Belize day 4

. Beautiful sunrise this morning.  Hearing the ocean waves gently lapping on the shore beneath our window is peaceful and relaxing...except that I had to turn the TV up to hear it over the waves

Belize day 3c

JET SKI!!

Belize day 3b

First time renting a jet ski. More fun than a person should be allowed to have!

Belize day 3

Dolphins again this morning...  There were at least 6 milling around for 20 or 30 minutes.  There is one in this picture.

Belize day 2 (more)

Rent a golf cart and take your life in your hands cruising the streets of San Pedro.  This pic doesn't look bad, but the streets get very busy with cars, carts, motorcycles, bikes, pedestrians and children playing in the streets.  There are very few rules.  Just don't hit anyone else.  That's my kind of driving!

Belize day 0... Must have gadget!

Www.eye.fi

I was wishing something like this existed, but was surprised to find it does exist! Turn your ordinary digital camera into a wifi camera with one of these very cool SD card.  Never remove your sd card again.

I've been using it on this trip.  It takes a little setup at first, but now, after a day of taking pictures i just turn the camera power on while "near" my phone or tablet and it automatically/wirelessly transfers the pics to my phone, then my phone uploads them to picasa or other online service.  Super simple...automagic!

Belize day 2

Awoke to see dolphins frolicking out our window this morning!  Our room is five feet from the Caribbean ocean. What a view! There are no dolphins in this picture, but they were right at the end of that pier.

Belize day 1

Boat ride from Belize city to Ambergris Caye.  This pic was taken about a mile off shore where the engine died and the captain had to call for help.   The adventure begins !!

Business

Business continuity test at Bush airport today..  cool trailer full of computers and stuff..   Bring in the hurricanes!

Fading

Slowly fading away...

Double rainbow

Can you see the double rainbow?

Palo Duro Day 1

My wife driving a big ole, 26'  RV!   I think she likes it.

Still about 4 hours to go before we make it to the park.

Venus Transit today - 6/5/2012

Haven't had the old Telescope out in a while...

But since Venus' transit across the sun is all the rage today, and since it won't happen for another 105 years I just had to dig it out.

So I threw on the Solar Filter...

And started snapping some pics - these are about the best I got...

I didn't power up the telescope motor so it wasn't auto-tracking. I had to keep adjusting manually as the sun moved.  That's kind of a pain... and boy was it hot out there!

Here are my pics of the "Venus transit" this afternoon.  I used my digital camera and just held it

to the eyepice of the telescope.  They are a little shakey, but I didn't have time for

a full equipment setup...  :-)   (Oh yeah, a lot of sunspots visible, you can see some in these pics)

Clear Skies!

Looks better in person.

New alarm clock displays time and outside temperature on the ceiling above my head.
Actually works very well.  Phone camera just doesn't do well in the dark.

SlingBox fixed - Capacitors Replaced

It was easier than expected.  Dropped in to Radio Shack and bought 2 new, bigger capacitors for about 4 bucks total.   Spent a couple of hours de-soldering, re-soldering, re-assembling and testing the fixed box.
Voila!  It worked like a champ!

More pics here:  SlingBox repair Pics

Blown Capacitor

Learning a little about capacitors.  Instead of paying 100 bucks to replace my out of warranty SlingBox I may be able to spend a buck-fifty for two capacitors and fix the dead box.   Notice the two nearest capacitors have a domed top, the third capacitor in the back has a nice flat top?  The dome indicates a blown capacitor.  Too much pressure built up inside.

Hope it works!

Sproul conference

Bethel church houston site of regional ligonier conference as seen from my office window.

Grand Canyon

Practicing Grand Canyon presentation in my Visionarium!  W00t!

Safety first

Safety cones for my boss.

Tornado spotted!

Tornado spotted near our office this morning (piney point village area)  We were rushed into the hallways of the building for safety.  When I returned to my office the wind had blown over my office chairs.  Thanks a lot team!  Very funny!  Ha...ha.