Well, I finally purchased and installed a wifi hotspot at home. I just received a new laptop for (and from) work to assist me in managing some of my travel required workload. Anyway, let me tell you, it was not all roses to get it setup.
So, let me break down to you what I was working with initially before going into detail about what I had to do to get it all to work. My network previously consisted of the following: (from outside to inside)
Well, with the exception of the phone adapter, it seems like a pretty simple and standard multi-computer home network. I can certainly agree with that. However, to take it a little step forward, I also had port forwarding enabled for my server. It isn't a busy server, but it certainly has its uses.
So, as you can tell, my wired network is at capacity. I already have 5 ports in the house wired with the expectation to someday wire in a minimum of 3 more. Therefore, I thought I would kill a few birds with one stone when enlarging the capacity of my network. I figured that someone out there would have started to offer Wifi Access Point switches by now. Well, I was wrong. Really, all I needed was a switch, but I didn't have that option.
So, lets break it down for the less technical reading. An access point is a wireless device that you can add to an existing wireless or wired network. It will provide a certain radius of wireless communication to a network. A router is a device that will bridge networks together (ex: public network to/from private network) and/or do media conversions (ex: Thinnet to/from Ethernet). Consumer grade routers also include a switch. A switch is an Ethernet device that will provide the ability for other Ethernet devices to communicate. A switch is a smart hub that will read packet communication headers to determine to which Ethernet device to send the information. A hub is a Ethernet device that will broadcast every message from a device to every other device attached to it.
Ok, now that we have the hardware definitions out of the way, I can continue the episode. So, based on the previous description, I have a modem, 2 routers, and 4 computers. So, in the absence of an Access Point switch device available, I had to buy a wireless router to add to my network. This is so not what I wanted to fight with this weekend.
Lets breakdown the objectives to attain during the upgrade. My VOIP system still needs to function. All computers on the network wired or wireless need to be able to communicate to each other. My server still needs to be publicly available. The wifi network needs to be secured with the highest level of protection currently available, WPA2. And the number of available wired connections should be a minimum of 7.
Well, based upon those requirements, I've succeeded in most of them. At the time of writing, I have utterly failed on my VOIP requirement. Needless to say, the only thing I can do right now is call my voice mail and that is it. I can't even receive phone calls. I have the calls being forwarded to my cell phone and that isn't working either. And the other short coming was the reduction of the overall wired network potential is limited to 6. More on those topics later.
To get the network upgrade process started, I checked out the products available at Best Buy and determined that the $40 Linksys WRT54G2 Wifi-G router was the one I was going to get. And just for reference, this was less expensive than the Linksys Wifi-G access point that they were offering. While I was out, I also picked up a Targus laptop bag for when I travel as US Bank decided that I didn't need one. It wasn't a big deal. I likely got a better bag than they would have provided anyway.
Once home I now have the following equipment to make work together:
I began by plugging all of the equipment together (against the advice of the instructions). I had to locate the cable for my personal computer and plug it into the wifi router's switch. Once cabled in, I was able to access the configuration. The first thing that I found out is that the router would not permit me to set the WAN port IP address into the same range as the LAN IP address. Well, that's really a problem, how do I get all of my computers to be friendly to each other?
Well, the only option that I saw available was to create a crossover cable and consume an additional port on the wifi router, disable DHCP, and move on. This was all fine & dandy, but once I plugged in the crossover I was unable to access the web interface again. Now that I think about it, I think I forgot to change the LAN IP to cooperate with the network it was now on. Oh well. Therefore, I then resorted to tying to get the Wifi communication working.
I got into the wifi security settings; I enabled WPA2; I generated a network key; I saved my settings. Well, this would have been fine & dandy except the laptop would not connect to the network with all of the correct settings, or so I thought. The way the router's thick client user interface was setup, I honestly could not tell which it was using (WPA or WPA2). Therefore when I got to the laptop and it didn't make the distinction between WPA & WPA2, I didn't worry about it. The router didn't seem all that worried about the distinction, I figured the laptop would figure it out. Well, it didn't. I spent MANY and hour configuring, reconfiguring, reviewing the configuration, and quite a few Google searches. Everything seemed like a waste of time because I was getting nowhere quickly.
I finally broke down and asked if the laptop needed to specify WPA2 and why it wasn't an option in the Wifi configuration. After reading a few forums, I came across a post indicating that there was a patch from Microsoft that I would need. Once I installed the patch, the Wifi configuration made the distinction between WPA and WPA2. Therefore, I thought I was just about home. I then tried to connect to the network and was shot down. WTF?!?!? It was connecting, but couldn't pull an IP address but I wasn't being shown a dialog box or anything about any errors.
During my troubleshooting, I was starting to wonder if my parent network DHCP was going to work properly to provide wireless devices IP addresses. Therefore, I have switched the location of the wired & wireless devices. The wireless router is now the router and the wired router is the acting switch.
Ironically, I was able to pull IP addresses from unsecured networks. Since I was able to pull an address from my neighbors' networks, I didn't suspect an issue with my machine. I had checked the Windows Firewall several times just to be sure. Each time, on the General tab it said No, firewall was not enabled. I did a cursory check of McAfee to see if it was interfering, and didn't find any evidence to support that claim. Therefore, I was about to call it a night and wait until I could call a friend or two to see if they had any incite into the issue when an idea came to me. What does the error log say?
Well, the error log produced some very interesting results. An error was going ballistic on my Event Log. There were 3 or more messages being generated every second. Upon review of the error, I came to find that Windows Firewall was blocking traffic for DHCP. Why this was being blocked for secured and not on the unsecured networks, I don't know, but it was happening. I discovered after searching around on the internet that even if the Windows Firewall is listed in a disabled status with the ICS/Windows Firewall service running that it can still do stuff like this. Therefore, I promptly stopped and disabled the service. Would you believe that immediately following that change, the laptop popped right on the network. Amazing. Just simply amazing.
Anyway, lets see what has been accomplished at this point. VOIP service still works since the phone adapter is still working. Any machine, regardless of attached router is able to talk to another machine. WPA2 is working on the wireless network. 6 ports for wired devices are available. This just leaves my server to validate.
Unfortunately, this process too WAY to long to diagnose. I did the typical Linksys port forwarding configuration stuff. The ports for the services were defined and directed to the correct internal address. However, once I tried to pull up my server via an anonymizer, it was not responding. I rebooted each device through the network chain and still not improvement. I even assigned a static IP address to my server this time and still no improvement. Well, at some point I remember that the Phone Adapter device is a router. I don't recall what the configuration was prior to my network changes, but I know what happened to them at just about this point. I did a factory reset on it. At some point in the more recent past for this device, I some how locked myself out of it. Therefore, I was unable to get into it to see the configuration, let alone try to change it. Once I completed the factory reset I picked up the phone and I had ringtone. I thought my service was still working.
Then, using canyouseeme.org's open port checker, I was able to get a positive result. Then, via guardster.com, I was able to pull up my server's home page. So, majority of the items have been completed. Now, lets validate some things a bit more carefully.
So, what went wrong? Well, my provisioning file for my phone service went bye-bye in the factory reset. Therefore, with the provisioning file out of service, nothing works. No calls in, no calls out. Teleblend is my VOIP telephone service provider and they are not available on weekends. I have read online that the Phone Adapter will eventually pull a provisioning file and fix itself, but I wanted to be a bit more proactive than that, but was unable. Either my phone will be fixed before I go to work tomorrow or I will be placing an unhappy phone call first thing in the morning.
Resources used during my information discovery:
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Wifi Network Upgrade
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Another Great Mind Bites The Dust
For as much as I didn't want to believe it, the proof is absolute now. Hans Reiser, a computer genius who was responsible for the creation of the ReiserFS for the Linux community, was convicted of murder back in April has undoubtedly produced proof of his guilt. I had read some of the articles that were written during the trial. The man had a mind that was extremely unique. Albeit, not socially normal. He had a tendency to talk in code. It was simply amazing that a guy could be so in tune with his trade that it would consume every facet of his life. The more I read about the man, the more I wanted to respect him. Unfortunately, this respect has been found to be ill-placed. I didn't want to believe that someone with his gifts and talents would be culpable of such an egregious act.
This genius, convicted of murdering his wife, has proven his involvement in her disappearance. He lead the police to her body. I am not going to recap the article. If you are interested in reading the latest news, you can read Wired's article, "Has Reiser Leads Police to Nina's Body".
For a complete recap of the Reiser Murder Trial, Threat Level, a Wired.com blog, has an entire index of the happenings of the trial in this index.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Moonlighting
Well, as I am sure you have noticed, the frequency of updates to our blog have become quite a bit less frequent. This has two causes. #1. There hasn't been too much exciting going on in the household on a regular basis, what has occurred has been posted. #2. I am working way too much as of late. My time is generally spent working, spending time with Angel before, during, and a bit after dinner, and working some more with a little bit of hockey in there too.
I am quite sure that most of you are aware that outside my 40 hr/week job, I have other development related projects that I work on. At this time, the list is up to three.
There is one project in particular that I've been spending quite a bit of time on as of late. I'm developing a website for a friend for his business. Well, unfortunately, this project is not yet complete. The user experience is only about 85% complete and the administrative module is roughly 65% complete and before I can resume or start work on my other projects, I have to finish this one.
Anyway, I wasn't anticipating this project to have taken so long. I had picked it up on a whim and thought it would have been a couple of weeks in development and I would have been able to return to my hobby project of the Mindlence Card Game (MCG). Well, due to the complexity of this website, I am still working on it. Which also means the MCG has lost traction. Which is unfortunate because it is such a fun project to work on. The MCG is meant to be a 100% AJAX based platform to be used to play multi-player non-standard card games. The concept is sound, the market is present, unfortunately, time is currently lacking. Although, my interest in the project is not lacking. The third project is one in which I am not at liberty to disclose at this time.
Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that with most things in life, trade-offs are required. My current trade-off is that I'm working on the projects that will bring money to the table in the shortest term. Therefore, the hobby project has taken the back seat until my project has been completed. Hopefully, I will then be able to partition my time between my other two projects.
Anyway, enough about the projects and more onto the point of this post. It has been brutally brought to my attention that my projects have been consuming quite a bit of time in my life. I am not complaining, don't get that impression. I just want to give you the information about what is going on in my life as of late.
So, because of my projects and trying to get one of them wrapped up, just about all of my free time has been devoted to it. In doing so, some collateral affects are coming forward. These affects are sleep and the lack of sleep.
The duration of my sleep has been affected. During the last few weeks, my full time job has been affected by this. Don't take this the wrong way. My projects are not affecting my job performance or focus on my work for my job. However, what has been occurring more often than not is tardiness. Instead of being at my desk from 10-7, I've been getting there more like 10:30 or 11. Thankfully this is not a problem with work. If you know me, you will know that I don't take a lunch. Well, not since the P90X thing fizzled. Therefore, if you do the math, 10-7 is a 9 hour day. Getting to work at 11 doesn't take anything away from my employer. Additionally, even if I were to get to the office any later, I have the ability to make up my missed time by staying later. It all works out in the end as long as I don't miss any early morning meetings.
The other affect is lack of sleep. For the past three weekends, there has been a need to pull all-nighters. The issue usually begins on Friday night (Thursday night this weekend). I would stay up pretty late and then sleep most of the daylight hours away. Therefore, to fix my schedule, I would stay up Saturday night until Sunday night or Sunday night to Monday night. This is the second time that I will be up from Sunday night to Monday night in consecutive weekends. This obviously doesn't affect work, but it does affect Angel. She doesn't like it when I stay up into the wee hours of the morning and sleep the majority of a day away. The reason is that it typically takes time with me away from her. She doesn't get openly upset with me because of it, but she does have her way of letting me know that it upsets her.
Unfortunately, I can't foresee if or when this cycle is going to end. From what I can tell right now, my projects are going to being blurring together. I know once this paying project is complete that I will be taking on the other two in tandem. Working one project is hard enough to produce visible results in a short period of time. Then to take on two at once, either they are both going to suffer or I'm just not going to sleep. I think it is pretty much a toss-up as to which is going to occur. Both projects are long term initiatives. There is no way I could let one or the other of them slide until the other project is complete. Neither of the remaining two projects present any financial gains in the short term and both have long term financial capabilities. Therefore, if I was a betting man, I would say that I'm going to have to learn better discipline in waking up to my alarm on shorter and shorter amounts of sleep.
I am a developer to the core. I wear my Geek badge proud. I don't think I could not have a period of time where I don't have something in my project queue to work on outside of work. Development is not just my job, but my hobby. I love being able to create something out of nothing. To take a vision from my head (or a collection of heads) and produce it into being. Furthermore, the potential to create something which will be the ticket to an early retirement is also motivation. I think I will be learning some serious lessons on balance in the near future.
A rhetorical question just came to mind. When I retire (regardless of age), what will I do? I foresee more development in my retirement. Would that actually constitute retirement? Since it is my job and hobby, I don't think I will ever be free of it. Well, I would hope not anyway. I guess only time will tell.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Playing Hockey Again
Well, as I let you know last week, I'm playing hockey again. I have come to the realization that it has been well over 6 years since I played in anything organized. Although, I have been pleasantly surprised how well I'm doing. I have unfortunately lost quite a bit of my defensive awareness and my offensive awareness is SO much worse than the little bit that I once had. I think the only aspect of my game that I have been successful at keeping is my skating ability. Mind you, when I say ability, I mean my speed and my ability to skate backwards. I don't claim to have much more than that. Enough about me right now, lets find out what I've been finding out about the participants in this league.
So, I have played in 2 open skate sessions and I have to say, these southerns have really surprised me. There are some very good players at this venue. Back in the day when I would play midnight Friday night hockey in Bridgeville and Saturday morning hockey up at Aiken, I had the pleasure of being exposed to a wide variety of skills. I mean everything from those that can barely skate to those that, (IMHO), have potential to play seriously. I knew guys that played in leagues as high as the A league down at Neville. So, I think I have some basis of comparison to be able to accurately rate the skill level of the guys down here.
Last Sunday was my first exposure to what the south has to offer me. Well, I was surprised to find that there are some guys that can play. Although, there was a wide array of skills. Once again, from the pick-up games in Pittsburgh, which I'd participated, there were guys that could barely skate and there were those that could move. I would say that in the AA bracket, I'm safely around the upper 1/3 and 1/4 zone for speed and ability. Overall, the AA rink was exactly what was advertised, recreational. The game play was quite a bit more lax then I have come to expect and the amount of trash talk was found to be absent. The amount of team playing was limited. Since skill levels range so much, passing the puck within the offensive zone is quite hampered. Quite often point passes were missed and lead to a 2-on-1 or breakaway situation. Thankfully these point passes were not ones that I had missed. Most of the offensive team play was mainly kept limited to fast breaks. Quite often after a shot was taken, that was the end of the offense. Rebounds were infrequent and when the did occur, the defense was typically there to take it back the other way. That being said, backchecking was also often absent. Most backchecking started at the red line.
(For those less hockey savvy, backchecking is not checking. It is putting pressure on the opposing team in their blue zone. You can think of it as aggressive defense.)
Last night, I decided that I would take on both rinks to see how I would fare. Therefore, I started out on the AA rink. I played there for about an hour when I decided it was time to test the A rink waters. The aspect that really turned the tide was after I had scored 2 goals. I don't know if it was because of the guys on the rink with me or if I kept letting myself get pulled out of position, but I ended up putting in more time on offense than defense. For those of you that know my team sport mentality, there is no reason for me to be on offense. I don't have the stick handling, the offensive awareness or the shooting ability to be very effective. Yet somehow, I managed to find the back of the net twice.
The first goal was a wrist shot that I put toward the top right corner. Well, as you can guess, the goalie was right there. Humorously enough, after hitting the goalie in the mask, the puck continued on and into the net. I guess as goals go for me, this one wasn't too bad. The second goal wasn't even a shot on goal. I was beside the net at the right of the goalie chasing the free puck. I attempted a centering pass. I guess I didn't notice the number of people between me and center because my pass ended up scoring. My pass hit the skate of a minimum of one player and bounced into the net. I was astonished and thought it a fluke. Although, based on the average skill level of the AA group, they congratulated me on my ill gotten goal. I'm not complaining, but it was a bad goal.
So, after an hour on the AA side of the house, I switched rinks and decided to try my hand with the A league guys. Well, if I had to wager a bet as to what league these guys belong in at Neville, it would be no lower than B. It was a completely different game from the AA to A rinks. The game play was faster, the skill level was higher, and of course, with that comes the trash talking. The trash talking wasn't anywhere close to the level that I'd seen at Bridgeville before, but it was present. These guys were good. They could skate, they had stick handling, they had game.
In my opinion, my skills lend me into the lower 1/4 of the skill levels present in this league. I felt more like a liability than an asset to those on my team. Even with my speed, I was unable to out sprint anyone. My defensive skills were lack luster under this light. These guys would skate right past me with as little of a thought as a car over a speed bump. Most importantly, the positional playing that these guys were playing was uncanny. Backchecking was strong, deking was strong, and stopping was just impressive. The top players on this rink could hockey stop on a dime. Their redirection skills were also a direct result of their ability to stop.
The A league certainly brings the team aspect back to the game. Like the AA league and the pick-up games I've become accustomed to, positional playing isn't a typical requirement. The expectation is to try to generally cover an area and play the puck. Well, these A league guys were flowing around the surface with a generally cohesive team mentality. Defensemen were expected to dive in the offensive zone as the offensemen shifted around the offensive area. However, I felt that the defensive side was either not a strong or was more forgiving. You were either trying to block a shot, block a pass, or take the puck from the offense. However, don't underestimate the requirement for defense. Since these guys have serious skating and stick handling abilities, the lack of a strong defense will quickly show on the scoreboard.
Angel had the rare opportunity to have a Sunday night off early enough to accompany me. Therefore, she had her first opportunity to see me play. Since she hasn't seen me play in the past and doesn't have a feel for what my skills once were, she was in the position to present an objective rating of my game play. I felt my performance on the A league rink was lackluster. In talking with Angel after the open skate about my performance, she didn't say I looked as bad as I felt. Although, she did say that she could tell that I had been out of the sport for about as long as I had been. She gave me the impression that I was able to appear that I was able to hold my own with these guys. I still have my doubts.
Next weekend is the last open skate until the beginning of the season. Therefore, I think I will be playing the entire time on the A league side. Therefore, I will be able to better judge where I belong once the league begins. If I had to decide today, I think I would opt for the A league. I feel the only way to improve as a player is to play with better players. I don't have any ill placed notions of playing hockey for a career, but I do want to be a better player. My biggest fear is that I will be a liability for a team on the A league. The AA league is the safe route, but when have I been known to play safe? I enjoy competition and want to be pushed to play harder and better. Therefore, I am currently thinking that I'll sign-up under the A league, but I won't make that call until next weekend.
I do have to say, playing with either league, I am getting dogged out there. I'm good for a shift or two, but eventually a fast break or quick burst is needed that will wind me pretty badly. Right now, it feels like a minimum of 10 minutes before I recover from being winded. Although, I found playing with the A league that I got winded less. I'm not sure why that is. There are only a couple of reasons that I can think of for this to occur. Either, the team works together better and therefore there are less coast to coast sprints or since I'm in a less forgiving environment I step it up (and/or ignore it). Whichever it is, I'm sure once the league play begins, the team pressure in either league will cause me to push through it and play harder, longer.
I think that is enough reflection for now. I will have another update for you next week which will include the determination of which league I'm going to register for. I also hope that I get home early enough next weekend to get there for the entire period. I have been getting home from drill lately between 6 and 8. Therefore, I'm hoping for something closer to the 6 side because the open skate starts at 7.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Financial Update
For those of you that have been keeping tabs on what I've been writing here, this topic should be familiar. Otherwise, suffice it to say that I've come into a bit of a windfall in the past couple of months from several separate sources. If you would like to review those details, you can feel free to review my prior posts entitled "Signed on the dotted line..." and "Mine, All Mine - Officially"
Well, all of the windfall has completed its journey in reaching us. This money has also finished its destination in being spent. As I have previously posted, my car is paid off. Well, in addition to my car, Angel's car is in the clear as well as my teeth. Yes, my teeth. Right before the wedding, I had some pretty extensive dental work done and took out a line of credit to make payment to the dentist.
Suffice it to say, we have quite a bit of extra money available on a monthly basis due to this debt clearing sweep. Unfortunately, the desired outcome of this activity was not immediately realized. My expectations from clearing these bills was to have additional money to clear out our debt on my credit cards that I have in my name for a home improvement, getting my car fixed, buying our house, and expenses from the wedding. Well, an underestimated debt came due. Angel's student loans.
Her loans came due in April. We had a enough money available at that time to make what we thought was the payment amount, a hefty $500. To get thru May and June, we used our economic stimulus check from the government. Then, to make matters worse, the previously assumed monthly payment of $500 was incorrect. We were later notified that it would be in the $725 ballpark. Well, right now, that is just not working properly into our budget. Therefore, we have since requested a forbearance for her student loans.
At this point, you may be asking, why get the forbearance? Well, student loans are a long term debt and they generally have a relatively low interest rate. While we can theoretically afford to make the payments to her loan and maintain the rest of our bills in a satisfactory status (according to the creditors); I find this to be a problem. To take our windfall and maintain our financial status quo is troubling to me. Therefore, the time we are seeking in forbearance will be used to pay down our other debts. Will it be long enough to pay them all down? I don't know, but I know that it will be enough time for two out of the three.
As it stands today, we have a 6 month forbearance with the ability to extend for 6 more near the end of this period. I desperately hope that in this first 6 month block of time that Angel will not only graduate from school, but also find a job in her field to accommodate the payment for her student loan. However, as always, time will be the dictator that will eventually reveal if these recent moves have been the right one or if we're just pissing in the wind.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
The Rediscovery of a Love - Hockey
So, I now bear the title of a "Damn Yankee", but that will never take the North out of me. I have recently discovered a location to play some hockey. Of any of the sports that I have ever participated in, by far, hockey is my absolute favorite. Albeit, the most physically demanding and potentially dangerous sport that I could have selected for recreational play. Yes, I know that there are more dangerous and more physically demanding sports out there. However, as an adult looking to play for recreation and not as an aspiring professional, I can't find it in my area. Additionally, I'll be playing roller hockey.
Personally, I find it interesting that I was even able to find the sport here. Yes, Atlanta has a professional hockey team, but I wasn't expecting to find the facilities or a place with enough participation to play once I moved. Well, I have recently discovered that in the metro Atlanta area, there are exactly three places to play. I have been lucky enough to move to the exact neighborhood of one such location. I am less than two miles from the facility.
Snell Park and home of the South Gwinette Athletics Association (SGAA) are just moments from home.
Please, don't think about the available leagues in the same light as you would down at Neville Island. I've played in a league down there before. They have several leagues for adults. They have the skill levels separated into 4 categories, D thru A. The D league being the entry level league. Well, the SGAA only has two leagues. They have an "A" league for those like me are looking for a recreational league and an "AA" league for those on a more competitive skill level. As it stands right now, I have full intentions of joining the "A" league. However, I will not object to moving up to the "AA" league if I find the competition too lax in the "A" league.
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that I have a false impression of my skill level. I know that I'm not skilled enough to claim any type of good skill rating. However, I have my apprehension about what skill levels these "southerners" are going to have. I also say "southerners" because there are not many native southern bred people that I have met in Atlanta thus far (mind you my exposure is minor). Therefore, the possibility exists that other northerners with some youth bred skills could be participating. I guess I'll know more after the first open skate.
That is another thing that I find interesting. They call it "open skate". I've always knew of open practice time as "stick time". I can go skate anywhere, but I can only play hockey with other people at very few locations. When I hear open skate, I think of a roller rink. All you do is skate. I guess it is all about exposure and interpretation of the terminology used.
Back on topic. Another difference between the league here and those at Neville is that this league is a draft league. You do not bring a team into the league. You bring yourself. Therefore, the league is providing potential players three two hour blocks of practice time. This way, the teams can be drafted on an observed basis. I look at these periods as an opportunity to shake off the rust. I'm going to need it. I think it has been about 4 years since I actually played a game last. Maybe longer.
Anyway, talking about shaking of the rust. This past Sunday, I decided that I was going to throw on the skates and find my legs again. Well, for the most part, this went well. I even had some help doing so. The neighbor's dog was out and wanted to play with my ball. I figured that I have enough ability with my stick that playing keep away with the dog would be safe enough for it. Well, this did turn out to be true, unfortunately, I didn't have enough skill to keep the ball away from the dog very well. She was faster, more agile, and more determined to get the ball than I was to keep it away from her. I must have been outside for about an hour and I either didn't push myself hard enough or I'm in better condition than I thought because I wasn't even sore (in the legs) the next day.
However, the skate didn't go completely without incident. I discovered that the road in front of my house is not exactly level. There is a bit of a grade that I was unable to perceive by eye or while I was running. This was an unfortunate oversight. I decided that since I'm a defense man that I would need to brush up on my backwards skating. Well, this didn't end well, no, not well at all. It all started in the uphill direction. This worked out just fine as I was able to control my speed for when I was going to switch back forward. Well, during the return trip, things were not so peachy. I was gaining speed and fast. I wasn't even pumping and I was going faster. At this point, I knew I was in trouble. However, waiting to slow down was not an option. After my driveway, there is a steep downhill grade that I enjoy going down forward. However, going backward meant certain road rash. I had to attempt to swap over. No two ways about it. Well, I got to about my mailbox and figured it was now or we're going over the hill. I got my first foot over, but as I was pivoting my body and trying to swing my other foot around, something went amiss. It wasn't pretty. I ended up falling on my left hip and left hand.
Before you ask the obvious question here, the answer is a resounding "No!". Of course I wasn't wearing any protective gear. I was wearing exactly the following (top down - no assumptions, complete list):
Nope, no gloves, no helmet, no shirt, nothing at all that would provide padding.
Well, this fall was not horrible. However, it did leave me unable to continue to work on my stick work. I got a very minor strawberry on my left hip. It was almost not worth mentioning. However, then there was my left hand. Apparently, my first reaction to falling was to break my fall with my hand. I guess some instincts never are completely removed. I learned during my days as a pole vaulter to just land without trying to break the fall. Well, that thought wasn't what was crossing my mind as I fell this time. By the time I knew what I had done, it was already too late. I had my hand firmly planted on the ground trying to stop myself from sliding down the road. The result was that I had some scrapes on the meaty part of my thumb, finely sanded skin (not broken or bleeding, just shaved down a few layers) on the heel of my hand and then the real injury. I had a hole on the palm side of my hand where my middle finger knuckle is. Apparently, it was in this location that I had applied all of my pressure in effort to stop the slide.
While the attempt was marginally successful in that all of my other wounds were minor, this injury was pretty evident. It was the only place on my body from which I was bleeding. This hole was several millimeters deep and has since made holding objects tightly in that hand difficult at best. Even the pressure required to handle a hockey stick as my rear hand was too much contact for this guy. A short period of time after this happened, I had enough for the day. Tomorrow (or today, depending on your standards) is going to be my first attempt at holding a stick again and my first at-speed re-introduction into the world of hockey.
Wish me luck. As I'm sure most of you already know, I'm going to need it.
Google Junky
Ok, I have to admit. It has recently been brought to my attention that I have a Google problem. Well, not a problem, but more like a strong affinity. I had recently been introduced to a new Google Gadget. When I was talking it about to a co-worker, I came to realize that I use, on a regular basis, many of the gadgets that Google has developed and have made available.
In the arsenal of Google Gadgets, I use the following:
The newest gadgets that I've begun to use are Notebook and iGoogle.
iGoogle
I was introduced to iGoogle by CW2 Thompson while I was at my annual training this year. He had all of these widgets setup to view news and cartoons at a glance. It was like an interactive bookmark area. Well, I have further come to find that it is a wonderful way to quick reference all of the tools that I already use by Google and incorporate them all into the Google web search interface. Yes, iGoogle replaces the functional centric design of their search bar interface.
For example, I have the following items in my Home tab on iGoogle:
They each show up in their own little box that I can drag & drop into whatever order or configuration that I choose. It is pretty nifty. the only bad thing is that navigating to www.google.com for me now is much slower loading than the non-iGoogle interface. However, since I use Firefox, I have found a work around for this issue. Instead of navigating to Google each time I want to search, there is a nifty little search engine bar built into the browser. Therefore, instead of using the address bar, I just hit the search bar (which I have configured to Google) and fire at will.
I've come to hold my iGoogle page open more often than not instead of the Gmail window I've become so used to having open. Within iGoogle, I can interface into my Gmail account without having the entire page open. This is not a fully functional interface, but it is enough to quickly check to see if I have new mail waiting. Using iGoogle has also helped me to keep up-to-date with my Reader selections. Before, it might have been once a week or so I would check my RSS feeds for updates. Now, since I glance at iGoogle periodically through the day, I can see what's new without any particular effort. Additionally, I have become quite the fan of the Reuters: Oddly Enough news feed. I have previously gotten these updates from the RSS feeds at the top of Gmail. Well, I don't have to wait for the ROE items to have their turn in my mailbox any longer. I can just reference my iGoogle page.
If you are feeling that you need just a bit more organization within your Google experience, iGoogle is a wonderful bridge to put all of the Google tools you use in one quick reference heads up display or dashboard. Also, iGoogle doesn't just do Google plug-ins. You can incorporate other widgets from other websites into your iGoogle interface. You can review the list of items that I have on mine where it is pretty easy to spot that they are not all Google.
Once last word on iGoogle. You can skin the way that your Google search bar appears. The skin/theme that I'm currently using is "The Beer Journal Theme #2".
Notebook
So, I have found 2 reasons to be interested in the Google Notebook application. I work on multiple computers. I have one for work and one for outside of work. Well, I have bookmarks on each and neither list contains everything from the other, but there was a little bit of overlap. Anyway, I got frustrated with having to run upstairs or downstairs depending on the machine I was on and the machine that had the information. So, I decided that I would find a place to put all of my bookmarks somewhere machine neutral. Since I'm such a supporter of Google and their products, I thought I would check to see what they had available before going elsewhere. Within their gadgets list, Notebook grabbed my attention. So, I just had to check it out.
I honestly don't know what Google had intended this application to be, but it immediately appeared to be what I was looking for. Once I added my account to the service, a book was created for me. Well, I immediately deleted it. I didn't need a book called "My first notebook" as I had other books in mind. The application not only allows users to create books, but also segment the books. There is also a place to put bookmarks without being in a notebook.
There were a few shortcomings that I found pretty quickly. These shortcomings are not showstoppers, but rather, annoyances. The items that I will discuss as issues revolve around sections, bookmark creation, and bookmark management.
As with just about any other Google application, the organization scheme that they provide to you is based on Tags or Sections. Tags are pretty straight forward and as flexible as I think they should ever need to be. However, the sections are where I have a complaint. A section cannot be created within a section. Therefore, these sections do not have the same attributes as a folder/directory would have. Folders or directories can be a parent and/or a child at the same time. These sections are not so. Therefore, one of the things I was attempting to do failed miserably and I had to reorganize. I wanted to create a notebook for items for my jobs. Then, create a section for each job with subsections of bookmarks. Well, the work notebook plan had to be junked and each job now has its own notebook.
Bookmarks. Well, bookmarks are a wonderful feature. Unfortunately, they have an annoyance about them. You can only create a bookmark within the "Unfiled bookmarks" area and once created, you can move it into a notebook. I don't understand why I can't create a bookmark within the intended destination. I can create notes there, but I can't create a bookmark. Why can't there be some UI option of creating a new note and converting it into a bookmark? Furthermore, why, once I create a bookmark, can I not modify the URL? I found this to be a bit on the surprising side. Once a bookmark is created, you can create notes related to the bookmark, but you cannot edit the URL that it points to. One of the things I was going to do during the creation of one of my notebooks was create a set of named bookmarks with bogus URLs and edit the bookmark once I got the correct URL for it. Well, a few days after I created the bogus bookmarks, I finally remembered to get the URL off of my work computer. I was quite surprised when I was unable when I tried to edit it. I deleted what I had and started over.
The last thing I would like to mention as an annoyance is the management of the bookmarks. Once you have a bookmark created into the Unfiled Bookmarks, you have two options for relocating them. You can grab the bar on the left and drag & drop them to a notebook. Note that I didn't say notebook section. If you wanted to move the bookmark into a notebook and a section within, you cannot accomplish this in one step via drag and drop. Instead, you have to use the dropdown menu for the bookmark. There is an option for move. Once move is selected, you can select the notebook and optionally the section via an AJAX interface. The only bad thing with this is that you have to do this for each individual bookmark. There is not a way to multiselect the bookmarks and move them in a bulk fashion. If there is such a way, someone please let me know.
So, now that I have my beefs outlined to you, lets talk about the other fine features of this application. Notebook will allow you to publish your work in multiple fashions. You can create a Google Document or HTML or PDF via Google Documents or even provide an RSS feed directly to your notebook. Honestly, I'm not so sure about the value of the RSS features, but I guess that would depend on what you were writing in your notebook. For my personal list of bookmarks, I doubt that there will be much use in attaching an RSS feed to any of my notebooks.
So, I have published one of my notebooks. I have utilized the HTML export of one notebook to generate an index for my development server. I had previously left my third level domain empty for except a message saying that my server was working. I think the message said, "Welcome to my space. Please come back when I have something to show you." Well, that message is gone. It has been so kindly replaced with my Projects notebook that I created more for myself than for others. There is a projects that I'm working on, slowly and intermittently, and have been slowly forgetting the URLs to find our developed code to this point. I would have to FTP into the server to find the paths that I needed to view what I wanted. Therefore, I decided that I would log this information somewhere. The problem wasn't that I had forgotten where the information was, it was that I couldn't remember the capitalization to get there. The site in question is on a Linux server and enforces case sensitivity just about everywhere. Therefore, if you knew the name of the directory for the information you seek, you still didn't have enough info.
Anyway, if you would like to see the published notebook, you'll find it here. Or you can view the export of the document here. I haven't looked, but I'm pretty sure that they should appear exactly the same.
So, there you go. I'm addicted to Google tools and can figure out ways to make their tools work for me. If you have found any information here useful, please leave a comment.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Physical Fitness
Ok, I know that I've been talking about this much less than before, but for now this will be the last rant for some time. This past 2 week excursion for me to do my summer duty included a PT test. The important information to note is that I did pass, although, I was less than excited about the numbers to grant me that pass.
Anyway, for my age and gender I need to do 39 push-ups, 45 sit-ups and complete the 2 mile run in a maximum time of 17:00 minutes. I completed 40 push-ups, 46 sit-ups, and completed the run in 15:43. These performance numbers generated a passing score for me of 195. As usual, my score is just passing and less than 200. I can only recall maybe once or twice in my career (thus far) that I have been able to exceed 200.
For those of you less familiar with the structure of the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT or just PT), there are 2 minutes to do as many properly formed push ups as possible and 2 minutes to do as many properly formed sit ups as possible and then a 2-mile run. The minimum requirements vary by age and sex. If you are interested, you can review these charts. Each solider is to be able to score 180 points on their test. Each event must be passed with 60 points or more. If any one test is not scored above 60 and their score is above 180, they still fail.
Although, in my goal of becoming an officer, barely passing the test is not good enough. The schools to accomplish this goal are extremely stringent on the way that they enforce the standards as to what a "good form" push-up or sit-up is. Therefore, I still need to improve my numbers in order to get the commander's approval to pursue this goal. I guess I will need to continue my training and become more aggressive in maintaining my schedule.
As for my run, this was quite a surprise. We took the test on a Wednesday morning and to familiarize myself with the 2-mile run route, I ran on Monday evening. Well, the course is generally flat with a downhill tendency. During my training run, I ran a pitiful 17:35 2-mile. However, as I previously told you, on game day, my time was significantly better. I would like to know how I can drop almost 2 minutes on a 2-mile run in just 2 days? Well, I can't readily explain it to you, however, I think I have an idea.
This idea is something that any athlete may be able to relate with. I think the acquisition of almost 2 minutes in my time was due to "Game Day Pressure". We all like to think that we train ourselves to our fullest potential when we are by ourselves (or at least I do). However, as I have clearly demonstrated to myself, I clearly don't. There are 3 aspects of the PT test that differ from my training routine.
I think the first two items are self explanatory (I start the clock when I start running; I start at my pace, not the pace of others), but the third one will need some additional info to fully understand the pressure. My supervisor is a CW2 with approximately 10 years on me and I have about 3 or 4 inches on him. Furthermore, I want to become a WO1 and felt that if I can't hang with a CW2 that I may loose his (my supervisor) respect. Therefore, I picked up my pace to match his pace. His pace is notably faster than my training pace but the only thing that I really changed was the length of my stride. With the longer stride, I was able to take better advantage of the downhill sections of the course and subsequently reduce my time yet again.
The most interesting thing (in my opinion) about this run was how I felt when I finished. When I was training at home (hills or not) and my single training run at camp, I was beat down & toast when I crossed the finish line with a recovery that was painful and long. Even by the time I reached the barracks, I was still feeling badly. However, on game day, I walked 2 laps around a cul-de-sac, caught my breath, and was good to go all day. After a review of my watch, I found that my heart rate specs were very similar to those from Monday. Approximately a 180 average heart rate and maxed out a 199. I think game day was around 184 average and 200 max.
Well, I think I'm going to close this rant here. In closing I would like to say that I'm glad that I passed the test on the first go, but I am not pleased with my SU & PU scores. Only time will tell when/if I will be able to improve on those values significantly enough to quell the fears of the people of which I will require a letter of recommendation.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Mine, All Mine - Officially
Well, that money that I mentioned has finally come to fruition. All of my bonuses have been collected and it is time to distribute the funds. As of approximately 1120 today, my car, my 2003 Chrysler Sebring Convertible GTC 5-speed is mine in title.
I contacted my creditor this morning and told them to pay it off. She is mine. In a few short weeks, I will be receiving all of my pertinent paperwork regarding this loan. The paid in full notice, the account closed notice, and my title will appear via the mail in their due time. The process of removing the lien from the title doesn't yet happen over night, so I presume it will be somewhere between three and eight weeks until the title reaches me. The remainder of the paperwork will either meet me at home or will be there shortly after I return home.
Even though I will have the title in-hand, I will remain paying on her for just a little bit longer. Remember when I blew-up my transmission? Well, that debt is still outstanding (the account is current, but is an outstanding debt that I carry). However, this remaining payment on my car is not against my car. I paid for that situation on a credit card and it is at a very low interest rate with a moderately low monthly payment. Therefore, that payment shall continue for a little bit longer and I will have my title.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Little Update on the backyard
Just a small update on our backyard. Bob, me and one of the neighbor boys got a good amount of the ivy pulled out of the backyard a few weeks ago. And since then we have had to put a hold on everything. Bob found poison ivy. And since he was the last one to touch everything needed for working we have to clean everything off before we can re-start our project. I do feel really bad for Bob. He got poison ivy really good. And I didn't even get one spot. I think I can thank my Dad for that. Apparently I inherited his high immunity to poison ivy.
In my walk abouts in the yard I have found that poison ivy now resides throughout the back half of our backyard. Fortunately on my outage for poison ivy lotion for Bob I was able to find the preventive lotion that Bob was telling me about. So, I picked up a bottle. Granted it didn't help Bob the first time around but next time we will both be putting this stuff on.
I do have a couple of hints from my Mom on how to kill the poison ivy that is there now. I'm always open to suggestions (Except for burning the stuff).
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Alabama Trip - Friday and Sunday - MECA Car Stereo Competition
The intended purpose of the weekend was to attend a MECA Stereo competition in Alabama. This intention was almost compromised. It was Thursday afternoon that I was informed that my amplifier had been shipped to the wrong location. It was shipped to Pittsburgh to TNT instead of directly back to me. After some phone calls and further consideration, it was determined that the amp would be overnighted to me from TNT with someone else paying the tab. It wasn't my mistake and I wasn't about to pay for it.
With this development, I was very happy that I had taken Friday off of work. I was going to need all of the time I could find to get my car prepared both for the trip and for the competition. I was up very early on Friday. James was in town for work and had crashed at my place so that we could hang out for a while. I had to have him across town for 9 AM. It was great to have had this opportunity and it also played well into my plans. Since I had to be up to get him to work, it also assured that I would be awake once my FedEx delivery would be made.
All of my activities for Friday, minus packing, revolved around my car. I was preparing a installation booklet outlining the equipment in my car and the effort associated with it. To complete the book, I needed my car complete. I had received my speakers on the previous Friday, so the big wait was all about the amp. The amp was delivered at approximately noon. From that point on, it was a rush to get it tested, photographed and finally installed. Angel got home shortly after 2 and I was just wrapping up the final details of the installation. It took me roughly another hour to get the booklet completed and then it was time to get the packing done.
So, you might be wondering, why didn't I pack between getting home and getting my delivery. Well, it was anxiety. I couldn't focus on packing when I was preoccupied by the work that would follow once my amp did arrive. Therefore, after a quick pack job and loading up the car, we were off around 4. The first stop on the trip was to Kinkos to get the booklet printed out. Everything was already set in a file ready for printing on my thumb drive. Kinkos just had to print and bind it for me. The booklet was comprised of 5 printed pages with a clear front and back. Once the 5 pages were printed, I used their paper cutter and handed them the document back to be bound. With covers, it turned out to be 12 pages and it was spiral bound.
With all of this done, it cost a mere $13 out the door. I can't imagine what it would have cost if I had asked for someone else to do the prep work. Unfortunately, once I decide to change the configuration or add new equipment, I will have to re-do it to some degree. I guess I would have been better off using 8.5 x 11 pages with a 3 hole punch instead of the 8.5 x 5.5 spiral bound pages. This would have made it a bit more flexible. Anyway, it is unique.
After getting the document printed, cut, and bound got us on the road at 5 PM. You can read about the drive in the other Alabama trip post. Another touch on the preparation for the trip included a two day car washing effort. I took the car on Tuesday to a DIY car wash to get her clean and didn't finish off with the liquid wax. Wednesday was the wax job. I found a new tool that I thought would be interesting to try. I picked up a Mother's Power Ball.
It came with a bottle of liquid wax, so I gave that a shot too. Typically, I like to use Mother's Gold paste wax and do it within direct sunlight so it gets very hard and shines marvelously. So, a liquid wax was a new effort for me. In using this new "toy" and liquid wax, I tore through 4 drill batteries just to get the car waxed. I either have to apply this stuff by hand next time or get more batteries so that a lull in the action doesn't happen again. (I had to wait for another battery to charge before I could finish completely.)
So, the drive to Alabama did a number on my wash & wax job. I had expected some degradation of the job, but the number of bugs that were collected on the front bumper and windshield were horrible. Even after a quick wipe down on Sunday morning, there were still bugs left over. So, the drive from Huntsville to Boaz was a bit more exciting than I would have liked to find. The directions that I pulled up terminated about 15 minutes short of our destination. Another word to the wise, double check the location that a mapping service pulls up for you before printing and leaving. The address that Google Maps grabbed for me was not correct and created a brief but stressful situation when we landed in the wrong location.
So, the flyer for the competition event sponsored by Wild Bill's Electronics in Boaz, Alabama indicated that registration started at 9 and that the competition judging would start at 10:30. Well, I don't know what judging started at 10:30, but it certainly wasn't the sound quality judging. Anyway, we got there at approximately 9:30 and had our area setup and registered by 10. I entered into two competitions, Sound Quality (Amateur bracket) and RTA Freq Out. You can find the specifics about these two events in the rule book, but I will gloss over the events to save you some reading.
The objective in the Sound Quality (SQ) event is to have the most realistic reproduction of the selected competition material as possible. This reproduction includes staging as a criteria. The term staging represents that all of the frequencies appear to originate from in front of you. In the amateur class, this is all that is important, however, in the non-amateur classes there are more aspects such as direction (center/left/right), height, and width. There are many more criteria, such as system noise, frequency response, linearity, dynamics, and ambiance. The system noise check can only reduce your score, not enhance it. Frequency response is in regards to the clarity and ability to reproduce the frequencies with accuracy. Linearity is in regards to how the frequency response reacts to volume changes; are the frequencies reproduced equally at different volumes? Dynamics are in regards to the ability of the system to accurately reproduce the high and low volumes within the material and ambiance is the ability to reproduce the size and space of the environment in which the music was recorded. The rulebook gets into more detail about how to score each of these areas.
So, since I am in the Amateur class, I am scored on a 70 point scale and scored a 49.5. The winner of the event scored a 54.5. My score put me into 3rd place and was awarded a trophy for it.
The RTA Freq Out event is based on how the system reproduces each frequency range. Pink noise is used to hit all of the frequencies at the same time. A microphone and electronic meter are used to display how the frequencies are being played with an EQ readout. The objective of this event is to have a flat line response across all frequencies. This event is scored on a 40 point scale. My system scored a 27 and the winner scored a 32. This performance was good enough to place me in second of two. Once again, I was awarded a trophy for this event.
Before I get into what can be improved, lets talk about the last award that I received. I was awarded the SQL Most Improved. Typically, this award goes to the competitor that has most improved their system from one competition to another. Therefore, since this is my absolutely first competition, how can I be considered for this award. Well, the reason for this was because of the clinique. MECA league members are able to take advantage of a system review by the judge prior to official judging. Of course, since this was my first event, I certainly took advantage of this offering (I became a MECA member when I registered for the event).
After the clinique, the judge brought to my attention that I was missing some frequency reproduction between my door drivers and my tweeters. Those frequencies are controlled by the passive crossover network. This was not an active crossover or an amplifier controlled area. Therefore, I knew that the only way to change it would be to hit the crossover type control switch inside the passive crossovers. Once the judge came around for the official judging and finished my car, his comment was to the effect of, "that change made your system sound like a completely different car". Between making that major of a change and the fact that this was the first MECA event in the area for the year, they made the exception to the rules to award me with the honor.
Event Results (Be sure to click on the SQL Results link).
My Score Card:
Event picture album.
So, what did I learn during this experience? Well, the first thing I figured out is that in order to improve my performance, I have tons of work to do. I had the opportunity to listen to some of the other competition vehicles (including 2 class winning vehicles that scored 80+ each) and I have a long way to go to get close to that score. The points that I have immediate control of to improve for the next competition is tweeter placement and front stage adjustments. I was told that the stand-up bass was imaging in the rear rather than the front. This will be a simple crossover change for the next comp. Also, to improve my ambiance score, it was recommended that I put my roof & windows up. I don't know if it will hurt or help me to do so. Having the roof & windows up will introduce more surfaces for the frequencies to bounce. It is my opinion that right now, my system sounds better open than closed. I guess will have to wait until I can attend another comp to find the answer to that one.
There is one more major thing that I can do to improve the performance of my system. The RTA Freq Out pointed out to me that without an EQ, there is very little that I can do to make major improvements. Unfortunately, based on my system design, my options for an EQ are very limited and are very expensive. I did some searching at some of the major player websites and have concluded that I have three options.EQ Installation
Zapco DSP6-SL & DRC-SL processor ($1,000)
Alpine System Overhaul.
Audio Control DQS ($499) and DDC ($180)
Alpine PXE-H650 ($450)iDA-X200 - Digital Media Receiver ($300)
PXA-H100 - IMPRINT Audio Processor ($180)
KTX-100EQ - IMPRINT Sound Manager ($250)
After further review of the KTX-H100EQ is not the same as the required add on of the KTX-H100 required for the PXA-H100 to be used. This cost should be less than $250.
At this time, I am not sure as to what solution I am going to take. The two Alpine units (stand alone EQ or system overhaul) look appealing. However, I am not sure I want to cross the line into a realm that is a slippery slope. The Alpine components are known to inter-operate with themselves the best. I don't have the cash or desire to replace my amps also. If I had to pick right now, the Audio Control unit would be the one I would buy. However, I think more research will be required.
Also, while at the competition, I was able to talk directly with the owner of a sound quality based stereo shop in Atlanta. Granted, the shop is about an hour from home. It is such a relief that there are some shops in the ATL area that I can rely on with questions and part requests that will know what I'm after. With the addition to this ship, I now know of two shops with which I can obtain assistance with my car. The other one is much closer, but they don't compete anymore.
I'm sure now that I've successfully completed my first competition that it won't be my last and that the progress with my stereo is far from done. Even if/when I get my car to a point to call it complete, there is still Angel's car to be dressed. I'm sure that will provide just as much if not more updates in the future.
Alabama Trip - Friday Evening thru Saturday Night, including the "White" Wedding
So, this past weekend Angel & I made a trip to Alabama. The adventure of getting there was interesting. The week leading up to the trip was more exciting than it should have been. However, majority of those preparatory tasks were car related, therefore, I'll save you the details for the car post. For that reason, I'll fast forward to Friday.
I had taken Friday off of work, just to be certain that I would be able to tie up loose ends as they appear. Angel had to work until 2ish. I had anticipated that we would have been on the road by 4. Well, I ended up being close. We left the house at about 4:15, except we were not in route until shortly after 5. This ultimately put us at the hotel at shortly after 9 central time. We had encountered a couple of situations that were more time consuming than I had anticipated as I expected to be at the hotel at 9 eastern time (I had forgotten about the timezone change).
When the timezone change was realized, this produced an interesting response. Angel was using my phone to read a text message and noticed that my cell phone clock was an hour before my head unit clock. She immediately accused me of not fixing my clock, but I knew well better that it had been correct when we left the house. Therefore, the only remaining reason for the difference was switching time zones.
Well, I had been keeping tabs on the weather before our trip. I knew we were going to be driving directly into an approaching low pressure system that was producing some serious rain. However, when we were leaving it was such a beautiful day, I couldn't bear to drive with the roof up because of an imposing rain situation. Therefore, as I'm sure you can conclude, we got wet. At first it wasn't so bad. The windshield was getting wet, but we were chilling dry. I was hoping against hope that I could make it to the next rest stop to put the roof up. Well, this was not going to be the case. We had about 4 miles to the next exit (though we didn't know it because the billboards only said "Next Exit" not what exit number). We got about two miles closer before the cats & dogs started to fall. There we are, on the side of the road and sitting at a dead stop trying to close up the car getting much, much wetter because the road speed wasn't creating a wind buffer to swish some of the water away. Yes, we were drenched by the time we got the car closed.
Then, even though the car was closed up, we were still getting wet because the side rails were wet, the rubber surrounds were wet and holding some of the felled water. This meant that water was pouring in on us from the window area. Thankfully, I had grabbed a towel for a quick Sunday morning wipe down that was easily accessible and was able to dry the areas wetting us further. Once we got back on the road and to the rest stop we wiped down the rest of the car interior so that it wouldn't spot or contribute to the humidity in the car.
From this point on, the rest of the trip was spent primarily in the rain. Due to the rainfall within the car, the air conditioner was required to some degree to prevent fogging of the windows. Thankfully, other than the road side stop, that was as exciting as the trip got. FYI, if you ever travel to Huntsville, review the turns that will be required before you get there (mapquest, Google maps, ect) because some of the directions are really hard to follow without some researched reference.
Once at the hotel and checked in, we were able to find Janette and spent some time with her at the bar until the rest of the guys got back from the rehearsal dinner. It was great to see some familiar friendly faces. The last time that either of us had seen these guys was at our wedding. Additionally, it was excellent to finally meet Randorushiro in person. We had been introduced via Exile and had collaborated a bit on some code. Unfortunately, he has since dropped out from the project, but we stay in touch.
The bar closing is what got us moving in our respective directions. I still don't understand why hotel bars close at 12, but they do. This didn't sit well with the younger crowd and they continued to drink in one of the rooms well into the night. I had called it a night when I got to the room. I had not expected this to be the case, but I was more tired than I had realized.
The next day was the wedding, the "White" Wedding (their last name is White). With the event starting around 3 and we met in the lobby for 2:15, I was expecting this to be an all day affair. It was a surprise when it was not. More on that in a bit. However, the drive to the location was certainly notable. Remember, we are in Alabama, not West Virginia. However, the trip up to the lodge was uneventful, but interesting. The trek began with a short jaunt down the highway. From there it was an accent to the top of a small mountain or a large hill. The first indication that this would be interesting was a sign that indicated large vehicles and vehicles with trailers were advised. I was having a hard time understanding what this meant. Though, with time, I would know well.
The road snaked up the side of this hill. There were a severe drainage ditch on the right side of the road and what appeared to be a sheer drop-off on the left. The drainage ditch was intimidating. Where the asphalt ended, it dropped into this ditch that would certainly do major damage to the underbody of the car and likely frontal damage (depending on where & how you fell into it) and I don't even want to think about the other side of the road. Then later on, after the winding road decided to straighten out, we figured out what was up with the signs for the trucks and larger vehicles. There were 2 180 degree turns in the road. I can't imagine what a vehicle of any great scale would do with this area. Before I move on, for those that missed the WV reference, they are known as ridge runners. This type of road would be more expected within the WV mountains than in the deep south in my opinion.
Apparently there is a dramatic difference between Northern and Southern weddings. The ceremony was beautiful and quaint. Following the ceremony, the reception did not include a meal, however, finger foods, wine/cocktails, and cake/dessert proved to be more than enough. The whole atmosphere was different from what I've come to expect from a ceremony, but definitely not in a bad way. There was not a DJ present for the reception. The only dancing that was done was between the bride & groom, for their first dance (again, very much fine by me). There wasn't any assigned seating, there wasn't a wedding party head table, there wasn't a best man toast, and there wasn't too much else in regards to pomp and circumstance. Additionally, the biggest difference between a Northern and Southern wedding is duration. I don't recall what time we left the location, but it was definitively still daylight.
I hope that these note points do not infer a negative spin on the day. This was certainly not intended. The whole day was beautiful. The actual wedding ceremony was what was expected, with the exception that Randorushiro's mother was presiding. This ceremony was purely designed for show. The couple have been married for 5 years now. They were wed before he got deployed and was done by a JP. This assertion of their vows was for the families and to have the opportunity to share the event. The reception following the ceremony was very nice as well. Just because something is different, it doesn't mean that it is bad. I am certainly glad that I was given the opportunity to join them.
You can see the pictures that I took of the event below. Address Book.
So, following the ceremony, we returned to the hotel and began our search for dinner. We finally decided to follow a recommendation of the front desk for some good, local BBQ. It was about a 15 minute drive to the location and it was certainly in a rural area. Right next to the restaurant was a grazing field for cows. Man, this stuff was good. Not quite the same as JRs back home, but it was very good. If I could remember the name of the place, I would certainly recommend you to it if you ever find yourself in Huntsville.
After our southern grub, we again return to the hotel. With nothing better in mind to occupy ourselves, we break out Munchkin. With 6 people at the table and only using one deck (Bites), we were surprised how long this one game took. It was after midnight before Angel & I returned to our room. Anyway, it was a wonderful way to spend an evening with good friends. It was an intimate, simple, and quiet way to spend the night. Certainly much better than spending the night in a bar or other nightlife establishment that only 1/2 of us would have had any serious interest. Additionally, with us each crashing at different times, it certainly made the event more manageable for all.
From this point, the rest of the weekend was spent solidly revolving around my car. See that post for the weekend ramp up and conclusion.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Yet Again - Yard Work
So, time goes on, more work goes in, and we're still not done. The progress is certainly apparent, but completion is still far away. So, what have we been doing? With 40+ (I think I've lost official count at this point), this little adventure of ours is still a job in the making. It seems that with each milestone we reach, the end goal gets further away. Well, not really, but sometimes it does feel that way. Anyway, the crazy task of removing the leaf debris from the yard is now officially complete. Angel finished up that task last week.
So, you might say, we've found our backyard. Umm, well, not quite. The years upon years of leaf debris has been relocated, unfortunately, the yard still appears quite disheveled. The next daunting task that has begun as of yesterday is to relocate the celluloid debris and major weeds from the yard. In the years of neglect the yard has experienced there is quite the collection of vertical and horizontal brush that needs to be addressed. I've spent some time in the yard with the bushwhacker chopping down anything that I feel the tool can handle. Instead of cleaning as I go, I have just hit everything that I can find at one time and will address the cleaning afterward.
Thankfully, this perspective has paid off already. With the amount of crumbled stone, ivy and other vine like growth, and other miscellaneous tree debris (branches, twigs, ect. [aka cellulose]) trying to clean-up the small stuff to find bare earth is much easier with the tall stuff out of the way. At this time, with the exception of the undergrowth at the creek bed border, any weed, vertically growing vine, wild bush and seedling tree has been eradicated from our yard. Now the cleanup of that chopping is well underway. We're using pure muscle to yank up the vine growth (that stuff is a pain in the ass), rakes to collect the debris, and shovels (with the wheelbarrow) for anything else that piles up along the way. I would estimate that about 5/8 of the target yard area is in a condition to call clear.
There has been one recent development that I'm less than happy about. Apparently with my yard work yesterday, I managed to find some poison ivy. I was wearing my issue brown gortex boots, jeans, gloves, and a short sleeve shirt. That being said, guess where I have it. Yup, you got it, on my arms. This time does not have the appearance that it is going to be a horrible condition to overcome. I know that as a scout and from playing in the Court School parking lot that I've had this much worse. I guess at this age that it will be just a minor annoyance as my time outside and spent sweating is kept to a minimum now. Nothing like when I was younger whereas almost everyday consisted some sweat developing activity that would absolutely irritate the affliction.
Anyway, we're making a lot of progress in the yard. However, if you think that getting the little debris cleared of the yard is as far as we're going to have to go, you would be wrong. Even with the leaves, major debris, trees and other vertical growth chopped down that we would be nearing completion of the yard discovery and ready to decide what we're going to do with this additional functional land. Well, unfortunately, with the yard in the condition that it is currently in, that is not the case. Yes, once the little debris is removed we will have "found" our back yard. Unfortunately, finding it and being able to tend for it are two totally different topics.
Once we get the little shit out of the way, our next move will be to prepare the land for maintenance. One of the key features/tools that will be required to be functional in this new area is the lawnmower. Well, our land is very rocky. There are rocks all over the place. Many of them are jutting up and out of the ground in such a way that will prevent safe operation of a lawnmower in this area. Therefore, we will need to manually pluck these rocks from the ground and relocate them. We're not going to toss the rock into the creek bed because we have some other ideas that will give them an opportunity to do some good.
At this time, regardless of the ground cover we choose to employ on our yard, we have 3 construction projects that we would like to complete in the yard.
We don't yet know where in the yard these guys are going to go, but before any new install landscape goes into place, we'll have to determine how we're going to address these new features.
So, lets examine the projects individually.Fire pit:
Well, Gwinnett County is unlike Allegheny County in that we are permitted to burn. However, typically burning is restricted to the non summer months. However, when you install a pit that is designed specifically for controlling the potential run of the fire, the restriction is all but gone. Since we are also trying to create entertainment features in the yard, the pit has potential for use all year round. The expectation for the creation of this feature will revolve around the use of rock that is already present in the yard. There is plenty of it all around the yard that I think I could create a functional pit with minor expense with what we already have.Horseshoe Pits:
My intention here is to create a single game area that is up to specification with official regulations for all ages. Based on the brief research that I have already completed, I will need to get some experience with concrete mixing and working. The other options for material include paving stones, wood planks, or some other ground covering and controlling device. Cost and effort will determine which approach we take. To fit specifications with the regulations for kids, women, and men at the same time will require me to create a throwing platform that extends well forward of the pins (13' to be exact).
In addition to the pitching lanes, the creation of the individual pits will be an engineering feat. From what I've read and what I intend on doing is to use a 3'x2' concrete rectangle of variable width with a minimum depth of 6" (variable to prevent water from standing on it, slanting out from center) that will have the pin pushed thru at the correct angle while it is still wet. This concrete slab should hold the pin stable longer than what a coffee can or other anchoring system would do. I am thinking of taking this design a bit further and wrapping the hole for the pins in a rubber sheath to absorb some of the impact before hitting the concrete. Another addition would be to include additional horizontal support to the concrete by adding segments of the uprights from the fence that I removed from the yard.
Above and around the concrete, I anticipate using #57 granite gravel to facilitate the drainage from the game playing environment. Above the granite will be a layer of weed blocking landscaping material and then topped with a minimum of 6" of sand. Based on the dimensions of a regulation court, 7'x3' I will require .69 cubic yards of sand and something less than that amount for the gravel for both pits. Thankfully, I have found a local bulk landscaping company that will deliver this bulk amount of material at a reasonable cost including the delivery costs.
Furthermore, I intend on including a backboard into the design. Therefore, rebarb, wood planks and lag bolts will be in my future. I have a feeling that once I get into this, the construction will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 including the purchase of the game equipment. Unfortunately, I foresee more than a single weekend to get this project completed as I think I'll be doing the majority of the work alone or with only Angel's assistance. I have heard of this project being completed in a day, but unlike some people (yeah, you know who you are), I don't have as extensive of a support chain to assist with the grunt work.Boccie Ball Court:
The last project is also going to be the most expensive, if done properly. As I'm sure to no surprise, I have done research on this topic also. A properly designed boccie ball court is 90' by 13' by international standards. However, in America it is acceptable to have a court as small as 60' by 10'. The court is to have raised walls to stop the balls from leaving the court. In my pursuit of examples of what some other people have done, I have found The Joy of Boccie and within their court design section, they've highlighted a few at-home court installations. I also found it interesting that one of them are in the Pittsburgh area. Anyway, seeing their design, implementation routes and final products, I'm not sure if I can afford any of these designs. Please have a look and see what I'm talking about.Carmine D'Agostino, Franklin, MA - Gold Seal Standard
Frank Scenna, Canonsburg, PA - The idea I'm thinking of replicating
John Scarpelli, Beavercreek, OH
Henry Salustro, Marion, MA
So, as you can see, the durable construction of one of these guys is quite involved and on a quite a larger scale in comparison to either of the other yard projects. The estimated cost of just rock material for a 60'x10' structure with 6" of each material (gravel & granite dust) is going to be close to $720 and that is not including the delivery costs or the other materials required for the build.
As an alternative, I am considering the less involved design to cut the rock requirements in half 3" gravel & 3" dust and then covering it with outdoor carpeting. However, due to the desire to complete this project in the most expedient period of time and cost being a factor to determine how quickly it can be completed, I am thinking that even at $360 for rock will be prohibitive.
Lastly, another alternative would be to build our court with the building materials (wood, bolts, rebarb, ground cloth) that either of the aforementioned designs would entail (to some degree or another) and then replace the displaced dirt back into the box. Mind you, this would not be a direct replacement. We would have to sift the dirt (I'm sure I can rent or borrow something to do that) to remove the rock and unwanted materials from the area to create a smooth surface. This concept would be the least expensive and quickest method to implementation over the other options. The only major drawback to this method would be the "mud pit" that would likely be created after a rain. However, if we were really hard up to play, we could turn the pit or something to create a usable playing surface.Horseshoes and Boccie Accents
One feature that I want to build to accent both of these projects is a score keeping location. My original though was to build pedestals at one end or the other of the courts that would be reminiscent of a miniature golf course. These pedestals would be topped with either a scorecard under plexi to be used with a china crayon or a whiteboard & dry erase markers with the score card outlined with pinstripes. However, after taking a lok at the "gold standard" court design for boccie, I am reconsidering this design. I think the cribbage centralized score card design is a nice design. I just might have to take his cue and make mine that way. I could use a centralized post for both scorecards that would face each court accordingly as I plan on the two courts to be parallel with one another.
Another feature that I want to put into place will not be immediate. I would like to add lighting to my courts also. I know that I hate it when I'm at a picnic and have to stop playing my game (either or) because of darkness. However, the requirement of cost will be prohibitive to get this installed this year with trying to get these 3 projects completed. That being said, will I get all three of these completed this year? I don't know. Will the finances be there to drop $300+ each on two different "pleasure" activities? I guess only time will tell.
I know that there are tons of details in here and I have high hopes. However, I wanted to document this information more for myself than for your information. As with anything else, once I've done the research on something, I don't want to loose it. With a topic like this, I guess here is just as good as any other. If and when we get ourselves involved in making this a reality, I'm sure you will hear about it.
Brief Update
This is just a preview post for a few topics that I will be posting following this one with further details. It has been a little while since my last contribution to my blog. I felt that some of the recent topics required a follow-up.
1. Workout - Well, since the back incident, the P90X program has not been resurrected as of yet. However, I pledged that I was going to start running & other preparation for my up coming PT test. Well, that hasn't worked out so much better either. Since my second run last week, I have yet to go again. This past weekend had much to do with that, which lead directly into a user conference for work and then more yard work. Hopefully, next week will bring more disciplined results.
2. Yard work - Yes, the yard work continues. We have well exceeded 40 man hours of work that has been invested in this adventure. Unfortunately, I heard a rumor that rain is expected this weekend and in the event that it does appear, that will thwart further progress there. I'm hoping for a poor meteorological read for the weekend outlook and that I might be able to call the "finding of the yard" complete. See the follow-up post for more information as to what we've done recently and some of the things we're planning.
3. Car Stereo - Well, I competed in my first MECA Sound Quality Competition this past weekend. Lets just say that based on my results I have something to be proud of in my car. However, my creation is not exactly "audiophile" quality yet. Unfortunately, the leap further into that classification will be long in coming. See the follow-up post on the topic for more details.
4. Alabama Trip days 1 and 2 - The early departure for Alabama was credit to the White's. We had been invited to share in the event of a friend renewing their vows. We took the trip and had some notable situations occur in route that will be contained within the follow-up post, but what it boils down to is that the trip was safe, fun, and enlightening. Just a quick note, southern weddings are distinctly from their northern counterparts. However, it doesn't diminish the special nature of the event or the enjoyment of participating, it is just different from what I've come to expect.
So, be sure to check out the additional details on the 3 topics that require follow-up and as always I hope you enjoy this little window into our life together along with our trials, tribulations, and events that we have the opportunity to share with you.
