June 2007

Fun…

…or maybe not.

I overslept big time today. I have a couple of minutes while I drink my coffee so I decided to get online for a minute or two. One of the other District’s sent me a text message as she is looking for some help today, otherwise I probably would have slept on through until my employees called me in an hour or so. That would have sucked.

The site seems to be running better than it was last night. Maybe I can finish that stuff I was working on when I get home this evening.

I don’t have a hell of a lot to post about. I’m still in that sleep fog. Maybe later.

…or maybe not tonight

I still seem to be having issues with connecting to my site on and off as well as with the SQL server. Screw it. I am going to get my sales and staffing shortly and go to bed. I am mainly just working on the finishing up touches on the new site but I keep finding stuff to change and fix. It’ll be done at some point soon 🙂

PhotoFiddle

This is sponsored by PhotoFiddle, the company that lets you turn your photos into some seriously kick-butt canvas artwork. Just pick out your photos, upload them and review, crop the stuff that you don’t want, check out your artwork and order the stuff. How much more simple can it get?

Here’s the latest press release from PhotoFiddle:


Photographers, from pros to point & shoot alike, can now artistically enhance their digital pics and traditional photos into stylized photo art masterpieces on professionally stretched canvas using dozens of easy-to-create artistic designs, finishes and collage templates, online at www.PhotoFiddle.com.

From table size to wall size, PhotoFiddle.com can transform a simple digital photo in seconds into a dazzling array of art styles, from watercolor and pop art to a black and white line drawing or oil painting. PhotoFiddle.com is a fun way to become an instant artiste and add a creative flair to individual photos or collages. And, it’s a compelling alternative to custom designers and professional framers who are far more costly and take weeks to deliver.

PhotoFiddle.com is easy to use, takes only a few minutes for a design, and doesn’t require any creative expertise, software purchase or program knowledge. Unlike some of the well known photo and art programs, ‘PhotoFiddlers’ simply register and follow four easy steps 1, Uploading a picture to the site from a digital camera or scanned image, 2. Cropping and reviewing the art, 3. Choosing a design for PhotoFiddle to apply the photo, which can be previewed before 4. Ordering. Final artwork is available on professionally stretched canvas, framed or rolled canvas or museum quality, archival photo paper.

Among the most popular of the more than 50 PhotoFiddle designs and templates are:
– Pop Art
– Stained Glass
– Pencil Sketches
– Tinted
– Painting
– Collage designs
– Comic Book
– Filmstrip

PhotoFiddle allows users to experiment with different template designs without paying any setup fees in the convenience in their own home. Users can even email copies of the custom artwork for preview by family, friends, and associates before ordering.

Gallery art canvas and archival photo paper sizes are available from a simple 8″ x 10″ to as large as 6 ft. x 24 ft. The company offers live customer support during normal business hours, and an online tutorial for standard questions or creative input on projects.

Whether it’s a memento from a recent vacation, an old picture that’s been stuck in a draw for decades, or a bunch of 4×6 album photos that can be brought to life in a striking photo collage, PhotoFiddle canvas artwork is an ideal gift for anniversaries, weddings, or as an elegant accoutrement to home décor. Gift certificates are also available.

About PhotoFiddle
PhotoFiddle, headquartered in Melville, New York, offers 3-4 day turnaround on customized photo art that users design online, at far less cost than custom framers or home design professionals. For more information visit: www.PhotoFiddle.com.

Examples of Photofiddle.com work:
http://www.emediawire.com/prfiles/2005/05/18/242325/paintingstyles2.pdf

…and here are a couple of examples…

That’s pretty cool. But how do people or animals look?

I was pretty impressed checking out the website. You can order something as simple as an 8″ by 10″ or a behemoth as large as 6ft by 24ft. Holy cow! The also have live tech support during normal business hours, so go check it out and give them a chance.

LivingDot…

It appears as if my damn site is down again. It’s 6:54PM right now, let’s see how long it will take before I am back online. Damnitall. I hate when things don’t go just the way they are supposed to in my world. It’s my frigging Internet and needs to behave properly.

That was weird. I can get to it now, so it was only down for a few minutes. Maybe they had to reboot the server. Weird time to be doing that crap though. It’s extremely laggy though.

If you got an error posting a comment, it looks like I couldn’t get to the SQL server either for a couple of minutes there.

More on the REAL I.D. Act

I sent emails to my Representatives last week about the REAL I.D. Act (in opposition) and just received this one back from Phil Gingrey’s office.


June 28, 2007

Mr. Richard Miles

SomeStreet

Somewhere, GA 30179

Thank you for contacting me regarding H.R. 418 the Real I.D. Act as introduced by Chairman Sensenbrenner of the House Judiciary Committee in the 109th Congress.

Considering our nation’s recent focus on Homeland Security and the War on Terror, I believe it is more important than ever to examine and reform existing immigration laws. We must control immigration and prevent terrorism without tarnishing our history as a nation of immigrants.

I agree, it is important to update immigration laws to represent the ever-changing social landscape and needs of our country. During our current national crisis, we must be especially careful to balance security with legal immigration. I believe our limited economic resources dictate a need to manage and thoroughly examine our immigration levels to ensure that we are not overstretching our national and local resources.

With a porous border, our current level of security must be bolstered to apprehend illegal aliens and intruders looking to endanger our country and its citizens. I believe the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission to strengthen our border security and the move by Congress to include these recommendations in H.R. 10 were appropriate. However, on December 7, 2004, S.2845, the National Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 cleared the House/Senate Conference Committee without the immigration recommendations and passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 336 to 75.

These immigration provisions included: eliminating the Western Hemisphere exceptions for United States citizens, modifying authority to waive documentation requirements for Canadian, Mexican, and Caribbean nationals, establishing a standard for identification required by aliens, and establishing minimum national standards for State-issued driver’s licenses. In response, Chairman Sensenbrenner introduced H.R. 418 the Real I.D. Act (the left out 9/11 provisions wrapped into a separate new bill), which passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 261-161 on February 10, 2005. I believe this legislation is necessary to regain control over our border and strengthen current immigration policy.

Again, thank you for sharing your concerns. Please feel free to contact me again if I can be of further assistance. Also, you may like to know that you can contact me via email at gingrey.ga@mail.house.govor my website www.house.gov/gingrey.

In other words, “Thank you for contacting us but we feel like more big brother in your life is just what you need in addition to more money in the federal governments coffers, so…

PREPARE TO BE BOARDED BREAK OUT THE FUCKING KY BOY!!!!”

Movabletype Beta 3

I just upgraded the site to the latest beta version, so if everything is hosed up that’s why 🙂

Crossposted to all the sites.

Sore as Hell…

Everything comes with a price I suppose. My back is playing tricks on me this morning and my arms and legs are like jelly but I am ready to get back out on the lake. Man, that was a blast.

Today won’t be quite as much fun. I still have one on vacation and another off and it’s the last day of the fiscal period so I have to spend the day closing numbers and then go put up the delivery truck at the store where she is on vacation. Being so sore that should work out some of the kinks. Somewhere around 150 cases of miscellaneous food and other stuff will come in around noon today.

The wife should get paid today so I think that she and the girls are going to rent a car and drive down to the redneck riviera tomorrow for a couple of days and hang out on the beach. I am jealous, but luckily we will head the other direction at some point next week and go to Hilton Head, Bluffton, and maybe Savannah.

Still have to maybe set something up in Atlanta next week as well. I suck at putting together social crap like that. If it doesn’t involve beer and a grill in my backyard I usually defer to other people to set this stuff up, but maybe I will call a couple of folks and see if they still want to get together. There are a couple of unanswered emails in my inbox about that very thing.

Pro Wrestler Chris Benoit Dead…

How I spent my afternoon at work…

…just in case you need a visual aid

boat.jpg

The “Care & Share”

Our multi-unit get-together today was a blast. We ended up going to the lake in the gated community where my boss lives. I’ve a fairly large area, and we were using an island. I got there about 11:30 or so and he came to pick us up at the marina and took us all out to the island. Lots of good food, ribs, hot dogs, plenty of side dishes, and even beer.

I ended up getting on this floating thing and getting pulled behind the boat a couple of times. I was about the only one that didn’t get dumped off. It fit up the three or four people, so at one point there were three of us getting pulled. The two of them fell off at which point I went airborne and came back down with a resounding thump as my breath went out of me. By god I held on for dear life though.

I do have a nice little sunburn now and I am sure that when I wake up tomorrow not only will my sunburn be hurting like a bitch but my back is probably going to be killing me as well.

I did let my boss know that I would be late tomorrow as I will end up taking the wife and girls where they need to go prior to coming in. I have a ton of work to do tomorrow. Luckily my manager comes back from vacation on Saturday. Damn I am ready for that.