Double rainbow guy stars in commercial
Sep 3rd
Full on, double rainbow. All the way across the sky! Paul “Bear” Vasquez shows us how to fit a double rainbow (all the way) in a single photo, courtesy of Microsoft Windows Live Photo Gallery.
It’s so intense!
Change is Good. Change is Bad. Change is Life.
Aug 26th
Interesting article I read online:
In a lot of ways, our job in IT and Information Security is implementing change. But as we all know, every change involves risk, and changes gone bad can be your worst nightmare. I’ve seen the number of business system service interruptions due to changes in infrastructure pegged… [more]
I’m with Stupid
Aug 25th
Jon Stewart is still on top of his game:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| The Parent Company Trap | ||||
|
||||
By the way, I’m with Stupid.
Start Me Up
Aug 24th
Well, it was fifteen years ago today (August 24, 1995) that Windows 95 was launched to a worldwide audience. (My favorite headline from the USA Today newspaper actually said Worldwide Wait for Windows 95 ends. Funny.)
I was in Pittsburgh, Pa. for the launch event. I have a whole bunch of pics on flickr that were taken that day. Here are a couple of my favorites:
This one is a collection of all the Windows 4.0/95 paraphernalia that I collected over the months prior to release, as well as preview program discs and SWAG picked up from Pittsburgh. Also included: the USA Today articles from the week of the launch.
It’s cookies! The Windows logo filled with red, blue, green, and yellow sugar cookies. Kind of gives a new meaning to “Windows cookies.”
The product launch was pretty amazing. Here is a YouTube video that sums up all that went on at the Microsoft campus before and during the launch:
http://www.youtube.com/v/y0CRWAz09r8?fs=1&hl=en_US&hl=en
Even though I enjoyed the ads, it still escapes me why Microsoft would ever use a song that contains the lyrics “You make a grown man cry” in the commercial to sell their Operating System…
I like this ad
Aug 18th
New Apple ad for the iPad. Let’s just say it’s “Delicious.”
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Make the party last forever
Aug 5th
My brother-in-law and I actually finished this up a couple of weeks ago. I just realized today, however, that I hadn’t placed a copy on my blog. So, here it is:
Our highlight video for our 2010 Walt Disney World vacation.
Friday’s iPhone 4 News Conference [Updated]
Jul 16th
Speculation has been running rampant on the interwebs as to what Apple’s scheduled Friday news conference would be about. A recall? Free bumpers? Admission of guilt (finally)? Gizmodo even has a play-along game for those so inclined.
I must say that I don’t have much of a problem with my iPhone 4. It has never dropped a call. I think if I try really, really hard, I might be able to drop a signal bar or two if I force the “death grip” on it. But unless I really try hard, I have zero problems with the iPhone 4.
However, I do have a bone to pick with Apple. It has nothing to do with the iPhone 4. It’s my previous iPhone 3G that is now my wife’s phone. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so a YouTube video must be worth even more… I have this problem, described so eloquently in this video:
That about sums it up. The iPhone 3G with iOS 4 is slow. Very slow. Almost unusable. I may try to take it back to the previous OS soon.
By the way, I’m guessing that Apple will announce free bumpers today. I have no first-hand knowledge, but knowing what a PR fiasco this has been, and knowing that a recall would cost major $$$ and cause every iPhone 4 owner to be without their device for x days — well, that just ain’t gonna happen. It’s possible they may announce some kind of software fix for this problem, but I find it unlikely. My money’s on free bumpers. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Update: I was more or less right. They are giving a free case to everyone who bought an iPhone. According to Steve, they can’t make bumpers fast enough, so they will be sourcing more cases and starting next week, you’ll be able to apply online. Also, if you bought a case from Apple, you’ll get a full refund. This is how they should handle it. Even if it’s been blown out of proportion, this is a good solution.
It’s all a blur
Jul 3rd
Time glides by with constant movement, not unlike a stream; for neither can a stream stay its course, nor can the fleeting hour.
–Ovid
I know I’m not the definitive source on the subject and I’m sure there are some -ologists out there that may be able to explain why this is, but time spent while on vacation just seems to go by in the blink of an eye. I find it difficult to believe that the same rules of “you’ve-got-24-hours-in-this-day” apply while I’m enjoying myself. When you get home it just kind of all runs together…
Now, let’s see… Was that Monday or Tuesday that we went to Downtown Disney. Tuesday? Oh, okay. Then what did we do Monday?
Even now I have to refer to timestamps on pictures to separate the events in my mind. It’s strange…
But at any rate, we’re all home now. If the bold sentence above didn’t give it all away, my family and I just got back from Walt Disney World. If you’ve read anything else posted on my website (like stuff here, here, and even here) then you probably know I have a thing for central Florida, Disney World in particular. I don’t want to take every vacation there. (The beach is nice too.) But I do like to visit frequently.
I started out this trip keeping a sort of “travel diary” like I did in 2007, our last full-on family trip to Disney. But this time that approach didn’t work. We had ten travelers this time. Tina’s brother brought his family down too. And between the six excited kids and four excited adults, time was a precious commodity. No time to spend tweeting or Facebooking, if that’s a word. (My status update was “is at the mall for a haircut” for two weeks. Loooong haircut…) And by the end of each day I was so wore out with all the walking and park hopping (and extreme heat!) that I didn’t feeling like writing a daily recap. Oh, it started out good. I have an entry for “Day One…” Not much after that.
Well, where to begin? To start I should probably mention that we didn’t hit the Disney parks straight away. We spent the night in Daytona Beach just down the street from the speedway. So Monday morning we got up and hit the beach. Very nice weather! It was cool to be able to just drive the car right on the beach and park. We got a few good hours of swimming and wading in before heading to Lake Buena Vista. So it was almost like two vacations in one.
After our first family trip to Disney World we had decided that future visits to the “Happiest Place on Earth™” would include staying on Disney property in one of the resorts. We have stayed on site two previous times. Once at the All-Star Movies Resort (in 2002) and once at the All-Star Music Resort (in 2007). For something different, this time we chose the Caribbean Beach Resort as our destination. It’s so nice to be able to arrive in central Florida and just park the car and leave it. Let Disney do the driving for you. After checking in, we took a little tour of our new home. Very nice place.
Our park hopping began on Tuesday with a trip to Epcot. We got to ride Mission: SPACE together as a family, each with our own responsibility as crew member. Then the kids got to try their hand at being a mission specialist in the Advanced Training Lab in the multiplayer game Mission: SPACE Race. Later in the week, we went back and had the chance to be astronauts. Our team (Team Triton) won!
I love the interactive attractions at Disney. Turtle Talk with Crush and the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor are incredibly entertaining. It’s so amazing to see those animated characters talk to you in real time. Cool stuff!
Oh, and one of the best ways to keep kids motivated on your trip to Epcot’s World Showcase is to pick up a World Showcase “Passport” when you arrive. Kids can get their passport “stamped” and signed at each country they visit. They can also create a colorful mask in any country and take that with them from country to country. Our kids got to see their names written in several different languages.
One last tip for kids (and adults): the new Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure is a blast! The kids are recruited as special agents who must defeat some crazy villains and save the day. The kids get a neat high-tech “Kimmunicator” that looks like your average flip phone from 2005. But the screens come to life sending kids on miniature adventures throughout one World Showcase country. Keep your eyes peeled for the unexpected… I won’t ruin it for you, but the best climax comes in Mexico. I’ll just say it was a very cool way to prevent a missile launch!
The girl agents play Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure
I think this post has lasted long enough… Gosh. I’m only two days into the vacation and have written a short story. More to come in the next post.
Apple announces the iPhone 4
Jun 8th
Cool video describing the highlights of the new iPhone. Coming soon!
American Idol Final Performance Thoughts
May 26th
Originally titled:
“It’s been a long, hard road, and the end is getting near.”
Well, we’ve reached the end of yet another season of American Idol. And what a road it’s been, huh? Wait, has it? A lot of this season has jus been kind of “meh,” and with Simon leaving after this one, I think “the end” might be a little closer than we think.
Lee - Probably a good choice for his song, but I’m a little surprised he didn’t go with Hallelujah. Sounds good tonight though, nicely in tune. I wasn’t sure if he was done… I agree with Randy, it started the show off a little slow. But that ilk give hi a chance to build.
Crystal - She is not your typical Idol contestant. Re-prys-ing Ryan, not Re-prees-ing. Is it just me, or is she made up a little more tonight? She’s an old soul. Randy, I like it when It starts out slow and builds. It gives it a chance to simmer… I would say Round one goes to Crystal…
Lee - Producer’s choice. Don’t know about this song choice yet… I didn’t care much for the song, but he did a reasonable job with it… The song didn’t lend itself to a live, exciting performance. I didn’t think it was a “brilliant” song choice. No “moments” thus far.
Crystal – This could be a good song choice for her. Like the arrangement so far. She sang the whatever out of that song. Not always in perfect pitch, but I don’t expect that from Crystal. Round 2, again, goes to Crystal.
Lee’s gonna have to do something extra special on his last song to “win” the evening, especially since Crystal is singing last.
Lee - I’m a little disappointed that this is not an original song… But I do like the arrangement. And I’ll bet Lee’s recording of it sounds good. Like all the strings. I’m really disappointed that it wasn’t original. I like Lee better when he’s “on” and he wasn’t really on for this last song. Best of luck to Lee, and I still think there’s a good chance he will win this contest, but if he does it won’t simply be because of tonight’s performances.
Crystal - I’m not familiar with this song… Not sure if it’s an Idol “original” or not, but I’m not familiar with it. Not sure if it’s an Idol “original” or not, but I’m not familiar with it. Now, Crystal gets her chance to shine this week. She gets her moment. Round 3 goes to Crystal. I think she did have one other night where she connected with the song… When she broke down at the very end a few weeks back.
This is one of those interesting seasons when there is someone who “should” win American Idol, and someone who might win American Idol. Clay should have beat Ruben… Adam should have beat Kris… Possibly some others in there too. I really believe Crystal should win this season, but I think there’s a good chance (still) that Lee will pull it out.
