Last year I installed a copy of Windows 7 RC.  Everything went great.  I didn't spend a lot of time using Vista, so I won't do any comparisons here.  But the few months that I spent using the RC, I liked it a lot.  For the most part, I didn't have any problem (aside from learning where things moved to, and getting adjusted to the new task bar).  I liked it so much that I bought a copy of Windows 7 when it was on sale.  I just hadn't gotten around to installing it.

Finally last week, the RC expired.  So I backed up all the important stuff.  Actually I have all my data on separate hard drives and the OS on an 80GB, IDE one.  So I didn't have much to back up.

1 I tried doing a "custom"/clean/fresh install.  Right away I ran into a problem.  For some reason during the boot up process, there was a few seconds where it wasn't recognizing my keyboard.  And those few seconds happened to be when I had to press a key, any key, to boot from the optical drive.  Took me a while trying to figure out what was going on.  I tried different USB keyboards to no avail,  Finally I ended up using an old PS2 one.

2 Next problem: for some reason the computer couldn't see my IDE hard drive.  After searching the web, I remembered that my motherboard (ABit IB9) was a bit quirky in that it required you to install an IDE driver via a floppy(!) if you want to install Windows.  I hadn't use a floppy in years.  So I searched around to see if I can find the driver and maybe I can install it via a USB drive instead.  No luck.  I couldn't even find the Abit program that's supposed to make the driver for the floppy, let alone try to find one for a USB drive.

3 I read a blog post by Peter Bowyer about a similar Abit board.  I tried updating my BIOS and hoped that it wouldn't need the external IDE driver.  The update went well.  But I ran into the same problem: IDE hard drive not recognized.

4 I had a copy of Windows XP that I got from MSDN way back when I was still in college.  I decided to give it a try.  Same problem.  No IDE.

5 I gave up on installing an OS on the IDE drive, and used a SATA one (1TB) instead.  But since I hadn't backed up the data on that drive (wasn't planning on doing anything with it during the OS switch).  I took it to work and asked my IT guy (Alex) to help me move some data around and create an empty partition in the beginning of the drive.  It took a day and a half.

6 I plugged the SATA drive in and went with Windows 7 first.  It bluescreened during installation.  The error (XXX) was something about new hardware.  I didn't add any new hardware.  I searched the web some more, but no luck.

7 I tried Windows XP.  This time it saw my SATA drive!  But there was a problem.  I had 3 partitions on it: 90GB, 200GB, and the rest.  The XP installtion saw one partition with 130GB (which is a known issue).  The problem is that the partition I specifically set for this was only 90GB.  It must have been seeing something else.  But by now (been about a week) I was so weary that I didn't really care.  I backed up all the important files, and the rest I would be able to obtain again.  So I told it to just format the 130GB partition.  It did and then restarted.  Then it went back to the same partition screen... (I later realized that I was missing a step.)

8 I got another SATA drive from Alex to try.  Windows 7 still bluescreened.  During XP installation, I saw the step that I was missing earlier (I had to delete a partition, create it, and then choose it).  The installation was a success!  I switched my SATA drive back in and did the same and got XP to install.  Finally!

9 I spent a few hours updating XP including SP2, SP3, and a few other drivers.

10 I spent some more time installing software such as Firefox, Pidgin, Dropbox, and Magic Jack.  Back to operational!  w00t

This past weekend Jessica and I moved from our apartment in St Petersburg to a condo in Belleair (just south of Clearwater). We made the move so I could be closer to work (2.5 vs 15 miles).  It adds about 10 minutes to Jessica's commute, but she only goes to school about 3 days a week.

The condo association does not permit residents to move in on the weekends.  So I took Friday off and rented a U-Haul truck.  I reserved a 17' truck, planing on getting everything in one trip.  When I went to pick it up, they told me they had rent it out last night on an emergency call.  They gave me a 15' plus some discounts: flat rate of $35 (no mileage) and a free dozen blankets.  Leon, the guy I talked to, was really nice.

We were fortunate to have Danny and Joel come over to help (since most people work).  We loaded the U-Haul truck up with all of our big furniture except the sofa and the computer desk.  We also got some other small boxes loaded.  Then we drove to the new place.  Jessica got us some pizzas for lunch.

After lunch, Harry the maintenance guy was there setting up the elevator and the hall way for us.  He didn't say much, but was very helpful.  He brought out different types of tools to help us move based on the type of items he saw.

After a few hours we mentioned to Harry that we were going back for another trip.  That's when things started to get hairy.  He said to check with Don, the association president about moving after hour.  I was confused.  I talked to Don and it turned out no vendors (including trucks) were allowed in after 5pm.  I told him that nobody told us about this.  Of course he said he did and that it was also in the booklet.  I called Jessica (she was back at the old apartment) and she was very upset.  She looked up the booklet and nowhere did it mention anything about the 5pm rule.  We want to follow all of their rules, but we can't if we don't know them.  This particular building is the only one the does not allow vendors on weekends either.  So we had to reschedule Bright House to come back on Monday to install our internet.

We considered rushing back to get the rest of the stuff with the truck, but didn't want to risk not being able to get back in.  So we finished unloading what's left in the truck and just returned it.

We went to Mama Fu's for dinner.  Then Joel went back to Orlando.  Danny stayed the night and went back to Miami the next morning.

Without the U-Haul truck, it took Jessica and I three more trips on Saturday and two on Sunday to get most of the stuff over.  Good thing they were small boxes and clothes, so we didn't break the rule (no moving furniture on weekends). We're planning on moving our sofa and the computer desk sometimes this week.

Stay tuned for more pictures once we're settled in.

                   

Click here to download:

2010-02-19_Moving_to_Belleair.zip (1458 KB)

The day is finally here!  I am finally a citizen of the United States of America!  

My oath ceremony took place at the federal court house in downtown Tampa.  We got there about 45 minutes before the appointed time (9 AM) just in case.  The room opened around 9:15 AM.  First the applicants went in, then the families and guests.  We signed in and turned in our appointment papers and our Permanent Resident Card (green card).  Then we took the oath.

There were 47 people on the paper, 45 showed up.  About half did the first oath and the rest did the second oath.  I was in the first group.  Afterward an attorney gave a speech.  She talked about the naturalization of her adopted son, Max.

The whole process took about an hour and a half.  Afterward we went to get lunch at the Acropolis, a Greek restaurant in Ybor City.  Then we went to the Social Security office to update my Social Security information.  Next step is for me to get my US passport and update all my other information.  Pretty exciting!

One song came to mind as I stepped out of the court room today...

And I’m proud to be an American!

Video of the oath.

         

Click here to download:

2010-02-18_US_Citizenship.zip (356 KB)

For this year's Valentine's Day, we made sushi for dinner and chocolate fondue for dessert.

We left our sushi mat in Jacksonville, so we had to improvise a little.

                     

Click here to download:

2010-02-14_Sushi_Valentine.zip (678 KB)

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Loop's partner company gave us some box tickets to the Lightning vs Bruins hockey game tonight.  Eighteen of us went.  We left the office around 6:30pm and got dinner at Moe's.

Alex and I went to the Full Auto Motor Sports event today at the Tropicana Field's parking lot.  We got there around 6:45am.  It was still pretty dark out.  And cold.  The high today was in the 60's.  And it was really windy.  I guess it's much better than being hot and sweaty!

The drivers were split into two types: Grip (groups A, B, C) and Drift (groups D, E, F).  I was in group C.  Group A was for experienced drivers.  They got to go first, while the novice drivers had a quick safety/tip session.  Each group got 4 sessions through out the day.

There were many different types of cars.  The majority of the Drift cars were Nissan 240SX.  There were also a Toyota MR2, a few Nissan 350Zs, and an S2000 (David).  The Grip cars varied a lot more, including cars such as S2000 (mine), 350Z, Mustang, 240SX, RX-7, Corvette, Elise/Exige, and WRX.  There were also some higher end cars such as Corvette Z06, M3, and Viper.  One car that stood out the most was a Miata with a Corvette engine.  He ran for one session and I didn't see him anymore.  Not sure what happened.

In my first session, I drove alone for a few laps and with a professional driver (Drew) for a few laps.  He gave me some pointers, but I think my lack of experience hindered me quite a bit.  Alex joined me in my second session.  It was fun to try different camera angles.

Then we had lunch.  After lunch I ran back home to get my wheel locks so I could change the tires.  I got back to the event just in time for my third session to start.  This time around I had Matt riding with me.  He also drove a couple of laps to show me how I should be driving.  Definitely his driving was way better than mine.  With a bit more experience/lap time and a few extra advice, I felt like my driving was improving.  But alas I got a little ahead of myself and I ended up spinning out (my only time).  Alex joined me for a couple of laps at the end of this session.

Afterward we got my front tires changed by Advance Performance Tires n Wheels. In my fourth and final session, I started off slow because of the new tires.  But i was able to feel the extra grip.  New tire definitely made a big difference.  I could feel the car wasn't trying to break loose as much as before.  My unofficial (aka Alex's stopwatch) fastest lap was 55s.  Before I was averaging about 59s.

You can view the pictures on my Picasa Web/Alex's Facebook album and the videos on my youtube playlist.  If you only want to watch a few, I recommend these:

• Face View with Alex - Oh Snap 55sec (MVI_4878)
• Tandem Drifting + All Course Drifting (MVI_4872)
• Dashboard View Final Lap (MVI_4886)

The course layout:

Last November, I bought a pair of HTR-Z III for my rear tires.  Now my front tires are going bald, so I ordered another pair of Sumitomo HTR-Z III.  This time they're 215/45ZR17 87 for the front.

           

Click here to download:

2010_New_Tires_-_HTR-Z_III.zip (493 KB)

I started a new blog about bad parkers. These are not random pictures of any bad parkers.  But pictures of the ones who park near my car.  Hopefully the posts will be few and far between =)

You can view it at Learn How to Park.

1 Chicken + Lots of Rice = 6 Meals!

   

Click here to download:

Chicken_Lunches.zip (108 KB)

I went to see my friend Troy Gallant giving a presentation at the SQL Saturday #32 today.  Our former coworker Lee White was also there.