After patiently waiting for the newest release of the Android OS for my Moto DROID (lets not forget the many rumored and canceled releases for 2.1) I just had to track down the udpate vs. wait for the 47MB OTA update to come at some unknown time starting on or after August 3. A quick Google search brought me to a familiar place, androidforums.com.

I snapped up the download, which is the legitimate release from Google for STOCK, non-rooted devices. Sure I’m antsy, but I didn’t see the need to root my phone and lose some features to gain others, plus, I don’t need the upgrade to the ‘Brick’ feature in case something went south.

The update process is cake, as noted in the link above, I rebooted and after a few minutes the first round it was up and running. I had to do some digging to find the Flash 10.1 app as well since it’s not listed in the Market yet. I found you’ll need to reboot your device after you install Flash to make it play nice with the browser.

Here is what I found after a night of playing.

1. FASTER – Hella faster than 2.1 in terms of app and screen switching, and just overall a much quicker build.
2. The new look to the Launcher is nice, especially the app listings, however I did install Launcher Pro due to some really cool add ons like mini-docks at the bottom for contacts, shortcuts etc.
3. The new clock app is great. Extra features such as also displaying the temp, and news if you wish, along with shortcuts to music, photos etc, and a dimming feature. It’s intent is to be used with the dock, however until I find a dock that fits my case, it just sits on the bedstand.
4. Flash works! – Now I can more easily monitor my weather information at home. This will be a great added bonus to the phone for a number of reasons for me.
5. Did I mention it’s much faster?
6. Camera support – Updated interface for accessing all the features in the camera/video camera, along with LED ON feature for video camera for low light video.
7. Has better support for corporate calendars (since I had the DROID to begin with, it had native support for Exchange calendars.
8. The default Mail app appears to have support for Signatures now. I had been using K9 mail, which was great for the signature support, however it had difficulty parsing a few emails from various web-apps I maintain, which makes mobile upkeep a pita.
9. USB Tethering – I haven’t tried this, and I’m not sure I will. I’ve been using PDA-net, which has worked flawlessly for me.
10. – DOWNSIDE – Still no support that I can find for connecting to an Untangle VPN server.

Overall, I’m quite happy I tracked this down last night and set it up. I’ll probably hook up the GF’s DROID as well later this week if mine is performing well.

Many of you know I’ve dabbled in photography for a number of years. I’ve done portrait sittings for local Real Estate groups, parties for the Yacht Club, MLS photography via Obeo, and taken thousands of photos camping, outdoors and at Rollag.

I’ve started to collect a number of good photos that I’d like to put a price on, either for a digital copy, or by print or framed print.

I know I can manage the online digital downloads etc, however I’m a bit at a loss of where to start looking for framers or printers for the photos. Some photos are panoramas and could be broken up into 3 photos to occupy an empty wall (that is my current plan for a recent pan I’ve taken) Some would do just fine as 8×11, of which I can handle in-house. One photo actually ended up on a billboard last year.

The other question I’m coming up with over and over, – What do I charge? I know I’d need to cover the cost of materials, however I undervalue my creative talent and time big time. Granted the photos of rare sites and those that require more setup or post work would be more. I’m really at a loss of what to tack on tho..

Any suggestions welcome!

It’s that time again, a little earlier than normal to head up to Rollag. Due to some warmer weather, and an Expo meeting that is at the Hill this weekend, it seems like a great opportunity to open up the camper, get some work done, and hang out with some of the Rollag crew.

So we may have limited access to power and water, oh well.. Camper has 12v power, and LP appliances, including heat!

So, here’s to some good weather, good friends, and a great weekend ahead!

I’ve been eagerly awaiting the switch to the DROID coming at the end of March, however Friday morning I woke up to an ailing Crackberry. Having the TAC insurance plan, and pointing out my New every Two plan was due for renewal in two weeks, I asked about just pushing that date to Friday, vs. getting another new Curve on VZW’s dime. The agreed to this after a little back and forth, and by dinnertime on Friday, I had myself a shiny new Motorola DROID.

Since I had spent some time with in at the store, I was familiar with the basic operations and capacity of the device, however the more I’ve been using it this weekend, the more I am blown away by the abilities of it. While I can’t pass judgement on the battery yet, as it needs a few cycles to get fully up to capacity, It’s been holding it’s own so far, unless I have Meebo open for IM. – UPDATE: 3/10/10 – Battery is getting me thru a day, and I’m not carrying along my USB charging cable anymore. With ‘average’ use, it’s quite adequate when you’re in a metro area and not constantly looking for towers.

The interface is pretty slick and easy to use. While I did have to google the basic methods to get apps to the main screen, and other random functions, but overall, it’s been a pretty easy learning curve!

What has impressed me most, is the accuracy of the touch pad. While I’m really enthused to have a full QWERTY on the device, I haven’t used it as much as I thought I would. I’ve been able to easily add my IM, social media, weather and other basic apps to get me back up and running. I’ve also found Gmote, would enables you to control your music library on your computer via the DROID. Also, I’ve located a pretty decent VNC program, all available from the Android Market (short of Gmote). Short of being able to completely setup my VPN connection to my Untangle Firewall, the DROID pretty much removes the need for me to drag a laptop places with me and tether up to the Internet.

There are a few items missing from it that I’m hoping are resolved quickly are: No easy copy/paste in the interface I found if you longtap the content in question, you can copy it, moreso, you can longtap just about anything, anywhere for a host of options. No ability to add signatures on outgoing emails. Seeing as I use this for businesses, It’s critical that this feature be implemented soon. Maybe in 2.1.

Otherwise, the speed, usability, stability and overall performance of the DROID is pretty impressive. I opted for a slightly overbearing case on the phone, because I admit I’m a bit hard on stuff, and wanted to give myself the best chances to now destroy it. The one phone call I’ve made with it, I found to be exceptionally clear and crisp. The speaker actually had decent quality sound, not tinny or choppy like I’ve experienced with other phones.

Overall, I’m going to give the phone a 9 out of 10 review, only discounting it for the copy/paste and email signatures, two a pretty basic features on all other platforms of phones.

It’s no real secret that I’m kind of a technology whore. I’m quick to take in any old, yet still useful computer gear (with the exception of the TekTronix terminal). Mainly, I’ve gotten gear from businesses or family/friends that are offloading it, because they don’t need it, and/or don’t want to take the time to refurbish and resell it.

I am now getting a stockpile of computers again (mostly server grade, dual CPU, SCSI, RAID etc) and will be cleaning them up and selling them locally. My goal is to take the proceeds and donate them to a non-profit organization.

If you have any hardware that you are looking to get rid of, that would be of any cash value, I’d be happy to clean it up, and send it on it’s way! The other alternative, is they sit in your basement, and annoy your spouse that you have ‘too many computers’

OK – So, if you’re on Facebook, you’ve probably had at least 1, if not 1,000 invites from your friends to play FarmVille, no need to be ashamed. I was sucked into the game last summer, and found myself spending more time than I should have been spending, plowing, planting, milking etc.. It wasn’t so bad, because you could plunk away at it while you watched TV or ate lunch at your desk.

Recently, You’ve had to become fans to get a bigger farm, and play some of the other Zynga games in order to get upgraded farm stuff. Sorry, I’m not playing Mafia Wars for a reason, I DON’T WANT TO.

I gave FishVille a try, because I like fish tanks. After about a week of feeding my fish, I tired of it, and currently have sold all my fish, and assume I have a very green tank.
Also, with all the recent upgrades, added stuff etc, it’s taking longer and longer to load, and now that I’ve upgraded to the largest possible field, and you cannot doing any farming function in mass *plow all* *milk all* etc, it’s becoming far too much of a time eater than it should.

I’ve started ignoring most of the requests and gifts I get, because, honestly, while it was fun in the beginning, The appeal is gone. It’s more of a task now than a fun thing to do on FaceBook. Also, with spring on the way, and warm weather activities, the last thing I want to do, is be tied to my computer on a nice day collecting chicken eggs.

What is your take on FarmVille, and the other Zynga games?

I was looking for a good pizza joint to go and meet up with Mike at, and dropped Aaron a quick line to get his suggestions. Based on our target area near North St. Paul, he said we needed to go to Randy’s Premier Pizza. He thought the idea sounded good, so he joined us as well. If you’ve never been to, or ordered from Randy’s, I can assure you that you’re missing some of the best pizza on the East side of the cities.

While primarily a take-out pie shop, they do have a few tables in the back if you care to dine in. They have a cooler with various non-alcoholic beverages in it, and Mike and I chose the classic Orange Crush in the glass bottle and placed an order while we waited for Aaron to show up. Mike ordered a pizza with spinach and artichoke on it, and I ordered a pepperoni pizza for Aaron and I to split. Soon after, an order of Italian Bread Sticks arrived, which is listed as an Italian crust with garlic. We dug into that, and made short work of it. Randy dropped in on us to see how we’re doing, and since Aaron is a regular there, they caught up on life for a few minutes, and then he returned to his post behind the counter making pies.

Shortly after we finished the bread, our pies came out and they both looked delicious. Not being a fan of the veggies like Mike, I didn’t try his, but just the presentation alone was enough to confirm that this was indeed a good pizza. His pizza was smothered in cheese, and fresh ingredients. Both pizzas were ordered with the hand tossed crust, and I could see that the edge of the crusts were proportional to the different size of the pizza, but both were plump and inviting.

The pepperoni pizza arrived and I noticed that it too was covered in cheese, which had a good amount of pepperoni tucked underneath. When we pulled out our slices, the cheese was plentiful and stringy between the slices. My impression after the first few bites was nothing less than stellar. The blend of the cheese and pepperoni and sauce was an excellent blend, and none of the ingredients over powered another. The sauce had a slight zing to it, and left me waiting for the next bite. The pepperoni was tasty, bold, but not to detract from the rest of the pizza. The crust was a bit limp towards the center, but not in a bad way, it was what I had expected. The closer you got towards the end the more flavorful the crust became. The crust is made fresh, not frozen like you might find at some other pizza shops, which I feel can make or break a pizza experience. If your crust is bland and soggy, overpowering or crackle thin, it will turn me off. If I want a thin crust, I’ll order it. The hand-tossed crust I ordered was right on the mark.

Partway thru our meal, Randy brought out some Pizza Fries. Aaron wasted no time on digging into these tasty morsels. It’s the garlic crust, loaded with cheese and cut into strips with dipping sauce. The three of us made short work of these and went back to our pizzas. We were getting full, but I didn’t mind, I was able to stuff another slice of this great pizza in before calling defeat and boxing up about 1/2 the pizza to take home.

Randy dropped by again to ensure our meal was OK, and we assured him it was with full mouths! He noted that he was going to be adding a wood-fired oven in the spring, so I will sure come back to check that out. Randy’s also offers some larger pizzas, from 30″ up to 48″ and also a pizza challenge to eat the 30″ pizza in 30 minutes.

The bill for for pizzas and drinks came to 37.50 + tip, which split across the three of us, was certainly an excellent value for the meal. I’ll certainly return and check out more items on the menu in the near future.

Have you eaten at Randy’s? What was your experience? – Check out what my friends Aaron and Bill have to say about Randy’s from their prior visits.

Randy’s Premier Pizza
6030 50th St N
Oakdale, MN 55128
651-777-1400

So, the start of the new year has come and gone. Was your New Years full of drinking and chaos, did you stay at home and do nothing, or something in the middle? I kind of used it as my last stand before getting back on the health wagon.

We spent NYE with our friend Rachel up in Fargo at Bid D’s (after having to wait outside for 20 minutes in the effing cold weather). They had 2 for 1 specials on all the drinks, so 25$ went along way that night.. We had a good time, and having being a change of pace for me, from hosting something, it was nice to just be able to get back to a bed, and fall over. Rachel is always a great host, so we had some ‘za and a few more drinks back at her place, and called it a morning, about 3am.

New years day, we set out for Fertile, to go visit Eileen’s parents, and go a post-holiday gift exchange since we didn’t make it up over the Christmas weekend. We visited, puttered around, took a trip around the area to see what was going on, and later in the evening met up with a few other Rollag friends and ventured out to the Other bar.. Town was dead, of course it is small town MN, and we pretty much had the place to ourself, had drinks, pizza, shot some pool and BS’d until close. Made our way back to the farm, and went out to the shop to carry on the party with a little squeezebox music and rollag songs, and for more rum of course.

Despite the -30f+ temps, we had a good time, cars started, and Jake n Ty didn’t freeze in the cabin. It’s built so well they actually had to open the door after the wood stove got up to temp! We ventured back down to the cities Saturday afternoon, and just pretty much relaxed the remainder of the weekend before getting back into the swing of life, and full 5-day work weeks. All in all, it was pretty grand.

Kicking off the new year, I’ve been able to work from home one day a week, partly to save some miles, and also help cut down my energy use and driving costs. This has been a real awesome opportunity, and it’s only been the second week in. While I do still put in my time, the furry kids can lay next to me on the couch, and I can start something in the crock pot for supper. Eliminating the drive also lets me get a head start on my workout that day, allowing me a little more free time after supper!

Some of us have made resolutions, some of us have said to hell with making a plan we know we’ll never stick to after two weeks.

What side of the line do you fall on?

Personally, I listed my 2010 goals over here, and so far, have been pretty diligent. I did cave and have a microbrew last night, just because it sounded really good. Otherwise, I’ve been keeping the snacking at bay, and being diligent with my exercise. While we’re only two weeks into the new year, I hear that the gyms are still packed with the new years newbies who will only stick it out for a few weeks, but seeing as we have all the gear at home for an effective workout, I have no excuse to fail, other than blaming myself.

I’d like to hear what your big plans for NYE were, and what are your goals for 2010? What will you do to hold yourself accountable for your resolutions or goals?

First off, I will admit the poor quality of the photo, I didn’t have the good camera with me, and cleaned it up as well as I could. It’s much more appealing looking up close and personal.

Eileen and I went out to visit the parents over the weekend, partly to take a look at Mom’s computer (stupid video card drivers broke), give them a demo of Wii Fit, and also to score a meal at Sal’s. Having been up to Sal’s a number of times before, I was certainly up for making the trip up to Stillwater. After a quick fix of driver updates, and laughing hysterically at us playing with the Wii Fit, and trying to see Dad balance, we headed up for a bite. Sal’s has had a few different names over the 25 years my Parents have lived nearby. It was the Keystone Lounge for many years, a favorite place to go after little league and have a soda while the parents and coaches had a beer, and was no larger than an overgrown trailer home at that time.

Over the years it’s had a few names, and has been Sal’s Angus Grill for the past few. It’s had a major remodel and addition to give it substantially more seating, a larger bar area and a ‘lodge’ style decor inside, complete with large fireplace in the corner to warm the passing patrons on their snowmobiles. (They also have a heated service van outdoors to act as the ‘smoking’ section during the winter months, complete with music and tiki lights inside last I saw. Currently, the place attracts customers of every type, from sledders to families, to the regular crowd at the bar. It’s as close to a ‘small town’ bar as I can see in the immediate area, that also has a great eatery.

The menu is quite varied and more than I had expected for a restaurant that’s kind of out in the sticks. They have an assortment of burgers, sandwiches, pastas, salads, ribs and apps that border on the gourmet side, such as bruschetta that is as good as any 5-star restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. They also have soups and lighter items if you choose. In the past, I’ve had the potato skins, bruschetta, nachos, buffalo chicken sandwich, etc and have been impressed with every meal.

On this particular visit I went with the basic burger, with bacon and pepper jack cheese added, as I had an appetite for a big old burger. It is served up with american or regular french fries, both are excellent depending on your preference. My mom ordered a loaded potato, dad opted for the ‘cock bites’ off the app menu, which is essentially chopped up bites of chicken breast, with seasoning and flavor on them, but not breaded. They make an adequate meal for one, or split as an app. Eileen got a burger as well, and we both found them to be excellent. Cooked medium with a slight amount of pink in the middle, juicy and flavorful. They are served with lettuce, tomato and onion on a fresh and soft bun, but not too large to overtake the size of the patty. We all agreed that our meals were excellent, and Eileen and I both left a bit full, but agreed that the meal was too good to leave behind or save for a take-home box (that’s what the gym is for afterall, no?)

Our server, was on top of our table, ensuring we had drinks, checking on our food and overall seeing that we were happy with our meals. For a Sunday night, the place wasn’t all that busy, and they appeared to have ample staff on hand to cover the crowd that was in the place. I didn’t see our final bill, as my parents picked up the tab, but you can see the menu on line and estimate what your ticket would be. Most meals are between $9 and $13, unless you go with the ribs or steaks which start about $15 and go up.

I can’t say that I’ve been displeased with any of the items I’ve had at Sal’s, and always am happy to get out and have a bite there. While it is a little drive North/West of Stillwater a little bit, near the newly re-opened Withrow Ballrom, it’s certainly worth the trip out if you’re looking for excellent food, and want something other than a chain quality experience.

Have you eaten at Sal’s? I’d like to hear what you have to say.

Sal’s Angus Grill
2010 Keystone Ave
Withrow, MN 55082

How was your 2009? After a rocky first quarter, the last three got progressively better. After a few visits to sunny Florida to quell my winter blues, some time to clear my head from the ending of 2008, my year picked up drastically.

I do want to thank all of my true friends who stood beside me over the last year. You were a true shoulder to lean on when I needed you.

I spent most of January and February working on the G-RAFFE, replacing a variety of suspension parts, and redoing the upholstery. Also, dealt with frozen pipes, and I managed to pull my head out of my arse in March and realize what was good for me, admitting some things from the past are best to let go, what is vs. what was, and give way to new adventures in the present and the future. I think I’ve managed to keep my foot out of my mouth for the most part thus far in that department, so lets hope that carries into 2010.

May started off the Steam Show season with the first of a few trips to Rollag for a weekend of opening things up for the year, a little camera work, and some time out of the cities.

In June, I once again participated in the MS-150 bike tour, and have already signed up for the 2010 ride, as Captain of our team, the Wheels of Fortune. Feel free to pledge, or join the team! I know people have different views on charities and fund-raisers, however, I’ve been riding this ride for about 15 years now, and it started with me and a friend wanting to ride our bikes for a weekend and go camping, and felt it a worthy cause to contribute to.. Now, I’m captain of a team, and won’t miss the weekend for anything, as while you ride with 3,xxx other riders, you end up seeing the same people year after year, and the riders are all great.

Also, we went camping with our good friends Vicki and Justin, and Bill and Kim our in Wisconsin. We did get a little rain and thunder, but overall it was a great time, and even thought Vic and Justin moved out east for work, i’m certain it will happen again at some point in time! At the end of June was another work weekend at Rollag, where we had some cold beers with good friends at night, and by day, worked hard, got dirty and loved what we were doing.

July brought my Birthday, the 4th of July, and more local steam shows, such as the Log Cabin Pioneer show in Hastings. We caught up with some of our Rollag friends to catch the tractor pull and have some beer.

In August, we trekked north an hour to the Almelund show for an evening with Rollag folks again before we were shooed away by what turned out to be a nasty storm 5 miles south of the show. Lets not forget the annual trek to Rollag for 11 days, where I, along with another volunteer film over 20 hours of footage over 4 days and create the annual DVD.

Carry into September, we rolled out to Wisconsin for an annual gathering of college friends, another weekend of Steam at the Albany show, and finishing up some remodeling in the back of the house.

I started a new job at the end of October after seeing my job at my previous employer change roles, and start heading down a road that would lead to a lay off. Give a company three years of sacrifice, and you get shafted. Great job.. This job has provided a HUGE sense of relief, that I’m at a company that appreciates me, I love getting up and going to work, and I have flexibility, freedom, and plenty of room to grow with the company.

November took me up north to Beaver Island, to try out deer hunting. I didn’t shoot, or gut a deer much to the girlfriends dismay, but I did have an opportunity to shoot old computer parts, drink beer and hang out with.. You guessed it, more rollag friends! Also, we hosted Thanksgiving, which went over great, Jake stopped by on his way thru, and had his squeezebox with him, so he whipped that out and kept us entertained for a spell.

Chris and I also finished the 2009 Rollag DVD. They say the third time is the charm, and this is probably our best production to date!

December starts the Holiday madness, and wrapping up the 2009 year. Santa brought all kinds of neat goodies, but mainly I enjoyed being able to spend time with my family, which is very important to me.

For 2010, I resolve to do the following:

Continue my efforts to workout and eat healthier

Leave the rum in the bar until the weekends

Structure my time better, to not always be working

Those are three items I think I can pretty easily attain. What are your goals and aspirations for 2010? – I know a few other items on my plate are a trip to Florida in February with the better half, and meeting up with a few Rollag friends who will be down there as well. Once the snow melts, the biking, camping, boating and steam shows fire up, so I’ve got to be sure I have all my camera goodies and camera cart in working order.

Enjoy the New Years weekend, be safe, and have a safe and prosperous 2010.

A few weeks back, Eileen and I met up with our friends Jeff and Pamela, (or Peff and Jamela if you prefer) to see the CP Rail Holiday train, catch some supper and check out Karaoke at the local bowling alley – Park Grove Bowl, as her sister’s significant other hosts the Karaoke show.

After checking out the Holiday Train (which I strongly suggest you plan to view next year if it comes anywhere near your home) we stopped past American Motorsports, because we didn’t want to give our money to the national chains. Having been to A/M a few times before, I was middle of the road with my impression of the food. I had first been there shortly after they opened, and my food came out on a hub cap, the fries weren’t anything to write home about, and the burger was nothing special.

The had gone thru a few rounds of expansions, remodels etc, and whatnot, and I thought I’d give them a try again, after-all, it has been a few years, and their parking lot now is pretty much always full. We walked in, to get a high top table in the bar, and ordered our drinks. They had a variety of beers on tap from frat-boy specials to local breweries, which I was happy to see, the local supporting the local.

The menu had a number of themed items revolving around nascar and auto-racing history, which set it apart from your run of the mill eatery.

I put in an order for chicken cordon bleu with fries, Jeff got a cheeseburger, Pam got the penne pasta in alfredo and Eileen got the buffalo chicken sammich. After about 15-20 minutes our food made it out, which was acceptable seeing as the place was about 70% full, and the bar area seemed to have a few Holiday parties in the mix, including what appeared to be a santa hat pub-crawl that head off. It appears they also have karaoke on the weekends as well.

The food came out as I said before I got sidetracked, and it looked great. Much better than my past experience. As we dug into our meals, everyone was impressed with the meals. Even the side ceasar that Pam had was above what I had expected, just on presentation alone. She commented that her pasta was right on, and tasted very good. Jeff’s burger was to his liking, and he made short work of scarfing that down. Eileen said her buffalo chicken was tasty. Not too much spice but enough to make it warm and enjoyable. My chicken was excellent, ham, chicken, cheese on a roll, it quickly disappeared.

The fries were also good. Far better than fast food, and actually most chain places that I’ve had fries at. Not quite huge wedge cut, but bigger than fast food, and FAR better. The service also was pretty good. Our waitress was attentive and friendly, and always was on top of our drinks and making sure we had everything we needed.

Overall, I was impressed with American Motorsports. The food, service and overall experience was far better than my last visit, and I will certainly return again.

Have you been to American Motorsports? What are your thoughts?

American Motorsports Bar & Grill
7240 East Point Douglas Rd S
Cottage Grove, MN 55016
(651) 768-0303

Recently at work, I found myself forgetting to bring lunch with. Not wanting to spent the afternoon regretting a sub-par lunch from Jimmy Johns (I will state that I don’t mind Jimmy Johns on a road trip, but not for a lunch that will be holding me for the remainder of the day) – I ventured over to Pairings to check out the food. I had been there a few times to pick up some adult libations previously, but not been into the restaurant portion. My boss suggested I check out the pizzas. I called ahead and ordered one of the 10″ pizzas, made to order. I chose pepperoni and garlic.

I drove over to pick it up, and it was ready and waiting for me. While the cashier was running my card, I checked out their cases of other food. They had huge meatballs, lasagna that looked enough for two meals, along with salads, pastas and gigantic pork chops.

I grabbed my pizza and headed back to my office, just down the road. As soon as I was in the confines of the truck, I was overwhelmed by wonderful smells of fresh garlic and pepperoni. When I opened up the generic white box, and saw a wonderful meal waiting for me. The pepperoni slices, as you can see were huge, and looked and tasted very fresh. There were actually full cloves of garlic chopped in half and spread around the pizza, that was a huge bonus.

The cheese was plentiful, but not overwhelming, and while it gave the pizza substance, I didn’t find it overly flavorful, or something that made the meal for me. The crust was pretty good around the edges and most of the way in, however I think the center was just slightly underdone. It is fired in a faux wood oven, and was rotated a few times while cooking. This didn’t turn me off to the pizza at all, since the outer two-thirds of the crust were fantastic.

Overall, I would certainly go back to Pairings for pizza, and possibly to try some of their other food options, as their menu is quite varied. Also, When you stop in for food, check out the wide selections of wines and beers they have. Along with a vast array of wines from around the region, and world, they carry a number of craft beers that are sure to satisfy any thirst you may have.

Have you eaten at Pairings, or picked up something from their liquor store? Let me know you opinion.

Pairings Food and Wine
6001 Shady Oak Road
Minnetonka, MN 55343
952-426-0522

You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter

Now that I’ve finished editing the 2009 DVD for WMSTR, I have started a new project to aide in my capacity as ‘that guy with the camera’ for the show next year. That is to build a jib crane for filming more great footage at Rollag. Mounted on top of the Cushman, it will have a collapsable 10′ boom to allow for a wider variety of camera angles. Having had the use of the mighty bucket truck at Rollag for the last few years has been great, however, it’s hard to move around large masses of people, and if I happen to move around in the bucket, so does the camera shot.

So, what you see here, is the very basic start of the pan/tilt system that will hold the camera when finished. You may also notice a little bit of RC gear atop the temporary pan mast. (which is to be replaced with steel) Many of the rigs I’ve seen online have been manual control, or fixed position, which might work well for some applications, however, I always seem to over-do things, and this is no exception.

The pan/tilt mechanism will be controlled by 360 rotational RC servos, compared to standard servos, which have a 180 degree spread. I may swap out the tilt servo for a higher torque DC motor if the servo can’t handle the camera mounted on it.

On top of that, (or below rather) will be a DC motor to power the main boom function to raise and lower it. Also, will be a motor to handle the rotation of the entire rig. I will most likely be controlling those with an H-Bridge module from Robot Power. Their gear plugs right into my RC gear with no mods, and should provide the power I need.

All this good stuff will be mounted on TOP of my Cushman, and counter weighted to allow an easier time of the motors to move it around. It will be powered by a 12V battery, have a solar panel on the roof to aid in charging, as well as power an LCD monitor so I can preview what I’m filming from the ground.

I’ll be sure to post more photos as I get more work done, and of course final product.

On Thursday, myself and the rest of the recent new hires at my new job were invited out to breakfast with the CEO of the company at a place called Woody’s. I learned of the breakfast earlier in the week and took a few minutes to scope out the menu beforehand and see what they had for breakfast. I was not really expecting to see a full of a menu as I did. There was a large array of eggs, toasts, pancakes etc in about every shape or form you could imagine.

We were seated at 7:30 when we arrived, and within a minute we were presented with a hot cup of coffee on a chilly morning. When we arrived, we were about the only ones in the place, however when we left about 9am, the dining area was pretty much full, with a variety of patrons from locals, businessmen, and what appeared to be a senior group in for an outing.

I opted to get the Johnny D, which was scrambled eggs, smokehouse bacon, choice of toast or muffin, along with two pancakes and hash browns.

As we chatted and waited for our food, our server was very attentive to ensure our coffee was topped off. Our meals started to come out within about 10 minutes. I was really impressed to see the huge portions of food. Granted my meal was 9.95, which is still I think a reasonable amount for the most important meal of the day, but it was still a pile of food!

My eggs were scrambled, and didn’t taste like powdered either, they were light and fluffy, not slippery either. The bacon was thick cut, and well done, enough to not be limp, but not carbonized either. The has browns were excellent, browned on top, and warm and just perfect in the center. The pancakes had powdered sugar on them, with some rich maple syrup, which were also excellent.

There was enough food on my plate that I did not finish all of my meal, however I did eat enough where I was ready for a nap afterwards, afterall – it was really good.

Overall, I would suggest Woody’s for breakfast, and I would think their other meals are just as good. I did see a bar with a few taps on it, and a number of bottles, so I would imagine they have some good happy hour festivities.

Have you eaten at this or one of the other local Woody’s locations? Let me know your experience.

Woody’s Grille
6399 City West Parkway
Eden Prairie, MN 55344

Phone: 952-944-8799
Fax: 952-944-8785

Hours of Operation
Weekdays 7:00 am – 10:00 pm
Saturdays 8:00 am – 10:00 pm
Sundays 8:00 am – 8:00 pm

We seem to have run straight from summer, back into spring, so do it appears with our recent weather. Where are our nice fall days to go out and view the leaves. We’ve had just over 3 inches of rain this month according to my weather station and it’s only the 6th day of the month.

What would you have normally been doing this time of year? Out picking apples, taking a fall leaves tour with your camera?

Let me know what you’d normally do if it wasn’t raining cats n dogs. I should be out in the garage building an ark, but the garage is kinda full right now with other projects!