Home Semi-Sweet Home...It's Good to be Back!

[Jason Dunn]

If you've been wondering where I've been hiding, the answer was Scotland for one week, Rome for another week, and another week fighting to get caught back up. Historically I announce when I'm leaving on this site, but given that both my wife and I were leaving our house empty for two weeks, it didn't seem like a good security precaution to announce I was leaving. :-) Ashley and I spent a week in Scotland, staying at a villa in a resort 45 minutes outside Edinburgh. We spent the week relaxing, eating, and taking wonderful day trips with Craig from Capercaillie Tours. I had my trusty Canon Digital Rebel with me, my <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/articles.php?action=expand,32692">4 GB Kingston CompactFlash card</a>, my problematic Fujistu P5010D, and my Pocket PC...which I'm sad to say I didn't load up with vacation and travel-related software. ;-)<br /><br />Scotland was beautiful - I couldn't get over the landscapes! Even the simplest tree and hilltop had so much character, it was a thrill to photograph everything I could. I shot around 800 pictures and kept 400 or so...I think another weeding pass is in order. Rome was beautiful as well, but in different ways - the architecture was wonderful, the buildings were stunning, but it was the opposite of Scotland in many ways: more people, more noise, less clean. Great food, great history, and equally shutter-bug worthy: I shot around 800 photos and kept 500 (though I'm still sorting and deleting). Below you'll find a selection of my pictures and the rather rough post-vacation road of reality...but it's good to be back!<!><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/jason-vacation2005-001.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/jason-vacation2005-002.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/jason-vacation2005-003.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/jason-vacation2005-004.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/jason-vacation2005-005.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/jason-vacation2005-006.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/jason-vacation2005-007.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/jason-vacation2005-008.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/jason-vacation2005-009.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/jason-vacation2005-010.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/jason-vacation2005-011.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/jason-vacation2005-012.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/jason-vacation2005-013.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/jason-vacation2005-014.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/jason-vacation2005-015.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/jason-vacation2005-016.jpg" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/jason-vacation2005-017.jpg" /><br /><br />We arrived home a week ago Friday, and after a blissful sleep on Friday night (there's nothing better than sleeping in your own bed is there?) my wife became concerned on Saturday that she had a problem with her leg. After consulting with a doctor over the phone they suggested we go to the nearest hospital have it checked for a blood clot. Those can be serious things, so we spent the afternoon in the hospital along with most of Sunday morning waiting for the test results. They came back negative, so we're in the clear, and Sunday night I felt like some Chinese food. That resulted in some of the worst food poisoning I've ever had, which decimated me for all of Monday and left me weak as a babe on Tuesday and most of Wednesday. So much for getting back on track quickly! <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/somanyemails.jpg">My email messages</a> weren't answering themselves, so I've been trying to get caught up - but there are still a lot left! If I owe you a response, I'll try to get to you as soon as possible.<br /><br />It's great to be home and working on the sites I know and love! :mrgreen:

[SteveHoward999]

I don't see any photos of Edinburgh - did you make it there? If not, here's some pictures I took a few years ago to help publicise a conference I was running ...

http://www.tomorrows-key.com/EuroTAAC/index2.asp

[edit] Oh wait - that's the 1PM cannon isn't it?

[wrightca]

I've done both Scotland and Rome, but it was a little easier from Landstuhl, Germany.

I think I took exactly the same pictures from Rome. And I have a few highland cow pictures from Scotland. Glad you had fun. Hope they were both a little warmer than here.

The lighted Colloseum looks great! I think we saw the Trevi fountain about 20 times in our week there. And we probably at Gellato about 20 times, too. Thank goodness for all the walking or I would be pretty fat.

[ctmagnus]

I used to know a Scottish kid who had hair that looked exactly like that cows. :lol:

[shawnc]

V-E-R-Y relieved to hear that everything is OK with your wife. Welcome back.

[Andy Whiteford]

Weird, I was over in Rome a couple of weeks ago and took virtually the exact same pictures as you including the ceilings in the Vatican museum. It is also worth that cramped staircase to get a shot from the top of St. Peter's Basilica!
I love your shot of Mons Meg as well on Edinburgh castle - was that luck or a quick camera burst??

[mcsouth]

You were gone???? :D

Seriously, I did sort of notice you hadn't been posting in the last week or so, but I just assumed you were busy on some new project - writing a book, starting a new site, editing video.......

Great photos - I would LOVE to visit Scotland (my grandparents are from there), and your photos just reinforce that desire!

Glad you got home safe, sorry to hear that your first few days were as bad as they were - I hope that didn't take any of the polish off of the trip. I'll be looking forward to all of the tutorials you are no doubt frantically working on for DMT, showing us how you sort, clean up and 'tweak' your photos. (not that they would need any cleaning, of course :wink: )

[lonesniper]

Ashley and I spent a week in Scotland, staying at a villa in a resort 45 minutes outside Edinburgh.

Villa?? Scotland has villa's?? I think if you call a Scotman's home a villa he will give you a 'Glasgow Kiss' (a headbutt). :D

[Jason Dunn]

Oh wait - that's the 1PM cannon isn't it?

Sort of - when we were at Edinburgh Castle they were doing a 21 gun salute to celebrate, I believe, the anniversary of the queen's ascension to the throne...or something like that. ;-) It took me about 10 tries to get that picture at exactly the right moment.

[Jason Dunn]

It is also worth that cramped staircase to get a shot from the top of St. Peter's Basilica!...I love your shot of Mons Meg as well on Edinburgh castle - was that luck or a quick camera burst??

Indeed, the staircase was CRAZY - the view was breathtaking...literally, as it was so windy I couldn't breathe while I was taking pictures. ;-) The photo of the canon took about 10 tries to capture the right moment. Thank goodness for the fast shutter speed on the Rebel! :mrgreen:

[Jason Dunn]

Villa?? Scotland has villa's?? I think if you call a Scotman's home a villa he will give you a 'Glasgow Kiss' (a headbutt). :D

I wouldn't have thought so either, but I'm quite sure that's what the resort we stayed at called them. ;-)

[Lex]

Guns and gelato. What a vacation ! I want to do Scotland; Aye, there's me roots !

[R K]

It's great to be home and working on the sites I know and love! :mrgreen:
It's great to have you back Jason.

I had my trusty Canon Digital Rebel with me, my 4 GB Kingston CompactFlash card (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/articles.php?action=expand,32692), my problematic Fujistu P5010D, and my Pocket PC...which I'm sad to say I didn't load up with vacation and travel-related software. ;-)
What happened to your Fujitsu? I'm sure a lot of us would like to know.

Hey are you going to post a like you did for your <a href=http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22529&highlight=mexico>Mexico trip (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/files/nuevovallarta2003.wmv>Photo)?

[dazz]

WOW! Jason, those pictures are GREAT! They put my little HP digital to shame, to say the least.

Am I able to buy one of those REBEL cameras for $99 at Wal-Mart? :wink:

Welcome back Jason!

[Deemo]

You'll have to PM me the chinese food place so I can steer clear. :pukeface2:

[bbarker]

Great photos, Jason. Many are self explanatory but some are not. It would be nice if you could put captions under them.

I spent a couple of weeks in Italy in 1973, when I was 18. I saw Rome, Florence, Venice, Pompei, Piza, etc. I took a ton of slides with my Nikon. I need to convert them to digital to preserve them from further deterioration. What I need is a slide and film scanner.

[chirurgen]

Villa is indeed the correct name for a type of house in Scotland - fair number of them in Edinburgh; they tend to be a one storey detached house.
There were of course proper villas when Scotland was under Roman occupation ( a good few years ago) - perhaps the Scotland/Rome connection

The gun looks like the 1 pm signal gun in Edinburgh. Mons Meg is a mediaeval seige cannon made in Flanders - hence 'Mons'. I think it would burst if you tried to fire it today.

Re the photos - really good and put mine to shame. Congrats on their quality.
What method did you use to store them - I presume that you moved them off the media cards in the camers - to a laptop or to an ipod etc ?

[Andy Whiteford]

The gun looks like the 1 pm signal gun in Edinburgh. Mons Meg is a mediaeval seige cannon made in Flanders - hence 'Mons'. I think it would burst if you tried to fire it today.

Yip, that's why they use the modern equivelant to keep up the tradition.

[ricksfiona]

Good to have you back Jason. Those pictures are so vivid! I love my Canon S1 IS, but it would be better to have the lens selection of a higher end camera.

[Jason Dunn]

What happened to your Fujitsu? I'm sure a lot of us would like to know...Hey are you going to post a like you did for your <a href=http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22529&highlight=mexico>Mexico trip (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/files/nuevovallarta2003.wmv>Photo)?

It came back from Fujitsu about two months ago with the hard drive replaced, but I continue to have BSOD's complaining about unmountable boot volume, etc. The error log is full of problems with writing to the hard drive, controller failure, etc. There's new dust under the screen. In short, I'm pissed and I doubt Fujitsu will do anything about it, although I have a small hope they will because both of these problems were supposed to be fixed already. But I don't have any warantee left so it's a roll of the dice...I love the laptop, but I'm really ticked off at Fujitsu's inability to actually fix the problems with my laptop.

[Jason Dunn]

What method did you use to store them - I presume that you moved them off the media cards in the camers - to a laptop or to an ipod etc ?

I brought my laptop with me and copied the photos over daily - I'll be chatting about things like this on Digital Media Thoughts in the next couple of weeks. :-)

[OSUKid7]

Wow, those amazing photos are almost enough to forgive you for your typo in the first word of your post. ;)

Welcome back! :D

[hamishmacdonald]

As someone who lives in Scotland, it's nice to hear that you liked it here so much. I used to live in Toronto, but I visited... and wound up moving here. I've lived in Edinburgh for about four years, and I've no regrets!

Your pictures do the place proud -- a fair sight better than the little pinhole deals my Smartphone and Asus MyPal take!

[Mike Wagstaff]

Is the top picture St. Andrews? I was there for a year at the uni there and think I recognise the ruins... possibly! :)

[Jason Dunn]

Is the top picture St. Andrews? I was there for a year at the uni there and think I recognise the ruins... possibly! :)

Yes indeed - good eye! ;-)

[karinatwork]

Welcome home! :D

Gosh. Thanks for those pictures. I miss Italy soooo much!!! :cry:

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

WOW!! Great Pics!!!

[Darius Wey]

It came back from Fujitsu about two months ago with the hard drive replaced, but I continue to have BSOD's complaining about unmountable boot volume, etc.

I believe Microsoft recently patched an XP SP2 BSOD problem. I doubt that has anything to do with it, but it's worth a try.

By the way, great snaps! :way to go:

[Albegor]

and my Pocket PC...which I'm sad to say I didn't load up with vacation and travel-related software. ;-)

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/jason-vacation2005-011.jpg



Did you throw an Euro coin in the Trevi's Fountain without knowing the meaning of its national face?
Then you're in trouble, your wish is not valid... :mrgreen:

Glad to read you're back home.

[Jonathon Watkins]

I spent a very happy four years at St Andrews getting my degree. Great place. 8) Edinburgh is excellent too. :mrgreen:

Good to have you back Jason.

[boeman]

Thanks for sharing those photos! Those are some awesome shots!

[ctmagnus]

I was reading last month's Pocket PC magazine last night and found Diane Dumas' article about traveling with gear and I may be making a trip to the UK in the near future. So my question for you, Jason, is:

Can you recommend a good brand of AC travel adapter? Our family has had a few over the years, but they've all eventually died.

[maximus]

nice collection of gelato :)

[Jason Dunn]

Can you recommend a good brand of AC travel adapter? Our family has had a few over the years, but they've all eventually died.

I have two generic ones that did the trick. Laptop power bricks have built-in converters, so when I travel I bring USB sync 'n charge cables for my devices. I brought a power bar this time and plugged it into one of the generic power converters I have and it worked ok. They have fuses though, so the ones you have may not have actually "died" - they may just need new fuses.

[jcmoffitt]

I doubt that I would ever have the opportunity to go to Scotland or Rome in this life time short of winning the lottery so I am thankful that you are willing to share these pictures with us. You took some very NICE pictures indeed. I am glad your wife is doing ok and you are feeling better. Take care
:D