Welcome to Tuna Can Org!
Tuna's (aka Tom Slider) personal web site.
Ok, I'll doing my daily routine on checking the news in at 
Slashdot, looking for the latest "geek" news. I like to read Slashdot because there seems to be quite a lot of visitors that reflect my interests. If it wasn't for Slashdot, I never would have been exposed to technologies like the BeOS and Linux so early on.
Today I came across something that's got me really excited. It seems at the ComicCon in San Diego this week, Disney debuted a trailer for a possible sequel to the original Tron movie, this one called Tr2n. There are a few bootleg movies on the web, including this one at Filmstalker.
What can I say? Even though the bootleg trailer videos aren't the best quality, it does give us a glimpse of what we could expect from the movie. There is no indication if Disney is indeed going to be making a complete Tr2n motion picture, but if they do, they can count on me going to see, especially in an IMAX theater. -- TS
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Last night I spent the evening out in the garage. After my move into this apartment, I was having to just stuff things into the garage with no inclination of what to put where. My poor Bug was just buried with boxes and totes.
My original intent was to wash the Passat, as it was DIRTY and in dire need of a good washing. I had a storage tote somewhere in the garage that had all of my car washing supplies, but I had to go digging for it. After the Passat was clean, I looked at the chaos in the garage and I started digging through boxes. I decided to start going through boxes, seeing what I need to keep and what could be tossed in the trash or donated to the local Goodwill Industries.
Since my Passat's trunk is still loaded with bridal shower gifts, I had to use the back seat for transportation. I decided to go through my tons of computer and aircraft books and give them to Goodwill. In a brief period of time, I had the rear seat piled high with boxes of books. Those books got dropped off this afternoon. One step down, many more to go! -- TS
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This afternoon Kristina and I picked up Holly, the young lady who is our wedding photographer, and headed up to Oak Glen. 
Holly had mentioned that she wanted to take some portrait pictures for practice, Kristina had never met Holly, and we had wanted engagement photos, so the three of us agreed that we try Los Rios Rancho for some photo-taking.
So with the D80 in hand, we wandered around the grounds, looking for settings that could make good photos of both Kristina and I. We all had a good time and it gave Holly some time getting comfortable with the D80.
Afterwards, we stopped in at a Starbucks in Yucaipa to go through the photos. All three of us were eager to see how the photos came out, so we stayed there for something like two or three hours, looking at the photos and talking. It was a good time! -- TS
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Last night Kristina and I went to the Rubidoux Drive-in Theatre and show two great movies: The Dark Knight and Get Smart. 
Get Smart was a very funny and entertaining movie, especially for people like me who used to enjoy the original TV series. There are many references to things from the series, like the Sunbeam Tiger in the museum. If you were a fan of the TV series, trust me, go see the movie. You will enjoy it!
Get Smart was good, but the "knock your socks off " movie was The Dark Knight, the latest Batman movie. This movie features Christian Bale as caped crusader and Heath Ledger as the Joker. What can I say about this movie?
Well, Heath Ledger stole the show!!! He was so eerie as the Joker, a twisted man who enjoyed to kill just for the sport of it. The Joker's makeup contributed to his evil aura. All I can say is that if you are a fan of the darker Batman movies, this movie will be right up your alley. Kristina and I have agreed that we are buying this movie as soon as it's available on DVD. -- TS
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This morning my dad and I attended this years Redlands 
Optimist Car Show in Sylvan Park. Every year the Redlands Optimist Club puts on this great car show to help raise funds for local charities.
Every year I make it a point to attend this show. The entry fee is very reasonable ($4 this year) and the attendance is quite large.
There is usually a lack of VWs at this show. It's kind of disappointing to me, as I know there are some really cool VWs around, but very few make it out. This year changed all of that, as there must have been at least a dozen here. I had the D80 so I made sure to grab some photos of the cool stuff I saw. -- TS
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I'm relaxing, trying to not let the heat get to me or the stress of wedding plans. 
I was going through the photos on my laptop and I realize that I had never put together a photo gallery of images from this year's Bug-In 33 (which was April 6th!!!).
So, this afternoon with the iPod Shuffle cranking out the Pet Shop Boys tunes, I wade through the photos I took that day and pieced together a Bug-In 33 photo gallery to share with everyone.
This show was my first attempt at shooting drag racing with the D80. The camera did well, but our seats didn't allow for me to get many good shots of the racing. I also realized that I'm going to develop a few techniques in getting the "right" shot, just as I did with water polo.
Well, I hope you guys enjoy the photos!! Let me know what you think!! -- TS
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Late last night I got back from staying five days down in Orange County. Kristina had gotten back from Shasta Lake and we had some things to do together for the wedding, so I stayed down there so we could get somethings taken care, like our final meeting with the church, setting a time for the rehearsal, and finding a location for the rehearsal dinner.
On Friday night, a bunch of her family came over to celebrate Kristina's parents' wedding anniversary. We all ate poolside and talked. After the sun set, we all gathered inside. The group wanted to play a game of some sort (I think it was Pictionary), but I'm not the game type of person.
Lucky for me, her uncle Dave had discovered that I've got a lot of experience with publishing on the Web, so we spent the evening talking about his future business ideas and how he could leverage the web.
Dave and I also share another common interest: photography. Dave had just bought a Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-200mm (f3.5-f5.6), and a Nikon SB-600 speedlight. So the conversation eventually transformed to that topic for the remainder of the evening. :) -- TS
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Tonight I was finally able to complete one of the tasks for the wedding that Kristina had dealt to me: find a photographer that would work for our budget.
Seeing as we had very little to pay, most wedding photographers were out. A lot charge more that we'll have into the whole wedding. Kristina is the whiz on Photoshop and she owns a nice digital SLR (the D80), so we just needed someone who knew their way around a camera but who wasn't going to be a guest. That left out most of the people I knew.
So after a lot of thinking, I contacted a former YHS student of mine, Holly Cross and asked if I could meet her to propose a business offer. We met up at Starbucks in Yucaipa, talked for about three hours this evening, and at the end of the evening, I walked out of there with a photographer arranged.
I'm excited to have her doing the photography and she's excited to do it. Kristina and I agreed that Holly could keep the photos for her use, like in a portfolio. That way she gets some spending money and something to use in her portfolio and we get photos from our wedding. :) -- TS
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This Independence Day Kristina and I spent apart. She is at Shasta Lake with her family, attending a Templin family reunion. So while she is up there riding around in motor boats and "tubing", I spent the day with our friends the McAughtys.
The McAughtys invited me to join them in San Jacinto (near Hemet) for a dual Fourth of July party and birthday party for their youngest son Noah. Traci's brother and his wife are resident managers for an RV storage lot there in San Jacinto. Next door to the storage lot is a community park where the city hosts a fireworks show every year.
So I went down there, spent the afternoon and evening with everyone, enjoyed good conversation, and watched the fireworks after sunset. It was a good time!! -- TS
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The end of June is here! Summertime in the Inland Empire means heat! 
For the last week and a half, we've had daily highs over 100°F and last week we had a few days with highs of 112°F!! It's hot!!
The problem is made worse with the layout of my apartment. The sliding glass door faces to the east (sunrise) and the rest of the windows all face to the west (sunset). That means that all day long the windows are constantly radiating heat into the apartment. The mini-blinds do very little to keep the heat out. I've gotten home from work and found the inside of the apartment to be over 95°F!!
So rather than staying at home and running up the electric bill by running the air conditioning, I've been escaping to the A.K. Smiley Public Library with my laptop to work on things. It's less than a couple of miles from my place, they have free WiFi, air-conditioning, and power receptacles in the floor. So I make sure to bring my backpack (with the laptop) and find a table to quietly work on the project at hand. I just wish the library was open more hours throughout the week. -- TS
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Today I'm gathering information on a few things that need to be done. I've been assigned the task of the rehearsal dinner for the wedding. I've got to call the church and get a time. With that info, I'm going to find a restaurant close to the church for the dinner.
Another item on my "to-do" list this summer is to 
contact CSUSB and find out what I need to do exactly to finish my bachelor's degree there. After a lot of soul-searching and some interviews with IT departments in the business sector, I've decided that my place isn't in the business world. I've long known that I could be a good teacher and that people find my teaching style very comfortable.
Armed with this knowledge and my almost twelve years in the school district, I've elected to forego the Computer Science degree and pursue a degree in Mathematics. The Mathematics department offers a Bachelors of Arts Teaching Track, a Math degree to assist students to become teachers. I'm also going to supplement this degree with a minor in Computer Science, just so that my coursework in the Computer Science department applies to something!
I'm hoping to use this degree, along with a California teaching credential, to secure a teaching position within a public high school. Once I'm there, I'd like to show them that my talents are far beyond a math teacher and try to secure a position teaching computers and technology to students and faculty. The first step is talking to an admissions counselor to find out what I can use from my transcripts and what I need to do to get in. I'll keep you posted! -- TS
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The move is done! The first phase of the YHS modernization is now complete, at least my part. 
I was able to get all of the computers moved into storage or set up in another classroom, and phones set up. The only real headache came to the networking of the computers. The classrooms were only designed to have one network connection that could access the student database and to use a VoIP phone, so I had to do some network analysis and reconfigure the network so the people who needed access could use it.
I wrapped up everything this morning and I'm taking this afternoon to start to put together my notes. The building is scheduled to be finished about the same time as my wedding, so I may not be available to move the computers back. The person who does the move-in will also need to reconfigure the network equipment to the previous state, that's the reason for my notes. At least I can sit somewhere air conditioned and escape the 100°F+ heat!! -- TS
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The end of the school year has come. Yesterday the class of 2008 graduated from Yucaipa High School and today marks my last regular work day. Normally the day is a quiet day for me, as it's a campus-wide staff meeting and then back to the lab to make sure everything is straightened up and ready to go for next year. This year was different because at quitting time, my new assignment kicked in full time.
This summer I'm doing some extra work for the Maintenance Dept of the school district. It seems that our school office is being "modernized". This modernization includes new paint and carpeting, widening of the doorways (to meet the American's with Disabilities Act (1990) requirements), lowering counter tops, and new furniture.
The Maintenance Dept. hired me to relocate or store the staff computers in the building. So if the computer was no longer being used for the summer, I am to store them in a secure location. There is a handful of staff who work through the summer (administrators, counselors, and a few office staff), so working with one of our assistant principals, I am moving them into vacant classrooms, reassembling the computers, and getting their VoIP telephones back online. -- TS
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I thought I'd share with everyone a project I'm working on a work. For many years I've been wanting to develop my own database driven web site. I've worked with various CMS software packages that used databases, but I've never developed one from scratch. What always escaped me was a specific project that could benefit from this project.
This project surfaced to me in the last couple of years at Yucaipa High. One of my responsilbilities is coordinating the computer lab's calendar, making sure it's available for teachers. Currently it's scheduled using a very low technology method: a laminated calendar and dry-erase markers. It works, but it's not the most convienent for everyone. This is especially true with the teachers whose classroom is clear on the other side of campus.
A light bulb went off in my head: a web-based computer lab scheduling system! Seeing as I was using this to begin my first dip into web application developing, I decided to stick with something I knew I could get help with on the web and that was well proven: Apache, MySQL, and PHP (commonly called AMP). I spent a lot of time at home analyzing what I needed in the database and how the data related to each other.
I tried my hand at installing AMP on an old Dell PowerEdge 2300 we had there. The server is currently running two CPUs (both Pentium III 500MHz) with 512MB of RAM and one 9GB SCSI hard drive and one 18GB SCSI hard drive. It's not ground breaking, but it's server class hardware (meaning it's built like a tank) and it will do nicely for what I need.
Installing AMP on Microsoft Windows 2000 Server proved to be a futile waste of time. These technologies were developed for a UNIX environment and with my knowledge of Linux, it became apparent that the solution to my problem was to install Linux on that server.
I brought this information up to my boss and he said 
"Wipe it and do what you need!". We even decided to bring it back to our workshop/hallway so that I could clean up the server, take inventory of the hardware, and install Linux. Since I had an easy time with Ubuntu Linux a few months earlier for my lab workstation, I decided to give the new server edition of Ubuntu Linux 8.04 a try. After a IP address conflict, I was able to get Ubuntu Linux 8.04 running, the AMP suite installed, and it was ready for me. It was so easy!
I'm sorry to have been so long winded on this post. It's just that this project really excites me and I'm really looking forward to the day when it's done. The road is bound to be bumpy and confusing at times, but when I'm done, I will be that much stronger when it comes to programming for the Internet! -- TS
Opera/9.27 (X11; Linux i686; U; en)
This Father's Day was a laidback holiday this year. Kristina has been busy with the wedding arrangements, so she's spending Father's Day with her step dad and I'm spending it with my Dad. This is what happens when your families are over sixty miles apart and gasoline is over $4.50USD/gallon! I'm just thankful I'm not driving a gas thirsty land yacht, er, V8-powered SUV or pickup. :)
My step-mom invited myself and Geoffie (my step-sister) over for dinner at their house. Unfortunately Geoffie's beau, Dan, couldn't be with us, as he had to work. I guess no discussion on the futility of owning a Harley this time. ;) So I spent the afternoon with my family, just hanging out, talking, and catching up with everyone and their lives. -- TS
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I'm posting a quick note to let everyone know that I've got a 
gallery posted of the highlights of the 2008 VW Classic. These pictures are just a collection of the sights Dave and I saw there that day. I had a lot of fun!
The harsh reality of car shows in the bright southern California summer sun is that the pictures have a tendency to come out very washed. I'm still working on tricks to get around that, but I think I did a pretty good job.
Next year I'm bringing the external flash (Nikon SB-600) to help with the obnoxious shadows. I really wish that this photo above came out better, as this '68 is the same color as my '69 and is done in a very similar style. It was beautiful but my pictures don't do it justification! -- TS
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Another VW Classic is come and gone! Today was the 
2008 VW Classic and it was quite a day indeed. Kristina's sister was doing her last choir performance for the year last night, so I drove down yesterday to see it and stay the night. It seemed like a big waste of gas to drive down here, then back home, only to get back up in the morning to drive down to Irvine.
Once I got to the Classic, I was greeted with an amazing site. I was waiting in the line of cars to get in and what do I see rumbling behind me? A cool Cal-Look Bug? A posh Notchback? Nope. A Lamborghini Gallardo!! That is one guy that has got good taste in cars: driving a Lambo to a VW show is the best! I wish I could do that!! But then, I'm strange enough that I'd drive a VW to a Lambo show. ;)
After I got inside and parked the Passat, I gave a call to some online buddies from the Shoptalk Forums. Scott (the owner of STF) and Timmy (a STF monderator and regular contributor) had come from halfway across the nation to join in the festivities today. Scott comes from Bentonville, Arkansas (home of Wal-Mart) and Timmy came from Minneapolis, Minnesota. I've had the opportunity to meet Scott before, but this was the first time Timmy and I had ever met.
Scott and I had just exchanged our hello's and I get a phone call from my friend Dave. Dave and I went to high school together and were in a VW club for a few years after high school. Dave was returning from a job up north and had his buddies drop him off at the Classic so that he and I could hang out and check out the VWs. I've got ulterior motives though: I'm working on getting him back into VWs and making him the proud owner of another VW.
Dave and I spent a couple of hours checking out the VWs, talking about each one, and discussing what we liked/didn't like about each one. It was blazing hot and sunny, but we both had a good time. Once we were done browsing the cars, we headed over to another STF buddy's swap meet spot, our hang out spot for the show. Monte (who recently became my co-moderator of the Type 4rum) was there with his friend and step-son selling VW parts. They brought an EZ-Up canopy and we had an escape from the sun.
I think that everyone had a great time that day. I even spotted a car that had a look similar to what I'm trying to achieve with my 69 Bug. I made sure to snap a few pictures of it to serve as inspiration for me when the motivation tank gets low. I'm looking forward to next year and I'm hoping to get Dave and Tim both there this time, along with my Bug with a the Type4 engine done. :)-- TS
Opera/9.27 (X11; Linux i686; U; en)
Well, yesterday was all about Indiana Jones. 
On Tuesday my Dad and I did our weekly dinner together, a way of keeping in touch. We were talking about the new Indy movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Dad suggested that we go see the movie this week. So yesterday (Thursday) I met him at the Krikorian Theater here in Redlands to see the movie.
Rather than going home after work, I drove to the nearby Barnes And Noble to check out the books. I love to occasionally stroll through B&N, look at the books, and see what the latest magazines are. I found the latest issues of Linux Journal and HotVWs, so I now have some reading material. :)
After Barnes and Noble, I walked across the strip mall to the Gamestop. There I picked up my latest Wii game, Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, along with the strategy guide book. After the movie, I went back to my apartment, opened up the game and popped it into the Wii. I then spent the next hour and a half playing the game. It is very similar to the LEGO Star Wars games in gameplay, so if you've ever played any of those games, you'll be right at home. The only reason I had to save and end the game was that it was rapidly approaching 11PM and I have to be up early the next morning for work. I'm looking forward to more fun with the game! -- TS
Opera/9.27 (X11; Linux i686; U; en)
Today I had the honor of being the groomsman for my longtime friend Tim's wedding. For those of you that don't know, 
Tim and I have been friends since high school. My family sort of adopted Tim and he became one of the family. I felt honored when Tim asked if I'd be a groomsman when he and his fiancee got married.
The wedding was held in Hemet, at the same place that my Dad and step-mom got married. Being on a budget, Tim and Chelle elected to keep the formal festivities to the ceremony, hors d'oeuvres, and cake. Tim's half of the wedding party included himself, Alex (he's been friends with Tim since 6th grade) as the best man, and myself as the only groomsman.
After the cake was done, we joined Tim, Chelle, and a few of the guests at an Irish pub/restaurant, Killarney's, in Riverside for an informal lunch. It was a lot of fun just talking with everyone, enjoying the good food, and celebrating a joyful day in our lives. -- TS
Opera/9.27 (X11; Linux i686; U; en)
Well, last night was a party indeed for us. 
Kristina is now officially a college graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Visual Communications. My parents, her parents, her brothers, and other family members from her side joined me for the graduation ceremony for Westwood College in Anaheim.
Along with getting her Bachelor's degree, Kristina was recognized as an honor student (an award for students with an overall GPA of 3.75 or higher) and as the visual communications student of the month for March 2008, her final term at Westwood College. I'm so proud of her for sticking to it and finishing the degree.
After the ceremony, we all gathered at her parents' house for an informal get together with pizza and cake. Kristina got some cards and gifts for this accomplishment. Unfortunately for me, I had to work today, so Dad, Maureen, and I left at 9:30PM for the hour drive home.
Kristina finished her classes in March and we are expecting her to start her new job next week. She's working as a graphic designer for a new company called where-to-eat.com. -- TS
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Well, I took the plunge this weekend and replaced my Slackware Linux installation with Ubuntu Linux. I have been using my Slackware 10.2 installation for probably two or three years now, but I've been too lazy to get around to updating the version. I merely let the slackupdate program do the security updates and patches as they were released. Slackware recently released the latest version, 12.1. Yep, I didn't do the 11.x series or the 12.0 release.
Yesterday I tried to update my 10.2 installation to the 12.1 version, but after it was done, it appeared that nothing was updated. Everything seemed exactly the same, even though I knew that many new changes had occurred since then. So, a little frustrated with the apparent failure of the update, I broke out the Ubuntu 8.04 CD-Rom that Ubuntu gives away for free.
About 30 minutes later, I was looking at the Ubuntu desktop and wallpaper. I've been using Ubuntu Linux at work now for about two or three months and I have to say I'm very impressed. I've been struggling with Slackware to get things like the optical drives (DVD-ROM and CD-R/RW) working correctly, and getting the USB ports to work. Ubuntu just worked straight out of the box. The optical drives performed flawlessly and the USB ports are recognizing and mounting when you insert something.
The 8.04 version of Ubuntu was released last month, so everything on the desktop is the latest version. It even has the latest Mozilla Firefox web browser, Firefox 3.0. I spent the rest of Saturday afternoon getting software installed and configured to how I wanted it. I even installed the software to make my workstation a LAMP server: Apache http web server, MySQL relational database, and PHP programming language. I will now have the LAMP environment to continue to hone my web application development skills.
It's like Christmas in May for Linux fans like me!! :) -- TS
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Well another Mother's Day has come and gone. This year marks the third Mother's Day since my mom passed away. This day will always bring the realization that my mother is no longer around. I really miss having the opportunity of spoiling her; she always managed to spoil us.
The last couple of years I've received an invitation from my friends Doug and Kellie to join them at Kellie's parents' house in Lake Gregory. The Sniders' party was a laidback event, just family and friends gathering the San Bernardino Mountains for a nice afternoon of food and conversation. The Sniders knew it was going to be a tough holiday for me, so the generous offer was very appreciated.
This year I spent it with Kristina and her family. In the morning Kristina and I joined her parents to the late morning services at the Garden Grove Church of God. The service was very different from the services I attended when I was a kid. Attending the services with Karen was part of our gift to spending the day with her. Anyone that knows me well knows that organized religion is not my thing. I won't get started on the religion topic right now.
The day turned out better in the afternoon when Kristina's brother showed up and we all enjoyed shredded pork tostadas with beans and rice for dinner. After dinner, her brothers jumped on the Wii to try the latest additions to our Wii collection: Mario Kart Wii and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It was great watching the guys having a blast trying to out do each other.
I ended the day driving home and stopping in to see my step-mom, Mau. Lucky for me she was still up, so I stopped in there and stayed for a while talking with her and my Dad. It was a long day but I got to spend it with the mothers in my life, which is the point of the day.
Update: I mentioned that I was trying to get the cake frosting stain out of my Relay For Life team t-shirt. I did my best and it was mostly gone, but my darling step-mom was able to get it all out. She's such an angel! -- TS
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Congratulations to the Yucaipa High School Boys Swim Team for becoming the CIF Southern Section Division I champions. Trevor Hoyt is one member of the team that I've known since my days at Ridgeview Elementary School.
Trevor placed first in four of the total eleven events held last night. As a junior he won the 200 individual medley and 100 breastroke events, as well as being a member of the 200 and the 400 Freestyle relay teams.
There is even talk that Trevor and another of his teammates are on the path to being Olympic hopefuls. If that's the case, I can honestly say I've known since he was "wee high". :)
So, I'll take this moment and congratulate the boys on becoming essentially the best swimmers in southern California! -- TS
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Well, the Yucaipa 
Relay For Life is over with for another year. This was my first year participating from the beginning. We were there for the opening of the event, for the survivor lap, and for the rest of the festivities.
Kristina made sure we were equipped for a few of their "fun" laps. She brought both of us a hat for the "Pirate vs Ninja" lap, and another set of hats for the silly hats lap.
I have a few memories from this year's relay that I'll share with you. The first happened right at the beginning of the relay. My friend Debby came by our team camp to let us know if we wanted lunch, the survivors' lunch was through and that they had extra food that they were serving to the participants. So Kristina and headed over there to get some lunch.
Kristina wanted to eat the food back at our camp (which was on the opposite end of the field), so we carried our plates (one for the food, another for the cake dessert) and our drink. As we walked back with my friend Dave, a breeze came through and took my cake air born. Of course where does the cake end up? Right on my brand new white team t-shirt we had just gotten about ten minutes earlier!
Not wanting to walk around with a huge cake frosting stain on my shirt, I begrudgingly removed the shirt and put on the one I wore to the relay. Hopefully I can figure out to remove the stain from the shirt. :|
The cutest memory happened with Tim and Chelle's son Ian. 
Tim and Chelle needed to go up to the grocery store to get some stuff, so Kristina and I volunteered to watch Ian while they quickly ran up to Stater Bros. We were about to start walking the course, so they left us his "Bug stroller" to push him around with. We weren't anymore than about 100 yards from our camp and we looked down to see Ian sleeping. He fell asleep and was slumped forward, to the left of the steering wheel. It was so cute and many people made comments of how cute he was.
Another memory will have occurred after sunset. The luminaira bags, small white bags with sand and a tea candle inside, were lit and placed along the perimeter of the track. It was awe-inspiring when you realize tht each bag was created in memory of someone who's life was affected by cancer. -- TS
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Well, this coming weekend is going to be a busy one. This Friday evening, Kristina and I are going to see the musical play "The Music Man" being performed at the Sturges Center for the Fine Arts in San Bernardino. My Dad and step-mom have season tickets to the plays to the Sturges Center and since they are out of town for this week's performance, they offered Kristina and I the tickets.
Saturday morning Kristina and I will be participating in the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life in Yucaipa. For those of you not familiar with the relay, it's an annual event held in towns and cities throughout the U.S. who's purpose is to raise money for the ACS and to support cancer research.
The relay starts at 9AM on Saturday and continues through to the next morning, Sunday 9AM. We are planning on being there at the beginning, staying until sometime after midnight, and then returning later that morning to be there for the conclusion of the event.
I participated with the Relay a few years when my friend Debby asked me to assist them with a slide show they were doing with pictures of people who beat cancer and those who didn't. My brother and I helped to setup a large projection screen and a computer projector. Debby's daughter Sara had put together a PowerPoint presentation with the pictures on her laptop, so it was just a matter of setting up the presentation stuff. It went pretty well, but the off-again/on-again rain kind of made the presentation not go as planned.
It amazes me how cancer has affected myself and the people around me. As most of you know, my mother lost her battle with breast cancer in July 2005, but I've also known many other people who've beat cancer and today are healthy individuals, living their life to the fullest. My participation in the Relay is my contribution to helping our world to beat cancer once and for all and saving so many people the pain that we've all felt.
If you'd like to help and donate to the relay on my behalf, feel free to do so. I made a goal to raise $100 this year and so far I've exceeded my goal with $150 in donations so far. So if you like to donate, stop by my Relay For Life web page and click on the Donate graphic. Every little bit helps. -- TS
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Oops! I'm sorry to say that although I've been writing posts here, 
I've also forgotten to post them. So, you'll find a few posts that go back over a month. Sorry about that!
I'm just now starting to feel better. This head/sinus cold, then laryngitis, that I contracted has really kicked me hard. I spent most of my spring break at home, taking cold meds. I also spent another week at home. It was no fun, trust me! -- TS
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Today marks my first day back to work. I've been out sick with a nasty head cold and sinus infection, then laryngitis. I learned this time that excessive coughing can cause laryngitis. -- TS
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Every year I look forward to the Volkswagen shows here in 
southern California. For most years in recent history, the main show I attended was the VW Classic. It is a huge show with classic VWs, both custom and stock. But with the demise of the VW Jamborees (both the spring and summer shows), the VW Classic was the only show in town.
This year we added another show to my schedule of shows to attend: the Bug-In. In spite of feeling horrible, Kristina's dad Charles and I attended this year's show at the California Speedway Dragway. I was hoping to have a bunch of my friends and VW buddies attend this year, but for some reason everyone couldn't make it, just Charles and myself.
Charles and I strolled around the show, checked out the swap meet, looked at vendor booths, and I even got the chance to introduce Charles to a few of my VW buddies. The one sad point was the only Type 4 conversion I saw there was a crazy Type 3 Notchback with an 911 fan Type 4. I wish there were some more Type 4 conversions, but it seems that soCal VW-philes are still in the Type 1 frame of mind. :(
The show was great. I wish I had my Bug running (and looking) good, as there was free car show entry with a paid admission. It would have saved me from having to trek in from the parking lot. Maybe next year.... -- TS
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This year Kristina and I are participating the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life. Our friends Dave and Traci are committee members for the Yucaipa Relay For Life, so we've signed up for that relay.
If you'd like to help me to meet my fundraising goal, you can make donations on my behalf at my "relay page" (I've even included here with a tunacan.org address: http://relay.tunacan.org/ ) Any contributions are welcome.
As I stated on my Relay For Life page, my intent in participating with this event is help someone else to not have to lose someone they love from cancer. The more we help, the better we make the odds on discovering the secret of kicking cancer to the curb. -- TS
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A few of you have been asking about how the wedding plans are going, so here’s some of the things we’ve been doing. Remember, I’m the guy, so if you have any particular questions about the wedding, ask her. I’m just here to say "Yes dear" or "No dear" when it comes to wedding plans.
This last Thursday Kristina and I drove into to see the archbishop of the chapel/church we’re getting married at. He was really nice, but after looking at our application and seeing our ages, he said "Well, based on your ages and that it’s your first marriage, you know what you’re getting into" and the questions pretty much ended there. It was obvious we weren’t some love struck youngsters. :|
After that, we went to do the cake testing. A longtime family friend of the Templins, Melody Brandon (she’s been best friends with Kristina’s cousin Lauren since the 4th grade) is a Le Corden Bleu Pastry Chef. She’s giving us a break on the price of the cake, as that’s the only way we could have such a nice luxury. We drove to her place in Belmont Shore (Long Beach area) to try three of the cakes.
Oh my, they were awesome!!! It was the best cake I’ve ever tasted. We decided on the marble cake with vanilla creme and caramel filling, and the lemon cake with lemon and raspberry filling. They were almost sinful.... :) Her website shows some of the cool and amazing stuff that she does.
After that, we stopped into Kristina’s place. She ended up going to her craft class with her mom that night while I stayed at the house with her dad and lil’ sis’ Courtney. I think I was on the couch for about 4-5 hours, talking and playing my DS.
But remember no good deed goes unpunished....
Little did I realize that I am now more sensitive to cats, and the new cloth couch cover was retaining the cat dander. I’m allergic to cats, though it’s never been a major problem for me. This time my body really reacted with the cat and I’m still feeling horrible because it. :(
I now remember why I hate cats.... -- TS
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This evening Kristina and I were invited to attend the "County Clash", an event held at the Arrowhead Credit Union Park, home of the minor league baseball team Inland Empire 66ers. The "County Clash" is an event that gives the local baseball teams a chance to play in a professional stadium, to gain exposure for their programs, and to do some fund raising.
The Yucaipa High pitching coach, Andy Calbreath, invited Kristina and myself to attend and take photos. He mentioned that there was an end of the dug-out that was for photographers, and that we could use it. I was interested as I had never shot baseball before, so I was curious to see how I could do. Kristina was excited too about it, as she loves baseball. So we accepted Andy's offer.
The game was definitely eventful. The first inning it rained, almost enough to rain-delay the game until Monday. It poured for about 20-30 minutes, even hail for about 10 minutes, but it eventually let up, and it stayed clear the rest of the gain. The YHS boys played a great game, defeating their rivals, A. B. Miller of Fontana, quite easily 11-0.
So, how did the photos turn out? I was shooting a sporting event at night, that makes for double the challenge. We were able to get a few acceptable pictures from the game, but it was clearly obvious to us that the Nikon 18-200 lens was just not fast enough. We actually shot a lot of photos that night, we even had to use another 2GB SD card that I had brought "just in case". I haven't had a chance to really go through all of them, but when I do, I will be able to see what I did right and what I did wrong. I think that Kristina's photos were actually better than mine, but that's probably because of her passion for the sport. -- TS
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For a while now I haven't been feeling quite "right". I didn't know what it was, I just didn't feel like I was quite feeling 100%. I 
think my time away from swimming is taking it's toll. I've been meaning to get back into the swimming routine, but sometimes we let things slide that we shouldn't. I'm guilty of it just as anyone else.
So, I popped over to the Redlands YMCA web site and looked up the indoor pool schedule. The pool is used for many different uses, so they only have lap-swim times at certain specific times of the day. I discovered that during the week, the pool was available at 5AM until 6:15AM or 7:55AM. After mulling it over for a few minutes, I decided that I could work a few days a week an early morning swim.
This morning, I got up at 5AM, put on shorts, sweatshirt, and sandals, and drove over to the Y. I got in a half-hour swim before getting out, showering, and getting ready for work. Luckily for me, the Y is right on my way to work, so I think that this schedule is very do-able.
I'm writing this in the evening and I am sore from the workout. But it's a "good" sore, and it's definitely what I needed to getting back to feeling better.
This evening Dad and I spent our weekly evening at a restaurant right around the corner from here. It's called "Phoenicia" and they serve Meditteranean dishes. I've never had food from that region, so I was curious to try it. I had "shawarma" beef and chicken, and Dad had their beef kebab. We both enjoyed it and are looking forward to trying more dishes from there. -- TS
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Today was the debut of the long awaited Nintendo Wii game Super Smash Bros Brawl. This game is the third in the 
Super Smash Bros series, with the original appearing on the N64 and Super Smash Bros Melee on the GameCube.
I had put $5 down on Brawl at Gamestop. They were having a 12:01AM opening for the game, so I decided to drive down there and maybe get it that night. I got down there and the line was out the door and down about five stores!! Since I was by myself, and this wasn't a game that was a "must-have" for me, I waited until this afternoon to pick it up.
My impression of Brawl? Wow, that is one crazy game!! Like the Gamecube version, it's very difficult. It's got a new option that even allows you to play online, but I haven't dared to venture there, as I'm sure I'd get slaughtered by some teenager with way too much time and fast-twitch reflexes. Smash fans will consider this game a "must buy".
The best part of it is that when I bought Brawl, the salesman told me that they've released a launch date for a game that I'm really looking forward to: Mario Kart Wii. More on that to come soon!! :) -- TS
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I got into the Nintendo game scene late. My family started with an Intellivision but after the crash of the video game industry in the mid '80s, we turned our video game sights on the PC. It wasn't until I bought a Nintendo GameCube that I got back into the video game console scene.
As a result, I've never really had the experience of playing any of the Super Smash Bros games. I've talked to many teens and twenty-somthings 
( I'm sounding old now.... ) have long told me that it is a great series and that it's one of those ultimate "get the guys together for a bash fest" type of game.
I've been putting it off, waiting for the GameCube version to drop into the $19.95 market. Unfortunately, it still hadn't done that, so today I went to Target and bought the GameCube version (Super Smash Bros Melee), and went home that afternoon to give it a try. Can you say difficult?!! I'm doing ok on the "very easy" level, but my few attempts on "easy" show me that I need to keep practicing. :)
What prompted this sudden willingness to get the game? Tomorrow is the launch day for the new Wii version, Super Smash Bros Brawl! I wanted to have some experience with the original before I bought the new one. :) -- TS
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I discovered on Slashdot today that one of the co-creators of Dungeons and Dragons, Gary Gygax, has passed away. 
It seems that he was having some health issues.
During my early teen years, I was an avid D&D player. My best friend at the time, Mike Sarratt, and I would spend hours playing. Mike was the one that got me started on the game. He had accumulated a few of the books required and I was soon supplementing his collection with my purchases of the titles he was missing.
One of my fond memories was during our summer breaks. Our friend John Pepe (who we had gone to school with in junior high) lived in northern San Bernardino with his father. Mike, myself, and a few of John's other friends would stay a week at John's house. We would stay up all night, playing D&D, eating cold pizza, drinking warm soda, and taking an occasional dip in the swimming pool.
D&D played a key role in my younger years. It allowed me to use my imagination and to learn to work with friends to analyze situation that needed to be overcome.
So, on this day, I would like to take a moment to thank Gary Gygax for the things that he brought to our lives. You will be missed Gary. -- TS
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Another weekend has come and gone. This last weekend Kristina and I spent Saturday afternoon/evening over at David and 
Traci McAughty's house. David, Traci, and I all went to Fontana High together and David and I were in a local VW club for awhile in the early '90s. David and I had lost touch about ten years ago, but last fall he found me on MySpace.
It seems that just over two years ago Traci was diagnosed with breast cancer. They went through a lot dealing with all of that and they are happy to report that Traci is doing well. As a result of this event, David and Traci have created a company, Why Clothing, that sells breast cancer/survivor related clothing. They are taking a portion of the sales from the clothing and giving to breast cancer related charities.
David is also building a custom mini-truck that they will use to spread the word about breast cancer. The truck is one that David bought in the early '90s, a Nissan standard cab "Hardbody". The project is called "Draggin 4 A Cure" and you can see pictures of the truck at the project's MySpace page.
Of course all of this means a lot to me. My mom's death from breast cancer has made this topic a cause very dear to me. I've volunteered to help Traci and David to revamp their web site. I'm excited about helping the McAughtys in helping people impacted by breast cancer. Stay tuned for news!! -- TS
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The last couple of days I've been trying out Ubuntu Linux. As many of you know, I'm a big fan of Linux. I've been using Linux now since 1997 and I've tried many different distributions. My current full time tower at home utilizes Slackware Linux. I enjoy the power and "pureness" of Slackware, but it's not always the easiest desktop operating system to use. That's what prompted me to Ubuntu.
I've read many testimonials on the web that Ubuntu was the best desktop Linux for people new to Linux and for a nicely integrated Windows alternative. I've been using it now for a couple of days. My thoughts? I love it! The developers of Ubuntu have done a nicely integrated experience. Installing it was a breeze.
It also runs surprisingly well for the limited specs of the computer I tried it out on. The system features some old stuff, including an Intel Pentium III 866Mhz CPU, 512MB PC133 RAM (it's at the maximum the motherboard can use), an Nvidia GeForce2 GTS/Pro 16MB AGP video card, and two 80GB IDE hard drives. Every bit of hardware works perfectly, including USB devices and the optical drives (DVD-ROM and CD-R/RW IDE drives).
The default software selection was nice, and adding more applications was as simple as running the "Add/Remove" program. You can browse hundreds of titles to find programs that have been tested to work with Ubuntu. Thanks to the WINE project, I've also been able to install some Microsoft Windows only programs and have them function just like it does in Windows.
All of this has convinced me that the next release of Ubuntu, due to be release next month (v8.04), will become my full time operating system on my Linux computer at home. I'll post more when I do the conversion. -- TS
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Ever since I first built my Linux computer, I've been meaning to upgrade the RAM. I built it using some hand-me down parts, but 
I had to figure out some issues with them. So, I just bought 512MB PC2100 for it, figuring it would be enough to do the basics.
Well, I've been using that memory this whole time, but I've been branching out, trying new things that I've never done before. As a result, I've been finding the restrictions of having such limited RAM. This all changed today.
I looked up the motherboard model to find out how much RAM the mobo would support. It would take up to 3GB of PC2100, so I've decided to take the RAM to the limit. I've ordered the memory and I'm hoping it will be here by the end of the week.
The next upgrade will be a large SATA drive or two to replace the 160GB PATA IDE model. :) -- TS
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I've been helping a young man lately at Yucaipa High who's interested in computer programming. He's been coming to me 
for input for almost a year now, but this time he's really gotten into programming. His language of interest is Python. Of course, I knew very little of Python, so I've been learning everytime he comes to me to ask for advice or help.
Programming has always been a favorite subject of mine. The power to create something that helps someone to automate a task or look at a task in a new way has always fascinated me. I've done a lot of other languages in the past, including BASIC, PASCAL, C, C++, C#, and Perl.
So, I've purchased a new O'Reilly Publishing (they are a great source of quality computer and technology books) book on Python. The book, titled Learning Python, looks to be a great resource for my exploration and acquisition of skills with Python.
My hope is that I can use this language to become an open source Python developer. I don't have an application idea yet, but I'm hoping that one will surface that strikes my fancy and will allow me to hone my skills as it grows. Hopefully this language will also be an asset for my continued education. -- TS
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Today the girls water polo team lost a tough game in the second round CIF playoffs. I was unable to make that game 
(it was too far away for me to get to it in time), but a friend was able to make it. He said the team played well, but they were just out played by a very good team.
I just want to congratulate the girls on the amazing feat of getting this far. During high school, my junior year team got that far, and believe me it was quite an accomplishment. I'm looking forward to shooting next years games.
Also, if you would like a print of one these pictures, please contact me with your request. You can see a sample of the photos I took at the Girls Water Polo website photo gallery . I am offering this service as a way of offseting the cost of my camera equipment. I don't do photographs for a living; I'm just a enthusiast of both photography and water polo. -- TS
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I'm sitting here in the student lounge (or is it a commons) of the Anaheim campus of Westwood College. The reason I'm sitting here is that I'm waiting for Kristina's class to end at 11:30AM. Obviously I have my laptop and since I've got about another hour and a half to kill, so I decided to make use of this time to share with you some of the things I've been working on lately.
Lately I've been in kind of web development slump. I really take pride in my web sites, but lately I just haven't had the creative juices to get around to revamping my current web sites. With the exception of this site, all of the rest of my sites are using the old HTML4.01 standard code, but since that's the old standard, I want to transition my sites over the the new XTHML and CSS standards. -- TS
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I wanted to take a moment to talk about this site. I've long wondered if anyone actually reads this web site. It's not like I have some advance statistics and link tracking software, so I have no clue who's visitng. I guess I could get something like that, but it's not that big a deal to me.
So you might be wondering why I put the time into this web site. There are a few reasons. The first is that this site acts as sort of a public journal of the things I've been doing. I can refer to it later on to get an idea of what I was doing at that time and the things that interested me at that stage of my life. I also use this site to practice web developing and exploring the wide aspects of web publishing. It also acts as an example of my web authoring talents.
So what prompted this discussion? I've been talking to a couple of family, friends, and even one co-worker who've stated that they stop by TCO and enjoy the reading. I guess the co-worker's wife really enjoyed the readings.
I will continue to write entries to this site and I hope that you will stop in occasionally to see what's up here at TCO. If you want to say "Hi" and tell me the site is enjoyable, feel free to do so. I'd love to hear from you. -- TS
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Tonight Kristina and I joined some family and friends at the Pirates Dinner Adventure in Buena Park, CA. 
Kristina's dear friend Crystal is a huge fan of pirates in general, so Kristina and Suzanne arranged to take Crystal there for her birthday.
So in attendance were Kristina, myself, Suzanne, Crystal, Kristina's parents (Charles and Karen), and Kristina's brother Tim and his fiancee Jessica. We also took this occasion to celebrate Jessica's birthday, so it was a multiple event celebration.
We all had a good time rooting for "our" pirate. They seat you in color coded sections of the restaurant, and each color corresponds to one of the actors on stage. We were in the blue section, and he was the pirate that ended up with the princess in the end.
If you are interested in seeing the photos I took there (yes, I carried the D80 in with me), feel free to check out my gallery of photos from tonight. -- TS
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For the last couple of years I've been going to the 
Yucaipa High School girls' water polo games to get some experience with my camera. This year I've continued that this year and I've made it to about four games so far.
As my longtime friends know, I played water polo in junior high, high school, and even one year in community college. Water polo is a fascinating sport with a lot of action.
As a budding hobbyist photographer, I will say that capturing the action is quite difficult. The action is non-stop, but as a former player, there are moments that I can anticipate what the players are thinking and where the ball is going to end up.
So, after the game is over, I take the best photos on post them on the YHS Girls Water Polo web site. Feel free to stop by and check out the photos I've posted there. -- TS
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It's been just over a year since I've added some photos in my Landscape gallery. I've been wanting to get some photos but for whatever reason I haven't been able to do it. 
This afternoon I had a quiet moment to myself and the skies were clear, so I stopped by the local park. The park, Brookside Park, is probably half a mile from my apartment, yet I haven't been to this park in probably 15 years and definitely not since I moved into this apartment last fall. So, with the D80, the backpack, and tripod in tow, I took a stroll around the park.
There wasn't a whole lot that grabbed my eye, but I managed to grab a few photos that I thought were interesting enough to share here. These photos were taken in the afternoon, so they aren't the best when it comes to light, but it was an exercise in applying what I've learned about photography. I hope that you enjoy them and feel free to let me know what you think. -- TS
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Well today was an fun day. Kristina's cousin Sam is a sophomore from CSU Humboldt. He grew up in Indonesia and he's even more of a photo enthusiast than I am. 
Anyways, right now he's in between semesters, so he's down in SoCal visiting his family. Sam and I have an agreement that whenever he's down here, we try to sync up our schedules to get together.
The one thing we try to do is to go have a lunch of Indonesian food. This time we went to a restaurant in Tustin called Tropika. This was his first time there, so it was an experience for both us and for Sam. Luckily they have mongolian beef, so Kristina was happy, but Sam and I had rendang chicken. Sam was afraid it might be too spicy, as that was the way it is in Indonesia, but we both took a chance. It turned out that Tropika doesn't spice it up as much as they do natively. I still enjoyed it immensely and I'm looking into trying to make it myself.
After lunch we decided to head over to the local Samy's Camera and check out what they had. We were hoping that they would have the new Nikon D300 and D3 models, but they didn't have any in stock. Nonetheless, it was cool to check out the things they have there, like the large selection of photographer backpacks and tripods.
We finished the day back at Kristina's house. Her family was having a big dinner, as her brother, sister-in-law, and nephew were visiting from Arkansas. Sam and I just kept talking cameras and electronic gadgets throughout the night. :) -- TS
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It's back to work for me. It seems that every year the vacations get shorter and shorter. As families expand, so do the holiday obligations. I'd like to have two weeks to recover from the holidays. :)
The new year also means that I've archived this page to a seperate file. So, if you want to read my postings from 2007, 2006, or earlier, feel free to check them out. -- TS
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Read the older stuff!
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