The Red State Blues

Posted by Steven at 08:00 AM | Comments (0)

March 16, 2007

Clemmie's Passed On

My grandmother, Clemmie Staton, passed away at 8:38am this morning. No date is set for services, but I expect it will be soon.

Posted by Steven at 09:49 AM | Comments (0)

March 15, 2007

Two New Japanese Restaurants

I've spotted two new Japanese restaurants coming to McKinney. One is next to the Great Outdoors (behind the Albertson's at El Dorado Pkwy. and US 75), and the other is behind the McDonalds on El Dorado Parkway near Hardin Road.

The first place is a "Sushi and Grill" establishment, which distinctly had "sneeze guards" and could be a buffet-style place. We already have two other Japanese themed restaurants, one more a sushi bar than anything, and the other a "truck stop sushi" and hibachi place. The former is too pricey and the latter is too crappy to visit regularly. So hopefully this new place will fill the gap.

The second new place is labled "Kobe" and "Steak" and "Sushi", all very promising words to use in the name of a Japanese restaurant. It's harder to spot (being behind the Golden Arches) but might be the better of the two new joints.

It doesn't look like they'll be open any time soon, however. I'll keep you posted.

Posted by Steven at 11:23 PM | Comments (0)

Grandmother Still In Coma

My grandmother, Clemmie Staton, has been in a coma-like state since Tues. while hospitalized with pnemonia. We don't expect her to recover, and (essentially) are waiting for her to die. This has made the week extra awful, considering the other issues that have come up (Anne's surgery, replacing the A/C, and of course the TKD problem). I don't expect her to survive the weekend, but she's showing more stamina than a ninety-one year-old would be expected to have, so we may well be waiting longer.

FYI.

Posted by Steven at 10:13 PM | Comments (0)

Endgame with RMAA

Today I paid Reid's Martial Arts Academy $1500 to close our three-year contract. Mind you, no one from my family has attended his school since Jan. 2006, and we paid tuition through most of 2006, too. This scumbag of a Tae Kwan Do instructor coerces his clients into three year contracts that have no escape clause for the student if the "Academy" doesn't provide proper instruction. If they fire the teachers and replace them with fourteen year-old students and a karate instructor, you have no recourse.

We and at least twelve other families have all had to pay between $2000 and $3000 to be released from contract with RMAA. This business is nothing short of criminal and I urge anyone in McKinney who is considering using them for TKD instruction to go somewhere else lest you get burned by this thief (Choncie Reid).

Joe Bob most definitely does not say, "Check it out."

Posted by Steven at 10:08 PM | Comments (0)

3D Desktop Prototype

This is simply amazing:

I hope Apple eventually adopts something like this!

Posted by Steven at 10:07 PM | Comments (0)

March 07, 2007

"Fantasy Marching Band"

Now I no longer need be envious of my baseball obsessed friends. Now there's Fantasy Marching Band! This is just too silly to believe ...

Posted by Steven at 06:05 PM | Comments (0)

Oh iPhone, is there Anything You Cannot Do?

(with Apologies to PVP's author) ...

Check out this hilarious spoof of Apple's upcoming iPhone.

Posted by Steven at 06:02 PM | Comments (0)

Excellent Minolta Manual Focus Camera website

Check out this Minolta manual focus camera website. It covers all the cameras in my collection:

• SR-T 201 (pre-1977 with CLC)
  
• XD (Japanese XD-11)
  
• XD-11
  
• XD-5 (XD-11 downgrade model)
  
• X-700
  

I didn't realize that Minolta changed the SR-T the year after I got mine (in Dec. 1976) to have a lesser light meter (they dropped the CLC metering system). I also didn't realize that Minolta considered the XD series superior to the X-700 (I have three XD bodies versus my original 1984 X-700). These websites are really handy for finding out these details long after the camera is discontinued.

Posted by Steven at 05:16 PM | Comments (0)

March 06, 2007

New Dining Room Cabinet

This weekend, Anne selected a new cabinet to store her crystal in, to replace the black melamine storage shelves we've had since 1988. Amazingly, we bought this unit at Ikea. Equally amazing is that Anne adores it. She wanted to get something to replace the black monolith we've had in this corner of the dining room since we moved here, but hadn't found anything close to what she wanted. We were anticipating spending thousands for a real, antique piece that had drawers and a glass door front. She was amazed to find this item on the Ikea showroom floor. Equally amazing is how long it took to build. I spent most of the afternoon on Sunday putting this together, along with a narrower companion bookshelf. I had the NON lights that illuminate this from an earlier visit to Ikea with Bosney, and they work fabulously well illuminating the crystal. We just stood there and looked at it for hours after we got it installed. I couldn't be more pleased with the quality of the item, and the price was far less than "thousands".

The funny part was (once again) driving home from Ikea in Frisco with stuff sticking out of the Jetta Wagon. Another long, slow drive up Preston to Virginia Parkway (The two legs of the right triangle route home), letting anyone catching up to me go around. Good times. [Right] A close up of the illuminated shelves, and Anne's family crystal goblets and other items she's collected over the years, which we could never see in the black cabinet with no lighting in it. Ikea is so cool.

Posted by Steven at 07:42 PM | Comments (0)