I Hate Linux

Most moronic bumper sticker EVER!

2009-09-11T20:23:02Z

A few years back Channel 9 had a video about "sensecam" , a device that one could wear from their neck and which would take periodic pictures of your day so as to augment your memory of what you saw/encountered through the day. I want the same thing.. but in a high-resolution form, and for my car as last weekend I saw three things that were not only shocking, but almost unbelievable, especially considering I was not able to take photos of any. The first... while driving through Bellevue...(read more)

"Speaking truth to power"?

2009-09-09T19:47:05Z

A few weeks back I wrote about my cowardly and disingenuous Congressman Jay Inslee and his lie of omission that illegal aliens would not be covered under the current health 'insurance' reform being considered in congress. While I certainly can sympathize with the President and having his Congressional Address momentarily interrupted by a heckler... when one is going to go out of their way to call someone a liar while not being honest themselves... even then civility has it's limits, even...(read more)

Seattle area oddities – the homeless

2009-09-05T20:33:02Z

Since moving out to Redmond last year I’ve encountered countless oddities that were quite different than what I’d come to know in South Dakota and Minnesota... a few weeks back I finally put words to something that I'd not been able to quite explain... the homeless and other beggars here are not of the sort I've seen in past. Despite being raised Catholic (and still technically caucusing with them for cultural and family reasons)... I am not a God fearing man... the same it seems can be said...(read more)

"Wild" Bill Janklow Sues Dell?!?!?

2009-09-03T21:19:04Z

I've got another political post in the queue... but I had to post this first after hearing about it while chatting with tdaxp on the phone this afternoon while waiting for the ferry. Former South Dakota Governor, Congressmen (at large) and convicted manslaughter(-er?) Bill Janklow has recently decided to sue Dell over some tech support issues . While I voted against him every chance I could (granted only once)... watching the following video I am reminded of part of why I voted against him when...(read more)

Are Seattle drivers that bad? Apparently so...

2009-07-18T01:56:03Z

...as are the pilots who fly here it seems. If you aren’t familiar with the Seattle area... it’s best to start with a map: While the city of Seattle is on the left side of the map, the ‘East side’ (Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, etc) rests on the right, separating them is Lake Washington over which run a pair of relatively narrow highways (I-90 & SR-520). Every summer the city of Seattle has it’s summer fair known as Seafair , part of which often involves an air show over Lake Washington. This...(read more)

It better not happen again...

2009-07-10T21:19:03Z

On Wednesday night as I sat in my living room watching some Torchwood I heard someone fumble with my apartment’s door. Being puzzled I got up to see what was going on and was met by a person with a grocery bag in tow who opened the door, looked around for a moment, saw me and said “oops, wrong apartment.” That night I lay awake in bed with some some work related design bits preventing sleep... at one point I got out of bed, walked into my second bedroom to grab my Zune when I heard some rustling...(read more)

An unfortunate contrast

2009-06-06T10:20:03Z

What does the Google home page show today? That's right on this the 65th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy Google honors.. Tetris: For comparison... Bing: CNN: Fox News: MSNBC: Shameful Google, shameful....(read more)

When beta software attacks

2009-05-29T20:50:02Z

One of the (many) interesting parts about working at Microsoft is the opportunity to see, use, test and give feedback on early versions of a wide variety of products... it all depends on what your interests are and the openness of other teams. This evening while working with a beta service something rather… strange happened, so strange that it was flat out wrong and shouldn’t have happened, ever. What’d I do? I emailed the Program Manager who is my contact for the product explaining the issue, expressing...(read more)

And you want me to pay my bills ACS Education?

2009-05-17T23:16:00Z

In these times of a difficult economy and people struggling to make ends meat and pay their bills, its refreshing to see some companies offer options to current and future customers, be it car companies that will make your payments for you for a time, or even let you return your car if you lose your job, or credit card companies that take out advertisements, asking for you to call them if you are unable to pay your bills to them. It seems though that at least one student loan company ( ACS Education...(read more)

Proof of Concept: Silverlight based VNC client

2009-05-16T11:03:04Z

Forward: I would advise not looking for potential meanings of the below post or infer potential new features of Windows Home Server as it all involves things I was doing on my own time and for my own nefarious purposes. The other weekend I had a little free time on my hands and thought: “Wouldn't it be cool (and useful) if there was a Remote Desktop client that ran completely within the context of Silverlight ?” After a quick read of the core spec behind RDP ... I decided that a simpler protocol...(read more)

What’s wrong with this picture?

2009-05-12T11:38:03Z

... and the answer is not that I was using Google: (click for larger) Do note the address:...(read more)

Weight Loss – 3 years (and 5 days) in

2009-05-08T10:20:03Z

With all that is going on both professionally and personally, I forgot to celebrate an important day on Sunday... the 3 year anniversary of me starting Nutrisystem! History thus far: Start (5/3/2006): 415.2 lbs End of Year 1 (5/3/2007) : 291.2 (down 124) End of Year 2 (5/3/2008) : 224.2 (down 191) 8/10/2008 : 215 lbs (down 200.2) End of Year 3 (5/3/2009): 252.8 Your eyes do not deceive you, despite having lost ~205 over 30 month period... I've since gained ~40 of that back... to explain some...(read more)

Guess who I’m not buying?

2009-05-02T23:03:01Z

This Saturday night I’m sitting here watching some Harry Potter: The Prisoner of Azkaban, I was writing an email to a former co-worker when a commercial break (which I normally ignore) caught my ear when I heard the following line and suddenly had to pay attention: ...and a 3 year, 36,000 mile warranty backed by GM and the US Government … um no… it’s backed by US taxpayers! As it turned out, the ad was for a local car lot. At present I’m driving a 2002 Pontiac Aztek with ~140,000 miles on it and...(read more)

Crazy People

2009-05-01T13:58:04Z

Since moving to the Seattle area I've encountered many new different sorts of people (more on that another day)... unfortunately I've also seem to have found a few… seemingly insane people, the most recent case involved a person who kept insisting that I stop IMing them... even when it was she who was IMIng me repeatedly. Yes... I could have just blocked her and ended things... though I was curious just how much she intended to harass me so I kept watching and even warned her that if she...(read more)

Drop baby drop! ... or 2TB becoming price competitive?

2009-04-24T10:09:03Z

Even before joining the Windows Home Server team I could just never have enough hard drive space and was always thrilled as new and bigger drives came out and prices across the board eventually came down due to competition. This morning I got an email from Fry’s with their weekly specials and the one that caught my eye... an internal 2.0 TB HD for $229 , something that completely blew my mind as largely the same drive is sold on NewEgg (and elsewhere) in an OEM configuration for $300 and the lowest...(read more)