Ben's Journal

What I Want From A President

2012-02-02T11:03:00.002-05:00

Poor Mitt, he just can't keep his foot out of his mouth. His latest oops: saying that he's not concerned about the very poor. There's plenty being written and debated on this, so I'm not going to weigh in.

But...the whole thing got me thinking. One of my favorite bits of video on whitehouse.gov is this press conference where Obama talks about Fair Pay for In-Home Care Workers:

(More info about the initiative is here.)

There's just something remarkable and humbling about the most powerful man in the world standing up for an overlooked and under appreciated group of Americans. One that he could ignore, and the rest of the country wouldn't be the wiser.

In the end, it's probably just silly to talk about who you're going to help and not going to help. Do good work, and the rest will take care of itself.

Of Furnaces and Programmers

2012-02-02T10:41:00.000-05:00

A friend sent me this cleverly titled video yesterday: Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age, though I found myself less than impressed with it. I'm more than willing to give the presenter the benefit of the doubt, that without his full speech, I can't really judge what he had to say.

But, he got me philosophizing with my friend on the topic of programming. Which made me re-think an incident from earlier in the day.

A few hours previous, I had a guy come out to give me an estimate on a new heat pump. He was an older guy who had clearly been in the business for decades. As he inspected my system, he asked if I wanted some free advice on dealing with furnace issues. Sure, I said, why not. Here's what he told me to do if my furnace was giving me problems:

Turn it off and turn it on (waiting 10 minutes between doing so)
Clean the sensor with a dollar bill (which, to my amazement is recommended advice)
See if a particular light on the bottom of the unit is blinking, if so, count the blinks. Look up what that particular blink count means.
If you can't fix the problem, call a repairman, make sure to report the code that was blinking.

In other words, I believe he just told me:

Reboot your computer
Empty your cache
Check the error log and search google for the error message
If you can't fix the problem, call a geek, make sure to report the specific error message.

Here's some old codger instructing me, a professional programmer, on the best way to debug a problem. Little does he know that he'd probably make a better programmer than many who claim to "understand computers."

In other words, the skills of a good programmer aren't just used by programmers, they're solid problem solving skills.

As I've heard it described before: computer science isn't really about computers or science. To me, it's about the study of problem solving.

So why learn to program? Why make it a skill you teach your kids? Because it'll teach you an essential mindset and skillset for dealing with, well, everything. From coding the next Facebook, to figuring out why your heat pump isn't working, a programmer's perspective is helpful. That, and programs are typically safer than working with than a combustible furnace.

Review: The Man Who Would Stop at Nothing: Long-Distance Motorcycling's Endless Road

2012-02-01T11:08:00.002-05:00

Growing up, I was taught a pretty dim view of motorcycles: they were death traps, plain and simple. And, in at least one case, it was true - one of Shira's friend's had lost a parent due to a motorcycle accident. As an adult, I'm still quite skeptical of motorcycles, though I've got a perfectly sane friend who rides, so perhaps it's not just for the irresponsible?

And then along comes Melissa Pierson who authors The Man Who Would Stop At Nothing: Long-Distance Motorcycling's Endless Road and my mind is changed. I'm officially impressed.

Pierson's book follows a number of tracks: the story of the Iron Butt Association (think: Iron Man Triathlon, but for motorcyclists), John Ryan, perhaps the world's ultimate long distance rider and her own story of embracing long distance riding. The style and tone of the book is unusual - it seems to jump around and not follow all the normal rules one might expect. I think this all lead to me enjoying it more. I was totally smitten by it, once I picked it up, could barely put it down.

Pierson does an excellent job taking someone like myself, who knows nothing about long distance riding, and bringing me into its culture (or cult?). She tells me that the average motorcyclist does 3,000 miles per year. To gain entry into the Iron Butt Association, you need to complete 1,000 miles in a single day. Think about that, at 50mph, that's 20 hours of riding! I'm not sure I could do 1,000 miles on Greyhound, much less on a motorcycle. Solo. Through any and all weather.

And 1,000 miles in a day, is just the beginning. Consider the 100CCC - that's coast to coast, and *back*, in 100 hours.

While I'm not going to jump on a motorcycle anytime soon (I'm happy with a bike and walking), it's hard not to be pulled in by the skill and endurance needed to take on these challenges. And they are done not for media attention or as some kind of PR stunt, but in the purest tradition of the explorer: to show they can be done. Period.

All in all, I found this to a most rewarding book: well written prose, stories that left my mouth agape, and philosophy that I can roll around in my head for days to come.

What else could I ask for?

All Pumped Up, Version 2.0

2012-02-01T10:46:00.002-05:00

Like I said previously, I'm trying to get into the habit of donating blood. But, giving whole blood, which takes about 10-15 minutes is nice, but just a drop in the bucket (sorry, couldn't resist) in the scheme of things. To really step it up a notch, I wanted to get back into donating platelets.

Donating platelets involves removing some blood, separating the platelets, and putting the blood back in. Of course, a machine does this, so it's all automatic. The process takes about an hour or so, and is only mildly discomforting.

But think, for an hour you get to sit and have some quiet time - watch a movie (or at least start one), listing or read a book, or just sit under warmed blankets and chill.

As experiences go, today's donation went well. It sure is nice to know that no what craziness happened today, I did something good this morning.

You can signup to donate here: here. I like that I'm able to schedule a month ahead of time, so I won't chicken out on the day of the donation.

Special thanks and big time get-well wishes to my friend Matt, who's currently battling cancer. He's inspired me to get off my butt and donate. Wish there was more I could do to help, but at least I'm able to send some serious karma points his way.

And here's the obligatory picture to prove, that yes, I really was donating platelets this morning.

The Perfect Night For A Run

2012-01-31T22:41:00.004-05:00

Hard to believe it: it's January 31st, and I took a run tonight in 60° weather.

Not sure what that means from a climatologist's perspective, but from a runner's perspective, it was a perfect night.

I was running as the sun went down, and couldn't resist snapping a few photos.

Boy Scout Move of the Day: Installing a ResQMe

2012-01-30T06:14:00.003-05:00

A year or so back, I discovered the ResQMe - a keychain device that's designed to help in an auto accident. It contains a blade for cutting through seat belts and a glass punch for breaking windows. You could be forgiven for not putting a whole lot of faith into a $9.90 piece of plastic, but from YouTube videos you can see that it actually works.

The best place to store the ResQMe is probably on your key chain. But, it's fairly bulky and our new car doesn't require a key to be started. So, the second best place I could come up with to store it was tucked under the Oh-Shoot! handles on both the driver and passenger side:

Notice that I'm using a zip-tie to secure the ResQMe up there. Keep in mind, the zip-tie is connected to the key ring, which is designed to pull away from the device itself. Doing so will make the belt cutting blade accessible. Just one relatively small tug should be all you need to have the device in hand.

Hopefully, this will be something we never need. But as $10.00 insurance policies go, it's hard to beat.

Be Prepared!

The Moon is Wrong, Palin was Right

2012-01-27T15:44:00.003-05:00

So Newt Gingrich's Moon-base-statehood plan is both silly and illegal^*. But his goal of trying to find an exciting, visionary mission that we can all get behind is an admirable one. Perhaps he took Kennedy's call to go to the moon a bit too literally. It wasn't the moon that made it such a powerful act, but that we were united in a common and terrifically hard goal.

Thing is, our common and terrifically hard goal is right in front of us and has been pitched by both Democrats and Republicans. It's the Green Energy sector. There's something for all to get behind: it's jobs, it's national security, it's manufacturing, it's self sufficiency, it's saving the planet. Most importantly, it's a chance for America to be #1 -- and that's what Americans love more than anything else.

So what's keeping us from uniting behind this goal of becoming the eco leading nation? Simple, our leaders wont' cooperate. If they did this, and brought the country together instead of trying to win the next election, we'd be truly unstoppable.

Another observation from this whole Moon idea, and Florida debate in general: Palin was right.

She said:

'If I were a South Carolinian... I would want to see this thing continue because iron sharpens iron, steel sharpens steel. These guys are getting better in their debates.
'If I had to vote in South Carolina, in order to keep this thing going, I'd vote for Newt. And I would want things to continue. More debates, more vetting of candidates.'

Turns out, she was dead on. Newt's campaign may be imploding (again, can't wait to see him rise from the ashes a 3rd time), but Romney's is much stronger because of the contest. Newt's debating performance caused Romney to reach, and last night, he finally delivered.

Well played Ms. Palin, well played.

^*What a world we live in when the Republican candidate is talking about colonies on the moon, and the Democratic president wants to leverage the private sector to get to space and make NASA lean and mean.

An IT Thumb Drive Toolkit and Making It Invisible

2012-01-27T14:04:00.000-05:00

A thumb drive is definitely essential and cheap gear. But, what software should you store on it to maximize its usefulness?

Well, here's a nice and comprehensive list.

These days, I mainly use my thumb drive for document storage and as a backup card for my camera. But, I really should go through and install the tools on this list to maximize its usefulness.

As long as I'm chattering on about portable storage, I should also mention the very cool site spy-coins.com (thanks: ITS Tactical for the link!). Spy coins sells exactly what you think it does: coins designed for spies. That is, coins that have been hollowed out and used for hiding in plain sight. It's all very Cold War, really.

But here's the cool part, a hollowed out nickel or quarter can be used to store a micro-SD card. Which can be used to store thousands of documents, images or other goodies. See, here's what it looks like:

Imagine that, all that storage and it perfectly blends in with a handful of seemingly useless change.

I'd add a spy-coin to my Amazon wishlist, but I'm almost 100% certain that I'd lose (or spend) it within hours. Yeah, they are that invisible and I'm that bad about keeping track of coins.

Go Ahead, Just Try To Enter this CAPTCHA

2012-01-26T20:47:00.003-05:00

Best Buy might be getting a bit carried away here with their security. I think including Hebrew letters may keep both spammers and us mere humans out...

Welcoming Our New Baby (No, not that kind of baby)

2012-01-26T12:52:00.000-05:00

The kind with 4 wheels, 280 horse power and leather interior. It was with a teensy bit of sentimentality that we traded in our 2005 Acura TL, for a brand new ... 2012 Acura TL. We test drove a number of cars, but our experience with Acura was so positive, I couldn't justify jumping ship to a new car maker.

Back when we bought our 2005 Acura, the TL was a Consumer Reports top recommended car. In fact, they didn't give us sales material that year, they just gave us a copy of the Consumer Reports article. Then, and even the car dealer echoed this, in 2009 the redesigned the exterior of TL and add "a beak." All agree, it was hideous. They've since improved the aesthetic, and while Consumer Reports no longer reports it as the top option, it's still ranked quite well.

And many of the reasons that the 2005 appealed to us, are still around. The service center is open till at least 11pm, maybe later. There's a limited number of packages available (it's either Base, Tech or Advanced. And the dealer recommended against the Advanced option, saying it was a whole lot of money for relatively few features), which means that you're easily comparing apples-to-apples (versus having dozens of random options that may or may not be on the car the dealer has available). Finally, kbb.com has both invoice price and fair-market price data on the car, which gives you some idea of what you should pay (still, if the let you purchase the car, by definition, you've paid too much). Oh yeah, the car is still comfortable to drive, has plenty of oomph and has all the cool gizmos I could ask for.

So, here she is. Alas, Acura no longer makes a blue exterior (which was almost a dealer breaker!), but we were happy with the graphite.

I never really thought I'd be devoted to a car brand, but Acura has me hooked. You should definitely drive one if your in the market for a new set of wheels.

Useful Object of the Day: Tin Foil

2012-01-25T07:08:00.001-05:00

Last year I learned about the awesome power of Dental Floss - it's one of those items you have lying around, yet never fully appreciate how useful it can be. Today, thanks to my brother, I've got a fresh perspective on yet another house hold item: tin foil (OK, technically, aluminum foil, but that's besides the point).

My brother dropped me a link to this article, which outlines 12 uses for tin foil. And here's another for 36 more.

When you think about it, tin foil is actually pretty amazing stuff. It's a sheet of metal that you can mold into anything you'd like. Amazing, right?

Finally, if nothing else, it's worth noting that you can indeed recycle tin foil in Arlington, VA. So, if you're not in the mood to take on static cling, polish your sliver or sharpen a pair of scissors, you can at least recycle the tin foil and help save the planet.

My Dozen Lines of Code

2012-01-24T13:52:00.001-05:00

Today's ProgrammingPraxis challenge is this gem:

A high-school programming teacher recently asked for examples of short programs with a high “cool” factor, the idea being to get his students interested in programming computers. I’m not sure the suggestions would work; today’s high-school students have been surrounded by computers their entire lives, and it takes a lot to make them think a program is cool. Being from a different generation, I can remember when I thought it was cool that a program properly skipped over the perforation on a stack of green-bar paper — many programs didn’t! Your task is to write a cool program in a dozen lines of code. You can define cool in any way that you wish. Try not to abuse the definition of “line of code,” at least not too badly; to be concrete, we will say that your solution must not exceed 12 lines, and each line must not exceed 80 characters including white space. When you are finished, you are welcome to read or run a suggested solution, or to post your own solution or discuss the exercise in the comments below.

The ideal intro-to-programming example should meet two needs: (1) it should be relevant and interesting to students and (2) it should lay the groundwork for learning good habits.

Meeting those two goals in 12 lines of code is tricky. But, I think doable. In fact, I believe I've done it below.

Using AutoHotKey, I've written a simple implementation of the classic Boss Key. While not exactly some exciting 3D game, I'd say that this sort of example is relevant and at least interesting to students. And while it may not be obvious, there are a number of best practices taught, including:

Use the right programming language for the job. AutoHotKey makes scripting trivial, so embrace it.
Learn about regular expressions
Learn how to read language reference documentation
Learn about loops
Learn that programming is all about solving your problems and making life better
Learn about variables and the advantages of not hard coding values throughout code
Many opportunities for growing this example

OK, enough talk, here's the code:

;; A simple Boss Key app. My contribution to the dozen-line program contest.
NeedToHide = .*(Mozilla|Explorer|Chrome).*
WantToShow = .*emacs.*
#b::
  SetTitleMatchMode, RegEx
  WinGet, id, list, %NeedToHide%
  Loop, %id% {
    this_id := id%A_Index%
    WinHide, ahk_id %this_id%
  }
  WinActivate, %WantToShow%
  Return,

You can run this by downloading autohotkey (it's free) and running:

  autohotkey bosskey.ahk

Once you run the above code, hitting Windows+b will hide all your browser windows and bring emacs to the front. The windows aren't just minimized, they are hidden so they don't appear in your start bar.

You'll probably want this command available (Windows+w) too, as it restores all your browser windows:

#w::
  DetectHiddenWindows, On
  SetTitleMatchMode, RegEx
  WinGet, id, list, %NeedToHide%
  Loop, %id% {
    this_id := id%A_Index%
    WinShow, ahk_id %this_id%
  }
  WinActivate
  Return

And yes, I know the syntax and semantics of AutoHotKey are hideous. But, given how powerful it is, I think it's a platform worth learning on.

Gotcha of the Day: Internet Explorer Forgets Flash Webcam Settings

2012-01-24T12:51:00.002-05:00

I've got a client leveraging Flash's integrated webcam capability. By default, Flash requires user explicitly click Allow to enable the webcam (which is a good thing!). There's a number of ways to allow users to start up their webcam automatically, which is something my customer was doing great.

And this was working great for them. And then it would stop working. It seemed that no matter what they did, they couldn't quite get this setting to stick.

After poking around, I confirmed that a settings file was being created in the folder:

 c:/Users/UXXX/AppData/Roaming/Macromedia/Flash Player/macromedia.com/support/flashplayer/sys/#www.hostname.com/settings.sol

And from looking at this file in notepad, I could tell the "Always" accept option seemed to be set.

Yet, every time we restarted Internet Explorer, this directory was deleted.

My first thought was that I could set the permissions on the file to make it undeletable. That was a bust. I may be a professional programmer and all that, but apparently I don't have the skills in logic to understand Windows XP permissions.

After a good night sleep, I attacked the problem again today. While describing what I understood to be going on to the customer (some file is being deleted), she mentioned to me that she had configured IE to remove history when it exited.

And of course, this was it. I unchecked the box, and the settings file no longer disappeared.

I would have assumed that checking the box to delete browser history would have done that -- removed the list of sites you've visited. But, apparently, Internet Explorer is a bit of an overachiever in this department.

At least Internet Explorer was behaving somewhat logically, that's more than you can usually say about it.

Site of the Day: tineye.com

2012-01-23T22:30:00.000-05:00

TinEye.com is amazingly search related site. You plug an image URL like:

 http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/graphics/northpole.jpg

And it spits out all the pages the image is found on. (They call it a Reverse Image Search.)

How the heck did they do that?!

I'll be the first to admit, that I don't quite see how I'd actually use the service in my day to day web browsing. Sure, if I wanted to see if my photos were being reused on other sites, or if a random picture comes my way that I want to learn more about, it would be handy. But all in all, this is amazing technology, that I'm not yet sure how to leverage.

But who cares, it's so cool.

Bookmark the site and keep it around. One day, it's going to totally save the say.

To add to the cool factor, they even offer an api - again, how slick is that?!

Santorum's Ignores His Teachable Moment

2012-01-23T21:30:00.000-05:00

McCain had this wonderful teachable moment in 2008 when he corrected Gayle Quinnell on her statement that Obama was an Arab. It cost him so little (sure, he potentially alienated a voter by telling her she was wrong), but he gained quite a bit of positive press. More importantly, he allowed everyone to take a breath for a second: sure, He and Obama were fiercely fighting in the presidential race, but even they could admit they were both good people.

Santorum was just given almost the same opportunity:

The questioner states that: (1) Obama isn't legally president (crowd gives a big round of applause) , (2) he "constantly says our Constitution is passe and he totally ignores it" and (3) he's an avowed Muslim (more clapping).

Santorum's response: he agrees with the middle point about the Constitution and leaves it at that.

Later, Santorum questions why it's his job to correct people who are wrong.

Thing is, it's all of our jobs to fight lies and misinformation. Would he teach his kids anything else? Can he honestly say he behaved in honorable way?

Bottom line, he tacitly agreed with that woman. That woman, and that crowd, are going to walk away thinking that she was right. It's pathetic that he didn't have the courage to confront the room and let them know that they were at least partially wrong. Or, he agrees with them, and is choosing to believe a narrative that feels right to some, but has no factual basis.

Either way, he dropped the ball. He could have been a mensch. Instead, choose the coward's way out.

Why My County Is Cooler Than Your County

2012-01-20T14:39:00.001-05:00

While your county thinks that illegal drugs are evil, mine's investigating the benefits of selling Pot in liquor stores.

While your county contributes to the very destruction of the planet by encouraging people to use dreadful plastic bags, or perhaps charges a measly 5 cents fee for them, mine's looking to slap whopping 20 fee per bag.

While your county hires some top dollar design firm to create your next car decal, my county puts our brilliant high schoolers to work (Newt Gingrich would be so proud!) and have them contribute designs. And unlike your county where the fat-cats decide which design to use, my county takes a vote among residents.

While your county's property values went down because we're in the greatest recession, well, since ever, my county's property values went up (oh, and so will our taxes. D'oh!).

So there!

Wanted: Twitter Search Results to Speech App

2012-01-20T11:08:00.001-05:00

Last night, I thought I would turn on the South Carolina GOP Debate to act as some background noise while I was doing some hacking. Unfortunately, cnn.com wasn't cooperating (just seemed to time out while waiting to join the live feed). So, I switched to plan B: use Twitter's search function to follow the mood of the debate live.

The results were surprisingly funny with some real zingers being published.

But, what fun is a text based interface that I actually had to read? For heavens sake, this is 2012 -- reading is so 2011.

So here's what I need: someone who takes the xtranormal voice to animation platform, and plugs it into a set of Twitter search results. You could then plug in a hashtag like #cnndebate and just sit back as pure snark is read aloud.

Who's with me?

Oh wait, you would have had to read this post...and like I said, reading was so 2011. D'oh.

The Question Not Asked: Newt Edition

2012-01-19T15:35:00.000-05:00

Ever find yourself yelling at the TV or radio, wishing the interviewer would just ask the right question?! Me, too.

Not that blurting out the question that I would have liked asked here is going to do much good, but I'm going to do it anyway. Here goes.

This Question Not Asked comes from the now infamous Newt Gingrich, Juan Williams exchange at the recent South Carolina debate.

Here's the question Williams asked:

Speaker Gingrich, you recently said black Americans should demand jobs, not food stamps. You also said poor kids lack a strong work ethic and proposed having them work as janitors in their schools. Can’t you see that this is viewed, at a minimum, as insulting to all Americans, but particularly to black Americans?

And to Newts credit, he deftly answered the question (possibly winning the debate that night because of it).

The question I would have asked:

Speaker Gingrich, you recently said black Americans should demand jobs, not food stamps. Do you believe that black Americans are demanding food stamps? How are black Americans different with respect to their demand and use of food stamps versus jobs? Finally, can you tell me the current racial breakdown among those who are on food stamps?

Whew, I feel better.

I dropped the above questions into the Contact Us area on Newt's website. Let's see if totally blows away my expectations and I get back some answers.

My Lesson From Kodak

2012-01-19T15:12:00.000-05:00

Kodak is no more. The Guardian nailed it by describing the announcement of bankruptcy so:

The news that Kodak has filed for Chapter 11 is rather like hearing about the death of a much-loved elderly relative. You've known for ages it was going to happen, but it's still a shock when it finally does.

Growing up in Rochester, Kodak (and Xerox, for that matter) were revered as institutions. And rightfully so, for Kodak paved the way for the amateur photographer to exist. Consider the classic Brownie camera (quite available on eBay, and probably in the basements of many a grandparent). For a $1.00 (considered cheap even in 1900), one got a camera and film and was ready to snap photos. A concept that was down right revolutionary.

Alas, as Kodak grew up, it seemed to lose that ability to innovate. In hindsight, at the first sign of the digital revolution, they should have come out wit a a digital Brownie. A cheap and low quality camera that would once again revolutionize how accessible photography could be. And of course, companies did this, but Kodak wasn't one of them. You can't exactly blame them, as how appealing could low quality digital market appear to the champion of the film world?

So my take away: remember your roots, stay humble, and always look to innovate.

Innovate or die.

Review: Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown

2012-01-18T15:18:00.000-05:00

My last trip was to Cape Town, South Africa, and really wanted to take a book involving the region along. I wanted that little contextual boost that goes with reading about a new place while also exploring it. Alas, it never happened. I couldn't get my act together, nor would I have had time to read the book on the trip anyway.

Still, Africa was on my mind so I rented Paul Theroux's Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown. As the title suggests, the book chronicle's Theroux's adventures as he makes his way through thousands of miles Africa. At 496 pages, this is the real deal.

In short, the book was fantastic. Theroux managed to get across the excitement, tedium, exhaustion, frustration and elation that goes with an epic traveling adventure. Anyone who can make a trip to, say, the Sudan seem an obvious tourist destination, is both an accomplished writer and traveler. And while he shows that many places that may seem dangerous were welcoming, he also ran into his share of scary situations. From packed and smelly buses, to the most luxurious trains, you get a glimpse of it all.

The book isn't all fun and games. Theroux does get a bit snarky at times. He has no patience for those who have gotten so dependent on others that they no longer even try for themselves, or for aid the workers and organizations who help perpetuate this condition. His case that too much charity can be a bad thing, I suppose, is a reasonable one to make. There's no quick fix for the poverty he encounters, and throwing money at the problem isn't helping. This is heavy stuff, and I'm thankful to Theroux for giving me a boots-on-the-ground view of the challenges in many of the countries he visits.

I've definitely been inspired by the book. But not to buy a ticket to Cairo to retrace Theroux's steps. No, he's done a great job of taking me on that trek, I don't need to go again. No, he's inspired me to head down to my local Grayhound station and to book a trip to a few states over, where I would jump on Amtrak for a couple days and then perhaps rent a bike for a few hundred miles of riding. And from there, who knows. Just pick a far off destination, a few relatively slow forms of transportation, and the adventure will take care of itself.

Music Source of the Day: Dubstep.net

2012-01-17T14:11:00.002-05:00

You're going to want to buckle up for this one, this music is going to get a bit rough. I give you: dubstep.net. And what is Dubstep? Well, there's probably some musical definition that makes sense to someone, but for me, it's as close as you can come to noise while still being music. And enjoyable music at that.

Here, give it a listen: Space Age Flow By Cool Project FT BBK and MC Loc-F.

The tune starts off nicely enough, but by a minute in, it's pure chaos.

I do find that a dubstep song here or there works better than listening to nothing but dubtstep constantly. Still, I'm glad I've added it to the mix.

And I know what you're thinking - can you dance to this stuff? Yes, yes you can. See:

Phone Friday: Smart AudioBook Player

2012-01-13T11:43:00.000-05:00

I love Overdrive, which makes listening to library rented audio books a snap. But, sometimes you've got a collection of audio files that you want to play that aren't so neatly organized. Say, you've converted a CD you own into a series of mp3 files.

I've found that I can play these mp3 files using a file manager, but the interface couldn't be more crude. There's no concept of keeping track of the last point you listened to, or gracefully switching from one file to another.

Luckily, I discovered Smart AudioBook Player and it does all of this, and more, effortlessly. It's so cool - you drop smartly named mp3 files into a directory, and the app automatically turns it into a friendly audio book listening experience.

If you've got random audio content to listen to, organize them in directories and start enjoying them today. It's that easy.

The Anti-Bag, Hacker Friendly Furoshiki

2012-01-12T12:21:00.002-05:00

How am I just learning about the Furoshiki now? The Furoshiki is little more than large piece of cloth. What makes it cool is that there are various wrapping techniques techniques you can use to turn the flat cloth into a bag.

Watch this video to see what I mean:

Just the other day, I was mumbling to Shira that I should have my Mom take some fabric and whip me up a wrap of some kind for my camera. These days I'm pretty anti-camera bag (if it's in the bag, you can't take photos!), which means that most of the time, it's around my neck. But, for those few times when I do need to stow it away, some sort of wrap seems like it would make sense. I've improvised this by putting the camera in a knit hat or wrapped in whatever was around.

Little did I know that the wrap idea goes way beyond simply balling up the material and say, using Velcro to secure it. The Furoshiki relies on nothing more than a few knots and proper folding. As an Eagle Scout, anything with knots is going to appeal to me. Not only could I use the wrap to protect my camera in the bag, but it could serve as its own bag.

Before I put my Mom on the case, though, I'd like to figure out what material would be best for a camera wrap. Any suggestions?

The Furoshiki is also handing for wrapping gifts, and fits in with my new gift wrapping craze.

An idea related to the Furoshiki is the Shemagh, the traditional Middle Eastern headscarf (aka, the Kafaia). There's definitely some political weight that goes with the Shemagh, but, if they're good enough for the US Military, they're good enough for me. YouTube, of course, has plenty of videos showing how to tie a shemgah (and there handy websites on this topic, too).

Finally, you could consider a Furoshiki (or shemgah) as a sort of towel. And as everyone knows, the most important item you carry with you is your towel.

Artist of the Day: Dirty South

2012-01-12T11:54:00.001-05:00

I found Dirty South on SoundCloud and I've been totally loving his published tracks there. Here, give it a listen:

A few thoughts on the name "Dirty South" -- first, "Dirty" here probably refers to the type of beat (not something I'll claim to understand), not the fact that the music is naughty. Secondly, "South" doesn't refer to the good o'l boys in Alabama or Florida - it refers to Melbourne, Australia (oh, that "South" part of the country).

Regardless of the name, I've been entertained by the music and I suppose that's all that really matters.

Two Videos To Make You Smile

2012-01-11T13:16:00.000-05:00

If you thought my last post was a downer, I've got some good news for you. Here are two videos that will absolutely put a smile on your face.

First, LeBron James answers questions from English children. Finally, you can know the answers to questions like "Are you taller than my dad?" - it's just too adorable.

And check out this wonderful costume hack: a wheelchair made into an ice cream truck. Awwwww, how cute. And clever.

The above video was originally from BuzzFeed but was taken off of YouTube.

Where does all our crap come from?

2012-01-11T13:10:00.001-05:00

China. Right?

This American Life has a wonderful segment than explores this. If you're like me, you'd think it was a pretty dull topic - not so. The story behind one storyteller's journey to find out where his stuff came from is absolutely riveting. Listen to it here.

Like any good story, it raises more questions than it answers. Especially, because when it comes to the software side of things I have a fairly firm grasp about how it's created. But I'm clueless when it comes to hardware.

Seriously, try listening to the story for a few minutes - I'm sure you'll be hooked.

Being The Press - A Counter Protest Hack

2012-01-10T08:59:00.001-05:00

For the life of me, I thought around the time of the Miracle on the Hudson I had written a blog post about how handy it might be to have a publishing platform setup for reporting about live events. Given a cell phone and a blogging platform, you could quickly publish video, photos and text of any event you happened to stumble upon. I even setup and have used a special twitter account for exactly this: liveonlocation. To this day, I have this account setup and ready to go should I stumble on something newsworthy.

Only, I can't seem to find any mention of the above blog post.

Yesterday, ITS Tactical took the instance news-reporter idea further, and with this suggestion:

In January, I moved from a sleepy midwest town with population of less than 2,500 to a seething metropolis of several million in a nation with an unstable interim government and a Prime Minister that leads a political party that is still on the US terror watch list.

Protests are a way of life here. There was recently a period of seven straight days on which I encountered large groups of protesters blocking roads, chanting, waving flags, and burning torches.
...
Protesting is About Attention! Use that to your advantage. Protesters love the press. It can be a relatively simple proposition to get a press pass that will get you through/past protests that completely block traffic. Afterwards, ask them for a letter stating you have written for them, etc.

Not a bad idea. For $1.99 I registered liveonlocation.info, and for a few bucks more I should be able to create a press-pass looking plastic card.

Whether it's just for fun, or as a counter-protesting maneuver, this seems like a winning hack. I'd also think this would be fun for kids too, as who wouldn't want to have an adult looking badge?

For a Good Time Call: 240-396-4186

2012-01-10T05:33:00.002-05:00

Seriously.

And punch in any of the following numbers and hit #:

10 21 22 23 31 32 33 41 42 43 51 52 53 61 62 63 71 72 73 81 82 83 84 91 92 93 101 102 103 104 111 112 121 122 123 124 131 141 142 143 144 145 151 152 153 161 162 171 172 173 174 181 182 191 192

Sorry to be so cryptic.

The Family That Rides Together...

2012-01-08T13:10:00.000-05:00

My parents are in Town and the weather has been just amazing. So, to take advantage of all this, I proclaimed we should take a bike ride. We rented bikes for my parents, which was easy enough to do. I was hoping we could make it all the way to Old Town Alexandria (and back) before we ran out of day light, and remarkably, we did.

My parents hadn't ridden bikes in years, but as the old saying goes... Once in Old Town, we hit a frozen yogurt place and then turned our butts around for the ride home before dark.

They're such troopers. It's amazing, no matter what I throw at them, they just go along with it. What more could you ask for?

(There's also some photos of a walk we took around the newish Long Bridge Park. The park is quite impressive, giving you excellent views of the surrounding area, and making for a wonderful train and plane spotting location.)

Two Brown Sign Gems: Patuxent Research Refuge & The National Cryptologic Museum

2012-01-06T12:48:00.000-05:00

For the last 10 years or so, every time we drive the Baltimore-Washington Parkway I see two Brown Signs and always think about stopping. They are the National Wildlife Visitor Center and the National Cryptologic Museum. With my parents in town, and nothing on the agenda, I suggested we finally visit these sites -- whatever they heck they were.

The National Wildlife Refuge Visitor center is located on Patuxent Wildlife Refuge. The visitor center contains a fairly large collection of displays which will teach you more than you wanted to know about how a wildlife refuge works and about some of the animals in the area. For the right age kid, or an adult with interest, this is actually a sweet little setup. There's also an indoor viewing area equipped with binoculars and spotting scopes for checking out wildlife who may be loitering around the lake in back. In the morning, on a spring day, I bet there's a ton to see.

We did about 2.4 miles of hiking on the trails, which were family friendly (read: easy). The hike around Cash Lake really does make for some beautiful views. I suppose there are more adventurous hikes in the area but if you're looking for something the kids will enjoy, I've got to think this is it. In theory, there's about 20 miles of hiking trails (now we're talking!) in the Northern part of the reserve, but that was off limits as they were hunting that day.

The National Crypotlogic Museum is located right next to the NSA, so it just has this air of officialness to it. The actual museum is relatively small, but boy is it packed with amazing things. From classics like the story of the Zimmerman Telegram, to non-military codes like hobo sign. You can listen to what an encrypted phone call sounds like on old school technology, check out a Cray Supercomputer and play with an actual Enigma Machine. Yes, you can actually encrypt/decrypt a message of your choosing on an actual Engima Machine - talk about fun!

In many respects, this was a better museum than say the Spy Museum. What it lacks in size, it makes up for in depth (oh, and being free). There should be plenty for kids to see there, and if you go by yourself there's an audio tour you can get lost in.

Next to the museum is National Vigilance Park: "Dedicated on 2 September 1997, National Vigilance Park and its Aerial Reconnaissance Memorial stands to honor those "silent warriors" who risked, and often lost, their lives performing airborne signals intelligence missions during the Cold War." Did I mention that the park is made up of 3 airplanes? Definitely impressive stuff.

Both of these sights don't get much mention in the usual places. But I say, after you've taken your family and friends to the Smithsonian's and such and you're looking to branch out, definitely take them to both of these sights. What a wonderful way to spend the day.

(Photos from our hike and museum - let's see if you can figure out which belongs to which?)

Definition: Brown Sign Road Trip

2012-01-06T12:45:00.000-05:00

From here and here:

Around DC, anytime there's a historic momument or site to see, there's a brown sign on the highway that announces it. I have this dream that one day we'll leisurely drive from point A to point B and stop at all the Brown Signs along the way.

Of course, the Browse Sign Road Trip never happens, but it's always fun to imagine how cool it would be.

4 Steps to Getting An Idea From Your Brain to A Developer's Brain

2012-01-05T17:21:00.000-05:00

I'm in the idea business. One of the biggest challenges my customers face is taking an idea that's swirling around in their heads to something I understand well enough to price out and build. Personally, I've tried various visual approaches to doing this before, but I often find myself getting fatigued after the first few pages. The result is an idea that's mostly in my head, and not on paper.

Today I realized that I'd actually be using a more text oriented process for a while, and I was actually pleased with it. In the interest of sharing, I took some time to document it. Who knows, maybe it'll be useful for you.

So here goes, 4 easy steps to documenting your idea:

Thoughts?

3 Things I Learned About the Iowa Caucuses

2012-01-04T14:04:00.000-05:00

(1) The number of voters is tiny. How tiny? Well, the DCist shared this tweet:

@charlesallendc: More people voted in the last DC Mayoral primary than in tonight's Iowan Presidential primary.

The math works like so:

Iowa has close to two million registered voters, and only 122,000 participated in the caucuses. The District has a mere 450,000 registered voters, of which 134,000 participated in the 2010 mayoral primaries.

(2) Buzzfeed put boots-on-the-ground for the event. One of the usual claims about the journalism vs. blogger divide is that journalist actually show up, while bloggers are re-usually adding to / re-purposing existing content (the usual exception being when an activity happens in a blogger's back yard). There's some truth to this, so I was a bit surprised when Buzzfeed appeared to send a team member to report on the caucuses in person. The result is more blogy content then a traditional news article. Yet, it's surprisingly informative and gave me a feel for the caucuses that CNN and friends couldn't.

Sure, this isn't the same as sending out war correspondents, but still, it's an interesting experiment and one I applaud them for taking. Hopefully they'll keep it up.

(3) Confused about what a caucus is? The Simpsons will be glad to explain it:

Yeah, I get all my electorial wisdom from The Simpsons.

A Racket Friendly Super-Tiny Logo Implementation

2012-01-03T23:57:00.001-05:00

ProgrammingPraxis covered one of my favorite topics today: Turtle Graphics, aka LOGO. I couldn't resist taking the solution provided and adapting it to work with the racket/draw library.

There are definitely better implementations of Turtle Graphics out there, but this was a fun little exercise to put together.

Here's my solution to the provided question:

#lang racket

;;
;; Implement the most basic of logo functionality for:
;;   http://programmingpraxis.com/2012/01/03/turtle-graphics/
;;

(require racket/gui
         racket/draw)

(struct context (pos heading canvas dc) #:prefab #:mutable)
(define *ctx* (context (cons 0 0) 0 #f #f))

(define no-pen (new pen% [style 'transparent]))
(define black-pen (new pen% [color "black"] [width 2]))


(define (penup)
  (send (context-dc *ctx*) set-pen no-pen))

(define (pendown)
  (send (context-dc *ctx*) set-pen black-pen))

(define (heading)
  (context-heading *ctx*))

(define (setheading h)
  (set-context-heading! *ctx* h))

(define (setpos x y)
  (send (context-dc *ctx*) draw-line (car (pos)) (cdr (pos)) x y)  
  (set-context-pos! *ctx* (cons x y)))

(define (pos)
  (context-pos *ctx*)) 

(define (forward n)
  (let* ([xpos (car (pos))]
         [ypos (cdr (pos))]
         [head (heading)]
         [newx (inexact->exact (round (+ xpos (* n (sin (* head 0.017453292519943295))))))]
         [newy (inexact->exact (round (- ypos (* n (cos (* head 0.017453292519943295))))))])
    (setpos newx newy)))

(define (back n)
  (forward (* -1 n)))

(define (left n)
  (setheading (modulo (- (heading) n) 360)))

(define (right n)
  (setheading (modulo (+ (heading) n) 360)))

(define (clearscreen)
  (unless (context-dc *ctx*)
    (let* ([f (new frame% [label "Logo Output"])]
           [w 600]
           [h 600]
           [o (new bitmap-dc% [bitmap (make-object bitmap% w h)])]
           [c (new canvas% [parent f] [min-width w] [min-height h]
                   [paint-callback (lambda (c dc)
                                     (send dc draw-bitmap (send o get-bitmap) 0 0) 
                                     )])])
      (set-context-dc! *ctx* o)
      (set-context-canvas! *ctx* c)
      (send f show #t)))
  (send (context-dc *ctx*) clear)
  (send (context-canvas *ctx*) refresh)
  (penup)
  (setheading 0)
  (let ([b (send (context-dc *ctx*) get-bitmap)])
    (setpos (/ (send b get-width) 2)
            (/ (send b get-height) 2))))

The truly fun part is just how little a vocabulary you need to draw some fairly funky pictures. Consider the following little programs:

(define-syntax go  (syntax-rules ()
                     [(_ expr ...)
                      (begin
                        (clearscreen)
                        (pendown)
                        expr ...)]))

(define (draw-box n)
  (forward n)
  (right 90)
  (forward n)
  (right 90)
  (forward n)
  (right 90)
  (forward n))

(define (draw-boxes start-size end-size step)
  (if (> start-size end-size)
      'done
      (begin
        (draw-box start-size)
        (left 5)
        (draw-boxes (+ start-size step) end-size step))))

(define (tree size)
  (cond ((< size 5) (forward size) (back size))
        (else (forward (/ size 3))
              (left 30) (tree (* size 2/3)) (right 30)
              (back (/ size 3))
              (forward (/ size 2))
              (right 25) (tree (/ size 2)) (left 25)
              (back (/ size 2))
              (forward (* size 5/6))
              (right 25) (tree (/ size 2)) (left 25)
              (back (* size 5/6)))))

You can run them as:

 (go (draw-box 10))
 (go (draw-boxes 10 1000 15))
 (go (tree 100))

Fun stuff!

An Arlington Achivement, Even While Tempting The Evil Eye

2012-01-03T17:59:00.000-05:00

With over 36 hours left in 2011, arlnow.com (my new favorite Arlington, VA blog!) tempted fate with this little gem:

If Arlington can go 36+ hours without a homicide, it will be the first year since at least the 1950s without a single recorded murder in Arlington County.

Available police records, which go back to 1960, show at least one homicide has been reported in each of the past 51 years. In fact, there have been 273 homicides in Arlington since 1960 — for an average of about 5.4 homicides per year.

Who does that? Who posts that article *before* the year is over?

Luckily, enough kennaharas were mentioned to keep the Evil Eye at bay, long enough to complete 2011.

And what do you know, for the first time in at least 50 years, there was nobody murdered in the county I live in. That's progress, right?

If you live in or near Arlington, you really should check out arlnow.com. I'm not sure how they managed to find so many interesting stories about our relatively small county, but they do. They're also worth studying if you're interested in what makes a truly local based website go.

Bringing In The New Year

2012-01-02T20:06:00.002-05:00

There's nothing like bringing in the New Year with a Bang!

It was actually quite packed at the gun range today -- apparently, holidays always make for a larger crowd. There were families there and cute older couples. Nothing but wholesome, family fun. Really, it was a good time.

New Year's Day Hike: Little Bennett Regional Park

2012-01-01T16:35:00.000-05:00

A couple years back we started a new tradition I'm loving: the New Year's Day Hike. It's for people like us who can't stay up to watch the ball drop, but want to start the new year off on the right foot.

This year we tackled Little Bennett Regional Park. The hike we took brought us along the perimeter of the park, and made for a 10 mile or so trip.

The hike was fairly easy to do, with no massive changes in elevation, and the main challenge being muddy trails. Oh, yeah, there's a stream crossing which required us to take our boots off for and walk through calf deep (or knee deep, if you're Shira) water. Good gosh that water was chilly!

While the hike lacked a breathtaking vista, it had solitude and a wonderfully relaxing woodsy feeling. The weather being sunny and in the mid 50's didn't hurt either.

Here's to a 2012 filled with outdoor (and indoor) adventures!

View Little Bennet Perimeter Trail in a larger map

Gimp Script-Fu Hacking: Image Spinning and Sprite Generation

2011-12-30T09:26:00.000-05:00

I've been working on a project that required some relatively simple, but time consuming image hacking. Specifically, I needed to generate a CSS sprite image from an image that has to be rotated a number of times. The result are the following two Script-Fu functions.

bs-spin-layer: This plugin takes the currently selected layer and duplicates it, then rotates it a number of degrees. It will prompt you for the starting and ending rotation, as well as the step value to use. Nothing fancy here.

bs-layers-to-sprite-ribbon: This plugin is a bit sexier, and may turn out to be a generally useful tool. Supposing you've got a file named foo.xcf, the plugin creates a brand new image named foo.sprite.xcf which consists of each of the layers in foo.xcf, though, they are laid out side by side to create a sprite ribbon. At the same time the foo.sprite.xcf is created, foo.sprite.css is created, which contains the basic CSS you'd need to power the generated sprite. The correct background-position offsets and the appropriate height and width for each layer are calculated and stored in this file.

Every time I use it, I like Script-Fu just a little bit more. I may be the only fan left, but I'm a big one.

Download the code at: utils.scm (needed by both plugins), sprite-ribbon.scm and spin-layer.scm.

And here are the functions plugins minus the required utility functions:

;;
;; The spin-layer module is responsible for spinning (rotating) a layer a number
;; of times to create new layers.
;;


(define (bs-spin-layer img drawable start end step)
  (gimp-image-undo-group-start img)
  (let loop ((angle start))
    (cond ((<= angle end)
           (let ((layer (car (gimp-layer-new-from-drawable drawable img))))
             (gimp-image-add-layer img layer -1)
             (gimp-drawable-set-name layer (number->string angle))
             (gimp-drawable-transform-rotate layer (d->r angle) TRUE 0 0 TRANSFORM-FORWARD
                                             INTERPOLATION-CUBIC FALSE 3
                                             TRANSFORM-RESIZE-ADJUST)
             (loop (+ angle step))))
          (else
           'done)))
  (gimp-image-undo-group-end img)
  (gimp-displays-flush))


(script-fu-register
 "bs-spin-layer"
 "Spin Layer"
 "Spin (rotate) a layer a bunch of times"
 "Ben Simon"
 "Copyright 2011, Ideas2Executables"
 "2011/12/29"
 "RGB* GRAY*"
 SF-IMAGE "Image to Spin" 0
 SF-DRAWABLE "Layer to Spin" 0
 SF-VALUE "Start Angle" "15"
 SF-VALUE "End Angle" "360"
 SF-VALUE "Step" "15")

(script-fu-menu-register "bs-spin-layer" "<Image>/Filters/Util")


;;
;; The sprite-ribbon is responsible for generating a CSS sprite image.
;; Inspired by: http://registry.gimp.org/node/24538
;;
(define (bs-layers-to-sprite-ribbon img drawable css-selector sprite-prefix)
  (define (sprite-css-header file-name)
    (display (&& css-selector " { "
                 "background-repeat: no-repeat; "
                 "background-image: url(" file-name "); "
                 "}\n")))
  (define (sprite-css-entry layer x-off)
    (display (&& css-selector "." sprite-prefix (car (gimp-drawable-get-name layer)) " {"
                 "width: " (car (gimp-drawable-width layer)) "px; "
                 "height: " (car (gimp-drawable-height layer)) "px; "
                 "background-position: " (* -1 x-off) "px 0px; "
                 "}\n")))
  (gimp-image-undo-group-start img)
  (let ((layers (bas-image-layer-list img))
        (file-name  (car (gimp-image-get-filename img))))
    (let ((width (foldr (lambda (w layer)
                                 (+ w (car (gimp-drawable-width layer)) 2))
                        0 layers))
          (height (foldr (lambda (h layer)
                           (max h (car (gimp-drawable-height layer))))
                         0 layers)))
      (let ((sprite (car (gimp-image-new width height RGB))))
        (with-output-to-file (morph-filename file-name "sprite.css")
          (lambda ()
            (sprite-css-header (morph-filename file-name "sprite.png"))
            (let loop ((layers (reverse layers)) (x-off 0))
              (cond ((null? layers) 'done)
                    (else
                     (let ((clone (car (gimp-layer-new-from-drawable (car layers) sprite))))
                       (gimp-image-add-layer sprite clone -1)
                       (gimp-drawable-set-name clone (car (gimp-drawable-get-name (car layers))))
                       (gimp-layer-set-offsets clone x-off 0)
                       (sprite-css-entry clone x-off)
                       (loop (cdr layers) (+ x-off (car (gimp-drawable-width (car layers))) 2))))))))
        (gimp-image-set-filename sprite (morph-filename file-name "sprite.xcf"))
        (gimp-display-new sprite)
        (gimp-image-undo-group-end img)))))


(script-fu-register
 "bs-layers-to-sprite-ribbon"
 "Layers > Sprite Ribbon"
 "Create a CSS spirte ribbon from the layers in the image"
 "Ben Simon"
 "Copyright 2011, Ideas2Executables"
 "2011/12/29"
 "RGB* GRAY*"
 SF-IMAGE "Image to process" 0
 SF-DRAWABLE "Active layer" 0
 SF-STRING "Sprite CSS Selector" ""
 SF-STRING "CSS Layer Prefix" "")


(script-fu-menu-register "bs-layers-to-sprite-ribbon" "<Image>/Filters/Util")

Carry On vs. Checking Luggage vs. Listening To Your Wife

2011-12-30T09:07:00.001-05:00

I caught this story on Mamamia.com.au yesterday and had to laugh:

We are lucky enough to be going on a family trip to Europe in late September. That’s me, my husband and our two boys aged 12 and 6. We will be gone for close to one month and are travelling to the UK, Italy and France. Our kids have never been out of Australia and are very excited. My husband has a conference to go to in Cannes so we have arranged this trip around his business trip.

I’m sure it will be amazing but last night my husband announced that he can’t stand dragging huge amounts of luggage around and hates waiting for suitcases with other impatient travellers all hustling for space around the baggage collection areas…..so……we are (apparently!) taking one overnight bag each.
Now this news has given me a mild heart attack. I don’t think I can do it. Don’t my clothes deserve a holiday too? Is this even possible? I can’t imagine leaving for a month without at least four pairs of shoes (trainers, Birkenstocks, one ‘party’ pair and another gorgeous day wear pair – at least!).
And then my mind really went wild. What if it’s cold in the UK? We’ll need jackets. What if we go to a fabulous party in Cannes? That’s a whole special frock with matching shoes and handbag. What about toiletries and all the technology/chargers/power converter crappola you have to take? Not to mention book, camera, hat, bathers.

And then there’s the stuff I wouldn’t go away for a weekend without. Jeans, tops, t-shirts, trackie pants, wrap thingy, cool dress….

I reckon I can pack light for my boys. They wouldn’t care if they wore the same thing every day. But I don’t plan to spend every night of our holiday washing socks and jocks for the next day! I want to ask the lovely and very clever MamaMias if they ever travel very light and if so, what do they take and what do they leave? I need help!

You know, we kind of had this discussion on our last overseas trip. I suggested we carry on only. There were a number of responses I was expecting:

No, no we are not. Next topic.
Sure Benji, you do whatever you want. I'm going to pack how I want, and you can pack how you want.
Sure Benji, we'll pack carry on (as we walk out the door, two large rolling bags appear^*).

Never, in my wildest dreams, would I expect her to be unhappy with my request, and go along with it!

On a more serious note, for our last trip, checking luggage turned out to be not evil at all. In fact, there were a number of benefits:

The travel arrangement was simple - car, to baggage check, to baggage pickup, to taxi, to our hotel room. We weren't shlepping bags using public transportation, so having a couple of large'ish rolling bags, was quite reasonable.
Checking the suitcases meant that while traveling through the airport we had less to schelp and less to worry about it. It was the ultimate in packing light.
Both our carry-ons fit under the seat in front of us, so we didn't need to stress about finding an available overhead compartment. This, made boarding a more relaxed experience.
Smaller carry-ons meant a slight easier trip through security

And then there are two main arguments one might use: what if they lose your luggage and what about lost time waiting for your luggage at baggage claim?

I try to approach travel is as an adventure that's an exercise in making the best of your circumstances. If they lose my luggage, that's cool, it'll give me a chance to improvise and make do without. And if the luggage arrives, that's fine too.

And what's the rush? So, you have to wait 5 more minutes to pick up your bags? Again, I'm all about making do with my circumstances. Perhaps the baggage claim area is a good time to get my bearings, do a little people watching, and generally get my head in the game.

If our trip had been different (say, we were changing hotels a number of times, or we needed to take public transportation to get to our hotel), I may have pushed harder on the one-carry-on-bag suggestion. But, realistically, our trip was probably more enjoyable because I listened to my wife, and didn't push it.

Via: Carryology.com

^*Maryn, not I, came up with this gem of a response. But, thinking on it, I could totally see it happening.

Gotcha of the Day: Google Maps setCenter(...) Doesn't Work

2011-12-29T22:20:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite tricks using the Google Maps API is to create one or more little maps that are in sync with a larger map on the page.

You can do something like:

// Assume that bigMap is setup already, and smallMapDiv is an HTML node ready
// for us to add our smallMap to

// Show a marker on the bigmap
var m = new google.maps.Marker({position: bigMap.getCenter(), 
                                animation: google.maps.Animation.DROP,
                                map: bigMap,
                                draggable: true});

// Now create a small map that stays in sync with the marker's position
var ops = { center: m.getPosition(),
            zoom: bigMap.getZoom(),
            mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP };
var smallMap = new google.maps.Map(smallMapDiv, ops);

// Keep 'em in sync
google.maps.event.addListener(m, 'position_changed', function() { smallMap.setCenter(m.getPosition()); });
google.maps.event.addListener(bigMap, 'zoom_changed', function() { smallMap.setZoom(bigMap.getZoom()); });

The above code was essentially working for me, with one major issue. The marker's position (m) wasn't causing driving smallMap's centering. That is, the smallMap was not a zoomed in view of m.

After fiddling around, I learned that smallMap wasn't randomly misplaced. Instead of m.getPosition() setting the center of the map, it was driving the top left hand corner of the map. That is, smallMap synchronized with bigMap, but what should have been dead center of the map, was corresponding to the top left.

After further analysis, I did indeed figure out the problem: when I created smallMap and added it to smallMapDiv, smallMapDiv had yet to be added to the page's DOM. The result was that smallMap apparently didn't know the dimensions of the area it had to work with so setCenter(...) couldn't function.

Telling smallMap to recalculate its dimensions turns out to be painless. I just needed to arrange for the following code to be invoked once smallMapDiv was actually added to the page.

google.maps.event.trigger(smallMap, 'resize');

With that line of code, my little map and big map played quite nice with each other.

One Of My Least Favorite Jobs: Defending Airport Security

2011-12-28T08:20:00.003-05:00

I hate having to defend the TSA. But when I read articles like this one, I can't help but feel like I should say something. Sure, part of this article is dead on: there are some TSA practices which are goofy and seem absurd to me. But, to describe the whole process as insane and kvetch about how inconvenient it is seems to be missing the point.

Here, I'll let Louis C.K. explain (sorry about the foul language):

Comedy Central Stand-Up
Get More: Jokes,Joke of the Day,Funny Jokes

Take my last trip to Boston. In exchange for 10 minutes of waiting in line, the horror of removing my shoes and taking my laptop out of my bag, I was able to fly through the air in a metal tube (loaded with thousands of gallons of flammable liquid, no less) and land safely on the other side. Instead of a 10 hour car trip, I had 45 minutes of whizzing through the clouds. And people want to complain about waiting a few minutes in a security line? Or that a security guard might actually want to see what you're carrying?

To me, the miracle of flight isn't that heavy objects can fly. Nahhhh, that's just physics. The miracles is that we're able to take something so inherently complex and dangerous and make it something absolutely routine. I'd guess the most dangerous part of my trip is the car ride to the airport.

I'm glad there are people who push back on the TSA, no government agency deserves a blank check. Let's keep security experts on both sides fine tuning the process. But a little perspective sure would go a long way.

Via: Parent Hacks.

The Capital Christmas Tree

2011-12-27T11:24:00.000-05:00

David snapped this photo last night while he was on the DC Mall and near the Capital Christmas Tree:

It's an especially impressive shot when you consider he captured it with his cell phone.

He told me a bit about the tree, mainly that it was 63 footer and a whopping 118 years old. As the tradition calls for, the National Park Service provided it.

We both had the same reaction: 118 years old?! Did it really need to be cut down? The tree lives through two World Wars, the great depression and countless other events and is finally chopped down to be used as a Christmas tree for a few weeks. Man, that's rough. I know, I'm such the Grinch.

Apparently, the tree will be turned into mulch and used in the area...which I suppose means it's not being wasted. But still.

Bah, Humbug.

A Foolproof Anti-Theft System

2011-12-27T11:17:00.001-05:00

I've found bulletproof anti-theft system for goodies I want to keep for my own in my fridge. I just attach the following note to said item, and nobody seems to touch it^*.

^*Yes, I'm aware that Shira could steel items with this note attached. But, in that case, I'd really rather she have it. Never forget the key principle: A happy wife is a happy life.

Another Moment of Bragging: Running a 7 Miler

2011-12-26T11:11:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks back, I couldn't help but take a moment to blog about Shira's accomplishment of running a 6 mile route. Today, she crushed that, and ran a 7 miler. I'm already pushing her to map out an 8 miler.

Sure, we're both a bit sore - but man, was it worth it!

View Shira and Ben's 7 Miler in a larger map

Coach's Customer Service

2011-12-25T14:22:00.002-05:00

The zipper on Shira's Coach wallet broke. We weren't quite sure what they could do about it, but we hit up a nearby Coach Outlet to find out. The experience went more or less as described below.

The manager on duty took one look at the broken zipper and said something like "oh, my! Let's get you a replacement." She didn't have that exact model, so she scurried around the store finding wallets that more or less matched the original one. After a couple minutes she had a few options for Shira. The only question she asked was, "which one do you want?" A few minutes at the counter and we were on our way, new wallet in hand.

I was absolutely shocked. No question about when or where the wallet was purchased, or how much the wallet was worth versus the replacement one. No question about whether this was a factory defect or misuse by Shira. No attitude, or push back. She sympathized and fixed the problem.

I've never though of Coach as having great customer service, but they really showed me. Go Coach!

On The Beach

2011-12-25T14:09:00.000-05:00

Sure, it may be chilly - but who cares? The beach is still the place to be, right?

Happy Chanukah and Merry Christmas y'all.

Chutzpah Awards

2011-12-23T12:00:00.002-05:00

Came across these links over the last few days...talk about Chutzpah!

1. "Insane" e-mail from John Boehner’s office. Long story short, Boehner's press secretary had this e-mail back and forth:

Zinnnnng!

Personally, I love the response and think that the folks over at deathandtaxesmag.com are the ones with the chutzpah - calling that "insane" is just a little overkill, no?

2. WW II needle point. Yes, apparently needlepoint can require chutzpah. Here's the needlework:

And here's the story behind it:

"After six months held by the Nazis in a prisoner of war camp, Major Alexis Casdagli was handed a piece of canvas by a fellow inmate. Pinching red and blue thread from a disintegrating pullover belonging to an elderly Cretan general, Casdagli passed the long hours in captivity by painstakingly creating a sampler in cross-stitch. Around decorative swastikas and a banal inscription saying he completed his work in December 1941, the British officer stitched a border of irregular dots and dashes. Over the next four years his work was displayed at the four camps in Germany where he was imprisoned, and his Nazi captors never once deciphered the messages threaded in Morse code:"

"God Save The King" and "F*** Hitler"

Amazing, no?

3. Siri overcompensating with abortion information. Remember that Siri abortion controversy? Someone worked up a parity on the topic that's just hilarious. For example:

See them all here. Now that's some serious chutzpah.

4. Minnesota Gay Community Apologizes to State Senator Amy Koch.

Dear Ms. Koch,

On behalf of all gays and lesbians living in Minnesota, I would like to wholeheartedly apologize for our community’s successful efforts to threaten your traditional marriage. We are ashamed of ourselves for causing you to have what the media refers to as an “illicit affair” with your staffer, and we also extend our deepest apologies to him and to his wife. These recent events have made it quite clear that our gay and lesbian tactics have gone too far, affecting even the most respectful of our society.
...

And it goes on from there. Youch and well done.

I Had A Little Dreidel - I Even Won Some Gelt With It

2011-12-22T23:15:00.000-05:00

We attended a most excellent Chanukah party tonight. It had it all: fun folks to talk with, delicious latkes, a huge variety of deserts, whip cream(!) and yes, a rousing game of spin-the-dreidel. We left before a true winner could be declared, but I was hanging in there with a few chocolate coins left to my name. It really was tons of fun.

So go ahead, bust out a dreidel, grab some M&M's or other gambling material, and play away. If nothing else, it's a great way to teach kids the joys and sorrow of gambling.

If Christmas Were a Jewish Holiday

2011-12-22T13:37:00.001-05:00

How did the presence of this amazing document elude me for so many years? I give you the excruciatingly accurate set of would be Jewish law if Christmas was a Jewish holiday. For example:

1. ANY SPECIES OF TREE IS KOSHER FOR USE AS A XMAS TREE, PROVIDED THAT IT HAS NEEDLES AND NOT LEAVES. IN OUR LANDS IT IS CUSTOMARY TO USE A FIR TREE.(7) IT SHOULD BE REASONABLY FRESH, BUT NOT TOO FRESH, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PRINCIPLE "A XMAS TREE WITH NO FALLEN NEEDLES IS LIKE A SUKKAH WITH NO BUZZING BEES."

(7) If the lady of the house already has a fur, then any evergreen may be used.

2. THE TREE SHOULD BE CHOPPED DOWN SPECIFICALLY FOR USE AS A XMAS TREE; IF IT HAD BEEN CUT FOR LUMBER IT IS INVALID. IF THE TREE WAS CUT FOR GENERAL DECORATIVE PURPOSES, BUT NOT SPECIFICALLY AS A XMAS TREE, SOME AUTHORITIES ALLOW IT WHILE OTHERS ARE STRICT. A STOLEN TREE IS NOT VALID FOR THE MITZVAH.(8) FORTUNATE IS ONE WHO IS ABLE TO CHOP HIS OWN TREE HIMSELF.(9)

(8) One who cuts his own tree must make sure that he has permission from the landowner to do so. Ideally, cut only from one's own backyard. A tree taken from a reshus harabim, such as the county park (which is actually a carmelis, not a reshus harabim,) is considered as stolen and pasul.

(9) One who is unable to cut his own tree should make sure to purchase it from a reputable dealer, or one who is certified by a national kashrus organization.

And it goes on and on - it's really quite impressive. Take the section on Havdalah:

IX. HAVDALA

1. THERE ARE MANY OPINIONS REGARDING WHEN THE XMAS SEASON IS OVER.(40) BAIS HILLEL HOLDS THAT XMAS IS OVER WHEN THE LAST ITEM IN THE AFTER XMAS SALE HAS BEEN SOLD. BAIS SHAMMAI IS STRICT AND HOLDS THAT XMAS IS OVER IMMEDIATELY AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE FOOTBALL GAME.

(40) Many are confused by the term "twelve days of Xmas", implying that the Xmas continues until and including January 5. Today, this view is accepted only by the Eastern Orthodox, who hold that December 26 through January 5 constitute Chol Hamoed Xmas. This view is opposed by both the Modern Orthodox and the Ultra Orthodox (and even the Non Orthodox) who hold that Xmas is only one day long, and any context which seems otherwise actually refers to the Xmas *season*.

Amazing and hilarious.

Happy Chanukah Y'all (day #2 and going strong)!

All Pumped Up

2011-12-21T09:42:00.001-05:00

I'm trying to get back into the habit of donating blood - something I used to do on a somewhat regular basis years ago. Thing is, I'm still nervous around needles but I try not let that slow me down.

This morning's donation, like all the ones before it, was essentially painless and left me with that warm feeling of having done something meaningful for my community (or maybe that's just light-headedness + Fig Newtons?)

This morning, as in the past, I used an Inova Blood Donation center to make my deposit. They'll gladly make an appointment for you to avoid waiting. Seriously, it's a good thing to do, so go make an appointment.

Enjoy Gift Giving More - Embrace The Wrapping Process

2011-12-20T23:20:00.000-05:00

Happy first day of Chanukah! With the big Ch (or H, I suppose), upon us and Christmas only days away, it was especially fortunate that I ran across Kelli Crowe's creative gift wrap blog entry. She has rounded up a number of cool (and thrifty) ways to make the packages you've purchased look even more appealing. Definitely more fun than focusing on trying to traditional wrapping paper to be perfectly aligned (which I can never do anyway).

Before I had seen Kelli's post, I was thinking I should do something a little different this year in the wrapping department. See, over the last year I've gotten pretty good about using reusable shopping bags, rather than bringing home and being cluttered by scores of plastic bags. So, in the same spirit of re-usability, I wondered what I could wrap my brother's gift in that he could reuse? Here's what I came up with:

Yes, that's a gift wrapped in toilet paper and tied with a dental floss bow. My half serious, half joking logic, is that he can untie the bow remove the TP, and drop them both in a ziplock bag for our next hike or camping trip. Who knows, in a tight spot, those items could be even more handy than the gift I'm giving him?

I suppose I'm going to need to get a bit more clever - after all, not every person is worthy of getting a gift wrapped in TP. Still, Kelli's inspired me to keep looking for clever gift wrapping hacks.

Website I Want: A Political Rorschach Test

2011-12-19T14:48:00.000-05:00

A few days back, I was talking to one of my conservative friends and I asked him who his pick was in the GOP field. His response: Herman Cain. What?! How was this possible? Sure, I liked Cain's outsider appeal, and his 9-9-9 tax plan was delightfully audacious. But what about his comments about a Muslim serving in his cabinet, or his odd reading of the first amendment, or his unusual stance on abortion, or the infamous Libya interview question? Didn't these sway my friend? Nope, not really.

Which got me thinking...you've got sites like Politifact.com which try to tease apart truth from lies. And that's a good thing. But I'm curious about what people actually see when they see a clip or transcript. Which is why I think we need the a political Rorschach website. Here's how it would work:

Website curators post a clip or transcript to the site (heck, maybe even an article or blog entry)
Visitors come to the site perform one of two actions:
1. They offer a one or two sentence explanation ("I see a clip that's been edited to tell a new story", "Here's proof that candidate X knows nothing about Y!")
2. They vote on explanations that are most appealing to them

That's it. Over time, I'd think a few different explanations would converge. If all went as planned, you'd get an idea what each constituency was actually interpreting when viewing the same media.

This site isn't really about changing people's minds. Instead, it's about understanding what someone who adamantly disagrees with you can be thinking. Who knows, from there, maybe a little common ground could be found. Or not.

Who's with me?

Review: Conquering YouTube

2011-12-19T14:27:00.000-05:00

I really didn't want to like Jay Miles' Conquering YouTube. After all, what a ridiculous title, right? I mean, how short sighted can one person be but to write a book about a single website? Only thing is, when I picked it up I accidentally flipped it to Tip #68, Camera in a Coal Mine, which talks about leveraging the small cameras most novices have by putting them in unusual spots (like in a fridge) to get a unique perspective. At that bit of wisdom, I was hooked (at least hooked enough to rent the book from the library).

Turns out, Conquering YouTube has absolutely nothing to do with YouTube. Really, the book should have been titled Techniques and Exercises You Need To Master To Start Shooing Quality Video. In Miles' defense, Conquering YouTube is wittier.

I love how the author not only gives solid advice, but assigns useful homework assignments to really get you to master the essentials (and does it in a lighthearted, yet not overly goofy way). From learning how to manually operate your video camera to advice on editing, I've got to think that this is an excellent intro to intermediate course on video creation. I'd love to see a book that uses this same approach and format to teach photography.

I definitely knew the book was have an effect on me when I started to find myself decomposing the scenes on TV. I'd find myself thinking: oh look, they used the rule of thirds there -- or, oh look, you can't see the actor speaking, I bet this clip was shot in a totally different take than the one before. Any book that can change how I see the world is a winner in my mind.

If you're interested in getting serious about movies or video, or you know someone who is, this book is the way to go.

Sugar Overload

2011-12-18T08:58:00.006-05:00

Yesterday, I come home from shul to find a big heap of sugar cookies lovingly made and frosted by a crack team of kid bakers. And I woke up from a Shabbat nap to find two amazing gingerbread houses courtesy of David and Maryn (OK, one a house and one a Greek Temple!).

It's like sugar heaven here! And all I had to do was load and unload the dishwasher about 19 times.

What a treat!

Gotcha of the Day: Combine rows into a single cell in Excel

2011-12-15T14:17:00.005-05:00

Last night, Shira posed me a spreadsheet quandary: how do you take a series of rows and combine them together into a single cell (say, comma separated)? After looking around, I realized that there wasn't a built in function that would do this. transpose will turn rows in columns, but it doesn't join items up in a single cell. To get this job done, I was going to have to turn to VB. Gulp.

I knew how I wanted the function work, it should behave like countif. That is, I didn't want it to combine every cell in a range, only those that matched some criteria.

Why Excel offers countif and sumif but doesn't offer concatenateif is beyond me. But, luckily it wasn't beyond MikeRickson over at ozgrid.com. He and a couple other folks provided me with a bunch of wonderful useful bits of knowledge:

1. An implementation of >concatenateif(...):

Function concatenateIf(ByVal compareRange As Range, _ 
    ByVal criteriaEQ As Variant, _ 
    ByVal stringsRange As Range, _ 
    Optional Delimiter As String, _ 
    Optional Unique As Boolean) As String 
     
    Dim stringsRRay As Variant 
    Dim compRRay As Variant 
    Dim i As Long, j As Long 
     
    Set compareRange = Application.Intersect(compareRange, _ 
    compareRange.Parent.UsedRange) 
     
    compRRay = compareRange.Value 
    stringsRRay = compareRange.Offset(stringsRange.Row - compareRange.Row, _ 
    stringsRange.Column - compareRange.Column).Value 
     
    Select Case TypeName(compRRay) 
    Case "Variant()" 
        concatenateIf = Delimiter 
        For i = 1 To UBound(compRRay, 1) 
            For j = 1 To UBound(compRRay, 2) 
                If compRRay(i, j) = criteriaEQ Then 
                    If Unique Imp (InStr(concatenateIf, Delimiter & CStr(stringsRRay(i, j)) & Delimiter) = 0) Then 
                        concatenateIf = concatenateIf & CStr(stringsRRay(i, j)) & Delimiter 
                    End If 
                End If 
            Next j 
        Next i 
        concatenateIf = Left(concatenateIf, Len(concatenateIf) - Len(Delimiter)) 
        concatenateIf = Mid(concatenateIf, Len(Delimiter) + 1) 
    Case "Double", "String", "Boolean": Rem cell.count = 1 
        If compRRay = criteriaEQ Then concatenateIf = CStr(stringsRRay) 
    Case Else 
        concatenateIf = TypeName(compRRay) 
    End Select 
End Function

2. A simpler concat function which dispenses with the criteria concept:


Function Concat(r As Range) As String 
    Dim av  As Variant 
    Dim v   As Variant 
     
    av = Intersect(r, ActiveSheet.UsedRange) 
    For Each v In av 
        If Not IsEmpty(v) Then 
            Concat = Concat & v & "," 
        End If 
    Next 
    Concat = Left(Concat, Len(Concat) - 1) 
End Function

3. Instructions on how to set these functions up.

[The code] needs to be posted in a code module. Open the VBE (Alt+F11), and from that menu bar, do Insert > Module, and paste the code into the window that opens.

Besides providing some useful code, this forum post showed me just how easy it is to add new functions to Excel. I've written VB code before, but it's usually as a stand alone app, and not something that truly leverages the existing Excel model.

I can't remember the last time such a brief forum post was so enlightening.

With the above code in place I was able to say:

 =concatenateif(A:A, "=100", C:C, ", ")

(Where column A (A:A) contained a bunch of numbers, and column C contained the text I wanted to join up with ", ".)

Pocket Dump: Winter Edition

2011-12-14T10:28:00.004-05:00

It's been a while since I've done a pocket dump, so here's the latest snapshot of what's in my pockets. A few items have changed due to the weather, and the need to be more jeans friendly (less bulging is a good thing, right?).

I'd love to know what your EDC is -- do share in the comments.

In my pants pockets:

A CPR mask and gloves smooshed and taped between two business cards. What good is being CPR certified if you aren't ready for action, right? The business cards approach seems to be the smallest possible way to carry the items.
A Pilot G2 pen. Still my favorite writing instrument.
A Schrade Tactical Pen. This currently replaces my Alpha Innovations Stylus Kubaton. I like that it does extra duty as a pen, and is nice and solid. If the Alpha Innovations stylus worked with my G2 I may prefer it better.
Android G2. This guy is really beat up, but it's still holding its own.
Regular old wallet. A couple extra safety pins (for repairs), a paper clip (for whatever) and stickers (to entertain kids) are in it. Other than that, there's nothing unusual about it.
A hanky. My probably most used EDC item.
Keyring that hasn't changed much since I last inventoried it. Still love everything on it, and find it all useful. The compass came in handy getting oriented on our last trip, the USB drive held backup copies of my passport and other travel documents, the pill fob saved Shira during a headache (thanks to the headache medicine within), I could go on, but you get the point.
A P-51 can opener and Derma-Safe razor blade rubber banded together. This little setup has replaced my Swiss Army knife for daily carry. It's much slimmer in the pants, which prompted me to try it. So far, I'm really impressed. The P-51 has come in handy a number of times, the Derma-Safe is super sharp. The rubber bands have probably gotten the most use, as I'll take them off and use them for various odds and ends. I love that the setup is basically disposable if I end up at place where I can't bring a knife. There are still times when a Swiss Army knife makes the most sense, but for EDC, this little combo is working.
A cheapy 3x5 notepad. Absolutely essential.

Gone is the lanyard - I never got any use out of it.

In my jacket pockets:

It's almost winter time, which means wearing jacket, which means *more pockets*. Whoo! Here's what's been floating around in my coat:

Brandless knit hat from REI. Your mom always told you to wear a hat, right? Listen to mom.
Seirus Gloves from REI. I love these guys. Super lightweight, allow for lots of dexterity, yet are wind resistant and keep you warm.
A Buff. The ultimate neck warmer + balaclava + whatever else you can think of. Love this guy.
A Mini-Bic Lighter. When it's cold out, it just seems right to carry around a way to make fire instantly.
An urban survival kit packed in, of course, an Altoids tin. It's got headphones for G2, quarters for the meter, dental floss and more.
Sea to Summit day pack. Another frequently used item. Definitely don't underestimate this guy.

So, nu? What's in your pockets?

Up Close and Personal: Playing with Digital Concepts Macro Filter Set

2011-12-13T13:00:00.009-05:00

Chanukah came early this year, as a gift from my Sister and Brother-in-law showed up a few days ago. Sure, I could have been an adult about it and waited for the holiday, but what fun would that be? They bought me two items off my wishlist, the Digital Concepts 1 2 4 10 Close-Up Macro Filter Set and a remote shutter release, both for my relatively new EOS T3i.

I'm quite impressed with both items. The closeup filter (basically, magnifying glasses) Polaroid branded item, and not some off brand product. The lenses look solid to me, and the case is impressive too; not some after thought cheapy item you might expect.

There's not much to the shutter release, but it worked perfectly out of the box with the camera.

I had the new toys, but I didn't have any idea what I wanted to photograph. Then it occurred to me, I may have just the right set of items from our recent trip. Whenever I travel, I usually pick up various somewhat interesting pebbles from where I've been. I've been doing this for years, and have (a) never taken the time to label anything and (b) never really found a use for the rocks. But, as souvenirs go, a rock from the top of Table Mountain or Robben Island seems precious to me.

They're small and I have new close-up equipment - I thought they'd be a great fit. Alas, I'm totally underwhelmed by how the photos turned out. Though, I blame that not on the new equipment but on my poor composition skills. Still, in the interest of sharing at least some results, here they are.

With close up lenses like these, very narrow depth of field is to be expected. So, I cranked down the aperture as far as I could, and used my new shutter release to trigger the camera. that way, I would reduce the chances of camera shake.

One other little tidbit: the cork in the photos was one that I found at the Cape of Good Hope. If you can't find a message in a bottle, you can at least find the cork that belonged to it (or, to the people who were drinking on the beach last night).

Like I said: I'm really impressed by the macro filters. Definitely a lot more polished product than one might expect for the relatively low close.

DCA

2011-12-12T08:01:00.004-05:00

Meeting Georgia

2011-12-11T22:30:00.005-05:00

Today I met Georgia. Georgia is perfect. Georgia is also a little over two weeks old, and the first born of one of my best friend's from High School.

How did this happen? How did we go from sitting around on a Saturday night watching cruddy movies and playing charades (yes, I was running with quite the roudy crowd in high school!), to sitting around discussing sleep strategies and day care options with my friend and her BABY?!

Yeah, this one has hit me hard.

But Georgia is so cute. And my friend and her husband seem to have it so together. They just make it look so easy.

Anyway, Georgia, when you're old enough, I'll play charades with you and tell you all the stories about your mommy growing up she probably doesn't want you to know. I can't wait.

Twinners +1 - Visiting the "Fish Museum"

2011-12-11T22:28:00.007-05:00

Today we made our way to the Boston Aquarium, where Elana, the Kids, Shira and Myself took in the "fish museum" (the kids wanted another visit to the Children's Museum, so we promised them the Fish Museum instead).

The personalities of the kids were out in force today. Fearless Chana was perturbed that she wasn't allowed to swim in the tanks with the fish, and all but climbed into the sting ray and (baby) shark tank. Dovid, our intellectual one, was delighted to count star fish and study the sting rays, but had zero interest in touching anything (heck, he didn't want to put his hands in the Dyson hand dryers, for fear that he might not get them back when it was done making all that noise!). And Tzipora was memorized by the giant fish swimming by, and was soaking it all up.

Shira and I felt especially proud that a little over a week ago we were at Boulder's Beach, where one (or more?) of the penguins featured at the aquarium were from.

Speaking of fun activities, yesterday, on our Shabbat walk, we poked our heads into one of the fire station's near the house. One of the firemen on duty eagerly invited us in and suggested we show the kids around the trucks. They even started up one of the engines and got the lights going. Of course, the whole thing was a bit overwhelming for the kids, but they did work up the courage to approach the truck and ended up having a great time. And I was right along with them, soaking it all in. Score one for the Boston FD, they couldn't have been more welcoming to the kiddies. I'd suggest dropping by your local station to see if they're as nice.

Would you believe we took more photos today? Yeah, just a few. These kids are just so dang cute.

Twinners +1 - Visting the Boston Children's Museum

2011-12-09T15:45:00.005-05:00

Wow, what a day! We got into Boston this morning, and have been whooping it up with the Twins +1 all day. The main event was a trip to the Boston's Children Museum (which is more activity center, than traditional museum - but it was all awesome).

The Twins couldn't get enough of the water table, and Tzipora was totally drumming to Latin beats in the baby room. I think I probably enjoyed the construction room more than the kids. I even let them sit in the Bobcat, instead of pushing them out of the way so I could monopolize. See how mature I am?

Nobody, including myself, wanted to go home, but alas, Shabbat was approaching and we had a very full day.

Here's a few of the 400+ photos we shot of the kids that day. The new camera plus wonderful subjects sure makes for lots of photos.

Gotcha of the Day: Porting a WordPress Blog to Magento's Blogging Plugin

2011-12-09T09:45:00.000-05:00

Magento has a pretty sweet Blogging plugin that one of my clients wanted to use. No problem, right? Except for one itty bitty catch, they've been blogging in WordPress and sure would love to port over their content.

Unfortunately, the Magento Blogging plugin doesn't offer any sort of importing capability, so I was going to need to get creative.

After a bit of poking around, I finally settled on a strategy: I would load both the WordPress and Magento databases into the same mysql server instance, and run SQL queries that would SELECT from WordPress tables and INSERT into Magento tables.

The strategy turned out to work surprisingly well. The queries (described below) weren't that tricky to write, and while it took a little practice to get all the data inserted properly, once I got the recipe right, the import went smoothly.

One word of caution: Magento will refuse to operate if you manage to insert duplicate IDs in the blogging or category tables. I solved this by making sure that before importing I cleared out whatever was in the Magento blogging database. This worked well because my client didn't have any articles written yet (only test stuff they wouldn't mind losing). In other words, mind the DELETE statements below - understand what they are doing before you run them :-).

In general, loading up two databases and SELECT/INSERT'ing between them is an approach I've found can work exceedingly well. After I implemented this solution, I remembered that months back I did something similar with WordPress and ExpressionEngine. Sure, I could have exported WordPress to RSS or CSV and written custom code to import it, but why bother with all that parsing when the database already has things structured so well?

Here's the import script. Note I've got two databases, one named wordpress and one named magento. For no particular reason, I'm changing magento at the top of the script and explicitly pulling from wordpress.

USE magento;

-- Target: aw_blog
DELETE FROM aw_blog; -- Careful!  Start off by deleting all our data

-- Magic happens here: fill up Magento's (aw_blog) post table from WordPress
INSERT INTO aw_blog(post_id, title, post_content, status, created_time, update_time, identifier,
                    user, update_user, meta_keywords, meta_description, comments, tags, short_content)
 SELECT
    p.ID,
    p.post_title,
    p.post_content,
    1,
    p.post_date,
    p.post_date,
    p.post_name,
    a.user_nicename,
    a.user_nicename,
    '',
    '',
    0,
    '',
    p.post_excerpt
  FROM wordpress.wp_posts p JOIN wordpress.wp_users a ON p.post_author = a.ID
  WHERE
    p.post_type = 'post'        AND
    p.post_status = 'publish';

-- The hard work is done. Now we need to fill up a few more tables with corresponding
-- IDs. Without these tables, Magento gets confused and won't be able to find posts.

-- Target: aw_blog_post_cat
DELETE FROM aw_blog_post_cat;

INSERT INTO aw_blog_post_cat(cat_id, post_id)
  SELECT DISTINCT 1, post_id FROM aw_blog;

-- Target: aw_blog_store
DELETE FROM aw_blog_store;

INSERT INTO aw_blog_store(post_id, store_id)
  SELECT DISTINCT post_id, 0 FROM aw_blog;

-- All Done!

Handy Running Tool: eGear Guardian Strobe Light

2011-12-08T23:22:00.001-05:00

Now that it gets dark at 2pm (OK, closer to 4:30pm, I suppose), I feel like I should take some extra steps to be visible while running. A couple of the routes I take use bike paths which can be pretty dang dark.

After doing a bit of shopping on Amazon, I took the plunge and purchased a Guardian eGear Signal Light. It promised to be compact and bright. I was so happy with it, that I immediately turned around and bought a couple more colors.

Here's what they look like:

(The second photos is taken with the lights on top of a 3x5" notepad to show scale.)

I really like the design of these guys:

The twist-to-turn-on mechanism is fairly tight, so I don't worry about accidentally turning them on or off.
They are waterproof and somewhat drop-proof (3 meters?). I've taken them out in the rain and dropped them from waist height, and so far, no issues.
They're really lightweight (a bit more on that below) and do easily clip to anything
You can reverse the batteries to switch from a strobe light to a standard flash light. This makes for a simple design, and provides a nice little backup.
They aren't terribly expensive

I find that I can clip one light to the front of my hat, another to the back, and head off into the dark without even noticing the lights are there. Here's what the setup looks like:

As for areas of improvement, I was going to mention that of the three lights I received, the green one came with a simpler clip than the others. It's smooth and resembles a money clip, while the other colors have an improved design, including a lip that catches on clothing to be more secure, and a hole in the back which also looks useful. I was ready to write up a warning that you should make sure to get the newer clip. Thing is, this morning I sent an e-mail to eGear and asked them about the clip difference. Within an hour, I got a response back and a promise to send me an updated clip style for no charge.

So, now I'm even more impressed, because eGear's customer service came through so well.

I suppose the only real con is that I don't have a good way of measuring and comparing how effective this strobe is against what else is out there. For my purposes, which is mostly piece of mind, the lights work well. But, I can't really say that they will outperform other lighting options. I just know their awfully convenient (and they do have a claim of 2 mile visibility, for whatever that's worth).

If you're running in the dark, I say give 'em a try.

Artist of the Day: Carlos Alberto Quadrini

2011-12-07T15:18:00.002-05:00

Stumbled over Carlos Alberto Quadrini over at sound cloud.com, where he's got some most excellent sessions posted. He's been helping me rock (or chill?) out all day. Here, give one a listen:

QUADRINI - JOURNEY OF HOUSE VOL.4 – BRAZILIAN SUMMER - DECEMBER 2011 by QUADRINI

A Moment of Bragging: Running a 6 Miler

2011-12-07T15:08:00.004-05:00

Last night, in the rain and dark, Shira and I did a 6 mile run through Arlington, including a run up Walter "Heart Attack" Reed hill.

She was such a trooper. I do believe, it's the longest distance she's ever ran (no hiking, that's another story altogether...).

Go her!

(And I didn't do so bad myself, thank you very much.)

View Shira and Ben's 6 Miler in a larger map

Facebook Turns Off Automatic Note Importing, I Cope

2011-12-06T12:01:00.003-05:00

Years ago, I figured out my key to Facebook -- it makes an awesome distribution channel for the stuff I write. When I publish the same content in both Facebook and the web, I get totally different insights from the different audiences.

Facebook used to make this easy, you just setup your blog to be imported as notes. It wasn't perfect, but it automatically made content I public to the web available to my friends in Facebook.

I returned from traveling a few days ago, logged into Facebook and was met with a surprise: importing of notes is no longer supported.

I'm sure the Facebook people had good reasons for doing this (perhaps to avoid duplicate content? Or to deal with all the crappy content folks imported?), but for users like myself, this is a pain. More importantly, I had a pretty good deal going with Facebook: they'd pull in and publish my notes, and in return, when folks commented on my stories, I was pulled back to them to interact. Seemed like a win-win.

But, all is not lost. Here's how I was able to work around this. First off, I signed up with Networked Blogs and added my blog to my profile. I then clicked on the syndication link and said that I wanted the blog syndicated to Facebook.

Now, when I publish new posts (like, hopefully, this one!) it shows up on my wall.

My friends in Facebook land can easily see what I'm chatting about, and I don't have to worry about doing a manual import.

Happy Blogging!

Smile, it's Tuesday

2011-12-06T11:54:00.004-05:00

A few items to make you smile:

First, the best Rick Perry ad ever. Seriously, this may be one of my favorite political ads of all time:

Secondly, a little Star Wars humor. It's old school enough, so even I get it:

Via: See Mike Draw.

And finally, I'm not sure I can quite explain it, but I found this list of First Grade Problems to be surprisingly funny. Here's an example:

Ahhh, the dreaded indoor recess.

Steve Jobs Nails It

2011-12-05T15:48:00.003-05:00

I don't claim to be particularly in tune with what Steve Jobs stood for and the like, but he nails it in this video clip:

Definitely worth taking the time to watch and ponder that one.

Via: RichardsNotes.com

Cape Town Travel Gear That Worked

2011-12-02T17:46:00.000-05:00

Only an hour and a half left in our 19 hours of flying. We're in the home stretch! As long as our Cape Town trip is still on my mind, I thought I'd take a few minutes to jot down what travel gear worked. In no particular order...

Samsung N150 Netbook - Man I love traveling with this guy. I must have gotten 6 hours or more of battery life squeezed out of this little guy on the trip to Cape Town. And having Internet access in our room was huge - it made finding driving directions, confirming attractions, and just checking the weather trivial.
Sea to Summit Foldable Backpack - this guy rocked. Not only did it work well as a carry on bag, but I used it to schlep stuff all over cape town. Nearly every day I would leave with the bag almost empty, and return with it almost full. How the seams, straps and zipper stay together is beyond me, but they do.
Canon T3i DSLR - this guy was great to travel with. I suppose, thanks to him, I stuck out more than ever as a tourist, but the photos were worth it. I found that the battery lasted forever, and the standard 18-55mm lens that came with the camera worked quite well.
Table top Tripod - I'll have to lookup the brand of this little tripod when I get home [update: it's Sima ST-10T]. This little gem was small enough to fit in a pants pocket, yet sturdy enough to reliably hold the T3i. Many a self portrait was made with this guy. I also brought along a clamp type tripod [update: it's a Pedco UltraClamp] which also worked well, though I found myself using the table top one a little more frequently. Still, between the two solutions, I almost always had us covered and the weight and price wise, they can't be beat.
Fodors Guide Book - every trip I think to myself this is the trip I'll go fully digital for, and every trip I'm thankful I have an actual guide book of the city with me. We found restaurants to go to, specific drives to take, and generally felt more prepared because of this book. And there's something about the convenience of earmarking pages, and trivially flipping to them that make the physical book worth it. This time, we bought an Africa guide book on Half.com and used a razor blad to slice out just the Cape Town section. A couple of staples and a binder clip later, and I had an efficient guidebook solution. Still, it killed me to actually shred a book, even though I know it was for a good cause.
Travel Blanket - this one was a winner for Shira. She brought a large'ish fleece travel blanket and it totally made her trip more comfortable. Unlike me, she's not a fan of the questionably clean blankets that airlines provide.
Sleep Mask - Ahhh, the humble sleep mask. Is there a better travel product given its weight and cost? If you're not traveling with one of these in your pocket, then you're totally missing out.
Overdrive (Android app) - I was able to check out 10 library books, some audio, some text, and store them on my G2. Most of the books went unread, but that's OK. I just liked knowing that I had plenty of options in the reading / entertaining department. I can see my new routine before heading off on a trip is going to be to check out a slew of books the day before we leave.
REI Travel Pants - I'm going to have to look up the specific model of these guys, because they rock (and I've rarely felt a pair of pants could actually rock) [update: the model name appears to be REI Adventures Pants]. Not only are they comfortable, provide an extra couple of pockets to reliably store your passport, have zippers on the back pockets and dry quickly (I washed them in the shower a couple of times, and they easily dried overnight) but they don't quite look like classic cargo travel pants (at least, not to me). They aren't dress pants, but I'm convinced I could use them in a dressier context if the situation demanded it.
Sit & Solve: Brain Boosting IQ Tests - this is a pocket sized book of brain teasers, and was an excellent addition to the carry on. For those times when a cell phone can't be used (like taxi and takeoff time), or when you've just got a few minutes to kill (waiting in a long security line), you can whip this guy out and work on a problem or two. Some problems succumbed easily, others I stewed on for hours. I also found that there were times when my brain was just too fried to read, but chewing on a puzzle was enjoyable.

Cape Town Adventure - Day 9

2011-12-01T22:00:00.003-05:00

For our last day in Cape Town, we wanted to try to finish up with something a little unique to South Africa. We wanted to try to get a glimpse of what a shack-town looks like. I definitely don't have the facts on this yet, but apparently there's a tradition among migratory workers to stake out open land and turn it into an impromptu village. This mixed with the policies of Apartheid, where blacks weren't allowed to live in cities, helped create some densely packed areas of extreme poverty.

Anyway, we were told that under no circumstances were we to visit a shack town without extensive supervision. Heck, we weren't even allowed to drive to one to meet a guide. So, we did the next best thing and hopped on the City Sight Seeing bus, which has an arrangement with Imizamo Yethu Township, to offer tours.

The township tour was an odd mix of emotions. On one hand, you're surrounded by extreme poverty and people who are trying to make a better life for themselves and their children (there's a movement, for example, to build houses to replace the shacks and setup a local school). On the other hand, people were quite friendly, the mood was upbeat and generally there was pride for the little settlement.

Our guide talked about the township in terms of a struggle to right the social inbalance in the region (less than a kilometer from Imizamo Yetho are homes of the super rich in Cape Town, who have better facilities for their horses than these people have for their children). Our taxi driver talked about how the government has attempted to replace the shack towns with real houses, but there are those that like living rent free and so they keep popping up. And then there was the book in the bookstore that glorfied shack-towns as a sort of down-home simpler living (oh look, the children have no real toys so they invent games and are wonderfully friendly) that we should be just a little envious of. In other words, it's a complicated social issue that has no easy answers.

After our Township tour, we had an excellent lunch at Haut Bay. I finally had fish and chips, while Shira had sushi - man deep fried fish is a winner.

From Haut Bay we made our way back to the city center and spent the rest of the day soaking in the last few sites that we could from walking around.

I started this blog post as we were about to board our plane, and it's now been about 8 hours of flying. We've almost covered the length of Africa, though according to the flight map, we have just a little bit more to go.

So, what can I say about Cape Town? In general, it is a wonderful place. As I commented to Shira a number of times: this place is awesome, they measure distances in kilometers and prices in Rand. That means that everything is closer than it seems, and you can divide all the prices by 8 (I can't remember the last time I was at a major city where I could do that!). Cape Town has interesting musueums and history, amazing natural sights to see (Table Mountain, Cape Point, fynbos in the wild) and wonderfully friendly people. We ate quite well here, never having a problem finding vegetarian options to pick from.

For the most part, we felt secure in the city. In a brilliant move to help address the massive unemployment of the country, there's a job known as Parking Marshal that pretty much anyone can take on. Essentially, a person watches over a number of parking spaces on the street. When you park in one of these spaces, they'll "watch over your car" and you tip them when you leave. This flips the mindset of these potentially unemployed from possibly harming you or your car, to protecting both. In fact, the security-as-job-for-the-unemployed really worked quite well, as it means that there were frequently friendly faces around. We did run into some aggressive pan handlers, which made for a tense encounter or two, but that was as rough as things got.

Cape Town really is a must see city. It definitely belongs on your must-visit list.

See all photos from our last day.

Cape Town Adventure - Day 8

2011-11-30T11:54:00.002-05:00

As if we didn't get enough hiking in yesterday, we thought we would try a recommended hike at Silvermine Reserve. The terrain was much simpler than Table Mountain, but the vegetation and views were still top notch. One section of the hike to the Elephant Eye Cave was precarious, which reminded us of what we went through yesterday, but again, the views and the cave made it worth the sore muscles.

After Silvermine, we made our way to lunch in Hout Bay via Chapman's Peak Drive. Wow. This drive is highly recommended and the scenery can't be beat. I definitely got white knuckles as I held on while Shira wound her way along the narrow, curvy highway with the ocean below.

We finished the day at the World of Birds and Monkey Jungle, which allowed up close and personal viewing of monkeys and birds without a pesky fence in between you and them. It's ironic that we would do heights and birds in one day, as those are pretty much my two most dreaded things. But, both were worth the discomfort. Even I had to admit the birds were quite an impressive collection.

Still, tomorrow I'm taking Shira to extra museums to make up for this!

View all photos from today

Cape Town Adventure - Day 7

2011-11-29T14:15:00.004-05:00

My first thoughts when I saw Cape Town by day were: (1) Wow, what an amazing site Table Mountain is. And (2), how the heck am I ever going to get up there? With my paralyzing fear of hights, this just isn't going to be possible.

Luckily, Shira had made arrangements ahead of time with a guide to take us up, so there wasn't any question - we were doing the mountain.

Today, at around 7:30am we left the road and started hiking up part of the mountain. And up, and up and up some more. The views along the way were amazing. The vegetation was both recognizable (hey, that looks like a pine cone!) but totally foreign (but it's growing out of a small plant, not a pine tree). We scrambled up rocks, traversed valleys and gaped at awesome views.

Along the way, it was our guide Margaret from Table Mountain Walks who kept us going. "It's all easy" was her refrain, and I just kept asking her to repeat this, as I traveled higher and higher up.

Lunch was outstanding, but of course, climbing a mountain and hiking 11km or so, will make almost any food taste great.

With the climb and lunch completed, and the views photographed as well as possible (which is to say, not well at all - how do you capture that much landscape?!) there was only the minor detail of getting down the mountain. We could have opted for the cable car, but please, we wanted the whole hiking experience. So, it was down the Platteklip Gorge for us.

Wikipedia calls this gorge "an easy and direct ascent to the summit." The direct part is correct, the easy part is a bit of an understatement. The gorge is essentially a natural rock staircase that requires quite a bit of care to make your way down.

Down the gorge we trudged. At one point, our guide took out her cell phone and called the cars to pick us up. Only one hour left of walking *down* to go. Ugh.

When it was all said and done, this has to be one of the most challenging and enjoyable hikes we've ever done. I felt like we really took in Table Mountain, and Shira really nailed it choosing Table Mountain Walks as our guide. If you are thinking of hiking up Table Mountain, Margaret is the one you want leading the way!

See all the pictures from today.

Cape Town Adventure - Day 6

2011-11-28T11:15:00.003-05:00

One of the highly recommended activities when visiting Cape Town is that of touring wine country. We aren't really big wine people, so I wasn't exactly sure if we were going to indulge. Shira, in a stroke of brilliance, found a perfect solution: we toured a single winery: Zandwijk. What makes Zandwijk so unique is that it's the only fully Kosher winery in South Africa.

We had a wonderful tasting of wine and cheese, an excellent walk around the grounds (including a little chat with Frank, who's been tending the winery for 29 years!) and generally got a flavor of the whole wine tour thing.

From Zandwijk, we made our way to Franschhoek, an adorable little town in the heart of wine country. They had all the essentials there: excellent food, a cute museum, more gardens and most importantly, gelato.

I finally got to try some South African food (or so I was told), including some cold pickled fish in a curry sauce and Bobotie - a yummy lentil dish. Both were quite delish.

We finished up our evening with another critical sight seeing location: the nearby casino. As casinos go, it was remarkably in almost every way: they had an impressive number of reasonably priced restaurants, a large kid friendly arcade, a movie theater and even an ice skating rink. Unfortunately, they don't have craps, and the blackjack tables were on continuous auto-shufflers. Feh. So, it was impressive in every way *except* the gambling. Still, we actually walked out of there a few Rand ahead. Always a treat, regardless of the currency.

View all photos from today.

Cape Town Adventure - Day 4

2011-11-27T16:25:00.001-05:00

Today was a walk-around-and-see-the-local-sites day. Cape Town definitely didn't disappoint. The Castle is not only interesting architecturally, but contains, 3, count 'em 3, museums. I enjoyed each thoroughly.

We also made our way to the Slave Lodge, which tells of the horrific slave conditions within Cape Town itself.

Finally, we made our way through Company Gardens, where we found the oldest tree to be cultivated in South Africa.

I admit it, there were more museums to go to, but even my brain was too full to take in any more information.

Of all the sites we saw, one of the most impressive was an exhibit on Hugh Tracey. Tracey apparently went throughout Africa recording the various types of music performed by the natives.

I can just imagine Hugh explaining to his parents his chosen profession. You want to do what now, son? Are you kidding me?

All in all, a most fun day. And there's still plenty for us to see and learn around town. I know Shira's excited to no end for this.

See all photos from today

Cape Town Adventure - Day 5

2011-11-27T11:00:00.000-05:00

Today started with a trip to Robben Island - the offshore prison which was used to house political prisoners during Apartheid. The island's history starts quite a bit before that, when it served as both a prison and leper colony. In other words, this was never really a place you wanted to find yourself.

As if the tour, fascilities and general atmosphere weren't enough to drive home the occasion, the actual tour through the cell block is done by a former inmate. Our guide had served 7 years on the island, and shared some harsh stories. It just boggles the mind that as I was in middle school, there were inmates in this jail, serving under the harshest of conditions. And now, tour groups of all nationalities can walk through the area.

After the island, we made our way to Goldies, a Kosher restaurant in Cape Town. I pigged out on schwarma and chips, it was outstanding.

We finished the day with a trip to Kirsenbosch Gardens. As botanical gardens go, it was outstanding. There were quite a few plants that I'd never seen anything quite like.

One tip, if you visit the gardens: you can take a path up towards table mountain. Don't, as we did, assume that it loops back around into the gardens. After about 45 minutes of walking, we finally got the hint that we were no longer on the grounds of the gardens. We did indeed make it back without problems, though for future reference, it's a great place to start some long hikes. Just make sure you intend to do this before you set out.

View all photos from today

Cape Town Adventure - Day 3

2011-11-26T14:33:00.002-05:00

What an adventure we had today! It all started with renting a car, and making our way to Cape Point, the very southern tip of South Africa. This would be tricky enough to do in a foreign city, but throw in the fact that they drive on the wrong side of the road, and this becomes really interesting.

Along the way, we stopped for a most excellent breakfast in Simon's Town (how could we not stop?), where I got a nice dose of museum viewing in.

From Simon's town, we made our way to Boulder's beach, where we saw the colony of Penguins which set up shop there in the 80's. The life of a penguin looks pretty chill - lots of sitting around getting admired by tourists with an occasional dip in the water for some fishing.

After the penguins, we made our way to Cape Point. As you would imagine, the views from this Southern most point were spectacular. After schlepping up the hill to the old lighthouse, we made our way to the actual Cape of Good Hope.

In college, I infamously flubbed an essay when I blanked on who or what a Vasco Da Gama was. I wrote extensively about how this related to the Samurai of Japan (yeah, I was reaching in a major way that day). Of course, Da Gama was an explorer - but not just any explorer, he was one of the first to sail around the Cape of Good hope and on to India. It was fitting, therefore, that I should finally get to glimpse the history I so massively butchered in college.

A number of people, and signs, warned of baboons in the park. They have a reputation for snatching the food right from your hand. As we stepped out of the car, and got ourselves ready, we heard rustling in the bushes nearby. I calmly told myself it was just the shrubs making my imagination act up. As we turned and walked through the parking lot, a couple of toursists were in front of us carrying their picnic lunch. Sure enough, out of the bushes appeared a baboon, who deftly snatched the bag of food and carefully opened it up to eat as his own lunch. So classic.

This was truly an awesome day with awesome sights.

View all photos

Cape Town Adventure - Day 2

2011-11-24T14:12:00.003-05:00

We woke up for the 2nd day of our Cape Town adventure surprisingly refreshed. We spent most of the day at the V&A waterfront. But, have no fear, there's a maritime musuem and aquarium there, so I learned about history and science in the process.

A big accomplishment was setting up our cell phone's to operate here. We purchased a SIM card from Vodacom, which was a pretty painless experience. The card itself cost about 2 bucks, though the minutes aren't quite as cheap. Before you can utilize your phone on an alternate network you need to get Unlocked. This used to be a somewhat sketchy process, as the phone carriers had no incentive to allow you to do this (essentially, you have a phone that's locked into them). Apparently, things have changed for the better in this department, as all I needed to do get my phone unlocked was to call T-mobile and ask them for a special code. Not sure if all cell companies are this accomodating or if T-mobile stands out in this department.

Another unexpected treat: we had the most delicious and authentic falafel today. Seriously, it was like eating on the streets of Tel Aviv.

Tomorrow we hope to get out of the city and do a bit of exploring of the nearby area. No matter what happens, driving on the left side of the road, guarantees it's going to be a big adventure!

View Photos

Cape Town Adventure - Day 1

2011-11-23T14:10:00.003-05:00

25 hours ago we left our door step, and in just a few minutes, I hope to hit the sack in Cape Town, South Africa.

All things equal, this has been an amazingly easy journey. Our flights with KLM were both above average. Sure, we had a few hiccups (they lost my vegetarian meal the first flight, Shira's video capability was broken the second flight), but all in all, we came out ahead. Through a bit of luck, for our 11 hour flight, we were seated in Economy Plus. Nowhere near as exciting as getting upgraded to business class, but still a victory when every inch of legroom counts. And KLM's entermainment options are top notch, with what seems like dozens of movies to pick from.

We also have a new favorite airport: Amsterdam's. Where else do you have a museum and library for me to poke around in, and a casino with table games for my wife to kill some time at?

One highlights of the flight (besides seeing Battle Los Angels - whoo, what a fun movie!), was getting a glimpse at some of the African desert. I snapped a few pictures of it, but they don't do the scenery justice. It didn't look like thee were signs of life for miles and miles.

As for Cape Town itself, we really havnen't seen anything yet. Everyone has been quite kind to us, and there's not the usual rushing that seems to happen when checking into a US hotel.

Tomorrow the real fun begins.

View Pictures

5 Nifty Features of Canon EOS T3i

2011-11-22T10:47:00.003-05:00

I'm really enjoying my new Canon EOS T3i. While making my way through the manual, I've come across a number of features that just had me say Hmmm, that's pretty slick. None of these are Earth shattering, and heck, this is my first DSLR - so perhaps these are all standard? Still, to me, they're cool.

1. While playing back images, you can assign a number of stars rating. The rating you provide is added to the metadata of the image, and seamlessly shows up in Windows and Picasa. I tend to take bazillions of pictures, and the rating mechanism seems like an easy way to do some in-camera editing. I can easily assign meanings to each of the levels of rating, and then take action on them when I download the images.

Related feature: you can set the Artist and Copyright that's embedded in the image. It's kind of neat to see that information show up in Windows and Picasa automatically.

2. The self-timer can shoot a sequence of photos. The first time I setup a self timer shot, I explicitly set the count down to 10 seconds. Once it reached 10 seconds, a photo snapped. Then another. Then another. Apparently, I had set the number of shots to take 10, not the duration. This feature is especially handy for a large group - set it to take 10 shots, and you're chances of catching everyone's eyes open has just increased 10x (right?).

3. There's a mode dial setting for fully automatic without flash. I like my manual modes (see below). And, I've never been a fan of a camera having lots of specific modes (sports, portraits, night, etc.), the problem being that I'm not quite sure what each mode buys me, and rarely am I shooting the exact topic the mode calls for. Regardless, I do very much like the idea of an auto-everything mode to fall back on. Pick up camera, point, shoot, and know you've got a photo. The neat thing here is that I can set it to all auto mode, minus the flash. I usually shoot without a flash, as it's going to attract less attention. So, if I snapped off some quick pictures, it's reassuring to me to know that I'm not going to be blasting off the flash unexpectedly.

I've tried to get good about leaving the camera in this mode, with the idea being that the camera is always ready to go.

4. You can easily control which folder you're saving photos into. Like I said above, I tend to shoot a whole lot of pictures. If I can organize them into folders, my life organizing them is going to be much easier. The cameras I've owned in the past let you explicitly start a new folder to shoot photos in, but the EOS T3i kicks this up a notch. First, you can not only create new folders, but select past folders. You can also see how many pictures are being stored in each folder. The camera even adapts fairly well to existing folders.

As a bonus, hitting the Menu key takes you back to the previous setting you were messing with. So frequently, when I hit menu, it's all set up to muck with the folder settings.

Finally, you can add shortcuts on a custom menu. Sure enough, a short cut to folder management was the first one I made.

5. I'm impressed with how close I can come to treating this DLSR like my original film SLR. Sure, I can switch into manual exposure mode, but that's just the beginning. The viewfinder's exposure compensation turns into an old school light meter, and the side of the lens even includes a depth-of-field preview. Heck, you can customize the camera so the auto-focus happens when you press the exposure-lock (aka: "*") button, the result being that when you press the shutter button no further delay happens - a photo is just snapped (you could also switch manual focus mode, too). You can even turn off the LCD screen, or rotate it so that it faces inward to avoid chimping.

On a side note: I wonder what would happen if a camera manufacturer came out with a DSLR that was more or less the equivalent of the Pentax K1000. That is, a digital camera that offered only manual modes, a light meter and almost no other features. Would they sell only to retro buyers with too much nostalgia and money on their hands? Or would it be an an appealing alternative to the feature-heavy cameras that are out there?

6. Video Snapshots may be a worthwhile feature. This bonus item isn't something I can actually say is useful, as I haven't tried it. But, the manual describes a Video Snapshot Feature where you shoot a series of 2-8 second clips and glue them together into a longer movie.

Could be a useful way to get me to shoot video, and one that doesn't require much editing. Or, it could be a waste of time. A little experimenting should clear that one up.

What EOS features do you especially like? What am I missing?

Worth a Read: Street Photography Tips and Techniques

2011-11-21T09:54:00.005-05:00

Looking through PictureCorrect.com's Top 10 Photography Articles of 2011 (is it top 10 time already?!), I found the one on Street Photography to be especially interesting.

The first tip that caught me was this one:

You’ll be headed out to a tourist spot, so dress like a tourist. I’m not kidding. Although you may have lived in your city for 50 years, get yourself a tourist map and dress like you have just arrived from the mid-west on vacation. I’ll leave that part for you to figure out.

Visit a crowded tourist attraction where everyone has a camera. Dress and act as just another tourist. Study your tourist map. Gawk at the landmark like everyone else. And keep an eye out for interesting subjects.

And why do you want to look like a tourist? So you can do this:

Start off like everyone else. Take pictures of the landmark. Keeping the camera to your eye you can now scan through the crowd for something interesting. As you take pictures, do not remove the camera from your eye even after you have the shot you wanted. Continue to move the camera around pretending to take pictures. Never give away the fact that you’ve taken someone’s picture by removing the camera from your eye after taking the shot.

You may not find anyone worth shooting, but this is an easy way to get started. It shouldn’t be very scary, and you will find that even while standing very close to your subjects you can take their pictures without arousing suspicion. You can employ the same techniques at street fairs, or parades. Just about any crowded area which is filled with tourists is a good place to practice.

The article goes on from there, giving even more useful tips. But that one alone, is both brilliant and simple enough to work.

Time to hit the National Mall, and see if I can't put this, and other tips, to use.

Update: apparently street photography is a big topic on my RSS feed today. These two articles are also worth reading on the subject.

Latest Home Improvement: Adding a Shed

2011-11-21T09:40:00.007-05:00

We were so pleased with the construction of our deck, that when we started thinking about putting a shed in, it was a no brainer to call Ed again.

Check out the sweet little mini-house he built for us below. I'd have more pictures to upload, but he built it so dang fast. He did the whole thing in two (long) days.

It's kind of a shame I have to fill it with random stuff. Part of me wants to install a desk and hammock, and call it The Office. Sure, it'd be chilly in the winter, and sweltering in the summer, but it would be my own. But, in the end, I know better - it's going to be an excellent little storage location.

Built by: Buzzi 3 Construction.

Phone Friday: 2 Player Reactor - A no brainer game recommendation

2011-11-18T11:24:00.003-05:00

I've never really got into gaming. Sure, I mastered Super Mario Brothers and Doom - but that's pretty much where my gaming expertise ends. Every once in while I'll poke around the Android Market for games, but I don't usually get into them. But, I do believe I've found an exception: 2 Player Reactor.

I found 2 Player Reactor after having a bit of a brilliant thought: perhaps there's a two person game that I could have Shira and myself download, and next time we're waiting around for a train to arrive, we could play against each other. The odds of finding a game we'd both want to play were slim. And it's not unusual to have no cell phone access when we're standing around waiting for a Metro train. So, the whole thing was a long shot.

Turns out, 2 Player Reactor fit the bill perfectly. The game, as the name suggests, is a played by two people. The clever part, though, is you don't play it over the Internet. Nope, it's simpler than that - you play it on the same handset.

The Reactor part of the name comes from the actual game play: you and you opponent take part in tiny little exercises and the first to get the right answer gets a point. For example, the screen may show a series of color names that have a particular color to them. When the name and the color matches ("blue" is shown in blue, versus "blue" being shown in red), you click your section of the screen. The winner gets a point, the loser loses a point. After a number of questions the game ends a winner is pronounced.

My explanation is more complicated than the game itself.

I just love the simplicity behind the game. I love that it actually makes your phone more social, rather than less so. And I love that every once in a while, I'm faster on the draw than my wife and I get to earn a few points.

A related game is 2 Player Ripples, which is quite a bit more chill than the speedfest of Reactor 2. But, it too has its place.

Both are definitely worth having on your phone. I'd expect this app would work well for kids, too.

Most Dangerous Plugin In the Office: WP SQL Executioner

2011-11-17T16:21:00.002-05:00

Wired has a wonderful little section in their magazine titled Most Dangerous Object in the Office, where they goof around with something completely inappropriate. It's in this spirit of recklessness that I share my new favorite WordPress plugin: SQL Executioner.

Last night I found myself in a somewhat typical predicament: I had access to a customer's WordPress install, but what I really needed was low level database access. In the past I had access to phpMyAdmin, but somewhere along the lines, a password got changed and I couldn't get in. Rather than give up and mail the customer, I thought I'd find a work around.

My first thought was to port an ancient PHP script I'd written to setup a super lightweight interactive MySQL query environment. But, before I did, I thought I'd poke around see if anyone had done this already.

Sure enough, Justin Watt had done exactly this (years ago, no less!). Which is what WP SQL Executioner is. Essentially, it's a text box that will blindly execute any SQL you throw at it.

Insanely dangerous? You bet. Useful in a pinch. Definitely.

In my defense, the WordPress install I was working on last night was in a development environment. Additionally, I removed the plugin when I was done with it.

As tools go, it's a sharp one. But who doesn't love sharp tools?

Tool of the Day: s3-bash - lightweight Amazon S3 access

2011-11-16T10:04:00.001-05:00

When a server I have full control needs access to Amazon's S3 service, I usually turn to either duplicity or S3cmd. Both are polished tools that make it dang near trivial to push content to S3.

Today, however, I ran into a little bit a snag - I need to push thousands of files to S3, but I don't have full control over the server. Installing various libraries and such wasn't a possibility. My first assumption was that I was going to need to push the data to a server that did have s3cmd installed (probably using ssh+tar). Turns out, there was a better and simpler way: use s3-bash.

s3-bash, as the name implies, is a variety of s3 related scripts that leverage commonly installed tools. To my amazement (and appreciation!), I was able to upload these scripts to the serer in question, ssh in, and use them to access S3.

I took a peek in the files, and they really are masterfully written. Integrating with Amazon has some tricky requirements (such as the need to derive a request signature), and finding work arounds to do all this using standard tools is quite slick.

With that said, I couldn't help make my life a little easier by writing a wrapper shell script around the s3-* family of commands. The idea is that rather than specify the credentials on every command line use, my wrapper script could take care of that. Here's my wrapper:

#!/bin/bash

##
## A custom wrapper around s3-bash to make calling it easier
##

bash_home=/path/to/the/s3-bash/commands
secret=$bash_home/amz.secret
key=`cat $bash_home/amz.key`
headers=$bash_home/amz.headers
what=$1 ; shift

$bash_home/s3-$what -k $key -s $secret  -a $headers "$@"

I invoke this script by saying:

  s3 get -T foo /bucket.name/file/path/bar.txt

Notice how the script provides the -k and -s option, which are used for authentication. It also provides a -a argument, which provides Amazon specif headers. In my case, this file contains:

  x-amz-acl: public-read

This forces all files that I upload to be readable by the public.

With my s3 command in place, I was able to push a whole tree of files by running the command:

 find * -name '*.xlv' | while read f ; do echo $f ; s3 put -T $f /bucket.client.com/$f ; done

Gosh I love Linux! Add s3-bash to your toolkit today, you'll be glad you did.

Review: Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera

2011-11-15T11:46:00.001-05:00

Now that I'm back to hauling around an SLR, I thought it would make sense to do some refresher reading on the topic of photography. In a number of places, I saw Understanding Exposure, by Bryan Peterson recommended and fortunately enough, our library had a copy. I was sold.

Reading through the book, I was struck by two seemingly opposite sensations: (1) man, this is just basic photography stuff and (2) this stuff is really, really powerful.

Even though the text covers digital photography, the core concepts are the same as when Mr. Tschorke was teaching them to me in high school: shutter speed controls how sharp or blurry a photo will be; aperture controls the depth of field; and ISO controls how sensitive the film is. Fiddle with these, and the same scene can have dramatically different results. I knew this before the book, and I've been since reminded of it after. But, being taken through these core concepts again, really did bring them to the forefront of my mind and remind me just how powerful they can be.

The book also includes a number of suggestions on how to meter various types of scenes. In this digital age it seems like these tips wouldn't be necessary any longer - just shoot the photo, examine it on the LCD screen, and adjust. But, I was awfully proud of myself when I added +1 stops of exposure to some photos I took at the ice rink. Instead of gray ice, I got white, just like the book suggested.

The fundamentals are powerful. If you're shooting photos and haven't brushed up on the basics in a while, it's worth taking the time to get reacquainted with the founding principles of photography.

Fall In (and Around) Arlington

2011-11-14T13:52:00.001-05:00

The last week or so has been a happy confluence of events: first, the weather has been fantastic. We've had a ton of crisp, perfect falls. Second of all, I'm absolutely loving my new Canon EOS T3i. Any reservations I had about a DSLR have melted away - this thing makes photography so much fun. Finally, Shira's bike riding skills have been building seemingly exponentially. We've done a couple of 10+ mile rides, and just yesterday, we rode into 8 miles into Old Town Alexandria.

All this means that I've been outdoors, surrounded by the most beautiful scenery. I've snapped quite a number of photos, though none have seemed to capture quite how gorgeous fall can be in DC. Still, I keep trying. Here's the best of what I've taken so far.

Ice and Ice Cream - A Fun Day With Kids

2011-11-11T16:36:00.001-05:00

What a fun day! We did ice skating with one kid, lunch and the most delicious dessert with another (oh yeah, the parents were there too, but who cares about them?). For our little figure skater, it was his first time ever on ice and he did amazingly well. Not only did he hold on tight as we made our way around the rink, but he was even able to go solo from his Mom to Shira (while I was snapping photos, of course). We did the ice skating at Pentagon Row, where for years we've seen people skating but finally tried it ourselves. Friday at 10am turns out to be a most excellent time to get on the ice, as we had the place to ourselves.

As for baby Aurora, she was so interactive today. She decided that my yapping away and constant hand gestures when I talked were especially delightful (which is a good thing, because that's just me). With her, we discovered The Dairy Godmother, a fun dessert spot. The pumpkin ice cream and pumpkin whoopie pie were both delicious.

I shot about 370 photos today, but thanks to Shira, they've been paired down to just a lean 16. Here you go:

(visit the full album)

Music Source of the Day: SoundCloud.com

2011-11-10T01:15:00.002-05:00

Looks like I'm going to get to continue my music related blog posting. Somehow I managed to trip over SoundCloud.com, and I'm quite impressed.

I managed to follow a link on the site to the tag tech house, clicked on the first song, and sat back while it continuously played "hot" songs from that category. As one song finishes, the next automatically starts up - it even takes me to the next page in the search results.

What I find most impressive is the quality and diversity of House music I've managed to listen to. No annoying commercials or other cruft to get in the way, just a seemingly endless supply of tunes.

For the songs that I found myself especially rock'n out to, I flagged as a favorite. Here, check them out.

SoundCloud.com is more than just a place to find content, they also offer extensive publishing/hosting facilities. Alas, I don't really much (anything?) to publish there. Though, I've downloaded the Android app just in case I do find some sound worth capturing and sharing.

Review: E-Z Deck Wash

2011-11-09T22:15:00.000-05:00

About a week ago I was given an assignment: clean off the gunk on the railing of our front porch. My first attempt involved soap, water and a sponge. Turns out, whatever was on the railing, it was not at all bothered by this assault. So, off I went to my favorite hardware store to find a solution.

I came home with a bottle of E-Z Deck Wash, which promised dramatic results with just a simple application, waiting 10 minutes, and washing it off.

How'd it do? Well, here's the before picture:

And here's the after:

Not too shabby for 5 minutes of applying, 10 minutes of waiting, and 3 minutes of washing off.

In general, the porch looks a whole lot better. I can see some streaking where some parts of the deck got more chemistry than others, but overall, it's a huge improvement.

A few other notes: (1) our porch is made of composite material which Deck Wash claims to be compatible with. I've now tested it, and it apparently is. (2) It's nasty stuff, so I'm glad I took the time to wear nitrile gloves and crummy old clothes.

Is this the perfect solution to cleaning a deck? Not sure. But, it did the job quickly and painlessly. So, until someone suggests otherwise, I'm sold!

RTTTL - The Simplest (and Most Hackable) Sound Format Ever.

2011-11-08T14:50:00.000-05:00

As long as I'm on a sound kick I'll share one more discovery I recently made: RTTTL, or RingTone Text Transfer Language. This is a trivial ascii format for describing ring tones:

RTTTL (RingTone Text Transfer Language) is the primary format used to distribute ringtones for Nokia phones. An RTTTL file is a text file, containing the ringtone name, a control section and a section containing a comma separated sequence of ring tone commands. White space must be ignored by any reader application.

Example:
Simpsons:d=4,o=5,b=160:32p,c.6,e6,f#6,8a6,g.6,e6,c6,8a,8f#,8f#,8f#,2g

I copied the above string of gibberish into an .rtttl file on my Android phone, and sure enough, out poured the Simpson's theme song.

With about 10 BNF rules, it's drop dead simple. It seems like it would be a terrifically simple format to generate music problematically, allowing anyone to fool around with programming based music composition.

Of course, producing something enjoyable to listen to is a little tricky, but hey, if you can make 8 bit music sound good, then this shouldn't be that hard, right?

Agreeing with Bill Kristol - Unusual, but True

2011-11-08T14:28:00.001-05:00

I don't often agree with Bill Kristol, but I think his assessment of Herman Cain is right on. For example, I too found the "boldness" and outsiderness of Cain's 9-9-9 plan to be appealing. I'm now convinced it doesn't stand up to scrutiny, but I like that he put it forward.

Here, watch all of Kristol's remarks:

Dev Site of the Day: soundjay.com

2011-11-08T14:19:00.001-05:00

I'm working on an app that needed just the right sound effect for one of the pages. I whipped up a quick flex app to play the sound easily enough, but got stuck trying to figure out a source for sound effects. Any search that included the word mp3 seemed to return back junk/dead links.

Luckily I stumbled on soundjay.com. It works just like you'd expect it would. Pick a topic, (say, clock sounds), hit the play button to listen to the effect, and if you like it, download it.

I'm using this sound for development purposes, so I didn't investigate the license too thoroughly. Though their request of not selling or posting the audio file was easy enough to comply with.

If you need a sound effect, soundjay seems like the right place to start.

Review: Science Fair Season: welve Kids, a Robot Named Scorch and What It Takes to Win

2011-11-07T14:12:00.002-05:00

What's better than an uplifting story about a kid who overcomes all odds? 12 different stories about such kids! And that's what Science Fair Season: Twelve Kids, a Robot Named Scorch ... and What It Takes to Win is all about. The book profiles 12 kids, 6 of whom are competing in the 2009 ISEF (the Superbowl of science fairs, if you will). I found each story to be riveting.—I'd pick up the book and couldn't put it down until I was done with the chapter. I never thought a book about science fairs would quite pull me in, but oh was I wrong.

Besides excellent storytelling, what makes the book truly remarkable is the diversity of the kids. Some are whiz kids from babyhood, while others fall into science unexpectedly. Some have parents that support them, while others come from painfully broken homes. Some manage to find their way to the very best schools, while one is home schooled. Some are of average income, and some are exceedingly poor. Some seem destined to win geek style contents, while others don't fit the profile at all. And yet, all the stories are amazing.

The odds that these kids overcome are just remarkable. You can't help but want to cheer them on. If you're a parent, or work with kids, or just have a soul, you need to pick this book up and read it. What an excellent reminder that people can achieve amazing things, even under the most trying circumstances.

In the end, much like Geeks, this book is really an excellent plug for getting involved in mentoring. Read it, and see how you can get involved.

Racing for a Good Cause

2011-11-06T17:59:00.000-05:00

What an adventure today! Shira and I completed the National Race to End Women's Cancer today. It was Shira's first ever race, and my 3rd. The course was through Downtown DC, past the Capital Building, a number of Smithsonian's - it couldn't have been more picturesque. We ran with our friends Aaron and Katy, who completed the course a good 20 minutes faster than us. What a great time, helping out a great cause.

Yes, I was proud of myself for snapping a photo of Shira crossing her first ever finish line!

Caption Me

2011-11-04T16:01:00.001-04:00

Fun Photo Friday

2011-11-04T13:42:00.000-04:00

A smattering of photos/collection of photos that are worth killing some time on a Friday:

Oustanding photos taken with a camera phone - seriously, these are amazing. Keep repeating to yourself, it's not about the camera, it's not about the camera.
Shooting Challenge: Cellphone Gallyer - while not quite as impressive as the set of photos above, still worth checking out.
Read and laugh:
OK, I'm reaching a bit here - this one isn't a photograph. It's a cartoon - but it's both funny, and scarily spot on:
Who knew 2 grains of salt would photograph so well? Check out that photo and other extereme macro shots.

Enjoy!

Radio Station Of The Day: Club Glow

2011-11-03T21:16:00.001-04:00

I like me some electronic and house music. When listening to it, I often imagine throngs of people rocking out in some European country. It was then, with a little bit of surprise, that I discovered there's a bit of a electronic music scene here in DC. I give you: Club Glow.

Throughout today I've been making my way through their various audio clips. Here, give it a listen.

I'm telling you, house is flow friendly music. Put it on, start coding, and the hours just fly by.

Also worth checking out is the staff picks from the folks who power the Club Glow blog. It's an easy to see the variety of stuff that's out there.

The oddest part about this music is that it's taking place just down the street from me. It's tempting to hit a Thursday night show. Think anyone would mind if I brought along a laptop to kick back and program to the music?

One last tip: You can drop the following URL into Google Listen to have all this audio slurped down into your Android phone: http://clubglow.podomatic.com/rss2.xml.

$5 to a More Scary Holloween

2011-11-02T13:12:00.002-04:00

As long as I'm on the topic of easy ways to scare the kiddies during Halloween, it's worth mentioning this link I just found: DYI $5 Fog Machine.

Following a simple recipe, you can produce smoke - perfect for setting that spooky mood. Here's how:

(watch the video)

My New Old Bike

2011-11-02T13:08:00.002-04:00

Now that Shira's learning to ride a bike, and I've enjoyed getting out on two wheels, I was official overdue to take action with my old bike from high school. I dutifully moved it here, stored it in the shed, and left it. That was about 12 years ago. It was time to face facts: either the bike was toast and needed to be left at the curb, or I needed to resurrect it and put it to good use.

With some trepidation, and a hint of embarrassment, I schlped the bike to the bike shop down the street: Papillon Cycles. There I sheepishly asked if this heap of items (two detached and flat tires, and the frame itself) could be saved. I was prepared for snickering at the very least. I got none of that. The kid behind the counter inspected it, and what I saw as a mess, he as a perfectly serviceable bike. He started rattling off new parts it would need (break shoes, cables, etc.). I just nodded as knowingly as I could.

I left the bike with them for about two weeks, and yesterday went to pick it up. There I was greeted with a bike in perfect working condition. Yes, there's definitely signs of wear and tear, and a fair amount of surface rust. But, I drove it out of the store and it worked quite well - the breaking and shifting were spot on. The amazing thing: the whole cleanup job cost me about $130 - not much more than what I'd expect to pay for a yearly tuneup.

When considering my bike options, one piece of advice I kept reading was that the most important thing was to find a reputable bike shop. And I believe I've found just that with Papillion Cycles. They could have charged me an arm and a leg. They could have sold me on the latest technology. They could have laughed me out of the store for even considering riding a bike with rust on it. Instead, they did none of this. They saw a perfectly solid bike, that I should go and enjoy.

At some point, I'll no doubt want something fancier (and less rusty), and when I do, I'll no doubt start my shopping at Papillion.

Here's how the old girl cleaned up - not too shabby.

Now I've just got to take advantage of this clear whether while I can, and get out and ride!

15 Minutes to a more scary Halloween

2011-11-01T13:08:00.001-04:00

I came down stairs last night, and playing over a set of speakers was this wonderfully scary soundtrack. David had come up with the idea of placing the portable outdoor speakers my Mom gave me (excellent gift, Mom!) by the door. Shira suggested we find a clip on YouTube to play. David quickly found this one. It's perfect, right? The problem: the clip runs for 4 minutes and then ends.

That's where I could pitch in and help. I installed the Download YouTube Video firefox plugin and grabbed the .mp4 file from YouTube. (Incidentally, the plugin works so well, it adds a button to the UI to download the files that took me some time to notice. I wasn't expecting the plugin to blend into the UI so seamlessly.). I then double clicked on the .mp4 file and it opened up in QuickTime player. Under the View menu, I selected Loop and we were good to go.

David had a strobe light which we put in the front window of the house, and we finished the whole thing off by taping up an old Cabbage Patch doll (Shira announced: "Shoshanah! What did you do to Shoshanah?!" -- it was so cute.) in front of the window to give the strobe light something to highlight.

The whole affair took about 15 minutes to put together, but was scary enough that some of the kids refused to come all the way up the the steps to get candy. A number of the parents commented on the use of the Cabbage Patch doll. David even wondered if we had gone too scary.

Nahhh, one of the important lessons of Halloween is that what often looks scary, isn't.

How did you make your house scary for the occasion?