The 80's are Relevant at the Henry Ford Museum

I had the privilege of visiting the Henry Ford Museum when I took my wife and mother in-law to visit their ailing relative in Dearborn, MI, this past early April. Many men, older than myself, have always enjoyed seeing well preserved cars that were shipping new when they were young. Back in the 80's, while in my early and mid 20s, I had a passion for a lot of things, including cars that were progressive, for their time, for their design and reliability.




The Henry Ford Museum had two cars that really stood out to me in the 1980s – a 1983 Honda Accord and a 1986 Ford Taurus. They were both on display, pristine and new looking, and it made me feel like I had gone back in time. I always thought that these models were unique compared to the disparaging products GM was shipping at that time. Honda raised the bar of consumer expectations for what a car should be and Ford responded to the new customer expectations with the Taurus, which was the number one selling family sedan in the late 80s.

Mail-order Baby Cleveland Flowering Pair Tree

Our mail-order baby Cleveland Flowering Pair tree blossomed for the first time.

More File Compatibility On The Mac

I have been finding more ways to open more Windows files that have had very little support in Mac OS in the past.



OpenOffice.org 3.0.1 is a free office sweat that can open old and very recent versions of Word Perfect, from Windows, files.



NeoOffice 2.2.5 is a free program that can open MS Works, from Windows, files quite well on a Mac.

One other handy tool is a web site:



http://www.en.conv2pdf.com/

With the web site, "conv2pdf," I can upload a MS Publisher file from Windows, or a MS Works file and it sends it back as a PDF version to me, perfectly formatted, and it's free.

Adobe InDesign CS4 Hardware Optimization . . .

I took InDesign CS4 (6.0) for a spin on my Dual G4, under OS 10.4.11. IDCS4 is perfectly speedy and launches faster than my installation of InDesign CS3 (5.0.4).

In some areas of the app, IDCS4 seems more efficient than IDCS3, on my G4, even though the system requirements are PowerPC G5 or multicore Intel processor.

I'm thankful to Adobe for making IDCS4 fast enough on my G4.

A Visit From The MacFaddens

In April of 2008, we really enjoyed having the David, Jill and their remaining nest of lovely children, Rebbecca (top), Lucas and Katie (lower). Our kids, Aaron and Jennifer, are sitting at the bottom of this picture. They enjoyed the MacFadden's visit and so did I!

Hasbro Transformers Toy, Optimus Prime

On Aaron's Birthday, we gave him a Hasbro Transformers Toy, Optimus Prime.

On Thursday evening Aaron and I sat down on the couch with Optimus Prime and followed the instructions from Hasbro. We finally got Optimus folded up into the tractor trailer truck. It was done with much struggle and travail. It is amazing that the product description for this toy says "For ages 5 and up." It seemed to be over my head. The above photo shows the result of our struggles.

At Least It's Warm In Sun City

We had an unseasonably warm late March and early April which has spring-boarded into an unseasonably cool April. Overnight temperatures have dipped into the low 20s.

My Mom and Dad have ducked this bad weather by living in Sun City Arizona. Here is a picture of an evening outdoor community concert they recently attended.