TJ Falls

Cecy wanted to hand make a Halloween costume for Izzy at home this year.  You can see the various stages she went through in making the costume through her blog, thatsITmommy.com

Cecy documented her process through a 3 part series on the blog.  Part 1 was trying to come up with ideas.  Part 2 unveiled the choice. The final part was Cecy’s step-by-step creation of Izzy’s outfit as a “Nerd Hello Kitty”.

via Handmade Halloween Costume on a Budget Part 3 « thatsITmommy’s Blog.

A mi familia:

Me encantaría que ustedes conoscan a mi hija, Isa. Ahora está 2 1 / 2 años de edad y ella es un puñado. Ella ha crecido mucho y estoy triste que ustedes no esten aquí para verla crecer. Quiero compartir su vida con todos ustedes y espero que seremos capaces de visitar pronto. Espero que les recuerdan a mí. La abuela Loly cree que sí.  Se podría pensar que nunca los tengo en mis pensamientos, pero yo sí. Los quiero a todos y espero que vengan para el viaje de la vida de Isa.

Con much amor,

Cecy

We invite you to see Izzy grow and reach all her milestones with us as we open her world to our family and friends. This is Izzy in her Tinkerbell Fairy costume this past Halloween at her new day care center at The Samuel Goldwyn Foundation Childcare Center. Stick around for more of Izzy and our family.

With Love,

The Falls Family

I came across this interesting essay – What Startups Are Really Like which was derived from a talk that Paul Graham gave at the 2009 Startup School.  Covers a few intersting points such as

• Be Careful with Cofounders
• Startups Take Over Your Life
• Think Long-Term
• Investors are clueless
• Luck Is a Big Factor

…and many more.

Check it out via What Startups Are Really Like.

This blog has been officially launched!  What that means for you?  Not much of anything!  If you’ve been reading my postings, then you’ve seen my work in progress changes.  Basically by officially launching, all I’m doing is stating that I feel the blog is in good enough shape to be given out and linked.  There are still many tweaks and fixes I need to do…mostly behind the scenes, but I’m pretty happy with where I am at.  I am running version 1.0 beta of my custom theme.

Arriving at the event check in!

Cisco presentation was first up followed by a Windows Phone presentation.

The Windows 7 presentations are about to begin.

Demo of some of Windows 7’s new features including Aero Peak.

…and the Recent Items/ Shortcut views directly from the taskbar

Microsoft’s “the NEW efficiency” presentation has come to an end.

The seminar has finished and we are all to receive copies of Windows 7 Ultimate. Great!  As I get my copy I notice that it’s a 32-bit only version…wha????  Who is the genius at Microsoft that OK’d distributing 32-bit only versions of a product (that sells with both 32 & 64-bit versions on it) at an IT Professional and Developer conference?  I doubt 10% of the audience has been running 32-bit for years!  We were able to turn in our copies and fill out a form so that we could receive a 64-bit version by mail in 4-6 weeks.  Sheesh.  Obviously one can’t get too upset when receiving something for free…it’s just a shame that after such an enjoyable day that I had to go home with such a bad taste in my mouth.  Well played Microsoft.

Preparing to upgrade my computer to Windows 7 (64-bit).  While backing up drivers and software, I noticed that Canon does not have a 64-bit version of their RAW codec.  I came across this free codec pack that looks like it could do the trick.  It supports  bunch of different formats.  I’m only interested in the CR2 format for my Canon Rebel XSi, but it looks like it could be a nice collection of formats for those who need it:

A free collection of 32 and 64-bit raw image decoders for Windows 7, Vista and XP.

via Fast Picture Viewer | WIC RAW Codec Pack for Windows 7, Vista and XP.

Today I’ve completed improvements to the Image Gallery.  I updated much more than I originally had planned.  Version 1.1 of my custom theme has been pushed live.

• Image Gallery now validates XHTML Strict 1.0 on all pages except the password protected entry point.  I’ve redesigned a custom password entry page and it validates as XHTML 1.0 Transitional.
• I’ve combined the various password protected albums into groupings.  This helps so that a person only needs to enter the user name and password once to get access to the groupings of albums rather than needing to enter a user name and password for each album.  This seems to be the best solution working within the restrictions of ZenPhoto – the engine behind my gallery.
• I’ve created a custom 404 page for the Image Gallery with a search function.  This page is good for the time being.  Once I get a custom 404 page built for my site, I’ll decide if I’ll merge that look into the Image Gallery’s 404 page, or just keep it as is.
• The main Gallery RSS feed is now linked to Feedburner.  I had to create a few custom PHP functions based off the core RSS functions to link to the outside RSS host.  All albums, images, comment RSS feeds are still run by the internal engine.
• Other misc. tweaks and bug fixes went into this update.  I’m fairly happy with where it is at.

Now I’ve just got to get new pictures uploaded!

The Image Gallery has been officially launched.  I am running version 1.01 of my custom theme.  That being said, there are a few areas I would still like to update.

• Image Gallery validates XHTML Strict 1.0 on all pages except the password protected galleries entry point.  I have 1 error.  I could solve the problem by having the page DOCTYPE be Transitional, however, I feel using Strict for the Image Gallery is the way to go.
• To solve my validation problem, I plan on creating a new Password protected entry point web page.  This will allow me more flexibility than that I currently have utitilizing the password components of the core engine of the gallery.
• I plan on creating a new 404 page for the Image Gallery.  This is low priority, but I’d like to create a consistent 404 page for the entire website.  Once I do that, I’ll morph that page into an Image Gallery specific 404 page that matches the theme.

This blog is a Work-In-Progress.  It is not quite ready for primetime yet.  If you’ve stumbled upon it, please come back soon once we’ve officially launched.  In the meantime, check out the Image Gallery which has gone LIVE as of Sept. 18, 2009!

Adam Richman of Travel Channel’s Man vs. Food went to Orochon Ramen in Downtown LA to try their Special #2 challenge.  Cecy and I took a trip one afternoon to try out the food for ourselves.

Their menu has 7 levels (+2 Special levels) – from spiciest to non-spicy:

• Special #2
• Special #1

1. Extreme Orochon
2. Hyper Orochon
3. Impact Orochon
4. Orochon
5. Osae Orochon
6. Osae-Osae Orochon
7. Non-Spicy Orochon

Adam Richman may have tackled the Special #2 on his first visit, we decided to be a bit more conservative, while still being bold.  I took on Level 3 (Impact Orochon) while Cecy ordered Level 2 (Hyper Orochon).

Level 3 for TJ, Level 2 for Cecy

The food was very spicy.  I don’t think I’d want to get anything more spicy.  In the end, I finished most of my soup with only some broth left (below).  Cecy finished less of her’s.  Trying both versions, it’s amazing how much spicier Level 2 was from Level 3.  I hate to image what a Special #2 tastes like!