Posts filed under Pleasure

Just for kicks, I thought I would consolidate some pictures, from other albums, of me at famous places and/or with famous things.  Read More

Over the weekend, due to compelling reasons I’ll get to later, I took a deep-dive into the two most popular online “Banking 2.0″ products: Yodlee and Mint. My overall impression: These guys really have a long way to go.

This isn’t really a review of either. Instead, it’s more of a wish-list… for what I wish either Yodlee or Mint were, but alas, they are not.  Read More

First, I admit that I haven’t used Google’s Buzz much. I have it linked to my Google Reader to share articles, but that’s it. On the other hand, I’ve been using Twitter quite a bit.

Tonight I saw that Mashable posted a link to their Buzz stream, so I followed them.

And now I’m perplexed by a few questions: Why would one choose Twitter over Google Buzz, or Buzz over Twitter? And why would anyone use both?  Read More

I’ve always been the type to read the instructions… on nearly everything.  When I was a kid, I loved putting together plastic models of cars and airplanes.  The process always went smoothly because I read the directions first.  Read More

Or: How to NOT Alienate Your Friends and Contacts

I saw today that Twitter is releasing a new service/app that provides another level of integration with competing-yet-complimentary social networks.  Read More

… and why I’m not totally quitting Facebook… yet.

I value my privacy. That’s it. Period. I don’t have anything to hide. I don’t have a secret identity as a super-hero nor as a mafia crime boss. And by “privacy”, I don’t necessarily mean that I value being “off the grid”. I value having control over what personal information I share and with whom I share it. More specifically, I value NOT sharing information with companies who will then use it for targeted advertising.  Read More

The guys at Mashable have put together a collection of some incredible videos and photos from Nashville, TN depicting the damage caused by the flooding over the weekend.

It looks like Stephen Hawking’s warning that extra-terrestrials may not come in peace may have come just in time.

According to The Sun, NASA scientists unveiled last night that they may, in fact, have compelling evidence of life on Mars.

These are exciting times we live in.

At first, 10-15 seconds doesn’t sound like much time. But if you’ve ever been through a significant tremor, you know that short window of warning is enough to do what you need to get to safety… and would be better than nothing.

Interesting read from Emergency Management: Earthquake Early Warning System Coming to California

I found some really spectacular live footage of the volcano eruption in Iceland that is wreaking havoc with flights across Europe.  The disruption to air service is not just an inconvenience for the airlines.  The impact extends to business travelers who need to meet clients and make sales, shipment of critically important parcels, emergency supplies and organs for transplant.  Read More

(courtesy of Mark Richardson)

1. Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me alone.

2. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and leaky tire.

3. It’s always darkest before dawn. So if you’re going to steal your neighbor’s newspaper, that’s the time to do it.

4. Don’t be irreplaceable. If you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted.

5. Always remember that you’re unique. Just like everyone else.  Read More

Here is a great presentation by Michael Specter discussing science il-literacy, unjustified public fears regarding genetically modified food and willingness to partake in homeopathic remedies and unnecessarily vitamin and diet supplements.  Read More

I was cleaning up the photo gallery a bit when I came across some pictures that I forgot I had found after thinking I’d lost.

Did you follow that?  Read More

From this article at The Independent,

“Dr Sally Leivesley, a leading terror expert who advises governments and businesses, said yesterday there have been several incidents where detonators have failed to ignite devices, with a major terror attack averted through luck or human error.”

And,

“Why didn’t he go to the toilets to detonate the bomb? Why would he try to set it off 20 minutes before he’s going to land? It could probably have been successful had the person not been amateurish.”

I think the ‘thwarting’ of this attempted attack is due only to luck.  Read More

In November of 2008, in an attempt to, at least loosely, follow Chinese traditions, I took my parents along with me to Taiwan to meet my future wife’s family and ask for their marriage blessings.  Read More

I remember watching the news and weather closely the night before. The next morning, early on a Saturday, I received a call from the American Red Cross in Indianapolis asking if I was available to help with doing some damage assessments in Morgan County and Martinsville, IN.   Read More

In January 2008, I took a two-week business trip to England.  Over the weekend, I decided to drive around and see what I could see that I had not seen before.  Read More

I’ll post more details after I get a chance to use it more, but basically, I got a new tablet PC for work. It’s a Toshiba Portege M700.  This model was just released a few months ago. I ordered mine custom-built at the end of December and it finally arrived this week.

Why I’m writing now, though, is that when building your laptop online, you have several memory options.  1 GB is standard.  2GB will cost you an extra $100.  4GB will cost you an extra $550.  Rather than pay Toshiba for the RAM, I ordered the machine with the standard 1 GB and then ordered 2x2GB sticks (4GB total) from NewEgg for $88.  What a bargain!  Read More

In 2006, I bought a new Nissan Frontier crew-cab pick-up truck and shortly thereafter I migrated the guts of the Mazda MX-5 ‘Miata’ Carputer.  Basically, everything is the same except that when I installed in the truck, rather than using the factory audio, I replaced it with an Infinity Reference Series 560 watt, 6-channel amplifier, Infinity Kappa component speakers and a JBL GTO1002D 10″ Dual Voice-Coil Subwoofer.

Rather than repost every detail and every challenge, I’ll just give a shout-out once again to the guys over at MP3Car.com and post some pictures.  Read More

In April of 2005, I had the opportunity to travel to India for a combination ‘business trip’ and to attend a friend’s wedding.  Though I stayed in a hotel and visited some tourist spots (Taj Mahal in Agra, ‘Pink City’ in Jaipur, Goa, etc), I spent much of the time with my friends and their families eating, shopping and participating in the wedding festivities. It was a great to experience the wonders of Indian culture this way.  Read More

In 2005, I undertook an interesting project.  I bought a 2003 Mazda MX-5 Miata and in it installed a custom-made “carputer”.  At the time, OEM’s in the U.S. had just started thinking about in-car MP3 players, built-in navigation systems, touch-screens and hands-free voice control. I know because, at the time, I worked for Harman International‘s automotive OEM group, Harman/Becker.

At the time, I blogged and documented the entire process, and got a lot of help and ideas from the guys over at the MP3Car.com forum.  Rather than repost everything, the following is just a brief summary and pictures.  Read More

In 2004, I took another business trip to Karlsbad, Germany. However, prior to starting work I decided to have some fun and spent the weekend in Paris.  Read More

Most of you who will read this didn’t get to know Andy Clark. But I did. He was an awesome guy. He was the long-haired, hippie, surfer-dude (originally from Long Island) that ran the telecom network at the Northridge “Corporate Campus” for Harman for who knows how many years.

Andy had been fighting cancer for the past 4 years or so. I say that in the past tense, because Andy passed away Friday morning, 3/22, at 63 years old.  Read More

In case you weren’t aware, Sunday was the 10th Annual Miracle Ride for Riley Children’s Hospital. I went this year with Leroy, his wife and John. It was pretty cool, and we raised a decent amount of money for the kids!

Here are some photos from the event  Read More