Independence Day

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Been swamped at work this week, so not much time to update here. I've been working on a wireless implementation for the fall, to allow our students on our network. We're trying to decide between buying a turn-key style system, or rolling our own using 802.1x and Active Directory. I did have time to catch a couple movies though, I saw both Fahrenheit 9/11 and Spider-Man 2. If you've got a chance, see them both, they're definitely worth the price of admission.

Passport

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I made my way through the government bureaucracy to get my passport ordered today. I had to put a rush on it, so I would have time to get my Russian visa, all told, the cost was $172.50, plus $10 to get my picture taken. I'm definitely turning these receipts in. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Uncle Sam lets you fill in the Passport application form via Acrobat, then print it out, so it's nice and neat. Of course, it'd be more efficient to let me submit it online, or even print a barcode on the form, so that someone could just scan it, rather than re-key all that data. In any case, seven to ten days from now, I should have my shiny new Passport, complete with awful picture.

Happy Birthday to me

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Today is my 28th birthday. I got some good presents, a new 35mm SLR camera from my parents, and a fishin' pole. I got some new speakers from my grandfather, as well as a copy of Clinton's new book. I got a polarizer for my new camera from my sister, and of course the iSight from my wife. For myself, I bought a new lawn mower, as my old electric mower simply wasn't up to the task anymore. My new 7 horsepower mower has more than enough oomph to tackle our lawn, and mowing the lawn will no longer be an all-day event.

iHave iSight

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My wife surprised me with my birthday present, and cake, a few days early. My birthday isn't until Thursday, but when I got home from work today, she presented me with a shiny new iSight camera for my PowerBook, and a tasty cake! For those of you who'd like to try to video conference with me, my AIM/iChat username is sethb2. The Video should work not only with fellow iChat users, but also with those who have the latest version of AIM installed.