Entries in Around Home Category

Sometimes, I wonder, "what would make a good weekend"; well, this weekend, I found out.

Starting on Friday, after work. The temperature was in the middle 50's and I rode the bike to work, so the ride home was very pleasant.

Nothing too exciting happened Friday night; we went to Wal-Mart in Jefferson City to pick up a few things. I did meet a couple of old friends that I have not seen in a while, so it was nice to catch-up with them.

Saturday started off with work on my '88 Toyota Pickup. I noticed earlier in the week that it needed new brakes, so I worked on that Saturday morning. The only real problem was that the parts store gave me the wrong brake shoes, but once I had the first set off and realized the problem, it was a short bike-ride back to the store to get the correct shoes.

Then, I worked on putting my TM-D700 back in the truck. I had some problem with the wiring for power for the radio and had pulled the radio out several months ago. I finally got the wiring straightened out and am happy to have a real radio in the truck again.

We went out to dinner on Saturday night to a new Bar-B-Q place in Sevierville, Woody's I think it's called. It's much like Buddy's, but they have more options. I gave it an average rating. I think I'll give it a little while for the cooks to get in their groove and give it another try.

Sunday started off as a lazy day. I fixed a big breakfast (Eggs, Sausage, Biscuits & Gravy) - a weekend favorite for me. Then I began to do some cleaning in the office. I did some re-arranging and eliminated a few bundles of wire messes that I had in here with the computers, radios and such.

We went out for lunch, nothing elaborate, just KFC.

After lunch, I worked on adding insulation to some pipes that I had trouble with during the last couple of cold snaps. When I finished that, I went over to a neighbor's where my father-in-law and some guys were working on a trailer that they will use to haul jeeps on. It's a rather large trailer (it will haul three jeeps) and they were in the process of replacing the axles with axles from a tractor-trailer trailer. Their approach was to flip the trailer over to make the welding of the new axles in place easier. This afternoon's project was to flip the trailer right-side-up and mount the tires on it.

After that, I settled down to get ready for my weekly APRS net. The net went well, with a fair amount of discussion that lasted about 40 minutes.

After that, I found the movie "Enter the Dragon" on television, so I decided to kick back and watch that while enjoying a pipe full of "1Q" tobacco.

Yes, this is, for me, a great weekend. Nothing significant happened, but I got some things accomplished that I have wanted to for a while now and I had plenty of time to enjoy it.

Most of my information is managed on-line. There is one exception to this - my daily work log.

This daily work log is just a simple 7"x5" notebook that I carry around with me when I'm at work. I start the day each day by making note in there indicating the date and I glance back at the notes from the previous day to see if there are any to-do's that I need to move from my notes to my to-do list. From there, it's simply a notepad. I write down the things that I'm working on (I do not keep strict time records here, but have in the past) and I will also use it to take notes in a meeting.

I'm trying use some other tools to supplement the notebook. Specifically, I'm using a little tool that I found from lifehacks, Quick-Log. It seems to work pretty smoothly and with a few modifications, I can easily add detailed notes to the log using the ".LOG" feature of notepad (you can't have a less complex tool I don't believe).

So far, the biggest issue is that I don't always have the laptop available. If the laptop is off, it takes a while to boot, even if it's in hibernation. The notebook beats this by being "always on" and easily accessible. So the Quick-log is not the best solution for me, but hopefully I'll use it enough that I can search for a topic, find the date, then reference the notebook if I need more details.

In the distant past, when I carried a newton Message pad, I did not carry the notebook. There was also a short time when I had a Handspring Visor Prism with a Targus Stowaway Keyboard that allowed me to take notes quickly enough that I did not carry the notebook.

I would like to get back to something like either of those solutions now. It's much easier to search for stuff when it's captured in an electronic form. As for my work log, I can easily browse it by date, but it's impossible to search by topic in it - I have to do a "full scan" any time I want to find information.

I currently carry the Apple iPhone (first generation) and really like it a lot, the addition of a keyboard (bluetooth or via the connector) would let me use it as a replacement for my laptop for MOST of the applications that I need and it would eliminate the notebook.

Maybe someone in Apple will see how much more useful the iPhone would be with an optional portable keyboard and add that as an option one day.

I received a little bag of goodies from a co-worker today. Attached to it was this note explaining it's contents. I thought it was neat.

Bugles: Shaped like a cornucopia or Horn of Plenty, a symbol of our nation's abundance.
Pretzels: Arms folded in prayer, a freedom sought by those who founded our country.
Candy Corn: Sacrifices of the Pilgrims' first winter. Food was so scarce that settlers survived on just a few kernels of corn a day.
Seeds: Promise of a future harvest, one we will reap only if seeds are planted and tended with care.
Dried fruits: Harvest gifts of our bountiful land.
M&M: Memories of those who came before us to a blessed future.
Hershey's Kiss: The love of family and friends that sweetens our lives.

The bag contained a bit of each of the things listed.

Like many American today, I woke up and had the election on my mind. I believe that having a Democrat in office is never a good thing, but I suspect that we will once again elect one this term.

While thinking about the election, I turned and picked up a book, Moving Toward Stillness, by Dave Lowry. I have been re-reading this book a chapter at a time and today, the chapter was entitled "ich-igo, ich-ie (One Encounter, One Chance)" (I think that's the way it is spelled). Lowry explains that the one encounter, one chance philosophy is prevalent in Japanese Sword Arts as well as Japanese Flower Arts.

I thought about it in terms of the election. This will be an historic election; we will either elect our first black president or our first female vice-president. This is our one encounter, one chance.

With a sword, each fight should be treated as if it could be your last. With flower arrangement, one wrong move could destroy an entire arrangement. It goes back to Zen philosophy in that you need to be fully engaged in what you are doing - you only have one chance.

Today we only have one chance at this election. Sure, we'll have other elections, but we will not have a chance to re-do this election. I hope that everyone goes into this election with full focus on their vote and it's power.

I always thought that lock picking was something that it took a good while to learn and a big collection of "picks" were necessary to be successful. Recently, I was shown how to pick a lock using a pretty simple "small diamond" pick. After just a few moments of instruction I was sitting there picking pad-lock after pad-lock.

Then heard Kevin Mitnick on TWIT and heard that his business card was a set of lock picks (picture available on his web site, www.kevinmitnick.com. A pretty cool card and with a little bit of training maybe a good thing to have in your wallet.

I did some other web surfing and found some other lock pick designs as well:
http://www.slingadeski.shaigar.net/lockpicking/LockPickingIndex.html

According to an article I found on WBIR.com:

Filling stations sold four times more gasoline than on a normal weekend as Hurricane Ike made landfall in Texas, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said.

These extra purchases made by people who believed that we would have a shortage resulted in exactly the shortage that was feared (as well as very high prices on what fuel was available).

Further in the article:

"It's like right before a storm when everybody rushes to the store to buy milk and bread," said Jeremy Heidt, a spokesman for TEMA, which has been monitoring the shortage. "There's no way the store has enough milk and bread for everyone who wants to buy it. They are planning their purchases based on what consumers typically do."

This event (the collective fear that we would run short on gasoline) was far from a local "disaster", so imagine how much worse it will be during a disaster. The spokesman for TEMA mentions food and suggests that stores only care enough for a typical day/week.

So my take-away from this is two things.

1. If a disaster strikes, many supplies will be unavailable.


2. Plan ahead. Have some gasoline stored up. Imagine how much you would have saved over the last week if you had enough fuel on hand to drive approximately 200 miles. (I pick 200 miles because that seems like a reasonable distance to have to travel to get out of harms way if a disaster were to strike). Not only gasoline, but food also.

One week ago I got a call from my manager at IBM. He told me that I am on the list to be laid off as of June 11.

This is the second time in my 12 year career with IBM that this has happened to me. These lay offs come when the business slows down and it appears to me that people are chosen based on their being on the bench. IBM will disagree with me on this, but I've seen it happen multiple times and I have seen some VERY talented individuals get hit by this very thing in the past, often developers who were far more talented than I who on the same team as me, but when it came down, I was on a project and they were not. This particular lay off hit several people within IBM Global Services. Not the best way to manage people, but not uncommon within IBM.

So, how did I end up on the bench? Well, for starters, IBM's interest in Lotus Notes development dropped dramatically about 6 years ago. My manager at that time told me to either learn some other technology or leave IBM. I learned IBM Tivoli Identity Manager (ITIM), transferred to a group that focused on TIM and started working on project. I was on a 6 month plus project with the Treasury Department in Washington, DC for about one month when the Treasury Department realized that they were paying for my travel. They terminated my portion of the contract and all of a sudden, I was on the bench. My team scrambled to find me some work while they tried to find me more ITIM projects; enter IP. IP had a need for a short term Lotus Notes developer, my team decided that I would be able to work the IP project for a short term, then get back to ITIM work. As you all know, the IP project went a bit longer than expected. During that time, the ITIM team re-organized and they moved me to a different team. That happened a few times while I was at IP - I had 5 different IBM managers and was part of 3 different teams during my time at IP. The team that I ended up with was the WebSphere Extended Enterprise Enablement team.

After the IP project ended, this new team was planning to send me on a project in Seattle that they hoped would sign soon. In the interim, I attended some WebSphere Portal training (both Admin and Development). The team that I am on now is the WebSphere Extended Enterprise Enablement team and WebSphere Portal is one of the key pieces of software that they help companies implement.

The Seattle deal fell apart and was not signed, and the pipeline for our group was not healthy. As a result, I've been sitting idle for basically the last month, so my name was added to the list of lay offs.

I am currently searching for other openings within IBM, but I am also exploring other opportunities. I've been traveling for work for the entire time that I've worked for IBM, so I think it would be nice to find something local.

At this time, I think I will continue to search for a full-time position either within IBM or something local. Although if I do not find anything in a few weeks, my mind may change.

Yesterday, my wife catches an article in the May 19 issue of People magazine that talks about plastic containers made with the chemical BPA.

Apparently, the National Institutes of Health has recently published a Draft Brief On Bisphenol A (BPA).

The main conclusions in this brief include...

The National Toxicology Program (NTP) concurs with the conclusion of the Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction (CERHR) Expert Panel on Bisphenol A that there is some concern for neural and behavioral effects in fetuses, infants, and children at current human exposures. The NTP also has some concern for bisphenol A exposure in these populations based on effects in the prostate gland, mammary gland, and an earlier age for puberty in females.

After reading the article, my wife picks up my CamelBak Better Bottle water bottle and flips it over. It is stamped with a 7 inside a triangle which is one of the signs that the bottle contains BPA. So I go over to the CamelBak web site to see what their take on the matter is.

I'm greeted with a message on their home page "CamelBak Bottles - your choice for BPA-free hydration on-the-go", so I do some digging and find out that their line of bottles are BPS free as of the end of April, 2008. Sounds like I need to replace my bottle.

This is another example of a web site that a friend of mine, Andy Kraus, worked on, providing the concept, web copy and project coordination.

Peak States: LIberate Your Inner Greatness

He's done a few other sites and seems to do a great job coordinating projects. This one is his latest and looks great!

Do you have one of those books that you read as a kid that you often think about as an adult? Well mine is My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. The book is written as a journal of a boy who ran away from home and survives on his own living in the Catskill Mountains.

Wikipedia has more information about the book if you're interested.

This looks like a really nice replacement for my "theme park backpack". It's large enough to carry quite a few thigns (including a water bottle), and has lots of pockets for organization.

JUMBO™ VERSIPACK - MAXPEDITION HARD-USE GEAR® (Home of the Rollypoly™ Folding Dump Pouch)

Adult supervision required to go to this site, but it is funny.
Funny t-shirts, Funny shirts, Crazy t-shirts, Crazy shirts, Cool t-shirts, Cool shirts

Altadis USA - Fine cigars, tobaccos, cigar events, and cigar accessories.

Blue Ridge Country: Kentucky's Hensley Settlement - Mountain Families living in Isolation

Looks like cool place to make a day-trip.

This would be a funny story if it were not all true. I do not know the entire story, but here's what I do know.

My wife works with a lady, I'll call her "Pat".

Pat's son recently moved to San Diego. Last week, Pat went on vacation to visit her son. While she was there, her son took her to Tijuana. He left her in a bar in Tijuana while he went back to San Diego for something. Upon his return to the bar in Tijuana, he could not find Pat - she had vanished. He went to the Mexican police who told him that the best thing for him to do would be go home. On his way home, he gets robbed (stopped for gas maybe?); they take his cash and cell phone. Without the cell phone, Pat has no way to reach her son - her ride back to San Diego. It has been a few days and nothing had been heard from her.

Spinach
Strawberries
Blueberries
Chopped Pecans
Raspberry Dressing

We had this at the Hogan's and it was one of the best salads that I've had in a while!

Kennedy Space Center | Orlando Florida Vacations | Space Shuttle Launch Calendar

Atlas 5 NRO L-30

We saw this launch today.

Matthew's VW Bug had a problem where the door did not know if it was open or closed.

Found this on the web http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?p=730184

Which lead me to this:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1015107

on how to take the door apart.

We had a great weekend.

Friday night was Sevier County's final football game of the season. They played against Ooltewah in the quarter finals and lost. That will be the last time that Matthew plays for a football game; it was kind of bitter-sweet.

Ooltewah was a good drive from home, so it was nearly midnight when we got back home after the game.

We slept in and were generally pretty lazy on the rainy Saturday morning.

We made up for the laziness later in the day. Lori and I put a big dent in our Christmas shopping that day. We started off with lunch at Panerra Bread - one of Lori's favorite places to have lunch on the weekends. From there, we spent a few hours in the mall, then about an hour in Sam's Club.

Sunday morning was much like Saturday morning except it was cold instead of rainy. In the afternoon, we took off to Dollywood with Lori's mom to see some of the shows. We stayed there until around 7 PM. The amount of Christmas lights that they have up is huge.

Places to Visit Report

Here are a few places to visit near Tellico Plains. This list is full of ideas for day trips. The places are first arranged by direction from Tellico Plains, then by distance.

We took a drive over to Fontana Village, just over the mountain in North Carolina and on our drive home, caught this beautiful view of the lake and mountains.

Rinnai - Forever Hot Water - The Continuum

The Rinnai Continuum tankless water heater is a more efficient way to heat water. The Rinnai Continuum is a tankless water heater that heats water quickly and delivers an endless supply of hot water for as long as you need it. With the Rinnai Continuum tankless water heater, you only pay to heat water when you need it and for as long as you want it.

Had a busy day today, helping the Basingers build a deck around their pool. We did not get finished, but made some progress.

I took a few pictures to show the progress and workers.

This past weekend was crazy.

It started Friday afternoon. My father-in-law and I went into town to pick up a Bobcat for some driveway work that we have planned for Saturday.

I returned home from the Bobcat delivery just in time to leave again. This time, heading to Gatlinburg for a Band concert where Matthew performed. We went out to grab some dinner after the event. Before we knew it, the day was gone.

Matthew started his first job Saturday morning - working at Buddy's Bar-B-Que, so Saturday started early. While Lori took Matthew to work, I began working with a friend of mine, running the Bobcat to build a new driveway. We worked until around noon on a the driveway. After lunch, we took the Bobcat over to my father-in-laws to move some dirt there - making room for more trucks/trailers/campers.

Saturday evening, I worked on one of my lawn mowers. After pulling the birds nest from the engine, I was able to get it running again, so I mowed the back yard while Lori went to get Matthew from work. After that, I was about to overheat, so I quit. It was dinner time, so Lori and I took the bike for a short ride to Dandridge to get some dinner - a nice cool ride.

Sunday was not nearly as busy - Matthew had to be at work at 9 am again, so I finished mowing the yard while Lori took him to work. I helped Lori with some pictures for stuff to put on e-bay, then it was time to get some lunch. We took Lori's Mom and Dad out for lunch at Matthew's new place of employment - he was working the drive-thru window, so we did not get to see much of him. After lunch, we went to a local flea market (Lori's mom's request) and spent an hour or so looking.

This put us home around 2:30 - I figured I had just enough time to get to my parents house and see them a short while before they had to go to church for evening services. I took off on the bike (Lori stayed behind, to be there to pick up Matthew). When I got to their house, I found it empty - so I left the Mother's day card/present and rode back home - about a 3 hour round trip on the bike - a nice way to spend the afternoon.

Los Lonely Boys - Official Site

I heard these guys on VH1 and like their sound.

The dogwoods looked very pretty today with a light rain falling...

We have several dogwood trees in the back yard. This time of year, they all look beautiful as they begin to bloom.

Lori has wanted a Nissan Maxima for a long time. Today, we went looking at several - both new and used.

This one caught Lori's eye - we'll see what happens.