More Rocks

I know I am very behind on this, but here is the last round of rocks.  We’ve had a few instances where when we were all done, they just weren’t polished enough so we but them back in, or started a new round and added as we went along.  We’ve got one more batch in right now, but haven’t had the time to start the polish stage.  Below is a picture of the last batch that actually completed and looked good.  We’ve already been back to the rock shop to pick up more ‘grit’.  Camden and Shelby both enjoy going out to look for rocks that might be good to tumble, our church parking lot is nothing BUT rocks.  Hopefully as the weather warms up we can get more.  While the ones you buy for the rock shop end up looking the coolest, they do get expensive.

First Round of Rocks

So we’ve finally completed our first round of rock tumbling.  Here is a before picture…this is what we started with.

And this is what we ended up with…

If I had planned ahead at all I could have arranged the rocks in the same order they were in to begin with so it is easier to compare….but you get the idea.  Also you may notice that there are a few more in the finished picture than what we started with.  Some of the rocks broke into two pieces and I did add a few as we went along.  Now I have to figure out what to do with them.  Tara suggested I put them in a display container of some sort.  This is what we had on hand….of course the obvious place to display them is on the china hutch next to all the fine china that has been passed through the generations.

So now, on to the next phase…..more rocks!!  The next batch will be all rocks that we found in our yard….however I did add a couple that came with the tumbler of similar size and texture.  Here is the starting point.

Stay tuned to see if we get any rare gems!  This round should be all ready the second week of January.

Rock Tumbling....the new hobby

Camden and I have recently started a new hobby...Rock Tumbling.  We started last week with some very rough rocks and let them tumble for one week.  Here we are about to open the container and see what the rocks look like after stage one (there are four stages total)

Here is what the water and course grit turned into after tumbling 24 hours a day for seven full days.  It all turned into a very gray liquidy sludge.  Camden didn’t think it looked very good.

I didn’t get a picture of the rocks before we started the first stage so this picture won’t really mean anything, but this is what some of the rocks looked like after the end of the first stage.

This is what the next round of rocks looks like before starting stage one.  After this we will do stage two which smoothes the rocks a bit more before we do two stages of polishing.

As you can see above, there are lots of sharp rough edges that will be rounded off in stage one.  Next week we’ll post pictures of this batch after stage one and start stage two.  Below is a picture of how it all fits together inside the tumbler with water, rocks, and the very course grit.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Single Player Campaign

I’m only about an hour and a half into the game so I certainly don’t have a full spectrum report….but so far it is both amazing and terrifying!  I loved the first installment of Modern Warfare, but this latest one is even more intense.  Most of the time I feel like I am just running for my life trying to get to the next objective, keep in mind I am playing on the lowest, easiest setting called “Rookie”.

Level 1 has you defending a bridge builder immediately after finishing the brief training.  After the bridge is set, you man a Humvee mounted machine gun as you patrol the seemingly quiet streets……until you get ambushed.  The rest of the level has you running behind your squad leader as you clear out buildings of enemies while trying to not harm any innocent bystanders.  It’s very close-quarters fighting and really gets your heart pumping.

Like the first Modern Warfare, there are frequent (and automatic) game save points so if you do happen to die, which I do frequently, you only have to go back a little ways to re-play.

Level 2 begins with a frustrating-if-you’re-not-coordinated climb up a sheer ice wall.  Sounds easy enough; left click swings the left ice axe, right click swings the right….I got confused about 3/4 of the way up (twice) and fell to my death.  After getting to the top it’s a long jump to the next ice wall.  This level is more of a ‘stealthy’ level where you try to avoid contact as much as possible.  But, since you are outside in a blizzard you have to use a heartbeat sensor to see your enemies and avoid them.  It’s difficult to see, and the longer you stay outside, the harder it is to see as your vision slowly ices over.  Taking cover in buildings is hard because they are occupied.  Eventually you get to blow stuff up, drive a snowmobile and jump it across a large crevasse!

When you start the game it warns you of disturbing content and gives you the option to skip it without penalty.  Level 3 is that content.  Even is you decide initially to play the level, it asks two more time before you start the level if you want to play the disturbing scenario.  Again if you start playing you can skip it via the pause menu...I recommend skipping this level.  I won’t explain it here, it is disturbing.

Level 4 had me running confused and lost through a small hilltown village where I had absolutely no clue how to get to my objective all the while being being shot at from all directions……all directions.

I am currently at Level 5 (if I’ve counted correctly) and the war is now on American soil.  Lots of running, and shooting, and currently I am defending a fast food hamburger joint.  You get to control unmanned drones to fire weapons from the air.  Very fun, but very intense!

All this is just in the single player mode.  I’ve played multiplayer a bit already as well, and am very impressed with the new features.  More on that later.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

I was curious how they were going to handle the technical aspects of this game regarding copy protection.  In Modern Warfare 1 there was the ability to buy one game and load it onto multiple computers to play over a local network.  This time you are required to sign up with an online gaming forum called “Steam”.  The serial number that comes with your game is assigned to your account.  My understanding is that you can load the game on multiple computers and play it without the need of the physical DVD disc once loaded.  You can also play your game both online and as a single player campaign from any computer that has the game loaded, since you are required to log into your Steam account before the game launches.  The great thing about that is you always have access to your character and don’t have to worry about making sure you have your latest profile with you if for instance you play at home and when there is nothing going on at work.

Which means, you can’t load the game on multiple computers and play your friends if you only have one copy of the game.  Each Steam account requires a serial number and validation code for the media you purchased.  This certainly prevents people from buying one copy and handing it out to their friends for online play.  It is seamless and a very well executed integration between the game and online service.  The online lounge seems a lot like the Playstation3 multiplayer lounge for the first Modern Warfare….I like it.  It seems to match you automatically with the best server for your connection and player ranking.  You also have the option of inviting friends to your game or creating your own ‘server’.

I’ll write more about this game as I progress…..so far I really really like it, only wish it had a ‘take cover’ option like in the Rainbow Six Vegas games.  I like to hide behind walls and stuff.

Something a little different

Typically this blog is about tech/computer stuff, today is a little different, it's about parenting. My wife had a brilliant idea the other day of having a little bucket containing plastic spoons. On each spoon is written a 'privilege'. When our son disobeys he has to go to the bucket and choose a spoon. Whatever is on the spoon is the privilege he loses for the day. Things like losing dessert, no TV, no Computer, lose one toy, his favorite place to play at the mall. The power of suggestion is amazing! Even if he has not thought of going in weeks to the destination that he pulls out of the bucket.....he suddenly becomes devastated that he no longer has the opportunity.

We've also started reading a book we got from the library called "Aaron's Way". For anyone who deals with (or even has) a strong willed child.....this book is a must read. It's a book written by the mother of a now grown strong willed child named Aaron. Throughout the book there are comments from Aaron giving his perspective. It's full of encouragement and tips on what worked for them. If nothing more, it gives a sense that you are not the only one with a strong willed child.

*this blog was written and posted using Windows Live Writer…..first time using it.  Seems way easier than doing it online on blogger.

Windows Vista Update

I have not booted into XP on my home system for several months. I have not yet run into anything that I can't do in Vista Ultimate 32bit OS. I don't have any crash problems or driver issues either. My computer looks great, runs great and even edits video from our new HD video camera decently (Canon HF20). My next big step is to move to Windows 7 when it is released. For some reason I still don't want to completely wipe out my XP system drive...paranoia I suppose. Everything is backed up and since I haven't even booted into XP in months, there probably is no reason to keep XP on my system.

I still run XP on my work computer and on our slow 'primary' home computer downstairs in the living room. Work computer we keep the same for cost and compatibility reasons, our slower home computer just isn't powerful enough to run Vista.

Thought you might be interested in an update.

Geocaching

I have recently begun to enjoy Geocaching with my son. It is a fun little 'treasure hunting' game that uses GPS coordinates to locate the 'cache'. You create a free account at www.geocaching.com and search for caches near you. You read a description of the cache, read logs from previous finders and can then get an aerial map view of the location if you so desire. The description and hints usually give you the details of what to look for once you are near the GPS coordinates.

I find the satellite view from Google Maps to be the best way to pinpoint the location of the cache. Up until the most recent update to the Google Map website (as well as the Maps app on the iPhone) has been spot on every time. The new update however seems to snap the location to a street instead of the actual coordinates. The easiest way around this is to just add "loc: " to the beginning of the coordinates when you use them in Google Maps.
Incorrect coordinates will look like this:
N 47° 24.034 W 122° 14.599
Correct coordinates will look like this:
loc: N 47° 24.034 W 122° 14.599
Hopefully this will be fixed in future releases of either the Geocaching app or in the Maps app for iPhone. Until then be sure to add "loc: " to get the right placement on the map!!

I've recently purchased the Geocaching app for my iPhone. While the app is a little too expensive for my taste, it is so fast and easy to use I highly recommend it for anyone using their iPhone for Geocaching. The iPhone GPSr is not the most accurate (about 55feet at its best) but the ability to see recent logs, descriptions, hints, maps, nearby caches etc....makes it a very useful device while out and about.

My son (who is four right now) really enjoys going to "look for treasure". He's been able to trade things when we find caches large enough for toys and such. He's traded hot wheels cars and small McDonalds toys. It's a fun adventure and a way to get out and explore! This summer we are going on a trip to Yellowstone and hope to find some caches along the way.

We've purchased a few 'Travel Bugs' to drop along the way. Travel Bugs are special dog tags that have a unique serial number printed on them. When someone finds one in a cache, they are supposed to log in to the website and report that it has been picked up. They are then able to drop it off in another cache and report where it has been dropped. This will be a fun way to track your items and see where they travel. Most Travel Bugs have a goal listed, so when you pick one up you are supposed to help it go to it's goal location.

Here are a couple of ours so far:

( not yet dropped off in a cache )


http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=39caccfb-f327-4840-b423-6f432b9af647
I hope people add items to the key chain as it travels. It will be fun to see what kinds of hitch hikers it can pick up.

Canon HF20

After our very old Sony camcorder died on the day of our sons last-day-of-Pre-School program I have been on the search for a replacement video camera. Our Sony MiniDV camera (TRV-17) lasted us many years and I was quite sure it wouldn't be worth having it repaired. There are so many different kinds of cameras, formats, models, brands....it was a bit overwhelming. After doing a quick look online at BestBuy to get an idea of price ranges I decided to research only Canon cameras. They seemed to be more in my price range and had more of the features I wanted.

We ended up getting the Canon HF20 High Definition camcorder. It records to 32GB of internal flash memory and is expandable via an SD card slot. It records to a very good looking but very compressed HD format called AVCHD. For anyone looking to buy a camera that records this format, BE SURE to download sample clips and make sure your computer can play them. It is a very processor intensive format and requires a lot of power just to play the files. Our Intel Core2Duo @ 2.66GHz running Vista Ultimate 32bit has no trouble playing and editing, but our AMD TurionX2 @ 1.8GHz laptop running Vista Home 32bit and our Intel Celeron @ 2.6GHz desktop running XP can't play the files well at all.

I had wrestled for a long time trying to decide whether we should get a file based recording system versus a tape based recording system like HDV. HDV records to a MiniDV tape and all video capture is therefore realtime via FireWire 400. AVCHD is just a file transfer over USB2.0 for video capture. So if you record 30 minutes of video on a HDV tape and want to edit it, you need to capture all 30 minutes in real time before you can start editing. With AVCHD, you transfer the files and can start editing within about 5 minutes.....HUGE time saver. This was a big selling point for me bacause the reason I hardly ever edited the video I shot previously was because it took so long to put in on the computer to begin with.

While you save a lot of time getting the video on your computer using AVCHD, you do sacrifice some time at the end of the edit when you export a file. Again it is a very processor intensive format so the computer must decode, then re-encode the video to make a new file to save on your computer. On my Intel Core2Duo @ 2.66GHz, it is about a 5:1 ratio for export. For every 1 minute of edited video, it takes aobut 5 minutes to export. Luckily it is something you can set and forget, let it run overnight or while you're eating dinner.

Very happy with the camera so far. Here are some things I really like about the Canon HF20:
File based video transfer
Expandable memory
Takes HD still photos while shooting video
Built in video light and flash
Small, small small small!! Can fit into a big jacket pocket easily.
At the middle recording mode (of 5 settings) can hold about 6 hours of video on internal memory
Plenty of manual settings (Aperture, Exposure, Focus etc...)

Here are some not so cool things:
90 minute battery life with stock battery (seems short to me)
You must plug camera into the wall power to transfer files from internal memory
Need a pretty beefy computer to play back files
Long export time for edited videos

Obviously if the bad things I listed were deal breakers I would return the camera....but realistically all the pros heavily outweight the cons in my mind. Quality of the video is quite good. Low light could be better I suppose, but to get the low light quality you'd need to spend a LOT more money on a camera with 3 chips....way out of my price range. The HF20 got really good reviews on cnet.com and also on Amazon.com (my two favorite places to get info on electronics). Besides, CNET says it is on par with other cameras in its class.

I edit video on Adobe Premiere CS4 and have had very good results. The camera did come with some editing software that says it's able to put your edited video back on the camera....I have not yet tried it. Since the camera has HDMI out, HD/SD Component out, and composite out, there are plenty of ways to watch your video from the camera without the need to edit it. We don't have and HD TV in our house, so putting video back on the camera doesn't make sense for us. So really at this point we have no way of even watching our HD home videos, but I figure one day we will and it will be nice to have some HD footage of the kids growing up. I've posted a few videos already on Facebook, they look quite good I'd say.

THe price of hard drives is coming down so quickly, that finding a reasonably priced hard drive to store all this priceless footage will be easy. Almost every week I get some sort of email advertising name brand 1TB hard drives for less than $100. Copy the footage to one of these in an external enclosure, pop it in the fire safe for worry free long term storage.