Frizzlefry Blog

Updates... and numbers...

2009-11-02T17:04:00.000-08:00

A quick post about something I just read about... Apparently, the NSA just put up a new datacenter, and the scale the NSA is using to measure the capacity of the datacenter's storage is in Yottabytes. So, the order goes something like 1 Kilobyte is 1,000 bytes... then 1 Megabyte is 1,000 Kilobytes... then it goes Giga... Tera... Peta... Exa... Zetta... and now Yottabytes!

So, what can you store in a Yottabyte? Well, the answer is somewhere along the lines of the capacity of every civilian hard drive ever purchased... and then some. It's enough space to store about 166 Terabytes of information for every person on the planet... or store about 2.38 Million hours of telephone conversations (at 128kbps... which phone could easily be recorded at 64kbps.) for every person on the planet.

And, now for a little speculation... I have a feeling the datacenter can store multiple Yottabytes of information. Not to mention the datacenter is probably built to allow for expansion.

Here is a table to help visualize the size of a Yottabyte:

1,000 Bytes	= 1 KiloByte
1,000,000 Bytes	= 1 MegaByte
1,000,000,000 Bytes	= 1 GigaByte
1,000,000,000,000 Bytes	= 1 TeraByte
1,000,000,000,000,000 Bytes	= 1 PetaByte
1,000,000,000,000,000,000 Bytes	= 1 ExaByte
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Bytes	= 1 ZettaByte
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Bytes	= 1 YottaByte

Also take note that the milky way galaxy is approximately 95 Yottameters across...

Anyway... other than just being freaked out by the size of the newest NSA datacenter, I'm doing pretty good.

I want one.

2009-10-12T09:34:00.000-07:00

I know it's $200,000... I just really want one. Guess it's time to start saving.

2009-10-08T15:56:00.000-07:00

The Weather has been great in Seattle. I went and took this picture Sunday evening of the Sunset (as I saw it from Renton.) it was a great weekend. Jaani and I went to both the Marrymoor dog park and the Renton dog park. Plus, Jaani met a little French Bulldog to play with.. .as well as Otis, my friends Pitt Bull, was there too. They had fun running around and getting tired. It was fun.

Lately I've started my T-SQL class, and it's going well. The instructor wrote the text book we are using, and that has proven useful in the class.

Other than that, I've been working pretty hard. We lost a team member, because he found a full time job at another company, which means that myself and the only remaining member of our team are the only ones left to run the test passes. I guess it's a lot of work, but at least it keeps me occupied.

I also noticed how everyone seems to be freaking out about the Swine Flu. At least it's all over the news. I looked at Google Trends, and found that everyone is searching for flu related web sites. Looking for at home treatments and countermeasures.

This is a map of the Flu Trends that I got off of Google.org. Historical data has shown that the past flu trends (lighter blue) are fairly accurate. My question is if the media hype built around people who will or will not receive the vaccine has altered this data. Google gets the data from searches related to flu sickness (when you search for flu symptoms, home remedies, ect... Google counts it, and adjusts it based on things they find.)

As you can see, both Michigan and Washington have recently started to spike with Flu related web activity recently, but I think most of this is going to be related to the new vaccines that were released. So, people are trying to learn what they can.

This data is available before the CDC is able to come up with their own statistics, based on people who go to the doctor and are diagnosed, however it is usually within the acceptable error rate allowed by the CDC statistics. In other words, the CDC usually comes up with about the same numbers as Google for these sorts of things.

Anyway... if this data is right, then I'm happy I'm not in Texas! Although I am pretty close to Idaho...

World Flu Trends suggest that Flu related web traffic is highest in the US. Google recently just began tracking these trends in other countries. As you can see, all of North America is at Merderate to High risk for the flu.

The thing that worries me, is that normally the Flu risk isn't this high until January or February, and the risk in the past few years has been the highest recorded. With the exception of 1919.

Anyway... I'm not sure that this means you need to worry about getting the flu any more than normal, but in general more people are getting sick. This current spike may turn out to be just a media frenzy influencing web traffic, but at the same time, we could be on the verge of a real pandemic. Who knows.

Anyway... just some food for thought.

Later,

SteveO

Improv Everywhere is awesome

2009-10-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

I remember these "invisible dog" leashes...

It would be fun to walk around with a group of 2000 people doing the same thing.

BigDog has a little brother... Little Dog (robots)

2009-09-24T10:01:00.000-07:00

I think that big dog is a pretty cool robotics project. I don't know if I want one, but I think it's pretty cool. So, now there is a little dog robot too...

If you don't know what big dog is, take a look at the video below.

Alright, there's an update...

Later,

SteveO

Updating Google Latitude!

2009-09-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

So, I've been complaining about the iPod Touch... and most of all the crappy iTunes Software. Which iTunes is the major reason I don't like the iPod. I made a list for Scott earlier today on Facebook, and I had to stop myself from commenting because the longer I thought about it, the more ways I would come up with that the Zune is so much better than iPod.

The one feature that the iPod Touch has that beats the ZuneHD is that it has a ton of apps. Anyone who has seen an iPhone commercial can tell you that, but I'm sure that will change soon. The funny part, is that Apple is following in the foot steps of Palm with the whole mobile platform you can install apps on, but the simple addition of a multi-touch capacitive touch screen (a touch screen you can accurately use with just your finger, and feels like glass) made all the difference. I guess it helps that Apple has a legion of (often fanatic) followers dedicated to everything Apple (because it's trendy to have an iPod... or as of lately, you can say followers of the Book of Jobs... AKA iPhone/JesusPhone user's manual.) I'm not saying all Apple users are fanatics or anything... not at all, but let's just say that with the exception of the once loyal Zune guy, Microsoft doesn't have nearly as many users dedicated to only use Apple products.

So, what does all this have to do with Google Latitude? Well, one nice thing about the iPod Touch is that it's a PDA that just happens to play music. It synchronizes all of my contacts, calendars, and mail from Google... Plus the Google App gives me easy access to Google Services (Search, Gmail, Calendar, Latitude, Docs, Talk, Tasks, Reader, News (including the new FastFlip), Book Reader, Notebook, Photos, Orkut, Translate, Maps, Youtube, and Earth...) Plus, if I actually had a Google Apps account (a paid intranet service Google offers for Governments, Schools, and Businesses.) I could sync up with that too! So I finally have a portable device that contains the same mail, contact list, to-do list, and calendar as all my home and work computers.

That was a mouth full... However I still haven't gotten to the point.

The point is that I can update Google Latitude with my iPod as long as I can find WiFi... Which there is an app for that. Actually I have a few cool apps for things like: Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, finding WiFi (now that I jailbroke it I can perform a diagnostic and pen test...), Last.fm (which I happen to like more than Pandora.) I've been installing many apps recently, however I'm cheap, and don't want to pay for any of them.

Oh yea, did I mention that it plays music? Yea, who would have thought that an iPod plays music and videos... huh.

Well, anyway. Over all, the iPod Touch is a cool device. I think I'd rather have a ZuneHD, but I can't really argue about a free device. The only thing I wish it had was more storage. I have run in to the problem of filling the dinky 8GB of storage every day, and I am getting more frustrated with trying to narrow my collection to the must have music. So far, I have narrowed my collection of over 30,000 songs down to 1,100 songs and five Video Podcasts. Now I just need to start converting my Video collection so next time I have to fly on a plane I can have my own movie to watch.

Speaking of which, I need to find a ticket to fly home in December... I should look for that.

So, there is an update. More will come soon.

Later,

SteveO

A random thought...

2009-09-17T11:23:00.000-07:00

I just watched an awesome TED Talk: John Lloyd inventories the invisible.

I think I like the end, where Lloyd points out there are only two questions really worth asking:

Why are we here?
What should we do about it?

He finishes by quoting two philosophers.

"I am not sure why we are here, but I am pretty sure it's not to enjoy ourselves."
-- Ludwig Wittgenstein

"We are here on Earth to help others. What the others are here for, I have no idea."
-- W.H. Auden

Guide to buying a game console...

2009-09-17T10:07:00.000-07:00

I found this picture over at The Best Article Every Day

BTW: Aslo from The Best Article Every Day:

"When researchers left 240 wallets scattered around the streets of Edinburgh, Scotland, they inserted an equal number of cute baby, puppy, family, and elderly pictures in them, along with a relevant mailing address. They received 42 percent of the wallets back overall, but 88 percent of the wallets with cute babies in them came back. The researchers suggest it has to do with an evolutionary instinct to preserve the young, so if it’s not terribly embarrassing, keep a cute baby in plain sight in your wallet or purse. If you lack for your own adorable tyke, it’s a great reason to call that aunt you never speak to anymore. (Original Article - Lifehacker.com)"

A new toy, and more coming!

2009-09-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

So, I got an 8GB iPod Touch in the mail yesterday, and to go along with the new toy, I got a couple accessories.

My first accessory is a book on writing games for the iPhone/iPod Touch. I know... I don't have a Mac, which means I can't sell anything I make in the App Store, but there is nothing wrong with learning Objective-C and some of the common iPhone libraries... or I could just start making apps for Cydia because the Apple app store is honestly pretty lame. You know they charge money for the software there. I'm cheap. I get free software. that is free as in freedom... and in this case also free beer. The book on the other hand, was about $30.

The second accessory is an adapter so I can hook my iPod into the auxiliary input on my Honda's factory radio. Every place I looked, they wanted at least $150 for the kit... however, I found a $44 adapter on ebay motors. When I saw that, the first thing to pop into my head was a notice I got from Paypal that said I had $50 that I needed to move, use, or lose. So, I used it on the adapter... which came to a total of about $55. Which meant I really only paid $5... in a way. Because I forgot that seven or eight years ago I put $50 into a Paypal account.

So, I guess I'm all set up. I've got an iPod... but I hate iTunes. I'm going to finish setting the iPod up with rhythmbox tonight so I don't have to use that stupid and ridiculous program. It just takes forever to do anything with iTunes. It took me from about 8:30PM till around midnight just to jailbreak it, and load it up with my Primus collection. I admit I copied the songs over a wireless network to get them on my iPod, but it doesn't take 2 hours to move 1.8GB of music over the network... nor to move it over a USB2.0 device.

I'll see how much faster rhythmbox is at loading song on my iPod. In the mean time, I got Pandora and last.fm apps working on my iPod. It's kinda cool. Once I get my Google contacts and calendars synced to it, I'll have a wonderful media player/PDA device. With no subscription too!

Although, one downfall to getting an 8GB iPod Touch is the lack of Bluetooth. I would love to hook up my jawbone and make free VOIP calls on my iPod, but what are you going to do.

Anyway... I'm supposed to take a picture of my iPod and I, so I can send it to Vyoom with a little note about their RPilot feature. The RPilot, which is a tool bar that loads in the browser window, and allows you to navigate the Vyoom social stream, Facebook status, and Twitter updates. It also lets you update all three at once. The real purpose is when you visit Vyoom, and a member shares a link to a different site, then the RPilot pops up at the top of the page you are viewing outside of Vyoom. Meaning you can navigate back to Vyoom or just check for updates without navigating back to the main site. It's pretty cool actually.

Anyway... it'a about lunch time, so I must get going if I want to eat some food.

Later,

SteveO

How long would one have to work to pay for a Big Mac at McDonald’s

2009-09-11T16:37:00.000-07:00

I found this article... somewhere... I think the title links to the original post... and I kinda stole the picture from it... shhh! don't tell anyone!

anyway... apparently, it only takes about 15 minutes to pay off a Big Mac here in the US, but it takes Almost 160 minutes to pay it off in Nairobi!

That's just crazy!

Anyway, aside from reading articles... I have a class on the F# (F Sharp) programming language on Sunday... then Monday and Wednesday I have an Intermediate JavaScripting class.

I also got a confirmation number for my iPod touch that I won! I'm so excited to get something so cool for free! I hope it's a 32 or 64GB one... Although I have to admit I'd be happy enough with an 8GB one...

I guess I'll have to wait to find out.

My guess is that I should probably get it in the mail next Fridayish. The delivery confirmation number says that the billing information was received, and I am pretty sure that the mail has gone out in LA, but I could be wrong... they might make the evening dropbox/pickup... anyway, it will probably go in the mail Monday... pass through San Francisco on Tuesday... Eureka CA on Wednesday... Portland OR on Thursday... and Seattle WA Friday. The only question in my mind is if it will make it on time for delivery on Friday. Which, if it doesn't, then it will get to me on Saturday.

At least, that's how USPS normally works, but if they send it next day or something then I'll get it sooner.

Ok, that's an update.

Later,

SteveO

Apparently I'm getting an iPod Touch?

2009-09-10T10:45:00.000-07:00

So, I started using this social network called Vyoom a while back, and I got an email stating that I was the first contest winner on Vyoom! The prize is an iPod Touch, and I'll be happy to accept it!

Now, I just have to wait and see when it gets here.

Cool 'A'?

Oh, and in other news, for those of you who don't know, you can use a Google,
Yahoo, or AOL account to sign in to my blog and leave comments. Please refer to the blue bar across the top of the screen to sign in. Specifically the upper left corner of the page.

Later,

SteveO

What the Birther's Believe

2009-09-09T14:13:00.000-07:00

This is just so awesome I have to share it!

I have a rant...

2009-09-09T14:05:00.000-07:00

So, Microsoft started this Linux bashing campaign, and it just pisses me off.

Mainly because they say things that aren't true. The latest smear campaign Microsoft has launched includes a "training" program where Best Buy employees will be able to purchase a copy of Windows 7 for $10 if they complete it.

All I've seen is one screen shot from the "training" program, and it has me fuming!

So, the first thing that the campaign is trying to get across is that Linux does not work with cameras, printers, scanners, iPods, and MP3s. That is just ridiculous. I admit that Ubuntu doesn't come with DVD and MP3 playback ready to use out of the box (unless you purchase a computer pre-loaded with Ubuntu from Lenovo or Dell) however, in the Ubuntu case, all you have to do is search Google and you will learn all you need to do is install the restricted extras package and you'll be all set. As far as printers, cameras, and iPods, they all work fine. I admit that iTunes doesn't work in Linux, but there are tones of other programs you can use to purchase, organize, and playback your music collection.

The next argument that the campaign tries to argue is software compatibility. I admit, if you try to run a program in an operating system it was not made for, you might have some problems. However, there are countless free programs to replace the software you purchased for Windows; just about everything has an open source equivalent. Why? Because there is a demand for the software (hence why you bought it in the first place.) Even if you insist on using your Windows software, you still have options. Code Weavers has created a software suite to handle what ever you want. If you want to run office software, they have Cross-Over Linux (or Cross-Over Mac) and if you want to play games they also make Cross-Over Games. This is where I really get a chuckle, because the two largest solutions for running Windows games in Linux (Code Weaver's Cross-Over Games and Transgaming's Cedega) both have full support for the game Microsoft specifically lists as unsupported (World of Warcraft.) I admit, you have to purchase software in order to get the support, however $70 will get you full support for a huge number of Windows applications and Games (including Microsoft Office, iTunes, Adobe Photoshop, Windows live essentials, and a lot more.)

Then we come to the part where I really get confused... Microsoft claims there is no "authorized support" for Linux. I have no idea where they are coming from on this one. Linux has traditionally been all about community support online via forums and chat rooms, but all the major Linux vendors (Red Hat, Debian, Novell, and Canonical) make their money by selling training and support plans. Plus, distributors like Lenovo and Dell both offer support for Ubuntu. As a result Linux support is just as good, if not better, and Windows support.

The final point I am aware of Microsoft making to bash Linux is their statement that Linux doesn't support Video Chat on all major IM clients. I admit that Pidgin, the chat program that has come with every Ubuntu version, does not support video chat, but Empathy supports video chat as well as many other clients like Skype and Gizmo5.

So, why am I spending so much time on this? Well, because Microsoft is full of crap, and they just go around making up anything they want and everyone just goes along with it. It's like the Mojave Experiment. You remember the commercials? They made it look like all these people loved Windows Vista. The real story is that they had a marketing team come up with a list of things people had said they wanted, then they sat people in a room and said "Would you like it if Windows did...?" The result is that Microsoft was able to convince computer illiterate people that they love Windows Vista, even though they have never used it. They just left out the fact that in order for Windows to actually do what they say, you need to buy a $1000+ computer.

Anyway... I know I'm just ranting. I hate Microsoft Ad campaigns... I think I've only liked a couple of commercials Microsoft has ever come up with... and the last one I liked was a Windows 95 commercial.

Ok, so there is my rant.

Later,

SteveO

My Test results are in

2009-09-08T13:48:00.000-07:00

So, I went in and took my Project+ certification exam, and I passed! I have to admit that I barely made it... I only could have gotten one or two more questions wrong without failing it, but it's all over now!

So, this means all I have to do is fill out a form to get the official certificate.

anyway... just to keep everyone up to date.

Later,

SteveO

World's Greatest Dad... Movie Trailer

2009-09-04T17:18:00.001-07:00

Ok, I just thought the trailer was kinda funny...

I've been waiting over a month for this day!

2009-09-04T14:08:00.000-07:00

So, tomorrow will be the first day I've had off sense July 25th. So, I would like to take this opportunity to say I'm not doing anything tomorrow! Not one thing!

Well, I'm sure I'll end up doing something, but what ever it is, I won't know what I'm doing until I decide to do it!

anyway... that is all.

Later,

SteveO

How does the Web see you?

2009-08-21T13:38:00.000-07:00

So, I went over to the MIT website for this thing they call personas and while there, I had the site generate this little picture of "how the web sees me." The thing that puzzles me is the whole part about sports, and someone in a cometary in the UK... and a bunch of other stuff. However, the idea is pretty cool.

I guess it searches and categorizes the results of what it finds. So, yea, check it out and go get one for yourself!

Later,

SteveO

Work work work work work work work...

2009-08-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

So, as dad always said... work work work work work work work... and there was work to do.

Yup... that's what I've been doing. I have my class, which only last through 2 more weekends... then we are working 11 hours a day at work. Jaani has been begging me for attention as soon as I get home... and I'm starting to feel tired after going non-stop for half of the month... and I still have half a month to go!

Anyway. That's what I've been doing... well, that and I got a new computer... this time it's a desktop computer... for $200 I couldn't resist. So I put that together the other day, and now I'm still working on getting all my new services up and running.

Then I've been reading my Project Management book... you know... for the class... and that seems to be pretty boring. I guess I'll finish it by this Friday, but I am getting really tired of reading it.

OK... there you go.

More will come... some time I'm sure.

Later,

SteveO

About the Cash for clunkers thing...

2009-08-07T17:28:00.000-07:00

I just have a quick note about the whole cash for clunkers thing that Obama is pushing (and just approved 2 million dollars for... or maybe it was even billion... I'm not sure about the dollar amounts...

Anyway, all the car dealers are complaining (sort of) because they can't keep any cars on the lot... but, according to this article from the Seattle PI the purpose of the program (to replace gas guzzlers with more efficient cars) is working kinda well.

I've taken this directly off of the Seattle PI site:

Top 10 vehicles purchased
1. Toyota Corolla
2. Ford Focus FWD
3. Honda Civic
4. Toyota Prius
5. Toyota Camry
6. Hyundai Elantra
7. Ford Escape FWD
8. Dodge Caliber
9. Honda Fit
10. Chevy Cobalt
Top 10 trade-ins
1. Ford Explorer 4WD
2. Ford F-150 pickup
3. Jeep Grand Cherokee 4WD
4. Jeep Cherokee 4WD
5. Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan
6. Ford Explorer 2WD
7. Chevrolet Blazer
8. Ford F-150 pickup 4WD
9. Chevrolet C1500 pickup 2WD
10. Ford Windstar FWD
Avg fuel economy
Avg new vehicle mileage: 25.3 mpg
Avg trade-in mileage: 15.8 mpg
Avg increase: 9.6 mpg

So, it's kinda neat to think that the program is at least increasing fuel efficiency in the Seattle area...

Just some food for thought.

Later,
SteveO

Hey, guess what... I got a new camera!

2009-08-01T22:05:00.000-07:00

FYI: my new camera pretty much rocks... at least I'm super excited about it. I've managed to go through just about all the settings for it, but I haven't really had good test situations for all the settings. I have a slide show of all the pictures at the end of the post.

The pictures this thing takes are 4000 X 3000 Pixles... which means each picture is 3.1 MB. The picture I uploaded online are 1600 X 1200 pixles... So, these pictures are scaled for you to pretty much make a billboard out of any picture you take if you wanted.

In addition to really clear and sharp pictures, the camera also has a cool digital macro mode that is awesome for extreme close ups.

Plus, it doesn't just take pictures. It does a pretty good job of taking smooth 30 fps HD Video (720p or 1280 X 720 resolution.)

I have uploaded a video to youtube to show you what it looks like:

Anyway... I have my project management class tomorrow, so I should get back to reading before I go to bed.

I'll update a gain soon, but here is the slide show I promised:

Later,

SteveO

My camera is coming! My camera is coming!

2009-07-31T10:50:00.000-07:00

My camera is coming! UPS says that my package containing my camera is out for delivery!

Did I ever mention how much I love UPS quantum view? I find myself checking the UPS website nearly every day for all the stuff I get via the Internet...

Anyway... so, what does the picture have to do with my camera? Well, it does show how the good of USA is anything but remote. The people over at The European Commission's Joint Research Centre created this graphic to represent the distance of any given point from an area with a population of at least 50 people. FYI: I am pretty sure the darker the color the more remote... just a guess... that is unless Greenland is the most densely populated place ever!

Anyway, I think it's just a pretty cool graphic. It also makes me think that if I were to get stranded in an ocean, I would prefer to be stranded in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll be super excited when I get home to try out my new camera and stuff... So, I'll probably post again later tonight.

Later,
SteveO

The cooling Jaani project continues...

2009-07-29T12:49:00.000-07:00

So, as a little update to how things are around the house; it is 84 degrees in the house still, and that isn't too bad. It's still hotter than I would like, but compared to the 98 degree temps when I got home yesterday... I think Jaani can take it.

My air cooling device seems to be very good at melting ice, and it seems to be preventing the temperature from rising in my apartment. The only problem is that I can't freeze ice fast enough to keep the copper coils cold. When I went back at lunch, the water in the cooler was fairly warm (as far as water is concerned.)

I checked the temperature outside, and it's 100 degrees! Which means that I'm able to keep the apartment about 15 degrees cooler than the air outside, which seems to be am improvement from yesterday, when the apartment was only 6 degrees cooler than the air outside. We still have 2 more hours of heating up before the temperature peaks out and begins to fall again, and I am worried a little because of a class I have tonight. Jaani will be alone until 8PM. I will stop by and visit him before running off to class, but it will be a brief visit. I think what I'll do is just buy a couple bags of ice to throw in the cooler. Maybe this weekend I'll have to get a bigger cool that can keep the apartment cool the entire day... anyway.

On a side note, the website I purchased my camera from actually requires you to confirm your purchase over the telephone. A guy from the company called and left me a voice mail or two, and then I ended up calling them back at my lunch break. They wanted to tell me about the battery and memory card that the camera comes with. Apparently they wanted to sell me a 5 hour battery for $150, a 4GB High Speed SD card for $100, a $50 3 year warranty, case, and miscellaneous other stuff. I wasn't having it. The memory card is worth like $30 and the battery can be purchased for about $75.

anyway... more later

Later,

SteveO

Update:

The temperature is about 103 degrees right now in Redmond! It's as high as 111 in some areas, but that's probably due to someone putting a thermometer over an asphalt driveway or something... I wish I had an excuse to check on Jaani, but I don't have one...

One hour of worrying... then I can make sure he is ok, but then I have to go sit in a classroom for two hours. No AC and a south-western facing window. It really sucks... the sun comes down into that window and just makes it super hot in there. I hope they find a new room for us today... or even outside (Monday it was cooler outside.) OK, that's it for now.

It's already hot outside...

2009-07-29T09:45:00.000-07:00

When I woke up this morning, it was already 80 degrees outside. It was 80.4 degrees in my apartment... now it's 88 degrees in Redmond... and some areas are as hot as 90 degrees.

My "Air Conditioner" doesn't really cool off the entire apartment, but it does a great job of cooling off who ever it is blowing directly on (Which at the moment is Jaani.) The poor little guy is in that hot apartment... but I did wet him down this morning, and I even made sure to give him fresh cold and ice water. (that's right, I give him two temperatures of water to choose because he likes cold water, but not ice water.)

Another thing that happened is my power adapter for my laptop is not working... I had started experiencing problems last week, and I ordered a new battery, but it turns out that the problem is the power adapter, which means I have to spend even more money on stuff. Last time I replaced my power adapter, I purchased one from a local computer shop, and that was a bad idea. This adapter didn't even last a year... it lasted about 6 months. So, I guess I'll go over to the Lenovo site and get a new one... it's like $80, and when I think about the fact that I need to get a new camera... I'm looking at spending somewhere around $300 on stuff that I had not planned on getting. Which sucks, because I've already spent like... $200 on stuff I didn't plan on getting.

Grr.

anyway... I'll figure it out. Money grows on trees right? I think I remember someone saying that to me...

so, that's where I'm at. More will come soon.

Later,

SteveO

******************************************************************

*************************** UPDATE *******************************

******************************************************************

I ordered a new camera... I couldn't wait any longer. I chose the Canon Powershot SD970 IS.

Why? Well, who doesn't want a 12.1 Megapixel camera with an accelorameter (for image stabalization and menu features like tilt to rotate image and shake to change image) , face detection (set the timer, and it will wait until the number of faces in the picture doesn't change for 10 seconds!,) blink detection, red eye correction, intelligent contrast correction, DIGIC 4 image processor, and it records High Definition (720p) video... a lot of technical stuff, but the link kinda explains it if you care. It's $300 bucks, but it's a really nice camera... the kind of camera I'm not going to just toss around as much as other cameras I've had... Plus it takes an SD card, which both my netbook and my laptop have SD card readers built in. Take that Sony and your stupid "I have to have proprietary everything" attitude. Your cameras suck! (which should be common knowledge... and not just because they use the Memory Stick Duo cards.)

I also ordered a power adapter for my laptop. $23 and it has a 2 year warranty. Which is good, because it implies a statistical trend for this particular adapter to last at least 2 years. Otherwise they wouldn't offer the warranty because it wouldn't be cost effective.

******************************************************************

************************* End UPDATE ****************************

******************************************************************

I may beat the heat yet!

2009-07-28T22:52:00.000-07:00

So, I have good news and bad news.

I'll start with the bad so I can end on a happy note...

My camera has passed away. Apparently my camera suffered some sort of blunt trama to the top of it... or the back of it... or something, and the LCD screen on the back was cracked. Which normally that wouldn't bother me too much, but the camera won't do anything anymore. It just turns on the screen, which is mostly white with a big ugly LCD crack in it... So I can't take pictures of the good news.

The good news, I built an "air conditioning" unit. I used zip ties to hold a copper tube un against the front and back of one of my fans. I then purchased an aquarium pump, 5 feet of vinyl tube, and some miscelaneous parts. I put the aquarium pump in a cooler filled with ice water, and pump the water into the copper tube and then it drains back into the cooler.

The result is a fan that cools and circulates the air. Tomorrow is the real test, but right now it is really nice.

Anyway, I've gotten the temperature in the apartment down to about 78 degrees, and that feel really cool compared to earlier today.

anyway... more to come... but no pictures :(

Later,
SteveO

An update on Jaani...

2009-07-28T13:14:00.000-07:00

It's now 88 degrees in Redmond, and almost 100 degrees everywhere else!

So, I checked the temp when I went home for lunch... The Apartment was 82.9 degrees! That's too hot for Jaani!!!!!! bad stuff.

Well, Jaani was ok, and I dipped him in the tub for a little cool down... and I even left the water in the tub in case he gets too hot, and because just having cold water in the tub will help keep the heat down a little.

Last night, I froze a fairly large block of ice in my freezer... about 12 gallons worth of water. So, when I went home, I had a ice block to put in front of the fan. in about a half hour, the temperature went from 82.9 to 82.5 degrees. So, that's doing some good. I also realized that the largest source of heat in my apartment (before about 8pm) is my kitchen window. The only window I didn't cover with a blanket. So when I went to make my lunch, I could feel the heat coming through the window. I went and put a moist towel over the window to stop the heat from coming in.

Today is hot, but tomorrow is supposed to be hotter! So, I'm going over to Home Depot tonight to pick up some copper tubing, a water pump, and a cooler... maybe not all of that stuff will come from Home Depot, but some of it will. Then I'm going to make an "air conditioner." The basic premise is the same as the block of ice, but the device will pump ice-cooled water through the copper tube (exactly like a radiator) to increase the surface area of the cooling element. The ideal solution would be to find someone who is throwing out an old refrigerator and remove the radiator from that, but this will have to do. I wonder if my good friends at Jet City have an old freezer that doesn't work anymore... hmm.