iMac saga...

Okay, to make this story quick, I called Apple Care yesterday and explained to them what happened. I also told them that had Kim from Apple Care told me that my repair wasn't covered that I would NOT have driven down to LA to take it in. I also said it was incredibly poor customer support for them to make a mistake like this and not take care of it. The lady on the phone said she understood but that I needed to talk to her manager. So after a short wait on hold Steve (I don't think anyone except Steve [Jobs] should be called Steve at Apple) came on the line and started to explain how the repair should be covered and that the recall only increase the warrantee to 3 years from time of purpose for people who didn't buy Apple Care. As I started to argue with him I heard him say, "but we made a mistake and I am going to authorize the repair". I couldn't really believe it - I mean I really figured I was going to have to argue my point through a few more levels of management to get a suitable resolution. But after about 15 minutes on the phone the problem was resolved and Apple agreed to repair my iMac for free... So at some point my little cool aide machine (at one point I told them that I drank the Cool Aide three years ago and I really expected more from Apple) is going to be fixed and I can go pick it up.

Smoked iMac update...

Well...

I drove down to Northridge after work today, leaving a bit early to make my 1740 hrs appointment with a Mac Genius. Once I got down there they informed me "sorry" you warrantee is expired and the person lied to you on the phone and the repairs are NOT covered. So I get my estimate (of $658) for the repair and then ask to speak to the manager. That was a complete waste of time and did absolutely nothing. So I was informed that the person on the phone (Kim) annotated in the system that the repair was not covered. I said, "Dude, I drove over 2 1/2 hours to come down here. I guarantee you that I WOULD NOT have done that if the repair wasn't covered. This is BS and you need to do something about it. Well, their something was you can pay or you can leave... He did finally agree to hold on to the machine for a few days (no more than 60) so that if I (as in ME) can figure something out then I won't have to drive back down there to drop it off - again...

Okay, I am not happy, and I am tried...

Goodnight...

Smoked iMac...

Well, my three year old iMac G5 20" 1st generation smoked yesterday morning. Denise got up, tried to use the computer, and I got the "Duane, the computer isn't working" call from across the house. I figured (hoped) that it was something simple, like I had unplugged it or something. However, after a quick check on the cables I realized NOTHING was going on. I didn't have a lot of time to troubleshoot the problem so it had to wait until I got home from work. So I gathered all my troubleshooting guides when I got home and went to work. After about fifteen minutes into it the guide basically said "you're screwed". So I then called Apple to see what they could do/suggest. After an even shorter time on the phone (after the 20 minute wait for a tech) the nice lady confirmed that it was dead. So I then asked about my Apple Care which she informed me expired on 20 Jan 2008. In the course of all this I found some information about known bugs my version of the iMac and I asked her to check on that. She said that my machine was covered under "recall" and as such if the problem is because of that it will be repaired for free! So that was at least a bit of potential good news. So tomorrow I am going to make the trek down to Northridge and drop it off with the Apple guys to see what they can do.

Desirae’s Birthday & Fred...

Today was Desirae’s 7th birthday. Denise made her a nice chocolate cake and the dinner she requested. I know we have celebrated her birthday already when we went up to my mom’s place but today was the real day! She was really happy and it was a lot of even. Anne and her kids came over earlier in the day to exchange gifts and to play for a little bit.

It was made even more special because Desirae’s Uncle Fred was in the country and came to visit. I am not sure if you folks remember but Denise’s sister Michelle and family moved to Bolivia two years ago almost to the day (they left the United States on Valentine Day 06). So Fred made a trip because because of a conference and extended his stay so that he could take care of the stuff still left in the states. For the most part he was selling and giving away everything he could. He came over special to see us to give Denise some stuff that Michelle wanted her to have.

It would have been much nicer to see everyone but at least having Fred over was cool. He is actually going back home on Monday (I think) so he didn’t have a lot of time and he couldn’t spend the night because he has a yard sale he had to attend to the next morning. We did have a nice meal, exchanged some photographs (digitally) and shared some stories.

FWIW (For-What-It's-Worth) the reason the image of Fred doesn't look right is because I used a fill flash that was daylight balanced but didn't gel it to correct for the florescent lights in the kitchen. Had I used a CTO (Correct/Color to Orange) both lights would have matched and the lighting would have looked natural - instead of weird. I could have also pulled it into photoshop and color corrected it there - but that would have been a pain...

Lunar Eclipse...

Dennis O'Keefe and Rob Mendoza reminded me today of the Lunar Eclipse that was scheduled for tonight. I am really glad they reminded me because I would have completely missed it minus seeing it start while driving home. But had I not known to look for it I don't think I would have noticed it. It was pretty difficult to photograph because my longest lens is only 340 mm with a teleconverter. Anyway I pulled out that combination along with my tripod (and warm clothing) and started snapping away trying to catch something interesting. With the long exposures and such it was hard to get good images but I think this one was one of the better ones. I also have some in various stages of the eclipse and when I can put more time toward it I will process those as well!

Anyway I hope that you had a chance to see it yourself!

Photo boondoggle to Del Valle...

Max, Desirae and I ventured out for a photo excursion today. We ended up near Del Valle Lake, which is where we had planned to go camping but didn't. It was just round sunset and we ended up going to the boat launch area and make a bunch of neat captures. I really liked the boats that I have above and to the right. I haven't seen what Max got but I am sure she got some good stuff. Desirae just ran a played until she fell down and skinned her knee. I was going to try to make some photographs of her but after the little bit of blood (and I mean little) she wasn't in the mood. Anyway I was really happy with what we got and the images. It will be nice to print them out on the large printer when I get home. It also makes me look forward to meeting up with Brad this summer for some of the areas out in his neck of the woods!

Nana & Max's house...

Friday we took the kids out of school early and headed up to Livermore to visit with Nana and Max for the kids' birthday. Today (Saturday) we hung around the house (minus a lunch break) and the kids played around in the back yard with bubbles. They had a lot of fun and Devin made one heck of a mess. Later in the evening Max made some outstanding tri-tip and we had a combined birthday cake and presents for Devin and Desirae. Unfortunately Deanna didn't really handle the lack-o-present very well and was pretty upset about the entire thing. But after a while she calmed down and everything was good to go again!

I missed getting photographs of the actual cake and such and I will have to get copies from Max since she capture the event.

Build a Bear, again...

Devin and Desirae decided they would like to go to Build-A-Bear for their birthday or specifically for Devin's birthday. So we headed into Bakersfield today, to the mall of all places, and went to Build-A-Bear. Devin, Desirae and Denise made bears I refrained and Deanna just stole Denise's. Other than everyone else in the mall seemed to think that making a bear was a good idea it wasn't too bad. We left as soon as we were done and headed out to find something for lunch/dinner. Devin came up with the idea of Chinese food. It was a pretty good idea except for the quantity and I think everyone ate more than we really should have, but again it was pretty good food.

From there we made a quick stop at Camping World and then headed home. It was a pretty good day and my drugs were working pretty good so I felt a bit better today!

Tomorrow is Devin's real birthday and we are just doing stuff here at the house. Denise is going to make his requested dish, which escapes me right now, and will make him a cake and such. It should be a pretty good time and I think he will like what she (we) got for him! So there will be more from that tomorrow!

But first, have you ever lost something and you just can not remember what where you put it or where it might be? I have lost the cables that came with both of my Pocket Wizards. The one that allow me to connect them to my camera or speedlite. Generally this isn't a bit deal because I don't use them in that manner but I have had a need to trigger my Nikon SB-800 from the pocket wizard and I can not figure out where the cables are. I can't even find the darn boxes for the things. Again it isn't really something that was that important to me - but now that I need them it is driving me crazy. I am going to tear through some other spots tomorrow but I am coming up at a loss... I just hate it when my mind refuses to show me where I put them. There is a chance that someone moved them, but after I found my keys/ring/keyfob in the gun safe I think more than likely I did something with them... Oh well...

UPDATE: I found one of the cables! Now if I can just find my missing Airport Express I lost months ago...

Interesting week...

Well, everyone at work has been telling me that I look like hell for the last few days - well the couple of days I made it to work. So it appears that yet once again the bug has caught up with me. So I am trying to recover and get better. With a couple of days off I really thought I would feel better today, but instead I felt worse today. Go figure!

So we finished out the week watching a movie and I spent a bit of the time photographing Deanna playing around. I really like the composition of this image with Denise in the background.

Well, another interesting thing, our Base Commander, Col Bryan Gallagher died on Tuesday morning while he was in his car parked to the gym. Very unexpected and bizarre. Base Commander's are hand selected for their position. I had been in a few meetings with him and I can honestly say it was an very unexpected turn of events. I think had it been a accident or something it would have been more likely but just dying in his car was way unexpected. I have been out of work since Wednesday so I am not sure if any additional information has been released.

Another shoot...

We set up a shoot today and above was an out take (can't use because of the copyright material in the shot). Anyway it was great fun and it was centered around Desirae. She was a real trooper and did really well. Initially we were going to use Devin but he changed his mind and decided he didn't want to do it.

Later in the day we headed down to Northridge to meet her brother Brian. For some stupid reason we didn't take any pictures when we were together. I am not sure what we were thinking but we got there early and already had a table when he arrived. Then once we started walking about I had a work crisis that distracted me. Any we had a really nice dinner at Claim Jumper and basically ate more food than we should of and just caught up on everything that has been going on since he moved out here. We are still not sure when he is going to come up and visit with us but her assures us it will happen. I think that is code for we will be seeing him more down near Los Angeles than here. But that's okay we go down there often enough anyway!

First Friday - Scott Griggs

Every "First Friday" we have a unit get-together to just meet and give out some awards (if any are pending). Today of the three people who received awards SSgt Scott Griggs from Spectrum Management received his Commendation Medal. Scott is getting ready to leave us and separate from the Air Force. We had hoped to hire him, but the Air Force personnel system is really in a state of disrepair and as a result we were unable to get the process resolved over the last FOUR FREAKING months to get him hired. So, unfortunately he has accepted a position with the Army and is leaving us.

Beyond Griggs award we had good food (Denise made chocolate cup-cakes) and a pretty good time. I am not sure if I have mentioned anything about this before but Capt Rob Brown and Sal V through their own money and donations created this break room and established "First Friday". It has taken a while for the entire Communication Squadron to really embrace it but it has turned into a pretty good event and I have even found myself looking forward to it. My Flight (SCM) was responsible for the appetizers and they bought meet balls in two different sauces, little hot dogs and Rob made his home made salsa. Pretty darn good stuff and it went pretty quick! Actually we had only expected maybe 75 people but it turned out to be over 100.

I was also the designated photographer for the event and I ended up taking the shots of the awards portion of the event. The images can be found here!