9:45 :

Finally made it through security at PDX. That has to be the longest it's taken me to get through security here at PDX. It was shorter at Christmas & Thanksgiving even! Maybe it's just the flight time...

Currently looks like the flight is on time, and everything has been confirmed. So, all set to take off! (well, except the airplane isn't here yet, and isn't supposed to be here for another hour and a half)

Bit of background for those not-in-the-know: CGI makes software products for insurance companies (they do other things too), specifically a product called Ratabase. We use it at work to do, well, worker's compensation insurance rating. CGI is having a conference on their rating & other products in Tucson, AZ from March 30 - April 2. And I'm going to be there.

But first I'm flying into Phoenix and visiting my grandparents in Apache Junction. Which should now happen in ~1.5 hours.

6:00 :

Plane landed fine, took wrong shuttle to rental cars & ended up in the west parking lot. Took shuttle back to terminal, got on correct shuttle to rental cars. Got rental car, got talked into taking a full size car (hopefully that wont cause any problems on the expense reporting). Picked a 2009 Nissan Altima because, well, it was brand new. And I think the car looks good. After having driven it, don't really care for it too much. I mean, it's not a terrible car, but I think there are definitely better cars in its class available. Or at least, there were available 9 years ago when my Stratus came out ;).

Got to my grandparent's trailer in Apache Junction & have had fun just hanging out with them.

(note: not actually posted at 4:00 Saturday because of no Internet connection).

Here are the pictures from the trip down to Sisters, OR (via 242...fun drive there).

Lake created by Foster Dam (near Sweet Home, OR)

I think this was on U.S. 20, somewhere in the Willamette National Forest. Lots of corners on the drive (well, after getting off I-5 at least).

Gaining elevation somewhere on U.S. 20 or Oregon 126.

The road was snowy in September. There's a reason 242 is a seasonal road.

On 242, going up to McKenzie Pass. I think this is Belknap Crater (based off of this map; I'll have to go back and get a picture of the legend thing at the Observatory). Lava fields it the foreground though.

Dee Wright Observatory. Blends in with the terrain pretty well. Somewhat drafty & damp though.

Mount Jefferson towards the left? Hopefully it wont be so cloudy when I go back and get more pictures & figure out what everything is. Again, more lava fields in the foreground. The lava fields make it a very weird place; feels very harsh & desolate.

McKenzie Pass! I continued on to Sisters before turning back. It's not that far to Sisters, but you lose all that elevation on the way. Which made that part of the drive even more fun!

Going down...switchbacks on 242. On the western side of 242 the road snakes its way up & down the sides of mountains this way.

Now playing: Christine Fellows – Paper Anniversary – 08 Souvenirs

Back in the fall I drove around Oregon a bit. Headed out to the Columbia River Gorge; headed down I-5 to US20 to Oregon 126 & 242. It was fun just to drive on some of those roads, but I also stopped and took a few pictures. So, here's a set of 6 from the Gorge.

When driving through the gorge on the Oregon side of the Columbia River, the old highway (US30) provides a much more scenic route than I-84. The nearest point of interest to Portland is Crown Point. The above picture is the view to the west from Crown Point.

The view to the east from Crown Point. You can see I-84 on the gorge floor, heading up the gorge towards Hood River & The Dalles.

The Vista House at Crown Point. The view pictures were taken from the second floor balcony.

Continuing on US30, there are a number of waterfalls with view points & parks that can be stopped at. Since the road goes along the side of the gorge, there are inevitably bridges & viaducts in places along the route.

Latourell Falls, one of the many waterfalls in the Gorge.

Another shot of Latourell Falls, this time from higher up on the walking path. I ended up walking all the way to the top and a ways along the creek that causes the falls.

Now playing: Lightning Dust – Lightning Dust – 01 Listened On

Sorry for a bit more downtime (well, 13 minutes to be more precise). Switched the site over to the release version of Windows Server 2008 (Windows Web Server 2008 x86).

Overall, pretty painless...just install Windows, install the Web Server role, enable a bunch of Role Services, then add a few Features (like Windows PowerShell). Finally, install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP1 & do a minimal amount of configuration using the Central Admin tool. Create a dummy site, then go over to the existing standalone server, change my internal DNS settings, kick off the site backup, and then kick off the site restore on the new server. By the time the DNS changes had replicated, everything was done.

Except I forgot the HTTP SPN again, and so had to set that and change the ISA configuration to point to sharepoint4 instead of sharepoint3. Oh, and I fixed the SSL stuff, so https://www.ntldr.com/ will now work (assuming you've installed & trust my root CA).

Now playing: Pete Samples – Yours Makes Mine – 04 Between Exhales

So, apparently I'm getting static IP's, and providing WiFi access to my neighbours now. So this site will be going down on the 22nd (2008-01-22) and should be back up whenever I complete the order with Qwest. Changeover from MSN to Qwest.net for my ISP will happen on 2008-01-25, and after that the static IP's come directly into play.

Also, I'll be getting a new HP ProCurve switch. And I bought a Zune at the beginning of the month, and have been loving it. And I bought 2 750GB Western Digital hard drives, only to have one of them DOA. Which means I need to ship it back at my expense. Bleh. Too many changes. But at least all these changes have been reviewed, approved, and are certified to help move towards the desired future-state.*

 

* Feel free to interpret this sentence as a cry for help to become free of Corporate life.

Now playing: Brandi Carlile – The Story – My Song

Pittock Acres Park, Portland, OR : Looking north-ish

Pittock Acres Park, Portland, OR : Looking east-ish out over downtown Portland. Mount Hood is visible in the background.

Pittock Acres Park, Portland, OR : Pittock Mansion itself. As can probably be inferred from all the windows, this is the side of the building with the good view.

 

Washington Park, Portland, OR : Roses in the International Rose Test Garden.

Washington Park, Portland, OR : More roses in the International Rose Test Garden.

 

Washington Park, Portland, OR : Statue of Sacajawea near the main entrance.

Washington Park, Portland, OR : Reservoir #3 (? - I'll double check that the next time I'm up there). That green colour makes me glad its not used to supply Portland's water anymore.

Washington Park, Portland, OR : Fountain near the statue & reservoir.

Now playing: Brandi Carlile – Brandi Carlile – Fall Apart Again

Microsoft released new Zunes on Tuesday. They also updated the Zune desktop software to v.2.0 (or something…in any case, it's the second version users can install). I switched over to having a Zune Pass when Urge went away and switched over to being Rhapsody. So I've used the "old" Zune software. And I got forcibly upgraded to the new software on Tuesday.

I had been planning on using this opportunity to do another MP3 player review like I did with my iPod a few months ago. Unfortunately, I don't actually have a Zune, I just use the software. So the best I can do is a review of the Zune desktop software.

...

...

...

Okay, screw it, this software is just a big pile of crap. I couldn't be bothered to do a review of iTunes, and it looks like this is WORSE than iTunes, so I really can't be bothered to review Zune. At least iTunes sat there and picked up my library correctly, even if it did have to spend days converting the songs to its own format.

...

...

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Okay, I've used it a bit more, and I just can't resist complaining about it. Zune:

• Gets the wrong album art for the wrong albums (Creedence Clearwater Revival's Chronicles is not Delerium's Chimera!)
• Puts the wrong songs under an album (Emm Gryner's Public is actually an album…with, you know, SONGS, and her album PVT IS NOT 'Emiliana Torrini: the complete collection'!)
• Decides I want to see "File Not Found" errors when I try to play Disc 2 of a 2 disc album
• Assumes I LOVE a song just because I gave it 3 stars
• Shit files all over my library (instead of, you know, embedding the album art…or picking up the WMP art)
• Downloaded ~5GB of podcasts that I already had in the Podcast folder…after telling it to use the existing files
• Doesn't let me view what's playing (am I the only one who likes being able to see what's currently playing, what just played, and what's queued up?)
• Doesn't look like a Windows App (white on Vista…hurray, matching color schemes!) (this would be forgivable if WMP hadn't adopted a new Windows Vista look)

 

I apologize to any iTunes lovers who were offended by my reviewing Zune (worse than iTunes) when I couldn't be bothered to review iTunes (better than Zune) because I thought it was so bad.

Now playing: KT Tunstall – Eye To The Telescope – Other Side Of The World (using Windows Media Player 11)

Part 1 of several? : The announcement

So, Thanksgiving (in the US) is coming up soon. And I'll be flying back to Indiana on Saturday (2007-11-17). And I'll be back in West Lafayette & around Purdue for a week. If anyone wants to hang out/meet up/have lunch/etc., feel free to contact me. If you're my Friend on Facebook, you can grab my cell # (yes, it's changed since I moved across the country) off my profile there; otherwise, email should work.

Now playing: KT Tunstall – Drastic Fantastic – Someday Soon

The rainy season came to Portland on Friday, and it looks like it's here to stay for a bit. So here are some bright, sunny pictures from around the 4th of July ☺.

The main entrance to Washington Park. In this view, you're looking OUT of the park.

The main entrance to Washington Park again, only this time in front of the column, again facing out of the park. I'm on the first floor of the orange apartment building that can be glimpsed between the trees & the white/gray Vista/St. Claire building, down towards the bottom of the hill.

I didn't take this one (you can tell because it's at a MUCH higher resolution than what my poor camera can support), but my sister did. And I was the one driving the car to get us to this point, so I kind of at least played a part in taking it... Anyway, this was at a viewpoint on US 101 on the Oregon Coast. Sorry I can't be any more specific than that.

Now playing: Emm Gryner – Public – Hello Aquarius