The Ivy House
A large Victorian-style home in Alachua converted into a quaint restaurant. It was yummy.
The Ivy House
A large Victorian-style home in Alachua converted into a quaint restaurant. It was yummy.
Never so many in this room before
More than 100 kids sang for the first day of the office's week of prayer program. This committee room has never been so packed!!! We even had to turn the chairs to face the left wall because the risers wouldn't fit across the front wall.
Seats in the lower bowl for tonight's game
Orlando Magic and Dallas Mavericks.
14/4 DUT
Picked up a few feet of this stuff for a friend. Skycraft Parts and Surplus rocks your socks! www.skycraftsurplus.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&...
The first time Leopard's menu bar translucency has bugged me
The Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) menu bar has gotten a lot of mixed opinion regarding its translucency. Before now, it's never bugged me. But that's because I run EarthDesk. From the time I installed Leopard until recently, the shadow position depicted by EarthDesk's Mercator view always had the upper portion dark, which kept the menu bar pretty much consistent in color. But now, heading into March, the sun is starting to creep back up north, and the extreme upper islands of Nunavut are now glowing through the menu bar. I could switch to the opaque mode that is now available in the 10.5.2 update, but I think the menu bar is too bright that way. I wish I could make the entire bar a single shade—just about the color you see above, behind the Apple and Application menus. Is there an easy way to do this without a haxie or a kernel extension?
Ashlyn's birthday party
She's a *big time* collector of Webkinz.
Ashlyn's birthday party
Quick, snap the picture fast, before they start bickering!
Horse poop
Among Ashlyn's play horse sets is a barnyard kit that might be a little too realistic!
Generation Change
A promo piece from the youth department that I need to be able to reference (logo design) at a later date.
Recording session
The academy hosts an elementary music festival every year. This year, the planners decided they wanted to record demo tracks for each individual part of every song, and guess who got nominated to do the recordings. So this is where I sat for nearly three hours this evening, and we're not even quite done yet.
New shades
I've worn (out) my old pair of Arnettes for goodness knows how many years. Possibly in the neighborhood of a decade. The lenses had small cracks all throughout them, and the frames, while still in relatively good shape, had started bending in a few places. I decided tonight to treat myself to my very first pair of Ray-Bans, and I like these a lot. Similar design as my last pair, but they feel like they fit better, and they wrap around a little more than the old pair. Also, the lenses don't have the same plasticky quality that the Arnettes had.
Player piano with a twist
This was in one of the department stores at Altamonte Mall. An LCD is mounted into the copy stand, and the piano is playing a song that goes along with the video. The whole thing is driven by a case-modded Mac Mini!
Class reunion name badges
PRE-DESCRIPTION NOTE: I've received NUMEROUS inquiries asking if I could create badges for various upcoming reunions. Generally, I don't really have the time, and you probably can't afford me. That's why I provided the template file I used for your benefit. On the other hand, if you think you can afford me, then get in touch. (Translation: if you're not talking about more than the bottom end of 3 figures, you'd probably be wasting your time and mine.)
I was asked to be responsible for the name badges at my 20th high school alumni reunion this weekend. Here they are—all 171 of them.
Addendum: I've had enough requests to share the template that I've decided to just put it on a public link. If you'd like to have the InDesign CS3 template for these, you can download it at stuff.albj.net/Alumni_Badge_Template.zip - If you're inclined, please leave a comment to say that you went to get it or if you have questions about the template. Do note that it makes use of several style definitions to automatically set up the spacing for the paragraph containing the inline photo, the name, and the spacer for the next badge.
I was missing a few screws
A bunch of my projection screen screws have been missing for years. A coworker today "found" them in her department. I actually wonder that she might also "find" my missing Canon XL1 if she cleaned a little more.
Fin!
Each time I work on the quarterly magazine sent out from my office, I keep a sheet taped to my work area indexing what will be on each page. When a page is completed, I reach for my red Sharpie and give it an X.
Certainly this index is nothing like the huge school yearbook ladders I used in college, but those ladders were, of course, the inspiration for my scaled-down version.
Regardless how weird it makes me, I'll confess that I derive a significant amount of pleasure each time I can X off a page. So much so, I generally leave this index taped up for a number of days after I've put the magazine to bed—you know, gloat value. 🙂
Tax 2007
All done, paid, filed, and stored away.
Coworker's husband just bought a Goldwing
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Coworker's husband just bought a Goldwing
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Coworker's husband just bought a Goldwing
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I finally got mine
I knew one day I'd own copies of the entire Star Wars series. The acquisition of a gift card to pay for just under half of it finally pushed me over the edge. They arrived today.
New Web Presence
Say goodbye to secondinitial.com - You'll now find me at ALBj.net/
My office
I decided to post this because a couple people wanted to see the space where I work. I'm pretty sure there's nothing incriminating from a privacy standpoint in this photo. I finally managed to clear off the circular section so I can have meetings on a clean space. The stacks of tapes to the right should be going away soon too, leaving me with a completely cleaned-up front part of my desk. Now if I can just do something about the rear portions. Check the on-screen Flickr notes for specifics about my workspace.
My home desk
Just as I finally managed to clear away a lot of the cruft on my desk at work, I've done the same at home. This is my setup in the den. Check the on-screen Flickr notes for specifics. (UPDATE: Sigh, Flickr dumped all on-screen notes, so the specifics are lost.)
Jerry-rigged table saw
This is my dad's solution to his need for a table saw—a power saw inverted and attached beneath a sheet of drywall.
Jerry-rigged clock
Another DIY in my dad's work shop. Who needs a clock face when just the motor is all you really need?
My new desk chair
I've been telling myself for months that I would do my back a big favor if I obtained a desk chair that was more comfortable than the one I had been using. So I finally got one.
Ignorant packaging
Nice hard drive. Stoopid packaging. Makes it difficult to stack these things well. There isn't even a notch so the things could be hung on a rack bar of some sort.
Ignorant packaging
Nice hard drive. Stoopid packaging. Makes it difficult to stack these things well. There isn't even a notch so the things could be hung on a rack bar of some sort.
My new dress jacket
Okay, maybe it's more like a dress casual coat, but it's the first one I've owned in several years that I could fit into. The sleeves need to be taken up maybe a half inch, but I probably won't have time before this weekend when I need it. It'll do fine for the short time I need it during my cousin's wedding.
Let's roll
Seen in south Georgia. They seem bigger when not attached to a train.
Crossing the Mississippi River
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Epitome of "cheap"
I'm in a Marriott Residence Inn. It's got a full kitchen and these salt and pepper shakers were included—but filled with packets of respective seasoning!
Marketing failure
If there's such a thing as a way to convince me to open your junk mail, asking me not to discard the mail is definately not it.
Cute tipping gimmick
The new Starbucks in Forest City has this divided container outside their drive-thru for tips. Every so often, a new question is put forth to customers. Naturally, I simply HAD to put a buck in for the Goonies!
Before...
A slice of the yummy birthday cake given to me by the wonderful Tanner family. Thank you Ben, Angela, Sara, and Rachel. And yes, I've got milk!!
...After
Ooooo, that was soooo tasty!!
Grillsmith menu cover
We had brunch. Can't say the food was extraordinary, but it was good.
Bird of prey
I walked outside my front door and a large bird was startled and flew up to the lamp post. Sorry it's blurry, I couldn't get too close before he flew away. I'd love to know what kind of bird it was. Any guesses?
Warning message
This appeared on a TV program on ABC Family! Exqueeze me? Is this even the kind of show that should even go on ABC Family if a message like this has to be put up? And look at the bottom right. That's ABC Family's slogan (which changed into the logo graphic a few seconds later).
Window addition
For reasons I may never comprehend, my office decided to spend money to install windows in every office door in the building. Fortunately, mini-blinds will be included soon in this "upgrade."
Ande
A shot of the Ande's Candies that Olive Garden gives you after a meal—taken only because Jeff suggested I should document that I was here. But this was a good test. I let my iPhone record location data for this shot, which was NOT transferred to Flickr. I had to manually add it to a map. So what is the location info good for if it doesn't transfer to Flickr?
Magazine cover photo shoot
Cover feature is a profile on a pianist.
Quirk with new iPhone calendar feature
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE now having access to multiple iCal calendars on the iPhone, but the addition of the bar across the top to manage the multiple calendars (ergo moving the today/list/day/month button bar to the bottom) means even less space for event listings when in month view. This is especially problematic for months like this coming August which requires six rows to show all the weeks.
Communicator vs. iPhone
This is in response to iJustine's show-off. But I have the added benefit of being able to say that my iPhone's name *is* Communicator.
Guarantee for my soon-aquired 3G iPhone
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Diagram Kitty
The chairperson of a meeting I recently attended started drawing a representation of a concept I described, and this is how it turned out. It started looking like a cat caricature. (The green ears were added after someone commented that it looked like a cat.)
Window chip
Last night, while returning home from Tampa, we heard a very loud PING and knew something had hit my windshield. I didn't notice anything right away, but by mid-day today, I saw this crack. It was repaired this same afternoon (and free, thanks to insurance) by Safelite who came out to my office. I didn't even have to go to their shop, which I had intended to do. Pretty much the only reason I contacted Safelite is because I'd heard their radio commercials and they are very close to where I live.
Jury summons
I'm 38 years old, have had a driver license since my freshman year in college, and only just now received my very first jury summons. Initially, I was like "oh crud, they finally found me." But, the more I thought about it, I realized I am kind of interested in observing the process. Fortunately, the day of my summon, September 10, isn't during one of the several upcoming, previously planned, out-of-state trips I've already got plane tickets for.
Personal record
Hooray!! I finally broke 6000 VR points on Mario Kart Wii!
Old web site layout
My friend Andy was cleaning out files and found this OLD sketch from when I was talking to him about a redesign of my dtpbylee.com site. Can't believe he kept it. If you want to see the final result, I put an archive of the site back online: 2001.dtpbylee.com/
Lava lamp
My friend Andy has this in his hall. I like them.
Not stingy
Southwest Air was surprisingly un-stingy with the snacks during my flight.
Rockin' girls
Andy's kids in the Cracker Barrel rocking chairs.
Yellow Swallowtail butterfly
Lots of butterflies are all around Andy and Lianne's house. I managed to get a decent shot of one of them—with the camera in my iPhone, no less!
Yellow Swallowtail 2
Another one.
Zappos
Huge shoe store. www.zappos.com/
New shoes
A $74 pair of Columbia shoes for $36.40! Slick!
Interesting pattern in the tree bark
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Balloon hog
A lady in the restaurant where I had dinner was making balloon art. She made me a Harley, complete with headlight.
More than a day
I fully understand how hard drive sizes are getting bigger every time we turn around. It still staggers me to think a drive this size contains 52 half-hour TV shows at broadcast DV quality that I produced. That's more than a solid 24 hours, and the drive isn't even full. It's a 500gb drive with probably more than 150gb still available.
Me and Nicki
Nicki just came in from Australia and we're eating at Moe's.
Finally found my master tape of Strawberry Festival 1992
I've been looking for this tape for a long time. I want to make a DVD and also put the Back To the Future spoof video online. It's hilarious. This is an S-VHS edited master, and the papers are the cue points for each show section, including the songs used.
Original live show date was April 18, 1992.
P.S. - Obviously I took this photo at home in Orlando, FL, but I chose to set the map location to where Festival Studios was located at the time, at the college in Tennessee.
Santa Fe wrap at Green Day Cafe
This place may have a groanable name and cartoon character, but it's very tasty and not all that pricy. A menu is on their web site at www.greendaycafe.com
Extra points, they mistakenly charged me for a bottled water when I asked for just a cup, and I was refunded the whole meal instead of just the bottled water. I'll definately be back.
Saying goodbye
It's been a very good enclosure for…oh at least five years—maybe closer to ten. And it wasn't cheap back then. But it's ailing now, and time to say goodbye.
Clamped
Leave it to media crew to hold shut a bag of snacks with an industrial equipment clamp.
Downtown Disney performer with didgeridoos
After La Nouba, we all treated ourselves to some Häagen-Dazs and listened to this guy playing guitar with a variety of didgeridoos.
Sony Clock Radio with iPod/iPhone Dock
I picked this up today to use at work. Largely, I just wanted something to keep my phone charged, but having something to play music was a plus. I was going to just get an Apple dock and extra USB cable to plug into the computer for charging, but those two items combined are $50!!
So, I decided why not just go an additional $50 and get this clock/iPod/radio instead. It really sounds nice.
The only single gripe I have with it is that the power cable is permanently attached inside the back of the unit and doesn't disconnect, and the end that plugs into the outlet is one of those large bricks (it can just barely be seen along the left edge of this photo). Consequently, it's impossible to run the power cord through a small hole in the back of my desk.
On the plus side, the box stated that the appropriate Apple universal dock adapter should be acquired to fit the device to be attached. However, thanks to a clever adjustable piece directly behind the iPhone or iPod to support the back, I don't feel the dock adapter is needed.
D-R-O-B-O … Drobo!!
Too soon to say now how well I like it. I'll be transferring items off an old drive to this over the weekend. For now, it's got two 500 GB drives. Admittedly, the whole thing is a bit larger than I imagined. I thought it was more of a cube. www.drobo.com
And if you're wondering why the photo title is typed the way it is, watch this.
iPhone WordPress application error
This error appears every time I try to add my blog in the iPhone WordPress app. I really wish I could find a solution.
McClure Hall is no more
For those of you familiar with the Forest Lake Academy campus, it just became a little less familiar. The old boys' dorm is gone.
Puzzle, before
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Puzzle, after
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Monitor color calibration
Finally acquired an X-Rite i1 (aka Eye One) and will keep my office monitor color calibrated myself. No more visits from service bureau.
Subway rats
Part of the Halloween decorations at a local Subway restaurant.
New AV and Polycom installation
Crews have been clearing out all the old junk in our rack and installing this new touch-panel controlled system that includes a videoconferencing unit.
Sunstream
They showed up better to the eye. It was pretty.
Model Train Wreck
The model trains at Epcot seemed to have an accident.
New iPhone power adapter
The new plugs are very slightly tapered on the edges. Old one was straight.
Political prank
My boss isn't what you'd call an Obama supporter—or at least his son isn't. Thus, the prankster who stuck these all over his lawn (signs that were probably swiped from elsewhere around the neighborhood) certainly provided some amusement for the day.
Craziness in the menu bar
After a software update, I relaunched iTunes and this happened, combined with everything going unresponsive for a couple seconds about twice per minute.
Morocco music and dancer
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Country confusion
She's from Australia.
XP Dark
I "darkified" the Windows XP virtual machine (VMware Fusion) on my Mac by using Microsoft's Zune theme for Windows XP—http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=75078 —and this Digital Blasphemy wallpaper.
Melvin's getting married tomorrow
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My re-thunk page tracking system
Maybe not as satisfying as X-ing out completed pages like I used to do, but certainly a more proper way to track progress.
Hmm, upgrades
Gonna double the RAM in my Macbook Pro tonight. It'll go from 2gb to 4gb.
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231135
4 GB!!
This should make using my MacBook Pro a lot nicer.
Explorer Mouse
Decided to give the Microsoft Explorer Mouse with Blue Track a try. Yes, it's a bit pricey, but it has a pretty nice feel, tracks better than other standard laser mice, and has a slot to store the USB receiver in the bottom of the mouse, which means it can easily hop into my computer bag and travel with me. No, the blue glow isn't always there—only for a few seconds after it wakes from sleep. It ships with a nifty little pseudo-dock device for charging. You don't actually fit it into the dock, rather just rest the mouse on top. It's very easy to position it into place, and it starts charging the included NiMH battery.
Friends in meetings
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Beautiful pool area at the hotel and it's too cold to use
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Upper level of the hotel pool
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Meetup with Cali Lewis and Neal Campbell
Yes, that's Neal's heavy-duty laser pointer he's got aimed at his head. LOL
Our ongoing Thanksgiving tradition
Kids putting olives on their fingers.
Ashlyn folds up for easy storage
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Visualizing procrastination
If you look up "procrastination" in the dictionary, this picture ought to appear next to it. It's a month worth of debit card receipts I've not entered into Quicken because this month has been so crazy busy.
Osborne Family Christmas Lights
At Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Hope On Fire DVD masters for season 2
Finally finished the current season. Now I have to do another set this big for season 1.
Wheel of Fortune Blinky Bus
These were handed out to audience members as they left the taping session at Sea World. It's the Wheel of Fortune bus with blinky lights. I thought it was a pin of some sort, but the back only contains a battery container with no way I can see to attach it to clothing.
Undocumented iPhone Feature?
I think I discovered how to temporarily see all your home screens as thumbnails! Exposé for iPhone?
Lots o' lights
Took a shortcut through a neighborhood and saw this house. Beautiful.
Airports are countryless
Hello? Bank of America? So simply failing to fill in the country field in a database is equivalent to an out-of-country transaction? (This is my e-mail notification from the charge to check a second bag at the airport.)
