Uncategorized on John's Random Review

Random Review: Surface Pro 2

Mon, 24 Feb 2014 00:05:47 +0000

I’ve had a Surface since they originally came out. I bought a day one Surface RT of my own, and used it all the time. I really liked the idea of the surface pro, but since it had like half the battery life of the RT, at like twice the expense. But when the surface pro 2 was announced, it was with a much more efficient Intel i5 “Haswell” processor with much better battery life. And much more available memory. And a much bigger drive. So I pre-ordered the Surface Pro 2 with 8g of ram and the 256g drive. After using it for several months now, as a tablet, a laptop (and now as my entire desktop replacement!), here’s my bullet item pros and cons random review.

Another new office!

Sun, 21 Jul 2013 18:03:16 +0000

This one is much bigger than the last. Unfortunately, it isn’t a single office. it would be pretty awesome if it was. But my team (and most of the rest of the team that makes Visual Studio) is now in “Team Rooms” in the newly remodeled Building 18. Team rooms are the new hotness, apparently. I think that every team in b18 (including managers, etc!) are all in team rooms.

A small wood finishing project.

Sat, 30 May 2009 08:28:49 +0000

Before i get to the wood part of the project, can you identify the object the wood goes with?

If you’ve never seen one stripped down, you might not recognize it. Here’s a better “pre” picture that will make everything clear.

OMG SO SCARY AK47 MACHINEGUN!!11!! No, its an AK variant, a Yugoslavian M70AB2 underfolder. Its semi-automatic, not a “machine-gun”, so don’t get your panties in a bunch. It’s less powerful than most hunting rifles. Yes, it accepts 30+ round magazines, but so does almost any semi-auto gun these days. Why do i have one? Because (1) i like guns, and (2) the bill of rights says i can, so there! And this way when zombies attack or red dawn goes down, i’ll be ready…Everyone should have at least one AK!

Truth, lies, and gun statistics

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:16:17 +0000

I posted most of this as a comment on the blog of Michael Yon, a former special forces operator turned war journalist, in a response to his post: http://www.michaelyon-online.com/tons-of-arms-flowing-to-mexico.htm. I really respect Michael, and read all of his disptaches and own all of his books, including a signed copy of Moment of Truth in Iraq.

Michael’s post is really just a link to a government document full of statistics about “tons” of guns going to Mexico. All of the block quotes here are quotes from the government document.

What Combat Weaponry Are You?

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 04:05:46 +0000

What Combat Weaponry Are You?

M-134 “Mini-Gun”

A true brute, you have a “presence” every where you go. You can take on any opponent with little effort, your dependable and your reputation does the talking.

Click Here to Take This Quiz

Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

YES!

The Xbox360 repair process got WORSE since last time...

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 23:24:14 +0000

So last night i tried to go to the xbox support website to get my 360 repaired. But the site was down for maintenance.

Today i went to the support website to get my 360 repaired. I get a useless page that tells me to fill in fields that don’t exist:

That’s awesome. So i have to call the 18004MYXBOX number and talk to the robot. Then i got a guy, and we went through the troubleshooting. Yes, 3 red lights, yes the upper right one is off, yes the power supply light is green. Tried it without the hard drive, tried it without a memory card, i’ve done this before, the console has been repaired before. If you leave it off for a few hours, it will start up and you may or may not get into the dashboard. I got in long enough to copy my profile to a memory card so that worst case i can play on jimbo’s xbox during xmas…

Random Review: Spike's Tactical AR .22LR rifle

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 08:29:34 +0000

With my stimulus check, i built a rifle! And since my xbox has RRoD’d again, i have some free time to write about it!

Assembly

It all starts as what they call a “stripped lower receiver”. This is the part that the government classifies as a “firearm”. Even though it barely resembles a gun (its just a milled piece of aluminum with some holes cut in it), it has a serial number, you have to buy it at a gun shop and fill out paperwork and everything.

Not again!!!!

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 06:35:53 +0000

Almost 2 years ago (Feb 3, 2007)

Today (Dec 6, 2008)

Ah, crap.... RRoD #2 on my 360. March would be 3 years and the end of the free replacement warranty... maybe i need to buy a new one? I could just get a new jasper/arcade one for xmas for myself...but that would be sad!

What really sucks is that the xbox 360 is the "hub" of our theater room entertainment center. Without the 360, there is no dvd player, no netflix instant queue, no music, no games...crap! If netflix was on tivo (coming in december?) we'd at least still have that available, but nope. And the web based "repair my console" registration is down for maintenance, so i can't even get a replacement box sent asap!

Dear Bad Company Squad Mates

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 05:22:47 +0000

An open letter to my computer controlled squad-mates in Battlefield: Bad Company. I wrote a very similar letter to my computer controlled squad mates in Call of Duty 4.

Much Worse Things...

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:47:22 +0000

I caught most of the “A Colbert Christmas” special last night on comedy central. The last part of the episode, a duet between Stephen Colbert and Elvis Costello was the best part of the whole show. An awesome little song, with a very memorable, very applicable holiday song. Here are the lyrics:

Random Review: Root canal

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:56:36 +0000

Sunday night, i awoke in the middle of the night with a splitting headache. Or, toothache, rather. I couldn’t tell which tooth, or even top or bottom, just that the left side of my face hurt. I took some advil, it went away, and I went back to sleep. Monday and Tuesday the toothache kindof came and went but there was no sensitivity to hot or cold or pressure, and i still couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Wednesday was more of the same until dinner time. During dinner, it got to the point that i couldn’t even chew on the left side, but at least i could tell which tooth it was. Wednesday night i barely slept. I probably got about 2 hours of total sleep in 5 minute chunks. Thursday morning i went to the dentist, they took xrays and said that i had an infection in that tooth, and that i’d need a root canal. I was given prescriptions for antibiotics and painkillers and had to come back the next day for the root canal, as they want the antibiotics in your system for at least 24 hours.

The Xbox 360 NXE is pretty cool!

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:14:33 +0000

You can’t really tell, but that is totally a camo hat! too bad i couldn’t figure out how to put it on backwards! I already signed up for a netflix trial membership and threw stuff into my instant queue and was watching superbad within 1 minute! sound was a little quiet, picture not super-awesome, but its still going to be so convenient, given that we can’t get on demand through the tivo.

Another (blue) Halloween, another win!

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 03:38:38 +0000

Last year it was blue man group, this year: SMURFS!

4 of us were smurf boys:

(Brainy, Papa, Grumpy, Handy smurf left to right, and a nice background photoshop job by jay)

Last year we used blue liquid latex, which was a nightmare to put on, but trivial to take off, because it all just came off as one big piece. This year was blue grease paint makeup, which was easy to put on, but took forever to get off. For the entire weekend Laura was finding more blue paint in my hair here and there.

Yes, Rosetta (aka Merck Seattle) is closing.

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 05:02:02 +0000

By December 31, 2009 (nine, not eight), the Seattle Merck “lab” is closing. But Rosetta Biosoftware isn’t technically the lab, so there are other plans in the work for Rosetta Biosoftware and GEL Operations. We don’t know all the details yet, so that kinda sucks, but i’m not too worried about it right now.

Its kinda sad: in a ~3500 word press release about Merck’s 3Q2008 earnings, its single a whopping sentence:

Easton!

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 04:45:06 +0000

I have been a little busy for the past oh, 10 weeks, so i haven’t gotten to post. But i’m always busy with something, so i figure i should just post some little posts more often.

So here’s a fun one!

Just over 10 weeks ago, Laura had our first child (of many, i’m sure. i’m not a basketball fan, so maybe a hockey team? baseball team is wishful thinking!), Easton John Gardner. If you’re following my flickr easton collection contents like our friends and family, you already know that!

This is what happens when i leave my desk at work.

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 23:11:11 +0000

Go away for 5 minutes, and look what happens. Delicious goods appear!

Random Review: Dr. Horrible is awesome!

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 07:06:45 +0000

Go watch it. The third part is supposed to go live tomorrow (the 19th) and the first two parts are awesome. I love Neil Patrick Harris, and this is pure genius on Joss Whedon’s part as well. NPH is our favorite part of How I Met Your Mother, and playing himself in the Harold & Kumar movies is fantastic. So go watch it already. It would be awesome if they could turn this into a series of some kind, even if it was web based or i had to download it through iTunes or my X360.

A cheesehead take on this Favre nonsense.

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 06:03:16 +0000

So yeah, we’re from Wisconsin. Laura’s from Green Bay. Most of her family still lives there. We joke that Laura and both of her sisters married into packer season tickets, and its even funnier that its true. We subscribe to DirecTV just to watch Packer games. I wear Packers or Brewers or Badgers stuff almost every day in one way or another (hats mostly!) We have a freakin shrine to Brett Favre in our kitchen. I’m not shxting you!

Our users aren't stupid. They just don't have time to be curious!

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 02:01:49 +0000

John Gruber at Daring Fireball:

Project: Closet Doors

Fri, 30 May 2008 06:20:14 +0000

Back when i wrote the post about building a pantry, i said that i thought i had used every tool i owned for that project…well… for this project, i used every major tool i own except one: my miter saw. I would have used the miter saw if it had a sharper/newer blade. And if i had a better place to use it than on the floor. And if I had a better one. For the closet doors project, I even bought some new tools that i didn’t have before!

Before:

After:

For more details and more pictures, follow the jump!

I'm 82% geek!

Fri, 09 May 2008 02:54:54 +0000

John	Laura
82% Geek	20% Geek

I think most of Laura’s 20% came from actually knowing the answer to the Firefly question: she remembered going to the movie! Attagirl!

Random Review: Howard Leight Impactâ„¢ Sport Earmuff

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:50:22 +0000

So i bought some fancy electronic ear protection from cabela’s to use at the range. I had searched some places and this “Impact” model fit my real requirements: has to muffle sounds, have to fit into the range bag. They also met my optional requirements: electronic ones that boost normal range sounds, so you can still hear people talking while you’re wearing them.

Howard Leight Impactâ„¢ Sport Earmuff @ Cabela’s

Dear CoD4 computer team-mates: shoot that guy 3 feet in front of you!

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 03:24:53 +0000

An open letter to my computer controlled squad-mates in Call of Duty 4.

thundersnail!

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:46:59 +0000

So in the last 3 days we’ve had 6" of snow, rain, then hail, then snow-hail (“snail”) and then it even thundered and lightninged while snailing! hence, my newly coined weather-phenomenon “thundersnail”:

Carbon Fiber Madness! (again!)

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 23:20:21 +0000

Put some more CF stuff on this week. One ebay, one MY.IS marketplace item.

License plate garnish from AAC (via a MY.IS member)

Before

After

And some mirror covers:

The CF + GGP color is perfect, at least to me. If you aren’t looking for the CF, you don’t even notice it!

For the rest of the pics, go to the carbon fiber madness # photoset at flickr.

Mass Effect was awesome!

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:19:46 +0000

For the first time in a long time (portal is a close second: portal better ending, mass effect better story), this game actually made me want to to watch cut scenes. It felt kindof like a movie, kindof like a “choose your own adventure”. Being able to choose the direction things were going was cool, while the game was “on rails”, at least there were some switches along the way to push the story in a direction. The voice acting was great, and included some big names, which was really cool. I saw probably 100 people in the “other voices” section alone. The little interactions between the crew when out moving around, or overhearing conversations as you walk through a bar was very immersive. The main story line was really good, with a few twists now and then to keep it interesting. A couple of the little details in the story really made it feel plausible. All of the main characters had backstories and somewhat interesting conversations. It would have been nice if the side missions that you do would affect the story more. I spent time doing some of them because i hoped they might.

2 Years Later: Marvel Precision .22LR 1911 Conversion Review

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:04:29 +0000

My mini-2 year review of my Marvel Precision .22LR 1911 conversion. This is a continuation of my adventures with it, continued from the original post, and my 1 year followup!

I’ve been keeping religious track of range time in a Numbers spreadsheet for about 9 months now, so I can give exact numbers and ammo used and everything. in the last 9 months i’ve fired:

Ammunition	Rounds
CCI Mini-mags	300
CCI Stingers	133
Total	433

Follow the jump for the rest of the details and some pics.

TripIt saved my butt!

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:58:15 +0000

I’d heard of TripIt from people at work, but hadn’t used it. We’re going to AZ for Spring Training, and i needed to be able to print out all the itineraries and confirmation numbers and all that, but can’t from work because gmail is blocked. So i was going to just forward all the emails to work, but instead decided to forward them to plans@TripIt.com instead and see how well it worked.

What kind of D&D Character would you be?

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 05:18:29 +0000

Even more fitting the week when Gary Gygax died. So sad! Although technically, this would be an AD&D character, as the original D&D didn’t have “classes”, it just had races, didn’t it? Anyway, here are my results:

You are a: Lawful Neutral Human Wizard (4th Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-12
Dexterity-15
Constitution-12
Intelligence-16
Wisdom-13
Charisma-12

Alignment:
Lawful Neutral A lawful neutral character acts as law, tradition, or a personal code directs him. Order and organization are paramount to him. He may believe in personal order and live by a code or standard, or he may believe in order for all and favor a strong, organized government. Lawful neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you are reliable and honorable without being a zealot. However, lawful neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it seeks to eliminate all freedom, choice, and diversity in society.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard’s strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

For more detailed nerdy stats, follow the jump.

Awwwwwwwwww maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:12:50 +0000

Brett Favre retires. A sad day in the NFL. The best reflection of my feelings is from Making Peace With Favre’s Final Days, from Jeff Bercovici@Deadspin:

OH! Please, let it be a boy!

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 19:53:23 +0000

If not the overlord, maybe he is batman?

Ultrasound

Batman/boy?

As gizmodo says:

Step one: Strap Mattel’s Wayne Tech Mega Cape on him from the day he can walk. The wings spring out with a single touch, instantly readying him to fly down a staircase and into the ER. $40, June. Health insurance sold separately.

I think my baby might be the overlord?

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 04:23:14 +0000

Ultrasound	Overlord

I’m not the only one that sees it, am I? And this is NOT photoshopped in anyway, the image is just resized and mirrored to match the box art. If you go to the flickr page you can see the original!

Ultrasounds are awesome, i have to say that much. I cannot believe how detailed information you can get by firing sound waves through someone!

There’s a whole bunch more ultrasound and pre-baby pics up in this flickr group, and the ultrasound video is up here on youtube.

i wanna play cod4!!!

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 19:55:13 +0000

So my brother got me Call of Duty 4 for Xbox360 for xmas. he also got me hooked on CoD4 during xmas. While home in WI, i downloaded my xbox live profile to his xbox so i could get my own ranks and stuff on live.

Now i’m home, and xbox live is all messed up, so i cannot recover my profile back to my own xbox. So i can’t use any of my saves on any games, i can’t play multiplayer anything, i cannot really do anything without starting over from scratch in any game, knowing that once i do get my profile back, i’d lose whatever progress i get offline. I understand that a lot of people might have gotten xboxen for christmas, but they should have had much worse during the halo3 launch.

The year in review!

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 07:02:10 +0000

I review the year’s best (imo!) TV shows, and Games! Follow the jump for the whole thing. Its a little long!

Another Halloween, another WIN!

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 04:42:55 +0000

Another halloween, another “best group” costume win. Our carpool went as the blue man group, and jeff (and jay) also built a “Drum-bone” that we played a little routine on. Somehow through all the pictures/etc at work, i don’t think anyone got a video of us!

Unlike the real blue men who use a blue paint that comes off, we used liquid latex. What a mess, and what a pain. It took us 3+ hours to do all of the prep with baldcaps, liquid latex, costumes, ick. Plus the time it took jeff to find parts and actually construct the drumbone. It turned out awesome, and we actually won 2 prizes at at work, “best group” and the “golden frankie” which is a little hard to explain :)

The whole world is against us?

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 02:00:05 +0000

Watching Packers on NFL Network on DirectTV. After the cowboys kick a fieldgoal, all of a sudden, 0 reception. “Searching for satellite signal…(771)”. thats it. game came back on for about 10 seconds, then gone again. Fox+Comcast has fcked us 2x this year, with DirecTV coming to the rescue. NFL Sunday ticket is the ONLY reason we even have directv… Today, its 950AM KJR Radio to the rescue. that is just sad. Yay directv.

FXCK FOX PART2

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 20:03:59 +0000

Again!? Fox just switched away from Vikings @ Packers in the 3rd quarter to go to the Redskins/Eagles game. The packers are 7-1, working on going to 8-1. Do you think they’ll switch away from the Colts this week? Hell no! Do they switch away from the Pats when they are up by 20? Hell no!

He only gets paid for 4 Quarters!

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:52:53 +0000

Sitting on the couch with my wife, fidgeting with a football as GB takes the field after the OT kickoff:

Just finished Portal. Awesome!

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 08:14:47 +0000

Just finished playing through portal. It was the most enjoyable ending and credit sequence i’ve ever seen in a game, and I’ve played a lot of games!

The antagonist computer chick was also one of the best characters in a game so far. Leave it to Valve to come up with a great story, and involving exactly zero human characters (although that might be “Blade Runner” style debatable!) Without giving any spoilers, i liked the style of the puzzles/challenges in the last half of the game a lot more than those at the beginning half, probably because of the things the computer was saying.

Packer Season Tickets?

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:03:39 +0000

From Rick Reilly’s column yesterday:

For instance, if you put your name on the [season ticket] waiting list today, you would be number 74,659. An average of 70 people give up their tickets every year, which means you’ll have your tickets by the 3074 season. Luckily you’ll still catch Brett Favre’s last year.

My dad and uncle inherited my grandpa’s 2 seats and each have the pair every other year. So someday, my brother and I will each have a half a seat! My wife’s sisters both married into season tickets too :). How Wisconsin is that?

Two for two!

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 04:02:02 +0000

So earlier i stated that the goal for this trip was to get back to WA with one win in the two games we went to this weekend in ‘sconsin. Well, we went 2 for 2 on that goal! The brewer game (aside from the frigging parking fiasco) was awesome too. We got to see (future NL MVP!) Prince Fielder hit home run #48 on the year (he hit #49 and #50 tonight!), we got to see (future NL Rookie of the year!) Ryan Braun hit a home run, got to see lots of run production, lots of offense, some great defense, and a sausage race! We also saw some of the funniest signs i’ve seen at a sporting event, with the clear winner being a couple rows behind us, with the “I (HEART) E-5” ryan braun sign! It was very handy when he had an error later, and a home run to avenge himself after that..

Fun at the airport...

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 04:35:09 +0000

Traveling to the midwest can be a pain sometimes. Being from the midwest, we know that, so we planned for it. We’d been checking the weather reports, and were worried because the minneapolis area was due for thunderstorms right around the time we were supposed to arrive, so we split our stuff across our bags and carried one on. That way, even if we got stuck in MSP we’d be able to drive to green bay in time to make the wedding we had to be at on saturday and have our dress clothes. Then while boarding, a flight attendant started coming back up the jetway telling us that there’s no room for bags unless they fit under the seat. And this isn’t planeside check she’s doing, this is full on checking of our bags, we’re not getting them back until our final destination. After all our planning, we were about to be undone at the last minute. But our flight is boarding on time, so we’re not too worried. once we all get seated, the captain comes on and says “Well, folks..”, and at this point i know it isn’t good news, “..it looks like they are having high winds in minneapolis, so we’re looking at right now an hour and a half delay. So we’re going to let everyone back off the plane.” Then the flight attendant starts announcing flights that people are going to miss their connections, “If you’re on flights to amsterdam, blah blah blah, bring all of your baggage, as we’ll be rerouting you. Everyone else, leave your stuff so you can board faster later”. So we all get off the plane.

As soon as we’re all out, they come back on: “Sorry everyone, we have a new departure time, so we need to reboard right now. Nobody will miss their connections, everyone back on!”… so we all reboard. And we push back from the gate, taxi to the runway, then move off to the side. I turn to laura and say “Uh oh, this isn’t good”, as i see other planes passing us and taking off. The captain comes back on “Well, looks like we’ve got a new delay, we’re gonna be here until 4:15.”. We were supposed to leave at 3:21, it was about 10 to 4 at this point already. At 4:15 he told us it would be another 15 minutes, and it was. We made up some time in the air, but still ended up landing about an hour late.

Got a sunburn at Lambeau!

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 04:07:45 +0000

For our “paper” anniversary this year, the wife and i bought each other tickets to sporting events. We had to be in WI this weekend for a wedding in Green Bay, so i bought the Packer tickets for today, Laura bought Brewer tickets for tomorrow. I told people at work that I’d be happy getting one win over the weekend. Well, check that off the list! It was a beautiful day in green bay, 80+ and sunny at noon for the game. Sunny all game, so I got a little sunburned on my arms and my neck. Was an awesome game, back and forth with a great finish. Nick Barnett FTW! Favre got career TDs 418, 419, and 420, tying Marino’s all time record. After Barnett returned the INT to inside the 1 and the win seemed imminent, half of the crowd was chanting “Pass! Pass!” so favre could get #421. The Lambeau crowd can have a short memory, apparently, as no more than 5 minutes earlier the packers were right there trailing by 4 points on 4th and goal at the 1 and and incomplete pass ended a promising drive with 0 points.

FXCK FOX!

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 20:14:10 +0000

You have to be kidding me! Fox just switched from the packer game, tied with 59 seconds left, to play 2 minutes of ADS and go to the beginning of the seahawks game! THIS IS COMPLETE BS. There’s no way they tell direct tv in time to have the dish pick it up!

GRAW2 Review

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 04:19:27 +0000

When i reviewed Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter back in March of last year, i said this:

The AI enemies seem to be a bit smarter than the AI friendlies though. it seems that the enemies will hide behind cover and fire, but if the friendlies are told to attack a target, they’ll move from behind their cover into the open instead of shooting over/around their cover. Some sections i need to just have them hold somewhere while i pick people off one by one. My biggest peeve is that if a teammate is incapacitated right next to them, they just stand there like a dufus and watch him die. Sure, you can tell him to give first aid and he’ll do it, but come on, you saw your buddy get shot! Hide and fix him already!

What do i have to say about GRAW2? Follow the jump!

What i did on my Labor Day Vacation...

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 03:47:41 +0000

A follow-up on the previous post, where Dad, Jimbo and I built a new deck. After a couple days of rain and some crap falling out of the trees, we realized that the spacing of the deck boards was a little too close. In some places the gap had basicly closed and the boards were touching. But the bigger problem is the crap that falls out of our cedar trees and firs. it was already getting stuck in the cracks, and basicly becomes impossible to get out. So this weeend, Laura and i redid all the decking. well, not all, because the first board stayed where it was, and one board about 2/3 way we didn’t move at all.

How I spent my wife's summer vacation...

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 03:35:23 +0000

Recently, Laura took a couple weeks of the summer to travel to Australia with her mom, because her dad had to be there for work. While she was in Australia, my dad and brother came out to WA to help me build a deck. Or, more precisely, my brother came out, and we helped my dad build a deck for me. :D

Before

After!

For more pics and stories, follow the link!

Edward Tufte ROCKS.

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 18:36:35 +0000

This week i had the opportunity to go to Edward Tufte’s PRESENTING DATA AND INFORMATION seminar here in Seattle. It was fricking awesome (i believe that “fricking” is the correct technical term!) I’ve been getting the advertisement in the mail at work for years, but never had the time to go. I’m always on the lookout for things to go to for work to cover my employee development plan, and this was a great one. Not only do you get a day of class, you end up with all 4 of Tufte’s books, which i’ll add to my “Now Reading” list as soon as i find some time. I have 2 other books I’m actively reading as well (and coincidentally, they both have “Danger” in their titles!)

A little bit more after the jump…

Hey Ma! I'm on TV! Ma! Ma! Moooom! Moooooom!

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 03:44:41 +0000

We (Me, Laura, Laura’s niece Alshley, Laura’s Mom Mary) went to the Seattle Storm game yesterday at Key Arena. We sat in the 5th row. pretty awesome seats. The storm kicked serious ass. Then i saw us on the 11pm news when they were covering the game. I’m in white, laura’s in white next to me, behind a guy in white :)

Click the pic to go to the flickr page, there are a couple other pics in that set.

My first REAL constructioning!

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 03:49:13 +0000

Construction? This weekend i did my first real carpentry project ever. I built shelves and drawers for our kitchen pantry. If i wasn’t a huge fan of the New Yankee Workshop i don’t think i would have even known where to start! I never took a shop class in high school, but i did help my dad build some things back in junior high/high school (i tried to get out of that as often as possible though!) I wish i would have paid more attention then! I think i used almost every tool that i own this weekend!

DDE's round 3: "Bumble-bee" eyes!

Wed, 30 May 2007 06:51:46 +0000

Over the last few weekends, i upgraded my DDE’s from old school light boxes to new CCFL halos from AACStyle.com. Follow the jump for the whole story and a whole bunch more pics!

Seattle Pimp Po-Po!

Wed, 02 May 2007 05:52:09 +0000

Outside the M’s game friday night there was a pimped out charger cop car. Lots of nice stuff, including red and blue alternating underbody LED’s (i don’t think they were neons, nowadays).

Here’s a youtube video we took too.

Who knew that the seattle police department had stuff like this?

Bobble-shelf

Wed, 02 May 2007 05:40:01 +0000

I built my first thing over the last couple weekends. I use the term “built” very loosely, as in this case, “building” meant routing one edge of a piece of oak, painting it, and screwing some brackets into the wall. :)

I was originally going to make the brackets, in fact i used the jig saw to make one, but then couldn’t find any keyhole anchor things that were the right size, and while looking for those at home depot, i found metal brackets that match the brushed aluminum style of other stuff in the office.

A dichotomy of purchases!

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 04:44:32 +0000

This weekend, I purchased 2 items which are almost the complete opposite of each other. While they are very different items, they have some interesting similarities! Both are going to be a lot of fun, in their own little way!

	Item #1	Item #2
It is:	Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360	A General International Table Saw!
It looks like

For a more detailed table of differences and similarities, follow the jump!

New wheels: 18" SSR GT7-H

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 18:07:51 +0000

Got my new wheels, some 18x8 SSR GT7-H, with light grey spokes and a chrome ring. Had em installed saturday. Follow the jump for some quick pics. I had just washed the car and it started raining, so the pics are some goofy angles from inside the garage.

Moving to wordpress...

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 05:16:37 +0000

I’m moving the whole site to wordpress as the old site is all hand coded and complicated to updated. So slowly but surely i’m moving all the posts, too. Stay tuned!

Sold the Axis Se7en's

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 17:57:27 +0000

Sold the Se7ens, i’m gonna buy some other wheels. The “gunmetal” on these wheels is just way too green for my taste.

1 Year Later: Marvel Precision .22LR 1911 Conversion Review

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 08:03:36 +0000

I’ve had my Marvel Precision conversion kit for more than a year, and my first review of it here was just over a year ago. So In a year, and probably close to 4,000 rounds through it, how has it held up?

10 rounds at 30 feet →

Hawaii Vacation!

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 06:05:54 +0000

Back from our trip to Waikiki, so i have a few pics up on flickr. More to come. All of the Hawaii pics are geotagged too, so you can see almost exactly where we took them.

The pic here is of Makapu’u lighthouse, on the east coast of Oahu.

Not my week for technology...

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 07:49:23 +0000

egads

So on Saturday my Xbox360 died a horrible death. Well, horrible for me anyway. It hasn’t apparently affected Laura very much.. :( Tonight, for the very first time during my long tenure of TiVo ownership, i got the “Green Screen of Death”. I’ve had 4 TiVo boxes in my lifetime, and 3 of them have died of various hardware failures. 1 dead tuner, 2 dead drives, and now the newest one (which is several years old) is apparently having issues. 2 of the dead ones, including my original series 1 TiVo, are now External HDD Enclosures in my office!

So maybe my signed XBOX360 isn't so great...

Sat, 03 Feb 2007 23:00:31 +0000

If you’ve read the, My XBOX360 is cooler than your XBOX360, then you know how about a year ago, i bought an XBOX 360 at a charity auction which was signed by Steve Ballmer.

I’ve had some “This disc cannot be read” errors, requiring a restart, but they only happend in 2 games (PGR3 and Oblivion), and after restarting, the system generally worked fine.

That all changed today when i was going to continue co-op Gears of War with a friend. The dreaded “Ring of Light” appeared….

My "Best Games of 2006" Post.

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 08:13:17 +0000

I played a TON of games this year, on the PC, DS, and XBOX360. Here are my top 5, and mini-reviews of them.

Follow the jump for the rest of the details!

iPhone? Not for me!

Thu, 18 Jan 2007 08:41:20 +0000

My Phone!

Am I going to get sued for this pic?

So yeah, the iPhone is pretty, but what’s the big deal. The only thing i like is the big button on the UI. My requirements are pretty specific:

usb (mini) connector. no stupid proprietary connectors.
sync with my pc (mostly for work appts, tasks)
keyboard (flip out, or slide out, i've had both)
camera (preferrably with video)
802.11x wireless
web+email
software!
Big screen (preferrably touch!)
Memory card of some kind

The iPhone meets most of those requirements. So why won’t i buy one? Read on for more!

Which super villain are you?

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 19:09:45 +0000

Your results: You are The Joker. I was soooo close to being Dr Doom!

Villain	Score
The Joker	84%
Dr. Doom	80%
Mr. Freeze	75%
Green Goblin	74%
Lex Luthor	72%
Magneto	65%
Apocalypse	62%
Venom	59%
Kingpin	55%
Riddler	54%
Juggernaut	54%
Catwoman	50%
Two-Face	46%
Dark Phoenix	44%
Mystique	42%
Poison Ivy	39%

The Clown Prince of Crime. You are a brilliant mastermind but are criminally insane. You love to joke around while accomplishing the task at hand.

My first upload to YouTube

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 00:46:29 +0000

A partial video of laura driving home last night in the hail. The original video goes on for another minute, just as much hail. Note: that isn’t snow on the ground. thats all hail! Its fun to watch the hail bounce off the hood, then off the windshield. ping ping!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PwYFX6dmgk

The full movie embedded after the jump.

NumaNuma vs. StarWarsKid

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 20:59:58 +0000

If you don’t even know what i’m talking about already, then you aren’t using the internet right. I saw the “new numa” video today on the gootube, and i just think it is interesting how 2 people made famous by stupid internet videos took totally different paths. Even more interesting is how both of the original videos pre-date youtube, and pretty pretty much started the viral video thing. I remember watching the star wars kid videos off of a 32M thumb drive someone brought to a party. People were almost as excited to see this new thumb drive thing as they were to see the video.

Star Wars Kid (Ghyslain Raza), recorded himself playing “lightsabers”, but didn’t keep the tape. someone else used video editing to rotoscope in a light saber. Kid is shamed almost to death, goes into depression, sues people.
Numa Numa dance (Gary Brolsma), made a video of himself lipsyncing a song. it was so popular that there are hundreds of copies of it out there, spawned its own site NewNuma.com

Follow the jump for youtube videos of what i’m talking about. if you don’t know, you’ve missed out!

X-mas travel PAIN.

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 08:02:05 +0000

What we learned this Christmas vacation about airline travel:

Never travel multiple airlines in a single trip (at least in the continental US where you can avoid it)
keep everything they give you. boarding passes, luggage info, etc. even if someone tells you that you don't need it anymore.
If someone from one Airline X tells you to "take this to a Airline Y counter", don't go anywhere. That person can call the other airline's counter/desk directly and do it over the phone.
The airline that caused you to be late / miss a flight is responsible for helping you. If your Airline X flight was late, causing you to miss a Airline Y flight, Airline Y can't do anything for you, they didn't do anything wrong (yet!).
Travel protection insurance during the winter for midwest travel is probably worth the $100 extra (or whatever it costs for your trip)

For more details about our xmas travel fiasco, follow the jump. Its a looooooong story.

Monday Night Football! (or Seattle+Snow+Traffic=NIGHTMARE)

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 03:01:03 +0000

It started out so well. A beautiful sunset on the ship canal bridge coming into Seattle. We were on our way to the Monday Night Football game between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks. Oh how decieving a pretty sunset can be! The game was awesome (even as a Packer fan!), but the ride home was….not so good. We were at the game for 4 hours, 5:30-9:30 pm. We were in the car for 3 hours and 36 minutes to get home. And its only 23 miles… For more pics and more story, follow the jump!

Pretty, Pretty Bad ASS

Sun, 02 Oct 2005 18:28:26 +0000

before

after

Review of my new 1911, a Springfield Armory PX9154L, or if you like long names, “Tactical Combat Black Stainless Steel Custom Loaded 1911-A1”.

PK Hunter architecture

Wed, 03 Aug 2005 05:58:21 +0000

Asheron’s Call is a MMORPG by Turbine Games. Originally released in 1999 and published by microsoft, in 2003, the franchise was bought entirely back by Turbine. A 3-rd party utility application, Decal, was created by players with some programming savvy, which allowed other programming end users to create plug-ins that integrate with the AC client. This allowed for the automation of tedious in game tasks, tracking of statistics, drawing of extra things on the screen, and any other number of things which Turbine would not, or could not add themselves. (for a list of the large number of plug-ins, see sites like Decal Dev or AC Heaven)

I have written 3 plug-ins for Asheron’s Call using decal; one which tracks monsters you kill and “trophy” items you recieve, and submits it to a website (Trophy Hunter), another which acts as a shopping cart when interacting with players who are running special “Trade Bot” plug-ins to act as vendors (Bargain Hunter), and one which tracks Player vs Player kills (PK Hunter). This article covers some design and implementation details that third plug-in, PKHunter.

Mac Plus database server!

Sun, 24 Apr 2005 07:20:59 +0000

My Mac Plus case mod is complete! Its the most powerful Mac Plus ever in existance! (Athlon64!)

4/24/05: updated with pics

Updates to BargainHunter

Sat, 02 Oct 2004 19:43:00 +0000

I’m back into playing AC (Asheron’s Call) again, so i need to go back through and update all of the plug-ins i’ve written! Since Trophy Hunter and PK Hunter are all working fine, but Bargain Hunter wasn’t working completely, so i had to update it first! BargainHunter 2.0.1.0 does all kinds of new things! Colors for imbues, more filtering options, keyword filtering, it works better than ever!

naviPod Remote Control

Tue, 24 Aug 2004 03:42:13 +0000

I recently purchased a naviPod remote for my iPod, because I use my iPod every day at work. Because of the layout of my office, there isn’t a convenient place to put the ipod and control it. I used the Apple supplied corded remote for a while, but then when I took my iPod somewhere else, I had to untangle even more cords. I love having a remote, but I do have some issues with the design of the remote…

Mac Plus case mod

Sun, 22 Aug 2004 22:11:41 +0000

Modding a mac classic case to hold this web server. I already have the LCD monitor in it, now i just needs to squeeze the rest in. Pics up soon, hopefully.

Hardwire setup (in progress)

Mon, 26 Apr 2004 00:05:37 +0000

The passport 8500 has a remote mount kit that has a power light, a warning light, and a mute button. My mod is to use a different set of lights for both power and warning, have them inside of a button that fits in the cigarette lighter spot. There is also a switch to turn of the detector completely. This is all still a work in progress and isn’t fully “implemented” yet. :) Follow the link for details of my scheme.

Updated neons...

Sun, 25 Apr 2004 00:03:51 +0000

I updated the neon page today after i did some rewiring and got some better pictures of what they look like for real.

I also took some pictures of the new hardwire setup for the radar detector, but i’m to tired to put those up right now.

Eyelids, taillight covers, A51 roof spoiler.

Sat, 17 Apr 2004 00:02:51 +0000

I haven’t updated the site with pics, but i put on CF eyelids and taillight covers, and finally mounted my area 51 roof spoiler after having it for like a year. I just needed a LOT of double stick tape :)

Ooops.

Tue, 16 Mar 2004 00:02:14 +0000

working on rigging up an engine start button to control the remote mount of the radar detector. Blew up one remote mount kit already :)

Strategist

Wed, 03 Mar 2004 22:02:16 +0000

I just registered the domain, so that might not be working yet, but i added a link to the strategist site to the bar on the left. Its amazing, i hadn’t worked on this app since 7/11/2001! All of the performance issues i had then INSTANTLY went away just through the miracle of time!

Dance Dance Revolution?

Tue, 24 Feb 2004 21:47:08 +0000

just got one of those solid metal heavy duty dance pads for DDR for my XBox. It works a LOT better than my plastic pad duct taped to a large piece of polystyrene. It doesn’t have start or select buttons though, so i can’t sort the songs without unplugging the controller…

Fig hood prop kit

Fri, 06 Feb 2004 00:14:43 +0000

I got the last of Fig’s pre-production prop kits off of IS300.net. He sold it to me with the caveat that it needed to be painted or it would rust. No biggie there, i have some GGP spray paint to make them match the rest of the car. Painted em up, installed it, looks great, works great! Follow the link for the pics, etc.

Updated DDE's

Sat, 17 Jan 2004 23:53:59 +0000

Did the standalone fog enable mod and changed the color of the DDE’s to yellow to match. It looks mean! Updated the DDE page with the details!

IS300.NET Seattle Meet - Hooters edition!

Tue, 25 Nov 2003 04:17:04 +0000

I believe the meet was for Kane’s birthday, so we went to Hooters in Lynnwood. Lotsa fun, some wings, some champagne! The manager even let the girls come out and take pics with the cars! Follow the jump for the pic of my car!

IS300.NET Seattle Meet Pics

Sat, 26 Jul 2003 23:42:57 +0000

For the JULY meet, we went down to Mt. Rainier. Gorgeous! I need to write more up and organize the pics, but follow the jump for the details.

Stillen body kit installed!

Mon, 23 Jun 2003 23:51:51 +0000

Finally got my body kit installed. I need to write more and organize the pics, but here’s the quick version: it looks great! and it barely clears my driveway! As usual, for more pics than you need, follow the link!

Carbon Fiber Madness!

Thu, 08 May 2003 00:23:56 +0000

I got a whole bunch of CF stuff lately (mostly through Lextasy.com) that i just HAD to put in! who doesn’t like carbon fiber? It does look really good on the GGP body color, thats fo-sho!

Follow the link for the pics and the crazy story of how a “fragile” sticker on a box virtually guarantees that the box will be destroyed during shipping!

IS300.NET Seattle April Meet Pics

Sun, 06 Apr 2003 00:17:23 +0000

Started with 7 of us at the Kirkland Marina, then raced on down to Alki where we met up with others, pushing our numbers up to 13. Then we went to Dick’s in the U District. But we didn’t get any food! Apparently we lost 2 people to a fender bender while leaving alki… :( Then we invaded a car show going on at Montlake Terrace High School, where the IS crew was a lot cooler than most of the cars there! Then we went to the Hooters over at Alderwood. By then there were only 6 of us left. I WISH i had the pictures from hooters! Yowza! :P Follow the link for the pics, etc.

Escort Passport 8500 hardwired.

Fri, 04 Apr 2003 23:41:52 +0000

Hardwired in the Radar Detector. The cord was JUST barely long enough! No pics yet.

TeCK Ground Kit

Sun, 16 Mar 2003 23:27:49 +0000

Another seemingly simple mod. Giant ASS cables that more properly ground some of the stock ground points. People with autos have seen lots of improvement in their automatic’s shifting, but since i have a stick, i don’t see much. It turns over a little quicker, and it looks cool! :) I hesitate to call this a performance mod, but it was my closest tag. i should really put performance in quote marks in the tag list :D

Pics and install notes after the break.

More PLP Stuff...

Wed, 12 Mar 2003 23:25:31 +0000

I got in on a Group buy of Prolex Performance stuff from the crew down at Carson Toyota in Carson, CA. I ended up getting 3 of the 4 products they were doing the GB for:

Vented Radiator Panel
Heat Shield
Passenger Panel

For pics and details, click away!

TEIN Coilovers and EDFC installed!

Wed, 05 Mar 2003 23:22:33 +0000

Took the car over to Auto Styles & Alignments and had them install my coilovers and the EDFC system, and do an alignment. The car is lowered about an inch and a half and it looks so much better!

And the EDFC system kicks ass! being able to tweak the dampening force while driving rocks out. It makes having adjustable coilovers make so much more sense! Now if the EDFC box only lit up ORANGE to match the rest of the dash…for pics and details follow the jump.

DDE Install

Mon, 24 Feb 2003 02:23:38 +0000

Finally Installed the Daylight Demon Eyes. Lots of pics, instructions after the jump!

Neon!

Fri, 31 Jan 2003 07:09:18 +0000

I got some orange neon accent lights (for the interior, not underbody!). They are mounted in the door storage areas, and they work perfect. Some more orange interior light, but when off, they are invisible. When on, they are dim and hidden enough that they aren’t annoying. Lots of pics and details after the jump.

PLP Intake install

Wed, 15 Jan 2003 07:04:18 +0000

I finally got and installed the PLP intake that my little brother bought me for xmas. Hey, i bought him a big spoiler for his WRX, he bought me an intake. :D

Follow the jump for install details and pics.

19"Axis Se7en wheels.

Fri, 20 Dec 2002 06:59:44 +0000

Got some used 19" Axis Se7en’s. They are gunmetal, with chrome caps. I’m thinking about getting the wheels repainted GGP to match the car. follow the jump for some initial pics.

GReddy Evo install

Sat, 23 Nov 2002 06:51:04 +0000

Because the actual install was so trivial, there aren’t any real instructions for it here, or pictures of anything you need to do. There are only 2 bolts at the front, 2 at the back, and 4 rubber hangers to unhook. then reverse the process to put the new exhaust on. pretty easy!

Momo boot, knob

Sat, 23 Nov 2002 06:43:21 +0000

This one was kindof tricky, actually. The momo boot actually screws onto the bottom of the knob. But the boot can’t turn, as it needs to be snapped into the console… And the knob can’t turn, because its basically screwed into the shifter…

K A B O O O M ! ! !

Mon, 14 Oct 2002 05:39:40 +0000

I got pegged by an escort today. I didn’t get a ticket at the scene, but the officer says i’ll probably get a “failure to yield” ticket. but i think it all depends on how long the escort’s skid marks are. he says he was going 25-30, i bet almost double that when he hit me. shrug

TRD Carbon Fiber Grill

Tue, 08 Oct 2002 05:32:51 +0000

Installed an authentic TRD carbon fiber “look” grill today. Details, pics after the jump

JDM Parts

Tue, 08 Oct 2002 05:25:13 +0000

Since all of these installs were so easy, its just going to be before/after pics!

PLP Short Shifter install

Mon, 23 Sep 2002 05:04:52 +0000

The newest mod to Hazy is the Pro Lex Performance “Second Generation” short shifter (PLP G2 is what everyone calls it). Wasn’t too complex of an install, pretty straightforward. It came with all the instructions you need, and you don’t need any special or unusual tools. Follow the jump for pics, details.

Painted Calipers!

Mon, 23 Sep 2002 03:25:27 +0000

So i decided to paint the calipers on hazy “porsche” red. I can’t afford a porsche, but i CAN afford to paint the calipers like porsche started doing a couple years ago.

Follow the jump to see all the progress and pics!

Sidemarkers

Thu, 19 Sep 2002 05:38:30 +0000

The first mod is done: installed clear sidemarkers.

And we begin!

Mon, 26 Aug 2002 05:35:10 +0000

bought the car! got lucky that the exact options i wanted were on a car that someone else just cancelled their order for. :D

The Universe in a Nut Shell

Tue, 27 Mar 2001 04:01:30 +0000

Dr Stephen W. Hawking

March 26, 2001

Seattle Opera House

Before the Show

Memory stick walkman!

Wed, 07 Jun 2000 03:45:26 +0000

What’s new? Not a whole hell of a lot! I got a Memory Stick walkman, and i’m playing with that a lot (its pretty cool!) but other than that, no news is good news!

This post recovered from my really old blog on the internet archive @ http://web.archive.org

IPO!

Sat, 18 Mar 2000 03:44:33 +0000

For those of you that check this page, here’s some more good news: Rosetta Inpharmatics is going Public! Thats right! We filed our S-1 on friday (3/17)! Check out FreeEdgar for the whole deal! It is a very exciting time to be in a hightech/biotech company!

This post recovered from my really old blog on the internet archive @ http://web.archive.org

Promoted!

Thu, 16 Mar 2000 03:43:31 +0000

On the other good news front, I also got promoted! I guess working 70+ hours a week will get you that! Crazy. I’m now a “Senior Developer”. Rock on. Check out Rosetta’s Website for all the goods!

This post recovered from my really old blog on the internet archive @ http://web.archive.org