So I decided to take some video of a Chickadee at the feeder this morning.  Not the smartest animals out there, but they are fun to watch.

The one trick that I picked up when using this template is that you need to add some code to get the drop down effect to work.  Basically, adding onmouseover=”" inside the li elements with submenus will allow the hover CSS events to perform as intended.  By default, the iPhone will ignore hover CSS events unless you specify a onmouseover event handler (even if it is blank).  Thanks to commenter twenty205 for the original idea.

Answer: Go find some hot cocoa, chocolate cake, and watch the Olympics!

• Moved away from the terrible table-based design that the gallery has used since 2004.  I’m now using a 2-column CSS template that works well in Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Internet Explorer 8 (no CSS3 rounded corners on IE 8). The sidebar on this 2 column design will contain tips for viewing images, as well as links to a view of our Picasa Web Albums.
• Converted older galleries to use the Lightbox2 photo viewer.  This is an awesome free javascript app that provides an overlay for viewing images.  Simply click a thumbnail on an album to see it in action.
• The albums are now separated by year, instead of being lumped into one giant list.  The years that have been converted to the new format are:
  • 2010
  • 2009
  • 2008
  • 2007
  • 2006
• Converted older portrait images to a viewable height.  You will no longer have to scroll to see an entire photo in portrait orientation. (Yeah, the old photos were huge if they had a portrait orientation.)

If you have any suggestions or thoughts on the new format, please leave a comment below.

LaCrosse BC-700 Charger and Rayovac NiMH Batteries

Recently, I started to replace our AA alkaline batteries with NiMH (Nickel-Metal Hydride) rechargeable batteries.  My main reasoning for the switch was the many remotes that use AA or AAA batteries (2 XBox Controllers, TV Remote, 2 DVD Remotes, and Stereo Remote) in the house.

After investigating NiMH technology, I found the following advantages:

• Rechargeable – Less batteries to buy, means less waste for those green folks out there.
• Low/No Memory Effect – This was more of a problem with certain NiCd (Nickel Cadmium) batteries, but it basically means that you don’t need to worrying about charging the battery when it’s only partially discharged.
• Low Self-Discharge on Certain Batteries – These have better shelf life than standard NiMH batteries.  Manufacturers claim that these batteries will keep 70-85% of their charge after one year. Look for batteries that are labeled as pre-charged or hybrid.

If you are looking to move to NiMH batteries, keep these points in mind:

• If you want to keep spares available for a long period of time, look for low self-discharge NiMH batteries.  Again, these will be labeled as pre-charged or hybrid.
• NiMH batteries come with different capacities, measured in mAh (milliampere-hour). Shy away from batteries that claim a very high capacity (over 2100 mAh), as it appears that they have a higher self-discharge rate than lower capacity batteries.
• Smart chargers are better than dumb chargers.  This mainly due to the fact that dumb chargers will not give you any indication on when a battery is charged.  There are varying degrees of smart chargers, but the main point that I’d look for is an indication that a battery is charged.
• Avoid quick chargers, especially chargers that claim a 15 minute charge time.  Charging batteries at a higher mA (milliampere) level can degrade the battery cell.  The charger I use has charge levels of 200 mA, 500 mA, and 700 mA.  I use the 200 mA level unless I need a faster charge.

With these points in mind, I recommend the following batteries and chargers:

• La Crosse BC-700 Charger – One of the best smart chargers on the market, and $29.99 on Amazon
• AA 8 pack of Rayovac Hybrid batteries – These are low self-discharge, and $19.75 on Amazon.
• AA 4 Pack of eneloop batteries – These are low self-discharge, and $11.95 on Amazon.
• AAA 4 Pack of eneloop batteries – These are low self-discharge, and $9.95 on Amazon.

If you do not wish to buy from these Amazon links (I do participate in their affiliate program), most of these components can be found at Best Buy, Wal-Mart, or other online stores.

Every year, Super Bowl commercials get more… let’s say, special.  JustTwoNerds.com, in the spirit of vital journalism, will be bringing you our take on this year’s commercial contestants.  Entries are listed in random order, so items higher on the list are not necessarily better or worse than items lower on the list.

Best overall commercial:

• Snickers Betty White Football Player
• Bud House Made of Bottles
• Bud Light Asteroid – With the Dharma Initiative Scientist
• Doritos Bark Collar
• Doritos Funeral
• Bud Light Auto Tune
• Plane Crash Bud Light
• Budweiser Horse and Cow
• Doritos Ninja

Biggest Money-Waster:

• GoDaddy
• Dodge Charger

Worst overall Commercial:

• Pop Secret and Emerald Dolphin Humans
• Boost Mobile
• Career Builder Casual Friday
• Census Infomercial

Most Annoying:

• Green Police by Audi
• eTrade Babies

Most Indifferent:

• Google Paris Searching

Marketing Department Most in Need of Help:

• Cars.com – Genius who can’t buy a car.
• Dove for Men
• KIA stuffed animals – And change the name while you’re at it.

Best use non-human actors:

• Doritos Bark Collar
• Monster Beaver Violinists
• Killer Whale Bachelor Party
• Free Grand Slam Chickens

I don’t think so!:

• News 7 Hometown Station – Filming from a sunny and warm farmers market with fresh apples.

Best / worst use of celebrities:

• Robin Head Trailer (Crowe doesn’t throw a phone)
• Homeaway.com with the Griswalds

Product most likely to try as a result of commercial:

• Bud Light
• Doritos

Product least likely to try as result of commercial:

• Coke – Safari (narrowly beating out Coke Simpsons)
• Dodge Charger

Most creative:

• Punxsutawney Polumalu

Biggest Time Waster (15 seconds I can’t get back):

• Survivor

Things Sex Cannot Sell:

• GoDaddy.com
• MotoBlur

Why??:

• Bud Light Bridge Out
• Brett Farve 2020 MVP
• Telaflora
• Kiss
• FloTV
• Intel Core i3/i5/i7
• Highlife Local Businesses

Name Fail:

• KGB Text Searching

The Vonage Box

After having a less than ideal experience with my Verizon line, I decided that I would try out a VOIP solution from Vonage.  After 2 days of fairly heavy use, I’ve had a great experience with the Vonage system.  If that changes, I’ll be sure to post a followup.

I decided to go with their World Plan promo, which is $24.99 per month (not including fees and taxes, those are around $7.00-$9.00 extra).  The plan includes unlimited long distance in the US, as well as free calling to 60 countries (hence the World in the plan name).   Along with the phone service, Vonage includes voicemail (with forwarding to email), caller ID, call waiting, and call forwarding.  Perhaps the most important call forwarding feature is network availability forwarding, which will forward calls to another number, such as a cell phone.

The plan includes a phone adapter for free if you order through their site.  This adapter can plug directly into your cable or DSL modem, and then pass the connection off to your PC or router.  I am using an advanced configuration since I have some other port forwarding settings that I wanted to keep. This configuration involved plugging the adapter into the router instead of the modem.  If you choose to use this configuration, you’ll need to enable port forwarding for UDP ports 10000-20000.  I wouldn’t advise this unless you are comfortable with changing settings on your home router.

Since this phone service is entirely dependent on your Internet connection, keep these tips in mind:

• If you have frequent outages or other network problems, this probably isn’t the solution for you.  VOIP systems like Vonage need a reliable Internet connection to function.
• If you are using an advanced configuration like the one listed above, you may want to configure QOS settings to prioritize traffic on UDP ports 10000-20000.  I have been able to use the service while streaming media with no issues with QOS settings.
• Vonage does allow you to adjust the audio bandwidth needed for the service on your online dashboard.  If you use the service and have quality issues, you may want to try lowering the quality of the encoding.

If you have any thoughts or questions, feel free to comment on this article.

These blue jays were stalking something.

We had a week or two of nice weather; of course, all good things come to an end, and we are currently in the middle of a cold spell, complete with promises (warnings?) of 10+ inches of snow in the next 24 hours.  However, before all this talk of snow and cold began, we took advantage of the nice weather and went wandering around our apartment complex.  We were able to take some fun pictures of local wildlife in the process.  Check out the pictures here.

Nothing like a beach sunrise!

Tuesday morning we got up bright and early (before sunrise) and walked the short two blocks to the ocean.  We had the entire stretch of beach almost to ourselves, and despite the chill in the air, enjoyed hunting for shells and taking pictures of the sunrise.  We lingered for about 30 minutes after the sun was up, strolling along the beach and admiring the views.

After our time on the beach, we were ready for breakfast.  We checked out of the hotel, and drove a few blocks to Cafe Eleven.  The restaurant is a converted convenience store (we’re guessing an old 7-11) that serves some great breakfast and also brings in various bands.  Tony enjoyed his mocha, and Louisa had fun drinking a variety of coffees.  There’s a little coffee bar; buy a cup, and drink as much as you like.  They also have some very fun coffee mugs.  Our breakfast sandwiches were also good; big and yummy.

This cannon was forged in 1724.

After a satisfying and leisurely breakfast, we drove to old town St. Augustine.  We found parking at the high density parking facility (HDPF); the structure itself is made to look like it’s stucco, so that it blends in with the other architecture.  We walked by the visitor center, past an old cemetery where they buried people who died from a plague (happy thought, huh?) and across the street to Castillo de San Marcos.  The fort itself is incredibly well-preserved.  We walked across the bridge over the moat (there was no water in it) and into the fort.  We enjoyed walking around both levels of the fort, and saw the chapel, powder storage, signaling station (at the top of the fort, on one of the corners), and a variety of canons.  The canons were very neat; we could read the inscriptions and decorations on them.  The fort has never been taken by force; it has only changed hands via treaty.  We also spent time avoiding the groups of school kids that were happily touring the fort.

Cathedral of St. Augustine.

We then went for a walk along St. George street and the surrounding area in old town St. Augustine.  We saw the Cathedral of St. Augustine (which had a cool statue in the courtyard), the old town plaza (which is now a park with canons and a fountain), the Lightner Museum, and then made our way to The Bunnery for a cinnamon roll smothered in freshly-poured cream cheese frosting, and a strawberry strudel.  We got our food to go, and happily ate it in the car on the way home.  We also stopped for some Chik-fil-A for dinner, too, once we hit Columbia.

Photos can be found here.

Savannah's capitol building.

Monday morning we drove to downtown Savannah for breakfast.  While it was fun wandering around, looking at the old buildings, waterfront, fountains, parks (and the spot where Oglethorpe and party landed), we were hungry and just really wanted some good food.  Fortunately, we managed to find our breakfast destination – Goosefeather’s Cafe and Bakery.  From the espresso and coffee, to the breakfast sandwich, bearclaw, and raspberry cream filled croissant, breakfast was excellent.

Yes, the moat is real. (Don't ask)

After breakfast we went to Fort Pulaski, on Tybee Island.  We saw several deer on the way into the park; we also saw a red-tailed hawk soar into a tree by the road. Once we reached the fort, we briefly went into the visitor’s center; a nice older ranger chatted about cameras and his recent cruise, but I don’t think we were that talkative.  He did, however, recommend that we walk around the fort so we could see the extensive damage from shelling.  We also found a sign indicating an unmarked mass grave, where prisoner’s of war were buried after being placed in the line of fire.  (This was done since the opposing side believed their soldiers were being similarly treated.)  The fort itself is surrounded by a moat, and is situated on a picturesque stretch of land.

There were still some artillery shells present in the wall.

After a whirlwind tour through the fort, we went to Wiley’s Championship BBQ.  We couldn’t decide what to get, so we tried the sampler (with smoked sausage substituted for the chicken).  The pork was good, the beef brisket and ribs were excellent, and the smoked sausage was really tasty.  We liked their traditional Kansas City BBQ sauce, which they call “Better than Sex BBQ Sauce.”  No comments on that, but it sure was good on the BBQ.  For the sides, Tony tried the macaroni and cheese – it was very good, and was penne pasta with a tangy white cheese sauce.  Louisa had the sweet potato casserole -  sweet, delicious, and a perfect dessert.  Tony said that their sweet tea was also the best he’s had.  Overall, this was the best BBQ that we’ve gotten to try.  They also gave us two beef ribs to try; they were very tender and flavorful.

Lighthouse at St. Augustine

After a leisurely lunch, we headed to… Florida!  And St. Augustine.  We drove through the modern, wrong-side-of-the-tracks / redneck side of St. Augustine, and then made a beeline for the coast.  Before we got to the coast, however, we stopped to see the St. Augustine Light House.  We took some pictures of the light house, and then walked across the street to a little pier (it might have been part of a yacht club) so we could get some different views of the light house.  At this point, we also saw an osprey perched on a post about 20′ from us.

Great perching spot... close to the camera.

After admiring the osprey, we then drove the rest of the way to the ocean.  We spent some time watching a brown pelican on top of a light post, and enjoyed the sunset over the ocean.  At that point, we realized that (a) we didn’t want to have to drive back through modern St. Augustine, and (b) the ocean was cool and we wanted to stay there.  So, we went to the hotel Castillo Real and, since it was the off season, were able to get a room for that night.

Mr. Pelican says keep your anti-virus software current!

Now that we had lodging figured out, the next thing was to find dinner.  So we stopped at the Sunset Grille and enjoyed some fresh fish (we were told the boat had just come in that afternoon) and seafood ravioli.

Savannah and Fort Pulaski photos can be found here, while St Augustine photos can be found here.