March 29, 2005
GPS visualizer
A while ago I was told about GPS visualizer. It's an interactive website where you can upload track files (and other GPS data) and view it overlaid on various maps.
The thing that makes it interesting for me is that the speed data can be represented on the track, which is something I wish Ozi Explorer would do, because the uploading and downloading process is a rather tortuous procedure on GPS visualizer.
First, you upload the track data, then you view it as an Scaled Vector Graphics file, meaning a viewer from Adobe is required. (2300kb). Once that is downloaded and installed and you successfully create a map, you can download the SVG to your hard drive.
To display it on a website as a JPEG, you have to upload it again to the GPS Visualizer site and have it converted. Then you can download the JPEG file.
Kind of a pain. I suppose I could just do the old "Alt-Prt screen" to capture the file, Paste it to Paintshop Pro and then save it as a JPEG. Something tells me the quality wouldn't be there. I'll try it when I'm bored.
Here's the result. It's a bike ride from about a year ago around my neighborhood. I suppose I could have done one of the sailboat races last year but I'll have the chance in a few weeks - no days(!).
March 28, 2005
Countdown to Wednesday Nights Racing, 2005
Time to roll out a Countdown Clock! Wednesday night Sailboat Races, 2005! April 6, 2005, 6:15 CDT!Countdown Clock
March 23, 2005
I can't wait...
...for Daylight Saving Time to start.
It's Spring, and that means the day time is are longer than the nights, and soon Daylight Saving time will be in effect.
Some people complain about DST; I love it. Some also complain about the name; that nothing is being saved - How can anyone save daylight?
My answer is: I'm saving the time that the sun is out for ME. I'm using it for myself and takin' it away from the Man, man. Mostly, it's a way to get sailing time in after normal work hours.
Granted, since I left a regular "job", this has less significance. Actually it doesn't. UHCL tends to have a lot of classes in the evenings which has the potential to gum up a the works, But it still feels good to have time in the evenings to do other things.
Another reason I like DST is when I lived in Arizona, there was no DST. Apparently in the hotter parts of the state they feel they have enough sunlight. I lived in Flagstaff, up in the mountains where it wasn't so warm and I didn't really understand why Arizona didn't observe it. I knew that folks said there were enough hours of intense sunlight there, and being a dumb kid, I had other things to occupy my mind. When I left and moved to Texas it was hard to get used to for the first time. I didn’t really care for it until I got into sailing. And that's the main reason I like DST: more daytime to sail.
March 01, 2005
Thank God It's March
January and February are the dreariest times of year in Southeast Texas. It's rainy often, cloudy more often and those few days that are sunny are usually not on the weekends. The grass is brown, and the weeds begin to invade the yard. And, I find myself not having made a post for a while, so here goes...
Is it my imagination, or are there NO movies worth seeing anymore?
K. and I thought we'd go to a movie last weekend when it was wet, gray, nasty and raining.
I called movie phone and listened Kosmo Kramer tell us what was playing at the local Megaplex.
Nothing.
Well, actually it wasn't nothing; it was twelve or thirteen nothings.
Last week when the Oscars(tm)(c)(r) were being hyped, I honestly could say that none of the movies that were nominated held any interest for me.
Is it me? Or is it that the quality of movies have dropped off? Perhaps I'm just sick of Hollywood's glitz and noise and that makes me less interested in movies over all?
Or is it that since Arnold moved to Sacramento, any hope of another Conan the Barbarian movie that doesn't suck (they are 1 for 2) is gone.
Looking at www.upcomingmovies.com gives me some hope:
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - April 29th, 2005 (Can it be better than the previous incarnations of this story? I hope so, but the BBC radio version is the one to beat)
Star Wars III - May 19th, 2005 (I have BIG reservations: The whole Star Wars series "Jumped The Shark" with the Ewoks back in the late 1980's and George Lucas never looked back. But, perhaps this may be the dark, interesting beginning of Darth Vader, and the movie may be worth seeing just for that.) That has been one of the problems with the these newer Star Wars films - no Big, Bad Evil Empire. Kind of like living in the post cold war world.
War of the Worlds - June 29th, 2005 Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg.... I used to like both of them for their movies, so maybe this will be good. On the other hand, I'm afraid Cruise might to to this movie what he did to Mission Impossible.
The Wallace and Gromit Movie - October 7th, 2005 Okay, I admit it, I liked Chicken Run. Yeah, it's a kiddy flick, but the animation is excellent and the humor is great. The three Wallace and Gromit shorts, created by Nick Park feature the characters of an Englishman with a liking for cheese and his dog (who messes about with electronics). The set is worth getting on DVD.
Die Hard IV - (lots of reservations. The first one was a fun action flick, and after that it went downhill, probably because I was educated about things like Air Traffic control rules, which made one of the sequels completely unbelievable. This movie may not even happen. The release date is TBA and it's unclear if filming has even started)
On the other hand, I despair....There were dozens of movies I was totally indifferent to, but these are ones I will not see. They simply stick in my craw:
The Honeymooners - Please. No more. Let Jackie Gleason rest in peace. Keep Alice on the moon.
Bewitched - Let Darren and Endora and all the witches and warlocks remain in TV land where they belong.
Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo - Gag. As if the first one wasn't bad enough. Who funds these wastes of celluloid?
George A. Romero's Land of the Dead. - Okay, Why does Romero think adding his name to this will help the movie? True, his Night of the Living Dead is a classic B-flat movie. But the only other movie I remember him doing was Knightriders, which was also a B-flat movie. Except for the girl, I think she had C's... :-)
Anyway, there's more movies out there that I don't want to see than ones I do; and I'm sure there are some are out there that I've missed.
I can't wait for midterms to end so I can think a little about sailing!!!