Snow, Sun and Sheryl - What a Vacation !

I know, I know; its been a month since my last post. No real excuses, just became a bit lazy. Better late than never so here is some of what Bonnie and I did over the Winter Break Vacation in late February

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SNOW, SNOW AND MORE SNOW

We started our week of fun and frolic with a weekend back in the snow, and I do mean snow. Even our Welcome Bear was covered. Daryl flew in from Hawaii  and we headed up to snowboard amidst the fresh powder. It was as perfect as you can imagine; new snow at night, fresh powder during the day. We boarded for a couple of days and had a blast. Our good friends, Rajeev and Sushma then came up on Saturday afternoon with their 3 fantastic children. A minor mishap (they lost their keys at the grocery store), delayed them, but by late afternoon we were all assembled.  We all went out and built a snowman in the middle of the street. Not the best idea, but fun nonetheless.

 

A friend of Daryl's drove up from Lodi, so we had a full house. The next day, major league snow. Check out the picture of Bonnie and Dakota. Dakota had fun playing with his ball in the snow, I'm sure he will want to return.  Everyone but me headed for the slopes. I'm a fair weather outdoorsman and wasn't up for blinding snow. Besides, Rajeev had to use my goggles. (Any excuse in a storm). Everyone had a great time, Daryl said it was the best powder ever. More snow the next day, so Daryl and I just chilled while the visitors drove home.  Finally headed down the mountain after 6 days.  Daryl and I took in a Sharks game, (Sharks 4 Oilers 2) while Bonnie washed the clothes and packed for our imminent departure the next day. Before long Daryl was on a plane back to Hawaii and Bonnie and I were headed south for some sun. Side note: We were not able to fly ourselves because of upcoming weather, but thanks to Daryl, we were able to catch all our flights compliments of  MESA- I knew having Daryl as a pilot would pay off, just didn't think it would be so soon.

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SUN, FAMILY AND FRIENDS

Next stop- Scottsdale. My brother Richard and his wife Cindy were visiting from Minneapolis, so it was time for a visit to catch up with them. Bonnie's mother was also visiting and I hadn't seen her for a while, so it ended up a perfect twofer family.We also managed to meet up with some of our Phoenix friends (Harry and  Pat; Nat and Barb) so it was a perfect 2 days.

Like many of our quick trips, its all about family, friends and food. Dinner at our favorite fish house, McGraths, with Harry, Pat, Doris and my Dad; lunch in downtown Tempe with Richard, Cindy, Nat and Barb, followed by a nice walk along the waterfront in Tempe.  Who would ever have thought; a waterfront in the desert, Dinner with all the brothers and wives (Mark, Richard, Me, Bonnie, Cindy and Joyce) along with my dad and his new friend Nancy. Managed to watch the Sharks win an exciting game 4-2 over the Kings after dinner- Go Sharks! And finally, brunch the next morning at a great hole-in-the wall place with Doris, Lee, and my dad- JP Pancakes. The weather in Scottsdale was FANTASTIC; especially after all the snow in Tahoe. Sure could have stayed longer, but it was time to head out on the big silver bird to catch up with our baby girl.

       

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SAYING HI TO SHERYL

Some would say we saved the best for last, but I would never show any partiality. Started with week with Daryl and ended with Sheryl, my defintion of a perfect 10 days. We arrived in Orange County just in time to meet Sheryl at one of our favorite eateries (yes more food) for some great salad and wraps; Rutabegorz. Sheryl had lots of work to do, so we dropped her off and then headed to the movies. It was Oscar weekend and we still had one movie left to see - "The Reader". It was very good, Kate (she said I could use her first name) deserved the Oscar for an amazing performance, but I must tell you, both Bonnie and I found it a fairly disturbing movie on so many levels. Thoroughly enjoyed watching it but we needed to lighten up after we left the theater. We noticed as we exited that in the adjacent theater "He's Not That Into You" was playing and had just started.  We have never done this before, but what the hey, we ducked in and and watched a second movie. Very light-hearted , a bit funny and definitely took off the edge from "The Reader". After the movie we were a bit hungry (how could that be you say- all you guys seem to do is eat) so we headed to our favorite SoCal fast food;  Del Taco.  The Mexican food is ok, but the fries are to die for. The next morning (actually late morning), we picked up Sheryl and headed for; you guessed it; Brunch. Another favorite eatery of ours has become Polly's, just around the corner from where Sheryl lives. All kinds of fresh baked goodies, oh so yummy and quiche to die for. Yummnn. Back to Sheryl's house for a little visit and then off to the airport for our final flight home.

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We had a great time. I can't imagine a more diverse and enjoyable vacation. In just a week, we hit the snow, the sun and the Sharks; spent time with my kids, my brothers, Bonnie's mom, my dad and lots of friends. Too bad it all had to come to an end. I'll do my best to not take so long for my next post and take more pictures instead of using "generics" from the web. Keep those comments coming. Its what inspires me to write.

Skiing on Super Bowl Sunday

I just can't believe its already February. What happened to January?

Daryl took a quick trip home last week and went snowboarding with a friend. I was so jealous, that I decided to take a quick drive this weekend to Lake Tahoe and Ski for a couple of days, Super Bowl Sunday included. Although the snow is only so-so, the weather is magnificent. 40-45 degree temperatures, sunny and clear. Many of you know that I broke my ankle snowbaording last year, so for my first time out, I put on ski's instead. Not really sure why, but just felt more comfortable. 

I spent Super Bowl Sunday on the slope, it was amazing and I returned to the cabin just in time to watch a pretty exciting game. Too bad Arizona lost, but they played a great game and they have nothing to be ashamed of.

I ski at a smaller resort called Homewood Mountain Resort. Its right on the lake and even though its a bit smaller, it generally means fewer crowds and more importantly, it has the best views you can imagine. You feel like you are skiing right in to the lake- its just amazing Here are a few pictures just to give you a sampling taken by my skiing buddy, Nicki.

If you want to see all the pictures (mostly scenery), just click on this link

Kudo's to Captain Sullenberger and First Officer Skiles

I am sure all of you have heard (and may even be tired of hearing) of the dramatic event of US Airways 1549 last week. One of my favorite radio shows is "Prarrie Home Companion" with Garrison Keillor and I ran across this ballad he did in honor of the crew. Give a listen, I think you will enjoy it. Click here to see the words and listen to it or just click the play button on the audio below (takes a few minutes to start).

No need to add my comments on the crews actions, its been all over the press, but suffice it to say, that it gives me impetus to keep my skills up and attention focused during my flights. I only hope to be as collected and successful as they were if I ever have an emergency.

First Tech Tip for 2009- Back Up Your Stuff !!!!

It is definitely  not the "coolest" stuff to play with and if you are lucky, it's all a waste of time, but if you need it, (and eventually everyone does)  you will be so glad you did it that you will want to  buy me a gift card to Dairy Queen. Don't become this picture and remember;  for my loyal (and not so loyal) readers, I am just an email or call away to help. I know this is a long article (sorry) and for those that won't read it- PLEASE CALL ME SO I CAN HELP YOU BEFORE YOU HAVE A PROBLEM, NOT AFTER. Special Thnaks to "Red" for pointing out a few options I originally missed, I've now updated this blog and owe her a DQ treat.

There are a couple of approaches to backing up the important information on your computer, depending on what you want to achieve. Its all about how safe you want to be and how easy you want the recovery process to go. There is a lot to read on the internet if you want to know more (Here's a good example).  I have tried to summarize the basics below; it doesn't really matter if you have a Mac or a PC (I have both), the theory is the same; although some of the tools, as you will see later, may differ slightly.

What to back up
Pictures, documents, and other files such as tax information or checking account ledgers seem obvious. If you use a mail program such as Outlook Express (Windows XP), Windows Mail (Vista), Apple Mail, or Entourage that lets you save mail on your computer, you will want to back that up, along with your contacts. Don't forget your bookmarks or favorites if you use them. in IE, Firefox or Safari.  Many of you may also want to back up your music, it dramatically simplifies recovering compared to taking it off your iPod or reloading all of your CD's.  Finally, if you want the simplest recovery process from a disaster, you might consider backing up your entire hard drive (called a disk image), everything including your programs, settings and operating system (Windows or OS X) is preserved.  In case of a crash you then don't have to rebuild and reload all your programs, just copy the backup image and you are ready to go, good as new; even if you need a new hard drive.
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Where to back it up.
The safest approach involves keeping your backup in a different place than your computer in case of a fire, flood or earthquake. I think this is important for things that you do not want to lose under any circumstance, such as cherished pictures or critical files, but it might be overkill for other things- you have to decide. If you keep your pictures online for viewing you might think you are OK (and you might be), however be sure and check to see what is stored, and if you can recover them via download. For example Google allows you to upload your full-size photos (but you have to choose that when you upload), and download them later, but the "free account" only allows 1GB, you have to pay for more storage. Shutterfly allows unlimited storage, but you can't download them, only purchase prints, and Flickr's free account is very limited, its paid account ($25/yr) allows unlimited storage but they shrink all your originals, so what you download is not exactly what you had. You can also back up pictures (and files) "online" with a service such as Mozy (its what I do).

Another popular choice is an external hard drive, very easy to use, but a little less safe for those cherished pictures. Next are CD/DVD- excellent for backing up Music or files that don't change (you can also use this for pictures), probably in combination with a flash drive, which is good for smaller backups or ones you use all the time, like documents you work on often. Finally, backing things up elsewhere on your main hard drive is another possibility, but provides the least "safety"; but it's still better than nothing.

Of course you can "roll your own" and backup some things on a CD/DVD and mail them to a friend, keep an external drive with your backup in your safety deposit box, use a flash drive for files and even use free space on a friend's computer, but for many people, these might sound good, but won't be followed through on, and the key to having a good backup strategy is that it is one that you will use, or for me, works by itself.  Many people decide that backing up on a flash or external hard drive only and not worrying about natural disasters is good enough; and most of the time they are right, although for me the exception is pictures. You have to decide for yourself how much and what to "insure".

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I know some of you are saying "I can't afford it !"  When you have a crash, you will not be sorry you spent the small amount of money involved. You can backup 2GB on Mozy for free, or have unlimited backup on Mozy for $60/year; Using CD/DVDs cost less than $10/year, or buy an external hard drive for $80-$100. Just email me and I'll help you find a low cost solution. You can combine ideas for the best cost/benefit that fits your need. For example, keep you large files (pictures and music) on CD/DVDs and keep small important files and mail backup on Mozy's free service or a flash drive. If you want to keep an "image" of you hard drive for full backup and ease of recovery, you will need an external hard drive or a second drive in your computer; still less than $100.

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OK- I'm committed, what next

Once you have decided what you want to backup, and where, just get started. Its not as hard as you think, and you will be glad you did when your computer crashes. I have set up a few over the past year;  here's my experience and what I have used. There are lots of free or low priced (less than $50) tools besides these, just do an internet search on "computer backup".

If all you want or need to backup are a few files or pictures (less than 2GB) use the free Mozy,  or buy a flash drive at any store. 4GB Flash drives can be had for less than $20 with 32GB ones at less than $60 (that's a lot of backup). If you want to backup all your pictures and music as well, you can do it with CD/DVD's for the least amount of money but you have to remember to do it often. A more convenient solution is to pick up an external drive, for $80-$100, at most stores or online. You can just drag the files from your computer to the drive (be sure and do it regularly) or use one of the many free programs to automate and simplify the task for you. Most of the external drives even have their own program built in to help you. Windows XP  and Vista have their own  backup program that you can configure if you like and  OS X.5 (Leopard) has Time Machine. For earlier versions of Mac OS X, check this Mac Support Article out or use SuperDrive (like I do). But remember, your pictures aren't totally safe if they are right next to your computer, its one reason why I use Mozy. Call me if you need help to find a strategy that fits your budget.

Mostly because it is "set and forget" (not safety) I have 3 of our family computers using Mozy's Free 2GB program. Its easy to download and it runs in the background so important information is safe in case of a crash (or burn). My kids use a flash drive as well, but this helps in case they forgot to back up something. (You know me, plan A and plan B). The limitation is, if you have music or a lot of pictures, 2GB isn't enough space. You either have to backup some of it with CD/DVD or a hard drive, or pay the $60/year for more space, which I do for one computer. iDrive is an online competitor to Mozy and gets good reviews, I just have not personally used it. I have also read some nice things about HP's Upline and may give that a try since it provides space for sharing as well as backups and there is a family plan and for Mac users of mobileme, you can use that service, depending on how much you want to back up.. You do need to be sure and allow the program to do the backups and configure it correctly. To be honest, I think ours need some clean-up, which I am committed to do ASAP.

If you prefer to create a complete backup of your drive to simplify the recovery process, just pick up an external drive and use one of the readily available software programs. I do this so I don't have to find all my old disks and re-install everything. For Macs, if you have OS X.5 (Leopard), just turn on Time Machine and you are good to go.If you do not yet have Leopard, the Mac program of choice seems to be SuperDuper. The free version works fine (although a little slow) and I have been using it for 6 months with my school-provided MacBook. I will probably pay the  ~ $30  for the full version soon, just to simplify things so I backup more often. For Windows users one of the more popular (and affordable) programs seem to be Macrium, which has a free version available here. Of course there are others, but I can vouch for the ease of use for Macrium's free version as I set it up the first week in January on both my Uncle Tony's computer in Utah as well as my Dad's in Scottsdale. I feel better knowing when they have a computer crash, recover is just a few clicks away.

Feel free to combine different strategies to suit your needs. I keep some files backed up on Mozy and have an external drive to keep an image of my computer for quick recovery, if needed. Do what works for you, but DO SOMETHING.

Sorry for all this techno mumbo jumbo, I tried to keep it direct and to the point with some links to get started, but you all know me; ramble ramble, ramble.

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The important thing, is DO SOMETHING,!!!. Don't think it can't happen to you, I worked on 3 computers over the last month that "crashed" and recently my brother had  a hard drive crash and lost tons (lots of Gigs) of music and movies that took him many hours to reconstruct. He now has everything backed up. Don't wait too long. DO IT SOON. I promise to help if you need it.

Just Some Fun

Laying around here in Arizona visiting family and friends as we bring in 2009, my lovely wife sent me a video that I just have to share. I'm not sure if she is challenging me to try this, but it is certainly something to think about for the coming year (just kidding).  Click the play button if it doesn't start automatically. If you want to watch it in full screen click on the full screen icon (4 outward pointing arrows to the left of the word Vimeo).

wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

Wishing all of my friends, family and students a Safe, Healthy and Happy New Year. 

Come back soon to read an important tech topic for the start of 2009.

A Visit to Hawaii.

We decided since Daryl couldn't come home for Hanukkah and New Year's, what better way to end the year than for all of us (Bonnie, Stuart & Sheryl) to visit him. Besides a week in Hawaii sounded pretty good with the cold weather quickly approaching California. Below are a few pictures and some narration. There is a full slide show at the end as well as an Animoto with music and effects. (Animoto's are soooo fun)

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Our flight left San Francisco at 9AM, however we received a call from AA at 6:45AM (just as we were getting ready to go) that our flight had been canceled and we had been re-booked later in the day (through LA with a 4 hour layover). NOT OK. The agent was very helpful and after 30 minutes on the phone had us booked on a United flight leaving at 9AM. Unfortunately it left us little time to get there and make the flight. 

With heavy rain it was close but as we drove we saw an awesome rainbow and knew all would be fine.

Sheryl and I dashed through the airport after an extra security screen (Thanks to Homeland Security) and we made the flight with a few minutes to spare.

When we arrived, it was off to the condo. Bonnie had spent untold hours checking out every possibility in the Waikiki area for the best view.  She knows I love to just look out at the Ocean. Well as you can see below, she succeeded. The 2 walls of our corner unit were all glass and these were the day and night views. AMAZING.

We spent a few days just hanging out  in Waikiki, enjoying the evenings and beach before we set out on our adventures. Daryl had 5 days scheduled off, so we had lots of family time.

After resting up, we headed for our first hike, to the top of Diamondhead (pictured below), it was a decent walk up with over 200 stairs and a scary tunnel just before coming out at the top. The views back to Honolulu and Waikiki as well as toward Kaniheo were magnificent.

After such a strenuous hike, we needed a day of relaxing before our next "adventure". Off to the North Shore, famous for home-made ice cream, Macky's famous shrimp truck , and some great beach time at Waimeha beach. We had a chance to visit the beach where Daryl volunteers to protect the turtles, can you tell which one is Daryl and which one is the turtle?

Well rested and ready, we set off bright and early (at least for us) at 11am for a hike to a hidden waterfall and pool. It was 1.5 miles each way. Because of recent rains the path was just one long length of slippery, slimy, gooey and sticky mud. After a couple of hours of sliding around the path we found the pool, swam around and headed back. Everyone enjoyed it, although I think next time, Bonnie might wait in the car.

Unfortunately, there was one problem; insect bites. They were drawn to Sheryl like bees to honey. By the time we returned to our hotel (after great burgers and onion rings at Teddy's), her legs were covered. She was on benadryl and cortisone cream for the next 2 days. We felt so bad for her, but it was still an awesome hike.

The rest of our trip was just relaxing, basking in the sun and enjoying the views from our Condo. We will definitely come back soon.

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Below is our Slideshow and Animoto (same pictures), or just click on the links to see full screen versions of our trip. For Animoto, you have to click on the full screen icon to the left of the volume icon.

Problem viewing photo's-shout out

I was just getting ready to work on a new post and identified a problem. I am working on my Dad's computer in Arizona which is set at 1024 x 768 and noticed that some of the pictures from my "An Amazing 30 hours" post don't show up. Seems that they show fine if the screen is set to 1280 x 1024. I'm not sure the reason or why it seems to only effect that post. I'll work on it, but feel free to drop me a note if its a problem for you. My apologies to my faithful readers.

HAPPY 2009. I AM SURE IT WILL BE A GREAT YEAR FOR EVERYONE