The Weave

Christmas Deocration

2009-11-28T16:46:00.001-08:00

Here is our annual decoration day at 10,000 times the usual speed.

Making some beer for Christmas

2009-11-25T17:53:00.000-08:00

It has been 5 years since the last time I brewed a batch. I used to brew at least 3 or 4 batches a year but just have not made time. I even used to teach a homebrew class for Fresno Adult School. It was fun. This was an American Amber Ale. It should be done by Christmas. I also bought grain & hops to make an English Stout so hopefully this batch will be done and I can re-harvest the yeast to do that by Saturday. If you like real beer and want one for Christmas, be sure to let me know... just be sure to give me back the bottle when you are done.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-11-20T04:20:00.000-08:00

The three long months of my water polo season are over and I once again qualify as "having too much time on my hands" so here we go...

There is no such thing as tornados. Chuck Norris just hates trailer parks.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-09-06T13:34:00.000-07:00

Due to a very busy water polo season, I am giving

Chuck Norris Friday's the season off.

Check back again in early November.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-08-21T14:35:00.000-07:00

Death once had a near-Chuck-Norris experience.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-08-14T17:26:00.000-07:00

Chuck Norris can touch MC Hammer.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-08-07T12:40:00.000-07:00

Chuck Norris let the dogs out.

Upgrade

2009-07-31T16:55:00.001-07:00

Over Christmas break, I spent a ton of time editing video so I took the proceeds and built a new computer. This summer has been more of the same so I decided to look into filling my memory slots. I had 3 slots open so that meant room for 6 more gigs. Since the memory now costs about half of what I bought it for in December, I filled em up. I was really surprised how much it improved everything. I only expected to see it when rendering video with multiple processors but almost everything is faster. It used to take me about 2 minutes from power switch to Windows boot. This time it was done in just over a minute.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-07-31T08:36:00.000-07:00

If you spell Chuck Norris wrong on Google it doesn't say, "Did you mean Chuck Norris?" It simply replies, "Run while you still have the chance."

So Scary

2009-07-29T20:34:00.000-07:00

Today I got a call from my friend Don who I work with. Don has a friend that works in the County Jail and he gave him a call before the news broke. He told me that one of our co-workers, Jim Healy was arrested for child porno and hung himself in jail. I have become good friends with Jim over the past two years. He is our tech guy so I hang out with him a lot.

I had a really hard time believing that Jim would even get arrested, let alone be involved in child porn and commit suicide in jail. He is a good Christian man, a father and a really centered guy. I could not imagine what would lead up to this.

Immediately I started trying to find out if it really was him. I just could not believe it was. Lisa was able to find a website that lists arrest reports. It listed an arrest report with an address. I used my Fresno Unified directory and sure enough, it was the street where Jim Healy lives.

A few minutes later, I found an article when it first broke in the Modesto Bee. It said that Jim Healy, age 65 had been arrested. I know that my friend just turned 50. Things were starting to look up. A few minutes after we found another article that said he was arrested at school where he taught...J.E. Young. I immediately went back to my directory and there it was, two Jim Healys.

I talked to Jim on the phone tonight when we got home from church. He said it has been a busy night for phone calls and e-mails. I told him that I was glad he did not die in jail as a child porno guy. He was glad too.

http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/story/1565771.html

Done!

2009-07-28T20:40:00.000-07:00

I have been working on this project since May 13th and I just finished it today. Check it out. You might want to follow the link to YouTube and watch it in HD.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-07-24T18:06:00.000-07:00

Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door.

Bill's Shirt

2009-07-18T09:26:00.000-07:00

Hey all you blog followers out there. My water polo buddy Bill came up with this shirt design after watching "The Big Bang Theory." He asked me to hook him up with a posting, so I did. Go buy his shirt.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-07-17T14:27:00.000-07:00

Most people know that Descarte said, "I think, therefore I am." What most people don't know is that that quote continues, "...afraid of Chuck Norris."

My Kids Surf!

2009-07-15T21:21:00.000-07:00

Here is video of our family surfing trip.

Morro Bay

2009-07-13T17:29:00.000-07:00

We had a great adventure today. We rented so Kayaks and paddled around for hours.

2009-07-11T16:52:00.000-07:00

Goodbye Play Yard. I can only imagine what this looked like on the road. It actually was safer than it looked.

FREE Swing Set/Play Yard

2009-07-11T10:44:00.000-07:00

Here is a great opportunity for my FB and Blog friends who have (or are soon to have) small kids. Our kids have outgrown their swing set and Lisa and I want to convert the "play area" to something else. The wood is in great shape but it probably could use a coat of paint. I made this out of 2 x 4's, 4 x 4's and 4 x 8's so it is plenty strong. Here is the catch... if you want it, you need to make arrangements to haul it. The swing part will disconnect from the main tower via 4 bolts. The tower is nailed together so you will proabably want to carry it out as one piece. The problem is that the tower is too big to fit through my gate so we need to lift it over the fence. If you want it, you will need a pickup truck and 3 strong peeps to help lift. When I bought this, it cost me about $800 for the plastic parts and the wood. It took me the better part of a day to build it. You can have it for free if you can haul it. Contact me if you are interested or if you just want to come by to have a look.

Why I like the Mayor of Fresno (even though I live in Clovis)

2009-07-10T09:38:00.001-07:00

I am doing a short documentary for Fresno/Madera Youth For Christ. For the past 6 weeks, I have been conducting interviews. Here is some rough cut video of what Ashely Swearengin had to say.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-07-10T07:39:00.000-07:00

When Chuck Norris was born, the only person who cried was the doctor. Never slap Chuck Norris.

Fun on the 4th

2009-07-06T15:18:00.001-07:00

This 4th, we had some extra fun. I set my camera to rear curtain sync so the flash would fire at the end of the 8 second exposure. This is the result.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-07-03T07:39:00.000-07:00

When Chuck Norris plays Oregon Trail, his family does not die from cholera or dysentery, but rather, roundhouse kicks to the face. He also requires no wagon, since he carries the oxen, axels, and buffalo meat on his back. He always makes it to Oregon before you.

Callahan

2009-07-01T16:08:00.000-07:00

This is Callahan. Man Of Action.

Our Bullfrog

2009-06-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I walked by the window and saw that our waterfall did not look right. Upon closer inspection, I saw what was blocking the water.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-06-26T06:41:00.000-07:00

Human cloning is outlawed because if Chuck Norris were cloned, then it would be possible for a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick to meet another chuck Norris roundhouse kick. Physicists theorize that this contact would end the universe.

2009-06-19T17:41:00.000-07:00

My mower of 19 years that I paid $119 for died this week. The throttle control died in the late 90's so I had it clamped full open. The back deck rusted through about 5 years ago so I had the grass bag wired to the top deck. One wheel really didn't turn and when it would not start and had oil all over the spark plug, I decided it was time. I bought a sweet new Honda mower. With my track record, this should be the last mower I ever buy.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-06-19T07:41:00.000-07:00

As President Roosevelt said: "We have nothing to fear but fear itself. And Chuck Norris."

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-06-12T04:38:00.000-07:00

It is believed dinosaurs are extinct due to a giant meteor. That's true if you want to call Chuck Norris a giant meteor.

Haircut

2009-06-06T18:32:00.000-07:00

Today I cut my hair. My family helped me out. This is part of the before & after series.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-06-05T08:38:00.000-07:00

When Chuck Norris says "More cowbell", he MEANS it.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-05-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

On a high school math test, Chuck Norris put down "Violence" as every one of the answers. He got an A+ on the test because Chuck Norris solves all his problems with Violence.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-05-22T16:42:00.000-07:00

Chuck Norris celebrates Memorial Day!

Mortal Enemies Friends At Long Last

2009-05-16T15:13:00.000-07:00

The kids and I were very surprised to go out in the back corner of the yard and discover this.

Of course, they were both up to what they do when the new dragonflies come back. They have been "training" our dragons for 3 years now. Each year, it gets easier and takes less patience. I wonder if our dragons pass that trait down to the next generation. Last year they even managed to get a couple of humming birds to land on them.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-05-15T05:46:00.000-07:00

In the first Jurassic Park movie, the Tyrannosaurus Rex wasn't chasing the jeep. Chuck Norris was chasing the Tyrannosaurus AND the jeep.

Jeep Doors - Before & After

2009-05-11T20:46:00.001-07:00

Summer is officially here! Another installment in the before and after series.

Summer is here from Jim Weaver on Vimeo.

Good Baby Advice

2009-05-11T18:22:00.001-07:00

Two cool things - one night

2009-05-08T10:06:00.001-07:00

If you watch the night sky, you know that from time to time cool things are visible. Jupiter and Saturn look amazing through a decent backyard scope or good binoculars. Mars when close, looks cool and if there is not a dust storm, you can even see the frozen poles. (Yes, there are times when we are closer but not ever as close as that bogus e-mail people keep sending me because I teach astronomy) Tomorrow, Saturday May 9th, there will be two cool astronomical happenings visible from the Fresno/Clovis area.

1. There is a fleet of communications satellites called "Iridium" that are highly reflective. Because of this, they act like a mirror in space. If you are in the right place at the right time, they reflect the sun and look really bright. The first time I ever saw one of these, I didn't know what it was and it actually freaked me out a little bit. They are so bright, you can actually see them during the daytime if you know where and when to look. Saturday May 9th at 8:05 and 44 seconds, look to the North Northwest. Look up about 35 degrees from the horizontal and you will see one of these satellites "flare".

2. The International Space Station will fly over, just after sunset. What makes this cool is that for the people on the space station, because they are high above the Earth, it will still be day. For us, it will night so the space station will look very bright. At exactly 9:33 and 31 seconds, look low in the sky to the Southwest. By 9:36 it will move almost directly overhead and pass into earth's shadow and disappear.

Again, these will only be visible if you live in the Fresno/Clovis area.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-05-08T08:55:00.000-07:00

Chuck Norris doesn't actually write books, the words assemble themselves out of fear.

Fresno Super hero?

2009-05-02T08:17:00.000-07:00

I think it is about time to form a Fresno/Clovis branch. Will you join me?

Cool

2009-05-02T07:31:00.000-07:00

Saw this on Vimeo. Cool.

Firekites - AUTUMN STORY - chalk animation from Lucinda Schreiber on Vimeo.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-05-01T06:34:00.000-07:00

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could Chuck Norris? ...All of it.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-04-24T12:53:00.001-07:00

Maslow's theory of higher needs does not apply to Chuck Norris. He only has two needs: killing people and finding people to kill.

Snow Trip

2009-04-18T14:53:00.000-07:00

Last Monday we went up to Huntington Lake for a late snow trip. We managed to find a shady spot with enough snow to ride on. It was really icy and fast so the kids had a good time. The youngest Weave had a little mishap but she is ok. (Be sure to watch the end) Now she knows that sometimes you just got to bail off.

Mom is not ok, she tore her ACL. More on that to follow.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-04-17T07:42:00.000-07:00

The show Survivor had the original premise of putting people on an island with Chuck Norris. There were no survivors, and nobody is brave enough to go to the island to retrieve the footage.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-04-10T19:02:00.000-07:00

Olympic Silver

2009-04-08T11:51:00.001-07:00

I have played water polo for the Central Valley Water Polo club for the last 9 years. Each year we go to a National Championship and end up competing against very good teams. Often, these teams field ex-Olympians. This year, we have our own. Rick Merlo is a local boy who competed in Beijing this past summer. If you don't follow water polo, the men's team came away with silver. Last night, Rick brought his medal to show the Fresno Pacific women's team. Rick is likely to be a part time coach for FPU next year. Our 20's team should do very well this year with Rick's help at Nationals.

Sorry this looks bad, I only had my cell phone with me last night. Man those things are heavy.

2009-04-07T07:31:00.000-07:00

I saw this a while back and really liked it. Yesterday while walking through Costco, the boy and I were watching the wall of TV's when they ran a preview for the new Disney Earth movie. The music Disney used sounded familiar and the boy remembered it came from this little film.

A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-04-03T06:39:00.000-07:00

Chuck Norris once bet NASA he could survive re-entry without a spacesuit. On March 18th, 1989, a naked Chuck Norris re-entered the earth's atmosphere, streaking over 14 states and reaching a temperature of 3000 degrees. An embarrassed NASA publically claimed it was a meteor, and still owes him a beer.

Braces - Before and After

2009-04-01T13:07:00.001-07:00

This is part of the before and after series.

Before

After

A bunch of dirty hippies

2009-03-28T16:33:00.001-07:00

The kids had hippie day at school on Friday. To prepare, we had family tie dye day. It was fun but as soon as it was over I felt compelled to give the kids an anti-drug message.

Doggie Haricut

2009-03-28T16:27:00.000-07:00

Before

After

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-03-27T08:42:00.000-07:00

Chuck Norris' calendar goes straight from March 31st to April 2nd; no one fools Chuck Norris.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-03-20T07:25:00.000-07:00

Chuck Norris does not hunt because the word hunting infers the probability of failure. Chuck Norris goes killing.

20 Years!

2009-03-17T11:07:00.000-07:00

20 years ago today I made a decision that turned out to be one of the best I ever made; I married my sweetie. It seems like just yesterday. Each year gets better and better and today we celebrate 20 years. Happy anniversary honey!

New Q

2009-03-15T18:59:00.000-07:00

I have had the same $89 BBQ since we moved into our house 11 years ago. In order to save a buck, I have rebuilt it 2x. It was taking almost 90 minutes to do a tri-tip so it was time for a rebuild or a new Q. My wonderful wife talked me into chucking it and getting a new one.
It's not fancy, but it is so much better than my last one. It has big knobs so it must be good.

It took me longer to unpack than the guy at Lowes said it was going to take to build.

The boy helping his dad build a BBQ. That's American.

As you can see, it goes to 11.

First charred flesh. Ummm.

I could not resist

2009-03-13T15:53:00.000-07:00

You know how some times you get an idea and you just know deep down inside that you should not do it because there will be problems? Yeah, this is one of those times.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-03-13T09:07:00.000-07:00

When Chuck Norris picks his nose, he REALLY does find Gold.

Happy Birthday Chuck Norris

2009-03-10T17:17:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Mr. Norris and thanks to Josh for reminding me. I sure hate when I forget and have to worry for another year about being killed.

I want to be a bigger nerd

2009-03-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

Check out what this guy did. Very cool. Someday I aspire to be this geeky.

Random Funny Thing

2009-03-07T22:22:00.000-08:00

You know when you go to youtube and there are those random videos that you can click on? This one caught my eye so I gave it a go. Be sure to watch all the way to the end. Very funny. Very random.

Birthday Dinner

2009-03-07T07:42:00.000-08:00

Last night we offered to take the boy out to dinner. He had his choice of pretty much anywhere and he chose Yoshino's. He likes the sushi but I think he went for the entertainment. BTW, if you want somewhere that does a good birthday celebration, check this out.

Happy Birthday Buddy!

2009-03-06T14:34:00.000-08:00

On vacation 5 years ago... oh how he has grown.

12 years ago today The Weave's had our first addition. I had to leave school on a minutes notice and my buddy Thurmdog Millionaire took my class on a field trip to L.A.

Happy Birtyday son. I can't believe how the time has gone by.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-03-06T07:24:00.001-08:00

Chuck Norris can delete the Recycling Bin.

Central Valley Water Polo

2009-03-01T19:34:00.000-08:00

Each year the club I play water polo for hosts a tournament. This year is the 16th annual CVWP tournament. Here is the commercial I just finished to promote the tournament to potential visiting teams. If you are free the weekend of April 25 and 26, come on out. There is no admission charge.

Project done

2009-03-01T13:54:00.000-08:00

I got home from church, took off the the clamps, did some final sanding, a little mineral oil and the project was done. It even fit. (Measure twice, cut once) We are cutting in style.

A Super Great Saturday

2009-02-28T18:09:00.000-08:00

Today was a Saturday to end all Saturday's. The wifey and I slept in to 7:30. She made a very nice breakfast while I caught up on my bit-niz.

After breakfast, I started a weekend project. We have lived in our house for almost 11 years. Stuff is starting to wear out. Last week, I noticed that our cutting board was wearing a bit thin. This is because it is super cheap. It is not even made of plywood. Why would they make the cabinets out of solid oak and put in a cheap-o cutting board? It is MDF with a thin plywood laminate. Cheap! I decided to fix it.
Some birch and leftover Brazilian mahogany from a previous project.

This is the only part of the old cutting board that was actually oak. I am putting it back on to match the cabinets.

While the project was drying, we all went for a road trip. I noticed that the Fresno State agriculture lab was in full bloom so the youngest and I went out to take some pictures. The wifey and the eldest dropped us off and continued to Home Depot to buy plants for the yard.

These are two of the pictures we took. My friend Josh from church has been doing HDR pictures lately. I have not done an HDR for a while so I decided to give it a go. These are both a combination of 7 pictures ranging from -3 to +3 EV. I combined them in Photoshop.

When we got home, the wifey and kids got to work on the yard while I started doing a lot of sandpapering. I hope to have a picture of the finished project up tomorrow.

We finished the day off by ordering a pizza and relaxing.

It was a good day!

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-02-27T08:50:00.000-08:00

If you spell Chuck Norris in Scrabble, you win. Forever.

The Haircut Diaries

2009-02-24T18:01:00.000-08:00

Here is what I looked like last March.

Right before I cut my hair, I took a picture. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been rotating these pictures through my Facebook page. I have got a lot of comments out of them. I wanted to keep the fun coming but I was out of pictures so I made a collage.

Every year when it gets cold, I let my hair grow. Every year when it gets warm, I go out into the garage and cut my hair. Sometimes Mrs. The Weave will talk me into paying $15 (righteous bucks) for a haircut. This year, she managed to ploy me into getting one in December. Since then, I have been letting it grow out. The big question is, how far will it go before it gets hot and I can't stand it? Will it be a normal cut? A Mohawk? A Mr. T?

You vote... I cut. Mrs. Weave won't let me go to church with a crazy hair cut (makes all the church ladies talk) so I have to do it on Friday and then shave it all off by Sunday morning. Of course, the pictures will go here.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-02-20T03:00:00.000-08:00

Chuck Norris is what Willis was talking about.

The Amgen Tour

2009-02-18T16:32:00.000-08:00

Today a leg of the Amgen tour came within 1000 feet of my house. It was supposed to pass by early in the afternoon while I was still at work but it was delayed. As I was driving home along the not yet closed route, I saw my wife and daughter in the crowd. I ran home to get my camera and came back. Here are some shots.

As the main group approached.

I have never seen this many people on Clovis Avenue before.

I am pretty sure this is Lance Armstrong. (The guy I am talking about is just left of center, the one most in focus. He is wearing a team Astana jersey) It is the right jersey and the right bike. They went by at about 35mph so I really didn't have much time to compose the shot. Do you think this is him?

I have no idea who these guys are but I really liked the effect of the slow shutter speed and the camera pan.

This one is my favorite. It was really cool when the riders came by. There were 3 guys about 20 seconds in front and the rest of the pack was all together. When they went by it was a big blur of color and it actually made quite a lot of wind.

New Video

2009-02-14T19:22:00.000-08:00

Here is a video I did for the next sermon series, Crossroads.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-02-13T09:27:00.000-08:00

What is the quickest way to mans heart?

Chuck Norris’s fist.

Happy Birthday to my girl

2009-02-11T14:56:00.000-08:00

She is 9 today. What a great blessing she has been to our house.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-02-06T07:39:00.000-08:00

When Chuck Norris wants popcorn, he breathes on Nebraska.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-01-30T07:37:00.000-08:00

What’s known as the UFC, or Ultimate Fighting Championship, doesn’t use its full name, which happens to be “Ultimate Fighting Championship, Non-Chuck-Norris-Division”.

Famous Friend

2009-01-23T15:59:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, I play water polo for a local club. Our first practice was last week and I was there. I am not supposed to play actual water polo yet because of the wrist thing but I am swimming, shooting and doing drills that are non-contact. As soon as the gloves come off, I get out and ref. Maybe sometime later on in February I can play.

Every year, we end our season by going to the National Championship tournament. We always take our local guys but manange to drag along old college teammates too. Our goalie, Ozzie; or Special Agent Osborne as others call him, recently had a meeting with someone famous. Check it out. I sure hope he can make it back to play with us this year.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-01-23T11:27:00.000-08:00

They were going to release a Chuck Norris edition of Clue, but the answer always turns out to be "Chuck Norris. In The Library. With a Roundhouse Kick."

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-01-16T06:03:00.000-08:00

Chuck Norris and Superman had a contest to see who was stronger. The loser had to wear his underwear on the outside of his clothes.

What Dudes Do

2009-01-09T18:28:00.001-08:00

When given some time and a couple of G.I. Joe's, this is what guys do.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-01-09T10:21:00.000-08:00

A movie scene depicting Chuck Norris losing a fight with Bruce Lee was the product of history's most expensive visual effect. When adjusted for inflation, the effect cost more than the Gross National Product of Paraguay.

New toy for making videos

2009-01-06T14:56:00.000-08:00

I used some leftover skateboard wheels, some PVC pipe and some wood to make a home-made track dolly. There have been a few times that I could have used a dolly but I just could not justify spending $800 on one. This one used up my $20 gift card from Christmas + $8 of my own cash. $28 bucks is not a bad deal. More later when it stops raining and I can go outside.

Chuck Norris Friday

2009-01-03T09:02:00.000-08:00

Chuck Norris has already been to Mars; that's why there are no signs of life there.

Nature Kids

2008-12-29T16:48:00.000-08:00

So, if you have ever been over to our place, you know that our backyard is kind of a wildlife sanctuary in the city. Between the 20 or so bird feeders, the butterfly friendly plantings and the koi pond, we tend to attract everything within miles. Today when our friends the Thurman8ers were over here for a Christmas present exchange, the boy came in and told us that he had managed to get a hummingbird to land on his hand. I of course grabbed my longest lens and headed out. After patiently waiting by the feeder for 15 minutes, he got a bird to land and enjoy a tasty meal.

Of course, as soon as he was done, his little sister wanted in in this deal too. She too showed great patience and was rewarded for her effort.

Happy New Year's Honey

2008-12-29T10:30:00.000-08:00

Family Computer Building Fun

2008-12-27T13:22:00.000-08:00

You probably read my post a few days ago about building a new computer. Well, that leaves some pretty good parts hanging around so it was time for "tech hand-me-down" time.

The wifey offered to help, (mostly motivated by the pile of parts on the floor of the office.)

I was very proud of her. She was not afraid to jump right in and wrench on stuff. She was in charge of stripping down each case and re-mounting drives and motherboards while I wired everything up. She even pinned out the control wires for Zach's computer. Obviously, this was a big turn on for me.

Dogs are no good for building computers. They sleep the whole time that you work.

Motherboards make me happy!

Lisa's computer almost ready to go.

Yep, sleeping again. Cute but no good for technical work.

Chuck Norris Friday (late)

2008-12-27T13:17:00.000-08:00

Sorry this one was late. The whole Weaver household got new computers this past few days so I have not been able to access anything. (That post is to follow.)

Chuck Norris ordered a Big Mac at Burger King, and got one.

New Computer Build

2008-12-24T13:46:00.000-08:00

It has been a good Christmas season for my SermonSpice videos so I decided it was time to upgrade the ol' computer. It has been 3.5 years since my last processor upgrade so considering what I use my computer for, it is was way past time. I considered buying a Mac but they were way too expensive and didn't offer the newest Intel processor. In the end, I decided to build my own.

The parts.

Getting ready to build.

Processor & Memory mounted.

The Workbench

Just a little wiring left to clean up.

Ready to plug in and install an operating system.

Look at those cores ready to work. I spent the day doing some video stuff and this thing is really fast. I rendered 24 minutes of 1920 x 1080 progressive HD video (h.264) in about 10 minutes. My old computer probably would have taken 6 or 7 hours to do that job. I used to have to plan renders around sleep. Now I can just take a quick break.

The Computer:

Intel Core i7 920

EVGA socket 1366 Motherboard

EVGA Nvidia Geforce GTX260

6 Gigs of DDR3 1333 RAM

I reused my case, power supply and drives.

In the end, I did this for 1/3rd the price of a Mac and it benchmarks out faster.

Happy Birthday Jim!

2008-12-23T08:42:00.000-08:00

Today is a very special day in our home because today we celebrate Jim's birthday. Happy Birthday Babe!

Happy Birthday Baby

2008-12-22T06:32:00.000-08:00

We have been so busy with the new puppy, church events and family events; I was remiss in posting birthday wishes. If you know this young lady, give her a call to wish her a happy belated birthday.

Super Cool Christmas Gift

2008-12-20T09:20:00.001-08:00

Last night we went to my brother's house for Christmas with his family. My sister drove over from the coast to join us. After dinner we did the present exchange. My sister had Bill and I open our gifts at the same time and we both pulled out thumb drives. My sister then started to explain what our gift was about.

My father, was an avid photographer. I am a Nikon man today because of him. My first lens, a 50mm f1.8 was a gift from him. Over the years, my dad took thousands of pictures. I still remember the hallway closet. It was filled with guns, fishing tackle and boxes and boxes of slides. When he passed away in 1998, my step mom cleaned house. She threw away a bunch of our family memories and sold my dad's tools & guns for pennies at a garage sale. (Obviously, she was not a person of high favor with the Weaver's) I managed to salvage (Still had a key to the place) his slides which were by that time just thrown in multiple photocopy paper boxes. My sister, who is the official family historian/genealogist, ended up with those slides. So, what was on those thumb drives? About 400 family pictures that encompass the past 60 years.

My sister spent countless hours with her slide to digital copier going through these pictures. She scanned, cleaned, adjusted and labeled each picture then put them on a thumb drive for my brother and I. Both Lisa and I agreed, this is one of the coolest presents that we have ever received.

Thank You Linda!

This is my mom and I at the docks, probably in San Pedro. My dads friend was a Merchant Marine captain. We would go check out his ship whenever he was in the country.

My sister Linda, me and my Brother Bill in 1967.

Yes, even a swimmer back in 1965.

My dad.

Chuck Norris Friday

2008-12-19T07:23:00.000-08:00

When Chuck Norris was denied an Egg McMuffin at McDonald's because it was 10:35am, he roundhouse kicked the store so hard it became an In-N-Out.

Long day but a good day

2008-12-17T22:14:00.001-08:00

Today two really cool things happened.

First, Lisa and I drove to UC Davis for my first follow up. The surgeon said that I am doing really well. He even said that I have so much of the movement back that he does not think I should worry about physical therapy

Secondly, I have spent the last three weeks shopping for a Christmas present for the kids. I found it last weekend and it had to come home with us tonight. Her name is Lilly.

Chuck Norris Friday

2008-12-12T19:12:00.000-08:00

Chuck Norris grinds his coffee with his teeth and boils the water with his own rage.

Bryan Adams

2008-12-05T16:43:00.000-08:00

Last night the little lady and I had a date. Her birthday present this year came early. She wanted to go see Bryan Adams at the Tower Theatre. We started off our evening with dinner at Sequoia Brewery. I had the fish with an I.P.A. and she had the tri-tip sandwich. Tasty.

We arrived at the concert 5 minutes before Bryan Adams came out. It was really cool. We sat in the 9th row center. It was a really small venue and since Bryan Adams played the whole concert acousticly, it had a very intimate feel. He left home his band and only brought a pianist. It was cool because he did a lot of interacting with the audience. He even took requests. Someone jokingly yelled out, "Stairway to Heaven." Without missing a beat, he played (and expertly I might add) the introduction.

Here is a movie the wifey took on her nifty underwater camera.

Chuck Norris Friday

2008-12-05T11:06:00.000-08:00

Chuck Norris is suing Myspace for taking the name of what he calls everything around you.

Big Blog Catch Up

2008-11-29T11:16:00.000-08:00

We have been busy having all kinds of fun. Now that we stopped for a minute, here is what we did over the last few days.

Turkey for me, turkey for you! I'm eating turkey like a good boy should. It's turkey... so good!

The annual preparation of the bird is kind of a ritual around the Weaver household. I have a notebook that I keep from year to year with past recipes. Here is this years bird.

We soaked it in brine for 36 hours.

Next it was smoker time. This is by far the finest way to prepare the bird.

8 Hours later

Mmmm, that's good bird.

On Thanksgiving we got a hand me down scooter from my brother. My niece has her learners permit and is no longer interested in riding scooters. After about 2 hours of cleaning, repair and a couple new tubes; it was roadworthy.

After all that fun, our friends the Thurman8ers came over for homemade sushi. It was tasty goodness.

Thurman8er enjoyed his sushi a lot.

Chuck Norris Friday

2008-11-28T23:54:00.000-08:00

Chuck Norris has the greatest Poker-Face of all time. He won the 1983 World Series of Poker, despite holding only a Joker, a Get out of Jail Free Monopoloy card, a 2 of clubs, 7 of spades and a green #4 card from the game UNO.

Very Super Cool

2008-11-21T22:08:00.000-08:00

Here is something I saw over at Greg Swan's blog. If you don't have Microsoft's Silverlight installed yet, your gonna need to do that first.

Here is what you need to do.

1. Go install Silverlight. http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/overview/default.aspx

2. Read about the project here. http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/overview/default.aspx

3. Click on the result tab or go here. http://www.xrez.com/yose_proj/yose_deepzoom/new/XRez%20Xtreme%20Pano/index.html

4. Use your mouse wheel to zoom in. I mean, really go in. Head over the Glacier point and zoom all the way in to half dome. Go to lower Cathedral Summit. Zoom in on El Capitan and find the climbers.

This is the kind of groundbreaking technology that could change everything.

Chuck Norris Friday

2008-11-21T02:00:00.000-08:00

Nuff Said...

Disco is back

2008-11-20T16:18:00.000-08:00