This Weekend in Geekdom

We went to a local computer flea market in Annapolis, MD, Saturday morning with the intent of obtaining some toys and expanding the economy. Both were achieved.

I was looking for a copy of Adobe Acrobat since I'll shortly lose access to my office version. I didn't find one, but I did find PDF Converter 4 Professional for $60... that's close enough.

I also got a new CD case for all of the data and software installation CDs sitting around our home computer room. I also now have a handheld thumb roller mouse which I hope to use for faster & more subtle screen scrolling when I'm reading square dance choreo from a computer screen.

kent4str needed a replacement hard drive for his XP workstation and a backup drive for his MacBook: his XP box now has a 320 GB drive and I'm currently working on installing it in the workstation. His new 500 GB USB-based external backup drive has already made a full backup of his MacBook.

cuyahogarvr's needs are simpler than ours: we got a replacement card reader for his digital camera's memory card and a CD holder for his car's sun visor.

Alas, I was unable to find some items I wanted: a PCMCIA audio card for my laptop (my audio jack has been misbehaving lately), a 100 GBps switch for our home network and a hip holster for kent4str's cell phone. We'll have to continue shopping for those.

This Weekend in Geekdom

We went to a local computer flea market in Annapolis, MD, Saturday morning with the intent of obtaining some toys and expanding the economy. Both were achieved.

I was looking for a copy of Adobe Acrobat since I'll shortly lose access to my office version. I didn't find one, but I did find PDF Converter 4 Professional for $60... that's close enough.

I also got a new CD case for all of the data and software installation CDs sitting around our home computer room. I also now have a handheld thumb roller mouse which I hope to use for faster & more subtle screen scrolling when I'm reading square dance choreo from a computer screen.

kent4str needed a replacement hard drive for his XP workstation and a backup drive for his MacBook: his XP box now has a 320 GB drive and I'm currently working on installing it in the workstation. His new 500 GB USB-based external backup drive has already made a full backup of his MacBook.

cuyahogarvr's needs are simpler than ours: we got a replacement card reader for his digital camera's memory card and a CD holder for his car's sun visor.

Alas, I was unable to find some items I wanted: a PCMCIA audio card for my laptop (my audio jack has been misbehaving lately), a 100 GBps switch for our home network and a hip holster for kent4str's cell phone. We'll have to continue shopping for those.

Administrative Updates

Our first DC Diamond Circulate newsletter is now officially released and available here. I emailed the PDF file as an attachment to registrants last week and to the callers earlier this evening. Now that the PDF file has been posted to our website, I've emailed an announcement with just the link to the LGCWSD mailing list.

100 copies of the newletter were printed out. I stuffed approximately 60 of those into envelopes last night to mail as soon as I get the necessary postage from the US Postal Service. Two go to Japan, seven to Canada and the rest of the US. Several additional copies will go into the travelling dog-and-pony shows which we're sending to fly-in around the continent; I need to print even more so we can include them in the IAGSDC bimonthly mailout due shortly.

Administrative Updates

Our first DC Diamond Circulate newsletter is now officially released and available here. I emailed the PDF file as an attachment to registrants last week and to the callers earlier this evening. Now that the PDF file has been posted to our website, I've emailed an announcement with just the link to the LGCWSD mailing list.

100 copies of the newletter were printed out. I stuffed approximately 60 of those into envelopes last night to mail as soon as I get the necessary postage from the US Postal Service. Two go to Japan, seven to Canada and the rest of the US. Several additional copies will go into the travelling dog-and-pony shows which we're sending to fly-in around the continent; I need to print even more so we can include them in the IAGSDC bimonthly mailout due shortly.

C1 Dance Workshop

kent4str, cuyahogarvr and I hosted a small C1 workshop at our home earlier today. It wasn't meant to be a particularly intensive workshop, just an opportunity to give a couple of our newer C1 dancers some floortime and opportunities to work on particular calls for practice.

Originally, kent4str and I were planning to swap calling but he was feeling a little off so I did nearly all of the calling. Per usual, he and cuyahogarvr went 'way overboard with the food... we're going to be eating leftovers for a long, long time.

We ran a little over three hours but many had afternoon appointments so we didn't go too far over our projected time. I think everyone had a good time and our (relative) newbies were certainly stronger dancers at the end than they were at the start so we're declaring success.

C1 Dance Workshop

kent4str, cuyahogarvr and I hosted a small C1 workshop at our home earlier today. It wasn't meant to be a particularly intensive workshop, just an opportunity to give a couple of our newer C1 dancers some floortime and opportunities to work on particular calls for practice.

Originally, kent4str and I were planning to swap calling but he was feeling a little off so I did nearly all of the calling. Per usual, he and cuyahogarvr went 'way overboard with the food... we're going to be eating leftovers for a long, long time.

We ran a little over three hours but many had afternoon appointments so we didn't go too far over our projected time. I think everyone had a good time and our (relative) newbies were certainly stronger dancers at the end than they were at the start so we're declaring success.