All posts by Andrew Green

Photos

Photos from Sedona

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Jessica, her friend Nora, and I took a day trip up north to Sedona. We were looking to photograph the fall colors of the trees while we still could.

Unfortunately, the colors weren’t quite what we were looking for with only a few of the leaves being amber and orange. No red to speak of, and still lots of green.

My camera also seemed to be acting up (maybe it was user error). So most of my landscape pictures were blurry and unrecognizable.

Strangely enough my best shots were of two insects, shown below.

Tiny fuzzy caterpillar upon a leaf
Large grasshopper clinging to red rock wall

Food

Joe’s Farm Grill

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Joe's Farm Grill Jessica, my mother, and I went to a new restaurant that recently opened near our house in Gilbert: Joe’s Farm Grill.

The namesake of said grill is the well known owner and operator of the eastern Arizona restaurant: Joe’s Real BBQ. Joe’s really does have the best BBQ that you can find in Arizona, it’s just amazing. We even like their food so much we’ve had them cater our yearly casino parties.

Maybe Joe was getting a bit bored with just the BBQ, maybe wanted to try something new, maybe he wanted to do something in his old neighborhood. That something new is the grill.

Located at, in, and around his childhood home at Ray and Higley roads, is this new post-modern eatery. Built using portions of the original brick farmhouse nestled amonst some very old trees, is the grill.

The restaurant is partially open-air with a breezeway and patio tables, but they also have a dining room that once was the family’s living room. The building is also situated within Agritopia: a housing development with urban houses, farmland, and farmer’s markets.

We got there at around dusk, so I couldn’t really take any pictures, but Joe’s is a sight to see. I’ll be sure to take more shots on our next visit.

So of course you are probably asking, “How’s the food?”

Well I got an Ahi Tuna Sandwich with a side of sweet potato fries, which I thought was quite good. It was much better than I was expecting.

Jessica got a chicken tenders meal that didn’t quite suit her tastes, but my mother got a BBQ pork sandwich that she thought was quite good.

Overall, I would say that the available options are great (salads, pizzas, burgers, sandwiches, BBQ, etc) and the flavors were above average.

So if you get a chance to come out to Gilbert, be sure to stop by Joe’s Farm Grill and see what all the fuss is about.

Art

The Art of Nicole Chartrand

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The Art of Nicole Chartrand

I’ve been on an art kick recently, and I’ve been scouring artist galleries across all of the web. My main destination of late has been deviantart.com, and it all started with a simple image.

For whatever reason, I hit up the World of Warcraft site to look and see if anything had changed since I last played. Not much has, but I still decided to see what amazing fan art people have been submitting to Blizzard.

Then I came across this pic. The artist’s work instantly grabbed me and I looked to see what else they had done.

As it turns out, quite a lot; and definitely some amazing stuff at that.

The artist in question is Nicole Chartrand. Her main art web site can be found at kitsune.rydia.net, but she also posts images up on her deviantart page as well.

She really does some great stuff, and I recommend that you check it out if you have a bit of time to spare.

Uncategorized

Toasted RAM

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Corsair Platinum RAM module

Note to self, don’t toast the RAM.

Eventhough I was enjoying it, my time with the Vista RC1 was quite short lived. This was because my 75GB finally gave up the ghost and I installed the replacement 400GB drive this weekend.

As it turns out, in order to install the new hard drive into the drive bay, I have to first remove the memory from the motherboard. This is so they can slide in and not get caught. That part went fine: the memory came out and the HD’s went in.

Unfortunately I must not have been paying attention as I accidentally installed one of the RAM modules upside-down!

I noticed that it didn’t quite seat into the clips like normal, but I felt that it installed just like it was supposed to be.

Time to power up. Two full seconds pass…

“What’s that burning plastic smell? Why won’t the PC boot into the BIOS? My screen is still black. Uh oh…”

So I quickly unplugged the power cable from the back of the case and began my inspection.

A mark against the motherboard’s yellow plastic catches my eye. “What is that black spot along the RAM stick?”

Turns out that while the memory did not seat (it’s not supposed to when its upside down), it did happen to connect with the slot. It had apparently sparked across part of the slot to one of the contacts on the RAM stick. A tell-tale sign of a black starburst in both spots uncovered the source of the burning smell and my new found problem.

So, with little hope in my pessimist heart, I reseated the RAM correctly and booted back up.

I hear the motherboard beep.

“Wow, it’s on. And it’s doing the memory test… and it’s passing!”

Then quite normally, the Windows XP logo appeared and I was back online.

So surprisingly, I am currently working on said computer with said burnt RAM. My office did stink for a few hours after the “incident”, but the computer is back up and running with a clean install of XP.

I’ll just have to wait and see if the toasted RAM (and singed motherboard) can continue to perform in a normal fashion for the forseable future.

Games

Swords and Sandals

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Swords and Sandals

Today’s diversion at work was Swords and Sandals, a quirky gladiator sim built in Flash.

You can build your own character, name them, change their stats, buy equipment, and then head for the arena for a fight to the death RPG-style.

The game definitely does not seem totally balanced at the moment, but then what Flash game ever is? Regardless, it is quite a time waster and lots of fun.

My co-workers are still schooling me in our little mini-league we have set up for the game, but every once in a while I am victorous.

Now if I could only get that theme song out of my head… “Swords and Sandals… gladiators…”

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Looking forward to Vista

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Yesterday my main hard drive decided to start doing the “drive death dance”. Clicking sounds emanating from a piece of computer hardware is never a good thing.

So what did I decide to do first? Why install Windows Vista RC1!

My Vista Desktop

The new Aero interface with slick transparent windows, transitions, and widgets is pretty amazing. If my machine of 3+ years was any faster I’m sure it would be even better.

It’s nice to see such a clean and more efficient package from Microsoft. It’ll be a much better user experience for users when it is finally available for sale.

So until I purchase a new main hard drive, I’ll be computing in the wonderful new world of Vista.

Movies

Yes, I liked the new Godzilla

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Godzilla Profile

I’ll say it right now, I loved the new Godzilla movie that was released in 1998. In fact, I would have to say that I liked it better than all the original Godzilla movies from Japan. The film was one of the first DVD’s I ever purchased.

There was something about the visceral nature of the updated Godzilla that just worked for me. Whether it be the mix of real and CG effects, the new Godzilla design, or his new roar: it just all was great.

As a matter of fact, I was even into the marketing of the whole thing. “Size Does Matter” was the tagline. It was all over Arizona and California the summer it was released. Buses, blimp hangers, building were all decorated with Godzilla posters.

I still remember all the related movie tie-ins. Ice cream with chocolate Godzilla pieces, animated toys that roared with a push of the button, Tamagotchi-themed Godzilla game, and even a Godzilla hand puppet that also roared. Jessica even got me a giant vinyl poster from Toys-R-Us. It hung on my office wall for more than a year before retiring up into our attic. Who knows what other Godzilla gear I have hidden away.

Baby Godzillas Finally, I didn’t even mind the scene in the movie where the baby Godzilla’s run amok in Madison Square Garden. It was just something more to add to the Godzilla experience.

So… did you like the new Godzilla?