Call Me Dr. Jira

Spent the last week or more mired in the labyrinth of our Jira project here at work.

I get to the point where I go around thinking of everything as use cases, tasks, sub tasks, etc. and who I can assign them to.

Like the task of cleaning the stove has a sub task of emptying the ash pan. Who can I delegate these to and what's their due date?

I need a vacation - again.

- b

Ice, Snow, Crap

When we bought the house, the previous owner told me the driveway was 400' long. The year we bought the house, there were two storms that dropped around a foot of snow each time.

Doing some rough math that's, 400(length) x 10(average width) x 1(snow depth) = 4,000 cubic feet of snow to remove.

Ouch.

Luckily the house came with a big lawn tractor and a plow, and wheel weights, and tire chains. Just remove the mower deck, install all the "winter accessories", and slam away. Plowing is basically slamming snow off the driveway. Back up and repeat. Fun the first few times. Extremely tedious after three hours of it.

It only snowed worthy of the plow that first year. Ever since we've gotten just dustings - which we ignore, ice - which we ignore, or the worst snow then ice - which we can't ignore.

Since the ice and snow combos only happen once maybe twice a year, it's hardly worth it to go through the lawn tractor "winter accessory" trouble.

So what to do?

Only shovel part of it. Start from the garage and shovel a single clean path for one side of the car to track to the road.

Sounds simple enough, but a 2' wide path 400' long of 2" of snow and a .5" of ice on top is anything but simple.

At the tree there's a bend. You can see where I made an attempt to clear the entire width. That attempt was of course abandoned. The bamboo obviously came down too.

I did park the Mazda out of the way in case plowing was necessary. If we had gotten any more of either (ice or snow), plowing would have been necessary.

To the bamboo is somewhere between half way and two-thirds. There's still a lot to go.

Shoveling the single lane from garage to road took an hour. Going back and adding a second lane (for safety sake) took another hour.

By now it was 10am. Time to shower and get to work.

Needless to say, I was pretty wasted yesterday, though snowboarding and driving till midnight (in the snow) the night before had nothing to do with that. :-)

- b

Dreams -- Ugh

The first was an exorcism. In reality I wouldn't come anywhere near one of these things unless I was the subject of the exorcism. Ghosts and me don't mix.

There was some old falling down house or barn that was haunted. Three of us went in to do the exorcism, while a few others witnessed. The exorcism involved the leader (not sure who they were) singing some Jesus song repeatedly. As things got busy (i.e. the demon/ghost became active), the singing increased in pace and fortitude. The exorcism ended with the leader hanging from some beam, while the second person (not sure who they were either) hung from the leaders feet and I hung from the feet of the second person. From all the activity, all three of us were hanging in the air swinging. Then it quieted down and we left.

The second dream was just weird. There were three Amish women who stripped out of their clothes. They only took off their dresses exposing their slips and camisole like tops underneath. One could say it was sexual because it involved women removing their clothes, but they were Amish (no real fetish here for that) and they really didn't take off that much. This is what I would consider one of my question dreams. Just as I write, I'm left wondering why I had this dream, where did it come from, what were they doing, blah blah blah. Ends up being as much of a nuisance as the anxiety experienced during an exorcism.

Maybe tonight I'll be so exhausted, I won't have any dreams. That's my real fantasy.

- b

Two Hours to Get Out

Up at 6:15am, but not out the door till 8:15am?

What gives? Why does it take me so long?

Granted I had to take out the trash this morning, but this happens every morning.

I didn't even shower today.

• I get up.
• Let the dogs out.
• Feed the dogs.
• Feed the cat.
• Start the coffee.
• Heat up some breakfast. Notice I said only heat, not cook.
• Eat some breakfast. Probably takes the most time. Why can't I take the time to enjoy it?
• Fill the stove.
• Make lunch.
• Possibly shower.
• Take out the trash - only on Tuesday mornings - includes emptying litter box.
• Load the car - Wednesdays with bike, today happened to be snowboard gear.

I think I should be faster, but I'm not sure I want to be.

- b

Today I'm Clark Kent

After a weekend of super hero activities, today I can hardly open the garage door for Jen.

Bouldering Saturday night was a blast. Not only did I get to climb with friends, but I was climbing stuff I didn't expect to even look at for a month. Granted my performance was mostly once and done, but that was still better then expected.

Yesterday was a full ride at Marsh Creek. That was the first time for me in over a year, and the first time for Gretchen ever. Conditions were excellent. Most trails were frozen solid dirt, so it was like a roadies dream. Other trails had barely there clear ice coverings making them a nightmare for the once blissful roadies (not that there were any) and pure slippery heaven for me. My rear wheel was all over the place, but I never dabbed.
The lake is completely frozen now, so it was the center of Marsh Creek entertainment yesterday. Everyone from hockey players, skaters, walkers, ice fishers, to ice boat sailors were out frolicking on the temporary land mass.


Today is different. Today I'm tired and sore. Two cups of coffee and a cup of tea have hardly got me moving.

Maybe it's time for more?

- b

Rockband

So that crap about Jen wanting the trim done for her birthday? Well, that was crap.

What Jen really wanted was,

And of course

She had played it at her company holiday party and it's all I've heard about since.

She loves Rockband.

I don't like video games.

To play Rockband, you need a gaming console.

I don't like video games.

Rockband works with XBox, Wii, and PS3, so which one to get?

I don't like video games.

We got a Wii.

It's kind of cool. Bowling and tennis were fun, but Jen likes Rockband.

So without further ado, here's Jen's Rockband premier



And what do the dogs think about all this?


They took the opportunity of distraction to lay on the couch they're supposed to stay off of.

Me? I worked on the outdoor speaker project I had started back in June.

Did I mention I don't like video games?

- b

Dog Hike

If we go more then two days without some serious exercise for Gretchen, she's bouncing off the walls. Lucky for us CJ was bouncing too, so it was time for a hike Saturday morning.

Off to Springton Manor Farm we headed and found this hairy ass.

Cute, but not very friendly.

The wind across the fields was killing us, so getting into the woods was imperative. Down by the creek we learned Gretchen doesn't like ice.

Hell if I know why.

CJ could care less. He doesn't like water very much, but walking onto the ice around the edges of the creek didn't bother him at all.

Speaking of ice around the edges.

I like this shot compared to one from October.

Overall the hike was ok, but Gretchen spent more time playing Poop Hoover, then she did energizer bunny, which means she came home still bouncing off the walls.

- b

Winter Boots

Nothing fancy. I just like this shot.

Every time I go out to the garage for something I smirk when I see all the boots lined up by the truck.

I don't even know why.

- b

Hacked!

You may have noticed we were hacked last night.

When trying to access our site, you would have found this.

I think it's all cleaned up now.

If I find out there was some other risk or that even you the viewer were at risk, I'll let you know.

Aren't computers fun?

- b

Things Remembered

I've always said this whole thing is about memories for myself...

One such memory I'll want to look back on is this,

Yeah. They're just dog collars, but what I'll want to remember is how we take them off each night (naked dogs!) and hang them on the banister.

In the morning the first thing we do is put the collars on and let them outside. At night the last thing we do is the reverse.

Over time the collars will change. The banister might change. There might not be any collars at all, but there will always be this memory.

- b

Hey Man Nice Shot

Tried filming at night last night. The temp was somewhere slightly above 20°F. My fingers didn't work as well as I would have liked with the controls; otherwise, I would have tried more shots.

Turns out night shots, for obvious reasons, aren't that good anyway.

At least my camera angle is good.

The star of this clip is none other than OMR.



- b

Taste of My Old Self

Some bouldering Tuesday night- achy back and shoulders, friction burned hands.

Night ride in the snow last night - frozen fingers, ice covered beard, two wheel drifts.

Slack-ass at work all week - in at 10, out by 5, nothing doing in between.

Pretty nice, though it won't last long.

- b

One Ton Done

FYI, you can skip this post if you like. It's mostly a reference for myself and/or educational for others interested in alternative heating.

Last year I marked the (almost) consumption of one ton of pellets on Jan. 12th, 2008. This year I started ten to fourteen days earlier and went a similar distance. Though I started this year with five or so more bags then last year.


In the beginning we were managing around a bag a week. This time of year, it's easily a bag a day. At this rate, like last year, we're on course to consume only two tons this winter. Last winter that would have cost $500, but we got last years pellets for free. This year the first ton comes from last years freebie deal. The second ton, our winter heating bill, cost $300. Next year, when the freebies are all gone, our bill should come in around $650.

The stove is scheduled to run about four hours in the morning and five hours at night. While we're at work and while we sleep it's completely off, which makes for some interesting environments in our house.

The bedroom, furthest room from the heat and on the east side of the house, rarely gets above 66°F. The other night when we got in at midnight, I was surprised to see it at a cool 58°F.

But what's the difference when you're in bed asleep under the warmth of covers and dogs?

I mean it's not like we're waking up to ice on the windows.

Unless of course it's really really cold outside.


- b

Peace and Serenity

Pictures from our yard this morning.


- b

Got Some Bobos

Needed some shoes.

Didn't have any sneakers.

These were on sale.

They even make that floppy bobo sound.

They're perfect.

- b

Pancake Compressor

Stayed home yesterday and did some trim work.

Trim work requires a pneumatic brad nailer. Typically I fire up the compressor in the garage and run hoses throughout the house, but yesterday wasn't exactly typical.

The temperature outside at 11:30am was a balmy almost 15°F.

I wasn't about to run the air hose under the garage door causing it to stay slightly ajar for the entire day, so I devised a pancake compressor to get the job done and done comfortably in warmth.

I could almost do an entire window before I had to head back to the garage and re-pressurize. Considering it took nearly two hours to do a window, the trips to the garage for air were not annoyingly frequent.

Hell, after the bazillion trips to the garage to cut a single piece of wood to the perfect length, what was three extra trips to fill the tank?

At least I kept the house warm.

- b

Another Demo Down

Went well I was told.

Now I'm tired and slow.

I'm still thinking about it.

I have the next four days to recoup and keep it going.

- b

Heaven and Hell

Somewhere today I got some motivation to add some music to my video from yesterday. Of course I couldn't stop there. I had to pull out a video I made before, when riding with Ben and previously unseen, and add music to it too.



I've been on a Lucinda Williams kick. Typhoid Mary (i.e. Jen) can't stand her, but there's a certain raw truth I find in her music that I can't get away from. Her interviews I can do without, but her music draws me in. Her cover of ACDCs "It's a long way to the top" is particularly intriguing.

This second video contains EXPLICIT lyrics. Watch/listen at your own risk. I actually had the idea of pulling this clip together with the Bastard Fairies when I first looked through the footage.



There's just something about the incessant twists and turns that match up nicely with the beat of the song. Often I find myself repeating songs like this in my head on trails like this. I remember racing at Lodi and singing "Take the skinheads bowling" to myself in a similar manner.

Coincidentally I found the Bastard Fairies held a competition to create the official video for the song I used. The winner and video is here. His is definitely better then mine for the song, but mine captures more of what happens in my head when I'm riding along sometimes.

Now if I could just find a song that captures what's going through Gretchen's head when we ride. It's probably something like - "run, run, run, happy, happy, happy, smell, smell, smell, drink, drink, drink, pee, pee, pee, run, run, run."

Know anything like that?

- b

Nice Ride

Got out for a ride with Gretchen Sunday afternoon. The conditions were mixed. There was some mud.

But there was also some ice. Not so much that you were sliding everywhere, but enough to slide here and there.

Some helpful guy in the parking lot warned me beforehand that it was icy. He'd decided to walk the dog instead of ride - obviously too icy for them. I think his warning was more a justification for himself then truly a warning for me. The trail conditions were fine.

The weather was blistery. It was cold and breezy. I don't think the temps got above 30°F yesterday. Add the wind and we were somewhere in the teens. This hurt my fingers in the beginning. After they warmed up it was my toes that went numb.

The cold was good. I like being outside and feeling it. Lately I've spent too much time inside. My body gets complacent and forgets how to deal.

There were lots of others dealing with it too. I was surprised by the number of families and couples braving the chill to walk around the park. I figured everyone had canceled their cable to save $$ and now are left with nothing but family walks which are free.

The dogs on leashes were most interesting. Three times (two different couples and their dog) I rode by them with Gretchen. Each time the owner took up the slack on their leash and braced themself for something I was unsure of. Each time we rode by without incident. I couldn't tell if they expected their dog to be unruly or my dog - the one off leash trained to run at my wheel for miles and miles. Either way, I was surprised to see so many people out in the cold.

I was also surprised to see a ranger driving by in his truck nodding and waving as he went by. I thought for sure I'd get at least a tongue lashing for not having my dog on a leash. I guess he too figured no one was out today (he was at the opposite end of the park from where I saw everyone else), so what did it hurt.

I did make some more videos. I think I have the camera position on my helmet figured out, though it will take riding with someone else to completely prove that. There isn't any sound this time. I wasn't motivated enough to add it this time.



Shortly into the beginning you'll notice a big pile of rocks and possibly what's left of a wall at the left of the trail. That's the old house Jen and I explored last spring on a hike. You can see more of it or what it was, here. It's kind of a shame that it fell, but that's what happens after standing for hundreds of years un-attended.

Truthfully the rock pile excites me some. I'm wondering if maybe we can't make a trail through it or over it.

- b

Public Service Announcement - RAID

Redundant Array of Independent Disks

Start with a NAS device with an empty slot (i.e. empty disk bay. Assuming it accepts more then one disk, you already have a disk and the NAS supports RAID).

Install your new hard drive into the chassis. I suppose I could have taken a shot without the chassis blocking the view of the actual drive. Maybe next time.

Slide and lock the chassis back into the device.

Plug it in. Turn it on. Let it synch and data redundancy you'll have.

- b

Separate Bedrooms

Jen's flu is bad. I think she's over the fevers, but now it's conjunctivitis, soar throat and a cough.

Yick.

Last night we tried sleeping in separate beds so her night time torture wouldn't torture me.

It sort of worked. Opposed to being woken all night long, sleep was disrupted only a handful of times.

Just as long as I don't get it and she gets better soon.

- b

Week with More Details

What started out rough, didn't get any better. Both garage doors decided to quit. The plan was to hold out and replace all the garage door openers when we got around to replacing the garage doors. Apparently the current openers were not on board with that plan.

Now I'm stuck manually opening and closing the doors (they don't have springs, though they are fiberglass) for Jen's car. I have no idea when I'll have time to replace them.

Just when that hit, my USB hub extension cord decided to tie itself in a knot. I know what you're thinking it's just a cord, but it's the little things that are killing me. You'll see. They gang up and pummel you.

Flanking from the right came the check engine light in the Mazda. I suspected something was up when the mpg dropped below 30 and I had to add a quart of oil to it, but I really didn't need that little orange light winking at me. Whatever. It's managed 212,000 miles and is retiring at the end of the month. Wish I could say the same.

Of course there was work everyday, all day and into the night. I lost track the number of nights I was the last one in the building, walking to the last car in the parking lot,driving home wired and tired to eat some burnt pizza (my fault) drink a beer or two, then crash into bed to only have to do it again the next day.

We had a demo scheduled with the VP of development on Friday. On Monday I thought there was no way we'd have anything ready. Everything seemed to fall apart and then get worse as the week drug on. Somehow Thursday that turned around. We actually had enough to demo.

In the end it turned out well or at least well enough for the VP. Next week is the big show with the CTO. Hopefully we can keep it together and polished enough till then.

Almost forgot. The bamboo got iced and came down again. Came down hard.

The metal handled broom I usually use to knock off the ice actually bent this time.

Four days later there are still piles of ice in the driveway. Our pine trees took a hit too. I could hear the branches cracking and falling to the ground. I kept waiting for them to crash into the neighbors fence or our pool. Luckily we got away with only a truck load of dead branches.


- b

Holy Shit Crap Damn

What a week.

Worked too much.

Had a decent demo.

Jen got the flu.

Too bad I have to do it again next week (except the flu) starting tomorrow.

- b

Getting Crazy Now

Made another video (with music).



I've got to figure out how to record music for longer than a minute.

- b

Damn Good Day

Yesterday was pretty nice.

Slept in. Ran some errands, then did a ride in the snow with some friends and the dog.

AND figured out how to add sound (i.e. music tracks) to my videos. Turn it up!



Still need to work on video angle. Putting the camera on my helmet took care of a lot of the shakiness, but the angle is all wrong. I've got thirty minutes of video of Ben's rear wheel.

- b

Video Results

Definitely learned some things.

When it comes to mt. biking, it's probably best to go slower while videoing.

Putting the camera on the handlebars, probably wasn't a good idea.

Turning the sound sensitivity up was definitely a bad idea.

I need some video editing software. I need to add soundtracks.

Following someone else would make for some nice shots.

It's a lot of fun. With a little more practice, I could have some nice videos.

So here's a couple. You'll want to mute your sound. What you'll hear is awful and might blow out your speakers.

This first one is a nice slow roll (11mph) across the dam at Marsh Creek. Check out Gretchen's breath as she runs along. The temp was somewhere around 25°F. She doesn't typically get out front except for wide open trails. You'll see at the end she pulls off to the side just about the time we head into the woods.



This second one is pretty cool. It starts out a slow roll through the woods, then launches off a log and speeds downhill through a creek.



Of course there's a crash. This one conveniently happened right at the beginning. I slid out in a corner. I whacked my ear pretty good on the ground, but otherwise got back up and kept rolling.



- b

Oh Boy!

Got this action cam for Christmas.

Preliminary tests say it should be fun.

Stay tuned for some bike ride shots later today.

- b

Out Dancing

For New Years Eve we went out for dinner and dancing.

It was nice.

- b

Dog Shave

Twice in one week CJ decided to take a trip. Twice in one week he ended up at the same house across the park from us.

How could this be? Isn't the invisible fence working? Maybe his neck fur has gotten too furry? Easy fix for that - shave him!

Leashed him and drug him out to the fence line.

Nothing.

His collar beeped, but there was no yelping and dancing around like you'd expect from a dog with a naked neck getting shocked (I know. I'm evil.).

Loaded him up in the car and took him to the invisible fence store. Maybe there was something we weren't doing right?

They checked the collar. Apparently it wasn't set to deliver any shock.

Huh?

I had the collar juiced the last time he did this. I guess the collar needs maintenance - pain in the ass!

Anyway. It's reset and zapping. He's gotten himself a couple of times already. At least he's not ending up at the neighbors anymore, or worse - road pizza.

- b