Still Stuffed

Thanksgiving has come and gone but the left overs, our favorite part, linger.  Saw my first sunrise since daylight savings went away.  That would be because someone dragged me out for the traditional Black Friday sock mania at Freddy's.

Probably going to be a while before I see another, sunrise that is.

Got the table saw side table set up and incorporated the bench planer lift system.

 The pulley is attached to an eye lag that goes through the light fixture, per code.

 Works like a charm. Planer stored in about two minutes.  Now to work on the overhead dust control system.  You're gonna love that.

Meanwhile, back at the elves's workshop........

work continues nonstop.

Weather continues to be perfect.

Stay warm.

Ahhhhhh, The HDR button

Went to a iPhone class this morning at the local Verizon store.  We thought that we had stepped on a wrinkle in the space/time continuum we when we walked through the door.  The entire workshop "class" was over 55; it felt like we were in a Florida Denny's restaurant.  We learned a few things in spite of the need to explain the concept of "touch and hold" several times.  And of course there was the guy who couldn't get out of Cupertino, CA.

The possible problem with the use of Photo Stream in the previous post was the fact that I wasn't using my phone camera at it optimal setting.  Seems that there is a HDR button in the phone mode that maximizes the resolution and gives you two pictures at different exposures.  You then pick the one you want, dump the other and you get the best possible picture.

So, here is our fearless workshop instructor, Joe in HDR mode (2.0 MG).

And again in normal mode (1.9MB).

Due to the minimal improvement in quality, I would say that the reason I get better quality with my camera is optics.  Perhaps I'll try the same comparison between my camera and something with superior optics.  Maybe I need a new camera with superior optics AND a direct link to my photo stream.  First, I'll try using an iPhone 4S, mine is the iPhone 4.  Either way, I'm pretty sure that I need more better stuff.

Poured in Portland; light overnight rain here so, I must say, the weather is still perfect.  If you missed the last Arsenal/Fulham match on 11/10, you need to find it and watch.

Stay warm.

Trying the cloud

I love how this piece of marketing has caught on. It is so reassuring to think of all your stuff floating up in the sky, safe from all harm. That is so much better than the notion that it is being stored in some giant data center heavily dependent on local infrastructure.

We just got new phones (the old ones will be in service for a while yet) and I am trying out the photo stream that mac offers. So here are two similar photos to compare.

They are both of my newly assembled drawers for the shop cabinets.

This one from the camera.

This one is from the iPhone.

The camera definitely has better quality while the iPhone photo is 2.2 MB and the camera photo is 1.7 MB??????

I have more to learn about digital photography.  The camera has a higher resolution than the phone but how does it get that with fewer MB? Comments welcome.

Weather is still perfect, if you are a duck. I'm going out to the garage to get the cabinets ready to receive drawers. The set up has to be perfect or the drawers just don't slide that well.

Stay warm and dry.

Here's a preview of some of the things Teri has been working on in front of the TV.

And the Elves workshop.

Snow not all gone yet.

Weather is perfect though.

Stay warm.

Schadenfreude

Got our first snow last night.  Not too much and melting quickly.  We got up at the crack of 9:00 and the trees are already melting on the south side.

Looking south was a bit gloomier just 5 minutes earlier.

I don't figure that all the storms will be this mild; for now it doesn't look like we'll have to hunker down and wait it out. 

Hope your first storm was/is as mild. 

Unless you are still reeling from Nov 6th, if so you have my most unsympathetic condolences.  Sorry, my schadenfreude is leaking out again.  I liken our current times to the McCarthy era with gays and 47% of the population replacing the communist.  Hopefully, we will be able to look back at these times as another hurdle overcome in our progress to a civilized nation.

Ways to go yet.

Irrelevent

I may revise my position.  The system may not be broken.  If the republican congress can shift out of the obstructionist mode some governing may actually get done in the next few years.  If not then I was right, the government doesn't work, as the republicans have been trying to prove for some time now.

How would you like to be a voter in the great state of Florida?  First you stand in line for hours to get to mark an incredibly lengthy and complicated ballot, then you find out that the results won't be tabulated until the next morning.  But don't fret, the rest of the country decided without you, so your vote is completely irrelevant.  Now you know how it felt to live and vote in Alaska.

It cooled off here, down to the low forties at night.  They say we might even see some snow this week.

I decided the clamp/lumber rack wasn't working so I cut it down to below the table saw height and put the clamps on the wall.  Much better.

Here is a twelve drawer kit.  Got three sheets of MDO sign board plywood for my shop drawers and cut them into parts.

Will work on assembly over the next few weeks.

Stay warm.

4 Seasons

One of the reasons we picked central Oregon for retirement was that we wanted a 4 season climate. Portland seems to have two, a rainy season and a more rainy season. Alaska has two also, winter and road construction.

So we've seen a bit of the Spring, all of the Summer and now the Fall. We are seeing lows in the 40's and highs in the mid 60's so I'm pretty sure it is not winter yet.

The trees seem to be confused.

Some are just starting to turn.

Some are done.

Some are resisting.

And some haven't gotten the memo.
I can tell things are changing because I now occasionally get up in time to see the sunrise (just before 8:00).

John and Mary are due in just a few hours.  Wish they could stay long enough to see the area but John has to get back for his mid week hunting.

We'll have to settle for catching up over meals and maybe a quick trip to Crooked creek and Smith Rock.

Hope they like our perfect weather. I hear it is a lot like winter back home.

Stay warm.

Wimpy Goblins

The neighbors said to expect 50 to 100 trick or treaters.
We got two.

Can't imagine what scared them away.  The weather was perfect and there were friendly old men offering children candy.

Stay strong, the election will soon be past.