which cat engineer is real?

OK, so one of you forwarded me a funny video. Don't do that. Anyway, this time I clicked on it and watched the first minute or so before getting tired of it and shutting it off. In that first minute or so, though, a hp calculator made the cut. Stay tuned.

Here is the video. It is about two engineers explaining what cats are. Now, if you happen to like engineers or (dare I say) cats, you might find this video amusing. I don't like either and I did not care for the video. (OK--I kinda do like some engineers--I don't like cats.)

But note the two calculators in the calculator duel scene early on. The guy on the left (an engineer?) appears to be holding a TI graphing calculator.

But, look closely at the other calculator--the one on the right. It's one of the late '80s clamshells--the hps without a family name. I'm not sure exactly which model it is, but I'm guessing 28S (orlando for you guys that know your hp names) or 28C (paladin). These first RPL programmables are super-cool. I've got a couple.

Obviously, the guy on the right is the coolest cat-explaining engineer this side of Palo Alto. Moral: Cat engineering can be done with any old calculator, but...um, ok, so maybe I don't know the moral, but it's nice to see an hp in the movies.

my very hard decision

When the family gets a new dog, it seems to bond with exactly one family member in a special way. In June of 1997, six-week old Polly picked me. This is the only family pet that has ever picked me.

On Tuesday, I made the decision to put her to sleep. It was a difficult decision because most of the time she seemed to be a perfect cute little dog just laying on the floor. Unfortunately, she laid on the floor almost all the time to avoid respiratory distress caused by congestive heart failure and tracheal collapse. It was a very difficult decision because she could have lived on for several more years.

If you knew her, you knew that this little active dog would never have real quality of life when forced into inactivity. I will always remember a very vivacious dog who greeted each day with zeal. So, I'll honor that life by telling you just a few things about her:
1. One of my nicknames for her was Discount Dog because we got her from a dealer for much less than the going rate for purebred Pomeranians because her ears curled over instead of standing straight up. Susan saw her the first time and said "you watch, those little ears are going to pop right up." They did, almost immediately when we got her home at 7 weeks old. They stood straight and pointy until the moment she passed away. See her ears in the picture above taken with newborn Olivia in 2003.
2. Cottage cheese. Her early diet involved a lot of cottage cheese. I remember looking at this little blonde face covered with cottage cheese every time she ate.
3. We drove up at our Walnut St. house with her the first time, set her in the grass where she peed immediately. From that point on she was essentially potty trained.
4. She was truly kennel trained. The first two years of her life she slept in a kennel on the floor right next to my side of the bed. Her job was to wake me up.
5. She adored our first Pomeranian, Niki (Niki just died in 2007 at almost 18 years old) but Niki only tolerated Polly.
6. My other nickname for her was Double Dog. Because our only other dog at the time weighed about 5.5 pounds and then came Polly at a whopping 11 pounds.
7. A couple of months after she came to live with us, Polly broke a leg. I'll never forget her little pink cast. When it came off, the leg was atrophied--half the size of the other front leg.

I'll miss Polly. She was a good dog. I wish the decision had not been necessary.

best price on 10bII

Generally speaking, the hp site is the best place to buy new hp calculators, but I happened to walk by the calculators in the local Walmart store tonight. If you're looking for a good deal on 10bII, this $29.99 calculator is available at one Walmart for only $20. Can't beat that anywhere else.

pricing update for new models

I told you in this recent post about all the new calculator models that hp is going to market with. Seems that they have rolled out their prices. Couple this with the earlier post and start buying:

1. 20b $39.99
2. 40gs $99.99 (note: check the earlier post, I guessed $99-110, that's right--I'm real good)
3. OfficeCalc 100 $14.99
4. OfficeCalc 200 $19.99
5. PrintCalc 100 not yet priced
6. QuickCalc $5.99

IMHO, these are great prices. Start buying. Oh yeah, send me one (of each). I'm still waiting.

If interested in buying, start here.

letter to the editor

Mom was the scribe in the family. If anyone was going to write a letter I'd have expected her to. However, on a recent trip back to the family home. I discovered that my dad wrote a letter to the editor of the Nashville News (probably) in the late '80s. It was published with the headline "Ordinary men were greatest WWII heroes."

For Independence Day, I am reproducing his letter to the editor here.

Dear Editor:
I am enclosing a copy of an article from a book entitled World War II Fighting Men of Arkansas published shortly after the end of the war. The man pictured was my father Brooks Ayers Tolleson. He was born north of Nashville at Mount Pleasant and was raised in the Highland/Nathan/Center Point area.
The approach of Veterans Day prompts me to highlight his contribution to that war along with those of many others from this area.
Brooks married Katherine Wood and had three children before being drafted into WWII from Pike County and another child after returning home.
Just at the end of the war, he was captured and held as a POW in a German Stalag for over six months. Even after suffering as a prisoner, he never held an anomosity toward anyone.
He was always proud of his country; he never failed to vote. He was proud to have been part of the process of freedom and protection this country offered, and he honored the flag and other veterans every chance he had.
Brooks lived most of his adult life in Clark County working in the logging industry. After suffering an initial hear attack in 1975, he and Katherine returned to Howard County in the early 1980s.
He applied for and began receiving veteran benefits of only $16 a month. I thought this was a disgrace because much of his disability was the direct result of his injury while a POW, but my dad received it gladly.
My dad was the most honest person I've ever known, and he was only one of many of his generation who did what they believed to be right. Ordinary men like him were truly the greatest heroes of the war. America needs more heroes like him today.
Sincerely,
Ronnie Tolleson
Mineral Springs

Mom has the original handwritten letter as well as an original clipping somewhere. We'll try to preserve them. I can't locate the book the letter references, but will try to at some point.

Raise your flag this week. Honor a veteran this Independence Day. Vote this fall. The price that my grandfather and many others paid make the examples that they lived worthy of following.

eating a rainbow

Took kcrazorback daughter to a baseball game today. It's amazing how a 5-year old girl can eat for three hours straight. She's definitely my kid.

Course #4 was a gigantic snow cone. Of course, ice chunks with multi-colored sugar syrup on them can occupy a kid for a while. Two-thirds of the way through this frozen sugar bomb I looked down at her. She looked back up at me and said "I'm eating a rainbow."

6/26 Added photo: Thanks to my friend Wendy (2nd from right) for sending me this photo which shows the little rainbow-eater (right), although it doesn't look much like a rainbow on that little tongue.

merry Christmas

OK, I know it's not really Christmas. But any day I hear about new hp calculator models feels a little like Christmas morning. And so, today I present the new models I've heard about:

I've always been a really big fan of hp financial calculators. Financial professionals seem to love 'em as well. This new model, the 20b seems to be the perfect basic scientific. What? Oh yeah, it is a financial calculator--it also calculates IRRs and amortizations with classic 12b ease but it's combined with basic trig functions for example. I think it will end up being a great one for your student or consumer who just wants the power of a financial calculator occasionally to calculate car payments, etc. Of course, soon, the car will be free with each tank of gas purchased.

Check out the new graphing calculator, the 40gs here. I'm not much into the graphing ones so won't offer much of an opinion. It looks like it'll be a midgrade (maybe in the $99-$110 range) that will be a fantastic choice over the $150 version.

Wow, it looks like our old calculator company is introducing a whole new line of products: the Home and Office category. With three new calculators that give you the feel of an old-school adding machine and one really cool looking basic (think 4-function) model, there is something for almost any office or retail environment. If you don't have to calculate payments or IRRs, consider one of these:

The OfficeCalc 100 appears to be your basic adding-machine but it's all hp under the hood. The OfficeCalc 200 looks like the 100 but is actually quite a bit bigger. And, if you really need the register tape on your adding machine, check out the PrintCalc 100.

Out of all the new models, though, my very favorite may just end up being the QuickCalc. It looks really cool. It is rugged. It goes anywhere. It's magnetic. In short it's just like me: attractive, simple, rugged, magnetic. OK, I'm not really magnetic. But this calculator looks like it will be great. The design is creative.

OK, so my Christmas gift to you is a blog post. Well, it's not really Christmas either, is it? So, stop your complaining. If you want to get me a gift, I'll take one of each of the products listed above.