Homebrew Version 1.4, Behold! The power of Cheese!

[RobP]

Good morning Fellas! Looks like another Chapter,


http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/070630/070630_bigCheese_hmed9p.hmedium.jpg

[Lex]

love Cheez-it, it's a powerful cracker. I think maybe the cheeze wall man ate a bit to much of his carvings...

[dyazdani]

I was thinking the same, that's a big ol' boy!

[Dougie085]

WOW...thats all I can say about that pic.

[cuda65]

I just want to say thanks for the info on things to do in Italy.

I am flying into Rome. Staying by the airport for one night. We have friends coming in the next day that we will be traveling with.

We stay at Hotel Belair in Sorrento for 3 nights. This hotel overlooks the Bay of Naples with a great view of Mt. Vesuvius. Then we stay in Rome for a couple nights. We will be traveling around the area. One of the couples we are going to be with has been to Italy before. I am going to look up info on the places you suggested. Keep the info coming.

Thanks. :B

[Lex]

Sonus faber is in Italy. Maybe you could hear the Stradavarious while there...

[Alloroc]

I just want to say thanks for the info on things to do in Italy.

I am flying into Rome. Staying by the airport for one night. We have friends coming in the next day that we will be traveling with.

We stay at Hotel Belair in Sorrento for 3 nights. This hotel overlooks the Bay of Naples with a great view of Mt. Vesuvius. Then we stay in Rome for a couple nights. We will be traveling around the area. One of the couples we are going to be with has been to Italy before. I am going to look up info on the places you suggested. Keep the info coming.

Thanks. :B

Cool! You'll get to visit Capri so, it's a 30 minute ferry sailing from Sorrento. Herculanium and Pompeii is a 40 minute train ride too, again the train station is really central. Restaurante Caruso Sorrento, while a little pricy exudes old world charm, quality and great food.

http://www.ristorantemuseocaruso.com/

There's also the very, very expensive Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria. If you want to take the air on the balcony and order a beer or a coke, take it there. It WILL be expensive, but the view is amazing. I'll post more pics later.

Where are you staying in Rome?

[aud19]

I was thinking the same, that's a big ol' boy!

I was thinking the same! 8O

One day I'm gonna have to make it to Italy :yesnod: Really need to have the time and money to do it right though. I'd want to spend at LEAST a month traveling around. There's just too much to see, do and eat to only go for a week or two IMO. (NEED TO WIN THAT LOTTO!!! :B :confused: )

[Dougie085]

I've been having all kinds of problems with viruses lately. I came to the conclusion that Avast is a piece of junk. Firstly it lets you delete just any file not giving you any kind of warning of what could happen if you delete said file. I think the only thing it says is "This file is located in the system folder" and thats about it. Secondly it doesn't find near as many viruses as AVG. Thirdly its annoying..it has crazy alarms and popups that warn you about stuff and its very loud. So I'm sticking with AVG which has always been my favorite. I didn't use it this time as I thought they stopped providing updates for it...but aparently they didn't I think I'm going to purchase the pro version though.

[aud19]

I've had good luck with SAV corporate edition ;)

[RobP]

We are having some serious rain here and now my backyard has some damage, sometime back the city made some "improvements" to the drainage here, every since then my backyard now catches all of the watershed from that "improvement" :M . Lovely..... :confused:

[dyazdani]

Raining here too...

[RobP]

Danish, did you ever find a projector mount?

[dyazdani]

Danish, did you ever find a projector mount?
Yep, just about to order one, in fact.

Getting one from here. (http://www.perfectmounts.com)

[Chris D]

Good morning Fellas! Looks like another Chapter,


http://msnbcmedia2.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/070630/070630_bigCheese_hmed9p.hmedium.jpg
Looks like that sculptor there ate all his cheese shavings. :)

One thing I found interesting about Capri is that it's pronounced KA-pree, with the emphasis on the first syllable.

Doug, that's very close to the vacation that my wife and I did about 6 years ago. If nothing else, I'd just make the vacation about food. Take time to just walk through Rome and see the sights, including the ancient ruins. The Coliseum is worth it. And yes, do the Vatican.

Naples itself is a rather dirty and industrial city, but you can find nice things to see there. Me, I'd spend my time outside the city, going to Pompeii, Sorrento, and Capri. The Blue Grotto's rather interesting on Capri.

We also took a USO bus tour from Rome up to Florence. Florence wasn't bad, and it was nice to see famous stuff like the David statue. But the best part of that tour was, we stopped at this big estate, with lots and lots of garden fountains. Very beautiful.

Be alert for locals pulling little scams to get tourists' money. You'll be charged a "Coperto", or sitting fee, of about 1 Euro per person when you sit down for a meal. Every other charge on your bill should be justified. Italy, like lots of Europe, does not do tips at restaraunts. If you really want, you can round up to the next highest Euro. But I had waiters that after they gave me the bill, ("Il Conto") ignored me, trying to make me impatient and just leave a large Euro bill there without waiting for change, like Americans might just consider it a tip.

My wife and I found a gelato stand that we loved, and ended up getting it every single night before bed. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

[Dougie085]

Well aparently my wireless router is going bad. I keep disconnecting and stuff. Can't stay connected at all. I hooked up my little portable wireless router and it workes perfectly. So I'll be looking into a new router.

[Alloroc]

I wouldn't really call the coperto or cover a scam. For that you get your bread and breadsticks etc. Compared to northern europe, Italy is much cheaper to dine out so we tend not to mind. Other scams are there in practive though. Naples is indeed a bit grotty and you have to be careful there. The thing is, Naples and that whole area suffers mass unemployment and crime is rampant. It is also the only province in Italy that does not pay unemployement benefit to the unemployed so if they don't have work, they must beg borrow or steal. Please tip. It is a myth that we don't tip. We do. 10% is good. This time of year is the end of season and some places with start to close, particularly on the Amalfi Coast.

One of this things I love about the latin lifestyle is that in the evening, everyone, kids and all, comes out for a walk along the promenade or main steet for a gelato. A real family atmosphere and really nice. At home everyone comes out to get p*ssed and it's a rather ugly aspect of Irish life.

Anyway, wear comfotable shoes - there's lots of cobblestones to walk on.

This place just popped into my head that's really worth a visit - particularly to freak out the girls!

The Capuchin Bone Chapel!

http://www3.sympatico.ca/tapholov/pages/bones.html

[Lex]

interesting dining information. I thought the spagetti came with bread, no? French Bread in italy though? Or are breadsticks the Italian way? ;)

[cuda65]

Alloroc: That place looks cool. I will have to try to go there. 8O

I sent you a pm also.

Thanks again Chris for the info.

[Dougie085]

Well good news that guy paid for the speakers. Used an echeck so gotta wait for paypal to clear it.

[aud19]

Raining here too...

Yeah we have some "tropical depression" or something coming our way with winds and rain. Supposed to have heavy rain for a good week straight. Blech :confused:

MAN I wish I was going to Italy!!! :yesnod: (Jealous! :B )

Well back to work :later:

[Lex]

if only we could have heavy rain for 1 week... We are 14" behind for the year.

It did threaten early this morning, we got enough to cover the pavement, and that was it.

[aud19]

if only we could have heavy rain for 1 week... We are 14" behind for the year.

It did threaten early this morning, we got enough to cover the pavement, and that was it.

Apparently your "off" weather and my weather are due in large part to increased air pollution from India and China...

[Chris D]

You're right, Vincent--sorry, didn't mean to make it sound like the Italian sitting fee was a scam. It's standard practice, and not unreasonable I think, and covers things like the bread out on the table for everyone.

Now the tipping... you would definitely know the best, living there in Europe. But I thought it varied from country to country in Europe, and when I lived there, there was either no tip, or very small for Italy and Germany, for starters. (rounding up to next Euro/Mark/Lira) Is that not the case, though? I do remember that it was most polite to hand the tip directly to the waiter if you left one, not leave it on the table in American custom.

[dyazdani]

I went to Italy when I was younger. I also found it odd about the sitting fee. Great food though. We went to Rome, Florence, and Venice.

[dyazdani]

A guy that works for me just got an iPhone, first chance I've had to actually use one. It was pretty neat, might have to pick one up. Internet was a little slow, but I think it's just where I live.

[Alloroc]

A guy that works for me just got an iPhone, first chance I've had to actually use one. It was pretty neat, might have to pick one up. Internet was a little slow, but I think it's just where I live.

Was that via wifi or when via the carrier? It's only got edge and gprs so that worries me when it comes out over here - we don't do edge here. By

Chris, on reflection broadly you're right. It depends on the country as a lot of them include a 10 to 15% service charge and that's where you round up. It depends on the restaraunt. One always asks if not sure or it's not mentioned on the menu. If not, then tip if it is, round up or leave nothing!

Amazingly it's not rained here for about a week and the weather has been lovely, for October that is. On the down side, myself and the missus were talking auto last night given that a barrel of crude has hit the $90 mark. She's really getting concerned does not want me in the XC90 or even the new X5 that I thinking of. She's like, what about the new Saab biofuel, and to be honest, I get dizzy at the though of a Saab (GM, sorry GM owners, but they now have a lousy rep over here). On the upside, she's going home to her Mother's for the weekend so there's goona be lots of beer, rugby and playstation....

[Nick M]

iPhone for me this summer. :T

Skipped school yesterday and just crashed at home. Woke up with a 103ºF temp and went to see my doctor. After checking me out he said "Good news, I've narrowed it down to Influenza, Mononucleosis, or Lyme Disease". He took a quart of blood and told me to come back on Monday.

So I took last night off from work as well and got 13hrs of sleep. I'm feeling about 50% better, so (and I can't believe I'm saying this) I'm hoping it was just Influenza. The body aches, shakes, sweats, and nausea have passed. The only thing I'm feeling now is a very slight headache and some sensitivity to light with my eyes.

Felt bad not going up to Sarah's for dinner last night. Last weekend we bought pumpkins to carve for a pumpkin festival this weekend, we were supposed to go to a wine tasting with her boss, and then Sarah made a big pot of Beef Stew. But yesterday I could barely stand up.

So I'm going out for 5hrs today to attend two classes, and then coming back home for another 9hrs of sleep before hitting work tonight. Gonna' take it real easy this weekend. I just hope it's not Lyme disease. I hike an awful lot in the summer, so it's a distinct possibility. Mono I can deal with too... just have to squeeze in some extra sleep, cut the wine on the weekends, and eat better during the week.

Ah well... I'm off! :??

[Lex]

We got a bit of rain today finally, not a lot, but something anyway. It had not really rained here in probably at least a month. At 13" behind on rainfall, we need anything we can get.

hope you feel better Nick.

Also, my team lead is out sick today, that rarely happens. Maybe there is a big bug. I did hear about a really bad bacterial infection at a local school affecting kids. They said it would be easy for this to be spread around.

[dyazdani]

Was that via wifi or when via the carrier? It's only got edge and gprs so that worries me when it comes out over here - we don't do edge here. This was via the carrier, I would suspect that the WiFi would be fine...

[Alloroc]

Stay well Nick - bed rest is the only cure for flu.... Never heard of Lyme Disease before.

Even here, it seems that half the office is coughing and spluttering....

Today at lunch I had my first 'teach' for contacts. I had to put them in and take them out a few times by myself. Quite traumatic for me I've got to admit but it's all about practice. Any of you guys with contacts?

I reckon I'll go for laser sugery next year....

[Lex]

no glasses, no contacts here. Only one in my family that didn't wear specs.

lyme disease results from the bite of a tick typically I believe. It's very difficult to get a diagnosis they say.

I am not sure if they have a test for it, or if they just have to determine, yes, you have it from symptoms.

[Lex]

moving it up one.

[Lex]

inching closer...

[Lex]

hanging on the edge of a cliff it sits.

[dyazdani]

Flip? Still wondering if I need to pull the trigger on this...

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/ProductImageCompressAll125/89-234-025-02.jpg

[dyazdani]

I wear contacts, worst thing I've had is touching them after handling Habaneros...I found out that no matter how much you wash your hands, it just doesn't come off until a day or so goes by.

[Lex]

what is habaneros?

[dyazdani]

The hot peppers...

[cuda65]

Hope you get better soon Nick.

TGIF!

[dyazdani]

I am mad at Doug now... his computer upgrade question made me want a new PC again :M

[Alloroc]

I wear contacts, worst thing I've had is touching them after handling Habaneros...I found out that no matter how much you wash your hands, it just doesn't come off until a day or so goes by.

Ouch! Something like that happened me a few years ago. I was wearing a jacked I'd not worn in months, I took my hands out of my pocket and rubbed by eye only for the most agonising pain to shoot into it and it was heavily bloodshot. Freaked me out, freaked my wife and her mother out too.... Didn't know what it was until I found a small disintegrated packet that had some Nepalese insanity peppers in them - a buddy brought them back from Nepal and I forgot about them until I rubbed the damn things in my eye. Water is the worst thing with peppers apparently...

Anyhow, it's beer o'clock on a rather nice Friday evening. Two or three pints of the black stuff and then the train home for me....

Have a

[aud19]

"No Touch" laser eye surgery for me Vincent. Did it about 6-7 years ago one of the best things I've ever done in to improve my quality of life :T

Geeze Nick, get some rest and feel better. That two-ended candle burning's not great for the immune system... Hope it's not mono, had that 5 i'sh years ago and it was MISERABLE. Apparently it's much worse if you don't get it when your young like most do. Plus I had wisdom teeth coming in at the same time I had it. didn't get more that an hour sleep for about three days at one point it was so bad. Plus with the infection they couldn't remove the teeth so I still had to get them out a month later. NOT FUN :evil:

:later:

[Lex]

ok, an interesting thought. Vincent, it was great to read how good a care you take of yourself with natural foods and all, and it was a passionately put together post, which quickly got swept into the end of the last chapter. However, that said, is drinking not just as bad or worse than these food additives in a way? Playing devil's advocate.

none of us are perfect, true enough, but then to follow fantastic diet and exercise even with drinking at the pub, it just seems a bit of a contradiction.

I'll note that while my diet is not perfect, I have not touched a drop of alcohol in several years. Actually, if If I have drank at all since I quit smoking in 04, I can't recall it.

Actually, as a blessing I guess, I overdid in high school and a few years after that, and learned that alcohol and me just didn't mix really well. Of course, I was not supposed to be drinking in high school. lol. I did go through a white wine phase after those years, but typically I could do a half bottle of wine and be just fine, not overdoing. Mostly that was as a married guy, with my X over 14 years ago. Sadly, as I understand she's going through some things now. I hope she gets a hold.

[RobP]

I wear contacts, worst thing I've had is touching them after handling Habaneros...I found out that no matter how much you wash your hands, it just doesn't come off until a day or so goes by.



OUCH!!!! 8O , that has to hurt....

[RobP]

Hope you get feeling better Nick, sounds like the Flu....

[Paul Wu]

Nick: Get well soon. Of those choices, I'm routing for the flu, as weird as that sounds.

Vincent: I had contacts once. But I never really took to them. They were really for dancing and my first attempt to put them on took about 3 hours, seriously. And that was part of my first date with my wife. It got better where it would only take about 5-15 minutes. I just couldn't get used to sticking something in my eye. I'm still a glasses person and like the protection of glasses. I'm not sure if I would ever do laser surgery.

As to the theme of Cheese, here is the Top Gear news with some comparions to cheese, it's about 1 min into the clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwNHF4cgLv8

I'm still burning the candle at both ends. Some serious deadlines and really no staff to do what needs to be done. I will either have a big OT payout or a big unused days carry forward to the next year.

I'm going to be skipping my 20 year high school reunion. High school wasn't the best of times, but I did have some decent memories. I'm actually curious to see how everybody did. :) I think I've done pretty well. Oh well, there's always facebook.

[Lex]

I bet nobody at your HSR has more high resolution monitors than ou do Paul!

[aud19]

... that said, is drinking not just as bad or worse than these food additives in a way? Playing devil's advocate..

Actually having a pint or glass of wine or two a day is quite healthy for you and even recommended by Dr.'s. But yes drinking to excess, like anything else in excess, is unhealthy. So feel free to lift a glass ;) Regardless though even if you do sometimes drink in excess I'd say your better off eating healthy still. The more healthy things you do the better I'd say. Not much logic in saying while if your not going to be ENTIRELY healthy, there's no sense in being healthy at, all is there? ;)

[Dougie085]

I'd like to try some wines. The only wine I've ever tried is some cheap crap my grandma gave me when I was 10 and it was horrible. But there are so many different wines when you walk into the liqour store I wouldn't know what to get. That place is quite intemidating.

[aud19]

Had some good, dry italian red on turkey-day :T...wish I could remember the name :confused:

[Lex]

I used to drink some fine German wines, Typically Spatlese, but also some Reisling. This was before California made as many nice wines as they do today. But I liked a good white wine. Never really gave the reds a chance, but I am sure they are good.

If I drank today, it would likely be a nice wine. I still enjoy it, I just haven't really had a reason to drink much. If I had date night going and she enjoyed it, then I'd probably have a couple of glasses. But I don't drink just to get drunk now, and beer I could always take or leave prettymuch. Setting the right example for my daughter was important to me as well.

[aud19]

and beer I could always take or leave prettymuch.

I'd "leave" most American beer too :p: :lol:

I enjoy Reisling for white wine too :T Now if I could just get more of you in to scotch:T :drool: :yesnod:

[aud19]

Just got my new desk chair for work!! SOOOOOO comfy :banana:

[RobP]

I was never much of a wine person myself, for some reason I couldn't get past the sweet taste of what I had tried, about a month ago I was at a party and tried a glass of Merlot, I forget the brand, but I really liked it.
As far as if it is good for you or not, who really knows? Ill take my chances, and have a great time doing it..... :^x

[Dougie085]

I've never tried a beer I liked. I like a lot of flavored drinks and people say they are girls drinks but I don't understand the reason in drinking something that you don't enjoy the taste of? I'm not a drink to get drunk person either.

[Paul Wu]

Wine is highly subjective. I remember the first time I tried some and it was terrible. I then had a glass on a trip and that particular bottle was amazing. It changed my whole outlook on wine. It is really hard to determine as last weekend there were 3 kinds of red and I preferred the two that I had before and after dinner to the one that was served at dinner. Somebodyelse was the exact opposite. So who knows.

Oh and I got myself a new wireless mouse yesterday. The Logitech Revolution:

http://www.logitech.com/repository/173/jpg/1501.1.0.jpg (http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/130&cl=ca,en)

http://www.logitech.com/repository/173/jpg/1504.1.0.jpg

http://www.logitech.com/repository/173/jpg/1503.1.0.jpg

I'm really liking it! It comes with it's own recharging stand, so no more dead batteries.

I bet nobody at your HSR has more high resolution monitors than ou do Paul!

Probably true, or has gone through as many! I am already thinking of adding another 20" and dumping the old 17" I was saving for my secondary monitor. :B I need a new PC first!

Oh, I really love those emails that say, "Can you see if we can realistacally move up that timeline?"

Coupled with the usual, I need this cheque(check) right away.

Bonus, big fat Bonus! That's all I am repeating in my head.

Looking to book a cruise next May! Not too sure where as my wife saw some pictures from a friends vacation down to Cancun! She loved the water! This is a huge shift as she really doesn't like the sun, so I'm going with the flow and have some dates on when I can take time off.

Dougie085: I'm with you there. There are some beers that I do enjoy the taste, but there are a lot of those other flaavoured drinks that I probably enjoy more. I like the Smirnoff Ice and try to keep a few in my fridge.

Oh and apparently my liver isn't too good at the moment, so I have to lay off the booze. Which really sucks when I'm stressed like this. Although there is a direct correlation to my stress level and the increased amount of drinks over the past few years. So I used to be an occasional special event drinker, to more of a one to two a week. So not like I'm a boozer, but all in moderation.

Well that's enough about me.

[Dougie085]

I'll have to get some suggestions sometime and pick up a bottle. I deffinately enjoy the fruity and sweet stuff more then bitter.

On another note this router thing is really ticking me off because right now I'm using this portable linksys wireless router and its just garbage. Linksys has really gone down hill in the past years. I think their last good router was the WRT54GS their new stuff just sucks. I think I'm going to pick up a D-Link DIR-665 Extreme N router. Out of all the current N routers that are out this one seems to have the most positive reviews and its cheaper then the others! Amazon has it for 119.


http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-DIR-655-Extreme-Wireless-Router/dp/B000LIFB7S/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1_s9_rk/002-0886298-1512817?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&s9r=8a5801be10b5282c0110bff76d2a00ff&itemPosition=1&qid=1192808066&sr=8-1

[aud19]

I've never tried a beer I liked. I like a lot of flavored drinks and people say they are girls drinks but I don't understand the reason in drinking something that you don't enjoy the taste of? I'm not a drink to get drunk person either.

I'm the exact opposite. I hate all those girly ( :p: ) drinks...WAAAAY too sweet for me. I'll take a nice whiskey/scotch, beer, dry wine etc. If I have to drink something "girly" with juice for instance it has to be a tart juice (cran, lemon, lime etc). I guess I'm sweet enough already :B

[Paul Wu]

I'm the exact opposite. I hate all those girly ( :p: ) drinks...WAAAAY too sweet for me. I'll take a nice whiskey/scotch, beer, dry wine etc. If I have to drink something "girly" with juice for instance it has to be a tart juice (cran, lemon, lime etc). I guess I'm sweet enough already :B

Oh, I think I had my first glass of scotch last weekend as well as a glass of borbon. Wasn't too fond of the borbon bot the scotch wasn't too bad. I'm more of a cognac man, that's all my dad drank, so I've developed a taste for it.

[aud19]

How cool would this be!!!? :banana:

Cool Roller suit!
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1772849

[Alloroc]

ok, an interesting thought. Vincent, it was great to read how good a care you take of yourself with natural foods and all, and it was a passionately put together post, which quickly got swept into the end of the last chapter. However, that said, is drinking not just as bad or worse than these food additives in a way? Playing devil's advocate.

none of us are perfect, true enough, but then to follow fantastic diet and exercise even with drinking at the pub, it just seems a bit of a contradiction.

I'll note that while my diet is not perfect, I have not touched a drop of alcohol in several years. Actually, if If I have drank at all since I quit smoking in 04, I can't recall it.

Actually, as a blessing I guess, I overdid in high school and a few years after that, and learned that alcohol and me just didn't mix really well. Of course, I was not supposed to be drinking in high school. lol. I did go through a white wine phase after those years, but typically I could do a half bottle of wine and be just fine, not overdoing. Mostly that was as a married guy, with my X over 14 years ago. Sadly, as I understand she's going through some things now. I hope she gets a hold.

Well isn't life full of contradictions! ;)

That said, I'm not sure I truly get your point. My point is that I despise processed foods made with myriad chemical additives and are over packaged, under nourished and taste crap (real food is the benchmark). I also hate the way industral farming and multinational supermarket companies produce this crap without a care in the world.

I drink good wine and irish stout beer in limited quantities and very much enjoy both. They're also both made with the most basic of ingredients and the process to make is quite simple and no chemical additives are really involved, mostly. Guinness is water, hops, yeast and barley. That's it. I'm not into distilled spirits but have been know to have a cocktail one in a while.

Now, I'm not a health nut. I love fatty foods like cheese, steak, fois gras and so on. But I do believe that what I eat should be as good as it can be and I want it cooked so it tastes like it's meant to.

If I eat too much cheese, I'll look like that dude that ate that big cheezy Mt. Rushmore into exisitence and my heart will explode before I hit 40. If I drink my body weight in beer or wine on a regulay basis I'll die much earlier than I should too. But I don't, so it's all good and it's there to be enjoyed in moderation. No contradiction there!

By the way, my three pints of the black stuff were delicious!

[dyazdani]

I live in a dry county but even the nearest selling store has only American beer (mostly). There's a place (two now actually) down in LA that I get most stuff. They've got a nice wine shop/gourmet food/beer store. I like Guiness, Mackeson's, Samuel Smith, and Hoegarten the best.

[Lex]

I like to stir things up now and again, it was just an observation that you seem to drink fairly free, I am not judging you, just making a comment about your stringent diet, but then following with alcohol. I just didn't understand maybe...

got pissed off at a guy on a photo forum, I was thinking about buying a old edition of photoshop creative suite for apple, in case I get an apple, first it sold in 3 minutes, then the guy backed out, supposedly I was second in line, and the guy can't even wait til I come online before he sells it out from under me when the first guy mistakedly bought it thinking it was PC compatible, not apple. Ironically, I knew better than to even begin to get involved with this guy, as he'd screwed me over before. Well, at least his methods, that's what got me. I bought a used compact flash card from him, and I was disatisfied with it. I get a 3 paragraphy justification about how great they are, but no offer to take it back. Most guys would have said if you are not happy just send it back, it's the honorable system. Then I offered him a lens for sale, a day later he buys the same lens from someone else, this really pissed me off. Now the guy I bought it from wound up buying it back so I wasn't hurting, but the method this guy used really sucked.

This time, I told him that's it. I'm done with him. No more. If he can't even wait 3 hours before going back on his word that I was second on this package.

[Chris D]

Nick, very sorry to hear you're sick! Get better!

I haven't unpacked my wine collection yet. Have a ways to go before I get there and stock the wine cellar.

Woke up this morning with HEAVY snowfall at my house. Really had to take it slow--big, fat snowflakes. But 5 miles away from my house, it was completely dry. Weird.

Man, that roller suit was crazy! I noticed the description, though, "the best thing about this video is how safe it is!" Uhhhh.... don't know about that. No headlights through a dark tunnel, no brakes... notice how hard a time he has slowing down for a motorcyle in front of him, much less an accident, or if somebody pulled out in front of him.

[Alloroc]

I like to stir things up now and again, it was just an observation that you seem to drink fairly free, I am not judging you, just making a comment about your stringent diet, but then following with alcohol. I just didn't understand maybe...



Nah, it's all cool. But you do know where I'm from!? Alcohol is an integral part of Irish and European culture. I know that there is a very different attitude to booze in the US in many quarters. Maybe it dates back to the Mayflower and all the puritans left here for there.... ;) ;) ;) , nah, just stirring it up a bit myself!

Anyway. I'm out for dinner with some buddies after a game of golf today. I'm driving so no beer for me! I'm playing the K Club - It's only 10 miles from my house and I do love that course.

[Lex]

Yeah, I guess irish pubs are as much a part of your society's fabric as anything.

actually my personal issues with drinking regular? There's several, including my parents drinking while I was growing up. That ended eventually, but it left a mark while I was at a impressionable age. Oh, it wasn't obvious, but I know it existed.


enjoy the golf. Sounds like a great day.

[dyazdani]

one...

[dyazdani]

two...

[dyazdani]

three...

[dyazdani]

Flip

For Vincent
http://www.royalmougins.fr/img/commun/terrain_golf.jpg

[Lex]

beautiful hole.

[Alloroc]

Just back from the round for a quick shower and out again... Scored 81.

That's Royal Mougins on the South of France! I got a brochure in from them abour real estate last month! Nice!

[Dougie085]

Alrighty then...

[Chris D]

Huh? I missed something here...

[Lex]

no, you missed nothing Chris.

[aud19]

Man, that roller suit was crazy! I noticed the description, though, "the best thing about this video is how safe it is!"

Pretty sure that was sarcasm Chris ;) :lol:

beautiful hole.

I didn't think we were aloud to post THOSE kind of pics here 8O ...

:rofl: :rofl: :B :p:

Well had a GREAT dinner last night for my mom's bday. Made home made 'pasgetti and meatballs with a bit of a kick of spice, a DELICOUS salad and an even better multigrain loaf of garlic bread using roasted garlic and onion. MAN was that good!! :P Mom seemed pretty happy too, so :T

Not bad for a guy who went to bed around 5am (going away party for my Irish friends), was up at 9am and cooked all day :lol: Slept in this morning though! :T

:later:

[Chris D]

Pretty sure that was sarcasm Chris ;) :lol:

Ah... that's me, I guess... Mr. Observative... :)

Writing a final exam essay today. :(

[Chris D]

Yikes, slow day here in HB. Looks like I'm the only one in here today, probably just because I'm tied to the computer typing up my essay. Grrrrrrr.... halfway done with a 2000 word essay, but still working.

Wow, how about those Sox? Came back to win game 7, and win pretty big. So we'll have a Sox-Rox World Series, starting Wed. I'm from Colorado originally, so this is pretty cool, but I'm not a die-hard Rockies fan, so this will be a fun series to watch regardless of what happens.

Broncos also had a pretty big win today, although the score was pretty close.

[Paul Wu]

Chris: Don't forget to ensure that autosave is on! I'll be a Rockies fan as there's a local boy as a starting pitcher in game 1.

I'm tied to the work machine tackling the mound of paper and did some resource planning. I've worked out that there is basically 44 'working' days left this year. From Oct 22 - Dec 21. Of those working days I plan on taking at least 10 of those days 'off', 6 days are out of town actual vacation, and 4 are in town seminars. So that leaves only 34 working days. I figure there is at least 50 "working" days of priortity items that need to be compled by the end of the year. A more realistic number is closer to 85 days.

I have also worked out that I have 49 calendar days left this year. So even though I will be packing on the hours, there is little chance of hitting our target. Plus I haven't budgeted any real admin and supervision time.

I need a drink.

[Alloroc]

Yesterday was a slow day for me too. R&R really. With D away, I had a friend over and we played a lot of PS3 and watched a movie - LOTR - ROTK. Amazingly, he'd not seen it. Anyway, it was good fun.

Made some unbelievably unhealthy popcorn to go with it. Well, the popcorn (fresh) was healthy but melted butter and parmesan makes an amazingly sticky, tasty gloop to pour over popcorn and damn well tastes good, but it's a once a year kind of thing to do!

[dyazdani]

That popcorn sounds good, I'll have to make some when I watch Transformers. I have a few bags of gourmet popcorn from some Amish community. It's great stuff.

I bought an iPhone today for my wife as a suprise. Should be here this week sometime. I may wait a little while to activate it, I think we'll upgrade her phone first.

[Alloroc]

I have a few bags of gourmet popcorn from some Amish community. It's great stuff.


Gourmet popcorn? How does that work?

Is it like this? - I remember I got a box of 'popcorn on the cob' at a fancy foodstore - it was from the US. It was a smallish cob with the dried kernels still stuck to it. Taste was OK, not as good as making it fresh in a big pot - it was nuked but no added flavours. Looked really interesting though.

[aud19]

Chris:I'll be a Rockies fan as there's a local boy as a starting pitcher in game 1.

Yup a nice young man from my little home town of North Delta :T I'm sure Nick's happy about the Sox though :lol:

My Canucks won last night too so seems we're all happy in sports-land today :T Hopefully they can continue that trend (and bring it back home! :evil: )

That does not sound like a happy work schedule Paul :confused: :nonod:

That does sound good vincent but I'm a popcorn purist a little melted (REAL) butter and a very light touch of salt for me.

Yeah I may have to break down and actually buy Transformers....we'll see...

[Dougie085]

It looks great on HD-DVD watched it twice already lol not to mention the time in the theaters.

[Paul Wu]

I can't wait to watch Transformers. Saw most of it in the theater. When the the last 20 min, during the big final battle, the power went out! So I'm still in the dark as to the ending.

Schedule sucks. There may be some hope yet. We'll see.

[dyazdani]

I haven't watched Transformers yet. I never got around to it in the theater. I bought the DVD last Tuesday, but haven't had time for it either...

[RobP]

I hope to see Transformers this weekend, my wife picked it up last week just have not had the chance to watch it yet. Instead of watching a movie at home this saturday we took my daughter and several of her friends to see Nightmare Before Christmas 3D instead.


We lost our power last night around 1:30 or so and it didn't come back on until 5:00 this morning, its been a long day :tired:, its amazing how you get used to certain things and don't notice it until you are without them, I always have a ceiling fan going at night, without it on I couldn't fall asleep, it was way to quiet for me......


lately I have been trying different spice mixes on popcorn when I make it, garlic and Parmesan herb, some cajun style spice mix, and some others. Some were fairly tasty, others......not so good... :lol: I think that I am going to have to find a different packet mix for my popper, its really salty..


If you guys ever want to try some really great gourmet popcorn this place has some great flavors, nice for a holiday or a gift, its kind of expensive, but it is really good.

http://www.daleandthomaspopcorn.com/

[Kevin P]

Hey guys!!!! :later:

I know I've been scarce around here the past few weeks, but I finished up the project that has kept me away from the Guide. That project is my 2007 Halloween CD.

Here's some MP3 clips of what I created:

Haunted Graveyard (1 minute clip) (http://www.patzcatz.com/halloween/Graveyard Clip.mp3)

Haunted House (1 minute clip) (http://www.patzcatz.com/halloween/Haunted House Clip.mp3)

Mad Scientist's Laboratory (1 minute clip) (http://www.patzcatz.com/halloween/Laboratory Clip.mp3)

And the part that is so cool that I couldn't simply snip out a 1 minute clip of, so I created a 5 minute edit:

Alien Abduction (edit) (http://www.patzcatz.com/halloween/Alien Abduction edit.mp3)

Now I can scare all the little kiddies on Halloween and keep the candy for myself! :eating: :lol: just kidding. ;)

So what's been happening on here? I see we started a new chapter. I'll have to get caught up.

And in other excitement, how about those Red Sox! 2nd World Series in 4 years. And they seem to be famous for the 3-game deficit comeback. And also, some excitement in my own backyard so to speak. Ty and the rest of the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition are rebuilding a house right here in Manchester this week! I'll have to find out when that episode airs for sure.

Oh well, I'll be receding back into the ether, but I hope to be posting on a regular basis here again!

[Nick M]

I haven't seen Transformers yet... someday.

Still feeling tired and a little sensitive to light.
Slept a whole bunch (as much as possible that is) and pounded the water, juice, tea, and propel. Got the tests back today... no lyme disease, and no mono... thank gosh. He prescribed me some "general" antibiotics and I'm supposed to go back later this week for another mono test since the first one was "early" and might not have been valid. I'm definitely fighting something though... I get tired after doing very little.

Managed to crank out close to 300 derivatives last weekend. Need to do more tonight, as well as read a couple chapters in Physics and complete a take-home quiz. Need to write some VB code as well before tomorrow.

RED SOX ARE IN THE WORLD SERIES AGAIN BABY! :banana:

Went to Pumpkin Fest on Saturday with Sarah for a while, and then to her parents house with her sister and brother in law for dinner and a bunch of board games on Sunday.

By the way, that glowing wall is a massive tower of jack-o-lanterns (one of three). They shut off all of downtown Keene, erect those three towers (and countless benches), then peoples bring in jack-o-lanterns. They usually have 25-30k of the suckers. It's amazing at night when they're all lit up. The next morning/day they all get cleared out and brought to pig farms.
http://www.pumpkinfestival.org/photos07/photos07013.jpg

I'm off to pass out for awhile before work.
Have a goodun'!

[RobP]

Those clips are pretty cool Kevin, They remind me of a halloween album I had when I was a kid.

http://dianepernet.typepad.com/diane/images/od_lpcover.jpg


What other goodies do you have cooked up for Halloween?

My daughter is having a Halloween party this weekend in our back yard if the weather permits, I am planning on building a chiller this week for my fog machine so the fog stays on the ground, I also have a ghost that flys back and forth on a cable between two trees. I wish i had more time, I would really like to do some more elaborate stuff.

[aud19]

All I've got time for is carving a pumpkin at work and handing out candy...lol

Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker....Just make sure your only handing that out to grown up girls in costumes :lol:

[aud19]

Anyone had experience recently with WD drives? I had some bad luck in the past but the Seagate drive I want is not in stock and the WD equivalent had good specs, reviews and a 5 year warranty....

http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=331

[Kevin P]

I'm partial to Samsung drives personally. They're dead quiet and reliable.

[Dougie085]

I've used many WD drives but my current is a Seagate I believe. Or it may be WD.....hmm I've never had a problem with WD drives though.

[Lex]

Busy 2 days in the mountains. Sunday I can't say was overly productive, though I did see something I hadn't seen before, 2 bucks tilting. I was to far away for great pictures unfortunately. It was that kind of day. Today, wasn't a wildlife day at all, but it was a creative fall color day I think. I got tired of post processing after a couple of hours of it, my day started very early. I went up for sunrise, then the sun didn't rise, oh well, I came away with a few prizes maybe...

Here's a taste, if you don't like fog shots, you probably won't like.

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/211753741-XL.jpg

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/211753929-XL.jpg

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/211754510-XL.jpg

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/211755304-XL.jpg

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/211755084-XL.jpg

[Lex]

and a bit less foggy... I see some sensor dust to clean up yet, sigh... well anyway, here they are.

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/211753830-XL.jpg

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/211754051-XL.jpg

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/211754836-XL.jpg

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/211755192-XL.jpg

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/211755428-XL.jpg

[dyazdani]

I've got 2 WD drives, never had any problems with either...

[Chris D]

Here's the popcorn machine that I own. Makes some YUMMY, YUMMY stuff.

http://www.paragonpopcornmachine.com/tp-4group.jpg

Nick, I had mono when I graduated high school. Wasn't too bad. Hope we figure out what's going on, though, and that you get better!

I went and picked up my new A35 HD-DVD player that just came in. So I'm watching Transformers now in all 1080p 24 Hz glory.

Gotta go to bed soon, though. Only got 45 minutes of sleep last night after finishing my paper. Gotta catch up.

[Dougie085]

I picked up a new router today. I was looking for this Dlink Gaming router as it has some amazing range but noone had it so I got a Dlink DIR-655 802.11n router with the 3 antenna's. It's quite nice actually. When we move into a bigger place I'm going to get a nicer antenna for it for better coverage but it has some really nice features.

http://69.89.21.78:2082/viewer/home%2fphotodou%2fpublic_html/DIR-655.jpg

This is my fav feature though I have not tested it with my vonage service.

WHY INTELLIGENT QoS IS BETTER
With some routers, all wired and wireless traffic, including VoIP, Video Streaming, Online Gaming, and Web browsing are mixed together into a single data stream. By handling data this way, applications like video streaming could pause or delay. With D-Link’s Intelligent QoS Technology, wired and wireless traffic is analyzed and separated into multiple data streams. These streams are then categorized by sensitivity to delay, so applications like VoIP, Video Streaming, and Online Gaming are given priority over Web browsing. This enables multiple applications to stream smoothly to your TV or PC.

If this works as they describe it will be great for us because when I'm downloading a large file thats maxing out our bandwidth its impossible to use our phone.

[Alloroc]

Anyone had experience recently with WD drives? I had some bad luck in the past but the Seagate drive I want is not in stock and the WD equivalent had good specs, reviews and a 5 year warranty....

http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=331


Might be able to help out here on the Seagate side.

One of my deparments manages about 120 or so sites with a w2k3 sever implementation. For home countries (Ireland, UK, USA) we use HP Proliant servers - enterprise grade. However, overseas we'll never get support for a proliant so we build our servers on high end HP PCs. We have mirrored SATA drives in caddies hooked up to a quality promise array controller. Up until nine months ago we had standardised on Maxtors but the failure rate was so high, we have to rebuild over 300 servers on Seagate Barracudas. Not an issue since. Over 60% failed over their life and within that percentage, 50% failed within 3 months of installation. Now, I'll be the first to say our offices are in some fairly harsh and austere places that's pretty tough for a human to survive let alone a server but that failure rate really shocked me. As I said, not one barracuda failure out there so far.

I've WD in my Dell at home and no probs in three years.

Doug : amazing pics - the winding road in particular....

Chris : You never cease to amaze me with the cool and funky things in your house...! That's a cool popcorn maker...

Dougie : QoS is essential for stable VoIP and video conferencing. I recently implemented it between our offices as we recently deployed a Nortel VoIP solution and a Polycom VC system. Funky stuff. The H323 protocol works particularly better with QoS.

And as for Halloween, we'll it's much the same over here - with trick or treat and the party. Do you guys do a bonfire? We do. Always did in fact. In Gaelic it's called 'Oíche Shamhna' (pronounced ee-ha howna'). For us it was a feast with when the dead revisited the mortal world, and big bonfires would be lit to ward off evil spirits. One would also dress up in ghoulish gear to camouflage yourself in case you came accross the dead. Later on, the kids would visit neighbours to collect fruit and nuts and other treats for the party. Other traditions was the meal - colcannon (potatoes with bits of bacon and chopped kale or cabbage) there was usually a coin placed in the pot and whoever got the coin would have good fortune that year. We still do this. As a kid, after dinner we'd have barmbrack - a fruit cake. The thing with this was in the brack you'd find different items. They were: a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a small coin and a ring. Each item, when received in the slice, was supposed to carry a meaning to the person concerned: the pea, the person would not marry that year; the stick, "to beat one's wife with", would have an unhappy marriage or continually be in disputes; the cloth or rag, would have bad luck or be poor; the coin, would enjoy good fortune or be rich; and the ring, would be married within the year. Nowadays you'll only get a ring in the brack. The innocense of it all, although growing up it had moved from a native tradition to an event for kids. I remeber as a kid seeing this thing scream accross the sky on ehalloween and my dad told me it was the Banshee (fairy woman). It was obviously a firework, but even to this day I can distinctly remember the banshee flying accross the sky!

It's still a public holiday for us though and we will get the last Monday in October off to reflect it.

Anyhow, I love Halloween!

[dyazdani]

Setup

[Kevin P]

Mornin' folks...

Dougie, I had to edit out your router image because the link was throwing up a login (user/password) prompt when viewing this thread.

I don't have much experience with WD drives but they seem decent (I just checked, my work PC has a WD). Noisy drives are a pet peeve of mine so I tend to favor Samsung and Seagate, though the WD in my work PC is quiet too. I avoid Maxtor like the plague, their drives are crappy.

[Kevin D]

1...

[Kevin D]

2....

[Kevin D]

Flip! Speaking of flips, isn't about time for some flip status reports from the last round? I think I did pretty well..


So it's getting close to shop time!

http://www.datasync.com/~firebird/IMG_2608.JPG

http://www.datasync.com/~firebird/IMG_2609.JPG

Going with a 50'x30' truss-less barn. Three roll-up doors and a walk-in. Should be plenty of space for my parts cars.

Kevin D.

[Kevin P]

Oh, flip stats! I forgot to do the flip stats! :E

I'll have to see if I can get them up today without having to pull a database backup...

EDIT: Stats are updated!

[Paul Wu]

Ugh, I'm using an excel template and the dates are screwing up. Some basic ability to actually show the start and end dates would be nice. Well just found a free project managment software, so I'm going to give that one a try.

There are these multiple projects and overlapping timelines that I need to visually display. This is so that some people can truely grasp the situation. When you just look at one particular task, it sounds like, yeah we can just knock that off in a couple of days. Well what happens when you have a bunch of 'we can knock that off in a couple of days' tasks running concurrently?

We'll I have my new computer order in. So I should be setup in a couple of weeks. Soon I'll have my dual monitor setup. :) I just have to find some desk space.

Oh, an informal review this Friday.

I had my desk somewhat cleaned up on Monday morning, and now it has little piles of paper. Jesh, where does it all come from?

Missed my High School Reunion. Though I did hear one tidbit about a jerk back then is still pretty much the same jerk.

Well back to the grind.

Lex: Don't know what you mean about sensor dust, I don't notice anything. Great pics!

[Alloroc]

So, Dumbedore is gay. Kind of a wierd thing to 'come out' with, with the movies not yet complete and all that. There is bound to be some controversy in certain quarters.

http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2007/10/dumbledore-crui.html

It's funny how one further visualises a character from a book once a movie has been made. It sort of helps make the character all the more real and tangible. I can't really see the great Limerick man Richard Harris as a gay Dumbledore or Michael Gambon for that matter either. Wonder what he'll think. There was this funny quote from him - he once said, "I used to be gay but I gave it up as it made my eyes water" ;) .

[aud19]

I don't have much experience with WD drives but they seem decent (I just checked, my work PC has a WD). Noisy drives are a pet peeve of mine so I tend to favor Samsung and Seagate, though the WD in my work PC is quiet too. I avoid Maxtor like the plague, their drives are crappy.

Yeah i like Samsung's as well but they don't have an equivalent "Server Grade" model (they're for a NAS) like Seagate/WD with the better specs and long warranty plus their 500Gb model isn't in stock either! Eesh! They are cheaper though :lol:

Thanks Vincent, I try to stick with Samsung or Seagate on desktop systems (stock/pricing dependant) but as neither has stock of the 500Gb models it looks like WD my only route. Pleasantly Newegg reviews seem to have them as being quieter, cooler and generally better than the Seagate anyway :D

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822136143

That whole Dumbedore is gay thing is pretty funny, as though the nutjobs of the religious SUPER-right didn't have enough problems with Harry Potter and the witchcraft etc eh? :lol:

Pretty shots again Doug :T

Oooh a car-barn, can't wait to see pics of the progress Kevin :T

[aud19]

Just found out I'm getting my new PC for work :banana:

Dual 2.0Ghz Opteron Dual Core Processors, Dual, raided 10K-RPM 36GB WD Raptors, 2GB DDR2 ECC RAM.... YAHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! :party:

[Paul Wu]

All Right! :banana: New PC's for everybody!

I'm only getting a Core2Duo 2.33Ghz, a single 10K 80G HD and 2G ram and an ATI 256M dual DVI video card.

I'm a bit peeved as our IT company asked about the Laptop configuration I speced out. I basically sent them the shopping cart with the model info, I mean how hard is it to look it up on the Lenovo website, or even call them? Shesh.

[dyazdani]

Kev, those sound clips were pretty cool - finally got a chance to listen.

[dyazdani]

That is sad, I had the most flips and I haven't really been around much :huh:

[Chris D]

All Right! :banana: New PC's for everybody!

Really? Where do I sign up?

Yikes, it was one of those days. Worked about 14 hours today. Our commander and DO (second in command) were out flying, so I was running the whole thing. Had some piss-ant Captain question some decisions we were making today, which really pissed me off. She likes to have things her way, and tries to tell everybody what to do, including those who outrank her.

Then came home, and got bit@#$ at by the wife as soon as I walk in the door. :roll: Nice.

Flying tomorrow to South Carolina for a few days.

Going to go play with the new HD-DVD player.

(oh, and here's an E-mail that I got today)

NOTIFICATION OF BEQUEST

On behalf of the Trustees and Executors of late George Brumley, I wish to notify you that late Dr. George Brumley made you one of the beneficiaries of his estate.

Seelink:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/07/20/kenya.crash/index.html

Please If I reach you as I am hopeful, endeavor to get back to me as soon as possible so we can start processing the release of the funds to you.
You are to reply me immediately providing the following information:

1.Your Full names.
2.Valid Contact address.
3.Contact Telephone and fax numbers.

Regards,

Dr. Robert Fore(ESQ).
14 York Road,Ilford Essex,
IG1 3AD London, England.

PS : For the purpose of confidentiality please contact me through my personal email: trusteeslaw111@sify.com

[Chris D]

Oh, yes... and how about those California fires? My sister's in San Diego, and she's evacuating.

[Alloroc]

Kev, those sound clips were pretty cool - finally got a chance to listen.

Me too... The graveyard one will make a funky halloween ringtone for my phone too....

Oh forgot to tell you I went to the Ray Lamontagne concert in Dublin last night. It was a great gig. He's a quiet sort of a chap and doesn't really say much but his music is great and sounded great too in the the Olympia (a grand old Victorian theatre). Probably one of my favourite American musicians right now...

[RobP]

Good morning Gents.

Chris, congrats on your inheritance. :W ...

I hope everything works out well for your sister, she lives in La Jolla right?

[dyazdani]

So it's getting close to shop time!
Aren't your cars going to get muddy :lol:

Looking forward to the construction pics...

[Paul Wu]

The PC deal is the same as the Bonus deal. :)

Just curious, I know the military has been moving towards a more progressive managment system, but isn't the concept of rank still paramount? I'd love to say to some people, that's an order and quit your whining. Oh well in every organization there will always be something.

I grabbed a free project managment software yesterday to quickly map out the tasks. First run through there were several weeks at over 600% time allocation. That's not good. So today will be some serious prioritizing. That is if nothing else comes up.

We're expecting a visitor today. Don't know when. So that messes up the day a bit, plus I got an email late last night that I have to clear up. Not too sure what it means, worst case is that a dead line moves up 2 weeks. Ugh.

On a good note, had a very nice sleep last night. Mark Cuban's gone from Dancing with the stars. Now we are down to those that can actually dance. It will be a tough going for the rest, Jane Seymour, Marie Osmond, Jennie Garth, Cameron Mathison, Mel B, Helio Castroneves, and Sabrina Bryan. I think the final two should be Helio and Sabrina, but Mel B and Jennie Garth are catching up. In the end Sabrina should take it.

[Dougie085]

Speaking of the bonus deal Paul I have not recieved mine yet whats the deal? :B

[Lex]

I'm not here.

[aud19]

All Right! :banana: New PC's for everybody!

I'm SOOOOOOOOOOO excited!! I finally get a bona fide workstation!! I can't wait to see what TWO dual core 2Ghz CPU's can do!! I was pretty surprised to, It's not even THAT expensive of a system :B

:later:

[Dougie085]

Yeah high grade computer parts are really coming down in cost.

[RobP]

I'm not here.

I was wondering why I didn't see you

[RobP]

I could use a nice computer upgrade, I would settle for a nice wide screen monitor though. My daughter has been wanting a Mac for sometime now, so I think I may get her one for Xmas, maybe Ill sneek in some goodies for myself :twisted: .

[Dougie085]

The new iMacs are really nice. I'm going to try and get one for Diana for christmas although we have 5 computers right now 3 laptops and 2 desktops. The slowest one is her old laptop and all we use that for is movies for reilly when he wants to watch a movie. Honestly none of them are THAT slow.

[aud19]

The new iMacs are really nice.

For the price of an iMac you could get a nice workstation :B :lol:

[Dougie085]

But that workstation is nowhere near as sexy as an iMac sorry ;)

[aud19]

But that workstation is nowhere near as sexy as an iMac sorry ;)

Substance over style :p:

[RobP]

But that workstation is nowhere near as sexy as an iMac sorry ;)

Sexy is only good if you can........well...........you know........ :lol:

[aud19]

Sexy is only good if you can........well...........you know........ :lol:

and I ain't doing THAT with my computer :rofl:

[Dougie085]

Ordered a new router today. DeWalt DW621, ordered a chassis I found on ebay for an amp. Also got the rest of the parts for the speakers I'm building.

http://www.dewalt.com//ProductImages/PC_Graphics/PHOTOS/DEWALT/TOOLS/LARGE/6/DW621_1.jpg

[aud19]

Looks nice Dougie :T DeWalt makes good stuff ;)

[Dougie085]

Yeah I was going to order a Hitatchi KM12VC kit that has fixed and plunge base. But then decided I wanted something with good dust collection and this is the best I'm told.

[Lex]

Thank god, we finally got some rain, and the mountain streams wear roaring today! Yes!

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/212585330-X2.jpg

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/212585389-X2.jpg

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/212585350-X2.jpg

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/212585309-X2.jpg

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/212585213-X2.jpg

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/212573118-X2.jpg

[dyazdani]

Dust collection is very nice, wish mine had something a bit better in that area!

[dyazdani]

Setup...

[Paul Wu]

Meah,

[Paul Wu]

Moving along

[Paul Wu]

Gotta get my one flip!

It would be a shame to leaves these on the last page.

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/212585330-X2.jpg

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/212585389-X2.jpg

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/212585350-X2.jpg

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/212585309-X2.jpg

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/212585213-X2.jpg

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/212573118-X2.jpg

[Lex]

Thanks Paul, and I get's it! Leaves them, ha. It's like I told a lady yesterday focused on shooting rocks on a cliff. I said, yeah, rocks are hard to shoot...

[Lex]

Sadly, I was not in the right position to shoot this incredible sunrise yesterday. I Was sitting at the light, I simply had to catch a bit of the rays-

Or maybe I was in the right position... you be the judge. Sort of cool with all the headlights lined up too. not bad for hanging a big pro grade camera out a window at 7:50 AM

All roads lead to:

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/212193817-X2.jpg

[Lex]

and I got a little artsy fartsy with this one, at another tunnel yesterday...

I love the variety of plantlife with the tunnel edge. The ferns, the red leaves, and of course, the yellow green blurred leaves, blurred intentionally I might add...

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/212193744-X2.jpg

[Lex]

two bucks for the price of one-

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/212193631-X2.jpg

[Lex]

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/212193683-X2.jpg

[RobP]

Awsome shots Doug :T



Here is a video of a guys Halloween setup in his yard, :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDLxMSz270k

[Paul Wu]

So I'm really pissed off at our current IT company. They basically told me to go get the computers somewhere else as it costs us too much to spend the time to buy and configure. And get this, we would still be charged a 'setup' fee. So instead of knocking off $100/pc they are pissing me off and I really don't want to sign this new contract with them.

My other IT contractor can do everything they do and with much better service. I thought he was expensive a couple years ago, but he is cheap compared to the prices we are paying today!

I also figured that we are getting screwed over on our interent connection. Jesh.

[Dougie085]

You think that yard is amazing look at this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szLmAPW39uE

[Chris D]

I hope everything works out well for your sister, she lives in La Jolla right?
Yeah, and her house is included in the evacuation maps, so they're staying with friends on the edge of town. It sounds like they had a good evening, though, in California, battling the fires, so hopefully everybody can go home soon.

Chris

[Chris D]

Kevin, I can't wait to see how your barn goes!

Doug, I love that pic of the tunnel!

Man, I don't mind the Sox winning at all, but at least the Rockies could have put up a fight!

[Lex]

Thanks guys. Chris the tunnel is an exercise in light control, using an oncoming car's headlights to illuminate the tunnel. I'll show you guys what it looked like without an oncoming car sometime too... Earplugs were manditory for some of this work, the continuous flow of traffic was just to much to bear, and horns, oh gosh the tunnel horns! LOL. I'm up early and off again soon... have a good day here.

[Nick M]

Doug - I also liked the tunnel shot with the tunnel illuminated by the car's headlights. Everything was perfect - in focus, lighting, correct horizon, etc. Nice shot!

but... That last image was huge! Scrollbars.... :(
-----
Dougie - I really like the new iMac's too... the $1200 model is really a decent deal. Plus it will have the new OS-X which is set to leave Vista in the dust, and then theres the whole clean design of Apple stuff... ahhh... I love that kinda engineering...

You can configure an equivalent Dell for $950+Shipping, but now that I've owned and operated an Apple for a couple years I wouldn't go back to PC's as a primary computer for 'nuthin!

In a couple years I might be going with a MacPro desktop setup. I'm going to want something with multiple large screens that I can spread apps out on while doing design. Perhaps three or four of the 23" apple screens.
-----
RED SOX TAKE GAME ONE OF THE WORLD SERIES BABY! :T
-----
I'm feeling 100% better now... have another doctor's appointment today as a checkup, and need to finish off the rest of the antibiotics.

Have a programming class today in VB.Net, then my doctors appointment, and then up to Sarah's for a wine tasting and dinner.

Have fun boys!

http://www.glennwolsey.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/480035129_34cd7416fb_o.jpg

[dyazdani]

I think the McD's sign in the sunset is cool!

[Dougie085]

Nick that 3 LCD setup there is beautiful would love to have that setup. The new mac pro's are built for server use only really it seems? Xeon processors and so on. I'm sure they would make a good desktop just doesn't seem thats what they are aiming for with them.

Doug, Like the rest the tunnel shot is my fav.

[Dougie085]

Only $8,626 bucks for my dream MacPro. Thats come down considerably over the years used to be 14k something.

http://images.apple.com/macpro/gallery/images/macpro04_20060807.jpg

Two 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
4GB (4 x 1GB)
250GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
750GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
750GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
750GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s
2 x NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB
Apple Cinema HD Display (23" flat panel)
Apple Cinema HD Display (23" flat panel)
Two 16x SuperDrives
Both Bluetooth 2.0+EDR and AirPort Extreme
Apple Wireless Keyboard and Apple wireless Mighty Mouse - U.S. English
Mac OS X - U.S. English
AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro (w/or w/o Display) - Auto-enroll

[Kevin P]

Great pics Doug. You could make a living doing photography, but then that would take the fun/hobby out of it. ;) I love the buck pics (I love great animal shots), and the tunnel one too.

Nick, you're looking to have a Swordfish type setup too? :B XP leaves Vi$ta in the dust, so I don't imagine anyone else wouldn't be able to do the same. :twisted:

Dougie, what would you DO with a machine like that? 8O 2 quad cores? 2-odd terabytes of storage? Imagine having to backup that sucker...

[Dougie085]

Hmm ok price would go up another grand cause I'd want the MacPro Raid card as well :B. What would I do with it??? Hmmm.......the possibilities. You know having a mac isn't just about speed and what not there are other reasons to buy a mac. I have never seen a PC more stable then a mac and there are reasons for that. Apple chooses its hardware VERY carefully to ensure everything will work together flawlessly. They are also very ergonomic. The sheer build quality of them rivals any pc on the market by any company. Sure you can get a PC of the same spec for less money? But will it be more powerful? More stable? I doubt ;)

[Kevin P]

But my mouse has more than 1 button, and a scroll wheel too! :lol:

[Dougie085]

But my mouse has more than 1 button, and a scroll wheel too! :lol:

As does the mighty mouse ;) Well not a wheel per say? But it has a scroll ball!

http://images.apple.com/mightymouse/images/indextop20070807.jpg

http://www.apple.com/mightymouse/

[aud19]

Sure you can get a PC of the same spec for less money? But will it be more powerful? More stable? I doubt ;)

If you know what you're doing, there's no reason you can't put together a cheaper, more powerful and more stable PC. It may not look as pretty though :roll:

Yeah the Rox could have at least made a game of it...bit of a slaughter.

OK Doug, I think you're getting too good at the photo taking, those are GORGEOUS! :T :yesnod:

[aud19]

P.S. I may kill someone before this day's over! :evil:

[RobP]

P.S. I may kill someone before this day's over! :evil:

Bad day huh? :(

[Dougie085]

If you know what you're doing, there's no reason you can't put together a cheaper, more powerful and more stable PC. It may not look as pretty though :roll:

I'm talking about a store bought computer. I have yet to see one as stable or to the same build quality of a mac.

[aud19]

Bad day huh? :(

You could say that :confused:

[aud19]

I'm talking about a store bought computer. I have yet to see one as stable or to the same build quality of a mac.

Well as I said, anyone knowing what they were doing wouldn't do that :lol: :p:

[Dougie085]

The other reason to buy a Mac though is the OS. While linux can come close it's still not as user friendly and not the same as OSX. But anyways.. I've always loved macs even though I've only owned an older PowerMac G4 a while back and just never had the money to purchase a new one.

[Nick M]

You can definitely buy a decent PC that is made to order, but I still feel from my experience that Mac's are much nicer to use, and the Mac OS is a much better platform (look how much Microsoft has tried to emulate it over the years - especially with Vista). The price gap between the two has definitely decreased as well.

[dyazdani]

Just buy a regular mouse instead of an Apple mouse, then you'll get multiple buttons and a wheel. I've got a fancy Logitech for my Mac, works great.

I would have to say that M$oft messed up badly if Vista was supposed to draw near to OSX.

The only complaint I have about my Mac (well two) 1. HDD went out and 2. it is slow sometimes for no apparent reason

[Dougie085]

And windows is never slow for no reason? lol

[dyazdani]

And windows is never slow for no reason? lol
I haven't had the same issue on my PCs...

[dyazdani]

Nick, have you downloaded XCode for your Mac? I just got it last night, looking over the developer tools to see how Mac programming works. Trying to expand my horizons on what I can program.

[aud19]

hmmm

[aud19]

looks

[aud19]

like a

[aud19]

Flip!

So good I think we'll have to enjoy it for one more page ;)

That looks like it would be fun to drive through (accompanied by a nice rev matched, windows down, down shift :B )

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/212585213-X2.jpg

[aud19]

So it seems my uber-worksation is on hold for a week or two....*sigh* The CPU's (all their socket F AMD's) I want are back-ordered. My IT guy and I are loosing patience with whomever is managing our supplier's ordering department :rant:

On a good note my HD's came in so I get to pick up those plus my NAS and UPS tonight :banana:

[RobP]

That is a really cool pic........probably one of my favorites of what you have done Doug.

[Alaric]

P.S. I may kill someone before this day's over! :evil:

May I send you a list?

[Lex]

thanks guys, the tunnel shot is a hit it seems, nice. the leaves I shot yesterday were a mess today at the tunnel. Got it in the nick of time.

I got a few good shots today, but to tired to process work tonight.

I had to play lumberjack when I got home from the mountains when I found a 8-10" very large limb laying on top of my chain link fence rail, sigh... I worked pretty hard til dark on it. I may have a bit of clean up, and another limb to cut, as well as a rather large pile of brush to haul somewhere, yuck. It's loaded down on my trailer for now.

I may stay home from the mountains tomorrow and work on this, getting the brush gone and just resting up some, it's been a busy week, starting at sunrise again today. Maybe work on the fence, or I may put that project off, not sure. I already had one bent rail, but this time it really lowered the boom on it.

Here's one quick process from next to a picnic grounds area.

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/212997689-X2.jpg

[Lex]

ok, one more.

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/213004135-XL.jpg

[Dougie085]

That last one has some gorgeous colors.

[Chris D]

Huh... don't know that we've ever had duplicate pictures for two flips. What ever will we do?

SO tired here in Charleston. My Rockies are down by a run. Hope they can pull one out.

[Lex]

That tunnel is a fairly short one but does have a nice curve through it for difficulty. There is one about 3 times as long just as you exit the park from Gatlinburg.

Honored for a two time flipature. (like an overture)

[Nick M]

Danish - Nah, I haven't DL'd XCode yet. It's on my list of things to do, but I'm so busy between work and school. Doing VB.NET right now, and next year I'll be doing C++, Java, and some interpretation of Assembly.
-----
RED SOX UP TWO GAMES TO NONE BABY! :T
-----
Whoopticated the buttocks yesterday on my programming exam - thank gosh considering how much that one test is worth... (I think it's 25-30% of my final grade 8O ).

Went to the wine tasting last night and it was interesting. We had this red from Chile that was grown on some high altitude slopes. The grapes get uber plump and juicy making a very rich and tannic wine. Sarah roasted some slices of kielbasa, red potatoes, bell peppers, garlic, and onions for dinner along with a nice big salad.
-----
I was just discussing how fast this semester is going by with some friends. Registration for spring classes begins in 2 weeks. Gonna' take two maths and two sciences.
-----
OS-X Leopard Comes Out Today!

http://images.apple.com/macosx/images/macosx_index_hero20071026.png

[RobP]

Good morning Gents :later:

[Lex]

off to unload my truckload of brush. Managed to get it all on the S10 without using my trailer, even better. guess I'll pay the county 5 or 10 bucks to take it, sigh, can't believe they freaking charge you, like you aren't paying for it already.

Talked to Mom about putting it down the hill, but she didn't want it where it would be picked up, and that makes it a challenge to offload it, just not worth it. Rather pay and just drop it and go.

[aud19]

Vincent I did some relaxing at home last night and played a bit with my new toys so no need to kill anymore :lol: You'll have to find someone else for your list ;)

Nick, my taste buds LOVE a nice Chilean red but it doesn't seem to agree with my body unfortunately. I've since found Italian reds tend to taste good and don't affect me adversely (no more than any other booze anyway :lol: ) But Santa Rita makes a nice merlot I used to enjoy :T

Love the colour on the rocks in that first shot Doug :T

[Nick M]

Damn! Look at these photos of this Velodyne Digital Drive 10!
I still want a pair of these babies... :drool:

http://mysite.verizon.net/nicholasmosher/dd10-1.jpg
http://mysite.verizon.net/nicholasmosher/dd10-2.jpg
http://mysite.verizon.net/nicholasmosher/dd10-3.jpg

[Lex]

Thanks Jason, probably influenced the the color saturation of the image. It's a struggle to know when is to much, it's so tempting to saturate those leaves color.

Someone a while ago asked a question about sensor dust. what I referred to as sensor dust is dust blobs or dirt that get on the image processing sensor in the camera when changing lenses, so it may appear as a round blob, or even a thread like looking thing. So, you then clone them out as best you can, if it occurs, and try to keep the camera clean when you blow it out. You can also use sensor cleaning kits, myself I have not used swabs to clean mine yet. As long as I can do it with a blower, I'll do that.

Great looking sub Nick, how's performance?

[RobP]

That is a great looking sub Nick,love the finish on it. Have you or anyone else heard the new JL Audio sub yet?

[Kevin D]

I heard it at CEDIA. Wasn't too impressed. Could be the room or setup, but you would figure JL would have done it right. Wasn't too impressed when I heard the first version 2 years ago at CES either.

Kevin D.

[Dougie085]

I would say probably was the room. I don't know I've heard people say they are remarkable in a home. Personally I don't think I'd spend that much on a commercial sub. Probably just build my own.

[aud19]

Entered a contest to win one of these earlier today :drool:

http://www.grzeja-motorbikes.de/B-KING2_1000.jpg

[Lex]

I have always felt that a 10" driver wasn't a large enough driver for deep bass. 12" better, 15" preferred. Although a 12 can typically be tighter. Maybe engineering has overcome the shortfalls of a 10". I'd be somewhat skeptical going in.

Those are what, 14-15 grand Jason?

[dyazdani]

Those are what, 14-15 grand Jason?
They're about $13k USD. I don't think the standard version has Brembo brakes though. It didn't appear that way from the Suzuki US website.

[dyazdani]

Those subs are purdy...

[Nick M]

Yeah, I'd probably go for the 12" version.
I want a pair hooked up in stereo backing up my S4's.

Wanted 'em for a couple years now.
Maybe later this year... maybe.

http://ultimateavmag.com/images/archivesart/1204velodyne.2.jpg

[aud19]

They're about $13k USD. I don't think the standard version has Brembo brakes though. It didn't appear that way from the Suzuki US website.

Yeah I think they're gonna be about $13K US but it's not quite out yet and hence prices aren't finalized.... Sure are sexy though!! :P But I'd end up selling it. One, it's WAY too much bike for me and two, I need other stuff more than a bike if I had that kind of coin... :confused:

[Paul Wu]

Morning, oh wait, it's evening now! My how the day goes by.

I discouved that my driver's side floor is wet. :( I think I've found the cause, there are some drain spouts for the sunroof that tend to get plugged. So I've had a quick chance to locate and 'unplug' some and noticed quite a bit of liquid drain out. Hopefully that is the extent.

But this has got me seriously thinking on whether I really want to spend the money on maintaining my current VW. It's a 2000 model, so 7 years old. I know there are some major maintenance items that need attention. Clutch, timing chain, waterpump, plus brakes. Not sure what else may be required. I'd like to do the shocks, as the ride is more bouncy than it should be. New wheels would be nice, but not a need.

So I'm back to looking at if I want to sink money into my current ride, or start up with car payments again.

My target new car is the 4dr VW GTI with the DSG.

[Dougie085]

I like this one ;)

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c30/Dougie085/screen_r32_015_1024x768.jpg

If not that then it would be a TDI Jetta or Golf.

[Paul Wu]

I'd love to get a R32, but they are not certified for Canadian use. Something about bumpers not up to standards. :(

So I'm thinking the same hatchback design, with a couple of extra doors.

I will have to do some looking to see what I can bring across from Seattle as there may be some more selection and cheaper overal price, even factoring some other taxes.

I'm calling it a night. Time for some dinner and some sleep time.

[RobP]

That is a great looking bike, looks like Darth Vader should ride it...very sinister looking.

[Dougie085]

Nah too cool for darth vader ;)

[Chris D]

Doug, I flew right by your house today. We did a low level route that took us circularly around Knoxville, at 300' above the ground. Pretty sweet!

[Lex]

oh yeah? Well you should have stuck your hand out and waived. I may have been outside working...if it was light. I had to finish the limb work yesterday, and hopefully mow the grass almost the last time. Well, there will be leaves to mow and mulch yet...

[dyazdani]

posting from the iPhone. Works pretty well.

[Kevin P]

So, Chris flew over Knoxville at 300', and Doug was working outside and didn't notice an unusually large jet fly by at a low altitude? :huh:

Oh well, I probably wouldn't notice either, since we're about 4 miles from Manchester Airport, and planes fly overhead constantly. I do sometimes notice military planes when they fly over though, since they look different from the usual commercial jets that fly over...
posting from the iPhone. Works pretty well.So, how well does it work as a phone? :lol:

Nick, I got a kick out of that "leaning tower of icons" on that desktop you posted. ;)

As long as I can do it with a blower, I'll do that.For some reason, when I read this, I had a vision of you taking a leaf blower to your camera! :rofl:

[Nick M]

Uno...

[Nick M]

Dos...

[Nick M]

http://photos.uvscene.com/misc/whiterussian.jpg

Posting from Sarah's place.
I just made a couple giant sheet pans of nachos for everyone.

Big halloween party here tonight... gonna' be fun.

Red Sox are gonna' kick @$$ tonight! :-y
-----
Danish - How are you liking the iPhone?
I'm seriously considering getting one this summer when the contract runs out on my Razor.
-----
Chris - I've got the flying bug bad. Need to get my medical renewed next month. It's been 3 years since my first flight!
-----
Paul - The TDI is popular amongst the math/science people at school. Everyone says, "I want a TDI! I want a TDI!".
-----
Okee-dokey... off to have some fun.

[Lex]

haha on the leaf blower. That's something I need to use at my Mom's house and probably mow once more this year anyway.

I got my chain link fence fixed today. cost me less than 20.00 once I figured out I could use adapters to mate two male ends, and just cut out the good from what was left, mate it with one new 10 foot pole, and was in good shape. Took about 2 hours. To bad my pipe cutter wouldn't quite handle that size, so I had to use a hack saw. Least I had a good one of those. Actually, rethinking it, if I'd just got 2 10 foot pieces, would have cost 5 bucks more to not have adapters in it. oh well.

I was going to go to the mountains, but was tired and all clogged up from allergies this morning, if I can't get my head into it, there's no point going. I have to be able to relax and wrap my head around the craft.

[Lex]

if I could just bottle this lighting up and take it with me everywhere I went, I'd definitely be a top scale landscape photographer. This was amazing sunrise sun, wow.

http://www.fotogafer.com/photos/213249330-XL.jpg

[Chris D]

Nice...

Nick gets a girlie-friend flip!

I'ts kind of nice getting an occasional break from Alaska temperatures. Nice and 75 degree or so mild here in Charleston, SC. Just wore shorts to the gym and back. Think we'll go to a sports bar to watch some games for the rest of the day, here.

[Dougie085]

TDI Is popular because it gets like 50mpg without any funky electric stuff ;)

[Nick M]

MUAHAHAHAHA!
No costume contacts this year... :(

http://mysite.verizon.net/nicholasmosher/vampire1.jpg
http://mysite.verizon.net/nicholasmosher/vampire2.jpg

[Chris D]

Nick, you're looking a little peaked there. I think you need to hydrate and get some rest! ;)

[Nick M]

Hehehe.

I'm still a bit bummed out that I didn't get the white costume contact that I wanted... Next Year! Party starts in 30min. Just painted Sarah's face green - she's dressing up like a witch.

I got my fangs from Scarecrow - the same ones used in Hollywood films. They look exactly like real teeth... spooky!

Gonna' start making White Russians in a bit! :yesnod:

[Nick M]

'Spose I should be drinking Bloody Mary's tonight though.

[dyazdani]

So, how well does it work as a phone?
:huh: It's my wife's I haven't tried the phone itself yet. She hasn't complained about it...

[dyazdani]

Danish - How are you liking the iPhone?
I'm seriously considering getting one this summer when the contract runs out on my Razor.
I really like it, it is very slick and well designed. Took me a bit to get the wifi working. For some reason, it picked something other than my router as the DNS.

It has a lot of cool features like Google maps, the iPod GUI is cool, and the look of the SMS is really clean. The only hard part is typing, but you get used to it after a while.

[Lex]

Nick, you looked pretty scary there!

I-phone, that's cool. I need a new cell someday, but won't leave sprint for now...

Vols somehow won a close game last night. Was really weird. We owned the first half, South Carolina owned the second half. It came down to overtime fieldgoals, after a clutch 45 yard field goal from TN to take the game to overtime. Exciting for a freshman kicker, but a LOT of pressure!

[Kevin P]

The Sox won in Colorado last night, 10-5. So they lead 3 games to none! :party:

Just one more win to go!

We watched part of the game last night on the big screen (the projector, not the plasma). It was better than being there. ;)

[dyazdani]

What, no $10 hot dogs?

[aud19]

My room mate brought home a free pool table yesterday! :banana: It's just a cheaper MDF unit but for free ya can't complain much and it works just as good as a "real" slate table. I can play pool at home now!! :banana: :B (Well after I finish the flooring in the living room where it will be going anyway...ughhhh :lol: )

Nick, might want to get that skin condition looked at (and visit a dentist) :p: :lol:

Could use some of that sun here Doug, after some nice sunny (though chilly) days, we're back to rain again :roll: :lol:

Well think I'll go do some clothes shopping in a bit :later:

[Dougie085]

It's been quite chilly here the last week. They are saying snow in as little as 2 weeks.

[dyazdani]

I got Guitar Hero 3 today for the PS3, it is great! I'm dizzy from playing so many songs in a row. I keep seeing the "matrix" look of notes in my head...

[dyazdani]

Nick, I also meant to say that if you already have AT&T, you don't have to wait for your contract to run out...

[Dougie085]

Yeah because they don't give any special discount for the iphone do they?

[dyazdani]

Nope. You can actually get a "free" phone if you play it right. You can upgrade your existing phone (or get a fresh contract) and then get your iPhone right after. You can also have your iPhone as an additional line and still upgrade your current phone when it is due.

[Lex]

The preceeding was brought to you by A T and stick it to U T. Just kidding. I just hate monopolies, and let's face it, cell service is a limited monopoly. We can only go to so many places.

[Nick M]

RED SOX WIN THE WORLD SERIES BABY!

Unfortunately I have Verizon right now with my Razor, so I'm going to wait until this summer when my contract runs out - saves me $175. Then I'll switch over to AT&T and an iPhone.

Killed my Calc exam this morning - woohoo.

Off to do some Physics.

[Lex]

pitty, didn't see any of the series this year. Sometimes, I get into baseball at series time, oh well...

way to go on the calc Nick.


Had a nice day in the mountains yesterday. Saw a few bears working for food right near the road. A Ranger kept everyone on 1 side of the road, he left for a few minutes, and said if he came back and found someone on the other side of the road, it would be a 275.00 fine. Never heard that one before... I just got cubs, didn't get the Momma. They were very hard to photograph in the thicket of brush, trees.

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/214324162-L.jpg

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/214324142-X3.jpg

[Paul Wu]

I hope everybody had a great weekend. I actually spent some time at home! I did come in for a bit, but not that long, and it wasn't even that productive.

Looking forward to a shorter week this week. I've made plans to head out of town a while back and mean to stick too it. Hotel's been paid for, so should be a nice relaxing weekend. Just 4 days in the way!

Funny thing, I'm in first thing, a tiny bit early, and have 5 things that are sounding like priority. I don't know, my defenses seem to shoot up when faced with these things first thing. I think I'll have to shift my attitude a bit, because really these items are already on my list.

I finally cracked open my microSD card. Man that thing is small!

I'm still trying to figure out what to do about my cell phone. We don't have much selection in Canada, so I'll either stick to Telus(CDMA) or switch to Rogers(GSM). I have to see what kind of deal I can get through work, as we use Rogers.

Well time to get started with the day. Have a good one and Congrats to the Red Sox!

[Lex]

http://fotogafer.smugmug.com/photos/214324313-XL.jpg

[aud19]

Neat tree shot Doug...though it's making me feel a bit tipsy :lol:

Congrats to the Sox, caught the tail end of the game last night :T

I'm happy with my simple little Nokia phone....you guys and your crazy "phones" that are barely phones anymore.... i dunno :lol:

[Lex]

Yeah, the tree had a big bend in it, and it was a REALLY tall tree, the fisheye lens just accentuated the crook, made a cool effect.

[Chris D]

AAARRRRRRGGGHHH! The Rockies really didn't play up to snuff in the World Series. I guess it was quite an accomplishment for them to get there, though. Congrats to the Sox! I'm sure Boston is just on fire right now, with the Sox, Boston College, and the Patriots. Didn't the Pats just win 52-7 or something ridiculous?

My room mate brought home a free pool table yesterday! :banana:
Wow, I wish MY "room mate" would do that! I'd love to have a pool table. Might be further off in the future, though.

It's been quite chilly here the last week. They are saying snow in as little as 2 weeks.
Gotcha beat there... we've had snow here for some time, now! :)

[Dougie085]

Well I hope snow holds off for a few more weeks so I can finish these speakers ;)

[aud19]

Wow, I wish MY "room mate" would do that!

Ya but you get to do other fun things with your "room mate" that I don't even want to think about with mine 8O :confused: :rofl:

[aud19]

Just came across this interesting little tidbit:

http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2007/10/volvo-considering-5door-c30-swede-mag.html

http://bp1.blogger.com/_FoXyvaPSnVk/RyZNaW2owgI/AAAAAAAAZb4/H-v4kQRmPE0/s400/csp_tv.jpg

Volvo Considering 5door C30 – Swede Mag Has The Scoop

In a recent interview that Volvo’s senior vice president of r&d, gave to Automotive News, Magnus Jonsson acknowledged that the Swedish carmaker is giving serious consideration to the addition of a five-door model compact-sized model that would be derived from the new C30 three-door sport hatch. Jonsson added that such a vehicle could give Volvo a volume boost even though a five-door model of the C30 would be less exciting from a design perspective.

Apparently, either Jonsson or another high-ranked official from Volvo must have had the same conversation with the folks at Swedish car magazine “Teknikens Varld” as their front cover is adorned by what looks like a rendering of the 5door C30 which they address as the V30 (sounds logical). Something tells us that the Swedes mustn’t be too far off from the real deal.

Now if they can throw in AWD, take some "flab" out of the suspension and keep the price down I'd be real interested in a few years :yesnod:

[Nick M]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7068040.stm

Okay guys, someone is backed for the flip... :T
I'm off to take a nap before work.

Have a goodun' :)

[aud19]

Yeah that Colbert thing's pretty funny :lol:

[aud19]

I suppose I'll...

[aud19]

run for a

[aud19]

The "Cars I'm Considering Flip"

http://www.suzuki-wrc.com/download/wallpaper/1024_7.jpg
http://www.v10.pl/archiwum/galeria/rajdy/suzukisx4/suzuki_sx4_wrc_wallpaper_1.jpg
http://www.km77.com/marcas/volvo/2007/c30/gama/gra/03.jpg

AWD Mini...? :B
http://car-reviews.automobile.com/news/is-mini-cooper-to-get-all-wheel-drive-option/23/
http://www.seriouswheels.com/pics-2004/2004-Mini-Cooper-S-MC40-fa-1280x960.jpg

[dyazdani]

Ya but you get to do other fun things with your "room mate" that I don't even want to think about with mine 8O :confused: :rofl:
That's awesome - I was about to post the same thing, but I read down further :)

[Chris D]

Good choices, Jason! If Mini were to come out with an AWD version, I think I might choose that. Otherwise, probably the Suzuki.

Man, Colbert's a funny guy. Every once in a while, when I catch his show, I also get little glimpses that he actually has some interesting ideas, and of course, interesting perspectives on things, too.

[Paul Wu]

Jason: Speaking of cars, here's a link you may find of interest: http://www.carburner.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

It goes over how to import a car from the US. I'm thinking of this as I see that on an Infinity G35x AWD I could save $10k. There are also some awesome deals on Subaru Outbacks as they don't get hit with the 6.1% duty so the savings are even more!

Better yet is to buy used as some automakers are restricting sales to Canadians. From what I have read Subaru and it looks like Infinity are more Canadian friendly. Audi/BMW/VW not so much. Toyota is outright banning sales and I can't remember the other.

So the possibilities have openned up greatly.

[Lex]

hope Greg is doing ok, been a while since he popped in.