Went to NYC over the weekend to visit son Aaron. We had a good time.

Saturday we ate at an afghan restaurant. Then went to 911. Took some pics. Basically a big hole in the ground.

Then went to the battery. Very nice. It is at the southern most tip of Manhattan. We could see an artificial waterfall across the East river on the Brooklyn waterfront. Don't remember the name of the artist which did it. People fishing, tour boats, etc.

Then we went to the American International Building in the financial district. This building used to be called 60 wall tower and my grandfather George W. Saathoff was the chief engineer. It was built in 1932.

After that we went to see a movie in Union sq. "Hancock". I liked it. Got home about midnight at Aaron's apartment in Brooklyn.

Next day Sunday we went out to brunch at Quintessence which is a raw food restaurant. I had a eggs florentine (no eggs). My son had eggs benedict. My wife had the indian platter.Very good. We want to try Pure Foods and Wine the next time we are in Manhattan. Both restaurants are within 8 blocks of union sq.

After that my son went to work at The Strand bookstore. We went in and browsed books for a couple of hours.

Then we went home. 4 1/2 hour drive. Ugh!

Went to hampton beach. Nice waves. About 10'. Bertha just passed Bermuda and is stirring up some waves.

Rode some nice waves on the sand bar south of the harbor entrance. Probably got going about 15mph. The tide was very low.

I repaired the house computer(athlon a64 ati rs480 mb). I vacuumed out everything and reseated the power and data cables on the hd. It wouldn't boot a few times and said hd not ready. I also took out the tv card and all sorts of extra cables from the desktop to the cabinet. I also changed the monitor to the 22" 1680x1050. The new monitor is aweseome. This allowed me to use the 19" for when I am working at home. I hooked up the sound to the 22" built in sound. Ok sound I guess. I think the el-cheapo speakers are still better. Hopefully cleaning things up and reseating some things will get rid of the random crashes.

Yesterday after work I fixed the lawnmower by replacing the gasket in the carburetor/gas tank. I had taken it apart at least five times and I couldn't see what was wrong. So I finally just replaced it for 10 bucks and it worked. My neighbor gene suggested that the diaphragm(gasket) was so stretched out that the fuel pump was pumping too much gas and flooding the engine. I think he was right. Basically the diaphragm was so stretched out that the stroke of the fuel pump was too long and therefore pumping too much gas. The float bowl only has a small hole for the excess gas to empty back into the tank and that was being overwelmed.