Pixeldown

I no longer need

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MANFROTTO 055 PRO BLACK TRIPOD 210-PROB @ carsand.com
Manfrotto 322RC2 Ball Head @ Vistek.ca
BK-5 VH Flip Bracket with Tilt Bar and Bag
Off-Camera Shoe Cord 2 II
Translucent Diffuser ; Thank you, Amber.
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I still need:
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Lowepro Stealth Reporter D650AW @ Vistek.ca
Amazon.ca wish list

For Windows XP.

I have a backup task that runs daily and another backup that runs monthly. I needed to replicate this backup procedure on a windows server in Alberta. The easiest method was to cut/paste the tasks from scheduled tasks to a directory, zip it up and email it to myself. Once I unzipped the content, I simply pasted the .job files into task scheduler on the Alberta server. You will need to update the user/password for the user that the task runs under. Because of the -3 difference in time zones, I also needed to modify the run times as well.

Quick and easy.

It feels like my old climate!

Fluffy white snow! So easy to shovel, so easy to drive through! YIPPIE!

For my own reference, I still need:

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MANFROTTO 055 PRO BLACK TRIPOD 210-PROB @ carsand.com
Manfrotto 222 Joystick Ball Head @ Vistek.ca
**

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Stroboframe Camera Flip
Off-Camera Shoe Cord 2 II
Bogen / Manfrotto 3298 Nikon Flash Adapter - SC-17
**

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Lowepro Stealth Reporter D650AW @ Vistek.ca


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Lastolite
95cm Translucent Diffuser

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Amazon.c wish list

Frost on the inside of my windshield.

There is not much else more devastating to my punctuality than frost on the inside of my wind shield. Since I have strict don't touch the glass policy (to prevent streaks) I have no choice but to wait for the frost to melt. On the inside. Scraping is not an option.

I finished configuring a local development copy of my web site last night. It only took two beers.

The problem was that apache2 was ignoring my .htaccess file by default. I proved that by backing up my current .htaccess file (cp .htaccess .htaccess_bak) and created a new .htaccess file (touch .htaccess) then added some garbage (nano .htaccess type some crap then save).

I didn't get a 500 Internal Server Error, apache2 was ignoring my .htaccess file.

It wasn't hard to fix. I edited /etc/apache2/sites-available/default changing the directory permissions for /var/www. I can't recall the exact lines - I'll post them later if someone asks. You'll have to restart or stop/start the apache2 service (/etc/init.d/apache2 restart)

As soon as I refreshed the page on the local network, I got a 500 server error. A good thing.

I put things back. (cp .htaccess_bak .htaccess)

Refresh, discover the necessity for imagemagick, install via synaptics package manager. Done - local development server; albeit, a slow development server. But it works.

Project2: lend some time to site development.

No amount of beer has this fixed yet. Perhaps I'll move to hard liquor this weekend.

Ubuntu Linux is a free linux based operating system that quickly and easily installs. In fact, it install so easily you really don't need to know a damn thing about it. ergo I don't know anything about it.

My goal was to install my photography web site locally so I could quickly and easily work with templates and layouts. I thought that since tonight is a stag night, my nerdy-ness should be accompanied by a few brews.

Beer 1
Helped me fix a problem where gnome would hang after login. Turned out to be a faulty video card.

Beer 1.5:
Helped me install apache2 and php5.

Beer 1.6 to Beer 3:
Helped me realize that when I changed my network around, I moved from the 192.168.0. IP range to 192.168.2. range. and that's when I discovered that most of beer 2 had me going to 192.168.0.10 to find the freshly installed apache server.

Between beers I was relying on my good friend Cody to slip me a few tips via IM while I stumbled around at the CLI trying to get stuff to work. If chicks dug linux, Cody would be a pimp daddy of all pimps. really.

Good thing chicks don't dig extreme nerdy-ness

on to mysql

That's tomorrow's high.

That is a despicable example of a Prince Edward Island winter.

If you don't know, you should know. It's easy to do unit conversion by typing what you want to convert right into google. So, as long as you know how to properly express the units you want to convert, you can find out what you need to know.

Example:
2.0 cu in to cu cm

Answer: 3.0 (cu in) = 49.161192 cu centimeters

With the google, I don't have to be smart.

It sure was a short winter here on PEI.

This abnormal weather has me cranky. It's supposed to be really cold and really snowy right now. In 1971 there was 89 centimeters of snow on the ground today. That's damn near 3 feet. Perhaps then I would get use out of my all wheel drive. Or perhaps then maybe I could have done the wintery photos of Charlottetown.

What happened to winter? It's truly messing me up. Enough to consider vacationing somewhere where there's winter? Maybe.

Seriously. Spring, Summer, Fall, Spring. There might be a week of Winter in the mix but hardly enough to allow it a name and a season.

It would seem that Jack Frost joined Cody, Jool, my brother and his friends in Alberta? Evidently so.

Oh well.

Okay... somebody was thinking about me. Someone did buy an espresso maker for me. It just didn't get here in time. I hope they make use of it, return it, or send it to me anyway.

My unit is a 9 cup maker which fills two coffee mugs half way. And because I'm a pussy, the rest of the mug is filled with steamed milk, and 1.5 teaspoons of sugar. Day 1 was not like that. It was 100% espresso, a bit of steamed milk and no sugar. Freshly ground dark roast beans. Strong. I'm using up some medium roast Melita coffee this week... it's 'okay'. I've noticed you have very little options for tweaking the strength of espresso. At least I can't screw it up.

On Espresso Work Day #4, I have discovered that espresso, evidently does not hold the same appetite suppression properties that a cup of Tims coffee does. I find myself hungry earlier in the morning than I normal. Espresso does, however, provide an ample amount of get up and go. In fact it's like a more efficient coffee. Takes less room, takes less time, takes less water. Better mileage, I suppose.

In other related news...

We have retired the Tim Horton's coffee maker that has been employed in our kitchen for two years. I thought it was wise to attempt an internal cleaning by using the famous CLR hard water remover. Well, I did that, rinsed a lot of times, brewed a pot of coffee and threw it out.

Recently, I ran a large quantity of white vinegar though it, however, with the new espresso maker, we rarely use the coffee machine. So last night, I began emptying it. The disgusting brew of water and hard water scales was evidence that it's time was up. Who makes a coffee maker you can't clean. Stupid.

Rest in piece, coffee maker. Unfortunately, you will be easily replaced. Soon.

I have been in search for a stove top Espresso maker since David Ducharme and Peter Vogelaar of the Canadian Snow Sculpting Team made some Espresso for me in February of 2006.

While on a quest last week to buy for the impossible, my search ended. I stubmled across three Espresso makers at a big box discount store. Knowing that discount stores rarely keeps regular inventory and there was a chance there could be one wrapped under the tree, I bought one. I couldn't pass it up.

I waited until Christmas Eve before I broke the news that I bought one for myself - which was okay because there were no reports of such a device under the tree. Christmas eve I brought the device inside and set it atop our stove.

On Christmas day I brewed our first cup of Espresso which was quite strong. The smell and taste of the concoction brought me right back to the morning with the Snow Sculptors. Fantastic. The beans I used for the brew were gifted to me by Peter and David. The beans were of a Dark Roast and roasted at OSO Negro in Nelson, British Columbia.

So, the idea is that Espresso may replace my morning requirement for a Tim Horton's coffee.

Today is the first trial run.

I've never maintained an online wish list. My first online wish list was registered with Amazon.ca. It's pretty much just a list of photography reference books that I would like to have to hone my skills.

For Christmas I received one of those books, Digital Wedding Photography - I figured that I needed to pop in there and take it off my list. I signed in today and noticed it wasn't on my Amazon list, so I checked my Chapters list, it wasn't there either. Going back to the Amazon list, I poked around a little. (I was advised the book came from Amazon). There's an option on the Amazon wish list to show you purchased items on the list.

I checked to see what was on the list of purchased items, and there was another book there that had been purchased, but it's on back order. No surprise for me (luckily I don't often add/update the wish list).

Anyhow - for anyone that would like to maintain the surprise, you should avoid purchasing through the wish list. Just grab the ISBN number of the books and purchase through your own account (close the browser window and reopen).

Oops. I'm looking forward to getting the second title though!

You did well, Mr Claus.

Hoya 67mm Circular Polarizer Filter
RS-80N3 Remote Shutter Release
Yamaha Acoustic Guitar
Leather Wallet

And oh man, was it a Canon Christmas. In addition to the Canon remote, there was an SD600 Digital Elph compact, a Canon Pixma 6600 photo printer, a really friggin' cool model of a 600mm F4L lens mounted to a EOS-1Ds Mark II, a Canon key chain, a Canon ice scraper and a Canon calendar. The Canon promo stuff is sooooo cool 'cause you can't buy it. Well, you could, I looked on eBay and it's bloody expensive.

Totally best Christmas evar. Amber will probably wonder why I didn't mention the book she made for me. It's personal, so I don't care to write about it here. What I will write is Thank You it's totally friggin' awesome. You can't put a price it, and you can't but it. Anywhere. Ever.