The Storm Approaches [and Recedes]

Today, the remnants of hurricane Katrina are supposed to pass by: we’re hoping for a bit of rain to water the plants. I’m hoping that I didn’t drive the car for nothing – if it was going to be this nice, why not have the bike instead? Of course, radar imaging shows no rain anywhere nearby… In fact, it looks as if the bulk of the storm passed in the night with only the trailing edge left to affect us.

I suppose we are much more fortunate to live quite a bit further out of harm’s way than we did before in Houston. Had the storm hit Galveston/Houston dead on like it did New Orleans and Gulfport, were we to still live there, we would most likely be without power. Not flooded, certainly, since our place was on the third floor, but we would most likely not be able to get anywhere outside of our complex as it was surrounded by very low-lying areas. Up here, though, there’s little chance of that happening. Snow and ice storms, maybe, but not large-scale flooding.

Dive Turkey Postponement

This year, there will be no officially sanctioned “Dive Turkey”. Next year, however, will be time enough to get ready for our trip to Curaçao. By next year, there will be a Continental flight to Curaçao which will make getting there much easier for most of the parties involved.

I suppose it’s a good thing: we can’t really afford to go diving this year due to our costs that have come from the move. It may have been an “all-expense-paid” move, but upon arrival, there are many things we need and do not have – and the cost of living here is more. We’ll have to save up a little longer to make sure we have enough money to cover the trip. Not to mention a better underwater camera and strobe…

Camera Phone Craze

One of my difficulties dealing with obtaining a new phone [not that I’m yet ready to do this, but I usually keep track of what is available for when the time comes] is that I DON’T want a camera in my phone. There are many reasons why I don’t want one [such as: 1) they cost more, 2) I can’t bring them into the office most times, 3) the quality sucks, 4) I would never use one even if the phone I wanted came with one…] but these days, most phone manufactures and service providers seem to offer two types of phones: super cheap crappy phones and phones with cameras [which can also be crappy and cheap…].

Why can’t I get a high-quality smart phone without the camera? Or, a Bluetooth-capable phone without the camera? I don’t want a camera, so why should I have to pay for it? Why should I have to buy a phone that I have to leave in the car or swap out when I go to certain customers?

Does anyone else have any thoughts or opinions?

Two Wheeled Fun

For those of you who don’t know yet, I have recently purchased a new mode of transportation: a motorcycle. I have long desired to own one for myself instead of just borrowing my dad’s and now that dream is a reality. It was not the “dream bike” BMW K1200S that I had planned on, but a much more fiscally wise compromise bike – a used 2002 Honda Interceptor that won’t bankrupt me. It’s bright red so I can be seen from afar – not that there are those drivers out there who still won’t see me.

Anyway – I have been riding to work constantly for the last three weeks and am really enjoying it. I put saddle bags on it so Laura can now send me to the store for small objects… I don’t have pictures of it yet, but I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as I do.

Web Site Back

It’s nice to have the web site back under my control so I can post updates on a daily, or even hourly, basis. Laura and I have been working on the look and feel of the new Gallery and have finally found something we like. The speed isn’t quite up to par, but I’m hoping that by the time of the final release that it is better optimized.

We have added some new pictures for the first time in months. We’ve added pictures of Washington, DC and will soon be adding more. Keep checking back for more updates!

I’m Back!

I’m now finally on my own broadband fiber connection. I do have to say that even though the install took a long time, the service provided by the technician was excellent. I’m now using full bandwidth! 15mbps up and 2mbps down. [did some speed tests on that and it validates it!!!]

Let me begin this new service by saying “Thank You!” to my friend Mike for allowing me to borrow a little space on his server during the interim.

I’ll be posting more as things come up.

Broadband Problem: Solved

We will soon be back up with more bandwidth than ever before. On August 17th, we are scheduled to have our new line installed so we’ll be back up then. But this just isn’t any old broadband connection. Oh no. This is Verizon FiOS [Verizon’s version of FTTP – fiber to the premesis]. What this does for us is provide us with a connection that is about 10 times faster than our old DSL link. Once it’s up, it’s supposed to provide us with 15mbps download speeds and 2mbps upload speeds. What this means for you is that the pictures in my photo gallery will load much much faster – almost as if you’re in my house.

I’m pretty sure we’ll be the first to have this kind of service in our neigborhood, so we’re pretty excited. It will certainly be worth the extra stress it took to track the service down once it’s up and running.

In other news, I’ve upgraded the web server to Fedora Core 4 and the Gallery software to version 2.0 RC1. Go look at the pictures… oh, wait. You can’t. At least, not yet…