Another example of the power of a circular polarized filter.
WITH
WITH OUT
Jeep Grand Cherokee Overlander
Well, time for a new Jeep and here it is… this is a 2004 Grand Cherokee Overlander. It has all the options, including Quadra Drive II and a 4.7L HO V8 Engine… So far it’s very enjoyable vehicle.
Circular Polarized Filter
Getting information on the Internet can sometimes be very frustrating, especially when it is something that one would consider simple. So anyway’s, here is an example of a circular polarized filter in action. This picture has only been Auto Leveled in Photoshop.
Winter and Cold
Boston, Day 1 and 2
The story so far… last post dealt with the fact I could not figure out seats between Troy and I, and I will deal with this issue later on. So here in Boston day 3, and the story to date. My day started off at 5am to catch my 7.20 flight. My first mistake was not remembering that the flight was Calgary to Montreal, a domestic flight, so I could have been even later at the airport. No harm done, off I go to get some food.
It being 6.15am, the only real choice I had was to have a Caesar with my eggs Benedict and a hot chocolate with baileys. All this time I am trying to figure out where Troy is, as he is prompt and punctual. As the time approached closer and closer to departure, there was still a complete lack of Troy. I boarded, took off and off I went to Montreal. Notable movie on the flight Amal, not so notable, The Happening. I only managed to see about 2/3 of it, as I was tired and didn’t have the attention span to read at that time. In Montreal I discover that Troy is at the airport, looking for me. By this point all of the traveling arrangement are really beginning to be suspicious. I grab my bag, walk through US customs and begin my 30 minute wait for the flight to Boston. After sitting for 15 minutes I have an epiphany and realize I left the other suite case on the other side of customs. My inquires to Air Canada customer service go poorly, yet well. I was informed that it was too late to get it in time and that it would be on the next flight to Boston. “Great!” I thought to myself, Troy is on that flight and he will be able to grab it. So I text him and inform him of his new travel companion. I board the flight, pass out and land. The speed at which my bag arrived on the carousel was legendary, and now it was time for me to make my way to the hotel via mass transit. After figuring out the ticket dispenser, catching the bus with a very unique black bus driver, off I went. The Boston mass transit system is easy to use, a little run down, but over all very good, except for one little initial confusing part. The Green Line I took forks out into 4 separate lines, lucky for me I noticed in time, jumped off and took the next train to my destination. With more horse hoes up my ass, I walk out of the metro right to the street where the hotel is, take a left and voila, here I am. Getting my room (and changing it as it was the wrong size) Ray and I come up with an explanation for the whole Troy thing. I screwed up my ticket. This was do to me not leaving until Saturday, and that bumped the departure hour around, and I didn’t check close enough. Luckily because of this, I was able to get to the hotel early enough to still have reception open (as it does close do to the nature of said hotel), and fix our accommodations. Troy arrived a number of hours later, having his own taxi adventures, with no suite case and to bed we went.
Day 2.
Apparently US customs would not allow the lots suite case to be taken aboard the flight with out one of us carrying. So thus said suite case was once again MIA. Off we went to begin setting up.
About one hour later…
The people next to us had only half of their booth arrive, we were sympathetic from our experience in Anaheim a few years earlier. The best part is they were Canadian, and we hit it off. The rest of the day Troy and I spent walking around Boston, taking a Duck Tour and doing more walking.
Eating dinner at Charlestown oldest pub (with probably the best fish and chips I have ever had), and taking a train back. There Troy took out his Wii, and a bunch of booze we bought and ended up playing Mario Cart for a few hours.
Seat Selection
Here is something interesting, I was checking-in Troy and I to for our flight to Boston in the morning. I was trying to have us sit together, but each time I switched the traveler, the seat selection seemed to change entirely too much. So I opened up Firefox as well as Internet Explorer and did a side by side comparison of seat availability between us. The fact that I have more seat available to me is not suspiring, as I have an Aeroplan number with close to 40k points (not that much I know, but still more then your average traveler). What I did find interesting is that he had seats available to him that I did not. This I don’t understand…
New Lens, lets see the Range
I purchased a used Sigma 50-500mm f/4.0 to f/6.3 Super Telephoto lens. The official designation is as follows "50-500mm F4-6.3 EX DG/HSM. I really wanted a looooong range lens for events, like the Strathmore Stampede and air show I wanted to attend. Best way to put it, big and heavy! But here is something important here, the range. In the picture I used two lenses. the Sigma 50-500mm and Sigma 10-20mm to show off the entire range that I now have. I included the 200mm to show the maximum range of the Nikon 18-200VR lens and the 50mm is there to show the widest the 50-500mm can get.
Enjoy!
Henry J.
Sensi
Well, for what ever reason, Sensi, the worlds most perfect is staying with me. She is such a perfect little size, great coddler and just a perfect cat. So here she is…
Wisdom Teeth
Tuesday, Nov 28, 20:30
Well, it’s T-12h until I go in. I am nervous, thanks to all the horror stories anecdotally told to me by my good friends. I have never been put under or ever have under went this level of bodily work. I don’t expect it to be too bad really, I figure the amount of days I have suffered with the infections I get in the bottom left tooth will be worth the few days of misery. So to keep myself occupied I am working on the McKenzie Towne lease, reading lawyer speak and trying to stay focused on it. So here are some of the rules for undergoing this procedure:
No food or liquids for 12h prior
No Alcohol for 24h
No contact lenses
No jewelry
Short sleeve shirt and comfortable clothes
Tuesday, Nov 28, 22:15
Just finished reading all the material provided by the oral surgeon, some of the information is pertaining to the different types of surgeries, the types of wisdom teeth growth and what I should be expecting. Me in my infinite wisdom decided this would be a good idea to know everything there is to know prior to the surgery, especially since I didn’t even know what dry socket was.
My wisdom teeth are fairly straight, with the top two fully erupted and the bottom two are erupted as well, but just barely. This causes me a great deal of problems, as I get a monthly infection, they are also pressing into my other teeth pushing them forward.
This is the wisdom tooth that causes me all the problems
So at this moment in time I am fairly worried about the whole procedure, thinking about all the blood, the stitches and the soreness in my mouth for days. No, more the just worried, I’m more on the level of terrified at this period of time.
Wednesday, Nov 29, 8:00
HELP ME… I don’t want to go…
Wednesday, Nov 29, 12:00
It’s over, four less teeth in my mouth. Unfortunately the doctor threw out the teeth so no pictures of them, which I am a little disappointed in. It was an interesting experience to the the least. I was brought in and layed down, the placed the mask over my face and was told to breath in deeply. The gas smelled strange, not sure how to describe it, maybe like paint thinner fumes. I had to breath in 6 times before I lost conciseness. After that I just remember waking up an hour or so later. I felt fine, just a little sore and just wanting to get out of there. I felt well enough to drive, and was coherent and focused.
Wednesday, Nov 29, 18:00
I have taken a few advils so far, and the bleeding has stopped. I have eaten some pasta, ice cream and some soup. I can feel the four holes with my tongue, and I think there is only one set of stitches.
Wednesday, Nov 29, 23:00
It will be interesting to see how I feel like during the night and mostly in the morning. I might try to remember to take advil before I go to sleep and hopefully during the night. I’m feeling pretty good, a little sore and no bleeding, so I’m taking this as a good sign.
Thursday, Nov 30, 10:00
I woke up once during the night for no real reason around 5m, so I took one advil. Woke up this morning feeling fine. My bottom right side is swollen a little more then yesterday, but nothing too serious. I am hungry, so hungry, when I think about my daily food intake I am running on minimal right now, so I am looking forward to some milk and cereal soon. I will probably go to work as well as there is nothing stopping me.
Friday, Dec 01, 15:00
So far so good still, so far the only annoying part is eating and having to clean out the sockets after. There are certain food items that just do a bang up job of getting stuck back there, and it’s a huge battle to get them clean. Can’t wait for this to be over.
Sunday, Dec 03, 22:00
Today has been the worst pain so far, an all day long throbbing, not overly painful, but enough to keep noticing it all day long. The sockets are very tender and lots of food gets lost in them after each meal, so I spend considerable time cleaning them out, which I think accounts to the majority of the pain and discomfort. I think the worst food to deal with is bread, it has this amazing ability to become superglue and sticks inside the sockets like there is no tomorrow. I have to spend a fain amount of time digging the bread out.
Monday, Dec 04, 21:00
The slight throbbing is there, a dull pain all day long, not overly noticeable until I have to clean the sockets out. The pain can be best described as little needle pricks in the most sensitive spots imaginable. So let me show you some of the pills I am taking, now the funny part is I didn’t know I had Tylenol 3’s until today, and just have been taking the 600mg Ibuprofen.
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Tylenol #3 300mg Acetaminophen The Aceteminophen is a fever reducing agent, the codeine is for medium to high pain relief and the caffeine is for rapid absorption. Tylenol #3 is mostly taken for the pain factor. |
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Ibuprofen 600mg Ibuprofen Ibuprofen helps with mild to medium pain, fever and mostly with inflammation. The anti-inflammation properties help with the swelling of the gums around the sockets. |
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Advil (aka Ibuprofen) 200mg Ibuprofen Same as above just in a smaller dose. I am taking these to help during times when I need a quick boost of pain relief or when I am going to be cleaning the sockets. Also, the candy coating is psychologically a really helpful placebo. |
Tuesday, Dec 05, 23:30
The cleaning of the sockets after eating has become the bain of my existence. It hurts, it is awkward and most of all, it takes 15 to 20 minutes to get food out. What I have learned is that bread is the food of the devil. It sticks deep down and does not want to come out. I almost have to dig it out! Rice is not too bad, it does get stuck but floats and is in large chunks so it’s easy to see and get out. I also went out with James in the evening for a quick beer and a few games of chess while killing the evening. I go to take a Tylenol #3 because I will be cleaning my sockets out after the not so mini York shire puddings. So I grab the bottle, open it up, pop one in my mouth and swallow it with the help of a good chug of beer. As I was putting the bottle of the T3’s down I noticed this.
I had a good laugh… I did have to do some research as to why, and I found out that codeine puts you to sleep, and mixing it with alcohol only helps.
Wednesday, Dec 06, 23:30
Still some pain, but I have noticed a bump on either side of my lower wisdom teeth in the cheeks. To the touch it’s very tender and fairly painful. The inflamed area is several centimeters tall, and extends to the gums. I have also had a sore throat for a day now as well as both bottom sockets are very tender, so I am worried I might have a slight infection. I called the dentists, told them what is going on and the result is this
Ahhh… my old friend, a 500mg capsule of Amoxicillin, every 8 hours until the bottle is empty.
Tuesday, Dec12, 21:30
Almost all of the pain is gone now, it disappeared with the anti-biotic’s. I am down to an occasional Advil, but that has been mostly for headaches that have plagued me for the last few days. The weather has not changed too much but for some reason I have been getting headaches on and off. The top sockets have begun to fill and feeling them with my tongue it seems they will be closed very soon. The bottom is another story, I am not sure when they will close up. Washing them out is less painful then it was at the beginning, so this tells me that the former root holes have filled and are protected now. I still have to wash out the holes after each meal, and it is still a huge pain in the ass, but at least it does not hurt. On a side note Eliese got her wisdom teeth taken out a few days ago, and it looks like the doctor hit her a few times, as she was yellow from massive bruising.
Wednesday, Feb14, 23:30
Probably one of the last updates. It has been two and a half months since the surgery. My top sockets are fairly closed over and the bottom ones are as well but still have some time to go. Food doesn’t get stuck in them anymore which is a great thing so I do not have to spend tons of time cleaning them out.All I can say is that I am glad it’s over.
I Caught Something
Well, I knew better, I know if one travels he should have extra protection as it's easy to catch something when one is not on familiar turf. With out knowing it, I caught a nasty little bug. I first noticed things didn't work quite right anymore, it wasn't natural, and just felt like something was wrong. So here I am, several thousand kilometers from home, and potentially down with something very serious.
I first notice problem what I would loose the ability to get information from the Internet. I would be connected, but after a few minutes I would just loose the ability to anything online. If I kept on clicking a link, sooner or later it would work, and then I would become disconnected from the ISP. While I was disconnected, my connection manager would try to connect to the Internet and establish a connection to on of the two following servers:
mail.cellar-studio.com
mail.telon-servers.net
The problem is that the connection manager would not inform me what application was trying to establish a connection. At this point I knew I had a serious problem. I started shutting down active programs, and in the processes rebooting my system many times
I was able to at one point stop the application from calling up the connection manager, but was not sure which process that I terminated it was. So with no real way of diagnosing my problem and flaky dial up things were getting more and more complicated. I went to my uncles house and got access to the Internet and started doing research. One of the mail servers came up in a forum, as he had the same problem as I did. From the posts, I discovered I was infected with a Sasser virus derivative, from I must have caught while being online as this virus doesn't need any user intervention for infection. The virus exploited a LSASS vornability through an open port, and installed itself. It would install its self as LSASS.exe in C:\WINDOWS, where as the real LSASS.exe is in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32. As well, there is a spelling mistake "LSA Shel". So this is the virus, connection to mail servers and probably sending spam through my system.
C:\WINDOWS\lsass.exe
Service: LSA Shel (Export Version)
Display Name: LSA Shel (Export Version)
I killed the LSASS service, which was the C:\WINDOWS one, killing the real LSASS in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 will cause your system to shut down, and was able to delete the virus. I was able to as well grab a firewall (Zone Alarm) and quickly installed it. I prefer to use Zone Alarm over the Microsoft one because I feel I have a lot more control over how the firewall acts and give me more ability to set settings.
So me, a guy who hasn't aught a virus in years, spyware in about the same time frame leaves and catches a nasty bug on the way. The reason was simple for this, the virus spreads with out user intervention, just having your computer connected to the Internet is enough to catch this. Since I do not patch windows all that often I got tagged, and as well I don't have any anti-virus software installed, as I don't need it. The main reason for my lack of patching is that I am behind a firewall 24/7, which makes me immune to this type of attack.
So when you travel:
Have a good software firewall turned on
Have anti-virus software with you
Always have backups of all your important files on a external drive
Make sure your sensitive data is encrypted and the laptop has all the possible passwords and security turned on