What is On Jeffs' Mind

Final day of 2011, it really does feel at times that time does go by quickly. Where did the year go.

2010 I felt was a bad year for me, but 2011 was a pretty normal year, so I will take it. Nothing really jumped out at me as being overly special.

The highlight was the trip Tao tao and I took down to Yellowstone park in August. We went for a week, and spent some time in Montana and Wyoming, and it was nice. Not a big type vacation or anything, as we did not hit any major cities, but something that we could afford. I found a peaceful trip personally, as no stress of having to keep a schedule. We just sort of arrived when we arrived. The driving was pretty laid back, we spent a lot of time in the park hiking, and over all it was relaxing. I might not have felt it at the time, but I think it was a great trip that I needed, as I think it helped me get to a calmer place.

The Podcasting front was a bit of a let down. I started up my collecting Podcast JediJeffs Basement, but after a few episodes, I had to stop, as I ran into equipment issues. Basically I purchased a new mixer, as the previous one I could not record in stereo. I had the same issue with this one, as I cannot record in stereo. So I am sort of at a loss right now on it. I am working with the vendor to try and get it to record in stereo, but not going well. I really would like to do my podcast in stereo as it is a bit of a pride thing with me, so that is why I am not releasing anymore until I can get them recorded in stereo and sounding good. So I am hoping that in 2012, I can find some sort of resolution to this and get back to my collecting podcast. Champodcast is still going, we did more podcasts this year then last, but I think Jason and I want to commit ourselves to a better schedule and a more polished podcast.

On the work front, it was not the year that 2010 was. I would not call it a success at all, but more a realization about where I am with my career. I think I am ready to take another step in my career, but realize that it will not be with my current employer. So I will start the year more actively looking for other jobs that I feel I might be qualified for or that I find interesting, and see where it takes me. I was also talking to a co worker of mine about possibly a career change, and might look at going back to school if possible, and getting into some sort of engineering field. I also had another enlightening conversation with another coworker, who told me, where you really get ahead financially and maybe even in a job sense, is not what you do from 8 to 5, but what you do after those hours. So I want to also focus myself on trying to find more jobs in the website side of things, to do after hours. I am hopeful by 2013, I have made some moves in some direction to change up my life in the career area.

So looking back, 2011 was a pretty low key year. Nothing really jumps out as me at being overly memorable. But for being middle aged now, maybe that is alright, I might have needed the year, to get me prepared for 2012, and hopefully some changes.

Tags: Champodcast, Jason, jedijeffs basement, Tao tao, Yellowstone

Today I went to fill up my car with gas, and I have to say wow, it cost me nearly $50 and I have a Mazda 3. I guess I can say I am lucky, in that our gas prices in Alberta are one of the cheapest in Canada, but still it is hard to swallow. I was telling my wife when I got home, that we will have to be a lot more selective on where we drive, as at those prices, if you are driving, you better be going somewhere important. I can see not wanting to drive anywhere, just for the sake of driving, as it sure does feel like a bit of an investment. I guess I am a bit frustrated as well, as the cost of living is going up so much, but my salary at least is not. I guess like everyone, I guess there are options I will have to look at.

This week was a bit productive for me as well, at least from my web projects. I released another podcast for my collecting podcast, Jedijeff’s Basement. This episode I review my Master Replica’s Boba Fett Helmet. Since it is the 5th podcast, I thought it would be cool to review something from my favorite movie, Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back or Episode 5. I have to say, I am happy that I am able to get these out on a more consistent basis. I was able to get this who podcast produced in a matter of days, which included the pictures, recording and editing. I still have work to do on my photography and using Adobe Photoshop, but it is coming along. I was also playing around with my microphone a bit, as I am not really happy with the mixer. My mixer is not really compatible with Windows Vista/7, and when using the USB interface, it just barely works. I will probably look for another mixer, that will allow me to do more, as right now I am pretty limited, which disappoints me. I would also like to move my recording studio down stairs, and set it up so it is laid out better. I was also looking at my office, and thinking how I could make it better, so that might be an option as well. Will be something to think about and consider over the next few months, on how I want to lay things out.

Tao tao got her iPad 2 this week, and I have to say, I am impressed with it. Not impressed enough to get one myself, as I think the prices on these things are sky high. A person could get a really good Laptop for the price of an iPad. One can make the argument that the iPad is more portable then a laptop, and the battery life is longer as well. I have seen a few Android and Blackberry tablets, but the prices on them are really high as well. For me, if these were about half the price I would consider it, and maybe by Christmas, someone will come out with a lower cost tablet or pad. I am a bit of a dinosaur as well, as I am still chained to a desktop computer, when everyone else has moved to something more mobile. I guess I like the idea of having a work area, but with the idea of having a recording area, makes it hard to maintain two work areas.

Tags: iPad 2, jedijeffs basement, Master Replicas Boba Fett Helmet, Mazda 3, Star Wars, Tao tao

I wanted to think of a witty title for this post, but alas, I could not, so I leave it up to the reader to make one up.

A few updates in regards to some web projects I am working on

First off, I have released another episode for my collecting podcast Jedijeff’s Basement. This is the 4th one, and I am hoping that now I will be on a regular monthly schedule for releasing these. In this episode (or podcast, whatever you prefer) I review a toy I have had for a few years, the Robot B-9 from the Original Lost in Space series. I had this since 1997, and I had never taken it out of the box, so to cover it properly, I had to will myself to take it out of the box, and that took a bit of effort . Also I review the LOST Encyclopedia, which was published last year. To learn more, check them out at my JediJeff’s Basement site.

Yesterday, Jason and I recorded our first podcast for the 2011 Formula 1 and Indycar season. We covered the Australian GP for F1 and the Indycar race in St. Pete. Both races were sort of your typical season openers. In Indycar, there seemed to be a lot of carnage as the drivers came to grips with the new double file restarts, well in Formula 1, the teams were getting adapted to the new tech changes, with KERS, DRS and the new Pirelli tires. The new podcast should be up in the next day or so, and you can check it out at Champodcast.

Today I sort of had a productive day on eBay, as I made a few purchases. First off, I had been looking for another Astromech droid R7 A7, and after some looking around locally, decided that it was time to go to eBay. Fortunately there were plenty of listings for it, so finding one at a price I liked was not hard. So with some luck, it should be hear in a few weeks. I also started looking for items to build up my stock for next years toy show. I have cleared out the items from my collection I no longer wanted, and now I want to give a try at selling for profit. So I spent a few hours today looking for things that I felt I might be able to get for cheap, and sell for a profit. I made a few interesting purchases, and have a few other auctions I am waiting on. I am going to give it a try and see how it goes, I am not expecting to make a lot of money, but I want to see if I can make a little bit of money, at least enough to pay for some of my own collecting.

It is nice to know the spring looks to have arrived, today I went for a walk, and the weather was nice. The only down fall was that it is wet and muddy outside, and the road I was walking on, there was some large puddles. It was a bit of a challenge to make sure I did not get hit by water, and I sort of got my best shows muddy. I probably should have thought it out a bit better.

Tags: Champodcast, Formula 1, IndyCar, jedijeffs basement, LOST, Lost in Space, Spring

Today was a productive day on the computer for me. I spent some time working on my websites, I always get satisfaction out of working on them. First thing this morning, I was able to make some updates to my friends over at the Anomaly Podcasts new site. It was a bit of a challenge, but using Google Chrome inspect element tool, I was able to locate the code I needed to change. I have been feeling pretty good, as I am able to understand more and more php and CSS sheets and what they are doing, and how to change them around to get the results I want. One day I would like to be able to create my own, but for now, I am pretty happy with being able to modify what has been done, and understanding what they do.

Next up I spent some time upgrading the versions of my WordPress sites to the latest 3.1 version. I was a bit nervous at the start as I was not sure how it would interact with the plugins and themes I have installed, but looks like it went in alright and no issues. I think I was most worried about the gallery on my main site  here, as in the past I have done upgrades and it stopped working. After I was done doing upgrades to the sites, I upgraded both Google Chrome and Firefox to the latest versions of the browsers. Will take some getting used to with Firefox 4, but I think I might start to use Google Chrome more. Last week I upgraded Internet Explorer to version 9, so that it was current as well. I have not really used ie9 much, but at least my collecting site looks a bit better then it did before, but still the gallery pictures do not display properly. That is sort of disappointing, as I would like that my sites behave the same regardless of browser. As I work with my sites more, I will work towards maybe identifying which browser is being used, and what loads and what does not. But I still have a long ways to go before I can figure that out.

After I was done with my websites for a bit, I did some work in my basement. I put away the items I did not sell at least weeks toy show, and rebuilt the shelf I had taken with me to the show. After I was done that, I worked on taking some pictures of the collectible I will do for my next collecting podcast. I have been delayed on that, as I was sick for the past few weeks, and that set me back unfortunately. Hopefully I will have the podcast done in the next week or so, as I want to get to a regular schedule. Tonight I will probably work on taking some more pictures to prepare for the podcast. I seem to be getting my Photoshop skills better as well, as I was able to modify the pictures after more efficiently. That will help me in the future with getting the podcast out faster.

A few non computer notes

Good news, my favorite show for this year has been renewed for a 4th season. It was announced at the end of the week, that Fringe will be back for another season. I have to say that makes me very happy, as the story line this year has been great. I am not sure how I would have felt if it got cancelled, and left with an unresolved story. I think also, I am happy as in terms of first run Sci-Fi shows, I am sort of running out of shows to watch. I record a lot of shows, but only a few are Sci-Fi based ones, so the thought of no Sci-Fi shows is not one I really want to think of. So regardless, great news for Fringe, looking forward to the season finale this year, as I get the feeling it is building up to something pretty cool.

The racing season for me starts this weekend. Both Formula 1 and Indycar are starting their seasons on Sunday. F1 is in Australia this weekend after the Bahrain race was postponed due to all the problems in the country. I have to say I am sort of happy they are starting in Australia, as it feels more right to me. It will be interesting to see if Red Bull can repeat all the success they had last year, or if Ferrari or McLaren will knock them off. From the first qualifying, looks like Red Bull is still fast, with Sebastian Vettel getting the pole, but my favorite Lewis Hamilton is right behind. Will also be interesting to see how the Teams handle the KERS that was reintroduced this season, also the new Pirelli tires and how the teams adapt to them. Also F1 has brought back the 107 percent rule, and looks like HRT was the first victim, as they were not fast enough to qualify for the race. I guess that will force that team to get faster, or it will hasten their demise and if they miss a few races, might just fold. Hopefully it does not come to that, but I guess we will see.

On this side of the world, Indycar is starting up at St. Pete.  Hoping for a good race tomorrow, and looks like Will Power has picked up where he left off with taking the pole for that race. I am also very interested to see how Sebastien Bourdais does, he is back in the series and racing for Coyne. Not a very good qualifying today, so hopefully Bourdais can show more in the race. Definitely will be pulling for Bourdais to do well, as it would be nice to see, after all his success in Champcar. I have to admit, I am not really really excited about this years Indycar season. I am sort of just wanting them to get to the new engine and chassis for 2012, so I think I might find 2011 long at times, as I am really not excited at all about the current Indycar specs. Jason and I will be back this year for more Champodcasts, and hoping it will be a good year. Last year we sort of fell off our schedule, but this year, I think we will commit ourselves to putting out the podcasts on a more regular schedule.

Tags: Anomaly Podcast, Champodcast, Formula 1, Fringe, IndyCar, Jason, jedijeffs basement