Tacky

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I planned on posting this a while ago, but forgot. This is a screen-shot from Vanity Fair's website taken after the big uproar over Miley Cyrus' photoshoot. I have my own thoughts regarding the shoot itself--in my opinion, I don't think the implied nudity was a good idea. The term "kid" and "sexy" should never be in the same sentence, as far as I'm concerned. Flirty? Maybe. But not sexy. As a photographer, I think that kids should be shot as kids. Period. Anyway--that's not the point of this post. The banner ad on Vanity Fair's website states that if you subscribe now, you're guaranteed to get the Miley Cyrus issue. Way to exploit half-naked photos of a kid. I'm sure they woke up the pedophile market with that one. Mistakes happen, I suppose... So the photos were taken, and published. Specifically serving a banner ad selling those photos in the mag is flat-out tasteless. Just my opinion...

Sorrow Democracy

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You know those things called "Captchas"... The hard-to-read graphic letter/number combinations that you have to type in a box to prove that you're human? I saw this one the other day and I found it funny. Maybe not so much in a "funny ha-ha" way, but in a "funny-sad" way. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Entourage, Exchange, and a Proxy

Entourage, Exchange Server, Proxy   Our network uses a proxy server... I have my mac set up to use that proxy, with all the appropriate IP addresses and servers in the exception list. Recently, we migrated to different exchange servers, and I updated the server details in Exchange appropriately. I immediately started having problems with Entourage--sometimes it wouldn’t send an email (would give me an error and put the message in my drafts folder--resending the message would work.) Sometimes it wouldn’t receive new emails unless I quit Entourage and started it back up again. Our IT department doesn’t officially support Mac, so their answer to me was to use Citrix to check my email. That works, of course, but it’s a pain dealing with attachments, and I really like Entourage 2008.   I’m not sure why it took me so long to think of this, but it finally dawned on me to add the three servers (Exchange server, public folders server, and LDAP server) to the proxy exception list in my Mac’s network settings. So far, it seems to have fixed the problem.   It seems like that should’ve been obvious to me, but it wasn’t, so I’m posting this just in case it wasn’t immediately obvious to someone else dealing with the same Exchange/Entourage headaches.

Honda Element

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Element On 8th
Originally uploaded by pdxsurreal

I picked up a 2004 Honda Element the other day. I haven't had much of a chance to drive it yet because of work travel, but I'll get to take it out to the coast and drive on the beach this weekend. I'm actually excited about that. :)

I will probably start posting the pros and cons of the Element, just in case someone is on the fence about buying one. I can say one thing initially though--I love it.

More later.

Conference Calls

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20080522
Originally uploaded by pdxsurreal

Gotta love 'em.

I've been traveling for a work project for the past two weeks. Cincinnati, Appleton, Newport News, Richmond and Raleigh. I've learned more about parts of our business in two weeks than I have in the past year. I've met some people who are incredibly passionate about the company and the work they do. I always love meeting people who are truly excited to come to work every day.

I'm not looking forward to flying tomorrow--holiday weekend and all. But, I'm heading to the coast this weekend, so I'll be happy to get home.

Rush

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Rush Originally uploaded by pdxsurreal He sits quietly, crystalline flakes sting his face as the sound of the rushing water saturates his ears. He wonders when the day will come when everything is right again. For a fleeting moment, he finds peace.

Old Photos

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Heather and I
Originally uploaded by pdxsurreal

I started the time-consuming task of scanning old photos in. It's wild going through old photos... All kinds of memories. When we're kids, all we can think about is growing up. If we only knew how easy we had it back then. :) This photo is of an old girlfriend and I back in 1990. I still talk to her today.

This is a perfect example of why everyone should take pictures at every opportunity. They tell stories we forget.