Friday, May 30, 2008

Flash

I found out today that there is a vulnerability in the Flash player if you don't have the latest version.

You really need to check which version of Flash you are running (on all browsers you have installed) Firefox's flash can be a different version than IE. And when you patch one, that does NOT patch the other one. You can check which version you are running at http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_15507&sliceId=1

And if you need to upgrade to the latest version you can do that at
http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash

BTW, when you check, the latest Windows version should look like WIN 9,0,124,0

Monday, May 26, 2008

Cub World Camping Trip


Armor
Originally uploaded by jarrard@swbell.net
Over the weekend, we had our camping trip to Cub World at Zinc Ranch. It was a lot of fun.
This year, we camped near a castle they have built there, so they had the boys make swords, shields and swords. My wife and I made his sword and shield. It was really cool and he likes them very much. Then Friday, I made his helmet. It wasn't as cool as I would like, but its not bad. It even has padding in the helmet. He was happy with the set, so we were ready for our camping trip.

So, we went Saturday morning and had a great time. The grass was WAY high, but the castle rocked!!! The kids had a great time storming the castle and fighting for ground. It was an awesome time. Saturday, my boy got hurt though. He was at the castle playing and basically ran into a pole. I'm not sure if it was inside or out, but he gave himself a little shiner.



Inside
Originally uploaded by jarrard@swbell.net


Outside
Originally uploaded by jarrard@swbell.net

Memorial Day


IMAG0216
Originally uploaded by jarrard@swbell.net
Every year, Floral Haven raises hundreds of casket flags of US servicemen who's flags have been given to them. There were hundreds of flags all over. It was a wonderful site!

On Memorial Day, they lower all the flags, and it's a huge undertaking, so they have invited all the Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts and Brownies to come help. This is the second year me and my boy have been able to go and help take down the flags.

This year, we started with my grandfathers flag. He served in the US Navy and died 10 years ago this summer. It was very heart warming to see my son and his friends lower my grandfathers flag and fold it.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Camping trip?

We woke up to rain this morning. Rain and camping just doesn't mix. It's not too bad if you set up dry and are there long enough for everything to dry out before packing up. As it is, the ground is probably already soaked.

Well, here we go.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Better gas mileage

As everyone knows, gas now costs an arm and a leg. Last week it cost me over $100 to fill up both vehicles. This is just pretty crazy, and I know it's not going to get better. Also with all the ethenol the gas companies are putting into the gas, my miles per gallon has dropped.

The gas mileage usually runs between 22.3 and 27.7 mpg. I think once I've had the car to over 30 mpg.

I watched a news story a couple weeks ago about slowing down would help with fuel efficiency, so I decided to give it a try. I decided that I'd not drive faster than around 62 mph.

After the first tank of gas, I got 29.5 mpg. Yesterday, I just filled up from my second tank, and I got 30.2 mpg. It really does help. At least for the first 2 weeks I've tried it, I've raise my fuel efficiency by around 10%. That's about a 1 way trip to Tulsa I'm saving each week. Over a months time that will save me enough for 2 round trips to Tulsa! Which is close to half a tank.

And the truth is, you don't lose that much time going somewhere. At 65 mph you can go 65 miles in 1 hour (hence the catchy name). But at least on a daily basis, I'm not going 65 miles. I'm going about 25 miles or so. So it takes me about 1-2 minutes longer to get to work than if i drove 65.

For the moment, I plan on continuing to drive at around 62.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Overwhelmed

Do you ever have so much to do, you just completely and utterly overwhelmed?

On the bright side, with this busy weekend coming up, hopefully I'll have some good blog fodder.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

How does your garden grow?

Well, I've had 2 posts today cause I've been reminded that it's been over a month since I last posted. I'm not sure it counts but I've thought about it a lot.

Anyway, My garden is doing pretty well, though the brussel sprouts didn't come up.

I found it very amusing that I already have 3 tomatoes and 1 jalapeƱo. The corn is doing nicely as well.





Spelling Words

Now that school is about over, I wanted to share with everyone this WONDERFUL piece of software I found a little over a month ago. It's called My Spelling Words.

My boy had been having some problems with his spelling words in school. In fact, it was getting worse. Before I found this program, the last 3 tests were F, F, D. The conventional ways of writing your spelling words out over and over just wasn't working, at least for him.

So, I did what any good geek dad would do, I hit Google and that's when I found this program.

The reviews of it were great, but I don't put much faith in reviews that are listed on the software's own web page... who knows i they were really written or not.

But it had a 30 day free trial, so I figured what did we have to lose?

First week using this program to help him study his words, he made a 100%!!!

WOW!!! But was it just a fluke?

Week 2, 100%, Week 3, 100%!


At this point, I figured it was worth the $20. But it continues.


Week 4, 95%, Week 5 100%

Needless to say, I can't say enough good things about this program.

you do need a sound card and a microphone if you are going to use it.