Whenever you open a non-liquor gift, loudly proclaim, “Oh, great, how the fuck am I supposed to drink this?”
They’ll know what to get you next year.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
I was dragging yesterday ... I only got 3 hours of sleep Monday night, figuring I could make it up on the flight Tuesday morning, but that didn't happen. So I fell asleep at 9:00 last night. Now the cool thing is I think I've officially trained my body to only need 6 hours of sleep, because I woke up at 3:00 this morning and was wide awake, even after being exhausted.
On my way back to the hotel, I noticed that a trash can was on fire. Now this was right downtown Hartford. Granted, it was pretty dead at around 8:30pm, but even people driving by didn't give a glance. So I called 911 and in literally 2 minutes, a firetruck appeared and rescued the trash. I felt like a hero.
On my way back to the hotel, I noticed that a trash can was on fire. Now this was right downtown Hartford. Granted, it was pretty dead at around 8:30pm, but even people driving by didn't give a glance. So I called 911 and in literally 2 minutes, a firetruck appeared and rescued the trash. I felt like a hero.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
I don't need to rehash my opinion on flight attendants, but c'mon! I don't need to be interrupted from a much needed nap to be asked if I want 30 cents worth of Pepsi.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Now that I have a working laptop, I'm finding that I rarely use the office desktop. The problem with this is that I use Microsoft Money, which is only useful on a single machine and has severe limitations with online access of your personal finance information. Since 99% of my online time is on the laptop, I'd like to have this information where ever I am. So, I've been doing some research into a lot of the new online tools, mainly finding what's available.
The obvious concerns are privacy and identity theft. Most promise privacy and guarantee your data will not be sold, which might be true today, but what about tomorrow? The most intrusive use of your data is targeted ads based on your spending habits. Identity theft is a risk whenever you transmit financial data into the interwebs. Limiting this behavior certainly decreases the risk, but then you shouldn't use an online financial site. Also, if you decide to stop using one of these services, there's probably no way to completely delete your information from their database.
With that, here is a list of probable sites I'll be looking into.
The obvious concerns are privacy and identity theft. Most promise privacy and guarantee your data will not be sold, which might be true today, but what about tomorrow? The most intrusive use of your data is targeted ads based on your spending habits. Identity theft is a risk whenever you transmit financial data into the interwebs. Limiting this behavior certainly decreases the risk, but then you shouldn't use an online financial site. Also, if you decide to stop using one of these services, there's probably no way to completely delete your information from their database.
With that, here is a list of probable sites I'll be looking into.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
I went paint balling today. I gotta say, it's incredibly fun. Like most things fun, it's just a bunch of adults pretending to be kids. But it is interesting to see how some people take it to extremes. I spent about $50 for the day, but there were some people spending hundreds on all sorts of things like grenades and mines.
The very last game we played was capture the flag, and after crawling through the brush for 10 minutes, I retrieved the flag and hopped back to base like an antelope.
The very last game we played was capture the flag, and after crawling through the brush for 10 minutes, I retrieved the flag and hopped back to base like an antelope.
Friday, August 15, 2008
I heard an interesting story today about the reCAPTCHA word verification appearing on sites lately. Very cool.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
... And we're back.
Sometimes you just need a break from things, and other times things just break you. Over the past 17 months, I've been wondering if I should come back here and continue. Perhaps I should change format and get all weird on you. But then I was reading some of my past posts and saw how cool it was to have a history of my daily activity ... not at the tweeter level, but just something.
The real reason I'm back is that I finally got a laptop for my very own and now have the convenience to post nightly. My Dell 266MHz was just not cutting it and is now retired. So just this past weekend I bought a MacBook 2.16GHz. It was either that or a Lenovo Y515, but I really did not want Vista. I've actually wanted a mac for a long time if only to see what the hype was. Truth be told, after 3 days of using it, I might be a convert. But just as a reminder to all the mac haters, I still have 3 Windows machines in the house to maintain.
Sometimes you just need a break from things, and other times things just break you. Over the past 17 months, I've been wondering if I should come back here and continue. Perhaps I should change format and get all weird on you. But then I was reading some of my past posts and saw how cool it was to have a history of my daily activity ... not at the tweeter level, but just something.
The real reason I'm back is that I finally got a laptop for my very own and now have the convenience to post nightly. My Dell 266MHz was just not cutting it and is now retired. So just this past weekend I bought a MacBook 2.16GHz. It was either that or a Lenovo Y515, but I really did not want Vista. I've actually wanted a mac for a long time if only to see what the hype was. Truth be told, after 3 days of using it, I might be a convert. But just as a reminder to all the mac haters, I still have 3 Windows machines in the house to maintain.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
I've come to the conclusion that I lost my PSP. So now I've got to figure out if I buy another, or get a DS to play around with. I normally watch video, possibly listen to music and access the internet, and play a few games, which both can do. I do like the hackability of the PSP. I'll have to see if the price has any sway on the decision.
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Ohhh, my back is sore. Karl gave me a snow blower, but it's meant for a few inches, not 20. So, needless to say, my back is sore. I might have to look into getting a used snow blower for next year, but I can't believe how much they are. Instead of paying $500 for a decent used one, I'm considering seeing if the neighbor would take $10 each time I use his.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Wow, the company actually shut down today. Granted, we probably have 16 inches of snow with more coming down. But, c'mon, it's only snow.
Anyway, I took the full day to do some database cleaning on both the server and production PC, and a lot of transfering of files between the two. My movie collection is getting quite big. I like that.
Anyway, I took the full day to do some database cleaning on both the server and production PC, and a lot of transfering of files between the two. My movie collection is getting quite big. I like that.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
It started snowing pretty hard today. The last time my work closed due to weather was back in 1989. At about 11:30, the dude came over the intercom and suggested we go home ... done.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
It started snowing pretty hard today. The last time my work closed due to weather was back in 1989. At about 11:30, the dude came over the intercom and suggested we go home ... done.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
I got the hardware from uControl today. Since I already have an ADT system, this new module is supposed to simply snap into the system board ... and actually, it was quite simple. I was working on it during the evening, so I unplugged the horn (which I forgot to hook back up, now that I think about it). About an hour later, I had a web controlled, fully internet and cell monitored security system. ADT wasn't surprised that I cancelled due to lack of web control. I guess they'll have to learn some new tricks.
Sunday, February 18,2007
I got up this morning at 6, giving me 3.5 hours of sleep, but yet I feel fine. I think I've finally conquered this sleep thing. I think what's more important than the amount of sleep is the schedule of sleep. I go to bed at midnight every night and wake up at 6. This routine is why I haven't crashed yet. Sure my brain isn't repairing and organizing, and they say I'm shaving years off my life, but I'd rather have those years now in the form of no sleep than later in the form of withered old man.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Oh man, what a day. Now that I'm sleeping between 5 and 6 a night, it sure makes the days long. Not in a bad way, it just seems that I'm doing a lot more (which I guess is the point). For example, I got up and did house chores for 4 hours, studied for 6 hours, hung out with family for another 6 hours, and then played Xbox for 2 hours. (A good way to get major progress is to host a coop game and play until somebody finds you. Not only will you get time in yourself, but you'll continue checkpoint saves once somebody joins. Brilliant.)
When will I crash?
When will I crash?
Thursday, February 15, 2007
As I convert movies on my main computer, I FTP them over to the Xbox, then use the Xbox to FTP them over to the server (I'm still trying to figure out why my PC can't see the server). But my router seems to occasionally lockup when moving these 2G files (at a snails pace of 1M/s, which is another story). I've done the usual troubleshooting, but to no avail. I guess it's just a feature of an old crappy D-Link product. It seems there's a fair number of people on the user groups with the same issues.
One problem at a time please ...
One problem at a time please ...
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
I use ADT for the home security monitoring. A while back, I got Vonage and the security worked sometimes and not others. So someone came out and said that ADT rarely works with VOIP, and I should get the "cell backup". I told them to install it and thought I was good. Well, a few weeks ago I noticed the panel was displaying a failure to communicate code. Long story short, the ADT guy came out today and said I didn't have the cell backup installed. He tried using the phone lines and the system sent a signal. I told him it might work now, but probably will go out again. Plus, I think it messes up the VOIP router. Of course he recommended the cell backup (which I thought I already had) and left.
Now, I have to deal with getting credit on my account. I mentioned alarm.com to him and he said the online features sounded like a good idea. I told him that I didn't think my current hardware was compatible with alarm.com's panel, but he said you can always get things to work by going through adaptors. So basically the ADT guy told me to ditch ADT.
I guess I have more research to do ...
Now, I have to deal with getting credit on my account. I mentioned alarm.com to him and he said the online features sounded like a good idea. I told him that I didn't think my current hardware was compatible with alarm.com's panel, but he said you can always get things to work by going through adaptors. So basically the ADT guy told me to ditch ADT.
I guess I have more research to do ...
Monday, February 12, 2007
I officially started the mass conversion of all my DVD's to the server. It takes my machine between 3 and 4 hours to convert one movie, running at 100%. My goal is to get four converted each day. I'm starting with the official DivX Converter, which so far can convert 80% of the movies. I'll either need to find another application to convert the other 20%, or store the set of VOBs for each movie.
Either way, I'm sure I'll need to get a new processor after this project.
Either way, I'm sure I'll need to get a new processor after this project.
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