Joe's Personal Blog

We have these two couches that sit 90 degrees to each other but extend out from the walls at a 45 degree angle. This leaves an empty triangular space formed by the ends of the two couches and the wall. We thought about getting a small round table but didn't like the way it filled the space. So then we got the idea of cutting down a square table. to fit the space. I wasn't sure how the table would chip when cut so I drew out a few lines and then cut along the one furthest away from the center in case I needed to redo it. I cut the table face down with a hand circular saw and a straight edge. The first cut looked perfect so I decided to just live with the position of the test cut. The Ikea LACK table now runs about $15, up $2 from a couple years a go but it's still pretty dang cheap. The tables are very light and hollow. A quick internet search turned up descriptions of the hollow core nature of the table but no pictures. So we decided to risk the $15 and purchase a tab...

One of our favorite amusement parks is Knoebels located in central Pennsylvania. The 75 year old park has a wide variety of rides and attractions. Our family's favorite rides include the 1912 merry-go-round that provides and opportunity to "grab the brass ring".and the "death defying" flyer that lets you pick the altitude you fly at. We also like the very nice Twister and Phoenix wooden roller coasters and the giant swiming pool with high dives and water slides. You can learn more abut the park at their web site The park offers free live entertainment in the show hall, seems to be usually magic, acts in the bandshell and street performers. The Knoebels campground ajoins the park making it easy for families to travle to and from their lodging. The campground is crowded but very convenient. We have also stayed in their remote campground (about 5 miles away). It has more scenic and spreadout arrangement that offsets the need for driving to the park for some f...

Why do people Best Buy employees make up stuff like "customers only allowed to buy one sale laptop every three years"?   My kid belongs to a riding club that holds a couple big fund raising events per year. There are usually 300 riders over the course of 2 days. It takes a lot of energy, volunteers and two computers to handle the scoring in a timely fashion. The club also has 2-3 smaller events where laptops are used for scoring. The club normally borrowed laptops but it was a hassle getting the, reconfiguring them and then putting them back to their original state. The club rented laptops for one event but then they figured out that a pair of sale laptops would pay for themselves in 12 months. So, I was asked to identify inexpensive laptops that could run Microsoft XP, Microsoft Office 2003l. My first thought was to buy Dell Vostro 1000 dual cores @ $429 because they came with XP already installed which would save me some work. I'm a fan of Dell support and own 5 Dell ...