Octopi-Press

Bacon Hatted Piranha

2011-01-04T17:11:00.000-05:00

A bacon hatted Piranha!

Another Quick Gloom/Doom Thought

2009-01-28T16:37:00.041-05:00

This just hit me a few minutes ago while looking at this list of layoffs and thinking about Disney's buyout offer. I understand companies are/will be looking to minimize profit losses, and the easiest way is to offer buyouts to older employees (if you're a good company); or simply do the "job re-classification" shuffle, so older employees' positions are no longer needed and the older employee have to "re-apply" to new the job positions... so positions are cut through "attrition".

From a business perspective, it makes sense to cut costs & minimize legal exposure. But to force people into early retirement when the stock market (and 401K) & economy isn't doing well, just isn't right!

I love how another definition for the word "attrition" is "sorrow for one's sins that arises from a motive other than that of the love of God..."

More Gloom and Doom

2009-01-27T17:42:00.037-05:00

So got word from Chase that they plan to raise our interest rates. I'm assuming since they're doing so badly & not getting enough money from the government to help them out; they figure they can up the interest rates of everyone else to help bail them out. What makes me mad is that those of us with good credit must now bear those who Chase should not have lent money to, to begin with. And instead of holding the people that made bad business decisions responsible (lending money to high risk people), everyone else now has to suffer.

Also on the news, sounds like State Farm is dropping insurance policies of people living in Florida (those with home & renter's insurance) because of foreclosures. Meaning Erika and I need to go insurance shopping soon. When another insurance company started doing this in Florida last year, the state government had to step in. Again, we faithfully pay our insurance, expecting a service to be rendered. Some one makes bad business decisions (offering to insure property that far exceeded steady, realistic market growth, at an over inflated price & people who realistic couldn't afford over-inflated mortgages), and now good, sound, hard-working people loose their policies... This makes me mad as well!

Manatee Watching

2009-01-26T13:38:00.002-05:00

Momma & Babies
Originally uploaded by mhuffman

Erika and I went to the Orange City Blue Spring Manatee Festival. Staring out, I didn't have high hopes for it, but we wanted to do something different this weekend. As a side note, when I see "farmers' market", I think produce being raised and sold in lots of booths in an open air market, not one booth of produce and 50+ booths of arts & crafts -- so with that in mind, I didn't expect a "festival" of the same caliber of ones in Ohio.

And I was right. Maybe 40+ booths of arts & crafts, a few food vendors, some carny style games for the kids. And a long line to the shuttle... and really didn't know what the shuttle was for. Come to find out, the shuttle took you into the Blue Spring park, to a location great for seeing manatees! This was the hi-light of the event & well worth the $8 of admission... and it goes to a good cause, the park. :)

Standing in line, one of the marine life (manatee) experts talked about what to expect & the "curiosity" of manatees. What I didn't expect to see was so many! Gracefully swimming up and down the waters from the springs into the river. From what we overheard, there were 100+ spotted in the area, earlier that day... I thought that was an exaggeration, but I lost count after about 40. The manatees were curious... Erika and I were standing out on the of the piers, just buy ourselves, everyone else had moved on. We stood there quietly for a few minutes, when momma and her two babies came swimming right for us... Then people started screaming with excitement. Momma turned tail and swam away from us... the marine life expert said, the best way to attract them was to be really calm & quite.

Freshly Squeezed Tangerine Juice

2009-01-05T10:45:00.003-05:00

Freshly Squeezed Tangerine Juice
Originally uploaded by mhuffman

Yum. Needs to be colder.

One of Erika's co-workers gave Erika some navel oranges and tangerines from the co-worker's trees. One thing I've learned about tangerines, they need to be cut from the tree and not plucked -- plucking results in tearing the peal, which results in quicker spoilage.

With this in mind, all the tangerines we got were plucked and one started to mold. Hence the freshly squeezed juice this morning. :)

Olympics

2008-08-09T15:15:00.003-04:00

Watching the Olympics last night, I'm reminded a little of the books I once read by Eric Van Lustbader (see: The Ninja, The Miko, & Jian)... To be honest, I was in high school when I read them. I don't remember the exact stories, nor did I realize until just now that Eric wrote the Borne novels that the movies are based upon... but what I do remember one of his characters grew up in China before China became communist, that character had a powerful influence into that decision/direction & a vague understanding that Chinese communism is not the same as Russian communism. From his books, the reason why the Chinese choose communism over capitalism made sense (though I can't remember why now)...

But looking at the opening Olympic ceremonies... 90,000 people in the birdsnest, 2008 performers on the drums, 2008 tai chi performers, etc. The shear size of the performances, the fireworks... The melodrama, the symbolism, the costumes, the colors, the Chinese history, the LEDs, the wires... the shear size of the canvas in which they worked with... you're quickly blown away. And the synchronization of drummers was just fantastic.

Then you start to think... how do you get 2008 people on drums to do that, without a lot of too many mistakes? To make it all seem seamless... I've made my home in cities where the meto area have been between 1.7 to 2 million people... okay, as a contractor, I've lived in larger cities with 5.2 to 6.1 million people... but Beijing has 11 million people in their metro area... almost twice the size of the largest city I've lived in... Not as large as New York or LA, but passing Chicago.

Molly out for a Walk

2008-08-07T17:44:00.003-04:00

Here's Molly out for a walk with Erika. Erika sent this to my iPhone yesterday with the caption, "Out hunting kitty's!!!!"

Testing... 1, 2, 3

2008-08-01T23:39:00.000-04:00

Just testing from my iPhone

Wordle

2008-06-26T21:58:00.001-04:00

A wordle of my resume... Or a word cloud of my resume. It's interesting... it's Web. 2.0-ish... it's artsy... I'd almost like it to be some CSS/XMTML so I can link the words to different items, but it's pretty much a static Java application. I had to make a screen shot of it to upload to Flickr. It'd be neat if it was a Javascript application that after you manipulate the word cloud, the web-app would allow you to cut and paste the CSS + XHTML to your own web-site...

Erika's iPhone

2007-11-30T23:34:00.001-05:00

I love Erika's iPhone! The keyboard takes a little to master, but
otherwise it's very useful. And she loves it as well.

On ColourLovers

2007-08-09T14:25:00.001-04:00

I've subscribed to ColourLovers website for a few weeks now; today there was this article.
Not very interested in the article itself, but this picture by Guilherme Marconi! Nice LEGO.

NMRA in Detroit

2007-07-19T22:57:00.001-04:00

Bridge, Dam & Mountain
Originally uploaded by mhuffman

Since the whole Brickshelf debacle, I've been uploading a bunch of my LEGO pictures to Flickr. As I've been going through them, I'm starting to really look forward to going to NMRA in Detroit, weekend after next.

Everything Is New Again

2007-07-17T16:18:00.001-04:00

LeVeque Tower
Originally uploaded by mhuffman

Well, one of the nice things about Brickshelf about to go off-line, it has force me (and several other people) to upload past LEGO images to their Flickr accounts. So now everyone gets to see more of the images I've taken from past LEGO events.

It's funny how something like this brings out the best (and sometime creative) in people and the worst. I'm still on the fence about the whole Brickshelf is going down thing. For the community, it might be a good thing... how Kevin choose to leave the LEGO community, might not be.

Visiting the Nieces

2007-07-09T08:38:00.001-04:00

Ashlinn & Rayne
Originally uploaded by mhuffman

Managed to spend some time with our nieces this weekend. I glad we went to Sarasota to visit them -- we miss them terribly.

I've been playing around with Erika's new camera. Mike Cotterman turned me onto the panorama feature -- I didn't realize it was on our camera. I still haven't found a good inside setting with no flash... the pictures look a little blurry, but they do have a neat effect -- see my Flickr set for some example pictures.

We gave the camera to both Ashlinn & Rayne.. and Rayne really surprises me with some of the pictures she takes. I know that she doesn't realize what she's doing, but there is a flair to them... I haven't posted it & I might later tonight, but Rayne was taking a picture of herself that came out beautiful.

Brickworld Opening Ceremonies

2007-06-29T10:19:00.001-04:00

Microsoft Tech-Ed '07

2007-06-10T19:37:00.001-04:00

From 3rd Floor
Originally uploaded by mhuffman

Went to Microsoft's Tech-Ed last week... It was a little mind blowing. I've never been to a Tech-Ed before... and I'm not a MSZombie, I'm an script-kiddie (Perl, PHP, JS), so I came out of it with a different perspective.

Overall, the conference was good... the buffet food sucked, but the information was good. I can see the direction Microsoft is heading with it's Flash killer. At first glance, it's very powerful & simple, but in the back of my mind, I wonder if it's as easy to build a media-rich web-site as some of the demos were... It probably is, and that XML-rich simplicity might kill Flash with it's ActionScript. And being able to control the page DOM from QuickSilver, I shudder to think about how much terribly designed MSZombie pages will pop up of the next few years. :)

I talked with one of the MS techs about their VOIP product... deeply integrated with Exchange, but the concept is cool. He should me their phone... it had a touch screen, standard touch pad, but a few extra buttons, a finger print scanner, & a iPod looking wheel. The whole thing was chunky, almost like a prototype phone -- very ugly. It too was integrated with Exchange, running Windows CE on the touch pad... it was laughable, looked hurried to market. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Apple has something similar in the works.

The session in IronPython was very interesting. Very powerful, integrated with .Net. I might have to buy a copy of VisualStudio and play around with it.

Store sponsors Civil War mock protest

2007-04-23T08:13:00.002-04:00

So, I go to this comic shop that put on a Civil War mock protest. The last time I went into the shop, I overheard the protest organizers talking with a co-worker about last week's staged protest -- it was hilarious -- fortunate for the comic shop it was spring break at the college, otherwise they would have been swamped with protest. :)

To quote Newsrama:

The Orlando Sentinel covers the Superhuman Registration Act “protest” organized by A Comic Shop to promote the release of Marvel’s Civil War trade paperback. More than 30 comic book fans showed up for the event, many dressed as Marvel characters and holding signs for or against registration.

You can view video from the protest on the store’s MySpace page. Photos from the event can be seen here.

Sand Beach

2007-04-10T09:03:00.001-04:00

Sand Beach
Originally uploaded by mhuffman.

I've been thinking about ditching Gallery on my web-site & going strictly with Flickr. There's just so many advantages with going with Flickr -- friends will see your newly uploaded photos, comments, on-screen notes, greater ability to create sets, collections, add photos to community pools, etc. It's just fun software.

So I'm going through some old photos, thinking that I only uploaded 3 really good ones from our trips to Maine. Now that I signed up for a Flickr Pro account, I can upload more... (either that or cut back on the size of the photo that I'm uploading).

I've been pretty strict on myself about what I upload to Flickr... not wanting to waste bandwidth on pictures with my thumb in the way. But there have been a few, like this one, I opted not to upload at the time; now I can.

My sister-in-law, Megan, her soon to be husband, Dave & I went down to sand beach during our trip to Maine in '06. It was still a little chilly, but it was a really nice day (considering that last year it rained the whole trip). I snapped a few quick photos as we walked down on the beach... I really liked this shot... I tried to frame it without too many people in it (there were hordes of people up laying out, soaking up the sun, to the left, out of the shot). But it was nice to capture a few kids playing on the beach... like they had it to themselves. And I love how the island juts out into the sea, with big rocks with dark-green trees on top... just pretty.

L-EGG-O

2007-04-06T17:01:00.001-04:00

L-EGG-O
Originally uploaded by mhuffman.

Picked this image up from here: glitterpissing.blogspot.com/2007/03/leggos-grover-cakes.html

How cool are these... I want to make these for Easter now!

Tree Frog

2007-03-27T16:19:00.001-04:00

Tree Frog
Originally uploaded by chris5015.

I had a similar tree frog sneak into the condo last night as I was grilling out stakes. Kinda freaked me out, when I felt this lump on my neck -- the frog must have fell down off the door onto my shoulder/neck. It landed in the living room, then jump & couldn't find where it jumped to. Frustrating. After Erika went to bed last night, I looked up and it was crawling up the wall by the door. I grabbed a plastic LEGO cup (the kind you get if you buy from the Pick-A-Brick area), scooped the little bugger up & tossed him outside -- unharmed & happy I would suspect. It's funny, we never had to deal with tree frogs in Ohio... just the occasional toad.

Monster/Creature WIP

2007-03-24T11:17:00.001-04:00

Monster WIP
Originally uploaded by mhuffman.

I've been talking about doing a micro-scale display within the 'Window into the Community' at the Orlando, LIC for a few months now. We decided to try a micro-moonbase as our first attempt. I've thought about making a building & a monster/creature that rampages through the display... A while ago, I got some macro-fig pieces; I've been trying to think of a good use for them. Enter in the creature... I had to get a cockpit big enough to hold the big head -- I figure the head would be 12 feet tall or a little taller. I didn't intend to make it 3vil, but it was the colors I had on hand... now I need to do a little research & make a skull's head to go on it somewhere.

Sinister Forces

2007-03-22T10:35:00.001-04:00

Sinister Forces
Originally uploaded by
Gems from the Collection.

Very cool collection of pulp sci-fi covers & art. I'll be using it for reference material for the micro Moon-Base that I'm suppose to be building... :)

Work (From My Phone)

2007-03-13T12:22:00.001-04:00

Just a quick snapshot from work for a test. You can see my book Java In A Nutshell and my iPod, that Erika bought me for an anniversary gift -- she got a new stereo for her bug. :)

Braves vs. Astros

2007-03-03T22:36:00.001-05:00

The Game, 2
Originally uploaded by mhuffman.

Erika & I went to the Braves vs. Astros spring training game over at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex (our first time there). Had fun & was a little surprised at the size of the crowd -- a lot of loyal fans. We arrived maybe half an hour before the game started, had a long walk to the ball park... walked by some good ol' boys tailgating in the parking lot... thought this was funny 'cause OSU football fans really know how to tailgate & what the good ol' boys had going on wasn't much of a tailgate party (just standing around drinking cheap beer, with the door of the SUV open and the music going).

I haven't been to a baseball game in a few years... I'm glad we bought tickets and went. Might try to go again before the season open... if not, I'll definately buy tickets to a few spring training games next year... Indians or Reds, of course.

We decided to root for the Braves before walking into the park -- neither one of us cared that much for one team or the other, since we're from Ohio. At first, I thought it would be a close game, then the Astros scored 3 points in one inning... didn't think the Braves would catch up, unless by a miracle. We left the game around the 7th inning... the day started off warm, but then turned cold. For a little while, it looked like the sun might come out, but then it started to sprinkle... we needed to get back to the house & leave before the mass exodus from the game... I had seen enough. It was 4-1 when we left; the final score was 6 (Astros) - 1(Braves). Oh well, the Braves will get them next game.

The Castillo, Looking Towards the Sea

2007-02-25T20:24:00.001-05:00

The Castillo, Looking Towards the Sea
Originally uploaded by mhuffman.

Erika & I spent the weekend in St. Augustine. We had a wonderful time; got in Friday afternoon, walked around town the whole day Saturday. Had wonderful weather. It's a beautiful town to visit...

Lego Family is Gone!

2007-02-18T19:01:00.001-05:00

Lego Family
Originally uploaded by completelyknown.

So I stopped by the Orlando LIC to take some pictures of the dogs in this photo... And guess what, the statues are gone! From what I understand, they've been sent back to headquarters to be fixed... they might have been damaged by some drunkards stumbling away from Pleasure Island... Stupid drunk people.

Teh Figs

2007-02-17T11:31:00.001-05:00

Teh Figs
Originally uploaded by mhuffman.

I won a 4-5 lb. lot of LEGO off an aution site. Everything is in great condition. There were lot's of castle instructions, but not many castle items. Lots of space figs & trans-yellow goodness. Our club (GFLUG) is planning a micro-moonbase display for the Orlando LIC "Window into the Community" display box. Must turn these old classic space parts into a classic space micro-moonbase. :)

Shazam Thing

2007-02-09T16:38:00.001-05:00

Shazam Thing
Originally uploaded by Lady, That's My Skull.

God, I found this funny!

Gaiman's Eternals

2007-02-08T23:39:00.000-05:00

Picked up #6 of 7 of Gaiman's run on the Eternals... Now I'm not a Marvel Zombie; I'm a hard-core DC fan. I've been reading Lee & Kirby's run on the Fantastic Four in trade & I'm enjoying it. I know a little about the Marvel-verse, but I'm not familiar with Kirby's Eternals run. You would think before Gaiman did his run on the Eternals, that Marvel would release Kirby's run in a trade-paper back format. And when I started Gaiman's run, it was #1 of 6... #2 of 6, now it's #6 of 7? Did Marvel forget how to count? Just silly... Aside from Marvel being a bunch of idiots, the series is great... typical Gaiman. I just wish I knew a little more of the back story or the history to really appreciate how he puts it into the Marvel-verse.

Disney's MGM Studios

2007-02-04T21:33:00.001-05:00

Mater
Originally uploaded by mhuffman.

Before our GFLUG meeting last weekend, Erika had a mission & we needed to go to MGM Studios -- she needed a Kermit the Frog for her sister's baby shower... the theme was frogs. Erika & I met Todd Thuma there... we started off by riding the Rock-n-Rollercoaster... slowly made our way to the Muppet 3D attraction, but near the Indiana Jones show, out came Lightning McQueen & Mater. I wasn't too impress by how Lightening looked -- just like any other sports car -- but the detail that went into Mater was just amazing.

From Flikr: LEGO Bricks

2007-01-19T16:23:00.001-05:00

Originally uploaded by MaddyZangles.

Just a quick post today... I've been invited to join a few Flickr groups, which is cool. But they seem to either want millions of pictures or millions of group members... Surfing through one of the groups, I found this pict. I like the balance & the colors... I like the reflection in the plastic. It has nice composition... Makes me want to play with LEGO this weekend. :)

Happy Robot Day!

2007-01-11T23:10:00.001-05:00

smileguys
Originally uploaded by gammaraybots.

In honor of Karel Capek, last Monday (1/8) was National Robot Day & I missed it. Was planning to build a robot out of LEGO and post it, but life got in the way... more about that later. Anyway, thank your metal overload masters for this day by drinking another can of oil!

Mars Mission logo

2007-01-05T18:04:00.001-05:00

Mars Mission logo
Originally uploaded by Don Solo.

Don cleaned up the Mars Mission photos -- new space sets for 2007. I'm a little excited about them. I'm hoping they'll be released at the LEGO store soon to look out. I'll have to keep my eye on LUGNET to see when the sets start popping up in stores.

I'm really excited about the new Creator sets for 2007 -- a ferris wheel & a nice looking tan building. Woot!

Merry Christmas

2006-12-24T11:54:00.001-05:00

Window Display
Originally uploaded by mhuffman.

Just wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays!

PicoCricket

2006-12-12T20:56:00.000-05:00

So why haven't I heard about PicoCricket before? From the web-site:

The PicoCricket kit is similar to the LEGO® MINDSTORMS™ robotics kits. MINDSTORMS is designed especially for making robots, while the PicoCricket Kit is designed for making artistic creations with lights, sound, music, and motion.

Hm... Interesting projects.

The Tiger Lily

2006-12-11T12:40:00.001-05:00

The Tiger Lily
Originally uploaded by mhuffman.

Erika & I flew my parents down for a mini-Christmas vacation. We figure we couldn't go back to Ohio for the holidays, so we flew them down for a few days instead.

I've been talking about going fishing with my father. First, I was going to charter a boat & go deep sea fishing, but couldn't find enough people to share the cost. Next we thought about just going out on a 'party boat' for a few hours. I found one not too far away from the resort we were staying at. But when we got there, the weather didn't permit going out in a boat -- the winds were up & the waves were running high. So maybe next time they're down I'll be on the ball.

Merry Ninja Day!

2006-12-06T10:07:00.001-05:00

Merry Ninja Day!
Originally uploaded by mhuffman.

So apparently, Dec. 5th is Ninja Day. The story behind it is pretty funny, you should check it out.

Your Women Belong to Us

2006-12-02T21:31:00.000-05:00

I love this. It's simple. It's old school. It's great looking, but most of all, it's simple. Posted by kkoleda on Brickshelf.

It's That Time of the Year

2006-11-30T18:25:00.000-05:00

Roy (co-worker) sent me this image of their new Christmas yard decorations. If you know Roy, you know that he and his wife love the Florida lifestyle... and yard decorations at Christmas time. Too bad he's stuck in Ohio for now.

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T10:20:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving... Check out my other blog about what I'm thankful for. :)

Brrr...

2006-11-21T19:39:00.000-05:00

The weather here in Florida has turned down right cold... mid-60's today. Thank goodness it should start warming up by Thursday.

I got noticed last Friday that my contract is up with the Big-D; that I need to start looking for a new job. I have a few options that I'm pursuing, so wish me luck. I'm not exactly too happy with what's going on back at the Big-D, but I'll comment on that more later... I'm still too emotional about it. The contract ending is no surprise -- I just assumed it would happen January/February of next year, so this moves my time table up a little. It's other things that are happening at the Big-D that have me emotional... After working at the Big-D for 6 years & really getting to know the people there; some of the new changes that are happening there either piss me off or frustrate me to no end. It's just time to separate myself & move on.

Betrayed

2006-11-18T18:24:00.003-05:00

I feel a little betrayed... Got notice that my contract job is up at the end of the year... Most of the people I talk to at the Big-D is talking about finding other jobs; the morale there is so low... The latest news is that they're letting go a whole department of people, starting in April (about 90 people)... the 2nd department that I've witnessed to be let go in the name of better business. I told a friend the other day that he needed to start a blog & talk about what's happening at the Big-D -- the implosion of a business...

I'm thinking the next department to go would be the classified department; outsource the phone calls to Knight Ridder & put a new classified system in place that can take ads over the web. Then you can cut the department down to a few people. My friend said that even page layout, sales & HR can be outsourced to other companies... Then you can make Editorial work 1099, so there's only a skeleton of a company left. I doubt it will go that bare-bones of an operation, but it potentially could... I guess.

I think the thing that frustrates me the most is I could see it happening...

The company had a dinosaur culture -- very slow to move, very over weight, out-dated mode of thinking & operation. Being privately held & family ran business, it bred complacency. Throw into this mix the inter-departmental strife. The budget has been tight the last few years; advertising dollars are down & with a shift towards on-line. Classified revenue loosing out to web-sites like Craig's List. A tightening budget has lead to more finger pointing... Deep down, you know changes need to be made...

But on the other hand, I don't know if this deep cutting-into-the-bone is necessary. The problem is, just because you cut down ad production cost, this doesn't help bring more revenue into the company -- this just means you hemorrhage less money. What is needed, the company needs to partner with emerging on-line giants & find new sources of revenue.

I suspect the bottom line is, someone is getting ready to sell off the Big-D, hoping to cash in.

Goofy

2006-11-17T07:11:00.001-05:00

Goofy
Originally uploaded by mhuffman.

I'm just really happy with how this picture came out.

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T15:08:00.001-05:00

Goofy
Originally uploaded by mhuffman.

Erika & I went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party back on Oct. 12... I'm just now getting around to getting the photos uploaded. Most of them turned out dark & hard to make out the details. But for every 30 shots I take, there's almost one good one.

orkut is dead?

2006-10-10T22:48:00.000-04:00

I just signed up for orkut... I found someone to invite me into the network... My impression is that most groups are dead or over run by spammers. It's just a fancy web-front end to forums... lots and lots of forums. There's no RSS feed. There's no image sharing. It's just been a big dissapointment after joining. It's like news groups, but with pictures... but just as dead.

Pirates & Octopi

2006-10-06T11:06:00.000-04:00

From the 100 Pirates in 100 Days project, I give you #13, this cool octopi-pirate... I think the flag is very cool as well.

Technorati tags: Octopi, pirates

Pumpkins & Gords

2006-10-05T22:06:00.001-04:00

Pumpkins & Gords
Originally uploaded by mhuffman.

Snapped this quick picture on our way into Fresh Market this evening... You can tell it's fall time in Florida, but you can't tell it from the tree leaves. :)

That's the one thing I'll miss about Ohio... leaves turning color... They had apple cider in the store... almost bought some.

Technorati tags: pumpkins, fall

Octopi Images

2006-09-30T08:42:00.000-04:00

Your monthly (bi-montly?) dose of octopi images. Picked this up from BoingBoing -- an article about natural history made from glass... amazing glass models!

Technorati tags: Octopi

Love Bugs

2006-09-26T10:37:00.000-04:00

Erika & I have been in Florida in September before, but for some reason, I don't remember there being any love bugs -- now we see them everywhere. From what I read, they swarm twice a year, spring time (April-May) and fall time (September-October)... more swarm in the fall, than in the spring. They're just annoying & their dead acidic bodies are covering the car... Can't wait till the love bug season is over!

Technorati tags: LoveBugs Florida

The Playmobil Store

2006-09-24T13:20:00.001-04:00

The Playmobil Store
Originally uploaded by mhuffman.

Went to the Florida Mall Saturday to pick something up for my sister-in-law's birthday; I went into this store while Erika went to the Hallmark store for cards. I must say, for a store that's 1/4 the size of the LEGO store, it was impressive.

They had a promotional halloween item (I was seriously thinking about buying one), a few walls of figs & accessories, as well as their current line of toys. The lines were impressive, with several different sets in each line. Lots of play value. And enough accessories to expand your castle, make a larger zoo, etc. I'm a little sadden that LEGO went the other direction by tightening up their product lines & reducing the number of sets within a theme...

Technorati tags: Playmobil toys

That's Me in the Middle

2006-09-20T13:19:00.001-04:00

09-19-06_1447.jpg
Originally uploaded by mhuffman.

My sister is in town (on the right) to visit/vacation -- my wife is on the left, I'm in the middle. We took her to Downtown Disney. She bought stuff for the kids & a few things for my brother-in-law. The three of us had a nice time together... I'm a little sad she can't stay longer than just a few days.

Technorati tags: Disney Family

Live with Joe Meno

2006-09-13T15:50:00.000-04:00

BlueBrick Radio is pleased to announce that our first LIVE broadcast will be Thursday September, 14 at 9:00pm EST!

We will have Joe Meno, coordinator of BrickFest/Brick Party 2006, as our special guest. We will talk bricks, enjoy music and find out how Joe feels about his experience as coordinator.

You can click here to listen or visit the web-site & click on Listen under the Main Menu on the left hand side of the web-page (this will launch the player in a pop-up window).

Come join the fun!

Technorati tags: LEGO BrickFest

Quite day on Main Street, USA, II

2006-09-13T14:10:00.001-04:00

Quite day on Main Street, USA, II
Originally uploaded by mhuffman.

Last Sunday, the wife & I went to Walt Disney World... it was strange not seeing large crowds everywhere. About 2pm, we decided to head to the train station at the front of the Magic Kingdom to get good seats to watch the 3pm parade. I snapped a few photos of cast member playing with guests on Main Street... just a really strange sight for us. Now that we live in Florida, maybe this won't be such an unusual sight. :)

Technorati tags: Disney CastMembers

BrickFest '06

2006-08-31T17:39:00.000-04:00

BF06: Sculpture & GBC
Originally uploaded by mhuffman.

Let's just say I had a blast!

First off, let just say I'm a big fan of having all the MOCs in one area -- when the themes were in different rooms at GMU, I'd sometimes miss out on a room, because I didn't know it was down some hallway, 3rd door on the right, behind the vending machines... It was nice to compare size of structures all in the same room.

I loved the location; both in a hotel & the location of the hotel. If my wife got tired, she could walk up to the room & I could continue on festing. And the hotel was close to some good restaurants & the mall.

If you've never been to a BrickFest before, you must take the time to go.

Technorati tags: LEGO BrickFest

Alive, In Florida

2006-08-15T11:24:00.000-04:00

Well, we're in Florida now -- we just moved down here last week. And we're adjusting to the new surroundings. The condo is about 20-30 minutes away from a Target or Wal-Mart. The nearest gas station or restuarant is about 10-15 minutes away. If feels like we're living out in the middle of the country... And at the end of our street, it dead ends at a field -- last week the dog & I saw cows.

I can't begin to describe the animal life surrounding the condo complex... ants, fire ants, dragon flies, beetles, some huge bugs I've never seen before... lizards everywhere, a snake on the back patio, a big hawk, egrets... and other birds I have yet to identify... a few dogs and a cat. There are donkies across the street & cows up the road.

Technorati tags: Florida

My Little Blogsphere

2006-06-20T15:42:00.000-04:00

...I need to get into the habit of blogging daily, even if it's about nothing in particular. It's good exercise...

Some friends & I have been talking about forming a little blogsphere that each of us can post to. Each blog to be hosted on different domains, each centering around a topic we all have opinions about, each focusing on different topics -- we'll see how it goes. It will be fun; as long as our egos don't clash. :)

Here they are:

They'll be up in running sometime soon.

Not all of them I'll have material to contribute to -- craftgineering might be one of those topics I won't have much to say about, except maybe to point out some really cool stuff I found on the internet... but again, I'll see how that goes.

Technorati tags: blogs

What is Octopi-Press?

2006-06-07T17:29:00.000-04:00

Years ago, when I set up this blog, I was envisioning creating software that allow publishing of electronic content, similar to a blog, but for other purposes... a small company would like to set up a store, with a shopping cart, but would need to publish updates to their web-site, without having to contact a web-developer. Sort of a stripped-down version of Mambo/Joomla, something easy to set up & use. Ambitious, I know... and at the time I didn't know about Mambo.

...Since then, the idea has morphed a little. There seems to be a need at a smaller, scaled down level, for some type of 'club' software. A way to communicate to members, have a club calendar, share ideas & photos, talk about logistics of events, etc. For the club I'm in, we've tried Yahoo Groups. I've played around with PostNuke. Put up a web-page in-front of phpBB. Tried to tie in Gallery with it... but nothing seems to satisfy all the needs. To this end, I've also thought about writing software. And not try to cobble together a bunch of open-source software... Oh, easy to edit stuff on the club's web-page like a wiki... again, I know, ambitious.

Technorati tags: technology

Flickr Group: Tentacles

2006-06-02T23:43:00.000-04:00

Found a cool Flickr group call: Tentacles - The Pool for Cephalopods of the Subclass Coleoidea. Check it out! Maybe I'll try taking a few photos to ad to the group...

Technorati tags: Octopus Tentacles Cephalopods

I'm Sick

2006-05-24T06:27:00.000-04:00

Just came down with a sinus infection I think. I'm going to see the Dr. later today, so I'll know for sure what it is. Could be from all the stress of deciding to take the job in Alaska... Or it could be just my bi-annual to semi-annual sinus infection. I feel a little better today, but yesterday I thought my head would explode. Anyway, brain fogging up...

Octopus in the House

2006-05-19T13:34:00.000-04:00

Wow... amazing photoshop image of an octopus in the living room.

Technorati tags: Octopus Photoshop

Blind Faith?

2006-05-19T08:12:00.000-04:00

So last night, the Alaskan company that's looking to hire Erika called saying that they want for us to pay for our ticket up there & they'll reimburse us when we meet. And that they're only willing to pay for only part of the hotel. I'm to the point of saying, 'F*ck that!' I understand they're a small company and that flying Erika up there is a big risk. But at the same time, it's putting too much of the financial responsibility back on us. There's just too many unknowns... And the biggest unknown is the salary range -- will it be enough money for us to move, make ends meet until I can get a job & we can sell our house in Ohio.

Erika and I keep going back to the point of, if this job was in Florida, there would be no problem. $200 for a plane ticket is no big deal. The salary range they're talking about would be enough for Erika to make the move to Florida, considering the higher cost of housing. We could live in apartment for a few years to save up money; hoping that we save up enough for a house. And if the house in Ohio didn't sell immediately, flying up once a month wouldn't be a big issue. It's the hassle of a 12 hour flight & a 4 hour time difference that's frustrating. And the issue of me finding a job in Florida isn't an issue, it's just a matter of time.

The other point that comes to mind is that 'it's Alaska'... Meaning we'll be roughing it. Anchorage isn't a big city. And to be honest, Erika is a city-girl. There are certain luxuries that she's comfortable with. The job is with a smaller company, not like working in a big hospital. There are certain things she's comfortable with, working for a larger company... Not having to fly out to remote locations via bush plane to do training.

So in the final analysis, I don't think Alaska would be a good move for us, unless there is good money there for her, or I'm able to quickly get a job offer relatively quickly.

Technorati tags: Alaska job decisions

Alaska Calling?

2006-05-17T16:16:00.000-04:00

Erika has an interview with a company in Anchorage, Alaska... I'm both terrified & excited about the prospect. The job would be a real boost to her career... We have ran the idea past my parents & her dad; both dads are excited about the idea as well... only because they want to visit, go hunting & fishing. :) I think I like the idea of doing that as well... at least the fishing part.

I like the idea of a change of scenery & a change of job. I've spent some time looking through pictures of Anchorage up on flickr... the place just looks so beautiful. I think it'll be breathtaking to see it in person...

More on this as we learn more.

Technorati tags: Alaska, job

2001-05-09T16:13:00.000-04:00

How's this for my first post? Something simple. :)

And this?