Sep
19
2010
1

Mizzou Road Trip

I’m sitting in the Denver Airport waiting for my connecting flight to San Diego. After this weekend, I’m ready to be home!

On Friday morning, I awoke early, and flew to Kansas City on Frontier Airlines. I arrived at 1PM, and was quickly joined by Steve, Alberto, Jared & Andrew. We were on our way to Columbia to watch the Aztecs play Mizzou!

…but before we headed to Columbia, our first stop was Arthur Bryant’s BBQ in Kansas City.  This is world famous BBQ at its finest.  I ordered a “Combo Meat” plate consisting of a beef sandwich and a pulled pork sandwich.  The meat from both was amazingly delicious.  I’m a big BBQ fan, and I don’t think it can get much better than this!  Also, while we were there, we met up with Steve’s wife, his mother-in-law and his 12 week old son Sean!

Once we finished eating, we drove the 2 hours to Columbia.  Missouri must be famous for their firecracker shops and porn stores, because there were large billboards advertising those establishments every few miles.

Once we got there, we headed downtown to meet up with other Aztec fans a the Shiloh in Columbia.  We arrived after most of them had already left, but we stuck around and had a few beverages there.  We then headed over to Bengal’s with a few other Aztec fans, and finished the evening there.

The next day was Game Day!  The game wasn’t until 6PM, so we were able to do a bit of site-seeing.  We visited the Columbia Columns.  Basically, the columns are the remnants of some old school buildings.  We also saw a stage being built for a Flaming Lips concert that night.

At 3PM, we met up with Steve & Family and had a mini-tailgate by the stadium.  We purchased some pizza from Shakespeare’s and enjoyed a few tasty beverages on the campus lawn.  After the tailgate, we headed into the stadium and joined about 1,000 other Aztec fans at the game.

As the game progressed, it was becoming more and more promising for our Aztecs.  We had made several big plays in our favor, and our defense was holding Missouri to minimal gains.  When Ronnie Hillman broke off his 93 yard touchdown run, the Aztecs took a 21 to 20 lead…and there was only about 7 minutes to play!  The team was playing well, and even extended the lead to 24 to 20 with just over 2 minutes to go.  Two plays later, the SDSU defense came up with a huge interception!  However, the Aztecs weren’t able to get a first down, and Missouri answered with a 68 yard touchdown pass to win the game.

To make things worse, the game was played around the constant threat of a lightening storm.  Several big lightening bolts flashed across the sky.  The rain was falling on-and-off throughout the game, and us Aztecs fans left defeated and wet!   However, most of the Mizzou fans were very impressed with our team’s performance and congratulated us on a game well played.

Anyway, after the game, Steve & I had dinner at the Flat Branch Brewery.  I had a pizza, and Steve enjoyed some Nachos.  (Well, his plate appeared to be chips covered with chives…)  We had a few pints, then headed back to our hotels.

This morning I awoke to a major thunderstorm.  It was pouring, and we were stuck driving the first 40 miles back to Kansas City in a major downpour with lightening bolts lighting up the sky.  I could hardly see out of my window, but crazy Missourian’s kept passing me at high speeds.  Anyway, the rain finally let up, and we were able to get back to the KC Airport without any issues.

It was a fun trip.  Hopefully this close loss springs us towards a bowl game this year!  Go Aztecs!

Written by Dan Smith in: Aztecs,Personal | Tags: , ,
Jan
24
2010
0

A week with Chrome

I’m always interested in using alternative browsers.  I used many of the different Netscape Naviagator releases, I have tried Internet Explorer for the Mac, iCab, Opera and Safari.  Each of these browsers had many things I liked, but many things I didn’t like.  I’ve been a fan of the Mozilla browsers, starting with the  Mozilla Suite, then transitioning to Phoenix/FireBird/FireFox. I’ve been pretty much a FireFox devotee for quite a few years now.

I’ve watched Google’s efforts with Chrome for awhile.  I was impressed with how fast it rendered pages, and how fast Javascript programs ran on it.  Once  XMarks and Adblock became available for Chrome, I thought I’d try out Chrome for a week on my laptop at work.

I enjoyed how fast Chrome rendered many pages.  However, it wasn’t nearly as compatible as Firefox was on some random webpages.  (For example, my company uses Jourynx for timekeeping; Firefox rendered it perfectly, while Chrome showed some weird issues).  I was also disappointed in the AdBlock implementation for Chrome,  which loaded the images from the (slow) adservers (I’m looking at you doubleclick), then removed them from the screen, while the Firefox Adblock doesn’t even try to download those links.

So…after a week of Chrome, I’m still a Firefox devotee…however, if Chrome gets an equivalent ablocking solution, and continues to improve webpage compatibility, I might think about switching over…

Written by Dan Smith in: Computers,Personal,Software | Tags: , ,
Oct
26
2009
3

Wow! What a flu!

Last Friday, I left work with a slight scratch in my throat.  I realized I was getting sick, but I had no idea how bad the sickness would become!

On Saturday morning, I awoke with a splitting headache, a runny nose, a very sore throat.  As the day progressed, my stomach started to feel queezy and I developed a very high fever.  (I reached as high as 102.2 on Saturday).  As the day went on, I felt worse and worse.

Sunday morning, things were worse.  My fever was hotter (103.1…which is the highest I can remember since I was a kid), and I spent the whole day drifting in and out of sleep.

Lots of Nyquil later, and now I’m feeling better.  It was easily the most sick I’ve felt in a long, long time.  My fever is gone, but I still lack lots of energy.  Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to make it back to work!

Written by Dan Smith in: Personal |
Sep
07
2009
1

New Phone!

Over the weekend, I drove up to  LA to watch SDSU play at UCLA in football.  The game was fun (hopefully I’ll write up a report later), but during the tailgate, the “#” key on my Sony Ericsson K750i phone broke. Since the “#” key is used to help unlock the screen-lock, my phone is now very difficult to use!

I had that phone for over 2 years.  I always had a love/hate relationship with it, as it had lots of great features, but it had lots of small bugs that made using it difficult.  (That phone replaced my Sony Ericsson W810i, which has been my favorite phone ever)

I’ve eyed the Android phones for awhile, and today I finally purchased one.  I stopped by my local T-Mobile store and purchased a HTC Magic phone.  I’m still playing with it, but so far I like it.  I was able to get a similar plan to my old plan, but for about $10 less per month.  I have 30 days to change my mind, so I’ll keep you informed…

As to why I didn’t get an iPhone?  For a few reasons:

  1. I already have an iPod Touch.  I didn’t really need two iPhoneOS devices
  2. The total cost of the iPhone would cost too much
  3. I’d then get an Android device to play with
Written by Dan Smith in: Personal | Tags: ,
Jul
03
2009
2

Ugh…

Now I remember why I haven’t moved out of my place in over 10 years…I hate moving!

I’ve been packing, moving stuff and changing locks at my new house. The old owners had a dead-bolt that they attached to the door with a nail, and I hope to get that lock replaced tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, it’s the 4th of July! My parents will be coming down to celebrate it with me and to see my new house. I don’t think that they’ve ever seen a 4th of July in San Diego. It’s really crazy at the beaches (all parking spots are filled by 10AM!) It should be fun.

I’m going to take my tailgating supplies over to my new house. That way, I’ll be able to cook my parents up some Shaq burgers and other tasty foods!

Written by Dan Smith in: Family,Personal |
Jun
28
2009
0

Updated Webpage…

I’ve updated my webpage a bit.  It should now be XHTML compliant.  I doubt that will affect anyone, as it will still look bad, however, it’s going to be standards compliant while looking bad 🙂

Written by Dan Smith in: Personal | Tags:
Jun
28
2009
1

New House!

I have finally received the keys to my new house. As you may know, my house closed escrow on June 19, but the tenants that lived there just moved out today.

I took a few photos of the place before I moved anything in.  Let me know what you think!

While it seems like it would be ready for me to move in, it’s not quite there yet.  The house will be tented Tuesday June 30 to July 2 to kill the termites, then on Friday, the termite people are going to replace some wood on the outside of the house that has been affected by the termites.

My current plan is to move in on July 7.  I’ll take the day off of work, and have movers stop by to move the stuff in.  My parents are going to be down this weekend, though, so I’ll get to show them the place and let them inspect it!  Hopefully I get a thumbs up!

Written by Dan Smith in: Family,Personal,Uncategorized | Tags:
Jun
20
2009
0

Woo-hoo!

As many of you know, I’ve been looking around for a new house.  I started my search almost 1 year ago.  I looked into several neighborhoods, but I discovered that I really liked the “Mountain” Street area of Clairemont.

Well, I finally found the house I wanted.  It’s located on Mount La Palma Drive.  It has a nice layout, a great back yard, and has been maintained well.  After looking at a dozen houses or so, I realized that this house was the one.  Thanks to my awesome agent, I was able to get into the house before many others could, so my bid was one of the first that was received by the sellers!

I don’t get to move in until early July (there are tenants still living there), but the title to the house has changed into my name yesterday (June 19)  Hopefully this provides me with a good place to live for many years!

Written by Dan Smith in: Personal | Tags:
Apr
29
2009
0

Airport annoyances

I don’t mind picking up friends from the airport when their flight arrives in San Diego. The drive only takes about 10 minutes from my house, and there is rarely traffic.

However, it does bug me when the person I’m picking up hangs out in an area with hundreds of other people trying to get picked up. It’s dangerous for me as a driver, because I have to spend extra energy looking for my friend in a crowd of people while dodging several other cars. It would be so much easier if the person being picked up just walked a few dozen yards to an area where there isn’t much traffic.

Written by Dan Smith in: Personal | Tags: , ,
Mar
23
2009
0

Araphoe & Breckenridge…

Today is my second day of skiing. Yesterday, we cruised around the slopes of Araphoe Basin. It’s a fun resort that reminds me alot of Kirkwood. The resort is spread out, without many lifts to access the terrain. You need to traverse to get to lots of fun stuff. The conditions were good, but not great. It was firm in the morning, and slushy in the afternoon. (The highs were in the 50s)

Today, I went to Breckenridge. Overnight, it snowed between 3 to 5 inches. So, when we got to Breckenridge, the conditions were “Dust-On-Crust” There was a very nice layer of powder, but on top of some very icy hard-pack. It made it difficult to turn, as I’d quickly sink into the soft snow, and slip on the ice. However, the Breckenridge resort is really cool. It’s very large, the lifts are well placed, and there are lots of fun tree runs. (Though, I’m not great at tree runs)

Tomorrow, we are heading to Vail for the day, then driving back to Boulder for the night.  (It’s time for me to stop skiing…my legs are exhausted after only two days, and we have a huge day tomorrow!)  I have to come back to San Diego on Wednesday  night, so I’m looking forward to hanging out in Boulder for the day.

Written by Dan Smith in: Personal,Sports |

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