Tuesday, June 24, 2008

I farted

Did you ever fart so big and so hard and so fast that it feels like your guts drop about three inches inside your abdomen?

It was like that...

Friday, May 30, 2008

So that I can look back on this someday...

Today, I filled up my car, a 2002 Civic EX.

I put in 10.6 gallons at $3.87/gal. The total was right at $41.

Hopefully, one year from now, I'll look back at this and laugh...

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

How and Why Canon fixed my PowerShot A60

So, a coupla years ago, my wife and I bought our first real digital camera. The PowerShot A60 was within our price range, had the image quality and features we liked, and came with free 128 MB CompactFlash card if we bought that weekend. So we did.

After about a year or so, we noticed that the display on the back of the camera was distorted by some lines, and that it got worse and worse as time went on. When lines started appearing on the images themselves, I went into hyper-research mode.

I found a page that discussed the CCD image sensors that were used in a number of digital camera makes and models, and that they simply went bad after a time. This page (which I cannot find anymore) referenced a page on Canon's site, which stated that they would fix - free of charge - any camera exhibiting this problem.

I called them about the issue, and it was really quite simple. I gave them the info, and they sent me a UPS shipping label, so I could ship it to them free of charge. Then they would fix it free of charge and ship it back to me free of charge. I only spent about $0.85 on tape to package the thing.

It was exactly two weeks from the day that I shipped them the camera that I got it back, all free of charge, and it works wonderfully. There was a noticable 2 second delay when taking pictures before, and now it is just less than a second. It seems that the faulty CCD Image Sensor was causing a problem with the way the images were processed.

I just wanted to post this little bit about Canon, because you rarely see people go on and on about something GOOD that a company has done. Canon has treated us very well. I like my PowerShot A60 and can now continue to use it. I'm sure that there was many a customer that simply bought a new camera, but hopefully, this will help someone else who might need to get theirs fixed.

Friday, June 09, 2006

Just something to think about today....

"Every calling is great when greatly pursued." - Oliver Wendel Holmes

It sounds like common sense, but if you take a moment and think about that statement, it is very profound. To pursue something greatly does not necessarily mean that you will succeed, that you will prevail...

It means that you are passionate in your belief that what you are doing is for the betterment of your world, and that it actually
IS for the betterment of your world.

Do you have a calling?

Go pursue it greatly.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

DallasComicCon

Today was a pretty cool day...

Last week, my wonderful wife found out that the Dallas Comic Con and SciFi Expo folks were having a con with free admission. The guest of honor was Anthony Daniels (a.k.a C3-PO), but also in attendance were supposed to be Jaime Mendoza and James O'Barr...

JAMES O'BARR?!?!? The guy who wrote/illustrated/created "The Crow"! Oh yeah... we were going to this, and I was going to get him to sign my book. By that I mean the graphic novel that I purchased after the movie had come out. See, it was the late 80's when I came across this black & white indie comic that really grabbed me. I hunted and dug and found every issue, and read most of them to tatters. It was in the early 90's that I sold the rest. I first dressed as "The Crow" for Halloween in 1991. I had exactly one person know what the make-up, leather pants, and black wig were all about. Then I found out about the movie, and had to go and find the comics again. I lucked out and found all of them in one anthology, one giant graphic novel, that I read again and again.

When I heard that the man who created this... this work of art... was going to be at this con, I had to go.

He signed my book. He was cool about it too... He was sitting there, working on an original sketch, when he looked up and saw me standing there like the ultimate fanboy and asked if I was waiting for an autograph. I said "Yeah, but I don't want to interrupt..." He smiled a gracious - and almost embarrassed - smile, took my book and signed.

I nearly pissed myself.

Later, as we continued to walk the con, my wife and I saw him walking around. He was looking at comics, action figures, memorabilia... He was being a geek, and that was really fuckin cool.

Also, as we are walking around, I saw a guy that I used to go to school with at the Art Institute, Mark Walters. After I got my book signed, I saw him behind one of the tables, and asked if it was really him. It turns out that this guy RUNS the cons. He is the cons. I found out that a guy that I used to hang out and smoke with is in charge of organizing one of the coolest things that happens on a regular basis in D/FW.

Today was a pretty cool day...