I also found these very old pictures in an envelope in with all the high school pictures.
Mela's father John Mattice.
Mela's mom Karen Kempton.
Wedding picture John & Karen Mattice.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Old Pictures
Mela has a gray photo album with 100s of pictures. Over the last few days I have been scanning the pictures. Most of them were Mela's high school days. They are totally priceless! Click here to view them all.
I also found these very old pictures in an envelope in with all the high school pictures.
Mela's father John Mattice.
Mela's mom Karen Kempton.
Wedding picture John & Karen Mattice.
I also found these very old pictures in an envelope in with all the high school pictures.
Mela's father John Mattice.Mela's mom Karen Kempton.Wedding picture John & Karen Mattice.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
I’ve been on a kick of digitizing old pictures
Mela and I have thousands of old photographs that go back for years. All of these pictures are in boxes and old photo albums. I have been going through them and noticing what a treasure they are. I have gone through my parents and Mela’s parents slides and I still have a ton of those to do. Over the last year I have felt the need to try to gather and organize all of these. I wonder if the spirit of genealogy is hitting me finally...
I have an excellent scanner and a lot of hard-drive space so I have been scanning as much as I have time to do. My biggest problem is time. I hate just camping out in my man-cave for hours at a time - I feel guilty when I’m not being with my family or just taking the kids off Mela’s hands.
When it comes to scanning pictures I have to be selective. The pictures have to be in focus and of people. Believe it or not landscapes really aren’t that interesting to me when looking back on pictures taken 20 or even 50 years ago. Pictures of people and family are worth their weight in gold. A picture of the Washington monument from 1966 really isn’t all that interesting to me. All of this has been a lesson for my own photography - I need to document people not necessarily things.
Also I need to make sure I am getting pictures of myself. My wife’s father, John Mattice who pasted away back in 1979, was a great photographer but from all his pictures you’d think he wasn’t involved with his family and then you remember he was the one taking the pictures. So, pictures of the photographer need to be regularly included. When I find pictures of John they are pure gold!
When I get the pictures scanned and cropped I try to determine who is in the picture, where and when the picture was taken. Once I have this information I put it into the metadata of the jpeg images so it is part of the actual file. I need to find a way to share all these pictures. I think I'm going to use my flickr account and post a link to it from my blog.
Some of the more entertaining pictures have been pictures of Mela and her friends back in High School. Most of these pictures have handwritten notes on the back that can be pretty funny. I wish I had time to capture all of these little notes because they are priceless. I’m going to try to run them through my other sheet feed scanner that I use for receipts and bills. We’ll see how that works...
All of this is going to take me months and years to accomplish. I hope I can do it. I need to preserve these pictures for my kids and my grandkids.
Another project will be to scan all my old journals. I have no idea how I’m going to do that...
I have an excellent scanner and a lot of hard-drive space so I have been scanning as much as I have time to do. My biggest problem is time. I hate just camping out in my man-cave for hours at a time - I feel guilty when I’m not being with my family or just taking the kids off Mela’s hands.
When it comes to scanning pictures I have to be selective. The pictures have to be in focus and of people. Believe it or not landscapes really aren’t that interesting to me when looking back on pictures taken 20 or even 50 years ago. Pictures of people and family are worth their weight in gold. A picture of the Washington monument from 1966 really isn’t all that interesting to me. All of this has been a lesson for my own photography - I need to document people not necessarily things.
Also I need to make sure I am getting pictures of myself. My wife’s father, John Mattice who pasted away back in 1979, was a great photographer but from all his pictures you’d think he wasn’t involved with his family and then you remember he was the one taking the pictures. So, pictures of the photographer need to be regularly included. When I find pictures of John they are pure gold!
When I get the pictures scanned and cropped I try to determine who is in the picture, where and when the picture was taken. Once I have this information I put it into the metadata of the jpeg images so it is part of the actual file. I need to find a way to share all these pictures. I think I'm going to use my flickr account and post a link to it from my blog.
Some of the more entertaining pictures have been pictures of Mela and her friends back in High School. Most of these pictures have handwritten notes on the back that can be pretty funny. I wish I had time to capture all of these little notes because they are priceless. I’m going to try to run them through my other sheet feed scanner that I use for receipts and bills. We’ll see how that works...
All of this is going to take me months and years to accomplish. I hope I can do it. I need to preserve these pictures for my kids and my grandkids.
Another project will be to scan all my old journals. I have no idea how I’m going to do that...
Monday, October 13, 2008
Riding the Bike
Well, I know I set a goal to ride my bike 50 miles a week. Let's just say that was much easier to say than to do. It's all about time. I haven't had time to ride. I know I'm a loser!!
I have been using my weights everyday so far. So, I'm trying...
I have been using my weights everyday so far. So, I'm trying...
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
I was attacked!
I’ve been riding my bike the last couple of days. I have a goal to ride my bike 50 miles a week. You may think this is easy and for some it probably is...
I try to stay off the road and ride on the dirt. Usually, I try to stay off the paved roads. I don’t like riding on the paved roads because I worry I’m going to get hit by some idiot driver. Back in the day I used to ride my bike to ASU. To keep myself safe I just assumed everyone was out to kill me. I also enjoy riding off road because it’s more of a workout and it’s a lot of fun.
Around my house there are many places to ride. I have a route that takes me through the desert, down a canal, past a Kingdom Hall, up a dirt-bike path, beside a golf-course to an old airport landing strip, along the side of the I-10 and back to my house. It’s about 10 or 11 miles.
So, on Monday afternoon I was riding down some path carved out by dirt-bikes and quads east of my housing development and I got to a low lying area near a golf course where there was a lot of grass and kind of wet. As soon as I went down the hill into the area I was attacked by thousands of grasshoppers. They were all over me! I stopped to try to brush them off but there were too many and they just kept on coming so I climbed back on my bike an pebbled out of there as quickly as I could. When I was finally in the clear I felt something crawling in my armpit and down my back. I pulled off my camelbak and started shaking out my shirt and three grasshoppers fell out. Thank heavens I didn’t have any of the little buggers crawling up my pants. I will be scared for life!
I think I will avoid that part of the desert until it cools off a little bit more.
I try to stay off the road and ride on the dirt. Usually, I try to stay off the paved roads. I don’t like riding on the paved roads because I worry I’m going to get hit by some idiot driver. Back in the day I used to ride my bike to ASU. To keep myself safe I just assumed everyone was out to kill me. I also enjoy riding off road because it’s more of a workout and it’s a lot of fun.
Around my house there are many places to ride. I have a route that takes me through the desert, down a canal, past a Kingdom Hall, up a dirt-bike path, beside a golf-course to an old airport landing strip, along the side of the I-10 and back to my house. It’s about 10 or 11 miles.
So, on Monday afternoon I was riding down some path carved out by dirt-bikes and quads east of my housing development and I got to a low lying area near a golf course where there was a lot of grass and kind of wet. As soon as I went down the hill into the area I was attacked by thousands of grasshoppers. They were all over me! I stopped to try to brush them off but there were too many and they just kept on coming so I climbed back on my bike an pebbled out of there as quickly as I could. When I was finally in the clear I felt something crawling in my armpit and down my back. I pulled off my camelbak and started shaking out my shirt and three grasshoppers fell out. Thank heavens I didn’t have any of the little buggers crawling up my pants. I will be scared for life!
I think I will avoid that part of the desert until it cools off a little bit more.
Monday, October 6, 2008
It's time...
One of my close friends is committing to work out everyday in the month of October. I’m going to make a similar commitment....
I’m going to ride my bike 50 miles a week and do my weights every morning. No excuses! I’m starting today. I will keep you posted.
My last 10 to 15 pounds needs to go and it needs to go this month!
I’m going to ride my bike 50 miles a week and do my weights every morning. No excuses! I’m starting today. I will keep you posted.
My last 10 to 15 pounds needs to go and it needs to go this month!
Opinion: I ran out of ideas...
I just kind of ran out of ideas. I have been writing a series on opinions but I have nothing that would be too interesting... Let me do a rapid fire:
- Government Bailout: I think it’s a bad idea.
- Obama: very bad
- McCain / Palin: not so bad
- Western Digital Hard Drives: good
- Dell Computers: good
- Macintosh Computers: I wish...
- iPod Touch 32 gb: super cool
- AT&T: I hate them
- Alltel: they rock
- Cash: good right now
- Stocks: bad right now
- Frozen Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups: good
- Dark Chocolate: bad
- Onions: EVIL
- Current Political Philosophy: when in doubt vote them out – necessary evil
- Current Political Party: Conservative
- Second Amendment: good
- Movies out right now: nothing is out right now that’s worth a damn.
- Mountain Bikes: I have a Trek 4300 that I need to ride a whole lot more. I just got the cleats and shoes where they lock your feet to the pedals. You have to think ahead in the event you want to stop...
- Helmet or No Helmet while riding a bike: I hate it but I try to wear a helmet. I feel like such a geek!
- Taxes: bad and they need to be lower and our government needs to be more responsible with OUR money.
- Family verses Friends: Mela is my best friend so both!
- Currently Reading: The Great and The Terrible series by Chris Stewart and Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
- Cameras: I want a 5D Mark II - Canon all the way! The best cameras and the best lenses. Don’t waist your money one cheap glass!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Opinion: When Jaedyn starts dating...
There was a funny story out of some Florida paper last week. For some reason it tickled the twisted side of my brain... this is never a good thing. To summarize the story a man comes home, finds a naked boy in a daughter’s bed room, he hits the boy in the head with a pipe and chased the kid off. The boy had to ride home on his bike naked from what I gather.... Click Here
You’d think when the sheriff arrived he would have thanked the man for being a good father and protecting his family from a possible intruder. The deputy would have thought father was good enough to only hit the boy with a pipe and not kill the boy with a SIG 226 loaded with Federal Hydra Shock bullets like I would have done. Unfortunately, the sheriff arrested the father – crazy world we live in...
All of this brings me to my opinion piece. The funniest part of this story was not the story itself was the comments readers submitted. Click Here
My favorite was as from momx2 submitted on 9/15/2008 at 8:27am.
I take the boy wanting to date Jaedyn into my office where I have my Remington 870 on display.
“What’s your name boy?” I would ask with a condescending southern accent.
“Jimmy...” the boy would reply timidly.
Then I would grab a half empty box of 12 gauge shells (I’m torn between #10 birdshot or just using buckshot – I’m leaning towards buckshot). I would pull out a black Sharpie marker and write the boy’s name on the side of a shell. Then I would set the shell on the shelf with all the other shells with other boy’s names on them.
There would be shells with names like Jake, Tim, John, Pepe... Just to make the poor boy wonder I would make sure two or three of the shells are spent.
Now you may ask if I am going to do this for my son Andrew? When girls come over to date my boy will you do the same thing? The answer is no. I would hope the fathers of the girls Andrew dates will find their own method of instilling fear.
You’d think when the sheriff arrived he would have thanked the man for being a good father and protecting his family from a possible intruder. The deputy would have thought father was good enough to only hit the boy with a pipe and not kill the boy with a SIG 226 loaded with Federal Hydra Shock bullets like I would have done. Unfortunately, the sheriff arrested the father – crazy world we live in...
All of this brings me to my opinion piece. The funniest part of this story was not the story itself was the comments readers submitted. Click Here
My favorite was as from momx2 submitted on 9/15/2008 at 8:27am.
My dad on his first meeting with my first boy friend came to the door with his double barrel and shells ask the boy his name wrote his name on the shells loaded the gun and sat it beside the back door The date never made it past the driveway we sat in his car for 30 minutes and that was that with my dad on the porch watching. We never went out again. If he had found a guy in my bedroom I believe he would have done much worse. As a mom I look back and thank God my dad was as protective as he was. This father should be given a pat on the back and a job well done.This is a great idea! I totally plan on doing this when Jaedyn starts dating. In fact, I’m going to clear a shelf in my office for 12 gauge shells with boys names on them. I can envision the conversation going something like this...
I take the boy wanting to date Jaedyn into my office where I have my Remington 870 on display.
“What’s your name boy?” I would ask with a condescending southern accent.
“Jimmy...” the boy would reply timidly.
Then I would grab a half empty box of 12 gauge shells (I’m torn between #10 birdshot or just using buckshot – I’m leaning towards buckshot). I would pull out a black Sharpie marker and write the boy’s name on the side of a shell. Then I would set the shell on the shelf with all the other shells with other boy’s names on them.
There would be shells with names like Jake, Tim, John, Pepe... Just to make the poor boy wonder I would make sure two or three of the shells are spent.
Now you may ask if I am going to do this for my son Andrew? When girls come over to date my boy will you do the same thing? The answer is no. I would hope the fathers of the girls Andrew dates will find their own method of instilling fear.
143 Days
A good friend of mine sent this to me in an e-mail so I don't know who to credit this to but I thought it was worth adding to my blog. My own comments are at the end.
Obama, love ya man, but you're running against John McCain. Frankly, your 143 days of 'experience' as a Senator isn't even in the same parkinglot let alone the same ballpark as McCain's 20+ years of experience. All the hours and days of service Obama has being a 'community organizer' don't even hold a candle when compaired to McCain's service to our country.
143 DaysI love how our democrat friends have lost sight of who they are running against. They will complain Shara Palin doesn't have any experience. I hate to say this but OBAMA's NOT RUNNING AGAINST PALIN!
You couldn't get a job at McDonalds and become district manager after 143 days of experience.
You couldn't become chief of surgery after 143 days of experience of being a surgeon.
You couldn't get a job as a teacher and be the superintendent after 143 days of experience.
You couldn't join the military and become a colonel after a 143 days of experience.
You couldn't get a job as a reporter and become the nightly news anchor after 143 days of experience.
BUT....
From the time Barack Obama was sworn in as a United State Senator,to the time he announced he was forming a Presidential exploratory committee,he logged 143 days of experience in the Senate. That's how many days the Senate was actually in session and working. After 143 days of work experience, Obama believed he was ready to be Commander In Chief, Leader of the Free World .... 143 days.
We all have to start somewhere. The senate is a good start, but after 143 days, that's all it is - a start.
AND, strangely, a large sector of the American public is okay with this and campaigning for him. We wouldn't accept this in our own line of work, yet some are okay with this for the President of the United States of America ?
Come on folks, we are not voting for the next American Idol!
Please, please forward this before it's too late!!!!
Obama, love ya man, but you're running against John McCain. Frankly, your 143 days of 'experience' as a Senator isn't even in the same parkinglot let alone the same ballpark as McCain's 20+ years of experience. All the hours and days of service Obama has being a 'community organizer' don't even hold a candle when compaired to McCain's service to our country.
Friday, September 12, 2008
On another note...
I don't know why but I find this kinda funny. The breaking news headline on msNBC was Flee or Face Certain Death. I guess there's no ambiguity here. Yet another reason I live in Arizona.
People in Arizona don't have to worry about natural disasters. Mainly it's because we are more righteous in AZ than the rest of the country. The other reason is when god sends us a hurricane we have these things called "mountains" and "deserts" that deflect and suck the life out of any real storm that comes our way.
If you are living in a city on the coast in hurricane alley and you are 20 feet below sea level, you are going to get hit sometime or another. Don't blame the government!
Opinion: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome or Safari
This may sound crazy but I don’t think most people even know what a browser is... I talk to educated financial advisors all the time. Often I will ask them what browser they are using and they have no idea what I’m talking about. Let me explain:
The browser is the application in which you view the internet. Your internet service provider is the company that gets you connected to the internet. Your operating system is a set of drivers and applications that allows you to interact with your computer.
Every computer user should be able to answer the following questions. If you can’t answer these questions then you ought not be using a computer. In other words “slowly, step away from the computer...”
Questions:
• Who makes my computer? Mac, Dell, HP, Gateway, Sony or whatever
• What operating system am I running? Windows, Linux or Mac
• What version of my operating system am I running? Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP or Vista. Mac Leopard or Tiger or whatever.
• Who is my internet service provider? AOL, Cox, AT&T or whatever
• How fast am I connected to the internet? Very fast, fast or (like my parents) dial-up.
• What browser do I use? IE, Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Opera or whatever
Maybe it’s just a guy thing. If you were to ask me point blank what kind of vehicle I drive I would be able to tell you the make, model, year, size of engine...
All of this brings me to my opinion on browsers. I have used many browsers in my life and no browser is completely perfect. There are many features I like in IE7 (internet explorer version 7) and Firefox. Google’s new browser Chrome looks great in Vista, I like the Google Gears functionality and the ability to create application shortcuts using Chrome. Chrome still isn’t quite there yet for me. Safari on my iPod Touch or on an iPhone is amazing but Safari on a PC and even on a Mac is a joke.
I still keep coming back to Firefox 3. Believe it or not the one thing that consistently keeps bringing me back to Firefox is the pull down folders. Let me try to explain... In Firefox I have a custom toolbar with all my shortcuts. I have my shortcuts in folders. When I click to open a folder on my toolbar it opens and then all the other folders will open as I move my mouse over them. This works just like menu items do. You click on File and it open then you move over to Edit and it opens automatically. In every other browser you have to click on the folder each time you want to see the bookmarks in the folder. I hope this makes sense. I know this is a small thing but it’s the small things that make all the difference.
Firefox has many can be customized with hundreds of themes and plug-in’s. I would caution anyone who is using themes and plug-ins to keep them to a minimum. The more of these you load into Firefox the more buggy it becomes.
The browser is the application in which you view the internet. Your internet service provider is the company that gets you connected to the internet. Your operating system is a set of drivers and applications that allows you to interact with your computer.
Every computer user should be able to answer the following questions. If you can’t answer these questions then you ought not be using a computer. In other words “slowly, step away from the computer...”
Questions:
• Who makes my computer? Mac, Dell, HP, Gateway, Sony or whatever
• What operating system am I running? Windows, Linux or Mac
• What version of my operating system am I running? Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP or Vista. Mac Leopard or Tiger or whatever.
• Who is my internet service provider? AOL, Cox, AT&T or whatever
• How fast am I connected to the internet? Very fast, fast or (like my parents) dial-up.
• What browser do I use? IE, Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Opera or whatever
Maybe it’s just a guy thing. If you were to ask me point blank what kind of vehicle I drive I would be able to tell you the make, model, year, size of engine...
All of this brings me to my opinion on browsers. I have used many browsers in my life and no browser is completely perfect. There are many features I like in IE7 (internet explorer version 7) and Firefox. Google’s new browser Chrome looks great in Vista, I like the Google Gears functionality and the ability to create application shortcuts using Chrome. Chrome still isn’t quite there yet for me. Safari on my iPod Touch or on an iPhone is amazing but Safari on a PC and even on a Mac is a joke.
I still keep coming back to Firefox 3. Believe it or not the one thing that consistently keeps bringing me back to Firefox is the pull down folders. Let me try to explain... In Firefox I have a custom toolbar with all my shortcuts. I have my shortcuts in folders. When I click to open a folder on my toolbar it opens and then all the other folders will open as I move my mouse over them. This works just like menu items do. You click on File and it open then you move over to Edit and it opens automatically. In every other browser you have to click on the folder each time you want to see the bookmarks in the folder. I hope this makes sense. I know this is a small thing but it’s the small things that make all the difference.
Firefox has many can be customized with hundreds of themes and plug-in’s. I would caution anyone who is using themes and plug-ins to keep them to a minimum. The more of these you load into Firefox the more buggy it becomes.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
The Red Setter Inn
Mela and I have been married for 6 years! To celebrate our anniversary we spent a few days at the Red Setter Inn in Greer Arizona. It was positively beautiful, relaxing and just nice.
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