Do they wear contacts?

Now, I couldn't tell you the last horror movie I watched, its been a loooooong time, but I want to see The Hills Have Eyes. And actually, I would like to see it in the theater. I don't know why...I just do.

If anyone wants to go with me just let me know.

[Update: The link is fixed now...]

My Name is Earl

There are 2 days, 7 hours and 17 minutes until the next Earl

Here's to you Somersworth

For diligently cleaning all of the snowbanks off the downtown sidewalks with a collection of loaders, bobcats and dump trucks after every dinky little snowstorm and ensuring you spend every dollar of your snow removal budget during this unusually mild winter, I salute you.

Gator Bob

I have had alligator jerky which was simply devine.

Lynn Gamgee

I think Lynn McGill was seeing a whole room full of Gollums last night.

Remember when he first appeared in the show this season and he insisted on everybody (well, maybe not everybody) calling each other Mr. or Miss? It reminded me of how he always called Frodo, Mr. Frodo. I wonder if that was on purpose.

McGill: Sit down, Mr. Buchanan.
Buchanan: Would you stop with the "Mr. Buchanan"?

Other Tasty Animals

I got to thinking, what are some other animals that are probably tasty but I've never eaten them, and are there any good recipes for them. Here's the list, in order by most want to eat:

rabbit
goose
wild boar
ostrich
kangaroo
moose
duck
goat
frog

Oooooo, I found this site that has recipes for animals I never even considered, like woodchuck.

One animal I could never bring myself to eat, possum. They look like giant rats undergoing chemotherapy. I stepped out my back door one night and a giant one went scurrying across my path about 2 feet. It scared the crap out of me.

Oh yeah, and raccoons. Any animal notorious for eating garbage and getting rabies is definitely off the list.

Mmmm

I'll eat just about anything, but I have to draw the line at testicles. Hey, look at that they have testicle festivals. Sounds like fun.

Mmmm

We have a lot of squirrels in our back yard due to several large oak trees dumping thousands of pounds of acorns on our lawn every year. Some of these squirrels look very plump and I got to thinking, where could I find a good recipe for squirrel stew? Beats me, lets Google it.

Hmmm, now I just need to find someone to shoot and clean the squirrels for me.

Fun Puzzle-Type Game

If you are into fun puzzle-type games.

Grow Cube

Random Email Exchanges

Between me and the woman whose cube I repeatedly ransack (names changed to protect the innocent)

======================================================
From: Penelope Pitstop
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2006 3:10 PM
To: Max Power
Subject:RE:

It really bugs me when you show up for work

------------------------------------------------------

From: Max Power
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2006 3:08 PM
To: Penelope Pitstop
Subject:

It really bugs me when they stand in my cube and talk

Oh, I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay

The Flying Circus returns! This could only be described as a good thing.

Nate's Hill

So called because he wiped out, bad, coming down the other side of The Hill. We were turning around and going back to help him.

The Hill

Just a nice little hill at Buffalo Mountain, somewhere on trail 23.

Grubby, Live and Unmuffled

The first of the 3 mpegs that I made last night.

His muffler fell off. We wanted to know how loud it would be, so maybe we didn't have to try to put it back on until we got home.

This happened at Rockhouse, Rob could probably tell you what trail it was on.

I Simultaneously Love and Hate Technology (part 2)

So, I've got all this great footage. Now I need to get it on my computer and eventually on DVDs to give as Christmas gifts.

I purchased a firewire card on eBay for 4.95. It was brand new and it came with the cable and Ulead VideoStudio 5. Did you know that VideoStudio is up to version 9 now? No? I didn't either, but I do now. When I went to their website to see if I could get some help in actually using this P.O.S.S. The last "S" stands for software.

The capturing part went awesome. I plugged the camcorder in and it was instantly recognized by the computer. I pressed the capture button in the software, play on the camcorder and let it do its thing.

After capturing all of the footage contained on 8 tapes, I've got 12 files ranging in size from 3gb to 13gb. The quality of the video is amazing. I probably should have started with transferring just one tape though and working with that until I get the hang of it. I was (am) a little overwhelmed.

Now what do I do. The software sucks. I can't even describe how much it sucks. It has an interface where everything is a picture, no text describing what that picture means. I HATE that. At first I wanted to make a few clips to upload to the internets for my friends to see. I mess around with it for what seems like hours and finally I am able to make 3 clips. The software didn't want to cut the scenes out where I wanted it to. It was always clipping a few seconds early or running to long. When you are trying to make something that people can actually download in less than an hour those extra seconds of footage can mean a lot.

So, anyway, I am finally kinda sorta happy with the results and now I go to save my clips. Hmmm, mpeg 1. What?! No mpeg 2? Isn't that required for making DVDs? I have no idea. I need newer software. Maybe I should try the Windows MovieMaker.

I get the files saved as mpegs and I watch them and I am horrified at the quality. They really suck compared to the originals. I dunno. There must be some settings that I can tweak or what not.

I'm just not that excited about making DVDs now. It seems like a horrible pain.

Maybe some software that is Y2K compliant will help. I'll keep you posted, because I know you are dying to know.

I Simultaneously Love and Hate Technology (part 1)

Last year before our annual trip to West Virginia, I purchased a helmet cam and a Canon ZR60 on eBay (actually I purchased 3 Canon ZR60s, the first two didn't work).

The helmet cam attaches to the side of my helmet with velcro, it is powered by 8 AA batteries, and it plugs into the camcorders analog input. You use the camcorder as a VCR and it records what the helmet cam sends it.

Its very slick. I enjoyed doing it a lot and I plan on doing it again when we go back there in 40 days. The quality of the footage is truly amazing considering the environment that it is filming in.

I did have some issues.

I went through 32 double AA batteries. Thats a lot. Not only was it expensive, but I lost an hours worth of footage because the batteries had died once and I didn't know. Also, it was a real pain in the neck changing the batteries out on the trail.

I spent half the time trying to dodge mud holes because I was afraid of getting crud on the helmet cam and ruining our footage.

Another issue that I experienced was the mini DV tapes only hold an hour's worth of video. Again, like the batteries, it is very difficult to change the tapes out on the trail. Even more so than the batteries because you dont want to get any dirt in the camera.

The last issue is that I had the camcorder, extra camcorder batteries, the battery pack for the helmet cam, extra AA batteries, and extra tapes all crammed into a backpack. It was heavy, I couldn't ride as fast as I wanted to and getting in and out of the whole get up was tough. Especially when everything is covered in dust and/or mud.

So, what kind of solutions have I come up with to make the whole experience more enjoyable?

A couple of friends and I toyed with the idea of adding a plug to my ATV that could power the helmet cam. It seems like a lot of work and hassle to go through, but it would probably work well. The other solution is to use 8 D batteries instead of AA. They will weigh more and take up more space, but they will last longer. Actually when you figure in the weight of all the spare AAs I carried they probably wont weigh much more.

As far as the mud holes are concerned...screw it. I am going to ride as fast as I can and enjoy myself. If we lose some footage. Oh well.

I can't do much about the mini DV tapes, other than replace the camcorder with one of these. Oh man oh man. Maybe next year.

And the last issue? I am going to get a tank bag. At the very least, I'll be able to keep the camcorder in it. Not only will this take some weight off my back, but it'll be easier to check how much tape is left, change the tape, check the battery status, etc.

Something else I want to try, just to add variety to the footage, is to turn the helmet cam around so it is filming who is behind me. I think that it would be kinda cool.

I can't wait.

I apologize in advance....

Whilst working at the help desk, I made this picture for the guy who sat next to me and hung it in his cube.

Hell Desk

Back in the old days, I used to work at Cabletron in Rochester, NH. And for a two year period, the help desk. If you don't know what a help desk is, here's a brief run down. Four or five people are on the phones answering calls from angry people who hate you and whose computers are broken. At least half of the time you were powerless to fix the person's problem because it required the assistance of some "Admin" who was better than Jack Bauer at keeping their location a secret, didn't answer their phone or return email, ignored the "tickets" we put in the system, probably sacrificed small animals to their god, and stole quarters from the donations bin for the Ronald McDonald house.

Now, I was also in charge of maintaining the help desk's website. It was pretty pathetic really. But anyway, I was digging through some old stuff the other day, looking for some code and I stumbled upon these images that I made for that website. Lame I know, but hey, it was 1997.




























We were also required to have a small personal website, and this I made for that. Note the bubbles. Yeah. I'm a boob.

Some of these are funny

Some are NOT funny and some are direct copies of Chuck Norris facts...

Go straight to the Top 60 for the best ones.

As always, the usual warnings about foul language apply.

If Jack Bauer was in a room with Hitler, Stalin, and Nina Meyers, and he had a gun with 2 bullets, he'd shoot Nina twice

Gold, baby, gold!

New Favorite Word

whilst