Category Archives: Different

Verizon Phone Service – Strike 3

 It rained last night. What powers of observation did I apply to figure that out? Simple, for the 3rd time since September 16th , my home phone is dead since It goes out every time it rains. I first called for service at about 8:40am, at 7:15pm, it's still dead. I'm told that they are working on it.

To make life perfect, the DSL line is spotty AND I'm attempting to  work from home today…  

Cable Modem is looking better and better…

Music I'm listening to right Now:
"Here It Goes Again " by OK go from the "Oh No " Album.

 

Cool Sony Advertisement


Just saw this on Gothamist. It was done over a year ago, but still very cool. See the Behind the scenes movie after the break.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
Did You Get My Message?” by Jason Mraz from the “Mr. A-Z” album. Continue reading

Me in a Nikon Advertisement


Me in Nikon Advertisement
Originally uploaded by S.D..

In July, I was lucky enough to be among the 16 photographers that were chosen to participate in an advertising campaign for Nikon. It didn’t really hit me until I turned to Page 35 of Popular Photography (Janny got me a subscription) and see my face in the lower corner.
😉

My contribution is in the lower corner of the website, just left of the American Flag by Timothy Schenck.

To be perfectly honest, I think the other photographers are much better than I am, such as Timothy Schenck or Joseph Holmes (whom I saw at NYCPB6) just to name a few.

I really believe I’m lucky to be counted among such creative people.

Best viewed Large or Original.

Music I’m listening to right Now:
Never Ending Story” by Limahl from the “The NeverEnding Story” Soundtrack.

Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment for October 5th, 2006


Keith Olbermann’s comments on the President is quite telling and quite interesting as I think it’s spot on. He’s close to 10 minutes long with this one, but it is well worth listening too. This gets cut off a little at the end, but you could see all of it here. The President constantly lies about anyone that opposes him. The incidents that Keith Olbermann bring up are perfect examples of the “Power at any cost” attitude that the Republicans have.Music I’m listening to right Now:
Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley from the “St. Elsewhere” Album.

Storage issues…

HDMind you I really like my Nikon D80, but at the Volume of pictures I take combined with shooting RAW images and 10.2 Mega pixels, I max out my Hard disk on a regular basis.

It's down to a routine:

  1. I take photographs, attempt to download them to my PC
  2. get a nasty message saying the Drive is full.
  3. I burn a few days worth of Images to DVD
  4. A week or two later repeat step 1.

On the plus side, My images get burned to DVD fairly often, but I was thinking there may be a better way.

  • Ignoring budget constraints: The Netgear SC101. It allows you to plug this onto your network and look like a regular Drive in Windows. I like that it's low cost but currently not designed to work with windows. Also I keep reading negative things in reviews available on the Web.
  • Another option (again ignoring budget) is the LaCie Biggest F800. It has RAID support but It only has Firewire and USB 2.0, not Ethernet.
  • Yet another option is putting a Adaptec ATA RAID 1200A into the PC and mirror two drives. Might be th most cost effective way of ensuring Safe data. The RAID Card is about $75 and two Maxtor 500gb Drives are about $275 to $300 each. 

I could simply add a new HD but that would prolong the issue. Likely I'll go with the 3rd option with SATA drives. When I get a new PC (Mine is a Pentium 4 from 2001…) I could just add the drives into the new case.


Music I'm listening to right Now:

"Ever Fallen in Love?" by Fine Young Cannibals from "The Raw & the Cooked".

 

New Phone

V3mIt's that time of year again to renew or change our Cell Plan. Using Verizon for more years than I can count, we gave them another shot at keeping our business. I broke down and got the Motorola RAZR V3m.

Feature Breakdown and Comments:

  • Ultra-thin design – This was a selling point for me. It's Thin, small and very light
  • Blue tooth Capable – Very handy. The blue tooth headset also works with my Laptop VOIP software freeing me of my USB tether. 
  • Voice Dialing – Nice, works via the Blue tooth headset too.
  • Speakerphone – Works surprisingly well and I've used it twice already.
  • microSD™ card slot – Might use this as I tend to go nuts with MP3 ring tones. Several people in my Phone Book get a Police Siren when the call me.
  • "Standard" USB cable – I carry everything in my knap sack and anything that can be multi purpose is really appreciated. In this case, the same USB cable can charge the Blue tooth Headset is the same one that can charge the phone via any USB jack. That means I leave the charger at home and plug the USB cable to my work computer to charge the Phone. The same cable can be used with my Sandisk Multi card reader, Nikon D80, Sony GPS-CS1, and Canon S410.

These features are ok, but of not really selling points to me:

  • 1.3M Camera – Likely not to use it much as I carry a Nikon D80 10 mega pixel camera 90 percent of the time. My 4 year old Nephew had fun with it.
  • V CAST Music and Video Service – Cute and nice if you want it, but I'll never use it as I have an IPOD.
  • VZ Navigator through Get It Now® – Maybe it would be useful outside of NYC, but another one I'll likely never use.
  • TTY Compatible
    vHearing Aid Compatibility = M3
    – Good to know.
  • Meets FCC SAR limit. Manufacturer's highest FCC reported SAR 1.14 at ear, 1.56 on body.  – Read about SAR here.

All in all I'm happy with it. We did have an issue with the 1st Bluetooth headset they gave me, but they replaced it with no fuss.

Here is a detailed Review: Motorola Razr V3m Review – CNET


Music I'm listening to right Now:

"Call Me Call Me" from "Cowboy Bebop: Blue".

 

On Going Phone DSL problems…

Old PhoneVerizon usually has no issues in phone service but this week, they're really having it Bad. Thursday, something big broke and it's affecting service in this neighborhood.

It's been out since Thursday, but Oddly DSL is working (As of this writing!). They have an ETA of 8:00pm  Saturday, but I'm not betting on it. I'm sure they're working on it as best they can. 

Update: Phone and DSL back as of 11:15am. Anyone from Verizon reading this, Thanks!


Music I'm listening to right Now:

"Wild" by Seal from his "Seal" Album (1991).
 

Really Cute Dog!




Really Cute Dog!

Originally uploaded by S.D..

Never underestimate the power of cuteness. This little guy has garnered over 1,400 views inside of 48 hours! At the moment, this is the most viewed photo I've posted on Flickr.

This has been a horribly unproductive day: My phone line and thus my DSL was dropping in an out all day. Where I  originally planed to work from home to deal with some issues here, I had to take a day off.  Now the DSL is up (for the moment!) but the phone has no Dial tone. Verizon is working on it as it affect my entire neighborhood.  

Music I'm listening to right Now:

"Life is Wonderful"
by Jason Mraz from his "Mr A-Z" Album.  I like songs with interesting lyrics and
"Life is Wonderful" has really good lyrics that are fun to listen to. 

 

 

September 11th, 2006 – Five years later

WTC Fountain

I will never forget where I was on September 11th, 2001 when the 1st plane hit. That Tuesday was such a nice, beautiful day and I drove in planning to go out that night. On the way in across the Midtown tunnel, I was listening to my car’s tape player so I was completely oblivious to what just happened.

By the time I got to my regular coffee stand the owner, Andrew, told me what he heard on his radio. Even after hearing it on the radio, I just couldn’t believe it. I thought “They must be wrong, it couldn’t be a jet!“. Of course, it was and by the time I reached my desk, the 2nd plane struck. Like so many people in NYC, I wondered if my friends and Family were ok.

That day and following week has been documented  over and over again so I’ll just summarize: Afterwards, I was one hell of a mess. I was sad, angry and scared for the future. In my anger, I abused my friends and co-workers, in my sadness and fear I was incredibly moody and not at all good company. I wasn’t depressed, but for a couple of weeks I was pretty close. After a while, one of the things I took from this tragedy is to appreciate my life and try not to take who I have in it for granted.

To that end, I take September 11th off to simply remember the people we lost and to think about what I have and where I want to be in my life. At this point in my life, I’m married to a wonderful lady, I have a great family and friends. It may be corny, but I’m happy and I hope I properly appreciate that.

Above is a photo from greatbuildings.com (Here is the link to the image). I went to college in Downtown Manhattan and later worked at The World Trade Center. I’ve had lunch, drank coffee, hung out, or crossed by that fountain more times than I can count.. This is how I want to remember the World Trade Center and the people I knew there, not the smoldering ruin or empty pit that it later became.

Courtesy of GreatBuildings.com (c) Lawrence A. Martin


Music I’m listening to right Now:

Nothing. I’m listening to the ceremony at Ground Zero on NBC.

My Review of the Nikon D80

 Rather than reinvent the wheel and write Another comprehensive review of the Nikon D80, I figured I'd tell you my impression of it. Keep in mind, I'm a hobby photographer, not really a professional. Also, while I think you CAN'T go wrong with any DSLR on the market, I'm biased towards Nikon. I started with my cousin's Nikon F, eventually got a Nikon 5700 with a SB-80DX Flash, currently own a Nikon D70s, a Nikon SB-800 Flash, A Nikon 18-200mm DX VR lens and now a Nikon D80.

I think you get the picture: I like Nikon products, so consider yourself warned.

To start to describe the D80 in a word: Fantastic

Like the other Nikon's I'd had, it has a very comfortable feel to  the grip and the camera is nicely balanced. It's a slightly smaller camera than the D70s but not too small. I didn't think of the D70s as a large camera, but apparently it is bigger than normal.  It also has a few features that I really like:

  • It's Fast. According to Nikon, you could continuously fire off up to 100 jpegs. Excessive? Maybe, but it's nice to know it's there.
  • ISO Auto. This adds ISO setting as a parameter to the program modes (i.e. Shutter or Aperture Priority). Via the Menu, you set the Max ISO you will allow and the Minimum shutter speed. In my case, this is very Useful as I don't like to fire below 1/60th of a second. If I set the ISO to 320, go into a sudden shade area, the camera will raise the ISO if it has to to get the shot at least 1/60th of a second.
  • A programmable function button. This is entirely a creature feature under the focus assist light. Out of the Box, it will display the ISO when hit. Me, I have it set up to turn the Grid on the viewfinder. I don't need the Grid on full time, but occasionally, I like it to help me line up a shot.
  • Easier review of images. On the D70's you hit the pad to scroll thru the images. Up or down to change images, left or right to get info on that image. On the D80, you use the Command Dial in the rear to scroll between images. The Command dial on the front scrolls between information on individual photo's.

These items are just the ones that come off the top of my head. My short Wish list for the D80 has nothing to do with the D80: I can't wait for Adobe to Update their RAW importer. Currently, it does not support the D80, but I bet it's just a matter of time before it does.

For photo's I've taken with the Nikon D80, see here on Flickr.
I'm particularly happy with this one:
Close up of One Madison Avenue Tower

More photos after the break. 


Music I'm listening to right Now:

"Cambia La Piel" by Ricky Martin from his "Sound Loaded" Album. 

Continue reading