somewhat sideways

By jrtadmin on Apr 29 2009 | 0 Comments

My wife and I have just returned from an all too short, but well-deserved long weekend / vacation. I have a very good friend and co-worker who has a home in the Santa Ynez Valley who was gracious enough to rent us her house for a few days for a getaway.

The Santa Ynez Valley, and it's quaint towns such as Los Alamos, Solvang, Santa Ynez, Los Olivos, Buellton, and some others are famously known for their great vineyards. Not to be confused with the Napa Valley, my friend Kathryn says "Napa makes auto parts. Santa Ynez makes great wine!" This statement couldn't be closer to the truth.

The area is also known quite well as the setting for the movie Sideways. I will admit, it's on my list of favorite all time movies - and I'm somewhat related to one of the writers (who's worked with Alexander Payne on other movies - I've never met him, but my dad knows his dad, etc, etc...), but the locals seem to have a love / hate relationship with it. I found that while out there, being able to say we were staying at a local friend's house got us much further than saying "oh, we just loved the movie and had to come out!" which, believe it or not, I heard a lot. In fact, when we decided to go out, I didn't even realize the association with the movie until after I had booked tickets, all on our friend's claims of how much she loves living there.

 

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Categories: Personal , Photography , wine
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this is my first post from the new Dell Mini!

By jrtadmin on Apr 22 2009 | 0 Comments

I'm excited!!

It arrived today and I wasted no time installing Windows 7, which runs exceptionally smooth.

The only negative I find so far is the extremely small keyboard, which takes some getting used to.

 

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Categories: Personal
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i've created a monster

By jrtadmin on Apr 19 2009 | 0 Comments

This weekend, I accomplished something I've been trying to do for a long time. I turned one of my best friends onto the internet for the first time. Yes folks, that's correct; this person did not own his own computer and has spent little time online.

Go ahead, pick your jaw up off the floor.

My friend is a great guy. He works hard, works long hours, and has been (quite successfully) managing his own business since long before being in business required being online. And sometimes, when something's not necessary, you just don't do it for whatever reason. In theory, not much different from my unwillingness to use the garlic press my wife purchased. Back in my day, we crushed and chopped garlic by hand, by God, and we liked it that way!

Obviously, I'm a geek, I'm a huge geek. So, it's a bit surprising that I'd be such great friends with a guy that has no clue what I'm talking about - but then again, that's good too. When we talk about our days at work, it gets boiled down to that human element, completely putting technology to the side. It's a great dynamic. But, I digress...More...

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Categories: General , Personal
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virtue & a tale of ubuntu

By jrtadmin on Apr 13 2009 | 0 Comments

Patience is a virtue, or so they say.

A while back, at my urging him to, my father ordered a new Dell Mini 9. Being such a nice guy, he ordered one for me as well. I’ve really, really been looking forward to getting it and doing fun things like trying out Windows 7 (supposedly runs quite nice on the hardware) and OS X (shh! don’t tell anyone!). More...

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Categories: Personal , Ubuntu
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what cake mix?

By jrtadmin on Apr 12 2009 | 2 Comments

Combine one starving labrador, one bowl of cake mix, and here’s what you get.

kipp-cake

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Categories: Personal , Pets
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