Another Broken Bow Trip?

It had been 11 years since we had been to Broken Bow and this was our second trip of the year. But, for a few different reasons, the trip earlier this year was a partial-bust, so we decided to make an impromptu "make-up" family trip to Broken Bow / Hochatown. We relaxed in a great cabin, visited Broken Bow Lake and the park and ate a couple of good meals at the local steakhouse. The weather cooperated this time and turned out to be a pretty nice and relaxing weekend.

Photos over at Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brad_holt/sets/72157622819603646/

You think you have computer problems?

I post this because, in retrospect, it is vaguely humorous to me. And, to show those of you who think you’re the only ones to ever have computer problems, that this is indeed not the case.

Sunday evening I began work on a video tribute to show at my great-uncles funeral the following day. As these videos usually are, it was rather a last-minute deal. And, in this particular case I had less time than usual because I had started assembling a storage shed kit manufactured by the makers of Hell over the weekend and couldn’t stop it half completed as it would most likely been destroyed by the wind and such.

I was already frustrated to the point that I had no patience left for anything else. I about tore my screen door off the hinges, for instance, as my house had shifted and it no longer worked the way I expect screen doors to work.

Luckily, I had most of the pictures already in digital form and had scanned in the rest. This is usually the most time consuming part. In a decision that would haunt me for the rest of the evening, I chose to use Windows Movie Maker (WMM) to create the video rather than my normal PowerPoint. I dropped the photos in, added captions to each and sat back and thought… wow, that was easy. Ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha. My nightmare begins.

Each picture was only showing for 5 seconds- not nearly long enough. No, problem, I though, I’ll just increase the time. Turns out, there is no such option. Seriously. I Googled it. This is, by far, the most ridiculous thing I had ever discovered missing from a program. I was expected to manually increase each slide by dragging a little bar over to 10 seconds. For 70 slides. I found a work around though. WMM has a feature where one can slow all the slides down ½ speed. Which makes each slide 10 seconds. Good. For now.

I then run through it to discover that the captions don’t stay with the photo, but on position in the timeline where I put them. So I had to manually move 70 captions under their respective photos. And also increase the time by dragging the stupid little bar.

Ready for music. WMM won’t accept iTunes music. Which was expected- same way with PowerPoint. So I use this little program to convert the iTunes file to WAV. However, it has decided it can’t find my audio input device, so that’s out. Rather than struggle to figure out that problem, I just whip out my notebook computer to do the conversion there. I don’t have the program, so I go to download it, only to discover my wireless network is down due to my router crapping out the day before. So, I manually connect my computer to my temporary replacement wired router but it will not connect to the Internet. Absolutely refuses. My mind boggles. So, finally I connect it to my neighbor’s wireless internet which drifts into my house occasionally (thanks, neighbor). I get the program downloaded and go back to my desktop to get the music. I burn it to a CD since I can’t access my network to get the files off iTunes. Back to the notebook—the music absolutely refuses to play. New idea… run an audio cord from the desktop to the notebook and record it that way. It records… absolute garbage. I don’t know why—copy protection probably. I finally got the music converted on the desktop by downloading a different program.

Now time to insert the music into the slide show. Works out fine except it’s three minutes longer than the photos. Usually, I would divide the music by the number of photos I have and change the duration of all slides accordingly. But, as I mentioned before, not possible in WMM. So, I had to manually adjust each photo an additional five seconds or so, until I got the length right. This, of course, threw off all the captions again. Got those fixed. Okay… finally done.

Time to burn to DVD. I have an external DVD burner and TV in my office I use. I play the video to the DVD burner and record it. Only, my TV has quit working. Dead as a doornail. So, I get a really long cable and run it to my bedroom TV. Which is on channel 60 for the satellite, but needs to be on channel 3. Which is not a saved channel. So I dig out the remote only to find the batteries dead. I change the batteries and find it still doesn’t work. Turns out the batteries had corroded and damaged the little bouncy spring thingies. So, I got a knife and scratched all that off and finally got it to channel 3.

Only it turns out after all that, WMM did one thing I liked… it lets me burn off a nifty DVD with menu right from my computer. I try to forget the last half-hour I spent connecting a TV.

It’s now 2:00 in the morning. The computer is doing something called encoding that is taking forever. I decide to call it a night with an Advil PM because I’m so wound up yet so tired. I did get it finished up the next morning with little time to spare.

So, if you somehow read this whole thing, think of this experience the next time you have a computer issue and maybe it won’t seem so bad. And, take my advice, if you’re using something that works, by all means, just stick with it. And stay away from WMM.

San Antonio

SanAntonio_27Sept2009_Alamo (13)
Originally uploaded by brad_holt

Thursday through Sunday found me in San Antonio for a little extended weekend getaway. It was rainy and cool on Thursday, but the weather was beautiful for the rest of the trip. Stops included the Alamo and Riverwalk (of course), the Spanish Missions, SeaWorld, and a few other things.

There are some photos on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brad_holt/sets/72157622476607040/

The 50 Things of Me.

The 50 Things of Me.

Here are the rules - post this list on your profile (in Notes) replacing my answers with yours.

Tag 25 people to do the same thing.

If I tagged YOU, it's because I want to know more about YOU!

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
My grandpa on my mom’s side (Bradley) and my dad’s middle name is Alan. Incidentally, my name was supposed to be Alan. There’s this thing that goes back 5 generations where the father gives the son his middle name. So, it has went… Jonathan Theodore, Theodore Ernest, Ernest Bruce, Bruce Alan… and I was supposed to be Alan something. But, my parents did it backward. I’ve thought about having it changed, but I don’t really like the name Alan as a first name.

2. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
Oh, I don’t dislike it. It could be neater. It is neater if I slow down.

3. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
My grandma’s funeral in January. Kind of teared up the other evening during my fifth viewing of “Apollo 13,” but I wouldn’t consider it a full-blown cry.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Ham

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
No kids. Might be an uncle soon though!

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
I think so. I’m pretty middle-of-the-road. I don’t think I, as another person, would be turned off to be my friend.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM?
More often than I probably should.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Yup, still in there.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Maybe from the back of a pickup truck onto the ground below. Maybe.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
I don’t eat much cereal, but when I do it’s Raisin Bran or Cheerio’s. I used to love Apple Jacks, but haven’t eaten them in a long while.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
No, I’m more of a slip-on, slip-off kind of guy.

12. DO YOU STILL TALK TO YOUR HIGH SCHOOL SWEETHEART?
I didn’t really have one.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Vanilla, but only because I like to make Root Beer floats or malts out of it. If I was just going to eat ice cream by itself, probably Cookies n’ Crème.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Probably what they are wearing.

15. RED OR PINK
Definitely red; don’t care for the color pink.

16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
I hate my hair! No, seriously. I am really bad about being around other people. Groups freak me out. I don’t know how to work them.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
My dad.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST?
Of course I do.

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Khaki shorts and white and brown shoes.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
It’s pretty quiet right now.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Some shade of blue…

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
New car smell, BBQ, coffee… but probably not together.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
A customer at work, I’m sure.

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
No one sent it to me; I just picked it up somewhere else.

26. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH.
The only time I watch sports is during the Olympics. I like the diving and gymnastics.

27. HAIR COLOR?
Brown

28. EYE COLOR?
Blue.

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
I used to wear contacts or glasses, but I had “the surgery” last year. About two more payments and I’ll have that baby paid off too.

30. FAVORITE FOODS.
Oh, I am so over food. Nothing excites me anymore.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy endings. I hate scary movies.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
“Apollo 13,” unless you count NBC’s made-for-TV movie “Storm,” which may been the worst movie ever but I kept watching it anyway.

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
Baby blue.

34. Summer or winter
Winter if it’s summer and summer if it’s winter.

35. HUGS OR KISSES?
Hugs.

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
I don’t know

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
95% of the people. Maybe be shooting a little low at that.

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
I’m reading San Antonio travel guide, if that counts.

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
A mouse.

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
The conclusion of the two-part thrilling made-for-TV movie “Storm.” See question 32.

42. FAVORITE SOUND(S).
Ice cracking when you pour water on it.

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
I… don’t… really care.

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Philadelphia, via the DC trip.

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
Some claim I can fix computers just by being near them?

46 WHERE WERE U BORN?
Shawnee, OK

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK?
I’ll take whoever and enjoy them.

48. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER?
Oh, yeah. Throw that in my face.

49. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR?
Blue.

50. LAST PLACE YOU DROVE?
Home.

Broken Bow Special

HoltBrad_HoltBruceA_BrokenBow_SEPT1983
Originally uploaded by brad_holt

I've added a special set over at Flickr where I'll be adding photos of our many, many Broken Bow / Beaver's Bend trips. When we were younger, it seemed like we went every year (sometimes twice). There's some on there from the early 80's now and I'll add others later on.

Check the set out over at Flickr-ville: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brad_holt/sets/72157621958292602/

Chiaobama. If you say so.

It's the Chiaobama, ladies and gentlemen. I joke you not. www.chiaobama.com. When I saw the commercial during SNL, I thought it was one of their fake commercials. I was laughing so hard. Who would buy this? Isn't it offensive? It's definitely stupid. Don't tell me it's not stupid.

July 4th Cookout

July4Cookout_04JUL2009_ 014
Originally uploaded by brad_holt

A little delayed blogging here, but I was waiting to get some photos from my aunt as I didn't take many. On July 4th, we had a fairly large gathering at mom’s house to celebrate Independence Day. My aunt Linda was down from New Jersey with her family, so mom wanted to do something for them while they were here. Also in attendance was my uncle Darren and his wife, Abigail as well as grandma Mary. Steve and Sally brought along friends Lynlie and Adam and Sally’s parents, David and Brenda. There were also 6,000 kids there. Okay… let’s see… alright, maybe it was just six. I stress out around kids. Big time. So, it doesn’t really matter if it was six or 6,000. Well, it might a little.
It had already rained twice earlier in the day and it was starting to rain again as people arrived. I’m not complaining though. Never gripe about rain in July in Oklahoma. Never. Shortly after the feast which included hot dogs, hamburgers, polish sausage, pulled pork, and many sides and deserts, Steve decided it was time to go shoot guns. It’s just what he does at family gatherings. It’s still raining, so I decide not to go. But then fireworks scare one of the children and there’s crying, so I’m like… “hey, Steve, wait up!” We get to our destination (AKA Pond #3) and start unloading the “targets,” which include several plastic containers, a chair and a microwave. I got to chunk the microwave off the pond dam to the ground below. It was quite satisfying. During an amazing display of fire power, the rain intensified. After we were thoroughly soaked, we returned to change clothes. Steve had to clean all the guns because of the rain. And, I, my camera.
When we returned we found out the fireworks had been canceled due to the rain (both Asher and Ada had them the next week, though). So, we just ate some more and watched some pretty funny videos Linda’s kids had made on Jib-Jab.

There are photos and video, and they're over at Flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brad_holt/sets/72157621430193613/