thedude.com

First, Install the latest version of PuTTY.

Launch PuTTY. You will see The PuTTY configuration screen.

Fill in the fields exactly as shown. You will be making an SSH connection to roma.affymetrix.com on port 22. You should add descriptive a name for this session. You can see that I named this session “work”.

Next, click on the Tunnels category on the left side of the display and enter the tunnel information as shown above.

Click the Add button, and the information will appear in the Forwarded ports field.

Now, click on the Session category, and SAVE your session with the new tunnel settings.

Click Open and log in to roma.affymetrix.com with your username and password. This will establish a secure, encrypted tunnel from your home machine to your desktop at work.

Once you have successfully logged into roma.affymetrix.com, we are done with PuTTY, you can now MINIMIZE the application. Do not CLOSE it, or the tunnel will be broken and the next step will not work.

Launch Programs –> Accessories –> Communications –> Remote Desktop Connection. Type in the address as shown above and click connect. Your work desktop should appear on your home computer! If this does not immediately work, try 127.0.0.2:3390.

Note that you can click the Options button and save this Remote Desktop session information to your desktop.

You all know I’m a serious PhotoShop fanatic, so there will no doubt be some skepticism when I tell you that this is an unretouched image. I swear! These are the results I got when I ran a picture of myself through this fun face recognition software. (Free registration required.) Bill gates was one of the first matches. I changed the crop a bit and got a match with Linux creator and personal hero of mine, Linus Torvalds!

So tell me, what does it all mean?

Kelly and thedude were honored to be among the invitees to Dave’s birthday party last night. Sonja prepared a delicious meal and a really wonderful cake with Scharffen Berger chocolate. YUM! Thedude shot countless pictures of his new pal Nathan. Much consumption ensued.

As the evening progressed, the images became more and more - shall we say - experimental.

My good friends Jack and Tres learned through a friend that their image was being used prominently on a web site for a Santa Barbara spa. The trouble is, neither they nor I ever gave the webmaster permission to use the image from Tres and Jack’s wedding. The legal section of the site even proclaims that they own the image! “….All information contained within this website is protected by this copyright. This includes all photographs, copy, design, and all other aspects of the site.”

Now, none of us is too concerned about it. If they had requested permission to use the image, we would have agreed - so long as they gave us a few free passes at the spa. That seems fair, don’t you think?

This weekend while searching for an easy-to-use photo blogging tool, I came across a couple of very cool tools. Both make it easy to build very slick photo album pages for the web with a few clicks.

The first is Porta. This totally cool Windows application allows you to build pages like this easily. It makes good use of the the excellent SimpleViewer plugin from Airtight Interactive - an awesome web site, by the way.

The second - also from Airtight Interactive - is PostCardViewer, which is used to create cool photo pages like this. Both of these tools are very easy to use, and I’ll happily host your photo blog. You have no excuse!

What a day! I don’t think we’ve had a day like this since the last time Jim and Wendy visited. We started with lunch at Tachibana - the best sushi bar in the east bay. From there, we toured the fragrant Scharffen Berger chocolate factory and sampled numerous luscious super-dark chocolates. Later that evening, we dined at our favorite restaurant - Soizic. A food extravaganza! Yum!

I can count on at least one visit a year from my good friend James. Welcome, dude. If tonight’s indicative of what’s to come, this visit will be a good one!

Kelly took the tree down yesterday. These little guys are a bit odd, but awfully cute. I’ll miss them.

What kind of a party can this group of party pros pull together with one day’s notice?

A most excellent one!

Thanks so much for coming, Tres, Jack, Dave, Leslie, Steve, Terra, Linda, Larry, Eric, John, Andrew, Christina, Ben, Vince, Scott, Justyna, Itzik, and Ellen.

Happy New Year with love from thedude and Kellster.

Thanks, Grant for sending these gorgeous panos.

In case you’re wondering, I have not forgotten my blogging duties. It’s been a long time since I took some real down time, so Kelly and I decided to finish 2005 quietly. We did not attend any big parties or take any trips (’cept for Fresno.) I also took a little time to do some chores I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, like replace the funky old carpet on our loft platform.

I’ll get back to some serious blogging soon. My Friends Jim Rowe and Bruce Briscoe are coming to town soon, and in February we’ll be visiting the Philippines with our dear friends Grant and Sandy. Stay tuned!