Nice Weather, Eh?

I hope I don't jinx it, but we sure have been having some good weather since the boats came out of the water, eh? With what we experienced this past season, I still feel like we didn't have a 'real' summer at all and it's arrival is yet to come . . . That's probably another reason this year went by so fast for me.

Back to the good weather. This afternoon I was looking at a some work for a customer of mine, located right on the waters of Lake Simcoe. Since I had my camera with me anyway, I grabbed a shot of the placid water to share with you. I know that some of you don't get up this way much during the off season, so consider that shot at the top a refresher - in case you forgot what the lake looks like ;-)

Before we go ahead with any more photos, we are going to have a a little InterWeb lesson to help you with your browsing experience.

Stop groaning :-(

I probably put more time & thought into this thing than I should (at least I find it more productive and a helluva lot more satisfying than wasting my time in front of the TV) and I want to make sure you are getting the most out of it. And making sure you don't miss anything important.

So, here's a simple trick to make looking at the pretty pictures on this site a bit easier and quicker. Let me just preface myself by reiterating the fact that YOU CAN click on the photos to see them in their full glory. YES, you can - and I hope you do! What you are seeing on this page are smaller 'thumbnail' shots that can be expanded for close-in study & appreciation ;-) The only trouble is - and I have only myself to blame - is that because I have a tendency to pack tons of photos and videos with each of my posts, one would find that clicking on each photo and then returning here will quite likely slow the whole process down. That's because every time you click off this page and then return, all of the formatting and videos (which are really only links to the YouTube site) have to recombobulate themselves.

The simple workaround for this is to use your tabs. Depending on which browser (the application you are using right now to view this site) or the version you employ, you may or may not already be able to take advantage of tabs. Hey! Don't go away thinking that this is too much work. Trust me, once you start using tabs during your interweb time, you'll find it a much more friendly, easy and productive experience.

You know what they say - once you go Tab, you can never go back ;-)

First, what you want to do is figure out what browser you are using. According to my statistics, the sad reality is that 67% of you are plodding along using Internet Explorer and only 33% are enjoying Firefox.
What's the difference, Mr. Frankie? Ahh - everything! Internet Explorer is a typical Microsoft product. Big, heavy & sloooooooooow. Oh, and did I mention you are way more likely to get attacked by any number of sorts of malware using Explorer or it's counterpart email client, Outlook, than pretty much anything else available out there? For all of the above, Firefox (and it's counterpart email client, Thunderbird) is a better, faster, smoother, safer and more customizable choice. IMO.

If you are using Explorer and want to check what version you are running, just go to the top menu and click on Help/About Internet Explorer. A pop up window will open to tell you all sorts of stuff, most importantly being the version. Go ahead and check. I know that there are some amongst you that are still stuck on version 6 - which doesn't offer tabs . . . . I'll wait.

While you are checking on that, I'm gonna enjoy this photo of the four of us (Maple Leaf, Boogaboo, SunAria & Water Wings) up in Parry Sound. Who wants to go back?!?!?! Done Yet? I can hear it now - "Yes, I do have that older version? How does he know this?" Sorry, can't tell. It's a trade secret. I'd be tossed out of the Guild Of InterWeb Boating Bloggers if I divulged too many of my secrets. I've said too much already :-0

So, what you want to do is upgrade your browser to the current version. If you want to be more adventurous and choose to live life on the edge - and who doesn't - I'd highly recommend downloading and installing Firefox.

Once all that is straightened out, you are ready to enjoy the world of Tabs. I've got a couple of screen shots as an example of how you can apply Tabbed Browsing to this and every other site. When you want to visit another link, but keep the current web page open, just RIGHT CLICK the link. In this case, it's the photos on this site. For this example, we're looking at my Firefox browser and the posting for Boring Summer Holiday Stuff - Honey Harbour. As you can see, it's as simply as doing a RIGHT CLICK on the link (or photo) and clicking on 'Open Link in New Tab'; Voila! A new tab opens in your browser with the link. When you are done here, simply close the tab and the initial page is still there for your viewing and clicking pleasure. If you notice, you'll see that I also have the first tab open to AccuRadio, which I use to listen to free, streaming, commercial free music; Using this technique, you don't have to be bothered by the constant reloading of this main page every time you click on one of the photos! It's also very useful when doing a Google search, or shopping online. Or whatever you may be looking at. . . Like pretty boating pictures.

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Now that we are done with that, I can get back to working my next highly anticipated post - Canada Day Long Weekend 2009 - Part Two. I thought I'd share the fun and adventure of the Canada Day weekend before we moved on to the rest of the Summer Holiday pics. I decided to do it that way because we haven't really hit the winter crap yet outside and I figured that when we are shivering and cursing the snow and cold, what better remedy for our ills than a healthy dose of summer holiday memories? Besides, those three weeks on The Bay were absolutely the highlight of my boating season! Hmmm, I think I've already mentioned the possibility of Byng Inlet for 2010. Remember that it's only another 65 miles of fun, adventure and memories north of Parry Sound. And another 4612 more rocks to avoid and 394 buoys to locate :-) HOO-HA!