1998 Trip to Missoula and More

Today's Photo - Tepee Fountain at Thermopolis, WY (1998)
























I just finished the 28 web pages that document our 1998 trip to Missoula, Yellowstone, The Grand Tetons, and more.  If interested, they are at 1998 Trip.


I received the WiFi Ranger router & am testing it, at least as a WiFi repeater.  Right now I am linked to the WiFi Ranger with my laptop. The Ranger is linked to my home WiFi router.  Not the most efficient way to get to the internet, but at a campground, it will give me the choice of using the campground's WiFi or my air card.  So far it was not too difficult to set up & is working.  I'll play around with it & let you know how it works with my iPhone, etc.

Today's Photo - Goose Island, Saint Mary Lake, Glacier National Park, MT (1998)













I'm still alive!  Been spending the last couple of days trying to put together a set of web pages of our first trip to Missoula, Montana in the summer of 1998.  I have even fewer notes from this trip compared to others I've attempted to recreate, and many, many unidentified slides. I sure do like modern digital cameras with GPS locations added to the EXIF data.

Although not inexpensive, the GPS I have attached to my Nikon D200 or D700 not only gives me the location of the image, but also gives me the direction the camera was pointed!  At least some of the photos were taken by my wife Carol with a camera that puts the dates on the negatives.  I have a back for the Nikon F3 that I used to take most of the slides during the trip that puts the date & time in the slide, but it is printed in the space between frames, which is covered up by the slide mount. So, to find the date I'd have to pry apart the mount...

Anyhow, that is what has been keeping me busy.  I'm about a third of the way through the trip - I'll post a link when it is done for those interested.

Till next time.

Cell Phones

Today's Photo - Ice on the Shores of Lake Ontario














Well, the Verizon iPhone has been announced, and I have made my decision.  As I mentioned in a previous post, I have an 8GB iPhone 3G that is well out of contract, so changing wouldn't cost me anything more than upgrading to the latest AT&T iPhone.  But, I have the unlimited data plan, and switching to Verizon would kill that.  I have been using a Sleek antenna with my iPhone & it has extended the range quite a bit.  I also have a Sony RDP-XF100iP dock that has a built in FM radio & can run for a number of hours on its rechargeable battery.  It works well with the 3G phone, but not so well with newer versions. And, I really like using Pandora on the iPhone through the dock, so the unlimited data is a real selling point. And, if I'm out of AT&T cell range, the iPhone can connect to my local WiFi network. So, I've to stick with the 3G phone until version 5 arrives, then consider updating.


As to data, I have a WiFi Ranger router on order.  The advantage of this over many standard routers is it is designed for RVers.  It can connect to a campground WiFi network, a cell USB card, or even a hard wired ethernet and provide any of these inputs as a local WiFi network.  It is fairly new, so I'm sure there will be some birthing pains, but it offers a useful solution. I will be using Millenicom's Advanced Plan (20GB per month on Verizon's network - although they don't admit that is the network they use) for $59.99 per month  for my data services.  Since I'm now averaging over 10 GB per month, they seem to be the best deal.  If it turns out that I use less once I'm off the faster RoadRunner I have at home, I can drop them & switch to a less expensive plan.  Still, their stopping & starting capabilities fit RVing well.

I also plan to add an external antenna, combined with an amplifier & an internal repeating antenna to the trailer.  The brand is still in question.  I like the specifications of the Maximum Signal In Vehicle system, however it isn't available yet & I have to send the antenna to the Escape company fairly soon to have it installed. If it isn't available soon, I'll probably go with a solution by Wilson.

So, that is the communications plan.  Time to throw another log on the fire - it is 4°F outside! More next time...

More Snow III

Today's Photo - The Backyard 1/21/11























I don't want to keep complaining since I did choose to live in Oswego which is situated in the lee of Lake Ontario, but we have been a bit complacent - well below average show for the last two years.  


We have been getting at least a foot every day for the last couple of days - it has reached the point where even if I wanted to shovel, I can't throw it high enough to clear the piles on either side of the driveway!  Time to dig out the snow blower, even for just a couple of inches.  


This morning I shoveled the driveway, went for a walk, and half an hour later when I got back there were another 2" covering what I had shoveled.


As you can guess by this post, I'm getting tired of winter. 

Enough complaining.  It's time to head to the Oswego Library - I'm teaching a beginning class - Introduction to Digital Photography.  Mostly aimed at those that want to learn more about the settings & controls on their Point & Shoot cameras.  

Scanning Old Photos

The Vermilye Family, 1977














A word of warning.  Be very careful of starting a project to scan a couple of old family photos!  A couple has so far turned into over 500 prints, negatives & slides, and there is no end in sight. 


I have an old Epson 3170 Photo flatbed scanner which has a built in light source for slides & negatives, so the mechanics are OK, however it takes forever to clean up each photo. So far I've only run a hundred or so through Photoshop  - I'm trying to do a bunch each evening. For those that have never used it, the Content-Aware Healing Brush is a lifesaver.  Good for getting rid of scratches, dust, various blobs of strange colors, etc.  I'm not sure it is accurate enough to use on presentation images, but it works well for family photos.


For anyone interested in viewing the project, it starts here:  Old Family Photos.


Till next time!