I've moved everything back to http://Jim.BlacksWeb.com

See you there.

A Better Way to Share Your Google Photos Videos

If your phone (iPhone or Android) uses Google Photos (if NOT, you SHOULD) to backup your pictures and video, there is a MUCH easier and better way to share your videos in your blog post, then my previous post.

In the post I just referenced, importing your videos into YouTube, works, but it is painfully slow.  A 7-second video took nearly a day to upload and process.  The process below there is nearly no waiting, but you have to be comfortable editing your blog post in HTML code, no worries, it is simple.

Again, you need a Google account and use Google Photos to back up your pictures AND video.

1st, go to your Google Drive ( https://drive.google.com ), and then click from the menu on the left, select Google Photos.

Next, find the video you want to share in your blog post, and right click the video and choose "Get Shareable Link" from the context menu.

Next, make sure the link is highlighted, then use the keyboard to copy that link to the clipboard, buy holding down the control key (CTRL) and then press the letter C key.  Right-click and copy will not work here.

Next, open a new browser tab, and past that link into the address bar using the control key (CTRL) and the letter P key.  Or right click and past.  Then press enter, your video should load in the browser.

Next, after the page loads with the video ready to play, click on the 3 dots (Menu Button) in the upper right corner of the page, and select "Embed Item..." from the context menu that pops up.

Next, highlight and copy the HTML code in the text box.

Now in your blog post, click the edit button that allows you to view and edit the post in HTML.  For Blogger, there are two buttons in the upper left corner.  Compose and HTML.  Yup, click the HTML button.  Find the right spot in the HTML to place html code you just copied and right click and past the code in there.  NOW, you may want to in advance, before clicking the HTML button, add some content to your blog that will make it easier to locate it when viewing in HTML.  For example, put a string of XXXXXXXX, and then the enter key.  Find the XXXXXX, place your cursor after the </br >, hit the enter key to give your self a blank line and then right click and past as plain text.

Here is a sample of how it looks.


This may seem like a lot of steps, but it is quite easy.  Enjoy and hope it works well for you.

Amber and Peanut Butter - Lip Smackin Good

Amber has needed to take some medicine in the past few weeks, but she got good at avoiding the medicine pill in her food, eating her food and leaving the medicine.  The doctor suggested we coat the medicine pill in peanut butter and give it a try.  The first few times she still managed to spit out the medicine, after licking it clean.

We got smarter and broke the pills up smaller and added more peanut butter, now she can't get enough and watching her lick and lick and lick till it is all gone is too much fun sometimes.  I had to take a video to share.  Enjoy

Pool Closing and Black Snake

This weekend with help from Collin I closed up the pool for the winter.  We found a surprise while pulling the cover out across the pool.  A nearly 5ft Black Snake.

    

   

   

First Furniture Market

A view inside what IT calls the "Bat Cave"

Well, I survived my first High Point market.  We, the IT group, moved into the "Bat Cave" at the showroom in High Point on October 4th and moved out on the last day of the market, Oct 18th.  It was a good experience.  Many issues came up or were discovered and resolved, making the applications better and stronger.  There were quite a few points of high stress with missing orders, likes and mismatched customers, and several nights past midnight to fix code or clean data.

I look forward to opportunities to improve processes and software that will make these markets less frantic, less hours and more smooth sailing.  I made good progress toward that goal a few weeks leading up to and during market, but there are plenty more opportunities for improvement.

As a guy that lives in or near High Point, and knew very little about the furniture market, the Market was a bit of an eye opener.  It's not so much just furniture, (chairs, dressers, couches, beds, etc), but furnishings in general.  Indoor and outdoor furnishings... fabric, lighting, silk or fake plants, decorations, through rugs and more.  And the Market isn't so much for the end consumer, as it is for the big furniture stores across the country and around the world, and for designers (room and furnishing designers) looking for what is new and up and coming for their clients.

One thing that caught my eye was the mechanics they can now put into dresser drawers... I guess any drawer really... gone are the days of pushing the dresser drawer closed to fast or loudly.  Watch this video... it may take two or 3 times to catch what I am showing you.

Below are some pictures and video of the showroom.

   

   

   

   

Concert Photography

A few days ago a co-worker was describing a concert he had been to and they used pyrotechnics, with flames shooting up, and was amazed how he could feel the heat even across the arena, "can you imagine how it felt for the viewers up close to the front row".  I recalled to him an experience I had with a concert, pyrotechnics and being on the front row.

In 2008 I won "WinterJam Super Fan" front row tickets to WinterJam concert from a local Christian radio station WBFJ.  Skillet was one of the acts, and I can tell... WOW is it a blast of heat when those things go off.  But... front row seats with good DSLR camera (Nikon D50) was a lot of fun.  The "Event" photographers even let me walk up to the stage and get some great shots.

So I went back, found my photos from the event shared them with him and wanted to share them here.

Concert photography can be a challenge with the extreme contrast in lighting.  But that also adds to the uniqueness of the image you can capture.  Low light means slow down the shutter speed, but not too much you need to zoom-in to get a good picture, and the rest is adjusting the ISO to as high as your willing to go and live with whatever grainy detail you get.  I love the lighting effects, how the light beams can be seen via the smoke/fog that they use.  I used a small zoom lens, like 35 to 70, or something like that.

This was a once in a lifetime opportunity... but given the chance again, someday, to photograph a concert like this, up close, I will take it.

Skillet

    

    

    

See more photos here... http://capturethisphoto.com/FlashGalleries/WinterJam2008-Skillet/


MercyMe

    

    

Yes... that is me with Bart Millard playing Guitar Hero.

See more photos here...  http://capturethisphoto.com/FlashGalleries/WinterJam2008-MercyMe/


Newsong

    

See more photos here... http://capturethisphoto.com/FlashGalleries/WinterJam2008-NewSong/

Duke University visit with SW Dance Team

The Southwest dance team recently enjoyed the opportunity to cheer or dance (not sure which) on the field at half time during the Duke vs Baylor football game over the weekend.  I may have been a long day for such a short performance, but it was a great experience... visiting the campus, enjoying the game and watch Caitlin and the girls take the field at half time.

The game was fun.  There was a good crowd there and it was quite warm for a mid September afternoon, they had tables around the stadium handing out free paper drink cups with ice water.  Luckily we were seated with the sun to our backs.  There were several dance/cheer teams that took the field, it was a busy time.  Of course being from Eastern PA, football is often more about the band, then the game, and Kim enjoyed watching the band perform.

Walking around campus was sorta OK, but I heard they have an old time cathedral that is just fantastic.  To visit the cathedral, it is open for self guided tours, but if you luck out and there is a custodian there by the name of Oscar, be sure to stop and ask him a few questions about the cathedral.  Before you know it, he will have shared with you all kinds of interesting facts about the school, the cathedral and him self.  What a wonderful gentlemen and a good time and visit we had.











The cathedral at Duke University
Click  an image and view them full screen.
Have I mentioned I love my G6 Phone Camera...

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

   

Caitlin and SW Dance Team on the field

Click  an image and view them full screen.

    

    

Caitlin hamming it up...