Pro Wrestling Beyond - School's Out Slaughter

Please visit PWB Ringside for the School's Out Slaughter review.

Apple Valley Packers

Wenatchee's Apple Valley Packers playing a doubleheader at Recreation Park. The Packers are part of the senior American Legion's Central Washington League.

PWB School's Out Slaughter, June 9th

6:00pm on Saturday, June 9th at at the Wenatchee Convention Center located at 121 North Wenatchee Avenue in Wenatchee, Washington.

East Wenatchee Controlled House Fire

On Tuesday, May 22nd, the Wenatchee Fire Department and Douglas County Fire District 2 had a controlled burn using an old house next to the New Life Center Church on the corner of 5th and Colorado in East Wenatchee. Apparently the fire got a little out of control when winds unexpectedly picked up. The Wenatchee World featured an article about the incident.

Here are a few photos and some video footage of the fire.

Cable, Satellite and now Joost?

With no major networks broadcasting locally, most North Central Washington residents rely on cable or satellite for their daily dose of TV. With the Internet becoming more of a necessity than a luxury, most of us pay a monthly phone, TV, and now Internet bill. VOIP phone services like Vonage are allowing some to forgo the monthly phone bill in favor of a lower monthly bill for a service that piggybacks off the Internet. So if a phone company can bypass traditional means of providing a service, then why not TV?

Napster made sharing music files fast, easy and very popular. Similar services popped up later that not only allowed people to share music, but video as well. The problem so far with file sharing, is a majority of it has been illegal, but now a new company called "Joost" (pronounced juiced) is trying to use file sharing to deliver television over the Internet. Will it work or be successful? Your guess is as good as mine. Regardless, after reading about Joost in Time magazine I requested to be a beta tester of their service. What do I think about Joost so far? The only thing it has going for it is potential. Limited channels and limited shows for the moment, but just like file sharing networks, the more people that use it, the better it will get.

Joost recently sent me some invites that will automatically allow others to join in on their free beta testing. If anyone is interested in trying out Joost, simply contact me here. Be sure to leave a name and email address.

Pro Wrestling Beyond - Slam Fest

Please visit PWB Ringside for the Slam Fest review.

The Source of the Contamination Found (I Hope)

I am currently working on building a new business and website directory for the website. One of the features of the new directory is thumbnail sized images of all the websites listed in the directory. The directory currently has over 1,100 website listings and doing this manually was out of the question. So I found a great program that automatically fetches thumbnail images for me. I feed it a list of web pages and it opens them up and takes a screen shot. The downside is the program requires the use of the Internet Explorer web browser to capture the images.

So whats wrong with Internet Explorer? Unlike other popular web browsers like Firefox and Opera, Internet Explorer comes with the ability to interact directly with the Windows operating system. A great idea, in theory. For example, it allows a person to update their operating system through the browser at the Windows Update website. The downside is that computer viruses also take advantage of this ability for the browser to manipulate the operating system and use it to infect your computer with a virus. Something I had the joy of experiencing first hand when I forgot to set my Internet Explorer security settings to high before starting the program to grab screen shots of the 1,100 plus websites.

Removing the virus was the easy part, reinstalling the operating system takes less than an hour, the real problem was to figure out which of the 1,100 plus websites was handing out the virus. If in fact, it was only one and not multiple websites carrying viruses.

Today I found what hopefully was the one and only website that carried a virus. It was the old website for the Chelan County Fire District 7. I won't print the URL and please don't go looking for it, trust me, it's a virus. Their new website is located at the Go Lake Chelan website and is virus free.

The question you might wonder is why does the old Chelan County Fire District 7 website have a virus that installs itself on your computer if you view the page in Internet Explorer? Well, what happened is that they discontinued their website and someone else picked up the domain name. Now instead of finding information about Chelan County Fire District 7, you get a web page that tries to install a virus on your computer. How are people allowed to buy discontinued websites and put virus installing scripts in their place? I'm not sure, but they do, so be careful where and how you surf the web.

Craigslist comes to Wenatchee

Wenatchee joins Craigslist and it seems to be taking off pretty fast. I have glanced through Craigslist before but since it has never had a local page, I never really explored the website very much. For those who have never heard of Craigslist, it's a very popular community based classifieds website, and it's completely free!

It features everything a regular classifieds would feature and a few you won't find, such as it's Rants & Raves section. The Rants & Raves section allows people to complain or simply voice their opinion about (almost) anything they want. I find it refreshing to see people openly expressing their opinions. Sometimes it's hard to know what people really think in a smaller community where most of the media outlets could risk losing valuable sponsors if they were to speak openly about certain local issues and problems, especially with local businesses and poor customer service. Nothing personal against local media, I need advertisements as well, and have no more desire to complain about customer service or the lack there of than they do.

It's nice to know though that if I receive poor customer service somewhere that I finally have a place to vent. Hopefully local business owners will take notice and keep customer service on a respectable level. I know there are probably a few businesses out there that invest heavily in local advertising that aren't going to be to happy when dissatisfied customer voices are finally heard and not quietly muffled by the local media. Well... more typed and read than voiced and heard, but you get the idea.

Saturday April 7th, Slam Fest!

Pro Wrestling Beyond presents Slam Fest, Saturday April 7th at the
Wenatchee Community Center

Apple Capital Designs, First Impressions

The following article from the Wenatchee World, Possible ‘Apple Capital’ designs displayed, lets us see what the new designs to represent Wenatchee look like.

My first thought, I need to learn how to make signs, seems to be a profitable business!

Seriously though, my first suggestion would be to not add the population to the sign. Considering that the population is growing wildly out of control, the sign will either be incorrect, need to be constantly updated, or have to be replaced again in 10 years. The city has spent quite a bit of money on signs recently, probably need to be more budget conscience this time around.

One of the signs shows apples, cherries and pears. A person coming to Wenatchee for the first time might raise an eyebrow as to why a sign about apples has an assortment of fruit. I understand that locals will understand the reference, but the sign should probably send a clear message to visitors, especially after the pot shots the last sign took.

All of the designs seem reasonable and a big improvement over recent signs. The biggest suggestion I can think of is to remove some of the clutter and do some landscaping around the sign.

March

Little happened on this website last month, I have been deep in development of a new custom directory that will allow anyone to modify or edit the content, similar to the way Wikipedia works. It will allow businesses and websites to add information, descriptions, maps, and photos. The new directory also will allow businesses without websites to create a custom page for their business.

Since I am building it from the ground up, I can't say for sure exactly when it will be finished, but hopefully very soon. Below is a photo of a sunny and very windy day at Squilchuck State Park. I'll try and get the rest of the Squilchuck photos uploaded after I finish the new directory.

Pro Wrestling Beyond - Out Cold

Please visit PWB Ringside for the Out Cold review.

Wenatchee Windstorm Video

A video posted on YouTube by "hallmat" of the January 7th Wenatchee windstorm,

Pro Wrestling Beyond presents Out Cold, Feb 3

Back at the Wenatchee Convention Center. For more information, visit the Pro Wrestling Beyond website.

Create Your Own Free Customized Maps

I just finished a new mapping feature for the services page. The new service allows you to pick a location on a map, adjust the map to your liking, and then write a description for your custom map. Once you have finished creating your custom map, you simply click the "View Your Map" button.

The maps are by Google and feature high-resolution satellite images of many areas of North Central Washington, with more areas being added all the time. The new service has many possibilities. You could send an email to your relatives far away showing them your what your house looks like from space. You could create a map showing your business and link to it from your website. You can show people where an event is going to take place, or which house just got knocked over in a windstorm.

Maps only take a minute to create and there is no limit on how many custom maps you can create. Your map can point to any location on Earth, your not limited to just North Central Washington. The custom map page also features links so you can easily link to your map from your blog, email or even a forum. I hopefully have most of the bugs worked out, if not, please let me know.

After creating a map, I clicked on the "HTML link" text, copied the text, and then pasted it into this blog to create the following examples,

Wapato Point on Lake Chelan

Dry Falls Visitor Center

Grand Coulee Dam

Mansfield High School

Downtown Twisp

Slide Waters in Lake Chelan

Click Image for Full-Size

A long overdue feature has just been added to the website. All large photos in the community and directory (Chelan, Douglas, Grant, Okanogan) sections have been reduced in size to fit into a standard window. All images that have been reduced in size now have the following message below them, "click image for full-size". Simply click any of these images to view it in it's original larger format. An example.

New Look for the Wenatchee World

According to the following article, the Wenatchee World is going to get a new look,

Wenatchee World Selects Saxotech for Print, Online Publishing

Here are a few examples of websites using the Saxotech website template,

• South Bend Tribune


• Aspen Times News


• Burlington Free Press


• Tuscaloosa News

Here is another article about Saxotech.

More Wenatchee Valley and Lake Chelan Windstorm Photos

The more I travel around the area, the more I see the true extent of the damage. It's everywhere. Fences, trees, telephone poles, signs, roofs, and more. This storm devastated neighborhood after neighborhood. Many, last I heard, still have no power.

An incredible gallery of photos over at the Webshots website from Gene's BMX.

Go Lake Chelan has lots of information and photos with more photos coming in all the time. Here is the transmitting apparatus for the radio stations from their website.

Carol's Wenatchee has some amazing high detail photos on her website this morning, including a car being crushed by a carport.

KPQ reported this morning that they would soon have many photos on their website, so keep checking back at their website throughout the day.

There must be hundreds of photos and videos of the damage since it was so extensive. If you have links to any photos or videos, please post them in the photos forum.

Jan 10 Update - Here are some photos I took yesterday of the devastation in the Wenatchee valley.

After the Wind Storm, Photos and Video

Here are some photos and video of the aftermath of yesterday's windstorm,

• A Video from the Wenatchee World


• Photos from Go Lake Chelan
  
  
  
  • Lake Street in Chelan
  
  
  • Lakeshore RV Park in Chelan
  
  
  • Water on Lake Chelan
  
  
  • Wapato Lake and some more
  
  
  • Memorial Park in Wenatchee


• From KPQ
  
  
  
  • Photo 1
  
  
  • Photo 2
  
  
  • Photo 3
  
  
  • Photo 4


• Video of tree falling in Wenatchee Cemetery (scroll down page) from King 5

If anybody knows of any other websites with photos/video or if you have your own photos/videos please share them here.

Another Wind Storm Coming!

The windstorm is over for North Central Washington, but will there be another one?

The National Weather Service reports the following,

Wenatchee
Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy. Chance of rain then chance of snow. Snow accumulation 1 inch. Probability of measurable precipitation 50 percent. West wind 25 gusting to 43 mph. Low 25.

Moses Lake
Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy. Chance of rain then chance of snow. Probability of measurable precipitation 50 percent. Southwest wind 32 gusting to 53 mph. Low 28.

Omak
Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy. Chance of rain then chance of snow. Snow accumulation 1 inch. Probability of measurable precipitation 50 percent. Southwest wind 29 gusting to 48 mph. Low 20.

Check your towns forecast at the weather page.

Insane Wind Storm

If we make it through this storm, post your photos, videos or links to your photos in the forum.

No registration is required for the forums.

Websites Missing, Need Help

The following is a list of websites that I am currently unable to reach. If anybody has any information about these websites, please let me know.

Crossland Law Office of Cashmere,
http://crosslandlaw.lawoffice.com/

Action Mortgage Company of Moses Lake
http://jaysmith-actionmortgage.com/

Chelan County Fire District 7
http://www.chelan7.org/

Lee Theater of Ephrata
http://www.fairchildcinemas.com/lee.html

Methow Land Company of Winthrop
http://www.methowlandcompany.com/

Creative Carpentry Concepts of Twisp
http://www.methownet.com/creativecarpentryconcepts/

Ameri-Can OSHA Complaint Hand Wash Trailer of Winthrop
http://www.methownet.com/handwashtrailer/

Pine Meadow B and B of Winthrop
http://www.methownet.com/pinemeadow/

Moses Lake Professional Pharmacy
http://www.mlrx.com/

Moses Lake School District
http://www.moseslakeschools.org/

North Elementary in Omak
http://www.omaksd.wednet.edu/north/HomePage/home.html

Pollywogs Pro Sports in Desert Aire
http://www.pollywogsprosports.com/

Quincy School District
http://www.qsd.wednet.edu/

Skiizks' Cool Pics - Portrait Photographer of East Wenatchee
http://www.skiizkscoolpics.com/

The SoapMeister of Entiat
http://www.soapmeister.com/

Stemilt
http://www.stemilt.com/

Sun Lakes Photography Festival of Soap Lake
http://www.sunlakesphotofest.org/

Thyme Unlimited of Wenatchee
http://www.thymeunlimited.com/

Photos on King 5

I submitted the photo I posted yesterday of a Douglas County sunset to the King 5 websites pix section. They were nice enough to add it here to their Weather pix section. Thanks King 5!

Here are a few of the other photos I found of North Central Washington that have been submitted to their pix section,

• Frozen Rope in Plain by Mark Sasten


• Sleigh Ride in Leavenworth by Mark Sasten


• Lake Osoyoos after the storm by Frank Geisler


• Sunrise on Lake Chelan by Debbie Hanson


• Eastern WA Snow in Molson by Lisa Cole


• Snow Pillows on Icicle River by John Richter


• Snow in Wenatchee by Dan and Gail Phillips


• Icicle Creek by Ken Potts


• Chelan Sunset by Dan Nelson

I would also like to let everybody know that photos can be easily uploaded into the recently added photos forum. No registration is required to upload photos and photos can be up to 4MB in size and in .gif, .jpg, .png, or .bmp formats.

Coming Up in 2007

I don't have a time line or a particular order, but here are a few of things coming to the North Central Washington Portal website in the first part of 2007.

Photos from last Summer of Douglas County, including many cemeteries, the courthouse, and Saint Andrews. Photos from Grant County, including Potholes State Park, Warden, and a few other places. I also have a small collection of old panoramic black and white photos to add to the website. The photo to the left is from a sunset in Douglas County from late last summer. If I recall the photo was taken somewhere near Mold.

I also plan on adding some major improvements to all the maps. Starting with outlines for the counties and hopefully working towards outlines showing city limits.

After reading my own statistics, I fixed the website so it should be viewable in most 800x600 screen resolutions. I also have plans to have large photographs appear in a smaller format and then link to the full-size photos. This should allow 56k users to decide whether or not they want to take the time to wait for a large photo to load or not. I am also working on cleaning up the website code to improve loading time for 56k modem users as well.

The next item I plan on adding to the new services section is Google maps that users can customize to easily show a name and location for any place. The maps will appear on a stand alone page. This will allow, for example, a person hosting an event to provide a link to the map showing the location of the event.

I would also like to add the ability for people to upload photos directly to pages of any place listed throughout the Chelan, Douglas, Grant, or Okanogan directory. For now, if you have photos of anything related to North Central Washington you would like to share, you can post them in the photos forum.

These are just a few things coming soon to the website, if anyone has any suggestions or things they would like to see, you can use the contact page, post in the new forum, or leave a comment below.

Nintendo Wii

My kid asked Santa Claus for a Nintendo Wii for Christmas. If I had only known they would all be bought up by people trying to resell them on ebay, I might have suggested for him to ask for something else. I was unable to find one before Christmas, so we left a note from Santa telling him an elf dropped his Nintendo and broke it, but that he would be back as soon as he could with a new one. Thank goodness Fred Meyer in East Wenatchee had a large shipment in on December 31st. That evening we told him lots of people didn't get their presents on time this year, and everyone was going to light off fireworks that night to let Santa know to come back. He had always slept through New Years in the past, but this time we woke him up and we watched together out the window as fireworks erupted all over town. He was so excited that Santa might come back during the night that he quickly went back to bed. In the morning he found his Nintendo Wii under the Christmas Trii.

On a different note, web developers/designers should be aware that the Nintendo Wii has the ability to connect to the Internet and has a built in web browser. The built in web browser is by Opera. The Wii is designed for standard definition televisions and surfing the web can be a somewhat difficult task compared to a standard computer, but it can be done, and many are using the Wii to surf the web. I checked this website and everything seems to look normal. If you run a website, you might consider checking your website for compatibility in the Opera browser, or you might end up turning away some visitors.