Penn's Landing Skating

As a family we were able to spend the day, December 28, 2010, at Penn's Landing and the Independence Hall area of Philadelphia.

We started out the day by going to the Constitution Center.  I was not overly impressed by it, for I felt like I could have spent the same amount of time on the internet in my house and learned more than I did from visiting the center.  There was a nice presentation in the theater and the art of the American Solider exhibit was nice, but all the permanent exhibits seemed like I could get the information from the internet.

After the center, we spent a few hours skating at Penn's Landing.  The ice was a bit rough; in fact, I think the ice in the parking lot was smoother than the ice on the rink.  Still it was a great day.  Billy did great and would have skated all day if he wasn't overcome with hunger.

We went to a little Mexican restaurant that is right by Penn's Landing and had one of the best meals of our lives.  All in all, it was a great day.

Dover Air Force Base

Billy and I spent the day with Uncle Jimmy at Dover Air Force Base.  We not only were able to see the museum and the planes outside the museum, but we were treated to see a few live planes in takeoff and landing maneuvers.  We had a great day and look forward to going back again when the weather is a little less cold.

New Years Eve at LWG

Last night we spent New Year's Eve at Longwood Gardens.  It was a great way to end the old year and usher in the new.  Even though there were a lot of people there, we had no trouble parking, paying, or seeing any of the things we wanted to see.

The fireworks, garden railway and fountain display were enjoyed by Billy and we hope to go back again next year.

Fios vs. Comcast

I finally had my Verizon contract end I was able to switch back to Comcast.  Here is my score card:

TV:

Verizon has the better interface for navigating the box.  They have a better DVR system and more organization for their channels. Verizon has a much better HD picture than comcast.

Comcast allows me to hook the cable directly into my secondary TV without using a converter box.

To me this battle goes to Verizon


Internet:

Verizon claims to have a faster speed, but their internet speed was my primary gripe.  At times it seemed like I was put in a que and my request wouldn't process for 20 seconds.  Once it started working it was tolerably fast.

Comcast so far has a more consistent signal.  No slowdowns and no outages and a speed comparable to verizon.

To me this battle goes to Comcast

Customer Service:

Believe it or not, Comcast has great customer service all the sudden.  No wait times on the phone and friendly, competent people on the other end.

Battle goes to Comcast.

For now Comcast will keep my business.

Strange Phenomena

The other day Billy and I were playing at a park in Pitman when above our head we saw a really cool semi-circular cloud bow. I have seen plenty of sun dogs before but this was the first time I have ever seen a bow that arched away from the sun. That is, if you completed the semi-circle, the sun would not be at the center or even the anti-center.

Here is a far view:

Here is a close view:

Update: It turns out that this is what is known as a Circumzenithal Arc. Thanks to the good people at Atmospheric Phenomena for getting back to me with an answer as to what formed this really cool spectra in the sky.

Face Recognition Technology

I don't know what to say about this technology. Is it too good or not good enough when it presents the picture below as one of the options for me to name? This was a Christmas ornament in the background of one of my pictures.

A shrinking Gallon

Recently I was painting Billy's room and the first container of paint I bought was 1 US gallon. No big deal, this has always been the size of paint cans. I expected nothing different.

The second can of paint looked exactly the same, but as I was painting I noticed that it was actually only 3 15/16th of a gallon. I was cheated out of 1/16th of gallon of paint.

About a day later I got another container of paint and this time it was 3 7/8th of a gallon. This time I was cheated out of 2/16th of a gallon.

At this rate I will be getting droppers of paint by the time Billy is 7 years old.