This New Years started off just like any other... I went out with some friends, had some drinks, made some resolutions, etc. Well, the morning of the 1st I had the day off from work so I was doing some stuff on my computer. I had my Powerbook next to my PC playing some music when I decided to check my RSS feed (on my PB). When I went to open the RSS application my computer froze. I gave it about 30 seconds to see if it was just having some memory / CPU freakout. When that didn't change anything, I did a forced restart. When my computer rebooted I logged in and started listening to some music again.

After about a half hour of it running like normal it froze again. At this point I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on. I did another cold restart and in the process of booting up I got a dreaded kernel panic error. Knowing something was up I instantly went into detective mode to try and figure out what the heck was happening. When I was finally able to log back in I checked for a crash report and it started something like this: After digging through that and a bunch of other codes that were generated, I came to the conclusion that my hard drive was busted (that and the fact that I was hearing some strange noises from the location of my hard drive).

I finally ordered a new Seagate 120 gig drive and got some screwdrivers from Amazon.com that were small enough to take my PB apart (Phillips #0 and Torx 6). The new equipment arrived and I set to making the replacement. I took out about 20 screws to gain access to the innards of my PB. I was about 90% of the way there when the instructions said to lift the keyboard/trackpad off the frame of the computer. I tried as best I could but the thing wouldn't budge. I thought I had taken out all the necessary screws and it really felt like I was going to break it if I tried to force it off. I got frustrated and I was about to let it sit for the weekend and worry about it when I got back from a trip to Vegas.

I was talking with Neeta on the phone and she convinced me to bring it over to her place because she was interested in taking a look at the situation. After about 5 minutes we realized there were still two more screws that needed to be removed before I could successfully take the keyboard/trackpad off the Powerbook. Great Success!

Or so we thought... After removing the keyboard we were faced with three more screws. No problem we thought! That was until we tried getting those screws off. For some reason none of the screw bits we were using would get enough traction on the screws to be able to move them. It was like all of the screwdriver bits were too pointy for the screws. Instead of taking the risk of stripping the screws and being in even more trouble, we decided to stop and worry about it later.

Today I told myself that I was going to get this damned hard drive out and replace it with the new one if I'm up all night trying to do it. Equipped with determination and about 10 bucks, I went to Lowes and picked up a new screw driver set and a metal file. I figured if all else failed, I could file down the tip of the screw driver so it has more contact with the screw head.

I came home and opened up my laptop case and to my sheer amazement the new screwdriver set removed the three screws without any issue. I was able to take the old hard drive out and replace it with the new one in a matter of about 15 minutes. I got my case all screwed back together and started what I thought would be the time consuming and super stressful task of restoring all of my old data...

You're not thinking 4th dimensionally! Thank you Leopard for implementing a foolproof backup system: Time Machine. It's not a DeLorean equipped with a Flux Capacitor, but it does a really good job at keeping backups of everything. Since I upgraded to Leopard a few months ago I had started Time Machine and kept all of my data backed up on an external drive.

I plugged in my external Time Machine backup, booted up the Powerbook and put in the Leopard DVD. When the Install screen came up, I just formatted the new hard drive and found a fancy option to Restore from Time Machine backup. After selecting the option, I just had to wait about an hour and when the computer restarted, everything was exactly as it had been! (aside from the system clock thinking it was the beginning of UNIX time :o ). Now, almost a full month after my computer died, it's back to life and running exactly as it had been before it died. I'm hoping it'll give me at least another 6 months or so of use before I have to start thinking about getting a new one.

This year my parents decided to book a four-day cruise for the family. The cruise stopped in Key West and Cozumel, Mexico each for a day and then we had a day at sea on the way back to Tampa. The cruise was a lot of fun aside from some of the huge lines we had to wait in to get on and off the ship in the ports. The ship was the Royal Caribbean "Grandeur of the Sea" and was a little smaller than the cruise we went on a few years ago (this one didn't have the putt-putt course on the 9th floor).

In Key West we went on the "Conch Train"... a tour through the island that pointed out different historical facts and showed various aspects of the island. The tour guide was funny and informative and made the tour fun. After that we walked up and down Duvaul street (the main drag in Key West) and went into a lot of the little shops. There were a lot of bums/street performers lining most of Duvaul street. Some of the better ones were the people who dress up like statues and pose. That night was formal night on the cruise, so we had to leave the island a little early to get dressed up and do photos and everything. The food was good and we had some wine with dinner.

The second stop was Cozumel, Mexico. When we got off the boat we took a taxi to Chankanaab State Park where we planned to relax on the beach and snorkel. When we got there, we picked out some seats and rented some snorkeling gear and got into the water. The water was surprisingly clear and warm. We stayed there for a few hours and then got a taxi back into town where we walked through some shops. The shops mostly had the same things over and over... if you saw one store, you saw about 95% of them. Instead of eating on the boat we grabbed dinner at a restaurant overlooking the main street and ocean.

Our last day on the ship was spent at sea. I spent most of this day laying out on the deck or in the hot tub. When not relaxing I was usually eating. All the free food on the ship was definitely cool and I got my fare share of food on the trip.

The trip went by pretty fast but it was still fun. Hopefully next time we won't have to wait in lines like we did this time and we can cruise for a few more days.

I uploaded some of the photos I took from the cruise. Check them out by clicking on the image above or the photo icon below.

I'm trying to take one day each week and go on a few mile hike and explore the area around Albuquerque. Today I decided I'd go up to the top of the three extinct volcanoes just west of Albuquerque. They're located in the same Petroglyph National Monument that I went hiking in last weekend.

The day was perfect. There were very few clouds in the sky and it was probably 80 degrees with a little bit of wind. The hike I took went through all 3 of the big volcano cones and was probably about a 3 mile hike. The views were pretty neat from up at the peaks and completely different than what you find down in the city or over at the Sandias.

The hike lasted a couple hours and I took about 140 pics with my Nikon D50. There were very few people out when I was there... in fact, I went about an hour without seeing any other people. It was a nice relaxing hike. I think next week I'm going to hit up the La Luz trail over on the north side of the Sandias.

I uploaded some of the photos I took from the hike. Check them out by clicking on the image above or the photo icon below.

Today I was working on some website stuff and kept looking out my window and getting distracted by how nice it was. After wrapping a few things up I decided to take my Nikon D50 out to the Petroglyph National Monument here in Albuquerque to check it out.

I got there at about 2:30 and saw there was a sign in the parking lot saying the gates closed at 5:00. I was thinking about trying to get all the way to the Volcanic cones, but realized that was a lot farther than I had time to go. The temperature was perfect, but it started to cloud over after I had been walking for a while. The hike was mostly on sand with some desert brush and a lot of basalt rocks laying everywhere.

On the rocks there are Petroglyphs that were carved into the rocks from the natives between 1300-1600AD. Unfortunately there has been some vandalism around them (people carving their initials into the rocks next to the petroglyphs), but there are some that have been left untouched. I ended up walking for about two hours, which I'm guessing was probably 3-4 miles (considering I was taking a lot of pictures).

I uploaded some of the photos I took from the hike. Check them out by clicking on the image above or the photo icon below. Also, I did use the appropriate color profile on these, so they're much brighter and vivid than the previous sets I've uploaded.

My parents are in town visiting from Tampa, FL and we planned on taking a hike today in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains here in Albuquerque. The weather had been pretty crappy the last few days (rain and snow) and the weather was calling for today to be nice. We crossed our fingers and hoped the rain wouldn't make the trails all messy and muddy. Luckily by the time we got up to the trails the sun had burnt off most of the water and the clouds had parted.

The weather was pretty much perfect when we got there. It was sunny with a few clouds and probably about 65 degrees. As we were walking I was taking pictures with my Nikon D50 and new Sigma 10-20mm lens. I got some really nice shots and uploaded them to the gallery here. We ended up hiking around 2 miles and got to see some great views (and even a few rabbits).

The trails we hiked at can be reached by going east on Montgomery until it turns into a one lane road (this is past Tramway). Turn left on Glenwood Hills and go about a half mile. Turn right on Trailhead and you'll reach a big parking lot. There were a lot of mountain bikers up there as well as hikers and joggers.

After the hike we drove a little farther south in the foothills to look at some condos I saw online. I'm totally going to have to find a place in the foothills so I can be right at the mountains and trails. If anyone knows of a place around there, let me know :o

I uploaded some of the photos I took from the hike. Check them out by clicking on the image above.

I decided it was finally time to upgrade and buy a new lens for my Nikon D50. I was initially looking at some telephoto lenses but then figured being out in the west it might be a better idea to invest in a wide angle lens to get some great landscape shots.

I did some research and found the Sigma 10-20mm lens that was decently priced and had a great range. All the reviews looked good so I put in my order and bought it from jr.com. In addition to the lens I also bought the IR remote for my camera so I can press the shutter with the remote instead of the camera. This will make taking long exposure shots really nice.

The lens arrived today and I was originally planning on going out and taking a hike and getting a bunch of pictures but the weather hasn't been cooperating (dust storms and rain in the forecast). Instead, I just drove out to the empty lot next to the condos and snapped a few shots of the Sandia Mountains. I went to go pick up a filter for it but they were all out of the 77mm size so I'll have to wait until Monday to get it.

I uploaded some of the photos I took just testing it out. Check them out by clicking on the image above.