Damon's Daemon - OfficeCam

Happy Leap Day everyone!

The annual KVSC 50-hour marathon trivia contest is finally done, I can rest now. We took 5th, which was a bit of a disappointment, but we played the game the best we could with the resources we had.

Since Christmas, most of my free time has been devoted to getting ready for the contest for various reasons. This year saw a large jump in the IT needs of The Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women, but I managed to rise to the challenge and delivered a solid performance as the IT department for our team. I can’t really elaborate here for strategic reasons as to what all the preparations involved, but the end result was, in the words of one of my team members, the lowest level of stress she’s ever encountered during the 50-hour contest. Everything performed reliably, and other than we could have used even more bandwidth than we already had provisioned, everyone local and remote was happy and had a great contest.

It feels weird sitting at home after my normal workday with little, if anything, pressing to do. ‘course, there is only 250 or so days until we start the preparations all over again. I can’t wait.

I’ve been really lame. I haven’t been updating this at all. Although life has been kinda run-of-the-mill, there are plenty of things I should have written about but didn’t. So, to catch things up…

• Ended up going to the Minnesota State Fair a total of 7 times
• Had a wonderful day at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival
• Enjoyed a 10-day vacation to Disney World
• Took a weekend trip up to the North Shore
• Celebrated the birth of my coworker’s son, Devon
• Went to Sever’s Corn Maze
• Spent a bunch of weekends (and weeknights) working on my sister and brother-in-law’s new tile floor (all 500 sq. ft. of it)
• Had a wonderful, bountiful Thanksgiving
• Started learning a new programming language that I’m falling in love with, Ruby on Rails

All that, and our first “real” snowfall happened about a week ago, so everything is all nice and white.

Otherwise, I’ve been working too much, projects are piling up, what’s new there, eh? Soon Christmas will be here, then New Year, then the KVSC 50-Hour Trivia Contest. Maybe I’ll take the time to drop an update here about those? We can all wish, can’t we?

I escaped work around 1:30, and off to the fair I went.

Sure, I knew it was raining, but it was the first day of the fair! Not to mention, Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband was performing at the Leinie Lodge, the free stage across from the Food Building. And the Pronto Pups were calling my name. And the Bull Bites.

I’ve been to the Minnesota State Fair every year of my adult life, most of the time more than once in a single year. This year is no different - I’ve already planned 6 days of visits…starting on opening day, today. Sure, there are the days when I’ll be playing the dual role of tour guide/navigator, or Monday night when I’ll be heading down to attend the Weird Al concert, but then again there’s also my visit today, which will be completely unattached and unencumbered by schedules. Just time for me to do all the people-watchin, pronto-pup-eatin, commercial exhibit display-viewin that I cherish so much.

If you’re gonna be down there, drop me a line, maybe we can meet up and compare notes on the new foods…I sure hope the Sloppy Joe-on-a-stick is better than that gross Spaghetti-on-a-stick I was so unfortunate to have tasted a few years back.

And if you’re not planning to go…well, you’re missin’ out. Don’t take it from me, take it from Bonny Wolf, commentator for NPR, who flies in from Washington state every year to partake in the Minnesota State Fair.

I’m a digital (as well as physical) packrat. I have all my emails going back to 1994, most of the documents I’ve created in that time (as many as allowed by my previous employers) and a whole collection of IMs. The text messaging on my phone has always been a missing bit of data - until now there’s been no good way to get it off of my phone.

As details have emerged on the iPhone’s internal data structures, I realized that there might be a chance to extract those text messages and archive them offline. Also looks like voicemails can be archived in a similar fashion. I’m almost ready to share the utility with the world, but until then I thought I’d share my iPhone database structure notes. For those geeks interested in such matters, click through to the extended entry. (Thanks to Erica Sadun for porting sqlite3 to the iPhone - made this whole thing much easier)

To anybody wondering, looks like everyone in the immediate circle of friends and family were safe from the bridge collapse. I almost said unaffected just now, only to realize there’s no one in the twin cities tonight that is unaffected by tonight tragedy. We’ve all driven over that bridge plenty of times, walked and biked under it many times, too. It could have been any of us.

To those that lost someone they care about tonight, my thoughts go out to you and your loved ones.

All I can say is, it really does work. The virtual keyboard. The full-page rich web browser. The pinching UI fingertip motion. The double-tapping to zoom in/out. The new iPod interface. (With built-in speakers…finally I don’t need to share my earbuds!) Mail viewing. Everything the hype said it would do, it does flawlessly.

Two let-downs so far? For some reason, if you overzoom the Google Maps application in satellite view, it responds by filling your screen with “No Images” messages. Second? Lack of mail rules, but I should have been doing those server-side this whole time anyway, so I setup procmail this morning and I’m good to go. So, in replacment of mail rules, I’d nominate the lack of wide-screen mail viewing. For fixed-width 80-column mail messages, such as system reports, the portrait mode just doesn’t cut it.

I finally got out of work today around 3:45. The past two weeks have been 12-18 hour days, it was good to escape…especially because I had succumbed to the hype and decided to treat myself to the a new geek toy. The iPhone was to be mine.

The long story is included below. The short story is I got one, activation went flawlessly, my existing number has been ported and I love it! Indeed, I’m writing this post from my iPhone while sitting on the couch.

On the way back from lunch on Tuesday, I forced my coworkers to sit in the car while I filled up with gas, so I didn’t have to do it after work. What did I find on the pump?

So, do they need proofreaders, or do they just need someone with half a brain who cares enough to check the stickers before they are placed upon every single pump? You’d think with today’s gas prices, they’d have enough profit margin to double-check these things before putting them up for everyone to see.

What happened to me today?

My coworkers and I went to Joe Senser’s for lunch today. I hadn’t been there for years…the inside looks completely different than it did the last time I visited. They also seemed to have added NTN since the last time I was there. Rock on, just what I wanted over lunch, a trivia quickie!

I asked for a Playmaker, thinking I’d just play a little in the background while chitchatting with coworkers over our meal. Low and behold, the first full game I played, I ranked 21st in the entire network. Sadly, they only show the top 20 on the big screen, but I took first at our location. I was still pleased…I’ve never placed so high in the network standings before.

What happened on the next full round? I ranked 5th in the entire network. I only missed 544 points the entire round. My name (SRLOIN) was up on the big screen. I expected balloons to fall down from the rafters, noisemakers rattling, bells sounding, but all I got was the congrats from my coworkers.

I tried to get a picture of my sunburn, but the camera refused to take the picture. It couldn’t handle opening up its shutter, the red glow was just too bright. *smirk*

Truth be told, the sunburn on my legs was quite impressive. The horizontal position really gave them quite a bit more sun than the upright bicycle’s vertical position (who would have guessed?) and I’m paying the result even today.

Liberal applications of aloe gel didn’t help, neither did the milk treatment. Other than draping cold packs over my thighs and knees, the only real relief has been a good thick spray of Solarcaine every few hours. I try and time it when I know my shorts will be rubbing against the top of the sunburn, as the exposed section on the top of my knee on my lower thigh seems to have gotten hit the worst.

I got a bit of sun on my face as well (I sweat too much for anything to be really effective there) but the pain there has been manageable, and it seems that it is already starting to peel.

Sleepless nights, waking up every time I roll over onto a sunburned side-of-leg, and painful days, cringing every time I stand up from my desk and feel my shorts scrap the sunburn, are nothing compared with the success I feel from finishing the 62-mile Ironman Bike Ride again. It is all worthwhile.

Now, ask me when it gets all itchy and peeling…well…

The weather forecast was promising. Sunny, high around 80. Compared to the last two years (2005, 2006) of the Ironman Bike Ride this year was going to be a piece of cake. I had spent many weeks preparing my new trike for the ride, sometimes to the detriment of my own training, but I felt comfortable that if I just took it easy, I could overcome the metric century (~62-mile course).

The short story is, I did it. Although the weather was much better this year, I was riding a bike that weighed twice as much as my previous ride. Here’s the overview of my ride over at MotionBased as my GPS saw it. You can read more details after the break…

Life has been good since I got my Sun EZ Tadpole. ‘course, most nights have been spent working on said bike, but I have to admit I’ve been learning a lot. Spent so much time staring at the bike I had to give it a name…Pollywog would be her official name, but everyone know she’s Polly for short. Fitting for a tadpole bike, dontcha think?

A week with the new trike. I have to say, it has been a blast. Almost like learning to ride again. Different muscles, different techniques, different habits. 17 miles doesn’t seem like a lot (my total according to MotionBased), but I’ve spent more time working on the trike than riding it in this first week.

Team Boobylicious is TwoDolla’s Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk team. This will be her third year, each year I’ve supported her with monetary donations and buying cookies from their Christmas cookie fundraiser (better than Girl Scout cookies!).

This year they picked up on a fashionable trend and decided to hold a Bar Trivia fundraiser. I sent out emails, pulled together a team and we made the trip down to Hubert’s Bar and Grill. My sister, brother-in-law, his parents (visiting from Austrailia) and Kelly combined to create the team, “No, You’re a Boob”. First place was 49 points, we managed to pull in 44, not quite sure where that put us. Still, it was a blast, and evidently only the first “Trivia for Boobies” night…it was such a success, on May 1st Team Boobylicious will have a Bar Trivia night at the most appropriate place in town… Hooters. Be there, or be square!

I made the trek down to Madison (275 miles each way) on Saturday to pick up my trike. This brings a journey to an end. For my 30th birthday (last June), my parents gave me a large sum of money to buy a new bike. I put it in savings, contemplating my options.

I thought about getting an upgraded upright road bike, ‘cept it appeared that with my weight most of the “upgraded” bikes weren’t suitable. Next, I entertained going to a 2-wheel recumbent. No matter what equipment I used, riding my upright was a big pain in the butt, both literally and figuratively. 300 pounds pressing down onto a tiny little seat…you don’t need an engineering degree to figure out how poorly that works out. Recumbents provide a full, comfortable seat, complete with back support and a big padded seat. The 2-wheel models vary in size and shape, but they all provide a much more aerodynamic riding position with a much more comfortable seat. More than likely, I’ll still end up getting a 2-wheel recumbent here in the near future, but I took a test ride on a trike a few weeks ago and immediately fell in love. The only way I can describe the ride…it doesn’t feel like a bike at all. Instead, the ride is much more similar to a go-kart, albeit human-powered. You corner like you’re on rails, no leaning over, simply steer and you turn. Add to a go-kart independent braking for each side as well, adding another method of controlling a turn.

• Minnesota RollerGirls bout Friday night (followed by Grand Ole Creamery ice cream, no doubt!)
• Get my new (to me, at least) recumbent tricycle down in Madison on Saturday
• Brave New Workshop show on Saturday night
• Sunday: Rest, watch the snow change to rain and wash everything away

Considering all the other distractions as of late, I was originally going to take tonight off of pub trivia down at Leaning Tower of Pizza. My sis and bro-in-law are busy getting ready for his parents’ visit, I’ve got a bunch of work I could be doing and need to plan my trip down to pick up my new bike this weekend. However, when Kate told me that Dean already was down there, had saved us a table, I decided I should push myself to go out.

Yeah, we placed 7th this week, a very poooooor showing. (If you were a big American Gladiators fan, you would have received 8 big points in the picture round by identifying your favorite gladiators by their mug shots…I managed to score two of the names, but we assigned them to the wrong players) The fun? Our favorite trivia reader sat down and played the game with us this evening. What a blast having him on our side for once! Usually we just heckle him (our team name is always a play on his name) and give him grief…tonight we could just relax and socialize a little between questions.

Even more fun? After the game, we ended up closing the place, talking for hours and hours. Everything from how electricians can diagnose problems using such clues as the way electricity smells to stories upon stories about what acid trips are like and how ‘shrooms can be prepared and used most effectively. Also in the preparation category, feel free to use an empty toilet paper roll to cook your egg rolls in the microwave. And, most importantly, just how humorous people can be when engaged in any of the previously listed activities. I actually got a side ache from laughing so hard. (Evidently, I could likely look forward to the same side-ache effect if I were ever to partake in ‘shrooms, from what I’ve gathered tonight)

According to my MotionBased account history, I haven’t gone for a ride on my bike since August 8th, 2006. I got caught up in moving to the new pad, and before I knew it winter was upon us and the bike was put away. Work and a number of other things got in the way, too, but knowing how much I miss it I’ve determined that I’m going to try and get back into decent condition so I can attempt again the 62-mile, if not the 100-mile Ironman Bike Ride this year. I’ve got my work cut out for me, tho, based on my quick ride today. Today, about the same time as last year, I begin my path to Ironman…albeit with more of a whimper than a bang, as I just rode to/from work, but it was a start!

Whenever I find myself visiting my local Apple Store, I just can’t resist those wonderful kids stations. (Assuming there are no kids there…I’m not gonna chase them away, but if a station is free, why not play?)

Most of the time when I sit down at one of those stations there is already some game already loaded up. A few months ago I was lucky enough to stumble across Cosmic Blobs. Imagine virtual Play-Doh, ‘cept you’ve got an unlimited supply of every color imaginable, it doesn’t bleed together if you don’t want it to and your hands never get that weird Play-Doh smell.

I broke down this weekend and picked up a copy. After I finished work late tonight, I wanted to relax a little, finally got around to playing around with it…already I’ve created a cool spaceship, matching moon and used the animation functions within the program to make my own movie! All in under an hour. Neat-o!

Click on the images below for closeups and the movie

My Grandpa had surgery today to install a defibrillator.

Prior to surgery, he shared with me a pamphlet that explained the procedure, what to expect, etc. We shared with each other our amazement of modern medical science, how they had created a device like this that could be implanted and hardly noticed. After the procedure, the pamphlet explained there would be an overnight stay, that he would be sore and tired after the procedure.

I head over to the hospital after work today, walk into the “Care Center” section (post-op recovery) expecting to find my Grandpa laying in his hospital bed. Instead, I find my Grandpa sitting up on the edge of the bed, chowin’ down on some great-smelling food, alive, awake, alert, discussing politics with my Sister and Brother-in-law. Four hours after surgery, he’s bouncing around as tho he was ready to go on one of his daily 2-mile walks around the mall.

He’s not only alive upstairs, as I’ve mentioned before, again and again, but his awake, alive mind evidently leads to a very healthy body as well. Or maybe it is the other way around. (He does walk 2 miles everyday) Either way, having my Grandpa around is a great inspiration to live life.

As I’ve mentioned before, I have mad ninja skills. Besides my mad ninja programming skills, I also am a master of disguise; an expert at keeping a calm, yet alert mind; and I make a mean lasagna. (You had no idea lasagna was so core to the ninja lifestyle, did you?)

I can now add one more highlight of my ninja skills. My ophthalmologist informed me this morning that I sleep with my eyes open. Now, what types of people are referred to as “sleeping with their eyes open?” Trained assassins, that’s who! We’re not talking some optometrist, or an optician, we’re talking a full-fledged board-certified 12-years-of-post-secondary-schooling ophthalmologist. This guy is an expert…and when dealing with experts, you should listen to what they have to say!

I’ve had the orange and blue design for a few years now (According to this old post, I rolled it out on October 7th, 2004) and I had been meaning to make a change for a while now. I had looked everywhere for inspiration, but eventually found most of what I wanted on The Style Archive in Newsline.

The Newsline style needed some polishing to fit my site, but eventually I’ve massaged it into shape as what you see here. The main thing that I’ve always looked for when contemplating redesign options is a variable-width layout. There are simply too many different resolutions people view the web at nowadays, having a static-width layout could leave a large amount of a user’s web browser window unused…or even worse, on a small screen you may end up having to scroll back and forth just to read the entire thing! The second thing major thing that drew me in to the Newsline style is that it didn’t rely heavily on graphics to get things done - it was a neat, polished style with few graphic embellishments. The fewer the graphics, the easier it is to mod a style in my opinion.

There is still some work to do on the site, I’m thinking I need to bring back a menu again for easy access to OfficeCam and the other major areas of the site, but for now I’ve created a “Features” heading on the sidebar. Also need to reformat said OfficeCam page for the new CSS stylesheet, as well as many of the other static pages. For now, tho, most of the main site is rendering just fine.

As I mentioned in my post about The 2007 KVSC Trivia Contest, KARE-11 News sent Boyd Huppert to do a sweeps feature for his Land of 10000 Stories news segment. Tonight the story finally aired.

Looks like they did a great job of giving everyone on the team a bit of face time. I’m featured more than once, from various angles. (And from the editing, it looks like I’m in both rooms at once. How’s that for magic? When they show the first half of the basement, I’m in front, long white t-shirt, back to the camera…when they show the second half of the room, I’m sitting on the couch in a striped polo shirt) You can see my sister and Davin in numerous shots as well, and Kelly (who only joined us for 2 hours of play) is even in the clip calling in the “101 Dalmations” guess. My biking partner Kate, who is the one responsible for hooking me up with the team, is in there sticking out her tongue and calling in the answer “Paco de Lucía”. Tim, the captain of the team, who was there when I met Kate on the Tour of Saints is the guy in the black t-shirt shouting out, “OK, we got number 1”. Dean, who Kate and I often play trivia with down at Leaning Tower of Pizza, is featured leaning in to listen to the radio during the Big Question, which is fitting considering his specialty is music.

All in all, I’m amazed at how well the piece came together. You can view the piece here on KARE-11’s website, or contact me if you’d like to see it in higher-quality, as I’ve got a number of clips of it saved off of the Tivo.

As I mentioned before, I was awaiting with much anticipation for my Woot Bag O’ Crap. I received my Bag, er, Box o’ Crap about a week ago, I opened it upon my return from my trivia break. Just today I finally got around to taking a snapshot of it all.

As you can see, for my $3 + $5/S+H I was given the following items:

• Virgin Pulse 2.4 Ghz Cordless Phone w/Caller ID (Model VP-12)
• Samsonite Ultra Protective Camera/Camcorder Bag (Model AS1.5)
• 3 Cross MicroPens
• RCA Chipper Keychain Doll

I don’t have a landline, so the phone will be either eBay’d or given to someone I know who can use it. The camera bag I may keep for myself, it looks like just the right size to carry my cell, GPS and camera all in one neat little belt-attachable bag. I know plenty of people with PDAs, so they’ll get the MicroPens, and the keychain doll will make a great stocking stuffer. All in all, not too shabby for $8.

I got an email today from Accounting Nicole, forwarded from her husband, that made me laugh out loud with delight.

I actually have considered answering this before during a particular difficult geometry test, which makes this one especially funny.

More below the fold…

I went to my local friendly neighborhood grocery store to pick up dinner tonight. One of the joys (and pains) a single diner has is what to eat. I wanted a night of relaxation, so I decided I’d go to my old standby, a Totino’s Party Pizza. Easy to pop in the oven and enjoy minutes later.

What to my surprise do I find splashed upon the front of the Totino’s Party Pizza box? A big, bold announcement that I was eating “America’s Best Selling Frozen Pizza”!

Evidently, I couldn’t have made a better choice if I wanted to feel a sense of community tonight while I sat like a hermit in my humble abode walking my way through my Tivo’s Now Playing list.

I’ve read Desiderata before, but this quote displayed at the mall tonight particularly caught my attention:

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Now that all the work associated with this year’s KVSC Trivia Contest is behind me, it has been a busy week getting back into life. Trivia takes quite a toll, weeks of preparation, multiple trips up to Saint Cloud, weekends consumed with setup, nights consumed with computer imaging/building. That’s all over now…

‘course, coming back to work on Tuesday, I spent the first day and a half just getting caught up with everything that happened while I was gone. (I was gone for 2.5 days, keep in mind, but at the speed we’re moving chasing new business that was like 2.5 weeks) Carbon Leaf concert on Tuesday night, which rocked as always, then all the excitement over Valentine’s Day on Wednesday. Tonight I worked late, finishing up a project, then came home and finished my self-review around 11pm. (It was due at midnight)

This weekend? Sister’s birthday celebrations, need to go test ride the two options for my new recumbent bike, some much needed laundry and rest, I think. The chances that each of those will really happen? 100% on the first, 60% on the second, 50% on the third, 10% on the fourth.

Aren’t we Minnesotans supposed to stay inside, huddled around the TV during the winter months, only to emerge once the world thaws out? How can I be so busy!?!?

Every year, KVSC, the student radio station of Saint Cloud State University in Saint Cloud, MN, puts on a 50-hour trivia contest. Last year I participated in the contest for the first time, had a blast, so this year I was even more excited.

The short story is that we took 3rd place (out of 80), down a bit from our first place showing last year. We fell behind early in the contest and never managed to catch back up to first.

You don’t just want the short story, tho, do you…

Relive your adolescence.

Collected Playlists from MTV’s 120 Minutes

Serving the Minneapolis music hunter since 1968, The Electric Fetus has been my preferred location to pick up CDs since I was 18, working downtown and just discovering the joys of music. I’ve prbly purchased 60 CDs over the years from that great store…I continue to do so, to this day, even tho it often means I’m making a special trip downtown just to CD shop.

As I was ripping my newest purchases for iPod transfer this evening, I thought I’d take this moment to outline the reasons for my love of this fine establishment:

• Selection, selection, selection. The Electric Fetus has everything you’d ever need or want: CDs from all genres, local groups, rarities, imports, concert tickets and gifts.
• 10% Off each regularly-priced CD when you purchase 3 or more.
• Not only does the store smell of incense, but your CD does when you get it home, too!

I’ve been the occasional Woot watcher for about a year and a half now. One of my habits is to bring up the site on my way to bed (the product of the day launches conveniently at Midnight CT, my favorite time zone) and see if I find it interesting. I’ve picked up a few items in the past, but the majority of things would just find their way into a junk drawer, and I’m just plain out of junk drawers. However, once in a blue moon Woot delivers.

Woot-offs are especially exciting, not only for the smorgasbord of products, but for a chance at the coveted Bag O’ Crap.

Not only did I pick up a few choice items during the Woot-Off this month, such as the LeakFrog and the Pig, but I managed to score my first-ever “Bag O’ Crap”. I’ve gotten through the ordering steps before, but have always been thwarted in the end, being told there were no more craps to go around.

This time, tho, I managed to receive my order confirmation, confirming crap was on its way. Accolades from my coworkers (who have, themselves, attempted to grab a “Bag O’ Crap” before but have been thwarted many times) followed.

Now we all wait and see what the Woot gods will deliver.

Why didn’t I see this before Christmas?!?! Oh well, direct from the YouTube mothership…

“Charlie Brown Christmas - Performed by the Cast of Scrubs”

Last night at The Legendary Roy Wilkins Auditorium we got our first taste of the new “local” Minnesota RollerGirls season. (The first half of the season were “traveling” games, where we pit our best players against teams from other cities.) The Garda Belts, my favorite “local” team, put up a good fight, but they lost to the Atomic Bombshells.

I realize now, looking back, that I forgot to mention back in November that I finally bought my iMac. A beautiful 20” iMac. I had survived on hand-me-downs from work for my home computer for quite some time now, years in fact. I finally realized that between my iTunes, video and photo libraries I was in need of a home media management workstation.

Tonight I finally completed the final transition, moving my PC’s iTunes Library over to the Mac. I had moved over my photos and video files earlier, figured out how to get my PasswordSafe and OpenSSH keys moved over. NeoOffice installed for any necessary MS Office work, Safari setup the way I wanted. Adium configured for all my IM accounts. BootCamp installed so I can switch back to Windows if need be, such as to load maps on my Garmin GPS.

However, I had been putting off cutting over iTunes. Not only was I not looking forward to the >100GB file copy, but I’m very sensitive about losing any of the metadata iTunes had collected since I started using it on November 2nd, 2003. I had attempted to move over my iTunes library file once right after getting my iMac and lost all of my “Date Added” information, valuable when you’ve got Smart Playlists setup to use that field for filtering/collection purposes.

As it was, I found out I had been overcomplicating the whole thing. I had read a procedure online for moving iTunes libraries from PC to Mac that involved copying the “iTunes Library.XML” file from the PC to the Mac, zero-ing out the binary “iTunes Library” file on the Mac and then letting iTunes rebuild the binary file from the XML file.

Come to find out, that’s not necessary in the slightest. Simply copy the iTunes folder from the PC’s My Music folder into the Mac’s Music folder. iTunes will try to fix the file locations to match their Mac equivalents, but if all else fails it looks for the file in the /Music/iTunes/iTunes Music folder on the Mac. Simply move your PC’s iTunes library into their and viola!, you’re good to go.

So, yeah, lesson? Don’t overcomplicate things. Someone’s already thought about your problem.

First song played on the iMac? “Awoo” by The Hidden Cameras.

Well, I’d buy you a green dress (but not a real green dress, that’s cruel!)

I wouldn’t buy you this book, Hedge Funds For Dummies. I have to reiterate what Michael Gartenberg said so eloquently, “If you really are in the target market for this book, perhaps the hedge fund is not the best way for you to invest.”

(I’m open to others doing the inventing/creating…but then let me buy it!)

• An inkjet cartridge replacement that printed chocolate instead of ink. Can you imagine printing a message to your sweetie in chocolate? It also could be used as an anti-spy device… if you fall into enemy hands, just shove the document into your pocket. Muahahaha!
• A chair that would measure your foot-to-knee length and thigh length as you approached it and then adjust its own depth/height to match your measurements exactly for a perfect fit. I could also use this option on a couch. Nothing is worse than sitting in a chair that doesn’t come close to supporting your legs, or forces you to stick your legs out at 45 degree angles just so that your thighs are supported and your feet are resting on the ground.
• I want an option on my programmable thermostat that allows me to “override” the program one-time if I know I’m going to be going out for the evening, or if I’ll be coming home early. My schedule varies quite a bit every week, some nights I’m out late, some nights I’m in early. Regardless, usually when I leave in the morning I know when I’m going to return. Allow me to tell the thermostat, “Override your default programming for this evening, I won’t be coming home until 11pm, don’t bother heating up the house until then.”

How did I get through life this far without encountering “Suzanne” by Leonard Cohen before now?

Thankfully the DJs at 89.3 The Current got my back. This is one amazing poem/song. The only words that come to mind… “Haunting Love”

…You can spend the night beside her
And you know that she’s half crazy
But that’s why you want to be there…

You know those studies that claim that the more optimistic you are, the less likely you are to get sick? Well, I’m often held up as the poster boy around work. I’m hardly ever sick…and when I do get sick, my body usually forces me to bed early and the next morning I’m up and ready to go.

Evidently, I must have been really pessimistic sometime in the past week, or this must be one helluva bug. In either event, I felt the throat tickling on Friday night, by 3pm on Saturday I’m fully loaded on Nyquil (the real Pseudoephedrine kind, not the wimpy Phenylephrine formula) and popping Luden’s like they are going out of style. Nose blowing commenced shortly thereafter, then the deep cough and then the inevitable runny nose. Sunday night I’m beginning to feel better, but after a night filled with more awake time than sleepytime, I gave into the cold’s power and called into work sick today.

Having nothing better to do, my mind came to a few revelations today…

I had been looking quite a bit over the past few months at different vehicle options. My current ride, the 2000 Blue VW Turbo Beetle, had treated me well but was definitely aging around the edges. I will forgo the laundry list out of respect for its years of service - suffice to say it had 130,000 miles on it and was beginning to show it.

What would replace it? I had been looking at such disparate choices as the Honda Element, Pontiac Solstice, Scion xB, Pontiac G6, Nissan Maxima and Chevrolet SSR. I wanted something under 30k, with a good selection of comfort features, flexibility for hauling people and equipment (bikes) and wouldn’t sacrifice too much in terms of economy from my current Beetle.

Like the Overlooked Songs of 2005 list I put together last year, I thought it appropriate to once again highlight a number of tracks that didn’t get up in the playcount for one reason or another, and as such didn’t make it on the main Songs of 2006 list. Maybe they got added to my library really late in the year. Maybe I fell in love with the album instead of the tracks, resulting in much lower playcounts for all involved.

Whatever the reason, there are a number of songs that should have been highlighted for the year that didn’t, so I will list ‘em here. Not all of these songs were released this year… in fact, more than a few of them are songs that I rediscovered or finally picked up the long-put-off CD. They were all, however, added to my iTunes library in 2006.

As I’ve done at the end of both 2004 and 2005, I present my list of my most frequently listened to songs across 2006. As always, since I use my central iTunes library to keep track of my statistics, the playcount of a song is only increased if I listen to it in its entirety.

For the second year in a row, “The Boxer” by Carbon Leaf is the top played in my library, at 36 recorded plays over the past year. “Such Great Heights” by The Postal Service slipped to 2nd place for all-time plays, falling one play short of “Life Less Ordinary” by Carbon Leaf at 134 plays, the new leader.

iTunes Library Growth Over Time:

This year’s stats (and my listening habits) might have suffered from a few more repeats than previous years since I put playlists on my iPod representing the Songs of 2005 and Overlooked Songs of 2005. These were often my “goto” playlists when I wanted to listen to something familiar and comfortable. This meant I was shuffling my entire library less frequently, meaning playcounts were concentrated on previous top placers. Also, podcasts really came around this year, so a good deal of my time was spent listening to non-music.

It started off with rain this morning…then sleeting a bit after that…then shortly after our potluck lunch, all of a sudden, we got these ginormous snowflakes coming down here at work. (Yes, Virginia, that’s an actual single fallen snowflake!) An hour later, professional productivity had dropped to zero. The parking lot was filled with the circular tracks of donut-doers and snowballs surrounded the vehicles that were used for target practice.

Looks like we might have a white Christmas after all, if it doesn’t all melt. I’m so excited!

‘nuff said.

One of these days, I’ll find the magic balance. There always seems to be a reason why I need to work just a bit later, just a bit harder, carry just that little bit more of a load.

I need to find something else to believe in…

I hope Santa sees this list in his RSS aggregator…

• Subscriptions
  • Dell Math and Logic Puzzles
  • Scientific American (Renewal)
  • Science Museum of MN Membership (Dual)
• Lego Mindstorms NXT
• TurboNet card for my Original Tivo
• KNG America FUNKit
• Slipstreamz Cycling Earphone Covers
• Heavy-Duty Electric Wok
• Weber Performer Charcoal Grill
• Gift Certificate/Directed Money towards Bedroom Set or new Couch
• Nintendo Wii or Playstation 2
• Electric shaver
  • I have had a rechargeable Panasonic wet/dry razor for a while, had good results, but would like a newer model, better battery, prefer the wet/dry use.
• Recumbant Exercise Bike or Elliptical
• Bluetooth headset for biking with my iPod
  • Mono, covering one ear only, a2dp protocol support

Also, you may find some additional items on my wish lists at Amazon and ThinkGeek

The long version of the back-story will have to wait…but the big news will not. My childhood Apple IIgs and are back together, at last!

The fact that my name, backwards, spells “Nomad” has always fascinated me. At times, I’ve taken it to mean that I’m destined to stay in one place. This past month has only reinforced that idea.

I’m not meant to be nomadic. Damonic, maybe, but never nomadic. I’ve simply have too much stuff to fit on the camel and/or horse. I filled up a 16’ moving truck once, four round trips with a full Twinkie, 3 round trips with a full minivan. That’s easily the equivalent of a 24’ moving van, I’m sure. Sure, maybe the Trojan horse would fit all my stuff, but that’s the only horse that would do!

Everything is finally done, tho. Keys are handed over to the old apartment manager. My final walk-thru is completed. My multitudes of things are in my new place, either packed in the garage awaiting the decision as to their final destination (trash/storage/give-away/placement inside the new pad) or have already met their fate.

Some words of wisdom:

• Don’t buy a king-size bed until you’re done moving for a while. We would have been hoisting it through the upstairs window ‘cept the two-story living room made the process a tiny bit easier.
• When moving said king-size bed, find yourself an old queen-size sheet (or, I suppose, a worn-out king size) and wrap up the king-size mattress with it like a diaper. Not only do you get a handle on each side, but you can slide it down hallways with no worries about damaging the mattress itself.
• When you make your list of “must-have” things to sleep the night at the new place, shower in the morning and get dressed to go to work, remember the shower curtain.
• Rubbermaid utility carts you borrow from work make great sofa moving aids.
• CDs are heavier than they look - don’t fill up a complete box and expect it to stay in one piece.

Overall, the move went great. I’m glad it is done, for sure. Now the real fun begins…can I get my second garage stall emptied of boxes before first snow…?

After noon on August 31st (and quite possibly sooner) I will be changing my place of residence. Trust me, the new location will be much more stalker friendly. No more climbing up trees, employing periscopes from ground level, repelling your way down the side of the apartment building or using your feminine charms to get past my security guards. Now you’ll be able to simply drive-by. What could be easier?

When I upgraded/changed servers a few months ago, I had the best intentions. I replaced my old, comfortable, reliable stylesheets with new stylesheets and templates that promised all kinds of wonderful new features. I thought I’d make time to nuture that new style into something wonderful.

Turns out, I didn’t need those new features, and I didn’t make the time. So, for now, I will return you to the relative comfort of my old style. Love it.

Sometime in the next few hours, my belly button will turn 30.

I’ve enjoyed the ride so far…thank you to everyone that has shared it with me over the 30 years.

(This is a seriously post-dated entry. Deal with it.)

After a great bike-riding start, the weather turned into a horrible mess. Rainy, cold…snowy even! I persevered, but while I don’t mind riding in rain, or riding in the cold, I refuse to put up with both! I managed to get one decent training ride in last week, but even that ride was interrupted when I stopped by the bike shop for what I thought would be a simple derailleur adjustment that turned into a full rear wheel and axle replacement. For the last week leading up to the 2006 Ironman Bike Ride I didn’t get to ride once, indoors or out.

For those that want to skip to the end of the story, I managed to finish the 62-mile ride in the face of a day of rain, cold and wind. Here’s the summary and a link to the MotionBased activity I recorded with my GPS. If you want all the details, read after the break…

I took off early from work on Thursday to go biking, rode to/from work on Friday (4 miles each way) and went out for a ride this morning. I left off 2005 with 1737 miles on the ol’ bike odometer…after these past 3 days, it now reads 1768 miles. Sure, it is messier on the roads this time of year, least compared to when I started the 2005 biking season, April 14th. However, I’ve got a goal in mind (doing the 62-mile Ironman) and a little more than a month to prepare for it, so I don’t care. Time to bike!

For Christmas this year, my parents gave me the gift of a Garmin eTrex Vista C, along with a bike mount. I wanted to bring a bit more of an analytical slant to my biking and a GPS seemed like a great tool. In my search for analytical software, I came across the hosted service, MotionBased. MotionBased offers you an opportunity of uploading your tracklogs and then it performs all kinds of analysis against it and offers you the results right through your web browser.

I’ve been waiting every since Christmas to try this setup out, so on Friday morning I mounted the GPS to my bike and used it to track my commutes to/from work. Both times, I completely misunderstood the GPS setup directions and recorded absolutely nothing of any use.

Finally, during my ride today, I finally got the hang of it and got a great tracklog of my recorded route. I uploaded it to MotionBased; you can see the overview they put together below. If you click through to the website, they offer all kinds of great ways to look at the data, from comparing your elevation/speed, comparing it against the weather, to a SVG-enabled method of watching your progress visually, like a movie.

It’s been a busy few weeks, to say the least. Sure, last weekend I did a bunch of chores and found some good time to relax, but first thing Monday morning I was thrust back, neck-deep, into my professional life.

I didn’t get to leave for lunch until nearly 1pm today…only to find out it was a great day outside. High of 50 or so, the slightest breeze, sunny sky as far as the eye could see. Got back to work around 2pm…by 3pm, I realized that my heart just wasn’t into working anymore. I couldn’t concentrate; everything seemed to be blending into one gigantic task.

What’s a guy to do? I packed up my laptop, grabbed the nearest blank sheet of paper, wrote “Gone Biking”, propped it up on my desk and took off. Got a good feel for the temperature on the way home, threw on some warmer biking clothes, inflated the tires and headed out.

Before I knew it, I was down the big hill on East Bush Lake and proceeded along my “normal” route, around Lake Normandale, down Normandale Blvd, across on Old Shakopee. I was thwarted on my attempt to take the trails in Hyland Park Reserve, so I turned back out to the street, over to Bush Lake Road, then back up East Bush Lake Road to the apartment. 10.5 miles in almost exactly an hour’s time. Sure, not the speediest run, but that wasn’t the point - it was just to get out there and see what I still had left in me (and my legs) after a winter kept me indoors.

I’m thinking the 62-mile Ironman ride is within my grasp this year, which would be a great start to the season. 55 days to get myself there…even with all the spring weather, I’m sure I can do it. Last year I did 30 on the ride, and I started more than a month later.

A wonderfully productive weekend.

• Did a bunch of reading
  • (slowly making progress through “The Road To Reality”, read “If the Buddha Dated” again)
• Brought order to vast portions of my apartment
  • (still have the kitchen and bathroom to clean/organize, but these are traditionally the two rooms that get cleaned the most frequently, so I doubt they will remain messy for long)
• Went down to the Bike Expo
  • (Registered for the Ironman at a discount, met the representative from the Tour of Saints who commented on my blog here, got some information about “sprint triathalons” from a representative of the Twin Cities Triathalon Club and saw a crazy six-person bike!)
• Still found time to put together a bunch of new playlists on the iPod and listen, listen, listen!

Just what I needed, for sure. Felt so good to wake up and not worry about parrying around items littering the floor in order to make it to the bathroom! Now I just have to get training…less than 8 weeks until the Ironman ride…and this year I’m going for 62 miles _(over last year’s 30 miles).

Somewhat fitting, as I was sitting at work tonight (late, but not nearly as 5am late as Tuesday night/Wednesday morning) helping a customer out with some data migration work.