iCalendar

My Army re-enlistment bonus (for the Reserves) arrived recently, and after paying off our bills, we spent a little bit first before putting the rest away into savings. When it arrives in about a month, we will be the proud owners of our very own iPad. It will even have an orange cover!

One feature of the iPad which I am excited about is the use of a Calendar App, especially because we plan on getting iPhones when our contracts run out this August (with a 2-year plan, we can get them for not too much, and we don't even necessarily need to have an internet plan to get use of this Calendar feature). We just signed up for a Google Calendar and are really happy with the features. We each have several calendars (work, school, personal, etc), and we joinly hold a family calendar, and the program lets us view any or all of the Calendars that we choose to view. Enter: the awesomeness of the iPad/iPhone. Using an App which uses a Google Calendar, on our iWhatever we can edit our calendar, and even if we are not connected to the internet, once we are, it automatically updates on the internet version as well. Basically, we can update our calendar no matter where we are, letting us keep our schedules entirely digital, even when we are not physically with each other.

The reason this is exciting for us is that on numerous occasions, we have had issues with our schedules due to miscommunication and other similar factors. Work shifts end up getting cancelled because one of us signed up without knowing the other's schedule, etc. Having this system will go a long ways towards preventing future conflicts.

Fiddling with my Computers

This weekend while in Vancouver for the Army Reserves, I was working on my personal computer. I had already spent several hours on my own formulating a spreadsheet in Excel and getting our unit up-to-date for the first time in over a decade, when tragedy struck. Don't worry, nothing happend to my file... but when I popped in a CD to make a backup at the request of our Unit Administrator, it start making this horrible clicking sound. Immediately I figured it was my computer's fault--after all, the panel on the end of my CD-ROM is broken and only connected in one of the two spots it should be--but I also thought it might be the disc's format.

I was wrong.

It was confirmed today when I tried to put my Fiddler on the Roof Soundtrack into iTunes. My computer still reads CDs just fine; it just is no longer capable of transferring data on to the harddrive. Some quick thinking got the CD ripped onto my PC's Window's Media Center, and from there, onto a thumbdrive, though not before a temporary longing for a Mac because the whole process would have been user-friendly and not like pulling teeth, like any media is for Windows. Don't worry, I recognized the error in my ways and stopped longing for the Mac within seconds, though I was still annoyed with Windows, as improved as Windows 7 might be. Anyways, a long story short, I used the thumbdrive to get it to the laptop and on to iTunes in a very long way around what is supposed to be a simple task. At least my iPod is updated now--I had lost the cord and misplaced my iPod, so needless to say, it had been a while. It is nice, though. Now I can listen to songs from somewhat of a tragic musical which can remind me of a sad plot involving a ruined wedding party, choosing between home and love, choosing between family and a lover, and losing a home altogether. Fitting title, considering my dad used to always play the world's smallest violin in a sweet song of sorrow when I didn't get my way. Pretty upbeat, huh? I think so. 

Rainy Day

Today I got all excited for the Oregon State baseball game on the radio (they were set to play Florida Atlantic University in the Gainesville Regional-- the first round of NCAA playoffs). The radio broadcast was going to give me a great opportunity and motivation to get some serious progress in on my Lego Lord of the Rings Animation project. Basically I am trying to recreate several of the movie scenes using stop motion animation with Legos.

Despite some excellent progress (I completed a miniature model of The Black Gate, used in two scenes), I had two major setbacks. First, the OSU game was delayed over three hours due to rain and thunderstorm. That was not a huge problem since I did get to listen to the game. The second problem is that I could not get my video software to work. The software itself is fine, but an accessory between my camera and the software did not work, meaning I cannot use my greenscreen until I resolve the issue.

Grrrrrrr.

I left a question with Stop Motion Pro (the company who makes my program), but I think I may have to buy the Stop Motion Pro Video Adapter Kit-- the same thing I have, but made by the same company, so less likely to have compatibility issues.

The Blue Screen of Death

eMy crazy computer is now in the shop. A couple weeks ago it was mercilessly attacked by the Blue Screen of Death, but this time there was no finding my way around it in safe mode. There was no escaping the horror. I admit, my PC is nearing the age of retirement, but I didn't think it would go out this early. In human years, I'd say it is 59 1/2. It is still kicking and active, but slowing down, and many of its peers have gone on at a far too early age, while others of its peers will go on for some decent amount of time. Anyways, the repair shop says I can probably recover all my data even if it can't get fixed, and honestly that is what I care about most. While it is annoying to not have a monitor the size of Montana, I can get along just fine with only my laptop (and my mini-laptop when it arrives!), but there were some files that were not backed up, primarily most of my pictures. At least I kept most of my music on my external harddrive... but I emphasize "most." I am thinking that the 1TB harddrive I keep drooling over at the PX has finally found its use for me: a backup harddrive. Some time in the next 2 or 3 months I will get it and backup EVERYTHING on it, and frequently update the backups of pictures and music. I also have all my music (as of October 2007) backed up on three DVD's should all else fail, but if I lost all the music I got since then, that would just be depressing.


For some Blue Screen of Death fun, check out this fun video: