Archive for July, 2010

All posts written in July, 2010.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-25

Posted by: Jen | No Comments »

Categorized: This and That

  • Summer cleaning…time to not overlook optimization any longer. Clean, simple code is always much easier to debug and work with. #
  • Finally a break in the heat here in Chicago. I cannot wait until fall! #
  • Looking forward to my soon much needed vacation…completely unplugged! #
  • Gotta love conference calls – I am on #5 of the day #
  • Last night I had my first dream which included Twitter… #
  • @wordpress I think 3 days and I would call it PressCon (WordPress, bbPress, buddyPress) – focus on Press… in reply to wordpress #
  • I wish Orville Redenbacher would create kernels that would just slightly pop and no more. Those are by far my favorite thing about popcorn. #
  • I highly recommend Paul's most recent podcast: http://bit.ly/dm4nv5 #
  • That settles it – it is less painful to be on conference calls for 8 hours straight than it is to work with GoDaddy for 1 hour. #

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Another Quality Sign…

Posted by: Jen | No Comments »

Categorized: Crazy Signs/Places, This and That

I love signs new and old…strange and everyday. Details generally matter and when details get overlooked – once everyday signs become interesting.

Awhile back, my sister ventured back to our hometown in western New York and went to a nearby city where the local community college is located. She apparently went by one of the main entrances and thought of me and my love for signs. As you can see – the lovely “M” is missing and gives the sign a completely different read. A big thanks to my sister for the find on her journey.

Let’s hope they have put the “M” back into place by now…but I would not be surprised if they did not. Go JCC!

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-18

Posted by: Jen | No Comments »

Categorized: This and That

  • Yahoo! Pipes are amazing. Never used them? Look at some that are available to use (clone) and tell me you could not use at least 4! #
  • @AMCStephanie totally. I am a sucker for the Brenda years! in reply to AMCStephanie #

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Jappler Recommends: Patrick LandRover

Posted by: Jen | No Comments »

Categorized: Autos, Chicago, This and That

If anything – I am a loyal customer. Once I find something I like and trust – I generally stay with it for the long haul. I have been nothing but happy with my Volvos and my Volvo service experience with Patrick Volvo in Schaumburg, IL.

When it came time to upgrade our 2002 Land Rover Discovery – we decided to give the Patrick Land Rover dealer in Naperville, IL. Within moments of getting out of the car – we had a friendly salesman come over and not hassle or hurry us at all. He was extremely interested in buying the Discovery we drove there (they are hot items) and we took a few test drives in some of their LR3s. The LR3s are basically an upgraded version of the since discontinued Discoveries which are much more elegant than the Discoveries but still built for the off road adventures that Land Rover is known for.

Once we found the one we wanted to buy (2008 LR3), the manager took a look at the Discovery and offered a very reasonable offer on the car we drove in, and I actually got him to go up $500 – which I would have been fine if he did not. There was no long drawn out back and forth – and we were able to move through the process. We then moved over to the finance manager which was very nice and we moved through all the paperwork very quickly.

Over all process was completely stress and hassle free – and I appreciated that. If you are from the Chicagoland area and looking for a new car – check out the Patrick dealer group before going anywhere else. The level of professionalism was and has been top notch.

Side Note:
While we were going through the process I realized that the LR3 did not have any floor mats (a mistake I made with 2 previous car purchases). Knowing the driver side floor mat retailed for $267 (there was an ad on the car salesman’s desk we were at) – I knew if I wanted to purchase Land Rover floor mats – I would have been out another few hundred dollars easily. I mentioned it to the salesman and he told me to bring it up to the finance guy. I told the finance guy and he told me to go talk to the salesman who promptly told me it was up to the Business Manager.

I walked into the Business Manager’s office and said “I was told you were going to give us some floor mats since they were missing from the vehicle”. He looked at me and told me I was crazy because that was easily and extra few hundred dollars. I did not give up and told him that he was going to make a few thousand on the car we traded in and that this would be nothing compared to that. I think I caught him off guard because he stood there for a moment and then came back with “if I make $1500 on it after commission, etc I will call you”. I said great – I will expect a call in a few days since our car salesman already had someone picked out for the Disco we brought in. I told him I would be checking inventory daily.

I think he was getting tired of me – and so he asked me (to change the subject) if I had ever taken the Land Rover to one of the Land Rover events (they set up off road courses). I told him no and so he went over and got a book to show me the photos from last year’s event. The first page included a few Land Rovers covered in mud and I said “wow – it really looks like a lot of fun…and it looks like I will certainly need some floor mats for that!”. He laughed and kept going through the book. A few pages later he was showing us a LR3 on a “teeter totter” and the winner of this balancing event won prizes. I said – “wow – that is really cool. I hope the prizes included floor mats”.

After that – I finally broke him down and guess what? I got the floor mats ;) Phew.

Two Interesting Facts about the Hiroshima Bomb

Posted by: Jen | 1 Comment »

Categorized: This and That

I subscribe to Discover Magazine and am constantly blown away with the stuff I read.

Last night I was reading a recent edition and just had to share two facts about the Hiroshima bomb that they mentioned:

  1. The amount of matter converted to energy in the atomic bomb was about 700 milligrams – less than 1/3 the mass of a US dime.
  2. The fireball resulting from the bomb’s explosion was 50% hotter than the surface of the sun.

I do not know about you – but all I can say is holy cow…that is a lot coming from a little!!

The Year I Really Started to Feel Older…

Posted by: Jen | No Comments »

Categorized: People

All throughout my life I have always felt like a kid at heart. I still love the simple things in life, would love to get together with my neighborhood kids to play a game of “mud gutter”, and I still feel like I am the person I was in college….except I am realizing more and more I am not that kid anymore.

This year was a big wake up call.

  • I began enjoying AM radio (something I always got annoyed by when I was younger)
  • I look forward to going to be early
  • I wake up early
  • I have three kids
  • I see some of my “teenage 80s/90s stars” now as parents of high schoolers on TV
  • I have very limited time available for doing things I actually want to do (golf, fishing, etc) and look forward to the day I can do that…ten years from now ;)
  • I remember my grandparents at my parent’s current age

Of course – there are also a lot of pluses about getting older, but for someone who thought they would never “grow up” – it is interesting seeing my perspective on live change.

Anyone else play mud gutter out there as well? I was the bus stop champ!

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-11

Posted by: Jen | No Comments »

Categorized: This and That

  • Took the cousins on my almost famous Chicago tour of the city…I love showing off our city to people with no/little expectations of Chicago #
  • @dblatti Awesome. Now I will have this lovely tune in my head for at least the next 24 hours. ;) in reply to dblatti #
  • Working on my first large scale BuddyPress site – I am really impressed with BuddyPress so far! #
  • I am off to buy a new car. Some poor fool is not going to know what hit them when I walk in the door. #
  • No luck with the car shopping yesterday – the three vehicles we were interested in sold earlier in the week. Until next time… #
  • Is it just me or does anyone else like the sound of their voice when they are sick better than the usual? #
  • @KellyColligan
    Way too many for sure! in reply to KellyColligan #
  • I am a sucker for great signs and here is one of them:
    http://www.heyokay.com/2010/is-this-a-problem-these-days/ #

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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-07-04

Posted by: Jen | No Comments »

Categorized: This and That

  • @beth_chamberlin – You looked amazing at the Emmys – I hope you had a great time! #
  • Ahh, another perfect day to golf…and I am inside working… #
  • Something I use at least once a month: http://www.ascii.cl/htmlcodes.htm #
  • Ahh…all three kids sleeping! Now for some Top Chef and some relaxation! #
  • Modern Family does not get old… #
  • Custom Post Types in WordPress: embrace them – they rock! #
  • I just cannot get enough Chemical Brothers lately! #
  • Tomorrow it begins…Tour de France 2010. How exciting! #
  • @kimjzimmer it is not quite the same without the Bauer BBQ this year! We miss you! in reply to kimjzimmer #

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