Swans

February 1, 2010 · Posted by Michael Angelo (angelom)
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This is a slide show, created in Adobe Lightroom2, showing images taken at the Cape May Point New Jersey wild life refuge.

Link:  Swans  You have to use the back button to return here.

Tags:Photography

 

Exporting multiple Lightroom files to outlook

October 13, 2009 · Posted by Michael Angelo (angelom)
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I didn’t invent this but want to keep a record of it for myself.  Lightroom 2 seems to have a bug where it can’t attach more than one file to a mail message.  In searching for a solution I found a post with a link to a MapiMailer written by SBSutherland here http://www.sbsutherland.com/downloads.aspx

It works and I’m happy to move on.  The program adds itself to the Lightroom’s Export Post-processing options list of actions.  I installed it and it works just fine.

Tags:Photography, General

 

Lightroom 2 Image Storage

October 11, 2009 · Posted by Michael Angelo (angelom)
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I first installed Lightroom 2 about 4 months ago and it wasn’t long before I started having issues with the Lightroom database software. Lightroom is a ‘non-destructive’ editing package; meaning, all edits are stored in a database.  If you edit an image outside of Lightroom, say for instance, using Photoshop 7, then your Photoshop edits cause the file to be modified when saved.  Consequently,  Lightroom doesn’t know about the changes made by other editing programs and their lies the problem.

I have Lightroom installed on my main workstation, but when I transfer images from my Nikon D60 camera, I save them to my primary workstation, and also send a backup copy to my File server.  I also have a second computer with Lightroom installed and sometimes edit files on the primary PC using this second PC.  Not realizing how Lightroom stored changes, it became a mystery to me how the same image can look completely different when viewed from two different workstations. After learning how Lightroom stores changes, I decided to move my image files and the Lightroom database to an external USB hard drive; thusly I can plug the external drive into any computer that has Lightroom 2 installed and see the edited versions of my images on any computer because the Lightroom database moves with the USB Drive.

Tags:Photography

 

Acer Aspire One

October 11, 2009 · Posted by Michael Angelo (angelom)
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Its almost yr 2010 and my current primary workstation, a Dell Dimension 4300 I purchased back in 2003, was still going strong until Adobe Light room 2 came along. 

First, after installing Adobe Photoshop C4, my Dells’ performance was still tolerable, however, after installing Light Room my main squeeze turned into a lemon.

Shortly after shopping for my next ‘be all things’ computer soon brought the realization that building my next dream computer was going to be expensive.  The lowest price I could build an adequate ‘Photoshop’ workstation for was $1400.  Not a bad price considering my first attempt on Dell.com resulted in a $3400 workstation.  Well, for me, spending $1400 right now isn’t an easy decision and being the procrastinator I am, I needed an interim solution.

Acer-One to the rescue

As it turns out my little Acer Aspire-One, or, my “Minnie-Me” is quite a bit faster than my Dell Dimension 4300.  The Dimension and Acer both have 1.60 MHz processors, but the Acer has 2 GB RAM compared to the Dimension’s 1 GB RAM.  This extra memory must be the major contributor to the Acer being 3-4 times faster in rendering images.  But there was one huge problem; the Acer Screen is just to small to take serious when it comes to actually using Photoshop CS4 and Light Room 2.

Acer to the rescue:  The Acer has an Intel Atom Processor and the Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator Driver for Mobile that supports duel monitors with resolutions up to 1680 X 1680 Resolution.  My Dell 22’’ monitor’s native resolution is 1680X1050; so I connected the Dell 2208WFP Flat panel Monitor to the Acer’s external VGA port and to my surprise it looked great.  The Aspire-One can display an extended desktop or mirrored video, both with independent video resolutions.

Also: if you don't have A1ctl for the Acer Aspire Computer then go here http://nodadev.wordpress.com/pc-projects/a1ctl/ and get it.  This small applet fixes the realy stupid 1024X600 screen resolution issue this notebook has.  By using a1ctl you can run Quickbooks, Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 2.  Without it you can't.  NO BRAINER!

Lightroom 2 Image Storage

The image storage solution I’ve come up with is another surprise.  Apparently, the Acer can access my Seagate 500 GB external drive as fast, or faster than, it’s internal hard drive.  Makes no sense to me, but none the less, using an external hard drive for Lightroom’s images and database makes a lot of sense.

Tags:Photography, Technology

 

Life after Xanax

October 10, 2009 · Posted by Michael Angelo (angelom)
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After realizing it’s been 2 years since I began taking xanax I decided it was time to see what life would be like without it.  The short of it is; life is the same.  The longer story is one of dependency.  Xanax wasn’t actually treating the Tinnitus; but was actually helping with the Anziety I felt when my Tinnitis sympoms were severe.  Xanax reduced the stress caused by Tinnitus and so indirectly helpted me from becoming overwhelmed by my Tinnitus.  Over the past 2 years there were periods of time I became convinced Xanax was responsible for the complete elimination of my Tinnitus, but that relief was short lived.  Tinnitus seems to come back, or I should say, only leaves me for 1 or 2 days at a time.

It wasn’t hard to stop using xanax once I became aware of what the withdraw symptoms are.  I know I shouldn’t have just quit cold turkey but that’s how I chose to do it.  I quit smoking cigarettes the same way; just stopped.  With the Xanax, I didn’t notice any symptoms for about 4-5 days, then I started feeling like crap all the time.  It took about 2-3 weeks before all the bad symptoms went away.  Initially, I just felt like I had the flu; unless I ate food.  So eating was good.  After the first week, I started to feel fatigued all the time; I mean drop dead tired.  I could hardly get up the energy to walk or get up out of my chair.  I even stopped doing my favorite activity, playing Golf, because I was too tired to swing a club.  It’s funny, but when I called my Doctor to ask what might help relieve my suffering, he insisted I start taking xanax again and then wean myself off over a 2 month period.  Screw that!  Anything that fucks you up this much just has to be beaten.  It’s been about 6 weeks now and I feel completely recovered. Oh yea, and my tinnitus is ringing loud and clear; all day long and all night too.  Sucks to be me.

There’s only one thing to do.  Keep moving forward!

Tags:Health

 

Tinnitus & Xanax

September 7, 2009 · Posted by Michael Angelo (angelom)
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As much as Xanax has provided stress relief from my Tinnitus, it does not reduce the noise I hear.  So after taking Xanax for 2 years, Ive decided to stop.  Warning, don't try this at home kids; I stopped cold turkey and just felt like crap for 10 days.  I'll never try that again.  Fortunately, I've managed through that ordeal and am now sleeping without the aid of Lunesta or any other night time sleeping aid; well almost.  The Crickets are in season and their chirping song does almost cancel out my Tinnitus, so I open my windows, turn on a couple of fans and listen to the Crickets.  It works well and I've been actually getting 5-6 hours sleep each night. 
 
So I wait with the other Millions for a miracle cure.
Tags:Health

 

Tinnitus Update

July 26, 2009 · Posted by Michael Angelo (angelom)
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After a year of constant hissing, still no relief.  I have tried every vitamin known to relieve ringing in the ears and nothing helps.  The only relief I get is from taking XANAX around 7pm in the evening.  That time of day is when it is hardest to deal with the noise.  Early morning, 5:30am when I wake up the T is loud, but as soon as I get up and start my day the T doesn’t seem to be that bad.  Keeping busy is a requirement.  I’ve noticed that being overly hungry seems to elevate the Tinnitus. Exercising late in the evening is bad too.  It’s July and soon the Crickets will start their night time song.  I use to hate crickets, now I love them.  The noise of the Crickets is almost a perfect mask of the sound I hear in my head.  Contrary to popular belief, I have Tinnitus in both ears.  The right ear usually is very low in volume and the left ear is the most constant.  My anxiety level seems to be the highest when the right ear gets louder than the left.

 

If you’ve discovered any relief for your tinnitus, please write me.  I’m willing to try just about anything.

Tags:Health

 

Tinnitus: The never ending story?

May 19, 2009 · Posted by Michael Angelo (angelom)
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Strange.  Seems to be most persistent when I’m the least able to do much about it.  What I usually do is play golf, or work in the yard, or service my customers; but when it gets late at night, the ‘T’ comes in loud and clear.  So here it is 11pm and all I can think of doing is Drink Sothern Comfort, shine my shoes, and blog while listening to Jazz.  I listen to WRTI NJ.  Good station for Jazz. Having a hard time with this tiny ACER keyboard.  My fingers are just too big.  I need to get an external keyboard for typing at any length.  I have to keep my fingers grouped close together or I mess up on every 4th word or so.  My pinky, it sure knows where the backspace is.  I’ve got some Good pinky action.  

Played golf today and yesterday and I’m supper tired.  I walk the course and carry my bag.  I don’t include all 14 clubs though; working up to that; but hell, I’m 62 and walking 3 miles with a 30 pound bag over my shoulders; can’t knock that.  I’m getting stronger every week.  I started carrying my bag about 3 months ago and remember how after 1 round, I couldn’t play the next day because my knees and shoulders were very sore; but now I can walk 2 days in a row and after 2 days rest am ready to walk again.  The Tinnitus almost never bothers me when on the golf course.  My personal observations indicate Tinnitis is worst when I’m tired and hungry; or very stressed.

Tags:Health, Golf

 

Truth

April 25, 2009 · Posted by Michael Angelo (angelom)
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The box from a closet labeled simply with a date and the word “TRUTH”.  Now their is a time capsule if I ever saw one.

image The date was 1982-1988 and the truth found in that box was I had strayed off the path for almost 20 years.  The box contained letters I had written back in a time when I was simply awestruck by a book I read in 1979, written by Fred Picker, titled “the Zone 6 Workshop”, and how that book began a revolution in how I perceived photography as a means of expressing myself.  Have you ever run across something you’ve written in the distant past, read it, and come to realize just how much you’ve changed since.  For me, my own words led me back to my true path.

The camera is the brush that paints what my minds eye sees.  In 1979 I came to realize that only through mastery of the tool could I express to others the effect a scene had on me; or if not a feeling, then to replicate how my eye saw the scene.  To me, Ansel Adams was about the pure representation of what laid before him and his lens.  But I came to realize no two people see any subject the same way.  A scene evokes an emotion and that is what we wish to express to others through the creation of prints that don’t just replicate the image, but express the emotional effect a scene had on me.  That’s Art!  That’s the Truth I rediscovered in a dusty box filled with letters and notes made by my other self.  I must confess, it was an emotional moment; sad, yet grateful to have not gone to the grave with my song still in me.  It’s not too late; it’s just later than it should have been.

Michael Angelo Jr.  

Tags:General

 

Mini-Me

April 13, 2009 · Posted by Michael Angelo (angelom)
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I call my new Acer-One Laptop Mini-Me.  It’s job is to take all the load of my other computers and roll everything up into one simple small machine.

 

DSC_2870

Notice the small blue decal on the larger laptop.  That’s my FAA Tech Center Patch.  I use to work for the Gov.  It was great.  Play with tech equipment and new software all day, hang with my tech buddies, drink coffee, and play golf in the afternoon…  I miss working for the Gov.  If you can get a Fed job, do it.  Best job ever.  Sure beats working for a living.

Tags:Sharepoint

 

Kennel review

February 1, 2009 · Posted by Michael Angelo (angelom)
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To review a kennel, you need to do more than just drop you pet off and leave; at the same time you can’t ask your dog to comment on his/her stay; but their are ways to tell if your dog was treated well and enjoyed the time spent in the kennel. 

Tags:General

 

Tinnitus Future

January 5, 2009 · Posted by Michael Angelo (angelom)
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Been a long time since I've written.  Some things you can fix and some things you learn to live with.  Tinnitis is what it is.  I've mostly learned to live with it.  Tried everything; Drugs, Therapy, more Drugs, still more drugs.  Nothing provides a permanent solution.  Not to cause dispair for anyone reading this, quite the contrary; 5 months ago, I couldn't have even sat and typed long enough to get this far into my final chapter on Tinnitis.  I've gotten control of my life back, work is going well, my hobbie (Photography) has taken root again, and all in all, things are going good; so i'm past the anxiety and depression caused by my Tinnitis and am moving forward. 
 
Always; just keep moving forward.  That's the answer for me.
 
end of line.
Tags:

 

Tinnitus Relief

August 25, 2008 · Posted by Michael Angelo (angelom)
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I beleive my Tinnitus resulted from years of cumulative untreated stress.  Lets face it; over enough time, the pressures of life can kick your ass...
 
Most likely, relief is going to come from the next mirracle drug.  Research is going on for this problem.  It is beleived by some, that the problem lies deep in the human brain; not the ears.  Millions suffer from Tinnitus.  I had no idea how many suffer from Tinnitus until I got it.  My Father, and two Sisters suffer from it; yet they never told me about it.  Now, 90% of the people I talk to about my Tinnitus, either have it too, or know someone who has Tinnitus.  Tinnitus can affect anyone, from teenagers and to old farts like me (60), so Tinnistu is not just an Old Age Thing. 
 
Here is what I've tried doing to releive my symtoms:  Bio-Flavinoid Vitimin B complex (1 2-times a day, then 2 2-times a day).  This increases blood flow in the ears.  It didn't help me.  Sleeping pills do help me fall to sleep; anti-histimine helps me fall asleep; alcohol makes everything worse; stress makes it worse; Golf and Photography help me completely ignore the ringing; although Golf can be stressful if you take it serious. :)
 
Last week I started some Talk Therapy. I might try hypnosis.  I'm trying to be positive in my mind about the outcome.  Having positive thoughts about the outcome helps with the anxiety.  Beleiveing the Tinnitus will eventually pass , or will eventually be religated to that list of daily anoyances I just have to live with helps me get through the day.  I've been told by Tinnisus sufferers that "one day it just went away.".  So there is hope.  I have good days and bad days.  The good are Great and the Bad are realy bad. 
 
Anxiety caused by Tinnitus:  Other than the ringing in my ears (a constant,high pitched hissing sound that is much like the noise made by my shower head.) I suffered from extreem anxiety and panic attacks.  I can only describe my panic attack to be like a feeling of closterphobia; just an awfull fealing of panic caused by the stress and fear that my tinnitus will never stop, and go on for the rest of my life.   My doctor gave me the drug Xanix, and it does help; however, I don't use it daily; just when needed, because you can become dependant on it.
 
Tags:Health

 

Community Kit, Blog Edition 2.0, Test Drive

May 9, 2008 · Posted by Michael Angelo (angelom)
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Initially, following the manual installation method didn't completely work.  I did notice that the timer job didn't run, but no errors were evident.  after getting over my typical bad attitude toward Sharepoint stuff never working, I ran the batch file installation method and it did work.  I also noticed that the batch file did execute the Timer Job "execadmsvcjobs" .

So this is it,  I next downloaded the Windows Live Writer, free from Microsoft (if you can believe anything is free), installed the Writer and I'm using it now. The Writer tool appears to be much like Microsoft Word, but only includes the tools needed for writing a weblog.  For me, the most sorely missed feature in sharepoint has always been the ability to paste graphic images and clip art into sharepoint Wickie pages and the basic default Sharepoint blog site posts.  Windows Live Writer lets me

 

insert images, and video to a weblog page.  This is great.

Tags:General, Sharepoint, Technology

 

Golf: Great Expectations!

May 9, 2008 · Posted by Michael Angelo (angelom)
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Every Golfer will eventually ask, "Why can't I hit shots on the course as well as I hit shots at the range?" 

We all do it; go to the range and after hitting a few dozen balls, we start hitting one good shot after another.  My Son and I were at the range having a little competition where we were hitting balls 125 yards to a pin on a practice green.  We were amazing; we couldn't miss.  He would get close to the pin and I'd drop one inside his ball, then he would get inside my ball.  We almost never missed.  Yet, later that day, when I went out onto the course, I missed several greens from 125 yards.  Why?

The answer has to be something to do with 'Pressure of the moment", yet, there really is no pressure; we're not playing for any real money.  A 50 cent skin isn't pressure.  Sure everyone wants to win but the desire to win 50 cents can't be causing so much pressure that I can't hit a ball straight; can it?

I conclude not true; it's not the pressure of the moment, but feel what is really causing the pressure is the pressure to live up to my own expectations. All that practice builds skill, confidence, and yes; Great Expectations to play well and score low.  I think the pressure to live up to my own expectations is what dooms my game to failure.

I was talking to a friend about this topic and I recalled to him that the one common thing about every great round I ever played was that the round was, for the most part, completely uneventful.  What I mean is that when the round was over and someone said, you shot 73; I was totally surprised; Yes, I know I was playing well, but didn't realize how well until it was over.  Shooting the best round of my life was without fanfare and I remembered at the end of the round how I didn't expect to play well that day.  I really didn't have time to hit balls before the round, and I approached the game that day as simply a good time, playing with friends; really didn't care what I shot; I had no Great Expectations that day, and the unexpected happened.

Tags:General, Golf