Work In Progress

Author: owenwbrown

  • Coffee and Me

    I have had an on again, off again relationship with coffee for most of my life. I do not remember exactly when I started drinking coffee but it was somewhere between junior high and high school. What I remember more clearly are the times I quit.

    I’ve given up on coffee exactly three times in my life. The first was my sophomore year in college. Though for the life of me I cannot at this moment recall why. It was just something I did. That was 1994 so it’s likely that my mom or my dad were trying to quit and mine was a show of support. The quitting didn’t come with any painful drawbacks but it also didn’t last but for a few months.

    The second was early in 2000. This time the quitting was in fact to rid myself of caffine. Also, this time was painful.  That’s what I get for going cold turkey. I slogged thru four days of headaches, the worst of which was the second day into quitting. I came home, ate a very small dinner because of the massive nausia I felt, and went to bed before the sun went down. Rinse and repeat the next day and the next. By the end of the week I was feeling much better. That coffee fast lasted right about a year.

    Coffee cup

    [photo by DOUG888]

    The third was late last decade. I am not sure of the exact month but it’s been about two years at this point. This time it wasn’t for health reasons so much as it just irritated me that I had to have coffee or there was a vicious headache waiting  around the corner. Some mornings I would be busy with work and forget to have my coffee. It became a chore so I decided to end it. This time wasn’t as bad as the last. I drank a few diet cokes (with caffine) the first few days to transition.

    In the past two years I can honestly say that I haven’t really missed real coffee. Not that much. When I get a craving I have a cup of decaf but even those are getting farther and farther few between. I do however enjoy waking up, especially when it’s in a hotel and I get to walk down to the lobby, and feel good about the fact that I don’t have to wait in the coffee shop line for a fix. It’s the little things I guess.

  • A Very Brief Tale of One Mini & Two Drives

    In a not so recent post I described how I secure my data from disaster. I thought it might be fun to show you how I have all of this setup.

    G-Technology Drives

    All of my data is stored on external drives because the internal drive on my Mac Mini is just way too small (and for reasons described in the previous post). The setup involves the two identical 1TB pictured.

    G-Technology Drives & Mac Mini Setup

    The first I’ve named G-DRIVE A and the second G-DRIVE B. The A is primary drive because it is where the live copy of my data is stored which is backed up on the B using Time Machine. Sexy, no?

  • How To Delete All Photos Off Your iPhone At Once

    I went to take a picture with my iPhone the other day and it told me that I didn’t have enough space. I discovered that I hadn’t deleted a single pictures or video off my iPhone all year. Not good since I’ve already synced and saved them in Aperture. Not wanting to take the time to delete them all once at a time, I went looking for a way to delete them en masse. Here’s the ten simple steps. (This was done on a Mac but a similar approach should work with Windows.)

    (1) Open a Finder window and look for Image Capture in the Applications folder.

    (2) Launch Image Capture.

    (3) Plug in your iPhone and you should see something like this.

    Screen Shot 2011-08-09 at 10.15.09 AM

    (4) To keep it clean, I created a new folder to dump all of my pictures in. To do this, click the Import To: drop down.

    Screen Shot 2011-08-09 at 10.16.00 AM

    (5) Click [New Folder].

    Screen Shot 2011-08-09 at 10.16.30 AM

    (6) Name your folder and click [Create].

    Screen Shot 2011-08-09 at 10.16.54 AM

    (7) Click [Choose].

    Screen Shot 2011-08-09 at 10.17.12 AM

    (8) Now before you click [Import All] remember that we’re doing this in order to delete all of the photos on our iPhone after the import. Therefore, make sure to check [Delete after import]. Now that you’ve checked [Delete after import], click [Import All].

    Screen Shot 2011-08-09 at 10.19.43 AM

    (9) You should now have an empty Photos folder on your iPhone. Hooray!

    Screen Shot 2011-08-09 at 10.20.02 AM

    (10) You will however have a full iPhone Trash folder on your desktop. I simply moved mine to the trashcan.

    Mission complete.

  • Grand Canyon Rim to Rim – Booked!

    I had some free time this afternoon so I went ahead and booked reservations for our Grand Canyon Rim to Rim hike next year. So far the crew will consist of me, my sister Crystelle Brown, my cousin Brent Blough, and tentatively my wife Linda Brown.

    Here are the trip details.

    (1) We will be leaving Phoenix on Monday, May 28, 2012 and arriving at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon that evening. (A stop in Sedona for lunch is a possible option.) We’ll be spending the night at Bright Angel Lodge.

    (2) The afternoon of Tuesday May 29 we’ll take the Transaction Shuttle service to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We’ll spend the night in a cabin on the North Rim.

    Grand Canyon, Arizona

    (3) On Wednesday May 30 we’ll take shuttle service to the Trail Head on the North Rim. We’ll hike approx 12 miles down to Phantom Ranch and spend the night in one of their dormitory style lodges.

    Grand Canyon, Arizona

    (4) On Thursday May 31 we’ll get up and hike the approx 10 miles out. Once we’re back to the South Rim we’ll spend the night again at Bright Angel Lodge.

    Grand Canyon, Arizona

    (5) On Friday June 1 we’ll get in the car and head back to Phoenix.

    If any of you out there are still interested let me know and I’ll walk you thru making your reservations. I’m already excited and I’d be great if some of you would join us.

  • Grand Canyon Rim to Rim Hike – May 2012 [Itinerary]

    I am planning a trip to the Grand Canyon in May 2012 where we will hike the twenty-four miles from the North Rim of the Canyon to the South Rim in two days. The trip itself will span from a Wednesday to a Sunday. If you are interested in going let me know. Here’s the itinerary I propose.

    Day 1. Wednesday afternoon (need to pick an exact date) we meet in Phoenix and head to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. If you are flying into Phoenix either take an early flight that morning or fly in on Wednesday evening and spend the night at my house. I have a guest room, a very comfortable air mattress, and a couch. First come first served. We’ll be spending Wednesday night at one of the (half dozen) lodges on the South Rim. I’ve stayed in a couple of different lodges and they are nice considering. We’ll have dinner there on campus and rest up for day two.

    Day 2. Thursday morning we’ll eat breakfast in the cafeteria, let our food settle, and afterwards take about an hour to hike down the South Rim and back up again. That will get your excited about what’s coming, give you a chance to stretch your legs, and a taste of what to expect on Friday and Saturday. That afternoon we’ll hitch a four-hour ride to the North Rim. There we will eat a nice dinner, and spend the night at the Grand Canyon Lodge North Rim. There are some great views to be had. However, a word of warning. Whatever you bring with you to the North Rim you’ll be hiking with Friday and Saturday so pack wisely. Interpret: Small cameras good. Big cameras heavy.

    Day 3. This is what you came for. On Friday morning we’ll get up before dawn, eat a quick breakfast in the room, and take a short van ride to the Trailhead at the North Rim. Then we’re off. From there it is fourteen miles to Phantom Ranch. When we reach Phantom Ranch it’s time to relax as this is where we’ll eat lunch, dinner, and spend the night. Most likely in a cabin. Here are some great Phantom Ranch Tips.

    Day 4. On Saturday morning we’ll pack up, eat breakfast, and hike out. It’s ten miles to the top. That night we’ll again spend the night at one of the lodges on the South Rim.

    Day 5. On Monday morning we head back to civilization and brag to everyone we know about what we accomplished.

    I know May of next year seems like a long time but I am going to be making reservations no later than the end of July. Space fills up quick. The opening weekend in May for example is already booked. Let me know soon!

    Owen