12 Volt Manuscript

My Life According to Jimmy Buffett

2009-07-28T12:19:00.002-04:00

Facebook meme: Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Pass it on to people you think would find this interesting (including me). You can't use the band I used. Try not to repeat a song title. It's a lot harder than you think! Re-post as "My Life According to (BAND NAME)."

My Artist:
Jimmy Buffett

Are you a male or female?
Twelve-Volt Man

Describe yourself:
A Pirate Looks at Forty

How do you feel:
Defying Gravity

Describe where you currently live:
This Hotel Room

If you could go anywhere, where would you go:
Banana Republics

Your favorite form of transportation:
Boats to Build

Your best friend is:
Woman Goin' Crazy on Caroline Street

Your favorite color is:
Dreamsicle

What's the weather like:
Sunny Afternoon

Favorite time of the day:
I Wish Lunch Could Last Forever

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called:
Changing Channels

What is life to you:
Life is Just a Tire Swing

Your relationships:
If the Phone Doesn't Ring, It's Me

Your fear:
Brahma Fear

What is the best advice you have to give:
We Are the People Our Parents Warned Us About

If you could change your name, you would change it to:
Ellis Dee

Thought for the Day:
Kick It In Second Wind

How I would like to die:
Apocalypso

My soul's present condition:
Nobody Speaks to the Captain No More

My Motto:
Growing Older, But Not Up

Your Wish in Song:
The Weather is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful

Molly's First Dance Recital

2009-06-07T08:15:00.002-04:00

Photos from Molly's first dance recital on June 6, 2009.

The full photoset is on Flickr.

Our first NASCAR experience

2009-05-09T10:19:00.002-04:00

Max really enjoys NASCAR and so for his birthday, my Dad and I took him and his cousin Caiden to their first NASCAR race, the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 Nationwide Series race at Darlington Raceway on Friday, May 8th. Here are some photos and videos I shot with my mobile phone during the event. The microphone on the mobile phone doesn't do any justice to the sheer volume of 49 NASCAR at full roar as hey hurtle down the track at 175 mph.

Happy Easter 2009

2009-04-12T08:23:00.001-04:00

A short video and a few pictures from our Easter Morning 2009.

25 Random Things About Me

2009-02-01T20:52:00.003-05:00

Stolen from Facebook...

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose at least 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people - in the right hand corner of the app - then click publish.)

I don't normally participate in silly Facebook memes, but I'm really quite bored with Super Bowl XLIII (and American Football in general), so why not?
I've seen Poison live in concert 5 times, but never since C.C. Deville left, then rejoined the band.
I'm a doctor, but as my mom likes to say, "Not the kind that helps people." (Ph.D. in chemical engineering from University of Texas at Austin)
I flew solo in a private airplane the night before my 16th birthday (one day before allowed by law).
I never flew solo again in a plane after that night and never got my private pilot's license.
I've been awarded 25+ patents in the United States and also have patents granted in the EU and in Japan. Unfortunately, AMD and Yield Dynamics (now MKS) are the assignees on all my patents.
I was a pretty decent basketball player in middle and high school and attended Coach K's basketball camp at Duke when I was a kid.
When in grad school, I used to run a website for local bands in Austin, TX at hepcat.com and now I wish I had never sold that domain name.
I once finished 5th in the nation in Orienteering at the National Science Olympiad by gaming the scoring system (because I got majorly lost using my compass!)
I really would like to go to Disneyland Tokyo and DisneySea but can't really fathom what a trip there with the kids would be like.
Running the RailHawks' supporters club isn't my first flirtation with fandom, I once co-ran the Jimmy Buffett Listserv (mailing list) and was Historian/Liturgy Director of the Church of Buffett, Orthodox.
These days, I spend much more time listening to the artists I discovered through Jimmy Buffett's music -- like Steve Goodman, Todd Snider, Jerry Jeff Walker, Jesse Winchester, Willis Alan Ramsay -- than I do listening to Buffett anymore.
I met one of my lifelong best friends (whom I was able to reconnect with after many years thanks to Facebook), when I was in 8th grade, sitting on a bench reading the greatest book of all time -- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy -- and this girl I didn't know came up and slugged me and said: "Cool book". She was the one that introduced me to Jimmy Buffett.
I've been an Anglophile ever since studying in London, probably my favorite city in the world, during the summer of 1994. I really hope I can get there for the 2012 Olympics.
I wish that American TV seasons were reduced to 6-8 episodes like British series...so I don't keep losing interest in shows after just a few weeks.
I love the "idea" of books. I like the way they look on my bookshelf. I love to flip through them. I obsessively collect them. I just never seem to have the attention span to read them.
I always thought I'd like comic books, but never seem to get the hang of the rhythm of reading graphic novels until I read The Watchmen recently in anticipation of next month's film. Now I'm reading Ed Brubaker's "Sleeper" and really enjoying it.
I fulfilled a lifelong ambition in 2005 when I rode my bicycle 100 miles in a single day at Lance Armstrong's Ride for the Roses in Austin, TX. My next cycling ambition is to ride L'etape du Tour one day.
While I love living in The Triangle, I dearly miss Austin where I spent 7 wonderful years in grad school, my first real job, and where my son was born.
The only other place in the US that I think I would like to live is Portland, OR, where Liz and I almost moved before making a last minute decision to move to Cary, NC instead.
I love to cook and wish I had a bigger kitchen and more cool utensils and cooking apparatus.
I have no real palette for wine and can never remember the name of a good bottle I've drunk, but I'm a major beer snob.
I love the fact that two of my favorite beers -- Belgium's Hoegaarden and Austin's Celis White -- were actually brewed by the same Brewmeister, Pierre Celis, on two different continents about 30 years apart.
My dream vacation is to go on a folksong tour of Scotland with Ed Miller
Much to my surprise, I ended up rather enjoying the Super Bowl, especially the last 3 minutes.

My Top 10 Favorite Tragematopolists

2009-01-31T19:22:00.004-05:00

I stumbled across this neat website called "Save the Words" at www.savethewords.org which promotes bringing under-used words back into the popular lexicon. I'm doing my part by adopting the word Tragematopolist.

Tragematopolist: A confectioner, or a seller of sweets.

So to get the ball rolling, and at least get one more Google hit for the word, here's my list of my Top 10 favorite Tragematopolists:

Amy's Ice Cream - An Austin, TX original version of Cold Stone Creamery -- you've got to try the Mexican Vanilla with fresh strawberries.
Kilwin's - walking distance from my house and fantastic fudge!
Every shop in Rothenburg ob der Tauber that sells Schneeballen
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory - their caramel apples are to die for!
Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shops - Cherry Garcia Waffle Cone Sundae, need I say more?
Cracker Barrel - I love the "old tyme" candies like Necco wafers and Mint Sticks.
The Ghirardelli Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop in San Francisco (the one on Michigan Ave. in Chicago works too in a pinch).
The aisle vendors at the circus selling Cotton Candy
Dairy Queen - you can find them just about everywhere!
Any convenience store or movie theater concession where I can get some SweetTarts or other Willy Wonka Candies.

So next time you're satisfying your sweet tooth, be sure to use the word Tragematopolist!

Disney 2009 Day 7 Recap

2009-01-30T12:35:00.001-05:00

Recap from our final day at Disney

Disney 2009 Day 6 Recap

2009-01-28T07:04:00.001-05:00

Max and Molly recap Day 6 of our 2009 visit to Disney.

Max and Molly Playing Mini Golf

2009-01-28T07:03:00.002-05:00

Max and Molly playing at Jungle Golf in Kissimmee, FL during our 2009 trip to Disney

Disney 2009 Day 5 Recap

2009-01-28T07:03:00.001-05:00

Max and Molly recap Day 5 of our 2009 trip to Disney.

Disney 2009 Days 5-6 Photos

2009-01-27T07:21:00.001-05:00

Photos from the 5th and 6th day of our trip to Disney, primarily from the "Celebrate" parade at the Magic Kingdom.

Disney 2009 Day 4 Photos

2009-01-25T10:24:00.001-05:00

Photos from our third and fourth days at Disney.

Disney Day 4 Recap

2009-01-25T09:01:00.003-05:00

Max and Molly recap Day 4 of our trip to Disney while swimming in the pool at the condo.

Houston, We Have a Problem

2009-01-25T09:01:00.001-05:00

Molly was a couple of inches too short to ride the Mission: Space attraction at EPCOT but she was tall enough to make this video postcard in the after-ride activity area during our trip to Disney in January 2009.

Disney 2009 Day 3 Recap

2009-01-24T07:54:00.001-05:00

Max and Molly recap Day 3 of our Disney vacation before going to bed.

Molly Enjoys Playhouse Disney Live

2009-01-23T16:33:00.001-05:00

We visited Disney's Hollywood Studios on Friday. While the kids may tell you their favorite part was the new Toy Story Mania ride (definitely Mom and Dad's favorite), we never saw Molly as animated as during the Playhouse Disney Live stage show.

Disney 2009 Day 2 Photos

2009-01-22T21:32:00.001-05:00

Photos from our 2nd Day at Disney (and a couple from the swimming pool at the condo).

Disney 2009 Day 2 Recap

2009-01-22T21:31:00.000-05:00

Max and Molly recap Day 2 of 2009 trip to Disney. We spent the 2nd day at the Magic Kingdom

Tea Cups

2009-01-22T21:30:00.005-05:00

Max, Molly, and Liz enjoy the Tea Cups at Disney's Magic Kingdom

Monorail Co-Pilots

2009-01-22T21:30:00.001-05:00

Max and Molly (and Liz & Jarrett too!) get a very special ride to the Magic Kingdom in the cockpit of the Disney World Monorail. Secret tip: Simply ask a cast member on the loading platform to let you ride up front, and they'll oblige you.

Disney 2009 Day 1 Recap

2009-01-22T20:07:00.001-05:00

Max and Molly recap what they did on their first day at Disney in 2009, when we toured EPCOT

Max plays secret agent on Kim Possible Adventure

2009-01-22T20:06:00.003-05:00

Max tries out the Kimmunicator while playing the Kim Possible Adventure at EPCOT. The new attraction opens on January 28th but we got to participate in the "soft opening" or "beta test" if you will of this very cool interactive technology

Molly Plays in ImageWorks

2009-01-22T20:06:00.001-05:00

Molly had a grand time at the ImageWorks in EPCOT making music by jumping on the lighted squares of carpet.

Snow Day 2009

2009-01-20T13:39:00.002-05:00

5 to 6 inches on the ground and still falling...hopefully we'll be able to fly out to Disney World tomorrow...but for now, it's snow angels and snowball fights.

Max Playing Soccer at XL Soccer World

2009-01-03T21:25:00.002-05:00

After a hiatus for a few months, Max got back to playing soccer this weekend. He's on XL Milan at XL Soccer World in the U8 coed league.

Molly's First Soccer Game at XL Soccer World

2009-01-03T17:21:00.002-05:00

Molly started soccer this week in the U6 Instructional Program at XL Soccer World. She had done things like Soccert Tots and L'il Kickers before, but this was really her first "real" experience playing soccer.

New Year's Eve 2008 Hurricanes Game

2009-01-01T16:15:00.002-05:00

For New Year's Eve, we took the kids to a Carolina Hurricanes game (vs. the Atlanta Thrashers). It also gave me a chance to play with one of the new toys that we got for Christmas, a Kodak Zi6 pocket-sized High Definition camcorder.

Here's a little video from our evening out.

3 New Home Video Channels for your New Year's Viewing Pleasure

2009-01-01T09:04:00.003-05:00

Over the holidays, I've been cleaning out an old VHS tape cupboard and transferring many of the videos to digital format using this new toy I got for Christmas so I can clean out the closet and get rid of the tapes.

In addition, I dug through all the little home videos that Liz had shot on her digital camera of Max's and Molly's school functions and posted them all on the web under my Veoh.com account.

To make it easier to find the videos, I've created three distinct channels for your viewing pleasure:

Max's Home Videos: Videos primarily featuring Maxwell

Molly's Home Videos: Videos primarily featuring Molly

Jarrett's Music Videos: Don't worry -- not me making music, but videos of my family members, for example, Griffin and Liz, in their musical endeavors.

There's a few other videos posted there too that don't fall neatly into one of these three channels -- like this video of Liz's Baby Shower (without Liz being present) or this video of my nephew Caiden as an infant.

If you want to automatically download the latest copies of all my videos that I publish at this site (including a few not included in those 3 channels), you can either subscribe to my RSS Feed or simply click on this iTunes link and you'll be automatically subscribed (assuming you have iTunes installed on your computer).

Seven Foot Politic Live at the 40 Watt 1997

2008-12-30T22:28:00.001-05:00

A performance by Athens-based Seven Foot Politic at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, GA circa 1997. The band features my brother, Griffin Campbell, on bass guitar.

Merry Christmas 2008

2008-12-25T15:21:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas to all!

For those that couldn't join us this Christmas, here is our morning festivities compressed into a 4 min 17 sec YouTube video so you can share in all the fun.

And here are some still pictures as well.

The Political Mind of a 7 Year Old

2008-11-02T17:43:00.003-05:00

I must confess that I have become practically obsessed with the Presidential election this year, most evenings slipping upstairs at 8pm to watch Keith Olbermann on MSNBC before putting the kids to bed or staring endlessly at Real Clear Politics polling data.

Max has taken to watching Countdown with me and he too has gotten very interested in understanding what all is going on, especially after our recent trip to DC. The other day, he came in from playing outside and told me that he and his friend Jake saw the McCain-Palin signs in the yard across the street and that he told his playmate that "McCain has been telling lies".

It's been really exciting around here with North Carolina actually being in play this election, for the first time since Carter won the state in 1976. The down side is that we are completely deluged with telephone calls all evening long and political advertisements on our local television stations around the clock at the moment.

While we were sitting around watching TV today, the McCain "Surgeon" TV ad came on. The basic premise of this ad is to attack Obama's "inexperience" and it's tag line is "OBAMA: Never been in charge of anything".

I hate ads like this because while they may bring up the point that Obama has never held an executive position in government, they completely gloss over the fact that neither has John McCain. I guess he might claim that his brief stint as a commanding officer of a small training squadron for less than a year over 30 years ago might qualify as "being in charge of something", but that is certainly not what the ad is trying to imply.

Irritated by the complete lack of full disclosure in not only this, but just about every other political ad I've seen in the last month (e.g., Elizabeth Dole's despicable Godless Americans ad), I shouted at the TV --> "SO WHAT EXACTLY HAS JOHN McCAIN EVER BEEN IN CHARGE OF?!?!?!"

Max, without missing a beat, responded: "Having the most houses!"

:)

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T22:04:00.002-04:00

The video clip above was shot on Halloween as Max the Weatherman was reporting on Hurricane Jarrett. During the broadcast, he was interrupted by a surprise guest who apparently got lost on her way to grandma's and ended up in the middle of Category 4 storm.

Here are some more photos of the kids from Halloween 2008.

DC Vacation Photos & Video

2008-10-15T12:36:00.003-04:00

We took the kids to DC this week while Max is tracked out from year-round school. The main event was Max and I going to Max's first ever US National Team soccer game, a World Cup qualifier betwen the US and Cuba, which the US won handily 6-1.

While in town, we also checked out the National Zoo, the new Udvar-Hazy National Air and Space Museum out at Dulles airport, the Natural History Museum, and the National Mall. We also saw a neat performance by Hakim, a star from the Dutch version of Sesame Street, as part of the Kids Euro Festival that was going on this week in DC.

On the way out of town, we stopped at IKEA at Potomac Mills and loaded up the van. Now I'm going to be putting together modular Swedish furniture for at least a week!

I posted a number of pictures from the trip and a few videos from the soccer match in this set over at Flickr.

My favorite photo from the trip is this one...of Molly praying for our government. It could use all the help it can get right now, don't you think?

Obama rally in Greensboro

2008-09-27T16:23:00.003-04:00

After picking up my new Mini Clubman S this morning in Winston-Salem, I stopped off in Greensboro to see Joe Biden and Barack Obama speak.

I was running late, as evidenced by the fact that I was held up by Obama's motorcade, as I was trying to find a parking spot and since there were over 20,000 in attendance according to local police there was no way I was getting anywhere close to stage. But the sound was good and with my 300mm telephoto lens, I managed to get a few glimpses of our next presidential duo.

Here are few a photos from the event.

She's Here...My new Mini Clubman S

2008-09-26T14:11:00.003-04:00

When I ordered my new Mini Clubman S, I really wanted to get a sunroof but decided it wasn't worth the $1000 adder to the price of the car. Well, as luck would have it, the dealer screwed up and actually ordered the car with the sunroof. So now they are stuck basically giving it to me for free, or ordering me another car and waiting another month to get my money.

Dumb luck, or a sign that it was meant to be??? :)

Here's a couple of more pics the car being detailed at the dealership down in Winston-Salem. I'm off to pick it up first thing in the morning and then I'm going to stop off on my way home to see Joe Biden and Barack Obama speak at the Amtrak depot in downtown Greensboro.

Should be a great day.

Start! Heart Walk

2008-09-04T10:06:00.001-04:00

Back in October 2007, my employer conducted a free health screening where I learned that based on my weight, gender, and blood counts, I was at significant risk for heart disease, heart attack, or a stroke.

Over the last 8 months, I've been working really hard through diet and exercise to reduce those risk factors. After losing 50 pounds and leading a more healthy all-around lifestyle, my most recent health assessment shows that I have corrected those problem areas and am now considered low risk!

To celebrate my success, I am helping the American Heart Association fight the nation's leading causes of death by participating in the Start! Heart Walk. Step out against heart disease and stroke by supporting my efforts. Please make a donation so I can reach my walker dollar goal. Thank you for your support!

Click here to donate.

Quotable

2008-08-21T10:49:00.003-04:00

In April 2006, my boss asked me to take over responsibility for my company's business in the packaging machinery business. At the time, I split my time between working in the semiconductor industry and trying to learn a new business. After about 8 years working in the semiconductor industry, I have now transitioned to 100% of my time focused on packaging machinery automation, leaving my semiconductor roots behind.

I used to get interviewed and quoted all the time about Advanced Process Control in the semiconductor business. That was something I really knew well and was confident to play the role of industry expert. Now I'm finally starting to feel like I understand my new business well enough to not sound ignorant when talking to magazine editors and industry trade types about packaging.

Last week at a Schneider Electric trade event in Las Vegas, I was interviewed by Linda Casey, and editor for Packaging Digest. Here's her writeup on our interview from her magazine's website.

Do I sound like I know what I'm talking about? Do you think she could tell I'm still sort of wingin' it? :)

50 pounds later

2008-08-01T08:44:00.003-04:00

As of this morning (August 1st), I have now officially lost 50 pounds since the start of the new year!

Can you tell the difference? :)

January 2008:

August 2008:

My new toy...

2008-07-16T13:02:00.002-04:00

Last week, the shutter broke on my Canon Digital Rebel. I was distraught, as I loved that camera and it had served me well for a little over 5 years. On the other hand, I finally found the perfect excuse I'd been looking for to upgrade to a Canon EOS 40D which shoots at a blistering 6.5 frames per second! I can't wait to shoot a soccer match with this little gem.

In the meantime, here's some images of Molly that I shot straight out of the box to make sure the camera worked. I'd say it does so...quite nicely.

To get a real sense of the quality, you need to see the full-resolution, original size images: still-life || twirly-girl.

Son, You'll Be a Star (or at least an Extra)

2008-06-22T04:27:00.002-04:00

Max recently made his "off, off Broadway" theatrical debut in Morrisville Elementary's Track 4 First Graders' production of Little Red Riding Hood, The Musical.

Max played the role of "Tree 3". While you might say his performance was a little "stiff", he was very convincing. Of course, his main role was to serve as backdrop for the major players, but you should never underestimate the importance of the theatrical tradition of the Greek Chorus.

Click on the video below to watch excerpts from the play.

Out with the old...

2008-06-15T20:13:00.001-04:00

I've lost 42 pounds since the first of the year (thanks SparkPeople!). My clothing situation has gotten pretty sad considering I've dropped 4 inches in my waist and 2 shirt sizes. So this weekend, I cleaned out the closet and the chest of drawers of all the clothes that no longer fit properly. It's pretty depressing to get rid of so many nice clothes (13 "Target" bags worth of clothes headed to Goodwill), but I'm really looking forward to re-populating the closet with some smaller sizes!

Playin' the Ponies

2008-05-14T20:08:00.004-04:00

I was in Louisville for a couple of customer meetings today. My afternoon meeting got canceled at the last minute and I couldn't get an earlier flight home so I killed the afternoon at Churchill Downs, which happens to be only about a 5 minutes drive from the Louisville airport.

Track conditions were sloppy, but that made for some interesting photography. I've posted an album of photos from the day over on Flickr.

Our new dog

2008-05-05T21:05:00.003-04:00

I came home from work today to find out that Liz had adopted Daisy from the Saving Grace Rescue in Wake Forest...

Apparently, they called her Reba at the shelter (because she was "red") but all I could think of was the country music star and companion sitcom. Luckily, the whole family agreed to change her name to "Daisy." We'll see how that goes over with the dog, but so far, she hasn't seemed to mind.

Carowinds

2008-03-23T18:46:00.002-04:00

We took the kids to Carowinds over the holiday weekend. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Liz's New Car

2008-03-19T13:49:00.002-04:00

Liz got a new minivan today...

2008 Chrysler Town & Country Touring...with all the bells & whistles, including Sirius Backseat TV!

Life imitating art

2008-02-27T07:29:00.001-05:00

Liz and I were talking the other day about how Season 7 of the West Wing was eerily similar to this year's presidential election. I guess we're not the only ones that noticed (see video below):

Obamamatopoeia

2008-02-15T06:50:00.003-05:00

Slate has a funny article today about all the different mashups that folks have made from Barack Obama's name.

I guess that's how they pay their "Obamrage" to him.

The Goo-gle wagon is a-comin' down the street...

2008-02-13T11:16:00.003-05:00

It looks like the Georgetowne at Preston subdivision has been visited by the Google Vans.

You can now see what our street looks like in Google StreetView.

Kind of scary, isn't it? I'm just glad that the precise time the photo capture vehicle drove by didn't coincide with one of Molly's streakin' forays into the front yard. Otherwise, we'd probably be featured over on StreetViewFun.com

Yes We Can, The Speech & The Song

2008-02-09T23:58:00.000-05:00

Until I saw Barack Obama give this speech in New Hampshire, I really wasn't sure who I was going to vote for. Now I have no doubt.

Never can I recall being truly inspired by a politician's speech like this before. And a concession speech at that!

As I went to bed that night thinking about what he had just said, I realized that what we need for this country is not necessarily the most experienced politician, but a real leader. Someone that you can respect, someone that you can look up to. Someone that inspires the people around him to work hard and accomplish things that they never thought they could do. One man (or woman) cannot do it all alone. What I love about Obama's campaign is that it is less about what he will do as president than it is about what he will challenge us all to help him accomplish if he is elected.

A couple of years ago, I was languishing in my job, wondering if I was in the right position -- or even right company for me. Then I got a new boss. My new boss wasn't necessarily any smarter or more experienced than my old boss, but my new boss challenged me in ways my old boss never did. He made me want to get things done that I would have simply let pass by. My new boss inspired me -- he lead me. Now I'm happier than I've ever been in a job in my career and I really believe it is due to the influence of my new boss. Because of him, I have hope that there is a bright future for me in my company.

Obviously, I'm not the only one that saw Obama's speech and was inspired. Many people have written many things about that great speech. However, my favorite result of that speech so far is the excellent Yes We Can video created by Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas. Regardless of whether or not you agree with the politics of the candidate, I expect you will agree with me that this video is an extremely well-done mashup between Obama's speech and an original artistic piece produced by Will.i.am.

If Barack can inspire me and Will.i.am, I wonder what he could do for our country if we just give him the chance.

V O T E

Liz's Birthday Dance

2008-01-27T07:48:00.000-05:00

Today (Jan 27th) is Liz's birthday. So the kids decided to do a little dance for their mother on the occassion of her big day...

Disney Trip, Day 7

2008-01-27T07:47:00.001-05:00

Okay, okay...I know those of you that have followed our Disney Trip through my blog are probably wondering what happened on the last day. All apologies for the delay as work has kept me pretty much distracted from important things like blogging since our return.

The last day was probably our best day at Disney of the whole trip, although it had a good chance of being disastrous since we knew that we couldn't go home in the afternoon if the kids got tired. We pretty much had to stay at Disney until we left for the airport around 5:30pm for our 8:00pm flight home.

The idea was that we'd let the kids sleep as late as possible and then leave the townhouse right at 10am, our check out time. Of course, they were up at 7am wanting eagerly to go to the Magic Kingdom one last time, so that plan was shot from the very beginning. We got everyone ready to go and headed out. Even with some extra traffic from the Disney Marathon that morning, we were off the monorail and at the front gate just as the park was opening at 9am.

Again, there was almost no crowds and we walked right straight onto most rides. The longest wait we had all day was about 35 minutes to meet Ariel in her Grotto, but that was basically because they cut the line off just before us and we had to wait for a "character exchange". Apparently, it's not as easy for the mermaids, complete with fins instead of legs, to quickly slip away and be replaced when their shift is up. Most of our waits the rest of the day were basically the length of time it took to walk back and forth through the queues to the loading area. Because of that, we saw more attractions in one day than any other time.

Here's my recounting of what we did on Day 7, approximately in the order we did it:

Dumbo the Flying Elephant
Tomorrowland Indy Speedway (twice without even getting out of the cars)
Mad Tea Party
Met Alice and the Mad Hatter just outside the Tea Cups
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Cinderella's Golden Carousel
Peter Pan's Flight
It's a Small World
Met Ariel in her Grotto, and played in the jumping water fountains
The Haunted Mansion
Stopped in the Christmas shop in Liberty Square to get some ornaments
Ate lunch at the Columbia Harbor House (yeah, no McDonald's!)
Saw Mickey's Philharmagic 3-D movie
The Barnstormer at Goofy's Wiseacre Farms (twice)
Met the Princesses and several other characters in Toontown Hall of Fame while a thunderstorm passed
Saw Minnie's Country House, then got caught in another rain shower
Tomorrowland Transit Authority
Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress
Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (twice)
Space Mountain (Jarrett only) while everyone else saw the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor
Ice cream sundaes at the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor
Saw the Family Fun Day parade on Main Street USA

At this point it was about 4:15pm and getting close to leaving time. We asked the kids what the one ride they wanted to do again before we left was. I was definitely thinking it was going to be Dumbo or Buzz Lightyear, but both of them adamantly demanded that we ride the Tomorrowland Transit Authority again (go figure!).

After circling Tomorrowland one last time on the TTA, we made our way back to the forecourt of Cinderella's Castle just in time to see a performance of Dream Along With Mickey, a character lead stage show which the kids loved. The show turned out to be the perfect way to end our week at Disney and after the grand finale, complete with pyrotechnics, we ambled down Main Street USA toward the exit. Along the way, we stopped in the Emporium and bought the kids their choice of Mickey Ears as souvenirs and saw the flag retreat in front of City Hall before boarding the monorail for the Transportation Center.

An hour later, we were at the Southwest gate at Orlando International Airport, exhausted and ready to come home. If we'd realized that when we landed, it would be almost 40 degrees colder than it had been that afternoon in Orlando, we might not have been so eager to return :)

Day 7 was probably my most memorable day of the whole trip and a fabulous way to end our week. I took many, many pictures the last day, including some of my personal favorites from the whole week. I also took a lot of pictures of the character show in front of the castle. One of my pictures from the show even was awarded a Diamond Award on Flickr! You can view all the Day 7 pictures here.

Disney Trip, Day 6

2008-01-18T22:00:00.000-05:00

I realize it has now been about a week since the 6th day of our Disney Trip...return to a busy week of work has distracted me...but now I return to blog the rest of the trip for posterity's sake.

We had a really hard time deciding what to do with our 6th day. With all 4 theme parks done at least once, and a clear vision that we would spend the last day at the Magic Kingdom, it came down to a decision between Epcot and Disney Hollywood Studios. Max (and me too) really wanted to see the stunt show again and Max wanted to try to get picked for the Jedi training if we went back to the Studios. But other than that, there was very little for the kids at the Studios. Seeing as how they tended to enjoy rides more than shows, we opted for Epcot.

When we got to the park, it was the day of Disney's Half-Marathon. From the parking lot it looked like it was going to be really busy, but most of those people it turned out were there for the race, not the amusement park. When we got inside the park, it was about opening time. Strangely enough, we had to cross the marathon course to get from the front gate to our first destination...Soarin' and that took about 10 minutes. But the nice part was that the small breaks in the runners metered the crowd so there was no mad rush to the first attraction. Max and I ran ahead and rode first while Molly and Liz took their time. Then we did the Listen to the Land boat ride and then Max and Liz did Soarin' again. We then hit the Living Seas with Nemo & Friends but the kids didn't want to do Turtle Talk again.

From there we did Journey Into Imagination and then headed for our regular stop for lunch at the McDonald's. I refused to eat french fries and nuggets again and held out until we walked around the World Showcase and grabbed a bratwurst in the Biergarten at the Germany pavillion. We breezed on around from country-to-country as there is little of interest to kids there until you get around to Norway and Mexico where we rode the Maelstrom and Three Caballeros boat rides.

Before we did the Mexico ride, we caught Donald hanging out next to the pavilion. Seeing Max's "Dash Incredibles" shirt, Donald challenged him to a race...it turns out that running with web feet is not very efficient and Max literally beat the pants off of him!

From there, we split up and I hit two "adult" rides, Test Track and Mission: Space, while Liz took the kids on Ellen's Energy Adventure. After that, I thought Liz would enjoy the space ride so I suggested she do that while I took the kids to hang out in "Mission Control" where we played a big interactive video game with about twenty other "mission controllers" until Liz's mission was complete. From there, it was a final ride on Spaceship Earth and head for home, having seen almost the entire park (at least the part that interests children) in a little less than 6 hours! It seems we were getting to real pros at this and with practically no waits anywhere, we were covering some real ground quickly.

Back at the townhome, the kids enjoyed one last evening in the pool and we began to pack up knowing that we'd have to check out before heading to the Magic Kingdom on Sunday for the final day of our Disney adventure.

It seems that I must have been a bit photo-weary on Saturday, as I took very few pictures. The ones I did shoot, however, are posted on Flickr.

Disney Trip, Day 5

2008-01-12T16:36:00.001-05:00

Day 5 of our trip to Disney was designated for the Animal Kingdom. Last time Liz and I visited Disney was just a few months before the AK opened so this was the first chance we had to visit the park. Honestly, I don't think any of us were that excited about it as once you take out the thrill rides (which Molly was too short for), you've basically got a zoo...and we have a very good one of those in NC we can visit anytime. But we felt obligated to do it since we never had...and we had 7 days to spend among the parks.

When we arrived just a few minutes before the gates opened, we headed straight for the "Africa" area and took the Kilimanjaro Safaris ride. It's basically a truck ride through the natural wildlife habitat. Although it was a neat setting, most of the animals were obscured behind rocks or in the grasses and the ride was soooo bumpy that I couldn't get too many pictures.

After the safari, we walked down the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail which was more like a traditional zoo, with us walking along and looking at animals in their habitats. After that, Molly decided she wanted to have her face painted and chose a pretty butterfly/flower combo from the options. She was so proud of her face paint the rest of the day.

Before leaving "Africa", we rode the Wildlife Express Train to Rafiki's Planet Watch and visited the Affection Section (aka, the petting zoo). After that, we got some pictures with Rafiki and Pocahontas.

After the train ride back, we crossed over to DinoLand U.S.A. and took in Finding Nemo - The Musical, which is a broadway-style musical and massive production with actors, puppets, and lots of effects. It was by far the most elaborate production number we've seen this week involving characters (i.e., not counting the stunt show).

After the musical, we ate lunch at yet another McDonald's-hosted restaurant, we rode the TriceraTop Spin, which is basically a Dumbo ride, but with dinosaurs, and the kids played for a while in The Boneyard, a big playground.

By that time, we were all exhausted and not too enthusiastic about plowing on into "Asia" and "Camp Minnie-Mickey" just seemed like yet another chance to Mickey (which we'd already done twice). Plus the Honey I Shrunk the Audience 3-D movie at Epcot the day before had traumatized Max to the point we didn't dare go see the Bug's Life-themed 3-D movie at the Animal Kingdom. So we headed home for a swim and to rest up for Day 6, a return to Epcot.

Although I didn't take nearly as many photos as on the earlier days, I did post some pictures from Day 5 of our trip on Flickr.

Disney Trip, Day 4

2008-01-11T15:29:00.000-05:00

Day 4 was our visit to Epcot. I was a bit worried that we would have trouble entertaining the kids at the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, but all in all, I think they had fun.

For the first time this week, we arrived early enough that by the time we were in the park, we had to wait at the rope line for the official opening. As soon as the they said GO, Max and I hurried ahead to Soarin', a new attraction since the last time I had visited and one that Molly was too short to go on. Soarin' is one of the most popular attactions at EPCOT, and rightfully so...it's a magnificent motion simulator combined with an IMAX-like projection system that really makes you feel like you are flying in a hanglider. Max and I were quick enough that we were in the first sortie of the day and met Liz and Molly at the exit after our flight.

I was a bit worried that it would scare Max, not having done it before myself, but he loved it. In fact, as we exited, we grabbed FastPasses so he and Liz could do it again a little later in the day. While we were in the Land pavilion, we also took the "Listen to the Land" boat ride (Molly loved the greenhouses and giant vegetables) and saw the Circle of Life conservation video before Liz and Max returned for their flight on Soarin'. While we waited on them to soar, Molly and I headed out to the Character Spot and met Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and Chip n' Dale for another round of pictures.

Amazingly, Liz and Max met us just as we walked out of the exit from the Character Spot -- perfect timing -- and we headed to the Living Seas pavilion to visit with Nemo and Friends. After taking the clamshell ride into the aquarium, we caught a really cool interactive exhibit called "Turtle Talk with Crush" starring the turtle from Nemo. They asked the kids to ask questions of the turtle and he would respond. Max bravely raised his hand and asked "Where do turtles live?" After answering him, Crush brought out something he had found on the beach -- a bikini top -- and asked Max if he could tell him what it was. Max said it was a "bra" and when Crush asked him what you do with it, he said "You wear it". He then pointed out that HE didn't wear one though! It was hilarious and both Liz and I were very relieved the word "boobies" didn't get mentioned during the exchange! Unfortunately for Molly, she didn't get called on and she was VERY upset about it. She wanted to ask the question "What do turtles do?". I guess now we'll never know.

After the Living Seas, we had our longest wait of the day...for McDonald's Chicken Nuggets at the Refreshment Port. We have been so relieved to find the golden arches when the kids are tired and cranky. Nothing has calmed them down so much as their comfort foods from home.

After the early lunch, we did the Journey into Imagination ride, tinkered in the ImageWorks' interactive exhibit, visited with Figment, played in the jumping fountains, and saw the Honey I Shrunk the Audience 3-D movie. The 3-D movie was a little much for both Max and Molly and by that time they were fried.

With only half of Future World explored, we headed for the gates. On the way out, we were pleasantly surprised to find that Spaceship Earth was operational. The Disney website had listed it as closed for refurbishment but since it was open, we literally walked straight onto the ride for a quick spin before heading home.

At home, the kids and I went for a swim in the pool (ironically, too tired to tour EPCOT does not equal too tired to play in the pool) while Liz recharged with a nap. About 5pm we decided we might just be brave enough to venture back to EPCOT for the evening. After tanking up at IHOP, we went back for the evening.

Max and I rode the Test Track (once again, Molly was too short) while Liz and Molly did Ellen's Energy adventure. We also rode the boat rides at the Mexico and Norway pavilions and then made a trek to the UK pavilion just in time to catch Alice (of Wonderland) and Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger in the toy shop for photos before they headed back the Hundred Acre Woods. At that point, Liz and I were ready to leave, but both Max and Molly were drawn to the Beatles tribute band playing on the bandstand outside the shop. While Max reenacted his favorite parts of Guitar Hero III when "John" soloed on Revolution, Molly shook her booty for all sitting along the curbside to see. After the performance, a retired couple who said they had seen the band play almost every night this week told us that Molly had danced with more conviction than anyone all week!

Exhausted, we all finally headed home for a very late night getting the kids to bed, but with a pretty good one-day tour of EPCOT in the books and only the Animal Kingdom left unvisited.

Pictures from Day 4 of our trip are posted on Flickr.

Disney Trip, Day 3

2008-01-09T19:32:00.000-05:00

So after a great first day and a fantastic second day, would the third day be a charm?

Well, not exactly...Molly woke up at 6am, essentially guaranteeing that we'd all be cranky by mid-afternoon. We headed out to Disney Hollywood Studios (it seems they are dropping the MGM name) and arrived about 20 minutes before the gate opened, got in line, grabbed some maps, and started to plan our day.

I started to get cranky immediately when the the turnstiles we were queued for quit working for about 5 minutes while we watched everyone around us stream into the park ahead of us. I guess it really didn't matter as we never really saw another line all day. The crowds again were super-light.

Our first order of business was to hit up some character photos while the lines were short. We got pictures with Goofy, Chip n' Dale, Pluto, and Stitch first thing in the morning, then later in the day the kids got to meet Woody & Buzz.

The first ride we went on was the Great Movie Ride, which kind of set the tone for the day. Most of the movies featured in the ride were not kid-oriented and the kids were both bored and a little frightened by some of the gimmicks/noises. At least when we came out of that ride, we caught something the kids were into...the High School Musical 2 street performance. I still don't get why the HSM franchise appeals to kids Max's and Molly's age, but both our kids were riveted to the performance, even getting up to dance on cue with the actors.

We then caught a performance of Voyage of the Little Mermaid, a combination movie/live-action stage performance which both interested, but startled the kids a few times. The show started with an excellent black-light theater performance of Under the Sea which was pretty cool.

When we came out of Ariel's show, we had to explain to the kids why they couldn't go see the big Playhouse Disney show that was directly across the plaza. The one show at Disney Studios that is uniquely geared towards their age was closed for refurbishment, our biggest disappointment of the trip so far.

Instead, we took in the Jedi Training Academy, which was very similar in nature to the Jack Sparrow show we caught yesterday...except with lightsabers and Darth Vader! Molly was absolutely livid that she didn't get picked to be a padawan, and I thought we were going to have our first real meltdown of our Disney experience. I managed to distract her by playing on an Imperial Speed Bike while Max enjoyed the show and eventually she calmed down enough to watch the show.

After some refreshments, we saw the MuppetVision 3-D movie which probably saved the day for us. Molly turned from whining to hysterical laughter when she saw the 3-D movie. It was definitely the biggest hit for her so far.

We grabbed lunch and did the Backlot Tour, which I must say really pales in comparison with the Universal Studios (California) tram tour. Max was frightened by the earthquake canyon but managed to survive. Afterwards, we piled into a massive stadium for the 1:30 showing of the Lights! Motors! Action! stunt show.

With the exception of Molly, I think we can all say that the stunt show has been one of our favorite attractions of the whole week so far. It was an exceptional live demonstration of the stunt driving you see in many action movies, complete with jumps, gunfire, and explosions. And of course Max was in heaven with so many cars and motorcycles whizzing by in rapid succession. In addition to being something really interesting for even adults, it was also a photographer's dream to shoot. I got some really great shots with my 300mm lens that I luckily had brought along in my bag.

By the time the stunt show was over (around 2pm), Molly was done. There were a few attractions we hadn't done yet, but most of the bigger rides at the Studios weren't geared towards kids anyway. We figured it was best to call it a day before it not only ruined Wednesday, but future days as well. I ended up having to carry her on my shoulders most of the way to the car. I even think she fell asleep at one point sitting atop my shoulders with her head resting on mine.

After a refreshing swim back at the townhome, Molly perked up, but I bet she'll be asleep early tonight. That's good, because we're off to Epcot first thing tomorrow. But I expect it will be a short day tomorrow too...I mean, how long can you keep kids interested in songs/rides about hydroponic agriculture?

Full pictures from Day 3 are on Flickr.

Disney Trip, Day 2

2008-01-08T21:11:00.000-05:00

Day 2 of our trip to Disney was FANTASTIC! (pictures here)

We weren't sure it was going to be when we had to bounce the kids out of bed at 7:15a because we had an early breakfast appointment with Cinderella. They were practically sleep walking when we left the townhome! We arrived at the park about 10 after 8, 50 minutes before the Magic Kingdom officially opens. I must say its nice to park so close that there's no need to "tram it" to the Transportation Center.

Since we had breakfast reservations, we managed to get in before they opened (Technically, our reservations weren't until 9:15a and I THINK we were supposed to wait outside...but somehow we slipped through the cast member dragnet). As a result, we got to head down an almost deserted Main Street USA and I snapped this amazing picture of the kids running towards Cinderella's Castle that looks like we had the whole park to ourselves.

Although our reservation wasn't until later, they went ahead and took us at 8:30a which was great, as we got to the rides earlier than expected. But first, Molly got her wish of finally meeting Cinderella. After a getting pictures made, we went upstairs into the castle for breakfast. I'm pretty sure it was the most expensive breakfast the kids never ate, but to see the looks on their faces (even Max's!) when Cinderella's "friends" (the other Disney Princesses) came around to greet them, I have to say it was probably worth it (I'm not sure though as Liz has never told me exactly what we paid for that experience).

After breakfast we got into the park and immediately hit the rides we didn't get to yesterday that we expected would have long waits...Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, and Pirates of the Caribbean. It turns out we needn't worry. The crowd was much lighter than Monday and we had little wait for most rides. We literally walked directly into the stretching room of the Haunted Mansion and straight onto Pirates. A FastPass made the wait for the Jungle Cruise less than 3 minutes for us (when the overall standby line was about 20 mins) and Liz and kids got on to the Magic Carpets of Aladdin (while I took pictures) after only a single ride cycle.

One of the themes of the days was seeing many of the attractions that I had never done in the many times I had visited Disney. I'm not sure why I'd never been to the Enchanted Tiki Room, Swiss Family Robinson Tree House, or Tom Sawyer's Island...so we made sure to do those while in Adventureland.

As we made our way to Frontierland, back past the Pirates of the Caribbean, we caught a street performance of Captain Jack Sparrow's Pirate Training that saw Max and Molly drafted into Sparrow's crew. We also caught a performance of the Country Bears' Jamboree before riding the train over to ToonTown.

In ToonTown, we visited Mickey's house and got the kids' pictures made with The Mouse. From there, it was off to Tomorrowland where we rode the Tomrrowland Transit Authority, Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (twice!), and the Carousel of Progress.

At that point, Max decided it was time to go. Mainly because he was dying to play the PlayStation2 that is in the rental house we have, but it worked out great as the kids were tired, but not quite cranky yet. On the way out, before catching the ferry back to the Transportation Center, Molly got a very cool double balloon that she can't stop playing with. I hope on Sunday she remembers what I told her when we bought it tonight, that she could not take it back with her on the plane.

So after all that, can you guess which ride Max cited as his favorite? Believe it or not...the Carousel of Progress! Apparently it really intrigues him that the entire audience moved while the stage stood still.

After a quick dip in the heated pool at our rental home, it took the kids about 5 minutes to get to sleep once we got them down tonight. I hope they sleep well, for tomorrow it's off to Disney Studios...

Full pictures from Day 2 are on Flickr.

Disney Trip, Day 1

2008-01-07T22:09:00.000-05:00

After months of waiting, our Disney Trip is finally under way. We flew down this morning. It was a great trip and completely quiet at the airport -- only 41 way people on the plane from RDU to MCO. We picked up a rental car and headed straight for the Magic Kingdom.

After parking, and riding the monorail, we got into the park around 2pm and promptly sat down for lunch at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe. After lunch, we road It's a Small World, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Cinderella's Carousel, the Mad Tea Party (video below), and the Barnstormer at Goofy's Wiseacres Farms (who knew both Max and Molly would love roller coasters!). Crowds weren't too bad most of the afternoon although at times it got a bit dizzy. The longest wait we had was for Pooh, about 30 minutes, which isn't too bad.

While we were standing in line for at Minnie's Country House to get our picture taken with Minnie, a thundershower opened up and soaked us all good. It was almost 7pm by then and all of us were starting to drag so we grabbed Walt Disney World Railroad back around to the transit center to head home (our rental townhome about 2 miles from Disney), but not before stopping by IHOP to replenish our carbs for tomorrow's trip.

Over dinner, it was clear the kids were exhausted, from only about 5 hours at the park. Liz and I looked at each other and thought...only 6 days to go...we're in trouble!

Pictures are on Flickr, a slideshow and videos below.

Christmas 2007

2007-12-25T13:01:00.000-05:00

Here's hoping Santa left something shocking under your tree this holiday season...

Click here to view more Christmas pictures of the kids.

The 'Hose Have Come A Long Way

2007-12-20T18:09:00.000-05:00

When I was a youngster, I was the ballboy for the Presbyterian College Blue Hose men's basketball team. They've come along way since those days in the NAIA. Currently, my cousin's husband does play-by-play for PC and is on a 12 day roadtrip with the team.

Check out this cool feature on the NCAA's newest Division I basketball squad from ESPN's Page 2.

They are playing here in Raleigh in January and I'm hoping to pull a few strings so I can see them take on NC State. Any reason to root against the Wolfpack, right?

American Football, or Rugby?

2007-11-18T08:04:00.000-05:00

Check out this play from the Trinity Tigers on the last play of their DIII playoff game against the Milsaps Majors. It looks like the coach had his boys practicing Rugby. What's amazing to me more so than the actual play is that not a single player committed an illegal block in the back or hold on the play.

Trick or Treat!

2007-10-31T20:26:00.000-04:00

Molly's Birthday and Max's Soccer Photos

2007-10-21T18:18:00.000-04:00

It was a busy photographic weekend, with my shooting pictures of Max's last soccer game of the Fall season and Molly's 4th Birthday which we had at Impact Athletics (where she takes gymnastics).

Pictures on Flickr, as always.

A Wee Bit More Wii

2007-10-06T22:31:00.001-04:00

Here are some videos of the kids playing Wii. In the first, they are playing doubles tennis and in the second, they are playing baseball. Believe it or not, Molly is really playing right alongside Max. In the baseball video, Molly is "pitching" while Max is batting and in the tennis video they are playing doubles on the same team.

Wii want to play

2007-10-04T21:43:00.000-04:00

So for almost a year I've been debating about whether our next generation gaming platform would be a Wii or a PS3. We had a huge stock of PS2 games that I thought would be nice to keep backwards compatability to, but you want to know what finally helped me make up my mind to go with a Wii?

When Sony's lawyers classified me as a thief, I decided I never wanted to give them any more of my money. So Wii it is...

Myrtle Beach in October

2007-10-03T06:31:00.000-04:00

Max tracked out from year-round school on Friday and we thought we'd take advantage of his non-traditional school break to head down to Myrtle Beach for a couple of days of fun in the sun. As Sunday, September 30th was sort of the "last day" of summer for most of the beach attractions, we pretty much had the place to ourselves the entire time we were there.

We got a great rate at the Hampton Inn at Broadway at the Beach. None of the restaurants or attractions were crowded, and the kids pretty much could walk on to rides at the NASCAR SpeedPark (Max's favorite) withou any wait. Even the weather was warm enough to swim in the ocean so it turned out to be a just about perfect October beach holiday.

I've posted some pictures from our trip over at Flickr.

Disco Inferno

2007-09-23T07:30:00.001-04:00

It's amazing what you can find on the internet, if you're bored enough.

The Big Computer Downgrade (part 2)

2007-09-09T10:10:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned earlier, I downgraded the computer this weekend to Windows XP. For no other reason than the fact that I've never catalogued it before, I thought it would be interesting to log the changes I had to make to the base install to get everything working the way I want it.

First things first...install the Ethernet drivers and get on the internet.
While I've got the Dell Resources disk open, install sound card drivers, SMbus drivers, and AMD processor driver.
Now that the internet is working, download the video card driver.
Hit Mozilla.org and grab Firefox 2.0. Bye-bye IE. Grab the del.icio.us extension for Firefox so I have ready-access to my bookmarks.
Reboot so the video drivers and other changes take effect.
Install the monitor drivers for both the primary (Dell E228WFP) and secondary (ViewSonic Va912b) monitors.
Fix Firefox default download directory to not clutter the desktop.
Anti-Virus! Free-av.com
Turn off Windows Firewall (I've got a NAT for that)
Install Windows automatic updates, reboot, then go to windowsupdate.com get the "genuine advantage validation tool" to prove I'm not a piraate and then fill up the basket with 87 upgrades/updates (most of which are security updates).
Install SlingPlayer for Windows so I can watch the Rugby World Cup while I work on the computer.
Grab iTunes with Quicktime and then download the DiVx codec
Get rid of Steam, an online gaming service unwanted installed by the video drivers.
VLC player for Windows
Got my first BSOD (blue screen of death), rebooted.
GooglePack with Google Earth, Google Desktop, Adobe reader, Skype, Spyware Doctor, Picasa, Google Photos Screensaver, Google Talk, and Real Player
Printer drivers for the HP 3930
iSproggler for my iPod
Grab the latest Jave Runtime, reboot and then download Azureus
Go back to windowsupdate and grab 7 more updates including the .Net framework to fix an error with the ATI video drivers and IE7 (why, I'm not sure)
Format the D:\ partition and re-allocate windows virtual memory to use this dedicated swap space
DirectX 10
Nero 7 Ultra Edition, and added LAME MP3 encoder serial
OpenOffice.org via BitTorrent
Firefox extensions and themes: BetterGmail, DownThemAll, FireFTP, ForecastFoxEnhanced, IETab, iFoxSmooth, Linkification, LittleFox, ReloadEvery
SDP Downloader and URLSnooper
CutePDF Writer
AnyDVD, Cucusoft DVD to iPod, and WinRAR
Setup the printer for sharing as well as the C:\ drive
TweakUI for XP
Intellitype & Intellitouch drivers for my mouse and keyboard
MAME32
Heatsoft Automatic Synchronizer
Downloaded Ubuntu Feisty Fawn distro boot disk and began my dual boot linux installation.

The Big Computer Downgrade

2007-09-09T09:55:00.000-04:00

I spent this weekend downgrading my computer from Windows Vista to Windows XP.

I bought a new computer a few months ago with Windows Vista on it. I didn't really want to go Vista but needed a computer and at the time, Dell wasn't offering XP on their Dimension line of desktops.

Vista is an absolute DOG. It's so bad, that Dell has even started re-selling XP again because the support nightmares that Vista has produced for them. Almost from day one, I regretted this purchase. I came very close to actually asking for a refund from Dell, but I decided to keep the computer.

I thought long and hard about going out and buying Windows XP to downgrade my computer but I absolutely refuse to pay Microsoft for a second operating system for this computer since the first one I paid for was so worthless. Finally, this weekend, while cleaning out a filing cabinet, I found the Windows XP recovery disk from the last PC I bought (which is now running Ubuntu linux) so after a quick backup of all my important stuff, I spent Sunday morning downgrading my computer.

So, to answer one of the questions posed in an old Microsoft ad campaign. "Where do you want to go today?" Apparently the answer for me is "back in time!"

Seven Foot Politic Live Recordings

2007-09-03T16:17:00.000-04:00

Every long weekend, I always make up this whole list of projects I want to accomplish with my holiday weekend...like an extra 24 hours is actually going to help me complete days and months worth of tasks that I've been procrastinating on.

Well, this Labor Day weekend I did not finally migrate from Windows Vista to Ubuntu Linux, nor have I yet pruned the hedges. I've hardly mopped the hardwood floors like I'd been promising, and I certainly didn't take the oversized garbage off to the county landfill. But I did get to one task that has been at the back of my mind for a while now.

I pulled my old cassette deck out of storage and opened up the boxes of cassette tapes of live concert recordings that have been secreted away in a closet since we moved from Texas in 2002. I may never get through the 1000+ tapes packed in those boxes, but I do hope to digitize some of the more interesting and obscure recordings before they are lost forever (case in point, I had to explain to Max what a cassette tape was. He'd never seen one before! Just wait until I get the turntable down to do the same with my LP collection!).

The first few tapes that I digitized were live recordings of my brother's band Seven Foot Politic. They were a ska/rockabilly/swing band from Athens, GA and that's Griffin pictured at left surfing on his upright bass! These recordings were all mad in the second half of 1994 as the band was just starting to find themselves musically and are extremely rare (probably less than 10 total copies ever made). If you are interested in hearing what Seven Foot Politic sounded like back then, I have made the recordings available via bittorrent here. (If you notice no one is seeding, drop me a comment from this post and I'll be sure to restart the torrent on my end).

Meet the RailHawks

2007-07-29T15:06:00.000-04:00

Today, we took the kids to a "Meet & Greet" for the Carolina RailHawks professional soccer team. You might recall that this is the team who I had a hand in naming last summer.

Here are some photos of the kids getting the players to autograph their RailHawks' shirts.

Hey You! Answer the Call

2007-07-07T15:18:00.000-04:00

SOS | Live Earth | 07.07.07

HOWTO: Fix the "Error - 2002: a bad public movie atom was found in the movie" problem with mp4 video in iTunes / Quicktime on Vista

2007-07-06T17:30:00.000-04:00

Ever since I got a new computer, I've been going mad having problems importing video files into iTunes. About 50% of the time I try to import a video file into iTunes, nothing happens. If I try to open this "bad file" in Quicktime, I get a ""Error - 2002: a bad public movie atom" message in a popup box.

The crazy thing is this file works fine on any other operating system besides Vista.

I've searched all over the web and I've not been able to find a definitive solution to this problem. From what I can gather, it has something to do with some sort of interaction between Vista, Quicktime, and iTunes and how the three of them deal with the ID3 tags in the mp4 file. I was on the verge of just boxing up my computer and sending it back from whence it came until I stumbled upon this hack.

So here's a workaround that seems to be working for me. If you're having this same problem and this works for you, please leave a comment so I'll know that I've really solved the generic problem and not just some strange situation on my computer.

Step 1: Grab the Tagger software (and make sure you have a current JRE installed)

Step 2: After unzipping/untarring the software, double-click on the executable JAR file "tagger.jar"

Step 3: Use the "File | Open" menu option to open the MP4 you are having trouble importing into iTunes.

Step 4: Edit one or more of the tags using the Tagger software and click SAVE.

Step 5: After Tagger finishes writing the new file with the new tags, add the file to iTunes like you normally would.

I hope this works for you like it did for me. Let me know...

The Graduate

2007-06-30T10:12:00.000-04:00

Max graduated from kindergarten this week. Here's a few pictures from the little graduation ceremony they put on at Morrisville Elementary School.

Max says he "feels like a first grader" now and is excited about next year. Of course, no one has told him about "homework" yet so they may change when he tracks back in to his year-round program at the end of July.

Another 4 minutes of fame

2007-06-24T11:52:00.001-04:00

During halftime of last night's RailHawks v. Charleston Battery match, I was one of the halftime guests on the broadcast. Click here to listen to my interview with RailHawks play-by-play man Dean Linke (note, I'm the second interviewee in this segment).

Mr. Pushbutton

2007-06-19T13:50:00.000-04:00

Yesterday at work, we celebrated the 40th anniversary of one of my co-workers with the Square D Company. Larry "Mr. Pushbutton" Sunday has been with our company 6 years longer than I've been alive! Talk about dedication. Check out this hilarious video shot "a few years ago" with Larry demonstrating just how tough Square D products can be.

I'm So Vain...

2007-06-17T17:13:00.001-04:00

...you probably think this post is about me.

Well, it is. Kind of.

Last Friday, my Carolina RailHawks played a match on Fox Soccer Channel. During the game, the commentator gave my supporters club, and me specifically, a shout out on national television. I guess you should subtract those 15 seconds from my 15 minutes.

Must See TV

2007-06-17T12:27:00.001-04:00

Game shows and reality TV in the US just sucks in my opinion. I NEVER watch these programs. But if someone could come up with a truly novel idea, like this Japanese "human tetris" game show, I'd watch.

Mr. Wizard Dead at 89

2007-06-13T20:27:00.000-04:00

It will probably come as no surprise to anyone that knows me that Mr. Wizard's World was one of my favorite shows on TV growing up in the 80s. I was sad to learn that Don "Mr. Wizard" Herbert passed away yesterday at the age of 89. However, I am happy to know that he will live forever on DVD. I can't wait to introduce Max to all these cool science experiments. They should be right up his alley.

Stone Mountain

2007-06-03T11:19:00.000-04:00

I just realized I hadn't posted these pictures I took during our trip to Atlanta and Stone Mountain back during the first weekend in May.

Created with Paul's flickrSLiDR.

You can see the individual pictures at Flickr.

Bob Dylan's Influence on Today's Music

2007-06-03T10:29:00.001-04:00

I knew that Bob Dylan was a great songwriter, but I never really knew how influential he was on today's artists until I saw this short documentary:

BTW, I'm not sure whether or not we should accept his apology for the Macarena.

Slide over!

2007-05-21T22:51:00.000-04:00

We took Molly to her first movie this weekend (Shrek the Third) and look who we found at the cinema!

Vacation

2007-04-10T18:26:00.000-04:00

Liz and I have been on holiday for a couple of days while my mom has been watching the kids. We've been cooling our jets in Asheville and just generally relaxing. We didn't do anything terribly exciting (no, not the Biltmore Estate) but that wasn't really the point of this trip.

We did see Blades of Glory, which had me laughing harder that just about anything I've seen in a long time. The rest of the time, we basically milled around art galleries and shops and ate some good food (no requirements for chicken fingers on the menu without the kids).

We saw a quaint little artisan village called Black Mountain and we visited the highest summit east of the Mississippi. Here are a few of the cool artists we saw:

Tagged

2007-04-05T19:35:00.001-04:00

My friend Lisa "blog tagged" me today in a post about what music she was listening to, so now I'm obligated to list what's spinning in my music player (do mp3 files spin?  I guess if there's a hard drive in the iPod...)

Tuesday was a big "new release" day I had been looking forward to for a while so at the top of my list are three CDs that came out this week:

Peace, Love, and Anarchy by Todd Snider
Traffic & Weather by Fountains of Wayne
Yours Truly, Angry Mob by the Kaiser Chiefs

A few other albums that are getting a ton of airplay right now:

Costello Music by The Fratellis
Weeds - Music from the Original Series, Vol. 1 & Vol. 2

More than anything though these days, I listen to podcasts.  I'm presently subscribed to about 35 podcasts so simply trying to keep up with them keeps my iPod almost continually engaged.  Here's a few of my favorite podcasts at the moment:

Bologna, Venice, and Work

2007-03-23T10:23:00.000-04:00

Most people don't believe that my business travel to Europe is actually work, but here's a photo to prove it...

Of course, while I was here, I did get a little chance to tour a bit in the area around Bologna where our offices here in Italy are located. I've put some pictures from the trip on Flickr.

All the pictures were taken at night and are a little dark (I swear I was in meetings from 8am to 6pm everyday). The highlight of the trip was when a group of us, on a lark, decided to jump in a couple of cars and travel to Venice (about 100 miles away) for an evening stroll around Piazza San Marcos and along the Grand Canal. It was pretty quiet (as we didn't arrive until after 9pm), but it was beautiful beyond description. I can only imagine what it must look like in person during the daytime. I can't wait to return. It is one of the most intriguing cities I've ever visited.

Hard at Work

2007-03-05T19:58:00.000-05:00

For Christmas, my dad got a new laptop and he passed his old one down to Max. As you can see, he and Molly are already putting it to good use. The really sad thing is that if you pan this photo back about 5 feet, you'd see Liz and I doing practically the same thing on our respective computers.

Finally, Back to the Soccer Park

2007-03-03T18:29:00.000-05:00

It's been too long since we went to the soccer park (almost 3 months!). We finally got back out there today on a beautiful and breezy Spring Saturday. I shot some pictures of the UNC Women v. Duke scrimmage as well as some of my friends' son's game.

But you're probably more interested in the kids...

Cory Doctorow Speaking at UNC & Duke (2/22)

2007-02-13T12:49:00.000-05:00

A few months ago, I was having a dinner discussion with some colleagues and we were playing the "if you could sit beside someone famous on a long flight, who would it be?" game. There were the typical responses like glamorous models, politicians, sportsmen, etc. but the funny thing was that none of my colleagues even knew the person I set forth as my perfect in-flight conversant -- Cory Doctorow.

Doctorow is a favorite science-fiction writer of mine, a blogger I read every day, and someone whose passion for pushing the envelope on the freedom of digital rights I truly respect. Cory's presently launching his new short story collection "Overclocked" and making several appearances in the Triangle next week.

First, Cory will appear at UNC's Wilson Library at 2pm on Thursday, Feb 22 giving a lecture on copyright. He then will be giving a lecture at 5pm at Duke University entitled "From Myspace to Homeland Security: Privacy and the Totalitarian Urge" as part of the Provost's Lecture Series on Privacy. The Duke event is at the Love Auditorium in the Levine Science Research Center.

Both events are free and open to the public and Cory will be selling and signing his new book at both events.

If you can't make it to hear Cory speak in person, you may enjoy this excellent hour-long interview with Cory by NPR's Rick Kleffel which covers a lot of ground related to both Cory's writing as well as his views on digital rights.

Snow Day

2007-01-18T11:47:00.000-05:00

We discovered one of the big problems with year-round schools today when Wake County schools got a "Snow Day" for the light sprinkling of snow we got here in the Triangle but because Max is "tracked-out" at the moment, he didn't even get a day off of school out of the deal.

I've posted a few pictures of the kids playing outside over at Flickr.

The Weather is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful!

2007-01-07T13:30:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite Jimmy Buffett songs has always been "When the Coast is Clear" from the Floridays album. Since neither of us are really ocean swimmers nor do our complexions play well with long afternoons in the sun, Liz and I both seem to enjoy the beach more during the offseason, when "the tourist traps are empty."

When we saw the weather forecast for the North Carolina coast this weekend was highs in the low 70s, we threw the kids in the minivan and headed to the beach for the day on Saturday. We spent the afternoon out on the beach at Fort Fisher and then visited the NC Aquarium south of Wilmington. If this is what Global Warming is all about, it doesn't sound that bad! :)

It was Molly's first trip to the ocean, and the first one that Max can remember so it was quite an adventure. I've posted quite a few pictures from the trip over at Flickr.

You Just Can't Do This With E-Mail

2007-01-04T09:57:00.000-05:00

Try this with someone's email address....from The Sun in the UK...

A Welsh steelworker addressed a Christmas card to an old friend by drawing a map showing the approximate location of the town his friend had moved to -- and the crafty Royal Mail actually delivered the card in nine days. The map sported the addressee's name and a dot in south-west Cornwall with the legend "SOMEWHERE HERE."

Merry Christmas 2006

2006-12-25T09:42:00.000-05:00

Soccer Season is Over (for now)

2006-11-19T13:19:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Max's last day of soccer season this year (and mine too). I was his coach at Goldstar Soccer Club for the fall season and we had a blast. I've posted some photos of Max and the rest of my team over at Flickr.

Indoor season starts January 4th!

My Group Hug with Craig Waibel

2006-11-14T11:29:00.000-05:00

I went to MLS Cup 2006 over the weekend and had a great time. My morning started off photographing a couple of teams from the Raleigh area that were playing in a youth tournament in conjunction with the "super bowl of american soccer". My evening ended when Houston won the Cup on penalty kicks and Dynamo defenseman Craig Waibel was so excited that he ran and launched himself into the supporters section for a group hug. Above is a picture snapped just before Waibel jumped on top of me (in the red hoodie with a camera in my hand)!

My photographs from the game are available here. But here's my favorite, of Pat Onstad just after he saved the final penalty kick.

Off to GrandMott's

2006-11-10T21:20:00.000-05:00

We're sending the kids to visit my mom this weekend and they are super excited about going to see their GrandMott. Earlier today, Max got his and Molly's suitcases out and started packing. So what does a 5 year old pack for a trip to grandma's?

7 t-shirts
3 pairs of pants
7 pairs of underwear
1 sock (note: note 1 pair of socks, just one single sock)

Molly on the other hand was more of a minimalist. First she packed her plush puppy, then she changed her mind and packed a bag of goldfish crackers instead.

Ed Bradley R.I.P.

2006-11-09T13:24:00.000-05:00

I once flew on a plane with Ed Bradley, the 60 Minutes correspondent who passed away today. Ed was in first class; I was in coach!

I remember the woman beside me debating if would be okay to go "through the curtain" into first class to get his autograph. :)

Guess Who's Three!

2006-10-14T18:06:00.000-04:00

Well, technically, not until tomorrow but we celebrated Molly's birthday a day early. Here's some pictures from her party.

Why I Still Livestrong

2006-10-04T11:54:00.000-04:00

2 years ago, everywhere you looked, you saw folks wearing yellow rubber wristbands. The Lance Armstrong Foundation's LiveStrong bracelets were a huge fad and raised tens of millions of dollars for cancer survivorship. While the fad has faded, you still ocassionally see someone wearing a LiveStrong bracelet. To this day, you'll never see me without one on my left wrist.

I began wearing one in 2004 in honor of a dear friend of mine from Austin, D.J. Francis. This morning, I received the sad news that I will henceforth be wearing the bracelet in D.J.'s memory. We lost D.J. this morning after an amazingly spirited and fierce multi-year fight with cancer.

D.J. took me under her wing when I joined KLA-Tencor back in 2000. The one year that I spent at KLA was very tumultous due to an absurd legal dispute between my former employer and KLA-Tencor. While I was there, D.J. did everything from HR, project management, communications, to being a sympathetic shoulder to vent to. Although I lost contact with most of KLA-Tencor colleagues after I left, DJ became a lifelong friend.

I have never known someone so ALIVE as DJ. Her spirit was amazing. Even when struggling with her illness, I watched from afar as she constantly kicked cancer in the teeth and kept doing the things she loved -- travelling the world and seeing the amazing beauty that surrounds us everyday in even the smallest things. Many times I'd be completely frustrated with work, kids, health, etc. and then I get these brilliant emails from DJ that made me realize that I had things to do, places to go, and people to meet. These things that were distracting me were really petty in the grand scheme of things and I needed to focus on the things that really mattered in life.

A few months ago, another friend's wife paid me a wonderful compliment. She said, "Jarrett's a doer, not just a thinker." That's one of the nicest compliments anyone has ever given me and DJ regularly serves as my inspiration for getting things done.

Last year, I did something amazing that I've always wanted to do -- I rode 100 miles on my bike in a single day at the Lance Armstrong Foundation's Ride for the Roses. I dedicated my ride to DJ and her friends and families helped me raise over $3000 for cancer survivorship. The amount of money they contributed stunned me, but it shouldn't have. DJ touched their lives in the same way she did mine.

As I prepared for that ride all summer and suffered through endless training miles on the bike, I kept thinking of everything that DJ was going through fighting cancer. I'd think how the pain in my legs and lungs was nothing compared to what she was going through and still managing to smile and comfort those around her. I'll never forget that about DJ. She was one of the most amazing people I will ever know.

The following is an email she sent me last year and I think it truly captures her vitality even in the face of all that she was dealing with.

Sunday night, 10-23-05

Dear Friends,

For those who don’t know, my former co-worker, Jarrett Campbell flew in from North Carolina to compete in the Ride for the Roses (100 mile race) this weekend, in my honor. Yea, Jarrett!

Yesterday, I went to the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s Live Strong Village, in the Palmer Conference Center, at 5:30pm, before meeting Jarrett for dinner and just before closing time for the Ride for the Roses registration packet pick-up.

Approaching the building brought a rush of emotions. Walking from the parking garage, down the sidewalks filled with Lance Armstrong advocates, I kept wiping away my tears. I was surrounded by people who had lived through this crazy battle with cancer or were currently fighting for their lives. I tried to distance myself from the emotional wham by focusing on the building’s relief sculptures of sea urchins and shells. I told myself that it was just an event…

As I entered the exhibit area, my brain was saturated with the visual impact of very bright yellow. It was everywhere―jerseys, t-shirts, posters, wristbands, and booths. The air was filled with an energy that washed over me in waves. It was a crazy mixture of ingredients: anticipation; frustration; memories of loved ones now gone; hope for a cure. I would catch someone looking at me with sadness. My inch-long hair, scant eyelashes, and shadowy brows are a sure-fire giveaway that I am a cancer patient. I wondered as I walked past one woman whose eyes had connected and pushed us into one of those slow motion moments, did she lose someone she loved or is she thinking, “There, but by the grace of God go I.”

You see, I forget that I look like a cancer patient. When the pain or fatigue zaps my body, I remember. But so much of the time I find myself transported, in awe of life. It is so wonderful to focus on the clouds, delight in people-watching the arrogance and energy of youth, the beauty of the everyday, the humanity of my co-workers or those I meet in check-out lines and waiting rooms.

Today I was very tired. The housework and paperwork seemed to have consumed the day. I ignored my allergies and went for a walk in a beautifully breezy and sunny day. It took the last bit of my oomph. After showering, I didn’t feel that I had the energy to go to the Ride for the Roses, but then Jarrett called. He was at the 78 mile rest stop and the wind was taking its toll. In addition to starting 45 minutes later than planned, he was very tired and wanted to tell me that he would probably cross the finish line an hour later than planned.

I started sending him mental bursts of energy, through the ether. As I fought my computer crashing, trying to print out a map to the Travis County Exposition Center, I made a sign to hold up at the finish line. I grabbed a bottled green tea, rushed out the door with camera and sign in tow and drove to the race site. As I approached the grounds, the exiting traffic was amazingly repetitious. Car after car passed, with loaded bicycle racks, and front seats filled with yawning drivers and passengers.

I arrived 45 minutes before Jarrett’s expected finish, and raced across the field of the event grounds. Several times I had to stop and shake the pebbles from my Birkenstocks. Since the chemo zapped my toes, they are my standard shoes. I am so very Austintacious…

The finish line was congested. The local DJ, who had been announcing and congratulating finishers all day, soon shut down his sound system and the crowd took over hollering “good ride” and “you did it!” As I watched the survivors pass through their special chute and receive a yellow rose, it made my heart swell with hope, and again I was wiping away tears. I anxiously watched for Jarrett’s white jersey (donned by the Peleton Project riders) and his NC blue helmet. When he came whizzing through, I flashed a quick photo, then followed him to his turnaround, waving my wacky poster.

Another rider, pumped by adrenalin, chattered to Jarrett like a long time riding buddy. I asked his wife shoot our photo. When we walked away, Jarrett said he had never met the man. Oh well, this is Austin, and although it has grown into a very big city, folks are still friendly in this city full of soul…

Jarrett headed to the hotel, took a long hot bath and rehydrated a bit, then met Bobby and I for dinner at Curra’s Grill. What better way to resuscitate a worn cyclist than some authentic Tex-Mex.

Tomorrow will be here before I know it, so I am going to call it a day. Hopefully, I will receive the scan results tomorrow, and decide the next steps in my walk through cancer. Thanks for joining me for the journey.

Peace and Love,

D.J.

So next time you see me. Notice my LiveStrong bracelet, think of someone you know like DJ, and remind yourself to be a doer, not a thinker.

Jarrett
10/4/2006

Blogging From Space

2006-09-25T13:30:00.000-04:00

Anousheh Ansari is a space tourist, currently on board the International Space Station. Check out her blog from space. It's fascinating to see space travel from a civilian's perspective.

Don Walser's Final Yodel

2006-09-21T19:45:00.000-04:00

Don Walser, the Pavarotti of the Plains, died on Wednesday at age 72.

One of my first memories of Austin, Texas was, shortly after I moved there in 1995, heading down to 6th Street, stopping off in a little sports bar called "Babe's", having a terrific cheeseburger, and listening to Don Walser, the Yodeling Cowboy, play western swing from a barstool for tips.

I remember thinking to myself..."I can't believe I'm actually being paid to go to school in this town. This is amazing!" We spent 7 years in Austin and I saw Don a number of times in different venues, but I'll never forget that first night I heard him yodel. I knew then that I was (at least temporarily) a Texan.

No where else but Austin could a guy like Don Walser end up touring with both Johnny Cash and the Butthole Surfers! If you haven't heard Don Walser, check out Melissa Block's story on NPR about him and visit DonWalser.com.

Avast, me hearties!

2006-09-18T11:58:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow (Sept 19th) is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Are you ready? If you need to bone up on pirate, try this handy educational film. Afraid you might need a reference on the go? Check out this book.