So that wasn't has hard as I thought it would be. I missed 1 day once I got started, but made up for it with a couple of multiple-post days.
I only had one 'filler' day when I didn't feel like writing. Not bad.
And I haven't exhausted my list of blog ideas. So look for a few more interesting (or bizarre) posts in the coming weeks.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Hydraulic UPS Trucks?
This is very cool. Forget about gas/electric hybrids, how about going 100% hydraulic? UPS, who uses an obscene amount of fuel for their fleets, who also figured out how to not make left turns, is introducing a hydraulic driven truck.
Details here.
I'd love to hear how acceleration is in such a drive train. Do they have an ABS-like control pump to control speeds?
Anyway, great idea to reduce fuel needs.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Middle School Career Day
The Friday before Thanksgiving, Meghan's middle school had a career day. This is the third time I've done it for the 8th graders. Unlike the elementary school kids, this is more focused on getting the students thinking about what they want to do post High School.
I took some of the slides from last year, but upgraded them to remove pictures of Meghan and talk about the new things my company has been doing about Share To Social on Facebook. I also told them about Caitlin Davis and how she blew everything with one picture.
Deb was in the first presentation, which was the first time she's ever seen me present in public. Then Meghan was in my last group. The first and last groups were very interactive, asked questions and responded when I asked them questions. The second group pretty much sat there and looked at me.
I did manage to freak out the teacher. The classroom is equipped with a 'smart' white board that detects when you click on it with your hands and fingers. I had not worked with one before, but I was able to quickly incorporate it into my presentation. It is easy to explain what a requirements document is, a testing environment etc. when you can show them.
The freak out came when I was talking about what a QA (Quality Assurance) team does. At a couple of different points in my career I have managed QA teams so it was on the 'how I got here' slide. So I explained quickly what 'negative testing' is, by walking up to the board and running my hands across it like it was a table of sand. The board flickered, changed views, changed colors etc. but eventually settled back down. I told the students this was what a QA person would do: something you would never expect. I thought the teacher was going to freak the first time. Even Deb said something later about her face as I did it.
I enjoyed doing this and will do it again next year if asked.
I took some of the slides from last year, but upgraded them to remove pictures of Meghan and talk about the new things my company has been doing about Share To Social on Facebook. I also told them about Caitlin Davis and how she blew everything with one picture.
Deb was in the first presentation, which was the first time she's ever seen me present in public. Then Meghan was in my last group. The first and last groups were very interactive, asked questions and responded when I asked them questions. The second group pretty much sat there and looked at me.
I did manage to freak out the teacher. The classroom is equipped with a 'smart' white board that detects when you click on it with your hands and fingers. I had not worked with one before, but I was able to quickly incorporate it into my presentation. It is easy to explain what a requirements document is, a testing environment etc. when you can show them.
The freak out came when I was talking about what a QA (Quality Assurance) team does. At a couple of different points in my career I have managed QA teams so it was on the 'how I got here' slide. So I explained quickly what 'negative testing' is, by walking up to the board and running my hands across it like it was a table of sand. The board flickered, changed views, changed colors etc. but eventually settled back down. I told the students this was what a QA person would do: something you would never expect. I thought the teacher was going to freak the first time. Even Deb said something later about her face as I did it.
I enjoyed doing this and will do it again next year if asked.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Ever regretted sending an email?
Or calling an ex (or current) at 4 am to tell them how you feel?
Well, Google has decided that they can help you not send that email when you've had a little too much holiday cheer. It is called 'mail goggles'. Really. See here.
The name is unfortunate, since 'beer goggles' imply doing something you wouldn't if you weren't drinking. To me 'mail goggles' would make you more likely to send an email.
Something like Gmail popping up a dialog box:
Can't stop you from calling that person, but isn't that what friends are for?
Well, Google has decided that they can help you not send that email when you've had a little too much holiday cheer. It is called 'mail goggles'. Really. See here.
The name is unfortunate, since 'beer goggles' imply doing something you wouldn't if you weren't drinking. To me 'mail goggles' would make you more likely to send an email.
Something like Gmail popping up a dialog box:
'Hi, it is 4 am and I see you are sending email. According to my advanced A.I. I see you used to send Suzie messages every eight hours or so, but haven't in 3 months. Would you like to send her one now?'
Can't stop you from calling that person, but isn't that what friends are for?
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving
Wow, what a busy couple of days.
Usual turkey-related events all day. My Mom was visiting so she showed Meghan how to make gravy, played the Wii with the girls and overall had a good time.
The turkey was done a couple of hours earlier than expected thanks to the new oven, so we had a late lunch instead of early dinner. Still good though.
We then went to the park since it was almost 60 degrees here. 30 this morning 60 around 4 pm. You have to love the south!
For those who know Deb, I can assure you there was plenty of chocolate for dessert. A bunt cake, a chocolate cream pie and sugar cookies decorated as turkeys rounded things out.
Usual turkey-related events all day. My Mom was visiting so she showed Meghan how to make gravy, played the Wii with the girls and overall had a good time.
The turkey was done a couple of hours earlier than expected thanks to the new oven, so we had a late lunch instead of early dinner. Still good though.
We then went to the park since it was almost 60 degrees here. 30 this morning 60 around 4 pm. You have to love the south!
For those who know Deb, I can assure you there was plenty of chocolate for dessert. A bunt cake, a chocolate cream pie and sugar cookies decorated as turkeys rounded things out.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
geek frustration - picture frame
I just spent 3 very frustrating hours trying to figure out why the digital picture frame I bought my mom a couple of years ago wouldn't show the images I send her. It is a NuVue 561 and works fine with the 2 GB SD card from her camera, but not the 2 GB SD card I bought for her.
I finally figured out that the NuVue only supports 1.0/1.1 of the SD specification, but the new cards are all 2.0 of the specification. The problem I was having is the 2.0 GB card I bought for her camera two Christmas' ago is a 1.1 (so it worked), but anything new is 2.0.
I eventually found that the Kingston Memory 2.0 GB cards are 1.0/1.1 so that works in the NuVue.
Overview of what we're doing: I bought my mom a card reader for her Mac laptop to copy images from CD/camera to the card in the picture frame. This way I can send her CDs of the kids, she picks what pictures she wants and can update the frame.
I finally figured out that the NuVue only supports 1.0/1.1 of the SD specification, but the new cards are all 2.0 of the specification. The problem I was having is the 2.0 GB card I bought for her camera two Christmas' ago is a 1.1 (so it worked), but anything new is 2.0.
I eventually found that the Kingston Memory 2.0 GB cards are 1.0/1.1 so that works in the NuVue.
Overview of what we're doing: I bought my mom a card reader for her Mac laptop to copy images from CD/camera to the card in the picture frame. This way I can send her CDs of the kids, she picks what pictures she wants and can update the frame.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Backing up files, images and videos to the Internet
As more and more of our history is recorded on digital media, the risk of losing everything due to a non-disaster grows. In the past, it would take something major like a fire, flood or tornado to destroy all the pictures and negatives we createed. Now, it take a power surge or just disk drives wearing out.
For this reason, I have 3 copies of every digital picture and video we've taken and why I'm starting to have all the old negatives scanned. One copy is on Deb's computer (which I bought a new drive for because we have over 22 GB of stuff now), one copy on my computer (which I'll buy a new drive after Christmas for since it is full now) and an external hard drive that I store away from either computer.
The thinking is that if we lose one hard drive, we have the other copies. If we get robbed they (hopefully) won't find the external drive or not know what it is since it looks like a book.
That doesn't protect us from the same disasters that could impact us if we had photos.
However, I have found something that can help. Mozy is an online backup system. You buy space on their servers and install a client on your PC (Mac too I think). The client monitors files in specific directories and copies new or changed files to the Mozy servers.
Depending on the speed of your UPLOAD connection to the Internet (usually about 1/4 the download speed) it can take days to get the first backup. For example, to backup 600 pictures, around 3 MB each, it took about 24 hours. The first backup, which was around 20 GB took a week since I only have 300 KB up speed.
Downloads are pretty reasonable and the UI (both web and install) is pretty intuitive. It also knows when the PC is in use so it doesn't take all the CPU or bandwidth.
It can also be used for any file on your computer, such as Quicken records, old taxes, documents for school or work etc.
The only thing I would do differently, is I would have taken the PC to work for the first sync since we have 100 MB up/down pipes there. It would have been done in an hour instead of a week. (No, not really, that would be an abuse of corporate resources. But I seriously thought about it 5 days in.)
For this reason, I have 3 copies of every digital picture and video we've taken and why I'm starting to have all the old negatives scanned. One copy is on Deb's computer (which I bought a new drive for because we have over 22 GB of stuff now), one copy on my computer (which I'll buy a new drive after Christmas for since it is full now) and an external hard drive that I store away from either computer.
The thinking is that if we lose one hard drive, we have the other copies. If we get robbed they (hopefully) won't find the external drive or not know what it is since it looks like a book.
That doesn't protect us from the same disasters that could impact us if we had photos.
However, I have found something that can help. Mozy is an online backup system. You buy space on their servers and install a client on your PC (Mac too I think). The client monitors files in specific directories and copies new or changed files to the Mozy servers.
Depending on the speed of your UPLOAD connection to the Internet (usually about 1/4 the download speed) it can take days to get the first backup. For example, to backup 600 pictures, around 3 MB each, it took about 24 hours. The first backup, which was around 20 GB took a week since I only have 300 KB up speed.
Downloads are pretty reasonable and the UI (both web and install) is pretty intuitive. It also knows when the PC is in use so it doesn't take all the CPU or bandwidth.
It can also be used for any file on your computer, such as Quicken records, old taxes, documents for school or work etc.
The only thing I would do differently, is I would have taken the PC to work for the first sync since we have 100 MB up/down pipes there. It would have been done in an hour instead of a week. (No, not really, that would be an abuse of corporate resources. But I seriously thought about it 5 days in.)
Monday, November 24, 2008
Blah day
So I'm trying the 'post a day in November' thing, but today I just don't feel like coming up with something creative.
It is raining, cold, I had to work and I didn't get a lot of rest this weekend. Damn I'm old.
I shouldn't complain since we're in a drought, but it still kind of sucks.
At least I didn't fill the screen with 'Blah'.
It is raining, cold, I had to work and I didn't get a lot of rest this weekend. Damn I'm old.
I shouldn't complain since we're in a drought, but it still kind of sucks.
At least I didn't fill the screen with 'Blah'.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Photo and negative scanning
Want to join all your friends uploading old, sometimes embarrassing photos of your friends growing up to Facebook? Wanting revenge on that friend who put you senior H.S. photo, with big hair and leg warmers online?
Well, have I found the service for you.
ScanCafe is one of a dozen or more photo and negative scanning companies you can use. However, they are a little different.
First, they don't want you to pick specific negatives to send them, they suggest you send them all and let them scan them in. Then they present them online for you to choose which ones you want to keep. You go to their website, select the ones to keep. Then they create a DVD and mail it back to you.
This was really useful for those old photos where you took 2 or 3 of each scene 'just in case'. Now, just select the best one and skip the others.
They ship your negatives or photos to India, but that isn't a big deal any more. Heck UPS offers overnight to most places in India, so don't sweat it.
I've used them twice so far, sending around 600 negatives each time. Turn around was < 6 weeks each time. I haven't been going in any specific order, so when I get them back it takes about 30 minutes to sort them into the correct folders.
Some examples from Christmas 1995 :
(Chris, if you want a hi res one of this let me know and I'll zip one up.)
Well, have I found the service for you.
ScanCafe is one of a dozen or more photo and negative scanning companies you can use. However, they are a little different.
First, they don't want you to pick specific negatives to send them, they suggest you send them all and let them scan them in. Then they present them online for you to choose which ones you want to keep. You go to their website, select the ones to keep. Then they create a DVD and mail it back to you.
This was really useful for those old photos where you took 2 or 3 of each scene 'just in case'. Now, just select the best one and skip the others.
They ship your negatives or photos to India, but that isn't a big deal any more. Heck UPS offers overnight to most places in India, so don't sweat it.
I've used them twice so far, sending around 600 negatives each time. Turn around was < 6 weeks each time. I haven't been going in any specific order, so when I get them back it takes about 30 minutes to sort them into the correct folders.
Some examples from Christmas 1995 :
(Chris, if you want a hi res one of this let me know and I'll zip one up.)
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