Archive for March, 2005
My trip to Houston wasn’t too bad. I didn’t expect much. The area where we stayed just didn’t have much. There was a Galleria and lots of shopping. I’m not into shopping and everything in the Galleria is way too expensive for me. I could just barely afford to walk in the place.
I made one big mistake – my shoes. I didn’t take any comfortable shoes for after work activities. My feet really hurt. I thought at one time that I had blisters on my right foot but it turned out that I didn’t. On one evening 3 of us took Segways out and around the area. No wear and tear on the feet this way. We had to stop at a CVS and recharge batteries just to make it back to the hotel. As soon as I pulled up to the hotel, my battery literally died. What timing!
The food was excellent! I never did get a chance to go to Panchos Mexican Buffet – so sad. A group of us did go to Ninfas (mexican food). This was better than I had remembered. The first day there I went to the Cheesecake Factory. I had fish tacos and they were really different. I enjoyed them. The Raggin Cajun probably had the best atmosphere! There were many in our group that sucked the heads of crawfish. That was disgusting! One of the Sheriffs in our group got so disgusted that he had to leave the restaurant. Now that was worth it all. Probably the best food came from Otto’s (BBQ). Yes, President Bush Sr. (No. 41) ate there. The brisket was good but not the best that I have eaten. However; the links were delicious! This place definitely had some atmosphere and worked better with a larger group.
Johnson Space Center – I was able to hitch a ride and take the tour. The tour itself was disappointing. Not much to see. The tour contained two parts: Hanger X and the ISS simulation training facility. The ISS facility was really neat, I just wish we could have seen and understood more of it. We did get to see 3 astronauts in this building. Back at the building where the tour started we watched two separate movies, one of which was severely out of focus in one corner. Lots of space suits, kids activities, and moon rocks filled the remainder of the room (This would be a great place to bring children – tons of activities and fun things for them to participate in). This building also contained the Presidential podium used in the media statement announcing the landing on the moon by President Kennedy.
The whole trip did improve as the days progressed. I was very glad to get home.
I will be traveling to Houston this weekend and spending the entire week there. I am really dreading the trip – what’s their to do in Houston? I will try and go to the Space Center ($17.95 – cab fare will be more than that). If I make it, I will have visited 3 of the space centers. Although I’m not sure how many there are, I must be cutting at making a good majority of them.
I am looking forward to the foodddddd. I will be looking for good barbecue and Mexican. Maybe some seafood. I have at least one trip planned to Panchos Mexican Buffet. This stuff is rock-gut, but I love it. Every time I eat at Panchos, I get sick (but it’s so goooood). They have such good flautas, tamales and sopaipillas. The sopaipillas are the best! Panchos’ motto is: If its your first time order one of everything. My kinda restaurant.
I will be attending a law enforcement related conference and will be training/demoing Segways to participants . This will be fun. I am a certified trainer and rider and really enjoy the machine. These things are great and will go just about anywhere. They are virtually indestructible – except for the fenders and kick-stands. Even the fenders can take quite a blow and come away unharmed (trust me, I know).
I was hoping to catch some boxing while there but can’t seem to find any on the net. Maybe the concierge will know of a good place to go. Nothing like some live boxing to get the heart pumping.
This is the first of my trips this year. My schedule gets really crazy from here: Indiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, New York, Kentucky, and Florida (vacation). This is all before the end of June. August will bring a trip to Glacier National Park in Montana and October brings a trip to San Diego California. I’m looking forward to these two trips. San Diego is beautiful and the weather is perfect. My last trip there my wife and I rented an anniversary edition Harley Davidson FatBoy and cruised the coast into the Los Angeles area. Harley – where dreams and reality meet. Of course, Glacier Nat Park area may give San Diego a run for the money. Probably no Harley rides but I have heard that we will have the opportunity to ride a few horses. I really prefer the iron horse – less hair and better on my allergies.
Anyway, my next post will probably be while in Houston. I hope to have lots to post after/during the trip.
I don’t usually praise Microsoft for their software but I have to give it to them on this one. If you haven’t tried Photo Story (PS) then you are missing out. You can find the software at: www.microsoft.com/photostory
To see a quick example of what this software can do, check out the “See it in Action” section on the bottom of the website. PS allows you to import digital pictures and do lots of cool stuff: animation, annotation, slideshows, rotate and crop, add voice narration or music (imported or make your own), remove red-eye, and apply filters. I’m sure there are more features that I haven’t discovered yet.
I have used the animation feature on a few pics including adding my own scores of music. The output is a WMV file (video) that plays in Microsoft Media Player. Of course you can opt for different qualities levels for the WMV file. To play the WMV file you may have to download a new codec. If a new codec is needed, Media Player should help with this task.
Unfortunately, it appears that this software will only work with Windows XP.
Another piece of software that I really like is Picasa. This can be found on Google’s website or at this location:www.picasa.com. This is a free piece of software offered by Google that will index all photo’s and graphic files on your computer. It allows for lots of adjustments to your photos without changing the original photo. The color correction and lighting adjustments are great and very easy to use. The red eye removal tool is absolutely spectacular. The ability to create a “gift” disk in the form of a slideshow makes this software that much more complete.
Hat’s off to these two pieces of software.
Yesterday I cleaned a machine with over 400 adware/spyware entries. I used three different tools of which none actually completed the job. FYI – I used Spybot, Adaware, and Microsoft’s beta spyware tool. I don’t like doing it, but I had to manually delete entries from the Registry in order to clean up this machine. Of course the machine had many more problems than spyware and adware. Try 27 virus infected files. Everything from trojans, worms, and general run-o-the-mill viruses.
Protect yourselves – Strong passwords (8+ characters containing alpha and numeric – no words please), personal firewalls, up-to-date virus software and definitions. Watch your emails! Be careful with emails that contain attachments. Viruses masquerade as attachments (the infected machine that I worked on yesterday was probably compromised via an email).
There are more safeguards than the above but these will get you started.
Many moons ago the company I worked for took our group to a ghost town. We got to hay ride, dress up for pics, boot scoot and have a great time. We were a dangerous group.
Saturday was my son’s 5th birthday. We celebrated at the nearby Mexican food restaurant. It was a lot of fun and fairly cheap. We fed 10 kids and a couple of family members for less than $60. The decorations for my daughters party cost more than that.
Anyway a new bicycle was in order – actually it was his first. Toy guns, remote control cars and new games for his GameBoy topped it off. The big “hit” of the party was the pinata. Everyone seemed to have a great time!
