I think this may be the first blog entry I have created directly related to my profession, developing computer software. That is somewhat odd, at least to me, but out of all the things that really piss me off, software is always right at the top of the list.
My pet peeve of the day is version control software. Not all version control software, Microsoft version control software. For all that they do right, they just cannot create a decent system for managing multiple versions of source code. First they had Visual SourceSafe, which they bought many years ago from One Tree Software. It sucked when they bought it, and many years later they have hardly enhanced it at all, and it still sucks.
Now they invented Team Foundation Server, to replace SourceSafe. Problem is, it sucks almost as bad as SourceSafe! It loves to give totally meaningless SQL error messages, and has completely lost data on me more than once. My biggest complaint about TFS though is that it is integrated into Visual Studio. I mean, that is the ONLY way to use it, there is no standalone TFS client you can use, you have to use Visual Studio.
SourceSafe has a basic client application you could use, as well as integration with Visual Studio. TFS dropped the client all together. The problem I have with this is that I really, really hate having version control integrated into my development environment. In my opinion, integration with Visual Studio gets in my way. Some developers that have never used a good version control system may think I am crazy, but I know exactly what I am talking about.
In modern version control software, you should not have to "check out" a file to edit it. There should be no locks on files. You should just be able to edit away, working on whatever files you want to, whenever you want to, in the development environment and outside of it, and depend on the version control software to figure out later what you did, and merge your changes, as well as changes made by other developers. That way it does not get in your way. TFS does not work like this.
Now before "real" programmers start screaming at me about CVS and Subversion, save your breath. I am an avid user of Subversion at home, and love the TortoiseSVN shell extension for checking in changes, and managing Subversion and versions of files in general. It does not get in my way, I just check in my changes whenever I feel like it from Windows Explorer, and it always figures out exactly what I did throughout the day and merges my changes perfectly.
It also scales very well. I have many years of source code in my Subversion repository, somewhere around 15GB's of data, and have worked on large teams that used it as well, and never once had a problem. No corrupted data, no missing files, just pure version controlled bliss. It does what it is designed to do perfectly, and does not hinder a programmer trying to get work done quickly.
And best of all, it is all free. Yes, Subversion and TortoiseSVN are open source software and completely free to use. They are mature, but also actively developed and supported by a large community. The documentation is also quite good, I have installed and configured Subversion many times in my career and never had a problem getting it up and running quickly.
Way back in 92-96 I worked for Microsoft. Even though we had SourceSafe, nobody used it. We used a totally custom built in-house version control system called Source Library Manager, or SLiMe. I was talking to a friend of mine a few days ago that is still a developer at Microsoft and mentioned how bad TFS is, and to my surprise he said "Yeah, it blows chunks. We still use SLM.". I about dropped a load. After all these years, multiple versions of SourceSafe, and now TFS, Microsoft STILL does not use their own version control software. That alone should tell you more than you need to know.
That is why I am writing this blog entry at 3:47AM. I just spent 5 hours trying to tell TFS to give me a copy of an old file so I could look at it. I finally gave up, TFS lost it. I would have been screwed, but I also check my "real job code" into my home Subversion repository, which brought back the file in about 3 milliseconds. That's the way source control is supposed to work.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Brett Favre
For those of you not in Wisconsin, you may not realize that something is happening that is tearing us apart. We are bordering on total civil war here, pitting brother against brother, neighbor against neighbor, and Packer fan against Packer fan. Brett Favre wants to come out of retirement and play for the Packers again, or be released from his contract so he can play elsewhere.
The problem is that Aaron Rodgers has already been chosen to replace Favre as the quarterback of the Packers, and we drafted a new kid to eventually take over for Rodgers. The Packers have said they accepted Brett's retirement and "have moved on", they don't have a place for him on the team, unless he wants to be a backup QB. Brett never signed retirement papers and if he wants to come back, the Packers must take him back or release him to play for another team, possibly the Vikings or even the Bears.
Now I can see everyone's side of this story. The Packers had to make a decision to move the team forward without Brett, and have done just that. Now he wants to come back and there is no room for him on the team. Brett claims that he was forced to make a retirement decision immediately following last season, and takes responsibility for the bad decision to retire early.
Now, for my take on this whole thing, and I think I am in the minority with my choice here as there seems to be a lot of bad blood going around. I say take Brett back, as the starting quarterback, and let him play. I base this on many factors:
Regardless of what happens, I will forever be a Packer AND Favre fan. I will remember Brett for the many fine years he gave us, and the great joy he gave me watching him on and off the field, not for how it all ended. If he ends up playing for the Bears or Vikings I will cheer loudly for them, as long as they aren't playing my Packers :) It will take a long time for Aaron Rodgers to make me believe in him, but I will give him a fair shake too.
Prove me wrong kid, prove that you are ready to take over for a legend. Or better yet, sit your pansy ass down on the bench for another couple of seasons and soak up whatever knowledge you can from the master.
The problem is that Aaron Rodgers has already been chosen to replace Favre as the quarterback of the Packers, and we drafted a new kid to eventually take over for Rodgers. The Packers have said they accepted Brett's retirement and "have moved on", they don't have a place for him on the team, unless he wants to be a backup QB. Brett never signed retirement papers and if he wants to come back, the Packers must take him back or release him to play for another team, possibly the Vikings or even the Bears.
Now I can see everyone's side of this story. The Packers had to make a decision to move the team forward without Brett, and have done just that. Now he wants to come back and there is no room for him on the team. Brett claims that he was forced to make a retirement decision immediately following last season, and takes responsibility for the bad decision to retire early.
Now, for my take on this whole thing, and I think I am in the minority with my choice here as there seems to be a lot of bad blood going around. I say take Brett back, as the starting quarterback, and let him play. I base this on many factors:
- Brett deserves it. He was always a solid player, quite possibly the best quarterback that ever played the game.
- He is a good guy. This is something seriously lacking in the NFL. He has good morals, is very giving to his community, charities and other civic organizations.
- He gave the Packers a Superbowl title.
- He is a staple here in Wisconsin. We watched his kids grow up, his wife battle cancer, and the death of his father. He is a much-beloved son of Wisconsin.
- He's a really bad actor, remember "Something About Mary"? We don't have to worry about him not giving 100% because he is tired from filming a movie.
- Aaron Rodgers is a whiny bitch. He is fragile and cannot take a hit. Hell, that would actually be a vote for bringing Brett back as the backup quarterback, Rodgers ain't gonna make it through the first game without sitting down with a pinky finger injury. Brett plays through broken bones, concussions, etc. Aaron is still young, can learn a lot still from Brett, he just needs to chill out and keep his whiny mouth shut. Dude, I have seen Brett Favre play, Brett is a friend of mine, and Aaron Rodgers, you are no Brett Favre :)
- Brett has, at best, 3 seasons left in him. The younger quarterbacks can use this time to learn from the master. They should welcome this, not complain about it.
- Everyone in Wisconsin loved Brett for many, many years. Do we really want him to leave with all of this bad blood between him and the Packers fans? I don't.
- This one is simple. Who is likely to get the Packers to the Superbowl? Brett, and only Brett. We made it to the final 4 last year. Yeah, I know we lost that game because Brett made a stupid bonehead pass, but give him a break. I mean seriously, the Giants went on to beat possibly the best team ever in football, they deserved it.
- Just thinking about how much it would suck to see Brett in a Vikings or Bears uniform makes me want to puke. Seriously, I am thinking about barfing just writing this :)
Regardless of what happens, I will forever be a Packer AND Favre fan. I will remember Brett for the many fine years he gave us, and the great joy he gave me watching him on and off the field, not for how it all ended. If he ends up playing for the Bears or Vikings I will cheer loudly for them, as long as they aren't playing my Packers :) It will take a long time for Aaron Rodgers to make me believe in him, but I will give him a fair shake too.
Prove me wrong kid, prove that you are ready to take over for a legend. Or better yet, sit your pansy ass down on the bench for another couple of seasons and soak up whatever knowledge you can from the master.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Oh So Very Close....
Whew! There is a huge sign of relief echoing around our household right now. We got the home appraisal back yesterday, and this time we didn't get screwed! It came back with only $100 to spare, but that is good enough for us. Having that done is like a huge weight has been lifted off us.
Since we are pushing the dates on the contract pretty hard at this point, I called Dave Haack at Haack Homestead and scheduled the inspection for this morning. He had a cancellation so the timing worked out great. I met Dave at 8:30AM since I wanted to be there for the inspection, and also to take a few more measurements for the upcoming basement construction project.
Dave is a super nice guy and appeared to do a very thorough inspection. I debated whether or not I wanted to shell out another $355 for the inspection, but like most people, I sure am glad that I did.
Within 15 minutes he had found a substantial, but easily correctable, problem. Water had gotten under the shingles in the back of the house, over a soffit. The plywood underneath had rotted and was destroyed. Since this is over a soffit, no water got into the house and no interior damage was done. There is extra plywood and shingles in the garage, so a repair should not cost too much, just a little time. We are asking the seller to have this repair made. Her son built the house, so he will likely be the one making the fix.
The other problem Dave found was that the window frames in the basement windows had rotted to the point they are falling apart. These are near the ground and protected from sunlight by tree's, so in all likelihood snow built up there and the moisture could not evaporate. The windows themselves are fine, just the frames need repaired or replaced. We are also asking the seller to fix this, though even this should not be an expensive repair.
Overall the house is in excellent condition. Even the air conditioner was so clean you could eat off it, no dust or anything. Dave was surprised at that, he thinks the owner must have had yearly maintenance performed on all of the mechanicals because they were so clean and well maintained.
I had found a place in the vinyl siding where there was a hole and had planned to fix it myself. I was pleased to locate several long sections of siding still in the home, so making a near perfect match will be easy. Dave even mentioned that I should take an existing piece from a not-so-visible place on the house and use it to replace the broken piece, and then put the new piece where the old one was. The older aged piece will match exactly. After he said it, it made perfect sense, but I had not thought about that before.
So, back in the basement I figured out that my original plan for my office didn't work, the placement of the door just would not go where I planned it. That is no biggie, I already had a backup plan in mind, so will have to go with that. On the plus side, there is more already framed and insulated than I had planned, so there will be even less materials that I have to buy.
iFreedom Direct's underwriter only came back with 2 conditions for final loan approval. The first was some document that we signed but was missing, they are getting that from our Realtor. The second is proof of funds for closing. Nobody yet knows the real final closing costs, but are hoping to be able to calculate that pretty accurately in the next day or two so that we can submit our proof of funds for closing and get this baby sealed up.
It really looks like this is going to happen! I cannot say enough nice things about our mortgage broker, Jules Stewart at iFreedom Direct. She has been absolutely wonderful to work with. She's professional when she needs to be, and friendly and goofy at times when things get crazy. She always calls me when she says she will, and often times when she doesn't. She responds quickly to her emails and actually answers her phone when I call her. I highly recommend anyone considering either an FHA or VA mortgage to give her a call (800.891.5785 x6624 or 801.682.9907).
She is like the Anti-Jon Barca at RLCA. As crappy as he is, she is that on the good side. Ok, bashing of RLCA, Jon Barca, and Lynette Richter is done. Poof, you are out of my life :)
Since we are pushing the dates on the contract pretty hard at this point, I called Dave Haack at Haack Homestead and scheduled the inspection for this morning. He had a cancellation so the timing worked out great. I met Dave at 8:30AM since I wanted to be there for the inspection, and also to take a few more measurements for the upcoming basement construction project.
Dave is a super nice guy and appeared to do a very thorough inspection. I debated whether or not I wanted to shell out another $355 for the inspection, but like most people, I sure am glad that I did.
Within 15 minutes he had found a substantial, but easily correctable, problem. Water had gotten under the shingles in the back of the house, over a soffit. The plywood underneath had rotted and was destroyed. Since this is over a soffit, no water got into the house and no interior damage was done. There is extra plywood and shingles in the garage, so a repair should not cost too much, just a little time. We are asking the seller to have this repair made. Her son built the house, so he will likely be the one making the fix.
The other problem Dave found was that the window frames in the basement windows had rotted to the point they are falling apart. These are near the ground and protected from sunlight by tree's, so in all likelihood snow built up there and the moisture could not evaporate. The windows themselves are fine, just the frames need repaired or replaced. We are also asking the seller to fix this, though even this should not be an expensive repair.
Overall the house is in excellent condition. Even the air conditioner was so clean you could eat off it, no dust or anything. Dave was surprised at that, he thinks the owner must have had yearly maintenance performed on all of the mechanicals because they were so clean and well maintained.
I had found a place in the vinyl siding where there was a hole and had planned to fix it myself. I was pleased to locate several long sections of siding still in the home, so making a near perfect match will be easy. Dave even mentioned that I should take an existing piece from a not-so-visible place on the house and use it to replace the broken piece, and then put the new piece where the old one was. The older aged piece will match exactly. After he said it, it made perfect sense, but I had not thought about that before.
So, back in the basement I figured out that my original plan for my office didn't work, the placement of the door just would not go where I planned it. That is no biggie, I already had a backup plan in mind, so will have to go with that. On the plus side, there is more already framed and insulated than I had planned, so there will be even less materials that I have to buy.
iFreedom Direct's underwriter only came back with 2 conditions for final loan approval. The first was some document that we signed but was missing, they are getting that from our Realtor. The second is proof of funds for closing. Nobody yet knows the real final closing costs, but are hoping to be able to calculate that pretty accurately in the next day or two so that we can submit our proof of funds for closing and get this baby sealed up.
It really looks like this is going to happen! I cannot say enough nice things about our mortgage broker, Jules Stewart at iFreedom Direct. She has been absolutely wonderful to work with. She's professional when she needs to be, and friendly and goofy at times when things get crazy. She always calls me when she says she will, and often times when she doesn't. She responds quickly to her emails and actually answers her phone when I call her. I highly recommend anyone considering either an FHA or VA mortgage to give her a call (800.891.5785 x6624 or 801.682.9907).
She is like the Anti-Jon Barca at RLCA. As crappy as he is, she is that on the good side. Ok, bashing of RLCA, Jon Barca, and Lynette Richter is done. Poof, you are out of my life :)
Friday, July 11, 2008
An Oil Man That I Like
Happy real Birthday Lisa!!
I've been seeing T. Boone Pickens a lot on TV lately talking about his plan to reduce or eliminate our dependency on foreign oil. I watched the video on his web site and he certainly makes some very valid points about why we need to do this, and while his plan seems overly simplistic and incomplete, it is a start. Read more about it at http://www.pickensplan.com. It is time to get serious about this folks, we've got to figure out a way to tell OPEC to go to hell.
Did you know that the USA has 4% of the world population, but uses almost 25% of the oil? Do you know we send $700 billion per year to Arab and other oil producing countries? This is the largest transfer of wealth in world history, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that we are not transferring this money to friends of the United States. The nations that receive this money are either outright enemies of the US, or at best, nations that maintain neutrality with us because of oil and other economic reasons. They are not our friends, they do not like us, they only like our money, and we need their oil. Wouldn't it be nice to have all those oil ships from Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Venezuela show up to one of our ports one day and be able to say "Nah, not today boys, go home". That would be a great day.
Hell Week is over, Missy an I have made it through an entire week without smoking! Heck Week starts today, but I am not too concerned about that. The appraisal is going to happen today too, though we won't know the result until the middle of next week. I've thought about going over to the house today to see how interested the appraiser would be in a free tank of gas :)
I've been seeing T. Boone Pickens a lot on TV lately talking about his plan to reduce or eliminate our dependency on foreign oil. I watched the video on his web site and he certainly makes some very valid points about why we need to do this, and while his plan seems overly simplistic and incomplete, it is a start. Read more about it at http://www.pickensplan.com. It is time to get serious about this folks, we've got to figure out a way to tell OPEC to go to hell.
Did you know that the USA has 4% of the world population, but uses almost 25% of the oil? Do you know we send $700 billion per year to Arab and other oil producing countries? This is the largest transfer of wealth in world history, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that we are not transferring this money to friends of the United States. The nations that receive this money are either outright enemies of the US, or at best, nations that maintain neutrality with us because of oil and other economic reasons. They are not our friends, they do not like us, they only like our money, and we need their oil. Wouldn't it be nice to have all those oil ships from Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Venezuela show up to one of our ports one day and be able to say "Nah, not today boys, go home". That would be a great day.
Hell Week is over, Missy an I have made it through an entire week without smoking! Heck Week starts today, but I am not too concerned about that. The appraisal is going to happen today too, though we won't know the result until the middle of next week. I've thought about going over to the house today to see how interested the appraiser would be in a free tank of gas :)
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Happy Birthday Lisa!!!
Happy Birthday Lisa!!!I am publishing this blog entry a day early because I want to be the first to officially welcome my sister Lisa to her LATE 30'S!!! Yep, no more mid-30's, you have now crossed into late-30's and will soon join me in the "pushing 40" crowd!
We all love you and hope you have a relaxing and wonderful birthday! Statistically, you are now mid-life :) Welcome to the 2nd half!!! Damn I'm cruel :) :)
Hell Week Almost Over, Appraisal Tomorrow
Right now is the start of day 7 without cigarettes and "Hell Week" will be over when we wake up tomorrow. Most of the time, quitting has not been that hard, but it sure has its moments! The mornings are the toughest for me, I always want that first smoke when I wake up. Missy brought home Chipotle burritos for dinner last night, and that really triggered a craving. But we did not give in. I am feeling a WHOLE LOT better than I used to!
The home appraisal will happen tomorrow, so we are really sweating that now and hoping all goes well. We are showing our rented duplex tonight to the next possible tenant, and really need an answer on the house tomorrow. I sure hope we do not have to wait until Monday!
I completed the drawings last night for the office addition in the basement and put an estimate together for all the materials I will need to build it, less than $1,000 including hardwood floors. It looks like it will be a fun project, I sure hope I get the chance to actually build it!
The home appraisal will happen tomorrow, so we are really sweating that now and hoping all goes well. We are showing our rented duplex tonight to the next possible tenant, and really need an answer on the house tomorrow. I sure hope we do not have to wait until Monday!
I completed the drawings last night for the office addition in the basement and put an estimate together for all the materials I will need to build it, less than $1,000 including hardwood floors. It looks like it will be a fun project, I sure hope I get the chance to actually build it!
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
5 Days Down, Appraisal Coming
I have now made it through 5 days without smoking, pretty close to a new record for me. Missy has too, other than one small slip today that doesn't really bother me. She said it was terrible, almost made her sick, so I don't think it will be a problem. My cravings are manageable and I have not had any real strong desire to smoke. I have had dreams about smoking for the last 2 nights, which is strange, especially since I am not smoking in the dreams, but trying to not smoke.
Delaney, Halle and I also visited the new house today. This was mostly for me to get measurements so that I can start planning the basement remodeling that will need to be done, but also because neither of the girls had seen the house. Haley went with us when we looked at it. Fortunately, both girls approved :)
My mortgage lender did tell me that the appraisal has been scheduled for Friday of this week. We are hoping to know that day what the dollar amount is, but fear we won't know until Monday. This is making getting an inspection done in time quite difficult, but the biggest hurdle to get over right now is the appraisal. We are only 3 weeks from closing and are showing our duplex to a potential renter Thursday night, so we are flirting with the possibility of not having a place to live at all if we do not close on this house. Stress is building daily.
On a wonderful note: Make-A-Wish granted our nephew Devin his wish and we had a great party at their house this evening. He wanted a Nintendo entertainment center, and they delivered in a big way. They delivered a 40" Sony Bravia LCD TV, Sony Surround Sound System, a Nintendo Wii with TONS of games, Nintendo DS Lite, 2 X Rocker video gaming chairs, and a bunch of other gifts and video game items. They also brought him clothes and Culvers catered the event with tons of chicken planks and all the side dishes, including a yummy ice cream cake!
Super-special thanks go out to Make-A-Wish Foundation, Best Buy, Circuit City, Nintendo and Culvers. Devin had a wonderful evening and will be enjoying his "rig" with the rest of his family for many years to come. If you are interested in learning more about their family, my sister-in-law Kris maintains a blog located at mama4jesus.blogspot.com.
Delaney, Halle and I also visited the new house today. This was mostly for me to get measurements so that I can start planning the basement remodeling that will need to be done, but also because neither of the girls had seen the house. Haley went with us when we looked at it. Fortunately, both girls approved :)
My mortgage lender did tell me that the appraisal has been scheduled for Friday of this week. We are hoping to know that day what the dollar amount is, but fear we won't know until Monday. This is making getting an inspection done in time quite difficult, but the biggest hurdle to get over right now is the appraisal. We are only 3 weeks from closing and are showing our duplex to a potential renter Thursday night, so we are flirting with the possibility of not having a place to live at all if we do not close on this house. Stress is building daily.
On a wonderful note: Make-A-Wish granted our nephew Devin his wish and we had a great party at their house this evening. He wanted a Nintendo entertainment center, and they delivered in a big way. They delivered a 40" Sony Bravia LCD TV, Sony Surround Sound System, a Nintendo Wii with TONS of games, Nintendo DS Lite, 2 X Rocker video gaming chairs, and a bunch of other gifts and video game items. They also brought him clothes and Culvers catered the event with tons of chicken planks and all the side dishes, including a yummy ice cream cake!
Super-special thanks go out to Make-A-Wish Foundation, Best Buy, Circuit City, Nintendo and Culvers. Devin had a wonderful evening and will be enjoying his "rig" with the rest of his family for many years to come. If you are interested in learning more about their family, my sister-in-law Kris maintains a blog located at mama4jesus.blogspot.com.
Monday, July 7, 2008
3 Days Down, A Lifetime To Go
We made it through our 3rd full day of not smoking and are now beating up on day 4. "Hell Week" will be over soon and we are hanging tough. Today is the first day back at work for us, and also the first day where the "oxygen high" really kicks in. Apparently when you quit, your carbon monoxide level falls to a normal level, and oxygen molecules replace them in your bloodstream. You feel normal, well, normal for a non-smoking person, as a former smoker you feel stoned. This is a nice side-effect :) We are both light-headed and feeling a bit clumsy, but I am feeling very good. It is sort of nice actually.
I cannot really concentrate today, so I am doing other things I need to do for work that don't require much brain power, like planning my upcoming flight and reservations to Cleveland, downloading a bunch of software from the office that I will need later this week, organizing my inbox, and coming up with a way to nicely secure a web site. I am hoping this will pass by tomorrow, since I have a very busy week planned and need to get a lot done.
A somewhat funny (and money-saving) side-effect of quitting is that Missy no longer likes Mountain Dew. She has been drinking it everyday for years, sort of like her coffee, but she cannot stand it now. That is funny. I noticed at Denny's that I no longer like hashbrowns. Strange...
Still hoping to hear about the appraisal any day now...
I cannot really concentrate today, so I am doing other things I need to do for work that don't require much brain power, like planning my upcoming flight and reservations to Cleveland, downloading a bunch of software from the office that I will need later this week, organizing my inbox, and coming up with a way to nicely secure a web site. I am hoping this will pass by tomorrow, since I have a very busy week planned and need to get a lot done.
A somewhat funny (and money-saving) side-effect of quitting is that Missy no longer likes Mountain Dew. She has been drinking it everyday for years, sort of like her coffee, but she cannot stand it now. That is funny. I noticed at Denny's that I no longer like hashbrowns. Strange...
Still hoping to hear about the appraisal any day now...
Sunday, July 6, 2008
2 Days and Counting...
We have now officially crossed into day 3, with more than 48 hours free of cigarettes. Yesterday got a bit interesting, but we made it. Missy and I were both short-tempered. We went to Harbor Freight Tools (one of my favorite stores) to do some window shopping and then stopped by West Town Mall so Missy could see the new Sephora store. It was amazing, a brand new store full of nothing but cosmetics, and yet they were sold out of the only thing Missy was looking for! Halle also got a Water Massage.
We had lunch at Denny's, I noticed the hash browns did not taste right. Missy doesn't like Mountain Dew anymore (yes, hell froze over). I hope this is not our taste buds waking up after years of smoking related paralysis. When we got home I took a short nap and then cleaned and vacuumed the inside of the Explorer, I will do my truck tomorrow.
I don't want to jinx our quit, but it does not seem that hard this time around. I'm not sure why, but my cravings are not that bad and I can easily deal with them. The lozenges help some, and I like to chew on straws. This makes me look like a tard but I don't care, it's working.
Missy and Halle just left to go see a princess movie, I had to pass. I am working on some AutoCAD drawings for the basement of the new house. I wonder if the home appraisers know their life may be in jeopardy this week? :)
We had lunch at Denny's, I noticed the hash browns did not taste right. Missy doesn't like Mountain Dew anymore (yes, hell froze over). I hope this is not our taste buds waking up after years of smoking related paralysis. When we got home I took a short nap and then cleaned and vacuumed the inside of the Explorer, I will do my truck tomorrow.
I don't want to jinx our quit, but it does not seem that hard this time around. I'm not sure why, but my cravings are not that bad and I can easily deal with them. The lozenges help some, and I like to chew on straws. This makes me look like a tard but I don't care, it's working.
Missy and Halle just left to go see a princess movie, I had to pass. I am working on some AutoCAD drawings for the basement of the new house. I wonder if the home appraisers know their life may be in jeopardy this week? :)
Saturday, July 5, 2008
One Day Down
Well we made it through our first full day of not smoking, 24 hours. I did revise my plan just a little and allowed myself to buy a box of nicotine lozenges that I can use when the cravings are real bad and won't go away. They are mint flavored and I went through 4 yesterday. I also bought myself a large Ice Tea container, a new cup and straw to drink from, and cut up some straws for something to chew on. Seems that little things like that may make a difference.
We also took it pretty easy yesterday. Missy and Halle went horseback riding and I did a little shopping in the early afternoon. We both took a nap in the late afternoon and I finished the evening playing Grand Theft Auto 4 and then watched the movie Vantage Point. It was a nice day, and not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.
I'm not sure yet what we will do today. It is a very nice day for flying, so maybe that will happen later. I am only sure of what will NOT happen today, we will not smoke.
Not having the appraisal back yet on the house adds stress, so we are hoping that is done by mid-week. I hope we are worrying about something that is not an issue. 26 days to closing right now if all goes well!
We also took it pretty easy yesterday. Missy and Halle went horseback riding and I did a little shopping in the early afternoon. We both took a nap in the late afternoon and I finished the evening playing Grand Theft Auto 4 and then watched the movie Vantage Point. It was a nice day, and not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.
I'm not sure yet what we will do today. It is a very nice day for flying, so maybe that will happen later. I am only sure of what will NOT happen today, we will not smoke.
Not having the appraisal back yet on the house adds stress, so we are hoping that is done by mid-week. I hope we are worrying about something that is not an issue. 26 days to closing right now if all goes well!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Independence Day
The picture to the left is the amount of money we have spent SO FAR this year alone on cigarettes at Kwik Trip. It was taken out of Quicken today, $1,474.18 year-to-date. It says Groceries for Category, and sometimes this includes Coke or Mountain Dew, but the vast majority of that money is cigarettes. And we don't only buy smokes at Kwik Trip, we buy them at other places as well. $1,474.18 is likely LESS than we have actually spent on them. It's hard to read, but every 2-3 days we spend about $20-$25 on cigarettes at Kwik Trip.Everyone in the US knows that tomorrow is the 4th of July, Independence Day. Tomorrow is also Independence Day for Missy and me. We are quitting smoking, for good, no more. I smoke much more than Missy, between 1 and 2 packs per day, she smokes about a 1/2 pack. I have been smoking since I was 15 years old and am pushing 40 pretty hard now, so I know that I NEED to quit.
I am writing this blog entry for me to read tomorrow, this weekend, next week, and next month. Even 6 months or more down the road, to remind myself why I am quitting and what it is like to be a smoker. My reasons are quitting are many, here are just a few...
- Delaney, Haley, and Halle. My daughters need me to be around for a good long time. They need my financial and parental support for many years to come. And I need them. I want to be around to walk each of them down the aisle at their wedding, and want to have many good years of playing with my grandchildren.
- Missy needs me too. I'm not sure why :-) I know I need her in my life, things are much more in balance since I have known and loved her.
- Everything I enjoy doing for fun is so anti-smoking it's not even funny. I love to SCUBA dive, but go through air so fast that I can only stay underwater about 1/2 as long as my non-smoking friends. I have recently taken up flying aerobatics, which is physically as well as mentally challenging. To perform aerobatics well you have to be in good physical shape.
- Flying in general. Aviation is my passion, and part of being able to fly is passing an FAA required medical examination every 1-2 years. A heart attack can, and likely will, ground a pilot for the rest of his life. I would like to become a flight instructor some day, but will have to have at least a 2nd class FAA medical, something that would be almost impossible to get should I suffer from any of the smoking related health issues.
- I enjoy boxing. Not competitive boxing so much, though I have tried that, but getting a good cardio workout punching a heavy bag. I hate exercise in general, but do enjoy boxing. Right now I get winded walking up the stairs in my house, and the heavy bag has not even been mounted in over 2 years.
- I am tired of coughing. I cough a lot, smokers cough. The mornings are the worse, when all the crap in your lungs has a chance to settle overnight. It is sometimes so bad that I get into a coughing fit in the morning for several minutes and have a hard time catching my breath. Remember that Todd, how your chest feels right now. Gooey, for lack of a better word, like your lungs are full of snot. Not a pretty picture is it? Remember that next week, as your lungs start to clear out, and the nicotine cravings are real bad. I've done this before, I know I feel MUCH better just a few days after I quit. My lungs clear very quickly and I notice the difference. There is near immediate payment for my struggles, don't give up!
- I've heard that quitting smoking increases your sex drive. Hell, that should be reason enough!
- Thanks to our Communist governor Jim Doyle, and equally Communist Madison Mayor Dave, a pack of smokes cost $4.50. So that's about $9 a day for me and $2.25 for Missy. $11.25 per day to kills ourselves real slow. Over $330 per month so we can shave 10-15 years off our lives? There are a lot of things we could spend $330 per month on. Or to look at it another way, $3,960 a year, that is a real nice vacation for Missy and me, as well as all of our kids! $3,960 would probably pay for ALL of the home improvements we would like to do to the home we are hoping to purchase later this month. We might even be able to fill up the Explorer and my F-150! :)
- Just feeling better in general. Sure the first week will be tough, but that week will pass.
- At 1 week, next Friday, I am going to rent a Cessna 152 and fly the hell out of it for 1 hour, solo, just flying around Madison doing whatever I feel like. Even money vs. smoking.
- At 1 month I am going to order the Acro Sport 2 airplane plans. I have wanted a set for some time and they cost $125. Smoking would have cost me $189 in this time frame, so I will already be $64 ahead.
- At 2 months, I am going to buy a bandsaw. The one I want costs $190, so I will then be $144 ahead.
- At 3 months I am going to order some Sitka Spruce to build the wings of the Acro Sport. I will spend about $250 on this, $20 less than smoking that month, and $164 more in my pocket than if I had smoked.
- At 6 months I am going to buy my own parachute. A used one runs about $600, and over the previous 3 months I will have saved $810 by not smoking. I will still be $374 in the black.
- At 1 year I am going to go skydiving. That only costs about $150, and it's not worth keeping track of the money saved anymore by not smoking, that is just my reward for 1 year of not smoking. Do something that I have always wanted to do.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Haley's Birthday and Immelman Turns
Happy Birthday Bug! It's hard to believe you are 7 years old already! We all love you very much!Today I flew my 5th aerobatic lesson with Mike Love. We started out with the normal aileron rolls on our way out to the practice area. We actually went a little farther north, just beyond the Wisconsin River near Sauk City because other students were practicing to the south. Once we got there, I did several loops, pretty nice ones too. So now aileron rolls and loops are old hat, not really a challenge to me anymore, and they don't make me sick. Time to move on!
When you are learning aerobatics you start of with rolls and loops because they are the building blocks of more complex maneuvers. I was hoping for some Cuban 8's today, but those will have to wait, the Immelman Turn is the obvious next step. It is named for the World War 1 German ace that invented it. The object of the Immelman is to reverse direction by 180 degrees while gaining altitude and losing airspeed. It is the nearly opposite of a Split-S. If the animation below does not work, just click it.
To perform the Immelman in a Cessna Aerobat you start by diving to get your speed up to 130 knots, about 10 knots faster than when doing a loop. You then pull up to about 3.5-4 G's and hold that until you are near the top of the loop. At the top, you provide a little gentle forward pressure, just enough to hang there for a short second. This is real easy so far, now on to the part I had trouble with.
To roll the wings level you can roll either left or right, but have to initially provide opposite rudder. So if you roll left, you need some right rudder, and vice-versa. But you only use opposite rudder for a second, then switch to the other foot. It is similar to doing a crosswind landing, but upside down. I had a problem with this. I just could not seem to roll left and use right rudder, or roll right and use left. It actually became quite humorous, I just could not convince my feet to do what I wanted them to. The result was dubbed "The Osborne Turn" by my instructor, it is like an Immelman, but instead of turning 180 degrees, you turn either 90 or 270. Quite interesting :)
The first one I did actually resulted in me being pinned to the ceiling of the plane. I did not have my seatbelts tight enough, and the hang-time at the top of the loop made my head hit the ceiling. It was not comfortable, but it was funny. I tightened the seatbelts :)
Mike also warned me about the possiblity of spinning out of the top of an Immelman, that it is sometimes called the Immelman Spin because of the good likelihood of this happening. I guess I just had to prove it to myself. I did spin out of one unintentionally, but even that was fun.
I never really got the hang of the Immelman, at least not yet, so I will be back to face these again next week. The rest of the flight was real nice, a beautiful morning to fly.
To perform the Immelman in a Cessna Aerobat you start by diving to get your speed up to 130 knots, about 10 knots faster than when doing a loop. You then pull up to about 3.5-4 G's and hold that until you are near the top of the loop. At the top, you provide a little gentle forward pressure, just enough to hang there for a short second. This is real easy so far, now on to the part I had trouble with.
To roll the wings level you can roll either left or right, but have to initially provide opposite rudder. So if you roll left, you need some right rudder, and vice-versa. But you only use opposite rudder for a second, then switch to the other foot. It is similar to doing a crosswind landing, but upside down. I had a problem with this. I just could not seem to roll left and use right rudder, or roll right and use left. It actually became quite humorous, I just could not convince my feet to do what I wanted them to. The result was dubbed "The Osborne Turn" by my instructor, it is like an Immelman, but instead of turning 180 degrees, you turn either 90 or 270. Quite interesting :)
The first one I did actually resulted in me being pinned to the ceiling of the plane. I did not have my seatbelts tight enough, and the hang-time at the top of the loop made my head hit the ceiling. It was not comfortable, but it was funny. I tightened the seatbelts :)
Mike also warned me about the possiblity of spinning out of the top of an Immelman, that it is sometimes called the Immelman Spin because of the good likelihood of this happening. I guess I just had to prove it to myself. I did spin out of one unintentionally, but even that was fun.
I never really got the hang of the Immelman, at least not yet, so I will be back to face these again next week. The rest of the flight was real nice, a beautiful morning to fly.
Monday, June 30, 2008
A Virtual Tour
No news to report yet on the house, but I did find a virtual tour online that has a lot of really nice pictures.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Appraisal, Part Two
Well after going back and fore several times with the owner of the house, we have all agreed on the final terms and signed the required contracts to purchase. All of the paperwork will be delivered to the mortgage company on Monday or Tuesday, at which time the FHA appraisal will be ordered. It already seems like we have come very far in this process, but we are acutely aware that had the last appraisal been done correctly we would already have been in our new home for almost a month now.
So we are back into waiting mode, hoping that everything goes well. If it does, we will close on our new home the end of July, just a little over 4 weeks from now. If it doesn't, we will either close the end of August with a different mortgage company (non-FHA), or will be stuck in our rented duplex until the spring. We don't even want to think about that right now. So we will just wait and see what happens, and try not to get our hopes up just yet. I did instruct the mortgage company that I absolutely will not pay for an appraisal done by Lynette Richter.
Though we are trying to keep emotion out of this right now, we did hit Menards this afternoon and looked at ceiling fans, cabinet hardware, pre-hung door frames, paint, and other stuff we will hopefully need to purchase very soon. Keeping our fingers crossed....
So we are back into waiting mode, hoping that everything goes well. If it does, we will close on our new home the end of July, just a little over 4 weeks from now. If it doesn't, we will either close the end of August with a different mortgage company (non-FHA), or will be stuck in our rented duplex until the spring. We don't even want to think about that right now. So we will just wait and see what happens, and try not to get our hopes up just yet. I did instruct the mortgage company that I absolutely will not pay for an appraisal done by Lynette Richter.
Though we are trying to keep emotion out of this right now, we did hit Menards this afternoon and looked at ceiling fans, cabinet hardware, pre-hung door frames, paint, and other stuff we will hopefully need to purchase very soon. Keeping our fingers crossed....
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Counter the Counter and Aerobatics Part 4
As expected, the lady that owns the home we made the offer on has countered our offer. It seems we are not that far apart, but we did submit a counter to her counter. I guess this can go on forever :) One of the things she requested was some information about our family. Seems she is careful about who she sells the house too, and this is something that I actually like and welcome. I wrote her a nice letter to introduce her to our family, and also extended an invitation for her to visit the home once we get settled in. I realize that she has many memories here, and would welcome her visit if she cares to come back from time to time to visit those memories. I also enjoy talking to older people, so that would be fun.
We should find out this evening if she is planning to accept our counter offer, and are of course hoping that she does. I am not looking forward to the appraisal, since this is what killed the last deal, but I know it has to be done.
I did fly my 4th aerobatic lesson yesterday over my lunch break. Mike and I did 4 or 5 aileron rolls to warm up, followed by 4 loops, and 2 spins. Mike was right, I am building up a tolerance quickly to aerobatics, I did not even feel slightly sick following these maneuvers. I flew the plane quite well and Mike was very happy with my performance. I almost messed up one of the loops by letting the back pressure on the yoke go a bit early, which almost resulted in a tail slide, but I was able to correct that.
I had not done a spin since the late 80's, so I told Mike I wanted to spin it, and without any coaching from him. I wanted to see if I still remembered how to get out of a spin. I did, too well. The first spin I let loose of the yoke too early and broke the spin before we completed 1/4 turn. That was bad, so I went for another. This time I let the spin fully develop and we completed 1 rotation before I broke it, only about 15 degrees off from my chosen heading. Not bad.
We had a very fun flight and these maneuvers are not scaring me at all any longer, they are just plain fun. Possibly the lack of fear is also making my stomach handle the flights a bit better as well. Now don't think for a second that my lack of fear means lack of respect or complacency, far from it. I am just feeling more and more comfortable flying like this, which makes it even more enjoyable.
My approach was high and my landing long, the only thing I guess I can ding myself on yesterday. But the landing was soft and good. I told Mike that it reminds me of my instrument training. You work so hard in a short period of time that you are mentally, and somewhat physically, tired when it comes time to land. This was my first bad approach in a while, so maybe it was just a fluke. I will hold myself to my normal tolerances next time. Mike is a stickler for good approaches and landings, he literally wrote books on the subject, so I do appreciate his input in correcting any bad habits I have picked up over the years.
We should find out this evening if she is planning to accept our counter offer, and are of course hoping that she does. I am not looking forward to the appraisal, since this is what killed the last deal, but I know it has to be done.
I did fly my 4th aerobatic lesson yesterday over my lunch break. Mike and I did 4 or 5 aileron rolls to warm up, followed by 4 loops, and 2 spins. Mike was right, I am building up a tolerance quickly to aerobatics, I did not even feel slightly sick following these maneuvers. I flew the plane quite well and Mike was very happy with my performance. I almost messed up one of the loops by letting the back pressure on the yoke go a bit early, which almost resulted in a tail slide, but I was able to correct that.
I had not done a spin since the late 80's, so I told Mike I wanted to spin it, and without any coaching from him. I wanted to see if I still remembered how to get out of a spin. I did, too well. The first spin I let loose of the yoke too early and broke the spin before we completed 1/4 turn. That was bad, so I went for another. This time I let the spin fully develop and we completed 1 rotation before I broke it, only about 15 degrees off from my chosen heading. Not bad.
We had a very fun flight and these maneuvers are not scaring me at all any longer, they are just plain fun. Possibly the lack of fear is also making my stomach handle the flights a bit better as well. Now don't think for a second that my lack of fear means lack of respect or complacency, far from it. I am just feeling more and more comfortable flying like this, which makes it even more enjoyable.
My approach was high and my landing long, the only thing I guess I can ding myself on yesterday. But the landing was soft and good. I told Mike that it reminds me of my instrument training. You work so hard in a short period of time that you are mentally, and somewhat physically, tired when it comes time to land. This was my first bad approach in a while, so maybe it was just a fluke. I will hold myself to my normal tolerances next time. Mike is a stickler for good approaches and landings, he literally wrote books on the subject, so I do appreciate his input in correcting any bad habits I have picked up over the years.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Making Another Offer
As expected, the first home we looked at yesterday was our favorite, so we have decided to make an offer on it. Our Realtor was going to write it up yesterday and will bring it over later today for us to sign. The sellers will then have until Tuesday to accept or counter the offer, and we expect a counter.
We looked at two other houses as well. The house on Martin Street we ruled out because it did not have air conditioning, and would need a lot of updating and other work. It did have an excellent hot tub room, but that could not make up for the other many shortcomings.
A rebuilt home on the corner of Church and Brewery was very cool. It had a ton of woodwork and, at least to me, felt like a very large cabin style home. I loved the house since I am always partial to a lot of woodwork, but the location is terrible. It almost touches the house next door and has a horrible yard. In addition, when they rebuilt the home, they kept the original stone basement and added a crawl-space under the new addition. This means the basement is like a dungeon and has no usable area at all.
As for the home we are making an offer on. It does need some updating because it is owned by an older lady that has lived there since the house was built in 1992. There is some wallpaper that must come down, but not too much. We will have some substantial painting to do, both interior and on the rear sundeck, but the deck is a major selling point, very nice. The carpet is in good condition and the kitchen will only require removal of a hideous stove exhaust system and updated hardware for the cabinets. All walls are basic white and without crown molding, so a few dollars and a few weekends of work will totally overhaul the upstairs and make it very nice. I would also replace all of the overhead light fixtures with ceiling fans in all bedrooms, something I have a ton of experience doing.
The basement is about 1/3 finished, which is perfect for me. The part that is finished was done very well and creates a large family and game room, with a 1/2 bathroom. When I walked into the unfinished section is when I fell in love with the house.
There is probably 800-900 square feet that is studded in and insulated already, all exterior walls. An additional 150 or so square feet is provided as a cold storage room, with built in shelves. In the main basement there are beefy hand-made shelves along an entire wall, and a great space to build in. I will be able to add a workshop and office for me, as well as another play/family area. Another bedroom, or one shared with my office, would also be quite easy to build.
Having the exterior walls studded and insulated will save me a lot of money when I finish the basement, which would be right after the closing (at least my office). I haven't yet drawn up my plans for how to finish it, but just guessing I would need about 75 2x4", 20-30 sheets of drywall, 3-4 interior doors, electrical wire and outlets, tape and mud, trim, paint and misc. hardware. Carpet will likely be the most expensive single item, so will probably wait just a little while.
Even though I am just dreaming at this point, we are hopeful that we will have an accepted offer and a closing date set by the end of this week. Then we will sweat yet another appraisal. I have already told the mortgage companies that I will not pay for an appraisal done by Landsafe and/or Lynette Richter, because they totally suck. See the previous home offer for more information on Landsafe and Lynette Richter.
We looked at two other houses as well. The house on Martin Street we ruled out because it did not have air conditioning, and would need a lot of updating and other work. It did have an excellent hot tub room, but that could not make up for the other many shortcomings.
A rebuilt home on the corner of Church and Brewery was very cool. It had a ton of woodwork and, at least to me, felt like a very large cabin style home. I loved the house since I am always partial to a lot of woodwork, but the location is terrible. It almost touches the house next door and has a horrible yard. In addition, when they rebuilt the home, they kept the original stone basement and added a crawl-space under the new addition. This means the basement is like a dungeon and has no usable area at all.
As for the home we are making an offer on. It does need some updating because it is owned by an older lady that has lived there since the house was built in 1992. There is some wallpaper that must come down, but not too much. We will have some substantial painting to do, both interior and on the rear sundeck, but the deck is a major selling point, very nice. The carpet is in good condition and the kitchen will only require removal of a hideous stove exhaust system and updated hardware for the cabinets. All walls are basic white and without crown molding, so a few dollars and a few weekends of work will totally overhaul the upstairs and make it very nice. I would also replace all of the overhead light fixtures with ceiling fans in all bedrooms, something I have a ton of experience doing.
The basement is about 1/3 finished, which is perfect for me. The part that is finished was done very well and creates a large family and game room, with a 1/2 bathroom. When I walked into the unfinished section is when I fell in love with the house.
There is probably 800-900 square feet that is studded in and insulated already, all exterior walls. An additional 150 or so square feet is provided as a cold storage room, with built in shelves. In the main basement there are beefy hand-made shelves along an entire wall, and a great space to build in. I will be able to add a workshop and office for me, as well as another play/family area. Another bedroom, or one shared with my office, would also be quite easy to build.
Having the exterior walls studded and insulated will save me a lot of money when I finish the basement, which would be right after the closing (at least my office). I haven't yet drawn up my plans for how to finish it, but just guessing I would need about 75 2x4", 20-30 sheets of drywall, 3-4 interior doors, electrical wire and outlets, tape and mud, trim, paint and misc. hardware. Carpet will likely be the most expensive single item, so will probably wait just a little while.
Even though I am just dreaming at this point, we are hopeful that we will have an accepted offer and a closing date set by the end of this week. Then we will sweat yet another appraisal. I have already told the mortgage companies that I will not pay for an appraisal done by Landsafe and/or Lynette Richter, because they totally suck. See the previous home offer for more information on Landsafe and Lynette Richter.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
More House Shopping
After a couple of months off from house shopping, we are back at it this morning. I was able to get us pre-approved for a new mortgage, possibly two, this week. The best one may be through Jules Stewart at iFreedom Direct, but it also looks like our local State Bank of Cross Plains may have a good one too.The problem is there are not many homes we like for sale in Cross Plains right now, and we are limiting our search to the village, or at least the township, so that the kids will not have to change schools. Did I mention that we love Cross Plains? :) There is one home that seems nice and we are going to look at it this morning. It is on Thinnes Street, just a couple of blocks from my ex-wife (our only nearby babysitter), which of course means my daughters.
We are looking at homes considerably less expensive than before, about $50-60k less in fact. I am hoping that the lower priced homes will have an easier time appraising, and if not, that the owners, who are typically older, may be able to make up any shortcomings in a low appraisal. The home this morning is on the market for $234,500, and has been on the market a little over a month.
There are 3 other possibilities as well, but this home is our favorite so we are going to look at it first. Our lease has expired, but the landlords are allowing us to stay here month-to-month. But that is only until the end of August, so we either have to buy a home by then, or sign a new lease that will take us into at least spring of 2009, something we are trying hard to avoid.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Officially Addicted
I was warned, by my aerobatic flight instructor Mike Love, that once I started learning aerobatics I would be addicted. I am. I had my third aerobatic lesson today, and added the barrel roll to my fledgling aerobatic arsenal of aileron rolls and loops. I pretty much have aileron rolls down to a science, and they are the most fun for me to perform. I still get a bit sick each time I go out for a lesson, but it is getting less and less each time.The last two lessons I took Dramamine, which may have helped just a little bit. But from my SCUBA diving experience I know that TripTone works well for me, as I also get sea sick quite easily. I could not find it locally, but Walgreens ordered me two boxes today, so I will have them for my lesson next week.
Nobody in my family wants to know when I am flying aerobatics, so I tell them after I am done. I am looking forward to being able to practice solo in the near future, but will have to purchase my own parachute. Legally, a parachute is not required when doing aerobatics solo, but I sure like the peace of mind it provides, even if a somewhat false sense of security. The rental units are "seat" type parachutes, which means there is about 2" of padding on your butt. This is just enough that my long legs cannot comfortably fit under the instrument panel, making the use of the brakes on the ground quite difficult. Mike handles this for my comfort, but I am looking for a used emergency parachute that is of the backpack variety, without the part that goes under your butt. Mike won't be there to handle the brakes for me when I am solo!
I am also discovering a newly re-found love of the Cessna 152. It is small and uncomfortable for someone my size (6'5"), but it sure is fun! I usually fly 172's, which are fun and easy, but the 152 is a wonderful little airplane. Especially the Aerobat, pictured above. It has minimal instruments and no gyro's, very different from the planes I normally fly, which are decked out for full IFR flight. Getting in and out of the 152 is a challenge, especially with the parachute, but it sure is a blast to fly. I had almost forgotten how great these little airplanes are!
So when I win that lottery, I will of course still purchase a twin-engine Beech Baron, but I will also pick up a Cessna 152 Aerobat. These ugly old birds just put a smile on your face so fast I just won't be able to resist having one in my hanger.
Monday, June 16, 2008
The Price of Oil and Grain
So today the price of crude oil is about $140 per barrel. I got an email from my dad that seems to make sense. OPEC sells oil for $140 per barrel to the U.S. OPEC nations buy U.S. grain for $7.00 per bushel. Solution, sell them our grain for $140 per bushel. Just make grain and other items we export to them the same price as oil, problem solved :)
Friday, June 13, 2008
Windows Vista Sucks Less
I have been very critical over the last couple of years of Microsoft Windows Vista. It took them 5 years to get XP really ironed out into a nice operating system, just to kill it with Vista. My first several experiences with Vista lasted a few weeks each, before reformatting my hard drive and reinstalling XP in disgust. Vista was slow, everything was in a different place, and finding stuff even for an experienced computer user was frustrating. Video drivers were bad, printer drivers impossible to find, and most of my software, even from Microsoft, either did not work on Vista or had some other "issues". I short, Vista was a piece of shit.
When I started working for workflow.com last September, Vista was thrust upon me. At least during my working hours (which is most of the time) I used Vista Business on a decked out MacBook Pro. I appreciate the irony in the fact that the best notebook computer to run Vista is a Mac, and to my surprise, Vista runs pretty darn good on it! Not as fast as XP, but it was prettier and usable. Had this been my personal computer, I would have installed XP, but since I had to use Vista, well, I had to use Vista.
I'm not sure at what point I really started liking Vista, but I did. Several months ago, just for giggles, I installed Vista Ultimate on my home server. I wanted to test out Windows Media Center as a possible replacement for Beyond TV, software I use like a TiVO to record television shows on the computer and then send them to my TV to be watched later.
I drank the Kool-Aid, I was hooked. Media Center totally and completely rocks! Within a week I had configured my entire home network around the Vista "server" machine, bought an XBox 360 to act as a Media Center Extender (and a damn good Grand Theft Auto 4 and Rock Band engine), and finally bought my first LCD HDTV, a 40" Toshiba Regza to connect to the XBox via a HDMI cable. Everything is working great, something I will blog about later. The entire setup is quite impressive really, though a bit on the complicated side for my non-geek family members.
So what prompted my complete 180 on Vista? Hardware, lots and lots of expensive, cutting edge computer hardware. When Vista came out, the hardware to run it on was just making its way to market. My personal computer was a 3.0gz Pentium 4 with Hyper-Threading, 2GB of RAM, ATI 9200 video card, and several IDE hard drives. XP ran great on this setup. Vista ran "ok", but nothing to write home about, in fact, I had to upgrade the video card to an ATI X700 to make Vista usable at all.
With some changes, this computer is now my home Vista "server". The CPU is the same, but the memory was upgraded to 3GB (I could add one more gig if I want to), the slow IDE hard drives are now used for hosting the operating system and backup purposes only, a 320GB Seagate SATA drive holds my important data, and another 500GB Seagate SATA drive is used for the television shows that are recorded by Media Center and the Windows swap file. Since this is a "server" I turn off all the "rouge and lipstick", read Aero, and disabled all services (a bunch) that I don't use. Configuring Vista is still a bitch, there are tweaks and settings hidden everywhere, but a careful and slow audit of everything in the GUI allows me to run Vista on this machine quite well, as a server. I don't think I would want to actually sit in front of it and use it, but as a server it is performing great.
Now if you think this server is just for Media Center, you would be waaaaaaay wrong. This computer does Media Center, runs the WebGuide software that allows access to Media Center from a web browser, hosts my Subversion version control server for my source code, CruiseControl.net for automated software builds and integration testing, contains all of our family's important files, performs backups, and here's the kicker... It runs www.toddtown.com. Yep, this machine also hosts a VMWare Server installation of Windows Server 2003 that runs Internet Information Server 6.0, SQL Server 2005, our eMail server, and SPAM filtering software. This old Pentium 4 is REALLY earning its keep!
The average CPU load runs about 2-40%, and will occasionally hit 80-90% when a lot is going on, and memory usage runs about 65% on average. One trick to this is my use of Hauppage PVR-150 video capture cards for the Media Center. These cards do all of the video capture encoding on their hardware, and do not tax the CPU for these tasks. If they did not, this setup would not be possible.
Well Missy just got home, and for the first time in MONTHS, we are going to have a date without kids. That new Adam Sandler (Zohan) movie BETTER BE GOOD! :)
When I started working for workflow.com last September, Vista was thrust upon me. At least during my working hours (which is most of the time) I used Vista Business on a decked out MacBook Pro. I appreciate the irony in the fact that the best notebook computer to run Vista is a Mac, and to my surprise, Vista runs pretty darn good on it! Not as fast as XP, but it was prettier and usable. Had this been my personal computer, I would have installed XP, but since I had to use Vista, well, I had to use Vista.
I'm not sure at what point I really started liking Vista, but I did. Several months ago, just for giggles, I installed Vista Ultimate on my home server. I wanted to test out Windows Media Center as a possible replacement for Beyond TV, software I use like a TiVO to record television shows on the computer and then send them to my TV to be watched later.
I drank the Kool-Aid, I was hooked. Media Center totally and completely rocks! Within a week I had configured my entire home network around the Vista "server" machine, bought an XBox 360 to act as a Media Center Extender (and a damn good Grand Theft Auto 4 and Rock Band engine), and finally bought my first LCD HDTV, a 40" Toshiba Regza to connect to the XBox via a HDMI cable. Everything is working great, something I will blog about later. The entire setup is quite impressive really, though a bit on the complicated side for my non-geek family members.
So what prompted my complete 180 on Vista? Hardware, lots and lots of expensive, cutting edge computer hardware. When Vista came out, the hardware to run it on was just making its way to market. My personal computer was a 3.0gz Pentium 4 with Hyper-Threading, 2GB of RAM, ATI 9200 video card, and several IDE hard drives. XP ran great on this setup. Vista ran "ok", but nothing to write home about, in fact, I had to upgrade the video card to an ATI X700 to make Vista usable at all.
With some changes, this computer is now my home Vista "server". The CPU is the same, but the memory was upgraded to 3GB (I could add one more gig if I want to), the slow IDE hard drives are now used for hosting the operating system and backup purposes only, a 320GB Seagate SATA drive holds my important data, and another 500GB Seagate SATA drive is used for the television shows that are recorded by Media Center and the Windows swap file. Since this is a "server" I turn off all the "rouge and lipstick", read Aero, and disabled all services (a bunch) that I don't use. Configuring Vista is still a bitch, there are tweaks and settings hidden everywhere, but a careful and slow audit of everything in the GUI allows me to run Vista on this machine quite well, as a server. I don't think I would want to actually sit in front of it and use it, but as a server it is performing great.
Now if you think this server is just for Media Center, you would be waaaaaaay wrong. This computer does Media Center, runs the WebGuide software that allows access to Media Center from a web browser, hosts my Subversion version control server for my source code, CruiseControl.net for automated software builds and integration testing, contains all of our family's important files, performs backups, and here's the kicker... It runs www.toddtown.com. Yep, this machine also hosts a VMWare Server installation of Windows Server 2003 that runs Internet Information Server 6.0, SQL Server 2005, our eMail server, and SPAM filtering software. This old Pentium 4 is REALLY earning its keep!
The average CPU load runs about 2-40%, and will occasionally hit 80-90% when a lot is going on, and memory usage runs about 65% on average. One trick to this is my use of Hauppage PVR-150 video capture cards for the Media Center. These cards do all of the video capture encoding on their hardware, and do not tax the CPU for these tasks. If they did not, this setup would not be possible.
Well Missy just got home, and for the first time in MONTHS, we are going to have a date without kids. That new Adam Sandler (Zohan) movie BETTER BE GOOD! :)
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