My First Open Source Contribution

2012-01-13T12:37:00.001-06:00

It's no secret I am a fan of open source software, but I am not a developer. I use many open source programs. Donated a little to a few. I recommend some to others. Gave what feed back I could. Even still I never felt like I've contributed.

For the first time in my life I ran into a problem with an open source project that I was able to fix, and of course I made those change available to everyone. In the past few months I've been playing with MediaWiki, and have gotten to the point I enjoy using it for different projects. I've added a few simple extensions to my personal and work wiki that have made life easier. Specifically, Tasks Extension and Data. I like them because they are simple enough for me to use, I can actually look at the code and have a clue what is going on, and they do exactly what I want with no extra foo foo. All was great until I went to play with MediaWiki 1.18, and discovered neither one worked.

It took me some time, because I'm am not even an amateur developer, but I did eventually finagle both of these extension until they worked. I even rigged Tasks to work from a single directory (with some help of comments from another user on it's discussion page) like an extension should. All in all I am kind of proud of myself. The only bummer is I am probably the only person on Earth who uses these extensions. On the off chance anyone stumbles here and needs to make either of those extensions work in MediaWiki 1.18, you'll see my changes on their discussion page under the heading "Working in 1.18" (or follow the links I just made below).

What I've Learned about Security

2011-12-24T10:31:00.000-06:00

UPDATE: I started this because I did not practice what I preach for a long time about password security. When I did start I realized how difficult it actually was. I only started because I had a bad experience directly related to my bad practices--it could have been worse--I was lucky. After many days of figuring out how to implement what I've preached--this is the method I came up with. I know it's long, and it's a lot of information to throw at someone. I really feel it's worth while information though, and I sincerely hope it convinces others to practice better security on the net before they have a bad experience too.

So I'm a nerd, and people I know ask me computer related questions. With all the recent news of computer security breaches in big companies, it has been a popular topic.

The biggest problem with computer security is that very few people understand it. Including the experts. Full disclosure: I do not consider myself an expert, but I am not unfamiliar with the subject either. So in this blog post I will lay out what I have learned the hard way about password security for the average user.

It all started a few months ago. Like most everyone I had the same username and password for everything. Despite knowing it's bad practice; despite my own advice to others, I was lazy. I don't want to have to remember a bunch of different complicated passwords. Then one of the sites I used was compromised. The user names, emails, and passwords were posted in plain text on the Internet for all the world to see (it was MtGox for the curious--and what that is for is another post all together.)

I knew a little bit about how passwords are stored in a database. They're not plain text, they're run through an algorithm and stored as a bunch of garbled letters and numbers (known as hashing). When you type in your password it is run through the same algorithm to see if it matches the hash. I also know complicated passwords (like those that use lower case and upper case letters, numbers, and special characters) are harder to crack.

What I didn't realize is that computers have gotten pretty powerful in the last few years, and the ability to figure out that algorithm, or crack the hash, has gotten significantly faster. These hashes are so long and complex it used to take years for the most powerful computers to figure them out. That's not so anymore.

Just a quick note about passwords, length trumps complexity. There is a nice web comic that explains why. Really all you need to know, a long passwords (20 characters or more) all in lower case, is more secure than a complex 8 character password. There are a number of "password strength checkers" on the Internet, but almost all of them place more importance on complexity over length. Don't ignore complexity though. I recommend a capitol letter and number or special character in a long easy to remember password. Long sentences or phrases with punctuation and proper nouns are what I like.

In my case I had a 10 digit password comprised of lower case letters and numbers, that password is now out on the net right next to my email address. I've even received email from people sending to that list. Kind of interesting, but none-the-less an eye opener. I also knew I had to go through ever website I had a login on. There had to be an easier way.

First thing I did was change my gmail password and enable two-step verification. The link will explain more, but the short version is: it sends you a text with a code when you log into gmail (don't worry there is a check box to remember you for 30 days). Waiting for the text verification is a minor annoyance when logging into gmail from another computer, like say from a neighbors house, but it doesn't happen often.

Screen shot of KeePass.

The second thing I did was find a program I can use to keep track of passwords since I knew all the passwords I would be changing will be different for each website. That way if any one get's compromised I don't have to do this again. I played with a few programs, but the one I liked best is KeePass. Yes it is slightly more tedious to open it every time I need to get into a website, but it can be set to start with Windows. I'll get to how to make KeePass more accessible later too.

I start the tedious process of going to all the websites I visit regularly, change the password, update KeePass, and make sure my contact info is set to my gmail account (you'll see why). KeePass can even create a password for me. Which is fine because it will also auto-type the username and password into a website for me. I don't have to remember any passwords except the one that lets me into KeePass. I also keep my gmail password one I can remember too; because if anything were to happen to KeePass most website will allow me to use a forgot password option (that's why I make sure they have my gmail address).

Obviously, I am not going to remember every site in the first sitting. It took me a while. In fact I still occasionally stumble on a site that is using my old password and not in my KeePass program yet. For the most part I have been diligent, and when I come to one I update it right away.

Now I have a new problem; I don't know a single password to anything other than my gmail account. When I'm at work, I can't log into Facebook (a tragedy I know). In addition to being a big nerd, I'm also an Eagle Scout, I like to be prepared and have options. So I came up with two ways to combat this problem.

The first way was through dropbox. If you are not familiar with dropbox, it can be a scary thing (it's the cloud, it's all scary right? not if you take a little time to understand what is going on). If you sign up for dropbox through my links here, you'll get an additional 500MB's of space--and I will too :) It's cloud storage, but what I really like about it is it has a hand little program that will allow you to upload to it and keep your files synced from multiple computer if you need it... and the key is that it actually works well. It just simply adds a folder to your Windows user profile called Dropbox. Just save your KeePass file there and you are in business.

Now you are going to ask me, "why is it okay to store all your usernames and passwords on a cloud service?" Is dropbox fool proof? Absolutely not! I don't trust them any more than any other service. I do trust KeePass though, and if someone was to get my KeePass file they would not have an easy time getting into it (because I used that long and semi complicated password I mentioned before). I also trust it because it is open source (another nerd term). When it comes to security, open source wins because it is transparent. If anyone wrote a shady open source program it would be outed right away because everyone can see the code that makes that program work. There are many arguments against it (most are rooted from a software company out of Redmond, Washington... but they have their merits so I can forgive them today) but it is the truth. I'll trust popular open source software when it comes to security over closed source any day.

So, dropbox, it's an okay way to keep your KeePass file updated across computers you use regularly. Personally I have it installed on my home computer, work computer, netbook, and a Linux VM (works great on Windows, Linux, and Mac BTW). But what if I am at a public computer? The same place we downloaded KeePass has two download options. The second is a portable version of the program that can run off a flash drive.

It's easy to use, download it, unzip in to a flash drive, copy your KeePass database file to the flash drive, now you can open that database from any Windows computer you plug the flash drive into. The downside is copying the database file to the flash drive. Unlike the dropbox version it will only be as up to date as the last time it was copied. There are ways around that with programs like Allways Sync; it will keep files from your computer updated with a flash drive when it is plugged in (details on how to use that is a whole new post too, but it is well documented).

I've been doing passwords this way for a bout three months now. I've gotten used to having KeePass open while I'm on my home and work computer. I've even gotten pretty quick about alt-tabbing between it and Chrome and having it type in my username and passwords. I've only had to know the password to KeePass and gmail since I've made the switch, and they are easy to remember long passwords. I've even changed them once just because. I can also sleep at night too, not because I know I'm a little safer on the web, but because now my advice is backed up with experience.

Dabbling in Linux again

2011-11-17T06:54:00.001-06:00

A few days ago I needed to play with a wiki, and like everyone when I think wiki I think Wikipedia... and in turn MediaWiki. Being this was for fun I thought it would also be a good time to try Ubuntu Server. I've used their desktop for years, and even though I find myself in the terminal more and more I've always been afraid to completely ditch the GUI.
That's no longer true.
In less than three hours I had a VM of Ubuntu Server 11.10 with Apache2, PHP5, MySQL, phpMyAdmin, and MediaWiki ready to go (that includes the time it took to download the iso). I either became a genius since the last time I tried, or they have really made this stuff easier to setup and administer. I suspect the latter.
True I did find myself looking up Linux commands and following how to instructions, but it all worked well. I know I'm not the only one who has followed a set up Linux instructions to the T only to run into errors.
The main reason I'm posting all this is to share this little tidbit of information from The Geek Stuff that made some things begin to click for me. The picture on the right sums it up well.

Also, while working on this project I came up with the idea sudo should be replaced with yo. Still makes me chuckle.

yo apt-get install whatireallywant

Geekwagon Logo

2011-11-08T07:25:00.001-06:00

Here I am writing about my website again, but it's not really about me or my website. It's really about web design in general, and sharing the few neat things I've managed to figure out. I'll be able to post some good information about a site that is not my own, but I helped create, some time in the future. For now I created my own problem to figure out: a logo.

What self respecting website doesn't have a logo? What better way to recognize a brand than a well designed logo. It's part web part marketing, and let's face it I am no expert in either. I'm just going to make a post about it because I did learn some tricks tackling this.

The logo criteria I made up as I went along.

site name is dominate feature
more than 2 colors
selectable text
hidden meaning

http://geekwagon.net/logos/logo.html">

geekwagon.net logo

http://geekwagon.net/logos/logo.html

Because everything on geekwagon.net has bee coded by hand, it made since to make the logo look like a bit of code. The purple highlighted brackets was inspired from Notepad++, and gave it some color. To make the text selectable I knew there was going to be some combination of HTML elements styled with a sheet, perhaps in some sort of cascade. A view of the source will reveal it's just some HTML with a few silly class names and comments with all the CSS contained in the page (because this made it easy to copy and paste into http://htmledit.squarefree.com/ and manipulate). It uses all of two images. The blinking cursor I nabbed from an image search, the foreground fade I made with Paint.net.

Lessons Learned:

To get the fade to work right I had to use z-index, and it is a pain in the butt that requires position: relative; In some places. Experiment until it works (at least that's how I do it).
span and div elements really are different, but only by default.
The CSS shorthand for background is useful, but took a few trips to w3schools.com to get it down.

I'd like to take this time to reiterate I am a newb at all this. Despite that, it has been a fun learning process. I have found the only way for me to learn these kinds of things is to just sit down and do it over and over.

What about the hidden meaning?

I'm glad you asked, there are actually two. First, an observant person will notice the numbers on the left are line numbers. They stop at 1336 because geekwagon.net falls short of leet. Second, geekwagon.net is a self closing bracket because it is a self serving website. Not terribly cleaver, but they made me chuckle.

ahead of the curve

2011-11-02T16:26:00.001-05:00

While I'm sure this picture was only possible (at least for me) on the first day new Portal 2 downloadable content came out, I was semi-excited to see I beat the curve by a good margin.

2011-10-11T08:06:00.000-05:00

One of the goals for geekwagon.net was to master CSS well enough to make the site look similar across different web browsers. I had a rare opportunity to view it from Windows 2000 using IE6 at an amazing 16 colors. The thumbnail below (which isn't far from the screen capped resolution) is a screen shot of how it looked.

The only problems are all related to JavaScript (the +1 button and the advertisements), both of which I could care less about. Interesting enough was the JavaScript used to round the borders worked just fin in IE6.

Defining Jimmy's Law

2011-10-04T06:36:00.001-05:00

Moore's law is one of those concepts often debated on whether is continues to apply to modern processors. Over the years I've noticed a different phenomenon and the other day, while installing a top of the line Intel Core i7, I made a law for it.

As the technology behind processors increases in power and complexity, the technology behind attaching the heatsink becomes flimsy and difficult to install.

I can only hope my law someday becomes a hot topic of debate with supporting evidence on both side. Even better, I hope the law becomes obsolete all together. However, the growing heatsink aftermarket could be solid evidence Jimmy's law will be around for a while.

Image courteously stolen from a webs site
that started with big red letters stating,
"WARNING: engineering defect in stock
Intel heastink/fan units for LGA socket."

Dear Acronis, You Let me Down

2011-09-28T06:02:00.000-05:00

The short: Acronis makes great backup products for business use. If you are going to spend money, buy Acronis® Backup & Recovery™ 11 Workstation. Do not buy Acronis® True Image™ Home 20xx!

I debated putting the True Image icon with
the International Standards prohibition symbol.

Some quick bullets from my experience with True Image on two different computers.

Sometimes take 5+ minutes to connect with online service
Becomes unresponsive often.
Regularly can't suspend backup to online service

Tried stopping every service and program that has to do with Acronis, and no luck. Have to restart the machine, which is not a huge problem until you get to the next bullet.

Included "safety valve" that stops Windows from restarting during backup.

I'm sure this is great if you aren't doing the initial online backup that takes five days.
I have found I can manually stop Acronis services and restart, but seriously why should i have to stop services to restart my computer? Can't there be a check box that says "Dude, we can continue this back up after the 2 minute restart instead of trying to wait for the backup."

The rant: So I'm not a huge fan of customer support, the following are reasons why.

My issues aren't show stoppers so I chose to use the email customer support option. Only after I explained my problems thoroughly in the text box did it tell me I was limited to 1024 characters. I'm going to ignore how silly it is to limit a tech support email to 1024 characters and ask the hard questions. Would it really be to much to have a note about that? Better yet one of those nifty text count down things that changes as you type and tells you how many characters you have left.

SO I luck out, hit back, copy and paste my well thought out questions into notepad and fire up the "chat with customer support options". Not trying to be rude to the guy, I am a very patient person and I've got all day to keep the chat window open. When we started I specifically mentioned I have been through the forums and knowledge base (which is one of the things I love about Acronis) and could not find the answer to my questions. I even linked him the articles somewhat related to my issue, but didn't address it. I politley asked, in a less blunt manor, not to copy and paste from these articles I've already read. The very first response he gives me was right off the "initial backup to online services may take days." Duh? You don't say? Will it really take me days to upload ~30GB to an online service over my 512kb upload speed? I didn't exactily need a calculator to figure this out, but I certainly don't need tech support regurgitating what I told them. Don't get me wrong. I understand the guy is just doing his job. It's menontonus, he deals with people every day asking questions with answers available in the knowledge base. But if you aren't even reading what I write to you, how can I take what you tell me seriously? Now I know you're just blarbing out anything remotely reltated to what I'm talking about.

THAT'S NOT ALL, I can actually over look all that ^ What really grates me is when customer support says, "I'm going to send this to a higher level of technical support, you'll be getting an email with all the information you need to talk to them" then I never get an email. It's not that it will take longer. It's not that you don't know the answer and I have to talk to someone else. It is simply that you said you would do something that never happened. This is pretty much the problem with the whole world. Many many people say many many things, but have no intention of actually doing anything they say*.

*I cannot claim this without recognizing some hypocrisy, but at least I am aware and apologize when possible.

That Light-bulb is Around here Somewhere

2011-09-21T08:55:00.000-05:00

Finally got around to revamping geekwagon.net's main page with my new "structure is important" goal in mind. The more I get to know PHP the better I understand how powerful it can be. My infinite noobness actually had me going to all the pages and making changes. This was fine for a while, when I had 2 pages. Now that I am expanding and learning I know I can have a file named head.php with the line

link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://geekwagon.net/home/common/stylesheets/current_stylesheet.css"

Then when or if I ever want to change my style sheet I don't have to go and change it on every page. Every page I make just does a file_get_contents. Then if I want to try a new style sheet just go change the line in head.php.

I'm sure I'm the last person on the planet to figure this out. It also feels like I'm reinventing WordPress. Albeit, a really simple version for slow people like myself. Either way, I am learning and that is what is important.

Side note: omgthx for updating post interface Blogger/Google/whoever you are. We can write post using most of the browser window instead of that little useless box!

Definition of Maximum?

2011-09-06T13:22:00.000-05:00

I'd like to preposition this post by saying I am a fan of 7-zip. I couldn't help but notice in their Compression level options they have an option above Maximum.

Is there a definition of maximum I was unaware of?

max·i·mum/ˈmaksəməm/
Noun: The greatest or highest amount possible or attained.
Adjective: As great, high, or intense as possible or permitted.

Photo courtesy of my Print Screen button.

I suppose, because it's open source, I can fork it and make my own version that changes the position of Maximum and Ultra. Maybe just remove Ultra all together. There is a decent chance my programming skill is not good enough to do even that (though usually I can find and delete pretty good). I find this over site a little ridiculous for a whole community of logical thinkers, so I can only assume I am missing a key tidbit of relevant information.

Poor web design

2011-09-06T13:08:00.000-05:00

One of my recent projects has been geekwagon.net. It's a website that is pretty much useless, but gives me something to code by hand to figure things out. Today I came across this article about bad html and css.

Other than the bullet about flash dependency, I think I've broken every one of these dang rules. I found the part about "visual thinking" the most eye opening. That is pretty much how I've always done websites. First figure out how I want it to look, then make a structure that conforms to it. That paragraph changed the way I will make websites from now on. Worth a read.

Redefining My Personal Blog

2011-08-31T10:55:00.000-05:00

Long periods of time go by between posts, this is just something I've decided is just par for the course of most personal blogs. Besides, it's not like anyone reads them anyway.

I've been having fun playing around with websites lately; specifically geekwagon.net. One of the things I did with the domain was move my blog to a subdomain on geekwagon.net. It's time to redefine what I use this blog for.

Obscure Observations - The idea is to point out anything interesting not already on the Internet. Almost guaranteed to lead to short horrible posts like these examples.
Personal Achievements - Perhaps achievement is too strong a word. Things posted should be interesting in some fashion, but will end up being case mods or sketchup models of Rubik's cubes.
Helpful to Someone - Things I do, usually to help me figure it out in my own head, and make note of in hopes it might help someone. My only decent examples are financial, but maybe there will be post that branch out from that.
Rant - Who doesn't need to rant sometimes?

Fan Fiasco

2010-02-21T10:22:00.009-06:00

For some time now the 92mm case fan in my girlfriends computer has been loud and obnoxious. I notice it most as it fan undulates in my ear when I sit in my recliner that is next to her computer. Yesterday we both felt we had enough and proceed strait to Altex without passing 'Go' or collecting $200.

Altex is generally a little over priced when compared to just about everyone else, but here in Corpus it is about the only place left you can buy a case fan. Their selection is limited as well. Makes me think I should open a Fry's here in Corpus.

After standing in the case fan isle for a few minutes I made my decision and went to check out. The nice lady rung up $16.18! Really?

Altex also had no selection of rubber washers or case fan silencers (you know those rubber things that go all around the case fan). Then we went to Lowes. The place I knew we could find rubber washers, perhaps not of the perfect size, but at least some thing that could work. Another $5.06 later we were successful.

We get home, solder a plug to the Altex fan because apparently a freakin $16 fan can't come with a plug. Then plug it in to realize it spins way to slow to make since. Another look at the cryptic sticker on the fan shows this is a 24volt fan. Why Altex? Why do you even carry 24volt fans? Google [lmgtfy.com] doesn't even know.

I hung an 80mm case fan in her case with a single screw while we wait for the one from newegg.com. It's what we should have done in the first place. It's one of the best 92mm fans you can buy (opinion alert) on newegg.com, it comes with a 4pin plug, rubber washers, it's 12 volt, and even with shipping it's $2.00 less than Altex.

For the record, nothing against Altex. I get it, if I want it now I'm willing to pay a little more. Really my complaint is the voltage. Of course it's my fault for not looking, but who would have thought to even look for that? True I could wire it to make it work, but the computer is a Shuttle and I don't think it would be a good idea to put more strain on it than necessary.

I will make a note on whether or not the new fan is worth a flip when we get it.

UPDATE Feb 25 - Got the new fan and so far so good. It spins at about 2050RPM and is quiet. The only thing that makes noise in it now is the Power Supply fan, but it's one of those 40mm fans. I hate 40mm fans.

NES PC

2010-02-20T11:52:00.015-06:00

The idea of building a computer from an old Nintendo Entertainment System is not a new one. While I may not be boldly going were no geek has gone before I took the opportunity to build one of these with no cost to myself (other than time).

I did look at a lot of other NES PCs before I started construction of this one. The primary goal of my NES PC was to make one that didn't feel flimsy. There are a lot of NES PCs out there that look like they'd fall apart if jostled too much. I wanted something that felt solid when you picked it up. I didn't want parts to rattle around.

The most notable thing left out of this NES PC is an optical drive. The owner wants to put in a blue ray drive, but it was cost prohibited at the time of purchase. The design left a place just big enough for one to be added in the future.

I divided this post into two parts. Lessons Learned, basically things I'd have done different in hind sight. The Cool Parts is the section of what I think worked really well.

There are some pictures on this post, but you can see a whole lot more here. Yes I know I can't take pictures worth a flip and I am sorry for that.

Lessens Learned
Power Supply - The one we chose is small, but a few months after the parts purchase I found much smaller ones.

Motherboard - A couple of lessons here. First of all, the memory slot, it's for standard size memory and it sticks way up. There are boards that support smaller laptop size memory and it lays flat. Second, no HDMI. While this was a factor taken into consideration when we chose the parts, I would have personally preferred an HDMI output. The owner has a TV that supports RGB input, so he saved a few bucks here. Last but not least, size. While the mini-ITX format is damn small, I couldn't mount the motherboard all the way on the bottom of the NES. If you've ever opened an NES you know there are three ridges that stick up and make mounting a board all the way on the bottom impossible without serious cutting. In my case I had planned to mount on top of those ridges, but it was the power and reset button that didn't allow me to lay the motherboard there. I used 1" mounting posts and a few brass washers so the board would clear the power and reset button assembly. Doing this gave me little head room inside the NES case.

Heat - Even with the low power of an Atom CPU it gets hot. The 40mm Fan was a decision made in hind sight.

The Cool Parts
Power and Reset buttons - I was able to use the original power and reset button assembly. For those with fond NES memories, you will know the power button stays in when pressed and the reset button is a momentary switch. PC's need momentary switches for both power and reset. To fix this I just had to remove a little piece of plastic on the power button that held it in when pressed. Then all I had to do is a little testing with a multimeter and some soldering, and we were in business. I even kept the original LED so when it's powered on it looks as authentic as it can get.

Controller Ports - RetroZone sells a USB chip to mod NES controllers so they can be plugged into a PC. Great idea, but I don't want to mod a bunch of controllers. I modded the controller ports (hey they were there). I was worried at first that Windows wouldn't pick up controllers plugged in after the PC was booted up. As far as the OS is concerned the controllers are always plugged in. After much testing I realized it was going to work perfectly. It's just awesome to be able to plug in an unmodded NES controller and play games. I even added software to move the mouse with the controller.

The less expensive option was to wire them to the parallel port. I've found this method to make the controllers feel sluggish. That, and the fact I didn't want a bunch of ugly wires running from the parallel port back to the inside of the case, made these USB converters a great idea.

Motherboard and Power Supply Mounting - Although I didn't get it exactly where I wanted it in the end, I really like the way the motherboard mounts. It feel solid and secure, just like mounting a motherboard in a real case. The ATX I/O plate even snaps in place.

Future Optical Disc - Raising the motherboard left little room between the top of the NES and motherboard, but there will be just enough room for a slim blue ray drive when the time comes. The hight of a slim blue ray drive is 13mm, there is 15.5mm to spare.

GnuCash Personal Finance Manager

2010-02-20T10:06:00.007-06:00

For years I've used a spreadsheet to manage my personal finances. Over the years my spreadsheet has gotten prettier and more complex with grander formulas that tell me exactly how I am wasting my money.

Last November I discovered GnuCash. Once I got my head wrapped around it I decided to ditch the spreadsheet for my daily finances (but not all together--I'll explain).

I am no accountant, but after a little self teaching I learned rather quickly that I was reinventing the wheel with my spreasheet. In my spreadsheet I used a "transaction type" column so I could sort my transactions and make neat little pie charts that tell me things like, how much I blew going to lunch every day. Or, how much it cost me to have a car.

GnuCash can do all that too, but first I had to figure out that every thing is an account. (see double-entry bookkeeping) For some things this makes since. My Checking account is an account. My credit card is an account. My investments are accounts. Where I had trouble with this, at first, was expenses.

Expenses all fall under one account (cleverly called 'expenses'). Then everything you spend money on goes into it's own sub account. I buy gas, it goes under Expenses:Auto:Gas. The more you divide things up the more specific you can be with reports. For example; I can bring up a report that just shows all the gas I bought last month by drilling down all the way to Expenses:Auto:Gas.

If I choose, I can also bring up a report that just brings up Auto. Then I can see a pie chart of all the Auto sub accounts. I'll have a wedge for Gas, Maintenance, Insurance, Fees, and Parking. These are just examples. I can make sub accounts for anything I spend money on, or delete the ones I don't need. GnuCash comes with a set of expense accounts you can use, or you can make your own from scratch.

Personally I started with theirs, and then added and deleted as I saw fit.

The beauty of the system is you can be as detailed or as lazy as you want. If you are a real obsessive compulsive tightwad, you can enter every receipt and even divide them up by what was spent on lunch and what was spent on sales tax (for the record, I put sales tax under Expenses:Taxes:Sales Tax I don't believe it was one of the default categories).

On the other hand, you can trash receipts and download the Microsoft Money or Quicken file from your bank once a month. They can be imported in to GnuCash almost just as easily as they can the expensive counterparts they are supposed to be imported into.

Which brings me to the last thing I love about GnuCash. It's open source, which means it's free, but it's better than free.

I did mention I still use a spreadsheet for somethings, and it's true. Perhaps I haven't completely embraced my new methods. There are just some things I still find easier on the spreadsheet. Specifically, future planning. I can just copy and paste rows of information and see where I'm going to put my tax return. In my spreadsheet I also have sheets with formulas that help me with other financial aspects. The one I use most helps me divide up my income by percentages, but GnuCash gave me a reason for a new one. A formula that calculates sales tax from the total on a receipt (for those generic receipts that don't give me sales tax).

I haven't posted here in a while, so I apologize if this is just a blarg of information. There are a few new posts I've been meaning to work on and get up here. In part I must blame Google Buzz for reminding me that I have a neglected blog. In the not too distant future I plan to write about tools and procedures you can use to easily keep your GnuCash data safe and secure.

4x4x4 version 1.0

2009-04-30T18:12:00.007-05:00

Model Link

Finally finished a 4x4x4 cube, but the experience taught me all new and improved sketchup skills that make me want to start all over. So I did, but I decided to finish this one first.

Because I actually got this cube with the intent of putting it on sketchup I figured the package might be fun to do too. I'll have a more detailed exploded view when I finish version 2. Then I guess I'll go get a 5x5x5.

Imitation is a form of flattery

2009-02-24T07:23:00.002-06:00

Even if I wasn't the inspiration I am not longer the only Rubik's cube on 3D Warehouse with internal components. Clicking on the picture will take you to the model.

It's pretty good too. This guy left the piece's more open, like what you'd find if you cracked open a cube. I presume they do that to save plastic. I've thought about changing mine, or making an alternative cube that has this too.

My only complaint is that his is not to scale. It measure's 1' 9" across. No big deal, there is not much on sketchup to scale.

Back to Rubik's Cubes

2009-02-11T17:27:00.006-06:00

I had so much fun making different exploded views of my 3x3x3 Rubik's cube I decided to go back and do the same thing to my 2x2x2.

The elusive interior workings of a 2x2x2.

And it wouldn't be completer without an extreme exploded view.

It would be cool if others made different views that were interesting to them, or better yet animations. I haven't mastered animations quite yet.

Link to the Sketchup Model.

More Detailed Sketchup Cube

2009-02-08T08:42:00.006-06:00

Now that Sketchup 7 is out I've been looking for an excuse to play around and see what it can do. What better model to use than my Sketchup masterpiece, the detailed Rubik's Cube.

Like the original it has all the internal parts, but I dubbed it the "more detailed" cube because it even has the screw that holds the center pieces on to the axles.

This new cube also has a couple of different exploded views.

Link to this Sketchup Model.

Signs of a bad economy

2009-01-30T17:34:00.003-06:00

I keep hearing how bad the economy is, but I have yet to really see it until today. I got an email from my bank that said this.

Dear James,
Customer Number:
This is a notification that a large purchase was made using your Electric Orange Card that exceeds your designated amount. Here are the transaction details:
Date: 01/30/2009
Merchant: SUBWAY #1273
$ Amount: $1.06
If you did authorize this transaction and are aware of it, then this is just a friendly reminder.

If you didn't authorize this transaction, please login to ingdirect.com and click on your Electric Orange to view all your account details. Then click on this transaction to review all the related information.
This security email was sent because you elected to receive an Email Notification any time a large dollar transaction is processed using your Electric Orange card. This adds to the safety and security of your account. You can review and change your Email Notification settings at any time by logging into your account at ingdirect.com
and clicking on the 'Preferences' tab.

Really? A dollar six is considered a large purchase now? I know you guys had to lay off some people ING, but I don't think a dollar is worth added precautions.

Edit: for the record I don't even have a designated amount set to send me an email.

Bond, James Bond

2008-09-22T07:11:00.004-05:00

Important James Bond fact: the total length of all the Bond films on DVD right now is 43.6 hours. So if you plan to watch them all before Quantum of Solace get to it.

Star Trek 3

2008-09-15T14:41:00.006-05:00

We've all heard the theory that even numbered Star Trek movies are good and odd numbered ones are bad. For the sake of Star Trek 11 I hope things change, but today I'm here to argue for Star Trek III. Despite it's odd number, this is an enjoyable movie. I have logical arguments as to why.

This is the only Star Trek movie where an act of piracy is commeted.
This movie proves that the same man can play Dr. Emmit Brown and the most ruthless Klingon ever (the dude killed his own girlfriend just because she watched a video).
For the nerd, this movie is the reason Kirk got busted back down to captain. Thus fufilling his own best destiny once again as the captain of a starship.
It has this scene where Uhura puts some guy in his place.

The only real drag of the movie was replacing the actress that played Lt. Saavik. Why do they do that in movies when they could so easily write the old character out and write the new one in as a new, yet similar, character?

Google's Ode to the Geekwagon

2008-08-15T07:50:00.001-05:00

I can see my old trailer from Google Street view!

View Larger Map

Edit: October 11, 2011

Years later I am surprised this is still here. I'm sure someday Google will update streetview so I added a picture for when they do.

Sketchup 2x2x2 Rubik's Cube

2008-08-09T11:33:00.004-05:00

I had taken apart many of the 3x3x3 Rubik's Cubes and had a good understanding of how they work. The 2x2x2, however, was quite the mystery to me. So I went out and bought one. The first thing I did was take it apart, and now I have made a Sketchup model of it and it's internal components.

Below are some pictures and you can download the model here.

My Letter to Lucas

2008-08-09T09:46:00.003-05:00

There is a slashdot article this morning about Lucas doing research for a fifth Indiana Jones film. That being the case I have no choice but to send him a letter.

August 9, 2008
Dear Lucusfilm,
I'll keep this short because all I want to do is get an idea out there.
The first three Indiana Jones movies were loosely based on a major world religion. Perhaps in the fifth movie you should go back to religion. There are still four more major world religions waiting for Indy to revile something mystical and supernatural about them.
Buddhism has roots in India and China, perhaps it could be an opportunity to bring back an adult Short Round.

Thanks,
James

Doubt anything will actually come of it, but my love for the Indiana Jones series compels me to try.

SketchUp UFO

2008-08-03T13:02:00.006-05:00

Inspired by my sole Rubik's cube comment I decided to make my own UFO. Just like the cube there was a lack of quality 3D Warehouse models. My UFO is based on Bob Lazar's "Sport Model" that Testor turned into a model kit. Not only are there plenty of pictures of this particular craft on the web, but I had this model when I was young and remember the details surprisingly well.

The SketchUp model can be downloaded here, and below are some pictures.

Update on my Detailed Rubik's Cube

2008-08-02T20:49:00.002-05:00

I uploaded my detailed Rubik's cube to Google's 3D warehouse. Today I noticed I actually had a comment from some dude who seemed to be impressed and he noted, "This is exactly what we should be doing with [SketchUp]."

Of all the Internet I was able to impress a single person. Good enough for me.

logmein to logmein

2008-08-02T13:09:00.003-05:00

I recently learned that changing jobs can cause long gaps in blog postings.

Now that I am settled into a new job I am back to getting my geek on. One of the new tricks I learned about is logmein.com (don't forget to type the "i" in that url). So of course on of the first things I had to do was logmein to a computer that was able to logmein back to the computer I was on. It gave me this neat mirror mirror effect and rendered my mouse cursor useless.

Nintendo is Trying to Make Me Better

2008-05-24T11:56:00.005-05:00

First it was Brain Age, then Wii Sports, and now Wii Fit. These guys are making exercising and thinking hard fun. What's wrong with them?

I've only been playing Wii Fit for a day now and I have to say it is way too much fun for working out. The reward system Nintendo uses in Wii Fit and games like Brain Age totally dig into my game side and make me want to keep going even though the games are telling me to rest.

The really cool thing is, now I can try all those strange things that you'd normally have to go to a gym and work with a trainer. Like yoga. I don't know squat about yoga, but the game makes it easy and fun. True some will argue you can still exercise without a Wii, but what's the fun in that?

It makes since to me that these kinds of games are appealing. Today all we seem to focus on is how we can better entertain ourselves. I can't tell you how often I hear people complain they're board. I used to think it was just all these lazy American's, but I'm beginning to think it's a commonality among developed countries.

I just hope this doesn't turn into another piece of exercise equipment that gets used for a week then turns into a full time dust collector. Given what I've seen so far I think Wii Fit will last at least a month before I start to slack off. Time will tell. Don't tell Brain Age I'm playing Wii Fit, he hasn't seen me in a few months.

Indiana Jones

2008-05-22T07:27:00.003-05:00

I know I'm not one to review movie's on my blog, but this is a special occasion. We're talking about Indiana Jones who is back from the 80's almost twenty years later. I have to admit, I'm actually a pretty big Indy fan. I even like to watch Temple of Doom now and then.

WARNING: Spoilers Below

Before I bash it, I must say it was good to see Indiana on the big screen. There were a lot of things I did like about this movie. I loved how they played into Harrison Ford's age. I think they nailed the 50's quite well. Story wise they worked in the warehouse scene that has the ark in it, and over all there was a lot of classic Indy action. For Indy fans, they'll love the references to the first and third movie.

I have a couple of minor complaints. I was under the impression we'd get to see Sallah again. Granted the movie never went to his part of the world, but he is a great character. I also think, but didn't expect it, this movie would have been a great for an adult Short Round appearance. Indy always has friends he runs into along the way anyway, why not have one we already know a little bit of his background?

Of course, my major complaint is the plot device. Lucas, Spielberg, and Ford have been reviewing scripts surrounding the crystal skull for almost 20 years and when it's all said and done aliens is the best they could come up with? Really? I'm sorry Inter-dimensional being that go to "the space between." Yeah yeah I get it, Ford didn't want to be in another Lucas movie with aliens so they played with names, but they look like aliens and act like aliens so they are freakin' aliens as far as I'm concerned.

The first three movies stuck to major world religions. Raiders was all about Judaism, Temple of Doom was about Hinduism (granted in kind of a dark degrading way), and Crusade was obviously Christianity. In all of those movies Indy doesn't believe the mythology behind the artifact, but through the course of the movie he learns there is something more to it and the audience comes to understand things on a greater scale (like maybe no single religion is right but there is something mystic about them all).

Last I checked we still have four major world religions the Indy series hasn't touched. How about we use those before we jump to aliens? Regardless of my complaints I would still recommend seeing this movie in the theater. Most likely this will be the last Indy movie, so if you want to see Jones on the big screen again (or for some of us the first time) this could be your only chance.

Quick Cube Update

2008-05-08T12:43:00.002-05:00

In the time between this post and the last one, I had lunch and redesigned the middle of my cube. That is a totally attributed to how easy Sketchup is. It downright amazes me sometimes.

The redesigned middle allows me to actually rotate the faces of my cube now. Before it was just a big solid non-rotating brick.

Detailed Rubik's Cube in Google Sketchup

2008-05-08T11:28:00.004-05:00

WARNING: Many pictures ahead and they were all harmed during the making of this post! Load at your own risk.

Finally my masterpiece is finished. I'm sure everyone wonders why did I waste my time with creating a rubik's cube in Google Sketchup? I mean, there so easy to make, and so many have already been made. What makes mine so special?

Well, mine has mad detail. It's way more than a cube divided up into 9 parts and colored in. I crafted each component separately, and to scale.

I was going to go into even more detail, but at this small of a scale Sketchup cannot do some things. For example, you can't make a circle with a radius of 1/64th of an inch. What gives? I just want to round some square corners.

Below are some images I took that looked interesting in Sketchup. Now, I need to figure out how to animate things and I'll really be in business.

Going to the Moon, brb

2008-05-06T14:06:00.004-05:00

Look mom, I'll be on the moon. Anyone else want to go? Feel free to sign up here. All you have to do is click and type your name. You're sure to have a seat right next to Seymour Butts.

The General Grant

2008-05-05T11:36:00.003-05:00

Seeing the General Lee across the street from the shop on a regular basis now made me think about things. I don't know if I would want to drive a car around with a confederate flag painted on the roof. This train of thought lead me to the picture below. It's so great what you can do with Google Sketchup these days.

Stimulus Package, where is the catch?

2008-05-02T09:04:00.003-05:00

Because the last two digits of my SSN ends between 00 and 20, I got my economic stimulus payment today. I was very much under the impression this was a bogus deal. I was pretty sure the money was basically a forward of our 2008 tax return. After perusing the irs.gov site I found this in the stimulus package faq.

Q. Will the payment I receive in 2008 reduce my 2008 refund or increase the amount I owe for 2008?
A. No, the stimulus payment will not reduce your refund or increase the amount you owe when you file your 2008 return.

As far as I can tell, I was wrong. It really is free money from the government. Perhaps not free, I did learn (from Yahoo Answers no less) the stimulus package is basically a loan taken out by the government and passed down to us lowly individuals.

On the other hand don't the expert say we're in this financial mess partly because American's are in so much debt? Should not the government strive to the same financial goals as individuals. Surly they could set an example.

Mr. President, your stimulus payment insults me. Try managing the money I gave you in taxes for the last 13 years better before you concern yourself with my personal finances.

Civ by Mail

2008-04-27T15:14:00.000-05:00

So I got together with my girlfriend and a couple of long distance friends and started the longest game of Civilization 4 ever to be recorded. We're going to play by email.

True we could play over the net, but that would require us to all be on at the same time. Email gives us all a chance to play and gives us the opportunity to really mull over our decisions in game. I'm very much looking forward to this game.

We even decided to blog our game experiences together in a new blog called CivbyMail. This excites me too because I don't get to collaborate with people all that much. Not like this anyhow.

No Freakin' Way

2008-04-25T13:49:00.006-05:00

Not two minutes after I post about the General Lee I find the Bandit parked out front!

Now all I need is a Ghostbuster car and I'll be all set. I've seen a KITT running around town, but never got a picture. Maybe I should look out the windows around the shop more often.

Not Every Day

2008-04-25T13:23:00.003-05:00

Occasionally I'll look out the window of the shop to see what goes on outside. A few minuets ago I was very surprised to see the General Lee was outside. Immediately I grabbed the camera and took a picture because it is just to cool to have the General Lee outside the workshop window. The whole time it was there I was very distracted from computer work. I couldn't seem to get an Acer to boot up off the CD drive until the General Lee left.

Now I have the Duke's of Hazzard theme song stuck in my head, but that's okay; I like that song.

Clicking on the image will display it in much greater detail.

A New Money Saving Theory

2008-04-23T10:02:00.002-05:00

This particular theory I've been practicing for some time, but I finally figured out how to articulate it correctly. I buy cheap stuff. Let me explain more.

A good example is my coffee maker. I bought it over 6 years ago, and it cost me under $20. Now it's great I can say I got so much time out of it for so little (it gets used daily), but that's not the point of buying a cheap coffee pot. The real point is to learn what coffee pots are all about. Learn how they work, how to maintain them, what features I wish my cheap coffee pot had. So that the next coffee pot I buy can actually be a more expensive, I know what I want out of it, and it will save me money because I made all my mistakes on the cheep one.

Now with the coffee pot I've been lucky. If I had broken it in the first month though, it wouldn't have been a big deal. I recently applied this same theory to a blender. The one we bought was $15 (Hey we had a coupon). So far I have learned that, with my next blender, I want mad blending power. I learned with this cheap blender what someone else I know learned on a $50 blender. When I decide to get a better blender I'll know more about what I want.

Google Lacks Ghostbuster Love

2008-04-18T11:57:00.004-05:00

The new version of Google Earth is awesome. You can read all about the new features at their blog, or go check it out for yourself. However I am disappointed.

Photo-realistic 3D buildings are a nice improvement over the old gray shapes they called buildings. Also, the ability to click on a building and have information pop up is very slick. What disappoints me is when I head over to 14 N. Moore St. in New York, NY there is still a big gray rectangular prism. There should be a clickable photo realistic firehouse. It's only the most famous firehouse ever.

Here is a picture for you Google. Get it right in the next version. We'll talk about Dana Barrett's apartment building in the next release.

SCP-4700

2008-04-13T09:06:00.004-05:00

The SCP-4700 is a cellular phone from Sanyo that can be used on the Sprint network. It is the only reason I am still a Sprint customer. The thing just won't die.

I don't remember when exactly I got it, but a good guess is sometime in 2001. They were all the rage at the time, and I ended up with it because my first phone from Sprint died after about 6 months.

Here it is, still working great after 7 or 8 years. Still on the original battery. It can still last a four day trip to Houston without the charger. It has outlasted Sprint customer service which has done nothing but go down hill. I keep thinking I'll switch services when this thing finally dies.

Now it has become an experiment to see how long it will last. I wonder if I can be the last person on the Sprint network still using this phone. Later I'll post a picture of my actual phone. The one pictured here is new, so you can imagine mine looks a little different by now.

I Have the Power

2008-04-11T12:45:00.005-05:00

Lately I've been reading up on solar and wind power, and the more I read the more I realized how dumb I am about electricity. Being dumb about electricity I started with some basics. Basics like how a generator works. After seeing the video I thought to myself, "I have seen something like that before."

Low and behold I was right. A case fan looks just like a generator. Immediately I stripped some wires and busted out with my multimeter to discover I can indeed create electricity by spinning a case fan by hand. In fact, I could power an LED with it.

All of this thinking about electricity has helped me decide on my major at school. While English is interesting, and I still plan to write, electronics is what my heart desires.

Speaking of power, that picture was taken with my old school Sony Digital Mavica. I found a battery for it on Ebay for all of $6 after shipping. Still works great, but it's too bad it only stores pictures on a floppy disk (observe the craptacular quality).

EDIT: Hey I made a video!

More Work on the Demo PC at the Shop

2008-04-08T12:39:00.003-05:00

Most of what I do lately has been work related, so it has been showing up in the Sidtek blog. All the cool stuff is labeled case mod. Unfortunately my cascading style sheet skills are lacking. For some reason almost every page of the blog looks different. Oh well, I'm sure I'll get it in order one day.

Here is my first youtube video.

Sidtek Blog and an Idea for Google

2008-03-29T15:19:00.003-05:00

At work we revamped our web site, and it is long past due in my opinion. I was able to talk the boss into starting an official Sidtek Blog. It still needs some work, but at least it is functional now. It gives me a place to blog about work related things. I was surprised at the number of ideas I've already come up with for it.

So far I've put a little information about net neutrality, our demo machine, a strange computer repair problem I ran into today, and I even have a draft about energy conservation I'll be posting Monday.

Today I sent Google another email with awesome ideas for them. This time it's called Googlealogy. A family tree maker hosted by Google so that people who use their computer to keep track of Genealogy won't loose it if their computer fails on them. Old people would eat it up, and Google could use the opportunity to link them all together and create a giant world wide family tree so we all feel small in the universe.

Powder Coated Optical Drive

2008-03-26T08:54:00.005-05:00

Finally got it back together this morning. I'll probably paint the white circle on top red, but I am undecided on whether or not to paint the front red. I'll mull it over...and paint it later.

Quest of the Avatar

2008-03-25T09:44:00.003-05:00

Having been an Ultima fan for ages, I thought it was time I actually sat down and played through Ultima IV. How can I be a fan without ever having completed the Quest of the Avatar? Last night I was in Yew asking druids about the shrine of Justice when I ran into a kid named Short Round. Obviously a parody of Indiana Jones, but he did tell me to let Mr. Garriott know I was emjoying his game.

This morning I was looking for contact information, but of course I couldn't find anything directly to Mr. Garriott. So I shot an email to NCsoft's PR department in hopes it would get to him.

Below is my letter, and I'll post any reply I get.

Hello,

Please let Mr. Garriott know, as recommended by Short Round, I am enjoying playing through Ultima IV for the first time. I have been a big fan of the Ultima series for a very long time, but somehow I never played through Ultima IV until now. Also, tell him good luck on his space journy.

Thanks,
James

PS: the ncsoft site does not seem to work very well in firefox :(

Powder Coated Parts

2008-03-24T13:10:00.007-05:00

Here are some pictures of some of the parts I got powder coated for the Demo Machine at the shop. The only part not here is the optical drive. I'll have pictures of that as soon as I get it back together.

One Laptop Per Child

2008-03-23T09:18:00.003-05:00

The One Laptop Per Child program is kinda neat. Basically the goal is to make a laptop cheap enough to get into the hands of poor children so they can learn about computer, and learn with computers.

I have the pleasure of having one of these come into my shop. At first I was a little baffled, but the customer told me they had some kind of deal that basically charged her double for her laptop, and they gave one away in some other country.

After getting my hands on it I had some mixed opinions about it. First of all, it's very toy like. Beneath it's toy exterior is a Linux based operating system. Granted the interface for it was also toyish, but there was an easily accessible terminal. It was pretty easy to get online, once I started thinking the right way. At first the controls seamed complicated to my Windows oriented mind. After I figured out that moving the cursor to any corner of the screen brought up the menu options I was on the right track. My only networking complaint is that it can only connect to a wireless network; no ethernet port. Interestingly, the home page for the web browser has a nice easy interface for kids that will take them directly to educational things like a dictionary and encyclopedia. The encyclopedia link goes to Wikipedia; take that English 1302...not a real source my butt.

It also has some interesting kid-oriented programs. Tamtamjam, is a noise making program that I'm sure some talented kid could make sound like music, but I am tone def. It has games, a word processor, and a remarkably clear web cam; over all it is surprisingly functional.

The only thing I didn't get to try is networking it to a desktop. I was curious to see if I could transfer files to and from it, but I didn't really have time to play around on it too much. My only other minor complaint is the keyboard. It's basically a tiny version of those rubber "indestructible" roll up keyboards. Functional, but very hard to type with any speed on (this is coming from a guy who types slow as it is).

Over all, it is a rather complete computer. Perfect for perusing the web and having children learn new things. Exactly what it was designed for. It could be considered a great engineering success.

Anyone interesting in getting their own (probably for your kids) could start at the OLPC site. It is a little difficult to find where to purchase one, but expect to pay more than the $100 or so they cost to make (they're trying to help people duh). I couldn't find much information about the "Give one get one" program. The customer told me it took a long time for her to get it. I can only assume they may have stopped it because too many people were doing it.

My Opinion on the Second Amendment

2008-03-19T10:28:00.005-05:00

I made a profound realization the other day. My opinion counts, at least to me, and I have an opinion about the second amendment.

I don't really know if I'm pro-gun or anti-gun. I can see both side of this argument. On the one hand a gun is an easy way to protect ones home. On the other hand a gun is an easy, life threatening tool of abuse. Personally, I do not own a gun nor do I intend to. I can clearly state, especially after having served in the military, I am not anti-gun simply because I don't have one.

One thing I am for sure on, I'm pro-constitution. Here is the text that matters.

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

From what I have been hearing in the news, the dilemma comes from interpreting what this text means. Recently, the supreme court decided to pretty much ignore the first four words of this amendment. I find it hard to believe the founding fathers put in something about a militia but, with their wisdom, didn't really think it was important. I'm sure they just wrote these amendments off the cuff and didn't even review every word they wrote, or bothered to have it ratified by the states it governed. Right?

To the contrary, they painstakingly chose their words, sentences, and even punctuation. Have no fear, I've got all the answers. I actually think I've come up with a way to satisfy both sides of the argument and even stay true to the original wording of the second amendment.

We need a database, with everyone who owns a gun and people who buy guns will be added to it. We no longer have a need for state militias, but we have a standing army. Gun owners would be the first to be called on in a draft. Citizens that chose not to own guns won't be drafted in a time of war (except maybe in an extreme emergency). Gun owners, in accordance to the second amendment, would be called up to fight right after reservists.

I'm sure there are holes in my plan. I'm sure we would still need some gun regulation laws that prevent people from buying automatic weapons. Over all I think a plan like that would work. Perhaps I'll write my senator. Then maybe someone will actually read my idea.

Exult in Ubuntu

2008-03-17T11:11:00.003-05:00

Oh man, 2 blog posts in one day. What can I say? I have things to talk about.

Yesterday I successfully compiled my first program on Linux (noobuntu lawls). Of course it was Exult and came with plenty of documentation. I did have to do some things not found in the documentation, and I may add to this post when I get home to explain what I had to do to make it work for me.

It is interesting to me that Ultima 7 has had such a huge impact on my life. Back in the day, when you had to make a boot disk to play U7 I got to playing with autoexec.bat and config.sys files to do different things. That is what really sparked my interest with computers. Now I can say Exult inspired me to learn a little more about Linux.

I'd like to be able to say Exult inspired me to learn how to program, but even with Ultima inspiration programming feels out of my grasp.

The Hardware that Makes Me Sad

2008-03-17T10:43:00.004-05:00

Old computer parts make me sad. Today I've been going through a lot of old computer hardware testing to see what is good and what is trash. Some of the gems I found; Creative Sound Blaster Live 5.1, GeForce 3 TI 500 and a TI 200, Geforce 4 MX 440, and an ATI Rage Theater (and the tuner still tunes).

What makes me sad is that these components still work. They didn't die out after years of hard gaming. They weren't victims of some power surge. They didn't meet their end because they were mishandled or abused by armature enthusiast. They have simply outlived their usefulness. Been betrayed by the very technology that created them. Surpassed by cheaper, and probably intergraded, components.

In a way, they are a tribute to their manufactures. Products of such awesome quality that one day they will have nothing better to do than collect dust on a shelf.

PS - I did not win the lottery. I didn't even get a single number!

Lottery Ticket

2008-03-14T18:09:00.003-05:00

I don't play the lottery. The Texas Lottery was created so that we don't have to pay more taxes (like an income tax). So, if I don't play the lottery, I'm not paying taxes. By not playing, I win. Despite all this, I found a coupon for a free lottery ticket. A free lottery ticket is arguably not a gamble.
I think I get the lottery now though. It's not about winning, but about the anticipation of not winning. I won't find out for another four hours if I win anything. I'm pretty sure I won't see a dime of the 59 million jackpot, but so far I've had a blast talking to my co-workers about what I would do with a lot of money. We even talked about what we could do with the measly ten thousand I could win if I hit five of the six numbers. Over all it has been fun. I guess it will be all over when I find out I don't win jack.

For Those That Wonder

2008-02-19T10:46:00.002-06:00

Just in case anyone wanted to know if it was possible to put DDR in backwards and close the claps that hold it in place, it totally is. That's what came through the repair shop this morning. Amazingly, after turning it around the machine booted up and detected the ram just fine.

Star Trek Teaser Trailer

2008-01-21T09:15:00.000-06:00

I don't go to the movies often, but this weekend my girlfriend talked me into seeing Cloverfield. There is not much to say about a monster movie in New York. I have seen New York destroyed in movies so many different ways it is hard to find something interesting about that. However, the best part, in my opinion, was the Star Trek teaser trailer before the movie.

Like many other geeks out there, I've kept an eye on the Internet about new information pertaining to the eleventh Trek film. I have high hopes for this one. Whatever that mathematical formula is for making movies come back and do well, like Die Hard, Rambo, or Indiana Jones; I hope they apply it to this one.

Sometime today the teaser should be on the official site. A version of the teaser can be found on youtube, and it is the expected quality for a video taken in the theater with a camera phone. Below I also added all three teaser posters. I didn't even know there were three already.

Finally, here is a confirmed fake image of the new Enterprise for the movie. It's fake because it was made by Gabriel Koerner well before the movie was in production. In any case, it's a nice picture and I would imagine the new Enterprise might look something like it.

Financial Review of 2007

2008-01-16T09:39:00.000-06:00

To adequately review 2007, I had to go back to 2006. Unfortunately, the way I kept track of finances in 2006 was a little different than 2007. Over the years I find new, improved, and interesting ways to keep meticulous financial data. I spent a little time going back over 2006 so that I could organize my data in a way that it was comparable to 2007.

The results were somewhat interesting, at least to me. I made 1% more than I spent both years. Which makes perfect since to me when I look at my savings account and compare it to how much I made each year. I thought I was doing well on savings, but only saving 1% of what I made in two years makes me feel like I could have done better.

I paid off more debt in 2007. Most of that debt was accumulated in 2006. Auto maintenance and gas spending doubled. It was 3% in 2006, but 6% in 2007. I think it was because in 2006 and major auto repair went into debt. In 2007 I was able to pay for all auto expenses out of pocket and keep them off the credit card.

I stopped reporting monthly financial reviews on my blog because they were boring, even to me. Annual reviews, I learned today, are also boring. That being said I think 2008's financial review, when compared with 2007, will be more interesting because now I can compare two life styles: trailer life versus apartment life. I think I'll go ahead and even make some 2008 predictions.

- Bills will increase in 2008, but probably about as much as they did from 2006 to 2007.
- Other spending (luxury items and things that don't fit neatly into a category) will be down because I've started bringing my lunch to work.
- Auto spending will be down, I hope way down. I started riding my bike to work. Obviously I'll save on gas, but I'm also hoping that if I use my truck less I'll also save on maintenance and maybe even put off a repair or two.

I have to admit, moving did have me sweating finances at first. Granted it has only been two weeks into 2008, but so far finances have been better than ever before. Some of that can be accounted for by the sell of the trailer and the little extra I get from the GI Bill for going back to school. I also think that there was a hidden cost with trailer life. Anything that went wrong came out of my pocket. When I had to replace the air conditioner, it was up to me to fund the new one. Same goes for the power converter. In the apartment, on the other hand, when something breaks I don't sweat it. I just tell the front office to send maintenance to come fix my problem. This might really work out to my advantage this year.

The inner ring is 2006, and the outer ring is 2007. Click for larger image.

IE7 Surprise

2008-01-11T08:56:00.000-06:00

Like most, I find IE7 amusing because it copied so many features from Firefox. True, many of Firefox's features were copied from other web browsers like Netscape and Opera; but it is safe to say it was Firefox that popularized those features.

I did eventually get to playing around with IE7, and to my surprise I discovered something I would like to see in Firefox. Multiple home pages. At first I was like, "Why do I need many home pages?" I was under the impression it was like another favorites. Like my favorite favorites, and that would be lame. Then it dawned on me, all those home pages open in tabs when you open IE7. That could be convent in Firefox. It even sounds like something Firefox could do, so I looked through all it's options and came up short. Perhaps there is a plug in. I'll probably just wait to see if it comes with Firefox 3.

Unusual Network Adapter Problem

2008-01-10T13:46:00.000-06:00

This morning I may have encountered one of the most unique computer problems yet. A customers onboard network adapter was not obtaining an IP address, even after a nice fresh install of windows and even on a Linux live CD. This I had seen before. Simple fix, pop int a PCI network card and call it a day.

Not so fast, the PCI network card would do the exact same thing. I tried two more, one of those of a different brand, with the same results. On top of that I got the exact same results under Linux. The only thing the PCI network cards and the on board network card has in common is the PCI buss. To make it weirder, a USB Ethernet adapter works just fine.

Obviously my recommendation is to simply use a USB Ethernet adapter. I just found it to be a strange problem.

Magic the Gathering

2008-01-07T17:10:00.000-06:00

The Magic collectible card game has always fascinated me. I used to play, back when they didn't release expansions every week and you didn't have to spend a small fortune to get a decent collection of cards. Even though I don't play, the game that interested me so much is still there. There is a bit of preplanned strategy, a bit of luck, and some skill. Hopefully your strategy and skill are good enough to make up for bad luck, and occasionally good luck will help out those that lack the rest.

I've been going through a lot of my old cards now that we've moved and I have a place to keep them. I was hoping to find that they were worth a fortune, but they are still worth about what I paid for them. Over all it has gotten me to read up on how the game works again, and while a lot has changed the basics are the same.

I don't plan to start buying cards again so I can spend hours building a deck. Then get owned by some 12 year old; then spend hours tweaking my deck again. That part of the game, while fun, doesn't interest me as much anymore. I'm more interested in the preconstructed decks. They are already made so you don't have to spend a lot of money collecting cards. You don't have to spend a lot of time to find out which cards work well together. They are all about equally powerful when played against each other. You simply get to sit down and play, and thats cool to me.

Also, while reading up on Magic again, I found a neat little open source program that lets you create your own cards. And to think, I used to do that in MS Paint!

Saving Money in 2008

2008-01-02T11:24:00.000-06:00

On my last trip to my parents house I grabbed my old bicycle. The idea is to ride it to work and save some gas. Not that I really think my short ride to work will really save the environment, but I know it will save me some money. If my guesses are close, I could save about $150 a month in gas money.

I also get a little bit of a work out. I see this as a cool trade off because I really have a hard time exercising. I actually like to exercise, I just feel like it is a time waster. How can a treadmill not feel like a waste of time? Riding to work, on the other hand, is exercise with a purpose. I like exercise like that. I should try to find more of that kind of exercise.

I've ridden to work twice now and I can see there are a few bike upgrades I would really like to get my hands on. First of all, a new seat. I don't recall bike seats being that hard, but I was 12. Now I'm 28 and desire a squishy soft seat with big springs to protect my tush from all those bumps and dips in the road. There are millions of bumps and dips between my place and work.

The other thing I need is some kind of storage compartment. I found a behind the seat platform with bungee cords, but it doesn't fit where it is supposed to. I may have to do some rigging to make that work. If I can rig that, I'll have a place to store lunch and small things I need to take between work and home. Bringing lunch to work will save me a lot more than a little gas money.

Gingerbread Resturant

2007-12-24T14:02:00.000-06:00

My families Second Annual Gingerbread house contest between my brother and I will be taking place soon. This year it will be the day after Christmas, and this year he is the one who has to travel with his house.

The theme for this year is "restaurants" and this is also the first year I decided to make mine all from scratch. We only have one rule so far, it must be 100% edible. I decided to go all from scratch this year since this time I have a kitchen. I learned a couple of lessons that should aid me in next years gingerbread construction.

1. Measurements are Important
In my first batch of gingerbread dough I learned there is a difference in teaspoons and table spoons. Also, gingerbread is not the most accurate material to work with. For the sizing of the pieces I eye-balled the whole project. I did pretty good considering, but I think a ruler would have made it that much better.

2. Thick Gingerbread Cooks Slower
Maybe this is like a measurement problem, but I think next year I will focus on making all my pieces closer to the same thickness when rolling them out. Also, cooking smaller pieces with larger pieces is not a great idea. I plan to try and keep similar size gingerbread pieces together when in the oven.

3. Painting Icing
Using a paint brush to decorate seemed like an awesome idea. The lady on TV said it doesn't even leave brush strokes when it dries. Things never seem to work like they do on TV.

Collar Colors

2007-12-07T09:08:00.000-06:00

This morning I wore a shirt I had pretty much forgot I had. There were a number of brand new, tag toting, shirts I packed away and put into storage. During the move we took everything out of storage. It was like Christmas all over. Today, since it's casual Friday, I wore one of my new shirts. It's blue and soft, a tad bit on the small side. Being blue made me ponder whether I was a blue collar worker or a white collar worker. I turned to Wikipedia for specifics on this subject.

I was surprised to learn there are many colored collared workers. White and blue I already had a decent understanding of. The reason I was curious is because my job has elements of both white and blue collar work.

Example that fit into white collar category:

I primarily sit while working
I work in an air conditioned environment
I do a lot of paperwork

Examples that fit into blue collar category:

Fixing computers is quite manual, it's not an IT job
Computers are dirty (dust + smokers = me washing my hands a lot).
I earn my wages hourly

I learned there is a gold, gray, pink, and green collared worker too. Most of those have clear definitions except for gray. Gray can be a person that works beyond retirement years, a person that does not fit into blue or white collar categories, or a person that fits into both. I guess, according to the omniscient Wikipedia, I best fit into the gray collar definition.

I'm not a big fan of the gray collar definition because it is so broad. Perhaps I'll be a gray collared worked all my life, only I'll find myself fit into the same category by one of the other definitions.

Bittersweet Reality

2007-11-29T10:00:00.000-06:00

Despite the fact my blog somewhat revolves around me living in an Airstream, I plan to continue this blog even though I am moving to an apartment. Ultimately, the Geek Wagon is a failed dream, but the spirit lives on. It is not just about living in a small confined mobile space. It is about being free to go and do what you want and not being tied down to any place in particular. The idea is great; the reality is that it is impossible.

To travel you have to have money. To have money you have to stay in one place and work. It is the typical time and/or money paradox. I look forward to life in the apartment because it will give me the opportunity to do things I cannot do in the trailer. Obviously it is nice to stretch out a little too. Ultimately, I do intend to create Geek Wagon version 2.0, and like all revisions things will be better the second time around.

Edited to add last pictures of the Geek Wagon. These were taken just a few minutes before I sold it and handed over the title.

The Electoral College

2007-11-29T09:10:00.000-06:00

What can I say about the United States electoral college other than it is completely broken. The system we have set up now is most definitely not what the founding fathers had in mind. In fact, it is very opposite what they had in mind.

Currently, it is up to the states to decide who goes to vote in the electoral college, and thats where I would place the blame on why the system is broken. For states that are predominately one political party, like Texas, democratic votes are useless. Hell, republican votes are useless, because no matter what Texas will send 34 people to vote on whoever the republican candidate is.

This is not a fair representation of what the voters are voting for. This is not democracy! Your vote only really counts if you live in the right place. I don't even know what kind of government that is "geodemocracy" maybe? Your vote only matters if you are in the right geographic location.

The states are to blame because it was set up so the states can send whoever they want, but they chose to swing all the way to one side and send people who will vote only on the dominate party in the state. Why not simplify the system and send an accurate representation of how the people in your state voted? For example, if in Texas 91% of the people vote for a republican and 9% vote for a democrat, we should send 31 republican voters and 3 democratic voters. Is that really a difficult concept? Representing the people is what a democracy is all about. Not playing political games and creating rules to swing that game one way or the other. I'm not just picking on Texas here either. The fault lies with all 50 states. Way to go and conform to whats popular, not a single state stands out and does things differently.

As long as the electoral college stays the way it is I will never register to vote. The day my state grows the balls to make a change to accurately represent the will of its population, then I'll vote. I'll be the first in line. I will proudly serve my jury duty when it comes up too because now I have a voice. Until then I choose to be a nonvoter to protest our "geodemocracy."

Debunking the Myths

2007-11-13T07:49:00.000-06:00

When I said soon I wasn't kidding. Here is my second paper. As stated in the last post this is an argumentative that argues for the advantages of open source software over proprietary commercial software.

This time I did not loose any points for work cited problems. It was an A+, but for those of you that might actually look up my sources, take them with a grain of salt. Although there is no plagiarism, I'm pretty sure I might have mixed up some sources with what I actually cited. This, of course, is not something that the teacher would catch in grading because I'm sure she does not go and read every source on every students paper. For the ones I got wrong I apologies. I thought about going back and fixing them all, but instead I think it would be more appropriate to share this in its original form.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dftrrvsj_73p45vjq

Soon we'll be doing our third project, which is actually a presentation. For my presentation I will obviously do a PowerPoint presentation (PowerPoint is all that is available in the class room), and instead of a pamphlet I plan to actually pass out a CD with some open source software on it. One of those mini CD's people will think is cool. I'll post the presentation here, and if I can find a place to host it, the iso of the CD.

The Open Source Advantage

2007-11-13T07:35:00.000-06:00

The Open Source Advantage is the informative paper I wrote for my English class. Although I made an A, I did loose points for my works cited page. I had some citations in there I didn't use in the paper, and some that were used in the paper but not on the page. Turns out I got confused with my copy and pasting of sources.

Other than my citation confusion, many people told me the paper was good. That gave me the confidence to publish it to the world. Odds are, no one will see it. None the less, it's out there.

I decided to use Google Documents as my medium to share my paper for a couple of reasons. First of all I didn't have to find a place to host my file. I don't have to make up my mind on what format to save it in. Also, Google Documents gives the option to save in any format if anyone should decide to use my paper for any reason. The link is below.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dftrrvsj_72htjvn3

Thanks for anyone who is interested, and feel free to criticize. I'll post my second paper, which argues the advantages of open source over proprietary commercial software, soon.

Multi-function switch

2007-11-10T13:53:00.000-06:00

My last post was about some topics I wanted to go more in depth about in the near future. First things first, a little auto repair.

The blinker in my truck stopped, well, blinking. The hazard lights still worked, so I can only conclude their was something wrong with the switch for the blinkers. I referred to my incredibly useful, yet monstrous, 65MB PDF that tells me all I would ever want to know about my truck. I learned that all of the blinker, hazard, lights, and wipers are all a part of this nifty little multi-function switch. Of course the PDF goes into how to remove it and put a new one back in place, but nothing about the inner workings of the switch. Before I drop $80 on a whole new switch I thought I'd just crack it open and see what makes it tick.

I would appear I was 100% right. Something was wrong with the switch and it was corrosion. South Texas' salt air, humidity, and heat can really wear things out around here. I learned long ago from my Dad you can clean corroded contacts with a pencil eraser, but never put that to the test until this. Now I know it requires a pencil eraser and a little bit of elbow grease.

Unfortunately, no amount of elbow grease seemed to make it work right again. Either I can't clean it well enough, or it's something more than corroded contacts. I'll probably end up purchasing a new multi-function switch.
EDIT: I was 100% wrong. Although the multi-function switch looked corroded, the multimeter test says it's good. I guess I'll go back to my PDF and try to find the cause my my blinker problem. I don't know what it is, but I suspect the little blue box behind the fuse panel that clicks when the blinker is on.

Up and coming in November

2007-11-06T08:56:00.000-06:00

This morning I came up with about three different blog post I want to write about. Instead of going into detail on each on right now I thought I would just make a quick note so I don't forget.

First, the Electoral College. It's lame. Lamer than lame. Perhaps the lamest thing in our political system right now. But it wasn't always lame, in fact it was pretty ingenious when it was formed by the constitution over 200 years ago.

Second, I've been in contact with my friend Felix and he's been asking me about trailer life. Read my blog dude. My correspondence with him sparked many areas of trailer life I have not yet put in my blog.

Finally, I recently wrote some English paper's about open source software and I think in the spirit of open source I will release my papers to the public on my blog in a true open source style. I just want to do a tad bit of revising before I do so.

Power Supply Trouble

2007-10-22T15:32:00.000-05:00

There is an additional 4 pins on a 24 pin mother board power connector when compared to the older 20 pin mother board power connector. Duh! The power connector is wired and keyed so that you can plug in a 20 pin power connector into a 24 pin and vise versa (although the additional 4 pins hang over).

Some new power supplies allow you to remove those additional 4 pins to keep them out of the way when using an older 20 pin motherboard. I never realized those additional 4 pins are keyed the same as the 4 pin auxiliary 12 volt plug that applies additional power to the CPU. It never even dawned on me to try to swap those.

This guy managed to stretch his add-on 4 pin connector to the 12 volt plug. One would think by all the extra work he had to do to stretch it far enough should have been a clue that maybe it doesn't go there.

In any case, this mother board was fried by the time we got it.

Although this isn't the kind of thing I would have thought to do, it does bother me slightly that they aren't keyed differently.

Weighted Companion Cube <3

2007-10-19T14:53:00.000-05:00

As usual, the latest installment of the Half-Life series gets my highest recommendations. This one also came with Portal. I was a big fan of Narbacular Drop. More of the idea than the actual game. When I heard Valve snatched up the guys that made it, I knew something wonderful was in the works and I was so right.

Portal is what they came up with. Everything about this game was spectacular. The concept, the levels, the computer bad girl, and of course the Weighted Companion Cube. I found a place to print and create your own Weighted Companion Cube. But be cautious, mass of the paper Weighted Companion Cube may not be enough to trigger Aperture Science 1500-Megawatt Super colliding Super Button.

Playing with Prosper

2007-10-07T16:39:00.000-05:00

With my recent interest in finance I checked out a few finance blogs. One of them introduced me to a little website called Prosper. I was a little skeptical at first, but bottom line you are the bank. Folks put in for loans up to $25,000 and all loans are on a 3 year term. I am a lender, so I loan people money, but I don't have to come up with the whole principal, just at least $50. My $50, combined with many other Prosper lenders, make up the loan the borrower gets.

I get to chose who I lend money to. I can see their credit rating, debit to income ratio, and even post a question if I want. People with better credit can get away with a lower interest rate, but their a safe bet. Borrowers with bad credit will start at higher interest rates (pretty normal stuff). When I put in my $50 bid, I chose the lowest interest rate I'm willing to take. It's all very interesting and I highly recommend throwing in $50 to try it out. I got in on a reference, so after I made my first loan I got a bonus $25. Free $25 bucks is hard to beat.

Because my first loan has so far gone well, I've decided $50 a month isn't too hard to come up with. My first loan gives me back a whopping $1.68 a month. Right now the plan is to make the money I get back a month equal the $50 I put into it a month, thus making it a self sustaining investment. Depending on the loans I find, and assuming everything works well, I figure it will take about a year and a half before I reach that point. When that happens I'll be able to loan out $50's a month without having it come out of my income. Then from there I'll work towards bringing in enough to pay some real bills. It will probably be a while before I can live off Prosper income. Rough estimates tell me I need to invest well over $60,000 to even consider it.

So Long Netbank

2007-09-30T14:34:00.000-05:00

Apparently the Office of Thrift Supervision shut Netbank down. I didn't even know there was such a thing as an Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). From what I understand they gave Netbank to the FDIC (someone I have heard of) and the FDIC is going to lay the burden on ING Bank. I'm sure ING Bank will make loads of money out of this somehow.

This is new for me, and actually very unexpected. I've never had my bank fail on me before. According to the OTS, "NetBank sustained significant losses in 2006 primarily due to early payment defaults on loans sold, weak underwriting, poor documentation, a lack of proper controls, and failed business strategies." I've been using Netbank for years. I think I opened up my account with them in 2000. I have to admit I've never had a problem with this as a customer. In fact quite the opposite. I'd go so far as to say they went out of their way to keep me happy.

I'm a small potatoes customer, but all I had to do was ask and they upped my savings account interest to 4.49%. I always felt they were very honest with me, and I think I only actually had to call them once. Pretty good considering they are an online bank with no branches.

Maybe, behind the scenes, they were shady and didn't do things by the book. Maybe thats why they got closed down. And maybe I can't speak for other customers, but I can say I was very happy with them and now I'm a little nervous about a new bank to deal with. The good news is, at least I don't have to do anything. Just sit back and wait for this new ING Bank to tell me how they're going to screw me over. But everything will remain the same for me for the "foreseeable future."

Sock Paradox

2007-09-28T17:36:00.000-05:00

In my sock draw are only two types of socks. A white short normal sock with gray heals and toes, and a white ridiculous tall sock that goes to my calf. I have an unspecified ratio of these two socks, but I have many of each. I don't fold my socks. I don't sort my socks. I just throw them in the draw and when I need them I start pulling out socks one by one knowing that I will never have to pull out more than three socks to get a pair.

One would think that some days I get a pair on the first two tries, and some days I have to pull out three before I get my pair. This is not the case. Every day I have to pull out three socks before I get a pair. I wonder why this is? I cannot find a paradox on Wikipedia that explains this phenomenon. Maybe one time, long ago, before I kept track I might have only had to pull out two. But now that I've noticed, it never fails, no matter how many socks are left I have to pull out three before I get a pair.

Observations of College Students

2007-09-18T20:28:00.001-05:00

My observations of my fellow students leaves me to believe most of them are either jerks or lazy. Some are both, many are neither, but I think almost all of them have something up their butt in some way or another.

On a better subject, my new topic in English is open source software. The cat idea was cool, but after doing more research I found that there is not much debate there. Free software is apparently very interesting to the class as well. The other day we had to present two of our sources to the class and it was supposed to take all of maybe ten minutes. I ended up taking most of the class period. I felt kinda bad about it because it takes up time from other students, but I think I got a good number of people interested in my topic... go figure people like free stuff.

August Spending Analysis

2007-09-07T10:39:00.000-05:00

I came to a profound conclusion about my monthly spending analysis. It's freakin' boring. Even to me. I think I'm going to forgo the August pie charts and turn it into an annual spending analysis. I can take the first few days of January to look back and see how I did over the year. Month to month doesn't really have enough interesting things taking place. I'll still post under the financial label from time to time I'm sure.

Commercial

2007-09-07T10:29:00.000-05:00

It turns out I'm going to be in a commercial. I didn't want to be the guy in the commercial, but when presented with the overwhelming logical arguments that it should be me I had no choice.

Me being in the commercial is not the cool part though. The cool part is what we get to do in the commercial. We get to destroy computers! Of course I took many pictures and when I get a chance I will post the videos as well.

Here is a before shot of the computer we dropped. I know it's hard to tell, but we left out many screws.

The after shot isn't too great, but you can see there was some real destruction.

Here is the after shot of a laptop we ran over. Surprisingly unimpressive, but I think it will get our point across.

A Cat Tragity

2007-08-26T08:47:00.000-05:00

There is a cat in my neighborhood that is a stray. She is a rather worn Russian Blue, but sweet and affectionate. A few of the neighbors have ban together to keep an eye on her. The stray has had two litters of kittens, that I am aware of. Unfortunately, of those two litters, she has only managed to raise one kitten. After discovering this, some of the neighbors did what would have made Bob Barker proud, and got her spayed. Personally, I've never been fond of stray animals, so why mother and kitten hung out underneath my girlfriends car is a mystery. None the less, on regular occasions she would have to scare them off so she could back out. One morning she was running a little late to work. She told me in a frustrated voice that those cats were under her car. Not even bothering to look away from my video game my advice to her was to start the car, they will move. I was right, they did move. Mother ran to one side of the street, and kitten to the other. Just as my girlfriend backed out of the drive way and on to the road the kitten decided it should be by it's mother. The rear passenger tire of my girlfriends Kia Sportage came between that little kitten and her mother in an untimely and gruesome way.

The event was sad, there is no doubt about that. My girlfriend, already late for work, was rather shaken. It was unfortunate we didn't have the time to embrace and let her cry. She had to go. My role of the supportive boyfriend was cut short and I felt helpless because I knew, although it was an accident, she felt horrible. After she left I was left alone with a mother cat and her twitching kitten. The mother cat looked up at me, just as helpless as I had looked at my girlfriend. She looked at me as if my mighty opposable thumb could some how turn back the clock a messily 30 seconds and undo the tragedy. The best I could do was move the kitten off the road so that they could be together, out of traffic, as the kitten passed away. I wondered, as I watched them from my window, if the mother understood death? If she would grieve? Do cats even have emotions? There are some who would argue animals are nothing more than biological machines programmed to survive and reproduce. That, we as emotional illogical humans, personify animals around us because we don't understand them. While I agree we don't fully understand them, and to some degrees we do give our pets more credit than they deserve for their actions. After this event I know a cat can grieve. This morning I woke up to see mother Russian Blue, looking at the spot of discolored road where her genealogy ended.

As sad as the story is, I did manage to find some good in it. For one, I finally figured out what my argumentative topic is going to be in my English class that I've been racking my brain over for the past few days. The second is I've joined my neighbors in helping take care of the stray. Her life has been difficult to say the least. Perhaps she was not the best mother, or maybe she just had really bad luck. It's not my place to decide. I can decide to make sure she doesn't go hungry or thirsty for as long as she stays around. I figure, it's the least I should do.

Carrier Air V

2007-08-21T13:47:00.000-05:00

Within the mysterious hole in my blog that took place between February and October of last year, I bought a new air conditioner for the trailer. It was a Carrier Air V, and when it was brand new it was cool, really cool.

A little over a year later, the compressor died on me, which basically means new air conditioner. Fortunately, I filled out the warranty paper work and even kept it in a safe place. Because I returned the warranty card I got an additional year of parts warranty.

I still think Carrier is a good A/C unit. South Texas is probably one of the most extreme environments an A/C unit will find itself in. In fact, the guy that installed is said my Carrier was the first he had ever seen go bad. Just my luck. Hopefully, it was a fluke and my new one will run for a good long time.

Paying for School

2007-08-13T10:11:00.000-05:00

I'll be starting school on August 23rd, but the tuition was due on August 14th. I can't help but feel college is an all around scam. If I fork out enough money, I get a degree. True I have to wait a few years, but it makes me wonder if I forked out enough maybe they would just give it to me sooner? I dunno, but over all it's a scam.

I'll be taking U.S. History to 1865, so it will be interesting to learn about Thomas Jefferson's view on education and how it should be free (like public schools) and cheep (higher education schools) for the masses. I could be totally wrong on what Mr. Jefferson thought about education, but I do know that he was correct in thinking that education has a direct link to being a notable citizen. While I agree with that, why do I have to pay $97.30 for a campus gym I'll never use? I'm there for school, nothing more. If I wanted to work out I'd pay $8 a month and go to a real gym that has much better equipment. It certainly beats my college's $25 a month mandatory gym cost.

I'll also be taking an English class, so there is hope for my blog after all.

The Good 'ol Days of Warcraft

2007-08-09T15:04:00.000-05:00

I don't blog about World of Warcraft much even though I am an avid player. Partly because I would like to think there is more to my life than that video game. All in all, WoW is actually a very fun, and economical way, to spend (waste) time. I'm going to try and write this post in a way people who don't play WoW can easily understand what I am talking about.

The only reason I bring it up is because today I was talking to my brother and it turns out he's making a character a lot like the one I have, which in itself is flattering. I was telling him about how I play and some of the ins and outs. I'm a Troll Warrior for those of you who are interested. The Warrior class is exactly what it sounds like. There is no magic, it's just simple smack people with my weapon and wear heavy plate armor. I like simple, that's why I went that route. One of the abilities we have is called Intimidating Shout; which is basically where I yell and everyone around me runs away in fear.

Today this ability is limited to only five people. So if I yell and there are six people standing around me, five get scared and one is left to beat on me. This have been done for game balance, which is fine with me. Game balancing mechanics that hinder a character are affectionately referred to as a "nerf" (yes just like the foam balls and arrows made by the company). Warriors have been through many "nerfs" all of which I find understandable. The Intimidation Shout nerf was the first, and so far only, one I found annoying.

Here is a poor quality youtube video of the ability before the nerf. Not the best, but as you can see all the bad guys run away from the warrior for a few seconds. This example was done with a high level warrior against a lot of low level bad guys. The reason this nerf was annoying to me because it took away the fun. The only place you could get away with it the way they do in the video is when you're fighting much lower level bad guys than you. Or when you are fighting a lot of other players. Hence the whole reason for the nerf. Warriors fighting large groups of other players where able to scatter them very easily.

The video sparked a good memory of playing WoW in the past, and I didn't want to forget about so here it is in blog form. Hopefully written in a way I'll understand it many years after I've stopped playing WoW.

EDIT: The first picture is the icon use in game to represent Intimidating Shout. I also added the actual video instead of a link to it because I remembered you could do that.

July Speding Analysis

2007-08-02T09:29:00.000-05:00

It's the beginning of a new month, time for some more pie charts.

Luxury was higher than normal this month because of a trip to Houston to visit my parents. Gas was up for the same reason. It was a very enjoyable trip, and it really didn't hurt that bad. I put off making a larger payment on my credit card, and I didn't save as much this month.

Speaking of savings, I combine savings and investing. I don't know if that's the way to go, but both represents money I'm setting aside for a long term. The only investing I'm doing is Prosper, which is something I learned about on another blog. I'm sure I'll have a post on my Prosper experience later this month.

The only reason Other Necessity even exists this month was because my converter went out in the trailer. I'm proud to say I didn't have to put it on a credit card, I was able to pay for it out right.

EA part 2

2007-08-01T10:01:00.000-05:00

EA's response to me was a nice little message that only said we're going to forward your complaint to someone new. To get it I had to log into their website, they weren't nice enough to send me a convent email. After they sent me that nice generic response, they sent me a survey... to my email! So I posted this blurb at the end of the survey.

Well you guys didn't respond to what I said at all. It was just a "Hi thanks for complaining, we're forwarding your message to someone else."

Not that I said anything that merits a response, it would have been nice if you at lease said, "We're a company, we're here to make money, and if you don't like how we do business you're welcome to demonstrate your dissatisfaction by purchasing games from our competition."

Obviously, the most idea response would have been something to the effect of, "We know we've done fans of Origin wrong, and to show how much we want to make it right we're going to offer you a job as a gaming consultant so that we can try to capture the demographics of gamers that elude us."

None the less, your cowardice auto-response is what I would expect from a big evil company that cares more for making money than actually satisfying customers.

Sony officially makes it to my list of crappy OEM's

2007-07-30T15:38:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I wish people did read my blog just so I could warn them to stay away from things. Things like Sony Vaio's. Without a doubt Sony is in at least the top 5 of crappy OEM computers. The number one reason they suck is lack of driver support. Any OEM that doesn't have every single driver available from their website after a fresh install of Windows is lacking the most basic customer support. True, Sony isn't the only one that does this, but they are one of the most annoying.

Worse yet, don't ever loose your BIOS password. To get past it you have to contact Sony, have multiple forms of identification and ownership of the laptop (good luck with that). Then, after many weeks, you might get them to help you with it. Sony was smart enough to store the password on an EEPROM separate from the CMOS. Great for security, but in the long run it will cost you between $300-$450 to get your laptop sent back to get it cleared.

Congratulation Sony, you might very well be worse than HP or even eMachines. It's unfortunate people fall for all the polished crap that makes their laptops look good. If anyone ever does read this, tell your friends to buy Gateway, Dell, or Toshiba. No OEM is great, but, coming from a computer tech, those are the ones I see the least of (well I see a lot of Dell, but it's always software problems which is an unfortunate side effect of loading up computers with trialware).

I had to tell EA to stay away from my Wii!

2007-07-27T11:24:00.000-05:00

I read the EA press release about how they regretted not supporting the Nintendo Wii. They only made a few games for the Wii and many games for the Xbox and PS3, and darn it they missed out on all that money Nintendo is raking in. That's too bad EA, I have no sympathy for you. In fact I contacted EA with the following letter.

I read an article that you guys regret missing the boat on the Nintendo Wii, and I thought I would take the time to offer you some free advice. Stay away from the Wii. You already ruined Ultima and Wing Commander for me so just do everyone a favor and stay away from Nintendo.

Congratulations on creating the same games over and over and ruining the game industry for people that enjoy innovative and entertaining games.

I look forward to their response, but will be surprised if they take the time.

Wireless Power

2007-07-26T11:58:00.000-05:00

Been a while since I looked into wireless electricity. It's a concept that is cool, but difficult for me to grasp. In my mind, wireless electricity is lightning. As dangerous as that sounds there is a company that not only has working products, but won best emerging technology at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2007. I'm probably the last person to blog about this (sometimes I'm slow), and there are obviously many uses for it. Of course it's my job to come up with cool ways to incorporate it into my trailer.

Also, it's rare I find safe bets when it comes to stock. The company, Powercast, is an L.L.C and not traded on the stock exchange. However, Phillips is a company they are dealing with and even expect to start having products available for consumers before the end of this year. Even if they don't come out with anything until the end of next year, I think Phillips stock might be worth looking into.

Computer Shop Woas

2007-07-17T15:44:00.000-05:00

I used to blog about problematic computers that came in the shop. Haven't done it in a while, but today I had two odd balls that came in about the same time.

The first one wouldn't turn on unless the side of the case was open. In fact, when you put the side back on, it would turn off. Weird, but ultimately was the power supply. When the case was put together, it would move the wires in such a way that the power supply would short. I thought about actually finding the short in the wire, or likely in the molex connector, but in the end it was easier and better for the customer just to replace the power supply.

The second one was a bit trickier. The customers power supply, motherboard, CPU, and ram would all post out side the case. But in the case it would turn on for a moment, then shut back down. I thought for sure it was a short somewhere on the motherboard while it was in the case, but I couldn't find anything. I tried a different power supply, motherboard, CPU, and ram in the customers case, and it did the same thing. It finally dawned on me the only thing different between being in the case and out of the case, besides the case, was the atx power switch. Low and behold, replace it and everything worked fine. Second time in my career as a PC technician have I found the actual power switch to be the culprit. In this one's case I did a continuity test with a multimeter to find the switch was always on. Which explains why it would come on for about ten seconds and turn off no matter what hardware was in the case.

Food

2007-07-12T17:21:00.001-05:00

I decided to do a better job of keeping track of food this month. Also, I'm trying to curb eating out and do better at planning my grocery shopping. So far it's been alright. Definitely been eating more at home. Lunch time is the hardest because peer pressure dictates I go out and grab some fast food with my co-workers. Not that I don't enjoy the lunch time socialization; it just cost money and now I'm froogle (froogle sounds so much nicer than cheap doesn't it?).

Eating out is bad for the budget. Even when I do eat out I try to save though. Yesterday I spent $3.24 on a Subway sandwich. It was only a 6" and it was ham, the cheapest they have besides a veggie. I didn't get chips or a drink. I keep soda's at the shop, I pick up a case when I'm at the grocery store and they're on sale. Last time I bought a twelve pack of soda it was $2.71 after tax. Each soda cost roughly $0.23, making my lunch a whopping $3.47. Granted I can easily go through a few soda's a day including the one I drink with my lunch. But even if I drink three, eating and drinking during my work day comes to under $4.00.

I'm pretty anal about keeping track of things like where I spend my money, or how much electricity is being used. Things like food I'm a little short sighted on. It takes a bit of effort to determine how much that sandwich I just made cost. Soda's are pretty easy to divide by twelve, but those chips and dip? How many cents is each chip worth? How the hell do you calculate that dip? More importantly, why do I run out of chips and still have halve the dip left...it's a vicious cycle that keeps chips and dip on alternating shopping lists. Speaking of things to keep track of, how do you account for things going bad? I can't go through a half a gallon of milk before it goes bad.

Nothing to Hide

2007-07-11T10:31:00.000-05:00

I read a paper arguing against the "nothing to hide" argument (pdf) most people use when it comes to the government prying in our business. I admit I've used this argument myself because it's true. I've got nothing to hide. My life is pretty boring and I have documentation to prove it. The arguments against this "nothing to hide" policy are compelling. The author really did his home work and brings up some valid points. For example; if you have nothing to hide then you shouldn't mind letting the author of that paper take a naked photo of you, own the rights to it, and let him distribute it as he sees fit.

In the authors defense, there are people like that. They're called porn stars. Although I use this argument when it comes to my personal electronic communication, I think there is some kind of boundary when it comes to nudity. Why the author would want naked pictures of me in the first place is what would disturb me. Any one that wants naked pictures of me, very likely, should be the ones the government is monitoring.

And to answer his question, "Do you have curtains in your home?" Of course, you don't expect me to get my game on with light reflecting off my computer monitor do you? I have thick light blocking curtains. But sometimes, when I'm not gaming and it's a nice day, I totally open up those curtains and let anyone that wants to look in and see how I live. Now, again, at night when I'm changing into my pajama's, no I would rather not let all my neighbors see that. I guess my question is, where is the line when it comes to privacy? There are privacy issues that let the government read my email and potentially catch me doing crimes, and there are issues that let my neighbor see me naked. I think they're very different and shouldn't be mixed up, which seems to be the fundamental argument of this paper.

When the government starts to request naked pictures, or video camera's in my home, I'll draw the line. But if they just want to make sure I'm law biding citizen, which ultimately exonerates me of any potential crime I could be accused of, I'm all for it. That begins my philosophy that even an innocent man that gets accused of a crime is already having problems. In most cases just being accused is just as bad as actually committing the crime. If my email's and phone calls can help out an innocent person then I'm all for that (especially if it's me) just as much as I'm all for them finding legitimate criminals. Honestly I can't see how removing my curtains will help convect, or not convect, anyone of a crime. Except of course that crime was in my home... than I would have something to hide.

Wing Commander

2007-07-08T10:32:00.000-05:00

Wing Commander was another great game that was a victim of EA buying out Origin. I can only imagine how great the series would have become if it continued. To date, I have yet to play a space flight combat simulator that compares. Unfortunately, I never owned a copy of it when it was in it's prime. In an effort to show my undying support for Origin, I set out to find a legal copy. Wing Commander 2 is still easily obtainable; as is 3, 4, privateer, armada, and many of the other Wing Commander games I can't remember. WC1 and WC2 were probably my favorites of them all though. I did eventually find the original Wing Commander. Unfortunately, it's not the deluxe that comes with special operations 1 & 2 and the speech pack. But at least I'll be able to play the original game again in all it's glory.

Funny how these old games work. When they first came out everyone was excited because it was new and fresh. Now they're hard to find but they're still exciting when you do get to play them. If only I had known that games like Wing Commander and Ultima were going to be some of the best games in all of history, I would have bought them new, kept all the manual, taken great care to keep the original packaging and documentation in great condition. A lot of these games came with things, unlike todays games. For example, the original Wing Commander came with blue prints of the ships. Ultima came with cloth maps of the world. If a video game company today, could do what Origin did before video games were mainstream, they would do very well for themselves I think.

Observations in Nintendo Demographics

2007-07-07T09:10:00.000-05:00

My boss bought a Nintendo DS for the sole purpose of playing Brain Age's Sudoku. This is just a perfect example of how Nintendo is broadening their demographics. It also happens to be one of the rare examples of how a company's strategy is actually noticeable. My boss is just the newest of these examples I'm finding in my life.

The first example was last Christmas when I played Nintendo Wii with my 80 year old grandmother. I have to admit she schooled me at bowling. In the past few years Nintendo has made huge advances breaking out of the 13-24 male bracket. I can't even explain why this is interesting to me other than I can point it out when I see it happening.

By the way, have a lucky 7-7-07.

Saving Money on Entertainment

2007-07-05T14:48:00.000-05:00

"Entertain me," this is what America seems to be all about these days. I fall into this category just like most everyone else. Typically, we can go out to eat, see a movie, go to a club, or do whatever it is that entertains you. Of course all these things cost money. These are some things I do to save money on entertainment.

Game on. It's easy for me to get my game on. Personally I find video games to be one of the most enjoyable pass times out there, and it doesn't have to be expensive. Most people already have a computer, and there are a plethora of free online games. I personally like to play Space Penguin (requires flash) and Sudoku. There are a number of Sudoku site, that is one of my favorites. Other games work out to be amazingly cost efficient as well, like World of Warcraft (WoW). I hear so may people say, "Oh I can't afford the monthly payment." Which is sure sign someone didn't do their homework. I pay for two WoW accounts at $15 a month. I pay for them in six month intervals because you get a discount. After tax, in Texas, six months of WoW comes to $84.37. For $168.74 I can entertain myself and my girlfriend every night for 180 days (94 cents a day). No, we don't play every night.

There are arguments gaming cost more. For example you may have a computer, but not a computer than can run WoW. A few smart upgrades can make just about any computer, even one a few years old, worthy of most games. Other games, namely single player games, work out pretty well. Half Life 2 cost me $50 and kept me tied up for the better part of a month. Much more cost effective than a two hour move.

Outside of gaming, but still using computers, blogging is an effective way to keep busy. If you have a blog people read you might even make money off that with Google's Adsense. Personally I started a blog to work on my writing skills, but I find it a fun way to spend a few hours. Granted my interest in it wanes and ebbs, but like with most things you have to have an interest in something to be entertained by it. Sometimes that interest can be manually sparked; sometimes it can't.

I also don't go to every new movie release out there either. Sometimes thats a hard one to follow. Right now all my co-workers are telling me how great Die Hard 4 was, and how spectacular Transformers was (even though the reviews say it isn't so hot). I'm sure they're all worth watching, but I can easily wait for them to come out on DVD. Since I wait for things to come out on DVD, I watch the new rental release list. They may not be new, but they're new to me and I get to watch them in the comfort of my own home without the chance of a crying kid behind me. Sometimes I do make exceptions. Like when I can tell my girlfriend is frustrated we haven't gone out in a while. Mathematically, this comes down to seeing a movie in the theater once a month. This month will be Transformers. We plan to see it tomorrow. I also do my best to stay away from going on opening day, and eat something before you go because their hot dogs are way over priced.

My 12 Volt Mystery

2007-07-04T17:00:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I got a chance to learn more about my 12 volt system here in the trailer. One day I would really like to have a superb 12 volt system. Complete with multiple batteries, solar panels, heavy duty converters and inverters, and hopefully the ability to actually run for a decent amount of time without the need for 110 volt power. Until that day, I have 12 volt lights and a couple of read outs with a single converter and no batteries.

As I was saying, I was up to my elbows in the mess of what remains of my limited 12 volt system all because my 50 amp converter finally kicked the bucket. No surprise though, it was the original converter that came with the Airstream and was on my list of things I know will fail sometime in the near future. The new one wasn't too bad. I was expecting it to be a lot more expensive. As you can see from my picture, it really looks like a power supply out of a computer. Which makes since seeing how they do the same thing. It even has an 80mm case fan on it. The new one also only weighed about a tenth of what the old one weighed; no exaggeration.

I had some problems installing it. I even called my dad who helped me out quite a bit. I was getting continuity between the positive and the negative wire in my fuse box, so naturally, when I plugged in the new converter, it didn't stay on long. I looked around the trailer for a short, sure that something had to happen that caused my old converter to die and created this continuity, but nothing. In the end I just started unhooking wires until the multimeter told me there was no more continuity between the positive and the negative wires that come from the converter. Once that was figured out, the converter powered up fine and all my lights worked again, but here is the complicated part. The positive lead gives me continuity to the ground (which my dad explained might be a positive ground system and seems plausible), but the negative also gives me continuity to the ground... yet they still don't give me continuity with each other. Which makes absolutely no since to me. How do two wires make a complete circuit with the ground, but not each other? I'll even be the first to admit, my understanding of electricity lacks considerably considering I'm kind of a geek and all.... but I know a little. I guess I don't know this though.

None the less, the new converter works and is in place, distributing power to my lights, a really well placed clock at the front of the trailer, and my tank level read outs.

Savings vs Credit Cards

2007-07-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

Like I mentioned in my June Spending Analysis; I have a new savings and credit card philosophy. To keep things simple, I have a single credit card. Usually it's used to cover things I cannot afford out of my checking account. For example; back in January my cat had a veterinary bill that was most untimely. That went on the credit card. Nothing small goes on the credit card. It's pretty much for emergencies. My savings account is nothing spectacular, but I know it's important to me to save money every pay check.

Pay yourself first is a great rule, but an inflexible one that is hard to live by. I have created a "flexible pay myself first" plan. I have a minimum and a maximum amount to put in savings every pay day. The minimum is a number I know I can live without. Something ridiculously low like $10. No mater what, every pay day my savings account will get $10. I have a medium number, like say $25 (keep in mind these aren't my numbers I'm just making them up), that is what I really try to put in savings every pay day. If all is normal and nothing unexpected comes up, $25 is put away. Then I have a best case scenario number, something like $100. That's what I put away if I'm living frugal and I'm ahead on my bills. If I'm trying to make a serious dent in my credit card debt, I'll cut the savings down to my minimum number and make larger payments towards my credit card (like I did in June).

I have a savings account and a credit card, basically they're opposites. One interest rate works against me and one works for me, albeit the one that works for me doesn't work nearly has hard as the one that works against me. It makes since to sacrifice the savings account to pay off the credit card, but here is the conundrum. If I wipe out my savings to pay off my credit card, when something comes up, like unexpected auto repair, the only way to pay for it is from the credit card again. It's a good idea to keep some much in savings while working to pay off the credit card. Granted the credit card may take a little longer to pay off, but at least you're not leaving your self without a way to pay for emergencies. This way, when the credit card is payed off there is still money in savings to fall back on.

The next conundrum is, once that card is payed off, do I destroy it and never look back? Personally I don't think it hurts to have at least a single credit card, preferably with a zero balance. In my own case I cannot access money in my savings account unless I manually transfer it to my checking. So in an instance I need to pay a large bill I can put it on my credit card that has a zero balance, transfer the same amount from my savings to my checking, then make an immediate payment on the credit card. Although the steeps involved seem redundant there are a number of advantages to this. First of all, all this can be done on line within a few minutes after getting home from paying that big bill. Secondly, because of the process I'm less likely to use my credit card on smaller purchases that could be payed for with my check card. Another advantage of this is I have a better bead on where my money comes and goes. My girlfriend hates it when I whip out my spreadsheet of accounts and study the numbers, but the time I spend doing that helps me see how my spending effects my financial situation. Lastly, I have a credit card with decent rewards. If I have to put some unexpected auto repair on my credit card I at least get a little something in return. If I have the ability to pay it off from savings immediately, it's basically getting something for nothing. I don't pay any interest, and I still get credit card reward points.

Back to Basics

2007-07-02T08:08:00.000-05:00

I originally started this blog to document trailer life as a geek. Most folks that are full time RVers are retired, I thought I might have a unique perspective on it. The major difference between me and those retired folks is that they usually have something a lot newer than my Airstream. Most recently, my air conditioner began to smell really bad. Worse yet, I replaced it in February 2006. I am no A/C repair man, but I did open it up and take a look around. There was a little mold and some dust. Cleaning it out offered little improvement; it only smelt like bleach for a little while, then right back to the old smell. A smell that was both nasty and familiar. A smell that was just like the old air conditioner.

I had the guy that installed it come back out and poke around just in case I had messed something up in cleaning it. Fortunately, everything was fine. He surmised the smell was coming from between the outer skin and inner skin of the trailer, where all the twenty some-odd year old insulation has been. Now that went right up my flag pole. He temporarily helped out my smelly a/c problem with some aluminum tape to mask off the area's where the a/c was sucking air from between the skins of the trailer, but that didn't last too long.

In the end I relied on some old fashion foam in a can and duct tape. I used to duct tape to mask off the same area's as the repair man did with the aluminum tape. Only I left some holes so I could foam up the inside. I left the duct tape up there and put the inside part of the a/c back together. Although I know the duct tape will come off one day, and thats okay, living in south Texas gets old really quick with the a/c off. Since then, there has been no smell.... from the a/c anyway.

Every now and again we get the really nasty sewage smell. At first I thought it was a sign my holding tank was full, but I've finally come to the conclusion it's just the park. The smell is the same everywhere, especially strong in the public bathroom. It doesn't happen much nor does it last long, but we keep some air freshener around.

Speaking of Better Pie Charts

2007-07-01T11:40:00.001-05:00

This one represents average spending for the year so far. I thought today, because the year is half over, would be a good day to do this one. I even figured out how to add percentages with calc.

As one can see, the beginning of the year's auto maintenance (8.28%) really hurt. Most of the Other Necessity (3.04%) was a vet bill for my poor cat (he's fine now by the way). This chart gave me some thing to do on a Sunday morning anyway.

June Spending Analysis

2007-07-01T10:25:00.000-05:00

June was far more frugal than most months, and the pie chart shows it. I paid about 30% more this month in bills than usual because I'm trying to make a serious dent in my credit card debt. The current plan is to do that for the next three months to get rid of the credit card debt I accumulated just this year. Unexpected veterinary and auto repair ran rampant in January and February, and I'm just now starting to play catch up on it. On the plus side is only things I consider an "emergency" has stayed on my credit card. I did use it for some minor things, but paid those off immediately.

Because I've been putting more towards the credit card I took some away from savings. This month marks a new philosophy on credit cards vs savings accounts. I'll go more into that on a later post, but for now I think it's safe to reduce the amount I save as long as I don't stop saving all together.

Gas, groceries, and other necessities, were all good this month. The only reason I even had other necessities this month was because of a hair cut and a couple of small checks for college transcripts. Next month I'm going to take a hard look at groceries. I think if I take a little time to plan meals I can start to save in that area.

On the Luxury break down I actually did fairly well. I spend a whopping $2.17 on entertainment. That was a movie rental with a coupon and a dollar credit on my account for returning a new release within 24 hours. This month happens to be an extreme example of how little I spend on entertainment. It's usually in the tens of dollars for an entire month. Other than that half of it was gifts. Father's day, graduations, a birthday or two, all added up. The other half was eating out. Again, I hope to reduce this cost along with the grocery cost.

June was a good month for me. In the end I paid all my bills, lowered my credit card debt, and watched a movie at home with my sweetie.

Hopefully my pie charts will get better too.

Account Buffers

2007-06-29T16:40:00.000-05:00

Apparently I missed a calling as an accountant. I currently have four idea's for future blog posts saved in drafts that all pertain to my new "financial" label. I thought I would go ahead and start with a small one and talk a little about a thing I call Account Buffers.

I know I'm a nerd and don't do my finances like most folks. Because I'm a nerd I like nerdy words, like buffer. An account buffer is pretty much what it sounds like. Netbank charges me a fee if my savings account drops below $500, so my savings account buffer is $500. I take that right off the top of my check book and pretend like it isn't even there. So if my spreadsheet shows I have $750 in savings, Netbank will show me $1250. I do the same thing on my checking account too. That way if I say, write a bad check, it won't bounce.

Sometimes it's hard to forget that money isn't there. In my spreadsheet I have a row that shows my balance and it accounts for the buffer. In reality, if my balance is a red negative number, I still have a little in my account. Below is an example of what my spreadsheet looks like...and yes the numbers are fictitious.

Clicking on that picture should give a better view of it. Row 2 I usually keep hidden and I work off row 3 for what I can spend. Column E and G are used to create the buffer and, as you can see I keep those hidden as well. Rows 4 - 232 make up January - May as far as activities go. Generally I hide all but the current month. Columns H and J are old loans that currently have a zero balance, hence why they are hidden. The merged cell below Credit Card and Car Loan represents the total amount of money I owe to everyone. Finally the total column at the end is what I have minus what I owe. Kind of like a net worth that doesn't take into account any equity of any kind. My goal is to basically make that number as high as possible, at least closer to black. This picture does a good job of showing the actual amount in my accounts versus the amount I pretend is there. And yes, this practice has saved me from writing a bad check or two.

Blogging Away Debt

2007-06-29T10:48:00.000-05:00

This morning on my way to work I heard an article on NPR about debt and they made mention of Blogging Away Debt. At first I thought this idea was ridiculous. Opening up financial records for all the world to see how much you suck at managing money. In hind sight, and after reading a little bit, I realize it's the kind of thing that helps keep you honest with yourself. Of course it goes against everything I was tough by my parents about money. It's the kind of thing you're not supposed to talk about; it's not polite. As a counter argument, as a whole, we as people learn from not only our past, but from each other. If no one talks about how they manage their money, how will we learn from each others mistakes?

As good as my own argument is, I've chosen to start blogging a bit about my financial life. Not because I want others to learn from it (although I hope someone can), but because it will help keep me honest and stay on track with my financial plan. I'll be the first to admit, my financial life isn't interesting enough to make an entire blog out of, but I'm thinking at least a once a month post. Hopefully this will also help keep me interested in my blog. It's also an excuse to start using the post labels feature in Blogger, which is new to me. I even took the time to go add labels to all posts for this year (not many post).

Irresistible Force Paradox

2007-06-27T14:25:00.000-05:00

So I found my blog again after almost six months and now I'm all over it with a post a day for three days. This post come because I learned about something new on Wikipedia called the Irresistible Force Paradox.

How I got this far in life without ever even hearing about this I'll never know, but it's damn interesting. I knew the shield and two-handed mace from World of Warcraft had something in common (and this item is funny too).

After reading Wikipedia's definition and solutions to the problem I wondered to myself if an unstoppable force can stop on it's own? True, it's unstoppable, and by the literal definition it cannot be stopped by anything. But, if it was truly unstoppable would it not be able to stop itself because by not being able to stop itself, in itself, makes it not unstoppable! Let me try to explain this another way...

Basically there cannot be a such a thing as an unstoppable force. For an unstoppable force to be unstoppable, it should be able to do whatever it wants to. It has unlimited energy. So if it wanted to stop, but it can't, now it didn't do whatever it wanted to. It has limitations, and with unlimited energy it cannot have limitations. It's inability to stop invalidates it's very existence as and unstoppable force.

My argument for an immovable object is a little different. An immovable object cannot exist because for an immovable object to exist it cannot be made of atoms. Atoms move pretty much no matter what (at least as far as I know).

Another argument for both to not exist would go back to perpetual motion. For an object to have unlimited energy and power, this unlimited energy and power would have to come from somewhere. Unless for some reason the immovable object or unstoppable force has an external power source; which would very likely make them stoppable or movable. Thus, either of these anomalies, will have to violate the first law of thermodynamics.

For the most part, immovable objects and irresistible forces exist, but only in perspective. André the Giant may really be an immovable object to a wus like me.

Google's new Documents and Spreadsheets

2007-06-26T21:21:00.000-05:00

Tonight Google updated the look and feel of their Documents and Spreadsheets, and even though I know no one will read it here first I'm proud to be able to be one of the first to announce it. I only know about it because my girlfriend was actually using it as it changed. Here is a nifty screen shot, but the best way to check it out will be to go see it yourself.

Been a While

2007-06-25T10:39:00.000-05:00

Like many other lazy American's I don't write in my blog on a regular basis. Not that I have any regular readers I keep on pins and needles awaiting my next post. In fact, I don't think I've made more then a few cents with the Google Adsense. None of that bothers me though, in fact my blog is more for my own use than anything else.

I did come up with a new idea for a blog; Vigo the Carpathian from Ghostbusters 2 in a new body with the same devious plan to take over the world. I hope to use it to help what little creative side I have in me. In setting it up I did discover all the new things added to blogger. As usual, I was impressed with how Google improved Blogger. Speaking of Google and their glory I finally got a chance to play with Picasa. I honestly never cared for picture applications that take total control of your pictures. I find in most cases (especially with customers), they just make things complicated and difficult to organize. What pictures show up in my application, vs what pictures are really in my picture folder or somewhere else on my computer. Although Picasa is no exception to this, I did find it's ability to edit photo's fantastic. I made this dashingly ugly photo for my Vigo blog (surprising I could find no decent pictures of Vigo on the net).

On a side note I've been using Ubuntu 7.04 on my bench machine at work. I added a two-prong double action switch so I could easily go back and fourth between Windows and Linux if need be. I keep it in Linux most of the time, but I admit I have gone back to Windows to run check disks on NTFS drives and to use Visio. Unfortunately I have yet to find an open source equivalent to Microsoft's Visio. Honestly I don't use it enough to sweet it. Ubuntu has been great though. It lacks some basics that prevent it from becoming any real competition with Windows. For example, the ability to play DVD's and MP3's out of the box. No big deal for a geek like me to figure it out, but I can see where the average user would get annoyed real quick. I do wonder if the machines Dell sells with Ubuntu can do those things out of the box.