Doug Royal.com

When I first used Google’s Chrome at work (DSL) I noticed a big difference in how quickly sites loaded compared to other browsers, but when I got home (Dial-up), Chrome seemed sluggish. So, that leads me to believe Google might have included their Web Accelerator in Chrome’s packaging. I have no proof of this. I suppose I could read some of Google’s documents about Chrome, but I’d much rather be lazy and start a rumor. If you look at Web Accelerator’s site, you’ll notice it says “Designed for Broadband – Web pages load even more quickly on DSL and cable connections.” That seems ridiculous to me; sure, I’d like for my Broadband to be faster, but I’m more concerned with speeding up Dial-up.

Firefox runs crazy-fast for me because I use it as a text browser; I disable everything that slows down my web surfing (XP look under Tools-> Options; Linux look under Edit -> Preferences). Most of my www usage is limited to connecting with friends (txt), looking for distractions, such as sports scores (txt) or funny bloggers (txt), and occasionally doing some research (txt). Occasionally I play some games, and then I just enable JavaScript and images and reload the page.

I don’t think Chrome’s V8 can beat that, but Google said they developed Chrome for people who use the web for apps and games, so maybe comparing them to a text browser isn’t really fair.

. . . the Chrome icon kind of looks like the old Simon Says game

My first reactions after finding out about Google’s web browser Chrome was something like “Good grief, now they really will know everything about me, even if I do use yahoo.” I was a little disgusted and a little scared (and that from a guy who puts pics of his kids on a web page named after himself . . . and who plasters Google ads all over his sites).

I wanted to hate Chrome, I really did, because, as a wannabe . . . I mean an amateur web developer, I already spend too much time trying to sort out the differences between browsers, and I wasn’t looking forward to adding another one to the mix.

But all that changed pretty quickly. I downloaded the browser, started reading about what Google is doing differently, and became a fan. (I won’t try to explain what they’re doing because they already have some good videos on YouTube, and Google explains the browser better than I can (The videos are all about 20 seconds long, which is great because, when you start to lose interest, they’re over.).) I’m excited about some of the new things they’ve come up with and know they’re leading the web in the right direction.

I don’t really like the over-simplified design but I know simple interfaces are important when you want people to try something new (I learned to blog on blogger), and apparent simplicity is one of the things that makes Google stand out.

To protect reputations, I will not be using any names.

Two months ago, we moved out of our old apartment into our new home.

We left the apartment in good condition, so we’ve been waiting for them to return our deposit check of about $600. After two months with no word from them, I started preparing myself mentally to go talk to them (I don’t like confrontations, and avoid them whenever possible).

My wife and I agreed Monday was their deadline. Monday’s mail came, and we got a little surprise from our old landlords.

Now, I know we gave them our new address at least twice. I wrote it down for them when I told them we were moving out, and I watched them write it down on the day we actually left.

But, when we got the check in the mail, the envelope had gone through the Post Offices’ mail-forwarding system. Why? Because my old landlords had mailed the return-deposit check to our old address at their apartment complex.

At mass on Tuesday morning I heard this reading:

He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said,
“Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever becomes humble like this child
is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.

Two pews in front of me, a three year old girl stared at me while picking her nose.

Lillian stood all by her self tonight. I was lying down on the living room floor at the in-law’s house. Lillian crawled over to me, puller herself up by grabbing my hips, let go. She stood for about half a second, then plopped down on her baby bottom.

I got excited, and maybe I got a little too loud, because I think I scared her. She had a worried look on her face and just sat there staring at me. I guess an 8 month old can’t tell the difference between a happy loud voice and an angry loud voice.

Laughter helps.

Last Friday, we decided that on Sunday we would go out with the in-laws for our Sunday Night Dinner. I was thrilled because Ci Ci’s is one of my favorite buffet pizza places. I looked forward to that meal all weekend. I went to bed dreaming about the pizza buffet, and woke up smelling pepperoni. I even tweeted about it.

Sunday evening finally arrived and I drove down Providence toward joy (pizza is synonymous with joy). At a stoplight, my enthusiasm bubbled over and I rolled down the window and shouted “I love pizza!” The cop in the car next to me gave me the evil eye. I rolled up my window, locked the door, and hunched down as if I were driving through the projects.

My wife pointed to the light, which had turned green. “We’re going to C.C’ Broilers, not Ci Ci’s Pizza.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

“C.C’s” sounds exactly like “Ci Ci’s”

My heart was heavier, and my wallet lighter.

What Was Jesus’ Budget?

That’s the motto of my family’s finances. It means we try to live as humbly as possible because it forces us to trust God more. . . and that is a beautiful way of saying I’m a tight-wad.

One of the reasons I was excited about moving into a house, was I thought we could save money on car maintenance; our new house has a garage where I could do minor repairs.

When I was at the auto parts store picking out oil and a filter, I noticed one of the sales people watching me. He smiled (in retrospect, I think I remember saliva dribbling out of the corner of his mouth). “You doing an oil change?”
“Yep.”
He handed me a mountain of coupons. “We’ve got a special.”

I was flattered by his thoughtfulness (that’s probably why I ignored the saliva). He even helped me carry my oil out to my car.

On the way home, I started thinking. (I’m not much of an in-the-moment thinker. I’m more of an after-the-fact thinker, and my thought is almost always “Good grief, what did I just do?”)

I just spent $15 on oil and filter.

For the last 10 years I’ve paid the quick oil change places $17 to do the work for me. Plus, they would top off my other fluids, dispose of the oil for me, and once in a while you can find a $5 off coupon and get an oil change for $12. But wait, this deal gets better. While your waiting, you can read a couple chapters of a good book rather than getting covered in oil. Granted, you have to put up with the sales pitch where they try to talk you into flushing your transmission fluid, radiator fluid, and changing the air in your tires, but if you’re strong (or cheap, like me) you’ll be able to say no.

Oh well. I’ve got my work clothes on, so I’m off to get covered in oil . . . my wife just cleaned our bathroom, so pray for me.

Post Oil Change UPDATE
Good grief, what did I just do? I could have returned the oil.

I just bought some new shoes and they are ridiculously white.

There should be a paint called shoe white, and that would be the standard by which all other whiteness is measured; there could be a shoe white, and off-shoe white, and a country shoe white.

To slow down Global Warming we could build a huge barge, fill it with new white shoes, and float it to the North Pole to replace the melting ice caps.

I don’t know when different language skills are supposed to develop, but I”m constantly amazed by my son. Lately he’s been using similes.

» He bit the front leg off an animal cracker and said, “It’s like a drill.”
» I blew a raspberry on his belly and he said, “It’s like a lawnmower.”
» He crumpled his napkin and said, “It’s like a shovel.”

Okay, I don’t know what that last one meant, but 2 out of 3 is pretty good for a 25 month old.

Lillian has started waving and clapping. She says something like “Hi Da Da.” Which sounds a lot like “Bye Da Da.” So that’s what she does every time I leave the house and every time I come home.

She’s also finally over her “I only love mommy” phase, so I get to play with her a lot more now.

I’m embarrassed by the broken “Categories” image. I’ll fix it when I can.

I like this wordpress theme, but I’ve had to rewrite almost all the HTML & CSS. I didn’t mess with the left sidebar because the theme author made it pretty complicated, and I didn’t want to dig in there and straighten it out . . .