I Want My HDTV

It's been almost a year since I set up my plasma widescreen TV, and I can't wait until all the stations begin broadcasting fully in (ATSC) hi-def 16:9 format (which is about two years away). I am going "WOW!" over those programs that are now filling the entire screen with greater quality images; having to watch material that are still in NTSC 4:3 format is such a letdown. Not only that, I am receiving broadcasts over-the-air (OTA) with an indoor aerial... this is definitely not your father's rabbit ears!

Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?

Click here for a link to your New Year's karaoke.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Carpe Diem

It is winter, it is cold outside, and I was debating whether I wanted to crawl out from under some warm blankets to go riding. I eventually decided that my day would not be complete without doing so, even if I don't get too far from home.

Seize the day today;
Tomorrow may never come.
We are mere mortals.

I got off to a late start around 11:00am for Grass Valley, where I grabbed lunch and read today's paper. My route home took me on a levee road along the Sacramento River making for a 140 mile day (the photo inset is an advertising copy of the bike I chose to ride).

Free International Calls

This is my shameless plug for Skype service, which provides free communications through Voice Over IP (VoIP). So why does this matter in our age of cellphones and numerous plans that also include unlimited long distance calling? For one, not all of us can afford the higher priced plans that allow big chunks of anytime/anywhere minutes. Plus, the long distance plan does not extend beyond our national boundaries (as far as I know anyway). I have spoken with a couple of people from China a few months ago, and may have just made a new friend down unda in Australia and hope she checks out Skype.

A broadband Internet connection, speakers and microphone (or headset), free Skype software and user account and you're all set. Unlike a phone, you are computer/internet bound, but no doubt that's exactly where you are right now.

Alien Encounters...

... of the other kind. Not the ones I find close to home down the road in the San Joaquin Valley, working the farmlands so that you and I can enjoy our affordable produce. No, these aliens can be found near Area51 in the Nevada desert near Nellis AFB. Las Vegas is not far away and I swear that city's lights are used as a beacon (say, Luxor?) to guide the UFOs down safely. I stopped off in the little town of Rachel, NV (Area51) on my way home from a motorcycle ride to Flagstaff, AZ to visit a friend. In a previous post I displayed a satellite photo of the new KFC logo of the Colonel that was erected here. This is me inside the Little A'Le'Inn having my picture taken with some newfound friends circa Summer '06 (hmm, wonder if they taste like chicken?).

Wind!

I have no problem with rain (plenty fell last night), but you can keep the wind (and fog too). It's been blowing like crazy for about the past 24 hours now. There were tree limbs in the streets, lawn furniture being toppled, newspapers escaping their owners... and my 10x10 instant canopy got buckled. I was using this as a temporary patio cover just outside the sliding glass patio door to help keep the rain at bay. It was working quite well but I need a more portable solution.

One of the guys at the motorcycle shop said that Wyoming has the highest suicide rate in the U.S., and having grown up there, claims it is due to the high number of windy days annually. I'm finding that hard to doubt.

Merry Christmas!

Or for those who insist on RC (Religious Correctness), Happy Holidays!

I slept in this morning and got up to answer a phone call. It was my friend Ben calling from Denver, Colorado. He is doing well braving the cold spell they're having out there, and we caught up on a lotta stuff (on the phone for about 40 minutes). Well, I may just step outside to grab a bite before my little trek this afternoon to my brother's... I'm betting it is a bit on the cold side.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Xmas Eve and Home...

... but not quite alone. I am kicking back this Xmas Eve with my two boys (they're snoozing right now, what cats do best). Other than breakfast this morning, I decided to stay home and made like an Internet potato. Something else I did was spend some time on the phone getting out my holiday cheer (note: I am not a big fan of phones). I spent an hour and a half talking with a (retired) friend living up in the Columbia River Gorge in Washington whom, along with his wife, I did not see at last week's annual party at Nancy's house. He had a heart attack. Fortunately, despite some delays Bill arrived at the hospital in Vancouver; later news report that another several minutes and the outlook could have been grim.

It is still just over an hour away before midnight, Christmas Day. The pitch of the roof isn't too steep, but if he stops by he had better leave any goods on the doorstep as I do not have a fireplace, and hence no chimney. Merry Christmas!

Haiku Hack

I learned of haiku when I was young and always found this Japanese form of poetry a bit interesting. I have no formal background in poetry (or writing, for that matter) and cannot explain to you about rhythm, meters and its other aspects. What little I know of haiku is the arrangement of 3 lines of verse with 5, 7 and 5 syllables; of course there's more to it, but like I said, I'm a hack. Whip one up for the holidays and let me hear yours... here's mine:

Up on a rooftop,
You are three sheets to the wind.
Avoid the chimney.

The weather calls for dry skies this weekend, so it's a matter of braving the cold if I plan on riding down to Stockton to visit my brother's family (about 50 miles each way). Have a safe and happy holiday season!

But Is It Art?

This is a photograph I took of Tower Drugstore in downtown Sacramento around the time I first moved here. Neon is cool, and nostalgic. I rarely ventured out at night with a camera, and it was so long ago I cannot recall what prompted me to do so this time. The chilly nights we've had lately have made me reluctant to leave the cozy comforts of home... currently it is twice as warm indoors than it is outside.

What is Art?

Ah, an age old question, and one that still eludes us all; it would be so much simpler if we were asked who Art is instead. Remember the crayons and finger-painting when you were growing up (please tell me that every child had this opportunity)? It was also many a parent's bane when the budding little artist discovered using walls as canvas. I enjoyed doing a lot of pencil drawings in grade school and even received a number of scholastic awards, which in retrospect were probably handed out like icecubes in the Arctic. Throughout high school I dabbled in pen and ink, ceramics, batik and serigraphy (silk-screening) and later turned to photography when I entered college. My taste leans toward graphic design, and although I am not in an art-related career, I still have a deep appreciation for art as evident by the many art annuals and coffee table books in my library.

On an aside, computer technology has come a long way from being merely auxiliary tools for enhancing one's artwork, to becoming the media itself, lock, stock and barrel. I personally feel that this takes away that "human" element that I consider a part of art, reducing the artist's status to that of automatons. But then again, who am I to say "what is art"?

BMW

If you read my last post, you caught me drooling over news of a hot new Italian sportbike. Sexy and practical mix about as well as do oil and water. I've been a BMW motorcyclist to the tune of around 167,000 miles spanning 4 models, two of which still reside in my garage. A lot more practical and rarely deemed as being very sexy. Well, there's news of a new BMW model that combines street-worthiness and off-road style called the MegaMoto (best described as a big motard) and certainly has caught my attention. Two major problems that will keep it confined to my dreams: privilege of ownership is on the far side of $20K, and a seat height of over 32" (as with the Ducati) is uncomfortably elevated for those like me who are inseam challenged.

At least I was able to ride this weekend after a 2 week hiatus due either to soggy weather and cold, or the weekend I was under the weather with a cold. I rode from Sacramento through the foothills of Gold Country and had lunch at Angel's Camp, where Mark Twain first reported about the Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. Life is good.

Ducati

Those sexy Italian sportbikes... I have never ridden one myself, but eons ago I rode with a small group where one of the guys owned one. I loved the deep bass note emanating from its exhaust. Ducati owns a reputation for turning out fast, beautiful and exclusive motorcycles; mobile objets d'art that are also high on maintenance and low on comfort. There's the rub.

I prefer riding long distances and in comfort. Solo. Whenever I find myself hundreds of miles from home, I want the peace of mind of being with the company of a loyal friend and not a demanding mistress that may leave me high and dry. Logic wins over passion in this case, especially since my pocketbook is unable to sustain this type of hobby collection.

Ducati's latest literbike has got me drooling. The 1098 (TenNineEight) weighs in dry at 381 pounds and moved along by 160 horses, and as far as Ducatis go, is priced at an astoundingly affordable 15 bills MSRP. Wonder how I can possibly swing a weekend date? Hmmm.

Hot Moo!

My friend and ex-coworker is quite the character and has he some beef jerky for you! Sure, you may be able to find jerky just about anywhere you happen to shop, but has painstaking effort gone into its production as does Uncle Alex'? Comes in teriyaki and spicy (if you can handle the heat, this is the way to go, hands down).

Prepare to embark on a gastronomic adventure from which you'll emerge forever changed! Never (and we mean never) will any other beef jerky be able to satisfy as UNCLE ALEX'S. All will pale as poor and sorrowful imitations. Why? Because the beef and ingredients can simply be found nowhere else. This is NO exaggeration. THE BEEF - Our animals are fed an organic, highly-nutritious, and scientifically developed diet that imparts the absolute freshest taste and delightful aroma.

Click here to continue with the rest of the story... and perhaps order a sample!

KFC & Area51

This was all over the Internet nearly a month ago, and my guess is that I was caught snoozing. Or out motorcycling. The town in the right-hand corner is Rachel, NV where I stopped on my motorcycle vacation (from Flagstaff, AZ via Las Vegas, NV en route for home; check out my photo album for pics of aliens). Little did I know that this was in the works... this is Area51 folks (but of course, we know it does not exist). More information can be found by clicking here.

November 14, 2006

KFC CREATES WORLD'S FIRST BRAND VISIBLE FROM SPACE AS COLONEL SANDERS TAKES ONE SMALL STEP FOR HUMANKIND BUT ONE GIANT LEAP FOR FRIED CHICKEN
***

KFC BOLDLY GOES WHERE NO BRAND HAS GONE BEFORE BY UNVEILING ASTRONOMICAL, 87,500 SQUARE-FOOT, CONTEMPORIZED COLONEL SANDERS LOGO IN AREA 51 DESERT TO LAUNCH "KFC OF THE FUTURE"

Photo Technology

I was looking at many of the newspaper ads ('tis the season, remember?) and noticed how digital camera technology is progressing. I have been involved with photography since starting college, having owned many cameras and setting up a couple of darkrooms. These were the silver halide days before digital imaging reached the market. My first digital camera was capable of about 2.0 megapixels (mp) resolution with no bells, no whistles and NO magnification. Come to think of it, no LCD viewfinder screen either. My next (and current) digicam is a compact Canon clamshell with 4.0mp, 3x optical zoom and a small LCD viewfinder. It's around 4 years old now and does everything I need it to do (and probably more).

Wow. It's nearly 2007 and we have even thinner pocket digicams, boasting over 7.0mp resolution and with at least 3x optical zoom. Add to it improved sensor technology and image stabilization, larger LCD viewfinders and a price tag averaging $300 and the saliva starts flowing. But I ask myself, "what do I actually gain from all this?", since most of my shooting rarely reaches printed form, instead remaining in my collection as an album of ones and zeroes. What is any photographer's goal?

It wasn't that much different in the analog days, when many of us were focusing our attentions on technical details (of our equipment). Titanium shutters, aspherical and chromatic glass, interchangeable viewfinders, bulk film backs and motorized drives. Truth was (and still is), science had already reached a point where any more attention given to it was merely an excuse for not producing a decent photograph. Or to make a fashion statement (even at $300, it's still a sizable chunk of change out of my pocket).

Except for specialized applications, we can stop putting the cart before the horse, stop drooling and toss the ball back into the shooter's court. Try putting a price tag on that!

New WebHost

I seem to have successfully gotten my webpage transferred over to a new webhost (1and1 Hosting) a couple of nights ago, but not without a few hurdles. Can't blame the host tho', since I had the know-how to deduce a few things but had to scratch at that grey matter before the proverbial light bulb started flickering. I have never logged on to an ftp site before, but discovered this to be quite handy especially after failed attempts to snag some files off the previous host's server. I couldn't do it through their GUI, which appears to be set up for file uploads only (I may be wrong, but the point is now moot).

I will be paying nearly half compared to my previous webhost, so I will wait and see if the service quality is up to snuff. Not all of us are so fortunate to have our webhosting provided gratis... so this should be the next best thing (well, maybe after the free hosting riddled with advertisements).

Bowie and Bing

Here's a shortened version YouTube video clip of David Bowie and Bing Crosby performing "The Little Drummer Boy", one of many of my favorite holiday tunes.

I'm still recovering from my "cold" (or whatever), perhaps in time for the upcoming, wet forecast weekend. Time for catching up on all those nagging errands I have been putting aside. Or get sidetracked. Again. The air has been wintry dry and cause for my irritatingly itchy dermis, not to mention my boys' disgruntlement as conduits dissipating static electricity. Zap! 'Tis the season!

'Tis the Season...

... to be sick! I felt it coming on since sometime Monday, and Airborne didn't seem to help stop it. I was looking forward to this weekend of possibly getting out for a nice winter ride somewhere, anywhere. Last night's weather forecast called for temps possibly up to the mid-60s! But, here I am being a cybergeekpotato after taking a short nap... that daytime cough medicine wasn't the culprit; I'm just an old fart not getting enough sleep.

Well, this morning I was able to get out to grab breakfast, read the paper and get the photo of Tom enlarged. And to buy the aforementioned drugs. Not a totally wasted day being holed up I s'pose, and they're playing continuous holiday music on the radio.

It sucks, and I guess I'll just hafta make the best of it.