A Quiet New Year

Bonnie and I are hanging out tonight at home. We managed to pick up a cold bug sometime in the last few days. So we're both less than 100%.

Yesterday we returned from The Villages where Bonnie's parents have been getting their new little retirement house in order. It's quite a place.

I've got just a few hours to come up with some resolutions... Hmmm...

All We Are Saying - New York Times

Here's a few new words from 2007. Apparently there are now blog sub types. "Tumblelog” describes one of my favorite sites - Daring Fireball.

Airport Observations

So we're sitting at the Jacksonville airport. It seems Southwest has
greatly complicated their boarding process. Previously they just had
three lines, but now they've subdivided those lines by what appears to
be seat rows. All we heard the last 20 minutes was the poor gate
attendant trying to explain the new process. And it doesn't help that
half these people haven't flown in years.

Speaking of inexperienced travelers, we also overheard a woman asking
for help with her ticket. She was trying to understand the connection
process. She'd never flown before. The lady who helped her realized
that her connecting flight isn't until tomorrow. Doh!

Where are the Crowds?

With Christmas only a few days away, I've yet to see many jam packed stores. Even at the St. John's Town Center, Jacksonville's newest and most high end shopping mecca, the crowds appear light. Of course it is possible that some of the new stores are just too high end for this town's red neck roots. But even the essentials like Apple and Target have been rather quiet.

If the Jacksonville retail activity is even remotely indicative of the national trends, the holiday earnings will be quite gloomy. Maybe now is a good time to start hoarding the cash.

Then again, maybe it's the balmy weather. With sunny skies and temperatures in the 60's, it just doesn't feel like Christmas.

Gotta Love the Locals

This afternoon Jacksonville residents witnessed a deadly chemical plant explosion. Not to make light of the tragedy, but I couldn't help but laugh after reading a quote from this local news article.

Derek Pratt, 24, was flying a remote control airplane at a field about a mile away when he heard a series of explosions and a smoke plume extending hundreds of feet in the air.

"Those shock waves came straight through these hills," he said. "It was just like Hiroshima."

How does he know? Was he there?

Mom's Visit

Tomorrow Mom heads back to a frigid Cleveland after a quick weekend visit with us. We did a bit of shopping, relaxed at the beach, and then drove down to St. Augustine for lunch. The weather was near perfect! Hopefully she got enough sun to last until spring break.

A New York Times Year in Review

You may enjoy reading Ben Stein's reflections on the past year. It's quite comforting to know that a mind as brilliant as his favors an indexing investment strategy.

And my personal favorite - the Annual Year in Ideas magazine feature.

Jiu Jitsu Class

This week I tried two classes of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I warmed up with the class and then I was paired with guy who worked with me on a couple variations of the class drill for. The first class didn't really make much sense. It wasn't until after the class that I started thinking through the steps for each maneuver that it started to click. At first glance it looks like everyone is just rolling around on the mats, but there's actually quite a science and strategy to everything.

This particular martial art is focused on grappling with lots of joint locks, submissions and chokes. But the first steps are simply learning the basic escapes. Jiu Jitsu training seems to hold up well against most other martial arts. Once the fight goes to the ground, fancy kicks and punches fail.

Tonight's class made a bit more sense, partially because we were doing some more fundamental moves. Throughout each maneuver there's a place for each limb, joint, hand and foot. And if something isn't in the right place, you get beat.

After running through a couple drills we paired up against the more experienced guys. Just when I thought I had learned something, I realized how much more fine tuning is required to resist just little more resistance...

If nothing else, it seems like a great workout. The class seems relatively low key and not too macho. Originally I thought it was an all guys things, but a couple women showed up tonight. That further shows that size and strength aren't the sole determinants of a fight.

I'll make the decision to sign up over the next few days. It's definitely a commitment, but it seems like a good skill to pick up.

Shopping for a new PC

No, not for me. Bonnie's old laptop has about had it. With the old USB ports, it takes her what seems like hours just to load a few songs to her iPod. Even with Apple's marketing muscle (including the very amusing new Vista attack ads) and my testimonials (which might have worked against me), she insisted on getting a PC with Vista. The last Windows machine I bought was my original college computer, about 10 years ago. I don't know the first thing about the virus software and I tend to shun the idea of shelling out another few hundred bucks for an extended warranty, so I wasn't much help in the process.

Our first stop was the local Circuit City. She found a model she liked on sale, but of course it was out of stock. We asked the associate (it appeared to be his first day at work) if models were in stock at other stores. He found a few but didn't know which stores were which (they were only identified in the system by store zip code). After the first couple blank stares, he finally was able to call and confirm the stock at a store about 20 miles away. Incidentally, I was able to find the other store's phone number faster on my iPhone than he was. It was a nice day for a little road trip, so we jumped back in the car and headed to Orange Park.

Arriving at the second Circuit City, we headed in to find another sales rep. Of course, whenever you actually need assistance the reps are nowhere to be found. Finally, the Fire Dog (Circuit City's Geek Squad equivalent) employee helped us out. But all he was good for was making the sale and pushing the warranty. He didn't even know (but admitted that he should) if Bonnie could use the Vista Office Upgrade, or if she would have to buy the full version. So then she had to stand in line for about 20 minutes just to get the box. I browsed the TVs and Wii games, twice.

Sure, I'm biased to Macs. But the PC buying experience is so terrible it shouldn't take Apple to improve it. All the laptops are braced to the counters with heavy steel bars. How can you really get a feel for the machine when it's so locked up? The machines don't have any meaningful software installed (unless you include Vista itself). And an Internet connection? Keep dreaming. Circuit City has free wifi (which my iPhone picked up quite well), but it's of no use to the toys they're supposedly selling. All the network connectivity is turned off.

It'll be interesting to see how the initial setup of the machine goes tonight. I can't wait to see what curves Vista will throw at us.

I've been debating about selling a few shares of my Apple stock. The run up has been quite solid. But after today, I think I'll keep holding on.

The Haze Lifts

The antibiotics are starting to kick in. I'm finally starting to feel better...

Still Sick

It's official. I've been sick the entire holiday weekend. And I have just one question. With all the advances in medicine, why does NyQuil still have to taste so bad?

HP 9180 Initial Trials

To fine tune my printer settings in Aperture, I decided to run a few trials. Even with a completely calibrated system, the prints never quite match the monitor. But I'm getting awfully close...

I'll try to keep these tests simple. Since this printer is the geared to towards the prosumer, I theoretically shouldn't need to get buried with the all the possible settings so as to loose the fun of print making. Before picking up the printer, I would order my prints at my local Ritz. The results were ok but maybe a touch too dark. But making my own prints almost makes me feel like an artist - a real print maker. If only the printer emitted the appropriate chemicals typical in a darkroom.

For the test, I chose this photo. My little friend Jack is my favorite model, he just goes on about his business letting me shoot away with no complaints or dirty looks. The image was shot in JPG format & the Adobe RGB 1998 color space. I'm using HP Advanced Gloss Paper and my monitor was calibrated with a Huey device. Here are the scenarios:

1) For whatever reason I had dialed up the gamma in Aperture's print dialog to 1.30. With the gamma at 1.3, the appropriate color profile selected for the paper, and black point compensation on, I noticed the prints fair but seemed a little washed out, kind like a sun glare coating the entire image. I also noticed a bit of color shifting in greens (trees) and blues (sky) when I proofed the image on screen.

2) I dialed back the gamma to 1.10. The difference was surprising. The washed out look was gone, almost like I made a saturation adjustment. The entire print was much richer and color accurate.

3) Just to be daring, I set the gamma to 1.0 for maybe a slightly better print. Things got just a touch richer. Deciding between 1.0 and 1.10 was tough. For this image, 1.0 might be the winner. But I went back to my Aperture preset and split the difference to 1.05. The color shifts seemed to correct themselves. Before this tweak I was trying to boost the saturation for the colors that faded under the 1.3 setting. But with a dialed down gamma things looked fine.

4) As a final test, I tried using the system managed settings in Aperture. As I understand it, this setting bypasses the color profiles and is supposed to serve as a very entry level setting (or if no profile is available). Well it turns out all this color management stuff isn't a bunch of marketing fluff. The result with a system managed setting gave me a very dark and muddy print - yuck. I'm sticking to the profiles when available! Now if only I'd have run this test prior to wasting two 8.5 x 11 sheets. Oddly though, the on screen proof looked pretty good, a little more vivid perhaps. But the print was terrible - way too dark.

The next couple prints run with 1.05 gamma and proper paper profile were great! The only problem I noticed was that somehow the image is getting cropped. I'm not sure if it's Aperture or the HP software. My shots typically fill the frame, so some important edges might be clipped. I'll have to try a print through CS3 - that might help narrow down the problem.

Happy Black Friday

We had an enjoyable Thanksgiving with friends here in Florida. Sadly, Keith, Betsy, and my favorite little model Jack will be relocating to Seattle. Bonnie and I wish them all the best!

The food was filling and there's plenty left of Bonnie's pumpkin pies and cranberries - all the food I really need for a few days. For as much as I complain about the Florida weather, it's been quite nice the last few weeks. The windows are open, humidity has faded, and the sun is comfortably warm. I just wish this little bug that I caught would've spared me for the holiday. Being sick on a holiday weekend (a 4 day holiday weekend) sucks.

Now as I finish my breakfast, I'm pondering the idea of venturing out to the stores. There's nothing I particularly need to buy today, but seeing the holiday sights is always a treat. The only store I make a point of avoiding is Best Buy - it's just not worth it. You'd think they're giving away cash by those crazy lines. And only the sale items are a good deal, the rest of the store is usually overpriced, loud, obnoxious, and the sales associates typically know far less about whatever I'm considering buying.

I was amazed to hear the number of stores opening at 4am this morning. And there were rumors that some outlet malls were opening at midnight? Since that's technically earliest a store could open on Friday, I wonder how long it'll take before stores open Thanksgiving evening.

Martial Arts

For the past several weeks I've been taking a self defense class at my local YMCA. It's a good class with a practical focus. The instructor's motto is "Better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6." Think about that for a moment... Aggressive thinking, yes, but I guess that's kind of the point. We're learning basic blocks, punches, kicks, and many pressure point type maneuvers, which if done properly, can be lethal.

While the class is fun, I've been thinking about stepping it up a notch. Or maybe I've just been watching too much Human Weapon on The History Channel. My instructor recommended Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. As luck would have it, there's a studio in town.

The other option, as a friend pointed out, is a concealed carry permit. But where's the fun in that?

War Photography

We just watched a stunning documentary about the war photographer James Nachtwey. His work is incredibly moving - check it out!

Health Plans

I know my way around a 401(k). ROTH IRAs are a piece of cake to me. Thanks to several good books, NPR, and Vanguard, investing is not something even remotely threatening to me. But health insurance is something I know absolutely nothing about. It's made unnecessarily complicated for a variety of reasons. And when it's needed most for catastrophic problems, us middle class are screwed.

Tomorrow I have a simple eye exam. It probably won't take more than 30 minutes. But I spent at least that much time trying to figure out what exactly my vision plan covers and if my selected doctor is in the network. It turns out my coverage offers a whopping $5 for eye exams. The benefits for prescription lenses and frames are a little more generous. Luckily it turns out I was able to use Bonnie's plan (a rarity now that most working spouses must use their own coverage exclusively). So I'm pretty sure, thanks to VSP, my exam should be covered.

But 4 phone calls and 30 minutes of my time for a silly eye exam is ridiculous. Thankfully we're in good health as I sympathize with those who have more complex medical questions.

Supposedly, this country has the best health care available in the world. But it's only available if you have the cash and or time to battle the system. Hopefully Hillary's plan will point us in the right direction.

Smash and Grab

Bonnie woke me about 5am the day after Halloween to inform me that her car window had been smashed and her iPod was gone. Yes, we were burgled! We called the police and Progressive to make a claim. Of course, rain started to fall so we had to quickly swap cars around in the garage. Progressive was actually quite useless at that hour. Bonnie was told someone would call her back around 10 am. The police officer on the other hand, was as helpful as he could be. Most cops have a lousy reputation for a reason, but this guy was quite pleasant. Bonnie and I joked about making him dust the car for prints. But he actually offered to do so. Although we agreed that the benefits would not be worth inking up the interior.

Her iPod was the one recent purchase that I hadn't archived a copy of the receipt. So we feared that finding the serial number would be futile. But I discovered there is a way to extract the last iPod synced to iTunes. With the serial number in hand, I gave the police another call to add it to the report. We were advised that if the careless vandal decided to pawn off the device, it might be flagged. We'll see.

No claim was made since the cost to replace the window was under the deductible. Bonnie picked up a new iPod last night. We tried to have the window replaced today, but it wasn't quite the right size. Luckily, the technician was able to rig the window shut. So it's all sealed up now. We'll have to wait until Monday for a window of the right size.

in talking to the neighbors, Bonnie discovered that we weren't the only victims. At least 2 other cars in the vicinity were also hit. Apparently, this kind of activity is all too common, regardless of the neighborhood. Gated communities appear just as likely to be hit, according to her coworkers. Gotta love Florida...

Sure, it could've been a lot worse. But I'm starting to understand the reasoning behind a concealed carry permit...

Next year, we're boycotting Halloween.

Aperture's Share of the Market

Come on Apple... You can do better than this. Where's Aperture version 2.0?

Leopard Impressions

Leopard is up and running on both my Mac Pro and trusty old PowerBook G4. Installation went very smoothly on both machines. Remember when you'd have to budget an entire weekend for a Windows upgrade? Oh, maybe you still do with Windows? Just be on the safe side, I did make a fresh bootable backup with SuperDuper prior to pulling the trigger.

With Leopard running since Saturday, there's still much to learn, but here are my initial observations:

The MacPro is noticeably faster, particularly while running Photoshop and Aperture. I guess all the Multicore technology is really starting to mature. And the laptop certainly isn't suffering from a slowdown. Typically, an OS upgrade just doesn't run as swiftly on an older machine. Sure the eye candy features aren't as punchy, but all in all, the PowerBook is running just fine. No slower than before.

Mail and iChat are much improved! To Do and Notes are built in to Mail. And it even recognizes appointments and phone numbers within a message - very intelligent.

I was interested to give Time Machine a try, but it appears Apple has got some work to do yet with Aperture's compatibility with the new feature. So I'm going to hold off for now.

Spaces has taken me all weekend to get the feel of, but now it's starting to click. Perhaps the best way to think of it is as separate configurable desktops. Select the applications you want viewable in each space and go back to work. So I might have Aperture in it's own space with Mail and Safari in another space. With Aperture in it's own space, I can focus solely on the images without distracting windows in the background. If I need to flip back to Safari or send a message, then I slide back to the other space with a key stroke. I think I'll really find this feature handy. One odd thing I've noticed is that I can't seem to shut it off - maybe a bug...

Screen Sharing is one of the more radical changes in the OS. I can connect to the MacPro via the PowerBook with complete control over the entire system. It's almost spooky. If I need an image out of Aperture while sitting on the couch, I just call it up, export the image, and then pull it back to the laptop. All without getting up. Apparently this also works over the Internet with a dot mac subscription.

In my opinion, the upgrade is more than worth the price. I'll save you the full review and just point to two solid reviews.

David Pogue of the NY TImes

Andy Ihnatko of MacWorld

A Weekend of Rest

This busy October has finally started to settle down for me. I returned from Idaho on Friday. I spent the week out west traveling for work. Boise, Twin Falls, and Sun Valley were among the stops. Unfortunately there was little time for any sightseeing. My point and shoot only found its way from the case a few times. We traveled hard and ate well. Now I get to look forward to catching up on Monday.


Prior to the Idaho visit, I was down in Port St. Lucie, Florida for a photography workshop. We spent a great four days shooting and having loads of fun. I figured southern Florida couldn't be much more humid than north Florida - so much for that theory. The humidity was intense and the rain fierce. But fortunately, the weather didn't impact our schedule. This was the fourth workshop Chris put on the United States. It was also one of the smaller gatherings. But that kept the schedule flexible and the level of personal attention high. I was one of the more experienced shutterbugs in the group. A few the attendees were just discovering the world of DLSR photography.

Having gone through some of the workshop photos, I've finally had a chance just to relax.

Oh, and I had to pick up a copy of Apple's latest OS X upgrade... More on that later.

Another Busy Weekend

The busy month continues... The in-laws were in town this weekend and Bonnie wasn't feeling well. She was actually considering not going in to work - so she must not be in good shape. We passed the time with a sampling of Wii Sports and Wii Play. While we don't play the Wii that often, it's always so easy to just pick up and play with some rookies. Nintendo is on their game!

It's another short week for me. On Thursday morning I'm heading down to Port St. Lucie for a photography workshop. I'm really looking forward to a great experience! I'll return from the workshop with barely 24 hours to turn around and head out to Idaho for work. After that trip I should finally have a weekend to myself.

Fighting Illini

We're recovering from a great getaway weekend in Illinois. I can now say I've experienced the Big 10 (and a whole lot of corn fields en route). It was a great game between Illinois and Wisconsin amid the sea of orange. And the Illini pulled out the win! For an early October afternoon, it was surprisingly warm.

The ride home from Illinois was also an experience. We began our trek home on Jet Blue from Chicago. The leg room was ample (especially for Bonnie and me) and the satellite TV kept me somewhat occupied during the ordeal.

After sitting on the ramp for maybe 15 minutes we were informed of a computer glitch. We would return to the gate for a rebooting of the airplane - even airplanes get those damned blue screens of death. With the restart unsuccessful, we had to change planes. So about 2 hours behind schedule, we were finally on our way back to water logged Jacksonville. Our heads hit the pillow about 3am with $50 JetBlue credits on the way.

Out For a Drive

We made it out yesterday for a drive down A1A to St. Augustine. It's a great little trip with lots of fabulous beach houses (and mansions). These houses are about as close to the water as I'd think you could build a house. Nothing separates the property line from the beach, no dunes, nothing...

Unfortunately, this route is straight as an arrow. So I didn't get to make much use of the cornering abilities of the car. But the cruise control works great. We took I95 back home. The BMW 325i really settles in at high speeds.

Today I took a few photos of the car. It finally gave me a chance to try some of the Strobist exercises.

Spending Habits

If you ever tried Quicken, you'll know that while the concept sounds great, it's a real pain to set up properly. I once spent hours trying to get all my accounts configured. A few things changed in my financial life and I simply gave up trying to keep Quicken in tune.

Check out Mint.com. It offers the basic benefits of Quicken without the hassle of setup time. Enter all your bank and credit card accounts and Mint will sort through all your transactions and categorize them accordingly. Categories are limited but sufficient, and it doesn't appear to support investment accounts. Otherwise it's pretty useful. Vanguard does a fine job of showing my investment allocation but my banking sites are pretty worthless when it comes to analyzing anything (except finding an excuse to charge an outrageous fee).

The site analyzes your spending and even provides recommendations to save money (ads in disguise).

Nothing says you shouldn't have bought that car like a huge slice of the monthly pie chart...

A Wet Week

Finally, the rain has let up. It's been raining just about non-stop since Monday. The low lying areas of Jacksonville flooded. Apparently it's rather common. I hate to think what a hurricane might do. Our neighborhood was fine - I guess there's some benefit to living in a newer development.

New Ride

Succumbing to my driving urges, I signed my life away for the next 4 years. The punishment: A 2004 BMW 325i. Luckily I was able to resist the temptation to go all out for a 2006 or 2007 model year - maybe next time (and hopefully gas won't be $8 a gallon).

Plain and simple, just like every review out there, this is a driver's car. The 'growl' of the engine is almost soothing... It may even sound better than the stereo! Even with the base engine, the car is quick and agile.

The German ergonomics take some getting used to. Some things make sense but aren't as obvious. Setting the clock, for example, is probably the easiest to set of any car I've ever owned - once I figured out which knob to turn.

Storage space (again, as any review mentions) is quite minimal. The manuals nearly fill the glove box. Ashtrays seem more prevalent (and accessible) than storage compartments. Nothing wrong with a sterile cockpit, it'll keep me focused on the road.

So far, my favorite 'luxury feature' is the rain sensing wipers. They're perfect for the scattered rain so common in Florida. The blade speed adjusts automatically depending on the water volume passing over the sensor... so cool.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the real leather seats, just the 'leatherette.' So it may be a little sticky in the intense sun - nothing will prevent that in Florida.

Hopefully this weekend we'll get out for a drive. And photos are in order as well...

San Francisco Images

The vacation photos are up (if you're interested). I've been playing with the controversial new iMovie. Whatever you think of its capabilities, it makes some great little slide shows. And the ability to upload them to YouTube is wonderful. All it takes are some half decent images and one Apple application and you'll have a better YouTube video than most of the junk on the site.

The punishing Florida heat is finally starting to subside... Ahhh... Now we've just got to make another month or so through the end of hurricane season.

And if only I could decide what to do about my car purchase.

Back Home

We've settled back in from our San Francisco vacation. Those red eye flights are brutal. Anyway, I got a few good photos. I'm going through them now, hopefully they'll be posted this weekend. Vacation photography is tough. You never know what to expect and odds are that someone has a better shot posted on Flickr.

I've been asked several times what I'm going to do with my iPhone refund. Yes, I probably paid too much for my iPhone. But as MacWorld says, that's the price for a few months of 'cool'. I've a got a few goodies in mind - unfortunately they're all a little more than $100.

Bimmer or Bust

Tomorrow I'll take one last look at the Bimmers. I've pondered the merits of a 2006 BMW 325 or going back to a 2004 model year. So many choices, so many options. Deciding where the best value lies is quite difficult. The price difference is so narrow it suggests one is over priced or the other under priced. Is it really worth blowing the money? Probably not, but it sure is fun to dream.

Consuming

Since a few of our friends and Bonnie have bought new cars, I figured I'd take a look. Today I drive a modest Honda Accord. Aside from the brakes rusting out from the Ohio winters - yes apparently, modern brakes still corrode, it's been a nice car. And I suppose that's the point. The car is just 'nice'.

So Friday I test drove an Acura TSX and TL. Today I was drawn back to the BMW 3 Series. The TSX (which is my Accord with some minor upgrades) was uninspiring. It's an Accord with more toys and slightly better handling. I'd have to find a killer deal to pull the trigger. Now the TL on the other hand is quite a step up. With more of everything, this car means business. And of course it also means more dough.

Finally I revisited my occasional affair with a BMW 325. I drove a 2006 model year with only 11k miles. I was reminded just how different a driver's car really feels. Sure those Acuras are loaded, but the handling isn't quite there. This particular vehicle was priced in between the TSX and TL. But there are some trade offs for the ultimate driving machine. Most significantly, there's no navigation - easily corrected with a TomTom. In the earlier model years, I'd give up Bluetooth. And with any BMW, cup holders are scarce.

Who knows what I'll select. Perhaps I'll even stick to the trusty Accord for awhile longer. But car shopping sure is fun...