If you’ve been reading my blog for a bit, you know that I’ve converted over to an all-Apple environment. One of the steps on that path was a new laptop, a MacBook (one of the sleek black ones). As it ends up, there was a sleeper feature included in the machine, one that wasn’t enabled — 802.11n. This is a faster wireless networking standard that stands poised to work farther and faster than anything else out there. Sorta the “Bionic Man” of wireless protocols.

It was only due to some clever fanboys out there that we even knew this was coming. Once the laptops with these spiffy new adapters hit the streets, folks were dissecting them and discovered that the chipset being used was capable of 802.11n, and from there it was nothing but pure speculation about when this beastie would be turned up, and made ready for higher speeds.

Well, the fine folks at Cupertino finally released the enabler to make the adapter speak 802.11n, and I installed it promptly, natch. Of course, I’ve got nothing that speaks “n”, but should I encounter anything like that in my travels, I can be part of the “n” crowd, and fly through the ‘Net with the greatest of ease.

Today, the folks at WordPress released a complete new version of their code. As always, it was simple to upgrade.

However, I’ve noticed some weirdness with link categories and posting categories. It kinda seems like they are crossed up a bit, which is making some of my formatting on the sidebar not work right. Also, it appears I have two default categories for posts to land. Not sure how that’s gonna work.. or be fixed!

Anyway, bear with me as I get some growing pains out of the way over the next few days….

Well, we didn’t get the six inches of fluffy white stuff last night, but we did awaken to about three inches of terrific snow. Beck and I built a snowman — the first time I’ve done that in years — and lobbed the occassional snowball at each other. Fun, fun, fun.

After spending a big part of yesterday chainsawing the last remnants of the felled tree limbs, it was nice to be outside with a somewhat less odious mission. Aside from a quick shovel of the sidewalk and driveway, this was a day to just enjoy being out in the snow.

By far, this was the most hospitable snow we’ve had in a long time — no wind, temps right at freezing, and a heavy packing snow to play in. Now that’s a fine winter’s morning!

Last night, I spent some time trying to get my Nik filters to work in Photoshop CS3 on my MacBook. This, to no avail. As I did my research this morning, it appears that until they are released as a universal binary, CS3 won’t load ‘em. Bummer. That means that work “on the road” is limited to whatever CS3 has included… at least for a while.

However, I was able to get them running on the PowerMac, and they seem to function like I’d expect. I’m gonna try to beat on CS3 on the G5 and see if the performance is any different over there as compared to CS2. I’ve read that the difference is only about 20%, so I don’t know if I’ll notice the difference, given the lackluster way I use Photoshop.

OK, so fame is relative, and this time, it’s my relative’s fault!

Once Mom heard about the 1st place award at Framations, she contacted the local paper in Chattanooga to let them know of the feat. A reporter from the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Karen Nazor Hill, does a “Talk of the Town” column in the paper, and Mom reached out to her with some quick facts about the show and my placing in it.

Well, as I would expect from a reporter, Karen had a whole list of questions, which I responded to, including a sorta-recent photo of me, and an image of “Crystal”. This was Monday night after our electricity was functional again. I hadn’t heard a peep since.

Tonight in my e-mail, I found a copy of the article as it appeared in the paper today! And it was a full article, just focused on your humble author. Mom was just busting with pride and truthfully, so am I. It’s just plain cool to see your work in print, and recognized. Believe me, the financial rewards are yet to come from this bold venture, but the non-pecuniary benefits are wonderful!

Unfortunately, due to copyright restrictions, I don’t believe I can include the clip from the paper here. However, here is the link to the text-only version of the article. Dunno if that’s a permalink, so it might disappear at some point. Anyway, take a few minutes to read it — it’s a fun read.

I have the ice photos up now…. Take a peek at just how destructive this crazy storm was. And now, the weather prognosticators are calling for snow again this weekend.

Hold on to your hats!

This week has been miserable. Monday, we were without power. I spent most of the morning cleaning up the limbs in the front yard, and returned to the cold house. Well, apparently, that little bit of winter work has saddled me with an awful cold.

I have felt horrible all week, culminating in staying home today. I slept from 10.30 last night to 5.00 this morning, tried to get going, and by 6am, I threw in the towel, took some more NyQuil, and slept until 1.30 this afternoon. I moved from the bed to the recliner in the great room, and slept off and on until about 6.30pm. How’s that for an exciting day.

NyQuil really makes for some quite interesting dreams, BTW. That’s a trip I could’ve done without.

After thirty-four hours being “off the air”, the Deauxmayne has power again. Tonight was gonna be brutal — 12 degrees or so — and the house was already down to 50 degrees. In fact, we had stuff packed, a plan for the dogs, and were within twenty minutes or so of bugging out to our temporary quarters for the night.

It’s just amazing how much warmer the house feels with the lights on, the TV going, and the ‘Net purring right along!

There’s photos and tales to tell, but I’ll spend more time on those later. For now, I’ve got a date with a pizza, and some quality time with The Simpsons.

Your humble author has indeed won his first prize in a photography exhibit — and first place to boot!

“Crystal”, a piece I shot in the aftermath of our ice storm in December, took first place in the show, although not Best in Show. However, first place gives me a ribbon, a cash prize, and a little toehold on some notoriety.

Each of the photographers that received an award also had a note from the jurist in their envelope. To me, she wrote:

“What an incredible moment. It must have arose as quickly as it melted. Nice use of form, line, quality of light, etc. It is the ordinary as extraordinary. Great job.”

To say I am thrilled is a HUGE understatement — I’m on cloud nine!

The weather prognosticators have been predicting all week that we were gonna have a big, bad ice storm over the weekend. The first wave began last night just after the rush hour, with temps falling just below freezing. It poured down rain much of the night, with the water freezing to the trees. The good news is that the roads are too warm still to have much accumulation.

The trees are another story. Our neighborhood looks like a war zone, and there are limbs and trees strewn about. We haven’t lost power, but we have had some large limbs (6″ +) snap from the trees in the front yard. Fortunately, we’ve had no damage so far.

There’s another wave due in tonight. With the colder weather yesterday and today, I expect that wave may have some ice that sticks to the roads, and makes things treacherous. With that, and the rest of this crazy front that’s on top of us, the weather dudes and dudettes are saying this will continue through Monday morning.

So, when faced with freezing rain and ice, what do I do? Well, I’ve been out photographing the ice. There’s a lot to take in, and photos just don’t do the damage justice. However, the macros shots are looking very nice!

Dunno what this means for the opening reception tonight at Framations. With some luck, it’ll stay away long enough to get that in, and then we can huddle up in the house, basking in the warmth of the family.