Starting things off on the right foot, I came back from the athletic club this morning to find everyone still asleep at 6:48 a.m. Hannah is now in charge of driving them to and from school each day, so they have a few minutes of flexibility (but not much). Give them credit, they were out the door at a respectable 7:17 a.m.

The rest of the pictures taken are on Flickr here along with the ones from previous years.

(For the uninitiated, podcasts are pre-recorded audio or video recordings made available by the authors over the interwebs. iTunes is the most popular vehicle for subscribing and organizing one’s podcasts, and, to nobody’s surprise, an iPod is the most popular device for listening. I’ll tell you what I use later.)

On to the list:

Name (rating 1-5)

60-Second Science (3) – Daily science nuggets usually relating to current events.

Abby’s Road (3) – Part of the TWiT empire, Leo LaPorte’s teen daughter Abby has her own podcast about all things teen/high school. Interesting insight into the mind of today’s adolescent. Updated irregularly.

The Adam Carolla Show (5) – One of the top podcasts in iTunes, it’s funny, topical, and a bit raunchy. The show combines news and commentary, guests, and select bits from his old radio show. Four new shows a week that run 60-90 minutes each. Tough to squeeze in every day, but it’s worth the time.

Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code (4) – Yes, the Adam Curry from MTV in the 80’s. Despite the name, the show comes out at most once a week on Friday or Saturday and has been running a whopping 3 hours lately. It’s mostly music and a bit of commentary from Adam. Easy to have this on while doing other things around the house.

Are We There Yet? (5) – Sam & Kim from Dallas talk about their life, their Things (daughters), and they throw in some news and commentary. Their funny, back-and-forth style is great to listen to 4 times a week for 30-40 minutes.

Buzz Out Loud (4) – This daily show from CNET has 3-4 tech journalists discussing the day’s tech news. With over 1000 shows under their belt, they have a great sense for what’s news and what’s hyperbole. Unfortunately, the show has lost a little shine since the departure of Tom Merritt to another TWiT show, Tech News Today.

The Conversation (4) – Dan Benjamin hosts this one-on-one talk show with special guests, tech and development news, and listener calls. New episodes appear weekly and run about an hour.

Current Geek! (5) – Scott Johnson and Tom Merritt host this thrice weekly sub 10-minute episode plus a 30-minute weekly episode covering the geekiest stories of the week. Great conversation with professional hosts.

Daily Photo Tips with Chris (4) – Chris Marquardt from Germany offers a (sometimes) daily photo tip lasting only a minute or two.

DH Unplugged (5) – John C. Dvorak and Andrew Horowitz host this weekly 1-hour casual, unrehearsed conversation about the week’s activities in the financial markets. Dvorak brings the tech and Horowitz brings the money management expertise to this enjoyable discussion.

The Digital Marketer’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Growing Your Business with Digital Tools (3) – The first of many from the Quick and Dirty network, Aliza Sherman delivers short, friendly tips to help jump start your business using technology tools and gadgets. The lower rating is mostly because I’m already familiar with whatever she discusses. The application of the tools/technology is what is really valuable.

Digital Photography – Tips from the Top Floor (4) – The long-form version of Chris Marquardt’s short photography tips lasting about an hour every week or so.

The Disciplined Investor (5) – Money manager Andrew Horowitz gives us his take on the financial news of the week. After the news, he brings in a guest from the financial world for a casual interview. Great info from very knowledgeable people.

ESPN: PTI (5) – As you might imagine, this is the audio of the weekday ESPN program of the same name (Pardon the Interruption). Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon host this 20- to 25-minute show talking about the sports news of the day.

First Team Express (5) – Steve Czaban and his crew talk about sports, life, or whatever is on their mind. Each episode runs 10 minutes or so, but, to be kind, the updates are irregularly issued. Hopefully, things will settle down once he comes back to the national airwaves.

FourCast Podcast (5) – Tom Merritt and Scott Johnson (again) bring in 2 new guests per week to get their short-, medium-, and long-term predictions for the world. Great conversation and insight into the minds of some really smart people. Each episode runs about an hour.

FOX News Sunday (5) – This podcast is the audio from the Sunday morning TV show of the same name. No commercials, so it runs 40 minutes.

Got-It-Done Guy’s Quick and Dirty Tips to Work Less and Do More (4) – Another Q&D weekly podcast talking about ways to simplify and streamline your work.

Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing (4) – For anyone who cares about English and writing style, this 7-minute weekly podcast helps you understand grammar rules and myths.

The House Call Doctor’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Taking Charge of Your Health (4) – A real doctor answers your questions in very plain language every week. Lasts about 10 minutes.

Hypothetical Help (4) – Scott Johnson and Turpster answer listener questions in a funny but sincere manner. It runs about 30-40 minutes once a week.

Legal Lad’s Quick and Dirty Tips for a More Lawful Life (4) – This time it’s a lawyer addressing questions from listeners and talking about current events and what they mean in plain language.

MacBreak Weekly (5) – Another TWiT offering dealing with all things Apple, this weekly 90-minute show brings together highly respected tech writers to talk about Macs, iPhones, iPods, and other Apple news. While I’m not an Apply guy, it’s interesting to hear insight into the news from those with an obvious Apple-bias.

… …

(Clearly this is going to take a while; I’m only half-way through my subscriptions. And that’s just the audio. Rather than wait any longer, I’m going to break the list down into a few different posts.)

After setting up, I confirmed some notes I read earlier in the week from Scott Bourne’s PhotoFocus blog, and sat and waited. Shutter set to 4 seconds, ISO set to 200, aperture set somewhere around 5 or 6. C’mon, dark!

The first few bursts went off and I had to adjust my focus point upward to exclude some of the landscape and buildings. I did a little experimentation during the show (shortened the shutter speed), but not much else changed.

Nearly 200 shots later, the show came to a close. How did they turn out? The ones worth keeping I posted to Flickr and to a Picasa web album.

Samples:

Things I learned:

- Short shutter speeds (under 3 seconds) don’t look very good. Unless you time it absolutely perfect, you don’t capture enough of the fireworks trails to make a good picture.

- Higher is better. Find a box, a ladder, high ground…something. Eliminate the landscape as much as possible.

- Keep snapping. True, you’ll get lots of crap shots, but you’re sure to capture some gems, too. As the display wears on, you’ll get a better feel for how high and how long the launch process takes and be able to time your shots.

- Wind matters. The trails will follow the wind. The windier it is the longer the trails flow while the shutter is open. You can get away with slightly shorter shutter speeds if it’s windy.

- The light from the explosion does illuminate the area around the burst and (unfortunately) lights the smoke puffs from other explosions. When the choreography (?) allows for pauses between bursts, take advantage.

- Like in my lightning experiment, I found that the use of a remote shutter works well. It’s great to watch the big picture while you’re still firing away with the remote.

It was great fun and worth the effort of bringing the gear and setting up. Trying something different helps get my photographic juices flowing. What should I try next?

While I don’t have a great camera, I have a DSLR where I can control most of the settings to some degree. The podcast recommended setting up your camera during a storm, putting it on a tripod, and letting the shutter stay open for a long time. Typically, a shutter on a camera stays open for only a fraction of a second. Conversely, you can crank up the shutter time to leave it open for a full second…or 5 seconds, or 30 seconds or more.

During one of the most recent storms, the situation seemed ideal. No rain but a fair amount of lightning. I decided to start with a 30-second shutter speed and got everything set up. After framing the camera to shoot through the lattice in the patio window, there was no need for me to look through the viewfinder – a perfect opportunity for the remote shutter button.

Click (shutter opens)…wait 30 seconds (no lightning)…shutter closes. Click open…wait (nothing)…close. I have a new appreciation for how long 30 seconds is. Of course most of lightning had passed, so I have a lot of pictures that look like the one to the left. Very dark except for one neighborly outdoor light.

However, early on in the shoot I was lucky enough to capture the shot to the right. I think it was actually multiple lightning strikes during the 30-second exposure, but I think it looks pretty cool.

With this kind of luck, I should end up with dozens of lightning pictures, right?

Wrong. I have 130+ pictures of darkness and one picture with lightning. I have one other photo where the lightning strike was out of the frame, but that’s it.

Ideal conditions: stormy, no rain, background with no moving objects and no other light. Set up early in a very dark room (even the bright scenes in the movie we were watching threw enough light to get in the picture), pick a shutter speed that works for you (10-30 seconds), and use a remote shutter release and a tripod. Ideally, shoot through an open window to reduce glare.

I will do this again. Once the gear is set up, the photography part is as simple as can be. Sit on the couch and just keep firing.

In case you’re interested, the two photography podcasts that are in my iPod are Christ Marquardt’s Tips From the Top Floor and Scott Bourne’s PhotoFocus.

I went to Mendard’s and was walking from my car to the front door. As I approached the door, I see at least a dozen people standing and looking out toward the parking lot. Odd, and a little disturbing, since that’s where I was headed. Many of them had their phones out pointed head height away from the building.

OK, I’ll bite. I turn around and quickly see what everyone was staring at. I whipped out my phone and got the following photo:

Cool. This was clearly in the latter stage of the cyclone life-cycle since it lasted only a few minutes before it disappeared back up into the clouds.

OK, let’s go. We stayed at the Hampton on 8th Ave. between 51st and 52nd streets and hopped a sight-seeing bus a few blocks away.

Yes, there are millions of people. Yes, there are lots of crazy cabbies. One of the things I didn’t properly appreciate the first time I visited was the classic architecture of many of the buildings. Here are a few shots we saw on our tour.

We went past all the major attractions: Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden, Times Square, Macy’s, Wall Street, Battery Park, United Nations building, Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center, and Central Park.

We elected to get off the bus at Battery Park (south tip of Manhattan) and try to catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. Sure enough, it’s still there. So is Ellis Island (immediately below). The bottom photo shows both Liberty Island (left) and Ellis Island (right).

After walking past the Staten Island ferry dock and the South Street pier, we hopped back on the bus to finish the tour. Past the UN, Trump tower, and back up to Central Park.

From there, we wandered through the street vendors and back to our hotel.

Other highlights of the trip included visiting the High Line (pictures here), attending the Broadway musical Wicked (outstanding!), heading over to the Intrepid aircraft carrier, and popping into Grand Central Station for a quick peek.

Lots to see, lots to do. Luckily, the weather cooperated and we were able to walk to most sights. We did take the subway (just to say we did), taxis (good for when your feet need a break), and the tour bus as various modes of transportation. There are also bike rentals, carriage rides, and bike taxis if you crave something different.

Two thumbs way up for the trip in its entirety. Would highly recommend everyone visit at least once in your life. Certainly a sight to see.

Fix in progress:

Now that I’ve taken it apart and had a chance to look at it under the covers, I’m much more knowledgeable about how it fits together. The glass LCD touch screen is held on the device by a strong adhesive on the top and bottom to the now broken frame – amazing but true. The black plastic frame snaps into the back of the device and holds quite well. The frame is damn near impossible to get out without breaking it. As you can see, I failed in my attempt. Back to Amazon to order a frame.

New frame in hand, I thought I had everything I needed. The picture on the left shows the replacement LCD touch screen, the new frame (with button), and the still-working base of the device. The picture on the right has everything lined up ready to snap in place. * SNAP * Touch screen works great, things slide as they should…but the button does nothing. Um, that’s kind of important. There’s only one button on the whole thing. It’s sort of critical that it works as designed. Damn.

Back to the pry bar. I hadn’t applied the adhesive (thankfully), so the tough part was the frame. Remember when I said above that the frame is hard to get out? I didn’t quite break it, but it looked a bit askew when finally removed. Unfortunately, while trying to remove the frame I ripped the cable that runs from the touch screen to the base of the device rendering the touch screen useless. Double damn. Time to order another touch screen.

Second touch screen in hand, I went about putting the unit back together and was still having trouble with the button. Here’s where it gets a little better. While looking for some sort of button fix, I found WirelessFinest that sells the whole kit (LCD touch screen, frame, and button) as one unit. Plug it into the base, snap it in, and you’re golden. Clearly, this is what I should have purchased in the first place. Ordered, received, and installed in less than a few days.

I’m happy to report that the unit is back on its proverbial feet and works quite well. I spent about $100 on many parts that I didn’t need (hopefully, I’ll get $20 back on a touch screen I didn’t use), but only needed to spend about $40 for the full replacement kit.

If you ever crack one of these and need some advice, please let me know. I’d be happy to walk you through the fix, if needed.

I highly recommend WirelessFinest for their service and product selection, but I couldn’t find the kit on-line without contacting them directly.

Bonus anniversary present for Monica!

She competed at the Intermediate Optionals level for the first time this year which she really enjoyed. It allowed her to focus on her strengths and stick to those skills that make her look good. Her beam routine had a couple of wobbles but was very well done. It’s amazing how graceful she can be while spinning, leaping, and running on that narrow beam. On bars, she was solid as ever using someone else’s grips. (Of course her grips ripped the week prior to the state meet. Not enough time to replace and break in a new pair.) Great routines!

One interesting note about AAU is that there is no age limit for the competitors. There were 3 or 4 ladies who were beyond high school, the oldest being 42! The girls mocked them slightly for their simplistic skill set, but I give them a lot of credit for performing in front of a good size crowd at this meet.

That said, it looks as though this will be Clare’s last year in competitive gymnastics as she looks for other athletic opportunities. Not to worry as she’ll still be in the gym keeping her skills up but on a less demanding schedule.

As you might imagine, one of the built-in widgets shows the weather. This one allows you to the weather in multiple cities – I watch Sun Prairie (so I don’t have to look outside) and Fort Myers, FL (where my parents are). Almost without fail, it’s waaaay nicer in southern Florida than it is here. Who knew? I say *almost* because today was one of those rare days where I happened to view the page when sunny Sun Prairie was warmer than Fort Myers. Woot!

Small victory, but I’ll take it. However, the forecast for the next few days looks a little more promising in sunny FLA than it does in the Sunny Prairie.

(Just noticed it was April Fool’s day. This better not be some sort of joke…)

My iPod Touch was *sniff* a good friend. Until last weekend.

I stupidly slipped my iPod into my back pocket before the UW hockey game and it, as you can see, cracked mercilessly. I had done it a hundred times before with no repercussions. No biggie, right? I discovered it when I got home and immediately my mind went to figuring out what to do next.

(Interestingly, I’m a bit surprised at how this picture turned out. The front/bottom edge is in focus, but the far corner is quite blurred. I sort of understand why it happened, but clearly, I need to take more pictures to know what to expect when the shutter clicks.)

Back to the issue at hand. I remember recently seeing a video of someone replacing the screen on an iPhone and, while difficult, it was doable and relatively cheap. The down side was that it was time-intensive. It would take a few days to receive the replacement screen plus a day or more to do the fix. And it might not be successful. Or I’ll snap something during the process and be back at square one. I have other mp3 players (no iPods) that I could use in the interim, but they wouldn’t be as smooth. My experience has been that an iPod Touch or iPhone are by far the best listening devices.

I don’t need more hoops to jump through, so I decided to replace the iPod immediately and try to salvage the old one anyway.

After finding a replacement kit on Amazon for $15, I ordered it, received it, and it’s waiting for the operation. I’ll try to capture some video of the process and post it a bit later. Wish me luck.