Rob's Blog

Reminiscing last year’s winter storms

Rob Parks — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 02:55:56 +0000

It was just over a year ago when we got hit with the 1-2 punch of winter snowstorms. My dad was vacationing during this time, so I took on the task of trying to clear the driveway, twice. The two storms were just a few days apart and each dropped about 9 inches of snow. The driveway sits lower than the yard by about two and a half feet in one area. This means that winds blew snow into the driveway making for very deep snow.

Round 1: February 24–25, 2007

These pictures were taken from a cell phone, so quality is not very good.

Click pictures to see larger pictures.

Round 2: February 28–March 2, 2007

This time I came prepared with my digital camera.

Warner to go Blu-ray exclusively

Rob Parks — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 21:30:10 +0000

The war over high definition DVD formats took a major turn January 4 when Warner Bros. Entertainment announced it will soon be releasing HD titles exclusively in the Blu-ray format. Warner had backed both previously, but has chosen Blu-ray over HD-DVD due to consumer demand. This is a major blow to HD-DVD and looks to be the inevitable demise of the format.

To the consumer, this is good news. The HD format war has kept many people from supporting either. There have only been a few hundred titles released in either format because of this. When all of the studios support just one format, consumer confusion will end and people will be able to buy players and titles with confidence. The demand will perpetuate into many more titles being released. Furthermore, Blu-ray players should drop in price faster now that the focus will be on just one format.

I never favored one format over the other. I am just glad to see one format surging ahead of the other.

Blu-ray is now supported by Warner, 20th Century Fox, Disney, and Sony Pictures. HD-DVD is supported by Paramount and Universal.

August 2007 Storm

Rob Parks — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 15:10:53 +0000

August 11, 2007 brought one of the strongest and most destructive storms I have seen in my Eagan neighborhood.

Around 3:15–3:30 in the morning, I was awakened by a loud sound and then the sudden sound of silence that follows a power outage. After being up for about an hour I went back to bed.

After a few hours of sleep, I went outside to survey the damage. Nearly everyone on my street had tree damage and many were beyond saving. Some of the neighbors were already cutting down their severely damaged trees. The neighbor next door had a downed line in the back yard. From that moment on I could hear chainsaws running thoughout the day. Power was still out so I made a run to the store for ice. It was too late to save the ice cream treats. After I got hold of a chainsaw I spent most of the day working on the boulevard tree.

It began to get very uncomfortable outside. It was hot, sunny, and very humid. For relief, I drove around to see how extensive the damage was. There was damage all over several blocks in every direction, but our street got hit harder than most. Word got out and our street turned into a bit of a tourist attraction.

Later in the afternoon, I saw thick black smoke rising in the distance. A house was on fire one block away. Sirens could be heard for about the next 20 minutes. I decided to check it out. The entire house was ablaze. Someone at the scene said that it started in the garage. I was also told that the owners were out of the country. One cat was rescued, but sadly, one perished.

I got called into work for a couple hours. It was relief for me as the power was still out. I got back home and continued with the cleanup. The power company came out to fix the downed line and finally, around 7:30, the power finally came back on after being out for about 16 hours.

This turned out to be one of the more eventful days for me in recent memory.