Edited the template for expandable posts. The old way applied it to all posts, regardless of a need for it or not. This new method I am playing with is a bit more cumbersome, but it will have to do for now.
First up: the new digital camcorder we got last weekend. The Canon Optura 50 looked to be the best for our needs/desires when we visited Fry’s. My highest priority was compatibility with my home computer — an Apple iMac. 100% go there. Now it was just about all the features.
I had done some pretty extensive research on the Elura 70 and was pretty pleased with other Canon DVCs offered. When it came time to buy, however, we found ourselves browsing other brands (likely due to Fry's not finding the Elura 70 anywhere). Sony was a big runner up, mostly due to its competitive pricing with Canon's similarly ranged DVCs. Big beef was the lack of MiniDV (opting for the MiniDVD on HandyCam models) or, if it did support MiniDV, it was bottom loading. There were some other features I felt were lacking on the Sonys when compared to the Canons. The plus for Sony was it's steadiness (reduction of a shaky picture) and its zoom and focus. Of course, then we went up a price notch and Canon just obliterated anything Sony had to offer. I suppose I could consider the Optura as the first of my many tumblings into bankruptcy with regard to our new family addition and in that regard, I didn’t want to skimp on the memories.
In the coming week(s), I will try to formulate a more in-depth review of the camcorder as well as show how its 2.2 megapixel photo capabilities perform.
The nursery is all but done. We have only to wait on delivery of the crib now. The walls are painted and decorated. The major items are in place, or await better placement. The window treatment is a dream. The room is completely different and looks better than any other in the house. My wife and I are most proud of the fact that we didn’t buy a pre-packaged theme for the nursery, and instead fabricated the look and feel completely on our own. It has a very “in the park” feel to it, with butterflies and flowers sparingly placed about the room. We have some frogs here and there (4 total in various formats) to lend a bit of atmosphere and give it the soothing impression that a creek bed is nearby. I have decided not to paint a mural on the wall of a pond scene, but rather, I am considering making a painting/illustration which will be framed and hung on the wall. No way I am having a one-of-a-kind painted over in the future, hehe.
It is now our daughter’s room, whether she is here yet or not. It is so very nice to just sit in there.
Elsewhere: The Mini Cooper is a kewl little car. Despite it being ridiculously over-priced and phenomenally altered overall, it still looks fun and… well, it still looks fun. There isn’t a lot by way of advertising for this little car, but when you see it, it is usually quite dramatic. Often funny, never boring, any campaign for the Mini Cooper is sure to entertain.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Thursday, May 26, 2005
New Trick
Just doing some testing real quick on this new trick (ok, new to me) called expandable post summaries. Let's see how it works, shall we?
I will make a more legitimate post in a moment regarding how I recently bought a new Canon Optura 50 and we did some impressive finishing work on the nursery. The week has just been blowing by, leaving us with only 12 days before my bundle of joy arrives at our doorstep. Yes, I am holding out for the 12 days. If the little nipper comes any earlier, well… I don’t know what to do.
I will make a more legitimate post in a moment regarding how I recently bought a new Canon Optura 50 and we did some impressive finishing work on the nursery. The week has just been blowing by, leaving us with only 12 days before my bundle of joy arrives at our doorstep. Yes, I am holding out for the 12 days. If the little nipper comes any earlier, well… I don’t know what to do.
Monday, May 16, 2005
Green Music
I have a pretty good music collection. It is humble, only 2gigs worth. In the past, if I had a Quicktime .MOV of a video that I liked, I could drag the video over the iTunes icon in my dock and it would include the audio portion in my playlist. Was very neat.
As you know, I recently upgraded to Tiger. Apparently, I hadn’t turned on iTunes since that upgrade. Upon activating iTunes, it required an update to 4.8, which doesn’t require Tiger, but I suppose it didn’t know it needed the update prior to Tiger. So, update. Many of my songs come with artwork. Artwork appears in the lower left of iTunes. These are generally album covers and the like. It got to ‘Satisfaction’ by DJ Benny Benassi. Curious… there is a video icon next to the song. Just a quick double click, and, HOLY GREAT GOOGLY-MOOGLY!!! The video started playing in the lower left where the artwork is supposed to be. Image below:
How ef-fing kewl is that?!
Earlier that weekend: The nursery is painted. Excellent! In one day, no less. Yesterday, we pulled all the shtuff out of the room and slapped the paint on the walls. The green looks magnificent! The hamper we got (office shower) is a dead match of the green on the walls. Kinda freaky. But it is painted and now we have but to move everything in that she will need. We also received the travel system/stroller from my office shower and that is just awesome. Now we can take the little bugger home after she is born!
Even earlier: My wife is now officially out of school! With her MBA in hand, we only have a mound of education loans slapping us in the face. No more teachers, no more books, no more semester bills that induce acute coronaries. I’m so very proud of her!
As you know, I recently upgraded to Tiger. Apparently, I hadn’t turned on iTunes since that upgrade. Upon activating iTunes, it required an update to 4.8, which doesn’t require Tiger, but I suppose it didn’t know it needed the update prior to Tiger. So, update. Many of my songs come with artwork. Artwork appears in the lower left of iTunes. These are generally album covers and the like. It got to ‘Satisfaction’ by DJ Benny Benassi. Curious… there is a video icon next to the song. Just a quick double click, and, HOLY GREAT GOOGLY-MOOGLY!!! The video started playing in the lower left where the artwork is supposed to be. Image below:
How ef-fing kewl is that?!
Earlier that weekend: The nursery is painted. Excellent! In one day, no less. Yesterday, we pulled all the shtuff out of the room and slapped the paint on the walls. The green looks magnificent! The hamper we got (office shower) is a dead match of the green on the walls. Kinda freaky. But it is painted and now we have but to move everything in that she will need. We also received the travel system/stroller from my office shower and that is just awesome. Now we can take the little bugger home after she is born!
Even earlier: My wife is now officially out of school! With her MBA in hand, we only have a mound of education loans slapping us in the face. No more teachers, no more books, no more semester bills that induce acute coronaries. I’m so very proud of her!
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Seven
I am blessed with a magnificent work machine to practice my trade. Dual 2GHz G5 Mac with 1GB of RAM running X.3. And a monitor (older model) that humbles the TV I have in the bedroom. This machine can, literally, do it all. Apple doesn’t stop putting out stuff for it to play with, either. Particularly, Quicktime 7.
Fantastic piece of software. What with the HD content and the means to play it with such clarity and marvelous splendor — on my machine at work, that is. Now, I don't know if it is the monitor, the processor, the RAM or what, but the HD content for Q7 only works on my work machine. I am now running Tiger on my home computer (8?? G4, 512MB RAM, OS X.4) and HD content run through Q7 is fragmented and horrible. My wife’s laptop (15" PowerBook, 1.5GHz PowerPC G4, 512MB RAM, OS X.3) also suffers through HD content for Q7. So what is it? The RAM? The processor speed? Do I really need a gig of RAM to view HD content for Q7? Is it the graphics card? Do I need more RAM on the graphics card to view it? Why doesn’t Apple mention that? What variable makes watching HD content on any machine, other than my über power horse at work, horrible at best?
UPDATE: Budi was kind enough to direct me to Apple’s Quicktime 7 system requirements page. So, ya… it’s my lack of processor power. Oh well…
Elsewhere: Potter heads will soon get to see the fourth installment of the series. This one looks especially dark and a bit more riveting. I think this is the Harry Potter I could get behind, though both him and Ron could use a serious haircut.
Daniel Craig seems to still be the favorite 007 for the upcoming Bond flick (Casino Royale). Personally, I think Clive Owen would lend a nicely shaken mix to the franchise.
Fantastic piece of software. What with the HD content and the means to play it with such clarity and marvelous splendor — on my machine at work, that is. Now, I don't know if it is the monitor, the processor, the RAM or what, but the HD content for Q7 only works on my work machine. I am now running Tiger on my home computer (8?? G4, 512MB RAM, OS X.4) and HD content run through Q7 is fragmented and horrible. My wife’s laptop (15" PowerBook, 1.5GHz PowerPC G4, 512MB RAM, OS X.3) also suffers through HD content for Q7. So what is it? The RAM? The processor speed? Do I really need a gig of RAM to view HD content for Q7? Is it the graphics card? Do I need more RAM on the graphics card to view it? Why doesn’t Apple mention that? What variable makes watching HD content on any machine, other than my über power horse at work, horrible at best?
UPDATE: Budi was kind enough to direct me to Apple’s Quicktime 7 system requirements page. So, ya… it’s my lack of processor power. Oh well…
Elsewhere: Potter heads will soon get to see the fourth installment of the series. This one looks especially dark and a bit more riveting. I think this is the Harry Potter I could get behind, though both him and Ron could use a serious haircut.
Daniel Craig seems to still be the favorite 007 for the upcoming Bond flick (Casino Royale). Personally, I think Clive Owen would lend a nicely shaken mix to the franchise.
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Pickled Takos
Damn! “Where’s My Pickle?!” was/is (as of 504|5) listed on IconFactory’s homepage under Pictures, Patts & Fonts. Insane! I have always been a huge fan of IconFactory and this is a real treat to have my website listed on their site.
I have a couple other sketches for the further adventures in the quest for missing pickles, so I will see what I can do about actually creating those into desktops as well. I would also like to make icons for the series… not promising anything though. We all know how well those SPeCks icons are coming along. However, there is nothing stopping me from coming up with a couple of desktops for SPeCks. We shall see!
Elsewhere: If you guys have never heard of Deep Fried Live! then you’re definitely missing out. I discovered this fantastic series back in 2001 or so. This octopus really knows how to lend a hand… er… tentacle in the kitchen, as well as teach you some delicious recipes! My wife is unsure on octopus sushi, but she sure likes Tako!
I have a couple other sketches for the further adventures in the quest for missing pickles, so I will see what I can do about actually creating those into desktops as well. I would also like to make icons for the series… not promising anything though. We all know how well those SPeCks icons are coming along. However, there is nothing stopping me from coming up with a couple of desktops for SPeCks. We shall see!
Elsewhere: If you guys have never heard of Deep Fried Live! then you’re definitely missing out. I discovered this fantastic series back in 2001 or so. This octopus really knows how to lend a hand… er… tentacle in the kitchen, as well as teach you some delicious recipes! My wife is unsure on octopus sushi, but she sure likes Tako!
Monday, May 02, 2005
Durable Comedy
May 1st didn’t happen for me, again. Honestly, I just signed up way too late in the game. I barely have time to do anything outside of work right now, so I am not sure why I even signed up for it in the first place. Oh well. I am only bummed that I didn’t even switch over to the new host.
This weekend was accomplished, however. We did manage to get the paint for the nursery, and should be able to finish that up by this weekend. Hopefully. The paint, Duration™ Home, is by Sherwin Williams and it is supposed to be insanely easy to clean. My only concern is how well an acrylic might adhere to it for any illustrations/murals that I might attempt to paint on the walls.
A bit ago, I finished “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. It is a very weird book. And very open ended. Apparently, the written version is adapted from the radio series and each time it is published it is just a bit different from the previous version. Still a bit interested in seeing the movie, though it looks like they chopped out all the jokes. Basically, it just isn’t funny anymore. Oh well.
Where’s My Pickle?! got accepted over at Pixelgirl Presents. Yay, me.
This weekend was accomplished, however. We did manage to get the paint for the nursery, and should be able to finish that up by this weekend. Hopefully. The paint, Duration™ Home, is by Sherwin Williams and it is supposed to be insanely easy to clean. My only concern is how well an acrylic might adhere to it for any illustrations/murals that I might attempt to paint on the walls.
A bit ago, I finished “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. It is a very weird book. And very open ended. Apparently, the written version is adapted from the radio series and each time it is published it is just a bit different from the previous version. Still a bit interested in seeing the movie, though it looks like they chopped out all the jokes. Basically, it just isn’t funny anymore. Oh well.
Where’s My Pickle?! got accepted over at Pixelgirl Presents. Yay, me.
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