Thank You Mom

My mother has hemmed many pairs of pants for me when I was a child. Today, she hemmed Alex's Cub Scout uniform pants. I was thinking about doing it myself, but when I looked it up on the Internet, I wasn't sure I could do it well. I didn't do a very good job sewing the insignia patches on his shirt. While the council strip and den number look pretty good. The world crest is a little crooked, as is the 8 in is pack number, which makes the entire 285 look crooked, even though the 2 and 5 are pretty good. So thank you mom for hemming Alex's Cub Scout uniform pants.

His first pack meeting is on Tuesday night. I hope to get a good picture of him in full uniform. Well, at least with everything he has so far. I really wish he had the belt, it is a pretty important part of the uniform as far as looks go. And once he starts earning belt loops, they'll need a place to go. The good news is that his belt should be here before the October pack meeting, which is when he would have his first chance to be awarded a belt loop.

Great Frederick Fair 2008

It was another great year at the fair. This year we added our nephew Aaron to the group for the final day. Going to the fair with all of the kids is a lot of fun. But us adults sure do miss out on some good stuff. Like some of the real thrill rides. But Rides aside, I really felt like we missed out on something when we passed Hemp's meats. They had the longest food line at the fair, and I've also heard through word of mouth that they have the best meat sandwiches, like, roast beef and ham. But with the children in tow, where we eat has to meet some certain standards, like, having a place to sit down, having french fries, and either chicken nuggets, hot dogs, or hamburgers.

So, we ate at Layton's concessions, just a little stand that had stools, everyone got a seat but Zoe, she was just too short!


Of course, there are rides too!






We are missing some critical pictures. Well, they aren't missing, we just didn't take them. One of the great things about the Great Frederick Fair are the agriculture exhibits. At first, Alex and Aaron, especially Alex, didn't want to see the animals, in their mind, they just didn't compete with the rides. But they saw cows get milked, an alpaca competition, more cows, goats, pigs, various fowl and rabbits. There were no animals giving birth while we were there, but there were some new born piglets and calves. They also saw a miniature donkey and a miniature horse. The best part was that once we got started, Alex and Aaron got into it!

Template Change

I moved my the Twitter updates section above the previous posts section. I think it works better that way. Since I can go for quite a while without an actual blog update, but I'm likely to update twitter more often, I wanted it to be near the top. Twitter will probably be the best thing that has happened to my blog since I can remember!

Scouting Service Stars

While I’m not planning on being a Cub Scout leader this year, it is definitely on the horizon. Later on in my Scouting career I learned to embrace the uniform, and that has stuck with me through the years. Now that I see myself wearing a uniform sooner than later, I want to be sure I do it right. While it might be a bit on the obsessive compulsive side, I want it to be just right.

While thinking about the uniform that I will probably be wearing by this time next year, I thought about the service stars, which are a way display your years of service to Scouting. My first year, I was a Tiger Cub, after which I spent three years as a Cub Scout. The regulations say that I have the option of wearing a 1 year service star with an orange background and a 3 year service star with a yellow background. This is clear, but I haven’t figured out which I plan to do on my adult uniform. It gets a little more confusing from then on, as I was a Boy Scout for seven years, and Explorer for five years, and an assistant Scoutmaster for three years. But those terms overlap. The last two years I was a Boy Scout, I was also an Explorer, and my last three years as an Explorer, coincided with my tenure as an assistant Scoutmaster. I was wondering if it was wrong to wear a 7 year service star with a green background, a 5 year service star with a red background, and a 3 year service star with a blue background.

I consulted the official Boy Scouts of America Insignia Guide, which didn’t really cover the subject of overlapping service. So I consulted the Internet. The site http://www.mninter.net/~blkeagle/insignia.htm was quite informative on the subject, but still didn’t cover my specific question so I e-mailed the author, a Scouter with 47 years in the program. His answer was that I should wear the 7 year service star with a green background for my time in Boy Scouts, a 5 year Service Star for my time in Explorers, and a 3 year Service Star for my time as an assistant Scoutmaster, along with my choice of Cub Scout tenure service stars. In fact, he even said that it would be OK to wear a 10 year and 9 year service star with a blue background, even though the total number of years I have in the program don’t yet add up to nineteen.

The advice seems good, but when the time comes, I’ll also check with the local leadership to see if they have any specific standards.

After some thought, wearing these might seem like showing off, and while it is nice to have recognition for things, my hope is that the boys I will lead look at them and ask me questions like, “What does the green backing mean” and I could answer, “that was for Boy Scouts”, or “What does the red backing mean” and I could answer, “that was for Explorers and while Explorers isn’t a Boy Scout program anymore, they have added Venturing to replace it.” The hope is to get younger boys thinking about what they can do in the future.

Scouting Regrets

Most of us regret decisions we made when we were young, some more than others. I regret not advancing to Eagle Scout when I was a boy. I stayed in scouts until I was eighteen, and then beyond in Explorers, the Order of the Arrow, and as an Assistant Scoutmaster, but I didn’t earn the rank of Eagle. I also regret not earning the religious emblems for my faith, the Parvuli Dei and the Ad Altare Dei. Now that Alex is about to start Cub Scouts, I see that there are things that I will ask of him that I failed to do myself. And since I fully expect to become an active leader in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, I’ll be asking the boys I lead to do the same. As a boy, I looked up to my leaders, and I hope the boys I lead look up to me, and I’m sure they will, even without these achievements. Maybe it is just in my head, but somehow, having earned these recognitions, I would have made a better Cub Scout and Boy Scout leader.

Even with my regrets, I do not consider my Scouting experience a failure, in fact, nothing could be further from my mind. While I didn’t spend much time working on requirements, I spent a lot of time on service projects and the scouting organization itself. While I didn’t obtain the rank of Eagle Scout, I worked on many Eagle Scout service projects for others. I was also one of the most active members in my Order of the Arrow chapter, which during a typical month required much more time than troop and patrol commitments. Most of that time was spent doing things for the district, council, and troops beyond my own. I think I earned the backpacking merit badge, but even if I didn’t, that was my favorite troop activity, and I spent a lot of time as an older boy helping the younger boys learn the ropes of camping and backpacking. This was my scouting experience, and while I have regrets, I’m not sure I would have done it differently. Maybe it will prove to be valuable experience in mentoring boys who may have interests other than advancement and recognition.

Cub Scout Academic and Sports Belt Loops

I think I remember earning a few belt loops when I was in Cub Scouts. I was looking at the requirements and I see that Alex will probably earn one for Gymnastics right away. I was reviewing the requirements further and found something a little discouraging. Many Webelos requirements include earning the belt loop, but it is specific that the belt loop must be earned while a Webelos Scout, even if the belt loop was earned while a Tiger, Wolf, or Bear. While I see some reasoning in this, specifically, to keep the boys from advancing too quickly, I think the negatives outweigh the positives. I really don’t remember if the requirements were the same when I was a Cub Scout, but knowing me, I would have put off earning belt loops until I was in Webelos, because who wants to do the work twice, or not get the most they can from a particular effort. While I’m sure Alex will have no trouble earning a belt loop like gymnastics again without even thinking about it, others could encourage him to simply redo something he has done because it was easy and discourage him from trying something new, or simply frustrate him and create some resentment, thinking that time was wasted earning the belt loop when he was younger.

They could improve the requirements by adding the ability to substitute the academic and sports pins as a substitute for boys who have already earned the corresponding belt loop. While pins require a higher level of knowledge and participation to earn, that option would enable the boy to earn belt loops while a Tiger, Wolf, or Bear, without concern that he’ll just have to redo it when he graduates to Webelos.

Alex's Cub Scout Uniform

I ordered Alex's Cub Scout uniform tonight. There is a lot more to it than a shirt and pants.

-Cub Scout Long-Sleeve Shirt Polyester/Cotton, Blue, Long-Sleeve, Small, Youth
-Cub Scout Uniform Pants Polyester/Cotton, Blue, 06, Youth
-Tiger Cub Cap Small/Medium
-Tiger Cub Crew Socks X-Small (5-7)
-Tiger Cub Web Belt with Buckle
-Tiger Cub Neckerchief
-Tiger Cub Neckerchief Slide
-World Scout Crest Emblem
-National Capital Area Council Shoulder Patch
-Unit Numeral 2
-Unit Numeral 8
-Unit Numeral 5
-Cub Scout Den Numeral Den 5

Grand total, $97.31 including tax and shipping. I should have just made a list of what I needed and stopped by the Scout Store in Bethesda. I will pass by the area a few times this week. I would have saved $10 shipping. Oh well, if I forgot something, thats what I'll do.

Ravens Bye Week, Sept 14

Talk about lame. If the Ravens end up going for a playoff spot, a bye week in November would be much better! I know you can't control the weather, but you can plan for it! The league should have been ready to move the game to another location. They've been talking about Ike heading for the Texas coast for a week now, and the Huston area has been talked about as the area most likely to be hit. The NFL said "Short notice made it logistically impossible to play this week at alternate sites." Sure, short notice if you just found out about this today, but since we knew the storm was on its way, the logistics could have been in place before the storm. What a mess.

Added Twitter to my Blog

I've added my twitter updates to my blog. It looks pretty nice over there on the right side. I also updated my template a little bit. Early on, when I only had a few months worth of updates, they worked well higher up, but now I have 49 months worth of archives, it really takes up a lot of space. I wish there was a way in the script to link entire years for years prior to the current year, and only link the months for the current year. That would make it look a little better. I'm sure I could do something manual, but one of the reasons I use blogger is that I don't have to do much when it comes to managing the actual site, it is all done for me. I have made a few customizations to the default template, but in general, it manages itself. That being said, I really need to update some of the pictures in my header!

They should play in Baltimore

It looks like the NFL will postpone the game between the Huston Texans’ and the Baltimore Ravens due to the damage to Reliant Stadium in Huston caused by hurricane Ike. I wasn’t too thrilled that they postponed the game until Monday night, but that is understandable under these conditions. Postponing the game shouldn’t be an option. After hurricane Katrina, the Saints played their first home game away, and since there is nothing wrong with M&T Bank Stadium, why can’t they play there? If there is concern about the home field advantage, why can’t they play in a neutral stadium? We’ve known that Ike was coming, and that it was possible that it would hit Huston directly and you would think that the NFL and the teams would be planning for this sort of thing.

Shrimp in Oklahoma

Why is it that every time I order something with shrimp in it on the state of Oklahoma it ends up tasting, well, not good at all? I don’t know what it is, but they just can’t cook shrimp out here. I’ve had some great meals, don’t get me wrong, but with shrimp, it is a different story. First, I think they over cook it, which is easy to do. More importantly, I don’t think they season shrimp when they cook it. Even if shrimp is going into some sort of dish, it still needs to be seasoned to some degree. I think I’ll stick to steak and chicken dishes when I’m in the Sooner state.

Palin’s Earmarks

I cannot fault a mayor or governor for supporting, requesting, and spending federal government earmarks. It is, after all, one of the few ways that states and towns can get the money that their citizens have sent to Washington back. In fact, if a state governor would not use federal earmarks, it would be a disservice to their citizens, as their money would be used for some project in another state.

That being said, federal candidates and elected officials, especially the president and vice president should think differently. I think their focus on this matter should be on how to lower spending overall and lower taxes for everyone. Instead of sending money to Washington, it is in our pockets, and we wouldn’t need earmarks and other federal spending to get it back. Now this might make state and local taxes go up, so that these important projects can be funded, but I would much rather see this money under local control than in Washington (even though I live just 40 miles from Washington!).

I just think that in general, keeping your money local will lead to better government services over all while sending it to the federal government funds the bureaucracy above all else.

Virtual Machines

Running virtual machines really kills the battery in the notebook computer. It isn’t surprising, as running several virtual Exchange servers really uses a lot of processor time and memory, but what I suspect is most draining is the constant swapping to hard drive and the constant reading and writing to the hard drive by the virtual machines. After only about thirty minutes, the battery is down from one hundred percent to forty-five percent which it tells me is about thirty-five minutes.

I have five virtual systems running in Microsoft Virtual PC 2007. Two are running Windows Server 2003 with one being an Active Directory domain controller and the other running Exchange Server 2003. The other three are Windows Server 2008 with two configured with Exchange Server 2007 mailbox roles and the other soon to be running Exchange Server 2007 hub transport and client access roles, although I doubt I’ll get through setup before the battery dies. It isn’t even finished setting up Windows Server 2008. Even if I have to shut it down before it has been installed, it isn’t a big deal. I was able to use an otherwise wasted hour on the plane.

Thinking about it a little more, I should probably save a little battery life, just in case I need something from the computer between my arrival and check in to the hotel.

Airport Food

I grabbed a slice of pizza, a salad, and a Mountain Dew at BWI airport and I must say, it was about the worst meal I’ve ever had. I think I would have preferred to go hungry. While I was shopping today, I saw some of those tuna salad and cracker packs that I like. For a moment, I thought that I would buy a couple to take with me. Then I thought, they might not let me through security with a can of tuna salad. I would much rather have had the tuna salad than the awful slice of pizza I ended up eating.

I started to think about the airports and airlines pushing the whole “get to the airport two hours early” line. Of course the would like you to get to the airport 2 hours early, that way you are stuck inside security with very few food or entertainment options. I’m surprised that they don’t charge you to use the bathroom. For that matter, I’m surprised that the airlines don’t charge you to use the bathroom. Maybe next time I’ll push my luck with security. I know I can’t bring any liquids with me, so, a can of Mountain Dew would be out, but maybe I could swing a decent meal. If I was really lucky, it would be something that Amy made for me and I could find a microwave!

Southwest Airlines and Children

This is a good thing to remember. While I was waiting to board my flight to Oklahoma City, a family was preparing to board for family boarding and they were in a discussion with the person at the gate about their carry on luggage. It seems that the younger children were not allowed to carry on two bags, even though they all had tickets. I could see that if the child was under two and didn’t have a ticket, but not for ticketed children.

Amy and I have never flown with our children, but traveling by car, we do our best to make sure that they have plenty of things to do and snacks to eat. We would probably so the same thing if we were to fly somewhere as a family, and this would add to the carry on luggage. Since checking bags is a pain, I try not to check any bags, but this has been more difficult after September 11, 2001, but even then, I think we could manage for all of us to take a short trip with two bags each. I guess if we do, I’ll want to be sure to check with the airline about their carry on policy.

Twitter

So, I’ve signed up for a Twitter account. I’m really not sure what it is all about, and I don’t really know anyone else who is using it but it does seem sort of neat. I sent my first meaningful text message update to it from my mobile phone this afternoon, an update that said I was onboard my flight to Oklahoma.

I signed up to follow Barak Obama and John McCain, as well as just about anyone who mentioned ham radio or had a call sign. One of the skywarn groups is on there, but not the one that is local to me. It was interesting though, I got to see the updates from the southeast Virginia coast.

What I’d really like to get from Twitter are updates about things I’m interested in in relative real time. For example, I heard that some firefighters and EMTs use Twitter to send updates on serious incidents. It sort of reminded me of a service that I was on a while back that send e-mail summaries of fire calls in progress.

Right now I don’t have it set to send updates to my mobile phone. Mostly because I pay per text message, but also because I’m not following anything that I feel like I need to know in real time. Now, if Amy did Twitter, I’d have her updates sent to my phone.

MSNBC got it wrong

The choice has been made, Alaska Governer Sarah Palin is McCain's running mate. When I was watching MSNBC just before 9 this morning, MSNBC "confirmed" that Sarah Palin was in Alaska. Now everyone is reporting that she was on a private plane that landed in Dayton this morning. There is really no way to get to Ohio from Alaska in two hours.

McCain Lieberman?

As I write this, I don’t know who John McCain has chosen to run with him for vice president. I’m sitting in a cafeteria waiting for my customer to show up to let me in. There is a TV here tuned to MSNBC, which reports that Romney and Pawlenty will not be McCain’s running mate. I sort of like Romney, he really appeals to the right side of my center right political views, but I’m not sure he is best for the country, or for John McCain’s chances to be elected.

Joe Lieberman is still on the short list. What do I like about Joe Lieberman? Well, he is the center left to McCain’s center right. I don’t agree with all of Lieberman’s politics, just as I don’t agree with all of McCain’s policies. I think that a McCain/Lieberman administration could deliver. It will be the first time that I can remember, and certainly since I could vote that there would be a true bipartisan ticket on the ballot. The only big question is, would Lieberman keep the right wing republican voters at home in numbers that independent and centrist voters couldn’t overcome.

I think for most American’s when wither wing, left or right is happy, the country is heading in the wrong direction. I think that a McCain Romney ticket would make the right wing too happy, just as the Obama Biden ticket has the left wing grinning.

The media seems to think that Sarah Palin, the current governor of Alaska will be McCain’s choice. I’m not sure if this move is good or bad, I don’t know much about her politics. It would be a good move for those who would like to see a woman on the ticket. Many Hillary supporters might take another look at McCain if that happens. For me, it doesn’t matter what race or gender is running, it is the delivery, can they make things happen? I’m not sure than a relatively unknown Alaskan governor will be able to complement McCain in that area.

All pictures

I haven't linked the entire photo album yet. Of course, we've taken more pictures than I've posted on the blog.

From Ocean City '08

Some times we don't remember to take pictures for some reason. There is really no excuse with digital cameras! But we'll always have the memories, and guess that is why we call them memories, because we remember them.

Anniversary Dinner at Ruth's Chris

No pictures, please! Amy and I left the kids with Robin and went to Ruth's Chris Steak House just outside of Ocean City in Berlin, Maryland for our anniversary dinner. It had been a long time since I had been there and it was Amy's first time. We both ordered the fillet, with Amy's being a petite, adding shrimp, broccoli, and mashed potatoes. For dessert we had the caramelized banana cream pie. The steak there is always good, and is just a little better when ordered with extra butter. I think I ordered Amy a dink she liked, but I have no idea what it is called, some kind of martini. My drink was pink, but it was good.

After dinner I really didn't have anything planned, so we walked the boardwalk and talked. Walking the boardwalk on a full stomach, especially with a great tasting meal like we had just eaten is a different experience. Normally I'll smell something good and I want it, but not this night. It was getting late so we took the tram back to the hotel. The tram took a while, it seemed to take forever for some folks to get on and off.

When we got back to the hotel, Robin was pretty much ready to go, and shortly after, Amy and I were ready for bed.

Another Day at the Beach

Robin was also in Ocean City and we were at the beach together. I spent most of the time under the umbrella with my shirt on. I did get into the water once. I really like to body surf the waves, but I couldn't do much of that due to my sunburn. The kids had a blast though. Aidan and Zoe did what Aidan and Zoe do, they played in the sand. Aidan has decided that he really doesn't like the ocean water, so he didn't go near it. Zoe isn't so afraid, but it takes her a bit to warm up.


The best part about Robin being there is that Amy and I could get our picture taken together!


Only Zoe!

Fire!

Ok, I don't think there was a fire. But the fire alarm went off and the building was evacuated. We waited outside for a while and soon we heard the fire engine sirens. It is never a good sign when the fire department is dispatched. The good news is that we were not out for long, maybe about 20 minutes or so.

Sunburn

Monday was sunburn day. I put on sun screen but it must have come off in the ocean, and by the time Amy helped me reapply it, it was to late. I'm so burned my movement is restricted. Dispite the burn, it was a great day on the beach. Alex was riding waves on his little kick board, Aidan & Zoe didn't spend much time in the water, but they really had a great time in the sand. They were non stop.

Ocean City

Aidan & Zoe's first trip to Ocean City is great so far. We haven't been here long but they've already been on the beach and walked a good twenty blocks and back to get french fries. Alex doesn't remember being here before, but he was, before Aidan was born. We are staying at a hotel that is right on the beach/boardwalk.

Tacos

I sure do like Tacos, especially in a deep fried soft corn tortilla. Eventually, I’ll have them for dinner tonight, but pretty soon, I’ll have to work. A west coast customer has run into a problem with the Exchange system I set up several weeks ago. I’d much rather eat Amy’s great tasting tacos! Hopefully I won’t have to be on the phone to long.

US to Russia: Take Over Georgia, it’s OK

It seems clear now that the United States will do nothing to stop Russia from taking over the small democracy of Georgia. This could have been stopped early, all the US needed to do was show up. Failing to do so sent a clear message to Russia, the US will do nothing to protect its ally, so take it if you want it. The rest of Europe sent the same message, that Russia can invade other sovereign European nations at will, with little real consequence. Sure, the US and EU have come up with some measures to “punish” Russia, but nothing that really matters much to Russia. They weren’t really serious about the WTO, they know that the G8 is an afterthought to the G7, so I doubt they really care if they are excluded. They have what the west wants, oil and gas, and the west will continue to buy it, funding Russia’s military invasions of its neighbors.

Steak and Cheese

Why do so many grill cooks put so much mayonnaise on steak and cheese subs? All that is really needed is a thin layer on each side of the sub roll. What are they trying to cover up? Is the lettuce bad, the tomatoes? I don’t know, but I do get tired of having to be specific with the amount of mayonnaise that I would like on my steak and cheese or Philadelphia style chicken steak and cheese. For my taste, a little mayo goes a long way.

When I was Growing Up

When I was growing up, the Soviet Union was the evil empire. The evil empire went broke, and the Soviet Union was gone, but Russia remained. We didn’t make much of a distinction between the Soviet Union and Russia back in the 80’s, and in general, the Russians would have held it together by force if they could have only afforded it. Now, Russia has two things, an improved economy, and energy leverage over most of Europe. The Europeans are between a rock and a hard place, Russia has invaded its neighbor, but the required response would surely lead Russia to retaliate by cutting off gas and oil. The lack of European response sends Moscow a message that it is OK to retake the caucuses, and why stop there, invade the Ukraine too. These countries cannot defend themselves against a Russian invasion, and the world will look the other way while it happens. It seems likely that my children will grow up seeing Russia as I did, the evil empire.

Leave it to China

Leave it to China to cheat in the Olympics, they know they can because the International Olympic Committee has done nothing but coddle to whatever China wants.

This latest controversy is over the ages of the Chinese women’s gymnastics team. There were some old records that indicated that one of the gymnasts would be a month to young and another ten months to young. To be eligible, the gymnasts would need to be at least 16 years old by the end of the calendar year. The records disappeared quickly and China provided government documents that they say prove their age. But in China, the government controls everything, information, media, and official documents. Combine that with their will to win at all costs, it seems more likely than not that China has cheated. Should they win the gold, in the minds of many, it will be tainted. Maybe some time down the road the truth will come out, but I’m not sure that China will care. Being stripped of the gold metal happens long after the huge media pools and cameras have gone. China has shown time and time again that what is important, is what happens on TV for the world to see, and everything else should be covered up.

“If” Georgia was a NATO Member

Here I go again with the “ifs”. As I mentioned in another post, countries trying to gain favor with the west, and going so far as working toward NATO membership, are unlikely to engage in the sort of atrocities of which Russia is accusing Georgia. The United States has nearly insisted that Georgia become a NATO member, and Georgia has been working doing so. Now if Georgia was already a member of NATO, would Russia have attacked? I doubt it, but if so, how would NATO have responded. The NATO treaty, Article 5 states:

The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.

Would NATO countries then declare war on Russia? Would they have sent troops to the region? While it wouldn’t be likely that NATO ground forces would be rushed to Georgia immediately, I would expect NATO Air Forces would get into the action rather quickly, and help force a cease fire that would be favorable to the Georgians, and then NATO ground forces would be sent to Georgia to help stabilize the peace. The NATO air power wouldn’t necessarily have to engage the Russians, given the superiority of NATO fighters, it is likely that the Russians would leave the skies, and pull back their troops less threatening positions.

All this talk about “if” Georgia was part of the NATO treaty doesn’t mean much, since they are not. Could it be that Russia’s real goal was to set back the process of Georgia’s acceptance into NATO? There is no doubt that Russia has done some damage to the Georgian military, which will take time to rebuild to NATO standards. Could this move backfire on Russia and draw Georgia into NATO sooner rather than later? It is hard to say right now, while the Russians are agreeing to a cease fire right now, there are still reports of fighting on the ground. Once the current conflict has ended, we’ll see how this shakes out.

McCain and Obama while Russia invades Georgia

We can say one thing for the war between Georgia and Russia; it has knocked the war between John McCain and Barack Obama off of the front page, at least for a little while. The media has tried to sneak in a few bits here and there about what the candidates are saying about the conflict, but it hasn’t really gained much traction yet.

Obama seems to be getting a little flack for going on vacation, and he is likely to get more over having never been to the region. Somehow, the Obama campaign is trying to turn this into an evil lobbyist story, because a McCain campaign staffer has lobbied for Georgia in the past. Somehow I don’t think that most Americans would have a problem with a small, relatively new democracy that was once part of the Soviet Union doing some lobbying.

McCain might benefit from this conflict. While eventually, the McCain and Obama positions became quite similar, Obama started out weak, while McCain’s original statement was just about right, and he stuck to it. No doubt that McCain’s experience with international issues was helpful in getting the right statement out right away, and he’ll use this to his advantage for all it is worth. I’m sure we’ll be hearing about McCain’s firsthand knowledge of Georgia in the next few days and weeks. This is exactly the sort of thing that exposes Obama’s lack of foreign policy experience.

Why the Metric System is Bad

It is easy, even though measuring your penis in centimeters would give you a larger number, centimeters are small, and I don’t know about you, but I just couldn’t use centimeters as a unit of measurement of my penis.

A big if, or two

I’m not a military analyst or have any real experience in the field. But if, and that is a big if, the United States exercises a military option to help Georgia, it has to happen pretty soon. I’m not suggesting that the US engage Russia in a ground assault, but with the US air power in the area already the Russians could be driven from the skies. And B2 bombers could do a number on the Russians with precision bombing. I don’t think that talk will stop the Russians this time. They could take the capitol as early as tomorrow, and could occupy the country by the end of the week. By then, the US options are limited. If, and there I go with the big if again, the United States is fine with Russia invading and occupying Georgia, then we can do nothing, but what would that do long term when Russia decides to attack the next country? I don’t have all of the answers here, but there is a lesson we all learned in grade school, if nobody stands up to the bully, the bully is likely to continue bullying.

Russia Invades Georgia as predicted in 2001 by Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon

So, I installed Ghost Recon, a great game from 2001 and played a few rounds last night. What made me dig through the CD case to find and install this 7 year old game? Well, the game is set in the future, starting in April 2008 to be exact. The game begins with Russia supporting the South Ossetia rebels, and then invading Georgia itself. While the story line doesn’t mirror exactly what is happening now, it is very coincidental in its back story.

The game itself is great, at least for its time. I really liked the squad based play. I liked sending the sniper to a nice spot somewhere to give me cover for my assault on a particular area, and having two other squads attack from different angles, which would either split the AI into smaller groups, or drawing them into a good position to be shot by one or the other squads. I really liked multiplayer. I wonder if I could find someone to play with these days. Until battlefield 1942 came out, I’d say that Ghost Recon was my favorite multi player game. I really liked using grenades and claymores for multiplayer games.

The game moves beyond Georgia, with the last level in that campaign being an extraction from the US embassy in Tbilisi, which is a pretty tough mission. If I recall correctly, it ends in red square in Moscow and you have to blow up several tanks. I figure I’ll play the game through again, just for the fun of it.

Back in real life, it is hard to understand this conflict. Georgia wants good relations with the EU and US, so it wouldn’t make much sense for it to target South Ossetian civilians as Russia claims. It seems to me that this is an excuse for Russia to flex its military muscle, but the world doesn’t like this sort of aggression. Look at the way the world looks at the United States in regards to Iraq, and that was a UN sanctioned war!

For now, the US isn’t involved, but Georgia is quite an ally with the 3rd largest number of troops in Iraq, at least until they were flown back to defend their territory. The US involvement in that is interesting. I would like to know more about this. According to the Deputy Chief of General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Anatoly Nogovitsyn at a briefing in Moscow, eight flights from Iraq, moved 800 Georgian military and eleven tons of cargo. I don’t believe much of what the Russians say, but this seems plausible. It seems that the US was involved in these flights, but I can’t confirm it. If so, what would happen if the Russians fired on or shot down a US plane? This thing could get out of control.

John McCain Likes Craps

Awesome! I just found out that John McCain likes to play craps, and may be a serious craps player. I would love to play at a table with him. Now some folks say that this is a bad thing, like somehow this sort of gambling would mean that he couldn’t be a good president. I beg to differ. Craps is fun, and to play for hours and hours, you need to play smart. Every dollar on the table is a risk, but there are places on the table that are riskier than others. As I’ve mentioned before, smart craps play leaves the casino with the smallest advantage for taking your money. I’ve been at the craps table for hours and hours, but I’m no gambling addict, it is just a lot of fun!

Craps

Craps is the best game in the casino, and no one will ever be able to convince me otherwise. I’m realistic, to me; it is all about playing a game, not really winning money. While winning money is nice, if you go in to a casino with some sort of expectation that you’ll walk away with a lot more than you started with, you’ll probably walk out disappointed. For craps to be fun and so you can play for a while, you need to start with a reasonable stack of chips compared to the minimum bet. While they are tempting, and I take them every so often, you are throwing away money on the sucker bets, and the more money you lose senselessly, the less playing time you’ll have. I always make minimum pass line and come bets, and double odds. Sometimes I go higher on the odds if I’m up a lot of chips, in the long run, the higher odds you can play, the lower the house advantage.

So far this week I’ve played craps for about 4 hours while drinking several free sodas. I started with $390 in cash, and after 4 hours, I have $400. While at times I had $600 in chips, maybe a little more with the bets on the table, I was also down to about $180 at one point. I didn’t make any money, but I was able to play craps for several hours, and for me, that is the point, and it cost me nothing.

Don’t fool yourself, the odds are that in the long long run, you will lose money at craps, but if you play it smart, you’ll get to play for much longer for your money than you would with black jack, roulette, etc. And the winning streaks can really pay off, as long as you know when to quit. When Amy is with me, I seem to know when to quit, when she is not, I don’t. I’ll probably play for a couple more hours over the next two days, the best outcome, will be to quit on a winning streak, followed by breaking even, and even if I lose money, it will be plenty fun.

Obama Manipulated the Democrat Party Primary

I didn't say it, the Washington Post did, in their own words of course: Strategy Was Based On Winning Delegates, Not Battlegrounds. This is an interesting article, that is sure to upset many Clinton suporters.

Here is an interesting example:

Obama had prevailed in districts with an odd number of delegates, so he was awarded the extra delegate, whereas Clinton's strongest regions were districts with even numbers of delegates, and Obama had kept the margin close enough to result in an even split.

In these cases, Obama won by just a little bit, but the reward was much more valuable.

Clinton was popular across the state -- but delegates were apportioned based on turnout strength in previous elections, meaning that heavily Democratic districts were disproportionately valuable. The biggest Philadelphia district -- an Obama stronghold -- was three times as big as the Altoona district.

Will this stradegy pay off? It can't really be used in the general election where you need to win entire states, not just the parts that are most likely to vote for you.

Steve Ballmer and Dinner

Last night at AeA’s Annual Technology for Government Dinner I got to hear Steve Ballmer speak. It was interesting, and I see some of the same things in the future technology as he does, but some other things seem way too gadgety to actually be useful. Like the display as thin as paper that will replace paper. I don’t think that paper will really need to be replaced in our everyday lives while we live here on earth. One comment really resonated with me, that while they add more and more features to mobile phones, it still better be a great device for making phone calls. I agree, I actually like old school mobile phones without all the fancy stuff, because they are just that, great at making phone calls, and that is all I really need.

The dinner was pretty good, at least the main course and desert. The soup and salad wasn’t so, except for the bacon and fried mozzarella ball that was with the salad. The main course was fillet minion and salmon with potato and asparagus. I could have really used a coke though, drink selections were water and wine, so, I drank a lot of water.

Credit Card Number

I don't know if this is good or bad, and if either, in what way. But I have finally memorized my credit card number. I memorized the one I had before it, but it changed when it was lost, which was a good three years ago. Now, I can shop online without having to find my wallet, oh, and log on to the web site and pay the bill too.

GO-32 Satellite - APRS Operation

On my second attempt, I was able to transmit an APRS position report packet via the GO-32 satellite and receive the digipeated packet for confirmation.

How did I do it? Well, I followed Bob's directions on http://eng.usna.navy.mil/~bruninga/GO32-ops.html and used my new Kenwood TM-D710 with the dual band mobile antenna on top of Amy's van.

I'll try to explain the image below. It is a picture of the display on the Kenwood TM-D710. The top line basically says I'm in APRS 9600 bps mode and the time. The next few lines represent unsuccessful packets. The lines that matter are near the end.

NE3R-9>3Y2R2Q,4XTECH*:'i6(l ←v/]50W Mobile with 19" dual band whip=

That is my position report as I received it on the satellite's downlink frequency. The 4XTECH* represents the station that digipeated my packet.




Here is a pic of some random other packets I received during the pass.

Amy’s Van / Satellite Ground Station

I was home a little early from work today and had some time. So I checked the satellite schedule, and there was a good pass of AO-27 just after 4pm today. So I figured I would see how well the radio in Amy’s van worked for that. This is one case where the antenna not being straight up and down probably helped as it was sort of aimed right at the satellite.

I heard a few stations on, and then a break so I made a call. N5AFV from Huston Texas responded, then WA5KBH from Lake Charles Louisiana right after, and finally Leo, W7JPI from Sonoita, Arizona. All of this happened within about a minute. Since FM satellites only have one frequency for uplink that is shared among everyone, so you keep it brief, just exchange call sign and grid square.

I really need a recording device as I have a hard time operating the radio and writing at the same time. I think I have all the call signs right! The radio I was using was the Kenwood TM-D710 with a short dual band antenna on a lip mount.

WinDbg Output for my memory.dmp file

*******************************************************************************
* *
* Bugcheck Analysis *
* *
*******************************************************************************

KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (8e)
This is a very common bugcheck. Usually the exception address pinpoints
the driver/function that caused the problem. Always note this address
as well as the link date of the driver/image that contains this address.
Some common problems are exception code 0x80000003. This means a hard
coded breakpoint or assertion was hit, but this system was booted
/NODEBUG. This is not supposed to happen as developers should never have
hardcoded breakpoints in retail code, but ...
If this happens, make sure a debugger gets connected, and the
system is booted /DEBUG. This will let us see why this breakpoint is
happening.
Arguments:
Arg1: c0000005, The exception code that was not handled
Arg2: 81c51e94, The address that the exception occurred at
Arg3: c23cc914, Trap Frame
Arg4: 00000000

Debugging Details:
------------------

Page bbe68 not present in the dump file. Type ".hh dbgerr004" for details
PEB is paged out (Peb.Ldr = 7ffd500c). Type ".hh dbgerr001" for details
PEB is paged out (Peb.Ldr = 7ffd500c). Type ".hh dbgerr001" for details

EXCEPTION_CODE: (NTSTATUS) 0xc0000005 - The instruction at 0x%08lx referenced memory at 0x%08lx. The memory could not be %s.

FAULTING_IP:
nt!HvpGetCellMapped+8c
81c51e94 8b4f04 mov ecx,dword ptr [edi+4]

TRAP_FRAME: c23cc914 -- (.trap 0xffffffffc23cc914)
ErrCode = 00000000
eax=00000efb ebx=0000013c ecx=000003ff edx=8e4ee1bc esi=8e4ee008 edi=00002310
eip=81c51e94 esp=c23cc988 ebp=c23cc9c8 iopl=0 nv up ei pl nz na po nc
cs=0008 ss=0010 ds=0023 es=0023 fs=0030 gs=0000 efl=00010202
nt!HvpGetCellMapped+0x8c:
81c51e94 8b4f04 mov ecx,dword ptr [edi+4] ds:0023:00002314=????????
Resetting default scope

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT

BUGCHECK_STR: 0x8E

PROCESS_NAME: ieuser.exe

CURRENT_IRQL: 0

LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER: from 81a7b5a0 to 81b12163

STACK_TEXT:
c23cc4d4 81a7b5a0 0000008e c0000005 81c51e94 nt!KeBugCheckEx+0x1e
c23cc8a4 81a9d63a c23cc8c0 00000000 c23cc914 nt!KiDispatchException+0x1a9
c23cc90c 81a9d5ee c23cc9c8 81c51e94 badb0d00 nt!CommonDispatchException+0x4a
c23cc9c8 81c22bff 8e4ee008 fffe5efb 00b135c0 nt!Kei386EoiHelper+0x186
c23cc9f4 81c2bb66 8e4ee008 8e4ee31c 00b135c0 nt!CmpAddInfoAfterParseFailure+0xcd
c23cca30 81afa215 0000000a 002c002c acdbdace nt!CmpFindSubKeyByName+0xae
c23cca7c 81a195b0 00000000 00000003 00000003 nt!EtwTraceContextSwap+0x14a
c23ccb78 81c8ae78 8b8f53f0 841102c8 84ae9008 hal!KfLowerIrql+0x64
c23ccc08 81c62fea 000003fc c23ccc60 00000040 nt!ObpLookupObjectName+0x11e
c23ccc68 81c59fa8 0381f234 841102c8 00000001 nt!ObOpenObjectByName+0x13c
c23ccd34 81c5a067 0381f318 00020019 0381f234 nt!CmOpenKey+0x1b1
c23ccd50 81a9ca7a 0381f318 00020019 0381f234 nt!NtOpenKey+0x16
c23ccd50 77819a94 0381f318 00020019 0381f234 nt!KiFastCallEntry+0x12a
WARNING: Frame IP not in any known module. Following frames may be wrong.
0381f270 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 0x77819a94


STACK_COMMAND: kb

FOLLOWUP_IP:
nt!HvpGetCellMapped+8c
81c51e94 8b4f04 mov ecx,dword ptr [edi+4]

SYMBOL_STACK_INDEX: 0

SYMBOL_NAME: nt!HvpGetCellMapped+8c

FOLLOWUP_NAME: MachineOwner

MODULE_NAME: nt

IMAGE_NAME: ntkrpamp.exe

DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP: 47918b12

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: 0x8E_nt!HvpGetCellMapped+8c

BUCKET_ID: 0x8E_nt!HvpGetCellMapped+8c

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

Vista Crashed

For the first time since I started using Windows Vista it has crashed. Nothing serious that I can tell, just a blue screen of death and a reboot and all seems to be working.

Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-WER-SystemErrorReporting
Date: 5/1/2008 10:36:06 AM
Event ID: 1001
Task Category: None
Level: Information
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: Planet-PC
Description:
The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x0000008e (0xc0000005, 0x81c51e94, 0xc23cc914, 0x00000000). A dump was saved in: C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP.

I really don't have time right now to diagnose the problem. On Monday I upgraded the computer from two to four gigs of memory. It worked fine right after, but other than that, I haven't changed anything on the system. We'll see.

I just obtained my first copy of Windows Vista to install on my home computer. I hope that goes well!

Book: On My Honor

On My Honor, Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts are Worth Fighting For by Rick Perry

I'm not a big reader, but I saw a link to this book while I was searching for info on the Cub Scouts for Alex who will be able to start in the fall. This is the first non technical book I've read since I read Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy in 1994. I must say, it is a great book. I don't consider myself ultra conservative, but definitely right leaning in my principles. The book is certainly written by a conservative politician, but it wasn't like listening to conservative talk radio either.

The book made me look back at my time in the Boy Scouts and realize what I learned then is what has guided me to be a productive member of society today. Although nobody is perfect, I still try to live by the Scout Oath and Law as well as the Scout motto and Slogan.

The Scout Oath:
On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law, to help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.

The Scout Law:
A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Cautious Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, & Reverent.

The Scout Motto:
Be Prepared

The Scout Slogan:
Do a good turn daily

I could probably do more to live up to the slogan, and I've found myself drifting from those principles from time to time in the past, but one thing I know is that I want to raise my boys to follow these principles.

I've heard of the occasional lawsuit where girls wanted to join and the flaps about openly gay men being denied leadership positions in the Boy Scouts, but the book put this in perspective. These lawsuits are not random, but a more coordinated effort to force the Boy Scouts to change the principles they've stood by from the beginning. It isn't that the Scouts don't change with the times, I was reading some of the Cub Scout requirements for advancement and one of them had to do with "cyberbullying" and the Internet. But the core values of Scouting have stood the test of time, nearly 100 years now, and will still be relevant for another 100 years and beyond. Tell me, what mother wouldn't want their child to follow the Scout Law, or what teacher wouldn't want their student to adhere to the Scout motto. I certainly want my children, boys and girls to do so.

I would encourage anyone who believes that the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts can be a positive influence on young boys (and even girls 14-20 in the venturing program) to read this book.

http://www.onmyhonorthebook.com/

It is also available on Amazon.com where I wrote a simple review.

Vista UAC - What everyone wanted Microsoft to do

One of the big complaints about Microsoft products in the past was that they were not secure. Now one of the big complaints is that I've been hearing about Vista is that the feature called User Account Control is too annoying and that they want to turn it off. Microsoft knows that the majority of the so called "security problems" with Windows are actually caused by the computer user installing some sort of cleverly disguised malware and that the majority of this malware would only install properly if the user had administrator rights. In Microsoft's own words, "The main goal of User Account Control is to reduce the exposure and attack surface of the operating system by requiring that all users run in standard user mode. This limitation minimizes the ability for users to make changes that could destabilize their computers or inadvertently expose the network to viruses through undetected malware that has infected their computer." Isn't this what both consumers and businesses have been asking for? Why then do so many folks complain about this security feature, or even go so far as to turn it off? I'm an IT power user, and I have no trouble with it. Sure, it is a little annoying when trying to do some tasks, especially if you've run a command prompt in user mode, but in less than a month of using Vista, I barely notice it anymore. So, for all of the anti-Vista crowd out there, don’t say Vista sucks and point to the UAC as your first reason why. It really isn't that bad, and it is exactly what everyone wanted Microsoft to do with Windows just a few years ago.

www. barackobama.com – no search?

Why does Barak Obama's web site omit a search feature? John McCain's site has one, as well as just about every other important web site on the Internet. I find it interesting that a candidate who claims to be so transparent would have a web site that lacks search. So, was this just something that was missed when the web site was designed or are they really hiding something? Since I generally dislike a web site's built in search, I tend to use Google or Microsoft Live to search the site and this works on barackobama.com. This either means they have nothing to hide, they really aren't good at hiding whatever it is they might want to hide, or they are really slick, and allow most things to be read by the robots, but leave out the controversial stuff.

Why did I discover this? I was eating lunch and thought to check out what the candidates had to say about Osama bin Laden. I started with John McCain's site, using the search box on the site I got several hits and read a few, but nothing really excited me. Then I went to Obama's site and figured I'd do the same, but all I did was look for the search box that didn't exist, so I turned to Live search, and found what I was looking for.

For those of you that want to know – you can search a specific web site with most search engines by adding the text "site:sitetosearch.com". IE: "Search Term site:www.barackobama.com". This will work on Live, Google, Yahoo, and others.

Alex's Nerf Arsenal Video

Ok - so this video isn't studio quality, but it was fun to make.

Alex's Nerf Arsenal


It sure was hard finding some decent background music that wouldn't get rejected by myspace video for copyright violations.

AutoUpdate Virus - Very Slick

Some slick malware writer nearly got past my fine antivirus protection. No, not AVG, the virus scan software I run, but my general common sense for not installing random junk on my computer. I was cleaning out my myspace friend spam since I hadn't logged on in a while. I check the folks out to see if I know them, just in case. When I was on one profile the Microsoft AutoUpdate window displayed. I should have noticed right away that something was wrong because I was running Vista on this computer and it looks different, but I run XP too.



Anyway, I clicked Download like a moron, then, another unseal window popped up, the file download security warning. AutoUpdate doesn't do this, so I looked into it a little closer. The file name was typical of a Microsoft update, KB890830.exe, but the download from was way off base, microsofsupport333.cn. By this time I knew what was up and canceled the download.



I must say, that this would have fooled someone like my grandmother and most computer users I've had to deal with on the job over the years, but not anyone who knew the slightest bit about their computer. I was tempted to actually download the file and see if the AVG virus scanner would have caught it, but why take the chance. There was a time when I experimented with viruses, but that was back in the day when viruses were written mostly by creative folks who weren't really trying to steal anything, just to spread and be annoying enough to be noticed, but these days, it isn't the same game.

Joe doesn't know NCAA Basketball

This blog post will make that painfully obvious.



So, I picked West Virginia to win the whole thing. At least they have some what of a chance to go a few rounds, but the rest were chosen based on their ranking, unless there was a local team, then I picked the local team to win, and the more local, the better, within reason. There is no way I could have had Mount Saint Mary's in the final game, even though they are just up the road.

What I found most interesting about the whole thing was the Excel template that I was able to download from Microsoft. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC102659791033.aspx?CategoryID=CT101435481033&CTT=42 It had all of the teams filled out already. I guess Excel isn't all about getting work done!

Robin's I mean, Our Dining Room

For so long we've gone without a dining room table in our house. Whenever we needed to use the dining room we'd setup a folding table and put a table cloth on it and call it a dining room. Recently we bought Robin's old dining room set, with a table, five chairs, a china cabinet, and a buffet. Robin requested pictures, so this is for her!

Hide a Windows Desktop Folder

I bet if I googled this it would get plenty of hits, but I was foolind around with making charicters by using alt-### from the number pad and found alt-0160. I thought to myself, that would be a fun name for a file or folder. Then I thought to my self, you know, that is the only icon on my desktop without text under it, what if I made the icon just a black square (I use a plain black background). While fooling around with icons, I found something better, built into windows is a blank icon.

Instructions:
1. Create a new folder on the desktop
2. Right click the folder and click rename
3. Hold down the ALT key and press 0160 on the number pad (Num Lock on)
4. Right click the folder and click properties

5. Select the Customize Tab and click the Change Icon... button


6. Scroll over a little and select an area that doesn't look like an icon

7. Click OK and OK again
8. Enjoy your hidden folder on the desktop

Power Point Engineer

An IT person that seems to know all of the buzz words and has read the latest marketing information on a particular product and could give a great presentation, but really has no idea what they are talking about.

Amateur Extra - One Year Later

I wasn’t really in a rush to pass the amateur extra exam. I was hoping to get my code speed up to a respectable 20 wpm before taking the written test. But then the FCC decided that Morse code proficiency was no longer required to be qualified to hold an amateur radio license. No, I wasn’t one of those folks that was waiting for the code test to go away to take the written exam, I had already passed the only required code test at the time, the 5 wpm element one test. I wanted to pass the extra exam before they dropped the requirement. Why, just to have some motivation. So, I passed my extra exam on February 17, 2007 and the code test requirement for general and amateur extra class amateur radio licenses was officially dropped on February 23, 2007.

Some of the things I wanted to do in the past year were to get my code speed up to 20 wpm and build a transceiver. I’ve accomplished neither, unless you count the pixie II transceiver that I built as a soldering warm up before starting the Elecraft K1. My code speed went downhill but I am working on a plan to improve it, but I’ll need to finish the K1 first. I was doing a good job listening to code practice for a while, but a change in jobs has knocked me off track. I can still copy fairly well at 10 wpm under ideal conditions, but that is the same speed I was copying when I first started learning code.

So my ham radio goals for 2008 are to improve my code speed, finish my NE3R QSL card, and finish the Elecraft K1 transceiver. I also want to improve the local APRS network and help our county ARES members get more proficient with handling NTS traffic.

Amy's Creativity

Amy is probably the most creative person I know. Her latest creations are the Valintines Day cards that Alex will give to his classmates at school. These cards are hand made from scratch, and they are simply wonderful!

Vista Desktop

My good experience with Vista continues, although I did have to install two unsigned drivers recently, one for my office's printer/copier and one to mount .ISO files as drive letters.

I took a screen shot for show and tell. I've started using some things on the side bar. My favorite is the slideshow - I have pictures of my family queued up and they change every 1 minute.

Click to Enlarge


The user interface has more of a Mac feel to it, but I do like it better than the default interface on XP. I tried to get used to the XP start menu, but I ended up going back to the classic Windows 2000 menu every time. Vista is different though and it has a better feel to it, I think I'll stick with it.

My Vote for Ron Paul

Yesterday was the primary election day in Maryland and it was anything but an ordinary primary. Since my first primary election in 1996 Maryland has never been important, by the time we voted, the nominee had already been chosen. This year was different; nobody had enough delegates to be a sure thing. Since I’m a registered republican, my choices were Mike Huckabee, John McCain, and Ron Paul. Before Super Tuesday I was thinking that I might have to support McCain even though I really wanted Paul because I thought McCain would be better than any of the democrat candidates and have a better chance to beat them in the general election. Once I knew McCain was well ahead, I figured I could vote the way I wanted, instead of the way most likely to be successful.

Election night was interesting. The weather was not good with freezing rain and an ice storm warning in the area, Amy and Alex were both sick, and Zoe was wearing one of Alex’s shirts and a pair of his boxer shorts over her clothes. But the desire to vote overcame these things and we all loaded up in the van and went to the polling place. With 3 kids and nobody really feeling well, Amy and I decided to vote in shits shifts, and I went first. For President, I voted for Ron Paul, but for the RNC delegates, I voted for those associated with John McCain, just in case something weird happened. For the Maryland sixth district congressional race, I voted for Roscoe Bartlett. For board of education I voted for Joe & Tony Chmelik, the only candidates to actually communicate with me, even if it was only handing out a flier after mass one Sunday, and I also voted for Ron Bird, because he was first on the list. Most of the candidates for board of education didn’t even get signs out this year. When I returned, Amy gave me some news, Alex had to throw up. I said he was sick! Then it was Amy’s turn to vote and my turn to entertain the children. Fortunately, Alex was feeling much better. Zoe was getting cranky, in our rush to get to the polling place before the weather worsened, we didn’t pack a bottle for her and she really wanted one. It took me about a half hour to get through the line and vote, but Amy returned in about 15 minutes. That was it, we went to the store, then went home to watch Obama and McCain go on to win the night. Ok, really we watched American Idol, but they put the results at the bottom of the screen on Fox 5

Windows Vista Week One

I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about Windows Vista, so you could imagine that when I started in a new position and received a shiny new laptop loaded with Windows Vista Business, the first time I’ve run Vista on something that mattered, I was worried. From the stories I’ve heard, Vista crashes all the time, and any program you run will crash. I’m happy to say that I have yet to experience a single problem with Vista or any applications I’ve run on it. The computer was configured by the IT department and included only the operating system and Microsoft Office 2007, I’ve added Windows Messenger, Adobe Acrobat reader, Flash Player, Silverlight, Powershell, and several active X controls for web sites, and I still haven’t had a problem.

I suspect that those who bought new computers with a bunch of software already loaded are having the most problems. Computer manufactures get paid for including a lot of trial versions and demo software, so the more the better. The financial incentive is great, so I’d expect the demand is to get as much software on as possible without thorough thought of the problems it may cause. Others who might have problems are those who have upgraded existing installations of Windows XP. Computers are like cars, they need maintained, and most, including my own rarely get the computer version of an oil change. Upgrading any operating system is asking for trouble. In either case, it is always best to format the hard drive and install Vista from scratch.

As for Vista in a big company or government agency, the problem will most likely be incompatible applications that have been installed on thousands of computers. Vista changes a lot of things, and some programs simply won’t work right, especially ones that were not well coded for Windows to begin with. Before a Vista deployment is attempted, application compatibility must be verified and Microsoft makes that pretty easy these days, and offers several solutions for getting around application compatibility issues.

That Zoe Sure Can Eat

My daughter sure can eat. This morning I made bacon and scrambled eggs. I gave Zoe a portion equal to the two year old Aidan and the almost six year old Alex. The two boys ate their bacon but almost none of their eggs. Twelve year old Andrew got a portion roughly twice the size of his younger siblings. Zoe finished everything on her tray and wanted more, not once but twice. Her 3 helpings of scrambled eggs ended up being more then her older brothers ate combined, none of them even finished their eggs, I guess I should be happy that at least they ate their bacon. I don't make breakfast very often, but it is nice to know at least one of the kids enjoyed it!

Legal Amateur Radio Operation?

I’ve come across something in the Amateur Radio rules that I think I understand, but someone else is interpreting them very differently.

My question centers on the Amateur Radio station KJ4BSL, which is issued to 278 ACR RTS HHT, to the attention of Dooley H Buckner SFC. This license includes no operator privileges and the station privileges of MILITARY REC.

Mr. Buckner believes that the FCC rules §97.5 b 3 and §97.5 c allow him to transmit on Amateur Radio frequencies. I’ll include the relevant part 97 text.

§97.5 Station license grant required.
(a) The station apparatus must be under the physical control of a person named in an amateur station license grant on the ULS consolidated license database or a person authorized for alien reciprocal operation by §97.107 of this part, before the station may transmit on any amateur service frequency from any place that is:
(1)Within 50 km of the Earth's surface and at a place where the amateur service is regulated by the FCC;

(b) The types of station license grants are:
(3) A military recreation station license grant. A military recreation station license grant may be held only by the person who is the license custodian designated by the official in charge of the United States military recreational premises where the station is situated. The person must not be a representative of a foreign government. The person need not hold an amateur operator license grant.

(c) The person named in the station license grant or who is authorized for alien reciprocal operation by §97.107 of this Part may use, in accordance with the applicable rules of this Part, the transmitting apparatus under the physical control of the person at places where the amateur service is regulated by the FCC.

When I first read §97.5 c above I thought that he was correct, but after thinking about it some more my thoughts went to the phrase “in accordance with the applicable rules of this Part” assuming that Part refers to the FCC rules related to Amateur Radio, Part 97.

The very next section is §97.7, which states that each amateur station must have a control operator.

§97.7 Control operator required
When transmitting, each amateur station must have a control operator. The control operator must be a person:

(a) For whom an amateur operator/primary station license grant appears on the ULS consolidated licensee database

So to operate the Amateur Radio station KJ4BSL in accordance with the applicable rules of Part 97, it must have a control operator with an operator/primary station license grant, which is basically a typical amateur radio license that would be issued to an individual. Since Mr. Buckner does not have an Amateur Radio license of his own, I suspect that he is operating the Amateur Radio station KJ4BSL illegally.

I could be completely wrong with my interpretation of the rules, but I think I’m right on this one. I am looking at it a couple of ways, and I can see where I think he has misinterpreted the rules. I think the easiest way to figure this out would be to ask, what are the operator privileges granted to the Amateur Radio station KJ4BSL. The answer is that operator privileges are not granted to stations, they are granted to operators, and no such privileges have been granted to Mr. Buckner yet.

Since it is against the rules to contact stations operating illegally, I think I’ll avoid KJ4BSL until I find that Mr. Buckner gets an Amateur Radio license or someone explains that my interpretation of the rules are incorrect.

I don't have it!

My partially built Elecraft K1 is temporarily no longer in my posesion. Where did it go you ask? I have given it to another ham to look over because I was having trouble with receiving weak signals. For example, with my club's Alinco DX-77 I was tuning around the 40 meter band and heard several CW stations that I could not hear on the K1. I could hear some of the strongest stations with the K1, but they had to be at least S9 signals on the Alinco for me to barely hear them on the Elecraft. I really coudn't figure out what the problem was. So I went looking for help, but I was sure to ask that he let me know what was wrong and how he fixed it so I can try to avoid the same mistake down the road. xallsse

I thought it looked like a radio before

In my last post I mentioned that it was starting to look like a radio. I really should have looked forward in the manual a little, because the next few pages really does turn it into a radio, with the side panels and front panel all attached to the main RF board. And best of all, it has passed its second smoke test as power has been applied with the front panel attached. The display works, and I've tested the audio, side tone, and even set the side tone frequency. The pictures are worth a thousand words though, check them out! Don't let the E42 bother you, that is a VFO error and the VFO isn't done yet.

K1 Powered On!


View from the top - RF board

It passed the smoke test!

The Elecraft K1 kit passed the smoke test today, the smoke test being when power is applied, you don't see or smell any smoke, nor does anything really heat up. I had to wind another toroidal inductor and two toroidal transformers. They are the round things wrapped in wire and pretty tough to make, but mine seem to have turned out nice. The crystals have been installed on the board, those are the large silver things. They are tough because you need to solder a small wire to the top of them to ground them to the board. Some major components have been installed that are starting to make it look like a radio, the antenna connector, headphone jack, & key jack. I sure am looking forward to getting on the air with this radio!

RF Board Top


RF Board Bottom

It has been three months...

It has been three months since I worked on my Elecraft K1 Transceiver Kit, but it came out of the box after dinner this evening and the build continued. I made a lot of progress on the RF board, I might even be about half way done with it! I did have a lot of trouble taking the pictures for the blog posting though. I'm not sure why, either they turned out too dark, or there was too much flash reflection. You'll see the horrible picture of the bottom of the RF board, which is the best out of eleven pictures I took.

RF Board Top


RF Board Bottom

Stale Potato Chips - No Problem

We've had this bag of ruffled potato chips around for a while, so long that they are passed their "best if used by" date. They do taste a little old, but they can be made better than new by adding some Old Bay. That basically makes them crab chips, and totally takes the staleness away. Yeah, I'm cheap, but hey, they are good!

Walkie Talkies are Great!

Robin bought Alex a set of spider-man FRS walkie talkies for Christmas. Tonight I decided it would be great to find them, give one to Alex and go back upstairs. A few seconds later I asked him if he could bring me up a cold Mountain Dew from the kitchen and he was ecstatically happy about it. Then a few minutes later, Amy asked him to bring her up a cold Coke. He didn't seem as happy, but he was sure to let us know that it was the last one in the refrigerator.

New Title Pics for Amy & Alex

I was looking around my Picasa albums and found a more recent picture of Alex and Amy to add to the title row. I liked the picture of Alex holding Aidan, but that was over two years ago now. I should probably get another picture of Andrew up there too, maybe later today. Of course, there are new pictures of me, but I look the same, just a little less hair.

The old pics:
Amy & Alex

New Zoe & Aidan Title Pics

Aidan & Zoe's pictures in my title bar were pretty old. They both look pretty different than they did more than a year ago. I have a new pic of Alex on the camera but the batteries are dead right now. Behind the scenes, I'm moving the new pics to my Picasa site.

Here are some older title pics:
Aidan, Zoe, and Aidan again

Civ IV with Amy

Last night and today Amy and I have spent several hours playing a Civilization IV Warlords. We started around 8:30 last night and went until 2:30am. Then today we played for a while, but it was a little on and off while chasing kids, doing laundry, etc.

Random Screenshot:

Subway

They just put a Subway sandwich shop near where I work. When it comes to Subway, the best part about their sandwiches is the fresh baked bread. I've been going there a bit and they keep asking me if I want my sub toasted. Why? I chose Subway, I didn't go to Quiznos for a reason, because I wanted a Subway sub, on tasty fresh baked bread that hasn't been ruined in a glorified microwave. So, here is the deal, when I want a toasted sub, I'll go to Quiznos and when I want a sub on fresh untoasted bread, I'll go to Subway, and there is no need to ask me if I want the sub toasted.

Amy's Blogging

Amy has been blogging regularly and should be for the rest of the month. There is something called National Blog Posting Month where you write at least one blog post per day for the month of November. http://www.modernprincess.com

Zoe Walks

While they aren't hear first steps, they are close. She seems to really want to walk now. Of course, when she really wants to get somewhere fast, she still crawls, but I guess that is to be expected for now.

Zoe Walks

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Started RF Board

I've started the RF board! It is the biggest part of the project and I'm looking forward to its completion. It looks like it is going to take a good 5 hours of work at my slow speed. Just sorting the parts took almost 30 minutes. It looks like there is nothing on it yet, but there are components soldered, trust me. On the top, you can see 15 or so resistors, 3 eight pin connectors, & 1 relay soldered to the board. On the bottom, there is not much to it yet, you can see the mounts on the edge, and the 20 pin connector that will connect to the front panel

RF Board Top


RF Board Bottom

Finished Front Panel

I don't know how I managed to do it, but I missed the potographing and blogging portions at the end of some work I did on the front panel board. The good news is, I actually did work on it once between 9/12 & 10/28. The better news is, it is starting to look like a radio.

A view from the front!


And the back!


Next up is the RF Board, which looks like it has about 3 times the number of components as everything I've built so far, maybe more.

APRS Balloon - W3EAX-11

I just happened to notice a station I didn't recognize on my APRS display this morning. Upon further investigation, I realized that it was a high altitude balloon that hadn't been launched yet. I took some time to sit down and watch it for a while a few times throughout the morning. I took some screen captures and filtered a log that I sent along to the e-mail address associated with that call. Here are two of the screen captures. The balloon and its track are on the left.

Soon after launch - click to enlarge:



Shortly after it stopped - click to enlarge:

Corndog!

If only this post had a picture, but we didn't bring the camera to the fair tonight. Of all the things that we did, the best part was Aidan eating his corndog. Just in case there is someone out there who doesn't know what a corndog is, check out Wikipedia's corndog entry. Now imagine a boy that is not quite two years old yet eating one, almost all of it. He may have eaten it all, but when he got down to the stick, I took it from him and ate it so he wouldn't poke is eye out. Oh yeah, Aidan also rode some rides, and so did Zoe, well, at least the carousel chariot. Alex really got my $15 worth out of the all you can ride pass. I think I about broke even. Amy didn't ride any rides tonight, she had Zoe on her back, but she rode many rides on Tuesday.

Fantasy Football - Won Week Two

I managed to win this week. No, I didn't cut Peyton for Eli, but I did play Randy Moss. There are a couple of more weeks, then some of my key players have bye weeks, hopefully Eli will be healty when Peyton is on the bye. I should probably pick up a defense and a kicker to play during their bye weeks too.

You'll never guess what I worked on tonight!

I pulled out the Elecraft K1 kit and started work on the second component, the Front Panel Board. I was surprised at how fast I progressed on this component. I'm about 1/2 way done in one sitting of about an hour and a half.

Front Panel Board - Top


Front Panel Board - Bottom


The filter board's components were all mounted on one side and soldered on the other, well, except for the multi pin connectors. The Front Panel Board is a little different, it has components mounted on each side, with some solder points ending up below components on the other side, I sure hope I don't have to re solder anything. I hope I can finish this component without letting too much time pass.

Lost my first match

Why did I pick some of these players again? Basically, after the first couple of rounds I started choosing by the overall player ranking, which didn't seem like such a bad idea at the time. The worst part is, why didn't I play them? Eli Manning did much better than Peyton, and Randy Moss had a great game. I was ahead after the Ravens game, but my opponent scored several points with his Cardinals wide receiver. Watching the Ravens game, I say that the offensive pass interference call was BS. If Todd Heap would have been given credit for that touchdown, I would have won. I guess that is just the luck of the draw.

Eli out does Peyton!

Two of the players I had on the bench this week in my Fantasy football team did very well. Too bad they don't help my score if they are on the bench! Although the Giants lost, Eli passed for a ton of yards and touchdowns. The other player was Randy Moss, he was supposed to be injured and not play much if at all, but ended up having a hell of a game, getting 24.3 fantasy points while the guy I put in for him, DJ Hackett scored 0.7 points. I'm loosing my first matchup 57.6 to 63.7. I have Todd Heap TE and Willis McGahee RB in for tonight. I still have some time to swap out Heap for Mark Clayton, but that is a toss up move, you never know which will do better, it depends on the defense.

Nothing better than working from home!

At least when you wife is home too and the babies are sleeping!

Fantasy Football

I've joined my first fantasy football league with some guys at work. They all say my draft picks were not very good, but how can you go wrong picking Peyton Manning first?

Here is my team
My Fantasy Football Team

QB Peyton Manning (Ind - QB)
WR Muhsin Muhammad (Chi - WR)
WR D.J. Hackett (Sea - WR)
RB Maurice Jones-Drew (Jac - RB)
RB Willis McGahee (Bal - RB)
W/T Todd Heap (Bal - TE)
K Adam Vinatieri (Ind - K)
DEF New England (NE - DEF)
BN Mark Clayton (Bal - WR)
BN Eli Manning (NYG - QB)
BN Brandon Jackson (GB - RB)
BN Alge Crumpler (Atl - TE)
BN Randy Moss (NE - WR)
BN Bernard Berrian (Chi - WR)
(BN = Benched Player)

Manning and Vinatieri did good for me on Thursday night. I'm looking forward to Sunday and Monday, I sure hope I win my first Fantasy game.

Fred Thompson 2008

It is time to get political. In 2000, I voted for John McCain in the primary that George W. Bush ultimately won. McCain was the better of two then, and he is looking pretty good to me this year too. But then there is this Fred Thompson guy. I'm not real sure about his politics yet, he is on the conservative side, which is good, but the guy just seems electable too. A simple quote like this one "Communications being what they are nowadays, if you can't get your message out in a few months, you're probably not ever going to get it out." really makes sense. I'm sure some staff fed him that line just in case he was asked, but the delivery was perfect. There is some grumbling about him being an actor, but that doesn't bother me, our last great president was an actor too! A McCain/Thompson vs Clinton/Obama would be one hell of a race in November!

Canada - Pictures

More pictures from our Canada trip!
http://picasaweb.google.com/joseph.durnal/Canada