For two weeks, Mandy and I travelled around England and Paris. We saw 4 cities, 5 villages, 7 churches, 3 museums, a couple palaces, and a castle. And that's not the half of it!
Needless to say, we both want to go back.
Click here for more (258!) photos...
Needless to say, we both want to go back.
Click here for more (258!) photos...
In the last few days, I appear to have, erm... aquired an addiction to Twitter. I blame ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
alpenglow.
For those who are interested, you can follow me via: http://www.twitter.com/dolange/.
(Facebook and Windows Live should also be syndicating these updates as well...)
alpenglow.For those who are interested, you can follow me via: http://www.twitter.com/dolange/.
(Facebook and Windows Live should also be syndicating these updates as well...)
Photos from the multi-week event (a trip to the pumpkin farm / corn maze, pumpkin carving -- best done with a dremel, and our halloween party) are now up on SmugMug.
(Mandy & I were Guitar Heroes!)
...and Buckley debuted as his true "piggy" self:
To complete the pumpkin theme, Mandy & Sarah made stew in a pumpkin:
Happy Halloween, everyone!
(Mandy & I were Guitar Heroes!)
...and Buckley debuted as his true "piggy" self:
To complete the pumpkin theme, Mandy & Sarah made stew in a pumpkin:
Happy Halloween, everyone!
This morning, the new (SuperSecret) project I've been working on was announced and shown at the PDC Keynote in LAX.
I can't tell you how exciting this is -- if for no other reason than I can now tell people that I work on the Microsoft Office Web Applications. :)
Check out the video on Channel 9 to see it for yourself!
I can't tell you how exciting this is -- if for no other reason than I can now tell people that I work on the Microsoft Office Web Applications. :)
Check out the video on Channel 9 to see it for yourself!
Mandy & I had an excellent time in Maui exploring the island. With the excellent beaches, unbelievable snorkeling, scenic drive to Hana (with all of it's Waterfalls), relaxing Luaus, impressive volcanoes, great food, and constant sunshine, we're definitely looking to go back and visit again! (Anyone else interested? :)
As usual, you can find photos up on Smugmug:
As usual, you can find photos up on Smugmug:
On Saturday, September 27th, Mandy & I were married at Cannon Beach. It was truly beyond my wildest expectations.
(As you can probably tell, we're still searching for the words to describe it, or our gratitude to all those who came and those who helped make the day such a success. We're so thankful to have such wonderful friends & family.)
Here's some photos from Friday morning and later during the rehearsal / dinner:
Click on for the full set!
(As you can probably tell, we're still searching for the words to describe it, or our gratitude to all those who came and those who helped make the day such a success. We're so thankful to have such wonderful friends & family.)
Here's some photos from Friday morning and later during the rehearsal / dinner:
Click on for the full set!
Last weekend Nathaniel, Ai, Enna and Mandy took me out to dinner at Tango. Naturally, I had to bring the camera. ;-p
Photos are up at Sugmug:
Photos are up at Sugmug:
Today I volunteered along with a number of my co-workers to clean up the Leschi Natural Park Area as part of the United Way's Day of Caring program. I've participated in a Day of Caring program 4 of the last 5 years I've been at Microsoft, and it's introduced me to a number of local organizations in the community such as the Domestic Abuse Women's Network and Hopelink -- both of which I still continue to donate my time & money to this very day.
This was my first time volunteering with Green Seattle, and it was quite fun! Not only did I get a chance to improve a local park, and dig in the dirt, but it also provided a great opportunity to play around some more with the new toy. ;-p
Click onwards for the photos:
This was my first time volunteering with Green Seattle, and it was quite fun! Not only did I get a chance to improve a local park, and dig in the dirt, but it also provided a great opportunity to play around some more with the new toy. ;-p
Click onwards for the photos:
"CBS News RAW": Actor Matt Damon criticizes Alaska governor Sarah Palin, citing her inexperience in national politics and comparing her candidacy to "a bad Disney movie."
While I didn't quite know what to make of them at first, I have to admit that I'm liking the latest Microsoft ads with Bill & Jerry quite a bit.
What do y'all think?
What do y'all think?
Enuf kitteh picz!
I can haz photo?
I can haz photo?
Sarah & Josh got a new Tonkinese kitten named Yuki.
Isn't he cute?
Isn't he cute?
Some rough shots taken with my early birthday present:
Mandy says I have to put the camera down now... :)
Mandy says I have to put the camera down now... :)
Andy & Elisha of e[a] photography studios shot these at Edgefield Manor. We both had a blast running around through all the vineyards and fields, and really enjoyed meeting Andy & Elisha. (They're like mini-clones of us!)
After seeing their awesome work, we couldn't be happier that they're our wedding photographers... :) Head on over to their site to see some more of their work:
After seeing their awesome work, we couldn't be happier that they're our wedding photographers... :) Head on over to their site to see some more of their work:
Our cable and internet has never been all that great in our house. It'd work fine, mostly, except you'd occasionally lose your internet connection; or observe that the picture quality would show some tearing. While annoying, it was never frequent enough to actually do anything about.
And then it got worse.
Before I continue, I should mention that Mandy & I are totally hoooked on So You Think You Can Dance. It's a guilty pleasure, and we don't talk about it all that much. (For instance, while this season's tour is starting in Tacoma, I haven't quite decided if I'm willing to admit to my habit in public... ;-) In my defence, there really wasn't that much HD content available when we first got the new TV.
For the last month, each week's episodes have looked worse and worse. Finally, they were impossible to watch. Continuous tearing, stuttering in the audio. And it'd get worse during the prime time evening hours. Sometimes a show would start off fine, and then gradually degrade as the evening went on.
Mandy was not at all happy.
As a man-geek, I knew what my job was. I had to fix it. Some co-workers suggested that my signal quality may be too low which somewhat intuitively just made sense. Even the DVR diagnostics on the Tivo agreed. Probably, the cable company was futzing around with "stuff" and messing up my TV, right? The bastards.
So off I went to Amazon (you're welcome, Dan) to buy myself a cable amplifier. For 40 bucks or so I had myself a state of the art 20 db adjustable signal amplifier. It was all heavy and metal. I thought it was pretty nifty, even if I didn't exactly know quite what it all meant.
Naturally it didn't work. As soon as I turned the amplifier on, my TV picture went away. Huh.
So I did what any good man-geek would then do: I called the cable guy...
...who naturally showed up this morning when everything appeared to be working perfectly. But still managed to figure things out. (Really, he had the issue diagnosed after _one_ reading.)
Apparently, the signal was too high.
Yeah, I know -- the amplifier was probably a bit of a hint. (Really, I'm not all that bright.) And the variation during peak hours? TCP/IP degradation of an underlying switched digital signal, suggests I? Not at all says he -- it's just thermal fluctuations. You see, resistance across a wire is higher when it's warm. So as the evening temperature dropped, the signal strength would go up, hence causing me to swear at my TV more.
The clincher came when he took a look in the smartbox where the input was optimized through one of those professional looking 2-way splitter thingies and bypassed that flimsy looking plastic 6-way splitter that was installed with the house. (Which makese all the sense in the world to me. Got a signal problem? Remove all the extra components which may be causing interference.) Naturally, wiring the cable through the suspciously big splitter provided the exact 5db signal attenuation necessary to bring the amplification back into balance.
Clearly, I just don't get analog.
And then it got worse.
Before I continue, I should mention that Mandy & I are totally hoooked on So You Think You Can Dance. It's a guilty pleasure, and we don't talk about it all that much. (For instance, while this season's tour is starting in Tacoma, I haven't quite decided if I'm willing to admit to my habit in public... ;-) In my defence, there really wasn't that much HD content available when we first got the new TV.
For the last month, each week's episodes have looked worse and worse. Finally, they were impossible to watch. Continuous tearing, stuttering in the audio. And it'd get worse during the prime time evening hours. Sometimes a show would start off fine, and then gradually degrade as the evening went on.
Mandy was not at all happy.
As a man-geek, I knew what my job was. I had to fix it. Some co-workers suggested that my signal quality may be too low which somewhat intuitively just made sense. Even the DVR diagnostics on the Tivo agreed. Probably, the cable company was futzing around with "stuff" and messing up my TV, right? The bastards.
So off I went to Amazon (you're welcome, Dan) to buy myself a cable amplifier. For 40 bucks or so I had myself a state of the art 20 db adjustable signal amplifier. It was all heavy and metal. I thought it was pretty nifty, even if I didn't exactly know quite what it all meant.
Naturally it didn't work. As soon as I turned the amplifier on, my TV picture went away. Huh.
So I did what any good man-geek would then do: I called the cable guy...
...who naturally showed up this morning when everything appeared to be working perfectly. But still managed to figure things out. (Really, he had the issue diagnosed after _one_ reading.)
Apparently, the signal was too high.
Yeah, I know -- the amplifier was probably a bit of a hint. (Really, I'm not all that bright.) And the variation during peak hours? TCP/IP degradation of an underlying switched digital signal, suggests I? Not at all says he -- it's just thermal fluctuations. You see, resistance across a wire is higher when it's warm. So as the evening temperature dropped, the signal strength would go up, hence causing me to swear at my TV more.
The clincher came when he took a look in the smartbox where the input was optimized through one of those professional looking 2-way splitter thingies and bypassed that flimsy looking plastic 6-way splitter that was installed with the house. (Which makese all the sense in the world to me. Got a signal problem? Remove all the extra components which may be causing interference.) Naturally, wiring the cable through the suspciously big splitter provided the exact 5db signal attenuation necessary to bring the amplification back into balance.
Clearly, I just don't get analog.
...along with the other photographic evidence of our National Parks Trip can now be found on SmugMug:
We hiked up Angels Landing, took a mule trip down the north rim of the Grand Canyon, traversed the southern end of the Zion Narrows, and visited the hoodoos of the Fairyland Loop at Bryce.
As a first time visitor to all three parks, all I can say is "Wow".
We hiked up Angels Landing, took a mule trip down the north rim of the Grand Canyon, traversed the southern end of the Zion Narrows, and visited the hoodoos of the Fairyland Loop at Bryce.
As a first time visitor to all three parks, all I can say is "Wow".
On Saturday, May 10th, I asked Mandy to marry me.
Admittedly, there wasn't really room to get down on one knee. We were in a hot air balloon with a crowd of five floating above the Methow valley. Nor did I manage to say everything I had intended to.
But I couldn't have been happier with her answer.
Admittedly, there wasn't really room to get down on one knee. We were in a hot air balloon with a crowd of five floating above the Methow valley. Nor did I manage to say everything I had intended to.
But I couldn't have been happier with her answer.
