JoeCubicle

2 month snow-free streak ended

2012-02-05T06:59:00.000-08:00

The video above says it all, it finally snowed after 2 months of really nothing. We've had 2 or three 'dustings' but no real accumulation till now. I saw quite a few downed tree limbs from the weight of the snow which down wet and heavy.

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JoeCubicle

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A Brand New Car !!! (new to me, not 'new new')

2012-01-29T09:34:00.000-08:00

I don't think it's just me that feels a little weird when getting a new (different) vehicle. You get so used to all the little things about the vehicle you've been driving from the keys all the way through to the ride, handling and smells.

I recently purchased a new (different) car, that's right, car. For those that know me, I've been driving a truck for the last 10 years and have become quite used to having the towing/hauling capacity of a pickup truck. One thing I will not miss is the gas usage that comes with a pickup truck. I estimate that my first pickup got around 17mpg (it was a manual transmission) and the one I have now gets around 12mpg. This is just not cool.

In 2008, gasoline prices went up to $4.00+ per gallon. I picked up a motorcycle (40mpg) to offset the gasoline usage of my truck. We have a nice long riding season here in Nebraska and it has gone well over the years.

I can't work the side business I've had for the last 10 years due to the slow injury I've sustained from using my arms/hands so much. So using my pickup for daily driving (when not riding my motorcycle) doesn't make much sense so I decided to get the car. So far I really like it and have put just about 100 miles on it at the time of this post and the gas gauge is still about 3/4 full.

Take look at the below video and pictures, it sums up the new car.

My new* car.

My current truck, right when I got it and it was still shiny.

The Yamaha MC I bought in 2008

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JoeCubicle

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Update / Refresh network media folders for PS3 streaming

2011-12-19T06:42:00.000-08:00

Problem: You put new files (music / video / whatever) in your 'shared-media' folder on a networked PC in your home, then you go to your PS3 to play them streaming over the network and they are not in the folder(s) you set up.

Solution: On the PC you are using as a media server you simply need to fire up Media Player (11 or 12, I forget) and let it go through it's discovery and refresh the 'Library'. All should be good.

This is all based on you having everything else set up and working and only having the folder refresh issue. It seems like Media Player has the final say as to what is currently available from the PS3's point of view. Look at like a restaurant menu. If you put new items up for sale, you have to redo the menu don't you and that is what firing up Media Player does.

Hope it works for you, worked for me.

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JoeCubicle

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Farewell Mr. Jobs

2011-10-05T19:26:00.001-07:00

Computers are huge part of my life today. When I was young I could not imagine how ingrained computing would be in all our lives on the daily basis that it is. I remember tapping away at the computer in the public library 'cutting code' for a random number generator that mimicked the roll of a dice following example code in a magazine. I think the magazine was called 'Basic', I could be wrong.

Today I am a Software Developer and a video editor by hobby. I've got my hands on a computer keyboard sometimes the majority of the day. It is amazing how exponential computing has grown in such a relatively short amount of time. Equally amazing is how personalized these devices has become in our lives and how embraced they are. Men like Steve Jobs are (were) responsible for the computing revolution. The Apple corporation will not fail or go under. I cannot help but think Steve Jobs instilled enough of his vision through his leadership into the company for that to happen.

Photo courtesy of Apple corporation.

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JoeCubicle

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17 to 48 Husker loss to Wisconsin Badgers - yet I don't care.

2011-10-02T07:44:00.001-07:00

Last night was a Husker-Stinger to say the least. I stopped caring about and watching Husker games years ago without even trying. I remember getting gas and overhearing two guys talk about getting back home to 'watch the game' (a Nebraska Cornhusker football game) on TV. The game was starting within an hour. It was a Saturday and late afternoon and I thought to myself that I might go home and watch it too, maybe invite the rest of my family to do the same and maybe order a pizza and make a night of it. That was the last thought I had about the game for the rest of the evening. I totally forgot to remember to tune into the broadcast once I got home and have watched one Husker game since that Saturday some 5 years ago.

I have not lost my love for the state of Nebraska. One day I realized this team of 18 to 22 year old young men had no hold over me. There are very few 18 to 22 year olds I care to be in the company of let alone worship if I may use such a strong word.

To use other slang; I'm not hatin', I'm just sayin'.

Photo from the Chicago Tribune website.

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JoeCubicle

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2 weeks of beautiful mornings

2011-10-02T07:38:00.000-07:00

I love walking with my son down to his bus stop every morning. The last 2 weeks have been SOLID BEAUTIFUL!!! Cool mornings with clear blue skies. It brings back memories of walking to school when I was much younger. Enjoy the video.

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JoeCubicle

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DIY Steadi Steady Cam - a little warning...

2011-09-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

I made this video to show the steady-cam I made as well as show a little footage shot with it. If you are looking at purchasing or making a steady-cam device I have one piece of advice (more like a 'warning'). They almost work too well. I mean they can be SO SMOOTH that they allow the camera to move so easily and slightly. Don't despair, with a little (a LOT) of practice you can get great shots. They pretty much REQUIRE two hands to operate effectively and get good shots. The one I made went through a few different design changes until I was satisfied. It turned out to be very smooth and fulfilled exactly my warning above. If you are serious about getting smooth walking shots, you can pull it off with a little practice.

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JoeCubicle

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Sick boy... no longer

2011-09-23T10:01:00.000-07:00

All is well on the sick front. My son pulled through after 3 days of terrible headaches and not-too-high fevers. There was a point early in the morning, right in the middle of the whole thing, when things got a little worse... Then, bang! He got rapidly better, like within 4 hours. I could tell just by looking at him and it turned out I was right. The final diagnosis was a viral meningitis. He is doing well and his 11th birthday is almost upon us.

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JoeCubicle

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2011-08-14T18:09:00.000-07:00

Sunday night at Children's Hospital, my sick little boy.

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JoeCubicle

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2011-08-10T13:40:00.000-07:00

A week or so ago my wife, daughter and I went to Red Mango for a frozen yogurt treat. The Red Mango we go to is right across the street from the new TD Ameritrade baseball stadium and just down the street from our neighborhood. The yogurt is good, the toppings are amazing and fresh.

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JoeCubicle

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2011-07-21T06:26:00.000-07:00

Tuesday and Wednesday (7/19, 7/20) I got to take my son to his week of 'Golf Camp' at Johnny Goodman golf course. The mornings were great, the rest of the day we had high 90's.

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Nike Skills Challenge & Nike Fieldhouse

2011-06-20T20:09:00.000-07:00

I just finished up shooting video at the Nike Fieldhouse here in Omaha just 2 blocks away from the College World Series (CWS). I hooked up with a local photographer who was hired by these guys working for Nike. Today is Monday. It started last Wednesday at a baseball field in Ralston NE (Orval Smith Field) where the Skills Challenge took place. Then when the CWS started Saturday the 18th, the Nike Fieldhouse opened up in a retail space just two blocks from the TD Ameritrade Park, the new home for the CWS, I shot video for 2 hours on Sat, Sun and today (Mon) all to make clips for a 2 minute internal promo video for the guys that ran the Nike thing here in Omaha.
Right now it's 10:00 and I just got done capturing video off two Mini DV Tapes. I'll probably edit tomorrow for it is bedtime.
I have to say it was fun to a point but today, the video session ran into some other things I had to do and I had to push them back to tomorrow when I could have got them done today. It's fun to do what you love and when you can make some money at it, why not? But since last Wednesday till today I discovered where my 'line' is when it comes to working for someone else.

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JoeCubicle

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Friday Afternoon at the 2011 Omaha Summer Art Festival

2011-06-12T10:59:00.000-07:00

Here is the first of three videos I made for the Omaha Summer Art Festival.

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JoeCubicle

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How to modify a Vivitar 283 flash / speedlight for variable output

2011-03-31T06:34:00.000-07:00

Below should be an embedded video of the 'how to' I made showing how to modify/hack the Vivitar 283 flash to make it an adjustable variable output flash. I made two versions, a 3 minute and an 18 minute version. Each shows the steps, one is quicker than the other. If you are tech-savy and handy in the slightest you will probably be just fine watching the 3 minute video. Feel free to watch both, they have the video clips (with much editing) but I voiced each one differently.

Here are the links, just in case:
Vivitar 283 adjustable flash hack - 18 min

Vivitar 283 adjustable flash hack - 3 min

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JoeCubicle

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Nikon and Canon DSLR comparisons, specs, model, chip, pixels, video, price

2011-03-09T08:11:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to look up the main differences and specs on Nikon and Canon DSLR's for a while. I finally did with the results below:

The (ss) in the Video column means that the LCD viewing screen on the back of the camera body is on a hinge and 'Swings' out. The Nikon D5000 hinges on the bottom and the Canon bodies hinge on the left side of the screen as you look at the back.

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JoeCubicle

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Iowa Blackie caught the westbound...

2011-03-01T19:09:00.000-08:00

I met Blackie last year at the National Hobo Convention in Britt Iowa while I was there with a friend shooting footage for a small documentary on the Hobo Convention and some of the attendees.
Blackie was one of the first guys we met and one of the more genuine fellows we talked to. I knew him just a short time (just for four days) until we left to come back to Omaha but he's one of those guys who you won't forget.

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JoeCubicle

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Musical slideshow

2011-02-17T12:43:00.000-08:00

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

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JoeCubicle

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2011-01-22T20:24:00.000-08:00

I worked on a self-photo today, I've learned a few cool things using Photoshop with layer masks. I try to make the photos not so crazy but at the same time, make them different and noticeable.

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JoeCubicle

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Happy Birthday Pat Wilson

2011-01-19T04:43:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday my family and I were invited to a birthday celebration for our friend Pat Wilson. Cameras of both kind were in order and a video was born. It was a fun time, I even got to play some ping pong.

Happy Birthday Pat Wilson - Jan 15, 2011 from Joe Cubicle on Vimeo.

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JoeCubicle

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Duckface by Zeppelin before it was cool

2011-01-18T08:53:00.001-08:00

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JoeCubicle

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Nice shadows.

2011-01-05T07:50:00.001-08:00

I saw this nice morning scene the other day. I tweaked my cell phone camera (HTC Incredible, 8 MgPix res)for a finer photo and snapped it off.

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Photos: Boat, Park and Shoes

2010-11-19T04:39:00.000-08:00

Below are a few photos I recently shot.

The boat at the Heartland of America park in the Con Agra campus.

Shot at the Heartland of America park.

Just some pretty cool shoes. The owner is in the photo set in the link below.

Click the link to view these and other photos in my Downtown/Old Market Flickr photo set.

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JoeCubicle

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911 call center tour

2010-10-26T12:26:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday (10/20/2010) my son and I met up with the other scouts and leaders in his scout troop and had a tour of the Douglas County 911 call center. The pic is kinda dark, but so was the call center.

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JoeCubicle

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Thank Goodness Its Friday

2010-10-26T12:21:00.000-07:00

Picture taken early morning on Friday October 22. The day proved to be as nice as it looked.

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JoeCubicle

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It just keeps coming

2010-10-16T06:55:00.001-07:00

We have been blessed with this beautiful/perfect weather for the last two weeks if not a little longer. Below is a pic of the forecast from two days ago and a picture take out at Boystown yesterday right after I took Rachel to her Dr. Appt.

Chilean Miners rescued

2010-10-13T19:48:00.001-07:00

Today they brought up the Chilean miners that were trapped for 69 days. I watched at work in a live pop up window from CNN. It was cool to see the end result.

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Last Farmers Market - 2010

2010-10-10T23:10:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday was the last Farmers Market for the year. I went down there around 9 and just hung out and shot a few pics here and there but not a lot of anything really except talking to some really cool people.

Central Eagles vs Creighton Prep

2010-10-08T17:50:00.001-07:00

Tonight we are at the Central Prep football game which is being played at Rosenblatt Stadium.

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Now there are four...

2010-10-05T07:58:00.001-07:00

Last night I showed my girls how to run the lawnmower and cut the grass. I know this, my son knows it now now the girls do. Now there are four.

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Vala's Pumpkin Patch 2010

2010-10-04T07:39:00.001-07:00

Thais past weekend the family and I went to Vala's Pumpkin Patch for our annual pumkin experience. This year we got to take our exchange student Rachel. She had fun as well as our kids. The weather was perfect.

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Just way too nice

2010-09-24T14:27:00.001-07:00

I couldn't resist another post of how perfect today is. It is truely a day worth remembering. I can see at least 50 other people enjoying the same.

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Me and two others

2010-09-24T11:49:00.001-07:00

Today is about as perfect as a day can get. Only myself and two others roode our motorcycles today... shame, y'all are missing out.

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Mike and Fred

2010-09-23T06:15:00.000-07:00

I found this photo surfing around the web this morning, interestingly mundane photo of two of the (to be) most flamboyant entertainers in pop/rock music.

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JoeCubicle

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They Do Exist

2010-09-23T05:09:00.000-07:00

I want to give People of Walmart full credit for this photo. This photo just about made me choke I laughed so quick and hard. I am a closet Big Foot believer and when I saw this, it renewed my hope for 1/10,000 of a second followed by the gut buster that just about killed me.

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JoeCubicle

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2010-09-20T17:28:00.000-07:00

Last week (Thur, Fri and Sat) I shot video at the Omaha Fashion Week. It was pretty fun and all, I have not been around anything like it but it was for sure interesting. Thursday and Friday I shot inside the nightclub where it was being held indoors for the first few nights then Saturday night it was outside under the 10th Street 'bridge' or whatever you want to call it.
Last year is was about in the same place and you didn't have to pay 'really' to see it but this year it was all different with plenty of fences and tents and the runway was about a mile long.
Overall it was pretty fun, I met a couple of cool guys and had a good time. Saturday night was long and I was ready to go when it was all over.

Here are a couple of pics:

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JoeCubicle

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First round of golf

2010-09-14T18:11:00.000-07:00

Here is a video I made when I took my son golfing at a little par 3 course here in town. We had fun.

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JoeCubicle

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Trip to lincoln with Rachel

2010-09-14T18:09:00.001-07:00

The other day we took our Exchange student to Lincoln to attend one of a few mandatory meetings given by the hosting company. There was a pot luck dinner followed by the meeting. It was a really nice day and we all enjoyed the ride down there. Rachel had fun and she had the chance to meet a few other exchange students.

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JoeCubicle

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Father and Son Golfing

2010-09-14T17:33:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I took my son Nathan golfing. We went to a little par 3 course and he had a lot of fun. It was really fun to watch him do well. He took right to it.

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2010 Air Show

2010-09-13T06:03:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago (today is Sep 13, 2010) I took my family to the 2010 Air Show just down the road at Offutt Air Force Base. Details are in the video.

Video Desc:
I took my family to the 2010 Air Show (Aug 28). It was a great day! I've been to a 1,000 air shows throughout my Air-Force-Kid life but this was fun because I was taking my family.
It was sunny and warm and a little breezy. The jets were cool as heck and the kids loved it.

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JoeCubicle

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Pick up Chuck

2010-09-07T19:04:00.001-07:00

The other day I took a small trip to go pick up a friend of mine ( Chuck LaRue ) about three hours away from here and bring him back to Omaha. He needed to get back to Omaha to catch a flight to Colorado Springs to see his brother amd sisters.
The drive went well as the weather was picture perfect. We got back to Omaha about three and Chuck got to meet my family and spend the night. I took him to the airport in the morning and away he flew. I texted him the next day, he said all went well and they are all having a good visit.

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Hobo Days in Britt Iowa

2010-08-26T04:18:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago a friend of mine and I went to Britt Iowa to shoot footage for a documentary on the 2010 National Hobo Convention. It was a great time and I learned a ton! I got the idea from a friend whose wife grew up in the nearby area and he told me about the event. I thought it would be interesting and easy access to all the attendees. It was and it was fun. I video blogged over the four days.

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JoeCubicle

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Chuck Walking

2010-08-26T04:13:00.000-07:00

I was shooting a documentary in Northern Iowa in mid-August 2010 when this guy shows up in the town we were shooting in. He introduces himself at this 'open mic' set up as Chuck LaRue. He is walking across the US to raise money for ALS research. I met him Saturday with the next day being the last day of the shoot so I asked him to sit down and let me interview him, I think it turned out well.

Chuck Walking from Joe Cubicle on Vimeo.

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2010-08-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

Here is my submission to the 'Fstoppers' Behind The Scenes ( BTS ) video contest. The guys that run the site say there are about 60-some entries. Some are fantastic and blow mine away by 10 miles. At least I gave it a go. I had help shooting the video, big thanks to Chris Bridges, I could not have done it without him.

Omaha Farmers Market shoot with the Nikon D5000 from Joe Cubicle on Vimeo.

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Happy Birthday and Missing Steps

2010-08-04T04:51:00.001-07:00

Today is my little girl's 15th birthday. Happy Birthday sweetie.

Also, the heat is stomping the midwest with humidity!!

We're getting our side steps tore out and replaced, work started yesterday, here's a pic:

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First day of summer 2010

2010-06-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

Today is the first 'Official Day' of summer. I woke up to the sights and sounds of a near-thunderstorm and just a few short hours later... clear blue skies and warm sunshine. Hello summer.

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Memorial Day 2010 video

2010-06-03T06:27:00.000-07:00

It was a great day, the video shows two things from Monday, a little yard work success and a cookout at a friends house.

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Go for Launch!

2010-05-27T14:41:00.000-07:00

This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time.
Link.
It is a series of time-lapse movies of the Space Shuttle being moved into position and launched.

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Jackpot !!

2010-05-27T11:17:00.001-07:00

Look at today and the next two, nice and sunny. I guess the reason I put this pic up is that I have never seen 3 suns in a row on the little weather window on my Yahoo home page screen. It looks like some kind of weather slot machine, Sunny Jackpot.

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2010-05-26T05:16:00.000-07:00

Here is some video I shot of last night's ride home then the Royals game, I can't stress how beautiful the evening was last night.

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2010-05-26T04:11:00.000-07:00

Last night the Wife, kids (daughter's friend and nephew too) went to the Omaha Royals game. It was a PERFECT night. The Royals won 2 to 1 too.

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Last day of school and weekend

2010-05-24T16:14:00.001-07:00

Starting Friday May 21, my kids are out of school for the summer.

Saturday night at our friends house: My daughter riding the little 70cc motorbike.

Same bike, with my son riding. He was killing it, once he got the hang of it he was on it for 15 minutes making great turns (after one turn that included a privacy fence bump) and a little hot-dogging.

Friday night... Famous Daves !! Oh yeah!

Friday after I picked up my son from school (my daughter went home with a friend and spent the night) we went down to the river front. My son rides his bike while I shoot video and take photos. This night I was practicing shooting video with my new Nikon D5000.

Here is my son's school with all the kids lined up for the 6th graders to make their walk to all the applause. It was kind of touching.

My son right before the 6th graders walk.

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Farmers Market, May 22, 2010

2010-05-24T16:08:00.000-07:00

Here is the third video I made for the 2010 Farmers Market season. It was a much warmer morning along with a good amount of wind but that was not a deterrent at all, there were a good number of people attending.

Omaha Farmers Market - May 22, 2010 from Joe Cubicle on Vimeo.

Thanks for stopping by,JoeCubicleMy Website My Photography Videos on YouTube Videos on Vimeo

Why you shouldn't let pet drive.

2010-05-20T04:37:00.000-07:00

This is just too precious... Karla snapped a picture of her dog Pinky, "driving". We know dogs can't drive cars but Karla was just having a little fun. 10 minutes later she got into an accident and we (at least I am) can assume it was her fault and since she mobile-posted it on Facebook, we can also assume everyone was OK.
Hmmm... can we also assume that she allowed the dog to become enough of a distraction as to cause the accident, I think so. What if someone had been killed? Would it have been worth it to bring Pinky for the drive, no.
Don't be Karla.

Thanks for stopping by,JoeCubicleMy Website My Photography Videos on YouTube Videos on Vimeo

2010 Boys State Soccer Champ game

2010-05-19T05:55:00.001-07:00

Last night we all went to the Boys High School State Championship soccer game. The game was just down the street from our house at Creighton University's Morrison Field. It was an absolutely perfect evening (whole day as well). Lincoln East ended up winning the game over Omaha South 4 to 2. The game was tied 2 to 2 at regulation end and was decided in the two overtime periods.

This is right before half time.

This is right before the first overtime period. Lincoln East is the nearest team with South High at the further end.

Thanks for stopping by,JoeCubicleMy Website My Photography Videos on YouTube Videos on Vimeo

Catfishing

2010-05-17T05:42:00.001-07:00

The other night we were at my son's baseball game when a friend of ours came over and talked with us, my wife went to school with his wife, they're BFF's.
He was on his way home to gear up and take his kids out the the Platte River and drop some catfish lines. He invited my son and I to go along, we did.
To make the story short, it was a wonderful evening and it all worked out great.

Below is a picture from the river bank a little bit after we got there.

Here is nearly the same shot just after dark, if you look close you can tell that the lower bright light in the center of the photo is the moon showing crecsent and a planet (we were guessing Venus) above and to the right. The photo does not portray the amazing-ness of seeing it in person. The rest of the moon (the dark part) was really dark red. At one point my son said "I've never seen so many stars", I've told my kids that we need to get away from the city light and get to the middle of nowhere sometime so they can see just how many stars there are to see.

Thanks for stopping by,JoeCubicleMy Website My Photography Videos on YouTube Videos on Vimeo

Graduation 2010

2010-05-17T05:39:00.001-07:00

My wife graduated this weekend with her Masters Degree from Creighton University. She got her Bachelors there as well (she's so smart).
Below is the hooding ceremony the day before the BIG graduation at the QWest center.
The hooding ceremony was really nice and intimate.
(by the way... that is not her on the stage)

Congratulations Lisa !

Thanks for stopping by,JoeCubicleMy Website My Photography Videos on YouTube Videos on Vimeo

Mother's Day Eve - 2010

2010-05-17T05:33:00.000-07:00

We went shopping the night before Mother's Day last week. Here is my son posing next to one of the many "Jane Doe" sculptures spread around town.
Yes, my son is in his baseball uniform and it is later in the evening. Funny thing... the way that this day worked out was it was so dang busy that my wife and I got to running around all crazy-like and at one point my son was set to get picked up from a church activity and go to his game. He decided to skip the game and stay at the activity but kept his uniform on all day and night. I wish I was still a kid in a baseball uniform. He had a fun day.
Oh, by the way, we bought 'Pork Rib Eyes' and I grilled them the next day. They were a little beyond AWESOME !!!!

Thanks for stopping by,JoeCubicleMy Website My Photography Videos on YouTube Videos on Vimeo

Baseball and Blue Skies

2010-05-05T12:25:00.000-07:00

Last night (Tue, May 4) I was at my son's baseball game. It started out a picture perfect night but got a little cloudy but no storms or anything. One bragging point: my son was pitching when he made all three outs in the bottom of the last inning helping them win 6 to 3. He struck out the first two batters and threw out the third.

Here is what the sky looked like at the beginning of the game.

This is what the sky looked like this morning (Wed, May 5 (Cinco de Mayo Dayo)). If you look real close just left of the middle you can see the moon.

This was the view looking out of the window in the break room at work just before I went out for lunch. Beautiful !!

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JoeCubicle

2010-05-04T06:55:00.001-07:00

Monday afternoon I took my son to Elmwood park to mess around. I had just got rained out mowing and went home after 3 of 6 yards. As soon as I got cleaned up and came downstairs the skies cleared up and all was sunny and perfect outside, go figure.
Anyway, we went and got a bite to eat then went to the park, we played a little frisbee then he rode around on his scooter while I sat and sketched and listened to the radio.

Thanks for stopping by,JoeCubicleMy Website My Photography Videos on YouTube Videos on Vimeo

First Farmers Market of 2010

2010-05-03T20:48:00.000-07:00

I got the opportunity to shoot 10 videos for the Omaha Farmers Market this year. Below you should see the video of the the first shoot from the other day being May 01, 2010.
The day turned out to be PERFECT. Thre were so many people and vendors selling such a variety of items.

Omaha Farmers Market on May 01, 2010 from Joe Cubicle on Vimeo.

Thanks for stopping by,JoeCubicleMy Website My Photography Videos on YouTube Videos on Vimeo

2010-04-27T22:43:00.000-07:00

A week and a half ago I shot some video at Elmwood Park where the Earth Day celebration was happening.

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2010-04-27T05:24:00.001-07:00

The name of this fine morning is Tuesday. The last few days have been cloudy and cool. I spent the last 2 hours of yesterday's work day working in the rain and cold (I could see my breath). Today and the next few days are supposed to be much better.
In just a few short days we are having the occasionally-annual garage sale for the Church kids summer camp. My garage is packed with donations from people. Our main floor is pretty stuffed as well. This Saturday will be just about the busiest day of the year. I'm also starting a video-taping contract with a local promotional firm that runs every Saturday through October. That same day we have the Sale (lots of set up), video taping, drum lesson, baseball pictures, baseball game and I'm working the snack shack at the baseball field for 2 hours before the baseball game. Whew !!!

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2010-04-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

Here's a few minutes of my morning drive the other day. It was raining...

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Goodbye faithful cup

2010-04-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

It's been at the very least 5 or 6 years that I've used this cup. It was the last of the 'thick walled' cups that you would get at your local QT convenience store.
The ones they give out now are very thin. When you grab them they pretty much about fold in just from the grip you need to pick one up.
The rim finally cracked and I'm sorry to see it go and all, but its time is up.

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Sweet smelly rainy morning

2010-04-21T04:53:00.000-07:00

This morning was rainy and beautiful, it smelled wonderful outside also.

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Almost but no res-support

2010-04-21T04:50:00.000-07:00

The monitor on the left is a 17" lcd, the monitor on the right is a 22" wide-screen HD I 'almost' got the other day. This is at work by the way and yes I did make the wooden monitor stand you see these guys sitting on. My current PC doesn't support the video resolution needed for this new monster so I gave it back to our Admin Asst. My new box is coming in a few months and I'll be getting dual 22" monitors so now worries mate.

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Trailer lights

2010-04-21T04:46:00.000-07:00

Happy happy joy joy. I found one of my trailer light bulbs had one element burned out. I replaced it and it did light up but still no turn signal. Why? I've always heard that if the bulbs are good and they turn on when you turn on your vehicle lights... you should be good to go. I guess not.

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Baseball game

2010-04-18T16:03:00.000-07:00

Above is a picture from Field #1 at Hillside. My son had a game today, this was their 4th game and this one they won. Today was very nice, a touch on the cool side and a little cloudy but still nice. We went to the ball game right after being at our friends house for a small celebration for their son who had his first communion.
Yesterday, my son and I went to the last part of the Earth Day celebration at Elmwood park by the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

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Pinewood Derby 2010

2010-04-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the annual Pinewood Derby at the Scout meeting. My son and I spent the last couple of weeks building the car you see above. It looks real nice but came in last in every heat. We picked up a few tips from some other kid/Dad teams. I think we’ll do a little better next time.

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I win again today !!

2010-03-04T08:37:00.000-08:00

I so figured out how to print one page per side on our company printer!! Years ago the LAN guys, in an effort to save paper, set the printing default to duplex print FOR EVERYONE. For the most part duplex printing is alright for work documents but once in a while I need something printed one page per side.
Now I don't have to throw away one 500 page ream of paper per week to make up for the paper savings. Whew!

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My new want: Sony HDR AX-2000 Hi Def Camcorder

2010-02-17T21:21:00.001-08:00

I think I have a new favorite camera. This beauty is under $3,500 and tapeless. It records onto 2 HCSD cards at 1080. I won’t go into all the details, there is a link below for all that. Wish with me for this creature to be in my possession in the near future. Oh yeah.

Amazon.com

Review on B&H

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February… ugh

2010-02-17T05:55:00.001-08:00

I really don’t want to be ‘half empty’ but For The Love Of Pete is February not the most depressing month?!?!

It is in between “Winter” and “Spring” and no fun. Actually it is the middle of winter so that’s why it’s depressing.

My daughter said something the other day that I’ve been thinking for a long time, something like: “It would be fun to travel to wherever it is 72 degrees”. I agree. I could write a book about the travels and call it ‘Chasing 72’. <sigh>

I'm one of those guys now...

2010-01-28T13:05:00.001-08:00

I finally have crossed the line, literally. I left the building I work in over lunch to run some errands to find that either I parked like this early this morning or elves came and moved my truck over 2 feet to the left. Wow, what a jerk.

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January almost gone – 2010

2010-01-26T21:45:00.001-08:00

One month and a day after Christmas 2009 and I can’t wait for next Christmas already. I love Thanksgiving and Christmas, that it by far my favorite time of the year. We’ve only 10 months to go till Thanksgiving.

It’s cold and will be for the next few days. I took Audrey and Nathan to the Golden Archery club Tuesday night archery group lesson/shoot this evening. Nathan has been there before but Audrey went for the first time and really enjoyed it. We found out she is left eye dominant and shoots better left-handed. Nathan popped two balloons while Audrey had a number of near-hits.

2010-01-08T12:24:00.001-08:00

Enough is enough. We've had a good amount of snow for sure. I've battled an ineffective (since fixed) snow blower, 19 snow removals, bitter bitter wind chill, on call at work, issues at work, my truck breaking down with my wife and kids with me and a $75 tow bill.

Whew!

I guess all is ending alright. A simple adjustment to my snow blower made it work like a champ. A call from the repair shop is implicating the my truck's battery, so if that is the case, it won't be that expensive. OK, they just called, the fuel pump is bad and of course it's in the tank so it'll be a few more bucks.

And... as this is written there is an emergency code fix needed at work, so off I go....

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2010-01-04T06:46:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I shot and edited a music video for a fellow name Tracy Skretta. He lives here in Omaha and I met him when he was playing one Friday evening at a local coffee shop.

I offered to shot some video of him playing for him to use as well as practice for me. I think it turned out pretty well. I learned a lot and had some help from a guy named Chris Bridges. I can't thank Chris enough!

The embedded video above is a little wide for the column but that is the smallest embedding YouTube offers for this video.

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Don't forget to write 2010 on your checks

2010-01-04T06:37:00.000-08:00

Jan 4, 201o and I'm going back to work today. I've been off since Dec 18, it was nice to have all that time off and I'm trying to not let it bug me that I'm going back into the office today.
The big snowstorm (read the previous blog entry) did in fact come and dump a ton of snow on us. The big snow fall happened on Christmas day. My wife and I went out together to tackle all the snow accounts I have the next day on the 26th. I went out at 8, did a couple then picked her up at 11:00 and we worked for the next 12 hours and 3 hours the next day. It was a lot of work and it took 2 days for all the aches and pains to subside with a little help from some Advil.

Happy New Year everyone

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2009-12-23T04:39:00.000-08:00

There is a sleet/ice/snow storm coming our way over the next few days. This Friday is Christmas day and that is when the snow and whatever else is supposed to stop falling. I do snow removal for 14 residential houses. I am bummed.

I really really don't want to go out and do snow removal on Christmas day. I am actually letting this start to ruin my mood. In all actuality I can do all the houses in 5 hours if it's just a few inches or it can take as long as 12 like it did the last storm with someone helping me but we got 12 to 18 inches that go around.

I feel like a big baby but I SO look forward to the Christmas holiday, not to mention Christmas day.

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2009-12-14T07:40:00.000-08:00

After the two snowfalls we had last week (the latter delivering much more snow than the first) we get freezing drizzle this morning which means... scraping.

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Omah Singer Songwriter - Tracy Skretta

2009-12-11T05:50:00.000-08:00

I'd like to tell everyone about a local singer songwriter named Tracy Skretta. He writes and sings alternative rock and his sets include some covers of great songs.
Tracy recently recorded and put out a new CD, please follow the link below to check out his music.

http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/TracySkretta

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JoeCubicle

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2009-12-11T05:35:00.000-08:00

Happy December everyone! I'm writing this after the big ol' snowstorm we had two days ago. Sunday night we got a few inches of snow then a few days later another and bigger snow came through. That snow started falling early Tuesday and got BIG later that night and ended early Wednesday morning. The rest of Wednesday turned out to actually be sunny and a little blustery until the wind totally subsided by Wednesday afternoon. All in all we received 12 to 18 inches with some drifting up to 3 feet easily.
I did snow removal for the houses that I usually do plus my own.

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JoeCubicle

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Crazy Mystery Light(s)

2009-12-11T04:27:00.001-08:00

Did anyone see this story the other day. The photo was taken by a guy in Tromso Norway on his way to work. It turned out to be a failed missile launch from a Russian submarine. For a day it was a mystery though. I love the image, it looks like a crazy black hole sucking energy from our planet.

Back to work after Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T06:40:00.000-08:00

Today is Monday, November 30th, and also is back to work after having a whole work week and two weekends off. It was nice to have some down time. Thanksgiving went well, there were many days of eating plenty.
We had very nice weather most every day, you really couldn't ask for better this time of year.
I hope everyone had a nice holiday.

Thanksgiving Day 2009

2009-11-26T06:25:00.000-08:00

6:00 AM start to this day. Lisa and I got the turkey in the oven ( 21 pound tom ) and she went back to bed. I decided to stay up and turn into JoeCubicle for a few hours. I hope everyone is going to have a great Thanksgiving day. I know we will.

Sony Vegas Preview Fix

2009-11-18T18:45:00.000-08:00

I recently had to reload my laptop that I use to edit and render video using Sony Vegas 8 Pro. When I had the laptop all set up once more and had Vegas installed and was ready to edit some video I noticed the video preview was REALLY jerky and skipped over transitions. It did not do this on the previous install before I reloaded my operating system.
There is something that does work for small, selected regions; select a region of the video timeline and press 'Shift-B'. Vegas will 'pre-render' the selected region then you can play it back smoothly without the jerkyness, that does work, BUT, you will want the preview to work all the time without the 'Shift-B' pre-render.
I'll make a long story short and get right to what helped me make it good.

Once you have a new project open and you have dropped in a clip or even before you have dropped in a clip, perform the following steps:

Click 'Edit' in the menu, then go down to 'Properties' and click it.

Once the new project properties window opens, click the little yellow folder.

Navigate to one of the video clips you are going to use, select it (the clip name should populate the file name text box) and click 'Open'. This will make Vegas 'read' your video clip and import all the properties correctly for that specific clip as well as subsequent clips of that type.

This worked for me like a champ! Please give it a try. I don't know if this will work for sure in Vegas 9 or other flavors of Vegas but it did help a ton for me in Vegas 8 Pro.

I have to credit Eugenia Loli for the information. I will include her website which contains MANY helpful articles as well as two great links I use to go to directly from time to time.

Eugenia's Website:
http://eugenia.gnomefiles.org

Sony Vegas hints and tips.
http://eugenia.gnomefiles.org/2008/12/19/sony-vegas-hints-and-tips/

Exporting with Vegas for Vimeo HD.
http://eugenia.gnomefiles.org/2007/11/09/exporting-with-vegas-for-vimeo-hd/

Here is another thing I had to do a little searching on to 'fix' ( In the menu, click on 'Options' then 'Preferences'). Every time I would switch to another window away from Vegas then come back, all my video clips in the timeline had 'ghosted' text across them saying 'Media Offline' and I could not edit until it went away, anywhere from 5 to 45 seconds. A major pain. Unchecking the box will keep your clips 'online'.

Good luck and thanks for reading.

Motorcylce - 4 out of 5 days

2009-11-12T13:41:00.000-08:00

I have ridden my mototcycle to work the last 4 days in a row. With running errands and such plus to and from work I'm probably sitting at about 20 to 25 miles a day so figure I've saved about 100 miles in my truck at 12 mpg.

Here is our 'new' kitty, Zuuko. I don't really know how we spell it exactly but that's close enough. He is a really loving cat. He has started jumping up on the couch and sitting next to me. He's a good cat, sweet, playful and loving.

Two weeks to go till Thanksgiving

2009-11-12T07:13:00.000-08:00

I love love love Thanksgiving. I will have the whole week off from work and that is a good thing.

I should NOT have taken this photo...

2009-11-12T07:07:00.000-08:00

Hockey Game last week

2009-11-12T07:04:00.001-08:00

My son and I went to an Omaha Lancer hockey game last week. It was fun, it was my son's first hockey game and my first since I was his age. I think we would go again.
The Lancers won. We got there when it was 5 to 1. The final was 7 to 4.

3 weeks till Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-06T07:28:00.000-08:00

A funny thing, I worked really hard getting a blogging application downloaded and installed on my JoeCubicle.com website a few months ago, then, I remembered I already had a 'Blogspot' blog page for JoeCubicle. After much trying to remember my sign on and password, I'm in!
It's been two years since I've put a posting up here but I guess you could apply the saying; better late than never.

With all that appologizing out of the way, I'm really excited about Thanksgiving coming up in three weeks. I will have the whole week off from work, which I love much big.

Here's a pic of me from 'right now':

http://www.twoweeks.com

2005-07-14T09:51:00.000-07:00

Boss was on vacation and business trip for a combined timespan of two weeks. I have never got so much done and worked harder (and surfed the net) in my life. Why did this happen?

Be good to yourself and think inside the box.

Joe

Server 2003 not servin'

2005-06-15T05:29:00.000-07:00

I have been tasked to get a backup up server going for our production box. It was all supposed to be so easy. The server has been up and running for the last year and it's just sitting there. I could NOT get this thing to serve up the home page of a web site for the life of me. I had to install the .Net framework which is supposed already be part of the OP System. MS Server 2003 comes with the new IIS version 6.0, YeeeeeeeeHaaaaaaaw!!
Well, I tried everything and pulled a couple of people in on it. The decision was made to reload the OP System and start afresh. I just can't have anything Nice. This SUCKED!! I hope that it goes better after the reload.

Here is the Wallpaper I'm using on my computer at work.

Take care of yourself, Think inside the box.

Joe

Are those sirens I hear?

2005-05-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

I am on call this week and had the opportunity to field a problem ticket that involved a printer in Florida not printing Job Control Documents (Much need docs for the dept down there).
Our process builds and spools the documents. Two hours of research on our side showed everything was OkyDoky. The ticket went from a priority 2 to a full-fledged PRIORITY ONE!! A company-wide (for the top players that is) notification goes out.
When I got the person on the phone that was my point of contact in Florida I asked if everything was plugged in and on ("Are the lights on where you are"? sort of thing). I was assured everything was in proper order. I had to ask since we are dealing with machines that run on electricity.
Long story short... the network cable from the printer to the wall plug was a bit loose and needed plugged in and replaced really. A huge todo over an unlugged printer, I love it.

Be strong, think for yourself, think inside the box.

Joe

Buffet....

2005-05-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

Today was all about finishing up the last few touches on my final application for the big project. It was a very beautiful day and hard to stay inside. I followed CN to drop off his vehicle for some auto glass replacement and brought him back to work. Today was the meet at the buffet restaurant for a baby shower for J&C F. We ate and had presents, did I mention we ate? The rest of the day we all tried to stay awake which really wasn't that hard considering.
The boss is gone tomorrow and Monday, cubeville will be rocking!! Actually we'll all be working very hard.

Here is what I'm using for my wallpaper:

Till next time, Keep it real and think inside the box.

Joe

He's back, It's back and new blood

2005-05-03T22:20:00.000-07:00

Aragorn has returned. Our three positions have been filled. An old guy came back, we are getting a transfer from another part of our company and another is coming from outside the company. I can't wait to see what happens over the next month. the dynamics are going to be interesting.
I've just passed the 88% mark on my last application on a big project. Today is Tuesday, or atleast it was 30 minutes ago, and I promised boss that I would be done with it by Friday.
Things are going pretty well in the cube I had a bit of a depressor yesterday but new news today sorted things out a bit. The 30 second DAT/JOB FTP delay will either go in later this month or not at all, I've heard both. I've got full support of the test team and they say when things go in. Besides, one of them is coming to our team. 6 hours and 19 minutes till I'm back in the box, better go.

Yabba Dabba Do !!

2005-04-21T20:56:00.000-07:00

I was hauled in the office yesterday. The news turned out not to be so bad although I was a little nervous for just a second. I was tasked with putting in a 30 second delay between two FTP jobs so that the first file has a nice long chance of getting settled on the UNIX box before the second file gets there. The second file showing up is what triggers the processing of the first file. I was told to get it on the test box ASAP and get it tested. After a little bit of research I found the code "System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(30000);". I compiled my application and sent the .dll's to the test box and alerted the tester. It worked like a champ. This sounds like nothing but the program I had to change is very complicated to test. I ended up having a tester test it on the Dev box.

All's well that ends well.

Think for yourself, Think inside the box.

Joe

He's Baaack !

2005-04-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

The three positions we have for our team are now just two positions. We are getting a fellow back that left the company about 6 months ago, we'll call him WoolahKulee. He will be a 'welcome-back' addition to the team. He is the senior hire with just two junior positions left to fill. Things are happy around the isle. He actually called during our Monday staff meeting. Our boss's cell phone rang, he looked at it and left the room saying that he had to take the call. It was WoolahKulee calling to accept the offer that was offered. He'll be back in two weeks. Big geek news in the big geek world.

Look out for yourself, think inside the box.

Joe

New blood's a coming

2005-04-16T19:11:00.000-07:00

Three backfills to come and we couldn't be more excited. One is to be a Senior position and the other two should be just like me: under paid and under important. The project flow has been going well. I just handed off the on call pager yesterday. It was a really quiet week. There were a few tickets opened up Friday morning right after Friday morning doughnuts. We got those handled in short order and the pager handed off by Noon and all was well.

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

2005-04-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

The old man is snoring, that's for sure. It be a very rainy Tuesday. In the good land of cubicles I have put to bed another application. A few last DB logging tweaks and some TabIndicies I'm feeling pretty good. A dupe app and a report app to go and we'll be shipshape by the test date.

...and another thing...

2005-04-11T21:55:00.000-07:00

Can the true nature of man (or woman) be fully revealed from within the bounds of a pale blue steelcase cubicle. Nowhere have I seen or have found people stuck (by their own free will) in a box and behaving normally, let alone being happy and productive. It has been said by many a comedian: How can they expect you to think outside the box when you are in one all day?
My point is this: the cubicle is a non-creative space in my opinion. I would rather be locked away in an office with a door and walls that go all the way to the ceiling. Walls that only go up high enough to block your site but not high enough to afford you any real privacy is a bit maddening. It is like you are being teased. You can't see your neighbor but you can sure as hell hear him/her breath and chew and hear everything they say on the phone. Gross!
But all is not lost, when I leave work I can actually feel my soul ease back into my body as I drive out of the parking lot heading home to the reasons why I go to my box Monday through Friday.