Andrew's Dispatches from NY

Bat came back!

Andrew — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 01:33:15 +0000

Our house bat reappeared the very next night. Hanging by just one leg again–what a show-off! Lessons learned, trapped much more quickly this time. It is safe to say that this one won’t be back again.

Just Hanging Out

Andrew — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 04:52:43 +0000

Wasted two whole hours tonight trying to get this little bastard to leave. Initially tried to get it to leave out open windows and doors but eventually trapped it and set it free outside. Surprisingly stubborn about staying put when sprayed with water.

Coinstar proceeds well spent

Andrew — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 05:00:52 +0000

6-pack of beer and pint of cherry vanilla ice cream purchased with $14 worth of Coinstar proceeds. Over 1,500 scuzzy pennies had been abandoned and scattered about the garage by our house’s previous owner. I managed to separate and hang on to more than a few wheat cents rather than let them go at Coinstar’s 91 cents to the dollar–for unexplained reasons I have an affinity for these 50-plus year-old coins even though to my knowledge they aren’t worth any more than the ones with the Lincoln Memorial as ‘tails’.

How To Choose CD/DVD Archival Media

Andrew — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 15:03:52 +0000

Found an article by Patrick McFarland explaining which formats and brands you should prefer for long-term optical storage. Much of it is rather technical, but the executive summary: Prefer write-once to rewritable, DVD+R over DVD-R, and media produced by Taiyo Yuden, who also creates some media for TDK and Verbatim. If you want to know more, grab a cup of joe and read the article.

Video: Jabbeke Triumph Speed Record

Andrew — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 14:52:45 +0000

In 2003 the TR-Register of Belgium celebrated the 50th anniversary of the speed record set in 1953, Ken Richardson’s run of nearly 125 mph in the then-new Triumph TR2. The Belgians hosted a celebration attended by close to 200 Triumphs and a cruise that included sections of the Jabbeke highway of legend. The commemorated 1953 run gave legitimacy to the affordable new Triumph sports cars in an era when cars that could make 100-plus were definitely a rarity. The video is close to an hour long and includes original footage of the record-setting runs. Just the thing to help get you through the winter!

Video originally from RiSe Video here, but not in English.

Honoring the new Master

Andrew — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 03:18:39 +0000

Congratulations to Angela on earning her Executive Masters Degree in Public Administration (XMPA)Â from Baruch College!Â Angela has turned in her big capstone project paper so she can finally take a well-deserved break.Â Commencement was held at Madison Square Garden.Â Click here for gallery photos.

Puttin’ stuff on your cat

Andrew — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 01:13:01 +0000

Stuff On My Cat is an amusing site with cute pictures of mild cat abuse.

Welcome Stella the Chihuahua

Andrew — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 21:15:27 +0000

Angela and I have recently welcomed a new family member to our home!Â Stella is a 12-week old Chihuahua puppy, born March 15th, 2006.Â According to Angela, this makes her a Pisces.Â The housebreaking process is making me think Aquarius…but Angela is generally right about things like this.

She is quite cute and couldn’t be much smaller–the vet weighed her at 2.4 lbs.Â Her older brothers Calvin & Neo appear reasonably tolerant of their new attention-grabbing sister.

Be sure and visit theÂ photo gallery of Stella’s First Day home.

2006 Greenwich Concours d’Elegance

Andrew — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 04:16:12 +0000

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of piloting a fellow Brits of the Hudson member’s beautiful 1959 MGA to a serious car show in nearby Greenwich, CT.Â The car’s owner had received the honor of having his car accepted but could not attend himself due to a personal scheduling conflict.

I spent much of the day snapping pictures, see the gallery here.

New WWW Home, ‘Dispatches’

Andrew — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 03:31:14 +0000

I hope visitors enjoy my new internet home.Â The intent is for this to grow into a long-lived repository of things of interest to me, and hopefully my friends and family as well.Â I always liked the quaint, journalistic sound of ‘Dispatches’ for correspondence from afar.

Here is an older internet dispatch about my current home region, Westchester County, NY, one of my inspirations for this site: Dispatches from the Vanishing World - Westchester County