Dinner, Movie and a Shuttle Launch

We saw Sex and the City this afternoon. It was quite a packed theater, especially considering it was a 2:20 showing. Just about all the loose ends were neatly tied up in the 2+ hour run time, leaving very little room for a sequel. But I don't think the hard core fans would appreciate any open questions.

We left the theater just in time to catch the 5pm shuttle launch today. Skies were clear in all directions, so once we looked in the right direction, the exhaust trail was easy to see. Unfortunately, I didn't have the heavy duty camera gear on hand, but I did have the point n shoot in the glove box. I managed to catch one decent shot. That's why a smart photographer never goes anywhere without a camera.

It's a Girl!

Kind of a duplicate post from our family blog, oh well. Now the name search can begin!

Wii Fat

The Wii Fit game arrived yesterday. I just finished an initial fitness test and a few yoga poses. Most of my friends would agree that I'm in decent shape, but the Wii doesn't appear to be my friend. After entering my height, birth date (The Wii Balance Board has a built in scale), and the approximate weight of my clothes, a BMI (body mass index) of nearly 24 was returned. Oddly, that's just on the edge of normal - yes I better watch my weight. After a couple balance tests, the first run of my Wii Fit age was 43! Ouch.

I ran another test and made it down to 31 - much more acceptable.

After entering my swimming workout from earlier today into the fitness log, I went straight to the yoga. I did the first few very basic poses, one of which is simply breathing. Following along with the trainer (you can pick a male or female trainer), you work each pose while trying to hold a steady balance as indicated on the screen. The tree pose gave me a little trouble, "You're a little shaky." No kidding.

So I'll keep moving along with other forms of training in hopes of reaching my lofty goal of losing 3 pounds in a few weeks. We'll see how I do.

Tom Friedman for President

I'm tired of the political lies. We've got some serious issues to tackle. It's nice to see these issues out in the open. Thanks Tom.

A New Blog

We thought we'd start a separate blog just for family posts, news etc. Enjoy!

Back On Line

A half a dozen calls to Comcast, two technician visits, various router configurations, and three cable modems later, we appear to finally be back on line. After moving the network setup to another room in the house, the whole thing fell apart. Well, the network was fine, it was the internet connection that was the problem. I would've rather had no connection at all. But instead the connection was very intermittent. A few web pages would load, and then things slowed to a crawl. Ugh..

So finally after fixing the wiring and replacing the cable modem, the connection seemed stable, and we let the Comcast guy go home at 8pm last night.

I even made an appointment at the Genius Bar. The odds of the Apple components causing the problems seemed slim, but I figured I check just to be sure. Oddly, in the few minutes I was there explaining the problem, two customers chimed in with sound suggestions. And I thought I was a geek.

Anyway, things seem to be ok for now.

Happy Mother's Day!

We called our Mothers, as Tom Friedman suggests. I love you Mom!

The weekend was a good one, a humid one as well. The Players Championship Golf Tournament was in town. We just watched from the couch in HD - it was like being there but with A/C.

In other news, we've been rearranging the house for our new addition to the family. My new desk arrived on Thursday. It should allow me to relocate to a common room in the house. So I've been slowly migrating various items across the house, from old desk to new desk. The only irritating issue that's come up is the problems with the wireless network. It seems that my computer can't quite reach the network from the current location. I fiddled around for a few hours to no avail. Comcast will be coming out on Tuesday to reconfigure the jacks. I then downloaded this guide, which may yield a few tricks.

And speaking of Mothers, check out the new pics of Bonnie - a mom to be...

Next Step: Blue Belt

Earlier this week I earned my 4th and final stripe as a White Belt in Brazillian Jiu Jitsu. So that means that the next hurdle is a belt test. Certainly, I'm making progress, but I know I have a lot to tighten up before I'm ready to test. If nothing else, I'll need to push my endurance training. The last testing session was a good 2.5 hours of pure joy.

On a side note, there's actually a Jiu Jitsu related movie coming out. I don't know much about it, but it might be worth seeing. I can't remember the last movie we went to. We've mostly switched to Netflix, AppleTV, and Discovery Channel HD.

Out Damn Spot!

While fiddling around with a few product photographs of some lens I may sell on eBay, I realized I have another 2 dust or water spots on my image sensor. This is the second time I've had a dust spots show up since I've had my D300. It's so aggravating - it's like an itch you can't scratch! These look exactly like the specks I had before - just in a different part of the frame. This time, they're way off to the right side of the frame (typically not the focus of the frame). I can't figure out how they're getting on there.

I may take it back to the repair shop that cleaned it last time. Maybe they can help me figure out what's causing them. I don't use the camera in a harsh environment. I don't change lenses that often. When I do, it's usually in a contained area. Whatever I do, I'm not taking it back to Ritz - they tried to clean it and blew more dust in it. Lesson #1 - Don't let the college kids from Ritz handle your new camera. So I ended up taking it to a place here in Jacksonville called Southern Photo Technical. The store felt more like a museum instead of a repair shop. Old projectors and old film camera items littered the store. I don't know how they stay in business.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, here's a quick summary. Basically, DSLR camera sensors (where the film used to be) are susceptible to dust spots. Dust sneaks in while changing a lens and I think under heavy zooming (on big zooms). These spots show up only in certain exposure conditions. But when they show up - it'll drive you nuts...

Here's a link full of way too much detail, if you want to read more - I didn't.

New Links, New Friends

Check out some new entries in my "Links" section, to the right. The Coverville and Jawbone Radio podcasts are two great shows. You'll hear covers better than the originals to your favorite songs. And check in with Len and Nora of Jawbone radio - voted best podcast in Cleveland. Yes, it reminds me of home. I'm usually not much for the unscripted podcast, but the dialogue between Len and Nora is quite entertaining.

The New and Improved yorkd is run by Bonnie's former colleague in New Hampshire. I'm getting some great advice from her on the baby (she just had her second child). She's also a photographer!

And in case you didn't notice, I added a beach photo from last week.