Silvershoe - train stop motion

Steven, my cousin, just sent me their latest project. It's a little weird to see the house you celebrate Christmas every year in a video. Even if it is only YouTube.

Subscribe to their YouTube channel. For the discerning eye, a higher quality can be found here.

$.86 a tank

Originally uploaded by olsenis.

Sarah and her Dad share a Safeway card. One of the perks is reduced gas prices for spending money on groceries. Personally, the most I have saved on a gallon is $.10 with my card. Their account built up to $2.10 off a gallon and it had to be used yesterday or it would be gone. She had just filled up the day before so I treated my Jeep to a tank of the good stuff.

March blizzard in Denver

Originally uploaded by olsenis.

Woo hoo, it's snowing in Denver! 12+ inches were forecasted yesterday but I woke up to only a light dusting on the grass. Bummed out I headed to work despite various school closures. Flash forward eight hours and I'm back home. My client decided that it was best to play it safe and send all non-essential staff home early. That was a good move because an hour after I made it home the wind and snow picked up. Accumulations went from nothing to what you on the patio table. Exciting stuff.

On Monday of this week, the temperature broke 80 degrees. A few days later and it is a foot of snow. I guess that's life in Colorado's front range. Click on the photo to see my other flickr photos.

Facebook: why it doesn't suck

An open letter to my non-Facebook friends,

Facebook was started in 2004 by a Harvard student. Since then it has spread from campus to campus and now the world. The name refers to the paper books campuses give to freshman to help them get to know one and another. The basic concept is to have an private, online profile that can be shared with friends. The profile or "wall" can contain a variety of contact information, photos, and status updates.

My Facebook experiment started six months ago. Logging into my account after reading an article in Wired, I was shocked to see how active my two friends were. Engaging discussions between friends were headlining the home page followed by recent photos from my sister. Being a bit of a online nerd, I felt like the last to the party.

Technically, my account was created December 2006 where it sat untouched for two years listing only my name and location. The last thing I wanted was another inbox to check. To my surprise, it has been a fun distraction during downtime but easily forgettable when busy. At this point, I check in every couple of days to see what people are up to, new photos, and play the occasional online game. My wall (aka profile) is alive with messages, web links, and photos. The thing that sets Facebook aside from email is that most of the stuff posted does not require a response. Facebook is more like the Christmas newsletter from the relatives. Interesting to read but not a big deal if you don't get to it until January. In more ways than one, Facebook is taking the place of email as a one stop shopping to easily share photos, web links, and general info. For example, you might want to set a status message about the free Bill Shatner book signing you are heading to tonight. It's not worth a broadcast email but pointy eared Trekker friends might be interested. Busy friends that don't have time for Shat will not be bothered.

In the interest of science, create yourself an account with a fake name (or just part of your name) and friend me. See what it is all about. If you don't like it you can always trash the account. Coming soon, Facebook: tips and tricks.

iTunes Smart Playlist - get more from your music

Not sure what to listen to? Put iTunes to work. The larger your music library the more fun you can have with this. New to Smart Playlists? See my iTunes Smart Playlists - quick intro.

Awesome Songs You Haven't Heard Lately
This playlist will look for songs that you have played more than five times but haven't listened to in a month.

From The Slow Lane

New Songs You Haven't Listened To
This playlist is looking for songs added in the last month that haven't been played. Smart playlists are continually changing so if you haven't bought any music in a month it could be empty. Conversely, as soon as you buy a new album all the songs will be in this list. I make sure this playlist is always on my iPhone, so all my new purchases go with me.

From The Slow Lane

The Fresh Top 30
The thirty songs you play the most but haven't listened to in the last month. Be careful, this playlist may betray you by showing everyone how much you listen to Britney Spears and Crazy Dogggz.

From The Slow Lane

Adventures with Zanzibarbarians

Originally uploaded by olsenis.

Sarah's brother, Matt, is a junior at Cornell this year. He decided to spend spring semester on the other side of the world--Africa. Matt stayed with us for a couple of days before his flight(s) to the old world (I want to say there were at least five). Of course he was anxious and worried about the trip but he promised to take lots of photos and post to his new blog as much as possible. He has been soaking up the Zanzibar culture ever since and putting lots of it online.

This brings me to the point. While I'm sure many of you have never met the guy, I think that he writes with such a strong voice it doesn't matter. It is a funny look at the pros / cons of visiting a new culture. Here is the link to the main page:

http://jorgensenzanzibar.blogspot.com/

Here is a quick shortcut to his's first post:

http://jorgensenzanzibar.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html

Use the calendar on the left to chronologically navigate through the posts and try to catch up. At the bare minimum skim through and check out his photos--amazing.

PS you may be wondering what snowboarding has to do with any of this? Well, nothing. It is the only photo of Matt that I have. Sarah is on the far right and Matt is left of her, then Marty and Chris.