Home Depot Gift Registry

I was attempting to locate a friends wedding registry on the Home Depot website. I was unable to do so and he later told me that it wasn’t accessible online for some reason, but I came across some interesting search results on the HD website.

Do you see anything odd here?

Does HD really think they need to retain registry’s from almost 1 and 1/3 years ago? How long after a wedding/shower can you buy a present and still offer it as a wedding gift?

I’m half tempted to pu tin more common names on the HD search and see if I can turn up anything earlier than April 07.

Stairs Two at a Time

Do you go up staircases two stairs at time? Do you go down two at a time?

I personally go up two at a time, but down in the singular. When I go up the stairs, I like to end at the top without having to take the last stair as a single. I’ve noticed some people do the opposite, starting with 2 stairs at a time and ending with with a single stair. I actually don’t have a particular starting stair, but usually know the staircase I am climbing and know whether to start on step #1 or step #2 to hit the top landing just right.

Security Question

“So you forgot your password huh? No problem, we can reset it and send you the temporary one” says the email from tech-support. However, after I login with the temporary password and update it, I get this screen. Any idea what’s supposed to be answered here?

Dave and Buster’s Review

I went to Dave & Buster’s for the first time this weekend and had mixed feelings after spending a few hours there.

Pros

• I liked the overall concept, a place to eat, drink and play. It’s a business venture I would take on, if it didn’t already exist
• Although I didn’t eat a meal there, the main restaurant was removed from the loud and neon lit arcade area. There were a lot of tables and a bar available in the gaming area, so you had your choice of where you would like to dine.
• A large grouping of bar-oriented games were also removed from the midway. These included pool, shuffleboard, darts, and a few others. There seemed to be plenty of each available.
• The beer was on average what you would expect to pay at a typical restaurant, and you could get drink service in between skee-ball rolls.

Cons

• Smoking is permissible throughout the building.
• There was not a large variety of ticket redemption games, nor was there a large variety in the arcade games either. Driving and shooting games occupied a good 80% of non-redemption games
• The prizes (although not expecting much) were geared towards adults. This would be a pro, but my 950 tickets didn’t qualify me to buy anything even remotely fun or useful. The prizes cost too much real money, therefore cost at least 4,000 tickets. This also meant there weren’t any 10 ticekt army men, sticky hands, or a section devoted entirely to candy like in a regular arcade.
• You have to buy a rechargeable card from D&B to play any of the games. For each card, theres a $2 activation fee.
• All of the games cost fractions of credits to play. Games varied from 1.7 to 9.8 credits per play. This made it hard to actually get the last few credits worth out of your card. You either had to reload (it $10 increments), plan the last 10 credits out according to game price, or hunt down that one game that you could play with your remaining 2.2 credits

Overall, I think the night got a 6/10. I may go there again, but I would probably do a dinner/card combo. And I would recommend to anyone going, the $10 card is plenty of credits!

A bowling alley, some lazer tag, or some glow-in-the-dark golf could enhance D&B, and probably put it up to an 8 or 9.

Facts in Lieu of Post

Haven’t had a lot of stuff to post about lately, but I found a few things to maybe keep you entertained?

• Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete
• The elephant is the only mammal that can’t jump
• Like fingerprints, everyone’s tongue print is different
• The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words
• Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise.
• Average number of Americans killed annually by vending machines falling on them: 13

2008 Calendar

A local bookstore was selling 2008 calendars on the street yesterday. The stand had a large sign indicating that the calendars were 50% off.

With 205 days of the 2008 calendar year gone by, you would think the calendar would be at least 56% off, (205/365) and incrementing every day. The calendar included a 6 month condensed page, but it was for 2007.

Just a thought.

You Know You’re in a Room of Nerds when . . .

the computer of someone presenting crashes and four people pull out camera phones to take a picture of the error. “Ohhhhh, a parity memory error”.

Government Spending at it’s Best

I flew out of Traverse City Airport, a small 8 gate facility, this week. The airport itself was actually very nice, most likely being constructed or remodeled within the last 5 years. There were a total of 10 flights leaving the airport the day I was flying, but one thing struck me as odd.

As I went through security, one baggage inspection conveyor and one metal detector, I couldn’t help but notice there were eight TSA agents working the checkpoint. I’m all for safety while traveling and don’t mind the security checks, but the number of government employees on duty at this tiny airport seemed skewed. Not to mention however many were working behind the scenes inspecting all the luggage that was being checked, but I assume there were at least two more. The Detroit airport has a couple of security entrances, but each of these multi-stall stations are run by the same number of people that worked the one in TC.

I’m not complaining about the security. I appreciate the people who work to ensure that flights are safe. However, I think a few less people could have done the job.

California’s Hands Free Law

As of July 1st, it’s illegal in California to talk on a phone while driving a car, unless you use a hands free device like a bluetooth headset. I understand the point of the law, but I think overall it’s lacking.

You can legally dial a number while driving. The law does not forbid texting. And not to mention, in the last 3 days I’ve had a meal and 2 snacks in the car, which require just as much ‘hands on’ as holding a cell phone.

If the idea is that the only having one hand available for steering is a safety issue, texting should definitely be part of the law. That can even require 2 hands on some devices. Realistically, if the idea is to get more hands on the wheel, then the law should be you have to drive with two hands.

I think the bluetooth headset manufacturers gave the CA government a nice little campaign contribution in return for this new law!

Poor Convertible User Design

As a manufacturer of a convertible, why would you think it’s a bright idea to put a bunch of reflective pieces of molding throughout the car? When I drive with the top down, the sun reflects off almost all of the interior trim and nearly blinds me. This can’t be a safe way to drive, but the other option is to not put the top down, and who wants to do that?

Update – finally posted the video