Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse from William Castleman on Vimeo.
Month: December 2010
Logan Photos & Videos, July to September 2010
It’s that time again: I’ve wrapped up editing on the photos and videos taken of my wonderful son Logan earlier this year, from July to September 2010. He turned one in August, so over the three month period it was amazing to watch him grow and change, constantly learning new things.
Why is Outlook 2010 Still So Stupid?
It’s somewhat laughable that in 2010, Outlook still lacks the basic software intelligence to help make the lives of its users easier. If there are known elements (day of the week, day of the month, a time, and a time zone) it shouldn’t be difficult to create a function in the software that would automatically parse and order that data into an appointment – all that would be missing is a description and location (though the latter could be part of the data points). Despite everyone embracing the cloud, I still stand by Outlook as my pain productivity weapon for email, calender, tasks, contacts, etc. It works extremely well for me – far better than any cloud-based solution I’ve tried.
I should add that I’ve seen some Outlook add-ins that do some things like this – specifically with contacts – but I don’t like loading up Outlook with add-ins. The core functionality of Outlook needs to improve.
AT&T Releases “Don’t Text While Driving” Documentary
This is powerful stuff here – and it’s part of the continued groundswell against texting while driving. If you’ve ever read or sent a text while driving – and, shamefully, I have to put myself in that category – this is something you should watch. Please share it with other people as well.
Designing a Family Heirloom: The Celtic Cross
My faith is very important to me – it’s a cornerstone of who I am as a person. And, if my son or future children choose to follow in that faith, I wanted to have something to give them at the end of my life that was a physical reminder of the path that I followed. I wanted to create something unique, and something that would last for generations. Titanium seemed like the best choice for that – it’s an extremely durable material that should last for a very long time. I did a lot of research, spending hours looking at different online jewellery sites, and I decided to use Titanium Workshop, settling on their Celtic Cross design (I’m of Scottish decent). They had some nice enamelling options, so I selected red and opted for the satin brushed texture. I also had them do some custom engraving on the back. Below is the end result:
The custom engraving on the back was an extra charge, but I think it adds a lot to the piece – it makes it unique, which is what I wanted. The staff at Titanium Workshop were great about answering questions I had, providing me with a render showing the red enamel, and allowing me to submit an incredibly poorly hand-drawn sketch and understanding exactly what I wanted.
When the cross first arrived, I was extremely impressed with the quality of the enamel and custom text; it looked great! There were two small issues though: the first was that there was some sort of material in the upper right-hand corner on the front. I had no idea what it was, but I didn’t want to start picking away at it. The other issue was that the front of the cross had the stain (brushed) texture, which looked amazing. The back though had a mirror-like finish, which I wasn’t expecting. I contacted Titanium Workshop and their excellent customer service people offered to fix both issues if I sent it back. I did, and within a few days of them receiving it, I had the cross back in my hands. I’m extremely happy with how well it turned out, and have my eye on ordering another product from them – just as soon as I can confirm 100% which Scottish clan I’m descended from…which is proving to be more difficult than I thought. But that’s a story for another day…
UPDATE: After having this cross for a few years, I was travelling in New York and changed out of my work event clothes into my street clothes in a bathroom before boarding an airplane…and lost the cross. I was very upset about losing it, and to make matters worse, the company who made it for me no longer offers this product. Apparently there was one craftsperson who did this type of enamelling and not only did he leave the company, they have no idea how to contact him. I went all-out trying to recover the cross: I contacted various people at the airport, and even local pawn shops. Nothing worked. As recent as early 2018 I emailed half a dozen different companies with the above photos, asking about re-creating it, and would you believe that not one is able to do so? The red enamel coating is the problem – some can get “red-ish” but not what I’m looking for. Who knew that when I created this as an heirloom it really would be a one of a kind item that I couldn’t get created again? ????
Help Me Win $1250 for Kids Who Need It This Christmas
Hi everyone! I need your help to win an unboxing contest that Best Buy is running on Facebook, and it’s for a good cause. Since I do a lot of those, I thought hey, why not enter? There are two grand prizes of $2500 CAD each, awarded as Best Buy gift cards. Since we’re coming up on Christmas, sharing the grand prize if I win makes sense – so I’ve publicly committed to donating half of the prize ($1250) to kids involved with Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Calgary And Area. My mother works for that organization, and I’ve seen first hand the needs that some of these families have. She works with the in-school mentoring program, which pairs younger kids with senior citizen mentors. Apparently the kids are Nintendo Wii-crazy, and it’s an activity the seniors and kids can do together, so I think what I’ll do is buy as many Nintendo Wii bundles as I can with $1250 (it should be at least five of them).
Here’s how you can help me, and the kids, win – oh, and enter to win a $150 gift card yourself!
- Log into Facebook, and visit the Best Buy Unboxing Day Contest Site. Click Allow when the app asks for your permission. I’ve noticed there’s a weird bug with Internet Explorer 8 where it loops the process for almost a minute, so you may want to use Firefox or Chrome if you run into trouble.
- Find my Samsung Focus video (it’s currently the newest entry, see above) and click on it, then click on Vote in the window that pops up. You’ll need to fill out a little form; I know, we all hate “paperwork”, but this is how YOU get entered to win the $150 gift card, and you can’t vote without doing this step.
- Return to that contest site every day to vote – you can vote once every day up until December 31st.
The winners will be announced January 3rd, 2011, and if I win, I’ll announce it here and provide details and photos of the Wii’s I purchase.
If you’d like to watch the video, here it is:
The TSA is Out of Control
I don’t fly very often – maybe four times a year at most – but I’ve been amazed at the slowly increasing level of security at airports in the way that it slowly but surely grinds down the freedoms of passengers who travel. My experience trying to do something as simple as bring a laptop bag with me to CES 2010 is a perfect example of this. The video above though is simply outrageous; as a relatively new parent, with a child who is still breastfeeding, I found this particularly painful to watch. The way this mother was harassed is simply mind-boggling. That the TSA agents would vengefully target her – that they would force her to miss her flight to teach her a lesson – is a grotesque abuse of power. Someone needs to reign in the TSA. Please share this video with others and let your voice be heard on this issue.