A Picture Share!

Originally uploaded by Roland K Smith.

I took this as I was on my way to work this morning.

It took three times to get this picture sent to the blog (I’m editing the post because typing on the phone is so painful). The first time I sent it was as I was waiting for the train. The phone went through the whole process and then gave me an error message saying I had to try again later. Of course, the message was lost. The second time I tried when I had some spare time this morning never arrived. The picture is on Sprint — but it never got to Flickr or to my blog. Over lunch I figured that problem out. It seems that my phone can’t store the full email address and chops off the last three characters. The full email address is 35 characters long (!!) and the phone can only store 32 characters maximum for an e-mail address. The phone won’t allow me to call up the address and then edit it. I have to type in the entire address every time. That’s a major bummer. This old phone is missing a bunch of capability available in newer phones. Definitely time to upgrade. I think I need a phone with a keyboard.

So I went on the SprintPCS web page to see what phones might be available. It wants my zip code. Mind you, I’ve already logged in and they know my name (it’s displayed at the top of the page). I enter the zip code and Sprint tells me that service is available in my area and I should go to the Sprint store to see what phones might be available. You’d think that by now companies would be a bit smarter than that, but obviously telecom companies didn’t qualify for smart.

Posting a picture from the camera phone is working quite well — as you can see from the one picture that I’ve posted. The phone, on the other hand, doesn’t work so well. It’s about two years old and has the capabilities from way back then. Writing text on the phone is, well, painful. The phone doesn’t do text messaging — it can receive them in a kind of a funky way, but can’t send them. So writing some text to go along with the picture takes a very long time and is quite frustrating. For instance, the phone wants to capitalize every word! So I have to put in two spaces at the end of a word and then backspace so the phone thinks I’m correcting a mistake and doesn’t insert a upper-case letter. I think it’s time to get a new phone. I’ll do some looking over the next couple of weeks to see if anything catches my fancy. Now that phone numbers are portable, I can go to any carrier and keep my phone number.

I was also thinking about a way to take pictures or video while driving. I did a search on camera window mounts and came up with a couple of interesting options, such as this one which hooks onto the headrest (sometimes this URL doesn’t load — try again). I could mount either the video camera or my digital camera on this thing. I’ve a remote control for both of them…. I could take a picture just as I crash while paying more attention to the camera than to the road! We’ll see what happens. My commute to work is 5.3 miles and takes between 12 and 14 minutes. The time difference has nothing to do with traffic — there’s never sufficient traffic to make a difference. The variable is that I cross a set of railroad tracks on the way. Sometimes I have to wait a few minutes for a train to pass. Occasionally it’s a long wait, particularly for trains coming into town as they are slowing down and sometimes stop before clearing the crossing. There are six stop signs going to work and five coming back. I don’t have to deal with any other traffic control. About two-thirds of the way the speed limit is 25 mph or less. There’s a half-mile stretch of 45 mph after the railroad tracks and before Ross Park. The rest of the drive is 35 mph. I think a video of the commute would be a useful activity (grin)….

A Picture Share!

Originally uploaded by Roland K Smith.

If all goes well, this self-portrait will appear on my blog, sent from my cell phone thru Flickr.

The other day it became necessary for Dawnmarie to finally (!!) get her Pennsylvania driver’s license. She later sent us an e-mail describing her experience in working with the public servants, some of whom could use some training in the idea of providing service…. Here’s what she wrote:

Okay, I’m back, finally, from getting my license. And I just have to say, this is a completely ridiculous process. It took me an hour, and I’m not even having to take a test, written or otherwise. You have to bring your Social Security card, two forms of ID with pictures on them, two pieces of mail with your address on it and your out of state license. Sounds simple, right? HA HA HA!

So I get there, I show them my stuff, and he says, “No can do.” I wonder why not. He says, “Well, you didn’t talk to us first did you?” I tell him that I’ve been to the license center in another county, got the paper work and then went online, got the same info, so here I am.

He repeats, “Well, you didn’t talk to us.” I look at him like he’s insane! It’s a state run organization! Do I need to talk to the city people when I’ve gone to the web site? Who knows. So I ask him to look at it again. He says that he cannot use my birth certificate (orginal, with raised seal, not a copy, thank you very much) because it does not have the same name on it as my license and social security card. I point out that it does indeed have the same name, it’s just that I’m using Smith as a middle name now. Does not fly. So then he conceeds that he can use my military ID after much contemplation over whether or not it is the same person. Much comparison of the photo to me. The picture was taken 30 days ago. I think it looks like me. So then I’m off to another room where another guy looks at the same stuff, makes two copies of each and says “No can do as the address on the mail is a PO box, not a street address and I have to have a street address on the license and don’t I have anything mailed to me with my street address on it?” I say, “Well, you’d have to have a mailbox at your street address in order to get mail there, and as I’ve already explained, all our mail goes to a PO box.”

So then I have to go out to the car to check the registration and proof of insurance and show them that to see if that will qualify. Only problem being that the car is registered in Kirk’s name and I don’t have my marriage certificate with me to prove that I’m married. So he asks if Kirk is here. I look at him as if he’s insane. Why would I be shoveling gummi bears into Jillian and Kate’s mouths and having them climb all over me if their dad was here to watch them? “No, I say, he’s working.”

So after what seems like a bit of internal conflict for him, he allows it. I verify that the form is correct and am told to go across the lobby to get my photo taken. I get there, and I have to prove yet again that I am who I say I am and that no one has accosted me in my walk of 30 feet to get my precious driver’s license form. Finally I get my picture taken and am released yet again into public life.

I shudder to think what would have happened if I actually had to take a test! Amazingly enough, 19 of the 911 terrorists managed to get US driver’s license. I barely was able to switch mine from another state! It seems a bit extreme. It’s always the assumption that you are trying to lie to them, or pull something over on them. If my name on my birth certificate had been “Daniel Simpson” I’d be able to understand why they would need additional proof that I am who I say I am! But to tell me that Dawnmarie Smith and Dawnmarie Smith Lunnen are too dissimilar is a bit of a stretch to me.

Oh well, I have my license, now I get to go deal with the police department. Will my fun never end?!

Thanks, Dawnmarie, for a great story. It’s now recorded for posterity! When I asked her if I could post the story, she replied, “Have at it! Kirk reminded me that the most important thing to come from all of this was a much better photo on my license!”

A Picture Share!

Originally uploaded by Roland K Smith.

I’m trying to make posting from Flickr work. I took this picture from my office window earlier today. Eventually it’ll end up on my weblog. When it does, I’ll stop tinkering!

The blogging spirit has touched several people and I’ve enjoyed the reading. Nina’s sister Pam (links on the right side of the page) has written a couple of delightful posts in the past few days. It is good to read a bit out what is going on in other people’s lives. Nina talks fairly often with our daughters, but not all of that conversation filters through to me. For instance — Dawnmarie and Kirk have upgraded their car! That was interesting news to me. Dawnmarie just went through a frustrating process with her driver’s license. It’s a great story so I’ll be asking if she’ll let me post it on my blog. You’d think that would be an easy task…. Wrong. Jim, Heather, and Jaelene all have written on their blogs with more interesting tidbits. My brother Perry has a new post with some additional information about his treatment program. I’m liking this new world of communication.

Speaking of Perry, he had his first chemo treatment today. The doctor told him the first treatment would take between six and eight hours because they would have to knock down all of the allergic reactions that he would have to this first dose. It didn’t sound at all pleasant. Here’s hoping that he recovers well from this round. Some year people will look back on how we had to treat cancer in this day and age and will shudder at how barbaric it sounds, just like we look back on how dental work was done before anesthesia (wooden teeth and all). However it is getting much better. My grandmother Mary Smith died from stomach cancer when I was a senior in high school. There were very few treatment options available and she essentially starved to death. Again, not very pleasant.

With that I need to get back to something much more uplifting. It’s snowing outside! We’re ahead of normal in the water budget for the year. We’ve had much more than normal rainfall which has been filling up the ponds, lakes, and reservoirs. This is very good. Let it snow!

I’ve uploaded a few pictures to Flickr and am trying out some of the capability. The picture itself is a link, so if you click on the picture, it’ll take you to that picture on flickr.com. The picture is of the main square in downtown Brugge in Belgium. Nina and I went there on Tuesday, November 1, 2005 and spent the morning sightseeing. That day is a holiday through most of Europe — All Saints Day (similar to our Memorial Day) so we had the day available to do whatever we wished around the area. We first stopped in Brugge, then drove out to the coast and back to Gent.

I’ll be doing quite a bit of experimenting with Flickr over the next while. It’s currently getting quite a bit of buzz in the Internet community and it should be able to coexist and perhaps even work together with my blog. There is a capability to insert a blog entry from Flickr. I’ll be trying that sometime in the near future!