  And you want to know something, she was right.  MJ went with a witch riding a broomstick with a half moon in the background.  For some reason we didn’t capture a picture of it.  Although it really came out great!

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Family Home

Training Wheels – No More…

Well, Jill has finally got the hang of riding her bike.

This past Wednesday, Jill talked MJ into removing the training wheels on her bike. It is nice that MJ knows how to do some of the mechanical tasks now. The kids aren’t totally dependent waiting for me to come home from work.

She was able to ride for short distances. Then she got tired and put the training wheels back on. Thursday the training wheels came off for good. By Friday she had no issues starting or stopping the bicycle. Jill even rode over the grass.

With Labor Day weekend upon us, Sandy Hook will soon start their off season rates at the park. If the weather is good next Saturday, I’m sure we’ll be heading over there with all of our bicycles!

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Family

Viva La Mexico

I can’t believe we have been home almost a full week from Cancun, Mexico.  I brought my computer with the intent of blogging while on vacation.  I did manage to upload some photos while I was there.  But never got to write a post.

The trip was amazing.  We took a jungle boat tour, snorkeled on some of the reefs, went parasailing, toured Chichen Itsa (Mayan ruins), swam in a Cenote, went Scuba diving, toured a real haceinda, went horseback riding, sailed a hobby cat and went sea kayaking.

Check out the pics!  I’ve uploaded about 60 pictures.  We actually took around 1600 photos on trip.  Between everyone we had 3 really good digital cameras and everyone was shoot.

The resort, Sunset Lagoon & Marina, that we stayed at was fabulous.  The staff really made the trip memorable.

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Family

Circle Line Tour

3815Last Sunday we pretended to be a tourist and went on the Circle Line around Manhattan.  My grandmother was up from Houston and we wanted to do something that involved the whole family.  It’s been a few years since we took the CircleLine tour.   While the tour boats themselves haven’t changed, the views are outstanding.
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Categories
Family

May 8th – The End of an Era

I finally did the unthinkable. I got rid of the Honda Accord. After 10 years in the family we bid the car Adios!

The Honda was a great little car. I had 259,000 miles on it and it was still going. The car was starting to show signs of age. It was time for something new. My big fear was that the potential repair bills was going to get expensive to keep the car on the road.

So here I am on May 8th, getting ready to drive the Honda for the very last time. Yes – it was a sad moment for the Petersen family. (Although I was over joyed at getting a new car) My son told me that it was the only car he remembered me driving. The car was in the family for three years before Jill came along.

But as luck would have it, I replaced the Honda with a Honda! I went of the Honda Ridgeline. It’san SUV / Pickup. The versatility is perfect for the families current needs.  At least that’s how I pitched the idea to my wife.

I’ve been driving the vehicle for the past 2 weeks and I absolutely love it!

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Family Rant

Time Warp

First off – I can not believe almost 2 months has gone by since my last post!!

The month of April was busy and the month of May is looking to be just as bad. Oh, wait, next week is the end of May. It real has been as bad a April!!

A lot has happened in the past 2 months. Dave & I completed the Troop trailer and we’ve taken it on 2 camping trips. Both camping trips were a success. Cathy &I decided the 98′ Honda Accord was near the end of its life. So with 259K miles on it and before it began to wear out mechanically, we traded it in for a Honda Ridgeline. I’ve had the new car for three weeks and love it. This past weekend was the second spring camping trip with the scouts. I ended up towing the troop trailer with the Ridgeline. Absolutely no issues, it was great.

I’ve got photos of the different trips with the Scouts. As I get them posted, I’ll included them in a few posts and try to catch back up!!

As far as diving goes, I haven’t even had time to look at my gear. Forget about actually getting into the water. Hopefully, maybe within the next week or two I’ll coax Mark into a quick dive……

Categories
Family

Computer Upgrades

I’ve been busy the past few weeks upgrading the PC in the house. My PC was a 900MHz dinosaur and MJ’s PC was a 300MHz dust ball. Yes – I’m a technologist running the equivalent of the Ford Model-T. Looking around at what is available and the cost, I decided to continue the Petersen tradition of building my own machines. I ended up buying the motherboards, CPU and memory off eBay. I went with a 2-CPU Xeon 2.8GHz with 6GB of ram for my machine. For the other machine I went with a 2-CPU 2.2GHz Xeon with 3GB of ram. Of course with the Xeon class chips, If I can get a faster chipset, I can always swap them out for more speed. Each machine ended up costing me around $200 to get a server class machine. With me running the different software packages and trying to max out the machine, the most I have been able to do is to get the CPU’s up to about 40% utilization.

Most of the machines in the house are running Linux. I’m forced to keep a few Windows machines around. Cathy prefers Windows and MJ needs it to be compatible with school. If I had my way, Windows would be all but taken out of this house. I find that Linux has come a long way. It is faster, cleaner and very convenient upgrading the packages.

After an hour or two everyone in the household is able to move around on a Linux box getting email and browsing the Internet. Plus the software that is available for Linux is mind boggling. In fact I find myself installing three or four variants of software that fits a particular function and playing around deciding which one I like.

For the moment, I’m stuck with some Windows. But at least with the server class Xeon processors, they function reasonably well.

Categories
Family Home

Wii

The Petersen household has the Wii. If your like me, playing video consoles was about 15 years in the past back when the Sega Genesis was the leading edge. I have to tell you the Wii level sets the playing field for everyone. In our house my son is very good with the video games and it can be a challenge to play against him. The full motion action that is required to play really resets the playing field so the novice gamer has a chance to compete.

I want to have the Wii installed in the basement. However I have to finish painting the basement and I have to build a set of shelves to hold the games. So for the short term I put the Wii on the TV in the family room. Playing the Wii on a 52″ TV is an experience in of itself.

The first game we played was bowling. All four of us played. What a trip to be swinging your arm to get speed on the ball. The second game was”Dance Dance Revolution”. This game has a floor mat and you have to dance to songs. You’re rated on your timing and accuracy of your steps. Watching each family member take thier turn only to have the Wii tell us we failed at dancing. It was hysterically. By the fourth or fifth attemptwe were able to be rated a “D” or “C” on the beginner level. If you want a good workout, I would recommend “Dance Dance Revolution”. After each game you could feel the tiredness in your legs and your breathing increase. We tried one game at expert level. It was a cruel joke to even attempt it. I would love to see someone play the expert level and be rated decently.

I’ve heard that a few people have been injured in playing the Wii. After playing it for a few hours, I can honestly see where bodily injury could occur.

Categories
Family

Storybook Land

To get into the Christmas spirit we took the kids to Storybook Land.

Typically Storybook Land is a fun day with the kids with rides and characters out of your favorite children’s storybook. For Christmas they decorate the entire place in lights.

I think Cathy and Maria had more fun than the kids!!

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