C. Garison

Back to the Basics - The EOS Digital Rebel XT

2011-04-26T19:26:00.000-07:00

Canon introduced the Digital Rebel in 2003 and revolutionized the world of digital SLR cameras with the model when it retailed for just under $1,000.00. What really shocked the camera critics was the fact that lightning did indeed strike twice when Canon released the totally redesigend second generation of the Digital Rebel line, the Rebel XT. With an 8MP sensor, it was a serious competitor of the EOS 20D and with the price around a grand as well, This camera could actually serve as a "disposable" DSLR for professional photographers to take into areas that they did not want to risk their more expensive gear.

I picked up my Digital Rebel XT in March 2005 and I have been impressed by what this little camera can do ever since. Even 6 years later, this camera (with the very inexpensive kit lens) continues to take great photos that compete on the level of my 5D (Classic and Mark II) bodies. For this reason, I selected this camera for the project to showcase the ability of entry level DSLRs.

Here is a summary of some of the Digital Rebel XT features:

Eight megapixel CMOS sensor

DIGIC II image processor

Instant power-on time, faster shutter release, shorter blackout time

Continuous shooting speed increased (3.0 fps)

Buffer increased (14 JPEG frames)

Image processing time decreased (thanks to DIGIC II)

Small, light weight body

Re-designed control layout (drive mode button, new metering mode & AF buttons)

Metal mode dial

Harder rubber finish on hand grip

Smaller and lighter NB-2LH battery (same as PowerShot S60 / S70)

Flash pop-up slightly higher than Digital Rebel (just 5 mm)

E-TTL II flash

Nine custom functions

Customizable SET button

Control noise reduction

Flash sync speed in Av mode

Shutter button / AE button

AF-assist beam control

Selectable 0.3 or 0.5 EV exposure steps

Mirror lock-up

E-TTL II mode

Flash shutter curtain sync (1st or 2nd)

Selectable Metering mode

Selectable AF mode

Flash exposure compensation

Independently selectable color space

Two preset and three custom image parameter sets, B&W mode (same as EOS 20D)

So as you can see, it was a pretty easy pick to select the Rebel XT as it was several hundred dollars cheaper than the 20D and had a better feature set than the competing Nikon D70. Plus with the feature set included in this camera, it was an easy step up to the bigger offerings from Canon like the 5D.

Still today, this camera is a great bargain with the used kit packages selling for $400.00 prox. For the first time DSLR user, this is a perfect camera to begin learning the basics of photography. Add to the equation that this is also a Canon body that is compatible with the complete lin of EF and EF-S lenses, then you have a real bargain for a starter camera that will grow as far as you want to take it. This may not be the best Canon camera ever made, but it is on the list of memorable models that put Canon at the top of the pack in the now highly competitive DSLR camera category.

New Project Now That Spring is in the Air

2011-04-24T06:49:00.001-07:00

Spring is in the air and may I never have the pain of ending winter with a broken wrist from falling on ice. It took four weeks of being trapped in the house to heal and another two weeks of modified work with a cast, but two months later, I can move my wrist without too much pain.

So with that disclaimer out of the way, I am back and ready to roll on a new photography mission this year. My goal is extend my knowledge of photography and also explain more about what I learn in this blog to make others a better photographers as well. "Back to Basics" is a project where I am going to hit my favorite photography spots with my first DSLR, the Canon Rebel XT Kit.

The purpose is to demonstrate the power of these little Rebel series cameras (even this 6 year old, second generation Rebel DSLR from the lineup) if you us the creative mode and not the fully automatic settings. I will work through how to set the camera and explain the accessories used in each shot.

The one accessory that I recommend is good tripod with a easily manipulatible head. Many stores like Best Buy and Ritz Camera carry a selection of tripods that are perfectly sized for the smaller kits from Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Olympus, etc. so it is not necessary to spend as much money as I have on my tripod legs and ball-head to support the weight of my 5D and EF 70-200mm F/2.8 L IS lens. But in later features, I will showcase where better features on tripods come to be a benefit in shooting.

So this is where it begins. I will document my settings and show the camera setup to pull the images that I display. I will also describe my post processing, but the final post processing edit will have to be up to the photographer taking the image. Over the years, I have developed a taste for vivid colors and HDR that may not be appropriate for all DSLR shooters. But the concepts on how to capture the base image will be the same.

Deciding to Stick with Sandy Bridge

2011-02-13T09:59:00.000-08:00

One of the hardest decisions to make is to stick with something after it has been recalled by the manufacturer. Do I still want to purchase a Toyota automobile after the throttle sticking during acceleration last fall? What about Chevy trucks after their side saddle gas tanks were deemed a fire hazard. Or even continue to use my Ford panther daily driver even though it also is considered a fire hazard in a certain type of collision. And such was the decision that I made to keep my Sandy Bridge based parts despite having the recall from Intel for a bad SATA II (3.0Gb/s) controller. It took many hours of work and trouble to determine that the machine I built would be worth effort and I would not be severely impacted by the choice.

I need to reference the most comprehensive article on the web as to the nature of the Sandy Bridge issue and what it means for the people that own this product. Special thanks needs to go out to Ryan Shrout for compiling the most informative source on the web as the news was breaking on January 31st. http://www.pcper.com/comments.php?nid=9694 Other articles of note are also available on PC Perspective regarding the situation with the Chipsets and what is happening throughout the tech world to either solve the problem permanently or work around bug to keep the parts in the stream without customer impact.

So my new Sandy Bridge Beast has been built and I have to say that I have learned a few lessons along the way about everything from setting the bios to the effectiveness of CPU coolers when testing systems for reliability. In the end, it is an extremely fast PC that dramatically speeds up my photography workflow and I have high hopes that the 8 threads of overclocked calculating goodness will make quick work of pivot tables that are slicing and dicing a million lines of raw data for statistical research. When not running full bore, the system does seem to be on the radical side of overkill to type a blog post or read my Facebook feed. But when comparing this to other items that I own, do I not need 300 Ft/Lb lightly modified torque monster under the hood of my daily driver when I rarely run Milo at any level to take advantage of all those ponies and torques? Do I need a 21.1 megapixel full frame camera when my 12 megapixel 5D is just as capable of taking a stunning photograph? The resounding answer to all of these questions is a resounding "Yes!"

The building of a new "Monster" PC

2011-01-29T13:41:00.000-08:00

In December 2007, I began the project to build a new PC out of the ashes my old Gateway GM5266E which lasted 10 months. I wasted the majority of November trying to find which piece was bad, but after having checked all the parts that are bolted to the motherboard, I came to the conclusion it was time to walk away from the corpse and as start stripping the case for parts because the obvious part that has failed in the motherboard.

The first part of my journey to build a new PC was to determine the cause of the failure. At the time, the obvious culprit was the weak power supply that came with the kit which was not capable of sustaining the operation of the PC after I added a second hard drive and doubled the RAM to 4GB. Also, the heat that was generated by the system could not have been good for the health of the PC. Pretty much, it is obvious that one has a problem when the heat coming out of the back exhaust fan was so hot that it was uncomfortable to hold your hand in front of it for any amount of time. So, I think I had a basis to begin looking for parts.

The foundation of the PC now known as Monster was a new Asus P5K motherboard with the leftover RAM, CPU, hard drives, etc. from my old Gateway. To hold this new MoBo, I selected an Antec Nine Hundred case because it had way too many fans to make sure the computer stayed cool under the most stressful of load. I selected a CoolerMaster 500W power supply for a good level of clean power and modest price. Finally, I tossed a ThermalTake CPU cooler on top of this as I felt this would be best to keep the CPU cool.

As time passed, I added more stuff to the PC including a new ATI 2600 series video card with 512 MB of RAM, a new ATI TV Wonder Tuner, and even a new Core2Quad Q6660 CPU running 2.4 GHz. Eventually, it was upgraded to 8GB of RAM and is sporting 5 TB of hard drive space. In all, a pretty good system that can keep up with the Jones while surfing the web.

Now it is time to move on and build another machine of even better caliber. The goal is to attempt to double every specification (except HD space) that I can with the new system. More of everything is the rule and the goal is to do as much as possible in a single big bang. Plus, I want the cabling to be neat as the always visible parts of Monster looks pretty ratty. I think with the technology offerings that have hit the market in the last 3 years, I can find plenty of gear to generate the amount of performance game that I need to justify the purchase of this much gear. Short of the introduction of Sandy Bridge, the bang for the buck factor never equaled the outlay of cash needed to make the upgrades. So now I have revealed the secret ingredient to the new PC build.

Still Cleaning out 2010 to Prepare for 2011

2011-01-09T19:43:00.000-08:00

More times than not, it is common to throw out and clean up the year before the beginning of the new year. I guess this means that I am not normal, but there are more than a few that already know that fact.

I am hoping that the last of my projects associated with implementation of the new system at work have wrapped themselves and I can seal up some other things that are hanging on right now. Then I can clean up the pile of gear in the floor so I can focus on some new projects in February.

My first goal for the year is to attempt to build a DSLR remote from netbook to aid in my HDR photography. I love the controls and capability of my Canon 5D Mark II, but they could work much better and be a bit more user friendly. Then their is the the Promote camera remote, but it is so manual that I might as well be shooting with my AE-1. Actually, the Promote is more backwards than my AE-1 because it does use any of the automatic features such as auto-focus and light metering. As a response, I am going to make my own version of the promote using equipment around the house and either the Canon software or maybe another program. Once I get a direction on this project, I will write up my findings and results.

Until then, it is (looking around the office) time to get back to cleaning up from 2010. It is almost complete and one of my little netbooks is ready to get blown away in the name of photography experiments.

100% More Blogging in 2011 than 2010

2011-01-02T13:53:00.000-08:00

I have decided to keep my goals for 2011 in line with simple expectations as 2010 ended with much more work and much less time for me. With a marathon run of work for December, I have decided to keep my personal goals in check as post implementation work continues to drain time from my personal life.

This year, I hope to blog more about the joys of running Windows 7 64 bit and how to work around all those annoying situations where the system is still not fully compatible with the rest of the world. I want to get more into my photography habit and develop some new ways to shoot HDR and complete all the photos on the Hard drive that need finished. Finally, I would like to find more awesome free applications that can help computer user complete tasks without spending thousands on software.

And all the while, I am going to include observations and other notes of interest. Funny pictures, observations from the places I have visited, and snapshots of day to day life from my cell phone. Hang on... It will be a fun ride in 2011.

It's spring so back to blogging

2010-04-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

I find it really funny that my blogging seems to go on hiatus every fall. Maybe it is the fact that big changes take place in the autumn around my life. Maybe the holidays get in the way coupled with all the travel that is involved. Maybe it is the record snowfall that hit Philly this past year. Perhaps it was me going back to school and picking up my Master Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma. Whatever the cause, the class is over and I am back. Time to get back into blogging.

I let many great ideas whither, but I am not going to let them die. Time to dust of the innovations and kick this blog in gear.

I had to come home to see this.

2009-10-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

I can see many sights in Philly. The Liberty Bell, Boat House Row, the steps Rocky ran up at the art museum, Pat's and Geno's Steaks, and even the 2008 World Champion Phillies (NLCS Plug - Go Phils!), but I could only see this when I got back to my home in Ashland, KY.

Yes, that is an honest to goodness late 1990's Ford "Escort-achero" that I found less than a mile from my house. My girlfriend thought I was nuts when I saw the car and came unglued over the fact that I had found an "-Amino/-Chero conversion in the flesh. Maybe I have been too much of a fan of Jalopnik or perhaps I am a child of the 70's and 80's when the El Camino ruled my thoughts (especially the El Camino SS) and I always thought the concept of a car that had the utility of a truck was so neat.

I just wonder if this creation was brought to us by the fine folks that brought us the "El Camar-amino" that was featured on the web earlier this year. I did find this in the same county as the El Camar-amino and within 20 miles of where the Papa Johns Camaro was located.

Maybe.

Then Disaster Strikes!

2009-10-11T13:15:00.000-07:00

The biggest fear of anyone who uses a computer is that of a hard drive failure. I have had a few in the last few years and a couple of them have been big. In 2005, I had to purchase a program that would recover the boot sector of my hard drive and then I could recover my data and rebuild the computer. In 2006, another failure was much more easy to recover and I was able to get back up and running with an afternoon of work. Last year, the hard drive crashed on my company laptop which is encrypted and it took several days of running SpinRite to correct the errors on the drive before it was able to be recovered. But because this laptop belonged to my employer, I was not worried due to the fact that I back up to the network regularly and it was up to the wonderful techs to recover the drive while I moved on to another laptop.

This summer, I knew the primary drive on Monster was not in the healthiest of states (no snide remarks about Pennsylvania meant in that statement either.) I had planned on not using it as the primary hard drive as I upgraded to Windows 7 and pushed the hard drive to back up status outside of the PC using my eSATA interface. I was relieved when I had installed Windows 7 and migrated the majority of information to the other drives inside of monster. I had about 90% of the information backed up and migrated when I turned on the PC the other day and discovered that the disaster had occurred and the drive was not going start because the data stored on the boot sector was damaged beyond repair or was missing. I downloaded some recovery software and it failed to recover anything. I downloaded another program and again, same results and no data. After trying about five try before you buy programs I had limited success with those with on 1 actually pulling file names but could not recover any data. The rest of the products did not get that far.

Hmmm..... What to do now? I was not in a total jam, but two of the files that I could not recover were the taxes from this past spring for my mother and me. I really wanted those files back. I am glad most everything else was backed up on a MyBook or another external drive. What next?

So, I decided to purchase SpinRite and go against all my training on recovering a damaged hard drive. The first rule is to never wite back to a drive that cannot be read by a PC because it can cause further loss of data, but considering everything else had been a loss, what did I have to lose. So I Googled SpinRite and was directed to Gibson Research and I bought a copy. I burned an ISO to a bootable CD and prayed it would work.

After running SpinRite, I was not able to see the hard drive as a mountable device, but I did have success with the one tool that worked a little. Instead of just seeing the file name, I was able to recover the directory tree and see the files. Whew! SpinRite did the trick.

Now, this is not a recommendation of SpinRite as a data recovery tool because it is not a tool to recover data. But if nothing else will work and you are not going to send the drive out to a pricey data recovery company, then trying SpinRite might just be the trick to make everything work. But, I guess you would be better off running SpinRite more often and preventing the crash from beginning ion the first place. So, I have my tax files back and I have learned a lesson. Take care of your hard drive because even if it is not on the verge of a physical failure, the data on it may be corrupted and may cause a failure down the road.

The moral of the story... Back up your data all the time and don't worry about hard drive failure.

Free Essential: ScreenHunter 5.1

2009-10-04T18:23:00.000-07:00

I have to begin the Free Essential series with the one free program that has been the best staple that I have used for the last 4 years in my work as a consultant and business analyst. Wisdomsoft ScreenHunter has been a part of my PC's start menu since I began my second round of delivering setup and training documentation because of its many settings on window selection criteria.
As can be seen in my start menu, ScreenHunter 5.1 is on my Windows 7 system that I am using for this review. It is also installed on my work laptop (against the wishes of corporate IT), my spare desktop computer used as backup rig to my current system, my 4 year old and battle tested consulting laptop, and of course, the Intel Atom powered netbook aka Virtual PC. When launched, it takes a minimal amount of space in the memory so a computer with as little as a meg of ram runs fine without even knowing that it is in the background.

The interface when launched is quite intuitive. From the "From" menu, the single F6 hotkey works well for me, but at times I have needed to change it to a CRTL-ALT-F6 so ScreenHunter would not interfere with another application. Very rarely do I select the Full Screen option in the "Capture What" menu, but I often use the mouse pointer as a tool to point to a feature in the captured image.

Clicking the "To" Button displays another screen that allows the user to pick the type of screen capture image (gif, jpeg, and bmp), color and grayscale, and location to save the files. Just the stuff you need to get the job done.

Even the "Advanced" Button reveals a set of options in which the defaults work very well. Because I very, very rarely capture full screen, I do not use the Hide system tray icon feature although I do see a purpose for that. Although, hiding System Tray icon is not an issue in Windows 7 as the tray icon is not even present until the tray is expanded. As you can see by the image below, you have to click the expand arrow to see the hidden icons.

Once the menu is expanded, then the tray icon is visible.

So in short, that is a review of the most essential piece of free software that I use on a weekly basis. ScreenHunter 5.1 has not found paid option that works any better and I have yet to be convinced that SnagIt is a better option.

ScreenHunter can be downloaded from the WisdomSoft Website and be sure to select ScreenHunter 5.1 Free. If you have a convincing reason as to why to pay for one of the other options, please let me know and I will consider purchasing a better version, but after this many years of not being let down, I doubt if there is a feature that I need.

One side note does need to be made on ScreenHunter 5.1 for those that run more than on monitor and that is this program will only capture on the primary screen. I have tried to capture on the secondary screens on more than one occasions and quickly shifted my image to the proper screen and captured the image. With that being the only caveat, this program is an essential in my book.

New Series: My Free Essentials

2009-10-04T05:57:00.000-07:00

When you purchase that brand new PC, it is hard to figure out what software to purchase. The aisle at Best Buy with all the programs can be nauseating at best with all the options available for anti-virus, utilities, productivity, creativity, and other software options that do not fall easily into categories. So, I have decided to come up with a list of free essentials for the PC. These are programs that have served me well for many years in addition to wonderful discoveries that I make all the time.

So why purchase a PDF creator package when one is free? Why purchase a Mac for iPhoto when a PC clone is available for free? Anti Virus? Norton and McAfee, we don't need to spend $50.00 a year with the free options available today. Need to burn a CD or DVD but don't have the cash for Nero or Roxio? There is even an option for that which covers those who don't have Windows 7.

So stay tuned for this new series. And don't think I forgot that Windows 7 is less than 3 weeks from launch. I am ready for this event and Microsoft is also ready by revving up IT professionals around the nation at kickoff events that began this past Monday. Official previews of Server 2008 R2 , Exchange 2010, and Windows 7 were shown to registered audiences across the nation. It was a good time, but the apple in the boxed snack (it was lunch so include a sandwich) was a bad idea.

I Have Your Virtual PC Right Here.

2009-09-22T20:27:00.000-07:00

So all of this confusion over XP mode in Windows 7 has really made my head spin. Do I purchase a business class notebook for thousands of dollars or do I purchase a less than personal use laptop that will run Windows 7 but not in XP mode for hundreds of dollars and possible still breaking a grand on the setup if I go for my dream machine????

I have my big desktop PCs that can run Windows 7 w/XP Mode and they work just fine. I also want a very small PC to be my laptop and break away from my need to keep a desktop replacement notebook of choice and leverage it for blogging, uploading photos on the run and surfing the web while I am not at home. So how do I accomplish that without breaking my back and the bank at the same time? Well that would be a netbook.

The quest actually began with the desire to get a 13" MacBook or a Lenovo Thinkpad X200, but those two PCs are quite expensive and the Lenovo does not even include a DVD/CD drive. So the home market PC became the avenue of choice, but HP and Dell just did not have the combination of size and power that I wanted. The HP DV2 was as close as they came, but I was very uncertain of the AMD Neo Duo chip that does support virtualized PCs, but does not have the power to run multiple applications at once. Dell had a couple of options, but they had Intel processors that were unknown to me and for the money, I wanted a piece of hardware that had a bit of a track record.

Now, truth to be told, I really thought that the 12" screen was a bit big for what I wanted in my new mobile workstation. For that matter, I thought that the 11" netbooks that are all the rage would also be a bit big for what I wanted. So I started looking at the different stores and was trying to see what was available for the money that would fit the bill and suit my needs. The Intel Atom processor at 1.6 GHz was going to be enough to do what I needed considering its power level to PCs that I have owned in the past. The Intel 945 chipset for graphics was also going to be more than adequate because this computer is going to be frozen at the XP level for backward compatibility down the road. And the 10" screens was more than large enough to handle the work that I want to do on this PC. If I need a big screen for a big spreadsheet, I have a pair of 24" monitors that can handle that work on my desktop. For my portable work, I need as small as I can get. And battery life is not a "must", but it would be nice to get more than two hours out of the life of the battery.

The answer came when I found the Acer Aspire One netbook with an 8.9" screen. I was lucky enough to get hold of a model that had a 160GB hard drive, a Gig of ram that is upgradeable, and a few other features (like multi touch track pad) that were rather desirable for a PC that was under $250.00. In fact, even with the carrying case, it was still under that price. Not too shabby considering that this is enough power to run Office 2003, MapPoint with a GPS dongle, and connect to any Bluetooth device that I have with my USB dongle. To say the least, I am quite pleased.

Now, I don't have to worry about having virtualization as a process that is activated on my CPU because I have a tiny little virtual PC in my hands. I have to admit that the tiny keys are a bit tough to hit. Also, I had to remove a bunch of shovel ware include MS Office 2007 to get the little booger to not be too sluggish. I don't mind the extra weight of the 6 cell battery, but it added nearly a half inch to the thickness of the PC. And speaking of batteries, this netbook easily runs for 3.5 hours with most of the power saving features (like dim backlight and low power WiFi) disabled. Not a bad little computer. Most of all, coupling it with my 3G internet service makes it one of the best, most portable computing solutions that I have used.

Kudos to Acer for making the Aspire One a brilliant little computer. The screen is bright and crisp and the PC is rather fast for a micro machine. I am going to enjoy using this netbook for many years to come.

XP Mode: I Love You, I Love You, Not

2009-09-05T06:09:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest advantages of Windows 7 is that the Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise versions come with the ability to run Microsoft's XP Mode virtualization software. So, we get the best of all worlds. The Windows 7 desktop, Vista Kernal, and the ability to run legacy enterprise software like TCF programs that require IE 6.0.

My first attempt at installing the software was a blazing success. I was able to create a 512 MB Windows XP machine that could use all of the internet connections within my primary test PC and run legacy enterprise software without any of the bugs that were present with Vista and hiccups using IE7 or IE8. Brilliant!

So, lets continue on this success and see where things go with a little less powerful PC and less robust version of Windows 7 (32 bit). Then the pain of of the upgrade began to hit home.

Arrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!!!!

My first test was built around Monster PC which has an Intel Core2Quad Q6600 processor. Because this CPU was a "high end" processor in 2007 when I made the purchase, it supports virtualization. When I moved on to install on my backup box it would not work because I was running an E7200 Core2Quad CPU I purchased last summer for less than a hundred bucks which is considered an Intel entry level CPU which does not have the VT coding built into the CPU. So this means that my upgrade of SpareParts from a leftover E6400 processor (purchased in 2006 and supports VT) to the budget beater E7200 CPU (which is a Core2Quad CPU built with only 2 of the four cores present) I downgraded my CPU by upgrading in performance because of its placement in Intels CPU lineup at the time. I cannot say that I am mad, ticked, or any other means of angered, but I can imagine that IT pros are going to have a hard time trying to implement this technology in the enterprise where more times than we like to admit that budget constraints control the type of hardware that is purchased.

So where is this list of CPUs? Ed Bott did lots of research to put together a list of Intel CPUs and compatibility that can be found here. Page 2 has the desktop CPUs and Page 3 has Mobile processors.

Good luck with XP mode if you choose to make the adventure and may your CPU be compatible.

Windows 7 Rocks!

2009-08-30T05:40:00.001-07:00

Windows 7 has to be the best Windows yet. It is much faster than Vista (despite what the experts say). The install has to be the easiest of any Windows to date. And the look and feel is just much better than Vista. In fact, I have moved my taskbar and start menu to the top of the screen to have more of an Ubuntu feel than that of thoe traditional Windows feel.

The 64bit version appears to be the best with the least amount of issues with drivers and hardware. The 32bit is also good, but lacks the perfection found in 64 bit.

Memory: Windows 7 64 bit comes to life past 4 Gig of ram. Memory is relatively cheap so stock up and enjoy the pain free love of Windows 7. As far as 32bit Windows7, I have had no problems with my 2 Gig laptop.

Processor: Dual Core, Quad Core, Core i7????? I have found that Windows 7 runs just fine on and older 1.86 GHz Pentium M Centrino with an Intel 945 Graphics chipset. It does not have Aero, but Windows 7 does not need Aero to feel good.

Screen Size: Bigger is always better, but I am doing just fine with Windows 7 on 1366X768. Yea, 1280X800 is the sweet spot and my dual 1980X1200 24" monitors rock. But this OS works just fine with smaller screens.

Compatibility and Drivers: I have not found a piece of hardware that would not work with Windows 7. Printers, scanners, sound cards, video cards, all appear to work just fine. If the hardware worked on Vista, it will work on Windows 7.

So more is to come with the testing. I need to look into XP Compatibility mode and running Office 2003 in a virtual environment. After mixing 2007 and 2003 on the same PC for the last 2 year, that mistake will not be repeated.

How To Kill A Panther

2009-08-16T09:13:00.000-07:00

Think clunking a Grand Marquis is the only way to kill the car. This poor car driven by a thirty year old Philadelphia lady was severely smashed when it was driven into the Philadelpha Iquirer building at 4:oo am this morning. From the looks of the carnage, she must have been going at a pretty good clip to sustain that much damage to a body on frame hulk like the Grand Marquis.

From CBS3 Philly

What a Wreck!

2009-08-16T08:59:00.000-07:00

This is proof of the concept of lost in translation. Captured at the Woodward Dream Cruise this past weekend, this bike is proof that everything that can be done to a chopper is not necessarily the right thing to do. From the photo, the bike looks well made, but the question of why still persists.

From Autoblog

Miles 2.0 a.k.a. MILO

2009-08-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

I have owned Miles 2.0 now for 4 and a half months and have yet to post about the fine lad on my blog. Despite the problems that I had with the original Miles, my 2003 Mercury Grand Marquis, I had to put that aside and move up with the 2009 model when it was time to purchase a new car. I picked him up on the day before Easter and I have never been more thrilled with a car. Milo has a bit more "push" on the road than the other GrandMa on the highway, but that will be remedied with Ford HPP 21mm sway bar to be installed on the rear. Milo now has a bit more growl under the hood thanks to the addition of a P71 ziptube for the air intake. Plus, by the end of the year, it will have dual exhausts installed for a touch more high end ponies to compliment the 278lb. ft. of torque generated by the 4.6 liter V8. The car is truly a classy ride with its additional 1" height courtesy of the 17" wheels and the brakes are even bigger than the monsters that brought Miles to an easy stop from any speed. It is a model produced before mandatory stability program is required on cars so it is a bit fun to slide around the corners like any proper rear drive car. And as should be with every touring car, gas milage is a dream with a mixed city highway number around 22.5 MPG (if I drive with a soft foot.) But the neat feature is the trip computer that tells you when you are driving too hard so you can adjust you style to maximize efficiency.

Quite simply, this is the finest car I have ever owned. Hopefully, it will last as long and be as trouble free as my 1992 Jeep Cherokee a.k.a Murphy (March 14, 2002 - October 7, 2005 R.I.P.)

Preparing for Windows 7

2009-08-14T17:37:00.000-07:00

The preparations for Windows 7 continued tonight. I have a big project on the deck currently so I cannot tear into "Monster" until August 25th, but that does not mean that I cannot start prepping. I buzzed into MicroCenter in St. Davids, PA and picked up some essentials for the build. I grabbed an extra 4GB of ram bringing the total memory in the computer to 8GB and the primary hard is going to be increased from the 500GB unit purchased in December 2007 for a 1.5 TB, 7200 RPM drive with 32 MB of onboard cache. This should make Monster fast enough to handle everything in Windows 7 as compared to the struggles that I have had with 32bit Windows Vista Ultimate. The overall speed of the current configuration is not slow, but it definitely has moments of being sluggish when first booting the system and when launching media center. The widgets ate up much of the resources at startup and I have needed to disable them to make the computer usable in less than 4 minutes of starting the PC.

More inforamtion to come later on the overall build.

Almost time to throw out Vista

2009-08-14T12:13:00.000-07:00

Out with the old and in with the new. I must say that Vista, you have stayed around a little too long and have worn out the welcome.

Microsoft's operating system that was designed to be the system to topple the OS X migration of PC users and revolutionize how we use our PCs did not turn out as planned. The OS was released late after many delays in development. The hardware manufacturers were slow to develop new drivers for the OS. Next, businesses were staging a boycott of the system because they feared incompatibilities with existing Windows based systems.

In order to convince everyone that Vista was good, MS took the phased roll out approach and offered licensing to MSDN subscribers and businesses two months ahead of the consumer release. This worked a little but still users were afraid of the OS. And properly so because most hardware was not compatible. Issues with transferring large files plagued the OS. Most newer PC and the majority of laptops were not even capable of running Vista with the Aero interface and snappier looking graphics even if they had a Vista capable stickers on them. The problems for Microsoft did not get much better even with the release of SP1 and even SP2 . The operating system is still relatively slow and sluggish to react. The release of Internet Explorer 8 also was a bit of trouble of Microsoft because it was much slower than Firefox and Chrome.

Now, the phased rollout of Windows 7 is taking place and MSDN Subscribers, MS Partners, and Enterprise users are testing the OS to see if it has what it takes. From what has been seen so far, the results look promising. Some Mac fans and Google clones are talking some misinformation, but for the most part, things are looking pretty good. In the next few weeks, I too will begin the build of a Windows 7 PC and let all know how it goes. The anxiety is pretty great for the build that will begin in about 2 and a half weeks.

Until then, it is clearing out projects until I can get things ready to start the project.

Massacre at Washinton's HQ Valley Forge

2009-06-07T16:11:00.001-07:00

Washington's HQ
Originally uploaded by Garison C. Garison

The blog post sounds like a battle took place at the Washington HQ site at Valley Forge, but that is further than the truth. The Massacre the Washington's HQ was on the surroundings. The federal government decided to move the parking lot on top of the hill, re-route the foot traffic through the train station, and then take out the path and put in concrete sidewalks to Washington's HQ. The cute little fence seen in this photo is gone and the area has gone from historical site to "Tourist Trap" look/feel with areas for tour buses. It is a really sad site to see history reversed for the sake of tourism.

Although, I have to say I have always called Valley Forge National Park "made up history," but the use of concrete and asphalt to move the parking area really made this a sad day for me. I liked the old way of the Washington's HQ site without the guided ranger tours and the self paced way around the area.

More pictures of the old Washington's HQ can be found at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cgarison/sets/72157602317764838/

and at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cgarison/sets/72157602420958220/.

I hope to have photos of the disastrous landscaping in the next few weeks.

Pope2You

2009-05-24T09:28:00.000-07:00

Remember this.... It is now true. Details at http://www.pope2you.net

In an attempt to lure more young parishioners, the catholic church has launched new social media applications for Facebook, the iPhone, a social Wiki, and of course YouTube. This is in addition to associated podcasts on iTunes.

George Carlin is laughing and Kevin Smith is doing an "I told you so!"

Test Image From Flickr

2009-05-20T08:49:00.001-07:00

Vegas-7680
Originally uploaded by Garison C. Garison

I am trying out the Flickr to Blogger connection to push photos to my blog. Of course, I grabbed one of my favorite photos from Las Vegas as my push test, but this might just be the tool that I need to make everything link the way I want without having to maintain stuff on Picasa as well.

Here goes!

(Clicking post entry)

Jalopnik Recommendation: GM Registers Bankruptcy Web Site Ahead Of Bankruptcy

2009-05-18T07:20:00.001-07:00

From: Jalopnik has sent you a link to a post on Jalopnik:

Title: GM Registers Bankruptcy Web Site Ahead Of Bankruptcy
Link: http://jalopnik.com/5259260/gm-registers-bankruptcy-web-site-ahead-of-bankruptcy

From: Jalopnik says: Looks like GMs toast is almost done and the ding on the toaster is 15 days away.

Hang on to your skives. This trip may leave a skid mark or two.

C. Garison From the Web @Jalopnik.Com

It is everywhere

2009-05-18T06:33:00.000-07:00

I remember seeing a car that look like a rolling trash can many years ago in Ashland. Well, I know these people are all over the nation, but to my shock, the Honda Odessey rolling trash can in Wayne, PA really took the cake.

This appears to be the start of a recycling nightmare. Most of the trash appears to be recyclable and the back of the van was filled with boxes. Had the whole van been filled like the passenger sheet, the suspension would be trashed.

So now to find better sites to capture with my camera phone.

A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See Yours in Just 2 Easy Steps!

Hallburned

2009-05-17T19:55:00.000-07:00

Mark Hallburn has become a topic of discussion around some blogs and message boards.

Well, I will not kick a man when he is down, but I sure will light the path. Here is a link to the best of the battle.

http://www.girlofwords.com/?page_id=1579

And now I see the Girl of Words is fanning the flames.

http://www.girlofwords.com/?p=1694

This is going to be good.

Fun Picture

2009-05-17T07:52:00.000-07:00

I like taking pictures and now I am getting back into the swing of thing. This is one of my favorites. Glass is fun especially with lots of bokeh.

I need to try this photo in Lightroom 2.3 and see if I can make a better image. It should be pretty cool.

2009-05-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

Found this little item on the web. Some of these are more true. Some are less true.

As I've matured...

Author: unknown

As I've Matured...
I've learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is stalk them and hope they panic and give in.
I've learned that one good turn gets most of the blankets.
I've learned that no matter how much I care, some people are just jackasses.
I've learned that it takes years to build up trust, and it only takes suspicion, not proof, to destroy it.
I've learned that whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.
I've learned that you shouldn't compare yourself to others - they are more screwed up than you think.
I've learned that depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
I've learned that it is not what you wear; it is how you take it off.
I've learned that you can keep vomiting long after you think you're finished.
I've learned to not sweat the petty things, and not pet the sweaty things.
I've learned that ex's are like fungus, and keep coming back.
I've learned age is a very high price to pay for maturity.
I've learned that I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy it.
I've learned that we are responsible for what we do, unless we are celebrities.
I've learned that artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.
I've learned that 99% of the time when something isn't working in your house, one of your kids did it.
I've learned that there is a fine line between genius and insanity.
I've learned that the people you care most about in life are taken from you too soon and all the less important ones just never go away. And the real pains in the ass are permanent.

1 year later and just another post

2009-05-16T09:25:00.000-07:00

I have to learn to blog more. This is silly for me.

I still take lots of photos, fuss with Vista, now have ADP Enterprise and ADPR as tools I like to complain about that are used in my day to day work, but rarely mention them on the web.

Oh! I now have my Six Sigma Black Belt, and trade my white car for an almost identical new model, but this one is - - - Black.

Now my annual post is out of the way, lets go back to my other work.

Note to Self: Take fewer pictures.

2008-05-03T07:36:00.000-07:00

On of the biggest lessons learned about photography is take fewer pictures.

Now that I have better equipment, it is much easier to capture that perfect shot in one snap of the shutter. I guess the better lenses really make the difference in photography.

Current Kit:

Bodies:
Canon 5D
Canon 40D
Canon Rebel XT (Backup/Wide Angle)

Lenses:
EF 24-70mm L F/2.8 L USM
EF 70-200mm L F/2.8 L IS USM
EF-S 10-22mm F/3.5-5.6

Flashes:
EX580 Speedlite
EX580 II Speedlite

More about the kit later. The better the gear, the more confidence needed in the images taken. It has taken a while to learn this, but I am getting there.

Over 6 months since my last post...

2008-05-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe that my last blog post was on July 29th. Lots has changed while much more has stayed the same. I am in the process of launcing a new photography business with some neat twist to differentiate myself from the rest of the croweded field of photographers. I have thrown out Vista as a primary operating system on my PC due to issues around corrupted image files in both the RAW and JPG formats. I have expanded my photography equipment to where I am now shooting with a Canon 40D and a Canon 5D and lots of nice, fast L glass.

Much has changed, but the part that has stayed the same is me. Yep, same old Garison. Wish their was more to me, but not at this time.

The main thing is to continue to make regular blog updates. So once again I am thinking onward and upward so lets hope I can continue to make regular posts.

Digital Photography

2007-07-29T17:52:00.000-07:00

I have had my digital SLR now for 27 months now so I figured it was time I learned to get the most out of it by using some photo editing software. I found Picasa last year and it has taken me until now to take the plunge and learn how to use it. Vista is supposed to be more digital photo friendly, but I think that is a huge joke from the folks in Redmond that Vista is supposedly good. I have not seen a tool that is as quick or efficient as Picasa for the PC yet, but I have not tried the Photoshop suite of products including lightroom. Perhaps when I get more money from the possible sell of photos through some photo sites, I can move my photography hobby to the next level.

Speaking of photography, the picture on the left was taken while I was at L Winpaupack last weekend. I was very lucky because the paddle boat I was co-piloting nearly sank with my DSLR in my hands and my 28-200mm lens. The camera remained dry although my pants did get wet.

As far as life with Vista, everything is still in SNAFU mode but that is the way Microsoft must like it. I would like to say that SP1 for Vista cannot come soon enough, but I do not think that my Vista issue can be easily fixed with a service pack. I have not done anything extraordinary with the package, but I must say that things are as unstable as always. I just wish that Linux had a way to be more compatible with Windows applications so that I could run it with my Office programs. Even Ubuntu Feisty Fawn and its issues are better than the bugs floating through Vista.

Blame it on the City of Angels

2007-07-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

OK, I know it was nearly a month before a post. That is not good, but I can blame this on my trip prep for my visit to th L. A. Metro area at the end of March. I know it is hard to believe that my work comes first and my hobbies and blog come second, but that is the way things go in my life.

So here is a picture that I took from the front seat of my rental car at the entrance of the Staples Center. I also visited many beaches in addition to spending many hours at work and being totally messed by the time change.

Oh well, Time to get back to life as usual.

iPhone + iTunes 7.3: You are not a friend.

2007-07-07T08:05:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, I had decided to update my iPod after a long trip in which I had not refreshed my iPod and updated my Podcasts along with adjust my playlists and other things. Well, the autoupdate decided to push iTunes 7.3 on my Vista PC and obviously Apple did not thoroughly test this new application. The new hardware detection utility did not play well with Vista and it locked up my PC. It took me several hours of tinkering and uninstalling to eventually find the issue and downgrade my iTunes to 7.1. What a crock of crap.

I thought I was the only with the problem until I logged into ArsTechnica on Monday morning and found an article about the issues with iTunes 7.3 and Windows Vista. My biggest question is how my PC users bought what turned out to be a $700.00 paper weight instead of a Windows Vista capable device. I am growing much more disgusted with Apple and their lack of testing with Vista. It is not like this operating system has not been on the market now for 6 months. It is just frustrating.

BTW: Here is the link to the latest ArsTechnica Article: http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/07/03/itunes-7-3-throwing-up-unknown-errors-for-some

Work! Work! Work!

2007-06-07T04:21:00.000-07:00

It is amazing how a few tasks at the office can zap the life out of your after hours initiatives. That and a pretty intense interest in digital photography. With summer around the corner, I have been out and about shooting up a storm. I have a couple of thoughts on some place I would like to shoot and will perhaps take the time to walk around and get some pictures this weekend.

In the meantime, I have shifted my personal computer to running Vista 95% of the time. It handles all of my peripherals very well and does a fantastic job with Media Center using with my upgraded memory.

In the meantime, focus on spreadsheet development and SharePoint 2003 portal has moved to the forefront. It is going to be a fun few weeks.

Why do I love PCs?

2007-05-26T08:20:00.000-07:00

There comes a time in a man's life when he has to ask himself why he contiues to pursue a certain hobby. I enjoyed my Jeep TJ & XJ because they provided me with a way to be creative and pretend that I was an engineer. But the TJ was becoming too costly and I was not receiving much benefit from it Other than being an exceptionally small work truck.

So with my career moving back towards the realm of information systems, I once again have been working to learn as much as I can about Windows, Linux, and other system platforms. I have taught myself how to program and even created a few neat automations over the last couple of years. But I also have severely mucked up a computer beyond all recognition.

It started this morning when I decided to move from Vista the the XP partition on my desktop machine. All started out well until I launched XP and then Media Center and Firefox crashed. It messed up the orientation of my display and my wide screen monitor was in portrait mode. It took about 45 minute to recover windows and start backing things up.

I expect that the backups of all my data and file archives will take another two hours. Once done, it is time to blow away the partitions and start from scratch. Wow! what a way to spend a holiday weekend.

In all it should not take me more than today to get this done, but it is still going to be a royal pain. Maybe I will take something new away from this experience considering this is my first re-install of XP Media Center.

To WordPress or Not???

2007-05-25T13:28:00.000-07:00

It is the Friday prior to a holiday weekend and the concept of a weekend computer project is tempting me. Many are on the plate and among the items to look at are learning how to use MS Expressions Web, updating the department websites and portals at work, or setting up wordpress on my web address and seeing if I can move my blog from blogger. The word press thing would make life much easier, but I think that huge move is going to be the big loser for the time being. The winner of the above contest was not even listed in the short list above because writing a project plan for a sales and use tax project is not the most mouth watering topic. Also not listed above but a finalist would be to update process flows from a Six Sigma study so that they can be leveraged in SOX audit. (Shudder...)

Perhaps this memorial day, I will toast my once enjoyable life and be thankful that I do have a job that I love despite the boring nature of some of the work that crosses my desk. Not every project can be as exciting as rolling out a new reporting tool or putting in e-Procurement. And not every project can be as challenging as creating a new set of reporting dashboards for quick snapshots of a business's health.

So it is off to the races and the winner is.........

(Wait til later this weekend to find out.)

Firewalls? But Vista Already Has A Firewall

2007-05-20T14:09:00.000-07:00

Yea, that is what I thought as well. I thought that Vista had firewalling software. But, Vista's great firewall is missing one function that is as important as anything else to me and that is protecting the computer from software that is trying to talk to the outside web.

Is this bad. Not really because with Vista it is extremely difficult to install a piece of trojan code on a computer because of the flashy-thingy boxes that stall the system and pop-up asking permission. Really annoying considering that Linux does the same thing when it asks for an admin password but does it well without annoying the bloody hell out of you.

But, somehow things were not right on my PC and I decided to go in search of a firewall program. My favorite for the longest time has been ZoneAlarm and I have never had an issue running ZoneAlarm since I went DSL in 2003. Now that I am surfing at broadband speeds with my cable modem, ZoneAlarm is doing just fine. Until Vista. Now, I find out that Vista and ZoneAlarm do not play well together.

Based on good things that I have heard in the computer media, I decided to try Comodo. I downloaded the software and was even impressed that their operations have been certified by KPMG and qualifying for the AICPA WebTrust seal. Not bad for a company thats claim to fame is a free firewall.

But the Comodo Firewall did not play well with Vista either. So I was in search for another firewall program. I went to CNET looked at their ratings for many products. The one that appeared to be best PC Tools Firewall Plus. So I downloaded the product and installed it on Vista. After the obligatory system restart, Vista is now running without issues. But I will say that Media Center is quite a chatty program. It is always wanting to talk on the internet. Same goes with Microsoft Sync which is always trying to connect to the internet. I suspected that Office Groove would be the big culprit of wanting to talk to the internet, but it has relatively quiet.

So hopefully, this will make for a more secure experience with Vista. Maybe this will help even help with the bluescreens. Perhaps.

Onward and Upward!

2007-05-19T18:17:00.000-07:00

Taking the path of least resistance is always the easiest way to go and that is true with Vista. Bashing the Vista OS is just getting to be less and less of a challenge considering that it uses tremendous amount of memory, has memory faults out the wazoo, and blue screens like mad. Well, after craziness that occurred when Vista flashed the bluescreen of death last week while trying to watch a movie through Media Center, the proof was there that Vista really does not need another Blogger bashing it on the web.

So I shall move on to other things such as reviewing software and describing the process I go through as I learn new applications. I plan on starting with Microsoft Expressions Web as well as the other Expressions products. I also plan on including some tips and tricks using tools that I have used for the last ten years in my job. So with that in place, it is time for onward and upward.

Blue, Silver, & Black???

2007-05-12T07:22:00.000-07:00

I finally found the place in Vista where I could change the color of my desktop in Vista. Please note that I am not talking about where I adjust the color of the candy like Aero-Glass interface but where I change the color of default blue to something more eye appealing or more bold. It happened while I was looking to blow away the Ribbon toolbar in Excel and I found the Excel options button hidden under the Office logo button. Great! So I eagerly clicked on the Color Scheme button to change Vista to look like something more Earthy and human looking. Something like Ubuntu!

That is when I found Blue, Silver & Black. Three options available just like Windows XP. What a crock of ....... Microsoft should be much better than this. Three options is not any more than what we had in the days of my IBM XT running an RGB monitor. EGA gave us 16 colors. VGA allowed us to use 256 simultaneous colors.

Now, these three colors are in addition to the additional variation that are found in the Areo Glass controls. Also, I still have not found a way to change the color of the start menu and taskbar unless I disable the aero interface and resort to using the old style windows interface.

Oh well, Beggers cannot be choosers, but at the price Microsoft is charging, I hardly call myself a begger for the money I have to shell out to keep my software licensed and legal.

The Hatred Continues!

2007-05-09T20:46:00.000-07:00

If anyone is reading my blog, then they would know that my relationship with Vista is more of a hate thing than love. Yea, the Media Center feature are much nice than those in Windows XP. I have not had to hack Vista Home Premium to view HBO content which is a plus. But Vista is a pantload to deal with and once again it has proved to me that it is a bad OS.

The story begins with my installation of some updates on my computer as recommend by the Windows. I went ahead and had Vista download all the recommended updates and intstall them to the PC without me doing a lot of research. What a mistake! The next thing I know is that I no longer had any sound. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

So I looked at the updates installed and then tried to roll back the drivers related to my tv tuner. That did not work. So I tried rolling back all the other drivers that I could related to sound and nothing was working. I still had no sound.

Well... I grabbed the DVD filled with all the related driver software that I could find and tried reinstalling the sound drivers for my computer and that did not work either. I had not been fussing with this thing for an hour and their was no solution in sight.

Then I just gave it a few moments to percolate when I finally figured out that I could try to roll back to my last restore point and maybe things would work. It was not a guaranteed fix considereing that it did not work for Paul Thurrott when he tried to restore a system that had blue screened due to a bad driver as described in this past week's episode of Window's Weekly with Leo Leporte. But I gave it a shot and an hour and 15 minutes after making my computer a mute, it once again could make noise. What a relief. And yet another Vista lesson learned.

The sad part is that Vista just is not quite ready for prime time. If this was Windows 95, then I could expect this kind of silly issues. Windows NT had its fair share of quirks that led to issues with sound as well as graphics and even fatal blue screens. But I have not had this kind of issues since I moved my computers to Windows 2000 or Windows XP. Even Windows ME was much easier to deal with than this crappy program.

Life with Vista is a very trying experience and I do not feel that it this "pretty" windows is doing anything more for me other than create a hard time. This having a computer crash crap was cool when I was in college and did not have to be productive, but fast forward 15 years and it is the birds.

Thanks Microsoft for the crappy OS.

A week with Vista

2007-05-06T17:57:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that the thought of installing Vista last November sounded like an exciting but expensive proposition. I knew when it was rolled out last December to the small business crowd that I could have spent some dough and got Vista ahead of the official release at the end of January, but I waited. I looked at the software a little more seriously and decided that the best path would not to be to purchase a new PC with Vista, but to purchase a PC with Doze XP and get an upgrade to the Home Premium version of Vista along with my Business edition that I got with my MS software license.

In February, I installed the business edition on its own partition while keep XP on the system. Vista was not bad, but it was far from perfect. It took a lot more effort to use the Office 2007 apps because the ribbon was just is not as intuitive as the menu system that I have used for the last 15 years. Plus, all of my work is in the 2003 version of Office so it is really hard to work on the new version of Office while everything I perform for work is on the older version.

So last weekend, my Home Premium Edition arrived in the mail so I took the time to wipe the business edition off the hard drive and I put the Home version with the Media Center tools to use with my tuner in the media center PC. I also installed both the 2007 version of the Office as well as all of my old 2003 software. Now, I had a system that I could use XP to keep my iPod working and my Vista version to work with part of the time using my usual apps in addition to my migrating to that horrible ribbon interface. (Perhaps the ribbon bar is good for Word, but it does not make any sense in Excel and Access. Perhaps time will change that opinion.)

I have to admit that Vista is more appealing to view with the Aero Glass interface. Although, the eyecandy in Ubuntu Fiesty Fawn does a lot more than the see through look of the windows borders. Now that I have been working with the Vista for a week, the one thing that I have noticed more than anything else is that everything that is not "Glass" is blue and there is no way to change it. I have a hard time believing that Microsoft would release an OS and GUI without the ability to change the colors of the interface, but this time they have succeeded. I know that the Fisher Price interface was limited, but this is ridiculous. Oh well, yet another reason to go with Ubuntu flavor of Linux.

And the most shocking thing that happened to me today was I experienced a "Blue Screen of Death" for the first time in about 4 years. That is right, XP has not blue screened on one of my PC's in the since the the middle of 2002 when I loaded it on a Pentium II running 128 MB of ram. Now I am running Vista and it crashes as much as Windows 95. Talk about steps backwards, this is worse than Windows ME.

Maybe I will be more pleased with Vista in a few more weeks, but the first week has been terrible. It should get better. Yea, it should but I have a feelin' that I will just grow accustomed to the bugs and the fact that I will be running a computer with both XP and Vista. Yep, the more thing change the more they stay the same. Perhaps Vista would have been better had Program Manager made an encore appearance.

My Beef Over Blogger

2007-04-30T17:49:00.000-07:00

Before I launch into a series of posts that essentially do nothing but blast Micr$oft and their Vista money making machine, I need to fuss about Google and what happened on Blogger.

It has been about 6 months since I posted to my blog because my life has been filled with many new things due to a circumstance not of my own doing. But just like everything else that happens when a door closes, a window will open for you to jump through. Well, suffice it to say, I have settled from the jump and once again have time to focus on my blog. The main difference is that I can speak freely about systems and system interactions with any software package without any recourse.

So last night, I decided to login to blogger and start blogging about my thoughts, views and opinions of the state of software and today. (My own chance to act like John C. Dvorak and be an industry crank.) As with all things in my life, it is always a challenge and finding my page on Blogger was nothing new. It seems that the folks at Google decided to change the login mechanism for Blogger from the old system to now being attached to my Google account. So when I logged into Blogger, my page did not exist although I could see it as a webpage. (sigh) SO I went through the challenge of actually linking this blog to my Google account login. And of course every time I clicked a link to perform the process, instead of getting to the page to link my Google login to my Blogger page, I would get a link that would allow me to send myself an email to reset my Google password. (grrrr....) I am not really sure if I finally hit the right link of if the computer gods just got tired of messing with me but after a frustrating hour of getting nowhere, I finally landed in the proper link and was able get my old blog associated with my Google login and not my Blogger login. Now, I hope everything is nearly as easy when I try to blog through Picasa. I can only hope.

And as you can tell, last noght was a blazing success. I am back to blogging and ready to let loose on the computer world. Hang on all you tech folks, because here comes the word from a thirty - something, tech geezer who has been in the trade for over half my life. And I know I have been around this stuff way too long when I can reminisce on the days when I could say that Excel 4.0 was a many times better than Excel 3.0 and exponentially better than that piece of crap Excel 2.0. But more about Excel in the blog. In the last ten years, I have not become Mr. Excel, but I know my way around making this tool work for me and not work me to death. Just like a mattock (nicknamed the "mankiller") around my house growing up. It was a great tool for Dad who knew how to use it, but for me, for the first few thousand swings, it worked me harder than I could work the tool, but eventually, I learned how to make it work for me. Those same lessons have been learned with using many programs and now I am about to share some of those experiences here as well.

Over 6 Months Later And

2007-04-29T19:32:00.000-07:00

it is time to get this blog rolling for real. No more fussing about my car because I still like it and have to say that it is officially the most expensive "beater" I have ever owned. (Note to self: Philly is not the place to park a nice car because the urban thuggary is just too great.) The lucky part is that I do not have graffiti down the side of it.

The good part is that I am hoping to change the focus of this blog back into what my original intentions and that is to spur on discussicussions about software. Currently, I am typing this post using a computer running Ubuntu 7.04 aka Feisty Fawn. Quite a departure from the Windows loving fool I once was. Only one note of is that I will not be including Mac discussions for now only because I do not have an Apple Mac and do not intend to get one in the near future. Although, I have been hating Vista now for over two months and every time I try to give it a fair shake it shows me at least three reasons why it does not deserve one. So I am still a lover of all things XP although I am getting quite tired of the start menu. Ubuntu and Suse flavors of Linux offer a nice refreshing look at how things could be if Microsoft could move away from that design from the mid-90's that is getting quite frightful.

So, were off to the races with a new board and a new set of posts. And most of all, I also plan to include photos that I take as well from trips and events. So here is to a new leaf and a new blog.

Cheers!

Ford Edge Spotted

2006-10-18T14:36:00.000-07:00

Today on my way to the office, I spotted a pre-production version of the Ford Edge CUV on the Vine Street Expressway and I have to say that it is a rather impressive looking vehicle on the road. I think this vehicle will provide much traction in Ford's Bold Moves campaign.
As for me, it looks like a minivan with a long snout. Something like and overgrown, first generation Mazda MPV, but perhaps it was the first CUV and no one realized that it was a ground breaking vehicle.

I Guess This Is What Ford Wants To Happen.

2006-10-15T08:36:00.000-07:00

While cruising on the web, I came across a picture of a Crown Vic that suffered a similar fate as mine. But I guess the rear brake calipers were not as strong as they think because obviously the axle and rear disk brake is gone.

Granted, this is a P71 while I have a M75. But the outcome could be the same for the other owners of this model car. That includes all civilian and non-fleet Crown Victorias, Grand Marquis and Town Cars.

OH! I am so sick!

2006-10-15T08:13:00.000-07:00

I got my packet from the BBB so that I could file an action against Ford for the axle issue that was not fixed in my Grand Marquis. Come to find out, the Better Business Bureau only supports actions for cars that are still withing the warranty period. This means that all of us with cars that are out of warranty but are manufactured with defects that do not surface in the first three years of ownership or first 36,000 miles, we have no way of going back against the manufacturer.

Something about this is really wrong considering that a failure of rear axle is somthing that can be catastrophic in nature. What if if the axle broke while cruising down the NJ Turnpike and my poor car was rear-ended by another vehicle? Can you say "KFB."

I think Ford along with the NHTSA has made a major mistake. If any litigator is looking to take on a potential class action case against Ford regarding these defective axle that are in all Panther vehicles manufactured in the 2002 calandar year, feel free to email me. cgarison@aol.com or kyjeepster@aol.com. I will provide all of my notes and history for this issue with my car.

2008 Mercury Meta One Spotted in Northern WV!

2006-10-06T18:18:00.000-07:00

The Mercury Meta One concept car that debut at the 2005 NAIAS which was rumored to have been dropped from the line up in February 2006 was captured by yours truly while traveling home from Philadelphia on Oct, 6 2006. I took the pictures at Exit 7 westbound on I68 near Morgantown, WV.

2006-10-06T18:05:00.000-07:00

From the side view, it is easy to spot the Mercury style headlights as well as the light units that are very similar in appearance to that of its sibling, the Mercury Milan.

I was within a 5 feet of the car at on point as I passed the caravan of test mules consisting of trucks cladded to look like a 2007 Silverado and Sierra. From that close of a point I could distinctly see the waterfall grill and Mercury Logo although I could not pull off the shot through the side glas of my land yacht.

TSB on 2003 Mercury Grand Marquis

2006-10-01T12:36:00.000-07:00

Article No.

03-5-5

 AXLE - REAR AXLE SHAFT AND/OR AXLE BEARING PREMATURE WEAR - VEHICLES PRODUCED BEFORE 1/1/2003 ONLY
Publication Date: February 28, 2003

FORD:

2003 CROWN VICTORIA
LINCOLN:

2003 TOWN CAR
MERCURY:

2003 GRAND MARQUIS

Article 02-25-3 is being republished in its entirety to update the model line coverage. ISSUE:

Some 2003 Town Car (except Limo and Hearse chassis), Crown Victoria and Grand Marquis vehicles produced before 1/1/2003, may exhibit rear axle shaft and/or axle bearing premature wear. This is caused by excessive load, temperature, and inadequate lubrication.

ACTION:

To service, install Rear Axle Bearing Service Kit, Part Number 3W1Z-4A109-AA. Refer to the instruction sheet included with the service kit.

PART NUMBER PART NAME
3W1Z-4A109-AA Rear Axle Bearing Service Kit

OTHER APPLICABLE ARTICLES:

NONE

SUPERSEDES:

02-25-3

WARRANTY STATUS:

Eligible Under The Provisions Of Bumper To Bumper Warranty Coverage

OPERATION DESCRIPTION TIME
030505A Install Axle Bearing Service Kit 1.5 Hrs.

DEALER CODING

BASIC PART NO. CONDITION CODE
4234 42

OASIS CODES:

509000, 510000, 703200, 703300

NOTE: The information in Technical Service Bulletins is intended for use by trained, professional technicians with the knowledge, tools, and equipment to do the job properly and safely. It informs these technicians of conditions that may occur on some vehicles, or provides information that could assist in proper vehicle service. The procedures should not be performed by "do-it-yourselfers". Do not assume that a condition described affects your car or truck. Contact a Ford, Lincoln, or Mercury dealership to determine whether the Bulletin applies to your vehicle.

Copyright © 2003 Ford Motor Company

Ford Recall on Panthers

2006-10-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SAFETY RECALL
04S16 Certain 2003 Model Year Ford Crown Victoria Police/Commercial and Lincoln Town Car Vehicles Sold to Fleets-Rear Axle Shaft Fracture

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Frank M. Ligon
Director
Service Engineering Operations
Ford Customer Service Division

Ford Motor Company
P.O. Box 1904
Dearborn, Michigan 48121

July 2004

TO: All U.S. Ford and Lincoln Mercury Dealers

SUBJECT: Safety Recall 04S16:
Certain 2003 Model Year Ford Crown Victoria Police/Commercial and Lincoln Town Car Vehicles Sold to Fleets
Rear Axle Shaft Fracture

AFFECTED VEHICLES

Certain 2003 model year Ford Crown Victoria Police/Commercial (Body codes P70, P71 and P72) vehicles built at the St. Thomas Assembly Plant from October 10, 2001 through December 4, 2002.
Certain 2003 model year Lincoln Town Car vehicles sold to fleets (Body codes M84 and M81 ordered with FIN code) built at the Wixom Assembly Plant from November 14, 2001 through December 3, 2002.
Affected vehicles are identified in OASIS. In addition, for a list of vehicles assigned to your dealership, visit https://web.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.com. This information will be available on July 8, 2004.

REASON FOR THIS SAFETY RECALL

Due to significant differences in vehicle design and customer usage, the affected vehicles typically input higher loads into the vehicle chassis during fleet usage, overloading the wheel bearings and axles. This may lead to early bearing failure and ultimately, axle shaft fracture. In the event of axle shaft fracture, the vehicle would lose drive function and would coast to a stop. Loss of drive function could lead to a vehicle crash.

SERVICE ACTION

At no charge to the vehicle owner, dealers are to install an axle repair kit consisting of new rear axle shafts, rear wheel bearings, and rear axle seals. This must be performed on all of the affected vehicles in your inventory as well as vehicles that have been delivered to customers.

Based on our records, vehicles that were previously repaired with axle repair kit 3W1Z-4A109-AA (introduced with Technical Service Bulletin #03-05-05) do not require any further repair and are not included in this program.

PLEASE NOTE:

Correct all vehicles in stock before delivery. Federal law requires dealers to complete any outstanding safety recall service before a new vehicle is delivered to the buyer or lessee. Violation of this requirement by a dealer could result in a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per vehicle.

This Is Not Good!

2006-10-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

Arrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!
As many of the posters at CVN know, I love my 2003 Mercury Grand Marquis. It is quite simply, the most comfortable car for cruising the highways of America. Need to run to DC... No Problem... Two hours of riding in a comfortable leather couch and I am there. Refreshed and ready to work.

(Picture taken in Fairfield, NJ)

Well, now I am very mad at Ford Motor Company regarding my awesome car. The rear axle is in the process of failing and I am going to have to spend major dollars having it rebuilt at the dealership. To make matters worse, this axle failue is due to a manaufacturer's defect that is in all 2003 Mercury Garnd Marquis, Ford Crown Victorias and Lincoln Town Cars that were built at either STAP (in Canada) or Wixsom (in Michigan) during the 2002 calandar year. (My particular car has a July 2002 build date.) For reference, please see Ford TSB 03-03-05.

The problem with the axle is so bad that even the NHTSA stepped up and had Ford issue a recall (NHTSA Campaign #04V328000) to repair 47,314 fleet based Crown Victorias and Lincoln Town Cars. Sad part is that the rest of us with civilian CV's, non-Fleet Town Cars and Grand Marquis are left out in the cold with axles that are going to fail.

This leaves me very aggitated. Plus due to the fact that I purchased this car as a pre-owned vehicle, I do not have the backing of a state lemon law. I am quite confident that arbitration system put in place with the Better Business Bureau will do quite fine in finding a remedy to my problem, but it is just the hassle of hving to go through this process of getting things rectified.

So, tomorrow I am off to the dealership to get get the ball rolling and start the process.

More information to follow as it comes.

Garison

2006-09-15T05:27:00.000-07:00

I wondered what would happen in my life to generate a blog entry when I started setup the page and the behold, the house across the street burst into flames shortly after setting up the account. The cause of the fire is suspicious considering that it started after the house was recently vacated due to foreclosure. Plus, the gas company just turned of the Gas service the moring of the fire.

Just another exciting event.

First Post

2006-09-12T15:11:00.000-07:00

Here it is, the first post to my new blog. Here goes my way of writing about thing that impress me or simply make me mad.

So sit back and enjoy my strange view of the world