Ok, My wife and I get Studio photos taken of the us and our baby and then print out selected photos from the CD.  As they are professional, I take the CD jacket which has the license that says the images can be used for Non Commercial uses. This is in case Costco has any issues.

We’ve had no problem before but this time the the Manager comes out, cuts me off when I showed him the CD jacket and lectures me about “copyrights”. When I pointed out that the CD jacket has the license, he “reads” it and says otherwise (it actually has the license printed on it) and turns away.  I asked his co-worker (in front of him) what the remedy is. Shocking: He took less then 15 seconds to get the form where I certify I have the right to reproduce my photos…

I don’t have a problem with Costco covering their Collective Ass, I do have a problem with rude “managers” who can’t read.  Next Time I print anything there, If he gets rude like that, I’m filing a complaint.

Costco: You really might want to get managers that can read what is in front of them and NOT cut people off.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
Nothing. My wife and I are watching the Oscar pre show on E! channel.

Baby: Our daughter is getting really big, she’s healthy, chatty and social. To put it mildly, my wife and I are incredibly happy.

Hobby: Still assembling Gundam models, currently working on a RG MS-06S Char’s Zaku. Slow going, but getting there. The Detail on the 1/144 scale RG is amazing.

FIOS: Frankly, the speed is getting ridiculous.  Above you have the speed test from December 2009 and below from February 2011…

Android: Been playing around with Android OS (It’s Linux) lately.  Lot of good things about it and I like that you can get in there via ADB and look around. The ADB terminal sucks, but with a little work, you can start an SSH server, limit it to loopback and connect via ADB port forwarding.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“Chances” by “Five for Fighting” from the “Slice” Album.

For me, the attraction was using it as a Phone as well as the free apps that you can get for it. Being an Android phone, you can get some impressive Google apps such as Google Maps (and Navigation!), Google Voice, and my personal favorite Google Skymap.

Skymap is very cool as I’ve been interested in Astronomy since my father 1st got a telescope when I was in grade school.

More after the break.

Lets break this into sections:

Battery life: I use this phone on the bus, work, home (wifii), street, etc so I pretty much have to charge it daily.  For me this is not a problem as I have an extra USB cable and it’s able to be charged via Window PC, Linux PC, and MAC. Basically, I can plug it into and computer for charging.

EMail Client: My EMail is hosted on GMail and I’ve used the SSL IMAP client on the phone, the GMAIL app and the Gmail Web page.  All have advantages, but mostly I use the GMail app. I’m allegedly able to connect it to work email via IMAP and/or Exchange client but I have not tried that yet. I’ll try and report back here.

Applications: This is the major strength of smart phones. Screen grabs below taken via Android SDK. I’ve used the Google Navigator, the FIOS remote control and various other apps too. So far all the apps I’ve loaded are free apps. If I feel like buying one, I would but so far there has been no need.

Build of phone: It’s a pretty solid phone over all. I have a case on it and a film screen protector as well. I actually dropped it while waiting for the bus (case on) and luckily, no damage.

Verizon Wireless: I have the Speedtest app so I can take a reading of the wireless speed of Verizon Wireless network. That speedtest below was while in Manhattan. I’d be curious what the ATT wireless speed looks like in the same location.

Over all: I like it.  It’s pricey, but if you can get it, do so.  Also, it looks like it will get 720P video soon.

She’s adorable, healthy and keeps us on our toes full time! My advice to any couple thinking of having a baby: Do it.

• My wife and I are getting a lot less sleep (getting better)
• We have absolutely no free time
• My work is affected a bit
• My hobbies are now non existent (Photography?!?)
• We don’t see any of our friends socially anymore.
• You won’t believe how much we spend in Diapers and formula!

Sounds just awful, right? It’s not.

Seriously, being a parent is worth all this effort/cost and more.  We’re really lucky to have our daughter and we know it. I could go on and on with all the things I learn from our daughter daily but I can summarize it simply: My wife and daughter are what I look forward to everyday.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“Bulletproof” by La Roux from the “La Roux” Album on the radio.

I have NOT been able to do many Photo Walk abouts in the last 6 months but I have joined a Camera Club at work. It’s fun and I have a chance to meet and network with new people. The Club covers events for work and is a lot of fun.

Major:
My Wife and I are expecting a Baby. Needless to say, we are happy to add to our Family!

Like many of the little programs I write, I had a “problem” and wanted to solve it. I wanted a convenient link on the photo page to cut and paste the short URL of FLickr Images.  Look at this URL for a nice photo my wife took:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/s_d/3665619548/

As a URL goes, not too bad, but suppose you wanted to insert the link in
Twitter or Facebook? It’s a little verbose.  Wouldn’t this be better?

http://flic.kr/p/6zVfZ3

Yep, I think so too and so does Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/services/api/misc.urls.html#short
http://www.flickr.com/groups/api/discuss/72157616713786392/
This thread showed how to do it: http://www.flickr.com/groups/api/discuss/72157616713786392/

The FlickrBase58 function in the script was written entirely by ‘Xenocryst @ Antares Scorpii’
http://www.flickr.com/people/antares/

Other than reformating, taken verbatim from link here
http://www.flickr.com/groups/api/discuss/72157616713786392/72157620673064673/

The Original way *I* wrote it was to retrieve the HTML, Parse it for
<link rev=”canonical” type=”text/html” href=”http://flic.kr/p/6zVfZ3″ >

And use that link. While fun to write, that’s the wrong way to do it so I rewrote it to use the function written by ‘Xenocryst @ Antares Scorpii’ .  When installed on Firefox running the Greasemonkey extension, it will insert a link on the page on the right side just under “Flag your photo” that says:

The Flic.kr link is: http://flic.kr/p/6zVfZ3

This will allow you to right click the URL, copy it and paste into Twitter or Facebook.

Here is the script.

NOTE: I’m pretty certain it’s harmless, but use at your own risk. It’s hardly great programming and I’m sure someone else would have done it too, if not better.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“Paralyzer ” by Finger Eleven from the “Them VS. You VS. Me” Album.

S.D. says:

Got it.

Change this:

ifrm.contentDocument.execCommand('inserthtml',false,'<a title="Smilies" style="background:white !important;" href="http://www.ts0.com/flickrcommenttools/"><img align="absmiddle" style="vertical-align:middle;" src="'+this.url+'" border="0"></a>');

to:

ifrm.contentDocument.execCommand('inserthtml',false,'<a title="Smilies" style="background:white !important;" href="http://www.ts0.com/flickrcommenttools/"><img align="absmiddle" style="vertical-align:middle;" src="'+this.src+'" border="0"></a>');

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing at the moment

Ok, It’s been quite a while since I updated my blog, so here is a rundown:

• I’ve been working on my little backyard garden every weekend since it’s been warm enough. As a result, the lawn looks good, the vegetable garden is growing and our flower beds are weed free and has cedar mulch.  The Iris that our neighbor, Mrs. Chiu, gave us is really taking off. She planted that Iris in every house she owned, but finally moved to an apartment so she gave it to us. I have to call her son to let them know that it continues to grow (30-40 years!). It’s hard work, but it’s enjoyable as WE benefit from it.
• Related, I striped apart our Weber Genesis BBQ cleaned it, replaced the gas line (old quick connect is not used anymore), and we are good to go. That grill is a hand me down from over 10 years ago. The good thing about Weber grills: it will last forever if you keep it clean. I can’t wait for our small July 4th BBQ.
• We have so much Mint and Sage that we’re giving it away (Luckily our neighbor likes Sage). Since we have so much mint, we’ve learned to make an occasional mojito too.
• Thanks to Janny, I’m finally learning how to cook. I’m starting with simple meals like Tilapia fish marinated with coconut curry and collard greens. I also can safely cook chicken and pork chops too. Anyone that knows me, knows what an accomplishment this is. Having a good Zojirushi rice cooker also helps.
• Our home computer had a very persistent computer virus. The virus scaner (Two!) would ID the files but could not clean it as their was a persistent lock on them. As my brother suggested, I downloaded Ubuntu, burned a boot CD, booted up in LINUX and removed the infected files.  That was so easy that it was a bit ridiculous. Booting up in LINUX completely disables the threat.
• After using our PC since 2000/2001, we decided now was a good time. So, Janny and I got a Dell XPS 630 and pretty much optioned it out (8gb RAM, 1TB RAID 0, Intel® Core 2 Q8300 (4MB,2.5GHz, 1333FSB), 24 inch Flat screen monitor, etc. ). To put it mildly, I’m really looking forward to getting it.

In summary, life is pretty good.

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing at the moment.

When it comes out, I’ll probably just walk down to Image Anime on 30th street and just get it.

Music I’m listening to now:
Nothing at the moment.

The hands are meant to look cool, not hold the gun properly. I finally came upon a simple solution: DAP BLUESTIK Reusable Adhesive Putty.  It’s the sticky clay like stuff that used to be used in place of thumbtacks.  Unlike glue, it is not permanent but holds pretty well.

I used just a bit about the size of the tip of a pen and the gun stays where I put it. It only cost me a couple of dollars and makes life a lot easier.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
“I Hate This Part” by the Pussycat Dolls from the “Doll Domination” Album.