General – Page 66 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

Map of online communities

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XKCD (A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language) offers up a map of online communities done in a fantasy or “D&D” style.

Click on the image above or the image below to be taken to the full map. It’s well worth it as there are any number of excellent (if not obtuse) geek references as well as at least one cartography joke for those of us who enjoy that sort of thing.

Via Maproom

Jay Lee 2.0

At our recent annual kick off event in Florida I started promoting Jay Lee 2.0, the kinder, gentler Jay Lee. This coincides with the recent update of my photo used at the Houston Chronicle.

Since I started writing for them nearly 7 years ago this has been the picture used in the paper and, more recently on the web site and blog.

Great picture, but not so accurate some seven years later.

Dwight started talking to me about going by The Chronicle building and getting a new head shot. I finally got down there a few weeks ago and Houston Chronicle staff photographer Smiley Pool did the honors.

Certainly not the most compelling photograph he’s ever taken in his journalistic career.

Here’s hoping it’ll last for another 7 years.

Disco Expressions (again)

Disco Expressions had their second “official” gig last Friday at the Continental Club this past Friday.
By all accounts, it was a huge success.

My best picture of Jim performing to date:

Click for full size

Paul Beebe was a little bit frightening:

Random shots

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Random

Last night, in the back room of the Continental Club, I was asked by Trisha to take a picture or her, her sister Becky and David Beebe. I pulled out the camera and popped the flash and shot one shot. I forgot I had it in program mode and set to black and white.

Here is the result:

Click for full size

I like it.

The serious look on the face of The Colonel (David Beebe) is contrasted by the playful smiles of The Dancing Sisters and the whole picture is sent into a bit of a tailspin by the perpendicular “Where’s Waldo” cameo appearance of Conn in the lower right corner.

More pictures of the evening’s festivities coming soon.

What time is the eleven o’clock duck parade?

The hotel they have us shacked up in is for this event is the Peabody Orlando.
It’s pretty posh, but not exquisite or anything. Convention rates put the rooms at $200 a night (company is paying) so I am sure they’re more expensive for the average visitor.

The “mascot” of this hotel is the Peabody Duck and since opening its doors on November 1, 1986, The Peabody Orlando has continued, in unbroken sequence, the traditional March of The Peabody Ducks which began at its sister property, The Peabody Memphis, many, many years ago.

Each morning, promptly at 11 a.m. the ducks ride in a special elevator that descends from their $100,000 penthouse Royal Duck Palace.

When the elevator doors open, The Peabody Ducks, accompanied by their crimson-and-gold-braid-jacketed Duck Masterâ„¢, take up their positions on a plush red carpet and begin The March of The Peabody Orlando Ducks to the strident tones of John Philip Souza’s King Cotton March.

Oh the huge manatee!

I have been dispatched to Orlando, FL to support the companies annual sales rally. It the one time each year all of our sales critters are brought together to be educated and hyped on the corporate sales strategy.

Overall, it’s not a bad gig for me. Good food and a luxury hotel combined with an endless stream of sale people who each owe me a drink, or WILL owe me a drink so let’s just get it out of the way thankyouverymuch.

My Internet friend Suzanne lives out on the coast in nearby Melbourne. She and her husband recently moved there from Lansing, Michigan. Since I was in the neighborhood I dropped her a line and we arranged to meet up for lunch at a pretty cool tiki bar and grill called Bonefish Willies. Great place!

From there went by her art gallery and checked out some of her painting and then moved on to a local park where you can go out on this small pier and actually pet a manatee. When we arrived there were around 6 or 7 of these odd creatures milling about.

Apparently they’re quite common around these parts. Regardless, I was very excited to see them for the first time and to actually get to pet one on his grizzly little manatee head.

Thanks Suzanne for showing me a little slice of life in Florida I would not have otherwise seen on this business trip!

I was pretty beat after I got back to the hotel but I snapped this from my hotel room window before crawling into bed and getting some sleep.

Lizardo – King of our yard-o

I spotted Lizardo as he was leaping onto a palm frond in the front garden. It’s the first sighting of him since acquiring the new camera. I quickly affixed the Tamron AF 28-75mm f2.8 XR Di in the hopes of getting a macro shot of the big fella.

Oddly enough, he did not retreat as I moved toward him and took aim. In fact at one point he started to move toward the camera. I supsect he saw his reflecting in the lens and perhaps saw it as a rival lizard trespassing on his domain.

Whatever the reason, he allowed me to get quite close.

Click for full size

IT (special) Olympics

So my boss came up with the idea of having a team building exercise call The IT Olympics.
Basically we’ve broken into teams and are competing on a Nintendo Wii for bragging rights.

Jeana (my manager and teammate) prepares to knock one out of the virtual park

Home run!

To be honest, I was a bit sceptical of this activity, but I’m actually having a pretty good time.