Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Halloween costume: Shitty old man. Shave top of head bald for receding hairline, but keep mullet. Shave beard except for mustache. Get plaid pants size 44 that fits over pillow stuffed beer belly. Accessories include coke bottle glasses with chain, cane.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
I had a breakthrough in my lucid dreaming experiment last night. One of my reality checks is to see if I can put my finger through my hand; if I can then I'm very likely dreaming. Well, last night I did a check and I could put my finger through my hand! However, I knew this wasn't possible and I kept doing it until I made it my finger not go through my hand. So, although I convinced my dreaming brain that I wasn't dreaming even though I was, the constant reality checks seem to be taking.
Friday, February 12, 2010
So, I've been getting a salad from the cafeteria for the past few days and they charge by the ounce. Then I thought it would be interesting to rank all the food in the buffet by density, to be able to get the most volume of food for the cheapest. Then I thought this would be a good project for another day.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
I switched my work computer to use the Dvorak keyboard layout. I did a quick test to see my typing speeds. For comparison, I can type 60 words per minute using the usual QWERTY keyboard. As of today, I can type 16 wpm on the Dvorak. I'll let you know if it improves.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
I finally completed my first case mod. It actually only took about 8 hours (after 5 years of thinking about it). I wanted to put it in a small chest I had, but it was an inch too small for the microATX board I was using. I went to the thrift store and found small box with a removable glass front. After a bit of drilling and sanding, everything seems to be working. I'll have to monitor the temperature to make sure there is enough air flow. It's now sitting on the kitchen cabinet hooked up to a 17" widescreen LCD 720p monitor. Now let's see if it gets used.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
In seems like in most things I do in life, I get to a certain point and quit for some reason. I'm trying to figure out if it's motivation or lost of interest. However, these don't seem to explain it since I usually start seeing the benefits in the projects at the time I quit, which I would think would motivate me more. For example, this blog. I'm able to post quite a bit and then stop, but after reading the history and seeing the point of doing this, I regret not keeping at it.
Another example. Back in high school and then again a few years ago, I was looking into lucid dreaming. I got so far as to recognize when I'm dreaming and begin to control it on a regular basis, but then stopped, right when I was seeing the benefits of all this practice. Now, after somehow being reminded of lucid dreaming again, I'm back to practicing. Let's see if it sticks.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Alright, I think I'm back this time. I have many stories to tell, but I've already forgotten them. I'll start with this ...
Short story, if you have a dripping shower, follow this post.
Long story. The shower head was dripping for a week or two, so I figured I should look into it. For some reason, I assumed it was a bad O-ring on the classic pull out handle. First I turned off the water supply from an access panel. After prying the cover on the handle off with a screwdriver, I took off the handle by removing the single screw. I then banged on the pipes a bit, turned the water supply back on, but surprisingly it was still leaking. Booted up the internet, did some research, and learned I needed to replace the cartridge. That was Monday.
Tuesday, I went to Menards to see what I could learn. I found out that there are many different models of cartridges, and at $40 a piece was not about to buy one to experiment. At the suggestion of a 14 year old, I bought the "universal" cartridge remover, plastic variety. Yeah, that crumbled when I set foot in the bathroom, just as in every other post on the internet. Went back to Menards and picked up a die and tap set. I screwed in the 1/2 inch but had no way to get a grip on the tool to pull the cartridge out. Passed out after a bottle of wine.
After work on Wednesday, I bought a vice grip pliers, a crescent wrench set, and a 1/2 inch hex bolt. When I got home, I screwed the bolt in and used a 2x4 and crow bar to pry the rest of the cartridge out. Celebrated like a predator not greeted by Chris Hansen. Newcastle mini keg gone.
Took the mangled cartridge to Menards today after work and bought one that looked similar, along with some water proof lube. Popped it in the pipe in less than 15 seconds, CLR'd the water spotted parts, and caulked everything back together. Turned the water supply back on and thus far, no dripping. Calling it complete. Finished another Newcastle keg and now onto some Crown Royal and Coke.
At 30 minutes each night, this project took about 2 hours.
$5 - Universal Replacement Kit (worthless)
$28 - Tap and Die Set (used one of the 30 bits and will probably never use the set again)
$11 - Vice Grip Pliers (didn't really need, but padded this project to get another tool)
$11 - Crescent Wrench set (only needed the 3/4 wrench, but that was $4 alone)
$1 - 1/2 inch hex bolt (now in the pile of other bolts)
$15 - Moen Cartridge (the price tag said $40, but I didn't complain)
$2 - Water Proof Lube (probably overkill, but fuck it)
$4 - Beef Jerky (I actually didn't buy any, but after this second Crown, I wish I had)
$77 - Total Cost
At the beginning of this project, I estimated $175 for a plumber to do this. I suppose if I estimated the liquor during the week, it would be about $98. The project plus liquor equals a plumber.
So, somehow, we're even.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
I'm testing the mobile Blogger app right now. And it appears to be working! Maybe I'll start posting more regularly.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
I spent the entire day sleeping off yet another illness. I don't know how you feel about being human, but I think it sucks.
Friday, February 27, 2009
I worked from home today ... and yes, I actually worked. It's amazing how much you can get done when you really like what you're doing. I spent a solid 8 hours coding in SQL. The amazing thing is, I was able to produce an application that we asked IT to develop last year. They said it would take 6 months and cost over $200,000. Needless to say, I'm now working on an email to my boss.
Also saw Reign Over Me tonight and I'm still processing it.
Also saw Reign Over Me tonight and I'm still processing it.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
I've been struggling to decide if I should stay with Blockbuster Online or switch to Netflix. I've been a long time Blockbuster customer and get currently get more than the highest tier offers for half the price. I've been holding out for when they get free online streaming similar to Netflix. My thought was that once they get it (and I've been waiting a long time), I'll still be a "valued customer" and get some greater service than the common folk. But then I was thinking ... even if Blockbuster finally gets free streaming, it most likely won't compare to Netflix's service. Blockbuster will need to fix bugs and release the first version with limited features.
In conclusion, for the same price I pay now, I can switch to Netflix and have the convenience of streaming to the Xbox 360 and on my laptop when I travel. While I'd be losing the in-store trades and being a valued customer, I think it's worth it.
In conclusion, for the same price I pay now, I can switch to Netflix and have the convenience of streaming to the Xbox 360 and on my laptop when I travel. While I'd be losing the in-store trades and being a valued customer, I think it's worth it.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Alright, it's no excuse, but I finally got my MacBook back running after the power cord snapped in half. So we'll see if I can keep up with the blog this time.
The two projects of greatest concern to you are probably my beginnings into Cocoa (for the purpose of making millions in iPhone apps) and developing a web application that Google will want to purchase.
But first, I have to take out the trash, pay the bills, vacuum the floors, clean the litter box, hang new gutters ...
The two projects of greatest concern to you are probably my beginnings into Cocoa (for the purpose of making millions in iPhone apps) and developing a web application that Google will want to purchase.
But first, I have to take out the trash, pay the bills, vacuum the floors, clean the litter box, hang new gutters ...
Saturday, December 6, 2008
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)