747 Landing

This is a crazy 747 landing in St. Maarten!

Coping

So my computer's power supply died this weekend (in between the car accidents and hospital visits) and I have been using a Dell laptop from the pile in the basement. I really miss my files from my regular computer. I usually have a bunch of images at my disposal to share with all of you, but I don't have access to those right now . . . I feel naked.

I promise posts will get more interesting as soon as I have my main computer's power supply back.

Update for the sake of updating

Kind of a slow day. The toe is feeling better, and doing okay, I guess. We started itteration 6a this week. We are spending this week working on our design documents. I've got some pretty tough design functionality this go-round. It's gonna be tough, but should be a good learning experience. We'll see.

Really?

First day back to work from the Memorial Day weekend. I had to leave at 1:00pm to visit an Allstate Insurance adjuster to have the damage to my car evaluated. When I got there, turns out my appointment was for Thursday the 28th, not today. They were'nt very busy, so he went ahead and did the eval for me anyway. Estimate is $624.00. I have to wait until I hear from the adjuster that it is okay to drop it off at the repair shop. That will probably be Thursday.

Then on the way back to the office, I ran out of gas. Yea, I know. The car beeped when there was about 4 drops left, and I made it about 1/2 a mile short of the station when the engine shut off. Luckily, I made it the rest of the way on the electric motor.

Then while filling up, I spilled gas on my foot. My bandaged foot. The one with no shoe and the open wound from the toe-nail removal.

I've made it safely back to the office, but am scared what is going to happen next. Something needs to go right soon . . .

DAMN IT - DAMN IT!

DAMN IT!

Delivery news

Bumber. Just heard from the company that is making the observatory. They expect a delivery date of around June 10th. I have hand surgery on the 12th. I don't think that will give me enough time to assemble it, and after the surgery my left hand will be useless.

Going to see if I can push the surgery back a week or so.

Poop :(

UPDATE (May 25th)
Was able to move the surgery to June 26th. A bit further than I wanted, but she also has the 19th open, so if it arrives sooner than later, I'll move it up.

UPDATE (June 1st)
UGH! Now they are not expecting the POD to ship out until the 15th of June. That gives me an estimated delivery date of June 22nd. Surgery is on the 26th. We're cutting it close here, people!

Observatory

I just realized I haven't mentioned the Observatory. We recently purchased an astronomical observatory dome for the telescope.

Currently the telescope is stored in it's shipping box in a plastic garden shed on the far-most deck in the backyard. It takes about an hour to setup for an evening of viewing, and about an hour to take down and store.

There were a couple issues with this method:

1. The optical tube assembly is very delicate, and removing it from the box and mounting it on the tripod assembly can sometimes cause the secondary mirror to 'jiggle' causing it to be re-aligned (a 30 minute process)
2. The take down and store process is usually done late at night (11pm or later) and can be tricky in a dark environment.

So, I found this great solution at http://www.skyshedpod.com/. It is a complete astronomical observatory. The telescope can be set up and left that way full time so all I need to do is go inside, open the dome, turn on the telescope and computer and begin viewing!

Here is what ours will look like:


(click on image for larger view)


(click on image for larger view)

And here is how the interior is configured. Again, this isn't mine, just images of what it will look like when it is delivered and all setup.


(click on image for larger view)

I'll keep everyone posted with updates and assembly photos when it arrives. Hopefully in the next two weeks!

Morning Traffic

Okay, I've never seen it this bad. I looked at Google-Traffic on my iPhone about 5 minutes into my commute this morning, and will try to redraw what it showed.

The blue line is my path I take to work, starting with the house icon in the upper right.

The red lines represent traffic THAT IS NOT MOVING!

Messy

I have to set asside some time to clean my office. We had window washers in a few weeks ago to wash the insides of all the windows. To facilitate this, we were asked to remove all items from our window sills. I just kind of threw stuff in the corner.

(click image for larger view)

Are you going to finish strong?

I got this from my Aunt Debbie last night, but didn't open and read until today at the office.

Great . . . now I'm crying at work. Perfect . . .

Soon, I will have 20/20 vision, too!

Yesterday a report came out saying that drinking coffee greatly may reduce your risk of colon cancer.

Today there's one that says it may also reduce your chance of liver cancer.

Score.

Another steps update

As some of you may know, I'm participating in the 10,000 Steps-a-Day program.

I am no convinced my pedometer is broken. I walked a TON today and when I looked at the meter, it read 00071!

I quit!

Baby Stroller FAIL

Rain

Its never going to stop raining, is it?

Lost Season 5 Finale

Well the season 5 finale is tonight! 2 hours long! I can't wait!!!!!

Shadow of a 4th dimensional cube

Launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis

Inactive ingredient: wax

"HeadOn claims to relieve headaches through homeopathic means -- by administering minute doses of agents said to cause the pain. Miralus Healthcare, the Plantation, Fla.-based company that makes the product, said it has sold more than 5 million tubes of the stuff, at around $8 a pop, in the past 11 months.

[...]

HeadOn, [the company vice president] said, contains highly dilute amounts of white bryony (a type of vine) and potassium dichromate -- said by the Pharmacopoeia to cause headaches. Mainstream doctors don't believe these substances cause or cure headaches, said Seymour Diamond, director of the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago and the inpatient headache unit at St. Joseph Hospital. Diamond said any relief reported by HeadOn users is likely due to the placebo effect, which occurs 30 to 40 percent of the time with headache remedies. "I see nothing in this product that has any validity whatsoever," Diamond said."

Full article

[via WP via wikipedia via SA]

Church Sign Fail

Mars:2020

Yes, I admit it, I've stolen this from the Bad Astronomer Blog, but this video really does deserve posting far and wide.

Caution: if you've not seen it yet, do not drink while watching it, you'll regret it.

Hi. Welcome to another internet lesson.
/has already taught you how to use slashes correctly.

Now I'm going to teach you the beauty of "tl;dr" which stands for "Too Long; Didn't Read".

Lazy people sometimes often ask for a tl;dr if someone copy-and-pastes a huge block of text into something. Or if someone links you a huge, lengthy news story

Examplebot2007: Hey check it out
Examplebot2007:http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=130136&ran=239147&tref=po

PshReading: Can I get a tl;dr

Examplebot2007: You're lazy and annoying. Yet efficient.
Examplebot2007: Some dude gives paint to animals and sells the "art" for like $180 bucks.

PshReading: Ha, thats weird. Thanks for saving me from reading all that.

Or:
Examplebot2007: Hey what did you think of the symbolism in Ulysses?
PshReading: tl;dr
Examplebot2007: You're gonna fail.

Now let's see it in action using my story below. It's overly wordy and boring. Realizing this as an author, I've placed a summary at the bottom for people that say to themselves "That's too long, I'm not gonna read it"

---overly long---
After shooting a wedding on Saturday, I stopped at a Burger King at 1am to order a decaf coffee.

I paid and then rolled up to the second window where a Burger King guy handed me a bag. Because I'd ordered a coffee (or as they call it : a BK Joe), I knew they must have gotten the orders mixed up. As he's shoving the bag into my hand, the guy asks "Do you want cream or sugar with your coffee?"

So while I'm "but-I'm-but-the"ing my way to try and form a sentence that both explains the situation and answers his questions, he pushes the bag into my hand.

By the weight, I then realize that I'm holding a bag with a cup of coffee placed in it.

"No thanks" I say in response to his cream or sugar question and he says "Thank you and have a nice day" as if it were normal to get your coffee in a sack.
------------

tl;dr I ordered a coffee from Burger King and the guy gave it to me in a bag.

You're welcome.

Hidden Vist CD Hologram

Steps update

Ugh! Only walked 1477 steps yesterday. It felt like more. I used Google Earth, and found that walking around my block is almost exactly 1/2 a mile. If I do that 8 times, that would probably get me to that many steps. Who has time for this???