Ponderings of the pensive percussionist

Working at a remote office this week...

2012-01-31T13:47:00.005-06:00

Lakeland, FL: This office is a fabrication plant that makes all kinds of cool stuff. Right now they are working on some gigantic reverse osmosis systems that can pump over a million gallons of purified water per day!

It is fun seeing the different remote offices and what they do even though the actual network migrations (the reason for my trips) can be a bit a stressful. The fact that the temperature here is 79 degrees with low humidity, sunny with a nice breeze doesn't hurt either.

Year end ponderings on world events from a tin-foil hat wearing percussionist

2012-01-04T15:04:00.013-06:00

Been a while since I posted anything but it has been a busy year (some family sickness and 'work' has been more on the crazy/busy side for a few months.) Anyway... 2011 was an interesting year for me from the standpoint of political awareness and how I feel about many things I would have once dismissed as consipracy theories.

Some conclusions I have come to in a nutshell based on a LOT of Internet research and simple open-minded observations of current events and history:

1. The U.S. dollar is doomed and doomed most likely in the very near term (months? perhaps years, but not many.) The base money supply has been increased by a deviously large percentage via the Federal Reserve's secret loans to banks around the world. in 2008 we were only told about 1.5 trillion. Recenty Ron Paul's partial audit revealed that 16 trillion had been loaned out (money created out of thin air as debt) which to my mind means that in truth there has likely been MUCH MUCH more money created in the last few years. When money is created like this it doesn't immediately create price inflation because it will take a few years for the money to begin to circulate into the real economy... but it is sort of like a human getting blasted with radation. It won't likely kill you right off the bat but it does permanent damage that can't be undone and your life is going to be greatly shortened. The dollar has been HUGELY devalued by this and it is inevitable that the economy will see it shortly. The only way to protect yourself from this doom is to move any available paper assets (savings accounts, IRAs, bonds, 401Ks, etc.) to land/property and/or commodities like precious metals. I think precious metals (particulatly silver) is THE best form of protection against the inevitable inflation (and outright bank theft). The recent MF Global collapse has already revealed how easy it is to lose money you thought was safe. So you can actually just have your money stolen from you through a bank collapse OR you can lose the value of it through inflation (or more likely hyper inflation).

2. There is going to be a gigantic wealth transfer when the banking system collapses and basically it is going to move from those with paper assets to those with hard money assets (i.e. silver). For the last 40+ years the price of gold and silver has been repressed by the system because if you can't control the price of precious metals you can't control fiat currencies and the inflation/deflation cycle. The result is that silver (vastly moreso than gold even) is undervalued (meaning: CHEAP AS HECK!). If the commodity prices were allowed to freely move within a free market system, we would probably see the price of silver shoot from $28/ounce to $1000/ounce or $5000/ounce or $10,000/ounce (I could keep going but it makes my head spin). Mike Maloney does an excellent job of laying out this point: http://goldsilver.com/video/debt-collapse-20-000-gold-mike-maloney/

3. Ron Paul has a very good chance despite what the main stream media says of becoming the next President... as long as he can avoid being assassinated! That might sounds nutty but I want you to read the following short article... over the life of our country there has been a documented struggle between certain men (who believe like the Founding Fathers that a central bank was terrible for our Republic) and the European banking systsem that WANTED a central bank to exist in the United States. http://thetruthnews.info/bankers_and_presidents.html

-- Draw your own conclusions. According to a book called 'The Creature from Jekyll Island' by G. Edward Griffin, a book about the (now public) secret meeting of bankers prior to the creation of the Federal Reserve, documents how it was these very banks that purchased the 50 largest newspapers in the United States with the alleged idea to use the media to 'warm' the American public to the idea of a central bank. Well those same companies for the most part have not changed ownership over the years... they have just expanded to more modern forms of media like television and radio. The mainstream media outlets are beyond any doubt working to keep Ron Paul out of the Presidency as can be seen by anyone even half paying attention . They support each GOP candidate that surges whilst always belittleing Dr. Paul and his 'chances' at election. This says something profound to me... there is something about Dr. Paul they do not like (and by they I insinuate the owners of these media outlets and by deduction... the banking system). I believe there is more than enough evidence to connect the dots here that a Ron Paul Presidency would be against the interests of the banking system and yet NONE of the other GOP candidates pose a similar threat.

4. 2012 is bound to be a rough year for the middle class and the poor of this country as well as for those same groups around the world. If a major economic disaster occurs in Europe, then it will most assuredly reach our shores in a matter of weeks considering how interconnected the world's leading economies are. Our own credit crisis of 2008 had world-wide effects and if the Euro falls then it will I believe lead to the dollar following, much the same as man with a canonball chained to his ankle when someone drops it into the sea (I guess the man was on a pirate ship :-P .) Worst case scenarios (but nothing inconceivable) are of course bank holidays but even closer to home would be supply shortages... food for example. It is extremely conceivable especially if the dollar were to go into outright hyper-inflation that the country's infrastucture could experience some big hiccups and things like food deliveries to grocery stores could see delays of days or weeks. In such cases since the average American only has about 2-3 days of food in the house there would be food riots and potentially violent crime even in suburbs as people attempt to feed their families. Gasoline could also experience these types of delivery delays. Our country even though it is in debt up to its eyeballs has been living as if it were wealthy (although I don't consider borrowed money as wealth) and so there ARE abundant reserves here of all sorts but as I said, there could be 'periods' of days or weeks when things are scarce enough to cause people to panic. The solution? Well for the short term it would be wise to stock up a bit more (or a lot more) and consider a means to defend your home if the neighborhood gets dicey. In the long term the only real solution is for the monetary system to collapse and a new system replace it.

5. So what would or should replace the current fiat system?? Well it has already been broadcast by the Eurozone that a new world currency is ready for deployment. The question is, who will be running our country when the offer is made??? Ron Paul would reject it and the U.S. would go onto a Gold Standard (if he were in office that is). I would venture a guess that ANY other GOP candidate (or Obama if he gets reelected) will gladly toss away American sovereignty and most Americans in order to get back to prosperity will do ANYTHING necessary including embracing a new currency controlled by a government other than our own (most likely a world government in some form or other). In that case we would trade one failed fiat system for another doomed to experience the same fate and insodoing would also further subvert ourselves to the rule of a world-governing body.

6. The average American is asleep watching football and reality TV so most of what I just said will sound like the blathering of some fatigues-wearing militia member (nothing wrong with that by the way) with a penchant for tinfoil headgear. These are the conclusions I have come to based on the information I have seen. Many have come to different conclusions, some more main stream, some far more extreme. I just recommend that people open their eyes and come to their own conclusions but most importantly that you ACT on those conclusions and don't ignore facts merely because the outcome of those 'facts' might be negative and difficult to contemplate. I'm not really frightened of 2012... much less so in fact since I feel at least somewhat prepared for it but I do feel a good deal of foreboding, not even as much for my family as my friends and extended family who probably DO think I am either nuts myself or terribly naive and perhaps foolish. Unfortunately time is going to tell... and soon I think.

**If you want to hear from someone who has a facinating theory of what is happening in banking with the dollar and gold and silver and where things are headed... check out http://www.roadtoroota.com/. His name is Bix Weir and of everyone I've been following, I hope he has it right... his theory actually has a happy ending even though the middle of the story is going to get rough.

Some specific links to articles and interviews from Bix:

- http://www.roadtoroota.com/public/190.cfm (The actual road to roota theory)

- http://www.roadtoroota.com/public/789.cfm (Recent interview with SGTbull -- another blogger and silver bug. Note, BIX predicts Sarah Palin will be chosen to run with Ron Paul and lo and behold just yesterday at the Iowa Caucus she all but endorsed him... I am curious what happens in the coming weeks with that.)

- http://www.roadtoroota.com/public/94.cfm (talks of where the silver price should be and why)

There is a TON of good info on the free section of his website (He does even more for members but I am not interested in paying $150/year and the free stuff is great). That's all folks.

Fall gardening 2011

2011-10-22T15:53:00.008-05:00

Well so far so good. This is my first attempt at growing cool weather crops... in cool weather. Planted everything the third weekend in August and everything seems to be coming up pretty strong. Since I had good luck over the Summer with sugar snap peas and since my family uniformly LOVES to eat them, I dedicated the two small beds entirely to peas. The larger bed I split three ways into carrots, lettuce and spinach (all considered cool weather crops).

Thank you neighbor's pine tree for the free mulch.

I used a legume innoculant on the snap peas which is supposed to produce a steady stream of nitrogen throughout the growth cycle... seems to be doing its job!

A young carrot top... before his career tanked!

A baby lettuce... the lettuce and spinach both have been somewhat frustrating in that even though I planted the seeds all at the same time, the sprouts just came up haphazardly over the course of a few weeks, so I have plants in varying stages of development.

Spinach... my favorite salad.

One of the larger lettuce plants (still only half grown)

The big uprights are from my tomatoes... just never took them down.

The sugar snap pea vines are looking very good and I hope we have a bumper crop (the peas freeze well so we'll get stocked up for the winter).

A sea of carrots! I made sure to use phosphorus this time and NO extra nitrogen... last year my carrots were giant bushes of green with pathetic little orange lumps the size of grapes under the surface.

I will report again when I have something to harvest.

Political Spectrum quiz

2011-10-04T15:32:00.001-05:00

My Political Views
I am a right social libertarian
Right: 5.97, Libertarian: 6.11

Political Spectrum Quiz

I've considered the possibility that my Ron Paul posts on facebook irritate more people than enlighten...

2011-09-12T07:24:00.003-05:00

SO just for my own edification I shall post the new ad here in my personal space...

Some can see it coming while others, not so much....

2011-07-01T11:53:00.006-05:00

The Dollar: I'm not feeling well... could one or both of you guys give me a break?

The Left: Hey it's the Right that is making you work your butt off with the Military Industrial Complex. They have something like 900 miltary bases in over 100 countries... we give billions to countries all over the world and we are fighting in four wars simultaneously not to mention the ones we don't know about.

The Right: Oh Bollocks! The Left is making you feed millions who can't or won't feed themselves. They are making you work overtime by funding failed programs like Medicare and and Social Security and even come up with new programs like Obamacare. The Left needs to back off and let you recover.

The Left: Shut up! Obamacare protects those who can't get healthcare!

The Right: whatever dude... even illegals can get freaking healthcare! You guys are bankrupting our country with your ludicrous spending!

The Dollar: Umm hey guys? ...

The Left: No your warmongering is bankrupting our country with your insane HAWKISHNESS!

The Right: Obama sucks!

The Left: GW sucks! No oil for blood!!!

The Dollar: ...guysss ...

The Right: George W Bush was a great president!! Hope for change, my ass!

The Left: @%^&^@$ $^(*@ (*@ $^&^&^#!)&#$~!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Right: You kiss your mother with that mouth??? Hey what do... wait... ummm Dollar?

The Left: ...Dollar?

The Dollar: .... X-(

The Left: ...

The Right: ... Oh F&%@ !

How to eat steamed clams

2011-05-05T12:44:00.005-05:00

Step 1 - Fly to Boston on business.

Step 2 - Find a good seafood restaurant

Step 3 - Order steamers with fries

Step 4 - Select a clam (if the shells are closed then the clam
was dead when steamed so DON'T eat that one!)

Step 5 - Gently remove the clam from the shell

Step 6 - Remove the skin from the clam's 'foot'
(After being steamed the skin comes right off like a sock)

Step 7 - Rinse the clam in the blue bowl of warm water
(This removes any sand... though you usually still get a little bit
of sand every few bites. Its just part of the experience.)

Step 8 - Dip the rinsed clam into the yellow bowl of warm butter.

Step 9 - ENJOY!!!

2011-04-28T17:19:00.000-05:00

Reminds me a bit of the Federal Reserve

2011-04-19T22:02:00.002-05:00

So this little snippet is from a comedy sci-fi book called Life, the Universe and Everything and though it comes without any real context it sort of speaks for itself. OK I will give a little context... the prehistoric Earth was in the story discovered not to have been populated through the mechanisms of evolution but rather by a crashlanded alien spacecraft full of the rejects of an alien society from a far off world and these advertising execs, telephone sanitizers, hair stylists etc are discussing their plans for surviving on this new world and building a new society...

The commentary is provided by Ford Prefect, a sort of unwilling third party observer.
----------------------------------------------------------------

At this point he decided he would not wait all day after all, he would merely pretend that the last half hour hadn't happened.

He rose to his feet.

"If," he said tersely, "we could for a moment move on to the subject of fiscal policy ..."

"Fiscal policy!" whooped Ford Prefect, "Fiscal policy!"

The Management Consultant gave him a look that only a lungfish could have copied.

"Fiscal policy ..." he repeated, "that is what I said."

"How can you have money," demanded Ford, "if none of you actually produces anything? It doesn't grow on trees you know."

"If you would allow me to continue ..."

Ford nodded dejectedly.

"Thank you. Since we decided a few weeks ago to adopt the leaf as legal tender, we have, of course, all become immensely rich."

Ford stared in disbelief at the crowd who were murmuring appreciatively at this and greedily fingering the wads of leaves with which their track suits were stuffed.

"But we have also," continued the Management Consultant, "run into a small inflation problem on account of the high level of leaf availability, which means that, I gather, the current going rate has something like three deciduous forests buying one ship's peanut."

Murmurs of alarm came from the crowd. The Management Consultant waved them down.

"So in order to obviate this problem," he continued, "and effectively revaluate the leaf, we are about to embark on a massive defoliation campaign, and ... er, burn down all the forests. I think you'll all agree that's a sensible move under the circumstances."

The crowd seemed a little uncertain about this for a second or two until someone pointed out how much this would increase the value of the leaves in their pockets whereupon they let out whoops of delight and gave the Management Consultant a standing ovation. The accountants amongst them looked forward to a profitable Autumn.

"You're all mad," explained Ford Prefect.

Nice to see a fan...

2011-02-08T11:11:00.002-06:00

Robot Chicken... it's wrong. Just wrong.

2010-12-29T13:01:00.002-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTW97mcXg8E&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FhZQM_lyA0&feature=related

Net Neutrality... it's the lion telling you to fear the jackal.

2010-12-28T13:00:00.007-06:00

http://www.theopeninter.net/

I just saw this website which is clearly a Net Neutrality advocate and from what you see on this website there is really nothing not to like. Let's protect Joe User from the big evil Internet corporation. Oh wait, there isn't one big evil Internet corporation... there are dozens of big evil Internet corporations, all of which are in direct competition with one another. Competition is in fact a much better protector of the consumer than anything the government could do for us. Oh yeah the website omits the rather salient point that Net Neutrality puts Internet regulation into the hands of our oh-so-trustworthy government. But then why not? Al Gore invented it; why not let the government control it? Yes, regulation = control. When a government controls information you have a recipe for... well, let's just say it would be a bad idea.

We already have laws in place to protect us from monopolies which is really what all this is pointing to: a situation in which somehow competing companies all act with one accord to screw the little guy and somehow manage to stay in business because the said little guy has no options when it comes to ISP choice (ok I will be Devil's advocate against myself here and acknowledge that this isn't entirely unheard of... i.e. Big Oil, but ISPs are hardly there yet).

I am not defending the big ISPs. Big companies get big in part because of greed and it is in fact a goal of ALL big companies to make money and get bigger. Personally as a Network Administrator I have grown to loathe most of them and the only reason I don't say all of them is that I haven't had to work directly with all of them as of yet. My point is simply to say what I already said in my post title: in my opinion the ISPs are merely jackals but the goverment is the lion (you and I would be the antelope in this scenario). Net Neutrality looks very pretty on paper but it would be to leap from the frying pan into the fire. The free market is just that... free; at least in theory it would be free were it not for the already large intrusion of government regulation. Net Neutrality is merely another way for the government to increase its reach into our lives.

Fine art very rarely moves me like these pieces do...

2010-12-19T18:15:00.002-06:00

This is pretty stinkin' clever!!

2010-12-17T14:59:00.003-06:00

The world has officially gone mad.

2010-11-19T10:48:00.004-06:00

An Inconvenient Letter

2010-10-21T09:46:00.004-05:00

This is a very enlightening resignation letter from Harold Lewis, an Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara wrtten to the American Physical Society. The article from which the letter came can be seen here.

Dear Curt:

When I first joined the American Physical Society sixty-seven years ago it was much smaller, much gentler, and as yet uncorrupted by the money flood (a threat against which Dwight Eisenhower warned a half-century ago). Indeed, the choice of physics as a profession was then a guarantor of a life of poverty and abstinence—it was World War II that changed all that. The prospect of worldly gain drove few physicists. As recently as thirty-five years ago, when I chaired the first APS study of a contentious social/scientific issue, The Reactor Safety Study, though there were zealots aplenty on the outside there was no hint of inordinate pressure on us as physicists. We were therefore able to produce what I believe was and is an honest appraisal of the situation at that time. We were further enabled by the presence of an oversight committee consisting of Pief Panofsky, Vicki Weisskopf, and Hans Bethe, all towering physicists beyond reproach. I was proud of what we did in a charged atmosphere. In the end the oversight committee, in its report to the APS President, noted the complete independence in which we did the job, and predicted that the report would be attacked from both sides. What greater tribute could there be?

How different it is now. The giants no longer walk the earth, and the money flood has become the raison d’être of much physics research, the vital sustenance of much more, and it provides the support for untold numbers of professional jobs. For reasons that will soon become clear my former pride at being an APS Fellow all these years has been turned into shame, and I am forced, with no pleasure at all, to offer you my resignation from the Society.

It is of course, the global warming scam, with the (literally) trillions of dollars driving it, that has corrupted so many scientists, and has carried APS before it like a rogue wave. It is the greatest and most successful pseudoscientific fraud I have seen in my long life as a physicist. Anyone who has the faintest doubt that this is so should force himself to read the ClimateGate documents, which lay it bare. (Montford’s book organizes the facts very well.) I don’t believe that any real physicist, nay scientist, can read that stuff without revulsion. I would almost make that revulsion a definition of the word scientist.

So what has the APS, as an organization, done in the face of this challenge? It has accepted the corruption as the norm, and gone along with it. For example:

1. About a year ago a few of us sent an e-mail on the subject to a fraction of the membership. APS ignored the issues, but the then President immediately launched a hostile investigation of where we got the e-mail addresses. In its better days, APS used to encourage discussion of important issues, and indeed the Constitution cites that as its principal purpose. No more. Everything that has been done in the last year has been designed to silence debate

2. The appallingly tendentious APS statement on Climate Change was apparently written in a hurry by a few people over lunch, and is certainly not representative of the talents of APS members as I have long known them. So a few of us petitioned the Council to reconsider it. One of the outstanding marks of (in)distinction in the Statement was the poison word incontrovertible, which describes few items in physics, certainly not this one. In response APS appointed a secret committee that never met, never troubled to speak to any skeptics, yet endorsed the Statement in its entirety. (They did admit that the tone was a bit strong, but amazingly kept the poison word incontrovertible to describe the evidence, a position supported by no one.) In the end, the Council kept the original statement, word for word, but approved a far longer “explanatory” screed, admitting that there were uncertainties, but brushing them aside to give blanket approval to the original. The original Statement, which still stands as the APS position, also contains what I consider pompous and asinine advice to all world governments, as if the APS were master of the universe. It is not, and I am embarrassed that our leaders seem to think it is. This is not fun and games, these are serious matters involving vast fractions of our national substance, and the reputation of the Society as a scientific society is at stake.

3. In the interim the ClimateGate scandal broke into the news, and the machinations of the principal alarmists were revealed to the world. It was a fraud on a scale I have never seen, and I lack the words to describe its enormity. Effect on the APS position: none. None at all. This is not science; other forces are at work.

4. So a few of us tried to bring science into the act (that is, after all, the alleged and historic purpose of APS), and collected the necessary 200+ signatures to bring to the Council a proposal for a Topical Group on Climate Science, thinking that open discussion of the scientific issues, in the best tradition of physics, would be beneficial to all, and also a contribution to the nation. I might note that it was not easy to collect the signatures, since you denied us the use of the APS membership list. We conformed in every way with the requirements of the APS Constitution, and described in great detail what we had in mind—simply to bring the subject into the open.

5. To our amazement, Constitution be damned, you declined to accept our petition, but instead used your own control of the mailing list to run a poll on the members’ interest in a TG on Climate and the Environment. You did ask the members if they would sign a petition to form a TG on your yet-to-be-defined subject, but provided no petition, and got lots of affirmative responses. (If you had asked about sex you would have gotten more expressions of interest.) There was of course no such petition or proposal, and you have now dropped the Environment part, so the whole matter is moot. (Any lawyer will tell you that you cannot collect signatures on a vague petition, and then fill in whatever you like.) The entire purpose of this exercise was to avoid your constitutional responsibility to take our petition to the Council.

6. As of now you have formed still another secret and stacked committee to organize your own TG, simply ignoring our lawful petition.

APS management has gamed the problem from the beginning, to suppress serious conversation about the merits of the climate change claims. Do you wonder that I have lost confidence in the organization?

I do feel the need to add one note, and this is conjecture, since it is always risky to discuss other people’s motives. This scheming at APS HQ is so bizarre that there cannot be a simple explanation for it. Some have held that the physicists of today are not as smart as they used to be, but I don’t think that is an issue. I think it is the money, exactly what Eisenhower warned about a half-century ago. There are indeed trillions of dollars involved, to say nothing of the fame and glory (and frequent trips to exotic islands) that go with being a member of the club. Your own Physics Department (of which you are chairman) would lose millions a year if the global warming bubble burst. When Penn State absolved Mike Mann of wrongdoing, and the University of East Anglia did the same for Phil Jones, they cannot have been unaware of the financial penalty for doing otherwise. As the old saying goes, you don’t have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing. Since I am no philosopher, I’m not going to explore at just which point enlightened self-interest crosses the line into corruption, but a careful reading of the ClimateGate releases makes it clear that this is not an academic question.

I want no part of it, so please accept my resignation. APS no longer represents me, but I hope we are still friends.

Hal

Company pride

2010-10-12T19:09:00.011-05:00

I think I can say this is the first time I have really felt particularly proud of the company I work for. Now that statement may seem to carry a negative connotation but I don't mean it in that way. I've always thought of Layne with at least mild approbation (a job is a job and this is a job I happen to enjoy) but what I mean is today I am REALLY proud to work for Layne Christensen. Proud enough to boast on a blog that I do so. Layne was the drilling company who drilled the rescue hole through which a Chilean Navy rescue capsule will be used to pull out the miners one at a time. The other two rescue efforts weren't estimated to reach the miners until Christmas.

http://investor.laynechristensen.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=516710

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/10/11/2301330/layne-christensens-drilling-experience.html

LIVE FEED!!

George... why don't you just take my kids' college money while you're at it?

2010-09-29T11:27:00.004-05:00

Somehow he continues to come up with ways to take our money... and he knows we will give it to him. He's like a drug dealer with the assurance of sales because when he comes by with more starwars we open the wallet reflexively at this point. It is pathetic really that I will likely buy the blu-rays and then begin longing for the 3D releases. My only complaint is that Phantom Menace gets released before the 'real' Starwars movies.

STARWARS TRILOGY TO BE RELEASED IN THEATERS IN 3D!!!!

If the last post didn't fully establish my nerdiness...

2010-09-22T13:07:00.002-05:00

I have written a Lord of the Rings/Silmarillion based riddle on my lunch break.

Nine there were, as black as night
Behind them malice... behind them might
They served a master blacker still
'Till all his enemies took flight

Yet one among these long ago
Was set against a worthy foe
Struck down was he to never rise
Or serve his Dark Lord, working woe

The Master staggered as though struck blind
The Master o're this loss did pine
This fallen was greatest in might
There now remaineth... only nine.

Happy Birthday!

2010-09-22T06:52:00.001-05:00

Bilbo and Frodo

(yes... I do know I am a nerd)

Oh man... great prank!

2010-09-15T17:07:00.002-05:00

Of course were I the guy in the back seat, while I would hopefully not scream like a little girl, I would definitely take the pilot off of my Christmas card list... and maybe kick him in the nards after we landed.

Speaks for itself...

2010-09-12T22:04:00.001-05:00

Click the picture...

The bigger they are...

2010-08-30T09:31:00.010-05:00

Well I had my first experience falling over because my feet were attached to my pedals... Actually just one foot was clipped in but it was the important foot. The new bike has pedals with clips and the guy I bought the bike from had a used pair of bike shoes that fit me so I have been using them and I really like using clips as opposed to not. For you non-bikers, The clips help with efficiency when riding as your feet stay in place plus you can actually use the upward motion as well as the downward motion of your feet to increase your speed, HOWEVER when you come to a stop you have to think ahead and remember to swivel your heel to unclip the shoe from the pedal. If you don't, then when your forward motions stops, the sideways motion starts pretty much immediately.

In my own defense I had gotten into the habit of unclipping only my right foot and leaning right when I stop and it has been working just fine until this morning when I lost my balance and leaned left instead. It probably looked rather like this:

...Well with the exception that I fell the other way and there was no smoke. I am only glad that it was 5:30 AM and nobody was around to see me (that I know of). So a skinned knee and slightly damaged pride aside it was a good ride.

So I am riding again...

2010-08-27T15:53:00.003-05:00

Added a new widget to the right side with my daily cycling mileage. At the end of October some friends are going to be riding a section of the Katie Trail so I'm trying to get ready for that. I bought a mountain bike and I'm going to pretty much train exclusively with that since I won't be taking the Fuji road bike on the trip. The new bike (GT XCR 4000) has full suspension which takes some getting used to when you are only familiar with a road bike and basically zero suspension. So hopefully the widget won't get too far out of date, even though I'm sure I will stop riding during the colder months.

My bat file grows apace...

2010-08-23T15:48:00.003-05:00

I keep making this easier and easier for the tech support guys to use. It is mildly gratifying.

Things the bat now does…

- Creates a temp file with all of the new MAC addresses added during that session (this file opens at the end when you are ready to document the new MACs in the Excel spread sheet… this helps save you from having to retype the MACs especially if you were adding them from a hand written note)

- Displays a cool blinking warning if you try to run the ‘app’ (I know, I am stretching there) while another admin is using it. This is because when you run the bat, a temp file is created and the bat checks for the existence of this file before allowing you to proceed. It’s to avoid more than one person editing the MAClist at a time to avoid duplicate entries. The last thing the bat does is delete this file before exiting.

- Error checking. Macs entered must now be no more or less than 12 characters long but before the counting happens, spaces and hyphens are removed. MACs can only use numbers and or letters A-F.

Old features

- Add new Macs one at a time to the existing MAClist text file

- Menu for controlling the DHCP service remotely via the ‘sc’ (service control) DOS command. Start, Stop and Query are available.

- Opens Excel spread sheet at the end so you can document newly added MAC addresses (user name, computer name, MAC and if applicable, expiration date).

If you are a nerd and actually care about this stuff, click HERE to view the bat in its entirety

What have I done!!!!????

2010-08-14T16:53:00.009-05:00

hy·brid (hbrd)
n.
1. Genetics - The offspring of genetically dissimilar parents or stock, especially the offspring produced by breeding plants or animals of different varieties, species, or races.
2.
a. Something of mixed origin or composition, such as a word whose elements are derived from different languages.
b. Something having two kinds of components that produce the same or similar results, such as a vehicle powered by both an electric motor and an internal combustion engine as sources of power for the drive train.

Some hybrids exist...

Some do not...

Let me tell you a brief tale...

I called my dad yesterday to tell him Happy Birthday (yes his Birthday is on Friday the 13th as is my own every few years). I am not a supersticious person but on occassion I do have the odd unlucky Friday the 13th. This could be said to be one of those although technically only the bad news came to me on that day.

Well I say 'bad news' but really it was only an odd little thing Dad mentioned to me. I was catching him up on life at my house... kids, wife, work, whatnot... and we come to my garden which he was interested in as he has been a gardener for a few decades. I tell him of the plentious cucumber crop and how the tomatoes look to be quite numerous if they mature before the growing season ends. The corn I said was dissapointing because we harvested a bit too late and it was sort of chewy and not as sweet as it would have been had I been more on the ball (and better educated on the subject). Then I come to the melons...

The watermelons are doing quite well AS are the canteloupe I say to him... then there is a slight pause and he asks me a question.

"How close are your canteloupe to your cucumbers?" Odd question I though to myself. I mean why would it matter? I know that they both attract cucumber beetles... in fact any vegetable that produces yellow flowers will attract the little buggers and those both in fact do produce similar yellow flowers... I ask "is it because of cucumber beetles? Because I've not had that big of a problem with them."

"No, no its just something I heard once from a fellow gardener."

"What is that?" I ask.

"Well," he goes on, "my friend told me once that if your cucumbers and canteloupe are close to each other then cross-pollination can occur and produce cucumber flavored canteloupe."

ABSURD! Who ever heard of such crazy talk? Well I mean aside from my Dad... and the fellow that told this to him. But then why would somebody make such a thing up? It still sounded just very strange to me. Today I decided to investigate because I had mentioned to DeAnna that the canteloupe WERE sort of growing elongated rather than round like the watermelons... also they were a darker green than I imagined they would be.

What I discovered was... well, please do not scroll down if you have a weak stomach. These images may be disturbing... ... ...

BEHOLD!!! ... ... ... ...

THE.... ... ...

CUCUMBELOUPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh to all my friends and family... I'll be distributing lots of canteloupe this year I think because we look like we're gonna have a bumper crop and well, I just don't think we'll be able to eat it all.

The absolute furthest extent of my 'coding' skillz...

2010-08-10T13:34:00.005-05:00

@echo off
:top
cls
echo.
echo.
echo MACLIST MANAGEMENT CONSOLE
echo ==========================
echo.
:choice1
set /p mac=[Enter a 12 character hexadecimal MAC with NO capital letters]?
echo %mac%>>\\lchqcdc01\system32$\MAClist.txt
cls
echo MAC has been added...
echo.
echo 1. Add another MAC
echo 2. Copy maclist and continue
echo.
:choice2
set /P C1=[1,2]?
if "%C1%"=="1" goto top
if "%C1%"=="2" goto copy
goto choice2
:copy
echo Copying newly edited MAClist from LCHQCDC01 to LCHQCDC02...
copy \\lchqcdc01\system32$\MAClist.txt \\lchqcdc02\calloutdll$\MAClist.txt /y
pause
color 0E
goto menu
:menu
cls
echo.
echo Please choose from the following menu
echo =========================================
echo.
echo 1. Stop DHCP service on both corporate DCs
echo.
echo 2. Start DHCP service on both corporate DCs
echo.
echo 3. Query DHCP server status on both corporate DCs
echo.
echo 4. Open Excel spreadsheet and Quit
echo.

:choice3
set /P C=[1,2,3,4]?
if "%C%"=="4" goto quit
if "%C%"=="3" goto query
if "%C%"=="2" goto start
if "%C%"=="1" goto stop
goto choice3

:stop
cls
sc \\lchqcdc02 stop DHCPserver
sc \\lchqcdc01 stop DHCPserver
pause
goto menu

:start
cls
sc \\lchqcdc02 start DHCPserver
sc \\lchqcdc01 start DHCPserver
pause
goto menu

:query
cls
sc \\lchqcdc02 query DHCPserver
sc \\lchqcdc01 query DHCPserver
pause
goto menu

:quit
"G:\Common\Technical Documentation\Network Administration\DHCP\MAC-HOST-USER list.xlsx"
exit
:end

Hey, nice melons!

2010-07-31T18:40:00.004-05:00

Just got back from my week in Bloomington Indiana (no not a vacation) and I've come home to find some actual fruit! The vines of both watermelons and canteloupe have pretty much taken over the trellises as I had hoped they would and I'm sure they will eventually completely engulf the structures.

Here is a newly forming watermelon.

Here are the two largest watermelons so far (one about 2" and the other about 3").

The first...

... and the second.

This is one of several just beginning canteloupes (none are larger than this at the present).

Nothing much else is new. The corn ears are still growing and the cucumbers are sort of old news now. We picked about 6 mature cucumbers so far and there are another half dozen starting to grow. Next year I am going to give the cucumbers a real trellis and more room. The tomatoes are also way too close together and WAY to close to the cucumbers.

We have a lot of cucumber beetles but I don't think it is an infestation just yet. Each time I go out there I kill five or six. Next year I am going to till the soil with nematodes to help eliminate some of the garden pests.

Quick garden post

2010-07-24T10:51:00.003-05:00

I wanted to show you the 'first fruits' or fruit... err vegetable as it were. This is about as large as I've been told to let the cucumbers grow. If they get any bigger than about 6-7" they start getting bitter. There are at least 100 flowers in the cucumber 'bush' so at some point I imagine we will be harvesting several at a time, at which point I might try my hand at making dill pickles since I'm not much of a cucumber fan myself. DeAnna and René by the way devoured this one and said it was absolutely delicious!

The melons vines are all making good progress up the trellis and soon I am thinking they will be in competition with the ridiculous cucumber colony.

Here is a view from deep inside the cucumber complex.

This thing was staring at me so I took its picture... I think I can see my reflection.

Back in the office...

2010-07-23T14:32:00.000-05:00

Talk about a coffee downgrade.

Nice coffee machine...

2010-07-19T10:59:00.001-05:00

This week I am in a class at Fishnet Security downtown to learn about the F5 network load balancer we just had installed at the office and this is the coffee machine they have. I think I am going to make it!

Every day something new...

2010-07-18T16:30:00.010-05:00

I didn't expect to see so many cool things when I went out to view the garden today... it inspired me to pull out the 'nice' camera (Fujifilm Finepix S1000) in lieu of the blackberry and I played around a bit with the super macro feature which this one does pretty well.

A canteloupe blossom

A baby cucumber

baby green beans

First ear of corn starting

This is the top of a cucumber plant... just playing with macro settings.

This looks similar to a ladybird beetle which is a very beneficial garden insect as I understand... but it looks too elongated so I'm not sure exactly what it is.

I suppose I should be grateful to the bumblebees for helping my corn grow but I confess they make me a bit nervous.

There are quite a few out there today.

The watermelon vines are finally starting to get long enough to train up the trellis

The canteloupe had a headstart and are all clearly moving up.

More posts to come as more exciting things continue happening in my garden.

Tassels, flowers and mushrooms...

2010-07-15T08:16:00.002-05:00

Some of the plants are now flowering which I believe just preceeds fruit bearing. I probably still have another 4-5 weeks and maybe longer before anything is ready to harvest (I should probably start reading the gardening book's harvesting section now).

Corn tassels are starting on two of the stalks.

These little yellow flowers are on the cucumber plants... notice the yellowing leaf to the right? I think this is due to me planting way too many cucumbers too close together in my ignorance at how freakin huge they would get and the lower leaves are starved for sunlight. Next year I will know better... the cucumber plants so far do not seem to be affecting the bell peppers as they do get plenty of midday sun... but those lower leaves of the cucumbers are in shade all the time now.

One of the green bean plants is now beginning to flower as well. Most of the others are about two weeks behind as this is the only green bean plant to survive the transplanting and the rest were replanted as seeds direct into the garden.

I guess now I know why it is called mushroom compost... the shrooms really like it.

I just threw this pic in to show that I finally completed both melon trellises and that the melon plants are all doing well (but still have a very long way to go obviously). The melon harvest will be the last I'm thinking... maybe even mid to late September so I am hoping for a warm early Fall.

Quick garden update

2010-07-10T19:54:00.003-05:00

Well I finished the watermelon trellis today (picture doesn't show the wire grid but its there now) and I put the frame up for the canteloupe trellis though it still need the wire grid. Below you see my solution to wind storms... we had most of the corn blown over at a 45 degree angle and in a few cases even lower. I was able to very gently straighten the stalks back up without breaking any. The nylon string is attached with nails and is pulled extremely taut (it's 35lb string) so it should hold the corn in place for the rest of the season.

Now, has anyone ever grown cucumbers?? Is this normal?? These plants are going wild... my thin little green wire trellis is bowing under the weight and they've moved on to the nearby tomato cages for more support. Also they are starting to produce small yellow flowers toward the bottom of the plants.

Tomatoes are all doing well and getting stronger and taller.

Below you can see the new canteloupe trellis as well as the canteloupe vines starting to spread a bit. Once they are 12"-15" I will start training them upwards to use the wire grid.

Well that's my Saturday... tomorrow if I get the wire up on the canteloupe trellis then I will call the garden officially completed as far as construction goes. Now I can only hope that my untreated lumber will last at the very least a couple or three seasons. It is by far the cheapest route for building these kinds of structures and since it is untreated and unpainted/stained the food should be of a higher quality. Maybe I will set up an organic veggie stand in my neighborhood.

I feel the same way...

2010-07-08T10:28:00.001-05:00

Garden Post - Phase 3?

2010-07-03T20:04:00.005-05:00

Well I put a good day's work in and for the most part beat the rain as we started early. I almost finished the watermelon trellis and got the beds mulched with cedar (heard it was good for keeping out some types of harmful bugs and doesn't keep any beneficial insects away, plus it should make the waterings last a bit longer by keeping the moisture in.)

Here are my helpers... they actually did a good job using the screw gun as well as hammering nails. I started the screws/nails most of the time but they were really getting the hang of it after the third frame went up.

I've probably explained this before but the trellis is for the melon vines to grow up. When the vines produce fruit and the melons get to about one pound then we are supposed to make little netting 'hammocks' big enough for the full grown 10 pound watermelons and tie them onto the wire mesh. This way the melons don't ripen on the ground and it avoids fungus growth as well as lopsided friut.

The individual frames were actually quite sturdy but I put the cross beams on as an after thought just in case.

The metal mesh is heavy gauge so I have no fear it will hold several 8-10 pound melons as long as they are somewhat evenly distributed... that of course presumes my plants will produce well.

The tomatoes are finally starting to develop thicker stalks and I am thinking they should do ok as long as the growing season is long enough... as I said before, I got them in the ground a bit later than I wanted.

The ridiculous cucumbers are skyrocketing! (that little green wire trellis is almost 4' tall.)

Now I'm going to take a break for the evening and for tomorrow as well (planning on enjoying some fireworks.) Monday I have the day off so I think I will tackle the canteloupe trellis then which will be the same design but with only two frames instead of three.

Delayed garden post

2010-06-29T12:29:00.008-05:00

OK so I lied about getting this posted on Saturday... sue me.
So here is the almost completed garden!

Notice the lush ground cover of wild lilac and wild strawberry ~~that I've chosen to landscape the backyard with~~ that my backyard is mortally infested with. At the point at which I wish to spend $1000 in water bills and another few hundred for vegetation killer, seed, fertilizer, etc. I will kill the entire backyard and replant it with grass. In the meantime my kids get semi-sweet little wild strawberries in between mowings.

Here we have the cantaloupe bed with several sprouts. The melons got planted the latest and to be honest I think it might be too late for me to expect a very good harvest, but this is my first go around and next spring I can plant early now that I have a garden in which to plant. I have yet to build the melon trellises but I do have a design and a four day weekend right around the corner. The idea is to make a 2x4 frame with heavy gauge metal mesh stapled to the frame... this will allow me to grown melons vertically instead of in a huge flat area. You train the vines up the metal mesh and when the fruit gets to be a pound or two, you wrap it in a large fabric or netting sling big enough for the full sized fruit and then tie the 'hammock' to the mesh which should be strong enough to hold them (the cantaloupe and watermelons both should only be around 8 lbs per fruit as we used baby bush watermelon seeds).

The watermelons are a bit sluggish to germinate but the seed packet did say 7-10 days before they come up so I must be patient. A couple have sprouted as you can see.

Here we have the corn which is really flourishing! It looks incredibly crowded and I am still sort of going on faith that this type of planting pattern will work... I suppose though if it didn't there wouldn't be such a huge craze with the 'square-foot gardening' right now. Again patience is called for. Around the corn I have green beans... some are fairly mature plants but I have several brand new sprouts as well since many did not survive the transplanting from my early indoor crop.

On the top of this picture are the bell peppers which also seem to be doing pretty good and below that are carrots. To the left you can see one of the bigger green bean plants. I was recently told though that green beans don't do well in the hot weather and I planted them at just the wrong time for a good harvest... so I may end up replanting them at the end of August to see if I can get a good Fall harvest of beans if the Summer harvest stinks.

Here are the cucumber plants which are probably just behind the corn in terms of successful growth. Again these look to my eye very crowded but once again we are giving the square foot gardening idea a try. I don't really care for cucumbers myself but the family does.

Last and obviously not least (since they take up half of the garden) are the tommy toes... I mean tomatoes (curse you Stephen Fry). These are frankly my biggest concern, especially since I am the gardener and my ~~employer~~ wife expects me to produce a large yield of healthy big red tomatoes for her. Well the first try got eaten by rabbits since I planted them pre-fence. This batch seems to be doing OK though so there is at least hope... but still I got them in the ground rather later than what one might possibly consider as 'best practices'.

All in all though I think I did a pretty fair job for a rank amateur. When I get the melon trellis built I will post more pics and then as Summer progresses I will keep the blog updated with how things are growing and producing and what not.

More starwars stuff...

2010-06-25T12:07:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow I will have an update on the garden with some pics... but I liked this:

Worldcup? meh... however...

2010-06-08T14:56:00.004-05:00

This is a bloody cool little video (note they use the ORIGINAL footage rather than the special edition)...

Our Garden -- Phase 1

2010-05-31T12:01:00.013-05:00

Well this is my first garden post and will likely be rather longish since I have a lot of photos documenting the progress thus far. Future posts will probably be shorter and at more frequent intervals.
This started out as a Mother's Day gift for my wife since she has always wanted a garden but already it has become a pretty cool family activity and as we move forward the kids as well as my wife and I will be pretty involved in maintaining our new garden.

Phase one -- tomatoes. Oh how many? I dunno... just plant them all. DOH! What do you mean tomatoes take up 4 square feet per plant?? Well I guess we'll be making a lot of salsa!

Yep these are all tomatoes... we're actually only going to use 14 of them and give the rest to friends who also garden... still that is a lot of freakin tomatoes though!

All the plants started bending towards the bay window in search of some better sunlight... so I gave them a table in the basement using grow lights.

Ahhh much better.

They straightened right up.

First green bean plant.

Cucumbers looking for something to climb. They will have a little trellis once I get them situated outside.

We read a little after the fact that both corn and bell peppers require warmer soil to start out so I built a germination station. This is one of those heat lamps they use for poultry incubators.

Jolly green bean giants (at least compared to everything else.)

The cornlings have arrived.

Building forms. (Thanks for the help Phil!)

Four yards of dirt is more than I imagined. I have plenty left over to build up around the foundation where we get water from time to time during heavy rain. If you are wondering, my daughter thought it looked like a mountain and carved a winding road into it.

A yard of mushroom compost, which by the way smells like the Lee's Summit City Dump... but the veggies supposedly love the stuff. The vermiculite is supposed to help the soil retain moisture.

About halfway through four yards.

Big bed is for veggies, medium bed is for melons (going to try growing watermelons and canteloup vertically... look for future posts on how and if I accomplish that) and the smallest bed (4x4) is for strawberries.

Sort of like a layer cake... made of dirt, vermiculite and rotting plant matter.

And MANY MANY thanks to my dad for the wonderful gift of a Honda tiller. Wow this thing works GREAT!

A good Memorial Day weekend's work completed!!! Now we let the mixture settle for a few days and planting commences. In the meantime we've been taking the seedlings outside for a couple hours each day to minimize the shock of transplanting. See you next time!

Happy Star Wars Day!!!!

2010-05-25T11:36:00.005-05:00

Thirty-three years ago today a young boy (me) went to the Glenwood 4 theater on Metcalf avenue and had his 5 year old world rocked. Yes... opening day of Starwars Episode IV: A New Hope. The oddity that this was episode 4 didn't occur to me until sometime in the early 80's but what did occur to me was that Luke Skywalker was very very cool; A planet with two suns was very very cool and a 6'6" Sith Lord named Darth Vader was TOTALLY FREAKING COOL!!!

This is without a doubt the earliest vivid memory I have of childhood. Of course I have little snippet here and there of times before then but the day I saw Starwars is etched into my brain. I remember a line at least 5 people wide wrapping around this massively huge (to my 5 year old eyes) theater complex. My dad, my older brother and my older sister were with me on this momentous occasion and we waited... and waited... and waited... but FINALLY the ticket taker was before me and we entered a red carpeted lobby with a huge crystal chandelier. I don't know if I had ever been to this theater as a kid but I remember being somewhat in awe just of the lobby. The smell of popcorn (and real butter) filled the air and I had no idea really what I was about to see.

I still have some very clear impressions from that first viewing. I remember being a little scared but completely impressed by the massive size of the Imperial Star Destroyer as it approached the Princess's Corellian Corvette (of course I didn't know what the names of these ships were at the time nor did I know I would eventually know such trivialities as what TIE fighter stands for). I remember being almost tearful (but not knowing why) when Luke skywalker was looking out over the family moisure farm leaning on a bent knee over the edge of a creator at the twin sunset of Tattoine with John William's moving thematic orchestration playing "Luke's theme". I remember watching in absolute glee as the camera moved about the Mos Eisley Cantina and showed dozens of fantastic space creatures being generally weird. It took me about that long to really get my head around the film and stop oogling the coolness and start paying attention to the plot. OK so Luke has to be a Jedi whatever that is and now they have a ship to take them to the Jedi place. Yeah ok so he gets there in the second movie... I didn't know there was going to be even MORE of this joy in my life, I was only focussed on what happens next. The movie progressed like this with me (as I vaguely recall) literally on the edge of my seat. To make a long story short it was and still is the best movie I've ever seen. Yeah special effects have improved, yeah the acting upon reflection wasn't 'the best', but there is just something about a deepset childhood impression that is very difficult at times even as an adult to shake... and I can't shake the impression that STARWARS IS THE BEST MOVIE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes Fragile 1972

2010-05-13T09:13:00.005-05:00

I'm (well I was and then I decided to take a break to write up a quick blog post) sitting here remoted into the domain controller at cost center 1031 in Denver, setting up their new DC and file server... ya know creating user groups and applying lots of layers of NTFS permssions and what not. Anyway I'm also listening to the YES 'Fragile' album from 1972 and enjoying the heck out of it. Man what an awesome album! It is just scratching my musical itch this morning in that special way that makes you go 'ahhhhhhhhhh yeah... that's it.... that IS in fact as they say... it.'

http://www.last.fm/music/Yes/Fragile

I almost forgot...

2010-05-04T22:34:00.002-05:00

This is pretty cool...

2010-04-26T22:48:00.005-05:00

So I was watching this and it occurred to me that the solar flare must be moving unbelievably fast so I tried to figure out roughly how fast...

The flare goes out about 1/6th of the diameter of the Sun which comes to about 144,000 miles in just about a second or so. That is about 18 times the diameter of Earth... in a second. It's close to the speed of light which is I guess what impressed me so much. Solar flares aren't purely energy either as I understand it... yes they are photons and electromagnetic energy but they trigger hydrogen explosions and cast energy as well as matter out into space all at close to the speed of light.

It just impressed me.

In honor of today...

2010-04-22T09:05:00.004-05:00

I would just like to remind everyone that God is in fact a recycler as well:

2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night; in the which
the heavens shall pass away with a great
noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up

Revelation 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and
a new earth: for the first heaven and the first

earth were passed away; and there was no

more sea.

Happy EARTH DAY!!!

I DO like Starwars...

2010-04-14T15:52:00.001-05:00

nonetheless...

This looks pretty facinating...

2010-04-12T16:28:00.003-05:00

The concept is brilliant actually (but he doesn't get to the actual concept until the end). If this little guy can get past the two Goliaths to the end user I imagine the two Goliaths with go the way of... well... Goliath.

A couple more links to longer videos with some more explanation:
Part 1
Part 2

breakin the habit...

2010-03-30T23:03:00.003-05:00

post title = my goal

Reality = fail

What is up

2010-03-29T22:18:00.008-05:00

So I've been playing Starcraft 2 lately when I have spare time in the evenings (I was one of the lucky few who got selected to participate in the beta). Granted spare time is not in an abundance but what little I get to myself after other responsibilities are taken care of has of late been used to hone my skills as a SC2 player. I am ranked 32 in one of the copper leagues (each league has 100 players). This means that I am not the very worst player but then its all relative... above copper is bronze, silver, gold and platinum (filled no doubt with people who live in their parents' basements drinking cases of redbull to sustain them as they spend the work day, the evenings and the late nights working towards Starcraft grand mastery... that or 12 year old Korean kids. I'm not being ethnocentric or racist or anything; South Korea has the biggest and most fanatical fanbase for Starcraft anywhere on the planet.) Anyway that has been a nice distraction while I wait for the morning air to warm up a bit.

As soon as I start seeing consistent temps in the mid-50s when I wake up, I plan on cycling to work as much as possible. This year I am going to try out these tire liners called spin-skins made by a company called turtleskins. They make products from various high density synthetic weaves... police body armor, safety gloves, snake boots and... bike tire liners. I got so tired [pun] of getting flats halfway to work it became a mental deterrent for me so I hope these make that a rare occurrence. Well that is about all I have to write about today. I've also started working (again) on my Microsoft certification so I can update my woefully out-of-date Windows 2000 MCSE but I will cover that in a later blog... maybe after I pass the first test and actually have something to show for my study effort.

Wait for it...

2010-03-24T16:33:00.000-05:00

Me wants one!

2010-02-16T16:56:00.002-06:00

http://gizmodo.com/5472774/a-millennium-falcon-that-actually-flies

My weekend project was a success!!

2010-02-15T10:51:00.004-06:00

I read this how-to on making your own HD antenna for broadcast hi-def TV and as I was unhappy with my $40 radio shack 'professional' antenna I figured it wouldn't hurt to give this one a try. I did have to redesign it a bit because the wood screws were getting their heads popped off before I could get them tight enough to hold the two layers of coat hanger wire in place so instead I drilled 1/4" holes and used 1/4" bolts and nuts so I could get everything as tight as I needed. I also discovered that neither Wal-mart, Target OR K-Mart sells plain old bare-metal coat hangers anymore. I had to rely on the few we had in our own closets and replace them with the readily available plastic variety.

The cost was pretty minimal, a few bucks for a 3x24x3/4" piece of pine, a few more bucks for the hardware and then I think about $6 for the transformer that lets me plug the antenna into coax cable. The actual coax cable (50') was a LOT more expensive than the antenna was. So long story short, I got the antenna build, installed (in the attic), ran the coax cable down from the attic inside the wall and out below the TV and it works GREAT! We watched Nascar yesterday in Hi-Def and saw only a handful of pixels here and there (but NO disruption of the broadcast) over the course of 4 hours... AND it was during a moderate snow storm with quite a bit of wind. I expect it will work completely flawlessly in good weather.

When you eliminate the impossible...

2010-01-27T21:49:00.009-06:00

...whatever remains no matter how improbable must be the truth.

So this evening I walk into the bathroom as the kids are getting ready for bed and I notice that my beard trimmer is on the sink. Odd since I've not used a beard trimmer in a few years... not since I had a beard in fact. Then nigh at hand I spy several, a couple dozen or so, light blond hairs of approximately 2-3 inches in length. I start thinking and of the four people occupying the residence only one to my recollection has light blond hair. I summon the suspect into the bathroom and ask the young man if he has any clue as to whom the hairs might have formerly belonged. He looks at me quizzically and says very simply, "I don't remember getting my hair cut today." "Indeed," I reply. Then I recall to mind an incident not three days previous where the said suspect was disciplined for cutting hair off of the eldest canine with scissors.

"Son," I say, "Are these hairs yours or are they not?"

He looks at me. He looks at the hairs. He actually picks up the hairs and holds them up to his head as if to compare these enigmatic orphans to his existing mop as he gazes into the bathroom mirror. A slightly puzzled furl appears betwixt his light blond eyebrows as the wheels ferociously turn. A mental decision is made. He looks at me and shrugs.

"Yeah those are mine. I think I remember now."

With a simple act of, albeit somewhat coerced, honesty he reduced his sentence from 5 to 2.

Inglorious Basterds

2010-01-26T00:06:00.005-06:00

I think making this movie was more than anything an excuse for Quentin to explore what it would look like to carve a swastika into the forehead of a live Nazi... or how good it might feel to watch Adolf get riddled with bullets. The movie could have been called Kill Adolf in fact. Now granted this is a Tarantino film and as such I expected plenty of gratuitous violence and I certainly can't begrudge the indulgence of this revenge fantasy; I just wish it were more entertaining. In Kill Bill there was much better character development and, I felt, more of a solid plot and script (not that Kill Bill was a masterpiece of a screenplay but I am comparing Quentin against Quentin here.)

Now there were some very entertaining/funny moments and a lot of action and violence, but there were also a lot of slow bits that almost but not quite entirely failed to hold my attention. Brad Pitt's character was funny but more like an overdone caricature of an American Southerner... and Brian from The Office convinced me he was a brutal Nazi slayer like my son convinces me of his Judo superiority over everyone in the four state region... poorly.

I give the movie 2 out of 5 stars. It was I suppose worth the $1.08 I payed to Redbox but not much more.

This is a pretty clever cologne design...

2010-01-21T16:41:00.003-06:00

Starwars Facebook #2

2009-11-30T11:04:00.000-06:00

(courtesy of Gizmodo.com)

Starwars Facebook #1

2009-11-30T11:01:00.002-06:00

(courtesy of Gizmodo.com)

The proper way to watch a movie...

2009-11-13T21:06:00.009-06:00

We went out and saw 2012 tonight at the Cinema Suites (in the AMC 30 in Olathe) and it was very cool. The movie itself was sort of a 'Day After Tomorrow' on performance enhancing drugs. As with virtually all global disaster flicks it was full of unlikely coincidences and close calls but it was a great movie to set your brain aside and enjoy the thrill. It was really quite an intense movie and felt like one big long chase scene (where John Cusack is being chased by various chunks of earth or a sudden lack of earth or a wall of salt water or goodness gracious great balls of fire... it goes on and on like that for most of it.) That is my quick and to the point movie review. The theater is what I really want to talk about.

DeAnna and I were sitting in the third row from the front in the two center seats which I believe to be the best seats in the house. The seats themselves were extremely comfortable unless you wanted to sit perfectly upright which wasn't possible but once you accepted that you had to lay back a little it was quite nice. Oh and the seats were FULLY reclineable... in fact I thought I was fully reclined the entire movie until after the film ended and I hit the button to sit up I found myself almost completely recumbent as I reclined to the chair's full lazyboy potential and had to figure out which button would get me back on my feet.

It is to be noted that every time you push the recline button, the leather rubbed LOUDLY against the leather of the center partition and the effect was rather like a large mammal with gastroenterological issues. Throughout the movie you would hear the occasional hippo fart and had to (I had to I should say) stifle a chuckle.

The tickets cost $25 but technically that is a $10 movie ticket + $15 food voucher so we thought it was pretty reasonable. The food is about on par with Applebees and actually priced I thought a bit less with most entres costing around $10-11. Of course probably the best part was being able to watch a movie in such comfort with a pint of Blvd wheat in a cold glass. That was a real treat.

All in all not something we will do very often but when the right movie comes along and we get a night out without the kiddos we'll likely find our way back to Cinema Suites. I give it 2 thumbs up!

spy vs spy vs alient vs predator!

2009-11-07T15:23:00.003-06:00

Once upon a time I had a subscription to Mad Magazine and used to love Spy vs Spy. I find this a fitting tribute to the spirit of the comic.

sigh of relief

2009-11-06T14:59:00.003-06:00

For those concerned, I checked into my benefits package today and I guess our insurance has a $2500 out-of-pocket max (including deductable) for individuals. So no matter how big the hospital bill, $2500 is the most we would ever have to pay. Maybe it will even be less?

And on top of that fine news, today I just finally got enough stamps on my Broadway Café card for a free cappuccino... funny how a day can start off badly (don't ask.... dog diarrhea was involved) and end well.

When life forces you to reconsider your views

2009-11-04T10:52:00.007-06:00

My wife recently spent a day in the ER and a couple nights in the ICU at a nearby hospital for a very unfortunate close call with the Flu. This blog isn't to talk about the details because I am still too freaked out by it all to care to relay those to others. Instead it is to talk about a thought that briefly passed through my mind this morning as I contemplated the medical bill that is even now working its way through the medical bureaucracy to my insurance company, eventually to find its unwelcome way to my mailbox. I don't really have any solid ideas but with two nights and three days plus all the blood work, MRI, CT and for the first 24 hours constant supervision by a nurse... I'd say we're looking at 20-25K before the insurance kicks in and maybe more.

[Now I must interrupt this blog for a brief interjection: I would give my own life to save my wife so in terms of her well being, whatever the cost so be it.]

Now back to my thoughts... now of course that she is safe and sound I AM finding myself contemplating this little envelope of doom that will contain the final amount we owe. The thought that entered my mind this morning in my distress was simply this... under government run health care perhaps this little adventure would have cost me nothing. Perhaps?

STOP!

That was for those of you who may have just thought I had lost my conservative mind. I only said that was a thought that entered my mind. These are the thoughts that followed:

Even if that were true and it cost me nothing it is not a fair question. Over the weekend my wife was treated to literally the best quality of health care in the world. She was picked up by an ambulance 6 minutes after I called 911 (OK a few details are necessary... she had been sick on and off for a few weeks and caught the flu with an already weakened immune system... she got a fever and we couldn't bring it down and she became incoherent and so I made the call), an outstanding group of paramedics and firemen checked her out at the house and then transported her to the ER where she was then IMMEDIATELY seen by a doctor and then looked after constantly by a group of three or four nurses and techs throughout the day in a clean private room where I could be by her side the whole time while a Doctor checked in every couple hours. Then she was moved to the ICU... to a VERY nice private room where she was never left alone until they downgraded her status the next afternoon. My whole point here is that my wife could NOT have been treated better if the president's private doctor had been hers. OK yeah the bill has me shitting bricks BUT as they say... you get what you pay for.

Does health care in America cost too much? Hell yeah!! But to give it over to the government would be to throw out the baby with the bathwater. I shudder to think of the experience we just had under a government run health care system, in a government run health care facility. I am envisioning something more akin to a MASH unit... some large room where beds line the wall and nurses are ridiculously overcharged with patients. Maybe she would be lucky to have a doctor get around to her at all during those crucial first hours... would any of that have been enough to save her life? Would she have been under such excellent care within literally minutes of me calling for help?? I really think not.

The moral of this story is this: I am a guy who is about to have his savings wiped out by the high cost of health care and I am NEVERTHELESS in NO way in favor of ANY TYPE of government controlled health care because it would only lower our quality of life in America and degrade our freedom even further.

The Christian moral of the story I suppose should also be added here: I do believe God will provide for us as he always does but I still stand behind the points made as they apply to everyone.

:-)

Taking the complex and making it... simple.

2009-10-14T17:10:00.002-05:00

Thanks Bud! To be honest I'm not entirely sure he should be using some of those words in mixed company.

A bit of Hollywood propaganda...

2009-10-08T14:12:00.005-05:00

I've been listening to an audiobook called The Essential Lewis and Clark and it's been quite interesting but today I heard an exerpt I found particularly curious. It detailed a scene the explorers had come upon where hundreds of buffalo had been driven off of a cliff by Missouri indians with the vast majority of the carcasses left to rot untouched. Now ever since I watched the movie Dances With Wolves I had been under the impression that only the evil white man could be so wastefully destructive of Mother Earth's bounty. I speak of the scene where Kevin Costner and the Sioux tribe he lives with track a herd of buffalo and come across a vast field of dead animals with only their horns and tongues cut off and the rest of the buffalo left to rot. For shame white man! Well it turns out that the Missouri indians did essentially the same thing only they probably did use most of the buffalo parts from the ones they took... they just killed way more than they needed; sort of like when my son goes to the pizza street buffet and stacks his plate with more than he could possibly eat. Here is the exerpt from Lewis and Clark's journal:

"Today we passed on the starboard side the remains of a vast many mangled carcasses of buffalo which had been driven over a precipice of 120 feet by the Indians and perished. The water appeared to have washed away a part of this immense pile of slaughter, and still there remained the fragments of at least a hundred carcasses. They created a most horrid stench. In this manner the Indians of the Missouri destroy vast herds of buffalo at a stroke: For this purpose, one of the most active and fleet young men is selected and disguised in a robe of buffalo skin, having also the skin of the buffalo’s head with the ears and horns fastened on his head in the form of a cap. Thus caparisoned, he places himself at a convenient distance between a herd of buffalo and a precipice proper for that purpose, which happens in many places on this river for miles together. The other Indians now surround the herd on the back and flanks. At a signal agreed on, all show themselves at the same time, moving forward towards the buffalo.

The disguised Indian or decoy has taken care to place himself sufficiently nigh the buffalo to be noticed by them when they take to flight. Running before them, the buffalo follow him in full speed to the precipice. The cattle behind driving those in front over and seeing them go, do not look or hesitate about following until the whole are precipitated down the precipice, forming one common mass of dead and mangled carcasses. The decoy, in the mean time, has taken care to secure himself in some cranny or crevice of the cliff which he had previously prepared for that purpose. The part of the decoy, I am informed, is extremely dangerous. If they are not very fleet runners, the buffalo tread them under foot and crush them to death, and sometimes drive them over the precipice also, where they perish with the buffalo. Just above this place we came to for dinner, opposite the entrance of a bold running river, 40 yards wide, which falls in on the larboard side. This stream we call the Slaughter River. -Lewis, May 29, 1805"

As I get older, insurance like this is becoming more relevant.

2009-10-08T12:44:00.003-05:00

Interesting chemical breakdown of coffee

2009-10-05T12:57:00.002-05:00

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/17-10/st_coffee

Nothing else really to say... just thought I needed to get the autotune guy off the top of my page.

Pure genius

2009-09-23T12:37:00.000-05:00

All in all this is pretty accurate I think...

2009-09-22T16:34:00.003-05:00

I like bacon but this is going too far...

2009-09-15T15:46:00.003-05:00

http://www.perpetualkid.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=3843

I guess my big question is... does this make you smell like bacon after you towel off or is the aroma just to enhance your shower experience??

I promise I will take a break from the bacon posts for a while.

You could call me an animal lover...

2009-09-02T16:53:00.006-05:00

Some animals I love for their qualities of companionship and loyalty; other animals I love for their beauty and graceful form; still others I love for the flavor of their muscle tissue when fried, baked, boiled or otherwise heated and combined with savory herbs and spices. For the latter reason I am neither shocked, appalled or in any way bothered by this video. You on the other hand may be so I caution watching it if you are a worshiper of lower life forms. If anything I was entertained by the seriousness of the narration.

Commentary: As for the male chicks getting thrown into a grinder (DUN DUN DUN *dramatic music*)... ALIVE!!! How else would you have them killed? Killed first and then killed?? Lightly killed? Only mostly dead? If they gave each discarded male chick a shot of morphine before grinding them up then my bucket of KFC would cost $30 or more instead of the bargain price of $9.99 and honestly I bet the little guys have fun on the ride right up until they snuff it, which to me looks like it happens pretty quickly. You never hear these people upset about how a pride of lions will tear off hunks of meat at their leisure while the wildebeest struggles and whinnies (or whatever sound a wildebeest makes when being slowly eaten alive). Anyway the video rather amused me and I thought I would share it. I think we'll have chicken tonight!

The kid plays like Rhoads and enunciates like Ozzy!

2009-08-31T22:30:00.006-05:00

Well OK he actually has slightly better English diction. This isn't one of those Suzuki method kids who plays freakishly flawless music but he is nevertheless fantastic for a nine year old! The end of the video is also pretty cool.

This stuff could one day save your bacon!

2009-08-27T10:13:00.005-05:00

Well it is bacon... canned bacon with a 10 year shelf life for all your post apocolyptic, zombie pandemic or merely preemptive 'take-back-your-government' civil war planning needs.

This stuff probably comes out of the can as limp as wet spaghetti and as tasty as... well, 10 year old canned bacon. Honestly, at $16 for 9 oz of meat only very wealthy paranoids will be able to stockpile enough for long term survival.

I'm glad I missed most of the cold war. My grandparents' basement looked like a 1950's grocery store, mainly because the canned foods on the multiple rows of shelves were from the 1950's. Is it even worth surviving whatever disaster if I have to eat canned bacon all the time? I think not.

The nation is beginning to see...

2009-08-23T15:38:00.003-05:00

This has accidental release of unstoppable mutated killer bacterium....

2009-08-22T20:06:00.003-05:00

written all over it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1208047/Life-order-Man-organisms-months-say-biologists.html

A new taste from Japan

2009-08-16T22:42:00.005-05:00

Well I don't know if I should really mention this in case such gifts were not broadly distributed to other friends but I feel I have to mention this as I am currently quite enjoying a glass. My wife and I have a friend who just came back from a three month visit to Japan and who most likely all my readers know. Well I found something just for myself in the goody bag she so graciously gave my wife this morning... a little bottle of something clear. My first guess was sake (the label was entirely in Japanese except for the numbered bar code) but her husband corrected me and said it was called Shochu and it was a rice liquor specifically from her home town. I've only had sake once and this tastes quite a bit different from what I recall of sake. It is more akin to vodka but to me this is far better than any vodka I've ever had (not that I have had a lot , mind you.) First of all it is not at all overwhelmingly strong being from what I've read online about 25% alcohol by volume. There's practically no burn to speak of and it goes down very smooth. The taste which is distinctly present but also very subtle is almost sweet and though this may sound odd it actually reminds me right at the point it goes down the throat of distilled water which has an almost sweetish aftertaste. Now there was more to it than that obviously but that was just an impression that occurred to me as I was trying to see what I could discern being a noob when it comes to discerning subtle tastes. There is also a definite odor (not as strong but almost something like scotch though I have only had scotch once) and the odor is far stronger than the taste but the two combine into something very pleasant.

Anyway cheers Kayo! My glass is empty and its time to go to sleep. **There will be no insinuation tolerated in the comments section as to the relationship between the two given facts of the previous statement... it just so happens to be after 11PM** :-P

Vacation Log #6 (and last)

2009-08-10T09:08:00.003-05:00

Well here are the pics from our Sunday day trip to D.C. We took the train to the Smithsonian station and spent about 4 hours there. I discovered that they make up for the fact that the museum is free with the fact that the only convenient place to eat is the Smithsonian cafeteria which makes Royals Stadium concession prices seem extremely reasonable.

http://s981.photobucket.com/albums/ae291/mskennicutt/natural%20history/

We let the kids take home a few souvenirs as well so it turned out not to be a free afternoon, but it was fun and the kids really enjoyed it. I didn't get any pics of their favorite part though (I was too busy videoing); that would be the bug zoo which is the only section of the Natural History museum with live animals. They had a bee hive with a plexiglass wall and the bees got in and out through a clear tube leading to a large window to the outside. It was cool to see the swarm of bees around the entrance (and fortunate that the parking lot was 4 floors below). They also had plenty of other stuff we'd seen at the zoo and aquarium, like tropical oversized centipedes and millipedes, spiders and various other creep crawly things.

Well that is about it... we will probably not do another big vacation for a couple years so this concludes the family picture spree.

Vacation Log #5

2009-08-09T16:42:00.006-05:00

Well this is slightly out of order because I still haven't posted the pics from last Sunday at the Natural History Smithsonian (which are on my laptop hardrive at the office). Since we had the pics from last Monday at the Smithsonian Air and Space Annex still on the camera I uploaded them today.

http://s981.photobucket.com/albums/ae291/mskennicutt/air%20and%20space/

It was a fun trip and the kids were impressed. We ended the day at Captain Pells crab house and enjoyed some WONDERFUL fresh seafood. The blue crabs were freaking awesome and the scallops were gigantic compared to what makes it to the Midwest. They were on average about 1.5-2" in diameter and at least an inch or more thick. If you've never experienced blue crab it is rather an endeavor and the person who orders crabs will be the last person to finish eating. Here is a tutorial - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUW6_CTZd9U

I will try to post the remainder of the pics tomorrow if I get time.

I haven't seen the movie yet...

2009-08-07T21:23:00.003-05:00

But I had to post this pic -

(By the way I have more vacation pics but I won't get those posted until tomorrow.)

Vacation Log #4

2009-08-01T20:44:00.003-05:00

Drove around D.C. for a while this morning and pointed out to the kids among other things the Capital Building where once was housed a portion of a great democratic republic. We feel history is important to our kids' education which is of course why they aren't in the public re-education system.

After that we drove up to Baltimore and spent entirely too much money visiting the National Aquarium. It was nice, but seriously... $21 for 4 hours of parking???

Here are more pics

Vacation Log #3

2009-07-30T19:33:00.005-05:00

Click here for the full PhotoBucket

Vacation Log #2

2009-07-30T09:37:00.002-05:00

Well we finished breakfast a couple hours ago and I've been just kicking around waiting for us to leave for the Cleveland Zoo. It feels good to have received a full night's sleep and I am ready to do some walking and snap some pictures. I'll post some later.

Vacation Log #1

2009-07-29T14:20:00.003-05:00

Well, I've driven through three states and now that we are just entering Ohio, I've handed the wheel over to my wife and I think I'll catch a few winks. Tomorrow we're hitting the zoo so I'll have some pics to post.

My pets and their new culinary adventure

2009-06-17T10:10:00.007-05:00

Well my wife has always been the 'healthy' force in our family and since I've known her I've become more educated on health and well being. Recently she has been studying up on a fad if you can call it that of feeding household pets according to what they were designed to eat so they will live longer and be more healthy. Cats and dogs are naturally carnivorous though even wild canines as I understand will suppliment with grass. They however do not naturally eat a high volume or even a small amount of carbohydrates. Commercial dog food it turns out is mostly carbohydrates and some protein. Long story short, this trend involves feeding your dogs and cats raw meat which to me at first mention sounded 1. messy, 2. expensive and 3. gross.

It immediately occured to me though that wild dogs eat strictly raw meat and occassionally grass and nothing else to my knowledge so the gross part was more for me to cope with than the dogs. The next concern was cost but after crunching the numbers it turns out we are spending about $21.50 per week on pet food but if we took this route we would only be spending about $15 per week and less if we're diligent to seek out good sales at the butcher.

So this new diet began today with basically very good though mixed results. The food at this point is uncooked chicken which the butcher was kind enough to chop up for us. The animals (2 australian shepherds and 2 cats) all reacted differently.

The cats - "hmmm... what's that divine smell? Oooooh my is that a chicken in the bowl? Can't be! The humans have only ever given us brown crunchy nuggets and only they get to eat chicken. No no it is... it IS CHICKEN!!! OMG! Holy crap holy crap holy crap! Quick before they realize what they've done!!" *rip tear* *chew* *devour* *chomp* (essentially there was a feeding frenzy at the cat bowl)

Samwise (the older and more finicky of the two shepherds... in, I imagine, an English accent like Stewie Griffin) "Oh jolly good its breakfast... but wait. What the duece is this?? Someone dropped a raw chicken leg in my bowl! You there... human! What the Hell am I supposed to do with this?? It... is... RAW you imbecile! Cook it immediately! *Al begins to try his* "Al what do you think you're doing?? Oh well he's always been dim... Now see here I refuse to sink to the level of a common wolf. I am a pure breed and I demand tasty brown nuggets this moment! Here I shall remove this thing myself and you can give me nuggets! *Picks up chicken leg and drops it on the kitchen floor*... oh ewww it got in my mouth... it... ummm... hmmm now this is a curious sensation. This raw food has started me salivating uncontrollably. Maybe... um just a taste. No I can't... well maybe. *tentative lick* Err umm... well it isn't a crunchy nugget but its not horrible. *lick lick* *bite*..." etc etc.

So Sam very daintily ate his breakfast and cleaned the bones but left those in the bowl. Al on the other hand...

Al: "Food... looks different... not small and round. Food all the same *Chomp*. WTF!? This is raw F*&^#@ meat! THIS IS AWESOME!! *CHOMP* *CHOMP* *CHOMP* I am a freakin carnivore, baby!! *CHOMP* *CHOMP* Blood!! *CHOMP* *CHOMP* Bones!!! *CHOMP* *CHOMP* "Hey humans, next time let me kill this thing myself will ya???"

We think Al is going to end up getting slightly larger portions than Sam will but the 'experts' say dogs only need about 1 or 2% of their body weight though some may eat up to 3 or 4%. Oh and the thing we discovered with chicken bones is that they are only dangerous to dogs when fried. They are not normally brittle and do not splinter when raw and Al literally ate EVERYTHING in his bowl.

My first concern about it being messy though is a valid complaint because the dogs don't want to sit at their bowl and eat a chicken leg... they want to take it and go eat it on the carpet or worse a couch so we have to isolate them while feeding (Al in his kennel and Sam in the kitchen with the baby gates up.) Also now that the food is so much more enticing we have to feed the dogs separate from the cats... one of the cats approached Al's bowl and I swear he almost took its head off. We will have to make sure we wash the bowls well and the prep surfaces and all that but not any more cleaning than for normal food prep for the 'humans'.

We'll see how this new pet food works and there are several other 'raw' options we've read about, one being whole eggs. I guess dogs will eat the shell and all and it is good for their coats... again though the messy factor is a concern for me but we'll see. So far so good.

Just because...

2009-06-16T17:21:00.000-05:00

Certification direction change

2009-06-04T09:30:00.003-05:00

Well after getting my start on studying to upgrade to MCSE 2003 I learned a few things that forced me to change direction a bit. I seems I missed the boat by a long shot and the MCSE upgrade path was retired a year ago! I'm glad I found out now after only two weeks of studying for a defunct exam and not in three months. The rather bad news for me is that now instead of taking just a few tests to upgrade my certification I must now start from scratch and take ALL of the exams to get 2008 certification. It isn't really all that bad because I will learn more in the process than I would were I to just study for an upgrade test.

Also I discovered that there is no such thing as MCSE 2008. I won't get into Microsoft's new certification structure because no one here likely cares... but my new goal is a cert call MCITP (Microsoft Certified IT Professional) - Enterprise Admin which is to the best of my knowledge the equivalent of MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems engineer). This will probably take me the remainder of the year to attain and I've already started studying for test #1. One thing that is mildly annoying is that the computer based training modules available are all comprehensive. Why is that a bad thing you ask? Well because it assumes I am NOT already an MCSE and it covers not only the advanced topics and those unique to a 2008 Microsoft network evironment but also all of the basic and fundamental concepts I have been familiar with for the last nine or ten years. Oh well, I will probably learn a few things that I have forgotten.

I'll keep the blog updated on my progress.

Adventures with powertools

2009-06-01T20:48:00.003-05:00

Mission: To install an invisible dog fence.
Requirements: Create a complete circuit around property with buried wire.
Problem: Driveway must be negotiated somehow and existing expansion joints not deep enough to accommodate wire safely.
Solution...

So I go to Home Depot to rent a concrete saw right? Easy enough if you know what you need. Now this is for everyone's future benefit: When the tool rental dude says, "For an extra $8 you can buy a diamond blade OR you can just use the standard blade already on the saw which should work for concrete" -- the correct answer is "Why yes; yes I would in fact like to buy the brand new diamond blade for an extra $8.00. Here's my Visa."

My answer was incorrect. I said, "If the regular blade works then I'll stick with that; after all I am only cutting across a driveway." What I actually said without realizing it was this, "No thank you, I will take the cheap-ass blade that wasn't really designed for quality concrete cuts and has as a side note already been used by at least one other renter for who knows what purpose for who knows how many hours. Here's my Visa."

It turns out the used blade was for lack of a better word, or rather for lack of any motivation to find a better word, poopy.

Here is a quick rundown of my learning experience (and yes I did adapt quite well and quite frequently... ... ...)

Part One
- Make a chalk line at the end of the driveway for the cut
- Plug in heavy duty extension cord in garage and stretch it out with the saw plugged into it only to find it is about 24" too short to reach the whole cut.
- Find another extension cord and add it to the chain.
- Start cutting
- Remember that I bought safety goggles and put them on
- Start cutting again... lots of dust... 5" and it stops.
- Sit puzzled for a moment.
- Check outlet (still plugged in)
- Run downstairs and check breaker (that was it!)
- Back outside and start cutting again... 6" and stop. SHITE!
- Run downstairs and flip breaker
- Back outside and start cutting again... 6" and stop. SONUVA!
- Run downstairs and flip breaker
- Back outside and start cutting again... 6" and stop. MOTHER(%$#%JACK(*&!F%^&PUSSBUCKET!!!
- Fume for a moment
- wipe sweat off of brow
- Realize that surge protectors have a built-in breaker; bring one outside and plug the saw in directly.
- Start cutting again... 6" and stop. HA HA! Reach over triumphantly and hit reset
- Start cutting again... 6" and stop. HA HA! Reach over triumphantly and hit reset
- Start cutting again... 6" and stop. HA HA! Reach over triumphantly and hit reset
- Man this is dusty... wipe sweat, err, concrete paste from my brow.
- Suddenly I see a label half covered with concrete grime on the saw that says "ALWAYS PUL@@@@@@@OWARD@@@@@@@@@"
- I wipe the grime away to see that I have been pushing the saw forward instead of pulling it towards me. %&@$*&!@%$*&%$*&%@*&@#%%&*$%&@#!!!
- Go to the opposite side of the drive and start again hoping against hope that I will meet the line I have already cut.

Part Two: The Other Side
- Start cutting... 1" stop. reset. 1" stop. reset. 1" stop. reset. WTF???
- Notice that the wingnut holding the blade depth in place is loose and the blade is cutting 6" deep instead of 2" which I had set earlier. Fix it back at 2"
- Start cutting again... 6" and stop. HA HA! Reach over triumphantly and hit reset
- Start cutting again... 6" and stop. HA HA! Reach over triumphantly and hit reset
- Start cutting again... 6" and stop. HA HA! Reach over triumphantly and hit reset
- Start cutting again... 6" and stop. HA HA! Reach over triumphantly and hit reset
Man it is really difficult pulling it to me because the saw is now spitting dust literally right into my face.
- Get an idea... run inside and get a box fan to also plug into power strip... turn fan on high and point at saw.
- Start cutting again... YES IT WORKS!!! WOO HOO ... 3" and stop. Hhhhhhhhhh... fan loses me 3" of progress.
-Start cutting again veeeeery slooooowly. 10" after about 30 seconds then stop.
- Basically repeat this very slow cutting and I actually finish and unbelievably I hit the line on the other side almost perfectly.
- Take shower
- Return saw to Home Depot
- Blog about it so all my friends can ruthlessly mock my inability to do anything like this right the first time.

Coolness in its infancy

2009-05-20T21:19:00.006-05:00

I'd say give this technology 10 years (maybe less) and it will be at a level we would today consider sci-fi...

More information is just what we need right? I won't delve into the potential positive or negative ramifications (there are arguably many on either side) but merely from a geek point of view this is super cool stuff.

Time to start studying...

2009-05-18T10:54:00.004-05:00

Well the time has come for me to get off of my butt and upgrade my Microsoft certification. I am a MCSE 2000 and I would like to be an MCSE 2008. This will take two steps... first upgrading to 2003 and then from there upgrading to 2008. Fortunately I know enough already about the 2003 environment that I think I can get by with just grabbing a couple good study guides and then taking the two tests required to upgrade. This step is necessary because there is no upgrade path from 2000 to 2008 and I would have to take the entire series of 7 tests to attain 2008 otherwise. The upgrade from 2003 to 2008 is as I understand it a single (albeit long) test. Now that step will take some additional training but my company is going to pick that up I think. I may still have to pay for the actual tests but that is fine... in fact I've found that I study a bit harder when I am covering the cost of the test ($130 a pop last time... who knows what they cost now).

My goal? To have my MCSE 2008 by the end of the year or very shortly after the 1st of next year. Since we are in a salary freeze this year I am hoping this cert upgrade will help in getting some kind of increase next year but my real motivation is just to get current.

Next year we will have replaced our Lotus Notes/Domino email server with MS Exchange 2007 so after I get my MCSE2008 cert I may move towards getting a specialist certification in messaging but that is down the road and one thing at a time.

Back to back 'religious' posts.

2009-05-11T09:08:00.003-05:00

After this I will be sure to post something trivial.

Over the weekend two people I know accepted Christ as their Savior. The first and nearest my heart was my 8 year old Son!!! He has been asking the right questions for about a year now but neither my wife nor I had peace that he really understood the implications or why he needed to be saved. Recently though he began showing real conviction about his need for Christ and Saturday morning I led him in praying for Salvation and his little face was glowing. That really made quite an excellent early Mother's Day present for my wife and it is a huge weight off of my shoulders to know that both of my kids have their eternal destinies worked out.

The second person is my step-grandmother. My wife had several opportunities to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with her a couple years ago after my grandfather passed away but she just wasn't ready. She recently suffered a heart attack which naturally opened her eyes to her own mortality and my little brother's wife was able to share the Gospel with her and this time she did give her life to the Lord. So I am very happy about both occassions and thought I should put it up on the blog.

A short little Bible study

2009-05-08T11:33:00.003-05:00

This is a first for me in terms of blog content. I have been missing doing weekly SOT Bible Studies (SOT stands for Soldiers of Truth and is a small Bible Study group at my church where everyone spends 2 weeks reading and studying a passage from the Word of God and comes together for a couple hours every other week to present what God taught them) and started working on this little study about a week ago. Actually I am planning on rejoining SOT shortly but in the meantime...

It is too long to post as a blog entry so I am going to link to it as an RTF file if you'd like to read it (I say long but its just 4 pages).

A fire in my heart

Anyway it is something that I've been thinking about for a few years but a recent sermon put it fresh in my mind and so I decided to just put it down on paper... well into binary bits at any rate.

Using a JPG as hidden lockbox.

2009-05-05T08:41:00.004-05:00

Found a very cool way to hide important files on your computer without using encryption or anything.

1. You put your file (i.e. online banking passwords or something) into a Rar archive (i.e. secret.rar).

2. Put a jpg image into the same directory (i.e. picture.jpg).

3. Open a command prompt and go to that directrory.

4. Now type 'copy /B picture.jpg + secret.rar picture.jpg'.

What you end up with is a file that looks and acts just like a jpg but the file size will be the sum of both files. To access to the Rar portion of this concatenated file you simply right click it and use the 'open with' option then choose WinRar and voila you can access your secret data. The only catch is, if you were to try to edit the jpg with a graphics application, you risk corrupting the Rar file it is attached to.

Once a year I must say it...

2009-05-04T13:15:00.002-05:00

Backpacking with my son...

2009-04-28T13:33:00.007-05:00

This Friday we're off to Southern MO for a couple days. It will be his first overnight backpacking trip and he's very excited about it. Today his mom is taking him out to buy some hiking boots and tonight and tomorrow night I will be doing an equipment check and shopping run for whatever we are lacking. This will be a fairly easy trip since he's only 8 and I don't quite know what he can handle in terms of mileage and difficulty. We're going to do a 15 mile there and back (7.5 miles one way). Here is a map I made using Google maps terrain feature and Paint Shop Pro. The red line is our trail... from the trail head parking lot to Rocky Falls where we'll camp Friday night, then return on Saturday.

Stegal Mountain has some very nice views of the surrounding landscape. About 15 years ago I took a trip where we actually camped at the top of Stegal and were rewarded by waking up to a phenomenal sunrise... the only catch is that there is no water at the top and we ended up running out of cooking water for breakfast and spent a thirsty morning going down to the nearest creek. Stegal is a decent hike up from either direction (the western summit is 480' above Kelly Hollow), but oddly enough, for me the toughest portion of the trip (I've been on this trail a few times) is going up the road from Roger's Creek to the parking lot at the trail head. You can see from the topo lines that it is more than 120' up and since it is a dirt road there are no switchbacks... just a very... very... steep hill. Of course the reward for climbing the hill is the car which makes it all worth it.

I am planning on taking the camera so hopefully I will be able to post some pics next week.

Finally!! Some modern artwork that...

2009-04-22T16:24:00.002-05:00

I can relate to...

So I've started a diet...

2009-04-14T10:42:00.002-05:00

I am calling it an exercise promotional/motivational ploy to get my ass on the bike. I have been thinking about trying a diet along with exercising but the only diet I've done in recent years that worked was Atkins which really is not a good diet to coincide with strenuous exercise as it saps your energy badly... and really I have always acknowledged that exercise is much more beneficial than reducing caloric intake. So this diet is almost more to motivate me to exercise than it is to lose weight (just by dieting). The idea is that on days I do not ride my bike, I will limit myself to 1,000 calories... this will be in the form of 2 slim fast shakes and then <640 calories for dinner. I am on day two of the slim fast and right now I can tell you that I WILL be riding tomorrow even if there is an ice storm followed by a tornado. It isn't even that I am necessarily hungry right at the moment... I had a shake 3 hours ago and I will take one for lunch around 12:30... but it is the idea that I have placed limits on myself. It is totally my old nature that is causing me discomfort. If I could go eat whatever I wanted to right now I most likely wouldn't even be thinking about it... but since I cannot, I am.

Tomorrow though will be nice... actual food for lunch and I don't have to count how many Doritos I eat. I am arbitrarily dooming myself to this diet until the end of June... the tricky part will be to make sure I can ride my bike anytime we are doing something where I really can't effectively count calories... i.e. church potluck, or when I have the guys over for a movie and beer/food or when I go on a date with my wife. This Friday I'll have to ride rain or shine... fortunately it looks like even if it does rain, the weather is finally going to be within the normal Spring temperature range.

Actually I really like the idea behind it... I can eat whatever I want as long as I earn it by riding, and earn it I shall.

His name... is Crentist.

2009-04-06T15:11:00.005-05:00

So I went to a new dentist this morning... by the way Monday mornings are quite bad enough without scheduling a dentist appointment at the front of them. I will have to speak with my secretary about that. ANYWAY as I was saying, I went to a new dentist. His name was actually not Crentist but as that is a reference to one of my favorite The Office episodes ('The Coup' if anyone is curious) I couldn't resist the post title. It was a nice office in the Transamerica building downtown on 11th and Main. Upon arrival I sat down in the waiting room and filled out all the new patient stuff that new patients are required to sit down in the waiting room and fill out upon arrival and then was led back to the 'chair'. The first weird thing was that I was looking out a large window at the side of another office building with several large windows... any one of which could have contained some sick voyeuristic sadist who enjoyed watching people in the Dentist chair. This thought in fact provided some mental distraction, albeit oddly uncomfortable distraction, from the inherent unpleasantness of having to sit in a Dental chair for any length of time. It has been a few years since I went to the Dentist but I am I think at least above average in terms of brushing and flossing consistency, at least according to the statistics I assume exist which show me to be just slightly above average in said terms. I don't have the time or inclination to fact check the statistics I have already assumed but they are probably about right. Anyway the nice young lady who scraped my teeth clean didn't seem too put out by the duration of the task. I often wonder if dental hygienists ever pretend they are paleontologists out in the middle of Montana on a dig and they are carefully scraping rock away from the fossil remains of some prehistoric beast from Earth's past. I bet some do... more likely the ones who dislike their jobs and need a good escape. Of course that fantasy is somewhat self limiting in terms of replayability. Maybe the dinosaur species could change from patient to patient...

I'm sorry I keep getting side tracked. What I really wanted to comment on was the fact that this Dentist office was really picture happy. We are talking about a severe photographic fetish (would that be called a homophonic alliteration?) Let's catalog the image reproduction that occurred between my arrival and my departure:

1. Four sets of bitewing teeth X-Rays (the ones where they stick 6" square pieces of cardboard in your mouth and then tell you to bite it.)

2. A full head X-Ray (This is where you stand still as a device circles your head and irradiates you from 360 degrees.)

[X-rays finished, now she pulls out a big digital camera]

3. Smile... head shot.

4. Big cheesy smile... extreme closeup.

5. Stick these plastic forms into your mouth which connect to your cheeks to spread everything out and then smile... this was the 'make your mouth look like a zombie skeleton' pic... we got this one from 4 angles.

6. Now stick this 3" mirror into your mouth and down your throat until just before you puke... Oh still with the plastic forms spreading everything. This one we got from the top and bottom angle and had a mid-photo-shoot break to wipe drool from the mirror.

At that point I was afraid they were going to ask me to try on different outfits and stand in front of various backdrops. Seriously what the hell was that all about?? I've honestly never had a dentist do more than the bitewing X-Rays before. Now I feel you've read enough to sufficiently empathize with my Monday morning. My only consolation was that I picked up a new bag of Ethiopian Sidamo from the local Kolsto coffee roastery which I shall get to enjoy tomorrow morning. Good day!

USA - Once a Democratic Republic...

2009-03-27T22:16:00.006-05:00

"Fascism is a radical, authoritarian nationalist ideology that aims to create a single-party state with a government led by a dictator who seeks national unity and development by requiring individuals to subordinate self-interest to the collective interest of the nation or race." -Wikipedia

'What? Dictator? Oh come now... after all we elected him into office.' True, but many dictators are initially welcomed by the people, and as for a one-party state, we essentially have that now the way the Republican party is capitulating on so many core conservative principles.

The more I read about Obama and his brown shirt brigade, the bigger the knot in my stomach gets. The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution reads in section 1 -"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." This amendment was approved on February 1, 1865. It finished what Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation had begun by officially abolishing slavery (or involuntary servitude) in this country. Now our nation's first black President of all people wants to tread upon that very legislation... and frighteningly few in this country seem to see or understand the significance. Get educated - first on what exactly it is President Obama has suggested in his many speeches and secondly on the Amendment that is being blatently disregarded.

Refrigerator post...

2009-03-19T17:31:00.003-05:00

My daughter made this for me today...

It's going to the office tomorrow for permanent display.

Demotivational posters: funny yes... prophetic as well?

2009-03-16T13:03:00.004-05:00

I have a poster on my office cubical wall that I bought from despair Inc last year. You can see it here in fact. The caption reads -

"MOTIVATION: If a pretty picture and a cute saying are all it takes to motivate you, you probably have a very easy job. The kind robots will be doing soon."

Well I had no idea that this cynical proverb would prove to be literally prophetic in quite so accurate a form... If any one group of professionals would fall into the afore mentioned category, I'd say that runway models at least as a generality most definitely would fit the mold.

Behold the future --

According to this article, the robot is being designed specifically as a runway model.

A funny thing about computers...

2009-03-11T09:58:00.004-05:00

This has occured to me often over the years but an email I got this morning from Tigerdirect.com brought it back to mind. It seems that computers (as well as a few other consumer driven technologies) are not affected by the rate of inflation. In fact they seem to get cheaper as the tech gets better. This phenomenon is less obvious than it was say in the 80's and early 90's but it still holds true to a degree. For the last I would say 15 years the basic cost of a home computer has not changed in relation to the level of available technology. In other words at any given point you could buy what would be considered a good general use system for between $500-$1000, a 'nice' system for under two grand and a cutting edge system for a few hundred more. The price range in relativity to the current technology seems fairly static and has remained so for a VERY long time. In some cases though, for instance with peripherals, it seem like prices are actually falling in spite of increasing technology. I recall my father buying a dot-matrix printer in the mid-80's for close to $1200!!! Today you can get a photo quality ink jet printer for $30!

Computer monitors are another example... they keep getting bigger and better as the prices get lower and lower. Eight years ago the standard was a 14" or 15" CRT (the old style of monitors that were typically deeper than they were wide). A 17" would cost you $250+. Today I got an email listing a 25" flatscreen LCD monitor for $220! It just blows me away.

Also on an anecdotal note... this reminded me of a fad that I recall taking place in the early to mid-90s (I personally knew at least 4 guys who had done this) where people with finished basements would set up a computer desk next to an inside wall (usually the inside wall connected to a utility room of some sort) and cut a hole in the drywall through which the vast bulk of their CRT monitor would go. This created the illusion of a flat screen monitor. which at that time in history only existed in Star Trek and other Sci-fi movies or TV shows. Only a few short years later, voila, we have 25" flat screen LCDs for $220!! What a world we live in.

Sledding is fun.

2009-02-28T20:07:00.008-06:00

Who'd have thought that on the day before March we would get by far the best snow fall of the season? Raytown easily got 4" of snow so the family spent a couple hours at a nearby park along with several others from the neighborhood. We had a great time and got some good video of the kids (and us) speeding down the hill. I ran into a guy I used to go to church with (Tom Ryan) and we had a good talk about old times and what was new while the kids wore themselves out running back up the hill to go again.

**I discovered that hot glogg is particularly good after 2 hours in the cold.

(Mix 50/50 into a sauce pan, heat up to just under a boil and voila!)

I am nicely warmed up now. Actually we just finished watching The Clone Wars movie on blu ray and now I think I am going to put the kids in bed and call it a day. There is a good chance given that the temps are going to get down to near ZERO tonight that we will be able to take the kids back out tomorrow after church and get in a bit more hill time.