So how long have you been into "skinning? When did you get started?

For me, my journey began with IBM's OS/2 back in 1994.  Me and my friend Kurt Westerfeld hated the way OS/2 looked so when we made Object Desktop, we designed a new "look" for it that changed title bars, scrollbars, title bar buttons, etc.  When we did version 2, we made it so that other people could create their own looks for it.

In 1997 when we designed up the specs for a Windows version of Object Desktop, we wanted a component that could provide new looks for Windows (later called skins) and teamed up with Neil Banfield to lead that effort. 

Star Wars Episode III is almost here.  Check out this time-line of Anakin's rise and fall. It's cool!

I got my Jag back today. It was in the shop while I was on vacation to have the horse power upgrades along with a K40 integrated radar detection/laser jammer put in.

The dealership, Jaguar of Novi, has told me that that it should be roughly 100 horse power faster.  I expect to put that to the test soon but in the meantime, I'm pretty skeptical.

What they did was change the exhaust to the Remus exhaust. It adds 20 horse power at the flywheel (12 at the wheel).

Then they upgraded the intake.  They said this upgrades performance around 4% (4% of 390HP is about 15 horse power)

And finally they upgraded the super-charger Pulley. Here's where things get murky. The dealership said that this upgrade gives between 60 to 80 horse power.  That seems like an awful lot.  I could see 15 horse power but 60?

They made a few other changes that I'm waiting to hear more details about (something about changing the PSI to be high at all times but I'm not knowledgeable enough on this to know what this means). But essentailly they said they tweaked it so that  the super charger always gives the max 13.1 psi (turning off a "safety" feature apparently).

But the Dyno is the ultimate test. The only problem, I didn't get it Dyno'd before the upgrade. Luckily, I did find on-line someone who had Dyno'd a 2005 S-Type R  He got 332 horse power.  That's about a 15% loss from the 390 horse power the engine is rated at which is pretty good.

Obviously since it's not completely an apples and apples comparison, there's going to be some variation.  But when I go and get it Dyno'd I expect to see at least 400 to 420 horse power at the wheels if the upgrade did what was indicated.

So far, I haven't got to really punch it to see. With all the work piled on my desk, I only had time to drive straight home. We'll know more soon..

TotalGaming.net has got some new forums.  If you've ever been interested in talking about computer games and such, check it out.  Your WinCustomize UserID and Password will work there as well.

For those of you in the beta, you're going to be pleasantly surprised (we hope) with beta 2 which is due out right after we get back from E3.  It has an entirely new user interface with a lot more usability integrated in.  We also are starting to flesh out the AI so that it'll be a more playable game.

Most of the main features of the game won't show up until the end of summer (star bases, debris, fleet battles, enhanced graphics, etc.) but beta 2 should hopefully show the direction we're heading.

Our goal is to make a strategy game that doesn't just look good but is as playable as possible. We want the game to always be center stage and your interaction with it to be seamless. 

If you've never been to IMDB, check it out. It's a fantastic way to find out if a movie is any good.  I generally avoid any movie that gets less than a 7.

Here are my ratings on various movies from over the years:

1941 (1979)	4
Air Force One (1997)	6
Airplane! (1980)	7
Alien (1979)	6
Aliens (1986)	8
American Beauty (1999)	5
Babylon 5: A Call to Arms (1999) (TV)	5
Babylon 5: In the Beginning (1998) (TV)	6
Babylon 5: The River of Souls (1998) (TV)	3
Babylon 5: Thirdspace (1998) (TV)	4
Back to the Future (1985)	9
Batman (1989)	6
Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 (2000)	2
Blade Runner (1982)	7
Braveheart (1995)	7
A Bug's Life (1998)	7
Chicken Run (2000)	5
A Christmas Story (1983)	8
Collateral (2004)	5
Conan the Barbarian (1982)	6
Conan the Destroyer (1984)	4
Contact (1997)	7
Cop Land (1997)	5
Dark City (1998)	6
Die Hard (1988)	8
Dogma (1999)	8
Dune (1984)	5
End of Days (1999)	4
Enemy at the Gates (2001)	6
Excalibur (1981)	9
Fallen (1998)	6
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001)	3
First Knight (1995)	1
A Fish Called Wanda (1988)	7
The Frighteners (1996/I)	6
The Fugitive (1993)	7
Gladiator (2000)	6
The Godfather (1972)	7
Good Will Hunting (1997)	4
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)	6
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)	7
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)	7
Highlander (1986)	6
Highlander II: The Quickening (1991)	3
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)	6
Howard the Duck (1986)	1
The Hunt for Red October (1990)	7
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)	7
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)	8
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)	3
Jurassic Park (1993)	7
Last Action Hero (1993)	6
Legend (1985)	7
Life of Brian (1979)	6
Lilo & Stitch (2002)	4
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)	10
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)	9
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)	9
The Matrix Revolutions (2003)	3
The Matrix (1999)	9
Men in Black (1997)	5
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)	9
The Mummy (1999)	6
Never Say Never Again (1983)	4
Planet of the Apes (2001)	1
Pleasantville (1998)	5
Poltergeist (1982)	7
Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)	1
Predator (1987)	6
Predator 2 (1990)	4
The Princess Bride (1987)	8
Pulp Fiction (1994)	6
Quiz Show (1994)	5
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)	8
The Rock (1996)	5
Saving Private Ryan (1998)	9
Schindler's List (1993)	7
Scrooged (1988)	5
Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)	7
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)	9
Shrek 2 (2004)	7
The Sixth Sense (1999)	8
Sphere (1998)	1
Spider-Man (2002)	8
Spider-Man 2 (2004)	9
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)	2
Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)	7
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982)	9
Star Wars (1977)	8
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)	7
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)	8
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)	9
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)	5
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)	7
The Terminator (1984)	7
Time Bandits (1981)	8
Titan A.E. (2000)	2
Titanic (1997)	6
Total Recall (1990)	6
The Transformers: The Movie (1986)	5
Troy (2004)	6
Twelve Monkeys (1995)	7
U-571 (2000)	4
Unbreakable (2000)	7
Unforgiven (1992)	9
Van Helsing (2004)	7
Wag the Dog (1997)	5
Willow (1988)	5

I've been playing with a new program called Face Filter Studio. It lets you get rid of blemishes and red-eye from your photos. But it also has various effects to allow you to do..things to your pictures.  So for fun, I decided to see what I could do to some pictures of my family.  If I don't write again for awhile, it's because my wife has killed me. Don't believe any stories you may hear, she killed me!

Alien Alex

Alien Ryan

Piggy Ryan and Fat Ryan

Oh this year's Christmas letter is going to be really fun..heh heh.

I've been to Disney World 3 times.  The first time I stayed at the Contemporary Resort.  The second time we stayed at Fort Wilderness Lodge.  This time we opted to go with the Polynesian Resort.

The resort is not a single hotel but a series of small buildings that surround a larger building that houses restraunts, shops, etc.  It is well maintained and sits on the lagoon that is directly across from the Magic Kingdom. 

Guests can reach the Magic Kingdom by boat or the Monorail.  Similarly, they can reach the Epcot center through the monorail as well.  Other Disney parks can be reached by buses which come frequently.

The staff and service quality at the hotel was top notch. Everyone we interacted with was friendly and courteous and helpful.  The restraunts there (with one exception which I'll get to) server outstanding quality food with good service and the prices not out of line with other similar restraunts on the Disney properties (which means they're overpriced but not ridiculous).

We opted for the "concierage" section of the resort which provided us with a room facing the lagoon and therefore facing the nightly fireworks and electric boat parade. We also had a faux-beech that came up to our room as well.  The concierge building has a large room that has "free" snacks, mini-meals, and drinks from 8am to 10pm daily.  The food and drink are pretty good stuff too.  This is particularly true in the evening where various wines, liquors, cognac, and more are set next to very high quality deserts of various kinds.  Since you can take food with you and much of it is portable, guests are encouraged to "stock up" before their trips to the parks with goodies which can save quite a bit given the gouge-level prices found at food stations at the parks.

Of course, all this comes with a price, namely $700 per night. Not cheap by any means.  What you are paying for is the convenience of always having quick-good quality food at the hotel, great scenerey, and easy convenient access to all the parks. I suspect the final element is the biggest part of all since no other resort has as quick access to all the parks at the Polynesian.

That said, I don't think Disney gives guests enough bang for the buck.  $700 per night is an incredible sum. And on top of that, it, like Disney's parks themselves, seem to be incredibly blatant about gouging its customers.  "Captain Cook's" restaurant is a good example.  A hamburger (not even McDonald's level) at Captain Cook's is $6. Come on.  My wife and two young sons spent over $30 on a very low-grade, "dinner" our first night that consisted of a warmed up pizza, a hamburger, a chicken sandwich (a piece of chicken and a bun), and some chicken fingers.  This is a meal that would normally cost about half as much anywhere else.  They're already charging a premium for the hotel, how they justify such blatant gouging is beyond me and left a pretty negative impression with us.

Secondly, the rooms themselves are incredibly small.  Smaller than a typical Day's Inn room.  Two queen beds with a 13 inch TV and a small table and tiny bathroom is all our $700 per day got us in terms of a room.

Thirdly, there's no high-speed Internet access. That part really surprised me.  Even fairly low-end hotels offer Internet access.  What is the Polynesian's excuse? And not to be too conspicuous here but anyone who can afford $700 per night probably is someone who needs to be able to keep some eye on what's happening at work.

Fourthly, Disney is a paper mouse.  That is, throughout the parks and resorts Disney's "cast members" state various rules such as no flash photography, no eating and drinking, etc.  But inevitably, some people do just that and the rules are never enforced. So those who choose to ignore the rules prosper. 

But what really got us at the Polynesian was that we were on a no smoking floor and the people next to us were smoking like crazy in their rooms. Given the size of these rooms, our room by the end of the evening was so smokey that you could see the smoke hovering around the room.  Now I wasn't 100% positive it was the people next door (i.e. not enough to pound on ther doors) but sure enough to ask the Concierge to see if they could check on it and if they were certain, to "remind" them that they're on a no-smoking floor.  But they did nothing. They said "There's not much we can do, if they're breaking the rules that's very rude of them but there's not much we can do.."  Oh? What about enforcing the damn rules! We were pretty flabberghasted by the whole thing.  It definitely tainted our experience.

Fifthly, the pool was fairly mediocre overall relative to other resorts I've been to. And there's no hot-tub whatsoever.  Moreover, in keeping with the Disney tradition, the pool-side bar provided drinks at vastly inflated prices that were quite sub-par in quality.

Now, if I sound like I'm down on the Polynesian, I'm not saying it's a bad place.  But at the $700 per night level, it's competing against some pretty incredible places.  For 7 nights, that's about $5,000.  So the bar is raised pretty high.  So overall, while it's a decent hotel, it's really not anywhere near as good as it should be to justify the premium price point.  That said, the "Garden Room" view rooms are only $300 per night and at that level, given its proximity to the parks, it's more competitive.  But anything beyond that is not worth it in my opinion.

Overall: 3 out of 5.

Going to Disney World may be hazardous to ones health.  When our family went to the magic kingdom, I weight 161 pounds.  This morning, I weighed 168 pounds.  I admit, we..I..ate a lot.  I had hoped all the walking would work it off and it is possible that building some muscle in my legs from walking contributed some to that weight.

Oh well, either way, time for better diet and excercise..

I finally bit the bullet and had custom LASIK done to both my eyes. The procedure was performed by Dr. D.C. Fiander of the Farmington Laser Eye Center.

It was not an easy decision to have this procedure done. I had spent a great deal of time researching the pros and cons on LASIK, PRK, Custom LASIK along with other methods to improve vision. 

Since I work in front of the computer all day, my eyes are very important to me so weighing the potential side effects from such a procedure was key in my decision. For the past near 20 years, I've been wearing contacts.  And glasses for years before that. My vision was bad. Very bad.  6.5 in my right eye and 5.25 in my left. I also have some astigmatism.  For those of you who aren't familiar with these numbers it means that without glasses and contacts that am disabled.  I couldn't function without glasses or contacts because my vision was so bad that I could only make out shapes.

For years I've hesitated in having this sort of thing done on my eyes. I didn't like glasses and contacts but I just don't like the idea of people messing with my eyes. And let's face it, as annoying as those things are, they are preferable to taking a chance on permanently damaging ones vision.

So I did a lot of research.  The Usenet news groups weren't helpful because the main group seems to be populated by a handful of kooks telling horror stories that just didn't match up with anything I'd read elsewhere (and it was only a couple of people who seemed to have some agenda).  There were numerous websites that gave clinical information on it and told me of the benefits and potential pitfalls of the procedure.

But I learned the most from talking to other people who had had the procedure and all were very happy with it. But still, I was just not willing to go in and have someone do things to my eyes. I was just too squeamish.

But then this summer I was at a wedding reception on the other side of the state when I got something in my eye while there.  I was wearing contacts so this was a big deal. Taking them out meant being basically blind.  That was my turning point. I travel a great deal and I'd reached a point where I simply didn't want to mess around with contacts and glasses knowing that if something unforseen happened that I could be left totally helpless. Whether it be a business trip or vacation or whatever, the idea that I could be left essentially disabled due to a lost contact or broken glasses became unacceptable. The logistics train of having to bring extra everything "just in case" exceeded my tolerance threshold.

So I made an appointment at Dr. Fiander's. He was someone that some friends had recommended and went for an evaluation. There are two types of LASIK available these days. The regular LASIK and Custom LASIK which uses Wavefront technology to have the changes be more customized to your eyes.

The Custom LASIK costs more and is somewhat more invasive, has a slightly longer recovery time.  But it has a higher statistical likelihood of giving good results.

My vision with glasses and contacts wasn't particularly good. In my case, I saw 20/40 with glasses and 20/60 with contacts.  So anything that equaled that or bettered it was an improvement.

The first step was the consultation.  I did that about a month ago. In that, they do a great deal of measurements on ones eye. It was like an optometrist appointment but much more intense. In hindsight, I wish I had asked more questions and received more information from this.  For instance, most LASIK centers offer free enhancements for up to a year.  I don't know if this is covered or not (and hopefully it won't be relevant to me either way).  The price range was on the high side compared to other places I went to but results were my overriding concern. Still, I would expect to be "taken care of" in the event that I do need further enhancements later on.

I also would have liked to find out things like my Corneal thickness, corneal steepness, pupil's in dim light,, tear break up, and other pupil measurements.  Essentially, for helping my research for myself after the consultation it would have been nice to be given a copy of the results so that I could assure myself that I was a good candidate for this procedure.  I am confident of Dr. Flander's view on this but it would have been handy to have this information for my own peace of mind.  I'll probably mention this to him on my next appointment as a suggestion.

Another suggestion I would have would have been to receive a print out on all the equipment. There are several different types of lasers and several different wavefront systems available. I recall hearing that they use the Excimer laser with LadarWave which would make it Alcon's "LADARVision CustomCornea". My right eye is at around 6.5 to 7 so it was at the very edge of what this system can correct (according to the FDA).  But I could be wrong on this (hence why it would have been handy to receive a bit more data on this).  Because it could also be the Technolas 217 Excimer laser with add-ons that supposedly give better results. I will ask more on this in follow-up exams.

So about a month after the consultation (October 22) I went in the Custom LASIK.

It took about 2 hours from the time I went in. Most of that time is in preparation.  They take close up topical pictures of your eye. This was not pleasant because with custom LASIK they have to take a picture of the entire eye ball which involves having a nurse holding your eye lids open just right (which took awhile to get right). 

Then they dilate your eyes. Once your eyes are dilated, they come in and put some numbing drops and use a special pen to draw dots on your eyes (very weird stuff).  A few minutes after that they took me in and had me lay down on this table where you rest your head under this machine.  It seems to be totally computerized -- complete with computerized voice telling you what % of the procedure is complete.

They started with my right eye and I won't lie, I experienced quite a bit of discomfort. About the same level as getting a shot for getting a cavity filled (not excruciating but not comfortable).  You hear the computer say "acquired" and then apparently a little blade comes and slices a very thin flap of your eye surface that is pealed back for the laser machine to do its thing.  For the next minute and a half, the laser does its thing while you stare at a red blinking light.  I didn't really feel pain but the longer it did its thing the more heat I could feel in my right eye. I did feel a distinct burning sensation when the right eye was being worked on.

A minute later they did the same to my left eye which was easier for some reason.  When they were done they put some anti-biotic drops in my eyes, some steroid compound drops and gave me some drugs to make me go to sleep and sent me home (my wife drove me home).

When I went home, I went to bad and slept for about 10 hours.  I got up the next day and I can instantly see the massive improvement.  It's not yet nearly as good as glasses or contacts but that is to be expected they say as my eye has to heal. Mostly it has to do with fluid in my eye and such that should go away over the coming weeks.

So am I glad I did this? The jury is out. It depends on how recovery goes. I expect in the next couple of days I'll have a pretty good idea. There's no doubt in my mind that my vision is far better than it was. But as the literature said, for the first 72 hours after the procedure I can expect halos and other light refraction issues which I am experiencing.  It is also hard to read close up things right now which I am told is normal and will work itself out in the next 72 hours.

Day 2: The glare has gotten considerably better. So I can read pretty well at this point.  My first concern that's come up though is that my right eye's vision is significantly less defined than my left.  I don't know if this is something I can expect to change or not.

Basically my right eye's vision is slightly garbled.  Imagine the letter S where a second letter S is superimposed on top of the first S but just a few milimeters above the lower S so that you have an almost double letter S going.   The left eye is completely sharp.

I've not found very good resources on the net yet to find out whether this is normal or not. After all, it's only been 48 hours. I won't worry too much for another week or so. But right now, while my left eye is basically perfect, my right isn't so great. Reading text and such, distance or near, is very indistinct.

Day 3: Halos and glare decrease. My eyes are fairly comfortable at this point. I'm quite pleased with my left eye but my right eye isn't quite as good. It seems to have a moderate case of monocular diplopia. I am hopeful that over the coming weeks as it heals that this will clear up.  I'm currently seeing about 20/30 in my left eye and 20/50 in my right eye. This is still better than contacts and once the "glow" effects from light and such dissipate over the coming weeks I expect to be quite happy. Though I am hopeful that my right eye will improve as it heals (I am left eye dominate fortunately).

Week 1: Still have some halos. The world is still vaguely like looking at the Sky Captain and the World of tomorrow. Left eye feels good. Right eye still feels a little tender. Vision in left eye is about 20/25. Vision in right eye has improved to probably 20/45 at this point. It's still noticeably less clear than my left eye. I'm not sure if that's due to it being less fully healed or what. Eyes do get fatigued quite easily. But overall, I'm still pretty happy about things. Not having to wear contacts or glasses is very nice. I expect the halos and overall glowy effect of everything to subside (basically with every light source big or small giving a glow effect it does make the world look a bit odd).

I'm having to put various drops into my eyes. Anti-biotics and steroid drops 4 times per day and about the same # of times for "refresher" (wettening) drops. The left eye needs it a lot less than my right eye.  I don't get star bursts which was one side effect I read others having on the net. So I'm happy about that.

Will keep reporting.

Week 3:  Night vision is still problematic because light sources give of a large halo (glow around the light source). My vision is about 20/30 overall at this point.  But it's 20/50 in my right eye. Overall, i don't see as well as I did with my glasses but I see better than I did with my contacts.

Eyes do get dry quite a bit but it's getting better.  There is still a significant haze in my vision largely due to the reflection of light off of surfaces.  I have not found that to have improved yet. 

Overall, I'm pleased with the results but I am thinking I may need them to tweak it.

2 Months:
I've become more pleased with the results over time.  I see about 20/20 out of my left and 20/25 out of my right. Overall I see 20/20 at this point.

One of the things that I've been told is that CUSTOM LASIK, as opposed to regular LASIK does have a longer recovery time. I wish this had been stressed to me at the time as I wouldn't have been as concerned with the results early on. Most of the articles I've read on-line deal with plain old LASIK.

I still experience dry eyes, something I didn't before. But it seems to get better by the day.  I am still getting a significant halo affect but that too is improving over time.  I think I'll have a better idea in another month or so.  Overall, I'm quite pleased with the results at this point.

6 Months later:
Very pleased with the results.  The halos are gone or at least so much subdued that I can't notice it.  My eyes do get dry sometimes so I carry some re-wetting drops with me. But it's pretty minor. 

We recently went on a trip to Disney and it was wonderful because I didn't have to lug around contact stuff or glasses (or both). And I can definitely see better than I did with glasses/contacts so I could definitely appreciate the difference.