Author Archives: Jim Vanderveen

About Jim Vanderveen

I'm a bit of a Renaissance man, with far too many hobbies for my free time! But more important than any hobby is my family. My proudest accomplishment has been raising some great kids! And somehow convincing my wife to put up with me since 1988. ;)

Sacramento County building department

Posted on 2007-02-28 by Jim Vanderveen

Most people I meet have nothing but complaints about the building department. I’m getting tired of hearing all the whining! The people I’ve dealt with have all been good folks. Also included: current project status. Continue reading →

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Remodel update

Posted on 2007-02-21 by Jim Vanderveen

I haven’t posted much about our remodeling project lately, because nothing much has been happening. But last week I got our plans back from the draftsman and resubmitted them to the Sacramento County Building Department about 10 minutes before close … Continue reading →

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Bush’s exit strategy

Posted on 2007-02-20 by Jim Vanderveen

I saw a [great bumper sticker][] yesterday: > At least in Vietnam, Bush had an exit strategy Back in the 60’s and 70’s, joining the National Guard was the “honorable” way to keep your privileged butt from being sent into … Continue reading →

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Plasma screen “speakers”, kind of…

Posted on 2007-02-14 by Jim Vanderveen

Last year we bought a flat panel display. I recently tried hooking up the speakers in the unit and discovered some shortcomings. Continue reading →

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Wil, you crack me up!

Posted on 2007-01-30 by Jim Vanderveen

Wil Shipley writes some interesting stuff in [his blog](http://wilshipley.com/blog/index.html “Wil Shipley’s blog, ‘Call Me Fishmeal’”), but something in [this post](http://wilshipley.com/blog/2007/01/ad-nauseam.html) just cracked me up: Google employees are the Kobe Beef of computer programmers (because Google is made up of a … Continue reading →

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The End of Suburbia

Posted on 2007-01-24 by Jim Vanderveen

My family recently watched “The End of Suburbia”, and it caused quite a bit of discussion. Our teen-aged daughters’ perspectives were especially interesting. This is a movie that I think everybody should see, if for no other reason than to get people thinking about how their lives will change post-Peak Oil. Continue reading →

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Racism in Arden Park

Posted on 2007-01-20 by Jim Vanderveen

Racism is still with us. My wife opened the curtains this morning and got to see this: I’m so mad about this, I can’t even write anything more about this right now.

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Netflix “friend” link

Posted on 2007-01-15 by Jim Vanderveen

I was just over on [Uneasy Rhetoric][] who is unfortunately taking an [indefinite hiatus](http://www.uneasyrhetoric.net/2007/01/09/indefinite-hiatus/) from blogging. That’ll be a great loss for Sacramento. But the good news is that I ran across a comment by [Margaret][] and stopped by her … Continue reading →

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Cold ride to work this morning

Posted on 2006-12-18 by Jim Vanderveen

I rode my bike to work this morning. I guess I just woke up on the “foolish” side of the bed! It was beautiful but cold: -2°C (28°F). With the “wind” chill from riding, it was about -8°C (17°F). The … Continue reading →

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Attika

Posted on 2006-12-13 by Jim Vanderveen

I finally got a chance to play [Attika][] at the [Sacramento Boardgames Meetup][] last night. This game was already on my Christmas list because it seemed like “my kind of game”. Now that I’ve actually played it, I think it’s … Continue reading →

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