The Blog by Clem Gigliotti, Jr.

SnapIt Screen Capture

powerontheweb — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:42:45 +0000

It is a very convenient tool for bloggers. When you write posts on your blog you need to capture and crop images from different sources – this tool is for you.

Capture anything you see on your PC screen! Don’t waste time cropping your captures. Take a “snapshot” of anything exactly what you need, with just a click. Irreplaceable tool for Bloggers, Designers, Office Workers, Business People, Analysts, Technical Writers who have to describe interfaces, menus, buttons, etc.

* Supports hotkeys, auto-saving, clipboard
* Automatically copies screenshots to the clipboard
* Tracks capture history, auto-saves captured images
* Saves files in BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG and TIFF formats
* Auto-names captured images

Here are links to screenshots of SnapIt:
http://www.digeus.com/images/snapit.jpg
http://www.digeus.com/products/snapit/images/screencapture04.jpg
http://www.digeus.com/products/snapit/images/screencapture01.jpg
http://www.digeus.com/products/snapit/images/screencapture02.jpg
http://www.digeus.com/products/snapit/images/snapit_properties.png

For more information please visit:
http://www.digeus.com/products/snapit/snapit_screen_capture_3_5.html

Universal Orlando Resort – Travel Guide (Part III, Jurasic Park)

powerontheweb — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:19:26 +0000

Universal Studios Florida Resort, Islands of Adventure (IOA), the section named “Jurassic Park” is our next area to explore. Go through Hogsmead, moving counter clockwise through the park. I am taking you here next because I want you to waste as little time walking as possible. This area is adjacent to Hogsmead, and as you continue to travel counterclockwise through the park, when you finish at “The Lost Continent,” you will have the shortest walk to the exit of IOA.

Jurassic Park Discovery Center – 5 minutes

This is not a ride, and will likely have no wait at all. But if you are a fan of the original Jurassic Park movie, or even if you have just seen it, a quick walk into the discovery center is pretty cool.

Jurassic Park River Adventure – 30 minutes

This is a pretty good ride. You will most likely get a little wet, but not soaked by any means. And it’s pretty cool….again, especially if you have seen the movies.

Pteranadon Flyers – 5 minutes

This is a gentle ride mostly for kids only. It looks fun to fly up off of the ground. But if you are not within “kid height” (if you are too tall), then you can only ride if you are accompanied by a shorter rider. Regardless, it doesn’t look like a super-exciting attraction. But maybe something worthwhile if there is no wait.

Universal Orlando Resort – Travel Guide (Part II, Wizarding World of Harry Potter)

powerontheweb — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 13:35:05 +0000

Universal Studios Florida Resort, Islands of Adventure (IOA), the section named “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” is our first area to explore. You will notice it is NOT the first area you encounter when you enter IOA. So why am I starting there? Because, most likely, you will want to start here as well. Basically, when you get there, you are in Hogsmead in winter. If you are not a fan of Harry Potter, Hogsmead is simply the town near the wizard school where some of the actions in the books/movies takes place. Because this area is so new, and Harry Potter is so popular, this place is a huge draw. Even first thing in the morning, just minutes after the park has opened, the lines in this area are growing quickly. No worries, though. This general insanity is pretty unique to this area only, and everything is calmer and more manageable once you leave depart. And by going here first, you are avoiding a lot of the insanity that will build over the next several hours. This area is comprised of a number of attractions, rides, stores, and other stuff. Almost every single thing has a line…the stores, too. I suggest you immediately go to the Forbidden Journey Ride.

Harry Potter’s Forbidden Journey Rating: No Limit

It is a must see. My friend Erica (an Orlando resident and avid Universal-goer) tells me that the lines for this ride were over eight hours when it first opened. People were going to the park and getting in line at 9am for this ride, and some of them stood all day and never got in and had to just go back home. I’m not suggesting you do that if the line is that long. Hopefully, by going here first, your wait will be no more than 45 minutes. But be aware, if you are not there when the park opens, you most likely will wait for between one and two hours to get on this ride. But it’s worth it. If you are a Harry Potter fan, it’s incredible. The line alone is fantastic as it twists around and through Hogwarts Castle. You walk through the Herbology greenhouse and past potted Mandrakes, into the front doors and through the portrait gallery (talking portraits and all, including some insults from Salazar Slytherin), past the secret entrance into Dumbledore’s office then into the office itself where you are greeted by the Headmaster, into the Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom where Harry Hermione and Ron will fill you in on their plan, and finally past the sorting hat who has some last minute advice before the ride begins…..because, yes, you are still only waiting in line at this point despite all of that excitement! OK, but if you are not a fan, it’s still a great ride and pretty cool to experience. This ride empties you into a gift shop, so you might want to take advantage of that, because all the other ships in Hogsmead are going to have a big line by the time you get off of this ride.

Flight of the Hippogriff – 10 minutes

This is a cute ride. “Family friendly,” means that it is a rollercoaster that kids can easily go on. It’s quick and it’s fun. One of the coolest things is walking past Hagrid’s cottage as you wait in line, and seeing the Hippogriff in his nest when the ride begins. But all in all, if you miss it, it’s not a big deal. If the wait is over ten minutes, move on.

Dragon Challenge – 20 minutes

I am not a huge coaster fan. It’s just that they all seem pretty much alike to me. My wife Julie doesn’t like coasters much to begin with, and this is the kind she really does not like…where your feet are dangling. But it’s was a good coaster. If you like coasters, you might be willing to wait longer for this ride. If you can kinda “take coasters or leave them” like me, there’s nothing about this one that sets it apart, in my opinion.

Three Broomsticks – 20 minutes

It’s worth going inside just to see, especially for the Harry Potter fan. If you are hungry, the chicken was excellent. We also had butterbeer, which was great. But I think they sell butterbeer throughout Hogsmead, so I don’t think you need to wait specifically to get it here.

Olivander’s Wand Experience – 5 minutes

The shops are not even really attractions in the traditional sense but, again, because this area is still somewhat new, almost every shop has a line. We did not go into any of them. However, every person we talked to complained about the wand experience and said, basically, it was an “hour wait for something stupid.” I won’t reveal what we were told, in case anyone wants to experience it, but it sounds like it MIGHT be worth seeing if the wait is short or no wait at all, but not worth any wait longer than 5 minutes. And as far as all the other shops, we skipped them all. It’s up to you.

Bathrooms – 1 minute

If you are a Potter fan, and you can get right in, go into the bathrooms in Hogsmead and Moaning Myrtle will greet you (though the echo makes it hard to understand her at times).

Finally, there are other things going on in Hogsmead, but we basically skipped everything else. The Hogwarts Express is there for a photo opportunity, and other activities. But by this point, we were ready to move on.

Universal Orlando Resort – Travel Guide (Part I, General Information)

powerontheweb — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 13:11:50 +0000

Universal Studios Florida Resort consists of several different components and areas. This basic guide is intended to focus on the two theme parks, as I will give you the best available information and guidelines on how to maximize your experience (and not waste any time) based on what I have seen. There is a lot that will not be covered that you can explore and experience on your own.

The major components of the overall resort are two theme parks (Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios), three major hotels (Hard Rock, Loews Portofino Bay, and Loews Royal Pacific), and the City Walk. The City Walk consists of shopping, movie theatres, restaurants…all that sort of stuff. City Walk is accessible without paying admission to the parks. We did not spend much time in City Walk…the parks were our main focus.

You can do both parks in one day. This will require you, however, to literally bypass some stuff. City Walk would not be a part of a one-day plan. I’ll give you some advice on what is a “must-see,” and what you can skip. You will need to be focused, but it will not require you to completely abandon the fun and enjoyment of being there….what fun would that be? But you will be moving along with a definite plan of action as you go through the parks. And you will be doing more “seeing and riding,” and not as much “exploring” as you follow your plan.

Regarding tickets, I suggest a two-park-pass. One day in one park is probably too long, because there just is not enough to fill up an entire day in either one alone (in my opinion). A two-park-pass will give you access to both “Islands of Adventure” and “Universal Studios,” both of which are located next to each other. A mere five minute walk separates the two, and you are permitted to go back and forth, if you wish.

You also want to explore the “Express Pass” upgrade. Depending on the actual date of your visit, the price will vary. But the Express Pass literally allows you to bypass the larger lines and reduce your wait time for rides and attractions by a significant amount, usually for a reasonable fee. Be aware that an express line is not available for all rides and attractions. For instance, at the writing of this, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is still relatively new, and the Harry Potter Forbidden Journey Ride does not have an express line. Regardless, the Express Pass will be an important component to grasping as much excitement and fun into your day by reducing your wait times and allowing you to move through the parks more quickly. There is also some merit in exploring the idea of purchasing an Express Pass for only one of the parks, instead of both. In other words, you can have a two-park-pass for admission, but then purchase an express pass for one park only, once you get into that specific park. Look at the prices, though. While this may save you money (especially on the specific days that have higher prices), there are also days when the difference of an Express Pass for one park is only a few dollars less than an Express Pass for both parks.

There were people who were gaining “early admission” when we were there. This probably is available to guests of the Universal Hotels…I’m not sure if there is any way to buy early admission, but you may want to call and ask. An extra hour can make a difference, especially if you use it to go to the busier places and avoid lines that grow to as much as 90-120 minutes in the height of afternoon (like the Harry Potter Forbidden Journey). At the same time, however, we got in line for entry at 7:45am and were up front. The park was scheduled to open at 9am, but they let us in at 8:30am…so maybe the early admission was not as good as it seemed like it would be. As with everything, it depends on what they want to charge you. Also, you may want to explore annual passes or special pricing for Florida residents, if those situations apply to you.

I will be giving you a virtual tour of sorts, throughout this guide, by focusing on the specific areas of each of the two parks. I’ll give you info on the attractions, and opinions about the ones I experienced. Again, though, I will not discuss everything. But this will still be fairly comprehensive.

Also, a note about my process for evaluating a ride or attraction: I look at a ride based on how long I had to wait, and whether or not it was worth it. There are some rides that were so awesome, I would wait any amount of time to experience them. There are others that I would not go into even if there were no line at all. So, I give everything a number…like “30 minutes,” for example. That would mean that the ride is worthwhile if the wait is 30 minutes or less. If it’s 31-45 minutes, you still might want to wait…it’s up to you….but if it is 90 minutes, and you trust my judgment, skip it or come back later. Similarly, “NL, or No Limit” is a must-see no matter what. And “0 minutes” means don’t bother. I’ll offer some insight into my rating, but understanding how I assign these numbers is enough if you are looking for some basic and quick info.

Disrespectful Driver

powerontheweb — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:01:24 +0000

If this is your car…

…I will gladly accept your apology, as a comment to this post, for so rudely cutting in front of me on route 51 south, coming out of Pittsburgh, around 5:35pm on Monday, September 26th, 2011.

I understand that rush hour can be frustrating, and I am sorry that you chose to be in the slow moving left lane that had a bunch of people waiting to turn left at the light, but that still doesn’t give you a right to just cut in front of people.

A Tale of Two Paintings

powerontheweb — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 15:57:28 +0000

In November of 1974, I was born. (This isn’t MY story…that’s just a coincidence.) In that same month, my mother (Nancy Gigliotti) and father (Clem Gigliotti Sr.) opened a restaurant in Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, called “Gigliotti’s Restaurant.” Four years later, in kindergarten, I met a girl by the name of Jennifer, and we were close friends all through grade school. I’m not sure in what year it occurred, and I am not sure how Clem Sr. and Jennifer’s brother met. It may have been through my friendship with Jennifer, I don’t know. But at some point, Clem Sr. got in touch with Jennifer’s brother, Keith. Keith opines, “From what I remember. My parents were always telling others about my talent and one day they met your parents, And so the story begins.” Clem Sr. commissioned Keith, then a high school student, to paint two “Italian/Venice-themed” paintings. The price was $200 each, plus the opportunity for Keith and his family to dine at the restaurant “on the house” at any time. The paintings were hung in the main dining room. At some point, possibly around 1984, the name of the restaurant was changed to “The Canopy Restaurant,” and underwent a major renovation…but the paintings remained as the focal point of the dining room. In 1988, the restaurant was closed, and everything in it was auctioned. Before the auction, however, Clem Sr. took one of the paintings (which is a rendition of the Rialto Bridge in Venice Italy…

and gave it to one of his very best customers, Vincent “Bud” V., who was always admiring the painting when he and his wife came in for dinner. With graciousness, Mr. V took the painting. Everything else, including the other painting (informally titled “Two Men In a Boat”)

was then sold at auction. Several years later, after my father started another business, he and I were working together and were traveling to Pittsburgh for a meeting. Both of us still lived and worked out of our offices in Monongahela, Pennsylvania. On the way, we stopped into a restaurant called Napoli, near Brentwood, Pennsylvania. To our surprise, we discovered “Two Men In a Boat” hanging in the dining room. I don’t remember the year. I would guess as early as 2000, maybe? We talked to the owner, introduced ourselves, and discussed the history of the two paintings. Sadly, I do not remember how Napoli came into possession of the painting. At the time, Clem Sr. could only guess that Mr. V still possessed the Rialto painting, but he had not heard from Mr. V since the restaurant closed. “Two Men in a Boat” hung in the Napoli restaurant until the Spring of 2011, when the restaurant closed. But in the meantime, around 2002, Clem Sr. received a phone call from the Mrs. V. Sadly, Mr. V had passed away. Mrs. V reminisced with Clem Sr. about the good times she shared with her husband at the restaurant, and how much Mr. V enjoyed the Rialto painting. But, unfortunately Mrs. V informed my dad that she was moving to a much smaller apartment and had no space for the painting. With respect and gratitude, Mrs. V desired to return the Rialto painting to my father. At the time, of course, my father had no place to hang the painting either. As I had just moved into a new home that very week, in California, Pennsylvania, my father asked if I would like the Rialto painting. The painting, to me, was already rich in history and “priceless” from a number of perspectives. It represented, to me, those years of my childhood spent at the restaurant, a childhood friendship, and a depiction of one of my favorite spots on the globe that I was fortunate enough to have visited in person, as an adult, on two occasions. I happily accepted the Rialto painting, and it hung in the dining room of my California, Pennsylvania home until I sold the home in 2007. The Rialto painting was then carefully placed into a storage unit in Monongahela, until such time as I had another permanent home with sufficient wall-space for the painting to return. And in July of 2011, my wife and I purchased a home in Brentwood, PA, and the Rialto painting again graced a wall in my house……less than a mile from its sister painting, “Two Men in a Boat,” which still hung in the Napoli restaurant. I sought Keith, the artist, and found him thanks to Facebook. He rememebred the paintings, my family, and some of the story. He enjoyed hearing of the interesting developments and the fact that less than a mile now seperated the sister-paintings, despite having traveled to many places and passing through several hands. At various times, I would stop in at Napoli Restaurant and view “Two Men in a Boat.” As late as May of 2010, my wife’s brother, Brian, and his wife Danielle, held their wedding rehearsal dinner at Napoli. I shared with some of my wife’s family the story of the paintings and their history as I showed them “Two Men In a Boat.” There must have been a different owner of Napoli, a younger person than the man Clem Sr. and I spoke with back in 2000, and he seemed a bit confused about the history of the painting. I even recall him making a statement about the artist being his friend…and he then said some name I did not recognize, which was peculiar as I clearly observed “Keith ____” still legible and undisturbed on the canvas. But as the conversation with this new owner had already taken a number of bizarre turns, I didn’t correct him. In the Spring of 2011, my wife and I saw that Napoli Restaurant had closed. I attempted to contact the realtor via email a number of times to inquire of the fate of “Two Men In a Boat.” It was not necessarily a desire to unite the two paintings. After all, one might even argue that the paintings seemed to bizarrely be drawn to one another already, without any assistance from me or anyone else. Though given the opportunity, I would have happily reunited the paintings with no concrete idea of what I actually would have done with the second large painting. But more importantly, I sought to acquire “Two Men In a Boat” because I wanted to assure that this history was not lost, that the beautiful artwork was not discarded as some insignificant piece, and guarantee that the piece of my family’s history…..a family whose once-magnificent and successful time-line had been scarred by twists of fate, but also blessed with other positives….that the piece of my family’s history was preserved. After all, as you can see, the paintings have a story to tell, and I personally think it’s an interesting one. I never heard back from the realtor. I was only left to guess at the fate of “Two Men in a Boat.” But in July of 2011, a Facebook message from Keith came, and it described a surprising email he had received earlier that day. “Hey Clem. Guess what? I just got an e-mail from a man wanting some information about a painting he aquired that he called “two men in a boat.” I told him that I could not remember the painting, so I ask him to send me a picture. To my surprise, it was the Gondolier painting. It is now hanging in his home.” To date, the man and I (as well as Keith) have traded some emails and shared some history, as well as created this comprehensive account of the history of the paintings. It turns out the new owner of “The Gondolier / Two Men In a Boat” is working as a contractor to renovate the restaurant into a different facility. As the man reports, “…that building is now under redevelopment and I guess the painting would not go along with the new office space. I do live very close and I am one of the contractors on the job. I sent my wife a picture of the painting one day, and she had to have it. So now, when anyone comes over to our house, the painting is the first thing they will ask about.” Clearly, the painting has made its way to yet another appropriate home. I am, by almost any measure, an extremely practical person. But I can not deny the almost organic and somewhat magical resilience of these two paintings. The way they not only survive, but keep revealing themselves to me is not just entertaining and surprising, but purely beautiful in so many ways.

Dinner?

powerontheweb — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:07:28 +0000

President Obama just emailed me to invite me to dinner.

Well, ok. Maybe not exactly. But I did get an email. The sender was “Barack Obama,” and the subject was simply “Dinner?”

I get emails from “Barack Obama” all of the time. At some point, someone, somewhere decided I am a Democrat worthy of addition to our President’s email list…or at least the list for his campaign. It was the subject of this email that made it feel a little different, because the subject “dinner?” is most unusual, when you consider that almost all of the other emails from “Barack” have had subjects like “grass roots campaigning,” or “fundraiser” or….well, you get the idea. But today’s email had a subject I see, often, from real-life friends. So, I opened it and I read it. With all due respect to President Obama, I don’t always. Turns out, it’s a contest. Our President is holding a contest, and the prize is to have dinner with him. And all I have to do to be entered into the contest is to give a donation to the campaign of at least $5.

At some point, someone is going to look at this and say it is tacky. But not me. I think it’s awesome. This is no less than the 30th email I have received from the campaign in the last 6 months. Every time I think about re-upping my donation, but I haven’t followed through with giving one additional penny.

Today is different. The chance to have a bite with the President is worth $5. For sure. And while I hate to expand the pool of competition, I don’t think I have to worry too much about the two or three people that still subscribe to this blog. So, here’s the link:

https://donate.barackobama.com/Dinner-with-Barack

Authentic Abundance RePost – A Place Where Your Authentic Self Can’t Hide

powerontheweb — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 18:14:12 +0000

http://www.authenticabundance.com/authentic-community-a-place-where-your-authentic-self-can%E2%80%99t-hide/#comment-311

The Box – 2009 Movie

powerontheweb — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 20:26:36 +0000

I will admit that I am late to the party. A quick Google of the movie title will reveal not only the plot, but also the pages and pages of criticism about the 2009 cinema catastrophe which might even be enough to make one wonder why I even put it on my Netflix list. I have no defense. I knew little about it, and I watched the movie. Let’s leave it at that. If you want the basics, visit the wikipedia article.

I want to talk about what I think is the most significant gap in the film’s logic, which is also noticeably absent from even the most critical of reviews that I read. (And, by the way, that is saying a lot. Because there were more gaps in this films logic than on Pennsylvania highways in winter time.)

Before I do, please do not misunderstand me. This is not, by any stretch, my sole criticism. The accents are horrid, the plot inconsistent, and the ending an absolute bore. The type of ending that makes me angry to a degree not seen since my theater viewing of Cool World. But all of these things can not aggregate to sum up to more than my frustration with the problem I wish to address. And that is this….

How are we expected to believe that killing you wife is a better idea than raising, with her alive and by your side, your deaf and blind child?

If you have not seen the movie, don’t. (In case my subtlety has thus far been missed.) But here’s where we are. In the last ten minutes of the film, the two main characters – husband and wife, and parents to one young boy – are told that their sins earlier in the film have resulted in aliens taking away their son’s sight and hearing, and locking him in their upstairs bathroom. (Try to stay with me. Imagine how hard it was to actually watch this happen to the two hours I invested watching it unfold.) The Head Alien, after informing the couple of this, tells them that they have a choice. The choice is (watered down to basics) this:

1. Go upstairs, break the lock off of the door, hug your child, and then spend the rest of your lives together helping him to learn to live with his disabilities. OH! And they also have a million dollars in a safe downstairs that the alien gave them earlier in the movie that they are free to use to help with all of these problems.

2. Husband shoots wife in heart. Wife dies. Aliens give Son hearing and sight back. Husband goes to jail. Son has sight and hearing but no parents. Million dollars goes away until son is 18.

Guess which option the parents choose?

Shout Out to Pat Corcoran

powerontheweb — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 03:53:12 +0000

Visit my pal Pat’s new blog. http://catsconvictions.blogspot.com/

If you like it, then tweet, follow, comment……all that good stuff. You know what to do. I think there is interesting stuff to come.