Real life energy consumption of 2nd Life

A 2nd Life Avatar consumes more energy than the average Brazilian?

... and produces as much CO2 (per year) as driving a Prius 4,000 miles?

It's not a new article, but it's new to me. Check it out.

Of course, there's no real reason to pick on 2nd Life other than that it's fun to compare fake people to real. Really this is a comment on what it takes to run any of the myriad of popular websites.

Grandpa Halberg

My Grandpa Halberg passed away in his sleep last night a few days after making the very difficult decision to end his dialysis treatments. While the treatments are wonderful in that they give extra life - they are a miserable experience and take a real toll on the recipient.

Just a few days ago, following his decision to end the treatments, we were able to go up to visit him at the veterans facility in King, WI. He "had a hankerin' for some eggs" so off we went for breakfast. He ordered 4 eggs and drank his coffee - when my Dad made a comment about the quantity he said "you ain't full til you get milk and cookies" and ordered up 2 more!

Some of my fondest memories of grandpa are from his house in Wakefield, MI - HUGE piles of snow in the front yard with tens of cousins tunneling, stocking the snowball arsenal, and plotting for the grand battle to come.

I remember a garage full of tools and big cars. Always a big American Buick waiting in the garage to take him to his destination in comfortable fashion.

An incredibly overfilled house at every holiday with he and the uncles watching the Weather Channel for what seemed like days on end. I always thought when I was older I'd understand how that was entertaining... I guess I'm not old enough yet! ... he was also a master of the old trick of sleeping in front of the TV but yelling "hey, I was watching that" when the channel was switched.

"How are you?" would also be answered with "Any better and I couldn't stand it" and his famous grin from ear to ear.

Lots and lots of family, faith, and fellowship. He will certainly be missed!

Radio on the TV

I was talking about this just a bit ago but it really seems like I hear more good music on TV commercials than I do on the radio.

... it probably has at least something to do with me listening to mostly talk radio ...

... and it could also have to do with Madison being a Clear-Channel-only city ...

but there really is just a tremendous amount of good (and new/relatively unkown) music on commercials these days.

Here are some that I've seen/heard just during the commercials of the Bears game today:

My Morning Jacket - not sure of the product
Guster - Cypher
Arcade Fire - pretty sure it was them?
Stephen Merritt (The Magnetic Fields) - Volvo
The Weepies - JCPenny
The Shins - Zune
Bloc Party - Saturn

and, of course, Neil Diamond - Jeep

All CDs that I own, other than Neil Diamond... as far as you know.


and that ain't the half of it. Here are some others CDs I own with recent tv-commercial exposure.

Wilco - VW
Teddybears - Cadillac, Virgin Mobile, and Intel
The Flaming Lips - Dell
The Last Town Chorus
Shiny Toy Guns - Razr
Regina Spektor - JC Penny and XM Radio
Hum - Cadillac
Architecture in Helsinki - Sprint
NERD, Wolfmother, Jet, Daft Punk, Feist - iPod
Jim Noir - Adidas
Jens Lekman - LG Steam Dryer
The Go! Team - Target and Honda

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Thanksgiving

Our first snow came on Thanksgiving eve, making for a fun time taking the dogs out in the morning. It was June's first taste of snow and it's safe to say that she's a big fan.

After that we were off to John & Leslie's, in Milwaukee, for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.


Of course, the highlight of the day was the people. It was great to see all the relatives but stealing the show were the nieces (and the other Mainers too)!