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Randsco Worldwide Visitors: Count, Country, Time & What they're reading
There are 18 visitors. Click to see their country & what they're reading.Latest Tweet by Randsco
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Randsco Site Map
Site MapAgain, this is something that I've been wanting to do for some time and I believe that a site map is necessary to help those people out that have a hard time figuring out what is what on our site. I'd like to think that our menu system is easy and will work, but some people just require a site map to figure it out. So ... here you go ... a site map. (It currently sucks, which is why it's shown as display:none!)
About the Kimlers
about usThis is where visitors can find out about Randsco and the Kimler family. Who are we? How did we come to be? What motivates us on our adventures. It's kinda like the old "meet scott and rachel" section on our PCT WebPage, but this "about us" section will be a stand-alone page.
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Thank You
FEATURED DONOR: The "Red Dirt Emporium", located in the historic "Bricktown District" of Oklahoma City, made a donation toward - and is using - Photo-caption Zoom Version 3. The Red Dirt Emporium was founded in 2007 and has a goal of introducing visitors and locals to the best that Oklahoma has to offer. They specialize in Oklahoma resources, art, music and other items that celebrate Oklahoma
Since they are largely responsible for the "Thank You" section of our sidebar and this "Shout Outs" blog, it's fitting that one of the first shouts should go to Oklahoma's Red Dirt Emporium.
What's the story?
Simple.
The Red Dirt Emporium was one of the few companies (or people) that made an unsolicited donation for their commercial usage of the Photo-caption Zoom v3 technique.
Not only was their contribution unsolicited, but they didn't require any support to get it deployed.
One day, a donation email arrived and I thought, "Wow. Cool. I really should find a way to say 'Thank You' to them (and others who've helped Randsco) ... I know I've been meaning to ... I just need to DO IT!"
So, I made this section and (slowly) have begun populating it with some of the many people and companies that have - in some way - supported or helped Randsco. It's provides a formal way of saying "Thanks" and helps to promote their website (in a Search-Engine-friendly kind of way).
To learn how Oklahoma's Red Dirt Emporium is using Photo-caption Zoom and about some of their unique products, carry on ...
Kimler Adventure Pages: Journal Entries
Photoshopped Rachel
In 2008, I entered a photo contest at Alberni Outpost, a Vancouver Island outdoor store. We didn't win, but I recently noticed the photo was used as the background for the new Alberni Outpost web site design. Have a look at the new Alberni Outpost design. Amazing!
Rachel's Photo Backdrop for Local (Alberni Outpost) Website
We are were considering purchasing a used tandem kayak from Alberni Outpost, a Vancouver Island Outdoor Adventure Store, with stores in Port Alberni, Nanaimo, Courtney & Nanoose. The fibreglass kayak has been in the Alberni Outpost rental fleet for some number of years and yesterday, we took it on a "test paddle" around Newcastle Island and to Protection Island (where we had dinner at the Dinghy Dock Pub). It was an excellent afternoon and will be the focus of an upcoming article.
In doing research for the article, I made a surprising discovery. A photo we submitted the Alberni Outpost in 2008, for a photo contest, is currently the background image for every page of the Alberni Outpost website!!
The photo I submitted to their photo contest can be seen in our Bowron Lakes Slide Show. It's also on the Alberni Outpost Photo Contest page (2008) on the Alberni Outpost website (their site depends on JavaScript, so there isn't a direct link to the picture. Just click on "2008 Photos" at the Alberni Outpost photo contest and you'll see it.)
Despite the fact that the photo didn't win, Alberni Outpost chose it - over all the other photos submitted over the years and over all past winning submissions - as the backdrop for the new Alberni Outpost web site design.
We suspect the photo didn't win because it was a canoeing picture and not a kayaking picture. No worries! Just a Photoshop nip here and Photoshop tuck there and suddenly, Rachel is paddling a kayak instead of a canoe! Amazing what can be accomplished with digital photos, eh?
So, do you think the owner of Alberni Outpost, Richard Antonchuk, will give us a discount on the used kayak as consideration for using our photo in the new Alberni Outpost web design? 
(NOPE and neither a "thanks", nor a mention on the Alberni Outpost web site ... nor any consideration. VERY disappointing). 
About the Photo
The picture shows Rachel paddling in the early morning light on the East arm of Lake Isaac, the big lake on the Bowron Lakes Canoe Circuit.
I overlayed the photos in Photoshop, cropping them to their intersection. I also brightened the Alberni Outpost photo, to provide greater visual detail. (The actual background photo on the Alberni Outpost site is much darker.)
The presentational "image hover-overlay" technique was invented by me, utilizing cross-browser CSS opacity techniques (valid CSS Level 3 code) and is detailed in a 2008 article entitled, "Playing with Opacity" (includes cut'n-paste CSS & HTML code).
See the photo on the Alberni Outpost Website.
Notification on the usage would have been nice (they have our email and phone number). Proper photo credit would be nicer. Consideration (store credit or discount) would have been ideal - and help foster customer loyalty, eh?
Gee ... and they say local businesses are best! HA! While it's not a huge deal, we still say, "shame on Alberni Outpost" (and it has affected what we think of their store and our purchasing patterns).