Pool Posers

 

This past weekend was the last days for our community pool before shutting down for the winter (don't get me started as to why they decided to build an outdoor pool instead of a year-round indoor pool!), so I took my daughter there for a last swim. Saturday was not very busy, so a fun time was had. However, Monday, being a holiday, was busy. First, you have all the deck chairs taken up by women sun bathing. Not eye-candy women, but people that should not be wearing what they were wearing. I don't understand why these people did simply sunbathe in their backyards? I mean, a large number of them never set foot near the pool, but took up valuable real estate intended for swimmers. Then we have the 'pool posers'. These are the handful of guys 'sunbathing' (but are pure white), gawking at the bikini's over their sunglasses. One guy in particular was pretty obvious, given his sunglasses half-way down his nose, his neck straining in every direction, and the flag pole in his swim trunks! Yes, you could actually watch him raise and lower his staff. As a game, I would watch the other side of the pool, and when some teenie-bopper arrived in a small bikini, I could be sure that the staff was raised. Sure enough! When they were replaced by a less desirable bunch, the staff lowered. To top it off, a few post-teens set up shop near him. While they were getting settled, he arose from his voyeur chair, sneaked to the pool edge, splashed water on his hair and chest, then stood up and stretched/exhaled like he just completed an Olympic swimming event. He then sat back down and proceeded to 'dry off' while smiling at the post-teens. What a poser!

Next, we have the water polo team wannabes. These are the people who toss around a ball or football across the pool without regard to other patrons. They dive around, throw the ball over everyones heads, and make faces when people are in the flight path. Here is a tip: PLAY BALL IN THE FIELD!!!


I downloaded the new Google Chrome (which I am using to type this post) and it is not good, not bad, but seems to be missing some features that are expected by 'power users' in a browser. First, cruise over to the Official Google Blog for a low down on Google's browser and see if you want to test drive yourself. Beware that, like all things Google, your privacy is their profit, but you do pay for free things in the long run.

Anyway, there are 2 things that I rely on in a browser that are lacking in my quick 10 minute tests:
1) Changing the Cookie handling to 'Restrict how third party cookies can be used' prohibited me form logging into Blogger. There were no additional configuration options, so I had to revert to 'Allow all cookies'.
2) I use x.509 certificates extensively to authenticate to web sites. I am impressed that Google Chrome uses the Microsoft Certificate Store under the covers, so all my Windows cert-management tools work (unlike having to additionally manage separate cert stores under the various Mozilla-based apps), I never get prompted for a user certificate authentication challenge, nor does it send a 'default' x.509 user certificate. Kudos for using an existing cert store, but poo-poo for not (yet) allowing user-certs for authentication.

Here is the About info:

Google Chrome
0.2.149.27 (1583)
Official Build
Google Inc.
Copyright © 2006-2008 Google Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.13 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/0.2.149.27 Safari/525.13

Safari/WebKit based? Oh noez!!!! But the dragging/reordering of tabs is pretty cool.

I have a long list of Firefox plugins that I use that are not available for Google Chrome (but since it was just released today, time will encourage developers to port their code), so FF will remain my default browser. My second beef is the name: Chrome. Mozilla already uses a framework named Chrome, and this only adds to the confusion. At any rate, I will give it more test drives, and will update this post as I discover more.


Follow the link

 

Short post for now. Interested in things I bookmark for later review? See my del.icio.us bookmarks at http://delicious.com/Trowelfaz. There is a little bit of everything there. Yes, I have a lot of interests.


You see some strange things when you have an hour trip to/from work everyday. I've seen men shave (complete with shaving cream!) and countless women change everything from their blouse to everything head-to-toe, but this latest tops everything else. As I pull up to the stop light, I notice a man and woman on a crotch rocket motorcycle. The man was wearing those knee-length red basketball shorts, basketball jersey and hightops. Nothing interesting there, unless you consider the bubble butt (baby got back on that one!) riding along in the denim daisy dukes and white flip flops bumping and grinding, or rather, rubbing, on the seat. No, that was not all that unusual in the big scheme of things. What was unusual was the way she had her arms wrapped around the guy. Well, she *was* holding on, but not like you think. She had her hands down the front of the guys shorts (both hands) and, while stopped at the light, her hands certainly were busy. When the light turned green, he gunned it and pulled the front wheel off the ground. I guess she pulled back on the stick thinking she was flying an airplane or something. They get behind a slower car and I catch up. Her hands are still active, and now he has his left arm in a 'reverse reach around' position. They finally turn left and continue on their 'merry' way.

I don't think a helmet would protect them from a Darwin Award if they keep this up. Then again, they weren't wearing a helmet anyway. At least she had a good grip on things.


Finally, Adobe has released a new email client perfect for Mac users:

or for the Professional:


Adobe understands that Mac users cannot stoop so low as to type text in emails, but instead feel the desire to attach screenshots to get their elitist point across. To support the stick in the rear Mac fanboys, Adobe now offers Photoshop to replace the Mac email editor. Simply Select New Document, set the page size (the larger, the better), and click the Text tool and start typing! Easily change your font style, add additional images, apply some effects and press Send! In mere moments, your 22MB email with the graphical representation of 'Wanna do lunch?' will be clogging the 100+ recipients of your misdirected message.

Seriously folks, my cow-irker received an email from a vendor answering some questions about their online server for which the replay WAS A FRICKIN' SCREENSHOT OF THE ANSWERS!!!! WTF?!?!? Granted, this is an online application company that sells a hosted bug tracking application geared for people that are incapable of downloading bugzilla. As it is, the mailing list at work catering to people with Macs is already flooding with screenshots ('I have attached a screenshot of the screensaver settings so you can configure yours the same'), but from a vendor? I sure hope we drop this vendor like a hot potato.


I really despise all the lawsuits and attacks the 'entertainment' industry inflicts on consumers. I won't get into the whole copyright infringement, making available, copy protection and other interference that these groups impose on consumers (don't get me started on how they persuade lawmakers to spend tax dollars to 'protect' their 'assets'), but instead will rant about something that may normally go unnoticed. That is CD and DVD packaging. These things are locked up tighter than Fort Knox! Talk about a reason for online distribution! First, you have to navigate the huge plastic security holder for which the cashier does not have the unlock dohickey for, thus needs to ask other cashiers and ultimately the manager to retrieve (I guess that notched piece of plastic costs a small fortune, so a large retailer can only afford to have one). Next, you need to navigate the stronger-than-titanium plastic wrap. Finally, behold! NOT! You are thwarted by the edge stickers so thin, they have chemically bonded with the case. You finally manage to pick a corner up, only to have it tear into a 2mm piece that sticks to the tip of your finger. You keep digging at the sticker, further scratching the case (beyond the diagonal scratch across the front of the case from trying to remove the cellophane). Finally, you get about an inch separated and, after 30 minutes, decide to try to force the case open in hopes that the sticker will split along the case seam, just like when you try to remove masking tape from a roll, but all you get is a thin jagged strip, but alas, you crack the case instead. Only after you are deemed worthy, are you able to extract the pressed round plastic disc, hopefully unscathed (both the disc and yourself). And you get that torment for a mere $15.

Compare this to the console game industry. Their products have a much shorter shelf life compared to music and movies, cost 3-5 times more to the consumer, but have much easier access. OK, many games are proudly (or more times than not, haphazardly thrown) behind a finger and nose print decorated glass wall. Once you are able to find someone to help (after asking about a dozen people, and only after the security cameras catch you trying to jimmy the lock), and they call in Bob from the night crew to come in and drop off the only key, the only thing separating you from your purchased entertainment is a thin layer of plastic. A quick fingernail run along the fingerhold and the plastic seems to mysteriously disintegrate (or more likely, leap off the game case to the nearest hand/arm/flat surface in static induced vengeance). Total extraction time: about 10 seconds. I guess game companies cannot justify making you wait any longer to play the game since by the time you load it in your console, 50 additional copycat games have been released, and your game has now been replaced with a version 2 which fixes the horrible gameplay and graphics from the version you just purchased.

*SIGH* Digital downloads are where the future is at. If only the stodgy greedy industry your listen to consumers.


Split Personality

 

I have started another blog site dedicated to various kludges encountered. Most of the kludges are of the computer nature, but others are things kludged together for the real world. Check it out:
Kludge R Us


If Apple made Guitar Hero

 



No additional words needed for this pic. For a company that designs 'elegance' and 'style' and that stupid single mouse button, why do they insist on multi-key sequences for tasks? Sometimes you need a friend just to hold down the keys with you.


Too bad it is $399.00 :(
LEGO Death Star


"I think I can...."

 

Coming home today, I heard the sirens of an emerging emergency vehicle. What I wasn't prepared for is almost a 3 minute wait until it rounded the bend. To my surprise was a small mini van type vehicle with the siren roaring and lights flashing. Even more surprising is how speedy it was. NOT! I watch as the driver nagivated the intersection at a speed I can assume a turtle could pass, then when on the clear straight-away, he gunned it! Well, the engine (all 3 HP of it) revved up, BUT IT WAS NOT MOVING! Or at least, did not give the perception of moving. The transmission shifted into second gear, and it has moved about 20 feet, but the little engine was really trying. So another minute passes, and I can still see it struggling to get up the hill and out of sight. I pity whoever he was going to save.

On another note, here is something I grabbed from caphrims comments:


Wii Fit

 

My wonderful wife scored the last Wii Fit in Target yesterday!! (sorry caphrim, no Wii's in stock). It is pretty cool, and Wii Ski is a great game to pick up along with it. For those skeptical about getting Wii Fit, this video should help the decision:


Book Roll

 



I have finished or about to finish a few books that I wanted to share. First is Personal Days. This is a comical story about life in a downsizing company ultimately resulting in layoffs. It is a quick read, and is structured much like a blog. I enjoyed the first few chapters, but when the book switched formats to that of a screenplay (complete with act, etc), I stated to lose interest. If you have ever worked in an office, you can certainly identify with many of the characters and their roles, and much of the book did not contain much 'meat', but as I already stated, read like a blog (which is good for those with ADD!) However, the last chapter is presented as a letter, but is basically the book inside of the book where the intended storyline is laid out. In between plot descriptors in the last chapter are divergent thoughts leading credibility to the letter it is supposed to represent. To be honest, I skimmed over much of the last chapter, picking out only the bits that related to the story told in previous chapters. In all, the book is good library material if you want a book you can relate to without the need for an all encompassing story.


Forbidden Lego is a book that many have tried to get banned, based simply on the title. If those who are against the book actually READ it (or rather, looked at the pictures), they would see it is nothing more than a Lego how-to guide. Nothing stood out as contraband, just some creative uses of Lego's and other common items to help foster greater experimentation in engineering. There are steps on how to make a paper airplane launcher, a catapult, a plate dispenser and other projects. In all, very entertaining and projects that I would have loved to undertake as a kid (and many I did with my erector set!). The reasoning for the title, and thus subject to ignorance
from the uneducated is due to the projects not being officially sanctioned by Lego since the projects may launch an object or use non-Lego parts. That aside, it is a great book to show kids that Legos don't need to go together only the way shown on the box, but to rather think outside the box and apply some engineering principals.


How to Fossilize your Hamster is yet another book from the New Scientist team to supplement the 'Why don't Penguins Feet Freeze?' and 'Does Anything Eat Wasps?' series. I immediately recalled many of the questions answered in this book from the previous books, but this edition goes a step further and gives instructions on experiments you can carry out at home to come up with your own results. While I like these sorts of Q&A books, the addition of step-by-step instructions are an additional benefit that will help to demonstrate these theory's to kids so they can better understand the world around them.


Demand the Supply

 

Supply and Demand is a racket. All companies can do these days is deliver hype, not products. Take Nintendo for example. It has been a better part (if not more) of a year and your chances of getting a Wii are worse than winning the lottery when you don't play. Luckily, I was able to score a console last April, but have experienced the quest for the elusive gaming accessories. First (and often, still), I could not find additional Wii remotes. Searches for Wii Points Cards are like a search for the holy grail (unless you want to buy a pink rubber cover for a classic Wii controller - which I don't have). Mario Kart was a joke to find, but was able to locate a local store that had a clue as to their inventory. Now, Wii Fit is MIA. I think the premise is not so much that this is a tangible item for you to purchase, but rather you lose weight by traversing aisle after aisle in store after store in search of a glimpse of this next must-have gaming accessory. I understand keeping supply low to drive demand, but it comes to a point where your business will eventually suffer, or at least in theory it will. Reality paints a different picture. I think what really happens is eBay sabotages shipments so only a lucky few can buy a dozen or so and offer them up for auction at 5x the original price.

For those looking to get in shape with Wii Fit, until you actually find one available, take some advice from an unknown author:
'To look skinny, all you need to do is find fatter friends.'


Rock On

 



I recently finished Rock On by Dan Kennedy. It was a quick and witty read. Follow Dan's growth from idolizing rock stars to working at Atlantic Records to ultimately being laid off. This book really opens up the commercialization of the record industry, and if you think about the events Dan describes, you can plainly see how this industry spoon feeds you what they want you to hear, and how it is all about money. The surprising part of the book is the disclosure of the amount of money that passes through the execs pockets.


Christmas lights gone wild!

 

I am a HUGE fan of computer controlled Christmas light shows (you should see my house!!), and have put lights on my truck, but this takes the cake:


I'm a Mac, I'm Mr. Bean

 

Gotta love Mr. Bean!!!


Go Speed Racer!

 



I took my daughter to see Speed Racer this weekend. I was pleasantly surprised! Not only at her extremely good behavior (she is 5!), but at the movie itself. If you are looking for a movie that follows the laws of reality, see something else. However, if you grew up watching Speed Racer, this is the movie for you! There is a TON of CG in it, and at points even a geek like me was like 'OK, cars cannot spin like that' and 'This looks more like a video game than a movie', but even so, once you re-enter that Speed Racer mindset from your youth, it all falls into place again. There are a lot of the old cartoon series Speed Racer gags in it, and many may miss them or think WTF?!? but again, those who watched Speed Racer every morning at 6:30am will appreciate them. The colors are very vibrant (OK, extremely vibrant compared to real life movies), and none of the characters overshadowed the others. They even fitted in the Japanese unrealistic 'motion blur' backgrounds at the appropriate times (and Speed even leaps from his car in the infamous Speed way for a cut scene, but the gag is not overused).

In short, this was one of the few movies that I have actually enjoyed in the past couple of years. Then again, what do you expect from the Wachowski brothers, the directors of the Matrix? There are some new camera shots in this movie that you will see over abused in future movies by others, just like bullet-time from the Matrix.

If you grew up on Speed and are a geek, you will probably like this movie, as long as you turn off your over analysis mind and just enjoy.


Happy Birdy to Me

 

I am almost as old as the Earth (to)Day. Here is what my Sis sent me:


Unleash the Monster

 


I *so* love the Monster drinks. The carbinated caffeine injected beverage that has you bouncing off the walls, then crash. And the large cans are a sight to behold, their their thermos look and feel. The only drawback is the price for this sugary delite (at least twice the cost of a soda and half the size). First timers may notice a slight metallic after taste, which is part of the appeal. Now, they have energy charged Java. That's right, if coffee was not enough of a jolt, add the Monster formula to it and WOW! The brain goes into overload! I have tried Red Bull, and it is pretty good also, but costs the same as competitors, but you get less beverage.
My favs:
Monster Energy (the green can)
Java Monster - Mean Bean
Java Monster - Loca Moca

Keep an eye out at the various shopping centers (especially around sports stores) for the Monster green van or the tricked out pickup truck. If spotted, they may be giving out free cans. Through numerous fly-by's you can probably score a total of a six-pack. If you get hooked, pay attention to specials at the 7-11 and gas stations. You may score two 16oz cans for $4.


No words, just pics

 








And the pranks keep coming....

 

April fools is over, but the fools haven't gone away. If you used the internet on April fools day, you may want to check out April Fools Day on the Web to see if you were duped by bogus stories, gadgets and more. Too bad the verdict is still out on the G-Spot collagen shots.

While on the subject of pranks, here are some oldie-but-goodie office hijinks.

Then again, office pranks can be fun:


ThinkGeek was up to their old tricks. Here's hoping that Super Pii Pii Brothers makes it to market after popular demand just like some of their previous products have. I certainly would buy it! Can you image the party fun?

Bringing literal meaning to the Wii:


The April Fool is YOU!!!

 


I really don't like April 1st. It wasn't bad years ago, but it really is a PITA in the digital realm. Besides all the ghost in the machine pranksters scanning and sending SPAM landen with viruses, more and more popular (and even 'credible' news sites) are getting in on the 'fun'. While I do love practical jokes, when I don't have time to spend all my waking time surfing, I *really* don't want to waste my time with meaningless and outright ridiculous articles in the name of April Fool's. I stumbled across a few postings/events/articles that had very slight changes in the text that would not be noticed by most people. How is that funny? Only after someone reads the user comments does the joke come across. As my wife says: 'It is not funny if I have to explain it to you'.
Here is an example:
"XYZ slipped its production schedule and was delayed for release until next month..."
And here is the joke:
"XYZ really didn't slip its production schedule, it is still on target. PSYCH!!!"
"The text has mixed tense. The phrase 'was delayed' used in reference to 'slipped its production schedule' mixes tense. This is incorrect, since if it slipped its production schedule, it IS delayed for release, not WAS delayed for release."

OK, this is LAME. Whoever wrote this is a bigger loser than I. This same poster probably scrutinizes movie trilogies for minor and inconsequential inconsistencies and discontinuities.


So, what happened to the iPhone skin? Did the battery die? Did it crash? No. I re-linked my domain name to another directory location and forgot to move the skin images. Time to look for another skin since I was getting tired of the old one anyways.

Grew up in the 80's? Take a trip down memory lane at http://www.brandedinthe80s.com/


Metaphorically speaking

 

Caphrim007 and I were talking the other day, and we decided, to better fit in, to consider talking in parables. However, parable may not be the correct term, since while most of what we say does have a moral, it usually not spiritual in nature, and certainly oftain contains talking animals, plants and inanimate objects. I guess we should use metaphors instead. This way, maybe people will understand us better, and we should better fit in 'inner circles'.

So, if you teach a man to fish, he will get eaten by a shark. The shark will free the tuna in a net, thus a bird will fall from a wire.

What is one without one? It is for naught. But without one, naught cannot exist.

Blue will provide the light, but beware the shade. Colorless is nothing and everything, while colorful is lacking.

wrt the orthogonal symmetry is conducive parallel of the walltime docet to reach a state of an art herein a SLA of utmost importance of SOA to do their modular exposed diligence since harm rolls down hill before a prior.


Oxy"morons"

 

While driving for food this evening, I was behind someone in a pickup truck (not that I have anything against pickup trucks since I drive one). Never mond that the 'Driving Miss Daisey' driver was doing 10+ MPH under the speed limit. No, that in itself is not unusal, being near a raisin farm. What was ironic is this pickup truck had:
- Truck Nuts (again, not unusual)
- NASCAR sticker
- NHRA sticker
- 'Drive it like you stole it' sticker
- SPEED Channel sticker
- Dale Earnhardt sticker
- Checkered flag window graphic
Basically everything that screams 'I like racing and to go fast'. Why then go 10+MPH under the speed limit? I expected this rolling billboard to be breaking the sound barrier. I guess all the adverts weighed him down.


Walking with giants

 

Since it is spring break, my daughter has been wanting to go see dino's and mummy's, so off to the museum we went! She LOVED it. I am glad some of my science/technology genes rubbed off. It is amazing to see the fossils and recreation of dinosaurs, along with the skeletons of other animals, and the taxidermy of various animals. I just LOVED the dino's, and their bredth really makes you feel small. We spent a great deal of time at these exibits, and even caught the exbibit on Dragons and other myhical creatures (which was so-so, but no pic alowed :( ). At the end of the day, we were wiped out, but determined to get our monies worth, took a gander at the less popular exhibits such as Tibet, China, Gems/Geology and other cultural displays.






During my grade school days (in the late 70's), there were books I checked out from the library almost every week that I would love to share with my daughter now, but alas, cannot remember the titles, and Google returns a bazillion results, Amazon has pages upon pages of books that are not what I am looking for, and eBay likewise disappointed me.
These books were of the science type for kids. They were hard cover, about 10 inches wide and about 14 inches tall. They had around 40-50 pages or so of 'How-To' build things. Some were about robots, others medivial castles and catapults, others of vehicles and so on. One of the books was about robots. It had a picture of some cardboard type robots on the cover, and if I recall correctly, there was one that was made out of a red shoebox. These books would describe how the things work, and how to build your own using things around the house (most used paper towel tubes and rubber bands for portions of the construction). As a kid, I didn't have access to much of the construction materials, not because they were obscure or dangerous, but because, well, my parents probably threw the stuff out before I could get to it.
Anyway, if anyone has suggestions as to where I might find the books that may fit the vague description, please let me know! They were published around the 1975-79 time frame, but may even be as late as up to 1983'ish.


You are what you eat

 

WARNING --- APPLE FANBOYS - LOOK AWAY NOW !!! --- WARNING

To contune with my rants about Apple, I submit to you the following TV commercial for Apple, debueted during the 'Big Game' (can't say the superb*** word anymore without paying royalties) in 1984:


Well, how times have changed. Here is a company that was poking fun at PC users for basically being assimilated by the Borg known at the time as IBM. Don't conform; break the chains; 'Think Different'; Blah Blah Blah. All the dirty, smelly, free living hippie type reality altering hallucination talk you expect. Well, fast forward to 2008:
(wait for it. I cannot view the iPhone SDK User Agreement until I register with 'The Man', providing personal information before I can view a file to decide if I wish to proceed or not)
"3.3.3 Without Apple’s prior written approval, an Application may not provide, unlock or enable additional features or functionality through distribution mechanisms other than the iTunes Store"
"May not have Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) functionality."
This is just part of the User Agreement. If you dig deeper, you see all sorts of 'thou shall conform' type constraints.

Now, you also have to pay Apple to write apps for their iPhone and iPod:
"Standard Program $99
The Standard Program is for developers who are creating free and commercial applications for iPhone and iPod touch.

Enterprise Program $299
The Enterprise Program is for developers who are creating proprietary, in-house applications for iPhone and iPod touch."

OK, you can distribute your app through iTunes and make some money. But what if you want to write some apps for your personal use? It'll cost you $99. What if you want to write apps to give away for free? It'll cost you $99. What if you want to write something and apple doesn't like it, or it isn't pretty enough or is otherwise deemed that there are already too many apps of this type? It'll cost you $99 to be shot down. Now in all fairness, it is not $99 per app, but if you want to write some crummy app and use it, it'll cost you.

Let's look back a bit. OSX runs only on Apple hardware (or rather, not without some hacking and violating the license agreement). OS upgrades come out rather frequently and will cost you. The Apple developer community didn't learn a thing from the old trialware and shareware days and tries to soak every penny from Mac users. I forgot: Here are our new models for this year! Same old specs, but NEW COLORS!!!! Did they attend the same class that Nintendo Gameboy marketers did?

I could go on and on, but if you look at the bigger picture, the PC, which started life under the thumb of IBM, eventually cut the apron strings from mommy-Blue. Apple keeps tightening those strings. One can only hope that their circulation gets cut. That is when you will truely see innovative products for the Apple empire.




I have found the ultimate Windows application. If you are not a true geek, you can stop reading now. If you are a geek, navigate and install the application from andlinux.org. This is Ubuntu 7.10 Linux configured to run on Windows. It is not running in a virtual machine like VMWare or VPC, but real binaries (similar to Cygwin, but MUCH better). It installs a service as LocalSystem and a network driver. Afterwards, simply start the X-Windows terminal and you have full access to the Ubuntu goodness minus the boring desktop (for which you *could* install if you really wanted the bloat). You have access to the full APT repository with no modifications or recompiling. You can easily cut-and-paste between the Linux programs and Windows, and can easily get at files on your Windows drive. It creates a 2GB file which contains the Ubuntu install, and if that is not enough space, you can easily use the Windows disk for additional storage. Since I routinely access many remote Unix installations, I no longer need to run Reflection or hack together Putty w/Kerberos authentication. I can simply pop into an Ubuntu shell, kinit and ssh away!

The best thing is I can now analyze malware and suspicious web sites from a safe web browser without risk to my underlying Windows installation. I simply launch FireFox in the Ubuntu shell which runs in the Linux context and have no worries about getting cooties!

Oh yeah, I also got a Corsair Survivor 16GB USB thumb drive. It is a little big since it is a waterproof version (about the size of those waterproof match cases), but it is 16 FRICKING GIG OF STORAGE!!!


Kids' Rock

 

Here are some kids songs I could really get into:


Hospital != Rest

 

My daughter has the flu, and is dehydrated, so her dr ordered her to the hospital. A couple hours later, after sitting in the ER room (at least not in the waiting room!), they finally started her on a drip. Then we got the news: She was staying overnight. My wife ran home (40 minutes each way on a good day, but it was a blizzard!!!), then I took off and got home around 1:30am. Came back this morning and relieved the wife so she could catch up on sleep. Well, the kid was up all morning, can't sleep. During that time, we hardly saw anyone. Finally, she falls into a very much needed slumber and the IV finishes and starts beeping every couple of seconds. I go and tell the staff, but after 40 minutes, no one comes in to reset it so I turn it off. That was not the correct thing to do, since they then had to flush out the tubes (sorry kiddo!). She falls back asleep and for the past 1.5 hours, I think I have seen every person who works in this hospital. THey must have radar: 'If sleeping, go disturb':
- The maintenance guys proceeded to fix the emergency exit right next to our room. 30 minutes of high pitch beeping and talking on 2-way radios
- Housekeeping comes in to clean even though I asked if she could come back. She rattled everything that moved. A bomb is quieter. Oh yeah, she didn't like where I had the chair, so proceeded to drag it across the floor. I got her: I didn't pick up my feet which she was sweeping.
- Our lunch was very late in arriving, but a few minutes ago, someone comes tearing in with 2 trays. I tell him I didn't order anything now, and he is insisting, and is rattling the tops, glasses, etc. Finally, he concedes it is the wrong room, then makes even more noise leaving.
- A fire marshal tramps through looking for oxygen equipment.
- An orderly comes in just to look, then leaves. Comes back again and takes my daughters vitals. Comes back again because she forgot something. Opens the door again, then shuts it.
- The nurse keeps popping it.

So, they say to get as much rest as you can while in the hostipal. I dare you to try.


Our little lolcat

 


Tag, I'm it

 

I was 'tagged' by Melissa at Hope for the Hopless so I guess I need to list 7 random, weird or quirky things about me.

End User License Agreement

# Link to the person who tagged you
# Post the rules on your blog.
# Share seven random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
# Tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
# Leave a comment on their blogs so that they know they have been tagged.


I agree to the terms and conditions

1) I have many different hobbies. If something interests me, I pursue it. I have a closet full of astronomy, tools, electronics, R/C, aviation, rock climbing, video games, toys and anything else that sounding like fun at the moment.

2) I would spend every dollar I have if I could. I would have stacks of unopened TV's, video games, books, movies, gadgets and anything else available at BestBuy, Circuit City, Fry's and the hobby shops.

3) I am slightly dyslexic. That is, I read magazines from back cover to front cover. I read a page starting with the second paragraph or so, finish the page, then *maybe* skim back to the first paragraph. I usually skip over the first few and last words in a sentence and the wordy meaningless descriptive text.

4) Continuing on #3 (gotta stretch these out), I write weird as well (when I actually use a pen and paper!). I will write a word starting with the second letter, finish spelling the word, then go back and fill in the first letter.

5) An infants' scribblings with a crayon is more legible than my signature. You think your doctor has a bad signature? Mine is worse (but I can tell if I wrote it or someone forged it).

6) I cannot sit still. I am constantly thumping my leg, twitching my shoulder or drumming my fingers. I hate being cooped up all day, and need to get out just about every day. If I don't get out of bed, take a shower then head out the door, my day just seems to drag and I lose energy.

7) I don't accept 'I don't know' for an answer and have high expectations of people. I believe too many people simply accept 'just because' to explain things. It drives me nuts, and really gets under my skin! Since I am geek, I thirst knowledge. I get frustrated when people don't seem to live up to their potential that I *assume* they have.

BONUS) I repeat myself. When talking to someone, I will describe what they are to do many times over. This probably comes from years of being ignored by Alpha-Geeks during my apprentice days. I repeat myself. This probably comes from years of being ignored by Alpha-Geeks during my apprentice days. When talking to someone, I will describe what they are to do many times over. I repeat myself. When talking to someone, I will describe what they are to do many times over. This probably comes from years of being ignored by Alpha-Geeks during my apprentice days. I repeat myself. This probably comes from years of being ignored by Alpha-Geeks during my apprentice days. When talking to someone, I will describe what they are to do many times over.

Extra Credit) I talk to myself. Out loud. In the car. I will have an entire conversation for 50 minutes on my drive home from work, going over things that happened that day, things to do tomorrow or 'rehersing' for upcoming meetings or presentations.

I'll have to break the EULA above to 'tag 7 others' right now. I'll have to get back to you on that one. Check back later.


Illegal Use of Drums

 

WOOT! I tore into the RockBand drums package like Tommy Chong into a dime bag. NOTE: some assembly required! I quickly snapped everything together and plugged it into my PC. Windows discovered it as a Harmonix Drum Machine Controller and needed drivers. Sure computer, scour the Internet for them. No luck. Hmmm, that worked on my neighbors machines. No biggie. I downloaded the Xinput drivers from Microsoft and all was recognized correctly (If those don't work for you, try these instead). Next, a quick download of Drum Machine and I was in business. Or so I thought.

I launched Drum Machine and pressed on a drum pad. Nothing. I pressed one of the buttons on the drum controller. My PC made a drum noise. OK, it kinda works. Hmmmm. Ah ha! Maybe there are some sort of sound pickups or vibration/pressure type sensors under the pads. I lightly tapped a drum pad. BOMP! It worked! Tapped a few pads with the drum sticks. BOMP. BAM. CHING. I was in business. My daughter got up for a glass of water and literally drooled over the drums. She said she would play me a Barney song tomorrow. Joy. I can't wait.

But my aspiration to be the next Joey Jordison or Neal Peart is put on hold for the night. My significant other is asleep and probably wouldn't be impressed being awoken by the tappity-tap-tap, so I set them aside for tommorow so I can fulfill my fantasy of performing an Animal from the Muppets impression.



I have been watching the release date for the Xbox 360 RockBand standalone drums to be released.

The date slid a couple of times, but they came out today. The BestBuy web site did not have a listing for this highly desired controller, but the GameStop web site did. I took a trip to Fry's Electronics for some electronics parts and they had a stack of them, so I figured BB should also have them (they are pretty good about getting video game stuff on the release date), and since I had a stack of BB rewards coupons to use, I wanted to get it there. I jetted over to BB but alas, no drum sets, only the full combo (game, guitar, microphone and drums), and they didn't even know you could get the drums separately. While I would like the full kit, I already have the game, and I didn't want to shell out $170 (although, another guitar would be nice). I called another BB in the area AND THEY HAD THEM!!! WOOT! I quickly got there before they closed and bought the last one they had. But the trip was not without obstructions. After snaking the last juicy nugget from the circling vultures, the Blue Shirts descended upon me:
'Have everything you need?'
Yes
'You need the game for that'
I know
'That is not the complete set, those are over here'
OK
'Those are just the drums'
Yes, they are
'For the XBOX360'
Yes
'You still need the entire combo to use them'
I don't need it. I am going to use them on my PC.
'That won't work. They are only for XBOX360'
Not really.
'You still need the game'
I have the game
'I mean, RockBand, the game'
Yes, I have it
'And a guitar and microphone'
Have a guitar from GuitarHero2, don't want a mic
'But you need the full RockBand combo for those drums to work'
Luckily I was at the register by now. The 4 Blue Shirts tailing me broke formation with other unsuspecting customers in their sites. At the register, the conversation continued:
'This is only the drum controller'
Yup!
'You still need RockBand'
I have it
'Then why do you need more drums?'
I don't have the drums yet
'Then how do you have RockBand?'
The game is also available separately
'Oh, but this is just the drums'
*SIGH*
I handed over my 10% off coupons, but they were not valid for this obviously incorrect box (by their accord) I was purchasing. No biggie. Those coupons often have a lot of restrictions. I brought two different ones with in case one did score. Final total: $87 w/tax. WAIT! I handed over the BB Rewards coupons:
'I don't think you can use all of them at once'
I have before
'I don't think it will work'
They should, there are no restrictions on them.
DING! All accepted! I happily walked towards the door with my nonsensical (by their definition) purchase for less than the price of a video game. Now to get by the illegal bag checkers at the door. It was like deja vu all over again:
'Cool, RockBand. Wait, that is only the drum set'
Yes (flashed the receipt and continued walking out)
'I need to see your receipt'
(flashed it again and continued walking)
Now to go and hook them up to the PC.


Down and out

 

Well, we recently got dumped on with a ton of this white nuisance called snow. First we get about 8 inches, then 3 inches, then warmer weather, thunderstorms, then 16 inches if this fluffy goodness. All is great until you have to clear it away. My snowblower is useless on anything over 1/2 inch of fluff, so the chore of clearing 16 inches was not a challenge it was up to. Through the process of ramming the roaring wimp through snow drifts only to dig it back out with a shovel, I somehow used back muscles I never knew existed. No biggie, no pain, no gain they say. A few ibuprofen later and I never even knew that my muscles ached. That is, until the next afternoon when I sat in my chair at work. Needless to say, I saw stars! My coworker graciously walked with me out to my car after work to ensure all was OK (while moving at the pace of a snail). Alas, I had to make a few stops though, which required getting out of the car and walking into stores; a very tedious task at best. I got home and my wife was ever so helpful to make be comfortable. Bless her for not only taking care of our daughter, but me in my burdensome condition. The next day, the pain was so great I was nauseous. Time to call the doctor! Painfully, I traveled the 18 miles to the Dr office (try to drive a stick shift with back pain!!) and was prescribed the ever delightful cocktail of muscle relaxers and pain meds. After getting the script filled (they sure work quick when you are sitting in front of the pharmacy counter moaning and wincing), I quickly popped a few of the better living through chemistry gifts. Hmmm, not much effect. So I made a quaint little home in my bed for the rest of the day. Today, the muscles used to compensate for the strained back muscles ache, and the meds just take the sharpness off. Hopefully, things will repair quickly so my wife can take a break. Luckily (for good or bad), I am on furlough from work next week, so that should give me time to recoup, but it is not the way I planned to spend my unpaid leave.


The Church of Apple

 

So I am reading about someone finding and releasing the signing key for the iPhone SDK so one can possibly write their own applications for use on an iPhone (which as of right now is not permitted by the almighty Apple). OK, cool. The same thing happened with the DVD decryption keys and the community was thrilled for being able to stick it to the MPAA. Well how times have changed! The Mac fanboys have rallied and are crying in their caffeinated water bottles. How can some evil person even wish to desire the signing key, let alone publish it? Please leave the sacred Apple products in their pure state, blessed by Jobs himself. This means that someone could possibly write malicious code for which can then trick a very-smart-and-keen-for-being-thrilled-over-bouncing-icons superior Mac users into running, thus compromising their Apple sanctuary. Oh STFU!!!!!

I think it is a bad move for Apple to not permit independent application development for the iPhone. However, how else can they (and any lucky 3rd party developers who are in the sacred inner circle) nickel and dime their fanbase if they allow lower life forms to make programs that may be superior to their own applications and release them for free?

I don't mind the Mac itself. I use them occasionally. I don't swear by it, just like I don't hold any allegiance to Windows or Linux either. I simply use the right tool for the job instead of forcing me to recast my need to my restricted platform of choice.

It seems that Apple could become a religion. They already have an icon/prophet for whom the followers regard as a demi-god. There is already a very large and deeply dedicated following of sheeple willing to climb the mountain to hear the deity Steve reveal new colors for an already deprecated product line. Wars (flame) have already been undertaken against those who oppose their beliefs, all in the name of their savior. They are already accustomed to doling donations to obtain new songs, useless applications and even larger donations to pay for black spray paint, so the passing of the collection plate will always be returned full. And no matter how attractive other alternatives look, or how bad they are deprived, they remain loyal. Sounds like all the makings for a religion to me. Wait! They are missing some sort of bible. I guess a Macworld keynote speech would suffice. Someone needs to fill out the Government paperwork so they can be officially recognized. But that won't happen. Apple is to full of itself to demean itself by admitting they are not a church already, and the fanboys don't have the initiative to do anything that is not outside of the Apple sphere. I guess it is a good thing. I really don't want to see the steeple of an Apple store at every residential intersection.


Wasting Time

 

Time for a link dump. Here are some of the lighter side sites I have been visiting lately.

The Funny Farm game is a word association type game that I am currently hooked on. Avoid it like the plague lest you be sucked in:
http://shygypsy.com/farm/p.cgi

Abandonia is a great archive for those years-be-gone computer games that have been abandoned. Through the hard work of others, you can now download them without worry that your computer won't be powerful enough to run them. How many hours did you waste on some of these in the old 286 & 386 days?
http://www.abandonia.com/

Gaming magazines of the pre-Internet are now online! I cut my teeth on Trash80's, Commodores, Atari, and had plenty of these magazines as a kid. Funny though, I remember them being much cooler than now. I used to look at the ads, longing for enough money to buy that new crappy-block-graphic video game....my, how times have NOT changed! Don't forget the hours laboring over typing in pages upon pages of DATA statements to generate some incomprehensible ASCII art generating program.


Rock on, dude!

 

I'll admit it. I own Guitar Hero for my XBOX 360. Yes, I have jammed on the garage door (via my XBOX 360 hooked up to a projector) with my neighbor. Yes, it was fun. Yes, I own a real guitar. No, I cannot play it. Do I think these guitar game controllers will make me a rock star? No. They are just plain fun. I have been looking at RockBand to supplement my virtual rock stardom with the included drum set, but at a costs of $170, I have been not willing to oblige. Well, I was over at my neighbors house and he has RockBand. It comes with a guitar controller, which has very nice action and feel, a microphone and the drum pads. I have to say, it is pretty cool, but if only the drums could be purchased separately. Looking on the 'Net, it looks like MadCatz is coming out with a stand alone drum controller 'first half of 2008', so I guess I'll have to wait, but although, another guitar would be sweet so I can play head to head with neighbors (I don't do online gaming).

But is that all you can do with the drums? It is said finishing the game on the Expert level should enable you to pound out a good beat on real drums. However, what if you just want to have fun, or to expose your children to musical instruments without incurring the hefty cost of the instrument or instruction? It just so happens that there is an application called Drum Machine which allows you to plug your RockBand drum set into a Windows PC and play it like real drums!


You can map new sounds to the drum pads and jam away. Now you have a dual purpose controller: one for gaming, and one for learning. Plug the drums into your game console and hit the notes a-la DDR style, then plug it into your computer create your own beats. And yes, it really does work! We loaded the application up on my neighbors laptop, plugged in the drums, and his kids started pounding away with all the freedom they could wish for.

Looks like I will have to pick one up sometime. I'm sure my daughter will have a blast with it.


Shrunken chesticles?

 

I was watching an episode of The Office, streaming from Netflix for which I gotta say, I LOVE the Netflix streaming! No longer do I have to wait a few days for a DVD for which I probably won't watch since it comes when I don't feel like dedicating the evening to watching a movie. While the Netflix streaming does not have a lot of current movies, they do have a bunch of TV shows available which is perfect for capturing an episode or two before bed.

Watching this streaming rental, I was whisked away back to a time when I had a chance, or rather offered a chance, to my employer some years ago in the early commercial Internet days (a large worldwide technology company) to integrate streaming media into their products. I was doing a lot with multicast technologies at the time, and even started writing a book about it at the time (but never finished), so had a pretty good idea on how to accomplish this. I outlined a plan to integrate TV outputs into a cable modem (a product line we acquired through an acquisition) and multicast support to deliver media content to not only PC's, but also TV's, since who really wanted to watch videos on their 14" CRT monitors (remember, this was before flat panel displays and media center PC's). The idea was, since an ISP provided the cable modems to the customers, and said providers were also TV content delivery companies, the technology would complement each other while reducing bandwidth requirements. I sent the idea to the CEO of the company, who in turn forwarded it to the director of the newly acquired media services division. The director was going to be traveling to our corporate office soon, and would set up a time to talk with me further about my idea. Mind you, this company was founded on ideas like this, and even prized a concept for using satellites for communications drafted on a bar napkin! Well, I worked more on the design (minus the electrical engineering aspects, a skill I lacked) and even identified and resolved some initial flaw, awaiting for my big pitch. I finally received the call: I would meet with the person in three days! Whoo Hooo! NOT! The day before the meeting, I found out that the director left his position for another company. I emailed the CEO again, and eventually the predecessor, only to be now ignored. I was fit to be tied from being ignored about an idea that seemed like natural progression, even if it was a bit ahead of its time. I zipped up all the documents, flowcharts and code samples and forwarded it out to the handful of cable modem and cable TV box manufacturers I could find, along with Blockbuster. I did receive a few 'thank you' responses, but in retrospect, I should have patented the idea instead.

Fast forward to today. We can time-shift TV (but not radio??? Stupid laws!!), YouTube almost anything, Bittorrent the latest movies, and now Netflix announced a set top video rental/streaming box. Ahhh yes, a patent would have been nice. I guess the world was not ready for this technology then, so I will have to wait for my big break in my next lifetime. However, it is good feeling to know you were ahead of the curve. I can't wait to see where this technology goes next (providing the RIAA & MPAA get out of the way!)

Oh yeah, what does this have to do with Shrunken Chesticles? As I said in the beginning of this post, I was streaming an episode of The Office from Netflix. Shrunken Chesticles was a term used to describe someone 'flat as a board'.


Google goes to a party....

 

If you use the Internet, especially social networking sites, this video will really hit home. Too funny and true!
http://www.cracked.com/article_15825_internet-party-what-happens-when-googles-parents-leave-town-for-weekend.html


All of your digital wants and desires are already fulfilled, but don't let the RIAA know. You see, digital content, such as Music, Movies and Programs are really nothing but a bunch of 1's and 0's, when stored on your hard drive. A music file is nothing more than a set arrangement of the various 1's and 0's into a format that some other set of 1's and 0's can interpret. What if you were to manually create a pattern of 1's and 0's to exactly match that of your favorite music track, or even that of Microsoft Windows? Would you be violating any copyright laws since you did not copy original works, but rather created your own from scratch? I am not a copyright expert, or even claim to know anything about the complex laws surrounding it, but I believe the laws center around the finished work, not the actual arrangement of the 'physical' elements.

Now, accomplishing this is not a small feat. It is utterly expensive in terms of money and time, but is possible (you Quantum Computing bandwagon riders may want to read my previous post). Lets say you take a LOT of 10MB hard drives. On each drive, you systematically write an incrementing pattern of 1's and 0's. On the first drive, it will be full of 0's, the next all 0's with a single 1; on the next, all 0's, a 1 and a 0; the next will have two 1's and so on until the very last drive has all 1's. When completed (and many millennium later), you will have at least one (actually, many) already created works. That is, some of the drives will contain bit sequences that are an exact match of another program or file. It should be noted that this is pretty much the same process used to systematically brute force passwords. So forget Bittorrent, just go buy a few billion hard drives and start writing those bits! The speed of completion will probably be the same of the time it takes to actually get a successful download off of Bittorrent anyway.


Quantum Leap?

 

As I have said in earlier posts, I work with some of the brightest scientists in the world. As you can imagine, there are some pretty interesting water cooler conversations, but most revolve around topics mere mortals cannot begin to comprehend. Naturally, being around brainiacs all day tends to make you a product of your environment, or rather, makes you believe you are more intelligent than you really are. My coworker and I were philosophizing about Quantum Computing. If you don't know what that is, surely you in another universe does! Now, I am far from an authority in this subject, so take the following content with a grain of salt, for certainly much of the content is probably incorrect, if you were to ask an expert in this faux field of study. Basically, Quantum theory goes something like this, as I interpret it:'Things exist in all states (e.g. universes) until they are observed. Once observed, the path (state) becomes known. However, by observing the state, it is said to disturb the system." In short, it is said that in the Quantum circles, everything is everywhere, and only until you observe it do you see the results. Many of you have heard about Schrödinger's cat. If not, do a Google search on the subject to see if the cat is dead or alive. During our conversation, I kicked back in my chair, put my feet up, and felt like a real scientist. The conversation roughly followed this train of thought: "What were they smoking when, in the 1920's, the Quantum theory was conceived? I'm mean, come on. It is everywhere? However, don't observe or measure it, else disturb it? Then by disturbing it, you taint any remaining results, less creating a new outcome for the presently measured results" "Why don't I just observe the point in the Quantum universe where I am rich? That will solve my problems. Then again, I may already be rich in another universe, thus will alter the outcome of myself, but in parallelism. But when then, if another me observes this rich state and consequently takes the well deserved riches away from me?" "Why not just sit at our desks all day and do nothing, stating that everything has already been done, just go on your way and observe that in the Quantum universe for which you wish accomplished? Hmmm, I'm sure Payroll will certainly jump on that bandwagon: We did pay you, but in another universe. Seek it out."

We came to the conclusion that the Quantum theory is technical reasoning to explain our existence and the dullness of life. Maybe, in another Quantum universe, life is more exciting! Just think, infinite possibilities! In one case, I am doing what I am doing right now. In another, I am president. Another, rich and famous. But wait, in others, I may be a serial killer, a caterpillar or who knows what. Only by observing will we find out. But wait! Me knowing where I am right now means that I have observed ?!?!?

I left the discussion with the same attitude towards Quantum mumbo jumbo the same as when I entered. It is a fantasy reserved for deep thought when tripping on acid or other reality distortion chemical. Now, if someone were to instead define it as not infinite, but rather as a new type of measurement system, then I'll bite. You may have heard about Quantum Computing. This is a type of machine that theoretically can compute large values at great speed because the results are already there. One just needs to observe the proper result. But how do you know where to observe? That is the drawback in the Quantum world (again, observing means it is no longer infinite, and you create a 'disturbance in the force').

I would rather see it implemented in a way for which there are definitions. For example, you have a cubit (a Quantum element) that is in orbit around something that it is supposed to orbit. Let's say that this only orbits in a single plane. While orbiting, the cubit is also spinning. About the orbit, you have detectors at every 1 degree of the orbit, resulting in 360 measuring points. The speed of the orbit is fixed and known. You can now, using something as simple as binary, have a machine that can have 360 states at once; you just need to trigger the correct sensor in the array of 360 detectors and read the rotation of the cubit during that point along the orbit. Sounds simple enough, providing the cubit has a property that facilitates detection of a state (e.g. + or -) during its rotation. But there is a flaw in this thinking. Say you have a trigger at the 45, 46, 47 and 48 degree sensors. You write to your cubit computer the following binary pattern: 1001. So when reading sensor 45 you get a positive reading designating a 1, a negative charge at sensor 46 and so on. The cubit retains this charge in these positions until either you change the state at that exact point during its orbit, or some other natural breakdown occurs. Here is the catch: The spin rate of the cubit needs to change to reliably keep the binary value 1001 in the 45-48 positions. When the orbit moves from 45 to 46 degrees, in our stored value, the cubit needs to make a half rotation (moving from the + to - state), but when moving from 46 to 47 degrees, it either needs to stop rotation, or speed up to complete one rotation to preserve the binary 0 (- charge), then needs to rotate again a half turn to complete the binary 1 in position 48.

I have brought this up in other friendly forums before, and some say that a Quantum computer needs only one cubit of processing power and one cubit of memory, if fantasyland were real. I argue otherwise, but have written way to much about a topic I know almost nothing about to bore you any further.

Ahh well, this makes my head hurt. I will leave it up to the geniuses to figure it all out after a little shake and bake session on their blackboards.


Book Club

 

Here are some books I am currently reading or listening to. I usually don't get a chance to read, so I prefer audiobooks, but when I do read, I don't just read one books at a time, but a few together (hold on, my ADD is showing). Mind you, while I usually am a very fast reader (at least in technology related materials and other readings where the fluff and colorful descriptions is unimportant), it usually takes me quite a while to finish a novel. Getting tired after a few pages doesn't help either.
- Designing Interactions - Bill Moggridge
This books is less about designing interfaces for user interaction and more about the incestuous relationships between Xerox PARC and Apple. This is basically a bio of the dozen or so people the author has rubbed elbows with, and leaves the impression that only those from PARC and Apple created all things computing. While there are a few thought provoking gems, the rest of the book is uninteresting if you want more of proficient design theory and less of the who's-who.

- Electronics for Dummies - Gordon McComb, Earl Boysen
Since I am starting to learn about electronics (I am familiar with the basics, and have made small circuits in the past), I wanted a quick read that was light on the mathematical aspects. This books seems to do just that. It describes the basic components and how they are used, and has you build a few small circuits to demonstrate the component uses.

- Electronics Projects for Dummies - Earl Boysen, Nancy C. Muir
I picked this up to complement the Electronics for Dummies book, thinking there might be more small circuits that I could build to demonstrate to my young daughter. Yes, there are a handful of circuits that look interesting, but they all seem to require some specialized component only available from select online retailers. This leaves out the quick trip to Radio Shack or Fry's to get what is needed, converting a 1/2 hour project into days of waiting for a $3.00 part (+ $10 shipping) to arrive. One is better off searching the Internet for small learning circuits.

- Coming Back Alive - Spike Walker
I just started this book. It was promoted on Deadliest Catch last season on Discovery Channel, and sounded interesting. However, it took a while before my library received it, and I forgot the title of it until the scrap paper I wrote it on suddenly appeared when I was straightening up my computer room. I only finished the epilog, introduction and chapter one before my eyelids decided to shun outside lights. So far, from what I have read, the stories seem a bit sensationalized, which is probably needed to entertain readers. but then again, there is at least some truth to the stories, but I hope the entire book does not evolve into 'fish tales'.

- A Spell for Chameleon (Xanth, Book 1, audiobook) - Piers Anthony
I prefer audiobooks since I can listen on my communte to and from work. I really like fantasy audiobooks, but have a hard time picking ones to listen to, not being familiar with the whole fantasy book selections. I generally stick to those which have movies, such as Harry Potter, LOTR and Eragon, but decided to try those of Xanth, mainly since there are a lot of books in the series and the good reviews. At first, I didn't know if I could stand it. I think it was a combination of the voice from the storyteller and the writing itself. I held on through the first few chapters, only to find myself being sucked into the storyline. Once you get the background and other obligatory storelines out of the way, you are whisked into the puzzle solving aspects of the story. What is the real talent? I think I already figured it out, but it is a joy to listen to the event unfold. I am not tempted to skip ahead to validate this, for the meat in between is engaging enough. While there are some attempts at dry humor (exploding magical cherries are 'Cherry Bombs') and many references to sexual attraction and tension, one must remember that these books were probably targeted at 14 year old boys, preying on their emerging urges.

Well, that is my reading list for now. A bit of history, knowledge and fiction.


People wonder why brick and mortar stores succumb to online sales. Online stores lose the touch-and-feel from shoppers, and certainly cannot compete when it comes to impulse items. However, online stores are superior when it comes to finding exactly what you are looking for, as long as you are willing to wait a few days. I am trying to learn some electronics, and made a quick trip to my local Radio Shack recently for a few discrete components that I needed to build a small example circuit. Nothing uncommon: LED's , 555 timer and a 4017 decade counter. These are small, cheap components that should be available at any electronics store. Well, Radio Shack let me down. They did have the timer chip, but nothing else. OK, I'll take the trip up to Fry's Electronics, the geek superstore. If you have never been to Fry's, it is the size of a large supermarket with everything under the sun that is powered by electricity. Computers, computer parts, washers, dryers, refrigerators, TV's, DVD players, video games and systems, movies, phones, radios and anything else you could hope for. Oh yeah, they also have electrical components. A lot of them. Or so it seems.

I made a small shopping list of discrete components I needed for a few beginner electronics projects. Again, nothing obscure. I spent the better portion of an hour looking at components, trying to cross items off of my shopping list. Low and behold, they didn't even carry much of the items I was in search for! Those items that they did carry, they had low stock on. For example, I needed 3 types of a certain chip. They had a foot long peg containing the items, but only carried two of them. Now, this is a chip that you commonly use in a trio, so why only carry two? Maybe they needed to reorder. Nope. Looking at the other components, most of the pegs only had 2 packages of the components. It is not looking good so far. One item I was in need of was a PIC. This is a chip that you can write programs to. They carry the devices to actually program the chips, but the actual chips could not be found. Anywhere! I asked an employee that was stocking items in the electronics area where I could find the PICs at. He said 'guitar picks?'. Arghh! No. I explained what it was, and commented that since he is in this area, I would hope he would know where to find them. He directed me to the computer counter where someone might be able to help me. After waiting four deep behind people asking questions like 'will this hard drive fit my computer' and 'I want to upgrade my memory in my computer. What model of computer? Windows.', I finally was greeted by someone who looked like they dreaded the next question to insult their intelligence. I promptly changed their look to that of bewilderment when I inquired about PICs. He didn't know what they were, but would look in the computer. His search of PICK returned nothing. *SIGH*. I told him it was PIC and gave him a few model numbers, and directed him to the PIC programmers displayed on the screen. No dice. Nada. No results returned. Strike two on trying to procure common components.

I was reciting my misadventures to a coworker who stated he has had similar experiences and only shops for components online, else he scavages old electronics equipment to recover their silicon goodness before their retirement in the great trash heap. He gave me a few pointers on where to get samples of small components online, and after filling out a few online forms, I have some of the components I need being shipped as I write this, free of charge!

While this post outlines my most recent dealing with brick and mortar stores, I find this a regular occurrence. For most household projects, I need to visit two to three different hardware stores. One for the lumber, one for electrical items and one for fasteners. Same thing goes for incidental items. Luckily, the Walmart, Target and Meijers are all close together, so I can hit each store for the items I need on my shopping list.

So, while I pass new shopping malls being built, I can't help but wonder how long it will take before the new tenants perish to the powers of the Internet.