The Time Sink

I think this may be a week of tech notes and tidbits of that nature... The reason for that is I'm working from a Linux laptop and not my usual production machine. The net effects of that will show up most readily on the photo blog: since Saturday's "Here, and there..." post, all the photos you'll see over there will be handled in LightZone 2.1 with an occasional bit if help from the Gimp. This will be a good chance to spend some time with the LightZone tutorials and manual and see what I can turn out with a product I use as a plugin at home.

The other elements of the web work shouldn't be visable as I currently use Linux on a production boxen for Daynotes and much other work. Right now I'm seeing some 'ringing' on the photos; I'm not sure if that is on the input side to the web or on the output side back to my display. ...and since I shouldn't be able to pull off about half the working equipment integration I'm using here, I'll probably spend some time documenting that also.

Hmmm... In addition to the usual geekery, I brought a short ton of books along; some of those are reference and reading on various programs, but quite a stack is for review purposes for Book Fetish. I was on involuntary hiatus as a reviewer over the Winter, but I submitted two that have made it to the front page and I have another couple in the queue. Tomorrow I may actually have the opportunity to take a few photos as background for one coming up next month.

"...does not work with Linux". Well, that may be the official line (CYA, likely) from IBM's site, but the 2878 docking station works plenty fine with a ThinkpadR-40 under Ubuntu Fiesty. ...at least in the 90% range: So far I have all four USB ports cooking just fine, video feeding the Viewsonic LCD I brought along, wireless keyboard and mouse (Logitech 3000) and two external HDDs handling the off loading and backup chores. The only thing I've tried that hasn't worked is the pass through for the speakers/headphones. ...and that I can deal with.

Oh, and ethernet to the DSL modem and power and all that good stuff. ...and sleep/hibernate/whatever happens when I wander off for too long.

I understand from emails from co-workers it's 104 in the valley; we're sunny at times here, but for the most part it's been foggy as all get out and in the mid-sixties. I caught a break Monday and got some shots from the garden across the street in full sun, but the Cambria cemetery run Tuesday (the deer shot) and the Morro Bay run yesterday were both shot in the fog.

Not that I'm complaining: we needed a break of any sort from the heat and the routine. Our earlier vacation was supplanted by Shelley's surgery (all better now) this year, and the lack of a break from the house and the heat did add up. We're entertaining this round; there's another family from our area staying close by, and we're spending most of the days with them.

...and in one of those bits if serendipity that can happen from time to time, someone lost a Treo on the beach and Daniel stumbled across it while he was out playing with the other kids. A little detective work on my part, cross-checking messages against contacts, ended up with me talking with one of the owner's friends who was on vacation here with them. A few minutes later the owner was reunited with her PDA/phone and Daniel was holding a reward.

Just kickin' it... Everyone has been so busy-busy or so involved with doing 'stuff' that it was just a good day to read or nap or watch reruns on the tube...

Travel day...

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"Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic."
Arthur C. Clarke, "Technology and the Future"

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