Halloween Pictures 3: This Time There will be Bad Pictures

Who stabbed that glowstick

Welcome to part three of my pictoral series of bad Halloween pictures.  Halloween is my favoirte holiday.  If you could just have Halloween with Xmas presents, it would be the perfect holiday.

Halloween Pictures 2: More Bad Pictures

Ok, so the last post got kind of slow with picture uploads so i decided to make a second post.  That and i took a few more pictures.  My alleged parental unit's pumpkin was badly framed.  Hopefully i remedied that a little.  However, it wasn't easy since the design of the pumpkin seems to be facing down.  The pumpkin i carved was so much more photogenic.

My Bad Halloween Pictures

As you may know, taking pictures in low light situations is kind of a pain in the neck.  Taking low light pictures without a tripod (and without a good low light lens) is insane.  Anyway, here are some of my attempts.  As usual, some look almost decent on the camera, some almost look usable on my computer and some are just horrible.  Let's start....

So Why Did i Get a Microsoft Surface Tablet and stuff

As i may have mentioned before... my top three tablet choices were (in order): Microsoft Surface RT, Kindle Fire HD and Google Nexus 7 (16GB).  Yes, the Surface base model was more than both of those 7 inchers combined.  Well, i guess on specs it also had the same amont of RAM, the same amount of storage (sort of Windows RT/Office surely take up more memory) as those combined too.  However, the Surface also has a USB port and a microSD card slot - the other two tablets do not. 

i do not currently have the type cover (though i tried it out at the Microsoft store and it worked fairly well).  If you want to use the Office Home and Student 2013, i would highly recommend getting the type cover (or something similar).  i guess it was nice that i also got another 3 GB from SkyDrive (i think i am up around 28GB now). 

First of all, why did i chose RT over Android (Apple was never a consideration, especially with how high they priced their "mini").  Basically i view Android as kind of a fragmented mess.  i also view it mostly as a smart phone platform.  In the wild you have all kinds of different Android devices running all kinds of different OSes.  You can see gingerbread, honeycomb, ice cream sandwich, jellybean, key lime pie (not yet).  i still see this as kind of a mess. 

i may be off base here, but when i looked at Windows RT i saw a slightly more normal OS.  i viewed it as something that could still be supported 3 or so years from now with minimal change (outside updates).  Who knows, Android could be up to Orange Sherbet by then.  

Yes, i know that the Windows Store is behind on the sheer quantity of apps.  This doesn't really bother me.  You are basically comparing a "mature" ecosystem (like Android or Apple) to a new service launch.  i also like the more curated Windows Store to the "wild, wild west" that i see as Android.  There is heavy pirating, maliscious code, etc.  That is why i found Amazon's App Store more interesting than Google Play. 

Now if Microsoft would only give me a pre-paid solution to buy apps (and the apps on the Windows store seem slightly more expensive).  Then again if i upgraded my PC to Windows 8, maybe i could use apps on a tablet and a PC.  There is a pretty good offer from MSFT to upgrade online for $39.99. 

Speaking of apps, how many are currently available for my Surface RT (there were 98 games on launch day)... 
* Games 98 / 91
* Social 87/59
* Entertainment 76 /99
* Photo 93 / 47
* Music/Video 81 / 67
* Sports 90 /67
* Books/Reference 78 / 82
* News/Weather 44 / 80
* Health/Fitness 85 / 45
* Food Dining 72 / 45
* Lifestyle 80 / 73
* Shopping 24 / 18

Well, that is what was listed on my Surface RT today at (10:30 AM).  So, overall 908 games listed categorically in Top New and 773 listed in Top Free.  The apps will come, i guess it is just a matter of time. 

Update: That number appears at least a little off, i didn't realize that the category titles were clickable (which shows every app).  There are currently about 2,768 apps available for my Surface RT (2,244 free).

"Details"

Relative Size: Microsoft Surface RT vs 15.6" Toshiba notebook computer

 



Camera Sample (used indoors, looks better here than on my computer - soft and blurry):

 



 

Kickstand (from side, also USB port, video output port and charging port):

 





Issues:

* Pre-paid app option?
* Lack of apps (which may be a good thing for me right now)
* Charging, unable to tell when it is fully charged (no indication that i know of on the charger).  So, how can i tell when/if the Surface is fully charged.  It does charge quickly (i think) which is nice
* Cameras: not really usable for many things (hopefully good enough for future barcode scanning app, but i do have a DSLR
* The Surface RT is an absolute fingerprint and dust magnet. 

My New "Toy" - Scratching the Surface

Ok, maybe i should quit using the term "scratching the surface".  That would be a good hint if you want to guess what my new "toy" is. 

Happy Halloween, my trick or treat

Well, Halloween is coming soon (about time).  Yes there are still 5 days remaining until that magical day.

i decided (impulsively, with research) to take a little walk today.  Little = 3+ miles each way.  Um, the ghouls and evil spirits made me do it - yeah that's the ticket.  Well, if i did anything that is.  

Well, i may have did something stupid and/or evil today.  No, this does not involve ritualistic animal sacrifices of any kind (or the human equivalent) - though maybe those would be fun. 

My New Paperweight?

So i have been having trouble connecting my Xbox 360 to the Internet recently (stupid Comcast and the Arris all-in-one gateways - TG862).  So, i purchased something i hope will not turn into a semi-expensive paperweight.

Basically, i went out and spent a bunch of money (strangely freed up now that Microsoft decided not to price their Surface RT Tablets cheaper) on a solution that i hope is more than temporary.  i went to Office Depot and bought a Linksys wireless bridge (WES601N).  If you don't know a bridge device will allow me to plug ethernet enabled devices into the bridge and connect to the wireless network here.  i hope this will work, but there is still the underlying problem of the Comcast/Arris all-in-one.  i just wanted to trick my console into thinking it had a wired connection. 

Now if i get another ethernet cable (not easy to find at Office Depot), i can also hook up my blu-ray player.

The set-up was supposed to be push button simple (push the WPS button on the router then on the bridge).  Of course things can never go that easily for me.  i tried a couple of times unsuccessfully.  Then i just connected the wireless bridge through ethernet to my computer and entered the default address for the bridge (http://169.254.1.250) into the browser.  Eventually it worked and i could enter the rest of the information.  To my surprise, i hooked it up to my Xbox 360 (via ethernet) and it worked.  How long it works worries me a little (hopefully the next 8 months or so).  i would kind of like it not to turn into an expensive non-functioning paper-weight.   

So i Walked a Little on Columbus Day

Columbus Day, is it a real holiday?  No, not even a little bit.  It should not be celebrated by anyone at any time anywhere ever. 

Any way... on Columbus Day (the non-holiday it is) i went on a mini trek with one of my alleged sisters.  i took my camera with me.  Guess what that means... more blurry pictures taken in full auto mode.  You may hold your applause until the end.

 

 

By far the most vicious (non-human) creature i saw that day

 

 



What i Woke Up to This Morning

What exactly did i wake up to this morning?  The real answer is a whining, licking quadruped (at 3 AM).  However, this is somewhat more interesting. 

Yes, nameless personage of no historical significance, it does exist.

i guess there might be .01-.10" on the ground.  i don't think this counts because it didn't stick on the road. 

A Tale of Two Halloween Candy Bags: a Breakdown (sort of)

i went to Target today to pick up a season of  a show on DVD (of course they have one of the worst prices for it - but i didn't feel like walking the extra 1.25-1.5 miles to get it).  While i was there i decided that my candy supply was getting depleted.  The last bag i bought was a 200 piece mini bag featuring Butterfingers, Baby Ruths and Nestle Crunches.  i bought it on September 18th and i only have 35 pieces left. 

Target had a promotion where if you bought two bags priced at $9.99 each you would get a $5 gift card.  These bags of candy retail at Walmart for about $8.88, so i guess it is an ok deal if you factor in the gift card (actually $15 vs $17.76 if the gift card is included).