Snowulf - Personal

Jon & John - Now with 100% more Ham

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -0800

A long time ago, when I was but a wee little chibi, still in middle school, I was interested in Ham Radio. I checked out the book to study, even when to a local convention type thing (well I convinced my father to take me, then proceeded to key up the radios that were out for sale and annoy people in general (Editor's note - it's kind of his thing)). For whatever reason, I never followed through, though I think partially it had to do with the cost of the equipment and as a young child having no money. Through the sands of time, I forgot about the ham radio desires... until recently. When I started into the Disaster Prep research, I realized one of the important, but sometimes overlooked areas of disaster preparation is communications. The only logical solution for disaster communication during an emergency, assuming that power and phones are out, is Amateur Radio.

After doing this research, and remembering about my previous ham desires, I decided I would go ahead and get licensed. I bought the ARRL Ham Radio License Manual (Technician) and read that. I have to say, I recommend the book. It provides all the information you need in a clear and logical fashion, along with why you should care. It even has a bonus section on what to look for when buying your first radio (in case you don't know anyone to help you with that). That was just over a month ago. On Friday, I went to the monthly meeting of my local amateur radio club and tested for the Technician level (which is the entry level certification).

I'm pleased to announce that I passed and am now officially a ham. On Saturday morning, John attended a local testing session in his area and also passed. Not only did he pass, he 100%'d the test, just to show me up. Unfortunately it takes about a week to get our assigned call signs, so I can't transmit yet. I am looking forward to exploring the spectrums a bit, especially since I bought myself a shiny new radio (which I'll be covering in a later post).

Until then, 73

Also, if you are curious as to why an Amateur radio operator is refereed to as a "ham", you can thank Wikipedia and their article on the Etymology of ham radio. Personally I like the "Ham-fisted" story.

Aikido: Day 2 - After Action Report

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 10:00:00 -0800

So for the last 6 some months, one of my friends has been harassing me about trying out Aikido. When I was in middle school, I took Tae kwon do for 3 years, so martial arts aren't a new concept to me. I was going to get around to trying out Aikido eventually (this friend is very persuasive), but I had plenty of excuses. The most important being our ongoing project at work which is coming to a conclusion here shortly (I hope, I pray, I beg). Anyways, the friend circumvented my excuses and bought me (for Christmas) a "sampler" package which had a time limit on it. So I've started attending. Last night was my second night of class and I thought I'd share.

Continue reading "Aikido: Day 2 - After Action Report"

What Happens When You Get Busy?

nospam@example.com (John) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:00:00 -0800

This morning, after making my lunch, and pouring myself a bowl of cereal, I was looking around my place. Usually, I like to keep things fairly tidy at my place. Sink empty, counters cleared, everything in its place and all that.
Currently, my place does not look like that.

Right now, we are approximately 3 days from a major delivery at our office and we have all been working long hours, yesterday I worked 12.5 hours, today will be longer. Were you mathematically inclined, the obvious formula would be that as number of hours increases 24, tidiness in the home (and possibly other aspects of one's life) goes to zero.

This happens with every major project. Delays get introduced, things don't get done on time, one way or another, we're behind schedule. So, we go crazy. We spend way too much time at the office. We don't see our girlfriend, our wife, our kids, our books, our movies, our games, or even our beds as often as we want. We know that it will happen, even if some of us try to fool ourselves into thinking that this time it will be different. It isn't.

Why do we do this?
To make things better. For those of you that are married, you do it because we want things to be better for your significant others. For those of you with kids, you do it to provide a better life for them.

What about those of us who are single? Well, I'd love to say we do it to for some noble reason like the last two, or even just to meet chicks/dudes, but really? We do it because that's our job. We want to further our careers; we want something better in life and working hard is a way of making that happen. So yes, we too want to make things better, though perhaps in a more selfish way.

Right now, it's a little after 7 in the morning. I'm about to go upstairs and finish my morning routine. You know what I'm most looking forward to today?

Talking to my friends. I don't have a bunch of coworkers so much as a bunch of friends that I happen to work with/for. That's what makes days like this tolerable. We know that we will be in all weekend, we know that we will be working our asses off, but we also know that when we need to, we can make things jocular and cheer ourselves up.

Who knows, maybe the next project really will be different and we won't have this section where our personal lives suffer because we no longer have time for anything more than just the basics while we are home.

(Uneditor's note (IE Jon): ROFL. Like that'll ever happen)

Dentist really isn't all that bad

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:00:00 -0800

Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting the dentist office. It wasn't a regularly scheduled checkup; I was having some pain with a tooth. After some tinkering, they figured that I probably just bruised myself. I enjoyed myself so much that I signed up to go twice more over the next week. Ok, so maybe I didn't "enjoy" it, but they found some locations of concern and wanted to do a little drilling. Of course they couldn't do it in one sitting, hence the two appointments.

When I was young, I was drilled on and it was a very unfavorable experience. Once they even threatened to pull a stubborn baby tooth that wasn't getting out. One of the worsts cases was when they dumped way too much nitrous in me and I freaked out; I've not touched nitrous since then.
Dentists tend to have a bad rap and not too many people enjoy going. Mostly I think it is because of these experiences we all have as a child.

Continue reading "Dentist really isn't all that bad"

Musings from SoCal

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -0700

While I was down in Southern California recently, I had the pleasure of sitting in Starbucks for much longer than I ever wanted to (due to a communications... error). While waiting for the internet I spent some time people watching. I wasn't at a terribly busy Starbucks, but enough to keep me entertained with the people going by.

The first thing I have to say, I don't care who you are... the towel dresses don't look good. They look stupid, please... please stop wearing them.

The next thing I noticed, it really does seem like the Starbucks employee's are mainlining caffeine. I realize they are hired to be cheerful and perky and all that jazz, but they just seem to be over the top constantly.

I really find it depressing how much people don't seem to care and are totally in their own little world. Earlier in the morning, I watched one lady pushing her shopping cart along the sidewalk of the parking lot, off the ledge, and directly into some guys bumper. She then tries to backup the cart to no avail then proceed to push it forward and back in spot, grinding along the side of the vehicle. She didn't have enough strength in one hand to get the cart unstuck from the vehicle at first. Eventually she got away and wandered off. She didn't say anything to the guy who was sitting inside of his vehicle, THE ENTIRE TIME. Why was she trying to one hand a cart that she obviously couldn't manage? Oh, she was on the phone. She couldn't be bothered to put the call on hold for the 15 seconds it would have taken to use her other hand to get it unstuck. Luckily for the guy, there was no damage to his car since she had just been mucking about the bumper, but even if there was, I wonder what he would have done. The lady had sauntered off with her cart like she didn't have a care in the world. It was obvious she hadn't even checked to see if she did any damage.

The one cool thing down here is that the local cops drive some nice vehicles. Specifically, the motorcycle cops are riding new BMW R1200RTP's, which I've seen around more than a few times. Of course that coolness has to be offset by a disproportionately high number of crotch rockets (sport bikes) I've seen running around. I know it gets warm here, but crotch rocket riders seem to be worse about wearing gear than anyone else. Hell, I'm not perfect about wearing my gear either, but at least I'm not riding around in shorts and flip flops.

My closing notes about hanging out in Starbucks for a really long time: their standard seats (not the few cushy ones) get very uncomfortable after a while. They aren't exactly conducive to sitting for long durations, of course they really don't want you to. Now if only they had a net connection better than 1.5 meg, I could be out of here all that much sooner.

The Amusements of Flying

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -0700

I know it might seem strange, but I find flying amusing. I've been flying since I was a chibi, so I'm not afraid of it. Plus you have to follow the statistics, you are more likely to get killed on the freeway in a car, than flying. Like most, I don't enjoy turbulence, but that is neither here nor there (Editor's note: I enjoy the occasional bit of turbulence simply for the roller coaster aspects.).

I enjoy people watching on the flights, most especially during the boarding process and in the lounges before the flights. It is interesting to look at the people going by and try to figure out why they are flying or what they do. Sure most people are flying for a vacation, but some are for business. Most of the hardcore business people are easy to spot; they are generally in slacks and dressier shirts. My favorite though are the groups that travel in their monogrammed shirts.

Depending on where you go, and when, you also tend to get a reasonable amount of college students. Today, I was behind one during the boarding process. Cute girl. She had her backpack and her iPod, and was just a tiny bit unsure of everything. Combine that with her young and conservative look, and I'd bet she was a first semester freshman returning home for a few days.

I saw another attractive young lady get on the plane and sit down reasonably near by. She was fairly shapely, with platinum blond hair, and she was showing it off. On top of it she was wearing (very) short shorts and heels. Seriously, who wears high heals onto a plane? Since the plane was headed to the LA area and then on to Vegas, there were really only two options.
A) a wanna be actress (Megan Fox she was not)
B) Stripper.
Since she was near enough for me to notice she was not reading or anything, I'd say stripper.

Other than the people, the main thing I've noticed as of late is that people are trying to use their carry on to bring their entire damn living rooms. CHECK YOUR BAGS PEOPLE. For god's sakes, I was on Southwest, bags fly for free. I can almost (keyword, ALMOST) understand it on some airlines like Northworst where it costs $15 for the first bag (fuckers), but not on Southwest. Some of the people were carrying on so much crap it was unbelievable. One lady had a large suitcase (I seriously wonder if it fit within the allowed carry-on size), a gigantic purse, what looked like a backpack of sorts and and an overcoat draped in her arms which would have been overkill in the antarctic in the middle of winter. I don't know if it is just because I've had good luck with my luggage (I think I remember our stuff getting lost once or twice when I was younger, but nothing recent) but I always check a bag.

"But it takes soooo long to get your bags afterward", you say. I say, Shut the hell up. Unless you are flying on a 747 or bigger, it takes less than 15 minutes to get your bags. If you flew out of a reasonably large airport, it probably took you longer to get through security at the front end, not to mention the hour or two of waiting around and the 30 minutes of boarding (unless you are flying Southwest, who can board a plane damn freaking fast). Who cares about another 15 minutes at the tail end? You're flying, you know you are going to lose some time.

Then there is the bathroom situation, but that is a discussion for another day. So next time you fly, check your bags, sit down, shut up, and enjoy yourself. People watch, you might even get the entertainment of kibitzing some idiot blogging about his plane flight, it's certainly more exciting than reading Sky Mall for the 20th time (there is never anything new in that magazine, get over it).

Upcoming Vacation

nospam@example.com (John) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Headed out of town soon, the question is: will the Jo(h)ns prepare enough in advance so as to make sure that the entries don't resemble the incoherent ramblings of a two year old with a potty mouth?

Stay tuned to this blog for the answer!

How You think versus how Jon thinks

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Here's the situation. It's 9:30 pm and you want to go for an evening swim, you're really looking forward to it. You get down to the community pool, jam your key in the lock, turn and... nothing happens. No matter what direction you turn the key or what you try, the lock doesn't seem to "unlock", something's broken. You try for a few minutes but it is readily apparent that you aren't going to get anywhere. This is annoying and frustrating as you really wanted to go swimming tonight. So what do you do now?

If you're a normal person, you resign yourself to the fact that you're not getting in to the pool, and you go back home. You stew about it for a little while and make a note to call the property management company tomorrow and hope they get someone out to fix the lock that day. You know full well that they probably won't and you'll be lucky if it gets fixed in the next week.

That's the boring and pedestrian way of thinking.

If you're Jon, things are much more fun. First, you go get a chair from your house and stick it in front of the stuck pool door. You know how locks work, so you reach over and see if you can reach the inside lever. You can, but that does no good either, as expected. So you retreat to your garage to retrieve a screw driver and a flashlight. You balance precariously on the chair while reaching over the pool fence to unscrew the lock. After a few minutes of work you can pull both sides of the lock off, leaving just the bolt in place.
Amused with your handy work, you begin to futz about with the inner workings of the bolt, studying the mechanism and why it isn't working. Stab a few critical components and POP, the bolt is free and clear again. You open the door to relish your handy work. Spend a few minutes to carefully reassemble the lock and put away your tools, then you can get back to the task at hand. Gleefully you turn to the pool to enjoy you evening swim. Somewhere in the back of your mind, you're just as amused by your diabolical handy work, as you are of the fact that either no one saw you spend 20 minutes breaking into the pool or decided not to say anything.

Yea, my life is a bit more interesting than most. Taking things apart and putting them back together used to get me into a lot of trouble when I was younger (mainly because I had problems with that "putting it back in _working_ order" thing), but I've learned a thing or two since I was a chibi. I really do take great pride in my handy work, especially when it turns out so well (Translation: the lock is fixed, and I got to swim). I even went so far as to mention the escapade (including the part where I "break in") to one of the association board members and they were pleased; they don't have to call the locksmith which would cost money. Hopefully, they'll keep my mad MacGyvering type skills in mind for when I am caught doing something crazy (like breaking into the complex utility closet, which is on my list of things to do).

Paper Boy No Longer

nospam@example.com (John) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:00:00 -0700

So a couple weeks ago I realized that I had all these credit card rewards that I have never used. Coupled with the fact that I have been wanting a kindle for well... basically since they came out, I decided to trade in some rewards.

So, I bought a Kindle.

I don't really have first impressions, since I've gotten to play with Jon's Generation 1 and v2 (though not the DX sadly). The only accessory I have acquired thus far is a cover. Jon doesn't use one, but everyone else I know with a Kindle does.

After deciding on getting a cover, I had to figure out what kind. I have heard less than stellar reviews about the stock cover - things like it causing the case of the Kindle to crack, etc, etc - so I stayed away from that. The M-edge brand came highly recommended, so I investigated that.

Here is what I got, the M-edge Platform Jacket in Black Synthetic Leather. They also have Genuine Leather available for about $15 more, but I liked the look of the Synthetic version. The main reason I got this model was because it flips over like a notepad so that I can set it up on the table while I eat, sparing the occasional finger to stab at the next page button.
It also has a couple pockets, including one that is business card sized (which currently houses one of mine) so I imagine one could stuff a few things in there.

Also, a friend of ours recently got what I am referring to as the Kindle condom, which comes in assorted colors (though not textures)...
It seems to be functional, but it no longer fits into his Kindle cover, but the extra protection seems to be better for him (he made mention that he had dropped his... repeatedly).

Lastly, the title refers to the UrbanDictionary.com definition of Paper Boy:

noun, slang, technical. Someone who still reads books on paper instead of an e-book reader.
I'm reading the new release already while my friend the paper boy is still waiting for his copy in the mail.

Wow. We can post on schedule

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:00:00 -0700

I was just looking back through the calendar of posting for earlier this year and was amused by the sporadic posting schedule that I "followed". If you go back to January (or even farther), you can see how infrequently I posted back then. Now we're up to a respectable 3 posts a week schedule, and we've stuck too it. It is really nice to come to the end of the month and look at the calendar and have 3 nice columns. We're now up to 4 months of solid, on time posting.

I'll admit though, that I think the next month or three might be a challenge. I am writing this post this (Monday) morning because I didn't get around to prepping anything last week. I also didn't get around to writing this weekend due to a party and wanting to do some "non-computer" stuff - Gasp! Plus, I'm anxiously awaiting the delivery of my new Nikon D300s. If you hear some squealing that sounds a Japanese school girl, that's probably me and indicative of my Nikon's arrival.

Oh, and PS. Hi Mom (she finally found my blog after 5 years).

Buying Glasses Online - Part 2

nospam@example.com (John) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:00:00 -0700

As I mentioned last time, glasses are expensive.

Having previously covered Zenni Optical and 39DollarGlasses, I wanted to move onto EyeBuyDirect.com, Goggles4U.com, and CoastalContacts.com.

Similar format as last time, and please let us know if you have had any interaction with these vendors. Thus far, Jon and I have only ever used Zenni.
Continue reading "Buying Glasses Online - Part 2"

Buying Glasses Online - Part 1

nospam@example.com (John) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Glasses are expensive.

Even with insurance, glasses are expensive; thankfully, the internet is home to a host of other options that your local optometrist might not have at his or her disposal. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with buying from your local optometrist, far from it (got my moto glasses and SCUBA mask from a local optometrist), just that you may want to look into alternate vendors if you need to save some cash.

First up: Zenni Optical
I found this place in February 2007 and bought a couple of prescription sunglasses from them (Total: $50.65 = $12.95x2 Frame + $4.95x2 Anti-Reflective Coating + $4.95x2 Tinting + $4.95 S&H), again when my expensive glasses broke around the hinge (Total: $21.85 = $8 Frame + $4.95 Anti-Reflective Coating + $3.95 Clip-on Sunshade + $4.95 S&H), and most recently this week after getting my yearly eye exam (Total: $67.60 = $19 Frame + $12.95 Frame + $15.95 Frame + $4.95x3 Anti-Reflective Coating + $4.95 S&H).

Pros:

$4.95 Flat Rate Shipping
Plenty of options:
1. Photochromic lenses for $39
2. Anti-reflective Coating (basically required for anyone who works with computers) for $4.95
3. Tinting (at 10, 50, or 80%) available in Gray, Green, Amber, Blue, Purple, Pink, or Yellow for $4.95
4. Clip-on Sunshade for $3.95
Offering Bifocals for $17 more and Progressive lenses for $29 more

Cons:

The site has no option to remember your prescription, so you have to reenter it on each page.
No option for Prisms (which Jon's vision requires)
Can't send them your frames to have them put in new lenses

Before we get to the other sites, I must point out another blog, Glassy Eyes, which alerted me to these other sites.

Additionally, for those of you confused about your prescription, 39DollarGlasses has the nicest article on reading your prescription (though it doesn't cover Prisms); it even has pretty pictures for you.

Continue reading "Buying Glasses Online - Part 1"

Disconnection

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:00:00 -0700

In this day in age, I find it fairly hard to disconnect for any length of time.
I'm talking about a true disconnect.
Dump the cell phone, turn off the computer, get off the internet, turn off the TV, and stay that way for a spell. I know for some people it really isn't all that hard, but when you're life revolves around technology and computers, it is a lot more difficult. Not only is it challenging just to execute in the first place, but at least for myself, I find it difficult to stay that way.

Continue reading "Disconnection"

Maker Faire 2009 Wrap Up

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Maker Faire 2009
CC-BY-SA-3.0 Jon Davis

So this last weekend was Maker Faire and damn was it busy. I read reports that said there were going to be 80,000 people at the Faire this year, compared to 65,000 from last year. It wouldn't surprise me if there were - from what I heard parking was even worse this year than last, which I'm glad I wasn't involved in. I'll just give a quick summary of each day.

==Friday==
While Maker Faire isn't open to you, the public, on Friday - I was a "Maker" this year. More correctly I somehow was put in charge (With Phoebe) of the Wikimedia Foundation Booth. I left home just after 12 to stop by the Foundation offices in San Francisco to pick up supplies, then off to the convention center. I don't think we really needed all that much time to setup. I ended up staying till 6 or 7 simply because leaving at 4 or 5 would have ended me with rush hour traffic. The most difficult part of setup was getting network and power all dealt with. We had our booth right next to wikiHow (By our request) so we were sharing network and power setup. Of course once we were done setting up, we had to break down all the expensive equipment (Computers) and take them home.

==Saturday==

Adam Savage talking at Maker Faire 2009
CC-BY-SA-3.0 Jon Davis

Started at the Faire at 0900, which meant I had to get up way too damn early. Since everything was effectively setup already, we didn't have that much work to do. Getting the computers & projector up was basically all we had to do. Of course I had thought that projecting some nice pictures from Commons would make for a good display, but Jay overrode me saying that the recent changes feed from last year was talked about for months afterwards. While I like the pretty pictures better, he did have a point. So after some help from Ariel, we got the feed setup and everyone was happy. Basically the rest of the day was spent yelling over the noise of the hall we were in. It is really hard on the throat the best of days, not to mention the fact that I had (and still have as of Wednesday Morning) a cold-like-thing which was making my throat unhappy before the yelling. The coolest part of the day was Adam Savage showing up to talk (Pictured). His talk PACKED the expo hall we were in. There was barely any room for anyone to walk - which was OK because we had a booth at the back and a clear* shot to the front (*for certain values of "Clear" that involved standing on our booth tables and using 450mm lens).

==Sunday==

Bonsai's!
CC-BY-SA-3.0 Jon Davis

This day started, again, at 0900 at the Faire. By this point I was extremely low on the sleep and basically running on nothing but caffeine. After getting everything setup for the day (Which again, didn't take that long), I wandered around the two largest indoor halls taking pictures of the booths. This proved to be a great move as it gave me a real chance to take pictures without the public constantly getting in my way. Also I was wearing a Wikimedia/Wikipedia vest on my wander and at least once had "HEY WIKIPEDIA" yelled at me to get my attention, which was hilarious. I spent less time actually at the booth Sunday, as compared to Saturday, which was good. Exhaustion and makes the day pass so much slower. Later in the day when the fog had burned off, I wandered around the rest of the Faire trying to take pictures. Basically the public being inattentive automatons drove me up a wall (Tired = less patience too) and returned to our booth to hide. Though while I was out wandering, twice I had people approach me for directions. As I was wearing my Wikipedia vest still, this leads me to assume that everyone believes Wikipedia knows everything. Good thing I knew where the items were that people wanted, otherwise that would have looked bad.

Wikimedians unite!
CC-BY-SA-3.0 Jon Davis

Break down on Sunday went fairly quickly, fortunately. We had a handful of volunteers there still, so everyone made quick work of the booth. Plus we had slowly started to shut things down before the official close at 1800. I was deliriously tired at this point, so packing up made me quite happy. The most important thing was figuring out how the Foundation equipment was going to make it back to their offices. We also had a bunch of our own tables & chairs, most of which got carried out by hand because there was a "wait list" for the transport carts - which was really lame. Everything got taken care of and everyone got home (I hope). Overall the weekend went over great. We got some donations (For the Foundation!). We got some contributors. We managed to convince some people to edit. I just wanted to thank all the Wikimedians and Foundation staff that showed up. Most of the time we had far too many people working than was needed but I'm much happier it wasn't the opposite. If it was just Myself, Phoebe & Austin for the weekend.... I would have got bat shit crazy and started shanking random passersby.

Until next year! And fear not, I've learned my lesson about volunteering to be in charge of these things... NEVER AGAIN! WMAHHAHA.

Fanime 2009!

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:00:00 -0700

So this last weekend was FanimeCon 2009 which took place in at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center (In San Jose, CA - just in case that wasn't totally obvious already). It ran non-stop from Friday afternoon to Monday afternoon. Granted the night hours are a little slower, with only a few late night panels; mostly just the animation rooms are up and running in the wee hours. During the day things can get crazy, especially on Saturday which tends to be the busiest day of the weekend.

Last year Lauren and I decided to go for the first time. We pre-registered and showed up Saturday morning. The pre-reg line was non-existent whereas the regular ticket line was out the door, so we were very glad we had pre-registered. We didn't spend all that much time at the con that year and even though we had weekend passes, we only went on Saturday and left by 4pm. Mostly we used that weekend for shopping. This year proved to be a little different.

Continue reading "Fanime 2009!"