Pathophysiology if Phun

Phun, yes that is the word. Do not question it, just accept it.

Soooo, just finished my midterm for Patho and I think it went well (I'm sitting in the commons now outside Eric's last class listening to some crazy 18 year olds making really weird rap music...sort of sounds like armpit music and raspberrys, but it's all right because they're cool).

Eric wants me to promise that I won't post anything too disgusting, but I have to admit that I think the most interesting things I have learned have to be some of the most disgusting. For instance, did you know that with an electrical burn that the electrical charge will follow the nerve all the way until it terminates? It burns the tissue and causes necrosis all the way along the nerve which is not visible until basically the dead tissue eats it way out to the surface or becomes so infected that they need to do a fasciotomy to relieve the pressure (aka they cut you open). I have some great pictures...but I won't use them all up just yet. Gross hey?

I was thinking about that the other day. They actually have wound healing nurse specialists. Their job is to look after patients with wounds that are difficult to heal. Some people live with open decubitus ulcers for over a year before they close by secondary intention. Can you imagine what kind of agony they must go through? A gaping hole over their sacrum for a year? I can not fathom it myself. So who knows? Maybe I could look at doing something like that. I am beginning to develop an iron gut...if I can ever figure out what I want to be when I grow up, maybe that will be it.

In the mean time, my near future goals consist of washing the dog (who smells) and doing some laundry (so we don't smell) and then washing some dishes (which really smell!). Gots to right a journal tonight...another chapter in the "This is how I am feeling about you feeling about me thinking and feeling about you feeling" emotional-introspective-oh-please-don't-make-me-write-another-one journal for my nursing clinical course *sigh*. My last one was about the importance of accurate clinical documentation, maybe I'll write this one on the importance of not over emotionally-analyzing every aspect of my life :) Somehow I doubt that will go over well. Oh well, onward and forwards, if anyone thinks of some morally/ethically/tear jerking issue that needs writing about I would be pleased to hear it.

Until next time, Cheers.
-Rebecca

The Scrooge of Halloween!

We didn't have any candies tonite for Halloween, I dressed up as Scrooge - No Candy for You! Fortunately for us, we also didn't have anyone stop by. It might've been the dog barking everytime she heard someone on our steps out front, or it might've been the actual steps (not safe at the best of times!)

Someday we'll do the Halloween thing, not because I believe in ghosts, ghouls or goblins. Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings is about as close as I get to that stuff, but mostly because I think it'd be a lot of fun to build some kind of themed, automated Haunted House :-)

So. I'm feeling a tiny bit Emo tonite, I hope you can forgive me. Today was mid-term #1, Friday #2. This semester is limited in it's midterms (thank goodness), but still it makes me think. I love learning, there is just about nothing in the world I'd rather do, but I'm not sure I like school. It's odd, being in classes, learning to start a life that I feel I've already started. I know, I've done it bass-ackwards but still, it's harder going back then I expected. When I'm at work I'm where I am happiest (almost all of the time), when I'm at school I'm just sitting, listening, not doing anything. I enjoy learning, and, granted, there are lots of times I'm learning at school, but sometimes I feel like something is not right. So what to do....

I've already changed from a business major to computer science. That was definitely a step in the right direction, but is it right? I don't like learning without doing anything. I can read from a book all I want, listen to yet another theory lecture, but I'm at the point where I want to build, play, make. So where does that leave me?

School isn't going to be quick, I'm not going to give up, that's for sure, but it's going to take a while. My four year program might take five, but that's ok. (I need the time to learn the math!) That won't stop our lives. We are still going to SoCal next year (again!), we may be going to NY even, and who knows where else. Kids are coming, they can't wait too long! And we just need to enjoy our lives more. So what do we do?

Right now, that's the big question, we've spent so much time worrying about the future that we have, in some ways, missed out on life in the day to day. We need to figure that one out, and once we do I think we're set. Just how to do it is the question? That is to be seen....

We'll keep you filled in :-)

- E

I don't know what it is about space, but it's one of those things/places I find very cool. Must've been something from being a kid, or maybe just the sheer challenge of getting something to travel that far, through that harsh of conditions just to get it up there. But one of my favorite movies is October Sky, I love looking at High Altitude Rocketry, and anything just outside of the bounds of earth absolutely fascinates me.

So seeing the HALO project by Canadian Natrium42 was downright awesome. (Sorry, corny wording, but I can't think of any other way to say it!)

Check it out!

-E

What I read...

I've had a day. So to procrastinate/try and feel better I thought I'd blog. Of note, it is exactly one month since the last one!

I read lots of blogs (even though I don't blog often) such as the following:

I read lots of tech stuff, like:

• Coding Horror - A great blog with lots of interesting articles (at times rants) about stuff that I do quite often (ie: work). Lots of good architecture and design info...
• Joel on Software - Another one of those overall interesting tech blogs (though slightly boring at the moment now that he's on a promo tour).
• Scott Hanselman's Computer Zen- A M$ employee, but I did read him before then. Really great reading, especially the Weekly Source Code. Just goes to show you can be a programmer and be cool! (It's ok Mom, I've come to accept my uncoolness....)
• WebmasterWorld - This is how I know of stuff so soon that goes on, on the web. I've let out my secret. Though there are actually a lot of other places that are quicker to post news, this one is usually pretty good, and usually right on the money.
  

And when I'm feeling like I need a laugh:

• XKCD - But be careful ~
  

  Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).

And to feed my Arm Chair Model Railroader hobby:

• CNJ Bronx Terminal - Tim Warris, of FastTracks fame, has lots of good tips on modelling in general. I remember the first time I saw his article in Model Railroader, it had to be one of my favorite layouts!
• Blood Sweat & Tears Railroad - The site showcases a great railroad (which unfortunately no longer exists) as well as links to many other great railroads.
• Carl Arendt's Micro Layouts Site - My current favorite, he showcases trackplans that squeeze a lot into small spaces. Not all of the micro layouts are the craftsman quality of some of the others seen here, but they are all very creative!
  
• Also Dan's Train Blog, The Körschtalbahn and the Clearwater Valley Railway. All very good, and interesting reads, though some aren't updated as often as I'd like
  

And to feed my other creative impulses:

• Makezine Blog - Art and engineering from all over the world. A great read, some of the coolest things I've seen shows up here! And the Faires are even better!
• Brass Goggles - My tiny foray into the real art world. Some very amazing stuff, my only complaint is that it isn't updated nearly often enough!

Last, but definitely not the least, is family (and friends who are family):

• Mom & Dad Bouwsema - A great way of keeping up when it's hard to keep up! Also, I regularly read the Train Station Saga's....
• Ambling Ramblings - A great name, from B&K, brother and sister-in-law, joint MST3K partakers. I don't know if I should link them though, they don't link me ;-)
• And Emma - The beautiful Miss Grose! Unfortunately no longer updated, too busy with a new little brother I think.
  

So, that's pretty much what I read. When I need a break, I look at most of theses blogs/sites and it makes me feel good again!

Dream House....

We were vegging a bit and watched the last bit of North by Northwest on Turner Classic Movies. What a movie in all of it's 1950's glory! Over the last few years Becky and I have been figuring out that we really quite like Mid-Century Modern style and design, and this was the epitome of it. The best part was the Frank Lloyd Wright inspired Vandamm house.




These pictures are courtesy of Flickr. We've decided that our future house should be inspired by this one, it would be great to have that space, wood and rock balance. And the cantilever, although not true Frank Lloyd Wright (that's not me who knows this, the JetSet guy said so, and I believe him) I would feel better knowing there were supports underneath it.

Unfortunately this house never existed, so we'll just have to build our own version, complete with modern, but mid-century modern inspired furniture.

And while we are on the topic, I really like this house-warming gift idea. Becky and I will just have to go and find more old Popular Mechanics and Life magazines till we find one almost as cool as that!

On the ideas of gifts (seeing as only family reads my rants called a blog), I wouldn't mind North by Northwest for Christmas!

I've been found out....

In fact, my code is compiling right now... :-)

(Kudos to XKCD)

Dog Names...

From my (our) sick and twisted minds. (Sorry Mom!)

So if you cross a Pomeranian and a Poodle we found out yesterday you get a PomPoo.

So that got us thinking, that wouldn't a pure bread Pom (one puppy with two Pomeranian parents) be a PomPom?

Or even worse, wouldn't a pure bread Poodle be a PooPoo?

But that's not even the worse of it. We figured that a Golden Doodle (A Golden Retriever and a Poodle cross) should then be a Poo Retriever.

But we know a Pit Bull, nice dog, but if you had one crossed with a Shitzu, well, you know what you would get.

Now if that Pit Bull/Shitzu crossed with a Standard Poodle, in Canada you would get the Standard Bull S#!t. Heaven forbid it was an American Pit Bull that crossed, or you might get...

Radio Paradise

If you can get past the asking for money... Radio Paradise is one of my favorite radio stations to listen too, a nice mix of everything. The Postal Service is currently playing, good band...

And if you feel guilty like me, buy a shirt :-)

http://www.radioparadise.com/

Oil Town

It's great living in oil town, did I ever mention that? All these fancy cars, huge houses, money coming out of everywhere. Including our pockets.

Found out today that our rent will go up 10-15% when our lease is up. Fan-freakin-tastic. As if we don't already pay enough? Oil town is great, for those who make money off of the oil, for the rest of us, especially students, it sucks.

But that is enough of my left wing rant...

It is Valentines, and we are home because of school, but on Sunday we are going out for breakfast. There are so many things I love about my beautiful wife, but two that were clear today is that she is ok with Breakfast as a fancy meal out!! And two she uses the word frackin' off of Battlestar Galactica. Yes, she can geek-speak, even better than me.

-Eric

Public Service Announcement - Prevent Screen Burn-in

With Kick-Ar$3 screensavers....

http://www.reallyslick.com/

-E

P.S. This proves that school really is good for something, finding cool stuff in the campus paper.

Very Long Time, No Blog

I'm procrastinating studying for a test, which I've skipped my Psyc class to study for. And lone behold, I decided what about my blog, you know that thing I haven't updated in a year. That's ok, because only my two brother's and sis-in-law checked it :-)

So I'm back, I like this blogger thing, and I want to make GB work the same. Yah, that other thing I haven't worked on in a year. We've been trying to sort stuff out, and I think we're getting closer.

Also check this out: Su27 Model

Cheerio,
E

Ok, it's been months, but I'm finally writing again. Things have been very busy, but are finally starting to slow down (I hope!).

First, I wish I had a job like this: http://www.infernoptix.com/gallery.htm Don't get me wrong, I like my job, but to play with fire (and programming?) is just way too cool!

Second of all, I agree with my Sis-in-law, that we need more pirates, as long as they are all like Johnny Depp and are more worried about fighting dead pirates than stealing my loot, which is not much more than just my Visa :-).

So, maybe now I'll stick to blogging? It might happen, you never know!

Now to catch up on those emails I'm behind on.

Helpful Tips

When creating an open or wildcard subdomains in Windows 2003/2000 DNS service, simply use and A record with an asterix.

For Example
*.gottabrag.com 209.91.124.215
Just enter in a * into the A record with the IP address pointing to 209.91.124.215.

It works great.

Also, on the Linksys BEFVP41 Routers, make sure, whatever you do when setting up a VPN that the second number on the local or remote secure addresses is not 0. Because if you don't, any IP address higher then 192.168.1.1 will automatically try and go through the secure tunnel. Which means strange things like Google works, but Yahoo and MSN doesn't.

On a very positive note, our friend Grant is back from Hong Kong! He mentioned on the phone that he's going to have lots of cool pictures to post on GottaBRAG, which will be exciting to see! You can check out his site (which he's been too busy to update a lot) on http://grant.solarbotics.net.

Cheers,
Eric

Wow I suck at blogging!

I suck at blogging, why? Because I don't stick to it. The last two weeks have been crazy, I feel like I haven't hardly slept at all. Christmas shopping is coming and I don't like crowds. Winter is here, and I don't like cold! Why do we live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada? What part of us is sadistic that wants to put up with this harsh climate? Why can't we live in nice warm sunny California! Why, Why, Why???? (Stanford is nice warm sunny California, I hear they have a good Comp Sci program :-))

Ok, so maybe I am good at blogging, complaining about things that I can't change to people (all 3 people) who don't really care that I don't like winter :-)

One cool thing about winter though, people get to do stuff like this: http://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/xmaslights.html

Cheers,
Eric

So, I need to post...

I haven't posted since Saturday, which is bad. I am trying to keep this up and the rate I'm going I'm not going too! Therefore I'm going to post again.

I put up Christmas lights on Sunday, they look really nice. I will take a picture and put them up maybe tomorrow. Also, I was able to work from home part of today, which is part of a new arrangement at work. I think it'll work well, cut down on gas and driving time.

Tonite Becky invited over future employees of Solarbotics. It's fun showing people around, and as they are moving from Oregon, comparing some of the similarities and differences. It was a lot of fun.

Missed Corner Gas though, but that's ok as we almost never actually get to see it. I guess that just means less times we've seen the re-runs.

But that's it for me, I have a killer headache, and I'm going to join Becky who also has a killer headache, and we will be miserable together.

Cheers,
Eric

Hummer H1 for Sale

Wow, auctions are fun. I forgot how fun they are, I mean we used to go to them when I was a kid for the school I was attending, but that was years ago. They are fun.

We went to Michener Allan this morning here in Calgary, and watched them sell a whole bunch of vehicles cheap. Sure they may not be the best vehicles in the world, heck they may not even run, but they are cheap. When you go to a dealer you aren't necessarily guaranteed much more! Anyways, the reason we went is they had a bunch of Bombardier Iltis' for sale. We were hoping they were going for really cheap (as in cheap enough for a future student who already pays a ton for rent and car payments) but they didn't. But they did go reasonably cheap, they averaged around $3k, which isn't bad but more than I can afford at this point. They also had some Land Rovers which went for about $2500, which I think would be even cooler!

But the craziest thing we saw was a '98 Hummer H1 that went for $46k. That's cheap! Those things new are over $150k!! Oh to be independently wealthy and able to just buy an H1 because it's "cheap"! Someday :-)

But an auction is definitely worth doing again! It was hard to keep the hands down!!

Also, Harry Potter is a good movie; we stood in line and packed in last night to see it! It is definitely worth seeing twice, and far better than any of the earlier ones. The CGI really was clean and good! I think the next time will be in the IMAX. But, I can see where it's now aimed at the older crowd; I don't think I'd want to take kids who are under 10 to it!

I'm really supposed to post every day, and I've been bad the last few days! But I'll try and catch up over the next few! But one thing I'm really happy about is I paid off the Laptop finally!

Cheers,
Eric

More Wisdumb (Less spelling mistakes!)

So, simply because I posted the link to Google Analytics their site went down. I guess so many people signed up simply because they read about it on my blog that they crashed! Well, I'll just have to remember that, my promotion could be quite damaging! (If only this were true!)

But, never-the-less, I do have one fan, my brother. He can't live without reading my blog. Sure he's probably the only one of two (my middle brother is also reading this). So two readers!!

And now my wisdumb for the day; I think humans should come with Intellisense while talking. While trying to explain the benefits of dedicated servers today I could have easily used the automatic selection of the right words. Additionally, a syntax check would've helped as well; I better stick to the tech support and leave the sales to the real pros! For those of you who do not yet know what Intellisense is check this out. Well, computer is on it's way to being rebuilt, and the washing machine is no longer leaking. Tonight I may just sleep better.

Cheers, Eric

PS: No more spelling mistakes, wisdomb wisdumb is correct, it’s my way of saying something smart which is actually not all that smart. One of those blogging things you know? :-)

PPS: Spelling wisdumb like 'wisdomb' is not going to help me get this word into regular use, that's just dumb...

Two Posts in one Night!

Boy, now I've got it bad.

First of all, sticking in the WinXP disc and installing (or repairing) over existing installation works. I was fairly desperate so I tried it, and it worked, if it didn't work it meant finding another drive installing and then doing the backup.

Second of all, washing machines suck! After an attempt to fix the washing machine from having cold going to hot and vice versa we screwed up the hoses. So it took about half an hour to try and get the hoses back on right (they didn't want to thread correct) and new hoses. Stupid washing machines (and apparently it's still not fixed).

Third, Urchin (Now known as Google Analytics) is now free! It is a very cool system, one that we implemented for a client. It actually does tell you a lot of information, and isn't too bad to implement. We had to write a custom app for Storefront but that wasn't a big hassle.

Ok, that's all for now, I should be going to bed while the computer is backing up. So much to do, so little sleep :-)

Cheers,
Eric

Hydrogen Boost

Cool article on Wired: Truckers Choose Hydrogen Power. It may not be viable for cars and consumers, but in Alberta we have a lot of trucks and if for that much money you get a boost in power I can see where it makes sense. Add that to everything else diesel out here, heavy construction equipment, gensets, rail locomotives it might really make a difference, as long as it makes a difference on the pocket book.

I really am a blogger now, I referenced Wired :-)

Also, I screwed up my computer last night, I knew it needed rebuilding (wanted too before I installed too much .Net 2.0 stuff) but I deleted too much and now I can just Xcopy stuff over. Which works great until I get to the Temporary Internet Files, and it borks. Freakin computers.

Cheers,
Eric

Post Numero Deux

Dang Nabbit. IE crashed on me, time for FF. Definately time for a rebuild. It's been one of those days, but I must say it went better than I expected.

So this is post no 2. Not a whole lot to say, but I will post anyways otherwise I won't keep this up.

I've been reading about Design Patterns in VB.NET in the book aptly named: Professional Design Patterns in VB .Net: Building Adaptable Applications (No worries, no Amazon affiliation, yet!). It's been a lot of fun, and I'm hoping to use the basis of what they created for a Data level for part of a framework I'd like to build. The design patterns I think are going to be very beneficial to my programming, and hopefully bring it to a higher level. But we'll see, not programming everyday has it's drawbacks. I miss going in, sitting down and coding for 8-10 hours straight. Sounds crazy I know, but I guess I like it, and not doing that now means I miss it. But sometime soon, I have lots of projects on the go I need to finish up.

But that's enough for now, must get some grub then get ready for the semi-monthly Costco trip.

Cheers,
Eric