The weather is gross and rainy and cold. So I've done just about nothing today. I feel I got enough done yesterday. I should have or should clean up a bit around my place. Oh well.
My project is still a bit stalled as I still am waiting my fob. I'm also still thinking about how I will be accomplishing a couple of particulars but that is also a little ways off as well. I would like to get buy another relay board or 2 and fassion other projects from them.
Doing laundry. Got free wireless internet at the place which is nice allowing me to watch cartoons while doing laundry. The router appears to be unseccured so anyone can get in and make changes to the network config from the looks of things.
Advantages of laundry places
Disadvantages
I got the following in an email this morning.
sleep take put
can smoke believe
learn borrow lose
school use go
wrong run fix
But use fit
use fill comb
In ask make
morning translate go
In buy worry
english stand complain
got dinner at Ventis in Salem. Bought a Moby/Hybrid promotional poster from the tour I saw in 2000 and The Gorillaz: Demon Days CD. And bumped into a gradeschool mate but didnt say much other than hi hows it goin. Our paths eem to cross every few years it's quite interesting.
My back hurts again mostly from the driving. It's not 100% better but it's not near as bad as it was last week. I think I will do a couple streches that seemed to help before.
Changed Murray's litter. Bought gas for my car.
I also helped helped Adam get his sparc box going. I have to say the x86 architecture is weak.
I've got a package to ship and I think laundry todo come the weekend. Hopefuly I can wash my car as well.
It was another long day at work. I'm very glad tomorrow is Friday.
My back was feeling much better today. Tiny hints of pain in some motions/positions but much much better than it has been since the drive home on Sunday.
Hung out with Chris saw Aeon Flux. I liked it. Chris found holes in the movie he didnt like and things/people he wanted to know more about. I wonder if there is going to be a directors cut. That perhaps has some of the missing information.
Tomorrow I after work I'm goning to attempt to help a friend get a sparc box up and going.
I'm gonna go to bed now.
For the last few days I've had strange dreams I don't quite remember them I remember waking up thinking what the hell was theat and then sometimes going back to sleep or getting up for the day. Started before I went to help chris move and then both nights on the couches pretty much still going. I dont remeber enough of the dreams at this point to make much of them. Nor do i I plan to write them down when I wake up from them. So they will most likely repain a mystery and perhaps my slumbering entertainment.
I bought some more parts for my project today. A relay a switch and some binding posts. Still a lot to be done but progress is ever so slowly being made.
We were very under staffed at work yesterday. Suspect we will be today as well. Yesterday we had just 2 people in the same area as me. And I was the only one to stick around until 5. There are a few others who can do what me and the other guy can do but not many and they are typicaly working on other things.
I think I'm gonna make another run to radioshack after work for my project see if I can find some more connectors and maybe a relay or suitable switch. I could also use a hand drill for putting the holes in the enclosure to put the switches and plugs on once they are ready to be installed. I should also take pictures of what I do have done. Then again I may just go hang out with Chris as he is supposed to be in town tonight.
I've started building what will be the temp sensor cable/assembly for my automotive project. Still waiting for my new fob which apprently back ordered so I will have to work on other aspects of that I can work on with out the fob or gumstix. Aspects like power, switches and sensors/detectors that I will have buy more parts for those other aspects.
Helped Chris move to Vancover from Portland. A few months before I moved to Eugene I helped him move from Salem to Portland. He has a lot more crap now than he did that last time but he didn't get rid of much from last time. So it was like double the crap shit um stuff than it was last time.
My car is way dirty from the trip.
Top Gear US version. No Jermey, no James, no Hamster just The Stig. However The Stig is enough to get me to watch. But I do like the other 3 quite a bit they all have good energy with eachother and they don't dumb it down which I fear they are going to do for the US version.
Finished up training today. It was good training but I already knew 95% of it and forgot like 1% and the other 4% I don't remember because I was playing games. I got to see and play with our new product that will go on linux I don't think it will be a good thing.
Tomorrow is go to Portland and help Chris move to Vancover. Unless I decide to head up on Saturday.
Another day of training. I think I learned a little something today. I forgot what exactly, but I'm sure it will comeback to me someday when the information is needed. Alot of it will not pertaine to my job function and a lot of it will be telling the customer to fix something but not telling him how to fix it.
I've been thinking about taking some sort of martial arts class ro signing up at a dojo. Still waiting for my raise to kick in so it would have to be sometime after that. But the retro pay from the raise will be a good thing as well. As it should help to finance my current and perhaps future projects.
I've got some ideas cooking for future projects but costs could be prohibitive. But I shall try or find other projects to keep my self entertained, my mind expanding, and my bank account shrinking.
Thanks to the guys over at nixCraft I've got the what I belive to be the last piece of scripting done for my project until I get the gumstix which will mainly be configuration type stuff like cron jobs, paths, and permissions. Alas that part of the project is still serveral weeks or longer out.
I consider the project a 3 parter.
Stage 1 Development. This is where i am now. Still figuring out how I will do things and testing.
Stage 2 Fabrication. Putting things together, mounting switches and building connectors for sensors and switches, wireing up power.
Stage 3 Installation. Putting it in my car and making it work.
The mantra of the trainer of my class today. "Yes you can. But how I'm not sure" or something very much like this. He is refering to linux/unix. He is right it is a very flexible and powerful OS. It's an intro class so far I have rediscovered commands I never used but used to know of like tac.
The gumstix I want is again out of stock so are all of the backup versions suitable for my project. Not that it's a huge problem as I'm not quite ready for that purchase just yet. Well I am but I can't yet afford it and I would rather finish up with the parts and pieces I do have first.
Most of the rest of the work week will be cake. 3 days of training. An intro to linux. Nevermind I've been using linux for close to 7 years now. Wow statements like that kinda make me feel old. Not a lot of things I can say I've been doing/using for 7 years. I am planning to learn something regardless of the time I've spent using it.
Got more scripts written for my project. As well as some basic logging for one of the more automated features. I also got another pirece of the hardware working as well. I need sto starting thinking about connectors, connections and and enclosures. As right now everything is just sitting out on a cardboard box with wires strewn about. So I bought an enclosure and some connectors at radioshack. I've also got a line on some cat 5 or 3 for my temp sensor for the project.
I also washed and waxed my car.
Define your self.
I recently decided I do not want to be defined by my job or the job I hold. Do you want to be remembered as Jo Joey Jo Jo Shabado employee of company.inc suborinate of Bill Lumbergh? I sure don't.
Many want more money. So to get more money they burry them self in work and try to climb the ladder to the next pay grade. In the process selling out to the company/the man. Often aslo attempting to be the job be the possition they want. And becoming defined by their title or department.
I personaly dont even care to be assoiated with my work when I'm not working. It's not that I don't like what I do. It's not that I don't have pride in my work. It is that I am not my work.
What do you want to be defined by? What do you want to be defined by?
My new alarm FOB has been purchased for my project. Should be here Monday or Tuesday. Then I can start hacking on my existing alarm fob. Which I've already scraped some epoxy off to get to contacts and found where I am going to need to make my connections. I've still got a lot of work to do on this thing. I've got to find or make a suitable casing for the whole thing and figure out how modular I want it to be as well as work out some of the power requirements. All and all I want it to be a smallish box that I can put in the trunk fairly securely and safely.
Went back to work today. Still not feeling 100% but much much better compared to any of the rest of the week. It was a good day to go back it was pretty slow.
Still home sick. Better than the rest of the week. I'd like to go back tomorrow my voice isn't quite right. I get a head ache from moving around to much.
The time at home hasnt been entirely wasted. I put my clothing away and worked some more on the scripts for my project. I keep coming up with more ideas for the design process of the project.
That 70s show is getting weak with out Eric and Kelso. Seriously.
The new fob showed up but the alarm will not learn the new fob.
The scripting is mostly working I'm having trouble with state dection on a optoisolators.
I feel like crap.
update:
Sent the fob back after callng support and finding out that the remote they advertise as working for the alarm I have doesnt work for the alarm I have. So I have to buy a new more expensive fob as sometime after my refund is processed.
grr.
Still feelin ungood.
I had another idea last night or this morning. Ultraviolet light can be used and is used to clean air, water and control algee in ponds and aquariums it will also kill mold and dust mites etc... So why not blast a shower with UV light to kill stuff in there then just wipe it down. It would be sterile and would not involve chemicals. It would not do much if anything for soap scum or mineral deposites. But thats another set of problems I suppose. Of course it may take a while to be effective.
Downsides it would generate Ozone and UV light isn't good for our eyes. So you would not want to be in the room durring the process with out some ventalation and eye protection. Something I may look into more later on.
Turns out AMC is running bond stuff all day so at least I will be entertained.
Got a lens as a slightly late birthday gift. It's a fast little guy at f1.8 fixed at 50mm. Should be fun in low light and for a shallow depth of field (DOP).
Also my relay board showed up and my fob seems to be in the shipping process. So hopefuly hear by the end of the week.
I've just been geeking around with my relay board. I've figured it out for the most part. I've still need to get a couple things worked out and a ceramic cap to make the temp sensor work. I have been able to turn my TV on and off with a couple wires hooked to the relay board to my remote. So things are looking up.
I'm stuffed up. Slept not so well. But I'm at work for some reason. Why did I not call out? Cause I is a fool.
At least my knee is feeling mostly better.
My relay board will be here today! YAY! then um my fob for modding should be here sometime this week. So I will start on the control module and software for my project gets worked on some this week. Maybe some tonight as long as I feel well enough to do so. Only expensive piece left and lots of little things like project enclosuers, wire, switches, power supplys, etc left.
My left knee is very unhappy with me for some reason. I had to gimp around my place this morning and some ibprofin but it didn't seem to help. Just progressing through the day helped a lot.
BMW has announced the return of the M Roadster. It's basicaly a souped up version of the the Z4. Starting at just $51,995.
Ordered another part for my project. The part cost was decent but shipping was highway robbery. I should have selected will call and driven up to Beaverton or sent Chris to get it for me and saved the $20 in shipping.
Ground Kontrol was awesome. I plan on going back on future trips to Portland or Vancover to vist Chris.
Chris went on a blind date last night. It went pretty well for him he got her number and sounds like they may hang oug again later on. Everyone seems to have had a good time.
I got a smallish computer that I plan on using for testing for my project. It's small seems like it would use a low ammount of power and may work in my car for some time until I can get the gumstix. May order another part soon. Once I'm done with my project I'd really like to see it on hackaday.com or makezine.com
I also go some new dishes from my dad on my stop over in Salem on the way home from Portland.
Going to Portland tonight.
Tomorrow go on a multidate with Chris and his blind date and some other couple in Salem at the drinking theater around 5:30pm. Then back to portland to go to Ground Kontrol play games drink beer and maybe catch the Regan-o-mix.
If you kinda know me or know me feel free to show up at Ground Kontrol and say hi and play a game or 2 with me.
The time for me to part with my Blackberry 7100t has come. Anyone want to buy it. I want the new t809 I've had 2 other samsung phones both treated me rather well. While I do love my blackberry 7100t my time with it is nearly up. I've had it for a year now and it's time for me to to move on. The 7100t is in good shape some scratches on the casing and a dark spot on the screen but still fully functional.
I have the fortune of sitting next to some great techinical people at work with some pretty good people skills. I also have the fortune of talking to many of the same people they talk to on the phone. But when you have a customer freaking out because his files are gone by nobodys fault but his for a I would be would be a configuration issue and doesnt have a back up and most likely never had a backup of his data which suddenly was very important.
PEOPLE ! if your data is of ANY VALUE for CRAP SAKE back it the FUCK UP ! If you lose your data I dont care. If I lose my data I know it was my damn fault and don't blame a company or someone else. Your data, your companys data (if your the admin) is your damn job if you can't do it and get busted no doing it don't blame me. Yes as a geek I'm lazy and as an admin I'm sure you are too but they have devices and software to automaticaly back your data up on a schedule.
Own your actions, own your problems. Don't blame me or my friends or a product.
My insurance will be going back down a little. Down to less than $200 not much but lower is better.
Why the fuck is Dr. Phil on my TV at 8:30pm? I thought him and Opera were day time TV. I'm not sure who I'm bothered by more. But Dr Phil has no answers for me.
My relay board has been delayed another day. So Jan 10 is the new date.
Today was longer than it should have been. But this week will be shorter than the next.
I've gotta find some more stuff todo for/with my self. I think the part of the problem is I am a pansy. I don't want to stand around in the rain with my camera or getting soggy on a jog. Not to mention my sad list of stuff to keep my self warm in the colder months of the year. My plan you ask? A trip to REI and or other stores with warm wares and then force my self out in the cold for a night for a walk and photos.
Hung out with Chris last night and most of today.
Best Buy in Beaverton was packed. No one even asked if I wanted help which I think was a 1st. I always hate it when they ask so its ok.
Postage went up. That is annoying.
Welcome to what we would have called next year if it were yesterday.
I think new years is kind of a lame excuse to better ones self. When we have new days, weeks, months, hours, minutes coming at us much more frequently. But if it was the year you were waiting for now is the time.
Make the best of it.
Do something you wouldnt expect of your self.
Learn and grow.
Open your mind.
Take action.
Own yourself.
Own your actions.
Own your reactions.
No excuses.
No prisioners.