After hearing my wife tell me to get my own laptop for the past few years, I decided to get one except I decided to get an iPad. I already had an iPhone, so I had a real good idea of what you can and can’t do with it. Even still, I decided to jump in.

As soon as My iPad arrived, my daughter asked me if I just got a big iPhone. Of course, I couldn’t resist pretending along and proceeded to answer a call on my iPad. But she was right, it really is just a big iPhone with a much bigger screen and a better form factor that puts visions in my head of Star Trek Enterprise. Again, I digress.

The first thing I played with on the iPad was typing with the new keyboard. The keys are about the same size as the keyboard on my laptop when I use it in landscape mode. I do have some difficulty with it as a traditional keyboard user. I think the biggest issue I have is the loss of touch to help reassure me that my fingers struck the correct key. I find that if I use the iPad in my Lap, using the Apple case which props it up at an angle, I am able to visually get enough reassurance that I can type at a reasonable speed. Even still, I find that I am still correcting about every tenth word because of hitting the wrong key. Outside of using the keyboard on my lap, I find that I have to return to a hunt and peck mode of typing.

The next thing I played with was integrating the mail and the browser with my gmail and google reader accounts. I found that google has done a nice job with their initial implementation of their browser based email client for the ipad. It looks very similar to the native iPad email, but it supports the threading feature I love in gmail. Google reader basically looks the same as it does on the iPhone. I am hopeful that google will put a little effort into that interface like they did their gmail interface for the iPad.

I also got around to playing with Facebook. It looks the same as it does on a standard PC browser. I do find that the interface not being optimized for a touch screen device makes out a little more difficult to use on the iPad. Additionally, some of the games, like Zynga’s Mafia Wars suffer from some of the same issues of not being designed for a touch panel interface and I also find at the DHTML that they employ takes a little longer than I would Ike to render in Safari.

Even with these complaints, I am still enjoying my iPad because I find that the size of it with it’s fundamental capabilities really meet my daily needs. But there are a few things that I would really like to be able to do with it in the future:
* I have a Windows Home Server in my house which I use to share my music, photos and videos. I would really like to be a to run an application with capabilities similar Picasa that would allow me to import pictures from my camera and copy then to my CIFS share. Additionally, I would Iike the ability for the slideshow to pull pictures from my CIFS share when I put the pad in photo frame mode. Additionally, I would like to be able to play movies and music that are stored on my server on the iPad without syncing with a laptop. Remember, my wife doesn’t want me using her laptop.
* I really want multitasking. I am really looking forward to seeing OS4 on my iPad to see if it will solve my concerns.
* I would like to see a camera for video conferencing on it.
* I would like to see the device integrate with google apps better.
* Java capability for safari would make a lot of the web pages I visit work much better.
* I agree with Steve Jobs on flash, but fact is that there are a lot of websites that use it. I really wish he would swallow his pride and support it even if it is slow.
* I hate it when apps are designed to only be viewed in one orientation. When I am using the Apple case, I want to view each app in that landscape orientation. I don’t want to keep spinning the iPad around to view the app in the limited orientations they support.
* I miss my tabbed browsing. I know you can basically do the same thing, but I just like seeing what pages I have open by looking at the tabs.

Overall, I am enjoying it, but I am longing for more capabilities the more I use it.

More to come…

http://www.kentucky.com/698/story/505555.html

Pixie Stick martini

3/4 ounce DeKuyper Island Punch Pucker (formerly Island Blue Pucker)

3/4 ounce DeKuyper Grape Pucker

3/4 ounce vodka

Splash of sour mix

Splash of 7-Up

Serve chilled in a martini glass garnished with a slice of orange. Makes 1 serving.

1 lb Velveeta Cheese
1/2 C Beer (dark beer is best, I think)
1 T Worcestershire Sauce
2 t garlic powder
Cayenne Pepper and/or Frank’s Hot Sauce to taste.

I usually use a lot of Cayenne and not very much Frank’s (maybe a tablespoon of Frank’s). I like my beer cheese really hot. I blend it altogether in a food processor.

For the longest time, I was a fan of using Gordian Knot to rip my movies in xvid.  Once the x264 standard came out, I was really interested in trying to compress my data even more and see if I couldn’t get the same image quality.  In my eye’s opinion, I believe I have been pretty successful at ripping full DVD movies.  The following is a set of instructions on how I use MeGUI to RIP my DVD movies.

Copy VOB to Computer:

On my computer, I have AnyDVD installed.  It’s the best program I have used to remove the DVD copy protection.  I then use the old DVDDecrypter program, version 3.5.4.0, to rip the movie on the disk to a vob file.  Within DVDDecrypter, make sure you select to create the additional file “Chapter Information – OGG” within the IFO Mode tab of the settings window.  Additionally, I set File Splitting to None.  Next, on the Mode menu, select IFO mode.

Now insert the DVD.  DVD Decrypter will automatically detect the movie stream and highlight it.  Select the location on your hard disk where you want to copy it and click on the DVD->HD icon.

Special Note:  I have found on Windows Vista I have to run DVD Decrypter as the administrator or it won’t detect the DVD drives.

After DVD Decrypter is complete, close it and open MeGUI.

Create D2V file:

In MeGUI, select tools->DG Indexer->D2V Creater.  This will bring up another window where you will select the VOB file for your movie as the Input File.  Make sure to Demux the audio track you want in final ripped movie.   I usually just demux all tracks.  Then select theoutput filename of your d2v file.  It should be something.d2v.  Then select the Queue button and close the window if it did not do so automatically.  Now click on the Queue tab on the main MeGUI window and click ‘Start’.

Note that some movies confuse DVDDecrypter and you end up with some tracks leading into the movie and it can mess up the audio sync in the movie.  If you run into this, I usually manually run DGIndexer and then clip the front end of the movie until I get into the Chapter of the movie where it really starts.  Then save the project to a file.

Create AVS Script:

In MeGUI, select Tools->AVS Script Creater.  This screen may pop up automatically after DGIndexer finishes running within MeGUI.  Select the AutoCrop button on the Options tab.  It will determine how much black space is on the outside of each sceen.  Then select the Resize option and select the Suggest Resolution.  On the Filters tab, select the source type.  Movies are usually Progressive.  I always select the Noise Filter with it set to Minimal Noise.  Now select Save and close the window if it does not do so automatically.

Video Encoding:

On the main MeGUI window, select the Input tab.  You will see your movie information already entered into the video encoding section.  Select the encoder setting to x264: DXVA-SD-HQ.  This is the best quality codec for 480p or less input.  (See this avsforum post).  Select the output file format to be mp4.  Select the Enqueue button within the Video encoding section of the page.

Audio Encoding:

On the same main MeGUI window Input tab, you will see the Audio track information already filled in.  I use the Nero AAC: NDAAC-HE-MultiChannel-128kbps Encoder setting.  To use this, you must have Nero installed on your system or the Nero Audio codec dll available to MeGUI.  Select MP4-AAC as your extension.  Select EnQueue.

Subtitles:

If the movie has subtitles you want to include with your ripped version, from the main MeGUI windows, select Tools->VobSubber.  In the VobSubber windows, select the original VOB file and then chose which subtitle tracks you want to include.  Then select the Queue button.

Start Ripping:

On the main MeGUI window, select the Queue tab.  Select the Start button on the bottom of the window.  Now you wait.  Depending on your computer, anywhere from a couple hours to much, much longer.

Mux the Audio/Video tracks:

From the main MeGUI window, select Tools->Muxer->MKV muxer (I use MKV because I can include the original chapter information in the movie).  In the Muxer window, select the mp4 file you created in the Video encoding section as the Video Input.  Select the audio file you created in the Audio encoding section.  Select the Chapter information from the .OGG file created by DVD Decrypter.  If you have subtitles, you can select that file as well.  It should be noted that you may need to modify the subtitles file to set the “Forced Subtitles” setting to ON.  Select Queue and close the window.  On the main MeGUI window, select the Queue tab and the Start button.   You should now have a ripped version of your movie sitting in the output folder specified in the muxing window.

One final Note:  This should only be used for Movies you own!!!!!

Enjoy!

This is a collection of our favorite margarita recipes.

The Best Fresh Margaritas
From Cooksillustrated.com
* 4 teaspoons grated lime zest
* 1/2 cup lime juice from 2 to 3 medium limes
* 4 teaspoons grated lemon zest
* 1/2 cup lemon juice from 2 to 3 medium lemons
* 1/4 cup superfine sugar
* Pinch table salt
* 2 cups crushed ice
* 1 cup 100 percent agave tequila, preferably reposado
* 1 cup Triple Sec

1. Combine lime zest and juice, lemon zest and juice, sugar, and salt in large liquid measuring cup; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until flavors meld, 4 to 24 hours.
2. Divide 1 cup crushed ice between 4 or 6 margarita or double old-fashioned glasses. Strain juice mixture into 1-quart pitcher or cocktail shaker. Add tequila, Triple Sec, and remaining crushed ice; stir or shake until thoroughly combined and chilled, 20 to 60 seconds. Strain into ice-filled glasses; serve immediately.

The Best Party Margaritas

This recipe was handed down from friends and I modified by added juice and removing some water.

12oz Can Frozen Lime-Aid     (1 Can)
12 oz Tequila (preferrably gold)  (1 Can)
4 oz Triple Sec  (1/3 Can)
6 oz Juice (Orange, Pineapple, or tropical blend)  (1/2 Can)
28 oz Water  (2 1/2 Cans)

1. Combine all ingredients and stir.  Note the amounts of each ingredient.  I use the original can from the lime-aid to measure everything and eyeball the triplesec as 1/3 of a can.  The water becomes 2 1/2 cans of water and 1/2 can of the juice of choice.
2. Salt Glasses using lime juice and kosher salt.

We bought our house on Memorial Day weekend 2002 (7 years ago). During the building process, I was harping on the builder about everything I could find. Apparently, I didn’t harp enough about the doors and windows! Every external door in our house is starting to have problems, from the gap between the door frame and the door getting big enough to let sunshine through to the door itself falling apart. Additionally, all of the vinyl windows in the house are starting to show problems, mainly leaking water from outside to inside the wall and around the window frame.

So, I started on the process of replacing the doors. We bought a nice low-E triple pane door from Pella windows. I had seen Pella doors installed in other houses and was always impressed at how solid and tight they were when shut. There were having a 50% off sale, so the time was right.

I paid for the door in mid-November, so I expected the door to show up around Christmas.  It didn’t.  I was told it was backordered and should be in on Jan. 11.  Jan. 11 came and went, no door.  Was told to check again on Monday when the next shipment was supposed to come in, still wasn’t there.  This went on for another month and a half until it finally showed up.  Apparently, it was stuck in a Cincinnati warehouse for over a month.  Guess they don’t care how long it takes to deliver since they already have your money.

Finally, I had the door and I found a weekend where I could get my Dad to help me install it.  We cut the original door out with a sawzaw, it didn’t take long.  Then we dry fit the door back into the rough opening, it was tight.  It only looked tight on the bottom and top of the door, so I decided to try and chisel those areas that was tight so we could slide the door in.  I did so, the door slide in, but the top reveal on the door between the door and the top frame was way off.  It looked like I lived in a crooked house.  I couldn’t get the door to true up in any way to make it look right.  After 2 hours of fighting with shims and screwing and unscrewing the door, we decided it was time to do something with the rough opening.

Using a crowbar, we pulled the hinge side 2×4 out of the rough opening.  I ripped 1/4 inch off of the 2×4 and then we reinstalled it.  Checked the fit on the door again, still couldn’t get the door to true up.  So, I took the 2×4 out on the lock side of the rough opening.  Ripped it down 1/4 of an inch.  Reinstalled it.  Now I had a nice 1/2 inch gap between the door and the opening to give me all the freedom we needed to hang the door.

We still had a problem getting the reveal on the door to look even.  I fought with a level on the top and hinge side of the door frames for another hour trying to get things work.  Then I realized that every story I have ever read about hanging a door started with installing shims on the hinge side of the door, preferrably behind where the hinges are located on the door and making sure those hinges are level to each other.  We did that, caulked between the floor and the threshold of the door, installed the door, screwed it into the shims and Wahla, the reveal was perfect.

The only thing left was to level up the lock side of the door frame, nail it in and check the reveal all the way around the door.  Perfect!

Now we used low expansion spray foam to insulate around the doors.  It took most of a professional sized can to fill in all of the gaps.  The only thing left was trimming around the exterior and interior of the door.

Originally, the exterior of the door had wooden brick mold trim.  When I bought this door, I new that I never wanted to paint the outside of the door again.  So, we bought the door with aluminum cladding on the outside.  Pella doors do not come with brick molding or a good place to install brick molding.  Fortunately, my Dad new how to deal with this and had the tools to put his plan to action.  We installed Aluminum molding around the outside using an aluminum break and sheet aluminum the color of the cladding on the outside of the door.

I was amazed at how easy installing the aluminum was.  We were able to score the aluminum with a straight edge and a utility knife, then using the break bend it to cut the aluminum.  Then we measured and marked where we needed to bend the aluminum to make it fit between the door and the siding.  On the door side, we needed a 3/8 inch bend to fit inside the drip edge of the door.  On the vinyl side, we bent ~1 inch to tuck next to the siding.  We measured and bent all of the pieces, installed them, using a wooden shim to hold the metal in place on the door and then I caulked between the trim and the siding to make sure water didn’t go between the two.  In 40 minutes, done with the exterior trimming of the door.

On the inside, I had to replace the trim around the door and the baseboard trim close to the door because the new door wasn’t exactly in the same position as the old door.  Additionally, I had to do some dry wall repair due to removing the studs in the rough opening, but no big deal.

Now I have a wonderful door installed and the difference in the heat loss on this new door is amazing.  I still have one of the original doors installed in my basement.  When you put your hand on the glass, it is cold to the touch.  Additionall, you put your hand around the gap between the door and the frame and you will find spots where cold air is coming in.  On the new door, the glass is cool, not cold to the touch.  The door has a triple locking mechanism, one lock at the top, bottom and handle.  When it is shut and locked, you don’t feel anything.  Additionally, the door is solid!

I am definitely thrilled with the door, but not looking forward to the price tag of another one when I have to replace the basement door.  Oh, well.

I am fortunate enough to be working with a great person who loaned me his professional camera flash setup so I could take family Christmas pictures.  It was the first time I had ever used a flash outside of the flash on the camera itself.  After a very quick how-to from my friend, I got everything setup in the house and started playing with all of the settings on the camera and the flash intensity.  I set the camera up to match the flash meter, but my pictures ended up too bright.  So, I started playing with all of the possible variables. The flash intensity, the fstop, the aperature, the shutter speed.  Finally, I think I got a wonderful first time professional picture of my girls.

The only problem I have with the picture is the location of the flashes themselves.  It would have been just a little nicer if I had the flashes in a better position to show one flash in the girls eyes.  Otherwise, I am exstatic with the performance of my models.  It’s amazing the difference between two 4 year olds and two 3 year olds in the ability to take direction and hold still for the camera.  Look out world!

A little political humor…

Recently made tomato soup for my family the other night from a recipe based off of the Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup from cooksillustrated.com.  For a family who is mostly lactose intolerant, this was a wonderful soup which I plan to tweak over time.

The basic soup recipe is as follows:

1/4 cup   extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1      medium  onion , chopped medium (about 1 cup)
3      medium  garlic cloves , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
Pinch  hot red pepper flakes (optional)
1      bay leaf
2      (28-ounce) cans  whole tomatoes packed in juice
1      tablespoon  brown sugar
3      large slices  good-quality sandwich bread , crusts removed, torn into 1-inch pieces
2      cups  low-sodium chicken broth
2      tablespoons  brandy (optional, required in my opinion)

1. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion, garlic, red pepper flakes (if using), and bay leaf. Cook, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and their juice. Using potato masher, mash until no pieces bigger than 2 inches remain. Stir in sugar and bread; bring soup to boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until bread is completely saturated and starts to break down, about 5 minutes. Remove and discard bay leaf.

2. Transfer half of soup to blender. Add 1 tablespoon oil and process until soup is smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to large bowl and repeat with remaining soup and oil. Rinse out Dutch oven and return soup to pot. Stir in chicken broth and brandy (if using). Return soup to boil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve soup in individual bowls. Sprinkle each portion with pepper and chives and drizzle with olive oil.

My first tweak on this recipe will be to add some dried chipolte pepper to get a smokey spicy tomato soup.  Don’t know if the rest of the family will like it, but I bet I will!!!!

After hiking at natural bridge for years, the family decided to venture out into the wild wilderness of Red River Gorge. The gorge is much wilder than the natural bridge park, which is probably why I liked it so much. It definitely reminded me of playing in the woods behind our house growing up as a kid. The only challenge is getting two four year old girls through the rugged trails.

On our first trip to the gorge, two weeks ago, we went through Nada tunnel to hike the rough trail towards Gray’s arch. We were amazed driving through Nada tunnel. Who knew such a raw relic of the early 1900’s was sitting in our back yard. The tunnel really set the tone for the rest of the hike.

We started down the rough trail from Hwy 77. We were teased at the beginning with several nice bridges over the stream the trail followed. Eventually, the bridges stopped and our daughters had a blast finding ways to cross the stream hoping from stone to stone. Eventually, the trail started to lead into the hills following the cliff lines. About the time we reached the peak of the hill, two things happened. We saw a storm coming on the horizon and our daughters started whining about how tired they were. So, we high tailed it back to the car and headed home, not quite making it to Gray’s arch.

After enjoying our time on the first hike, we decided to go back again before school started. Jimmy Kosieniak had been trying to get me to go rock climbing with him. Since we were going back, we decided to meet up with him and I would give rock climbing a try.

First, I watched Jimmy start ascend the wall. Quickly working his way up the wall, putting our safety rope in place. Jimmy made it look so easy, I thought this was going to be a fun little masculine exercise.

Boy was I wrong. It started with me putting my size 10 foot in a size 8 shoe. Toes curled under, I started to climb up the wall, or so I thought. I had the toughest time learning how to hug the wall and trust the climbing shoes to hold my big butt on the wall. I must have fallen at least 5 times in the first 10 feet of the wall. Finally, I made it past the first 10 feet and started to fly up the middle section of the wall. Then I got to the point were you had to hold on with a little half inch lip on the wall with your feet and hands.
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It was this point that I yelled down to Adam, my belay, to hold tight cause I was going to fall, and did. I regrouped and suddenly saw a line towards the top, but then I got stuck again. This time, my arms and legs were shaking, my hands were getting really sweaty and I knew I didn’t have the strength in my arms to keep moving up. I yelled down to Tammy to take a picture cause I was done.
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This was a lot of fun and my girls absolutely enjoyed the “party.” They can’t wait to go on another hike to a party and see daddy climb another wall. I just need to find shoes that actually fit so my toes don’t hurt so much the next day!

After a nice day of hiking in Red River Gorge, I am preparing one of our favorite dinners.  Sirloin Taco’s with homemade salsa and brown rice.  I happened to run across this recipe when I was looking for a nice dinner to prepare some friends coming to visit us. I found the sirloin taco & roasted tomato salsa recipe through a google search on a new website I had never run across called Taunton.  I new I wanted rice to go along with it and I have been a huge fan of Alton Brown’s baked brown rice recipe.  Anyway, thought I would share the recipe’s with you.

Sirloin Tacos

by Robb Walsh

how to make

From Fine Cooking 73, pp. 65

Roasted Tomato Salsa

by Robb Walsh

how to make

From Fine Cooking 73, pp. 65

Baked Brown Rice

Alton Brown

ingredients

1 1/2 cups brown rice, medium or short grain
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt

how to make

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.Place the rice into an 8-inch square glass baking dish.

Bring the water, butter, and salt just to a boil in a kettle or covered saucepan. Once the water boils, pour it over the rice, stir to combine, and cover the dish tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, remove cover and fluff the rice with a fork. Serve immediately.