Software


Some fun with Photoshop.

The Village

The carousel in Central Park moves really fast.

Crazy Carousel

Ups and Downs of the Week

Red Sox – Maybe they’ve finally pulled it together? Or maybe not. Their starting pitching has taken a physical beating with Lackey and Dice-K both on the DL. Pedroia is still struggling at the plate, as is Crawford. They still have work to do. But they’ve won 7 straight now and had a slugfest against the Cubbies tonight. Best of all, they’re ahead of the Yankees and just a half-game out of first in the AL East.

Bruins – Now up 2-1 in the series.

Parallels for Mac – Allows you to run Windows 7 and Microsoft apps on a Mac desktop. The visual presentation is very slick. I just wish I could find a compelling reason to actually use Mac OSX. I just don’t get the appeal.

Church Flood

Church Flood

Road to Redemption

Road to Redemption

Ups and Downs of the Week

Vtech Bluetooth Phone – So we finally got our new Vtech phone system. It can hook up to a traditional landline if you have one, but it can also connect to a cell phone via Bluetooth, which is what we’re doing. My trusty old RAZR, which has an excellent Bluetooth system, sits attached to its charger full time and is connected to the Vtech base by Bluetooth. There are two other Vtech phones besides the base; one down in my office and one in our bedroom. When someone calls our “home phone” which is now an additional Verizon wireless line, it rings all three Vtech phones. We can also dial out using the Vtech phones and see missed calls and caller ID. Not bad for $80. Since we’re saving $20/mo on the line now, the system will pay for itself in 4 months. Best of all, it was a snap to set up. Took me all of 5 minutes to set up the base phone and the extensions just needed to have their bases plugged into an electrical socket.

Vtech

Egypt – Glad to see the revolution was largely peaceful. Mubarak is stepping down but there is no clear replacement. Nature abhors a vacuum, so this is a very dangerous time. I just hope the Egyptians are as happy 6 months hence as they are now. This could go either way.

Spring Training – Pitchers and catchers have pretty much arrived, although the official reporting day is Monday. There’s new grass on the field. Anticipation builds.

Robert Kubica – One of the more promising Formula One drivers was badly injured in a rally car crash this week and will likely miss the whole 2011 F1 season. What a shame. He’s worked so hard to get his team’s (Renault) car into shape and it was really looking like they might be top contenders this year. I hope he recovers quickly and completely and can at least be back trackside soon.

Kindle for PC – While I’m not a fan of the Kindle device itself, the Kindle for PC software is pretty cool. I downloaded a book about my new camera that is now easy to read while I follow along with my camera in hand. Plus the book is searchable via Kindle. I don’t think I’d want to read a novel this way, but for How-To stuff, this is a great way to read a book. And in the case of the book I bought, it was several bucks cheaper via Kindle.

Ups and Downs of the week.

Photoshop – I should be designing Christmas ornaments.

Ramsau Ornament

Patriots – Doing well so far. Monday night is their chance to finally hold the lead in their division. Or be firmly in second place.

Catbirds – Not exactly what I was hoping for when I put this feeder up.

Catbird

Ups and Downs of the week.

Weather – It’s been a gift week with daily temps in the 70s. I taken the Z4 to work every day with the top down mornings and evenings. Very unusual for November. It’s all coming to an end this weekend, but it was great while it lasted.

Microsoft Office 2010 – Seems like change for the sake of change. So frustrating to work with.

Decent Contractors – Last week I ranted about unreliable contractors. Well we finally got our downstairs furnace working. Same contractor who rebuilt the upstairs system. Should have gone back to them in the first place.

Patriots – Got their butts kicked by the Browns. The Steelers game will be a real test of their caliber.

Ups and Downs of the week.

Chicken 65 – The name is a mystery but this South Indian appetizer is awesome.

Political Ads – One more week of them to suffer through. What a waste of time and money.

Wally – Willie’s brother joined the party this week. Getting a bit crowded in the house.

Photoshop – When you can take a simple picture of flowers and turn it into something like this, the possibilities become endless.

Flowers

Flower Globe

Ups and Downs of the week.

Texas Rangers – Did I say it would take a miracle? Well, miracles happen. They sent the Yankmees packin’ and they did it at home in Arlington. I’m glad the fans there got to enjoy it. Looked like a great party.

Dosas – My new favorite Indian meal. Very tasty indeed.

Bozo drivers – I’ve seen way more than my share this week. How people can drive in such a clueless state of mind and survive is a mystery.

Willie – We rescued a little male kitten from starving this week. Now he’s quite happy and lots of fun to watch.

Willie

Willie

Filter Forge Freepacks – Very cool freeware for creating image variations through outstanding filters. This is a modern picture of Rothenburg, Germany made to look like it was taken in the 1930’s.

Old or New?

Ups and Downs of the week.

New Toys Week – Finally moved into the 21st century and got an HDTV. I’m amazed at the picture quality. Movies are very cool on the new TV. I’ve been watching Netflix through the Roku box. Still haven’t been able to watch a Sox game, though. Maybe tomorrow night.

DVPRemote – My Roku box remote has been acting up. It seems to freeze or go to sleep and is useless, so I downloaded an iPod Touch app called DVPRemote which mimics the Roku remote. It works very well indeed. I love good programming. Well done to the developer.

New (to me) X5 – My trusty ’03 X5 has hit 150k miles. I sense a disastrous mechanical failure in the near future, so I’ve traded it in on an ’05 X5. It has 100k fewer miles and few new bells and whistles. I pick it up tomorrow. Can’t wait.

'05 X5

Red Sox – I was hoping they’d go out with a bang with a 20th win for Lester and winning 90 games. Well Lester blew his chance and unless the Sox sweep the Yankmees this weekend, the 90 game season won’t happen either. Still, they’ve done well and I’ve enjoyed watching them this year.

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