What's Wrong With This Picture?

Look carefully at the image below...
You may need to click on the image to see the full-size version.

Biking... with food!

So, I'm "ice biking" this winter. The coldest temp I've biked in thus far is +5°F. Today, my company is holding a holiday potluck, and I brought my fruit and veggie stew in a Crock Pot. Did I allow the need to safely transport tasty potluck goodness derail my commitment to biking? NO!

Dying Drives, Data Recovery, and Lessons Learned

For the past year, I've been considering the purchase of a network attached storage device with mirrored RAID drives. The goal of this purchase would be to store all our long-term data (pictures etc.) in a location that's independent of any particular PC/laptop that we're currently using. Mirrored RAID would, I figured, provide some insurance against disk failure. But this would be EXPENSIVE I said, and so I delayed.
Then, last week, our external USB drive died. Whenever it was plugged into the computer, it would cause the whole machine to lock up. All our digital pictures were on that drive, and few of them were backed up anywhere else. What's the dollar value of 5 years of pictures? Hazel's birth, trips to Zambia and China, camping trips and vacations - all gone. Most professional data recovery companies want $200 just to get started, and if things get complicated - the cost can approach $2000. I didn't have $2k to spend, but it was sure going to be hard to say goodbye to all those memories.
Fortunately, with the help of a coworker, some magic was worked. The pics were all recovered, along with most of my other files. Now, I'm happy to spend $250 for that NAS device. Additionally, we're signing up for Mozy. Mozy backs up your files online - so they're safe even if your house is leveled by a tornado. The service is ~$4 per month. Now we can archive even more digital memories, and I can rest easy knowing they're safe.

New job, with a view

Did you hear that I started a new job downtown? I'm working at LogicPD. Logic has a fun artistic atmosphere, free pop, and I can easily walk or bike the two miles from home to the office. I tried taking some of my own photos of the new office, but it was too dim/cloudy. So, here's an image I stole from the company blog. I'm working on a 360° panoramic view from my cube... stay tuned. For now, check out the view:

Humor in Unexpected Places

I just read the following warning in an electronic product datasheet. I hope you're not overwhelmed by the highly technical language.

Note1: The power supply capacity should be more than the fusing current. If it is less than the fusing current, the fuse may not blow in a short time, and then nasty smell, smoke and so on may occur.

That's right folks: nasty smell, smoke, AND SO ON!!!