Marti and Dakota
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Strangers Visit Philadelphia!
Celebrities have visited us in Philadelphia. You may have to click through a picture twice to get the “original.” Let me know if it doesn’t work and you want the original for quality purposes.
Please also feel free to e-mail me if you want your picture taken down. I will be certain to quickly loose that e-mail and disavow all knowledge.
Here’s the evidence of the visit:
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Moving…Another Adventure Begins
Yes…we are moving again. Some of you know a few of the details, but we haven’t been able to tell everyone. My apologies for not announcing this sooner. But, for several reasons, we couldn’t say much or make a public announcement until now.
The company I work for is closing the site I work at, near Philly. Unfortunately, this means everyone who works in this office has to find a new job. I was fortunate enough to be able to work out a relocation to another office in down-town Chicago.
We have found a place to live and will be moving most of our stuff, this weekend, to Chicago. I will be traveling back and forth between Chicago and Philly often, at-least for the next few months, and probably well beyond that. We will have dual residency, having our house in Philly and our apartment in Chicago at the same time, to help us make this transition.
If you would like our mailing address, please shoot me a note or a message within facebook and I’ll send it to you.
We’re excited to start a new life in Chicago, especially since I have lived there before. We are going to be living in Chicago proper (not the suburbs). I will be taking public transportation from our house to the Boeing building in the loop (about a 20-30 minute trip). I’m excited because this will be a much shorter commute than the one I have currently.
Marti is still working out the details of her job, but we believe she will begin looking for a job in Chicago shortly after we relocate.
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Another Milestone Reached
Flowers for Marti on our 15th Wedding Anniversary Well…we made it. We’ve been married for 15 years and Marti hasn’t shot me yet.
Thanks to everyone who had a part in showing us/helping us make our marriage work.
I’ve told Marti before, if she’s leaves me, I’m going with her. “We agree…I’m a jerk…now lets get outta here!”
Here’s to 15 more. Marti, you’re a very beautiful, patient, wonderful woman. I hope I haven’t drug you down too much.
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Coffee Roasting at Home
Like many nerds that work in IT (computer stuff), I love coffee. I take a few extra steps to make sure I get a good cup of Joe. I roast my own coffee beans. I put a few basic steps and pictures as an example. You should try it. It’s pretty easy.
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Running Out of Space on your PC?
If space is being eaten up on your PC and your not sure where it’s going, you may want to check out WinDirStat.
WinDirStat will analyze your PC and then generate a graphical representation of what is using up hard drive space. To summarize, similar files (or files in a similar location) are represented by colored boxes which are sized relative to the original file sizes (big files = big boxes, little files = little boxes).
Example:
Launch this program and it will spend a few minutes analyzing space-usage on your PC.
The analysis can take a few minutes or more, if you have a lot of files.
Once completed, you should be presented with a graphic similar to this example (left).
You can mouse over each box in this graphic and the program will tell you what the file is, it’s size and where it’s located. When trying to free up space, you usually want to look for several similarly colored large boxes (the red or silver boxes would be a good example). Mouse over the boxes you are not sure about, get their location and then (carefully) determine if they can be deleted.
This is also a good way to tell you if your picture or music collection is taking up too much space. Find the blocks in the graphic that represent your music/picture collection and see how much relative space they take up. This will give you an idea how effective moving that collection off your hard drive may or may not be.
There is also a “portable” version of this app, which does not require down loading. This means you can run it without installing. You can also run portable apps from your thumbdrive, CD or other removable media.
You may also find this HowTo link helpful: http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-20102372-285/clean-up-your-windows-hard-drive-with-windirstat/
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The Black-Berries are Ripening
Black Berries in the Sun 
Unripened Black Berries 
Apple Tree in Bloom
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Glass Half Full/Empty – A Quandry
So, I’m going to try to finally put to rest the debate over the glass half full versus the glass half empty.
I have long maintained that I refuse to debate this question…I’ll simply steal the glass and at least have it to show for my efforts (as opposed to a silly argument).
The answer above doesn’t seem to satisfy many, so here’s my attempt to lay out my logic.
There is no such thing as a glass half full or a glass half empty. Here’s why:
As you know, we are surrounded by an atmosphere that fills most everything around us, or attempts to crush it with relentless force.
If you fill a glass 1/4 full of water, the rest of it is full of air. Were it not, there would be a vacuum above the water. Note: water boils in a vacuum and would quickly disappear out of any glass lacking air/atmospheric pressure. Therefore, a glass that is 1/2 full of water, is also 1/2 full of air and is, by very definition, completely full (of both air and water).
Measuring the amount of liquid in a vessel is not an exact science. If you took chemistry or physical science, a fairly significant amount of time should have been spent teaching the class how to read a graduated cylinder. Here’s the reason:
Due to surface tension, water does not lay level in a vessel. It forms a concave surface, which is rather subjective to read (see graphic to left).If you are trying to get exactly 1/2 of a vessel full of water, it becomes rather difficult to be precise.
When trying to fill a vessel to exactly 1/2 full, sometimes less than a drop is needed to bring you to exactly 1/2. Often, a drop will take you to more than 1/2. Removing a drop may take you below 1/2. It’s nearly impossible to get anything exactly 1/2 full.
You will also note that water evaporates. Let’s pretend you can get a glass exactly half full. The second you accomplish this, evaporation will decrease the water to below half. In fact, the very act of pouring water into the glass increases the amount of water evaporating. Even if you could magically attain a glass 1/2 full, it would only be 1/2 full for a fraction of a second in time.
Thus, I reject the very premise that there can be a glass half full or half empty. I can only hope I get a glass out of the deal.
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25 Little Known Facts About John
1. Until I moved to the coast, I thought the tail was the only edible part of a lobster. I also had no idea there were BLUE crabs.
2. I love camping, boating, archery, hunting & the great outdoors.
3. I firmly believe the recession would only be 1/2 as bad were it not for the media.
4. I am a carnivore…I love steak, pork chops, brats…meat of all kinds.
5. I generally learn a great deal every day at work. The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.
6. As each decade passes, my definition of ‘old’ changes respectively.
7. I believe a clean house is a sign of a broken computer.
8. I am WAY too cool to have a big ego:)
9. I spend many hours pondering what chairs would look like if our knees bent backwards.
10. I am allergic to mornings. To me, mourning and morning are synonyms.
11. I am who I am today only because a few people more mature and/or wise than I at key moments tactfully presented a different point of view or perspective other than my own.
12. A wise man once told me that there are many different definitions of family. My family includes many people who are not related to me at all.
13. It’s 2012. We have electric cars, robotic vacuum cleaners and noise canceling head-phones; yet, they still haven’t found a way to keep that layer of watery snot from forming on the top of the ketchup. WHY!? This really bothers me.
14. I do not consider myself a mature responsible person. That’s probably because I do not aspire to attain such stuffy attributes.
15. Never again will I play tag, football or any other sport in the dark! It’s as dumb as running through a forest with your eyes closed. Break this rule and you’ll likely need stitches & maybe a cast
16. I am allergic to cats and other animals with long fur…I have no problem with dogs. (I think it’s natures way of saying cats are evil)
17. The guitar is my favorite instrument. Several friends on facebook have heard me play live.
18. I almost never watch live television. DVR’s and torrents are the ONLY way to go
19. Not being afraid to fail is easy to say, yet very difficult to actually do. I do believe it is the very cornerstone of significant learning.
20. I love to read, but I can’t stand books of fiction.
21. I LOVE to ride my motorcycle for every-day transportation and for pleasure trips.
22. I have found I actually enjoy moving to a new area and experiencing new things. I only wish I could take all my friends with me.
23. I have never paid for a Microsoft operating system in my life (other than the OEM copy that came with my first two desktops)
24. I root for the Hawkeyes and the Steelers.
25. Happiness is more about contentment with what I have than spending my life trying to obtain a fleeting goal.John DeLay IT Architect Red Hat Linux SAN Storage Administrator Windows
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Wireless Webcam (can be put in your car)
How to put a web-cam in your car:
We sometimes leave our dog in our car for a while (in safe weather etc…we’d never risk her health). She actually seems to enjoy it much better than being left at home & seems to nap the whole time.
At first, we weren’t sure how to leave her in the car and know how she was doing. A webcam in the car seemed like a good solution. We like the security of being able to check-in on her while we are out and about (even from our phones).
This type of webcam will allow you to check it from an internet connected commuter or from your cell.
If you do have a webcam (or get one) do be very careful how you share the connection to any webcam you may have. Ex: If you paste it on facebook, you will probably begin seeing many folks trying to access your webcam. Facebook is notoriously insecure and shares any/all information it has by nature. It’s up to you how you feel about this.
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A Look Waaaaay Back
That’s right! It’s Aunt B. as we’ve never known her before!
Yes, Aunt B. has taken a giant leap into world of clear & crisp media. Most importantly, I picked only one story and shortened it a lot.
Nope…we don’t need to tolerate those pesky positive messages and effective life applications anymore. The creepy parts have also been removed. The link below should be a clip the whole family can enjoy.
The is the “sorry record” that we had when we were kids. Finding this album was a huge pain, but it’s available on the web.
It is crazy to listen to this stuff. It is amazing what I remember & also what I forgot. Either way, the memories really come back, when I listen to it.
Sorry
The Trinity
Other tracks in the same series (these were not on our record):
Background info (no new songs/records beyond this point). Everything beyond this point is just more information about the records and Aunt B:
This link is a hater website where the record was snagged. They trash it pretty hard, so brace yourself if you open this: http://sparklepony.blogspot.com/2006/04/monday-audioblogging-thats-no-pistol.html
The second link to the Trinity record in the link above is incorrect. The link to “The Trinity” is actually this: http://www.peteykins.com/Audioblog/Trinity.mp3. Both links in the pistol blog incorrectly point to the sorry album, so you won’t get what you want if you just click on the links.
Here is some eclectic information about the album: http://www.peteykins.com/Audioblog/AuntBertha2Big.jpg
You can click on the picture to get a larger version (so you can read it).
There is some controversy over who’s voice is actually on the record.
This may be the fake Aunt B. (but the one who actually recorded the record): http://www.harpiesbizarre.com/beography_ma.htm
This is the real Aunt B: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=99016992
This is another hater blog, but they had the other 4 recordings I linked above: http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/04/365_days_113_au.html
It’s kinda crazy listening to this stuff. It’s definetely completely 1940’s vintage, even though it was published in the 60’s & 70’s.
Childrens Bible Hour( CBH) produced the album: http://cbh.gospelcom.net/home.php
CBH is still active today. There is some information on their website about this program.
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How to Secure a Facebook Account
Here are the steps to secure Mom’s Facebook account so that others can’t post to it or tag her in photo’s and such, without approval.
