MJG2

Hawaii Trip Comes To An End

joe — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 18:17:46 -0700

Our vacation is now winding down, we will spend our last night in Maui tonight and fly back to Las Vegas tomorrow night on the red-eye. It's been a very relaxing vacation which I've actually spent away from the computer for the most part. The only time I've been using my laptop is for reading email (mostly spam) and uploading photos I've taken while on Maui and Kauai or writing these blog entries.

My only complaint about this trip, which my wife has heard me say up to 3-4 times a day is that there have been no trade-winds during our stay in paradise. Unfortunately, if you don't have trade-winds while staying in Hawaii, it is very hot and humid. This trip marks our third to Hawaii, but first lacking the most relaxing, cooling winds that make you feel like any stress is a lifetime away. This is mostly a note to myself that we should probably schedule our future trips during the later months in the winter or early spring as those times seem to be better from experience.

After this long time away (18 days and the longest I've ever taken) I'm really looking forward to being back at home seeing our two cats and enjoying the dry desert.

Here's one of my favorite photos I took on this trip - all that's missing is the corona :)

6.7 Earthquake Felt on Maui

joe — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 18:28:00 -0700

Last Sunday Mirella and I felt our first earthquake together while vacationing in Maui. At approximately 7AM on 10/15/2006 I woke up from bed to a rocking and rolling hotel. It was the type of quake that keeps going and going which had me wondering where I should go - we are staying on the fourth floor of a 8 story building. I ended up getting out of bed very quickly and went to a doorway. Mirella had never felt one before so she thought it was a really strong wind or something, but then realized it must be an earthquake.

The photo below is a shot of the area where our hotel is located in Kapalua, Maui.

The quake's epicenter was just 6 miles NW from the Big Island. Maui is the closest island to the Big Island which made it still very strong in our area. It had been a very long time since I've experienced an earthquake and I can certainly say it's hard to not let it shake you, pun intended ;) You never know it's coming, and when it comes you never know what will happen or how strong it will get. Certainly, most earthquakes are very small and don't cause any damage or casualties, but the fact that you have no control is hard to handle. Now that a few days have passed it's already a distant memory, but one that when recalled, makes you cherish each day.

Last Day on Kauai

joe — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 17:37:00 -0700

We arrived in Kauai last Wed, Oct 4th in the evening and will be leaving tomorrow morning for Maui. So far our vacation has been very nice. There is not a lot to do on the island except relaxing and hanging out by the pool/beach. I've gone snorkeling a few times, luckily there is a very nice coral reef right outside our hotel. I saw some eels and countless varieties of tropical fish, I almost felt like I was swimming in a large aquarium!

Here's a photo of some taro fields I took a couple days ago... View more in my photoset of Kauai on Flickr.

Welcoming the Mirra to my workspace

joe — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 09:49:00 -0700

If you're looking for a good solid office chair consider the Mirra by Herman Miller. It looks like a sibling of the Aeron chair, but with some updates that make it a bit more user-friendly. I was tired of using the basic ~$200 variety that essentially lose their edge after about six months of solid use. A chair seems to lose the padding and comfort when it get's used for 10-16 hrs a day, EVERY day! This chair isn't cheap, it retails for ~$750 - but considering a $200 chair purchased only six months ago has lost it's comfort I believe this purchase will pay for itself in a couple years...

Yes, I work a lot (at least I'm seated at my desk most of the day) so I decided to upgrade to a sturdy "professional" office chair.

If you have ever assembled a garden variety office chair (something purchased from Office Depot) you know it takes a good 15-30 mins to get the legs set, the back connected to the seat and of course the arms mounted. Well, the Mirra came in one large sqaure box, everything assembled except for one thing left for me to do. I had to take the back of the chair slide it into the fitting on the base and mount it with two screws. That's it! Five mins, no sweat or frustration and you're done.

If you're into a unique style it is available in colors ranging from cappuccino to terra cotta to fog blue. I was interested in the color Fountain Blue, however the company said it would take 6-8 weeks for that color as they didn't have any in stock. So I ended up with graphite, which I guess will fit in with any style.

Flickr - Part II

joe — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 21:21:26 -0700

So, at first it was a concession that I couldn't put the time necessary into building my super duper gallery that I would host myself. But now, that I've uploaded over 1900 photos to Flickr and can say that I'm really enjoying it.

I think the visibility Flickr offers is a great side-affect of having my photos hosted there. I didn't really consider this when I joined. It was just a way to make my photos available to friends. Now I see that I can start to actually participate in the community. Join groups comment on other photos, and hopefully meet some new friends.

I've been using 1001 to manage the upload process which helps a lot when you're moving work from over 5 years! They also create Ecto which helps me publish these posts to my blog.

It's taking a bit longer than I wanted to get all my photos uploaded, part of the reason is that I've hit the RAW files I've shot with my Canon 20D. The size of these files requires me to convert to JPG and process the files before uploading. Once I get my workflow in place it should be a lot easier. For now enjoy.

Technorati Tags: photos, software

Flickr Account

joe — Sun, 27 Aug 2006 09:59:23 -0700

I determined I would not have enough time in the near future to create my own gallery, so I decided to start using Flickr. I'm in the process of uploading all my photos... hopefully I'll be done later this week.

Go see what I've uploaded so far - mjg2 on flickr...

I made the banner above using this free script at:
http://www.flagrantdisregard.com/flickr/profile.php

Technorati Tags: photos

Back Update

joe — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 13:05:32 -0700

So about 24 hours post injury I'm doing better. Last night I was able to sleep ok, but I felt really sore this morning. A constant pain and stiffness that just wouldn't go away plagued me. Luckily after forcing myself up and out of bed it felt better after a little movement.

I've read that single people actually heal faster than married people when they injure their back, mostly because of the tendency of the spouse to assist too much. Apparently it really does help the healing process when you use the muscles rather than only lie in bed and rest.

I'm expecting to feel the morning stiffness again tomorrow, but I think after that passes I'll be on the final road to recovery.

E61 - Maybe my next phone...

joe — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 15:39:00 -0700

I have been using a Motorola phone (v600) for 2-3 years now. It has suited me fine, however I'm pretty much a super geek (at least I strive to be). So, my friends and family all seem to have these smart phones that have me feeling a little out of place. My mom even has a Treo now!

I've been looking into Nokia's new E61 model and am pretty sure this is the phone I'll be moving to next. This one has the email support, wifi and standard phone features. Really it seems to have a ton of features that will probably keep me busy for quite a while. The one issue I have is that I'll have to buy it from EBay in order to get one that is "unlocked" and will be able to work on the Cingular network. I've never done that before so I'm a little hesitant, but I think it should be fine.

I am hoping to pick one up in the next week or so.

Update: yes I did get one of these and overall I've been pleased, however if you're in the US and are considering it take a look at the E62, it's available from Cingular and costs much less. It doesn't include WIFI or some other features, but overall it's the same deal with more official support in the US.

Ouch! My Back

joe — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 15:27:10 -0700

So today I really hurt my back - not sure how badly, but boy oh boy the pain was really bad. It all started with a innocent trip to Costco and Lowes to replenish our stock of drinking water (bottles for the fridge) and salt (40 lb bags for the water softener).

Well, luckily the injury didn't happen until we arrived home from our errands. I started by moving the 160 lbs of salt (4 bags) out of the car trunk and then proceeded to empty two bags in the softener. I must have totally used my back to lift the two bags cause immediately after that I tried to pick up one of the cases of water and my back gave out and I dropped it! Oh boy, I could hardly make my way inside.

So now I'm laid up in bed. Using some ice for about 10 min each hour. Just into the second hour now and waiting to see how it feels later today. I hope it feels well enough so I can be mobile again soon.

Where did the gallery go?

joe — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 20:23:10 -0700

In case you've come across this site expecting to see my photography like before I'm sorry, but I've moved my galley offline for now and decided to setup my blog here for now.

I haven't been out using my camera in quite a long time. I've just been so busy working lately that I haven't found the time. If I do take a picture that I like I'll make sure and post it here so you can enjoy.

Fo now, here's one of our cat Kaya during a big yawn.

Update:

I've moved my photos to Flickr - Check it out.