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As part of the ongoing improvements to the site, I've seen fit to build a system that captures current photos from my phone direct to the site. Eventually this space will have a brief bio of Becky and I and generally explain what's going on here. The posts below are [semi]periodic updates about my current doings, though as Dave is quick to point out, this is not a blog.
4th Anniversary TripIt's been an exciting weekend (starting Wednesday afternoon), as Becky and I ran down to Kansas City for our 4th anniversary (yes, we've been married 4 years already). We stayed with friends the first night, and had a great deal via Priceline at the Hyatt Crown Center. I was a bit disappointed that we didn't end up somewhere else, as we'd stayed at the Hyatt (via Priceline) in the past. That said, I'm very pleased with Hyatt's offerings in general, having stayed both at the Crown Center and at the KCI Hyatt Place (A more business-oriented offering). I would note, though, that I think the Crown Center is a bit overpriced if you're not getting a deal of some kind. We had lunch at the Plaza and explored the Power and Light District (which we'd not been to before) and generally did just whatever floated our boat (which was quite a bit of walking and eating, mainly). Becky has a nice writeup of our dining adventures over on her site. Now that we're home, however, it's back to work. Pi Day is next Sunday already, so there's stuff to be doing for that, and always more projects around here. Check back soon! Posted: 6 March 2010 Oops, two weeks again!Well, I've done it again, waiting almost two weeks between posts. Not technically, since the Photo of the Moment and my Reader lists update almost daily, but you get the point. It's been a busy two weeks, what with our anniversary on the 25th and Pi Day coming up fast. We've changed things around on the Pi Day site quite a bit this year, trying to include more valuable content, and be less of just a "link machine". Hopefully you all enjoy the changes. Anyone who's been here very long knows I'm always talking about a new project, and not always getting one done. This week, I've been working on an AutoIT script that translates keystrokes from one PC to one or more others. I'm sure you can find lots of similar software out there with Google, so I won't mention any. There were a few paid options, and a few unpaid options, but I had a hard time getting my head around installing what is basically a keylogger that I couldn't examine. For my limited needs, I think what I've got in development will work just fine. Once I get to a point where it's actually useful to a regular user and doesnt have IP addresses hard coded, I'll post the source. Speaking of random projects, I'm considering a paperless initiative here at home. Basically, I just need a sheet-fed scanner to deal with incoming mail and whatnot, since my old Canon LIDE20 flatbed is so slow as to be annoying... I had a few picked out at Newegg in the $200 range, but I'd really like to try this out before I invest in a scanner. I'm hoping to find an old Inkjet All-in-one with a sheet-fed scanner that has a broken printer part for cheap-as-free. If I can find a good way to put all the documents away, I'd then invest in a scanner that was a bit smaller. This comes about because I'm finally going to rearrange the office, and have realized that I'm going to need a bigger filing cabinet unless I do something fast. Hopefully by next post, I'll have made some progress on something else good to report on. Posted: 1 March 2010 Front Page ChangesThis note is basically for those of you using an RSS reader. The site's front page has changed a bit, to make space for more cool stuff. I've also tried to bring together all the various RSS Feeds that the site offers, and at some point will be aggregating them so that you can see new pics and other kinds of changes all with one RSS subscription. Pretty slick, huh? Anyhow, if you notice anything broken, send me an email. Technology Posted: 17 February 2010 Shelves!Let me start by saying that yes, I know this post shares a title with the most recent photo uploaded. I didn't know if I was going to get this done tonight or not. Since last post, the turbo actuator has gotten sticky again, though very intermittently. It really only causes a problem accelerating up big hills. I'm suspect that a full internal cleaning is in order (not looking forward to that), but in the meantime, I'll try cleaning the linkage like last time again. It's just a very strange thing... Over the weekend, John (from work, not this John) and I rearranged the shelves in my garage. At noon, I was in line at the hardware store, and by 15:30, I was on my way to Richard's for D&D. I ended up with a shelving unit 6' tall, 6' wide and 24" deep (4 shelves). It basically replaced the 4-shelf 24x48" unit that I had previously, as well as an auxiliary plastic shelving unit. The construction is basically 2x3s and 2x4s, and all the sheeting was salvaged from the old shelves or whatever was laying around. I still need to add some carriage bolts to help make it more rigid.
Posted: 16 February 2010 Turbo Tribulations It's been another amazingly crazy week. The Jetta tried to blow up on me due to a turbo over-boost condition. It turns out that the issue at hand was a stuck/rusty vacuum actuator, which I was able to resolve (for now...) with relatively little pain. Also, after having been (temporarily) defeated last night by the car, I managed to fix my miter saw. This was a bit of an undertaking, and the saw isn't quite the same, but it'll live for a bit, now. Maybe it's time to buy a real cutoff saw for doing metal work... Nah... We'll just hope that I find someone throwing away another one of these before it finally dies for good. Speaking of thrown away, Becky finally scored us a baby gate for corralling Molly in the morning. Hooray! We'd been looking for a used/trash-bound one for some time with limited success. We're not picky, and I can't see spending a ton of money on something the dog is half-likely to eat... Becky picked this out of a trashpile this morning on her way to work. Some 409 got it cleaned up nicely, and it needs just a bit of help on the handle locking mechanism. Molly is nowhere near as dexterous as a toddler, so it doesn't need to be anything fancy to keep her contained. Posted: 9 February 2010 Phenomenal Passion I'm not sure, but I might have written about this before; For Christmas, Dad gave us each a $50 bill with instructions to spend it on something we're passionate about and submit a picture of us "living our passion". As should be obvious to anyone who knows me (or spends much time reading here), I'm pretty passionate about technology; Not always the popular stuff, and generally the more complex the better, but you get the point. I'd been planning on replacing my primary workstation for some time (and did so in January) and figured that I could certainly put the money to use there. It's somewhat appropriate, as Dad has been buying me computer gear for Christmas as far back as I can remember. I don't think anyone else (who was present) even knew what a "multi-I/O board" was when I got one of those, back in the day. As noted above, said workstation was built back in January, and the money spent. Basically, I've been agonizing since over how to take a picture of myself "living a passion of technology". I figure that ideally, I'd be in the picture, but short of superimposing myself (shrunkenly) onto the motherboard photos, it doesn't really make much sense. The new workstation (named "Phenomenon" for its AMD Phenom II CPU) reused an old case, and my old multimon Monitor Gantry setup, it doesn't really look like much to be "living" in the photos. That last sentence or two really sounds like an excuse. I've got to take the lid off Phenomenon in a few days to add some slot covers to help cooling, I'll be sure to snap a "thumbs-up" photo while I've got it apart. :) Posted: 2 February 2010 Avoiding the Post-Crapmas BluesWell, the Crapmas giving is basically over. I was going to bring my tote home from the office today (I didn't have a car on Friday, and had forgot it tonight), but that didn't work out. Two separate people got laptops (albeit sorta crappy ones) and I generally got rid of lots of stuff. There's a few things left to try on eBay, but most of what's left will be shredded for scrap and recycled. Speaking of eBay, I've done my fair share of shopping there this weekend. I ordered Becky a belated Christmas gift of a "foot pod" for use with her Garmin Forerunner 305, as well as some components to fix Trevor's Dell monitor that fried. On the building front, some other people have been very busy: Frank has a new installment of his work on the Dune Bug-E in which he discusses extending the frame and some testing of the inverter, while the guys over at Backblaze have built a serious Massive Storage Solution for "almost nothing", relatively speaking. My building this week has been fairly limited. I finally received (UPS had sent it out for delivery in NJ someplace) a new appliance module for the kitchen lights (CFLs don't like being dimmed) and have done some major reconsideration right before pulling the trigger on my new desk. I've thought more about how I use the space and something more adaptable (think table leaves) makes more sense... More consideration will be given before any work is done :(. Also on my to-do list for the next 30 days is rebuilding some garage shelving. I'd like to turn the large (24"x48") shelving unit at the front of my side of the garage sideways, while also making it freestanding and mobile. Further, my Carputer project is moving ahead. I finally have Windows installed on the hard drive I'll be using to boot the system, after learning a lot about slipstreaming service packs using nlite The desks, carputer, and Home Automation pages will be updated shortly to show current progress. Technology Shop Projects Computers Posted: 25 January 2010 Merry Crapmas!In the spirit of Woot!'s "Bags o Crap", we're having Crapmas in January. Basically, it amounts to me (and a number of guys from work cleaning out our various closets, cupboards, totes and recesses and disposing of mass quantities of computer crap by giving it to one another (and sending the rest elsewhere, but trying NOT to continue keeping most of it). It's all part of stuff expanding to fill available space, and that space eventually needing emptied. I'm to a place now where I need to start using or eliminating the crap I have or I need to entirely stop accumulating new crap (not likely). So far, I've gifted a few (mostly working) P3 era laptops, a Linksys router, a 17" LCD (which is technically on loan), an old DLP projector with a bad bulb and a stack of random computer guts. I've received a few case slot covers and a Velcro cable wrap. Frankly, people should be more greedy, as I still have a pretty big pile of stuff (and more piling up daily). If you're reading this and there's (probably a bit older) tech-related things you're searching for, let me know. Maybe there's one waiting under the Crapmas Bin just for you. Posted: 20 January 2010 Another Week I seriously can't believe it's been another 7 days... This has been a crazy busy week. Parts for Phenomenon showed up on Wednesday, and I had both it and my "new second" workstation up and running Wednesday night. I ended up actually not rebuilding any software at all, as a few reboots and driver CDs got the old XP builds running properly. The old motherboard and CPU went to Caleb, who had some issues, but ended up with a very nice workstation (for being free), when he was done. Here's what else is happening this week:
Posted: 17 January 2010 Phenomenon is OrderedIt's been a busy weekend with the various festivities surrounding my birthday. Dad and Patti came to Omaha on Friday night and we went to dinner at the Bonefish Grill; Becky isn't a big lover of the fishes, so I have to get fish where I can. I had a Norwegian Salmon which was very good. I tend to prefer Tuna to Salmon, but their only Tuna choice is an Ahi Tuna which is good, but a bit... undercooked for my tastes. Saturday, Becky took me to see Avatar in 3D which is absolutely amazing (and I'd be a liar if I said it didn't make me cry at least once [yes, I know, that's sad]), and then on to lunch at Ruby Tuesdays for a steakish cheeseburger. When we got home, we had cake (she'd ordered me a banana and coconut cake from some cake lady) which was amazing. It's just as good tonight as leftovers. Today, I ran to Lincoln to drop some stuff off, and had lunch with Mom and Doug at Old Chicago. I'd been in the mood for their pizza for some time, and now I should be good for another 6 months, even if my arteries aren't. I caught up with some old friends, stopping in to see Drew, who recently bought a house in Lincoln, and bumped into Joe and Micah (and Tim, I think, he was locked in the back seat and didnt talk) who were picking Drew up to go see Avatar themselves. Tonight, I finally ordered myself (with some generous donations) a new PC. The last one (a Sempron 3100+) lasted 5 years; Hopefully this one will do half as well. Check out the details over on it's page. Posted: 10 January 2010 First Post of 2010It's a bit amazing to me that I can post multiple times in one day, and then go to the 5th of the year without posting again. We've been pretty busy with parties at Ben & Jeremy's place as well as Jason and Meagan's, plus with all the snow, it's been good to just relax. I've done some additional work on the Nerf Vulcan, mostly disassembly getting ready to do some upgrades. The thing is wired entirely with 20awg wire... Much to be improved. We also received some trip photos today from our friends Jen and Martin (from Florida). It was excessively hot when we were in Egypt, but about now, it'd be welcome. I'm a bit glad we don't live in Canada this winter; after seeing Frank's recent snow pictures, it makes our problems seem tame. Seems he's back at it with a new Dune Bug-E. Cant say as that I've seen any dunes in his photos, but it looks like it'll be a heck of a project. Posted: 5 January 2010 Nerf ProgessI worked tonight on taking pictures of the Nerf Vulcan and some other stuff. The photos of the Vulcan aren't up yet, but the SwitchShot mods and some of the other Nerf content is. Have a look. Posted: 30 December 2009 Christmas 2009 Photos are Up!Nothing particularly amazing to report today; I went to the gym with Becky and spent the evening working on her blog, doing some general changes and tweaking her Google settings. I also finished putting up the 2009 Christmas Photos and in the process discovered Gallery Remote. I've always used the "Upload Applet" within Gallery, but that doesn't work so well when you're trying to queue up files to go into multiple albums, or if you minimize the window, or try to upload too many files (as I learned when I had to rebuild the Gallery). Yea, it's Java based, and that sucks, but it's just a glorified FTP client, so I suppose it's ok. I'm making plans to start ordering parts for my new workstation; I think I've decided on an AMD Phenom II CPU (either 3 or 4 cores, I haven't decided, yet). Maybe the 6-cores will come out in the next 10 days and drop the price on the Quads dramatically... Not likely. Anyhow, enjoy the photos. Nothing too exciting, but hey, it's free. Posted: 29 December 2009 2010 Project ProjectionsSo I've started looking over my plans for 2010 and projects to be done. This is stirred a bit by Christmas gifts but also just the typical year end stuff. In no particular order, you can expect to read about the following in 2010:
Anyhow, this is just a basic list of what you can expect, there will be much more in the near future on each of these. Happy Holidays! Posted: 28 December 2009 All the Christmas is Done Wow, it's been a long week (or so), but we're finally done with our entire gambit of family Christmas festivities. I got some cool gifts (including a few things I'd never buy myself) but I think I got to give some gifts that were even better: Becky got both a SodaStream and a custom blended perfume from a local salon here in town. I started out looking at (for) some of the Demeter Perfume We had a bit of an issue getting to and from my Mom's house in Lincoln (on Friday noonish), taking up to an hour to get the 8 blocks from their house to the artery road; The surefooted Jetta eventually made it just fine. We didn't go back for Justin and Alison's rehearsal dinner on Saturday because of the headaches required to get to the place we were staying, but did go down Sunday for the wedding itself. Photos of the wedding are up now. Photos of the rest of the festivities are coming on short order, just as soon as I can get them going. Posted: 28 December 2009 |
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, and couldn't find anything I liked (Becky likes "Earth Scents"), and a clerk suggested that I check out this salon, as they had a custom-blend line. Either way, it couldn't have turned out better.
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