Pauls Rants and Revelations

I’ve been using the Nike+ running gear for about a month now. Of course, I just plugged it in and started running and only recently checked the manual. Did you know that you have to calibrate it before you start running?

I didn’t! So I ran on the treadmill (since you need a set distance to mark from) to calibrate the walk and run. After a couple of quick 400m rounds, I was all calibrated. Then I went for a 3k run and discovered that I am acutally doing it faster than I was on my un-calibrated. I was off by about 40m/km, or for those non math people, every kilometer was 40 meters longer in reality. This may not sound like much, but in a 10k run, this can add up.

So the lesson for this weekend is this: Always read the manual no matter what you get. Twice. Then do it again just to make sure.

-Cheers

 I am simply amazed that these 2 are still in the white house. The last poll I read said that they approval rating was at or around 35%. If everyone really dislikes what they are doing, how come more people aren’t screaming for impeachment?

The Blue State: Bush approval at 28%

Perhaps the reason they are still in office is because they are counting (correctly) on our American laziness. They know that in a few days, even a few hours, this will be largely forgotten. Its like screaming “That sucks!” at the TV and then flipping the channel. Its sad our attention span has been reduced to only whats in front of our faces.

For those who have asked me, and those who have commiserated with me on the difficulties of dealing with FedEx’s shipping API, I have some wonderful news.

FedEx, when using their Direct XML transaction methods to ping their service, returns an encoded binary string that is to be used for their shipping labels. I have been messing with it on and off for weeks now ever since we got the system to return information correctly. The problem that arose was that the information we received wasn’t decoding properly (FYI, the returned format was 2DCOMMON as a PNG). I decoded the information but it was still a no go. So I got a brain wave and decided to just make a script to create an image file for it (since its a PNG data anyway) and then display the newly created image in the browser so the client can print it out.

I was floored when it first came up and I saw all the nifty information in the FedEx label. The client can now print these out on a standard printer for the shipments.

I can’t paste the code in here as the meter number and other sensitive info is in the request string but here is basically the process the system goes through for shipping:

• XML formatted shipping request is made the the fedex servers
• XML formatted return string is parsed and thrown into a DB table
• Client goes to the admin and hits the Print Shipping Label button
• Resulting page pings the database for the OutboundLabel string, decodes its using a Base64 decoder, writes it to a PNG file, and displays it on the page.
• Client prints the label and they are off and running.

Im still not exactly sure why I cannot just append the decoded Base64 data in the SRC of the image, but at this point I really don’t care since its working now.

Let me know if this method works for anyone, or if anyone has a better way to go about it. This solution is in ASP with an Access database.

OK. Back to work with me.

-Cheers

I am very, very afraid of the dentist. I know that I’m not alone in this feeling but its has been years since I have been and I know that there are many bad things that are going to have to be drilled out and outright removed.

I haven’t gone mostly due to lack of insurance. My work insurance is rather expensive and it was just yesterday that I was approved for Regence insurance that will start on the 1st of May. My only problem now is getting in to see the dentist. Which, evidently, wont be until June (erg).

There is a “semi-emergency” option that they can use if I am experiencing pain (which I am) so I think that on Monday (the 30th) I will make the appointment. Its not like I’m lying about it, but the pain has been going on for so long now that I have sorta gotten used to it (except when I eat on the left side, then its pain city for me).

What I am curious about though is why the dentist is always so busy that every appointment that anyone makes is always many months out? Why not next week? What the hell are they doing? Why are they so busy? Do they just want to have a lax schedule?

It’s annoying to say the least, but at least, maybe by Monday, I can have some of the problem teeth taken care of.

-Cheers

In the arena of the somewhat out there interesting things, I came across Testfreaks in my wanderings when when looking at digital camera reviews.

From what I can tell it looks pretty interesting. If you search around for something, or see something you have been looking for, this site collects all the information it can find about that particular product as well as listing user submitted reviews. I wanted to get something like the Canon A430 and from what I can tell just from this site its looks pretty decent.

Anyways, just wanted to let you know about Testfreaks. Use them for you gadget search and see how well everyone else likes it.

-Cheers

Just picked this up from Leaky Cauldron, for those of us who are anxiously awaiting the new (and last) book and new movie.

Its not a question of “can you”, but more a question of “when can you”.

I’m sure that most people would agree that having a job that you can continue learning on is a very good thing. Also, most people would agree that in web development, learning on the job is pretty much a requirement.

But where does one find the time to learn when there are project deadlines, client review, meetings, and the dozens of other tidbits of work to be done? On your lunch break? After hours? My boss regularly forwards articles and such that explain the latest technology of this or that, the newest JS prototype, or something really nifty that he’s been working on (which btw Boss, the new WP is flipping awesome!).

Now I’m sure that everyone has a boss or coworker that forwards stuff like this to your group, but do you take the time to read it thoroughly or just give it a once over? I try to read them through but I usually don’t have time (or attention span, sometimes) to read them as well as I would like. My question, then, is how much of your working day should you set aside for learning and study about your given profession?

Google allows, almost requires, employees to spend 20% of their day for experimenting and exploration into new things and for learning. This is great, but not all of us are Google employees. So for those of us that don’t have a Google ID badge, we pretty much have to decide what we can justifiably use of our “companies time” to put towards learning.

I would say that in my company (to whom, by the way, I am eternally loyal ) I could justify an hour of every day to devout to exploring new tech or refining my skills in certain areas. I have a crap tonne of del.icio.us bookmarks just gagging to be clicked and having a devoted hour in which to check them all out would, I think, prove very beneficial in the long run for the company as well as myself. Eventually, if I can clear out all of my late projects that is, I could set aside more time of the day for this purpose, but I believe an hour is a good start for me and most people. Perhaps after lunch? Perhaps first thing before work?

What times would you think work best? If you already have a study time set aside when is it and what works for you? I’m sure my boss will chime in as he subscribes to this blog, but what do you, the non-bosses or the world, do for learning on the job?

-Cheers

This I had to find out the hard way. And not only that, I had to find out over and over before it finally sunk in.

Usually in the evenings, instead of coffee, I have some chocolate milk (I like chocolate milk). Then about half way throught my runs I start getting bad stiches in my sides and stomach. It took me about the 3rd time before I put 2 and 4.6701 together. So I didnt have the usual oversized, over-chocolated milk this evening and I was able to run about 4 kilometers without any pain at all. Well, my ankle hurt, but that was from a gopher hole (dam gophers).

Anyways, does anyone know the medical reason for this? Like dairy-o-tosis or some such medical thing? I would like to have my evening chocolate fix, but really don’t want to stagger the last few kilometers home because of it.  Also, if anyone know a quick and easy gopher removal method, I would appreciate that too.

-Cheers

I have been working on a flat bow (for archery) for about 2 months now. Not 2 months solid, mind, but a few hours on the weekends. All told I had about 14 hours into it.

Now here is the kicker. I got done shaping it, sanding it, sanding again and checking and rechecking my work. Everyone said it was very pretty for a first time bow maker (a bow maker is known as a bowyer).

I string it up with a string I also made myself with the help of a guild master string dude, and pull it back about 10 inches, and not only does it break, but it breaks in 2 places. Both the limbs came completely off.

So, what did I learn from this experience? Well, for starters, I’m going to be checking that the wood grain is going the correct way. Second, even though I spent 14 hours on it, I think it was a bit rushed. I will take my time next time and do it (hopefully) right.

Although, I thought I did it right this time, so that may not count for too much next time. At least I didn’t get a splinter in my eye. So I guess that’s something.

-Cheers

My wife and I are searching around for homes as our deadline is approaching faster then we realized. We wanted to be in a house before our son started school (he just turned 5 and will be in Kindergarten this September).

One of the really frustrating things we are finding though  is the prices. Some of these new homes are over $300K and they don’t have any sort of yard with them. The houses themselves are not that great either as they are built largely by unskilled laborers and often in a hurry. Its like paying for a steak and getting a big mac, in my opinion.

The older houses we have found would be great, if they weren’t in the neighborhoods they are in. One house we went and saw look really good, but the house across the street had a lot of shifty looking people coming and going which kind of worried me as the house was also across the street from an elementary school. Its stuff like that make me wonder why he people selling it could get away with asking a quarter million dollars for it (and this was the recently reduced price at that).

I started to wonder why these houses are selling for this much money when they are not at all worth it. I was of the opinion that the sellers are morons; a theory that has yet to be dis-proven.  That, and since buildable land is getting scare around here real estate is at a premium.

My wife pointed out that they are probably trying to recoup some of the money lost after that last recession after 9-11 and such. You remember all of those lenders and their 0% down deals? Well thats come round to bite them in the ass so now we are made to suffer their mistakes.

If anyone has any tips on getting into a house in the Portland Metro area (that Portland Oregon, mind), please let me know. Short of winning the lottery, or a good bank heist, I think we’ll be hard pressed to get a house at any rate out here.

-Cheers