Linux MCE vs Windows MCE
Linux plays a dangerous game by producing such an interesting Media Centre. See this link but be warned- time wasted can never be regained:
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/03/21/linux-mce-looks-hot/
I think it is a little dishonest to do that type of comparison and be so smug about it. One product is open ended and the other is not. One is made to be the standard and the other is made to surpass it. My humble Opinion. If everything was as easy as they say Linux is everyone would have switched- but you see, Microsoft makes it simpler.
FernHill Club Hotel
I just wanted to dedicate one small post to say that Fern Hill Club Hotel is the best place I have ever stayed. The villa goes for J$7500 and is such an exquisite (huge) place. Everything is so spacious. It is really tempting to just live there.
In the one-bedroom villa you get a refridgerator, stove, microwave, two coffee makers and a toaster. The Cable television is standard as is the queen-sized bed. Everything is just so beautiful from that height. The view is perfect. We got our own status and own pool.
Because the villa is so far away from everyone else it feels really peaceful.
While at the hotel the bartender was a bit slow but made a mean Brown Cow. My banana drink wasn’t quite what I expected- but then I don’t know how daiquiris work. The food was great. I had an appetizer that mixed Calloo, mozzarella cheese and boneless chicken breast. I was so amazed at how excellent it tasted.
Everything about the hotel felt perfect! Pictures are in the next post.
Portland Vacation
My vacation has ended and I am now back to work. It was a pretty good/dramatic vacation. It started out with minimal stress. All I did was sleep late and scratch myself for half the week.
For the latter half of the week I woke early and went to Portland. Portland is a great and peaceful place. Initially I intended to spend two night there but ended up spending only one. It doesn’t make sense to go to Portland, Jamaica and spend one night. There is simply too much to see and do.
I took some pictures though- some good and some not so good. I am saving up my money so that I can stay in the same place or similar but spend more time doing all the activities. I only went to Reach Falls and ate Jerk Pork and Chicken but there is rafting, touring monuments and a whole host of other fun things to do.
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| Portland Pictures |
See some pictures.
Panasonic Lumix LZ5
I wanted a good camera for my vacation to Portland. I am tired of my 3mp camera which gives me mainly grainy pictures and has no optical zoom. I am not a professional photographer and try as I might my hand normally shakes when I am about to press the shutter.
Thankfully there is a product just for me- the Panasonic Lumix LZ25. When you are shopping for camera there is a lot of necessary research to go through before you can find your ’soul cam’. Initially I searched for cameras on Crutchfield.com. This site has an interesting feature where you they tell you that you can pay a little more and get a higher version of whatever product you are looking for. This Lumix happened to be at the top of its food chain with 6MP and audio/video recording.
The main sell for the Lumix camera is a feature called Mega O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer). This means that at the point when you are about to press the shutter and you slightly shake the camera while pressing the camera calculates and compensates for the shake to give you a great picture. IT WORKS!! I don’t work for Panasonic so this isn’t that at all. The thing works.
Another sell is the multiplicity of scene modes. It has a scene for almost every occasion. When you select the appropriate scene mode the camera adjusts the white balance and all that drama as necessary (shutter speed, aperture opening size) to take the best picture for those conditions. I no longer have to take a crappy picture of the starry sky because it has a mode called Starry Sky (how did they know I was going on vacation). There is also a mode called Scenery, Party, Portrait, Soft Skin, Baby 1 and 2. The Baby Scene mode even allows you to put the Baby’s age and name in the picture if you want.
The camera uses both MMC and SD (though videos only work on SD they claim) and it uses various forms of 2AA batteries. It has a power optimization mode that allows you to select the type of battery you are using so that it can compensate accordingly. I truly believe that is how a camera is supposed to be.
My problem is that I haven’t quite got used to the camera so I make some strange pictures. I have work by trial and error to figure out what is a good picture and what isn’t. I like this camera though- a new hobby awaits.
Finding Rory
My vacation is coming up shortly. As of Friday evening, March 8 2007 at 5pm I will be on Vacation. I am looking forward to lots of rest and hopefully the chance to get away from my habitat.
One of the things I have realized in this pre-vacation phase is how much I miss my music. I used to be heavily into Rock/Alternative. I love Rock Ballads and hard Rock. I came across My Chemical Romance – Helena. It is such a great song/video. It really returned the memories of jamming to hard rock with my friends or alone in my room.
I think work has drained much of my soul and it is time to fight back. It is great that the Pearl has MP3 playback or else I would be in trouble.
