4 ½ Days Without Internet

I move tomorrow. The forecast is rain. That should be fun.

The Comcast guy can’t be at the house before Wednesday at noon. That means that I am going to be 4 ½ days without the internet. What am I going to do? I am not ashamed to say that I am addicted to the internet. I have been known to pull down 5GB of data in a 24 hour time period. That’s why I need more hard drives!

So, I may blog from work, I may write an entry or two at home and take it/them to work to post, or I may just take a break. I plan to blog about the success or failure of my wireless setup I am going to try and get working. I was a lot more optimistic before JD’s comment on my post about it:

JD said...
Keep the receipt for your wireless bridge. Not to be a party-pooper, but I had a bad experience with a few from fry's, and I ended up taking them all back and running cat5 afterall.

I certainly hope you have better luck than I did!

Hmm. That was not the most encouraging comment, but wiring is not an option for me. The products that I bought claim that they should do what I want. I guess only trying it will tell me for sure. Anyone out there have a success story of setting up a wireless bridge? I would think that bridging two wired networks wirelessly would be a fairly common request by users. And, now that 108 megabit speeds are available, bridging those 10/100 networks by a 108 megabit network seems like a great solution. No speed loss – in theory.

Well, I imagine I will have a need to be online before Wednesday and whenever I am online I digg, so you can watch my stories dugg to see what I’m checking out during my dry spell.

Wish me luck!

A Little Shook Up

Yesterday two men came into my credit union and presented a check to cash. One of the men also presented a California Driver’s License. I put the check into the computer and it came up as a stolen check. I calmly looked up our member’s signature card and compared the signature behind the counter where the men couldn’t see. Not even close. This was a stolen check, forged signature, and attempted fraud! I calmly took the check and the man’s license and went in the back and dialed 9-1-1. The men left before the police arrived. The police took a statement from me and I gave them the (very fake looking) driver’s license and the check. They said a detective would be in contact with me soon.

Of course this would be the one afternoon that both my boss and the lady that has worked here nearly as long as I have been alive were both out of the office. I called my boss and recounted the entire event and she told me I did everything right, good job, etc..

After it was all over and we locked the doors and started balancing, I realized I was still quite shook up. My heart was racing right up until I went to bed last night. Hopefully today will be a less eventful day.

Major Network Disappointment

We are moving on October 1^st – that’s this Saturday! Woohoo! We have greatly enjoyed being at my parents’ house, but it’s time for us to move. Our good friends Eugene and Christie are allowing us to rent from them while they are the RD of Farrar at Corban College.

When Eugene first knew he would be moving into this house, he said that a project he might want my help for would be wiring the house with cat5 to have a 10/100 network in the main rooms. Well, he found a wireless system that worked for him and the project was delayed. I knew that before I moved in I would want it wired, so this last Saturday, my dad and I headed to Fry’s to get some stuff and wire the house. We got enough cable and plugs to wire the entire house. I was very excited.

Eugene wasn’t feeling well and my dad has a lot of experience under houses, so he offered to do the “dirty” work under the house. We drilled a couple holes first, shoved some cable down, and my dad went under. He was under a LONG time and we he came out it was apparent that this project wasn’t going to happen. The house has huge ventilation tubes that completely block off a huge part of the access under the house. Without dismantling them (and possibly causing a LOT of issues with breaking things) there is no way to get past them and wire the house.

I was really disappointed. I have a 5 computer network that will be moving with me. Fortunately, I was able to find a workable wireless solution. D-link makes a 108 megabit wireless router and wireless bridge. So, I can have computers wired in two rooms and then bridge that connection wirelessly without losing any speed. In theory. I will report on the success or failure of that project as time goes on. But, at least it is a workable solution to my problem without much extra cost.

HUGE thanks to my dad for all the time spent this weekend helping me with my network endeavors. And a HUGE thanks to Eugene and Christie for allowing us to rent their house and giving us such a great deal.

Mouseovers, TV, and Laptopitus

Mouse over the image above to see the difference in filtering a B&W image in Picasa. Picasa has a feature in the "Effects" tab of an image called "Filtered B&W". I used a red filter and a green filter for the image above and then added the mouseover so you can see the difference. Very cool! Try it!

Well, all the TV seasons are starting now. That means that my hard drives are filling up with shows like The Biggest Loser, Prison Break, Bones, 7th Heaven, King of Queens, Surface, Lost, Survivor, and The Apprentice: Martha Stewart. I am proud to say, the only one of those I have watched this year is Lost. And, most of that, I was browsing online on my $10 laptop (not to be confused with a REAL laptop).

Speaking of laptops, I have laptopitus really bad right now. Everywhere I look I see a Dell Inspiron 6000 (Click here to see the one saved in my Dell shopping cart)! It's really bad...that's all I have to say about that infection I have...

Well, I am out of time. I have 25 minutes until I need to leave. I should be able to leave on time...unless someone gets in the shower right as I go downstairs ;)

5:45 AM

This is Mikayla at 15 months old. It's amazing to see all the changes. I was browsing my old photos of her and this one really shows off her hair as it was then.

Well, note the time of this post. Yeah, it's right. I'm heading to work real early today. I have a project that should go out the door today that is nowhere near ready. Wish me luck!

Where to Find Cheap Obituaries

No, I didn't die. I'm still alive and well. I know, I know, you are thinking, "Bill, it's been like 126 hours since you posted? What's up with that?" Well, I have almost recovered from my all day photo shoot on Saturday. And I mean ALL DAY. I left home at 7:30AM and I got back at 1:30AM the next day. My only break was for 3 hours to attend a wedding.

First I better explain the title for this entry. I was at the Statesman Journal frontpage this morning looking for the story about MAPS getting robbed at gunpoint yesterday. I couldn't find it in the main section, so I started looking on the sidebars. I looked about half-way down and read, "Where to find cheap obituaries." I kept moving on and then stopped about 4 seconds later and thought, "WHAT?!" After closer inspection, it seems that my mouse was covering the word "gas". I should have read, "Where to find cheap gas" and then the next line read, "Obituaries." I thought it was funny though.

Saturday was a blast! I did a photo shoot for Wholesomewear, a local Christian company that sells modest clothing and swimwear. I sold the rights to the photos, so I am in the process of finding out if I can blog some of the photos. Until I get that approval, well...you can just wait =)

The wedding I attended Saturday was very interesting. The groom left the sanctuary in the middle of the cerimony! Turns out he was fairly sick - enough to make it to the emergency room during the reception. He had a fever and was dehidrated - stress is a powerful thing.

After the wedding, I returned to the job site and worked on the post-processing of the images we shot. Since I shoot in RAW, I have the option to do a lot of editing before the image is converted into a standard file format (like JPG or TIFF). Some day I will write an article on the power of RAW and why/how it should be used. Not today though, this post is long enough and I'm not done =)

Anyway, it was a long fun day. I feel recovered now and you can expect to see posts again and maybe even a photo or two ;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

Guest Entry - Chromasia

If you want to see some really great photographs, visit chromaia. David Nightingale is a UK photographer and family man with a real eye for composition. I love his work. If you have never browsed his archives, you are missing out.

I have added a couple new features to the sidebar of my site. Again, if you simply read this in bloglines or another RSS reader, you are missing out. First, I added my digg.com stories I have dugg. So now you can see what I am digging throughout the day. Second, I have added the cities of my most recent 5 visitors. Well, it's updated every hour, so it takes a little time to change. But, click here to see my most recent 100 visitors on a GoogleMap.

Just a Little Bite?

I came home from work last night and Mikayla wanted to play with Papa's juggling balls. I got them down and juggled a bit and then she wanted to try. We played a bit and then she put one in her mouth! She bit down on it so it stuck out. I told her "no" and counted to three and then gave a light flick on her cheek. She didn't cry, but wanted me to kiss it. She sat on my lap and put the ball right up to her mouth. I said, "Mikayla, don't bite the ball." She responded with, "Just a little bite?" and then, "Can I lick it?" I almost fell off the chair laughing.

Linux

Well, I am running Ubuntu Linux on my desktop now. I am still trying to get my RAID drivers working, so I don't really have access to my pictures at the moment. I am spending all my free time (yeah, right) trying to build up a good linux box. It is great fun. I have even gotten a few windowz apps running in linux using Wine. It has really come a long way since I'd last used it. If I can get Photoshop and my RAID working, I'm switching over for good...or at least until I can afford a mac ;o)

A Rose

I don't have much to say about this photo. I shot it in May of 2004 and for some reason it jumped out at me as I was scrolling through some old photos. I kinda like it now.

I have an install disk for Ubuntu linux sitting on my desk. I want to run linux. I am seriously thinking about making the plunge. All I need to emulate would be Photoshop, Capture One, and Picasa. Photos are the only thing holding me back. Maybe I should research wine a little more before making the plunge.

Wish me luck or send me links =) Thanks!

Age of Empires III Demo!!!!

This could not wait until morning!! The demo is out!!!!! DoWnLoAdInG NOW!!! I'll review at a later date. Right now I must play this 375MB demo! You should too!

http://www.ageofempires3.com/

The Right Tool for the Job

This is a before after using ONLY Picasa2 as an editor. I am a huge Photoshop fan, but every tool has its place. I don't know anyone that could pull off this effect in Photoshop in 45 seconds - and that's just how long it took me in Picasa2. If you don't have Picasa2, DOWNLOAD IT HERE!

Oh, one more thing before I rush off to work: You can now view my most recent stories dugg on digg.com on my right-hand sidebar. Well, those of you who read me via RSS can't do that, but all the most important stuff will be in main posts. I just thought it was cool to add my most recent 15 dugg stories on the sidebar :)

My 3 Day Weekend in 284 Words

This is my sister-in-law, Sarah. Yesterday we went to Deepwood Estates and I shot her senior portraits. I took 184 shots, but I managed to cut them down to my favorite 116. Now she needs to choose her favorite 8.

My weekend started very well. Friday night Eugene called me to see if I wanted to play poker. The answer to that question is always yes. I ended up winning (5 handed) after taking Krista out by checking a royal flush and her bluffing by going all-in. It was beautiful. My first royal flush.

Saturday I put together Mikayla's 2nd Podcast. I still don't have the RSS feed working well enough for iTunes to accept it. I'm doing something wrong and it may take some time to figure out.

Sunday afternoon Krista's family came down from Tenino. We played poker and I finished 3rd out of 9. Krista's sister Annie killed us all.

Monday I woke up, showered, dressed, modded JD's Xbox in 3 1/2 minutes, went and did Sarah's Senior Portraits, lounged for the evening...yes, I said 3 1/2 minutes. I found this guide that uses a new game save exploit that allows you to softmod your Xbox in no time. Better still, when you start up your Xbox, it goes directly to EvolutionX, not the MS Dashboard. This is HUGE!! I could have saved 100 hours or so if this had been around back when Eugene and I were going through our softmod trouble days.

This morning I came across this link on digg. It is really weird. You should go there and follow the instructions. Don't deviate - just do exactly what it says as fast as you can...I was dumbfounded.

The Best 48 Photos from the Fair

Due to popular demand, this post is something I have not done before on my blog. If you click here (right-mouse click and choose "Save Link As..." - then run from your computer. That way it will be full screen!), you can download a PDF slideshow of the best 48 photos of our Oregon State Fair trip. The file is 5MB and should auto-play when you run it. It's about 2 1/2 minutes long and has all the best photos from our trip. I'll probably put up more individual shots, but I wanted to get the whole bunch out there today. Enjoy!

UPDATE: You will need Adobe's Acrobat Reader to view this slideshow. If you don't have version 6 or higher, you may also need to download the photo-something plug-in. The slideshow will prompt you to download or you could just go get the latest Acrobat Reader - it's free.

The Start of the Fair Photos

Well, yesterday we went to the Oregon State Fair. Mikayla had a BLAST! I am going to be posting mostly fair photos for a few days and I'm going to be doing them a few at a time since there are so many. No, I'm not going to post all 166 photos I took. Most of them are duplicates while I was trying to get that one good shot. Enjoy:

Mikayla had a blast on several of the rides. She especially liked waving at us from this ride.

Here she is inside the petting zoo. Yes, I'll post photos with animals.

And again, waving to all.

The fair was fun. Krista got her elephant ears, I got chips and lemonaid, Lily missed her nap ;o) We met up with Phil and Beth and their kids. That was alot of fun for Mikayla - she had a friend (Ben) to go on the rides with.

Stay tuned...more coming tomorrow...