Nov29th

New Camera - Canon PowerShot SD870

Patrick Tech Read on

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I’ve been using the Nikon D70 for 3 years and have snapped over 20,000 pictures with it (a good portion of them posted in the photo gallery). About 6 months ago I really started disliking taking pictures and realized it was because my D70 is really big and I hated lugging it around.

Well, we just purchased a Canon PowerShot SD870 IS Digital ELPH, and I like it almost as much as the D70.

Obviously the D70 has better glass and is all-around a better camera; however, I like the Canon almost as much for the following reasons…

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Jul18th

Remote Desktop Connection Bar Pushpin

Patrick Tech Read on

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I use Microsoft’s Remote Desktop functionality to remotely manage my servers. For those that have not used Remote Desktop, this software allows people to see exactly what’s happening on computers that are physically situated elsewhere, just as if they were sitting at that computer. It comes in real handy if I want to see what my server’s are doing and I don’t feel like driving to San Jose or elsewhere.

Recently, Microsoft released Remote Desktop 6. There are some nice improvements that make the upgrade worthwhile; however, there is 1 new feature that bugs the shit out of me daily and it’s the reason I’m blogging today.

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Jun4th

Uncle Patrick’s (Useful or Useless) Tip of the Day - Spyware, & how to remove it

Patrick General Read on
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The spyware epidemic

I’m bringing this blog to you today in the hopes that it helps you understand what’s happening with spyware and what you can do to remove it from your system if you’ve become infected.

I’ve been seeing tons of spyware problems with my customer’s and friend’s computers. I’m not exactly sure what they’re doing, but somewhere within their websurfing, a spyware situation arises, and they’ve allowed it into their system. I’m 98% certain that that’s the only way spyware can get into their system; whether it’s installing a program, clicking a malicious link or navigating through warning messages without reading and understanding the ramifications of their answer. The pictures to the left are just an example of what can happen if spyware becomes entrenched within your operating system; I took pictures with my camera instead of capturing screenshots using software because I didn’t want to copy anything from that computer, not even a screenshot. That computer was a sinking tuna boat and, to this day, it’s still the only computer I’ve not been able to fix without wiping Windows and starting over. I should point out that it may save some time to wipe a computer and then reinstall the operating system, but you’re almost guaranteed to lose something important.

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Feb13th

HD DVD and Blu-ray Encryption Circumvented!

Patrick General Read on

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5.18.2007

Some fantastic follow up: Latest AACS revision defeated a week before release - This is great news!
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The importance of this breakthrough is enormous! Movie companies such as Disney and Warner Bros (and other companies such as Toshiba, Microsoft & Panasonic) have spent millions of dollars to create an encryption method for their movies that keeps people who’ll be using the Sony Blu-ray or the HD DVD format tied to a particular technology. These 2 formats are the upcoming DVD formats slated to supersede our current DVD’s.

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Feb10th

Site Redesign - version 7

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I’d like to proudly present the 7th iteration of PatrickAustin.com!

Since the site is hosted on a new server, I thought I would also completely change the layout of the site. Here’s what’s changed…

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Feb2nd

Good Times!

Patrick General Read on

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Well it’s February 2007 and time has flown by since I last posted any articles at this site.

Our baby Madeline is now 10 months old and she has 6 teeth. She has been keeping us very busy as she’s now crawling and almost walking. Daryl and I have adjusted to having Madeline in our care and we’re getting used to sleeping again now that Madeline is sleeping through the night… which is very nice! Although there’s been some talk of ordering another rug rat in the not-so-distant future; so we’re not going to get too used to our current sleeping lifestyle. 2006 was a busy year for babies! Matt & Mia had a little boy named Marcello, then Dale & Jane had a little boy named Xander, then Chris and Amy had a little boy named Mason. It’s pretty sweet that they’re all the same age and get to grow up together. We don’t have a ton of pics yet with Xander and Mason but hopefully I’ll get back to using my camera again and share some pics here.

Since August we’ve spent lots of time with family and friends. Traveled to Phoenix for Christmas, traveled to Sea Ranch for Thanksgiving, and spent numerous weekends with friends.

As many of you know, my server died in December :) taking down this site (no big deal) and all of my business sites (very big deal!) My company ordered a new server and I spent the majority of December and early January reconfiguring all of our sites and the new server. I swore I would never reinstall a web server’s software again so I included a RAID array in the server (stuff is immediately backed up on a 2nd drive at all times). Then after my server was back, the hardware that connects the server to all the internets started having problems.

The website and server are now working properly; however, the speed of this site will be intermittently slow until I resolve the internet connection issue - so be patient if viewing the Gallery. I’m happy to have notched a shitload of experience under my belt with all of the server stuff I did.

Hope you’re all doing well and Daryl, Madeline and I would like to wish you the best in 2007.

Aug30th

Uncle Patrick’s (Useless or Useful, you decide) Tip of the Day — Inexpensive Red Wine

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Every time I’m at Bottle Barn, a liquor store or a grocery mart, I’m confronted with an overwhelming selection of wine. Since I primarily drink red wine, half the bottles on the shelf become irrelevant (whites, pinks and everything else in between). So instead of 1000 choices, I now have 500; still a plethora of decisions.

I’ve turned to some experts who’ve helped the situation by writing an article in the local newspaper called "Tasting Room". Click here for a link to this article and its archives online I’ve taken their suggestions for a wide range of red wine and then trimmed out anything over $20 and rated between and (except in a few instances) and compiled the list here for your consumption. If you have any suggestions, please reply within the comments; I’d love to hear about your favorites.

This list is in no particular order and each item contains a link to detailed information about the wine on the Tasting Room/Press Democrat website…

 

ZINFANDEL
Sebastiani    2004 Sonoma County - Zinfandel ($15)
7 Deadly Zins    2004 Old Vine, Lodi - Zinfandel ($17)
Francis Coppola    2004 Red Label, California - Zinfandel ($18)
Kendall-Jackson    2004 Vintner’s Reserve, California - Zinfandel ($12)
Camelot    2003 California - Zinfandel ($9)
Atelier    2004 Contra Costa County, California - Zinfandel ($22)
McNab Ridge    2003 Mendocino - Zinfandel ($18)
Sin Zin    2004 Alexander Valley - Zinfandel ($20)
Clos La Chance    2003 Central Coast - Zinfandel ($18)
Edmeades Vineyards    2003 Piffero Vnyrd., Redwood Valley - Zinfandel ($25)
Hanna Winery    2002 Alexander Valley - Zinfandel ($20)

 

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Aug28th

Madeline Update

Patrick General Read on
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Well it’s been 5 months and our little rug rat is doing very well! She’s sleeping through most of the night with only minor wakeups and then feeding around 5 or 6am. We couldn’t be luckier. When awake, she’s super happy 98% of the time and she’s a nonstop talking machine - “she get it from her ma ma” :). Her new nickname is Chat-eline.


I’m a little biased but I think she’s the cutest baby ever. She’s just starting to get affectionate and it’s really running a number on me. I can have a tough day and walk through the door and she gives me her little shy happy grin, let’s out a big scream (baby-talk for “Oh my god it’s daddy!!!”), and then everything is better. Occasionally I’ll bring her into bed in the mornings and she’ll snuggle against my chest and I’ll wrap the blankets around us and I melt - she burps then craps, but that’s ok.


Over the next couple of months Madeline is going to experience some major changes. First, we’re just about to start her on solid foods such as rice cereal. She’s also sleeping in a co-sleeper next to our bed and she’ll be moving to her own room and crib. She’s also starting to teeth a little bit.


I want all of the things that we experienced with my sister’s children to happen now; conversation, big hugs, holding hands - all that stuff. At the same time Daryl and I are trying to embrace today and enjoy her baby talk and complete innocence. The time passes so fast!
Jul24th

Uncle Patrick’s (Useless or Useful, you decide) Tip of the Day - 7 Deadly Sins of Email

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I know I’m guilty, and almost everyone is, of committing one of the “7 Deadly Sins of Email”. Here’s a great article and a must-use guideline for what to include in the emails you send…

Seven Deadly Sins of Email

Oh, and they missed a few and there’s a couple I’d like to expound upon…

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Jun25th

Big John Senkevich … we’ll miss you “Big Guy”

Patrick General Read on

Today my family and I attended a most wonderful celebration. It was a celebration commemorating the life and times of Big John Senkevich. For those of you visiting my site that don’t know about Big John - he was larger than life. He was immense - yah he was a big guy - but that’s not where he garnered his nickname; his heart and aura were HUGE! You felt like a million bucks when he recognized you and you couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by his niceness when you were in his presence. “Hey Gorgeous” or “Hey Big Guy” were the greetings most people recognized as the trademark Big John greetings — and man did those greetings make you feel special!

Big John passed away on June 15th in Santa Rosa, California from a cancer he fought with humor and optimism since his diagnosis in 2004.

John was SO large that he’s still here. Nobody I have known or probably will know will be able to fill the size 1000 shoes he left. We’ve all lost an irreplaceable icon and I feel honored to have been a part of his life (and his wife Ann’s). Here are a few pictures of some fantastic times we’ve had with Ann and Big John…

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I love you “Big Guy” and I will miss you…

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