Blog Entries

New Tick Removal Method - But does it really work?

bret@bretnet.com — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:00:00 +0100

'Tis the tick season again. I've already pulled a few off of me. Every year geocachers find themselves exposed to these little critters over and over again. My worst encounter netted a whopping forty at just one cache!

From time-to-time I'll get an email about some new tick removal system or device. I've tried a few of them, but in a moment of tick-mania I usually just go with the "grip it and rip it" method. However, that's probably not a very good idea. Doctors are always telling us a [...]

Michael Savage Has Made Enough Money. Time To Go Home, Mike

bret@bretnet.com — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 02:00:00 +0100

I'm no idiot. No, really...I'm not. I understand the role of a "radio shock jock" and how they make stupid statements just for publicity. How they rant for ratings. I get it. But it's one thing to attack someone like the Kennedys or Paris Hilton or even a minority group that can speak out and defend themselves and quite another to attack a group of people who cannot speak up for themselves.

Last week Michael Savage did just that. His attack on autistic children was [...]

Camouflage Your Laptop

bret@bretnet.com — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:00:00 +0100

At least two or three times a week I find myself with my laptop in a very public place. Usually it’s a coffee shop or restaurant that has free wifi and I can get a little work done there. Coffee shops—being what they are—sell a lot of coffee. Me—being who I am—drink a lot of coffee and before you know it, it’s time to go make a sissy.

Yep. That’s an actual term.

I’m always a [...]

Not Terribly Happy with HP

bret@bretnet.com — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:00:00 +0100

Ok, I'm warning you, this is long and is mostly a rant. I'm going to do my best to make it interesting, but if it isn't...well...go over to Neatorama . They always have fun stuff there.

Back in December, 2007 I decided to give my family the gift of two brand new PC's for Christmas. Yep, I'm a great guy. Just about everyone in the family who wants a computer for work, homework, research or...say....mindless games and YouTube videos now has access to them. Yaaaay [...]

I

bret@bretnet.com — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:00:00 +0100

You can see the log here.

And it's not actually Photoshop, it's Paint Shop Pro. It's far cheaper than Photoshop and has many of the same abilities. Purists don't care for it but, hey, I like what it does.

Gas Prices and Stuff

bret@bretnet.com — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:00:00 +0100

Last night I stayed up until 2:00 am watching the movie "Sideways." You're probably wondering why. Well, my son fell asleep right after he got home from the sitter yesterday afternoon and finally woke up around 9:00 pm. that means we had to play for several hours before Daddy could drug him and get him to go back to sleep. That finally happened around 2:00 am.

Anyway, to pass the time I watched Sideways on Hulu (great website, by the way). The movie was...well...boring. [...]

YouTube - Full Screen Trick

bret@bretnet.com — Fri, 02 May 2008 02:00:00 +0100

Why didn't anyone tell me about this?!?!

Like a few others out there I work with dual monitors. That's right...while one monitor might be enough for you, I need two! The main monitor is here on my laptop and over to the left is a second 22" widescreen monitor. I use the second one for additional room for chat programs, word processing stuff, second browser windows, etc. It just makes like a lot easier.

One problem though has been watching YouTube on the second monito [...]

Back to Moonshine....With Some Technical Difficulties

bret@bretnet.com — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:00:00 +0100

Last year I hosted the Moonshine Meet n' Meat n' Greet (with Bacon) event. Moonshine is a small town just south of me...and when I say small I mean SMALL...population TWO. But they have this incredible business there selling Moonburgers. People come from all over. And last year, cachers came from all over. What a great time we had!

After much prodding I finally set a date for Moonshine II last week. People are already excited. You need to be there! Moonshine is an amazin [...]

Let the Blogging Begin....again

bret@bretnet.com — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 02:00:00 +0100

What kind of a self-absorbed moron needs to write a blog?

ME!

I've fought the blog bug as hard as I fought journaling in general. I guess I've read way too many blogs by people who were way too full of themselves. Too many of them seem like they're tr [...]

That's Great, it Starts with an Earthquake...

bret@bretnet.com — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 02:00:00 +0100

I woke up this morning to find a Yahoo message from my friend LeAnn that said, "So, did you feel it?" You've got to admit, that's a pretty odd message...and a little too personal for my liking.

It turns out we had an earthquake early this morning . I managed to sleep through it, but Trish said she could feel something. She just thought the kids were being stupid upstairs. That happens a lot, actually.

The amazing thing to me has been the number of pho [...]

Emailed to me this morning.

bret@bretnet.com — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 02:00:00 +0100

I think most of us have done this before....maybe.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4njkZiq3MPU 425x355]

Funny Stuff. :-)

I Want One of These!!!!

bret@bretnet.com — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:00:00 +0100

Han Solo in carbonite chocolate bar!

I can just hear Jabba now....

Wanta dah moole-rah eatah chunky Solo

Monday with Margot

bret@bretnet.com — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 02:00:00 +0100

I had lunch Monday with Margot Anne Kelley, author of Local Treasures: Geocaching Across America. I've had a copy of this book for a little over a year and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I suppose you would have to call it a "coffee table book." It's a series of photos and essays chronicling her geocaching trip across the United States (even into Hawaii). The pictures are amazing, the stories are ones that most cachers can relate very easily.

She was in the area doing an [...]

First hike of the season....I'm sore!

bret@bretnet.com — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 02:00:00 +0100

Yesterday I attended Trailmix 12 - Tailgating, a rather unusual cache event in Indiana.

It's long been established that holding a geocaching event for the sake of going caching together is a "no-no." Events have to be purely social. Trailmix has managed to honor this and yet still offer a lot of fun for those who want to get out and nab a few finds too.

These are no "Cache Machine" runs with people piling in and out of vehicles at ever lamp post and looki [...]

Geocaching in a Bomb-Happy World

bret@bretnet.com — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:00:00 +0100

A year ago or so I signed up for some Google News Alerts. It's a really cool service. You enter the keywords you're looking for and when they appear in a news story you get an email with a link to it. Handy, huh?

I entered "Geocaching" of course, but I also entered "Geocaching" and "Bomb" in a separate alert. That one's been...well...interesting.

This Article came across my desk a couple days as a result. Apparently someone spotted a dec [...]