EngelFish.Net

This has been quite a week.   There has been lots of work on the consulting front, and a couple of challenges/projects I’ve been working on have either been solved or are moving into the final phase.  I always like that.  I also had two gigs assisting a commercial shooter here in town.  There was a third gig lined up (it involved helicopters) but it was posponed due to the weather that day.

I’ve been walking/jogging, plus doing the situp and pushup stuff as well. Two of our friends had birthdays this week, so I had a drink with Gennie at Helios one day, and then dinner with Kendall at Lucky32 another.  Kendall’s boyfriend, Tommy, gave her an amazingly awesome gift, which brought tears to her eyes.  We were all impressed.

We have had a bit of automobile drama as one of our cars needs about $600 in repairs, and another failed the state inspection and needs one engine repair and a set of new tires.  I’m working quite hard to keeping my mind calm and thinking clearly about the various projects I have and need to complete quickly.  I’m having a bit of success in that area, which bodes well for the future.  I’m also, as always, on the lookout for a realistic and implementable task/project management system to help me keep all these things under control and on focus.

Taryn & I had a nice bit of downtime last weekend too.   We drove up to Virginia Beach last weekend and visited with friends on Saturday and Sunday.  It was great to be away from home, although the dogs came with us, and not have to worry about all the stuff we normally do on the weekends.  We did a bit of visiting, spent some time on the beach, and were taken parasailing!  We both had a blast, and we’re looking forward to doing it again (with a waterproof camera next time too!).

Looking forward to this weekend, we’re going to be quite busy.  I’ve got buckets of work to do, as well as plans for yardwork, compost bin building, blog-twitter-flickr training for a friend, and hitting a few yardsales with T.  I don’t see much relaxing going on, but we *are* going to see DARK KNIGHT at the IMAX theatre Saturday night.  It is *so* going to rock.

Speaking of movies, go to the apple website and check out the HD trailer for THE WATCHMEN movie.  I cannot wait for it.

Bookswise, I just finished listening to the audiobook version of David Sedaris‘ “When You Are Engulfed in Flames” and I’m currently listening to Orson Scott Card’s “Shadow of the Hegemon”.  Sedaris had me laughing out loud in my car, and getting strange looks from other drivers at intersections.  OSC, as always, is brilliant.  I’m working my way through his ENDER’S GAME series.  Excellent stuff.

IMAGE: This is Ian, a friend who works at my favorite coffeeshop, Helios.  He’s also a pretty talented photographer.  I was setting up my laptop so that I could shoot photos while tethered to it, which would allow me to see the images on my laptop screen (which is way larger and clearer than the camera’s LCD).  Ian swung by to visit with friends at the next table, and I shot him as he was checking out the test images coming up on my computer.

I wouldn’t try this with my camera… but maybe I can talk Taryn into it????

Congress, in it’s wisdom, has changed daylight savings time. If you run Windows you’ll have to update your clock. Here is a link to the Microsoft tool I just used to update mine: LINKWant a clean desk, free from unsightly cables, routers, and external drives? Try this trick: LINK

Like to buy stuff cheap? Especially electronics? Use Firefox? Check out this wootness: LINK

This, although tangetially photo related, is just freakin’ cool: LINK

This is for the dog lovers… we’ll be buying one for our puppies this weekend: LINK

We’ve all lost data to hard drive failure (if you haven’t…. ~he he he~ then you’re overdue). This was interesting, from Google, and sheds some light on hard drive death: LINK

Last, but not least, is the Dilbert Blog. Scott Adams is insanely smart, and cranks out all kinds of thoughts via this blog. If I can visit only one site a day, other than Flickr, this would be it: LINK

I’m trying a new voicemail service, which is free while it’s still in beta, called YouMail.  It allows for a great deal of flexibility in how you use your voicemail, including remote retrieval, customized greetings based on the caller, and saving your voicemail messages to your computer.  So if you call me and get my voicemail, don’t be surprised if you get a personal greeting.

This has to be one of the best tips I’ve read in a long while on any site. If I am shuttled directly to automated-phone hell, I typically will hit the zero key instantly to try to get to an operator. Some phone systems are smart enough to not let me do that, but I’ll certainly be trying this trick next time!