2012/09/01
WiMAX modem password was once “motorola”
Trivial things are not for me
2011/03/21
Probably my favorite poem, so far.
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven by William Butler Yeats
2011/03/19
Another of My Unusual Ideas
I was once told by a girl that my hands were soft like a baby. I had only just met her that day and she wasn't trying to insult me, but I wasn't sure how to take it. I think I replied "...Thanks... I guess."
Anyway; I still have soft hands, so when I received the dumb-bells I ordered I found the grips a bit harsh. They're bare metal with an etched cross pattern. People told me to buy lifting gloves if it bothers me to much, which I have ordered. I had another idea, though. I decided handlebar tape might be a good way to go.
My brother's been into high end racing bicycles for years, so I was familiar with the product (he gave me a weird look, when I told him about my idea. He's also one of the people who told me to buy gloves). I found some handlebar tape for a reasonable price on amazon.com. In the box that came was enough tape for a road bicycle's handlebar, so you'll have plenty of tape left over. That's good, because if/when it wears out you won't have to buy more for a while. The handlebar tape came with two pre-cut strips of electrical tape to finish the ends. This may have been enough, but I decided to tape both ends of each grip (on bicycles you generally use tape near what I think are called the stem and headset. The other ends are generally capped at the hollow openings of the handlebars, but we don't have that option here. I used black electrical tape that's 7.5 mil thick and 3/4 inches wide. You may be able to use narrower tape, but I only just put this into practice so you'll have to find out on your own. You can also color coordinate if you want. I chose the blue and black tape, mostly because they were the least expensive, at the time. I've included pictures of the finished product below, to help you all see what I'm writing about.
So far, I'm liking it. Say what you will, but it's much more comfortable. Some people make arguments against lifting gloves and that type of thing. But I can't say I care. I don't want to have calluses on my hands.
Have fun.
2008/08/09
Tread softly
En-wrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet,
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams
- W.B. Yeats
2008/06/15
2007/11/10
My Headset Microphone Crapped Out
One day I'm talkin' clear as day, and the next it's dark as night. I have a Plantronics DSP-500 USB digital headset, and for the most part I've been pretty happy with it. But then the microphone started bugging out. At first, I thought it was some kind of software issue, because I could see the operating system struggling to automatically adjust the sound level. Then, at some point I noticed that when I adjusted the location of the microphone, the sound would cut in and out. That's when I realized that there was a problem with the physical connection of the internal wiring assembly. In other words, fixing this wasn't going to be fun. You'll see. I took a few pictures during the discovery and repair process.
Not fun... but on the bright side, I got it done.
It turned out that the wiring for the microphone had been severed. The folding mechanism that lets you tuck away the microphone into the headset had caught the wire, and eventually cut through most of it. And the wire is not easy to repair. In construction, the wire is very similar to the ones used on the AC adapters for Apple Powerbook G4's that supply Direct Current. Strands of insulated wire are underneath more insulated strands of wire. One set of wires is (+) while the other is (-). It's kind of like the Russian doll of wiring designs. I repaired the wire in my headset, but I'm sure there is a more efficient way of doing it than the method I used. Then again, I don't have the proper tools for this kind of work.
Oil Painting Demonstration
One of the local artist associations held an oil painting demonstration, two nights ago. The demonstrator is a local painter from Rockport, I think. His painting was ok, and it was interesting enough to watch him paint and ask a few questions. But that guy who used to teach people to paint on PBS was more of a showman. A quick search for "PBS afro painter" revealed his name and the name of his show to me. You may remember Bob Ross and his show "The Joy of Painting." It was always worth watching. He just had that kind of talent/personality. Here's a picture from Thursday nights demonstration:
The Sky Is Falling! or at least some dead tree tops
On November 3rd, 2007, hurricane Noel sent the top of a tree crashing down into the driveway. The good news is nobody got hurt, and neither of the cars got damaged. My parents were out of town with their car, so only my brother's car was parked there. Check out the pictures, and read on.
The SAAB is usually parked where the tree top fell, behind my parents van, so that gives you an idea of what might of happened. The evergreens in this area of the world have been dying from some disease, and there are five very large trees (some dead, some dying) in our neighbors yard, right now.
People seam surprised about the spread of the disease that is killing these trees. I'm of the opinion that it's spreading because there haven't been any forest fires in the area that haven't been stopped. Fire is natures way of cleaning up. At least it used to be. Now people inject antibiotics into tree trunks. What can I tell you? It's become an even crazier world than we thought.
Lamest Halloween Ever. Although, the weather was nice.
I'll put it this way. I was back home at around 9:00 p.m. The event planning for this annual celebration in Salem, MA has always been fairly disappointing. People want to come there and enjoy the spectacle of Halloween in Salem, and the city acts as if that's a bad thing. In the past, when I was with my friends, the police would start herding people out of the area by force at 10:00 p.m. I didn't stick around long enough to see what happened this year, but the local news reports said the night ended in violence again. What kind of idiot's are in charge of that city? At some point they should hire some consultants to run the event, because they obviously don't know how to handle it. Oh well. At least the weather was nice, and I didn't have to travel too far.
2007/10/25
Encase you were wondering
I've decided to post the text of the Ten Commandments from the Bible, provided in English, using the Orthodox translation and formatting I found on Wikipedia. Various religions and denominations group the commandments differently. If you're curious enough, you can check them out for yourself by following this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments
The Ten Commandments:
- I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other gods before me
- Thou shalt not make for thyself an idol
- Thou shalt not make wrongful use of the name of thy God
- Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
- Honor thy Father and Mother
- Thou shalt not murder
- Thou shalt not commit adultery
- Thou shalt not steal
- Thou shalt not bear false witness
- Thou shalt not covet
These shouldn't be too hard for anyone to remember or follow.
Ten Commandments... ummmm? Hilarious & Sad.
This is the first posting I've made in a long time. Nobody has heard from me in a while. I'm too busy sinking into a massive depression while job hunting. But while I'm doing that, you can watch this video clip from Comedy Central.
Have fun, and wish me luck in my job search. I have to find a job soon. There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to. I'm much smarter than the Congressman being interviewed by Colbert in this clip.
2007/05/31
About Me
- What’s your dream job location? - Cambridge, MA
- How would you describe your office space? - Surrounded with, computer stuff, work and art.
- Why do you work? - I recently read in the news about a theory that altruism is genetically programed into our minds as a source of satisfaction. I feel the same can be said about work, when I have created something that others and myself are able to appreciate. This is especially true when I have worked exceptionally hard to accomplish the goals of a project.
- What’s your career ambition? - I want to be the person who changes the way people think about each other, and to lead them towards a better future.
- What’s your dream job? - Art Director
- What was your first real job? - Computer Lab Assistant, North Shore Community College, Danvers, MA 01923
- Who have you most admired in your career? - John Duff, who was the Adviser to the newspaper organization I worked with.
- How would your coworkers describe you? - As a Super Hero.
- What’s your lunchtime ritual? - I haven't had lunch yet. Is it really 4:00 p.m.? Wow! I'm starving. I'd better have lunch now.
- What three things at work do you find most satisfying? - Doing great work, working with people, and helping others do their best.
- What’s the most rewarding thing about your job? - The work I've created.
- What book are you currently reading? - Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide by Eric A. Meyer, An O'Reilly book.
- What’s playing on your playlist? - Nothing, right now.
- What do you do to blow off steam? - I don't usually have steam.
- What’s your morning commute like? - I read a newspaper.
- What’s most surprising about your company’s culture? - The only time I'm surprised, is when I know I'm not getting the best from someone.
- What are your pets’ names? - Iera (Hera, in English). It wasn't my idea.
2007/02/22
Stranger!
Yesterday (2/21/2007) was a pretty good day (I started writing this on 2/22/2007). My girlfriend and I had dinner, drinks, and ice-cream with a friend of hers that helped us arrange our trip to Bali, Indonesia. Actually, she didn't help us, she arranged the whole trip for us. Luckily, our friend is a travel agent.
Around 9:40 p.m. we finished having drinks and headed home (her sister's home). We were coming home on the 9301 bus in Seoul, and since the ride is fairly long we were also taking a nap. I was having trouble resting though, because we were sitting above the left rear wheels and their vibrations were tickling my feet. Sounds strange, but it's true.
While I was fidgeting and repositioning my feet, the corner of my eye caught some activity across the isle. I wasn't exactly sure what it was at the moment, I just felt like something out of the ordinary was happening. I then saw a kind of puzzled and startled look on the face of a girl in the window seat. She seemed nervous and uncomfortable, and the source of those feelings seemed to be coming from the man resting in the seat next to her. But, if anything happened, I hadn't seen anything (for sake of record, this was at about 10:40 p.m.). As I was watching, the man seemed to have been disturbed by her nervous activity, and opened his eyes. Everything then settled down for a moment, but I suspected something, so I kept my eyes on them.
Almost immediately after she sat down to go back to sleep, I saw the man move his hand onto her left knee, and I was as shocked as she was about the whole thing. Maybe not as shocked as her about it, but pretty shocked. She knew exactly what happened this time, and said something to him while pushing his hand away. He then tried to shush her quietly into submission while continuing to pursue his actions. She then started slapping his hand and arm away, and shuffled as far away from him as she could. But, she could only move so close to the wall of the bus in her seat. After being able to stop his sexual assault, she stood up from her seat and went to stand near the exit of the bus.
I woke up my girlfriend, explained to her what I had just witnessed, and told her which two people were involved in the whole event. Neither one of us knew exactly what to do. The girl needed to wait for her bus stop to get home, and while we were contemplating what to do next the girl started crying. I asked my girlfriend to try and console her in some way, but she wasn't sure what she could say to help her. I then suggested a few things to say, and got up from my seat so that my girlfriend could go talk to her. When my girlfriend came back, she seemed to feel a little better after somebody showed that they cared about her and what happened. Eventually, her stop came and she got of the bus.
The guy that molested her was still sitting across the isle from us, and was pretending that nothing happened. He even made a call with his mobile to let his family know he was on his way home. We still weren't sure what we could do that would result in any consequences for him, but we were trying to think of something. I then suggested we take a photo of him, and post his image with a full explanation of the event. We both liked that idea, so I did take a photo of him with my camera. But, we were advised not to post his photo by friends and family, for legal reasons of liability for slander. That's only because we don't have any actual proof that he did anything. I know that stinks, but that's the way it is.
I do have some good news, though. My girlfriend and her sister made a visit to the local police department, and told them we have a photo of this guy. The police on duty gave them a card with an e-mail address to send the photo to. So that's where the situation stands so far. My girlfriend has sent the photo to the address she was given, and we don't know what will happen next.
Eh, what the hell. Here's the photo of the guy with a blue rectangle over his face.
2006/08/12
Maybe I'll sleep better at night.
Like most people, I can appreciate a simple life. But, like most people, life doesn't seem that simple to me anymore. Responsibility has become a more important part of my life than I thought it would when I was younger. I'm still able to have fun with my friends. It just takes a bit of scheduling. I dream of a better world, or at least trying to make it better. When am I going to put that into my schedule? If I do anything in my life that takes the world into a new and better direction, maybe I'll sleep better at night.
2006/07/12
Happy Birthday to me!
It's not my birthday. But, I did start getting presents.
Apparently, it only takes about two days for a relatively small package to arrive from South Korea/Corea, The Republic of Korea/Corea. It seems to go by more than one name.
Any way, my girlfriend decided she wanted to help me celebrate my birthday by sending me a gift (prepared with love, I might add).
She sent it through the mail on the 10th, expecting it would take at least five days to get here. At least that is what the person on staff told her. Surprise! Even though it was early, it turns out the timing worked out pretty well for us, because my Dad brought it home from the post office while I was talking with her. Because of this, we were able to enjoy the moment together, which made it that much better.
She had told me she had a surprise for me. I think I could get used to her surprises.
After debating for a little while whether or not I should open it before my birthday, I decided not to wait. I'm glad she could hear my enjoyment as I was opening it. It couldn't have gone better, without us actually being together in person. I really do miss her.
Now, for all the rest of you. Where are my presents?
2006/07/11
I have neglected this blog. Oh well.
I have neglected this blog for quite some time now.
Oh, well. It's not as if anyone reads it any way.
I am without a job again. So, the search is on again. Maybe I'll go back to college first. That would be the smart move.
I will still need money, though.
It's another case of the chicken or the egg.
2006/04/29
It makes me happy
I read that The Smashing Pumkins are in the process of creating new music for an upcoming album. Since the band broke up, and hasn't existed for a few years, it's big news (at least it is to their fans).
From what I read, it has been an ongoing rumor about the band since their self-destruction. But, now it has been confirmed, that they wil be a band again, on both Billy's and The Smashing Pumpkins web-site.
I just felt like spreading the news.
Later...
2006/04/18
Day Three
The download continues. These ISO's are big, I tell you. There are also quite a few of them, since I decided to get both PPC and i386 versions of the linux installs.
They'll finish downloading from the torrent network, some day. Only then will I try installing at least one of them.
Then I'll stop being a nerd. I promise.
2006/04/16
I don't know why I bother
For whatever reason, I started downloading ISO images of Linux/UNIX based installers for PPC based systems. It started out as plain curiousity. But the downloads are taking so long that I'm starting to regret it. Maybe I should try and learn something from that "Curiousity killed the cat" phrase that I've heard so often.
I just thought that maybe these installations might breath some new life into my old Macs. But, I don't need my old Macs. I just have them for sentimental reasons. Nerdy ones.
I can be such a geek. Oh well.
2006/04/13
Big Bang Theory
We had some Spring showers today that included a thunder/lightening storm, and some hail was thrown into the mix. All the noise and flashes of light really freaked out my dog. She never did like thunder storms. You can't calm her down. You just have to hold her until it's over. I wouldn't call it a problem. I do feal sorry for her. Oh well. Such is a dog's life.
2006/04/09
A Photo of Me
Once in a while, I'd been trying to think of what photo I want to use as my blogger photo. Well, this is it.
A few years ago, a friend of mine took a b&w photo of me from behind, and above while I was painting. Later on, when I would design pamphlets and brochures and things I decided to include a postage size version of this photo with my written credit on the back. I like it. Hope you do too.
Have fun...
2006/04/07
Time to make a to-do-list
Move out of the house
Obtain Greek citizenship
Get a decent job
Finish my college studies
Clean my room/get rid of junk
Create a portfolio of my work
Create various resumes
Fix up my Parent's house
Stop being such a tool
Get some sleep 'cause it's late
Structured Procrastination by John Perry
Version of April 25, 1995
I have been intending to write this essay for months. Why am I finally doing it? Because I finally found some uncommitted time? Wrong. I have papers to grade, textbook orders to fill out, an NSF proposal to referee, dissertation drafts to read. I am working on this essay as a way of not doing all of those things. This is the essence of what I call structured procrastination, an amazing strategy I have discovered that converts procrastinators into effective human beings, respected and admired for all that they can accomplish and the good use they make of time. All procrastinators put off things they have to do. Structured procrastination is the art of making this bad trait work for you. The key idea is that procrastinating does not mean doing absolutely nothing. Procrastinators seldom do absolutely nothing; they do marginally useful things, like gardening or sharpening pencils or making a diagram of how they will reorganize their files when they get around to it. Why does the procrastinator do these things? Because they are a way of not doing something more important. If all the procrastinator had left to do was to sharpen some pencils, no force on earth could get him do it. However, the procrastinator can be motivated to do difficult, timely and important tasks, as long as these tasks are a way of not doing something more important.
Structured procrastination means shaping the structure of the tasks one has to do in a way that exploits this fact. The list of tasks one has in mind will be ordered by importance. Tasks that seem most urgent and important are on top. But there are also worthwhile tasks to perform lower down on the list. Doing these tasks becomes a way of not doing the things higher up on the list. With this sort of appropriate task structure, the procrastinator becomes a useful citizen. Indeed, the procrastinator can even acquire, as I have, a reputation for getting a lot done.
The most perfect situation for structured procrastination that I ever had was when my wife and I served as Resident Fellows in Soto House, a Stanford dormitory. In the evening, faced with papers to grade, lectures to prepare, committee work to be done, I would leave our cottage next to the dorm and go over to the lounge and play ping-pong with the residents, or talk over things with them in their rooms, or just sit there and read the paper. I got a reputation for being a terrific Resident Fellow, and one of the rare profs on campus who spent time with undergraduates and got to know them. What a set up: play ping pong as a way of not doing more important things, and get a reputation as Mr. Chips.
Procrastinators often follow exactly the wrong tack. They try to minimize their commitments, assuming that if they have only a few things to do, they will quit procrastinating and get them done. But this goes contrary to the basic nature of the procrastinator and destroys his most important source of motivation. The few tasks on his list will be by definition the most important, and the only way to avoid doing them will be to do nothing. This is a way to become a couch potato, not an effective human being.
At this point you may be asking, "How about the important tasks at the top of the list, that one never does?" Admittedly, there is a potential problem here.
The trick is to pick the right sorts of projects for the top of the list. The ideal sorts of things have two characteristics, First, they seem to have clear deadlines (but really don't). Second, they seem awfully important (but really aren't). Luckily, life abounds with such tasks. In universities the vast majority of tasks fall into this category, and I'm sure the same is true for most other large institutions. Take for example the item right at the top of my list right now. This is finishing an essay for a volume in the philosophy of language. It was supposed to be done eleven months ago. I have accomplished an enormous number of important things as a way of not working on it. A couple of months ago, bothered by guilt, I wrote a letter to the editor saying how sorry I was to be so late and expressing my good intentions to get to work. Writing the letter was, of course, a way of not working on the article. It turned out that I really wasn't much further behind schedule than anyone else. And how important is this article anyway? Not so important that at some point something that seems more important won't come along. Then I'll get to work on it.
Another example is book order forms. I write this in June. In October, I will teach a class on Epistemology. The book order forms are already overdue at the book store. It is easy to take this as an important task with a pressing deadline (for you non-procrastinators, I will observe that deadlines really start to press a week or two after they pass.) I get almost daily reminders from the department secretary, students sometimes ask me what we will be reading, and the unfilled order form sits right in the middle of my desk, right under the wrapping from the sandwich I ate last Wednesday. This task is near the top of my list; it bothers me, and motivates me to do other useful but superficially less important things. But in fact, the book store is plenty busy with forms already filed by non-procrastinators. I can get mine in mid-Summer and things will be fine. I just need to order popular well-known books from efficient publishers. I will accept some other, apparently more important, task sometime between now and, say, August 1st. Then my psyche will feel comfortable about filling out the order forms as a way of not doing this new task.
The observant reader may feel at this point that structured procrastination requires a certain amount of self-deception, since one is in effect constantly perpetrating a pyramid scheme on oneself. Exactly. One needs to be able to recognize and commit oneself to tasks with inflated importance and unreal deadlines, while making oneself feel that they are important and urgent. This is not a problem, because virtually all procrastinators have excellent self-deceptive skills also. And what could be more noble than using one character flaw to offset the bad effects of another?
-----------------
Copyright 1995, John Perry
Here's a URL to where I found his essay: http://www-csli.stanford.edu/~john/procrastination.html
Procrastination game...
I should really finish that product branding/web-site project I started in early March.
Superdrived my Mac today
Well, I put a superdrive in my Mac for a total of just under forty dollars today. Let's hope I do something useful with it.
2006/03/17
2006/03/07
Save me from what I want
I made a rough logo design for that software project my friend is working on yesterday. I e-mailed him a GIF of what I had done so far, asking him to let me know what I should change.
The products name is going to be named "ajax charts", and I only remembered the "ajax" part of the name. That and the "j" of the font I chose looks kind of like a dropped "i". No big deal. I made the changes in a few minutes.
Then as I looked at it more the bitmap part of the logo started looking too blurry to me compared to its super clean vector graphics. That and the proportions looked a little off. Granted I didn't start with a full resolution image, because I had decided to wait on purchasing the image I wanted to manipulate until after my design was approved. But, now I have an excuse to try the 3D editing program on my Mac (blender 2.41).
The trouble with this approach is that blender has a pretty steep learning curve. I could probably create what I want in a few more days, but I already have one ready to go, and the sooner I get this done the better. Still, I want to learn how to use blender. I guess I'll do that on my own time. Oh well. Back to using Illustrator. :-p
2006/03/05
Looks like I have a new project. A friend of mine is a software engineering student at UMass Boston, and he's designing some kind of system for database communications along with another student. It's supposed to liten the burden on server proccesses and network bandwidth. What they would like from me is a product trade-mark, and web-site design. There's no money in it, but it sounds fun, and shouldn't be too difficult. Wish me luck.
2006/03/03
Boston Athenæum today
My parents took me with them to a Harvard-Radcliffe alumni gathering at the Boston Athenæum today. My God-father was there too.It wasn't bad. It Lasted a few ours. There was a small but interesting collection of art work to look at. Gilbert Stuart's Portraits of George and Martha Washington, etc.
The special exhibit is running from February 23 to May 13, 2006. Here's a link to it: Boston Athenæum.
I pretty much went because I knew my God-father would be there too. The portraits were a surprise for me.The Athenæum is actually a privately run library near the capital building. It's pretty nice inside. I took some photo's. Maybe I'll try and post some on this blog.