Monday, June 30, 2008
high gas prices
High gas prices are really packing a powerful punch aimed directly at my checking account. Had we anticipated such high prices at the pump we may not have purchased the beach condo. That really isn't true, I would have purchased the condo anyway but had I waited another six months I may have been able to snag the unit at a much more attractive price. On the flip side the possibility exists that had I waited someone else may have grabbed the very best condo in my building and I would have had to settle for a unit on the first floor that does not have ocean view or an interior unit that lacks my two extra windows. So I'm happy how things worked out. Very happy, actually.
Let's get back to the gas prices. When we departed for the beach around 6 pm Friday I had just under three quarters of my maximum fuel capacity. Upon arrival in Rodanthe around 10 pm (we made a 30 minute stop in Plymouth, NC along the way as per our custom) my tank read just above 1/4 tank. We drove around a bit on Saturday, but not very much, and upon departure on Sunday around 4:00 pm my tank was under 1/4 full.
The fill up at the "cheap" station in Nags Head cost me a whopping $96.42 for 87 octane. Throw in the $9 we spend in Plymouth each week to feed the two of us and the dogs and our round trip is now over $100.00 just to transport ourselves to the coast. That's no longer chump change. Go each week and you're staring at a $400 per month transportation cost. Ick!
What this means is we won't be driving out each and every weekend, and we normally don't that in the first place. Visiting the coast three times a month happens frequently but I think we're going to have to cut that down to two visits per month.
Should gas hit the $7/gallon mark I'm not sure what we would or could do in that situtation. We can't take the dogs in Kelly's car. Sure, Beeper would be ok, but Mr. Boo would trash the place, annoy us to no end and we'd all want to kill each other by the time we arrived. Boo is NOT a good car dog. Years ago when I would see people with a dog barrier in their car I would wonder how someone could transport a "family member" as little more than cargo. Now that I've had Boo and I have watched him slowly transform from great car do into "psychotic slobber, pant and tear sh*t up" dog I currently travel with today. Currently Boo gets the entire back of the Suburban as his space (we call this area the "psycho ward") and he is free to partake in his annoying habits safe and secure behind his barrier (and by "safe" I mean I can't just reach back and throttle him Homer style around hour two of the journey). At one point, back when we had the Jeep Liberty I honestly considered having Boo ride in a small horse trailer.
As it turns out a horse trailer for a mini horse/shetland pony does exist, but we opted for a larger ride before the purchase could be fully investigated. But mini horse trailers isn't what I wanted to talk about. Somehow I've managed to get off the rails once again. Back to $7/gallon gas. What do I do then?
The solution may be a third car, something along the lines of a used Subaru Forrester perhaps? Or maybe some other kind of Subaru station wagon. There are many unknowns about Subaru ownership and perhaps a Subaru isn't the correct solution for my dilemma. What kind of highway mileage does a Forrester get in real-world conditions? Are they reliable? Can I even afford one? (Spending the money to pick up a used vehicle might not make a lot sense regardless of the fuel price. How long would it take to recoup my expenses of purchasing a new vehicle through better fuel economy? I'd bet it would take quite a long time.)
In the end I'll probably just have to eat the gas price and continue to take the Suburban. It's not the most efficient vehicle ever created but it does the job. At $7/gallon the round trip would cost around $175, or $75 more than it does right now. With four trips a month that is an extra $300.00 a month over and above what we're paying right now. We'll have to make some adjustments to make room for that expenditure, and part of that "room" will be cut-backs across the board including the number of times we travel to the beach.
Let's get back to the gas prices. When we departed for the beach around 6 pm Friday I had just under three quarters of my maximum fuel capacity. Upon arrival in Rodanthe around 10 pm (we made a 30 minute stop in Plymouth, NC along the way as per our custom) my tank read just above 1/4 tank. We drove around a bit on Saturday, but not very much, and upon departure on Sunday around 4:00 pm my tank was under 1/4 full.
The fill up at the "cheap" station in Nags Head cost me a whopping $96.42 for 87 octane. Throw in the $9 we spend in Plymouth each week to feed the two of us and the dogs and our round trip is now over $100.00 just to transport ourselves to the coast. That's no longer chump change. Go each week and you're staring at a $400 per month transportation cost. Ick!
What this means is we won't be driving out each and every weekend, and we normally don't that in the first place. Visiting the coast three times a month happens frequently but I think we're going to have to cut that down to two visits per month.
Should gas hit the $7/gallon mark I'm not sure what we would or could do in that situtation. We can't take the dogs in Kelly's car. Sure, Beeper would be ok, but Mr. Boo would trash the place, annoy us to no end and we'd all want to kill each other by the time we arrived. Boo is NOT a good car dog. Years ago when I would see people with a dog barrier in their car I would wonder how someone could transport a "family member" as little more than cargo. Now that I've had Boo and I have watched him slowly transform from great car do into "psychotic slobber, pant and tear sh*t up" dog I currently travel with today. Currently Boo gets the entire back of the Suburban as his space (we call this area the "psycho ward") and he is free to partake in his annoying habits safe and secure behind his barrier (and by "safe" I mean I can't just reach back and throttle him Homer style around hour two of the journey). At one point, back when we had the Jeep Liberty I honestly considered having Boo ride in a small horse trailer.
As it turns out a horse trailer for a mini horse/shetland pony does exist, but we opted for a larger ride before the purchase could be fully investigated. But mini horse trailers isn't what I wanted to talk about. Somehow I've managed to get off the rails once again. Back to $7/gallon gas. What do I do then?
The solution may be a third car, something along the lines of a used Subaru Forrester perhaps? Or maybe some other kind of Subaru station wagon. There are many unknowns about Subaru ownership and perhaps a Subaru isn't the correct solution for my dilemma. What kind of highway mileage does a Forrester get in real-world conditions? Are they reliable? Can I even afford one? (Spending the money to pick up a used vehicle might not make a lot sense regardless of the fuel price. How long would it take to recoup my expenses of purchasing a new vehicle through better fuel economy? I'd bet it would take quite a long time.)
In the end I'll probably just have to eat the gas price and continue to take the Suburban. It's not the most efficient vehicle ever created but it does the job. At $7/gallon the round trip would cost around $175, or $75 more than it does right now. With four trips a month that is an extra $300.00 a month over and above what we're paying right now. We'll have to make some adjustments to make room for that expenditure, and part of that "room" will be cut-backs across the board including the number of times we travel to the beach.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Hidden Treasures
You never know when you'll find a hidden treasure. Today mine was downloading pictures from my wife's camera to her laphttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.giftop, something I haven't done in quite some time. What treasures did I find? Four more pictures from my hand surgery! The only bummer is they are all somewhat blurry. Oh well. They are all loaded in the Hand Surgery Gallery.
If you don't want to visit the gallery I'll display what I think is the best of the four below. Enjoy.
If you don't want to visit the gallery I'll display what I think is the best of the four below. Enjoy.
It had to happen eventually
I have two backpacks, I call them "work" and "away". They are different models of backpacks (both old, nondescript things) but they share the same color - green. In a rush to get out of the house and off to the beach I grabbed my work backpack and thew it in the super tanker thus forgetting to bring my Macbook and Roku while brining along everything I'd prefer to leave home and get away from. Darn.
Perhaps it's time to get one of those nifty backpacks I see people at work using. Better yet why not consult the good people at ThinkGeek:
Let's face it: you can't confuse the Chewbaca backpack with a work laptop. No way. This bag has style and it makes a statement. Thinkgeek also has a Yoda backpack but I think Chewy is more my style and certainly more "me". Let me know if you feel differently.
Maybe what I need isn't a backpack. Maybe what I need is a messenger bag. To that thought I present the Alchemy Goods recycled Messenger Bag:
Messenger bags have always stuck me as sort of "metrosexual" but I can't argue the bag's functionality. Because I just blew a lot of money on a weather-enabled GPS I probably won't be replacing much of anything that isn't broken for a while. That was the trade-off we made when purchasing the condo so I won't complain.
We knew money would be tight for about three years, and it surely is. It's been good for us, really, this financial change. We have drastically cut back on our spending and eating out. This has helped the checkbook considerably. The good news is once we emerge from our 36 month walk through the cash desert we will have hopefully trained ourselves to get by with less consumption of unnecessary goods. If I want something it's still easy enough to get: just volunteer for a week of primary on-call. You are practically assured to make at least $500.00 doing that. You'll pay for for that money, let me tell you. Sleep will be practically non-existent and you'll wrestle with psychological questions such as "does it really matter if our Hanoi, Viet Nam site is down?" Well guess what, somebody, somewhere around the globe DOES care about the Hanoi office and you'll be up all night on conference calls having to answer questions like "how did this happen" and "what is being done to resolve this outage". Oh, and get ready to call the local telco in Hanoi as well, that's always entertaining, let me tell you.
I'll wrap this up. I can't believe I forgot my Roku and laptop. The Charter Internet service is finally working well and we could have spent all day watching cool movies but NOOOOOOOO!!!! Next week we'll do just that I can assure you.
Perhaps it's time to get one of those nifty backpacks I see people at work using. Better yet why not consult the good people at ThinkGeek:
Let's face it: you can't confuse the Chewbaca backpack with a work laptop. No way. This bag has style and it makes a statement. Thinkgeek also has a Yoda backpack but I think Chewy is more my style and certainly more "me". Let me know if you feel differently.
Maybe what I need isn't a backpack. Maybe what I need is a messenger bag. To that thought I present the Alchemy Goods recycled Messenger Bag:
Messenger bags have always stuck me as sort of "metrosexual" but I can't argue the bag's functionality. Because I just blew a lot of money on a weather-enabled GPS I probably won't be replacing much of anything that isn't broken for a while. That was the trade-off we made when purchasing the condo so I won't complain.
We knew money would be tight for about three years, and it surely is. It's been good for us, really, this financial change. We have drastically cut back on our spending and eating out. This has helped the checkbook considerably. The good news is once we emerge from our 36 month walk through the cash desert we will have hopefully trained ourselves to get by with less consumption of unnecessary goods. If I want something it's still easy enough to get: just volunteer for a week of primary on-call. You are practically assured to make at least $500.00 doing that. You'll pay for for that money, let me tell you. Sleep will be practically non-existent and you'll wrestle with psychological questions such as "does it really matter if our Hanoi, Viet Nam site is down?" Well guess what, somebody, somewhere around the globe DOES care about the Hanoi office and you'll be up all night on conference calls having to answer questions like "how did this happen" and "what is being done to resolve this outage". Oh, and get ready to call the local telco in Hanoi as well, that's always entertaining, let me tell you.
I'll wrap this up. I can't believe I forgot my Roku and laptop. The Charter Internet service is finally working well and we could have spent all day watching cool movies but NOOOOOOOO!!!! Next week we'll do just that I can assure you.
Friday, June 27, 2008
48 hours with my Bushnell Onix 400 GPS/XM Radio
This gizmo is pretty darn cool! I'm not sure how to make the weather overlay work (I just enabled it 10 minutes ago and so far I've got no data). I decided to go with the NavWeather package and not the NavWeather plus XM Radio as I don't expect to be using this device as a radio receiver very often (and devices built for this purpose are better suited in the first place).
I'll tinker with this at the beach and see what I can make it do. I upgraded my MicroSD card from 128 meg to 2 gig at a whopping cost of $9.99. Can you believe that? Ten bucks for two gig? This old-timer remembers when a 1 gig IDE drive from Western Digital went on sale for $1000.00. To that point how many 2 gig MicroSD cars could I fit into a case the size of a IDE drive? At least 100, maybe more. The mind boggles. I also picked up a 4 gig USB flash drive for not much more. Six gigs of solid-state storage for under $30.00 - RETAIL. Unreal.
Back to the GPS. I don't yet see many mounting options for cars, motorcycle and Jet Skis. That's a shame, but I'm sure those kinds of things are forthcoming. More disturbing I haven't yet read any way to update local road maps. There simply must be a way to do that. I simply won't accept the idea that someone built a GPS and made the road maps static. I found that I can overlay satellite terrain and topographical maps on top of the road map and that's pretty cool, I do have to say.
I simply must make this XM weather data to function properly. Back to the drawing board.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
McCain - Liberman?
As hard as it might be to believe this might be the "Republican" ticket announced in the next few weeks. I don't think this ticket would work however. Evangelicals don't like McCain and neither do hard-core conservatives. Adding the "democrat" Lieberman would surely piss that crowd off even more so than they are now, but I'm not sure that really matters. Really, is an Evangelical going to vote for Obama? Doubtful. Abstaining from the vote is an option, but that would help Obama who is turning out record numbers of new voters registered. That said McCain might go with a super-conservative, maybe even someone crazy enough to bring their deceased child home from the hospital so the other children can be properly introduced.
A McCain/Santorum ticket? That's too frightening to comprehend. I'm kind of upset I even thought about it. If that is announced I'm going to sign up ever voter I can. I'll canvas from my home town to areas where I can't get 911 service in Durham and all places in-between.
Obama/(to be named later) That's the winning ticket.
A McCain/Santorum ticket? That's too frightening to comprehend. I'm kind of upset I even thought about it. If that is announced I'm going to sign up ever voter I can. I'll canvas from my home town to areas where I can't get 911 service in Durham and all places in-between.
Obama/(to be named later) That's the winning ticket.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Roku traffic pattern
This gives a rough idea what the traffic pattern of a playing movie looks like when using the Roku player over broadband. This is about what I expected. Seven meg is my max download.
Roku = Rocks
Behold
There's my Roku between the Apple TV and the Wii. As you can sii it has a small footprint. I happy with the dimensions as don't like needlessly over-sized devices (say, for instance, that huge DVD player; does it really need to be that large?). I have more pictures in the public gallery, please peruse and enjoy.
Last night I watched 2.5 movies on the Roku. They all worked flawlessly and I found some interesting data watching my WAN interface graph on my router. Tonight I'll watch some more movies and display some graph info tomorrow. Let's review the movies:
Serial Killers: The Real Life Hannibal Lecters
This movie was an interesting documentary, but a bit of a let-down. It hit the major U.S. serial killers we've all heard of, Gacy, Dahlmer and Bundy and also had a nice piece on Andrei Chikatilo, the Russian serial killer and cannibal. On a positive note the freakish Albert Fish was also featured prominently. I wrote a paper about him in my psychology class back in 1992 (my professor called it "disturbing" but didn't mention if that meant Albert or my paper). Missing were the Green River Killer, who I believe was still at large when this documentary was released and Eileen Wuornos, one of the few female serial killers ever documented (but far from the worst).
For a documentary I have to say that I didn't learn very much and that is generally why I watch documentaries. But nevertheless the expert commentaries were made by actual experts and the production values were high.
*** out of ***** if you're into this kind of thing (that "thing" being true crime, just for the record)
Quote of the movie: "If you are what you eat I could be you tomorrow."
Omar and Pete
Omar and Pete was a modern day tragedy/documentary about two life-long convicts who served hard time and try to keep on the straight-and-narrow to remain free men. Pete Duncan has served the majority of his adult life behind bars and makes no excuses about his past behavior. We meet him a paroled free man living in a halfway house. Leon "Omar" Mason, a friend of Pete's on the "inside" for nearly 20 years, joins him in the same halfway house himself a newly paroled man after spending a 10 year stretch behind bars for armed robbery (and this is just his most recent stretch, like Pete, Omar has spent his entire adult life behind bars as well).
This film does a remarkable job documenting how difficult it is for a man who grew up behind bars to remain a free man and the great lengths the states go to help life-long criminals rehabilitate as best they can so they have a shot at staying out of prison. I can't go into too much detail but I will say that one of these men continues on the straight-and-narrow and remains free while the other struggles and ends up behind bars once again, only to be paroled a final time. But has he learned his lesson? Even with these recently missteps will he remain free or head back to the joint for an even longer stretch? Watch and find out.
**** out of *****
Stripped
A documentary about, well, strippers. Jill Morley, a straight-and-narrow kind of girl, wants to investigate the world of strip clubs so she becomes a stripper herself and documents her journey into the world of New York strip clubs. You'd think I would have paid more attention to this movie but it was getting late. I will say that each time I walked back into the room there were various parts of the female anatomy on display that normally aren't. You'd think I would have been more captivated. I'll have to watch this again when I have the time to dedicate to the film. And then I'll probably watch it one more time, you know, for scientific purposes.
? out of *****
There's my Roku between the Apple TV and the Wii. As you can sii it has a small footprint. I happy with the dimensions as don't like needlessly over-sized devices (say, for instance, that huge DVD player; does it really need to be that large?). I have more pictures in the public gallery, please peruse and enjoy.
Last night I watched 2.5 movies on the Roku. They all worked flawlessly and I found some interesting data watching my WAN interface graph on my router. Tonight I'll watch some more movies and display some graph info tomorrow. Let's review the movies:
Serial Killers: The Real Life Hannibal Lecters
This movie was an interesting documentary, but a bit of a let-down. It hit the major U.S. serial killers we've all heard of, Gacy, Dahlmer and Bundy and also had a nice piece on Andrei Chikatilo, the Russian serial killer and cannibal. On a positive note the freakish Albert Fish was also featured prominently. I wrote a paper about him in my psychology class back in 1992 (my professor called it "disturbing" but didn't mention if that meant Albert or my paper). Missing were the Green River Killer, who I believe was still at large when this documentary was released and Eileen Wuornos, one of the few female serial killers ever documented (but far from the worst).
For a documentary I have to say that I didn't learn very much and that is generally why I watch documentaries. But nevertheless the expert commentaries were made by actual experts and the production values were high.
*** out of ***** if you're into this kind of thing (that "thing" being true crime, just for the record)
Quote of the movie: "If you are what you eat I could be you tomorrow."
Omar and Pete
Omar and Pete was a modern day tragedy/documentary about two life-long convicts who served hard time and try to keep on the straight-and-narrow to remain free men. Pete Duncan has served the majority of his adult life behind bars and makes no excuses about his past behavior. We meet him a paroled free man living in a halfway house. Leon "Omar" Mason, a friend of Pete's on the "inside" for nearly 20 years, joins him in the same halfway house himself a newly paroled man after spending a 10 year stretch behind bars for armed robbery (and this is just his most recent stretch, like Pete, Omar has spent his entire adult life behind bars as well).
This film does a remarkable job documenting how difficult it is for a man who grew up behind bars to remain a free man and the great lengths the states go to help life-long criminals rehabilitate as best they can so they have a shot at staying out of prison. I can't go into too much detail but I will say that one of these men continues on the straight-and-narrow and remains free while the other struggles and ends up behind bars once again, only to be paroled a final time. But has he learned his lesson? Even with these recently missteps will he remain free or head back to the joint for an even longer stretch? Watch and find out.
**** out of *****
Stripped
A documentary about, well, strippers. Jill Morley, a straight-and-narrow kind of girl, wants to investigate the world of strip clubs so she becomes a stripper herself and documents her journey into the world of New York strip clubs. You'd think I would have paid more attention to this movie but it was getting late. I will say that each time I walked back into the room there were various parts of the female anatomy on display that normally aren't. You'd think I would have been more captivated. I'll have to watch this again when I have the time to dedicate to the film. And then I'll probably watch it one more time, you know, for scientific purposes.
? out of *****
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Roku Player #2 has arrived
Oh happy day! My second (replacement) Roku player has arrived and I've got it hooked up and playing a movie. Setup took all of four minutes. The Roku hardware design isn't prefect but it's pretty darn good. I think the box will work very well at home using Time Warner but I'm not sure how well the streaming video will work using Charter Cable on the Outer Banks. To that point I'd rather have the Roku stream and store a movie or two to internal flash media. But that's not how it's designed nor is there a 802.11n wireless adapter (an 802.11a would have sufficed, just something to get off the 2.4 Ghz spectrum and over to 5.8 Ghz).
Anyway, I'll get some photos posted.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Fun stuff on order
I haven't had much access to "fun money" this year. After purchasing the condo last year we knew that money would be tight until we sold the camper, which finally did sell last week. Hurray! It was a nail-biter right down to the wire complete with the slide-in failing to do its duty and remaining open so the camper couldn't be delivered to the new owner. Turns out the problem was the ground wire to the silde-in motor. Once that was fixed all was well. Goodbye, camper, you were fun but I'm glad you're going to a new owner.
At least we don't have a tax bill looming ahead of us like we did this past year. On this past April the 15th I was left feeling like I was personally funding the Iraq war as I wrote the single largest check EVER. Ouch. But that's behind me now, thank God. Note to self: with taxes, don't assume you know. If you have to assume call an expert who doesn't. 'Nuff said.
Now, on to the fun stuff. Over the last couple of months I have taken my on-call money (extra money I get while being on-call at work) and I have been saving that money for "something". At first it was going to be a new Mac mini but that didn't happen. I should have saved the money for new tires on the Suburban but I didn't do that either (I figure my current tires have about 10,000 miles left on them, and who wants to scrimp and save for tires?). Ok, what did I get? I got this:
This is a GPS with an XM satellite radio built in. What's the big deal you ask? Well, among other things, XM will allow for real-time weather overlays on top of not just maps but satellite photo overlays. *NICE* I can't wait to get my hands on this technical marvel. A full review will be forthcoming. What do I need this device for? Granted I don't go many new places but when I do having a GPS is nice. Having weather data on top is even more nice. Besides someday soon I'll be the proud owner of a couple Jet Skis
Next on the techie soon-to-have is my 2nd Roku player! My first Roku player died under mysterious circumstances and the 2nd will be delivered today. Or maybe tomorrow. Either way I'm excited about having the little unit back in business at the house. I've got a list of on-demand documentaries a mile long to go through and with Kelly out of town Tuesday and Wednesday I'll have a chance to watch a few movies that would normally not interest her in the least.
At least we don't have a tax bill looming ahead of us like we did this past year. On this past April the 15th I was left feeling like I was personally funding the Iraq war as I wrote the single largest check EVER. Ouch. But that's behind me now, thank God. Note to self: with taxes, don't assume you know. If you have to assume call an expert who doesn't. 'Nuff said.
Now, on to the fun stuff. Over the last couple of months I have taken my on-call money (extra money I get while being on-call at work) and I have been saving that money for "something". At first it was going to be a new Mac mini but that didn't happen. I should have saved the money for new tires on the Suburban but I didn't do that either (I figure my current tires have about 10,000 miles left on them, and who wants to scrimp and save for tires?). Ok, what did I get? I got this:
This is a GPS with an XM satellite radio built in. What's the big deal you ask? Well, among other things, XM will allow for real-time weather overlays on top of not just maps but satellite photo overlays. *NICE* I can't wait to get my hands on this technical marvel. A full review will be forthcoming. What do I need this device for? Granted I don't go many new places but when I do having a GPS is nice. Having weather data on top is even more nice. Besides someday soon I'll be the proud owner of a couple Jet Skis
Next on the techie soon-to-have is my 2nd Roku player! My first Roku player died under mysterious circumstances and the 2nd will be delivered today. Or maybe tomorrow. Either way I'm excited about having the little unit back in business at the house. I've got a list of on-demand documentaries a mile long to go through and with Kelly out of town Tuesday and Wednesday I'll have a chance to watch a few movies that would normally not interest her in the least.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Hey! Another #@!$#@@!!! gator caught in the Raleigh area
We are seeing an increase in fauna in the Raleigh area. First we were officially invaded by Ursus americanus, the North American Black Bear and today an American Alligator was caught in Harnett county. Hot dog. I've seen plenty of gators in NC but none so close to Raleigh. The article claims the gator swam up-river. I have my doubts, but then again, who would try to keep a seven foot gator as a pet?
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
A conversation from last week
Last week I was traveling around RTP a bit, going to different work campuses, that kind of thing. I managed to get back to my real desk for one full day and found this voicemail waiting for me:
"Mr. Brown! This is (can't remember his name) from Desktop Support calling you about your brand new Dell laptop! Just let me know when I can slide on by and I'll get your old IBM T42 replaced."
Hum. Going from a Thinkpad to a Dell? That's a downgrade if I ever heard of one and, no, I'm not interested in giving up my road-tested and durable T42. Not at all and not for anything (this side of a 17" Macbook Pro).
(Calling back).. ring ring. ring ring. ring ring. ring ring. (voicemail picks up) (Phew, bullet dodged). "Hi this is so-and-so" (blah blah blah) BEEP "Hi, this is Greg Brown. I received your voicemail regarding the Dell laptop. I'm on-call this week and I'd really rather not swap out laptops in the middle if at all possible as I'll be required to access the company VPN immediately upon my arrival at home tonight and should something go wrong I'll have to spend the night at my desk. Can we push this install back to next week? In fact, I'd really rather keep my T42 if at all possible. Can you just give that Dell to someone else, or sell it on the black market or something? Thanks!"
My plea must have worked. It's Tuesday and I've not heard back from chipper laptop swapper since last Wednesday. Let's hope he did indeed sell my Dell on the black market. Or put it through an industrial shredder.
"Mr. Brown! This is (can't remember his name) from Desktop Support calling you about your brand new Dell laptop! Just let me know when I can slide on by and I'll get your old IBM T42 replaced."
Hum. Going from a Thinkpad to a Dell? That's a downgrade if I ever heard of one and, no, I'm not interested in giving up my road-tested and durable T42. Not at all and not for anything (this side of a 17" Macbook Pro).
(Calling back).. ring ring. ring ring. ring ring. ring ring. (voicemail picks up) (Phew, bullet dodged). "Hi this is so-and-so" (blah blah blah) BEEP "Hi, this is Greg Brown. I received your voicemail regarding the Dell laptop. I'm on-call this week and I'd really rather not swap out laptops in the middle if at all possible as I'll be required to access the company VPN immediately upon my arrival at home tonight and should something go wrong I'll have to spend the night at my desk. Can we push this install back to next week? In fact, I'd really rather keep my T42 if at all possible. Can you just give that Dell to someone else, or sell it on the black market or something? Thanks!"
My plea must have worked. It's Tuesday and I've not heard back from chipper laptop swapper since last Wednesday. Let's hope he did indeed sell my Dell on the black market. Or put it through an industrial shredder.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Que?
CNN is featuring a story on "green" cars and "mean" cars. The greens are about what you'd expect - small, efficient gas or gas/electric hybrids with a natural gas powered model thrown in for good measure. The "meanest" category is where I found something that shouldn't have surprised me but did anyway: 5 out of the 12 "meanest" were picked solely, it seems, because they are Diesel powered. At spots 1, 3, 4, 5 and 7 are the VW Toreag Diesel, Mercedes GL320, Jeep Grand Cherokee Diesel, Mercedes R320 CDI and the Mercedes ML320 CDI. All these vehicles achieve better fuel efficiency than the other gas powered vehicles on the meanest list and can, from day 1, use power derived from a renewable energy source (Biodiesel). Also I'm left to wonder, is a VW Toreag gas model that is less fuel efficient than the Diesel model somehow less "mean"? It seems this is what is implied though no logic for the rankings, if there is or ever was any, is provided.
For years the environmental crowd has hated, no LOATHED, Diesel powered vehicles for no real reason. I'm quite sure they are happy as clams that the price of Diesel is sky-high which I'm very sure they hope will steer people away from fuel efficient vehicles from VW and other manufactures.
It just goes to show you - if you're a SUV or Diesel powered then doggone it, you must be evil. God help you if you are both.
For years the environmental crowd has hated, no LOATHED, Diesel powered vehicles for no real reason. I'm quite sure they are happy as clams that the price of Diesel is sky-high which I'm very sure they hope will steer people away from fuel efficient vehicles from VW and other manufactures.
It just goes to show you - if you're a SUV or Diesel powered then doggone it, you must be evil. God help you if you are both.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Roku Chapt 2
My first Roku failed in spectacular fashion a day after it arrived home much to my horror. The Roku people were pretty cool about it. They agreed this device was hardware defective and agreed to ship me another unit, something I was happy to hear. What I wasn't happy to hear was the unit would take another week or so to arrive. I'm, quite frankly, bummed about that. I had filled my "Instant Queue" with the hopes of watching many obscure movies this weekend but it is not to be, at least not right now.
I'm hoping against hope that this was an isolated incident and my next Roku will continue to function without simply blowing up for no reason. The concept of the system is ideal for my needs and I'm still very excited but that excitement will wane quickly sh0uld my next unit fail. When the box arrived I was amazed at the simplicity of the single-board computer inside. You can see through the louvered top fairly easily and what you can see is a LOT of bare computer board. The deign appears simplistic and that I can appreciate. My original plan was the crack the baby open to take pictures of the board itself but now that ain't gonna happen. Oh no, I'm not doing *ANYTHING* to this device that could possibly endanger my warranty, especially not after a failed unit within the first 24 hours of operation.
I'm hoping against hope that this was an isolated incident and my next Roku will continue to function without simply blowing up for no reason. The concept of the system is ideal for my needs and I'm still very excited but that excitement will wane quickly sh0uld my next unit fail. When the box arrived I was amazed at the simplicity of the single-board computer inside. You can see through the louvered top fairly easily and what you can see is a LOT of bare computer board. The deign appears simplistic and that I can appreciate. My original plan was the crack the baby open to take pictures of the board itself but now that ain't gonna happen. Oh no, I'm not doing *ANYTHING* to this device that could possibly endanger my warranty, especially not after a failed unit within the first 24 hours of operation.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
So much for the Roku.
It no longer powers up. Goodnight, my friend, the one movie I watched with you was pretty cool.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
my Roku is here and I am in love.
But I'm not throwing away the Apple TV, not yet and not ever. These are two totally different machines with different purposes. The Roku comes with an 802.11b/g wireless connection, Ethernet, composite video, optical audio, S-Video and analog RCA jacks on the back. All that on a SMALL and VERY LIGHTWEIGHT body. I slapped the unit in place using Ethernet to my Time Capsule, RCA cables (both composites were taken by high def players).
Setup was simple: power the unit up and go through the simple setup screens. Because I was using hard-wired Ethernet I didn't have to worry about setting up wireless so I was on-line and downloading and update within minutes. Once the software was updated I was presented with a "authentication code" and I was instructed to log in to Netflix.com and proceed to netflix.com/activate where I would enter the provided activation code. Because I had logged in on my laptop my Roku knew who I was when I presented the code so there was no need to log in via the Roku.
After that step I was watching a movie within minutes. It's fantastic!!!
I saw what might be a problem, however. I don't think the Roku is 802.11a capable. This is bad for use at the beach because I don't have an Ethernet connection where the TV is located (the wireless gear is in the bedroom) and EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE has 802.11g. That makes for a very congested 2.4 Ghz spectrum and that could cause some problems. I might have to contact property management to see if it is possible to run an Ethernet cable from the bedroom to the TV. I expect not. It would be the best method to connect the two.
Setup was simple: power the unit up and go through the simple setup screens. Because I was using hard-wired Ethernet I didn't have to worry about setting up wireless so I was on-line and downloading and update within minutes. Once the software was updated I was presented with a "authentication code" and I was instructed to log in to Netflix.com and proceed to netflix.com/activate where I would enter the provided activation code. Because I had logged in on my laptop my Roku knew who I was when I presented the code so there was no need to log in via the Roku.
After that step I was watching a movie within minutes. It's fantastic!!!
I saw what might be a problem, however. I don't think the Roku is 802.11a capable. This is bad for use at the beach because I don't have an Ethernet connection where the TV is located (the wireless gear is in the bedroom) and EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE has 802.11g. That makes for a very congested 2.4 Ghz spectrum and that could cause some problems. I might have to contact property management to see if it is possible to run an Ethernet cable from the bedroom to the TV. I expect not. It would be the best method to connect the two.
Book Review: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Lats night I finished Jeannette Walls' memoir The Glass Castle. The book was a very detailed account of Jeannette's life growing up with three siblings in an unusual household with an alcoholic father and mother who would rather be an artist than raise her children. Jeannette spent her early years moving out West going between California, Nevada and Arizona. Each time the family would run out of money or into trouble they would "skedaddle" out of town and move on, usually in the dead of night and in a hurry.
Jeannette is a great writer and a master story teller. Her book is both well written and engaging. The short chapters (very short in some cases) make this book an excellent "just before bed" book as you don't have to spend much time getting through a chapter in a race against The Sandman. The only issue I have with the book is Jeannette's seeming unnatural memory. She can recall events that took place at an age when most people do not have any lasting memories. True, some events were traumatic, so it could be understood that perhaps one could remember an event from a young age. All I can say is I don't have any memories from three or four years old. In fact the earliest memory I have is from the first day of preschool and that would have been about five years old, I think.
But that said this book is an enjoyable read, well worth the purchase price and time invested to read. I'm looking forward to Jeannette Walls' next book (not to mention Maureen Walls, I hope she writes a book about her perspective as the youngest sibling, I think she would have some interesting perspectives).
***1/2 out of *****
Monday, June 9, 2008
storms and overpasses
A couple of months ago while driving back from the Outer Banks I encountered a line of particularly strong storms along Highway 64. Much to my shock and surprise grand total of 5 vehicles decided it would be a good idea during a time of reduced visibility to create a temporary parking lot under an overpass by blocking both shoulders and all lanes. *NICE* I had to lay on the horn for about 30 seconds until one of the idiots pulled far enough ahead to allow me to pass.
It's been said a million times but it bears repeating: OVERPASSES ARE NOT SAFE PLACES DURING STRONG STORMS ESPECIALLY WHEN THOSE STORMS COULD SPAWN TORNADOES. If you don't believe me let NOAA tell you. If you want to ague because you saw a video from Kansas in 1991 when a family hid under an overpass please read the NOAA article as it contains a detailed study of the event in question.
If you ever decided you want to chase some storms please read Storm Chasing with Safety, Courtesy, and Responsibility by Charles A. Doswell III (wikipedia), one of the original chasers from the 1950s.
It's been said a million times but it bears repeating: OVERPASSES ARE NOT SAFE PLACES DURING STRONG STORMS ESPECIALLY WHEN THOSE STORMS COULD SPAWN TORNADOES. If you don't believe me let NOAA tell you. If you want to ague because you saw a video from Kansas in 1991 when a family hid under an overpass please read the NOAA article as it contains a detailed study of the event in question.
If you ever decided you want to chase some storms please read Storm Chasing with Safety, Courtesy, and Responsibility by Charles A. Doswell III (wikipedia), one of the original chasers from the 1950s.
This weekend at unbearably hot at the beach
Temperatures soared well into the 90s and they flirted with 100 all weekend long. I'm not sure if we hit the century mark or not but it wasn't from lack of trying. Saturday was smoky too boot. Smoke from the massive wildfire in Eastern NC had blown through our area and left a cloudy haze over the entire place all day on Saturday. Yuk.
Parts of Highway 64 where very smoky. The area around Columbia, NC was the worst. Visibility was greatly diminished. Smoke that made its way past the cabin filter burnt my eyes and inflamed my lungs the trip out and back.
But it was still fun to get out there, don't get me wrong. My Roku player did not arrive before my birthday this past weekend and I hope to find it on the front porch tonight. We'll see.
I'm in town this weekend and it looks like it's going to be another hot one. I'll have to get up early on Saturday or Sunday to squeeze in a scooter ride before it gets unbearably hot.
Parts of Highway 64 where very smoky. The area around Columbia, NC was the worst. Visibility was greatly diminished. Smoke that made its way past the cabin filter burnt my eyes and inflamed my lungs the trip out and back.
But it was still fun to get out there, don't get me wrong. My Roku player did not arrive before my birthday this past weekend and I hope to find it on the front porch tonight. We'll see.
I'm in town this weekend and it looks like it's going to be another hot one. I'll have to get up early on Saturday or Sunday to squeeze in a scooter ride before it gets unbearably hot.
Friday, June 6, 2008
A discussion from two nights ago
R (to me): "So I bet you hate filling up that Suburban with gas prices this high."
G: "You know it, I just topped off and filled up my 5 gallon can for the lawnmower and paid over $50.00."
Waitress: "Earth hater." (said with a smile or sorts)
G: "What? Me?"
W: "Yes, you hate the earth for driving that fuel sucking pig of a vehicle."
G: "Does it matter that I don't drive it every day?"
W: "No."
G: "I'll have you know, I was carpooling with the wife and leaving the Suburban at home becore it became fashionable. And besides, what if I needed the space?"
W: "You could get by with less, you just have to try."
G: "So, should I have kept my Jeep Cherokee?"
W: "Well I'd give you a bit of grief because it's an SUV, but, yes, the Cherokee would be better than the Suburban."
G: "But the Cherokee was lucky to get 13 mpg, my Suburban, on the highway, gets almost 20 and I can fit everything for two people and two digs IN the Suburban where I'd have to tow a small trailer with the Cherokee thus further affecting fuel efficiency."
W: "Um..."
G: "So the Suburban is more efficient at getting the family to and from the Outer Banks. Taking into consideration of all factors my miles per gallon *PER PERSON* isn't that bad."
W: "You still hate the Earth."
G: "Should we take two little cars with one dog in each? Even if we both got 40 mpg if you divide that by two you end up back at 20 mpg and I can nearly do that in the Suburban not to mention with two vehicles I use more engine oil, transmission fluid, tire rubber, etc putting two cars in the road in place of one."
R: "I want a Suburban now. Where can I get one?"
W: "Oh.. just.. get a minivan or something." (leaves)
So when people ask why I'm still driving my Suburban I have a lot of reasons. First the value of the vehicle is dropping as more people who don't truly need the space are looking at smaller alternatives. Truth be told if I were in the market for a replacement I'd probably be doing the same. So the value of the vehicle is dropping. So why trade it in? Another reason to keep it is we really do utilize the "U" in "SUV". Just last weekend we moved about 2000 pounds of unneeded junk to Goodwill. How many trips would that have taken in, say, a Toyota Corolla (a vehicle I used to own)? I'd say a bunch, plus some of the stuff couldn't have been moved because it was too big and bulky. With the Suburban it was a matter of putting several dozen bags of clothing in the back (I can't believe we had that much stuff we'd never again wear) and the large stuff went into the open trailer.
Why am I typing all this? I don't know. I suppose I feel a little bit guilty about having that tanker in my garage. On the flip side we really do use the full capacity of the vehicle so I shouldn't feel any guilt about it and the Suburban is rarely on the road with a single occupant. Still, on those days when I do have to go to a doctor appointment or drive to Zebulon for the day it would be nice to have my old Corolla back.
G: "You know it, I just topped off and filled up my 5 gallon can for the lawnmower and paid over $50.00."
Waitress: "Earth hater." (said with a smile or sorts)
G: "What? Me?"
W: "Yes, you hate the earth for driving that fuel sucking pig of a vehicle."
G: "Does it matter that I don't drive it every day?"
W: "No."
G: "I'll have you know, I was carpooling with the wife and leaving the Suburban at home becore it became fashionable. And besides, what if I needed the space?"
W: "You could get by with less, you just have to try."
G: "So, should I have kept my Jeep Cherokee?"
W: "Well I'd give you a bit of grief because it's an SUV, but, yes, the Cherokee would be better than the Suburban."
G: "But the Cherokee was lucky to get 13 mpg, my Suburban, on the highway, gets almost 20 and I can fit everything for two people and two digs IN the Suburban where I'd have to tow a small trailer with the Cherokee thus further affecting fuel efficiency."
W: "Um..."
G: "So the Suburban is more efficient at getting the family to and from the Outer Banks. Taking into consideration of all factors my miles per gallon *PER PERSON* isn't that bad."
W: "You still hate the Earth."
G: "Should we take two little cars with one dog in each? Even if we both got 40 mpg if you divide that by two you end up back at 20 mpg and I can nearly do that in the Suburban not to mention with two vehicles I use more engine oil, transmission fluid, tire rubber, etc putting two cars in the road in place of one."
R: "I want a Suburban now. Where can I get one?"
W: "Oh.. just.. get a minivan or something." (leaves)
So when people ask why I'm still driving my Suburban I have a lot of reasons. First the value of the vehicle is dropping as more people who don't truly need the space are looking at smaller alternatives. Truth be told if I were in the market for a replacement I'd probably be doing the same. So the value of the vehicle is dropping. So why trade it in? Another reason to keep it is we really do utilize the "U" in "SUV". Just last weekend we moved about 2000 pounds of unneeded junk to Goodwill. How many trips would that have taken in, say, a Toyota Corolla (a vehicle I used to own)? I'd say a bunch, plus some of the stuff couldn't have been moved because it was too big and bulky. With the Suburban it was a matter of putting several dozen bags of clothing in the back (I can't believe we had that much stuff we'd never again wear) and the large stuff went into the open trailer.
Why am I typing all this? I don't know. I suppose I feel a little bit guilty about having that tanker in my garage. On the flip side we really do use the full capacity of the vehicle so I shouldn't feel any guilt about it and the Suburban is rarely on the road with a single occupant. Still, on those days when I do have to go to a doctor appointment or drive to Zebulon for the day it would be nice to have my old Corolla back.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Photoshop class
My photoshop elements class ended with great success and I am pleased. A programming refresher is in order as I've not pushed bits together to make bytes in quite a while. The question is, what to take? Java or C++? Sound off yee readership and make your thoughts known.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Hey look! Cupcakes!
Um.. no, no cupcakes here. But my Roku player shipped today amid reports of amid reports of shipping delays due to better than expected sales!
I had fully intended to purchase the Roku then win the lottery thereby giving me the time necessary to watch every documentary I could watch between the hours of waking and sleep. Truth be told I'd write a couple hours or three a day just to keep my fingers exercised and I'd exercise my robust physique too.
But I'm getting way off-base. My Roku player shipped! Expect a full head-to-head battle between the Apple TV and the Roku coming shortly.
I had fully intended to purchase the Roku then win the lottery thereby giving me the time necessary to watch every documentary I could watch between the hours of waking and sleep. Truth be told I'd write a couple hours or three a day just to keep my fingers exercised and I'd exercise my robust physique too.
But I'm getting way off-base. My Roku player shipped! Expect a full head-to-head battle between the Apple TV and the Roku coming shortly.
Working in Richmond today
It's been fun to be back working in Richmond for the first time in a decade but I'd really like to get things wrapped up so I can get myself back to North Carolina!
Soon, I hope. Soon.
Soon, I hope. Soon.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
We went for a fantastic ride today!
Wow! Just... wow. Kelly and I took the scooters out today for a major tour of North Carolina that touched Franklin, Vance and Granville counties. We even saw the Tar River and crossed two single-lane bridges! The massive burgs of Wilton and Hester (the outskirts) North Carolina were visited along with many other named and unnamed crossroads. Riding a vehicle with a maximum realistic speed of 40 miles per hours means you slow down and smell the roses. Doing so was fantastic. To top it off we only nearly died twice, once when a minivan full of Mexicans decided to pass both Kelly and I with a F-450 towing a 5th wheel coming the opposite direction. ¡Idiotas! The next near-death experience came courtesy of a red neck in a lifted truck passing on a double-yellow uphill on a curve. Thanks, dude.
But aside from those two isolated incidents the ride was fantastic!!! I wish you all could have been there.
Total mileage ridden: 60. Time lapsed during ride: 2+ hours. Annoyances: the batteries in my GPS going dead 20 minutes into the ride and getting hopelessly lost in the middle of nowhere. :)
But aside from those two isolated incidents the ride was fantastic!!! I wish you all could have been there.
Total mileage ridden: 60. Time lapsed during ride: 2+ hours. Annoyances: the batteries in my GPS going dead 20 minutes into the ride and getting hopelessly lost in the middle of nowhere. :)
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