Yahoo! Mail Beta

Cathy and I are both Beta testing the new Yahoo! Mail interface. Overall, I like it. It looks and functions much more like Outlook than a web based service. You can preview messages like in Outlook. The biggest disappointment so far is how closely the RSS aggregator is tied to the "My Yahoo!" service. When you first open the Beta service, it loads all of your RSS feeds from your My Yahoo! page. You can't place them in folders and if you delete one it is deleted from My Yahoo! also. I wish they weren't so closely tied together. More reviews to come as I use it more. If you want to become a Beta Tester, go to this web site.

Parker's first surgery

Well, it's official, Parker is going to have to go under the knife for his first surgery on May 1st. After 4 ear infections and 7 rounds of antibiotics, Parker is going to get "ear drainage" or Tympanostomy tubes. It's a routine procedure that shouldn't take more than 20 minutes. Two of his cousins had the procedure and are now doing great. The biggest concerns are reactions to the anesthesia and keeping his ears dry and draining correctly for the next year or more. The tubs should help the fluid in his ear drain correctly and if they do get infected again, we can flush them out with ear drops instead of using antibiotics. Please keep Parker in your prayers.

Wilco: Kicking IU

A friend and I attended the Wilco concert at IU Auditorium last night. It was a great show, meant to kick off Little 500 week ("World's Greatest College Weekend").

Jeff Tweedy was in rare form, talking about how he'd been watching American Idol and made a couple references to this thread on the ViaChicago.org message boards about the rowdy IU students. Pat Sansone entertained the crowd with his over the top "Pete Townsend"-like guitar antics. Before the show we ran into John Stirratt in the parking lot. If I had had a CD with me I would have tried to get his autograph.

They had a couple of nice surprises in the setlist. They played the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot era b-side "The Good Part" live for only the 9th time. They also played one new song, "Walken (aka Talking to Myself about You)" which they debuted last September. Here's a live MP3 of the song from another show to download:

Wilco-Walken (live).mp3

Here's the full Setlist:

• Airline to Heaven
• Kingpin
• Handshake Drugs
• Shot in the Arm
• At Least That's What You Said
• Hell is Chrome
• Spiders (Kidsmoke)
• I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
• Forget the Flowers
• War on War
• Jesus, etc.
• Hummingbird
• The Good Part (Wilco's "bossa nova stylings")
• Walken (aka Talking to Myself about You)
• Heavy Metal Drummer
• Theologians
• I'm the Man Who Loves You
• Monday
• -- Encore 1 --
  
• Late Greats
• I'm Always In Love
• I'm A Wheel
• -- Encore 2 --
  
• California Stars

The High Cost of Free Parking

Bloomington was host today to Dr. Donald Shoup, professor of Urban Planning at UCLA. He spoke mostly about his book, The High Cost of Free Parking.His main argument is that "The cost of parking is hidden in higher prices for everything else. In addition to the monetary cost, which is enormous, free parking imposes many other hidden costs on cities, the economy, and the environment." Parking is only free to the driver. The cost is passed on to homeowners and renters and consumers in higher land costs, rent and product costs. He also argued that modern minimum parking requirements in our Zoning Ordinances help to subsidize the costs of owning and driving a car. His solution? Do away with mandatory minimum parking requirements and price public parking to meet the demand. Then use the revenue from public parking to pay for targeted infrastructure improvements in the neighborhoods that generate the revenue.

A bunny brought all this?

A bunny brought all this?,
Originally uploaded by jcroach.

Here's Parker with his gorilla/duck, trying to make sense out of the easter bunny.

Hey, get away from my ears!

Hey, get away from my ears!,
Originally uploaded by jcroach.

"Paul, dude, I can clean out my own ears, thank you!"

Who is this kid?

Who is this kid?,
Originally uploaded by jcroach.

"Hey Parker, what do you say? Let's make a break for it!"

Hey, man, are your parents as weird as mine?

Hey, man, are your parents as weird as mine?,
Originally uploaded by jcroach.

Parker and Paul got a chance to play and compare notes on their parents on saturday.

Hat 2

Hat 2,
Originally uploaded by jcroach.

Hat 1

Hat 1,
Originally uploaded by jcroach.

Parker styling, wearing my hat. He doesn't keep hats on for more than a few seconds however!