Wednesday, December 5, 2012

TechnoGeek Learning Rally -Day 2 & 3

Tuesday

Tom, Nicolas and Casey joined the dog walkers Tuesday morning, and then headed over to the Recreation Building for breakfast.  I stayed back at the RV working until it was time for the panel discussion on “Cloud” computing, followed by the Picasa hands-on photo-editing session.  I’ve tried some editing in the past (OK, mostly just cropping), but Chris showed us how to do so much more!  I normally just delete those pictures that don’t look “good enough”, but with just a few clicks, I could make them into worthy photos.  Amazing stuff!!

The afternoon sessions were all about file management, and I think I’ve got a pretty good system there, so I took the afternoon off from seminars.  Tom and the boys headed over to the pool after lunch, and I joined them after getting some work done.

I don't want my picture taken!

The weather this week has been great (daytime highs around 80, and nights in the low 60s), but the pool heater isn’t working, so the water is kindof cold!  It was tolerable, though, and even I got in for awhile – as long as the pool was in the sun (until about 3pm), we didn’t freeze. 

Then, of course, there was the hot tub, too . . .

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Tom didn’t get in the water, but he did find somebody to pass the time with while we swam!

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Later in the afternoon, some of the guys gathered on the porch to discuss internet options on the road.

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Tom and I went over to listen in, and I took my work computer along so I could get some work done while we were sitting there.  Wi-fi is great . . . my “office” can be anywhere as long as I can pick up a good signal!

Everybody was on their own for dinner, so we went back to the RV to grill some steaks.  After dinner, I loaded up the laundry and went over to the campground laundromat to get that chore taken care of.  They have 9 washers and 9 dryers, and the laundromat is spotless! 

While waiting for the laundry, Tom and I joined Phil & Tracey on the screenporch, along with a few others.  The conversation covered a whole range of topics -- from RV-ing, homeschooling, corporate life, the economy . . . and kept us occupied well into the evening!  Finally, the laundry was done, and since I still had to put together my breakfast potluck item, we skedaddled back to the RV!

TechnoGeek Rally

Luckily, it didn’t take too long, and I still managed to get to bed before midnight!

Wednesday

I got up bright and early to get my breakfast into the oven, and worked while it was cooking.  As I was sitting at the table, there was a knock on the door.  Surprised, Tom opened it to a guy who said he backed into our truck overnight!  Tom went outside, expecting the worst, but there was only a small indentation in the center of the bumper – very small.  Tom actually didn’t even see it – Nicolas pointed it out to him later!

The potluck breakfast offered lots of delicious food – although too many egg casseroles according to Bryce, who was disappointed that there wasn’t a single cinnamon roll!

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The adults enjoyed the food, though, and the boys didn’t exactly go away hungry!

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Today’s seminars included more discussion around passwords, and smart phones, as well as the new topics of Blogger, Photo Story 3 (for making slideshows), sharing photos through Picasa Web Albums and Facebook, and a new RV-focused GPS by Rand McNally.

It was a full day for us, and it didn’t end there!  We gathered back in the Recreation building for a wonderful dinner of pasta with cream sauce, salad, and garlic bread . . . followed by Phil’s “Sticky Toffee Pudding” that was sinfully good!

After dinner, lost of the crowd stayed to play the Geeky version of Jeopardy, with Jim filling in for Alex Trabeck.

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Once again, the teenagers were in high demand for their fast reflexes, and Nicolas was recruited to be the button-pusher for Team 1.

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It was an intense and highly competitive game, with our team off to a huge lead.

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Team 3 didn’t give up, though, and they gave us quite a battle!  It really all came down to who could push their button fastest, and Nicolas had the advantage! 

The game was fun and entertaining, and we may have even learned a few tidbits of information!  A great way to end Day 3!

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

TechnoGeek Learning Rally (TGLR)–Day 1

The day started out with the daily walk at 8am.  I had work to do in the morning and Tom still wasn’t feeling too great, so we missed the walk.  We joined the group just before the 9am Panel Discussion on email and passwords, where we had a great breakfast of ham & cheese croissants (YUM!) and then learned about email and passwords.

Learning from the Geeks!

Phil told us about a secure password service (lastpass.com) that sounds really intriguing.  I’m breaking all kinds of password rules, so I’ll probably take a look at this!

Next on the agenda was the 2-hour hands-on digital photography discussion with Phil.  This was a fun and informative session, and Phil introduced our “project” for the week.  I’ve already gotten a good start on it!

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I could get addicted to this project!  Bryce is having fun with it, too.  As we walk around the campground, he’s on the lookout for letters for me!

After lunch, Tom and I sat through the smart phone introduction, but are still pretty much overwhelmed by all the info . . . it will take all week for us to get comfortable, if we even are by then!

The next 2 sessions were with Phil, discussing RV electrical safety and tire safety.  I needed to get my potluck contributions put together,

Baked Ziti Casserole

Turtle Brownies by Marci (& Duncan Hines!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

so Nicolas kept Tom company during those 2 seminars – I think they learned quite a bit!

At 4pm, I went over for the Picasa overview while Tom and the boys went to the pool.  I’ve been using Picasa for about 4 years (since I first learned about it from the Geeks at the 2008 RV-Dreams Rally!), but I haven’t really kept up with changes that have been made to the program and I’m not really using many of the features that are available!  By the end of the week I will be, though!!  (The food pics above were edited with the tools I learned about today!)

Dinner on Day 1 was the potluck, so we all gathered in the Recreation Building at 6:30 for a smorgasbord of delicious food . . .

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There was definitely no shortage of food . . . or fun . . . as everyone ate until they were stuffed, and made many new friends!

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Jim described his experience collaborating with Google on a project, and it definitely sounded like a place that would appeal to young workers!

When the dinner crowd broke up, Nicolas went back to the RV to work out, and Tom, Bryce and I played a few games of pool.

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Bryce hasn’t lost his touch, and he beat both of us! 

We’re really glad we decided to attend this Rally – there’s a great group of people here, and Jim & Chris and Phil & Tracey are the best!  They are full of valuable information, and lots of fun, too!  If any of you RVers are considering a Rally in the future, I would highly recommend this one! 

Stay tuned to see what we do the rest of the week!

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Florida Oranges!

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The manager at the little RV park we stayed at on Friday told us about a U-pick orange grove just down the road where we could pick a 5-gallon bucket of oranges for just a few dollars.

 

They were opening for the season on Saturday, and we have never picked oranges, so we decided to give it a try before we left.

 

 

We were definitely not the only ones with this plan, as there were plenty of people around when we drove down to the end of the narrow gravel road.

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There was bad news, though . . . we’re still hearing about the effects of last winter’s early bloom and late freeze.  No apples or cherries in Michigan, and now no navel oranges in Citra, FL.  They did have juice oranges (not seedless), and a few clementine-like tangerines, and grapefruit.

So, just for the experience, we decided to pick a few juice oranges and grapefruit.

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The grove owner showed us which trees to pick from, and how to pick the grapefruit without getting stuck by thorns.

 

Nicolas did most of the picking, since he was the only one tall enough to reach!

 

 

 

 

 

Bryce was contemplating which oranges looked the best, and then directed Nicolas where to pick.

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We ended up with a half bucket of oranges and grapefruit, and a half bucket of tangerines - - a LOT of fruit - - all for $8!!  These will last us awhile, but we’re still hoping to be able to get some navel oranges when we get further south.