Category: Uncategorized

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Reddy Kilowatt, Indeed

Pals,

The forest surrounding my Secret Alpine Laboratory is getting whipped around by 50+ MPH winds right now. The power is out and I’m, um, “sheltering in-place.” The ringer on my analog phone isn’t working, so if you need to call, just ping me on the cellphone and I’ll spin the rotary dial on the home phone to call you back. My thinking at this point is that I should save the batteries on the cellphones as much as possible. Who knows when the power will be back up? So. Cal. Edison doesn’t.

I’ve laid in firewood, picked up more batteries, and I’m set. The rest of Southern California isn’t doing so well though. There’s a new fire at the junction of the 15 and the 215 and apparently the fire in Aquanga has been contained. Luckily, there’s no other danger (beside the wind) in my immediate area. Northern San Diego County sounds like a very bad place to be at the moment though.

With the high winds blowing right now, maybe it’s not a terrible idea to leave the electricity off. You know?

– bob

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An Evaluation Copy

Friends,

I heard that the Wi-Fi-ified version of the iTunes music store was online and that one could get at it with an iPhone. Maybe even an iPod Touch with its own internet connection. What the heck? Why not try it out with the Screaming Trees’ album Uncle Anesthesia…

Yeah, the video is crappy, but this is how I remember their show in San Luis Obispo back in the 80s. Pixelated and nearly black and white. Why do you ask?

By the way, the stage at the little bar where they played strained under the weight of the Connor brothers. Creaking and groaning every time they even hinted at one of the their guitar hero moves. They’re bigger fellas, you know.

The download to the iPod worked without a hitch on my network, and once I synced, the desktop went out and retrieved the full copies of all the songs. Pretty slick, especially for traveling. You’ll love it.

– bob

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iPost Touch

Friends,

This here post was done entirely on my brand new 8GB iPod touch. What’s that? I hear you ask. It’s an iPhone without the phone, essentially. With Wi-Fi. And a web browser.

Yes, it passes the neat-o test.

-bob

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The State Of Jefferson – In Color!

Friends,

Did you know that there’s a secessionist movement encompassing Southern Oregon and the very Northern part of California? They’re aggrieved! It’s hard to get a straight answer about why exactly they’re upset, but I suspect that they’ve be mad for so long, it’s a tradition.

It’d be hard to be upset staring at a landscape this pretty…

Trees!
…or even this.

More trees!
C’mon fellas, it’s America.

Eagle!
The bears are friendlier here…

Bear!
…and even the elk are pretty bright.

Don't shoot!
Even the interim capitol is kinda nice.

The capitol, or something.
Gosh. Can’t we all just get along?

– bob

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Greetings From Vacationtown

Friends,

Posting’s gonna be a little light for a few days. I’m on a little vacation and I only have brief access to a computer (long story) while I’m away. I also noted that the machine feeding the Jaunty Webcam! has crashed. Yippee.

Back next weekend.

– bob

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Happy Weird Sentence Construction Friday!

Friends,

Okay, I made up the special awareness day, but not this notice from HR…

We would like to invite you to a Carne Asada on
Friday, 10/5 at 11:30 am
Outside of the Administration Offices

Trimmings will be provided for the Carne Asada and Drinks.

Also, for Vegetarians, please RSVP today, if you would like to have a Veggie Burger

We can’t wait to see you at the Carne Asada!

The cultural thing that I didn’t get, and have never heard before, is that the event surrounding the production, serving, and consumption of Carne Asada is called “the Carne Asada.” Is that actually true? I’ll ask after I finish my veggie burgers.

– bob

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Happy Customer Service Week AND Mental Illness Awareness Week!

Valued Customers!

It’s no coincidence that these two very important issues are highlighted at the same time. This would qualify as one of our famous Genius! posts (and I think I’m going to tag it as such) but I’m a little too ticked off to make with the funneee.

Yesterday, our clever but close-mouthed network administrator changed the name of the mail server. A neat idea was hatched to just push out a group policy to tell each workstation the new name, but that didn’t work. I wasn’t informed of any of this. Yay, team.

No, seriously, I really wanted to hear from each staff member three and four times that their email client wasn’t working. I love it. Adore it, actually. I especially enjoy not being able to point to a solution or have any idea of what’s going on. It’s a real hoot.

Sure, I had a workaround, but not a real fix. That came much later in the day as an aside to some nonsense I was being asked about. “Oh, by the way, what’s going on with the mail server?” I asked. “Oh, that. Yeah, there’s problems…” Nifty. When would’ve been a convenient time to tell me about it?

“Man, are you okay? You look a little stressed…”

– bob

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Happy Name Your Car Day!

Friends,

It’s National Name Your Car Day and the name for my Jeep today is Mud. A highly derogatory term considering that I’m heading on a road trip to Oregon next week in that very same Jeep. A Jeep named Mud. What’s with all the broken things all of the sudden? Getting the old gal up to long-distance form is taking more cash than I’d hoped. It didn’t help that I destroyed a few sensors while working on other bits. I shouldn’t be surprised since she’s racked up 208 thousand miles at this point.

Will she make it all the way from Southern California to Southern Oregon? Will we be stranded and eaten by bears? Can you stand the dramatic tension?

– bob

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It’s World Vegetarian Day!

Hey Ruminants!

The picture's too good not to recycle...It’s World Vegetarian Day today. I won’t bore you with the details but since you insist, here’s a link to the World Vegetarian Day (which is the starting gun, so to speak, launching National Vegetarian Awareness Month) website.

You know what this means, of course. You’ll have to go outside and actually play with your dog instead of eat him for dinner. No tacos al gato this month, pal. No goldfish and chips. Just leave them alone for one day, okay? Will it kill ya?

Your pal,

bob

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Johnny, Tell Them What They’ve Won

Friends,

Well, it’s been a heck of a week. Busy with work and too much time driving back and forth, I could use a disco nap. The album mix. If albums were five hours long.

I hope to have some super niece and nephew pictures to post this weekend. We’re gathering at the folks’ house and I have the distinct pleasure of bringing gifts for sisters, in-laws, and my nephew. I’m being proactive for two of the birthdays and woefully late for the other two. I’m not going to divulge the contents of the packages, but if you silently repeat today’s Jaunty Passphrase [“gadgets”] you won’t be too far off the trail. Capisce?

More goodness this weekend…

Your pal,

bob

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Stagecraft

Fellow Gardeners,

I was watching this last night and was impressed by how tightly Devo controlled their presentation of Uncontrollable Urge in this concert video. The crowd of geeks is going as wild as you would expect (not very), but for guys wearing flower pots on their heads, this is really something. The theme bands kicking around nowadays (looking at you, Louis XIV) could learn a thing or two. Happy Monday!

Your pal,

bob

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Summer. Over.

Good gravy.

The weather here in the West has taken a turn to the cold. Just above freezing temps* in Garner Valley during my commute this morning. Certain pups are huddled in a ball. The coyotes have stopped barking already this evening. Time to lay in some firewood, I guess. Full cords of citrus are on offer for a couple hundred bucks each, which sounds reasonable to me at the moment.

By the way, keep refreshing the webcam image during the day tomorrow and Friday. Here’s some hysteria from the National Weather Service to tell you why:

..STRONG SEPTEMBER STORM FRIDAY AND SATURDAY…

A STRONG PACIFIC STORM FOR SEPTEMBER IS EXPECTED TO MOVE THROUGH SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LATE FRIDAY AND EARLY SATURDAY. THIS STORM HAS THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE WEATHER RARELY SEEN IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA IN SEPTEMBER. RAIN COULD BEGIN AS EARLY AS THURSDAY WITH SHOWERS INTO FRIDAY BUT THE HEAVIEST PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED FRIDAY NIGHT INTO EARLY SATURDAY MORNING.

That’s scary! Look! It’s all-caps! But wait, there’s more…

RAINFALL TOTALS WILL BE QUITE VARIABLE DUE TO THE SHOWERY NATURE OF THE RAIN. PRELIMINARY RAINFALL ESTIMATES ARE FOR ABOUT A QUARTER TO HALF AN INCH NEAR THE COAST TO ONE INCH ON THE COASTAL MOUNTAIN SLOPES AND FOOTHILLS WITH UP TO A QUARTER INCH IN THE DESERTS. THERE COULD BE LOCAL LARGER AMOUNTS OF ONE AND A HALF TO TWO AND A HALF INCHES ON THE WEST AND SOUTHWEST FACING MOUNTAIN SLOPES OR IN CONVECTION. ANY SIGNIFICANT RAIN WILL BRING THE THREAT OF FLASH FLOODING AND DEBRIS FLOW IN AND BELOW RECENT BURN AREAS.

Showery showers. That’s messed up. We’re doomed.

THE COLD AIR ALOFT WILL CAUSE ENOUGH INSTABILITY FOR A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. THE SNOW LEVEL WILL LOWER TO NEAR 6000 FEET LATE FRIDAY NIGHT.

Snow in September. Can you hardly stand it? How much fun is that?

I don’t know yet.

– bob

* SOURCE: The thirteen year-old Jeep’s overhead console display said 34 degrees.
UPDATE: The gas stove is running as a hybrid—propane and lint. The dogs are in love.

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Non-Positive

Friends,

Just a quick note to spur a bit of debate. I sent a note to everyone in my department describing a change that I’d made to some equipment here, including instructions on how to use it. The change came about because an outside contractor broke the old equipment a few months ago in a minor accident. Nobody was hurt so the accident was never reported, but dodgy old equipment was put out of service forever, to my relief.

The response from my boss was that I should’ve reported the accident and to chastise me for the delay in notifying him. I shouldn’t have been surprised at reading that, but I half-expected some sort of appreciation for sharing the operating instructions for the new equipment. Documentation is pretty thin on the ground around here, so I thought I’d get the ball rolling.

Should I have anticipated my boss’ non-positive response? Is it impossible after all to communicate any sort of nuance through an email message? I’ve tried and I’ve failed—over and over and over again.

I’ve been in the middle of these things before, without learning how to shut up. This time he got a clarification message from me, but nothing more. The lessons come slowly, but I’ll pick them up eventually.

Your pal,

bob