I've had fun with photography for many years, and I especially enjoy macro photography. Whenever I'm on a trip, I keep my eye out for interesting subjects and textures. You should see some of the strange looks I get when I'm standing about 6 inches from a wall taking photographs of stucco, wood, or bricks. I get even stranger looks when I spend time taking photographs of the floor. Anyway, I keep a folder on my computer full of macro shots that make good desktop wallpaper. Here are four "natural" shots of leaves and flowers that I thought you might enjoy. All images have been resized to 1280 x 1024, and they're around 275KB each.

As a point of interest, the first photograph (palm leaf...oops, Ravages points out that this is most likely a Banana leaf) was taken in front of Ernest Hemingway's home in Key West, Florida. You'll notice that it's the same image I've used for the header graphic of my blog.

Let me know if you'd like me to post more of these. I have quite a few.

I had planned to post my own article about slipstreaming the recently released Service Pack 2 with your original Windows XP CD media, but it looks like Tom's Hardware beat me to it. By following the instructions in the article, you can create a single bootable CD that installs Windows XP along with Service Pack 2. If you're like me and you like to refresh and reinstall your system every six months or so, having a CD like this is very handy. Here's another article with similar instructions. And no, you're not experiencing déjà vu...I've posted on this topic before.

Response to my first set of macro images was positive, and more than a few people have asked for more. So, here are five new images at 1280 x 1024...each around 230KB in size. I've picked photos with a flower theme this time, and I hope you enjoy them.

A couple of people have asked about the camera I use to take these photos. I'm currently using a Nikon Coolpix 5700, a 5.0 megapixel camera with excellent macro support.

As always, feedback is encouraged.

Over the past four years or so, I've had MCROSFT as my personal license plate. Does that illustrate how much I love working for such an awesome company? Or does it just confirm my über-geek status? Or both? Anyway, living in Slashdot territory (Holland, Michigan), I've always wondered how long it would be before I came out of a store to find a Linux sticker on my license plate. And quite frankly, over time, I had found myself becoming more and more disappointed that someone hadn't taken the initiative to put me in my place. Well, while pulling my wife's car out of the garage this afternoon, I saw the following on the back of my car:

This must have happened last night while my wife and I were watching Garden State. Unfortunately, I hadn't noticed it until today, and in the meantime, the 3x5 card with the "X" on it must have fallen off (pretty impressive for a 20-minute drive on the highway). Regardless, my diminishing faith in Linux advocacy has been completely restored. Touché to the perpetrator(s)!

I've had other interesting reactions to my license plate:

• A Compuware van passed me one day, the driver rolled down the window, leaned out, and gave me a big thumbs-up and a smile.
• Another car passed me, the window rolled down, and a hand extended holding a big red Novell manual that the driver proceeded to shake in my general direction before speeding off. My guess is that the manual was his only handy signaling mechanism. It made me smile.
• Yet another time, I engaged my right turn signal, but before I could cross into the right lane, a Geo Tracker (that was at least two car lengths behind me) quickly sped up, passed me, then slowed down. As I merged into the right lane, I noticed a Tux sticker in the rear window. Cute.
• Quite often, when I'm at a stop light looking in my rear-view mirror, one of the people in the car behind me smiles, gestures to his or her fellow passenger, then points at the back of my car. It usually takes me a second to realize what they're pointing at...what...is my brake light out? A nasty dent? Oh yeah...the license plate. :-)

And last, what are the chances of parking right next to the person in Michigan with the LINUX license plate? Turns out that Eric Maino, who is now a Microsoft MVP, used to be a huge Linux fan, and he was attending one of our West Michigan .NET User Group meetings. Priceless.