Tigers Playoffs

Last September i was thinking of buying tickets to see a Detroit Tiger playoff game. But it turned out that the ALDS (round 1) was going to be September 30 - October 6. I was going to be in Italy those days so i wouldn't be able to go. But i thought, i'll just try and see if i even could get tickets. I remember hearing stories of people going crazy trying to buy world series tickets a few years ago. Here's what the process was like. I went to tigers.com the day the tickets went on sale and saw thisI clicked on Game 1 and was directed to this screen, the Virtual Waiting Room. I have to say that this is actually a good idea. It's not...

Blog Stats

Blogger.com has the cool ability to show the stats of people who visit your blog. It shows tons of stuff like what country they are viewing it from, what operating system they use and what page they viewed.I was surprised to see that the most popular pages each month are always the IQ Light and TV Antennas and Fractals. With over 200 pages i usually get around 1000 views a month, which is nuts. ...

CHDK

This all started when i searched Google for "how to take pictures of stars." Lots of links came up for this program called CHDK. CHDK - Stands for Canon Hacker Development Kit.The short explanation is that Canon cameras have the hardware ability to do all of these cool things but the software installed by the factory doesn't allow for it. This is a free program that allows the camera to function at the limits of its abilities. It was created by many different people over the years and it all started by people just wanting to get RAW images from their camera. It has been evolving and added onto ever since.If you are interested...

More Drain Pipe

In mid September i installed yet another drainage pipe in my yard. This time however i used black corrugated plastic pipe instead of PVC. I should have used this stuff from the beginning. It's much easier to use, cheaper, can bend around corners and doesn't need additional fittings.The new pipe is at the back of my house. I first dug a small trench. This went a lot faster since i didn't hit tree roots like last time. Although i did have to dig up some potatoes in the process. I also unearthed my bamboo roots. But i laid the pipe and backfilled the trench with grass clippings. Then dumped dirt on top. Like before, i used grass clippings...

Italy - Days 8-10

Day 8 - VeniceOctober 3 We had to get up real early to catch the train to Venice. The train took a little over 3 hours and made 4 stops along the way. Here's Karrie deciding what to get on the food cart. Finally arrived and this was the view walking out of the train station. While waiting to buy tickets for the vaporetto (water taxi) we found out that there was a 24-hour strike. Time to panic. But it turned out that just one boat was running, from the train station to the Rialto Bridge. So we bought a ticket and got on. It was really crowded, we sat up front.The Grand Canal.The Rialto Bridge.View from on top of the bridge. I would...