schmenzer speaks!

Wow! Thanks to Steve and Tom at Schwanke-Kasten Jewelers for the generous donation to the Astrowings Fun Fly Raffle. The Tag-Heuer Aquaracer watch is valued at $1,600! You can’t win unless you buy a raffle ticket. Let me know if you need tickets. A buck each or 6 for $5.

The Astrowings Fun Fly has been a tradition for years with the proceeds from the event benefiting Special Olympics of Ozaukee County. To date our RC Flying Club has donated over $80,000 to this worthy cause!

Southparkstudios.com now has all episodes of South Park available in a streaming format. Only the most recent shows are not available for a short period of time. They are available for a week, taken down, and then put back thirty days later, permanently! Sweet! Hippies Rule!

Mini-Z Overland Obstacle 16

Originally uploaded by gasmith

Clearance testing.

This is part of a series of photos detailing the construction of an obstacle course for Mini-Z Overlands.

For more about Mini-Z racing check out minispeedway.com.

Here is an updated Amazon Wish List:

I recently began working with Poblocki Paving, a Milwaukee asphalt paving contractor, to improve site usability and search rankings.

When I began to work with Poblocki Paving the website had just undergone an extensive redesign and the business owner is happy with how the site looks but recognized that it could be easier for users to find the info they were looking for and that the tone of the site could be more friendly. In addition the web site has never ranked well in the major search engines. We aim to change that.

I began by getting some baseline analytics from Google Analytics to see what the site was currently getting for traffic as well as running some Web CEO reports on how the site ranked for important keyword phrases. As I suspected there is nowhere to go but up and so the work begins…

It’s been a while since I looked at MySpace and I like the new default skin. It seems much less cluttered and it was immediately easier for me to find my way around. Now I’d like a way to always view pages with the default skin. I see a lot of personalized pages that just confuse me!

Arrrgh! I found out a bit late but I be prepared for next year. ‘Tis marked on me calendar. September 19, Every year. Ye should do the same. If ye be needin’ more info set sails for http://talklikeapirate.com

Just a quick test while I wait for my haircut appointment. I’m working on my keyboarding skills! Also wanted to see how practical the Edge network is.

A Black & Decker GrassHog, model NST2018G, to be exact. So far this is a pretty nice unit. I got the GrassHog to replace my aging Craftsman Gas String Trimmer. I don’t remember the exact model but it was 6-8 years old and really LOUD!

A few things led me to replace the Craftsman unit. Sure, it was working OK but it leaked fuel, was REALLY NOISY, didn’t feed line well and was just wearing out after at least 6 seasons. Plus, I used it not just for trimming but edging and grooming my backyard RC race track. The track was grass, and still is, mostly, but it needs to be short for the 1/18th scale trucks my family likes to run. So, I used the trimmer in groom mode ie. beating the grass down around a 4 foot wide by 150 foot long track.

One of the main considerations when I got the new trimmer was noise. I was sometimes embarrassed using the gas string trimmer so I wanted a quiet electric job. Plus, I did not want to be encumbered by a cord so a rechargeable model was mandatory. After reading a few reviews I decided on the Black & Decker NST 2018G GrassHog.

The only negative I see on an otherwise positive experience so far is that I can out last the two included batteries. To be fair I have only recharged each about 3 times. They should continue to gain capacity for another few charges. And remember, I have not been using the GrassHog in a “typical” fashion. I had 6 weeks of un-groomed RC track to clean up and even longer on the yard edging and weed trimming. Weekly maintenance should take about 20 minutes, or only one battery’s worth.

I am always looking for a good deal on rechargeable AA batteries. I use them in about half a dozen RC car transmitters and also build flight packs for my RC airplanes from them. When I see a deal like All-Batteries.com has I jump on it! They are offering AA 2600mAh High Capacity NiMH Rechargeable Batteries in a 20-Pack with a Compact Travel Charger for $19.99 with free shipping. That’s $1 per battery and FREE SHIPPING! It is among the best unit price I’ve paid for any AA rechargeable let alone the high capacity 2600mAh AA rechargeable batteries.

I think when I last wrote about the email cleansing I had some work left but I finally removed every email from the inbox with the exception of a DMZ for the slopeflyer email legacy. Well, I’ve pared that DMZ folder down from 3,286 to 2,599. Problem is that a lot of the emails really need some action. I was just putting it off. I am getting a lot of twiddly work done that should have been done when I received the emails.

Now, the new, empty boxes are staying clean with action happening every time I see an email, I respond and toss or archive the email, I do the bit of work requested or I stuff the email in the Needs Action folder if it is something that will take more time or is waiting for a response. Currently there are 18 items in the “Needs Action” folder but all others are clean. Yipee!

Technorati Tags: productivity

Remembering this quote:

“Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything.”
- Charles Kuralt

I spent a good 80% of my return trip to Milwaukee from Kansas off the Interstate. There really is a lot of interesting America out there but I also saw, in small towns through Kansas and Iowa, people throwing trash from moving vehicles, drunks crawling along the curb and crappy driving just like in the big cities. I guess “progress” permeates all of America these days.

More on this soon but I started a campaign, even an all out assault, on my Inbox to get some control over it instead of it over me.

Using some of Merlin Mann’s advice from his Inbox Zero series I began the arduous task today and am happy to report that I trimmed over 3,200 emails from Inboxs and outright deleted over 1,800 emails! This puts me about a third of the way to my goal of 0 in the Inbox.

So, after this I’ have to start on the 15,000 plus archived messages! Oh well, gotta start somewhere.

Superweek 2007

Originally uploaded by gasmith

I posted a bunch of photos to Flickr that I took at the Whitefish Bay Classic, a part of the 2007 Point Premium Root Beer International Cycling Classic that took place July 13-29, 2007.

I’ve been using Flock on and off for a while and like many of the unique features for interacting with blogs, photo sites and the like but have not really made much use of its power yet. I’ve still been using Ecto to post to the blog most of the time and posting photos directly to Flickr from within Aperture via the Flickr Export plugin. still, the integrated nature of Flock has me intrigued so I’ll give it a go for a while.

Well, that was my Flock post only it wouldn’t post. The connection to the blog seemed OK but there seems to be an issue with getting the categories. I’ll be looking into it.

Meanwhile it is back to Ecto!

Technorati Tags: ecto

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Gotta give this a go!

Well, it is that time of the year. Show me the love! I’ll add a few more realistic items soon!

gas_2394.jpg

Originally uploaded by gasmith.

The Thunderbirds were in Milwaukee for the Milwaukee Airshow. They did a couple of days of practice and two days of show performing.

Blue Angels last year, T-Birds this year. Cool!

I’m posting this from Flock, a new browser that has a blog editor built right in. Nice, basic formatting is available in a WYSIWYG window. Not sure it will replace Ecto yet but I like the idea of not having to leave the browser to do a quick post.

technorati tags:flock

Blogged with Flock

Seems Wal-Mart wants to encourage the small shoplifter with a policy not to call the cops if the value of the pilfered merchandise is less than $25. Apparently the previous threshold was $3! Cops in small towns all over the country must be ecstatic!

Maybe I do have a reason to visit Wally World after all!

Here’s the full scoop:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/13/business/13walmart.html