I get all these ideas for projects, devices, and interesting ways to combine various devices and void warranties. Unfortunately I lack all the resources I need to do the projects whether it be tools, devices, know how, or just money in some cases. I suppose it could be a good thing in some cases, as some of my ideas are useful but the frequency of which they would actually be useful to myself and would just end up as clutter or given away...
Friday morning I will be dropping my car off to get a new windshield installed. Then I can be done with this whole mess of suck. Which is good as Saturday I'm supposed to be heading to the coast for hanging out with Chris, Jana, Joe and who knows who else...
That is all.
I was washing my car and I got round to the front saw a spot on the top of the grill I wanted to get to but I couldn't get to without opening the hood. Unfortunately I'd lifted the wipers earlier to do the windshield and the hood lift struts are pretty strong. So the hood pressed the base of the wiper arms into the windshield and cracked it.
I feel really lame/stupid for it. Anyways I've already got the insurance rolling and talked to the dealer things should be taken care of by late this week or early next week...
I like a handful of my friends and co-workers carry a "converged device", a smart phone, pda/computer and phone all in one awesome little package. I carry a Blackberry Curve, Chris carries a Blackberry Pearl, Alex carries a HTC Excailbur , Jana carries a Palm Centro, Amanda packs an iPhone, Matt carries a Samsung Blackjack. To name a few.
I can use any of the popular instant messaging services from phone and some of the not so popular ones as well. I get email from two diffrent accounts on my phone. I also send and receive a fair amount of text messages and picture messages. Yet when I get a message from someone in a form other than the way I think they should have sent it I get slightly annoyed.
Chris regularly sends me email from his phone, why not send a text or MMS (depending on the content of the message)? He does send texts from time to time. Why not initiate a blackberry chat? He has done that before too. Sometimes he calls. It's not like I have a right to expect "the right" form of communication. If my phone didn't do email it may take longer for me to get back to him on something. Sure there are times where it may be more appropriate to use a text rather than an email but it doesn't really matter in the end.
With all the magic so many phones and devices have these days we are more connected than ever. I have a feeling it won't be getting better any time soon, except from those who make an active effort to disconnect more... I can't be angry at you for calling me I have a phone its for calling, I can't be upset about an email instead of a text they show up in the same place right next to each other.
I don't think I have a preferred method of digital two way communication. I don't think I'm allowed to have one with so many at my disposal.
Yesterday I completed the Tillamook Burn. I can sum it up in a single word and that is brutal. The course description warned of "lung busting" hills which admitaly I didn't really read until after the race. However when I see lung busting on the description I still think long steady incline, I used to do hills in cross country miles of hills in some cases. But these lung busters were not just lung busters they were soul crushing piles of earth hell bent on destroying your mind and body as you attempted to ascend them one step at a time...
The course was somehow more up hill than down. The first section was pretty easy nice long easy hill then down by the river and then quick up and down stuff into and out of mini gulches while following the shore by the river. The middle killed me with the hills. The last mile or two was fairly flat, but very wet as a good stretch was in a creek (not across but up and in stream) and some culverts under the road.
If I'm gonna keep doing this kind of think I may need to find some place new to train for these kinda hills and terrain...
Saturday I was on my way to Salem to hang out with my long time friend Stephanie. The drive was the typical boring drive save for one detail.
As I approached the Corvallis exit I noticed a tow truck. Just a bit beyond the tow truck was the driver walking back to the tow truck with his gas can. A few yards further was a Toyota Prius. The Prius had ran out of gas.
I don't think too highly of most Prius owners. They think they are soooo friendly to the world so they can drive how they want. But they are really not much or any more eco friendly cause their car is full of heavy metals that have to be mined, refined, processed and manufactured into the batteries this spans at least two continents. There are also studies that say a land rover does less environmental damage after so many years than a Prius, and that a Hummer H3 is cheaper to own after several years. So the thing they really save is a bit of money at the pump.
I have never run out of gas. I know many others who have never run out of gas. My 1994 BMW 325i's gas gauge would stick at empty for an entire tank. But I never ran out of gas. It's not like the Prius didn't know they were low on gas.
Just registered for the Tillamook Burn. A six mile adventure run. One of the guys from Sunday Ultimate told Chris and I about it a few weeks back. Should be a few other people from Ultimate there too. Should be a very decent time. Camping, running, friends, food and likely some drinking.
Even though I've been running pretty regularly and can do 5 miles with no soreness or problems. I suspect that the burn is gonna kick my ass. Should be a good times.
Last month I decided I was going to get get back to music. While it has only been a week it's been working/good.
Part of the problem was that of configuration. No proper CD player attached to my stereo. The modded xbox is routed through the TV which is then attached to the stereo, so the TV has to be on to play mp3s or CDs through the stereo...
When I wrote the post about getting back to music I had already developed a plan to use existing toys, newly acquired toys or toys to be acquired.
Those include
1) An Apple Airport Express
2) iTunes
3) iPod touch with the 2.0 firmware and the Remote app for iTunes.
Now I pick the music to be played from an itunes library using the remote app on the ipod touch then it plays over the stereo via the airport express. The ipod doesn't have to stay on and I can access and play a lot more music than I could store on the ipod... It's also very easy to use.
After much hemming and hawing and general indecisiveness I picked a Harmony 550 remote control. Chris has a 360 version of the remote... It arrived today it wasn't supposed to arrive until sometime next week but by some miracle UPS got it here early. So new toy early, woo.
So far pretty cool and fun...
I've been sequestered from internet access while at work since yesterday as I'm in a training class. It's not the training I was wanting, but some people are getting a lot out of it. I was expecting Solaris training, not Unix Fundamentals. Granted the information we are getting is great. But I already know the fundamentals. I can get around, change permissions, grep files, sort junk, and what have you.
I was wanting to learn the Solaris specifics of how to do some things like service control. I've managed to disable services but I'm fairly certain I should be doing it another way. For example I'd like to know if Solaris has an equivalent to chkconfig command, and how to use it...
It's not that I'm walking away from the class with out getting anything out of it. I've picked up a couple things. I may or may not use them or remember them when I do need them, but there are often and nearly always more ways than not to get the job done...