1.29.2008
10:56pm
6:54pm
Today at work we had a nice 1-year anniversary celebration for Harris Stratex Networks. Catered lunch from Jason's Deli was served, along with a big sheet cake that had our company logo on it. More people have been moving offices, since we are consolidating from 2 floors to a single floor. Now I've got some people over in my area which has been empty for the last 4 months.
Tonight Nate and I have a Java homework assignment to finish. We had to break down and buy the book, so we got an e-textbook version for $50 and split the cost.
1.28.2008
11:16pm
A kid and his BMW M5
12:33am
Puppy vs. robot. Thanks engadget.
1.27.2008
11:38pm
Well, it looks like my Kia Rio will survive for a while longer. Hopefully until the 2009 Honda Fits come out anyway :)
I've driven it around about 60 miles since the tune-up service and all my engine problems are gone. Sure, it cost me $316 to fix but at least I won't get stranded somewhere now. I asked Tires Plus to read my OBD-II codes since the "engine service" light was on, and they said it reported problems with a cylinder failure and mass air flow sensor. I already suspected the cylinder problem, and he said the sensor error might be related to that and it might not be malfunctioning. I had them do the spark plug replacement, air/fuel filter replacement, and fuel system cleaning. Also the guy told me that one of the ignition wires (which were replaced at 62,000 according to Kia) was shorting out and contributing to the problem with cylinder #4. He couldn't replace just that wire so they replaced all of them. So far the engine light hasn't come back on, which I presume means the mass air flow sensor is perfectly fine. Great news, since that part is $280 to replace.
Besides driving around today, I stopped by the Turkey Creek wildlife refuge in Palm Bay to check it out. They had some nice walking paths, nothing too substantial but some nice Florida scenery. There's a canoe/kayak launch area there and I saw some people paddling on the creek. No manatees hanging around this time of year. It was the perfect temperature to be outside. Tonight it was down to low 50s.
1.26.2008
12:42pm
"Baker says there are some changes you should be aware of. 'Ethanol is a solvent. It can help clean combustion chambers, and scour your fuel delivery systems, fuel tanks, fuel lines and fuel injectors.' Baker adds that ethanol also attracts water, unlike regular gasoline which repels it, and that could potentially cause problems. He says, 'Over time, E10 will break loose any deposits of dirt or water currently suspended in your fuel tank. This could potentially cause fuel filter clogging, and the possibility of fuel injector issues.' Baker adds that ethanol can also cause corrosion and attack certain gaskets and rubber parts in a car engine. But Baker says these issues shouldn't impact many motorists." Link.
The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that Ethanol caused the recent problems with my car. I never used Ethanol blend gas until the recent mandates. Maybe I'm wrong though.
I never got an existential playset as a kid.
I did enjoy vacuuming though.
1.25.2008
12:28am
They say not to jump to conclusions.
1.24.2008
10:09am
London seen from St. Paul's Cathedral. Wikipedia's image of the day. Beware, it's really huge.
1.23.2008
9:33pm
This guy is great.
12:47am
Sex talk
Ok I'll admit that was funny. But I still detest PeTA.
Toothpastefordinner
1.22.2008
7:15pm
Lots of news today about the US economy, the falling stock market, the Fed rate cut (0.75%). Also actor Heath Ledger was found dead in an apartment, probably drug OD. Meanwhile Apple made record profits in Q4.
I updated my 401k share quantities and prices in MS Money today... definitely should have waited a couple more months to update. Everything except bond is down about $3-7 since 11/18. Of course they might be down even more in March, who knows. The international ones are not immune at all.
The guys at Tires Plus commented that I definitely need a tune-up to correct the problem with my Kia.
Every once in a while I learn about neat things on the forums. Like today I found out that PayPal offers a RSA SecureID for user accounts.
1.21.2008
11:42pm
One of the guys that I knew from Florida Tech and Harris, Chris Tanner, interviewed at Microsoft recently and got a photo with Steve Ballmer. Yep, that's right. Crazy Steve himself.
I took the Kia out again for a short trip to Wal-Mart and back and it was ok. I also went really easy on the accelerator so that may have helped some.
6:48pm
My Kia Rio has not been happy for the past couple of weeks. It's been acting a little weird since I got back from VA, first it was just a few misfires here and there that caused uneven idling while sitting at a stoplight. I thought maybe I picked up some crap gas at my last fillup before hitting Melbourne on the trip back, but even on a fresh tank with fuel injector cleaner added it was still rough.
Then today I stopped at Tires Plus after work to schedule an oil change for tomorrow. On the leg of the trip back home I could tell something was definitely very wrong, and no, nobody at the car place sabotaged my car while I wasn't looking. It seems that only 3 cylinders are firing most, if not all, of the time once the car has been running for a little while. If I turn the engine off and back on it's usually ok for a short while, but then when I drive around some the problem comes back. Acceleration when the problem is occurring is borderline dangerous because the engine power is so unpredictable. I can floor the gas pedal with the automatic in 2nd gear and it takes several seconds to decide to downshift to 1st instead of hopping down right away. And then when the speed does increase the car has unusual vibrations and jerks a little as the power comes and goes. I didn't get above 45 mph but I bet the car would have struggled to get to 70 mph if it even would make it that high.
So now I've got to figure out something to do. First step is to take the car for the oil change tomorrow and talk to the dude there about the problem, see if they recognize what is causing it. Next, find out what it will take to fix it from a cost standpoint.
1.18.2008
1:24am
Creative video from cracked.com
1.16.2008
1:07am
Looks like eBay had some trouble with the epochalypse. Although theirs came 30 years early.
1.14.2008
11:32pm
Today at work Nate rigged up 4 CRT monitors on his workstation plus his XPS m1330 was delivered today. So for a short while he had 5 active screens in the little cubicle, just a bit overkill. The LED backlit screen was very thin, about the same brightness as CCFL but better uniformity.
Sun's Project Blackbox finally has an appropriate home.
The high definition war got more interesting today, prices on the 3rd gen Toshiba players have dropped again. $129.99 nets the entry-level A3 now (although with just the 7 normal movies and no additional bonus ones).
The Macworld keynote is tomorrow night. Might be some exciting announcements from Apple, but maybe not-so-exciting. Remains to be seen.
1.13.2008
11:39am
Randomness for today. Is that it?. Doesn't quite reach eleventy-one though.
1.12.2008
4:40pm
Thursday night at Adam's I saw the movie Blades of Glory. He had rented the HD DVD copy, I thought it was pretty funny. Not the best Will Ferrell but not the worst either.
Last night we went over to Nate's to hang out. Ryan's brother Greg is in town for the weekend, plus Nate's roommate bought his surround system to go with the projector that he got. Once they do some work on a screen and mounting the speakers and such they will have a decent 100" DLP home theater. We played some games on the Wii, including an edutainment game that is actually pretty fun when played in a group (and maybe with a little alcohol). It had stuff like brain teasers and short math problems and pattern recognition, the kinda game you might expect a physics/math person to buy... heh.
Today I went down to Sebastian Inlet again since it had been a while and I wanted to go to the beach for a little while. I did a lot of walking and a lot of picture taking. It's not the right season to see manatees down there at the inlet, but there were lots of people out fishing. Plenty of surfers too trying to get waves near the pier, but I don't think any were getting much to work with. Now I'm back at home... time for a shower. Tonight it looks like I'll be watching Dog Day Afternoon so that I can send it back to Netflix.
1.10.2008
11:19pm
CES audio gear. Yummy. Day 1 Day 2
1.09.2008
8:09am
Rudy Giuliani's visit in Melbourne yesterday was shortened due to a bomb threat at Harris. We all got evacuated from the building shortly after 3pm with people saying there was a "security breach" of some sort, I didn't find out it was a bomb threat until later.
I had a nice little break at home though before my class at 5:15pm, which is being taught by a B.C.C. professor. Florida Tech tuition money hard at work. He does seem like a really knowledgeable guy though, and after seeing the syllabus we should be covering some interesting topics throughout the course.
1.06.2008
10:12pm
Today was incredibly nice for January. In fact it looks like the whole upcoming week is going to be almost 80 degree days. I went for a walk after lunch down to city hall to drop off my water payment, walked past a business on an obscure side-street that looks like a crazy Hokie supporter lives there.
I went over by Florida Tech later, got a couple pics of the new building construction.
11:18am
Yesterday I played through Guitar Hero II on medium. I liked the song set better than Guitar Hero 3, there was more classic rock.
1.04.2008
10:46pm
My Netgear router died today. Not in an electrical sense, all the lights still work and the network indicators and such. But in a gremlins-took-over sort of sense. I've had issues with it (WGR614) in the past, mostly just intermittent wireless, but ever since I came back from Christmas break it was acting really strange. Internet would work sometimes but only really slowly. Then I'd try to access the router configuration pages on the internal network and they would load slowly or not at all. Eventually I gave up on wireless and tried yesterday to just use the wired ports instead. And they started acting up, assigning the wrong IP on some occasions (a real RR IP, as though DMZ was enabled) and other times not handing out at DHCP reservation at all.
So I came home with a cheap D-Link today, had it set up in less than 10 minutes and everything is running fast. It's got even more options than the Netgear did, and better security settings should I choose to use them. Now I should just find something heavy to smash the Netgear. Will it blend? Those crazy guys at Blendtec don't like Guitar Hero very much.
5:15pm
Ouch. So much for Harry Potter 6-7 on HD DVD. People chatting it up like crazy on AVSforum. HD DVD is still the higher quality option compared with Blu-Ray, too bad politics are always the determining factor.
1.03.2008
11:58am
Two of the teens involved in the tiger incident on Christmas day were taunting the lions before the attack.
