April 27, 2011

HP Flexes WebOS Muscles, Snubs Microsoft On Windows Tablets

Whether this alienation will affect the HP-Microsoft partnership long term is anyone's guess, although it's unlikely. And if Microsoft's next version of Windows works well with tablets, HP could reassess its stance.

"Microsoft has pretty much acknowledged they’re not going to be a player in the tablet arena until the next version of Windows with its ability to run on ARM based CPUs," said Todd Swank, vice president of marketing at Northern Computer Technologies, a Burnsville, Minn.-based system builder.

Swank is holding out hope for this scenario, as he believes customers that have made major investments in Microsoft software would still prefer to run Windows tablets in their environments over Android and Apple devices.

"It seems that CIOs are still on Microsoft's side, but employees are coming in with fancy new mobile devices and they're winning," said Swank. "I’m sure that story will change pretty quickly when HP has the ability to release a tablet PC based on the next version of Windows."

Read Full Article Here:
http://www.crn.com/news/client-devices/229402314/hp-flexes-webos-muscles-snubs-microsoft-on-windows-tablets.htm



April 24, 2011

Happy Easter --- Shortarmguy Diary Update for April 24, 2011


Happy Easter
Shortarmguy Diary Update for April 24, 2011



On Thursday, we celebrated our Golden Retriever Sunny's 6th Birthday.  It was the highlight of our week.



On Friday night, we were all excited to enjoy outdoor baseball in Minnesota!  We pulled into the parking ramp right outside Target Field and were surprised to see they'd raised the price to $15.00.  We figured it was worth it though to go see the Twins win!!!  Right after we parked the car, someone pulled alongside us and told us the game had just been postponed due to rain.  Best of all, the parking ramp people told us there were going to be no refunds!  But to be honest with you, spending 15 minutes inside the parking ramp and having the chance to take a quick glimpse at Target Field seemed well worth $15.00.  I felt like I was screwing them!


So instead of watching baseball in the rain, we went to Fuddruckers to get our Malts On!  Mmmmm, so chocolatey! 

   When we asked the boys if they wanted to dye eggs for this Easter, they told us no way.  They thought they were too old to dye eggs.  But then Grandma asked them if she could come over and dye eggs with them and they jumped at the chance.  I guess if grandma isn't too old to do it, then they shouldn't be either.  Because Grandma is really old!



 On Sunday we woke up early to go to church for the Easter service, but as usual I made us late to arrive.  So we ended up having to sit in the very front row.  At least we had a nice view of the Easter Lilies! 



 We decided to get pretty fancy for our Easter meal and went with Grandma Linda to the Mystic Lake Casino Buffet.  The food was good, but the line sucked!



When we came home from lunch, we played ball in the back yard.  Because as we learned from our years watching the Brady Bunch, mom always said "Don't play ball in the house!"



Sunny is excited that Spring is finally here and the ice is off the lake.

I discovered the hard way that the water is still a little too cold for my taste.  When we arrived at the lake, I noticed this raft was right next to the shore.  I thought it would be fun to stand on it while I threw Sunny the ball.  So I stepped off the wall and on to the raft.  The thing I didn't anticipate was my momentum pushing me and that little raft about 15 feet out.  The water was pretty calm so there I was going to sit.  I looked up the hill and hoped for a moment that Miss Sheri would wander down and rescue me.  She didn't.  It looked like I was going to be stuck there unless I did something about it.  So I reached my poor little arm into that frigid water and paddled like a mad man.  After about 10 minutes of trying to tug my winter weight, I finally was close enough to take a leap towards land.  I missed and soaked one leg up to my knee.  I then had the opportunity to stand with a wet shoe and sock and throw my dog the ball from shore. 
 

Favorite Blog Posts of the Week 










How to Destroy a Washing Machine

Happy Easter 2011

All I need to know I learned from the Easter Bunny:

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Everyone needs a friend who is all ears.

There's no such thing as too much candy.

All work and no play can make you a basket case.

A cute tail attracts a lot of attention.

Everyone is entitled to a bad hare day.

Let happy thoughts multiply like rabbits.

Some body parts should be floppy.

Keep your paws off of other people's jelly beans.

Good things come in small, sugar coated packages.

The grass is always greener in someone else's basket.

To show your true colors, you have to come out of the shell.

The best things in life are still sweet and gooey..

May the joy of the season fill your heart.

AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU!

LOVE THE LORD THY GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART!

Happy Easter!








Madden 2012 Cover



Best Resume Ever

Famous Holes

These holes are not only amazing, but some are really terrifying!


Kimberley Big Hole - South Africa


Apparently the largest ever hand-dug excavation in the world, this1097 meter deep mine yielded over 3 tons of diamonds before being closed.
 
Glory Hole - Monticello Dam, California
 

A glory hole is used when a dam is at full capacity and water needs to be drained from the reservoir. It is the largest spillway of this type in the world and consumes 14,400 cubic feet of water every second.
 
Great Blue Hole, Belize
This incredible geographical phenomenon known as a blue hole is situated 60 miles off the mainland of Belize. There are numerous blue holes around the world, but none as stunning as this one.

Sinkhole in Guatemala

These photos are of a sinkhole that occurred in Guatemala. The hole swallowed 2 dozen homes and killed at least 3 people.

SHIT HOLE, Washington D.C.



This hole swallows trillions and trillions of U.S. Dollars annually!
 
The money that falls into this hole is never heard from again!
 

Miracle in the Alcohol Aisle



Match Funeral



April 23, 2011

Advice to my kids in 2011. By Todd Swank

You have every opportunity in the world to lead an incredible life. You have tools at your fingertips that weren’t even imagined when I was your age. I would have given my left arm to have access to the Garage Band music studio when I was 11. It has higher end features than most record companies had available to them 30 years ago. And it’s at your complete disposal 24 hours a day for free!

If you want to be a musician, you can. If you want to make movies, you can. If you want to express yourself in a million different ways, you can.  Best of all, you can then instantly share your creations with anyone on the planet!

All it takes is a little bit of talent and a whole lot of practice and eventually you’ll make something that others will enjoy experiencing.

The challenging part is that you currently spend too much time enjoying other people’s digital creations. I understand that Black Ops is an incredibly immersive experience that is unparalleled to any thing we could do when I was your age. The Atari 2600 was fun, but it didn’t pull a person into a three dimensional world of characters driven to stalk and kill me by advanced artificial intelligence. But just experiencing other people’s creations isn’t enough. It’s the act of creation that’s going to allow you to advance. So make a song. Make a movie. Allow your creative juices to flow.

Just go for it!

Learn. Practice. Create. Share. Repeat.

Eventually the life of your dreams will reveal itself.

You’re at the age where you have the time and lack of responsibility to be able to devote yourself to the things in your life that make you the happiest.  Take advantage of it.

I may be a lot older than you with less free time, but I’m going to try to live the exact same way!

April 21, 2011

The Light Blues by Avery Swank

Avery has been working very hard the past week or so on this song via the Garage Band app on the iPad. The pictures are some of our favorite cave pictures from Meramac Caverns near St. Louis, Missouri.

Video of Sunny's 6th Birthday

Our Golden Retriever, Sunny, had his 6th birthday today so we threw him a little celebration. In other words, we're bored on a cold and rainy night in Minnesota!

The Hobbyist by Justin A. Waite

It's 4/20, Charlie Brown!!

April 20, 2011

Video: "Weird Al" Yankovic - Perform This Way

Apparently "Weird Al" wanted to release this parody of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" song on his next album.  He said he sought her permission to do so, but alas she turned him down.  

So he was forced to release the video on Youtube for free and tell the world they were going to be deprived of his genius.  Suddenly her manager says she never actually heard the song and now that she has, she loves it and has given him her blessing to go forward with his original plans. 

I call Bullshit on this one. 

I think Weird Al has always been a master at getting people to talk about his songs.  Some of his stuff has been absolutely hilarious in the past, but others have been total duds.  To me, this one falls in the latter category.

But you gotta give it to Al.  After all these years, he  still knows how to generate mega publicity for basically ripping off other artists' work!   

I only wish I could learn how he does it! :)


April 19, 2011

Seagate Plans To Buy Samsung's HD Business

The acquisition of Samsung's hard drive business by Seagate could mean higher prices for hard drives because of the reduced competition as well as a new focus on the SSD business, said Todd Swank, vice president of marketing for Northern Computer Technologies (Nor-Tech), a Burnsville, Minn.-based custom system builder.

"Hard drive competition will always be there," Swank said. "I don't see Western Digital and Seagate going against each other too hard. But with the rise in SSDs, there will be less pressure on them in the hard drive business."

However, Swank said, the deal is good news for Seagate which is now moving fast to be a major player in the SSD business after waiting on the sidelines a couple of years while semi-conductor vendors such as Intel (NSDQ:INTC) and Samsung took the high ground in this market.

"A couple of years ago, I was worried about Seagate," Swank said. "We saw all those SSD vendors come out and prices fall, and Seagate was unable to compete with the semiconductor companies. So I'm happy for Seagate, which now has a new opportunity in the SSD business."

Seagate expects its acquisition of Samsung's hard drive business to close before then end of 2011.

Read Full Article Here:
http://www.crn.com/news/storage/229401868/seagate-plans-to-buy-samsungs-hd-business.htm

April 17, 2011

T-Mobile Presents The Royal Wedding We All Want To See



Horrifying New Video of the Japan Tsunami

This one is pretty scary and gives you a real perspective of what the people on the ground were facing as it moved towards them.



“South Sanriku — Tsunami seen from Shizugawa High School,”

My Trip To The Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia


My Trip To The Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia
April 17, 2011



On Saturday, Dr. Bollig, Jeff Olson, and I hopped on a couple different airplanes to go to steamy hot Augusta, Georgia. 



We went there to witness the greatest golfers in the world play in the Masters Tournament.  Seeing this statue of Ray Floyd in the airport instantly put us in the mood to go watch some incredible strokes!



We went there as guests of the good folks at Intel Corporation.  They sure are nice people!



We arrived on Saturday, but our tickets were for Sunday's game.  Rather than making us hang out at the airport all night, our hosts rented out a really nice house for us to go and play.



The house had a nice bowling alley in the basement.



And a nice pool in the backyard.  The nice lady who was working at the house said that in the past several years that she worked at this house party, nobody had ever jumped in the pool like we did.  I can see why.  That water was freezing!


The ladies who helped cater the party were so darned nice.  I'm pleased to report that Southern Hospitality is alive and well!

They brought us new kinds of refreshments for us Minnesota boys to sample.  I have to admit, this Southern Cooking was just a bit spicy for my taste.



But it wasn't all fun and games.  We talked a lot of business with good people like Greg who's one of the leading executives at Intel.  Sometimes all the talk about the technology industry can just get to be exhausting.  I think  we all slept pretty good at the end of the night!


Unfortunately they don't allow cameras at the Master's so I don't have very good pictures of the actual tournament.  This one was taken by snapping a photo of my TV screen.  I sat on the edge of the 6th green for most of the day and was inspired at how awesome these guys play the game of golf.  I saw Tiger Woods get a birdie 15 feet in front of my face!!  It definitely was a day I'll remember for the rest of my life.


Ali works for Intel and was our roommate and host for the trip.  He and I weaseled our way into the crowd on the 18th hole and saw most of the players finish the game.  We battled the blistering Georgia sun and the ever growing crowd.  We waited patiently as the leaderboard was changed to show who was moving ahead and who was falling behind.  At one point I counted 9 guys as legitimately having a shot at winning the tournament.  We watched as Charl Schwartzel sank his fourth birdie putt in a row to defy expectations and win the 2011 Green Jacket.  It was an incredible day!



Back home in Minnesota, the Shortarmguy Family had a really quiet weekend laying around the house.  It snowed.

Fight For Your Right - Revisited ***Naughty Language Warning***

How many celebrities can you count in this video?

Killer Whale Attacks Man on the Beach


Sorry Youtube made me remove this video!!  They said it was too disgusting, even though it was obviously fake.  

Click here for a bunch more Crazy Animal Posts.


Bull Dodging

Amazing Striped Icebergs

Icebergs in Lake Winnipeg sometimes have stripes, formed by layers of snow that react to different conditions.

Blue stripes are often created when a crevice in the ice sheet fills up with melt water and freezes so quickly that no bubbles form.

When an iceberg falls into the lake, a layer of water can freeze to the underside. If this is rich in algae, it can form a green stripe.

Brown, black and yellow lines are caused by sediment, picked up when the ice sheet grinds downhill towards the lake.




Frozen Wave Pixs - Nature is amazing!

The water froze the instant the wave broke through the ice. That's what it is like in Lake Winnipeg where it is the coldest weather in decades.  Water freezes the instant it comes in contact with the air. The temperature of the water is already some degrees below freezing.  Just look at how the wave froze in mid-air!!!