Recently in Technology Category

Really. It does. It is the first piece of software on my Mac that I really do not like. It is a pain to use and is not very user friendly. I did some research online and discovered that most people prefer iMovie HD to iMovie 08, and as a bonus Apple has it as a free download to those who have iLife 08. Yay for having a new Mac.

Immediately after downloading iMovie HD, I begin doing what I was trying to do with Dome to Dome. Surprisingly, the video tape is in good condition so it was able to transfer with only some minor hiccups here and there. I have dived into creating the opening credits for the movie, and then after that I will start going through the editing process. Ten minutes of driving around Grand Forks AFB with a kid in the backseat crying about going to bowling? Yeah, there is a lot of work to do. At least there is a great interview with my friends Trevor and Claudia when I went to visit them in Madison to see if I could be a Badger.

My goals are to create some good YouTube episodes (maybe a Club Josh Travels channel? or perhaps a Dome to Dome Channel?) as well as a nice formal DVD to go alongside Dome to Dome Twice and Covina Chaos!

It only took three Cable Cards and an hour of the repairman's time, but my TiVo is now up and running. I am still debating whether to spend the 70 dollars to put a new power supply in the old TiVo to get the data off of it. Maybe one day!

I recorded Saturday Night Live in HD to test it out and it actually looks great. I haven't checked the size requirements to see how much room it takes up, but since I will be TiVo'ing less shows now, hopefully it will not run out of room.

Still not happy with the guide interface (I never was before with TiVo - preferring to use the cable company's guide and information), but I am sure with time I will get used to it.

Since Apple is too busy worrying about the health of Steve Jobs and a stock dive over the last month to work on an Apple TV DVR, I went out and picked up a Tivo Series 3 HD to get back on track with my TV. One of the things that excites me is the ability to record two shows at once!

After picking up my TiVo at Best Buy, I went to Time Warner the next day to get a Cable Card. This was my second trip to a TW location in as many days since the previous night's venture to the Bella Terra store resulted in the lady telling me they didn't have any (in a "why do you even want that thing" sort of snarky voice) and for me to go to another store the next day. So thinking that I needed two cards, I picked them up and headed home.

As I was installing the TiVo (and getting hit in the head with items falling off of my stereo rack and a Wii Sensor Bar), I fired it up and discovered the Cable Cards were actually Multi cards, meaning that I really only needed one. Bonus for me! After the agonizing race to get the data into the TiVo, it all started to work beautifully in time for Survivor: Gabon.

It wasn't until later in the night that I realized that some channels - including the ever important 217 - the Travel Channel - were not showing up. In fact, all of my optional extra channels, TW calls them Variety and Choice Tier, were not there at all. After calling Time Warner's crack service department, they decide to send me a technician to solve the issue. Apparently the cards are not getting the autorization to decode the optional channels. Sadly, this means I will have to watch Most Haunted on the bedroom TV. My big hope is that I can get all this sorted out before next week's 7-hour Most Haunted Live.

It is a bit weird getting used to using the TiVo interface the whole time. For the past six years, I have used the TiVo through a cable box. The TiVo guide seems to be a bit slower, but I really enjoy the fact that I can watch whatever is on TV and not worry about it flipping to record CSI in the middle of watching Doctor Who or something like that.

I haven't tried to record a HD show yet, but I want to see how it will work. My TV is not an HD set, but as I have mentioned previously, it is HD ready and can process the signals. It is just a 4:3 set so everything is letterbox, but it looks way better than I think most HD TVs can put out. The only advantage a LCD or Plasma has is the thin form factor. Then again, my TV is almost 9 years old so I half expect it to die a painful death soon since all of my older electronics seem to be growing long in the tooth.

Hopefully my technician will solve the problems better than their last visit..

It is with great sadness that I report the demise of my friend of the last six years - my TiVo. Yesterday, I went to watch my Most Haunted episodes but I noticed the picture on my TV was black. Usually, this means the cable box was off, but the green light was illuminated. I then decided to cycle power to the TiVo, and that was the death knell.

When the power came back on, the lights on the front illuminated solid yellow and orange and that was that. For all the cycling, my poor TiVo would not boot.

Checking online, I discovered the most likely cause is a failed power supply. It is possible to replace the power supply for around 70 bucks in the hopes of rescuing the programs on it, but I am not sure I want to even bother. I am sad to lose the two Most Haunted's on there as well as Charo's appearance on the Today Show from 1994, but replacing the power supply is not a sure fix, and it will take a week or so to get the part, and of course we are in the middle of the new Fall TV season.

So despite these losses, I have to now decide how to replace the TiVo in time to keep recording my favorite shows. I am torn between getting a DVR through Time Warner or getting a new HD TiVo in anticipation of the day I get an HD TV. Perhaps Apple will come to my rescue with an Apple TV DVR?

I finally made it to the Apple store to get the composite video cable to connect my iPhone to my TV. Alex gas had one for ages, and now that I have a modern iPod on my iPhone I was really interested to see how it would work. I tested an episode of Kath and Kim that I gave on the iPhone as well as a video I made of Tokyo Disneyland's Winnie the Pooh attraction. Both were a little hard to watch close up but overall they were not bad.

Next, I discovered that if I selected a YouTube video it would also play through the TV - talk about a bonus! I really want to purchase a video from iTunes to see how it compares to my videos. If it is good, then I can watch some of the Doctor Who episodes that are only on iTunes and not DVD.

The new iPhone 2.1 also seems to be better in many ways - the phone is more stable and I do get better 3G reception. Time will tell if it stays this way.

It has been almost a month since I switched over to the new 3G iPhone and I have a few opinions I would like to share:

Likes:
The look and feel and ease of use
Ability to customize ringtones with Garage Band
Easy to check my emails on multiple accounts
Great web-surfing ability
Visual Voicemail
It's so easy to put people on hold and answer another call or merge calls together
iPhone App Store
iPod!

Dislikes:
AT&T service is terrible compared to Verizon. Hopefully if they come up with a software fix for the 3G service it will improve, but I drop calls all the time and the sound quality is all over the place - sometimes crystal clear and other times like I sound like a Dalek.
No customized text message sounds - WTF???? You can create ringtones but not text message sounds? Also you cannot change the sound for new emails and other events.
No Flash on Mobile Safari
Buggy sound event software. It's bad enough that I can't change the sound, but there are times when it won't even play the sound.
No video
No MMS - I have to go to a website to check them??

Don't get me wrong, I still love my iPhone. It is frustrating that just a few minor tweaks can make it so much better. I still need to get with it and create an application for the iPhone that people would be willing to pay 99 cents for so I can supplement my income.

So after a few days of seeing how Daniel's iPhone operated and just all around drooling, I decided it was high-time that I got my own. Now of course, I thought after a few days the excitement would die down and I would be able to get one without waiting. Boy was I wrong. Here is a log of my attempts:

Attempt 1: July 13 South Coast Plaza, I went around 7pm. Plenty of phones, but line was cut off.

Attempt 2: Brea Mall - Sorry, we are all out of iPhones

Attempt 3: July 15 - Pasadena - According to the Apple iPhone tracker, this was one of the last stores to actually have the black 16GB in stock, but upon arriving there was already a three hour line and there were only white 16GB available. Frustrated, we left empty handed.

Attempt 4: July 16 - Newport Fashion Island - Again, Apple iPhone tracker has 16GB in stock. We show up an hour before the store opened. The line concierge says sorry, we opened hours earlier and sold them all, all we have is black 8GB. Again, we leave empty handed.

At this point, I was like someone really doesn't want me to have the phone. Undeterred, I listened to all my friends go on about how wonderful it is, and eventually I was swayed back to get one. But by the weekend of the 19th, they were sold out in the whole state of California. I resigned to the fact that I was going to have to wait three weeks until Steve Jobs plusses up the inventory.

On Monday night the 21st, the iPhone tracker said South Coast Plaza was back in stock of all flavors. I was tempted to go, but having not had much sleep in the past week due to iPhone nightmares as well as getting up early with Daniel and working to 2am, I decided to pass and sleep late. Tuesday night's iPhone tracker said that South Coast was again plussed up with all flavors, and I figured it's now or never.

Attempt 5: So Wednesday July 23rd, 12 days after launch and waiting 4.5 hours with Daniel for his iPhone, I was back at the Apple Store South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa waiting in line. I was smarter this time and brought my Nintendo DS Lite loaded with Tetris. Having hindsight, I think BrainAge would have been a better companion. As I settled in, I noticed we were at the 1.5 hour mark from the previous wait. The people around me amazed about how long the line was taking, and I told them they have no idea what they are in for, and admitted to them how dumb I was for not getting one on the first day.

The Line concierge guy tells us they only have white 16GB and I am sorta pissed and thinking of a strongly worded letter to Steve about his dumb iPhone tracker, but at this point I want the phone so I just resign myself to white and figure I can get a nice black case to put around it. The concierge dude also tells us that they usually get a shipment o' iPhones just after opening, and they have no idea what they get until they open the box - so there is a slim chance that some black 16GB goodness will be inside. About an hour and half go by, and I finally make it past the Carousel and am met by line concierge #2. He lets us know that indeed a shipment has come in, and lo and behold there are some 16GB blacks in there. So now it is a waiting game as we inch closer to the stainless steel facade of the Apple store. Will they get all of the blacks before I get there? I had to keep telling myself that I would get whatever they had left.

Three hours after getting in line, I am at the threshold of the store and I can hardly stand it. This guy in front of me has been stoic the entire time, while the people behind me are chomping at the bit to get in the store just like me. We take a vote and determine that guy doesn't deserve an iPhone - he is not enthusiastic enough, and he better not take the last black one!

Finally, I am greeted by Grant, Apple Tech extraordinaire. He asks what he can get for me, and resisting the temptation to say, "Oh, I just want a cable for my iMac", I ask him for a 16GB black iPhone. He says he has one and I am thrilled. The process was fairly fast for me. I knew what plan I wanted, had my Verizon account numbers and we were authorized in about 10 minutes. Grant then asked if I wanted a tour of the phone. I told him I have a basic idea of the stuff on the phone, and he proceeded to show me the apps he has on his phone and what he recommends. He also gave me tips on how to get my emails set up and a few other things. Now I know why the lines take so long. Apple employees want each customer to have excellent customer service before they leave the store and make sure they get all the information they need. It made the wait almost worthwhile (probably if I had only waited once, it would have been all worthwhile.)

On my way out, I picked out a car charger, and looked for a case, but did not see one I liked. I finally had my iPhone and couldn't be happier. I did end up getting a black rubber-esque case from the Brea Apple store. I initially wanted the clear one that Lauran and Daniel have, but decided to get one that would help keep the iPhone in my pocket.

After a couple of days, I still am impressed with the things this little phone can do. I am happy I can set custom ringtones and access all of my mail accouts. I am also excited I can view web pages the way they are meant to be seen. Now, I loved my Motorola Q, but the iPhone has much better sound quality speakerwise, as well as listening to people on the phone. The 3G coverage is still a bit spotty, but doing some research, discovered AT&T is expanding the 3G spectrum to help get better reception inside buildings.

The previous post had a photo of my car taken from the iPhone. I do notice that the text requires some cleanup on my end, but I will try and see if I can get a Flickr app for my phone to upload directly. Also a Movable Type one would be awesome as well. Compare the photo from my Moto Q of the damaged bumper!

Complete photo wrap up with photos from My Story

Finally!
Originally uploaded by Club Josh.

Five hours later we are back at home and Daniel is very happy. It actually was quite the fun day out at South Coast. There were certainly a lot of characters in the line. I thought it was a good mix of previous iPhone customers as well as new converts. I really thought it was funny that Daniel got a message from Sprint 2 hours into waiting about new discounts for him. They must have gotten wind of the mass migrations to AT&T today. I can't really blame Apple for the technical problems that made our wait last as long as it did. I am just glad Daniel was able to get it activated in the store with no problem.

I had to go to work in the evening and Daniel got to play with the iPhone. I will have to see if he is all excited and if the service is actually any good before I decide for sure if I am going to convert as well.

3G iPhone Mania Part 4
Originally uploaded by Club Josh.

It took us 4 hours, but Daniel got to get the one he wanted - black 16 GB. This was also my point of weakness where I wanted to get one as well.

3G iPhone Mania Part 3
Originally uploaded by Club Josh.

Three hours later and we are almost to the store. The Apple Store is the second storefront past the carrousel. There are rumors other Apple and AT&T stores are already sold out. Hopefully Daniel will get the one he wants. I have been tempted to get one myself, but still undecided.

3G iPhone Mania Part 2
Originally uploaded by Club Josh.

The line wraps from the front of the Apple store around the bottom floor of South Coast Plaza. If only these people were waiting to buy something I invented!

3G iPhone Mania
Originally uploaded by Club Josh.

The crowd outside the South Coast Plaza Apple store at 8am on July 11.

Sitting here at Sky Harbor Airport, waiting for my flight I want to make a passionate plea to all you airports out there stuck in the 20th Century. You all need free wireless now. I can't believe in this day and age that the two airports I use in the LA Area the most - SNA and LAX - charge for their WiFi access. Yet, here in Phoenix, they offer glorious free WiFi. It just makes sense to do it for the travelers who are stuck in the airport for delays. I think it will just make travelers a bit more relaxed and I know I am less inclined to be grumpy now that I have something to do for the hour or so that I am stuck here.

I realize some airports need the cash infusion from charging, but if I were a wireless router company (I'm talking about you Linksys), I would give them away to the airports for a small 'presented by' logo. When I think of all the times I have traveled out of LAX or even the couple of times I have been at LHR for extended periods of time.

I usually grumble about Sky Harbor - their airport security lines are among the longest, and they have that annoying non-stop electronic voice that talks about which carousel the bags are going to or if someone has a page or the generic "no smoking" spiel. But they do have free WiFi and a good selection of food places to visit. I was also amused by the roving pack of 7 kids all excited about going to Disneyland and a nerdy 10-12yo kid wearing a shirt with "Real Men Don't Set to Stun" and a picture of a classic Trek phaser II on his shirt.

If you want to plan ahead check out Travel Post - they have a breakdown of WiFi access by three letter airport code.

I had heard about this awhile back, but Paul brought it back into my attention and I read more into it:

It's called the Quake Catcher, and its centered out of Stanford and UC Riverside. Basically they use laptops that have accelerometers and if there is an earthquake with a 4.0M or larger, it collects movement data and transfers it to the servers. It sounds like a networked application a la SETI@Home, but way cooler. They are also going to have little USB accelerometers that you can plug into your desktop computer to record motion.

I can't tell you how excited I am for them to get the desktop one out. I can't wait for my Mac to become the official Club Josh Seismometer!

On Kottke.org today there was a post to Wakeuplater which goes over some high profile web design changes over the last 10-15 years. The scary part is that I remember most of those web sites!!!

For comparison, you can see the evolution of Club Josh here.

I must admit I still am not a huge fan of Flash sites, but I really like the direction that sites like CNN and yahoo have taken in recent years. They are able to present tons of information in a clean setting. This is what I strove towards when I was at Edmunds. Speaking of Edmunds, I think they are doing a good job of keeping that mantra alive, its unfortunate that they are a business and have to display all those banner ads.

Not that this is becoming a Mac centric blog, but just to give you the latest and greatest:

Tonight I took the plunge and finally re-formatted my iPod to Mac OS and re-synced all of my music files. I had been hesitant to do this because it meant the loss of 4 years of play lists and play counts. I also had some major cleanup to do of my MP3 files after I transferred them over from the Windows machine, and I just recently got to the point where I was satisfied all of the duplicates were eradicated from my directories.

I am transferring 2300 files back over to my iPod so I am not sure how long it will take. Based on current speed, I suspect only 30 minutes or so. I also need to re-put my address book on my iPod. It has been one of my favorite features since I was able to avoid taking a separate address book. The more I think about it, the more I want an iPod Touch. Oh well, so many more things to buy before that.

In non-Mac news, things have been going well at work. I finally feel like a leader in my new area which is a great feeling. Now, I am just stressing over my final project which is due in just over a month. Thankfully, I have some great resources out there so I hope it will all work out in the end.

It's also everyone's favorite time of the year - tax time! I think I am not alone in thinking I wish I would get my $600 refund check before I have to pay my owed taxes this year. I am also sure that we will end up paying taxes on it as well.

Today is my friend Kris' birthday and usually each year on our respective birthdays we send each other a nice catch up email. Since I know Kris is a Mac user and I now have a lovely Mac, I sent him an email early to see if he could test my iChatting ability as well as get in our birthday catch up face to face.

After a few false starts due to a technical glitch on his end, we finally connected and chatted away. It is the first time I really have chatted with someone via the net that actually seemed like we were sitting in front of each other. Kris told me he has been doing it for years in his past work, so he was able to guide me in those first few awkward set up moments. There was a little bit of feedback from each other, but after learning to pause here and there we had an awesome chat. I always enjoy chatting with Kris, even when we were kids in Junior High together. I was a bit jealous of his MacBooks ability to be mobile during the chat. The best I could do with the iMac is a slow pan of my apartment.

At any rate, I was glad to chat with Kris and finally join the modern age and do a video chat. What is next? Broadband? Sharing videos on YouTube? Gasp!

Happy Birthday Kris!

I was searching the net on my HP printer to see if there was any residual value for it since I had planned on getting a new one ASAP. While surfing eBay, I discovered that any 952C printers that were there had USB cables included with them. I was like wait a minute, mine just has a yucky old serial cable. So i dusted off the back of the printer (give me a break, it has been awhile since I was back there) and lo and behold, there was a USB port on the back! I was happy, this means that I just need to get a USB cable to get it connected to the Mac. I then remembered that my scanner (which I still have not used since I am awaiting Photoshop) is a USB scanner.

So I took the cable of the scanner and then connected the printer to the iMac. I then read the HP support site and it mentioned that Leopard comes with all the latest and greatest printer drivers (of course) and that all I needed to do was to plug it in. So I did. Then I turned the printer on. Nothing happened. If it had been a Windows machine, thousands of pop up windows would have came up telling me that it had detected a new device and to tell it where to get a driver. Not the iMac. It just sat there, playing my Jarre songs on iTunes.

I then went into System Preferences and clicked on the Print and Fax icon. The iMac not only already had the printer installed, but there was an accurate icon of my printer sitting there telling me it was ready to go. Like it had been there the whole time. I ran a few diagnostic and cleaning options on the printer and everything seems to work fine. I then printed a photo from iPhoto to make sure it was legit and not some elaborate let's tease the former Windows user. You know what? I don't think the dumb printer has worked better in ages. Now I can use that money I was going to buy a new printer for something else.

Really? Can this get any better?

IMG_0194
Originally uploaded by Club Josh.

I finally uploaded the photos of the unveiling of my new iMac. Daniel did a great job being the official photographer - Check them out.

Enjoy!

Yesterday morning at 6:45am, my Windows machine was powered down and finally retired to the back of my closet. It was a momentous occasion for sure, though there were no doves released at the end. Last night after work, I sat down to clean up the desk area and finish putting the computer in its resting place. Personally, I cannot believe how much space I have under my desk now.

Then it came time to attempt to install my printer on my iMac. One small problem which I had not realized. My printer the HP Deskjet 952C (which save for some mysterious grinding noises last year has been pretty reliable) has only a 24Pin serial connector. Oops. Not exactly compatible with modern computers!

So now I have to go out and get a new printer. Paul has suggested the wireless HP printer and I am thinking of that or the multifunction wireless printer that includes fax capability. I can always get a wired network printer and use the cable that my old Windows machine used.

To Be Continued!

I have finally connected my iMac to my Windows PC via Firewire Cable. It blazes along at 600+ KB/s but still takes 3 hours to transfer 11GB of data. It is about half the time that it took over my wireless internet. I started to doubt whether I actually needed the files off the old computer, but I decided to put the raw AVI files from one of my home movies on the Mac (to edit with my new copy of Final Cut Pro). I decided to leave the master DVD Rendering files on the hard drive on the windows machine since if I am going to master a new DVD, I probably will re-do the menus as well. Just in case, I will make sure I keep that drive and the external enclosure I bought for it when it served as extra storage for my first laptop all those years ago.

As I have been telling just about everyone, I really, REALLY love my new machine. I know there are rumblings about a new iMac processor being released soon, but I don't care. This machine is so far ahead of what I was using before and so much easier to boot. I am sort of impatient with the backing up of the old machine. I want it done so I can get it out of the way and get to working on some web sites!

Speaking of which, it took me forever to get my file transfer protocol running since I inadvertently locked myself out of my account trying to connect with the wrong user name. I downloaded BBEdit to use as my text editor and I am still waiting for my copy of Dreamweaver and Photoshop to arrive. Looks like I will have to use my laptop to get started on some graphics works until it arrives.

But all in all I am happy.

One more note - kudos to Mark and Jen! Jen just gave birth to their firstborn. I think that leave me and Susie as the only ones left sans offspring.

Day 2 of having the 24" iMac in the house has been going well. I can not believe how easy they have made setting everything up. So far there have been a few learning curves here and there. For example - the Mighty Mouse does not do the right-mouse thingy that I have grown attached to over the years. I have an extra Intellimouse lying around that I was going to use for my laptop, but I might press it into service here. I have also had a few issues trying to locate some setting items in various places, but overall, I think Leopard is written in a way that makes it easier for us Windows users to get acclimated. Case in point, I felt that Tiger (on Daniel's Mac Mini) was very counter intuitive. I don't know if that was really the case, but it certainly felt that way when I tried to make my slide show back in June.

The only other issue I am having is getting the files from my Windows machine to the Mac. Thank god for Mac Help, because even though it can be condescending towards the Windows machines at times (you have to enable a "less secure" form of encryption to get the machines to talk to each other) it still has been a great help. It seems transferring via wireless takes forever, so over the weekend I am going to try and boot the Mac up as a firewire drive to see if I can just copy the files that way. I finished all of my MP3s, but I still have tons of photos and DVD files that I might need to just burn images of and then copy onto my Mac as needed.

Hopefully, I can get my old desktop into the back of the closet by next week. I want to keep it around a bit longer before I recycle it just in case I forget something. I'd like to think that I would be becoming Windows-free, but I still have my trusty Dell laptop which I will keep for sometime.

I kept heading out to the parking lot of my complex tonight hoping to see the last total lunar eclipse until 2010. Sadly, mother nature had other ideas and the sky was mostly cloudy. I did get a brief glimpse of the moon just before it went total, but then I started to get cold and went inside. Oh well. Some random neighbor of mine asked me if I was looking for the eclipse, to which I replied, "Yeah, but the clouds are not cooperating". What I really wanted to say was, "No, I am trying to see if I can see bits of expensive military satellite are about to collide with our complex", but alas I felt like a big enough dork as it was.

Tomorrow FedEx is delivering my first new computer in over seven years. Woo Hoo! I have begun backing up my files onto DVDs. I still don't know how I am going to handle all the mp3s and DVD video files I have stored on the second drive in my machine. I was toying of the idea of putting it back into the external enclosure I bought for it back in 2004 (for the old laptop), but I will probably just try and transfer it over the network.

It is not like I can just abandon my PC just yet. Until I get a copy of Adobe CS so I can use Photoshop and Dreamweaver, I will be limited on the web design work I can do. I will stick to the laptop for the time being to help with the little things I need to get done. I am excited about trying to rip some of the Charo archive footage I have on DVDs from David. Also, I can get Roxio Toast so I can convert some of the old TiVo recordings I have to DVDs as well.

What did I get? Just this little jewel:

Not much going on in the world of Club Josh these days. I have been busy with work. The biggest thing I have been agonizing over is the purchase of a new computer. I pretty much have settled on a new iMac, its just a matter of getting up the nerve to actually press the buy now button on the Apple web site. I wish I could just go into an Apple store, but if I purchase it online, I get a discount through work.

Today I decided to wipe the old computer my Dad gave to me and install a fresh copy of XP. It is still a faster computer than the one I currently use as my desktop, and I will be able to use it as a media server once I get all of the drivers and such installed on it. I also might just give it back to my Dad when I get the new iMac. One thing I will try to do first on the other Dell machine is see if I can quickly rip video material for the Charo site. That way I can get started on my new design for the site. One thing that is cool is that my original machine can be donated to Goodwill (sans hard drives of course) and I will be able to get a tax deduction. I can also have Dell Recycle my machine for free as well. No longer will I have old computers hanging around in my house.

So once I get everything all squared away I will be much more productive!

While I was working on the computer, it had to install 90 updates to Windows XP - holy crap!

There is a good chance that in the next few weeks I will take the plunge and get a new computer. I am still undecided as to what I will actually get, but I am heavily leaning iMac. I know, I have had a Windows PC since 1989, but I have had way to many issues with hijacked computers and pop ups. Let alone the whole Vista debacle.

My issues with converting are this:
1) Software - I will need to spend some cash getting Office, Photoshop, a good HTML editor, a DVD Ripper and DVD Authoring program.
2) MP3s - I will need to reformat my iPod and move them somewhere. I am tempted to turn my PC into a MP3 jukebox that will sit somewhere on all the time and allow me to stream my music from both computers

Plusses include:
1) New Faster computer
2) Ability to do more multimedia work for my new websites
3) Cost - If I get a windows system, I can get a whole lot more for the same price

The decision will come if I can get this contract I am working on hammered out in the few days. I missed a call from my client and I will touch bases with them tomorrow to try and resolve everything. Once it is all resolved, I will be able to spill the beans on what will happen.

iPhone Madness
Originally uploaded by Club Josh.

I stopped by the Apple store in Costa Mesa and to my suprise it wasn't too crazy. They appeared to have plenty of iphones in stock and there was a groupo hard core mac nerds with their iBooks activating their phones. I held one and compared it to my Q. It is just a bit thicker but not noticeable. Had I not just got the Q, I'd definetly want one. I did think the AT&T plans and the cost of the phone left something to be desired. Hopefully next year prices will go down.

I am not really happy with my new VX-8300 phone since it has even more features disabled than my VX-8100 did. But familiarity and comfort won me out in my choice of a new phone. I am going to see if there are any ways to get my MP3s to work on this phone as ringtones. Otherwise I will need to research other phones to see if there is one that does. If not, I will have to think about dumping Verizon all together.

A week without a cell phone went better than I expected, though I certainly prefer to get my messages when they happen rather than waiting until I got home. I did enjoy the fact there was no expectations of immediate call backs and I could take my time. Alas, the leash is back and I am sure everyone is happy.

Today I have lost my cell phone so if you are trying to reach me you will get the lovely out of service message. Just drop me an email or IM if you need to get a hold of me. I am going to wait until Tuesday to see if the place I lost it at gives me a call that they found it. Otherwise, I will go ahead and replace it. Too bad this isn't June, I would go ahead and get an iPhone. I wonder if I could survive two months without a cell phone and just get one then.

The last two weeks I have been extremely busy with work - working 12 hour+ days that start at 3:30am. This has left little time to write the Update or do much else for that matter. Last weekend I got to hang out with Tiffany and Madyson watching ABBA videos among other things. I also got to hang out with Mandel and I was finally able to take him out for his birthday over two months late. He did show me a bunch of cool vintage Disney videos including the classic "Sandy in Disneyland" where we played follow the glass eye. The rest of the videos were all given the same critique: "You know what would make this sequence better? A glass eye!!" It was nice to chill and hang out with my friends on the weekends - it helps recharge the batteries for the long work week ahead.

I did manage to make it to Legoland for the first time. It was pretty cool - despite the advertised lack of rides for grown ups. I think with my lowered expectations it made the trip more fun. It certainly is a different theme park experience and it reminds me how far ahead we are at Disney. Legoland does need some TLC maintenance and paining throughout the park and it is certainly on the Six Flags caliber of experience (except geared for kids). I think with some good investing it could really be an International Caliber destination. One thing seemed to bother me was the encroachment of the business park or condos around the area. It seemed that you could practically rent a place and look over Legoland. I like the whole berm concept and it really seems jarring to see a office building rising over a Medieval Themed area.

Well off to search for a new phone.

Last week, I had one of those cable resets so my cable box was off when my TiVo wanted to record 24. In years past this was a crisis situation since there are no repeats. In the last few years, options have cropped up on the net to download those pesky missed TV Shows. I checked and both iTunes and Amazon offered downloads of 24 with a big difference. Itunes offered the March 12 episode for download just a few days later. My initial reaction was to get it, but then I remembered that TiVo had just launched a new service with Amazon's Unbox service. I was never a fan of the service, although I had never used it since it involved some voodoo program to download etc. But now, I was able to download from Amazon directly into my TiVo, and if I signed up before April, I got $15 in credit.

I decided to take the risk and try the new Amazon service. It actually worked well except that I had to wait until the airdate of the next episode (3-19-07) to download the one I wanted. I guess FOX has some weird license agreement. I started the download at work and by the time I got home, the episode was there waiting for me. After watching it, I determined that the video quality was just as good as from the cable company. Best of all - there were no commercials!

I want to try downloading a movie to the TiVo just to see what it is like (probably a rental since I don't have the ability to burn a TiVo program to a DVD.

I do wish TiVo and Itunes were integrated, but Apple just shipped their Apple TV device this week. I still prefer my TiVo since I can still get programs for free and then download the ones I miss, but I will certainly be checking out the Apple stuff when I get a chance.

So I broke down and called the cable company regarding the issues that my television is having with the new cable box upgrade. The technician told me that someone else had called regarding the same issue with the same television. Turns out my suspicion was correct and that they upgraded the cable box software last week, He told me that there were a bunch of boxes that had to have their software reloaded. He walked me through reloading the software, but sadly it did not work as my cable box sat there for a few hours struggling. I finally aborted the upgrade and will have to wait for the cable guy to come out to give me new boxes.

I was then looking at the iTunes site to see if there was anything of interest and I noticed that all of the prices were $1.69. I thought that was an odd price point and then searched the Internet to see if I could find out why or when they upped the price. In the search results I noticed that all the articles it was pulling up were about iTunes in Australia. Gosh I am a dork - I had my country set to Australia (no doubt looking up Kath and Kim stuff). After upgrading to iTunes 7.x, I noticed that the prices were all back at their normal 99 cents.

My wonderful 36" Sony WEGA television has developed a bit of an issue in the last week. My cable box rebooted itself and now when you change the channels, the television determines that it is seeing a Widescreen image and then letterboxes the channel. I do not know if this is part of an upgrade to my cable system where it is automatically broadcasting in widescreen or if there is simply a bug in the TV. It is more of an annoyance than anything, I just hope it is not a symptom of something more serious since I can hardly afford to replace it. (as much as I would love to have a 40" Bravia LCD 1080p television).

Interesting to note is that if I TiVo a program, it automatically looks normal. Also, If i turn off the cable box and then turn it back on again the channel appears normal. So who knows what the issue is.

I finally had a chance to play the new Nintendo Wii. I now understand why it is outselling the PS3 - and it is not just the price. Never have I seen a gaming system that is so easy to use. I picked it up right away and we all had a blast playing the Wii Sports program. I actually worked up quite a sweat and now understand why people have been saying that they can lose weight by playing Wii Sports for 30 minutes a day.

This system is not about the graphics and it shows. I am sure some of the other games will look nice and combined with a classic style controller you will be able to play the more traditional games. I like the fact that for some driving games you hook the Wii Remote into a steering wheel and just drive with it.

If the PS 3 was less money I probably would select it - primarily for the graphics as well as the Blue Ray player. However, if I was just looking for a fun game system, the Wii would be my choice. I am waiting for the eventual Wii-DS linked game that is played on the Wii and you can join in with your DS unit. Perhaps broadcast to the neighborhood kids?

Daniel suggested a Most Haunted Wii game where you use the Wii Remote like the night vision camera on the series and try and find ghosts and poltergeist activity. Yvette/Karl are you listening?

Daniel finally was able to get a Nintendo DS lite and as a result, he has given me his old Nintendo DS so I can play along with some of the games he has. I am not one to play video games - I have neither the time nor the patience to devote to most games. One weakness I do have is driving games.

When Coder was staying at my place for awhile, he had his Playstation 2 and Gran Tourismo 4. I loved racing with him and also playing around on my own. I can't wait to see what the PS3 version will be like.

So I was happy to find a driving game for the DS. I did not know that some DS games can be downloaded from one unit to another and played while others require both units to have the game card. I was hoping the driving game ASphalt Urban GT was one that we could share, but alas both have to have the card. It was pretty inexpensive at Best Buy, but I think I will play it a bit more before I decide if Daniel should get a copy.

I also bought Brain Age. I guess it is a game, but in reality it is a bunch of mental exercises that keep you sharp. So far my brain age is in the 50s and it needs to get down into the 30s. I really like the puzzles and challenges it has - save the one where you have to memorize words. I have never been good at that and it usually drags down my score.

Another game that Daniel and I have played is called Elite Beat Agents. It is like Dance, Dance Revolution but for the stylus of the DS. It is pretty addicting once you figure out how to make the thing work. After 5 tries I finally was able to win a round or two. I think we will be playing this one for awhile. Tiffany is coming over on Saturday so hopefully the three of us will play together.

Steve revealed the iPhone today. Paul and I were watching the live text updates on macrumors.com for the two hours of the Keynote address and loved every minute of the announcement. Personally, I think they are way off on price point and that it should be $299 or even $399 for the 4GB model. Paul was disappointed that it did not have iChat capabilities. All in all it looks like an awesome product that I will be seriously considering when it comes out in June.

The Apple TV did nothing for me and also looks like Wall St. didn't like it either since the stock was tanking while they were talking about it. Fortunately, they revealed the iPhone and the stock shot up. Next time I will buy stock before the Macworld Expo.

More info:
iPhone
Apple TV

In direct competition with my desire to get my financial house in order, this week will prove to be a tough challenge. Three of the biggest events that appeal to me will occur this week and I will have to be very restrained!

First up is the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. I love cars, especially new ones and concepts of what is to come. Edmunds really got me hooked on these auto shows and I can't wait to see what is coming down the horizon. Of course, all I really want is an Acura RDX, but until they have some sweet leasing plans, I think my next vehicle might be an updated CR-V. Volvo will be introducing the Volvo CX-60 which is on par with the CR-V, but I think it is based on that Mazda CX-7 and Ford Edge platform. I also really like the new BMW 3-series convertible with the retractable hard top. At any rate this show is something I will be watching closely.

Second up is the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. I am dying to see what the latest and greatest gadgets galore are going to be. Also, I want to see if there area any cool TVs coming out soon. I really am not in the market for one since I love my 36" Sony, but it weighs 250 pounds and it would be nice to have something nice to hang on the wall or on a stand to give my front room a more elegant look.

Finally, the Macword Expo in San Francisco promises to be full of electronic goodness. I have a 2+ year old iPod that is not even in color and it would be nice to upgrade to something that plays video. I am hoping there will be the full screen iPod soon. Paul keeps trying to convince me to look at Mac computers, and I am not opposed to one since Daniel has one so I can get some good software. My issue is that they are pricey and I still think I can get a better PC equivalent. On the other hand, after reading about Microsoft Vista, I am not to keen on getting it. So time will tell. I think my other issue is that I have both a desktop and a laptop so I would have to decide if I wanted a new Mac desktop or a laptop.

Never mind the fact I cannot afford any such expenditure. This is all about lust anyways isn't it?

The time has finally come. I hit (and actually smashed through) my disk quota on the Club Josh server. As a result, I have been having e-mail issues for a bit. So a quick call to my hosting provider and they determined that a simple reduction of 5MB would get me back in the good graces. After a quick run through of the directory sizes, I decided to pull off the A-V Day photos. The whole directory was just around 6MB and since it was backed up already, was an easy choice.

This of course is a milestone. I have 600MB on my server and they are all full. Luckily, I have Flickr to post the Australia photos starting next week. I made up my mind to buy a new server space that would allow me greater control over my domains, but I decided to hold off until after I get back from my trip. With so much to do before I leave on Wednesday, I think its best not to get distracted.

Speaking of getting ready, I can't recommend Flight 001 enough. It is a fantastic site and a cool store to boot. I decided to swing by the store on my way home from the shop and get a new toiletries bag to replace my 10 year old one (eww!). They had all kinds of cool bags and accessories. I nearly bought another shoulder bag, but I decided three is enough. Now I just need to figure out which one I will use.

Also as part of the pre-trip festivities, I purchased a new camcorder. My old Edmunds-gifted Sony has been dead since October 2001, and I figured a trip down under would be a worthy time to get one. I originally ordered a top of the line camera on the net, but all the places were either out of stock or unable to ship in time. So I decided on the low end Canon ZR500. It just came out at CES this year and is super lightweight and features the basic elements of all the ZR line just no ability to take still images. Personally, I would never want to do that since I have a good digital camera, so it was a good deal.

I need to do a baseline test of the audio to see what it will be like with a noisy background. I might need to resurrect the old Dome to Dome Twice microphone!

My last post was a test from my new LG 8100 camera phone. After two plus years with the old phone, I decided to get something a little more modern. I was going to stay with T-Mobile, but the lady in the store was trying to say that I just got a phone in March. Considering the problems I had with my phone (and its three replacements), I decided to jump ship to the slightly pricier Verizon.

Mom has had them for a while and is happy with the service, and with my Disney Difference Discount, the monthly bill is about the same as the T-Mobile account, but with a much better phone and service. One of the biggest snafus that I came across is that Verizon is very anti-make your own ringtones, and makes it nearly impossible to use your MP3s as ringtones, despite the fact that the phone has a built in MP3 player.

So after getting a USB cable as well as some instructions from a web site, I was able to do a work-around of the lock and viola when my phone rings, I get to hear Vengaboys' immortal classic, La Parada De Tettas.

The only other major issue was that it seems to take forever to get pix messages from Daniel's T-Mobile phone. It also seems that his phone cannot receive pics from my phone. Oh well. I am still satisfied with my purchase as of the 14-day mark and since I only have one more day to take the phone back and cancel it, I think I will be keeping it.

To those of you with the old Mobile number it is still the same. I love number portability!

After some hand wrangling and some massaging of the credit card company, my new-to-me laptop has arrived. It is true, ,it lacks a firewire port, but I couldn't be happier. The screen is nice and big, and bright and clear. All of the complaints about the Inspiron 600M such as the warm left wristpad and the keyboard are non-issues with me. My left wrist does get a bit warmer than the right, but everything else makes up for it. I actually like the feel of the keyboard and the touchpad more than my old laptop.

The best part was that it didn't take too much to get it up and running and on my home wireless network. I'm currently backing up the whole old laptop onto the new one and the whole thing will fit on one DVD.

I feel like I have re-joined the modern era - and I think I could actually travel to someplace like Japan with it and not be too embarrassed.

I finally bit the bullet and ordered a laptop. I decided that if I really wanted a laptop that I shouldn't just get what I could afford at the local Big Box outlet and be happy with that. I decided to take that price range and scour online to see if I could get something better. Sure enough I did - although it is refurbished. It is through the Dell Outlet. Some of my friends have had good luck through them so here is hoping! Once it arrives, I will go into great detail about specs et. al.

This morning I got fed up. I think it was from trying to remember some password to some online site somewhere. So this morning, I have been going through them all and deleting profiles and usernames. Some of the sites, I don't even go to anymore, and others I waste way too much time on. I think this will force me to work on my own site. Or then again, I might just regress and create all new accounts. So at least for the time being it is buh-bye to all the non-Club Josh web sites.

More technology news: GoDaddy has some really good rates for a Virtual Dedicated Server. Me thinks that I will be going that route once a) I backup Club Josh locally, and b) Get everything re-done, organized and ready-to-go. I have said it many times before, but I am really not looking forward to re-doing all the photo galleries.

Work has been really good lately. Hard to believe we are on the home stretch. For me the big test is this coming weekend. I have great confidence in my abilities, but I just hate it when someone points out something obvious within five minutes. I always feel like a dork, oh well I guess its ok to feel like what you are.

I almost had one back last Thanksgiving, but now it has come to a head. I really need it over the next couple of weeks as we get closer and closer to our opening. I am still stuck in the sub-$1000 category, but the good news is that those computers are even better than the ones that were available in November.

I haven't had a chance to do much socially. I missed Mandel's birthday bash and I am (gasp) going to have to miss Anti-Valentine's Day next weekend. Too much to do on the ride as we race towards to completion. At least tomorrow I get a nice day off to go shopping for a laptop, and to recharge the batteries for the weekend's 72 hours of fun.

I will admit that some things in the last few days have really wrinkled my nose in the project, but when you are so focused on a goal, and you have complete confidence and faith in the people around you, there are a few moments of simmering, and then you move on - otherwise the whole effort of the last two months will get undermined.

I suspect that this month will be lite on the updates (since it is already the 9th and this is the first one of the month). I will try and shoot a flare up when I can.

So I finally joined the 21st Century and purchased an iPod. I had looked at all of the other MP3 players out there, but none were as simple to use and good looking as the iPod. So far the only setbacks I have had was trying to import the music (once it cleared up and I restarted iTunes it worked) and setting it up as a hard drive so I can put my calendars and contacts on there.

I only have the 20 GB version since I am not a music not per se. So far I have 1110 songs.

Music quality is pretty cool. I want to get some noise canceling headphones for the plane, but I was surprised how good the headphones that came with it were even though people in the Apple store complained about them,. Tomorrow I will get to try it out in the car to see how well it sounds.

Swapped out the tires that came with my CR-V with some top of the line Michelin's. Man what a difference it makes on the road. I now have a much smoother ride and now don't fear that I am going to slide through an intersection in the rain. I always remember when I had the Accord and was working at Edmunds and I almost slid halfway into an intersection in West LA. Quite the scary feeling.

I set up my aunt's laptop for my grandma yesterday. We were going to get signed up with AOL. Everything was going good, until it said it needed 340 minutes to download updates to the software. Who are they kidding? You mean to tell me that before you can even use the service you have to spend over 6 hours waiting? It seems excessive and overwhelming with someone who is not familiar with computers. Now we are looking at other options.

Part of my Grandma's difficulty is that the laptop is Windows 2000 so you have to log into it. I think if it was XP or 98 and it loaded directly into the desktop, it would be a tad easier. I told her just to practice logging in and out and then we would have a more in depth lesson later.

I'm enjoying some rare day shifts lately, and it’s quite nice to get home before it is dark. It is weird seeing all these people out and about though. Don't they have jobs? Wait, they are all getting home. Ok that makes sense.

As I mentioned previously, I am nervously and anxiously awaiting something at work. I really don't want to go into great detail just yet. I would rather wait, as ABBA is so fond of saying, until 'when all is said and done'.

I am really tempted to up and go on another vacation in October. However, if things go well at work, then I need to stick around. Time will tell.

Man I need some new speakers for my computer. Aquarius is cutting in and out bad. Heck, I think I am due - I bought these speakers circa 1996. Off to Fry's tomorrow!!

I have gone and added a bunch of mini-movie reviews for the month of July to reflect the movies I have seen. Check them out by going to the Movie Reviews archive page. I was lazy and just posted them all to July 31.

So our team competed in the annual Minnie's Moonlight Madness through Disneyland. We stumbled out of the gate due to some really poor acoustics in the Fantasyland Theater. I can't imagine that the Snow White musical sounds very good at all. A good time was had by all - especially once we broke down and got Alex his cupcakes. we ended up 163 - a steep drop from last year, but we chalk it up to our more relaxed attitude this year. We got whipped by Daniel's brother who finished 43rd, but I bet we had more fun.

A couple of weeks ago, I ordered Dark Water - the Japanese film by the director of Ringu - Hideo Nakata. The eBay auction said that the DVD was Region Free and from Hong Kong. Well two weeks later, I am the proud owner of a Region 3 (Japan and Asia) version of the film. It was only $10, but not being one to waste money, I scoured the internet for some file utilities to help me out. Sure enough, I found some programs that can make backup copies of your DVDs (something I am concerned about with esp. some of my out of print and hard to find movies). Add to that the Nero program to burn DVDs, I now have a Region Free backup of my DVD.

Daniel and I have been itching to watch it ever since we sat through the first Ring movie and the sequel last year. We popped the movie in to the player and it seems to be work. We didn't watch the whole thing yet, we are gonna wait for the pizza and the darkness of night in order to get real scared. I'll post a review later.

Spent a great relaxing weekend with Mom and Gary. No agendas, no plans. I felt a bit guilty for sleeping in most of the time but it was worth it. It really felt good to just get away from it all and unwind. While I was there, we did a bit of shopping for the secret trip. I picked up a guide to the secret place from Lonely Planet. I really liked their French Polynesia guide from the 2001 trip, and so far I am happy with the current book.

The big score from the weekend was in the luggage department of Macy's. We were at the Scottsdale Mall wandering around and were looking in the different department stores to see if they had any deals on luggage. I need to replace my old set courtesy of Mom in her SkyMall days due to excessive wear and tear. We entered the mall through Macy's and gave it a cursory look. Nothing notable seemed to present itself. We made our way down to Robinson-May and noticed that they had a set of 4 variable size bags for $99. After some hemming and hawing, they convinced me to get it. While I was inspecting which set I wanted, the sales lady (who was already getting on Mom's last nerve) mentioned that a lot of people were having issues with the luggage and not getting good responses from the company. I agreed with Mom that the lady probably didn't want to deal with any return hassles.

So we ended up at Dillard's. I fell in love with this deep plum 26" rollaway from Skyway. It looked so elegant. I felt like I was going to be traveling in first class. Mom convinced me to keep looking (especially since there was a Dillard's closer to her house that we could get the bag from if indeed we didn't see anything else.) So we headed back for the car at Macy's empty handed. I decided to make a b-line for the luggage area. Mom told me to check the price on this one 30" bag that appeared to have five different prices on it. When I went over to the scanner, it registered "Regular $117 - On Sale $35". I checked the other price tag, "Regular $350 - On Sale $80". Mom told me that one way or another that bag was leaving with us. I told her there was no way they would sell it for $35. Mom replied, "Watch Me!" Off she went over to the counter and sure enough they sold it to her.

So now I get to borrow the steal of the century for the secret trip. When I got it back home I couldn't help but think how is this huge suitcase going to fit in that dinky hotel room. Somehow, I will manage!

The other big events for the weekend included the world premiere of Covina Chaos the DVD for Mom and Kevin. Both liked it. It's now time to start work on Dome to Dome Twice. One problem: I'm thinking about taking the laptop with me since I want to download the pics so that I can be sure to have enough space. I am toying with just picking up some CF cards while I am there if I need them (like buying more rolls of film). If I do take the laptop, then the hard drive I need to digitize Dome to Dome will have to stay external meaning that I will have to wait until I get back to start work on the DVD.

So far, my computer has been rendering the DVD for four hours. Me thinks I need either a) A faster computer or b) smaller movies to edit. It does remind me of making maps back at UC Davis. I noticed an error right after it started rendering. When I made maps, the first bit out of the ol' Calcomp would usually show some goofy error.

I did manage to fix my issues with the menus. It seems I just have to set up the extra 'return to main' buttons before I go through and create the text and links for the menus. I also figured out how to tweak the audio. The result: A very nice looking product (well at least on the computer - it remains to be seen what happens when I write the disc).

Of course since I have worked with the movie now for days and days, my desire to watch it has diminished greatly. I hope it goes over with the relatives 'cause I am now to close to the material. I also hope than now it has been rendered I can write more copies of the DVD easily and quickly, and not have to wait 5 hours per DVD. Hard Drive space is at a premium. It looks like its sucking the whole drive. I think I will have to take my external HD I bought for the digicam photos and put it inside the machine. Now that I have two 512MB Compact Flash cards, I don't think I will need to lug the laptop on vacations anymore. Also, if I run out of CF card space, I can always get one for pretty cheap on vacation. (Ok, not super cheap, but I managed to get a PC Card reader in Tahiti for cheap so CF cards can't be that much!).

In other news, I did some measuring in the apartment today, and it looks like I will be able to fit the old record player cabinet next to the computer desk. This will free up space for a new couch courtesy of the place behind Dad's work. Now I just need to make a quicky trip to AZ to drop off the table for Mom :).

Before work today, I have managed to edit the movie together and get the soundtrack working. Now I just need to master the art of DVD Menus. I am not entirely 100% happy with Pinnacle Studio 8.8. The instructions are pretty pathetic and I am having to scrounge the help files just to try and figure out how to create top level menus. I managed to create a menu for scene selection fairly easy, but I want to create a menu above that which will have the title of the move and a link to Play All and then Scene Selection. On other DVDs I make, I would also add a link to Bonus Features as well, but for this DVD I just want to get something basic going.

I was surprised how easy it is to edit audio and video clips in the program. However, unlike Sonic DVD, Pinnacle doesn't have a fade filter that you can use on clips that you shorten. (Actually, for all I know it is there, I just haven't found it.) Since I have tomorrow off, I suspect that I will try and actually create a DVD tomorrow from it.

One thing I have been thinking of is to try and remaster some old shorter home movie. Covina Chaos is only 40 minutes or so long, but it is mounting up to be a big chore. I should have probably started on Stonehenge or Mesoclimate Adventures first and then worked my way up. Somewhere in the back of my mind lurks Dome to Dome Twice. At over 2 hours, that one is going to be a BIG challenge! Maybe by A-V Day I'll have some DVDs to give out!

Well I have missed a few days updating. I think an entry a day is a pretty tall order, especially with work, and those days (like yesterday) when you come home from work and just go to bed. The good thing is that it re-engergizes me for my day off today.

I managed to make it over to Best Buy to pick up the Pinnacle AV/DV capture card for the computer. I then proceeded to capture Covina Chaos to the computer. Only 3GB of data was required. I am not sure how I like the video quality, but it is the first try so we will see. My first cut at the movie is using the Sonic MyDVD program which came with the DVD burner. next crack, I will try the Pinnacle Studio 8.8 program which came with the capture card. I think the Pinnacle one will allow me to create much better DVD menus as well as title sequences for the movie. I figure I will have redone this movie 3 or 4 times before I am ready to burn a DVD. I will also try and post some video on the site over the next week or so.

Other than that, not much exciting is happening this week. The off season is so nice, and even nicer when you are the working lead. It gives you a chance to catch up on paperwork as well as little projects around the attraction.

I was out an about looking for a solution. I have all of these records that I would like to transfer to MP3 and to CD. So I was looking at record players and plugs that I can hook up to my computer to digitize the audio. As I was wandering the aisles of Fry's, I noticed that the new capture cards geared for people converting home movies might have the answer. So the brain began to wander to "Hmm, if I get one of these, I should check out DVD Recorders". Lo and behold there was one on sale for only $149 after rebate so despite the fact I went in there for one thing, I came out with something completely different.

I am the proud owner of a DVD Recorder. It does DVD-R, +R, -RW, +RW, and CDRs. I bought some blank DVD-R media because it has a better chance of playing on older DVD players. I think I have the oldest player amongst family members, so if I can get it to work on mine then it will work on anyone's. I haven't bought a capture card yet despite several trips to Fry;s and Best Buy. It appears most of the capture systems use SUB 2.0 rather than being a card for the back of the computer. Even though it is in the back of the computer, I think I would prefer one of those for speed wise. I would also like to get one that features Firewire ports as well as analog inputs since eventually I would like to get a DV camcorder. Gotta be forward thinking!

At any rate, my first DVD project is a remaster of some old home movies including Covina Chaos, At Home and About, and Mutual of Omaha's Mesoclimate Adventures. I also would like to get some old videos off of the VHS tapes (like 1989's Stonehenge: Megalithic Monument of Manure Pile and other gems from the PXL 2000 days). If all goes well, I might even post a few here on Club Josh.

There is a reason I don't usually go out on the day after Thanksgiving to go shopping. Today, Mom and I ventured out to the stores at 7am to get in on some of the early bird deals. I cruised through the ads last night to see if there was anything that really caught my eye. Comp USA had a 512MB Compact Flash Card for $79 (regular $149) that I couldn't pass up. I also noticed Best Buy had their usual DVD blowout. Mom had penciled in Tuesday Morning, Sears, and Target as her places to hit.

First stop: Target. Not really crowded and not very many deals - felt like we wasted some precious time there. We then cruised by Tuesday Morning and discovered they didn't open until 10. Then it was off to Best Buy and man was it packed. The estimates from the clerk were that it would take over 2 hours to get through the line to the registers. The line snaked back and forth around the store and began near the entrance. Mom and I decided it didn't matter what we were looking for, it wasn't worth waiting in line. Amazingly enough, there was even a line at the furniture store next door to see a salesman.

When then managed to catch up with Cathy and Cherish at the Waffle House to refuel and get organized. We then headed to Comp USA where I got the CF card as well as a new wireless router and USB network adapter for $20 each. I know both are the old 802.11b instead of the g, but it was worth it for the price. I will now be able to wire my TiVo into the network so I can schedule my recordings online. The TiVo website mentioned I might have some problems since it is a newer adapter, but I can always take it back or use it on my desktop (though USB connection is way slower than my PC Card so I'll probably take it back if it doesn't work).

After a horrific wait in line (including one line that didn't move for 40 minutes) we headed off to the Mall. We visited the new Chandler Mall and I agree with Mom that it is nice on the inside, but laid out a bit weird. I was tempted by some luggage, but decided to forgo any other purchases. We then headed to Home Depot to try and get a 9' pre-lighted Christmas Tree, but they were sold out at all the Home Depots in the Valley area as well as either 0 or 1 in all the other stores in AZ.

Now it is relax time. We had a nice relaxing dinner last night. Mom and Gary out did themselves with a massive feast. It is nice to pop on over for a quick trip to relax and we managed to get more info on our trip next week to New York. Tonight it is back to LA and then tomorrow it is back to work for a few days.

Oh, and yes I did get the job I applied for so my responsibilities have been notched up a bit. Now I just need to shadow people in the role and then get trained on the computer system used to manage the cast. It's a nice feeling to know that people were pulling for me to get the position at work. I also know some people are not sure of what to expect from me, and to them I will say that I will do my best to work with them and help out as much as I can.

In preparation of our trip to Walt Disney World next week, I have been busy getting my laptop ready to go. I have added an external USB hard drive since it was the easiest way to update the laptop without pulling it apart and having to reinstall all of the software. The main issue I have has been the compatibility of the laptop (4 years old running Windows 98) and new technology. I also got a USB 2.0 PC Card to upgrade the laptop so that I could transfer files that much faster to the hard drive. It turns out that it only is supported by 98 Second Edition. I briefly flirted with installing Windows 2000 on the laptop, but Cooper convinced me that it was a driver nightmare.

The biggest scare happened yesterday when I tried to check the hard drive by plugging it into the internal USB port on the laptop. Once I started to plug it in, the laptop died. I spent many hours trying to figure out how I was going to buy a new laptop fearing that through some major static discharge, I managed to fry the motherboard. I even found a Dell refurbished 2Ghz laptop for less than $800. Just as mysteriously as it had happened, this morning the laptop booted up just fine. I am now scared to turn it off until I go on the trip.

Why all this upgrading? Serious memory issues. My laptop only has 3GB (a lot in 1999) of Hard Drive space. So my new external is 80GB which means I could fit the contents of all of the hard drives of all of the computers I have ever owned onto it. Pretty darn impressive. I have decided to rip all of the CDs I own and fill up half of the drive so that I have a music collection ready to go whenever I travel. The other half will be for the massive photo sizes from the new digital camera. I had figured that I had about 2-512MB memory cards of storage (about 400 photos) on the existing HD and considering I took 600 photos in Europe, I knew that I wanted to be able to take as many as possible while in Florida (and New York in December).

One work note: I snuck a shift at the Matterhorn in yesterday - it was good to be back!

As I have mentioned many times in the last few weeks I was very excited to get a new digicam. Lately, I have been unhappy with the photos being produced by my old Olympus D400 Zoom from 1999. I think the first set of pictures I was really disappointed with were my Europe pictures from last November. Back then, I had chalked it up to the overcast conditions. When the opportunity came up to get a new camera, I jumped at the chance. I decided on the Canon S400 for several reasons: 1) It was relatively inexpensive for the level of features and quality of the imag