Yosemite

From Noetic Expressions

I was on vacation and went to Yosemite for a couple of days. The drive in was very scenic and you could see the change of fall colors. We stayed in a heated cabin in Curry Village. There was a bathroom and electricity. No television or telephone although there were cell signals available, but just barely. We got there late afternoon and once settled we took a walk around but once it gets dark, it's very dark. Almost pitch black.

From Noetic Expressions

From Noetic Expressions

The next day we took a strenuous hike to Vernal Falls in the rain. It was suppose to rain only in the morning but as it turns out, it rained all day. The hike started out okay but got harder as we ascended the rock stairs. I think we went up 3200 feet in a mile and a half. Yowsa! I was very careful coming down.

From Noetic Expressions

We then headed back to the cabin and dried out. After cleaning ourselves we lunched at The Awahnee. The food was very delicious. Since it was the off season there were very little people around. It was nice. It was like having the park all to ourselves. No long lines. No long waits. Finding a place to eat was limited. Some of the places were closed for the season.
I always wanted to go to Yosemite in the winter when there was snow. The next morning it was cold and there was ice on the cars and on the peaks were a dusting of white. Very beautiful and crisp. We then packed up and started the ride home but we finished up some more sites of interest.

From Noetic Expressions

"Big Bag Of Hurt!"

So I found a notebook blu-ray burning for cheap and put it in an enclosure to test. I wanted to see how easy it was to make a back-up copy of a blu-ray disk for backup purposes. I'm on a Mac so there is only one choice at the moment. Makemkv. To make a long story short and to quote Steve Jobs, "It's a big bag of hurt!" It takes a long time to rip it to the HD, probably because it's a notebook drive. And it takes hours to process the video file into something that's manageable to use.















From what I've read, the windows side is a little more easy but the processing time is the killer. Even with my Mac Pro, which is very heavy duty, the wait time is long and arduous. I think I'll pass on blu-ray for now. The picture quality is excellent mind you but backing them up is a pain and the DRM sucks.

Time is flying…

Man, it's almost the end of October already! Time is flying by real quick this year. Next thing you know Christmas hits and a New Year is beginning. Turkey day first.

So, I've been playing Halo 3: ODST for the last couple of weeks. I haven't finished it because I'm taking my time and want to enjoy the experience. I also get frustrated at times and just wonder aimlessly. I like the new silencer and the heavy pistol is back. I've haven't tried the pistol yet though. I have to be like my friend Trent and pick up every available weapon and check where the the life packs are. Overall, I'm enjoying the game and that's what counts.


















I have a dilemma as well. I just ordered an Intel 80 GB SSD. I don't know where to install it. Should it be in my MacPro or a new MacBook or MacBook Pro? I guess I'll stick in the MacPro and test it out first to see how I like it and then go from there. The speed is gonna be incredible. It'll be almost instant on.

It's Snowing In September

It's hot here today but why is it snowing? I've installed Snow Leopard, OS X 10.6 on my Mac Pro (Early 2008). I backed up my important data and did the upgrade install. No problems whatsoever. It took like 30 to 45 minutes and went pretty smoothly. After a couple of reboots, I was off and running. Everything seems to be working fine.

Toast 9.0.4 didn't seem to work so I just made a copy of Toast 10.0.2 so that I can do my dual burning. Boot up is a bit faster. The finder is much quicker and when I have a folder full of jpgs, the previews of them come up pretty quick and not every other like before. Shiretoko (Firefox optimized for Intel macs) seems a bit faster as well as Safari.

I haven't tested other programs but as they come up, I don't think they should give me too much trouble. I just look forward to a third party program that's written to take advantage of the 64 bit architecture, OpenCL, and Grand Central Dispatch. That would be real sweet.

2009 San Diego Comic Con (Part 2)

Did you know that "Buck Rodgers" is 80 years old? Gil Gerard and Erin Gray were at the Buck Rodgers panel. There's new stuff coming up for Buck and Erin's daughter is the new "Wilma Deering" in the new adventures of Buck Rodger's. Seeing Gil and Erin brought back happy childhood memories.














That was about it for the panels that I attended. This year there weren't too many that I wanted to see. I guess I'm losing it and getting old to stay in the Hall/Room for a full 8 - 10 hour day. Chris did that for Ballroom 20 and Nelson got up pretty early to wait in line for "Lost" which Russell missed by that much.














Nourishment provided were sandwiches courtesy of Von's, Quaker Chewy Granola Bars and water. There was a Mexican restaurant near the condo that was the bomb. I had two lunches and a dinner there. It was profiled on FoodTV by Guy in "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives". The place was called El Indio. http://www.el-indio.com/ I had a carne asada, carnitas, and California burrito. The carne and carnitas were meat only with Ranchero Salsa and the California had carne asada, french fries and cheese. Yummy! On our last night we went for Japanese. My rice craving was sated.


























All in all I had a great time at comic con this year. But I think that a two or three year gap is good for me. The crowds are a bear but the atmosphere is joyous. I love seeing all the cool costumes and generous cleavage around. A shout out goes to Big Brother Rich, Chris, and Nelson for their generosity in making this amazing trek possible. Thanks for making the vacation and trip a memorable one.

2009 San Diego Comic Con (Part 1)

Well, I'm back from 2009 San Diego Comic Con and had a great time. It was fun and exhausting. Wading through the throngs of people, standing in the long lines and walking miles in the exhibit hall were tiring but getting to see Leonard "Spock" Nimoy and other stars as well as the new movies and stuff coming out excited the geek in me. It's was also great to sit in the Captain's chair especially with Orion yeoman next to me.










The ride down was uneventful. The condo was nice and close to the trolley line to get to the convention. We go our badges early and had a bite to eat at Dick's before waiting for Preview Night to open. People started to line up at 1:00 am Wednesday morning for the Thursday "Twilight" panel. Crazy!










The "Female Power Icons In Pop Culture" panel with Sigourney Weaver, Eliza Dushku, Zoe Saldana, and Elizabeth Mitchell was fun and informative.



















As well as the spotlight on Gene Yang. http://www.firstsecondbooks.com/abc.html










"Halo Legends" is anime from the people who made "The Animatrix". It'll be Halo universe stories by Japanese anime makers. It should be good.

The Warner Bros. panel showed previews of new movies coming out. The stars even came out to promote them. Some of the movies are "Sherlock Holmes", "Where The Wild Things Are", "The Book Of Eli", "A Nightmare On Elm Street", "The Box", and "Jonah Hex". The stars who showed up were Robert Downey Jr., Rachel McAdams, Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Jackie Earle Haley, Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Josh Brolin and Meagan Fox.

It was a delightful surprise that Hayao Miyazaki showed up for the Disney Panel to promote his new movie "Ponyo". http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/ponyo/ Disney is also re-releasing Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and Beauty and the Beast in 3D. Beauty looks fabulous and can't wait to see it. They also have Toy Story 3D coming as well as a new hand animated "The Princess and the Frog".

End of Part 1.

Road Trip

Tomorrow I leave for San Diego and the annual Comic-Con convention. http://www.comic-con.org/ I was last there in 2005. This year it sold out pretty early. The crowds and lines are going to be murder. Fortunately, I don't have too much interest in the panels in Hall H, which is the biggie. So I'll be okay. It should be fun. I'll report on the festivities when I get back or maybe while I'm there. I'll have internet access but my time may be spent elsewhere.

Later.

Noetic