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Short video taken with the Flip.

I think TWC didn’t like me uploading so many files all weekend to the various places so I was not able to get these uploaded at home. No such problems at work…. here are the raw files from the camera.

720p (60fps).mov (23MB)
1080p (30fps).mov (26MB)
WVGA (DVD) (60fps).mov (14MB)

My latest hosting plan from Site5 includes unlimited bandwidth and storage space so I may host future videos myself if I can find a nice way to present them. Probably still put them on Viddler or Vimeo too.

I’m not money like db, but I did buy a new video camera last week – the Aiptek Action HD GVS 1080P High Definition Camcorder.

I love my Flip but ever since they brought out their HD version I’ve felt, well, a little resolution envy. At CES Sony brought out the Webbie that looks great and takes really good HD footage (for the price) but just as I was about to pull the trigger on it, I read about this camera and it has something that none of the others have: an external mic input.

I’ve posted a Flip video from the cockpit before and you may recall that it suffered from (at least) two problems: you can clearly see the prop spinning in the video, and all you can hear is engine drone (and me if I shout). This new camera should give me high definition pictures AND allow me to plug the radios into the camera thereby letting you hear all the air traffic control goodness. Look for a test of that in the next couple of weeks.
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Used to be a time when getting rid of used electronics was a breeze, there was always someone wanting to buy what I was replacing. But these days, not so much. I’ve quite a few things around the house that I’d love to get rid of:

• A Series 2 TiVo with a large hard drive in it – I put this on Craigslist at a steal price but all I got were people asking if I had a (transferable) lifetime subscription to go with it. I don’t. No one wanted it.
• A Sony 5-disc CD unit, looks nice on your hi-fi stack, sounds great. Of course it’s old, won’t play new-fangled SACD or MP3 CDs but it’s still a decent item
• Dell Axim X51v which I used to use as my aviation GPS. I tried selling this on the forums that support the aviation software but only two people were interested and they wanted to buy it, and my software, for about a quarter of the ‘as new’ cost.
• A Sony MiniDisc unit. So MiniDisc never caught on in the consumer market but it was a great platform for music. When I had my MiniDisc player stolen out of my Jeep (along with all my MDs) I gave up on the format. I doubt anyone wants this, either.

And I’m sure there are other things too. I suppose I could take them to some e-waste site for free and at least be rid of them, but it saddens me that no one wants any of it.

Last week, Teri, my Dad and I went to Applebee’s in El Centro and had without doubt our worst restaurant experience in a while.

• We ordered Samuel Adams drafts and they just tasted bad, quite sweet and the colour was all wrong. We sent them back and the manager bought new ones but they looked identical to me. Dad thought his tasted ok, I was still dubious but we kept them. By the end of the meal neither of us had drunk more than half the glass – they were not good at all.
• Dad ordered the Orange Salmon but when the meal came they gave him an Orange Chicken bowl instead. We sent it back and our waitress came and apologised, said she had written it down correctly but hit the wrong button on the computer. It took about 10 minutes for the new dish to come
• Meal over, our waitress came to give us the bill, more apologies. But the bill had a charge for both the Salmon and the unwanted Orange Chicken so we had to get her back to correct it. By this time I am sure she just wanted us gone so she could forget about the whole thing.

So we paid the bill and left. I was a little surprised that we didn’t get something comp’d but maybe this level of service is the norm?

db has been posting about some customer service issues recently (no link cos I know you already read it) and I thought this was too amusing not to post.

A guy I work with has Time Warner Cable for his internet and for the last couple of days he says that their mail server’s time is off by an hour and 27 minutes, so his mail has the wrong timestamp. TWC lets you chat to a customer representative online and he sent me his transcript. It’s a little long so you can see it after the break. Anyone want to bet that RadleyH isn’t a real person?
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The other night outside Von’s I was taken in by the feminine wiles of a young lady selling “Toys for Tots”, and ended up buying a puppet theatre kit (look for some vids soon!). Anyway, the item only cost $15 and it’s all for charity, right?

But hang on there! Reading the back of the receipt last night it says that 5% of the retail price goes to charity. The other 95% goes to the corporation selling the item and that “no portion of the 95% is used to benefit any non-profit organization”! So, I spent $16.16 and only 75c is going to charity? What a con!

That chick used me, man.

As you all know I’m into most of the social networking sites, you can find me at Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn on a regular basis. And it’s been great “reconnecting” with past colleagues.

But when I look at my list of contacts, I get a large amount of career envy. Just some of the titles my ex-peers hold:

• Director of IT
• CIO
• Vice President of IT
• Financial Controller
• CTO
• Owner of their own consulting business

And here am I, peasant worker bee for a big conglomerate. I know some people will say ‘but you moved across an ocean etc’ and that might be true, and might even be a ‘big deal’ but ultimately I’m about to turn 43 and I am just another programmer on the treadmill. How come all these guys did so much better than me?

This past weekend, my Dad, Teri, her parents and her Uncle John and Aunt Vaneta took a road trip out to the railway museum in Campo, CA, a small place in the high desert between where we live and San Diego. We had hoped to ride the train that they run on weekends but it turned out that it doesn’t run in December as they run a special train for kids instead.

So we made do with a stroll around their rolling stock museum, over 80 items ranging from old steam engines to covered wagons. Most everything is in need of a good sprucing up but it was a cool stroll around the yard and through some of the carriages.

Of course I had my Flip camera with me to capture it all:

So today I was giving my co-worker his daily deserved helping of crap and, for reasons that I absolutely cannot remember, told him he could twist in his sobriety. No, I don’t know what the hell I meant either though it’s safe to assume I wasn’t trying to be empathetic to whatever he was talking about.

Which brings us to this week’s video. Back to 1988, Germany’s Tanita Tikaram and Twist In My Sobriety, from the album Ancient Heart which, if I remember right, was pretty darned good.

Oh, I’m off to Sacramento tomorrow but don’t worry. As our Governor liked to say – I’ll be back!