Lincoln Parish Park revisited.

Today The Katie and I went to campus and to Lincoln Parish Park to take some pics. I figure that I've only got three months left in Ruston, so I'd better start taking some pics so I can remember my time here.

We got some pics of the new Hale Hall, the lady of the mist, and the clock tower. At LPP, we caught some kids feeding some ducks, and took some other nature-like pics.

The new imac G5

This is an amazing computer. I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of macs because of the software, and the proprietary hardware. That being said though, I love the design of this computer.

See it here.

Bejing's 'water cube'

If Bejing actually pulls this off by the time the 2008 olympics roll around, I'll be amazed.

This is supposedly the venue for the swimming events at the 2008 olympics. Hmmm... 4 more years... where will I be?

ReplayTV video editing.

I'm finally getting back around to trying to archive my videos from my ReplayTV 5040. I'm making some progress. Maybe someone who's been having similar problems will come across this post... it may help.

Here's what I've been doing:
1) Transferred files off the replayTV using DVArchive

2) Since TMPGEnc won't read my mpg files, I have to open them first using DVD2AVI. Choose Save Project (F4) from the file menu. It will generate two files, an .mpa file (mpeg audio) and a .d2v file (dvd2avi file associated with mpeg video).

3) Open TMPGEnc and go to file, then open the project window (or just press CTRL+W). Choose DVD-NTSC (assuming you're in the US and you want to convert to DVD format). This will prompt you to input your video file (the .d2v file), and the audio file (.mpa) from the previous step. Click next when this has been done.

4) You have a few different options... cutting out commercials using the source range, cropping the image (clip video frame), and reducing noise. If the video was recorded at medium quality or higher, I usually use TMPGEnc's source selection to cut out commercials manually. **This is because with medium quality and high quality recordings, I usually don't have a problem with synching audio and video... with low quality, it's almost a guarantee that that will happen**. If it's low quality, I would have opened the file in womble's mpeg2vcr and taken the commercials out first.

5)Click next, choose your settings. The smaller the bitrate of the video, the poorer the quality of the video. Choose the rest of the settings for audio and video and click next (defaults will work fine).

6) Choose your output video's filename and click "Start Encoding Immediately" to start encoding. If you want to encode multiple videos at once, click the batch option and repeat the process. When you've finished all the video settings, click "Start Encoding Immediately" and hit ok. The encoder will encode all the videos you've queued up.

The only problem I've had after doing this involves having the video and audio out of sync. The audio is out of sync for the length of the movie by the same amount of time... meaning that the sync problems don't get worse or better towards the end of the movie.

When this happens, I open up Womble and demux the audio into two parts. I set an audio offset according to my own judgement of how far off the audio is. For instance, if it appears that the audio is going ahead of the video by about half a second, I'd adjust the offset to positive 500 msec (.500 seconds). This will move the audio up a half second. Remux the audio and video and check the resulting video (don't close womble until you're sure you've got it right though). Keep adjusting this way until the problem is fixed.

Now, I've got most of my mpeg2 files. They're commercial free, and after a little work, the low quality recordings are synched up. Now I've just gotta slap a few in the TMPGEnc DVD Authoring program (or another one if I find it has more options), and burn a test DVD. The rest should be easy compared to getting the videos to DVD format.

Julia Child

I came across this article by way of apostropher's blog.

Asked by a radio interviewer once what her ultimate meal would be, Child said: "Red meat and a bottle of gin."

Sounds like my kinda woman.

Actually, I need to look into her books, or maybe a few of her older shows. Maybe they'll reair some of them, or release them on DVD... who knows. I like experimenting with cooking, though things never seem to turn out right. There's still hope though, she was in her 30's when she learned to cook, and look at what she accomplished.

Blog Redesign.

I'm adding a new header to the blog. You probably noticed that at the top of the page there is a group of squares... with an image behind it. Well, the image is randomly chosen from a list of images that I've chosen. I'll be adding a few more of those over the next few days.

I got the design idea and some of the implementation from diveintomark.org. He does it much better, and somehow got it to work with IE. I, on the other hand, have only figured out how he did it in mozilla. IE distorts everything, and chances are that most of you are looking at it, all distorted:). In addition, it doesn't really serve any function, which it does on mark's site, but that's ok. I liked the idea of it, and I figured I needed some personalization on the site.

If you want to view it the way I intended it to be viewed, then you should download and install mozilla firefox. It's a better browser than IE, so you should switch anyway. If you're interested in switching, search this site for firefox. You'll find a few extensions that will make using firefox a much better experience than using IE. In the meantime, I'll be working to get something up for IE viewers. I'll also try to add more images that should make suitable header images.

Work Progress.

With only two more days of work to go, we're on schedule. I'm glad to say that everything is working well above my expectations from 6 weeks ago. In 6 weeks the team was able to implement a ranking system, an indexing system, and triple the number of pages in the database, along with significantly altering the automatic classification system to our customized requirements.

In addition to these improvements, Raj and I worked on speeding up the search in a few different ways. We cut down on the time taken to retrieve objects from the database, and we also made the search object global to the session. This means that instead of having to create a new search object and query the database every time you enter a new search, you can just reuse the same object that's already in memory (this is all purty much just a rigged version of a cache). This results in an enormous savings in query time.

I think we're down from about 45 seconds to search 600,000 objects to 1/3 of that with 3 times as many pages. In addition, after the first search is completed, putting the search objects and relevent data in memory consequent searches take between 1 and 3 seconds from query to second page display. This is amazing for only 6 weeks.

I've only got a few things left to do to get the system up and running for the presentation in the first week or so of September. So, I guess I better get back to work.

College

I wish there was someone there during the first two years of college to tell me that this would be the best time of my life. I would've taken more pictures.

I don't know why in the world we're acting like fools, but that's the exact same reason I like this picture so much.

FoxyTunes

I stumbled across foxytunes like I stumble across most things... thanks to someone else's recommendation.

FoxyTunes is an extension to mozilla firefox that allows you to control your favorite media player from inside firefox.

If you use firefox, you should try it out.

Horse and Baby

How'd that happen?

Alton Brown

Apparently, some people weren't happy with Alton Brown's recipe for chili.

His reply: http://www.altonbrown.com/pages/rants.html?chili

That's my boy.

Master Bedroom by Andrew Wyeth

I like this picture... and I'm not sure why I like it. I think I may try to buy a print of it.

Site work and Movin Work

So, I thought I was done with the site I've been hired to build. I never seem to get done though. There will be some minor changes that I want to make, and I'll get into it and end up making an overhaul. The site is coming along well though. I expect to finish tonight, so I can finally meet with him and show him what's been going on. I'll be glad to have this out of my hair, and be paid for the job.

Back in the real world, today I helped Katie rearrange her furniture and decorate her bathroom with some girlie stuff she got at Wal-mart. Yesterday I installed a hand towel rack, a large towel rack, a towel hanger for the back of the bathroom door, and a toilet paper holder. Today I worked on putting up some border... I say some border because we ran out of paper before we'd even covered half the bathroom.

The instructions said to roll up the length of paper and soak it in warm water for 10 seconds. The next part said "DO NOT SUBMERGE THE BORDER IN WATER". How are you supposed to soak something in warm water for 10 seconds without submerging it in water? Oh well... the little amount of border we had went up and stayed up, so I guess I did well.

I've been doing a lot of work the last few days.

I know the feeling lil' buddy.

Furniture

Is furniture something you can haggle over? Beats me. Katie and I went to Ivan Smith again to take a last look at the $700 couch that she wanted. However, when we got there we saw a new couch that was almost half the price, but just as comfortable. So, Katie did an about face, and switched to the cheaper couch. I think it was a good decision.

We'll also be picking it up to save Katie $40 in delivery costs. I'll have to take some pictures once everything is finalized.

Sunday Sunday

It's moving day for Katie. We've gotta move her out of Jamie's apartment into her own 1-bedroom over by campus. So, to help her out her Mom and her two little brothers are coming into town. Her Mom is also bringing her computer so I can fix it... it's got some kind of virus (at least one).

We went looking for furniture yesterday. Ivan Smith had a good selection of inexpensive furniture. In particular we found a $700 dollar couch that was really comfortable, and Katie liked the color. We thought it would be feasible since she'd be spending so much time on it, and that she's already got a nice bed... so it would be a justified expense since she'll have it at least the next four years of her next two college degrees. After thinking about it though, I think we're both just thinking that a futon would be more reasonable.

The draft for fantasy football is still going on. I was initially excited about the draft, but now I'm realizing that since it's not a live draft, it's just become a chore to get everyone to draft in a timely fashion. You get 10 hours for each pick to decide who you want, and after each pick an e-mail is sent to the next person telling them to login and take their turn. We've been drafting since Friday night (maybe Thursday) and we're one pick into the 3rd round, out of 18!!! We're gonna keep doing this for another week probably... or maybe it's just that it's the weekend and people have other things on their minds.

As soon as my phone charges, I'm gonna call Mammaw and make sure they're doing ok with the computer we brought down last weekend.

The nicest two days that I can remember.

It could be that I'm through with classes for the summer... or it could be that I don't have to give any more speeches for class. It's most likely that it's like 75 degrees outside and sunny in the South in mid-August. Yesterday it was the same way. It's a shame I have to go to class and work when it's the first nice weather we've gotten in about 4 months.

Anywho, like I said, today was my last day of speech, and I gave my last presentation with my group members. We did pretty well. The only problem was that we were under on our time by 2 and a half minutes or so. No biggie for me though...

Two other things are cheering me up too. First, I always complained about how my 3 ring binders would always get bent and every time I would try to flip pages, the pages would come out. Kimberly took note and today she brought me a binder full of paper and dividers, so I can find out next quarter if filling it up all the way will stop the problem. She's gotta be one of the nicest people I've met since I started college.

Secondly, my fantasy football draft started last night, so we're still in the middle of picking our teams for the season. I really enjoy this time of year because it gets colder and I get to spend most of my sunday afternoons watching football with friends... oh, and competing with them in fantasy football.

Anyway, I better get back to trying to fix some problems I ran into at work.

Another site, another day

Today I've been working on integrating the new indexing database with the interface at (school) work.

I've also been working on another site for someone who contacted me through the school to work on a web site. It's been a long time since we initially set up plans for the site, but I'm just now getting around to it. I hope he's not too unhappy with the timeliness... then again he said he was in no hurry. I'm not really allowed to talk about what it's for, or I would:)...

Anywho, I took my final in speech today, and did alright on it. I've only got one more speech on Friday and I'm through. Speaking of which, I need to get started on my part of the speech. I'm in a group with Kimberly Ludwig, who I worked with in ENTR 460, a cheerleader named Misty Cheeks, and a guy named Donald Allen, who I think is our new quarterback this year. I think we'll be able to get a good presentation together, it's just a question of how long it will take. We're really pressed for time in the summer session.

Oh, and I need to check in on Mammaw (my grandmother) to make sure that she's receiving mail correctly. She was able to send me an e-mail on Tuesday, which is a good sign, but I haven't gotten a reply to the one I sent her on Sunday. I may not have told her about the reply button:)... time to get back to the drawing board on a comprehensive e-mail guide I guess.

Kevin Rose.com comes through again.

I check in on KevinRose.com every once in a while to see if there's any news of who the new co-host of the screen savers will be, or maybe some dark tips while the screen savers are in reruns. Today, I found that he had a link to a direct download for Windows Service Pack 2. Kudos to Kevin for posting that...

Oh, and I can't forget to mention the retro-encabulator. I'm not sure why I thought this video was so funny, but I really enjoyed it. Maybe it was the use of phrases like "dingle-arm, and side-fumbling, prefamulated amulite, and uni-lateral phase detractors". Who knows.

This weekend's trip to Dallas.

This weekend we (parents and brother) took a trip to Dallas to see the grandparents, and do a little shopping during the tax free weekend. Katie came along too so she could buy a few things for her new apartment.

When I heard that we'd be going to Dallas this weekend I started preparing my spare computer for use by my grandparents. I'd been mulling over whether or not to give them a computer so they could get online and recieve emails with attachments. Up until this past weekend they were relying on Earthlink's Mailstation in order to send and recieve mail, but they were limited in what type of mail they could read and send, how much they could store, and they weren't able to surf the net.

I wrote a step by step guide to opening the email program, and writing and receiving mail. Hopefully, they'll be able to remember everything I told them, and if not, understand the guide well enough to get connected and write email.

While we were there, we also checked out the grandparents brand new grand marquis. We played a little hand and foot (wherein mammaw and I beat the pants off Katie and Taylor). Did a little shopping and took a trip to heaven (fry's).

Here are a few pics from the trip.

That's a lot of pictures, I know. One day I'll set up a gallery here and be able to just link to that... but I don't have one now, so you're forced to see these long blog posts. Hmmm... after looking, I see now that my Mom isn't in any of these pics... I'll have to steal the camera from her next time and let me take some pictures of her.

Note to Self:

Use the phrase "Knee high to a chicken" more often.

Get a hold of some more Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, and John Lee Hooker music... and double check that I am, in fact, white.

Start off all CD's with the song "The Ecstasy of Gold" from "the Good, the Bad and the Ugly" (preferably off the Metallica S&M cd).

Another presentation

At about 3 today, Lyle Pratt and I gave a presentation to a small group of visitors to the University. We were one of 4 groups to give presentations showcasing some of the technologies that have been developed here at Louisiana Tech.

Everyone seemed interested in our search technology, especially two of the business men that were there (though I wasn't smart enough to ask them for their names). They offered to set us up with a real world test environment in their corporate intranet, and if that worked they may host the search engine on their own internet site also. They also said they have been in contact with some people at Yahoo!, so they might be able to direct some attention our way if we're interested.

I hope that noone drops the ball on the development or business side, because it sounds like it could be a good opportunity for Tech and a few of the students to make some money. We'll see how things pan out in that regard over the next few months. We've got a demo due by September 9th, so that should be the ultimate judge of whether someone will be able to take our project to the next level.

On a completely different subject, I just found out about Omaha Steaks. They ship meat and other foods by mail. Supposedly, they have some pretty good steaks, but I'm not sure I have money to burn to try them out.

Seems like a good idea if they're really of good quality. It doesn't seem like Wal-mart here in town has very good quality meat... maybe I'll end up giving it a try, who knows.

Lincoln Parish Library

Today, the Katester and I took a trip to the Lincoln Parish Library after eating dinner.

It's an old Albertson's building that was converted after the local Albertson's went belly up. It looks pretty big from the outside, but once you get in it's nice and cozy... lots of room for new books and such I suppose. They have a huge children's section, about 10 public computers with flat screen monitors and other perks of the normal library: books, audio books, movies on DVD and VHS, and a small selection of magazines.

Katie and I checked out some language audiobooks... she's gonna try to relearn some french, and I'm gonna try to get some Italian going. I doubt either one of us will stick with it, but it's free, and it's at least a possibility.

Looking at the magazine section, I remembered that I need to get the new issue of CPU (Computer Power User) Magazine. It has become my favorite magazine... I need to subscribe when I get some money.