19-DEC-2008
Cables
This evening's project was to install the wall bracket for our new TV (Mom & Dad's Xmas present). My wife was activated today (Guard) so my son & I did all the work this evening (which was probably for the better ;-)
He's watching a movie right now, I will be up there in a moment...
18-DEC-2008
Swanky Burger Run
This marks the second time this week that I saw something that required capturing on film (er... Compact Flash). It is, however, the only one of the two that I actually stopped to photograph. This is something you don't see every day, though it isn't all that rare. I believe that when people are presented with the fact that they have spent all their money on limo rental & gas surcharge that they have no choice but to skimp somewhere in their evening's entertainment. . .
I looked like the paparazzi traipsing across the snow with my camera to capture this. The limo left shortly after this shot, no doubt it contained a famous singer/actor who wanted to "get away from it all" and head to New Hampshire.
17-DEC-2008
Visitor Parking
After I spent 15 minutes getting the fricken snow and ice off my car, I decided to amuse myself by taking a few shots under the street lights while the car warmed up a little longer.
I got the most of the riding season, Monday was the last day I rode in. I would have ridden in yesterday, but there were flurries in the forecast throughout the day (that never happened). Snow today, freeze tomorrow, and lots 'o snow Friday through Sunday. My last working day this year is this Friday so I can pretty much say that I am done riding into work for the year. I'm hoping for a couple of good weather days before the end of the year so I can get in another 200 miles. . .
16-DEC-2008
Empty
With the threat of snow, I drove into work (it never snowed). Since I drove in, I brought my gear & got out at lunch. I had no idea that I'd wind up at this old empty house (right off the Spaulding Turnpike, I'd intended for a slightly different location but got a bit diverted. When I shot this, I was thinking BW or Sepia the whole time. Sepia came out much better, even though the house isn't all that old (it has solar panels on the roof). I think this was purchased by the state to expand the turnpike (there is a huge bottleneck at the bridge that causes backups in the morning and evening every day).
15-DEC-2008
Bonus Fouls
Not much of a story here, was at daughter #2's Winter Band concert and couldn't get clear shots of her (she was hidden in the third row). The scoreboard caught my eye. I didn't realize there was so much dust on it until I was in LR2 and had it at 100%.
14-DEC-2008
More Ice
More ice shots. This is from a clump of trees & bushes that are beside the road that connects our development to another. The sun was hitting it just right earlier today.
13-DEC-2008
Xmas Tree Shopping
The annual Xmas tree hunt took place today. All the trees were coated in a layer of ice from "the storm". For the first time in a very long time, we found our tree rather fast, it was the 2nd tree we looked at. I think the fact that it was 20 degrees out helped to speed up the process too. After I paid for the tree and lifted it up over my head, I realized the error in my ways as a large quantity of ice and needles slid down my back. The worst part was that I had a 'Hoodie' on, had I just put the hood on first, it would have NOT gone down my back.
The rest of the process was pretty eventless. Shortly after setting up the tree in the house, there was a slight fog throughout the branches and then the rains came. The ice started melting at quite a fast clip and we scrambled for towels to keep the carpet from getting too wet.
Tomorrow we will be able to start decorating it, that is if my wife isn't activated (she's in the NH Air National Guard and we are awaiting her call any moment now).
12-DEC-2008
Ice Storm 2008
There is beauty in the aftermath of this storm we had last night and this morning.
We lost power at about 11PM, something that always keeps me awake when it happens in the rain (we rarely lose power when it is NOT raining) as our sump pump has no backup and the water level rises quickly. After power was restored, the sump ran nonstop for 2 full hours before it's first pause. The specs on the box say the sump we have will pump 3000 gallons an hour, so we had just about 6000 gallons of water in our basement. That sounds a little high, I haven't actually done the math to compute the volume of it, but it might be correct.
So back to this photo. When the sun popped out, I ran out and snapped this shot (amongst a few others). I switched lenses, reviving my 17-40 F4L as the EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS has a horrible flare problem in situations like this.
Here are a couple others that didn't make the PaD:
(And "YES" I am done with the Family PC Swap project)
11-DEC-2008
[This had better be the] Last day of this!
This is getting old fast. . .
The fam got their 'new' computer today, but now there is a Java script problem in IE7, you need java script to do just about all the things that they use the browser for. I couldn't even download Firefox!!!!
I found the way to get rid of IE7, went back to IE6 and things worked. Now I am trying to reinstall IE7 in hopes that Javascript will suddenly start working.
If this isn't working after this, I'm getting an iMac!!
10-DEC-2008
Is there no end?
And I am STILL transferring stuff from the old computer. It didn't help that last night, about 1/2 way (or more) through the "big transfer" one of the computers were reset due to the massive service packs pushed by Microsoft yesterday (as I write this on my Mac and smile). My teenager is the next to last account to transfer, she has about 10GB of data tied up in Sims2 files, music, and some other games. I will be so happy when this is through!!
09-DEC-2008
This is gonna take a while
Trying to transfer all the fam's settings from the slow old computer, running XP SP2 to the 'New'[er] faster PC running XP SP3. I've hit just about every snag, I've spent about 3 hours and have nothing to show yet...
I've switched to just plain copying the files I know they need and will try to get the stupid Files and Settings Wizard thing working after.
08-DEC-2008
Drive
Putting the finishing touches on the 'old' PC for the fam, popped open the DVD for a driver install and decided to take a photo (I mean, who opens a drive tray and decides that it needs to be digitally captured?).