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This is a blog

2011-10-28T00:32:00.003-04:00

Before Facebook it was how we wrote things that nobody cared about reading and shouted look at me, me, me!

Yuck, yuck. Funny thing is, I still follow more blogs via Google Reader than I do people on Facebook. And I pay more attention to them than I do Twitter. And while I love the effort, Google+ is just kind a playground for the more nerdy types to create longer posts than they can on Twitter.

Now get off my porch. I have to watch my programs, then read my newspaper. ;-)

Better than tech

2011-04-07T21:18:00.002-04:00

Despite being a so-called nerd or geek, there are some things I still prefer the old fashioned way. Sometimes I have to force myself to admit that just because something can be automated doesn't mean it should be. Sometimes it makes me want to become a Luddite. Some examples, in various degrees of severity:

Paper books - ebooks are great for traveling, and for saving space, but have no charm. There's no tactile enjoyment and I get sore thumbs from every model I've tried to use for any length of time. Nothing can replace the texture, feel, user-friendliness, or even the smell of a good book. Bookstores and libraries continue to be wonderful places to hang around and browse. As a comparison, browsing the Kindle store is an imitation that brings to mind the Allegory of the Cave.

Cash - I am a die-hard debit card user who rarely has any cash, but.... it is good that there is still a form of currency that is not readily traceable, and it does discourage overspending. When it's gone, your done, rather than hoping the purchase will float long enough that an overdraft charge won't kick in.

Cashiers - win hands down over automatic check out.
It: "Please place the item in the bag!"
Me: "Don't shout at me you stupid machine, it's in the f*****g bag!"
It: "Item did not scan!"
Me: I've dragged it every possible way over the scanner, you stupid f*****g piece of s**t!" You get the message.
This usually continues until the nice person monitoring the six stations comes over to offer to check me out the old fashioned way.

Paper ballots - the more I learn about them, and the longer I work in a large corporation, the more the very idea terrifies me.

CDs and DVDs - here, I don't have as much invested in the physical product. The cover art is nice, but if I want to see that it is available online. I love the flexibility of digital media: variable playlists, not having to swap CDs in the car after only a dozen tunes, and best of all, not having to buy twelve songs when I'll only like one or two at the most. Streaming movies is nice, too. I don't even have to drag my butt off the couch and stand in front of the DVD shelf trying to decide what to watch, and then waiting impatiently for the Blu-Ray player to think about opening, swallowing the disc, then regurgitating several minutes of pre-movie ads, previews, dire warnings against copyright violations and promos about the wonders of Blu-Ray!

What do you think? What did I leave out? What do you vehemently disagree with?

Libertarian without the crazy stuff

2011-03-01T18:23:00.004-05:00

I like that description. I stole it from a Scott Adams Dilbert Blog post. He said:

"I should disclose my own biases on this topic. I have described my philosophy as "Libertarian, but without the crazy stuff." Libertarians are for personal freedom, small government, and a defensive-sized military."

He has a qualifying example that explains the "crazy stuff" that libertarians (with a big L) might not have a problem with:

"That sounds good to me. But I think a better objective is something along the lines of maximizing the public's long term happiness. So while a libertarian might favor allowing his suburban neighbor to operate a bazooka firing range in his back yard, I'd be against that, even if it required a slightly larger government to prevent it. "

And this next part is spot on!

"Furthermore, I believe that if you identify with any political group or philosophy that has a name, you are far more susceptible to confirmation bias* than someone who doesn't. And as a general rule, I don't trust anyone with a strong opinion on a complicated topic."

* Google that one - it's something we all do to some extent. Guilty as charged, I'm sure.

Another Friend Gone Too Soon

2011-02-10T01:22:00.004-05:00

You never know when a visit with a friend is going to be the last. Years of lunch-time escapes and afternoon walks around the office seem to be a mere moment now. Glad we had a few more lunches and trips the the computer and hobby shop in the last couple of years.

Auf Wiedersehen, Mike!

Tales From My Mispent Youth (in no particular order) Part 1: Crime and Candy

2011-01-21T12:34:00.006-05:00

Many of my youthful adventurers involved the U-Totem store a few blocks up Federal Blvd from our house. From trips with my siblings to buy candy bars during the glorious pre-school days to stops on the way home from Sheridan Middle School. I remember them costing 5 cents for about a day * (I'm that old! Really. You'd never guess, though.), then 10 cents for some time before inflation really got rolling and entered my vocabulary. 15 cents hung in there for awhile, before 20 cents made it's oh-so-brief appearance before the unheard of 25 cents. One quarter of a dollar for a bar of candy! Insane! There's no sense in going any further with that – we all know how that turned out.

As for those siblings of mine, they were along for the accidental beginning of my youthful life of crime and candy. The four of us (Patty – oldest sister, Sharrie – next oldest, Randy – older brother, and me) trekked up to the U-Totem for a group candy foraging expedition. It was quite an adventure for a five year old, walking along a busy suburban thoroughfare, clutching my sisters hands for safety, as my brother would likely have had far more important things on his mind. This was, to my knowledge, the first time I'd ever been this far from home without parents along to ruin the fun. Things went fine getting to the store, and I remember clutching my dime and perusing the candy isle, blissfully examining everything for maximum enjoyment value. Having made my selection, I joined my brother and sisters at the counter, as they were no doubt ready five minutes before me.

Now, I was a shy kid, and spent a lot of my youth looking at the floor in the presence of strangers. The tall, gangly teenager working the impossibly high counter would have been high on the intimidation scale. Also, I had the attention span of a gnat. I was a daydreamer. I was already lost in the revelry of imagining the rapture of unwrapping and devouring my candy. All I remember is the hustle and bustle of the transaction, as we all moved as one, out the door, kitty-corner across the parking lot of the Husky gas station next door. It was about then that I noticed that in one grimy paw I was clutching my candy bar, and the other fist was still holding my dime! Oh, the horror! I was now a criminal. A wanted felon at the tender age of five! Thankfully, my older siblings, wiser in the way of the world, calmed me down, and took me back in to explain my accidental theft and clear the matter up.

Ha! They immediately began taunting me, telling me I was going to go to jail. My wailing, bawling and pleas for them to take me back to make immediate restitution did no good. They teased me all the way home. It was the worst candy bar I've ever eaten. I probably spent the next two weeks fearing every ring of the phone or the doorbell, expecting the police to be catching up with me at any moment.

* See The Hershey Bar Index (http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodfaq5.html#candybar) for some historical data. Hereshey's is a good index, and most candy bars cost the same amount.

Bob Thompson on voting

2010-12-20T11:09:00.003-05:00

Yeah, this is a tad bit old, referencing the election and all. I'm not posting this because I concur 100% with each criticism, but it's darn good food for thought:

"The election approaches, and like all voters I'm faced with an even worse choice than usual. On the one hand, I'm certainly not going to vote for any Democrats, who are determined to destroy what shreds remain of our republic. That leaves the Libertarians, who have no chance of being elected, or the Republicans, who oppose nearly everything I stand for. If I vote Tea Party, at least I'm voting in favor of smaller government, but the flip side of that is that most Tea Party candidates are religious nutter know-nothings who'd love to destroy science and see the US become a Christian theocracy. I suppose I'll vote Libertarian, which at least has the advantage of being a principled choice."

Robert Bruce Thompson (http://www.ttgnet.com/daynotes/2010/2010-44.html)

Things Overheard

2010-12-01T19:49:00.003-05:00

A guy at the doctor's office lost his medical insurance a year and a half ago.

A guy at the library on his cell phone trying to work out some kind of loan modification.

A guy in the YMCA locker room who's buying a house on a short-sale. He put in the offer in July, and said there's about six banks involved, and that he forgot what the place looks like.

The recession may have been declared over, but there's sure a long way between the last bust and the next boom.

Needle Me

2010-11-30T22:29:00.003-05:00

After ten years with diabetes, I had to start taking insulin. I can't begin to tell you how I loathed and feared this day. And you know what? I was a big whiny cry-baby for nothing.

It didn't hurt at all. The needle is tiny. I didn't even feel it. I have a worse time with mosquito bites!

The technology has come a long way. The insulin comes in preloaded pens and you just dial up the dose.

For ten years, I've been managing (or mismanaging) my glucose level with pills. As the body gets used to it, they start working less and you up the dose. Then you add another kind of pill. And another. I was taking seven pills per day of three types of meds.

What I'm using now is called basal insulin. It's a synthetic, and slow acting, so the idea is you only have to use it once per day.

So, the goal is to get my sh*t together so I don't have to add the quick acting insulin and shoot-up every meal time or however often is necessary. I want to reduce/eliminate as much of the meds as I can. The insulin is easier on the body because it just replaces what is missing. The pills either force the pancreas to work harder or try to get the muscles to absorb the glucose better.

I can still have the goal to get in super good shape and change my diet to the point where I don't need any of this stuff. Here's hoping. Now, it's off to the gym....

File under....

2010-10-06T17:51:00.002-04:00

I took the week off, and intended to get tons of stuff done outside the house. It's rained every day. Somehow, while doing indoor chores, I started purging files. At least half of what was in my filing cabinet was junk. I've overfilled the recycle bin. I've been brutally purging any marketing materials, glossy ads and such that are mixed in with product manuals, receipts, etc. Also, if I have, or can find, a PDF copy of a product manual, I'm ditching the paper copy in most cases. If you have time to waste, a lot of manuals can be found online, especially for computer stuff and major appliances.

Also with most info - if it can be easily found elsewhere (usually means online nowadays) I'm not keeping it - e.g. bank and credit card privacy statements, brochures, etc.

At work, I'm now 99% paper free. I almost never print anything or get a fax or physical mail from work. At home, I still have that inner pack-rat that finds it hard to ditch a product manual or something (be strong! :).

Strange as it may seem, even though the physical file cabinet is just the same size as when I started, just knowing how much crap I took out of it takes a load off my mind.

Now I have a few questions for you:

On the whole digital vs paper thing? Opinions please. Or, do you just fling every paper into a box, pile, drawer, etc. and go about your life unconcerned? :-]

Alphabetical filing, or just randomly sorted categories? Or a combination - explain yourself! ha ha

#%!#@%!!!!! legal sized files. Mortgage companies and lawyers, I'm looking at you! Do you waste most of a drawer by using legal size folders to hold just your mortgage (and 7 refinances... :)? Or put them in a file box? Or do you simply fold them over so they fit a standard folder? Or in a pile under the desk for the last 10 years?

Kids & Dinosaurs

2010-09-27T11:49:00.004-04:00

Two amusing takes on knowledge of dinosaurs -

Calvin & Hobbes: Calvin schools his parents

Dinosaur Knowledge VS Age at GraphJam

And one that's not funny at all.

Note:
I was just adding the first two links, then thought about adding "Should I add grown ups who think dinosaurs and humans existed side-by-side within the last 6,000 years until the dinosaurs drowned in the great flood?" But then I thought of the Creationist Museum and figured they'd have to have something graphical that I could use. They didn't fail me with this editorial cartoon that shows less understanding of both science and theology than little Calvin.

When this ends up on FB, apologies in advance to friends and family with fundamentalist leanings. You're welcome to pray for me all you want, but not to preach at me! ;-)

$5.97 Stupid Tax

2010-09-05T22:11:00.003-04:00

Absent-mindedness sucks.

Today I bought a few things at Home Depot, including a small plastic storage tub to hold some of my excess audio/video cables (and this after the great cable purges #1 and #2 of the last 2 years.). Anyway, I put it on the bottom rack of the cart, where it remained after I loaded up the car and drove home. This would be funny enough, except....

I did the same stupid thing about a month ago, only that time it was at a Home Depot 30 miles away. Neither item was all that expensive, but it bugs the crap out of me that I do stuff like that. I've lost track of how many times I've locked myself out of my car or house, never mind leaving the lights on and killing the battery. So, back to the Home Depot saga.

The first time, I called the store, and they put me in touch with "someone with a phone" who could go check the cart return and see if the item was still there. He said he was stuck at the register and would check with returns and call me back. Yeah, right. It bugged me so much I drove back up there, even though it wasn't worth the gas it took. At least I got to take a nice drive and enjoy the scenery. When I got there, the cart was right where I left it, along with my stuff. Happy ending. Lesson learned? Well, you know how that worked.

This time, I went right back over to the Home Depot, which is a pain in the ass drive since we live in the sticks, and Saratoga Springs sucks to drive through at any time, never mind horse racing season and a holiday weekend. No luck with the cart this time. I figured I'd check with Customer Service, just in case. Naturally, nobody turned in my $5.00 plastic tub. I refused to buy another one (illogical, I know, but I'll put those damn cables in a cardboard box now just to spite myself) but I did buy something else (no need to thank me Home Depot). On my way to the exit, I see that exact same type of tub sitting in the returns cart by the door. I asked the cashier about it, and she took it and conspired with another cashier, then came back and told me it was one someone had picked up and didn't buy. I'm 100% sure they thought I was trying to pull some kind of scam.

If that one wasn't mine, I hope someone enjoys their free storage tub!

Mini-me web

2010-08-20T15:30:00.003-04:00

This is strictly for the programmer/nerd/geek crowd. Normal people, you have been warned! ;-]

I love simple apps. Tiny, focused apps without masses of features that never get used or understood. That goes for desktop apps or web apps, but I'm mostly focused on web apps right now. Things like Ta-Da Lists from 37 Signals. In fact, I love their design philosophies, and recommend their book Getting Real (available in electronic or paper, and free online).

But, this post isn't about 37 Signals. It's about apps that are so small they consist of one binary and a few helper dlls, no registry entries if using MS Windows. So simple, in fact that on a sleepless night one can get up at 2:00 AM, poke around on the web, and install a web server, server-side scripting, and a database server, and have it all take up about 8 MB on disk and 1MB in memory when running (granted, that's without any real web app running, just a couple basic static pages). The cool thing about these apps is that they can be embedded in other apps, or serve as stand-alone, simple web apps for demos, etc. In fact, I searched my system to see if I currently had SQLite, as I've used it in the past, and discovered it was in use by Mozilla, Apple, Adobe, Boxee and maybe more apps on my PC.

Without further ado, let me present the players and their own descriptions from their respective web sites.

Mongoose - "Mongoose is an easy to use web server. It can be embedded into existing application to provide a web interface to it. Mongoose web server executable is self-sufficient, it does not depend on anything to start serving requests. .... This makes Mongoose perfect for all sorts of demos, quick tests, file sharing, and Web programming. "

SQLite - "SQLite is a software library that implements a self-contained, serverless, zero-configuration, transactional SQL database engine. SQLite is the most widely deployed SQL database engine in the world. The source code for SQLite is in the public domain."

PHP - "PHP is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML."

Note: although I included PHP here, the mongoose install doesn't use the full PHP installation, just the .exe and some .dlls (depends on what features you want to add). The setup and config is all manual, but it was simple enough that even in my sleep-deprived state I got it right the first time.

Now, to make a tiny web app to run on this setup.

My Life

2010-07-29T17:24:00.000-04:00

“For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. ” ~Alfred D. Souza

69 Day Declutter Challenge?

2010-05-20T09:47:00.003-04:00

Well, my efforts are all but dead on my 365 Day Declutter Challenge. But, fear not! It may have failed, but in a good way. I'm 69 things lighter that I didn't need anyway.

I had stalled in my momentum, but I kept telling myself I'd purge a bunch of stuff when we move (yes, again.... just locally this time! More on that later.) and I will do that.

Anyway, you know what they say about failure. You don't? Well, look here. Or here. ;-)

Trick Questions

2010-04-05T08:00:00.002-04:00

See http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/03/31/18010/ for the entire post. I just picked out a couple of the questions for effect. The entire list is worth reading. Bold and italic emphasis below are mine.

From the article:

"I don’t know about you, but I’m weary of the vague statements that characterise many of the discussions about climate change. These range from the subtle to the ridiculous. An example would be “I believe in climate change”. Given that the climate has been changing since there has been climate, what does that mean?"

Question 5. Are humans responsible for global warming?

This is another trick question that often shows up on polls. The question suffers from two problems. First is the lack of a time period discussed above. The second is the question of the amount of responsibility. Generally, the period under discussion is the post-1900 warming. So let me rephrase the question as “Are humans responsible for some part of the late 20th century warming?”

To this question I would say “Yes”. Again, there is widespread scientific agreement on that simplistic question, but as usual, the devil is in the details discussed in Question 4. (end quote)

Question 8. Does the evidence from the climate models show that humans are responsible for changes in the climate?

This is another trick question. Climate models do not produce evidence. Evidence is observable and measurable data about the real world. Climate model results are nothing more than the beliefs and prejudices of the programmers made tangible. While the results of climate models can be interesting and informative, they are not evidence.

I'm 4 years into obsolecence and I didn't even know it!

2010-03-31T22:06:00.003-04:00

I have a long post simmering about the nature of work, education, working with your hands VS pounding on a keyboard. It just isn't fully cooked yet.

In the meantime, here's a tidbit from Bob Cringley's site that makes me feel old before my time. Who says 50 is the new 40? 50 may be the new unemployable. At least in tech. And from what I've seen in the tech world, this is not an exaggeration.

And don't forget - outsourcing is good for America. Yup. Sure.

In my current job I help with outsourcings. Every once in a while I get to see a spreadsheet of a customer’s IT department. Age discrimination — you better believe there is discrimination. In corporate America there is most definitely a program to get rid of their technical talent when they hit their 40’s. Look at any company’s hiring statistics — they will hire folks from age 21-35. Over 45 the hiring rate is zero. In this country companies are required to provide equal employment opportunities on race and gender. They make sure they hire according to the population demographics. Age is a different thing. If the average age of the USA population is increasing, why isn’t the average age of new employment increasing? When you hit 50, why is it next to impossible to get a good job?

Ice Cream Adventures

2010-03-16T00:35:00.002-04:00

Went to McDonalds for Shamrock Shake. All out.

Drove to next McD's, 5 miles away (we're in the sticks). All out.

Scratch that.

Later, decided to go to our nearest Stewart's for ice cream cone and chocolate shake - they're busy defrosting the ice cream freezer! Luckily, they sell quarts and pints, and cones, so it was DIY cone and shakes tonight.

Of course, there's a Stewart's on virtually every corner of upstate NY. Even more prevalent than Dunken Donuts in MA. Really. I swear.

Done with Dish Network

2010-03-08T22:18:00.005-05:00

We are about to lose all of our programming for the 3rd time, do to the latest crop of problems with the unbelievably unreliable Dish DVR VIP 722 tuner. More on that later....

When I went on their site to send them an email about this issue, I get this when I submit the form. Note to Dish developers. Turn off full error logging on your production web application servers, and learn how to write non-browser-specific code!:

Update - just want to make it clear that everything below is stuff Dish Network's server returned when I tried to submit the form. They should have production web servers configured so that they return a friendly message like "The site is experiencing technical difficulties. Please try again later or call...." Stuff like this just makes them look bad and gives out information about their systems that only of use to their own programmers or hackers.

Server Error in '/' Application.

Validation of viewstate MAC failed. If this application is hosted by a Web Farm or cluster, ensure that configuration specifies the same validationKey and validation algorithm. AutoGenerate cannot be used in a cluster.

Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.Web.HttpException: Validation of viewstate MAC failed. If this application is hosted by a Web Farm or cluster, ensure that configuration specifies the same validationKey and validation algorithm. AutoGenerate cannot be used in a cluster.

Source Error:

 The source code that generated this unhandled exception can only be shown when compiled in debug mode. To enable this, please follow one of the below steps, then request the URL:

1. Add a "Debug=true" directive at the top of the file that generated the error. Example:

<%@ Page Language="C#" Debug="true" %>

or:

2) Add the following section to the configuration file of your application:



    



Note that this second technique will cause all files within a given application to be compiled in debug mode. The first technique will cause only that particular file to be compiled in debug mode.

Important: Running applications in debug mode does incur a memory/performance overhead. You should make sure that an application has debugging disabled before deploying into production scenario.

Stack Trace:

[HttpException (0x80004005): Unable to validate data.]
System.Web.Configuration.MachineKeySection.GetDecodedData(Byte[] buf, Byte[] modifier, Int32 start, Int32 length, Int32& dataLength) +289
System.Web.UI.ObjectStateFormatter.Deserialize(String inputString) +140

[ViewStateException: Invalid viewstate.
Client IP: 72.228.13.65
Port: 17491
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.8) Gecko/20100202 Firefox/3.5.8
ViewState: /wEPDwUJMzc0ODIwNzEyZBgBBR5fX0NvbnRyb2xzUmVxdWlyZVBvc3RCYWNrS2V5X18WAgUIYnRuQ2xlYXIFCWJ0blN1Ym1pdMh7YQeUdO/1MdevcDplchWyoGJi
Referer: http://www.dishnetwork.com/customerService/contactus/email/default.aspx
Path: /customerService/contactus/email/default.aspx]

[HttpException (0x80004005): Validation of viewstate MAC failed. If this application is hosted by a Web Farm or cluster, ensure that  configuration specifies the same validationKey and validation algorithm. AutoGenerate cannot be used in a cluster.]
System.Web.UI.ViewStateException.ThrowError(Exception inner, String persistedState, String errorPageMessage, Boolean macValidationError) +106
System.Web.UI.ViewStateException.ThrowMacValidationError(Exception inner, String persistedState) +14
System.Web.UI.ObjectStateFormatter.Deserialize(String inputString) +242
System.Web.UI.ObjectStateFormatter.System.Web.UI.IStateFormatter.Deserialize(String serializedState) +4
System.Web.UI.Util.DeserializeWithAssert(IStateFormatter formatter, String serializedState) +37
System.Web.UI.HiddenFieldPageStatePersister.Load() +207
System.Web.UI.Page.LoadPageStateFromPersistenceMedium() +105
System.Web.UI.Page.LoadAllState() +43
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +6785
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +242
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest() +80
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestWithNoAssert(HttpContext context) +21
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context) +49
ASP.customerservice_contactus_email_default_aspx.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context) +4
System.Web.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() +181
System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +75

Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:2.0.50727.3603; ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.3053

Blogging About Blogs

2010-03-08T18:02:00.003-05:00

Time for another addition of Blogging About Blogs.

From Why Grow? And Other Wisdom from 37Signals, a review of the up and coming book Rework, on Tim Ferris' blog.

It's a good article that touches on one of my pet peeves from surviving the boom times of the 90s in IT - the idea that all companies have to continually grow to be successful. There's a right-size for any business. Beyond that, disaster awaits.

My Cliff's Notes/Reader's Digest/condensed milk/espresso summation of the article about the book:

What’s wrong with finding the right size and staying there?
Small is not just a stepping-stone. Small is a great destination in itself.
Have you ever noticed that while small businesses wish they were bigger, big businesses dream about being more agile and flexible?
The easiest, most straightforward way to create a great product or service is to make something you want to use.
You can buy the same guitar, effects pedals, and amplifier that Eddie Van Halen uses. But when you play that rig, it’s still going to sound like you. Likewise, Eddie could plug into a crappy Strat/Pignose setup at a pawn shop, and you’d still be able to recognize that it’s Eddie Van Halen playing.
Many amateur golfers think they need expensive clubs. But it’s the swing that matters, not the club. Give Tiger Woods a set of cheap clubs and he’ll still destroy you. (note: no Tiger Woods jokes inserted - ok, that really was an accident. ~ DMR)
Use whatever you’ve got already or can afford cheaply. Then go. It’s not the gear that matters. It’s playing what you’ve got as well as you can.

Productivity Procrastination

2010-03-01T16:59:00.000-05:00

I was reading this article: How Software Engineers and Designers Can Increase Their Focus and I loved this:

"... Playing around with productivity apps is just another way to procrastinate. You become more productive by getting into the habit of doing actual work regularly, not by constantly thinking about how you can get more work done."

That's a tip I could really take to heart. I've failed at almost every attempt to use any kind of organizer. Remember non-digital organizers? Actual physical binders with note pads and calendar pages? Now I've been trying to coordinate my iPhone calendar/Google calendar, Ta Da lists, Toodledo... you get the idea.

Then I saw this next tidbit. I'm sure it's true. 100%. Very useful advice. Yup. That would be great.

"There’s a really simple tip almost everybody can use to increase productivity tremendously. Not only is the tip free, it might even make you a bit of money. *And* it’ll make you smarter. It’s really easy, there’s only one step involved: Sell your TVs."

If only I had the willpower!

365 Day Declutter Challenge update

2010-02-15T23:52:00.007-05:00

Plodding along. Sometimes I'll forget for a couple days, but I make up for it. Other times I cheat and count something that was previously purged en masse (see ** below), so I don't have to go searching (running out of things just in my office!).

I'm doing another challenge - exercise related. I'll save that one for a bit, 'cause it's going to take a while, and if I should wimp out, I'll simply never mention it again. :~]

Details:

013: Drawer divider/insert/office supply tray thingy
014: Book: "Working for the Man"
015: 2 Miniature pens - green and pink ink!
016: Coffee mug - green bar computer paper design with humorous computer idioms
017: Lake Tahoe playing cards - never used
018: Extra zippered nylon case for glucose meter
019: Book: "What Are You Optimistic About"
020: This Old House magazine (painting tips - never consulted; 2 houses painted.)
021: Sticky Pad - iPod dash holder. Never held an iPod to the dash.
022: Battery Rack - never hung it anywhere, and have a larger one.
023: Several file folders **

Schmap liked my snap

2010-02-12T22:41:00.003-05:00

Schmap.com used my picture from our last trip to Boston. Well, that was my 15 seconds of fame.

A Tiny Tale I Have To Tell

2010-02-06T20:55:00.003-05:00

I once heard tell of an interesting place; a large, glimmering lake in the midst of a vast forest. It was always known, by those who knew of it, as The Lake in the Wood. And on that lake was an island so wooded it was known as the Wood in the Lake. Rarely had anyone rowed the lake and entered those woods. But, as the story goes, some few had made the journey there and back and reported that in that wood on the lake in the lake in the wood, was a lake....

Challenging that which possesses me

2010-02-03T23:43:00.011-05:00

Stuff. Things. Clutter. Junk. Treasures. Call it what we will, it owns us as much as we own it. In my decade long quest to lighten my load, I go on frequent dejunking binges that are very satisfying, but often quite a chore. And usually come after hauling all my accumulated crap halfway across the country.

I seriously considered the 100 thing challenge, where you pare all your worldly goods down to 100 in number, but wasn't quite ready for that (do 100 tools count as 1 thing?). Of course I could make it the 500 things, or 1000 things. Someday I may do this, but for now, I've settled on the 365 Days of Decluttering Challenge - get rid of one thing per day for 365 days.

This seemed like a much easier method, and the challenge of it provides motivation and helps overcome the daunting challenge of getting started that often occurs when facing a mountain (or closet) of stuff.

As I pondered it, I considered dropping it down to maybe a 3 month challenge, or 1 month. But, I figured what the heck, I may as well make it a serious challenge. I can always get lame as time goes on and ditch a pencil or something, an old magazine, or a few rusty screws from the tool shed and count that for a day.

The title of this blog may just be more than a whim after all.

Here's my take:

One and thing are loosely defined. I may make it more than one if they're related items. For sentimental things, I'll follow a tip I've seen in many a book or blog on dejunking and take a picture of the thing and keep that. I'm keeping a box to put small things in. I'll take it to thrift store as it's filled - of course there's the danger of things escaping the box (see day 1 below). I've managed to take the box in to Goodwill once, so far.

Progress so far:

001: Blue bottle from bookshelf (Knick-Knack).
NOTE: Day 1 failed - I "rescued" bottle. Declaring amnesty since I purged more than one thing on other days.
002: Propeller Beanie hat (broken propeller) with "Only my computer understands me" pin
003: 50% of my phone cable and adapter stockpile (missed this in my cable purge).
004: 2 decorative cans filled with knick-knacks I used to keep at my office
005: Excess office supplies (thrift store), tossed several non-working pens
006: Remainder of computer books - never use them in age of Google
007: Rolodex
008: Extra pair of headphones
009: 3 boxes CD sleeves
010: EDS mug. R.I.P. EDS.
011: Home Organization book - ironically, it was just clutter!

The Great Purge of 2010

2010-01-18T15:10:00.010-05:00

Target 1: Cables, Part 2 (things that survived the last purge and got dragged across the country again).

Obsolete IO cables, excess power cords (don't even have 1 desktop PC in the house anymore), various odd adapters. Several PS/2 mice and keyboards. And one serial mouse (ancient history, kids)!

Patch cables - very handy, but do I need dozens of them in all lengths? Reduced by at least 50%.

A/V - tons of RCA and S-Video. Still have some component and digital audio cables, but not sure I'll need them again.

Jewel cases - all the used/cracked/scratched ones (have several from music CDs - I don't keep them in jewel cases anymore). I still have enough to last my entire life, especially as CDs and DVDs are now moving aside for mp3 players, USB flash drives, LAN drives and such.

The CDs, floppies and jewel cases are going to Green Disk. The cables I'm getting rid of will be sold for their copper content to a local scrap metal dealer (might offset the cost of the Green Disk deal, which I paid for myself).

My New Philosophy:
PC: if it has ps/2 ports or a floppy drive, I'm not fixing it.
AV: if it doesn't have HDMI connectors, I'm not using it (ok, except the Wii, which I haven't used since the week after Christmas).

Target 2: Data.

I had several CDs with backups on them. I copied them to my laptop, then over to my LAN drive. Then I ran a program that detects duplicate files (even if named differently). OK, that's not quite true - it's still running, and has been for hours. Not a fast process on 100s of GB of files. The one I'm using is called Fast Duplicate File Finder. Fast is definitely a relative term here. UPDATE: it's the delete that's taking forever, because I had allowed it to delete to the recycle bin, and it's going across USB (should have seen how slow it was over the LAN!).

I have to do another scan on my photo and music directories, because they're an awful mess. FDFF has a special menu for both photos and music. I've never used this one before. I think in the past I've used DIF with good success on images.

I'm thinking of using Carbonite to backup my PC once I'm done sorting through all this stuff.

But first, a nap.

I Owe, You Owe, They Owe, We Owe

2009-12-29T14:52:00.007-05:00

I.O.U.S.A: The Movie

State of the Union's Finances - A Citizen's Guide

OK, the party's over, time to get serious. Well, maybe not the New Year festivities, so if you must, go have fun, then come back. You must take a measly 30 minutes to watch this. It's non-partisan (meaning it will make Democrats and Republicans squirm at points). It's imperative to understand how this issue of our federal government budget in order to put everything from health care to military and defense spending in perspective.

Where will the money come from?

There's more good info to be had in the report (I have no affiliate with Peter G. Peterson's foundation, I just liked the way the information is presented).

Current debt + unfunded promises$483,000 for each U.S. household for ($184,000 per person, or $435,000 per full-time worker).
By 2028, the current level of US Govt income will not even cover interest, Social Security Medicare and Medicate. The rest will have to be borrowed.
Currently, ALL Social Security surplus is diverted to cover other budget shortfalls
US rate of savings over last 10 years = 2%. Foreign investors own 49% of US public debt. i.e. - Americans are broke, so we borrow from foreigners.
Our AAA credit rating is beginning to tarnish and the value of the US Dollar is declining

Don't worry. We'll just keep outsourcing all the good paying jobs, importing everything we need, and borrow all the money we need to defend our country and maintain our government.

Now that I've depressed everyone, what do we do? I don't have the answers. If I do, I don't have any ability to implement them. Write my congressman? Probably responsible for a good part of this mess. I wrote this blog post. Does that count?

Happy, happy, joy, joy!

2009-12-08T14:00:00.001-05:00

They say laughing is good for you. I think it releases good endorphins or something. I highly recommend watching or listening to something funny as often as possible. If you don't have much time for sitting in front of Comedy Central on the TV, or the time (or money!) to go to a stand-up act, try this. The worst thing that could happen is I'll feel better by laughing at you! ;-)

Automotive Happiness Therapy:
While it's not necessary to do this in the car, we all have time alone while driving now and then, and it's an alternative to cursing at other drivers.

Tip: don't do this driving down your own street, or in a crowded parking lot, or you might develop a strange reputation or frighten small children (or parents of small children).

Step 1 - Smile Therapy: When you're driving down the road and all snug in your automotive cocoon, smile as big as you can and hold that dopey grin for as long as you possibly can. For some of us, this is such a rare expression that it might hurt a little. (Good excercise for the face muscles, too!).

Step 2 - Laughter Therapy: Laugh. I mean let it out. It has to be a good belly-laugh. Laugh until it hurts and you have tears flowing down your face. Laugh until you laugh at yourself laughing. If you glance at yourself in the mirror, then you'll laugh some more about how stupid you look.

You'll feel much better. Trust me. PayPal is accepted for my consulting fee.

Oh, and could you please drive by my house while doing this? I have my camera ready.

99% of job interviews are a waste of time

2009-11-29T05:49:00.002-05:00

Especially those for programming jobs. This guy is awesome!

http://www.pop.is/n5e

~
DMR

Climategate?

2009-11-23T23:29:00.006-05:00

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100017393/climategate-the-final-nail-in-the-coffin-of-anthropogenic-global-warming/

I don't know if I'm spreading manure or exposing the truth. I do suspect there is a fair amount (huge) of politicking, money grubbing, and power mongering involved around this issue.

Best thing since canned bread?

2009-11-11T23:34:00.002-05:00

New post over at Grub for Guys. Good stuff. Now I'm hungry. Again.

A Tale of Two Transactions (or more)

2009-10-28T22:08:00.007-04:00

So last month, GMAC Mortgage sold off my HELOC to some company in Highlands Ranch, CO that's a debt collector 1st, loan company 2nd. Hey, what's next, mortgages from pawn shops? The welcome letter they sent started off with a warning that the company is a debt collection agency, and all communications with them should take that into consideration. Way to make me feel welcome.

Of course the first I heard about it was when my payment was returned to Paytrust due to incorrect account information and that it was being returned to my bank account. That was weird, because nothing had recently changed. Actually, just before that, I had noticed that my 1st mortgage had disappeared from the GMAC site. I emailed them about that. They promptly emailed back to explain how to use their online system to view my mortgage information (which I've been using for about 6 years now). So, we got that straightened out. They put my 1st mortgage back. I also emailed to ask about the HELOC payment. I didn't hear anything, but a day or so later I got the welcome letter from the debt collection agency/mortgage lender.

In case this wasn't enough online financial fun, I was happily spending away, secure in the knowledge that Quicken wouldn't lie to me. When I updated my transactions, I got an error that I had transactions to accept, except I didn't. And I was in the hole.

I was trying to get the Quicken error figured out when I found a message, buried under two levels of menus in the program where I'd obviously see it.... telling me that there had been an error with a Wells Fargo system and transactions from October 5 would have to be manually reentered. Actually, it said "The system that caused an interruption... blah blah blah ...has been resolved." Poor system. They could have just resolved the error. But I digress. And they say sarcasm is the lowest form of humor. And BTW, you'll need to enroll in WF Online to access your account if you're not already enrolled. Remember that HELOC payment? It was one of the missing transactions. But the refund showed up! No wonder I thought I had money. :-{

So, now I know who gets my HELOC payment, and Quicken is all balanced. Of course by the time I figured all this out, my wild spending spree was happily covered by my overdraft coverage via my WF credit card. Four times. $25 a pop. $100 down the tubes.

At least I get WF Reward points on the credit card.

Correction: I thought the overdraft notice said fee - and they had transferred just enough to cover the overage. What they do is transfer in $25 increments from my credit card. So, the only thing that suffered was my CC balance. So, I'll bump the Nov 1st mortgage payment up to Nov 15th, pay the minor late fee on that, and things will even out.... <:-]

Correction to the Correction: WF did charge me an overdraft transaction finance charge for each incident: four at $10 and one at $15 (there was a transfer I missed in my original rant). Now, I'm pissed at WF Bank again! And myself. And life in general. :-/

The NSFW Roku Clone

2009-10-24T15:21:00.005-04:00

FyreTV (I'll let you Google it yourself) is a video streaming device for the TV, like a Roku, but with adult content only. Of course, their celebrity sponsor is Ron Jeremy. I'm surprised it was this long in coming, since the primary drivers of advancements in video and computer technology are games and porn.

CDs divided and conquered

2009-10-23T18:45:00.002-04:00

Got these nifty dividers for my CD storage trunks (http://www.zipdooda.com/2008/07/whats-going-on-here-anyway.html). Can't remember where I found them, but if needed, I can look it up.

Buck up! Things can be worse!

2009-10-21T00:36:00.001-04:00

The Only Thing New in the World

Essay - The Collider, the Particle and a Theory About Fate - NYTimes.com

2009-10-19T14:21:00.004-04:00

Essay - The Collider, the Particle and a Theory About Fate - NYTimes.com

Physics, at least in the theoretical physics department, competes vigorously to be as confounding as religion! ;-)

I think the problem with Cosmology and Theoretical Physics is that we don't have a big enough lab.

In order to answer these difficult questions about life, the universe, and our place in it, what we need to do is create a universe solely for use in experimentation.... oh, wait.... :-)

Update: as a computer science nerd, I did try to model this but had trouble with the formula because the computational output needed is N + 1 where N = all the computing power available in the universe.

California Big Screen Ban Bash

2009-10-18T16:35:00.002-04:00

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/California_big_screen_TV/2009/10/09/270560.html

This is so stupid I'm almost speachless. Almost....

"I don't know anyone who doesn't like to save money," said a spokesman for the California Energy Commission.

Hmmm. I don't know anyone who wants the state to tell them how to save it.

This kind of lunacy isn't restricted to CA by any means.

The nanny-staters are seeking full control over what resources we consume and how we do it.

Climate changes have elevated it to a moral imperative to sieze control. I think they'd like to see full economic colapse, so they can get ahold of production and distribution of food supplies as well. You will eat only what we (in consultation with your medical insurance provider) say you will eat!

Or, I'm off my meds.... :-\

Thus endeth the rant.

DMR

Clutterbomb

2009-10-11T22:10:00.004-04:00

Clutterbomb
Originally uploaded by DMRWRCO

This happens with depressing regularity. Most of this stuff was
sitting in the living room after moving in. When the furniture for
that room arrived, I moved this junk here - in the new kitchen table - as a TEMPORARY staging area. Plan was to finish organizing the shed/workshop and get this all stowed out there. ASAP...

Health Care the Whole Foods Way

2009-10-08T13:12:00.002-04:00

Interesting article from the outspoken founder of Whole Foods:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204251404574342170072865070.html

~
DMR

Enlightenment for the Patience Impared

2009-10-04T01:51:00.003-04:00

That's all of us, these days. Who has time to sit through a long winded TED video (also on YouTube)? If you have short-attention span syndrome coupled with an online media addiction, try subscribing to the iGNiTe series on YouTube.

Thanks for your time. Now go learn something new.

Real Estate in Rockport, MA

2009-09-27T00:18:00.006-04:00

Found a perfect, modest sized house on the hill overlooking the harbor in Rockport, MA. Only problem is that it's exactly $1,000,000 over my budget!

4 Bedrooms
2 Baths 1,440 Est. Sq. Ft.
$1,249,000

But, the good news is, I found one in our price range. It's a bit of a fixer-upper:

Free Exercise and Green Brownie Points

2009-09-24T23:05:00.005-04:00

At my house in CO, I had a pretty big yard, and used a gas-powered mower, plus I had an electric weed trimmer, leaf vac/blower, chain saw and all the other good power toys required to keep up appearances in modern suburbia.

We have a pretty small yard at the house we're renting in NY, and there is a non-motorized push mower in the shed. I used that all summer.

I dumped all my lawn and garden equipment on my brother when I thought I'd be living the loft life. Well, here I am back in a house with a yard, so I had to buy a rake - and I'm determined to use it! Much as I hate raking, at least it's a form of exercise.

I really considered getting a cheap gas mower and maybe a weed-whacker, but in the end thriftiness prevailed. I got a pair of good old fashioned grass clippers, so soon I'll be scooting around the perimeter of the house and fence, giving the grass a trim. I also got a set of hedge trimmers, also the manual variety.

As long as I eat right, my lawn maintenance will be carbon-neutral.

(Sorry. What can I say? I'm a guy - fart jokes are always funny!)

Revenge of the Nissan

2009-09-17T09:36:00.005-04:00

I was having a good time yesterday. I was at Lowe's, getting supplies for my dozens of current projects. I even remembered my coupon for 10% off! Then I went to start the car.... a couple of low growls, some clicks of the starter, and that was it. Dang. Left the darn lights on. Again. I do this a couple times per year. First time for NY! I think it was the car's attempt to get back at me because it's being traded in on Friday afternoon (more on that....).

I didn't have my jumper cables, and didn't feel like begging for a jump start, so I walked to the auto parts store to see if they had one of those jump-start thingies. They did, but as it was initially un-charged, it wouldn't do me any good. After a delicious non-nutritious BK value meal dinner, and one attempt to see if the car would start after I let it have a nice rest, I called my insurance company to inquire if I had roadside assistance. I did, but there was a little confusion about whether I still had the Nissan or the new car. I set up the service call, and went back to Lowe's where I somehow found a few more things I just had to buy (everyone has a toilet seat tightening kit, right?).

After the nice gentleman with the completely undecipherable accent called and with much effort and repetition let me know he was almost there, I went out to the car. Naturally I tried it again, and lo and behold - it started right up. Batteries are a funny thing. I need a chemist/physicist to explain to me how sitting for a while after being discharged can allow them to build up a little bit of a charge again.

Anyway, now that my absent-mindedness has informed and amused, about that new car. We're getting a new Chevy Aveo5. I know - so I'm cheap. Next to Kia and Hyundai, it's the cheapest thing out there. It's the reincarnation of my old Chevy Sprint. Also the first GM car I've purchased in many years, after my horrible experiences with GM in Anchorage, AK caused me to swear I'd never darken their doorstep again.

Since we are all part owners of GM now, I figured I'd help them survive a little longer. It turns out that I have a GM supplier discount through my new employer HP. But, I work for HP because they bought EDS. EDS used to be owned by GM, so we're still getting the Employee discount, which was $740 better. All told, it saved me about $1,000. We have discounts for other brands, too, but I guess the phrase "So goes GM, so goes America" must have gotten to me. ;-)

As for the poor old hail-damaged Nissan. I'm letting them get rid of it for me for $500. Since I was paid about $6,000 for it by my insurance company in 2003, I did ok. My options were:

Donate it to charity
Give it to fire department to cut open or burn for practice
Try to sell. Probably waste more than $500 of my time
Have it crushed. Tempting. Very tempting.

Stay tuned for Revenge of the Nissan Part 2 for more on that car and my other scintillating car related experiences.

BTW, for my immediate family, I can share my GM employee/supplier discount with:

Spouse
Children [you'll have to prove it!]
Stepchildren [same as above]
Grandchildren [again...]
Stepgrandchildren [but I'm repeating myself]
Grandparents (including in-law and step)
Parents
Stepparents
Siblings (including full, half and step)
Mother-/father-in-law
Sons-/daughters-in-law
Brothers-/sisters-in-law

You know who you are! If you're planning to buy a GM vehicle, let me know.

Rules to Live By

2009-09-15T13:07:00.007-04:00

Move over, Miss Etiquette.

110 Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation as transcribed by George Washington.

Follow all of these to the letter, especially those concerning spitting and adjusting one's private parts, and you'll have no problems with any social encounter. ;-)

Zen TV Experiment and the Hyper Monkey-Mind

2009-09-14T10:41:00.005-04:00

Zen TV Experiment

~~~~~~~~~~

"It is easier to shorten attention spans and increase distraction than to lengthen attention spans, increase concentration, and calm, quiet and still the mind.

There is an old Zen analogy that the way to calm, clear and quiet the mind is similar to the way to clear a muddy pool--not by action, by doing, by stirring it up, but by stillness, by letting it be, by letting it settle itself.

The function of TV is to create, maintain and constantly reinforce what--in the Zen tradition--is often called "monkey-mind." The question to ask is: What is the good of a jumpy, volatile, scattered and hyper monkey-mind?"

~~~~~~~~~~

I definitely suffer from hyper monkey-mind!

Rising From the Rubble

2009-09-11T19:07:00.001-04:00

Freedom Tower (Wikipedia)

WTC web site

NYC Tower

Faith-based Arguing

2009-09-03T14:37:00.004-04:00

During one of our theological discussions/arguments/musings over cheap Mexican food, I once told a group of friends (an atheist, a Mormon convert, and a born-again Baptist) that I believed God would be happier with an honest atheist than a hypocritical Christian. The first two merely shrugged it off, but the born-again disagreed vehemently. I guess practicing what you preach is not an actual requirement for literal fundamentalism.

He was a good friend and is a great guy, but this same person also once got very angry with us for questioning the notion that all the good people in ancient Rome, or China, were burning in hell for not being Christians, and he pounded on the table and said "they had no excuse, they could see God's creation," thus ending the discussion.

I know the prevailing Western view (at least as presented by all the Hollywood epics I watched on TV as a kid) is that there were no good people in the East or in the pre-Christian West, but that's no more true than the notion that there have been no bad people in the Christian world, which is simply an absurd notion that can be dismissed out of hand (TV Evangelists, anyone?).

He used to drive us to lunch, and we'd joke that come The Rapture, he was going to disappear, and we'd be left careening down the road in the driver-less car, shrieking and mowing down other Left-Behinders.

Discuss amongst yourselves....

Flickr Pics

2009-09-01T22:39:00.002-04:00

I added a view of my recent Flickr uploads to the bottom of the blog for those who don't do Facebook. It only rates its own post because it's hidden way down there. It was the only place I could find where it didn't overwhelm the page. Click the link or any photo to go directly to my photostream.

Enjoy.

Continuing tales of old homes, humidity and petrol

2009-08-29T14:54:00.006-04:00

I've learned a few lessons about living in a humid state, vs living in a semi-arid state.

Don't leave a bag of chips open. They'll go stale and soggy very quickly.

Do leave fast food bag open in car. In CO, I would keep the bag folded over to keep in the heat. In NY, doing this results in wet, soggy food by the time I get home.

Do not put banana peels in waste paper bin! OK, I know they shouldn't go in there in the first place, but... In CO, they'd shrivel a bit, turn black and dry up. Here, guess what happened? Think compost. I found a slimy, gooey, moldy lump of sludge in the can. Ick!

Then there's the joy of watching rust appear on tools I had for 20 years rust free in AK and CO. Grrrrr. I had the same thing happen to the metal parts on a guitar I took from Denver to San Diego years ago, so I'm not singling out NY for abuse.

Another difference out here is found at the gas station. The pump handle lock is illegal in NY. You can't lock the pump on and clean your window while it pumps. Gas costs more (generally everywhere in the East), and 87 is lowest octane available. In CO it was usually 85. Did you know that in New Jersey there's no self-service at gas stations?

Adjustments to living in an old, small house:

The only shower is a 5' clawfoot tub in tiny, unlevel bathroom. There's only inches of room to navigate, and you have to make sure the shower curtains are arranged properly to prevent flooding. No jumping in and pulling a single curtain across or slamming the shower door behind you! To be fair, my 50 year old house in CO had a tiny bathroom with an unlevel floor - and that bath was in an addition put on in the 70s.

Sloping floors. In the bathroom, you could slide out the door if the tile is wet. I think it's out 2 inches over a 3 foot run! ;-) In my office, my shelf has the front feet adjusted up 1/2 inch to level it.

I know people were short 100 years ago, but a knee-high stair rail? WTF?! Kind of creepy. A safety feature should not be a tripping hazard! I guess it's more of a reminder than a preventative measure.

Narrow hall and staircase. After the landing, the upper stairs are too narrow and the hall is awkward and narrow. Moving furniture in was a joy.

Low ceiling over stairs - I'm 5'8" and have to duck.

The cellar is a damp, creepy hell-hole dominated by 1,000s of spiders and at least one mouse.

John Quincy Adams on Twitter

2009-08-11T01:54:00.001-04:00

http://www.masshist.org/blog/84

Returns within 30 days with receipt

2009-08-10T21:36:00.004-04:00

I often wonder if returning goods that don't work out is even worth the bother. I suppose there's a monetary cut-off where it's certainly worth a bit of trouble. I once returned a $2,500 whole-house air conditioner! Of course, I made them come and get it. What I'm thinking of is the stuff that's say, $50 and under.

Assuming you can find the receipt, there's often a special trip to the store, and one purchase leads to another, so you spend more than you got back for the return. If you happened to be going to the store, that's fine. Never works out that way for me. Instead, I make a special trip to Target when I had to go to Walmart* for something else.

I think I'd be money ahead if I just donate the stuff to Goodwill. Karma ahead, for sure, even if I don't write it off, which I never seem to do.

I say this because I'm looking at the cat box that I'm not sure I like (cat hasn't weighed in yet) and thinking of the curtain rods that weren't right for the window frames. Then there's the denim shorts that for some reason don't fit even though they're the same size waist as my jeans. I don't even want to think about the 2 or 3 sets of curtains that ended up left over after they didn't look as good at home as they did in the store.

* Note: they don't know how to spell it either: Walmart, Wal-Mart, Wal*Mart. Take your pick, they've used 'em all!

Of Whales and Walking

2009-08-09T20:24:00.004-04:00

What a day was yesterday!

Up before dawn for two hour drive to MA. Another hour on the commuter train. A quick subway (T) ride to the pier. Toured the New England aquarium. Walked around the dockside area and Quincy Market, then on the boat to go whale hunting.... er, watching. I refrained from asking the on-board naturalist where the harpoons were stored! ;-). Four hours later we were back on land tracking down dinner.

We found a nice quiet Irish pub. By quiet I mean loud, and boisterous, and by nice I mean crowded. Meal was good, though. After dinner we went back to the market for desert, then tried to walk it off. That was when Lisa discovered we had about 30 minutes to get to the train station or we'd have to catch the last train of the evening (at 11:30 PM). We hoofed it for the nearest T stop, couldn't find one on the right line, so had to make a transfer. Anyway.... we made it with no time to spare.

I had a most excellent nap on the train, but then had to wake up for the two hour drive back to NY.

Killed off all of today lounging in front of the TV. Splendid weekend! Pics on Flickr when I have the energy.

You Are Here: 42° 56′ 12″ N, 73° 47′ 37″ W

2009-08-04T19:00:00.003-04:00

42° 56′ 12″ N, 73° 47′ 37″ W

Many of you may be wondering how NY is going, and what's different about last time we dragged all of our crap half-way across the country.

Well, it's going fine. I really like Saratoga County. I still hate Albany (sorry, Albany). It's fine to visit, shop, etc. But for whatever reason, the mere idea of living there still fills me with dread. No point trying to figure it out or analyzing it. It just is what it is. Every place I've ever liked living has fit me by how it feels in ways that I can't communicate, not by any practical analysis of its good and bad points. I can't explain it. That's why it's good to feel a place out rather than try to pick where to live based on opinions on city-data or those "best places to live" lists in the magazines.

I'm getting used to seeing (and feeling) more rain during one storm than falls in CO all year. When visibility gets extremely poor during a deluge, the more cautious people put on their flashers and drive 40 on the highway. I love all the foliage produced by said rain. I'm learning to carry an umbrella and to wear a hat - it keeps the rain off of my glasses, which is a major peeve of mine. As was wearing a hat until about a month ago.

I like the fact that there's hundreds of places to go, all within a couple hours drive. Back home, I had a choice of CO Springs, Wyoming, or the mountains. There's some flat land out East of the front range, but surely that doesn't count, right? I don't miss the I-70/285 weekend bottlenecks as a million people try to get into and out of the mountains via the only two available routes.

I hate the humidity! I don't like how everything feels clammy and wet - bed sheets, towels that never dry. And drinks sweating so much they overpower any coaster. Watching rust form on things I've owned in CO for decades that are still rust-free. I can't work for more than about 5 minutes before I have to stop and wipe the sweat off my forehead. I finally got a couple sweatbands (thank you tennis players, for putting practicality before looking like a dork!). Now I can at least make it until my eyebrows are over-saturated! I do like its affect on my skin and hair, though. No more itching, burning skin, or generating enough static electricity to destroy USB ports my computers. The cat appreciates not crackling and sparking when he's petted.

I have a plan for dealing with any onset of SAD when the dreaded winter comes this year:
1) better living through pharmaceuticals,
2) cheap flights on Southwest Airlines

Now, let us never speak of this again!

Thanks! :-)

DavidMichaelReed

2009-08-03T18:20:00.000-04:00

No, I didn't break my space bar. I just wanted to point out that

DavidMichaelReed.me -- points to -->

DavidMichaelReed.com -- which points to -->

http://card.ly/dmr1965, which is pretty cool (See Card.ly).

I've also been playing with UnHub, which is a personalized toolbar, similar to the StubleUpon toolbar.

The all-things-me UnHub bar is at: http://unhub.com/dmr1965

My life as a painter

2009-08-01T15:50:00.004-04:00

Back to painting. It never, ever, ever ends. Just finished cutting-in around the kitchen ceiling. Much easier, now that I have my ladders. I also have all my painting gear, but haven't even opened those boxes. After this, I have to roll a 2nd coat in kitchen, including the dining and pantry areas.

Then, I have to cut-in around the ceiling in living room. After that I have to cut-in around my office ceiling. Of course all the rooms are now full of stuff, the new carpet is installed, and the curtains are up. So, I get to move and/or cover everything that's not to be painted.

Lisa's going to roll the small bathroom downstairs, then I'll do the cutting-in there, too (my specialty - taping is for amateurs!). I need to touch up the woodwork in the upstairs bath, but we needed to use it, so that may be a winter project.

Then I have to go around and hit the ceiling spots where there were roller accidents and hope it matches, although I can be a lot less fussy about the ceiling!

The upstairs hall needs painted. Have to cover the carpet. This also calls for a tricky ladder setup on the landing. Ceiling is about 10 feet over the stairs. Then there's the doors. Two doors upstairs need 2nd coats. Also, since the carpet install, 5 doors need to be trimmed about 1/2 inch on the bottom, so I'll take them down, take them outside and do all that on the porch.

All the trim and baseboard in the house, as well as the window frames, need to be cleaned, prepped and painted, but I'm just going to touch up the really bad spots and call it "character."
I'm only renting, here. I have to draw the line somewhere.... or am I painting the line?

Which might make one wonder - why am I doing all of this? Well, for one, it needs done! This is a charming old house, that just needs some TLC to really shine. Second, I'd rather do it myself than wait for someone to come do it, especially given the quality of work I usually get from contractors. I want to leave this place better than I found it. Aside from all my whining, I really do enjoy this kind of work. More than my career, for the most part.

Classic Dream Theme

2009-07-27T11:27:00.003-04:00

I had one of those all-time classic dreams last night. Arriving at work and finding to my great surprise that I'm wearing no pants! Had boxers, though, so it could have been worse. Nobody had seen me, so I began a frantic search through the bathrooms and storerooms looking for pants! Alas, I awoke before succeeding in the quest for trousers.

Of course work wasn't anywhere I've ever seen before, somewhere urban, and I walked to work, having detailed interactions with people along the way. (I was sure I had pants on the way there....) The office building was infested with hundreds of ants, crawling out of cracks in the floor. And I was wearing a watch, which I never do.

As often happens when balancing waking with dreaming, I'd just squinted at my iPhone, noticed that I was late getting up, and promptly fell back asleep with the phone in my hand. Then the dream began, and I looked at that watch, and began to panic because it was the same time as I'd seen on the iPhone, and in the dream I was running late.... Then I noticed the pants. Or lack of them.

Funny thing about the bathroom in the dream. I often dream of bathrooms, usually in comically horrid states of disrepair and sanitary condition. Must be a phobia of mine.

I have a lot of anxiety dreams. Dreams where I really need to get something done, but I'm blocked at every attempt. Often involving school - usually college. Exams, homework gone missing. Anyone whose ever been to college knows about these. You'll have them your entire life, I hear. And based on my experience, I believe it. The detail in these dreams never fails to amaze me. Long, detailed math formulas from my long-forgotten calculus. Reports that probably make no sense in the waking world but are vivid, logical and robust in the dream.

My best dreams are about houses I've lived in. Almost always the house I spent my formulative years in, growing up in Englewood, CO. I call these my regression dreams. In times of stress I often retreat back to times when all was well in the world (it wasn't - it was the 70s!), or at least when Mom and Dad took care of the complications and problems of the real world. I sometimes have these dreams a couple or three days in a row.

I've never had falling dreams. Dreamt about my death a couple times, and surprisingly, woke up not dead! :-)

Facebook killed my blog?

2009-07-27T11:23:00.002-04:00

Sure hasn't been much around here lately, other than links to Twitter Tweets and Facebook updates. I try to save this for longer ramblings, using FB for stuff only friends and family could care about (of course they're the only ones who ever look at this dry, comment free wasteland!). Twitter gets the short irreverent witticisms and updates on my bodily functions.... strike that.... whereabouts. Yeah, that's what I meant.

How not to paint a bathroom

2009-07-05T22:54:00.004-04:00

1) Ignore wife's choice of yellow shade, and get something called Buttercup which is several shades darker, to use for both kitchen and bath, because you're being so cheap you forgot the landord's paying for the paint anyway.

2) Realize Buttercup = Mustard

3) Keep painting anyway, hoping it'll grow on you.

4) Get the right color yellow, use it in kitchen, and get the Main Harbor blue that wife wanted for the bathroom in the first place.

5) Repaint.

See? Painting is simple!

Forgot the moral of the story: Never question wife's choice of colors. Just say, "that color would be perfect." and buy the chosen paint.

Goodbye Blues

2009-07-03T23:05:00.009-04:00

So, we're doing the cleaning and painting on the rental, with no power, thanks to the electric company screwing up and disconnecting the meter instead of reverting the billing back to the landlord when the previous tenant moved out.

We said we'd to the painting, because we always wanted to have walls that weren't "rental white." There were some nice colors already done, and some that aren't so nice. We're going to be reimbursed for the supplies. We hit Big Lots, KMart and Walmart for cheap paint stuff. I already have so much painting supplies from the WR house refurb that I could start a second career - but that stuff is currently making its way out here in a shipping container on the back of a truck.

We said we'd clean, too, since we're eager to get in and I need a place to work from. Otherwise, we have to wait for the cleaners to come out after the power gets turned back on. The landlord changed the lease to start from 7/15 instead of 7/1. Nice.

So, it turns out there were three blue rooms upstairs - one bedroom is nicely done, and we're keeping it. The blue goes nice with the hardwood floors. The adjacent room is the same blue, very poorly applied, and it clashes horribly with the dark green carpet (which kind of clashes with itself!).

The paint in the bath was nice, except for a couple of strange purple splotches. There was some leftover paint from the bedroom, which at first looked the same shade as the bathroom. We thought we'd just touch up the splotches, but it turns out, when the two are combined, the nice purple shade is produced!

Today I got a coat of primer over the blue that we're redoing, since we're going with a lighter color. I hope to get the rest done tomorrow.

Goodbye blue in bedroom:

Goodbye blue in bathroom:

Huge abandoned things seen from above

2009-06-25T14:31:00.003-04:00

Reserve/Mothball Fleet - Suisun Bay, Benicia, CA. Used to live near this one. There are more US Navy Reserve Fleets scattered about the US.

Aircraft Boneyard - Tucson, AZ. More on aircraft boneyards.

Environmentalists are not Conservationists

2009-06-21T00:27:00.000-04:00

Harsh, but true! Don't hate me. I watch Planet Green. :-/

"Which is all to the good as far as environmentalists are concerned. To understand environmentalists, you have to understand that they are not scientists. They have contempt for science. Nor are they concerned about human wellbeing or even the environment itself. Environmentalism is not a scientific movement; it's a political movement. Environmentalists hate capitalism. Their goal is to destroy capitalism and all of its benefits. They'd like to see all of us living in mud huts and starving to death before we could have more children. Children are, to environmentalists, the ultimate pollutant. As Heinlein observed, environmentalists hate their own species."

~ Robert Bruce Thompson

Circular Feeds

2009-06-17T18:26:00.002-04:00

This could get ugly. I added a feed through Twitterfeed to post my blog entries to Twitter. But, I have twitter tweets fed to my blog through a blogger widget. Not to mention blog posts are fed to Facebook, and I have a FaceBook badge on my blog.

Well, here we go....

Tweet la Revolution

2009-06-16T20:40:00.011-04:00

Can what's going on in Iran be considered a long-delayed counter-revolution to the fundamentalist Islamic revolution of the 70s? Or is that just wishful thinking?

Twitter has proved to be very important in getting word to the outside about what's happening in Iran. So much so, that they were asked by the US Govt. to delay maintenance on their site so Iranian's wouldn't be cut off from the service.

From Reuters: U.S. State Department speaks to Twitter over Iran

Twitter has a comment about it on their blog.

Here's an idea from the Twitterstream:
doctorowRT @johannes_mono Change your Twitter settings to GMT +03:30 Tehran as your timezone & change home city to Tehran to confuse Iranian censors

I may do this, just so I can say I participated!

Update (6/17/2009):

Follow IranRiggedElect on Twitter for updates from Iran.

Example of Courage!

Official Iranian Government Reaction (More related political humor)

CEO Salaries

2009-06-13T12:56:00.002-04:00

I work for #8 (client) and #12 (employer). I didn't know our client had that kind of money. Whish they'd apply some more of it to IT! ;-)

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/12/best-boss-09_CEO-Compensation_Rank.html

Killin' birds, two at a wack!

2009-06-12T02:00:00.001-04:00

Updated iGoogle home page - I now have 7 tabs full of gadgets! One tab is for social networks, one for tech news, one for email/news/my various tasks and lists, one for Comics, one for blogs and columns, one for chat/IM, and one for humorous time wasters.

No longer need my hand-coded start page with numerous links that I had set up on home and work PCs. I was motivated by the new Google Showcase. Who wouldn't want to use the Google apps that Demi and Ashton use (the King and Queen of Twitter)? Or The Donald? Or Rachael Ray? ;-)

Can't for the life of me remember why I titled this the way I did. Maybe it was because I accomplished a goal of organizing and cleaning up stuff? I have no idea.

The National Debt Road Trip

2009-06-11T18:47:00.003-04:00

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5yxFtTwDcc

It's fascinating, no matter who you voted for.

Tagging

2009-06-08T02:57:00.003-04:00

Update to Too Lazy for Tags.

I tagged all my Evernote Notes (70+). Now, on to my bookmarks. Or flickr photos. Or....

A Most Excellent Day

2009-06-06T20:23:00.004-04:00

Woke up at 7:30, migrated to couch, turned on TV.
Dozed off in front of TV. Woke up at noonish. Ate breakfast, watched some more TV.
Went to bank to deposit refund from realtor in J'town.
Went to recycling center with the latest excess of stuff we can't fit into our bin every week (plus the cans I took home from work).
Dropped a bag of books off for Friends of the Library.
Last stop was Goodwill, where I got rid of 2 VCRs and a pile of blank tapes, the last of the VHS movies I still had, 3 DVD players and assorted household excess.

Update: forgot to mention the two cell phones and accessories I sent off to Cell Phones for Soldiers and wherever Best Buy sends the ones they collect (something for helping kids....).

Aaaahhhh. Good Karma recharge.

Deposit Refunded

2009-06-06T16:05:00.002-04:00

We got our $3K back from the realtor in J'town. WF Mortgage is not off the hook by any means (sorry Lisa C. - nothing personal! ). They won't even respond to my emails from the WF web site and I've been a bank customer with them for 16 years. Not for much longer!

IE cookie

2009-06-04T20:16:00.000-04:00

In case you didn't know what they look like. :~]

Round Lake, NY

2009-06-03T00:17:00.004-04:00

Since the Johnstown house deal fell through, we found a house in Round Lake to rent. Round Lake is a little village (600 or so people) in Saratoga County, very near Saratoga Springs. Despite the population, it's in no way isolated, as it's surrounded by other cities of the Capital District, which is part of the Capital Region of Albany, in upstate New York.

There are pics over on Lisa's FaceBook site.

Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy

2009-06-03T00:15:00.001-04:00

I know I've quoted Jerry Pournelle before, but I have to do it again, because if you've ever dealt with, been frustrated by, or just care about our government agencies, this is important information to know:

"Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representative who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent. The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions."

Jerry says when growing up in the South, he was considered a radical liberal. Living in CA, he's considered a radical conservative. This without ever changing his views. ;-)

The Climate Industrial Complex

2009-05-31T12:15:00.001-04:00

We now have the Climate Industrial Complex. It's much like the Military Industrial Complex which so vexed the hippie generation.

Too Lazy for Tags

2009-05-27T23:01:00.001-04:00

Tags are handy things. Everything has them now. You can tag your bookmarks in Firefox, and tag your Google bookmarks if so inclined. You can tag blog entries. Evernote notes have tags. And images on Flickr and other photo sites. They make it easy to search and categorize things, especially after you've accumulated a large number of said items.

So how come I can't seem to ever get myself to apply the bloody things? :-0

Playing For Change: Song Around the World "Stand By Me"

2009-05-27T03:08:00.001-04:00

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM

Wells Fargo Mortgage Warning!

2009-05-25T05:50:00.005-04:00

WF Mortgage, after numerous delays, called me and said they didn't think Lisa was qualified for a VA loan because she was on the mortgage for the CO house. That isn't how it works, and they should have pulled her eligibility a long time ago because the VA needs time to do their own inspections and such. The loan officer admitted he wasn't sure about the eligibility because he didn't do many VA loans. I think they delayed on purpose because they don't want to deal with the VA conditions and want to push one of their products, instead.

Also, they wanted me to produce a letter from my company stating that I was moving at the behest of my employer. I told them that's not the case. I work from home for a global company which has offices in most states and many countries. The loan officer couldn't wrap his mind around this concept and kept telling me you can't just move and you have to be a reasonable distance from your employer. He couldn't seem to understand that it would be my primary residence, and the house we have here in CO is just a rental. I told him repeatedly it was a personal move and I would not even ask my employer for such a letter. He said he was just the messenger and it was the underwriter's requirement. I told him it was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard, said "see ya" and hung up!

The seller already gave us two extensions and it's clear they won't do any more, so that deal is most likely dead. Now I have to work with the title attorney to ensure I get my $3,000 earnest deposit back. I threatened WF with canceling my bank and credit card accounts if they don't give back my loan app fee, too.

Many years ago, a lender tried to tell me I had to give a written statement that I'd reenlist in the AF in order to secure a loan. I told them to stick it, too, because in the civilian world, there's no such garantee of employment.

Positive Spin

2009-05-22T15:32:00.001-04:00

A positive view of the long haul:

"I am quite convinced that the human race has a vast future ahead of it, and the path there is through the proper applications of technology. We are not doomed, we don't have to get poor quick, and we don't have to wait for massive die-offs and famines across the Earth."

~Jerry Pournelle

New (York) Rumors Abound

2009-05-14T03:43:00.008-04:00

It looks like we'll be trekking East again. Am I crazy, you ask? Maybe (yes), but we started looking for cheap homes all across the country, and you just can't beat tired old mill towns for bargains! We found a place we liked and the real estate saga began (they're being a little bit more careful these days about who they'll lend to, for some reason....). It was touch and go for awhile, so I figured I wouldn't mention it unless it worked out. Looks like it's going to go through, so I'm mentioning it. I did consider moving and then letting people know, but I just can't keep my mouth shut that long.

I should do better this time. I have a plan to beat the winter blahs. When I'm sick of winter, I'm going to impose myself on relatives in California until they send me home. It's good to be able to telecommute! The CO folks may have to host me sometimes, too.

Also, I'm the extreme definition of a homebody. I need a project. I need to be sitting in my house looking at something I need to fix, or thinking about how to change/upgrade/or restore something. I hate apartments and feel completely out of place when renting. So, by jumping in with both feet and buying a house, I should be able to keep myself busy enough that I don't have time for moping.

Also, Lisa's found several old friends form the area thanks to FaceBook. And I found one of my old chums from the CSU Computer Science program. Of course I'll miss my CO friends and family, but I plan to keep an eye on the cheap flights and get out here as often as I can.

Remember, you heard it here first. Unless you didn't. You may have read Lisa's post, or maybe my brother spilled the beans. I only mentioned it to him because he was excited about a house he found in The Grove.

Check out Lisa's post for pictures!

Herds

2009-05-10T03:53:00.001-04:00

The first of hundreds of elk we saw up in the Rocky Mountain National Park, near Estes Park, CO.

Tried to go up to Grand Lake but the road was closed, so for my $20 park fee we drove around gawking at the people gawking at the wildlife. And wondered why I never bring a real camera.

The Behemoth

2009-05-09T01:57:00.001-04:00

My new GIANT color laser multifunction printer. Next to it is the
little label printer. I can't write, but I can type and print like
nobody's business! :~}

Not so Quick(en)

2009-04-26T23:39:00.004-04:00

I've been using Quicken to track my finances for so long I hate to even think how much money I've given them. Heck, I was using it for electronic bill payment before the web took over our lives. Over the years, each succeeding upgrade has added more and more complexity. Every so often, they force an upgrade by changing the protocol used by the bank, so not upgrading isn't always an option. I went right along, adding my 401(k), pension, credit cards, mortgage, salary - including taxes and other deductions, and everything else finance related.

Sticking to the theme of this place, simplifying my life it wasn't! I kept wishing they'd put out Quicken Lite or something. I mostly need a running balance to see how much month is left at the end of the paycheck.

For a brief time, I switched to Moneydance, during the blissful time in which I banished Vista from my PC in favor of Ubuntu Linux. Moneydance was nice, and not so byzantine as Quicken. It could do everything I needed, including online bank access, and I could have kept on using it with Windows since it's available on any OS that can run Java. There's a story as to why I'm not using either of those anymore (and why I'll probably switch back) but that will have to wait.

Circumstance helped out a little. My company changed 401(k) management, and I lost the ability to access my funds directly, so the 401(k) was dropped. Then my company was consumed by another company, and away went the pension, so I stopped tracking that. But, I was still overwhelmed by the details, the worst of which was having umpteen categories for tracking items.

So, a while back I put into place a radical idea I'd been pondering for a couple of years. I blew away all the categories in Quicken like Groceries, Phone, Gas, Electric, Rent, Mortgage, Insurance, Net Salary, etc, etc, etc, ad nauseum, and replaced the lot of them with a small handful such as Earned It, Spent It, Shelter, Locomotion, Necessities and Servitude.

Bliss. Makes for a nice compact little pie chart when I care enough to see where the money went.

Simplification VS Organization

2009-04-12T14:51:00.008-04:00

Sometimes the two aren't compatible! In order to organize my life, and compensate for a 40+ year old brain, I've started to use various tools to stay organized and remember things like "take medicine", "get dressed", "bathe and groom...." simple things like that.

The most basic of these efforts is the post-it note. I put them on my PC monitor, in my wallet, on the dash of the car, on my forehead, on my cat and wife. Well, maybe not on the cat. He bites.

Paper calendars are so 20th century, so I finally started using the Task and Calendar features in Outlook at work. That's fine and dandy for work, but for home, more and more I want to access my info online, so I've entrusted much of my life to Google Calendar, email, etc.

Then came the iPhone! To tie all of this together, I synced my Google calendar and email with the iPhone. I've long been a fan of Ta-Da lists. They have a good mobile site that looks nice on the iPhone. I use that for lists that have no deadlines, mostly. But not for stuff - that's what Amazon's Wish List + their Universal Wish List is for.

Then I found the need for saving reminders of things I want to look into further, so I started using Evernote. It too has a native iPhone app. But, it's not really a to-do kind of app, so I signed up for Toodledo. Of course, it has a native iPhone app, and, just as important, a widgit for my iGoogle home page, which is a very nice feature. I had used Remember the Milk, in the past, but found Toodledo to be more to my liking.

That should cover lists, right? Well, sometimes I want a quick item to be in my face for a while, but it doesn't make the cut for Ta-Da or Toodledo - I enabled the Tasks on my Google account, and added the widget for iGoogle.

Somehow, I felt the need to have a seperate shopping list app, so on the iPhone I found a nice app called ReLiSimple that has a nice shopping list. While there's no Google widget, it does sync with the website for access from anywhere.

So, what do most of my tasks, lists, events, etc. relate to? Why, getting better organized of course! You see how effective it is?

I offer this long, rambling account in order for you to take this opportunity to save yourself! Good luck and best wishes in your quest to remain peacefully disorganized.

Don't look at me...

2009-04-06T22:46:00.000-04:00

...I didn't even have a Sharpie. This was on the wall at the buffet we
overfed at today.

Router not routing

2009-03-27T20:17:00.003-04:00

Firmware update of death! Netgear tech support not making me happy! Only Internet access is iphone 3G!

Update: I'll never buy Netgear again. The router was destroyed by a firmware update that failed (there should be a basic firmware in ROM that can't be overwritten so this can't happen). So, I get to pay them $16.95 to have them advance ship me a new Router so I can get one within 5 to 7 days. Good thing I'm off work next week or I'd have to drive an hour to the office or go to the library, or use my neighbor's unsecured wireless router like I'm doing now. ;-)

I swore off Linksys after my last router/cable modem combo was a complete POS, and they never had a firmware update to fix its problems.

I guess D-Link is up next....

Longmont Lights Up the Night Sky

2009-03-01T21:45:00.007-05:00

Driving home from Denver last night, we saw a large column of smoke in the distance, shortly followed by very distinct flames. We were still about 10 miles away, so it was obviously a pretty good conflagration. When we got close I could see it was some kind of elevator, like for grain. it was just on the other side of the street so I snapped a bad iPhone pic (the camera you use is the camera you have).

Turns out it was an abandoned flour mill. It was either tied for, or the second biggest fire I've ever seen.

The Credit Crisis for Dummies

2009-02-26T23:09:00.004-05:00

How it all went down:

The Credit Crisis for Dummies.

I wonder how long before the g'mt decides to increase the value of homes by buying up all the foreclosed houses and demolishing them.

Of course, we could sell the "excess inventory" to the Chinese. Oh, wait, that's already happening. They're forming buying clubs to buy up cheap US houses. Meet your new Chinese ~~Overlords~~ Landlords.

Only taking cash

2009-02-21T23:51:00.002-05:00

Weird things afoot in our town. Last night I went through McDonald's drive-through, and they were only taking cash. Tonight we went to Wendy's (yes, yes, I know), and they were only taking cash because the CC system was down. We bailed out of there, went to the ATM, then went to Arby's because I wanted a Beef & Cheddar (mmmmmmm, beeeeeef). They weren't having any problems. L, who knows every restaurant by whether they are a Coke or Pepsi establishment pointed out that it was the Coke places that were down. Coincidence? Conspiracy?

Turns out I DO need a stinkin' health club

2009-02-17T23:01:00.000-05:00

We joined 24 Hour Fitness and I love it! The equipment is so much better than anything I can buy for myself, and I don't have to maintain it. They have TVs on each treadmill (and other devices), with headphone jacks, and even iPod connectors.

There is the problem of sensory overload - besides the TVs on the equipment, there are overhead TVs everywhere, usually tuned to sports - even in locker rooms. On top of that, there's music blasting out at a high volume. I could do without that, since it's so loud I can hear it over whatever I'm listening to with my headphones.

They even provide hair/body wash dispensers in shower, which has private stalls. The closest I've ever come to belonging to a gym was using the county rec center, which had the open showers you might expect in a high school locker room. Or prison.

The really cool thing they have is a high-speed swimsuit spin dryer. You stuff it in and hold down the lid and it's practically dry in about a minute. No dripping wet suit soaking your gym bag on the way home.

It's not even all that expensive, considering it's less than I pay for TV every month (and that's half the reason I need the gym!). I like that they have month-to-month memberships, too, so there's no contract.

SAD trees, happy beetles in Colorado

2009-02-11T22:59:00.005-05:00

That's Sudden Aspen Decline. Coupled with the Pine Beetle devastation, the Rocky Mountains are undergoing quite a transformation. Pretty much all of the mature lodgepole pine forests in Colorado and southern Wyoming are expected to die.

Of course, these things happen from time to time throughout history. Some of the forests in the Eastern US have gone through a few different transformations where once dominate species have died off (usually logged out) and have been replaced with other species. Up here, one might expect aspen to quickly fill in, but now with the SAD situation.... I'm sure something will fill in, although I've seen some pretty bare mountains in some of our more Western states, so we'll have to wait and see. It will take quite some time for the next generation of pines to mature.

There are efforts under way to harvest the wood before it gets rotten. Some is being ground into pellets for wood stoves, mulched for newsprint (until the newspapers all go under :) and used for lumber. The goal is to clear the dead forests before we have some huge forest fires. Given the extent of the dead trees, I think we can expect some of those fires.

Photos of the damage: Aspen - Pines

Take a look at this Google Maps image of Dillon, CO for a vivid illustration of the extent of the damage. Zoom in on the forest to the right of the town. All the brown spots are dead trees.

iPizza

2009-02-07T21:00:00.002-05:00

$69.99 seems a lot for "null" ;~]

Soaring, Morphing, Zooming Prezs

2009-01-26T22:41:00.003-05:00

Inauguration picture full screen zoom and pan. This is so cool, you just have to try it. The level of detail is amazing as you zoom into any part of the picture.

If you have a scroll-wheel mouse, you can zoom in and out with that, or just double click or use the slider on the left. There are other amazing pictures to play with at gigapan.org. The thumbnail image toolbar adds more interest by zooming in on areas of interest in the main photo. Just try it, it'll make sense when you see it. .

Morphing Presidents - this is cool to0, but doesn't require any user interaction.

Stumbled upon this right after I'd posted the others. Actually, StumbleUpon is where I found most of these links that I've been posting. It's extremely addicting. You've been warned!

Toward, to forward, to reward

2009-01-23T22:49:00.000-05:00

English is a simple language. See for yourself.

Don't Need No Stinking Health Club

2009-01-17T21:51:00.007-05:00

With the necessity of getting my blood sugar down, I threatened recently to take up jogging. I haven't been able to brave the cold, as of yet. I'm reminded of a civilian I worked with when I was in the Air Force. He said the only reason to run is if you're on fire or something is chasing you. He looked like he lived up to his philosophy quite successfully, too. Ironically, over the years, I saw him run from two fires - I was nearly trampled in one of those instances!

Also, when you work in your basement every day, it's hard to bother to do little things like shower and go outside. (Outside - you know, the big blue room? Sorry. Old computer geek joke.)

We do have a recumbent bike, and I've gotten back up to doing an hour a day on it, but sometimes I need something different.

We have two flights of stairs were where currently living and sometimes I put on the iPod and do some stair climbing with actual stairs instead of a fancy apparatus. There's room at the top and basement level to add a little walk before turning around.

Actually, there's enough room in the basement that I've taken up getting in some short sprints - it's like doing laps in a small pool - I have to get my turns timed right or I might crash into a wall, but it works - and adds a little excitement to the process. Throw in some old fashioned jumping-jacks, lunges and other calisthenics and I'm all set.

The best thing that I've found is that I do much better exercising two or three times a day in short bursts than trying to fit in a long workout after working all day. The net gain is the same, and for controlling blood sugar, I think it's actually much better to spread it out through the day.

Today it was nice enough out that I took a nice long walk along the Poudre river. Or rather one of the creeks that we call a river here in the high-plains of Colorado.

Squirt Go Boom

2009-01-09T22:40:00.009-05:00

A couple of days ago we were watching TV in the living room and heard a loud boom from the kitchen along with a strange rattling sound. It kind of sounded like the sound the icemaker sometimes makes when it dumps into the empty bin.

The cat bravely went to investigate, so I figured I'd back him up. The freezer turned up nothing, but the fridge held a surprise. The top was covered in what looked to be frost, like what you'd see in an old non-self-defrosting model freezer (yes, I'm that old). There were also chunks of ice laying around and on the stuff inside. As I was pondering how the icemaker had somehow exploded through the bottom of the freezer compartment into the refrigerator, I noticed something clear in the back of the upper shelf.

I should have gotten a picture of the ice sculpture in the fridge, but I didn't think about it until it was too late.

I've seen the explosive power of soda before. Once in Anchorage, L set a six-pack down on the counter and one blew it's top and spewed all over the kitchen. Then there was that time when I was riding the grocery cart through the parking lot like a dog sled musher, and the 12 pack I had on the bottom slipped off the front and I ran over it, jamming it up under the cart and scraping it along the asphalt. Soda started spewing everywhere as L tried to hide her face in the shame of being seen with me. I think 3 or 4 cans survived intact.

The Petrol - Cola Equivelency Equation

2009-01-07T00:00:00.008-05:00

Yesterday, I made two purchases within about 30 minutes of each other, one for of gas and one for 3 12-packs of diet Coke. When I was plugging away at Quicken, I thought I'd made a mistake, but the two purchases were indeed for the same amount.

01/05/09 POS PURCHASE - 7-ELEVEN $13.47
01/05/09 POS PURCHASE - WALGREENS $13.47

Now I know that 9.768 gallons of gas cost me the same as 36 cans or 432 oz. or 3.375 gallons of Coke (so saith Google Calculator), and I feel positively enriched by this knowledge.

Around our house the gas will last much longer than the Coke.

Get Motivated

2009-01-05T00:05:00.001-05:00

I don't have an official list of New Year's Resolutions. I would like to try to start work on time every day this year since I'm two time zones behind my account. Never mind that my commute is usually down two flights of stairs. I said never mind that!!!! :->

Oh, and then there's getting my glucose in control before I have to face the dreaded I-word (INSULIN. ooooh, just saying it makes me cringe.) So, wish me luck - I think I'm going to take up jogging. Seriously. Stop laughing before you hurt yourself. I wish I could do more to change my food choices, but.... I blame modern advertising and the food industry for my addiction to processed bad-for-me foodstuffs. Surely that's a more important factor than any lack of willpower on my part, no?

If you need some motivation for the new year, forget listening to "We Are the Champions" over and over and check out 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes.

Shocking, but true!

2008-12-28T14:59:00.004-05:00

I fried a USB port on my laptop with a static shock!

I grabbed the iPhone (it was charging via USB) and got a little shock and saw the nice little blue spark. I didn't think much of it, other than that it might not be good for the phone. (I once shocked a mouse so good that it stopped working until I rebooted). This morning I noticed my PC had spontaneously rebooted during the night, and ever since, that ports been dead. Coincidence? Luckily, it didn't fry the iPhone!

I did a little Googling, and it seems that some people have fried more than just ports via USB static shocks, killing their entire computers.

I guess I should ground myself before touching anything! Or stop walking around on the carpet in my socks! :-0

This just in - L thinks it was a plot by Apple and the iPhone actually tried to destroy my Windows PC.

Calvin Saw It Coming

2008-12-26T23:47:00.002-05:00

Calvin explains the current economic crisis 15 years ago. I always knew he was a smart kid.

The Roku Has Landed

2008-12-21T00:01:00.006-05:00

Convergence is coming! We got our Roku Netflix Player today. It was extremely easy to set up and configure. We haven't tested it too much, but we did watch episode 1 of Simon and Simon (one of my favorites from the 80s) and the classic The Day the Earth Stood Still. That was chosen because last night we saw the remake (sorry, no move reviews here. I'll leave that to the pros or the more dedicated bloggers). Let's just say Keanu Reeves is a perfect choice for a humorless, largely expressionless alien. :~]

Streaming movies takes a little bit more patience than using the Dish DVR for instance, because if you back up or fast forward, there is a pause while it re-streams enough video to buffer for playback. There's also the initial pause to stream enough to get started watching, but it's no worse than the time it takes to open a jewel case, pop in a DVD, and dutifully read every word of the copyright notice and anti-bootleg warning (yeah, right). We are using the wireless connectivity since the cable modem/router are on another floor and there's no practical way to run a cable to the unit.

Performance has been good. For both the show and the movie that I watched, we had the highest quality stream throughout, and there was only one momentary glitch where I had to wait for a few seconds for the movie to stream after I had paused for a while. I don't know if it normally continues to buffer while paused because it doesn't show a buffered indicator like most media players you see on the PC. Also, when I switched to the Roku after watching TV once, it was on a green screen and wouldn't respond, but I simply pulled the plug and waited the minute it takes to boot up.

We now have access to 12,000 shows and movies available from the ever growing Netflix watch-it-now collection. Add that to the regular netflix, Dish movies-on-demand, and regular programming, and we should never have to complain that there's nothing on.

Now, I have to get back to my project of comparing and contrasting all the known versions of Dicken's A Christmas Carol that have ever been filmed. Bah, humbug!!!

I Spy the Eye-Fi Wi-Fi SD-Card for Digital Cameras

2008-12-19T00:52:00.001-05:00

This is neat. Eye-Fi is a Wi-Fi enabled SD-Card. You can put it in your digital camera, and store your photos on it like normal, but when you get home and it connects to your wireless network, it uploads your photos automatically to your chosen photo hosting site, or to your computer.

There's no loss of storage space on the SD-Card, either. They come in 2 and 4GB capacity.

Me want!

Eye-Fi overview

Google ends 20-year joke quest

2008-12-17T00:52:00.000-05:00

Twenty-some odd years ago, when I was in the USAF, I wandered out of the break room just as an airman was finishing a joke. All I heard was the punchline, followed by much laughter. No amount of prodding could get him to repeat it, and every one else just referred me back to him.

The other day, I happened to remember that incident, and since Google has always been there for me when I know a few words from a song, but don't know the title, I figured I'd consult the oracle of all web knowledge. I typed in the punchline of the joke, and behold, the quest was ended.

There are several minor variations of it, but all had the same basic formula.

In case you're curious, and not too PC to read it:

"He's crippled you know"