CE Wills

     Hey, everyone. My wife and I, like millions of people, enjoy feeding birds. You can make or buy a feeder, sprinkle in some bird seed, or fruit, or bread crumbs and watch as birds come to snack. Some are attracted to the crowd of other birds, as their nature is to follow a leader. On a cold winter day, the birds stand out against the snow and you can get some cool photos of colorful plumage to show your friends. I know folks who have photos blown up and decorate their homes with these pictures. Others may blog about the richly colored cardinals or even participate in the scientific studies of migratory habits.     Heck, you don't even have to have a feeder. Just sprinkle food on the ground. Of course, ants and other undesirables might invite themselves to supper. Squirrels are the worst interlopers. I have seen these voracious rascals chew through a plastic bucket to get at the bird seed inside. Sort of like a hacker. Ha, ha. They will walk a support...

      Hey, everyone, and I hope the holidays find you content and healthy. The title of this post is a bit misleading, since I am already home and plan to be home for Christmas. I'll have to figure out why I used that title in a moment.       This is Christmas Eve, of course. I am sitting here next to the window so I can hear the Fed-Ex guy, should he arrive. I was tracking a package for someone that should remain unnamed. This parcel left a local place around 6 A.M. this morning and should arrive today. Oh, it is not that big of a deal if it arrives after Christmas.      Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of top-secret, devious, underhanded, fun plots in the works for Christmas. I thought seriously about a 'Santa' scheme. When my boys were young, we did the traditional thing and awoke in the middle of the night to place some stuff under the tree from Santa. If there was a bicycle to put together or an AT/...

         Hey, everyone. Happy Independence Day, to all you folks in the U.S.A.     I forgot to send along my congratulations to my Canadian viewers the other day when I was talking about Wimbledon tennis. Milos Raonic played in the semis and lost to Federer. Eugenie Bouchard is in the finals on Saturday and I'll be pulling for her. Also, Canadian Vasek Pospisil will be in the doubles finals. I get a big charge out of seeing people, athletes and nations make a breakthrough in any field of endeavor. To have both a man and a woman reach the semis at the big W for the first time is awesome. Last year Andy Murray made his breakthrough and I enjoyed that.      This morning I watched Novak Djokovic beat Grigor Dimitrov. I was surprised when Novak allowed himself to get so flustered. I really liked Dimitrov's demeanor. All business, hustle and energy. He didn't really seem to play tight at all, despite the big stage. ...

    Hey, everyone. It was a cold night at the green retreat. I was up early, around 5A.M. At that early hour I decided to try and finish the Thor game which I have been involved in for the past couple of months. I was glad to finish the aggravating rascal. Even on the last level, my reward of 50 Runes was not given to me. No big deal, I guess. Overall, a deep, fun game with lots of glitches. No regrets on the money spent for it. You can expect to pay for some in-apps, like I said before.     Well, the NFL Playoffs are in full swing. Yesterday I was amused during the early game when Jim Nantz said something to the effect of "The Nationwide Insurance Action Cam". The NFL, up to now, has been really good about forbidding commercials during the actual game. I guess the greed of marketers in the boardroom has finally won out. That, along with several other sensitive topics which I can't mention, has soured me on the sport. I have watched the NFL since 195...

Hey, everyone. Let me start by saying that on some of my posts the words are being split up from one line to the other. I haven't changed anything and I don't understand it. Blogger has been acting up for some time, though it seems unreasonable to complain about a free service. I was just over on the Washington Post and read a good article on the XBOX One. It freaked me out a little that the device can read your skeletal structure (or your voice) and monitor who's in the room. I'm not too sure that I'm comfortable with that, although I would like to play some games on it. I do, however, love gaming on my I-Pad and prefer not having a controller; plus the games are so much cheaper. Carley and I did a road trip yesterday, traveling to Nashville to Cool Springs Galleria. They have a big Apple Store there and guess what? They actually have that Tech Unicorn there, known to devotees as the I-Phone 5s (Gold, 16 Gig). I managed to keep my lustful little paws off its s...

     Hey, everyone. I don't consider myself as a tech blogger but I'd like to talk about Apple's latest iteration of the I-Pad. I'll give you more of a common man's perspective, I hope. All you folks in Cupertino can use this to get a feel for mainstreet USA. I've owned I-Pads since the original came out and have owned the #1, #2, and #3. I have to say, as I've said before, that of all the things I've bought in my life, these devices are the best. So, here are some thoughts on the new one. 1) I like the idea that they have developed an I-Pad Smart Case , as opposed to the Smart Cover . You can still buy the latter, and it's cheaper, but why not protect both sides? We like to say, "Cover Your ***" here in the States. Besides, since the new device is thinner and all, it might be good to have the extra protection. (The new Case is to be $79, I think.) 2) Twice the Wi-Fi performance. It has two inlet channels and two outlet channels. This i...

    Hey, everyone. Carley and I watched a movie on satellite tonight. It was made in 2001 and stars Jean Reno as a French Knight in shining armor who lived centuries ago. However, he gets transported to present day America by a rather marginal wizard. In America, Thibault (Reno), seeks the help of pretty descendant Julie (Christina Applegate).      Thibault, even with Julie's help, finds it difficult to locate a wizard in Chicago. They are helped by Thibault's hilarious man-servant/slave Andre who is rude, crude and socially unacceptable. Let me give you a hint, don't ever take a breath mint from the guy.     It is imperative that Thibault returns to his own time, in order to save his bride from death. There is skulduggery afoot and it has washed its way through the corridors of time.      But, Julie needs help as badly as her ancestor. She has a really bad boy friend who is is in the process of stealing her ance...

    Hey, happy humans around the globe. The weekend is winding down as we speak. I tore down an engine yesterday, just to see what was inside. It took me several hours but it was not as dangerous as my mission in the missile silo of Call of Duty.       I watched a bit of football today and as I watched my Falcons I became convinced of the veracity of my previous claims. The team needs help on the offensive line and a really dominant pass rusher. Still, they should have beat the Saints. It was, however, just ... Joss that they lost. Joss is a Chinese term that indicates fate, inevitability, luck, fortune or a combination of the above. It is a way of life, an attitude, that keeps one from railing at life, or God or tragedy. Yes, I finished re-reading Noble House tonight. That's what prompted me to use the word. It is a novel of Hong Kong, China and the far east. It is like the best steak that you ever ate, except it is a book. I thought about h...

    Hey, everyone. I read Google News on my PC, almost every day. You can customize it to suit your interests and one of 'my' sections is any news under the heading of blogs or blogging. Wow, is it educational and a little freaky to read some of this stuff?     There are bloggers who have a lot of trouble. Just yesterday, I read about a lady called The Skinny Blogger who had made some comments about Kate Upton being fat. (Don't know what photos she was looking at. Ha, ha. ) Anyway, this lady blogger received death threats and rape threats over this stuff. Are we as a people getting too serious about certain things? Well, yeah, I think so.     Some bloggers have been put in prison over things they wrote, I guess. Especially when they are blogging in a country with a totalitarian regime. I admire their grit. Several bloggers who stepped on the wrong toes down around the Mexican and U.S. border have been killed.      Blogg...