Butch Howard

And how are you, Today?

2011-06-01T14:03:00.002-04:00

Geez, I might have some time and some inclination to post some again.

Today begins my last active month at my current employer. I have worked with basically the same group of fine folks for the past 12 years, other than for a few months between when I was out then brought back in.

This time, I think the layoff will stick. My entire team is being cut loose along with other fairly huge changes throughout the company as it tries to adjust to changes in the mobile device markets.

The exit program being offered is very generous and affords me the chance to take some time to consider what I want to do next.

Let's see where the path leads from here.

The Past Never Leaves You

2010-02-12T20:11:00.003-05:00

I am a lazy blogger. To make it easy on myself, I am digging up a post from my old blog before I started using Blogger here and WordPress elsewhere. These posts were hand written and I never moved them over to either of my current blogs.

I was reminded of this one by an email I received today. Here's the past coming up from behind...

Tuesday, September 23, 2003

He Still Uses ExSell!

I got a call at work today from one Ray Alexander who is, apparently, a
long time ExSell user. He still uses ExSell. Still. Uses. ExSell.

ExSell (a MSDOS-based product) ceased to be a product in 1993 when Sharkware came into existence and an import function was available to migrate ExSell data into Sharkware. At that point ExSell had not been updated in at least 3 years because I (the only developer for it) had been working on other things and on Sharkware. Sharkware ceased to be a product around 1999 or 2000 after CogniTech was purchased by MultiActive. I left CogniTech in 1998 leaving Jeff Browning, Bill (I am ashamed to admit that I do not recall his last name), and Philip Lingo as developers. Even then the product and company were on the path of rapid decline which had started about 2 years before and had accelerated the year before when George Welborn, the creator of the Sharkware concept and founder of CogniTech, was forced out by the board of directors.

It amazes me to find people still using ExSell. I have some sympathy for their plight. ExSell did what it did very well. It was fast in its day and blazes on newer machines. It is not likely to work in the newest machines because it has some hardware-level code to write to the screen which was necessary way back then for performance, but is likely to be forbidden in the current DOS-box in Windows. Anyone still using ExSell is likely to have a considerable data investment that is not likely to be easily extracted and converted into anything else. It once would have been possible to convert it to the Sharkware format and from there into other CRM formats. With Sharkware now defunct, that is not likely to be possible.

In the past six months this is the 3rd person to contact me about ExSell or Sharkware. One tracked me down though the ATA school by way of a Google search for Sharkware. One by email after I put my email address (in a jpg) on my resume (which the previous person pointed out was missing). And now Ray, who called me at work at Synchrologic apparently also by finding my resume (the only result from a Google for 'Excalibur Sources ExSell').

As much as I feel for these people and others who might also find me by way of searches that now might lead to this post, there is nothing I can do to help them. I do not have any of those programs in any form (source or executable). It is unlikely anyone would be willing to pay me what I would charge to write conversion programs for them (I would, but you are likely to faint at the cost).

The best I can suggest for them and anyone else coming this way on this topic is that they should investigate the current crop of Contact Management and CRM (Customer Relations Management) programs. I have not researched any of these and so have no opinions on which is better or even suited to a particular need. There are certainly magazine and websites that have reviews and comparisons that can help in choosing one. There are companies which have in the past imported Sharkware data into various CRM packages. A Google search will turn up those companies. There is not much that can be done for the Exsell users.

Good Luck to all of you. Please do not call me at work, do not track down my family, and do not bother any of the organizations I am involved with since they cannot help either. If you realy want to ask me something, my email address can be found somewhere on this web site.

iPhone or Droid

2009-11-13T15:42:00.001-05:00

iPhone or Droid:

Addictions

2009-09-24T08:39:00.003-04:00

My name is Butch and I am a Woot-a-Holic. There's a Woot-Off today. Dozens of offers instead of the usual one-a-day deals. They have a twitter feeds that keep you up-to-date on the items for the daily events and the woot-off-events. My addiction just won't let me NOT follow those feeds.

But I do have some techniques for fighting it. I always check the prices for the items that they are selling. I used to just do a Google search or go to Amazon to check the price there. That was usually good enough. The Google search would always turn up lots of links with information about the item along with some links about places selling it. Amazon usually has the the items or at least a partner store that is selling, but that is sometimes the only price for it.

Lately I have been using ShopWiki. This is a site focused on finding stores that sell items. It gives up prices and locations that have the goods in a clean format. If you are looking for jewelry and watches or the latest item from the woot off (Butterfly 8 Bottle Wine Rack), it will give a list of stores, prices, and recommendations. I used it yesterday to check the prices on an Eton FR1000 radio, and last month on butter keepers. Last week I used it to check the prices on Cuisinart Contour pots (not even a woot deal). Uh, Oh. This might be getting as bad as woot itself.

Going off on this research run gives me time to distract from the buying urge. That's usually enough to ease it off and save some money. If not then I have the research in hand and can tell whether I am getting a good deal or not. That can knock a few of the sales off the list. Either way, I am saving money by getting a good deal or not buying a deal that isn't good.

And I always (well almost always) get Mary's permission to buy something. If she says yes, or even just hesitates a little, then I click the I WANT THIS, button and it is bought. If she knocks me out of my chair and pulls the plug on the computer, then I guess that's something I wasn't meant to buy.

Why Privacy Is Hard to Do Right

2009-09-21T22:18:00.002-04:00

A security and privacy expert explains how "anonymized" data can still be used to discover the original source and how Netflix messed up once by accident but is about to mess up a second time with full knowledge.

Dear Netflix executives: Don't do this to your customers, and don't do this to your shareholders. Cancel the Netflix Prize 2, while you still have the chance.

Netflix's Impending (But Still Avoidable) Multi-Million Dollar Privacy Blunder

Estimate Distances

2009-09-03T18:15:00.003-04:00

Cool distance estimation trick from LifeHacker (and proof to the kids that math class pays off some times):

Estimate Distances with Your Arm and This Rule of Thumb [Macgyver Tips]
Quick anatomy lesson: the distance between your eyes is one-tenth the length of your arm. This is important, because it helps you estimate the distance between yourself and any object of reasonably known size to a rather accurate degree.

Far Out Futon

2009-08-28T19:25:00.000-04:00

In the Fall of 1990 Frank French of Far East Futon Company made a futon for Mary and me. A great big 8-inch thick, king size futon. He also made some pillows for the bed and some bolsters for our couch. Mary was pregnant with Caitlin at the time and we asked if he could make a mattress for a cradle. He, of course, did but he refused to charge us for that piece saying he would not make money from a baby. We brought that futon home in the hatchback of Mary's beloved Nissan Pulsar.

They were sweet folks at Far East Futon. I had no clue of the musical connections at the time. I was just keen on getting a big deep futon and happy to have found someplace like that. Now I have a bit of fanboi-ish glee knowing that it was made by someone who also has so many connections to music that I enjoy: Indigo Girls (a concert Mary and I will never forget), Drivin'N'Cryin, and others.

I have really liked that futon from the day we got it. It has been the best mattress I have ever slept on. It is the perfect firmness: very, very. Mary and I, with the kids joining in for quite a while and sometimes a cat before they were banished (sorry, allergies), have slept on it for 19 years. I still really, really like that futon. A lot.

Mary liked it mostly at first. She tolerates it now, but just barely. A few years ago I had to get a foam topper to appease her enough to keep it for a few more years. But really she has had enough of the futon. It is just too firm for her. It has been agreed that she gets to choose the mattress that we will have for the next 19 years. She promises to make a choice that will be as good as the one I made.

When we switch to something else we'll have to do something with this wonderful, beloved, comfortable (yes, dear, cutting it out now), massive futon. The first thought was to give it away to someone who could use it. That might still be what we do because that would be a good thing. But it would be gone then. I decided that I would really rather keep it, if I can. Caitlin also mentioned she wants a futon to sleep on for her room (that's my girl).

So, I want to have this big ol' futon broken down into two or four smaller ones. Unfortunately, the Far East Futon Company is not in business any longer. It would have been really cool continuity to have them remake it into the new ones, but, oh, well. If we can't find someplace nearby that will do it a reasonable cost, we will just have to do it ourselves. When I mentioned this, and Nelson chimed in on how that would be a good idea, Mary said for us to just have fun with that.

I'm not quite sure how we'll do it yet, but we will either end up with a big pile of raw cotton or a few smaller futons that will last, I would hope, for another 20 years. Yeah, that would be far out.

More Zombie Science

2009-08-27T20:29:00.002-04:00

From an actual scientific paper submitted to the Journal of Ethnopharmocalogy

For many years students of Haitian society have suggested that there is an ethnopharmacological basis for the notorious zombies, the living dead of peasant folklore. The recent surfacing of three zombies, one of whom may represent the first potentially verifiable case, has focused scientific attention on the reported zombi drug.

And don't miss the related articles:

Toxicologic aspects of voodoo in Haiti.
Tetrodotoxin and the zombi phenomenon.

Seriously, somebody approved grants to fund these things.

Hat Tip: NCBI ROFL

Insurance vs. Care

2009-08-27T19:43:00.002-04:00

From Russ Roberts at Cafe Hayek

It’s the wrong question because when you’re 65 the problem isn’t getting insurance. It’s paying for health care. But the public debate has become so obsessed with health care insurance we’ve forgotten what the real issues are.

Zombies!!

2009-08-26T22:59:00.005-04:00

Mathematical models demonstrate that most movie concepts of Zombie outbreaks are close to correct or even understated. Zombies and other Zombie-like things must be destroyed with utmost haste to limit the spread of infection if society is to survive.

In summary, a zombie outbreak is likely to lead to the collapse of civilization, unless it is dealt with quickly. While aggressive quarantine may contain the epidemic, or a cure may lead to coexistence of humans and zombies, the most effective way to contain the rise of the undead is to hit hard and hit often. As seen in the movies, it is imperative that zombies are dealt with quickly, or else we are all in a great deal of trouble.

And then the humor:

Clearly, this is an unlikely scenario if taken literally, but possible real-life applications may include allegiance to political parties,...

Oh, yes. Brain-eating, society-destroying political parties that rapidly infect hordes of followers must be dealt with quickly and completely.

And remember that you must shoot for the head.

Scott Adams - Funny and Informative

2009-08-26T18:05:00.005-04:00

Scott Adam's gets it almost right.

I read an interesting report in the media about a new technology breakthrough. Obviously you shouldn't believe the report, for two good reasons.

a. The story is about technology.

b. It's in the media.

He should have left point (A) off the list of reasons.

Then he gives some interesting information on some potential breakthroughs in battery technology. Just remember that hydrogen will likely be cleaner, cheaper, and less disruptive to the current distribution systems in both the medium and long run.

Lock, Stock, and Barrel - Forever

2009-08-23T16:57:00.004-04:00

I wonder how many really read the Official Rules closely enough to realize just what they are agreeing to when they play these silly games.

ALL PRIZEWINNERS: By accepting a prize, winners consent to the use of their names, addresses, voices, and statements relating to the Promotion or Sponsor or Promotion Entities, and photographs or other likenesses, without further compensation, notification or permission in any publicity or advertising carried out by Sponsor or any related entities in any and all media now known or hereinafter developed without territorial or time limitation, except where prohibited by law.

Emphasis Added.

If you play this game and accept a prize, any prize even the instant win in-store cookie or chips, you are granting Subway and any other business they decide to work with permission to use you in advertising for ever. And not just advertising of this particular promotion. If you look at the way the sentence is phrased, there is no limitation to just this promotion. It certainly includes this promotion in the list, but that is just one item in the list of all items to which the perpetual permissions are being granted.

I'm still going to play the silly game, of course. But at least I am fully informed. I know that the chances of winning even a small prize is fairly small, the likelihood of them wanting to use me in advertising should I win a small prize even smaller, and that I can make myself extremely unpalatable to the advertising in those cases even while making myself available and meeting the letter of the agreement. Should I happen to win the grand prize I probable will not mind them recouping the cost with some advertising. If I were someone with the least bit of a public persona, I would have to be very careful to not play to keep from getting entangled in such a legal trap.

I just know that only a tiny percent of the folks playing have looked at the rules and an even smaller percent of them have noticed this bit of excessive legalese.

Blow Up The TV: Improve the GDP!

2009-08-23T09:47:00.005-04:00

Reminded me of John Prine, even though the song does not match the story very closely, but still, it's a good song, and it's John Prine.

The end of “cash for clunkers”: "

Michael Giberson

News reports indicate that the federal government is winding up “Cash for Clunkers” early next week on the expectation that claims will exhaust the $3 billion committed to the program. Just noticed this comment by Robert Barro of two weeks back (HT to Paul Walker/Anti-Dismal):

The most ludicrous (though, fortunately, small) intervention thus far has to be the cash-for-clunkers program. It’s not surprising that subsidising people to destroy old cars would raise GDP, because measured GDP includes the replacement cars but not the value lost from destruction. Why not also blow up houses and factories and then enjoy the expansion of GDP from the replacement investment? (Actually, it’s best cosmetically to blow up refrigerators and other consumer durables because GDP does include rental income on houses and factories.)

Why No Google Voice for iPhone

2009-08-21T08:40:00.003-04:00

From Tom Smith:
Google voice machinations

Evil vs. evil.

My Google Voice phone number is: 678-807-9195.

Should Politicians Force Insurers to Ignore Pre-existing Conditions?

2009-08-20T20:18:00.002-04:00

Ari from FreeColorado.com

Should a life insurance company 'discriminate against' an 80 year old smoker with lung cancer by declining to offer the same policy available to healthy 20 year olds?
...
Should a car insurance company "discriminate against" a five-time convicted drunk driver by failing to offer the same policy available to safe drivers?
...
We need fewer political controls on health insurance, not more. We need more protection of individual rights in medicine, not more violations of our rights. If we value our health and our lives, we need liberty.

30YearBox

2009-08-19T23:47:00.001-04:00

These are a few of the photos I dug out of the 30YearBox I stumbled across in the basement. Except for the picture if the soon-to-be wife, these are all photos I took in the first year or so I had the camera given to me my by mother just before I graduated from high school. My father would have been part of that giving, and in a way was since they had made made the gift choice much earlier, but he was killed in March of that year.

RedBox Down!

2009-05-19T15:25:00.002-04:00

On the suggestion of my sister, and because I could get a free rental, I gave RedBox a try yesterday. The website is not bad, there is a box close by that I would pass regularly, so worth a try for at least the free shot. Got the movie, watched the movie, and today was going to return the movie while out and about.

Alas, the poor RedBox had fallen on hard times since I had been by yesterday. Seems someone had taken offense to something it had done and smashed its screen. Perhaps it did not have the movie they wanted. Or maybe they couldn't quite get the 'barcode must be to the rear' trick just right (given that they were of the type to smash a big red machine, you know). Anyway, I could not return the movie. The merchant at that location knew of the demise of the box, but was having nothing to do with the returns himself other than point out where he thought the next closest RedBox might be. No blame there, that's just the way the RedBox deal works even if it is a nuisance to me. My worst case is I am out a couple of dollars while I wait for them to replace the box at this location. The best case, as today, is that I drop off the disk at a different box along the way to doing other things. I went off to do other things and the return at the other location went smoothly.

The email notice that I had returned the disk beat me home, which I find very cool in a geeky sort of way: every RedBox is on the internet. Which also means that there should be someway for RedBox Central to KNOW that my local RedBox had suffered a vicious attack, or any other kind of system failure, and know it before a customer told the local merchant. Which might well be the case, I don't know. Certainly if I had built a system that was networked to do inventory and billing, I would also use its alerts for faults, failures, and security breaches. I will be checking on this box to see how long it takes them to replace or repair it.

Given the number of the RedBoxes in my area, the online inventory and reservation system, the not-too-bad rental and return process, and the one-buck-a-day rate, I can easily see RedBox being on the list of movie rental services we use in the future.

Let's Try Again?

2009-04-21T22:31:00.005-04:00

Success

I guess the girl scouts have to go back and find the right spot.

According to readings by the National Geodetic Survey, the Four Corners marker showing the intersection of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah is about 2.5 miles west of where it should be.

Update: Well, maybe not. Reading a bit deeper, it turns out both the original surveyors, the states, and congress knew the location was not exactly right and agreed on it because it was an easier spot to reach than the actual location. Deal signed by all makes it done. No need to to relocate, rebuild, or revisit.

Pork - The Good Kind

2009-03-02T15:21:00.003-05:00

The weekend before last Nelson and I ate at Pappy Red's, a truly wonderful barbeque joint in town. At some point the talk to turned to us trying our hand at cooking some meat. Ribs. Pulled Pork. Maybe a whole pig just like we'd seen on the Anthony Bourdain show. Mmmmm. Well....maybe.

Anyway, this weekend we took a shot a pulled pork. We tried two methods of cooking Boston Butts to see which was better, whether we could even tell the difference, and whether the difference was worth the bother.

The short form was a recipe from Food magazine. A very simple and tasty recipe cooked in a Dutch oven in the stove. We used our cast iron pot. It took a total of 5 hours prep, cooking, and pulling (shredding) time. The long form was an Alton Brown recipe (our current cooking crush). This used a 10-hour brine followed by a 10-hour slow cook in a smoker.

We planned on having pulled pork Saturday and Sunday as sort of a taste testing weekend. We invited Vicki and William along for the ride with no complaints heard.

I dragged Nelson out of bed Saturday morning to help with the shopping and off we went. We stopped by Publics to get most of the stuff and check out the meat. The plan was to see what pork they had and compare it to Ferguson's Meat Market. We ended up with a 4-pound butt from Public's and 18-pounds of Butt from Ferguson's. By far, the better deal was at the Meat Market, but the little 4-pound butt we snagged from Publics was on sale for just ten cents a pound more while a dollar a pound less than the others. Makes you wonder why it was on sale, but we cooked it that day so it wasn't going to matter much. Ferguson's is pretty amazing. In the 14 years we have lived in Cumming, knowing it was there, and with Mary shopping there sometimes, I have never been inside. I have a feeling I will be there often now.

We got the rub on the small butt with its cider-based baste and put it in the oven. While that cooked, we put the two big butts in a molasses flavored brine to soak for 10 hours. I made some sauce (Emeril) and put it in the fridge to mellow. The little pig came out of the oven and was shredded.

Then we did other stuff. Nothing to do with the kitchen and nothing went as planned so I am not going to talk about it other than to say we did not spend money, which is good for now.

Vicki, William, and the boys came over for dinner. It was good.

The big pigs came out of the brine about 9:00pm. The Alton Brown cummin-based rub went on thick and they went onto the grill about 10:00pm. We had to use the grill as our smoker because our smoker had not seen any use in a couple of years and was DOA when we tried to turn it on.

The grill worked fine after some fine tuning. It held the temperature at just a bit above 200 degrees all night long except for one exciting spell around 1:00 am when some of the drippings caught fire and spread flames over the big pig. That called for some adjustments in the grill. The foil covering the burners was replaced with some heavier and wider pans to keep the fat out of the flames.

Nelson and I set into a schedule with him checking the temp and flamage at the bottom of the hour and me checking at the top of the hour. I kept that up until about 5:00 and the decided that the meat would be good enough or someone would let me know that the porch was afire because I was sleeping for a few hours. Nelson kept checking every hour. At 9:00 I took the smaller of the butts off the grill to rest. The bigger needed a couple more hours. Nelson slept until about 11:00 because he was done, too.

Mary and the kids went to the movies in the afternoon. It snowed. I pulled the pork, and made some cornbread. Vicki, William, and the boys came over for the second round. Everyone ate. It was good.

The consensus was that they were both pretty good. The long form was the winner in taste, but no one would turn down the short form. The short form was the big winner in the taste per effort ratio, although the long form wouldn't be so bad if we planned it so we were not cooking overnight.

Now I have pork sandwiches for lunch for the whole week and I am not complaining one tiny bit.

Read This John Scalzi Book

2009-02-04T08:43:00.002-05:00

Just finished reading this from John Scalzi. It is basically a best-of from the past ten years of his online writings. You could go to his web site and read all ten years worth (I think it is all still there), but this is probably easier to get caught up and get a sense of what he is about. Plus it throws money at him so maybe he will write some more science fiction for us.

What He Said

2009-01-12T16:58:00.002-05:00

Ed Felton:

This story might help to illustrate why experienced engineers assume that any large software program will contain errors, and why they distrust anyone who claims otherwise. Getting a big program to run at all is an impressive feat of engineering. Making it error-free is too much to hope for. For the foreseeable future, software errors will be a fact of life.

Spook Country

2008-12-06T10:34:00.003-05:00

William Gibson tells a good tale.

I Killed Ficlets

2008-12-06T00:10:00.002-05:00

A couple of years ago John Scalzi announced the launch of Ficlets (which I am not linking to for reasons to be clear by the end of this paragraph). I toyed with the idea of writing some things there, but always chickened out. On 1Dec I finally posted one. On 2Dec, the Ficlets admin announced the site would be closing 15Jan2009.

Sorry, I really did not mean to bring down the site. This is the Ficlet that did it.

"It's wearing the brown coat. Standing next to the fountain."

"Right then," with as much Brit twang as I could put on it to try break the tension.

He cut his eyes back, but did not turn his head my way.

"You stay here with the tag." A tube that looks and works like an Epi-Pen nestled in my jacket pocket. "I'll circle around with the others. When I leave it will know you are here. It will sense you. Knows your brain implants. Plus yours are mostly down. We will cover the other routes out. When it gets close enough, tag it. Should choose escape over reprisal. Probably. Tag will lock it down. Maybe"

"Okay."

"Without the tag it could take another month to find it. More bodies. One shot. Don't miss"

"Right."

Unspoken: Screw this up and it's back to the white coats poking around in my skull to see the effects of being occupied by a rogue AI.

Lyle walked way. I took the tagger from my pocket. If he was wrong about the AI choosing escape, I might die. If I missed the tag, I was about to lose my mind again.

Long Drive Home

2008-12-01T14:33:00.000-05:00

After an hour and half of driving 25mph on 4-lane wide interstate between Macon and Atlanta we decided that we had to change the route. We got off, took a potty break, got some food and gave the GPS to Nelson. He tapped on it until the routing did not use any interstate highway. It took a few tries, but eventually the GPS-lady got the idea that we really and truly wanted to get away from those roads. Then we drove for two more hours, but at the speed limit, in the dark on curvy roads in the rain listening to CD of the teen vampire romance novel until we finally got home three hours later than planned. The usual five hour trip had turned into eight.

Then Mary got dressed and left for work.

PSA From the Cook

2008-11-26T08:28:00.003-05:00

If the the propane powered grill on your back deck has trouble starting when using the built-in automatic starter, be sure to SHUT OFF all of the burners and WAIT a few minutes before trying to light them with a lighter. If you light them right away the resulting fireball will engulf your head and burn off most of your eyebrows. You will be lucky to be able to get away without your entire head being aflame or your clothes catching fire.

VStrom Commute

2008-11-23T14:50:00.000-05:00

I rode the bike to work most of the days through the summer. The general rule was (and still is) that I ride the bike unless there is some reason not to ride the bike. Reasons not to ride are that I have to carry more than one passenger, the weather forbids, or I have cargo that will not fit into my bag. The weather has been the main reason in the past week or two. Mary insists that I will have to man-up unless there is ice on the ground between now and January when we get to the true local winter.

It's been mostly good so far. Certainly have used less fuel than the Jeep. 45 mpg is better than 15 mpg. 70 miles per hour feels faster than when riding fully enclosed. Crazies are still crazy, but they stand out even more when you are more exposed. Timing the commute to miss the 10mph traffic on GA400 is even more important now. I have missed out on a bunch of Talk Radio, but have not decided whether that is a positive or negative point (definite negative is missing the heads up on the traffic reports). Remembering that the gap in the trees at exit 14 acts like a funnel for the wind is important or I end up moved suddenly to the next lane over.

I traded the backpack I used to carry my load of stuff around for a Nelson-Rigg bag. It rides behind the Dan Vesel backrest on an tail rack extension from Dan (scroll to the bottom of that page). Dan made a larger model for me to handle the size bag I use to keep it off the turn signals. The main compartment of the bag has enough room for the second helmet which is handy. It is big enough and secure enough on the rack to carry my laptop when I have to bring that home for work. I use it mostly to carry a lunch and a book to read when I break for the day. I has plentiful little pockets to handle the small junk I carry around. So yes, it is a mostly great big purse that I strap to the back of my bike.

If the weather keeps to North Georgia norms, I should be able to ride at least a couple of sunny days a week in December now that I have the pants with the quilted liner. January and the first part of February will probably be the skip months. I will not try to ride on ice and have no plans to get wet in the cold weather.

Now I just need to the Jeep to last for a couple of years without major problems.

Reading This Week

2008-11-22T10:10:00.003-05:00

I am reading Justine Larbalestier's Magic novels. They are Young Adult fantasy (magic and all) so out of the usual hard science fiction group that I usually go for. But they are good stories well told and have been fun reads.

The Science Fiction Book Club has the trilogy combined in a hardcover edition. This is where I snagged my copy during one of the many sales events.

Scalzi Books

2008-10-29T12:43:00.002-04:00

Thanks to a heads up from his blog, I learned that John Scalzi's Agent to the Stars has been released in trade paperback edition. I am generally not big on collecting things, but I have found myself filling a shelf with the Scalzi works including a few signed editions (far out of my behavioral norm). So far, all of his writings have fit my criteria of A Good Story Well Told. I am glad to have them and recommend them to you.

I almost bought Agent from McMillan, but then checked at Amazon and saw that I could get it and Zoe's Tale for only $5 difference once the free shipping kicked in. That was more than I could resist.

So, Mary will scold me for buying more books while Mr. Scalzi is thanking me. And I have more on my stack to read.

4000 Miles and New Pants

2008-10-27T20:26:00.000-04:00

We took the motorcycle in for it 4K check up this weekend. While we where in the shop Mary bought me a new pair of pants. The weather has started to turn a little cool and the bike has been parked in the garage for eight out of the past ten days. I think she was worried that I was starting to cave on the deal we made when she let me get the bike. The deal was that getting the bike meant riding the bike. I have to average riding it at least half the days of the year to justify having it and not replacing the aging Jeep now instead of letting it limp along until it dies.

So now I have these nifty black pants with a removable quilted liner, a removable rain liner, removable outer covers that expose mesh panels for hot weather.

And no excuses not to ride until the weather turns really cold.

Sweet.

Ike in Bridge City

2008-09-20T20:35:00.000-04:00

This gallery has a pictures of what Ike did this past weekend to the town where I graduated from high school. Image 33 shows the main street, Texas Avenue. (I would drop in an image, but that site doesn't seem to want to share them that way and I don't fell like pushing the issue.) The first 75 or so pictures in the gallery are in Bridge City and the rest are in Orange, the next town over.

There are a few people who live there that I am concerned for. Aunt Bert lives somewhat south of that road that is a river toward the lake and has likely lost her house, but I am pretty sure she got out of town early. The other aunts and cousins live a bit farther inland by distances varying from just barely enough to well out of the way. My wife's parents (who did not leave their home) and one sister (who did the smart thing) live in the just barely enough range of about 30 miles north of these pictures and were spared much damage though they saw plenty of high winds and rain. They are all still without electricity today (Monday) except for my aunt who lives in Dallas (300 miles to the safe side) and Mary's sister who lives in Corpus, and who is only safe by luck of the spin because Ike slipped north instead of south.

What a mess. Be safe.

Update from my Aunt Sybil:

Bridge City has been 90% destroyed. I went with Roberta Thurs to check on their trailer. As we drove down the streets, every house has a pile of wet, sodden “stuff” piled in the front yard. Everything was ruined. On the news last night they said that out of 3500 homes in Bridge City, 14 were habitable. Roberta’s trailer not only is fine, but she had electricity and water. We don’t understand it. The house on both sides of her and across the street were flooded. The yards are covered in black slimy mud from the marsh and Sabine lake. There were no fatalities as far as we know.

And some photos of the aftermath. Number 15 in this series is the Bridge City main street after the water receded.

Vacations

2008-08-01T22:11:00.003-04:00

The girls went to Vegas and the boys stayed home.

Caitlin left last week for a few days in California with half the gang before meeting up with Mary and the other half this week. None of the girls is a gambler, and are underage anyway except for Mary and Leah, they just are using Sin City as the the center of tourist adventures because its the only place you can fly into near the Grand Canyon, Four Corners, and the Big Dam. Plus it has it own set of non-gambling somewhat reasonably priced entertainment suitable for 16 to 18 year-old young women. The older girls (Mary and Leah) will have their hands full trying to herd the cats (tame cats though they might be).

Nelson and I counted the vacation as starting on Saturday, but there were some chores that had to be done before the fun could start. After excavating his room out and knocking down the jungle that is the back yard, we were ready to get our week off under way.

Nelson and I planned to stay close to home fishing and riding the motorcycle around. Our week almost got canceled before it started when the old fart of the pair missed a step and nearly broke his ankle. Luckily it just knocked a bunch of profanity out of me, gave me a headache, and left the ankle swollen for a couple of days without seeming to be broken or too badly sprained. That happened on Saturday before Mary left on Monday.

Sunday was spent sleeping late, drugging and icing the ankle, helping Mary pack, getting rid of three beds that we did not need to folks most glad to have them (one we found in the excavation of Nelson's room, one from Caitlin's room a year ago, and one from Nelson's room in the old house six years ago -- we are pack rats), and finishing the yard work that did not get finished Saturday.

Monday was spent getting Mary out the door to the airport and then some prep for the rest of the week. It was another late start to the day, because we are a lazy bunch on vacation. After seeing Mary off, we went shopping. We bought some fishing gear, some odds and ends for the motorcycle rides, and some groceries. Nelson got a new Oscar for his fish tank. Nelson has cheer practice on Monday so not much else was in plans. By the time we got all the stuff back to the house and got something to eat it was time to get him to the gym.

The plan for Tuesday was a ride motorcycle through the swervy roads of North Georgia. We got mostly packed Monday night then settled in to watch the movie Stardust. We stayed up a bit too late watching it though. It turned out to be better than we were expecting. Funny ghosts, Robert De Niro had an especially nice part, and Claire Danes, but it kept us up later than we planned.

So we went to sleep looking forward to a two day motorcycle trip to start on Tuesday.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

2008-07-19T08:46:00.002-04:00

Another Joss Whedon hit.

Water Ice On Mars

2008-06-19T22:32:00.002-04:00

While packing up from a sort of late work day and talking to my mother on the phone, I read a tweet from from MarsPhoenix reporting that Water Ice had just been found on the surface of Mars. So I passed the news right on to Mama as, "Hey, they just found water ice on Mars. I just got a text message from the robot they sent up there." And I give the quick run down of the lander and how I come to get a text message from it.

"Just imagine how far we've gone. In 1900, your Pappa wasn't even alive, there weren't many cars, and no airplanes. And now we've sent robots to Mars that are making ice water and sending you messages about it."

Yeah, kinda cool.

New Office

2008-06-14T11:33:00.002-04:00

We have outgrown our office and are moving to a new building. My team got a tour yesterday of the very nice new space. The conference rooms are all named after games. We are very pleased to confirm that the 'Wii Room' does actually have a Wii system and is meant for use as a stress relief room. We were greatly disappointed that the much larger, sound proofed, curved-walled, black-painted, very cool looking 'Halo Room' had nothing to do with playing the game. Instead it is some kind of wacky high tech conference room. Something about saving travel expenses to Europe or something.

Now we need to convince the naming committee that names like 'Candy Land' and a couple of others just do not work for a tech company.

Who'd Thunk It?

2008-06-12T00:08:00.002-04:00

Ummm...Smith, Hayek, Friedman, ... but not Waters,

Falling Demand

``Refiners are managing the crude supply they have on hand because they are worried about weak product demand,'' said Tim Evans, an energy analyst for Citi Futures Perspective in New York. ``Both gasoline and distillate demand over the last four weeks are down from a year ago.''

Fuel consumption averaged 20.4 million barrels a day in the four weeks ended June 6, down 1.3 percent from a year earlier, the department said.

U.S. gasoline demand increases during the summer, when Americans take to the highways for vacations. The peak- consumption period lasts from the Memorial Day weekend in late May to Labor Day in early September.

I think I remember those curves from econ 101. Let me see...supply went down and price went up. Price went up past a point and now demand is going down. Yup.

Hat Tip: Knowledge Problem

Heavy Ink

2008-06-11T19:16:00.003-04:00

I read a few comics, but not many. I get them by subscription from Heavy Ink. Another case where shopping online costs less and keeps me from having to talk to people.

This online, subscription-based, get your cool reading material business could get me in deep. Mary has too keep the reins tight or I could be trouble.

Heavy Ink has also started to stock Manga. I will probably start saving a ton of cash on the stuff because the kiddies read racks of it. It generally costs about two bucks a pop less than at the Fry's or B&N (the closest things around that have decent shelves of Manga).

If you read the colored pages with words scattered about on them, you owe it to your budget to give Heavy Ink try.

Now How Does That Story Go?

2008-05-19T22:49:00.002-04:00

About the Self Assembling Robot that Takes over the World?

What happens when they find my nuclear reactor?

Hat Tip: Noodle Food

The Answers

2008-05-02T07:41:00.002-04:00

The answers I wish I had thought of:

Q:
Wow. Homeschooling. I could never do it with my kids.

A:
I know. God, I couldn’t homeschool your kids either.

Hat Tip One Sixteenth

Cheer Boosters

2008-04-29T21:36:00.000-04:00

The Booster Club for Nelson's cheer team is going to be pretty aggressive in fund raising this year. As one more avenue for revenue for Nelson's part, I have set up an online store front (which I will use for other purposes as well) where Nelson will be offering as many of the Booster Club goods as possible each month. If you see something that strikes your fancy at a price you like, please throw some cash at the cheer leaders.

My motive, of course, is that the more money I can get my invisible internet friends to throw at the cheer leaders the less that has to come out of my pocket. It might be bad marketing to come right out and admit that, but it's the truth. The Booster Club is going to try to have decent quality items in the monthly rounds of fund raising. Not every month will be selling a product and not every month has been mapped out yet. The general plan is to run enough fund raisers, varied enough, and over enough time that most of the kids on the team have a chance to raise enough money to cover their uniform costs, competition fees, and travel expenses.

Anyway, the store is open, it's rough, but will get prettier over time. So go, spend, spend, spend. The cookies are tasty.

Thanks In Advance.

John Prine

2008-04-23T09:57:00.002-04:00

Otis reminded me of John Prine.

Doorknob Installations

2008-04-19T13:35:00.002-04:00

Why is a door knob designed such that if the deadbolt is retracted when you try to install it the mechanism binds but installed with the deadbolt extended it work smoothly? And why do the instructions not make this more clear? Just saying. Because it could have been thirty minutes instead of two hours had the doc been just a bit clearer on that point.

Not to mention that Nelson and I would not have to suffer the rest of the weekend of Mary letting us know just how much we need her as a supervisor since it was her idea to try it with the bolt out instead of in.

Then she fixed Nelson and me some lunch and we celebrated having new front door hardware and not having our keys getting stuck in the lock every other day. All in all worth the two hours and the lousy instructions in the end.

Riff on This

2008-04-19T10:46:00.002-04:00

quote from a quote from a quote

You can eliminate a lot of conflict in your life by realizing that there are basically two categories of people you’ll run into - those who get paid to make decisions, and those who get punished for making decisions…

Which role am I in?
At what times do I switch roles?
Which role do I put my children in?

Can I improve their lives by guiding them into roles where they get 'paid' to make decisions (clearly better than getting punished)? Can I do that now within the home life as well as later when they move on in their personal and professional lives?

Early Spring Atlanta

2008-04-16T00:23:00.002-04:00

Today was a lovely sunny 60 degree Spring day. Tomorrow will be a lovely sunny 60 degree Spring day.

Tonight we have freeze warnings.

Wacky, wacky weather.

Kirk Mellish says La Nina is the most likely cause:

Our latest taste of winter was first mentioned in my blog March 26th with changes made on the 2nd and April 8th. Reluctant springs are a comon feature of La Nina. After the cold snap a 10-15 day warm spell will ensue. Last year The Masters had record cold on the final day. We know what kind of Summer followed. This year the cold wave is just a few days later. Record lows are occuring in April in Georgia the last 30 years about 3 times the normal pace of the last 125 years. Average would be one record low every 4 years. So in the last 3 decades that would mean about 8 records, instead Augusta has seen 20 record lows in April. There is a consensus that the current La Nina, though weakening, will last the Summer and maybe even into next winter.

Lake Lanier

2008-04-14T22:44:00.002-04:00

The water level in Lake Lanier, the main reservoir for metro Atlanta, has risen six feet since January of this year. The lake is still 10 feet lower than this time last year. Frequent rains this year have helped the lake rise steadily, which is a good thing.

The same rains promise to make it difficult for me keep the grass cut in the jungle that has become my back yard. I am not really complaining...much.

Job Markets

2008-03-30T12:03:00.002-04:00

What next year could look like:

Nokia is hiring now.

Lovenox

2008-03-29T22:28:00.003-04:00

We finally get to the Lovenox shots in the belly story. I did remarkably well with it given my history. The other stories are much more dramatic, but this one has me giving myself injections in the skin on my stomach. I get a bit dizzy just typing that sentence.

Mary gave me a couple of shots, but I was laying in bed for those so no drama at all. For all of the others I did it myself because the time for the shots fell when she was at work or was sleeping off a night of caring for someones twins.

I would go into the bathroom so I would not disturb Mary and because there is plenty of bright light. I have a problem with small details close up and these needles are very small. I figured it was better that I could see what I was doing than just stabbing blindly in the general area around my belly button. These are subcutaneous shots so just under the skin, not deep in the muscle. I did really will with all except two of the shots. On those two I got the angle of the needle wrong somehow and ended up too shallow. Instead of just a slightly stingy shot, I got a large knot of fluid close to the surface much like a really huge bee sting. I fuzzed out both times and was glad I was already on the floor.

Watching My Son

2008-03-29T21:10:00.004-04:00

The reaction to being stuck is not all a physiological effect. There is a strong psychological component as well. I lay this partly on the workings of my very vivid imagination, but mostly just the way some high stress situations affect my blood pressure. Now when I get pissed off it goes through the roof, but some other times it bottoms out. Like being stuck with a needle or some other things. Of course, when you combine it with actually draining some blood it makes it worse. It does not take a needle to get the affect, though.

When our son was three he was having frequent bladder infections. After a few trips to the pediatrician and some trips to the urologist, there came a day when we went for a test for reflux from his bladder into his kidneys. This meant having a catheter inserted, his bladder filled with an isotope-laden fluid, and pictures taken to see how much it made his kidneys glow. Yeah. At three years old.

Our daughter had been through the same thing a few years before when she was also three. The routine then had been that the parents were banned from the imaging lab. The idea was that it was better for the child to hate the doctors than the parents. We hated that, but the choice was do the test their way or not do the test. By the time my son was put through the ordeal the plan had changed so that the parents were encouraged to be with the child to help calm him. Much better for the child and the parents in my mind.

Mary was sitting at the end of machine stoking Nelson's head, talking to him and trying to keep him calm. I was squatting at the side of the machine holding his hand doing the same. We had given him the basic run down of what was going to happen so there it was no surprise when the doctor started up with the catheter business. He was not a bit happy about that though. He did not cry or squirm away or anything. He just looked at me and said in a kind of tight voice, "Daddy that's bothering me." Over and over.

The doctor and his assistant were having some trouble getting things just they way they wanted. Then the doctor said something like, "Oh well no wonder it won't go into the bladder. The problem is that this catheter is too large. You have to take that one out, get a smaller one and we will start over."

About that time a medical student that was assisting asked me if I was OK. Mary asked if I was alright, too. I told them I was a little light headed, but would be fine. It was just thinking to hard about tubes being pulled out and then shoved back in while my three year old son was telling me over and over, "Daddy that's bothering me" but otherwise not putting up any fight.

They finally got the right tube in, filled his bladder with radioactive juice, took pictures of it going unnaturally far up into his kidneys proving that the little valves did not work worth a damn. Somewhere in there the med student suggested I should sit down before I fell over. I declined saying I was staying where I was until the procedure was done and Nelson was calm. Which I did, fuzzy headed and woozy as I was. As soon as they had finished taking pictures and draining his bladder back out, I told him I was going to go sit in a chair for while and he said that was OK.

I stumbled over cords and cables, around a nurse and my wife who both helped me plop into a chair that was nearby. Nelson tracked all of this by swiveling his head around to watch as I made my way. As soon as my butt hit the chair I was out. The rest of the tale comes to me from Mary.

My head flopped forward, I slumped in the chair, and the medical student caught me before I fell out of it. I was not breathing or was breathing very raggedly. She was getting a bit panicked by this. She asked the doctor if she should call for some more help. The doctor was all calm about it and told to her to just hold my head up so I could breathe. She did, I did, and then I came around.

All of this kept Nelson distracted while the doctor de-tubed him and cleaned up. By the time I was conscious again he was ready to be up. He sat in my lap and we comforted each other for a while.

Kaiser's Physical

2008-03-29T21:01:00.003-04:00

Mary and I had been married for a few years when I had an episode during a physical at a Kaiser office. This time I probably had a hand at training a young nurse in the art of listening to the patient. The setup is the typical blood draw for a physical. The nurse has taken my basic history and in the course of that let me know that this was her first job out of school. I let her know about my special issues with needles and she immediately got very nervous. This was great. I'm nervous about the whole needle thing and the likely aftermath and now she's nervous about it.

She promised to be gentle and take care of me, yada yada yada, but I was still sitting in a chair. She stuck me not too badly, took a couple of tubes of blood and the bandaid went over the little hole. I woke up on a gurney. The best I could tell is I passed out and fell out of the chair and it took the two or three nurses to get me on the gurney. I was looking up at the young nurse crying and telling an older nurse that the next time somebody said they would pass out she would really believe them.

I'm thinking this is about the time the training started to change where nurses actually listen to patients, but it took a while for it to make its way through all the schools in the nation.

USAF Red Cross

2008-03-29T18:55:00.002-04:00

When I was in the Air Force stationed at the Defense Language School in Monterey, California, we had a day where the base commander gave us the option to "volunteer" to donate blood to the base Red Cross chapter in exchange for a day off of classes. Should we not want to "volunteer" we could spend the day policing the grounds of the base and the surrounds for trash and doing other unpleasant tasks selected to encourage us to "volunteer". It should be no surprise that there was nearly 100% participation in the blood drive that day. Not 100% because there are always some who take a stand not matter what, but that is another story.

The bunch of us that hung out together including my roommate had a good breakfast in the chow hall and then headed across the base to be drained. My roommate, Richard G. Wood from Boston (should he ever search his name and find it), knew about my tendency to pile up after being stuck. He had been around me during boot camp when I had been shot with the pneumatic guns and had keeled over. That was either three or four shots in each arm at a time a couple of days apart. I was lucky to wake up at all. Dick backed me up as I told the Red Cross nurses that I was not just being a wuss, but they were still trained in the old-school style and basically told me to just suck it up. Dick and I were put on gurneys next to each other, stuck at the same time, and filled our pints in about the same speed. Dick walked away laughing his Boston-accented laugh. The senior nurse would not let me off the gurney because I was too pale.

Cold wet towels were applied, legs were elevated, much attention was given. A corpsman was assigned to stand at my gurney to call the senior nurse every time I completely passed out, which was several. After about 45 minutes I was allowed to sit up and then had to lay right back down. This went on for another 30 minutes or so until I could sit without getting dizzy. Then the corpsman lead me over to the table with juice and cookies. I sipped some juice and ate a cookie. Another friend, Mark A. Webb (also hoping he will ping his name), sat across from me having just breezed through giving his pint. We chatted for a few seconds and then he laughed said, "Oh man, your freckles are turning white!"

When I woke up I was on a cot across the room with a small cut on my forehead where it had bounced off the table. I could hear the senior nurse chewing out the corpsman for leaving me alone. A notation was added to my records and I was not allowed to donate blood to the base Red Cross during the rest of my time at the Presidio.

The First Time

2008-03-29T18:50:00.004-04:00

When I was about 10 years old my mother hauled my sister, brother, and me to the county clinic to get a set of vaccinations before starting the school year. After herding us through the line for an hour or so, we got to meet the young nurse enjoying her duties at her very first job. As the eldest child, I went first to set a good example for my siblings. I sat in the chair and took the shots well. I remember it being quick and easy. I got up and my sister sat in the chair ready to follow my lead.

I fell over on the floor out like a light white as a ghost. My mother and the nurse got me back awake with my feet propped up and cold paper towels on my face. My sister was upset and crying about me piling up, but otherwise took her shots without a problem. My little brother got in the chair next for his shots. He did fine until the needle hit his arm and then he reached up fast as lightning, snatched the whole hypo out of the nurse's hand and took that thing out of his arm. That pretty much ruined her day.

Of course, I know all of this story after the midway point by the retelling over the years and not from actual memory because I was out on the floor at the time.

Needles

2008-03-29T18:46:00.003-04:00

So just how much did a month of sticking needles in my belly thrill me? Not a bit. To be sure, I did not know it was going to be a full month of it going in. My doctor is a sly former Naval officer and currently is a mother of one or two young children. She has plenty of experience getting the marginally-willing to do what we need to do. In this case it was the old "Just a few more days," and "Just a few more days," and "Your blood work is not quite where we want it so Just a few more days" trick. While this worked to ease me into the month of needle sticks with a bit less stress, I would have chosen them over being in the hospital for a month hands down since those were my only options.

I have never been really squeamish about blood, guts and gore, but stick me with a needle and I will usually fall over a few minutes later. Not right away, but later. A delayed dive. This adds to the excitement. Even better has been that, until about ten years ago, almost no one would believe me when I warned them ahead of time that this was going to happen. When I turned 40 for some reason they switched from saying things like, "Oh, come on. A big strong fellow like you passing out from a little ole needle?" to "Thanks for letting me know. Why don't you go ahead and lay down now so I don't have to pick you up later." I don't know whether nurses' training changed so they believed me more or I just sounded more sincere, but I was happy to start laying down instead of waking up to say 'I told you so.'

Here are some stories from days gone by to illustrate just how wonderful my relationship with needles has been over the years. These are the best ones. There have been many others, but they were not nearly so much fun to talk about.

I started this as a single post, but it got too long. I chopped it up into several fun needle stoy posts.

Woot!

2008-03-28T23:56:00.002-04:00

Woot! had a woot-off the past couple of days. I gots some pretty good deals.

Description	Quantity	Cost	Shipping	Total
Nike Sport Kit Carrying Case for MP3 Players 2 Pack Condition: New	3	0.99	5.00	7.97
Nike AC1126 Sport Armband for iPod Nano Condition: New	3	0.01	5.00	5.03
1 Dane-Elec 2 Gigabyte Secure Digital Memory Card Condition: New	3	5.99	5.00	22.97
Screaming Monkey with Pink or Blue Woot Cape Condition: Screaming	3	1.99	5.00	10.97
Total		26.94	20.00	46.94

Then I blew the cheap shopping when I left woot for Subterranean Press and noticed a John Scalzi work that was missing from my collection. Damn that Wheaton fellow for introducing me to this man's writing. I have never been much of a collector, but something sparked my mild OCD-ish nature into focusing on Scalzi and Wheaton works. Well, at least they are books instead of bottle caps or empty Coca-Cola bottles from across the ages.

This is what happens when the wife goes away for the weekend and forgets to take all the magic plastic with her.

Predictable

2008-03-26T21:56:00.000-04:00

What do you know?

Scam or Tax on Stupid, You Decide

2008-03-25T01:34:00.004-04:00

Do I buy it from this site or from this other site for 68 times more. Hmmm, let me think.

Anyone buying one of these from either source deserves to pay exactly what the seller can get out of them.

Hat Tip: Depleted Cranium.

I change my mind. The scum using Tesla's name and loads of jargon to scam the untrained and weak-minded should be tarred and feathered after they are prosecuted for fraud and theft (after so they courtroom does not get all messy).

A Sentimental Holiday

2008-03-24T11:01:00.002-04:00

Rachel Lucas has declared 23 March a New Holiday. Hang in there girl. There are lots of good people over there who all watch out for each other.

Deep Vein Thrombosis

2008-03-23T15:08:00.001-04:00

My doctor tells me a DVT is really, really bad. I just know it hurts like a bitch and all the bad things that she tells me about it that can happen should little bits plugging the vein tear loose scares the crap out of me.

I had been having occasional pains in my left calf for a couple of months that I had written off as age and being out of shape. Since the herniated disc in my neck forced me to stop taekwondo workouts last year, I have not been doing much in the way of physical exertion. I figured the aches and pains in the leg were cramps telling me it was about time to get off my butt and get back in shape. The fact that a stretch or short walk usually made the pains go away was my key data point that it was nothing serious.

The pain gradually came more frequently and then was joined by some swelling. One weekend the pain because constant and intense. The following Tuesday I went to my doctor¹. I was mostly still expecting this to be something straightforward that could be treated with high strength NSAIDs. However I also knew it had the chance of being something more since I had a somewhat similar though greatly less severe episode 12 years earlier.

She spent about 2 minutes looking at my leg and sent me to the hospital to get an ultrasound to look for blood clots. I was in her office just long enough for her to tell me that if the ultrasound showed any blockage they would be checking me into a room today and I would probably be there for a week or more. The ultrasound showed a big ole clot in the poplitean vein in my calf behind my knee. Off I went to the ER to get things started.

The next several hours I spent just laying about taking up an ER bed while they ran some blood work and the ER doctor and my doctor decided whether I needed to be admitted or could deal with this at home. It came down to whether my kidneys were up to handling a newer medicine and whether Mary and I were up to giving me daily injections. Oh, joy. Needles. In my skin. Twice daily. The other choice was to be stuck in the hospital for a week or two and maybe more. Yeah! Needles! In my skin! Twice Daily! That decided it. I went to my doctor on 19 Feb and was out of work until 13 March.

The next three weeks were pretty dull. I lay about in bed keeping the leg propped up, watched crap on TV or whatever movies were about, took drugs, dreaded noon and midnight when I got to poke needles in my belly. The leg hurt quite a bit and I had to take some chemicals to dull that to be able to sleep for a few nights that week first week. After that it was just dull and worrisome waiting for the doctors to decide what the problem was and how to deal with it. I was told basically to do nothing that involved moving my leg off horizontal or put any pressure on it until the swelling went away unless it was absolutely necessary. That left TV, books, and keeping up with work email and blogs reading on the Treo. Using the laptop while laying flat on my back in bed doesn't work for me. That and being kind of stressed of it all is why I have been silent for a month.

The doctors' plan was first to get my blood clotting factors down so that my body could devour the clots that exist without having more clots forming on top of those. They started feeding me coumadin daily and checking blood every week to see went it got to an effective the level. Since coumadin is a slow starter they decided to use a a drug called Lovenox as a bridge to speed the anti-clotting affect. Lovenonx is the twice-a-day injection I mentioned before. This drug is fast acting and has a short life in the body. It is also, from what I can tell by the doctor's comments and some reading around the web, a fairly expensive drug. One report I read put the cost of each injection at about $100. Pretty pricey, but less expensive than me having to stay in the hospital for the other treatments, certainly more pleasant, and probably safer overall even counting the problems I have sticking myself with a needle.

The next part of the plan was to find out what caused the clot in the first place. I visited a hematologist / oncologist, gave him a bucket of blood to test and a CT scan to study. After sweating for a week we went back a to go over the results². The CT scan came back clear of anything scary that could be cause. The blood test showed a couple of things that are likely causes. The main one is a genetic anomaly called MTHFR mutation. This causes an enzyme to be out of whack which can lead to, among many other things, blood clots. The good news in that the preventative treatment is really easy: I just have to take a regular dose of folic acid (Eat your spinach and collards!). More than 10% of the population have this mutation, so you can just stop thinking that it was my time around the nuclear reactor or that visit to the alien mothership that did it. For the next six months I will be taking the anti-clotting drugs and the doctor will be monitoring blood levels closely to make sure that I am taking enough. After that I will stop taking the blood thinners there will be some tests to check my liver function for some minor issues and side affects of the drugs.

The biggest concerns over the next few months is that the main clots that had formed and caused the big problem are dissolved slowly without a chunk snapping off and ending up in my lung or brain. Next is that no new clots are forming. Both of these are handled with the drugs that suppress the clotting behavior of the blood. The main negative of this treatment is that my blood won't clot as well as it should if I get a cut or other bleeding injury. So no juggling chain saws for a while.

There are no further tests to confirm that the clots have been removed. The doctors judge the likelihood of that based on the physical appearance of my leg. If he symptoms I had go away then the clots are probably gone, otherwise they are not. If the swelling and pain return the clots are back. Since they confirmed them once with the ultrasound there is no reason to do it again. Surgery to remove the clots is not really an option unless life gets really ugly with lots of really big bad clots. Surgery leads to conditions that actually cause more clots (slicing and dicing followed by lots of laying about) so that's a last resort kind of thing.

My leg is better than it was a month ago. It only swells a bit in the evenings. I still get really tired late in the day, but that seems to be getting somewhat better each day. This sucks but it's getting better. It could have been something super scary, but it is only something really scary. We are moving forward.

A note to all my relatives, especially siblings and cousins: 10% or of the population has this genetic anomaly and that's a pretty high rate, but it is an inherited trait. It is not clear from the studies I have read whether it is more likely passed from the maternal or fraternal side of the line. Certainly my siblings and children have a very high likelihood of having this same trait. My close cousins should be aware of the nature of effects of this thing. I don't think it is something that you stress and worry over, just something to watch a little closer for should you have pains in your legs. It would also probably be worth the extra look on your next annual physical to have the add the check for MTHFR to the blood work. It is common test now so should not be a big deal to add to the other blood work sent out to the labs. Again not something you should do special, but it would be worth adding in the next time you get a physical.

Or you can just eat your greens like you're supposed to, just in case (and more than just on New Years Day³).

¹Would have been Monday but my doctor was not in and I was not yet scared.

²And losing 12 pounds while waiting. Well I lost it during the 3 weeks I was out, but sweating the cause of the clot was the main reason I think.

³For anyone not from the South: Ham Hocks, collared greens, and black eyed peas

Fry's XBox Insurance - Ripoff?

2008-03-22T15:32:00.000-04:00

This is a draft that I forgot about until now (March) which makes it even more interesting in a way:

A delayed January christmas purchase for the long-haired boy-child is an XBox 360. I thought I had the Beautiful Wife better trained, but probably she just needed my support to shut the sales weasel up. She called me asking whether she should pay the $50 for the 'Insurance' on the rig. I was saying "No, No, No" before she got finished the "Inss" and kept saying it as she tried to tell me that the sales weasel was saying that it is not a warranty and covers everything ... yada yada yada ... 1 in 6 of these have some problem ... yada yada.

Seriously. More than 10% of the cost of the system for this rip off coverage. Enough people clearly still fall for this because they are still offering it and pushing it hard enough that my Beautiful Wife has to call me for backup to decline it. Scum.

We have or had until recently passed on to nephews, let me think a bit: DS, DS, Sega NES GameCube, PlayStation, all working and the oldest of which is, well, OLD. We would have more if certain kiddos had not misplaced certain shiny bits.

The Answer found on WikiAnswers:

Q: How do you get xbox 360 insurance if you buy the xbox 360 on the internet?

A: you don't need the insurance it comes with a 3 year warranty.

Saving Gas and Cutting Spam

2008-03-21T08:00:00.004-04:00

I got one of many forwarded emails from a dear family member, but this time I could not resist answering in the hopes that they learn to use Snopes and other resources while practicing some basic email spam hygiene:

Almost everything in this email about gas fueling tips is the usual mass email spam garbage you can expect to read on Teh Internets:

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/gastips.asp

1) The temperature variation is not an issue mostly because the percentage variation is not enough to cost you an amount of money worth worrying about.

At $4.00 per gallon a 1% increase in volume due to temperature for a customer using 20 gallons a week (about what I use driving to work each week) would save about $60 a year by buying gas in the 'cool' hours. Note that a 1% volume change is a wildly unlikely large amount of change since the volume of gasoline changes 1% with every 9°C [48°F]. So not only are you not saving enough money to make it worth the effort if the volume really changes that much, most of the time the volume is not going to be changing that much so you are not going to be saving anything at all.

2) A similar calculation as above can be applied to the vapor recovery argument except the numbers for the volume of fuel 'lost' to the vapor recovery system would be in the very small fractions of a percent. This makes it even less worth the effort to worry about.

3) Let's just repeat the calculation for the 'only fill your tank when it is half empty to reduce evaporation losses'. These are likewise as above ridiculously small amounts when calculated against automobile gas tanks. Evaporation losses might be a concern for huge fuel storage tanks, but they are not not important for passenger vehicles.

4) You also do not have to worry about filling up right after a delivery from a fuel tanker to you local filling station. Trash in the tanks has a long pipe to climb before getting to your car, every pump you fill your car from has filters that keep most of that trash from getting into you tank, and your car has a filter that keeps the rest from getting into your engine.

None of these tips is going to save you nearly as much as just going to the station with lowest price every time you fill up. That is a lot easier to do than any of them.

You should enjoy the time you save ignoring these silly worries and skipping all of this crap that is forwarded to you from anonymous idiots on Teh Internets.

Helpful hints on a stress free life from your loving nephew (or cousin or invisible internet friend, whichever applies).

Open Your Eyes

2008-03-16T10:17:00.003-04:00

This is quite a stunning video. Watch it, drink in the lesson. It applies to more than noticing cyclists.

I ride a motorcycle and am certain I am invisible to most drivers on the road. My 17-year old daughter started driving this month. I am certain she needs the lesson. I worry every time she goes out that she will invisible to the wrong person.

Hat tip: Megan

Don't Waste Your Money on Biofuels

2008-02-08T00:34:00.001-05:00

If you have been dreaming that biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel will save the world or at least slow its demise while we find a way to convert over to pedal cars, this is your wake up call.

Massive transitions to biofuels will:

result in greater amounts of greenhouse gases than sticking with fossil fuels,
also reduce air quality as greater amounts of rain forests are removed to make crop lands,
raise the costs of foods by switching production from food grade crops to fuel grade crops,
cause taxes to increase from foolish subsidies further damaging the economy,
and it won't event stop funding terrorists because they will find markets for their oil products no matter what we use to run out cars

Poker Blog

2008-01-29T23:30:00.000-05:00

Just a reminder that I have moved all the poker content to Butch Howard Gambles. I need a place where I can whinge on and on and on endlessly about my rotten play without cluttering up this place so much. Join me there if that is what you are here to read.

Of Course I Am

2008-01-29T16:53:00.000-05:00

Which Buffy the Vampire Slayer Character Are You?

Created by BuddyTV

The Mission

2008-01-26T10:56:00.000-05:00

This is explains it all:

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
Date: [REDACTED]
NSA INTERVIEW ROOM #[REDACTED]
PRESENT: AGENT [REDACTED], ASSET CODENAME/TOXIC
Preliminary Interview
Interview already in progress, see Transcript #194BSZ

Toxic: So what am I looking at here?
Agent: Osama Bin Laden's cave headquarters near Tora Bora. Footage was shot by a Marine Recon Team. Would you like some soda or coffee?
Toxic: Just water please. Hmm, that's Qutb's book on that table.

Yes, I am a little behind reading some of the blogs in my reader list. Gems such as this are why why my OCD-ish ways keep me from just flushing the queue.

Snow in ATL

2008-01-19T12:35:00.001-05:00

It is snowing again in Atlanta. I am not sure whether to call this the second snow of the season or the second day of the the first snow since the other day of snow was only two days ago. Either way, this is about enough for me. The light blanket of snow Wednesday evening was enough to cause the some problem down the road that shut the power off for an hour around 10pm. Today's snow looks to be somewhat heavier so there is no telling what kind of damage we are in for.

I wish I had a decent camera I could set up in front yard and take a time lapse of the snow accumulation and melting. Then you guys could see just how brief real winter weather is in this area. Of course then I would need a tripod that could stand the job. And then maybe some other gear. Hmmm. Might have to wait. Nelson got pretty excited over some of my uncle's camera gear on our christmas break. I might be able to get him started in a photography hobby that I can borrow gear from. It is easier for me to budget gear for the kids and then borrow it, than it is to just get it for myself.

Mary and Nelson are in Charlotte, NC for a cheer competition. They will probably see the same type of weather. I wonder if she remembered to take her little camera. That's the main problem she has with cameras. Forgetting to charge the battery, take the camera, or get the camera out of her purse to take pictures. I'll send her a message later to remind her to get it out.

Today is Caitlin's 17th birthday and she opted for not making that trip and being forced to endure a weekend surrounded by masses of cheerleaders. I get no joy out of those gatherings other than watching Nelson show that his hard work pay off (and the others, but you know I am somewhat focused) . When I cannot get out of going, I do what I can to avoid all the crowds until Nelson's team performs and then I vanish again.

Caitlin and I will be doing pretty much whatever she wants to do. Which is easy on me, because she is as quiet and hermit like as I am. My sister is taking her for Pedi- and Mani- cures today. I have offered movies and meals wherever she wants, shopping trips (a safe call -trust me it would be book stores or pet stores, but not likely a mall ), or whatever else. So far she has chosen Doctor Who, Buffy, and sitting in front of the computers. That's fine with me, but anything else she wants to do is good as well.

Snow is still drifting down. The yards are all white, but the roads in the neighborhood are still clear. Time for some hot chocolate, I think.

30 Songs

2008-01-14T21:06:00.000-05:00

Per Katitude:

Here are the rules: Put your music player on shuffle. Press forward for each question. Use the song title as the answer to the question even if it doesn't make sense.

How am I feeling today? Needle & Damage Done, Neil Young

Will I get far in life? Jesus, Oh What a Wonderful Child, Big Wide Grin

What's your current state of mind? Long Black Veil, DMB

How do my friends see me? Leaving Las Vegas, Sheryl Crow

Where will I get married? Turn It Up (Loud), Oneida

What is your view of marriage? See You in the Fjords, The Ebb

What is my best friend's theme song? Walkin' After Midnight, Patsy Cline

What is the story of my life? Actions, Rick Reed

What is/was high school like? Victim of Love, Eagles

How can I get ahead in life? Do You Hear What I Hear, Big Wide Grin

What is the best thing about me? Crazy, Gnarls Barkley

What is today going to be like? Te Dejo Madrid, Shakira

What is in store for this weekend? Breakaway, Kelly Clarkson

Describe my parents? Headturner, Joss Stone

Describe my grandparents? The4Am, Warren Ellis/Indie Artists

How is my life going? Sub Oslo Vs. Bookshelf Speakers, Sub Olso

What song will they play at my funeral? Santa Baby, Big Wide Grin

How does the world see me? Capitol Hill, The Chavos

Will I have a happy life? In The City, Eagles

What do my friends really think of me? James Dean, Eagles

Do people secretly lust after me? Change, Joss Stone

How can I make myself happy? Pipeline, Stevie Ray Vaughn

What should I do with my life? Primanti Brothers, Oneida

Will I ever have children? Strictly Ornamental, White Ghost Shivers

What is some good advice for me? Going Through the Motions, Aimee Mann

How will I be remembered? Said Sadly, Smashing Pumpkins w/ Nina Gordon

What is my signature dancing song? Wasted Time, Eagles

What is my current theme song? One of These Nights, Eagles

What do people think my current theme song is? Jhani, Brian Steen

What type of men/women do you like? Straight Out of Compton, Nina Gordon

Which goes to show I should have hit the shuffle button a couple of more times and yanked the christmas tunes.

Internet Giveth, Internet Taketh Away

2008-01-14T17:01:00.000-05:00

It feeds your imagination with a wonderful story of adventure and luck and then it rips the pleasure of it from you when you find that it was a bunch of lies. Last year one of the coolest stories ever for our household came from Portugal.

A man retires and does some traveling. Along the way he happens across a quaint farm in Portugal that is a steal for the size. The place has been sitting empty for a few years since the old couple that lived there for ages passed away with no family. The place is up for half its value just to cover the back taxes. It is rural but not too far from interesting places to be a base for some travel or exploring. Maybe it's somewhere around Madeira, that would put it about in the middle. Lisbon would be a good weekend trip. The northern parts of Portugal are about the same size trip.

So he has found a great place to retire where he can travel Europe with some ease. The place is a great bargain compared to something about the same size in the States and his modest retirement savings will stretch pretty far in this lazy rural setting. A few months after moving in, he and his wife tear into the old barn on the farm that had been closed for years. He made an amazing discovery. It was stem to stern with cars from every year from the 1930s to the 1970s. Once the inventory was made, the collection would be valued in the millions. Some retirement investment.

Even with though there was certainly no chance for us to repeat his lucky find, we were ready to plan trips to tour old farms in rural Portugal just for the fun of it. We could travel to quiet places, poke around in old buildings, eat strange food, listen to different music, and there might be old cars to be found.

And then the other shoe drops. Teh Internets have sucked the truth out of the story and made it into something else. Should of known. Should have hit Snopes at the first hint of Too Good To Be True. The barn belonged to an automobile dealer and collector who had found cars over the years that he could afford, bought them, and stashed them in the barn. When the barn was full he had closed it up. Some time later he opened it and brought in a photographer to take inventory. Those photos made the basis for the lie some dweeb spun off.

What was the point of taking the already interesting true story and bending, twisting, and stretching it into something completely different? I think I will never understand this aspect of some humans.

The libertarian Test

2008-01-14T15:23:00.000-05:00

I scored 75 on the test.

51-90 points: You are a medium-core libertarian, probably self-consciously so. Your friends probably encourage you to quit talking about your views so much.

Yeah, that's about right.

You Probably Won't Put Your Eye Out Either

2008-01-13T08:38:00.000-05:00

The reason mothers sigh in relief when they hear that their child has taken up Blogging as a hobby:

Click to embiggen. Thanks xkcd.

3-Way Stop Daydream

2008-01-10T19:30:00.000-05:00

A DOT Engineer and City Traffic Engineer walk from their trucks toward concrete traffic barriers blocking an intersection. The intersection is two heavily-used cut-through streets between major traffic arteries in a dense suburb area next to a major mall. The flash of police lights can be seen far down each road where the detours have been placed.

"So, you didn't put these barriers up?"

"No. And I am pretty sure you didn't either."

"Yeah, right. What time did they get here?"

"Between 4:00 and 4:30 this morning, best we can tell. That's when the first calls came in."

"Somebody hit one?"

"No. They just call 9-1-1 for anything. Traffic was already a pile by the time the PD got here and got the road blocks up. They had me up at 5:00 bitching about not being told about the closure. Surprise to me too."

"Some prank then, right? Drive a truck through, drop off the barriers, stick on the signs, and haul ass."

"Except for the hole."

"Hole wasn't already there?"

"Nope. Too much traffic through here for a sink hole like that to be ignored."

"So part of the prank includes a few minutes with a backhoe. Makes them easier to track down."

"Maybe."

"What do you make of the signs?"

"I don't know."

There are two signs mounted on each barrier. One is larger and reads:

This is a dangerous intersection. No one driving here knows how to handle a 4-way stop. For ten years I have watched people go insane here. I will remove the barriers and fill the hole when the city hangs working traffic lights.

The smaller sign reads:

Stay away from the hole. It is deep.

"Too funny. Until they get caught anyway. So how long until you get that hole filled and these barriers out of the way?"

"I don't know. My guys were out here this morning to drop a line down it. Then we got some people from State and UGA looking at it."

He crumbles his empty Coke can and lobs it into the center of the hole. It falls silently into the darkness.

"They measured it as a perfect circle centered on the intersection and 2647 feet deep from the top edge. Smooth as glass except where the utilties pass through."

The DOT Engineer takes a couple of steps back from the barrier. The City Engineer grins and scratches his head under the back of his cap.

"Yeah, I think we're going to hang some traffic lights."

meeme meme fun

2008-01-10T19:04:00.001-05:00

Bold the ones that apply to you:

Father went to college
Father finished college
Mother went to college
Mother finished college
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor
Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
Had more than 500 books in your childhood home
Were read children's books by a parent
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively
Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs (room, books, and board, but nothing else..)
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
Went to a private high school
Went to summer camp
Had a private tutor before you turned 18
Family vacations involved staying at hotels
Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
There was original art in your house when you were a child
Had a phone in your room before you turned 18
You and your family lived in a single family house
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home
You had your own room as a child
Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course
Had your own TV in your room in High School
Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College
Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16
Went on a cruise with your family
Went on more than one cruise with your family
Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up
You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family

ETA: This list is based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, and Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. The exercise developers ask that if you participate in this blog game, you acknowledge their copyright.

Hat Tip to the Poker Princess.

For the meat of this meme, visit the its origin and read how it was meant to be used in a college class to demonstrate the advantages of privilege in our society. I am not sure I agree with the basis or the founder's claims that there is no bias in the questions, but it is good for getting a roaring argument started in a group of mixed social philosophies.

New Blog

2008-01-08T09:11:00.000-05:00

I am moving all of my posts about poker, other gambling, high adventure, and thrilling escapades over to Butch Howard Gambles.

This is all part of the experiment in ad revenue generation and segregation of content to that end. As well as trying to keep the beautiful wife as confused about my computer goings on as possible (just kidding).

Boys

2008-01-07T20:58:00.001-05:00

Boys,
originally uploaded by butchhoward.

There once was a time
He has grown and I have aged
Our laughs are the same

Copilot

2008-01-07T17:49:00.000-05:00

As we were riding along on the way home, Co-Pilot Nelson was playing some game on his DS where he needed to speak to the thing. So he is saying, "Palm Tree. Palm Tree! PAAALMMMM TTTTRREEEE! palm tree" In as many variations as he could to try to get the thing to accept his input. I guessed that the road noise, the sound of the CD playing, and some of the noise from the back seat where the girls were laughing the butts off over some movie might be getting in the way.

I turned off the music to help. There was nothing I could do about the road really. We decided to try having him cover his head with his jacket and try again. He repeated the whole performance from inside an orange Psyche Ward hoodie with no change. He held it up and I shouted at it a few times to see if my voice made any difference. No luck. I told him we needed to build a Cone of Silence for him to play that game in the car. He was kind enough to laugh while clearly not getting the reference.

I have no clue what game he was playing and he had no clue what old show I was talking about, but we were having fun driving along shouting at that little gizmo.

A few minutes later he let me know he figured the game out and we didn't need to be shouting at the screen at all. He just had to write the number of palm trees that he needed on the screen instead. That was worth another five minutes of laughs.

It's good to have a Copilot on a 14-hour drive.

Prez Quiz

2008-01-06T12:02:00.000-05:00

I had some problems with some of the questions, but, even so, I was surprised at the results (assuming the results are meaningful, that this is not just some SEO driver for particular candidates or marketers, yada yada yada).

[EDIT]
OK, thought about it some and decided I am not surprised. All that the red/blue mix means is that I can't stand any of the candidates because I do not agreee much with any of them.

63% Bill Richardson
60% John McCain
60% Chris Dodd
58% Mitt Romney
57% Mike Huckabee
57% Ron Paul
55% Barack Obama
54% Tom Tancredo
53% John Edwards
53% Rudy Giuliani
53% Joe Biden
52% Hillary Clinton
52% Fred Thompson
48% Mike Gravel
44% Dennis Kucinich

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

The questions I had the most trouble answering were:

2. I wanted to choose the last answer, but I felt they only meant it to apply to same-sex couples where I mean it to apply to everyone (That's the short answer).

4. Is missing a choice for "Need to redefine the goals to the mission to be compatible with the long term security of the United States and then execute to those goals as swiftly as possible using any means necessary."

7. Was just badly worded and exposed the bias of the quiz maker.

15. Needed an option for Get the Government out of the Business of providing Health Care and let the Market and Charities supply what is needed.

I expect my red/blue mix might have changed somewhat had I been offered these options as answers to the questions.

Hat Tip: Terrence "Not Johnny" Chan

The Saga of Haley

2008-01-03T16:42:00.000-05:00

Something over two years ago I got a new Treo for work partly to use as my work phone and partly to use to test the code I write all day every day (it is not a Nokia device because my division works on any device on any network and I happen to be working on PalmOS these days). It is a nice device and I have enjoyed making it do things the manufacturer never intended it to do.

It seems the phone number that came attached to this device was owned by a young maid named Haley. She is quite the popular lass based on the voice mails, IMs, and missed calls I have received over the years.

In the first few months I either ignored the IMs and incoming calls or politely explained that they had reached the wrong number that No Haley is not here. These came about two a week for several weeks and the tailed off to a couple a month and then to just once in a while.

Somewhere about six months after getting the phone I listened to a somewhat frantic voice mail from what sounded like a boss that went something like this:

Haley, I hate to call you on your day off but SoAndSo called in sick and SuchAndSuch is not answering. I really need someone to cover a shift. If you can, call me back as soon as possible.

This was followed within seconds by an IM from the same phone number with about the same message. I felt bad for the fellow so I texted back a message explaining that the Haley must have a different number and wished him luck finding her. He thanked me for the heads up.

Just this past October I got a voice mail from Haley's Nana looking for her for something. I would certainly have called Nana had she not said in the voice mail that she had also left a message Haley's house phone. Poor woman. It has been two years and a granddaughter she clearly cares about has not cared enough to let her know that her cell number has changed.

We have some clues that Haley was a big hit with the guys. I got several IMs over the months that went along the lines of "Hey Haley, Whatcha Doin?" These happened often enough that I went to the trouble of creating a QuickText item in the IM client so I could reply with just a couple of taps. I have two versions and would pick one based on my mood and content of the incoming IM. Clear cut come-on lines get the first one:

You probably have a wrong number. You will know my name if you have the right number. Hint: Not Female.

Wrong Number. Tiffany and Haley are not at this number now.

[Just looking at it now to quote the text reminds me that some of the IMs were to 'Tiffany' also. hmmm.]

Almost all of these voice mails and IMs land between midnight and 3am so I miss the actual arrival. In the rare cases that I happen to be awake to catch the IM coming in, I generally send a reply right away. For the others, I randomly decide whether to reply based on my mood when I read it. If I am in a chipper mood I reply otherwise I just delete the thing.

One really interesting voice mail about six months after I got the phone that I saved for some months before it got lost in an unfortunate device Hard Reset went something like this:

Haley this is Bob WhoandWho from ZoomTunes Video. I met you at Crab Island a couple of months ago. I need to get in touch with you to get you to sign a release for a video we made that day....

I decided to write about this saga because over this christmas break I got another of these IMs:

im: "Hey how are you?"

Me: Hey Mary, I got an IM that I think is for Haley, look.

Mary: You should tell him that you have had an operation and your name is now 'Hal' to see what he says

Me: I'm chicken

Me: sends - wrong number . haley has not had this number for two years

im: Yeah. we are very close

Mary: She probably got married and the new husband finally got tired of all the calls and IMs and made her get a new number.

Me: Or She is not married, got a new number, and is still giving some of the guys this old number to get rid of them

Either one of those is possible from a girl who goes months without telling the place she works that she changed cell phones and over two years without telling her grandmother about the change.

The only other option is that Haley was one incredibly popular lass three years ago to have a number that is still popping out of some guys' black books in the lonely hours after the bars have closed. I wonder how many of these calls I will get in 2008.

Happy New Year Haley.

Australia Flight Simulation

2007-12-28T00:06:00.000-05:00

About three quarters through the trip to Buna, I told Mary and Caitlin riding the back seat that they could be pretending that they were taking a flight to Australia:

The back seat of the Element looks like it has about as much space as business class (it is certainly bigger than coach)
They have the DVD players strapped to be back of the seats
They cannot get up much except when we stop to eat which are about like the layovers in Dallas and LA
The 18 hour drive is about the same as the trip from ATL to Syndey (the only one I have a reference for)

So it is a reasonable simulation.

Christmas Trip Going There

2007-12-27T22:27:00.000-05:00

This year the big christmas trip is to Mary's family in east Texas. We left home the day after christmas and had a mostly good ride to Buna. I did all the driving with Nelson as my co-pilot this time. Mary and Caitlin claimed the back seats and watched movies, read, and hassled me for stopping too much. Mary would have driven had I needed a break, but this trip went well and fit in my body schedule just right so I was able to pull the full 18 hours behind the wheel without a problem. The Co-Pilot did an excellent job of chatting me up during the dull times and making sure I wasn't making too many stupid moves. He also helped with the twitter tweets - for the 5 followers that might have thought I was thumb-typing while driving.

We generally do not rush our trips, but try to get on with them if we are pushing through instead of stopping for the night. We take short meal breaks, but long enough to get the kinks out of our legs and backs, and somewhat frequent rest breaks. I have a near constant thirst and that leads to fairly frequent potty breaks. This trip we are in Mary's Honda Element instead of the Suburban we have driven for the past 7 years. The good news is that it gets much better gas mileage and we have to stop for gas more often (even with the better mileage the tank has a much smaller range). The bad news that the Element is smaller. There is not as much room for stuff or kids. Even with a carrier on the roof, we had to cut back on the junk that was carried on the trip (not a bad thing really). The suburban let each kid have a seat which was nice in avoiding territory problems. The really bad problem will be getting back home with the added stuff, but cause the car was full on the way and there is certain to be more stuff on the way back given the nature of the season.

We decided to let the GPS show us the shortest time routing instead of going one of our two usual paths to see how different it would be. It was just different enough to make me go hmmm. It says that it road is 860 miles from our drive to the center of Buna, Texas. I knocked 30 miles off the end by taking a bit shorter route that it had for us, but that did not make up for some of the other mistakes.

I made one really big mistake early on. We ran into a traffic jam just before getting out of Georgia. The GPS has a feature that offers a detour routing when it notices that you are going slow over certain period of time and are near an exit. The Co-Pilot and I discussed and decided to take the detour, but I failed to review the routing carefully. The Co-Pilot mentioned at least three times that it looked like it was just turning us around, but I was not listening carefully. I told him it would be our luck that as soon as we got over the exit and could see down the road we would see that the highway was clear right past there, and sure enough it was. So that was when I looked closer at the detour to see if it was really going to help or if I needed to get back on I-20 right there. The GPS routing was crazy - it was going to take us all the way back to Atlanta and then some other way to Texas. In other words it was giving up and going home. Then we wasted some time figuring out a reasonable way to get around the jam and back on the road. Silly GPS was ignoring the small roads that run parallel to the interstate.

The second mistake was later in the afternoon. I forgot to put some sunglasses in the car when we left. This day turned out to be the first clear sunny day we have had in two weeks (and now we were stuck in a car). With us driving southwest late in the afternoon, the sun was pounding right into my eyes. I decided to combine the next potty break with a shopping trip for shades. Nelson and I ran into a Wal-Mart for both jobs. By the time we got back to the car and were ready to go, a think layer of clouds had snuck over the horizon and made the shades useless. If I would have just suffered for about 45 minutes longer, we would not have wasted the trip into crazy store parking lot, store, check out lines, and return roads to the interstate.

My estimate is that those two escapades added about two hours to the trip.

Other than being stuck in the car and having to drive, I kind of enjoy these trips. I would not want to make one a week, but they do tend to give me some time to think about things other than what is happening on my keyboard at the time. This trip brought up some memories that I am going tor try to write up over the next few days. Not sure how successful I will be, but I'll give it a go.

The soundtrack for this part of the trip was:

Regina Spektor, Begin To Hope (Gift from My sister, Played 3 Times Until Co-Pilot objected)
Sheryl Crow, C'mon C'mon
Evelyn Glennie, Her Greatest Hits (disc one)
Rush, Counterparts
Avril Lavigne (Co-Pilot objected to my choices again)
Kelly Clarkson (and again)
Leo Kotke, One Guitar, No Vocals (I reclaimed the power)
Dave Matthews Band, Listener Supported
Mix Tape (odd mp3 downloads burned to cd) about 2 times because Co-pilot was asleep

I saw a few funny signs on the trip, but it seemed like the really funny ones happen later in the ride. I am not sure whether this was more because I was getting tired and flaky or because we had gotten to Louisiana and its higher density of flakes.

The Geaux Green billboard is funny, but only if you think about the ending of Thibideaux, Guilbeaux, Arcineaux, Fonteneaux and a dozen others and the way they all rhyme with GO.

When I saw the sign for this radio station, I first thought it said Kaja Jesus. This struck me as a funny coincidence and made me think of Kajagugu since I just met him last week at the APBT. Then I realized that was an N and it was Cajun Jesus instead and that somehow struck me as even funnier.

The first 'distance to next town' sign you see entering Texas about one mile inside the border on I-10 has cracked me up since I first saw it when I was about 10 years old. It says: El Paso 857 miles.

She is Daddy's Angel...Wait....What?

2007-12-24T10:48:00.000-05:00

Conversation between mother and daughter overhead by father with father's thoughts interspersed:

[Daughter, 16.9 years old, drags into kitchen in the morning clearly having trouble getting started for the day of christmas shopping and other errands]

Mother: I thought you were going to bed early last night.

Daughter: I did, but then I started watching TV...

Father (to himself): I am going to be sorry I ran that cable.

Daughter: ...and stopped on this show on the Food Network...

Father: Well at least it was something sort of educational. Maybe she caught an Alton Brown marathon.

Daughter: ... call Paula's Party...

Father: Paula Deen? Fascinating TV? Since when?

Daughter: ... She had these six HOT guys on the show and I just couldn't turn it off.

Father: ... ... ...

Cheap Electricty For Life

2007-12-22T11:04:00.000-05:00

Tired of constantly rising costs of cooling and heating your home, keeping all of your techno-gadgets running, and lights glowing? Would you like to trade that for a fixed rate of $100 a month for essentially unlimited residential electric service for 40 years.

Are you interested? I am.

Here's how it works. We'll use my neighborhood as an example. We have 75 homes in a small subdivision. We need to set aside about 40'x40' of the common area. We will place a small steam turbine on one side. On the other side of this are we will bury a transport container that holds a small nuclear reactor...

What?...Wait!..Where are you going?...This will work!

This is the the future. Get used to it.

200 kilowatt Toshiba designed reactor
5 cents per kilowatt hour
40 year life

Back of the envelope numbers give us about $1.2 million for the reactor, maybe $100k for the turbine and installation, then figure in some maintenance, insurance, financing, and other incidentals. $100 a month from 75 homes over 40 years is a $3.6 million budget over that time. Compare that to $9 million that is the combined total when the average of electric bill is $250 a month per home over 40 years for that neighborhood and you have a substantial savings.

Selling this will be tough in the United States. Perhaps it will be easier in remote communities than near metro areas. In Japan and France it will be an easier sell given the difference in the way the nations have taken on and the cultures have viewed nuclear power. The militaries around the world will love these boxes.

We as a nation need to just get over our irrational fear of nuclear power. Nuclear fission has the best good:bad ratio relative to all the other options available and likely to mature in the next 100 years.

There are currently 104 nuclear plants operating in the United States. They provide about 20% of our total electrical power. In recent months the first applications for new plants in 30 years were filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. We should hope that this is the beginning of a land rush into a new era and that the year 2100 will see us with at least twice that number full size nuclear plants and hundreds of micro plants together providing 75% or more of our energy needs.

Holiday Break

2007-12-21T21:07:00.002-05:00

The first week of vacation has blasted past.

Friday last, Caitlin performed at her first piano recital and showed an abundance of talent, if this doting parent is allowed to dote with linkage.

Saturday was spent avoiding live shopping, trucking the youngsters around, and then the APBT II with Skidoo.

Sunday we slept very, very late. Then we trucked the youngsters around and I avoided live shopping some more. There was some house cleaning going on in there somewhere, too.

Monday and Tuesday flashed past with my honey-do list growing faster than it was shrinking. My ideas of mixing many parts relaxation with a few parts list reduction have collided with Mary's expectations of greater list reduction.

I don't remember Wednesday, but it looks like all the laundry is caught up. Which is a major feat for this house.

Thursday started slow because my old friend Mike Graine dropped by for a visit early in the day. I got that under control by late evening. I played some poker with good results for a change; nothing big, but satisfying results anyway.

Friday was mostly lazy with some planning for the weekend and next week's trip. Mary and I managed to get away by ourselves for a couple of nice hours before she had to head off to work. The boy and I gutted and chopped some pumpkins that will be pies by Sunday. A few small items got knocked of The List, but a few other small ones were added so net List Change was near zero.

All in all the week has been just what I wanted. I had some time to knock some stuff off The List, I had a good bit of resting, a good bit of playing with the kids, and some time alone with Mary.

All this is important preparation for the next two weeks. This weekend I will be trying as hard as I can to stay out of Mary's way as she frantically tries to finish the last of the christmas shopping. There are a couple of gatherings over the weekend and the first of the week that will be fun. Then we will finally get the the kid's big day out of the way.

Then we are driving to east Texas to visit Mary's family, try to catch up with my favorite aunt from my father's family, and let the kids have second christmas. Mary's clan is a fun bunch. This time the gathering will draw a crowd from Missouri and Corpus Christi as well as Atlanta. A trip out there is always worth the ride.

Then a drive back and a weekend to catch my breath before jumping back into work.

End of ramble.

APBT II - Mary Wins!

2007-12-16T12:24:00.000-05:00

My beautiful wife won the APBT II tournament! Yeah Mary!

Well, she won the turbo SNG that ran after the main tournament, but the win in the main tournament went to some non-blogger so does not count in the record books. Since Mary already has a blog, her win is the one counts. So there.

It was a really good night. Folks came from all over the world and seemed to have a good time. I know we both had a good time.

I played passive no-guts poker all night long and have the results to show for it. Mary chickened out on the plan to switch the channel on the big screen over to Life Time at some point to see whether anyone would say anything.

Skidoo ran a good show. Thanks to him for having us over. Thanks to the poker crowd for making Mary feel welcome and for not abusing me for playing crap poker. We are both very much looking forward to the next gathering.

APBT II Final Table
Originally uploaded by butchhoward

Me, BrainMc, Surflexus, Surly Poker Gnome, Non-Blogger with arms wrapped around the huge stack that will eventually win, and 23Skidoo.

[edited to add links I was too stupid to put in to begin with]

See the Difference

2007-12-15T13:29:00.001-05:00

See the Difference
Originally uploaded by butchhoward

Going through stacks of pictures to load up the flickr album and ran across this one. Mary has no memory of seeing this sign outside Morgan City, Louisiana, but she is the one that spotted the sign while we were going to visit her folks on that vacation trip. She busted out laughing when she saw the sign. Then she made us take a side trip over the bridge, through the town back over a different bridge, back the way we came a couple of miles to a turn around, and then stop to take a few shots to get a decent picture of it.

And when I showed her the picture today she laughed just as hard, but could not remember any of that. We need to take more pictures.

Jelly

2007-12-14T01:32:00.001-05:00

Jelly
Originally uploaded by butchhoward

Posting from flickr to demonstrate for CC.

First Spam!

2007-12-12T23:44:00.000-05:00

I just got my first comment spam tonight! And what a spam it was. It was on a post from two months ago and of course had nothing to do with the post. I saved it off in a text file before I deleted it. If anyone is interested in reading it, let me know and I will email it to you.

Note that while I allow anonymous comments, I do require 'word verification' (captcha) which makes it unlikely a bot entered this comment.

Some features of the comment:

It does not have any URLs in its content which would seem to make it useless for SEO.
It does have three email addresses at one point.
It is somewhat stream of consciousness, but not entirely. It has something of a structure.
It has a lot to say about the end of the world.

It is 405,854 bytes or 62019 words long.

WPBT Nutcracker Trip Recital 2008 Report

2007-12-12T19:51:00.000-05:00

The first thing I did when I got to the casino Friday night was find a group of familiar faces and get the plan for the weekend. I found a gang in the middle of a crowd and headed their way dodging the strange characters and gawking at the madness going on around me. It is amazing how much noise the rattle and clatter of the business makes when added to the voices and laughter and shouts. The lights and sights and sounds and costumes are all a bit overwhelming to someone who does not get out very much.

I was taking in some of the people and servers and players when I noticed one in particular that was wearing a chef's hat and top. "Wow," I thought, "That girl looks just like my daughter Caitlin." After a second look and a long pause I had to say, "Hey that is my daughter! What is she doing here!"

Then I looked around and realized to my horror that this was NOT a casino in Vegas but the backstage of a local high school auditorium. These characters around me were not playing poker. They were all dressed to dance as angels, princesses, flowers, candy canes, mice, and toy soldiers. Not only that, by I was dressed in a period costume and so must be dancing in that show too! What happened? How did I get shanghaied into a small town production of the Nutcracker instead of joining the degenerates in poker mecca?

Actually I was not shanghaied. This is the sixth year I have danced in my childrens' dance recitals as either comic relief with other dads in the spring recitals or as background in the winter production with other couples. The beautiful daughter has been dancing for 9 years and the son has been mixed in a few of those when he felt the urge.

It is always a lot of fun. The kids and the instructors (both groups the real dancers) never make too much fun of how badly we do. At least not while we are within earshot anyway. We all have a pretty good time, get to dance with our children and see how hard they work and how hard it is to do what they make seem easy.

I did take cards and chips in case we had time to get a game going backstage during the break between shows. While Caitlin was all for it, I got the evil eye from the wife and so kept them hidden in my pack instead. Maybe next time I will manage to get table going without getting busted by the moms.

Now if someone will just schedule a blogger event that does not land on top of one of the kids' events maybe Mary and I can use it as an excuse to get away for a few days. Let's see, I think we will have a month free after Nelson turns 18 and that's only six years away...

Big Wide (Holiday) Grin

2007-12-08T10:55:00.000-05:00

A surprise package came in the mail yesterday with christmas music that even this affirmed Bah Humbug early-part-of-the-book Scrooge enjoys.

I really dread this time of year for the tympanum rattling noise called christmas carols. Even a small number of times being stuck somewhere listening to bits of badly done christmas 'classics' is enough to get my teeth grinding.

The Big Wide Grin Holiday album is something different and special. This album has a collection of the common classics done in an uncommon manner. The arrangements are jazzy and the vocals have the beautiful folk-jazz mix I love about Elaine, Lambert, and Karl (the members and former band name of Big Wide Grin). If you dislike christmas music as much as I do, this collection will be a welcome relief from all that other junk. If you actually like christmas music you will absolutely love this.

The Big Wide Grin Holiday album is available at the band's web site and from CD Baby. Buy several and pass them out to save as many people as possible from bad christmas music. The other Big Wide Grin and E.L.K albums are pretty special, too.

Thanks to Tory for sending this album to me. I am sorry I do not keep in touch better than I do. I am very glad that you do.

Thanks to Tory's brother Karl, band mates Elaine and Lambert, and everyone else that helped make this beautiful music.

Need a Job?

2007-12-04T16:03:00.000-05:00

Nokia has some open positions for software engineers in my office and other places in the U.S. Mention my name if you take an interest in one of these:

Alpharetta, GA
U.S.A.

Bah Humbug

2007-12-03T12:46:00.000-05:00

I was buzzing through the house doing something when I overheard my wife laughing on the phone to her eldest niece about the upcoming christmas gathering. The main problem was how to manage the secret santa list for a family spread all over the country. Mary was laughing and saying, "But you would know everyone's secret santa! And how do I know you wouldn't just keep drawing names until you got one you wanted?"

My brain was distracted by something or other. Some part of it was hearing this conversation, recording, analyzing, problem solving, and coming up with a solution pretty much on automatic and without much oversight and control from higher functions. It does this continually, but most of the work product is filed quietly away and sometimes even classified to some level or even erased so as not to be accidentally divulged at some inopportune moment.

The mouth, somehow having gotten the results of the current analysis and having decided to act on its own, blurts out, "Let the computer do it."

Mary tells the niece to hold on a sec, asks me what I said. So the mouth obligingly repeats. Mary asks for clarification. My brain is catching up to my mouth by now and I can see no way. I tell her that I could write a simple program that could make the random selection of names so that the niece would not have to draw from a hat and so would not see who selected whom.

This gets passed on to the niece as: "Butch says he can build us a web site that will take a list of all our email addresses, draw the names, and send everyone an email with the name drawn for them."

Ummm. Yeah sure that's what I said. But it sounded like a somewhat fun small project, so why not. I am starting to think about data tables, selections, and how this is kind of like dealing from a deck of cards. When Mary, the classic Product Manager with a raging case of featuritis, asks if I can make it where some people cannot draw certain other people like siblings excluded from siblings and such. After a second of thought I say yeah I can do that. And my problem solving design engine brain is getting up a nice head of steam.

Mary Product Manager lets me know that Niece One will have collected all the email addresses by end of day and Niece Two will have collected three gift suggestions to go on the wish list for each person - oh by the way the web page should show a wish list for each of us - and we need to have this done soonest so everyone has plenty of time for shopping so get cracking kiddo.

Yes Ma'am.

So I amble over to my desk to start to work. First task at hand: Review the existing products for ideas.

google secret santa

Second task: Make the Build or Buy decision. I play with the top two sites from the google search for about 30 minutes and see that both of them have 98% of the features that Product Manager Mary has added since the original phone call. The price of both is Zero since they seem to be driven by ad revenue. The main cost is the giving up of an email address. They both have privacy statements that say some words to make you think that they will not do profitable things with the information they gather from you but really mean that you can be sure of getting some more spam. For me and mine this is handled by using our spam-only email addresses. For the rest of our kin I feel somewhat bad, but then only a little since it is not likely to increase the amount of spam they already get by much. I pick the site that looks best to me (Elfster).

I shout, "Hey Mary! I'm done. Do you have those email addresses yet?"

For about 30 seconds I was seen as a heroic hacker able to cobble together a useful and clever tool in short order.

But then it dawned on her that I was not explaining what I had built, but what I had found. She became somewhat indignant and started complaining about how she had being telling the family that I was going to write us a custom web site and all I did was Google something up. Explaining the Build or Buy choice did not go anywhere and it was about an hour before things cooled off. She finally accepted that zero dollars and 1 hour were a much better deal than a couple of days of my time especially since the existing site does 98% of what we want.

In the end we spent about three hours with most of that being Mary on the phone chasing down email addresses. The Buna Gathering Christmas Secret Santa list is done, the santas are secret, The only thing left for me (since I do NOT shop) is to get Mary and the kids to the party in the tiny town of Buna, Texas sometime at the end of December where I hope to be able to find a quiet corner with a live internet connection.

And so it begins.
Bah Humbug.

Loosey Goosey

2007-11-27T22:31:00.000-05:00

Nelson has been having some pain in his shoulder joints when he does his head-over-heals tumbling runs and he-man girl-catching during cheer practice. We visited our favorite Orthopedic Surgeon for advice this week. She went down the list of questions you would expect: when did the pain start, where does it hurt, is it one arm more than the other, and so on. He'd been through these same questions a few times with us, his coaches, and the family doctor so was pretty much bored with the whole process by then. The doc told us how the shoulder socket works, how the muscles and ligaments hold it together, the kinds of problems that can cause this kind of pain, how we need to get xrays to see if there is any damage around that area and such.

She started talking about how sometimes the ligaments can be somewhat loose and allow the ball in the socket slide up to the edge and sometimes out of the socket which is the big concern and what we have to guard against. Then Nelson says, "You mean like when I do this?" and raises his arm, does something that causes his shoulder to move so a visible gap forms at the end where his collar bone stops. The doctor pauses in her talk about tests and possible issues and says, "Well that's the problem. He shouldn't be able to do that. He is just all Loosey Goosey in his ligaments. We need to get him tightened up."

Now it's off to physical therapy so he can learn the exercises that will tighten up the muscles that will keep his joints from moving around and causing pain and will maybe also keep his shoulders from dislocating in those high stress stunts and catches.

She is a Trial

2007-11-27T19:29:00.000-05:00

Caitlin has unilaterally decided to stop watching Buffy in the middle of season six (Willow is just trying to kick the habit) and to instead rewatch all of Dead Like Me from the beginning. I think this will be the third or fourth time though Dead while Buffy has yet to be finished. I cannot decide whether she is doing this to make me suffer in some subtle 16-year-old daughter way or she is simply trying to stretch the pleasure of the new shine of the Buffiverse out for as long as possible. Maybe some of both. Since we generally watch these things together that means I have to rewatch Dead also. Well, "Have To" in the sense that I choose not to invoke the "Because I Said So" clause in the father daughter relationship contract over this. Dead is better the fourth time than most of the junk available on cable the first time.

They Forgot Some Factors in the Calculation

2007-11-27T00:53:00.000-05:00

It would take 33 bottles of McMenamins Dry Irish Stout to kill me

By the time I had finished the second bottle I would be very nearly asleep and unable to hoist any more. I would be soundly snoring by the end of the three hour drinking period used in the calculations. The next morning I would have, not just a hangover, but a raging migraine that would almost certainly turn to a level 7 puke fest by noon. I would most likely aspirate a gob and die during one of the porcelain-god prayer sessions.

It clearly would only take two beers to kill me.

Note that I used that stout because the site did not list Mackeson's Triple Stout as an option. If I am going to uncork my head by uncorking a brew, it well better be my favored stout.

All Hallow's Eve

2007-10-31T22:00:00.001-04:00

The boy being a bit Elfish for the fun night.

The girl being a pointed-eared Vampire who does not have her game face on (we could not get the fangs to stick).

And her new dragon tattoo.

Happy Birthday

2007-10-30T17:57:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday Mary

You are not as old as me yet, so quit worrying about it.

I love you,
Your husband

Why is Water so Cheap?

2007-10-30T09:00:00.000-04:00

For anyone who has not noticed, Georgia and many other parts of the country have problems with supplying enough water for all the current and expected near-future needs. Locally, the main reservoir, Lake Sydney Lanier, is dramatically low with boat ramps and docks dry and closed. Georgia, Florida, and Alabama are starting court battles over the amount of water being released from the lake with Georgia fighting to have it reduced and the others, along with the Federal Government in the form of the EPA, claiming requirements to keep a certain flow level for down-stream needs (of certain clams and fishes possibly). The levels in the main aquifers beneath the state, and that are shared with all the adjacent states, have been falling steadily for the past 40 years. Agricultural, industrial, and residential growth with its companion increases in water uses have grown at a steady clip in the state for the past half century. Every three or four years we hit a drought-level crisis and the response is the same: water restrictions, watering bans, closing businesses that depend on high water use such as car washes, landscaping, and water parks.

In 1978 I was stationed in Monterey, CA wearing a blue uniform and saluting older men with shiny bits of metal on their shoulders. As I was settling in for a year of language study to understand when some Russion pilot said he was dropping a bomb, Monterey county was coming out of a two-year drought which had seen such drastic measures and more. One that they used which has been discussed in this area recently is to use water meters that cut off at a set point (it was 1000 gallons in Monterey). If your meter shut off it cost $1000 to get it turned back on with repeat offenses escalating the fines. Paulding county Georgia has not started using auto-shutoff meters, but has implemented $1000 fines for violating the total outdoor watering ban. I expect that will be so difficult to monitor and enforce that the big brother meters will soon follow there and in other counties.

Such drastic measures might work, but there seems to be a method that is much simpler to implement and likely more effective in both driving conservation and rasing revenue needed to build infrastructure: raise the cost of water.

My family should serve as a somewhat typical example. We are a four-person household with two children, two dogs, and sundry other pets in a typical 2300 square foot middle class suburban home on a half-acre lot. We take no special efforts to conserve water, but do not over use it either. We do not water the lawn, but that is less conservationist bent than laziness on the my part. I made sure that the yard had reasonably drought tolerant varieties because I did not want to pay for sprinkler systems and knew I would never be interested in wasting weekends tending a lawn. We also do not wash the cars in the drive, but that is also less conservationist and more that the son finds the high pressure sprayer at the car wash more fun than the low pressure hose at the house. We all generally take showers and they probably average the average for folks like us. We adults are likely the most near average of the group in terms of time-in-shower. The son tends to take 5-second showers which he is forced to repeat once or twice until we are sure he has actually gotten water on most of his body. The daughter tends to shower until the hot water is gone. Between the two of them they average and average person of shower time. There is always laundry and dishes to be done and one or two loads of either are washed every other day or so. The dogs, fish, and bird also consume a sip or two every day.

In the six years we have lived in this house our monthly water bill has never exceeded the minimum required and is about $12 for the month. That is a crazy low cost for water given the current conditions which have not sprung up suddenly but have been on us for a very long time. On top of that we have no incentive to save more water over what we do now other than good wishes for our large community, because it will not cost us any less money (and money generally talks louder than good wishes). So the volume they are billing on for the minimum charge is probably too large and should be cut by something like 30% or so to get our attention.

Let's use that minimum monthly amount as a base amount and the current minimum billing for a base rate. I say we change the billing so that anyone going over that base amount pay considerably more than the base rate for the overage. Say 10 times more. Then keep going up the scale for anyone going over twice the base amount to 100 times the base rate for the charge per gallon over. Keep going higher them more they use and let each customer decide just how important the water is for there specific purpose. The only time you have to actually shut off someone's water supply is for nonpayment the same as now when there is not a drought crisis. Perhaps I have rigged this so my life habits do not have to change at all. Maybe the power of 10 increases are too much, or too little, I don't really know. The point is that people that use more should pay more and anyone who really wants to use more and can pay should be allowed to pay and go.

Sure you have to publicize this for several months before flipping the switch. That will give time for the billing department to update the software to generate the bills. The accountants and others might argue that is a massive procedure change, but, as a software guy, I assure you, it is a software change and a not very complex one at that. There will be no need to replace the existing meters with expensive auto shutoff meters. There will be no need to divert police or sheriff staff from important work or, worse, hire more water department staff to patrol for scofflaws. Just read the meter and send the bill the same way they do now. Sure, there will be bill collection problems, but we have those already.

If old Mr. Jones thinks his azaleas are worth $100 a month to water, good on him. If the car wash owner thinks he can raise costs enough to cover water expenses without driving away too much business, good on him. Perhaps the water costs go up enough to make it worth installing the higher volume water recycling system in the car wash. In both cases we all win. Most people use less water. Those who use more pay for it, convert to more efficient systems, or stop using it all together in the case of businesses that cannot profit at that cost.

The only addition I would make to the current infrastructure is for all wells to have meters and to be changed the same as if the water was coming from the public water system. If not exactly the same then being charged some rate that accounts for the reduced cost of not having to process the water out the first time through. The idea that sinking a well gets you free water is ludicrous to me. That well water comes from one of the few common supplies of water that we have. In north Georgia, sinking a well means you are tapping a common pool of water that serves everyone from Alabama to Virginia not a little private pool. The fact that it was not processed though a treatment plant and might not (maybe not) be sent back through that treatment plant saves some money on the use of that infrastructure, but does not account for the loss of the water from the common pool. It is no different than running a pipe into the local river or into Lake Lanier and I am certain that the Corps of Engineers would pitch a fit about that. I have not formulated a good argument for why this is different from building a cistern and catching rain water, but I am certain that it is.

I generally trust the free market to determine what is the best price for a good and how best to distribute things around. I am sure the anarcho-capitalists probably have some ideas on how to let the markets do their thing. I know California has done something with property rights when it comes to water in aquifers, but I am not sure how well that has worked out. Maybe Megan can point me to some resources on that. There might be a market that can handle the water resources and we might be able to get from where we are to there without too much disruption, but I don't see that as likely. In any case market based solutions need a long gestation period to grow from where we are to something else that will work without killing the host getting there. In the meantime, the resource is in the hands of the government at several different levels and the least painful way for them to manage the problem is to pretend to be a market and otherwise stay out of the way.

It would be important for the revenue from the increased fees from the water collections to be used for water infrastructure and not dumped into the general revenue pool. You have to do this both to keep the politicians from funding every pet project with the proceeds and to make sure that most of it actually goes into research and development of water resources and infrastructure. I would expect a large portion of it to go to refund portions of property taxes and other taxes in order to keep the overall affect of the cost increase mostly revenue neutral. Not completely neutral because we really do need more reservoirs, more treatment plants, incentives for large buildings to use gray water systems, money for cities to replace ancient underground transport (Hello Atlanta!), etc.

Come on Governor Perdue, raise the cost of water already. Then get out of our way.

Fifty-Fifty Seat For Cheap

2007-10-28T18:56:00.000-04:00

I played in the RakeTheRake $32.5k freeroll for the players in their rakeback program today. Pretty much played like the donkey I am and went out really early with TT falling to JJ. My head has been aching since I cut the grass this afternoon and has me a bit distracted. I wish that was the only excuse for the crappy play, but I have been playing badly for a while now. I took some magic potions the brain wizard prescribed for me, ate a sammich, and played some FTPoints satellites for distractions. I went out 4th in the first one and won the second for a seat in tonight's 50-50. Woo Hoo!

So, I'll be playing the 50-50 tonight at 9:30 eastern and, if I can get this donkey head removed from my shoulders, maybe something good will happen. I'm sure the ranks will swell when we are closer to the start, but two hours out there are only 74 players signed on. The only one I recognize is Annette_15, the big winner of the WSPOE. There is one red-letter player, PearlJammer, who research shows is a hotshot in the 99.97 percentile of the Pocket Fives player database (whatever that means).

I am too much of a fonkey for any of this to worry me, it just means, this is going to be a fun game. Watch the twitter panel for the play-by-play. I'll update with a summary after I'm done.

Update: 1.5 Hours in.

Out in 477th of 982. Dealt AA in middle position. Make the 3x bet. Called by one. flop comes KJT. ick. bet pot, reraised all in. I really should be able to fold those. Lots of hand that would call beat me. But this time I lost to Q9o. double ick.

Cheaper Than Hotels in Adelaide

2007-10-27T16:18:00.000-04:00

This post is sponsored by Cheaper Than Hotels.

A few years ago I spent a week in Sydney at the behest of my employer. That was the first time I had been out of the country other than a weekend excursion into Mexico from the hinterlands of west Texas that does not really count. This particular trip to Sydney was for no reason other than to appease a customer with my being there doing nothing that I could not have done from Atlanta. I had already caved in to the boss and agreed to go when I realized that I would be gone for my wife's birthday with no way the company was footing the bill to send her along. It was a nervous cold sweat explaining that one even with the boss's promise of a fine night out when I got back as an attempt to make up for it. One day I should resurrect the post from the old blog for that story.

Perhaps if we had known about Cheaper Than Hotels and they covered Sydney the way they do Adelaide, then the savings over, or maybe at, the toney joint I stayed would have been enough for her to tag along and spared me much domestic upset.

They probably do cover Sydney since they seem to cover Brisbane as well as Adelaide. I am not really sure why I am been asked to mention Brisbane in this post since it is all the way across the continental knuckle from Adelaide, but there you go. Both cities look to have have the usual collection of traveler's delights along with each having its own unique collection of sights and adventures.

If you are going to Brisbane or Adelaide, put on your sun glasses and check out the very bright yellow and red web pages of Cheaper Than Hotels.

Not With A Ten Foot Pole

2007-10-25T16:01:00.000-04:00

Heard on an Air Tran radio spot today at lunch:

Technology so advanced, it barely even exists!

The jaded software engineer that I am hears this as, "We had to go live with it with a much shorter QA cycle than we planned and no one is happy about that!"

And so shouts, in his best Monty Python voice, "Run Away! Run Away!"

Birmingham Hotels [Sponsored Post]

2007-10-17T09:53:00.000-04:00

This post is brought to you by CheaperThanHotels.co.uk.

I was at first somewhat impressed when this assignment landed in my inbox. Then I decided it must be just coincidence for me to live somewhat close to Birmingham and to get a marketing request to write about a site that has discounts on Birmingham Hotels. A second read showed that to be true since I was thinking Alabama and the ad is for that city in England. So the targeting of writers to marketers is less than perfect. I know a little something about that part of the world. I know it is near Cardiff where a famous Doctor often tries to visit, but never seems to land quite on target. Beyond that I am somewhat at a loss. There appear to be other large cities nearby, but as small as the British Isles are, everything is nearby.

Put your sunglasses on before you click the links. The bright reds and yellows will either get your attention or blind you. The name of the site is Cheaper Than Hotels, but everything I see listed is a hotel. If there are what we would call Bed and Breakfasts listed somewhere or anything else that is not a hotel, they are well hidden. The prices seem reasonably good for hotel rooms, if I have done the rate conversions in my head correctly.

If you are going to be in Birmingham, England and need a Hotel room, it could save you some money to check CheaperThanHotels.co.uk.

Auto Insurance [Sponsored Post]

2007-10-16T16:36:00.000-04:00

This post brought to you by Advantage Auto Quotes.

Advantage Auto Quotes has an online quote process that generates the least expensive auto insurance policy from a large list of companies. The policy is tailored to fit your vehicle type, driving experience, and driving record. They offer coverage for sports cars, classic cars, gap coverage for new cars and leased vehicles, business insurance, poor driver rates, teen driver policies, and more. It looks like the cover everything except motorcycles. They claim to have the lowest rates around.

If you are shopping for new auto insurance or looking for ways to cut some dollars off you monthly expenses, take a look at Advantage Auto Quotes.

Blogsvertise

2007-10-16T11:14:00.000-04:00

This is a sponsored post.

I am going to experiment with the Blogsvertise program to see what kind of products they ask me to write about and what kind of fees they pay for a blog that gets so few hits as mine. I will identify these at the top of the post so you can avert your eyes if this type of post offends you.

One difference I see in the Blogsvertise program is that their rules do not require you to promote the product or service. You just have to link to it three times in a post. You are free to say anything about it that you choose. I wonder how that works in practice. I expect that bloggers that post consistently empty or highly negative posts find that they get few plum assignments.

One thing I stumbled on that I will warn you about is the extremely short Blogsvertise password length. I have a preference for substantial passwords that are easy to formulate but hard to guess. The 15 character limit on the password field caused two and a half problems for me. The first is that the password was cut off as I was typing it with no real warning that it was cut off. The second problem was that when I entered the password to log in, instead of just cutting off at the limit, the extra characters typed become the last character making the entered password incorrect. Both of these are really a problem for the input form and not for the designers, but having a longer password would get past these problems.

The 'half' problem is that when I sent a Lost Password request, the site sent the current password to me in email in plain text. That's kind of bad in a couple of ways. First you should never be storing plain text passwords in your database, you should be storing a digest (MD5 or SHA1) instead and that is what you should be sending over the air. It would also be better to reset the password to something random and require me to change that on my next login. The main point is that 15 characters is much too short for a password. 64 is a minimum, but it should really be very large. You should not care how large because you are only going to be storing the digest which is a fixed size.

I will keep you posted on the progress of the Blogsvertise experiment.