Author: Jason Haberman

35 years old and starting over in April 06. Moving onwards and upwards. With the help of friends, family and a little creative writing.
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We made it

Hello all. Coming to you from our little house overlooking the pacific. Surfers below us and blue skies above. It is beautiful.

Just wanted to let everyone know we made it save and sound, and we’re now a mojito and 2 beers in. All is right with the world.

I’m on a hijacked open network with a horribly weak signal here, so who knows how long this connection will last. But, while it’s up, I’m here. I’ve already got some good stories.

Back to relaxing!

Here is where we are… click on Satellite to get the full view.

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I’m Goin Back To Cali

Santa Cruz SunsetQueue up the LL Cool J, because I am, indeed, goin back to Cali.

Specifically, Santa Cruz California. Jess is turning the big 3-0 next week and she wanted to spend a week down in her favorite place to celebrate. So, thats what we’re doing. She rented a beach house on a cliff overlooking the big blue Pacific for the whole week. Gonna be VERY nice.

I have been to the bay area a few times in the past few years, but we only went to Oakland. (That’s where the ex-laws were from) We never actually made it over to the nice part of the bay. I haven’t been to the San Fran/Carmel/Monterey area for 18 years. Not since the infamous spring break family trip all those years ago. I’ll have to write about that soon.

Anyway, we’ve got some plans. Monterey aquarium. Spend a day in the city and hit Alcatraz (I’ve never been) and various other sights. We’re gonna do a little sea kayaking off of Pebble Beach. And we’re gonna do a lot of relaxing. I haven’t been on a proper, relaxation-inducing vacation in a long time. Most of the time I travel, it’s to do things (go to Boise State games, for example). This time, the main goal is to just chill out mostly. Vodka-tonic-as-the-sun-goes-down kind of chillin. And let me tell you, I cannot wait.

Even better, we’ll have the laptop with us, so providing I can find internet access, I’ll be able to blog and post pictures from down there. Check back for updates.

See you upon my return, all relaxed and loose, one week from tomorrow!

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Goodbye Mr. Wizard

wizard_2.jpgDon Herbert, aka Mr. Wizard lost his battle with cancer yesterday at 89. View the intro to his show here. That will really take some of you back!

I LOVED Mr. Wizard. When he came on Nickelodeon in the 80’s, I was hooked. Watched every day. To my young fertile mind, he really was a wizard. To this day, I can remember being truly amazed by what I saw him do with simple household items. He turned me on to science. Maybe that was why I scored in the 98th percentile in science on the Iowa test of basic skills. (and in the 67th for math).

I can vividly remember him teaching us about all kinds of things. Including sight: look through a paper towel tube with one eye, keep your other eye open and hold your other hand up next to the tube… it looks like there’s a hole in your hand!

Or, how to make a volcano (which I did once) with vinegar and baking soda.

Or, how centrifugal force will keep water in the bucket, even over your head, if you spin it fast enough.

Or, how to make a secret message by writing on a a spiral of paper wrapped around a certain sized tube, and in order to read it, you had to have the same sized tube.

Or, how straws actually work not by sucking the liquid out of the glass, but instead by air pressure. And he set up an experiment to see how high they could suck liquid up a straw like tube (using a vacuum pump)

I could go on and on. His show had different ‘topics’ and I loved them all, supermarket science, challenge, how it works, safari. I really think this is why I watch so much History, Discovery, National Geographic, Science Channel shows now. I love them all… all thanks to Mr. Wizard.

So, I just wanted to say Goodbye and Thank You to Don Herbert. You were a serious influence in my young life that echoes even today. Of course, did I find it a little strange, even as a kid, that you always had a gaggle of young kids in your house? Perhaps… If you were anyone else, we might be thinking a Michael Jackson thing. But, at least you never gave any of them wine and porn.

Apparently, his show is available on DVD. I’ll tell you this… if I ever have a kid, he or she WILL be watching Mr. Wizard.

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Sopranos Finale

the_sopranos_iso.jpgWell, it happened last night. The Sopranos ended it’s epic HBO run to the delight and derision of its many fans. Of course, today the internet is alive with thousands of opinions, so I figured I might as well add my voice to the cacophony.

We were invited to a friends house to have a little Italian grub and watch the big show. I whipped up the now semi-famous ziti to take over there (it was a hit). I was a bit nervous to watch the show in a crowd, since usually when those sorts of things happen there are some in attendance who would rather talk through the whole show, and you become the asshole for trying to hear the show. Luckily, everyone just watched and was quiet, so that was great.

On to the show.

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Kristen and Adrian

wedding-sign_lg.jpgKris, today is your day.

I know you have been stressing about this for quite a while. Planning a wedding is a huge undertaking and I know you have been working on it non-stop for a long time. Well, at this point, whats done is done. I really hope that you can relax today and just enjoy the ride. It’s a special day and you really should try to go with the flow. Just know, that if things aren’t “perfect” you’re going to be the only one who notices or even remembers. So, if you can be happy with it, then the rest is gravy.

Part of me still thinks of you as that goofy little hanger-on, playing “superman” or “batmobile” in the living room. Or wrestling those times when you would cry just loud enough for mom and dad to hear. The Strawberry Shortcake look-a-like who would drink syrup out of the bottle and rip the pages out of the photo albums.

kris and adrian 028 Today, you hitch your wagon to the big A. Honestly, I don’t think you could have found a better guy than him. Adrian, I don’t know you too well, but I can say this… You’re about a thousand times better than some of the other schmucks Kris has dated (no offense, K!). I’m really really glad you’re in the family.

I’m certainly not one to dispense marriage advice other than to say this. Work at it. Don’t assume it will be all easy like dating was. You might think it won’t be much different, but trust me, it is. Funny what a little piece of paper can do.

I can’t wait to see you tonight. It will most definitely be seeing you in a way I never have before. You will shed your single identity and become K-Mo. I couldn’t be happier.

Love you, K-Mo!

Now lets get some booze into mom before she crumbles…

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Harry Connick Jr. In Concert

Harry Connick JrTuesday evening Harry Connick Jr. performed here at the Idaho Center.  All in all, he put on a great show.  My review…

The show started right on time at 7:30.  We had settled into our seats with a couple beers for only a few minutes before the house lights went out.  I always chuckle at the concert ritual of the “wooooooo!” from the crowd when the lights go down.  I don’t know why that amuses me.

Anyway, the curtains pulled back on the stage, the band on the right and the left side had Harry’s grand piano, an upright model and an organ.  The backdrop was an image of a bourbon street balcony and there were a couple of street lights on stage.

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Congratulations Steelheads and other Spring Sports

For me, spring is the worst sporting time of the year. Let me explain.

Even though 2 sports are in their playoffs and another is just starting I am still bored out of my mind. Wait wait wait… before I get to that, I wanna take a second and congratulate our very own Idaho Steelheads ECHL hockey team for beating the Dayton Bombers and winning the Kelly Cup. They won it last night in Dayton.

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Spam Battle Update

I spoke a bit too soon. When I mentioned last week that I had made a serious dent in the spam wars, little did I know that the spammers would strike back hard.

It seems, I’ve caught a new wave of spammers. These ones are not trying to sell anything directly (aka bootleg pharmaceuticals) but instead are simply trying to drive clicks to bullshit pages whose only purpose is to gain ad revenue without providing any content at all.

These new spams all have links to bogus sites like “1qualitylinks.info”, “1mybookmarks.info”, and “topnetsites.info”. These spams have key words that they hope to drive traffic, thus my previous methods weren’t blocking them.

Yesterday alone, I got 68 additional spams caught by Akismet when before it was down to 4 or 5 a day.

So, I had to add another level of protection. This new plugin, called JS Spam Block, is rather interesting. All it does is add a bit of javascript in the comment field. It sends a script to the browser trying to leave a comment. If your browser is .js enabled (almost all them are) you are allowed to comment and the user doesn’t even know they were approved. If you don’t have javascript enabled (most spam posting bots do not) it prompts you to simply enter a number to continue to prove you’re human. If you enter the number, you can post. Obviously, to get an automated bot to do this is significantly tougher. Genius really.

This one appears to be working. Since installation last night, I’ve only had 5 spams caught. The rest were blocked by my various other methods. I have learned to never say I have solved the problem. With spam, there simply is no solution, although the feds are trying.

One more shot in the never ending war.

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You’re calling it the WHAT bowl?

h-bowlSince 1997, there has been a college football bowl game in Boise Idaho at Boise State University’s Bronco Stadium. It has turned into a neat local event, even when the Broncos aren’t playing in it.

Over the years, the bowl’s name has changed, as different title sponsors have ponied up the cash to be involved. Early on, it was just the Humanitarian Bowl (connected to the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame, also here in Boise). Then, both Crucial.com and MPC Computers took shots at titleship.

MPC Computers decided to drop out after last year, so the bowl game has been searching for a new title sponsor.

Well, today it was announced who stepped up. And it is as bad as it could possibly be.

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Boating Adventure

On Memorial Day weekend, we got invited to go boating with some of Jess’ friends for the day. So, we packed up the coolers and headed up to Lucky Peak Reservoir (not far from Boise) for a day of fun on the water.

Here are the pics.

Actually, we had a great time. The water was a little cold still, and the sun kept hiding behind the clouds, so not everyone wanted a shot at skiing or wake surfing. Maybe next time.

Thanks again to Jeremy and Janelle for the invite!