Thursday, February 9, 2006

I happen to take a glance at this site using Internet Explorer, and it's really ugly. I like the way it looks in Firefox. Put that on the project list.

Wednesday, February 8, 2006

One of my new pet peeves are when people don't answer all your questions in an email. If I have several questions, usually I'll bullet point them to make them all noticeable. And almost always, only the first will be answered and the rest ignored. When this happens, I've started resending the exact same email with the answered questions removed. Maybe if I just called them, less time would be wasted. But then I'd have to talk, which is hard on the vocal chords.

Tuesday, February 7, 2006

A few days of no posting, that should make the three people that read this mad. With Karl's help, I've been trying to find somebody to chip my two broken Xbox's. When I got them, I had master plans to try it myself. I think it would be quite simple with the proper tools and the proper time. I've realized after they've been sitting in the corner for many, many, many months that it'll be near impossible for me to get around to them. Ergo, outsource.

Saturday, February 4, 2006

I had time to watch another movie, Wedding Crashers. Actually quite funny.

Friday, February 3, 2006

I got a chance to sample one of the new absinthe bottles. In a word, crap. It's very bitter, no anise, doesn't louche, and little aroma. Apparently, this brand is meant to be a mixer. It's hard to comprehend at the price it goes for.

Thursday, February 2, 2006

I've always thought that performance reviews were bogus, and after today, I still think that. It's probably because I've never really been in a position to understand how "incentives" are determined, but from my point of view, the people that know the work you do have no say in the incentives. Plus, writing down your "goals" for the next year is a waste of time. Just do your job and do it well. You get what you get. If you're not happy... well, figure it out.

Wednesday, February 1, 2006

I've been playing with my PSP, trying to figure out the homebrew scene. Recently I found a 1.5 firmware, which allows 100% of the homebrew applications to run. The firmware doesn't come with any real features that I'd like (browser, numerous image and video extension compatibility), but there are some homebrew that can accommodate. Realizing that to get a particular homebrew browser to run is a bit cumbersome, I decided to upgrade to 2.0. While I can't run 100% homebrew now, 2.0 still allows about 80%. However, 2.6 just came out with a lot of built in functionality, including RSS audio feeds. This means that you can set up an RSS of music files on your home network and "stream" them to the PSP. This of course means you don't have to waste valuable space on the memory stick for your files. But I think I'll wait to upgrade until I figure out what I really want to do with the PSP.

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

I read an article that mentioned a company with an interesting idea. Apparently, there are areas in the south, mainly Texas, that have no communication signal, mainly cell phone. So this company (I would link to their page, but it's disgusting and goes offline a lot) sends up weather balloons with signal relays. After 24 hours, the balloons drift out of their dedicated range and drop to the ground. This company doesn't want to hire full time people to go retrieve these, so they reach out to geocachers to go find them. If you bring it in, they pay $60. I think the closest they get to Minnesota is Missouri. Otherwise I'd be out there right now.

Monday, January 30, 2006

What an absinthe day! I received a shipment of six new bottles, all different brands. I'd have to say that some time is put into the bottling and labeling. I can't wait to try them all. Also, a set of four prints came today, all absinthe related. I'm surprised that I got the go-ahead to hang them in the main sitting room. Now I need to get them framed, hopefully cheap. I think I've spent my allowance for the next few months.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

I stopped by Target and Best Buy tonight to see if they had any older PSP's. Neither did. I then went to Circuit City and they were sold out. Luckily, the guy was willing to see if they had any in the warehouse. The warehouse guy called back and said he found some underneath a bunch of boxes. He brought them out and two of them were actually firmware 1.5. I almost bought both of them and sold the extra on eBay. So, now that I once again have a PSP, I have to figure out the whole PSP hack scene. I realize that Fanjita has developed the EBOOT loader for all firmwares, but he hasn't ported the ISO Loader to anything other than 1.5. This means I'll be able to play copied UMD ISO's. I will have to find out if that includes the newer games needing 2.0+ firmwares, like GTA.

Saturday, January 28, 2006

I just realized that I haven't used my two free in-store rentals from Blockbuster in about 3 months. That's what I call brain overload. I suppose it doesn't really matter since I haven't gamed in that long. Also, my temporary storage is almost maxed out, so it would be difficult to find room for any new games.

Karl's been trying to install Linux on a machine, so he has about 11 distros on various discs. I'm sure there's one I could use.

Friday, January 27, 2006

I went over to Karl's tonight to do some routine maintenance on the Maxima. I think I got over there sometime before 3:00 and I don't think we got done until around 7:00. Of course the actual work took about 45 minutes. I still find it amazing how easy it is for side projects to spring up. For example, I think we spent 40 minutes trying to open a stroller. If only I could remove sleep from my day. Or eating.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Because I've been sitting on two movies from Blockbuster and only rotating one, I've noticed that the time from returning the one until the next one arrives is very short. A few days ago, another disc of 24 came and I watched all four episodes and returned it the next day. I just realized that it took a day longer to get the replacement disc. While not very scientific, it does show evidence towards throttling, both of which Netflix and Blockbuster have admitted to doing.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

There's two movies that I can't convert to DivX, Fantastic Four and Polar Express. I'm working on two theories. Either they have better DRM than other DVD's, or my DivX Convert is confused. Before I returned my PSP, I hooked it up to Construct to transfer some files. However, the PSP needed to be mapped to the E drive. The E drive housed my media files, including having Convert installed on it. When I remapped the media drive to F so the PSP could have E, Convert stopped working. After removing the PSP and remapping, Convert just hasn't worked right.

This has given me some motivation to get the server back up.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

The past few years, I've been getting increasingly involved in the Saint Paul Medallion hunt. I was eagerly awaiting the start of the carnival this year. Well, I found out today that it's the third day of the hunt. I read the first three clues and have an idea of where it might be. I wish I had time to post the clues and my thoughts.

Monday, January 23, 2006

In a weird twist of fate, Karl got a message from our absinthe connection offering an incredible deal if we buy at least 6 bottles. Because Karl just bought a minivan, it turns out to be my turn in financing this shipment. I'm currently awaiting further instructions from our friend Andy.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

It's official. I've completed the web-based flashcard program. It was quite the project. I'm a bit scared to let 40 users access it. I really haven't done any real testing to try to break it. Also, I'm not sure how the server, hosted by GoDaddy, will handle it. Theoretically it shouldn't be a problem. Worst case scenario, the MySQL database will be queried every 30 seconds. I should really be more concerned if my work will block the site due to the possible excessive page requests. But each request is only 4K worth of data. Maybe I'll start by only allowing a few people access and build up my confidence that way. We'll see.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

I was watching Brainiac. It's a show that performs comedic science. They did a little experiment to see if they could quantify the phenomenon of beer goggles. This got me to thinking. I could create a web application with my new found knowledge that could scientifically quantify beer goggles. Now, to gather images for the database ...

Friday, January 20, 2006

Karl and I went up to Duluth to get his damn minivan. A total of 330 miles. It was cold. Found a cache. Drank a beer. Time for bed.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

I'm getting the absinthe bug again. It's unfortunate for the pocket book that it costs so much per bottle. But I guess that indicates the quality (and perhaps the illegality). I've got to remember to talk to Knapper before he goes to London. Maybe he can do some price checking for me. I recently watched an episode of The Thirsty Traveler dedicated to absinthe showing places to check out in Europe. I must go.

Monday, January 16, 2006

It seems like every week I say that I'm so close in finishing the online flashcard application. I literally only have a few minor tweaks to do. I haven't really exhaustively tested it. I probably should before I let others use it.

My dreams have turned from coding on a computer to actual computer code. I only see the code now.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

There's nothing like spending $25,000 in a single sitting. I don't understand how buying a car from a dealer needs to take so long. If I ever buy from a dealer again, I'm going to come in with the cash and say to the salesman that he has 30 minutes to give me the vehicle. If they don't make it, I'm going to walk out. Seriously, they've sold cars before. Their process should be at maximum efficiency by now. I better end this post now.

Friday, January 13, 2006

The food shipment arrived today. Unfortunately, with 28 lbs of hamburger, 32 pizzas, and various other dead animals, it won't all fit in the freezer. Looks like I might have to lease some freezer space somewhere.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

The infamous Fanjita cracked the PSP 2.6 firmware today. Man, it'd be nice to be 14 again and have all that time.

I still need a network name for the PSP.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

I had a 3K meeting tonight. It's unfortunate they're getting fewer and further in between. And that it's winter. The usual meeting area was a bit too cold. Plus with Karl's rental car and other mechanical gadgetry, the usual activities of sounds and underhanded takedowns were not revealed. We did get the discussions going though.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

I'm having some problems with Construct, the production home computer running XP. I had to change some of the drive letters in order to correctly hook the PSP up to it. My PSP needs to have the E drive reserved, which was currently the temporary media directory. After remapping the drives and successfully installing the PSP, I was getting errors from many applications, either because they were running from or backing up to the E drive. Norton, MS Money, SmartRipper, and DivX were a few victims. I think I got everything back up, except DivX. I need to manually change some registry entries and the movie I'm backing up, Fantastic Four, might have advanced encryption that is giving me troubles. Either way, I have to figure this out.

Monday, January 9, 2006

Every day I see Google's share price go up, and I do nothing to benefit. For all the glorifying I do of this company, you'd think that I'd buy a stake in it. It's currently at $464 and it'll be no problem for it to go to $500. It'll be interesting at that point to see if it continues to go higher due to human nature to like round numbers. My guess is that it'll hover around $500 for a few weeks and start its climb back up.

By the way, when is Google Calendar going live?

Sunday, January 8, 2006

I updated the PSP firmware to 2.00. The immediate benefit was the integrated browser. The rendering is a bit weird due to the screen size. It seems to render images full size, as opposed to scaled for the small screen. I can't complain though. My only problem is deciding whether to surf the net or play GTA.

Saturday, January 7, 2006

I went to a close friend's dad's funeral. It was incredible to hear the people talk about him. It sure makes one think.

Friday, January 6, 2006

I had time to watch another movie: Birth. Some of the scenes were a little too long, but the cinematography was quite brilliant. The same guy did Se7en, and also Illuminata which was directed by John Turturro. I haven't seen it and heard mixed reviews, but it's on the list. And no, it's not about the Illuminati.

Thursday, January 5, 2006

I've been doing a lot of coding for the web-based flashcard application. I really enjoy coding and debugging. Like playing video games, I could probably do it without a break for several days. I currently have the main functionality in place, along with the interface. I still need to code some of the extra functionality. I also want to build a "demo" for those that are interested in learning about it but don't want to invest any time checking it out.

I'll have to write up the full specs when I'm done.

Wednesday, January 4, 2006

I received the 1 GB Memory Stick Duo Pro for my PSP. That enabled me to start the hacking. Not hacking at all, I started small by converting a DivX movie to the MP4 format the PSP wants. I used a program by Videora, which I'll have to take a look at in more depth for use with the Tivo and Palm, and eventually the 360. It worked flawlessly. This program doesn't down-rez for the PSP during conversion, so I'll have to down-rez prior to Videora's program. Time for some more testing.

Tuesday, January 3, 2006

Well, it's a new year, no more vacation to use up, everybody's back at work, and the study season should begin shortly. Bah humbug.

Monday, January 2, 2006

I watched Saw this past weekend. I expected it to be the usual horror film, showing nothing new and very predictable. But I was pleasantly surprised. I think if I ever became insane and started killing people, I would do it in a similar fashion as the movie.

Maybe more importantly, I watched the converted DivX file over XBMC on the 55". I think I need to tweak the sound settings since I had to have the receiver cranked up pretty high. I still would like to find a compression scheme that was a bit better. The playback was obviously compressed, but still watchable.

Sunday, January 1, 2006

New Year's Eve was a blast ... from what I remember. We did the annual fondue with my mom and uncle, but included a few other family members. Karl was there, which probably explains why I don't remember much. Uncle Shane, Karl, and I were in the kitchen for the entire night, trying to find Shane's drink.

But now I have to go get rid of this headache.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

I really like quite days at work. I took a mandatory compliance test at work which dealt with inappropriate internet use. While I was taking it, I was listening to Dane Cook on the headphones, certainly not work appropriate.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

I've been doing quite a bit of research in 529 plans. These state sponsored plans allow one to invest and receive tax-free investment income for the purpose of education. I had four options to choose from to begin saving. The first was a no fee savings, but this is taxable. The next was Minnesota's plan since they match, but only if your income is less than a certain amount. I looked at an employee sponsored plan, but the fees were no better than going at it alone. The last is investing through uPromise. They offer a choice between four state plans, and allow you to earn additional money by using a registered credit card or shopping with one of their online partners. If you're comfortable shopping online, they seem to have quite the spread of opportunities to get free money. The expense ratio is in par with others. There is an annual fee, but that should easily be taken care of with the earnings.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

I've been doing a lot of database design to revamp the web-based flash card program. I have it all laid out on paper. Now to code, test, debug, and implement. I should get cracking on this since the next study season is quickly approaching. In fact, some students are already studying.

I do have a good feeling about this next sitting. Not only have I seen the material before, but this exam is perfectly suited for studying via note cards. Also, Knapper is taking the same exam, and last time we studied together, we both passed.

Monday, December 26, 2005

If you recall, I was studying for an actuarial exam a few months ago. I also created a web-based flashcard program to assist in memorizing the infinite detail. Well, I got the official results, and I failed. It's very disappointing and means I have to do it all over again. I guess on the bright side, I have more ideas on how to clean up the program and allow others access to it. Hopefully I'll be able to sell it to Google for $1.2M and quit the exam process.

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Christmas trip 2 is over. It's been a long two days.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Christmas trip 1 is over. We set up a technology table with everyone's new gifts. We had a PSP, PocketPC, and a laptop.

I also learned that the new 2.5 PSP firmware has a lot of the hacked features built in, such as better media management, integrated internet browser, more supported files, and better interconnectivity between other devices. It looks like Sony listened and responded. I was going to upgrade, but then it won't run "backed up" games. Hmm. What to do?

Friday, December 23, 2005

So, I got a PSP for Christmas. I was not expecting that at all. I have never really followed the forums around the PSP regarding features and hacks, so now I have another realm of information to dive into. I do know that you need a firmware prior to 2.0 to do a lot of the hacking. Looking at the UPC, it looks like I have version 1.52. Perfect.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

I've been able to play Call of Duty 2: Big Red One. I'm only playing it on the Xbox, so the graphics aren't in HD as they are on the Xbox 360, but they're still good. I'd say it's not the greatest war game I've ever played, but it's still quite entertaining. My strategies flip between running into the middle of the courtyard with a machine gun and shoot until I run out of ammo, and setting up in a bell tower with a sniper rifle and pick off the Nazi's. I can say that with the proper team, I die less being the coward. I really need to get the surround sound set up.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

A lot of people are taking the rest of the year off starting today, so they gave me all of their projects to babysit in case of emergency. As it is usually the case, I got 3 calls regarding some of these projects, and they all need answers immediately. At least the day went by quick.

Monday, December 19, 2005

Back at work after an extended vacation. Surprisingly, only 150 emails and 4 voice mails. Now, to remember how to do my job...

Friday, December 9, 2005

I'm getting ready to take a short vacation up at a resort on Gull Lake. Since I don't do many winter activities, we'll see what happens. At any rate, it'll be good to get away from the house projects for a while.

I doubt I'll have access to the internet, so I may be postless until next week.

Wednesday, December 7, 2005

I did everything in my power to get through all my work today so I could take tomorrow off. Actually, I won't be back into work until the 19th. I probably got more accomplished in the last few hours of the workday than I do in a month. I guess with the right motivation, the impossible can happen.

Tuesday, December 6, 2005

I drove by the lake today and there were people ice fishing. They were probably 25 feet from the open water. I guess the amazing thing was not that they were near open water, but that they were outside when the windchill was -20°.

Monday, December 5, 2005

These weekends are sure going by fast. I can't even remember what I did. I have a lot of vacation to use by the end of the year. With the new job, December is now my busiest time, so we'll see if I'll get it all in. Bossman seems flexible enough to allow me to carry over some days, under the table.

Friday, December 2, 2005

I went to Pea's work holiday party. The food was horrible, which is hard for me to say since it was a steak. The drinks were good. Afterward, we went to a Christmas singing quartet, which was entertaining for the zero dollars I had to pay. The last song was a Gospel/Christmas song and everyone in the audience was standing and singing and clapping. It reminded me of the scene in The Blues Brothers where Jake and Elwood are at the Triple Rock Church listening to Reverend Cleophis James; both are standing in the back with their arms crossed while everyone around them is dancing, doing flips, and waving their arms. Naturally, I re-enacted the scene.

Thursday, December 1, 2005

Arg, work is very busy. I've been in the new position for a little while, so I'm still learning the ropes. Plus, January 1 is the biggest renewal date, which makes it even busier. It looks like I won't be able to take tomorrow off. Soon enough.

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

I got a chance to test out the new tires on the Maxima. The stickers were still on them, so I had to go burn them off. It is amazing how a little maintenance and care to a car will make it run a lot better. I try to tell people the same is true for a computer. If you just spend a little time with it every once in a while, you can keep it for a long time.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

We have a multitude of software at work, all built over the past 30 years. Naturally, each one has been piecemealed, don't interact, written in multiple languages, difficult to navigate, ugly, not enough flexibility, .... I could go on. I'm trying to convince the bigwigs to give me $1,000,000 and a year to go the beach with a laptop and write an entirely new, comprehensive system. So far, no go. But I'll keep working him.

Monday, November 28, 2005

I got out of hanging the outside Christmas lights on the house. It's raining now. We're also supposed to get a few inches of snow this week, which hasn't stopped me from rolling around on the roof before. I have Friday off to do some serious gaming, but I'm sure I'll end up forced into the Christmas spirit.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

While the women were baking cookies, I figured the boys would be able to play some Xbox. Unfortunately, the damn Vikings were playing, so no game playing was had, which is odd since it was 2 to 1 in favor of gaming. But I guess the 1 owned the TV.

Saturday, November 26, 2005

I only had a little time to play some games. I spent most of it on Psychonauts. Now I didn't have much time with it, but I can't believe all the major gaming sites gave it above 9.0. I will have to spend some time with it. I noticed one review said the game wasn't really challenging, just entertaining.

Friday, November 25, 2005

After trying many CD-R's, CD-RW's, and burning software, I found the combination that would work with my computer and Xbox. In the end, if finally works. What started this whole mess is that I set XBMC to be the default dashboard. When I was updating the version, I forgot a ">" in the settings XML file. Because of this, the Xbox would only boot to the original Xbox dash and I couldn't FTP into it. So after booting from an EvolutionX iso, I was able to FTP into Mobil and add the ">".

Now that Mobil's up and running, I really have to reinstall linux on the server. Currently, the server is out of commission due to a failed Debian install. I think I'll continue to use Mandrake until I get a bit more comfortable.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

A four day weekend. If my Xbox worked, I'd say that I'd spend it all playing games and watching movies.

I really need to get it working.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

I can't believe how fast work got busy. It's good that I don't have a second to spare; it makes the day go by incredibly fast.

Monday, November 21, 2005

I actually had time tonight to get stuff done. When this happens, I try to get a house project done and a computer project done. The house project was to replace all the smoke alarms with smoke/CO sensors. They look ugly, but hopefully I won't die.

The computer project was to set up drive sharing with Karl over the internet. We tried the using NetBEUI protocol. I don't know if we didn't configure something correctly or what, but we gained nothing from our hour of work. Personally, I blame it on Karl's home network.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

It's amazing how easy it is to not get much accomplished. It took me probably a good 3 hours to install a light switch. Granted, it's not your ordinary light switch, but still. It's a three-way dimmer with a main computer terminal controlled by a remote wall dimmer. Not like TV remote control, but a second switch. The remote switch or the main terminal controls the computer, which then in turn controls the light. Because this isn't a three-way but a direct connect, I had to remove the two original switches and the light to do a little rewiring. Ahh, just like to old days. I'm very pleased with the end result, just not the time it took.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Well, what do you know? I finally was able to watch a movie tonight ... straight through with no interruptions, and on the big screen. The movie was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I thought it was pretty good. Even though it was a remake, you'd still expect it to be somehow different from the original, but it was pretty much exactly the same as the first. A Burton/Depp movie is like a good White Zombie album, you know what to expect, but you'd listen to it again and again.

Friday, November 18, 2005

I finally got my radio working in my car. Unfortunately, the faceplate is barely balancing in place, since all the little clips and springs are missing, and I can't detach it, and I can't play CD's because the faceplate would have to tilt down to insert the disc. However, it is really nice to have something to listen to again. I'm thinking of getting rid of the Alpine and putting the Pioneer in. If I had the time, this would be a perfect opportunity to continue the carputer. I have all the guts, but just need to build the power supply and get a monitor. Once I finish a project, I'll certainly put some pics up.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

I thought that after my exam, I would have time to watch movies, play video games, work on the family website, and get some house chores done. But it turns out that I'm surprised that I had even the time to study. I've been thinking of all the projects that I need to do, and I think the first should be to get the server running ... well, after I get the Xbox functioning again. I theoretically have a boot disc that should allow me to FTP into the Xbox and fix the massive problems that I created. That should happen tomorrow ... or else.

Monday, November 14, 2005

I found out that if you have a little absinthe before bed, you sleep very soundly.

Saturday, November 12, 2005

I went to Karl's with expectations of doing grand projects. One was to stay up all night. Somehow it didn't happen. Probably because we never pace ourselves...

Friday, November 11, 2005

So Digg has been in the news, and probably will for some time. But I found out that Kevin Rose is behind it. I think his internet episodes were cool, and have to check out one of his new creations.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

We indeed played Ms. Pac Man at the bosses house. It turned out there were no prizes for the second highest score. I guess it still felt good to get a score of over five times the next highest score. Well, maybe not good since we're dealing with Ms. Pac Man and a bunch of co-workers that don't play video games.

Tuesday, November 8, 2005

I'll be going to Hartford tomorrow, so the posting might not happen for a while, not like it's interesting lately. We're going to the big boss' house again, so there will probably be some Ms. Pac Man action. In fact, the boss said there was a prize for the second highest score after me. Hey, just cause I have dexterous phalanges I shouldn't be penalized.

Monday, November 7, 2005

Isn't this incredibly cool?

Sunday, November 6, 2005

Sorry for the missed posts, but it was the first weekend after exams. I tried some Green Fairy over the weekend. I'm going to have to document my findings at a later date, but right now, I've gotta get some sleep.

Thursday, November 3, 2005

The exam's over. The exam was from 9:30 to 1:30 and I always get a Snickers in case I get hungry. But I am always too focused to remember that I'm hungry. So when time ends, I get really hungry and eat the Snickers too fast. The caffeine and the release of months of studying got to me and I felt sick. Of course, nothing several beers couldn't handle.

Wednesday, November 2, 2005

Exam Eve. Getting exhausted. Losing vital fluids.

Tuesday, November 1, 2005

This is the point where I start thinking of what's going to happen after the exam. But I have to stay on target. Not too much longer.

Monday, October 31, 2005

With the daylight savings time change, I get to see what daylight looks like. Of course it's morning light, but I'm not complaining. Actually, I am. Only a few more days of studying until I can leave work while it's still light.

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Tomorrow's the last day to enter codes to win an Xbox 360. I have a few more, but the servers are pretty swamped. Plus my calculated chances of winning are 0.06%. Maybe next time.

Saturday, October 29, 2005

I spent my last Saturday before the exam studying. It was a good nine hours. I'm still having issues with my study program. I guess if it's not working on Monday, I'll have to download the database into Microsoft Access and build a quick form to replicate the web program. With only a few days left, I can't afford to not hammer useless facts into my brain.

Friday, October 28, 2005

I still haven't got my radio to work in my car. The head unit is pretty banged up and the faceplate won't snap on without some force. So, I'm back to thinking while I drive.

I noticed that there is an empty warehouse on my way to work. Driving behind it revealed an open window on the second story. Do you know how many times in my life a grappling hook would have been useful? Back in school, we actually set out to make one, but got side tracked when the TV turned on.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

I had more issues with my study program today. I should say that I had more issues with my company's firewalls. I couldn't access the server that my study program is located on from any computer within the company. This happened last week as well. And when I tried again in the afternoon, it worked. I didn't bother with the help desk, but if it happens again, I might need to. My thoughts are that maybe the company's firewall has a threshold of number of requests to a server per hour, to prevent DOS attacks. But I'd say I only request about 15 times an hour, which shouldn't be a problem.

Anyway, it's kind of frustrating to not know when it won't work, especially since there's less than a week until the exam. And especially if I'm going to allow other students within the company to use this, I'll need to have this problem worked out.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

What do a blimp, two dead homeless people, and a cockroach all have in common?

Things you see while studying during the night.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

My mind is like Jenga - one minor disturbance and it will crumble.
Or is it like a full trashcan - adding anymore will cause it to overflow.
Or is it like a bomb - can't take it anymore.

Monday, October 24, 2005

Work gets in the way of studying, and studying gets in the way of play.

I also upgraded the Divx Bundle. There were a few DVD's that the prior version couldn't convert. These were mainly newer DVD's with just enough quirks to make Divx crash. Rumor has it that the new version will handle these now. Does this mean I can finally watch Constantine?

Sunday, October 23, 2005

I entered in more codes to win an Xbox 360. I realized there is only a week left in the game. I may have to come to grips with possibly not winning one. It's probably for the best, since I now own 3 Xbox's that don't work, although not all entirely my fault.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

I stumbled upon a good study break site today while studying. You can check it out over in the sidebar.

Friday, October 21, 2005

I came across this during a study break and chuckled aloud.

I had a free moment so I figured I'd update XBMC on Mobil. Unfortunately, the Budweiser was doing the clicking and now I can't FTP into it. It just loads to the default Xbox dash. With only 30 seconds left of free time, I couldn't get it back to normal status and possibly have a useless Xbox on my hands. It might require a call to Juggler (who doesn't know someone named Juggler).

In conclusion, I finally killed the vole that was living in my garage. He was a trixey bastard, but fell into my maze like a field mouse to a hawk. What?

Thursday, October 20, 2005

First thing this morning at work, I called the help desk to get my study program to work. With only two weeks left, I haven't got time to mess around. After convincing him the server was working fine, he said he'd get back to me after poking around a bit. I never heard back from him, but at some point in the day, the site was back up. Thank the gods.

I was talking to some other students and I mentioned my study program and even showed them a demo. They thought it was the coolest thing. I told them that I would probably open it up to others to use for the spring exams. They couldn't wait to use it. Who knows, this little project could be the one to whet my appetite for a career change if these exams don't work out.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

I had some trouble with my online study program today. At about noon, I continually received the "server not found" error. My first thoughts were that I exceeded the bandwidth (not even close) or that I had too many simultaneous connections to the MySQL server. But after checking with my hosting provider and a machine outside the company, I guessed the problem was from within my company. I then thought that maybe the domain was flagged for "personal use" and blocked, but normally a page comes up that tells you the reason why it was blocked, which wasn't happening. Anyway, trying it at home is working, so I guess I'll have to explore more at work tomorrow.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

I'm getting my second wind for studying. There comes a point when you theoretically know everything on the syllabus, or at least you've seen everything at least once. It's in the brain somewhere, now to only find it. So the next couple weeks, I'll be making sure nothing falls out and crack down on some practice problems. It's kinda fun.

At least that's what I have to tell myself to make it through this.

Monday, October 17, 2005

I got the faceplate to my Alpine today. I can finally start listening to music again in the car. It will sure beat thinking. I've been thinking of some more projects that need to get done. I'll have to make a list of everything I need to get done after my exam, which is only a little over two weeks away. But the list should probably wait until my brain can purge this useless exam knowledge.

I finally used up some codes to win an Xbox. By my calculations, I'll have about a 4% chance of winning.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

I had to make up some study time today. I always wonder if studying eight hours straight is any better than five hours over the day. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to experiment. As with every other exam, there is just way too much material to cover.

Saturday, October 15, 2005

I studied for zero hours today to spend the time with friends and family at a wedding. I was on baby duty the entire day, so my thoughts didn't wander into the tech world.

Friday, October 14, 2005

I've entered too many codes to win an Xbox 360, and I still haven't won. It's rigged.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

It seems I missed a few posts. I got back from New Jersey late last night. I had intentions of posting while spending 5 days at the hotel with nowhere to go, but apparently I was too busy for it. I came to the conclusion that New Jersey is a bit like hell: you're kicking and screaming on your way and once there, you hate every second of it. You lie, cheat, and steal to get out. Then after a few eternities, you realize there is no escape and you learn to enjoy the everlasting inferno, besides, it's not really the heat that gets to you. Then, when you have finally paid your dues, your flight out gets cancelled (as if it were really scheduled). Lucifer did reward me on a first class seat back home. I guess he's not so bad afterall.

Friday, October 7, 2005

I leave tomorrow to the great Garden State. I can only hope the mafia will recruit me into a world of murder and drugs.

Thursday, October 6, 2005

I don't feel like posting.

Wednesday, October 5, 2005

Another day per usual. The only difference is I got to go home and clean up the laundry room. I'm going to have to take the sheetrock off to remove the wet, molding insulation. I guess the good news is since the walls will be exposed, I'll be able to route some additional CAT cable .

Tuesday, October 4, 2005

Tonight was an adventure. A series of unfortunate events has put me into ultimate crabby mode. First a storm swept through the area, outputting around 6" of rain. Not bad in itself, but recently I kicked a red squirrel out of the garage, where he was storing his nuts. To get back at me, he put all of them in the gutters. Since the rain couldn't get through the gutters, it just ran over the eaves and collected in a pool right in front of the house. I'd guess there was about a foot of standing water, which then started leaking into the laundry room. Luckily the laundry room has only a concrete slab that is not level, so the water attempted to gather in one spot. After about 7 wet vac empties, the vac started shorting out, probably because I didn't have a filter on it and the water was sloshing around the motor. Running over to the neighbor in the downpour, I borrowed his industrial vac and that worked like a charm. Meanwhile, I tried to get rid of the dam in the gutters, but the ladder could barely hold in the mud, plus being outside in a lightning storm on a metal ladder probably isn't a good idea. Needless to say, it's past my bedtime and I'm crabby.

Monday, October 3, 2005

Another Monday. I gotta win that Powerball lottery.

Sunday, October 2, 2005

I took the day off from studying. I probably shouldn't have, but you can't live life locked up in a room. Maddox came over to play with Beck. I got a few more movies from Karl. I tried a peanut butter hamburger. It was a good day.

Saturday, October 1, 2005

Wow, October 1st. I really can't wait until study season is over so I can work on my study program. That sounds a little bizarre. Now that I've been actually using it, I would like to change a few things. I have to make it more user friendly and add a few more features, especially if I want to charge people to use it. I guess it'll have to wait.