Raymond has an MBA and is seeking employment as a Financial Analyst, Budget Analyst, Investor Relations Analyst or anything financial related.  Raymond’s geographic preferences are Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Stillwater, or any nearby city.  However, we will relocate as needed to Dallas/Ft. Worth, Kansas City, or other area.

More info and his resume can be found here: http://www.bowlesonline.com/mba-ray/

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While the tablet is the most interesting to me, I have my hands on the Latitude E6400 XFR. All these models fall within the Latitude line and have the same internal specs as the mainstream Latitudes. As was explained to me by my sales rep, these are Latitudes which have had the cases removed and new cases applied by hand. Seems inefficient to me, but what do I know? This is good news if your business already has an investment in the Latitude line. All of your images, peripherals, and docking stations should work without modification.

The term “fully ruggedized” is confusing to some. The term does not imply 100% waterproof. The computer is meant to withstand dirty conditions, moisture and rain, and some abuse but cannot be fully submerged.  Update:  My Dell rep told me today that the XFR can be fully submerged for up to 30 seconds. There are no exposed ports, the speakers are enclosed, even the heat vents, speakers, and webcam are covered. The XFR achieves an ingress rating against blowing dust and moisture of IP65 (if you know what that is).

To further increase the durability, my eval arrived with a solid state diskdrive (SSD) to reduce the chance of mechanical failure. Dell utilizes an alloy casing called Ballistic Armor Protection System featuring PR481 which they claim has twice the impact resistance of traditional magnesium alloy. I have performed some minor drop tests but can’t bring myself to really test the durability. Dell claims the XFR is first in class to achieve the military’s MIL-STD-810F specification for a four foot drop on plywood over concrete. My test was a two foot drop on carpet over padding as I prayed.

You would think with all the covered ports, that heat would be a concern. According to Dell, the XFR meets military standard MIL-STD for temperature extremes. Heat dissipation is managed by their QuadCool thermal management system (See photos below for the QuadCool vent).

The computer does not lack horsepower. This is one of the most responsive computers I have used. I am running Windows 7 Ultimate and it takes about 20 seconds from power-on to being in a usable state. Impressive. There does seem to be a refresh glitch with the Intel video driver from the Intel site.  I find myself having to minimize/restore various windows to force a refresh. I have the latest driver as suggested by Intel’s auto-detect utility.

As I mentioned before all the ports are covered to prevent dust and moisture from entering the system. The port covers are opened by a two step motion by pressing and sliding the release.  The SD card slot is the most inaccessible. It is located behind the handle on the front of the unit.  Open the cover and inserting the SD card involves some phalange gymnastics. Even getting a good photo (see the gallery below) of the SD slot was difficult. Other than that, the design seems well thought out. This model includes a VGA, Display port, modem, Ethernet, three USB, one USB/eSATA combo, PCMCIA, SD slot, fingerprint sensor, and one 1394 Firewire port. Like all other manufacturers, there is a swift move from serial interfaces. This laptop is no exception. The serial port is following the steps of the parallel port and the diskette drive.

The battery is small and based on the body design, I don’t think an extended capacity battery will fit. However, with Windows 7’s power management features and the SSD battery life has been very impressive so far.

Here are some photos of the XFR. Sorry for the lack of professionalism, my wife sold her studio a few years ago so all I have now is my dining table.

 

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• AdSense Manager – This plugin allows you place Google AdSense ads on your blog.  Using this plugin, I place one banner ad at the bottom of the page and as a widget on the right side.
• Akismet – REQUIRED plugin to kill spam.  Keep it updated and it will do an excellent job for you.
• Bookmarkify – This plugin places a footer on each article which allows you to share the post through email, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, StumbleUpon, and many many many other services.   There are other plugins which accomplish the same thing, but this is the one I started with and am familiar with.
• Enhanced WP-ContactForm – Allows you to create a CONTACT page with enhanced features referrers, spam protection, and allows the commenter to cc himself.
• Google XML Sitemaps– REQUIRED if you want search engines like Google, Bing, & Yahoo to index your site.  The sitemap is created automatically and is updated each time you create a new post. When the  sitemap is updated, the major search engines are notified automatically.  Very useful and efficient.
• IE6 No More – This is for the IT geek in me.  I’ve noticed on my blog and my wife’s photo site that there are still many people using Internet Explorer 6.  Do you realize IE6 was released in 2001?!? Many of the malicious attacks which are around today were not even conceivable when IE6 was developed. As a result IE6 is considered security Swiss cheese. Microsoft finally took the browser seriously in subsequent releases.This plugin places a banner at the top of each page for all IE6 users suggesting they upgrade to IE8 or another modern browser. I modified the plugin slightly for my use.
• Kontera ContentLink– The purpose of my blog is not to make money. However, I do have this plugin enabled to create paid links based on certain content.  I haven’t gotten a check yet.
• NextGEN Gallery– A REQUIRED plugin if you want to included photo galleries in your WordPress blogs.  Once you figure out the basics, this is extremely useful. This plugin is updated often.
• Official StatCounter Plugin– I use statcounter.com to track usage on all my sites.  This plugin automates the task of placing the invisible StatCounter code in your blog entries.
• Subscribe to Comments - This handy plugin allows your readers to subscribe to comments on your various posts.  I just added this one this week – I wish I would have thought to add it before.
• Random Image- While not a plugin, I use this script to rotate my header image.  With each new page load, this script displays a random image.

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By the way, does anyone know what kind of tree this is?

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By the way, if you like the Autumn theme in the screen shots below, you can download for free in this post.

The following screen shots show the Windows Phone 6.5 menu before and after editing. You can clearly see the “Getting Started” item is present in one shot and missing in the next (ignore the time stamps).

Below is the interface of the Home Screen Customizer tool. It’s simple and does its intended job well. To remove an item simply tap the “X” – don’t worry you can add it back if needed. The red heart denotes which menu item is highlighted at load time.

After you customize the menu you can remove the app, or it is small enough to leave in-place. Thanks to these guys for creating this great free app. It is something I was looking for.

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• The Tilt 2 is a little larger than the pure.
• The Pure has a 5MB camera and the T2 has a 3.2.
•  The T2 has a very nice speaker phone, I’m not sure what the Pure has but it wasn’t obvious.
• The T2 has a physical keyboard, the Pure does not. This contributes somewhat to the larger size of the device, but they did a good job keeping the keyboard as thin as possible. This obviously makes the Tilt 2 thicker than the iPhone.
• The T2 seems to have a nicer screen than the Pure.

Although I don’t use the physical keyboard much anymore on the original Tilt, I went with the Tilt 2 over the other devices I considered. It felt good in my hands, the screen was one of the best I have seen, and believe it or not, I use the speaker phone.

So how does the new Tilt 2 compare to the original Tilt? It’s night and day:

• The old Tilt had Windows Mobile 6.0 or 6.1, the new one has Windows Phone 6.5 which is basically the same OS but with a much needed face lift.
• Included in 6.5 is a vastly improved mobile Internet Explorer.  I can’t even begin to describe the improvement here. 
• The Tilt now feels like a brick in my hands compared to this sleek ergo device.
• The new Tilt has a radio. Haven’t tried it yet.
• The screen, as I mentioned before, is amazing on the T2. At the time, the Tilt screen was nice but we’ve come a long way.
•  The Tilt had no accelerometer so the only way to change the orientation was to slide the keyboard out or hit an onscreen button. The T2 does have an accelerometer but it is very underused with the bundled software. The bundled game Teeter does an excellent job demonstrating the capabilities.

I wasn’t sure I would like this phone at first, but after I removed some proprietary HTC/AT&T stuff I am thrilled with my decision. Namely, I removed the TouchFlo 3D and enabled the default 6.5 UI. The TouchFlo interface is nice looking and great programming but it’s not that efficient or useful. You can flick photos and emails all around, but it seems more for show and selling phones in the store than it does for actual use. The TouchFlo interface quickly becomes a nuisance and gets in the way. On the other hand, the native 6.5 UI is efficient and very natural to use.

Note: Even though Windows Phone 6.5 was officially released just last week (as of this writing on 10/21/09), there are already rumors and leaked builds of 6.5.1 (or 6.51).  I’m sure there will be an HTC upgrade in flash ROM format when this is officially released. HTC did this with the original Tilt providing a ROM upgrade from Windows Mobile 6.0 to 6.1.

Here are a couple of screen shots of the TouchFlo and the native Windows Phone 6.5 interfaces.  Both have a nice look in these screen shots, but you can’t get a sense of their usefulness until you get your hands on the device.

How to disable the HTC TouchFlo 3D interface:

Start > Settings > Today > Items. Now uncheck TouchFlo and check “Windows Default” – This will give you the new 6.5 UI. I really like this interface, it is very Zune and/or Windows Media Center like. (Don’t get me wrong, there is room for improvement in 6.5.1 and the complete rewrite of Windows Phone 7.) Alternatively, if you prefer the WindowsMobile 6.1 look, you can select your own items for the Today screen. However, I find the 6.5 interface very useful and efficient.

How do I remove my Microsoft Live or Hotmail account?

This isn’t exactly obvious, but if you set up a Live or Hotmailaccount and want to remove it, follow these steps: Start > Windows Live > Switch LiveAccounts This will remove all emails and account settings which you previously entered.

How to create your own Windows Phone 6.5 Theme:

I haven’t done this yet, but it looks simple. Simply go the site, select your phone, select your preferences, and if desired supply a background image. You’ll then get a link sent to your phone to install the theme: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/downloads/theme-generator.mspx

Remaining questions I am working on. Can you help?

• The phone came bundled with some software I can’t remove. Specifically, how do I remove Opera Mobile 9.5? I like Opera but I prefer to use 9.7. Skyfire is also a very good browser that supports Flash. 
• How do I remove the “Getting Started” menu item? This problem is solved HERE!
• How do I add/remove any item in the Windows Phone 6.5 menu?
• Why is there a preinstalled YouTube app but no shortcut?  Most users will never find this app buried in the folder structure.

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Additionally, the guest OS (XP in this case) runs on a virtual hard disk (VHD).  The VHD is actually a large, single file on your physical disk.  To the host system this is a single file, but to the guest OS, this looks like a physical disk.  From the host you can move this file around, back it up, delete it, etc… Keep in mind that if you delete this file, you are essentially deleting your guest operating system.

To get started, you need a virtualization engine such as Microsoft Virtual PC (also free).  Once VPC is installed, you need to download XP Mode (this is a large download since it is a full copy of XP SP3).  The setup is painless. The only info you will need to provide is an admin password for your XP instance. Obviously, you can customize all kinds of settings but the defaults are acceptable for running XP. If needed, you can go back later and adjust memory, disk size, etc.

Once the setup is complete you can do anything within the virtual instance of XP as you would do in any other OS. You can install applications, surf the web, change the wallpaper, etc…

In this image you can clearly see XP with IE6 running within Windows 7

So why would you want to run Windows within Windows? I can think of several scenarios in which you would need to run XP within Win7.

1. Keep in mind that Microsoft’s biggest competition for Windows 7 isn’t Linux or Mac OSX, it is XP itself.  Windows XP is everywhere in corporate America. Applications have been written to run on XP since 2001. Many of these apps will indeed run in Windows 7 but there are many that will not.  In a perfect world, the developers would go back and update the apps and provide free upgrades, but Microsoft realizes this isn’t going to happen. So, in order to hurdle the compatibility barrier, they decided to basically give corporations the ability to run the apps in XP within Windows 7.  Not exactly efficient, but a solution exists.
2. No matter how successful Windows 7 is, there will still be people running XP for years to come. Unfortunately, many of these people still run Internet Explorer 6. Web and app developers need a method to test their sites on this older technology. Instead of keeping an old PC around just to test their site on IE6, they can simply fire up XP Mode with IE6.
3. Since the guest OS is installed on its own virtual disk, you can use the virtual instance as a security sandbox for anything you wouldn’t want to do in your host system.  If something gets hosed, just delete the virtual disk and reinstall XP Mode.

Running XP in a virtualized environment is not new or groundbreaking. So what makes XP Mode different?  For one, you actually get a free licensed copy of XP (most virtualized copies of XP are boot-legged).  Secondly, unlike some virtualization engines, the experience is seamless. You can easily copy/paste between the host and guest systems and there is a single mouse which traverses all instances without synchronization. Next, and really cool, is the ability to add a shortcut to a virtualized application within XP to your Windows 7 start menu.  This is significant because it hides the XP OS and only exposes the application to the user.  This is referred to as publishing an application in XP Mode and is enabled by putting the application in the ”All Users” group in the virtualized XP start menu.

In this screenshot, you can see a link to Google Chrome which is installed in the XP virtual instance. Chrome is not installed on Windows 7 in this example.

..and here is Chrome running in XP Mode without XP being visible.  Keep in mind Chrome is really running in a virtualized instance of XP.

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We haven’t had land-line service in our house for six years.  It just seemed like an unnecessary expense month after month when we both carried around cell phones.  Yes, I’m aware of the 911 argument but it has been a risk we were willing to take.  Things change, we had kids, and moved out of a dense neighborhood onto some land. Gentry, my wife, was concerned that 911 service would have a difficult time finding us via cell phone. Plus, our primary babysitter doesn’t have a mobile phone.  So, to ease all concerns, we bought the Magic Jack. I can honestly say… The Magic Jack works.
 

What is the MagicJack?

There are two components to the Magic Jack: 1. The device itself and 2. A yearly service component.  As far as I can determine the device has several purposes:

1. It is a USB storage device which, once plugged into your PC for the first time, automatically installs the MagicJack software.  (Updates are automatically applied as needed.)
2. It is a phone to USB converter. You can use any old touchtone phone.
3. It also serves as a licensing device.  The installed software won’t successfully start on your PC unless this is plugged in.  You can take the device form PC to PC with ease without breaking any license agreement.

There are a couple of service plans available. We signed up for a three year plan for just a few bucks per year.

How does the MagicJack work?

Just in case you didn’t know, it’s not relly magic. Once plugged into your computer, a program known as a softphone launches and connects to a remote PBX somewhere on the Internet. The cool thing is that all the magic is transparent to the user — all you see is an onscreen phone app.  This is no different than other softphones which are common in corporations.  The cool thing is that you are not bound by your home.  You can take your laptop with you and make/receive calls as if you were sitting at your desk. Unlike other solutions, the MJ must be plugged directly into a computer and the computer must be on.

A phone is NOT required.  You can plug the MagicJack in and use your built in speakers/mic as a speakerphone.  Alternatively, you can plug in a headset to another USB port.  Again, a phone is not required as a long as the MJ is plugged in to a USB port.

Can I pick my own phone number with a MagicJack?

Yes, well, kinda… You select an area code and prefix and you are offered several number options to select from.  We picked an area code for an area in which we actually live, but I would assume you can pick any area code that is available.

Does MagicJack offer 911 serivce?

Yes, when you run through the initial setup you are required to supply a physical address where the MJ will be used.  In the event you make a 911 call, the emergency service will be dispatched to this address.  Keep in mind that if you make a 911 call from Starbucks or a hotel room, the dispatcher will still get your home address.  Oops!

Does MagicJack offer voice mail and other enhanced services?

Yes, these are all included.  In fact, when you get a voice mail it will send it via an attachment to your email address on file. Caller ID, Call Waiting, and 411 are also included.

Can you fax with a MagicJack?

Yes, you can send and receive faxes with an external fax machine.  What’s not as obvious is that you can also send/receive faxes using the same Windows PC that your MagicJack is plugged into.  It sounds hokey, but you need to run a phone cable from your fax/modem port to the MagicJack — yes you have a phone cable in two ports on the same computer.  From here, you would fax like you normally would from within Windows — just set up your fax as a new printer and “print” to it. So, you should be able to fax anything you can print including Microsoft Word docs, email, photos, drawings, whatever…

Will MagicJack run on Windows 7?

I have used our MagicJack on Windows XP, Vista, and Win 7 without any difficulty.  I did notice in XP, that while the jack was plugged in, there was an IP Telephony update listed in WindowsUpdate.  I installed this update and didn’t notice any difference good or bad.

What are the drawbacks or disadvantages of using MagicJack?

This is a best effort service designed to run over residential broadband.  As a result, the voice quality is not equal to traditional phone service.  Additionally, MJ requires an active Internet connection and will not work if you lose access for any reason (including power loss).  Compare this to traditional phone service which gets its power from the TelCo central office and gives you a constant dial tone even if you lose power.

What’s the result?

I highly recommend MJ for personal use. Considering the price, it is very low risk. It is a great way to shave some money off your monthly utility bills. However, MJ does not offer any service level agreements (SLA) so it may not be a wise solution if you are running a business and require consistent voice quality.

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Contact Joey or Gentry for more info:

918-809-4566

gentry@gentryfoto.com

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Obviously you will need a series of photos from a single vantage point. You can have two photos up to as many as you like.
Here are some tips to remember when taking your photos:

• Make sure each photo in your series has a bit of overlap so the software will know where the stitching points are.  It is safer to have too much overlap than none at all.
• When taking the photos, try to keep your camera in the same position and at the same angle as you rotate. A tripod or monopod will help for larger shoots.
• If you have the know-how and a capable camera, set the exposure manually. Doing this will prevent different exposures on the various photos. If you don’t know what this means, then don’t worry about it – just shoot!

Let’s get started.
Open WLPG and find the photos you want to stitch together. Select these photos. As you can see in the screen shot below, I am using a series of seven photos from the interior of Boone Pickens Stadium. The photos were taken with a camera placed on my knee and span 180 degrees from end-zone to end-zone. (These are old photos from April, 2008 before construction was complete.)

 

From the menu, select MAKE > CREATE PANORAMIC PHOTO

This process could take a few seconds to a few minutes depending on how many photos you are trying to stitch together. After this process completes, you will be prompted to give your panorama a file type and name. This is the ONLY OPTION you have in the process.  The default file type is JPG which is sufficient for emailing, posting to Facebook, etc… However, if you wish to do serious editing or print this professionally you will need to save the image as a TIFF.  TIFF files are not compressed and are much larger than compressed JPG files. Typically, photo editing software gives you the option of how much compression to apply but for some reason it is a fixed level in this software. Remember, more compression equals more degradation of the original image.

That’s it!  Your image may have some strange edges as a result of the stiching processing compensating for the placement and angle of your camera. If you don’t like these edges then simply use WLPG or any other photo editor to crop it square.

What started as seven individual images from a camera balanced on my knee is now an end-zone to end-zone view of Boone Pickens Stadium.

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Click here to see the panorama.

Tips:

• You can zoom in and out very quickly using the scroll wheel on your mouse.
• Use your arrow keys or mouse to navigate around.
• Since this is a 360, you can pan one direction continusoly as if you are spinning in a circle.

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Click here to view the embedded video.

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When Vista was released, this functionality was not included in the box, and Microsoft didn’t produce new PowerToys. Now, there is an open source clone of the Image Resizer PowerToy that works on Vista and Windows 7. It is identical in nearly every way. If you run Vista or Win7 and need a simple way to resize images check it out.  It doesn’t get easier or simpler than this:

http://www.codeplex.com/PhotoToysClone

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1. Highly Recommended: The most dramatic single UI change you can make is implementing the Royale Noir theme.  I don’t know the full story on this theme, but it was developed at Microsoft as an alternative to the default blue/olive Luna theme. For some reason it was not included with the original XP release or any subsequent edition or service pack. It is obviously the basis for the default look in Vista. I am using it now on my work laptop. You can download Royale Noir here – I’ve included a read me.txt file on where to copy the files. Here is more info on Royale Noir at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royale_Noir

2. Highly Recommended: Most people know about PowerToys. These are XP add-ins that have been around since 2001. These are free useful utilities developed at Microsoft that weren’t included in the base XP code.  http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

a. You will want the alt-tab replacement. Although this is not as cool as Vista’s “Flip 3D” it is a definite improvement over XP’s out of the box alt-tab look. This PowerToy gives you a screenshot of the Window (verses a boring icon) as you alt-tab through your open windows.

b. Also consider Virtual Desktop Manager. This may not be a Vista specific tool, but it is useful if you have a need for multiple desktops. This utility allows you to switch among different desktops without having to login as a different user. You may have one desktop for work, for home, etc. Or you may have a specific desktop config for working on photos, one for gaming, etc…

3. Highly Recommended: Turn on Clear Type. This is a font smoothing technique that has been built into XP forever. I’m not sure why Microsoft didn’t turn it on by default. It dramatically improves the way fonts look on your screen. (This same option is also available and disabled by default in Windows Mobile.)  Display Properties > Appearance > Effects. 

4. Replace the old yellow XP balloons with new glass notifications. This guy has created a free simple balloon replacement meant to look more Vista like. The source code is also available if that interestes you. http://mpj.tomaatnet.nl/vista/glasstoasts.html

5. Convert the XP start menu to a Vista-like start menu with this free utility. This is a nice utility for freeware but it is a little sluggish on my system. http://www.vistastartmenu.com/index.html 

6. One really cool Vista feature is the live previews you get when you hover over a minimized item in the taskbar. Visual Task Tips is a free XP implementation of this. http://visualtasktips.com/  Again, it’s good for freeware but has room for improvement. For example, previews are not available for all minimized windows.

7. IE7 and QuickTabs. Don’t forget the QuickTabs (Ctrl-Q) feature that is built into IE7. If you have IE7 then you already have QuikTabs and didn’t know it. This allows you to quickly see all your IE tabs in a simple thumbnail layout. You can rearrange the thumbnails by dragging them around.

8. If all the above still doesn’t do what you are needing, there is a highly rated utility call Vista Inspirat which should do all the above (except for the PowerToys) in one install.  I have not used it myself, but it does look cool.  http://www.crystalxp.net/news/en181-vista-inspirat-ultimate-2-brico-pack.html

Obviously this does not turn XP into Vista and you don’t get all the new Vista features like window transparency, enhanced security, media center, a new graphics model, etc. These tools will give you a fresh look to an aging Windows XP.

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Your vs You’re:

This is a personal pet peeve. A coworker had an email tag-line that stated: “Sometimes your the bug, sometimes your the windshield.” I wanted to tell him he was embarrassing himself with every email he sent, but he eventually selected a new tag-line. “You’re” is simply a contraction of “You Are.” Use “Your” to show possession.
• What is your problem?
• You’re it!

To vs Too vs Two:

Two is a number, Too means also or excessively, and To generally describes the receiver of an action
• Take this to Bob.
• I want to work. (In this case, to is used with a verb)
• I like pizza too (meaning also)
• I like pizza too much (excessively)
• I have two arms.

Lose vs Loose:

• Lose is the opposite of win.
• Loose is the opposite of tight.

A lot vs Alot:

• Alot is not a word!

Compliment vs Complement:

Compliment means to flatter someone. Complement means to accompany or complete.
• I compliment you on your work!
• Your blue tie complements your blue suede shoes.

Regardless vs Irregardless:

• Irregardless is not a word! Use regardless.

Whether vs Weather:

Whether means “this or that.”  Weather is the climate.
• Whether you select option one or two, you’re a winner!
• The weather outside is frightful.

Sight vs Site:

Sight is vision. Site is a place.
• You’re a sight for sore eyes
• This is my website

Its vs It’s:

This one is understandably confusing since it breaks the apostrophe rule for possession. “It’s” is simply a contraction of “it is” or “it has.”  To show possession, use “its.” A good test of this is to substitute the word “his” in place of “its.”  If it makes sense, then use “its” if it doesn’t make sense, use “it’s.”
• It’s my turn. (It is my turn.) (Test: HIS my turn?!??!)
• It’s cold outside. (It is cold outside.)
• The Hummer is known for its fuel consumption.  (Test: The Hummer is known for HIS fuel consumption.)

Waste vs Waist:

Waste means trash or to wrongly use. Waist is a body part.
• Don’t waste your money!
• She has a tiny waist.

Blessed vs Blest:

Someone help me out here. Can “Blessed” be used in place in “Blest” these days? I always thought this was the proper usage:
• Bleesed are the meek – as in “Bless-UD”
• We are very blest

Peaked vs Peeked vs Piqued (added 1/5/10):

You might think that something peaks your interestbecause the work “peak” refers to the high point.  However, the correct word is “pique.”  This is a French word that translates to stimulate or anger. Here are the proper uses of these words:

• The lecture piqued my interest.
• The mountain peak was in sight. 
• The dog peeked around the corner.
• The dog peeked at the mountain peak and his curiosity was piqued!

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8/20/08 Update: In the last panorama there are several cows near the pond. See if you can find them. You will need to view the photo in full size.

 

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Can anyone help me out? Who is this Mr. Roboto?

Domo Arigato. 

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Charleston Vacation Gallery #2

 

Charleston Vacation Gallery #3

 

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Anyway…. Volvo decided to put us in a book and an online video. Here is the online portion:

http://www.volvocars.com/us/footer/about/VolvoSavedMyLifeClub/Pages/default.aspx

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One of the most disturbing trends I’ve noticed with new houses in the area is the amount of siding. Broken Arrow isn’t some harbor town where wood siding is expected and charming. This is Oklahoma where violent storms and harsh sun are part of our lives. Take, Fairway Crossing on County Line for example, I’m not sure what the exact requirements are for masonry, but it has to be near 0%. Another glaring example is Stonewood Hills North. This neighborhood is less than 10 years old and the siding is already in disrepair on many of these homes. Both of these neighborhoods are visible to our cities visitors. Fairway Crossing is near Broken Arrow High School and Stonewood Hills is on the drive that leads to the Bass Pro complex.
Why is this such a big deal to me? It’s all about maintenance. Over time, homes with little-to-no masonry will not stand the test of time and harsh Oklahoma weather. Yes, siding can be replaced, but let’s face it, most people start out with good intentions of keeping their homes painted and rotted wood replaced. However, intentions don’t always remain high, homes are sold, people age, and before you know it your home has gone from “look at that nice house” to “look at that scary rental house.” 

Think about all the desirable old neighborhoods across the Tulsa-metro. Even though some of these areas were developed early in the twentieth century (Florence Park for example), they have steadily increased their property value, enjoyed a high owner occupancy rate, kept crime low, and the pride of ownership is evident.  Now, compare these homes to neighborhoods which many people consider less than desirable. For example, homes between Riverside and Peoria in Tulsa and homes West of Main in Broken Arrow. Most of these homes were built with no masonry and were built cheaply. Look what has happened over time.  These homes have not been kept up, owner occupancy rates have dropped, crime has crept in, etc…
I’m obviously not saying that building homes with wood siding will lead to crime. The issue is bigger than that. In order to prevent the great BA Exodus of 2010, the city government needs to step in and do something about overall quality. This is not unprecedented. There are many documented actions of cities even putting a hiatus on building permits until they could get similar problems under control. Cities were seeing neighborhoods going up that did nothing to better the city and could possibly hurt the long term livability.  I am not suggesting that we need to build more expensive homes to keep property values up, but, we need to build better homes that will stand the test of time. A minimum percentage of masonry is obviously a good place to start. Other areas could be liners between shingles and decking. I think two straight years of ice storms and ice damming make the case here.  We’re living in the green era so we should look at new energy saving codes. I could go on.

Again, I am not advocating building bigger, more expensive homes, but I do realize that to build quality will cost a little more. When you consider the total cost of ownership over 30 years, the home will actually cost less if built with quality materials from the start. The rest of BA will benefit from sustained property values, better aesthetics, and enhanced quality of life.

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These codes can only be used once, so if you are the first to read this then you are the lucky one. Check back every couple of days to see if I’ve posted more codes.  Don’t be a hog, if you don’t like the artists, then don’t use the code. Also, if there are multiple codes for the same song, then please only take one.

To use the codes, simply open iTunes, go to the store and click redeem. You should see the field to paste the code in.

Enjoy.

• Adele – “Chasing Pavements” Song: MAMAMPFJEMF7, XNWKHEAAYYX9, E4YYF3PME4EL, M3P7Y7JHF3W4, YXXTX9MH6E4L, TFYFXYA39NY9, 74WM9N99Y47K
• Duffy – “Mercy” Music Video: A4R4TR9E734P, 4EPYJ437W6MM, M39MAN4EHFNA, MPM6RRAHWFNT, 7RPFALFE9MKJ, EYN97JJEMX77, 774AYFAFMJ6F, RMMKLHKY6PE4
• Carly Simon – “So Many People To Love” Song: RMFJP4MK649H, A3KMNRYW9KEL, LA7FY3JX6M49, 9TR7HW949XL7, MRXET4THLY9T, TMN9LWJJWXWN, 44EHT3LT3JTH
• Hilary McRae – “Every Day” Music Video: THEWENKFP4JP, 9MW7F3NX3KKA
• Counting Crows – “Washington Square” Song: JE9WK7F6MEWT, W7R43R7HPMLX, WM6EFR3FFWWP, MLRFKL9FAP79, XFM6A64JL4X4, XKKRKFEJM7HH, XLLW7KMK9MFP, J3774667TRXT, N9J9P6WMRY7K, 9KX34KMPYYML

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