You should be blogging

Found on digg 3.0's video feed. Very hilarious, see what happens when MBA types try to be hip. Almost as funny as the old lady on Airplane that spoke jive.

Goldeneye: Source Beta Trailer

Golden Eye for N64 was one of the best games released for the N64, besides Super Mario Brothers and Zelda Ocarina of Time. My brother and I used to spend countless hours playing each other split screen on the varios maps and game modes. I can't wait to try this out on HL:Source, and play multiplayer without the split screen. Beta Trailer Released! Blurb: A trailer for the upcoming Beta of Goldeneye Source has been released! Showcased in this trailer are the various maps of the mod. More videos to come, and check back later more information. Special thanks to everyone who helped make this possible. A very special thanks to xes garcia and vader02 for the gunbarrel, basstronix and rich douglas for the music.

Ride to B'ham

I rode up to Birmingham with my supervisor this morning. He has a Victory Vegas chopper , and was getting saddle bags mounted on it at the dealership there. I rode along because that would be the longest ride to date, and I wanted to test drive a cruiser. I ended up riding a 2006 Vegas which is a 100ci => 1600cc+ V-twin. It sounded great, and had a lot of power, but I just didn't like the slouching feeling, and I couldn't get used to the feel of having my foot pegs so far forward.
After the Victory dealership, we went up to Bogart's Motorsports, the nearest BMW and Ducati dealership. They did not have any GS demo models available, but they had a R1200S which has the same flat twin motor. Unfortunately, they were out of gas, and their rescue truck was out. I ended up testing a Sportclassic GT1000 around their 6 mile test loop. It had a lot more power than my 600, but the exhaust was just too puny. It sounded like it was puttering the whole time, like a wannabe chopper.
I also saw the Victory Hammer S, and was impressed with it's looks, but I didn't get to ride one. I assume it feels much like the Vegas, and is as expensive. I just can't justify spending as much on a bike as we did on our last new vehicle.

What to do with 200GB of Hosting?

I've found an offer from someone who gives back $90 of the dreamhost referral fee to the referee, making 1 year of basic hosting $30. It seems like a great deal, I just need to figure out if I could actually use it. I already host my pictures on Flicker, and I use blogger for blogging. I don't do a lot of web stuff, so I'm kind of at a loss to justify it.

Post nostalgia fun

The Venture Bros - 07
Uploaded by bobnino

For anyone that liked Johnny Quest, there is a good follow up to it called The Venture Brothers. It is on Adult swim, and features snarky, tongue in cheek satire of that show, and other old pop-culture. The cartoon takes a look at what Johnny Quest would be like at 40 years old, washed out and living off of his father's legacy. It even features the voice of the Tick as Brock Samson, the analog to Race Bannon. Race even has a cameo appearance in one of the early episodes.

Link
The Adventures of Johnny Quest
The Venture Brothers

Why the internet is cool.

For years now, when my mind wandered, I would sometimes think about a cartoon I used to watch, with music, and some Red and Yellow ship. Something in the show was called Master Blaster, and that is about all I remember from it, until today. I was googling around and I found that the show was called "Kidd Video" and it aired for 2 seasons in 1984 & 85, when I was just beginning Elementary School. I was able to find the lead-in on Youtube, but couldn't find any torrents of the seasons on popular torrent sites. Now if I could just find all the Robo-tech cartoons that used to play after school.

edit: Found a Youtube user that has uploaded several episodes and music videos. According to Wikipedia, these have not been broadcast since 1992, and are not in "print".
http://www.youtube.com/user/toolbot

Now I won't have to go to fairs to get anything deep fried

I saw this on Gizmodo.com, and fell in love. Why is is better than a Fry Daddy? Built in fry cage, 175-370 degree thermostat. Short of actually trying it out, I can definitly say that this is more practical than either a Fry Daddy, or a built in Fryolator like you see on Emeril.

Guitar Hero

I purchased a refurb PS2 a while back for the purpose of playing Taiko Drum master and Katamari Damacy. I've found another game that I like while picking up costume supplies at the Walmart, Guitar Hero. It comes with a Guitar Controller with 5 fret buttons, a whammy bar, and a paddle that you move to simulate strings.

Here is a dual controller pack and a dual controller bag.
http://www.redoctane.com/gh-multibundle.html
http://www.redoctane.com/gh2-bag.html

Site rewickering. Quiz results

I've moved my blog over to the new beta version of blogger. There are some "new" features, and adds some visual template editing. I'm not sure if this is new, or just a way to catch up with what other blog sites have been doing for a year or two now.

Pure Nerd 73 % Nerd, 34% Geek, 26% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd. Congratulations! THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

	You scored higher than 99% on nerdiness
	You scored higher than 99% on geekosity
	You scored higher than 99% on dork points

New killer app & taste of Home

After reading about Democracy Player on boingboing I thought I'd check it out. It plays video, but it does even more than that. It promises to take internet video to the masses, but integrating RSS feeds of video, distributed through bittorrent. It means fast, TV resolution videos over the internet, with DVR functionality that can automatically download new videos, and watches your hard drive to keep it from becoming filled up.

I've found a couple of good channels to watch:
Channel Frederator, a podcast done by the guys that do Fairly Odd Parents and My Life as a Teenage Robot.

TeleMusicVision, Indie music videos.

Texas Country Reporter Which was broadcast locally in Houston, and in other Texas towns. I remember this guy from the Dairy Queen TV commercials.

There are still some bugs to be worked out with the player, but it definitly has promise, and provides another great example of the use of P2P technologies for something other than piracy.

Why I care about religion

Found this video thru digg.com. Expresses my sentiments exactly.

Still don't know if I should be happy or disappointed

I found out around 6pm tonight that I will be deploying to the Sunny shores of Panama City, Florida for four months beginning in early January 2007. I was disappointed when I found out because I had really wanted to go overseas. I am tired of being stopped in public when I am in uniform and thanked. I work on computers, I've checked ID cards at the gate. I don't feel like I have done anything that has had that great of an impact on this country to be deserving of thanks. Regardless of the fact that this country is on the verge of turning into something that is not worth protecting, I don't feel like I have really contributed. I was looking forward to going to the Middle East in January, to experience the war as a warrior, even if it is from an Air Conditioned Comm tent. Not to mention the Tax Free status and the hazardous duty pay I would receive.

I will still feel unworthy of thanks, but at least I will be within 3 hours of home.

Rome's 9/11

Just about ever since I took Latin in 9th grade, I've held the opinion that the Roman emipre is the closest analog to the United States. This article in the NY Times gives another look at an event that lead to the destruction of the Roman Republic, and the creation of the Roman Empire. This is relevant now because of the passage of the Military Commisions Act of 2006, commonly referred to as the Torture Bill. This bill allows any American to be declared an enemy combatant suspending his civil rights, based soley on the determination of the President, not a judge. Even without me worrying about this as an American citizen, I worry about this as a service member. I have a good chance of going to the Middle East in January, and the way this bill pisses all over the rights the Geneva Convention affords, makes it more justifiable for our own Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen to be denied Geneva Convention protections by other signatories.
The article compares kneejerk legislation passed after a "Terrorist" attack which burned the Roman port to the USA PATRIOT act. Both legislative acts restricted rights, gave tremendous amounts of money to fight the threat, and metaphorically took dumps on their Constitutions.

Thoughts from the throne room 1

I have a book I keep in my bathroom, and I read it when I am in there for a considerable amount of time. It is Sun Tzu's The Art of War (with commentaries) published by Barnes & Noble. Every time I read it, I seem to come across some principle that we do not seem to follow, or overlook in the prosecution of the current war, based on what media reports and press briefings tell us. I will try to record these on the blog, just so I have someplace to put them.

I read one quote in the commentary part by Thomas Paine that got me thinking.

Commerce diminishes the spirit, both of patriotism and military defense. And history sufficiently informs us, that the bravest achievements were always accomplished in the non-age of a nation.... The more men have to lose, the less willing are they to venture. The rich are in general slaves to fear, and submit to courtly power with the trembling duplicity of a spaniel.

Most people that volunteer for military service are not drawn out of patriotism, but out of a desire to climb out of poverty or other bad situations. These are the people of our society that have the least to lose, and they are losing their lives to protect the ones that have the most. I don't think it's a coincidence that Republicans are quite wealthy.

Since the beginning of the Cold war, we have been steadily moving towards a more consumerist society, where we are becoming more and more materialistic. To be absolutly free means to be entirely self sufficient and devoid of material attachments, much like Emerson tried to be. How does this jibe with Ben Franklin's oft quoted phrase "Those that would trade liberty for security deserve neither." Is Franklin's position too absolute? Will the US succumb to the same excesses that led to the fall of Rome , a sort of cultural malaise or ambivalence toward the well being of the state. Will this erosion of our libery in the name of security make our currently spaniel-like populace stop taking things for granted?

vista

vista
Originally uploaded by cfpresley.

I found out while reading slashdotthat Microsoft was opening up their latest build of Vista, a post RC1 called 5728. I installed it on an unused partition to try it out, and while there is some nice Eye candy, it is a little buggy, and very bothersome with all the security prompts. It would ask me if I meant to run every single program I clicked on. It would not permit me to drag a file from my file server into my C drive, instead telling me to put it in my documents folder, then copy it once it's local. Just after playing with it for an hour, and not getting to in depth with it, I can say this. If XGL starts working better on Ubuntu, and Cedega becomes free, then I'd have no reason to upgrade to vista, except for perhaps to play Crysis.

A hyperlinks route from a casual surf at work, or how the sun has set on the British empire.

A while back, while reading boingboing I read about edit wars that go on in Wikipedia over the smallest of things, like the spelling of Aluminum/Aluminium. This reminded me of an edit war my friend Gabe tried to provoke about Corn because some Wikipedians seem to think that the British term, Maize is more authoritative on a staple that is native to the Americas. So after reading interesting topics on the wikipedia/paedia homepage, I read about the Goiânia accident where a radioactive "Caesium salt" was scavenged from an abandoned hospital. The only thing that threw me off about the article was that it was about something called caesium, which I mentally pronounce as caseium, I guess subconsciously like how I know the German Kaiser is a derivative of the Roman Caesar. Come to find out, that's how the British spell Cesium, even though googlestats prove that it is the more commonly used spelling.

Here is a funny cartoon from one of the sites I check every morning before I leave for work.


toothpastefordinner.com

A bad day for riding.

I rode home today from work, as I have been doing for the last several weeks, but with a drenching rainstorm. I thought ahead, and brought my Gore-Tex jacket with me, but without the matching pants, It just channeled the rain onto and between my legs. I also discovered how much I don't like to ride the bike through puddles. All the water that gets splashed up goes onto you shoes and legs. I had ridden in drizzles, but that all evaporated in the wind. I want to get some rain gear, or just some BDU Gore-Tex pants, but I don't have any luggage to put it in.

Photo set from the wreck

Brandi's bruised but OK.

08-20-06_1706
Originally uploaded by cfpresley.

Crash on Hwy 80 in Montgomery. Brandi has spent over 5 years dodging the poorly trained natives, only to be taken down by a South Korean driver.

Traveling for work. Location: Roswell, GA

So this 19 y.o. kid and his 18 y.o. wife are on their way down to Gunter for their first assignment, when they get rear-ended by some lady in Dalton, Georgia. Their car is totaled, and they have some back & neck pain, so we have to go pick them up. Not to get started on a completely unrelated rant on how stupid military contracting is, but our Government vehicles are Leased. There is a policy restricting them to a 75 mile radius around base, because otherwise the base would be competing with local businesses. EXCEPT they are LEASED, we are already renting them from a local dealership!!!! We had to provide justification to get a waiver so that we could take a van down to get them and their belongings, and by 3pm, we still hadn't gotten it. We just told the kid to get a hotel room, and we'll pick them up on Saturday. So, I'll probably be leaving with one of my co-workers around 830-900 tomorrow morning to go to Roswell or thereabouts to gather up our wayward chicks. I'm making sure to stop by Pappasito's for lunch, unfortunately, without margaritas or cervezas.

Red Light Runner

One thing that most people take for granted is that sensor based traffic lights will turn green for you when it realizes that you are waiting. These sensors are based on induction fields that detect disruptions whenever a big piece of iron stops over it. Motorcycles are not flat enough pieces of iron to satisfy light sensors, frequently causing riders to run red lights or sit at an intersection forever until a car pulls up behind them. Here are a couple of tips on how to fix this.
1. Lower the kickstand.
2. Restart the engine.
3. Glue a magnet to you boots or underside of your bike.
4. Park and run the to pedestrian button and back.
5. Walk the bike back and forth over the sensor lines in the pavement.

I've found a couple of sites that sell the magnets mentioned in step 3, and went to my favorite amateur mad scientist supply house for a big list of N40 neodymium magnets.
http://www.unitednuclear.com/magnets.htm
Now I've just got to figure out where to put them without it interfering with the bikes electrical system, or erasing everything in my wallet.

Motorcycle follies

I took the bike out Monday night when we got back in from Houston, so that I could pick up a few things I needed for the next day. On the way back, the motorcycle just stopped running, like it had run out of fuel. That wasn't really possible since I had only put 140 miles on the tank. I had to wait until 1145 before the flat bed wrecker could come by and tow me home. I finally got it back up and running (I think it was bad fuel), and took it out today to work. At about a quarter till 4, I heard thunder, and decided to leave a little early. I had just gotten the bike warmed up and underway when it started sprinkling, and by the time I left base, it had starting pouring down. I was a little wet when I got home, but otherwise ok with my first wet driving experience.

High School reunion

I just got back from my 10 year high school reunion. I met up with a few of my friends that I hadn't seen or heard from in as long. Only about a quarter of the graduating class showed up, and it was mainly the popular and smart kids. Most people hadn't changed much at all, to my dismay ;). I was hoping I was the only one who lost weight and looked better. I will be posting my Prom video later on, once I recode it.

My kingdom for a 1HX-14565-00-00

IMG_1362
Originally uploaded by cfpresley.

I got the overpriced carb o-rings and other parts in, and had everything reassembled, until I got to the last carb. While tightening the last internal screw, I twisted the head off. This was a special screw that was hollow, and can only be purchased from a Yamaha dealer. I think it might cost around 6-8 bucks to replace, but it's the having to wait that really aggravates me. I've posted about 7 other photos of my bike in various states of dis-repair, check them out.

Swedish Chef a la Robot Chicken

Swedish Chef - Hot Dogs

The Swedish Chef cooks some hot-a doogies! Bork bork bork!

Swedish Chef-Coconut

I've been looking through Google Video, because I've recently become addicted to Web Video. It all started with short stuff on youtube, like mentos & diet coke vids. I found a funny show called Hope Is Emo, produced by the same guys as Ask A Ninja. Now I just troll through the "mover & shakers" and top rated hoping for something besides meta-tag spam and clips from soccer games

Swedish Chef - Chicken in a Basket

The Swedish Chef makes a Chiky in der Basky! Bork bork bork!

Swedish Chef - Hot Spicy Pepper Sauce

Speecy Spicy Chilli Juice-a! Bork Bork Bork!

What I think of the Mac Ads

A Series of Tubes

I don't understand why they put politicians in charge of high tech things, when they don't even understand the basic fundamentals. Just like when you see quotes from law-makers about violent video games, they always just seem to call them videos. I'm not sure why.

BTW, if they guy looks familiar, it's because he is portrays a Windows Pc in those snarky Mac commercials. Funny how the scruffy Mac guy never mentions that all the cool games are released for PC.

The Widowmaker

IMG_1353
Originally uploaded by cfpresley.

New bike in, and now it's all shiny.

It has some problems that I need to get looked at when I get back. It seems to bog down, especially when it's cold, with just a little throttle. I have to run it with the choke wide open for a good 15-20 minutes before I can close it without the bike dieing in low gears.

Once it did warm up, I took it up some county road for about 7 miles, getting up to around 70mph. It was a thrill, and I can't wait until I get all the paperwork taken care of, so I can take it to work.

Ready to ride

Ready to ride
Originally uploaded by cfpresley.

All my safety gear came in. Now I just need Texas to send me my endorsement, and me to get some gloves, insurance, and motorcycle.

On the road again...

I found out this morning that I'll be traveling to New Jersey in two weeks on a business trip. One of the things our new boss is particular about is saving money on travel... so much so that I have to depart from Atlanta instead of Montgomery. The good thing is that for $120 round trip, I can take a shuttle from my house to the airport. I also found $100 one way tickets on "not Delta grumble no skymiles" to Newark and back, so instead of $600 round trip tickets on Delta from Montgomery and $200 in mileage reimbursement and parking fees, I spend $320 tax dollars on "not Delta" tickets and a shuttle, but no skymiles. The sacrifices I make for my country. Now if only 100 million more government employees did the same thing, it might just make up for all the money lost to war profiteering done by Bectel and their no-bid Iraq contracts.

I also ordered the Helmet and Jacket online, saving over $70. The bike might be coming down next weekend.

This is a Motorcycle

I haven't been posting much. I don't know why, but I'm just not feeling it. A quick recap. I got back from 2 weeks at Biloxi MS, which was still pretty messed up from Katrina. I got back from a 4th of July 4 day weekend at the in-laws where we celebrated Brandi's paternal grandparent's 50th Anniversary. I also found out that my father-in-law wants to sell his '96 Yamaha XJ600S SECA II sportbike. It only has 3000 miles, and is in good condition with the optional lower fairing, and all the fruity decals removed. He's offered me a good deal on it, low enough to pay cash for it, and still pay off Brandi's car with money from my re-enlistment bonus. I just have to figure out how to get it down here, and what safety gear to get. Safe and Inexpensive are the most important factors.

I tried on gear at the local Honda dealership, and found a reasonably priced armored mesh jacket, and a flip face helmet. I found some gloves that I like, but after reading a recommendation about gel, had to pass on them. I also took my cousin's fiancé (interesting fact, fiancée is feminine) advice and tried Sentry insurance. I was quoted almost half of what GEICO or Progressive wanted.

2nd day of Basic Riders Course

We started out early, and we had finished our range evals by 1230. I aced the 20ft u-turn box, and only lost 5 total points because I stopped in 16 ft on the fast stop. I also missed 1 question on the exam for a 98. I think that the biggest contributor to my success on the range was the Dual purpose KLX-250 . It sat really high, infact, even standing over the bike, I was in complete contact with the seat. The instructors recommended that because of my size, I should be able to easily handle a 400-650cc bike. Now if I can just make myself wait until I can afford one.

I've also found that TX DMV accepts the MSF BRC as a motorcycle course, and I should be able to get a Motorcycle endorsement.

1st day of Motorcycle class

I attended the first day of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's Basic Riders Course. After lunch we went out on the "Range" which was an area of old runway with lines painted on it. I had a Kawasaki enduro bike, which was the tallest one there. We ended up getting comfortable enough to take it up to third gear when we drove them back to the shed. It was damn hot out there, but it didn't feel so bad after getting used to the heat.

Emerging Meme - Banana, the Athiests nightmare.

Thank god we have Kirk Cameron to add some credibility.


Circular reasoning anyone? If anything, taking this clown seriously, you could argue that since apes like Chimpanzees like banana's so much, we must share a common ancestor. Lets not even talk about the fact that the Cavendish banana is a result of hybridization (all are clones) that has rendered it so vulnerable to disease that it is on its way to extintion. And only humans open bananas by the stem, an easier way is by pinching the end, which is how primates eat them. Taking his logic in another equally absurd tangent, you could argue that the banana being the perfect fruit designed by God, represents the phallus so much, that god wanted all of us to be fellatious.

Clearly this guy must have scored high marks in the Presidents faith based science classes.

Chris' Wedding

I've uploaded some Wedding pictures. Check them out on my Flickr photoset.

NAS Build progress

IMG_1265
Originally uploaded by cfpresley.

IMG_1262
Originally uploaded by cfpresley.

I've found a solution to my space crunch, and it involves standing 5 drives up in a improvised IDE cage, similar to this. I used the metal blanks from unused 5.25 bays. Three would have been better, but I only had two. After running them for a while, I noticed that they got pretty hot. I ordered a 119cfm 92mm fan and some 36" rounded IDE cables to reach the top of the tower. I setup a 5 drive array through Windows 2003, but aborted the format after 3 hours, getting up to 27%. Perhaps the fan and new cables will help.

Building a NAS

Last week, I purchased 6 refurb 250GB hdd's from Woot.com for $50 each. They only have 2MB cache, so they aren't that fast for main drives, but raided together, they should do the job for Network Attached Storage. For anyone that doesn't know, A NAS is just a fancy way of saying File Server. Anyhow, in addition to the 2 other 250gb drives I have, I will be able to build a 1.5TB RAID 5 array and still have a drive left over to upgrade my ReplayTV PVR to 250 hours of storage.

The cheapest way to implement a NAS is to use an existing older computer, and network it. I have a full tower chieftec style case with 6x3.5 bays and 4x5.25 bays. What I would like to do is set up 2 120GB drives as a Raid1 System Drive, and put the 7 250's as the Raid5 drive. This only leaves room for one extra device, A floppy, or the DVD-burner. The only reason I would need the floppy is for Firmware updates and OS installation. The HP DVD burner has a wonderfull 'feature' that prevents it from working in an external USB enclosure.

Besides how I'm going to fit all the drives and find enough power connections for 10 drives (I have a quality 450w PSU), I have to shuffle data around my existing hard drives across two machines, without much room to spare.

What seems like a simple install has consumed two days so far, and probably will take up the rest of the weekend. Hopefully, everything will workout, and I will have plenty of storage to last for the next 3-5 years.

Things and stuff

I've just gotten back from Illinois. I'm finished with classes, so I've got more time to spend at work and at home. I've been really busy at work lately, having to standup an exchange 2003 site capable of handing x509 Fortezza encryption. All of this done from dense 10point font tech manuals written by an Aerospace company that gets paid by the page. Its really fun. At least I've been rocking out to all of Jack Johnson's albums while waiting around for the servers to reboot. I'm in a big hurry to get it operational so that I can play around with virtualizing it all onto one or two servers, instead of the four it currently runs. We have power constraints due to the glacially slow pace of the government procurement of a new Power Distribution box.

Super Sport

Friday was our unit's Pre-Deployment BBQ and Family day. While not as many people turned out as they should have, it was still a good showing. We were able to muster up a good game of Ultimate, with a pretty balanced team of experienced players and newbies. The game lasted for an hour, during which we did pretty well. After that game, I joined a pickup Softball game that ended up lasting until around 3:30. I batted 5 times, reaching a plate all times, but got home only three. I also caught a great outfield pop that went out toward centerfield. I was so surprised that I caught it, I just stood there looking at the ball, forgetting to throw it back in time to catch a runner on his way home. Its been a long time since I had fun playing base/soft ball.

Coke Blak

IMG_0999
Originally uploaded by cfpresley.

Walking through Target last night, I set my gaze upon this 4 pack of Coca-Cola Blak. I read about it last year as being test marketed in Europe or somewhere, and I couldn't wait to try it out. I can say that it incorporates C2's lower carb formulation with both HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), Equal (aspartame), and Sweet One(Acesulfame Potassium). Giving only 45 calories to the 8 oz bottle. The initial smell is like coke, but with a chocolaty smell. It tastes like coke, but then fades away to a sweet coffee flavor, kind of like a bottled or canned coffee drink. I think its pretty good. However, at 1.50 per 8oz. I don't think I'll be buying cases of it.

Igarts Flars!

IMG_0969
Originally uploaded by cfpresley.

Finally got around to taking pictures of my flowers. I ended up taking more shots of the damn bees that fly around my mailbox, but I did get the blooms. I'll take some of the Azealeas later.
Speaking of flowers, I was remembering a Reading Rainbow episode where they read a book about the Legend of the Indian Paintbrush. Here is a link.

IMG_0983
Originally uploaded by cfpresley.

because I don't like talking on the phone

I've been really busy with schoolin, with just one month left before I graduate. I'm having to really do a lot of reading to catch up on my Learning contract course. It's just two tests, like an extra long CLEP I guess. I've also been able to find something at work that makes me want to actually go there, and do actual work, instead of just hitting refresh on the 4 or so blogs I read every time I'm done reading the updates.

In case anyone is wondering, that is http://www.boingboing.net http://www.makezine.com/blog http://www.slashdot.org and http://www.digg.com

I'm also reading all the old comics from Dinette Set on the Houston Chronicles website. Something about making fun of ourselves.

Anyway, it's time for bed, I have to be at work by 7:30, probably work through lunch, and then go to the gym at 3:00. Go home, shower, and then go downtown for Differential Equations & International Marketing (really really boring BTW) from 6:30 until about 9:45. Sometimes, when Brandi and I are arguing, I joke and say that nightschool is the glue that holds our marriage together. I still haven't gotten a laugh out of her on that one.

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Funny commentary

I was sitting in my driveway, about to get out when I heard this hilarious commentary by Lori Gottlieb called NPR : Think Partnered Parenting Is Hard? Try Going Solo I think I am about half of the husbands described, yet Brandi still finds thing about me to gripe about. She just doesn't know how lucky she has it.

Neat DIY camera projects to try

I've been wanting to get into Macro photography, and now that I have a tripod, all I need is a macro lens and a light source, like a ring flash. Through the magic of MAKE, i've found DIY guides for building an extension tube, and a LED ring light. One of the old school tricks to macro photography is to just reverse the lens, allowing for high magnification, depending on length from the sensor. The problem with such a long lens barrel is that your flash will be obscured, leaving all or most of the subject matter in a shadow.


LED ring light
Extension/Reversing tube

Put the Audi up for sale

Listed the Audi. Also created a little home for the ad on blogger.
http://buymyaudi.blogspot.com

Another nifty project

digg turned me on using my miniDV camcorder & ieee1394 connection to perform backups onto miniDV. According to the article 60min miniDV's can hold up 18GB compressed in LP mode, and take an hour or so to backup. I'm currently searching around for a cheap possibly broken miniDV camcorder on ebay. I looked around for a miniDV deck, but they are professional grade, and cost thousands. An old sony dcr-trv8 would do the same thing. With some tinkering, I could also utilize the LCD attached.

Working on a new diversion

I'm currently working on a new project, part diversion, part yak-shaving. All the cool kids are doing it, so I thought I'd give it a try. While everyone is waiting, here is a cool program to check out. http://www.songbirdnest.com

Funny comics

A site that I've been watching for awhile has some really funny comics, drawn one per day. I found the site from BoingBoing.
The artist's wife also does a comic, and together they have started a joint comic.

* of a Salesman

Summary:
Willy Lowman goes to his boss to ask for a better job.
Boss turns him down.
All the hopes and dreams (or perhaps delusions) that Willy had of providing for his family are irrevocably lost.

The Mission

The Mission
Originally uploaded by PGraphx.

Looks familiar

Chase & Dallas 4 yrs

Chase & Dallas 4 yrs
Originally uploaded by cfpresley.

Found this pic while uploading stuff to my flickr.

New Old Baby pics

Chase-Birth-15
Originally uploaded by cfpresley.

My cousin Dane has been scanning photos at my grandmother's house, and he emailed me some of my baby pics. Click on the post title to see the photoset.

Announcing William Travis (Buzz) Presley

IMG_0719
Originally uploaded by cfpresley.

William was born on 27 Feb 2006 at 1641 by C-Section. He weighed 9lbs. 5ozs. and measured 20 inches long. He is currently doing well. In fact, he could probably leave the hospital today, ahead of Brandi, who is still recouperating. We will be in Baptist East Hospital room 210 until Thursday.
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Status update

IMG_0310
Originally uploaded by cfpresley.

Brandi still hasn't gone into labor, even though she is having contractions. On the 23rd, we ran to the Hospital because she had thought the water broke, but actually had just wet herself. Unless her water breaks tonight, we will be going to the hospital Monday morning to be induced. The doc is a little concerned about Buzz's size; the ultrasound measured him at 8 lbs 7 onces. Looks like this will be a February baby.

New show to watch

I've been watching "Tribal Life" on the travel channel. It is about the Bunlap tribe on Pentecost island of the Vanuatu Islands. It is different than National Geographic shows that take an anthopomorphological view of indigenous peoples. This is more like a "The Real World" style documentary, but with out the phoniness of The Real World. The show demonstrates how so called natives can coexist with modern life, and retain old customs. I was surprised at how intelligent the tribesmen are. It is another reminder that people are really not all that different from one another, even our predecessors.

Definitely a show to TIVO

Babies and boxes

Babies and boxes
Originally uploaded by cfpresley.

Dessert time

Dessert time
Originally uploaded by cfpresley.

New Pics

Needs Attention

Needs Attention
Originally uploaded by cfpresley.

Stupid daffodils think it's spring

Stupid daffodils think it's spring
Originally uploaded by cfpresley.

New pic added. Taken with my EOS, and a combined +1 +2 & +4 set of magnifying filters. A lot of them are blooming right now. There has been some warm weeks here in Alabama, followed by really frigid ones.

Happy anniversary

Seven years ago yesterday, I was on a bus shipping out to San Antonio Texas and Lackland Air Force base to begin what I thought would be 4 years of building up my resume, finding a sense of purpose, and getting my education. Now, seven years later, I've almost finished my degree and found a purpose. If things turn out the way I'd like them too, I could spend the rest of my working life with the Air Force.

We'll see.

New object of lust

Shun + Alton Brown knife set. It is created in a similar process to Damascene & Samurai blades, sandwiching layers of Cro-Moly-Vanadium steel and high carbon steel to create both a strong and flexible blade that keeps a very sharp edge.

Instead of buying the set, I'd probably just start with one, and add on later. The coolest looking one, and probably the most useful would be the Ken Onion Chef's Knife.

PJ Robot and Material Girl

PJ Robot and Material Girl
Originally uploaded by cfpresley.

Sophie is rocking out to a podcast we were listening to called Zoe's radio. She is wearing her flower girl dress from her Aunt Brooke's wedding, that she accessorized with a hot pink boa. Jack Black is seen doing the robot, along with half of his little brother Max, in the background devouring his second candy cane.

You might also notice a different format to my picture posts. I forced myself to create a yahoo! account so that I could give flickr a try.

Self portrait

Self portrait
Originally uploaded by cfpresley.

This is from last night when we had the Blacks over for dinner. Bridget and her friend Kara also stopped by on their way back to Illinoise

Glam shots - is it the new camera or the subjects?

The new camera is in! I ended up getting the EOS 350D aka Digital Rebel XT with the included 18-55mm EF-S kit lens. I also have my 35-80mm EF lens from my old 35mm EOS 620. All I need now is a Speedlite Flash, a tripod, and larger CF card. I'd also like to get the batterypack / vertical grip. It makes the camera look more like a professional Canon. And even more out there would be a nice macro lens with macro ring flash.

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

I've transcoded the 4d ultrasound and uploaded it to google video. I thought 4d was a little stupid, the extra d is for time. I guess technically, the plain old ultrasounds were already 3d then, because they were in realtime too. Anyways, movie below.

Cool things

I've been surfing all day while i've been transitioning from swing to mid shifts as a Security Forces Augmentee. I've come across some cool things on the intarwebs that anyone reading this might like.

BoingBoing> I ran across this cool podcast called Zoe's Radio Show. It has a lot of cool non-mainstream music that is somewhat along the same taste in music I have. For those not hip enough to know what a podcast is, think of it as a radio program, but on the internet... THE INTERNET.... what will these crazy kids think up next?

Double Viking> I rediscovered a site I had visited a long time back called beautiful agony. It's mostly artistic, showing nothing but pictures of people's faces while having an orgasm. You can really begin to understand why the French call it "the little death" when you see the expressions on their faces.

Pulled the trigger

I finally bought the new camera, a Canon Digital Rebel XT. I got it for 750 after rebate, from BeachCamera.com. I was initially going to initially buy it from Abes of Maine, but after reading about them at bizrate.com, and their bait and switch tactics with the call back upsale scam, I decided to spend a few bucks more and go with the better rated retailer. Beach camera has already shipped the camera, the same day I ordered it. Now I just need a tripod and a strobe with an AF illuminator.