PAX 2006 Saturday Review

This last weekend I had the joy of going to the Penny Arcade Expo located in Bellevue, Washington. For those that don't know, the best way to describe this is to just say that it is a gigantic party for the readers of Penny Arcade. Now the readers tend to be geeks of all types (video games, board games, card games, manga, anime, comic books, etc) which leads ot a pretty fun environment for like-minded individuals. This year there was definitely a shortage of space in all parts of the event.

I started the morning racing to the Halo 2 tournament to get a slot. Needless to say, I didn't get to play as I was the odd person out (it was 4 man teams). So after burning 2 hours trying to get into the tournament, I decided to sit in my despondent mood and watch people. I was joined shortly by some friendly fellows (Chris and Matt I believe). I tried to get in the free play area for computer games and console games, but both lines were incredibly long. when I tried last year, I got a grand total of 10 minutes of PC play and 30 minutes of console play for the time I had spent waiting in line.

Next I left the conference center to go stand in line for the expo hall (yes the line was that long). I was very impressed with how quickly the line moved and before I knew it, I was in this loud, vibrant room that played to almost all senses. The Microsoft was good with selections of the newest Age of Empire on PC which was very impressive when I gave it a whirl. Also there was Lego Star Wars 2 and also 5 or 6 xbox 360 games that I didn't get a chance to play but sat and enjoyed the wonderful sounds and graphics. The Ubisoft booth had a few setups to play some of the new and upcoming games, but also had a gigantic projection system to show off trailers of their new games. Nintendo was one that I was really looking forward to as I really wanted to see the Wii in action. I didn't see it there, no anything to do with the Gamecube. Everything was very, very DS oriented and they had about 30 game stations setup. There were a bunch of card game booths (sorry, didn't dig deep into those). NCsoft had a booth setup next to D&D online booth. NVidia had a booth that was so packed that I could get within 15 feet of because there was a layer of 8 deep in people crammed around it, so I skipped it and picked up some Penny-Arcade tee shirts, books, and pictures.

I then headed over to their second facility at one of the local hotels conference areas for the tabletop/card game areas via the shuttlebus that they had setup. And by shuttlebus, I mean a greyhound bus running every 10 minutes or so. I ended up spending about 6 hours at this area soaking the atmosphere and the much more friendly gamers. There was a room setup for folks to do some Star Wars LARPing as well as a very large room with eight 25 foot tables as well as a bunch of smaller tables setup. I was slightly disappointed when 60% of the room was setup just for organized tournaments (the new card game Spoils and also the PA organized tourneys) as there was not enough tables to do pickup games. The room was so crowded the AC couldn't keep up and they had peopling playing games in the hall. Out of pure serendipity, I ended up playing games with the same people I did last year (David and Larsen). We played Chrononauts, Ninja Burger, and Pink Godzilla Dev Kit. In addition to David and Larsen, hooked up with a bunch of other folks to play more of the same. In review of the games, they were fun. I own both Chrononauts (time travel card game where you manipulate the timeline to match your time line) and Ninja Burger (delivery your burger in 30 minutes or less without being seen), but Pink Godzilla was released at PAX and I think I will buying before too much longer. In that one you play a game development company and you are competiting with other companies to make the best games the quickest.

Overall the conference was overwhelming and crowded but I really, really appreciate the time and effort that all the enforcers, planners, and organizers put into the event. It was just a tremendous blast. Thank you Gabe, Tycho and company and I will see you all again next year!

Pluto, I mourn thee

So I was initially bummed out by removing Pluto from the mix of planets. I thought of all the literature and such that would need be rewritten and foudn heart that the web has become very integrated in peoples lives and all it takes is a slight change to wikipedia to change the web's encyclopedia entry.

It is probably best for astronomy as a whole to define planets and other heavenly bodies. Why didn't they do this before? Did they just say, "Hey, you are a planet." I just don't know, maybe Matches can enlighten me. I just have to ask though is where my class M or class O planets are? Why not borrow Star Trek and start classifying all heavenly bodies? Maybe they are and I am not into that scene enough to know it.

This is sick

People should not be grillin' babies.

Weber Baby Q

Back from the midwest!

Well we just spent two weeks hanging out in the midwest. Specifically in Michigan and Minnesota. We had lots of fun, but at the same point travelling has become much more stressful. Miranda did well but wow, is it hard to travel with an infant, let alone be travelling for 2 weeks. But we made it.


So we got to see a ton of family and friends, which is great. We handed out a bunch of cards to our websites and to our photo album. For those that are looking for all the pictures we have in flickr, you will need to be a flickr member (it's free) and let me know what your flickr account is so that I can add you to my circle of trust. You can't just blindly trust everyone on the internet.

Also we got to go see Joy (Michelle's cousin) and Jeremy get married. It really was a beautiful ceremony and a fun reception with great food and music. Unfortunately Michelle missed alot of the ceremony as Miranda decided to mess up her diaper and then demand to be fed. Timing was impeccable.



Finally, my brother took me to Chicago to see Tom Waits at the Auditorium Theatre. The show was just plain awesome. The played many of my recent favorites as well as some stuff that I didn't recognize. The sound setup was great as well as all the musicians. One of the highlights had to be during one of the encores when they did Murder in the Red Barn as a more bluesy version instead of the clanging version. It was just a plain fun experience and I owe it all to my brother. Thanks!


So to wrap it up, THANK GOODNESS WE ARE BACK IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST! I need a break :)

Going underground...

So I am going to be off the blogging for a while as well of my normal news sites. Want to get some reading done and other misc stuff. Will resume normally unscheduled random posts when I feel like it again.

And Andy, where is my picture comment?

1 year in review

Today was my 1 year anniversary at my new job. It is amazing what can happen in a year and how much I have had the opportunity to learn. In retrospect, I am still glad for the decision that I made to come out here.

The primary reason for leaving my last job was for a better opportunity. There is only so much you can do with software in a metal bending company. They don't see it as an opportunity to gain new avenues of cash flow. They see it only as a necessary evil and cost to run the machinery. I wanted to experience what happens when software is the primary driver of cash. In this case, the software enables the sale of goods, but that is a heck of a lot closer.

Another main reason for leaving my last job, was two of main thought leaders (imho) left the company. They were the reason I was still there that long. Some may say that is loyalty to your boss/boss's which leads being trapped in a position or stagnation. In this case, these two exemplified true leadership. The kind that creates a vision of what needs to get done and infects those around them with the desire to carry that vision to. Beyond that, they did what they said. Simply that.

So they left, and I did too. That is not to say that all the people I respected left. In fact there are still some very brilliant people there that I wish I could steal away!

Besides changing employers and regions, which I must say the Pacific Northwest is gorgeous minus the horrific traffic flow design, our family expanded. That just adds to the joy of things and the new learnings there. It is quite the perspective changer. It also brings a little more worry to my life, but we try our best.

So what do I have? I job I enjoy and am learning from. New, brilliant people I get to work with. A gorgeous daughter, I get to spoil. A new area to explore.

Brilliant!

Registered for PAX

Going to Penny Arcade Expo again this year. Only going for Saturday though.

If you like gaming and are not going, shame on you.

Interested in going? Get pre-registered.

Happy Birthday!

Just sending out a wild and wacky happy birthday to Matches!

Moo! Don't panic!

So when do you panic? Do you panic when it is 6 hours till your assignment or presentation is due? Do you panic when you forgot your shampoo while you are sitting on an airplane traveling? Maybe it was your contact solution? Do you panic when you are sitting in traffic trying to get to your doctor appointment on time?

In all these cases, it makes zero sense to panic. It is either out of your control or you have waited too long to plan / panic. Instead, why not panic about the fact that you need to pay for your child's college? Yes, I know it is 10-15 years away. Why not panic about the fact that you need knee replacement surgery after the years of overweight and abuse? I know you don't need it now. Why not panic about what you are going to be working on next year? Oh, you will worry about that when it gets here.

It is all about taking action now so that you don't panic then when it is completely out of your control. Start getting healthy now. Plan your finances. Work on your ideas that you are passionate about.

Based on a snippet from essay, PANIC AT
INAPPROPRIATE TIMES, from the book, The Big Moo

Review: Mind Wide Open

Mind Wide Open by Steven Johnson (author of Emergence) is a book about a journey into the workings into the human brain in an attempt to create a better self awareness of your responses to external stimuli. Mr. Johnson shows how the personality tests of old and theories of previous psychologists are presented using modern technology to paint a picture of the brains responses to stress, fear, love, joy, creativity and more.

I enjoyed this book. Mr. Johnson's words about self-awareness reverberated with the way I feel. A better knowledge of self may not be able to create a "super-human" out of you, but it can help explain your phobias, or tension breaking patterns in terms of brain chemistry at play and perhaps help you deal with the former and work within the latter. One of the interesting experiments that Mr. Johnson talks about is his desire to see what his brain is doing during the creation and formulation of his work and craft, writing. So he goes through a series of tests in a fMRI machine to show what his brain is doing during simple tasks like reading others works or reading his own works, but he also has the chance to show what his brain is during while formulating ideas and concepts.

I do recommend this book, it is a good read, and is light on the neuroscience (just enough for the layman) but strong on the concept of knowing yourself.

I do recommend this one for you, Jay!

Net neutrality again

I found an interesting article on Bluedot where they compare the internet to our streets and sidewalks.

Northwest heat wave . . . again

So yesterday here got to about 93 degrees fahrenheit. Today should be 94 and then a slow decent into the normal upper 70s. I know that there is a heat wave for the entirety of July going on in Europe right now and the East Coast of the US just got hit by a couple week one, but I am just not cut out for this.

One thing, I sorely miss right now from our old house is the air conditioning. Right now we are looking into our budget to see if we can swing getting this out here. Part of it is our comfort, and part is for the fish and cat to be a little more comfortable. Well so that I don't lose anymore fish to the heat. Today I tried the ice method, which I didn't want to do, but the tank water was above 84 degrees (which is how far up my thermometer goes).

Otherwise things are good. Michelle is bummed. Since she is home all day, it is hard to make friends and is very lonely. Soon Miranda and Michelle will be starting pre-school and hopefully that will help. But Miranda is doing good. It is just darn cool to watch as she learns more and more and is gaining the strength to do more and more. She is more comfortable on her stomach now and is starting to push herself up a bit (like a seal). She can sit in my lap and keep herself upright as long as she holds on to my hands to steady her.

Early yesterday before it got hot, Michelle was lucky enough to get a photo of her while she was checking out the living room.

Fort Knight ep. 4: A Lost Hope

I wouldn't really call this an interview as I am not affiliated with Bluedot and I am just a user of it. So I will say that Matches gave me the opportunity to co-host his technology video blog as we covered this social bookmarking site.



Fort-Knight Tonight, Episode 4 on Vimeo

Fort-Knight Tonight, Episode 3

A friend of mine and his love of technology. What more can you ask for. I am very impressed with his use of technology, and video editting software as well as his content.

The Call of the Mall and an update on Miranda

Going with a two-fer post since Andy must not be getting his weekly allowance of Amazon links and Miranda posts!

Call of the Mall

Call of the Mall by Paco Underhill is an excellently written work that explores the geography of mall usage as well as a bit of a history of suburban and urban malls. First off, I was caught by the writing style as it was easy to follow and yet full of good information. Paco explores everything from mall security to food courts to discount jewelry stores being next to Tiffany's. He goes into analyzing the shopping habits of men, women, and teenage girls. He talks about the barrier between the mall and store and how to entice customers inside. All in all, this is a must have for any retail person.

I am into retail but from the web side of things and really enjoyed trying to make connections into that space. It is a little more limited in that aspect but still a good mental exercise. For instance, it is known that as people stay in the mall for a longer period of time they are more and more likely to buy things which is why you have the food court, rock climbing, and movie theatres. Imagine in the web world on ebay where you could have flash games that would allow you to stay and watch your auctions while killing time. Ebay could then put up other similar auctions to the ones you are watching...

Either way, this is a must have for retailers and a fun read for hobby anthropologists.

Miranda

Miranda is doing well. Occassionaly we have a little bit of fussiness and lately she has been fighting food. But otherwise she is doing great. She now is able to turn from her back to her stomach, but can't get back. Since she hates being on her stomach this leads to Michelle or I having to flip her over once she starts screaming. She is starting to use her hands more and more. Just tonight she was trying (you could tell by the furrowed brow) to reach a little white ring hanging above the mat. Of course, once she kicked her leg (I think she thought that was the arm) and another she touched it with the right arm and them kept opening and closing the left hand. Just a pure treasure right now. I am sure Jay is going to love watching his son learn the same sorts of things!

Adding old plays

So back in college I wrote a couple of plays that got performed. As I read through them, I keep hearing the song "Springtime for Hitler".

Sigh.

Maybe I will revise them (been so many years...) and try to salvage something out of it.

Net neutrality and the little guy

So if ISP's can charge for sites to go through, does that mean that I, as a little tiny blogger, am going to have to pay every ISP to be allowed to have my content viewed?

So Comcast will suddenly block my Vonage cause they aren't paying (or because they have a competing business)?

That I can't buy my hard drives from comp-u-plus cause they didn't pay?

I am a consumer and a provider, hear my roar!

Talent and do they drink the kool-aid

Talent Engagement Matrix

Besides the typo in the chart, I thought this to interesting. Mostly this comment:

"But as a manager, to choose between an empty promoter and a cynical performer, I go with the latter anytime!"

Why would this even be a choice? Why is the company hiring folks that are not effective? If they aren't effective, should they still be at the company? Companies want talented individuals. Whether they are engaged or not typically comes from how long they are at the company/how long they have been out of school.

Of course, if their are any HR experts out there that want to step in and correct me, feel free, but I treat engagement as the opposite of corporate cyncism. And the only way to stop that is for the company to always match their actions and words (and be tailored to the individual).

EU and the opening of trade secrets

I think trade secrets in business have been around since the beginning of business. You don't have the protection of a patent, but then again if no one knows about it then they can't figure out a work around that you could from analyzing a patent... It seems however that Europe is very interested in "opening" up the market by having two companies share what traditionally has been seen as trade secrets.

• Microsoft fined 281m Euro
• France vs iTunes

When companies went from protecting their inventions to hoarding litigation tools, I decided that the patent system is currently a "bad thing." But I do think trade secrets still have their place as this is still a method to protect your ideas and inventions and there is no way to hoard this as a litigation tool. What the EU is forcing be done, is that now MS and Apple will have to patent their technology so that they can share and license this technology.

So I say, Apple and Microsoft, pull out of Europe. Open up your other markets. When Europe wants you back, come back graciously. This allows them to start their own industry in this area and gives opportunity to their businesses.

Welcome Evan!!!

Congratulations to my friend Jay and his wife Sara on the birth of their baby boy, Evan! Now Jay, we expect to see lots of pictures of the little guy. But seriously, congratulations and I do remember what it was like to first hold that little person in your arms for the first time. Very emotional.

For those that don't want to do the translation:
Born: 7:46 PM (GMT +01:00) (I am not so sure on the timezone)
Weight: 10 lbs 5 oz.
Height: 22 3/4 in.

Again Congrats!

To my wife

Happy 5th Anniversary.

Hopefully I haven't screwed up too badly.



Spelling error caught by Princess Blogonoke

Spore Gameplay Video

Will Wright talking at the 2005 Game Developer's Conference about 'Spore', which looks like it could possibly be the best video game ever.

Kids. Wow.

What a difference 12 weeks makes?! Tomorrow Miranda will hit the 12 week mark, and she seems to be so different. She has been pretty happy lately. And she is drooling more and it looks like you can start to see the outline of some teeth in her top gum, added to the fact that she likes to gnaw on her fingers must mean we are at the start of teething.

But for bigger news, it seems like she is starting to understand she has HANDS. We have a Baby Einstein Discover and Play Activity Center that we have been using since she has been able to hold her head still and prior to this last weekend, she would just sit and stare around. However, for the first time yesterday, she reached out and spun some of the toys and giggled. It was hilarious! The motor skills are still lacking. Last night she wanted to chew on Lamaze Freddie The Firefly Plush Toy, but couldn't seem to get the wing into her mouth. Basically she would shake her head and wave her arms about. I felt so bad laughing at her.

Here is her in a 4th of July outfit that her Great-Grandma Sara got her.

Time for the weekend

So I haven't finished any books recently, so no review this time. Currently I am reading The Call of the Mall by Paco Underhill (I believe). Not bad. Otherwise I look forward to another beautiful Pacific Northwest weekend. No. Seriously. It is about 72 and sunny which is seriously nice.

So went to Lowes this morning while Michelle and Miranda were at Baby and Me Yoga. One of the major things that Michelle wanted me to get was a hose winder. Well I got one by Suncast that broke when I was hand tightening it to the faucet. Pissed me off, so I chucked it across the yard. Stupid piece of plastic. Otherwise not much else.

Miranda is growing quite a bit. I don't happen to have the exact measurements, but she definitely takes up more of the playmat. She is such a wiggle worm and likes to have conversations with me. If I am talking she likes to coo very loudly. It is pretty darn cute. Her fussy stage is pretty much past. She gets a little cranky at night, but that is just cause she is tired, but it is way better than before. Well that is about all and it is near time for lunch.

Upgrading the wrt54g

I recently ordered the Linksys WRT54G v5 because I heard that there are some incredible tools out there to play around with this router, specifically loading linux and a new web console to this device. However, when it arrived and I started doing some research it turned out that without tearing the thing open, and using a JTAG connector, you were stuck with it's out of the box settings.

So after letting it sit for a while (until my other wireless router started acting flaky) I decided to see how far the community had come. It turned out that the day before I decided to check back, someone had cracked it and they now a load.

In about an hour of time (which I spent most of it watching Miranda play), I was able to reflash it to the new software. I am definitely impressed by the options that are available on this router with the new flash. Out of the box, I was barely able to make a connection on the far side of the house, but now am able to set how powerful a signal it has (be careful) and can get 4 bars.

Now if you are thinking about doing the same, I would recommend finding a version 4 wrt54g, or paying more to the wrt54gl (L is for linux). Using the micro version of the flash for the 54g (because it has half the memory), leaves out a number of cool features. But for the price and power and toy factor, this is an endeavor I highly recommend for the geek at heart.

Links:

• DD-WRT.org
  home of a wireless router linux OS
• WRT54Gv5 Instructions
• Feature List
• Other Routers

Finish a heat wave and one more book review

Well, it seems that over the last couple of days the west coast of the United States has been covered in some sweltering heat. This wouldn't be so bad if we had air conditioning, but "you don't need that in the Northwest". Whatever. It was darn hot (95 F) and we weren't handling it too well. Miranda seemed fine for the most part but we were giving her the nicest parts of the house to keep her cool.

I almost got down to the last ditch efforts in cooling devices. One is the ever popular spritzing bottle filled with water and a fan. This really works well if you can a humidifier as well, but does tend to leave the house a little more water logged. The other option is use a bucket of ice and a fan. We decided to tough it out over the couple of days and managed to be fine, although tigger spent a lot of time laying on the floor in the kitchen.



The Universe in a Single Atom : The Convergence of Science and Spirituality

The Universe in a Single Atom is a book by Dalai Lama XIV which goes into how he feels Buddism and the scientific method meet. His Holiness has had the opportunity to meet with some of the greatest scientific minds and has used those times to gain a greater understanding of state of science and attempt to apply them to philosophies and manuscripts within his faith. At times, I found this book to feel like a sales pitch for how Buddism is a religion that works hand in hand with science through the use of first person, introspective studies whereas science utilizes the third person, observant methodologies. But there are other times in this book, that he is able to bring about a real focus on some of the issues that we will soon have to face as a result of the great advances we have made in science.

I enjoyed this book. I attribute that to the fact that I enjoy the exercise of thinking on various focused topics. His Holiness is talks on the topics of Quantum Mechanics, the Big Bang, Evolution, Genetics, and Consciousness, and puts them in context of his beliefs and faith which provides an interest context in which to work though. One example is where the Dalai Lama shows how the Big Bang can be applied to one of manuscripts of Buddist teachings where the universe is of a cyclical nature and that the scientific studies have made many conjectures where this is a possibility where the universe will collapse the spin out yet another universe for the matter that once created the old.

Based on this, I recommend this to those that enjoy this sort of mental exercise and would like to learn a little of Buddism along the way.

Miranda's getting bigger

Well today she had her first baby and me yoga with Michelle. I am sure she will say more on that matter. Otherwise Miranda is doing well. I think for the first time we really feel like there is a routine which is very very nice.



I picked this one out for the commentability of the photo. I hope you enjoy Andy "Star Trek rules my world".

More reviews: Flight of the Nighthawks, 4400 Season 1, and Sunbox for your deck

Flight of the Nighthawks

This book by Raymond Feist is very much part of his normal formula for books. His books tend to focus around the creation of young male characters and how they develop their talents to move the world in there own ways. Feist continues the adventures in the fantasy world of Midkemia with visits from some original characters and various other characters that have appeared in his other works. Pug makes another appearance as well as Nakor to continue Feist's exploration into the balance of good and evil.

This book is just a plain fun fantasy book. If you have liked Feist's other works you will most probably like this one as well. I did find this one to be less worthy of praise than his others works. Magician was by the best of the books produced and the Serpentwar Saga was probably the best series, this just doesn't stand in the same league.

The 4400 - Season One

This series was recommended to me by a friend of mine and never got around to picking it up or renting it. I had the occasion to catch a few of the episodes on TV and was impressed by the writing and the acting done in this series. So I picked it up and am glad I did.

The story is about 4400 people who have disappeared over the last 70 years and how they are suddenly deposited back, but have not aged a day. It shows, but doesn't center around the bigotry that such an outsider group would encounter. The actors who play the main characters do a good job overall with some very interesting performances from the supporting cast as well.

In comparing with another recent sci-fi show, Firefly, I think this had a much stronger beginning, but a weaker overall "universe" to exist in. The acting in this series starts strong, with little need for the actors to get comfortable with their characters whereas Firefly really took a couple episodes to find who they were.

I would recommend this to folks who like science fiction but are looking for something more than just the Star Trek.

Suncast DB5000 Deck Box

I saw this item for 50% off at amazon and decided it was worth the risk to pick up and try out. Out of the box, this is comprised 6 poly-resin panels and seem fairly rigid. There is zero hardware needed for assembly and I was able to put this together in less than 10 minutes. It has now been outside for over a week with no discoloration or weathering.

The main drawbacks really are the cheap assembly, the hinges don't feel strong and the bottom isn't really secured by anything other than gravity. Also there really isn't a way to do a padlock on this. In the end it was slightly overpriced at 50% off and way overpriced if you paid full...

DS Lite and DS games reviews

Nintendo DS Lite

I initially wasn't sold on the idea of having two screens and using touch screens in gaming. I was wrong. Adding the touch screen doesn't remove the ability of games to use the normal set of buttons, so there is a good set of traditional games out that will work on the DS. Speaking of older games, if you have any gameboy advance games, they will work in the DS as well. Now as to the additional real estate, it really depends on the game to take advantage of it, but having the two screens separated by white plastic is a bit of a hinderance, especially when I saw pinball on the DS using both screens. But otherwise, it allows for status screens plus play screens, or a myriad of other configurations.

I have only used this for about 1 week and the touch screen in holding up with no scratches and the Mac like shell is also scratch free. The setup screens were easy to handle, although everytime you change a setting, you have to power the device back on. Pretty annoying. Also the time is in 24 hour clock, so make sure to take that into factor when initially configuring the DS. All in all, the best way to put it is if this were stolen, I would buy another in a heartbeat. Great gaming system!

Worms: Open Warfare

I was a huge fan of the worms series back 5 years ago, but have yet to find a good version come out since Worms Armageddon. This one is no different. The display is blissfully back to 2d side scrolling instead of the recent 3d versions. But with the small screen and poor cross hairs it is nearly impossible to aim anything. But that isn't the only thing that makes this game feel unfinished and buggy, there is the menu system which you can't use the buttons or d-pad. Also the enemy worms think forever! The weapons are limited and the challenges are not terribly challenging. Don't waste your money.

Brain Age

Here is a game that is a lot of fun. But take that with a grain of salt. I really enjoy math and tests and puzzles which this game seems to include. The controls are easy however, sometimes the games doesn't recognize the numbers you write and the microphone really has trouble with the word blue. But with 100 games of sudoku and tons of tests and quizes this will bring many months of challenges and fun, and maybe a little brain exercises too.

How to smoke pork ribs

First off, Michelle picked up some pork ribs from Safeway foods a couple days ago so that I could smoke them using my Brinkmann Charcoal Smoker which I have talked about previously. Again they came out fantastic with little work. In fact, the biggest amount of work involved was getting the darn thing started (never been great with charcoal). But once it was hot, and the meat was finished with it's dry rub, on it went for the next 3 1/2 hours with some thoroughly soaked mesquite chips.



Ingredients

• Couple of full racks of ribs (pork)
• Cayenne pepper
• Black pepper
• Salt (kosher or season)
• Garlic Powder
• 1/2 can of beer
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 bulb of garlic
• Soaked Mesquite or Hickory wood
  

First start your wood chips soaking for at least 30 minutes, I tend to go with an 1 1/2 hours. While that is soaking, start up the charcoal at some point. No need to rush this as the chips are soaking and the meat is still refrigerated (or not, your choice). Next start powdering the ribs in the dry spices (salt, peppers, and garlic) and gentle push them into the meat (no need to rub as most of the time, you just rub them off). Next pour the 3 cups of water and the 1/2 can of beer into the water basin for the smoker. Crush the cloves of garlic with your hands and put into the water basin as well. Next put the meat on the racks, and the basin and racks in the smoker. Drink the rest of the beer (probably the rest of the 6 pack too) as this will now cook for 3-7 hours depending on how hot your grill gets going and how thick the ribs are. What you are waiting for really is a deep red color to the meat and that it is firm to the touch/press. Serve and enjoy with your favorite barbeque sauce.

Along with this dish I also served a creamy port asparagus. Take some washed fresh asparagus and cut in half. Heat up a skillet with some butter and olive oil in it. Next sautee the asparagus with a little salt, pepper, and garlic powder (fresh would be better). Once you are starting to get a little bit of brown on the asparagus (but it should still be firm) add about a shot of port to deglaze the pan. Once that is complete add half a cup of milk or creme and use some flour to thicken. Enjoy.

Tons of smiles

Thanks Dustin for the aspirin before idea. We were just taken a little bit by surprise when she did so well and then was angry later. So she is getting better, but I can definitely tell when she is tired, but refuses to go down. We now have two more roll-over events. So she is starting to realize how to get from her tummy to her back. But all the smiles and looking around really is a joy.

So, everything is going well.

So Michelle and I snapped off some more shots to load up.

Grillin' Crab

So Michelle went out and picked up some Alaskan King Crab for me to cook. Knowing this ahead of time, I did a quick search for crab and the grill and found that it only takes about 4-6 minutes a side and medium high heat. And I can say it turned out fabulous. I recommend you trying this sometime...


As for Miranda, she has been fussy every since the shot, not sure what is going on. Just trying to make it...

2 months

Yesterday was the 2 month mark for Miranda and along with it came her 2 month checkup and shots. As I was not there for it, all this is coming second hand from Michelle. As for the basics, Miranda is now 21.5 inches and 10 lbs 13 oz. So we are up about 3.5 lbs and about 2 inches. Although she definitely feels like she has grown in "height" more than what the doc says, but that could be just because of her stretching out more and not curled in the fetal position. Her birthmark seems stable, so are just keeping an eye on it.

As for her shots, it sounds like the took them in stride (better than her old man). But any discomfort from the shots must have happened later on in the evening as she was just wailing. You could tell that where the shots were given was starting to swell up, so we gave a little bit of baby aspirin and just kept rocking her till she calmed down and now seems to be holding up just fine.

Three book reviews

A Feast for Crows

Just recently finished this book and found this to not be as good as the others in the series. The pacing of this Crows is much slower but still has a few high tension chapters. This book continues the stories of the ruling families of Westeros but the focus this time is primarily around Oldtowne, King's Landing, Braavos, and the Vale. We see a brief bit with Jon Snow but none of Dany or Tyrion, but then again, this book was much longer but cut into two books by the author.

Again Mr. Martin is able to continue to craft a story where everyone gets punished and shaped by the strife and conflict. Pain and punishment is a central theme throughout his books, but this leads to hope with certain characters and justice for others. The most attractive part of his works centers around the different characters and how they are going to fit into the whole picture. Mr. Martin is able to obscure his direction, yet leave little tantalizing clues. Is the Hound really dead? Who will be the three heads of the dragon? Who was Jon Snow's parents? All these things are finely woven into a beautifully crafted story that you hate to take the journey through because it is fraught with suffering, but cannot deny for the climax may be worth that trip.

Joel on Software

I finished Joel Spolsky's book on software practices. This book is a collection of blog entries from Joel's site that talk about various software "war stories" and various rants on software practices and processes. I don't think I would recommend this book to anyone looking for the answer to the problems involved with software design, project management or development. But I definitely would recommend this book to anyone working in the software industry. Joel presents various topics that are often brought up along the lines of design time, testing, agile methodologies, and politics and is able to distill them into many of the main issues and talk about them. The book really is able to help one think about the little things we do when we create. But above all else, the writing in this book is very engaging and is just a sheer joy to read.

The Art of Project Management

I recently finished "The Art of Project Management" by Scott Berkun. The book tries to create a basic set of guidelines for project management based on Scott's learnings from working at Microsoft creating boxed software. I feel this book does a good job in creating a broad overview of the principles and problems that will be faced over the entire cycle of creating product that can be sold (software, stereo equipment, cars, appliances, etc). However, it really does not cover one vital important topic which is handling problems after launch. But overall Scott is able to cover the rest of the roles of project management and it's responsibility to creating project and maintaining that focus.

The book's chapters are centered around a good set of chapters so that you can easily flip to the chapter that you currently are interested in or if you are reading through, will maintain an easy flow from one to the other. Each chapter has a summary, but I didn't find the summary particularly helpful. Felt is was more of a teaser for the chapter put at the end and that it didn't contain enough of the meat that really described the point. The book's writing is a little dry but is able to cover alot of topics thoroughly.

If you have gone through PMI certification or have a great deal of PM experience, this book is not for you. But it will give a good set of ideas about the role that is project management and setup a good ethical stake as to how it can be used effectively.

7.5 weeks and smiles

Of course it isn't always smiles, but when they appear, they make anything worth it.

When is overtime something you should do?

Typically I don't like mentioning work on my blog. I like to use this as a space to talk about life outside of work. Plus that way, I also don't have to watch my mouth about giving away trade secrets. Course, I don't talk about my pet projects either. So here I am, on a weekend, debating whether I should work this weekend to try and catch up on my timeline. Working weeks is a two edged sword, that more often than not, will lead to more problems later.

So here are some things that you should weigh when you are thinking about working a bit from home. First off, as I made I list, it really distilled down to one pro and one con. The main pro, is that you are going to stay closer to any deadlines and thereby impress friends and coworkers as well as reduce deadline stress. But the con is equally insidious as you are effectively reducing your work stamina. Sprints just lead to longer rest periods where your brain, no matter how many pep-talks you give it, refuses to be productive. For the most part, I think most of you all recognize this.

The one that I personally worry more about is your velocity. I am borrowing this term from eXtreme Programming (which I am sure found in one of the many volumes of project planning).
So let's say that you have created an estimate of 3 weeks to project completion. You get to the last week and put in a lot of effort to get it across the finish line. In the worst of cases, you have now created an expectation in the eyes of others, that this is how you operate. Even in the best case, you are going to forget that effort in your next planning round, and put out another inaccurate estimate.

Doesn't it seem weird that we never overestimate? I don't really believe this is because we are lazy about our work. I think that we are going to make better products with the time we have. We add in additional tests. We add in better error checks and handling. We add in new buggy features and fancy crap too. It seems to be the nature of the beast. Usually the best cases are the ones that are made from short iterative design steps. And those deadlines are the ones that carry weight. This in theory, reduces the impact of late timelines, but only if you don't plan the next iteration till the current is done. However planning dependencies is a good thing as these drive the completion of the current deadline.

Ok, I am starting to ramble, so that is a sign to stop. Maybe I will compile this into something more guideline, process oriented. Probably not though.

Captions

Although my captions are probably not as much fun as Andy's, they sure do look better. Thought I would use this as my opportunity to shout out to Flagrant Disregard and their wonderful Flickr Toys. Can lead to lots of enjoyment between this and the motivational posters. Plus plenty of other tools.

A Quieter Household, maybe

Well, I drove my parents to the airport this afternoon. It was great having them out. Now we just need to find a way for Michelle's parents to get a chance to meet Miranda and we will be doing just fine. While they were here, we got a chance to check out he Seattle Aquarium, Pike Place Market, Snoqualmie Falls, and also the Olympic Peninsula. So I think they got to see a good set of stuff. Plus there is always more to see next time they have a visit. But we made sure they had some time with Miranda and got to do the family thing.

So here is to time with family. Something that is always fun.

Net Neutrality

Saw in the news the other day that our fearless leaders have made the first step toward net neutrality. The real problem though is that they don't own "these roads". At some point, the net is going to be a part of the public infrastructure (similar to phones?) just like our roadway system. But until then, the internet and the means to connect to it are all private. I say let the ISPs try to charge companies to display content across. With that you will see the first decline in internet usage since its inception.

If MCI/Worldcomm tried to charge companies $0.0002 for ever meg of transfer, and the Amazon's, Google's, Microsoft's, etc decided not to pay it, I think consumers would rebel. But the providers are trying to milk the cow from two ends. (What a horrible analogy)

The phone system is private, but regulated and, in my opinion, nothing but trouble. Stupid little fees, horrible support, but it is ubiquitous. The net connections are already on their way to that same sorts of problems. What is worse, is that there is no analogy to websites in a phone world. Both sides of a "conversation" pay for that connection. In the case of the web, sites pay for both sides of the connection, but I guess that isn't good enough. We are headed straight to ATM connection fee hell in a messy handbasket.

Get the gov out and let's see what falls out from consumer choices. Maybe I am just too curious.

Backup solutions

Recently I decided it was time to do another backup of my data. It had been about a year (ug, I know) and I had moved all my music and pictures to be centrally located and partially organized. I know that many of my pictures have made it to flickr and I have my music hosted on my website, but I still had a ton of photos and the raw tracks of music on my computer not backed up. On top of that, there are plays I have written and other documents (some financial) that I have as well that could use to be backed up. So I ran a quick backup to dvd which got all my media. I find this method just not very efficient and generally to a pain in the butt. I am also not a huge fan of tape backups or cd backups or any media centered backups. It only protects you from physical failure of a hard drive and not from theft, fire, or flood.

I guess this feeling of insecurity came when I started looking at Amazon's S3 data service. It made me drool with the possibility of distributed, redundant, remote storage. But I have seen some draw backs, at least for me. I am not comfortable with the pricing model as I am already dishing out monthly bills for internet and for my current hosting solutions, I now add a data storage service to that mix (added with flickr and some other misc recurrent internet fees). Plus their means of holding data is not all that optimum for me. I know they say that the data is private to individual by default, but it just feels unsafe to me. I wouldn't mind with some of my data, but for financial oriented stuff... uggh!

So here is what I want:

• Distributed (more than one data facility)
• Redundant (kinda like putting this down in the first place)
• Accessible via ftp, https, web service, etc
• Come with software for aiding of backup
• Priced at $0.001/meg storage per month and that includes bandwidth for private use
• Some other pricing plan for commercial use

So does this sound like a good idea? I mean, I wouldn't want to lose stuff like this.

Heat wave

First off I didn't expect Washington to get so hot so early in the year. And with that heat, unfortunately, Miranda got heat rash and was definitely not happy. That irritation lead to long hours of crying and little we could do other than try to dress her appropriately and get some fans going. So that today's heat wave left us a little more prepared and we were able to keep her heat rash from spreading too much.

For those keeping note, we easily hit 85 degrees yesterday and 80 degrees today.

Some other notes, put together a short dvd for Michelle's family of the video clips that we have so far. I think it came out well but I really should finish testing it before bed and it will be leaving with Cathy tomorrow. Also I have been slowly sending out announcements. I unfortunately didn't keep a list so I don't know who I sent to and who I have not. Silly me.

Also played a bit with a program that was pointed out to me by Jay called autostitch. I really need to grab more photos so that I can play more but I did get a chance to put together the pictures from my wife's trip to snoqualmie falls.

Attempt at a family photo

We decided to abuse our familial privledges by having Michelle's sister, Cathy, get us a family like picture. Now to wait for Andy's commentary.

More from the Northwest

Well, Miranda is doing fine. I am starting to understand her feeding habits. Most of the time she is pretty even with times and amounts, but occasional the amounts will spike and the times will fluctuate. I can only attribute it to growth spurts, but to be honest, I don't really know.

Kinda nice that I have been able to see a few smiles from her, but lord forbid I have a camera anywhere near me during those moments. I am sure that I will get the opportunity eventually. And wow can she fill a diaper.

From an animal note, Tigger seems pretty well adjusted to her, but now demands more attnetion. Normally this cat is very standoffish, but he has even sat in my lap of late which is super weird for him. He even follows me through the house. I think he is afraid that we may leave and come home with another wailing child. As for the fish, the crappy ones to start the cycling are doing just fine. I don't think they even notice the baby. However we have a decent algae growth, so I will pick up some form of algae eater over the weekend and decided if that tank will be Rainbow fish, or african cichlids. Once I install the new faucet for the basement sink, I will drain and refill the 110 for it's future of fish holding.

Here is one of my favorite recent pics!

First and 15!

Well for the first time, I sat and watched the entire first day. For me it was a little slice of heaven, but not even close to being on the scale of my daughter. Overall, I saw a couple surprise picks but for the most part I thought everyone went towards holes this year instead of player talent which seemed to be the direction last year.

So I honestly thought with Norman Chow in Tennessee, they would have went with Leinart. He was the more polished choice that could actually play the position this year. Young still has a lot of development needed, but may have more room for growth. Still, they passed on a quality QB for a bet.

The raiders really didn't need a DB/S, so when I picked Michael Huff instead of targetting what I think is a major need that could have been filled early with some solid defensive tackles and still be able to pick one of the many good DBs in the draft. Again, it was a little odd to see.

The biggest draft news was the Texans jilting Reggie Bush. I honestly believe no one was willing to trade up to 1 to get Reggie, so the Texans did what they had to and that was start filling in some of their wholes. I probably would have went with D'Brickashaw but I think that the Texans have been able to use the later rounds to shore up the D. But passing on Reggie Bush might be the move that shows the mediocrity of the Texans organization. But not comparing Bush to Barry Sanders, when you take a great offensive weapon and put them in a broken system, you will always improve the level of the system. However that system will still be fundamentally broke. I think we can honestly say that with Reggie Bush, the Texans might have run to 6-10, which is what I think they will be able to do this year with the players they did get, but I think going into the future, you are going to be better aligned to get some long term perspective.

Just to show how bored Miranda was during my watching of the draft:

With the number one pick . . .

Mario Williams? WTF? I can see it fits under a bigger need, but Reggie Bush has a lot of potential. Of course this is easy to spot based on contract negotiations and the recent extension of Dominic Davis. So that shuffles things around a bit. I had just assumed they would trade down a bit and pick up an extra round 2 or 3 for it. Interesting and it screws up what I had set out before.

1. Texans - Mario Williams
2. 49ers - Reggie Bush
3. Titans - Matt Leinart
4. Jets - D'Brickashaw Ferguson
5. Packers - A. J. Hawk
6. Saints - Vernon Davis
7. Raiders - Brodrick Bunkley
8. Bills - Michael Huff
9. Lions - Ernie Sims
10. Cardinals - Vince Young
11. Rams - Haloti Ngata
12. Browns - Karmerion Wimbley
13. Ravens - Winston Justice
14. Eagles - Chad Greenway
15. Broncos - DeAngelo Williams

We'll see how well that one stands.

NFL draft quickie

I haven't really had time to finish what I started in terms of my draft research. I have a preliminary expected draft order but haven't had time to put in all the trades that I expect to happen and only got to pick 15.

1. Jets - Reggie Bush
2. Saints - Mario Williams
3. Titans - Matt Leinart
4. Texans - D'Brickashaw Ferguson
5. Packers - A. J. Hawk
6. Cardinals - Vince Young
7. Raiders - Vernon Davis
8. Bills - Brodrick Bunkley
9. Lions - Michael Huff
10. 49ers - Kamerion Wimbley
11. Rams - Ernie Sims
12. Broncos - DeAngelo Williams
13. Ravens - Haloti Ngata
14. Eagles - Winston Justice
15. Browns - Chad Greenway

Parts of this don't feel right yet. It feels like I have a lot more movement than I wanted, but at the same point, when you look at the top 10 players there is a definite order to their skill levels also coupled with the power of their position. I tried to capture the strength of the players and let the teams come to them. The teams may end up not trading and taking these players as well. Either way, I am starting to get excited about it.

More than spit

Well Miranda got sick on me for the first time. I guess she drank her dinner too quickly. Amazing how much 2 ounces is! Watching to make sure she is doing ok. Poor babe!

Another bath, and voila: Clean Miranda

So today was another bath for Miranda (sorry, no pics nor will there be). She is starting to tolerate them more it seems like. Same with the changing of the diaper, done now with minimal fuss. So far adventures in baby land are going well.

However I am sorry to say the picture a day thing has failed really before it even took off. I guess I didn't realize how tired one could be. However either I am getting used to being tired or somehow I am magically squeezing out quality sleep in shorter time periods. Either way, Michelle and I are maintaining the necessaries of sleep, food, and cleanliness for us and more importantly, Miranda.



This morning between work and Miranda (letting Michelle get more rest, she needs it!) I started work on my 2006 mock draft based on too much research. I have gotten through the first 15 pics, but am deciding that I am not liking some of the pics I have. I seem to be lacking some of that edginess that will either make me a genius or get me totally laughed at. Either one of those options is completely fine with me. The draft is always tricky. You know that the teams are holding these secret "love affairs" with certain players that they don't want anyone else to know about. This is some value to stealing another teams desired player or moving like you are. Hopefully the research will be done so that I can post it tomorrow night.

6 days

Well we have made it so far, and we aren't too much worse for wear. Although staying up till 2:30 AM with her and then getting up at 7:00 AM was not exactly comfortable. But when she is happy, we are happy.

No new picture today. Don't really want to disturb her as she had a busy day. Nothing bad, just a visit to a nurse and she is doing wonderful.

As I have said that football is a year round sport (well a slight break for summer training), I will be talking about the upcoming draft soon. Otherwise, my energies are focused elsewhere.

Happy Easter

I hope everyone is having fun with family and friends today!

Everything I thought I knew

As the last couple of months went by, Michelle and I spent a lot of time trying to learn more about baby care and what to expect. In the end, you just have to wing it. I guess I should have sensed that this pseudo-preparedness was in fact a warning sign of overconfidence and bravado on my part. I don't know how else to describe the sheer helplessness a parent can feel at 2:30am when the baby is crying and the diaper is dry, she has just been fed, and burped, and it just isn't stopping. The first night, we just turned on the light and everything was fine. Just wanted to look around, I guess. Last night, we started supplementing with some formula and that helped.

Other things of note for fathers: During the time of labor, you need to make sure you have food and WATER! Also lay off the aspirin as nerves are going to play some not-so-funny games with the stomach. The nurses will help your wife. You need to take care of you so that when the time comes that your wife needs help, you are ready. I know a couple of friends that are expecting soon. If you are worried about missing it, just ask one of the nurses. I mentioned that I would like to get some lunch and the nurse said that it would be fine, that we were still a bit away. Same when I mentioned I needed to buy some antacids (you may want some of those as well).

All that said, it was the most special experience in my life. Watching my baby daughter arrive was so amazing. Listening to her first cry and she awoke to this strange environment was precious (just keep remembering that a cry can be beautiful...). All in all I feel blessed and lucky with this little bundle.

I want to thank all my friends and family who have talked to us over the last couple of days or left comments. It is always a good feeling when you see all the people that care. Thanks again!

More pics

I uploaded a bunch of pics to my flickr account, but most are marked as private. If you wish to see them, you will need a flickr account and become a contact of mine and I will add you to my friends and family!

And thank you for all your congratulations!

Bob Wehadababy Itsagirl

Miranda Lynn Dykstra
born 3:52 PM PST
7 lb 1.5 oz
19 3/4 inches

Sorry for the small picture. I was sent home sick and this is all I had with me (camera phone). Everything went well, but I will let Michelle tell that story on blog. We went in for some tests and the doctors were concerned about the low amniotic fluid. So they decided to induce. They gave Michelle 3 pills over the course of 9 hours Tuesday, and then a sleeping pill since it was 12:00pm when they finished that round. The next morning at 6:00am they started giving the serious inducement medicine, and Michelle's water broke around 9:00am. The epidural showed up at around 11:00 am and things got a lot better.

But we have a little girl and I couldn't be happier.

No news yet.

Still no news.

It's started

They are inducing today. Will post more later.

To be dad, chart redux

Updated in date order...

Who?	Date	Time
Jfew	April 7	7:00 PM
Michelle's Mom	April 10	4:00 AM
Manders	April 10	7:00 AM
Agregov	April 11	7:00 AM
Lehman	April 13	2:00 AM
Jay	April 13	3:00 AM
Qhunt	April 13	9:00 AM
Michelle	April 13	3:00 PM
Brownell	April 14	6:00 AM
Cathy	April 15	7:33 AM
Amanda	April 15	5:32 PM
Janak	April 16	7:00 PM
Me	April 18	3:30 AM
Ish	April 21	6:30 AM
Andy	April 22	10:30 AM
My Mom	April 24	2:00 PM

When will I be a dad?

So I started a list of everyone's guesses. Feel free to tag on any additional guesses. Here are the only vital statistics that you get:

• Original Due Date: April 11
• Fetal Survey Due Date: April 14

So here are the guesses in so far:

Who?	Date	Time
Me	April 18	3:30 AM
Michelle	April 13	3:00 PM
My Mom	April 24	2:00 PM
Manders	April 10	7:00 AM
Lehman	April 13	2:00 AM
Jfew	April 7	7:00 PM
Qhunt	April 13	9:00 AM
Brownell	April 14	6:00 AM

So we are getting near the date.

More random stuff

There is fish in the tank!!! They are white cloud danios, which are cheap. So the purpose to adding the cheapest fish I can to my 55 gallon tank is to get the Nitrogen cycle started. Since the tank at this stage is more unstable and likely to have an ammonia spike, it is often best to let cheap fish start producing the stuff to get the bacteria going.

Although anyone with a tank probably already knew that.

For my birthday, my brother was kind enough to order a smoker off my Amazon wishlist. I finally got a nice day and good piece of meat to try it out. I have to say I was totally impressed. I was impressed that I didn't burn off my eyebrows (even though it was close). I was impressed that the simplistic heat guage's ideal, really meant ideal. I was shocked by the quality of meat to come forth. Overall it rocked. So, Michelle picked up a pork tenderloin that I did a dry rub of

• Sea salt
• lemon pepper
• cayenne pepper
• garlic powder

on to the roughly 1.25 lbs of pork. I filled the water pan with a bunch of water, 4 cloves of garlic and a dash of port. I used some mesquite chips (thoroughly soaked) as my smoking agent and let it cook for 2 hours. The piece of meat came of with the most amazing flavor that I could imagine. Awesome. If you are interested in getting one of these things yourself, just click the link below.

Brinkmann 852-7080-V Gourmet Charcoal Smoker & Grill with Outdoor Vinyl Cover

Also so that I don't forget, here are some future topics I want to touch on:

• Iterative Design
• Joel on Software
• Rift lake fish
• Baby news

Like I could ever forget baby news. No new news. Michelle's latest doctor appointment went well and we are just waiting now. I think we are ready. I hope we are ready. We probably are not ready. Had one of those moments today at work, where I realized one week from today I could be a dad. How much will life change? Definitely excited and scared.

So I read a large portion of The Baby Book as I have linked to in previous posts. I glad it was able to tell me that it is highly unlikely that I will form a deep bond with my child. I gathered from the book that this is a mother only sort of club and that I will have to just resign myself to fumbling and making mistakes. Thanks Dr. Sears and Dr. Sears! Maybe I am being self-centered or need my ego stroked... but I would like to believe that men have some opportunity to form some connection with their children. In the end, all that matters is the happiness of the child and my connection may have absolutely nothing to do with that and that is fine. I just want a happy, healthy child.

Enough of the depressing stuff. Currently reading:

• The Art of Project Management
• A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 3)

Also on my Flickr Album, I added a bunch of pictures from my aquarium setups in Michigan as well as some flower pics that my wife took around our new house.

Not a book review

I finished a book that I could talk about, but I am going to postpone that for later. They require more time to thing them out that I feel like applying right now. So more on the stinky tank. I ended it off where I drained half the tank, stopped the filter, removed the pseudo-plants, and stopped the heater and the stink went down drastically. I have yet to do anything else to the tank lately. What I have determined is that I really need to clean out the filter and remove all the material from it to get rid of the smell. At least that is what I hope will happen.

Today we are going to swing out to the The Fish Store in Seattle to look at their stock, but more specifically pick up the filter supplies that I need. I hope they carry the brand I need, or else, this will likely set my tank setup behind.

Michelle is doing well. We are now down to two names, but not really sure if either will stick once the baby is born. I have heard stories of moms deciding once the baby is born that they are a "fill in the blank" and don't even use the names that they came up with during the pregnancy.

• Annika Lynn
• Miranda Lynn

So all in all, things are well. I should be working this weekend. I have somethings I need to explore for work and feel like I should get cranking on them.

Currently reading:
The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two (Revised and Updated Edition)

Happy Birthday Brandon

Just a quick happy birthday to my brother!

What the heck is that stench?

So I decided this last weekend it was finally time to put together at least one of my fish tanks. They had been sitting empty for quite some time now. So I got out the gravel (stored from Michigan) and some ornament and put it all together. The next morning when I work up, there was definitely an odor in the house and it was definitely coming from the tank. I can only guess that the rocks/ornaments/filter have some weird nasty bacteria or fungus creating what can best described and a 1000 sweaty gym socks piled on a warm heater. So now I start attacking the problem and trying to get everyback to stink free, or near enough.

On a less stinky note, I finished a couple of books to free up more time for baby books.

A Clash of Kings (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 2)

Where as the first book seemed to center on the political intrigue, this ones brings in more of the fantasy elements to set up the stage for magic and dragons. Mr. Martin still keeps his elements of pain and torture as in the first book where you many of the characters get disillusioned with life and to suffer through the events that unfold. It feels like he is telling the reader, life is unfair, get used to it.

If you liked the first one, then this one is sure to please. The characters are rich and multidimensional. The plot is deep and twisted. This reader is caught and just can't put it down.

Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software

Domain Driven Design is the perfect compliment to any development shop that has decided to use the agile process of eXtreme Programming. It is centered around iterative coding practices and test driven development but also hints to deeper point where you drive to your user stories in a common language with your consumer. Eric Evans creates a system to drive to a "ubiquitous language", reach deep architectural insight, and create robust systems in a changing environment and he explains all these steps in simple ways.

Where I think this book tends to fall a little flat is that is trying to be everything to everybody. This book is definitely not for the "architect" as these concepts are things that you have learned by fire when fighting the battles against scope creep and communicating with Marketing teams and consumers. This also would be wasted on any fresh developer as many of the things that are discussed have not been experienced yet. I do recommend this book to software developers that have roughly 2 to 4 years of experience as it really does plainly put forth the problem sets and offers a solution that can work in many environments.

Joel on Software: And on Diverse and Occasionally Related Matters That Will Prove of Interest to Software Developers, Designers, and Managers, and to Those Who, Whether by Good Fortune or Ill Luck, Work with Them in Some Capacity

This one is something I am still working on. So far I am liking what I am reading. It does seem to be not against XP, but against many of it's concepts in all but a small set of environments. The part is the writing style is very engaging. Either way, probably will have that done in the middle of next week.

The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two (Revised and Updated Edition)

This book should really have a new title called the Encyclopedia of Attachment Parenting. Just started this, and have little time left to read it, but I am trying to hit the needed points and go back through on those upcoming sleepless nights. Maybe I will even read it out loud.
In conclusion

Things are still going well. The baby is due anytime now. Life is good. I am learning to play the piano. I have been posting pictures to flickr. Stud finder is working again. Galactic Civ 2 is better now that it is saving after I updated the video drivers. The Lions are shaking things up at the quarterback position, maybe that can bring the team to life. Ford is in trouble in the auto industry, which may mean the will let the Lions win. Will write something other than reviews shortly. Actually thinking of writing a "This I believe" after NPR and Fort Knight Dispatch, John M Knight's Blog: This I Believe... did one.

Terrible Mistake

Ug.

Although it probably isn't that bad of a mistake, I can't even look in the mirror now. I shaved off my goatee, since I nicked it when I was trimming it. This is the goatee that I have had for about 6 years now without removing it. I sadly miss it. Oh well, it will grow back.

On some reading notes: I am part way through Domain Driven Design. Not too bad, but I think this would useful to any developer about 2 years out of school. It has a lot of ways to look at how you organize and put together software. It also takes a look at the more practical aspects of XP in relationship to iterative development and the use of refactoring.

I also recently finished reading A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. I found this book to be an exercise in what most authors eventually want to do to their characters, which is to torture them relentlessly. I have started to read the sequel, and I think I am starting to notice a pattern. Through the first 200 pages, you have trouble bringing yourself to read another page. It is so painful watching some these characters get punished for living (living?). The rest of the book leads into wondering if the character will somehow extract themselves from these predicaments, knowing most likely they won't, but curious enough to have a hard time putting the book down.

I also read Heading Home with Your Newborn : From Birth to Reality yesterday to start getting prepared for our new arrival. This book was darn good, but at this point, I don't know if will be helpful (as the baby isn't here yet). The writing was very good and lead to couple of chuckles reading which helps break some of the tensions that comes with expecting a first child and realizing you don't know the first thing about taking care of one. The book contains information covering a broad set of topics, but really doesn't get very in-depth about any of them. I actually prefer this as I was able to get a good chunk of basic information in the matter of 3 hours and feel a little bit more prepared. Highly recommended!

Also as noted on St. Patrick's day picture, I bought Galactic Civilizations II at the recommendations of Jefe le Grand. So far I like the game a little bit. My reservations may come from the fact that I have trouble with turn based strategy games (where is my bum rush?) or from the fact that this genre at some point can feel like a job as opposed to a game. But this game has the feature to end all features, the shipyard! It is like have legos and building spaceships all over again. This strategy really sparkles when you build the ships to your design and send them out. The design has little impact, but gives your race a feel of it's own. Noticed a bug so far where I can't load save games (ouch) but hopefully there will be a patch soon.

A Geek, I am

Am I the only that thinks this equals a fun evening?

Review: Component to VGA box

Device Review

So my anguish over high def video gaming is almost over. I recently bought a Progressive-Scan Component VGA Box from Lik-Sang. This device will take component input in 480p, 720p, or 1080i and transform it to VGA for use with up to two monitors. Out of the box, I plugged everything in and it worked like a charm with my archaic KDS VS-195 monitor. There are a number of dip switches on the device that allow for manual settings, but on auto it worked great. One thing that is a little annoying is that it cannot handle non-hi-def signals at all. So when the XBOX is in the OS screen, it will not be displayed. Another thing is that the colors are very washed out. Not very rich or vibrant, but the thing that was important to me, contrast, was spot on and I can now spot my enemy from a great distance away in dark areas with a crispness that is just not available on standard tv.



Other Stuff

Yesterday's reformat was a success. At least so far. I have yet to test hooking up the camcorder to the computer to see if I am able to pull the videos in. That will be on my to be tested today list. Also I need to test hooking up my new 61 key m-audio keyboard (M-Audio Keystation 61es 61-Key Keyboard). Powered and connected via USB for use with both PCs and Macs, which is also why I am not tempted to get a Mac (although I am tempted about once a year). Garageband is a piece of software that has always intrigued me and it would be nice to run it for a spin or to have something similar on the PC. But alas, I now have to figure out what will be in the budget.

Also, yesterday's reformat has identified a problem of mine. I have not organization for the files that I have on my PC and I think that I am going to need to put them in some sort of order. And definitely run a backup. Yup.

Couple quick things

Finally pushed over the edge and need to fix my PC. This is the longest I have ever had a PC without changing it and am starting to feel the pressure to upgrade. But I just continue to try and limp along. Today I am spending some time reformatting so that hopefully I can download my video's from the vidcam. Plus, my TV mode on my video card quit working months ago, and I finally am tired of waiting on that. The one problem I can't seem to fix is the one that bothers me the most. Whenever I reboot, it takes 15 minutes to POST. I unplug the one piece of equipment I installed after purchase (HDD) and it POSTs in less than 15 seconds. This only reinforces the next PC will be build by me. Just a lot more flexible and reliable for what I need it to do.

So, I have a DLP projector that I use for movies and games. It works well for movies, but I was unable to see in most games because they are dark and require a fairly high contrast ratio. So I saw online that you can buy a dongle that will convert hi-def to vga. So now I am using one of my old monitors (19") to play my games on. I will post a full review of it later along with make/model/where you can get one too if you are intrigued.

Well back to reformatting.

(BTW, I have been considering a Mac Mini so that I can do audio stuff on it. Don't tell my wife.)

Book Review: The Innovation Superhighway

Without boring about why I am doing this so much later than when I actually read the book, suffice to say, I have decided that this book requires a full review. I had written previously about this book, where I recommended this to my previous employer. I would like to explore why I felt this way and more so why I became disillusioned with the book's message.

First off, when looking for books on innovation, one must know what type of information they are looking for and what information they are going to find in the book that they are going to read. The Innovation Superhighway is a book that starts out presenting the start of a framework using the internet as a means of transmitting information. Early on in the book it is stated that internet and all it's services and facilities are really about innovation, not information. While many innovative activities are occurred because of the information that is made more readily and by the "free wheeling" of early internet companies, the internet is truly about the transfer of knowledge. When much of the book deals with sharing of innovations across some infrastructure sounds wonderful, I have seem little of it in the corporate world, where it may be true in the academic world. In fact I have seen the opposite in the corporate world, where innovation is coveted and hoarded.

In the end, this book will do a couple of good things for you. It provides an excellent look into the ideas of Intellectual Capital, which still has a certain amount of nebulousness about it (although I was looking for something a little deeper here). The book also presents some excellent views into Knowledge and what it can mean to an individual, a company, and even a country. There is a lot of good information in those chapters.

This however only gets us to page 127 out of 349. At this point, the book goes into the story of ENTOVATION which I was unable to find much that I could use in many of my roles of using technology to facilitate communication and parts within a corporation's innovation processes. It becomes the story of how individuals from many roles got together to explore knowledge exchange and sharing for the purpose of innovation. Many of the cases that are put forth rely on companies and individuals seeing the benefit of sharing information and also that all information being shared is of equal value. I have been part of such attempts at sharing only to have them break down due to information having different value to different parties and therefore demanding different returns. The whole knowledge market, although referenced earlier in the book, seems largely ignored. The primary aspects near the end of the book rely on a more idealistic world, where personal gain (thinking selfishly here) is largely ignored and the greater good of society and countries are funded to aid innovation. I have seen little evidence of any working towards that or any chance of these goals coming to fruition. Painting of Exemplar Ken Practitioners through ~40 pages had little value to me in my quest for knowledge and innovation processes.

So, there is value to the book. I felt that the first portion of the book was the most valuable and would love to see more around that, but I was disappointed that after such a strong start, the end left me wanting.

If only Tequila

I wish it wasn't NyQuil. Tequila (the other Q drink) would be preferable, but somehow I have managed to become sick. Again. Oh well, sick happens.

NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement

Look, wealthy teams, I know that it isn't fair that you should have to give up more of your income to other NFL teams, but perhaps some of your popularity comes from your rivalries to the other teams you help? Both the owners and players make a ton of money in this sport and on all fronts they seem very stingy. I think I would propose some major changes however. First off, I would reduce the pay of the players. Second I would increase the allocation of player money. Third, I would increase the monies that go into the NFL retirement program.

Many of the big name players do their own financing but many don't or don't even do it effectively. So to the first point, reducing pay, I am not talking about a major deal here, but a limitation to a percentage of the salary cap. So for instance, the most any given player can make in a year would be 8% of the salary cap, so this year that would mean that a player could only make 8% of $94.9 million. That is the sum of their prorated signing bonus, incentives and base salary so that there will be no trickery here. Today's $94 million is given all to the players and that accounts for 54% of a teams allocation. I would like to see the difference of what the players want to current placed in a NFL 401(k). Plus the players can contribute some of their money into that as well to create a cushion for them when they are finished.

To do away with the salary cap, and the money sharing in the NFL would destroy everything that I have come to love about the game. We will lose the aspect that on any given Sunday, our team could win. We would lose these battles of equals and the power of groups of heros to emerge. We would lose the aspect of good team management to create forces were all teams start on equal footing. We would lose American Football and they would lose a lot of viewership.

I may build one of these

This one falls into my friggin' awesome category. Something about it just makes me giddy, but what really gets me is that in the end it turns out to be a good looking guitar. I will have to think about what other things I could build into a guitar...

Toilet Seat Guitar

Our Cell Phones suck!

This is probably one of my longest running rants about living in the U.S. Our cell phones really suck. Part of the other things that I have seen on web sites like Engadget, Gizmodo, and Engadget Mobile only whet my appetite for a phone that will provide all the functionality I want in a tiny, sweet looking package. I would love to see better cameras, faster data networks, bigger displays, bluetooth, good processors, applications, coverage, etc. I think the only thing we have right is battery life. Even the general style does not live to the Geek that drives me. Think of the Geek as similar to the Fast, only it has a pocket protector and a more demonic voice. It desires the pinnacle of technology in ones pocket to provide connectivity where ever you are.

But on the plus side, it looks like someone is trying to do just that. I hope that it takes off, and I might even considering using my dollars to purchase into it.

Source of rant: normal life and Engadget Mobile: Wired profiles Sky Dayton and the birth of Helio