The DayBook – Page 437 – life in the old lane

July 13, 2009July 13, 2009

bikes and such

As I was walking into the hospital this morning I noticed Carlton riding his bike – on the sidewalk – back home. (Peggy doesn’t serve breakfast – only lunch and dinner – so Carlton’s solution is to eat at the hospital.) Bikers on the sidewalks are a pet peeve of mine. I guess I feel about bikers on the sidewalks same as drivers feel about bikers on the streets. Maybe it is time for meaningful bike ways in Arlington.

Speaking of bikes. Lance remains in 3rd place 8 seconds back.

Last word about LightRoom. It was easy to get my new pictures out of lightroom and into photoshop elements. That alone is making me like Lightroom more. But, there is still the $300. And the “How is having Lightroom going to make my life better” question.

July 11, 2009July 11, 2009

Taking a pass on LightRoom

I decided to take a pass on LightRoom – for now. It works great and the interface is oh so elegant. But, I had no answer for the “How is paying $300 for software that is incompatible with the $100 software that has 6,683 images cataloged going to improve my life?” After I finish the cataloguing task – yeah right – like never – or when Adobe provides a migration path – then I’ll reconsider. But for now, thanks for the 30 day test – but, I’ll catch you later, LightRoom.

On my glide path into real old age – I am trying to keep things simple and uncluttered. Not cheap or even inexpensive. Just simple. If I have one of a thing – most likely that is enough. If I get a new thing – then I get rid of at least one thing.

July 10, 2009July 10, 2009

it’s the berries

Coming to an end to the LightRoom 30 trial. I am liking it. It comes in PC and Apple flavors. But not in Ubuntu. That isn’t a deal breaker. It is a wimpy solution – but – life really is easier if you keep an XP partition handy. Then you can run your adobe products and iTunes. Especially iTunes. Gotta have my iTunes.

And I haven’t figured out how to merge my LightRoom with my PhotoShop Elements Catalog. I have thousands of photos in my Elements Catalog. I have 4 days to resolve this issue. Maybe it will rain and I can stay inside and play with my computer.

July 9, 2009July 9, 2009

Life Mysteries…

Why is there never leftover salmon?

Once a week I cook a real meal. A meal with no help from Trader Joe or Whole Foods or the deli/salad bar at my Harris Teeter. Nothing frozen or preprocessed. I cook. Don’t actually have to grow the food or catch the fish – but a very urban approximation. This evening was the weekly real meal. Baked salmon – wild caught in Alaska. Yellow squash and tomatoes – from the farm market and Israeli couscous – from Israel.

July 8, 2009July 8, 2009

So, what now?

So what now?

Been doing lots of extra volunteer work for the last couple of months – but – the big pig flu induced workload increase is about over.
I have gotten bored with enjoying poor health.
I don’t think we are going to get kicked out of our apartment.
I don’t have Sarah Palin to kick around – for now.

So, what now?

I know… Toy Shopping. How can I sneak a whole boat load of new toys in under Carlton’s radar? Do I even care about Carlton’s radar? Well, a little.

Oh, today would be MomIda’s Birthday. She would have been 88 and had every intention of making it to at least 88. But, our family’s inferior interior parts don’t last that long.

If MomIda were still around she would be really upset about how little she would be getting on her CD’s. Don’t Spend the Principal was her mantra.

July 7, 2009July 7, 2009

No blog tonite.

No blog stuff today. The computer is 100% busy “Handbraking” some movies down to iPod format. The previously owned Dell computer is completely maxed out by the task. But, I gotta have a couple of movies in the iPod.

One more note to family about funerals. If my time comes when I am in Hawaii – on the Big Island. Use the Dodo Mortuary. I love the name. The only thing good about dying would be to have the Dodo Mortuary burn my dead ass and then to have the remains buried in the “Dinosaur Cemetery” in Colorado. But, I don’t know if Dinosaur Colorado has a Cemetery. Or, if they have one, if it is called Dinosaur Cemetery. But, there is a Dodo Mortuary, has been for over 100 years.

Is Michael Jackson gone now?

July 6, 2009July 7, 2009

Big Leaves

Sarah Palin – It is rumored that she will sue anyone who – as we say in Hawaii – talk stink – about her. Or as MomIda would have said “If you can not say something nice…”. Seems to me that suing folk for talk stink would just about end your political career. Which would be a really good thing in Sarah’s case. If she promises retire to private life, I’ll promise not to mention her again.

Note to Family: Today Carlton asked me to look up Rapp Funeral Home on the internet. Someone told him it was the cheapest place in the area to get cremated. So, here it is: Rapp Funeral and Cremation Services Another sign of advancing years I am guessing. Or maybe just too much Michael Jackson.

July 5, 2009July 5, 2009

Firefox 3.5

Just upgraded my Firefox to 3.5 on the Ubuntu machine. Software installs are much more, shall we say, interesting with Linux. But, everything went as well as could be expected. Seem to have misplaced my “user profile”. But, that makes for a good time to refresh all the passwords that the browser has been allowed to store. I keep my bookmarks with FoxMarks – so no problem there. I downloaded the plugins that I recall using. So, I am good to go. I think.

A friend of Carlton’s seems to have caught an email virus. Good to be using Ubuntu.

July 4, 2009July 4, 2009

the horror, the horror…

The horror, the horror … I just discovered that Neil Diamond and Barry Manilow are both on TV this evening. Carlton will be stuffed into the earphones. That’s for sure. And, I’ll go out and enjoy the evening on the “porch”.

About the Carlton image. It was taken in 1997 or 1998 in exciting downtown Medora ND. I had some old images – which for no apparent reason existed only in an old Corel format. I found an old copy of Corel Draw and fired it up which allowed me to open the image files. It wasn’t worth the effort. But, there was a lesson to be learned… Be careful how you save your images.

I am about ready to spring for a Leica D-Lux-4 camera. Bigger and better image quality than the FX01. But more user friendly and lighter than the brick L1.

July 3, 2009July 4, 2009

What the…

What the hell is going on? There was a shooting at “my” Apple Store this morning.

And Sarah Palin says byebye to being govenor of Alaska. Good for Alaska. Bad for the rest of us. Something must be up. Is she going to give Rush Limbaugh a run for his money as a rabid talk radio host? Is the law closing in?

My bet is on the talk radio hostess. Or the law. Or just terminal hubris. She just will not go away.

Neither will Michael Jackson – and he is dead.

Today, I went to Hillwood Museum in NW DC. It was Marjorie Merriweather Post’s house and is now a “house museum”. That lady lived large. She was only child of Mr. Post Cereal and was married to, among others, EF Hutton. She could afford to live large. Her house makes all of the suburban Mac Mansions appear even more pathetic. She had a safe in her closet that is as big is my fridge. Her kitchen is as big my apartment and I doubt that she ever went in it. Why would she. She had a staff of 50.

The Hillwood Museum – Where Fabulous Lives – Check it out. The website is rather lame. But, you’ll get the idea.

July 1, 2009October 11, 2009

Nothing new today

Last Wednesday evening when I went to Ft McNair for the US Army Advertising Twilight Tattoo – I ran out of “film” in my big camera. Just when the light was getting interesting and when the performers were on my side of the parade ground. I decided to take some pictures with my elderly FX01. I set the ISO to 400 – which is way out of its comfort zone and snapped away. What ever happened was what I planned.

I did not look at the pictures until yesterday – and was pleased to find some good light captured. Bigger versions are just a click away. Speaking of away – why doesn’t Sarah Palin go away? And stay there. Far away.

More about my aging body. “They” want me to get a CT Scan and see a urologist. The CT Scan is a little spooky. What if something bad is found? I don’t for a minute believe “they” can find anything from a CT Scan that I want to know about.

Or maybe I do want to know if I have some fatal problem. I have lots of DVD’s that I haven’t watched. And some good books (audio and print) that I have been saving for “later”. Would hate to die with the last Harry Potter book unread. Or without watching the original “Day the Earth Stood Still” one last time.

June 30, 2009June 30, 2009

another day another magnolia

More magnolia shots – this one with the cheap old little FX01. Not as good as with the big one – but not bad either.

Al Franken, finally got elected to the Senate. I wonder if he gets back pay from January. There is hope for Kinky Friedman.

When I was having blood testing related to my blood pressure meds – “they” decided that my “bad” cholesterol needed lowering. So what? Everyone’s bad cholesterol needs lowering. I am going to ignore my Bad cholesterol. That is what I have been doing for years.

“They” also found microscopic evidence of blood in my urine. Well, if you read up on it – lots of old folk have that. And most of the time “they” can find no cause. Less than 2% of the time is it cancer somewhere up the line. And, if it is, do I want to know? So, I think I am going to ignore that too. Don’t ask. Don’t tell. Nobody gets out alive anyhow.