An IKEA store just opened here in Portland (on Wednesday, actually). No, I haven't been out there yet. Waaaay too many people & too big of crowds to make it worthwhile.

But here's an IKEA related link anyway: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/07/28/ikea_opens_free_host.html (gotta love Boing Boing sometimes).

So, I neglected posting pictures (or anything) for a bit. So here's a big batch to make up for it. These are the rest of the series of pictures taken during the Rose Festival weekend in Portland. I have a couple more images from that weekend that were taken outside the city that will be posted back on the regular schedule (hopefully...but I kind of doubt it since my posting pattern seems to be "long silence, then tons of stuff").

USS Bunker Hill & USS Mobile Bay, Willamette River, Portland, Oregon (again)

Yes, they were all real Navy ships, so they had tight security, like the orange net thingy & armed patrol vessels circling.

DDG-83, USS Howard

Steel Bridge, across the Willamette River, Portland, Oregon

Now Playing: Stars - Heart - 09 Look Up

Amusing link (I was just going to IM people, but I think more than just a contact or two will enjoy this):

So, the final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows leaked to the Internet on Tuesday. Some vile librarian/page/clerk/tech services person/CIA agent (not MI-5, the copy was definitely an Americanized one) just couldn't keep a secret. And for that I'm thankful!

So, on the whole was it good? Did Harry die? Was Voldemort defeated?

Well, you wont get spoilers from me. Even though I could give them, since I've finished the book…but I wont be that cruel. Although, I will say that a bunch of people are in for some surprises, based off the comments & predictions I've seen/heard elsewhere.

On the whole, yes, the book was good. The beginning started off fast, then slowed up for a while, until the second half where it really picked up again. The body count was somewhat high, and I'm sure some people will complain about that, but this IS the penultimate battle of a seven book series. I'm sure some people will be surprised by parts of the ending, but in hindsight everything has been setup over the course of the series. And I think the ending suited the novel.

So, very (very) brief review, and I'll recommend reading it. I know I'll be heading out to an actual bookstore tomorrow to get a legit copy…

Now playing: Emm Gryner – Summer of High Hopes – Almighty Love

So, back to the regularly (semi-) scheduled image posting:

USS Bunker Hill & USS Mobile Bay, Portland Rose Festival, 2007.

Now playing: Stars - Set Yourself On Fire - Celebration Guns

Three Canadian Coast Guard vessels were at the Rose Festival. So naturally I had to take a picture, just to spite Emil.

I was actually surprised to see them there; I didn't realize the Rose Festival was that big of a deal.

As always, you can click on the image to open the full size version. This is the last in the series of pictures from the rooftop of my apartment building. Later this week I'll post the first from the set I took during the Portland Rose Festival.

Now Playing: Emm Gryner - Summer of High Hopes - Black-Eyed Blue Sky

Well, I think of it as old news by now, but apparently most of the people I know weren't paying much attention to it, so here's a link to Microsoft Surface. Go check it out; it's seriously cool and neat and probably way too expensive for me to even consider getting.

New beta versions of Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Messenger, and Windows Live Writer were released this week.  This post has actually been written using WLW, so we'll see if it actually shows up on the site... So far I like all the products, but don't really notice any big functional advances in the WLM and WLM products (okay, so now I guess I wont be able to refer to Windows Live Messenger as "WLM" anymore). WLW added SharePoint support, and overall seems to be a bit nicer than using Word 2007 to blog with.

I finally got the new video card yesterday. It's passively cooled, so no annoying fan noise, but it screwed up airflow in the case. The temperatures here in Portland have been rather warm lately, so heat + no more airflow = components overheating. Which meant I had to plug the case fan back in, thus making the computer noisy again. It's still quieter than the system + old video card were, and I've got DirectX 10 support now (even if the GeForce 8600GT is slower than the previous generation 7600GT I had in there before), so I'm calling it a win.

Just two more days until I start my new job...time to start getting nervous!