What's New

May 30, 2010

Grand Canyon Vacation - 2010:
Married in October of 1985, this year Kim and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary a bit early. Why so early? Well, we already saw the Grand Canyon in the Autumn of '09, so this time we thought we'd try a spring-time trip. If we'd waited much longer, the temps would get too hot to handle, and we've got other vacations coming up. So May held the best opportunity for our anniversary trip to the Grand Canyon. Accompanying us on this trip were Kim's parents.

It's another trip out west; well, further west than Denver. We packed up the Volvo and headed south on I-25. Kim's parents arrived on the 8th of May, and we departed for Arizona on the 10th of May. We stayed in Williams, Arizona and a hotel at the south rim from the 10th - 14th of May. Kim's parents flew out of DIA on the 15th, and Kim and I took the rest of the weekend to recuperate, unpack, and recover.

This time around, I remembered to pack my battery charger - and saved a pile of cash. Along with my camera, three other people were snapping pics, so I had quite a few to sort through after this trip. After I collected all the photos, I had to go through and correct the times. Kim's parents had cameras set to central daylight time. Our cameras were set to mountain daylight time, and Arizona was running on mountain standard time. They don't spring forward in the spring time. So, the times on our cameras were all jumbled up. With a little help from Kim, we sorted out the times, got everything in the proper order, and then I went through and reduced the number of photos from 1,600+ to a little over 300. That's quite a reduction, but many of the photos were duplicates. With four people taking photos, you're bound to get a good deal of duplication. After paring down the photo set, I posted the photos in a few different places. You can find the photos on my personal website, or my MobileMe gallery. I even generated a movie from an iPhoto slide show. I hope you enjoy the photos, but I'm sure it won't be quite as nice as being there in person.
<https://www.robsworld.org/iphoto/grandcanyon2010/index.html>
<http://gallery.me.com/rvaessen#100297>
<https://www.robsworld.org/grandcanyon.mov>

Roku News:
I use a device known as a "Roku Player" in order to watch NetFlix 'Watch Instantly' titles (and a slew of other digital content) on the television in my bedroom. It's not the only device available for this feat, but it's an excellent choice - imho. No need for a disc, no waiting for the postal delivery. It's instant viewing gratification, and I love it. The little box (As low as $79.00 through the mail) is a fantastic set-top device with plenty of room for growth and improvement, and the makers of this device haven't been sitting on their success. In addition to an expanded selection of channels, the Roku now delivers a new Netflix interface. I managed to get in on a beta test for the New Netflix interface over the break, and this update is awesome. What's so awesome? Well, they finally did it. They added two new features that will simply blow you away. Search by title and browse by genre. It's awesome. Just like the Netflix web experience, but no need to sit in front of the computer. Thanks to Roku, you can watch Netflix movies directly on your TV, without adding them to your queue. Now I never have to leave the couch! :-)

Other improvements delivered by this beta update include improvements to streaming and buffering/re-buffering (this problem was affecting my ability to stream content from two premium channels). This update took my software from version 2.5 build 388 to version 2.6 build 663. Another reason why the Roku player rocks.
<http://www.roku.com/roku-products>
<http://www.roku.com/roku-channel-store>

Software favorites:
A couple more releases for one of my favorite software applications. GraphicConverter moves ever forward. As usual, developer has been busy updating this application. Here is one full release and a beta release for the product that's always getting better. More free updates for those who own a license. If you need a powerhouse converter, editor and browser for your graphics, grab a copy of GraphicConverter - You won't be disappointed.

GraphicConverter:
Thorsten Lemke (of Lemkesoft) released two updates this week.. This week I saw/downloaded the following update: 6.7.2 and a beta for the next version. 6.7.3b0. GraphicConverter is an image converter and editor. A fantastic piece of shareware that is well worth the price ($35.00). I use it to convert image formats into web standard formats, to create and edit image maps and other graphics. I've been singing GC's praises for many years now, and I'm not sure I would do without it. The best part about GC is it's author. Thorsten Lemke is completely committed to his customer base. Constantly and Continuously responding to customer recommendations and bug reports. GC is a dynamic, evolving, application. Always on the cutting edge, an absolute must in any web developers tool box. At a fraction of PhotoShop's cost, this photo editor puts a huge wrench in your toolbox.
<http://www.lemkesoft.com/xd/public/content/index._cGlkPTE5Mw_.html>

With this software update, I've updated my Software Favorites page. It's primarily dedicated to web publishing for the Mac user. Not meant for the professional, It's my hope that home users and hobbyists will find it useful. It's a listing of applications that I find useful in publishing my web pages.
<https://www.robsworld.org/myfavs.html>

May 19, 2010

Software favorites:
Yet another slew of releases for some of my software favorites. Bruji.com makes a slew of cataloging products for the Mac user. Each application allows you to catalogue, track and inventory your books, movie, music. The software has HTML output, and it's flexible enough to allow user customization. In addition to the 'Pedia' updates, I also downloaded the latest version of XQuartz for X11 on the Mac.

DVDPedia:
DVDPedia is a great little application for cataloging and displaying your movie collection, and I'm running version 4.6.1. It's list of features is impressive, and it keeps getting better with every update. The database is capable of generating statistics, you can keep track of multiple collections, you can easily add titles by typing the name of the movie or you can scan the barcode (using your iSight camera or a barcode reader) right off the movie box (it then searches the internet, and displays choices). It has customizable HTML export capabilities, a borrowed feature with address book integration, the ability to play movie in full screen mode, and many more features which make an awesome addition to your software library. I use it to generate HTML listings of my movies and movie reviews. Below are links to some of the pages I created using this software.
<https://www.robsworld.org/iphonemoviecollection/index.html>
<https://www.robsworld.org/mymovies/index.html>
<https://www.robsworld.org/reviews.html>
<http://www.bruji.com/dvdpedia/>

CDPedia:
CDPedia is a great little application for cataloging and displaying your music collection, and I'm running version 4.6.1 It's list of features is impressive, and it keeps getting better with every update. The database is capable of generating statistics, you can keep track of multiple collections, you can easily add titles by typing the name of the artist, album, or track. You can scan the barcode (using your iSight camera or a barcode reader) right off a jewel case (it then searches the internet, and displays choices), or you can import lists of music from iTunes. It has customizable HTML export capabilities, a borrowed feature with address book integration, and many more features which make an awesome addition to your software library. I use it to generate HTML listings of my music. Below are links to some of the pages I created using this software.
<https://www.robsworld.org/mymusic/index.html>
<https://www.robsworld.org/iphonemusiccollection/index.html>
<http://www.bruji.com/cdpedia/>

Bookpedia:
Bookpedia is a great little application for cataloging and displaying your book collection(s), and I'm running version 4.6.1 It's list of features is impressive, and it keeps getting better with every update. The database is capable of generating statistics, you can keep track of multiple collections, you can easily add titles by typing the name of the author, book, or isbn number. You can scan the barcode (using your iSight camera or a barcode reader) right off the book cover (the application searches the internet, and displays choices). It has customizable HTML export capabilities, a borrowed feature with address book integration, and many more features which make an awesome addition to your software library. I use it to generate an HTML listing of my favorite books.
<https://www.robsworld.org/books.html>
<http://www.bruji.com/bookpedia/>

X11:
One of the best things about OSX? - it's really Unix!
I'm running X11/XQuartz 2.5.1, available from MacOS Forge

I've been using Unix longer than I've been using Mac's, so I knew about the power potential when I found out that OSX was going to be based on Unix. Some of the most powerful Unix applications (see The GIMP below) run on any OSX equipped Mac. In order to run all these fantastic applications you need nothing more than Apple's version of X11 (which comes free with OSX, or you can download and install other versions). If you want to get a bit more advanced, you can use Fink or Macports with your OSX equipped Mac. Once you get your X Windows environment running, you'll find thousands of Unix applications that have been a well kept secret for all this time.

Getting Unix apps up and running on your Mac isn't always as easy as downloading and double clicking, but the following links should help you get started.
<http://developer.apple.com/opensource/tools/X11.html>
<http://developer.apple.com/opensource/tools/runningx11.html>
<http://www.macports.org/>
<http://www.finkproject.org/>

With these software updates, I've updated my Software Favorites page. It's primarily dedicated to web publishing for the Mac user. Not meant for the professional, It's my hope that home users and hobbyists will find it useful. It's a listing of applications that I find useful in publishing my web pages and cataloguing my collections.
<https://www.robsworld.org/myfavs.html>

Mailman Malfunction:
Over the last several days (from May 5th - May 17th), my mailing lists; serving our local Neighborhood Watch (3 lists), my personal website (2 lists), and my community (3 lists), had a serious malfunction. The mailing lists stopped distributing messages. When I (or others ) send email to one of the mailing lists, mailman (the administration software) is supposed to distribute the message to all the subscribers. That wasn't happening. Sending email to the appropriate email addressed resulted in no action. No bounce message, and no email delivery. I didn't notice the problem until I got back from a vacation on the 15th. That's when I started investigating the issue (as reported by the Neighborhood Watch's HAC). After some investigation, I discovered the full impact and reported the issue to my hosting/domain manager. Dale quickly responded, and full functionality was restored by the 17th. I had to resend 8 messages, but everything seems to be back in service at this time.

Updates to the Tollgate Crossing Website:
My odd-ball schedule actually works in my favor for some things. A couple of those activities are the community support activities which I enjoy - Volunteering with our local neighborhood watch, and supporting our community by maintaining the Tollgate Crossing website and mailing lists. While it started out as a website focused primarily on our Neighborhood Watch (which was originally confined to the Tollgate Crossing community), it quickly grew to encompass the whole of our community, in the form of an expanded website and a variety of email mailing lists. Later, I spun the Neighborhood Watch portions off to form it's/their own website. Now the Tollgate Crossing' website is re-focused on the Tollgate Crossing community, with links to the Neighborhood Watch website. Here are a few changes I made at our community website in the last few days:

* Welcome: The website's opener. A page containing an introduction to our community, with banners and listings of upcoming events. Removed the banners for the Southeast Aurora Neighborhood Watch Picnic Planning meeting, and the 2nd Annual Neighborhood Watch picnic. Updated the banner for our next HOA meeting. Added a new banner for the community-wide garage sale. The garage sale will be held 21-23 May.
* Events: A listing of upcoming and recurring events. Removed an entry for the Neighborhood Watch's second annual community picnic. Updated the paragraph for our next HOA meeting.

If you are a resident of 'Tollgate Crossing' (in Aurora, Colorado), you might want to check out the website. It's loaded with information about our community and you can even sign up for some of the email mailing lists that serve our community. If you're a fan of "Rob's World!" you'll want to check out the web page, just to see what can be done with Apple's iWeb software. The web page turned out very nicely, and I hope it serves our community well.
<http://www.tollgatecrossing.org/Welcome.html>
<http://www.apple.com/ilife/iweb/>

Updates to the Southeast Aurora Neighborhood Watch website:
My odd-ball schedule actually works in my favor for some things. A couple of those activities are the community support activities which I enjoy - Volunteering with our local neighborhood watch, maintaining the Southeast Aurora Neighborhood Watch website and mailing lists. Here are a few changes I made at our Neighborhood Watch website in the last few days:

* Welcome: The website's opener. A page containing an introduction to the Neighborhood Watch program and it's volunteers. I Increased the font size for the non-emergency police contact number (fyi: 303-627-3100).
* Current: A web page dedicated to the most recent news, announcements and information. I removed the banners for the Neighborhood Watch Picnic Planning meeting, and the 2nd Annual Neighborhood Watch picnic. On Saturday, the 15th of May, our neighborhood watch held it's second annual picnic. The picnic featured free food, door prizes, demonstrations, music, games and some vendors. The picnic was a fantastic opportunity to meet and greet members of our community, the Neighborhood Watch and members of Aurora's Police and Fire departments. The picnic was held at the Beacon Point clubhouse, and I hope to post photos of the event in the days to come. In the meantime, you may wish to view some photos I posted following last year's picnic. I also corrected some formatting on comments from our PAR (Police Area Representative).
Updated some information on our Events page. Removed entries for the Neighborhood Watch second annual picnic and associated Picnic Planning paragraph.
* Events: A listing of upcoming and recurring events. Removed entries for the Neighborhood Watch second annual picnic and associated Picnic Planning paragraph.
* Info: A page of links and information pertinent to the safety and security of our communities. I modified the format for our area coordinators contact information and added contact info for the Beacon Point area coordinator. I also added information and a phone number for reporting of suspected drug related activity (fyi: 303-739-1964).

If you are a resident of Southeast Aurora, Colorado, you might want to check out our Southeast Aurora Neighborhood Watch website (Serving the following communities: Tollgate Crossing, Sorrel Ranch, The Wheatlands, Beacon Point, Southshore, Tallyn’s Reach, Saddle Rock - North, Serenity Ridge, Black Stone, Heritage Eagle Bend and Rocking Horse). The new site turned out very nicely, and I hope it serves our community well. If you're concerned about the safety and security of our community, you might want to join our group, or subscribe to one of our mailing lists to receive periodic alerts, updates and information.
<http://www.southeastaurora-neighborhoodwatch.org/Welcome.html>

May 16, 2010

I'm sick!
I caught a cold on Saturday the 15th of May. It's been a while since I've been sick (back in Dec of '09). Thankfully, it came after our vacation. It came the day after I forgot to take my vitamins. Damn! Must take the vitamin C. Thankfully it's nowhere near the severity of the flu I had back in December. Hopefully it won't keep me away from work. Hopefully it won't get any worse. No fever so far. A mild sore throat turned to sinus congestion over the last 24 hours. If you're working anywhere near me, keep your distance.

Early Anniversary - 2010:
Married in October of 1985, this year Kim and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary a bit early. Why so early? Well, we already saw the Grand Canyon in the Autumn, so this time we thought we'd try a spring-time trip. If we'd waited much longer, the temps would get too hot to handle, and we've got other vacations coming up. So May held the best opportunity for our anniversary trip to the Grand Canyon. Accompanying us on this trip were Kim's parents.

It's another trip out west; well, further west than Denver. We packed up the Volvo and headed south on I-25. Kim's parents arrived on the 8th of May, and we departed for Arizona on the 10th of May. We stayed in Williams, Arizona and a hotel at the south rim from the 10th - 14th of May. Kim's parents flew out of DIA on the 15th, and Kim and we took the rest of the weekend to recuperate, unpack, and recover.

Here's a brief synopsis of our trip to the Grand Canyon:

8 May 2010:
- 0948-1130 Vacation starts. Got up early from my mid. Cleaned the house a bit. Checked eMail. Put clothes away.
- 1130-1300 Went to DIA to pick up Kim's parents. Plane arrived at appx 1230.
- 1300-1400 Ate lunch at 'The Wine Experience'. We shared four appetizers (cheese plate, calamari, hot bacon salad, wedge salad).
- 1400-1500 Visited with Ted & Sharon. Showed them around the house. Talked about all the changes since they were last here (in 2007).
- 1500-1800 Ted and I watched a movie before dinner while Kim and Sharon went shopping.
- 1800-1930 Ted & I went for a walk around the neighborhood.
- 1930-2130 Kim prepared and served a fantastic meal - The best we ate during this vacation. Salmon steaks grilled on cedar plank (cooked rare), corn on the cob, grilled shrimp with a mango salsa, salad and a bottle of wine.
- 2130-2230 Did some more visiting with Ted & Sharon.
9 May 2010:
- 0600-0900 Up early. Didn't sleep well - too much wine. Made coffee. Hand watered the lawn (shrubs, miniature pines and a new piece of sod). Updated the GPS maps.
- 0900-1000 Went for another walk around the neighborhood. This time Sharon came with Ted and I.
- 1000-1230 Went to the Park Meadows mall. Kim and Sharon wanted to do some shopping. Ted and I got sucked along.
- 1230-1330 Had a little lunch. I had a plate of cheese and sausage.
- 1330-1500 I took a nap. Still trying to recover from working mids. While I was sleeping, Kim and her parents did some work around the house.
- 1500-1800 Ted watched a movie, I worked on the computer a bit, Kim & Sharon visited.
- 1800-2000 We went out to eat at Strings. A very highly rated restaurant in Denver (beef carpaccio, baby artichokes, entrees and dessert). The baby artichokes were very tough). We had a hell of a time finding some parking, and didn't realize there was valet parking until after we found a place to park, two blocks away. We ate outside, and the weather was perfect. That was the best part of the meal. The total bill came to $170.00.
- 2000- 2300 Watched another movie before crashing.
10 May 2010:
- 0500-0715 Kim woke me up at 0500. She thought I threw away her new shoes. They were right where she left them. Packed for the trip.
- 0715 Left for Arizona. We took the XC90. Kim's Milan (hybrid) is too small for the trip. Not as roomy, not enough cargo space.
- 0715-2115 A grueling, long drive (appx 14 hours), with very windy conditions for a large portion of the drive. Finding the hotel was kind of hit and miss (directions available online are contradictory).
- 2115-2030 (With a time zone change) We checked in at the Grand Canyon Railway hotel and took our bags to the rooms.
- 2030-2115 With vouchers, we ate our dinner in the main cafeteria. Buffet style and very bland. The worst part of our trip was the food at the Xanterra run dining establishments.
- 2130 Back to the hotel just in time to sleep after an incredibly long day.
11 May 2010:
- 0530-0630 Up and at 'em - Getting ready for the first full day of fun at the Grand Canyon.
- 0630-0830 Had to buy a back pack, some water, and a few other items. Kim straightened out some problems with tickets and room reservations.
- 0830-0900 At the train station, we did some shopping and took some photos.
- 0900-0930 Enjoyed an 'old-west' shoot out at the west end of the train depot. Conditions began deteriorating. Overcast, cold, windy.
- 0930-1130 On the train to south rim of the Grand Canyon. It started snowing! Very cold and very windy.
- 1130-1200 Bus ride to Maswik lodge for lunch. Once again, lunch at these Xanterra run facilities was fairly bland (and overpriced).
- 1200-1300 Lunch at the hotel. Buffet style. Fish was no good. I have no idea how long it had been sitting under those heat lamps.
- 1300-1500 Bus tour of south rim. We made three stops for photos. That's it? A lousy three stop tour? Next time we'll do our own driving. Three stops with ten minutes per stop. What a ridiculous excuse for a 'tour'.
- 1500-1600 Shopping at shops on the south rim.
- 1600-1614 Checked in at the Maswik lodge (five minutes (on foot) from the south rim of the Grand Canyon). The rooms weren't ready by 1300.
- 1600-1730 Relaxing in our room.
- 1730-1815 I did some hiking along the south rim. Made it all the way to Yavapai Observation Station. Took the free shuttle bus back to the Bright Angel lodge.
- 1815-1900 Ate dinner at the Bright Angel lodge restaurant. Food wasn't very good and the view was terrible. We ended up at the wrong place for dinner.
- 1900-1930 Walked back to Maswik lodge.
- 1930-2200 Relaxing in our rooms. Played cards with Kim's parents.
12 May 2010:
- 0700 Wake up call. Alarm clocks in the Maswik lodge don't work. Had to have wake up calls from front desk.
- 0730-0745 Shopping at Maswik gift shop.
- 0745-0805 Breakfast at the Maswik lodge cafeteria. Large breakfast, but the food is bland.
- 0805-0835 Waiting for hotel shuttle to take us to downtown Tusayan.
- 0835-0915 Helicopter briefing and check in. We booked a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon.
- 0930-1040 Helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon. Appx 30 minutes over the Grand Canyon.
- 1100-1115 Shopping in Tusayan while waiting for shuttle back to hotel.
- 1115-1130 Took the hotel shuttle back to the Maswik lodge.
- 1130-1210 Ate lunch at the Maswik lodge cafeteria.
- 1210-1430 Hiking along south rim. Saw a bunch of Elk on the way back to the room.
- 1430-1515 Waiting for train to Williams.
- 1515-1800 Train back to Williams. The train had plenty of entertainment. Accordion player on the way to the Grand Canyon, guitar player on return trip. The return trip also featured some wild-west action with a gang of outlaws and the marshall.
- 1800-1830 Resting in our rooms at the Grand Canyon Railroad hotel.
- 1830-1930 Ate dinner in the hotel cafeteria. Resolved not to eat here tomorrow.
- 1930-2000 Did some more shopping, before returning to our rooms for the evening.
13 May 2010:
- 0600-0630 Woke up early, to pack up for a long day of sightseeing.
- 0630-0700 Ate our last breakfast at the Grand Canyon Railroad hotel. Breakfast was the usual bland fare. Reminds me of basic training.
- 0700-0730 I spent some time in the lobby, trying to get a decent internet connection. No such luck. The hotel's router doesn't support NAT routing, so I couldn't use 'Back to my Mac' to check the computer at home, and the bandwidth was incredibly restricted. It took forever to download a few podcasts.
- 0730-0845 Waiting for pick-up for Jeep Tour. Did some more shopping at the railroad depot gift shop.
- 0845-1030 Drive to Grand Canyon caverns. It's located along Rte. 66, appx half way between Williams and Kingman, Arizona. Thankfully the guide made our bus ride tolerable.
- 1030-1115 Tour of the largest dry cavern in the U.S. 210 feet below the surface, the large chambers of this cavern were quite interesting. The one room hotel, in the middle of the largest room spoiled the natural beauty of the cavern. We didn't have much time to shop before we started the second leg of our day.
- 1115-1630 Jeep tour down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The drive took quite a while, but the scenery was magnificent. There was a lot of plant life, variant rock formations, animals, and temperature variation. It started out quite cool, but the Colorado river basin was quite warm (82 degrees Fahrenheit). We had perfect weather for this trip. A bag lunch at the river landing, and plenty of time to take some pictures. The tour guides were quite knowledgeable and we had a great time.
- 1630-1830 Return to the hotel.
- 1830-1945 Washed up in our rooms, then drove to down town Williams to do some more shopping. This time we got away from the hotel, and found some better shops.
- 1945-2030 Ate at Doc Holiday's. A restaurant in downtown Williams (in a Holiday Inn). The food was far better than that served at the Xanterra managed hotels and restaurants.
- 2030-2100 Back to the hotel for our last night in Williams.
14 May 2010:
- 0730 Loaded up the Volvo, checked out, and started our long drive back to Aurora.
- 0730-1700 The drive back was a little different. The GPS routed us through New Mexico, so the views were different. The wind wasn't nearly as bad, so the driving went well, until...
- 1700-1830 Just before we crossed into Colorado (from New Mexico), the weather started to turn nasty. The wind picked up, it started getting overcast, and the temps started dropping. Shortly after we crossed into Colorado, we started passing through the Sangre de Cristo mountains. As the elevation moved up, we started to encounter rain.
- 1830-1930 The mountain pass was quite an adventure. As we entered La Veta pass the weather turned to snow. Heavy snow. Eventually the roads became treacherous, and we got stuck at the top. Somewhere ahead, an accident caused all traffic, from both directions, to stop completely. We spent a tense hour or so stuck on that mountain. Thankfully we didn't have to wait long. Eventually the snow stopped falling, and the temps went back up. From 32 to 39 in less than a half hour. The snow began melting and the traffic started moving.
- 1930-2230 We eventually made it back to Aurora.
- 2230-2330 Stopped at Wal-Mart for some food and a last minute luggage purchase, before crashing for the night. Wow - With the time change and weather delay, I ended up driving for appx 15 hours.
- 2330-0100 I was up a little longer, transferring photos to/from the computer.
15 May 2010:
- 0400-0500 Up early to finish some last minute packing and prepare for the flight back to Green Bay. Kim and I managed to get three hours of sleep.
- 0500-0545 Packed up the Volvo and drove to the airport.
- 0545-0600 Said our goodbye's to Kim's parents. Everyone had a fantastic time during our Grand Canyon vacation, and we look forward to another.

Five days (six with driving) at the south rim of the Grand Canyon. We had a great time, and I'm sure Ted & Sharon did too. This was our second trip to the Grand Canyon, and I'm sure we'll be back again. Next time we'll do a lot more driving and self-guided touring. During the vacation we took a lot of photos. Everyone had a digital camera, and I've got all the photos. With 1,161 photos to sort through, it'll take me a while to post anything online. Another great Anniversary vacation. Until this year's Grand Canyon photos get posted, you can take a look at some photos from last years trip out west.
<https://www.robsworld.org/iphoto/annibirthday2009/index.html>
<http://gallery.me.com/rvaessen#100296>

Southeast Aurora Neighborhood Watch:
On Saturday, the 15th of May our neighborhood watch - The Southeast Aurora Neighborhood Watch - held it's second annual picnic. The picnic featured free food, door prizes, demonstrations, music, games and some vendors. The picnic was a fantastic opportunity to meet and greet members of our community, the Neighborhood Watch and members of Aurora's Police and Fire departments. The picnic was held at the Beacon Point clubhouse, and I hope to post photos of the event in the days to come. In the meantime, you may wish to view some photos I posted following last year's picnic.

If you are a resident of Southeast Aurora, Colorado, you might want to check out our new Southeast Aurora Neighborhood Watch website (Serving the following communities: Tollgate Crossing, Sorrel Ranch, The Wheatlands, Beacon Point, Southshore, Tallyn’s Reach, Saddle Rock - North, Serenity Ridge, Black Stone, Heritage Eagle Bend and Rocking Horse). The new site turned out very nicely, and I hope it serves our community well. If you're concerned about the safety and security of our community, you might want to join our group, or subscribe to one of our mailing lists to receive periodic alerts, updates and information.
<http://www.southeastaurora-neighborhoodwatch.org/Welcome.html>
<http://www.tollgatecrossing.org/shutterbugpages/index.html>

Software favorites:
Yet another slew of beta releases for one of my software favorites; GraphicConverter moves ever forward. Here are more beta releases for the product that's always getting better. More free upgrades for those who own a license. If you need a powerhouse converter, editor and browser for your graphics, grab a copy of GraphicConverter - You won't be disappointed. In addition to the GC update, there was also a one-up increment to my favorite cataloguing applications, and a brand new version of Transmit.

GraphicConverter:
Thorsten Lemke (of Lemkesoft) released a few more beta releases (6.7.2b21, 6.7.2b23) over the last few days. GraphicConverter is an image converter and editor. A fantastic piece of shareware that is well worth the price ($35.00). I use it to convert image formats into web standard formats, to create and edit image maps and other graphics. I've been singing GC's praises for many years now, and I'm not sure I would do without it. The best part about GC is it's author. Thorsten Lemke is completely committed to his customer base. Constantly and Continuously responding to customer recommendations and bug reports. GC is a dynamic, evolving, application. Always on the cutting edge, an absolute must in any web developers tool box. At a fraction of PhotoShop's cost, this photo editor puts a huge wrench in your toolbox.
<http://www.lemkesoft.com/content/188/graphicconverter.html>

DVDPedia:
DVDPedia is a great little application for cataloging and displaying your movie collection, and I'm running version 4.6.0. It's list of features is impressive, and it keeps getting better with every update. The database is capable of generating statistics, you can keep track of multiple collections, you can easily add titles by typing the name of the movie or you can scan the barcode (using your iSight camera or a barcode reader) right off the movie box (it then searches the internet, and displays choices). It has customizable HTML export capabilities, a borrowed feature with address book integration, the ability to play movie in full screen mode, and many more features which make an awesome addition to your software library. I use it to generate HTML listings of my movies and movie reviews. Below are links to some of the pages I created using this software.
<https://www.robsworld.org/iphonemoviecollection/index.html>
<https://www.robsworld.org/mymovies/index.html>
<https://www.robsworld.org/reviews.html>
<http://www.bruji.com/dvdpedia/>

CDPedia:
CDPedia is a great little application for cataloging and displaying your music collection, and I'm running version 4.6.0 It's list of features is impressive, and it keeps getting better with every update. The database is capable of generating statistics, you can keep track of multiple collections, you can easily add titles by typing the name of the artist, album, or track. You can scan the barcode (using your iSight camera or a barcode reader) right off a jewel case (it then searches the internet, and displays choices), or you can import lists of music from iTunes. It has customizable HTML export capabilities, a borrowed feature with address book integration, and many more features which make an awesome addition to your software library. I use it to generate HTML listings of my music. Below are links to some of the pages I created using this software.
<https://www.robsworld.org/mymusic/index.html>
<https://www.robsworld.org/iphonemusiccollection/index.html>
<http://www.bruji.com/cdpedia/>

Bookpedia:
Bookpedia is a great little application for cataloging and displaying your book collection(s), and I'm running version 4.6.0 It's list of features is impressive, and it keeps getting better with every update. The database is capable of generating statistics, you can keep track of multiple collections, you can easily add titles by typing the name of the author, book, or isbn number. You can scan the barcode (using your iSight camera or a barcode reader) right off the book cover (the application searches the internet, and displays choices). It has customizable HTML export capabilities, a borrowed feature with address book integration, and many more features which make an awesome addition to your software library. I use it to generate an HTML listing of my favorite books.
<https://www.robsworld.org/books.html>
<http://www.bruji.com/bookpedia/>

Transmit:
An FTP tool that does it all. Anyone who publishes web pages eventually needs a way to upload their pages to a web site. I've found that stand alone FTP tools are the best for this task. Transmit has a clean and easy to use interface, and some really nifty features, like the ability to resume a transfer that's been interrupted, advanced site synchronization capabilities (with simulation mode and reporting capabilities), iDisk and Amazon S3 integration, drag-to-dock sending, creation / use of transfer droplets, column views, quick navigation side-bar, multi-connection transfers, built in compression, a built in text editor, remote file editing using local editors, and secure transfer (in various different flavors) capabilities. This latest version (4.0) improves transfer speeds by up to 25x.
<http://www.panic.com/transmit/index.html>

May 6, 2010

D&D updates:
We played our last D&D session on the 1st of May. Here are couple of the updates from that meeting. With the conclusion of our 8 August meeting, the players have moved into an entirely new phase of the game. Gone are the S.C.R.E.W.O.F.F.S. - Existing now as a group of non-player characters. The player characters are now members of an entirely new group. The H.A.L.L.O.W.ed Knights. This new group of adventurers is poised to strike out from Whillip. In search of glory, fame, and justice, they seek to right the wrongs of this land. To defend the weak, enslaved and oppressed. Striking out at evil and taint, this group of characters vow to make their mark upon the land. Let H.A.L.L.O.W.ed Knights be a name both feared (by evil) and revered by the (good) citizens of these realms.

Note from the DM
As of 20 February, 2010, one of the players (Mark) has taken over the duties of DM. Mark and I have been planning this change for some time. It's something I like to do, when possible. Unfortunately, the opportunity doesn't present itself too often. Once the campaign has been established, and the players familiar with "Rob's World", I like to encourage full participation by sharing the duties of DM. Mark has written the adventure that the characters are currently engaged in, and I will relinquish DM duties while Mark makes all the big decisions. With Mark behind the podium, I'll do my best to enjoy the mystery, and keep Solmar alive. So, Mark and I have switched places. He'll be running the show, and I'll be playing Solmar. What fun! I'm certainly looking forward to the change of pace, the opportunity for adventure and the mystery of Deepwood. - Robert

The Adventurers journal:
The tale of our adventurers. A series of journal entries from various party members. This document contains details of their encounters. Victory, defeat, desire and glory. Here is the tale of The H.A.L.L.O.W.ed Knights, a group of adventurers who set forth from Whillip, seeking fame, fortune and the defeat of evil in these lands. The meeting on the 3rd of April sees the party out on the road. On their way to the next adventure. It's going to be a long overland journey, and there will be many more days just like this one. This entry features inputs from Mutteran. It's the conclusion to the party's encounter with Gamorette the renegade god-blooded Orc, and his gang of bandits. Thanks to Lee for his continued input and support. Hopefully we can see some journal entries from Kim, Lars or Kevin in the future.
<https://www.robsworld.org/ajournal08.html#may01 2010>

Character Updates:
Typically, the updates to this document usually revolve around the characters. In this instance, it's an NPC with updates. Gamorette the renegade Orc leads a group of bandit followers. Raiding traders and settlements in the shadow of the Giant's Run Mountains. With the conclusion of our May 1st meeting, I've updated some details regarding this NPC. He's dead! The "Who's Who?" page is a listing of characters, both player characters and non-player characters.
<https://www.robsworld.org/3ewhoswho.html>

These updates follow our meeting on the 1st of May . This session, and the previous ones (this year) represent the early days of a new adventure. The eighth adventure for our group. In search of glory, fame, and justice, the H.A.L.L.O.W.ed Knights seek to right the wrongs of this land. To defend the weak, enslaved and oppressed. Striking out at evil and taint, this group of characters vow to make their mark upon the land. Let H.A.L.L.O.W.ed Knights be a name feared by evil and revered by the good citizens of these realms. Departing on the 1st of Mavis, the party has decided to help the citizens of Deepwood in their quest to vanquish a Blue Dragon from their backyard. After picking up supplies, horses, and some information in Westgate, the party has taken to the open road. The road has proven dangerous and long. The party has fought many foes along the way, lost one of their own, and recruited a new companion to strengthen their numbers. With Gregor departed and Pyrceval enjoined, the party is back on the road again - Fighting Air Elementals, Chimeras, Tall Mouthers, and more.
<https://www.robsworld.org/3ecampaign.html>

May's eMusic downloads:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired. Where do I get all this stuff? I find a lot of free (actually free) music by visiting several of the new music web sites (Pandora, 3hive.com, musicalfamilytree.org) and several other music blogs (Analog Giant, Brooklyn Vegan, Fluxblog, Gorilla vs. Bear, etc) out there, and listening to a few different music podcasts (iTunes new music tuesdays, discovery download, and indiefeed). Artists want you to hear their music - If you like it, you'll buy it. The major labels want you to pay for their product - letting you hear it for free is contrary to their business model. Well, guess what? I won't buy it unless I can listen to it first. The major labels are killing themselves with their restrictive distribution and dissemination policies. If you like new music, you can do a google search to find your favorite artists web site, a new music web site, or an archive of free music. Free music is available - Legally! Don't believe the major labels propaganda - Not all free music is illegal. You can legally download music for free. I download music from websites, newsgroups (when I already own rights to the music), and a couple of commercial sources (iTunes and eMusic). Here's a listing of some of the music I legally downloaded - and in most cases - paid for!

eMusic monthly downloads:
Every month I download 50+ tracks (50 download credits) from eMusic.com. This month (May of 2010) I managed to download 88 tracks (due to their 'download deals', free samplers and a loyalty bonus!). Unlike some music outlets, eMusic doesn't have any DRM and they don't insert unique track id's into the ID3 tags. Their terms of service are consumer friendly; eMusic allows you to burn as many CDs as you like and copy downloads to an unlimited number of your computers and portable MP3 players, including the iPod and Zune (really?). At less than $.40 a track (I'm paying $19.99 for 50 downloads/month), it's a really good value. iTunes and Amazon still charge more. eMusic offers more music for your money, and the variable bit rate recordings make for exceptionally high quality recordings.
* Volume Two - She & Him: (13 songs) Zooey Deschannel? Really? Who would've thought? An emusic recommendation that really works for me. The vocals are outstanding and the instrumentals splendid. The combination reminds me of Nancy Sinatra. It's soft rock/alternative with a slow-core, melancholy beat that's hard to beat. I like it.
* Greatest Misses - Devo: (16 songs) One of my favorite bands from the 80s. Devo kind of summed up my quirky personality in the 80s. Total geek music, alternative when it was 'New Wave'. This album contains many of their less 'mainstream' hits. Here are some of their best songs. Next is their Greatest hits.
* Using Up Our Trust - Friday Mile: (10 songs) Discovered by listening to the MacCast podcast. Analog, indie, exceptional folk with a slight country flavor.
* A Series of Sneaks - Spoon: (16 songs) Spoon continues to impress me. Here is one of their early albums. Exceptional guitar work and tight composition with plenty of energy.
* When The Devil's Loose - A.A. Bondy: (10 songs) Roots, folk, blues, country. Here's a slow, melancholy album with plenty of heart and sincere songwriting. These 10 songs came courtesy of eMusic. A free loyalty bonus. Nice. I originally discovered A.A. Bondy by listening to iTunes Indie spotlight podcast.

Free eMusic sampler downloads:
Here's some more free music I downloaded recently. eMusic provides plenty of free tracks (to it's members) throughout the year, and I certainly take advantage of the free stuff:
* Deep Elm Sampler No. 9 "We Dream Alone" - Various Artists: (18 songs) A label sampler. Various artists, alt/punk genre. I may not keep all of them, but I'm sure that some of them will lead me to download (and pay) some new band I wouldn't have heard of otherwise.
* In Ruins EP - Fol Chen: (5 songs) How to turn one song into 5? Fol Chen does it with style. Danceable pop, electronic, alt/punk with verve, pep and a spring in their step.

These are some of the items I added to my music collection during the last month. Since revamping my music collection back in September of 2005, I've been slowly adding, revising and updating the collection. If you have a comment, question or correction regarding my music collection, please don't hesitate to send me an email. Please keep in mind that my collection isn't for sale, and I'm not interested in giving you any copyrighted materials. I'd rather not go to jail for music piracy. :-)
<https://www.robsworld.org/music.html>
<http://www.emusic.com/>

Updates to the Tollgate Crossing Website:
My odd-ball schedule actually works in my favor for some things. A couple of those activities are the community support activities which I enjoy - Volunteering with our local neighborhood watch, and supporting our community by maintaining the Tollgate Crossing website and mailing lists. While it started out as a website focused primarily on our Neighborhood Watch (which was originally confined to the Tollgate Crossing community), it quickly grew to encompass the whole of our community, in the form of an expanded website and a variety of email mailing lists. Later, I spun the Neighborhood Watch portions off to form it's/their own website. Now the Tollgate Crossing website is focused on the Tollgate Crossing community, with links to the Neighborhood Watch website. Here are a few changes I made at our community website in the last few days:

* Welcome: Updated the banners/badges on the Welcome page. I removed the badges and banners regarding trees/discounts for the purchase of replacement trees. Updated the banner for our next Metro District meeting (25 May). Removed the banner referring to our 4 May Metro District election. Posted a new banner directing visitors to our 'Events' page for results of the 4 May Metro District election.
* Neighborhood_Watch: Updated the short paragraph regarding our community's Neighborhood Watch. Updated links to the new website.
* Events: Updated the paragraph/info regarding our next Metro District meeting (25 May). Updated a paragraph/info regarding the upcoming Neighborhood Watch picnic (15 May). Updated/posted a paragraph/banner which shows the results of our 4 may Metro District elections.
* Volunteer: Removed the paragraph/banner asking for volunteers to serve on our Metro District board. The election was held on the 4th of May. See our Events page for the results of that election.

Even More Snow!
It's May - and we're still getting Snow! Winter just won't surrender it's grip on Aurora, Colorado. This part of Colorado often gets snow late into April, it's just a little bit odd to see snow after you've started mowing the lawn, the trees are budding, and the Robins returned. O.k. can someone explain what the heck just happened? On the 2nd of May, it was snowing in Aurora, Colorado. The temperature? 45 degrees Fahrenheit. That's kind of warm for snow - Don't you think?

Just another reminder - I may live at 39 degrees latitude, but I'm also living above 6,000ft. Snow in April isn't exactly rare in Colorado. Remember April of 2007? Back in '07, we had a pretty wicked storm back then, so don't be surprised if we get more...

* Current: A web page dedicated to the most recent news, announcements and information. Updated the banner for our next Neighborhood Watch picnic planning meeting. Next meeting is May 13th.
* Events: Updated the paragraph for our next Neighborhood Watch picnic planning meeting. The next picnic planning meeting will be held on the 13th of May. The Neighborhood Watch picnic will be held May 15th.
* Info: I update the info page, adding contact information for the area coordinator of the Tallyn's Reach community.