Hurricane Irene in Princeton

Our power was restored after almost two days - the partial vacation ended. Actually, while the power was out, we put in lots of time needed to clean up the numerous branches and twigs spread around our property.

There were two very unfortunate deaths in Mercer county:
* one was a Rescue worker who was confirming that no one was trapped in a car submerged on Harrison St near the canal which is about half a mile from our home,
* the other was a landowner who removed a manhole cover hoping to clear water from his flooded property - the large amount of water already rushing down the pipe apparently created a vortex that sucked the man into the sewage pipe.

Here is a view of the stairs and tunnel for passing under the railroad tracks at Princeton Junction train station: http://foureleven.tumblr.com/post/9518080147

What is SMA?

SMA is Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a genetic disease that occurs in approximately 1 out of every 6,000 kids; it leaves the spine underdeveloped. See A Thousand More by Kristina Budelis, Piotr Malecki and Jeff Rhode.

Tools for Managing and Protecting your PC Files

There are some great tools available on the web to help you manage and protect the files on your PC or MAC. I discuss aids to using your PC in greater detail at my Joe Budelis Help page. Here, I'll just mention two of the web sites that I recently started using that provide a great service and it's free for their basic offering.

Do you work on more than one computer? If so, wouldn't it be great if files on the two (or more) computers that you work on were kept synched? Well, files on more than one computer are kept synched by DropBox as long as each of the computers is connected to the Internet.

Have you ever lost files cause of a failed hard drive, viruses, trojans, or some other reason? If so, you know that it's important to back up your files. You can set IDrive to back up files on a scheduled basis.

In both cases, you receive a certain amount of space free. The free space can be increased by referring others to these services. In fact, by using the links in the two preceding paragraphs, you will increase the size of my free space.

Joe Budelis wins iPad at 2011 Telarus Agent Conference

Joe Budelis participated in an educational "team game" at the 2011 Telarus Agent Conference which emphasized some interesting facts about Telecom Carrier Service offerings and built team spirit. The game was played by four teams to be the first part of a selection process for the person to be awarded a newly purchased iPad. Then, a random drawing of those in the winning teams selected Joe Budelis as the winner of the iPad.

And the Snow Melts

Icicles from snow melting on roof.

Another Snowstorm hit the Northeast!

Before


and


After





Or

should

it be

Summer

and

Winter

Rome and Florence during a NJ Blizzard

We left for our Italian vacation on one of the last flights out of Newark before airport operations were seriously hindered by the December 26, 2010 snow storm. Although the weather in Rome and Florence was wintery, we were lucky to get out of the NorthEast USA before many flights were canceled and not to have to shovel and otherwise deal with the major snow storm.


Here is Valorie and KDB smokin' a clove on the front steps of a church in Rome. There are more photos of our vacation on FLICKR.

Valorie published Why is Hypoglycemia on the Rise?

After considerable research, Valorie published an article on Hypoglycemia in her Gaia's Pen blog. Whether you know what hypoglycemia is or not, you will likely find this article to be interesting.

Tai Chi Ch'uan (also spelled Taijiquan) Class in Central NJ

For about two years I've been attending T'ai Chi classes. If you are in the Princeton area and are interested, a new class is starting on September 25 for beginners or those who desire reinforcement in their training. See details at classes in classical Yang Style T’ai Chi Ch’uan.

Another Tree Mangler Hits Princeton

After quite a dry spell, late yesterday, a heavy thunderstorm hit Princeton. The tree damage observed afterward suggests there were quite a few strong micro bursts. These photos show a tree whose trunk was cleanly severed right into the ground!

Congrats to KDB on her first Blog post at The New Yorker

It's great to see that KDB's first blog post at The New Yorker has been published: "On and Off the Walls: Suburban Knights".

Summer Recipes by Local Executive Chef

Valorie has published summer recipes that have recently been presented by local Executive Chef, Christopher Albrecht. To see what Chef Albrecht presented using produce locally grown in the northeast USA, see Gaia's Pen.

What is your Best Internet Access Option?

On Friday, May 21, Joe Budelis will again give a presentation to help one explore and find the best Internet Solution Provider for their location. This presentation on Internet Access will be given at the Brookdale Computer Users Group May meeting and details are available at "Comparison of Internet Access Options such as Satellite, DSL, Cable, FIOS, T1, EoC, 3G, 4G".

Some material on this topic is available at "Comparison of Cable, DSL and T1 Broadband Internet Access Options."

Cherry Blossoms in Princeton

The spring brings beautiful blossoms on the Japanese Cherry tree in front of our home. Here is a photo of Valorie framed by the cherry blossoms draping down from the tree.

Comparison of Internet Access Options to be presented at Trenton Computer Festival

Joe Budelis, owner of Persimmon Telecommunications, will present "Comparison of Internet Access Options - How to Compare, Shop for, and Choose the best Internet Access option" at TCF-2010, the Trenton Computer Festival in Trenton, NJ. Options such as DSL, cable, FiOS, T1, DS3, OC3, Fast Ethernet OCx, and GigE will be compared. The PowerPoint slide presentation is available at How to Compare, Shop for, and Choose the best Internet Access option.

More info is available at TCF Talks, Forums, and Exhibitions.

Plucking of White Pine from our Home

Since their climbers decided it wasn't safe to do otherwise, Well's Tree Service used a crane to remove the white pine from our house. At the top of the tree there were two leads. Here you see one of those leads being carried from over our home. I estimate it's less than 1/8th of the tree. However, it in itself is as large as a good sized tree!

Below is one of the last pieces being carried away from our home.

Saved By a Tree

Now that it's light out, I see that the damage to our home by the white pine would have likely been worse except that it's fall was hindered by a black locust tree on the other side of the house. If the tree people were to just cut off the top of the pine tree, the weight of the pine could move it further into the house. The tree company says their approach tomorrow will be to trim everything they can to reduce the weight before they cut the locust support.


You can see the tree guy on the roof. He's installing a tarp to provide temporary protection from the rain.

The reason that the pine tree went down is that white pines have shallow roots and the wind was able to pull the roots out:


Here's a closeup of where it was uprooted:

Rain, Wind and a 130 foot Pine Tree

This is the 130 foot pine tree that had stood 10 feet from our home. It had seemed sturdier than trees still standing around it!

Snow Blizzard in Princeton, NJ

The holly tree in the above view out of Val's second floor office window on February 10 is leaning, not because of the wind, but because of the weight of the snow on it's branches. The next day, with much of the snow removed, it looked as shown below.

KDB to Israel and Ski Slopes

This winter break, KDB joined a college trip to Israel. She really enjoyed the introduction to the country given by the tour. She also made good use of her new Canon 5 d Mark II professional camera. Here's one of the photos that she took in Israel with the new camera: Trees.

Now that she's back in New York, she's joined the ski club and, on many weekends, is skiing slopes in the Northeast US. This week she has actually skied in Manhattan's Central Park.